All right. I couldn't help it. I HAD to get the follow-up out…
DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN AVATAR :(
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The Diamond Heart
Ever since that hard time between Zuko and I, things have gotten different. As I grew further and further apart from my sadness, I grew closer and closer to Aang: the Avatar, my best friend. We spent more time together, making up for all of the lost moments. We would hang out in the tower, or waterbend together from time to time. He started showering me with more gifts and he would present them to me in the oddest of ways. A few days ago I had been walking down to the lake to bathe when a sparkle caught my eye. I looked up and there, hanging from a tree, was a beautiful glass bird. And just the other day, we I was diving in the lake, I found a glass fish, perfectly crafted. Coincidence? I think not.
It was at this moment, in the middle of the night, that we sat together in the tower. It was a new moon and only starlight shown. Aang had recreated all of the roses my ex-boyfriend destroyed, along with remodeling their pedestals. Each doubled as a magnificent candleholder. At the moment, the candles were lit, their flames at such a perfect angle that the light reflected off of the roses, casting soothing colors around the tower room.
"What about that one?" I asked, pointing to a group of stars. We had been discussing the constellations and their stories for a while now.
"That's Illia, the run away bison," Aang replied cheerfully. "What about that one?" he asked me, pointing to another group of stars.
"That's the moon child. There was legend that the moon spirit fell in love with a mortal. Although they always longed to be closer, the bounds of the physical world kept them apart. The moon spirit then wove a pattern into the sky, in the shape of a child for her lover to see, almost as a sad omen to what could have been if they were both mortal," I replied, iterating the Watertribe folk-tale. This went on for while; he would point out a constellation and I would tell the Watertribe version of the story, then I would point out a constellation and he would tell an Air Nomad version.
After a few more stories, we sat in silence, just looking up at the sky. With a sideways glance, I studied Aang. After an intense healing session and proper care, Aang had returned to himself. He had a short growth spurt. I never thought I would see the day when Aang was taller than me, even if it was only by half an inch. He had regained color to his cheeks and some of the old sparkle in his eyes. He was shirtless and lean but strong muscles caught my eye. I quickly averted my gaze blushing. No need to think about my best friend that way. Next thing I knew, I had fallen asleep.
The next morning I had woken up in my bed. Aang must have brought me here last night after I dozed off. I awoke to see a glittering trinket beside my head. It was a small, much faceted heart. Crystal clear, it had a small loop at the top, through which was a dark blue, satin ribbon. I smiled. Aang… After getting dressed and putting the necklace on, I made my way upstairs.
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It was hot. Really hot. The kind of hot that you couldn't escape no matter what you did. What better way to escape the heat than to go to the lake and waterbend for a while? All of my friends had been lounging about in the shade to escape the heat and I couldn't stand not doing anything anymore.
When I made it to the lake, I was surprised to see that my best friend, Aang was there already waterbending. His back was to me and he must not of noticed when I walked up. Gracefully, he twirled the water around in intricate movements, sequences that he obviously made up. It was beautiful though. Ribbons of water dance around as he too twirled rhythmically with it. I stripped down until I was wearing nothing more than my undergarments and the necklace. As quietly as I could, I slipped into the lake and swam up beside him.
"Hey, Aang!" I said once I was right behind him. He jumped, causing the water that just happened to be over my head to fall. "Well, I did want to cool off," I joked.
"Katara, you startled me!" he exclaimed. After taking a moment to calm down he spoke. "Hey, Katara. What are you doing here?"
"Besides the fact that it's like a thousand degrees out here, I was watching you waterbend," I replied bending the water off of me.
"Y-you were watching me?" he stammered blushing. I nodded.
"It was very nice."
"Oh, it's nothing compared to you," he mumbled. I smiled.
"Would you show me?" I asked after an awkward moment.
"What I just did?" he asked. I shook my head "yes." "Whoa, the student becomes the teacher and the teacher becomes the student. I must find a philosophy about that one to bother you later," Aang joked. I smirked and swatted him playfully on the shoulder.
"Will you just show me?" I begged.
"Hmm… all right!" Before I knew it, Aang was behind me. Very close behind me. I could feel his heart pound wildly underneath his warm skin and I was pretty sure he could feel my own pounding heart. From behind, he gently grabbed my wrists in his hands. We began.
"Just like this, Katara," he whispered in my ear as he instructed me. I blushed furiously. Aang must have noticed because I heard him chuckle. Soon though, things had gotten more serious. I had the steps perfectly in order and I was doing quite well on my own. I was careful to twirl and move the water around the both of us, seeing that Aang hadn't moved from his position behind me. His own hands moved and flowed alongside mine in perfect mimicry.
Things started to get more complicated after a while. No longer did we mirror the other's movements. Making it up as he went along, the Avatar's hands danced along my sides, never really touching, as I too improvised. I started to sway and twirl while Aang danced along side. Before we knew what was happening, we were facing each other. I blushed at our close proximity. That's when he almost kissed me. He was leaning in. It was slow, but not at all cautious. Just a little closer…
CRASH!! Something fell out of a tree nearby. We quickly pulled away and ran to see what the problem was. There, in the bushes, were Ty Lee and Haru. Ty Lee's shirt was backwards and Haru was desperately trying to get his own shirt back on. Aang looked up to see what the damage was. He groaned. "My tree house!"
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"Hey." I stood in the doorway of Aang's tower. He sat on the sill looking up at the stars as we often did.
"Hey," he replied quietly. Walking over to him I sat down. "What's up?" I asked. He sighed and didn't answer. He stared off with a smile on his life. After a moment he looked back at me.
"Did you like your present?" Smiling, I nodded.
"It's beautiful," I said putting a hand to my chest, only to find that it wasn't there. I frantically began search my personnel for it. When I stood up, it dropped to the floor. I closed my eyes and covered my ears, not wanting to hear or see the crash. Spirits! It must be completely destroyed. All of his other glass works were so delicate. From the glass roses with their thin petals to the hollow world he gave me. I was sure they would have broken on instant contact with the ground, why not the heart? I opened my eyes to see when I felt Aang's hand on my shoulder. He smirked as he held up the heart.
"You caught it!" I exclaimed happily taking back the heart. He shook his head.
"Silly Katara, even if I didn't catch it, it wouldn't have broken anyway." Now I was confused. Wasn't this made of glass? Of course it would have broken! Apparently, he noticed my confusion and he quickly explained. "This isn't made of glass."
"It isn't?" He shook his head.
"It's diamond. I found while I was searching some of the nearby caves." I gasped. A diamond? I blushed at the thought of Aang giving me something so valuable, so precious, as if it really were made of glass, something he could easily make. Before I could even try to protest about Aang presenting me with something of such great value, his cool hand was over my mouth. "I know what you're going to say, Katara, and I want to hear nothing of it. I just want you to know there were lots of small diamonds like that in the cave and I made gifts for everyone, just ask Toph. It's no big deal, really." After he was convinced that I would try and return his gift, he removed his hand. I sat back down next to Aang and all noises, all sounds, all seemed to stop. Lost in my thoughts, I didn't noticed when Aang turned to me.
"I have another gift for you, Katara," he said quietly, almost nervously.
"Oh, Aang. You've already given me so many wonderful gifts, I don't know how many more I can except," I said blushing. To me, that sounded incredibly stupid. He smiled.
"Don't worry. I think you'll like this gift." I nodded. He stood, going to go get the gift. "Close your eyes," he commanded quietly. I did as told and waited for him to return. Then, the unexpected, but not unpleasant happened. He was getting closer, and soon I could feel his soft breath meet my face. I blushed, but kept my eyes closed. And slowly, too slowly it seemed to me, I felt his lips gently slip over mine, in the sweetest of kisses. He. Kissed. Me. I rolled those words around in my head as he pulled away, leaving me dazed. Finally, after I opened my eyes. I could see his face, still inches from mine, smiling back at me and blushing. Honestly, I was starting to feel dizzy from all of the blood rushing to my face.
I was propelled through time. Memories of when Zuko kissed me, flashed in my mind. His kisses were always so warm, so hot, so passionate. Like he was. But Aang… his kiss was soft, short, and sweet like a piece of candy. I could barely feel his lips over mine when he did kiss me; it was so light and cool. Zuko's kisses always left me breathless and tired. Aang's kiss left me wanting more. He sat back farther, slightly frowning at the fact that I hadn't replied for a while. "K-katara, I… I don't know what came over me. I…" I didn't give him a chance to continue though, because I quickly kissed him once more. He was shock for a moment, but soon melted into the kiss. No, this certainly wasn't like anything I had experienced with Zuko. That's why I liked this all the more. Zuko wanted to plunge to fast into a relationship. Aang was willing to go at any speed. Zuko was aggressive and hot. Aang was gentle and cool. I found myself pulling away, slightly out of breath. The kiss was only a few seconds, but the emotional realization left me winded. I. Kissed. Him. Back.
---
After that one particular night in the tower, Aang and I were inseparable. I could feel Zuko's glare as we passed him hand in hand. I didn't care though. All I saw was Aang. He's all I wanted to see. I wasn't surprised when that dreadful day, the day Aang finally had to face the Fire Lord, was only a week away. We had left the Western Airtemple two months ago and only a week ago had liberated my father and the other warriors we left behind in the Fire Nation prisons. Iroh had met up with us shortly before and helped with the escape. After that one big victory, things became more hectic. Currently, all of us were on an uninhabited Fire Nation island. With the help of Zuko's balloon, Appa, and Air Nomad devices that Teo had modified, everyone had made it safely to the island.
Slowly, Aang retreated back to his rigorous training, although it wasn't as crazy as it had been the night of the first invasion. I hadn't seen him all week. The night before we would face the Fire Lord, I crept into his tent. "Aang?" I whispered.
"I'm awake," he whispered back. I crawled over to him (the tent was very low to the ground) and lay down. He shifted and pulled the blanket over us both. I got as close as I could to him. I wanted to enjoy this. I wanted to feel his presence once more because… although I didn't want to think about it… one of us might not survive tomorrow.
"Nervous?" I whispered after a while. He sighed and nodded. "I wish it didn't have to be this way," I said, although we both already knew that.
"I know," he replied quietly.
"Aang?" I asked.
"Yes?"
"Promise me something."
"Anything," he said sitting up to look at me. I remained on my back.
"Promise me… promise me you'll survive. Promise me you won't get killed," I said dead seriously as the tears began to leak out of the corners of my eyes and down to my ears. I heard him gasp. Placing his hands on either side of my face, he lowered himself down slowly. I felt his lips come over mine and I stopped breathing. Throwing my arms around his neck I held on for dear life. This might be the last moment I'll ever have with him and I'm not going to waste it. I knew that. And he knew that.
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The morning came too quickly. All was still. The quiet before the storm. No one was in the mood to speak. My father and brother didn't rush and attack me or Aang as we both climbed out of the tent. Toph didn't tease Sokka and the Duke idly checked over his blasting jelly supplies. Haru and Ty Lee weren't groping with each other for once, and all of the other Watertribe warriors, along with Piandao and the kids from the Fire Nation school who had rebelled and joined us. Others from the Fire Nation, who were tired of the terrifying reign of Ozai, had also joined us at the island. Even generals in the army had volunteered to bring their Fire Lord down, supplying everyone with weapons and ships for transport. It was a miracle. A miracle…
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"This is it…" Aang said from beside me. We stood below deck, looking on at the gates of Azulon (sp?) through the window. This time though, there was no attack. The large warship, which thankfully fit everyone, passed without even a glance of suspicion from the guards. Appa swam just below, a waterbender keeping him supplied with air. The Fire Nation wouldn't know what hit them. Aang and I stood alone in a room. We hadn't talked much, to nervous about the events that would occur today. His voice had startled me.
"Yah, this is it…"
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The battle was gruesome. After we had docked and stormed the beaches, an alarm went through the city. People were rushing about everywhere in a wild frenzy. Aang, along with Toph and the other earthbenders had disappeared a while ago. She along with the earthbenders, would make sure Ozai didn't try to escape to his bunk. If he did, he would be crushed under pounds and pounds of earth. And if that didn't kill him, well, he wouldn't be able to escape. And to make sure the Dai Li didn't help them, Ty Lee and Mai went along also disabling them and handing them off to the earthbender where they could be destroyed or forced to surrender.
The army was stunned… or what was left of the army. Many had crossed over with their generals. And we had more experience. These were the old, skilled generals who had been friends of Piandao and part of a secret lotus society. They had seen enough war and they wouldn't go down without a fight.
How many men I had felled that afternoon were too many for me to count. I had just… killed… a man when I heard a voice behind me.
"Well, well, well… What do we have here? Could it be that Watertribe peasant from so long ago?" I knew that voice. How could I forget it? That voice had plagued my nightmares for as long as I could remember. I turned. The same cold eyes stared at me as they had in my nightmares. Memories of me as a little girl, sitting beside my dead mother, looking up at those same eyes, fueled my anger.
"You…" I breathed angrily. He smirked and chuckled darkly.
"I should have ended you while I had the chance. You're the Avatar's waterbending master aren't you? Oh, I've heard about you. You're the one who found the Avatar in the first place. Just think, if I had killed you that day along with your mother, none of this would be happening!" he exclaimed gesturing to the battle. "But no matter. I'll just fix that mistake right now…" In one rash moment, I executed a move; a move that I was certain would stop his heart. I had vowed that I would never blood bend another person again. But this man… I never could have counted him as a person. He. Killed. My. Mother. After killing him, I used my water to sever his head.
"That's for my mom, you bastard," I said quietly before turning back to the battle.
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I don't know when it happened. One moment, I was fending off five soldiers, the next, victorious cries sounded off around me from my comrades. We won. Those words echoed around the battlefield. We won. The Fire Lord was dead. In what seemed like seconds, Toph, Sokka, and my father were around me, embracing me. I had never seen my brother cry before, only once when our mother died. I didn't hear them though. My eyes scanned the crowd, the palace, looking for the one face that mattered, looking for the pair of eyes that had captured my heart.
There he was. His kneeling form stood out above all the rest as he kneeled at the height of the steps that led to the palace. I flew then. Tearing through the crowd, trying to get to him. As I got closer, I could see he too, was searching the crowd. When I finally broke through, I stopped. Our eyes met. One minute he was completely exhausted, the next he had bolted up and rushed towards me. We threw our arms around each other. Tears started, on both ends. "You did it, Aang. You did it…" I choked out through sobs. He pulled away ever so slightly to look into my face.
"WE did it," he breathed, his own tears creating paths down his dirt-covered face. I leaned in and kissed him. Nothing mattered any more. The world shattered around us. I didn't care that Aang was badly injured from his battle. I didn't care that my father and brother were stringing out profanities like a sailor while Toph encased them in earth. I didn't care if anyone else was watching. I didn't care about my own injuries, although they were minor. I didn't care that the diamond heart was cutting into my skin as I crushed myself against the Avatar. I didn't care that the blood of hundreds, maybe even thousands, was on our hands. As we broke apart to breathe, he would whisper my name before we plunged in again. All that mattered was he. I didn't taste our tears, our blood, the dirt that covered our faces, as I tasted him. I didn't care anymore. I didn't care.
He was mine now, and there was nothing he could do about it, although, I could tell he wanted me too. Finally we broke apart. I looked around and smiled. We had done it. We had ended the war. And as I looked at the people, rejoicing, I couldn't help but feel my heart burst and soar with joy. I looked back at Aang, the Avatar, my love, as I leaned my forehead against his. "I… I love you, Aang," I whispered. I wasn't sure if he heard me though until he replied,
"I love you too, Katara." Smiling I pecked him on the lips once more before I turned.
"VICTORY!" I yelled joyously to the crowd.
"VICTORY!" they in turn cried back. As I felt Aang's arm slip around my waist, I leaned into his touch as we watched the people. I'm sure that my exhaustion would catch up with me sooner or later, but at the moment, I didn't care about that either. I had let all of my cares go at the moment. Changes needed to be made, starting now. The world needed a solid, lasting peace. The realization occurred to me that I might not see Aang for a long time after this. He would have to do his job as Avatar by restoring peace to the four nations. But as I looked at him, at his sparkling eyes, I got rid of that thought. He wasn't going anywhere, not without me. We had made changes too though. Once, our friendship had been beautiful, but painfully fragile, like the Glass Roses. Now though, our relationship was different. Our love, and hopefully the world soon, would be solid, beautiful, every lasting, like the Diamond Heart…
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This… is the longest work… I have ever compiled… in one chapter!!! It was long and grueling but I finished it! Last night I was laying in bed and came up with this and BAM! It was posted! Now let me point out Aang AND Katara did nothing dirty! Get your mind out of the gutter! Anyway please review! Thus concluding this story!