Written for Kataang Week 2021

Day 3: Missing Scene/Post-Canon

"Well I think you all look perfect!"

The sound of her friends laughing at Toph's joke faded as Katara wandered out onto the terrace, taking in the view of a peaceful, secure, liberated Ba Sing Se, and still feeling like it couldn't possibly be real. But it was real. The world was a better place now than it had been in a hundred years, and the whole world was breathing a collective sigh of relief.

But her eyes didn't focus on the city below her, but instead on the one person who deserved this peace more than anyone. Aang was standing at the railing at the edge of the terrace, and although his back was to her, she could tell by his body language that he was more relaxed now than she had seen him in a very long time, possibly since that first penguin-sledding trip they took, before he found out about the war.

Katara could only think of one thing that Aang would still have to feel anxious about, and she blushed and smiled when she thought about it. Another thing that came with this newfound peace was the mental clarity to see that her feelings for Aang had been obvious all along, and how silly she was being by pretending otherwise. She wasn't even stressed about whether he was still interested. He was the most forgiving person she knew, he wouldn't hold it against her that she had gone so long without giving him a straight answer.

There was nothing left to do now but tell him.

With her heart fluttering with excitement, she took a deep breath and walked toward the edge of the terrace. As she joined him at the railing by his side, her shy smile fell from her face when she saw his expression. He looked calm, as she saw from behind him, but his face also showed signs of sadness of all things. He was looking out over the vast city with his brow furrowed, seeming to be deep in contemplation.

"Aang?" Katara asked gently.

He didn't jump, surely having sensed her footsteps as she approached him. He turned his head slightly to look her in the eye and gave a weak smile.

"Sounds like Sokka's artistic skills haven't improved?" Aang asked.

She wasn't fooled. "Aang, is something wrong?"

"No," he stated plainly, shaking his head and looking back to the view. "Nothing is wrong. Nothing's wrong at all. Well, I"m sure something's wrong, somewhere, but nothing that requires a world-saving adventure by a ragtag group of kids."

When he paused again, Katara scooted closer to him and gently nudged him with her elbow. "Sooooo?"

"So," Aang shrugged. "Now what?"

"What do you mean?"

"What do we do now?"

Katara laughed. She laughed harder than she had in weeks, leaning against Aang's shoulder to support herself. "Aang, we'll do whatever we want. We don't have to run, hide, or fight anymore, the whole world is open to us!" She gestured out to the sprawling city, which was as wide and full of possibilities as their future.

"Well yeah, that'll be fun for a while," Aang admitted, "but sooner or later, we're all going to settle into some kind of normal, and….well, we're a bunch of kids from all over the world. The war brought us together, and now that it's over….."

He traced circles on the dust on the railing, pointedly looking anywhere but her face.

"Contrary to what Toph says, leaving her parents was hard, and she misses them terribly. Zuko has a nation to rule and reform. Suki only left Kyoshi to fight, so she'll probably be going back, and you and Sokka—"

His voice caught in his throat and he swallowed hard. "You've been away from your home for so long and you just got your dad back but I can't go back to the South Pole with you because I'm needed here and I don't want to pressure you but I am really going to miss you—the two of you I mean—"

"Aang," Katara said sharply, cutting off his rambling. It made her heart ache to hear him talk like that. Since he was such a warm, loving person, and he was surrounded by people who loved him, Katara often forgot just how lonely Aang still was. For her, the end of the war meant the safety of her nation and the reunion of her family. But Aang had no nation, and he had no family besides the one that had found him in that iceberg.

"Aang," she said again, more gently this time. She cupped his jaw and turned his face to look her in the eyes, and his eyes widened and he blushed adorably. "You're right, I'm happy that my home is safe, and I miss it, but don't you dare imply that I would leave you to deal with the world on your own. My home will always be there, waiting for me. My family will be with me for years to come. You gave that to me. I'm not going anywhere until you can come with me."

Aang sighed. "You don't have to—"

"And don't think that I'm doing this as some great sacrifice or that you're a burden, either," she cut him off again, "rest assured, I'm being selfish. Aang, I grew up on an isolated lump of ice. Before you showed up, I had met just a couple dozen people over my entire life. You really think I'm ready to go back home and fish?"

She looked back out at the distant view again, bouncing with excitement. "I can see the whole world now, without the Fire Nation, or the Dai Li, or the looming threat of a comet approaching. There's a million things I can do….and I'm free to do it with whoever I want to be with."

She gave a shy smile and took his hand in hers. His breath hitched as she traced small circles over it with her thumb. "I can even maybe...let myself have something that I've wanted, but was so afraid of losing that I denied it to myself, even though I can now see what a mistake that was."

She lifted her gaze from their entwined hands up to his eyes and smiled at the rising joy she saw there. His face split into a wide grin to match her own and soon they were both giggling furiously.

"Really?" he asked softly, his voice full of wonder.

She nodded. "Like you said, we're not on an adventure anymore, so my schedule is open for a new one. If you're up for it."

He started nodding so hard he threatened to pull a muscle, so she stopped him by leaning forward and pressed her lips to his. She thought that she was prepared for it, this technically being their fourth kiss, but she felt lightheaded, went weak in the knees and wrapped her arms around his shoulders to steady herself.

They spent several long moments like that, smiling into their kiss, before pulling apart. Katara didn't look back at the spectacular view, instead she stayed focused on the gray eyes of the boy in front of her. That was where she saw her future.

Don't know if this counts as a "missing" scene, exactly, but this is one I had planned on for a while. I'm one of the many people that's always felt like some dialogue should have happened in that final scene, to actually explain why Katara's feelings do a complete 180.