After the Battle

I filled with relief, Azula was constrained. I then quickly ran over to Zuko. I hope he's okay; he could have died trying to save me. When I got to him, I used my waterbending and tried to heal him as fast as I could. When I looked to him, he was smiling and I knew he was going to be alright.

"Thank you, Katara." He said weakly. Tears started streaming down my face….he saved my life.

"I think I'm the one who should be thanking you." I helped him get up and then Azula started throwing a fit; she was breathing fire from her mouth and crying like a child not getting her way. Zuko and I just shook our heads at her in pity.

"Maybe we should get her to the prison just to be sure she won't escape." Zuko suggested.

"Good idea. Are you okay to walk?"

"I'm fine, thanks to you."

We walked over to Azula and she snapped at us with her teeth like a wild animal trying to bite you when you get too close. Zuko held her and made sure she couldn't attack while I undid the chain. Right when I did, she didn't hesitate and struggled to get free; she actually surprised me to how much of a fight she was putting up. She seemed so weak and not quite there before; maybe this whole ordeal had pushed some sense into her.

As Azula struggled to get free, Zuko and I struggled to constrain her; we had only gone a couple of feet and she had almost gotten out of our grasp three times. This was impossible.

"Would you like some help?" It was one of the Fire Sages.

"Why would you want to help us?" Zuko questioned.

"Selfish reasons, I suppose. We all highly doubt that the Fire Lord will be coming back this evening, and we all would like to make amends." Zuko gave a dirty look.

"Well, at least he was being honest." I said, hoping Zuko would let them help us. It was hard enough with just the two of us.

"Fine." Zuko said finally. The Sages rushed over to help, and it was definitely a lot easier with their help, but Azula still struggled furiously.

We finally got to the prison about a half an hour later, tossed Azula into one of the cells, and just to be safe, we chained her arms and feet to the wall to prevent her from bending. Azula looked at her surroundings and looked highly disgusted.

"Get used to it, Azula." Zuko said. "You're going to be in here for a long time."

She laughed. "I highly doubt that. When Father comes back to learn that his beloved daughter was thrown in here, he will never tolerate of me being in such filth and he'll set me free right away. Then he'll have both of you terminated, of course. Or tortured to death…whichever. I don't really care as long as I get to watch."

"There's where you're wrong, Azula. Father isn't going to be coming back."

"Not with Aang there in his way." I said sincerely.

Azula laughed again. "You honestly think that the Avatar is actually going to defeat my father? I heard he ran away just before the comet arrived and was too much of a coward to even face him."

How dare she insult Aang in that way!"Aang did not run away! And he is not a coward!" I yelled at her.

"Fine…let's just say he did have the guts to face my father. Do you honestly still believe that he would defeat him?"

"Of course I do! Aang's the Avatar!"

"That doesn't really make much difference whether he is the Avatar or not. He's just a little boy who still loves to play stupid little games and just flings his amateurish bending skills around…how can that match with the Fire Lord? The most powerful firebender in the world?"

"Aang isn't as childish and weak as you think! And his bending skills aren't amateurish! He could beat you in an Agni Kai with his eyes closed!" I started to bend a stream of water out of my pouch.

"Katara," Zuko said, he placed a hand on my shoulder. "She isn't worth your time. She just wants you to get mad at her so you'll fight her and she can try to escape."

I took a deep breath and put the water back in my pouch; he was right. I couldn't let Azula get to me like she did with Sokka on the day of the invasion. If he had just ignored her they wouldn't have wasted their time and Aang could have defeated the Fire Lord then. I nodded and we turned to leave.

Azula started to talk again. "I even heard that your precious little Avatar can't even go into the Avatar State anymore." I stopped. How did she know about that? "He wouldn't have been able to defeat Zhao's pathetic little fleet up at the North Pole without the Avatar State…so how do you expect he can do it now?"

I turned around. "Shut up."

"Ooh…did I hit a soft spot? I didn't know that the Avatar meant so much to you. Such a pity too, he's probably in agonizing pain right now, just wishing for the pain to end, and just begging my father to put him out of his misery."

No…Aang is fine, don't listen to her. "I said shut up!"

"Oh, don't worry, my father isn't completely heartless…I'm sure the Avatar's death will be painless in the end."

Tears started pouring out of my eyes and I bent some water out of my pouch again and started to attack, but something stopped my arm before I could.

"Katara, stop." Zuko started, "You're giving her exactly what she wants."

"I don't care! This is exactly what she deserves!" And she did deserve it; after all the things she has done... after taking Aang away from me.

"Katara, please don't do this."

"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't!"

"Because Aang wouldn't want you to." Zuko was right; I just let my anger and vengeance take over again, just like with Yan Rah. I started tearing up again and I ran outside; Zuko soon joined me. "Katara?" I quickly wiped away my tears. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine…"

"Are you sure?"

"I said I'm fine, okay? We…we should just head back." Zuko nodded.

It was a silent walk back, and I just couldn't stop thinking about Aang; thinking about what Azula had said… Did he show up? Did something bad happen to him so that he couldn't show up? Was he battling the Fire Lord right now? Was he winning or was he…he…I couldn't even fathom if Aang had somehow been really hurt or maybe even…dead.I shook my head, that couldn't be possible. Azula was just trying to make me angry and I couldn't let her get to me; I was worried about Aang enough as it was. And Aang was strong and powerful and I knew that. He has been training all year and he has progressed so fast, but yet…I still couldn't push the possibility of losing him from my head. I had already lost him once and I couldn't…I wouldn't lose him again.

"Katara, are you sure you're okay?" Zuko asked.

I barely heard him. "W…what?" My mind jumped back to reality.

"You just seem kind of distant…worried."

"Why would you say that?"

"Well, first of all, you almost ran into the wall…and then didn't hear me yelling at you to watch out or even notice me pulling you out of the way."

"It's…it's nothing…" Zuko looked at me sternly and crossed his arms; I gave in. "I'm worried about Aang…what if…what if Azula was right? What if he..." Tears made their way from eyes and I couldn't stop them. Zuko pulled me into a hug.

"It's okay, Katara. Aang's going to be fine."

"How can you know for sure?"

"Well, for one thing…look at the sky." I looked and noticed that the red sky once caused by the comet had turned back into the normal black night sky. How long has it been like this? "The comet has passed." I still wasn't convinced; a lot could have happened within that time frame.

"I…I still can't be sure."

"Why do you doubt Aang so much, Katara? He's come so far in his training; you of all people should know that, you've been training him longer than anybody else."

"I donno, I…I guess Azula just got to me." I quickly stammered, but it was a lie; I knew deep in my heart that wasn't the true reason why I was so worried about Aang.

"No, Katara…we both know it's more than that." Zuko said, as if he knew exactly what I was thinking. I gave him a confused look like I didn't know what he was talking about. Zuko scoffed. "Come on, Katara, don't give me that; I know how much you care for him, and I know you want to talk about it."

We sat down and sat there in silence for what seemed like an eternity. I mean, I did want to talk about it, but this seemed more like the kind of thing that I would want to talk to Suki about; another girl who could most likely understand what I was going through… but not Zuko. I couldn't even talk to Sokka about it, let alone Zuko; I just barely got to know the guy really. But the longer I sat there and thought about it, the more I realized how much it was bottled up inside of me…I knew I had to let it out sooner or later.

"This whole thing just didn't turn out how I thought it would…I thought that I was helping Aang, keeping his mind clear from any distractions so he could finish his training smoothly and defeat the Fire Lord. But after he left I realized that I could've just made him more distracted than I originally intended." I started to tear up again. "I know how much Aang loves me, and I love him just as much but…I never told him that…I never told him my real feelings for him when I should have." Zuko looked slightly confused, so I elaborated. "When we went to see that play, Aang was really upset about it. He took that scene of you and me in the crystal catacombs too literally and thought that we had feelings for each other, and thought that I didn't have any feelings for him. He asked me how I felt, and as much as I wanted to tell him the truth, I just…couldn't. I thought that if I told him my true feelings, it would just distract him from concentrating on the war. I didn't want him to be in the middle of fighting Ozai and suddenly start worrying about me…he could get hurt that way." I cringed at the idea of him being hurt again.

"What makes you think that you made him more distracted?" Zuko's voice actually startled me…I had been talking for so long and didn't really know if he was still listening to me or not.

"Well…" I started once again. "When I answered his question about my feelings, it didn't quite come out the way I had wanted it to. I made it seem like I didn't really have any feelings for him at all, and I know it made him really upset. I believe I made him more distracted because he thinks that I don't love him and he'll being thinking about that instead. His being upset could very well distract him more than his being worried. And not to mention, the last words we said to each other were angry…hateful. I never even got to say a proper good-bye." Tears were just streaming down my face now. "That's why I'm worried about him and doubtful that he'll come back...all because I messed up. If Aang doesn't come back it'll be my fault."

"But…what if Aang does come back?" Zuko asked, suddenly sounding chipper.

"Why do you suddenly sound so happy?"

"Because…look." He pointed behind me.

I turned around and saw Suki walking Sokka, he was hobbling on one foot, then came Toph walking with someone who she had constrained. I couldn't really tell who he was, but I didn't really care. My eyes then made their way from Toph and I spotted…Aang! My worries rapidly melted away as if they had never been there, as if this entire thing had just been a terrible dream; I truly never felt happier to see anyone in my entire life! He was alive! I stood up started running toward him, tears of joy now replacing the others that I had cried earlier, the hair on the back of my neck stood up as chills started to cover my entire body, and my heart started to race. Sokka and Suki spotted me first.

"Katara!" Sokka yelled, happily holding out his arms for a hug. But I ran passed him and went straight for Aang.

"Aang!" I yelled, he finally spotted me and smiled. I ran quickly over to him and collapsed straight into his arms. "Aang, I'm so glad you're safe!" He gently wrapped his arms around me and started stroking my hair.

"No, I'm fine…just a broken leg, thanks for asking." Sokka said sarcastically, but I ignored him. I just wanted to hold Aang in this moment forever…He was alive.

"I was so afraid that you…" I couldn't finish my sentence because more tears streamed down my face; Aang lifted my chin with his fingers and wiped my tears away with his thumb.

"I know. I'm really sorry for disappearing…again; I didn't mean to leave like that, it just sort of…happened."

"Well, you're here now and that's all that matters." It was silent, but the good kind. I looked into his kind, gray eyes and they started to sparkle while he looked into mine. We started to draw nearer to each other and my heart started to do a million back flips; I closed my eyes, ready for what was about to happen…

"Come on, Aang!" Sokka obnoxiously interrupted. We both jolted away from each other. Figures…leave it to Sokka to mess everything up. "Suki and Toph need your help with the Fire Lord; I can't really do much…you know…with my leg and all."

"Why don't you just get Zuko to do it?" Aang said with annoyance in his voice, obviously angered at Sokka's interruption. Sokka half-rolled his eyes and left to go get Zuko; Aang turned back to me.

"Why do they need help with the Fire Lord, exactly?" I asked, confused.

"Well, I found a way to defeat him without actually killing him. I took his bending away."

He did what? "You took away his…how…how'd you…?"

"A Lionturtle taught me…it's…it's kind of complicated."

A what? I opened my mouth to say something, but no words came out, so I just smiled and shook my head. "You have the craziest adventures when you go away."

Aang smiled again; a shiver went down my spine. "Funny, Toph said the same thing."

We suddenly noticed that everyone had left to take the Fire Lord to the prison; Aang and I were finally alone. It was quiet again and Aang veered in a little closer to me as if to make another attempt, but then he quickly stopped and stood back again, covering up his motion by shifting his weight to his other leg. "Well, um…I guess we'd better go help them, huh?" I frowned in disappointment; what was stopping him? I waited a couple of seconds to see if he would change his mind, but it seemed as though the silence was making him feel uncomfortable so I decided to just go with it.

"Uh…yeah, I guess we'd better." Aang and I finally let go of each other and I felt as though I had lost him again and I longed to hold him once more. As he turned away from me, he had a heartbreaking look on his face; something told me that some part of him still thought I was 'confused' about my feelings and he didn't want another recap of our kiss under the moon. No! I wouldn't let him feel this way anymore! "Aang, wait." I grabbed his hand to stop him. "I'm not confused anymore." He quickly turned back to me and his eyes lit up in surprise. "I never was confused; I just didn't want to distract you from the war. I…I didn't want to lose you." I had started to tear up again. "I'm so sorry, Aang. I never wanted to make you feel this way." I lowered my head and placed my face inside my hand. "I…I love you, Aang." And even though I had finally confessed it, I had no idea how I was going to explain all of this to him; I had made him so upset and I didn't know if he would ever trust in how much I truly loved him.

I then felt the warmth of another hand grasping the hand I had used to cradle my face; I looked up and saw that Aang had a loving smile spread across his once sad face and his eyes were filled with tears. He took my hands in his. "It's okay." He said in a soft voice; his warm-cool breath tingling my skin.

"But…but I came off like I didn't even-" I started, he shook his head.

"Just to hear you say that you love me…that's all I need." I looked straight into his eyes and smiled because I knew he understood; he knew how much I loved him. I then brought a hand up to his face and stroked it for a little while, just feeling the softness of his skin and examining every feature I could. His face had been a little beat up from the fight with Ozai, but it was just as soft and beautiful as it was before. My fingers then made their way to his lips and I slowly started running my fingers over them; they were soft like the peddles of a panda lily. He suddenly grabbed my hand before I could finish admiring them. I wanted to protest, but when I looked up to his eyes I saw that they were filled with passion and determination, and I knew there was nothing to interrupt us this time. He leaned in closer to me; my senses were going insane…

"OUCH!" Aang yelled as a rock suddenly hit his head. He turned and looked behind him furiously. "TOPH!" He said angrily through his teeth. Where the heck did she come from? "What'd you do that for?" He shouted irritably, and I didn't blame him; I wanted that kiss just as badly as he did.

"Sorry, Twinkle-Toes!" Toph said, trying hard to hide her laughter. "I felt a sudden adrenaline rush from you and I thought you were in trouble." I couldn't 'see' with earthbending, but I didn't need to, to know that Toph was lying. Aang scowled and Toph continued to laugh. And as angry as I was about being interrupted again, I couldn't help but giggle a little. "Anywho," Toph started again after calming down from the laughter. "Sokka thought it would be funny to get into the Loser Lord's face…and when I say 'get into his face', I mean literally in his face…and, well…Sokka needs some waterbending healing action."

"Is he okay?" I asked, concerned.

"Oh, he's fine. He just insists that you need to heal him right now or he'll 'have to live with the scar forever'!" She added a sarcastic influence to the last part of her sentence. I gave an exasperated sigh; must Sokka always be so…Sokka? "Oh, and Aang?" Toph started again. "Zuko wanted to ask you something about your 'energy-bending' thing…"

"Oh…okay." Aang said, still slightly angry at Toph, but he controlled his temper well.

So we went with Toph to find Sokka lying on the ground, covering his face; Zuko and Suki had a hold of the Fire Lord. Zuko looked annoyed, but slightly amused at the same time, and Suki looked as though she was trying really hard not to burst out laughing; so that made it quite obvious to me that Toph wasn't kidding about Sokka's over-exaggeration. I ran over to him and looked at his face. It was slightly bloody, but it wasn't too major of an injury. I could easily heal it in one session, but I could see why Sokka wouldn't want it to scar; it looked like the imprint of the Fire Lord's teeth on his forehead…and I couldn't help but start to laugh when I saw it.

"It's not funny!" Sokka said.

"Yeah…it actually kind of is." Aang said, joining in on the laughter.

Sokka pouted. "You can heal it, right?"

"Yes, Sokka." I replied, still laughing. As I bent the water out of my pouch, Zuko waved Aang over to ask him about what Toph called his 'energy- bending'. A part of me wanted to get up and go with him, but I refrained myself. I had to remember that I couldn't spend every living second with Aang, even though I really wanted to. We would have plenty of time to spend together once all of the craziness with Ozai was done with; and I imagined Aang had been really tired anyways, and he…well, all of us actually…were due for a well-deserved rest.

As Aang was talking to Zuko, I saw him shoot a quick glance in my direction; he smiled at me and then looked back to Zuko. I felt myself blush a little and I went back to healing Sokka's funny little injury. It was hard to believe that the war was actually over, and that everyone came out of it alive. Only Sokka and Zuko had obtained any serious injuries, but they were both easily healed in time. Everything was going to be different after today, but I felt in my heart that it would all be for the better.