A/N: Chapter 9... :D Hope you like! R&R if you will!

Disclaimer: I do NOT own Avatar: The Last Airbender or any of the characters within it.

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Chakras

Aang and I walked for a few miles before he led me to a cave. It was beginning to rain, quite hard actually, and we needed shelter.

Aang told me he could no longer feel vibrations from the fire nation soldiers. That was a relief.

"What now?" I asked him.

He simply shrugged. He picked a twig up off the ground and started drawing circles on the cave floor.

"We can't go anywhere in this. It's probably a hurricane coming through. We're pretty close to a beach."

"How do you- oh, never mind."

I frequently forgot that Aang visited all over the world. It was just a strange concept to know that he memorized it all so well. That he saw it all over a hundred years ago and he still remembered.

Well, I supposed it wasn't really a hundred years for him... but still.

"Aang, can't you go in the avatar state to get us out of here? It's a pretty powerful thing and now that Guru Pathik has taught you to master it, it can't be that hard to figure out how to get into it."

There was a long pause. I was starting to believe he didn't hear me.

"Katara, I have to tell you something. I've been so ashamed of telling you; of telling anyone, that I kept it to myself."

This was strange for him. It must be really important because he normally told me everything. I think.

I looked up at him and nodded for him to continue. He took a deep breath.

"I didn't master the avatar state."

I felt my eyebrows involuntarily furrow.

"What?"

Aang pulled his knees up to his chin and closed his eyes.

"Well... the Guru taught me how to unlock my chakras. They are paths of energy that flow through your body and to release them from being... clogged as he explained it, you have to get rid of certain feelings and forget certain things."

He paused and opened his eyes at me and I guessed it was to see how I reacted. I was only curious, so I smiled feebly at him to continue.

He looked at the ground.

"There are seven chakras. I managed to unlock six of them, but... I had difficulty with the last. So, I can't go into the avatar state."

It took me awhile to understand what he was saying. He couldn't go into the avatar state? How did this happen? Why didn't he tell me earlier?!

"At all?" I asked, still concerned and addled.

He nodded.

"How? What was so difficult about the last chakra?"

"I... uh..." he stumbled, resting his head on his knees. "It wasn't so much difficulty as it was, say... refusal."

Now I was completely lost. Aang wouldn't refuse to master the avatar state. We needed it to defeat Ozai! How could he?

"Why did you refuse to master the avatar state?"

His head went deeper into his knees, his whole face covered as in shame.

"I couldn't... I didn't want to let go of what blocked it," he admitted, his voice coming out muffled.

I raised an eyebrow at him although he couldn't see it.

"What blocked it?"

There was another pause. I feel he didn't want to talk about this, but I couldn't believe he would just give up on such great power over some refusal. What could be so important he couldn't let go of it to access the avatar state?!

"Earthly attachment."

Whatever that meant.

Oh wait... I understand! He didn't want to let go of Appa. That makes sense. Or maybe the airbenders? I could get that, too.

"What's the earthly attachment?"

He mumbled something so quickly I didn't catch a syllable of what it was.

"Sorry, what?"

He looked up at me, scowling. He really didn't want to say this.

"Uhh... well..." He cleared his throat and stared at me. "You."

I think that word sunk in long after my heart caught on. I only knew this because I didn't comprehend until my heart stopped beating inside my chest. I literally forgot to breath and ended up choking.

"Are you okay?" he asked me, the kindness returning.

I grasped at my neck and began breathing normally again.

"Yeah... I... I'm fine."

First he chooses me over Appa and now this? He wasn't connected to this world by the airbenders or the thousands of people who've died or even his sky bison. Not Gyatso or his friends or the parents he never knew... just... me.