Last Words
Summary: Contains major character deaths. Sorry. I'm not even not sorry. I'm sorry. I had to write it.
Rating: T
Word Count: 1770
Disclaimer: Bryke owns these characters. I'm just doing sad things with them.
Air Temple Island was still and quiet as every resident and visitor seemed to believe that any sudden or harsh movement would make exacerbate his grave condition. Even the waves on Yue Bay were strangely calm and reserved given the high tide that was steadily coming in with the rising moon.
Avatar Aang attempted to receive as many people who wished to say good-bye and bid him to travel well in the days before his death. Though he was restricted to his bed, all formality was thrown aside as kings, chiefs, officials of the White Lotus, council men, people of questionable appearance and background, acolytes, former women of comfort, and anyone else whose lives were personally affected by this one man made their way into his bedchamber to thank him for his influence on their lives. And Avatar Aang was grateful to see these faces on last time, but still he reserved his last day of consciousness for those closest to him. His last words and moments were just for his wife.
Katara sat on their bed, hand running gently over his scruffy beard on his jaw and offering soothing words of comfort as his breathing grew more labored.
"I'm here, Sweetie. We're all right here."
She had seen people die before and death was rarely a peaceful and comfortable event. She knew it hurt. She knew it hurt him to struggle to breath. Air was her love's natural element and it didn't seem fair that he'd have to spend his last moments trying but failing to hold enough of it in his lungs.
Aang groaned slightly, breath wheezing just a bit. At least he was still awake.
"Do you need anything?" She asked leaning over slightly, grayed eyebrows draw together in concern and sympathy.
He gave her a small smile and the slight light that was fading in his eyes flickered a little brighter as she drew closer. He placed his hand on the back of her neck to gently pull her down into a soft kiss, raising his on head just slightly off of his pillow.
"Please, just water."
She smiled at him in return, the soft pleased smile she only saved him before turning to their daughter, "Kya?"
"Of course, Mom." She turned quickly and left the room the fetch chilled water from their icebox.
"Katara, he's…" Toph's voice sounded a panicked as she rose from the sofa she was sharing with Sokka and Suki.
Katara felt her heart speed up as she whipped around to look back at her husband fearing the worst. She placed her hand on his still chest to find his heartbeat still thumping weakly beneath her fingers. Bumi and Tenzin swiftly took two steps closer in fear.
"…he's not conscious. I don't know if…I don't think he'll wake up. It feels like when Azula shot him," Toph finished just above a whisper.
"Aang," Katara attempted to rouse him while keeping herself from falling apart, patting his cheek softly just at Kya returned with the requested water. "Please, Sweetie. Wake up."
Kya's blue eyes grew wide and a little wild with panic. "Mom?! He's not…Dad didn't…"
Katara turned to her daughter, wiping away tears and opening her arms to her crying daughter. "No, he's still there. He didn't say anything after you left to get his water. But the sages will want to know what his last words were." Air temple Island had been still, quiet, and waiting until that moment. But at Katara's words the tears, sobs, and agony could no longer be held back. Their father, husband, friend, and Avatar was slipping further and further away.
He lingered for two days. His state on unconsciousness was unwavering and unnerving. They hoped and prayed to the spirits that he'd wake up again feeling refreshed and renewed and ready for another one hundred and sixty odd years. That would never happen and each one knew this to be true. However each one felt as though they had been holding his or her breath for forty-five long hours waiting for something, one thing or the other, to happen.
Katara sat or laid with him for those forty-five hours, taking less than five minute breaks at a time simply to use the restroom. Her family and friends were kind enough to bring her all that she needed, knowing that these would be her final moments with her partner of over fifty years. She had finally convinced them all to take a break and get some rest for a few hours as she wanted some time to sit alone with Aang. She assured the rightfully concerned Suki and anxiety stricken Tenzin that she'd call if she needed anything or Aang made any changes.
Katara was finally able to breathe a small sigh of relief when she was alone with Aang. She loved her family dearly and needed their support more than she'd ever let on but she needed the space just to gather her thoughts. She needed to convince herself that this was real so she wouldn't feel so lost and disoriented.
She kneeled at their low bed, a task that was a little more difficult that it would have been years ago, and took his tattooed hands resting over his abdomen in much smaller ones. She studied them for a moment, fresh tears springing from her eyes before she spoke.
"I don't know if I can do this," she said softly before chancing a look at his face. His mouth dropped open just a centimeter.
His eyes opened slowly to reveal a tired look of confusion. He blinked once more, before opening them slowly and fully to take in hers with full recognition and clarity.
She stayed still, stunned, and afraid, unsure of what to say and if she was in fact really seeing those gray orbs looking back at her. Her hair loopies swayed slightly from a soft current of air.
"This is the last time."
He exhaled as his eyes slid shut.
She barely registered her voice shrilly calling out her brother's name or the heavy thuds of six foot steps racing to her side. She didn't hear to sobs coming from her mouth or how she called his name over and over again. She didn't feel her children pulling her away and clutching to her tightly.
He lingered for four more hours before finally passing on and the Avatar cycle began anew.
"Did he say anything?"
It was a few hours after Aang died that Sokka finally found his voice enough to ask. The house had quieted down after the initial flourish panic and distress and funeral preparations were now underway. Katara was sitting in the living room of their home tucked under Sokka's arm.
She nodded slightly but didn't move her eyes from the dancing flames in the fire place. Her home felt cold.
"He said it was the last time." She paused for a moment and turned to her brother. "What does that mean?"
Sokka's eyebrows shot up to his receding hairline. "You're asking me? You're the one that knows everything about him down to all that weird slang he uses and how long he takes in the bathroom in the morning. How am I supposed to know what that means if you don't?"
If anything, his response made his sister genuinely laugh if even for a moment at the memory of their lives together.
"I guess I'll just have to figure it out."
It was twenty-one years and two months before Katara found out what her husband's last words meant. Every night for twenty-one years and two months she laid awake at night and contemplated his meaning. He could have meant this was the last time she'd see him or this was the last time he'd be able to speak or be awake. Perhaps this was the last time he'd be responsible for the world? She came to several conclusions, but given her innate connection with her husband every conclusion didn't seem to fit well.
She laid in bed, just as she had for twenty-one years and two months, thinking about his words. But this unlike, unlike others, she was in the presence of the Avatar, her sons, daughter, daughter-in-law, nieces, nephews, and grandchildren. It was Katara's last time that night.
Kya held her hand tightly and offered as many words as comfort at possible. She would have offered her mother something, but she was afraid to leave for even a minute and miss a crucial last moment of consciousness.
"We're here, Mom. It's okay. You can go now. We'll all be okay," Kya whispered as and held her wrinkled hands tighter.
Katara's cerulean eyes closed and she passed into the spirit world quickly and quietly. There was no lingering in a state of unconsciousness.
She inhaled through her mouth before she opened her eyes. Warm air. She flexed her fingers and felt several blades of dewy grass between her finger. It didn't hurt. No arthritis. No cracking, aching joints.
Her cerulean eyes opened slowly as a soft breeze played with her chocolate waves.
He smiled at her. The strong, tattooed arm that was around her shoulders brought her just a little closer. She stayed still, unsure if any of this was real, and blinked up at his youthful face.
Aang's smile grew wider.
"That was the last time."
"I don't understand…I…I never understood what you meant by that. What did you mean?" Her voice was as it was when she was thirty-four.
His watering eyes never left hers and he reached up with his other hand to caress her cheek.
"Baby," he said dramatically, "that was the last time I'd ever have to leave you."
A/N: This was posted on my tumblr a few weeks ago and I wanted to post on here. Holy crap. Like I said, sorry. I'm sorry. So a few points. The idea from this came from how much it would stink for Aang and Katara to always have to say goodbye to one another because of Avatar duties. The other thing that inspired this was the headcanon I've seen recently that Aang airbended that breeze when he saw Katara for the first time. The other inspiration from this was I wanted to write something about his last words being something other than "Will you go penguin sledding with me?" This came of that. I hope you all liked it. I definitely got feels which is weird 'cause it's my own writing. Please excuse any typos or errors…I just gotta post it.