A/N: I've been struggling with some major writer's block. Sorry it's so late! Enjoy.

Chapter 5

"Katara!"

She sat up with a gasp. She couldn't breath. Her chest was constricted. Aang's hands were at her shoulders and he was shaking her.

"Are you alright? Katara!"

Zuko's hands squeezing the throat of his father. The image was seared into her eyes so strongly that she saw it even when her eyes were open.

"No. No, he can't have done it. Tell me it wasn't real." And then any vestige of control disintegrated in the wake of incoherent sobs. Her whole body shook so much that even Aang's strong embrace couldn't still it.

When she could finally open her eyes, they were filled with Aang's concerned face. He was now seated on her bed – when had she come to her bedroom? – and his arms still held her steady.

"Thank goodness. You're alright. Aren't you? I mean, you're not hurt or anything?" He raised a hand to her forehead. "You're kind of warm. Maybe you should lie down."

Katara shook her head. When she spoke, her voice cracked. "Zuko almost killed his father, Aang. He would have if I hadn't stopped him."

Aang considered her, his features smoothing over so his expression was inscrutable. "You're sure?"

She nodded. "But how could he? How could he do such a thing?" More tears leaked unchecked down her swollen cheeks. "Our Zuko, a murderer? Tell me it wasn't real!"

T T T T T T T Truthfully speaking, it wasn't real.

Katara's eyes widened. Over Aang's shoulder she saw the vague outline of a man she recognized from Aang's descriptions over the years. She pushed Aang aside and leaned forward.

"Avatar Roku?"

Aang started at her words and turned to see his mentor. "Roku." He looked confused. "But…this isn't the spirit world. And…Katara can see you?"

I I I I I I I I It is necessary. The Dreaming Man is almost free.

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"What are you?" Zuko felt unsteady, but kept his face carefully calm. Whoever this creature was, it was likely opportunistic. No need to give it any indication of weakness.

"Hmm…now it's 'what,' not 'who?' How impolite. I was a man, once." The 'man' stepped back and began pacing the floor. "But I suppose it was a very long time ago. Have centuries of isolation made me so inhuman?"

Zuko nodded slightly, his stomach twisting in what he had to admit was fear. He took to examining the speaker closely to distract himself, taking in the pale skin and vacuous expression of a being who was almost like someone you'd meet on any street in any city. Almost. Gray robes, immaculately clean, embroidered with blue thread. Thin frame, slightly hunched back. But there was something…off about him. Perhaps it was the way his pale eyes focused on nothing at all even as he addressed the Fire Lord. Perhaps it was the way his black hair lay plastered on his scalp, strangely motionless as the creature took slow, shifty steps across the room, his face always turned toward Zuko.

"Well, you are more interesting than I thought, prince." Here the creature smiled, morphing his normal face into a mask even grimmer than before. "I did not think I would be able to…encourage you so quickly. I thought it would take six months at the least. But look at you, attacking your own father after only two!"

Zuko flinched at the words. Attacking his own father. "What exactly is going on?" Zuko stepped forward, against the recommendation of his nerves, putting a menacing front to his slowly growing terror. "What are you?"

The creature continued as if Zuko had not spoken. "I mean, really! Even my previous conquest lasted three before I broke him. Just how much hate do you have for your father?"

Zuko's shoulders tensed in the face of the creature's verbal attack. He felt the flame in his mind seeking escape, grower warmer and warmer. But this creature was suggesting that it was the reason for Zuko's anger? It had caused his earlier attack on Ozai? It was manipulating him?

"I said, WHAT ARE YOU?"

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B B B B B B B But I don't have much time.

Katara spoke then, needing a sure answer to fortify her shaken faith in her old friend. "Avatar Roku. You were there with me in the dream, weren't you? You told me to help Zuko."

I I I I I I I I I did. You saved him from the Dreaming Man's power. I thank you.

Katara squinted. Even though she could see the old Avatar, his form was blurred like the guards' faces had been.

"How is it that I can even see you, Avatar?"

I I I I I I I I Intriguing, isn't it? Where did that ring on your finger come from?

Katara raised an eyebrow and looked down to her hand, examining the soft metal that twisted slightly as it circled her finger. "Zuko gave it to me." She felt her face heat up.

A A A A A A A Ah. I thought it looked familiar. That's the ring I gave to Ta Min when we married. I crafted it myself. A rumination ring. Worn over a long period of time, the ring provides access to the Dreaming. Allows someone who does not frequent the spirit realm to see me.

Aang blanched. "Zuko gave Katara a…a wedding ring?"

H H H H H H H Ha. I'm sure he did not know. Where did he say he got the ring?

Spinning the ring on her finger, Katara contemplated the fact that it had been worn for decades by the wife of this great Avatar. "From his father."

T T T T T T T T Then Ozai must have somehow gotten it from Ursa. Poor dear. How the boy must miss her.

Aang seemed uncomfortable. "You did say you didn't have much time…"

Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Yes, Aang. Zuko is in more danger than you know. You saved him once, Katara, but the Dreaming Man is a cunning foe. Zuko is strong, but he is in the Dreaming Man's realm – his home. He will not be able to resist for long. I am doing what I can, but it is not enough. Only the bearer of that ring can save him.

In spite of her beating heart, Katara set her chin and looked straight at Roku's face. "Tell me how."

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"No need to yell. Really, you should thank me. I saved you from a prison in your beloved old city."

Zuko looked around pointedly at the cell walls. The creature laughed shallowly.

"Ha, yes, fair point. You think you're still in prison. But only because I wanted you to think you were still there. I can easily free you from these walls."

And in the blink of an eye they were no longer in a cold cell, but a grassy field, gently sloping down to a lazy creek lined with dainty flowers. When Zuko remembered to blink, he realized that his palms were throbbing painfully. How long had he been clenching his fists like that? What was going on? Was he completely insane? Had he suffered the same fate as his father? Had he died? Was this hell? He rounded on the creature, but before he could question it, it brought up another tangible illusion with a flourish of its hand – an illusion Zuko recoiled at. Her.

"You recognize her, I suppose? You should. I got her from your memory. Bad luck that she's the reason you were locked away." In an instant, the creature was behind him, whispering into Zuko's ear as he gazed at the deep brown curls and dark eyes of a woman he had thought he loved enough to marry. A woman who had betrayed him. The creature continued its attack, appearing at the woman's side and examining her face. "But she's just so pretty. Rina, isn't that her name? Anyone could understand why you let her trick you."

Zuko found himself unable to look away from Rina's soft expression even as his stomach twisted in anger. He had trusted her. Proposed to her, once her mother convinced him it would help his citizens appreciate his rule. Loved her. But her companionship had ended up being literal poison. One moment they had been eating a candlelit meal, her smiling over the sparkling red gem he had placed on her finger, him smiling happily at the prospect of spending his life with her, and the next his head was fuzzy, his arms were bound, and he was summarily dropped into a hole of a prison cell. He closed his eyes, and heat flickered behind his lids. Control, Zuko. Think of something else. "What of my father?"

"Ha. One of my better creations, I must say. Just the right tinge of insanity made his reality just sing. I might just bring him back when you're gone, wile away the hours perfecting his cruelty." Hah. Zuko wasn't sure whether to feel relief or rage at the revelation. So Ozai had never even been there. Zuko had strangled a phantom. And if he himself wasn't, in fact, insane, then he had existed for the past – weeks? months? – in an illusory world that could be changed in an instant at the whims of this inhuman jailer.

The creature had rounded on him now, slinking past Rina's silent, staring form, his strange glassy eyes still unfocused. Zuko gritted his teeth, fed up with moving under the control of this puppeteer. But his confusion and anger immediately disappeared at the sudden appearance of a second woman. She blinked into existence about twenty feet ahead of Zuko, and he found himself unable to pay attention to anything but the concerned eyes of this wonderful antithesis of everything Rina had been. Loyal, trustworthy, true…

"Katara." He breathed the name, regretting his action as soon as he did so, for as soon as he spoke, the creature hissed and spun around, instantly conjuring up a massive black block inches above Katara's head. She had only enough time to glance up in horror before the block crashed to the ground, crushing her beneath its weight.

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Dun Dun Dunnnnn…