A/N: Sorry *not sorry* for the cliffhanger. I have been busy with a lot of things, Kataang week being one of them. Now that Kataang week is done, this story has almost my full attention and I have every intention of finishing this before the year is over, and honestly guys were are almost there. Please, as always, review. You don't know how much those reviews mean to writers everywhere, myself included.

Aang caught a short, sharp breath and looked up at man, standing over them in the light of the full moon.

"Fei ZhiZhu." He accused.

"Hello, brother." He sneered down at him, the evil as plain as the ethereal glow in his silver eyes. He looked over to Katara and his left hand rose higher.

"Thank you for the healing, but I would really rather this be a one on one fight." I said and his hand became a fist, Katara dropping to the ground unconscious. Fei allowed Aang some air and he crawled over to Katara's side.

"Katara! Speak to me!" He said and held her, coughing.

"She'll be fine, don't worry."

Aang took a moment to try and calm himself but rage bubbled inside of him. His own breathing was returning to him, bending the air around him, aware of every wisp of oxygen touching his skin. He started to count every death in his mind and his rage was enflamed, turning his head up from Katara's slow rise and fall of her chest and glared at Fei. She would be fine, but what about all those people? They all deserved a better death than this. And it was very simple for Aang to understand what he was facing.

"You may be an airbender, but do not dare count yourself in my Air Nomad brotherhood." Aang could never remember being this disgusted and infuriated at the same time. He stood and placed himself between Katara and Fei. They met eyes and everything was silent, even the woods around them.

"You're not even going to ask how I exist?" Fei asked. Aang was silent and waited for his onslaught. Fei frowned and sent a blade of air his way, Aang just barely jumping out of the way, twisting in the air and sending a whirlwind towards Fei. He smiled and threw out his hands, the wind stopping instantly. Aang understood more then he let on. This person was lethal in more ways than one.

"Alright, fine!" Aang shouted and moved himself away from Katara, trying to move the fight.

"Tell me all about how you are an airbender." If he wanted to talk, maybe he could be distracted. Aang sidestepped more and backed further into the woods, hoping he would follow. Fei took a few steps forward, following his bait.

"You well know about the spiritual connection people can have if they just open their minds to the potential they can reach." He moved faster, throwing a gust of air right at Aang, which was avoided by a hair. "You call yourself the avatar when you haven't even mastered the fifth and most important element."

Aang paused. "What are you talking about?"

Fei smiled. "Simply put; You are not reaching your full potential. If those monks had raised you properly, you would know what I speak of."

This struck a chord with Aang and he tried to not let his temper flair, but it was hard. Those were his loved ones this man was slandering. He bent the earth under Fei and he flew into the air, landing gracefully onto a tree limb like it was planned.

"I'm talking about the void. That lack of anything. The fifth element. Water, Earth, Fire, Air, and Void. The void is tied into every element you can bend. That's what makes is so hard to master, so hard to pinpoint."

He jumped from tree limb to tree limb, showing how he earned the name Fei Zhizhu and coming faster towards Aang and blasting him into a tree. Aang's head bounced off the trunk and he let out a groan, stabilizing himself and dodging the second blow coming towards him.

Fei jumped off the tree and landed on the ground with almost no effort. He held his hands out and an invisible pair wrapped around Aang's throat, squeezing his windpipe so tight he couldn't breathe or even think.

"This is what you could be capable of! Think of everything that all those air acolytes are going to learn from me once your are gone!" He smiled and tightened the void around Aang's body. Aang focused all his energy left and went into the avatar state, becoming a shining beacon in the dark woods. The power of the universe radiated from him, but it still wasn't enough to break free. Fei was stronger. It was unimaginable, but he had the advantage over the one person who was supposed to be a demigod. Aang still couldn't breathe and the pressure made his eyes water. He tried to think of what the void was, trying everything he could to control something he couldn't identify. Before he knew it Aang went black and was limp in Fei's hold, defeated.

"There now, that wasn't so hard." Fei said and let his body fall limp.

"Aang!" A voice called out behind him and he turned. Katara was standing there in the woods with them, coming up to the scene just now, moments too late.

"How are you awake?" He shook his head and turned towards her. "No matter, I'll take care of you for good this time, then the Avatar."

Katara took her stance and realized quickly that her water skins were still down by the river where she found him. She thought for a moment. If Aang was down, what would save her? It only took a split second for her to calculate this and run towards Aang, avoiding Fei's hold. She leapt over his body and ran further into the woods, the thought of getting help in the forefront of her mind.

Fei hesitated. He could either take out Aang now and go after the girl, possibly losing her and having a loose end to tie later. Or. Or he could go after her now and come back. He growled and chose the latter, jumping up in the trees to follow Katara.

She ran as fast as she could, dodging tree after tree in the moonlight.

"Where do you think you're going?" A voice called behind her and she looked over her shoulder, seeing him up in the canopy. She gasped and sprinted forwards, passing the tree line and screaming, almost falling off the cliff. She skidded to a stop and looked form side to side. The cliff dropped a few hundred feet. Trees on either side of her. Grass under her feet. Dry. Everything was dry. She turned and Fei jumped out of the trees, landing just at the tree line of the forest. The full moon cast dark shadows on his face and Katara's heart was beating out of her chest, backing up to the edge of the cliff. Her foot slipped and she adjusted her stance, a few rocks falling off the side.

"Done running then?"

Katara stood in her stance, not sure what to do. Her body was tense, her breathing so sharp. She felt like everything was in slow motion. Fei didn't manipulate the void on her immediately like he did before. He came closer to her. She was beautiful, he could see what Aang saw in her. Maybe he could deal with her in a different way. An evil grin spread across her face and the back of her neck tingled, her stomach dropping. She was in more danger than she knew.

"Stay back." She sounded about as courageous as a field mouse. He didn't head her warning, stepping closer still.

"You have no water." He purred to her.

"I mean it, not one more step!" She screamed and he didn't seem fazed. He was three yards away and he was closing the gap step by step. Her adrenaline was pounding in her veins and she felt the moon pulling her but with no water there was nothing to push. All the men that he had killed would never top what he was going to do to her. Katara thought of all the innocent lives lost, the wake of grief and despair he had left in the Earth Kingdom and the Southern Watertribe. How he had overpowered her love, the almighty Avatar and left him in the dirt, causing him spirits know how much pain. It made her sick. She wanted to do so many things to make him pay. A dark part of her prayed for rain, a stream, anything to wound him again where she had healed him. Anything to make him feel the pain he made others feel.

He was closer, a yard now. He reached out to her and she didn't even think, she threw out her arms to make him stop and closed her eyes, her body turning hard as stone. She waited. She could hear her breathing and nothing else. What was he waiting for? Ten seconds and she didn't want to but something inside her made her look up. His face was contorted into a painful expression, his arm just inches from her, frozen. She could see him fighting against whatever force was holding her back. Her mind raced and put the pieces together. She pushed her arms out, sending him flying back. She thought how wrong these actions were but she didn't care, she couldn't stop. She felt his blood under the moonlight and wanted to force her will upon him.

Katara bent him down to the ground, taking him down to his hands and knees.

"Look who's reaching their full potential now." He struggled to say, his body in so much pain. Before she could do any real damage, Aang came out of the trees and saw him on the ground. Aang instantly knew what Katara was doing and chose to ignore it, bending the earth around Fei and trapping him. His face contorted into even more pain and Aang looked over his shoulder.

"Katara, you're safe, let him go."

She barely heard him, holding Fei in his earth prison. His face was going purple and the sound of blood being controlled was the only sound in the air. She wanted him to feel pain. She could feel every vain in his body vibrating to the pulse of his heart, how easy it would be to stop his heart from beating. Her grip twisted him in the ground and she felt a rush of power. She was actually somehow finding a sweet release in her actions, wrong as they were.

"Katara! Stop before you kill him!"

She looked to Aang and her hands recoiled, Fei's head falling limp. His color returned to normal slowly and Aang took a deep breath. He placed his hands on his head and over his heart, going into the avatar state and invading Fei's chakras. He stood like that for what seemed like hours before he finally let go. Aang limped backwards and grabbed his head, letting out a groan.

"Aang?" Katara asked and reached out for him, grabbing his arm.

"It's okay. We're safe."

Fei struggled against the earth and growled.

"What did you do to me?"

"I took everything you had away."

"I'll just unlock them all again Avatar. You haven't won."

"I have." He said and took Katara's hand. "I wrapped all your chakras in the void, dispersing them in into the universal energy I tap into when I go into the avatar state. You have no chakras. I took away all your bending. You will never bend anything again."

Fei sneered. "It figures you would both reach your full potential at such an inconvenient time."

Katara looked down as shame washed over her. Fei fed on her disgrace.

"You're now a bloodbender. Congratulations."

Aang was angry at his insult but Katara covered her mouth to muffle her gasp. She felt sick to her stomach. She didn't want to ever be that person. She never wanted this to happen, to have that much power over someone but rage and revenge had consumed her in those moments. Aang wrapped his arms around Katara and she sobbed into his robes. Aang looked to Fei.

"We're taking you to Republic City. You're going under lockdown Fei."

X

The trip back didn't take long. They dropped off their prisoner at the RCPD, Toph waiting for them. He was put into segregation, all alone. He would spend the rest of his life in that cell with multiple counts of homicide, and two counts of attempted homicide along with numerous accounts of assault.

When Fei was secure and out of Aang's hands he had other things he needed to worry about. Like his beloved waterbender's state of mind. He walked her home from the police headquarters and she didn't say a word as she unlocked the door. He followed her in with her bags and let them down on the floor, closing the door behind him. She shrugged out of her outer robes and sat on her couch, hands on her knees. Aang sat beside her and wrapped his arms around her.

"Do you need to talk about it?"

She hesitated, trying to steady her breathing. She let out a shaky breath and stared at the floor.

"You're not a monster." He cooed.

"I am." She argued.

"No, you were protecting yourself. Nothing else."

"You don't understand Aang. I knew what I was doing when he stopped just inches from me. I knew what I was capable of in that moment…. and I couldn't stop. I wanted him to hurt. I wanted to-to-…" She couldn't verbalize those terrible thoughts she had been thinking.

"You wouldn't have done it." He whispered.

"How can you be so sure? You don't know what he was going to do to me. I saw it in his eyes. He…" She swallowed and hugged her arms. Aang cupped her cheek and turned her to face him. her eyes were swelling with tears but her ocean crashed into his silver and she was grounded.

"You wouldn't have. I know you. You are no killer. You are a healer. You make people better and that includes me." He murmured softly and let go of her cheek, kissing her softly. She meant to kiss him back but she erupted in a sob, her dam breaking and her arms wrapping around his neck.

He lay on the couch and held her for over an hour, just letting her tear streaked kissed stain his robes, petting her hair when she was trying to come up for air. It was the best thing he could do for her, just let her let it out.

When hear breathing was steady and her eyes stinging and red, he asked if she was going to be okay. She nodded and tilted up, getting off of him with a sniff.

"Do you need help unpacking?"

She shook her head. "I think I just need some alone time. Is that okay?"

"Of course."

He got up and she walked him to the door, the sun setting across the bay.

"I'll come see you tomorrow."

"Okay." She nodded and he pulled her into him, kissing her hair.

"I love you."

"And I love you Aang."

They shared one last kiss and he went his way, leaving her in her silent house. She closed the door behind him and focused on unpacking everything. Putting the food back in the pantry, the pots in the sing, laundry in the hamper. She gave herself a hot bath and closed her eyes when the water overtook her body, praying that the spirits would forgive her for her actions. The hot water seemed to calm her down and she stayed sunk in her tub until the water started to cool.

She eventually got out of the tub and dried herself off, getting into her night gown and laying down to sleep. It took a while and a lot of praying, but she finally fell into a dreamless rest at last.