Wednesday 29th - The Avatar State
Everything was a mess. There was voices shouting at him – they were shouting in him. He could feel their cries bouncing off the inside in his head, and it felt like his skull was about to shatter. They sounded familiar, somehow, but yet they were alienated; he had never heard anything like this before.
He couldn't see, and he felt like he was stumbling, deaf and blind, crashing through the world. At the same time, he felt the power.
He could feel himself moving, the grace behind it, the fury. He could feel himself strike, punch and kick, destroying whatever was in his path. He could feel the panic in the air, could feel himself go after the people who tried to run.
Stop! he screamed at the voices. Stop this!
The ground cringed beneath him, the trees seemed to try and shrink away. Everywhere, there were people running and falling – some scrambled to their feet, others stayed down.
Everything stank of death, and he just wanted all of it to stop.
He tried to take his body back, but something twisted inside him, and he cried out, too weak to do anything else.
More destruction, more terror. The voices grew – impossibly – louder, until they seemed to be the only thing that existed. They were panicking, too, screaming and howling. He yelled, fighting, but he didn't know how to stop and they kept telling him not to stop.
Terror. Fear. Devastation. Death.
And then, he felt it. The only thing that he could sense that wasn't full of terror. It slowly came towards him, battling the elements, steadily coming closer. The voices screeched, demanding to stop its progression, to crush it, but he screamed back, trying to find the strength to fight again.
The thing came closer, and called out, cutting through the cries in his head.
Aang, it said. Aang, it's okay. Everything will be okay.
And then he knew. Katara.
Come back to me. Please.
Her voice was louder, clearer, than the rest, and he latched onto it, clinging to it like a lifeline.
Aang, listen to me! Everything will be fine.
Don't listen to her, the voices cried. Don't listen, cannot trust. Cannot trust anything.
Can you hear me – it's all going to be fine!
Katara won't lie to me, he shouted back. She was getting closer; he could almost hear her breathing. Then there was a warm hand on his arm, shocking him. He hadn't realised how cold he had been.
One by one, the voices faded, and Katara's came closer. Nothing is going to hurt you, she whispered. Nothing.
No, he wanted to say back to her. Nothing will hurt me, but I'm hurting everything else.
Only the smallest whisper remained in his head. With a last final push, they stopped altogether and he crashed fully back into his body.
As soon as his vision cleared, the world seemed to tilt, and he was dimly aware of his knees hitting the ground. Someone grabbed him by the shoulders before the rest of his body could follow suit, and he blinked; already his sight was fading.
Blue eyes looked down on him, filled with worry, framed by dark hair that hung loose, falling down her shoulders in waves.
'Katara,' he whispered. Behind her, the ground was cracked, the trees burnt, the sky filled with smoke.
'I'm so sorry,' was all he could get out before the world faded to black.