Chapter One: Confessions of an Earthbender
Summary: With the comet drawing nearer, Aang finds a Firebending Master in a very unlikely place. Taang
Rated for: Violence
Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender. Also, this is not the official Book of Fire. I do not own the Official one, but I do own the plot to Rolland's Book of Fire.
Welcome the first chapter in Rolland's Book of Fire. In this book, things will happen as Rolland sees fit. Anything Rolland says will go. So sit back, relax, and enjoy. Oh, and read the Author's Note at the bottom before reviewing.
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Two weeks had passed since the fall of Ba Sing Se and the Earth King was safe in the North Pole with his pet bear, Bosco.
Aang and his friends had given up hope on finding a firebending master to teach Aang, so they were looking for the next best thing, firebending scrolls. They were headed to the Library of Kida, located south of the Western Air Temple. They chose the place because it was said to be the greatest library in the world now that Wan Shi Tong, the knowledge-loving-owl spirit, had buried his own library. If anyplace had scrolls to teach firebending, it would be there.
-
The sun was setting as Aang sat on Appa's head, fidgeting as he waited for any sign of the library. His time was being wasted, he felt. He could be practicing his earthbending or waterbending right now. But instead, he was trapped on his flying bison, no earth, no water, nothing.
Katara, sick and tired of Aang's gloomy attitude, decided to break the four-hour-old silence. "So, Aang, you want to play a game of catch?" she asked, gathering some water from a nearby cloud and spinning it into a ball.
"No," Aang replied, not even looking up. He just kept staring out at the red-orange sky.
"I do!" Sokka called, sitting up. Why not? He was bored enough to play a game with his sister.
Katara sighed and threw the water at her brother, who actually tried to catch it. He started complaining when the water ball broke and soaked him. Toph chuckled to herself. If she didn't get off of the bison soon, she'd snap.
More minutes dragged on, the sun coming closer and closer to the horizon. She was about to suggest that they land and make camp for the night, when Appa broke into a shallow dive.
Aang sat up and called, "Where are you going boy?" to his bison. As he looked ahead however, he realized and gasped "Oh."
Ahead of them and slightly below, was the Western Air Temple. Appa continued his descent, nearing a large, open area on the front grounds, near the edge.
A minute later and the tired animal had landed. In her haste to get back to the ground, Toph was the first to jump off. Normally, that wouldn't be a problem, but she happened to jump off of the wrong side.
A scream pierced the sky as Toph fell down further and further toward the earth a few miles below. That scream pierced Aang to the soul. Even before his mind could process what had happened, Aang had leapt off after her, opening his glider as he did so.
Aang dived faster and faster, one hand on the glider, one stretched out toward his friend. Soon he reached her and wrapped his free arm around her. She wrapped her arms around him as he pulled up, missing the ground by about five feet.
Aang slowed his speed as he came up over the ledge, touching down on the stone gently. Toph quickly thanked him for saving her and turned away, blushing at her own foolishness and having wrapped her arms around him. A moment later, Katara and Sokka caught up.
Sokka took this golden opportunity to make fun of Toph. "If everyone will remain on the ground, we might be able to set up," he taunted.
She scowled at him and tapped her foot, making a column of stone rise from the brick floor.
"Please." Aang spoke to the air between the two. He tapped his own foot and the column sunk back down. He turned to Toph, saying "Please don't earthbend here," he turned to Sokka and finished, "or fight."
"Sorry," Toph and Sokka said at the same time, not looking him or each other in the eye.
-
Sokka, Katara, and Toph were sleeping in a large room connected to the temple's library, off the main hall, as that was as far in as Aang would let them go. Aang himself was in the library, reading books that the monks said he was not allowed to read until he took a life.
He now saw why they had been forbidden. And why he had to wait until he had killed before to read them. They were filled with high-level techniques that he had never even known about. They were all, however, techniques used to injure or kill. There were even a few used to torture.
One technique that particularly caught his interest was a skill to slice through armor and bone. It used a disk of air which was spun more quickly outside than in. And in the center was a sphere of air.
The theory behind it was that the slowly spinning center would draw the disk inward, instead of pulling itself outward, losing power.
He buried himself in the books, unaware that he was tired. He would have kept reading until someone came in to check on him in six more hours, when the sun rose, except someone burst through the door now.
-
Silently two figures climbed up the side of the tall tower of stone that the Western Air Temple sat upon. As they reached the top, they quickly and silently dashed across the stone toward the temple itself.
Xin Fu and Master Yu were dressed in all black. Their clothes were slightly tight and very soft, so as not to make noise when they walked. Their cloth shoes were soft and padded on the bottom, rather than being hard and making noise. Silence was key for what they had to do.
Even having received word of where the Avatar was headed a week before he got there, the two had still been beaten by a few hours. Not that they were slow, they just weren't good at navigating the mountains.
The two were now at the door. It may have been stone, but any earthbending now would alert Toph to their presence. Instead they pulled the door open ever so slowly.
Soon it was wide enough for Xin Fu, the larger of the two, to squeeze through without brushing the side. They emerged inside, the Xin Fu stumbling slightly.
They crept soundlessly toward the closest door on the left and peered inside. Master Yu gasped at the scene, catching himself a second too late.
-
The sound of a gasp pulled Toph from her dream and back into reality. The first thing she noticed was that Xin Fu and Master Yu were standing in the doorway. The second, that she was encased in creeping crystal.
She contracted every muscle in her body that she could at once, shattering the crystal silently while keeping it in place. The two of them didn't have any idea that she was free. She'd have them when they tried to kidnap her.
The two of them walked forward quietly, hardly breathing. Master Yu pulled a dagger out of his pocket, holding it low before him.
They approached and when they were in striking distance, Toph reacted. She snapped her arm out, sending the creeping crystal shards toward her attackers.
Not expecting an attack, the two men were caught completely off guard, and were hit in the face. They staggered toward the door to the library. Toph sent two stones toward them.
Xin Fu, realizing that they'd lose here, warned his accomplice. "Forget the girl," he called, "get the Avatar!"
Master Yu nodded and threw the knife at Toph, who barely dodged it. They ripped the door open and ran in, slamming it closed behind them.
Toph picked up the recently discarded knife and charged in after her assailants, ignoring the shouts from her recently awoken friends. As she opened the door using earthbending, she was surprised to see that they were fighting a losing battle against Aang.
Xin Fu, in desperation, threw chunks of stone at random toward the Avatar, which he blocked with just his hands. Aang didn't seem to be challenged. Master Yu, however drew a thin, flat sword from his belt. He held it in both hands and calmly walked behind the young boy.
Toph ran in as Master Yu raised his blade and stepped forward, preparing to attack with a downward strike to his foe's exposed neck. Her feet carried her forward, leaving her back to back with her friend, who seemed to notice she was there with a shift forward, to give her room to work.
Xin Fu, however, seemed to have himself back under control, and was attacking ruthlessly in a cold rage worthy of a firebender. Stone after stone was launched, Aang now blocking with apparent effort.
One rock, passing his guard, hit the boy squarely in the chest, knocking him back a few steps into Toph, who was dodging swings with considerable effort. As she was almost sliced in half, she dashed forward, half crouched to the ground, knife low.
But Master Yu was having none of that. He parried the stab with the dull edge of his blade. His sword was now through her guard, resting on the outside of her left arm, pointed directly at her heart. Toph's own hands were both on her knife, arms outstretched toward Master Yu's left side.
The next twenty seconds seemed to pass in slow motion. Master Yu drew his right hand away, taking his sword with him, and stretching his left toward her. He let the blade fall from his hand as he summoned a chunk of rock to it instead. As he pulled his right arm forward, he simultaneous drew his left back.
The stone left his hand like a cannonball. She stepped to her right, spinning left just in time to avoid getting her head smashed. As she spun she extended her arm, bringing her wrist smashing into Master Yu's temple, her hard ulna cracking his skull and sending vibrations through his body.
The waves sped on as he fell, exiting his feet just before he hit the ground. Two waves of vibrations now merged into one and flooded the room. They expanded in all directions, passing under and up her. They also hit a large obstruction on the floor, sending waves bouncing back.
With a gasp of horror, Toph ran forward, her mind and body completely detached. Her mind, her instincts, told her to take care of Xin Fu, but her body told her to take care of Aang.
She knelt beside the unconscious boy, taking his hand in hers. Suddenly her instincts took control, fueled by rage. She raised her hands and slammed them down as hard as she could on the floor beside her. In an instant she had a clear picture of the room.
They were in a library, its east side where Toph was fighting was littered with books. There, on the east side, Xin Fu, who was slamming down his right heel to attack them, was standing in front a full shelf of books.
Time seemed to suddenly accelerate, Toph twisted her hand upon the ground as quickly as she could. Xin Fu's left leg spun, turning him away from his intended targets and instead to the full shelf.
With an ear splitting bang the floor under the bookshelf exploded, sending wood and books flying. Toph, who knew what was going to happen before hand, raised an earth-tent around Aang and herself.
After a second bang, which was Xin Fu colliding with the tent, Toph, tapping into what must have been pure adrenaline, lifted Aang with ease and ran back through the door.
The brightness in the room told her that the library had been very dim. There was no way Aang could have seen the rock flying at him even if he did look.
She ran over to where Katara was still trapped in the crystal. A gasp told her that there was enough light in here to see.
Toph laid Aang down carefully on his front and the crystal shattered with to firm strikes. Within seconds she saw Katara holding Aang in one arm, her other hand over the back of Aang's skull. Now that she had noting else to do, Toph looked at the damage.
She immediately wished that she hadn't. The back of Aang's skull was shattered, his heartbeat was erratic, and his breathing shallow.
It was her fault. She let the rock hit him. The rock had been meant for her. It was all her fault. None of these thoughts seemed to connect. Toph could accept what had happened. And then, five of the most terrifying words she had ever heard were spoken.
"It's no use!" Katara cried, panicked, scared, and exasperated in equal measures. "Nothing's working!"
Icy fear flooded Toph's veins. "Then try something else!" she shouted, trying to hide the panic in her voice.
"I'd like to see you do any better!" The waterbender shouted back, anger in hers. "What happened anyway?"
"Not to be the voice of reason, but now's not the time to fight," Sokka told them, sarcasm dripping from his voice, still bound in crystal. "Katara, didn't you get any spirit water when we dropped off the king and his bear?"
"I forgot," she gasped. She reached down and pulled out a vial of water hanging around her neck. Quickly she pulled the top off and floated the water out. It sparkled in the flickering candlelight, giving off a hypnotic shine and reflecting the light like a gem. She lowered it into the wound, where it was absorbed.
She carefully turned over the boy in her arms, waiting for his tattoos to glow and for him to return to life. But it didn't come. After half a minute, she accepted it. Tears flooded her eyes as she started shaking slightly from sobbing.
Toph came over too, tears streaming down her face. Slowly she reached out a hand and stroked the side of his face gently.
Aang's tattoos flashed as his eyes flickered open. He sat up slowly, rubbing his head and groaning. Before anyone had a single thought, Toph wrapped her arms around him, pulling him into a tight embrace.
Half a second later, however, she had let go and was running back into the library. Realizing that she wanted to be alone, Aang tried to changed the subject.
Luckily, he was given extra time on this daunting task by Sokka complaining again. "Will somebody let me out of this thing?" he called angrily as the crystal grew another inch.
Aang ran over and placed his hands on the crystal. After a quick turn, the crystal shattered. "That's so much better," Sokka sighed when he was free. "If I never see Creeping Crystal again, It'll be too soon."
Realizing that his distraction was over, Aang decided to take charge of the conversation, less Sokka ask the question he was probably dying to ask.
"So what happened?" Aang asked Katara, not looking directly at her, fearing her reaction.
She apparently didn't find Toph hugging him as concerning as he did. In fact, she might not have even seen it. Had it all been in his head? Was he making a mountain out of a badger-mole hill?
"We have no idea," she told him. We woke up and we were covered in creeping crystal and you were gone," she told him. "And Toph was fighting with Xin Fu and Master Yu."
"Master Yu tried to throw a knife at her, but she avoided it," Sokka filled in. "That's when they ran into the library."
"And Toph went in after them," Katara finished. "So what happened in there?"
"Xin Fu started attacking me. I was blocking his moves, but then Master Yu came up behind me and pulled out a sword. I thought I was a goner," he paused, "but Toph came in and started fighting him."
"Where did your injury come from?" Katara asked, intrigued.
"I don't know," Aang admitted. "I was fighting Xin Fu one minute and next minute I'm here."
"Toph carried you out here," Sokka told his friend. "You were pretty bloody."
Neither of them seemed to have anything to add, so Aang turned around and walked to the library door. He pulled on the slightly rusted handle and it swung forward.
The sound of bending metal greeted his ears. In the light flooding in from the other room, Aang saw that Toph was bending the metal from Master Yu's sword around their wrists. When she finished she threw the two of them into the far corner.
Aang closed the door after airbending all the books back onto the shelves, leaving the room dimly lit.
The longest and quietest silence Aang had ever experienced passed. Neither of them seemed intent on saying anything.
At last, Aang decided to break the silence. "Thank y-" he began, but he was stopped mid-thank by Toph sobbing.
"What's wrong?" He asked gently as he approached her, his eyes adjusting to the semi-darkness. He saw Toph sitting in front of the window. Her knees were pulled up to her chest and she had buried her face in her arms.
"Toph, what's the matter?" he asked again, just as gently, putting his hand on her shoulder.
She shifted away from his touch slightly, but did not speak. She just continued sobbing quietly.
Aang sat down next to her, keeping his hand on her shoulder. It was strange seeing Toph cry. He'd never seen her cry before. He'd only seen her look sad once before, when her father said that she couldn't go with him.
"I'm sorry," she whispered suddenly. Even though she was speaking so quietly, Aang could hear her clearly.
"It wasn't your fault," he told her consolingly.
"Yes, it was," she said, getting herself back under control. "I stepped out of the way. I let it hit you. I was supposed to have your back, but I let you down." Toph seemed just as disappointed with herself as she was sad. "It's my fault they were here in the first place."
"But they said they were going to 'take the Avatar'," he pointed out. "They were here for me."
"They were here for me." Toph sobbed, losing control again. "They were her to take me back home."
Aang was really confused now. "I thought you said that your father said you could go. Why would he change his mind?"
"He didn't say I could go," she admitted. "I ran away from home. They thought that you kidnaped me."
Aang didn't know what to say. His mind was too busy processing this news.
"I'm sorry about the library too," she told him.
"It's okay," he told her.
Toph turned to him and before he knew what was happening, she was hugging him. He felt her
tears landing on his shoulder. Her heartbeat slowing. Her breathing relaxing.
-
"What do you think they're doing in there?" Sokka asked his sister bluntly. He was laying in his sleeping bag, staring up at the stone ceiling. And even though he was laying down, he was wide awake, not trusting the silence. "Do you think there's something going on between them?"
Katara, however, wasn't listening. She was having a very interesting conversation with herself.
Why didn't my spirit water work?'
"It did work. He's alive isn't he?"
But why didn't it work until Toph touched him?'
"Maybe the person being healed has to be touched by the one they love."
But I healed him after he was hit by lightning. Why couldn't I heal him this time?'
"Loves change."
No, you're wrong. He still loves me.'
"Think back, did he ever say I love you?' No?"
But he always acted like he did.'
"He had a crush on you, that's all."
But Sokka kept teasing him about being in love with me.'
"Okay. One, you're going to take Sokka seriously? And two, if he loved you, he wouldn't have cared that Sokka teased him. He just had a crush on you."
But in the Cave of Two Lovers, he wanted to kiss me.'
"Which is what someone wants to do with their crush."
"Katara!" she heard Sokka shout.
She looked up. "Huh? What?" she asked.
Sokka was now sitting up, facing her. How long had she been spaced out?
Sokka sighed. "I was just asking you if you thought anything was going on between them," he repeated for the fourth time.
She scoffed at him. "Of course not. They're complete opposites. How could they end up together?"
"Didn't you see her hug him when he woke up?" He asked, a smirk on his face.
"She was just glad to see he was okay," she told her brother firmly.
"Okay, okay," he said quickly, trying to calm her a little. He laid back down on his sleeping bag and closed his eyes. "But you know," he told her, a smile on his face, "opposites attract."
Katara was silent, which surprised Sokka. He expected her to retort with something about a wimp like him being attracted to a great warrior like Suki, but she didn't. Sokka opened his eyes just in time to see a flash of blue and get completely soaked.
"Katara!" He complained. "You got me all wet! And my sleeping bag too!"
"Why, thank you, Captain Obvious, for that informative report. What would I ever do without you?"
Things usually went like this. Sokka would tease Katara. Katara would tease Sokka back. Sokka would cross the line eventually. And Katara would drench him. Yet every time, he seemed to be surprised. Yeah, he's a real genius.
"Don't take your aggression out on me just because Aang likes Toph more than you," Sokka complained.
"He does NOT like Toph more than me." Thankfully, Katara wasn't shouting yet.
"Then why isn't he with you right now?"
Instead of pointlessly arguing with her thickheaded brother, Katara decided to show him instead. "I'll prove that there's nothing going on," she told him confidently, walking over to the library door.
For a moment she hesitated, thinking that maybe she was wrong, but she pushed that out of her mind. She grasped the handle firmly and pulled.
-
Toph was sitting next to Aang, leaning on his shoulder, tears slowly trickling down her cheeks. His presence calmed her. His light breathing, his soft footsteps, his peaceful way of life and aura, they all relaxed her.
Aang was busy pulling something out of his pockets. Or he was trying to. He fished out a bunch of junk until he found what he was looking for. After he stuffed the useless stuff back into his pockets, he was left with a handful of dried, black leaves.
He placed his hand on the ground and pulled it up slowly, creating a bowl just larger than his hand.
Toph was interested now. She wanted to know what he was doing. She pushed Katara and Sokka's ongoing argument out of her mind.
Aang tossed the leaves into the air, where they were shredded by a very violent mini-tornado. The tornado descended into the bowl and vanished, leaving finely chopped leaves inside the stone hemisphere.
He lifted the bowl with one hand and placed his other under it. A twirl of his hand created another small tornado under it. It floated a foot in front of him and stopped a foot above the ground.
The window behind Aang opened. The rain stopped mid fall and gathered in a floating pool. He put in enough water to fill the bowl almost to the top. The window closed again and the rain resumed falling.
He summoned two rocks from the ground and stuck them across each other, creating a rain of sparks. One of them hit the cyclone that was suspending the bowl and the cyclone caught fire.
After a minute the fire went out, leaving the now hot bowl suspended in mid-air. Aang created two cups from the stone in front of them. After pouring half into each cup, he offered one to Toph.
"What is it?" she asked him after accepting it. She sniffed it, but couldn't tell what it was.
"It's Xusin Tea," he told her. "It's famous for its calming properties."
Toph took a sip and immediately a warm, calming sensation spread through her body.
They drank in silence for a minute, neither knowing what to say. They finished and sat in an awkward silence.
Eventually Toph broke the silence. "I'm sorry," she said again. Another pause followed.
"You're beautiful," Aang told her.
Toph leaned toward him and, ignoring every conscious thought she had left, she kissed him.
She didn't know how long it was until they broke apart. It could have been a second, minute, a millennia. All she knew was that when she did, and her senses returned to her, that there were two people standing in the doorway.
-
Katara grasped the handle to the library and pushed firmly.
She gasped at the scene before her. Aang and Toph were kissing, their arms wrapped around each other.
They broke apart and looked at her. She couldn't believe it. She turned and ran away from them. She was aware, vaguely, that Sokka was behind her, calling her. She ran out of the main door and into the cold night.
Sokka embraced her and apologized for what he said. She was unaware of it. Unaware of the rain falling on her. Unaware of the cold wind nipping her. Or did she just not care?
One thing was certain though. She definitely wasn't aware of two extra pairs of eyes watching her.
-
There, that's the end of chapter one. Now, I need your help. I don't know what to do about the Xusin Tea. I originally planned for it to temporarily heal Toph's vision. But it would leave her unable to bend or see through her bending.
So I need you guys to decide:
1) It should heal her but take away her power.
or
2) It doesn't have healing powers at all.
Please, you have to vote. :)