Okay people, this is the saddest chapter. I warn you now. Get a lot of tissues out, but please read and review. I'll leave notes for the end. Zuko fans, I warn you now too.
Even after 15 years, Sokka knew his best friend's voice. He just couldn't believe it.
"Aang…" he whispered.
"Aang?" Toph cried. "Aang, is that you?"
Aang ran to his two best friends. He took off his hood and headband. Toph started crying as she reached for his hand. Sokka sighed, shakily, a look of hope on his face. And as Aang touched them, his tears started to flow. "Guys, I've missed you so much. But don't worry. We're gonna get you out of here. Zuko, Ara, come here." As Aang looked at his friends, he saw how they were beaten up. "Zuko, can you heal Toph's leg?"
"Sure," he said.
Aang put his hand on Sokka's shoulder. He studied his brother's messed up face. "You look awful," he said, giving a half-smile. Sokka smiled back, but his smile fell.
Aang suddenly realized one was missing. He looked at Sokka and Toph. "Where's Katara?"
Toph broke down, and Sokka bowed his head and closed his eyes. Aang started to breathe heavily. He had never seen his friends act this way. "Where is she?" he cried angrily. Toph grabbed the bars, her tears engulfing her face. She bawled, started whimpering, and breathed rapidly. "Aang, Aang…Aang!" He had never seen her like this, usually so strong and unmovable, but now her face was wet with unending tears. Aang touched her face to wipe them, but she turned away and leaned into Sokka. Aang's eyes turned to Sokka's, whose were also tear-filled. Sokka opened his mouth to speak, and his lips quivered. But then he looked past Aang.
Aang turned slowly around as lightning filled the cell opposite Sokka's and Toph's. A bloody body was laying facedown, blood everywhere, brown hair spread out around it. Aang's jaw dropped and his eyes filled with tears. "No," he stammered, and turned to Sokka, who turned away. He looked back at the other cell. "No," he said, louder and full of anger and sorrow. He got up shakily yet dropped his staff.
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!" he screamed, his voice full of the past Avatars. His tears streamed down as his face turned to anger. His tattoos and eyes glowed, and his family knew that even though he knew how to control the Avatar State, he was in the old one, the one he couldn't control, fueled by emotion. They all knew that he was now capable of killing them all, but his agony overcame his anger.
His eyes and tattoos ceased to glow, but anger still filled him. He punched the wall next to the cell, and it collapsed. He ran in, screaming her name, as he slid to his knees next to the body. His face was full of pain, suffering, despair, sadness, and complete shock. His tears fell onto her as he slowly turned her over. She didn't even look like the beautiful girl Aang remembered. There was blood everywhere, and numerous burns and gashes covered her. Daggers were sticking out of her cold body. But Aang became silent as he picked her up.
"No," he mouthed. "No, no, no…"
As he held her, the others just stood there. Ara fell to her knees, crying. "Mom," she whispered, as Zuko held her. He wept for Katara as well. Sokka and Toph were silently crying again too.
As Aang held his wife, his best friend, he dropped his head to her chest.
"I'm too late. I've failed you."
He sat there, covered in her blood as he stroked her hair and looked at her lifeless face. He cried and sobbed, pulling her into an embrace that he didn't receive back. He placed a shaky hand on her cheek and placed his quivering lips to her lifeless ones.
"This is all my fault. I'm so sorry. I love you Katara; don't leave me. Please, come back!"
He just sat there, crying over her body, rocking her back and forth, while the others softly cried too.
A half hour later, with his tears spent but the sky still crying for him, Aang took off his cloak and wrapped her body in it. He just couldn't bring himself to look at her mangled form anymore, and he couldn't look at the others yet.
He waterbended some of the clean water over and cleaned her face. As he let the water slide off her, he wiped her face with the cloak and he saw that now she looked like the beautiful girl he remembered. He sighed as his tears started to fall again, and he leaned over her, still holding her in his arms.
Suddenly Toph felt a slow but quiet beat, barely recognizable. She felt the ground with her hand, but it was gone as soon as she had heard it. She sighed quietly, thinking it was only in her mind, but there! It happened again! She could barely feel it, but the beat came from Katara's body. She stopped crying, got up, ran into the cell and pushed Aang to the side. "Toph! What's wrong with you?" he yelled, tears still falling off of his face, which was now covered in Katara's blood as well. But Toph didn't hear him as she softly placed one hand on the mangled chest. She closed her eyes. It happened again! One beat, soft and ragged, yet certain. She opened her eyes. "She's alive," she whispered. "Aang, she's alive!"
His tears stopped and he looked at Toph. "Are you sure?"
"Yes, but barely. We need to get her home as fast as we can. Hurry!"
"She's a fighter," Zuko whispered.
They all ran out as Aang gently picked up Katara and held her like a little child. "Hold on, Katara," he whispered as he started to run. "Zuko, call Appa!" he cried as the firebender took out his broadswords and took the bison whistle Aang had handed him a few hours ago. He blew as hard as he could, and they waited. Suddenly, Toph spun around. "Oh no!"
"What?" they all said. They didn't have to wait long though, as the wall behind them blew up and lightning blasted through. Azula jumped through, followed by two Dai Li agents. She stood up, but Zuko, Ara, Sokka, and Toph protected Aang and Katara. "So, you did come after all," she said, smiling wickedly at Aang. "You've grown up in 21 years,"
"Yeah, and you've gotten uglier," Aang spat.
Her smile vanished and anger fired within her. She shot fire while the Dai Li earthbended. As Toph took on the Dai Li, Zuko worked on stopping Azula. Sokka and Ara just protected Aang and Katara from missed blows from the other two.
Out of nowhere, the rafters above them gave way as Appa broke through. The gang dodged as boulders dropped around them, and Toph took this moment to take the fallen metal beams supporting the ceiling and twist them around the Dai Li. As she, Sokka, and Ara helped put Aang and Katara on Appa, Zuko stayed to fight off his sister. He saw that they were ready to go, and he wanted to make sure Azula didn't follow. So he shot what was left of the roof with fire off of his swords, and it came down on her. But he turned too quickly. He didn't see that she had evaded it. As he was getting ready to jump on Appa, only Ara saw his sister run behind him.
"Zuko look out!!" she screamed. He turned too late.
Azula dug her first two fingers deep into Zuko's heart and let out all of her fury of lightning into him in one strike.
"Zuko! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!" Ara screamed as he was shot backward and fell off of the edge of the prison. She jumped off of Appa and shot downward. "Ara!" Aang cried as he watched his daughter fall.
But she didn't hear him. She dove faster using her airbending to reach Zuko before he hit the ground. She grabbed him by the leg and was shocked badly, but it didn't matter. As she pulled him over her shoulder, she bended a tornado and spiraled back up to Appa. When she was near enough, she leapt and yelled, "Yip yip!"
Appa took off southward into the storm, and Azula stood at the edge, smiling, knowing she killed her brother, but fortunately, she hadn't noticed Ara's airbending in the darkness.
Ara set Zuko down on Appa's head. She put her ear to his chest. He wasn't breathing and she heard no heartbeat. Her tears fell down her face, again, and as Sokka looked over to where they were, he remembered when it was Aang lying there and Katara was trying to revive him.
Katara gently set Aang down. He made no movement or protest at all. She took her spirit oasis vial from around her neck and bent the water out. She made it spin and it started to glow. She lifted Aang slowly up to a sitting position and bent the water into the wound on his back, but it didn't heal, and she started to cry. But Aang's tattoos glowed for a second, and he groaned.
Katara gasped, looked at her best friend, and hope filled her face. He smiled weakly at her and she hugged him gently.
But Sokka knew it wasn't good. Zuko didn't wake.
He sat next to Ara and looked at Zuko. The prince was ghostly pale, he had a giant bleeding hole in his chest, and there were no healers, awake ones anyway. He knew that one of his best friends was dead. He put his arm around Ara. "I'm sorry, Ara, he's gone."
Aang left his place near Katara, and when he saw that another one of his friends was gone, he broke down. "NOOOOO!" he screamed, matching the lightning's crack. He fell to his knees as the rain poured harder. Sokka tried to comfort him with a hand on his shoulder, but it didn't work.
Aang looked at Zuko's wound. It was red and raw, and the white of his ribs were plainly visible. His skin was bloody and his clothes were scorched and already stained with his blood. Aang bowed his head.
Suddenly Ara knew what she had to do. She didn't know if she could heal, but it was the only chance. She bent some of the rain onto her hand. She covered it entirely, and then placed it on Zuko's heart. She breathed in, and when she breathed out, he suddenly sucked in air. He started to cough, but winced. His hand instinctively went to his chest, but Ara caught it so he wouldn't inflict more pain on himself. She held his hand and stroked it, placing it near her own heart. Aang smiled at his daughter and breathed a sigh of relief. "You take care of him." He and Sokka went back to be with Katara.
Zuko groaned. His chest felt like it was on fire, but he felt strangely peaceful. As Ara watched, he opened his gold eyes and looked at her.
"Wha…what happened?"
"Azula shot you down. I brought you back. Rest now."
Zuko's half-opened eyes looked deeply into hers.
"You saved my life."
Ara smiled. "We need to move you to Appa's saddle. Come on." She helped him up slowly and airbended him gently next to everyone else. She leaned against the edge of the saddle and took off her cloak. She put his head on her lap and covered him in the cloak, trying to keep him warm and comfortable. He closed his eyes and soon fell asleep.
Ara jolted. Her left hand suddenly burned. She looked at it, and noticed a deep wound on her hand that she grabbed Zuko with to keep him from falling. There were also burns on each fingertip. She quickly ripped a piece of her robe off and wrapped it around her whole hand.
As she, Sokka and Toph watched/ listened, Aang slowly unwrapped Katara from his cloak. It was stained with blood, but he knew he had to take the daggers out. He started with the two on her shoulder. As he slowly worked them out, he ripped pieces of his own robe off and tied them around her, stopping what little bleeding she had left.
Then he took the two out of her sides, stopped the bleeding with the sash around his waist, and eased the blade out of her back, slowly. He ripped another long piece of his robe off and wrapped it around her. He took the two out of her neck and used his headband.
Finally, he knew the last and biggest one was to be removed. He took a hold of the dagger's hilt and gently pulled it out of her chest. He took off his remaining robe and wrapped it around her, her dagger wound and the massive hole in her chest from the lightning. Then he held her in his lap and put the cloak back over her. He looked up at Ara, who looked at her mother. "Dad, do you want me to try and heal her?"
"No. She's lost too much blood, and that's what the body needs in healing. She'll die if you try it." He turned to Sokka and Toph. "We need to stop somewhere before we reach the ocean. Zuko needs bandages, Katara needs blankets, and I need a new shirt. Sokka, can you find some place? A village or town?"
"Sure. I'll steer." He went to sit on Appa's head, and Toph joined him. So Ara and Aang were alone.
Ara then noticed all of his scars; on his arms, chest, stomach, and sides. She wanted to know. "Are those all from the war?"
Aang looked down at his own body through the darkness and rain. "Yea," he said quietly, just barely allowing her to hear him as the thunder cracked and the rain still fell. He said nothing more. As he turned to look down to the ground below, Ara caught sight of something—a mark—on his back. "Dad, what's that on your back?"
Aang turned to look at her. "One of my worst scars. You've never seen it?" She shook her head. "You never showed me."
"Do you want to see it?"
"Yea. I want to see what the war has done to you."
He turned as much as he could without moving Katara, and Ara gasped. His tattoo down his back was cut off in the center by a gaping scar that looked awful. Veins were still visible, and it was a blood red scar in the center, and raw pink on the skin surrounding it. It looked like an explosion on his back. Tears came to her eyes. "That's—that's the one from Azula—isn't it? The one I heard stories about from mom."
"Yea," he said, turning to face her again. "Now you've met her. She is dangerous and deadly." He nodded sadly towards Katara and Zuko, "Stay away from her at all costs. Do you hear me?" Ara nodded. She looked down and traced Zuko's scar with her finger. He sighed heavily and winced, pain filling his face. She sighed too. "What was the injury that you couldn't come home after?"
Aang sighed. He took his arm out from under Katara and removed his boot. He rolled up his pants leg, and Ara saw a scar that was worse than Zuko's on her father's leg. She opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came out. She closed her eyes, and after a few seconds, opened them. "I'm sorry, dad," she said.
"It's okay," he answered. "Scars remind you of bad times. That's why you have to overshadow bad with good."
He looked up and yelled through the storm. "Sokka, do you see anything?"
"Yea!" came a reply. "We'll land, and Toph and I will go into town to ask people for some supplies."
Soon after, Appa was lying under a tree, and the two were ready to go. "Toph and I will go, Aang. This is still Fire Nation, and you have no disguise anymore. Stay here with Katara! We'll be back."
As the two walked into the town, Sokka felt that the village felt familiar. Suddenly, he knew. "Toph! I know where we can get help!" He grabbed her and ran through the rain. Finally, they came to a castle on the edge of town. He knocked as hard as he could like he did a few times before, years ago. The door opened and a portly old man looked out. He looked at the two wanderers, drenched and cold. The young woman looked okay, but he could see the young man had a bruised and gashed face.
"May I help you?"
"I've come to see Master Piandao. Tell him it's a visit from an old friend."
Okay, so Zuko dies and comes back, Katara died and came back, but they're not out of danger yet. And Ara has healing abilities. And love conquers all for Kataang. Katara is also very strong and a fighter. She died, but came back, kind of on her own, along with Aang's love. But I have to tell you, HOW COULD I KILL OFF MY TWO FAVORITE CHARACTERS? I'm not that heartless… but I had to bring back Master Piandao. I don't know why, but I had to. So I did: next chapter!
But please read and review, and tell me if you cried. I need to know. And if you guys beg, I might post two… you never know! Thanks for all of your support! Please comment!
But seriously, where did you guys go? Some of my oldest readers have left! Where are you guys? I miss you! Please come back, comment on if you're still around! Please! Or else Iroh will come back...I managed to lead him off right now...
Iroh: I can hear you! I am coming to get you! DRINK TEA!
Me: Never!
Thanks for everything though guys,
Avatarone3