War : A Phantom's Fury

Chapter 3 : Signs

He wasn't sure he was breathing. The air was too thin. Hands - arms - were wrapped around his back and knees. The person's grip was desperate and strong, holding him securely to whoever they belonged to. There was a thick smell - singed skin, burned flesh, dusty sulfur. He felt he knew it well by now, as it was a horrid smell that often haunted him since the cold seriousness of war between the world and fire nation was drenched onto him at the air temple. But at the moment it was more overpowering than it had ever been. He could practically taste it on his tongue, coating his throat.

He felt numb.

"Go!"

An echoed voice shouted and whoever had been holding him suddenly shoved into someone else's arms. Someone smaller but still strong. This person smelled of dirt and flowers - the word comfort came to mind.

…

His back hurt. Why'd it hurt?

"Hang on twinkle toes…"

The voice was young and feminine, if not a little quiet. Whoever had spoken was breathing heavily and was definitely the person holding him now. Her grip was different. It was still desperate, but the way her fingers were around him was more curled then whoever had him before. She could very well be bruising his skin.

Seconds later he heard a scream, though one unlike anything he'd ever heard before. It sounded so unbelievably horrid, angry and full of pain. And after a minute, it began to change, like a terrible lullaby turned horrid wail - and ever slowly, it ebbed away - like waves in the early morning…

He opened his eyes.

Now he was standing - on something cold and smooth.

Everything was still dark - quiet… his back itched - his left foot ached.

"Hello?" He tried calling out. But his voice did nothing but rebound back to him. He took hesitant steps forward.

"Everyone dies at some point."

Aang whipped around, coming face to face with a stranger - a teenager, with soft eyes and a sharp jaw.

Glowing emeralds - crystal sky.

The stranger sighed heavily and turned to look away from him.

…

"We just don't get to choose when."

The Avatar woke up slowly, opening and closing his eyes blearily. The fog of his mind carefully left the edges of his vision. His body was incredibly stiff but he couldn't quite find the motivation to stretch - mind still reeling - coming down from the high that was his dream.

It had felt so real.

From the arms that held him to the voices that had echoed.

And that… strange teenager.

He was so… intense.

His body was just a blur of glowing black and white but the details in his face had been in high definition - his snowy hair down to his angled chin. But it was his eyes that were what wouldn't seem to leave his memory. They had repeatedly faded between the brightest green he had ever seen to the clearest blue.

Aang sat up, shaky arms slowly pushing him up on his tatami mat. Momo - his flying lemur - shifted at the end of the blanket as he did so.

"Some dream… huh Momo?" He murmured.

Said lemur only twitched in response.

The boy stared blankly at the animal, subconsciously starting to rub soothing circled on his collarbone.

After about 10 minutes, he came out of his musing to get up off the mat and to his pile of clothes in the corner, though slower than usual.

Almost as if he was on auto-pilot he began dressing, allowing his sluggish mind to wonder. He began to replay his dream, making a half hearted attempt to figure out it's meaning. Maybe it didn't even have a meaning, maybe it was just some strange result of all the stress from the last few days. Which had been an intense whirlwind of pain. Physically and emotionally.

He was honestly surprised he was up.

…

Looking back on the events, he felt guilty.

The idea that he should've done more as the Avatar, to save Yue and the tribes people who had fought to the bitter end to protect their home drifted sharply in around his head… His stomach churned.

…

'Grrgle'

When was the last time he had something to eat?

A day and a half ago?

…

He groaned in mock exaggeration, sliding into his warm colored shirt and shawl.

(Vegetarian monk lifestyle + cold climate = no food for avatar boi.)

It wasn't something to worry about though. He had gone days without food before, having been prepared by Gyatso and the other Monks for the future enlightenment he was oh so determined to reach…

His eyes watered at the memories of his late teacher, friend and, if he was being honest, father-figure. He had thought that he'd reach the final stages of enlightenment with Gyatso by his side… a tear slipped out that he quickly wiped away.

Stop Aang.

He grabbed his red-brown boots from beside his staff, slipping them on over his feet swiftly. When he was finished he exited the room quickly and quietly, smiling widely as he stepped outside.

The first thing he did was the first thing he usually did in the mornings since arriving at the Northern tribe, he went to go find Katara, who was almost always up before him. He didn't have to look very long before spotting her sitting on top of the steps that overlooked the city.

"Morning Katara." The boy gave the waterbender a reward winning smile, his depressing thoughts and dream almost forgotten just at the sight of the girl. Yet only almost.

"Good morning Aang, sleep well?" Her voice was unusually cheery for the early morning - let alone a morning only a day and half after an intense invasion. He gazed away from her to look at the sun, realizing it wasn't nearly as early as he had first thought. The cool night air was still there, but had faded significantly into warmth from the sun. It probably wasn't too long til mid-day.

"Yeah, I guess." Aang came closer, his boots making small scuffles on the icy ground. He sat down next to her. "I just had a pretty weird dream."

"Weird?" The girl shifted closer to him, almost subconsciously. Her eyebrows rose in the way they normally did when she was worried or concerned. "How so?"

"Well… I don't know, it was just super… vivid." The Avatar leaned back and examined the sky with a small frown. It seemed out of place on his normally bubbly face. He retold how strange it was, to essentially feel and smell in his dream, how he had been carried. About the strange scream and the itch in his back. "There was also this teenager - with really white hair - like snow white hair. He was also glowing. Like some sort of spirit." His head tilted as he recalled. "How weird is that?"

"It's definitely a little strange." Katara's hand came up to scratch her chin absently. "I wonder what it all means."

They both sat in comfortable silence for a minute or two. Lost in their own musings. Aang thought back to the boy from his dream.

He really looked like a spirit.

Though unlike any spirit Aang had ever seen - except for princess Yue that is. Was the boy from his dream like her? Granted life from the spirits as a child, only to give to it back? "Now that I'm really thinking about it," The Avatar started. "He could've been a spirit."

"Really?"

"Yeah, I mean, he kind of looked like how princess Yue did." Aang was quiet for a second before his eyes widened, he felt excitement bubble in his chest. He jumped and turned his body. "Do you think my dream was a sign?!"

Katara looked taken back. "A sign of what?"

"That we're going to meet this spirit and that I should, ya know, prepare?"

"I mean it's possible. But it also could've just been a weird dream. We've all just gone through a rough couple of days so it wouldn't be too surprising."

"I guess not…"

"Don't think too much on it Aang," The water bender girl gazed at him sincerely and stood up, wiping the small specks of ice off her clothes. "I'm sure it'll all come together in the end. You should go wake up Sokka, I'm gonna go try and help out the other healers with the wounded." She reached her hand out to the Avatar, who took it and stood up as well. "Then we should find you something to eat before we get ready to sail out with Master Pakku tomorrow morning."

"Alright Katara." Aang beamed at her.

"See you in a few okay?"

"Okay."

Waking up Sokka was probably harder than it should've been and not for the typical reasons.

It didn't take a genius to see that Sokka was taking the loss of Yue pretty hard. He, himself didn't really know the princess all that well, they weren't close, but unlike everyone else, he felt like a relationship blossomed only after she became the new Moon Spirit. Like they were more… connected now. Which made him feel even more guilty - having gained a connection while the others lost one.

He sighed.

Sokka had yelled at him when he tried to wake him up. Not that he could blame him. The tribal teen just needed some time to cope - time alone. But that didn't make it any less hard.

Afterwards he picked up Momo from his room and met up with Katara for some food, which was something he was undoubtedly craving. She was able to scrounge up some nice vegetables with some tofu cut in cubes, which was a real treat. He wanted to scarf the whole meal in 10 seconds, but held himself back from doing so. It had to be savored.

Finished with his meal, he and Katara did some simple training together for about an hour while Master Pakku stood by and watched. It was good to do some simple back and forth motions with the water, calming even.

"We should probably start getting ready for tomorrow."

Katara had spoken up. The water he was bending fell to the ground with a soft splash and he looked to the sky, which now had a purplish hue. "You're probably right." He smiled brightly. "I wanna check on Appa first though."

At Kataras nod, he smiled wider.

"Come on Momo!" The lemur's ears perked up and he cooed. Following Aang as he left the training yard.

It was a short walk to the animal stalls, just a couple weaves in and out between the upper house alleys. Momo was perched on his shoulder for the majority of it. The animal's small claws were slightly uncomfortable as they dug into his shoulder, but he allowed it. If anything it was a small comfort to have his small friend so close.

But when they turned the corner, only a couple feet from the entrance to the animal shelter, the lemur suddenly jumped off and flew ahead. He didn't think much of it, as Momo usually did that, but when only seconds later the lemur came flying back, screeching madly as if something was wrong, the Avatar became oof-put. He made the rest of the trip hastily, turning into the entrance to see a covered figure rubbing Appa's head, specifically the space close to the bison's left eye.

The Avatar blinked.

When he and the bison were younger, around three months after they became lifelong friends, Appa was attacked by some earth bending poachers. Before Monk Gyatso intervened, one of the men had hit the bison's head with a sharp rock. Today, it was nothing but a small grove, hidden under the bison's fur - a small scar from childhood… a scar that the teenage stranger was currently rubbing soothing circles onto, probably completely unaware of the significant meaning of such a simple action.

No one - other than Aang or Monk Gyatso - was ever allowed to touch that scar. (Sokka having found that out the hard way)

The stranger said something but he couldn't hear it over the excitement suddenly bubbling up in him.

"Hey!" He called out.

The person whipped around, the blanket that had covered his shoulders falling off slightly. There were bandages wrapped around his upper chest and shoulder, a small amount of red bleeding through. His arms raised defensively - their eyes locked.

An echo from his dream came back to him.

It was startling, how the color of his eyes were the same exact shade of blue as the spirit from his dream. Even his features were the same. But instead of white hair, his was an inky black. Aang's head tilted.

"Um…" The teen arms dropped to his side and straightened stiffly. "Sorry, I - uh - took the wrong turn to the bathroom. So I'll just… go. Yeah, I'll…" The crystal-like blue of his eyes darted around the walls surrounding them, stopping at the exit on the other side of the shelter. "Go that way."

Before Aang had time to register, the teen was already leaving. It took a second but eventually the stunned state of his muscles wore off and he found himself practically flinging himself in front of the older boy. "No wait!"