Without actually trying, Aang entered the Avatar State. His eyes suddenly glowed with brilliant white light, and he became unconscious to what was going on around him. A moment later, he was in the Spirit World. And he had an unexpected companion. Draaka the dragon.

Aang wanted to ask the dragon why she was there, but he didn't trust his voice, so he followed silently as the beast snaked through the mud. He trudged through the swamp after her, not knowing where she was leading him. At last she led him to a small clearing. And looked at him expectantly.

"Aang," came a whisper from behind him. He whipped around, and standing there was Katara. He stopped, and stared. She had on brilliant white robes that flowed around her, and her hair was loose around her shoulders .

Aang ran towards her, "Katara!" he yelled and ran to her. You're alive. Thank goodness. I was so worried, oh my g—" she silenced by putting a finger over his lips.

"Aang, calm down. I'm not alive. It's just that, when you wished so hard that I wasn't gone, since you have so much spirit-magic on your side—see, I'm not gone. But I didn't come back, either. I can't go back to the earth, but I can come to the spirit world."

"Katara…so you are… you're dead," he couldn't believe it. It was all his fault. If he hadn't gotten her caught up in this war…he couldn't think about what would have been. Then he looked up, hopeful. "It's okay, Katara. I can come to see you every night. I can even bring gifts sometimes, and every once in a while I could bring Sokka and Suki, or something. It will be like you aren't even gone."

"Oh, Aang. She said, and pulled him into a deep embrace. Drops of water fell on the back of his shirt, and he knew that she was crying. He buried his face in her hair and began to weep. "Aang, you need to let go of me. You're alive, and I'm not. I don't want to live a half-life either. I would just depend on your company to be happy. And in a few years… you would move on. I can't live that life, Aang. I need you to let me go, so that I can let go. Once I leave, I can never come back. I need you to say okay."

Aang didn't quite trust his voice, but he knew that more needed to be done than a simple nod. "I couldn't let you live like that, either Katara. All I want is what's best for you. I want you to be happy."

With that, Katara pulled him into a deep kiss. Aang closed his eyes, for a long time. When he opened them, she was gone.

Forever.

A/N: Okay, wow. Someone brought to my attention that Katara kind of died randomly, and there was no explanation. Sorry. It's because I forgot to publish the chapter between chapter six and eight, so if you got totally got confused and hate me now... I'm just that awesome. So now there's a chapter in between and all is well.