I don't own Avatar

"There it is," Ryu stated, slowing down the airship a little as they moved closer to their destination, "The Southern Air Temple."

Tau and Sorin looked up from their seats, seeing the temple appear out of the mists of the mountains, and both of their mouths fell open in awe. It wasn't everyday someone saw one of the Air Temples and Tau had to admit, it was very impressive.

Part of Tau wished he had seen the temple before the airbenders had been cut down to all but one. The place must have been a beautiful thing to see back in that time. Sure, it was still a wonderful site to behold but the temple clearly had war written all over it. It looked like it went through…well, exactly what it had gone through. It looked, dull, barren, but majestic at the same time.

Tau found it hard to believe that humans alone could have built something like this thousands of years ago, especially so high up in the Patola Mountain Range. Part of him wondered if there were some other forces at play that led to the air temple's construction. He was even a little curious now as to what the other air temples looked like.

Still, once he got passed the site of the Air Temple, Tau remembered the secret it held: the Yanari.

He was sure that the Avatar didn't tell him everything, only what he needed to. The things that the Avatar held back from him were obvious however. Clearly, part of the reason this temple was built was to hide the Yanari from everyone. Tau knew that much. He was sure there were some other details that he was missing that the Avatar had been told but he found that irrelevant. He knew what he needed to know.

"Wow, I didn't expect anything quite like this," Sorin spoke up at last.

"What were you expecting then?" Ryu breathed in a deep sigh, clearly not really fascinated with the temple as much as his two companions were, "It's just a large building on a mountain."

"Honestly, I was expecting a pile of rubble," Sorin answered, eyes still on the temple in front of them as the airship continued closer.

"Well we better hope all of it is in decent shape, at least the top of the central spire," Tau finally spoke up, "If that's gone we've reached a dead end."

"Well the spire looks intact," Ryu said, his eyes squinting slightly as he tried to look closer, "As long as the inside of the spire isn't damaged I would say that we have nothing to worry about."

"I'm more worried about finding that dumb necklace," Sorin rolled his eyes, "Didn't every monk have one of those things?"

"The elder ones at least, why?" Tau asked.

"Well they're just a pile of bones now," Sorin explained, "How do we know which is the guy that wears this magical necklace that we need?"

"Well, for one," Tau started, "The necklace isn't 'magical. Most likely it is just holding something inside of it and we could easily cut through the necklace with our bending to get to it," Tau waved his hand briefly in front of him to mimic a waterbending motion, "And two, the Avatar said the body was at the base of the air temple…so that narrows down the search a little bit at least."

"So we're still going to have to dig through a whole bunch of bones," Sorin deadpanned.

"Probably," Tau shrugged.

Sorin sighed, and rested his head on one of his hands, elbow resting on his chairs armrest as sarcasm dripped from his voice, "Great."

"Well we are nearly at the temple," Ryu interjected in the conversation, "Tau, where do you want me to land this thing?"

Tau was quite for a few moments as he stood up from his chair, walked over to the window and regarded the temple in front of him speculatively, "See if you can dock us on the top of the central spire. We don't know if there is a staircase going up there."

"Why wouldn't there be?" Ryu asked raising his eyebrows.

Tau shrugged, and turned back around, "Airbenders lived here. They could just fly up if they wanted to."

Ryu nodded accepting the answer but Sorin glanced at Tau questionabley for a moment but he didn't say anything. Tau knew what he was thinking though. If the Yanari really were dangerous, the place that someone could free them from would have probably been located in a place that few people could get to. Sure, he supposed the air temple was difficult enough, but having no staircase, thereby only letting an airbender up there, might have been something that was designed to help keep the Yanari locked away. Maybe it might have been built that way whether the Yanari were dangerous or not.

Tau knew he was merely speculating but just to be on the safe side, they may as well try landing the airship at the top of the temple.

"Well we're in luck," Ryu spoke up, making the airship hover right next to the top of the central spire, "It looks like there is a walkway jutting out from all sides of the top, surrounding the room that must be holding the podium that will release these Yanari things."

"I don't think a walkway is an ideal place to land an airship on," Tau stated, looking out the window to see what Ryu was talking about. There were many rather large doors leading inside to what was probably the room holding the podium and surrounding the enclosed room, there was a small walkway that was probably there for the airbenders to land on when they flew up.

That only proves my no staircase theory even more, Tau thought.

"Well, if Sorin is willing to take control of this thing, I'd be willing to go down there and extend part of that walkway out further with a little earthbending," Ryu said, glancing over at Sorin expectantly.

"Yeah, okay, I'll do it," Sorin conceded standing up from his chair to take Ryu's place in the pilot's seat, "Just go do your thing."

"Wait until I give you the signal before you land," Ryu said, walking out the door.

"What's the…signal," Sorin nearly muttered the last word once he realized Ryu had left, "That's helpful."

Tau snorted from his spot over at the window, a little amused, "I'm sure he'll make it pretty obvious for us."

Sorin shrugged but didn't say anything as Tau looked out the window. Sorin hovered the airship closer to the central spire to make things a little easier for Ryu when he was ready to jump onto it and a few moments later, Tau saw the earthbender land on the walkway. He saw Ryu plant his feet on the ground and shoot his hands out and part of the walkway suddenly extended outwards. Satisfied with his work Ryu turned and waved at them.

"Well that must be the signal," Tau muttered before speaking up, "Okay Sorin, go ahead and land it…nice and slow."

Sorin nodded, as all of his concentration went to landing the airship on the small platform that Ryu had created. It took a couple of minutes, and a few attempts, but he was finally able to make a solid landing with a gentle thump coming from the bottom of the ship.

"Now," Tau turned around and smiled at Sorin, clearly pleased, "Let's get out there and see what's inside."

Katara looked around curiously, suddenly finding herself back at her own home: the Southern Watertribe. She was standing in the middle of one of the streets, the icy buildings that the watertribe featured were lined up, nearly wall to wall, off to her side; just like they should be. Everything seemed normal except that a feeling in Katara told her that it wasn't.

Something was wrong. How did she even get here? Last thing she remembered was being in the desert and Aang…she remembered watching him die…or at least she thought he died. Part of her remembered following in his footsteps a few moments after so did that mean she was dead as well? Part of her came to the conclusion that this must be the spirit world but that just didn't seem to fit with her. The spirit world wouldn't have an exact replica of her home.

Curiously, she walked forward, still trying to figure out how she got here. She was in the desert…and now she was in the environment opposite of that. That thought brought another irregularity to her mind. It should be cold…but it wasn't. She couldn't feel any heat either.

She turned a corner and began walking down another street, still lost in her thoughts. What if this was the spirit world and the spirits had built a replica of the physical world for the spirits of the dead to live in. If that was true though, Katara thought that there would be some more people, or spirits, here besides her.

That suddenly stopped her thinking. Besides the icy structures around her, this place was empty, no sign of anything else anywhere. She thought back, remembering to other times were she had found herself in a similar situation. Her dreams, or possibly visions, that had those black, red eyed creatures in them. Part of her shivered at the thought of seeing those things again, but she quickly held those fears back, remembering that she had told Aang that she would deal with this.

Her heart suddenly fell, the red eyed creatures forgotten and the only thought on her mind was her soul mate, which for all she knew, was dead. She could hardly bear that thought. Her footsteps started to slow, not having the motive to walk any further. It was pretty clear to her now that this wasn't the spirit world which meant that she was alive…which also meant she was living without Aang.

Suddenly however, a bright light flashed in front of her and her heart nearly leaped out of her chest. Aang seemed to materialize right in front of her. He was sitting in a lotus position on the ground and his tattoos glowed, just like they did when he was in the spirit world. Normally Katara would be worried about him being there but right now, she could care less. All that mattered was that he was here, his body at least, and that meant he was alive with her.

"Aang!" she cried happily, sprinting over to him even though it was only a few feet. She fell to his side, her arms coming around his body. She was content to just sit like this and wait for him to come back, nothing else mattered to her.

Her sudden happiness was crushed as quickly as it came though as dozens of high pitched screeches filled the air. She let go of Aang and stood up, looking around, expecting to find the dark creatures staring at her from someplace but they weren't there. She could still hear them though and the screeching got louder, telling her that they were getting closer. She was suddenly reminded that this wasn't real. These things were just from her dreams…which also meant that Aang was. For all she knew, he could be dead after all.

Any sadness that Katara would have felt however was replaced by fear as a rumbling sound could be heard somewhere close to her. Next thing she knew, the icy buildings around her shattered into millions of snow flakes, leaving her in a cold empty plain. Her breathing picked up at the site of her home being destroyed so quickly, there wasn't even any trace of it.

She looked around her in all directions, seeing the black creatures hovering a few feet off the ground. She was surrounded. Then, like the buildings, the ground around her seemed to shatter, all off the ice falling into the ocean that was revealed hundreds of feet below, leaving her on a small, icy island. The creatures though, they didn't seem fazed by any of it. They just floated in place, their red eyes piercing into her.

Katara felt herself becoming desperate. She began to turn around to where Aang's body had been, expecting to get help but getting quite the opposite. His tattoos and eyes that had been glowing blue, now glowed at deep red. She gasped as she back away from him, stopping when she nearly stepped off the island she was on. She had never been afraid of him before but now, as he slowly walked over to her menacingly, she was terrified of him.

"Aang pl-"

She was cut off when one of his hands shot up and gripped her throat tightly, his hand clenching around her so she couldn't breathe. He lifted her a few inches off the ground as her legs began to kicking in the air frantically as she tried to get some air into her lungs. Her hands came up to her neck in an attempt to pry his hand off her but it was useless. He wouldn't budge. Her whole body squirmed as she tried to escape his grip, her vision starting to go black.

Her whole body became still a few moments later as she lost the energy to fight back. Her vision was fading, everything had become blurry and the hand on her throat seemed to tighten. All she could see was Aang's glowing red eyes that just kept gazing at her and she barely registered the dark creatures that had begun to move closer to her…

Katara opened her eyes quickly, taking in a deep breath before trying to control her rapid breathing. From what she could tell, she was lying in some medium sized tent with a blanket draped over her. She attempted to sit up only to immediately fall back down to lie on her back as a wave of dizziness shot through her.

She brought a hand up to her forehead, which oddly seemed to take a lot of effort, and rubbed it as if she were trying to purge the dizziness from her head.

She couldn't really tell where she was, the only thing from the outside she could see was a sliver of sunlight that was shining through the tents entrance, which was really just a flap hanging down from the top. She could hear movement going on outside the tent but she didn't even attempt to get up to see what it was. She was too tired…she could hardly care less on where she was at the moment.

Then, everything seemed to click in her head. She was alive. She didn't know how but she had managed to survive and get to…well, wherever she was right now. She was overcome with a feeling of relief for a brief moment before a wave of worry hit her. What about Aang? What if he didn't make it? She squeezed her eyes shut and shook her head to deny the possibility to herself. She turned to lie on her side and clutched the blanket closer to her, trying to tell herself that he was okay. As it turned out, she didn't need to tell herself that for when she opened her eyes after a few moments, he was right there, laying just a few feet away from her on the other side of the tent. It was then, for the first time, she noticed that the sound of his gentle breathing filled the tent.

She smiled and sighed in relief once again, all the worry leaving her. She didn't lose him, he was still right here with her. She was overcome with the urge to be closer to him, to hold him in a need to reassure herself that he was really there. She pushed the blanket off of her and tried to sit up again. The dizziness from before returned but she was determined and she quickly pushed it to the back of her mind. She didn't attempt to stand up; a part of her told her she didn't have the energy to do that, so instead she began to crawl over to his prone body. She only made one movement forwards though when she heard someone open the flap of the tent and she turned to see a man ducking inside.

"Oh, well it's good to see that at least one of you is finally awake," he smiled, and she noticed that he was carrying a tray of food and water in his hands.

Katara sat back down where she had been laying and regarded the man curiously with a tilt of her head. She recognized him a little but his name escaped her mind. He had black hair, a short cut beard, and part of his head was bald.

"You don't remember me do you?" He asked, setting the tray on the ground and taking a seat a couple of feet away from her, "My name is Sha-Mo…my sandbenders and I helped you and your friends get out of the desert a couple of years ago."

Katara instantly remembered after hearing that and she nodded, "And your son was the one that stole Appa right?"

"Well…yes," Sha-Mo answered a little regretfully, "But hopefully that is behind us now. My son, despite what you and the Avatar may think of him, is actually the only reason you are alive right now."

"I'm afraid I can't really recall any rescue or something," Katara admitted, "Last I remember was Aang passing out."

"That's understandable, considering the condition that Ghashuin had found you two in," Sha-Mo nodded understandingly, "He found you both unconscious in the middle of our desert. I must say, you two are very lucky to be alive. We've seen plenty of cases of victims suffering from dehydration and starvation and many of them don't make it once they reach the point that you had reached."

"Were we really that close to dying?" Katara asked, her eyes widening in surprise a little, "I mean, I was a little out of it but I felt like I could have continued on if Aang hadn't…" She drew off and fell into silence and Sha-Mo waited a couple of seconds before speaking up again.

"It's amazing what some people can do if they have the will to survive…I suppose you lost that when he fell unconscious," Sha-Mo guessed.

Katara gave him a short nod and glance over at her soul mate longingly, "I thought he had died."

A brief sympathetic expression rose to Sha-Mo's face before he continued what he had been saying before, "Anyway, if Ghashuin had brought you to back any later, I suspect neither of you would have made it," he paused before adding, "We had trouble ensuring the Avatar's survival. You were easy to stabilize."

Katara's head suddenly perked up, her voice quivering a little, "Wait, is he okay? He looks fine now."

"He'll live," Sha-Mo assured, "But there was a time when we thought that we wouldn't be able to save him. Force feeding can only do so much. There's a point when that's not enough to keep a starving person alive. Just expect him to be very weak when he wakes up."

Katara nodded and eyed the tray that had been sitting on the floor, "Is that…"

"For you? Yes," he answered, picking up the tray and handing it to her, "Don't think just because you're awake means you still don't need to recover. Both you and the Avatar will need to eat a lot for the next few days."

Katara hummed in agreement as she started eating.

"Good news is," Sha-Mo said, "If you're up, I suspect he will be to in a few hours."

Katara couldn't help but smile after hearing that. She needed to see Aang's eyes open again. For now though, she supposed the gentle feel of his spirit inside of her from their connection would have to be enough.

"So," Katara started, pausing from the food she was eating, "How long have we been here…and where is here exactly?"

"Ghashuin brought you two back…almost two days ago," Sha-Mo responded, "And you are at our main camp."

Katara nodded, not all that surprised by the answer as she had expected as much but she noticed that the man sitting next to her was looking at her questionably.

"If you don't mind me asking," he began, "What are you and the Avatar doing here?"

"It's a long story," Katara answered simply, not really feeling like having to explain everything.

"I understand, you don't have to answer. You're business is your business," Sha-Mo nodded, "However, do you need us to send a letter to anyone that can come get you out of here…does anyone even know that you're here?"

"Not anyone that cares about us knows where we are," Katara told him, knowing that there was no way the Sokka would know of her current situation, "But my brother is in Ba Sing Se. He could bring Appa here to pick us up if you can get a message out to him."

"Very well," Sha-Mo said, standing up, "I'll send a messenger out as soon as I can but it may take a couple days to get there."

"That's fine, like you said, Aang and I still need to recover anyway," Katara assured, receiving an approving nod from him.

"If you need anything, I'll be back to check on you in a few hours," Sha-Mo said, before stepping outside of the tent and leaving her alone with Aang's sleeping form.

Katara sighed and set the tray off to the side after she finished her food, making sure that she left some for Aang when he awoke, and finally did what she had been attempting to do when Sha-Mo had walked in.

With a little effort, she crawled over to Aang and laid down next to him, taking him into her arms as if to protect him from the death that they had both nearly faced. Her cheek rested on top of his head and she heard him murmur something in his sleep which brought a small smile to her.

Katara held him tighter as one of her hands stroked the back of his head and she felt her heart leap when he snuggled closer to her in response.

Everything is going to be okay, she tried to tell him mentally through their connection, remembering the time in Ba Sing Se, before her capture by Tau, that she had felt like she was able to read his thoughts, We're okay now.

To her surprise, he seemed to have gotten the message for a small smile suddenly appeared on his face. Of course, Katara knew that it might just be coincidence, but she couldn't hold back the possibility.

She suddenly yawned as she felt herself beginning to drift off into sleep again but she forced herself to stay awake. She wanted to be here when Aang awoke, she could deal with sleep later.

She tried to occupy herself by thinking of everything that had been happening recently. To her surprise though, she found she really didn't care about any of it; her anger at Tau and her dad…the Yanari's possible release…all of that seemed irrelevant to her now at the moment. She couldn't do anything about those things at the moment anyway.

No matter what she thought about, her thoughts always found their way back to Aang. Consequently, she also had thought about what he had done in her dream. She knew Aang would never actually do that to her but it still made her shiver. Like everything else though, she pushed that thought in the back of her mind. She would talk to him about it once they were both recovered.

Katara didn't know how long she had been lying in the tent holding him but she assumed it must have at least been an hour. She continued to wait patiently for him to awake though and thankfully, she didn't have to wait much longer.

A few minutes later, she felt him suddenly stir in her arms, and she pulled away from him slightly to allow him to move a little while she took the chance to take a good look at him. She saw his eyes blink rapidly as he tried to adjust them to the light but moments later, his eyes focused on hers. They simply smiled at each other, neither knowing quite what to say.

After many seconds of staring into those soft grey eyes of his that where gazing back at her lovingly, she couldn't hold herself back anymore. Her head leaned forwards the few inches it needed to and they're lips met for the first time in what felt like ages. The kiss was soft and simple but it felt like so much more to each of them. Katara felt Aang's arms come around her to pull her a little closer, and she responded by tightening her own arms around him. Their legs where tangled under the blanket that was still draped over them, but neither of them cared because the contact between them just assured them even more that they still had the other.

After what might have been minutes, they broke the kiss and rested their foreheads against each other, letting their breaths mingle in the couple inches of space between them. They're eyes, which had closed at some point during their kiss, slowly opened again to meet each other's gaze.

Katara could feel one of his hands running through her hair as her own hand rubbed the back of his head. His head tilted slightly with the intention to give her a quick peck on the lips but Katara moved her head towards him in response, deepening and prolonging the simple contact. Nothing else mattered to her right now and the only thing on her mind was him; his touch, his scent…everything that he was doing.

Aang broke the kiss as one of his hands weakly reached up to cup her cheek, stroking it with his thumb gently.

"Hey," he finally spoke up for the first time.

Katara smiled at the sound of his voice filling her ears once again, "Hey."

It was a simple exchanged of words but it seemed to satisfy each of them. Aang continued to stroke her face with his hand, and she simply laid there and reveled in his touch that she had desired so much ever since she had woken up a few hours ago.

After a few minutes, he stopped, detangled himself from her, and tried to sit up but he was obviously having a lot of difficulty doing it. Immediately catching on to his struggle, Katara quickly sat up next to him and helped him sit beside her. Her hands grasped his shoulders to steady him as she pulled him upright and she was earned with a grateful smile.

Suddenly his hand clutched his stomach and she could hear it rumbling loudly. She turned around and reached for the tray that she had set aside and handed it to him so he could eat the remaining food.

"Here take this," she told him softly, her voice taking on its motherly tone, "You need to eat."

Aang gladly took the tray from her and set it on his lap, very grateful when he noticed that Katara had saved him the vegetables. He took a few quick bites until he noticed Katara just sitting their gazing at him with a smile on her face.

"What?" he questioned, pausing his eating frenzy for a few seconds.

"I'm just glad you're alive," she answered simply, her gaze not braking away from him, "I love you."

He smiled back, "I love you to," he told her, his voice full of affection as reaching his hand out to squeeze hers gently before reaching for some more food, "I'm glad you're okay to. I thought that…"

Katara shook her head before he could say anymore, noticing that his voice still sounded a little hoarse, "We're safe now at the sandbenders camp. We don't have to worry about it anymore."

"Sandbenders?" Aang questioned.

Katara nodded, "They're the ones that saved us Aang. The found us and brought us back here."

Aang didn't say anything to that, not knowing quite what to think. On one hand, they had stolen Appa before and that was something he would never forget, but now they had saved him. More importantly to him, they had saved Katara.

"I guess they're not quite as bad as we though," he finally said.

Katara just hummed in agreement as she continued to watch him finish his food. Suddenly, he seemed troubled and if the expression on his face hadn't told her that, his raging emotions did. She couldn't tell what he was thinking either but it obviously wasn't good.

He set his tray aside once he was finished eating and folded his hands in his lap as he gazed down at them.

"Aang?" she questioned in concern, reaching her hand out to place on his shoulder but stopped when he suddenly spoke up in a shaky voice.

"I'm sorry Katara," he quivered and for the first time, she noticed that he was crying, a few tears dripped down onto his lap.

Katara quickly scooted over to him and took him in her arms. His head rested on the crook of her neck and his body seemed to mold into her as he tried to press himself as close to her as possible. She shifted to she was sitting with her legs crossed and moved him so he was partly placed on her lap as she held his shaking body worriedly. He was crying harder than he had before and for the life of her, she couldn't figure out why.

"You don't have to be sorry about anything Aang," she finally said, "What's wrong?"

"I shouldn't have given up like that, I should have tried harder to stay alive," he sobbed into her throat, his voice muffled a little, "I left you all alone. I'm so sorry."

Katara instantly knew what he was talking about; his near death in the desert. She wasn't sure what was worse, that…or seeing him getting struck down by Azula all those years ago. At least back then she didn't have to feel him nearly die in her arms. Feeling the life slowly fade from him as it did a couple of days ago had been too much for her…and Aang seemed to know it.

"You don't have to be sorry about that," she assured him, nuzzling her head against the top of his, "We're both okay now and that is all that matters."

"But I hurt you," Aang argued, letting out another choked sob, "I know I did…especially since our connection probably almost vanished…I can't even imagine what that did to you."

Katara sucked in a breath and held him tighter as she remembered that feeling of emptiness. It had terrified her and it had essentially taken out any fight that she had left. She had felt so lost…

"I won't lie to you Aang," she whispered, one of her hands moving to grasp his hand, "It was terrifying and it's something that I would never want to feel again…I felt like I lost part of my mind. It's not your fault though. You did all you could."

"But I could have…"

"No Aang," Katara interrupted, "You can only do so much. Everyone needs food and water to keep them alive, you're no exception. We both tried our hardest to stay alive and there is nothing else to it okay? I don't blame you for anything and you shouldn't blame yourself."

He was quiet for a few moments as he took in what she said. In the mean time, she just rocked him back and forth in her arms until his cries subsided. Finally, he pulled away from her to meet her gaze, his eyes bloodshot from his tears.

"Okay Katara," he conceded, his face taking on a determined expression, "But I promise that you won't have to go through that ever again."

Katara smiled and reached her hands out to wipe the few remaining tears from his cheeks before pulling him in for a tight embrace and resting her head on his shoulder, whispering into his ear, "And I promise you the same."

He smiled in response and nuzzled his head into her neck, planting a soft kiss there. The couple was content to stay in the comforting embrace for quite some time with only one thing on their mind.

They still had each other.

Okay there is chapter 25. As always review and chapter 26 will be up Thursday.

However I do have a special announcement to make. I have some kind of bad news and some good news.

The 'somewhat' bad news is that this fic is coming to an end. The final chapter count looks like it is going to be 32 chapters.

The good news is...sequels. This fic has two of them so the overall story is still far from over. I will reveal more information on the sequels once this fic is finished but for now...just know that I will be writing the two sequels. I do want to make it clear though. This fic doesn't have sequels because people liked this fic so I decided to expand it. Ever since this idea popped in my head I knew it was going to be a trilogy...essentially Books 4,5, and 6. So the sequels aren't going to be some weak, half-attempted thing that I'm doing just to keep writing. This fic was essentially one big fic that I decided to split up into 3 parts so the quality of the sequels will be just the same as this one if not better. I know when most people here the word sequel they all roll their eyes and go 'oh great, just what we needed' in a sarcastic voice. I just want to say that there is no reason to think that.:)