walked slowly to the Western Air Temple with the sun blazing down on them. Uzume walked next to Toph and Aang, dejected as she thought about their loss. She had thought the war would be over and she would be with Zuko, but she was wrong. While she saw Azula, it wasn't pleasant and she hadn't seen her other friends.

"This is humiliating." Katara grumbled as the group walked tiredly.

"Do you mean getting thoroughly spanked by the Fire Nation, or having to walk all the way to the Western Air Temple?" Sokka's voice made Katara look back at him, "Both."

"Sorry guys, but Appa gets tired carrying all these people." Aang pet Appa sorrowfully, Uzume placed a comforting hand on the boy's shoulder, "It's okay Aang, walking isn't so bad. At least we have each other."

"I wonder how the rest of the troops are." Teo spoke up.

Haru huffed, frustrated, "They're probably on their way to a prison. Seems like my dad just got out, now he's going back in."

"I miss Pipsqueak."

Sokka ignored the little boy's sadness, "I miss not having blisters on my feet."

Toph tugged on Uzume's sleeve relieved, "Hey, we're here. I can feel it."

Katara looked at the blind girl confused, "Uh, I think your feet need their eyes checked."

Uzume nodded along with Katara, "Katara's right. There's nothing here but a cliff."

Aang spoke up from behind the girls, "No, she's right, we are here."

Aang gathered everyone on Appa to fly off the cliff. Under the cliff was a beautiful temple hanging upside down with a courtyard in the middle.

Teo rolled around in amazement, "It's so different from the Northern Air Temple. I wonder if there are any secret rooms."

Haru beckoned everyone to follow him, "Let's go check it out." The Duke and Teo followed him and Aang tried to follow them, only to be stopped by Katara.

"You guys go... I think we need to talk about some things." She shooed them away, holding onto Aang who looked at his crush disappointed.

"Why can't I go?" Aang pouted at the brown girl.

Katara looked at the air nomad seriously, "We need to decide what we're gonna do now. And since you're the Avatar, maybe you should be a part of this."

Aang sat himself down grouchily and crossed his arms, "Fair enough. So, what's the new plan?" He pouted. Uzume sat herself down on the floor and laid down, stretching out her aching limbs.

"Well, if you ask me, the new plan is the old plan. You just need to master all four elements, and confront the Fire Lord before the comet comes." Sokka said from next to Toph.

"Oh, yeah, that's great. No problem, I'll just do that." Aang replied to him sarcastically. Katara looked at him unimpressed with his attitude, "Aang, no one said it's gonna be easy."

Aang continued complaining, "Well, it's not even gonna be possible. Where am I supposed to get a firebending teacher?"

"We could look for Jeong Jeong." Uzume screwed up her face at the name, he sounded familiar, probably another criminal Azula would complain about.

"Yeah right, like we'll ever run into Jeong Jeong again." Aang grumbled. Toph spoke up about the name, confused, before she decided to just stop asking.

When they were silent for more than 10 seconds, Aang popped up from the bench, "Oh well, guess we can't come up with anybody. Why don't we just take a nice tour around the temple?" The remaining four watched as he ran away, off to find the boys playing.

"What's up with him?" Toph asked.

Sokka rubbed his face in frustration, "There's got to be someone who can teach him firebending." Uzume sat up quickly and beamed at her friends.

"Zuko!"

"Where?" Sokka stood quickly, pulling out his sword in the direction behind him.

"No, Sokka, he isn't here, I'm saying Zuko could teach Aang!" Uzume squealed at her friends.

Katara and Sokka looked at her unimpressed, "No offense, Uzume, but how are we going to find Zuko?" Katara asked.

"Not to mention, he helped kill Aang." Sokka added.

Uzume shrugged nonchalantly, "So did I."

The siblings looked at her with wide eyes while Toph laughed.

"Yeah, but, you helped us in the drill and we know Azula had a leash on you." Katara told the girl. Sokka nodded with the girl and Toph gave Uzume a smile. Uzume nervously scoffed, completely forgetting about Azula's hold on her.

Katara didn't give up on Aang. Right after their discussion, Katara made them get on Appa to follow Aang who was gliding around.

Katara steered Appa towards Aang, " Aang, can we talk about you learning firebending now?"

"What? The wind is too loud in my ears. Check out this loop." Aang ignored them while he did a loop with Momo.

"Aang, I think we should be making some plans about our future." Sokka said as they all landed

"Ok, we can do that while I show you the giant Pai Sho table. Oh, you're gonna love the all-day echo chamber."

Uzume and Toph got off of Appa and the second Toph's feet touched the ground, she grew serious, "I think that'll have to wait." They all looked at the girl confused, and pointed behind Appa.

"Hello, Zuko here." The fire boy waved awkwardly. Uzume squealed at the boy and was held back by Sokka as she practically vibrated from excitement.

"Hey, I heard you guys flying around down there, so I just thought I'd wait for you here." Zuko said awkwardly, eyeing Sokka and Uzume. Appa interrupted Zuko's stare by licking the boy, catching Aang and Zuko off guard.

"I know you must be surprised to see me here."

Sokka scoffed, "Not really, since you've followed us all over the world." Uzume smiled at her lover, "Don't feel bad, I did too."

Zuko looked slightly more comfortable when Uzume spoke to him, "Right... Well, uh... anyway, what I wanted to tell you about is that I've changed, and I uh, I'm good now. And, well, I think I should join your group. Oh, and I can teach firebending... to you. See, I uh..." Uzume clapped at his speech, "I'm sold, he should join."

Toph looked dumbfounded, "You want to what now?"

Katara raised her hands prepared to fight, "You can't possibly think that any of us would trust you, can you? I mean, how stupid do you think we are?"

"Yeah, all you've ever done is try to hunt us down and capture Aang." Sokka glared at the scarred girl. Uzume watched her friends, surprised at their hostility.

Zuko was quick to defend himself, "I've done some good things. I mean, I could've stolen your bison in Ba Sing Se, but I set him free. That's something." Appa licks the boy again.

Toph lowered her defensive attitude, "Appa does seem to like him." Katara and Sokka continued to watch the royal boy angrily.

Sokka shook his head stubbornly, "He probably just covered himself in honey or something so that Appa would lick him. I'm not buying it."

"I can understand why you wouldn't trust me, and I know I've made some mistakes in the past." Zuko looked away shamefully.

"Like when you attacked our village?"

"Or when you stole my mother's necklace and used it to track us down and capture us?" Katara clenched her fists.

Uzume shook her head sadly, "Guys, stop it. I've done bad things before."

Sokka shook his head and turned to Uzume angrily, "The difference is you had no choice. He did it by himself."

Zuko looked at them sadly, "Look, I admit I've done some awful things. I was wrong to try to capture you, and I'm sorry that I attacked the Water Tribe. And I never should've sent that Fire Nation assassin after you. I'm gonna try to stop him."

Sokka gawked at Zuko, "Wait, you sent Combustion Man after us?" He pulled out his boomerang and held it threateningly to Zuko.

Uzume's eyes widened and she looked at Zuko sadly, "Zuko, Combustion Man almost killed us."

Zuko panicked when he realized he mentioned trying to kill them still, "Well, that's not his name, but..."

"Oh, sorry. I didn't mean to insult your friend." Sokka said sarcastically.

Zuko raised his voice and clenched his fists, "He's not my friend!" He closed his eyes and tried to calm himself down. When he opened his eyes, he looked at Aang with hope, "Why aren't you saying anything? You once said you thought we could be friends. You know I have good in me."

Aang looked away from Zuko and towards his friends. When 3 out of 4 of them shook their heads no, he looked back at Zuko.

"There's no way we can trust you after everything you've done. We'll never let you join us." Zuko's face morphed into one of sadness as he looked at the group. His eyes danced over their faces and stopped on Uzume's, who's being held back from him by Sokka.

"You need to get out of here, now." Katara commanded the boy.

Zuko let out a cry of frustration, "I'm trying to explain that I'm not that person anymore." Uzume watched her lover in sadness as she began to notice his signs of distress. She ached to calm him down but was held back by Toph holding onto her.

Sokka growled at the boy, "Either you leave, or we attack."

"If you won't accept me as a friend," Zuko threw himself onto the ground and bowed in front of them, "then maybe you'll take me as a prisoner." He offered his hands for them to bind.

Katara yelled at him angered, "No, we won't!" She drew water from her water skin and pushed Zuko away from them, soaking him. Uzume brushed past Sokka and Toph and kneeled by Zuko's side.

She grabbed his face and made him look her in the eye. The boy panicked and looked like he was about to cry, "Zuko, hey, look at me," She tried to sooth the boy, "It's okay, it's okay, copy my breathing." She took in deep breaths which Zuko copied.

Katara ignored the two of them, "Get out of here and don't come back. And if we ever see you again...Well, we'd better not see you again!" Sokka grabbed Uzume's arm and pulled her away from the boy.

Zuko closed his eyes in defeat and walked away from the group staring at him with hatred. Katara scoffed when they were sure he was gone, "Why would he try to fool us like that?"

"Obviously, he wants to lead us into some kind of trap."

Katara crossed her arms, "This is just like when we were in prison together in Ba Sing Se. He starts talking about his mother, and making it seem like he's an actual human being with feelings." Uzume let out a groan at her friend's stupidity. She brushed Toph's hand off her arm and began walking from her friends.

"Uzume, where are you going?" Sokka called out, but the angry girl kept walking. Her mind was a storm from her friend's denying Zuko. They were acting like hypocrites, denying that Zuko could be a better person.

She threw herself into her designated bed and covered her head with her blanket and started crying into her pillow. Nightfall came when she decided to go and find Zuko. She trekked through the woods and it wasn't long before she found Zuko on his knees, sad.

"Why am I so bad at being good?" He cried, burying his face into his hands. He laid back into the ground and spread out his limbs and stared up at the stars. Uzume approached his body and softly laid down next to him.

"You aren't a bad person." Uzume spoke softly into the air. Zuko rolled over and laid his head onto her shoulder, making her wrap her arms around him.

"Please just hold me." He whispered and they fell asleep, cuddling.

The peaceful girl woke up to multiple explosions. She quickly sat up from the dirt and looked around, panicked. Zuko wasn't with her and the explosions were coming from the direction of the Air temple. She pushed herself off the ground and ran through the woods. Her heart pounded in her ears as she pushed herself to run faster.

When she reached the temple, her friends were panting and calming themselves down.

"Guys?" She heard her voice crack as she caught her breath. She ran towards them and engulfed the group in a hug, "I'm so glad you're okay. I heard explosions and I thought-" She was cut off when she turned around and saw Zuko standing behind them, anxious. Aang pulled away from the group hug and approached the firebender.

"I can't believe I'm saying this... but thanks Zuko."

"Hey, and what about me? I did the boomerang thing." Sokka gestured to himself, only to be ignored by the group.

Zuko took in a deep breath, "Listen, I know I didn't explain myself very well yesterday. I've been through a lot in the past few years, and it's been hard. But I'm realizing that I had to go through all those things to learn the truth. I thought I had lost my honor, and that somehow my father could return it to me. But I know now that no one can give you your honor. It's something you earn for yourself, by choosing to do what's right. All I want now is to play my part in ending this war. And I know my destiny is to help you restore balance to the world."

Uzume watched happily as her friend's expressions softened.

Zuko turned to Toph, "I'm sorry for what I did to you," He bows, "It was an accident. Fire can be dangerous and wild. So as a firebender, I need to be more careful and control my bending so I don't hurt people unintentionally."

Aang looked at the boy surprised, "I think you are supposed to be my firebending teacher. When I first tried to learn firebending, I burned Katara. And after that, I never wanted to firebend again. But now I know you understand how easy it is to hurt the people you love. I'd like you to teach me."

Zuko smiled at the boy, warming Uzume's heart, "Thank you. I'm so happy you've accepted me into your group."

"Not so fast. I still have to ask my friends if it's ok with them. Toph, you're the one that Zuko burned. What do you think?"

Toph hesitated but she could practically feel Uzume's begging through the earth, "Go ahead and let him join. It'll give me plenty of time to get back at him for burning my feet."

"Sokka?"

Sokka swallowed his pride an

d shrugged, "Hey, all I want is to defeat The Fire Lord. If you think this is the way to do it, then I'm all for it."

"Uzu-"

"Yeah, of course, I mean- Yup, he should join." Uzume rushed, staring at Zuko's beautiful face.

"Katara."

Katara frowned and ignored the pleading look Uzume gave her. She tutted and looked away, "I'll go along with whatever you think is right."

Zuko looked at them like an excited puppy, "I won't let you down, I promise."

Uzume ignored her friends brushing him off and jumped on him, engulfing him in her warmth. They held onto each other tightly and Uzume could feel herself smile against his chest, peaceful that they were with each other again.