Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender or any of its content. This is a piece of fan fiction:)
rated K for minor allusions to PTSD symptoms: dissociation and flashbacks.
I hope you enjoy!
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Azula's screams pierced the night air as Zuko and Katara sat on the ground of the courtyard where the Agni Kai had just recently taken place. Katara was continuing to work on healing Zuko's lightning wound and trying to repress the flashbacks that were playing in her mind from when she did the same thing for Aang. "Are you okay Katara?" Zuko asked quietly. Katara didn't answer, now that the adrenaline was slowly leaving her body she was zoning out. "Katara?" Zuko said again, a little louder this time. Katara snapped back to reality almost dropping the water she was using to heal on Zuko. "What'd you say?" She asked, still not completely there. "I asked if you were okay" Zuko said, trying to sound kind despite the pain he was in; he knew they had all been through hell and back at this point. Some of it being his own fault. "That blue light..." Katara said, trailing off as she remembered the bright lights that had lit up the night sky just moments ago. "Something similar happened when Aang was struck by Azula..." Katara trailed off again unable to finish the sentance. "Try not to think that way" Zuko answered, remembering how the entire room had lit up blue right before Aang went down only a few months ago. "This one was different" he finally said, trying to convince himself just as much as Katara. "This one had orange too" Zuko finished. Before either one of them could say anything else a group of guards came running into the courtyard, and before anyone could speak Azula screamed, "arrest these traitors," but the guards didn't move. "We just got word that fire lord Ozai's fleet of airships were attacked" said one of the guards. Sokka! Thought Katara, not knowing whether she should be relieved or scared; The guards didn't specify who won that fight. Katara looked at Zuko, silently pleading to go check it out. "Go ahead" Zuko said, immediately understanding. "Are you-?" Zuko cut her off, "go! I've got this handled." Katara helped Zuko to his feet before running to find Appa.
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The sun rise continued to paint the sky with oranges, reds, and pinks as Sokka, Suki, Toph, and Aang sat watching an asleep and restrained Ozai. The island was honestly a mess with metal scraps, pieces of airships, and chunks of rock all scattered around. Not to mention everything was wet from Aang putting out the fires. "I guess getting your bending taken away makes one tired" Suki said as an attempt to make the very tired group laugh. The attempt failed, but did get a small smile out of Sokka. They were all exhausted and sore and Sokka was hurt, they didn't have a way of leaving the island since Appa was with Katara and Zuko and all the airships had been destroyed. Completely ignoring Suki's comment, Aang finally asked the question that had been floating around in his mind since he met up with them, "where are Zuko and Katara?" Trying and failing to keep his jealous tone at bay. Only oblivious to Aang's jealousy because his leg was in so much pain, Sokka responded casually, "they went to take care of things with Azula." "Geez twinkletoes, you just saved the world and your first reaction is jealousy about your little girlfriend?" Toph said teasing him. Aang blushed, "no-I-I just wanted to know that they were both safe! And! She's not my girlfriend!" "You know I can tell you're lying" Toph said, rolling her eyes. "You and Katara are dating?!" Sokka said with surprise. "No Sokka! He was only lying about wanting to know that they were both safe. He doesn't give a badger mole's butt about if Zuko is okay" Toph said. "That's not true Toph! I do care about Zuko and I hope he's okay!" Aang retorted. "Whatever you say twinkle toes" Toph added, just trying to get a rise out of him.
The three of them continued to bicker until Suki's voice managed to break them up, "hey guys! Look!" The gaang looked up to see a large figure flying towards them. "Is it another air ship?" Toph asked, standing and readying herself to fight. "I don't think so" Sokka responded. "It's Appa!" Aang said as a smile spread across his face. Only as his beloved sky bison got closer did he see the girl who was riding him. Her dark hair down and fluttering in the wind, it was someone who he maybe loved even a little more than Appa which he didn't think possible until he met her. It was Katara. He took his glider and without a second thought flew up toward Appa and Katara landing promptly in Appas saddle with a thud. This caused Katara to jump and whip out water from her water skin, she must not have seen him coming.
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Katara jumped and stood water in hand ready to fight all in one motion when something thudded behind her. Fear crept through her at the thought of this being Ozai or one of the other fire nation soldiers, but to her pleasant surprise it wasn't. She'd recognize those arrows anywhere, it was Aang! "Aang!" She exclaimed, practically jumping at him. Appa's reins were more of a suggestion anyway, he knew where to go. Katara pulled Aang into a tight hug causing the airbender who was sore from his fight to wince. "Sorry, sorry" Katara said, loosening her grip, but still staying in the hug. Aang buried his head in her hair as Katara cradled his head in her arm. After a few minutes they pulled apart, still holding hands, and looked into each other's eyes. "Is Sokka... and everyone else-?" Katara trailed off. "They're okay" Aang said gently, rubbing her hand. At this she smiled and then gently punched him in the shoulder saying, "don't ever do that to me again, Aang! Okay?" "Do what?" Aang asked, genuinely confused, after all he had just defeated the fire lord, she couldn't mean that...could she? "Leave like that!" She said as tears began to well in her eyes. "You left without so much as a word, Aang! We were all worried sick about you and we had to start this fight without knowing where you were or even if you were okay! I didn't know if you were alive or dead or if you had been taken by someone or, or, or... I acted like you were fine, like I wasn't worried, but..." Katara trailed off and broke down in sobs. "I'm so sorry Katara! I didn't mean to worry you. I would have told you if I could" Aang said quietly. "What do you mean if you could?" Katara asked. "I'm not exactly sure how it happened" Aang started, "but I woke up on a lion turtle and he taught me how to defeat Ozai without killing him." Katara's eyes widened at this, and then she smiled, happy that Aang was able to stick to his morals when defeating the fire lord. Aang squeezed Katara's hand, saying, "we're getting close to landing and I'm sure Sokka wants to see you." "Yeah...we'll talk later" Katara said planting a kiss on Aang's cheek resulting in the both of them blushing.
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Appa landed and Katara made a bee line for Sokka who was leaning heavily on Suki. "Are you okay, Sokka?" She asked, noticing him only standing on one leg. "I'm fine, just hurt my leg a little" Sokka said, which earned him a glare from Suki. "It's broken" Suki said. "Nothing a few healing sessions and rest won't fix" Katara said hopefully. "See honey, I told you it was nothing to worry about" Sokka said to Suki. Katara smiled at the sweet couple and couldn't help looking over at Aang who blushed as their eyes met. "Where's Zuko?" Toph asked, a little bit of worry in her voice. "He's back at the fire palace, we defeated Azula." Katara said, lowering her voice for the last part when she saw Ozai sitting tied up.
The gaang continued to chatter and tell the stories of that night as they got on Appa with their prisioner Ozai, and headed for the fire nation palace to meet Zuko.
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the end, for now:)
look out for pt 2 of this fic, "The First Night in a Cold Bed" out soon :)
as always thank you so so so much for reading and reviewing it makes me so incredibly happy3