Sorry another pretty short chapter – not sure why that's been the case recently, I guess there really isn't a better place to end them! But it makes editing quicker. Anyway, now we find out what happens between Aang and Katara.

Meanwhile...

Aang's POV:

My forearms lean on the ledge of the balcony overlooking the garden and the City's Bell Tower as I take in a deep breath of fresh night air. 'Its moments like this that I live for.' I think with a slight smile as I enjoy the peace. I hear the door open behind me and I shake my head slightly.

"Kyla, you're going to be late. Whatever you want to tell me can wait till later." I say without turning round. A pause.

"It's a lovely night." I blink twice and turn round to see Katara standing unsurely as she holds her elbow and shoots me a small smile.

"It is. Sorry, I didn't mean to assume. Kyla tends to talk a lot." I say with a smile, but I still see the obvious discomfort on my Sifu's face. I take notice of her beautiful dress that we bought from the shop. "You know, that dress really suits you." I compliment and it looks like it was the right thing to say as Katara's smile broadens slightly and takes a few steps until she's beside me at the balcony railing.

"Thanks. You're looking pretty dashing too." At this I can't help but let my own smile widen into a grin.

"So how are you finding the celebration so far?" I inquire curiously.

"It's nice. The decorations are great and the people are friendly. Although it's a bit boring when you guys are busy shaking hands with all those people." Katara says with a shrug and I feel a stab of guilt at leaving her behind.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to leave you alone. It's just traditional to greet everyone." I say with slightly bowed head. A second later a warm finger finds itself underneath my chin and lifts my head up. I gaze into Katara's blue comforting eyes and find myself flickering them away.

"You apologise too much." The soft spoken words make me blush, so I cough in an attempt to hide my red face. "Yeah I guess I do." I mumble quietly. When I hear a sigh coming from the Master Waterbender I look up and see the discomfort once again present. "Are you alright?" I say in concern as I furrow my eyebrows.

"Yes, well no. I've got to tell you something." Another sigh. "Something you should've known a long time ago." I frown in confusion. I scoot a little closer to the Waterbender.

"You know you can tell me anything." I say sincerely but a somewhat inaudible mutter comes out but it sounds like it's along the lines of 'if only' which makes me frown deeper. "Well, what is it?" I probe and after promising I won't be mad with whatever she says I watch as Katara takes a deep breath and looks me straight in the eye with a sorrowful expression.

"I was never with Zuko." Silence. Then laughter from me.

"That's a good one. As if you and Zuko would lie about being together like that." I say with a chuckle but when I see the pained expression on my Sifu's face my laughter comes to a halt. "Wait, you're being serious?!" I tight nod from her is all the confirmation I need for my world to crash down in an instant. Thoughts are suddenly racing through my head like why? How? But mostly, 'if that's true...then was this all for nothing?!' I shake my head vigorously. "But why?" I emphasise sharply.

"Because of the council pushing you for us to get married on your 16th birthday! And you were pushing too, how could you expect me to handle such a commitment so soon? I was 15! And you were 13, it was too soon. And on top of that you closed yourself off from me. I knew something was bothering you but you wouldn't open up. It hurt me Aang." My mouth is so wide open that it could make an O. Then the anger comes and as much as I want to keep my promise to Katara I find that I can't.

"You mean to tell me that I suffered at the hands of those assassins for nearly 4 years because you couldn't come and talk to me about this?!" I say, raising my voice slightly.

"I tried talking to you, but you wouldn't listen to me! It was all about 'the council this', 'the council that.' It was never about what we wanted!" I shake my head in disbelief at Katara's argument.

"That was part of the peace treaty! All nations are subjected to listen to the members of the council and if any fall out of line there would be serious consequences. That's what the four nations agreed to." I explain, trying to sound patient.

"But why should that involve our future marriage proposal? Heck we might not even decide we were good enough as a pair!" I wince slightly at those words and Katara must have caught it as she takes a step towards me and reaches for my hands but I take a step back.

"That's the responsibility of being the last Air Nomad. I can't argue with them if they want to ensure the safety of the future Avatar cycle. If it was too much you should've told me and not cower behind Zuko as an excuse. I can't believe he agreed to that. Well that explains why he's been on my case for these few years...out of guilt. And here I was thinking that he really cared." I say bitterly as Katara's eyebrows shoot up to her hairline.

"That's not fair! He was trying to look out for you since you cut all contact with everyone else." The Waterbender retorts defensively. I look at her dubiously.

"Are you sure you two weren't a thing? You seem a little too overprotective of him." I snipe and I see a flash of hurt pass through her eyes. I bite my tongue, frustrated at myself for being too emotionally involved.

"You're being so unreasonable! This is why I couldn't talk to you and tell you what I was feeling!" Katara shouts, her anger evident by her twitching eyebrow. But her words are like the match that ignites the fire.

"I'm being unreasonable?! I'm not the one who lied and drew away from their supposedly best friend because they were too much of a coward to talk. You said I hurt you, well let me tell you how much you hurt me by leaving me by the wayside!"

"At least I didn't run away from my problems and lied to the world! I can't believe you denounced us as your friends for that. How petty could you be? Perhaps it was a good idea that we didn't continue being together!" The Waterbender snaps and I turn my head to hide the stinging sensation of tears in my eyes. "And you never came to visit me, not once! I missed you like crazy and it didn't seem to have bothered you at all. You didn't even write." I hear the hitched tone in my Sifu's voice and I turn my head slightly to see her hugging her arms to her chest.

"You know I didn't mean that." I say softly, trying to quell the super charged atmosphere that we've created.

"How do I know anything anymore? We've been separated for years. For all I know you could be with Kyla!" My head snaps back at this and I stare at the Waterbender.

"And what would be wrong with that?!" I say sharply. I watch as Katara's lips tremble.

"Are you?" My Sifu challenges and I stick my head up.

"That's none of your business." I quip with an edge.

"Spirits, it didn't take you long to get over me." Katara cries out.

"I could say the same for you!" I retort quickly

"But it wasn't like that."

"Well I didn't know that did I?" I say in a tone that demands to be challenged.

"But what about in Kyoshi Island, you just said you didn't find anyone."

"Well, maybe I was lying." I jeer, knowing full well how much I'm hurting the Waterbender but right now not really caring to put a stop to it. I shake my head and smash my fist into the railing. "Spirits, Katara you're the reason I have these scars!" Silence penetrates the night sky before another round of shouting commences.

"You didn't tell me. I pestered you for weeks. I thought we were close enough for you to tell me everything that bothered you. Was I wrong?" I gulp and tears begin blurring my eyes but I wipe them away roughly.

"Go back inside Katara. You've done enough damage."

"No. We still need to talk." I smash my fist into the railing again and whip round to face her.

"For goodness sake can't you take a hint and leave me alone!" I shout, but regret it as soon as the words come out of my mouth. Katara's lips tremble again and her eyes become watery. Just as I open my mouth to apologise I feel something breaking the air currents at ridiculously high speeds. I have just enough time to move in front of Katara before a biting feeling pierces into my upper arm. I grit my teeth to stop me from shouting aloud in pain. I grab my arm and whip my head around. My eyes dart in the darkness to find the threat, until I see it - there on the roof of the bell tower. I feel Katara shaking my shoulder, her face pinched with white horror.

"Aang?! What happened, are you ok?" I shake my head and push her towards the door.

"Get inside." I hiss. I watch as her eyes focus on something behind me and an instant later she whips out some water from the flowers next to us and throws an icicle so far that even I'm impressed. I hear a thud later and then the quick running footsteps which soon fade out.

"Was that one of them?" I hear the Master Waterbender ask. I press my lips tightly together and nod my head.

"It must be. They've been using arrows as their weapon of choice recently." I put a hand to my forehead and message it roughly. "Shoot, I was hoping that we got them all." I curse and then my eyes widen in fear and I snap my head up. "We need to get inside to make sure everyone is ok and work out how many of them there are."

"But your arm!" I cut her off with a glare.

"That can wait." I grit out. I make sure she rushes in front of me into the corridor of the city hall, cautious of any more unpleasant surprises and we run inside to the sounds of screaming. I hear the pitter-patter of feet and turn round anxiously to see the serious face of Toph. I breathe out a sigh of relief.

"What's going on? I heard screaming." She comments rigidly.

"Assassins. We just saw one. There must be more in the building. Find Sokka and Zuko, then get everyone out to safety!" I order and we all start dashing to the main hall.

"Spirits! I thought we were finished with them." I hear Toph's mutter and I sigh heavily in response. We open the grand doors to see a group of archers rounding up some nobles and collectively the three of us shoot down the archers with our respective bending, mindful to not hit any of the civilians. I spot Zuko Firebending at some of the assassins while Sokka quickly directs the people to safety. I go over to the exit and usher all the people that I see cowering under the tables. Once the hall is clear of civilians I turn back to survey the situation to find that my friends have pretty much took down all of the archers, five or so. I go over to the one that's struggling against Toph's hold. And grab him by the collar.

"Is that the last of you?" I ask impatiently. The assassin juts his chin out in defiance and with my patience wearing thin I pull him by his collar until his feet are dangling off the floor and slam his back against the wall. "I said, is that the last of you?!" I snarl and I must have been quite menacing as the archer starts shaking and nods vigorously, but I don't let up my tight hold on him.

"Aang, drop him." Toph's stern voice breaks me out of my rage and I do as instructed and begin walking out of the room.

"Make sure everyone is ok and those assassins are taken care over. I'm going to my room." I say without pausing in my stride and leave everyone in silence.

A/N: Man did this hurt to write, my heart aches just reading it – hope it has instilled the same feelings into you guys! Next chapter is thankfully longer for you. I think from here on out there will be a mixture of both short-ish and long chapters depending on where I feel the best place to end it is. Anyway hope you enjoyed it, we'll be getting more Aang and Katara moments in the next chapter, but with a little less angst. Thank you guys for your support, as always you're amazing and let me know what you think of this chapter.

27/9/19