A/N:Okay, I have suffered in this universe, and for a moment I think I'll just put an end to shipping, Zutara…my heart broke, Taang…I needed life support,Tahnorra…left me in a coma, Makorra…I died. No really, my mom found me on the floor spasming (foamy mouth guy style) and banging my fists-yelling to the gods, the universe just looooves proving me wrong, doesn't it. But one fact will remain…TAANG is my life (sad I know) But the only reason I go to school is so that I can get loads of mullah and remake avatar…(heh-no threats there Brian and Dante) Taang should have happened people. The law of physics is that opposites attract, and I could think of no better opposite that earth an air, but then there's the horizon…where the earth meets the sky. Disclaimer; I OWN IT ALL BITCHEZ; AANG, TOPH, KATARA, ZUKO, THEY'RE ALL MINE, MINE…MIIIINNEEE! Kidding-or am I? No seriously, don't arrest me I don't own anything
CHAPTER ONE;
THE JOKE'S ON YOU.
'Twinkle toes I swear by earth if…WHEN I get you…' She darted out of the room after him, upsetting Zuko's paisho board in the process ; sensing the vibrations all around her, he was nimble-yes, fast…maybe-but she was Toph, the world's greatest earth bender, only metal bender, avatar's teacher-of course it made no sense since she was chasing him around Zuko's family's summer house. She heavily stamped her lower left heel out, causing the earth in front her to crumble into an uneven surface that stretched out before her.
'Ow!' she heard a groan. Ha! She'd gotten him. Placing her hands on her hips, she took steady yet ginger steps forward, that twinkles could be a trickster. She knew from their illicit ventures in the Fire nation that he wasn't exactly the easiest person to deal with. She sent out another miniscule wave of vibrations out into the earth. He was still sitting there on the ground, next to a giant rock with a-she could tell, playful expression on his face. For a moment she considered crushing him with it, (the rock, not the facial expression) but no…not exactly good for the fate of the universe she decided. He scuttled back, using his feet for leverage.
'Say you're sorry.' She simply said, with a slight leer in her voice, she turned her face to the left and spat.
'Okay…I'm sorry, sifu Toph okay?' he sounded earnest enough. But then again, he always did.
'You will be…' she added with a menacing grin. She felt his heart rate increase. They were on the ground-that was her territory, and he was going to pay, but before she could do anything, he'd jumped up, she couldn't see him anywhere, and she turned around frantically-a pained expression on her face. Hearing the swish of an opening glider, she scowled. 'Twinkle toes that's cheating, come down here and face me like a man!' she pointed.
'I…think you need to calm down a bit…' she heard his voice, now distant, carried by the wind, but that didn't stop her from throwing the largest chunk of earth she could find in the direction from where it came. He was gone. She turned as she felt footsteps behind her.
'There she is.' A beautifully husky voice commented.
'Toph…' Katara began, 'Zuko asked me to stop you from killing Aang, we kind of still need him to defeat Zuko's crazy dad.' Then she gasped and turned to face Zuko with and apologetic grimace in her blue eyes. 'No offence…' He folded his arms and shrugged. 'None taken.' More footsteps…
'What happened?' Suki asked, rather confused. Toph stood motionless; facing the direction Aang had flown off to. She was visibly seething. Katara approached her and placed a firm hand on her shoulder.
'Don't worry Toph.' She told the small blind earth-bender, not to worry about what? She did not know, it just felt like the right thing to say, it always worked for Aang anyway. Toph raised her shoulders in a feeble shrug. 'He'll be back.'
'Anyone care to explain?' Suki still in the dark enquired.
Twenty minutes ago…
Toph was on a roll.
'How can you be this good, you can't even see!?' Zuko exclaimed, and then broke into a stuttering apology. 'Not that, I didn't mean to-' she didn't really mind, knowing he would never purposely insult her.
'Cool it fire boy, and hand over the goods…' She stretched out a small palm in Zuko's direction with a wide grin plastered on her porcelain like face. Grudgingly he reached in his pouch which was slung low on his parka to pull out five copper pieces, he didn't really need the money anyway, and neither did she, She was just doing it for the fun of his humiliation, and he felt bad because of, well…the humiliation. It was utterly amazing, and infuriating; that, she was. She placed the cool metal coins right by her pile of Zuko-exploited goods which included a painting of him and Azula which he had found and wanted to burn-that, he'd willingly offered, hoping she'd destroy it herself. (Because she was Toph)
'Why, Zuko- I think you look smashing in this painting!' she had said.
But now he wasn't going to stop until he had the satisfaction of defeating her. It was a slow day, so even if it meant just once, he was now driven to put the loud-mouthed earth bender in her place, and then he would walk away with all his royal pride and honor intact. Aang was seated quietly in the corner petting Momo and feeding him lychee nuts, sighing rather amusedly at the whole situation, he knew better than to bet against Toph, and knew even better than to rat her out to Zuko for the cheat she was. He idly stared at her small wiry frame, petite yet intimidating at the same time…no she was nothing like Katara. Katara whose wistful blue eyes were always full of hope…swimming in emotion. Toph had pale green eyes set in a face that said 'mess with me, and you're screwed', but then again he did feel really bad for the fire prince, after all…it was his job to maintain peace and fairness in the world, he mused; toying with an idea that had just come to his head.
'Aaaah,' Toph yawned, stretching her lithe limbs above her dark-haired head. 'Okay you know what Zuko, I think I'm about as tired of winning as you are of losing-just kidding, I can never get tired of winning.' She flashed a winning smile. 'But you see…' she said as she stood up and scooped her winnings, 'I'm getting a tad bored of the monotony and we both know there's no way you're ever going to beat me…' she strode towards the door.
'Wait.' Zuko raised a palm in a gesticulation for her to stop. She heeded his voice and halted at the doorway.
'Yes…?'
'All or nothing.'
'Hmm…not exactly sure how that works, because you see- I have the all, and you, well you have nothing.' She had smirk on her face as she spoke, but she walked back to him. Zuko didn't reply-still pensive. She sighed. 'Okay let's do this. If I win…you become my slave for a day-it would be nice to have the future fire lord gravelling at my feet…' her facial expression turned wistful like she had been considering it for a while now.
'Hey!'
'Okay fine, if I lose,' she paused and tossed her head back in a laugh at the very prospect. 'If I lose you get back everything I've won and I become your slave for a day.' She told him. Zuko stared her down, there was no way he was accepting defeat. He swallowed and nodded.
'Silence means consent'
'Yes.' He firmly answered; she walked round him with a sympathetic sigh and dumped her winnings in a pile before sitting next to them and opposite him. She picked up the earthen lots with markings of x's and naughts on each side. 'Let's do this…' she leered, rolling her head back. 'Winner's starting, eh?' Zuko tried to scowl at her but it was impossible, he was, quite frankly too amused by the blind girl. She rolled the two sticks between her rough palms and spat in the middle. Zuko inwardly cringed; she let them go.
'Well? And don't lie, I can tell.' She pointed out.
'All x's' he muttered under his breath.
'Yes!' she exclaimed, even though she already knew.
'Yeah…yeah well it's out of three.' Zuko reminded her.
'Warm those hands up, fire boy-I already have a few chores in mind.' She reached for the sticks once more and threw them hard against the floor.
'All x's….' Zuko groaned.
'I hope uncle did a good job teaching you how to brew tea, my favorite is ginseng…' She cast the lots once more. 'Well…'
'It's not all x's' Zuko answered, there was a slight mirth under his raspy voice.
'So it's all o's then…' Toph arrogantly concluded.
'Nope.'
'Darn…I could have sworn…' she paused and sighed, 'Still, two out of three-beat that royal hot head.' He shook his head and wanted to tell her to call it quits with the embarrassing nicknames but knew that was just about as possible as Azula joining team avatar. He took the lots in his hand shook them furiously before letting them clatter to the floor.
'All o's' he told her, trying hard to hide his joy. Maybe-just maybe he could still win. He threw them again.
'All x's.' Toph knitted her brow in an un-amused gesture; it was time for drastic measures she mused.
'Why are you grinning like that?' Zuko asked.
'Oh…nothing.' She answered with a sigh, grateful that he didn't have the ability to gauge whether people were lying or not. 'Final toss…' she reminded him. Zuko momentarily peered at the earth bender, suspicion in his golden-eyed glare. He rolled the lots between his palms. 'Agni, help me.' He muttered under his breath-then let them go.
Toph knew what to do, she could perfectly feel the markings on the lots from the vibrations they gave off, clenching her fist in an involuntary motion she willed it to turn over- she could not, would not be a slave to Zuko or anyone for that matter. The lot didn't budge and for a panicky second she feared she'd lost her bending, but it was if there was another force, like it was resisting her. She made a fist and gritted her teeth-What was happening?
'All o's…' Zuko whispered. It was surreal; he hadn't expected to win that easy. Toph sat, unmoving on the floor, her element…her element had betrayed her, it had worked against her, and she was in shock. It was as if another earth bender had changed everything, but that couldn't be-she was the only-
'AANG!' she growled.
'Yeah…' the monk practically squeaked, jumping to his feet.
'You messed with the betting!'
Zuko was confused, he walked over and picked up the painting of young scar-less him and Azula. He contemplated burning it up there but crumpled it instead and put it in the folds of his tunic, turning his attention towards the faceoff between two of the world's greatest earth benders.
'No, I didn't.'
'YOU'RE LYING, AANG!' oh-oh, she'd used his actual name, he was screwed indeed.
'Okay, fine-but I only cheated for Zuko because you were cheating in the first place!' he exclaimed, throwing his hands up and revealing the tattoos on his under-arm.
'-and what's that got to do with you!?'
'I don't know, it felt unfair, I'm the ava-' he didn't get to finish courtesy of the giant rock that was heading his way, using his natural agility and air, he quickly darted out of the way, panic in his eyes…
'Toph, I don't think that was-'Zuko begun.
'You shut up!' she hissed. Shit just got real…
"You couldn't see me coming with the lights out, you're gonna find out, I'll leave you raining on your own parade"-outrageI really don't know how the game actually works (ref; the runaway, book three) so for whoever I may have offended by raping the concept of the game, forgive me…So Toph and Aang are off to a lovely start, I'm thinking of throwing in Zutara, because I actually started off as a Zutara shipper then stumbled upon Taang in the process, aaah- please fave and comment, lemmie know your thoughts, if this piece of crap is worth continuing…no really, typing is hard work.
A/N; Sometimes I wake up at night and cry, like seriously…why didn't Taang happen? Bryan, Dante…you gave me life then wrenched it right out of my grasp. I DEMAND an alternative ending for Zutarians and Taangists! Please, so that I can finally stop sketching nasty Taang business at the back of my physics books; one of these days I'm going to end up in rehab…