Love Through the Lost Ones

by longlivepat

A Taang/slight Zutara story. Takes place right after Zuko's Firelord speech and then I change the storyline completely! (No Maiko reunion, Kataang kiss, etc.,) R&R! Summary: Through their hurtful rejections, Aang ad Toph find themselves in aituation they never thought they'd never be in together: Love.

4. Two Halves

So, sorry I'm being so slow but I had a busy day soooooooo

Anyway, if you've made it this far, congrats! There will be Taang but also some more boring stuff, this should be the last boring chapter. After this it will 90% TOPH AND AANG BEING ALL CUTE AND WHATNOT. So yeah. Please. Read on. This is a short chapter but I'm going to try to upload the next one tonight too ^_^

Chapter 4- Two Halves

They stopped talking.

Over the course of a year and a half, Aang, Toph, Zuko, Katara, and Sokka had a world revolving around Zuko being Firelord, ending the Ozai age. They would have him show up at random places at random times for short periods, have him make speeches. It was stressful, and they were extremely lucky - eighteen months later, Zuko was almost entirely accepted as Firelord, and the world was peaceful. All the meanwhile, they had to bring the Earth Kingdom and Water Tribes to their former glory. And to top it all off, Aang, Zuko, and King Kuei came together and founded a new nation - the United Republic of Nations.

However, as you probably know, this wasn't their happily ever after.

Team Avatar had to deal with their relationships.

They stopped talking, Sokka and Katara to Aang and Toph. The hurt in the airbender and earthbender's hearts ran too deep to acknowledge their faces without tearing up.

However, Aang and Toph grew much closer.

At this point, they were fourteen. They looked like it, too - their features were sharper, and they were both several inches taller.

Aang, someone who usually loved being around his friends, became more rebellious.

Toph, someone who usually was loud and outgoing, became quieter and detached.

Because at this point, all they had was each other.

While they were alone, while everyone was asleep - the four shared a home in Republic City - they would sit outside and just talk to each other, about their feelings and problems, goals and views. Everything, since there was no one else in the world who would listen to them.

"I miss them, sometimes. My parents," Toph said one night. "I heard they had another child. A perfect, seeing, tiny little girl. What they wanted. And I don't even know her name."

Aang just looked at her. He had no words deep enough to reach the depths of her despair.

It was about two months after they'd started confiding in each either. While Toph cried and sobbed about her ruined relationship with her parents, Aang took her hand. He squeezed it, and he felt so close to the blind girl - he'd known her for not even a year, yet he knew her better than anyone. He looked down at the grass.

"You'll always have me. I'll never leave you. You're irreplaceable." He had no idea where the words came from - but he knew they were true.

She launched herself into his chest, and he held her, tight. She didn't know what to say. They often didn't have any words for each other. Just their presence, their warmth, their being there. And together, they cried. They did that a lot.

Two opposites, through their heartbreaks that they'd had in thirteen years, were half empty. Two halves make a whole.

It took a while, but each day, a little bit of each other mixed together, and after a year and a half, they felt whole. They were a scattered puzzles missing their pieces, so they used each other. They were one person, even if they were like North and South.