trans_9 | Sweet Dreams Are Made of These

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Sweet Dreams Are Made of These

Nighttime.

Or, at least, what passed for nighttime on the meatship.

A time when most of the crew was already fast asleep, dreaming away pleasantly throughout the night.

...Or, perhaps not. For you see, tonight, something particularly strange is happening.

Now it is not all that unusual for someone to have a nightmare, especially not on the ship.

Yet tonight, no one will sleep easily, for the Nightmare King deems it so.

Everyone's dreams will have a tinge of horror to them. Nothing so out of the ordinary to rouse one's suspicions, but at the same time, no one is left out.

Pleasant nightmares, meatship.

[ooc: And thus begins the start of the Nightmare King's spree of insanity. He's starting out subtle, of course. The nightmares won't be anything more than your run of the mill bad dream, but he is giving them to everyone. Posting in isn't mandatory, but if you want to have fun with your character's nightmare, go right ahead.]

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It is cold. Normally, Sokka does not mind the cold, but this is different. It bites through him, cuts him down to the bone. It is not cold he can escape or do away with or prevent, despite the clothing he wears, the warm parkas and furs of his people. It is cold and he is alone. The young man shivers, hunched as he is on an ice floe, drifting, drifting slowly across open seas.

He is alone. He knows it. He is totally and bitterly alone. Katara isn't hear. Dad isn't here. Toph, Zuko, Aang, Suki...Kelly. None of them are here to help him or stand by him. And so he drifts, alone and cold, in the dark, across an unforgiving sea. He huddles in on himself, suddenly feeling very small and frightened.

Wait. He knows this ice floe. It is where he and his sister found Aang. He stands, turning to face the massive wall of ice where once a boy was imprisoned. Funny...that tunnel was not there. At least, he doesn't remember it. He takes a step forward, feeling the spear in his hand, then slowly begins moving into the dark opening, sensing a bare flicker of light at the far end. His mind tells him that this tunnel cannot possibly be this long, but he ignores it, groping his way along.

As he goes, the floor of the tunnel becomes less slick and icy, becomes more firm, as if it was stone or some other material. He emerges at last into the light, finding himself on some platform. For what purpose, he can't discern, though when he looks over the edge are are odd metal tracks along the floor. What was this place?...Where was he?

And still. That terrible crushing feeling of being alone.

There's a roaring sound and a line shines down the tunnel. It's moving closer. Something huge is rumbling towards him.

Sokka darts to one side, ducking down behind what seems to be a kiosk. He peeks around the corner at the approaching light, heart pounding. It sounds like some sort of machine made by the Fire Nation. But louder. More menacing.

Up the tracks rolls a hideous, horrible...

Subway train. Not that Sokka knows what the thing that screeches to a stop is, with its hard metal shell and plastic windows, but it is just a train.

It might look a little familiar, at least if he thinks back to the Monorail system of Ba Sing Se. Only this one seems to not need Earthbenders to scoot it along.

Why don't you take a look, Sokka? At this modern marvel of transportation?

The doors open with a swoosh, inviting him in.

It's just a dream, right? Why not? Sokka steps forward cautiously, poking his head through the doors, looking left and right before he steps in, spear against one shoulder.

Weird. But the seats look comfortable...

He doesn't see it, but a figure runs down the tracks from far away, trying to catch up. It calls out to him, but the doors close before Sokka has the chance to hear it, slamming shut behind him so he can't leave.

The entire train lurches, hard enough to knock him down if he isn't steady-footed enough, and then it begins to roll along the tracks, the carriage trembling and shaking.

"Next stop:" comes a voice from a grid up in the wall overhead, and whatever the man says of where the train is going, it's garbled so Sokka can't understand it.

He can see the man up ahead in the car, driving the thing, ignoring him. It's just an old man, nothing really noteable about him.

Sokka frowns and peers out the windows, trying to make out where he's being taken in this strange contraption. It's so dark and a bit creepy actually. But it's a dream. Dreams are like that. He eventually takes a seat, head resting against the side of the vehicle.

"How strange..."

Something still follows the train, racing after him, almost catching up even though that'd be practically inhuman. Not that Sokka knows it, but there is something following the train, coming for him.

Occasionally glowing signs roll past the windows as the train goes, with many of the signs placed consecutively one after the other for stretches so the message can be read even at the high speed the train is going, even if the image blurs and flickers a little. Sokka likely hasn't seen much like those signs in his world, but they were all over in the work they went on the mission to. Advertisements. Most of which are for things he probably doesn't understand. (Like what the heck is an investment firm?)

But the signs are the first thing to change. The tunnel is getting darker somehow, making the glow all that much more noticeable.

Eventually, he hits a set of signs that reads:

You'll never stop.

That's a very odd sign, isn't it? Almost like it's talking directly to Sokka.

You'll never stop, Sokka.

Maybe that's because it is.

Sokka jumps back from the window, stumbling as he tries to stay on his feet in the center of the train. No. No. That's impossible. How can it be talking to him? How can something he doesn't even know about be in his dream. What are cars? What's a '3G Network?' He grabs onto one of the overhead bars, swaying uncertainly as the train rolls on and on and on.

The lights on the train are starting to flicker, threatening to go out, and there are whispers starting to sound all around him. This wouldn't be a problem if he wasn't the only on in the car, but as he is, it means they're coming from nowhere.

You'll be alone.

But they don't need you.

"No!" He lashes out with the spear, slamming it against seats, windows, the side of the car as he tries to strike at the sources of the whispers.

"That's not true! It's not true! I--I'm the idea guy! They need me to--to help make the plans!" The voices are lying, lying, lying! Of course they need him. Katara needs him! Even with her bending mastery and her weird new Bene Gesserit friends and everything! She still needs him. Doesn't she?

The conductor doesn't seem to notice him or his screaming or his spear. What Sokka, in turn, doesn't notice is the boots pounding against the tracks, quick as a seaside breeze, and the figure that breaks into the last car of the train. It's trying to get to him, breaking through windows and climbing through, trying to get to the first car where Sokka is.

The sign changes again.

They never needed you.

There's a blank space in the tunnel again, as the train rolls down the tracks.

The lights on the train flicker mostly out now, so that in between the light of the illuminated signs, there are stretches of total darkness. The whispering gets louder and louder, and occasionally, he can hear snippets sadistic laughter.

Sometimes when the lights flicker and for a moment, he sees Azula's face staring back at him in the darkness, but more alarming than her being there is that she disappears again right after. She's teasing him, maybe? Waiting for the moment to strike. Or maybe something is using her to tease him.

Is a blast of blue fire going to come out of the dark and end it all just like that?

The signs start up again.

Your sister will need someone...

Black black black, there is no moon here to shine light down on him, a comforting presence, no stars.

But even if you were there, you wouldn't be able to save her.

And then the sign changes for a stretch to an absolutely grotesque picture, a body arms held up in defense of itself, face caught in a rictus of terror.

Do you remember what your mother looked like, when your family found her body, Sokka? It hadn't been as awful as it could have been. It was the Fire Nation after all. Fire...could be destructive, and so many... so many died messily, at their hands.

...Have you ever stopped to wonder what your sister would look like that way? Messy?

You'll never leave. She'll die alone. Enjoy the ride!

Azula! He drops into a crouch, spear at the ready as he watches, waits. She's there. Waiting. Watching. But he's on to her. He knows her tricks. He growls, a primal sound deep in his throat as he waits for her. Bender she might be but all it takes is one spear to the gut and--

No.

The signs. They're wrong. He can save her! He's supposed to! He's her older brother, he's supposed to keep her safe and make sure nothing happens to her. He's the man. He's in charge. He's the guardian. But then--

"Mom!" No. No no no. He curls in on himself for a moment, shuddering. He had to get out. Had to stop that from happening.

"No! I will--I...I'm going to get out!" The door. He jammed his spear between the doors, wrenching and levering, trying to force them open. Katara needed him! He had to get out, had to get to her.

"Katara! KATARA!"

The train slows and stops, but somehow it's as if Sokka is still moving. It's as if there's two trains, one of which was superimposed on the other, and as the real train stops, the other train, the "dream" train, keeps going, with Sokka still stuck on it, dragging him away.

As the one train starts pulling away, the two conductors separate from each other, and he can see the one that was hiding under the other, a grinning spider-like figure. Its webs are threaded through the whole car, silvery even in the dim light, gumming up the door. Some are attached to Sokka, helping to pull him away from the "real" train and keep him on the nightmare one.

Through the front window, he can see the tunnel twisting and bending in a horrifying way and glowing light in the tunnel ahead, burning a bright orange that fire isn't capable of. The light is just right around the bend, and deep down, Sokka will inherently understand that if he sees the source of that light, it's all over.

And nothing can cut the webs.

But something is breaking through the train, and now it's in the other car. He can likely hear it smashing windows, and wrenching doors open. It's coming for him. It's only a car away now. So now it's a simply a question of which will happen first? Will he escape through the door, will the thing crashing through the car behind him get to him, or will he be dragged off?

The door. The door is his only hope! He hammers and wrenches at, trying with all his desperate strength to force it open. He has to escape. He has to get out or else his sister--his little sister, his baby sister, the one he's supposed to protect--will be in danger. Something will happen to him and he won't be able to help her when she needs him!

"LET ME OUT! LET ME OUT NOW!" He has to get out. He can't stay here, it's not right!

The last window in the back smashes in and something bounds across the seats, lands on the ground and rolls across the aisle, just as the spirit train starts to move. But just like Sokka, it appears that this person is moving with it, also trapped on the ethereal train pulling away from the other one.

The shadowy figure stands up and starts towards him in the dark...

And then speaks to him in a voice that doesn't sound like a monster. It's the voice of a young man about his age. He sounds weary (it's been a busy night), but there's an edge of steel there. There might be something vaguely familiar about it, but if there is, whatever's familiar is likely obscured somewhat by the fact that it's much less familiar when that voice is deeper with age.

"Don't worry about the door, worry about the webs! You have to get them off!"

"The webs...?" He doesn't have time to think. He drops the spear and draws his knife, slashing frantically at the webbing with a frenzied energy, stumbling away from the doors.

The figure helps, pulling at them with his bare hands. His gasps of breath are a small clue of how painful that actually is. He's successfully helping Sokka rip them off, but it's cutting up his palms in the process.

Up ahead in the car, the spider-conductor hisses and starts towards them, and the spirit trains pulls away from the real train entirely and starts to thunder down the tracks, passing another empty station as it does.

That orange glow is getting closer and closer...

"You can tell your master that he doesn't belong to him! None of them do!" the figure shouts at the spider-conductor as he and Sokka clear off the last of the webs, and then he grabs Sokka by the arm and pulls him along towards the window he crashed through.

"Run run run run run!"

They have to get through all four cars of the train and out the back. It's their only chance of successfully jumping off without slamming into a concrete wall at incredible speed. Fortunately they can escape the same way Sokka's rescuer crashed his way through the doors and windows between the cars.

Or they could, at least, if the poles and bars of the train would stop trying to wrap around them and trip them up.

Sokka doesn't ask questions, doesn't think. He reacts, hopefully in a way which would make Master Piandao proud. His hands go back and up and his sword is in his hands before he even thinks about it. He takes the lead, hacking and slashing his way through the metal that tries to hinder them. He doesn't look back, just moves forward, sword practically singing as it slices through air and metal alike.

They reach the end of the train. It's...moving pretty fast, but there's something Sokka's new buddy can do to help, so he simply drags Sokka with him out the broken back door.

"Jump!"

Somehow...somehow the landing isn't as hard as it could be. As if there was a pocket of air keeping them from slamming into tracks as hard as they could have? (Although it's sheer luck they don't slam into the electrified rail).

The phantom train motors off down the tracks and disappears around the corner presumably into the orange glow, only now that they're off the train, they can't see it anymore, and the tunnel looks like a normal tunnel (as much of it as they can see anyway). It's not over yet, though, not by a long shot. As soon as Sokka's on his feet again, the figure has him by the arm and is dragging him again, through the dark, up the tracks the way they came, towards the last station they passed.

Up ahead, the light of the REAL train Sokka had been on is coming towards them, making it a race to get to the station before they're smooshed.

"Come on come on come on come on..."

The dim lights along the tracks miiight mean that Sokka can finally catch a glimpse of a bald head...

A monk, perhaps? Or maybe it's just a really bald young guy like that Luthor fellow?

Who--? Young guy with a bald head...? No time to think. Just to run. He digs in, running with all his strength. His heart is pounding now, feet carrying him faster than he ever thought possible. Run, run, run! Got to beat the other train. Got to keep moving. It's a dream but it's all so real and he has the feeling if he dies here...he won't like what happens as a result.

Faster, faster! The train is getting closer, but so is the platform. It's down to the wire here as they sprint, trying to cover the last few yards...

Right after they both jump onto the platform, the metal monster thunders by, literally right on their heels. They made it! By seconds.

The light is dim here, but at least there's light and there's something tangibly safer about this place, as if they've moved far enough away from the corrupting influence that was making Sokka's dream so dark. In fact, they can even see another stairwell, leading outside, and fresh cool air is pouring down it. There's even a bit of sunshine at just the right angle that's made it to the bottom of the stairs.

If Sokka looks over, he'll see another young man, about his age, collapsed in a heap of saffron robes, trying to catch his breath.

A young man with very familiar blue tattooes.

"Sokka," he murmurs, his voice muffled because he's still facing the floor and . "Next time when you go into a scary dark tunnel and see a giant metal monster that moves by itself, don't go inside it."

It's always the smart ones that seem to do the dumbest things, sheerly out of curiosity, like Roxie climbing onto the shantak-bird.

Sokka is hunched over, catching breath for a moment before he looks up at his rescuer. His very, very familiar rescuer. He steps forward, a hand reaching out instinctively.

"Aang? Aang, is that you?" He pauses, nose wrinkling.

"...when did you get so buff?"

At that last comment, Aang actually laughs muffled laughter into his arms, although the way his shoulders shake suggest there might be more than just laughter. Rescue aside, this is the first he's seen Sokka in--in a very long time.

A very, very long time.

When he pushes himself up (on the backs of his hands because his palms are cut up, cut up and instead of bleeding, they're glowing a faint blue, like the bandaged wound on his arm), Sokka will be able to see that he's older now, taller--maybe about as tall as Sokka is. And he looks...tired. The wrinkles around his eyes from worry. Tiredness ages you, carrying a heavy burden ages you. The Aang that Sokka knew that carried the weight of his choices and of his burden as the Avatar at the end of their journeys, that had to face the Firelord, was older than the flighty boy Sokka and Katara found in the iceburg in more than just years. That seems to be even more the case now.

His smile is the same, though. Aang smiles at him, even if that smile is marred just a little by the fond tears in his eyes.

"Classic Sokka."

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