It had been two weeks since Aang ended the war. Across the world the news spread of the Avatar's victory against the self-proclaimed Phoenix King Ozai and the fire nation. There was happiness everywhere. Everyone was happy except for one person, which was the Avatar himself. He was glad that he was finally able to end the war without having to kill Ozai but by taking his bending away. He had fulfilled his duty but had done it with a broken heart.
Before he had disappeared from Ember Island, he was feeling frustrated with the team. They were all pushing him to kill the fire lord but Aang refused to do so because of his air nomad beliefs.
"I'm not going to kill Ozai to win the war! There's has to be another way.", the air bender says while walking away from his friends.
"Don't walk away from this Aang! Get back here", Katara starts to go after him but is pulled back by Zuko.
"Let's just leave him alone Katara.", Zuko had been pushing Aang to kill his father but does not want to be forceful with him.
Aang, with Momo on his shoulders, would be gone from the house for a few hours. By the time he had come back it was dark. He had figured since everyone would be asleep it would be a good time to come back to the house. Once he was back in the house he heard some voices.
"I just don't know what we're going to do with him", it did not take long for Aang to recognize Katara's voice. He walked closer to find her and Zuko talking in the yard. They did not notice his presence.
"I know how you feel but you know Aang better than I do. He's not the kind of guy to go against his beliefs, even if he is the only one that still his.", Zuko said.
"I don't want to make him go against his beliefs but what other choices do we have? Your father won't hesitate to kill Aang", said Katara.
Aang understood how his friends felt but he just couldn't bring it within himself to take a life. Even if that life was the Fire lord. The monks had taught him that life was sacred.
"Lets just hope that we can still convince him. By the way Katara, have you told him anything about us yet?", asked Zuko.
'What does he mean by "us"', Aang thought to himself.
"No, I haven't told him yet. Aang and I haven't really talked too much together since we went to the play", Katara answered.
It was true. Ever since the team had saw the play that was loosely based on their adventures, things were not the same between Aang and Katara. Aang cringed as he remembered kissing Katara after she said she was confused. For some reason he had thought that would have cleared her confusion, but it just made her angry with him.
Aang instantly developed a crush on Katara since he had met her. Over the time they had known each other he had fallen in love with her. When he had kissed Katara on the day of the invasion he had hoped that they could be together once they had defeated the fire lord when he and the rest of the fire nation was at their weakest but their surprise invasion was expected. Aang and Katara never talked about the kiss until Aang had brought it up while they were outside of the play.
"Aang is going to have to know soon. I know we still have our hands full with the war, but we shouldn't hide this any longer", said Zuko with his hands on Katara's shoulders. Aang was starting to have a bad feeling.
Katara looked up at Zuko, "I don't like this either, but I know how much this could hurt Aang if he knew about us. I know that he has feelings for me, and he already has enough problems to deal with. I'm scared that this would be too much for him.".
'Spirits, please don't tell me this is what I think it is', Aang thinks to himself.
"It's best that we hold off telling him and everyone else until after we stop this war", Katara finally said. Zuko agreed.
"That's probably for the best. But until then…", Zuko brought his face closer to Katara and kissed her lips. She had cupped his cheeks in her hands and kissed back. Aang wanted to fall apart. He brought both of his hands up to cover his mouth so he could prevent any sound from coming and being heard. Momo was still wrapped around his shoulders and didn't know what was even going on. Aang had noticed his mouth about to part and make a sound so he took one hand off his mouth and covered Momo's mouth. The creature was confused but did not do anything. Even the flying lemur could tell that his friend was distressed.
Aang felt himself shaking and decided he needed to get out. He started to slowly back away and when he got through the door, he started running from the house. He ran for so long until he was tired out. The airbender stopped at a cliff with Momo still on his shoulders and was down on his knees.
His worst fear had come true. Katara, the girl who had been his best friend and the girl he loved, did indeed have feelings for Zuko and not him. Thinking back to seeing their kiss, Aang felt his chest splitting apart from the center. Tears started pouring down his face and he just couldn't hold back anymore. He started crying. It was all he could do.
'I should have known better! But I felt her kissing me back on the day of the invasion. So why?!', Aang thought to himself. He was confused and heart broken. He started to punch the ground he was on.
'Why?', he punched the dirt again. The boy kept asking himself and hitting the dirt. He would keep doing it while crying as much as he could. His knuckles had started to bleed from the excessive punching. Momo was already off Aang's shoulder at his point and stood at his right. He was saddened to see his friend this way and made a move to stop Aang from hitting the ground even more. He put his paws on Aang's arms, trying to hold them. The crying boy looked down to him and saw the look in Momo's eyes.
He had then noticed how much his hand was bleeding and felt the pain immediately.
"Thanks for stopping me buddy", Aang said. The lemur just got up and wrapped his wings across Aang's head to hug him. Aang just chuckled and gave his flying friend a hug back. "I'm glad you're here with me at least…", he said and instantly felt tired. He was feeling drowsy and was having a hard time keeping his eyes open. The last thing he saw before closing his eyes was a small island he could have sworn wasn't there before.
The small island had turned out to be a massive lion-turtle whom would give Aang the answers he had looked for on how to end the war without having to kill the fire lord. The battle was grueling and hard fought but once Aang was able to go into the Avatar State again, he had the upper hand. Soon after Aang took Ozai's bending away, three of his friends reached him in their stolen fire nation air ship. Toph, Sokka, and Suki were happy to see Aang after he had disappeared from Ember Island. He was relieved he did not see Katara or Zuko yet, since he did not want to be near them at all since he discovered their secret. His heart still ached from seeing them kiss. After containing Ozai in a cell in the air ship, Aang told his friends about how he took his bending away thanks to the help from the lion-turtle. His friends had been amazed that he was able to find a way to end the war without killing the so-called Phoenix King.
"Is there a place in this ship where I can get some rest? The fight really took a lot out of me", Aang asked Sokka, who was sitting down since his leg was broken.
"There is a room with a bed down the hall, judging by the size of it I think it might be the captain's quarters.", Sokka responded.
"We should be close to the fire nation palace soon, hopefully Zuko and Katara defeated Azula." Suki said.
As much as Aang did not want to see either of them, he still hoped that they were okay. He walked to the captain's quarters and threw himself onto the bed. It wasn't a good idea to jump since he still had bruises from his fight. He laid on his back and thought about what had happened to him in the past 24 hours. Despite being heart broken, Aang still missed Katara. He missed her smile, her eyes, and her voice. He missed everything about her and then the sight of her and Zuko came back to him. He had kept what he saw in the back of his mind when he woke up from his slumber that morning and during the battle. He still felt the pain of his chest being split apart and felt tears in his eyes. He wept as quietly as he could until he fell asleep. Despite how quiet he had tried to be, Toph had still heard his weeping.
'What's wrong with twinkle toes? He just beat the fire lord and stopped the war so why is he crying', She thought to herself.
The air ship eventually arrived at the fire palace and team avatar was reunited minus the Avatar who was still sleeping. Katara looked around for Aang when she met up with her friends.
"Where's Aang? Did he kill Ozai? Is he okay?!", Katara frantically asked.
"Whoa sis! Calm down, air boy is okay. He was able to beat Ozai. Without even killing him", responded Sokka.
"How did Aang beat my father?" questioned Zuko.
"Somehow, Aang was able to take away Ozai's fire bending", Toph answered. Katara and Zuko's eyes were wide.
"Where is he now?!" Katara asked.
"He's in the captain's quarters sleeping", Suki replied. Without a second thought, Katara ran into the air ship.
She had been worried sick about the air bender since he had disappeared. She had not seen him since he left the house with Momo on his shoulder refusing to even consider killing Ozai to win the war. Her first thought was that he ran away again until she noticed Appa was still with them. She knew he would have never left Appa if he ran away. She and the team looked all over Ember Island for him and could not find him anywhere. She had been scared that she would never see him again, and scared that her last moments with him would have been the arguments that they had on whether Aang should kill Ozai or not. Even though she did not respond to his feelings well on the night of the Ember Island play, she still cared about him. She had missed him dearly in his absence.
She reached the door to the captain's quarters. Before opening the door, Katara took a breath to calm herself. With the door open she immediately spotted Aang on the bed. He was sleeping on his side with his back facing her. She walked up to the bed to take a good look at him. Her eyes widened at the bruises and burns he had. The battle with Ozai had left him hurt and worn out. When she was close enough, she laid a hand on his shoulder and turned his body to get him to lay on his back gently without waking him up. Laying on his back, Katara was able to get a look at Aang's sleeping face.
"You did it Aang. You saved the world.", she said quietly. She was tempted to give him a tight hug but decided not to since she might wake him up. After the battle he had, the air bender deserved the rest. She noticed Momo sleeping next to Aang on his bed and gave him a pat on the head.
'It's a good thing Momo was at least with him', the water bender thought to herself. She then remembered what she had said to Zuko before. She still needed to tell Aang about her relationship with Zuko. Even though she said she would tell Aang the truth, Katara did not want to because she knew how much it would hurt him. Nothing has been the same for them since the Ember Island plays. She knows now that she is going to have to prolong telling him about her relationship with Zuko. He needed to heal first and Katara was just simply not ready to tell him.
"I'm happy to have you back. I don't ever want to lose you again I'll wait until you wake up to heal you.", she said despite knowing that he could not hear her. Finally, she bent down and kissed his cheek.
Once she got out of the captain's quarters she closed the door and walked back to meet up with the rest of their friends. Sokka still had a broken leg that needed healing. Unbeknownst to her, Aang was awake the moment she came into the room and had only pretended to be sleeping. He opened his eyes and turned his head to the door. Just being around her made his heart ache. He was going to have to make a plan soon.
"I'm sorry Katara but I'm not planning to stick around for long.".
This is pretty much my first attempt at Fan fiction. Let me know what you think. Feedback is very much appreciated. I do plan on doing more chapters.