Rating: G

Word Count: 998


Katara commanded the water back into her pouch and surveyed the battlefield critically. All the Ozai loyalists have either been encased in ice, trapped in rock, or being wrestled by ally soldiers and being clasped in chains.

Satisfied that the fight was truly over, Katara rescanned the battleground, this time trying to see if any of the wounded soldiers needed her attention. She could see that there were rows of cots that had been hastily thrown together in front of what was surely the medics' tent; some of them were already filled, with combat medics attending them. Katara was about to make her way over there to offer her services when she caught sight of Aang.

He was making her way towards her, grinning widely. On instinct, she did a once-over on him for any injuries, making a mental note to do a more thorough examination when they could have a moment to themselves; her boyfriend was notorious for hiding any serious injuries he sustained.

However, by the looks of it, Aang was fine. He had a scratch on his bare shoulder that was bleeding a little bit, as well as a few bruises, but there was nothing that would pose as life-threatening.

But Katara wasn't consoled. Her healer's instinct was still ringing like a low alarm bell; and if there was anything she learned from the war, it was to always trust her instincts.

Something wasn't right.

Katara narrowed her eyes, redoubling her efforts to see if she could pinpoint what her subconscious had detected was wrong. Again, she could see nothing except the scratch and the bruises, and even though she couldn't see Aang's back, she doubted anything was wrong with it, since Aang was straightened. There was nothing…

That's when she noticed the subtly erratic way he walked. He seemed to put slightly more weight on his right foot than his left, and his rhythm compensated for that as well. It was hardly noticeable from a distance, but as Katara began running towards him, it became more apparent.

There was no doubt about it: Aang was favoring his left leg.

"Aang! You're limping!" Katara cried. As she drew closer, she could see the pain in his gray eyes despite the genuine grin on his face. Fear set her heart racing as, unbidden, her mind shot off reasons why Aang would be limping (bleeding out stabbed slashed arrow wound burned get to him help him heal him), and she grabbed his shoulders urgently, staring into his eyes desperately. "Where?"

"My—my foot," he said, breaking off to hiss in pain. His limp became more pronounced as he shifted more of his weight onto his right foot.

Katara frowned. His foot? Unless one of the loyalists had managed to stab or slash it (which she highly doubted), Aang shouldn't have a wound there. In fact, it might be the most protected area on his body, with the shoes to stab through to get to it. "How—?"

Aang looked just as mystified as Katara, which meant it probably wasn't a wound. "I'm not sure." He was halfway through a shrug when he suddenly broke off with a groan, hunching in on himself. His left foot was entirely suspended off the ground now.

Katara immediately snapped into action. Questions could wait until later; Aang was in pain now. "C'mon," she ordered. She ducked under one of his arms and looped it around the back of her neck, supporting his weight. Together, they staggered to a nearby cot.

"Sit," Katara commanded, whipping her water out from her pouch. Aang all but collapsed onto the mat with a sigh of relief. "I'll need you to take off your shoe."

Aang complied silently, and soon his foot was exposed. Katara knelt down, raising her hands towards it.

And stared.

Because on that foot was a particular small pinkish scar that looked almost like a hole.

A cold, terrible realization trickled in her. A theory was beginning to form in her head, something that she hadn't considered up until this very moment. To test it, she hesitantly brought her hands up to the scar and probed it gently. The hiss of pain that escaped Aang and the entangled energy in the area she sensed told her all she needed to know even as she asked, "Is this where it hurts?"

"Yeah," Aang said through gritted teeth. "What's wrong with it?"

Katara tried to keep her voice steady as she said, "It's your scar. I think it must be phantom pains. There's no open wounds on your foot."

"… Oh," Aang said. His voice was low and unfathomable.

Katara's fingers trembled involuntarily. She hadn't thought … After all she'd done to heal Aang, she didn't think he would ever feel pain from them again. She didn't think those wounds would come back to haunt him. She thought they had moved on.

But maybe she was wrong, she reflected. She herself hadn't been able to move on, hadn't been able to let it go. How could she think so, when she woke up at night with a screech in her throat and a bloody corpse flashing before her eyes?

Maybe scars can still be felt strongly to this very day.

Katara worked silently for several more minutes, trying to disentangle the energy and ease Aang's pain, before bending the water away from his foot. There was a sigh of relief, and Katara looked to see Aang's eyes were closed, his face relaxed.

"Thank you, Katara," he said softly; Katara suspected he wasn't just thanking her for taking away his pain.

Suddenly overwhelmed with emotion, Katara blinked back against the tears pricking at the corners of her eyes.

Maybe scars can be felt strongly to this very day.

But as long as she had someone who could ease the pain, she knew she would be able to heal.

So she gently took Aang's foot between her hands and pressed a kiss on his toes before whispering, "Always."


A/N And that's a wrap!

Thank you to everyone who decided to follow and fav this! It means a lot to know you enjoyed this!

I want to extend a special thank you to Ashley Barbosa for leaving a review on every chapter! Your words are such an encouragement, and I'm glad to see I was able to deliver the full Kataang experience!

This series was really fun to tackle! It was such a good exercise in creativity, giving me such a wide range of genres to work with and pushing me to write things I normally wouldn't (*cough cough* Spicinessandcrackandfluff *cough cough*). Anyways, thank you all so much for all the support, and I hope to see you on the next work/chapter ;)