Kataang | An Alternate Reality...

Chapter 11

Aang wakes up. Everything feels different... everything looks different. He's in a forest. Definitely not the bedroom he fell asleep in. "Katara! Katara are you here?" Aang yells, frightened. No response. He yells again. Nothing. 

"Hello, Aang." a mysterious voice says. 

"Who in the spirits are you, and what do you want!" Aang asks the voice. 

"I want to know why you still hang around this... place." He says, disgusted by the use of the word place.

"What place? I have zero idea what you're talking about." He says, truthfully.

"Ba Sing Se. It has nothing for you. Leave. Before you're caught in the effects of it." the mysterious voice says hysterically.

"Wha...what?" Aang responds.

"I am the Nightmare Bender. I can tell you things through your mind when you sleep. I was gifted. But not like the rest. I can only provide nightmares. The scariest horrors. Why me? Why was I gifted with the worst? I want revenge." the voice said. Only than did Aang realize. The dreambenders populated Ba Sing Se. He was going to take revenge on the people, he was going to turn them all against one another.

"You wouldn't do such a thing!" Aang screeches. The nightmare bender appears in the form of Katara.

"Oh no. That's where you're wrong, almighty avatar. I could care less about the population of this city. I want my revenge. I want to be raised right. I didn't want to be abandoned... and yet, I still got abandoned." he smiles. "It's the way life works avatar. You were stuck in a iceberg for 100 years. You should know a little bit about abandonment." He says back, smirking in the soul form of Katara. Before Aang can say anything else, the dreambender pulls out a knife, and stabs himself in the knife, in the form of Katara.

"Katara!" He yells, running over. Than he remembered. That wasn't his Katara. This was a fake replica. A toy. Using Katara's body as a toy. He was enraged. The dreambender had to have a body in the nightmare realm. He tried to fire his air, water, earth, even fire. But nothing happened. "What in the spirits..." He was confused and scared.

"Silly avatar. I have control of all reality in this dream. I have control of everything here. You are weak, useless. Until you give in to the inevitable future, you have no power." He says, his maniacal laughter louder than a wave crashing into land. That's it! Water. Waves. Medititation. That's all he needs to get out of here and back into reality. But was reality actually reality? "What are you doing?!" the man asks. 

"I'm getting the spirits out of here." Aang says, crossing his legs, closing his eyes, and meditating. He woke up. He was there, still next to Katara, who was still in a deep sleep. He sighed a breath of relief. He kissed her cheek, and got out of bed and went to the kitchen to prepare his love a meal.

He found a carton of eggs, some bacon, and a salad. He was disgusted by the bacon, as well as the eggs, but he felt comfortable with the salad, so he made Katara the eggs and the bacon. While he was busy flipping the bacon, Katara walked into the kitchen. "Hey sweetie. Whatcha doin?" She asked. She scared Aang, and he flipped the bacon straight into the air. He airbended the bacon right back down onto the pan. "Nice reflexes sweetie." Katara says, giggling. She walks over and gives him a kiss on the cheek. 

"Hey, where have Sokka and Toph been?" Aang asks.

"Honestly, no idea. Bunch of loose cows. Ever since Suki passed he hasn't been able to stay home for more than 30 minutes. It's sad, honestly." She says, also getting sad from the thought of Suki passing. Suki had died during the siege. She had been shot in the chest by an arrow, and Sokka didn't even get to say goodbye. But he had to move on. Maybe not in all aspects; but he did move on. He couldn't come home, however.

"Yeah..." was all Aang could muster out. He was just as equally sad. They had been long term allies during the war and during everything that had happened. Sokka kissed her countless times, they were always together throughout everything. She had stayed with the Kyoshi warriors before the siege, but she was informed by Sokka who came to visit and warn them. That was their last kiss. Ever. "Well, breakfast is ready." Aang carried the plate over too the two. Eggs and bacon for Katara, and a salad for himself. "Listen, sweetie. I had a nightmare. But not just a normal nightmare. A dreambender. A bad, dreambender. He told me that he wanted his revenge, he was going to possess everyone in their dreams, and use them to fight one another." Aang says. Katara spits out a piece of bacon in shock. 

"What! That's really bad... that'll be enforcing civil war. Except without a cause." She was horrified. Aang was also horrified. "We... we need to tell everyone. We need to. How long do we have?" Asked Katara.

"I... I don't know. I think we have 3 nights and 3 days." responds Aang. Although she is a bit relieved, she's scared. She has been through Ozai. Azula and Zuko. She had never, ever, seen something along these lines in her whole life. Something; someone who possesses dreams, and can use them against you. A nightbender.

"Well, what do we do?" Asks Katara, looking at her boyfriend. He is the Avatar. He is supposed to know what to do. 

"We have to tell everyone. Get to the palace. We have to tell the Water Tribes, tell the Fire Nation. Get in contact with Zuko. This could cause civil war. This could break the world down to its fewest molecules. This isn't something that just us can fix, Katara. We need help. We need friends. We need unity." Aang declared. She was honored by his attitude and his bravery. He thought his idea was great, but they would only have so long. How could they reach all of these nations in so little time? It had taken them so long to get to all four nations before they even had the slightest idea of what the comet was, and it had taken them another 3 months to prepare. 

"Aang... I love you. I do. But this is going to take a long time..." Katara's voice slowly lightened. 

"Sweetie, we will be okay. We need to get some of our friends, likely Sokka and Toph, and tell them to go somewhere, while we handle the Earth King. we need to seperate; because it will be the fastest method." Aang added to his past statement. Katara was happy with the idea, but she was scared for her brother, and her friend. "Sweetie, come here." Aang said. She gleefully walked over. He patted his lap, and he pointed to his lips. He wanted her to sit on his lap, towards him. She did so. Aang kissed her. She kissed back. She was happy that he still saw light, hope in this situation. Katara always knew she had hope. But she just wasn't sure with what was going to happen. This was going to be difficult to handle. She knew something negative was going to happen at some point. That's how their relationship worked. No matter how many goods they had, someone had to get hurt. Someone had to be left behind. She didn't want that to happen. Not now, not ever. She finally broke the kiss, which had lasted a very long period of time. They both panted as Katara lifted herself off of his lap, and went to her bedroom to get changed. "Sweetie! I'm going to go home to get changed!" yelled Aang.

"Okay!" Katara said back. He left the house to get changed. 

They knew they had a lot of work ahead of them.