Title: Falling in the Water (part 4 of 7)
Author: Kyra Rivers
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: Violence, mild language, allusion to rape, dark themes.
Genre: Horror, Supernatural, Action
Notes: This story takes place during Avatar season 2, sometime after the episode "Bitter Work". Also, I pretty much just assume that the Earth Kingdom equates to China, so all of my original characters will have Chinese names. This story will be Gaang-centric (with extra Toph), and it will also include a few minor OCs. Minor Kataang hints (no more than are already in the series), and uh. Tokka if you squint. Kinda. I can't really see them together at any time in actual canon, to tell the truth, but that doesn't mean I can't allude to it. :) This story can pretty much be assumed to be AU, though it's kinda more like a really dark what-if episode than an actual change to the storyline.
Thanks: Thanks again to He Li Wen and Zhou Li Kai for sound boarding, and special thanks to my dearest beta reader, Countess of Lace, who is super special awesome.
Summary: Aang makes a mistake. Toph pays the price.


PART 4

In the moment before the battle, Aang could barely think straight.

He had never liked for his friends to be used against him. When Katara's life had been threatened in order to force him into the Avatar state not long before, his anger and fear for her had forced him into an unthinking rage, and he knew he would have destroyed a great deal if he hadn't been stopped. Since then, Aang had tried his best to keep his head as level as possible, not wanting to be sent on such a destructive path again.

But now, with the image of Toph's battered body fresh in his mind and the wraith that caused it standing before him, Aang was again on the brink of such a rage. And just like before, he felt drunk with anger; he knew logically he shouldn't go to the Avatar state because he couldn't control it, but such rationale was only barely outweighing his intense desire to let go and make her pay.

"You will leave her alone," Aang commanded sharply, whipping his staff out in front of him in a sparring stance. He knew that a physical attack would have no lasting effect on the wraith, but the motion of swinging the staff made him lock more solidly in his stance, his heels digging into the ground. The air whirled around him as he spoke, a warning sign of his own turbulent emotions, but Aang didn't bother to will it to stop. Let the wind blow. Let his anger give him strength. The wraith hadn't listened to him before, and Aang highly doubted at this point talking peace would do anything.

True to his expectations, the Wild Woman didn't react to his command except to scowl even deeper, snarling, "You are the one who will kill her."

"Let her go!" Aang shouted in response. Two people could play at this game; if she wasn't going to acknowledge his words, Aang saw no reason for him to do otherwise.

"My maiden will nourish me," the Wild Woman continued coldly, gliding forward as she spoke. "I won't let you take her, I won't let you, you horrible man, I won't let you use her, I won't let you kill her, she is mine, she is mine!" With her last shout, the Wild Woman unleashed a spiritual blow at Aang. Had he not braced himself against the earth, it might have knocked him over, but as it was, it simply pushed him back.

It wasn't meant to attack him or hurt him, but to scare him.

For the first time in facing the wraith, Aang felt himself respond to her foul smirk with a smug one of his own.

"You can't hurt me, can you?" Aang asked. The Wild Woman paused in her advance and tilted her head slightly, baring her teeth in what Aang now recognized as a defensive maneuver. He took a step toward her, returning her glower, and said, "That's just it! I'm a man. I'm a disgusting, foul, horrible man, but you can't touch me. Men killed you in life, and I'm betting that means that you're still powerless against us, doesn't it? That's why you only attack women!"

With his proclamation, the Wild Woman seemed to grow with indignation, the maggots and flies around her swooping and squirming with fervor. She hissed, "You have no power over me!" Her bloody hands curled into fists, thin shoulders tensing underneath her torn dress. "I protect my maidens, I keep them; you do nothing more than destroy them, hurt them, kill them--"

"You kill them!" Aang shouted back, feeling the pride in his discovery vanishing under a wave of anger again. "You hurt them! But not anymore! It ends NOW!"

On the last word, Aang reared up and made a swift swipe of his staff. It was like he had before, but this time he concentrated on the staff and tried to imbue it with some of his spirit energy. He wasn't sure exactly how to do it, but he had been to the spirit world enough times to know the feeling of the energy coursing through his veins, and was satisfied as he felt the power flowing out through his hands. As his staff struck the Wild Woman's form, he could feel the wood shaking with the power it held within.

The wraith vanished in a haze of fog, taking with her the chill.

Aang froze in a kneeling position, waiting for any sign that she was still present. From behind him, he heard a sharp thunk, and Sokka shouted, "Got it!" Aang turned to see Sokka braced against the trunk of the tree, hacking at the vines that still bound Toph.

"I can cut again!" Sokka informed happily, his smile malicious as he again struck at the plants. Another vine snapped under his actions, and Toph slumped down on one side, one arm falling limply to land on the tree branch that still pinned her painfully against the tree. Toph didn't seem to notice the change in position; her eyes were shut tightly and her face was pink as she struggled to breathe against the tight grasp of the branches.

Aang stepped toward them just as Katara noticed Toph's wrist. "Oh," she gasped, eyes going wide, and Aang was just close enough to see what had startled her. Toph's free wrist was drenched in blood, and Aang even thought he could see a glint of bone through the thick blood.

"Oh, no, no," Katara muttered faintly, water already rushing around the wound and plugging up the flowing blood. "Sokka, hold on a second," she instructed hurriedly as she looked at the wrist in her grasp, a frantic tone to her voice. "If I don't get this closed up, she's going to bleed out, and I can't do both at the same time."

Sokka paused immediately, looking down at the injury. Aang could see his face grow dark at the sight of it, his jaw setting in anger. But he didn't say anything to signify his feelings; instead, he leaned down to Toph and gripped her free shoulder firmly, saying, "Hey, don't worry, Katara's gonna just heal that up and I'll get the other one free right away. We gotcha."

Toph managed a nod in response, her breathing still shallow against the pressure of the tree, but otherwise showed no reaction to the situation. Aang went to the base of the trunk, raising a hand to offer his friend and teacher support, even if he could do nothing else at this point, but was stopped short by the sudden stench of rot.

Before he was able to turn and face the wraith, a fierce gust of wind shot through the meadow. Aang toppled half across the open air before he was able to brace himself against the ground, and as he looked up, he saw Sokka on his back on the other side. Katara, being closest to Toph, had only just managed to grab hold of the tree, and even as the wind died down she was healing Toph again with an impressive tenacity.

Aang barely sat up before the Wild Woman was suddenly upon him, her stench overpowering as her cold black eyes bore into his. Even though he knew she couldn't hurt him -- couldn't touch him, even, he realized as she leaned over him --, Aang couldn't shake the terror that seemed to paralyze him. Frigid air radiated off the wraith's flickering form in waves, and now that he was close enough, he could see how her skin was rotted and peeling away from her bones, infested thoroughly with vermin. Aang gagged reflexively, twisting away from the disturbing presence, but she would not relent.

Instead, she leaned closer to him, practically pinning him under her against the ground. Aang could feel himself freezing to the ground as the grass froze and snapped around him. The Wild Woman no longer looked cruelly amused or vengeful; rather, her face was twisted with hate and rage as she hissed at him, "I am done with this game, you foul man, I am finished. Your maiden," she sharply, and flung out a hand to gesture at the still bound Toph, "is MINE!"

Aang could see Toph and Katara just past the Wild Woman's flickering form, and so was able to watch in horror at the events that followed. As before, the tree shuddered around Toph and knocked Katara to the ground, but this time, it didn't just stop at twisting itself more securely around the smaller girl. Vines like the ones that tied her arms and legs shot out from behind the tree and wrapped around Toph's neck, yanking her head sharply back against the trunk of the tree. Toph gave a startled gasp and reached her half-healed hand up to tug against the restrictive presence, but she couldn't do more than dig her fingernails at it frantically. No more sound passed through her lips as she squirmed as much as she could against her bindings, her face turning rapidly red with lack of air.

Katara shrieked and Sokka yelled in outrage, both jumping up immediately to do whatever they could to stop the choking, but Aang scarcely noticed their heroic efforts. It was as though a light had been switched on in his mind, and suddenly he was no longer fighting against the anger present in his mind: he was the anger, he was the rage, he was the frustration and guilt and pain. He didn't even realize what was happening until he blinked and suddenly saw a blue glow shining around him.

The Wild Woman's eyes went wide with shock, and for the first time, Aang could almost see how she must have looked as a living girl, before she had been corrupted by rage. But it was far too late for that image to have any effect on him.

Aang snarled at the wraith, "You will not take my friend from me!"

The Wild Woman abruptly flickered back, her movements more jerky than before as she moved away from him. He advanced on her quickly and grabbed one of her ice-cold arms. He noted absently that he was suddenly able to touch her form, which he hadn't been able to before. Aang supposed it made sense, as he was both spirit and man in the Avatar state, but he only noticed it in passing. Vague thoughts were the limit of what he as Aang could do when he as the Avatar was in control.

"Avatar," the Wild Woman murmured with a low moan, trying and failing to pull away from him. What she had not recognized in Aang before was suddenly clear, now that they were both in spirit form. Aang could feel each of their respective powers, and similarly could feel her subsiding instinctually to him. The Avatar was dominant in the spirit world as the link between the two worlds; as a spirit who resided unnaturally in the physical world, the Wild Woman had to feel his dominating presence.

Even as Aang was pinning the Wild Woman's dissolving arms against her sides, he could somehow dually see Sokka and Katara trying futilely to cut the vines away from Toph. It made no difference; as Aang was watching, he saw Toph suddenly shudder against the tree and slump, her limbs limp. Her lips were tinged blue, contrasting sharply with her white-pale face. Something inside Aang snapped, and the Avatar abruptly bared his teeth at the helpless wraith in his grasp.

"You," the Avatar snarled harshly to the Wild Woman, "are BANISHED."

With these words, the Avatar suddenly felt a power rush through him. It was like an electric current that flowed through his arms into the Wild Woman, whose eyes went wide as she felt the spiritual commandment taking hold of her form. As she felt the power beginning to rip apart her form, she began to twist and shake in his arms, her features contorting foully on her face. The Avatar could feel her limbs beginning to dissolve, his grip growing less solid against her arms, and clearly the Wild Woman could as well.

She was bucking horribly in his grip, her eyes wild with panic, but just as she was fading fast, she went still and pinned him with a hate-filled glare.

"I will never let a man beat me," she prophesized darkly as her face began to twist and dissolve.

Then the banishment took full effect and the wraith vanished with a terrible shrieking sound, her icy form disappearing from his grasp. The Avatar stood alone.

Then, as soon as it had come upon him, the Avatar was gone, and Aang was left to fall to the ground, the world growing dark with exhaustion around him.


Katara didn't need to hear Aang battling or see the bright glow from the Avatar's form to know that the Wild Woman was banished. The instant the wraith vanished with a shriek, the vines underneath Katara's hands suddenly responded to her desperate tugging. With a sharp slice of one water-covered hand, Katara cut through the tough plant that was still wrapped around Toph's neck. The girl slumped against her, unmoving, and Katara could hardly think through a constant litany running through her mind, whispering oh no she's dead she's dead she's not breathing she's DEAD in a horrible round.

But Katara was not going to be deterred by negative thoughts, and she sure as hell wasn't going to let one of her friends be taken away by some vengeful spirit.

Katara yanked the remaining vine off Toph's neck with one hand and placed the other on her neck. Immediately, she sought out the feeling of swelling in Toph's throat, noting her collapsed esophagus and working as fast as she could to offer Toph's airways comfort enough to will her to breath. Along with the healing, Katara balled her free hand into a fist, and aimed. Even as she heard Sokka suddenly start behind her with a yelp, Katara slammed her fist down on Toph's chest with a resounding thump.

"What are you doing?" Sokka yelled, not two feet from her ear. Katara ignored him, hoping that he would let his logic outweigh his confusion and wouldn't try to pull her away. She kept her healing hand on Toph's neck, water moving and swirling around and under the battered skin, and knew that Toph should be breathing. Her throat was healed enough, but her body didn't seem to realize that. Instead of sensing the air around her and breathing, Toph stayed lifeless in the tree's grasp. Katara couldn't bear to look at the ashen pallor of Toph's face, smeared with blood and tinted blue enough to see even in the dim light of the torch.

"No!" Katara shouted, striking down with her fist once more. She was not going to let this be the last way she ever saw Toph, cold and beaten and pale. That was not Toph, and Katara was not going to let her get away with it. Dealing with this was just like dealing with anything else Toph ever did: she was stubborn and rebellious and refused to listen, but with enough conviction, Katara could get through to her. And she was going to.

Toph's body jerked underneath the second blow, and Katara was pained with relief to see her finally suck in a gasping breath, limbs shaking underneath Katara's hold. Sokka was suddenly right beside her, rough hands cupping Toph's face and holding up her head to help ease the process, which was necessary as Katara noted that Toph was still both unconscious and pinned up against the tree.

Katara could feel herself shaking with exhaustion, sweat dripping down the back of her neck, and she took a quick moment to take in a slow breath. She noticed her hands shaking, water quivering around them, and knew that she was wearing herself out too quickly with all the healing. But though she had healed one of Toph's wrists well enough to make it back to the village, there was still one more bound tightly above Toph's head, and Katara didn't know how badly her ankles were cut. As she took a moment to catch her breath, Katara scanned her younger friend's body to make sure that the wrist was the only pressing concern. Something tugged at her memory as she thought of healing Toph's neck, something that had felt off, but Katara couldn't place it, and the thought of Toph bleeding out from the sliced up wrist distracted Katara from that train of thought.

"Sokka," Katara said quietly, calling his attention away from trying to wake Toph up. She stepped up to the tree and gestured to the vines. Her hand shook with the movement and she curled it against her chest immediately, not wanting her brother to see. Katara told him, "I need you to cut her other wrist down so I can heal it. Is your boomerang sharp enough to cut away the branches?" She nodded toward Toph, who though breathing was still pink, and the breaths she was taking were shallow. "She can't get enough air with them pressing against her like that."

Sokka nodded, and without a word whipped his boomerang around to slice through the vines still pinning Toph to the tree. It took a few whacks, but soon Toph slumped heavily against Katara, her bloody wrist scarcely having time to beginning bleeding heavily before Katara was surrounding it with water. As she was healing the girl, she heard Sokka make an effort at breaking the branches surrounding Toph and cursing as it didn't have much of an effect. He left for a long moment, during which Katara focused on her healing with intensity; this wrist was worse that its match, as one of Toph's main arteries had been completely severed and had only been plugged due to the vines. Katara was grateful they hadn't cut down this wrist first, or even the few moments of surprised hesitation that the first wrist had created might have been enough time for Toph to bleed out. As it was, the healing was a tricky, finicky process, and Katara was so focused that she didn't even realize that there was water slicing through the branches until they fell away and she was completely holding Toph.

Katara looked up in surprise, automatically curling around Toph to grip her more securely, and saw Aang standing there with a water whip swirling away from his hands. Behind him Sokka stood with the torch in hand. Both boys looked utterly exhausted, and Katara could only imagine how she appeared to them. Aang didn't say anything, but both his and Sokka's expressions were clear.

"Her wrist is fine," Katara said, pulling the water away from the joint as she said so. Both of Toph's wrists were raw, and the previous one was still bleeding lightly from some remaining cuts, but neither was in danger of severing. Toph's other cuts were vicious-looking, but were otherwise of no danger to her, so long as they were able to get her back to the village in time to properly clean them out; even the sharp cuts around her ankles from the vines were manageable. Katara could feel Toph taking deep breaths against her, skin still cold but warming up against Katara's body. Katara shifted her position enough to lie Toph on the ground, keeping a firm hold on the girl's tattered clothes to preserve her modesty, and began to stand up, saying, "If we just--"

But before she could finish, Katara felt a rush of vertigo come upon her and she swayed, stumbling a few steps to the side. Immediately, Aang was at her side, a firm hand on both her elbow and her back, and he was saying, "Katara? Are you all right? What happened?"

"I," Katara began, blinking and trying to regain her stability. She steadied herself against his grasp and took a deep breath, recognizing the feeling. "It's just the healing," Katara explained quickly, waving away his concern. Sokka was kneeling on the ground next to Toph, digging through the pack while staring up at Katara with a frown, but Katara waved his look away as well.

"I just used too much healing in a short time," she reiterated. "I just got lightheaded, that's all." Then, before Aang could protest, she took charge again, instructing, "We have to get Toph to a healer. She's been hurt and left out in the cold, and if infection sets in, it could be really bad."

"She's okay for now, though, right?" Sokka asked from beside the still girl, pulling out a thick blanket from the pack and moving to wrap it around her.

"She should be," Katara replied slowly, eyeing the first aid supplies in the pack with a deliberating eye. She considered the matter, but said, "I think it'd be best to get back to the village as quickly as possible."

"It shouldn't take too long," Aang said, kneeling down on the other side of Toph and tucking the blanket around her bare legs.

Sokka nodded and leaned down to scoop up Toph, but just as he had wrapped his arms around her shoulders the small girl gasped and jerked against his grasp. There was a brief moment of shocked stillness before she shrieked and kicked her legs away from the blanket. The instant her foot made contact with the earth, both Sokka and Aang were flung away from her sharply, landing heavily roughly ten feet away.

"Don't touch me!" she screamed, clutching her arms around her chest defensively and shivering. She was breathing loudly, her eyes wide and sightless, and Katara could see her wincing in pain as she tried to twist her ankle deeper into the dirt and was met with the sharp ache of her cuts.

"Toph," Katara said softly, stepping forward with tiny steps, trying not to scare her friend. "It's just us. We got rid of the wraith."

Toph didn't seem to hear her at first, her face showing no reaction to Katara's words. She shifted in the blanket, twisting her fists around the edges and taking a few long, deep breaths. Katara was about to say something else when she saw Toph nod slightly, reaching one shaking hand out to touch the ground.

Abruptly, the ground under Sokka and Aang shifted and pulled them back toward Toph. They were both sitting up at this point and looked mildly startled.

"Sorry," Toph said quietly, her voice toneless. She added, "I thought you were--"

"Don't worry, Toph, we're not the Wild Woman, it's fine," Aang said quickly, grabbing the blanket and moving it to cover Toph again, though he made sure not to try to move her planted foot. Blood was dripping down from the sliced ankle and pooling in the dirt. Sokka gently put his hand on her shoulders and moved to pull the blanket around her.

In this way, it was only Katara who saw Toph's face grow confused at Aang's response, and then shift to mild panic as Sokka touched her. "No," she said, her voice faint and wavering. "No, that's not... I mean, I--" She shuddered under Sokka's grasp, tucking her head down into her chest and finishing weakly, "I don't know."

Katara frowned and stepped forward, kneeling in front of the group and examining Toph with a healer's eye. She still felt worn out from the rapid healing she had been forced to perform, but if something else was wrong with Toph -- maybe a head injury that they had missed -- then she wasn't about to let it go unchecked. In fact, now that she was leaning forward, she could see a flush on Toph's cheeks that had not been previously there.

"Hey, hold up," she instructed Sokka, who had been moving to lift Toph up again. Katara reached a hand out to place on Toph's cheeks, and noted with a frown that her face was definitely flushed. Pulling some of her traveling water out from its container yet again -- and forcefully ignoring the pang of protest from her exhausted body -- she placed her hand just over Toph's collarbone, letting the water run a scan on the girl's body.

The obvious injuries lit up immediately in her mind, allowing Katara to make sure that the vine burns around her ankles still weren't life-threatening, but it took a little while longer for her to discern the cause of Toph's growing fever. As soon as she figured it out, Katara gasped and rocked back, pulling her hand away sharply and jumping to her feet.

"Oh, no, no, no," she muttered rapidly, looking around for the offending presence she knew was there.

"What?" Aang said, sounding panicked. "What's wrong?"

"What's going on?" Sokka echoed. He pulled Toph closer to him, though he didn't move to lift her off the ground now that Katara was searching around in the grass. He asked Toph, "What's wrong, Toph?"

"I don't..." Toph began, still speaking with a dazed lilt to her voice. She trailed off a bit before finishing, "My head feels weird."

"Your head?" Aang asked, his voice breaking in his worry. "What's wrong with your head? Katara, what's wrong with her head?"

"This is not good," Katara said with finality, ignoring the boys' concerns in favor of her quest. It only took a few moments for her to find the object of her search, and she snatched it up with a growing pit in her stomach. It only worsened when she saw precisely what she held.

"That bitch," she cursed without thinking, feeling the frustration from the entire evening welling up in her words. All three of her friends turned to stare at her. Or in Toph's case, she tilted her head in Katara's direction. They all looked utterly startled to hear her speak so vulgarly.

There were a few beats of silence before Toph, looking rather puzzled, asked, "What bitch?" Katara noted absently that no one batted an eye at Toph's language.

"The Wild Woman. See, look at the vine," Katara told them, holding out the vine that had been wrapped around Toph's neck. On the underside of the plant were multiple thin thorns, each a deep purple in color and some still stained red with blood. "The one that she choked you with, Toph -- I didn't notice right away because I healed your neck, but you were pricked by the thorns."

"And?" Sokka asked, looking as though he knew exactly what she meant but didn't want to hear it.

"It's poison," Katara confirmed with a heavy heart, staring down at the girl slumped against Sokka. Toph was clearly awake and paying attention, enough that she too look dismayed at the news, but with every passing moment she seemed more sluggish and disoriented.

"Poison?" repeated Aang with a horrified expression. He jumped to his feet, fists clenching at his sides and cried out, "That's what she meant!"

"What she meant?" Katara repeated, looking at Aang in confusion.

"The Wild Woman," Aang explained quietly, clearly upset. "She said something about never letting a man beat her, and I--," he cut off, looking down at the ground with his face twisted in a guilty expression. "I didn't understand what she meant, again, I didn't even think--"

"So," Toph interrupted sharply, for which Katara was grateful, as Aang was clearly taking the entire situation to be his fault. Toph's expression was blank as she asked, "I'm poisoned now?" She lifted up a hand to feel at her warm cheeks.

"It's pretty bad," Katara admitted, "but we should be able to find medicine in the village."

"Okay," Toph said, then sighed and leaned closer to Sokka, looking utterly exhausted. "Just to throw out there," she added, already beginning to sound weaker, "Today really sucks."

Katara was glad that Toph couldn't see the sharp wince of guilt that struck both boys' expressions at her statement, and she resisted the urge to call attention to it by forcing them to stop feeling responsible. The Wild Woman was the one who had been ravaging the village for years, and it was she who was the instigator of all their problems. Aang had misinterpreted her intentions and Sokka hadn't held on tight enough to fight a wraith, and neither of those actions were things that could be held against them, not really. Katara didn't find them any more responsible for what had happened than she found herself, and she was positive that casting blame was the last thing on Toph's mind. She just wished there was some way to get the others to actually believe that.

As it was, Katara knew that she had to take charge, even if her hands were still shaking from all the healing she had just done. So she took a breath and grabbed the torch from Aang's hand, saying, "Come on. We have to get to the village as soon as possible. The poison is pretty strong, and I don't know how well I'm going to be able to keep it back. It's not like an injury that I can heal away, and the longer we wait the more we have to worry about Toph's cuts getting infected too."

Everyone began to move at her instruction, with Sokka and Aang helping a disgruntled-looking Toph to her feet. When he was sure that she was stable, Aang stepped aside to reassemble the pack that Sokka had opened, throwing it on his own back without a second thought. The only snag hit when Sokka tried to scoop Toph up, as the younger girl resolutely resisted it.

"Toph," Katara admonished, waiting anxiously to start back. "You're hurt. Just let Sokka help."

"I'm fine," Toph said stubbornly back.

"Toph--" she began again.

"I can walk, Katara!" Toph snapped, her shoulders tensing. It was annoying to fight with her, but Katara was rather relieved to see that Toph's veracity hadn't been completely eradicated by her ordeal. Then, quietly and looking a little unsure of herself, Toph added, "I want to be able to see where I'm going."

Understanding dawning, Katara paused, then simply said, "Okay, everyone, let's move out then."

Toph hugged herself closer in the heavy wool blanket and obligingly let Sokka keep a steadying hand on her shoulder. Katara nervously kept an eye on the younger girl's ankles, noting the dark lines of red that still dripped on the dirt with every step, but she wasn't about to force Toph to be blind again.

The way was even slower than it had been getting there. For all that Toph was able to sense solid paths with her earthbending, she clearly lacked the energy to move enough earth to effectively clear a path. Aang and Katara led the way with Katara holding the torch aloft while Aang scouted out a clear way, occasionally using bending to assist them. Sokka matched pace with Toph and silently kept a hand on her back at first, and then as the young girl began to waver more regularly, put his arm solidly around her. Everyone looked horribly tired: Katara had overworked herself with waterbending, and Aang always used an overabundance of energy when he was forced into the Avatar state. Sokka was comparatively fresher, but with every passing minute, Toph's steps grew shakier and shakier.

Finally, Toph stumbled over a tree branch and fell to her knees, breathing heavily. She didn't get up, instead kneeling over the ground with her shoulders shaking, even as Sokka knelt down beside her and tried to help her up. Katara leaned forward to examine her and found her face coated with sweat and flushed red.

"Toph," she murmured gently.

"I know," Toph muttered back, and it was a testament to exhausted she was that she barely sounded upset. "Sokka?" was all she needed to say before Sokka shifted around in front of her and helped her climb onto his back. A few adjustments later, Toph was slumped against him with her arms wrapped loosely around his neck, head lolling against his broad shoulder. She closed her eyes.

"Let's hurry," Aang said quietly, watching the exchange with worry in his eyes. They continued without further discussion, going a little quicker now that Sokka was able to take longer steps.

"Can you...," Aang whispered to Katara, who was trying to light the way ahead and still give Sokka enough light to see. She turned to look at him, curious, as he continued, "Is there any way you could keep healing Toph or something? With waterbending?" He gave her a pained smile, adding quickly, "She's getting worse so fast, and I know that you can't heal the poison, but..."

Katara swallowed any annoyance she might have had from his request at the sincere look of pleading in his eyes. She explained quietly, "It won't help enough." She looked back at Toph, her worry deepening at the dark flush on her cheeks. She continued, "It won't give her enough of a respite to make a difference, and besides," she admitted, holding out her free hand so that Aang could see it quivering, "I'm beat. It feels like I've been running sprints for an hour. I don't even know how much healing I could give her."

"Oh," Aang replied, looking even more worried at this admission, though now he was watching her as well. He turned forward once again, his jaw setting resolutely. "We're almost there," he confirmed unnecessarily.

Not too long later, they stepped out of the thick forest to see the dried-out river and the surrounding valley cast in moonlight. Katara heaved a sigh of relief at the sight, only to be taken aback immediately after by a dark realization.

"Where is Appa?" Aang asked, clearly having noticed the same thing.

"What?" Sokka asked from behind them, just inside the forest with Toph on his back, sounding horrified by the idea.

"Appa's gone!" Katara said, whirling around to examine the darker ends of the valley. She cast the torchlight about but could not see the large air-bison anywhere. "Appa!" she called out.

"Appa!" Aang echoed, and dug in his tunic hurriedly to take out his whistle, blowing on it as soon as he found it. There was a moment of silence, and then from a short distance away, a distressed roar came. Aang's eyes went wide, recognizing his oldest partner, and he shouted again, "Appa!"

"I'm afraid your pet isn't going to be helping you this time, Avatar," a cold, amused voice said loudly, and the entire group turned away from the sound of Appa to stare at the opposite end of the valley. There, seated on a large rock, were the shadowed forms of the fire warrior Azula and her two friends.

Azula smirked at their shocked expressions and gloated, "Did you really think we wouldn't find you again?" She jumped down from the rock, followed by her lackeys, and said, "I think it's time to end this game."

Katara watched them approach in horror. Somehow, their situation had turned from incredibly bad to immensely worse.


END PART 4
WORD COUNT: approx. 5,840

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