Please don't go without me...

This is not a spoiler, just a little one-shot I wrote after I drew this picture. I'm making it up right now, so it's kind of bad. But I started drawing Katara crying on Aang's shoulder, and I was originally going to title this, "A shoulder to cry on." But then I thought putting the comet in the background would look pretty cool, and I thought this would fit with Katara not wanting Aang to confront Ozai alone.

"Please, let me come with you," Katara sobbed as she clung onto Aang's shoulder. Tears ran like rivers down her face. Her voice was filled with emotion, with a touch of desperation and yet a great sense of love. "I can help. You don't have to do this alone. "

"I have to," said Aang, "I've accepted my destiny. I need to face Ozai alone. You've helped me until now, but I need to take this last step on my own."

"That's not true!" cried Katara. Her voice grew stronger as she said what she had been trying to tell Aang ever since he woke up from his coma on the fire nation ship. "It can never hurt to have someone fighting beside you. We're stronger when we fight together."

"But I don't want you to get hurt," said Aang. "If I have to unleash the Avatar State, you could be hurt, even killed. Even if I don't come out of this alive, I'm risking my life in hope that you will. The whole world is depending on me."

"Then take me with you," whispered Katara as her voice began to break. "You once told me that if I wanted to become a bender, I had to let go of fear. I'm not afraid to fight, and I'm not afraid of death. My greatest fear is that you will die alone, and that I won't be there to catch you as you fall like in Ba Sing Se. I want to be there to save you, I don't want to feel the anguish I did after that battle."

"Katara, listen to me," said Aang. "I want you to fight alongside the others to stop Azula and the firebenders. They will need your strength and your healing more than I will. That is how you can help me defeat Ozai."

"Aang..." Katara's voice was losing strength. She knew that if Aang was determined to go alone, she could not stop him. "Aang...will you promise me that you will come back alive?"

"Katara, I love you. I love you more deeply than you could ever know. Please remember that. Goodbye."

Aang pulled away from Katara, who watched in stunned silence as he opened his glider and flew off towards the horizon of the blood red sky. The sky seemed to reflect the atmosphere; the impending battle would certainly cause blood to spill accross the world, determining all of their fates. Destiny was about to unfold.