Of Nightmares and Daydreams: Sokka

Dreaming permits each and every one of us to be quietly and safely insane every night of our lives.
--William Dement

"Four days?! The invasion is in four days?" Aang asked, a look of panic on his face.

Sokka yawned. "Whatever. That's like, four days from now. Let's just calm down and—"

The boy fell down his sleeping bag and began to snore.

"All hail, Sokka, Hero of the Black Sun War!" Sokka blinked and turned his attention towards the millions of people watching him from below.Were our numbers really that large? Sokka found himself wondering.

"You did it, Sokka! You killed the Fire Lord." Aang said, beaming with pride. "You're a hero."

"I did what to whom again?" The young man asked, confused.

"You killed the Fire Lord, silly," Katara said and draped an arm around Sokka's shoulders. Leaning forward, she whispered in his ear. "And a good thing too, I was getting rather annoyed of this war. It…stopped me from doing—" She paused as her smile widened. "—certain more productive things."

"Such as?" Sokka shivered and pulled himself free of his sister's hold. "Don't act so…weird on me, Katara. You're scaring me."

"Is that a good thing?"

Sokka ignored her question and moved away from the balcony. His gaze fell on a small mirror that was placed conveniently against the wall. His eyes grew to the size of large boulders. "What just happened to me?!"

"We're not really sure," Toph said. She was sitting on Azula's lap; her arms were around the older girl's waist. "But don't you think it's great?"

"I think it would be even better if Sokka joined us tonight. Don't you think, Toph?"

"Oh definitely, Azula." Toph chirped.

"Gaah!" Sokka screamed. "First of all, you're too young to think about…that...and with Azula to boot!" He shouted, waving his index finger near Toph's face. "Second, why do I have horns on my forehead?!"

"Chill, Sokka. It's all part of the deal," Aang said. "Don't you remember?"

"No, apparently, I don't."

Katara sighed and made Sokka sit on a chair. Mimicking Toph, she wrapped her arms around Sokka's neck and looked at her brother sadly. "Poor, Sokka. Maybe you've forgotten because of all those power Cactuar gave you."

"Cactuar?" Sokka strained his neck, trying to avoid the waterbender's fingers which were fiddling with his hair.

"Stay still, will you?" The girl pouted. "He's the god of cacti. Remember that cactus juice you drank?"

Sokka nodded. "What about that cactus juice I drank?"

"It gave you cactus powers. You know, because it's like a test or something. The ones who are too weak die from it. The ones who are strong, like you, get powers from the almighty Cactuar." Katara said matter-of-factly. "Personally, I like the changes it's done to you."

"What's not to like?" Haru asked, appearing from the shadows. To Sokka, he said, "Your subjects are waiting for you, my lord."

"My subjects?"

"You're the emperor of the Four Nations now, Sokka—I mean, my lord." Haru said, giving Sokka a short bow.

"Well?" Katara stood up and pulled Sokka off the chair. "What are you waiting for, your grace?"

"Someone sane to pass by and tell me what's going on?"

"Come on, my lord, you haven't got all day. Besides, you have a wedding later this evening and you don't want to be late, do you?"

"Oh, alright, if you insist," Sokka said and was about to follow Haru when he stopped in mid-step. "Wait…wedding?!"

"Yes, wedding."

"With whom?"

Aang screwed his face. "With Suki, Azula, Toph, Song, Jun, Smellerbee, Ursa, Katara…" Sokka's jaw fell down an inch for every name that Aang mentioned.

"I'm going to marry my sister?" The emperor asked, grabbing the first coherent thought that came into his mind.

Katara looked hurt. "Don't you love me, Sokka?"

"Not in that way, no!" Sokka protested. "And why am I getting married to so many girls?"

"Because a lot of people love you, majesty?" Aang inquired further. "Would you also like me to tell you the guys you'll be married to?"

"No thanks." Sokka grasped whatever sanity he had left and stormed out of the room, taking no notice of the cries of disappointment and outrage from his friends.

Walking aimlessly around the large palace, the emperor wondered how the heck he had gotten himself into such a large mess. Surely this was all a joke? After all, how could a pair of horns boost his chance of defeating someone like the Fire Lord?

"Excuse me, O great Leader, but your tail is in the way."

"What?" Sokka spluttered. Turning his head towards the direction of the voice, he almost fell to the floor in shock. "Momo?!"

"I'm going to be late, O great Leader, so if you could just lift your tail a couple of inches?" Momo pointed to a large scaly tail protruding from Sokka's back. "Only, there's this presidential meeting, see, because we're missing a plan B and I have to be there."

"Oh, Ok." Sokka picked up his tail and let the lemur pass. Looking up at the ceiling, he said, "Cactuar, sir, if you're out there somewhere, I just have one question: can I lose the tail?"

Blink.

"Well can I?" Sokka demanded. Frowning, he looked down at his hands and saw that the tail was no longer there. "So I guess that's a yes." He said and breathed a sigh of relief.

"Talking to yourself again, Sokka?"

"Yue?!"

"The one and only," the former princess of the Northern Water Tribe said, giving Sokka a brief smile.

"But how? I thought you went all moon spirit-y or something?"

"I still am." Yue spoke and approached him. "As to why I am here…it concerns your friends, I'm afraid."

"My friends? Why? What happened? Is there something wrong? Are they—"

"Many things will happen," Yue said, interrupting Sokka. "Loyalties will be questioned. Blood will be shed. Sins will be forgotten. And certain truths will be revealed." Yue sighed and walked past Sokka. The scenery shifted and changed into a small water-tribe style room. Her gaze fell on a painting of her father. "I need you to be prepared, Sokka. There are a lot of things…ahead. In the coming days, your friends will undergo several situations that have the possibility of turning fatal. I need you to be there for them; become the chain that holds them together."

"Princess Yue!"

A white blur scampered towards Yue. She smiled and let Momo climb on top of her shoulder. "Have you done what I have asked you to do?"

"I still have one message to give, Princess." Momo squeaked. "Your dreamer has just started sleeping."

"Your dreamer?" Sokka scratched his head. "Who's he? A new boyfriend?"

Yue laughed and shook her head. "She isn't really mine, Sokka. Momo just likes calling her that." Dropping the smile she had on her face, she looked at Sokka sadly. "There are a lot of things I wish I could tell you. A lot of things I wish we could discuss—like your interesting love life—but we don't have all night." Placing Momo on the floor, she pushed the lemur forward, sending him scurrying off to his next destination. "First of all, know that your sister has received the blessing of the moon."

"The blessing of the moon? You mean, you blessed Katara?"

"In a way, you could say that," Yue said, a small blush on her cheeks. "Let's just say she has a…lot more control over the water than any other waterbender during the full moon. There's also the matter of the token which was given to you by your master."

"You mean this?" Sokka asked and offered Yue the lotus tile he carried at all times.

She nodded but refused to touch the tile. "You must never lose that, Sokka. A time will come when it will be your only salvation."

"Against what exactly?"

"Against—"

Sokka opened his eyes. "Just my luck," he growled. Pushing himself off the ground, he dusted the dirt off his clothes. "I'm about to be given information that's probably very important and suddenly, I wake up."

"Keep it down will you?" Toph hissed. Her usually blank eyes were filled with worry. "Azula is asleep and I'd hate to have to kill you just to shut you up."

"Well, sorry if I'm not quiet enough." Sokka grumbled. He froze. Was Toph just concerned? About Azula? "Don't tell me I just had a vision of the future." The thought of having to marry his sister sent a cold sensation down his spine. Closing his eyes, he pleaded to whoever god was present that night, save the Cactuar god. "Please tell me that was just a dream."

A/N: The dreamer is Azula. More will be revealed later.

I'm sorry if I could not corporate the suggestion given for this chapter but I did have a reason. I really planned to have Sokka become all powerful due to cactus juice and the suggestion just happened to contradict that part of his dream.

Oh! And I'll give a teaser for anyone who can guess why Momo keeps saying, "I'm late."