"How long are you going to sit there in the dark, Aang?"
He didn't look up. The sky was cloudy and ominous without a single star, the wind was oddly cold for nighttime in the Fire Nation. If Aang noticed, he certainly didn't care.
"It's still my fault," he mumbled. "I failed everyone because I-" He stopped there. What would she say if she knew he'd run away from the Guru before he could unlock his last chakra and finally gain control of the Avatar State? Because he couldn't let go of her? "Nevermind."
"No, because what?" Katara prompted, and he sighed.
"I was stupid. Katara, I...I love you all so much, but I would have had to let you go if I wanted to harness the cosmic energy, and I just couldn't do that! And when I finally did get the guts to it didn't work because Azula shot me and I died, and that's why we lost!" Tears pricked at his eyes. "I'm sorry, I understand if you think I'm an idiot and a coward now, but-"
She pulled him into her arms, cutting him off. He stiffened in her grasp, wanting to pull away but unable to do so.
"Aang, Ba Sing Se fell because Azula and her friends infiltrated the Kyoshi warriors long before you even met with the Guru," Katara said. "And by the time we knew it was them we were too late. She worked too fast, she pretty much had this all planned from the beginning and it had nothing to do with you!"
"But what about my not being able to give you up?"
"Aang, just because the Guru told you something doesn't make it so. As the Avatar, don't you have to care about the world anyway? That's why you're on a mission to save it, why we're planning this invasion." Katara's arms tightened around him, and Aang relaxed slightly.
"General Iroh told me perfection and power are overrated...that I was right to choose happiness and love," he said. "At the time it made me feel better to hear him say that, but love isn't going to beat the Fire Lord and get Ba Sing Se back."
"Well, he's right. I think maybe you weren't meant to master the Avatar State the way the Guru said to," Katara said.
"It doesn't matter now. When Azula shot me in the back she kind of damaged my link to my past lives so I can't enter the Avatar State at all anymore," Aang sighed. "Without the Avatar State, how can we beat the Fire Lord?"
"We'll just have to fight him as hard as we can," Katara said. "But we will beat him."
As they sat together under the starless sky, he could only hope she was right.
