Chapter 3: Dreams
A/N: I have figured out where I wanted this to chapter to go, it took very long but I am satisfied with this chapter. Hopefully I can write out another chapter soon, life has taken over my writing and my mind is coming up with new plots. If anyone has any ideas please tell me, I am always open to suggestions especially since I get writers block. And on that note please review and I don't own ATLA.
As Zuko manned the Fire Nation air balloon, Sokka was snoring loudly, but that didn't matter much to Zuko. Due to his Uncle's loud snoring, Zuko found comfort in the snoring, it reminded him of a simpler time when he was younger and was rid of his scar. He felt so bad for Katara; he left her alone in his room back at the air temple. He was trying to make things better between them since Ba Sing Se, but each time he tried he seemed to fail even more. He envied Katara. She was strong in her own way, she was hopeful something that Zuko strived to be, she was always looking at the brighter side of situations, and she never gave up no matter how defeat she was. Her spirit was strong unlike Zuko's. Zuko felt like a coward for leaving Mai, but he learned that he no longer loved Mai, but he also needed to help Aang defeat his father.
"When did things get so complicated," Zuko asked himself out loud. We wondered what was happening back at the Air Temple, he wondered if Katara had fallen asleep after all, if Aang was sleeping next to Appa, if Toph was still murmuring gibberish in her sleep, if the three other boys who were with the Gang when he showed up were still cuddle up against each other. This was a simple time for Zuko on the outside but internally he was struggling to find himself still.
Back at the Air Temple
Katara was in deep sleep in Zuko's bed with one of his blankets wrapped around her body. She was dreaming of a time when her mother was still alive, her father was still at home, and her brother was just a little boy pretending to be a warrior. Her mother was making food while Sokka tried to Katara away from his toys when Hakoda walked in his furs and boots. At least that's who the people looked like at first in her dream, she could hardly see their faces but she knew she was an outsider. When her vision in her dream cleared up a little more, she noticed that her mother was actually her, and the little boy only resembled Sokka but had another man's eye color and eye color, and the little girl looked much like Katara with a lighter complexion, but when her eyes landed on the man who walked through the igloo's doorway was still blurred.
Then the scene changed with the same people but in the Fire Nation wearing red robes in a garden with a turtle duck pond at their feet, she wasn't sure where she was anymore or who she was with. All she knew was that she was lost within her heart and in her dream. But once again, the scene changed and Katara watched as someone was burned alive, she could hear the cries, but she couldn't move. She chained to a wall and so were the two children who were in her last dreams, they were crying and screaming but she could not hear them. She tried to hush the children and tell them everything would be alright. And then before Katara could wake up, the little boy from her dreams was taken and he yelled out for his mother or so Katara thought. He was trying his best to fight against the soldier that was carrying him away and then as the little boy was tied down on a table, Katara woke herself up.
Her dream scared her and yet there was no one who she could talk to about it, she wanted to know if what she saw was true but he wasn't there to talk to her. Did the Fire Nation kill families who were captured or what had this family done to deserve such a punishment. Why did the dream take her through different scenarios after the war, what did this mean. Katara felt lost and even more afraid for her friends. Katara continued to bury herself in the blanket she had wrapped around herself but felt no comfort. She got up and walked out to one the many fountains that the Air Temple, she figured being her element may help rid her mind of the awful images she saw in her dream. Maybe when Zuko woke up in the morning, she would talk to him. Katara stayed in the water until the dawn and thought of looking for the fire bender when she remembered he had taken off in the middle of the night with Sokka. She was furious again as she remembered, she needed them to hurry back, they needed to move on soon and they had no idea if anyone followed Zuko from the Fire Nation.
Back on the Air Balloon
Zuko could feel his body awaken with the rise of the sun as he looked out. Sokka had slept most of the night; he only stirred when there was slight breeze. Zuko didn't mean the Water tribes man, he was easy to be with, as he grew up he didn't have many friends, mainly there were Azula's, and the closest he had to a friend were the men on his ship after his banishment. He chuckled as he remembered his stupidity just a year ago; it was odd to know that he had grown from that little teenager into a man. He missed his Uncle Iroh as well though, he had mistreated his Uncle in their travels together and now his Uncle wouldn't forgive him or see him. He just prayed that his Uncle was safe and okay considering the damage that was done at the prison when Zuko went to bust him out. He was more afraid of his Uncle never forgiving him than of his own father's wrath.
Not to mention, the disappointment he saw in his Uncle's eyes when he went to visit him, Zuko couldn't go on not knowing if he would ever find forgiveness from his Uncle. Sometimes Zuko needed help to get him out of his head but there was no one there to help him. Zuko walked over to Sokka and shook him awake. "Sokka, can you watch the air balloon for a while?" Sokka stirred, but didn't wake up. Zuko had to continue to yell Sokka's name in his ear until he finally woke up at the word "food".
While Sokka was sulking, he let Zuko get a couple of hours of sleep, it was odd for Zuko to sleep while the sun was out but he needed his strength. Zuko rarely remembered his dreams but this one time he did. He remembered being in one of the poles and of the two children who were in an igloo with him as he walked through the doorway, he remember the scene changing to one he was very familiar with, the little turtle duck pond that his mother would take him too, but the last scene of the dream woke Zuko with a start. He could the heat surround him, he knew that he was burning and he was screaming in pain but he looked out to the young children and that woman that wouldn't look at him but at the children. He cried for being defeated, he cried not from the blistering heat on his skin but from the pain that his family was being torn from him and they had to witness his death. All he wanted to do was fight back, but he couldn't. He didn't understand what was happening.
Sokka was shaking Zuko when Zuko woke up grabbing on to Sokka's upper arm. He had to remember where he was and why was there, after realizing that he was only dreaming, he rubbed at his temples hoping for some clarity but finding none. Why was this happening to him, was this dream a series of outcomes if Aang didn't defeat his father or if he did. And who were the children and the woman in his dreams.