When Worlds Collide: Book Two, Earth

Chapter Six

I woke up on Appa’s back. How did I get here?
I sat up slowly, and looked around.
“Look who woke up!” Sokka said happily, looking relieved.
I looked around, confused. “How did I get here?” I asked.
“We couldn’t loose you again, now could we?” Aang asked.
I blinked. “But... I fell. And blacked out...,” I trailed off, shaking my head.
“After that one girl knocked you out, Katara took her down in like two seconds, flat,” Aang said, smiling. “After that, we hopped on Appa, and here we are!”
I looked at Katara who was avoiding my gaze. I smiled. “Thanks,” I said, but she just shrugged.
“Who were they?” Sokka asked.
“The leader, the girl with the blue fire? She’s Azula, Zuko’s sister,” I said.
“He has a sister?!” Sokka shouted.
I nodded. “She’s way worse though. He told me about her once.”
Sokka groaned. “Great. Even more Fire Nation chasing after us.”
I chuckled. “We survived this long. Just two more elements, right?”
Aang smiled, and continued flying.

We were flying over a swampy area, and I leaned over the saddle, watching the greenery pass by.
I didn’t realize that we were descending until Sokka said something.
“Aang! Why are we going down?” he asked.
“What?” the monk asked, then wiped his forehead. “Oh, I didn’t even notice.”
“Well are you noticing now?” Sokka asked when Aang didn’t pull up.
“Are you okay?” I asked.
“I know this is gonna sound weird, but I think the swamp was calling to me,” Aang said.
“Is it telling you were we can get something to eat?” Sokka asked, and I hit his shoulder. “What?” he asked. I rolled my eyes.
Aang ignored us. “No, I think it wants us to land there.”
“No offense to the swamp, but I don’t see any land to land on,” Sokka said.
“I don’t know, Bumi said that if I wanted to learn Earth Bending, I would have to wait and listen,” Aang thought aloud. “And know I’m hearing the earth. Do you want me to ignore it?”
“Yes,” Sokka stated.
“I don’t know,” Katara said, looking down, “there’s something onymous about that place.”
“Okay. Since everyone feels so strongly about this... Bye swamp,” Aang said, and pulled back up into the sky.
I heard something behind us, and turned. My eyes widened, and I froze, just barely able to hit Sokka repeatedly until he finally sighed and turned.
“What?” he asked, but when he saw the tornado, his eyes widened also. “You better throw in an extra ‘yip’! We gotta move!” he shouted.
Almost instantly we were swept up by the wind, and there was no escaping. We were thrown off Appa, and we landed in the yucky water.
I sat up rubbing my head and groaning.
“Where’s Appa and Momo?” Aang asked, looking around.
“They probably had a better landing than us,” I muttered.
Katara glared.
“What? I’m just saying the truth!” I defended myself.
She huffed, then we set off to find the bison and the lemur.

“Appa!” Katara shouted. “Momo!”
“There’s no way they can hear us, and we can’t see them when its this dark,” Sokka said. “We’ll have to make camp for the night.”
I sighed. “Sleep sounds good.”
My eyes widened and Katara and I clung to each other as we heard a scream.
We sighed in relief when we realized it was just a bird, and Katara and I let go of each other, her sending me dirty looks.
“Maybe we should build a fire,” Sokka said, looking nervous.
I nodded. “I’ll get the flames going.”
Sokka went to go get some wood for a fire, using his machete to hack at the branches.
“Sokka, the longer we’re here, the more I think you shouldn’t be doing that,” Aang said.
“No, I asked this one,” Sokka said sarcastically, “this one said it was fine.”
After Sokka got enough wood, we found shelter and I used Fire Bending to get a small fire going.
Katara chewed her lip, watching the fire.
I raised my eyebrow at her, but she looked away. I sighed laying down on my stomach.
“Does anyone else get the feeling we’re being watched?” Katara asked a few seconds later.
“We’re alone out here,” Sokka said, then went to hacking at a fly that was buzzing around his head.
The bug started to glow, showing us the eyes of predetors.
“Except for them,” Aang said.
“Yea. Except for them.”
Then we went to sleep.

I screamed as something pulled me into the swamp. Without thinking, I shot fire at the thing that was wrapped around my ankle. I stood as the thing disappeared, and I stood.
Vines? Vines attacked me?
I cried out in frustration and shot fire into a random direction.
I sighed and looked around. I was alone, and the others were probably taken away by the vines.
Now what?
I spun around, and when I stopped, I didn’t think, I just walked. Something rustled to my right, and when I turned, Zuko was standing there.
“Zuko?” I asked.
He smiled, and I ran over to him. “Zuko! It’s so good to see you! I-“ I froze when he vanished.
What the...?
I shook my head. Stupid Avatar World.
I continued walking and didn’t stop until someone caught my shoulder. I turned, expecting it to be Aang or Sokka, or even Katara, but froze when I saw my family and friends.
“Where did you go?!” Ali shouted. “You just left us!”
“No! No I didn’t!” I cried.
“Your grandparents are dead Sam,” Mom said. “Because you weren’t there, your grandparents died in that car crash.”
A tear slid down my cheek. “No,” I whispered.
Danny looked up at me. “Sammy, why did you leave me? You said you would read to me every night over the phone. And you didn’t call.”
I sobbed. “I’m so sorry,” I cried. “I didn’t mean to leave, I swear I didn’t!”
Brittany glared. “How could you just leave?”
“Why Sam?”
“Sam.”
“They’re dead because of you.”
“You don’t deserve to come back!”
I fell to the ground, sobbing. “No! No I didn’t mean to leave!” I screamed. “I didn’t mean to.”
I sat on the ground, crying, even after their words were gone, them disappearing soon after.
I don’t know how long I sat there, but it felt ages went by when I felt someone slam into me, and push me down a hill.
When we stopped tumbling, I just lay on the ground, not caring that the other three were talking.
“Sam, what’s wrong?” I heard.
The tears were still streaming hotly down my face, I just lay motionless, pretending not to hear them.
Maybe I’ll die here. I would be okay with that. Just to die peacefully.
“Hey, Sam?”
Katara, Aang and Sokka’s face was in front of mine.
“What’s wrong?” Katara asked again.
I closed my eyes and looked away. “Nothing,” I croaked. “Nothings wrong.”
Someone sighed. “We know you’re lying,” Aang said.
“I don’t care.”
“Why won’t you talk to us?” Sokka asked.
I sat up, glaring at them. “I don’t wanna talk about it, okay? Just leave me alone!”
Katara glared. “What is wrong with you? All we’re trying to do is help, and you’re screaming at us.”
I sniffed and looked away. “You don’t understand,” I whispered. “They were here. All of them. And it’s all my fault.”
“Who were here?” Sokka asked, pulling out his boomerang.
I shook my head, sobbing even more. “My friends, and my family. They were here, and it’s my fault. All my fault. My grandparents... they said they were dead.”
“Who said who was dead?” Aang asked.
“My parents,” I said. “They said that Nan and Pop died since I disappeared. It’s all my fault.”
“You saw people too?” Aang and Katara asked.
I nodded, causing more tears to fall.
“Guys, it was all our imagination, that’s why we saw things,” Sokka said.
“Why? Who did you see?” Katara asked.
“Who did