Title: Phase
Fandom: Avatar: TLA
Pairing/Characters: Aang/Katara
Warning(s): None
Genre: Hurt/Comfort
There are a number of phases Aang has gone through on his journey, Katara notes. His usual attitude was upbeat and determined, as though he was absolutely sure of his destiny. He would save the world from the oppressive hand of the Fire Nation and that's all there was to it. Katara always believed in him.
But he didn't always believe in himself. He never took failure easily, and when even one person couldn't be saved he shouldered a grief larger than life for each person lost. Saving the world was enough of a burden, but the guilt he felt sometimes weighed him down. It showed in his training, when his water whip couldn't glide so smoothly. Toph complained that some days the biggest rock he could bend was his head. Such was the nature of war, and if he were to succeed he had concentrate on the present and look at the bigger picture.
Katara knew it wasn't easy. Sometimes she couldn't stand to look at fire benders. She cursed their brutal ways. Such ways brought death to her mother. Not a bit of it was fair, and not a bit of it was Aang's fault. He shouldn't have had to shoulder all of that guilt. He wasn't the killer. He was anything but. He was going to stop all of it, and any death that occurred in the mean time would be the fault of those who kept the war going.
These were her thoughts as she watched Aang, tossing and turning in his sleep. Then she would walk toward him, rub his brow, and smile down at him when he opened his eyes. He would smile at her, too, and place his hand on top of hers. He seemed to forget his worries whenever Katara was around to comfort him. He couldn't revive the dead and he couldn't expect their forgiveness. What he could do was make the world peaceful for her, and all others that suffered. That was what he resolved to do, and his doubts melted away. He would wake up prepared to take on the world once more.
END