End of the Beginning

Chapter 24

"Don't you get it, Zuzu?!" Azula asked almost in a manic,"You and I will finally be free! You of a throne you never really wanted and me of this incessant nagging in my head!"

"No. You're wrong," Zuko replied as calmly as he could.

"Oh, stop kidding yourself! The other morning when you had me over that cliff, why didn't you just let go? You could've gotten rid of me and this letter! It would have been so easy!" Azula continued to yell,"Admit it! You need me to help you be free!"

Free

Is that really what we need? What does freedom look like when you goal is to bring back peace to the world? 

Almost as if Zuko could hear my thoughts, he placed his royal hairpiece onto his head,"In my heart I know,,,I've always known,,that the throne is my destiny," 

He didn't look back to me for reassurance as he usually did. Not even stifle a sigh. Zuko had finally learned to accept his position as Fire Lord, permanently this time. Relief washed over me, knowing he made his decision. 

"That morning on the cliff,,, Azula, our relationship is so messed up. It's been like that as long as I can remember. And maybe it'll be like that for the rest of our lives. But one fact never changes. No matter what, you're still my sister,"

"Shut up," She jumped up in agitation to her brothers sudden words of empathy. As if she could understand what he was trying to say but didn't want to,"SHUT UP!"

Azula shot fire to Zuko one was time before she ran off. 

"The letter!" Zuko said, quickly picking it up as I ran after Azula.

"Azula!" I kept calling out hoping she'd stop to reason,"Please! Stop running away from this!" 

"Azula!" I called out one final time before Zuko and Noriko caught up with me.

"Come back! I can help you!" Zuko panted out,"I want to help you!"

Azula looked at me very briefly her watered eyes started to overflow with tears.  

"Same as always, Zuzu," She said turning to her brother,"Even when you're strong,,you're weak,"

I couldn't understand why, maybe because she was Zuko's sister, or Kaito's childhood friend. Maybe it was because past all she was she was still,,, human. My eyes couldn't help but water at her pain. 

"Azula," I said softly as she snapped her head back to face me,"I hope you know, this entire time I never wanted to be your enemy,"

"Well funny enough, thats what we are my dear Kya," She replied in a slightly less agitated tone as she wiped a tear and ran into the forest.

"Azula!" Zuko tried to call one last time.

Why? I blinked away my watery eyes. Why did I let her run away? Why did she leave the letter?

Maybe its for the best. 

"Fire Lord, look!" Noriko suddenly said, pointing up to the sky as the Mother of Faces approached us. The others followed behind her.

"Human, do you wish to return to who you once were?" She asked,"Do you wish to remember?"

"No, you don't have to. You have such a beautiful life here," Zuko begged. 

"Yes," Noriko calmly replied to the spirit.

"Hold still," Said the Mother of Faces, placing her hand over Noriko's face causing a bright light to flash.

One the Mother of Faces removed her hand. Noriko was now Lady Ursa, the beautiful woman from the paintings. Zuko's mother. I looked back up to the large spirit, who nodded at me and left.

"I think you two need to talk," I whispered, pushing Zuko to his mother.

"I'm sorry for everything I've said. You were probably confused," He replied apologetically.

"You were being honest with me," I smiled pushing a stray hair away from his eyes," I prefer that to you lying. In the end it all worked out,"

He smiled brightly before leaving with Lady Ursa. 

>>>

The next morning the others and I packed up camp.

"We'll need to keep our guard up. Sooner or later, Azula's going to turn up again," Katara said, still a bit worried.

"I know. I get goosebumps just thinking of it," Sokka replied.

"Who knows?" I said giving a small sigh. 

"But it doesn't have to be like that! People change! I mean, she gave that letter back to Zuko, didn't she?" Aang said encouragingly.

"No, she didn't give it back to him. She just dropped it by accident!" Sokka quickly hissed.

"Should it matter?" I asked,"Zuko still has the letter. That means we don't really have anything to worry about for now,"

"I think she meant to do it," Aang added with a smile.

Aang's positive nature stilled the worry my siblings had. 

"That's why I love you sweetie. You always see the bright side of things," Katara said with a smile. 

"How can I not? Look at everything that's happened. We helped bring together a brother and sister and a mother and son," He said brightly recalling the events of the past week or so.

Even so, Sokka still looked confused. Turning to face the direction where Azula had run off.

"If she comes back," I paused looking down,"Well, we'll cross that bridge when we get there. So stop worrying so much,"

"Since when did you become so carefree," Sokka asked in a snicker, pulling me down into a lose headlock. 

"Since I realized I can't stop everything that happens just because I don't like it," I smiled pushing him off. 

A couple hours had already passed. I laid back against Appa, waiting for Zuko to come back. 

Turns out I was worried for nothing.

"Kya," I heard a raspy voice I know all to well call out.

"Zuko?" I groaned, stretching my arms.

"Come on," He replied softly holding his hand out for me.

We walked in silence until we reached a cliff, the same one where we talked about Lady Ursa's letter. The sun was setting, leaving a beautiful orangey pink hue on our surroundings. I sat down to enjoy the view, simply waiting for Zuko to say what he had on his mind.

"I know now my destiny was never meant to change," Zuko said, rubbing his thumb on the back of my hand.

"I know," I replied still looking at the beautiful scenery before us.

"Then why did you go along with it?" He replied a bit confused,"Why didn't you convince me I was wrong?" 

I hummed in a smile,"You were so happy in finding your mother. I wanted you to find closure, how can I strip of something so important as that? Besides, deep down I knew you were going to make the right choice. Whether you were Ikem's son or not," I turned to see his bright golden eyes glistening in the last minutes of sunlight we had left. 

"I love you I hope you know that," Zuko responded, copying the bright smile I couldn't hold back.

"Maybe you can remind me again," I smirked, grabbing his face and placing a soft gentle kiss on his lips.

"Just stay with me forever alright," I hummed one last time.

"I promise," Zuko replied, bringing me back into the kiss,"I'll always be there for you,"

----

(A/N: AND THUS THE END OF THE SEARCH. Sorry about my hiatus but I was extremely burned out due to personal issues. I'm back though for weekly(ish) updates. Thank you all for being patient with me, I'll always appreciate it （‐＾▽＾‐）

I also wanted to announce I will not be writing The Rift from the comics, while yes its a story I really like I feel like it overlaps too much with the timelines so I decided to refrain from it and focus on Smoke N Shadow. I hope you understand. Thanks again I'll see you all soon. )