This is my first ever stab at fan fiction (yes, Avatar is just that awesome), so I'm keeping it short. Let me know if you like it!

--------------------------------

I woke up in the VA hospital. Egh. What year is it? My legs are itchy, but I dunno, I can't feel the blanket down there. What happened? How long have I been here? God, are they ever gonna let me leave? Screw them, I'm just gonna get up and run outta... I accidentally let my scream go audible. A nearby nurse chuckled and reached for my I.V. That ended that day pretty quick.

My eyes turned back in my head to those dreams of green again. The trees were running under me, running like in a race, running like a man caught in a flood trying to get to higher ground. Or, maybe the trees were the flood? I saw more trees in a five minute dream than I'd seen in the last five years. And more running than I guess I'd do in the next five, too.

Let my dreams never end, I thought. I want to stay forever in my dreams, I want my dreams to be my life. At least that way I can get some fresh air. Ugh. One of these days someone's gonna come by and tell me it's time to wheel my broken ass outta this wasteland and head back home. The only green I'll ever see there is my face in the mirror, I thought. I mean the jealous kind, cause if I'm looking in a mirror, that means I'm awake, and if I'm awake, I'm jealous of myself from later that night where I'd be able to sleep and finally get back to living. I swear, when this is all over, the last color I'm gonna see in the mirror is pink.

I woke up in the VA hospital again. This time there were more faces nearby. One leaned over me. It was a pretty face but I could tell even through my haze that it had seen its share of years and trouble. Isn't that how things go in the military, I thought. You got a life and then they take it from you like it's theirs. Which, I guess, it is. Why'd she sign up for this place? Her hair was thin and fiery. That's about right, I thought.

"...ake, get... I know you can hea... Come on, ...ine." Ehhh. Leave me alone. Bastards, take half my life from me and won't even let me sleep. Let me dream of green and running, let me fly through the air, let me pretend I'm real for a little longer before I see my legs again. Bastards. I wanna dream my life away, I want my dreams to be my life. "Jake, wake up."

"That was a pretty crazy stunt, Marine."

Marine. I'm... Oh. I felt my body try to jump until it remembered it was broken. I smelled antiseptic and tasted soap. What year is it?

"Let the guy sleep a little longer. I've seen this before, there can be a serious reaction when a very strong mind is thrust into a separate neural network. It wants to reorganize its new brain immediately and that can lead to temporal disorganization in the mind itself. I can't believe he ran that far, and frankly it's amazing that he managed to wake up and even talk for a bit before collapsing." "Like I don't know my own research, Max. Look, I don't think we have to worry about this idiot having that level of brainpower, ok?" "Actually, and this is very exciting, if I can show you his charts..."

The voices droned out and I began to hear whispering instead. Whispering like thousands of people chattering in some foreign language through one of those old telephones left face up at the other end of the museum. I know it's weird, but I swear. I swear I could hear smiles.

I opened my eyes again and talked without thinking. "It was real, wasn't it? Dr. Augustine? I felt the earth with my toes. Oh my God, it was real."

"It's real alright. Except that wasn't Earth. Marine, wake up. Don't you remember where you are?"

I lifted my head and smiled. "Yeah. I remember. I just don't know if I'm done dreaming."