Author's Notes:

Disclaimer: ATLA is of course not mine. I'm just borrowing.

Zuko couldn't speak. Katara didn't speak.

"No," Suki whispered under her breath. "Don't be here. Go back."

Zuko watched Sokka begin to put his hands out toward Suki. She reached out for him too, but he pulled away again before they could touch, closing his eyes.

"You're the ones who shouldn't be here," Sokka said, the agony in his voice immeasurable. "Your bodies are waiting for you. Toph is standing guard. You go back. Now!"

Katara looked out into the water they were suspended in. Aang was no longer visible in the dim light, yet she seemed to intuit his fading presence. "He's out there, isn't he?" she asked, and though it was a rhetorical question, Zuko confirmed by ducking his head. She fisted her hands into balls. "We have to go after him."

"Katara, no!" Suki implored. "This is the spirit world. You're drowning. Can't you feel it? You don't have time to go after Aang. If anyone needs help right now, it's you and Sokka."

Katara said nothing, but Sokka answered Suki's question with a drawn face, and Zuko knew they shared a heavy decision.

Suki turned to Zuko and gripped his arm, her nails clawing into his skin though they were both only spirits. "Zuko, tell her we'll find Aang. Tell her to go back. Tell them both to go back. Help me!"

But Zuko still couldn't speak as his eyes locked with Katara's. The real Katara. Who just couldn't stay out of trouble. It was all in the eyes, he realized. He would have recognized that stubborn tenacity anywhere. There was no light fading there, only a battle spirit rising. It was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen that made his body shake in terror.

"If Aang is out there, we have to go find him," Sokka said. "Katara and I promised him a long time ago we'd never desert him. We're his family. If there's a chance we can help him, we have to do it."

Suki sucked in a harsh breath, and Zuko shut his eyes, feeling her pain sharply himself. Stubbornness, he thought, must run in Hakoda's family.

"You can't," Suki pleaded quietly, though they all knew she was already defeated. "You're not here in the spirit world to save Aang. You're here because you're dying. We don't even know how much time you have. You might not even make it to Aang."

"This isn't just about Aang," Katara said adamently. "Your bodies are back in Roku's temple, and you and Zuko are trapped here."

"Katara's right," Sokka said, his voice hard as well. "If we can't help Aang, you could both die too."

"Sokka, please," Suki begged, but she was giving up.

"Suki, I love you so much," Sokka said, his plea for forgiveness laced into the declaration. "But this isn't a choice."

Sokka's words wove around the echo of Aang's voice in his head as Zuko stared at Katara. "Choose." Was this what Aang had meant? It would have been one thing to choose to go after Aang in the spirit world when there was nothing Zuko could do for Katara in the physical world. Now she was in the spirit world too, and she wanted to follow Aang instead of trying to go back to her own body. Was he supposed to agree with that choice? For Aang's sake? For his own?

Her courage was stunning and horrible. The thought of losing her made him unable to breath. But she had made her choice. Could he trust it? Trust it – trust her – enough to let her go without a fight? What was his relationship with Katara based on if not trust? What could he do for her now other than support her decision? Wasn't that the whole point of him and her together? He was supposed to have her back, not tell her which way to turn, right?

"This is what the whole journey has been about," Katara said. There was a plea in her voice as well. "Don't you see? We are a family – the four of us, plus Aang, Toph. Even Momo and Appa. We are at our best when we work together. We have to fight for Aang together now."

For a long second, no one said anything, but Suki's grip on Zuko's arm loosened until she was no longer latched on.

"I always wondered why of all the people in the world, you two were the ones who found the Avatar," Zuko muttered.

"This is stupid," Suki said, but she had the fervor of a warrior in her stance again. "I guess we're all going after Aang." Suki and Sokka were good together, Zuko realized at once. They matched each other in courage. Suki reached out for Sokka again, and this time, he didn't stop her. Zuko averted his eyes.

"Zuko-" Katara started. Her voice carried emotions they didn't have time to explore. She stood with her hands at her sides. She opened her mouth again with what looked like an apology on her lips, but he didn't want her to apologize. He only wanted to remember the strength he'd seen and admired in her.

"You are choosing Aang," he interrupted, facing her directly. "He told me you would. It's the right thing to do."

"Zuko…" Her voice was tightly woven. "It's not because I don't love you."

A smile twisted on his face like her words twisting around his soul. She was a fighter. For Aang, for Sokka, for him, for her whole family, and he knew by the look in her eyes that she wasn't done yet.

"Then it's not because I don't love you that I'm choosing him too." He closed the distance between them and hoped time in the spirit world was slower than time in the physical world. "We'll go for Aang together." He put her face in his hands. "But Katara, you better fight like hell for your life as soon as you get out of here."

Tears gathered above the blue water of her eyes, but a smile twisted on her face too. He could see his future stretching out in those eyes. Maybe one day there would be more between them for her to fight for.

"That's a deal," she said softly, as if she had heard his thought.

Katara hoped she would remember later the transitions she'd seen in Zuko's eyes. The way they'd glistened with anger at her for being there to begin with. The way they'd widened in shock when she said she was going after Aang. How they'd hardened with resignation when he realized there wasn't anything he could say to change her mind. How later they'd softened with the affection that had so often passed between them these last few years and something much deeper – an undercurrent that had only recently been unveiled.

She hadn't been sure he would understand. She still wasn't. How could she expect his rational mind to understand the intuitive decision she had made? But that was the thing about Zuko: he knew everything about her. The good, the bad, the ugly, the dangerous. And the last thing she saw in his eyes was a glint of pride. He knew everything and he was going to back her up no matter what. She wondered what they could do with that partnership if they could ever move it off the battlefield.

Hopefully there would be a chance to find out.

It felt like Zuko had barely touched her and the light Katara had seen in the water began coming closer. Or maybe the four of them were floating closer to the light – as if their collective decision moved them all as one. Katara didn't think too hard about it. Doing so would have required her to admit she was a spirit. Instead, she just watched the light until it overtook them, and then it felt as though the light were actually a tunnel and they were falling through it together.

Zuko found her hand, and she found Sokka's and she hoped Sokka still had Suki in his reach. They all fell down together, clinging to each other as best they could while each silently fought their individual fears. The light narrowed, darkened, slowed, and then set them gently in a dimly lit pit.

And there was Aang – his spirit self at least – standing in the center of the pit, watching them, his glider in his hands, dark circles below his hollow eyes. Katara had felt sure the light belonged to him, but seeing him now jarred her.

There was silence as Aang watched them. He found her eyes, and his were haunted and fearful. The presence of something heavy that Katara could not see pressed down on them, squeezing their hearts. Katara felt hers slowing. Was that because she was dying in the physical world? Or was it something more?

"You shouldn't have come here," Aang said, crouching down and using his glider to support his weight as he leaned forward into it. His eyes were sad and clouded with fear. The heavy feeling settled in her chest, crushing her. "You should have chosen to save each other. You should have left me out of it."

Sokka went to Aang before she did. Why didn't she go first? The sting of guilt swept through her. Sokka put his arm around Aang's shoulder. "No, we shouldn't have." His voice was strong. "We're here for you, Aang. Tell us how we can help."

"Why did you do it?" Aang said sadly. "Why are you here? It wasn't what you were supposed to do." He looked up with eyes burning, directing his voice to Zuko. "You especially." His tone was unmistakably scathing. "This was the wrong decision. You were supposed to convince Katara not to come. You were supposed to save her."

Zuko acted like Aang's words meant nothing to him. He – the man she had been falling for since they were teenagers – approached Aang – the boy she had always loved – like a sick animal. He put his arm around Aang's other shoulder, overlapping with Sokka's. "What, and lose a chance to capture you?" Zuko's bad joke fell on deaf ears. Katara shook her head. Zuko's jokes were always terrible. "You know why we're here. We're here to figure out how to get you home."

Suki stepped forward from behind Katara. It surprised her. She should have been next, right? But she hadn't been able to move. Instead, her future sister-in-law knelt in front of Aang. "Aang, we need your help. How can we get you out of here? Where are we? What's doing this to you? Is there something down here we can't see?"

Now only Katara was separated from the group, but Aang was watching her: watching her like she was the only one who mattered, despite the love and support already surrounding him. But she could still feel the heavy presence in the dark pit. It was pushing in on her body, threatening to suffocate her, cutting off the oxygen to her brain and her heart.

Was it the water drowning her? Or was it a fear that had been hidden below the surface? A fear she needed to voice, so it would stop trying to kill her. A fear that kept her from stepping any closer to Aang.

"Tell me, Katara," he heard her say wearily. "Ask me."

"Aang…" She flinched at the words she needed to say. "Was it you? Are you the one who did this to yourself? To us? Is there any dark spirit after us at all?"

She had never been able to stand tears in Aang's eyes, which were supposed to be full of light and spirit. So as his eyes filled, she wanted to go to him. Only an unexpected burst of anger prevented her from rushing forward as he said: "Katara, I only wanted you to be happy. I wanted everyone to be happy. I'm not selfish. I didn't mean to hurt you."

Zuko's eyes flashed to hers. She couldn't explain it to herself, but they both knew. Nothing was chasing Aang. He was hurting himself – and hurting his friends in the process. Katara expected to see anger boil up in Zuko's eyes too as he came to the same realization, but it didn't. All she could see in his face was permission to love Aang unconditionally, without any fear that her love for Aang could threaten what she felt for him. She felt Zuko's strength pouring into her even as she saw him tighten his arm around Aang.

Aang's eyes, however, were only more grieved. Katara let go of her own rage. This was her friend, whom she loved. He was in pain and he needed her to comfort him. She moved forward slowly until she was kneeling next to Suki.

"I couldn't stop it." Aang looked away from her. "I tried, but I didn't know how. I still don't. I do love you, and I hurt you. I never wanted this."

"Aang, I understand." Katara put her hand cautiously forward, leading with her palm until she could touch Aang's chest. "I'll always love you too. You know that, right? No matter what."

"I know." He was always so honest, she thought. "You love me the way you would have loved your kids. You take care of me. You protect me. You come after me even when your life is at stake. Your kids would have had the best mom ever. But it couldn't be anything else with me."

"Aang…" But she didn't know what else to say. She found herself looking into his eyes – dark in this dim light – and she saw so many memories there. Aang as a little boy, waking up after being trapped in the ice. Aang sledding with the penguins. Aang in his various disguises. Aang learning to waterbend. Aang reconnecting to the Avatar state while they fought Zuko and Azula together. Aang falling and her rushing forward, knocking out everything in her way to get to him. Aang unconscious on the Fire Nation ship. The many many nights she'd sat in his room, praying that he would wake up, that her healing had been enough. What wouldn't she have done for him?

"Katara…" What wouldn't he have done for her? His voice was deeper now, even in the spirit world. She'd never really even noticed. His face wasn't so round. His body was muscular and hard. She knew those things had happened, but in her heart Aang never aged. When she looked, she always saw the boy she'd found in the ice. What had he seen in her all these years? What had she been to him? How much of his love for her had been more than platonic?

"Is that what you wanted?" The pressure caving in around her seemed to triple. "For me to love you some other way?"

He didn't answer. Katara fell away, and she felt Suki's hand on her back and Sokka's arm around her shoulders as she collapsed into the ground. As though she needed their help now more than Aang. Maybe she did. There wasn't anything she wouldn't have done for Aang, but she couldn't change her feelings for him any more than she could change her feelings for Zuko, and what she felt for Zuko was completely different.

"Why didn't you tell me?" she whispered.

Katara sounded so shattered it was all Zuko could do not to drop Aang and rush to her, just like Suki and Sokka had. But Katara wasn't the only one who loved Aang. Zuko loved the insufferably good-natured monk too. He kept his arm around Aang's shoulder.

Aang didn't answer Katara's question. Instead, he asked one of his own. "Why did you come down here, Katara? Why did Zuko let you come? Why did you both choose to come after me?"

Zuko held onto Aang while he watched tears rushing down Katara's face. "Because you're our family, Aang," she struggled to explain. "Because we would never let you down. Because you needed us."

"That's why," Aang said. "I didn't tell you because I always need you more than you need me. You have to take care of me. When I was young, I loved you because you did take care of me, and that made me feel loved too. I didn't even know you could love someone in some other way until I saw you with someone you didn't have to take care of. It would never be like that with me and you. You'd always have to be there to fix me. It would never be balanced. I didn't want that for you. I didn't even want to burden you with my feelings because I knew how wrong it would be to ask you to try to love me like I loved you."

Zuko watched Katara watch Aang. Aang's pain was reflected in her. Zuko was overwhelmed by the thought that so much pain could be shared by the two people with the biggest hearts in the world.

"This is wrong," he found himself murmuring. Aang shook himself free of Zuko's arm and glared at him, but Zuko just stood up in front of Aang and crossed his arms. "This is wrong," he repeated, cutting off whatever else Aang would have said to Katara. "You're wrong." He heard his own voice as if he were hearing it from outside his body: steady, calm, uncompromising. Katara looked up at him while he spoke like she had temporarily forgotten he was even there. Aang looked at him like he was mildly bored.

"Zuko," he sighed, "I know you're dense, but I'm not wrong. Katara loves you in a different way than she could ever have loved me. You're the prince who left behind everything he cared about to do what was right and save his nation. I'm the boy who hid for a hundred years because he was too afraid to use his own powers to do anything to help anyone. Who's she going to fall for, huh? Me or you?"

Zuko raised his eyebrow. "I'm the hero?" he scoffed. Why was Aang doing this to himself? Why couldn't he see what everyone else could see? Was this really even about Katara? He looked at Aang and was reminded of one of their very first conversations. Zuko's voice became soft. "I think the problem is that you never had a father. You had Katara to mother you, but you never had a father to be a role model or a mentor. You don't know much about fathers, do you? Maybe that's why you don't know enough about heroes."

"As if you do," Aang scoffed back. "Your father wasn't exactly a role model, Zuko."

"I know," Zuko said, "I don't know who I would have been without my Uncle, and even with him, I was pretty lost. Really, I don't know how you've forgotten everything I did before I decided to join you. I'm not the hero, Aang. I screwed up a lot, especially when I still didn't know what my destiny was."

Aang didn't look at him. Zuko went on anyway: "Especially when all I wanted was to go home. To a place where I didn't have anyone left who loved me. When I felt like maybe you feel now."

"So you're in a position to give me advice?" Aang said angrily.

Zuko scowled. "I know you need some. Look, Aang, you're the Avatar. You defeated my father, and you're supposed to have all the answers now. No one thinks you need help sorting out any of your fears because you're the hero everyone thinks of when they think of how the war ended. But you're getting things wrong because of it. You think I don't need anyone to take care of me, but I do. I need you. I need Katara. I need my Uncle, my advisers, Sokka, Suki and even Toph. And you think Katara's here to take care of you, but really, she's the one who needs to be taken care of right now. She needs you to save her."

"She doesn't need me!" Aang's eyes were still hard and angry.

Zuko continued on determinedly. "Oh yes she does. She needs you desperately. She needs you to figure this out so that you can let her go. If you don't, she'll die."

Aang was breathing heavily. Zuko glanced at Katara, who was still being held by Suki and Sokka. The three of them were glued on Aang. Sokka was nodding.

"I agree with Zuko," Sokka said, breaking in suddenly. Aang's head whipped in his direction. "You've been saying there's a dark spirit chasing you, but the only thing I see chasing you is fear."

"I think Zuko's right, too, Aang," Suki added. "We can all feel it here. It's like a presence trying to keep us down. You're just letting it get to you. What are you afraid of that's keeping you here?"

Aang's eyes skidded to the edge of the pit they were standing in. Zuko thought maybe he was trying to figure out where he could run to, but there was nowhere for Aang to run. He would have to face whatever he was afraid of now. Aang's face turned to panic.

"Well what exactly am I supposed to be afraid of?! What fears am I not facing?"

"Only you can know that," Sokka supplied. "Maybe you're afraid Katara doesn't need you anymore."

"Maybe you're afraid she loves Zuko the way you wanted her to love you," Suki added gently.

Aang looked between Zuko and Katara. Katara had been silent, like she was waiting for a guilty verdict to come down on her. She didn't make eye contact with him or Aang.

Aang turned wildly to him. "What do you think, Zuko? Do you think I'm afraid of Katara loving you instead of me?"

Zuko half-smiled at Aang. "No. Personally, I think that's a cover. I think you're more afraid that you're never going to find the kind of relationship Suki and Sokka have – the kind you think Katara and I might have too. Maybe you're afraid you'll never get home. Maybe you're afraid you don't even have a home. But you do have a home."

"Where?!" Aang yelled. "Who's going to make a home with me while you guys make homes with each other? Who will stay with me? After the war, you all left. Only Katara stayed, and then even she left! I needed her and she left!" He wiped away tears. "She was my home and she left. She's gone."

Zuko heard Katara's weak sob. He looked at her and Sokka again. They were fading, their spirit selves becoming hazy.

"Aang," Zuko said quietly. "I know you feel like you have nowhere to go, but I'm telling you, you still have a family. I would be there for you, and Toph would be there for you, and Katara and Sokka are literally dying trying to be here for you now. If you don't defeat the fear dragging us all down, they will die. So what will you choose? Are you going to stand here and tell Katara how much you love her? Tell her how much you needed her to protect you? To be there for you? To be your home? While you're doing that, her body is sinking to the bottom of the ocean."

Aang glared silently. Zuko continued, his voice still low: "You are wrong, Aang. You don't need her right now. She needs you. So what's it going be? Are you the hero of the story? Or are you the guy who lets fear win?"

Aang's head dropped. He looked up through his eyelashes at Katara. Zuko could barely look at her himself. Her spirit seemed to be fading out. She spoke with what seemed to be her last strength:

"Aang…you told me once that if you want to be a bender, you have to let go of fear. Can you do it for me now? Please?"

Katara waited while Aang stood silently. Her head felt empty while her energy drained out. She was drifting away from herself. Maybe even her spirit self wouldn't be here much longer. She couldn't hear her heart beat. She was dizzy. She didn't have anything more to give. Sokka groaned quietly next to her and Suki caught him in her arms. Aang's eyes hardened.

Katara blacked out.

Water. There was water in her lungs, sucking her down.

Water. Water. Water. Water.

But she remembered something. She remembered that water is life, even if it is also death. That love means protecting, even when it also means pain. That there were many whom she loved, protected, needed and wanted, and that she was loved, protected, needed and wanted by many. That she promised she would fight like hell for her life.

Katara opened her eyes. She forced the water down with a great thrust. It pushed her up. She could see the surface above and then she was breaking through it and expelling the water from her own lungs. She violently spewed it from her own stomach. She coughed and choked and spat and gagged. Sokka, where was Sokka?

She felt for the rope. It was still there, wrapped around her waist, weighing her down while she made the angry water flow in currents that kept her floating above the surface. She pulled up on the rope. She had to find Sokka. She pulled up hand after hand. He was heavy. She told herself to keep going. She would have to remember to tell him later how impressed she was with his ability to tie a knot.

She could see the top of Sokka's head. She caught him under his arms and used the water to push him above the surface with her. She could sense water in his lungs and filling his stomach. She began to pull it out, wringing water from him. She listened for the water in his blood. His heart had stopped. There was no more water to wring out, but his heart was still stopped. Why wouldn't it start again?

Katara cried out. The water kept coming around her, the spray was in her face and the lightning danced furiously in the sky. Where had Appa gone? Was he still floating somewhere? She could barely see anything and Sokka's body was dead weight in her arms. And she was tired. Completely drained. She closed her eyes again. Maybe it had all just been too much.

Zuko never blinked and he was out of the dark pit, levitated above water again. Aang was gone, but Suki stood next to him, and they were standing together on an invisible viewing platform that they couldn't move from. The relief was seeing Katara appear at the surface of the water again. The terror was realizing the strength of the continuing storm. He watched Katara pull Sokka's body up and fight to keep them both above the surface in the crashing waves. He couldn't help. Couldn't even call out to her. She might not even remember everything that had just happened, Zuko realized. She might not even know he was here.

Suki was frozen in place. When Sokka didn't move – didn't reanimate despite Katara's attempts to clear his airways – Suki made a sound like she was quietly choking to death herself. Zuko didn't know what to do but embrace Suki's shocked body and hold her close in the spirit world, with her face buried in his robes, praying for a miracle while death toyed with their people outside.

It wasn't in his nature to give up easily, but when the next wave hit and Katara and Sokka disappeared under the water again, it was all he could do not to flinch and look away.

One. Two. Three. He counted silently. Seven. Eight. Nine. Come up. Come up. Come up. Fourteen. Fifteen. Sixteen. Waterbenders don't drown, Katara. Twenty. Twenty one. Twenty two. Come on, Katara. Be amazing. Twenty six. Twenty seven. Was this it? Twenty eight. Twenty nine.

Twenty nine and a half.

Katara burst out in a funnel of water, driving up into the sky with her arms wrapped around her brother's chest, looking up with a face like fury. She wrapped Sokka in glowing blue water and the water flowed around them both like it was alive, while she somehow managed to keep them above the storm at the same time. Sokka's body jerked with life. His eyes opened.

Katara looked at the platform where he and Suki were standing, and Zuko could have sworn she looked right at him. Right into his eyes. "Suki," Zuko said, sucking in an amazed breath. "Look."

Suki lifted her face and gasped. Katara and Sokka floated wildly above the storm, hanging on despite the continuing rains and winds. "Sometimes I forget what a powerful bender that girl is," Suki said.

"I never do," Zuko said.

Katara felt at one with the water. Yue must have been looking down on them and the ocean must have been seeking a master because Katara knew that from here on out, the water was hers.

Perhaps the spirits of the Fire Nation were somehow helping her as well, because the lightning had not let up but she dodged it easily, always intuiting when it would strike. It was only the air now – the rushing wind – that she could not control. It pushed her back and threatened to topple her and Sokka. Could she keep this up forever? She would not give in, but she did not know what would come next.

She did know that something was coming in the air, though. She sensed it before she could even see it. A dark figure in the storm. She couldn't make it out at first, but she didn't fear it, and then-

"Appa, is that Appa?" Sokka croaked, weakened from the toll the water had taken on him.

"Yes!" Katara said. "And Aang!"

He rode crouched on Appa – Aang's physical self – his head bent toward them, his robes whipping in the wind, waving the storm away with strokes of his hand, as though he was parting it straight down the middle. When he got close, they could see his eyes and they were furious, strong and determined as he reached for them.

"Aang!" Katara shouted. "You came for us!"

He smiled fiercely, helped them onto Appa with a smooth burst of air, and then flew them up out of the storm, driving all the elements away as they went so that Appa had only to fly through the smooth path of air Aang created for him.

His eyes met Katara's: "You're my family. I'd do anything for you, and I'll always take care of you. I am the hero of the story."

"I know, Aang," Katara said, while her tears fell down on her cheeks. "And I'll always believe in you. Thank you."