Dreaming

Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender.

Author's Note: Yes, this one is sad, and I'm sorry about that, but I watched The Christmas Shoes over the holidays, and this idea started percolating then and really came to the forefront recently. I needed to get it out of my head so I could move on to other things.

Goodbye

It was the end. Avatar Aang knew it, even if he wasn't quite ready to accept it yet. He held Katara's withered hand as she lay nearly motionless on her bed at the Eastern Air Temple. The waterbender was now 120 years old, ancient by any standard, and she'd been sick for quite some time. Her greatly thinned hair had gone entirely to gray, and her face was as deeply lined as Aang's own. Nonetheless, as far as Aang was concerned, she looked just as beautiful as the day he'd married her.

"Aang?" Her voice was scarcely a whisper, but Aang's senses had not failed him with age, and he heard her clearly.

"I'm here," he assured her, giving her hand a gentle squeeze. The pale, blue eyes she turned to him were sharp and clear – clearer, in fact, than he'd seen them in a while.

"You have to let me go," she said, in a tone that brooked no argument and hearkened back to her younger days.

"I don't want to," he responded desperately. He could feel her pain and fatigue along their empathic link, and he knew it was selfish to want to keep her here under those circumstances. He still wanted it. He didn't want to be left alone.

"My mother was 28 when she died," Katara informed him. "28! Sokka and I were just children. Do you remember when I was 28?"

"Of course," Aang tried to distract himself from the present he didn't want to face with joyful memories of the past. "That's the year you had Hana and Wen Li." Katara nodded once, the barest of gestures.

"Our twelfth and thirteenth children. Out of 20. I got to see them all grow up, start families of their own, and grow old. Some of them have already died, and even our grandchildren are getting old. I'm tired, Aang. I'm ready to go." She closed her eyes as though the speech had exhausted her. It probably had. Aang understood all that she had not said. She had had a long, full life, surrounded by family and friends, but so many of those were gone. Katara and Aang had both seen more than enough death, and he could appreciate her wanting to precede any more children to the grave.

Aang looked at the darkness beyond the window. Somehow, it seemed fitting that she would choose the Winter Solstice, a key day for waterbenders, on which to die. His eyes began to spill over as he acknowledged the truth that he would soon have to live without her.

"I know," he conceded finally. "We've had 104 years of marriage, and though it could never be enough for me, I understand that you're ready to let go. I just wish I could come with you."

"I'll be waiting for you," she promised, opening her eyes again and smiling up at him tenderly. "We'll be together again."

"Goodbye, Katara," Aang choked out, unable to share in her optimism while he knew he'd have to go on with half of his soul missing. "I love you." He leaned over and kissed her. As he drew back, she emitted one final sigh. Aang knew instantly that Katara was gone because the spiritual bond in his head, the one they'd shared for more than 100 years, was suddenly broken. There was no longer anything there for him to connect to. He felt empty, alone, and cast adrift.

It wasn't fair! After traveling together for so long, they should have been able to take this last journey together. If only he didn't have to wait until Destiny was done with him. He had a feeling that the Avatar Spirit wouldn't allow him to take his own life, even though that was all he wanted right now.

The grief and anguish was too much for him to bear, and he was aware of the Avatar State taking him over. He had not needed it for decades, but now he welcomed the sensation of being pushed aside as the Avatar Spirit coursed through his body and dulled the pain of his loss.

The Avatar rose up on a whirlwind, but the room was too small to contain its power. It punched through a stone wall and propelled itself out into the night. It pulled water from the ocean, air from the atmosphere, and dust from the ground to form storm clouds. The Avatar whipped the wind into a frenzy and whirled the clouds together into an unbroken mass. Finally, it shot lightning through the clouds. Those few people who'd been caught outside ran for their homes.

At last, the storm was fully started, and it was only Aang who slumped against the temple wall, drained and weeping, allowing the rain to soak him through as the sky shared his grief.


Author's Note: Ever since I wrote the Epilogue to Destiny's Call, I knew I would have to write this eventually, but I really didn't want it to be last, for what I think are obvious reasons. I promise I have a couple of light ones in mind for the next chapters!

Review responses:

Summer Sweetheart: Yes, I got the long review for Destiny's Call, and thank you for that. I tried to write to everyone who reviewed the last chapter, but I ran out of steam somewhere down the line.

Loupami: I guess I like to know that my writing sparked some sort of emotional response – laughing, crying, something like that. I do have an idea for a short scene showing Aang and Katara as new parents, so expect that soon. Aang teaching airbending might take longer.

Spirit's Fire: Thank you. Links and e-mail addresses don't come through on this site, except in your profile, so if you want to e-mail me first, my address is available that way.

Dakyu: I assume you meant "better," but you left the word out.:) Anyway, thank you.

ilovekataang: I'm sorry about the confusion last chapter. I try to make the timing clear by the characters' ages, but I don't really like to hit people over the head with things like that.

AirGirl Phantom: Well, they're not entirely chronological, but I have sort of done a few in sets. The next two will be going far back into the past. Since they'd only been married about three months before Katara found out she was pregnant, there isn't much "early marriage" that doesn't involve pregnancy or children, but I'll give it some thought.

poka: I struck you speechless? I hope that means it was really good.

Airwalker88: Well, thank you. And yes, Kataang does rule!

shiro-wolfman-k: Don't worry about it. I'm just glad you're still out there.

Aangsfan: I'm trying to keep up with this, along with my other projects. The next two I have in mind will be short, so I should be able to get them posted pretty quickly.

nutshak: Thanks!