Time: 8:01 PM
Well... here it is. Hope you guys enjoyed it as much as I did writing it. :) This is probably the one story that I actually put some thought into. I was forced to finish it; for those who wanted it. And I was forced to make sure I did a good job. And sorry to those who did not agree with some of my decisions on the story, aka. Katara hugging Azula in her final minutes. Suck it up! My story, and I thought it was fine. ) Just kidding. I only stewed about it for a FEW days. I even considered re-writing the whole chapter and trying to figure out a different plot line, but I gave up and said, whatever!
Thank you all of you loyal fans out there. And you know who you are, because you have supported me for the past few chapters. :) I love you all, and hope to see you in the future, as I write more. Hopefully.
Disclaimer: The end has to come sometime. And even in the end, I still DON'T own Avatar; the last airbender. So long dear story. Fair thee well.
When I died the first time, I had no memory of the incident. But now…. Swimming in my own darkness, it was eerily quiet, except for a small song being hummed. Was that me? I listened intently, feeling swallowed, completely swallowed, in soft humming notes.
I turned around, my body feeling light and all floaty-like. Behind me, was an image that made me jerk, my dead heart being sent sky high. About twenty feet away from me was the very thing I used to live for. Aang was standing, his side to me, looking off into the distance. My eyes ran over his body and face, feeling sad and heavy.
"I'm sorry," I whispered to his image, "I'm so, so, so very sorry Aang."
His image was silent, still looking off in the distance. Everything about him was a whitish tint to it, like he was the one that was the ghost.
Slowly, he turned his head to look at me over his shoulder.
His grey eyes were sad beyond compare. I stepped back.
Tears were pooling over in his eyes, as he looked at me. Staring at him, my body feeling completely numb now, I found small, warm tears running down my cheeks too.
"Oh Aang," I whispered to the air. And just as soon, his figure dissolved into the blackness. I felt my body get sent into defense mode.
"No!" I screamed, "NO! Don't leave me! Aang! Come back!"
I fell to my knees, my hands frantically running over my face, pulling my hair, wiping away tears, rubbing my eyes. This is what eternity is like isn't it? Torture.
Almost instantly, I felt my body feel like it had thousands and thousands of volts running through it. I opened my mouth to scream, throwing my head back, but no sound came back. But it wasn't pain. It felt energizing.
What was this? It felt so…so real. It felt like my body was getting lighter and lighter…..
He ran to her still body.
"No," He whispered to himself, carefully putting his arms under her legs and shoulders, trying in vain to wake her up, "Not again. I can't lose you again Katara!" He brought her limp body up to his face, pressing his lips to her neck.
"Why," he choked, his voice sounding small and weak.
He whipped his head around to face Shinu.
"WHY?" He yelled as loud as he could. It halted the footsteps of Sokka and Zuko, that were making their way across the floor towards them. Everything silent now.
"Why Shinu?" Aang asked again, "I still had a week to find a spirit." He felt his anger subside and the pain of losing her take over.
"I did not take her," Shinu said darkly, his voice low and raspy.
Aang's heart stopped, and he looked up bewilder-ly at the spirit of death. "What?" he managed to get out in a small, squeak.
Shinu's coal black eyes focused on him intently. "I did not take her spirit, I took her's." He pointed his gnarled finger at the lifeless form lying beside Aang.
He took in a sharp breath of air.
"Azula? Why?"
"It was her desire to die on this day. She knew it was coming, she knew battling all of you was inevitable."
By now, Zuko and Sokka had crept closer now, and were huddled down around Aang and Katara.
Silence was filling the room, making it awkward for everyone.
Zuko finally got up, and crouched near his sister's lifeless form. He stared down at her for a moment, and then finally reached down to her face and brushed away a chunk of long hair, moving it to the side. "She's really gone," he whispered to himself, his emotions running wildly, not quite sure what he was feeling at the moment.
"I.." he paused, "I knew this day was going to come." His voice was but a whisper, but everyone was silent enough that they could hear every word. "But now that it has come…why does it feel like this?" He wondered out loud, gripping her hand in his. "It feels as if…. As if… all the anger I had towards her for all these years has no purpose."
With that, he closed his eyes and bowed his head.
Aang looked up at Shinu, his heart feeling heavy with doubt. "So, if you didn't take Katara, why can't I feel her heartbeat?" Anger laced his words, and they felt bitter and doubtful.
"She was in the way of my attack, so a little of my spirit knocked her out. She is not gone Avatar." Shinu narrowed his back eyes from behind his pure white, cracked mask. His blue skin was glowing from underneath.
Aang looked down at Katara, his eyes wide. A small sound came from his throat, but he couldn't speak. She's not dead. She's not dead.
He looked up at Shinu, "Thank you," he whispered, and looked back down at the love of his life laying silently in his arms. Shinu dissolved quietly into the air.
Aang reached his head down softly, touching his lips to Katara's slender neck, kissing her, feeling her heartbeat pump quietly.
"Now you're safe," He whispered against her neck, "Safe until the end of our time."
I ground my teeth in agony, feeling like my whole body was going to implode. Explode. Some sort of –ode. It was going to kill me.
This is the end, I thought angrily, gripping the sheets on either side of me.
"Just a little more," Suki reassured me, ready to grab the baby that I was trying to rid of my body.
"I'm going to hurt Aang when I am done with this!" I half yelled, half grunted, "How could he put me through this?"
"Too bad," Toph smirked from beside me, "That you have many more years of this, ya know, repopulating the air nation and all."
I reached over and gripped her arm. Hard. I dug my finger nails into her arm. "Shut it!" I growled angrily.
Toph laughed from her seat next to my bed, and peeled my fingers from her arm.
"Where is Aang!" I groaned, feeling another wave of pain hit me, "How much longer?"
"I sent Sokka for him a couple of hours ago, they should be here any minute," Suki said from in front of me, and a couple of maids running around, getting water and blankets and such.
Speaking of the devil, Aang burst through the door, his face bewildered beyond comparison to anything I had ever seen bewildered before.
"Katara!" He said in relief, glad he hadn't missed the birthing. He walked calmly over to my side and took my hand.
"How are you feeling?" He asked. What a good husband he was.
I glared at him, and felt another wave of pain run through my body. I gripped his hand hard, squeezing my eyes shut, panting from the pain and agony. When will the little bugger get out? Aang held my hand calmly, as if I wasn't squeezing hard enough, I squeezed harder, thinking my own hand would break, but he just patted mine softly whispering sweet things to me, trying to reassure me things were alright.
"What.." I panted, "Do you think I am feeling!" I growled, feeling much too angry to apologize for my rudeness.
Aang smirked, a small chuckle escaping his lips, "I can't imagine."
I breathed heavily out of my nose. He was taunting me. "You are so going to get it when I am feeling better," I growled.
He leaned forward, his face close to mine, and kissed my nose lightly. Pulling back, he had a mischievous grin on his face.
"Bring it on," He said huskily.
Toph gagged from beside me, and I shot mental arrows her way.
I felt it. It was time.
"Dangit," I muttered, closing my eyes tightly, and biting the inside of my cheek, tasting the iron taste of blood fill my mouth, "It's time."
"You're telling me," Suki said from in front of me, "Just keep pushing."
I grit my teeth and tried to breathe.
Soon enough, I had a brand new baby emerge from my body.
Breathing happily, and completely worn out, I turned to Aang for his happy congratulations. But he was staring at the little creature that Suki was just about to hand it. His face looked younger, like the first time I had met him in the iceberg. He had a soft, boyish expression, as he carefully took the bundled baby from Suki and leaned over it, holding it partially away from him, as if he would break it.
"It's a boy," Suki said happily, and from there, went back to the place at the end of the bed. I was still watching Aang. His mouth, half open, his eyebrows raised slightly, a look of unbelief on his face.
He looked at me, his eyes misty.
"Katara," he said, his voice choked a little.
I smiled tiredly, opening my hands, trying to reach out, wanting to hold my little munchkin. Aang looked at me and shook his head a little.
I narrowed my eyes and was about to say something, when more pain hit me.
I gripped the bed.
"What's going on!" I screamed, groaning again.
Suki was ready for it. "There's another one Katara," she said happily.
My eyes got wide, despite the pain I was in, I whipped my head towards Aang.
He smiled softly at me, not even fazed by the news we had received.
My jaw dropped. "You knew!" I accused him.
He looked back down at his baby boy and I felt my anger build up again as I pushed in vain.
When it was over, Suki bundled up the other life form and gave it to me. "It's a girl," She said sweetly, and gave her to me.
I looked up at her nervously, "Any more I should know about?"
Suki laughed and wiped her hand on her apron, heading out to get Sokka.
Aang propped himself up on the bed, leaning near me, looking down lovingly at the baby in my arms.
"May I?" he asked boyishly.
I looked down at my baby girl, and smiled, handing her to him and took my baby boy from him.
"He has your bald head," I teased, and rubbed my finger over my boy's head. The baby squirmed and squeezed his eyes shut even more than they were already scrunched.
"What do we name them?" I asked lovingly, and looked back up at Aang, his shoulder leaning against mine.
His beautiful grey orbs locked on mine and he smiled. We knew. He looked back down at our baby girl in his arms. I could tell right away they had made a connection that I had already made with both of them. I smiled softly, and looked down at the creature in my arms.
"Aaron," I whispered.
"Karina," Aang whispered from beside me.
Nobody could ever understand why the Avatar and his wife named their children such strange names that no one had ever thought about. No one except for Sokka, and Toph, who became quite good relations to the two kids, teaching them how to hunt (Sokka) and how to get into trouble (Toph). All in all, Aang and Katara grew old together, having a total of twelve children, most of which were airbenders, thankfully, along with a good bunch of waterbenders.
Years travelled by, the family growing from children to grandchildren, and even a couple of great-grandchildren.
It was a misty morning in spring that the dear Avatar died. Katara woke up with her hand linked in his during the night and her head resting on his shoulder. She leaned over and kissed his cheek, knowing that she loved him with all her heart, and nothing… not even death could prevent that.
It wasn't until two years later when she was sitting by his grave, talking to him that she fell asleep on the grass next to his grave site that she left into her eternal sleep, Shinu taking her spirit for the very last time.
She kicked a pine cone with her shoe, and sighed, travelling through the trail someone had made in the bushes. It was directed uphill, and she trudged on.
Camping here was one of her favorite places. She always insisted on coming here for her birthday every year. Tomorrow would be her sixteenth birthday, and it would pass by just like every other day. Big whoop.
A couple of years ago, she had ran away while being angry at her brother and found this path. It didn't look too used, and came back the next year, to see if it was in fact, a real trail. What it led to was a cliff with a good sized grassy spot, over looking the lake. She smiled to herself, thinking about the lake. She had always liked something about that lake, she just didn't know what.
She finally hauled herself up closer to the grassy area. From up there, you got the best look of the lake, and everything that went on down below. And off to the right if you stood in jus the right place, you could see the peaks of the monastery, that was situated on the lakeside.
Reaching the site of the grassy area, she stood, letting the wind gently brush her hair and closed her eyes. Smiling to herself, she spread her arms out. She didn't know why, she just did. It felt as if she had known the air for her whole life, and that when she was always lonely, the wind would be there, and for some reason she would feel better.
A noise made her eyes open instantly, and what she saw next was something that made her heart stop. An older boy, probably eighteen or so, was standing close to the edge of the cliff, the exact place she like to stand, and was staring at her in awe.
He had short dark dark brown hair, almost black hair, and a strong chiseled jaw for such a young age. His mouth was open slightly, his eyes wide. Oh those eyes.
Beautiful grey orbs that were making her knees weak. She felt like she was going to collapse.
And there she stood, looking at him.
And there he stood, looking at her.
"H-Hello," He said, his rich, deep voice winding around her ears.
"H-Hi," she said back, her voice feeling light.
Thus, the two have met. And the feeling of attraction is something neither one could deny, never even trying to think twice. It was something that was unexplainable. Something that made him move towards her, and her towards him, looking into each other's eyes. He smiled down at her, and the rest is left for history.
Because love is something no one can ever explain. 'Love does not delight in evil, but rejoices in truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always preserves.' (1Corinthians 13:6-7) It can travel through every cell in our bodies, every brain wave our minds think. It is the very thing we are brought together by, the feeling of being loved.
It was a love between dimensions. A love between ages, between two individuals that changed the world.
It was a love throughout eternity.