I use Google Translate, so I apologize for any errors.
Enjoy reading!
I don't own Avatar: The Last Airbender.
Chapter 1
- I'm going inside! – I shouted in anger at Aang, capturing his face in my mind, and went back to the performance.
"Stupid Aang, stupid play!" - I was angry to myself. - "I told him that I was confused, but no, he takes me and kisses me!"
Before this, I always thought that Aang was gentle, kind, and selfless, and that his love would be the same as him. However, as his actions today showed, I was wrong. I'm disappointed in Aang. He showed a side of himself that I never knew I had.
Some part of my consciousness tried to convince me that I myself caused this and these are all the long-term consequences of my actions, or rather my non-actions. After the kiss on the submarine, I avoided Aang for a while, and when he wanted to discuss the kiss and what it meant for us, I just ran away from him. That is, these were all the consequences of my fear. But I suppressed this part of my consciousness because now I was angry and disappointed.
I was lost in my thoughts, but what snapped out of me was the phrase, "I'm so proud of you," said by my actor on stage.
When I paid attention, I saw that at the moment the performance was showing how we said goodbye to Aang on the submarine. It reminded me of that kiss. But if before it gave me a pleasant warmth, now I didn't know what exactly I felt. A mixture of some sadness and sadness.
I heard the bench above me creak - it looked like Aang had returned. Sokka told him what he had missed and then fell silent.
I wanted to turn around, but I didn't. "He can't do this to me and then expect everything to be fine," I thought, feeling irritated.
An hour and a half later the play ended. And to say that it was bad is to say nothing. The Avatar was killed by Ozai during the Comet, and Zuko was killed by his sister Azula. And at the same time the crowd rejoiced, as if we were some kind of monsters that needed to be killed.
When we returned home, it was late at night, there was a slight chill in the air, but overall, it was still quite warm. There was a partial moon shining in the sky, but there were no stars. Zuko walked ahead, followed by Sokka and Toph, who were furiously discussing something (as Sokka later complained, his character had very unfunny jokes), then Suki and I, and Aang brought up the rear, who after the incident at the performance did not say anything words.
And this seemed strange to me, because he was always an active and cheerful boy who always saw the positive even in the worst.
"He's just disappointed in the play, like we all are," I thought, again ignoring my thoughts that I had played a role in his despondency.
"Good night," Aang said, without looking at anyone, and then went to his room.
"Well, that was a little weird," Sokka said. - However, I agree, it would be nice to rest.
"Let's just all admit that we want to sleep," Toph intervened, stopping unnecessary conversations.
After wishing each other good night, we went to our rooms.
I changed my clothes and went to bed, but sleep did not come to me. My brain kept replaying what had happened, not letting me sleep. And the longer this happened, the more my anger receded, letting in a feeling of guilt. After a while, the anger completely dried up.
"Aang didn't say goodnight to me separately. He always did this," I realized after a while.
Now Aang's face appeared before my eyes. It was sad, but what scared me was that its eyes dimmed. They were no longer silver, no longer glowing with joy and love as they had before. They were dark gray, empty, like a well of bitterness and hopelessness.
Part of me desperately wanted to go back to that moment and open my heart to Aang - tell him that I love him and dispel all his doubts. But my brain stubbornly told me that I had done the right thing - that I would just be distracting him, that Aang, who was now so close to fighting the Fire Lord, did not need a teenage girl who wanted romance. If he had died in the battle with Ozai, I would never have forgiven myself for it.
It didn't help that I'd already lost him once, in the Crystal Catacombs. It wasn't until I lost him that I realized the depth of the feelings I had for Aang.
Love.
This was a little unexpected for me. Strong friendship? Yes. But love? I had only known Aang for a few months, but I had already become so attached to him that I couldn't imagine my life without him. I fell in love.
So, I hold back my heart, trying to be strong. For me. For him. For our sake and, I hope, our future.
Deciding to breathe in some fresh air to clear my head and drive away heavy thoughts, I looked out the window. This was a mistake.
There, on the beach, was Aang. He was engaged in the conquest of water. But not the way we usually did it together. As Master Pakku said, when a waterbender interacts with his element, he seems to convey his emotions to it, so he must be calm in order to be as effective as possible.
Aang was throwing out his seemingly negative emotions. He twisted water whirlwinds, created huge waves, fanned icy fog, in a word, he took everything out with the help of water bending.
Remembering all our joint conquests, when we smoothly, gently, easily controlled the water, giving it various forms, be it defense or attack, I felt a heaviness in my stomach.
And again, an internal struggle took place within me. One half wanted to go down to Aang, grab his hand so that he would stop, I would apologize and explain why I did it. Another was against it, explaining why not for reasons known to me.
Not wanting to continue this fight, I returned to bed and after a while I finally fell asleep.
The next morning, I woke up quite late - when I looked out the window it was already about noon. I braided my hair and got dressed, after which I went down to the kitchen, since I usually cooked in the mornings, and Suki in the late afternoon.
However, when I entered the kitchen, everyone was already having breakfast - except for Aang, who was nowhere to be seen. I sat down at the table, took a bowl of porridge, which stood separately, and began to have breakfast.
- Thank you, Katara, for breakfast. True, I thought that you were planning to relax today, and I wanted to cook it myself," Suki said, getting up from the table to wash her dishes.
- I was sleeping, Suki. "Someone else made breakfast," I answered. -Where is Aang by the way?
"He said he needed to rest and asked not to be disturbed," Zuko said.
- And you allowed it?! There's only a little time left before the Comet, and you're letting him relax?! – I said, starting to get angry.
"Sweetness, usually I would be on your side, but I agree with Zuko – we started in the morning as usual, but Aang was so powerless that he did not react to the fact that I threw a stone at his head," Toph said.
I was seething inside. "We've been working towards this for so long, and now he's just falling out of business. I won't leave it like this," I thought and got up, not eating my breakfast.
"Katara, give him a rest," Sokka asked.
- NO! You do not understand?! We're at the finish line! Now it is most important to be in shape! – I exclaimed, after which I turned around and left the kitchen, not listening to the others and heading towards Aang's room.
It was only when I approached his door that I realized what was happening. This will be our first conversation after the play, where he confessed his feelings. And this will not be just a conversation, but a conversation in private.
I used to always feel most comfortable with Aang, but now I don't know what could happen.
Gathering my courage, I knocked. Nothing. I knocked again. And again, I was greeted by silence. Losing my patience, I pushed the door, which was not locked at all. Entering the room, I saw Aang, who was sleeping, leaning against the bed, wearing pants, but no shoes and a bare torso. I blushed a little from the last one but pulled myself together.
"You've seen him shirtless many times, Katara... Apparently, he was so tired from that midnight training session I saw... Okay, stop. This is not what we came here for," I interrupted myself.
- Aang, wake up. "We need to talk," I said loudly in a serious tone.
He stirred a little but continued to sleep. I took water from a jug that was on the table and poured it on him. Aang woke up with a start, spitting out water. After removing the water from him, I sat down on my knees in front of him.
"Aang, we need to talk," I repeated, softer this time.
He immediately looked up.
- R-really? – asked the young Avatar with hope in his eyes.
"True," I agreed. – Why do you skip training?
As soon as the question was asked, I saw what I was afraid of: his eyes dimmed. And this was clearly from my question.
"I was tired, so I needed to rest," he answered in a bored tone, as if it didn't matter.
This bored tone made me angry so much that I yelled at him, yelled that he was an irresponsible child who only thought about himself. Aang was taken aback, as was I. He lowered his head. Ignoring my inner confusion as to what prompted me to do this, I asked rather sharply:
- So, are you ready to train?
Now I'm really taken aback.
Aang raised his head. Although there were tears in his eyes, the eyes themselves clearly expressed anger and devoted trust.
"Go away," he whispered, holding back his sobs.
- W-what? – I asked again, surprised that he wanted to drive me away.
"I said go away, Katara," he repeated, lowering his head.
Suddenly my conscience awoke in me, and I tried to correct the situation.
- Aang, I...
- I said go away, Katara! – he shouted, standing up sharply, showing his tears, which he wanted to hide.
Without saying another word, I left the room. As soon as I closed the door, Aang's strong sobs immediately broke out on the other side.
Feeling deeply guilty, I did not dare to go to him, so I went downstairs. "Why did I yell at him? What's wrong with me?" I thought, barely holding back my own tears.
"He will be completely focused on training now, Katara. Congratulations," I said to myself.
When I went down to the kitchen again, no one was there. I had breakfast and left the house. The gang was on the beach. Toph built shapes using the bending of the Earth. Sokka and Suki swam while Zuko trained. Deciding to also take a swim, I stripped down to my bandages and went into the water. Being in my element, I calmed down.
After a while, I saw Aang leave the house. First, he approached Zuko and said something to him, to which the firebender nodded affirmatively. Aang then walked over to Toph. She hit him on the arm but nodded too.
"He wants to train with his teachers," I guessed. - "Will he come to me?"
The avatar looked at me hesitantly a couple of times, but in the end, he still walked towards me. He created an ice platform underneath himself, on which he swam to me.
- Katara, do you want to participate in my training? – he asked, smiling at me somehow strangely.
Deciding that it was my imagination, I replied: "Yes, go ahead."
We emerged from the water and headed towards Toph and Zuko, who were already standing to the side, ready to train.
- Are we still going to train? – I asked, surprised.
-Can't you fight, Sweetness? – Toph quipped. "I thought you were always combat-ready."
- I can fight! – I exclaimed. "Aang, take position!"
The airbender stood in the middle, and we surrounded him. Sokka and Suki sat down nearby under a tree to watch.
"Stand back," Aang asked, looking at us.
"Twinkletoes, you can't even move me from this place," Toph announced. – And in the morning, you completely missed the blow to the head.
I thought Aang would ask Toph to leave again, but he surprised us all. He bent his knee towards the earthbender and moved his hands in her direction, causing the ground she stood on to move along with her.
"You definitely have the spirit of an earthbender now," Toph said.
Aang looked towards me and Zuko, but we took a couple of steps back on our own.
So here we go. At first, I didn't attack with full force, but after seeing how the airbender dealt with all of us (Toph and Zuko clearly couldn't restrain themselves), I also decided to attack with full force.
When we finished, it was already late afternoon. I must admit, I'm pretty tired. Looking at Aang, I saw that he had more strength left than the three of us combined. He was able to confront three of his teachers and succeeded. I walked up to him and said, "I'm proud of you, Aang!" - I smiled softly.
Again, I felt like something was wrong when the boy smiled back at me. "Thank you, Katara," he said.
"I agree with Sweetness, you were good, Twinkletoes," confirmed the blind girl.
- Yes, Aang, you did a good job. But you still don't use fire to its full potential," Zuko said, crossing his arms.
- Thanks guys. "I'll try in the future, Zuko," Aang thanked, then turned around and walked towards the shore.
I turned around to see if my brother and Suki were still sitting. They were certainly sitting, but they were not watching the training, but were sleeping. Sokka leaned against the tree trunk and Suki rested her head on his shoulder. I felt a little jealous because I also wanted to be like that with Aang, but I couldn't.
"He will defeat the Fire Lord, and we can be together," I told myself to cheer me up.
I wanted to leave them there and not wake them, but Toph had other ideas. She walked up to Sokka, leaned close to his ear, and shouted, "APPA ATE ALL THE MEAT!"
- WHAT!? Sokka shouted back, immediately waking up and waking Suki up.
- Sokka... What are you doing? – Suki asked sleepily.
- Appa! He ate all the meat! – my brother exclaimed, starting to get up.
"Sokka," said the Kyoshi warrior, grabbing his hand. - Tell me, who is Appa?
"Bison, Suki, bison," he answered. -Have you already forgotten? Maybe you don't remember who Momo is either?
- Okay, let's do it differently. Who is Aang? – she asked another question, ignoring Sokka's statement.
"Avatar," Sokka answered.
"Ahh," Suki moaned. "Sokka, Aang doesn't eat meat and Appa doesn't eat meat either."
- Wait, it's true. "Appa doesn't eat meat," he said in a serious tone. – This means that... TOF! Why did you lie to me! – Sokka exclaimed, looking around, but the earthbender was no longer nearby.
Having finished watching this "comedy," I went to my clothes, after which I got dressed and went into the house to rest. I went up to my room and lay down to rest, thinking it would be for a couple of minutes. Feeling my eyelids closing, I tried to get up, but couldn't find the strength to do so.
My eyes closed completely, and I fell asleep.