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kristallioness · 7 years

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Trial by fire

Summary: After an explosion sets almost 3 floors of the hospital on fire, Aang and Katara need to act fast to save each other, bring a lost patient to safety and prevent the building from burning down completely.

Word count: 8,246

Author's note: This turned out much darker than I'd expected, given the name of the prompt, which sounds like something fluffy. Oh no, this is far from it.. I accidentally happened to watch "Grey's Anatomy", season 13 episode 24 "Ring of Fire", around midnight on June the 1st. Everything that happened in there inspired this story. I've never written such an action-packed fanfic before. I can't believe I finished it in 3 days, without editing much. Dalia's name means "fate" or "luck" in Lithuanian. *sends love to my neighbours* Sironah's name is associated with healing and children, I added the 'h' at the end to give her a more authentic Water Tribe vibe. In my headcanon, the first hospital established by Katara was among some of the highest buildings in Republic City, similarly to Cabbage Corp. Also, Aang and Katara are in their early twenties, so they're wearing the same clothes as seen in the "Old Friends" poster.

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The last thing she remembered was a rampaging firebender, who was most likely one of her healer's patients, setting nearly everything on fire in the hallway. Until he reached the closet where some of their backup equipment was kept, namely oxygen tanks, dozens of them. Most of the healers nearby were either knocked out, helping the wounded get to the lower floors since that whole level was on fire now, or a few unlucky ones closest to the epicenter of the explosion - lying dead on the ground. And Katara was one of them. Not dead, but a person who just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Right across from the storage room, in another healer's office.

When her diamond blue eyes barely opened, she felt dizzy and confused. What the flameo had just happened? She didn't move, she didn't even raise her head, she just looked at different directions with her eyes. She saw medical instruments scattered on the floor, broken glass, ashes left from burnt piles of documents. She didn't react until she saw blazing orange flames sneaking closer to the door as well as smoke coming in from the tightly sealed edges. She gasped in horror as everything came back to her. She'd been waiting for her employee to return when she heard an explosion that knocked her down to the ground.

When she rose, she released a loud cry of pain and fell back halfway, supporting the weight of her upper body on her left arm. Her eyes grew wide - the skin had severe burns all over, she'd need water to heal those as soon as possible if she didn't want to have so many scars. The sound of stuff cracking in the heat outside of the office reminded her that this wasn't the time to think about minor problems - she needed to get out of there, fast.

Katara grabbed the edge of the desk, carefully rising up to make sure she doesn't have a dizzy spell. The last thing she needed now was to faint again. The fire had already cut off the escape route to the elevator in the spacious waiting room. She'd have to go out through the staircase. It was a matter of minutes when the fire would spread all around the doorway of the office she was trapped in. Katara stared at the back of the room, she cursed a moment later. She was in a regular doctor's office, which meant that there weren't any huge pots filled with water for healing purposes, such as healers like her would've had. There won't be enough time to help anyone else now, she'd just have to run for her life.

With that, Katara turned the knob and opened the door. She was greeted by raging heat and an enormous amount of smoke. She covered her nose and mouth with her good arm and gazed at the damage before her. It was surprisingly quiet, nobody was screaming and she didn't hear any movement, other than the long corridor sizzling and items getting swallowed by the fire. She couldn't just leave anyone if there happened to be survivors, so she decided to head towards the waiting room for as long as she could in her condition.

"Hello? Is anyone out there?" she shouted repeatedly and coughed in between, almost reaching the area of the waiting lounge. The furniture and reception area was engulfed in flames, the path to the elevator blocked by the ceiling that had collapsed right in front of it, and not a soul to be seen. The situation was getting critical, so Katara decided to leave while she still had the chance.

"Help!" a faint scream came from the other end of the corridor.

"Oh no.." Katara turned around in shock. It was a child's voice.

"Hello!? Where are you?" she ran straight back inside the burning area of that floor, somehow managing to evade the bigger flames while making her way to the other side.

"HELP!" the cry was a lot louder now. When Katara reached the end of the hallway, the furry edges at the bottom of her tunic had caught fire and she patted them to put it out. After making sure that she herself wasn't in danger, Katara peeked inside another office, the one where she'd heard the shriek emanate from, and there she was. A little girl, not more than 5 years old, hidden in the corner of the room, behind a huge desk. Katara immediately ran to her and squatted down right in front of her.

"Hello, there! I'm Katara, and I'm a healer. What's your name?" she cupped the child's cheek, wiping away her tears.

"D-Dalia," the girl barely stuttered out, covering her eyes when they both heard a loud thud that shook the ground beneath them.

"Dalia, are you hurt?" the waterbender asked, swiftly searching for any visible injuries, but she shook her head.

"Okay, Dalia, listen to me. There's no need to be afraid. I'm here now and I'm gonna get you out of here safe and sound. I promise you that. Alright? Does that sound like a good plan to you?" Katara tilted her head, attempting to calm the child down and fighting her own nerves at the same time. The little girl nodded.

"Okay, come here," she lifted Dalia into her arms, cradling her tight against her chest so she wouldn't have to see the horrors she was about to go through. But as the two stepped out of the office, they were greeted by another unpleasant surprise.

"Oh my gosh!" Katara's mouth fell wide open. In the midst of dealing with the alarmed child, the ceiling of the waiting lounge in the middle had collapsed even more, every little piece covered in flames and the corridor leading to the exit blocked by large construction details. There was no way she was going to get through that without getting burnt alive.

"It's okay, Dalia. We'll just have to think of something else," Katara stroked the crying girl's head, not sure what that something else would be. If only Toph were there to metalbend the burning metal parts out of the way.

But Toph was outside instead, ordering her officers around to help with the evacuation of the hospital. Her police force and the fire department had arrived five minutes after receiving the first call about the incident, which was remarkably fast. Hundreds of healers, doctors and patients had already found their way out of the burning building, but a lot of them were still on their way, especially the ones escaping from the higher floors. At least the majority of the bedridden patients were located at the lower floors where the emergency room and private wards were. The higher grounds were occupied by specialists, family physicians or highly ranked employees, with Katara's office being at the very top.

Since the explosion took place on the 40th floor, the firefighters couldn't possibly reach the fire from the streets down below. They sent a smaller force of firebenders and waterbenders inside, who would go up the staircase and wouldn't disturb the evacuees, since it was the only escape route being used by both. The first ones would begin extinguishing the bigger flames whereas the second ones would put out the remainders with the water they were carrying in their pouches to prevent further damage to the entire building, and the possibility of it collapsing from the middle.

By the time the firefighters reached the 37th floor, which had caught smaller flames from the 38th floor, to begin putting out the fire and the majority of the evacuation was beginning to end, Aang finally arrived at the scene. He'd been busy on Air Temple Island when he'd heard of the fire at the hospital seven minutes later after it'd started. Toph had made an urgent phone call because as the Avatar he'd be a much needed asset to the firefighters. She ran to him when she felt Appa land near some of the police carriages. The sky bison released a loud growl, startling some of the ostrich horses harnessed to the vehicles. He didn't like the smell of smoke nor the sight of fire high up in the air.

"Toph, what's the status?" Aang airbended himself off from the top of Appa's head. The two of them headed closer to the entrance while Toph explained the situation.

"The workers are all almost accounted for, some of them are checking on the patients to make sure nobody was left behind. They've made enough room for patients who are in critical condition on the street at the western side of the building. My metalbenders are counting the other visitors to help them find their relatives."

"Any casualties?"

"So far.. 4 healers and 2 visitors. Hopefully that'll be all of them," Toph sighed, slightly hanging her head. They reached the crowd of people who were supposed to visit their respectful healers on this regular day. One middle-aged woman seemed to be rather hysterical when talking to the metalbenders.

"My baby! Where's my baby!? Please, you've gotta help me find her!"

"Calm down, ma'am. We're going to find your child. Where were you when you got separated?"

"I was right where the explosion happened. Some healer grabbed me from my shoulders and dragged me out of there. She said I was in complete shock, I couldn't speak, I-I.. I didn't even remember that Dalia was still somewhere in there! Oh, why didn't I say something?" the poor woman broke down in tears, falling down on her knees in front of the officer. Aang heard the entire thing and felt sorry for her. He hoped that the child would be found amongst the other visitors soon. Another metalbender ran straight towards his Chief and the Avatar.

"Chief Beifong, I'm afraid we have a problem. The firefighters radioed that the 38th floor is in danger of collapsing and they might get trapped between the metal frames falling from the ceiling."

"Send ten metalbenders up there for backup, immediately! I want that fire to be put out as soon as possible. If there's anyone trapped on any of those floors, I want them out alive!"

"Yes, Chief! There's one more thing. The healers finished their head count, everybody who should be out of that building is present, except for one healer.." the officer averted his solemn gaze to the airbender's worried grey eyes.

"Who?" Aang's heart sank, but he still dared to ask.

"Master Katara."

At that moment, time seemed to slow down. Aang looked up towards the 40th floor of the hospital, flames now visibly growing stronger from the air intruding inside from one of the many broken windows. The black plume of smoke rising high into the sky, so high that he could see it when he was still back on Air Temple Island, jumping on his animal guide to fly to the source of trouble. But now, he knew that Katara was still in there. His Katara. She could've already been dead, for all they knew. But Aang hated that thought, he had to focus on the positive, hope that Katara was still breathing if there was any chance of getting her out of there alive. He clenched his hands into fists, his tattoos nearly glowing white from his fury and determination to save the love of his life. He really had to hold himself back in order not to enter the Avatar State. This was a time for him to have a clear head and come up with a well-thought-out course of action. He took a deep breath and sighed.

"Alright, we're going to need a plan."

Katara had no idea when and if any firefighters would reach them. She'd closed the door leading to the doctor's office where she'd found Dalia to keep the fire out and to buy them some time. The little girl was sitting in the doctor's blue armchair behind the desk while observing what the nearly panic-stricken woman was frantically searching for. She'd looked through most of the cabinets and found some larger blankets.

"Dalia? Are you okay back there?" Katara asked after another minute had passed, her head buried deep inside another cupboard.

"Don't worry! We're going to get out of here soon, now I just need.." she threw a pile of smaller blankets on the floor.

"Water!" she closed the cabinet doors and started looking around the room, spotting a sink on the opposite wall, just like the one in her office.

"Please, give me a few drops.." Katara begged, turning the faucet and waiting for something, anything to come out of the pipe. It took a minute or two before a narrow stream of water began running into the sink.

"Yes! Yes-yes-yes!" the waterbender clapped her hands together and jumped from excitement, finally something she could work with. It definitely wasn't enough for her to put out the entire fire and she reckoned it was too dangerous to stay put since the ceiling had already collapsed in the waiting room. It was only a matter of time before the floor beneath their feet could fall down or the already unstable ceiling above them might crush them. She went back to the pile of blankets, picked up a medium one and the biggest one she could find to bring those back to the sink.

"Dalia, we're getting out of here. I'm gonna make these blankets wet so the fire outside won't hurt us. I'll wrap you inside this smaller one and pull the bigger one on top of my head. Then we're gonna run through the hallway and reach the staircase on the other side, unharmed. Are you okay with that plan?" Katara peeked at the terrified little girl from behind her shoulder. Dalia merely hummed in agreement, there wasn't much else to say.

"Come here.. this might feel a little cold," Dalia hopped off the armchair and stood in front of Katara, who squatted down to wrap the wet blanket around her. The little girl shivered a bit when the cold fabric touched her skin. Before she was wrapped up nicely like a baby, she screamed and hid her face against Katara's chest. Something else blew up in the corridor with a sharp bang, which forced Katara to have a slight scare as well.

"Shh-shh! It's okay. We're getting out of here now," she patted the child's back, holding her in her embrace for a couple of seconds until she calmed down. Katara wrapped one wet blanket around her waist like a skirt and pulled the other one over her head. Then she lifted Dalia into her arms exactly like the first time, letting her bury into the crook of her neck so one of her hands would remain free to waterbend some water onto the fire in their path.

"Okay, Dalia, you can close your eyes now if you don't wanna look," Katara said, allowing the girl to wrap her arms tightly around her neck to hold on. She turned the faucet and used the streaming water to slowly form a thin protective cloak around their bodies. It'd have to do. Once they were completely covered with water, she opened the door to begin their escape.

"The explosion took place on the 40th floor, so that's the most unstable level right now. We're working on stabilizing the lower two floors so we can enter the next ones," one of the metalbenders explained.

"Okay, so the firefighters and Aang can't enter the building until the metalbenders already inside have secured the entire 38th floor, which would help prevent the building from falling apart," Toph said, holding a hand on the map that contained illustrations of the hospital's construction plans.

"That's right, Chief."

"How far are they?" Aang asked and watched how the officer radioed the task force, waiting nervously for them to answer the call. It took a few seconds, but finally there was an answer.

"..Given the impact of the explosion, the 38th floor is remarkably strong to have sustained it. The ceiling hasn't collapsed, but we added some metal structure to strengthen the walls just in case. We're almost near the end of the eastern wing, only a few smaller fires that need to be put out. We'll be entering the 39th floor in about ten minutes."

"Any survivors?" the airbender interrupted, but the officer let him speak into the radio.

"No.. None yet. We'll make contact when we're ready to enter the 39th."

"Copy that," the officer put the radio away, Aang lowered his head for a moment.

"It's time to brief the firefighters about our plan," he said before turning around and walking over to a group of more than 20 men and women, firebenders and waterbenders, ready to assist him.

Katara wished she had some assistance right now more than ever. The eastern end of the hallway stood strong, but the flames had already swallowed half of it. She tried to hurry because as soon as they'd stepped into the heat, she could feel how their thin water cloak began turning into steam. The water molecules were being boiled into vapors one by one. Carrying Dalia on her burnt arm, towels blocking her ability to move her body freely while manoeuvring through the burning construction details and waterbending the shield around their bodies at the same time - saying that it was hard would've been an understatement.

When Katara reached the area of the waiting room, the most difficult part of their escape began - stepping over or crawling under long frames of burning metal. The pieces were scattered so chaotically that it was impossible to move through them fast. Katara tried to lift her legs as high as she could to avoid her long tunic from catching fire, especially since her water cloak had practically dissipated around her legs by the time she reached the middle of the lounge. She waterbended some of the remaining liquid from the top of her head down below to protect her feet.

The other end of the corridor leading to the western wing was in her sight, but once she'd climbed over one of the final metal frames, she stopped in her tracks. There were at least ten of those thick details piled up next to the former storage room, blocking their exit completely. She couldn't turn back to fetch more water and they couldn't afford to stand still in the flames that were boiling their water cloak for long. Katara had to kill two birds with one stone, or much rather, one pebble - waterbend a strong enough blow against the metal, which would knock at least half of the pile off from the top so they could climb over the rest, and extinguish the bigger flames so they wouldn't burn themselves while climbing across.

"Dalia, I'm going to put you down now! I need to use the water to remove this metal out of the way. When I say run, run straight over that pile of metal, okay? I'll be right behind you!" Katara yelled to the little girl as she let her stand right next to her. Once Dalia nodded, Katara pulled off their water cloak, hoping that their wet blankets would protect them from the worst. She focused all of her energy and sent their only water bullet towards the tower of the pile, barely knocking down five bigger construction parts towards the western end of the corridor. At least there was an opening. She ran to the now-smaller heap and quickly placed both of her bigger wet blankets on the smouldering metal in the center.

"Run, Dalia!" she shouted and watched how the little girl began climbing over the pile, following her the entire way, risking burning herself even more to spare the child who was holding onto the wet blanket wrapped around her tiny body.

A minute later, they'd both made it over the pile of metal and reached the other end of the hallway, which was filled with smoke and flames covering the walls on either side. The damage hadn't been this bad when Katara had regained consciousness after the explosion. She quickly stood up and picked up Dalia before she began running towards the door leading to the staircase. Kicking it open, she faced another problem.

"No..." Katara gasped, her diamond blue eyes growing wide. The connection between the 39th and 40th floor was cut off by burning debris from the storage room's wall. She didn't have time to think about their next move since something rather hot began warming up her legs and it was becoming harder to breathe. The lower half of her clothing was catching fire, as was the staircase on the higher levels, and the smoke began rising to the top. The waterbender decided to head to the roof, hence she jumped over the broken part of stairs, which the storage room wall had taken along, and landed safely on higher ground.

"Uhh.. it's okay, Dalia! Let's go upstairs instead! We'll be safe there.. at least until someone puts out the fire down here," Katara continued talking to the little girl to remain calm as she hurried up the stairs while coughing the excess smoke out of her lungs. Her speaking helped calm herself down more than the child. She could've finished that thought in another way - and as long as the entire hospital doesn't collapse.

"..As soon as we have the affirmative, the task force will meet us at the window of the leftmost office facing the southern side of the building on the 39th floor. They'll break the glass if it's still intact, or open the window so we can climb in. We'll help put out the bigger fires, the metalbenders will stabilize the entire floor along the way before moving on to the next floor, and we'll all search for any more survivors, including Katara. Any questions?" Aang asked once he'd finished his speech to the group of firefighters and officers. The members of the rescue workers shared a few glances, but otherwise remained silent.

"Good. Let's move out, people! We have the world's best healer to save!" he ordered and waited for the group of benders to run on one of the police airships Toph had sent specifically for their mission. Once everybody was safely on board, he began heading up to join them, but was stopped by someone who'd grabbed his right hand.

"Aang, wait!" Toph exclaimed, her tone sounding rather emotional. She waited for the airbender to swiftly turn around, then she pulled him into a hug.

"Bring Sugar Queen out of there.. Good luck!" Toph whispered into his ear and gave him a strong pat on his back, after which she released her hold. With one foot back on the street, Aang smiled, hoping that she could sense him doing it.

"I will."

Just as the airship started taking off, with the door on the side still open and Aang holding onto the edge, gazing down at the crowd waving them off, Toph gave him a thumbs up. He knew she couldn't see it, but he returned the gesture to her and everyone else cheering them on. One of the women among the rescue workers, a waterbender and a firefighter, kept staring at the Avatar. She could've been in her mid-twenties at best, not much older than him. Aang noticed once he leaned back inside, waiting for the airship to reach their destination high in the sky. He stared back at her for awhile, but his face softened, his grey eyes filled with kindness urged the woman to talk to him. She gathered enough courage to speak what was on her mind.

"Avatar Aang? Are you sure you wanna come with us? It could be dangerous.. I mean, we've handled these kinds of things before and-" her blabbering was cut short when Aang supported his hand on her shoulder. The young lady jumped a bit from the surprise.

"Are you married?" he asked directly, she gulped before answering his question.

"N-no.. but I have a boyfriend."

"Would you be willing to do anything to save him if it was him in there?"

The firefighter looked behind the Avatar, seeing smoke coming out from some of the broken windows on the 39th floor. They were in position.

"Yes."

"Well, right now, my wife's still somewhere in there.. I'm going in, too," Aang smiled back at her, hoping that she understood his answer. The metalbending officer, who had come up with the plan together with him and Chief Beifong, radioed the task force inside.

"Are we ready to go?"

"Yes, sir! But there's a problem - the staircase leading to the 40th floor is blocked by debris. The storage room wall must've collapsed to the inside of the stairs. We'll need some help to clear it out of the way."

"Copy that," the officer put the radio back in his shoulder bag and turned to his team.

"Attention, everyone! We should be able to enter the building within a few minutes. However, I've received news that the staircase leading to the 40th floor is blocked by debris. Once we're inside, I need some of our metalbenders to stay put and begin clearing that away in order to gain access to the higher floors as soon as we're done on the 39th."

Just then, Aang noticed three members of the task force open the window across from the airship.

"It's time to go!" he shouted to the group aboard. The officer ran right next to him on the open door, metalbending a cable between the airship and the outer wall of the hospital. After that, each firefighter was carried into the building in a metalbender's arms, who slid down on the cable and landed safely inside the office. Aang was the last one to jump and enter the building.

The door leading to the roof opened with a loud clang when Katara kicked it open with her foot. She barely managed to take a few steps further before she fell down on her knees and broke down in a horrible coughing fit, still cradling Dalia in her arms the entire time. Having caught her breath again, she wiped her eyes and stared at the familiar skyline in front of them. She'd never realized what a beautiful sight it was.

"Huh, we made it.. Dalia, we made it! We're alive!" Katara exclaimed, almost laughing in the end, whereas a few tears rolled down her cheeks from the relief. At least they were out of danger for now. She slowly removed the dried up blanket from around the child's body. Her heart skipped a beat - she saw that the girl's eyes were closed, like she'd fallen asleep.

"Oh no.. No-no-no-no-no! Not now.. Dalia? Dalia, wake up! Don't fall asleep!" Katara patted her cheeks to keep her awake for as long as she could. She examined her body for external injuries a second time, but didn't notice anything. It wasn't until then that it clicked in her head - they were on the 40th floor, the rightmost office of the eastern wing. She knew who the doctor was in that office.

"What medications are you on? What does your doctor give you?" the waterbender shouted, slightly shaking the child.

"In.. inch.. ins-lin," the girl muttered before losing consciousness. She needed insulin, she was diabetic. Katara couldn't afford to wait for long, she laid Dalia down on the ground and ran back to the door leading to the staircase. She opened it and attempted to go back down, at least so far that she could reach the floor of her own office to fetch the necessary medicine. She didn't even take 20 steps before she ran back outside into the fresh air, closing the door behind her to stop the fire from growing. The thick smoke blurred her vision and irritated her lungs too much for her to dive straight in. This wasn't going to work, she'd have to find another way down.

Katara ran to the edge of the roof and looked down, wondering whether the firefighters had already arrived. She had no idea how long they'd been trapped inside. She saw even more people surrounding the place - her employees and patients arranged on two sides of the building, a group of police officers trying to keep the crowd of bystanders further away from around the hospital's perimeter. Even an airship was flying not too far away from the roof, probably near the 40th floor.

"HELP! WE'RE UP HERE! ANYONE? HELP US!" Katara began screaming from the top of her lungs, waving her hands above her head in the hope that someone would notice her tiny figure. She tried for at least a minute, but it seemed that not even the people aboard the airship could hear her. Her voice faded into nothingness halfway down and the propellers of the airship were creating too much noise. Katara ran back to Dalia and checked her pulse, she was fading away, too.

"No-no-no.. Don't you dare leave me! Dalia!" Katara's voice cracked when she said the girl's name. There had to be something she could do to save this child's life. She held Dalia against her chest almost as if she was her own daughter and looked up at the cloudy sky with tears forming in the corners of her diamond blue eyes, praying for the spirits to spare this girl. Her sobbing ceased a moment later.

"Wait a minute.. that's it!" Katara let Dalia go again and stood up, doing a full circle to spot the clouds nearest to the rooftop of the hospital. She lifted her arms and began summoning the water closer to the southern side of the building. She noticed the awful burns from the explosion that'd destroyed the sarashi wrapped around her left arm and damaged a lot of the skin underneath the cloth. Either she'd already forgotten about them or the scar tissue had turned completely numb and her body had shut down the pain to focus on more important tasks, such as staying alive.

Once she'd gathered enough clouds into a big soft cottony heap, she waterbended them into different parts, forming a specific word out of each one. Her message was huge and ready two minutes later. Finally, Katara ran to the opposite edge of the roof to guide a couple of heavier and thicker clouds to her, forming a rather enormous amount of water into a round ball. Holding the water ball above her head, she ran back to the southern side and stared down at the crowd around the hospital. Where should she land it? Somewhere someone would notice. Not the area the patients and her employees occupied, it'd scare off the crowd as well. She decided - the police it is then - and waterbended the liquid down like a short, but heavy shower.

"Has everyone located their friends and family?" Toph asked one of her metalbenders in charge of making a list of the visitors.

"Almost, Chief. One mother hasn't seen her daughter since the explosion. We radioed the task force to keep a look out for a 5-year-old girl hiding in any of the offices on any of those floors."

"Good job-" Toph didn't manage to finish her sentence when a sudden dose of water fell on top of her head, including most of the metalbenders near her as well. She felt how a wet circle formed on the ground around them, the shape was too neat.

"What the flameo!? Where did this sudden rain come from!? Last I heard there wasn't a rain cloud in sight!"

"Chief, look up there! It's a message!" the metalbender she'd addressed earlier pointed to the sky. She knitted her brows and grimaced at him. She'd been the leader of the Republic City Police Department for a short period of time, hence why many of her workers tended to forget that she was blind.

"Well, tell me what it says, you idiot!"

"Oh, sorry! It says: 'HELP! WE'RE UP HERE!'."

Toph's pale emerald green eyes grew wide and a smile formed on her lips. She felt like a huge rock had just fallen off her shoulders.

"Katara.. of course. She's alive."

By then, the task force inside had almost finished putting out the fire and stabilized the entire 39th floor, which would've collapsed from the center if they hadn't gotten there when they did. Aang was helping the firebenders extinguish the last bigger flames in the eastern wing while some of the metalbenders braced the walls around them to keep them safe. Some of the waterbenders used the opportunity to refill their water skins with more water from any working sinks in the rooms. The other half of the metalbenders had dug a big enough hole through the debris, gaining all of them access to the 40th floor. Soon they'd be ready to move on to the worst level.

To be honest, Aang wasn't sure whether he wanted to move on. With each construction detail moved out of the way or used as a support beam, every office briefly searched through, his dread grew. They still hadn't located Katara. If she really was trapped on the next floor, anything could've already happened to her. A metal frame knocking her unconscious, breathing in too much poisonous gases...

"Aang! Do you copy? Katara's on the roof!" Toph's shouting was heard from the radio inside the shoulder bag the officer was carrying. The airbender turned around so fast the metalbender didn't have time to blink before the radio was already in his hands.

"Toph? Can you copy that?"

"Katara's on the roof!"

"Are you sure?"

"Of course I'm sure, you dunderhead! She just waterbended a cloud into rain and poured it all over us down here to get our attention! There's a message in the clouds saying that. What else do you want for proof!? Go! Now!"

Aang dropped the radio and ran faster than the wind, back to the office where their task force had entered and where the airship was waiting for them. He climbed outside and stood on the windowsill, searching for something from the inside of his bright red shirt.

"Avatar Aang? Is everything alright? Do you need something?" one of the officers aboard the airship noticed he'd returned. The airbender was busy blowing a tiny bison-shaped whistle.

"Just my sky bison," he replied once he'd released a loud enough sound wave. He looked straight up and saw the message made out of clouds, as well as a familiar figure waving her hands over the edge. It was her.

"Katara... Oh, thank goodness!" Aang sighed in relief and rubbed his eyes as a few tears of joy were scattered by the strong gusts of wind, seeing how Appa approached his location. Once the sky bison was close enough, the airbender gave himself a boost and landed on top of his head, instantly grabbing the reins and guiding him straight upwards.

"Appa, yip-yip!"

Once Katara saw her husband flying towards the roof, she understood that they'd seen her message. She was just as relieved as he was to have been found. She ran back to pick up Dalia. Appa released a loud growl as soon as he'd spotted Katara in the middle of the roof, crouched over someone much smaller than her. Aang landed his animal guide safely and joined her a moment later, tackling her with a surprise hug.

"Katara! You're okay!" he exclaimed as he fell down on his knees, holding her in his embrace for a few seconds. He released his hold when she didn't respond, she didn't even budge to look at him. Appa took a few steps closer and grunted, gently nudging her back with his big wet nose. It wasn't until then that the airbender saw how the waterbender was cradling a little girl, who looked just as grimy as she did. Katara had an ear pressed to her chest, she could hear the child's heartbeat become fainter by the minute. She gazed up at her husband with two heartbroken diamond blue eyes.

"Aang, we've gotta move. Dalia needs insulin right away."

"Then let's move!" Aang declared and swiftly lifted both girls into his arms, airbending all three of them onto Appa's head.

"Appa, yip-yip!" he grabbed the reins with his right hand to guide the sky bison back down towards the street, holding a weak Katara steady with the other one. During their descent, Aang couldn't keep his eyes off her nor the child in her burnt arms. He was mostly shocked by the horrible burns on her left arm, not even he had hurt her as badly when he'd first tried firebending. But the girl in her arms, her name sounded familiar.

"You said her name is Dalia, right?" he wondered, watching how Katara knit her brows while she held her index and middle finger on the child's wrist, mumbling something to herself. She was counting, focused on her pulse. When she was finished, she nodded.

"Why do you ask?"

"It means we've found our last missing person.. besides you, of course," Aang tried to lighten up the mood. He was glad that Katara glanced at him for a second, giving him a weak smile in return. They'd reached the front of the hospital by then. Aang landed Appa in a larger open space behind the line of metalbenders protecting the medical workers and their patients on the western and southern side of the building. He didn't get a chance to grab Katara because she'd already hopped off from his lap and slid down the right side of Appa's head. For someone who'd been through hell for the past hour or two, she had an unbelievable amount of strength left in her body.

"I need some help over here!" Katara shouted to her staff, a group of three healers met her halfway as she hurried towards them.

"What's the matter?"

"This girl needs an insulin shot and pure oxygen immediately," Katara explained, gently handing the child over into another healer's arms.

"Oh my goodness! Master Katara, you're burnt!" the other healer grabbed her left hand and examined her skin.

"We must heal this right away if you don't want-"

"I don't care about having scars! Just get Dalia the help she needs!" Katara pulled her hand back angrily and ran after the healer who'd taken the girl with her to a nearby empty hospital bed. The two healers she'd yelled at stared at each other for a moment before joining their scary boss and co-worker, followed by Aang. They watched how Katara searched for the proper syringe from a box of medications under the bed while her employee placed an oxygen mask on the child's face. Two professionals doing their finest.

"Is that my baby!? Dalia! I want to see my daughter!" a woman started to panic in front of the metalbenders, who then attempted to restrain her. Luckily, both Aang and Katara noticed the incident.

"Katara, that's Dalia's mother!" the airbender pointed towards the woman, waiting for his wife to finish giving the child her life-saving injection.

"No! Let her through! She's the patient's mother!" Katara turned around and screamed to the officers, who backed off and allowed the hysterical lady to pass.

"Oh dear! No!.. Spirits, don't let her die!" the distraught mother ran to her daughter's side and grabbed her tiny hand, peppering it with kisses.

"It's going to be okay, ma'am," Katara grabbed the woman's shoulders to calm her down. She was shaking like a leaf compared to the master waterbender, who remained surprisingly still.

"She needs-"

"Insulin, I know. I'm a healer.. Master Katara. She told me before she fainted when we were up on the roof. I've just given her a dose. She should wake up any moment now," Katara tenderly ran her hand over Dalia's chest, feeling her breathing and much stronger heartbeat thumping against the palm of her hand. The group anxiously waited for her to regain consciousness, not daring to move a muscle as if it would've been fatal for the little girl. Half a minute passed in silence before Dalia's lashes started to quiver and she revealed her gorgeous dark brown eyes. Everyone heaved a sigh of relief.

"Mommy.. you're here," Dalia said, after which she coughed a little. Her mother leaned over and hugged her as tight as she could, sobbing into the pillow under her daughter's head. Katara couldn't hold back her tears any longer either, so she turned around to bury her face into Aang's chest, who gifted her with a kiss on her temple. The girl's mother looked back at her daughter's saviour crying next to her husband.

"Thank you.. thank you so much, Master Katara! You brought my baby back!" her voice quavered so much it broke Katara's heart. She barely managed a smile and a nod as she wiped away her tears.

"You're welcome.." her own voice cracked similarly, but Aang noticed there was something else to it. Her speech seemed a bit slurred now. Katara's body finally stopped pumping the adrenaline she'd needed to stay alert and act fast. At the sight of Dalia and her mother reunited with three of her healers keeping an eye on the child's condition, she fainted and fell backwards, nearly collapsing on the ground. Luckily, Aang caught her limp body in his arms before she could've hit her head.

"Woah!.. Katara? I need some help!" he frantically looked around them and almost got the other three healers in a tizzy when suddenly someone tapped him on the back. He turned around and stared down at a short elderly woman dressed in a healer's uniform.

"Avatar Aang, I'm healer Sironah. Please come with me. I'll give your wife a checkup," she said with a very sympathetic voice. The airbender glanced at the other healers, who urged him to trust the old lady and go with her. He followed her to one of the many ambulance carriages parked at the side of the hospital. It was a more private as well as a quiet corner right now since most of the medical workers and patients were out on the streets. They chose the vehicle with the calmest ostrich horse harnessed to the front.

Aang gently laid Katara's body on the bed in the back of the ambulance carriage, taking a seat right beside the top of the bed. The healer handed him a slightly wet towel, which he used to wipe off the thick layer of soot on her face. If he didn't know better, she might as well have looked like a coal miner to him. Aang tenderly ran a finger over her clean cheek once he was finished, allowing the healer to place an oxygen mask on her face to help prevent severe carbon monoxide poisoning. He'd forgotten how smooth and beautiful her brown skin was, so dark compared to his pale hand. He noticed a red bump above her left eyebrow. She probably got it from the impact of the explosion when she fell down.

"Would you be a dear and undo her tunic for me?"

"Yes, of course," Aang stood up as much as he could in the cramped space to release the two clips holding the edges of Katara's dark blue tunic together underneath her short-sleeved water tribe coat. He revealed most of her bare skin on her upper chest so the healer could check her breathing. By the time the old woman was listening to her, she started to regain consciousness.

She felt something on her face, fresh air caressing her nose and lips, and.. yup, definitely something cold on her chest. She flicked her lashes a few times, sensing someone brushing his fingers across her forehead.

"Katara? How are you feeling?" Aang whispered in a loving tone. He'd noticed her eyes trembling a little before she revealed those pretty blue diamonds that stared at the top of the ambulance carriage. The first thing she saw was one of her eldest healers checking her over with a stethoscope. The kind old woman offered her a smile. Of course, Sironah.. She recognized her. Katara raised her head to look up behind her, meeting a pair of familiar grey eyes staring right back at her. Aang was sitting on a small chair behind the bed, which was meant for the ambulance worker who had to deal with the patient while riding back to the hospital. Her breathing was a bit rapid, she even came down with a nasty coughing fit, but she was so glad to see him.

"Ah-aang.." she exhaled and slowly tried to raise her left arm to cup his cheek, but startled once she saw her awful burns.

"Shh-shh! It's okay, sweetie. It's all over now. You're in an ambulance carriage, the healer's auscultating you. Just stay quiet for a minute," Aang grabbed her hand with his own and lowered it back to her side so she wouldn't hurt herself. Katara obeyed his orders and tried to relax, letting Sironah listen to her heart like a good patient. She wondered how she ended up in the ambulance carriage, the last thing she remembered was reviving Dalia. After that, everything was a complete blur. She coughed again.

"You have a steady and strong heartbeat, Master Katara," the healer chuckled and put her stethoscope away. Next, she moved the brown belt around Katara's waist a bit higher and grabbed the white fur trimming on the lower half of her water tribe coat, flipping it over to the edge of the belt.

"Don't worry, dear. I'm just going to check your tummy," she explained, after which she summoned some water from her pouch and covered her hands with it like gloves, laying them on Katara's stomach. The liquid began to glow and the healer moved it around in slow circles. Aang didn't quite understand why they'd need to examine her abdomen, but he put it down to the part of a routine procedure. Now that Sironah wasn't listening to her, he could speak more freely to distract her and let the healer carry on with the examination at the same time.

"Katara.. I was so afraid of losing you," Aang stroked her cheek with the back of his hand, she blinked at him. She took a deep breath before answering.

"Me too. But there's no way I would leave you when we're still so young," she grinned. Aang laughed a little, he was beginning to wonder whether such a force of nature, such a terrible disaster that could stop her even existed. He brushed a few loose hairs to the side of her face. This must've been one of the scariest hours in her entire life, yet she still managed to see the positive side. Aang guessed that his optimism had really grown on her. Both of their attention turned to Sironah, who'd finished examining her stomach.

"You're a lucky woman, Master Katara. Everything's alright with the baby," she confirmed, a wide smile decorating her face as she lowered the coat and pulled the belt back near Katara's waist. Aang's mouth fell wide open whereas the blood circulating Katara's cardiovascular system rushed to her cheeks.

"The.. b-baby?" he repeated.

"Umm, Sironah? Is it okay if I sit up?" Katara interrupted before the old woman could explain. She realized the mistake she'd inadvertently made and waved it off.

"Oh, silly me!.. Of course you can, dear. As long as you're strong enough," Sironah grabbed Katara's hands and helped her sit up. Aang supported her from her back just in case. Once she was sitting up straight, she patted the empty side of the bed to invite him to sit right next to her. The healer gave the two some room to manoeuvre. Aang stood up and almost bumped his head against the top of the carriage multiple times while moving to Katara's right side to take a seat. When the couple had found a cosy position, Sironah stepped back in front of Katara and gently grabbed her left arm to begin healing her burns. She really got a lot of them when running through the fire, but she'd received the majority from the explosion.

The two stared at the old woman working on her injuries in complete silence for an awkwardly long minute. Katara was the first one to avert her gaze back at Aang. He stared deep into her diamond blue eyes, she could tell that he was in shock. She was blushing the entire time.

"It was supposed to be a surprise. I just found out this morning. Aang, sweetie.. I'm pregnant."

Another longer pause, Aang didn't seem to find the right words to say.

"Y-you.. you're pregnant?"

Katara smiled and nodded. He still couldn't believe it. The airbender hesitantly laid his hand on the waterbender's belly and gently rubbed a small circle around it. She placed her right hand on his, giving it a gentle squeeze.

"We're going to have a baby," Katara said one more time. Tears rolled down Aang's cheeks. He pulled her into his embrace, as close as he could without disturbing the healer working on her arm, and they cried into each other's shoulders.

#Kataang Week #clouds #Kataangtag #Kataang #Aang #Katara #Toph Beifong #ATLA and TLOK #my fanfiction #mine #shards of Kristal

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