Nightmares are Made of This

The lazily setting sun cast pink shadows over the green hills of the Earth Kingdom countryside. A few Fox Antelopes grazed on grass in the distance, one gazed up at the Air Bison before returning to its meal. On the Air Bison, Toph and Sokka were chatting about fighting techniques, Aang was playing with Momo while navigating Appa, and Katara stared down at the quickly passing scenery below. Flat brown shapes clustered together on the horizon, and this is what the group was heading towards. They planned to stop for the night at the town there, and gather some supplies for their journey while at it.

In a few minutes the bison had reached its destination and landed in a clearing in the center of the town, a cloud of dust rising up as Appa's feet touched ground. The group climbed off and looked around with disappointment at the town around them. The buildings were all old and wooden, many had boards missing or broken, and several had collapsed. Grass was overgrowing the stone streets, and weeds grew high wherever they found soil. Though decrepit structures surrounded them for quite a ways, there wasn't a single person to be found.

"What a ghost town," Aang murmured, his voice breaking the heavy silence.

Silently, they walked around a bit through the old streets, viewing the desolate landscape. Everything lay broken and dirty, and worst of all abandoned. Katara stopped in front of an old house with intricately carved wooden detailing. Curious, she lay her hand on the support post of the porch, and jerked it away quickly as the post toppled to the side. The roof of the porch came smashing to the ground, pulling off the side of the house. Beams broke with a loud crack, and fell to the ground with a heavy thud, kicking up clouds of dust.

Everyone stared with wide eyes at the demolished structure, and Katara half-whispered an apology. They continued walking, each keeping a noticeable distance from the buildings.

When they at last came to a structure that looked fairly sturdy, Aang suggested they stop for the night. Sokka cautiously inspected the old wooden building before allowing his sister anywhere near it, and at last gave his okay. It was an old-style dojo, probably used for Earth bending instruction. The design of it was square-shaped, with a large courtyard at the center. Sliding doors that barely managed to keep over the years opened up to a hallway leading around the courtyard and smaller rooms off to the side.

Normally, if offered the chance of separate rooms, the group would divide in two, with Aang and Sokka in one and Katara and Toph in another. However, with the lonesome, bare surroundings of the lifeless town, the group opted to sleep together in one room. They chose one with a sliding door to the outside, where Appa would sleep for the night. Unpacking their sleeping bags, they unfurled them close together and lay to rest for the night.

Toph fell asleep quickly, and was probably the first asleep of the group. In her dream, there was nothing. It was as if she was standing on a cloud, with nothing to feel and nothing around her but a vast emptiness that could only be that of the sky. She couldn't feel any vibrations of anything; it was as if she had floated off into the air far from the solid ground of the Earth.

"Hello?"

No one answered her. A cold breeze blew, it felt as if it had blown right through her body and sent shivers through her. Toph folded her arms across her chest, trying to protect herself from the cold wind. Once more she called out into the emptiness, "Hello?"

Out of the darkness, something connected with her cheek and sent her flying. When she landed, it was on nothing, no solid surface was beneath her. Still she could not see.

"Who's there?!"

She stood up warily, and took a defensive stance. Another impact from the unseen attacker and she once again fell to the ground of the sky. How was she to defend herself, she thought, when she couldn't see her attacker? She was hit again, fell again, and the process repeated endlessly to the point where Toph could barely stand again. Without Earth bending… what did she have to defend herself? What could she do without her bending…

Katara looked over at Toph, who was squirming and moaning in her sleep. The young girl had gone to sleep almost immediately, even though the room they were in was so foreign and creepy. She was amazed that it had even affected Toph, who usually slept with unearthly peacefulness about her no matter where they were.

She turned her head and looked towards the old wooden wall beside her. A small, square window was high in the center, and looking beyond it she could see the half-moon high in the night sky, clouds passing over it dulling the moonlight. She should get some sleep, too…

That same moon was in her dream; she and her friends were on Appa riding through the night sky. Aang was up at the front of the saddle, holding Appa's reins with his back to Katara. Sokka and Toph were beside her, laughing at a joke Sokka had made. Katara found herself laughing, too. Aang asked Sokka to repeat the joke, and Aang laughed at hearing it. Katara herself couldn't hear it; her senses were fuzzy and unclear.

Then the saddle of the Air bison lit up with an orange glow, slowly fading to red. Katara looked behind her in time to see it. A giant fireball had appeared from nowhere and was spinning towards them. She tried to scream to Aang to maneuver Appa away from it, but no sound came from her mouth. She found herself paralyzed, unable to move a muscle. The fireball hit Appa in his side, and the force knocked the wind from Katara's lungs. She was hurled backwards and off Appa, as everyone fell downwards through the sky and clouds. Aang and Sokka and Toph were still laughing, though, and they fell from the sky, Katara screaming silently.

Sokka awoke with a start; he'd thought that he had heard Katara screaming. He looked over at Aang, who hadn't been disturbed from his sleep, and over at Katara who was still sleeping, and decided he'd imagined it. He shrugged and laid back down on his navy blue sleeping bag, closing his eyes to try to get back to sleep.

He was in a battle. Fire Nation soldiers were everywhere, surrounding him entirely. He couldn't see Aang or Toph anywhere, but Katara was beside him with a huge water ball above her. His sister was doing a good job of kicking butt, and with a grin Sokka jumped into a cluster of Fire Nation soldiers, a dagger in his hands that was already dripping with his enemy's blood.

He was doing fantastic in his battle; the enemy soldiers were dropping one after another before him. Finally there was only one enemy left, and Sokka charged at the man, knocking him onto the ground. He stuck his dagger into the struggling soldier's chest, the blood that spilled out onto his hands only making him push the dagger deeper.

He looked around for his sister to tell her of his victory in battle, but Katara was nowhere in sight. He frantically looked around him, but nothing was there but fallen enemies. Looking back at the soldier beneath him, he shouted, "Where's Katara? What did you do with my sister?!"

The soldier spoke with a feminine voice, the voice of his sister. "But Sokka," the soldier beneath him was gone, replaced with Katara, whose blood was spilling out onto his hands from the dagger in her chest. "I am your sister."

Aang heard Sokka yell something in his sleep, but didn't bother to move his head to see what was the matter. He was so tired that he really didn't care at the moment about anything other than getting some sleep himself. His body felt so heavy; he couldn't even open his eyes. He merely relaxed himself and let his thoughts disappear.

He was floating above the ground, and when he looked down at his arms the arrows tattooed on his skin were aglow. Light blue light was spreading out from him, and Aang knew he was in the Avatar state. He was whipping wind around him that was as sharp as a blade. His winds sliced through the air and the rock and everything else in his way.

Aang realized he had no control over his body, and horror filled his thoughts. He looked to his left and saw nothing other than grass-covered earth. No one stood in the countryside, only the flowers and shrubs. When he looked to his right he saw the same landscape leading up to a cliff's edge. Beyond the cliff there was nothing; no sky, no Earth, nothing at all.

Almost directly below him was Katara, who stood in a blue and white dress. She was yelling something up to him and struggling against the wind. The wind proved too strong for her, however, and she was continually being pushed back further and further towards that cliff edge. Aang was trying to stop the wind, to move his body to save her as she moved closer and closer towards it, but he couldn't do anything at all against his Avatar state. With one last endlessly sad look, Katara was pushed off that cliff and fell towards the nothing-ness below…

XOXOXOXOXOX

The group gathered together in the pale light of early-morning. They packed their few items onto Appa's saddle without a word to each other. They hadn't even had breakfast, everyone was all-too eager to leave that village behind. Sokka kept his face cast towards the ground, Aang kept his turned away from everyone else. Toph looked exhausted, with deep creases surrounding her eyes. Katara's eyes were red from crying, and her clothes had dark spots on them from a night of tears. They left the village, jetting up into the air on the bison, and didn't look back as they flew away.