Ch 17 nightmares and daydreams
Once again, Appa set down on a patch of land. Sokka looked at a map and smiled.
"We're here." He said.
"What's this place?" Olivier asked.
"My dad and I picked it out before we separated. And we're 4 days ahead of schedule." Sokka said.
How was that possible? Considering all the stops they had along the way, shouldn't have they been behind schedule?
"Four days? The invasion's in four days?!" Aang asked with wide eyes.
"Yeah. That's four days from now so we can…" Sokka said, then fell asleep.
Then it hit Olivier, the reason of this newfound worry.
"Oh. You got to fight that firelord guy." Olivier said.
Aang almost went into a catatonic state. It took Katara to calm him down. She then turned on Olivier.
"What was that for?" she asked.
"It amuses me." Olivier smiled.
Katara sighed in annoyance.
Next morning, Olivier woke up, and saw Aang awake and checked his pants.
"That's weird." She muttered. She looked closely. The bags under his eyes showed he had gotten no sleep.
She watched as Aang kicked a bush. Why a bush? Olivier didn't know. She'd be more than happy to spar with Aang. And she'd probably wipe the floor with him.
Next, Aang moved to a sturdy tree and started to punch it real hard, in constant movement.
"What's he doing?" Katara asked.
"Looks like overtraining." Olivier said.
Katara went to Aang to try and talk to him.
"You know there is such a thing as over training." She said, as Aang fell down from exhaustion.
He quickly stood up and circled Katara like a prey.
"You don't get it do you?" Aang asked, irritably. "My form is bad, I'm sloppy and I still don't know any fire bending. Not even the basics."
Olivier knew the solution to that. One, sleep so you'll be well-rested for combat. About the fire bending, nothing they can do about it now.
"That's okay, Aang. The eclipse will block out fire bending. Besides, it's a stupid element anyway." Sokka said.
Olivier shook her head at Sokka's frame of mind. The boy had no way how life worked. Did Aang need fire bending for the invasion? Probably not. But he did need to know the forms of fire bending, so as to defend himself. Especially against the firelord.
"Okay. But I still need to train hard." Aang said. He then bowed to Katara. Then to Sokka, then to Olivier.
Olivier watched as Aang rode away on an air ball.
Stress kills.
Being a light sleeper, (commanding a fortress on the Amestrian-Drakman boarder will do this) Olivier noticed when Aang got up and circled some sheep.
What?
Olivier decided not to worry about it and fell asleep again.
Next morning, she woke early and watched as Aang slapped Sokka awake.
"Sokka, wake up! I need to know what day it is!" Aang yelled.
"Would you relax? It's still two days before the invasion." Toph said.
Aang pulled Sokka with him to a good sized mountain.
"You need to work on your rock-climbing skills!" Aang said.
"What?" Sokka asked.
"In my dream, you were trying to run from a fire nation soldier, trying to climb this cliff but you were too slow and they got you!" Aang said.
Olivier only smiled at Sokka's annoyance. She was going to enjoy this.
"I can climb any cliff." Sokka said.
"Then climb that one. Climb it fast!" Aang said, pointing to it.
Sokka looked dumbfounded.
"Don't drink that!" Aang shouted, turning to Toph.
Toph spit the water out, all over Katara.
"Is it poisoned?" Katara asked.
"In my dream, we were right in the middle of the invasion, and you had to use the bathroom. We all died because of your tiny bladder." Aang said.
Olivier only laughed at Aang's weird behavior. She started to inspect her swords and knives when Aang talked to her.
"You have to fight harder! In my dream, you were killed by the fire nation soldiers, because you were too feminine." Aang said, hitting Olivier's berserker button.
"What?" She growled, standing up and walking towards him.
Without even bracing herself or flinching, Olivier gave Aang a brutal uppercut to his jaw and sent him flying across the island.
She turned to the others and scowled.
"This never happened."
Olivier watched as Aang paced in front of everyone else.
"Every time I think about how stressed I am, I get even more stressed." He said.
No shit. Olivier thought, knowing that was what exactly happened.
"No kidding. You got to fight the fire lord." Sokka said, making Aang stress out even more.
"Sokka!" Katara scolded.
"It's true. He knows it." Sokka said.
Katara pushed Sokka onto the ground and grabbed Aang.
"I have just the thing. Get ready to be destressified." She said, dragging Aang away.
Olivier gave Katara a thumbs up.
Katara looked back with a weary look. Looks like someone didn't have much confidence in themselves.
It didn't work, as Katara came back with blood-shot eyes.
"You wanna try?" She asked.
"Try what?" Olivier asked.
"Help Aang." Katara said.
Olivier looked at Aang. He wasn't looking so good. In fact, he looked like he could drop dead any second.
"Alright." Olivier said, walking towards him.
Having a friendly smile on her face, she walked towards Aang.
And since Aang never knew her that well, he didn't see it coming.
"What did you do?!" Katara asked.
"I knocked him out. Perfect destress." Olivier said.
Aang woke up, and was pissed.
"How are you doing?" Olivier asked.
"How am I doing? That's all you can say?!" Aang asked.
"Yes. You feel angry at me." Olivier said.
"YES!" Aang responded.
"Then it worked." Olivier said, and walked away.
Aang stood with a confused expression on his face. Then he snapped.
"Olivier, fight me like a warrior!" He shouted.
Olivier only smirked as she pulled out her broadswords. The lack of sleep was making Aang sound like her brother. No matter. She kicked her brother's ass, and she'll kick the avatar's ass.
"Twinkle-toes, you're overreacting too much. All she did was knock you out." Toph said.
"All she did? She didn't even apologize!" Aang shouted.
"Don't you get it Aang?" Sokka pipped up. "You're angry with her. So you're forgetting about your fight with the fire lord."
Olivier face palmed about Sokka's stupidity. And she was forced to knock Aang out.
"I have one final trick up the sleeve." Katara said.
"What's that?" Sokka asked.
"Shear the sheep and make a bed. It should help Aang sleep." Katara said.
Hours later, and many hallucinations later, Aang walked into camp, exhausted beyond measure.
"Oh look. Another hallucination. A bed made of clouds." He said.
"Hey! It's real! We spent hours working on it." Toph said.
"We made it for you. A good nights sleep will probably take the crazy away. We hope." Sokka said.
"Look. You guys say that I need sleep. But I can't! the invasion's tomorrow!" Aang exclaimed.
"Aang…" Katara said.
"No, Katara! There's still so much I haven't learned. I don't need sleep. What I need is practice. Quick, hit me!" Aang said, and wobbled a bit.
"I'm not going to hit you." Katara said.
"I'll do it." Olivier said, brandishing her sword.
Sokka grabbed her arm and shook his head.
"Guys, I still need more training." Aang said.
"Aang, you're ready for this. You've been training and preparing for this since we met." Katara said.
"You think so?" Aang asked.
"We know so." Sokka said.
After some encouragement from his friends, Aang finally fell asleep.
"That's over with." Olivier said.