DISCLAIMER: I do not own the Avatar: The Last Airbender Character names and/or places. I wish I did though…
Chapter 5: Search of the Eastern Air Temple
It was dark, it was wet, and it was scary. Aang was standing in a wet swamp-type forest. "Where am I? What is this place" Aang called out to no one. Then a disturbing memory occurred to him. He remembered that in the last dream that he had, Koh the Face Stealer had taken Katara away from him by stealing her face and had nearly taken his face as well. "Koh! If you're here, show yourself!" a few moments passed and Koh did not appear. Then suddenly the forest went blurry and disappeared and soon after a new scenery appeared. It was the Southern Air Temple! But soon after the picture changed once again and he saw himself moving through the Air Temple and he ended up at the Air Sanctuary. It was pitch black with only a candle in the middle of the sanctuary. There was a figure sitting next to the candle. The image changed once again and Aang found himself standing over the figure. It turned out to be Katara. "Hey Katara… Katara?" he grabbed her shoulder and she turned her head to face him. As she faced him, Aang got the shock of his life. Katara had no face! The picture changed again and Aang found himself in an underground city. "This must be where the Air Nomads were hidden". Then, just as quickly the picture appeared, it changed again. This time Koh the Face Stealer was in a room. Aang remembered it to be his old room back when he was just a normal kid living in the peaceful world of the Air Nomads.
"What are you doing here Koh?" Aang asked trying to keep his anger under control and his face expressionless.
"Well, well, well isn't it the Avatar. How lovely to see you again" Koh turned towards Aang and changed his face to Katara's face.
"Give Katara her face back Koh. What do you want?"
"Well, I just wanted to show you some friends of yours… do you remember this person?" he changed his face to Sokka's face. Aang could feel himself getting angrier and angrier. "Or what about this person?" Koh changed to Toph. Aang tried to keep his face as clear of expressions as possible. "What about these people?" his face then started flickering to many Air Nomads' faces until he landed on just one face… Monk Gyatso. Aang's anger and patience boiled over the edge and he burst out in anger.
"What did you do with Monk Gyatso? Why did you do this?" Aang then stopped because he realised that he had just shown anger, an expression. Koh leaned towards him… ready to steal his face –
"AHHHHHHH!" yelled Aang as he awoke from his nightmare. He heard from outside Appa groan and Momo screech. He had just woken them up and they were outside. That means he must of woken up Katara as well. He looked around next to him, and Katara was rubbing her eyes and yawning.
"Hey Aang" she yawned, "What's wrong? Did you have a nightmare?"
"I'm sorry Katara, I had a nightmare". He soon noticed that it was light outside. "Should we go and start looking for the underground city?"
"Yea okay, just give me a minute and I'll be right out" she leaned in and kissed Aang on the lips. Aang went outside and fed Appa and Momo. 'Wow, another nightmare. I must really be losing it. But I shouldn't worry, if I worry, Katara worries. Now let's go find some Air Nomads'. Katara soon came out of the tent and according to Aang, 'looking better than ever'. They had breakfast, and set out towards the Eastern Air Sanctuary. They searched all day. But they didn't find anything that would lead them to an underground city. They spent several days at the Eastern Air Temple, and every night that they were there, Aang had the same nightmares about Katara, the Air Nomads, and Koh the Face Stealer.
The next week, they were travelling to the Northern Air Temple. Aang couldn't help but wonder if there weren't any Air Nomads left. 'What if I really am the last Airbender. What if the next Avatar after me can't learn Airbending? Or worse, what if the Avatar cycle is broken?' he looked over at Katara, who was playing with Momo. 'Katara's sixteenth birthday is coming up, and I love her very much'. An idea clicked into his head 'I know! If there aren't any Airbenders, I could marry Katara. I mean, I always wanted to marry her, but the sooner the better, right?' he asked to himself. He looked back to Katara, who was looking at him at the same time. Aang crawled over onto the saddle and sat down next to Katara. She wrapped his arms around him and laid her head on his shoulder. They were both quiet for a very long time, until Katara started shivering, which meant that they were nearing the Northern Air Temple. Not very long after, Katara had fallen asleep on Aang's shoulder and he saw the Northern Water Tribe city nearing them. He knew that Katara would want to visit the Sister Tribe of her people (the Southern Water Tribe). He placed Katara in a sleeping position on Appa's saddle and crawled over to his head. He steered Appa to the Northern Water Tribe. 'Just a quick visit, we have time'. When they landed, the Water Tribe people welcomed them happily. Aang woke Katara up and they went into the Northern Water Tribe…