Ever - Aang/Katara (1/1)

Ever
By: White Rain
Disclaimer: I don't own Avatar.
Character/Pairing: Katara, Aang/Katara
Genre: Character Study/Romance
Word Count: 516
Notes: For debacul.
Summary: For some people it was difficult to see Aang's broken edges.

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For some people, it was difficult to see Aang's broken edges, probably because Aang wasn't aware of them, himself. Most of the time, he was simply happy to be alive and with those he loved, despite whatever pain he suffered.

It wasn't hard for Katara. Maybe it was because she spent so much time dwelling on her own edges, molding herself after her mother to hold onto something, that it was hard for her not to see what other broken edges people had.

Especially when it was someone she knew and loved. When it was someone she was so focused on almost completely. It was hard for her not to, because Aang made it so she didn't feel she had to clutch onto the past to remind herself of what she'd lost. She made her hope could honor her mother's memory and still live fully.

He made her hope the world wouldn't always be so horrible and that peace would come again. That the fire nation wouldn't take away anyone else from her.

It was hard not to believe, when Aang was sure he could be both a jewelery-maker and the savior of the world. Saving the world didn't have to drain you, didn't have to complete you, didn't have to define you. It didn't seem to impossible, so scary then.

It was hard to think of him as the Avatar, because he was Aang, in every way that truly counted.

It wasn't the Avatar that was filled with tired and scared grief at the family he'd lost or the slow realization that he had a family again now. It wasn't the Avatar who gave her that look when the rage within her that she couldn't begin to understand started to break free and she was able to dispel it and not bury it. It wasn't the Avatar that made he realize what a world of difference that was. It wasn't the Avatar that she reshaped the clouds with in order to save that village.

It was Aang who did that. Part of her wants to say he's her best friend, but that doesn't quite cover it, nor explain the way she sometimes wanted to blush when she looked at him or the way her hugs have started to tingle when she held him recently.

The wind and dust around her bit into her cheeks. She could feel the panic around her. There were tears building up in her eyes. All she could see was Aang, to the point that she didn't even realize the panic and bitting wind came from the Avatar.

And he was in pain. He'd lost the last link to his old life and was angry enough to want to make everyone around him hurt as much. He was lonely.

She stepped toward him and grabbed his arm.

You're not alone she thought silently to him.

He allowed her to pull him into her arms and wept because that scared him more, that he'd lose more people he loved and the loneliness he felt would be sharper than ever.