Chappie 3, here!
Thanks for the reviews. They help me a lot ;D
I don't own ATLA, world! I'm not Bryke.
Stairway to Heaven
Chapter 3
Katara's POV
"Hello, Dear sister!" Sokka salutes. Now I'm sure it must be Christmas.
"Sokka, where have you been? I was worried sick!"
He smiles widely." I hope you don't have a plans for Christmas..."
"Why?"
"Because, dear sister, you are invited to my first performance with the legendary Aang White!"
"What!? He contracted you?"
"OH YES!"
"Congratulations! I'm so happy for you!" I give him a hug and he reciprocates. Wow. This is new.
"Thank you! Now put your best robes and let's go!"
I look at him and I notice that Sokka has teary eyes and the biggest smile on his face. I'm quite shocked. I haven't seen him like this since Yue agreed to be his girlfriend.
"Alright, but do I have to pay for the ticket?"
"No, Aang said that I could bring two people for each show."
My eyes open widely. He can't be Aang 'stormy eyes', I mean, 'Aang' is a very common name, right? And I don't think I'm lucky enough to have meet him, much less fall in love with him. Nah, it's impossible.
"How is he? I mean, is he weird or something like that? People say that he's a loner."
"Oh really? Well he's nothing like that! He was very kind with me, I was surprised because he even praised my talent, you know composers can be little bitches." I nod grumpily.
When I first met Pakku, he always told us that women couldn't sing as good as men but I proved him wrong. Ah, those were good times.
"Did you practice? This is huge, Sokka!"
"Yeah! His team is amazing, they are so different but very talented, Toph was there and she helped me practice with Teo. He explained Aang's relationship with all and said that Aang loves them very much and they love him back. Everybody was cool and welcoming but two girls weren't so happy, Azula and Jin, I know they are from the other team so I didnt worry, if you know what I mean." He grins and I laugh.
"Really? Is Aang okay with that?" I think this Aang is the one that stole my heart.
"Oh yeah, he's okay with everything. You should do an audition, he's searching an opera singer and I'm very sure you'll fit nicely."
"You know that I couldn't do it, even if I wanted to." I murmur and he frowns, sighing.
"Alright, I'm just suggesting."
I nod and he goes to his room to dress for the show. I hope he makes his dream come true. He deserves to be happy even if I'm not.
After an hour, we are ready to go and we walk, it's a beautiful night after all.
"Katara, when are you going to perform again?"
"What? I perform every night at the bar."
"You know what I mean."
"Sokka, you know I lost my ambition a long time ago."
"No, you didn't. You think it's gone, but deep down you know it's not true."
I know where this is going, and I want to avoid it. He always tries to convince me to make auditions and perform professionally on big stages but he doesn't know what I feel. I'm not be sure of what I want and it's hard to not have anyone caring about you. I don't want to give it a chance. What happened when everything seemed perfect ruined everything I've believed.
"You know my reasons. Just... don't start." I whisper.
We walk in silence until we arrive at Gyatso's theater, it's probably as big as the King's Palace with huge wooden doors and beautiful circles on the walls.
Sokka gives me the ticket and goes backstage to prepare for the show. I gasp when I see a sit in the first row has a reserved card with my name on it. That Aang is very generous. I take my place and notice two old ladies sitting beside me are gossiping and giggling like little girls. Perfect.
"Oh my Lord, have you see Mr. White? In person?" She has that jealous look. Poor lady.
"Yes and let me tell you, his stormy gray eyes are the most beautiful thing you will ever see... if you have the chance."
What? Stormy gray eyes? Most beautiful thing? It can't be... I need know. I carefully get closer to them so I can listen and try to act nonchalant.
"Tell me more." Asks the jealous one.
"His hair is soft and his facial features are ."
They are totally talking about my Aang. Oh, man! It seemed impossible. Mr. White stole my heart. Poetic...What?
After two minutes of pondering the news finally sink in, my heart starts pounding so hard I think I'm going to faint. He's here. Aang Goddamn White. And he's my brother's boss. Weird.
Suddenly the curtains open and Sokka appears, alone, with his violin. I recognize the song immediately because it's one of my favorites, it's called Flying without wings by Aang, the heart-stealer.
Once he finishes the crowd claps loudly, I smile proudly at Sokka and he bows, winking at me. The curtains close and there's a short pause. Suddenly, my hands start sweating and the only thing I want right now is to that curtains to open.
The presenter of the show appears again and exclaims.
"Ladies and Gentleman, I'm honored to present a legend, who has changed music forever with his compositions and his legendary team. Please welcome, Aang White and his orchestra!"
The crowd stands up and the curtains open but I remain motionless. I can't stand. I'm too nervous. I look up and I instantly recognize him. I smile. I found Mr. Gray eyes.
He turns and notices me, and gives me the most beautiful stare. He stands there, not moving his eyes away from me, I giggle when I notice people are trying to see what he's staring.
Once Aang notices he gasps and compose himself then he flashes me a smile that could melt whole the South Pole.
"Before we start our Christmas special, we wanted to give you a Christmas present. My team and I are going perform a special song I compose early this morning. Well, you see, when you find an angel in the middle of a beautiful night sky, you get quite inspired. This composition is called 'Angel'. Hope you enjoy." He flashes me a smile at me and I blush.
The crowd cheers energetically and after a moment, he starts with the most passionate violin melody I've ever heard.
His eyes are softly closed and the smile he wears is saying what the violin isn't. His fingers move carefully but the sound is so clear and emotional that even the gossip ladies are crying from it's beauty. I can't believe a melody can be so beautiful, passionate and perfect. And I can't believe that maybe the song is inspired by me.
I can't help but cry. It's too beautiful to not cry. His solo ends and all the orchestra starts playing. I turn around and notice that even Prince Zuko and his... lady are smiling with teary eyes.
The song ends and every single soul at the theater claps. Very loud. The whole orchestra stands up and bows except Aang. He's looking at me like his heart is going to get out of his chest.
I stand up and whisper. "I loved it."
He smiles and motions the orchestra to continue with the repertory. And the cheerful Christmas melody starts playing throughout the whole theater.
Aang's POV
I finish the last part of the Christmas song and the theater erupts with cheers again. We all bow and smile at the crowd. I try to see Katara and she's still there, in the first row, smiling with teary eyes. Oh boy, did she hear her song? I've never been insecure but right now I'm going crazy thinking that maybe she didn't like the song.
The curtains close and Haru screams." Merry Christmas, buddies!"
We all give him a simultaneous hug and Toph suggests. "Who wants a drink at Les Grace? I invite!"
Everybody agrees and Ty Lee begs me to go and I nod enthusiastically, I will go as soon as I find my angel.
I don't have to search for to long because she's there, talking to Sokka. Wait... He said earlier that his sister would come. No way! She's his sister. I don't know if i should laugh or cry.
As soon as I turn and decide to give them privacy, I hear Sokka scream my name. I turn around and see him motioning me to come. I comply.
"Aang, I want you to meet my sister, Katara."
I look at her and she's completely flushed. "Hello Mr. White it's nice to finally meet you." She says sarcastically, smiling dreamily and giving me the 'don't tell him' look.
"It's a pleasure to meet you too, Katara."
We hear Toph scream. "Come here, Snoozles!"
"Go with Toph, Sokka. I want to talk to Katara for a moment, if you don't mind, we will see you there."
"Of course, we will be at Faleu's, Azula 'asked politely' the owner to open just for us and he complied. See you!"
Ha! Azula is everything but polite. I nod, laughing and he leaves, not before winking at me.
"I can't believe he let you do that."
I smirk and ask." Why Angel, am I so bad?"
She laughs softly. "No, Aang. It's just that my brother is very overprotective with me."
"It helps that I'm his idol or something."
We laugh and she suddenly smiles, eyes glowing. "That song was very beautiful, thank you."
"Just for you, Katara. A beautiful song for a beautiful lady."
She blushes lightly and murmurs, embarrassed. "I wrote a song about you as well."
"And what's the name?"
I get closer and she whispers, looking straight to me in the eyes. "Gray eyes."
And that makes it. I just can't control myself when I'm with her, so I let myself lose in her eyes and I kiss her, with all my heart, trying to express what she makes me feel. And she kisses me back, and I instantly understand, she's trying to do the same. Just like that, with that kiss, I'm in heaven, again.
She's wonderful and I don't mind if everyone can see it. I know that now she will be seen as my lover, muse or whatever but for the first time in my life, I really don't care.
I put my arms around her waist to deepen the kiss and she takes me face with her hands to do the same. It's like we are connected. After God-knows-how-long, we break the kiss and smile at each other.
I feel a hand on my shoulder and I turn around to see who it is. Bad idea.
"Hey Aang! I just wanted to make sure that you were coming but I know you are with company so... I'm sorry."
I smile nervously. "Don't worry, Suki. We will go to te bar in a moment."
"What's your name? I'm surprised, we NEVER get to meet Aang's girlfriends."
I glare daggers at Suki and she just winks. "I'm Katara. Sokka's sister."
"Oh a pleasure to meet you, well, I should be going now! See you both there!" She gives Katara a polite smile and she flashes me a mischievous grin and a 'you have to tell me everything' look.
"Was she your lover?" Bold and jealous.
"No, we tried but it didn't work. She's just a very good friend." She nods, frowning. I give her a reassuring smile and she smiles back.
"Shall we go to Faleu's? I hope you know where is it."
"Of course! That's where I work, singing every midnight, every day but right now all the workers are in Christmas break."
She's a singer. I knew it. Her voice is too clear and soft and beautiful to not be a from a singer.
"I hope you sing a song for me one day."
She grins mischievously. "Someday, Gray eyes."
"Aang brought a girl!"
"No way!"
"Well, well ,well look what we got here."
"I can't believe it, he actually let us see his muse!"
"She's a beauty!"
"Hey! That's my sister!"
"Look at her hair!"
"Hellooooo Sugar Queen!"
They all laugh and Katara and I blush furiously. Suki, Teo, Azula, Layla, Haru, Sokka, Ty lee and Toph are sitting in chairs around the little stage, and for the looks of their faces I realize that they are completely drunk and they left the theater, 20 minutes ago!
"Hello guys! Where is the rest?"
"They went to celebrate Christmas with their parents... Boring!"
"Toph, that's understandable. They don't see them in the whole year."
"Anyways! Aren't you going to present Sugar Queen there?"
"Oh yeah, Guys this is Katara, Sokka's sister."
"Hi Katara! Are you Aang's lover?" Ty Lee asks cheerfully. I'm going to kill her.
"Um.. I-I don't know, why don't you ask him?" She smirks at me and shakes her head.
I catch the message and say. "No, Ty Lee. I just met her."
"Oh I was just saying, I mean, she got beautiful blue eyes."
The whole table is looking at us and after two awkward seconds they start laughing, we join them. Thank God they are so drunk , they won't remember a thing tomorrow.
"MERRY CHRISTMAS YOU ALL!"
"MERRY CHRISTMAS TOPH!"
Toph, Suki and Sokka are drinking whiskey like there's no tomorrow and the others are talking loudly about sex positions. Katara is drinking red wine, trying to not laugh at all their faces.
I smile, she's so cute when she's quiet.
"Hey! You want to go out?"
"Oh yes! Thanks! I can't deal with Azula's explanation about 'The art of making love' any longer." We snicker and stand up, trying to not make them notice that we are leaving but Sokka catch us.
"Be careful, lover boy!" We blush and they all laugh. Hard. Well, I was expecting him to kill me so it's fine.
"Toph is a sweetheart, don't you think?"
"Totally, her proper vocabulary could rival The King himself." I say sarcastically.
She ggigles and I ask, frowning. "Why are you trying to hide what happened yesterday?"
"Because I'm afraid."
"Of what?."
She looks down and mutters. "I just don't want anyone to ruin this."
I smile sadly and take her chin softly so she can see me in the eyes.
"I'm not going to allow anyone get between us, if you worry about my team you must know that they want me to bring a have a lover or something. They say I'm a loner."
"Layla said that you never let them see your previous lovers? Why is that?"
"You know Layla?"
"Yeah, she's one of my best friends."
"oh well... She's very nice, she always wants to help."
"I know, she's quite caring... But you didn't answer my question."
"Oh, sorry, well... I didn't tell anyone about them because it was nothing serious. They were nightstands, but just with the ones that wanted to. I do that when I can't bear the loneliness, I'm not proud of it but.. Everybody needs somebody, you know."
She frowns and touches my face. Her soft hands rub my cheek and I close my eyes, trying to not cry.
"Why do you feel like that?"
"Because my life is not a fairy tale."
"You can tell me."
I let a single tear fall and she wipes it immediately. And I think that maybe I can trust her like I did, a long time ago.
"Well, ten years ago, on this same day, I found out something about the only person I cared about and it wasn't good news..."
Flashback
London, England -1823
"Gyatso?"
"Come in, Aang. I want to give you a lesson."
"But Gyatso, it's Christmas! You should be with your family."
"My boy. The only family I have is you. And you are the only one that I need, besides we need to practice, you are almost ready to master the violin."
I smile gratefully at him and he gives me a hug. Since he found me trying to play an old violin at church, he has taught me everything about music and helped me improve with the violin. I'm grateful, he's been like a father to me that's why I know something is wrong with Gyatso. I can feel it. This is the same feeling I've got when my best friend, Kuzon said he was leaving England with his family last month.
He starts crying softly and I break the hug, confused. "What's wrong, Gyatso? Are you hurt?"
"No, Aang. I have something to tell you."
"You can tell me anything, I won't tell but it's not like I have somebody else than you."
"Aang don't say that, you just have to open your heart and let people in. Maybe if you try you could find someone. Promise me that you will."
"I promise, Gyatso. But please tell me what's wrong, I'm getting worried."
"It's hard to say this but... I'm not going to be able to give you more lessons."
"Why? Am I that bad?"
"No, you're wonderful. The best student I've ever had. It's just... I can't allow you to see me like this"
"What you mean?"
"I have... The doctors say that I have leukemia."
I think that in that moment, my heart skips a beat. The only person I've trust and cared about is dying. And I can't do anything about it. Why? Why everything falls apart? Why do I have to lose everything? Maybe I'm not meant to be happy.
I start crying and he opens his arms so I can hug him. "Why didn't you tell me? Why? I could have been with you! I would have taken care of you... I just...Why?"
"Aang, please understand. I didn't want you to suffer like you're doing now. I don't want you to feel guilty or some sort of responsibility and I ...-"
"No! I would never even consider you as a charge! Never!"
"Please, don't make it more painful. Just... leave me. I'm sure you will find an amazing teacher and-"
"I won't. You will be my only teacher and I'll stay here until is your time to go."
"...You don't need to do that."
"I want to do it. You were there when I was falling apart, you taught me how to never give up on people and how to make sacrifices for people in need even if not worth it. I won't leave you and I don't care if you don't like it, I will do it because you're the only friend I've got and friends help each other." He smiles and looks at me with his old and kind eyes.
"Aang, you have become my wisest pupil. I'm so proud of you, you are so strong and caring, you're not that little boy I found in church with old clothes and a broken violin...a-and for you, I'll try to live a little more, so you can become the violinist you deserve to be."
"Gyatso! That can wait, really I...-"
"You are worth the effort, and I'm sure that you will be the one of the best, I've never seen such emotion in one performance, perfect is impossible, but you are close to it. Besides, we can hang out more." He winks at me and I smile. I realize that time is not enough and I decide to not waste it. Never again.
A month later, full of laughter and practices, Gyatso calls me from his bedroom, close to midnight.
"What is it? Are you alright?"
"Aang, come here and give me a hug. I just don't want to be alone."
I instantly know what's happening. He's dying. I feel like the world is destroying in front of me, I don't want him to go, but I also know that he needs me right now.
I give him the hug and I sigh, trying to not cry, to be strong for him."Can't you stay? I-I just don't want to feel alone again... Y-You're my only best friend, I'll miss you so much." I murmur, shedding a tear.
"You won't be alone, Aang. Every time you play and a little wind blows at you, that will be me, saying hello. I'm very sure you will find someone, it will be unexpected, you just need to open your heart when she comes."
I nod and look at his dark eyes, closing slowly. "When will I see you again?"
He smiles softly and whispers. "In heaven."
Gyatso closes his eyes and i wonder if I ever going to find someone that cares like him.
End flashback.
"I tried to find that someone after a year, but a talent-hunter found me and I became famous, when I had 18, I traveled all around the world, performing and searching for somebody, just anybody but she never came."
"But what about your orchestra? You found them traveling right?"
"I care about them. They make me happy and my music does too but... I can't give all my love because they won't give theirs back. Does that makes sense?"
"Yes, I totally understand. I mean... I-I lost my parents too, they were sacrificed for my sake and my brother's. I made bad things as well so I can't judge... I, well...I wanted someone to care about me and I... I don't know but, I think I found who I was looking for."
She looks at me and I can see her soul in those beautiful blue eyes and I know what she means. She's waiting, hoping I feel the same so I take her hand and I look back.
"You know what? I think I found who I was looking for too and... I-I'm not going to let you escape."
She gasps and suddenly starts crying softly. I wipe her tears just like she did before."What's wrong?"I ask, worried.
"Nothing, it's just that two days ago I was alone, wondering if someday I could find someone that cares and... You are everything I was hoping to find and... I'm just... scared, I've never felt like this before, I don't know if you feel the same but I think... that...I'm in love with you."
She finishes and I kiss her, with all my heart.
I realize that I have lied to myself all my life, she's the only thing, the only person who could change my mind. I've always composed sad songs, but I wrote my first love composition for her. I was searching someone that cares about me, but I understood that the thing I needed the most was somebody to love. She inspired what nobody could.
She gasps but then she reciprocates with the same emotion and smiles into the kiss. I smile as well and break the kiss, placing my forehead on hers, I whisper.
"You are not the only one, angel."
"Aang, why do call me angel? I'm not even close to one."
"I found you when I was looking to the sky, trying to get inspiration. And just as I was going to make a wish to the moon, you appeared below me. It's like you fell from the sky and... Well, I'm sure you are the best beautiful thing I've ever seen." She blushes and I grin widely.
"You are cheesy."
"Is that a problem?"
"No at all." We smile at each other for a moment and I realize that I need to ask her the question, I don't want to lose her. I don't want to waste time.
"Katara?"
"Aang?"
"I know that you just met me, but I feel like I know you since forever... B-But I would love to be the person to care about you and-"
"Yes."
"W-What?"
"I want to be someone that inspires you, the one that dries your tears at night, the only one you love. I feel the same and I want the same and I know people will think this is impulsive and reckless if they hear about it and-"
"No, angel. They would know that is love."
I finally see everything so clear. This is what I wanted, all this time.
Oh yeah.
Next chapter will be angsty hehe...
lonelybabyblue.-