A/N: He gave Suki a necklace and it was over. For Toph, at least.
They were to be married in the spring in the Southern Water Tribe. It's the first time she's seen him in years and her heart just won't be still. He asks her to give a toast at the wedding, and to be co-best man with Aang (only half-jokingly). And she agrees (only half aware of the pain it will cause her to be there).
It's the night before she has to leave her station in Republic City for the wedding and she's drawing a blank on her speech. What can she say? What is there left to say? That he was her first friend, her best friend? That the year they spent together travelling the world was the best year of her life? That his sarcasm and jokes were the only thing that kept her going when she felt alone? That she had loved him since she was twelve? That when they were hanging off the airship during the last battle, all she could feel and see was his hand in hers and she was almost happy? That thinking about him spending the rest of his life with the woman he loves makes her sick in the heart? She feels the bracelet made of the space rock he gave her tighten around her arm, and she smiles crookedly, brokenly. She knows what she's going to say and what she's going to do.
It's the day of the wedding, and she's to give her toast any moment now. She drinks one last flute of champagne so she's almost numb. It's time for her toast and she stumbles to her feet, her freezing feet. She gives an obligatory smile and she begins.
"There's so much I could say about Sokka and Suki..."
"...and he's my best friend. Suki, you're the luckiest girl in the world."
She feels the thunderous applause through her feet and it shakes her heart. She collapses into her seat.
It's towards the end of the reception and she's standing in front of the gift table. She takes off her space bracelet and molds it back into its original shape, a shape she still remembers as clear as the Ba Sing Se sky a decade and then some later. Before laying it on the table, she runs her thumb over it once, and then she's gone.
She was saying goodbye and she didn't realize it.
