Puzzle Pieces Chapter One:
Spirits
The ceremony was perfect. Perfect for Sokka. All it did for Toph was break her heart into a million little puzzle pieces. Sokka and his new wife escaped from the reception for their honeymoon. Toph sat, holding back tears, on a chair in the corner. She knew she should have told him. She knew that she waited too long. It was obvious he didn't feel the same way about her that she did him. It was obvious he was too busy chasing around Yue and Suki to notice the little blind girl Toph once was. Toph was no longer a little girl, she was a woman, Sokka was simply too blind to see it.
Toph was in shock. She could only stare blankly at the wall. Sokka was off living his fantasy while Toph could only stand by and watch her fantasy slip out of her fingers. And that would have to be enough. The catch is it will never be enough.
Toph suddenly got to her feet and made her way to the door. She didn't even hear the pleas of a distraught Katara stop her. Toph just kept moving straight to the door, straight to her safe haven. Straight to the cliff.
Once she sat down on the cliff, she didn't move for days. Not even Aang could coax her back inside. Twinkletoes could always lift her spirits. For weeks, Toph sat on the cliff, staring into the black sea, the salty air digging into her skin and making raw.
Four weeks after the wedding, Sokka and Suki returned to a house void of Sokka's one and only best friend. "Where's Toph?" Sokka asked Aang.
"At the cliff. She's been there for days." A concerned Aang said in reply. Before Aang even finished his last word, Sokka was out of the building before Aang could have a second breath.
As promised, Sokka found Toph sitting on the cliff side, staring blankly into the dark sea. Sokka sat next to his best friend. Toph barely noticed. He stared into her vacant eyes, clouded with blindness but still beautiful as anything, and realized how beautiful they truly were. Sokka tried to grab her hand, but Toph jerked it away. "Toph—"
She cut him off. "Save it for someone who cares." Her words sounded as though she meant them with her whole heart but behind the words was a broken soul living a meaningless life.
"I thought I was…" Sokka trailed off. Toph returned her gaze to the sea. "Toph what's wrong?" Sokka sounded truly concerned.
"Nothing. Why do you care? You have a perfect life now, right?" Toph's tone was harsh.
"Perfect minus a best friend." Sokka said,
Toph was getting irritated. Why did he have to be so sweet and caring? "Just go get a new one. It shouldn't be that hard for a smart…funny…clever person like you." Toph stopped herself. Don't do this. He's married.
"Yea I could get another best friend, just not like one like you." Sokka was at it again. Stopped being so sweet. Toph demanded him in her mind.
Toph didn't respond to this. She just continued to stare blankly into the stormy sea. Sokka placed a hand on her shoulder. She shrugged it off. Toph was having nothing to do with him now. She couldn't, it was simply too painful.
Toph stood up. "Toph, what are you doing? Sit down." Sokka's voice was shaking with fear.
"The Water Tribe spirits are the ocean and moon right?" Toph didn't wait for Sokka's reply. "Well, Yue is the moon spirit and now you'll have me as the ocean spirit." Toph finished, jumping from the cliff. Sokka was quick to react. He reached out and grabbed her arm, pulling her back onto the cliff.
"What is this about?" Sokka was a little too oblivious.
Toph didn't hesitate to respond. "You are off living your fantasy while I have to watch mine slip out of my fingers."
"What do you mean?" It still hadn't clicked. It took a moment longer. "Oh. Toph, I am so sorry. If I had known."
"Whatever." Toph said, turning her face away from him. Sokka turned her face and pulled her up to her feet. He urgently kissed her. She was kissing him back, to his surprise.
"Toph, I was afraid that you would beat me senseless if I confessed that I love you." Sokka said apologetically.
"Well what's done is done. We can't change the fact that you're married so you should probably go." Toph said her tone also apologetic.
Suki stepped from the shadows. "No. Sokka, we are over." Her tone was full of pain.
Sokka felt like he couldn't breathe. The puzzle pieces were falling into place. "Great. That's the perfect way to start off a relationship." Toph said sarcastically. Sokka laughed, wrapping his arms around her. Toph didn't reject him. He was the final puzzle piece to a perfect life.
A smile crept its way onto Toph's face. It hadn't been seen in a month. She shouldn't have been happy but she couldn't
Toph couldn't have been happier. All the puzzle pieces of a happy life had been put together and she had the love of her life. Everything was perfect; Toph had everything she needed—Sokka and the earth—and Sokka had Toph.
"Toph," Sokka asked, rolling over to face her on the other side of the bed. "Katara has mastered healing using Waterbending and I want her to try giving you your sight."
"Okay." Toph said, staring at the ceiling. "Sounds good to me."
Toph's screams of pain erupted from the small hut. Sokka stood outside, arms crossed, resisting the urge to run in and stop Katara. This is what Toph wants. This is what I want for her. Sokka thought, trying to justify his not running in there to ease her pain.
Toph squirmed in discomfort, adding difficulty to Katara's job of giving her sight. "Toph! Would you please sit still?"
"I'm sorry if your healing treatments are causing me pain." Toph grunted in a sarcastic tone that was barely understandable.
"Geez! Toph I'm doing you a favor. All I want is a little cooperation, ok?" Katara said, her tone exasperated.
Toph sighed. "Actually, you're doing Sokka a favor. He's the one who wanted this for me. What kind of person would I be if I denied his dream of me sight?"
This caused Katara to stop all together. "What? You're not saying you didn't want this, are you?"
"No! I wanted this, just not as bad as Sokka does." Toph said and Katara continued in her healing treatment.
After hours of concentration, fear, and pain—pain mostly on Toph's part—Katara bended her water into the pouch at her waist. "There Toph." She said. "Open your eyes."
Toph opened her eyes. To her disappointment, her eyes were still just as blind as they had been the day she was born.
In the following weeks, Toph decided to visit her parents. through the gates brought mixed feelings for Toph. She didn't know how to be the perfect noblewoman anymore. She didn't know how to be anyone else than the blind Earthbender she once was. Toph didn't know how to be someone perfect.
Visiting home couldn't have been a bigger mistake for Toph. It only jostled the puzzle pieces apart. Toph walked through the doors of her old home. There her father sat, staring blankly out the window. "Dad, what happened?" she asked, sitting next to him on the couch.
"Your mother passed away during childbirth." Lao said sadly.
"Oh. Did the child live?" Toph asked.
Her father turned to her. "Yes Toph. She is upstairs."
That was all Toph needed. She bolted up the stairs to where she could hear small whimpers. She pulled open the door. The child lay, fussing, in a crib. Toph did something no one expected. She reached down and picked the child up. She turned to the nurse. "Does she have a name?"
"Her name is Lin. Your father doesn't know what to do with him."
Toph swallowed the lump in her throat and made the decision that would further jostle the puzzle pieces. "I'll take her. Me and Sokka can take care of her."
"Alright." The nurse said, giving her a large bag with supplies she would need. Toph immediately left the manor, a squirming Lin in her arms. She didn't want to stick around to only be stifled.
Toph traveled back to her home in the South Pole. Katara was happy to see Toph was finally accepting her motherly instincts. Sokka was simply surprised to see the squirming Lin in her arms. "I have someone for you to meet. Sokka this is Lin, my little sister."
"Ok." Sokka said, slightly confused.
"My mother died in child labor and my father didn't know what to do with her so I said we could take her."
Katara was jumping up and down in the corner of the small animal hide tent. Aang came in from avatar duties in the Fire Nation. "Hey." He said, kissing Katara on the neck.
"Hi." Toph said, controlling the wiggly Lin. "I promised my dad that me and Sokka would take care of this little tyke."
"Fun! So I guess you and Sokka will be starting your family while Katara and I are starting ours."
Sokka flung his arms about. "Woah! Whoever said anything about starting a family?"
"Oh come on Sokka. You have to take care of Lin now and eventually you and Toph will have children of your own." Katara said, pointing out the obvious truth.
"Hold on a minute! We're not even married yet." Sokka said hurriedly.
Katara looked sickened. "Then why do you sleep in the same bed at night?"
"That was one time!"
Katara sighed. "Well get on with it then!"
"What if I'm not ready to get tied down with marriage yet?"
Katara dragged Toph through all the gown shops in the North Pole in search of the perfect wedding gown. "Try this on one."
"Sure."
"Ok." Katara said, pushing Toph toward the dressing rooms. She closed the door and Toph slipped on the long, whit thing. She stepped from the dressing room. Katara gasped. Never in her life had she seen Toph look so beautiful. "What do you think?"
"I think it's beautiful. You should get that one." Katara said pulling out her wallet. Toph brought out the dress and slapped the wallet out of Katara's hands.
"No, no I'll pay." Toph said. "Besides, we have to find your dress."
"What do you mean?" Katara asked.
Toph sighed. "Do you wanna be my maid of honor or not?"
"Ooh goodie!" Katara said, ecstatic. She turned to racks of dresses. "What are your colors?"
"I don't know." Toph said, coldly, without hesitating. She picked a random dress from the rack. "This would look wonderful on you." Her tone was flat. It's not like she could see.
Katara took the dress and the other two she found and walked to the dressing room. She walked out again, in the first dress.. "I think this is the one." Katara said.
"Ok, let me get my wallet."
Butterflies flew around Toph's stomach. Today her life would change in some large ways. Today she would marry Sokka and start their family. Katara helped Toph get into her dress, did her hair, and set her up to walk down the aisle on her father's arm. The music started and Abigail led Mai, Ty Lee, and Katara in the wedding procession. Sokka's hands began to sweat. Should he be so nervous? Toph just looked so beautiful; Sokka had never seen her look like that.
Sokka looked down at his shoes. When he looked back up, Toph was standing on the other side of the alter. The wedding began. "Speak now or forever hold your piece." The preacher said. Thankfully no one stood up. Sokka knew it was a good choice not to invite Suki. "You may kiss the bride."
The puzzle pieces were falling into place.