Earth Book One: Blindness
Toph felt her hands begin to shake in pure anger as she looked at the banished prince in front of her. "How dare you." Large chunks of earth coming to her hands as she shook with anger. "It's not my fault you're pretty much useless." Zuko's smirk was invisible to Toph but was evident in the tone of his voice. Toph threw the blocks of earth towards his head and a slash of air threw both of the chunks apart. Zuko was showered with debris as Aang walked in between the two. "Stop it!" Voice raising in agitation his hands clenched into fists. The usually peaceful avatar couldn't stand this any longer; the two had been fighting for weeks with no breaks. If only they could see their similarities instead of their differences.
The older brother of Katara stood shaking his head and walking over to Aang. "Oh come on let children be children." He said with a stern look at Toph. Toph's mouth opened slightly in shock at his words. She was not a child in any way, and for him to call her so was an insult. The still smirking reject looked at her, "Looks like all's not well in wonderland." He said walking away. Hair splayed across the blind girls eyes as she looked down with hurt in her unseeing eyes. A grimace came across her face; maybe Zuko was right she was useless. Her arms fell to her sides, and she felt defeated, but her head would be held high. Never would that 'prince' know of her pain. Was he just getting into her mind? No use to linger on it; Toph thought to herself.
"You're going to have to get along soon you know." The boy avatar said looking at Toph with tired eyes. Her only response was to glare at the tent where he disappeared. What he said was true; it wouldn't be long until the two were on their own. Aang was traveling with Katara and her older brother to Ba Sing Se. The three of them had agreed that it wouldn't be safe to bring Toph along. With the injury to her heel she was relatively blind. Toph could see through striking the ground and feeling the vibrations. With her injury she was completely blind and felt helpless. Another shake of her head as she thought of being along with Zuko. One thing would be completely certain, they wouldn't be sleeping anywhere near each other. They would have to stay together for both of their safety, but that didn't mean they had to be too close.
It wasn't as if Toph had her eyes on anyone other than Sokka. The boy made her heart race when he was close to her. It seemed even he had begun to pull away from her as well. Toph shook her head and heard the rustling of Aang as he stood up. "Wait… how are we going to meet up again?" Blind eyes looked up to Aang. "I'll be writing letters, as well as the others." He said with a small smile. Toph felt a bit better knowing that they would keep contact. She couldn't survive without her friends especially in her time of need.
The dimming light of the sun fit the fire prince perfectly as he walked into the light. Toph looked over hearing the rustling. Her face was a scowl as she looked over to him. The feeling of weight beside her was familiar but certainly not Zuko. It was usually Katara trying to heal her feet or Aang with his light airy spirit. Now the man sitting beside her let out a small sigh. "If you don't want to sit here there are other logs." Toph pressed a hand to her mouth averting his eyes though she couldn't see them she could feel them. "Look I'm not here to argue." Heat pressed against Toph's face making her flinch. Blazing in front of them was the small fire Zuko kept lit.
Silence hung heavily over the two as if a blanket, but not one of comfort. Finally Zuko was the first to speak, "We're going to have to get along if we're both to survive this trip." Surprised the blind earth bender looked over to Zuko, "I don't think I want to kill you yet." She said with a small smile on her face. "Me either." Zuko said with a small grimace of a smile. The feeling on his lips was awkward. It wasn't a completely unpleasant feeling though. Perhaps one over time he would get used to.