Taang Week: Return
This is to take place during 'The Awakening'.
Aang had never had a very overactive mind. The night before he had left the monks, the day that Appa had been taken by sandbenders, the few days before the invasion; those were all very foreign to him. Tonight was also very foreign to him. Visions of those nights where he had trouble sleeping were upon him. The feeling he had when he had nearly lost his life swarmed through his body. Pain in his back and pain in his heart consumed him from thinking way too much about his losses.
Angry and disoriented, Aang reached across the small fire nation bed he laid on and grabbed his staff. He smacked it against the metal wall, not thinking of the loud clank noise it would make that would echo throughout the ship. After a few moments passed of focusing on his breathing, he heard nothing. No sound of somebody being woken up, no sound of somebody shuffling through the halls, so the sound of the door opening behind him caused him to jump and nearly fall onto the floor.
"Aang? Are you okay?" Muttered a tiny voice, coming from a tiny girl, standing in his doorway and rubbing her grey eyes. With his heart still beating fast from being startled, Aang struggled to stand up straight, clutching his lower torso and moaning from the pain.
"How did nobody else hear me?" He asked, finally giving up and sitting back down on his temporary bed.
Toph banged on the wall with his fist. "Soundproof," She said, raising her voice from the whisper she had used before. Stepping further inside his room, she closed the door behind her without permission. Getting no response from Aang, she moved closer and sat down next to him.
"Is there a reason you're not asleep?" She continued, expecting him to tell her. Aang had never been the type to pretend he was fine, and even when he tried, Toph was always able to tell, for the same reasons she was the only one to feel him hitting his staff against the wall.
"Toph," He paused, turning his gaze to the floor. "Why exactly did you leave your parents?"
Caught off guard by the question, Toph took a minute to lean back, resting her body weight on her wrists. "You mean.. besides the obvious?"
He nodded.
"I wasn't happy," She shrugged.
"Do you miss them?" Aang asked, looking up at her, still slouching over his staff. He knew she usually wasn't the person for deep conversations, so it was no surprise to him when she stood up and shook her head.
"I'm not doing this. I just wanted to see if you were okay," Toph brushed herself off but did not move closer to the door.
"Okay, okay, I'm sorry. I've just been thinking a lot," Aang's voice trailed off. Toph sighed and sat back down, resuming her position from before. She made a spiral movement with her wrist to signal him to go on.
"I bet I let a lot of people down when I ran away. And now.. now the whole world thinks I'm gone.. again," He sighed and buried his face in his hands. "I just don't think any of you understand that."
Toph pushed on his head in a playful manner to lighten the situation. Aang looked up from his hands, annoyed. "No, I get it. You don't like feeling like you let people down." She fluttered her fingers to take away from possibly sounding even remotely deep. "What does this have to do with my parents?"
"Why don't you like talking about them?"
She blew a strand of hair out of her face. "Because I don't care, Twinkletoes."
He leaned his elbow on his knee, resting his head on his fist to face her. "Are you sure? Because, I mean, I really missed the other-"
Her hand clasped over his mouth. "Really. I don't care."
Aang swatted away her hand and she moved it back behind her without further resistance. After sitting in silence for a while, a smirk rose to his face. "Did you miss me?"
Despite not being able to see him, she moved her face closer to his, obviously angry. "What?"
"When I was hurt. I must have been out long enough," He said, thinking of his now full head of hair.
"You know, I really didn't care then either." She spoke, choking up on her last words.
Although doubtful, Aang looked the other way, avoiding her blind eyes, and made no effort to breaking the silence. Toph awkwardly shifted off the bed, desperate to leave the room. Moments like these that required a lot of visible emotion made her uncomfortable, and it was late. If anybody woke up and noticed she was gone, or worse; in Aang's room, it might draw unwanted attention. It being obvious that neither of them wanted to say anything, Aang visibly scooted toward the wall and the head of the bed.
"Did you really mean what you told Katara?" Toph asked, suddenly.
"When?"
"You told her you didn't want us to help you fight."
Aang rubbed his head and leaned against the wall. In the moment that he had spoken to Katara, he may have been rather harsh. He really cared about Katara, and he really cared about Toph. Neither of them were going to get hurt if he could help it. Nobody would, for that matter. This was his battle and his responsibility.
"Okay, you don't have to answer that," Toph attempted to reason with him, noticing that he hadn't said anything for a while. "But.. you know that you're not alone."
"I'm not going to let you get hurt."
"I'm not going to let you get hurt," She immediately fired back. "I mean.. none of us will. We're not going to let you do this alone."
"Are you speaking for everyone else now, or just yourself?"
"I don't know," She shrugged. "Both?"
Aang shook his head in disapproval and smiled. "I really do understand why nobody can know I'm alive. I'm just not ready to accept it."
"Can you even imagine how happy people are going to be when the avatar returns?"
"Again."
"Whatever. You're going to return. And I'm going to be by your side when you do."
"You, or everyone?"
"I don't know," Toph shrugged again. "Both."