A/N: Hello again! Thanks for the reviews! Just to let you know, I've decided that I might also use the credits song from the Legend of Spyro: Eternal Night game (the first of the trilogy doesn't have a credits song). I don't know when in the story I'll use it, but the song is called "This Broken Soul". Now, you guys are probably wondering exactly what is going on with Aang, so I won't keep you waiting! On with the fic!

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After what was only less than an hour, but what seemed like days to the Gaang, they arrived at the Fire Nation capital. Fire Nation palace guards were stationed around the palace, but they moved a little when they noticed the flying bison.

"It's the Avatar and his friends," one of them said. He waved them down and Appa landed by him.

"We need to speak with Fire Lord Zuko!" Sokka said in gasping breaths. "It's urgent!" The Gaang jumped off of Appa, with Katara carrying the injured Avatar.

The guard gasped as soon as he saw the gash in Aang's arm, and the haze that covered it. "What happened?"

"We aren't exactly sure," Suki said in a rush. "This monster attacked him back at Ember Island – "

"Come with me," the guard said quickly, realizing this was indeed serious. "The Fire Lord needs to know about this."

The guard hurriedly led the Gaang into the Fire Nation palace. Katara walked a little more slowly; she didn't want to risk anything else happening to Aang. They seemed to go down at least ten long hallways before they finally reached the door to the throne room.

"Fire Lord Zuko?" the guard called, "you have visitors. It's the Avatar and his friends."

"Thank you, Kaji," the familiar voice of Fire Lord Zuko said from behind the door. As Kaji left, a few seconds later the door opened to reveal their friend with a happy expression on his face. However, the expression vanished as soon as he saw Aang, quickly replaced by a look of panic.

"No!" Zuko said that one word in a choked whisper, but everyone heard it.

"You know what this is?" Katara asked as she gently set Aang on the ground, hoping that he would somehow wake up soon.

Zuko nodded. "If I'm right, this is what my Uncle was just warning me about the other day..." He kneeled down beside his unconscious friend, staring with worry at the gash in Aang's arm. After a few moments, he turned to the group. "What exactly happened?"

It was Sokka who answered that. "We were vacationing on Ember Island, and Aang and Katara were swimming."

"And then this huge sea monster rose out of the water," Toph added.

"Aang was trying to protect me!" Katara finally spoke out. "He pushed me out of the way, and he got stabbed with its tail!" Everyone could see that there were tears forming in her eyes as she tightly held Aang.

Zuko reassuringly placed his hand on Katara's shoulder. "And that was where he got that gash?"

"Yeah," Suki said, "and that's where the black haze came from."

"We were hoping that you could tell us what it is," Sokka concluded.

"Tell you what what is?" another voice said.

The group looked behind them and noticed Mai, Ty Lee, and Iroh were behind them. Ty Lee had been the one who had asked the question.

"Aang's hurt," Zuko explained, gesturing to the gash on his friend's arm. The black haziness appeared to have grown.

Iroh took one horrified look at Aang's injury and gasped. "It was an aneidoku that did this," he said gravely.

"A what?" everyone else asked, excluding Zuko.

"An aneiduko," Iroh began, "is a terrible monster. It isn't seen that often, but it can destroy a ship within seconds. What it is most feared for, however," Iroh took a deep breath, looking at everyone with a gaze that made them all uneasy, "is its poison tail."

"Poison?!" Suki gasped.

Katara, horrified, looked desperately at her boyfriend and held him tightly, hoping that her presence would somehow help wake him up. "Aang, please! Wake up!" she called to him with her mind.

"Yes," Iroh said slowly. "The poison that the aneiduko injects forms as a black haze – "

Everyone's shocked gaze glanced toward the gash on Aang's arm.

" – that flows through the bloodstream of its target," Iroh continued. "The victim starts to see hallucinations, and its strength is slowly drained away. Soon they are unable to tell whether they are asleep or awake, and they may not recognize even the ones they are closest to. As the poison spreads, their strength decreases and the symptoms get worse."

Katara was clutching Aang so tightly now that she was afraid she might be cutting off his circulation. "Please, no," she whispered softly, tears falling from her eyes.

"What exactly are you saying?" Toph asked, hoping that it wasn't what they all feared it meant.

Iroh seemed to be silent for a long time, and every moment made the Gaang all the more worried. Finally, he took a deep breath and looked at them all with sorrowful eyes.

"Aang is dying."

That was too much for Katara to hear, and the tears spilled out of her eyes, holding Aang like she never wanted to let go of him.

"It's my fault!" she cried. "I convinced Aang to go into the water! This happened because he tried to save me, and after I promised that I wouldn't let anything happen to him!" She looked at her boyfriend, helplessly crying. "I promised," she whispered.

Slowly, Aang's eyes flickered open. He reached for Katara's hand, and his hand was clasped in hers.

"Katara," Aang sat up a little to embrace her in a hug. "What's wrong?" His voice seemed shaky.

"You're – " Sokka started to answer, but he didn't want Aang to have to deal with the emotional turmoil just yet. He needed to ask Iroh something, something that allowed him to cling on to a shred of hope. "What's the cure?!" he said it in a pleading voice, voicing the fear that everyone felt for Aang's life.

Mai hesitantly answered. "There is none."

Everyone's heart skipped a beat; Katara's and Aang's skipped at least two.

"Mai," Ty Lee said with a nervous look, "please tell us that's not true! It can't be true!"

"Mai's telling the truth," Toph said solemnly. "I can tell." She could tell that Mai really was telling the truth of what she knew. It a circumstance like this, she desperately wished that Mai were lying.

"But there has to be a cure!" Sokka looked from Mai to Aang. "We can't let him die!"

"Die?" Aang suddenly realized what was going on. He held on to Katara, looking deeply into her tear-stricken eyes. "This has to be a dream…a nightmare."

"I'm afraid it's not," Iroh said with a sigh. He closed his eyes and turned away, not willing to say anything more.

"But, Ty Lee," Suki swallowed hard, trying to grasp what was going on, "you know those chi-blocking moves! We thought maybe you'd know a way how to heal Aang."

"I'm sorry, Suki," Ty Lee said in distress, "I know a lot, but I'm not a healer." He her head suddenly shot up. "Katara…you can use your healing to – "

"Don't you think I've already tried that?!" Katara snapped. The outburst caused Ty Lee to flinch, but Katara couldn't help it. She was torn by the fact that she couldn't help the one person she loved most. "When I tried to heal him, it just seemed to make things worse!" Sobbing, she embraced the young airbender that she had come to love, heartbroken.

Aang cried too as he hugged Katara. He couldn't stand to see her this sad…and it pained him to know that he was the cause for her sadness. In addition to his guilt, he felt fear – a fear that, if he died, Katara wouldn't be able to handle it. Aang already couldn't handle the fact that he might leave Katara. He felt terrible, though he wasn't sure if the pain he felt in his body was from the poison or from heartache…or both.

"Uncle," Zuko started. He was hesitant to ask, but he needed to know. "How long do you think – ?"

"I don't know, Zuko," Iroh said quietly. "I believe a month at most."

A month. The Gaang felt a cold chill pass over them. They had only about a month before their friend was lost to them forever. All of them kneeled down beside Aang, trying to comfort him…and themselves. This proved to be extremely difficult, as everyone was horrified from the news, struggling to keep themselves from crying.

But none of the other's grief matched Katara's and Aang's. The two had been through so much together, and the thought that they would be torn apart from each other was too much to bear.

"I'm sorry Aang," Katara said through her sobs. "I promised I wouldn't let anything happen to you! And now…" She was too terrified of losing Aang to say what he knew she was thinking.

"Katara," Aang said gently, sitting up a little, "I made a promise back there too, remember?" He tried to stop crying, though it was impossible for him, with Katara crying as well.

Katara struggled to nod, fearing that if she let Aang go, he would disappear before her eyes.

"I promised that I would stay with you," Aang placed his hand on Katara's cheek, feeling the same way that she did, "and I'm going to keep that promise for as long as I can."

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A/N: Oh no! That monster thingy poisoned Aang and now he's practically dying! I know, there was quite a bit of Kataangst in this chapter. On a slightly happier note, I'm finally going to get Dawn of the Dragon (yay for 1 day early Christmas presents!), so I might get another idea or two from that, because Spyro is awesome, that's why! So if I don't update for a few days, it could be because 1. I have writers block, or 2. I'm busy playing Spyro!...or doing something else! See you next chapter! Read and review!