(I don't own Avatar or any of it's characters. I wrote this specifically for my own enjoyment and I thought you'd enjoy it too. I welcome any constructive criticism! This is the prologue to the fanfic I'm writing. Just a taste of how it starts out, I'm still working on the plot and so I apologize if it's awhile before I post again)
An icy wind whipped about the figure standing outside the entrance to a dark and silent igloo. The cold synonymous with what he felt inside. His heart ceased to beat, the blood in his veins icy as the water beneath his feet. Air had always been his companion but he felt no connection with it as he took deep breaths trying to steady his raging emotions. Death drifted from the doorway, beckoning like a soft beacon of light, inviting him to join the one it had just claimed.
He shook his head and lifted his right hand, holding up the staff he had clutched in his fist. He stared at the smooth wood, fingers numb with a lifelessness he didn't wish to linger on. Hope had been snuffed, his beam of light, the stable hand that kept him on the right path through life. Katara.
"Is...she?" A voice called from the darkness. His mind was so benumbed he couldn't place who it belonged to. He looked up but saw nothing save the vast darkness that expanded before him. How ironic that his blackest night should also be on a moonless night. A night when her bending was weakest and the sky was so dark he couldn't see but a few feet in front of him. Remembering the voice he tried to see the owner and he watched as Sokka came into view. Sokka would be hurt, but he had Suki to comfort him. He looked away, forgetting he had asked a question and only the soft whisper of the door flap alerted that he was again alone and not even his being the Avatar could bring back his beloved.
Taking a deep breath Aang let his mind wander into the past, back to the moment he first saw Katara. Cheeks flushed from being in the cold she had been a vision he'd never forgotten. So strong and beautiful he'd know at that moment, she was the only woman he could ever love. The day they had been married, she had been radiant and no bride had ever looked as beautiful as she had. That day, he hadn't thought it possible that he could love her more but he was proved wrong again and again as each year their love drew them closer. Now, after seventy-seven years of marriage, they knew each other so well that everyday was like a well rehearsed dance. They could anticipate every step the other would make before it was taken. They had danced so well, and now, they would never dance again.
The arrow tattoos on Aang's weathered hands glowed briefly and he tapped his staff on the ground causing the wings of the glider to snap out. He launched himself into the air his bones groaning softly, he hadn't flown in quite some time. He flew out over the sea nearby and he kept flying, only stopping when he reached the courtyard of the southern air temple. It was here he still felt whole. The only place he felt connected to the things he'd lost in the past but it was also the only place Katara had no part of in his life. It was here he let the tears fall, it was here he could deal with the pain because the soul of the air nomads would be his comfort.