Sorry I made ya'll wait for a while. Life has been hectic lately.

"I'm sorry Katara…I can't accept your feelings", Aang said softly. His words piercing through her like a dagger.

"I-I don't understand", Katara stuttered. He didn't dare look back at her. He wouldn't be able to handle seeing her hurt expression.

"I already told you that I don't love you anymore."

"You and I both know that isn't true! Sokka already blurted out the truth earlier", Katara cried out. Aang gritted his teeth and clenched his fists.

'That meat-obsessed monkey-feathering idiot!' Aang didn't like to think negatively of his friends, but Sokka had been getting on his nerves for the past twenty-four hours. From questioning his relationship with Kano, prompting a dance with Katara at the party, and now this.

"Your brother doesn't know what he's talking about", Aang muttered as he stepped further away from her. Katara caught his evasion tactic once more and rushed behind him, wrapping her arms around his waist. She pressed her face against the back of his neck.

"Katara!" Aang groaned. He attempted to pry her hands off him, but the water bender held on to him with a tight grip.

"No!" She cried out, "Please don't deny me Aang! I know that I made a terrible mistake, but I can't help how I feel. I love you!"

"Let go of me", Aang struggled.

"I won't!" Katara stood her ground and clenched tightly to his robes.

With no other choice left, Aang smashed his fist together and busted out a wave of air. The force pushing the water bender off and making her land on her rear. Katara immediately got back on her feet and reached out towards him. Aang pointed his glider staff at her and kept his distance.

"Don't come any closer!"

"Aang…I don't understand why—"

"And that's the problem!" He cried out, "What were you expecting from me Katara? Just accept whatever this is and forget what happened?"

"W-wwell yes—I mean no!" Katara stammered, "I'm just trying…I don't know like fix what's happened..."

Aang let out a deep sigh, "It isn't that simple. I just can't accept your feelings Katara."

"Why not?!"

"Because it was Zuko that had to point out your feelings!" Aang yelled and pulled back his staff, "I always knew exactly how I felt about you! I loved you for spirits sake and you've only realized your feelings after you broke my heart!"

Memories of his last night on Ember Island flooding his mind once more as he tore his gaze away from the water bender. Aang instinctively placed his hand on his chest where his heart was. His fingers clenched as if they were holding his heart, keeping it from shattering as he remembered seeing Katara and Zuko together.

"I made it clear to you how I felt…" He looked back at her with a grimace, "and you just acted like nothing happened and chose Zuko. Zuko…whom you had just barely forgiven for the things he did, and you ignored my feelings for him. After everything you and I have been through together…"

Tears began to glisten from Katara's eyes as she saw his expression, "I understand that I put you through so much pain Aang and I'm sorry…I truly am."

Aang dropped his hand from his chest, "I don't think you do understand."

"I do! I knew how you felt, and I was scared that I wouldn't feel the same for you. I knew what I did would hurt you, but I was blind and stupid", Katara crossed her arms in an effort to keep them still, "I regret it all."

"I'm sure you do, but even so I can't accept your feelings Katara. I am trying to move on, and you should too. You and I just aren't meant to be", Aang stated.

His words felt like a stab to her gut and her arms fell to the side. Katara watched him with horrified wide eyes as what he said sunk in.

"You don't mean that!"

"I do. You and I can still be best friends but nothing more", Aang smiled softly. His smile dropped quickly as he saw the tears falling down Katara's face. She jumped towards him and pressed her face against his chest and held on to his robe.

"Don't say that we can't be anything more", She muttered, "We can be happy together. I just know that we can!"

Aang felt a surge of anger coursing through him. Why couldn't she just listen? Why couldn't Katara just understand? He watched her body rattle as she held on to him for dear life once again and just as quickly as his anger came it simmered down.

It could be so easy for him to just accept. To hold her in his arms and kiss her like there was no tomorrow. Aang never wanted anything else but to drown in Katara's love and never feel the rain.

Aang remembered what it was that drew him to Katara and what it was that made him fall in love with her in the first place. She was the one who had freed him from his icy cage and stood by his side since the beginning of their journey. He adored her smile and loved the sound of her laughter. Her compassion for others even strangers. Katara's strength and resilience against an uncertain threat. The warmth in her touch whenever she would hold him in her arms. He would never want to be anywhere else other than in her arms.

All of Aang loved all of Katara. It was just that simple.

He set his glider staff to the side and placed his hands on her shoulders. His touch making her go still. Katara rose her head slowly from his chest and gazed at him with teary eyes with a glimmer of hope.

With a firm grip on her shoulders…Aang pushed her away.

He saw the despair creeping in her eyes as her as her jaw fell. Her mouth gaped open, not uttering a sound.

His love for her had felt like a chain holding him down and he yearned to be free. Aang would not forget the heartbreak she caused him and the fear of it happening again was too much to bear. He didn't want to fall like he had before. Her touch would only hold him down and he wanted to be free.

He had to let go of her to achieve control of the Avatar state and this time he would have to let go of her for his own sake.

He looked into her eyes. Fresh tears formed and fell to Katara's cheeks.

"A-a-ang…please", her lips quivered as she pleaded to him.

He didn't want this. To see her near broken expression. It was becoming too much for him to bear.

"Give up on me and move on Katara", Aang said softly as he finally let go of her and stepped back. "I'm sorry. This is for the best."

Katara felt a shattering sensation in her chest as Aang grabbed his glider and turned away from her. She wrapped her arms around herself and dropped down to her knees. Her tears started flowing more freely once Katara let out a sob.

Aang walked away from her, not daring to look at her broken expression. He could barely hold himself together after hearing her cry. Aang hated hearing Katara cry, especially when he was the cause for her tears. He fought the urge to turn back.

When he reached the end of the bridge, Aang noticed Appa and Momo both staring at the scene before them. The lemur looking back and forth between the air bender and the water bender, deciding who he should run to. He made his decision, jumped down from the bison's head and dashed towards Katara. Appa didn't dare break his stare from Aang. The air bender could tell what the furry giant was thinking.

'What is wrong with you?'

Aang glanced away from him to avoid the look of judgement, "Don't look at me like that."

Appa said nothing in return. Katara's cries had only gotten louder as Aang switched his glider open and took off. He wouldn't look back at her no matter what. He boosted his speed as he tried to get away from Katara's crying but the sound had been settled into his brain.

'Faster. Faster. FASTER!', he hammered the word in his mind. He flew as fast as the winds would take him. His mantra going nonstop as he flew out of Ba Sing Se, over the ocean and the serpent's path until he reached a clearing in a nearby forest. Exhaustion from speeding so much had overtaken him and so he landed on the ground.

Aang fell to his hands and knees as fatigue hit him.

He had finally got far enough away from Katara and yet he could still see the hurt expression she held, and the sound of her sobbing was still fresh in his ears.

Katara said she loved him, but he could not accept it. He had chosen to let go of her and now he wasn't sure that it was the right choice. Then again how could he not? Aang could not get the image of Zuko and Katara together out of his mind. He knew that they were no longer together but it wouldn't go away. He didn't know what to do.

"Aang…I love you."

"I was blinded by fear, and I hurt you…After you left nothing was the same and my world went gray without you."

"Zuko helped me realize that…"

"Please don't deny me Aang!"

"I love you!"

"We can be happy together."

Aang placed his hands on his head as he tried to make sense of his feelings. A part of him wanted to go back to her and take back everything he said. The other part feared what repercussions would follow and the possibility of another heart break was too much for him. Fear had won out in his decision. However, the doubts would not go away.

He shook his head, but Katara's broken expression would not leave his sight. The past twenty-four hours rewinded in his mind and always ended with him seeing her. He had chosen to let go of her, but the task seemed impossible now.

Frustration boiled and Aang found nothing to do other than to scream.

I know this was a short chapter but I really wanted it to focus on Aang and Katara's confrontation. Please leave a review and let me know what you thought of the chapter. I'm not sure when I'll be able to post the next chapter.

FYI I am on a Kataang discord server. You can hit me up on there anytime.

/wrtYdNe4