I apologize for not updating. School started for me and I had a very stressful week. You're going to have to expect less frequent updates.
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Disclaimer: ATLA is not owned by me.
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Chapter 10a
Aang watched as someone started generating lightning. Preparing to strike Katara.
"Oh my spirits! Katara!" he thought. He started to lightning with his movements and then shot his fingers forward. The energy exploded in his face and he watched Katara get incinerated by lightning.
"KATARA!" he screamed but the scene just faded away. He was floating in a world of darkness and he saw her standing a couple of feet away.
"You could have saved me," she said to him in a ghostly voice. Her eyes rolled to the back of her head. Her face was pale, blank, and motionless. Blood seeped out of her eyes and mouth.
"Katara... I..." he started but she didn't acknowledge him.
The scene changed and he saw himself about to be hit in the back by Azula's lightning. This time, he wasn't in the Avatar State. He was turned around, not knowing she was there. The lightning shot forward but was intercepted by another. It was Katara. Aang gasped as he watched her fall to the ground, dead.
"NO KATARA! WHY?!" he screamed as the scene changed. He now saw nothing but heard a voice.
"You must learn to let go," Guru Pathik said quietly.
"What?" Aang questioned, hardly able to hear.
Stars and planets appeared. "YOU MUST LEARN TO LET GO!" Guru Pathik yelled in a deep, distorted voice.
Aang started falling. He couldn't make anything out. It looked like swirls of colors that were blurred out.
He landed on a cliffside. He looked up, only to see that the tunnel he fell through had disappeared. Lightning struck right in front of him.
Avatar Yangchen walked out of the beam of lightning. "You are the Avatar and you must do your duty. The world comes before your own spiritual enlightenment."
Aang woke up in his bed sweating.
"What does this dream mean? Katara is dying and I can't help her. Is it my fault? Would she be safe if I wasn't there? If it weren't for me nobody would ever want to hurt her. Maybe I am putting her in danger by being with her," he thought.
Aang got up and walked out on to the beach. He watched as the waves went back and forth.
"I can't endanger Katara to make myself happy. As long as she is with me, she will be in danger. I will always have enemies since I am the Avatar. I can't let that hurt her. I have to break up with her. I'm doing this for her," he thought.
Tears formed in Aang's eyes at the painful realization. He sat down and began to meditate.
"How do I break up with her? I can't just say it's over. She'd hate me and it would ruin our friendship. I don't want to do that. I just don't want her to be romantically attached to me. Maybe if I got her to break up with me. I could try it. It will be hard because I have to do it in a way she won't hate me." He groaned in frustration.
"Why do I have to be in this situation?" he thought.
Aang got up and headed back to his room. He spent the next couple of hours figuring out how he was gonna do it. He eventually fell asleep in the middle of his thinking.
He opened his eyes to find the sun had risen and he walked downstairs to have breakfast.
"I have to do this," he said, "for Katara."
He entered the dining area and Katara walked up to him to give him a kiss, but he turned away.
"What's wrong, Aang?" she asked, a little upset.
"Uh... um-uhm... nothing. I-I'm going into town," he said abruptly.
"I'll go with you," she replied, still upset about the rejection.
"I... have to... go alone. Yes, go alone. It's... Avatar stuff..?" he was nervous.
Her face dropped. "Okay, I guess we can hang out later then," she said disappointed.
Aang walked out and closed the door behind him. Katara headed upstairs, upset that her boyfriend had rejected a kiss and barely even gave an explanation as to why he headed to town.
"Aang not wanting alone time with Katara? Something is up," Sokka said to the others.
"What was with him, he never wants to be more than ten feet away from Katara," Suki said.
"Yesterday Twinkletoes and Sugar Queen were practically inseparable. Now he goes and rejects to hang out with her and a kiss from her? Something's definitely fishy."
"And what Avatar business would he have here? Nothing happens here but bad plays and beach parties. Heck, crime rates are at an all-time low after we started the Harmony Restoration Movement," Zuko said.
"I don't know but it doesn't really matter. Aang will be fine, he can take care of himself, and he is the Avatar," Toph said.
Katara sat on the stairs. She never went upstairs and heard the whole conversation. She was trying to make up excuses as to why Aang would be doing this.
Aang walked around the small town. He had put on a disguise so people wouldn't recognize him and so that the Gaang would have a harder time tracking him.
There wasn't much to do, so he decided to take a swim. He was careful to not let anyone realize he was the Avatar. He didn't bend and stayed in the deep water where no one could see his tattoos. He also wore a headband. That lasted a couple of hours and then Aang walked back into the town. He saw a poster for a dance tonight.
"That would be fun, Katara would lo... wait I can't take her. I could come by myself and then she could 'accidentally' find out I went without her," he thought.
Aang hung out in the town and the beach. He headed back to the house when it reached nightfall.
"Hey Aang, you're back!" Katara said when he walked through the door.
"Hey guys," he said. Katara walked up to him to give him a hug, but Aang walked around her and towards his room.
"Where are you going Aang? I thought after your 'Avatar business' we could do something together?"
"I can't I have something to do at the town. By the way, does anyone have any dance shoes?" he asked casually.
"Uh, no, why do you ask?" Sokka said.
"Nevermind, I guess I should be heading out," Aang said as he walked toward the door.
"What? You just got here, aren't you gonna eat?" Katara asked.
"N-no, I will eat where I'm going, and I gotta go now. See ya later," Aang said as he ran out the door. It pained him to reject Katara and ignore her.
"Something is going on with him. Where could he be going where he could be using dance shoes and eating food?" Sokka asked himself.
"I don't know, how about a party dum-dum," Toph said sarcastically. "And you're supposed to be the 'smart' one."
"Why would Aang go to a party, and without us?" Katara said confused and a little heartbroken.
"I don't know, but there is only one way to find out," Zuko said.
Team Avatar left toward town to see where Aang was. Aang meanwhile was on the dance floor. Even in his disguise, he got tons of attention. Then one of the many girls that stared at him decided to ask him to dance.
"Will you dance with me?" the girl asked.
"Should I, I still love Katara but this is a party. I could have some fun. It isn't like I am trying to hit on her or something." t
"Sure," he said.
"I'm Kim by the way," she reached out for his hand.
He grabbed her hand. "I'm Kuzon," he smiled, but on the inside, he was dying. The only girl he wanted to dance with was Katara.
They started dancing to an upbeat song. They weren't too close to each other but people noticed their dancing. Soon the whole crowd had surrounded them, cheering them on.
The Gaang arrived at the ball. Everyone was too distracted to identify Zuko.
"WOW, someone here's absolutely killing it!" Sokka yelled. He started to rave.
"Hold up, is that... Aang?" Suki said, pointing towards "Kuzon" and Kim.
Katara didn't say anything. She looked completely destroyed and heartbroken and ran out. Suki and Mai went after her.
Sokka stopped dancing. "Aang is cheating on MY SISTER?! HE'S SO DEAD! NOBODY BREAKS MY SISTER'S HEART!" His face was red and his veins were popping.
Toph pulled Sokka out before he could get close to Aang.
~~~
"Katara! Wait up!" Suki called out to her. Katara didn't listen and ran away with her hands buried in her face. Mai ran across the rooftops trying to catch her, while Suki stayed on the ground. Katara turned a corner and Mai was there. Suki caught up to her and hugged her. She sobbed into Suki. Mai rested her hand on Katara's shoulder.
"I don't understand, I thought he loved me," Katara said between sobs.
"It's okay, we're here for you," Mai said reassuringly.
The girls went back to the house. No matter what Mai or Suki did, it couldn't stop Katara from crying. Eventually, they let her go upstairs to have some alone time to reflect.
Zuko was left to retrieve Aang. Everyone else had gone outside. Zuko decided to wait for the song to end because he didn't want to embarrass Aang. He finished and Zuko walked up to him.
"Um, hey... Aang," Zuko called. Aang turned around and saw Zuko.
"Hey, Zuko what's up?"
"Aren't you supposed to be doing Avatar stuff?" Zuko asked.
"I took a break and came here to have some fun,"
"Oh, so you were having fun?" Zuko said.
"What?" Aang asked confused.
"Katara saw you dancing and she is upset and Sokka is ready to kill you."
"Oh," is all he replied. Zuko was angry but knew it was not his place to destroy Aang. The two boys headed back to the house. They walked into the house.
"Look who's back," Sokka said fuming.
"Who was your friend?" Toph asked.
"I don't know, some girl who was there, why?" he asked, trying to sound oblivious.
"You seemed awfully close," Suki said.
"Nope, just met her, she was pretty good at dancing. But, where's Katara?"
"Upstairs crying," Mai said.
"Oh, I'll go talk to her," he said before walking upstairs.
He walked into Katara's room and found her crying.
"Aang?" she asked.
"Yeah, it's me. Why are you crying?" he said coldly and stretching the you.
She didn't answer and just kept sobbing.
He took a deep breath, struggling to start. "I have to do this to protect Katara," he reminded himself.
"Nothing happened to you. So I danced with another girl. Big deal, if you can't handle having other girls around me then maybe you can't handle this relationship. You're not the only girl in the world. It doesn't mean I don't care about you it's just that you can't be so possessive," he said before leaving the room. He walked into his own room next door and listened to her cry for another hour. He wanted nothing more but to walk in there and apologize. So that she would feel better. But Aang knew this is what he had to do.
After their "talk" Aang and Katara were distant for two days after. Neither spoke much to each other. Katara attempted a couple of times but Aang would shoot her down. Everyone noticed that she went into a depressive state, she rarely left her room. The Gaang barely talked to Aang. They were angry at him for hurting her that badly. Katara wanted to be close again and stop the avoidance but never found the right opportunity. Finally, Katara had had enough, she was going to confront Aang. She found him sitting on the steps that led to the beach.
"We need to talk," Katara said to him.
"Why, what's wrong?" he asked.
"Here it comes, she is gonna break up with me," he thought, bracing himself.
"Aang, I feel like you are avoiding me. Ever since our 'talk', you have been really distant. I don't want to lose you. I love you,"
"Okay, this isn't working, I will try something else," he thought coming up with an idea fast.
"Katara, it isn't you, it's me. I... y-you... I love someone else, my feelings for you are gone. I think we should split up," he said barely able to get the words out straight. Those had been the most painful words he had ever had to utter.
"Aang... you-you love... b-but didn't you love..." she stumbled. Her face was full of sadness and tears were her eyes. Her face turned from sadness to pure rage. She waterwhipped Aang in the face by surprise.
He rubbed his cheek. "Owwwww... what the-" Katara kissed him harder than she ever has. Aang couldn't help but kiss her back.
"I'm such an idiot, now she knows that I still have feelings for her."
She stared into his eyes and then asked, "Aang, do you love me?"
They stared into each other's eyes.
"Yes, as much as I've ever had."
There was a short silence.
"Aang, then... why did you say-" she started.
"-that I didn't love you?" he finished and she nodded.
"I-I had a nightmare. I had failed to protect you. I wanted to protect you, Katara. I thought that you being with me was a danger to your safety. I am the Avatar and I will always have enemies. I thought that if you were with someone else you would be safe. Someone who could give you what you deserve, a nice house, beautiful things, and all his attention. I didn't want you to have inconsistency, danger, and responsibilities that weren't yours to interfere. I just want you to be happy and safe..." he finished.
"Aang, you helped me face my fear of losing you to lightning," she held his hands. "Now I'm going to help you with your fear of losing me."
They stared into each other's eyes.
"I love you and won't be happy unless I am by your side. I'd rather have the best happiness I have ever had for a little bit of time rather than be miserable for the rest of my life," she said.
"Now, please... let me be happy. You're the only person in the world that my heart longs for."
She pulled him into a kiss. They had kissed and they were putting all their passion into it. They sat on the steps for a few more minutes. The moon shined upon them. Katara leaned into Aang and he put his arm around her. There was no talking. Only watching and listening as the waves crashed onto the beach.
~~~
The next chapters follow the original pattern of Maiko and then Sukka. It will return to Kataang.
Skip to Page 13 if you're not interested in Maiko or Sukka.