The Air Temple was empty.

Aang thought it might be especially considering Katara's words about nobody seeing an airbender in a hundred years. But it was different to see it up close.

We thought they were extinct

That's what Katara's Gran Gran thought but Aang wouldn't let himself entertain that thought. Not when thinking about the lives of his people.

There had to be others, someone out there somewhere, who made it out alive. There was just no way the Fire Nation got them all. There were so many reasons for the airbenders to survive. There were too many, they had air bison, the temples were too high in the mountains. He just…couldn't be the last airbender.

He couldn't be alone.

But the evidence stared back at him blankly, like a cold hand wrapping around his heart. He found the answer in the soft breeze, in the rubble, in the darkness of the temple. He found it in the absence of tinkling laughter, of shrill cheers, and the soft gentle murmurings of the monk's teachings. He found the answer everywhere. The cold empty temple where no single flash of yellow and orange was spotted anywhere.

It was quiet.

Too quiet.

He was alone.

Alone to bear the silent burden of being the last of his kind. Alone to feel the overwhelming grief and anguish of everyone he loved and lost. Alone to feel like he'd never find anywhere else who cared or understood. Alone to suffer in agony, desolate and never ending.

And when someone called his name, laughed in his ear, or asked to play, it would never be another airbender.

He'd never hear the voices of his people ever again.

The Avatar state was surprisingly quiet.

Not quiet in the way that it didn't make noise as evident in the chaos that reigned below him. It was quiet in the way that the roar of battle reached his ears and the screams and cries of his victims pleaded with him, he couldn't hear it. It was just background noise, insignificant to a being as close to god as the Avatar, and it would not interfere with his mission.

A girl screams his name from below.

It doesn't matter, he's the Avatar. He's in the highest state of his power, the closest he is to his spiritual side. His abilities are godly and right now he only seeks destruction. After all, the Avatar's job is to restore balance and getting rid of the enemies in front of him was his current purpose.

Eliminate the distractions.

Silence the noise.

He feels a hand snake around his arm. A soft gentle touch accompanied by the warm brown skin of a girl. She's familiar, Aang knows who she is but he can't bring himself out of his trance. She pulls him down from his whirlwind. How dare she bring a supreme being back down to earth? She pulls him into a hug, refusing to let go. He needs to get back to his mission. Her tears fall and hit his skin but he refuses to feel her pain. He refuses to feel at all. Her ocean eyes meet his and her dark brown hair falls on his shoulder.

Katara.

She's here.

And she's begging him to stop.

After the violence dies down and the chaos of the battle ceases to a close, it's once again peaceful. Nothing but the sound of Aang crying in Katara's arms.

The sounds of Katara's footsteps echo off the walls of the metal ship.

The shadows dance around her, shaped in her madness. Katara walks in a trance, her mind numb and her hands weak. She can feel her jug of water shake as she walks. She stops outside the room, the door looming ominously over her as the words in her mind whisper

Your fault

Your fault

Your fault

You couldn't stop it

You couldn't save him

You didn't protect him

As air reenters her lungs, she steals her nerves and opens the door. Her feet cross the threshold of the doorway and she spots what she came here for.

Aang.

Aang's been asleep for a long time. It's quiet without his chatter, without his boundless energy, without him.

She stares at his near lifeless body, peaceful in his sleep but loud in her agony. The room stands deadly still, waiting for the only two people to make a sound, but neither do.

She puts her ear to his chest to hear his heartbeat and the shallow breaths his lungs make.

She sighs in relief allowing her head to rest on his chest a bit longer.

She steadies her nerves and her mind becomes calm, her hands no longer shaking. She waterbends the water out of the jar, onto the site of the wound almost mindlessly. It's all methodical mechanical movements that come out of habit with no results.

The site of the wound improves, little by little, day by day. It'll scar, nothing she wasn't prepared for or didn't know. She would never mind his scars just as she'd grown to accept hers.

She watches over him as he heals, his breathing becomes easier and a silent coma becomes more like restless sleep.

But he never wakes up.

Katara doesn't know how much longer she can stay like this, always waiting for a miracle. She constantly looks for signs that aren't there, imagines moments that don't exist if only to hope that something does happen that day.

It never does.

Even when he wakes up, in pain and burdened by guilt, he's not the same. Katara never expected him to be, she never needed him to be. Water always flowed and changed, her bending had taught her that.

But she wished that for once Aang would look at her. That he wouldn't look away from her as his dull and broken voice vowed, "I need to regain my honor"

Do you?

But you've never lost it.

She knows that the burden of the world's fate on his shoulders weighs heavy and that he feels like a failure of an Avatar. She understands Aang's need to blame himself but why does he push her away? He's alive and he's here but she still feels like he's slipping away. From all the time spent with Aang, she knew that he embodied the fluidity that the element of air required him to. But he never strayed from his friends so why is it when they're all right beside him, he leaves. And when he runs away later that night, it's once again quiet without him.

Aang patiently feeds Appa hay, giggling as Appa licks his hand for leftovers.

He can feel the tension leftover in the atmosphere from when Katara and Zuko got back from their field trip. Zuko was the one to tell them the details of their trip. As soon as Katara came back, she left their group to sit at the water's edge. He can still see Katara in the same spot on the dock as she was an hour ago, staring forlornly into the ocean's distance. Her feet kicked up the waves as her hands rested on her mother's necklace.

He knew that the events of their trip left an impact on her and for the time being he would leave her be. Alone in the silence of ghosts in a happier past.

He'd forgiven her a long time ago, Aang didn't think he was ever angry at her. Not for the way she brushed off his trauma and claimed that he didn't understand. She was hurting and Aang needed to listen.

He wanted to go and comfort her, to take her hands in his and let her know that she could feel pain in his arms. That the absence of her mother didn't mean her mother's love has left her.

But he decided the time for that would be later.

She should have this moment of peace to herself for now.

Katara is stronger than she knows.

Aang knows that better than anyone.

As Katara's mind recedes from the gentle tide, she notices the hour in which the setting sun. Aang and the others were packing up for the journey to the next hiding spot before Aang takes down the Firelord. She should too but she can't bring herself to leave the comfort of the water's edge.

She's been desperately racking her brain for every and any memory of her mother. Who loved her and Sokka more than anything but all that love left by the hand of fire. What would her mother say now? Would she see the strength in Katara's decision or would she curse her daughter for being weak?

Katara liked to think she knew what her mother would want for her but the truth is she died too young for Katara to ever build on the only information she got. Katara was too young to remember much else but the pain. As she got older the pain resided deeper and deeper in her. She didn't know if it would ever go away as all pain does eventually. She hates looking at Sokka sometimes because how can he be so ok now that she's gone?

Katara envies Sokka's ability to pick himself back up so quickly. First with their mother and then even Yue, who'd left such a massive imprint on Sokka's heart. But that's Sokka, logical pragmatic Sokka, who thinks with his head rather than his heart. And Katara can't help but wear her heart on her sleeve.

But putting her heart first didn't make Katara weak, it just proved how strong she was. Everytime her heart took a beating, she got up, and her heart was a shield that would never fall. Katara realizes that her compassion for others is one of her greatest strengths and she'll never let revenge cloud her judgment again.

Aang stood in the shadow of Iroh's tea shop, light and laughter going on behind him. He would join again later but he really wanted to bask in the glow of the sunset.

How long did he think that he might never see a sunset again? How long has it been since he felt safe to spend time with his newfound family?

It's so quiet here, as the big city bustle of Ba Sing Se quiets into the night, and as the party inside dies down. After the chaos of the war had ended, maybe there was a way to find peace after all.

The world was quiet for once, no longer drowning in the screams of the Hundred Years War. The people of all four nations were trying to learn what peace and harmony was again.

What was his purpose as the Avatar anymore after this?

What else other than saving the world again and again when its people called for it.

But for now, he was tired. He was so incredibly tired he didn't even know how he was still standing.

Katara stood in the doorway, watching Aang with that sad smile staring off into the distance. She always hung back and watched him suffer from the sidelines. But the difference is when the storm ceases and all they're left with is each other, Katara will never hesitate to be by his side.

She took a step forward, then another, one foot in front of the other. Eventually she found herself right beside him. They stood side by side basking in their shared quiet.

Her heart beat harder as his kind eyes met hers. She could feel her face heat up and spread like pollen in springtime. This feeling is persistent and refuses to leave no matter how much she told herself the wrong time with the wrong person.

Katara thinks at this moment…that she's ready. She's no longer confused, no longer worried about the possibility of him never coming back. She wants to hear his laughter and happiness for the rest of their lives.

After all their adventures, the fast-paced chaos, she's ready for their life to quiet down. Maybe she can allow herself to think about a future without wondering if she's selfish for wanting to have the Aang all to herself.

He was the Avatar first, a person second.

But not to her.

They held each other tighter, Aang burying his face in the crook of Katara's neck. They stood so close that the only sound they heard was their breathing. In this moment, it was only them in the whole wide world.

Katara made the first move.

For once she's going to put herself first, she's going to get the guy she wants. She cups his face in her hands and feels his cold skin. She leans in and kisses him, feeling the hesitant brush of Aang's lips before he reciprocates.

She can hear Sokka calling for them from inside but she doesn't care. Every sound is drowned out in this singular moment of time. For now it's just them and the feeling of a close embrace, arms wrapped tightly around each other.

It's a quiet day, the sky darkening and clouds billowing into the shape of rain. Katara watched the gentle tapping of rain from the window of their residence in Republic City. Her hair graying, her hands gnarled and wrinkled and the lines of her face more prominent in old age.

But she was just as beautiful as the day Aang had woken up to her face in the iceberg.

"Hey sweetie"Aang's voice rang out cheerfully.

He walked up to Katara's side ignoring the way his limbs shook. Katara turned to look at him, her eyes shining with unshed tears. Katara once told him that sometimes she felt too tired to cry and too numb to feel anything. He knew he was the cause and he hated that he prolonged her suffering everyday.

However nothing could be done about it. He feels the Avatar spirit weakening like it already knows his body isn't going to hold up for much longer.

Nobody can save him now, not even himself. It's a rare feeling of powerlessness from the all mighty and powerful Avatar. The thing is, whenever he felt helpless Katara was always the one to save him.

Did she feel helpless now?

He was brought out of his thoughts by the feeling of Katara's hands around his back and arm.

"Aang you should be resting" Katara sounded worried and a little breathless, her eyes shining with concern.

Aang smiled sadly at her, "Don't worry about me" he assured her, his hand resting on her cheek.

Katara recoils as if she'd been burned, feeling instant guilt when her sudden withdrawal from his touch wiped the warm look from his face. His face settled into resignation and an almost understanding sort of sadness.

It's not fair

Katara was supposed to have more time with him. She would fight the spirits to steal even minutes from fate. And now she couldn't bear a single touch because she's afraid that once her walls come crumbling down she'll finally break. Then she'll dive into his arms and feel his warmth only to find he's no longer there. She needs to feel him to know that he's still there and then pull back when she feels like she's tempting fate by daring to love him when he's dying.

Katara might've known for a long time that Aang's health was starting to decline. She was a healer for a long time but she just didn't want to admit it to herself. She thought she'd have more time.

But even today as he announced it was one of his better days Katara could see that Aang was still growing weaker. His face became more gaunt and his stance becoming more relaxed as his body grew too tired to continue.

What were they going to tell their kids? Bumi, Kya, and Tenzin. What were they going to do?

But as Katara looks at Aang, who's still smiling and still laughing, Katara decides she can't waste more time.

"I'll love you for infinity"Katara declares, closing the gap until their foreheads are touching and their breaths intermingle. "No matter how many of your lives I live through," Katara continues to make her love clear as it had been for a long time and every word still makes Aang feel as if his bones are on fire. "In every reincarnation, I'll find you."

I swear goes unspoken but nothing really needed to be said between them.

And I'll be waiting Aang thinks to himself

"And I will help whoever you become until my time is up" Katara promises, the tears finally overflowing but a smile has reached her face. Aang still thinks her smile is beautiful after all these years and he'd hate to see it gone now. "And in the afterlife I promise to stay by your side forever."

Silence falls over the two of them and the rain outside falls harder

"I'd like that" Aang whispers, letting himself fall in Katara's embrace.

Aang wouldn't let himself cry even though it's the prospect of death looming over him. It would be like admitting defeat letting the world know he had already given up. He wouldn't do that, not when he had so much time left to spend with his family.

But just this once, the emotions spilled over and Aang cried in Katara's arms. Aang had grown taller than Katara over the years but now he felt like when they first met and she didn't hesitate to shield his small body with a warm embrace. Why did he have to be the one to stay strong and keep up appearances to the world? Why did he have to comfort everyone else about his impending death when he was the one who was going to die? But that's the story of a person destined to serve the world and never himself.

Here he was buried in the arms of his love, feeling her warmth that they would no longer share once he was gone.

He took it in, all of his senses trying to make sure he remembers Katara well in the afterlife. Her kind eyes, her soft brown hair, her blue eyes, her chestnut skin, all of it immortalized in his brain.

The rain stopped and the sunlight streamed in through the window.

Once Aang's crying had ceased and Katara had moved to the kitchen to prepare dinner, the atmosphere returned to normal. A once dark and somber mood uplifted into hope for better days. Like it was a regular quiet afternoon of the old couple keeping each other company.

Nothing but the sound of two lovers quietly enjoying one of the last moments they would ever have together.