Avatar The Last Airbender Fan Fiction ❯ Merits ❯ Part Four ( Chapter 4 )

"Merits" Part Four

The next day.

 Katara woke the next morning in her own room with a throbbing headache.

She was in her own bed, her own pyjamas, and her own ratty slippers on the floor beside the nightstand.

There were no thugs.

“Ugh,” rubbing at her eyes, she tried to piece together her crazy dream. Failing miserably and deciding sleep was the best medicine for nightmares, the med student rolled over for another forty winks, mumbling to herself. “Just a few more minutes… And Tylenol 3…” Snoring faintly, she pulled the covers back up to her chin again. It was amazing what a pleasant night out did to a girl's dreams, she decided fuzzily. Armed thugs, dark alleys, gold eyes… Must've been an adventure dream, she decided.

Gold eyes…

Sharp teeth.

Panic exploded through her from her alarm erupting a moment later. She screamed and nearly wet herself.

It stopped going off within a split second as she accidentally slammed it onto the floor from fright, effectively ripping its cord from the wall socket. Panting and shaking slightly, she glanced around the room.

She was alone.

Propping herself up on her elbows, Katara squeezed her eyes shut and held her head together. It felt so awful, it must be trying to break itself into pieces.

“Ow….”

The outline of the gold eyes hovered in her mind for a moment longer, then dissipated with the rest of the dream as the pain wiped it out.

Whatever Jet had put in that tea, she was never taking again, she decided. The images had seemed so real she had a damn headache from it. She'd tell him off something fierce the next time she saw him. Which just might be later that day, but so be it, it'd be fresher in her mind anyway! --Katara couldn't help moaning again -- what was left of it…

Taking another quick survey of the room, Katara listened carefully for any sign of an intruder. She'd been almost certain there'd been…

Gonna check under the bed next? Part of her inner-self mocked her childish behaviour.

“Get up and get to class, Katara,” she ordered herself. “There's no such thing as monsters.”

She moved slowly as she got up, and readied herself for class, then clack-tchunk locked the door behind her as she left.

Assured she'd make it through the day, the man with the golden eyes waited another moment in the darkened closet to be sure she'd exited the hallway, then slipped out the door after her to carry on his way.

 **************

“HEY KATARA, HOW WAS YOUR NIGHT?”

“Toph, please, just a little quieter today?”

“WHAT WAS THAT? I DIDN'T HEAR YOU. DID YOU SAY YOU WANT ME TO TALK LOUDER?'

“I think a nuclear bomb went off in my head while I was sleeping - could you please shut up? Argh!” Katara winced and clutched at her hair as her reaction got the better of her. “You are so dead when I get over this…”

“Seriously, Katara, what the heck did you do? Booze usually hurts the front of your head, not the back. I know you wouldn't go near the hard stuff, what with school and all…”

“I think it's just too much caffeine and sleep deprivation,” Katara cut her friend off. “I had tea at Jet's, and then I had this crazy dream when I got home - but I was so tired I didn't even remember getting home - and then there were these weird gold eyes staring at me, and then this big fight, and the next thing I know--.”

Toph straightened. “Big fight? Are you sure it wasn't the radio leaking in to your dream?”

“What do you mean?”

Toph facepalmed herself. “You really have been out of it today, haven't you?”

The younger woman groaned in frustration. Katara mimicked her, but for different reasons…

“There was this gang that was found just a few blocks from campus, in some kind of grow-op house or something. They'd thought it was just a run of the mill student ghetto, but somebody called the cops after a big fight in the middle of the night, and when the cops got there, all kinds of stuff turned up.”

“Neighbours report them?” Asked Katara, a funny feeling settling in her stomach. She was beginning to wonder if she was getting ulcers. Considering how hard she worked, it wasn't entirely impossible.

“Nope, anonymous tip off,” remarked Toph in a bored tone. She reached for some of her snacks, spilling nuts over Katara's medical texts. The older girl brushed them off, thinking her own thoughts.

“Well… that… was probably the radio, you're right.”

“Apparently there was a woman who was involved earlier that night, and she beat the crap out of one of the guys; but then he called in the rest. That's when the tip off came in, and the cops showed up. No one's sure who she was.” Toph leaned back in her chair lazily, bouncing her foot in the air, her hands behind her head. “Heh, almost sounds like something you'd do, huh?”

“Hahahahahaha…haha..haaaahhh…” Katara's voice trailed off as she looked to the side. She'd lost track of when her head stopped hurting, but at Toph's words, she felt it explode again, and reached up to support herself. “That must've just been some crazy dream. Hey, next thing you know I'll be dreaming vampires came and saved me!”

Toph pulled at the sides of her mouth to show off her teeth. “Make sure he brushes first!”

“I'll be sure to pass that along…” Katara wondered how the Hell Toph knew so much about the incident, but decided to tack it up to her & Sokka listening to the police scanner for fun - and possibly profit - again. She prayed she wouldn't need to go bail them out of jail again any time soon.

Moving to the next book on her pile, Katara glanced at her notes.

Her topic, the medical truths behind the legends of a group of supposed blood-dependent creatures familiar in her tribe's old lore, stared back at her mockingly. It must be weighing more heavily on her than she'd realised, if it was creeping into her dreams. The tales and stories had been passed down for generations - and she'd decided during her `elective' class to do a special project on the possible historical and medical circumstances surrounding the legends. It had started out as a fun project. But in light of the previous night's dream, it felt eerie, uncomfortable, … and familiar…

“Let's get coffee,” she said, closing her book.

She needed a break.