A/N: This is book five, chapter eighteen of the story. Part II of the finale, Aang and Katara are finished with their mission, but are still trying to find each other. While Aang is trapped in his prison of slumber in the Nightmarish Abyss, Katara tries to find Aang and wake him up from his slumber, but things get bad once she has to fight his nightmares. Not only that, but Katara soon learns that she's not really in the Realm of Dreams.
Chapter 18 - The Nightmare part II - Dream of a Dream
[Thirty minutes earlier]
Katara lays asleep on the grounds os the Southern Air Temple. Just then, Katara starts to wake up. "Oh...Oh man. Rough sleep." Katara shakes the rest of the tiresome off, then notices her surroundings. "What the?" Katara stands, then is shocked to see the sight of the Southern Air Temple, it's as old and abandoned as it is today, not only that, but there are dark clouds rolling in with lightning striking. "What's going on here? ...I guess this means the Nightmare is here. I should probably take a look."
Katara takes a look around the Southern Air Temple. Nothing seems right here. As Katara looks around, she feels lost and confused. The place is dark and scary, but it's empty, just like it was for a hundred years, there's not even a single Nightmare anywhere.
Katara then arrives at Aang's room, as usual, it's empty. Katara leaves the room then arrives up at the circular stairway. When Katara reaches to the top, she sees it's a large room. The way it's set, it kind of looks like a training place for airbend flying. Katara looks ahead, then notices some kind of bubble. Katara slowly walks up to it, until she sees what's inside. "Is that...Aang?" Katara looks closely, it is Aang, it looks like he's deeply asleep in some kind of dream bubble. "Aang!"
Katara runs up in front of the bubble. Closely, Katara can see small scenes of what Aang's dreaming about. Being with Sokka and Toph, walking on the streets, then looking at the Anti-Katara Nightmare...before she was a Nightmare. Katara seeps her hand through the bubble then grabs Aangs arm and starts shaking him.
"Aang! Don't...You've gotta wake up! Aang!" Aang doesn't wake up, but Katara kept shaking him to awake. Just then, darkness starts to spin around the bubble. Katara starts to back away from the sight of it. The darkness leaves the bubble and moves to behind Katara. Katara turns around, she can see the darkness is forming together. When all that was clear, a body form. Katara is surprised to see that the Nightmare is Azula.
"Are you what's trapping Aang in that Nightmare?" Katara asks. The Azula Nightmare doesn't say anything. Instead, a Nightmare insignia appears in the center of its face, then same the red eyes. Katara figures she has no other choose but to defeat the Azula Nightmare.
Katara bends all the water from her pouches, then strikes at the Azula Nightmare. The Azula Nightmare ducks then bends a wave of shadow flare at Katara. Katara dodges that fire. At first, she becomes worried about it then it heads towards Aang. but then the flare hits the bubble, the fire instantly vanished. That pretty much put Katara into a confusing surprise.
Just then, the Azula Nightmare sweep kicks Katara, knocking her off of her feet. Katara crashes to the ground, but then gets on her feet. Katara bends the moss to rush towards the Azula Nightmare. The moss wraps around the Azula Nightmare like a net. The Azula Nightmare burns up and breaks free from the moss, then unleashes a flaming nova.
Katara ducks back at the moment it was about to touch her. Of course, only bits of the end of her hair got caught in the first and singed off. Katara bends the vines towards the Azula Nightmare, grabs it by the ankles. Katara pulls the Azula Nightmare over her, slamming it to the ground, then does it again. After that, she spins the Azula Nightmare, then releases it, crashing it at the wall.
Katara waterbends all the water she has onto the Azula Nightmare, then freezes it in place. The Azula Nightmare exhales flames through its nose, melting the ice. The Azula Nightmare firebends a wave of shadow fire towards Katara. Katara dodges the fire, then plantbends the thorns to wrap around the Azula Nightmare. The thorns squeezes the Azula Nightmare tightly.
The Azula Nightmare starts to fade away. Katara just watches the Azula Nightmare fading away. "I wonder if that's the last Nightmare." Katara then looks at Aang in the dream bubble then stands in front of it. "Has Aang...been trapped in this bubble all this time?"
Katara takes a close look at this one dream she's seeing. Aang is laying on the Anti-Katara Nightmare's lap, while she gently strokes Aang by the arm. Katara sticks her ear close to the dream bubble, where she hears the words the Anti-Katara Nightmare is saying. "Stay...Sleep."
Katara gasps hearing that, she know's what's gonna happen, and it's real bad. "Aang! Don't do it! It's a trap! Aang!"
Just then, the dream bubble starts to shimmer a little, but the dream bubble, and Aang, instantly disappears. "What?" Just then, the world starts shimmering and wavy a little, like it's about to change or fade away. "What's going on with Aang? ...Why won't he open his eyes? Is he still in the Nightmare?"
"That is right." Hama's voice says.
Katara was shocked to hear that. "Hama!"
Katara arms herself, getting ready to make an attack. "Aang can no longer wake up. No matter what you do. It is impossible to wake up someone who has fallen into the Nightmarish Abyss."
"The Nightmarish Abyss? What are you talking about?" Katara asks.
"We have lured Aang into the deepest, darkest abyss of the Nightmares. And now, he is unable to wake up." Hama says. "Now that he's been put in his place, it's time to deal with you."
Just then, a dark portal appears underneath Katara, and it slowly sucks her in. "What the?" Katara tries to get loose, to break free, but she couldn't. Eventually, the darkness shallows her alive.
Katara lays dead asleep on the ground of the South Pole, with nothing but the darkness surrounding the skies. Hama walks up in front of Katara, kneels down then gentle strokes Katara's hair. "You poor little child. Lost and confused. You barely even follow the true path of being a waterbender." Katara starts to wake up. She gets on her hands and knees, then moves to a sitting position. "Let me ask you this: Do you honestly believe that you are in the Realm of Dreams?"
"Why do you people keep saying that?" Katara asks.
"That's because. You aren't" Hama says. "You are actually inside a dream of a dream. You've been through five different dreams, but haven't noticed they're all coming from the same person?"
"What are you...wait a minute." Katara thinks for a moment, then starts to count the dreams with her fingers. "Yangchen, Kuruk, Kyohsi, Roku and now...Aang. So...that means I'm...?"
"Yes, at last you understand. This whole journey, you have been inside the Avatar's Dreams." Hama says. "From the start, when you and Aang were on your way to the Realm of Dreams, Yinyang interfere, she send a Nightmare to force you to go towards another direction. I'm just surprised you or Yume didn't even notice."
"Why are you doing this?" Katara asks.
"To lead you down the right path." Hama walks up to Katara. "From when we met, you have chosen the wrong path of a waterbender. The true path to waterbending is the bloodbending."
"You're lying! Bloodbending is evil! All it does is hurt and scare people!" Katara says.
"So does the way you use waterbending." Hama says.
"No. that's different." Katara stands up. "With waterbending, I don't take control of people. I fight for what is right, to protect others. Not only that, but water also heals. I even used waterbending to bring Aang back to life. It's clear that you have forgotten all that when you rot in that fire nation cell." Hama doesn't say anything, just stares at Katara. "What has the fire nation done to you? Why did you forget the true path of a waterbender? Bloodbending isn't the true path, it's a dark road. You took that path, but where did it lead you? You were sent to prison, then Aang took your bending away. Open your eyes, Hama. It's not too late to choose the right path." Katara reaches a hand out for Hama. "Please..."
Hama just looks at Katara, then shakes her head. "Hump...just like when we first battled...you are still weak. Let us see what you can truly do with your 'true path' of a waterbender."
Hama slowly makes a fighting stance. "Hama, we don't have to fight. It resolves nothing."
"You talk like a coward." Hama says.
Hama bends some water out from the snow. Hama bends them into ice shards then launches them to Katara. Katara quickly bends the snow in front of her and hards them into an icy shield, then the ice shards impaled in the ice shield. Katara bends a wave of water and splashes it towards Hama. Hama gets back on her feet, she bends a hose of water directly at Katara. Katara blocks that water at the moment it was about to hit her, scattering the water in all directions like the water is hitting a barrier.
Hama does her bloodbending on Katara, lifting her from her feet, then tosses Katara back against and ice wall. Katara crashes on the ice wall then slides down on the ground. Hama strikes Katara with an angle strike of water. When Hama was done, Katara was weak and wet, struggling to get on her feet.
"Why do you still fight?" Hama bloodbends Katara then tosses her against another ice wall. That impact gives Katara quite pain then she collapses on the ground. "You are weak! Powerless! A coward! But you still fight! Why?"
Katara struggles to get on her feet. "I fight...to protect what's right." Katara puts a hand on the ice wall, to keep her balance. Just then, Katara splashes a wave of water on Hama. The water goes upwards then freezes into a mountain of ice. Katara limps towards the ice mountain then looks up at Hama. "You use to protect your people. But you turned on them...turned on me. You choose this dark path of a bloodbender just to get revenge on the fire nation, by using it on innocent people. Why? Why do you do this?"
"The fire nation imprisoned me and the other waterbenders! Left us to rot!" Hama says. "Those people are citizens of the fire nation. There are no innocent people within the fire nation!"
"You're wrong, Hama! There are!" Katara says. "I learned there are innocent people in the fire nation, the moment when me and my friends were in disguise. Even Firelord Zuko use to be our enemy, but he has changed. People change, Hama. The fire nation aren't what they use to be when they attacked you and the Southern Water Tribe. Even back then when I was with the man who killed my mother, I wanted to kill him, but I didn't...I couldn't. He wasn't the same man who took away my mother, he was different. He felt regret. He even offered for me to take away his mother."
Katara raises a hand then lowers it, making all that ice melt into water. Hama collapses on the ground, panting. Katara stands in front of Hama. "Hama, don't you see? People change? You just have to open your heart to them, and give them a chance. Hama...I'm doing the samething for you. I'm giving you a chance to came back to us, cause I know there's still good in you." Katara reaches out a hand for Hama. Hama just looks up and glares at Katara. "Please...come back."
Hama just pants in silence. She then closes her eyes, then splashes a large amount of water at Katara. "You are a traitor, Katara! The fire nation are enemies! They always have, and always will!" Hama bends some water onto her arms, then freezes them into ice blades as she walks up to Katara. "If you refuse to see it that way, then you will die along with the rest of them!"
Hama was about to make a strike at Katara, but just as she raises her ice bladed arm, Katara instantly bends water onto Hama, only by the time it touched her, the water turned into an ice shard, stabbing through Hama. Hama gasps painfully, then looks down at her stomach. Hama falls back, just as she does, she quickly vanishes. Katara just stands in front of the spot where Hama 'dies'. What really happened is that the death of the dream version of herself caused Hama to wake up in the physical world.
"I tried to reason with you...I really tried." Katara says. Just then, the world around here starts to shimmer and wavy again, then vanishes into darkness. "Wha...what's going on?" Katara looks around, just sees nothing but darkness.
"You will forever be imprisoned in the Nightmarish Abyss!" The Anti-Katara Nightmare shouts Katara hears that, then she looks around. She sees a dream bubble that's showing a scene of Aangs dream, where the Anti-Katara Nightmare is using Bloodbending to lift Aang off his feet. "You will be forever trapped, facing your worst nightmares!"
Katara gasps hearing that. "Aang! You have to wake up!" Katara shouts at the bubble. "Open your eyes! Please!"
The bubble shimmers a little then vanishes. Just then, Katara feels like she's floating. "What?" In after a brief moment, Katara gets sucked away by some powerful force.