This fic started out as a Kataang Week Role Swap fic but I changed the title now :D

Aang had been sitting in this same spot at the top of the air temple for hours now. At first, it started as a regular meditation session. His last one before they had to move on from the temple. But, the thoughts of leaving had been bothering him for a few days. It felt like once again, he was betraying his people somehow. An emotional mix of nostalgia, remorse, and loneliness, all sat with him. He had tried his hardest to fix whatever he could in the temple to remove the guilt from his psyche, but it didn't help.

"I need to get it together, at least for the sake of everyone else." His new friends, and the rest of the world. He stood up, as he decided to head back to the group, they were probably waiting for him so they could leave.

Suddenly, a flash of Gyatso's warm smile passed through his head.

"No!" He exclaimed in anger as he felt the tears rise to his eyes. Why now? Why did that have to come back to me now!? He sat down again, trying to fight away the tears. "What is wrong with me? Why am I such a-" He stopped talking to himself as he heard someone walking up the steps.

"Aang? Are you up here?" Katara yelled as she walked up the stairs. "We're all ready to head out.."

"Damn it." Aang whispered to himself, he didn't want Katara to see him like this. He was supposed to be her teacher, and now he's sitting by himself crying. He shook his head in his arms as an attempt to wipe the tears away before she saw him.

"Aang?" She called again but he didn't respond.

She walked out onto the platform he was sitting on. She immediately realized his posture, slumped over hiding his face in his arms. "Aang, are you ok? What's going on?"

"I'm fine." He brushed it off.

"Are you sure? What happened?"

"I'm fine, Avatar. Just.. give me a few minutes. I'll come down."

Katara was taken aback for a moment. The way he used her title, and his tone concerned her even more. She hadn't known him long, but she knew he hardly ever gave such cold responses.

But that wasn't going to stop her from getting to the bottom of this. She started thinking, What would cause him to act like that?

She looked around, taking in the view from atop the temple once more. And then, it hit her.

She immediately walked in front of him. "Aang, look at me." She knelt down and grabbed his hand.

He lifted his head up from his knees, and looked at Katara, who's face looked as serious as he'd ever seen her.

The puffiness in his eyes fit her assumption that he had been crying, even though she couldn't see the tears. "I know it seems bad now, but I swear, we will stop the fire nation. We'll make them pay for what they've done to us. And, when it's all over, we'll come back. We'll visit all the places that they destroyed, and we'll rebuild them. This place, and all of the air temples, everything! We won't let them win. As the Avatar, it's my duty to restore balance to the world, so I promise you I won't rest until the air nation.."

She gasped as she suddenly saw a vision of hundreds of airbenders all meditating in this same spot they were at now. It almost felt like a memory, but definitely not one of hers. And the realization hit her, The people will never come back. That will never be the same.. She started to tear up as she looked into Aang's eyes. All of a sudden, it felt like her words had no meaning.

Aang immediately tightened his grip on her hand, but he looked down again, as he fought back more tears of his own.

"I'm sorry, Aang. I said all that.. And I really wish I could, but I can't fix everything. Even if we were able to rebuild the air temples, that wouldn't fix everything.. Even though I'm the Avatar, there's really nothing I can do to bring back your people. I'm so sorry." She spoke as the tears kept running down her face.

She tried to look at him, but he kept his eyes out of sight, which caused her to feel even more guilty. "And now I'm feeling bad for myself while I'm supposed to be cheering you up. I'm sor-"

She was cut off abruptly as he pulled her closer with the same hand they were already holding.

"No more apologizing. None of it is your fault Katara." He said sincerely as he wrapped his arm around her neck.

Katara's eyes were wide open from the shock of being pulled, but as she realized the hug she rested her face on his shoulder, wiping her tears in his robe. "But I.."

Interrupted again. "No buts! You're the last person who should feel bad about this.. You didn't choose to be the Avatar, to have the responsibility of fixing the world."

He sighed. "I knew it would be bad, but I still made us take this trip all the way to the temple, when you've got much bigger things to worry about. I've been sulking, when there are people who need our help now. Honestly, I should be the one apologizing, Katara. I was selfish to make us come here."

Aang's voice quivered, and Katara pulled her head away to look at him directly.

"You're wrong Aang." She smiled to reassure him as she flicked her right hand, waterbending the tears from his face. "You know, Sokka and I used to learn all about the four nations from our father. We only had one book for each, and the one on the air nation was my favorite. For some reason, I always wanted to be a nomad. Traveling in the sky from place to place, camping in the night, seeing new things everyday. It was so different compared to my life growing up. We couldn't leave the village unless it was for hunting, so every day was basically the same."

She stood up, and admired the view they had from the temple. "But now, my life is completely different! Traveling like a nomad by bison with all of my friends, sometimes it all still feels like a fever dream. I've got this new glider, and I actually got to see the Western Air Temple I used to read about. And that's because of you, Aang. I mean, look at this view!"

She turned back towards him and saw that he now had a faint smile on his face, so she decided to keep going. "I know sometimes it doesn't feel like it, but all of us are so glad you're here Aang. We can't change the past, and I know sometimes the future seems bleak. But if we just keep moving forward, I know that destiny will be on our side. We won't let anything like what happened to your people happen again." She smiled as she sat down next to him. "Someday, we'll be back here sitting in this same spot, I can feel it."

Aang pulled her into a hug once again, this time much gentler than the last. "Thank you, Katara. Honestly.. I was feeling really lonely. But I know there's no need to, not when I have all of you with me. You, especially."

She smiled as she reciprocated the hug. "You're welcome. I'm glad I could help. Now come on, Sokka is going to freak out about the schedule if we take any longer."

Aang chuckled. "Alright.. Last one on Appa has to do a hundred hop-squats!" He took off in a dead sprint, opening up his glider before Katara even processed what he said.

"Wait, what! You cheater!" Katara ran after him, quickly trying to calculate how she could beat him with that much of a head start.

Aang laughed as he readied himself to jump. His laughter soon stopped as he realized his right foot was now encased in earth. "Hey! You can't do that!"

Katara ran past him and stuck her tongue out playfully. "Never challenge an Avatar!"

"Yeah.. I guess I should've known that by now." Aang finally got his foot loose, but it was too late to catch up now. Still, he couldn't wipe the smile off his face.

Yeah a chapter less than 2k words has taken me actual months to conclude LOL what is wrong with me!? If you made it this far though, hope you enjoyed!