A/N: You know what's great? Going through your binder and looking for a story you wrote but finding that picture of a talking carrot you drew in math class three weeks ago XD. I have an A/N at the bottom for anyone who recognizes me from another fandom, and anyone else who wants to read it. But I doubt anyone knows me, im not prominent lol. Oh and BTW, this is my first Avatar: TLA fic. Please be nice! thank you :)

Zutara~~~~

He was burning.

In the dark realms of his somewhat twisted nighttime fantasies, he was burning. The embers beneath his feet were aglow, and every time he thought they had gone out, they flared, quite suddenly, white hot. He couldn't scream. He couldn't move. He was forced to endure it all in motionless silence.

The flames were the worst part. They wrapped around his body like a snake, engulfing his arms, legs, and torso. The fire, he noticed, was hotter than usual. He could take normal fire. But this wasn't normal fire. This was hotter, more extreme; passionate and intense. Hell was probably better than this. Through all the pain, he opened his eyes to look at what was around him.

Blue fire.

He heard his sister's maniacal laughter in the background. Was it her? Was she here? Was she the reason he was being tormented and burned alive? She was the only one he knew who could produce blue flames. But then the cruel laughter died down, replaced by a more gentle sound. Someone else stepped out from the darkness. It wasn't his sister.

It was another girl. She was dressed in all blue, and it looked amazing with her tan skin. She was more beautiful than he had ever seen her. Her eyes, always incredible to look at, were now impossible to ignore. They were the brightest blue, and looked like crystallized water. The fire died down a bit, and despite the pain, he found he could smile at her.

She laughed again, her quiet, gentle laugh, and suddenly gave him a nasty grin. Before he could say anything, the fire erupted again, hotter and more intense than before. They crept back up his body, inching little by little to his heart. Now he could scream. The girl seemed to take pleasure in his pain. She laughed once more, but now it was his sister's crazy cackle. She moved her hand and the flames rose higher. She was controlling the blue flames. But how? She wasn't a firebender. What was going on?

The fire was around his stomach now. He looked at the girl and pleaded with his eyes. She was merciless, and thrust her hand upwards. Before he knew it, the flames were around his chest, and the background noise was his heartbeat, as loud as a drum, getting slower…slower...

Despite the danger he was in, despite his screams and the crackle of the fire around him, he found himself thinking about the girl. She hated him. She hated everything about him and his family. She would never like him; never think him to be worth anything. His sudden sadness over this fueled the flames even more. They seemed even more intense, if that was possible. If he wasn't frozen to his place, he would have punched something until his hand broke. But his hands were ablaze with blue, and they were useless.

He was finding it hard to breathe. His lungs weren't working right. Everything was slowing down. His heartbeat still rang in his ears, and the maniacal laughter was accompanying it now. He wished that things would get better.

And then he woke up.

The first thing he heard was his heartbeat, still ringing in his ears from his messed up nightmare. In the darkness of the early morning, he was upset, because for once his mind was right: the girl would never love him. But the realization didn't make it any easier to face. He loved her, and no matter what happened to them, he would always be there, whether he wanted him or not.

~~~Zutara~~~

A/N: thank you for reading! Like I said, first Avatar fic, I hope I did well. Zuko is undoubtedly at least a little OOC, but Katara isn't. it's a dream, so she's allowed to act however I want her to.

I haven't updated anything since before Halloween. Even this was difficult to do, and although I'm pretty happy with it, I think I've done better. Applying to schools and dealing with Homework and basketball has been hard, and on top of that I've had severe writer's block. I have no idea where the idea for this came from, but I don't have anymore, and probably won't for a while. I apologize.

But thank you (again) for reading! I appreciate it!