4 years till Sozin's Comet

Aang's eyes shot wide. Screams could be heard a good distance away. On instinct Aang leapt out of his bed and raced for his staff, not bothering to put on a shirt. Once he had his staff in hand Aang felt a great heat him him hard and fast; the screams only got lounder. Panic and fear built up inside of him as questions flew through his mind.

Aang dashed out the door and looked both ways trying to determine the direction of the screams. He tried using some soundbending to help him, but it was unresponsive and Aang settled on using just his ears. His head snapped left at a particularly loud scream, a series of angry yells followed quickly after. Moving down the hall at a hasty run, Aang was determined to find out what was happening. The closer he got the louder the screams got, each one that met his ears made him cringe and flinch. Aang could sense the dread, the fear, and the sadness in everyone of those pleas for mercy. His resolve shook and his confidence weakend; What could be doing this? What could have gotten to the Temple? Aang reached the meditation courtyard and he could hear the scream and cries of agony all around him, they always seemed to move further as he got closer, moving right behind the next corner. But now,... now the screams filled his ear, the sound enveloping and surrounding. Aang felt his skin beginning to burn, fire that seemed to come from nowhere manifested all around. It began to consume his, Aang tried to move and quickly realized that his feet had burned off. He slowly melted, the screams around him growing stronger. Words of genocide and victory flowed into his ears. And the pain… THE PAIN, it tore at him. IT sought to eat him, to consume him. The fire demanded that its hunger be quenched. IT wanted solely to consume everything and anything. Aang drowned in the screams and the pain continued to consume him.

Gyatso sat in a lotus position waiting for Aang to join him. Today wasn't anything special; they had returned to the Southern Air Temple a couple of months ago. Fall had since turned to winter and then winter into spring. Gyatso was very happy with Aang's progression with soundbending; his skill with the form of sub-bending only grew with the passing of each day. Gyatso was certain the boy would surpass his own skill in a couple of years time and freely claim the title of not just 'The Avatar,' but as the best airbender in the world. He hoped that Aang could not just be the best of them, but better than them and more true to their beliefs. The young Avatar was so pure in every aspect. Childhood innocence blessed him with a pure uncorrupted view on the world and on any situation. It was only a hope of Gyatso that Aang could maintain that as he got older.

The boy who dominated his musings for much of Gyatso's later life finally appeared. Gyatso tilted his head to the side, Aang seemed off. In appearance Aang seemed normal and nothing was out of the ordinary; he had been to morning meditation on time, but… but Aang seemed less energetic. Gyatso could tell from a look that Aang seemed drained, he looked tired and downtrodden. Gyatso made to ask Aang what was wrong, but he hesitated. Perhaps it was an issue that dealt with a more personal mentality and asking would only worsen the problem. Gyatso fought against his own airbender instincts to evade and instead, confront. Sadly decades of ingrained behavior held him back. A problem for another time thought Gyatso. Instead the elder monk settled for "How are you Aang?"

Aang looked up at his mentor, an emotion flashed across his eyes before quickly disappearing after a rapid blink. Sadness? No; Gulit? What for, no; Despair? What would cause you to fall into despair my boy? Gyatso's worry was confirmed, but he was left with the question of why? Opting for an indirect question as to what had his pupil down Gyatso asked, "How did you sleep Aang? Any issues?"

Gyatso could see Aang give a grimace that he quickly attempted to hide and compose himself. Aang gave a hesitating nod. "Yeah.." He cleared his throat and continued more confidently. "Yes, Gyatso. I slept soundly."

Frowning, Gyatso tilted his head once again. If Aang believed it not important to bring up with him it most likely wasn't for Gyatso to concern himself with, he trusted Aang enough. Finally after a few moments of consideration and a great amount of fidgeting on Aang's part, Gyatso nodded. "Very well Aang. If there is anything you believe I should be concerned with you are always free to ask me." Aang seemed to relax under Gyatso's words and stilled his figenting. He gave a firm nod in acknowledgement signifying he understood Gyatso's words of advice. Gyatso gave a few moments for Aang to settle into a mirrored lotus position before he began that day's teaching. "Today I would like to work on reflective sound cancelling Aang. It is on the other side of the spectrum of the sound cancelling I have taught you. Both have the same end effect of reducing or cancelling the desired sound. Instead of pausing the air from moving, with reflective sound cancelling we produce a sound of equal intensity and frequency. Not much has been discovered on why this might happen, but when a noise is met with an equal noise it results in a net zero. You learned what net zero means in your mathematics class Aang, yes?"

Aang groaned. "Yes, Gyatso I know what net zero means."

Gyatso chuckled. "Hahahaha! Great Aang. Then let us begin the technique. I will produce a sound and I would like you to match it with one of your own that will cancel the sound. I want to hear nothing!"

Aang gave a nod in return and they began their training once again.

Aang opened his eyes. This time it wasn't to screaming, but rather to heat. Aang looked around and he wasn't in his room at the temple. A starry sky was above him, uninhibited by light pollution or by a ceiling. Normally the view would make Aang feel free and unburdened, but the heat compressed down on him, Spirits it was hot. He looked around a bit and realized where he was. Aang wasn't in the temple anymore because he wasn't even on the planet anymore. Aang had no idea how, but there he was hovering above the planet. He was looking down on everything. Every single creature that lived, every single person Aang had met or was going to meet, everything in the material world was before him. The entire globe.

The heat once again called to him, its presence inescapable and suffocating. Aang wanted to know what was making him so spirit damned hot! There Aang floated, void all surrounding and heat consuming for what felt like centuries, the passing of time slowed and the spinning of the globe grinded to a halt. From the inky blackness a ball of red and orange appeared. The void refused to light around it with specs of white the only remaining source of luminosity. As the mass of red and orange approached, Aang began to recognize it distantly from a far away memory. The memory told of a story as long as the eons. How Agni would bless his people every century with mythical power. To strengthen the fire that burned bright and bless all of his chosen with the feeling of superiority.

"Agni's Great Comet." a distant aged voice spoke from within Aang. He looked on in understanding.

Agni's Great Comet blew past Aang. He could hear the raging inferno of the comet's tail. Aang believed the comet would hit the planet and strike it, but it skimmed the surface narrowly avoiding crashing. He could see it racing along as it left a wake of fire. Agni's Great Comet passed over the first bit of land, flying over the lands Aang could recognize as the Fire Nation. To his horror though, the fire from the comet's tail fell to the earth. A raging inferno began at the central island, near what he could see as the capital. Then it spread like wildfire across the land the nationals called home. The consuming nature of it did not stop until it reached the shores of every island. Its pause in consumption didn't end there, it jumped first to the islands that the Southern Air Temple and Western Air Temple called home and it burned, it burned hot. As much Aang wished it ended there, the fire continued and continued. It moved to the Northern Air Temple and Eastern Air Temple next, the screams of last night returned even louder. Aang reached up to his ear and tried to block out the sound, maybe even muffle it just a little, but the act was no good. Screams grew in intensity as the fire moved along and consumed. The next victim to the consuming fire was the South Pole. Even in its frigid climate the fire burned bright and soon no ice reamied. The fire tried to spread north, but it was surprisingly repelled, For now at least. At its rejection the fire struck the Earth Kingdom, the blaze grew and grew.

After a second eternity the fire consumed the globe, land and water alike was alight. Agni's Great Comet faded back into the void and out of sight. It left Aang with a lingering sense of dread and fear. With nothing left to consume on Earth the fire grew higher and higher. Aang realized that it was coming for him. The fire reached for Aang, higher and higher it grew; and closer and closer it got.

The first embers were nearing and it was about to lick him, but the world fell away and it cut to white.

Aang flew from his bed and hit his head on the ceiling. Breathing was labored and Aang was covered in sweat. He released a grumbled 'ow' before he fell back into his bed. Aang pushed himself off of his bed again as soon as he felt the blankets. They were soaked. Aang easily concluded that it was his dueing. The nightmare, the heat, spirits the heat! Images flooded him as Aang recalled the entire nightmare. He lowered himself to sit on the floor and leaned back on the stone that held up his bed. Aang brought both hands up to his head. He was so confused and so lost right now. Part of him wanted to go ask Gyatso what was wrong with; why he was having these nightmares all of a sudden, but Aang made sure to hastily remind himself that it wasn't Gyatso's problem, so he would burden his mentor.

"Why?" Aang asked out loud. Maybe some spirit would hear him and give him some sort of answer as to why he was having these nightmares. Why was he the Avatar? Why did he have to be the Avatar? Aang moved his hand to his eyes and shut his eyelids as hard as he could. Tears began to spill. So many self deprecating though swirled inside of him. So many curses at any and all spirits for giving him the role as Avatar. Would he even be a good Avatar? Why did the monks tell A twelve year old that he was to save the entire world? So much to carry for just one kid. The tears continued and spilt from his eyes uninhibited. Everything was so overwhelming. Being the Avatar wasn't even worth it in his eyes, it never brought anything good. Aang lost his friends, the monks at the temple viewed him as a means to an end that they could use. Only Gyatso and Appa were there for him. Tears and tears spilled from Aang. "Why? ...why?" Aang croaked as he huddled even tighter. The world around him slowly faded as the young airbender, the young avatar, the young kid cried himself to sleep.

Notes:

I Love Aang so much, but this is his journey and it will have to get worse before it gets better. If you're willing to stick with me I'll make sure its worth it!

IWantColouredRain- Not really, maybe a little about the elements, but not directly how to bend them.