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Path to the Heart

Aang stared at the hand in front of him through his tears. No more pain? No more sickness? He wouldn't have to feel like this anymore? He tentatively reached out his hand, inching towards his other self's hand.

"Sokka!" cried out Katara. "His breathing is becoming erratic!" she caressed Aang's cheek as she sobbed standing over him. "No! Don't give up! Don't you give up on me! You're supposed to be with me forever...this isn't forever!"

Just as Aang's hand was about to take his other self's hand, Aang's hand flinched away as he brought it back to his side. "No," he said.

His other self furrowed his eyebrows. "What's wrong?" he said. "Don't you want to feel better?"

"No," repeated Aang. "This won't solve anything. I can't keep feeling sorry for myself, there are people counting on me. Life will always be filled with ups and down, but that's what makes happy moments so precious. Here happiness would be empty, anything without Katara is empty," he looked his other self in the eye. "It's not my time."

And his other self disappeared, he automatically looked down but there was no petal. He glanced up to see Roku and the other Avatars standing in front of him in the garden.

"Well, done Aang," said Roku smiling at him. "We're now able to help you return to the present. But first you have to wake up. I have managed to bring some of your health back, but I warn you it is for a very short period of time, you must return to the present. I must tell you once you and your friends return to the present you and they will not remember what has passed, because it could unbalance the timelines. Your future selves will still have their memories intact, but we believe it is too dangerous for the present to know of the future."

"Really? We will forget everything?" said Aang feeling depressed about losing all the memories they had made.

"Just because you forget something here," said Roku lightly touching Aang's forehand, "doesn't mean you forget it here," he said lightly touching where Aang's heart was. "Your heart will never forget," he said. "As a wise musician will say, even if you're lost, you can't lose the love because it's in your heart."

"How do I wake up?" said Aang.

Roku smiled. "That is easy, just follow where your heart leads you," he then gestured towards the ground. Aang looked down to see panda lily petals in a row and where they ended stood Katara.

She smiled, her eyes glowing with happiness at him. "Aang, I've been waiting for you," she laughed wrinkling her nose. "What took you so long?" she put out her hand. "It's time to wake up sleepyhead."

Aang got up from the ground with a burst energy he hadn't felt before. "Katara!" he exclaimed grinning. He took her hand in an instant.

Aang slowly opened his eyes, he blinked a couple of times adjusting to the light. His body felt so heavy and worn-out. "K-katara?" he said through the dryness of his throat.

Katara gasped raising her head from Aang's chest as she heard her name spoken in his voice. She saw his grey eyes staring at the ceiling. She moved to kneel over him as she busted into tears of happiness. "Aang! You're awake! You're awake!" she wrapped her arms about his neck hugging him.

As she pulled away, Aang saw Sokka standing over him behind Katara. "Aang!" he said smiling. "You gave us a real scare there buddy!"

Aang stared at Katara in utter despair from his lying down position. They would forget everything? Him and Katara would go back to just being friends? Just when he finally had her love, he was going to lose it again? Katara's voice brought him out of his thoughts.

"Aang, is something wrong?" she said, with concern in her eyes while caressing his cheek. "Are you in pain?"

Aang stared back into her eyes, to see love for him reflected in their depths. He couldn"t tell her. Roku was right love couldn't be truly forgotten. She loved him now, and he knew it was probably always there buried within her. He would wait for her again to find it. He remembered something Katara had told him in the future, "You will always have my heart even if you don't know it, or I don't realize it. Just know, it will be a happy ending."

Then he heard his own voice echoing in his head. "You'd be surprised at what you will do when you feel your time is short." Aang's eyes set in determination; adrenaline pumped through his veins, his heart sped up from the fervor of emotions pulsing through his body. He would take this moment in time for all it's worth.

"Aang, are you oka—" Katara started to say, but the rest was lost as Aang reached and cradled the back of her head and brought it down until their lips collided into a desperate and loving kiss.

Sokka let out a strangling choke, and quickly put his hand over his eyes.

Katara's eyes went wide, but then she started to relax as her eyes fluttered close and she began to truly understand what her future self meant by the sensation of flying. It was frightening feeling not knowing if she'd come down safely, but such an exhilarating feeling, the adrenaline running through her, enhancing all her senses, just being completely swept up in the feeling his lips.
As he pulled away, she blinked at him several times in a stupor, her eyes glossed over as she tried to catch her breath. She barely heard what Aang said next.

"We're going home," he said.

Sokka got up from the ground with dirt smudged on random parts of his face. Katara groaned as she got up into a sitting position. Aang sat up shaking head trying to get the overwhelming dizziness to go away, it was then he noticed his hand seemed to be attached to something, Katara noticed also. They both looked down at their intertwined hands. They both pulled away looking confused.

"That was amazing!" exclaimed General Fong.

"Are you kidding!" screamed Sokka. "You almost got us all killed!"

"Now all we have to do is control it," General Fong pondered aloud.

"Can someone hit his guy so I don't have to listen to his idiocy," said Sokka.

Three of General Fong's soldiers came behind him and knocked him out.

"Thank you," said Sokka.

Aang, Katara, and Sokka got done packing up their stuff, more than ready to leave the Earth Kingdom base.

Aang suddenly grasped his forehand.

"Aang, are you okay?" asked Katara.

"Yeah, just a headache," he said. "You know, I keep getting the feeling I forgot something important."

"Yeah, me too," said Katara looking as if she was trying to figure out what it was.

"Me too," said Sokka. "Well, that's weird, but I don't care if we forgot something, I just want to get out of here!"

Aang and Sokka went ahead, while Katara lingered behind them. She run a hand through her hair and noticed something was there. She tugged it out of her hair to find it was a black and white flower.

"Huh? How did that get there?" she wondered aloud. She inhaled its aroma and smiled. It probably was Aang, he was always doing thoughtful things. He probably had given it to her to say he was sorry, even though none of it was his fault. But how did he get it into her hair?

Katara shrugged her shoulders, and put it back into her hair. Then she heard her voice inside her head. But it wasn't her conscious; it was almost like a memory, which left her utterly confused. It said only one sentence from deep within her heart.

"Yes...you do make me happy, Aang."

The End

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