Chapter Eight: Four Sleepless Days
Makki |~|
"This is it," Sokka said as we all walked through some bushes to see a large field scattered with koala sheep. "The official rendezvous point for the invasion force."
"How did you pick this place?" Toph asked.
"Before we split up, my dad and I found this island on a map," Sokka explained. "It's uninhabited, and the harbor surrounded by cliffs seemed like the perfect secluded place."
"Nice choice, Sokka," said Katara as we began to unpack our camp. "And we're here four days ahead of schedule."
"Yeah, kinda shows that you worried for nothing," I said.
"Wait, four days!" Aang exclaimed. "The invasion's in four days?"
"Whatever, that's like four days from now," Sokka yawned. "Let's just calm down and..."
Sokka passed out right on his sleeping bag.
"Sokka's got the right idea, Aang," said Katara. "We're here, we're ready. The best thing we can do now is get plenty of rest."
"...I guess," Aang shrugged.
Soon, everything went quiet as we all lied down and slowly drifted off to sleep... Well, I slowly tossed and turned for a bit, as usual, until I heard mumbling and then rustling. I sat up and looked behind me to see Aang kicking a bush.
Did I actually fall asleep? Is this a dream?
"Aang, what're you doing?" I asked.
"Training. The invasion's in four days, I've got to be ready," Aang explained without turning away from the bush.
"Aang, I think you are ready," I said. "You should sleep."
"Nah, I'm good."
I watched him kick the bush for a few more seconds before I lightly shrugged and lied back down to try and get some sleep.
[~][~][~]
The next morning, we all awoke to this loud thudding noise. As we arose from our sleeping bags, we saw Aang repeatedly punching a nearby tree. Tiredly, we all glanced at each other before Katara got up.
I can't believe he's still at it...
"Hey, how long have you been up?" Katara asked Aang.
"A couple hours," Aang responded without stopping. "I got a lot more skills to refine if I'm gonna fight Ozai."
"You know, there is such a thing as overtraining," said Katara.
Aang paused before hitting the tree one last time, which made him shiver and collapse. There was a small moment of silence before the tree lightly shook and lost all of its leaves.
"...You don't get it, do you?" Aang shot up. "My form is bad, I'm sloppy, and I still don't know any fire bending. Not even the basics."
Aang slightly twitched as Katara pushed his hand down.
"That's okay, Aang, the eclipse will block all fire bending anyway. You don't need to know any... Plus, it's a stupid element," Sokka said, matter-of-factly.
"Okay, well, I still have to work on everything else," said Aang. "I better spend the whole day training."
Aang quickly bowed to everyone before creating a ball of air and speeding away. We all looked at each other with worry.
"...He was up all night, you know," I said to Katara. "Before I went to sleep, I found him beating up a bush and explaining that he wasn't ready."
"But he is ready," said Katara.
"I know. I told him that, too," I explained. "I'm sure he's just nervous. Maybe we can talk to him when he gets back."
Katara nodded before heading back to the camp to make some breakfast.
[~][~][~]
Aang didn't come back until it was time to go to bed. Katara worried about him all day and I had to keep her from running after him. I explained to her that they could talk tomorrow and she reluctantly went to bed.
"Good night, Katara," Aang said after he lied down near the rest of us. "Good night, Sokka. Good night, Toph. Good night, Makki. Good night, Appa. Good night, Momo. Good night, Appa and M–"
"Go to sleep, already!" Toph shouted.
There was no response. Everything was silent which allowed all of us to fall asleep, even me. I felt my eyelids slowly close as I drifted into a dreamless sleep.
[~][~][~]
"Ow!"
The sudden yell shocked me out of my sleep. I sat up on my sleep bag and looked around to see what was happening. Katara and Toph were both still on top of their sleeping bags, but Aang was over by Sokka's sleeping bag. Aang was crouched by Sokka's bag and Sokka was lying down with his sword in his hand while rubbing a large red bump on his head.
"Relax, it's still two days before the invasion," said Toph.
Is Aang still freaking out?
"Sokka, you've got to get up and drill your rock-climbing exercises," Aang cried as he pulled on Sokka's legs.
"What?"
"In one of my dreams, you were running from Fire Nation soldiers trying to climb this cliff but you were too slow and they got you," Aang explained.
"But that was just a dream, I'm a great climber," Sokka got up.
"Then climb that cliff, climb it fast!"
Aang pointed at a cliff we were close to and Sokka hesitantly began to climb it.
"Stupid Avatar, stupid cliff, stupid dream..." Sokka muttered.
While Sokka was climbing the cliff and Aang was watching him, us girls started to get ready for the day. Katara, Toph, and I all sat together and passed the water satchel around to share.
"Don't drink that!"
In shock, Toph spit the water out all over me and Katara.
"Why, is it poisoned?" Toph asked.
Katara and I both water bended the water off of us and threw it to the side.
"No, the water's fine," I told her.
"But in my dream, we were right in the middle of the invasion and you had to stop to use the bathroom," Aang described. "We died because of your tiny bladder. And you [Katara] need to start wearing your hair up. In my dream, your hair got caught in a train and..."
"Aang, I know you're just trying to help," Katara interrupted. "But you really need to get a grip. You're unraveling."
"...You're right. I'm losing my mind."
[~][~][~]
"It's like every time I think about how stressed I am, I just end up more stressed," Aang paced. "I'm like a big growing snowball of nerves."
"Of course you are," said Sokka. "That's 'cause you gotta fight the Fire Lord, the baddest man on the planet. And you better win, or we're all done for."
"Sokka!" I exclaimed.
"What? It's true, that's the deal, he knows it."
"That doesn't allow you to be insensitive about his situation," I smacked the back of his head.
"Ow! Why do you do this..?"
Aang jittered around in his stance as he whimpered in fear.
"You know what, I've got just the thing," said Katara. "Get ready to be de-stressified."
[~][~][~]
Earlier, Katara led Aang to a small hot spring that was surrounded by rocks to allow him to sweat his stress out. They came back a few minutes later and explained that Aang should try talking about his problems. Sokka set up his own little therapy space for Aang using koala sheep. Sokka acted as Aang's therapist for about ten minutes before coming back to us and saying that Aang needed something different. Toph offered some physical therapy which Aang ran away from. He came to me for help, but I didn't exactly have anything for him.
"You know, Aang, I've had some nightmares, too, these past couple of weeks," I explained. "And what I've learned is to... deal with them. Sure, it takes a while, but eventually, your mind will learn that it's only in your head."
"...So, you have nothing to help me? Nothing at all?" Aang asked desperately.
"Um..." I drawled. "Have you tried drinking tea?"
Aang sharply turned his head towards Katara, who shook her head.
"We're out of tea."
"Ugh!"
[~][~][~]
"Thanks for everything, guys," Aang said once the sun had set.
"So do you feel less stressed, ready for a good night's sleep?" Katara asked.
"Uh, I kind of think I sort of might slightly feel a little better... maybe," Aang smiled.
I guess that's better than nothing...
"Then our work here is done," Sokka yawned.
Katara, Toph, and I followed Sokka's lead as we all yawned and collapsed onto our sleeping bags for another sleep-filled night.
"...AAHH!"
"What happened, Aang?" we all ran over to his shaking form.
"It's the nightmares. They just get worse and worse," Aang explained.
"Looks like it's time for another therapy session," Sokka said as he put on his fake facial hair.
"No, that won't help," Aang frowned. "Nothing helps..! There's only one thing I can do. I'm going to stay awake straight through to the invasion."
[~][~][~]
That morning, Aang left to go train some more. Katara sent off to find him and returned saying that he still refused to sleep but began daydreaming. We all shared a worried glance before continuing on with our day. As the morning moved into the afternoon, Aang came back to camp just to train some more. He used his old noodle art of Fire Lord Ozai for target practice before stopping to talk to Momo. We all watched as the two chattered back to one another.
"Aang?" Katara interrupted them. "We're all starting to get a little worried about you."
"You've been awake too long," Sokka added.
"You're training too much," I said.
"And you're acting downright weird," said Toph.
"...Look, I appreciate what you guys are saying but the stress and the nightmares, they were just too much," Aang sighed. "Staying awake is the best way for me to deal with it."
Aang smiled before worriedly glancing in between Momo and Appa. He continued to look back and forth between the animals before running up to Sokka.
"Sokka, what should we do?"
"About what?"
"About that," Aang pointed to the docile animals.
Aang ran up to them and started to hurriedly glance around at his surroundings before running off, saying that he needed to jump into a waterfall.
"It's official," said Toph. "The kid's lost it."
"Guys, I have an idea," Katara smiled.
[~][~][~]
We were able to shave the koala sheep and make their pelts into a bed just in time for Aang to return to camp. He stared at the bed before laying his head on it.
"Oh, look, another hallucination," he said. "An imaginary bed made out of clouds."
"Hey! It's real," said Toph.
"It took us hours to get it ready," I said.
"We made it for you," Sokka added. "A good night's sleep will probably take the crazy away... We hope."
"Look," Aang said as he rolled on the bed. "You guys keep telling me I need to sleep, but I can't. The invasion's tomorrow."
"Aang–"
"No, Katara, there's still so much I haven't learned. I don't need sleep, what I need is practice. Quick, hit me."
"...I'm not going to hit you."
"You want me to do it?" Toph asked.
"Only if it's with a pillow," I said.
"Listen to me," said Katara. "You've been training for this since the day we met. I've seen your progress. You're smart, brave, and strong enough."
"You really think so?" Aang asked.
"We all do," Sokka smiled. "You can do this, you're ready."
"You're the strongest person I know, Aang," I smiled. "I don't have any doubts."
"You're the man, Twinkle-toes," Toph pointed.
"Thanks guys," Aang yawned.
Katara led Aang onto the koala sheep bed.
"You know what?" said Aang. "I think I am ready."