The first 16 chapters belong to Avatarfan792, and I take no credit for them. Here is a link to where the story was originally posted: s/14303822/1/The-Aftermath

Chapter 11: Rebellion

AN: I'm kind of self-conscious about this chapter, as I've really never attempted to write an action scene before. But, it's something that I want to make part of this story, so I hope it was okay! Thank you again to everyone who reads this story. I apologize for any mistakes, English is my second language.

Disclaimer: I don't own Avatar: The Last Airbender

Aang was the first one to hear the screaming. Opening his eyes and alertly sitting up, he quickly moved his feet to the base of the floor to use his earthbending to gain a sense of his surroundings. He could feel Katara stirring in the bed next to him, and he sat in horror for a moment as he realized that there were at least 20 firebenders out in the courtyard. "Aang, what's going on?" Katara asked, rubbing her eyes with a slight groan. The screams were getting louder and the flames became visible through their bedroom window.

Aang quickly stood up and started to make his way towards the door. "Rebellion." He answered his companion simply, through gritted teeth. Katara then stood up and quickly began to get herself prepared, grabbing her water skins. It hurt Aang to see the worry that filled her eyes. He watched as she quickly grabbed his hand and pulled him into her, and she placed a kiss on his cheek. "Stay safe out there, please." she pleaded with him. This moment was new for them. They had shared plenty of battles with each other before, but this was the first one that they would be taking on together as a couple. For some unknown reason, it felt like there was more at stake than normal.

The Avatar nodded in affirmation, his eyes quickly softening. "You too," he whispered. "Wake the others and I'll see you out there." Knowing that he couldn't waste any more time, he immediately turned around and took off down the stairs of the Jasmine Dragon as quickly as he could. Reaching the door that led out to the courtyard, the airbender took a deep breath to compose himself before stepping outside.

Immediately, all the nightmares and horrors of the war came rushing back to him. The houses around the courtyard were on fire, and he could hear women and children screaming and pleading with the rebels for their own safety. Knowing that he had to intervene, Aang threw his own caution into the wind and began charging forward into the middle of the courtyard, ready to meet whatever fate had ready for him to face.

Arriving at the middle of the courtyard, he quickly took the moment to gain a sense of his surroundings. Standing before him were 8 firebenders, 4 of them turned towards him, and 4 others that were dealing with the civilians of the area. Aang could already recognize some of the children that he had just played with as part of the crowd. His first priority was to get all of the civilians to safety, and his second priority would be to try to put out the fires to their homes if he could. Lastly, he needed to make sure that these firebenders could be properly detained. His game plan stopped there however, as one of the firebenders in front of him hissed, "it's the Avatar."

Two of the firebenders in front of him immediately sent a blast of fire towards Aang. Rolling to the right, he was able to dodge the first blast before bringing up the earth in front of him to block the second attack. He then noticed that the 4 that were dealing with the civilians were turning around and paying attention to him, slowly trying to surround him in a circular formation. Aang smiled to himself, this is exactly what he wanted.

Allowing the firebenders to surround him, he used his earthbending around him to sense their vibrations. He noticed the two firebenders behind him make a sudden movement as they began their attack. Just like he had done against Ozai, he leaned forward and kicked his leg behind him without facing his attacker, his foot landing directly to the firebenders face. Aang then quickly ducked towards the ground as the second firebender sent a blast of fire, allowing it to sail over him and require the firebenders on the other side of the circle to have to evade the same blast. Since he was on the ground, he quickly did a sweeping move with his foot to blast a ring of fire around him, causing the rebels to have to take a step back and give him the distance he needed.

Using this brief distraction that he now had, he used this opportunity to go on the offensive. Aang used the water from the fountain next to him to take his stance in the Octopus form. Just as the flames from his prior ring of fire started to fade, he used the opportunity to strike the rebels that came back into view. Sending all 8 tendrils out at once towards the surrounding firebenders, he managed to snag 6 of them by the leg, pulling them towards him. The other two had to jump and roll back to avoid the tendrils, making them temporarily unable to do anything. Just as quickly as he was able to pull the rebels towards him, Aang made rock cuffs from the earth and had each bender bound behind their backs, now useless.

Turning around, the remaining two firebenders were back on their feet and beginning to charge at him. The firebender on his right side created two fire daggers, and the one on his left side formed a fire whip. Both firebenders attacked Aang at once, the fire whip coming at his feet while the one who held the fire daggers took two swings at Aang's torso. The Avatar quickly twisted his body to create an airshield, blocking the two fire daggers. This slowed down his footwork however, and he wasn't able to avoid the fire whip, and he yelped as the fire connected with his feet, sending him back.

The firebenders continued to remain on the offensive, slowly pushing the airbender back as he continued his defensive stance. Eventually Aang felt himself backing into a wall behind him, and he knew he had to react quickly. He knelt down and used an air swipe at the two firebenders, sending a gust of wind at them and knocking them down to their backs. The rebel on his left instinctively responded with a blast of fire, so Aang had to dodge to his right before using the fountain water to freeze the firebender on his right to the ground.

Doing this gave the other firebender the opportunity to send another attack, and this time Aang wasn't prepared. From the ground, the firebender sent a stream of fire towards the airbender's legs. Aang stepped back to narrowly avoid the blast but lost his footing, causing him to fall to the ground. The rebel used this opportunity to stand up and stand over the Avatar, a smirk forming on his face. Neither the rebel or airbender made a move, they just stared down their opponent. Suddenly, a cracking sound was heard, and the rebel collapsed to the ground from the impact of a water whip to the back. Quickly coming to take the place of the firebender was Katara, who extended a hand out to Aang with a smile, helping him up.

"Thanks," Aang quickly muttered, a small smile forming on his face. The waterbender quickly nodded in return, and Aang had noticed that the rest of the Gaang was awake and dealing with the firebenders that he had already taken down. From the corner of his eye, he could see the next round of firebenders coming to the courtyard, this time a group of five. Behind him, Earth Kingdom soldiers were finally reaching the scene, and Aang knew that he could use their advantage in numbers to help the citizens and get rid of some of the fires that were plaguing their homes.

Rushing forward to the anxious group ahead of him, he was met with wide eyes of awe from the children and looks of concern from the parents. One man stepped forward and grabbed onto Aang's robe, tugging at it to get the Avatar's attention. "Thank you, Avatar!" he exclaimed, stress still filling his voice. "They were threatening to kill us all if we didn't comply, even the women and the children!" Aang tried to hide his own scowl and disgust for the moment, he knew that he needed to be strong and get these people to their safety.

"Is anyone hurt?" he first decided to ask, keeping his tone calm and even. Thankfully, everyone in the crowd around him began to shake their heads. "Okay," he continued, coaxing them with his comforting tone. "I want you all to head towards the Jasmine Dragon." Looking over to the tea shop, he saw General Gun Ji giving orders to his militia, and many of the soldiers started to run towards the courtyard to help with the rebellion. This brought a smile to Aang as he knew that the tide was starting to turn, they were in control and soon this rebellion would end.

"See that man over there, with the Fire Nation knot?" He pointed in the general direction of the General, and was pleased when the crowd met him with a nod. "I'm going to lead you over to him, and then he's going to get you somewhere safe while we take care of everything. We're going to put out these fires and you'll be good to go back to your homes by the end of the night, alright?" Aang tried his best to use as comforting and soothing of a tone as possible, and it worked as the group followed him over without hesitation.

General Gun Ji was fortunately very understanding, and he had a part of his militia start to evacuate the rest of the area towards safety. Quickly thanking him, Aang made his way back to the courtyard where he was met by Katara. "Aang, what do you need me to do?" the waterbender asked, both her and Aang taking the time to survey the area around them. The battle was quickly turning in their favor. More firebenders had come to try to cause chaos, but they were highly outnumbered and quickly being taken down by the militia and surrounding forces. Satisfied with the situation, Aang turned back towards his companion, finally allowing himself to grin.

"You and I are going to do some waterbending." He gently commanded, his own smile growing wider when Katara's face beamed in response as she nodded. The two of them hurried their way towards the fountain, using the push and pull of the water to put out the fires that had formed in the surrounding buildings. They cautiously kept themselves aware of their surroundings, making sure that no one else came to try and attack them, but after 15 minutes they successfully were able to put all of the fires out.

The rest of the battle couldn't be going any better for the City of Ba Sing Se. Every single firebender that had come to the courtyard area had been apprehended, and the remaining rebels were yelling for their retreat. Katara quickly ran over and embraced Aang as she realized the battle was coming to an end herself. Aang allowed himself to melt into the hug, closing his eyes and enjoying the moment. Suddenly, he froze. His earthbending senses were giving him vibrations that he couldn't quite place, and he broke out of the hug to fully concentrate. When he came to the realization as to what was happening, his eyes shot open in horror. "CICI!" he shouted, before using his airbending to quickly run into an alley, following his senses.

When he arrived at the scene, his fears had come true. Six firebenders circled around the small three year old girl, who was crying and had her knees held against her chest, sobbing with her eyes closed as she couldn't bear to look. Aang's eyes filled with rage as he rushed forward carelessly at the firebenders. "Leave her ALONE," he shouted, sending an air tornado at the group. The wind rushed forward, knocking out 5 of the firebenders. The last firebender was knocked back slightly, but maintained his composure. As the firebender formed their attack, Aang was prepared, but when they turned back towards Cici, time suddenly froze.

Without even thinking, Aang jolted forward and dove in front of the girl, time almost moving in slow motion as he watched the blast of fire escape the attacker's body. Closing his eyes, he felt the slow impact of the flames coursing through his skin. It enveloped the entire right side of the body, starting at the base of his neck and moving down his entire torso before finally stopping at his ankle. Aang heard a piercing scream of pain being let out into the night, but his body was in too much of a shock to realize that it had been his own. As he landed on the ground, he used the left side of his body to send a returning air blast at the firebender, sending them slamming into a side of the building.

Taking a deep breath, Aang took a quick look down at himself to see if he had any injuries. His eyes widened as he saw his robes completely burnt off on the right side, and his skin had blistered where the burns covered the right side of his body. After seeing his injuries, his body suddenly became aware of how much pain he was in. Before he blacked out, the last thing he saw was Cici staring at him with wide eyes, tears streaming down her face.

Katara was confused, but her instincts told her to follow in the airbender's general direction that he took off in. As she ran down a series of alleyways frantically searching for the Avatar, she took a moment to reflect on everything that had just happened. The last thing she had remembered from the night before was her falling asleep in Aang's arms. The only reason she had even woken up was because he had jostled out from her grasp, and that's when she had heard the screams.

It was lucky that the room that she and Aang had shared was the closest to the courtyard, because when she had gone to wake the other members of their group up, all of them were still fast asleep. She was really beginning to become annoyed when she had to repeat for the 4th time that there was a rebellion going on and they needed to move quickly. Although she never told anyone, she was terrified for Aang, and she wanted nothing more than to make sure that her companion would be okay coming out of the battle.

Katara's fears were almost coming true when she first stepped outside, because when she first found her companion, he had been knocked over by a firebender. For the first time, she discovered a different type of instincts come over her during the battle, these instincts being fueled by protection. As she took down the rebel with her water whip, she was thankful for Aang to have been okay. As Aang took care of getting people to safety, she briefly joined the battle again, but left to find her companion once again when all the reinforcements had arrived. Then, he took off, and once again she was worried for the Avatar's safety. She continued to explore different alleyways, but she couldn't find him.

Then, a scream filled the air and Katara froze. The voice sounded just like Aang's and she instantly started running in the voices direction. There was still a maze of alleyways for her to get through, but the ringing voice of a little girl helped her find them much faster. "Help! Help! The Avatar needs help!" the voice continued to cry. Katara finally reached the opening to where Aang and Cici were, and she immediately wanted to throw up. There before her was Aang, unconscious and seriously injured.

Cici came running towards her, sobbing and throwing herself into Katara's arms. Katara protectively wrapped her arms back around her, and tried to soothe her. "Shhhh" she cooed to the girl shaking in her arms, "I'm here . . . I'm not going to hurt you." Cici quickly calmed down, and she grabbed Katara's hand and led her to Aang. Katara looked down at the airbender, fear filling her body as she observed his injuries. The entire right side of his body was severely burned, and he began to groan as he slowly came back into consciousness.

"Aang!" Katara shouted as she watched her companion slowly flutter his eyes open. Katara felt conflicted. She was still holding onto Cici's hand and wanted to remain there to comfort her, but she desperately wanted to hug Aang. Cici however already made her decision as she ran forward and wrapped herself around the Avatar, which elicited a smile to form across his face. When his eyes moved up and met Katara's, she finally allowed herself to relax as he noticed the familiar sparkle light up his stormy gray eyes.

"Hey there, Cici and Katara." Aang lightly responded. His voice didn't have the same strength that it normally did, but he kept his tone lighthearted as he was probably trying not to worry Cici as much. "I see my two heroes came to save me." He then let out with a soft chuckle, getting Cici to laugh in response and Katara to let out a sigh of relief, knowing that he wasn't severely injured.

When Katara asked the two what had happened, Cici excitedly went into detail about how she was looking for one of her friends, and that she then found herself lost in the alleys. When she started to call out for help, six people came up to her, but she recognized them as the bad guys attacking her town, when Aang came to save the day. Katara gasped when she mentioned that Aang dove in front of her to protect her, and then took out the remaining bad guy. When Cici finished her recap, Katara met Aang's eyes. Aang sent her a silent message between them.

I'm going to need help, but we can't scare her. Katara nodded to affirm that she understood when Aang then turned towards Cici. "You were very brave, Cici. But, we need to get you home to your family. I'm sure they are worried about you." Katara didn't understand how he did it, but Aang's voice was so comforting that even she began to relax. As Cici started to march ahead, Katara moved over and helped Aang up when she wasn't looking. Katara winced as Aang groaned and let out a small yelp from the instant pain that came to his body, but she allowed him to put his arm around her so she could be used as support.

They followed Cici as she led the way back to her home, Aang and Katara gingerly following behind her. Eventually, they made their way to a house just outside the main courtyard that saw most of the battle. Cici stopped and turned back toward the couple, smiling at the door. "This is where I live!" she excitedly exclaimed. Releasing his grip on Katara, Aang gingerly walked over and knocked on the door. Within seconds, the door opened, and Cici's parents' faces were filled with relief when they saw their daughter.

"Cici! You're okay!" The father bellowed in relief as his daughter ran into his arms. The father and daughter shared a long hug before he asked his wife to take her into the kitchen for a snack. Just as Aang was about to turn around and head back to Katara, he was stopped when he heard a low growl and felt daggers piercing into his soul. "You better not be expecting me to be bowing at your feet and thanking you, Avatar." The father's voice became low, hatred filling his tone.

Aang gulped in response. He was in no position to fight, nor did he want to argue. "I'm not expecting anything in return." Aang responded, his hands in the air as an offering of peace. The father looked him up and down, before letting out a grunt.

"That better be the case, it's your own fault that my daughter was even in danger, and if you don't watch it, I'll be the one who delivers your injuries next time." The father's tone was cold and unforgiving, full of anger and fear for his daughter's life. Katara, however, was not amused. Stepping forward, she pierced the father's gaze with her own daggers.

"Well maybe you should give some respect to the person who took on those injuries to save your daughter." Katara's own tone was cold, matching Cici's father in his own previous statements. She felt Aang lightly grab her arm, and when she gazed up into his eyes, she saw empathy and compassion in his gaze, but also a look of worry. He clearly just wanted to go home.

"He better have taken on those burns for her! He's the one who poisoned her mind into thinking she had to run out into this mess anyway!" Cici's father was now furious with them, his tone encasing his rage. He furthered his point by sticking his finger into Aang's chest. "It's YOUR job to bring peace into the world. It's YOUR fault that these people are attacking our neighborhood because you're here. And YOU were the one who made my daughter think that she could help save others when they attacked. YOU are why she was in danger in the first place." Aang was about to respond when he was cut off by Cici's father wanting to finish his venting tirade.

"I'm warning you, Avatar." He began, his tone mocking his name. "You are to stay away from my daughter, and GO DO YOUR JOB. Leave this area immediately before I tell this area how much of a fraud you really are. Do you understand?" The fury in his voice was evident, and he looked like he would physically strike if he would be provoked any further. Aang hung his head and nodded in shame, before he pulled something out of his left pocket. From there, he revealed his stuffed Appa that he made for Cici, remarkably left unscathed from the previous events.

"I understand, sir. My apologies for placing your daughter in danger. I promise you, I will leave her alone from now on. However, I have one request. I made this for your daughter as she is quite fond of my sky bison, Appa. All I ask is that you give it to her, you don't even have to tell her it was from me." Katara couldn't believe how gentle and even Aang was after he was unnecessarily yelled at, but his eyes were pleading with the man to grant his one request.

Cici's father nodded, taking the stuffed animal from him, before slamming the door in their faces. Katara quickly came and quickly took Aang back into her support. "Come on, Aang. We need to get you home." She was trying to hide her own fury on that past interaction, but her current focus was on helping her companion get better.

Aang normally loved Katara's healing sessions. The healing water was relaxing and soothing, and he could usually feel his strength returning to him as she worked her magic over his body. This time was different. Maybe it was because the rest of the Gaang was watching the session occur, or it could be that these were the worst injuries he's had while he's been conscious, but Aang found this session to be miserable.

His soft cries of pain or yelps filled the room constantly, as her healing touch seemed to bring only the pain out from the wounds and not the relief that normally comes with it. What made it worse is that he could see Katara's tears falling from her eyes as she worked on him, hating that she was causing this pain. He wanted to comfort her and let her know it would be okay, but he was too focused on dealing with his own pain. Lastly, he never was one to care about showing weakness in front of others, but he hated the looks of concern that the rest of the group was giving while he dealt with his pain.

At last, Katara put her final touches on the wounds, and he had to admit, they looked much better. While the pain certainly wasn't gone, and he would probably feel sore for the next few days, the visual injuries were gone, and that made Aang already feel better. By now, outside, the sun was beginning to rise, and sometime today they would have to be moving out of the Jasmine Dragon and to his house in the Upper Ring. The group all agreed though that everyone should get some more rest, and Iroh decided it would be best to close his shop for one more day. The group was afraid to leave each other though, and people only began to leave when Katara had spoken up. "If it's okay, I would like a moment alone with Aang."

Aang squeezed her hand in reassurance that he was okay as they watched the rest of the group head back to their bedrooms, wishing each other a good night. As soon Iroh closed the door behind him, leaving the two alone in their bedroom, he allowed himself to make eye contact with her again. Her own eyes were slightly bloodshot from her own tears, and her ocean blue eyes were big as they stared back at him, trembling with worry and fear. Aang moved a hand behind her head and began to softly run it through her hair, allowing her to relax into his touch. "Are you okay?" He asked her gently, trying to provide comfort in his voice.

What happened next shocked him. Katara pounced on top of him, fervently connecting her lips with his. He stayed still in shock for only a second before closing his eyes and returning it with as much passion as he could muster. When they broke away, instead of separating apart and catching their breath like they normally do, she went right back and planted her lips on his again. This was shocking to Aang, as they had never kissed multiple times in a row like that before. For the next minute, the two stayed locked into each other's lips, letting out every emotion that they had held that night. All of the adrenaline, fear, pain, worry, and anger was expressed with pure love and passion for the other.

Finally, Katara broke away, and threw Aang's body into her own, holding him tightly in an embrace. She began to sob into his shoulder, letting her protective walls crash down around her as she gave him access to all her emotions. "I love you, Aang." She let out through her sobs, "I love you so much it hurts. I couldn't stand to see you in so much pain. I'm so sorry." Aang's reaction was mixed with shock, joy, and his own pain as it hurt him so much to see her hurting.

Aang held her back against him as he slowly let his own emotions out. The tears ran fast and steady down his face as he buried his own face into the crook of her neck. The couple held each other as they sobbed, thankful to be alive and with each other, but scared for what's to come in the future. "I love you more than you could ever know, Katara." Aang managed to croak out through his own sobs. "I promise you that if I could take every ounce of your pain for you, I would. I just love you so much, I'm so sorry that I caused you this pain."

The couple eventually calmed down, and they continued to hold onto each other as they made their way back into bed. As their heads finally hit the pillows, they allowed the exhaustion to take over them, and they quickly both allowed the sleep to come over them. Before fully drifting off into their state of peaceful bliss, the couple shared one last time how much they meant to each other.

"I love you, Aang."

"I love you too, Katara."

"My companion."

"My soul mate."