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

Author's Note: Something of a counterpoint to the last chapter, or maybe something we just didn't see, showing what Aang might have said upon noticing Katara wasn't there.

Would everyone please stop using the distraction argument? That only works if both a) Aang noticed his friends during the battle and b) he expected Katara to not be with them. Since neither of these appeared to be true in the finale, the point is moot. If Aang saw the others and noticed that Katara wasn't among them, he should have been obsessed with what had happened to her, which would be far more distracting than simply noting her presence and might well have cost him the battle.

Where's Katara?

Aang was only gradually able to pull his attention away from what had just happened and towards his friends. When he finally got around to counting noses, he realized that one or two were missing.

"Where's Katara?" he blurted suddenly, his heart gripped with terror that something horrible had happened while they'd been taking out the airships.

"She went with Zuko to fight Azula," Sokka informed him quickly. Aang just stared at his friend for a moment, uncomprehending. When it did sink in, the news was not particularly cheering. It meant that he still didn't know how she was and confirmed the idea, formed during their night at the theatre, that she wasn't very attached to him after all.

"We heard that Azula was going to be crowned Firelord," Suki added. She was busy creating a makeshift splint for Sokka's leg but she inclined her head toward Ozai. "This guy here named himself King of the World or something…"

"The Phoenix King!" Ozai spat at their feet.

"…which left his old job vacant," concluded Suki, ignoring the outburst.

"Well, you're the Lord of the Losers now," Toph told Ozai triumphantly. She stomped her foot, causing a sharp point of rock to jab up at a strategic location between the former Firelord's legs and making him yelp in a highly undignified manner.

"We need to go find out how they are," Aang declared, rather obviously. He was torn between concern for Katara and Zuko and anguish that Katara hadn't wanted to be with him for this. Mercifully, he was on the verge of being too tired to feel anything.

Even though he had saved the world, he still felt as though it were crashing down around him.

--

Author's Note: I didn't know exactly how to end it, but then it occurred to me that I haven't yet seen anyone writing Aang this way – victorious yet crestfallen. Why hasn't anyone, the canon included, shown his reaction to Katara's absence? It seems like he would have been crushed to find that she chose Zuko over him at this juncture.

Review responses:

mangafangirl: Thank you. Emotional moments that feel real are often what I try to create.

nutshak: Well, brevity is the soul of wit, and I sometimes think these short scenes can be more effective than thousands of words of explanation.

Katsumara: But "chipper" was not how Katara approached revenge in TSR, so it doesn't make sense when she's responding to a wound that is much fresher. She also could have said "payback" or "unfinished business", at least one of which has been used on just about every Nicktoon ever made.

Satyuros: Several of the "reunion" scenes I've written would have taken maybe 10 seconds on screen. I'm sure they could have cut something else to make room, like Aang swimming around the legs of the lion-turtle or some of the beach party.

DuHSPaZZiNGFeL: I'm working on fixing everything, but I don't think I'm there yet.:) Anyway, thank you and you're welcome.

Marisol Maza: Ah, but his grown up status would have been much better established by Katara displaying that she needed him. Having a reunion right after the battle would have said "I really care about you and I was worried" instead of the sort of "You're the hero, so I guess I can be with you" subtext we ended up with.

crystal.elements: I'm sure you will find a way through your cognitive dissonance. I agree with you, and it really bothered me that Aang and Katara didn't even really seem to think about each other during the finale. Katara started to go to Aang in the beginning but easily allowed Zuko to talk her out of it.

shiro-wolfman-k: I agree. I've actually read the beginning of a story where Katara comes to Aang at the end of the war, and he tells her he's not sure she's what he wants anymore and goes off to properly master the elements. Unfortunately, I can't remember who wrote it.