When Worlds Collide: Book One, Water

I awoke something running over my chest. I jumped up, wide awake, and on alert.
Sokka looked half asleep, mumbling being captured or something.
“It’s nothing guys,” Aang said. “Bad dream. Go back to sleep.”
“Don’t have to tell me twice,” Sokka murmured before going back to sleep.
“Are you alright Aang?” Katara asked.
“I’m okay,” Aang answered.
“You seem to be having a lot of nightmares lately,” Katara said.
And it was true. These past few nights, Aang had woken up constantly because of some nightmare he kept having.
“Do you want to talk about it?” I asked.
“I think I just need some rest.”
Sokka sat straight up, scaring me. “You guys wanna hear about my dream?” Sokka asked. When he got no reply, he laid back down. “That’s okay. I didn’t wanna talk about it anyway.”
I rolled my eyes, and we all went back to sleep.

The next day, we were at the market, getting food. Katara and I were looking at some melons while the lady selling them was trying to sell us a bad one.
“The swishing means it’s ripe!” she tried to tell us.
“On what planet?” I asked.
“You know what?” Katara asked, handing the crazy lady her melon back. “I just realized we’re out of money.”
The woman took the basket out of Sokka’s hands, and kicked him.
I chuckled at him while he rubbed his bottom.
“Great,” he said, “we’re out of food and out of money. Now what are we gonna do?”
“Well,” Katara said, “you could get a job.”
Then we heard a couple arguing behind us. The lady was trying to tell her husband about a storm that was coming, and he was telling her about how there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. I sniffed the air, and could just catch the small scent of rain.
“Maybe we should find some shelter?” Aang asked.
“Are you kidding?” Sokka asked. “Shelter from what?”
“It’s going to rain,” I told him. “I don’t know how much, but you can smell it in the air.”
They all gave me a weird look. “Smell? How can you smell it?” Sokka asked.
I sighed. “When I was little, I used to go down to Nan and Pop’s farm all the time. They would always say ‘it smells like rain’ and it would, every time. Eventually, I learned the scent of it,” I explained.
“Right...,” Sokka muttered.
Then we heard the man say something about how the man would hirer someone to help him, and Sokka immediately volunteered.
We all looked at him, and I glared.
“What?” Sokka asked. “You said get a job. And he’s paying double.”
“Double? Who told you that nonsense?” the man asked, and I chuckled.

Later that day, the clouds started to roll in.
Aang tried talking Sokka into staying back, but he wouldn’t listen.
“The boy with the tattoos speaks sense!” the woman shouted to the old man.
“Tattoos? You’re the Avatar!” he said.
“He sure is!” Katara said.
“You! You turned your back to the world! You’re the reason this war exists!” the man said.
“That’s not true!” Katara defended.
“Yea! He’s been nothing but helpful ever since I met him!” I said.
“So I imagined the past hundred years, huh?” the man asked.
I glared, not realizing that Aang was flying off, until the man started shouting after him.
Katara and I rushed over to Appa, and flew up into the sky to chase after our friend.

We were flying in the rain, when Katara spotted a little cave in the cliffs. We landed, and we both went in.
“I’m sorry for running away,” Aang said softly.
“It’s okay,” Katara said. “That fishermen was way out of line.”
“Actually, he wasn’t,” Aang said.
“What do you mean?” Katara asked.
“I don’t wanna talk about it.”
“It has to do with your dream, doesn’t it?” I asked.
“Talk to us,” Katara said, kneeling down next to the monk.
“Well... it’s kind of a long story,” he said.
We all jumped when Appa came into the cave.
I smiled. “I’m gonna get a fire going, okay?”
They both nodded, and I went to gather a few twigs that were in the cave.
They were pretty wet, so it was hard to get a spark. I finally sighed, and used my-very-limited fire bending. Soon, I had a decent flame, so we all gathered around it, trying to warm up.
Then, Aang told his story.

At the end of his tale, it was quiet.
That is, until the old woman from earlier was at the opening of the cave, yelling for help.
“It’s okay, you’re safe!” Katara said, rushing over.
“But my husband isn’t,” she said.
“What do you mean?” I asked. “Where’s Sokka?”
“They haven’t returned,” the woman said. “They should have been back by now. And the storm is turning into a typhoon. They’re caught out at sea.”
Aang stood up. “I’m going to find them,” he declared.
“We’re going with you,” Katara said, and I nodded.
“I’m staying here,” the old woman said, sitting down with her arms crossed.
I rolled my eyes. “You would.”
“We’ll be back soon,” Aang promised.
And we were off.

“There!” I shouted. “There’s the boat!”
Aang streered Appa over to it, and I silently prayed that Sokka and old man were okay.
We flew above the ship, and Aang jumped down. He handed the two a rope, and we pulled them up on Appa.
I looked past them, and my eyes widened. “A-Aang?” I whimpered.
Everyone looked, saw the huge wave coming toward us.
The wave crashed over us, and I panicked. I began to struggle, and thrash, which just brought me down more.
For the second time, I was drowning. I didn’t have any air, and I didn’t know how to swim.
I was going to die.
Still panicking, I accidentally breathed in a huge mouth full of water, coughing, I only let more water in, and I felt like I was suffocating. My vision went black, and my heart beat was loud in my ears, getting slower and slower.
After sixteen years of fearing it, it was going to kill me.
I was going to die.

Someone was putting pressure to my chest.
My heart beat was slow, but still pounding in my ears.
Thump... thump...
“Come on, breath!” I heard someone say, but they sounded so far away. It was like they were yelling, but it was still sounded like a whisper.
thump... thump... thump...
Someone’s mouth was on mine, putting air into my lungs.
“Wait, let me try something,” I heard a girls voice say, still distant. “I did this to Aang when we were on Kyioshi.”
Something was moving in my chest. It was crawling, and making its way up through my throat, and finally out of my mouth.
But I still couldn’t open my eyes. The voices were further away, and my hearts beat wouldn’t speed up.
More pressure to my chest.
Thump... thump... thump, thump... thump, thump...
My eyes flew open, and I was coughing violently. I felt three sets of arms hugging me, squeezing me to death. I was still coughing, and I my throat was burning.
I finally calmed down enough to stop hacking, but I was shaking. A few tears leaked out of my eyes, or maybe that was just the rain splashing my face.
My three friends pulled back, all looking at me worriedly.
“Are you okay?” Katara asked.
I sighed, closing my eyes, and laying back down. When did I sit up? “I don’t know.”
Was that me? It slightly resembled my voice but it was scratchy, and it sounded more like a croak. I noticed we were still on Appa, but other than that, and Katara moving around, and putting my head on her lap, that was all I remembered before falling asleep.

When I woke up, it wasn’t raining. We’re weren’t flying, and I wasn’t on Appa anymore.
Where was I?
I sat up, and looked around. I was laying up against Appa’s side, in between Sokka and Katara. I felt weird. Like the world was... more... colorful. And tipsy. Really tipsy.
I looked over, and saw something very weird.
It looked like a purple dinosaur. With polka-dots. Blue ones.
I started giggling, and got up to go pet it.
“Lookie!” I squealed. “A dinosaur! It’s a miniature dino!”
I heard groaning, and the others got up. Sokka started coughing, but ignored it.
“What’s a dino?” I heard Aang ask.
I giggled. “Oh, you silly little animation! You know what a dino is.”
“What’s an animation?” he asked.
I giggle again, walking over to him. “You silly little boy,” I laughed, sitting down next to him.
“You remind me of Danny. So cute, and innocent to the world.”
Him and Katara gave me weird looks.
“And you!” I said, walking over to Sokka. “You remind me of Cody! Not the looks. Your sarcastic attitude. That backstabbing, no good, worthless cheater!” I shouted. “Three years! Three freaking years and then he goes and.... hey! Look! It’s a bunny!”
I started to chase the cute, fluffy, pink bunny, but Katara pulled my arm, sitting me down.
“Are you okay?” she asked.
“I think she must’ve hit her head,” Aang whispered.
I giggled. “Whisper, whisper!” I laughed. “Secrets, secrets are no fun! Unless they’re shared with everyone!”
The girl with the hair loopies put her hand to my forehead. “She has a fever.”
Sokka coughed again. “And he does too,” the girl declared.
I laughed. “Fever! That’s a funny word, don’t you think? Fe-ver. I like that word. But I like soup better. See? Soup! Soup!”
The bald kid looked at me funny.
“Hey! You!” I shouted at him. “Did you know that when you get older, those tattoos are gonna be all wrinkly when you get old? That’s why when Cody wanted us to get matching tattoos, I said no.” then I began to sob. “Cody. He was so mean. He cheated on me!” I cried into the girls shoulder, and she awkwardly patted my back. “I just wanted to tell him I was leaving. That I would be gone all summer. And then he was kissing another girl. And you know what?” I asked. “I didn’t even have any comfort food! Like ice cream! Ice creams good comfort food, right? Like chocolate and that kind of junk food? I didn’t get any! And my friends couldn’t come over either. Instead I was with my little brother, watching you guys on TV. With no ice cream!”
“Um... it’s okay...,” the girl said. “Here, lay down, next to Sokka. Are you cold?”
I nodded, and sniffled. She wrapped me up in her sleeping bag, and I snuggled into it.
“Here,” the girl said, putting a rag on Sokka and I’s forehead. “This should bring down your guys fever.”
“You know what I love about Appa the most?” Sokka asked. “His sense of humor.”
“That’s nice. I’ll tell him,” the girl said.
Appa grumbled, and Sokka chuckled. “Classic Appa.”
I giggled too.
“How are they doing?” the bald kid said, walking over.
“Not so good,” the girl answered. “Being out in that storm really did a number on Sokka. And Sam almost drowning did even worse to her.”
“I don’t like water,” I whimpered. “It’s mean to me.”
“Yes, I know,” the chick said, patting my head.
Sokka started to shiver, and I started to sweat.
“It’s too hot,” I complained. “Can you turn the air on?”
The kid with the tattoos gave me a weird look, and unzipped the sleeping bag. I kicked off the covers, and in a second, I was freezing. “Now its too cold! Turn the heat up!” I pulled the blankets over my head, and began to sweat again. I groaned. “It’s not working!”
“Here,” the kid said, and put the blanket over just one of my legs.
I sighed. “Perfect... but wait!” I screamed.
“What?” the kid asked.
“The ghost lady from Paranormal Activity! She’s gonna grab my leg and drag me down the hall! Then she’ll eat me because my sisters stupid husband moved the curse over to me!”
“...what?” both the kid and the girl looked at me weird.
I opened my mouth to speak, but I fell asleep.

Someone was picking me up, and carrying me somewhere.
I opened my eyes to see a familiar face.
I giggled. “I know you,” I said. “You’re the banished prince of the Fire Nation. You know, for a cartoon character, you’re hot.”
The prince blushed, but furrowed his brow. “Are you okay? You feel warm.”
I giggled. “That chick with the hair loopies said fever. Fe-ver. Such a funny word...”
Zuko stopped, and laid me on the ground. He kneeled down next to me, and put his hand to my cheek. “You’re burning up.”
“But like I was saying earlier, soup is a much funnier word. Soup!” I laughed again.
The boy sighed, and leaned over me. “When I get you back to the ship, you’re going straight to the healer.”
I sighed, and touched his scar. “I’m sorry,” I whispered.
He sighed, and closed his eyes. “Why don’t you go to sleep?” he said.
I smiled. “Oh Zuko... you’re so nice. I don’t why Katara was so mad at me. I mean, in season three, everything turns out to be okay. Isn’t that right?” I asked, smiling.
“Uh... sure,” Zuko said.
I smiled. “Everything will be okay. Even if I don’t go back home. At least then I wouldn’t have to see Cody again, right? I’ve been thinking about him a lot lately. How he treated me those last few days before he cheated on me. But it’s okay. I have new friends now. And everything’s okay.”
Then I fell asleep again.