Torn

_The steady drip of liquid was equivalent to a hammer, one that was intent on driving him awake. Pain reached into every corner of his being, grasping at his consciousness and attempting to pull him away from the opaque oblivion that held him with the arms of a lover. Voices indistinctly murmured somewhere in the back of his thoughts, sharing the secrets he would never learn of the things he would never know. He couldn't allow himself to wake up, He begged the voices to leave him be. Let him fall back into the welcoming black that would once again nuzzle him with warmth and quiet. His choice didn't have to be made now. It would not need to be made for some time. As if to reply, an unnatural scream interrupted the endless struggle of the blackness against his body. And for a moment a light overtook him. It illuminated every corner of his mind, forcing the tide of the fight against his wishes. Something was pushing against his face. It wished to smother him with its relentless push. Faces floated above him, sometimes only one, sometimes more. Pain shot thru his body. It did not yield. It did not give him quarter. It shot thru him again as the dark overtook him, and finally the silent guardian came to his rescue. It tugged him farther into the darkness. Only a moment, or maybe a lifetime, before he released himself to the shadows did the voices come into focus. Had he any control the voice would have halted him, made him consider what could be happening. He, however, had no control. He could only make out a few words and he felt over the cliff into the darkness… 'We're losing him!"_

Aang awoke in a cold sweat. He couldn't say why he felt like he did. Aang could hold no recollection of his dream, or what would cause someone as experienced as he was in both survival and combat to feel terribly alone and scared. He shook his head slowly as sweat ran down the back of his neck. His chest was still raising and lowering quickly when Katara rolled over and opened her eyes.

" Aang.. what wrong?" she asked sleepily as she rose and blinked the sleep from her eyes. Aang shook his head as he looked around the room in an attempt to ground himself into the and now, and away from that feeling of the overwhelming fear. They were at Ba Sing Se. Word had gotten to Sokka that Fire Lord Zuko would be in town and that he needed to talk to Aang about something important. Aang yawned as everything settled down in his mind and He turned and tucked the covers around Katara.

"Go back to sleep. I'm just gonna go to the bathroom real quick." He said quietly as a smile crossed his face. Even in the dim light of predawn, Katara looked exotically beautiful. Her tan was slightly darker than it had been over a year ago when they defeated the Phoenix King, and her hair was an ebony river against the pillow. Aang leaned over and kissed her forehead as he slowly got out of bed and snuck out of the room. Two turns and a sliding door later Aang found himself on a balcony overlooking the street below and part of the city.

The cool bite of air was a release of sorts that Aang welcomed as time slowly marched along, and forced the world to move from the quiet predawn into the beginning of the bustle of dawn. Aang supposed it was for the best that he had woken up. Sokka didn't know that Aang and Katara had decided to make their living arrangements a bit more.. permanent soon, and it was something they had never gotten around to telling him. Despite Sokka knowing Aang had began to court Katara, Aang still didn't want to cause any issues, and was trying to find the path of least resistance when it came to telling him. He would be getting into town soon, and him barging in on them sleeping in a bed together could be messy, to say the least. Aang chuckled nervously at the thought before a voice broke thru his idle thoughts.

"Oh Good, your awake. " Aang sputtered as he turned around quickly, his thoughts scattered as he realized that there would be no way to explain it if Sokka had found them. Only as his eyes recognized who they were looking at did Aang come to the conclusion that the voice was decidedly female. He caught his breath when Mai cocked her head to the side." A little jumpy, aren't we. Don't worry, I won't tell Sokka your sleeping with his sister." Aang blushed fiercely as he choked at her choice of words.

" We aren't, I mean we sleep together but we don't slee.." Mai Shook her head and broke in.

"I don't need to know what you two may or may not be doing behind closed doors.. I just caught word that the Avatar made it in last night. Once I told Zuko, he asked me to come let you know when and where to meet him. Before you ask, I don't know what reason he has to be so secretive, I just know he doesn't want anyone else to know about whatever he needs to tell you." Aang looked troubled at that.

"Alright. Well.. What about Katara, She is allowed to come right?" he asked hopefully. Mai half shrugged and sighed.

" Yeah your girlfriend can come too. Zuko was going to invite the whole group together for the meeting today." Aang grinned widely, before a thought struck him and the grin faltered.

" But most of them are at least a days' travel, maybe more, from Ba Sing Se, even if we used Appa to get them here." Mai shook her head.

" He sent word to them a few days ago. Toph arrived last night, and Sokka should be arriving today. He wanted to make sure you would have back up." Aang shook his head as a sick feeling permeated his stomach. "You alright kid?" Mai asked, the tone of sarcasm dropping only slightly. Aang shook his head.

" What would I need back up for?" he asked a bit unsteadily as he looked up to her." What could be so bad? Didn't we JUST save the world?" Mai shook her head.

" You've had a full year to take a vacation, Baldy. Time to get back to work." She said quietly as she leapt up and grabbed the ledge of the roof. A moment later she was little more than a whisper of wind. Aang shook his head slowly and looked back at the door leading back into the room. On a positive note Katara would be in the room waiting for him, but so would the dreams of light and pain. Aang sighed for a moment, His good mood fled him in favor of a more worry-some tone. Something told him it was going to be a very long day. With a small sigh Aang made his way back to bed. Hopefully in a few hours the whole situation would look better, even if it looked worse at least he would know what was going on.

-A.N. So Lemme know if you guys like it or not. This'll be the first story I've written after a six year hiatus so pointers are more than welcome. Next Post will be less than a few days at best, a week at worst. See you guys in the next chapter.-


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