Aang felt his eyes burning as he slowly opened them. Hoping it would help he rubbed them with both hands. It didn't, it felt like he had never used them before. He slowly sat up, his ears were ringing, and he felt a sharp pain shoot through his ribs. He looked down and saw he was all bandaged up, most likely Katara's work. He moved to the side of the bed and slowly planted his feet down to the floor. He wasn't prepared to take this too quickly; he didn't want to hurt himself more than he already had.
He took a deep breath and carefully pushed himself up. He underestimated how much strength he had because the next thing he knew he fell flat onto the floor. He grunted in pain and clenched onto his ribs. He was focusing on his breathing so much he didn't notice a certain blue-eyed girl rush to his side until she put a warm hand on his shoulder. He looked up and saw her, the girl he had grown to love so intensely.

"Oh my god Aang, are you okay?" She asked. He heard the concern in her voice, and he felt bad, he never intended to make people worry about him, especially her.

"I'll be fine" he smiled "although my body feels like it could be 80 years old". She smiled but Katara didn't find it too funny, she was too worried about him. She helped him get back onto the bed and looked into his stormy grey eyes.

"Aang you need to be more careful"

"I know, I'm sorry" he mumbled. He looked down at his feet.

"I know you are" she smiled as she used a finger to prop his head up, so he was at eye level with her. She rested a hand on his shoulder and gave him a happy smile, "how are you feeling?"

"I feel like I was hit by a boulder, but I'll be alright" he replied. He felt slightly awkward. He was so in love with her, but she hadn't given him any indication she felt the same. That was hurting him the most, he needed to know but he was too afraid to ask. He looked out the window and then around the room. It had only just clicked to him he wasn't on the airship, but in a small room made of wooden logs and thatch. It made him feel comfortable, like he was safe.

"How long was I out?" He asked, afraid of the answer.

"Just a couple days, that's not surprising since your body had been through a lot. It needed to recover" She said sweetly. She looked down at the ground with a slight frown engraved into her forehead. She looked back to him before putting her hand onto his right cheek, gently rubbing her thumb against a cut. "I hate what they did to you".

Aang saw the look on her face. Katara had always been a strong woman but when people she cared about were getting hurt, it really got to her. "Hey, I'll be okay" he said with a smile beaming at her "and it's thanks to you".

She smiled and stood back up, "come on, the others have been waiting for you to wake up".

He nodded and reached for his glider. He used it to balance himself as he stood up and followed her out the door.
As he left the hut he was amazed by the view. The sky was a clear blue and decorated with fluffy clouds. The grass was a beautiful bright green, surrounded by tall healthy pines. He looked to the left and saw a streaming river filled with mossy rocks.

Aang closed his eyes and took a deep breath, he could smell the wet soil and feel it between his toes. He heard the croaking of the river frogs and crackling of wood from the campfire.
Katara looked over at him. She loved seeing him like this, she's never seen him this peaceful and she knew he deserved that more than anything.
When Aang opened his eyes, he saw Sokka, Zuko, Toph and Suki all smiling at him. He walked over to them and no one said anything, they all just enveloped him into a group hug.

Hours had passed and they had all spent hours around the fire telling stories and laughing. No one noticed Aang get up and walk across the river. He needed a moment to himself. He sat down, crossed his legs and looked up at the stars. He couldn't help but think about Katara. Since she saved him from that iceberg, he had grown quite fond of her and she of him, but he wasn't aware as to how much she did. She had ways of comforting him in ways that no one else understood.

As if right on cue, she found him. Not wanting to disturb him she decided to stay back and leaned against one of the pine trees. She smiled as she watched him. She knew he loved her, she loved him too and now that the war was over, she was more then ready to tell him.

After a few moments of peace, he stood up and turned around. That's when he saw her. She had the top half of her hair in a bun and the rest flowed down past her shoulders. They smiled at each other as she walked over to him. She stopped when she was directly in front of him. She moved one hand to his check as the other went to his shoulder.

"Katara?" Aang asked as she moved closer to his face. She pressed her forehead to his and shut her eyes. She could feel his breath on her face as he placed both of his hands onto her hips. She looked into his eyes with a smile before leaning back in, but this time her lips pressed to his. He froze up for a minute before relaxing into it. His lips felt dry and scabbed, she had Ozai to thank for that.
He pulled her closer as she removed her lips from his. She pulled away and looked at his face, he had the biggest smile that she had ever seen.

"Does this mean you're not confused anymore?" he asked as he took her hands in his.

"No Aang" she beamed "I want to be with you, I always have I just didn't want to be a distraction for you". She looked down at her hands as she felt Aang squeeze them, she looked back at him as she heard his voice.

"Well things have worked out the way it was meant to between us and we're here now, that's the main thing" he said. He handled this so maturely and it made her so happy that he understood why she waited.

"Well I can get used to this" she smiled as she pulled him in for another kiss. He leaned in and pressed his lips harder against hers, grazing his tongue against her lips, begging for entrance. She parted them and she enjoyed feeling his tongue fight for dominance against hers. After a few minutes they pulled away trying to catch their breath. They were so focussed on each other that neither of them heard the footsteps approaching, luckily for Aang, Toph was his earth bending teacher. He sensed the men through the earth by feeling their vibrations. Aang pushed Katara behind him and quickly brought up a wall of rock. Seconds after multiple arrows shot into it. He looked back at Katara behind him with wide eyes. He bended the wall up and pushed it in the direction of where the arrows had come from.

"KATARA GO AND TELL THE OTHERS TO PACK UP CAMP, I'LL HOLD THEM OFF!" he yelled over his shoulder as he got into a fighting stance.

"NO" she bit back "I'M STAYING WITH YOU!"

"KATARA GO!" he yelled as he saw six hooded men running towards him. She hesitated but did what she told and ran to the camp. Aang lifted a hand to command the water around him and bent a pillar of ice in front of him. He then swung his arms from side to side, shooting ice disks towards the men. He hit one, the rest of the med dodged them.

'1 down, 5 to go' he thought.

Four of the men surrounded him, he was now outnumbered four to one, but where was the other man. For a few solid minutes they were all punching, kicking, blocking and evading each other. They all got a good amount of hits in until Aang jumped into the air and swung his arms around, bending a huge puff of air at the men, they all fell over and as he landed he slammed his foot down and kicked it forward, flicking numerous boulders at them. They all fell unconscious. Now there was just one man to deal with but Aang couldn't see him. Seconds later he felt something hit his head, he stumbled forward and looked back. There stood the last hooded figure before him.
He threw a punch at Aang, but he evaded it just in time. He swiftly stepped forward and elbowed the man in the rib followed by sweeping his leg out. The man fell to the ground before Aang earth bended his arms and legs down.

Aang knelt and pulled the mysterious man's hoodie down. He had pale, pasty skin, a bald head and a glass eye. He looked like the kind of man you'd expect to be a villain.
On his neck he had this weird symbol that looked like a snake etched into his skin. Aang glared at the man angrily.

"Who are you?" he asked impatiently. The man just laughed.

"Don't make me ask you again" Aang threatened. He pulled the man's collar, slightly pulling him off the ground and then proceeded to shove him back into the ground.

"my name is Akeiko" the man sneered "I'm the end of you, Avatar Aang"

Akeiko fire bended the rock that held him to soften it just as Aang felt something sharp pierce his chest. He looked down to see an arrow. He wrapped his hand around it and fell to his knees, trying to pull it out.

Akeiko broke free and bent on one knee, he was now face to face with Aang. He laughed menacingly, "goodbye Aang".

Next thing he knew his vision went blurry. 'What's happening...'

He completely collapsed onto his back and his world went dark.