The votes are in!
Readers have decided that the second beginning is better, so…
ON WITH THE STORY!
Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender.
"Aang? Aang?"
It was Katara's voice. Aang was lying on the ground, right beside the stream where they waterbended at. Suddenly Aang sat up wide-eyed and gasped for air. Suddenly a sharp pain lunged at his middle section.
Flashback
…that's for your dirty little trick!
And Katara suddenly realized that Aang had was nowhere to be found. Katara desperately searched the waters, until she saw and felt a familiar body shape, lying on the bottom of the stream. When she took Aang out of the water, she found out that his chest was bleeding.
She healed him to the best of her abilities, and wrapped his chest with leaf-made bandages.
End flashback
Aang winced and doubled over in pain.
"What happened?" asked Aang
"You were drowned by the wave I sent at you. Supposedly your body hit a sharp rock and you lost consciousness. Your chest was bleeding when I found you. I tried to heal you as best I could, but the wound was deep, so you will have to heal half of it by yourself."
Aang didn't reply, but only laid on the ground in an odd position, because of the pain. He was having a hard time breathing.
"You have been unconscious for a couple of hours. After I healed you I ran over to Sokka and told him what happened. Now he is looking for herbs to ease your pain. I thought you…" Katara's voice trailed off.
Aang guessed what she was about to say, and through a pained expression, said "Don't worry, Katara. I'm fine." Katara smiled.
"Me and Sokka will be moving camp to where you are, so you don't have to move. We will stay here until I can find a nearby Earth Kingdom with a doctor to complete your heal. Me and Sokka will switch turns riding Appa to find a Kingdom. Don't worry, Aang. There must be an Earth Kingdom somewhere."
That night, Sokka prepared a feast of acorns, a small fish, some nuts which looked like rocks, and some rocks that look like nuts. However, before dinner was served, Aang had fallen asleep.
"Sokka, should we wake him up?"
"No. Let him rest."
Next morning, Katara and Sokka had both woken up, only to find that Aang was still asleep. However, his face was extremely white, and he was gasping breaths.
"Do you think he's ok?"
"He doesn't look like it. Let's check on his wound."
Slowly and carefully, Katara took off his shirt. Then she unwrapped the leaves covering his wound, only to find something that caused both Sokka and Katara to panic.
The wound had become infected.