Chapter Eighteen. Enjoy. (:

Chapter Eighteen

Day Three

It had been three days since Aang had been shot by lightning. Three days since he had fallen, since he had been revived. Three days had passed since he slipped into a coma. Three days had passed since they found Sokka and Toph waiting for them with Appa and Momo. Three days since they had flew out of Ba Sing Se in the pouring rain. Two days had passed since they found Katara's father and friends on a conquered Fire Nation warship.

Katara had been doing daily healing sessions on Aang since they had landed on the ship. At first, the waterbender had focused on the lightning wound, but then a crazy idea came into her mind to try Aang's head instead. Maybe this would bring him out of a coma, she had thought. She was wrong. But she kept trying.

Now, the waterbender was walking down the dimly lit corridors to the chambers in which each of her friends slept in a separate room. In her hands were a neatly folded dark red silk robe with the Fire Nation symbol encrusted on the front where it pinned together. She was visiting her friend, Vinca. Katara had grown exceptionally worried about her airbending friend. Every time Katara would speak or ask a question, Vinca would only reply with a nod or a sad smile or merely a shrug. It was as if she had gone mute.

Katara swallowed, running her fingers absentmindedly over the smooth cloak as she counted her footsteps echoing off the walls. Her blue eyes scanned each door number until she came across Vinca's room, which was labeled with bolded numbers ; 123. She exhaled softly, suddenly nervous. Seeing her friends big gray eyes that held so much sorrow and lost almost made her heart break in pain. And Katara silently hoped Vinca would talk.

She drew her hand up, knocking softly. Shifting the weight on her feet, she patiently waited for her to answer. Its not like Vinca would be anywhere else. Ever since they had landed on the ship, she had silently resided to her bedroom chambers, only coming out for meals.

The waterbender was just about to knock again when the door opened slowly. The opened metal door revealed Vinca, who suddenly looked much more frail and sad than earlier. Her big eyes were sad and held another emotion that Katara quite couldn't put her finger on. Vinca smiled softly in a greeting.

"Hello," Katara smiled, brushing the hair from her own face as she held out the cloak, "This is for you."

Vinca took the clothing and her eyebrow shot up as she gave a questioning look to Katara.

She laughed, pointing to her own robe, "In case another ship sees us." She explained.

The airbender nodded in understanding, slipping the cloak on. The red material fell softly onto her shoulders, and she pinned it, her fingers nimbly enclosing the pin for the robe wouldn't fall off. Vinca examined herself before looking back up, a faint smile on her face. Her mouth opened, forming the beginning of the word 'thank you', but she quickly clamped her mouth shut, a frightened look flashing on her face before she began to move backward. It was almost seemed that she was scared to speak.

Katara nearly threw her hands up in exasperation. She had been trying desperately to get Vinca to talk. It annoyed her and it annoyed her even more that she didn't know why it annoyed her. Katara had even complained angrily to Toph about Vinca's chosen muteness, and the earthbender only sighed, then replied, "Sugarqueen, shut it. Do you know how much pain she's going through?"

As Katara remembered this, she instantly felt bad. She didn't know how much pain Vinca was going through. Seeing Aang like this must be hard, because she obviously had a lot of feelings for the Avatar. And the Avatar obviously shared them back. Thinking about this, she didn't know why the next words escaped her lips :

"Do you want to come with me?" She paused, "I'm going to go try another healing session today. And I need some help removing Aang's shirt, because it's partially destroyed and I need to repair it." Katara overly explained in an attempt to draw Vinca from her room.

Vinca hesitated, her eyes complementing the request. Katara could see the confusion and wondering expression cross her face, and after about a minute, Vinca nodded, slowly stepping forward.

Katara walked quickly ahead, leading the way to Aang's bedroom. The room was down the hall and to the right. She slowed her pace as Vinca was lagging behind. Katara examined her friend and her blue eyes widened as she saw that Vinca was walking with a visible limp, her face strained as if she was trying not to cry out.

"Vinca…" Katara bit her lower lip, "Is something wrong?"

She looked up in surprise, shook her head quickly 'no', and continued on at a quicker pace, the pain returning to her facial features.

"Vinca. Something is wrong." The waterbender said, stopping her. "Did you get hurt? How bad?"

Vinca merely shook her head, brushing aside the thought. Katara sighed, but she knew Vinca was hurt and she would find out what was hurt. Fortunately for Vinca, they had arrived at Aang's sleeping chambers.

Katara silently pushed the door open and walked in, Vinca following behind. Katara went to the other side of the bed, her blue eyes resting on the unconscious Aang, and she felt her heart sink. He's alive. She hastily reminded herself, turning to Vinca.

Vinca's eyes were sad again, and she was biting her lower lip hard as she stared at Aang. Aang's chest moved slowly up and then down, and the airbender closed her eyes momentarily before turning around, swallowing loudly.

"He's alive." Katara said out loud this time for Vinca's sake.

Vinca nodded, looking down at her feet.

Katara sighed softly, and moved so that her hands were by Aang's shoulders. "I'm going to lift him up, and then you can gently slip his shirt off. He already has bindings on." She said. Vinca nodded again. Katara's hands gently lifted up the slumbering Aang for that he was in a sitting position. She instantly regretted this. He looked…dead…the way they were touching and handling him. She swallowed.

Vinca hand's were hesitant as she softly tugged at the hem of his shirt before bringing it out over his head. Her fingers brushed against Aang's shoulders and Katara saw Vinca go rigid before continuing to gently pull the almost destroyed shirt off.

A sudden clang echoed into Katara's ears as she slowly set Aang back into the bed. She lifted her eyes to see Vinca bending over, Aang's discarded shirt folded neatly on the side of the mattress. She heard Vinca draw in a sharp intake of breath, and as Katara peered over, she saw the airbender go tense. A flash of gold caught Katara's eyes as she recognized the golden heart necklace Vinca had lost.

Vinca closed her eyes for a second before she turned quickly, flying out the door. Her hurried footsteps faded down the hallway and Katara could faintly hear muffled sobs.

Katara frowned, feeling horrible as she looked at Aang as she came to a realization. Aang must of found it and was keeping it until he could return it. She smiled softly at the nice friend she had and how much she loved him - yet, only in a brotherly way - and kissed him gently on the forehead before exiting the room.

She considered going to see if Vinca was alright. But she somehow knew that she needed some time alone.

What'd you guys think? I'm probably going to skip between Vinca's P.O.V. and then Katara's, and maybe I'll throw in another character to keep you guys interested while Aang's in a come. And thank you all for the lovely reviews. They mean a lot!