Chapter 55.6- And so the Dragons Danced

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I regained consciousness in a garden. Was garden even the right word. There was grass beneath me, and when I sat up to look, grass, shrugs, and flower were all my eyes could see up to the horizon. Was this some sort of dream? It had to be. What had I been doing before I fell asleep? I wondered. Nothing came to mind as I pushed up to my feet and began to walk around. I took a straight line from the place I woke up down the empty garden. The grounds were neatly cropped grass that tickled my bare feet as I walked. It was then that I noticed that my shoes were gone. At least I was clothed. A red shirt and trousers made of silk just like my pajamas.

I took a left, and then the garden shifted. There was a hush. The sound of the wind quieted, the sound of the birds that I hadn’t even noticed I’d been listening to. I felt an itch behind my eyes, and I turned to the sound that cut through the silence. Aang. Aang?

“Hello Natsu” He said, none of the fury that I would hav expected. It made sense, though, this was my dream, after all. But why would I be dreaming about the Avatar.

“It’s not a dream, Natsu”

“It is” I refuted.

“Is not”

“How do you know what I’m thinking? Because you’re a part of my subconscious— just like you would be if this were a dream” I pointed.

“Think, Natsu. Remember. You were drinking wine in your meeting, and then what happened?” He asked, and his words stirred up a memory within me. I was in the meeting hall. I’d been talking about the effects of our rule on the four nations, and then I’d slumped. It was the wine, I realised now. The cupbearer had been compromised somehow— even with all I’d done to ensure his loyalty. How disappointing.

“So I’m dead, then? This is the afterlife?” I wondered. All I’d seen when I died the first time was darkness. And even if Aang surely hated me for what I had done to him and his friends, he was still a step up from the cold unfeeling void.

“Try again. You’re in the spirit world, Natsu”

“The spirit world? How the hell am I in the spirit world?”

“We brought you here, of course” His smile was bright. Why was he smiling at me? I killed him and everyone he cared about. Was this some sort of mind game? He was going to let me drop my guard so he could take revenge when I wasn’t paying attention? A smart plan, but he clearly knew nothing about me if he thought that was going to work.

His smile faded, and he looked almost sad.

“Did you ever learn to trust anyone?” He asked, and the pity on his face made me want to lash out with my fire. Except that I could feel none of my flames. I remembered the rule from the Korra show. No bending here.

“Even without my bending, I am not the easy target you might think I am, Avatar” I said, taking my stance. I had trained to fight since I could walk. Sure, most of that had been with bending, but even without it, I was still a dangerous man.

“We didn’t bring you here to fight, Natsu” He said with a sigh. I felt for him then, the air nomad forced to fight in a war. He had been dealt the short hand by fate, and in a different world he would have triumphed. Here, I did. And then I realised what he had said.

“We? Who’s We?” I asked.

As if my question was a cue, they appeared. Roku, then Kyoshi, then Kuruk, the Yangchen, then Szeto, and on and on it went. They formed a circle around me that led to another circle that led to another. It was like a spiral that went all the way to the beginning, To Wan.

“Hey” The irreverent Fire bender said, appearing in front of me out of the thin air.

I didn’t step back, but I did feel the shock.

“We have a lot to talk about Avatar Natsu” He said.

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A/N: Okay, I lied. This isn’t the final chapter. But we’re close though. Did anyone see this coming?