Chapter Eight
"Aang?" I softly said through the darkness to the sleeping boy. "It's time to get up." I rested my hand on his silhouetted shoulder. He was sweating through the sheets, but I could feel him shivering. He groaned at my touch, and shuddered violently.
This wasn't the first of Aang's taunting dreams. "Aang, wake up!" I cried as soothingly as my fears would allow. "It's just a dream!" I knew he wasn't getting hurt, but I couldn't help but worry for him.
His eyes flew open- his spirit form emitting from his dream. He gasped and sat up abruptly, landing in my embrace. "Katara?" he whimpered. I only held him closer. "I know you can do it, Aang." I said. It was the day of out attack on the fire nation- the day of black sun.
My panting echoed through the barren forest. It was cold and the trees were dead; new buds trying to arise but diminished by the constant breath of the south pole. It had been months since I had found myself at the bottom of the earth to feel its bite.
Questions. They were menacing: swirling around in my head. Who was that man? Why would someone do such a thing to me? Aang was dead wasn't he?
We walked out of our tent: everyone else was just entering the new day. The sun had yet to rise, but the camp was buzzing with excitement- and fear. We had 10,000 men in our army, most of which were trained, although a quarter of our fighters had little or no training whatsoever- and an army is only as strong as its weakest point.
We had hoped for a surprise attack on the firenation, but each person had doubt in their hearts. I knew the firenation was bound to be prepared. We had tried to cover our tracks, but any decent spy would notice hundreds of troops vanishing from the larger cities. On the other hand, they had yet to find out where we were, or else we would've been attacked days before. On our way, we had captured several, perhaps a dozen firenation scouts. We had interrogated them for information, and discovered nothing we didn't know before. Azula had taken full control of Ba Sing Se with the Di lee at her side. One scout had informed us of a meeting between the generals a week before our arrival. We knew they were preparing for what they did not know.
Aang and I approached the officers tent. We stepped inside to find most of the generals and leaders present. They were going over our battle tactics one last time.
"Ahh," said General Ti Laang "You look rather refreshed young avatar, how are you feeling this fine morning?" Ti Laang had come from a city in the Earth Kingdom that branched off of Ba Sing Se.
"I feel great!" Aang lied through a forced smile. "Reporting for duty!" In truth, he was as ready as he could be, but that didn't mean he felt sure of himself. Nevertheless, he had to keep a positive attitude for the rest of us. The avatar was our hope, our icon. He reminded us that we had something worth fighting for.
"Any new plans?" I asked, trying to get the attention off of Aang. Ti Laang looked at the other generals; one of the oldest generals, Shi Yue, nodded. Ti Laang Looked down, then at us. "What happened?" asked Aang worriedly. I looked at the generals before us; I counted them- one was missing. "Where's General Tousen!?!" I asked.
"Approximatly two hours ago," began Ti Laang, "General Tousen was pronounced missing."
Oh no, I thought Why now?
"A search party was sent out, and returned with this..." he nodded towards a damp, cloth bag. Aang walked up to it. I followed him, afraid of what might be found inside.
Aang untied the rope around its opening, allowing the cloth to fall, revieling its contents. I nearly choked (I suppose that's what happens when you gasp and try to throw-up at the same time). Inside the moist cloth bag was a freshly burned, human hand. The cloth bag was soaked in it's blood; the hand was brutaly severed.
The hand was badly charred, obviously the work of firebenders, and a gold ring remainded on one of the fingers. That was the only way we could tell that it was indeed, the hand of the precious General Tousen.
I covered my mouth to keep myself from vomiting. Aang cringed but tried to keep a strong exterior.
"We can only asume the worst," Shi Yue said grimly "and that this was a warning to us all. I do not believe that they know how many of us there are or where we are exactly, but staying here any longer would bring grave fortune upon us."
What do you wish us to do?" asked Aang.
"Isn't it obvious?" I said, regaining my posture. "We have to make our move now, preferably within the next half hour." Aang looked at Shi Yue.
"Percisely" he said. "Please inform Lieutentant Sokka of our changes immediatly."
How long had I been running? A few minutes? Ten minutes? I knew not, but I was reaching my limit. I had to stop for a breath. I saw a large tree, and decided to rest on one of its roots. I listened for the impostor; I heard nothing. I was tired of running; I needed to stand up and fight. If he was there to harm me, I would fight him. If he wasn't, I would still hurt him for trying to mess with me like that. I didn't know him, but I already had an immense hatred for him.
I heard footsteps behind me. They were heavy; the man was running after me. My breath stopped short in my lungs. I wouldn't dare breath for fear that he would hear me, though he was several yards away. The footsteps stopped. Did he hear me? the dreaded thought ran through my head. I didn't move, but somehow, he seemed to know were I was.
I could hear his panting, and my lungs grew painfully envious of it; they screamed for air. I need to fight back! I thought. I started breathing shallowly through my nose. After a few seconds I had a sufficient amount of breath. I stood up and stepped from behind the tree.
The entire camp was ready to leave within ten minutes of the word of the generals. We had prepared ourselves for this type of situation, and could move quickly from one location to the next. All that we told the camp was that there was a posibility of the firenation knowlege of our camp and we needed to attack as soon as posible to insure that the information didn't reach the palace before we did.
In the midst of it all, it occured to me that General Tousen was most likely still alive and being tortured for information- this only made me move faster. A person could only hold up for so long when they were being tortured.
Through much much work and interrogating, we had learned of a secret underground series of tunnels that ran to the royal palace. The tunnels were supposed to be used as escape routes for the royal family in case of a seige or attack.
Everything went smoothly in our plan up to the tunnels. Toph, Aang and I were a part of the first wave; we lead the battle. Our job was to silently take care of as many guards as we could before the actual battle began. Aang, Toph and the majority of our group went to attack the gaurds, while I lead a small group of waterbenders to the kitchens of the palace.
My group was assigned to poison the palace through their food supply. The poison was nothing deadly, but just enough to make them sick to the point that they could not fight. The eclispse would not come until midday, and we were attacking early in the morning. We would all be tired out by midday came around, but for the firebenders, they would be almost completely striped of their bending abilities.
We were finishing the last barrel of rice when the gongs of war sounded. Our cover was blown; the war had begun.
"What do you want from me!?!"
I stood before my persuer, trying to be brave, yet I couldn't bring myself to look upon his face. I'll admit it, I was scared. Spirits know I would had done anything to bring Aang back. Anything. And of course, I wanted Aang to be back. I wanted to believe what I saw and accept that Aang had returned to me. But at the same time, I didn't. If this man was really Aang, I wouldn't be able to stand myself. For I had given up on Aang, while even through all this time, he sought me out. I was afraid of the truth.
I wouldn't look at his eyes because they could not lie to me. The eyes are the gateway to the soul.
He remained silent; he only stood there as if he couldn't think of what to say.
"Well!?!"
"Katara-" he began.
"Don't you dare speak my name as if you know me!" I shouted, my voice faltering.
"What can I say to make you believe me!?!" He shouted in return.
"Nothing!" I said. "Because there isn't anything to believe! You're just some sick--"
The man moved his hands and an invisible force pushed me towards him, almost like airbending. Before I could act he had one arm around my waist and his other hand on the back of my head forcing me to look at one thing.
His face; his eyes.
The war had begun, and so we fought. We fought for what we believed in: Our pride, our freedom, our destinies, and above all for everything we held dear to our hearts. The rest of the world depended on us to bring back the peace and harmony that once made up the four nations.
Many men were lost; even Haru was killed before my very eyes. I avenged him of course, but even my advanced healing abilities would not bring him back. Ever. There would be a time for mourning afterwards-- if we survived.
By the time the eclipse arrived, we were barely holding up our forces. It came right on time. Suddenly we were able to pull ourselves ahead. The eclipse did everything it was supposed to. Our forces acted as one, working together against the hated firenation. Everything was going as expected- until I foung Aang.
The icon of world peace and hope had been defeated. On top of this, his physical body disappeared, along with Appa and Momo, leaving his only existance in the form of precious memories. Memories which, in time, might all be forgotten.
Except mine.
His eyes.
They stopped everything: my thoughts, my breath, my heart.
I fell to my knees, sobbing. Tears fell from my face in a damp storm of emotions. I wept from fear. I wept from sorrow. I wept from joy.
The man with the brilliant and kind grey eyes kneeled beside me, wrapping a comforting arm around my shoulders.
"Now," said Aang "my Katara couldn't forget me that easily, could she?"
A/N: Yes, Yes...I know that was WAY overdue, but aren't you glad he's finaly back? I took me absolutely forever to find sutible endings for both the flashback and the current, but it's finaly done! My advice to you all who are reading this as I write, is to only check every other week or just suscribe and DO NOT check your email every day. If you are checking to see if I posted every other day, trust me, you are just torturing yourself! Those of you that have been with me since the beginning know that I tend to have long periods between the posting of a new chapter, and once again I am sorry for that. But enough of that nonsence! I really hoped you enjoyed it, and as usuall, review please!! Yay for constructive criticism!!