Ok so this is another long chapter and man it took me long to sort it out. Anyways I hope you guys enjoy this chapter! :)
...
The Avatar's eyes suddenly opened as he gasped to take in air. He sat up in his bed but groaned in pain and held the side of his body that was wrapped in bandages.
The airbender got up from his bed and limped over to the door. He walked down the hallway with one had on the wall for support and the other holding himself through the pain.
As Aang kept walking he suddenly heard giggles and turns to the corner to find two people kissing and tickling eachother.
Toph suddenly stops and stares blankly ahead. Sokka turns to face the same direction she is and his mouth opens slightly to what he finds. "Twinkletoes?" Toph asked with a single tear falling from her eyes.
"Toph? Sokka?" Aang asks while grunting in pain. They both run to him and hug him tight. "You're finally awake! You have no idea how much we missed you, buddy!" Sokka says as he continues to embrace his friend.
The friends release and Toph then punches him on the shoulder. "Ow!" The airbender cried in pain. "That's for leaving us!"
"Leaving you? What are you talking about?" Aang asked in confusion while continuing to hold his torso with his hand. "You mean you don't remember?" Sokka asked his friend.
"No? I mean... I don't know. My memory's just a little foggy right now." The Avatar said and almost collapsed to the floor from how weak he was. Sokka and Toph helped him up, "Okay we need to get you to your room and tell the others you're up."
Sokka's eyes suddenly widened, "Crap! The others! I literally just got Katara to sleep in her own bed!" Aang then looked up at the mention of the girl. "Wait, Katara?"
The Water Tribe warrior then remembered how his sister told him that they were in a fight before he disappeared. "Yeah, she um, she stayed by your bedside the whole time you were out. She seriously wouldn't leave you alone and it was getting bad. No one could get her to leave your room. I mean not even Li-"
Sokka was then stoped by his girlfriend elbowing him hard. "Ow! What was that for?!"
"Ahem!" The blind earthbender cleared her throat loudly. The boomerang guy then got the hint, "Oh, right."
Aang raised an eyebrow at them, "Who couldn't get her to leave my room?" Sokka's eyes widened and he then began to rub his neck not knowing what to say.
"Um... no one." The Avatar gave him an annoyed look knowing he was lying, "Sokka." The warrior got hold of the airbender again to help him walk, "Look, we just need to get you back to your room and wake up the others to fill you in on everything that happened."
How long was I gone forever? Did Katara get involved with someone else? Are they not telling me to try and spare my feelings? I mean I should've guessed, she did say that she didn't see herself marrying me. And with me, gone that gave her the freedom to be with whoever she pleased. Aang taught to himself as he was helped by Toph and Sokka to his room.
Sokka slightly opened the door to Katara's room. He walked over to his niece's crib and rubbed his index finger against her little cheek. He smiled at her small sneeze in reaction to his touch.
The Water Tribe warrior then walked over to his sister's bed. He then began to shake her to wake her up. "Katara, Katara!"
The waterbender opened her eyes slowly and groaned in annoyance to being woken up. "Sokka, what do you want?" She asked in a rusty tired voice.
She closed her eyes again wanting to go back to sleep, "He woke up." Katara suddenly rose up from her bed in shock to her brother's words.
"What! He woke up? Where is he? Is he okay? Is he talking? Did he ask about me? Please tell me he didn't wake up and then went back to being unconscious!" Sokka put his hands on her shoulders to stop her from having a panic attack.
"Calm down, Katara. Yes, he's fine. He's in his healing room with the others. He's just in a little pa-" He wasn't even able to finish his sentence as his sister was already out the door on her way to see Aang.
Aang sat in his bed and then looked up when the door opened to Toph who brought Zuko and Suki with her. "Aang!" They both exclaimed simultaneously. The Avatar got up from his bed slowly to greet them.
The Firelord and the Kyoshi warrior hugged their friend tightly. "You had us so worried, man." Zuko admitted to his friend.
The airbender smiled back at them. "Sorry? Um, now could you guys tell me what happe-"
Suddenly the door opened to reveal Katara. She gasped when seeing that he was awake, that he was walking, that he was smiling. "Aang!"
She ran to him with all that she had and put her arms around his neck, taking a minute to take in his scent. Katara then faced him and scanned every inch of his face while streaming tears of joy. She looked into his deep grey eyes, she looked at his sharp jawline, the hair and beard that had begun to grow, and she then looked at his lips with much longing.
When she couldn't hold it in any longer she kissed him passionately. At first, Aang was surprised to find her lips on his. He honestly didn't know how to feel, he wasn't sure if he wanted to be doing this right now but he was going to enjoy it while it lasted.
Aang began to kiss her back and held her head with his hand to make sure she didn't let go yet. Once they finally broke from each other's mouths, Katara hugged him again but tighter this time.
"Hey," the airbender said softly while still holding her head. She took in a deep breath when hearing his voice, "You just spoke, you just said something. It's been so long since I've heard that voice, I've missed it."
Aang's face suddenly turned to sorrow when beginning to remember things. The two let go and he sat back down in the bed. Katara then sat at the corner of his bed, not wanting to take her eyes off of him.
"So, now that everyone is here we can begin to explain," Sokka announced. Aang scanned the room, "Wait, not everyone is here." They all looked at him confused.
"Who?" Suki finally asked. "Mai. Where is she? Hey, has she had her baby yet?" The airbender asked with a smile but then noticed that everyone frowned to his words. "What? What is it?"
"Aang, Mai was attacked by Azula the day you were captured. She didn't make it." Aang's eyes widened with sorrow to Katara's words and he then turned to Zuko. "I'm sorry. Are you okay?" To which he then nodded slightly.
After a minute of silence Sokka continued the story, "So after you were captured you were taken to a cave not far from here." The Avatar looked up, "Yeah I remember that part."
"You do?" Toph asked surprised since he didn't seem to. "Yeah, my memory's kind of coming back."
"So what do you remember then?" Katara asked him. "Well, I was taken by a man named.. Chang? And I was chained to some rocks and couldn't break from them. He also threatened to send his men to kill all of you." He was then cut off by Zuko, "Wait, by his men, do you mean Azula?"
"No, well, yes. But not just her, he said he had other people who worked for him." They all then looked around confused and Katara then spoke, "Aang, besides Azula no other human was helping him."
"What? Man! I should've known he was lying!" He exclaimed in anger, knowing that maybe if he hadn't believed him and managed to escape maybe none of this would've happened.
The airbender then sighed and continued, "Anyways, he and Azula went on to torture me for a while." He was then cut off again but this time by Katara.
"Wait, they tortured you?" She asked with much affliction in her voice to which he nodded slightly. "Azula struck me with lightning multiple times. But she used this technique that allowed me to not die, but it didn't stop it from hurting like hell. She struck me more times than I can remember, each time worse than the last. Until eventually I passed out from the pain." Katara saw the agony in his face when talking about this topic.
"I don't remember much from after I passed out. I just remember suddenly waking up to feeling like I was being split in two. There was a really bright light so I didn't see much. I just felt it and I gotta say, it was horrible. The pain was just unbearable, it's something I wouldn't wish on anyone." Katara let out a few tears from hearing everything the love of her life had to go through.
"Before they began to torture me though, Chang talked about me being a bad Avatar and ruing his life. He also talked about some spirits who hated the Avatar and wanted me gone. But that they weren't going to kill me, he said something about taking my soul from my body? And that the spirits were going to put his father's soul in my body." He was stopped again by Katara.
"I'm guessing the spirits lied to him about that part too." Aang looked up and raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"
"Chang was killed by those dark spirits. There was no putting his father's soul in your body. What happened was that your soul was trapped in a box, called the Arca Linghun."
"Wait, exactly how long have I been gone?" The airbender asked the group. "A little over a year," Sokka replied.
"Really? Only a year?" Katara then looked up at him and asked with a rather insulted tone, "Do you not think that's a long time?"
"What? No, it's not that. It's that, it felt longer than that." He admitted. "What do you mean?" The waterbender asked.
"Well, this experience was different from when I was in the iceberg. In the iceberg, it felt as if my life just paused and when you guys found me it unpaused. But with the whole me beingtrapped in a box thing, I did feel like I was living. Only I was, living in my mind. And I don't know if time in the Arca Linghun ran differently? But to me it felt more like five years." He said with a little doubt in his word choice.
They all had their mouths open in shock to Aang's experience. "To you you were trapped in there, for five years?" Katara asked in a low voice and with a tone of sympath, to which he nodded slightly.
After a minute Aang broke the silence, "So what happened while I was gone, and how did you guys get me out of the box?"
They all looked at each other not even knowing where to begin. "Well, after you were captured the whole world had people looking for you. But they didn't do a good job." Katara said in an annoyed tone and looked at Zuko.
"Anyways, we were waiting here in the Fire Nation to get news from you, but nothing came. Until eventually after around a year, Guru Pathik came looking for us and told the story of what happened to you."
"Wait, Guru Pathik? How did he know what happened to me?" Aang asked with a raised eyebrow. "A light spirit named Janan, came to him while he meditated and told him of your... situation. She also told him that he needed find people to help save you, so he came to us."
"Oh," he replied in understanding. "Well after he told us that, we traveled to the North Pole and visited the Spirit Oasis. We traveled to the Spirit World and Janan helped us in fighting the dark spirits that took you." Katara was then cut off my Sokka.
"It was awesome Aang! I'm telling you, we got these sick swords and stuff, and we then went into this dark cave and fought all these ugly looking spirits. And Katara captured their big boss leader in this magic vase. And then we broke through a cell to get the magic box that your soul was in. Oh and the light spirit lady put this compass on the magic box and it pointed to where your body was. Man, good times, good times."
Katara stared at her brother with an annoyed look and then turned back to Aang, "Yeah, what he said."
Aang then turned to Katara and smiled with a raised eyebrow, "You captured a powerful dark spirit in a vase?"
"Yeah," she replied and blushed slightly to his compliment.
Everyone then stayed quiet for a little bit waiting for Katara to talk about the other big thing. "So anything else happen in the time I was gone?" Aang asked.
"Nope, that's pretty much it." Katara replied while nodding her head slightly. Sokka, Toph, Zuko, and Suki all looked at each other confused as to why she hasn't brought it up yet.
"Are you sure that nothing else happened, Sugarqueen?" Toph asked her hoping that it would finally hit her. Katara turned to Toph and then back to Aang, "Um no, nothing else comes to mind."
Toph then did her classic hand gesture in confusion as to how she's not remembering. Sokka then stepped in, "Katara?" The waterbender turned to face her brother, "What?"
"You wanna know what I love?" She gave him an annoyed look, "What do you love, Sokka?" The Water Tribe warrior then responded, "Penguins!"
The hair loops girl got a confused look on her face to her brother's response, "Pengui-?"And then it finally hit her. "Oh my god! Right!" She slapped her forehead.
Katara turned to Aang slightly, "Actually, there is one small other thing." The airbender sat there confused as to what was going on and waiting for her to say what it was. She kept opening her mouth but words wouldn't come out.
How was she supposed to break the news to him. What if he freaks out and just decides to leave? What if he doesn't want anything to do with her? What if-? She then stopped her mind from making up anymore 'What-if's'. She then took a deep breathe, "Aang... I need you to come with me."
He raised an eyebrow at her, "Um, where? Why?"
"There's just something I need to tell you, and it can't be here." Aang then started to get worried over what it was that she had to say to him.
"Um, okay. But know that I can't walk that well right now, so it better not be too far." He joked and she smiled awkwardly. "Don't worry, it's not far."