Romangst, blood and gore! Yay!

For a moment, he was flying. In that split second time had stilled. It was a familiar sensation, completely out of place in the given situation, but comfortable nonetheless. He could almost say he enjoyed it.

And then it passed.

Aang slammed against the rock with a sickening crunch. Far away, he heard someone scream his name. It was a horrible scream, ringing with such pain and fear that his blood ran cold. He crumpled noiselessly to the ground.

He blinked slowly, gaping like a fish. Odd, he thought dimly. I can't breathe. His eyes slid closed. He was so tired, after all. It was as if he hadn't slept in years. It would all go away if he just…

What? Something was tugging at the back of his mind. Aang frowned, his eyelids opening just a crack. It was quiet, whatever it was. Perhaps he could just ignore it…

No, it was stronger now. He couldn't sleep, the little voice told him firmly. He still had something to take care of. What? Blood roared in his ears, but there were other sounds thrown into the mix. His vision swam, his limbs wouldn't respond, and his nose was filled with the stink of the dirt in which he lay, face down. His hearing would have to do.

Muffled rumbles from above. More screaming. What on earth was going on? Alarm gradually seeped back into his system. As his eyes slowly focused, he caught glimpses of shadows racing across a red canvas, running this way and that, bobbing and weaving. Occasionally the shadows would come together in a furious flash of light. Then, one would crumple to the ground, and the victor moved onto the next. Also, was it his imagination, or was the ground shaking? Slowly, painfully, all of these thoughts melded into a single word at the foremost of his mind.

Battle.

All at once everything came rushing back to him. Aang gasped, eyes widening in horror. It was as if he'd been struck by lightning, every nerve on his body suddenly on fire. Get up! He struggled upright, barely containing a scream as his ribs crackled beneath his skin. Aang winced and clutched his side as he used the cliff-face for support to slide him to his feet. His left arm swung limply, his forearm angled sharply in a direction that was wholly unnatural. Thankfully its entirety was numb at the moment, but already sharp little pinpricks tingled throughout. It wouldn't be long before his definition of pain would include a new entry.

Finally, with a great effort, he lifted his head, which had somewhere along the road turned into a dead weight. An intense wave of dizziness couple with nausea caused him to reel. He almost fainted again. But at last, flush against the rocky wall, he was standing.

The ground shook, and Aang's already weak knees buckled. He grimaced. Not his imagination then. He looked up, eyes flickering across the scene before him, trying to take everything. He noticed that some of the shadows were pressing their way through the others, getting closer. Fast. A knot of fear tied itself in the pit of his stomach, and he squinted. He watched one as it raised its arms, a wall of water flying before it, and at least a dozen of the other shadows flew through the air. The water vanished, and the shadow was running… Straight towards him.

"Aang!" It knew his name. He stiffened. Somehow, it knew his name… But there was something he recognised in that voice.

"Katara?" he croaked hoarsely, hardly daring to believe his ears. The figure cried out in relief. He very nearly smiled, before remembering the situation. "Katara!" He staggered half a step forwards. "It's no good, tell the others to-" At that moment Katara fell, shrieking in surprise, as another shadow's hands closed fast about her ankles. Something in Aang's chest jerked violently. "Katara!"

A rumbling crack far above his head was hardly enough to register in his mind at the minute, but it appeared to be so in Katara's.

"Look out, above you!" she yelled, kicking wildly to free herself. Aang looked up, and his breath caught in his throat. His right arm whipped skywards.

His arm shook with the effort of keeping the huge boulder at bay, barely a metre above his head. He laughed shakily. That had been close.

The smile swiftly vanished as his ribs, without the brace his arm had provided, shifted again. Pain. Unbearable pain, swamping all his senses. He snarled, dropping heavily onto his knees. The boulder lurched, rushing eagerly towards the ground. It ground to a sudden halt yet again, this time brushing against Aang's fingertips. His heart hammered against his chest as the massive chunk of fallen cliff edged closer. I can't hold it, he realized, panic stabbing at his chest. He was already growling with the effort, his arm trembling violently and dripping with sweat.

Then, he felt deep within him something snap, and his eyes widened with terror as the boulder fell.

It was dark when he opened his eyes at last. The chunk of rock cast quite a shadow. A thick silence now endured. No shouts or screams reached his ears, and the ground was still: the fight must have ended. Aang vaguely wondered how long he'd been under here for.

Something soft tickled his cheek, and someone else's heavy breathing was mingling with his own. He slowly brought his arm away from his face, staring up at the face barely a foot from his. Katara's hands, one on either side of his head, supported her weight as she crouched above him. Her hair hung over her shoulder, sweeping across the ground beside his cheek. The source of the mysterious tickling sensation. Katara smiled weakly.

"Gotcha," she murmured, a drizzle of crimson crawling from one of her nostrils.

They were surrounded by blue-white stakes of ice, each as thick as his arm. A few of them had been smashed in the initial impact, but the majority held the giant piece of rock a centimetre above Katara's back. His jaw dropped.

"Katara," he said, awed. "You-"

"Hey, that's what friends are for, right?" she said softly. She glanced down. Aang's eyes followed suit, and his heart stopped.

In her haste to reach him in time, Katara hadn't the time to calculate the position of the stakes. As a result, one had plunged itself clean through her abdomen. The tip was visible just behind her shoulder blades, still keeping the boulder at bay. It was stained a guilty red.

"Oops," she whispered. Aang stared back at her, horrified.

"B-but you… I… N-no," his voice cracked, eyes burning. "How could you… Why w-w-would you…" He swallowed painfully. This was unreal. Impossible.

"It's alright," she said stiffly. "I think the fighting's stopped."

He really wished Katara would stop smiling.

"You'll be okay," he muttered quietly. "I promise." Katara coughed, a horrible gurgling cough, and a thin line of blood pooled on the ground beside her hand.

"I believe you," she said, locking her eyes on his.

Settling himself, Aang took a deep breath and raised his one good arm.

"Aang," sighed Katara wearily.

"I'm going to get this thing off of us-" His muscles strained, but the boulder wouldn't budge.

"Aang, don't-"

"C'mon earth," he snarled desperately. "Why… Won't… You… Bend!" The boulder shifted slightly, cracking a few of the stakes. The thrill of victory was cut short, however, by a gasp of pain above him. He stopped immediately. "Katara?" Aang's voice sounded strange to him. Higher, thinner, weaker somehow. She whimpered.

"I don't think," Her breathing came in sharp, shallow bursts. "That was a good idea…" She wheezed, and it occurred to Aang that she was laughing. "We may be here for a while."

At first, he had called out for them as loudly as he could without causing Katara any discomfort, but by the time Toph finally found them Aang's voice had been reduced to a croak.

"Twinkletoes! Is that you? You sound awful!" The earthbender stumbled forward, arms outstretched as she staggered through the battlefield. She winced with each step. "Hold on, I'm coming! Some jerk had the nerve to roast my feet, sorry I couldn't be here sooner!" She scowled, her hands fumbling against the boulder. She nodded grimly, cracking her knuckles. "No problem. Hup!" The boulder flew into the air, landing with a muffled thud some distance away.

Katara sighed, dropping heavily as the ice about them melted and drained away. Aang moved quickly to catch her, wincing as his broken ribs complained. He pulled her into his lap, carefully pushing the hair out of her face. She was very still.

Toph stiffened. "Is someone with you?" she asked curiously. Aang didn't answer: he desperately searched the waterbender's face for signs of life, absently tracing the lines of her pale face with the pad of his thumb. Toph folded her arms grumpily. "Fine, be that way. You don't happen to know where Sugarqueen is, do you? My feet could really use some healing about now!"

Aang's mouth hung slightly open, and a stray tear rolled down his cheek. A cloak of dread settled over his shoulders. She can't. I promised.

"Hello? Earth to Aang? Thank you Toph, for rescuing me! Well, you're welcome! Next time I'll just let the rock squish you, if you're going to be like that!"

With a quiet sob, Aang buried his face in Katara's hair, his shoulders shaking. Toph gaped.

"Geez, I knew you were sensitive, but seriously? Wow… Uh, okay. I take back the part about letting you get squished. There, better?" She shifted uncomfortably as he continued to weep.

"Please wake up," he whispered against Katara's neck. She remained as limp as a doll. "Please…" Realization slowly dawned on Toph.

"Oh," she said at last, her expression inscrutable. "Oh." Toph stiffly seated herself on a stray rock, running her hand down her face.

As the fat pink fingers of dawn tugged on the horizon, the world was quiet, but for the soft wails of the last airbender.