AN: Hay guys and gals, here's a preview for all of you. It's a little Avatar: The Last Airbender fanfiction that happens in a slightly AU-setting, during the post-war years of the Gaang and their kiddies. Haven't come up with a title yet, but I might be lame and go with something about a dragon…or something. Read and Review, I'd love to hear your thoughts. 8D
PS: Totally enjoyed writing Toph more than I should have. If I didn't get her personality very well though, let me know.
Extra Author's Notes: Just wanted to give a shout out to my reviewers so far. I hate to spoil things, but to clear confusion, here goes.
Yes, this fanfiction will contain Kataang themes. My original description had 'Zutara' in it, but what I meant by that was that a similar relationship between TWO DIFFERENT CHARACTERS who are NOT Katara or Zuko would occur. The Kataang relationship, however, is more one-sided, and a little. Because one of the characters is murdered. Not because I dislike the character in question: in fact, the character is probably my favorite out of all of them. IMO Zuko took a turn for the worst after the second book when he became super-emo, while the not-so-mentioned character retained the heroic streak that made them so very admirable. It was a decision on my part based on 'what would the worst case scenario be short of Azula getting out and taking over the Fire Nation?' And this was, in my twisted way of thinking, the first thing I could think of. Really, it does make me sad that the only time you'll be seeing the character in this work is during some flashbacks, which will become more frequent as I go along.
Toph was in top form the following morning, making hard jabs at her father throughout the meal. Seated across from him, Kaya couldn't help but grin into her sweet rolls as he watched the heated banter the Earthbender was exchanging with her father with an almost horrified expression. At one point, the light emerald eyes turned on their resident Firebender, slightly narrowed.
"And what's up with the bum you're humoring today?" she asked, sniffing loudly as she wolfed down another portion of the roasted lizard-turkey she'd brought with the train of food, along with orders for Kaya to cook said food. "Smells like the bad end of a dead hippo-gator. You usually keep better company than this, Twinkle Toes."
"I'd ask you to watch your insults around my guest, but I know that's a useless gesture," Aang replied archly. Kaya snickered as the flabbergasted expression on Iroh's face turned to one of stunned offense. "Don't take it seriously, Iroh. She's like this to everyone."
"Iroh?" Toph's head snapped round to Aang, her eyes widening in true surprise. "Wait, this isn't the same Iroh, is it?"
"Iroh is a popular name in the Fire Nation from what I've read," Kaya said. Toph snorted loudly and flicked a crumb of her toast at Kaya, making its mark squarely between her eyes.
"Reading's overrated, Airbrain," she said. "Why you enjoy it so much, I'll never know. Tried my hand at it once, but it didn't get my rocks off."
"Toph!" Kaya lifted her eyebrows at her father's sharp tone. Her god-mother shrugged her well muscled shoulders in a mocking way, her grin utterly insufferable.
"Hey, they're both old enough to be finding out what gets their rocks off, it's not like it's something they've never heard before," Toph said. She stuffed in another sliver of meat into her mouth, eyes closed for a moment. Abruptly she shot her arm out and gave Iroh a solid punch on the side of his arm. "Ain't that right, kid?"
"I-I'm sure I don't know what you're talking about," Iroh replied. Kaya, feeling utterly lost herself, was bewildered when she saw the skin on Iroh's neck flush. When he caught her stare, he looked down with a slightly panicked expression. "And Avatar Aang is right. This is hardly an appropriate topic."
"Heh," Toph remarked, grinning across the table at Kaya, who felt as if she was in a room surrounded by people speaking different languages. "Shy. I like that. Not often you find a guy who'd want to avoid talking about that so early in the morning."
"Toph, you're giving me a headache," Kaya's father groaned. Something in her snapped, and she placed her tea cup back on the table with more force than might've been necessary.
"Will someone please tell me what you're all talking about?" she asked angrily. The silence that answered her just added to her frustration, and she flushed as she gave them each a quick glare. She gave Toph a mocking bow before she pushed up to her feet. "Excuse me, but I'm going outside for some fresh air. Sure did just get very stupid in here."
If someone followed her on foot, she was sure they wouldn't be able to follow her when she had her glider. The motions of snatching it up off the back porch and jumping off into a summoned updraft were as natural to her as breathing, and the moment she felt herself beginning to drop, she released the latch on her staff. Both sets of wings snapped open over her, lifting her up as natural warm air currents pulled her up.
A few wild rabbit-bucks scattered when she landed on the hill overlooking the field that stretched to Ba Sing Se's wall. Their quiet calls of fear echoed around her as she swept her staff down and to the right, sending the wings back into the hollow slots on either side of her glider. She watched the tawny creatures bounding off, through the willow trees that made up a natural fence around the house's backyard.
It was hard not to notice the rumble of earth. Kaya took up a seat at the hill's peak, watching the approaching rock wave as she breathed slow, level breaths. By the time she could see the color of her clothing, Kaya knew it was Toph who'd come after her, and was a little surprised.
In the years she'd spent cooped up in this house, Kaya had a few things to look forward to: The visits from her aunts, uncles, and from Toph. Her god-mother was coarse, cursed often, and picked fights with Aang at every opportunity. Some of that, much to her father's chagrin, had rubbed off on Kaya. But for all her gruff behavior, Toph could be more insightful and rational than Aang, who seemed to have an endless amount of wise sayings he could drop at just the right moment. Sometimes what she said wasn't something Kaya or her father wanted to hear, but it brought to light another, third perspective in their household, and Kaya had always thought it refreshing.
"So, I was just chatting with Twinkle Toes," her god-mother said casually as she shot through the air via a fast moving rock pillar. She landed on the hill next to Kaya, and with a stomp of her foot, the thorn of earth dove back down. "And don't tell me about how he's going to kill me when he sees what I did to your yard. He's the Avatar, he can fix it. Anyway. He tells me that you've been having a hard time of it lately, something about this whole being trapped in this house for eighteen years thing."
"Yeah, it's got something to do with that," Kaya thought. And that complete asshole of a Firebender whose going to eat me out of house and home within the month. She kept this to herself, not wanting to concern Toph and unwittingly unleash the wrath of the Melon Lord on her father. She thumbed the top end of her staff idly, looking off at the open, untamed field between them and The Wall. "What's it matter, though?"
"Matters a lot," Toph said simply. "An Airbender being grounded like this. Yeah, yeah, double entendre, I know. But face facts, Airbrain: you're stuck here. Been stuck here your whole life, and just in the last three weeks, you've had to find out the hard way it's because someone out there wants you six feet under. Real tough, ain't it?"
"You sound like the voice of experience," Kaya ventured without hesitation. She turned just in time to see the Earthbender tense. With a quiet chuckle, Toph folded her arms across her chest, eyes closed.
"More than you know, kid," she answered. "The 'rents considered my blindness to be a shameful, cripply secret that needed to be kept from the world. You've got a secret that makes some very bad people out there want you dead." She shook her head slowly, clicking her tongue in sympathy. "Real tough, that."
"So, what should I do about it?" Kaya pressed.
"When you figure that out, you let me know," Toph said with a shrug. "I don't have all the answers. Daddy Big Lungs doesn't either, but he'd never admit that. The only one who can decide your fate at this point is you. You just need to figure out how to cut the ropes that're keeping you grounded without tearing that bridge down for good." She waved a hand as if shooing a fly. "Or something. I dunno. I left home to help Aang learn Earthbending and my parents sent two bounty hunters after us. It wasn't until after he kicked Ozai's butt that Aang was able to get me back home. But things were changed for good between me, Mummy and Daddy dearest." She let out a derisive snort. "Their loss."
"So…you're saying it's my choice, but I should choose how I get outta here carefully?" She blinked, glancing up at Toph to gauge her expression. Kaya frowned when she saw a blank stare her father could've envied on her god-mother's face, and fell back into the grasses with a gusty sigh. "Thanks for the advice, Toph."
"Anytime, Airbrain," Toph said with a self-satisfied tone. Kaya felt a dull rumbling under her spine, and her eyes shot open as she instinctively leapt up to her feet. Her momentum sent her rolling down the hill, and she bounced and tumbled until she hit the base, flat on her stomach. When she looked up, something was flying through the air towards her, and she reached up to catch her staff as she struggled to catch her breath and decide if anything was broken. Her god-mother was slowly climbing down the hill as a square pillar of rock slid rapidly back down into the earth, her arms held half bent in front of her, hands lifted with the back of her hands facing Kaya. "Now get off our lazy butt and fight back."
"B-but…Dad's never let me train with anyone else," Kaya argued weakly. Toph rolled her bright green eyes and stomped her foot down hard, and something very solid hit Kaya squarely in the rear. She shot up like a firecracker, shrieking just as loudly at the sudden pain.
"This ain't no namby-pamby training session, squirt," Toph shouted, flying through the air. Kaya had only a half-second to register her god-mother was holding some sizable boulders in her hands, and another half second to tense her muscles from head to toe, only to release them when one of the rocks came soaring towards her. She had a brief moment of being airborne before something solid and flat caught her in the stomach, and with a breathless grunt as the air was pushed out of her lungs, she landed. Hard. When she was able to lift her head, Toph was standing over her, and Kaya felt a brief thrill of terror at how predatory her god-mother's grin was.
"You better fight back, Sugar Queen Jr., or you'll be hurtin' a lot more in the next twenty seconds," Toph informed her.
Unbidden, a grin dug into Kaya's face, making her cheeks hurt as her heart pounded insistently in her ears. Bracing her hands under her back, she pushed up and into the air, cushioning her landing on even ground. The sound of her staff cutting through the air as she twirled it at her side gave her a boost of confidence that made her blood begin to positively burn.
"Bring it," she said.
Nianzu had never witnessed an Agni Kai personally before. The only times he'd heard of Agni Kai were during his extensive studies, training with his father and Firebending Masters, and so forth. The cases he'd heard of were the two Agni Kai his father had been in, and to warn him off of them. So he was told, it was a battle of skill against skill, strength against strength, and depending on the combatants, a fight to the death.
As he watched Kaya and her god-mother meet each other in mid-air for the twenty-second time in the span of fifteen minutes, he was sure that both Air Nomads and Earthbenders had their own forms of Agni Kai that weren't given official titles.
It was fascinating to watch them. Toph Bei Fong, renowned Earth Rumble Champ and the only Metal Bender in known existence, was ruthless and dealt out blows with her own body and the earthen extensions of herself that made his bones ache. He was sure that if it had been around, she would have been using metal as well. Now and then the two would draw close enough that he could see sweat beading on the older woman's skin, the frustration in every wrinkle that went with her silent snarls and violent outbursts.
"Come on, Kaya! Quit pussy footing around!" With a mighty heave of her leg, she sent conical earth missiles screaming through the air towards the crouched Airbender. Her leg shot up again and she slammed her foot down, and a huge block of earth shot up in front of her. With grunts that echoed across the fields, she slammed her fists into the block, sending sheets of it flying in curves, straight lines, and skidding blunders over the distance between herself and her opponent. "This isn't some back water dance out in the barn! Quit teasing and show me you mean," with a grunt, a boulder the size of the Avatar's sitting room leapt up, and she seized it in both hands before spinning a tight circle and letting it go, "business!"
Watching the seasoned Earthbender was exciting, to be sure, but what really got his attention was the Airbender she fought. He'd gotten only one taste firsthand of how much a cutting air strike could smart, but as he found her on their makeshift battle field, he realized she'd been pulling back. The cone missiles were pulverized into fine dust, and she kept moving, her arms and the red wood staff a blur of constant movement that he could hardly keep track of. Even from a distance, he saw the surprise in her body language when she saw the thicker slabs careening towards her, and her stance took on a more solid form. Purely on the defensive, with every limb and her back perfectly straight, she twisted her body away to miss the first slab. Too quick for him to follow, the next she redirected harmlessly into the ground beside her with one palm and her staff.
Two dozen missiles met a similar fate, and with each earth shaking thud the cloud of dust that had risen around her got thicker. Not a second after the last missile fell, something came out of the lumpy form of the dust, and the yell that made him flinch and clamp his hands down on his ears was a pure warrior's cry. Her momentum sent her high into the air, and she looked as if she was hovering at a standstill for a moment with her upper body twisted at one angle, her staff drawn up and over one shoulder. As she came down, she began to spiral, a high pitched whistling accompanying her.
Without warning she stopped, and time seemed to slow for a moment as she brought her staff down like an executioner would bring down his ax. What could only be described as a blade of air came straight down in one even line, and at just the right moment, it struck the top of Toph's last thrown missile. With a crack that nearly had him shouting at the pain in his skull, the huge rock was split in two. Above them Kaya let out another shout, and the funnel of air that came down forced the two halves to crash into the earth harmlessly.
She wasn't still when she landed. Taking on a similar posture as the one before the cutting air strike, she launched herself towards her god-mother, whose expression could only be described as one of shock. It was only there for a moment, and the two met on Toph's terms: on solid land. With a loud clatter Kaya threw her staff down, and the two circled one another, arms and legs held in the respective offense positions of their forms.
"Little bird's grounded again," he heard Toph say. Without warning she shot her hand out, and caught Kaya by the arm. His stomach clenched with shock when the Rumble Champion hauled her down, and her knee came up to meet Kaya's gut with enough force to send Kaya back into the air for a moment. When she landed, the Airbender stumbled, one hand around her stomach as her legs tried to keep straight and failed.
Nianzu nearly drew back his own fist when he felt an arm on his elbow, squeezing until he turned to face the Avatar. His expression was maddeningly stoic, as Nianzu realized he'd been halfway through jumping out to get between the combatants. Their eyes met, and the Airbending Master shook his head once.
"You underestimate her," he said, his words slightly amused.
"What-"
"Look," the older man instructed. Nianzu turned, and the Avatar released his arm. He watched with growing concern as the Earthbender approached Kaya, still clutching her stomach on her knees.
"Little girl, you should know better than to play rough with the big kids…" Toph trailed off, and too fast for Nianzu to track, Kaya moved. Toph retaliated by taking a single leap over Kaya, laughing as she landed. "I can feel you, remember?"
"Feel this, old lady," Kaya croaked, suddenly in the air behind the Earthbender. She twisted again, and her shin met Toph's shoulder in a solid strike that sent her down. With a quick, circular sweeping motion, Kaya formed something in the air, and crossed her legs in a way that had her left foot dangling straight down under her. She pressed her knuckles together, and Nianzu's eyes widened as he saw the swirling ball of air holding her up. She watched as her god-mother quickly righted herself, and leaned to one side whenever Toph shot her fist out in the direction of Kaya's face. With a growling shout of frustration, Toph launched after Kaya, missing by a hair as the latter simply drifted in another direction. Nianzu squinted, recognizing that the Airbender was making circles around her god-mother, who was growing more frustrated with each step.
"Enough!" Toph shouted, and the ground suddenly dropped. Nianzu lost sight of the Rumble Champ, his eyes widening as Kaya dropped. She let out a yelp of surprise, and broke her form. The ball disappeared in a low howl of air, and she struggled to flip in mid-air to get her hands directly under her. Just as quickly as it had gone down, the earth rushed up, and with a dull thwack, crashed up into Kaya.
"Learned your lesson?" Toph ground out after what felt like hours to Nianzu. All he could hear besides the Earthbender's harsh words was his own heartbeat, which crashed in his ears, drowning out the sound of his quick, erratic breathing. He flicked a glance at the Avatar, who looked just a moment away from launching an attack at the Earthbender. Toph had leaned down towards Kaya when he turned back to watch him, one hand cupped to her ear. "I'm sorry, mini-Sweets, what was that? You'll have to speak up, think you've got some grass in your face or something."
With a grunt, Kaya turned until she was flat on her back. Nianzu strained to hear her, but couldn't make out the words, or they were drowned out when Toph threw her head back and laughed.
"Atta girl!" she crowed, and reached down to wrap her hand around Kaya's wrist. When she pulled the younger woman up, she was covered with blades of grass and dirt, and red, irregular marks on her arms and the side of her face where she'd landed on. For a moment she swayed, before giving her head a quick shake, her eyes wide as she tried to blink something away. "Hurts, doesn't it? If Aang wasn't so opposed to my 'violent, hellish ways,' you'd be getting a lot more punishment like that. Makes you mind, though, doesn't it?"
"It will," Kaya said, her voice harsh, as if speaking pained her. Nianzu was grinding his teeth when he saw blood on her chin, which she wiped away with the back of one hand. "Once my head stops spinning, anyway."
"Best kind of breakfast, in my opinion," Toph said with a grin. She looked rather thrashed up herself, Nianzu noticed, though not nearly as much as Kaya did. Suddenly, she spat to one side, and Nianzu saw blood there as well. "I like a little kick with my pancakes. Come on, Twinkle Toes, I know you're dying to kick my ass now. Maybe you and your leech can double team?"
"Oooh, you should see his face," Kaya said, loudly enough that Nianzu could hear her as he watched the elder Airbender stalk towards them. Despite just getting what looked like the beating of a lifetime, Kaya was grinning, even snickering as her father ushered her back towards the house with an arm held around her shoulders. "He looks mad!"
The girlish delight that Kaya showed as she laughed up a storm was shared by Toph, who followed the pair closely. As she passed him, Toph Bei Fong slapped him upside the head, and when Nianzu was done cursing up a storm, he wheeled on her with a glare.
"What the hell was that for?" he snapped. The Earthbender merely folded her hands behind her head, arms lifted.
"It's called, say it with me now: ah-feck-shun. Not that it's in any short supply between you and Airbrain, huh, Mr. Iroh?"
Nianzu was positive that on top of being a Metalbender, the Earth Rumble Champion was some sort of demon.
(Author's Notes: Well, that's the end of the preview chapter. For those of you who might be confused: Nianzu is Iroh. Same person, Nianzu is just using the name Iroh as cover. Real smooth move, since former General Iroh is so well known, but Nianzu was just shot in the leg by an arrow, so you can't blame him for his lack of creativity. Poor boy. Hurr.
Extra Author's Notes: Just wanted to give a shout out to my reviewers so far. I hate to spoil things, but to clear confusion, here goes.
Yes, this fanfiction will contain Kataang themes. My original description had 'Zutara' in it, but what I meant by that was that a similar relationship between TWO DIFFERENT CHARACTERS who are NOT Katara or Zuko would occur. The Kataang relationship, however, is more one-sided, and a little. Because one of the characters is murdered. Not because I dislike the character in question: in fact, the character is probably my favorite out of all of them. IMO Zuko took a turn for the worst after the second book when he became super-emo, while the not-so-mentioned character retained the heroic streak that made them so very admirable. It was a decision on my part based on 'what would the worst case scenario be short of Azula getting out and taking over the Fire Nation?' And this was, in my twisted way of thinking, the first thing I could think of. Really, it does make me sad that the only time you'll be seeing the character in this work is during some flashbacks, which will become more frequent as I go along.
If you've read this far, you've probably figured it out by now who isn't here.
Also thanks for complimenting my Rammstein icon. 8D Till Lindemann is love.)