CHAPTER ONE
Aang looked up when the Fire Lord fell, a look of equal pride and horror strewn across his face. Katara looked from the shore, tears streaming down her cheeks. Aang had done it, defeated the Fire Lord, but he didn't know. Didn't know that Sokka and Suki were gone, blown to bits in the blimps, burned, charred, dead. Katara started to run past the Fire Nation Soldiers and they tried to stop her before the ocean moved, faster than wind, and hit them, throwing them to the ground, while Katara stayed dry. She sprinted to Aang as the Water Tribe men locked the Fire Lord up in chains while he watched silently. Aang turned to her, tears in his eyes, and collapsed.
Katara sat up in bed, a scream stuck in her throat. Toph was laying in the bed across from her, ears bandaged. Aang was curled up and the end of the infirmary. Zuko was nowhere to be seen.
Katara stood to her feet, swaying a little and walked down the hall, her feet padding against the cold, stone floor. She found the room that was made up for her that she was too afraid to sleep in. She pushed to metal door open and walked in. Moonlight filled the whole room and she sat down in a patch of it. Loss hit her like a wall and her breath caught in her throat, despair and desperation filling her. She sobbed without tears, half screaming. She pulled out her knife from the sheath on her thigh and quickly dragged it across her already scar covered arm. She watched the blood fall, release and numbness filling her as the blood flowed down her arm.
She was doing to stop then, heal herself with her Water Tribe water.
The blood kept falling.
She crawled over to the window and pulled herself up to look out over the grounds. She pushed the glass open and a breeze flowed through the room.
She thought of her friends and how nothing would ever be the same. Aang didn't talk to anyone, Toph had lost her hearing, along with her already-gone eyesight. Sokka and Suki… Sokka had thrown himself in front of sword to save her and she had helped him to a level part on top of the blimp before it had blown to pieces. Her father couldn't be found.
Katara's eyes found the white marble graves of her brother and Suki and slowly climbed onto the windowsill. Her hands found the side and she looked out along the horizon and moved towards the edge. Her toes were over the side when someone whispered her name. She froze and didn't turn. Zuko's word seemed to echo in her ears.
"Your arm…" she turned around and looked at him, looking at her arm. He was horrified, disgusted, hurt. "Katara, what have you done?" He was angry. She moved back until only her toes were on the sill. "Katara, don't." She closed her eyes.
"Why?' It was barely a whisper, but he heard.
"For me, Katara, please, don't."
"You?" her eyes opened and she stared at him.
"Me! I love you, Katara, I have, for so long. I want to be alive so I can keep loving you." She moved forward a little and he held out his hands.
"Zuko, everything is gone. Everything. Aang lost the will to move, to think, and Toph can't hear or see, Sokka…" Her words broke off with a small intake of breath and she moved backwards more.
"Listen to me. Aang can get better, you can heal Toph, I'm here. Live for me. I know things are hard, but I can help you, we all can." Zuko inched towards her, hands touching the windowsill and looked up at her, tears in his eyes. Yes, everything was wrong, yes, everything was terrible, but he loved, he loved like he never hand. He loved like she was all he had left. He loved her like Mai had loved him.
"Aang can get better?" she asked, her voice desperate. Zuko nodded, stretching out his hand to her.
"Please," he whispered. She took his hand and stepped down from the window, into his arms. He wrapped his arms around her and stroked her hair. She didn't move.
"Aang, come on, stand up." Aang stood to his feet, linking hands with Katara. He hadn't talked yet, but Katara wasn't giving up hope. She spent everyday with him, walking him around, talking to him, coaxing him from his hole in himself. Zuko watched from his quarters as Katara and Aang walked, hands clasped. Toph was sitting on a bench, waiting for her daily healing. Katara sat Aang down and pulled water from the fountain next to her. The water began to glow as she put it over Toph's ears.
"I do hope you talk soon," Katara said to Aang on a day a few weeks later as they sat next to the fountain. Aang took her hand and touched her face with his free one. She looked at him and he smiled, moving forward and kissing her softly. It wasn't the first kiss they had shared and it wouldn't be the last. He grabbed both of her hands and looked into her shining blue eyes.
"Katara…" he murmured. Tears brimmed her eyes and he smiled. "Will you marry me?" She froze, didn't smile, didn't frown, didn't breathe. Marriage. Love. She could feel Zuko's stare on her, could feel his hurt, his ache, his wistfulness. She wanted more than anything to say no to Aang. She wanted to run to Zuko and wrap him in her arms, hold him, kiss him. Be with him. But reason took over. She couldn't hurt Aang, not after all he'd been through. He could fall back into his hole, his pain and inner death. No, she couldn't leave him.
"Yes." she said. A Water Bender and the Fire Lord could never be together. Aang grinned and wrapped his arms around her. She heard a distant crash.