I found this C2 community, and I am simply drooling over it. I can't stand any more romances. Maybe I'll go read one later… I dunno, next year!? is riddled with romances, which isn't bad, but where's all the other stuff? -sigh- After my rant, this is a oneshot about Toph's views on what happened in the final battle with the Fire Lord. I was sitting at the computer, thinking about how I should be doing my homework, when it just came to me. I hope you like it.
Disclaimer: Avatar is eluding me… I think it had something to do with me not being a legal adult, or something…
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It was never fair. But life had never been fair to her, and she made up for it with her own strengths, her own way.
She stood there, and felt the sun beating down upon her back. She heard the screams, and the running of people's feet. She could smell the heat, the blood and the fear. She raised her head and looked out to where most of the people were running- away from her. The vibrations sent her many messages that she processed quickly, and she twisted her hand roughly yet deftly, creating another barrage of screams.
It wasn't fair.
As she stood on that tiny, two by two square of earth that she had punched up at least a hundred feet into the air; she knew that the end was coming. It had been coming ever since she entered this stupid country.
She was determined to wreak as much havoc as possible before she was taken down. Her body told her that a large group of panicking people were scrambling away to her left and slightly to her back; she brought her arms and one of her legs into a ball before launching them straight outwards, a wave of earthbending moving quicker than the eye could see to where the people shouted.
The vibrations swelled until it reached the point she wanted. Then she unleashed it fiercely, uprooting many houses and tossing people carelessly into the air. The thud of bodies landing on the ground was sickeningly comforting, and she shoved another wall of rock up into the air, momentarily halting another group's progress of escape.
The wind ruffled her hair which was down, torn out of her do by her unstoppable, furious attack. Her clothes were torn, but she paid no attention to these small things. The rage in her body was indescribable. She punched the ground and a ruffle spread out like rings made from a stone thrown into a pond.
It wasn't fair.
None of it should have happened.
A scream bubbled up from her gut. It made its way through her stomach and broke through any control that she had had left, tearing her throat in its haste to make itself heard. It sounded like the howl of a wounded animal, and in a way, it was.
The wind tugged more insistently at the rags of clothes that were left hanging loosely from her body. She desperately tried to swat it away with her hands, even though she knew that it wouldn't do any good.
She couldn't ever be warm again; Zuko would never forgive her.
She couldn't ever drink again; Katara would never forgive her.
She could never use weapons again; Sokka wouldn't ever forgive her.
She could never live again; Iroh made her sad life happy.
She could never breathe again; Aang would never forgive her.
All she had left was her bending. And she planned to use that to its fullest extent, wreaking chaos upon the nation, the despicable country that made her the last, and that told her that everything in her life that wasn't fair; it was true.
She dropped to her knees, and with a complicated, forward twist of her arms, rock spikes thrust their way out of the ground and chased after the nearest people, who looked on in shock before realizing that they were going to be shish kabobed and began running, shrieking their heads off.
Her mouth widened in a painful grin that was well-known coming from her, although she hadn't truly smiled since the day they had entered the Fire Nation; and that wasn't about to change right now. Screams made her feel better yes, but not happy. Never happy.
She was satisfied that the citizens were suitably terrified- for now. So the master earthbender turned her attention to the metal palace that rose up above the tiny housings that surrounded it. She took a deep breath and concentrated. Ever since leaving Ba Sing Se, she had practiced her metalbending. She could handle it pretty well, even though it wasn't as easy or natural as earthbending. And this was the perfect time to test out how far her skills really went.
It wasn't fair.
None of it should have happened.
All she had left was her bending.
She harshly pulled her arms into her body, and a chunk of the palace wall collapsed on itself. The rubble tumbled down the wall, and people fled like ants, afraid of being squashed underneath a shoe.
No tears had yet escaped her eyes, and none were threatening to either. All the yelling, shouting pain she felt on the inside was developed into violence, making her fighting stronger, yet more uncontrollable. She had no time for anything like crying when there was a huge city, and then a country, to blame for the deaths of her companions.
She knew there were people inside the palace; she could feel their vibrations, even though they felt different than those from good, solid earth. She knew where the Fire Lord was, and his daughter. They were the ones who weren't running, who were just watching her.
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She was impressive, that he would admit. Her small body was framed by a rising sun, which spread colors gloriously across the normally blue expanse. She stood, high up on a mountain of rock with barely enough room to move, and destroyed the Fire Nation capital.
When she screamed… it was as though his son came back to haunt him, through that cry. She told him that she hated him, for killing those that she was traveling with, and he loved the feeling of unadulterated rage that radiated from her. The tiny, and, he was surprised to find out, blind earthbender was even wrecking his palace. Apparently she knew how to bend metal.
His own fury was building inside of him, but he didn't let it show on the outside. He never did, until the very last moment when it would explode from him, a tidal wave of fire. And so he stood and watched her, waiting for his blood to get to the boiling point.
She felt ice course through her body, and her eyes never left the Avatar's companion. Her own anger was cold, and she so desperately wanted to kill her with a swift bolt of lightning, and have it over with. But her father wouldn't allow it, and she would do what he said until later, when her position of ruler of an actual country was assured. She didn't want to rule a war zone, where no one was strong enough to control the other nations.
So she watched, and waited, although patience was not her thing. When she had come back to the Fire Nation, to personally warn her father of the solar eclipse, she had realized how much freedom she had previously had, traveling just with her old friends. They listened to her, and she did what she wanted.
The earthbender's bending was good, no doubt, but she was nowhere near enough of a match for Azula. So the princess smiled and ducked her head, feeling her hatred and anger rise steadily. She would release it when the Fire Lord did, and no sooner.
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She pulled the floor out from under their feet, but they simply jumped backwards, somehow landing with catlike grace on their feet, and no panic at all entering their movements. And no firebending yet.
The small girl grew angry; how could they just stand there, when her friends had been brutally murdered? How could they be so calm, when she was tearing down everything that they knew? How could they be Fire Nation, while being so in control of the situation, even when it was clear that they weren't?
It wasn't fair.
None of it should have happened.
All she had left was her bending.
She couldn't understand.
And because she couldn't understand, she attacked them more ferociously, determined to make them behave like the commoners that they so arrogantly separated themselves from.
The walls caved in, the ceiling collapsed, the floor buckled, and yet they still found a way to avoid her offensive moves, and still, they didn't use their bending, something which frustrated her to no end.
The people were standing far from her, but not running anymore now that she was putting all of her energy and attention into the royal palace. They were awed. This tiny, blind girl, who could be no older than thirteen, was breaking down the whole city. She didn't seem to run out of energy, and her attacks were growing larger, not weaker.
She could feel them watching; their feet and weight just stayed still. Without turning, she sent a wave of rock at them, crumbling their houses and stores, and making them start to run again. They didn't have the right to catch their breath when she had to constantly fight, fight for her friends.
Their deaths were preying on her mind, and on her soul. She couldn't handle them, and she was going to make sure that others knew it. They hadn't come all at once, but she had been there, each and every time. She could "see" them all, their bodies lying, cold and immobile in the dirt. Each time her heart broke a little more until she had nothing left. By that time, she didn't care what happened to her, but she was going to make this place pay for what it did to her companions.
It wasn't fair.
None of it should have happened.
All she had left was her bending.
She couldn't understand.
Katara had been killed by a knife in the throat by the pale girl with the throwing knives. The waterbender had been preoccupied with a guard, fighting with all her might to gain entrance to the city. They were in a particularly delightful part of their spat, where Katara had just water whipped him across his eyes, and his fireball were becoming much larger, yet the aim was getting steadily worse.
The girl had walked up to them as though she didn't have a care in the world. All the others were fighting too, too busy to notice her yet. So she nonchalantly stuck one of her blades right in the middle of Katara's throat.
Crimson blood spurted from the wound, and Katara pulled out the dagger, slippery with her own blood. She stared at it, trying to breathe but not being able to. Her throat was still gushing, and Mai calmly watched Katara, sink to the ground, grappling with her bending water.
She quickly lost control of her limbs from blood loss, and her eyes glazed over, staring openly at the sky. Sokka was the first to notice, and he fought like a madman, finally slicing the goth girl's throat right where she had stabbed Katara.
The weapons master died in much the same way, and the group mourned over Katara's death for a few quiet moments. Their reactions were all different, but their purpose invigorated. They threw themselves upon the gate, and finally managed to hammer it open.
Sokka had been next. The acrobat; she was a freak of nature who was born with her legs over her head. Seriously. If bent any farther than she had, she would have snapped in two. But she was formidable because of her agility, and her knowledge of pressure points on the human body.
She hadn't killed him directly; she probably didn't have the stomach for it. But she left him helpless, unable to move his arms and legs. Then a spiteful soldier had come up and stuck him in the stomach with a spear. No Katara, no healing for her older brother. He smiled up at the blind girl and said, "I'm coming Katara… wait for me."
She killed the stupid soldier, and his friend watching his back. The gymnast was fighting with another rebel soldier that was on their side, and the blind girl got her too. She fell over, a spike of rock in the middle of her back.
Iroh's death was at the hands on his maniac niece. She had been so very calm and focused when he approached her. The chatted for a while, something which erupted into a full-grown fire fight, lightning and huge, orange-dancing waves blasting every which way.
But Iroh couldn't kill his kin. He wouldn't have done it for anything, even though the fire princess deserved every torture you could think up and more. He put his hands up and told her that he wouldn't fight her; wouldn't she see the foolishness of what she was doing, and who she was going to become?
Azula laughed and deemed this his fatal mistake. Which it did prove to be. She watched this, and could feel his heavy body hitting the ground with a thump. The insane girl scampered away before she could get her; but she vowed that she would.
Aang hadn't been last, surprisingly. His fight with the Fire Lord hadn't ended well. He and Zuko had a heated fight before the small earthbender reminded them that they were in the middle of a full-out battle and shouldn't be arguing. Aang took off, sticking his tongue out at Zuko in a friendly way, and using his air scooter to propel himself forward.
The fire prince mumbled something under his breath and she couldn't quite catch, but they both ran after the Avatar. He was already fighting with the Fire Lord when they found him, but there was another person there, watching interestedly, if not scornfully.
Zuko started to her, and she gave him a smile, her weight moving silkily from foot to foot like a panther. The siblings began to fight, and the small girl was left to ward off anyone who wanted to help their royal family. She did so perfectly.
Aang was a master of all four elements, yes. He couldn't best anyone using just one, their own, but if he used all four he was nearly unstoppable. However, the nearly came into play then, for she didn't know how it happened, but he was on the floor, his body smelling of burnt flesh, his clothes plastered, melted into his skin.
Zuko saw this, and moved forward, advancing his attacks on his sister. She coolly and collectively held her ground, and all of a sudden there was a crackling in the air, and he was falling to the ground too.
She ran over to him and bent down, looking straight into his face. He frowned up at her. "They won…" he said, disappointed in himself, and in us, apparently. It pained her to think that his last thought was frustration at his side that he had newly joined.
She had launched huge, metal boulders at them both, the Fire Lord and his crazy daughter, and skated on earth to the point that she stood on now. The creaking and crumbling noises deafened her; already she could block out the shouts of frightened townspeople below her. There was burning in the air, as well as blood and sweat. The wind continued to whip at her, as she continued to try and take down the Fire Nation single-handedly.
The guards had finally been dispatched to get rid of her, after it became apparent that she wasn't going to stop, and her energy was being pulled from a never-ending well of anger, pain and hurt.
She could feel them making their way towards her. Their armor made loud clinking noises, and they stepped heavily, although not in time in their haste to get to her. She grimaced and sent them some presents too.
It wasn't fair.
None of it should have happened.
All she had left was her bending.
She couldn't understand.
She would go down fighting.
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Author's Notes:
Please, please, please, please forgive any mistakes, because I don't have a beta, and although I do proof read, since I wrote it my brain will show me what I want to see, not what's actually there in most cases. I'm sorry if there are a lot this time; I wanted to get this up because I probably won't have time to post anything else for a while, so enjoy this and go re-read my other stuff if you're feeling deprived. :D
So what do you think? It took me a little while to organize and such, but once I had I was a writing machine! It was so awesome! I think my muse comes back when I decide to write about Toph; she is so cool, and her reactions are so different in different situations. She's sort of like Zuko in that way.
So, please read and review! I wanted to finally do something for the ending of the series, because everyone else was doing. Although I don't really like series that take place after the end (no offense to anyone out there), so I'm definitely not continuing this, although I don't think that it could be.
I'm looking forward to hearing what you think of my writing so far!