The Avatar and the Fire Prince

Book 3: Earth, Chapter 1: The Avatar State

Aang's head turned from side to side as he traversed the worn pathways of the Southern Air Temple. He didn't know what he was looking for, but for some reason, he felt frantic about finding it.

At last, he arrived at a dilapidated structure. This was what he had been searching for.

He pushed aside the curtain, and as he entered the room, he froze when he saw... himself.

Only, it wasn't himself. Not his current self. This version of himself appeared noticeably younger and smaller, still wearing his old training robes.

His other self's head slowly turned to face him, and the expression on his face combined with the white-hot glow of the Avatar State in his eyes and tattoos made Aang's blood run cold.

He gasped in fear, whipping his arms up in front of him, when suddenly, the scene abruptly shifted. He was now watching himself rise into the air, surrounded by a vortex of airbending in the valley where he had found the Air Nomad relics. Iroh and Zuko were hiding behind rock formations in front of him, both looking equally terrified.

The next thing he knew, he was being blown backwards, and when he opened his eyes, he was in the Fire Sage temple on Crescent Island. The heavy doors to Avatar Roku's chamber slid open with a horrible metallic scratching sound, revealing his past self in the Avatar State yet again, that same terrifying expression etched into his features. His past self roared, fire blasting from his mouth, and sliced the floor of the temple, which Aang fell through with a scream.

He landed in the snow, quickly realizing he was now in the middle of the bloody battle between the Southern Water Tribe and the Southern Raiders. He could see himself in the distance again, batting off Raiders like they were spider flies with all four elements. In the blink of an eye, he was suddenly once again standing directly across from his other self, who hooked Aang's ankle with a water whip, tossing him into the frigid water of the South Sea.

Aang drifted deeper and deeper into the ocean before abruptly surfacing. Almost as if gravity had flipped upside down, he "fell" from the ocean's surface and landed with a thud onto the deck of a Fire Navy ship, and slowly looked up to see a massive, electric-blue entity that somewhat resembled a koi fish. At the center of the fish's chest was, once again, himself in the Avatar State. Aang's eyes widened in terror, unable to move as the giant koi entity lifted one of its arms—clearly being controlled by his other self—and sliced into him.

He woke up with a gasp, breathing heavily for a few moments in the dark as he tried to recall where he was. His breathing began to slow as his eyes adjusted to the darkness and he recognized his surroundings: he was currently below deck on a Northern Water Tribe ship.

Luckily, it seemed he hadn't woken any of his companions. As quietly as he could, he pushed himself off of his hammock and onto the floor, cushioning his landing with airbending before quickly darting over to the ladder that led to the ship's deck.

As he emerged onto the deck and made his way over to the edge of the ship, breathing in the warm, salty night air, he felt himself begin to relax ever so slightly.

"Aang?"

He flinched when he heard Zuko's voice, turning around to see the Fire Prince emerging from below deck. It seemed he had woken someone up.

"Are you alright?" Zuko asked as he jogged over to him, putting his hand on his upper arm. "I saw you get up... Was it another nightmare?"

Aang's gaze flitted down to where Zuko's hand was resting, then back up to his friend's face, which was quite close to his own, amber eyes filled with concern. Within seconds, he felt his cheeks and ears begin to grow warm, and nodded in reply as he quickly turned back to face the ocean, hoping Zuko hadn't noticed anything.