Author's Notes: Here is the final part of the 'Mirror Mirror' series. When I wrote 'Reflection' and found the prompt on a fanfiction community, I never thought I would be so inspired to write a 3-part series about my favourite characters (and couple) - Toph and Zuko. I'm glad I wrote this and overall I feel very happy with all three pieces, especially this one. In order to appreciate this fic, you have to have read the first two parts, as you'll understand better why both characters hate mirrors.
This fic is supposed to take place some years after the end of the show.
Reviews are always very much appreciated. I hope you enjoy this fic.
Disclaimer: I don't own Avatar: The Last Airbender; it belongs to its respective owners.
Mirrors
No one in the group notice their slight obsession with mirrors. Except for the two of them.
Toph has felt Zuko stopping in front of the various mirrors in the palace when they go to see him in the Fire Nation. He lingers in front of it for a minute or two. To Toph it feels more like an eternity; she's sure Zuko feels the same way, too.
Toph has never told Zuko, though. She never could. She didn't mean to spy on him like that in the first place; and she doesn't want to cause him any discomfort. She'd rather leave him alone with his thoughts.
Clearly Zuko doesn't feel the same, because he interrupts her as she's looking into the mirror. Toph was so lost in her thoughts, she didn't even feel him approaching. She curses under her breath for being so inattentive.
"What are you doing?" Zuko asks, quite innocently.
Toph takes a few steps away from the mirror. She turns to the direction of his voice. "Nothing!" she says, panicking. She doesn't want anyone to know; she has a reputation to uphold.
Zuko looks at the mirror, then back at Toph. Toph's cheeks are slightly red. Zuko can tell he took her by surprise, which is rare. He is not naïve—he knows something must have been troubling her.
He takes another look at the mirror, where Toph's reflection is looking as uncomfortable as the real Toph before him. "Were you looking at this mirror?"
"I can't exactly 'look', can I?" Toph answers sarcastically, a self-defence mechanism she's learned all too well over the years.
Those years, however, have granted Zuko the ability to read Toph.
He sighs softly. "Toph, you know what I meant."
Toph is not used to hearing her name escape Zuko's lips like that. She tries to hide the fact that her panicking is getting worse. "It's none of your business."
Another self-defence mechanism that Zuko knows all too well; because he uses it as well.
He can tell Toph just wants to run away. He gets closer to both Toph and the mirror, touching the flat, cold surface and letting out a small chuckle. "I should have these things removed from the palace. I should burn them all."
Toph knows he's telling the truth. She's lost count of all the times she's wished to do the same thing with the mirrors in her own house.
"Not before I've broken them all."
They realise they both hate mirrors.
Zuko laughs a bit at that. Somehow, Toph always manages to make him laugh.
"It's a promise?"
"Promise."
"Why do you hate mirrors so much?" Toph asks Zuko one night, as they stand alone on the balcony, watching the moon and the stars.
"I don't hate mirrors. I hate what I see in them."
A few seconds of silence follow. Toph wonders if she should just leave it at that, but her curiosity and her affection for Zuko—although she wouldn't admit such a thing exists—get the better of her.
"You hate yourself?"
Zuko doesn't reply immediately. Normally he wouldn't reply at all, but with Toph it's okay. He feels like letting his defences down. He can trust her. Toph gives him all the time he needs.
"No. Not quite." Another pause. "It's my scar."
So that's what he looks at when he lingers in front of the mirror, Toph thinks.
"Every time I look in the mirror, I see it there," Zuko adds. "It's always there. I feel like the mirrors are making fun of me."
Toph speaks a bit more quietly. "They're making fun of me too." She pauses, then she adds, "My reflection can see me, but I can't see her."
Her, Zuko thinks. She treats her reflection as a person, too.
"That's not the fault of the mirror, though," he says. "Your reflection is a different thing." He doesn't know whether he's trying to tell a joke, to make her feel better, or if he's just rambling tiredness-induced nonsense.
"Your scar is also a different thing," Toph retorts without hesitation. "It's not the mirror's fault if you have one."
Zuko loves their banter. He smiles.
They know they're both right.
"Then our hate of mirrors is completely pointless," Zuko says half-heartedly.
"It is. Maybe we should hate the guy who invented mirrors."
Zuko laughs. Toph smiles.
They both know it wouldn't solve anything.
"Who cares about mirrors," Toph suddenly says. "I say to hell with them."
Zuko can't help but smile. "I agree."
"They're useless to people like us."
Us. It's amazing how a single word can offer so much comfort.
"Besides, I have a much better option," Toph says.
Zuko is genuinely interested. "What would that be?"
She turns to him, her eyes fixed on him. "We should be each other's mirrors."
Zuko can't hide his surprise. "What?"
"You heard what I said," Toph says, slightly impatient, but her tone softens immediately after that. "I was just thinking… maybe we could be each other's mirrors."
A few moments of silence follow. Toph wonders if what she said was a stupid suggestion, and is about to take it back, when Zuko says, "I like it."
Toph is glad. "I knew you would—it's my idea," she jokes, smiling.
"You're right," Zuko says. He loves seeing Toph smile.
"I don't have a scar on my face, so you won't see one when you look at me," Toph continues. "And you're a different person than my reflection, so I won't mind if you can see me. Besides, unlike my reflection, I can feel you with my earthbending," she explains.
"Good plan," Zuko says. He can feel Toph focusing on him and he doesn't mind. He likes her eyes and the way they look when she is facing him.
He turns to look at her, all of her, taking in what time has changed and what it hasn't, and at what a beautiful young woman she has become. Then he fixes his eyes on hers. "I think we should make it official."
Toph is slightly confused, but before she can say anything, she feels Zuko taking her hand and getting down on one knee.
"Toph Bei Fong, will you be my mirror?"
He enjoys every second of it when he sees the expression on Toph's face, when her eyes widen and her mouth hangs a bit open; and then, her lips form a smile and her expression quickly changes into one of happiness.
"Yes."
When Toph becomes his mirror, Zuko sees the happiest face he's ever seen; he thinks his face must be the same right now.
When Zuko becomes her mirror, Toph knows she's found someone who is better than her own reflection.
Final Notes: This is the end of the 'Mirror Mirror' series. The ending is open to interpretation: you can either think of it as Zuko actually proposing to Toph, or as two friends having a bit of fun.
Hope you enjoyed it. :D