Hey everyone! You can call me PythianPickles, and this is my first fanfiction, no beta readers or anything, so don't be surprised if, by the end of this, you think that "Aang went home and had fun with Appa" is a better story than this. Please read and review! ^_^ I want to know how bad I did, how I could improve, etc. so I don't make you blind/mentally scarred if you decide to read any other of my future stories. But enough talk. On to the story!

Oh right.

Disclaimer: ME DOESN'T OWN TEH AVATAR

The Avatar had fought giant panda spirits. He had clashed with canyon crawlers, encountered face-stealing spirits, and defeated psycho Fire Lords. They were all scary.

This was scarier.

The esteemed Avatar, keeper of justice, bridge between worlds…was scared of walking into a building.

Or to put it another way, a reunion with friends.

Friends he hadn't seen in six years…

Flashback (Six years back)

Thirteen-year old Aang jerked upright in his bed, sweating and breathing heavily, images from the nightmare he'd just had running madly through his head. He'd had that dream…again…Aang decided it was time to talk to someone who might know what to do about this. Aang pushed himself up from the bed into a lotus position, curled his hands into fists, and brought them together, letting the chi flow through his body, and cleared his mind.

He was going to talk to Avatar Roku, one of his past lives. Roku had seen much more than he had. Maybe he knew if these repeating dreams were more than just dreams.

With a slight tingle in his head and a sensation of falling, Aang found himself in the Spirit World.

The young Avatar opened his eyes to see himself on top of a plateau in the middle of the desert, with a dazzling night sky filled with stars.

"Avatar Roku? Anyone?" he yelled out.

Aang felt a slight ache in his chest as a glowing blue mist pulled out of him and coalesced into the form of an elderly man dressed in Fire Nation robe: Avatar Roku.

"Is there something I can help you with, Aang?" Roku inquired.

Without preamble, Aang asked, "Roku, can Avatars have visions of the future?"

Roku sighed. "Aang, I think you should know—"

"TELL ME!" Aang yelled. "Night and night I've always been having the exact same dream, with my friends getting held hostage and killed just because they're friends with ME! Every night. Exact same dream."

"Aang, you didn't even let me finish my sentence," Roku said evenly. "Now let me tell you a little more about Avatars and their dreams…"

Back in the physical world, Sokka was walking back down one of the hallways of the large house he was staying in with Aang and the others after getting a drink of water when he stopped abruptly. He could've sworn he'd heard a distant "TELL ME!" shouted out. Sokka looked skeptically into his cup. "Must've been some cactus juice in this bucket," he muttered, and kept on walking.

"…so Avatars can't have visions of the future?" Aang said. His entire body visibly relaxed in relief. "So that means…" He exhaled a breath he hadn't even realized he'd been holding. "It was just some silly nightmare, wasn't it, Roku? Maybe it was just like Iroh said. Too much spicy food."

"Aang." There was an unmistakably solemn and grim tone to Roku's voice now. "Avatars can't have visions of the future, but spirits can."

Dead silence.

"But..but…I'm a spirit!" Aang cried. "You just said Avatars can't have visions of the future. You're not making sense!"

"Aang, calm down. You may be a spirit, but being the Avatar has always been about being part human too."

Aang tried to clear his mind again and calm down, imagining Gyatso standing in front of him with a disapproving look on his face at his outburst. Or was it really just his imagination? "I'm sorry, Roku. It's just so hard…thinking of Katara and the others dying just because they're friends with me."

"I am aware, young Aang. I was worried for my beloved Ta Min many times too."

"But even in your time, the war was only beginning. I have to deal with Ozai's friends shooting me dirty looks every time I walk past them in the street!"

"I'm sorry for that, Aang. All of this is because of my own indecisiveness. But let me tell you about spirits. There are some spirits, even older than Koh, who are so old that they have become attuned to the world and the stranger workings of fate. They have the power to occasionally glimpse the future by accident."

"What does that have to do with me? I'm not that old." Aang said indignantly. At least I hope not, he thought.

"Spirits have always had the power to influence thoughts sometimes, especially for souls as used to the spirit world as yours and for spirits as old and powerful as the ones I'm talking about. While you were sleeping, well, it's possible that they may be sending you some kind of warning or message as a dream."

"Are you saying that Katara and the others might really die?" Aang asked nervously.

"I'm saying that it is a possibility that you must entertain," Roku responded. "Being the friend of a powerful figure always has its inherent risks, whether that friend is the Avatar or someone like that mayor who tried to boil you in oil. People will always be trying to kill you," here he paused, "or use you as leverage."

"Which is what I've been dreaming about," Aang finished. "So you're saying that some kind old spirit—"

"—well, I wouldn't say kind, Aang," Roku interrupted. "If you ever encountered any of these entities, you'll be lucky to keep your life."

"So why would they care, then?" Aang asked. "Why tell me about something that's gonna happen if they'd kill me if I so much as sneezed next to them? Which would really be something, since I'm an airbender and the Avatar."

Aang could almost hear the thud from his attempted joke falling flat on its face.

"Sorry," he mumbled. "I get that this is definitely not the time to be joking around, but we're talking about my friends dying here…"

"…Aang, in light of the warning from the Old Ones, I think it would best for you to…distance yourself from your friends."

Aang was silent. The desert wind blew around him as he thought carefully.

"Y-you're right…" he murmured. "If…if…people think that I don't give a monkey feather about them…they won't do anything to them."

"Aang, I understand how hard this is for you, especially about Katara. I know how you feel about her."

Despite himself, Aang flushed.

"But if you really care about her, you'll leave. I'll let you sleep on it," Roku concluded. "It was good to see you again, Aang, even if it had to be in such a dire time."

"Roku, wait, don't—"

For the second time that night, Aang burst upright in his bed, panting and sweating. The beginnings of dawn were peeking over the mountains, light blue starting to replace the stark darkness that was so characteristic of night.

After scribbling a quick note, and an apology, to his friends, Aang packed with the efficiency of an Air Nomad and hurried out of the room, rushing for the stables.

He had somewhere to go.

Aang shook his head. He had really gotten into that flashback. It's time to deal with the present, not the past, he thought. Aang reached for the doorknob…

…and that concludes chapter one! I hope this story wasn't too awkward or OOC for any of the characters. I cranked this out in four hours so I'm not expecting any favorable reviews. Please read and review! I'd love to see how I did.

PythianPickles out! :)