Volcano

"So, dear brother, we meet again," Azula hissed as she walked around a very wary Zuko and Katara. "And you've brought your little water-whore, how nice. I expect Father will have fun playing with her once he's done with you..."

Rage built up in Zuko like magma in a volcano, and all of a sudden Zuko snapped. He hadn't teamed up with the avatar, befriended that freak of a brother, and gotten Katara to trust him just to let some psycho-bitch and his bastard of a father take away his life, his future, his everything. His Katara...

The last dregs of hope that his father would take him back disappeared, leaving him with the realization that the only blood relatives that cared about him were his mother and uncle. And he was fine with that...

This ain't a song for the broken hearted...

"NO!" Zuko roared. "YOU SHALL NOT TOUCH HER!!" He lunged forward with flames in his fist, while Katara threw the ice daggers that she had prepared especially for Azula expertly and with all the years of training that she had.

Azula could have dodged one, but not both at the same time. She had started to draw on her chi to bend lightning when Katara's daggers struck, and Zuko's flames finished the job.

I ain't gonna be just a face in the crowd, you're gonna hear my voice when I shout it out loud...

Straightening up from his stance, he walked over to where the decapitated and burnt body of his sister lay, and spat on her smoking corpse. "I could have been a common solder for all the respect you gave me...Just another face in the crowd. Well, sister dear," he spat out the term with disgust, "guess who is going to become lord of the Fire Nation, and reconnect the elements and their respective peoples."

He mockingly waited for an answer from the black corpse.

"That's right, sister dearest, me. Zuko. The weak link. The one who would never amount to anything. Hear my voice when I shout it out loud, I'm going to right the wrong our ancestors did when they waged war against the other nations."

Katara slapped him upside the head, reminding him that this was not the time to gloat. Thank Agni that Aang and Toph were distracting the guards so they could slip inside. "How's your water supply?"

"I have plenty. Come on; let's go before your bastard of a father decides to hit the road. He's coward enough to do so."

Zuko's heart pounded in his ears as he raced alongside Katara through the halls that he had loved and hated as a child.

It's my life, it's now or never, I'm not gonna live forever...I just wanna live while I'm alive...

Those thoughts and more swirled around in his head as he stood in front of the throne room doors, gathering his energy and focusing his concentration as he prepared to face the demon that had been haunting him since his banishment...his father.

Katara's hand found his and squeezed it tightly, before bending out some water and getting ready to attack.

He closed his eyes and prepared his thoughts. Without effort, his hands burst into flames, burning with a vengeance of six years worth of confusion and fear, anger and hopelessness. Opening his fiery amber eyes, he blasted open the doors, Katara bending her water to create a shield to protect them from flying debris and to take out any guards that might have been waiting for them.

Better stand tall when they're calling you out, don't bend don't break baby don't back down...

His mother's words from long ago and his lover's words from the night before mingled in his mind as he stared at his father, the man he had hated subconsciously from the day his mother disappeared and consciously from the day he joined forces with the Avatar, the man that he was going to have to kill in order to take his rightful place as heir to the Fire Nation throne.

"Fire Lord Ozai!" His powerful voice snarled across the chamber. "I challenge you to an Agni Kai, right here, right now, for the Fire Nation throne. There will be no winner until the other fighter is dead."

His father's firesnake-like voice came out of the shadows surrounding the throne, the voice that he had hated throughout his life. "As you wish, my disappointment of a son. I expect that there shall be no contest. However, if you by any chance happen to win, which I highly doubt, you shall be crowned lord of the Fire Nation. But, if I win, which is the more likely of the two, I shall get the water wench to do with as I please. I expect that you would have already broken her, so I wouldn't have to go through the pleasure of breaking her body and spirit...Pity. I so love to do that, as I did with your mother." Ozai's voice was cold, cruel, and mocking. "We begin...NOW!"

Ozai launched himself off of the throne, flying straight for Zuko with hate in his eyes and fire in his fists.

A thought flashed through his mind as he bent a shield of lightning to protect him from his father's fire, vaguely hearing Katara cry out as waves of soldiers began pouring into the room, making her seem to struggle as soldiers surrounded her, then flashing them a quick smile and smiting them all to oblivion with ice projectiles that flashed through their body, cutting them with sprays of blood.

This is for the ones that stood their ground, for Ursa and Jet who didn't back down, tomorrow’s getting harder make no mistake, luck ain't even lucky got to make your own breaks...

Making his own breaks is what he had done his entire life. So while his father was in the midst of a fancy maneuvering that would undoubtly burn them all to ashes, he did a small waterbending maneuver that sent a bolt of lightning straight through his father's cold, unloving heart, finally bringing an end to the long rein of bloodshed and murder.

Ozai tried to gasp something before falling over, dead. The crown fell off of his head and slid in the blood towards Katara, who was surrounded by Fire Nation solder bodies, some alive, some dead, all wounded.

She picked up the crown and delicately picked her way over to Zuko, her disheveled hair and torn clothing the only indicators of the battle she had fought.

She handed over the crown to her lover, embracing him and bringing his lips down for a kiss as she did so. He deepened the kiss, and it lasted till the sound of running footsteps made them leap apart.

Aang, Sokka, and Toph burst into the room, all bloody and covered with wounds.

"About ten minutes ago," Aang gasped, "all of the torches and flames that weren't being created by the firebenders flickered and died, then burst back into life, stronger than ever before. For some reason this made the firebenders go nuts." The sixteen-year-old looked utterly exhausted.

Zuko looked at him. "Fire dying then bursting back into life is a sign that the fire lord has died. In this case, Ozai is dead. Good riddance."

He pushed back his sweat soaked bangs from his forehead, and leaned heavily on Katara as the weight of what he'd done sank in.

"I suppose..." Sokka said haltingly, "that this means that we have to call you 'Fire Lord Zuko' doesn't it?"

Zuko grinned tiredly. "No, because I don't think I could stand it if you guys were to call me 'Fire Lord Zuko' every time you addressed me. It's going to be bad enough with everyone else doing that."

Katara suddenly thought of something. "What are our casualties? Was anyone on our side hurt or wounded?"

Toph answered, her eyes blank and emotionless. “We know that the Fire Nation lost its lord, its princess, a hell of a lot of soldiers, and Mai. On our side, Iroh's missing, Ty Lee has a torn ligament, Twinkletoes is dead on his feet and so are you guys, and Snoozles has a couple of broken ribs."

"I do no-ow," Sokka started to protest, then the adrenalin rush wore off and the pain slammed into him full force. "Ok, maybe she's right. Are you going to crown yourself and get that out of the way so we can sleep already, or are we going to have to wait another couple of hours?"

"We'll do it now." Zuko's voice was firm, but everyone could hear the exhaustion in it. "Aang, do you think you could fly over the capitol city and maybe a couple of the surrounding towns and make announcements saying that Fire Lord Ozai is dead and that Crown Prince Zuko is about to be crowned? I'd really appreciate it."

"No problem." Aang's grin lit up his tired eyes. "Who's going to coronate you?"

"If I might make a suggestion?" A strange women's voice broke into the room, startling everyone into attack positions and making Zuko whirl around with shock.

Ursa stepped into the room, with Iroh following behind her. "Traditionally the head priest of Agni would crown the new Fire Lord, but in this case I think we can make an exception.  Avatar Aang, would you be willing to do the coronation?"

He nodded. "But only if someone does the flyover thing. I'm dead, and I think everybody else is too. A quick half hour nap would do wonders for us."

"I'll do it," Iroh said. "I need the practice if I'm right about what's going to happen..."

Zuko looked warily at his uncle. "Uncle, what do you mean?"

"Well, you're the Fire Lord, right? And Fire Lords need heirs. Luckily, you've got this beautiful young woman that you're in love with that loves you to help you out..." Iroh's grin was earsplitting as Zuko began to protest, before Katara kissed him to shut him up and whispered that she wouldn't mind it in his ear.

In the next half hour, the Gaang slept while Iroh and Ursa made all the preparations for the coronation. Zuko and Katara slept in much the same position as Toph and Aang, and Ty Lee and Sokka did. Cuddling, reassuring the other that the war was over, that everything was going to be alright and that it was safe again.

*~In the room connected to the balcony that faced the Grand Courtyard~*

Zuko paced in his newly found ceremonial dress robes, muttering occasionally to himself. He looked up with the others as Iroh and Ursa came in, signaling that it was time to proceed to the balcony for the ceremony.

Taking a deep breath, Zuko walked out the doors with Katara at his right side and Aang at his left, with the others flanking them.

"My people!" Zuko's voice rang out across the enormous courtyard, making them fall respectfully silent. "The end of the war has come!" He paused to let an earthshaking cheer be raised before continuing. "Ozai is dead, and before you now I shall be crowned fire lord! I swear to you, my people, that I will not make the same mistakes as my ancestors did, and will work to repair the damage they have done to our world."

This time the cheer was deafening, and people in the South Pole swore they heard it from hundreds of miles away.

"So now I am crowned before you by Avatar Aang, as your new fire lord and bringer of a new life!" With that he knelt and Aang placed the Crown into his ponytail, officially making him Fire Lord Zuko. He stood up and picked up Katara and swung her around as she laughed and cried in celebration, as the courtyard and city below erupted into celebration.

*~Later that night~*

Zuko stood on the balcony of the fire lord's rooms with his arms wrapped around his lover, gazing out at the celebrating city and the fireworks that were being let off at about every five seconds. Katara snuggled into her husband, enjoying the feeling of being clean, being safe, and being loved as she stood wrapped in her husband's arms, leaning against his bare chest.

"Hey Zuko?"

"Hmmm?" Zuko looked down at his lover and felt a wave of love wash over him. "Yes dear my love?"

"I was thinking...About what Iroh said...It wouldn't really be all that bad if we got a head start." She flashed him a wicked grin and he felt his loins stirring.

"As you wish, my fire lady." Zuko scooped up Katara into his arms, making her put her arms around his neck and cling to his bare chest as he began to kiss her, walking them towards the bed while he began to disrobe her.

And as he started to make love to his wife, a thought popped into his head, one that was there and gone in a flash of lightning, but left an impression anyway.

I just want to live while I'm alive...It's my life!