Author's Note: Done for someone with the patience of a saint. Why people put up with my terrible delays and inability to schedule anything, I'll never know, but here for Queen Takhsis is the Tokka oneshot I promised her.
Warnings: Paranormal happenings equal a great deal of bloodshed, and obviously, this will contain Tokka. There are hints of Kataang, but you could interpret it as friendship if you want. It's not very blatant. Oh, and we're in a weird modern day universe, too.
Fun fact: this was supposed to be a one shot, and then it got away from me entirely. I predict at least five chapters of this thing.
There was a old, unheated shack in the Bei Fong's woods, between the river and the road. If you were willing to walk across an old log and over the rushing river, follow the chalk marks on the trees and brave the general mud and murk of the forest, you would find it surrounded by trees so thick that in the summer it was nearly invisible. It was here that the self proclaimed kid detective made her official home.
An adult would have a hard time getting directions out of a child, and nobody wanted Toph to go out of business. Who else were they supposed to turn to, teachers who didn't care or parents who never believed them? There was no one else who would take them at their word. Toph knew if people were lying. No one knew how. She just did, and that meant that if someone really needed help, they wouldn't be turned away for lack of money. But if you went to Toph, you had to be willing to take the risk that your own dirty laundry would get aired if it was dark enough. She was not someone who could be bought off.
That wasn't just because her family was richer than God. She was just simply that way. Stubbornness was a good trait for a detective. It meant there was no giving up when things got weird. And this case, the case that walked through her doors on December 17, 1997, was nothing if not weird.
His name was Sokka Annuniaq. He would've been hard to miss in a big city with a name like that, one she could really feel in her throat, but in the little town of Hillcrest, Virginia, everyone knew everyone. Toph had an idea of who he was. He was in trouble a few times, mostly fights against Dodger, that redneck disgrace of a bully who had a thing for his sister, Katara. He'd written a few things for his class about his native Alaska and was working hard at learning Inuit. A firm believer in tradition, he had gotten sent to the counselor once for a talk about modern gender roles, but he'd never shown up as much more than a background blip on Toph's radar. That meant he hadn't been in deep trouble before, either on the starting or receiving end. He was the last person she expected to come bursting through her door.
The snow was up to her knees that year, thick enough that she had to double check with her ungloved hands for the ridges in the trees she'd made to guide herself through. The sound of the river and the creaking of that freakishly old tree by the highway told her where to go past that. It was the way home that was hardest, devoid of sound and totally bound by touch. She was just about to make her way down the not-really-a-path when the door burst open. She inhaled sharply and caught all the scents of Katara. There was the smell of their parkas made with seal hide and sealed in fat, the sharp spice of that occasional homemade foreign meal they brought with them, and the sweat that inevitably got worked up whenever someone made their way to Toph's little rectangle of intrigue. The difference was the deodorant. Katara's smelled like flowers. Sokka smelled like babypowder. Why, she didn't know or want to know.
"You must be the older Annuniaq," she said by way of introduction, pulling her beanie down lower on her head. "Take a seat, sugar boy, and let's see what I can do for you."
"Sugar boy? Don't call me that, it's not manly," he replied with great annoyance, sitting on the sturdier looking of the mismatched chairs. There were three wooden ones, each different shades of brown, and Toph had a thick recliner that had been here when she found the place as a lost four year old. "How'd you know who I am, anyway?"
"We're the only two non-whites in the woods, for one thing," she said with a touch of self-deprecation. "And you're the only kid at school who carries sugar packets in your coat pockets."
"No I - they're useful," Sokka replied, abruptly deciding not to deny anything mid sentence. "What if my blood sugar gets low?"
"Are you diabetic?" Toph asked thoughtfully.
"No."
"Then you're just being paranoid. But you didn't come here to get dietary advice. What's on your mind? It's late and I gotta get home before six o'clock." She gestured vaguely to the box off to the side of the round, black plastic table. "If you're worried about sugar, I have Pepsi and Sprite, by the way."
"How are they not frozen?" Sokka asked, then paused. "You know what, nevermind, it's not important. Anything sounds great right now." There was a pause as she reclined in her chair, black hair sticking out of her beanie in tufts. He eyed her warily as he took a Sprite. "So, um, I don't really know you, and you don't really know me. But I sort of need a favor. I think something really bad's happening at Sacred Heart and I need you to look into it without anyone knowing."
"The Catholic school?" Toph asked. It wasn't really a question an much as a noise of disbelief. "Look, I like a good Catholic joke as much as the next guy, but I used to go there. It's run like a ship. Nothing goes unnoticed there, especially not with Ozai as the principal. Details, Annuniaq. I need them."
"People are disappearing." His voice was suddenly solemn and low, the opposite of the goofy tone he used when in the cafeteria with his friends. He leaned in over the table. "I don't know what's going on over there, but someone's taking kids. And not our age kinda kids. Little ones. You know Mai Decembre, the girl who got kicked out of there? Her brother vanished last week. It was all over the news. But what's not on the news is the other kids and where they vanished from. It's the woods by that school, Toph, the ones that are off bounds. Kids take a shortcut through there and never make it home."
"Names?" she demanded, suddenly all business. "Who and where, Sokka. No detail's too small."
"The where is those woods." Sokka repeatedly angrily. "If anyone would just freaking listen to me! As for who, it started with Aether McKenny, then Seth Rubiano, then Neesha Freeborn, Corey Ferguson and Dan Galochio. They all went on the shortcut and they're all gone."
"This is out of my jurisdiction. The police-"
"Won't freaking listen!" he yelled, slamming his fists onto the table. Toph nearly jumped, startled by the outburst. "Everyone thinks I'm just a lazy genius who does nothing but get straight A's and play video games. They say I have an active imagination and then they just write me off as a lunatic! They won't listen! Apparently I need evidence before anyone cares who gets killed..." he trailed off abruptly.
Toph stopped leaning back and sat properly, pushing the hair back around her ears so she could listen for every little tremor in his breath. He smelled like sweat and heat. She could feel his breath in the frigid air, coming faster and harder than normal, in frustration, genuine anger. The weight of his hands on the table made it tilt. He was not lying. Angry, at the end of his rope, tired, but not deceitful. She stood up, silently. In this tiny space every sound was amplified. She could feel the shaking of his shoulders.
"I, there were, I saw - in the woods, over there, there was all this blood, and some of their clothes, and the police didn't come until after the snow fell and covered it. They said the clothes were just dirty. Please, you have to come help. Katara's missing!" He burst out suddenly, as if he couldn't contain the information anymore. "She wouldn't listen! She was going to the school to hang out with Aang after his school let out and she never made it there. Please-"
"I'll do it." She cut him off. Her hand reached out and found his shoulder. "Show up here tomorrow, after school. I've got someone you need to meet. And if you have any friends willing to help up, bring them. There's safety in numbers and we're going to need an insider from the school."
"What are you planning?" he asked quietly.
She squeezed his shoulder comfortingly. "I'm getting your sister back, Sokka, come Hell and high water. That's all you really need to know."