Author's note: Updated this chapter December 5th 2019. Added 500 words! Holy flesh out!
Chapter 2
It was over. Ozai, the mighty Phoenix king, had been defeated by a mere 13 year old boy and now he crouched at a painful angle between bent up slabs of stone. Avatar Aang stood before him, eyes and tattoos glowing, and he waited for the killing blow. The fury he felt as he waited for death began to ebb as the blow he expected never came. Instead he watched as his enemy came out of the Avatar state and turned away from him, hesitating. For a long moment, Ozai stared slack jawed at the boys back in confusion. What was he doing? Snapping his mouth closed, he resolved to use the Avatar's poor judgment to his advantage.
"Everyone expects me to kill you Ozai, but I'm not like you. I know how evil you are but even your life is sacred."
With the Avatar still facing away from him, Ozai exulted in the lingering feel of the comet's power and gathered his remaining strength. Just as Aang turned again to finish whatever it was he wanted to say, Ozai let his fire erupt all around him, destroying his earthen prison. Avatar Aang was thrown back and shocked just long enough for Ozai to strike. One last lightning blast and it would be over. The Avatar may have been incapable of killing his enemy, but Ozai had no such compunction.
oOoOoOoOo
Aang remembered falling. The falling and the last lingering thought. "I failed."
The first thing he was aware of was the odd sensation that his body had no weight. He felt like the air he'd so effortlessly bent as long as he could remember, existing and yet still somehow, not. Opening his eyes and looking around he realized at once that he was in the Spirit world, though not any part that he recognized. A thick fog hung around him like a shroud, almost completely obscuring the landscape. Panic began to set in as he whirled to his left, unable to see anything in the unending fog.
"Hello? Is anyone there? Where am I? I think there's been a mistake, I'm not supposed to be here! I need to get back…" He drew up with a gasp as he turned around again and nearly smacked into a sad looking Avatar Roku. Leaning around the older version of himself, Aang could see an endless line of his past incarnations.
"What is this, Roku?Where are we?"
"You are dead Aang. The Avatar is, you are, we are about to be reincarnated."
Before Aang could respond, an annoyed looking Kyoshi leaned down so that her face was near his. "I told you Aang, enemies must be crushed! If you had listened to me and struck down Ozai without hesitation you wouldn't be here!"
Roku held up a hand for her silence as thoughts of his friends whirled frantically in his mind.
"No! I can't be dead, my friends need me. Katara… How will they be able to defeat the Fire Lord without me? What is going to happen to them now?"
A cold and powerful voice filled the space and made him jump.
"Such arrogance!"
Suddenly before him loomed a great spirit. She was many times taller than any man, and her head bore many faces that all seemed to speak at once. A long branch like arm reached out toward Aang as the spirit spoke again.
"Surely this Fire Lord is no god, no immortal spirit?" Aang hesitantly shook his head. "Then surely the great and powerful Avatar is not the only human with the ability to defeat him. Do you have such little faith in your allies to believe they would fall before him as well? They have won great victories this day, it was only you that failed after all."
"That's not it, I just..."
"Silence! Your life is over now Avatar Aang. Cast your earthly worries and pains aside. Now you must be born again."
Aang wanted to cry, he wanted to scream at the horrible spirit. It wasn't fair. He had worked too hard to end up here. Opening his mouth to argue, the looming spirit again cut him off.
"I am the Mother of Faces and I shall make you a new face." She paused for a moment as if in thought before her many mouths turned up in a self satisfied grin. "Yes Avatar Aang, a new face, different from any you have worn before. With you, the ancient cycle of the Avatar is disrupted. The air nomads no longer walk the earth, the Southern Water tribe to whom this honor rightfully belongs is nearly decimated and their Northern brothers have isolated themselves from the world and at present would not do your next incarnation justice. It is also likely that they will face persecution from the Fire Nation for the same reasons your own people were massacred. No, I think not."
"I don't understand. Doesn't the next Avatar have to be from the Water tribe?"
"Tradition would rule it so yes, but I have chosen to take this chance to unite the humans. When this war finally ends there will be much lingering strife. The last waterbender of the Southern water tribe, and a Prince from the Fire Nation. A better match I could not have asked for. The next Avatar will be of two nations, a beacon of the unity that is to come."
Aang's panic grew the longer this mother of faces talked. Katara, she was talking about Katara, and...Zuko! What was happening? He was in love with Katara. They were supposed to be together after everything weren't they? Had Zuko… had he hurt her? As quickly as the thought occurred to him he discarded it, Zuko had too much honor to ever hurt anyone that way. That left only a consensual relationship. How long had this been going on? While she had never actually said so, Aang was sure that Katara felt the same way as he did. He was stunned. How oblivious had he been to miss something going on in front of his face.
"You're talking about Katara and Zuko aren't you. What is going on, Mother of Faces? I thought.. I thought that Katara and I.."
"Remember what I have said Avatar Aang. Your life with all of its concerns is over. You must let go. Regarding your friends however, you need not trouble yourself. They are quite happy together. Now, enough of this, it is time."
oOoOoOoOo
Katara secured Azula and raced back to Zuko's side. He couldn't be dead. Especially not when the only reason he'd been struck down at all was because he had taken a lightning bolt meant for her. No, she couldn't let him die for her. He was too important, he was supposed to become the Fire Lord and restore honor to his nation. More importantly, she needed him.
Frantic, she covered her hands in water and put everything she had into healing the destroyed flesh, tears falling unchecked down her face. After what felt like a lifetime but could only have been minutes, he cracked open his good eye.
"Katara… am I, are we dead?" She shook her head, laughing through tears as he tried to inspect his chest. "Thank you, for saving my life."
"Idiot!" She peppered his face with gentle kisses. "I should be thanking you. But, don't you ever do that again! I was so afraid I'd lost you."
He groaned and squeezed his eyes shut from the pain but managed to give her a half hearted smile anyway. She kissed him again and, once she was sure he was ok, stood to look around for anyone to help her move him. Apparently Azula, in her paranoia, had banished nearly everyone from the palace. A lone fire sage that had stayed after the coronation had been interrupted to witness the Agni Kai, came to her aid right away. Between the two of them, bearing nearly all of his weight for him, they managed to get Zuko to what had once been his rooms.
Once he was settled in the over large bed, Katara sat beside him and bade him rest. He would live, but his injury was still grave. She didn't think he would be back to his usual strength for possibly weeks, even with her help. Watching him as he slept, she allowed herself to wallow in the guilt that had plagued her since he had leapt in front of that La forsaken lightning. If she had only stayed out of the way, maybe Azula wouldn't have seen her. What if she hadn't been able to save him? What then? General Iroh would be forced to take up a mantle he hadn't wanted and she would be alone. Even if her brother and father made it out of today alive, Katara was certain she would carry the ache of his loss for the rest of her life. She placed a hand over his heart and felt the gentle rise and fall of his chest and thanked Tui and La that that hadn't been the outcome.
Reaching down to take his hand in hers, she held it to her cheek and wondered how long it would be until they had news from the others. Sozin's Comet had reached its zenith during their fight with Azula; she hoped that Aang had found whatever he needed on his last minute journey and met Ozai in battle. Sokka, Suki and Toph had planned to intercept the Fire Lord's air fleet all on their own. Though, with her brother's quick thinking, Toph's new found metal bending and Suki's deadly skills, she thought they might be ok. As long as Ozai was taken care of, and she had little doubt that General Iroh and the rest of the White Lotus would have no trouble taking back Ba Sing Se. Outnumbered though they were, the small contingent of the Fire Nation army would be no match for so many experienced masters.
Thinking that perhaps she should rest too, Katara got up and crossed to the other side of the bed. She climbed across the large space until she lay next to her Prince. Resting her head beside his on the pillow, she clutched his hand in both of hers and closed her eyes, willing herself to rest.
A soft knock at the door sometime later woke her from a fitful sleep and a young maid that must have somehow avoided Azula's ire slipped in with her dinner. Finding her body stiff, she gingerly rolled off of the bed and returned to the chair next to Zuko. After thanking the girl, Katara could only stare blankly at the bowl of rice. Despite having hardly eaten the night before, her worry for her friends and family was souring her appetite. Sighing in resignation she attempted a few bites before groaning and setting it aside. Now fully awake and anxious, she reached for the basin of water beside the bed to recheck Zuko's injury. He was asleep still and stable so there was nothing more she could do for him just then. Trying desperately to distract herself from the guilt and the worry and noting the late hour by the low position of the sun through a large window, she decided to check on Appa. They had set him down in the courtyard and he had moved off once the battle had begun. He was probably hungry too.
Wandering through the palace, Katara wondered what it would be like to grow up here. Eerily silent now without any of the usual servants and nobles that no doubt normally filled the empty corridors, she imagined it was likely a structured and formal place to live, nothing at all like her own childhood had been. It was hard to imagine children running about such a sumptuous home.
She wondered too what Zuko's mother had been like, trying to recall what little he had shared with her after they had faced Yon Ra. Ursa, his mother, had been loving and done everything she could to shield him from his father, until she had disappeared. Katara hoped for his sake that one day soon he would find her. Thinking about Zuko's childhood made her wonder what kind of a father he would be. Suddenly she was picturing an older Zuko teaching a tanned skinned little boy with golden eyes basic firebending stances and she blushed. Where had that come from? Shaking her head to clear it she looked around, trying to remember where she was even going in the first place.
Now definitely lost, she cursed Azula again that day. If only she hadn't banished everyone for a traitor there may have been someone to show her back to the courtyard, or better yet to tell her exactly where the huge Bison was. Eventually she found the maid that had brought her the food and she showed her to the courtyard.
Katara smiled when she spotted Appa at last, resting against a wall and facing away from her. He must have come back after the fire had stopped. She walked up to him, calling out as she approached. He did not respond to his name, so supposing he was asleep she walked around to scratch behind his ear. It was then that she finally realized something was wrong.
"Appa, Appa! Are you ok?" Still he did not stir and to her horror his flesh was stiff and much cooler than it should be beneath his fur. Appa was dead...
Her hand dropped to her side and she screamed. No. No, no, no! Appa couldn't be dead, for him to die so suddenly and on today of all days? The sky bison was spirit bound with Aang.
She heard foot falls in the courtyard behind her, the few remaining servants drawn by her screams no doubt. Wrapping her arms around herself as she tried to breathe she felt arms come around her as she swayed and fell to her knees. Her head swam as she tried to understand the new reality that lay cold and lifeless in front of her.
Aang was dead.
A/N A word on conception, just in case anyone is confused. Conception does not happen instantly. It can take anywhere from a few hours, up to approximately 5 days. Sperm can live in the Fallopian tubes for this long and if ovulation occurs during this time.. I set the actual sex scene the night before, so it clearly takes some time. While a simultaneous love scene/reincarnation would have been more dramatic, it wouldn't make sense. I don't see a barely functioning Zuko getting up to that and I can't see Katara forcing the issue while he is clearly so weak. Also, scientifically it didn't really work. Thank you again to my fabulous Beta's for helping sort this out :)