This is by far my favorite chapter yet. It was really easy to get the writing to flow. I hope you all enjoy it as much as I did. But, I probably won't have another chapter up until next week. This weekend is going to be nuts for me. But, it will give me more time to think of more ideas. So, enjoy the cliffhanger. :)
I am considering making another story, but in Aang's POV. I can't write in 2nd or 3rd person. It's terrible.
Sorry if I haven't included much of the other characters. It is in Katara's POV, so I don't think she would be truly interested in what's going on with Zuko and Mai's relationship and what not.
The small crescent moon shines brightly over me, illuminating my dark skin in my favorite way. The water I was streaming was sparkling in the moonlight, mesmerizing me to a point that I was bending my water subconsciously. We are on the Serpents Pass, wedged in a small clearing with a direct path to the water. I stop bending, letting the water drop back into the ocean, my hands then falling into my lap. I had a tough time falling asleep earlier, so I ended up down here to do some waterbending to relax me. I hang my feet over the small ledge and dip my toes in the water. It is freezing cold, but I ignore it and lay down on my back, looking up at the sky.
It is covered in a blanket of greyish-black storm clouds, strong winds both strangely warm and cold whipping around me. Soon enough, I feel the first drop of rain hit my cheek, then a bunch more quickly following. Thankfully I left my water tribe robes back up at camp, so only my under wrappings are going to get drenched. I close my eyes and sigh, letting the ice-cold droplets pelt me. I reach my hand up and feel the grooves of the pendant on my mother's necklace.
I know I wasn't feeling right. Aang noticed it right away, and decided to initially give me space. He knows that the Serpents Pass and this entire region in general isn't a good memory for me. The last time we were here, Aang was unconscious, and basically on the verge of near death, due to the ordeal at Ba Sing Se. Not to mention when he finally woke up, he flew off his glider right into a storm similar to this one, which broke me. It seems that maybe abandoning hope on this wretched strip of land was actually not a bad idea.
Either you lose hope by your own will or, if you don't do that, it'll be taken nonetheless by unfortunate events.
I feel my eyes well up. I guess I could say the only time I truly lost hope throughout our entire journey was when we were here…I sigh up at the sky and begin bending the occasional droplet of rain to try and soothe my weary thoughts.
My hair is completely soaked, and I am shivering down to the bone. A bright flash of light illuminates the sky, thunder quickly following after. I squint my eyes, the rain falling even harder now, hitting me like piercing daggers. After a while, the droplets begin hurting me, and I quickly realize that it actually started to hail. But, for some reason, I stay put, letting the little ice spheres pelt me.
"Katara! What in the world are you doing out here?" I hear Aang yell, his voice muffled by the boom of thunder. I stay quiet, ignoring him. He sighs loud enough for me to hear him over the sounds of the storm, and bends the Earth around me, creating a canopy to block the rain and hail from hitting me any longer. He crawls under the earthbended cover and wraps his arms around me tightly.
"Wha-? You're freezing! Katara, why were you sitting out in this crazy storm? Are you insane?" He says, rubbing my arms with his hands, trying to transfer his heat to me. He takes a deep breath and then exhales, a small puff of fire emitting from his mouth. The sudden heat sends shivers down my spine, and I melt into him.
"I c-couldn't s-sleep." I muster out, my voice shaking furiously. Lightning strikes the water not too far away from us, making me flinch in awe. The thunder quickly follows, the sound echoing across the sky. I look up at Aang, his face clenched in fear. I know he hates storms. I wrap my arms around his waist, trying to soothe him. He senses me doing so and shakes his head.
"Katara, please. I'm fine." He whispers, his face buried in my dripping wet hair. He realizes this and releases me for a few seconds, only to bend the water out of my hair. It poofs up, and I couldn't help but giggle.
Next thing I know, his hands are in my hair, his fingers combing through my knots. I close my eyes in pleasure and we sit like that for a while, his hands being the only sensation I am focusing on. He weaves his fingers deeper into my hair, pulling out certain strands. It takes me a while to realize he was braiding my hair, and I sigh in contentment. He finally finishes, after messing up a few times, and uses a loose string he plucked from his garment to tie the messy braid. He then wraps his arms around me and brings his face over my shoulder, kissing me sweetly on the cheek.
"Better?" He asks, his lips moving against my temple. I simply nod, no words able to come from me at the moment. He exhales another puff of fire, warming my body so I am no longer shivering. He bends a slab of earth up behind us, so we can lean back and look out of our makeshift cave. The rain is still coming down hard, everything dark, with the occasional burst of lightning. I feel Aang shiver in my arms. I look at him apologetically.
"I know how much you hate storms…we can go back up to camp if you'd like…I'm feeling better now." I say, nuzzling my head into his chest. He deeply sighs.
"Nah, I'll be fine. I know that you love storms. So I'll sit down here and watch it with you. But only with this shelter!" He sweetly says, kissing the side of my head. I sit up straight and lean on the bended earth behind us, our shoulders touching. I lace my hand with his and lean my head on his shoulder.
"Thank you Aang." I sigh, closing my eyes. We sit like that in silence, the only sound coming from the rain pounding on our little canopy.
"Katara?" Aang mumbles, sounding as if he were half asleep.
"Yes, Aang?" I say, squeezing his hand.
"I'm sorry. That you went through all of that." He whispers.
"Went through all of what?" I ask, slightly taken aback by his question.
"You know, the whole 'abandon hope' episode I had. I know being here reminds you of it. When I was at my most vulnerable. Because of what happened to Appa." He says, sighing sadly. I lean over and kiss him quickly and lightly on the lips.
"Don't apologize. You were going through a terrible time. I know losing Appa was traumatizing and frustrating for you." I mumble. He just shrugs.
"It still doesn't excuse my actions, which I know were horrible towards you." He says, his voice cracking.
I grab the sides of his face with my hands, turning him to face me fully.
"It's in the past. And to be honest, I wasn't upset about any of that at all. I was just thinking about the last time we were here…you know, after Azula…" I say, my voice fading.
"Oh. Why are you upset about that?" He asks, his eyes carefully on me. "Everything turned out okay, right? I woke up when we were passing here. That's good, right?"
I sigh and look down to the side. "Yeah, but…I don't know. It wasn't a good time for me. I was really an emotional wreck."
"I'm…so sorry. For putting you through that." He apologizes, which instantly angers me.
"Spirits, Aang! Stop apologizing!" I yell, shaking his shoulders. That's all you ever say to me. 'Sorry!' There's nothing to even be sorry for! It's…my fault. I almost used the spirit water on Zuko…if I did…you wouldn't be here right now. And I would have never been the same." I say, my once loud and angry voice turning into just a mere whisper. "You were passed out Aang. Unconscious. Practically dead in my arms. And you are apologizing to me for that?"
Aang's eyes are wide with shock, his hands slowly reaching up to tuck a stray hair into the braid he weaved for me. My eyes travel down his face, stopping at his lips. I feel my eyes droop a little, already preparing for what I was about to do next.
"Katara, I-."
I pull his face towards mine, his lips forcefully smashing onto mine. I push him forward, both of us falling onto the damp floor underneath us. I lay on top of him, his arms nervously wrapping around my waist, holding me in place. Our lips moved fast and anxiously at first, then slowed down to keep a rhythmic pace that made my head throb. Everything was muted, except the pleased sounds coming from Aang, the thud of the heavy raindrops above us, and the pounding of my heart that I was sure Aang could hear too.
I feel myself blush in realization that this is the most intimate we've ever been with one another, our tongues dancing around each other and Aang's hand very low on my back. I have no desire to stop, and I bring my hands from his cheek to the ground beside his head, holding me up. I release our lips for a few seconds to catch my breath, and then I quickly dive down for more, Aang happily complying.
He takes his lips off mine, making me pout, but only for a few seconds, as he quickly places them on my neck. I close my eyes and sigh, letting him kiss me. He lifts our bodies up and, without moving his lips from my jawline, leans me onto the small earth pillar he made not too long ago.
His lips finally find mine again, and I grip his collar, deepening our kiss. He runs his hands through my hair, the braid he fabricated for me messily coming apart. Thunder roars behind us, but I take no notice, my mind too preoccupied with the situation at hand.
A scream pulls us out of our trance, Aang snapping his head away from mine. His face was deep red.
"Did you…hear that?" Aang huffs, extremely out of breath. My breathing was shallow too, and I stretch my neck out of our cave to see if I hear anything else.
Another yell pierces my ears and Aang quickly bends everything down, the rain now hitting our skin forcefully.
"Katara!" Aang yells, grabbing me by the waist, airbending us out of the way. I turn around and looming over us was none other than the Serpent itself.
"Come on, let's quickly get to the others!" Aang says, grabbing my hand as he forms an air scooter underneath us both. Despite being in a life-threatening situation, this would normally be a whole lot of fun. We quickly reach our camp, an earth canopy, one Toph must have made when it started pouring, crumbled to bits. Sokka and Suki are huddle by Appa, taking refuge from the rain by hiding under his tail.
"Sokka! What happened?" I yell. He is clutching onto Suki for dear life.
"The Serpent! It came out of nowhere and attacked! I don't know where Toph went, and Zuko and Mai ran a little ways down the pass." Sokka yells, the thunder clapping making it hard for me to hear him.
"What do you mean you don't know where Toph went?" I yell, scanning my eyes around our camp.
"After the Serpent knocked down our little Earth tent she made, she disappeared!" Sokka continues to yell. Suki comes out from under Appa's tail and peers over the ledge.
"I knew it! There!" She screamed, pointing down.
Aang quickly grabs his staff and jumps over the cliff.
"Aang, wait! I scream after him, running to peer over the ledge. Toph was on the rock formation not to far below us, unconscious. Aang swoops down to where she was lying and lifts her up. Out of the corner of my eyes, I see the ridges of the Serpent in the water, making its way towards them.
"Oh no you don't…" I murmur to myself, and soon enough, I jump off the cliff as well, diving straight into the turbulent water below me. I quickly waterbend a globe to help cushion my fall, and when the time is just right, I bound into the globe and shoot myself into the air. I freeze the water beneath my feet and ice surf my way over towards where the Serpent was.
I feel heat radiate above me, and I look back to see Zuko shooting huge balls of fire into the water next to me.
"I got your back!" He yells, continuing to firebend at the Serpent. Angry, it rises out of the water, preparing to spray water over at Zuko. To its surprise, it suddenly gets pelted in the side with numerous daggers, causing it to growl in pain. I look and see Mai, reaching for more of her knives. I feel a sly smile grow onto my face and I shoot the water behind me, making my way quickly over to the Serpent. I begin firing large icicles, hitting it aggressively on its sides. It turns towards me, and lunges, only to be stopped swiftly by a boulder crashing into its head. Aang flies over me and blasts the Serpent with a gale-like force of wind, knocking it into the cliff. I look up at Aang and smile, happy that we once again bested the stupid sea monster.
Instead of smiling back, he looks at me with sheer terror. He turns his air glider sharply and makes his way down towards me as fast as a bullet.
"Katara! Look ou-!"
I don't hear the rest of his sentence. I feel a sharp blow to the entire left side of my body, sending me flying through the air. The Serpent must have hit me with its tail. The icy wind and hard rain forcefully hits my skin for the few seconds I am airborne. I come into contact with the freezing cold water below, sending a painful and prickly like feeling down my entire body. Next thing I know, everything is dark.