Maybe it's because Sokka's whole warrior guy thing usually keeps him from being this openly emotional and maybe it's because Aang has never really seen Sokka cry like this, but either way, Sokka now has him sobbing his eyes out even more than he had with Katara, even if he's doing it quietly, his head buried against Sokka's shoulder.

After fighting so hard to make sure everyone else is going to be okay, after trying so hard, for so long to take care of everyone else, it's nice to have someone that cares about him wanting to take care of him.

But he can't let Sokka go forward on false hope.

He shakes his head against his shoulder and pulls away to look at him.

"It's not that simple, Sokka. And it's not about me. He doesn't want me--he just wants me out of the way so he can do what he wants. And he wants you. He wants to hurt all of you. Just to hurt you all, and also because then you can't fix everything. He knows that's what everyone is here for--to stop the war, to save people. He wants to keep you from doing that just because he can."

The guy is pretty much a total, sadistic jerkface. The spanner in the works. He just wants to mess them and everything up because he can.

Aang wipes at his eyes with the back of his hand.

"There's no way all of you can stop him without it killing me or driving me cuckoo-owl crazyface." Aang does a flippy hand gesture next to his head to demonstrate the exact amount of cuckoo-owl craziness there would be, and then after, there's resolve in Aang's gaze that Sokka is only used to seeing every so often--it comes more easily now. "You have to do whatever it takes to stop him, no matter what it does to me. I'm just one person--there's millions on the ship, and billions and billions and billions you all have to save. If you try to save me, you'll just die instead."