Title: Cracking Glass
Pairing: Aang/Katara (implied)
Setting: Post-war
Summary: Life is an hourglass, and her hourglass is broken.
It's over, she breathes, her fingers linked with his and a serenely peaceful smile on her face. Over. He nods and tries to smile, forces down the bile in his throat to focus on this breaking girl in front of him. The sands of time are trickling away and he has no eyes for anyone but her.
Don't… worry, her eyes plead in tones of blue. Someone places their hand on his shoulder. She'll be okay, reassures Suki. You have to go now, Twinkletoes, says Toph. She wouldn't want you to die because of this, another voice he can't place.
No, he snarls, anger and fury and desperation running through his voice. It is him talking, but not him at the same time, with all the combined grief of all the Avatars flooding out in one lone word. Not mourning for her, but for their lost ones.
And as he glows eerie blue and casts light on this forsaken place, he deflates.
She is gone, or going, and he will not leave.
He will stay here, even as the glass cracks and the sand runs out.
The funeral is a quiet event. He doesn't know what to feel - he feels numb and pained at the same time, like someone has taken away his heart and carved out his most precious thing and then thrown that to the sea. Behind him, he is vaguely aware of Suki crying and comforting Sokka, of Toph trying (failing) to be strong and fighting back tears. They were three in the beginning, a triangle that would not collapse. Then they were four, a square that sloped from side to side but never fell apart. Then they were five, a pentagon that would not be pushed in. Then they were six, a hexagon that was balanced. Then they were seven, a nonagon that was perfectly divided but still together. Then they got whittled down. And whittled down a little more. And a little more, and the cycle went on. Goes on.
He isn't sure what they are now.
He supposes that without her, they really aren't anything anymore.
They're a little more like nothing.
An hourglass of life turned upside down as its grains lie scattered on the table. He scoops up the cracked glass, stores the pieces in his heart. It can't replace her, but he has to live with just her memory.
It isn't quite the same, but he holds on to his precious pieces of cracked glass anyways.
A/N: Because I'm wonderful at butchering Aang's character, and I did it again. (sigh) Anyways, I ship Aang/Katara too, I just prefer Zuko/Katara. But my Aang/Katara muse went 'I'm still alive, hey!' and this was spawned.