Utopia

Utopia

Answer

"Wait, I thought you said Azula locked your Chakras!" Katara interjected.

"Well-" Aang fumbled "She did… sort of, but one was kind of locked anyway" Aang's explanation did little to sate Katara.

"So you lied to us all this time?" Katara accused angrily. Her words struck deep and Aang visibly winced at them, however he didn't respond verbally.

"Yes, I lied to you, and I know it was wrong, but I don't regret doing it" Aang responded firmly.

"What!" Katara gaped in disbelief "How on earth do you justify lying to me?"

"Because the first time I told you my feelings you almost broke my heart, and the last time you thought I was ignoring my duty, you yelled at me!" Aang shouted angrily, however it seemed as he finished, he caught himself and reined his anger in.

Katara flinched at Aang's words, but said nothing.

"I'll tell you everything," Aang gave her a pleading look "but I want you to promise me something." He sighed in sadness.

Katara looked at him doubtfully before prompting him to continue. "Please, don't let this change anything between us."

"Of course" Katara answered, completely unhesitant. At the desperation in his tone, Katara had little choice but to agree. Not that she thought it was necessary, even now when she was angry with him, she couldn't think of anything that would change her feelings about him.

"I understand your thirst for the truth, Katara, but first, I want to explain to Aang how he mastered the Avatar state." The guru said.

"I gave you the most straightforward and easy way to master the Avatar state." The guru turned to Aang "One that involved a predictable and consistently doable process" Guru Pathik explained.

"However, there are many ways to do so, Avatar Roku himself chose a different way, just as you did" He said, Aang looked at the Guru sharply "Then why didn't you tell me in the first place!" Aang grated.

"Because mastering the avatar state in these ways has to be unintentional. When you spoke out against your past lives about killing Ozai, your assertion of your identity allowed you to separate yourself from them when the avatar spirit took over your body. This could not have been done if you had known that this was a way to master the avatar state." The Guru explained decisively.

"Mastering the avatar state is about mastering yourself, whether it is by clearing your chakras, coming to some revelation of your inner nature and accepting it, identifying yourself as a separate individual than your past lives, or one of the many other countless ways to do it." Every one of the guru's words left lasting impacts on Aang's mind; it finally all made sense, everything.

"In addition, I suspect that when Azula struck you with lightening, she blocked the flow of energy inside of you, if you had any sort of additional physical contact with the wound, it may have unblocked the flow of energy"

"That makes sense" Aang nodded, "I felt sort of… different after I ignored my past lives, thank you"

Then Katara cleared her throat.

"Now let's see, Katara" Guru Pathik prompted. "How about we start… at the beginning". Aang nodded in agreement before beginning his tale.

--

Fire Lady Ursa frowned angrily at General Zhang.

"What's going on?" She demanded furiously. "Why are there so many troops out there! Why haven't I heard of news from the fire nation in months. What are you hiding from me!"

"I am hiding nothing!" Zhang answered sternly "I am only doing as my lord as ordered"

"Well then tell my husband that I don't care, I've been kept here long enough!" Ursa rebutted. Her patience had been worn to the wire, in the past two months.

"He promised me that even though I had to be 'banished', that I would have freedom, is this freedom?" Ursa ranted furiously at the impassive General.

"Are you quite finished?" Zhang replied casually as Ursa slumped over into her bed.

She nodded in defeat. "Good, because I'm going to tell you what little I know, the war effort has suffered some unexpected setbacks and due to them, the Fire Lord has been to preoccupied to provide regular updates for your leisure"

At that, he turned away and walked out, shutting the door behind him.

Ursa stared out the window in depression. Thinking nostalgically back to the days when her family was still whole. Now, though…

She had not heard of any news of her husband or daughter in months, the last news she learned from Zuko was that he had returned from his three-year banishment… the fact that Ozai had banished him in the first place left a bitter taste in her mouth.

Deep down, she knew better than to trust Ozai's word for anything, he had told her that her banishment was for her own safety and would be a small sacrifice to pay for saving her son.

However, it was just that that occupied her thoughts most often in recent weeks… her son.

--

"The fourth chakra is located in the heart. It deals with love, and is blocked by grief." Guru Pathik told Katara as they continued.

A look of realization flashed across Katara's face "The Air Nomads"

Aang nodded wistfully at her response. Katara had been able to decipher Aang's previous three blocks before either of them told her.

"You know him well" The guru commented amusedly, causing both Aang and Katara to blush.

"It is no wonder though, because as I told Aang months ago, the love of people we have lost has not disappeared, it stays in our hearts, and eventually it is been reborn as new love…" The Guru said, looking at Katara meaningfully.

Katara was astonished "Me?" She asked in disbelief.

"I've told you how much I love you, didn't I?" Aang reminded her "I told you that you meant the world to me.

"Well yes, but… wow" Katara couldn't quite wrap her mind around the enormity of this, and truth be told, she was somewhat uncomfortable with it "How can I be like an entire nation to you?" She asked unbelievingly.

"You just do" Was Aang's answer.

"I think that it's best that we move on." The guru said. He was right, already, the sun was setting, casting a deep purple hue across the sky, soon, sleep would catch up to them.

"The fifth Chakra is in the throat. It deals with truth and is blocked by lies, the ones that we tell ourselves."

"You never wanted to be the Avatar, you said so yourself" Katara realized.

"Yes, but I learned to face it, we may not like what life throws at us, but all we can do is make the best of what we have instead of wishing for what we don't" Aang said, surprising both Pathik and Katara with his wisdom.

"It comes with being the Avatar" Aang shrugged, smiling slightly

"I still don't see why you kept any of this from me" Katara commented, "There's nothing here that I didn't already know"

"Yet" Aang corrected. "It comes at the end"

"The sixth chakra is located in the center of the forehead; it is called the light chakra. It deals with insight and is blocked by illusion, the illusion of separation is the biggest illusion of all, all four nations and elements are really parts of the same whole," The Guru continued.

"Everything is connected, just like in the Foggy Swamp." Aang added. Katara nodded in numb realization, Aang looked like he was going to add more, but held back.

"If only people acted that way." Katara muttered, looking down darkly.

"We do" Aang said "Me, you, Sokka, Toph, Suki, Mai, Zuko, Iroh, Ty Lee, and all of our other friends, we all come from each of the four nations, but it doesn't matter, deep down" His words rang true, no one in their group paid the barriers of nationhood any attention. "Do you remember what the lion turtle told me, Katara?" Aang asked.

She nodded mutely.

"Long ago, there was only one bending, the bending of the spirit, like what I did to Ozai. Over the years, the bending arts emerged and we drifted apart, but still, all four nations and elements are the same and the Avatar is proof of that"

--

"I'm bored," Toph complained obnoxiously.

"We know" Sokka replied dryly. Sokka's remark was followed by a full minute of silence.

The silence broke "I'm bored" Toph repeated loudly.

No response came from anybody.

Another minute passed "I'm bored" Toph complained again, smirking slightly.

"Well what are we supposed to do about it?" Zuko shot back.

"I don't know maybe talk about stuff?" Toph suggested, shrugging her shoulders.

"Well how about this then," Sokka said, standing up with a bright look on his face "We should make plans for what we do after this."

"Why?" Mai asked dully.

"We should find out where to look for Zuko's mom first, and it would be easier to find out now instead of later" Sokka answered candidly.

"Why not" Toph agreed. Zuko smiled and nodded along with her.

"Yeah, why not…"

--

"Now we've come to Aang's block, the thought chakra, it is located at the crown of the head."

"It deals with pure cosmic energy and is blocked by earthly attachment" As the guru said these last words, he looked at Aang, expecting him to finish. Aang lowered is head down in shame.

"I'm sorry Katara," Aang said wearily, before lapsing into a lengthy pause. "The reason why I couldn't master the Avatar State, the reason why the Earth Kingdom fell, the reason we all nearly died and so many people did…" Aang took a deep breath.

"Was because you're my attachment, and I couldn't let you go" Aang winced and prepared for an explosion of anger, maybe merely disapproval, or if he was lucky, a slap and then a kiss, but he got none of those.

In fact, he got nothing at all, Katara had left.

A/N: Now don't complain that Katara is being OOC, I have everything planned out and Katara leaving does not just have to do with what happened this chapter.

I originally had planned to post it a week ago, but I was dissatisfied with the chapter, so I decided to rework it. School got in the way though, and when I had finally finished it, the computer broke, so it took an extra week or so to get this up, sorry for the delay.

This has ended up being my longest and what I hope is best chapter yet.

Expect more updating like this, because this is what it will be like.

razzledazzle41191: Well, the actual Kataang is coming soon, I'm not saying exactly what though.

Tygermoon: Thanks, it makes me happy when I get reviews like that.