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After: The Avatar State

The nightmare that woke Aang in the middle of the night was nothing new. Three of them had plagued his dreams in the last week alone. He would wake up, sweating from visions of himself as if he were outside his own body, watching helplessly as he destroyed Fire Nation soldiers, Fire Navy ships, and even the Southern Air Temple with the great power of the Avatar State. His eyes and tattoos lent him an eerie glow, his fists were always clenched, the wind and water cutting through wood and stone and steel and people as if they were little more than paper. He hated it. And he hated that he had let General Fong talk himself into doing it again.

He figured it was around three in the morning, but he had no wish to relive that dream again tonight. He sat close to the fire, warming his feet, elbows resting on his knees. The fire danced and crackled merrily, an opposite to his dark mood.

Even then, it had been obvious that General Fong was using Aang's desire to end the war and his guilt for disappearing against him. The general wasn't the first person to bring up Aang's one hundred year disappearance as if it had been intentional. That guilt, coupled with discomfort he'd felt upon seeing all the injured soldiers in General Fong's infirmary, had caused him to agree to a plan that he had known was a terrible idea to begin with. There were countless arguments against it, his and Katara's included. Surely, if going into the Avatar State made him undefeatable, Avatar Roku would have destroyed Fire Lord Sozin before the war had even started. Sokka was the only one who showed mild support, but then, as long as the plan was ethical, Sokka was willing to try most things to defeat the Fire Nation.

Still, the general had browbeat him, against his own wishes and Katara's vehement opposition, into attempting to force himself into the Avatar State. After a couple days of attempting to force him into the Avatar State using methods that bordered on the ridiculous, all they had accomplished was completely destroying General Fong's compound. After Fong had taken things too far.

A light wind whirled away from Aang. Fong had taken things too far, indeed. Tension crept over Aang's body unconsciously. Fong threatened Katara. Dragged her under the earth. Even Sokka had been frightened, and Sokka was almost never afraid. Aang had heard the way Sokka had called Katara's name. The fear in Sokka's voice was palpable.

Aang remembered standing on the balcony, watching the scene unfold. Fong had ordered his soldiers to turn their great wheels of stone on Katara, and Aang had stood motionless in shock, unsure if the general would truly cross the line in the sand.

And then Katara had sunk up to her knees. She'd cried out in surprise, her eyes wide with fear. And Aang wasn't unsure anymore. He'd fought, argued, literally begged on his knees for Fong to let Katara go.

They'd found out the moment her head had sunk below the earth just how far Aang was willing to go to get her back.

The wind whipped away from him again, fanning their small campfire, and he took a deep breath to wrangle his unruly emotions back under control.

General Fong had certainly paid for that mistake; the entire compound and a full platoon of his soldiers were down for the count. So great had been Aang's fury, Roku had seen fit to take Aang's spirit while his body was bent on the destruction of everything and everyone around him, and he'd learned the dangerous truth of the Avatar State; if he was killed, the Avatar Cycle would end.

"Aang?" Katara called him softly from her bedroll, disrupting his thoughts. "What are you doing up? It's the middle of the night."

"I couldn't sleep," he replied, trying to keep his voice light. He didn't want to worry her.

But he couldn't slip anything past Katara. Dragging her blankets with her, she trudged over to him, seating herself next to him before wrapping the blanket around both of them. Aang gratefully accepted, reveling in the warmth she brought.

"What's the matter?" she asked, sleep still evident in the roughness of her voice. "Is it the nightmare again?"

"Yea," he answered quietly. "It keeps happening. I didn't really feel like having it again, so..." He shrugged.

"I see," she said teasingly, and nudged his shoulder with hers. "So you're not going to sleep at all anymore?"

He chuckled. "I will. I'm just… I don't know, resting from resting?"

"Mmmh," she hummed in response.

A companionable silence fell between them. Comforted by her warmth and presence, his mind wandered away from the dark thoughts that had plagued him before she'd woken. But then, she'd always had a soothing presence. She could calm him with a look or a touch, like she'd done back at the compound, when his emotions had gotten out of control. Roku had brought him back to his body, and she had been there, arms wrapped around him, supporting him, the way she always did.

Something heavy fell on his shoulder, and he jumped slightly, startled. In their silence, Katara had nodded off, and her head had fallen, coming to rest on the first thing that stopped its descent; his shoulder. Smiling slightly, he pulled the blanket tighter around them, and wrapped an arm behind her to keep her from rolling off his shoulder onto the ground.

After a while, when the fire had burned low, he stood and gently guided her back to her bedroll. She was so exhausted, she didn't even crack an eyelid. He laid her down, covering her with the blanket, before walking to Appa, who lay nearby, and laying down on his soft, furry tail.

He slept peacefully until late the next morning.