DISCLAIMER: I do not own Avatar: the Last Airbender or any of the characters.

"There's too many." Aang says in defeat, as the Dai Li surround him and Katara. Guru Pathik's voice floods his mind, "The only way is to let her go."

Aang realizes what he has to do: give up the only one who keeps him sane. But they will get out of there alive.

"I'm sorry, Katara." Aang whispers in a pained voice.

He earthbends a green crystal tent around him and sits on the ground, meditating. The crystals around Aang start to glow. Zuko, Azula, and the Dai Li step back in confusion. Suddenly, the crystal tent shatters, and Aang levitates upward in a beam of light.

Katara stares at him in awe. She thinks, 'He did it. He mastered the Avatar State.'

Then all of a sudden, lightning shoots out of Azula's fingertips and into Aang's back. Katara can only watch in horror as Aang's body convulses in midair and his mouth opens in a silent scream. As soon as the lightning struck, it leaves his body, and the airbender starts plummeting toward the ground.

Tears flow from Katara's eyes as she tries to grasp what just happened. A thought rushes into her mind, 'He's going to hit the ground!'

Katara bends as much water under herself as she can to create a wave. She uses the wave to ride over their enemies, and catch Aang before he smashes head-first into the earth.

The water drains away, leaving the waterbender sitting with Aang's body in her arms. Tears stream down her cheeks when she looks at Aang's pale, still face. Zuko and Azula recover from being nearly drowned. They advance on Katara, ready to end her. A large rumble shakes the crystal catacombs. Iroh leaps defensively in front of the waterbender and fallen Avatar.

"You've got to get of here! I'll hold them off for as long as I can!" Iroh shouts over his shoulder.

As the Dragon of the West firebends at his niece and nephew, Katara focuses on getting Aang out of there. She drapes his limp arm around her shoulder, and grips his hand there. She wraps her other arm around his waist. She hoists Aang over to a waterfall, and bends a stream of water around them that carries them to the surface.

Toph feels when the two of them arise from the catacomb, and shouts to Sokka and the Earth King, "This way! Quick something's wrong!" She starts running.

"What is no-" Sokka's sentence is cut off when he spots Katara kneeling on the ground clutching Aang in her arms.

"Katara, what happened?" Sokka shouts while frantically rushing over to them.

Katara opens her mouth to reply, but no words come out. She doesn't know how to explain.

Toph leans down and places her hand on the ground next to Aang. Her eyes go wide, "I-I can't feel his pulse."

"No," Katara whispers. She looks down at Aang, and strokes his head. Tears drip out of her eyes. She suddenly remembers the Spirit Oasis Water. "I might be able to heal him."

"That has to wait a little longer," Toph says while standing back up, "I can feel the Dai Li getting closer."

"We need to get to Appa." Sokka leans down to pick Aang up. Katara is hesitant at first, but let's go.

The gang, King Kuei, and Bosco reach the bison. They fly away from Ba Sing Se. Sokka, Toph, Momo, King Kuei, and Bosco sit on Appa's back. Katara sits with Aang on Appa's head. She inspects the wound on the airbender's back, then, as gently as she can, leans him against the bison's hump.

Katara takes the amulet off her neck, opnes it, and bends the special water out of it. The water glows and spins in a small circle above her hand. Katara pulls Aang against her shoulder to expose the black, gaping hole in his back.

Sokka and the Earth King watch nervously, and Toph listens intently. The look of failure and sadness is etched on their faces.

She places the glowing water on the wound, silently pleading the water to bring her best friend back. The spirit water glows brighter for a moment, then falls away.

But the lighting's mark is still there. And Aang is not moving. Katara cries out, and clings to the dead Avatar.

Suddenly, his tattoos glow and he groans. Katara gasps, and pulls him away from her shoulder so she can see his face. Aang's eyes are slightly open, slowly focusing on her face. Katara's face is illuminated with joy. Aang gives her a weak smile. The waterbender pulls her best friend into a hug.

Katara lies against Appa's hump with Aang resting on her side. She looks down at his sleeping form, feeling exhausted herself, but refusing to give into sleep just yet.

"We should go to Chameleon Bay, and stay with dad for a while." Sokka whispers to Katara, who nods in agreement.

It's late into the night when they land at Chameleon Bay. By then the watertribe men are back from their battle. Hakoda recognizes the bison and rushes over to meet them as they land, not knowing what to expect. The last time he was his Sokka, the Avatar came to pick him up with a worried look on his face, and Sokka saying "This can't be good." Hakoda can only hope that it wasn't anything really serious.

"Dad!" Sokka calls from the bison's saddle.

As Sokka slides off Appa's back, Hakoda spots his daughter, whom he hasn't seen in years, cradling the unconscious Avatar.

Before the warrior says anything, Sokka speaks up, "Aang got hurt pretty bad. I was hoping we could stay with you while he recovers."

Hakoda places a hand on his son's shoulder, "Of course you can."

Sokka gestures his hand towards the earthbender, king, and bear who are climbing out of the saddle, "Dad, this is Toph, King Kuei, and Basco."

Hakoda bows respectively to the three of them.

Toph walks over to Appa's head where Katara is still sitting with Aang, "I can help, Katara." She earthbends a platform up the waterbender's level.

Gripping Aang, Katara drags both of the, onto the platform, then Toph lowers it.

"We can take him into one of our tents. We also have some medical supplies." Hakoda says, walking over to where Katara is kneeling on the ground.

"Thanks, dad." Katara whispers in a grateful tone.

Hakoda lifts Aang by his shoulders, and Sokka lifts his legs. Together they carry the Avatar towards camp.

"Be careful!" Katara calls from behind them. She's worried why all the jostling isn't waking him up, and hoping that his wound isn't getting worse.

As the group walks past the tents, some of the watertribe men wake up and come outside to see what's going on. Hakoda and Sokka bring Aang into an empty tent, and gently place him down on some animal pelts. Hakoda turns to his daughter and wraps her in his arms.

When he lets go, he says, "I'll go get some bandages."

"And I'll get some water." Sokka says.

The two of them leave the tent, and Hakoda gives Sokka a questioning look.

"She's a healer now." Sokka explains.

"A healer? Wow…" Hakoda shakes his head, "I've missed so much."

"It's okay, dad. I'll catch you up on what you've missed. "

They return with the supplies, then leave Katara with Aang they can put up tents for King Kuei and Bosco, and Sokka.

Katara is exhausted, but refuses to sleep until Aang is taken care of. As gently as she can, Katara takes the burnt remains of Aang's shirt and shoes off of him. She carefully rolls him onto his stomach to look at his wound. It's still bleeding, so Katara passes the healing water over it until the bleeding stops.

She places a hand on his cheek and whispers to him, "That should do for now. Tomorrow we'll put the bandages on."

She leaves him lying on his stomach because the movement of rolling him over might make his back bleed again.

Lying at Aang's side, Katara falls into an uneasy sleep.