24 Chapter 24: Nightmare

Lu Chen is sitting in a pitch black space, surrounded by nothingness.

'What? Where is this? It's so dark... Where is everyone?' He thought.

"What do you mean? You're right here." A voice said to his left.

Lu Chen turned to face the one who spoke. His eyes widened as he saw a version of himself, ragged and dirty, with insane, angry eyes.

"Lu... You killed someone. For what purpose? Did it feel good?"

'No... I did it because...-' Lu Chen began rationalizing.

"He killed him to free the city!" Another familiar voice sounded.

Lu Chen turned to his right to another version of himself, clean and wearing lustrous clothing, yet with the same insane eyes.

'Y-yeah...' Lu Chen agreed.

"Free the city? Free them from what? Their safety? Are you gonna kill more people to free others?" The Dirty one asked.

'No... that's not right...' Lu Chen hesitated.

"Freedom or safety! You can't have both! Killing is necessary for either!" The Clean one argued.

'No... that's not what I...' Lu Chen shook his head.

"It's okay to kill, Lu. I agree with my clean self. Killing is necessary. Why don't you just kill and kill? That's what I did, and I enjoyed it. My friends understood. That's why they tried to do the same to me. I didn't want to die so I only protected myself, rightfully so." The Dirty one spoke.

'No! That's wrong...!' Lu Chen retorted.

"Exactly!" The Clean one agreed with Lu Chen.

"You can't just kill anyone! Only the bad ones! Anyone who stands in the way of my friends must be bad. Those are the ones I should kill. I did that for years, but my friends never understood. They got in my way. They turned bad, so I killed them. Even my wife didn't understand! I thought she loved me, but she betrayed me just like everyone else!" The Clean one exclaimed.

'No! NO!!!' Lu Chen yelled as he covered his ears and shook his head.

""You can't deny what we did. All of us are killers. It's okay, though. We can guide you through this. We can kill together."" Both of them said.

The Dirty and the Clean stood and walked towards Lu Chen, their clothes and hands getting bloodier with each step they took.

'No! Stay away! I will not become you!' Lu Chen yelled as he stood up and took a battle stance.

"Oh, but you already have. You killed me just a few hours ago." A voice said from behind Lu Chen.

Lu Chen turned to face the voice. It was Long Feng, pale and lifeless, with a bloody hole in his chest. He turned the other way to find the copies had disappeared. Lu Chen looked back to Long Feng.

'...' Lu Chen tried speaking but not a sound escaped from his mouth.

"Oh? Not going to say anything? Just like when you killed me? How heartless. To not even tell dead men why they had to die. But, I can't blame you. I would do the same." Long Feng said.

Long Feng came closer and put a hand on Lu Chen's shoulder.

"It's fine, Lu Chen. I'm happy. Because, hopefully, I'll get to see you soon." Long Feng claimed with a devilish grin.

*Gshh!*

'...?' Lu Chen looked down. He had been stabbed by a piece of metal and blood was pouring from his wound and his mouth.

But what caught his eyes were his clothes. They were different. It was Long Feng's.

Lu Chen looked up and saw himself, as he was when he infiltrated the prison. His eyes were cold and devoid of humanity.

Lu Chen fell back, but instead of hitting the ground he was absorbed by the darkness.

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"Argh! *Cough*, *Cough*!" Lu Chen awoke the next morning with a coughing fit.

"LuLu!" A voice yelled, dripping with worry.

"Ahh! Lu, don't move so suddenly, you only make your illness worse." Another voice said.

'Was that...Toph... and Katara?' Lu Chen thought.

The voice Lu Chen heard grabbed his shoulder and set him down back onto his pillow.

Lu Chen looked up and saw Katara. She was using her water healing on his chest.

He then looked to the side. He saw Toph sitting close, gripping his hand. She was on the verge of tears.

"Is he gonna be okay, Katara? He's fine right??" Toph asked.

"Now that I got him awake, he should be good, Toph, don't worry." Katara soothed.

Katara continued to heal Lu Chen in silence for the next couple of minutes, while Toph held his hand and caressed his head.

A bang was heard from the door and two other voices were heard. It was Aang and Sokka.

"Katara! We got the medicine!" Aang said.

"Hurry and give him the stuff! It should be good! We got it from a clinic recommend by The King!" Sokka exclaimed.

"Right... I just hope it works and you weren't conned." Katara said as she took the medicine and passed it to Toph.

"Here, Toph. Get Lu to drink this, slowly. I'll help guide it through his body." Katara continued.

Toph took the medicine and started tipping it's contents inside of Lu Chen's mouth as he swallowed weakly, while Katara guided the liquid into his throat slowly.

"*Cough* Thanks..." Lu Chen said weakly.

"No problem, Lu. You should just get some rest for now." Katara advised.

Lu Chen nodded and closed his eyes, though not falling asleep.

Then, a knock could be heard from the door.

"Who's that?" Aang asked.

'Oh, that's probably... food.' Lu Chen thought.

"I-it's *cough* food. I ordered last night." Lu Chen explained.

"Oh, boy! I hope there's lots of meat!" Sokka said, excited as he and Aang left the room.

"He should be fine now, Toph. Let's go eat." Katara suggested.m as she stood up.

Toph shook her head and stayed seated next to Lu Chen.

"...I'm good. Don't have an appetite. I'll stay here in case LuLu needs anything." Toph explained.

Katara just smiled in understanding, left the room and closed the door.

Toph inched closer to Lu Chen's side and laid down beside him.

"You.. can go eat... y'know." Lu Chen said.

"I'll stay here until you get better." Toph said as she shook her head and placed it closer to his while adjusting his blanket.

"Just tell me if you need anything, LuLu. I'll take care of you." Toph said

Lu Chen just stared at Toph's face as his eyes became heavier and the drowsiness caused by the medicine forced him to sleep once again.

He did not dream again.

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I no good at write psychological stuf