A oneshot that's been festering in my head. I woke up at 3am a month or so ago, and began scribbling this down. It's very short, so don't expect much, but I really liked how it turned out.
It's an idea that intially came into existence when the new Korra information came out. Finding out that Aang died at such a young age shocked me.
Anyway, enjoy.
Disclaimer: I don't, or ever will, own Avatar.
Someone once said that death was never the end, but the beginning. In the Avatar's case, of course, truer words had never been spoken. But even these wise words could never begin to comfort someone who had just lost their soulmate of many, many years. Pure, unimaginable grief, horror, shock, devastation and numbness. The pain: utterly indescribable. One cannot even begin to know how it feels unless you've experienced it first hand. For those lucky enough to have not, it's like a lightning strike through your chest…through your very soul. Katara had a raging wound that she felt every second of the day, and she thought it would never begin to heal.
And Aang was only 66.
The majority of people think that the death of someone close to you is made hardest by the fact that wherever you look, everything reminds you of that person. They are so wrong. Katara didn't feel any worse when things reminded her of her soulmate – she didn't need to. The whole world, her mere existence reminded her of him. The feeling was constant.
She was supposed to be the strong one; the 'mother' of the group. The one who carries on no matter what and looks after everyone else. All the strength within her had long since dissipated. It left her when he left her.
Aang was to Katara like air is to everyone else. Something you need to survive. Something so reliable and trustworthy you don't appreciate it. Something so normal you don't ever have to contemplate losing it.
Katara hadn't said a single word since his death. She was nothing but an empty shell now, a shadow of her former self. Every bit of who she was; outgoing and friendly, had died along with Aang. Katara never cried. At all. She found herself unable to cry - the hole he left was too deep to spark insignificant tears. His death, in a way, had ended her own life. She had locked herself within the family home in Ba Sing Se and refused to see anyone but her children. Still she said nothing. The last thing she had said was to him, and she didn't want to have that taken away from her.
"Goodnight."
That was the last thing she had said to him.
On the few occasions they'd spoken about it, Aang had always said that the dead never really left their loved ones. Their love could never leave you. So why did she feel so empty? So dead? She'd felt nothing, not his presence by her side or even the warmth of the sun. She felt unloved, for the first time in her life, and that's what hurt the most.
Hope it was okay. :)
To those who feel the need to disagree on the age Aang was when he died:
Multiple sources state Aang was in his mid sixties when he died. If you need absolute proof, think about it:
Korra is seventeen in the new series, and the new series is set seventy years after the old series. 70 - 17 = 53. Aang lived another 53 years after the old series. He was already 12 (yes 112, but his body's age was 12) so 12 + 53 = 65. His maximum age was 66, since some believe Aang had turned 13 by the end of the series.
Sorry. He was 65/66 when he died.
Just had to ensure no one thought it was an error. Anyway, let's forget it. I hope you enjoyed my latest pieces of crappy writing. - Léa