This story is pretty much self explanatory... a little piece tying the terror of Toph's most frightening life experiences together. Falling from the airship, and losing contact with the ground during Yakone's Trial.
"Councilman Sokka will now deliver the Verdict."
Toph Beifong did not have to see the look on the faces of those in the courtroom to feel the apprehension filling the room. She did not have to analyze the tension in the metal of her Metal Bender's uniforms, nor reach out her seismic sense to feel the accelerated heart beats filling the room around her.
Toph only had to listen to the familiar breathing of her old friends; the breathing of Avatar Aang, for it gave away the emotions that his demeanor so effectively hid. The slight hitch between every third breath, so slight that anyone else might miss it, but to Toph, it was like a scream of terror. Twinkle-Toes, the fearless Avatar, was genuinely worried about the outcome of the Council.
Sokka's footsteps told Toph what she had known since the prosecutor had first announced the charges. Her hearing so attuned to the man, Toph had heard the slight hitch in his breath at her words, the one that only occurred when dark memories crossed his mind, the one that she had so often heard him make in his sleep.
"They will tell you that Yakone has maintained his grip on the Underworld by using an ability that has been illegal for decades. Bloodbending."
Toph herself had let her stone guard fall for the smallest fraction of a second at hearing the slightest vulnerability in the man's demeanor, her heart breaking yet again for the hardships hidden behind this fun-loving, lovable man.
Sokka would always take the deepest of his many breaths before he spoke, almost as if he was breathing in the energy of the room to which he was to speak.
"In my years, I have encountered people born with rare and unique bending abilities. I once bested a man with my trusty boomerang who was able to fire-bend with his mind. Why, even metal bending was considered impossible for all of history, until our esteemed chief of police, Toph Beifong, singlehandedly developed the skill."
Toph fought to keep her cocky grin of delight off of her face, her pride swelling. 'Don't you ever forget it, Snoozles,' she thought, unable to stop the twitch of amusement at the memory of "Sparky-Sparky-Boom-Man", as they had called the assassin known as Combustion Man.
Sokka continued, his well-developed speaking skills entrancing the room, "The overwhelming amount of testimony and evidence has convinced this council that Yakone is one of these unique benders, and he exploited his ability to commit these heinous crimes."
Toph felt the surprise rise in her as the criminal did not seem to exhibit any of the signs of nervousness she had become so accustomed to from these criminals. No fidgets, or perspiration, or even raised heart rate. He let off a cocky energy, and Toph then knew that this was not going to end without a fight. She tapped her heel into the ground without alerting any others to the movement, sending out vibrations to better sense the movement of the nearby madman.
"We find Yakone, Guilty of all charges, and sentence him to life in prison." Toph was already beginning her breathing to intervene in the upcoming fight. She knew she had to be quick, quicker than her 40 year old body would likely let her move, but it was too late for the woman to call out.
The gavel connected with the desk. She heard a crumble of paper and a frustrated grunt. The vibration of Yakone's shifting weight in his chair barely stronger than the soft impact of paper on the tiled ground. She noted the shift of Aang's chair as he caught the unsettled energy.
In a split second, Yakone's heart rate soared.
Sokka screamed, a strangled, horrible sound that spurred Toph's body into action.
Her metal ties at her waist leapt into the air, too late to reach the man. Her body froze, her sight cut off as her bending failed.
She could sense Sokka's heart beat quickening with each passing second, could feel his gaze shifted to her, and could feel his fear as it reciprocated in her entire frozen body. Painful seconds passed and Yakone began to laugh, a sound almost as nerve wrecking and chilling as Sokka's screams of pain to her left. It caused the hairs on her neck to stir.
Toph's arm wrenched to the right, grasping the smooth, cool metal keys from the left hip of her incapacitated Captain. Pain shot through her entire body as Toph felt her feel lose contact with the ground.
Terror filled every inch of her being, cold, hard terror, the kind that she had only felt once before, the memory that she will never be purged from her nightmares.
"Hang on, Toph!" His hand holds hers in a grip that only rivals the open chasm of sense surrounding her.
She's terrified. She knows nothing but fear. This time, his grip cannot even ground her to something. Not even her grasp on the metal key ring can pull her into knowing the scene around her, and the pained grunts of the others in the room did little to calm her climbing anxiety. She had been blood-bended before, once upon a time, but never like this. Her insides churned, her heart seemed to stop in between beats, and her own hands unlocked the heinous man's cuffs.
His hand slips, grasping hers by nothing but the fingertips. "I don't think boomerang's coming back, Toph. It looks like this is the end."
'So much for the Greatest Earth Bender in the World' She mused, suspended helplessly in the air. The heavy cuffs confining her puppeteer crashed to the ground, drowning out the pained grunts from the surroundings.
As Toph's fear faded away into disgust, she somewhere heard that hitch in Sokka's breathing, the slight delay between Aang's breaths. Her head twisted around to face forward, Toph forces her face into a fierce scowl, filled with anger. Her insides squirm and a pain explodes somewhere in her temple.
Toph Beifong's consciousness fades away into her oblivion.