That second "mask" was an entire head carved from wood.

Mabey after zuko's cirsis, Iroh will be put in some kind of danger and Zuko will be unable to help. So he will have to turn to the only person that can still help him, the avatar.

One thing about the Zuko joining theory is that Zuko is a natural leader and too headstrong to let others give him orders. Not only will this greatly hinder the wishes of the Avatar, but if they're on the same side he and Sokka will always be at each other's throats.

and thats exactly the kind of thing I would love to see.
Sokka and Zuko on the same team....think of Katara and Toph in the chase and multiply it by 3

Aang is forgiving enough to tolerate Zuko on the team and knows he is capable of some good
Toph has yet to really meet him so shouldn't have any negative opinion, yet
Katara, eh could go either way. She could either act like she did with Jet and be very untrusting or she could see how he's changed and be fine with him joining, if only to teach Aang firebending

I think it will be Katara that accepts Zuzu first and pulls him into the gang. She'll be the most patient and help him heal some scars, Aang never had a problem with him in the first place, but Sokka will pretty much want to abandon him every chance he gets, especially if the prince and his sister get romantically involved.

Go to youtube??and search >>>??Lake Laogai. :]

I have to dissent and say that I don't see Zuko travelling with the Avatar. But let's not get ahead of ourselves.

Zuko's illness will involve a spiritual crisis. The thing is, we don't know how much of Zuko's inner turmoil is resolved by abandoning the Blue Spirit mask. Maybe he would actively commit any crimes against the Fire Nation as Prince Zuko. I do recall that he was a criminal not for aiding the enemies, but for failing to catch the Avatar. But that still leaves a few key issues unresolved. One, his feelings of pride. Even in Lake Laogai, he still didn't want a life of quiet peace with a 9-to-5 job. These feelings of pride are what hinders his progress in firebending. Two, the issue between himself and his mother. When we saw Zuko in "Zuko Alone", he clearly has his mother on his mind a lot, and, when he was dehydrated, he hallucinated and saw her. Not Ozai, Iroh, or Azula, but Ursa.

The experience with his childhood could be a repressed memory. Perhaps the illness could bring it out, and Zuko resolves to find his mother. Or, perhaps this illness helps him with what Iroh told him. Discovering what he wants from life. Perhaps Zuko resolves that what he wants is to stop the war. Or maybe he wants to be Fire Lord, but he's not going to get it by trying to impress Ozai.

However, Zuko has not mastered firebending enough to teach Aang, not to mention Ba Sing Se isn't the best place to practice it. Perhaps Zuko will travel to find his mother, and, master firebending along the way. Maybe he'll find Jeong Jeong, or maybe he'll learn it himself. Only after Ursa is found and Zuko masters firebending will I consider him teaching Aang.

I haven't seen the report of Zuko's mother being brought back into the story. But I don't think she's actually going to be in future episodes and think she's dead. Where did we get this news anyhow?

Maybe zuko has been brain washed and long feng is alliended with ozai. ozai promising to leave ba sing se alone if he delivers him the avatar. So he brainwashs zuko and the season ends with zuko taking aang to ozai.

if zuko's going through a spiritual crisis maybe we'll find out more about Iroh and his past with the spirits? Are we even talking the same spirits? I dunno, but it sounded good at the time.

^^ they might pull a katara. Aang would start off better or about equal grounds as zuko. Aang loses motivation to firebend again or the first time is still effecting him so zuko surpasses him.

He's probably gonna:

A) Search for his mother (assuming she isn't dead...)

B) Join up with Aang and them and teach him firebending.

Hopefully, whatever he does, he'll catch up with Aang eventually AND Iroh will be with him.....cuz Iroh's kick-ass...

I think that after the finale, Zuko and the gaang will go seperate ways. Because i think that Zuko was seperate the group, like you guys said before he is to headstrong. I think he will find that desires the most to find his mother. He will fix the past, then he will find her therefore fufilling his inner termoil, and realize that now he needs to try to help anng.
Anng will go off to search for a firebender. but thats just me so hey

i heard this from a friend but Zuko eventually joins Aang and gang, they defeat the firelord and shows over... but that is just what i heard, and that's not to say that things can't take mysterious turns every once in a while, but that's just what i heard