Thank you anonymous, DragonKing, and kausingkayn. This is the fourth one I have written. And yes, they will be in alphabetical order.


Katara

(I'd never admit it… heck, I'd deny it, actually…)

But she's more like a mom to their group than any of them have ever had.

Deceased. Banished. Smothering. Nonexistent.

She was the opposite of all these things—she stayed up with Sokka when he was sick (and ended up catching his stupid cold in the process), sat by Aang's bedside when he was comatose, and continued to take care of Toph even after she claimed her feet were fine.

But as long as she could remember, she had always had someone there with her. Her mother, then her father, her Gran-Gran and brother… Aang.

(…I need people beside me, telling me they need me…)

She fed on that. She LIVED for that. Friends to tell her they leaned on her, family to say they loved her. She couldn't live without it.

She remembered the day her father left. Her brittle young heart, still barely healing from the shock of the loss of her mom, could hardly understand why. She knew the logics, the statistics, but…

She didn't understand. If he loved her, why did he leave her all alone?

(…I can't believe I'm saying this to you… but I need them more than they need me.)

Small footprints in the snow, tiny fingers clutching and grasping, bright blue eyes full of tears. Brown cheeks streaked with salty pathways of her sorrow. Don't leave me.

She had cried. So long. And she clutched onto Sokka as he wiped the tears from both of their eyes; gripping him tightly, she knew. She would never let go again. And silently, she thanked the Moon and Ocean Spirits that, even though they had taken away first her mother and now her father, they had at least had the kindness to leave her a brother to love and take care of.

Without them, she was nothing. She never wanted them to leave her.

Katara would never say anything, but she was desperately fearful of abandonment.