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~~~
Aang had gone into the Avatar State. Katara was in the octopus stance fighting off the Dai Li. She watched as he rose into the air. Aang had been struck by Azula. Tears dropped from Katara's eyes. She created a wave that devoured Zuko and the Dai Li and caught Aang as he was falling. She held his body in her arms. She had lost him. He was gone.
Zuko and Azula started walking towards her. Suddenly, a blast of fire came from her right, blocking Azula and Zuko. It was Iroh.
"You've got to get out of here!" he said, taking a defensive stance, "I'll hold them off as long as I can!"
He started sending fireballs all over the place. Katara used water to propel herself upward, allowing her to escape with Aang's body.
She got onto Appa, escaping with Earth King Kuei, Sokka, and Toph. Katara pulled out her Spirit Water to heal Aang and used it on him. Only this time, it didn't work.
"Aang?" she sobbed.
Suddenly, everything disappeared and everything was pitch black. It was only her and Aang's body left. Aang's tattoos and eyes turned into pure darkness.
"You allowed me to die, Katara! You could've saved me!" his body spoke.
Tears started dripping down her face.
"I trusted you with my life! I was wrong! I couldn't trust you!"
She started crying even more. His body disappeared into the darkness.
"Aang? Aang!?" she called out.
Katara was asleep. She woke up to the sound of knocking. She wiped her eyes. She had been crying and talking in her sleep. Katara went over and opened the door.
"Katara? Are you okay?" Aang questioned.
She didn't say anything and just hugged him tightly. He was caught off-guard, but he hugged back.
"I'll ask you again, are you okay?" he said in a caring tone.
"Yeah, I'm okay," she responded.
"Are you sure? You have tears in your eyes and you were calling my name."
Katara looked back and didn't answer. Then she looked back at him and she was blushing this time.
"Aang," Katara started.
"Yeah?"
"Do you think I-I could maybe... I don't know... sleep in your room tonight?" She asked him, blushing even more.
"Ummm... sure!" he said enthusiastically.
She hugged him once more.
"Thanks, Aang," she kissed him on the cheek.
Aang returned to his room. A few moments later, Katara opened his door. Holding a sleeping bag and her pillow. She laid it down next to Aang's bed. They laid down and stared at each other. Admiring one another.
"Goodnight Katara."
"Goodnight Aang."
They fell asleep turned towards each other. Katara's nightmares disappeared. Instead, she had dreamed of herself and Aang.
~~~
Sokka started knocking on Katara's door. "Katara!" he yelled, no answer. "KATARA!" he yelled even louder. Still no answer. "ARGH!" he barged through her door.
Her bed was empty. He went downstairs, no Katara or Aang. He started getting suspicious. He returned upstairs and slammed Aang's door open. The noise caused Katara to wake up.
"YOU SLEPT IN AANG'S ROOM?" Sokka said angrily.
"I HAD NIGHTMARES LAST NIGHT, SOKKA! I SLEPT IN HIS ROOM BECAUSE I THOUGHT IT WOULD HELP!" she yelled.
"What? You still need someone to tuck you into bed and help you with your nightmares?" Sokka said teasingly.
Katara water-whipped him in the face. "OWW!"
She grabbed Sokka by the ear and threw him out of the room. She looked into Aang's bed only to notice that he wasn't there.
"Katara and her stupid waterbending," he rubbed his cheek, grumbling to himself.
She opened the door and grabbed him by the ear again. "Sokka? Where's Aang?"
"I don't know. That's why I woke you up, to ask you. We have a Harmony Restoration meeting soon.
They heard the front door open. The siblings rushed down the stairs.
"Oh, hey Sokka," Aang said.
"Hi Katara," he said as he kissed her cheek.
"Where have you been?" Katara asked.
"I went to Iroh's teahouse."
"Why'd you go there?" Sokka asked.
"I've been thinking," he started. "The Avatar must master all four elements, right? So that means I should learn all the techniques. I asked him if he could teach me to generate lightning."
Katara remembered her nightmare from last night. Her legs started shaking a little bit.
"Are you sure about learning how to generate lightning?" she asked with a tad bit of nervousness.
"Yeah, I mean, I'm probably never going to use it, but I thought I would need to know just in case we're in a dire situation." Those words made Katara a little more nervous. "He's teaching me after the meeting, right behind the teashop, then we'll go drink some tea afterward," he said.
"I'll go with you and watch you do it," Katara said, hugging his arm.
"I'll go too," Zuko chimed in, sitting on the couch. "I've already tried to do it once, but I'm ready to try again."
"Yeah, I'll go too," Sokka said.
Mai walked down the stairs. "Wait, what's happening?" she asked, rubbing her eyes and yawning.
"Aang and Zuko are going to learn to generate lightning from Iroh after the meeting is over!" Sokka exclaimed.
"Zuko's going? Well, I guess I'll meet you guys there."
"Where are we going?" Toph asked, walking into the room from the kitchen.
"We're meeting up behind the Jasmine Dragon after our meeting," Aang said.
"Cool," Toph responded.
Suki opened the front door. Sokka ran over and kissed her on the cheek multiple times.
"So we're going to meet at the Iroh's?" she asked.
Sokka stopped. "Wait, how'd you know that?" he asked.
"The window is wide-open. I was taking a short walk down the neighborhood and heard you guys talking as I approached the house."
~~~
Katara couldn't focus during the meeting. All she could think about was her nightmare last night.
"Maybe the nightmare was a sign," she thought.
She looked over at Aang as he laid back in his chair, almost falling asleep.
"Maybe it's warning me and it's telling me to stop Aang from learning to generate lightning."
The meeting ended a few minutes later.
"Okay Zuko, you ready?" Aang asked.
"Yeah, come on let's go to the Jasmine Dragon."
Sokka, Katara, Aang, and Zuko rushed over to Iroh's teashop. The rest of the Gaang were waiting there.
"Are you ready, Aang?" Iroh asked.
"Yes, Sifu Iroh." Iroh chuckled at this.
He fixed his gaze on Zuko. "What about you, my nephew? You ready to give it another shot?"
"I'm ready, Uncle."
Iroh gave them the same lecture that he had given Zuko some time ago.
"Zuko, why don't you go first?" Zuko nodded and started doing the motion for the lightning technique.
Iroh redirected his gaze towards the Gaang. "You guys might wanna back up."
Everyone took a few steps back and watched as Zuko started creating lightning.
"I'm doing it," Zuko said with happiness. The lightning then exploded in his face.
"Zuko, stay focused," Iroh said.
Zuko tried again and it exploded once more. "ARGH!"
"Zuko, you must remain calm," Iroh said. "You must focus on separating and guiding the energies. Remember that you are its humble guide."
Zuko tried it again. This time he created a lightning blast and sent it into the sky. Everyone applauded, except for Katara. Worry was visible on her face and in her eyes. Her legs were jittery and her heartbeat was fast.
"Okay Aang, it's your turn."
Aang nodded and started walking towards Iroh. Katara pulled his arm back.
"Katara, what are you doing?" Aang asked, confused.
There were tears in her eyes. "Aang, I never told you about what happened last night."
Aang nodded, urging her to continue. He had a worried look on his face.
"I dreamt about the Crystal Caverns when Azula shot you," she choked on her words. "The same thing happened. You fell and I caught you."
Aang started to get more worried as tears started dripping down her face.
"We escaped on Appa, an-and I used the Spirit Water on you. Only that time," she looked back and shut her eyes. "It didn't work," she whispered.
Aang held her hands.
"Everything turned dark and it was just me and you. You told me that I fai-"
Before Katara could finish, Aang hugged her tight. "You didn't fail me. There wasn't any way we could've known about that. There was nothing you could've done." She sobbed into his shoulder as he continued. "But we both have to do this, Katara. Lightning still scares me too, I didn't get over it."
Katara looked into his eyes.
"We need to face our fears," he told her while wiping her tears away.
"Okay," she whispered.
Aang walked over to Iroh.
"Ready?" Iroh asked.
Aang nodded with affirmation. He soon generated a powerful beam of lightning and sent it straight into the sky.
"Wow, I've never seen someone get it so fast," Iroh said in awe.
"It was incredible, having so much ene-" Before he could finish speaking, Katara ran over and hugged him. "Katara..." he said with embarrassment. Iroh chuckled at the sight of them.
She hugged him super tight and she didn't let him go. Tears of joy ran across her face and she giggled out of pure happiness.