Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender

Chapter One: Dark and Light

Light blasted out into the night.

Aang’s tent exploded and he rose, surrounded by the glowing aura that was the Avatar State.

Katara shielded her eyes against the burning brightness, knowing that she was the only one who could stop this. Aang yelled in anger from the center of the chaos, his power emanating like an earthquake, his tattoos glowing silver.

Katara ran towards him, as fast as she could. “Aang, no!” Her voice was lost in the howling wind as the four elements converged around her friend.

Toph stood on the ground, trying to keep her stance. But as strong an earthbender as she was, she was swept away with one final cry for help. “Katara!” Then her small frame was tossed like a doll, to rest, lifeless among the rubble. Tears filled Katara’s eyes. “No,” she whispered. An icy hand gripped her body, forcing her to watch, frozen, while her friend died.

Sokka was trapped under a layer of ice, using his Water Tribe boomerang to pick at the ice, to no avail. His hands went weak as he let out his last breath. Katara choked out a sob. She was sure that his mouth had formed her name as he died. His voice faded as his body drifted into the blackness. Katara reached towards him, fighting invisible bonds. She thrashed, reaching for her waterbending, only to find it gone.

She saw people she knew and loved, people she had never met before, each destroyed by the power of Aang’s wrath. Finally, fire bloomed into her vision, surrounding a red clad figure. Katara frowned, she didn’t know anyone worth saving from the fire nation. She mentally corrected herself. Iroh was worth saving- he was a good person.

Now the figure, dressed in red and gold, raised his head. His black hair dripped sweat from the heat of the flames, over his liquid gold eyes. His voice was like the fire that surrounded him, harsh from the heat. “Katara...” Zuko whispered. He stared at her for a moment before she saw the flames reflected in his eyes.

She woke and sat up, gasping for breath. She covered her face. Katara had had this dream before; especially the part about Aang killing Zuko. Why did it still

bother her? Inside her mind, her subconscious was only too willing to answer her question: You love him, it commented snidely. Mind your own business, she retorted, still shaken by the dream. You already know I love Aang.

She crawled out of her sleeping bag and stood slowly, looking around her.

To her left, there was Toph, sleeping soundly in her sand bed. As usual, only an avalanche could wake such a sound sleeper.

Then there was Sokka next to the fire, hugging his sword and twitching like a dreaming hog-monkey. Katara smiled. Her brother was the goofiest person she knew, and he still managed to seem endearing.

She turned to Aang, sleeping on Appa’s tail, Momo wound around his head. Again, Katara smiled. Aang was incredibly powerful for such a little kid. Instantly, her happiness turned to chagrin. She felt guilty about a lot of things that she had done, including the kisses.

The first time, in the cave of two lovers, she had only done it on impulse. Not love, or lust, or even any thought of other kisses. She had just done it. She hadn’t even thought about what she had been doing; she had just done it. There were no faults then, because as far as she knew, neither of them had talked about it.

Katara shivered, remembering the second time.

Aang, about to leave, to fight the fire lord, had unexpectedly kissed her. Right there. Where anyone could have seen him. Seen them. What had he been thinking? At least in the cave there had been complete and total privacy, not to mention darkness.

Katara blushed in the night air, thankful for the dark that shrouded the Western Air Temple. She gazed up at the moon, thinking hard about how her life had changed so drastically:

First, the one person whom she thought it was entirely okay to hate had come over to their side!

Secondly, Zuko and Aang had come back from some ancient civilization to say that Aang could now firebend and that Aang trusted Zuko explicitly.

Thirdly, Zuko and Sokka had disappeared for a few days and come back with some old friends; namely her father, Suki, and a new friend, an ex-prisoner of a Fire Nation prison!

It was nice to have her father and Suki back. Even the new friend had come in handy; he was an incredible cook.

But then the dreams had started. Katara gripped the bridge of her nose with her thumb and middle finger. What did they mean? All that she knew was that she wouldn’t even go near Aang anymore, especially not when he was firebending.

Which reminded Katara of the mental list that she’d been making; the third kiss.

The third kiss had been after Sokka and Zuko had gone on their ‘fishing trip’. It had only been Toph, Aang, Appa, Momo, and Katara. Toph had decided to go exploring in the gorge below, she said to ‘find out whatever the heck was down there and bring it up’.

Aang and Katara had readily agreed, glad that their friend’s feet had finally healed enough to let her earthbend with them. Then Katara had realized that she was stuck alone with Aang. No that she minded being around him, but it just was too awkward with him trying to catch her alone every minute.

Katara blushed at her past foolishness. How could she have let Toph just leave? She stood and walked around, breathing in the cool night air.

The time had come. She sat down next to Aang warily at the camp fire. She had opened her mouth to speak and suddenly he kissed her. She blinked in surprise before realizing that she liked kissing. Then had she realized that she was kissing a child.

Katara sighed. She knew that she had acted rashly, and Aang was perfectly entitled to what he had done. But she just couldn’t get over the shock. Katara shuddered, remembering her own reaction.

She had leapt backwards, startled. He had looked at her with his charcoal grey eyes and she had wished that he hadn’t kissed her. She had felt like she was taking advantage of his youth, his innocence. Because Aang had never had to do the things that she had done. He would never have to see the things that she had seen, and never love her in the way that she loved him. Like a sibling.

This was the guilt that burdened Katara. She could tell that she had hurt Aang, badly, worse than she had ever hurt anyone before.

She had walked away, before falling asleep bending water into figures. Her bed had been soaked and she had fallen into a restless sleep.

Katara groaned inwardly as she remembered this. She had woken with a terrible head ache and a sore neck. She shifted her body until her weight rested on the railing.

Then she had woken, feeling completely un-rested, and had walked back to the campfire, silent, as Aang passed her breakfast. She had eaten quietly and they had waited until Toph had come back, full of stories. They listened politely, Aang trying to catch her eye the whole time. Finally, they had been saved from Toph’s accusatory glances by the arrival of Sokka and Zuko on the war balloon.

Katara breathed in deeply. She could truthfully say that she had been glad (for once) to see Zuko. But she was still unsure. She thought about the dream some more as she turned on the rail. She had her back to the moon now, her shadow stretching in front of her.

She turned to the last person in their group. He was curled into a ball on his mat, his hair glistening with sweat. Katara wondered if maybe she should wake him from whatever vile dream he was having- or not.

Zuko. Why on earth had she seen him in her dream? She couldn’t care less if he lived or died; he was a mean person, one who was just like his sister and father. She trembled, knowing that this was a lie. As mean as Zuko had been, he had never been cruel to them. That was Azula.

And Katara just couldn’t get that look out of her mind, the look on his face when Aang had burst into the crystal catacombs. It was hatred, pure hatred that had stared at Aang from Zuko’s golden eyes. Katara remembered her mind reeling in shock, then turning to see the same look on Aang’s face, directed towards Zuko.

Katara shook her head in frustration. What had that emotion been? Boys, she grumbled silently, what a mystery. She stretched for a moment then climbed down from the rail. She sat facing the embers that had been the fire, cross-legged in meditation.

She didn’t know how long she sat in this position, but by the time she regained consciousness, the moon was setting. She looked around. There was Toph, smiling in whatever dream she was having, there was Sokka, still moving with a firm grip on his sword, there was Aang, lying face down on Appa’s tail, deeply asleep, and- Where was Zuko?

Looking around, she saw the dim light from the still-burning embers that were their fire, and the shadow of a partly open door, leading to another courtyard, where the others slept. Where on earth could Zuko be at this late hour?

A part of Katara asked why she would even care. She hated him. He had made her lose every carefully constructed barrier that she had put up. Him and his gold eyes. What she would have given to be allowed to drown in those eyes. But he was still her enemy, eyes or no.

It would take a lot to get him on her good side. A lot that he didn’t happen to possess. In fact, it would take an amount of good that was equivalent to Azula saving a water tribe child from a mythical monster of her own free will. This, what with the free-will factor, was completely impossible.

Katara stood quietly, her bare feet muffling any sound that boots might have made. She walked silently over to the campfire, looking for him. There he was.

He was kneeling in front of the water, washing his hair of the sweat that had drenched it. He was shaking, his hands clumsily dousing his face with water. Katara sighed mentally. He was obviously scared of something horrible in his dreams, otherwise he wouldn’t be acting this way. So maybe it wasn’t impossible.

She came up behind him and put a hand on his shoulder. He looked up in shock and his cheeks burned. He looked down quickly. Bad as he may have been, it would take a different level of evil to completely destroy Katara’s caring nature. Her voice was soft with sympathy. “Zuko, let me help you. Come on. Let’s go somewhere where we can talk, okay?”