Chapter 28

Pure adrenaline pumped through Jotaros strong veins as he fell. He screamed, so did his companions. They fell through the dark night sky, tossed in the wind, hurtling toward the ground. To Jotaro's right was Zuko, falling like a limp leaf. He wasn't screaming, he had passed out the second Pa'ap disintegrated from the sheer intensity of the situation. But Zuko has always been freaking weak, Jotaro thought resentfully. Turning his operatic head from the ugly sight of the falling firebender, he saw his ex-wife. Katara was flailing wildly. Jotaro couldn't see her dramatic, Jet-obsessed face clearly (because it was so dark, you fool) but occasionally, a ray of moonlight would make its way to her face, like a freakish man seeking a warm coat. The moonbeam dramatically reflected her tears. Jotaro felt a twinge of pity and concern for her, but quickly stifled this. I can't feel any emotions! That wouldn't fit with my tough-guy image.

Next to Katara was Kakyoin, sitting in mid air, falling in a straight line. His mouth was looking extra long, and he looked bored but concerned. He wasn't even screaming.

There was only one other group member Jotaro couldn't see. Aang. Jotaro knew where he was, but he was sure if he looked he would throw up. But he knew he had to. He forced his head to turn to the left, and what he saw almost made him shriek. Aang looked very small, falling limply. A trail of blood followed his body, like the trail on a shooting star. If Jotaro hadn't known it was blood, it would have looked like Aang had taken a bath in liquid moonlight. If it hadn't been so gruesome, it would've been pretty cool. Aang wasn't screaming anymore, he had gone unconscious from blood loss. Jotaro looked back at the others. He could see now that Katara was trying to get to Aang, but couldn't.

Just then, looking at Katara, Jotaro remembered something. His stand, Star Platinum. Katara had turned out to be right, about them being influenced by Robert, Robert-Sokka had just admitted to it. Does that freakin' mean Katara taking my stand in the divorce was just a trick too? Could I use my stand to save my friends?! Have to try, or else we will all freakin die, and that would be lame as hell. Good grief. Jotaro focused. He thought of Star Platinum, then he opened his mouth to utter the most powerful words he knew. "SO! THIS WIND IS THE SAME TYPE OF STAND AS STAR PLATINUM!" As soon as he uttered those words, Jotaro felt the familiar sense of physical strength and power in his heart and mind. The familiar form of star platinum erupted from Jotaro's throat and arms. It was a yeehaw moment. Star platinum quickly scooped up Katara, Zuko and Kakyoin. Then it made its way to Aang, and plucked him from the air. As soon as Star Platinum grabbed Aang, Jotaro could sense what Star Platinum sensed. He felt the wet, oozing blood all over Aang. It was disgusting.

Once Star Platinum had them all scooped up, they began to speak. Katara was frantic, as she wriggled over to Aang. She shrieked when she saw the gaping wound in Aang's torso. Everyone knew that Aang didn't have long.

"I need water! I need some water to heal Aang!" Katara quickly waterbent some water out of the air.

Then they hit the ground. Dust and dirt went flying everywhere. When it cleared, they saw that they were in the middle of a wide, grassy field. The stars and moon shone overhead. A perfect night to die!

Star Platinum gently laid Aang in the grass. He was still unconscious. Everyone rushed over to him, except for Zuko, who was also unconscious. But no one cared about him.

Katara knelt beside Aang, and gave him a little slap in the face, just to make sure he wasn't faking the injury. This seemed a bit unnecessary to Jotaro, but you never could be sure with Aang.

There was a moment of horrible silence.

For a moment, Jotaro wondered if Aang was already dead, and he knew everyone else was thinking the same thing.

"No! No, I just need water! I can heal him!" Katara pulled water out of the air, and her hands began to glow with healing juice. Jotaro and Kayoin had never seen Katara heal someone, so they watched with semi-interest (they weren't actually that invested). Katara placed her hands on Aang's torso, or where his torso had once been. The group watched as the blood flow began to stop. They waited, but nothing seemed to be happening.

"Is… is he dead?" Kakyoin whispered.

Aang's eyes suddenly fluttered open. A surge of heroic hope surged through our lovely protagonists. All of them except for Zuko, of course, who was still unconscious.

"Aang!" Katara cried. "Can you hear me?" Aang only blinked again. His eyes didn't move from Katara's face.

"Aang?" Katara said, more quietly this time. She gently picked up his head and layed it in her lap. Jotaro caught a glimpse of Katara's hands. They were covered in Aang's blood, which was gross. Katara kept talking to Aang in a soothing but desperate voice. Everyone else stood back, too shocked to speak.

Aang opened his mouth slightly, and nothing more than a whisper came out.

"K-katara…" he murmured.

Tears filled Katara's blue eyes. But they weren't tears of sadness, nay, these were tears of joy. Joy at the recovery of her son.

"Aang!" She shrieked, gently cupping his ugly face in her hands. "I was so worried, I thought you had straight-up PERISHED! I thought you were naught but a carcass, tossed from the steamboat of life! But alas, I snatched thine soul from the River Styx, thus returning thee to life!"

Aang blinked. "Uh, yeah, that's great! I feel like crap, but you're right, at least I'm alive." He sat up, and saw the smiling faces of his compatriots, all of whom were glad that he was alive. Zuko, leaning forward, gave Aang a pat on the arm.

"I'm glad you're fine, Aang!"

Aang died instantly.

"AAANNNGGGGG!" Katara cried as Aang went limp. Aang's eyes opened 1 millimeter, even though he was dead.

"ZUKOOO! HOW COULD YOU DO THIS? AAAGGGHHH!" Katara screamed up to the night sky, holding Aang's limp, dead body.

"I-I'm sorry! I didn't mean to! It's not my fault everything I touch turns horrible! I'm just broken inside." Zuko cried pathetically.

"Jesus Christ, Zuko!" Kakyoin yelled. He was still in shock from Aang's sudden death. "Why do you suck so much?"

"Yeah! We ought to kill you! A soul for a soul, to bring Aang back!" Jotaro grumbled from beneath his hat.

"Not a bad idea! I've done it before! Quick, smooth transaction! Get ready to die, Zuko!"

"N-noooo! Don't kill me dead like Aang!" Zuko began to run wildly around the dark while Jotaro and Kakyoin chased him. They all felt maddened.

"Katara! HELP! DON'T LET THEM KILL ME!" Zuko shrieked in terror as he was tackled by Jotaro. To be honest, I don't know why Zuko bothered running; Jotaro alone probably could have caught him. Zuko is a skinny little twig, and Jotaro is 6'5. Plus, Kakyoin can do magic.

"Get ready to die, you stupid little shrimp!" Kakyoin laughed as he took out the sacrificial knife from his mouth.

"God, stop squirming! That will only make the pain worse!" Kakyoin said.

"NOOOOOOOO! SPARE ME!" Zuko screamed.

"Shut the freaking hell up, Zuko. You've had this coming for a long time." Jotaro grumbled. "But Kakayoin, is the knife really necessary? I could just throttle him with my bare hands, I've actually been dying to do that."

"Dude, are you crazy?" Kakyoin shouted over Zuko's screams of terror. "Of course we are using the knife. I'm not a crazy person. Any normal person would use the Sacrifice Knife."

"STOP!"

Kakyoin and Jotaro looked over to see a blood soaked Katara.

"J-Just look at yourselves! How has… how has it come to this?" She began to cry. "Things have just been getting worse and worse… first Avdol and Polnareff… now Joseph's gone… and… S-sokka too."

Jotaro sheepishly released a bit of his grip on Zuko, so he could breathe a little easier.

"Jotaro, what are you doing? The less air he has, the quicker this goes! Katara isn't the boss here!" Kakyoin snapped at Jotaro.

"NO!" Katara screamed. "Look at what you're doing!"

Kakyoin and Jotaro looked at Zuko, then looked at her.

"You know what? FINE! Kill Zuko! Kill him! It's not… it's not like we had a chance anyways. We'll all die, because we're all too weak to stop Robert… we're all just too different. This was never going to work. From the second this all started… Sokka was dead… My brother was dead and I didn't even know it. Why…? Why is this happening to us…?" Katara trailed off and began to cry even louder. She sat down next to Aang's body and put her head in her hands.

Jotaro and Kakyoin looked at her, unsure of what to say.

"Do you all remember what Avdol said? Before Aang killed him…? He said… he said we were so dysfunctional that we couldn't get anything done. And now I know he was right. Just… kill Zuko if you want. We'll all die anyway. That… that monster that killed my brother will kill all of us."

Jotaro awkwardly let go of Zuko's neck, dropping the unconscious teenager to the ground. Walking over to Katara, he patted her on the back.

"We aren't gonna die, Katara."

She didn't respond. Jotaro looked at Kakyoin, as if asking for help, but Kakyoin just shrugged. He pointed the Sacrifice Knife at Zuko, as if to say, should I just kill him now, while Katara is distracted? Jotaro glared at Kakyoin and shook his head. Kakyoin hung his head with disappointment, and regretfully put the Sacrifice Knife back in his mouth (where he stores it).

Jotaro looked back at the crying Katara.

"Katara, come on, get a grip. We're going to be fine. Sure, maybe your brother died, and Avdol died, and Polnareff died, and.." Kakyoin was agressively putting his hand over his mouth, trying to get Jotaro to stop reiterating all the deaths.

"Yeah, never mind all the deaths. My point is, Katara, we're probably gonna be fine! Robert isn't that strong. He's just some lame-ass sponge that I am going to beat the hell out of with Star Platinum, right Kakyoin?" Jotaro smiled at Katara, who was still sobbing.

"Uh, not really. He's objectively a very cool sponge, not lame at all." Kakyoin said irritably. Jotaro looked suspiciously at him.

"Don't tell me you're another Robert fake!"

Kakyoin put his hands up and took a step back. "No, no! I'm really Kakyoin. The only thing fake about me is my tan and my teeth."

Jotaro raised his eyebrows. "What? You're super pale, though. Though I can see your teeth being dentures; I always thought they looked a bit too white." He looked back down at Katara. "See? We're a good team! Katara, we may all get violent at times, but when it comes down to it, we'll stick by each other." Kakyoin shook his head.

"Don't count on me sticking with you guys. If things get tough, I'm ditching you guys."

Jotaro sighed. "Ok, fine." He placed his hand on Kataras shoulder.

"I'll stick by you."

Katara raised her head. "I always knew you were still secretly in love with me, Jotaro! Now we can get re-married-"

"NO NO NO. I didn't mean that in, like, a romantic way! Good grief, I meant that as in-"

Katara laughed. "I know, I'm just messing with you. Mostly." She gave a weak smile. "I'm… I'm glad you won't leave though. Maybe.. Maybe I can count on something. Thank you."

"See?" Kakyoin happily said. "Everything is fine! We'll be fine."

"I guess, yeah." Katara replied, wiping her eyes.

Kakyoin began digging a hole.

"Uh, what are you doing?" Katara asked, shakily walking over to him.

"I'm going to sleep here; it's the middle of the night."

"Oh, ok."

"Yep."

Kakyoin kept on digging the hole. Jotaro glared at him. "Is this really the time to be digging a hole?!" Kakyoin glared at him. "Where else do you want me to sleep? I'm not cuddling with you!" Kakyoin kept digging. I hate that guy, good grief. Jotaro thought to himself.

Five feet away from Jotaro, Katara was curled o the ground. She was shivering. The night was cold. The stars shone overhead. Jotaro laid on the grass and put his hat down, trying to get to sleep.

"Hey, Katara?" he whispered.

"Yes?"

"Can you guys shut up? I'm trying to sleep!" Kakyoin shouted. From the sound of his voice, he must have been 20 feet under ground. Jotaro ignored him.

"We'll bury Aang in the morning." Jotaro said. There was a long silence.

"Okay."

The three of them listened to the crickets chirping.

"Katara?"

"Yes?"

"Have my freaking coat as a blanket. It's 100% wool. It will, uh, keep you warm."

"Won't you be cold?"

"No, I'll just get Star Plantinum to breathe on me all night. Duh."

"That's kind of gross."

"Do you want the coat or not?"

"Yes."

"Okay."

Jotaro bundled up his coat and threw it at Katara.

"Ugh, ow!"

"What happened?"

"Your stupid jacket chain hit me in the face!"

"Well you should have caught it better."

"Why do you have a chain on your coat anyways? It looks stupid!"

"But my Papa gave me that chain!"

"GUYS SHUT UP!" Screamed Kakyoin from the hole.

The stars shone overhead, and the grass waved gently. The moon made it's journey across the sky. Gradually, they fell asleep. Of course they all had terrible nightmares, but at least they got a solid 8 hours. One mysterious magician, one emo and one girl who had lost a lot, but maybe not everything.

Laying near them was also the body of the Avatar. Cold and dead.