A/N. So, bit short this chapter, but a good one I'm actually proud off! No hopping from one conversation to the next!

I don't own Avatar the Last Airbender

Roku… Yue… Not your fault Aang… Your friends are there for you… You already saved the world once… And you can do it again.

I won't give up.

I will do anything necessary to ensure the safety of the world… Even if that means putting aside being the Avatar for the moment.

Aang groaned, waking up, feeling the warm ground underneath him. Something was touching his face constantly, without interruption. Just for a moment… He would keep his eyes closed. The thing didn't seem hostile, so why not lay here for a moment…

The airbender didn't know where he was, but he remembered perfectly what had happened. Him, swimming to that rocky outcrop in the sea from the ship. Then, flying above the Mo Ce Sea, evading the Fire Nation blockade by diving underneath it. The storm… That storm that had been so like the one he had got himself and Appa into after running away from the Temple…

It had been at that moment that it had hit him. Aang had known his plan was stupid… But flying in that storm, it made him feel guilty. The last time he had run, everyone he had ever loved had died. And now, he was running again.

Running from what? He could have said he was doing it to protect his friends, their families… But if Aang had to face reality… He didn't do it to help them. Rather… he was afraid of how his friends would see him. If he decided to hide behind their families.

But now, as he lay on that warm surface, Aang knew. He knew that he had acted rashly and stupidly. He should have listened to Hakoda, who had said that he should wait to do anything until he had spoken to Katara.

Katara…

Spirits, how he had hurt her. The tribesmen had been quite clear. She had done everything in her power to heal him and protect him. In their eyes, he had seen they were not even telling him everything. And then Hakoda had said those things… About how she had been afraid, how she had lost it sometimes in grief… And the moment he had woken up… It should have been a joyous moment for her. But he had been an ass. There were no other words for it. The moment he had learned the world thought him deceased, Aang had given into self-pity.

And had been more than unfriendly… with the one person he never wanted to be angry with…

The airbender opened his eyes, only to be greeted by… Momo?

How? How was his lemur here? He had made sure that Momo and Appa were in the ship… So not to lead them to certain doom…

"There he is!" He heard a voice yell in the distance. Sitting up and turning his head to the sound of quickly approaching footsteps, he saw… Katara…

Before his brain could even make sense of how she had found him, she was next to him, falling on her knees and closing her arms around him in a bone crushing hug.

"You're alright!" She murmured, putting her forehead against his own. Spirits… How could she even act like this? She should be furious, yelling and screaming… Hitting him, kicking him for being a stupid idiot.

But no. She was hugging him.

"I'm sorry Katara, so sorry! I… I thought that by doing this… I could protect you and the others…"

"It's alright! Just, don't do it again, please! I don't think I could take that…" she whispered back, before another pair of arms came from behind the waterbender, and enclosed them both. Another body slammed against his right.

In this tangle of arms and limbs, Aang could even recognize the soft groaning from Appa, close to them. Suddenly, a push from that side made it clear that the bison was nuzzling the great tangle of bodies. They had come to take him back… They had come to help him, even though he had not acted like a friend… But they had still come for him.

"Did you all come… to help me?" Aang couldn't believe that his friends would even consider it after how he had acted…

"What did you think? You can't get out of training just by coming to the Fire Nation!" He heard Toph's voice chuckle, without the usual teasing edge in it.

"But… What about the invasion?" He asked. Even if he didn't fully like the idea of the invasion, he knew it was the most prudent choice, at the moment. Their only option, to be honest…

"We will join up with my Dad and the invasion force the day of the eclipse." Sokka explained. Aang felt how some of the arms released him, and now that he could see around him, he observed how the water tribe boy was grinning at him. Toph also stood up, taking a step back. Only Katara remained where he sat. With her arms around him.

Spirits, it felt good… it felt normal… No prying eyes, no tribesmen that looked at him like he was a curiosity in a museum… Only his friends.

"Are you sure? We could go back… It would be more prudent, no?" He asked. As much as he liked the idea of spending two months with only his friends, he had a duty to the world.

"Nah, it's alright. Actually, it would be a good idea to spend some time in the Fire Nation. Who knows what we will learn!" Sokka grinned, shrugging his shoulders.

"Yeah, the Fire Nation is great!" Aang said without thinking. Silence met his words. "You know… before the war…"

The first who chuckled was Toph, soon followed by the laughter of Sokka. Aang could hear the stress leaving their bodies. It was clear as day that it had been a long time they had really laughed. While they were distracted, the airbender turned his face to look at the waterbender.

In her eyes, he saw… hope? And the small smile on her lips was also encouraging. Maybe… Just maybe, this would do her some good as well? It seemed like a long time she had smiled. Too long.

"The Fire Nation is not all bad, so two months travelling it… It would mean for me to stay hidden. And I will." Aang said, speaking in general, but mostly for Katara. So that she would know that he wouldn't run off. Again.

They didn't respond to that, and he felt grateful. There were no accusations, no insults. Only understanding.

Katara stood up and offered him her hand to pull him up. Without thinking, he took it. The moment Aang touched her fingers, he felt the familiar pull in his heart and stomach. The pull he had felt ever since… since she had broken him out of the iceberg. And while he was standing up, he thought back… She knew he loved her, he had said it when he had woken up on Appa above Ba Sing Se…. But what of her? Her actions made him think she did… And he knew perfectly well that what happened in the walled city, in that barn… She would never have done that. She had initiated it…

And he supposed it was his turn to be the one to try something. As a way to apologize for what he had put her through. Standing next to her, he was surprised to see that he was actually taller than her now… Or those three weeks had been extremely long, or he had hit a growth spurt while unconscious… And he wouldn't lie. He liked it.

As they stood there, on that black beach, Aang kept Katara's hand firmly in his. It was only Toph's clearing her throat that made him take a step backwards. He had told both of them that he loved her… But he didn't know what Katara and the others had discussed while he was in his come. For all he knew… Sokka knew more than he would want to.

"While you two were too preoccupied to notice, I fished this out of the water. I thought it was some wood… but yeah…" The blind girl offered him a long broken stick.

No stick. It was his glider.

The wood had been split it at the top, and the cross shafts were sticking out. Some remnants of the orange fabric remained, all torn and wet. The shaft missed at least a foot at the bottom end, and the symbols that had been carved so carefully into the wood by Gyatso were all but gone…

He had lost the one thing that remained of his mentor… Aang swallowed heavily, trying not to think about it. Air Nomads didn't attach themselves to material things. They only put worth in emotions and relationships. Not in some object.

But this one had been important, even if he had refused to admit it. And to see it in this state… It broke his heart. But he couldn't show that.

"It's alright, if someone saw it, it would give away my identity… It is better, as you all said, if no one knows I'm alive…" The words felt wrong in his mouth, but he knew that it was the right way, even if he didn't like it.

Aang took the ruined glider from the blind girl's hands and turned around. The island consisted of a volcano still spewing lava, but not as violently as it had on the solstice, all those months ago… And a small river of lava flowed from the mountain to the beach, and into the sea, where it made the water boil and bubble before cooling.

He walked to the hot river, and stood next to it for an instant, before letting the wooden glider fall into it. The airbender watched as the wood drifted slowly to the sea, turning black and catching fire almost instantly. He followed the movement with his eyes, and saw how, after just mere seconds, the wood sank into the hot lava.

It was gone…

"Hey…" He felt a hand on his arm and didn't even have to guess who had joined him.

"It's alright." He sighed, turning around. Katara stood there, with Sokka and Toph standing a bit further away.

"Come on, let's camp here. The beach seems safe enough. Tomorrow, we will travel again." Sokka said after a moment, turning to Appa.

For the first time, Aang took a closer look at his bison. The first thing he remarked was the fact that there was a new saddle, and that the back of it was filled with several bags… and his chest.

"Pipsqueak and the warriors made it… And my dad gave us some supplies…" Katara spoke softly next to him, while Sokka began to unload two red tents from the saddle. Aang looked closely, and realized that the things they had lost when Appa had been stolen were mostly replaced. Trying not to look too obvious, he felt in his pocket. The pouch was still there. Good.

"Come on, it's late!" Sokka shouted.

It was. It was probably around an hour past midnight, and if they wanted to travel, they would need sleep… But Aang could do without some sleep. There were more important things to do.

"Can we talk? I have some questions…" He said to Katara, who smiled and nodded.

"Yeah… But maybe wait till Sokka and Toph are asleep?"

That was probably prudent. The island was unsafe, and the beach seemed the only place where fire and lava didn't appear. So, waiting it was. Aang moved to Appa, who lay on the black sand next to the place where Sokka was pitching his tent, and where even Toph had laid down a sleeping bag. Normally, Aang knew, the earthbender would just bend herself a tent… But here, she couldn't. So, she had resorted to something she hated.

And all the better. She had once told him that the bag made it so that she couldn't feel very good because of the layers of fabric between her and the ground. And even better… the ground was sand, something he knew she couldn't see well in!

Aang put a hand to Appa's head, stroking it gently. He heard the bison rumbling softly.

"I missed you buddy… Did you?" The question was stupid, he knew it. He had missed Appa terribly those weeks in Ba Sing Se… So, his bison would have felt the same with him in a coma.

It took the others no more than ten minutes to fall asleep. Aang had laid own next to Appa, while Katara had taken a sleeping bag that her brother had offered her. And in ten minutes, the soft snoring could be heard from the tent Sokka had put up for himself, and the soft breathing coming from the heap of sleeping bags, limbs and hair made it clear that Toph was also sleeping.

"Aang?" He heard the soft murmur.

"Yes." He answered, just as quietly. In the light of the fires coming from the mountain, Aang could see the shadow, which was Katara, stand up, and slowly walk over to where he had been sitting, next to a soundly asleep Appa and Momo.

The shadow came to sit next to him. From this close, Aang saw the outlines of her face, lit up just a bit by the fires.

"So… what did you want to talk about?" Her voice was hesitant. And he could understand why. The last time they had talked, on the ship, he had kind of thrown her out of her own room…

"I'm so sorry…" he started, but was cut off.

"People have been saying that the whole day…. I understand." She sighed.

"Your dad?" He hoped that would be the case. The few interactions he had seen between the two… didn't look very good. And judging by what the tribesmen had told him, that had been going on for a while.

"Yeah… He and I… didn't see eye to eye. About a lot of things. About how he left, why he left… Regarding the way the war should be fought. About some emotions. About… you and me."

Ah… at least there wouldn't be dancing around the subject now. And why not? Too much had happened.

"Yeah, he told me… He seemed genuinely concerned for you. For us all actually…" What else could he say? It was the truth. But he didn't know what Katara and her father had said to each other… so, he tried to keep it as neutral as possible.

"I didn't doubt that. Just the way he showed that concern… It was a bit much. Like he was trying too hard."

"Yeah, I kinda got the same feeling when he was talking to me… Like it wasn't really how he would normally act, but rather how he thought he should act?" That had been the impression Hakoda had given off. Like it pained him to act like that, but that he thought in necessary.

"Exactly…"

A silence settled between them. Aang tried not to take her hand. But the fact that he they were talking and acting normally with each other was kind of encouraging him. This could be a new beginning… The new beginning, he had hoped for after the barn, before he had come to the camp and had been refused by her father… Before everything went to shit.

"You said you had questions…"

Oh yes… Those, he had.

"I got to know what happened after Ba Sing Se… But… How have you been?"

He saw her shoulder drop. Oh Spirits, had he said something bad?

"You know… It was… difficult. I… I had some difficult moments. I yelled and screamed at people, kinda kicked some people. Like my dad, and maybe Sokka once or twice when he took too long to-" She cut herself off.

"Too long to what?" Aang had a feeling of what Sokka had done…

"Yeah… Wash you. And so on." The airbender cringed at those words. He didn't know if he should be happy about the fact that Katara hadn't done that, or extremely uncomfortable about Sokka having to do that.

"Oh… Well, I hope you are feeling better now?" It sounded too… casual? To casual for what he knew had probably been a very difficult time for her.

"Yeah, much better. You are awake, and we are away from all those other things… Maybe, if I had time to feel better for a longer period of time, I could actually face those problems." Katara answered.

And now… there was one question he still wanted tot ask.

"And… Katara… Did… Did all the things that happened… Change your mind? About… us?" He had to know. He had to. If all those dark weeks had in any way hampered her feelings… he had to know.

"Why? Did… did you change your mind?" In her voice, Aang could hear a note of anguish.

"No! You know I wouldn't… I wouldn't have said… that… if I didn't feel it." He immediately answered. Aang could feel a blush rush to his face, but the darkness would surely mask that. As he had already thought. Now was not the time to beat around the bush.

"I didn't change my mind." Katara spoke quietly. Aang saw how her head turned away. Probably a reflex, to hide the blush he couldn't even see… Those words filled his heart with joy, but he knew he had to come clean. Be honest.

"I wanted to tell you another thing… When I went to the Eastern Air Temple, I stopped at your father's encampment. I knew that in the Water Tribes, it is the custom to ask the parents for their blessing… if you wanted… you know. I guessed you wouldn't like it, because it is kind of… sexist? I don't believe there is such a thing for the sons, is there?"

In the dark, he saw how she shook her head.

"I guessed as much… Well, I still went, and asked you father if I could… Well, the important thing is, he said no."

"I already know. He told me the first night." Her voice sounded thin. Was that because of what he had done, or because she was recalling what had happened when her father told her? Aang decided not to ask.

"And I kind of… told Sokka about it. So, he knows… And Toph! She was there when I told him."

"I told them about some things. But not the important stuff, like… well, you know." Katara's voice was back to normal, to the airbender's relief.

"Oh… So… everyone knows? I missed some things I believe…" He rubbed his neck with one hand. Spirits…

"Yeah, you could say that." He heard the small smile in her voice. Spirits, thank you.

"I'm sorry I didn't ask you beforehand. I thought it would be a good idea. But the moment he said no, I decided it didn't matter. I would still do it."

"You better!" Katara actually chuckled, "And I also know my father has given you his permission."

Oh.
Oh!

Aang felt very lucky, because at least, in this darkness, Katara couldn't see his blushing from her throat to the roots of his hair.

Spirits, he had hair…

"Oh… You… You know about that?"

"Yes. And even if he didn't give it, I would have wanted to continue… this."

There was so much to discuss, so much to talk about… But this was, for the moment, enough. At least Aang knew that his actions hadn't hurt the feelings between them. And he had acknowledged them, once again. As had Katara! They may not have said the exact words he was dying to hear from her… But he could wait, truly, he could! He had dropped that on her before falling in a coma of three weeks! He could wait!

And now, on this black beach, sitting in a soft darkness, only lit by the soft light of the far away fires, Aang felt… Safe. He hoped Katara felt the same way. Safe in the knowledge that what they had had a future, had a hope to breath and life.

Could he? Should he… at least kiss her cheek? Maybe… Maybe that would be a good idea.

Aang turned, and saw, by the silhouette in front o him, that Katara's face was already turned towards him. Without a word, he leaned closer…

"Spirits no! Don't you dare fuck each other on this beach!" Came the irritated shout of Toph.

"Oh… yeah… You missed something else… Toph has been learning sandbending…"

And for the first time since leaving Ba Sing Se to go to the Temple, Aang laughed, loudly and truly. Spirits, it was good to be back to normal!

Answers :

Kalaong : Yeah, Aang's guilt trip is a very interesting moment, and shows his real compassion with people, and most certainly, with Katara. He feels responsible for all those things, and it hits even harder knowing the one person he loves has been affected by choices he made.

Gabriela N. Gonzalez : Yeah, I didn't want to make it completely alright between Hakoda and Katara. And Toph is a gem, I love to make her interrupt moments or do things that I would want to do to the character lol!

Dividedbyzero-0 : Break was wonderful! Hakoda has been an interesting case, because he is kind of the person who needs to have everything explained, so I could use him to show each characters state of mind and feelings!

Rak : Oh, the headband is going to be an interesting few chapters! I plan around three or four chapters around it!