The Weight of Destiny 3

"You know Katara, losing Appa made me realize what's really important to me, and that's the people that I love. I have to tell you something." Aang sighed, his throat tightening, urging him not to continue. Katara looked at him, the empty palace hall seeming larger as she realized how alone they were. She hesitated, fighting to maintain eye contact,

"What is it?"

"I love you Katara." Aang replied, eyes wide with uncertainty trying to read her expression. Shocked, although she shouldn't have been, Katara backed away.

"You-you love me?" Aang took her hands in his, trying to find the words to express his feelings. Perhaps he should have eased into it a bit more slowly, but he didn't know if he would survive the night let alone the war, so he didn't think he had anything to lose. He was so sure that she would be thrilled, yet now he wasn't so certain.

"Katara, we're meant for each other I know we are. We're perfect together! We both love penguin sledding and we both want to defeat the fire lord! And we almost kissed in the cave, and I lied back there. I would rather kiss you than die and pretty much anything else." Aang babbled, unable to stop the words from blurting out.

"Perfect Aang - all those things..." Katara trailed off gently pulling her hands from his, as she tried to organize her thoughts into a response that wouldn't crush this boy so dear to her. Finally she settled on an answer. "This is a complicated time. This is war Aang, I can't, we can't do this right now-"

"Katara you don't know that we'll survive this war, I don't even have a firebending teacher yet and I just started learning earthbending, Firelord Ozai is ruthless, and there's no telling I'll come back from this. Now is the only time. Please?" Aang begged unsure of why this was becoming so difficult and fearing his assumptions were wrong, and she didn't care for him that way.

"Aang," Katara sounded exasperated as she tried to get through to him. "The world is depending on us, it's just not even an option right now." Aang was becoming angry.

"You don't understand Katara, right now? It's all we have and all I might ever have. If there's even a chance for us, now is the time to make it happen." Aang pleaded angrily. Growing frustrated as well as flustered, Katara responded in a way she knew she would come to regret.

"There isn't a chance Aang." She felt tears come to her eyes, afraid of losing her best friend and ran off. Aang stood there, speechless.

"What's the matter with sugar queen?" Toph asked pretending she hadn't been listening to the entire conversation as she entered. Aang snapped out of his shock and slumped down against the palace wall.

"She doesn't love me." He said into empty space, not even hearing his young earth bending teacher. "She doesn't love me." He repeated. This time it sunk in and he began to cry. In spite of herself Toph scoffed,

"Boo hoo Twinkle Toes, everyone experiences rejection." Aang narrowed his eyes realizing the presence of Toph. He stood up and looked at her.

"Have you ever loved someone, and have them not love you back? You have no idea what it feels like to love someone you'll never be with, and not even be sure if you'll survive the summer to even see them again. You don't know." Aang choked. Toph ignored the question knowing there was no right answer. However, by the rest of his words she was quite offended,

"I don't know what it's like? Oh please. You don't see me sulking around about my parents not loving me or anything else for that matter. I'm a little bit tougher than that." Aang shook his head, at the word parents, his mind drifted to Giatso, or rather what was left of him and he felt anger well up inside of him.

"If all you're going to do is insult me, just go!" Aang yelled in both hurt and anger. Toph couldn't help but be disgusted by Aang's weakness. She marched up close to him poking his chest hard with her index finger.

"Would you stop being such a panda lily, I'm just being honest here maybe if you stopped balling you'd realize that. You're going to love people who don't love you back. That's life, and don't I know it. You just need to buck up and take it for once instead of lying to yourself that you're going to get Katara, because in case it wasn't clear you're not." With those words, Aang felt the familiar connection with all his past lives click in. The anger boiled inside of him as he no longer held control. Feeling himself rise up from the floor he stared at Toph with a look that could kill, which he was moments from doing. Toph backed away unsure of what exactly was going on. Standing so near to him, she could feel his shaking body like a massive earthquake. It was suddenly clear, Toph had pushed Aang over the edge. Just as Aang was about to blow the roof off the palace, he felt a hand yank him down from the air, rather forcefully. He hoped it was Katara. But when he looked down, he saw the familiar tough edged face of Toph.

"You're not going to do this Twinkle Toes!" She yelled over the loud winds that Aang was creating. "You're going to control yourself! Do you hear me? It's not worth all of this, just because I said something stupid I- I'm sorry!" Hearing the words 'I'm sorry' fall from Toph's mouth was enough for Aang to regain control and fall to his knees out of the Avatar state. He looked up at her, shame falling onto his features.

"Toph - I could've... I could've killed you. I'm sorry." Aang hung his head low unsure of what else he could say. Toph stood quietly for a moment, registering everything that had just happened.

"Forget it." She finally said, lightly kicking the floor. "It's nothing." Aang flung his eyes to meet hers standing up and grabbing her shoulders.

"Toph it's not nothing. Killing you isn't nothing. I've already lost one person I care about I couldn't bear it to be the cause of losing two." Aang gripped her tightly. He couldn't lose her. As stubborn, and self absorbed as she could be, she was important to him. And he couldn't lose her too. Toph froze. She wasn't used to having someone this close to her.

"You didn't mean it, I - I didn't mean the things that I said either." She could almost feel him looking at her, although she had no real proof. They certainly made quite a pair, yelling and thrashing at each other like they just had. She felt a little guilty for it, seeing that she had struck such a nerve that he had gone into the avatar state. "Look Aang, I'm sorry. I'm sorry that Katara doesn't feel the way that you do about her. You're the avatar though. And if there's one thing she's got right, it's that we're in a war. You've got better things to think about. Besides you're thirteen years old, what's the rush? You're bound to find somebody crazy enough to put up with you." Aang huffed in frustration.

"That's just it Toph. There's a war. And I'm thirteen. I could die, I'm going against the most powerful man in the world, there's no way I'll survive, now's my only time." Aang began to feel the tears rush back.

"You will survive," Toph insisted not willing to consider anything else. She could feel both of their hearts racing though, making it clear that fear was alive and well in both of them.

"You don't know that! And then I'll have failed... again. I'll have failed you and Sokka and Katara, and the world, well what's left of it anyway." Aang slumped down again, defeated.

"You're right." Toph admitted. "I don't know that any of us will make it. But I know that you won't let us anybody at all down. Regardless of what happens." Aang sighed and stood up. He bowed respectively to Toph.

"Thank you sifu Toph you've helped me a lot." He started walking away, when he turned back and pulled her into a hug.

"I know one things for sure, even if we don't make it, our friendship will survive lifetimes." Aang whispered drawing Toph even nearer. Toph stiffened in his arms, but hugged him back tenderly for a moment before quickly shoving him away.

"All right, all right, enough with all the fluff. Are we good Twinkle Toes?" Aang chuckled. Just like Toph to be all rough and tough once he felt better.

"Yes. We are. I'm sorry again." Aang mumbled before walking away, he needed sleep. It'd been a long day.

Meanwhile as Toph and Aang were having there heated discussion, Sokka had stopped his sister, worried, at the look on her face as she walked away from Aang.

"Katara, what happened?" Sokka asked worried for his sister's wellbeing.

"It's nothing Sokka." Katara replied tiredly not giving him a second glance. "Don't worry about it." She was prepared to walk right past him when he took a hold of her elbow drawing her back.

"I know I'm not Dad, or Mom but I'm family Katara, talk to me. I know you better than you think." Sokka smirked a small smile sadly. She really didn't want to talk about it but with one look into Sokka's beckoning eyes she gave in.

"Aang told me that he loves me. And I couldn't say it back, even though for his sake I really wanted to." Sokka released her elbow, slightly shocked. But regained his composure immediately.

"Wait a second!" He threw his hands up. "You don't love him back?" You see Sokka's shock didn't stem from Aang's feelings, but rather the lack of Katara's.

"Well, well no. Of course not." Katara replied. "I do love Aang, but not like that. I think that I broke his heart Sokka, he was so hurt and angry." Sokka had to take a minute. Giving his fourteen year old sister advice about love, when the only experience he had was with the current moon spirit, wasn't something he was prepared for.

"Katara, Aang's a good guy, I know somewhere in you, you love him. You got so jealous when we went to Kyoshi when he was spending all his time with those other girls. Maybe give him a chance?" Sokka wondered if he only just made it worse. Katara was like a ticking time bomb, and he was afraid he just set her off.

"Maybe it was irritation, maybe it was jealousy but Sokka, I know how I feel." Katara said persistently, anger flaring beneath her tongue. "There are plenty of good guys in the world but that doesn't mean I'm going to date them all." Sokka shook his head, afraid this conversation was heading downhill.

"Are you still hung up on Jet, he's not a good guy." Sokka asked and stated, regretting the words as soon as left his tongue. Katara gasped.

"No! I'm not into that psychopath self centered jerk! I just said I didn't want to be with Aang, not that I want some law breaking bad boy!" At the thought of a bad boy Katara was brought back to a certain night that she'd spent tied to a tree, tormented to the banished Firenation Prince. She couldn't find it in her that in that one particular incident Prince Zuko had been strangely attractive to her. Sokka sighed, he knew his sister well and could read her like a book, but not tonight. Tonight she was somewhere else. He touched a hand to her shoulder.

"I'm just saying, maybe you and Aang would be good for each other." Sokka attempted to calm his sister down, only this made the anger insider her stomach boil even faster and she was about to unleash on Sokka.

"I'm just saying that I know how I feel! And at least unlike you! I'm not afraid to show it!" Sokka stared at his sister utterly bewildered. What could she be talking about, she couldn't know... he'd never told her... could she read him as well as he could her.

"What are you talking about Katara, I've had girlfriends! Yue for a start! It's not my fault what happened happened. And then there's Suki..." The thought of Suki led to fighting, and fighting led to Jet. He imagined the swordsman darting through the trees, a thought that brought him into dangerous territory.

"You know exactly what I'm talking about Sokka." Katara glared through narrow eyes. "I can see it plain as day in you. Don't give me a hard time about how I feel, when you're lying to everyone about how you do." This got Sokka angry and slightly scared, would she tell? She almost left her family and her tribe once before for the avatar, would she betray him? As she began walking away. He grabbed her.

"Hey I'm just looking for what's best for you! We don't have Mom and Dad to help us, all we have is each other." Sokka calmed down loosening his grip on his sisters wrists. Katara yanked her arm away. Not ready to let this go yet.

"Then we need to support each other's decisions. Not waste time with all of this." Katara sighed. Sokka knew she was right. For now they were all the other had. They were blood and they were siblings. He was her big brother, and he should look out for her, not Aang. He pulled her into a hug.

"You're right. Like always. I'm sorry." Sokka said. She buried her face in the fabric of his shirt.

"I know I'm right." She said solemnly. But it wasn't long before she erupted with giggles. Sokka smiled too.

"Eh I guess you can do better than a bald kid anyway." He shrugged lightening the mood.

"Sokka!" Katara scolded through quiet laughter. Rather then continue lecturing him, she hugged him once more. "Thank you." She whispered. Sokka was the first to pull away. He rubbed his hands together grateful things hadn't gone too out of line and quickly said.

"Now let's get me some meat." Katara rolled her eyes as they walked off in search of some.

Somewhere not so far away on the outskirts of Ba Sing Se, Zuko replied,

"Yes."