"There's too many."

Katara could barely hear Aang's words, just a faint sound over the bangs and blasts and the hissing of flames. But his voice was dejected, desperate – he didn't believe they could win.

And if Aang didn't believe –

Katara sent out a whip of water, shoving the advancing Dai Li agent away from her. Her eyes narrowed in concentration. It didn't matter what Aang thought – they would win this fight, because they had to. Because they had to show Zuko, to show his psychotic sister, that they would not be beaten.

And because, maybe vindictively, she wanted to punish Zuko. She'd been so close to trusting him, so close to believing that he could have changed. But now she was just furious with herself, for ever having believed him.

Didn't you know? she thought bitterly. You can't trust the Fire Nation.

But suddenly she heard her name. Quietly, as though whispered, but with some sort of desperate emotion behind it.

In Aang's voice.

She turned in his direction, flinging water behind her at her attackers, just in time to see a tiny green crystal cave spring out of the ground where he had just been.

What was he doing?

She was distracted, ducking one of Azula's fireballs and returning it with a blast of ice, which Zuko melted, freeing his sister. Katara felt the heat of fury blaze up in her cheeks, and she turned on him instead, swiping at him with a tentacle of water.

Then the ground began to rumble.

Everything froze for a moment, turning towards Aang's tent of crystals. They were glowing, an unearthly green light filling the air. Everyone shrank back, even Azula, if only for a moment – and the tent exploded.

Shards of crystal flew through the air; Katara jumped back, and everyone was doing the same. For a moment, she didn't know what was happening. But –

But from the floor, Aang began to rise.

His eyes and arrow were glowing with intensity – and this, Katara recognized, was not just rage. This was the Avatar State, but controlled – this had been brought on by Aang himself. He rose into the air, glowing so brightly it almost hurt her eyes, but she didn't close them – she felt as though his radiance were entering her, filling her up with his light.

And that was when the lightning left Azula's fingers.

The world seemed to move in slow motion for a moment – Katara didn't see it but she felt, behind her, the hair on the back of her neck stand on end with the charge, heard the crackling – and then it was all around them, approaching the pillar of light that was Aang, he was a dark shape in the middle of it, eyes and tattoo still glowing, vibrating with power, and Katara's hand leapt to her mouth and she prayed, prayed to whomever might be listening that he could deflect it, that he could defend himself, that he wouldn't get hurt –

Then it struck.

For a moment, time stopped. Aang's body was illuminated, the lightning surrounded him, his face contorted, the glowing stopped – the air was ripped by a terrible scream of pain and Katara wondered if it was his or hers, and then she wondered if it even mattered anymore –

And he was falling, tumbling to the ground, his body limp and small – and lifeless.

Katara vaguely realized that she was crying, her eyes burning as all her fear and fury and grief spilled over all at once. In one movement she summoned up all the water around her in a huge wave, possibly the most powerful one she'd ever created, crashing and spilling over Zuko, Azula, everyone else in the cavern, her only thought that she needed to get to Aang.

She was there just in time for his motionless body to drop into her arms.

She hadn't realized how tiny he was, not since she'd held him when he tumbled out of the iceberg, what felt like a lifetime ago. But now he was so small, so light, so cold, so still –

No. No, he couldn't – he couldn't be –

Suddenly Katara wasn't in this cave anymore. She was in a different cave, one made of ice, and she was small again, looking at the lifeless form of her mother, remembering the day she'd promised herself that she'd never let this happen to someone she loved again –

This wasn't supposed to happen. How had she managed to get so close to Aang, in such a short time – how could she have grown to love him – how could she have let this happen to him?

She looked up, cradling him close to her, a wave of hopelessness crashing down on her. Zuko and Azula were advancing on her, coming closer, balls of fire seeming to bloom already in their hands, and yet she couldn't bring up the energy to care –

And then the whole cavern was lit up with a swirl of orange fire – but it wasn't Zuko's. The two siblings looked as surprised as Katara – and then Zuko's uncle dropped to the ground in front of her, landing with his feet apart and his arms outstretched, ready to fight. For . . . her?

"You've got to get out of here!" His voice was jarring; Katara realized that he was right. She still had the spirit water, thank goodness she hadn't used it on Zuko – if she could get to it in time – please – "I'll hold them off as long as I can!"

There wasn't time to thank him, wasn't time to say anything else. She called to the waterfall with everything in her, only vaguely recognizing the sounds of slamming and hissing fire; she pulled the water together, twisted the currents around her – and then she was rising from the ground, rising up through the waterfall not unlike Aang had before, still holding his lifeless body close to her – and then she was out.

Thank goodness the others were close – Sokka's eyes popped open when he saw her holding Aang, but she waved off his questions. Now was not the time to explain. Now was the time to do what she could . . . whatever she could . . . if it wasn't too late . . .

She laid Aang down, gently, atop the back of his beloved pet. Appa grumbled slightly as though he knew what had happened to his master, but he too seemed to realize that this was not the time for reactions – it was the time for healing.

Aang wasn't breathing; he was so still, his shoulder blades sharply defined under his skin. If this didn't work – no. No. It had to work.

Katara uncorked her vial of water.

As though in a dream, she bent it out of the vial, into the air, and manipulated it between her palms until it felt warm and seemed to glow with energy, with life. She hoped it was enough. It had to be enough.

Please.

As she worked, everything fell away. She was stripped of all her hope, all her despair, all emotions except for grim determination. Moving the water through the air, she laid it on Aang's back, directly against his wound.

Please.

The water seemed to glow more intensely now – and then it slowly lowered itself into his skin, as though sucked up by the mark. Katara held her breath.

Please . . . please . . . pleasepleasepleaseplease . . .

And nothing happened.

No! She couldn't believe it – that wasn't supposed to happen; it wasn't supposed to fail, it was supposed to work, it was supposed to bring him back –

And yet he was still so lifeless, like a doll rather than a boy, it didn't seem that it had worked – and she gathered him up into her arms, pulled him close to her, and let the tears spill over –

And then suddenly, his skin grew warm against hers. His arrow flashed, just for a moment – yes – and he let out a weak noise, something between a cough and a groan – and he stirred in her arms.

Half-laughing, half-crying, she turned him around in her arms, until she could see his face. His eyelids were fluttering, barely open, but his lips were curved into a slight smile, and his eyes were full of recognition. He exhaled, a weak breath stirring her face, and then his eyes closed again – but he was alive.

She pulled him in close, hugging him to her, pressing her cheek against his scalp and letting her tears fall on his head. He was here. He was alive. And for the moment, that was all that mattered.

Okay, so obviously this is the scene in which Aang is struck by lightning. It's sort of Kataang, not really - it's not exactly platonic, but I figure her love for him goes deeper than pretty much anything. I do ship Kataang, but I just don't think she's at that point yet (even though he is, hehehe). Maybe this is even the catalyst.