Follow-up for Sentence #30: Ghost

Avatar doesn't belong to me, but if it did there would be lots of angst in the Zuko/Katara department.

"Grief tears his heart, and drives him to and fro, in all the raging impotence of woe."

-Homer, in The Iliad"

Everything had seemed to fall apart when the young Waterbender died in battle. Time itself seemed to have stopped going as the girl fell, her hand reaching out toward her brother. Her head had hit the ground more softly than it should have; and her blue eyes quickly looked over at the Avatar in an attempt to keep a final watch on him. She whispered her mother's name softly before feeling her soul being ripped out of her body. Then everything fell silent.

The Avatar won the battle though at a great loss. His best friend had lost at a most horrible price—her life. Aang grieved Katara's death by meditating and would weep in silence upon remembering her final moments, but he continued his duties knowing that Katara would not want him to ignore his people.

Her brother mourned for her as well. Sokka mourned for his sister with ceremonies and prayer and private memories. He cried in public, unashamed of his tears. And like the Avatar, he continued with his life like he knew his sister would want him to.

The Prince of the Fire Nation, however, fell into a most horrible depression, blaming himself for the girl's death. Though he had only been with their group for a few months, he had given himself the responsibility of watching over her when her brother was absent. It had been during this time, between arguing with her and silently making sure she was safe, that he fell in love. But what had hurt him the most was that right before battle, he had decided that if they got out there alive he would ask for her hand in marriage.

It was one late afternoon when Zuko overheard the Avatar talking about a swamp in the depths of the Earth Kingdom jungle where lost loved ones can be seen, if just for one moment.

"Please, Avatar, I need to see her one more time," he had begged, hoping against hope that the boy would give into his pleads and take him to the swamp.

The Avatar denied him though, saying that the swamp was a horrible place. "Katara will appear," he assured, "but in the most awful way." But the Prince could not be convinced, and insisted until the boy gave in.

When they arrived at the swamp, the Avatar turned to him with a word of warning. "I'm telling you, Zuko, Katara won't be the same girl you know. Please hear me. She'll just reveal your worst nightmares." Still, Zuko remained deaf to his advice.

The Prince entered the swamp with a sword in his hands, the mud and algae up to his knees and his eyes alert to everything within. "Please come," he whispered, and like a wish come true, Katara appeared a few yards ahead, her arms extended and a glow about her.

He ran, ran like his very life depended on reaching her. A smile lit his face as he dropped his sword. He ignored the Avatar's yells for him to stop, that it was an illusion. No, he thought upon being a few feet from her glowing spirit, my love is not an illusion.

"Zuko," she whispered, "why have you come so far to find me?"

"Because I missed you," he answered, his broken heart beating quickly under his chest.

And to his surprise, the girl laughed. "But why?"

"Because I love you," he continued.

Again Katara laughed, bitterly this time. "But I'm dead. How could you love someone who's not alive?"

The Prince's heart sank. "You're alive to me," he admitted and looked into the girl's eyes, noticing briefly that he could see right through them.

The Avatar watched from afar, tears falling from his eyes as he saw Zuko talking to a stream of light. "Zuko!" he yelled. "Zuko, there's nothing there! It's an illusion!" But the Prince didn't listen.

"Move on, Zuko," Katara sighed, stepping back. "Forget me."

"No," he countered. "I won't."

"Forget me," she insisted, floating upwards.

"No!" he yelled and raised his arms in an attempt to hold her down. "Come back!" he wept, and fell on his knees. "I won't forget you." He reached for his sword, and in a desperate attempt to join the one he loved began to cut the flesh on his wrist. "I won't," he whispered and ordered his trembling hands to destroy his body faster.

It wasn't long before the Avatar reached him and grabbed his sword, throwing it aside. "It's not what she would have wanted!" he yelled angrily, tears streaming down his cheeks. He ripped a piece of his shirt and began to make a tourniquet for the Prince's bleeding wrist.

The Prince wept as the Avatar finished tying the cloth. "It's my fault she's gone."

"No, it's not," Aang assured. "It's no ones fault."

"Yes, it is," he insisted. "I loved her." And upon seeing the confused look on the boy's face, he elaborated. "Everyone I love leaves me."

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