Chapter 7 scar

Aang and his friends were relaxing on a grassy hill. Sokka and Suki were taking a nap while Toph and Kartara were having a nice chat. Aang was sitting alone looking into the distance. After a while he decided to get up and walk around a little bit. While pacing, he suddenly felt a sharp pain in the center of his back. He groaned in pain and tried to reach his scar with hands to try and sooth the pain. He wriggled around trying to reach it which caught his friends' attention. His friends looked at him weirdly as he wriggled around like a worm to trying to hug itself. At some point Aang tried rubbing his back against a nearby tree which seemed to help for a few seconds but he then poked his scar against a pointy twig on the bark of the tree. Aang screamed in pain and used earth bending against the tree to vent his frustration. By now his friends realized what was going on and Katara carefully approached him but not before a big branch fell off the tree because it was shaken from the rock and before Aang could protect himself the branch landed right on his head rendering him unconscious

"Aang!" she yelled and ran towards him but not before another branch detached from the tree and landed with the sharp point first right onto Aang's scar. The branch fell on its side and rolled off Aang's back and onto the ground. Katara ran towards him accompanied by the rest of the group. She flipped Aang onto his back and held his head in her arms

"Aang? Can you hear me?" she asked as Aang's eyes rolled loosely in their sockets. She placed her ear near his chest and let out a sigh of relief

"He's alive. Just unconscious" she said and let his head rest on her lap for a while. After about five minutes he groaned and opened his eyes. His vision was blurry and it took it while to move back into focus. He saw Katara's concerned eyes hover over his head. He could see the expression on them go from worried to hopeful and relived.

"Katara?" he asked incoherently

"Yeah hon it's me"

"Why are you upside down?" he asked

"I'm not upside down. Your head is resting on my lap, that's all"

"Wha?..." asked Aang as he looked around. He could see his friends look at him worriedly. His eyes focused on Sokka

"You and your boyfriend look a lot alike. Are you family?" he asked goofily

"We're family but we're not a couple. You're my boyfriend remember?" asked Katara

"What? Boyfriend?" asked Aang as he tried to remember but was struck with a terrible migraine. He groaned in pain and placed his hand on his head

"Take it easy Aang you got a big hit on the head" said Katara

Aang groaned in pain as he grabbed his head. He then felt a surge of nausea about to explode out of his mouth. He quickly sat up and vomited on the grass. He then lay back on Katara's lap. Everyone exchanged worried looks.

"Aang you need to relax. You've had a concussion" said Katara

"I am relaxing. I'm lying on the grass"

Katara exchanged looks with everyone else

"Aang, you're not laying on the grass. Your head is resting on my lap"

Aang now seemed more focused

"Your lap?" he said sharply as he blushed deeply

"It's okay Aang. Just calm down" she reassured him and he nodded. She then inspected his head to find a big bruise on it. She shook her head at it

"Listen Aang you got hit pretty bad. I'm gonna try to use waterbending to try and heal you"

"Whatever you say… sweetie pie…" said Aang dreamily. Katara blushed slightly at the nickname and focused her attention on his head. She opened her water pouch and used the water to try and heal the bruise. The swelling went down but the mark was still red. She tried to heal it completely but without success. She turned her attention back to him and said

"Aang I got rid of the swelling but the bruise is still there. I can't do much more than that"

"Thanks Katara" he said tiredly. Her eyes perked up when she heard him call her name

"You recognized me" she said happily

"Of course I did. You're my forever girl"

Katara smiled at this

"Good to have you back Aangy" she said

"Thanks" he said. It was then that he realized that his back was slightly wet. He groaned in pain as he reached for his back again

"My scar… I think I opened my scar…" he groaned

"Flip over" Katara told him and inspected his back. She could see his scar was bleeding and the wound was fresh. She used more water to clean to the wound and the rest to put pressure on it until the bleeding stopped. Sokka brought some bandages and Katara wrapped them around her hurt boyfriend's back which seemed to ease his pain

"Thank you Katara" he said after letting out a sigh of relief

"You're welcome Aang. You know I'm happy to help"

"I know" he said and let out a big yawn

"I think I still have the concussion. I need to sleep" Katara nodded with understanding. She set him down on the grass as he fell asleep. She asked Toph to make a tent for her and Aang and she gladly complied. During the next few days Aang slept most of the time and only woke up for meals and to use the bathroom. Then one morning he didn't wake up. Katara tried shaking him awake but he wouldn't open his eyes. She checked to see if he was breathing again and was shocked to find out that he has rapid and hollow breaths. Something was clearly wrong and she had to find out what, fast" she flipped him on his back and looked at the bandages. She could see yellow puss surround the wound and realized what happened

"Oh no, his scar got infected" she flipped him back on his back again and cupped his cheek

"Aang can you hear me?"

He didn't answer. Katara could feel tears build up in her eyes. She was beginning to fear the worst. She flipped him over again and removed the bandages. She tried several times to get rid of the puss but without success. She realized she needed medicine. She flipped him over again and cupped his cheeks

"Hang in there Aang. You're gonna be okay" she said eagerly and wiped the sweat off his brow. She got up and darted out of the tent and headed for the nearest market place. She ran as fast as she could down the hill. After ten minutes she reached the market place and darted for the pharmacy. She stopped in front of the merchant's desk and panted profusely while resting on her knees. When she found her breath, she extended two coins and said

"Two healing creams please" she said

Sensing the urgency of the situation the merchant asked no questions and gave her what she wanted. When she was about to give him her money he shook his head

"No charge. Just got this medicine to your friend as fast as possible"

Katara was still panting when he said that

"Thank you" she managed to say between breathes and darted back to the camp. She ran up the mountain until she reached the top. She ran for Aang's tent and got inside. She opened the cup of cream and used a good amount of it on Aang's scar and the puss seemed to go away. She flipped him on his back and looked at him

"Aang" she asked nervously. He didn't respond. She listened to his breathing again. She was relieved to hear he was breathing a little more naturally now. She sighed with relief and lay beside him waiting for him to wake up. She sighed with melancholy as she started to cry. She rested her head on his shoulder and sobbed softly until she fell asleep. Later that night Aang opened his eyes feeling as good as new. He then noticed the smell of Katara's hair. He looked to his right to see Katara sleeping beside him. He was then shocked to see tear marks on her face. He extended his finger and used its tip to stroke Katara's cheek. She opened her eyes to meet his

"Aang?" she said tiredly

Aang!" she cried with joy and hugged him

"You're okay…" she said happily

"Never better" said Aang

"I'm glad"

"Oh Aang I was so worried about you. When your scar got infected I thought you were gonna die"

"I'm okay Katara. There's no need to worry anymore…" he said and Katara smiled

"Katara?"

'Hmm?"

"I think we both could use a good night sleep" katara smiled again as she hugged him more tightly

"Sounds good to me…" she said as they fell asleep in each other's arms…

To be continued…