Lea's POV

"Come on hurry up you four, we are going to be late~!" I yelled to the three boys and girl who groaned, showing clearly that they were tired from the long voyage from the fire nation to the newly rebuilt Ba Sing Se. With a bundle of energy, I skipped towards the gates that led into the major earth kingdom city. It's been about two weeks since the coronation, 5 days since Ba Sing Se was finished from repairs, the process becoming faster once Aang and Toph decided to travel over here to help out the earth benders in rebuilding the city from ruins. Shinya was supposed to go with them to help out but Toph knocked him out then her and Aang where off, Katara, Suki, Sokka joining them. That was about a week ago and I'm more than excited to see how Ba Sing Se looks now inside the walls. I turned around on my heel to look back at the boys to see Uncle leaning on Zuko for support, breathing deeply

"You alright old man?" Shinya asked him playfully with a smirk

"I'm not as young as I used to be. But it will all be worth it in the end when my eyes set on my tea shop again!" Uncle stated and I smiled warmly at him. Zuko rolled his eyes at our uncle but had a hint of a smile gracing his face

"Excuse me miss, but are you Phoenix Princess Lea that Avatar Aang has told us that will be arriving today?" I turned around to see an Earth Kingdom Guard. I nodded

"Yes. I am." He bowed quickly before looking up at two earth benders on the top of the walls

"They are here! Open the gate!" By the time the boys reached me, the gate was already opened by earth bending. I gasped at the marvelous sight of Ba Sing Se, the streets of it buzzing about with people of all kind

"Wow, I have never seen so many diversity of people before!" I stated in astonishment

"At request of Avatar Aang, we decided to not split up the districts like before, instead everyone from all backgrounds and earnings will live together. Even some fire nation has come to live within these walls." The guard explained to me and I nodded, looking up at Zuko who was smiling down at me

"You didn't tell me that!"

"I wanted it to be a surprise. It's our first movement in regaining peace and balance between all the nations." Zuko explained to me calmly and I huffed, childishly crossing my arms with a pout. Shinya chuckled from behind me and I sent him a quick glare, silencing him into sticking out his tongue at me. I stuck my tongue out at him in response, Uncle eyeing our small exchange with a snort

We followed the guard through the crowds of Ba Sing Se, others recognizing us and stopping us whenever the guard wasn't looking, delaying us further from our destination. Zuko quickly became annoyed, not used to all of the attention of being the new Fire Lord. Mai, who has been quiet mostly the whole trip, let out a small sly smirk at Zuko's irritant able state, finding humor at his red face

"Can you please tell us of how you-" Someone from the street yelled to us, being caught off by the other yelling of other bystanders, the loud voices drowning one another out into nonsense. I held my hands behind my back looking up at the blue sky, noting that in about an hour the sun was going to set. It's still her to believe to many the war the raged on for 100 years was finally over, that we shall rebuild everything up from the ashes. I remember the days when me and Shinya stole for a living, when we were back at the orphanage, when I was living happily as an 'oblivious' princess before I ran away. I hold all of those memories, there has been many ups and downs, but we have always came out victorious in the end. I heard someone start walking beside me, ignoring the sound of crunched of gravel underneath their boots as they walked

"What are you thinking about?" Shinya asked me quietly so only I could hear

"Different things, like how cabbages taste like-"

"DELICIOUS CABBAGES FOR SALE, HALF OFF, FRESH CABB-!" I grimaced, looking over to see a cabbage vendor holding a cabbage while standing right next to a stand full of them, clearly happy

"-Nevermind... Apparently they are delicious even though they state like cow-" Shinya slapped his hand over my mouth, muffling the rest of my sentence

"Your brother is a bad influence on you..."

"I heard that!" I heard Zuko yelled a little ways in front of us, his arm looped with Mai's. I pried his hand off of my mouth, continuing what I was going to state

"Dirty mash potatoes with a side of-"

"Lea!"

"What? I was just going to say-" He glared daggers at me, wrapping his arm around my shoulder

"No. You're too kind for such foul language."

"Butt is foul language? Seriously Shinya, you gotta let a girl finish before you make anything up!" I scolded him with a small laugh and he looked confused for a second, scrunching up his eyebrows adorably- I mean, un-adorably *cough, *cough*

"She is right young man, it isn't right to make any assumptions or accusations if there is no proof~!" Uncle informed him wisely, beaming proudly at me as he fell in step beside us

"Hey Mai, look over there-"

"Dull. Not my thing." Mai dead panned, shooting down Zuko instantly. Zuko dropped his hand and I looked over to where he was pointing at to see a jewelry vendor next to a stand filled with them, clearly all hand made and consisted mostly of bead necklaces of various colors. After 10 minutes of walking, the guard that accompanied us stopped, pointing at a house

"That's where the rest of the Gaang are currently staying." He explained

"Gaang?" Zuko asked in confusion. The guard sighed, shaking his head

"It's what the boy with the ponytail told me to call your group, your majesty." Shinya snorted from beside me and I elbow him in the ribs, silencing him

"Very well." Zuko nodded, his eyes fixated on the house before us

"I shall take my leave, I will be by tomorrow morning. Good evening." He walked away from us towards the way we came and I smiled

"He was pleasant."

"You do realize he actually agreed to Sokka's name of our 'little group'. So not really." Shinya stated

"Hmm... I actually quite like the name. Gaang, it's quite fitting." I skipped off towards the doors, leaving his side before he could protest against my claim. I knocked on the door excitedly, waiting for someone inside the house to open it. I hummed a little tune under my breath, Uncle who now stood beside me joining in on the little tune much to my brother's displeasure. After a few moments of waiting, the door opened to reveal Suki with a kind smile

"Hey guys! Sorry to have kept you waiting, we were cleaning up a mishap in the kitchen..." Suki awkwardly stated, scratching the back of her neck

"It's alright. May we come in?" Uncle asked her and she nodded, stepping to the side to let us venture in. I looked around the place, admiring the many decoration adorning the walls

"Hello!" Katara greeted us, wiping her hands on small towel in her hands

"Hey Katara." Shinya greeted her, joining my side to also study the decorations hanging on the walls

"We are still cooking but it will be done shortly, just sit back and rel-" My head perked up, running over to Katara and grabbing her hands

"Can I help?!" I asked excitedly, about ready to jump out of my skin

"Uhhh... You any good at cooking?" I shrugged

"I watched Shinya a lot in the past so I guess?" She let out a laugh, shaking her head before looking over at Shinya

"Will she burn down the place?" She asked him and he shook his head in reply

"Alright, but you're peeling potatoes for now." I nodded and she led me through the hallways and soon into the kitchen we came

"Hello~!" I greeted Toph who was lazily sitting at a table with her feet propped up

"Sup."

"Here is a potato peeler and over by the sink is the potatoes already ready to be peeled, get to work!" She told me and I nodded. I grabbed the potato peeler out of her hands and walked over to the sink to see the said potatoes. After horribly peeling about ten of them, Katara decided to finish the job leaving me to stir the stew we were making

"Where is Aang?" I asked her, noticing I haven't seen him yet

"Aang and Sokka went to go and visit the King of Ba Sing Se for plans on rebuilding the east wall. They should be back shortly." I nodded

"Soo... How has life been here in Ba Sing Se?" I asked just as Suki walked into the room with a bushel of vegetables

"It's been great! No one here to tell us what to do..." Toph stated, picking dirt out of her fingernails

"It's been peaceful, mostly everyone here in Ba Sing Se are doing some sort of work in helping rebuild this place or help others. It's been nice." Katara stated, placing a peeled potato in a bowl

"Any brawls?" I asked out of curiosity, dodging Toph's ball that she threw at me

"A few, but other than that peaceful. We just have to learn to work together is all." Suki answered my question as I tossed the ball towards Toph who caught it easily

"I see.." I kept on stirring the stew, the four of us falling into comfortable silence. I watched Suki toss in various vegetables, Katara following afterwards with her chopped peeled potatoes

"Any sides?"

"Not really, I mean there is enough for seconds for everyone so I would rather not add anything else-" Katara was caught off by Sokka walking into the room with a gleeful smile on his face

"Hi Sokka!"

"Did you know that your boyfriend is easy to tick off?" He asked me

"Yeah- What did you do?" I asked him and he whistled walking over to Suki innocently

"Can I go check on him Katara?" I asked her and she nodded, glaring daggers at her brother before I left to find Shinya

"Shinya?" I called out, searching the rooms before coming to a halt when I spotted him outside of a window. I sighed, shaking my head before heading outside to find him leaning against a guard rail opposite of the house we were currently staying in. I walked over to him with my arms crossed, worriedly looking at him

"Are you okay?" I asked him and he shrugged, looking straight at the 'impregnable' wall of Ba Sing Se

"I will be alright, just needed to calm down my nerves."

"What did Sokka say to you?" I asked him and he shook his head

"It doesn't matter, it was silly of me to get angry about it anyway."

"Shinya, you can tell me." I told him, resting my hand on his arm. He sighed, looking down at me

"Well... He began ranting about how everyone was going to be going doing different things, like how he was going to go and travel with Suki back to Kyoshi Island and how Iroh was going to stay here in Ba Sing Se to run his tea shop, etc."

"So? That's on everyone's minds nowadays."

"Yeah but... He was saying of how you were gonna have to go and train with the Sun Warriors. I don't know why that infuriated me but, I just lashed out and left." I gulped nervously, averting my gaze away from his eyes. I rubbed my hands together nervously

"Uhh, yeah about that..." Shinya froze, his eyes wide

"You can't be serious?! You don't need to go and train with a ancient civilization-"

"Shinya, calm down." I looked back up at him to see how hurt he was

"Why? You are already powerful-"

"No I'm not. I'm not good at bending, never have been. I have been using simple fire bending moves from the Book of Forms and advice from Agni. I have been speaking to Agni on a daily basis now to learn more about what being a Phoenix is all about, he told me to further my training in becoming a full-fledged Phoenix I have to go to the Sun Warriors which at first I thought was nuts because at the time I thought they were extinct until I asked Aang about it through one of our letters when he revealed to me that him and Zuko actually went there to help them both in acquiring prosperity."

"B-But..."

"I haven't even decided Shinya, I was just thinking about it. How that got to Sokka I have no idea." He swallowed hardly, rubbing his face in exasperation

"There is no need to worry, I don't want to make this decision by myself without yours and the others input. It's your guy's right after all we have been through with each other in such a short amount of time." He nodded hesitantly, sighing deeply

"Alright... I'm sorry I just got-"

"Scared. I know how your mind works Shinya, you instantly become afraid when a small little change that can mean so much or so little in the future. No need to apologize." I smiled softly, bringing him into a hug. He returned it, burying his face in my hair that I left down with no crown. After a few minutes of silence, I pulled away from the embrace

"Now come on, let's get back inside, dinner should be ready soon." I told him and he nodded. He grabbed my hand giving it a light squeeze before we walked back into the house, the smell of stew welcoming our noses

"Welcome back, now come on have a seat and enjoy some tea~!" Suki pushed us over to a table, sitting us down before Zuko placed down tea in front of us. I looked over to see Uncle playing the tsungi horn. Aang was playing with Momo while Zuko was walking around the room handing tea out to everyone

"Zuko, stop moving! I'm trying to capture the moment. I wanted to do a painting so we always remember the good times." Sokka stated, painting away in a piece of paper with black ink. Me, Zuko, and Katara got up and walked over to him, peering over his shoulder only to see whatever he was painting defiantly wasn't portraying us

"That's very thoughtful of you Sokka-" Katara stopped mid-sentence, looking at what was supposed to be her, looking very annoyed, "-Wait, why did you give me Momo's ears?"

"Those are your hair loopies!" Sokka proclaimed in defense

"At least you don't look like a boar-q-pine! My hair is not that spiky!" Zuko yelled, Mai walking over

"I look like a man." She deadpanned with a amused smirk. I looked at myself in the painting noticing of how I was standing on the table holding a bowl

"What am I doing?!"

"What? Eating ashes-"

"SOKKA!"

"And why did you paint me firebending?" Suki asked, noticing the portrayal of flames shooting out of her hands in the painting

"I thought it looked more exciting that way." Sokka defended, Momo jumping on to the table while chittering as if mocking the Water Tribe Boy

"Oh, you think you can go a better job, Momo?!" Sokka asked the lemur who chittered back at him

"Hey, my belly's not that big anymore. I've really trimmed down." Uncle informed us, pointing at the painting

"And why do my goggles look like a heavy helmet?!" Shinya asked, finally joining the conversation

"Well, I think you all look perfect!" Toph exclaimed with a small laugh, throwing her arms out for exaggeration. Everyone laughed while I let out a small chuckle, my eyes looking over to the open door that led out into the balcony to see Aang out there alone. Katara seemed to notice his absence as well and walked out to keep him company. I smiled, looking down at the painting Sokka painted of all of us together, I'm glad that I tried to save the carriage filled of Water Tribe Warriors, because if I hadn't, I wouldn't be here today. That split second decision made a difference, I found my family again and met new friends, got together with Shinya... All because of the decision to save others.

(Time Skip)

I entered my sister's cell for one last time before I leave to train with the Sun Warriors, bringing with me a gift for her

"I'm leaving today Azula, so I decided to pay you a visit one last time for a long while... I don't know how long I will be gone but, I wanted to give you this." I handed her the wrapped gift, watching her stare at it curiously. I noted to myself that she looked healthier than the first time I visited her, meaning she was actually eating what the guards were giving her. She slowly unwrapped the gift, pulling out to reveal a photo frame with a photo encased in it. Her eyes widened at the painting in shock. I smiled once I saw tears brimming her eyes, I walked over to her and sat down next to her, my eyes on the painting of me, her, Zuko, and Mom when we were really little. I was three years old at the time of this painting. Zuko and Azula were chasing each other while I was on Zuko's back, Mom watching us while laughing hysterically. I smiled at the memory, bringing Azula into a side hug

"Happy Birthday, Azula..."

F.I.N