With how desperately outnumbered the watertribe is, Zhao practically walked uncontested up to the spirit oasis to claim his goal. The steel war machine of the firenation is unstoppable, the forefront of the invasion force is being led by steel monstrosities. Large solid steel tanks with spiked wheels crawl along the ice and snow providing an escort to the legions of soldiers behind them. The majority of the northern watertribe's warriors aren't benders and they're completely defenseless against the tundra tanks. Those that are benders have put up more of a resistance, but with the firebending strengthened by the sun their resistance is doing little more than blowing steam in their faces. Losing more and more ground to the firenation, Pakku calls a full retreat to the second district of Anga Qel'a. Ascending the grand staircase to the second district of the city, Pakku instructs his waterbenders to form as tall and as thick of a wall of ice as possible in order to buy just a little more time. The sun is sitting just above the ocean and with it the full moon is beginning to rise, they just need a few more minutes and the tide will turn in this battle.

Hundreds of warriors capable of waterbending melt away the surrounding ice, buildings and snow gathering as much water as possible. On the staircase itself, Pakku and a couple other masters draw their hands upwards above their heads before pushing them down the same angle as the staircase causing the stairs to melt. The melting ice creates a large wave of water washing the assaulting tanks and men from the grand staircase leaving it a steep, unclimbable angle, at least for general infantry. Pakku and the other masters use their bending to ascend the slick slope of the former staircase, launching themselves to the top of the wall with a small waterspout. "Bring the cauldrons, we need to repair the wall as they attack it, and we need something other than our wall to bend at them!" Pakku orders, prompting some of the other warriors to rush up to the first district to retrieve the large ice cauldrons of water.

Below them, the tundra tanks scrape against the ice finally coming to a stop at the base of the grand staircase. The men they were escorting were washed down with them, leaving them dazed, confused and practically hypothermic. While the firenation forces quickly burn away the cold water soaking into their clothes and armor, the tundra tanks right themselves. The ones that landed upside down do something rather peculiar, the center cabin of the tank rotates 180 degrees until they're right side up. Several of them have ended up on their sides but their crews manage to push the metal behemoth over so that it is drivable once again. Once back in the upright position, the tanks begin attempting to scale the icy slope. From the front of the tanks, twin cannon barrels fire a set of chain harpoons into the side of the ice wall erected by the waterbenders. "Sever the chains, we need to hold this ground till sunset! Just a few more minutes!" Pakku calls out, drawing up several gallons of water from one of the cauldrons in a single hand movement, he slashes his hand downwards at the steel chains cutting through the connection point between it and the anchor causing the entire line to fall.

As the tundra tanks begin their slow crawl along the ice up to the wall, the foot soldiers behind them fall into single file lines to walk up the divots created by the spiked wheels. Slowly but surely the tanks make progress up the icy slopes, getting close enough for the gunner's turret on top to open up. Large fireballs come screaming out of the turret openings slamming into the wall with enough force to crack and chip large portions of it. Several of the men atop the wall focus on bending the fractured ice back into its proper shape while the others return fire back at the tanks. The cauldrons of water serve as the ammunition for the waterbenders, drawing up large streams before the water is frozen and launched in the form of deadly icicles back towards the tanks below. Dozens of large ice spikes rain down on the tundra tanks, shattering like glass against their steel hulls. Some of the spikes are lucky enough to be shot straight through the turret opening impaling the firebenders inside. The infantry behind the tanks are forced to take cover from the rain of icicles, losing their own progress up the slopes.

The deep purple of twilight gradually grows darker and darker, the morale of the water tribesman begins to grow as the rays of bluish white light appear over the top of the city. That moral vanishes almost as soon as it comes. The light of the full moon is replaced by a lunar eclipse, staining it a blood red. The darkness of the blood moon almost makes the night pitch black, only being illuminated by the bursts of fire that the rapidly ascending firebender battalions are firing towards the wall. The moment the sky turned red, waterbending failed. Ice spikes mid throw instantly melt and fall to their benders, the ones in flight splash harmlessly over the infantry and the wall begins to crumble under the brunt of the attacks. The bleeding sky vanished just as soon as it came, revealing the blue light of the full moon once more. With the full moon empowering their bending, Pakku twirls a waterspout around his waist and scales the icy slopes down towards the tanks leading a counter attack. Over the crumbling ice wall, the roar of the water tribe warriors letting out a battle cry echoes through the city as benders and warriors alike flood down the icy slopes; their ice shoes digging in, providing them traction.

Almost an entire battalion of firebenders is washed away in seconds, waves, streams and torrents of water tear through the tundra tanks and completely extinguish any firebending sent towards them. Pakku himself sends out dozens of bladed crescent waves from his waterspout cutting down men and machines alike. He slams the waterspout down to the ground creating a massive field of ice spikes jetting up from the ground piercing through the tanks as if they're made of paper. He stands to his feet preparing to continue the counter assault when a wave of heat washes over his back. Orange light shines over him and instinctively he ducks to avoid an incoming attack from a firebender he missed but the attack never comes. He turns around expecting to see more firebenders but he sees something that shakes him to his core. Over the top of the chief's longhouse, a massive plume of fire screams into the night so massive that even almost half a mile away from it he can still feel the heat of the inferno. Around him the other fights stop as waterbender, and firebender alike stop and stare up at the firestorm above them. Pakku's eyes are glued to the firestorm blasting over the top of the longhouse, he's almost blinded when the inferno suddenly turns bright blue and white and explodes outwards with even more furocity than before.

The cobalt firestorm blasting over the side of the glacier is so hot that the soldiers below have to shield themselves from the heat, the ground becoming slick as the top layer of ice melts from the heat. Every single man fighting in this battle is forced to shield their eyes from the intensity of the flames. As the heat dims, Pakku is the first to remove his hand from over his eyes, watching in confusion and slight fear as the surrounding fires are lifted from the surroundings being drawn upwards towards the peak of the city. The wind sucks what little snow there is on the ground as it increases with intensity. From his point of view a massive white tornado begins to lift over the glacier and high into the night air, two glowing points at the apex of the tornado give him the only hint as to what it is. Then it vanishes, dropping below the long house for a brief moment before that same glow spreads from the spirit oasis and over the surrounding glacier. He watches as a large mass of glowing water grows taller and taller over the longhouse then the glacier itself. Arms form on the side of the large creature as it continues getting larger and larger before Pakku's eyes. When it stands to its full height, Pakku recognises the beast from the stories of his childhood. A dragon made of ice and water stands in all its fearsome glory overlooking the entirety of Anga Qel'a.

Towering over the city, the dragon opens its mouth exposing rows of jagged teeth made of ice as it roars towards the city below. Everyone fighting in the city is forced to cover their ears from the volume of the beast. Once its presence is made clear, the dragon closes its mouth and exhales steam through its nose as it begins moving towards the battle below. The watery form of the beast easily washes over the chief's palace before gliding it's way towards the city below. As it approaches the battle, the attacking firebenders react instinctively, throwing fireballs and spraying flames towards the sea dragon. The avatar raises his hand within the body of the beast, stealing away the momentum of the flames heading towards his body. The fire sprayed towards it is sucked away from its path before circling the massive beast then being sent back towards the benders who threw it. On the retaliatory attack, the fire condenses into tighter fireballs and turns blue before slamming into the tundra tank that shot it. The flames reduce the warmachine to little more than glowing hot slag that begins melting through the ice. Seeing what happened to the tank that tried attacking the sea dragon, the remaining tundra tanks in the battalion immediately shift gears and try to drive away from the massive beast. Though the avatar doesn't let them get very far.

The snake-like body of the sea dragon straightens out and begins to puff up as bubbles begin floating up through its body up towards its mouth. Vapor begins wafting off of the top layer of water as the temperature increases rapidly. The neck of the beast bows out slightly as it rears backwards, its whiskers curling up as it prepares for this next attack. Around him, the water tribesman bow before the great beast making it clear that they are on the Dragon's side in this. The dragon whips forwards, like a viper striking its prey, its mouth opening wide as a torrent of boiling water sprays from the maw of the beast. Steam rises up from the geyser spraying from the dragon's mouth, the boiling torrent washing away hundreds of men in an instant. The tanks are being boiled as they desperately try to escape the fury of the beast, the tanks grinding to a halt under the torrent of water. The dragon moves on, passing over the bowing water tribesman beneath him continuing his rampage against the invaders. Passing by alleyways, washing away firebenders that attack him or even level their weapons his way passing over the warriors who bow before him.

The remaining tanks limp towards the ships, desperately trying to board them to escape the beast. As the warships raise the gangplanks and withdraw from the outerwall of the city, in full retreat but there is no escape. The avatar maneuvers his arms within the watery body of the dragon controlling it and bending the ocean itself. From beneath the waves, towers of ice launch up from the water, splitting one of the escaping ships in two causing the engine to explode. A few of the battleships retaliate, launching flaming boulders at the dragon trying desperately to buy time to escape. The dragon's whiskers coil and whip out in reaction to the flaming rocks being thrown towards it, daggers of ice launch from its whiskers splitting the boulders apart, continuing to fly towards the boats that launched them towards the beast. The icy spears punch holes straight through the hulls of the forward ships causing water to spray up from underneath them as they begin to sink.

Iroh can only watch as the avatar lays waste to the entire fleet out at sea, the ships furthest away from the dragon managing to get away from the carnage but the rest aren't so lucky. He watches as the dragon lifts his hands upwards high into the night sky causing massive waves visible from even at the top of Anga Qel'a. The large rolling waves begin changing colors as the water freezes creating a ring that barricades the ships preventing them from escaping the beast. The water within the beast changes color becoming a deep reddish orange as once again it begins to puff up preparing for another breath attack. This time however instead of boiling water escaping its mouth, a cloud of superheated steam sprays from its maw only visible by it beginning to condense into white mist in the frigid night air. The blistering heat of the steam breath attack causes the metal beneath the attack to begin to glow a near cherry red from the intensity. The dragon shifts its attention to the surrounding ships in the armada continuing the deluge of steam almost melting the metal beneath it. The dragon slowly diminishes from its swelled size as it gets to the tail end of the breath attack. Once the breath attack ends, it attacks again, swiping its arms upwards splashing the glowing hot metal hulls with ice cold water. The shock of the near freezing water on the glowing metal causes it to contract so fast that the ships creak and the metal cracks under the strain.

The weakened metal practically shatters under another onslaught of bending attacks unleashed by the avatar. The water corralled within the icy walls begins twisting as the beast flows its arms around and in front of itself. The current is getting faster and faster, beginning to drag the damaged ships with it as it drains to the bottom of the ocean. The avatar creates a maelstrom almost a mile wide pulling dozens and dozens of ships in towards each other and towards the center of the whirlpool. Careening and bashing against each other the warships slam into each other as they funnel down to the bottom of the whirlpool. Ships break apart leaving shrapnel in the water, men and war machines being dragged down to a watery grave at the behest of a beast their nation once revered. Aang, Iroh, Katara, Sokka and Yue cannot watch as the avatar shows no mercy, drowning each and every single ship that he captured within the ring of ice. The last ship to be dragged down to Davy Jones's locker is the very same flag ship that Admiral Zhao arrived on.

Once the threat is over, the great beast sinks underneath the waves riding the current back into the city. Flowing backwards up the grand waterfalls and up towards the spirit oasis, returning to the small pond where the ocean and moon spirits swim with each other for all eternity. Tui and La leave Zuko on the grass in front of his friends before returning to the small pond. Yue looks down at the moon spirit, locking eyes with the fish as it stares back at her for a moment before shifting its body and resuming its endless chase around its partner. The fatigue of the avatar state leaves Zuko unconscious as he's returned to his uncle's side. "Let's get him inside, he needs his rest." Iroh says as he crouches down to lift up his nephew's body. "Take him to the palace, he can rest there for tonight." Yue says as she leads them out of the oasis and back towards the palace itself.

Despite a vague feeling of fatigue over his body, Zuko slowly opens his eyes as consciousness returns to him. The ice and wood roof being the first thing he sees in the small room. It's far different from the small hut house that he and the others have been staying in since they arrived but at least he isn't cold. Underneath him are soft pelts cushioning him from the ice beneath, and he finds himself within a thick sleeping bag. Across from him a small fire sits in a pit on the floor heating the room, and beside where he's sleeping is a bowl of rice and fish, still hot. He sits up from the sleeping bag taking in more of the room around him before seeing that he's alone. He stretches and pops his back before turning to his meal, slowly eating the rice as memories of the previous night start flooding into his mind. "I figured you would be craving something from home so I prepared this myself." Iroh says as he pushes open the flaps to the room where Zuko had been sleeping. "You've done a great service to these people, protecting them from Zhao and the invasion."

"I can't get the image of Zhao out of my head, the last thing I remember was spraying fire at him and seeing the pain on his face as I burned him alive. Then it all went white." Zuko responds, Iroh doesn't respond for a moment, instead opting to bring over a pot of tea, that he had prepared for this morning, to his nephew's side.

"It was him or the world Prince Zuko. His actions would have doomed humanity, he chose his fate and it's best not to dwell on that past decision. You did what you had to do to protect the world, and Zhao walked headlong to his fate and he ignored every warning and every chance I gave him." Iroh says as he pours a cup of tea for his nephew, "it's good to finally see you again my s... My nephew."

"It's good to see you too, Uncle." Zuko responds as he takes a sip from the tea. "I never could make this like you could." he says.

"It takes years of practice, though when you're my age I'm willing to bet that any tea you make will be the most delectable tea in the world." Iroh responds with a soft smile on his face. "The people want to greet their savior."

"I kind of figured that... but I don't feel like a hero. I feel like a villain, the enemy of my homeland, the enemy of my father." Zuko responds, taking time now to continue eating.

"You are not their enemy Prince Zuko, they are yours. When you began this journey I knew that this would happen, but it was for the best that I told you that Ozai would accept you back as a fully realized avatar... I'm sorry I lied to you Prince Zuko." Iroh says.

"I figured out after the incident at the shipyard that you did, people have been lying to me my whole life. Azula, my father, I know that you only did it to protect me but... it still hurts." Zuko responds as he begins playing with a wad of rice in his bowl.

"I hope that you can forgive me, my nephew, I feel as if you're the only family I have left." Iroh responds, rubbing his hand on Zuko's shoulder in a fatherly manner. "Ever since I lost my son..."

"Uncle... you don't have to say it"

"I look at you as if you were my own."

"I know..." Zuko responds, though as much as he wants to continue that thought he doesn't. "I forgive you."

"Your words do me great kindness my nephew." Iroh says as he stands to his feet. "Now, it's best that we look to the future, the people want to see you. Avatar Zuko. I'll let you get dressed." With that last statement, Iroh leaves the room allowing Zuko to properly get dressed.

His normal firenation clothes are still waterlogged from the previous night, with them hanging on a drying rack by the fire, beside his bedding is a folded set of clothes and parka from the northern watertribe. He takes his time putting on the set of long johns, regular pants then fur lined pants over top of each. Flashes of Zhao's terror stricken face blitz through his mind as he continues to slowly get dressed. A simple cloth shirt then a pelt coat and finally a parka to go over it all are thrown on over his body to protect him from the cold. Once fully dressed he walks over to a small basin of water to look at his reflection. The same old scar takes his attention immediately but, at least today it looks a little more faint than usual. Taking in a deep breath, Zuko drinks the rest of his tea before making his way towards the opening of his room. As he walks into the grand hall of the chief's palace almost everyone within the northern watertribe is present to see him. "Avatar Zuko." Chief Arnook says drawing the avatar's attention to the older man standing in front of the large crowd. "On behalf of the entire northern watertribe, I thank you and the spirits for saving our lives, our way of life and our entire bending discipline from the firenation invasion. For as long as you live, you will always be welcome here. All hail the Avatar! The Dragon of the North!" Arnook shouts causing the villagers to break out into uproarious cheers and chants in his honor.