Ummm... this is a little different than what I usually write. Feedback will be very much appreciated.
The story takes place several years after the war.
Disclaimer: I own nothing but my words.
(Betrayal of the Senses)
He pushed the door inward with a slight creek and stopped on the wooden frame. She was curled up on the stone floor in the same clothes she'd been wearing five days ago. It pained him to look at her, to feel pain because she did, and know it was because of him.
"Go away if you know what's good for you."
Her voice tore his heart. It cracked and broke over those few words, but from disuse or crying he couldn't tell.
Her back was to him as he stood only a few paces away. It might have been a thousand miles away. He wanted nothing more than to go over to her, but knew that he had to hold back for the moment.
"Toph, it's me." He said quietly but clearly.
"Aang!" She was surprised, and started to sit up a bit. Then she stopped abruptly and lay back down. "Go away, Zuko. I don't want to hear your impressions."
"I'm not Zuko, Toph. I'm me, and I'm here. You know my voice, believe your ears."
She started to shake, as though fighting some inner battle with herself. Her voice sounded low and harsh to his ears. "Aang is dead. My ears lie."
He felt a tear run down his face for her, and stepped off the wooden doorframe onto the stone floor. She jerked on the floor and curled into a tighter ball. Her long hair was loose and disheveled on the floor behind her. The wounds she had taken five days ago were unhealed, though Katara could have easily done so.
"Now you can see me, too, Toph. Do you mistrust your own feet so?"
She shook violently on the floor, her shoulders heaving with silent sobs. "Aang is dead! He's been dead five days, I was there!"
He went over to her and knelt behind her. Tentatively, he placed his hand on her shoulder and whispered into her ear. "Then you know the last word on his lips was you name."
She stiffened momentarily at his touch before shaking harder than ever. Her skin was as cold as death.
"He died in my arms, leaving me alone. Now reality deceives me!" She tried to pull away from him, but he wouldn't let her.
"Toph," he said tenderly, "I'm right here. I'm alive." He gently turned her non-resisting shoulders so she lay on her back. Her face nearly broke his heart. He brushed her hair away to see her eyes. They were red and swollen, but her cheeks and the stone floor she'd been laying on were dry. The long cut down her jawbone had dried blood crusted over it, and a bruise covered most of her other cheek.
He reached down and pulled her up into an embrace. "It's me, Aang, Twinkletoes."
She had stiffened tried to push him away, but stopped and took a deep shuddering breath. He could barely make out her next quiet words.
"You even smell like him."
He tightened his embrace and breathed in her scent. He ran a hand through her hair and reassured himself that she too was alive.
"I'm right here, Toph. I will never leave you again."
She gave another silent, tearless sob against his shoulder. "But he's dead. Gone forever. Either way, my senses are lying or have lied to me."
He felt his heart skip a beat. "All of them but one."
"What?"
Gently he pulled back from her and brushed her hair out of her face. He leaned forward and softly placed his lips on hers. He felt her surprise, her slight pull away, and finally her recognition.
He pulled away and grasped her hands in his own; for one brief moment they were transported back one week, to their first kiss. He looked into her pupil-less green eyes and saw a solitary tear winding its way down her cheek.
"It is you."
"Of course," Aang smiled, "that's what I've been trying to tell you."
She half-heartedly tried to shove him away, but he wrapped his arms around her and, after a moment, she returned the gesture.
"But… you were dead," she began, "I held you in my arms, saw your heart stop, heard your last words. I felt the heat leave you body, and smelled death on you."
He felt a few tears run down his neck and tightened his hold on her small frame.
"I'm not sure how, but now you're alive. You'd better have a good explanation, Twinkletoes."
He heard of hint of Toph's normal temperament in her voice and smiled into her hair.
"It's a long story, with adventure in the Spirit World and 'Avatar Stuff' involved. It needs to wait until everyone else is present."
"A while then," she said as she pressed her lips to his once more. She would never forget the taste of his mouth.
"Never leave me again, got it?" she said after a minute.
He smiled and held her close. "Never."
A/N: Well... what did you think??? This is the first time I've tried to write something like this, I usually tend to avoid overly tragic stuff like this... but this story wouldn't let me go, so here it is. I also altered my style subtly here, if any of my 'regular' readers have any comments on that, they're more than very welcome.
What happened, you say? This takes place a few years after the war, mind you, and a week earlier than this story Aang and Toph had their first kiss. Awww... maybe I'll write it later, who knows. Then, two days after that and five days before the events of this fic, there is a fight, a bad one. Everyone is injured, even Toph, and Aang is killed just at the end of the battle. I thought it was obvious, but I had a friend of mine read it, and she was like, "wtf happened?" ... ... ... so here you go.
Ummm... chapter 12 of Trying Circumstances is coming... uh... sometime... hehe. (is shot)
Review! Or Pirate!Appa and Pirate!Momo will haunt your dreams