a/n: This is part of my Avatar Zombie AU, The Infected/Waking Death. Toph's backstory will not be part of the actual fic, but will be alluded to. Though I know she was born blind, but in my fic she isn't. I wanted her to become blind because of the cure, and the reason why will be explained in my fic.

Toph clung to her mother's leg as they walked through the corridor. Beside them were rooms with windows exposing the horrors occurring inside. People, in weird suits that covered them from head to toe, were cutting open other people, but they weren't normal people. They weren't like Toph. They were Infected, and Toph was told to stay away from them at all costs.

The outbreak occurred only three years ago, and the scientist at Bei Fong Enterprises had already found a cure…or so they claimed. It has been a cure they had been working on for two years, having began their research after collecting one of the Infected and dissecting it. The scientist claimed they'd figured out the virus and know how it works. It took many failed attempts, but the cure was ready for use, and the first person they were going to use it on was the daughter of the CEO, Toph Bei Fong.

Poppy told her daughter this, and told her not to be scared, but it was hard for the 5 year old to be brave. The people around her were in these alien-like suits, and the innards of people, people she could've known, we all around her. She didn't want that to be her. She didn't want to become another science experiment gone wrong.

"Mommy. I don't want to do this." She whimpered as she clung tighter to her mother's leg.

"Sweetie, you know you have to: it's to protect you." Although Poppy believed her words, the fear in her voice was impossible to mask. "Now let go. I can't walk with you clinging to me like that."

Poppy took her daughter's hand and lead her to the room where the cure was going to be administered. The door was already open when they stepped inside..

Lao was there in scrubs. He wasn't a doctor or a nurse, but he wanted to be in the room with his daughter — he wanted to make sure that nothing went wrong and everyone did as they were told. This was his daughter and he didn't want to take any unnecessary chances. There would be no mistakes.

However, Toph's eyes weren't on her father. Instead they were on the bed before her, the bed she was supposed to lie on. Surely the straps and buckles were all meant to tie her up or hold her down. She looked at her mother with fear in her eyes, and Poppy gave her a reassuring smile in return.

"It'll be alright dear. This is going to save you."

"No." Toph backed away, wanting to run, but the door behind her was already shut and locked.

"Put the patient on the table please," the doctor ordered.

"She is our daughter, and you will refer to her as such." Lao retorted.

"My apologies, sir. Please put Toph on the examination table," he corrected himself.

"Come on, Toph," Poppy urged.

"NO!" Toph pushed her mother away. "NO! I don't want to. I don't want this!"

"Toph, please! It's to help you," she begged.

"You do it! Not me! You!" The tears fell from her eyes as the nurses came from either side of her and grabbed her.

"Toph! You will stop this!" Lao shouted at his daughter. "We are doing this to protect you, so you be quiet and stop acting like a child."

His words were harsh, especially when barked at a child. They were enough to get her to stop, though; she was never allowed to be a child, not with her parents around.

Silently, the nurses set Toph on the table, tying her to the bed.

"Sweetie, do we need to?" Poppy asked about the ties.

"We have to. The cure causes seizures, and the last thing we need if for Toph to hurt herself."

That terrified Toph, but she said nothing. If her father so desperately wanted an adult out of Toph, then she was going to act like one. She didn't even say anything as they placed something in her mouth to keep her from biting her tongue.

"This won't be easy," the doctor explained. "You must be brave, Toph."

Toph nodded at the doctor as he cleaned her arm to ready it for the needle. She shut her eyes, not wanting to see what he was going to do next, but it did nothing to protect her from the pain.

Even the mouth guard couldn't muffle the sound of Toph's scream as the cure entered her body. The reaction occurred right away and it felt as if her whole body was on fire. She thrashed about, trying so desperately to escape the ropes that held her down. It was painful, too painful. Tears streamed down her face as the fire dulled, but the pain that came next was far worse.

Suddenly all her blood cells felt like they were needles inside her body, trying to escape, some of which did. Open wounds formed on her skin as her blood boiled in her veins. As it ran over her skin, burn marks were left over, which only caused Toph to try and squirm free. She couldn't though, no matter how hard she tried.

Her whole world turned black as the pain overwhelmed her small body. She wanted her mom. She wanted her mom to take the pain away. But no. All her mother could do was stand by and watch her daughter go through this immense pain, and she could barely even do that. For the most part, Poppy clung to Lao, unable to watch the scene that was unfolding before her. She cried as Lao told her that it was for the best.

This pain didn't fade. It didn't fade in the night, or the next day. It didn't fade until several days later, and by that time Toph had grown so used to it that all she could do was lie there. Her voice was gone, her world was black, and the tears were long gone. There was nothing left in her.

By the time Poppy and Lao returned, they couldn't see their daughter anymore, only a shell of what she used to be.

"Oh Toph!" Poppy rushed to her daughter's side. "The doctor, he didn't— We didn't… We didn't know it would be so bad."

"He's been fired." Lao told them, no compassion in his voice. He tried to act like the businessman he was, but it was hard to hide how angry he was. "The cure… it wasn't finished."

"Toph, sweetie. Talk to mommy. Say something." Poppy begged, "Look at me."

Toph didn't say anything. She didn't want to say that she couldn't see them, even though her eyes look fogged over. They wanted a perfect daughter, so she was just going to be that, if only because she never wanted to go through that again.

"I wanna go home," she replied, not wanting to show any emotion right now.

"Of course." Poppy kissed Toph's forehead. "And we'll get you whatever you want, sweetie. Anything. You want it? We'll get it for you."

"Well, not everything," Lao corrected Poppy. "But let's get you to your own bed."