Self-Fulfilling Fortunes

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters of Avatar: The last Airbender.

~A~

It had been silent for hours already as the small group lost themselves in their own thoughts, the missing avatar worrying all the friends as they headed into the earth kingdom at Zuko's direction in search of him.

Sokka was tired of chasing his thoughts around his head in fruitless circles though, and he looked up, his gaze going from Suki to Toph and then on to his sister, who was kneeling up near the front of Appa's saddle just above the firebender and staring out past him into the horizon tensely.

He sighed quietly. She'd been like that all day, ever since they'd found the young airbender missing that morning, and he was beginning to worry. Aang, you'd better come back – and survive the fight with Ozai, or else my sister... No. He refused to even finish that thought. The monk was many things, but a coward he was not. And besides – Sokka was well aware of how the boy felt about Katara, and he'd never be able to stay away from her for any length of time, anyway. As for the looming fight with Ozai... well, he had faith that his best friend would win. That's the only option there was, really.

Maybe he should share those thoughts with Katara...

"Hey, Suki, Toph... would you guys trade places with my sister for a little while?" he asked quietly. "I need to talk to her."

Both girls nodded as Suki looked at him searchingly, but they began to scoot up to the front of the saddle, the Kyoshi warrior tilting her head in Sokka's direction when the waterbender looked at them oddly.

"Boomerang boy wants to talk to you," Toph said gruffly, not even needing to be able to see to know she was giving them a funny look.

At first not inclined to chat, even with her brother, Katara changed her mind when Sokka met her gaze with a serious one of his own that brooked no argument. "Fine," she sighed after a moment; she'd never been able to fight the 'big brother' expression. Scooting around to the back of the saddle, she settled herself next to him and waited for him to speak.

"It's going to be okay, Katara," he started softly, trying to keep the conversation as private as was possible while on the back of a sky bison and flying through the air with several other people. "I know you love Aang, and he'll be fine. He'll come back."

A fierce blush washed across his sister's face and she folded her arms defensively over her chest. "What are you talking about?" she hissed. "I-"

"Katara, stop," Sokka replied sternly, holding up a hand to halt her denials. "You're my sister. I know you. And you love him in a way that's very different to how you love our friends or me and dad and gran gran, so don't bother lying about it."

She turned her face away, a stubborn expression on it as she blushed even deeper. "What gave you that idea?"

"Hm... I don't know," he began sardonically. "What about the fight with Hama? I was an idiot not to see it sooner, actually. Oh, I already knew way before that how Aang felt about you, but you were a little harder of a banana-nut to crack, so it took a lot longer for me to realize your true feelings, even with how you acted when Azula shot him full of lightening."

Frowning now, she turned her head back to stare at him, her mouth agape. She was too stunned at his assertion to even take issue with his reference to Aang's death, which would normally have had her snapping his head off. Once she regained control of her astonishment enough to speak, she could only repeat, "Hama?" with bewilderment.

Sokka chuckled a little at her reaction before going serious again. "Yeah, Hama."

"What about all that with Hama makes you think that I... that I..."

"Love Aang?" he quipped sarcastically. "When Hama took control of he and I, you froze both of us to trees. But despite the fact that I'm your brother, your family, you didn't bother to apologize to me for slamming me into a tree and freezing me there. You apologized to him, though. You were very worried that he'd be upset with you for doing it – I could tell from your voice, and that you really hated having to do it to him in the first place."

The teen blinked and then flushed some more and avoided his gaze again. "Is that all? You're really digging, Sokka. That's... that's just silly."

Beginning to get annoyed with his sister's refusal to admit her feelings, he sighed heavily. "Give it up, Katara. I already know! There's no point in denying it anymore! And no, that's not the only thing that's given it away. How about the fact that the only reason you used bloodbending against the old bat in the first place was to stop him from being impaled on my sword? You should have seen your face. That wasn't the look of fear you get from a friend being in danger. That was the look I had when I lost Yue to that damn Zhao's scheme to destroy the moon spirit... the look you had when you lost him to Azula's scheme to destroy the avatar and conquer Ba Sing Se," he added softly. "It's the look of utter terror you get at the thought of losing someone you're in love with. That's why I said I should have noticed your feelings sooner, but I was hiding my head in the sand, I guess."

All desire to continue arguing with him leaving her at the distress she could hear in his voice at talking about Yue, Katara slumped against the back of the saddle and stared down at her clenched hands, her eyes going unbelievably sad. "He has to come back, Sokka, he just has to," she whispered. "I was so stupid, and I told him I was confused when he tried to talk to me about his feelings at Ember Island, you know, during the intermission of that awful play. I hurt him so much... I know I did," she finished, sounding more defeated and hopeless than the warrior had ever heard her.

He didn't say anything for a moment, thinking about what she'd said. He shook his head. "Why'd you do that?" he asked, though he thought he might already know the answer.

"Because... because... I was scared," she finally admitted, completely ashamed of what she'd done to her best friend because of her own fear. "I was never really confused about my feelings for him after Ba Sing Se. It was hard enough to survive the pain when mom died... but Aang? When I saw him fall after that-" she clenched her jaw to keep from using a foul word to describe Zuko's sister, no matter how much she wanted to, "-I... the pain was more than I could bear, Sokka," she cried softly, tears welling in her eyes. "If he hadn't come back I think I would have died, too. And I was terrified of going through that again – I still am. So I just... I guess I was just lying to myself, trying to convince myself that he was a friend and nothing more. It would be hard to lose a friend, but you were right about what you said a minute ago," she said in a stark voice filled with pain. "It's something infinitely worse to lose someone you're... in love with."

Sokka felt tears begin to sting his eyes as he looked at his sister. He knew all too well what it felt like to have your entire world destroyed, and he didn't ever want his sister to know that feeling again – once was enough, though logically he knew she'd be faced with it again at some point. And even though she'd managed to use the spirit water and return Aang to life, it didn't change the fact that the memory of that most horrifying of feelings was now burned into her heart and soul, and it was one a person just didn't ever forget. You couldn't.

Wrapping his arm around her, he squeezed her a little but didn't say anything, knowing she wasn't finished.

"I didn't really think about it until last night while I was trying to sleep," she continued, her head hung low as she let it all out. "For some reason I was terribly restless, I kept having strange and confusing dreams and drifting in and out of sleep. Finally I stopped even trying to rest and just laid there worrying. And it occurred to me what a terrible thing I'd done to him by trying to hide from the possibility of losing him – I was protecting myself from being hurt by hurting him, instead." She sobbed bitterly then, soft sobs filled with despair. "I don't deserve him, Sokka... if he even survives the fight with the Firelord."

The water tribe teen was quiet for a while as his sister cried, trying to find some kind of comfort for her. Then it hit him – something he hadn't thought about in a while. And suddenly he knew it would all be okay. Aang would win and he would return to Katara. "He will... and he'll forgive you, too. He won't change his mind about wanting to be with you. You know why?" When his sister shook her head, he continued. "Because of what Aunt Wu told him."

Katara's sobbing slowed to hiccups and she sniffled and looked at him strangely. "I thought you didn't believe in all that."

"I don't. But Aang wanted to believe what she told him with all his heart and that's all that it'll take to make it come true. It's called a self-fulfilling prophecy. You make your own destiny, little sister, I've always believed that, and that's basically what she told him."

Looking confused, she asked, "What exactly did she say to him? And how do you know about what she said, anyway?"

Sokka smiled. "She told him he had to take control of his own destiny, and I know because he told me about it once when we were talking."

Her face screwed up in disbelief. "Take control of his own destiny? How do you get that he'll still want to be with me from that?"

"Because Aang has always wanted to be with you, since almost day one. We all know it. And because of her words he believes that if he takes control of his own destiny he'll eventually get what he wants – which is what Aunt Wu's words boil down to at their most basic. Take control of your own destiny and actively seek out what you want, and you'll eventually get it. I think that's why he's held on to you for so long despite your avoidance of the subject. He trusts that if he follows her advice, someday he'll be granted the privilege of your heart and you'll return his feelings." The teen shrugged wryly. "And he was right, wasn't he? Aunt Wu was right. And there you have your 'self-fulfilling' fortune."

Katara lost herself in thought, her brother's words making her truly wonder, because she knew how she felt for Aang. She knew she would always love him, and she couldn't even stomach the idea of ever marrying anyone else. 'The man you're going to marry... I can see that he's a very powerful bender.' If that was the case, then it could only be the young monk she'd been speaking of, because that's who she wanted to marry. And it wasn't as if that thought hadn't occurred to her before – when Sokka had made his comment during the eruption of the volcano about Aang being a 'very powerful bender' she'd been stunned, but had pushed the comment aside after a few moments contemplation and forgotten about it, simply not ready to think about the possibility at that time.

But now... now the knowledge filled her with hope. Because she wanted it to be true, and she had every intention of actively trying to make it so. And if Sokka was right then that's all it would take, especially as Aang wanted the same thing. Of course, even if he wasn't and Aunt Wu was truly a fortuneteller then she would still win, because the older woman had predicted just that – she would marry the very powerful bender. Which also meant, as a corollary, that he would survive his battle with Ozai – he had to in order for them to be able to marry someday, after all.

Finally, she sighed deeply and looked over at her brother with a lighter expression than she'd had all day. Sure, she was still worried about her monk, but she was pretty sure that couldn't be avoided when you loved someone like she loved him. But she felt a lot better than she had. And when Aang returned triumphant and with the world finally at peace she would let him know how she felt and beg for his forgiveness for hurting him, because she owed him that and more and she was more than willing to pay whatever price it took for him to forgive her.

As far as she was concerned, any price would be a small one to pay for a lifetime of happiness by his side.

"Thanks, Sokka," she said, turning and wrapping her arms around him in a hug.

He returned her hug for a few moments before pulling away with a scowl on his face. "I'm warning you right now, though – I don't want to see any make-outs, are we clear?"

She giggled and rolled her eyes. "Here I was just thinking that you were finally beginning to grow up, and then you had to go and say that and ruin it for me," she teased. "I should have known I was wrong - you'll never grow up."

And to the tune of his vociferous arguments in favor of his maturity and the laughter of the others Appa flew into the waning daylight as they continued the search for their missing friend, the little bit of levity before the coming battles welcomed by the entire group.

fin

A/N: I actually wrote this about a month ago but forgot about it, and I found it a bit ago and decided to go ahead and post it. I was a little bothered by the fact that we never saw anything of Katara's real feelings or were given any true resolution of all the angst by Bryke. That's where this came from for the most part.

Yes, I'm aware this is almost a philosophical discussion about life and destiny and making your own. Some people believe this way, and with Sokka being the way he is, I believe this would be how he would see the matter. Mr. Science and Reason didn't hold with fortune tellers, and this would be more his cup of tea. Personally, I see it as one of those rather pointless arguments – like the age-old argument about the chicken and the egg. I just don't think it really matters, and I don't actually believe in destiny. But hey... this isn't set in our world, so we can make of it what we want to!