A/N: So, I'm trying something new here. This is my first A:TLA fanfic so I hope it's at least vaguely enjoyable/interesting, because I kind of thought the idea was cool. As mentioned in the description, this is an AU starting from the Book 2 Finale, the Crossroads of Destiny. In this AU, Aang actually dies in Ba Sing Se and his friends must keep going, trying to defeat the Fire Nation without him. Without Aang's presence, a lot of the events of Book 3 would have gone very differently, and this is a testament to that. This is how it could have gone.

Please let me know what you think of it; please read and review! I'd love to hear your thoughts on how I could improve, or any suggestions you might have, because I'm not finished writing this story yet. I would really appreciate it.

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters, plots, or any other pieces of intellectual property from the Avatar universe.

Prologue/Chapter 1: The Crossroads of Destiny

Katara took a deep breath and steadied her hands near her chest, making sure to protect her core. She gathered water around her in an octopus formation, ready to grab at the multitude of soldiers surrounding her. Aang had just locked himself into a dome of green crystals. She wasn't entirely sure what that was all about, but seeing that he had travelled a long way to meet with the guru, she hoped that what he had been working on, what was about to happen, would save them all. The Avatar State was truly the only thing she could think that could get them out of this situation. Surely, they had struggled before, but surrounded by Azula and that traitor Zuko and about one hundred soldiers, she wasn't blind to the fact that they had little to no chance.

Even with Iroh, the proclaimed Dragon of the West, on their side for whatever reason, she doubted it would get them much further. They were only two people without the Avatar – two people with great power, if she could say so without sounding arrogant, but two people against too many, nevertheless. At best, if Toph managed to join up with them – along with Sokka, she supposed – they might stand more of a chance, but it was still vague at best.

She continued to hold herself in position as everyone waited in tenseness for someone to make a move. She could only assume that the only reason no one was making a move was for the sheer drama of the moment. No one would move on their side unless Azula told them to, or unless Katara and Iroh attacked. Azula was waiting, waiting for the perfect moment to destroy them all. It definitely was not that she wanted the fight to be fair. Azula was never fair.

She could have blown them away at this point. Katara and Iroh could have been fighting for their lives right now, but it would distract from the reveal. Azula knew who the real threat was. For all her terrible, terrible characteristics, she was also highly intelligent. She would not get caught up with people as meaningless as Katara, a peasant, or Iroh, the treacherous uncle. Not when the chance to defeat the Avatar was at stake.

And so, there they stood. In tense silence, with only the nearby flowing of the spring in the background along with the heavy breathing.

Suddenly, a bright light began to shine through the dome. It tilted upward in an intense beam, so blinding that no one could look at it for very long without closing their eyes or turning their heads away.

Bright as the sun, and clearly just as destructive, the beam of light shone through the top of Aang's dome, breaking apart the green crystals meeting at the top.

Slowly, Aang rose. His body was bathed in light, his eyes glowing brightly in the recognizable Avatar State. His hands were outstretched forward, floating upward gently and peacefully. Katara immediately perceived the difference from now, and the North Pole. Aang was so much more in control – his body did not rise as a result of a violent rage or deep-seated anger. He rose by the sheer power of his will, and it was at this moment that the true meaning of Aang's power had hit her.

It was also at this moment that a streak of blue lightning hit Aang.

Thinking back on this moment, while Katara held back her tears, she probably should have seen it coming. With the surprise and awe that came with Aang's transformation, she hadn't considered that others might not be feeling the same. And by others, she meant Azula.

While everyone else stood stock-still, unable to breathe while Aang rose, Azula had slowly lifted her hands and shot out a bolt of pure lightning.

And with that one action, everything froze for a moment. All the people. Their hands. Their elements. Their eyes. And most importantly, Katara's heart.

Aang convulsed in the air for a second, the electricity passing through his body painfully visible, before his agony ended and he plummeted to the ground.

Katara's heart broke free of its frozen state, only to be immediately replaced with a rapid-fire beating that pounded in her ears and brought tears to her eyes. She couldn't hear anything past the mild roar of her own thoughts, her own anguished cry, "Aang!", her heavy breathing as she felt on the verge of a panic attack.

She rushed over to catch him in her arms, her tears spilling down her cheeks and onto his face as she gazed down at him in horror and shock. She shook him wildly, turning him over, slapping his cheeks – doing anything she could to prove to her that this wasn't happening. This couldn't be happening. If it was, everything was over everyone. Not only would the world's only chance at some semblance of peace be gone forever, but a truly marvelous human being – a stupidly reckless (brave), childish (innocent), bleeding-heart (caring), odd (wise), 12-year-old kid would have been murdered.

And for what? A stupid war? Another terrible moment in Four Nations' history where some power-hungry imbecile decided it was their turn to rule the world?

It would happen, time and again. People who want to ruin the earth's balance because of their greed. But what never failed to strike her was the true loss. Did these people never consider what they were taking from people? It was never just their lands or wealth or even their freedom. It was their will to live, their innocence. All stripped away in the blink of an eye.

And now, whether the world was aware of it in this moment of not, all their hopes had been stripped away.

Katara struggled to hold herself together, to try and avoid panic, and she looked up at Iroh. Colours were blurring together in her eyes and she couldn't focus, but she was trying her hardest, because Iroh looked extremely grim and furious and terrified at the same time and she didn't know how that was possible and simultaneously did know how because that was how she felt, and he was saying something to her that she probably needed to hear if this situation could go any further without resulting in her death too.

" – have to go! Katara! You must leave! Take the Avatar and go! I will hold them off!" he was shouting, his resolve staunch and his position steady, despite the slight shaking she could visibly see in his hands.

Katara nodded hastily, her eyes doing a quick sweep of the room though it was still blurred through her tears. She thought she saw the uncertain faces of over one hundred soldiers, the perhaps conflicted expression of Zuko – not that she cared in the slightest – and worst of all, the smug smirk on Azula's face. There was absolutely nothing more she wanted to do in this moment than wipe it off with her fists. Instead, she focused all the palpitating emotion inside of her on saving Aang – she could not afford to be thinking of revenge at a time like this – and gathered water around her like a spiral, springing them upwards as she saw large blasts of fire below.

Spiralling, spiralling upwards, she kept going, as far as she possibly could, away from the pits underneath the corrupt excuse of a city. She wasn't particularly paying attention to where she was going, too focused on getting away, even though she was certain that no one was chasing behind her. She just had to keep going.

Fortunately for Katara, it didn't matter anyway, seeing that waiting for her in the air – or perhaps looking for her – were Toph and Sokka, atop the back of Appa.

"Katara! You're safe!" Sokka cried out in relief, speeding toward her by steering in her direction. "Thank gosh, I was so worried!"

Slowly, after landing in Appa's saddle, Katara tilted her head to face him so he could read her expression, see the dried tears on her face.

Sokka blanched. "What's wrong? I came in to save the day, as usual, might I add, so you'd think I could get a little more grati – "

Sokka stopped talking and gaped soundlessly at Katara's arms, full of Aang. Karara wasn't quite sure how he hadn't noticed right away – maybe he was so caught up in the relief of locating his own sister, maybe he assumed it was just an injury – but up close, there was no mistaking the lack of breath, the too-white pallor of Aang's skin.

"Is he – okay?" he asked, his voice rising in pitch, clearly trying to avoid the word 'alive' for fear that this whole situation would become reality.

"Who – what's going on?" Toph asked, looking around wildly. "Usually, the only way to get Snoozles to shut up is if there's something louder that won't shut up. Why'd we all stop talking? Who's not okay?"

Katara glanced over at Toph – Toph, who was the same age as Aang – and back at Sokka, desperate, not wanting to say it out loud.

Sokka cleared his throat hoarsely and said, "It's Aang. Katara made it out safe, but Aang…he's not breathing."

There were a few more moments of silence where Toph was clearly trying to internalize this information, trying not to panic. And even though Toph was only two years younger than her, still a surge of sisterly protectiveness came over Katara, because again, no 12-year-old kid should have to deal with this.

"But – but – your spirit water!" Sokka sputtered suddenly, glancing at Katara's neck. "Have you tried that yet? That could heal him, right?"

His eyes were wild, urgent, and Toph looked up in hopeful desperation, too.

Katara glanced between them. "I'm not sure if it'll work now," she admitted, "he's – he's already – he's not breathing, and there's no heartbeat. He could already be," she choked on her own words, "gone."

"So what, you think it's better to save it until later?" Toph asked incredulously. "Katara, even if it doesn't work and we've wasted your spirit water, this is the best time as any to use it! What's the use if the Avatar, the person who's expected to save the planet, isn't alive?"

Sokka nodded solemnly. "She's right, Katara. Worst comes to worst, we'll take another trip to the North Pole before Sozin's Comet."

"Not like they'd expect us to go there again," he continued, laughing nervously and worriedly. "And forgetting all the emotional strife associated with this right now – if Aang dies – the figurehead of this whole rebellion is lost. All hope is lost. People will just think 'well, if even the Avatar died, what's the point?' and then we'll have no chance at all."

"No, no, you're right," Katara murmured. "I know you're right – I just – " she stopped herself, looking down helplessly at Aang's body.

"We know," Sokka said as calmly as he could. "Please, just try it."

Katara took a deep breath and tried to focus. She pushed back all the thoughts telling her that it had already been too long, that no amount of healing powers could bring back life to the dead, and drew the spirit water out from the vial hanging on her necklace. Holding the water over the spot on Aang's spine where the injury was, her hands glowed and the water did too. It glowed so much brighter than regular water, and felt different too. She could feel harmony, balance, a peace that she couldn't understand given the situation, but she supposed it was the 'magic' associated with the spirit water. She poured all her beliefs, all her energy and concentration, into healing the wound, and it glowed brighter than anything she had seen before. She could feel things shifting into place.

And suddenly, it all faded away again.

Katara, Sokka, and Toph waited with bated breath, staring intently at Aang's limp body. Despite any difference in beliefs that any of them might have had, they all sat there, hoping and praying as hard as they could, as the seconds ticked by.

And for a few seconds, it seemed like it had worked. The glow was absorbed by the body, perhaps into the wound, and Aang's body lifted for a few seconds before collapsing on Appa's back again.

He opened his eyes and looked at Katara, Sokka, and Toph in succession, attempting to sit up.

"Aang!" Katara and Sokka cried out in relief, Toph grinning wildly at what she assumed to be good news.

Aang smiled at them weakly, attempting to sit up, before feeling a terrible seizing in his back. Katara immediately pushed him back gently so that he was lying down in the saddle again.

"Don't worry, it'll be fine now that we know you're alive again," she exclaimed excitedly, "it'll just take a while to heal."

Aang frowned, grunting as the pain seemed to intensify and spread further. "Katara, I – "

"I can't believe it worked! I mean, thank the heavens that it did, it would have been terrible if it didn't, and we are definitely going to make Azula pay for this…"

"Katara – "

"Things are still pretty bad, what with Ba Sing Se lost and all, but we'll come up with a plan, we always do!"

"Katara!"

Katara blinked at Aang, suddenly concerned again by the panicked, choked-off tone to his voice.

"What's wrong?"

"I-I can see the darkness closing in around my eyes," he gasped, seizing again, "I don't think it worked!"

All over again, Katara, Sokka, and Toph felt their hearts still and their breathing pick up.

"Maybe – maybe it's just a side effect," Toph put out uncertainly.

Aang shook his head with what movement he could manage.

"Healing is never like this," he pushed out, his voice becoming more faint by the second, "I think I'm – I'm dying!" he said, sounding terrified and defeated.

Katara rushed over to hold his body in her arms, again trying to calm him down, murmuring "No, no, no you're not."

"No matter how many times you say it, it'll still be true," he croaked out, looking her in the eyes sadly. "I-I failed everyone. I was supposed to save everyone. Save you. And I'm never going to do that now. It's all my fault."

"No, it's not!" Katara's hoarse voice managed. "You couldn't have foreseen this. You didn't start the war. It's their fault. It's always been! You didn't fail. You-you brought light into everyone's lives, stopping to help everyone you could, and more than that, you gave us hope, Aang. And that's more important than anything, that's what will carry us through this. Do you hear me?"

She may have ended up shrieking that last part loudly enough for anyone in surrounding area to have heard and come to attack, but at the moment, no one could bring themselves to care, too stricken over the heartbreaking scene that was taking place right in front of them.

"Do you hear me?" Katara asked again, this time more softly and her voice wobbling with tears.

"Yes, I hear you," Aang replied softly. Suddenly, he was wracked with more seizing, more moans unintentionally slipping from his mouth, and convulsions coming upon him. His eyes began to close.

"I-I-I," he sputtered, struggling to keep them open a bit longer, and eventually settling his gaze on Katara. "I love you."

And with those final words, his eyes closed, and his body went limp once more, again in Katara's arms.

Katara, who looked like she couldn't handle the emotional turmoil of watching her dear friend – her dear friend who loved her, even if she didn't truly reciprocate – die in her arms for the second time today, went still. There was something so strikingly shattering about watching someone who loved you die in front of you, dying to protect you. Her breathing was heavy but she was quiet, as Appa continued to carry them swiftly through the sky.

Sokka and Toph looked stricken by the poignant scene as well. They all sat there in quiet for an indefinite period of time, unable to muster up the energy to say or do anything, if there was even any way to properly react to the whole situation at all.

Eventually, Sokka steered them down to an unpopulated clearing still in the Earth Kingdom, quietly declaring that they all needed some rest.

No one said anything. No one got angry at him for his suggestion of resting when something so terrible had just occurred. It seemed they were all too tired, too heartbroken to do anything else but listen and agree. And so, they lowered themselves to the ground and set out four – no, three – sets of sleeping gear. Toph didn't set up her rock-made tent and instead lay down in a sleeping bag, like Sokka did in his own sleeping quarters. Katara, before moving to lie down, carefully took Aang's body from Appa's saddle and laid him down on the grass near them, wanting him to be peaceful as well.

Appa nudged Aang's body with his nose a few times, growing distressed and upset when there was no response. He continued to push Aang gently, perhaps wishing to see the ever-present smile on the boy's face, his constant jumping around and cheerfulness, even in the dead of night.

Katara stroked his fur a few times, trying to get him to calm down and understand. Seeing that Appa kept trying, even minutes later, Katara sighed, giving up and heading to her own sleeping bag. She figured that Appa would come to his own realization eventually, as they all did.

Sure enough, perhaps an hour later, as everyone tried to sleep through the heartbreaking sounds of stifled sobs and heavy breathing, Appa let out an earth-shattering wail, a roar that they were sure everyone in the world, at that moment, would have been able to hear.

And perhaps that was the most heartbreaking sound of all.