Okay, so I've managed to get up one a week so far, let's see how you guys like this one. I hope I'm keeping you on your toes, and so please read and review! It's sad for now, but will it get better? On with the story.

After Katara's collapse, Zuko carried her out of the room and outside to get some air, setting her down in the earth tent that a passing earthbender so graciously made for them, outside of the medical rooms. The lightning lit up Katara's shaking form in the corner, and Zuko's heart nearly broke. His best friend was in complete despair, and he could barely watch, but he had to help her, for all the times she had helped him. He got a small fire going, and then crawled back in the corner with her, leaning back, letting her lean on his shoulder. "Now, tell me everything the doctors said," he started quietly, rubbing her shoulder with the arm around her, the other hand throwing another stick into the catching flame.

Katara took a shaky breath, and then started. "They were still trying to work on him once more, and one of the doctors was a waterbender. Something about the push and pull of Aang's blood didn't feel right to him, and so he felt Aang's chest and stomach, and after some other doctors inspected him, they told me he had severe internal bleeding. He also cracked most of his ribs, and his back is broken. But the bleeding, they said that it couldn't be stopped, and," she stopped, tears once more cascading down her cheeks, "that he'll probably die within the next few days…"

She started sobbing again, crying into Zuko, while the prince just stared into the fire, his mind still in shock as he tried to take in the truth. The two just held each other as the rain outside poured harder, the wind blew the rain into the earth building, making it sound like drums, the lightning split the blackened sky and the thunder cracked. Zuko whispered soothing words to Katara and held her a little more, just holding her close. She needed someone to hold onto, he thought. And when Aang can't do it, I have to. He thought about how she had lost many people to the war, and how much the war affected her own life, and now, even after it was over, it was complete, she was still losing the ones most dear in her life. At that thought, Zuko held her tighter, and Katara held on.

A few minutes later, Zuko got up. "Come on, let's not worry about it right now. Why don't we go see Sokka and Toph? They'd like to know you're okay."

"Okay," she whispered, and took his outstretched hand. They both walked through the rain, now letting the sky cry for them.

Katara finally walked into Sokka's room, where the warrior was fast asleep. She kissed the better side of his face gently, and then smiled and squeezed Toph's hand, who had asked to be moved to the same room as her new husband.

Toph, without a word, smiled gently towards where she thought Katara was, nodded, and then closed her eyes, letting Katara know that she would watch over him. But even through the simple touch of a hand, Toph could feel Katara's sadness, grief, and agony, trying to hide it from the earthbender. But Toph knew. Aang was getting worse. She just felt it, through Katara's touch. She opened her blind eyes, as Katara left, and felt her leave her side. And a single tear fell down the side of her cheek for her best friend.

The waterbender silently crept out and back to Zuko.

"This might hurt you," he started gently, "but do you want to see your daughter?"

Katara's eyes widened. "Where's Ara? Is she alright?"

"I'll take you to her. But she is in a coma, and she, like her father, is possibly going—going to die."

Katara looked deeply into his gold eyes, now bloodshot from crying, lack of sleep, and worry. She knew the bond between her daughter and Zuko. She knew of what she meant to the prince. And as she looked into his eyes, she nodded sadly, and they both proceeded to her room.

When Katara reached her daughter's side, she nearly broke down again, but managed to control herself, only unable to stop her falling tears. She caressed her daughter's face and kissed her arrow, carefully trying not to hit or touch the enormous gash above her eyebrow. "I love you Ara," was all Katara managed to whisper.

She then looked at Zuko. "Are you sure she's going to die?"

Zuko looked up at the doctor who, as if on cue, walked in to grab a few extra bandages and linens stocked in the room. Zuko stopped him. "Sir? We want to know, is she going to live? And what is she suffering from?"

The doctor sighed heavily. "She's suffering from very serious burns, but with a little healing on her own first, the healers can probably heal her without her getting scars. She is cut in many places, as you can see by the one above her eye; her left knee has been dislocated, which we put back into place and wrapped. By the singe marks and the gaping wound on her chest, we guessed that she was struck by lightning by the Fire Princess—,"

"She was," Zuko interrupted, looking down. "I saw it,"

The doctor looked at him sadly. "I'm sorry you did," he said quietly, "but her only injuries from that are the wound on her chest, and her insides are bruised, but nothing more. She sure is lucky that that lightning didn't go through her heart, or she probably wouldn't have made it. Her worst injury so far though is that sword wound in her back. It's the longest and deepest, but with some rest and her arm in a sling, it should be okay. But what's killing her now is an extreme loss of blood and severe dehydration, but with some fluids and more rest, she should be okay."

Zuko and Katara both looked up. Zuko stepped forward. "Wait, are—are you meaning to tell us," he smiled slightly, "that she's not going to die?"

"If we get fluids in her, no," the doctor said, smiling. "If she drinks nothing, yes. It's amazing though; she should have been dead by now. But she's a fighter. And she'll probably come out of this almost like she started the war. The only problem now is that she's in a coma and we don't know when she'll wake."

"Thank you, doctor," Katara said as he bowed and left. She got up and hugged Zuko tightly. "She'll live," she whispered. "She'll be okay,"

"And I think everyone else will be too," Zuko added, "but that just leaves one person: Aang."

All through the night and into the morning, Katara and Zuko paced anxiously in Aang's room, trying to think of a way to save him. By the time it was noon the next day, both were exhausted, but they wouldn't give up. Katara sat by his side, continuously watching him, whispering to his still form, while the prince paced endlessly, trying to think of an idea. Finally, he thought of one.

"Katara! Katara!" he said, gently shaking her. She had dozed off. "I have an idea to save him."

"What? You do? What is it?" She was now fully awake.

"We get one of the doctors to make an incision in the closest spot he thinks the bleeding is, then you bend a little water inside him, finding the blood flow, and you remove extra blood from him."

"That's a great idea Zuko, but one, we need to stop the bleeding, and two, if I take out his blood, he'll eventually have none, and I would have killed him."

"That's why you keep recycling it."

"I can't do it forever!"

"We'll think of something, but it'll keep him alive, for now. I'll get the doctor."

He ran outside of the room, and Katara turned her gaze back to her husband. She leaned forward and kissed him lightly on his cold lips, but he didn't respond. "Aang, hold on," she whispered. "I love you. I'm going to save you. Please, hold on."

The doctor came in after Zuko had explained everything, and he was on his way to operate on someone else whose condition was less serious, but agreed to at least make an incision right down Aang's middle.

He removed the bandage from around the Avatar's back and chest, exposing his burnt and bruised body. He took out a clean scalpel, and, gently, made a large incision into Aang. Immediately, blood spilled out, and the doctor took a clean towel and began to clean it up. "Looks like the bleeding leaked here," he said. "It's all yours now," he nodded to Katara, who sat down and bent out her water. She let it sink into Aang, and with her waterbending, felt where her water went through his body, along with her bloodbending helping. She kept recircling it, trying to block the hole where his blood leaked, and at the same time, recycled his blood. She couldn't find the hole, but even then, a bit of color returned to his faded cheeks.

After an hour, Zuko wished her luck, grabbed another waterbender for help, and walked to Ara's room, vowing that he wouldn't leave her side until she woke.

He sighed as he sat next to her, taking a cold hand in his, trying to warm her. "Ara," he whispered. "Come back."

TWO WEEKS LATER

Ara fought to come out of the darkness that held her. Her eyelids fluttered, feeling heavy, but she tried to take in the light around her. Her head pounded painfully, and she felt dizzy and lightheaded. She hurt everywhere, her body was on fire, and her soul screamed in pain, but she tried to ignore it.

As she slowly looked around through half-closed eyes, she noticed that she wasn't on the battlefield. The light that shone through her window was a pale yellow white from the sun, not the blood red sky she remembered. Dust danced a little through the sunlight, and she struggled to understand what happened to her. She then turned her head to the left, looking around her, when she spotted Zuko.

The exhausted prince had fallen asleep in the chair next to her bed, his head on one arm, his other arm in a sling. Numerous bandages covered his exposed arms, and burns showed past some of them, and he was covered in bruises as well. His closed eyes were circled by dark rings. Ara felt hot tears come to her eyes as she saw that he seemed to be okay besides that.

"Zuko…" she whispered, her voice hoarse and crackling. Was that her voice? But she ignored it as she tried again. "Zu...ko…" He moved a little in his sleep, and she tried once more. "Zu..ko?"

He then pulled his head up slowly, opening his eyes. His gold eyes met her grey ones. Wait, what?

He blinked a few times, unsure if she was really awake. But when she smiled weakly, he knew. "Ara," he said as he shot out of the chair, knelt at her side and kissed her forehead and hair over and over. Tears came to his tired eyes as she whispered his name.

He held her face softly in his hands, his tears falling onto the bed. "Ara…" he said, shaking.

"I'm alright," she whispered, "but I need to get back out to the battle. Everyone's counting on me!"

"What? Ara, no! You're hurt! And the battle—,"

"Zuko, no," she began to lean up on her elbows, when white-hot, searing pain arched through her back and through to her chest. She cried out, nearly screaming, and laid back down, her face tied in a wince. "What the heck happened to me? I need to get back out there, not be stuck in a hospital!"

"Ara, just calm down," Zuko urged. "Listen to me: the battle is over."

Ara looked at him. "What?" Confusion filled her face.

"The battle is over. The war is over. Don't you see? You've been in a coma for two weeks."

"Oh," she sighed, wincing. "Am I hurt badly?"

"Yea. Your knee is dislocated, you have a deep cut above your eye, a sword wound through and down your back, a lightning wound, severe burns, dehydration and blood loss."

"Great," she said quietly, but sarcastically.

"But I'm so proud of you. You did so well."

"Zuko, all I did was protect you from Azula and fight to stay alive. By the way, what happened to her? What happened to Ozai? Are they still alive?"

"What? Ara, what are you saying? That you don't remember? You…you…"

"I what?"

"You killed Azula…" he whispered, a hint of confusion in his voice.

"What? N..n..no I didn't! I fell into darkness after I saved you from Azula." Now she was the one confused. "I don't remember getting most of these wounds, like the sword wound and this cut on my head. But I…I couldn't have killed her…"

"But I was there…" Zuko looked at her. "but you didn't act like yourself. You must have been delirious then, from the heat and dehydration, because I saw you fight and kill Azula with so much hate, anger, and rage in your body. And when you killed her and looked up at me, it wasn't even you staring at me. You weren't standing there, someone completely different was."

Ara started to shake. Her breath caught in her throat, and tears filled her eyes. "I…I couldn't have killed her," she stammered. "I just c-couldn't. I don't remember anything."

The tears slid down her face, unsure of what she'd actually done, so confused. The wounds in her back, forehead, and knee all throbbed painfully, and her whole body burned. But she couldn't do anything as her tears fell. Zuko put his arms around her, embracing her, comforting her, anything to help. "I saw you fight so amazingly though, Ara. You were the most powerful bender out there! He let go of her and she smiled sadly. "And everyone else! They were amazing! And your father—," he suddenly broke off, his smile erased.

"Zuko?" Ara asked, worried. "What happened to my dad?"

He bowed his head and sighed. "Your father is dying, but your mother has kept him alive for as long as she can. He is suffering from internal bleeding, and no healers so far have been able to find the opening, much less heal it. I'm afraid we're almost out of ideas—and hope."

Ara suddenly frowned. "Zuko, help me up."

"No. You should get some rest."

"I'm the only one who knows how to save my dad's life. Help—me—up."

He looked her deep in her eyes, and then nodded as he helped her sit up. He handed her the sling. "Here. It'll help stop the pain." She nodded, put it over her shoulder, and put her arm in.

"Can you walk?"

Ara looked at her wrapped leg, and then looked at Zuko. "I need to start exercising anyway, so help me up, and please get me a robe." He did, and then watched as she stood up straight and proud, her long brown hair falling down over her shoulders, and she started limping to the door. Zuko followed behind, careful that she didn't faint or fall over. A few times she leaned against the wall, but she kept going. And at last she made it to the room.

At Katara's request, Sokka's and Toph's beds were moved to Aang's room too, so the three could be with him. And as Ara walked in, she noticed how badly her uncle and aunt were hurt. Her uncle's face was half covered in bandages, and he was burned everywhere. Toph had a few burns too, but her chest and shoulders were heavily bandaged. Both of them still slept, but it was Ara's mother and father that caught her attention.

Her mother was sitting next to her father's motionless body, moving her hand in waterbending forms, while the other was on his abdomen, feeling the water she bent within him move around. Ara hobbled over to the waterbender, and her mother's tired eyes widened as they saw her daughter.

"Ara," she breathed, "you're okay…"

"Mom, now's not the time to talk. I know how to save dad, so stop bending and move away."

Katara did as her daughter said, and then watched as Ara breathed in, bending water from the bowl on the table, and she covered her hand in the glove. She breathed out, and immediately it glowed blue. Ara bent another stream from the bowl to her other hand and bent it inside her father. She then took the healing glove, and, inserting her hand inside her father's abdomen, felt around for the stream she pushed ahead, finding immediately and freezing over the cut inside that was making him bleed. She found it, and unfreezing the protective shield, placed her healing glove over the artery's opening. She began to breathe in and out strongly, and suddenly, Ara's tattoos glowed, as if she were the Avatar, not Aang. Katara and Zuko both gasped, but didn't disturb the young woman as she continued her work for nearly 5 minutes. A breeze then came from Aang's body, making Ara's hair fly back, but she never once stirred or opened her eyes; she just continued to breathe deeply, her tattoos still glowing.

Suddenly, they went back to their normal blue, and the light from them came from her body to his, and Aang's now started to glow. From her hands, the light crawled up his arms, then his legs, up his back, and finally his arrow on his forehead glowed. Finally, she took her hand out from inside him, and using her healing glove once more, closed the incision on his stomach. As soon as it healed, his arrows stopped glowing, and Ara took her hand off of his body.

She let out her breath, and losing her energy, strength, and consciousness, fell backwards.

"Whoa!" Zuko said, catching her and picking her up in his arms, not caring about his arm in a sling. He chuckled and looked at her. "I think she needs a little more rest. I'll take her back to her room."

"Zuko, wait!" Katara said. "How do we know she healed him?"

"Get another doctor in her to check him out."

He carried the unconscious girl to her bed, where he put her down gently and covered her with the blanket. He smiled as he moved a lock of hair away from her face, and she sighed, getting more comfortable.

He left and began to walk to go outside, what Katara screamed his name behind him down the hall. He turned and saw her running for her life towards him, tears running down her cheeks. He started to run towards her as well, unsure of what was wrong.

She leapt into his arms, hugging him for dear life. She was out of breath, and he was too, but they embraced tightly.

"Zuko," she smiled, pulling away and looking at him, light in her eyes. "Ara saved Aang's life! He's going to be okay! Zuko, he's going to live!"

Okay, so hope you liked! And Ara saved her father! Hooray! So you've probably got the point that I bring back the characters I like. I'm a happy type of person, and so I don't like death. But I'm more than happy to kill AZULA AND OZAI for yall!

On a funny note, two of Ara's wounds are based off of stuff I had. Her back wound was based off of a pinched nerve in my back that wouldn't go away for weeks, and couldn't breathe right bending over without getting pain. It hurt. And her knee, I didn't dislocate mine, but I fell square on it while playing ultimate Frisbee, and that also hurt for weeks. So I decided to incorporate them into my story.

Anyway, if any of you are confused with what happened to Ara during the war, basically, the heat and dehydration got to her, and so her real mind went away, and a mind set on kill came around, from the deliria. Basically, SHE WAS DELERIOUS!! Get it? Okay! So she doesn't remember anything past to when "darkness overcame her and an uncomfortable heat flared up inside her" and the heat was one, the solstice, and two, her father's firebending energy somehow incorporated into her… get it!

Anyway, I hope you liked it, and please, READ AND REVIEW!! Thanks so much guys! You all support me! thanks! AND SEE YA NEXT WEEKEND!!

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