A/N: Here's a short, depressing chapter. Thank you to everyone who has reviewed, followed, and favorited. We're nearing the end, (literally…) so thanks for sticking it out with me! :D
I stumbled forward. My legs were burning in anguish, practically collapsing between me. The fence grew steadily smaller in the background.
I didn't know if I would hold out all the way back to the hospital. It seemed so far away, a journey I couldn't make. Too many steps. Too little strength.
It would be so nice…to just fall down here. The grass is soft, and I can feel the earth. Even if I don't have the strength to bend it, I can be close by. The sky is so blue above, and what a nice flower. And then there's…Sokka…not too far away…
Those were my thoughts as I persevered. But eventually, exhaustion took its toll on me. It was a total lapse in thought. My mind focused everything on the next step, just not falling down and crumbling to nothing right there.
Of course, there was still his name. Sokka. I don't think I would ever be rid of that, as long as I lived.
Which might not have been that long.
There in the distance…
There's the hospital. I don't know….
….how will I explain…
…I don't care…
…not too much. I did what I needed…I just need rest…because what I really need…I can't get….Sokka…I've made it this far…this far away.
I pushed open the door. That alone expended the only strength I had remaining. Right in the hospital lobby, I crumpled to my knees, and was saved from falling face-forward completely by a nurse.
Or maybe it wasn't a nurse…it could've been anything…and I would've had no idea.
All around me, there were calls and people rushing around once they noticed the fatally suffering girl Toph Beifong somehow making it down to lobby and dropping to the ground.
I was too sick to notice much going on around me. Too sick physically. Too sick with grief.
So while I was carried down the hallways, simply carried and not rolled because there was nothing on hand, I wasn't thinking of that.
When doctors and nurses rushed behind the one carrying me, I didn't think of that.
When I was placed down amongst the white sheets and blankets of my hospital bed, and the tubes and wires were fastened to me, my pulse taken, every part of me scrutinized by doctors in hope of saving my declining life, I hardly noticed it at all.
My mind was elsewhere.
I shouldn't have tried to act so…so strong. I hated pity…I wanted to be tough…like…an earthbender…but I'm not…nowhere near like you…and now, even though….I was the one to end everything…I want to…see you…
That was my last thought, echoing through my mind, before I shut down completely. My mind, that is, although my body was not too far behind. My chest felt like an enormous boulder was on it. I couldn't breathe, not just an absence of breath, but a legitimate inability. That was why they placed…whatever it was….over my head…
My legs felt like they had been wading through acid. I had walked so far (and it wasn't even that far, how pathetic is that) and they'd finally given out, after all these years.
My hands clenched at the sheets of the bed. Anguish came over me. I tried to not think about the actual pain from my sickness, but even while I tried to fix my mind on other things, my body's condition overrode most everything.
With everything deteriorating physically, the only thing left functioning were my eyes. They gazed dully over everything happening, the doctor forcing people out of the room, I noticed my father. He looked furious. His mouth moved, obviously asking questions to the doctor, who merely pushed him out of the room. He cast one last desperate glance at me from the crack of the door before it was shut.
Don't worry, Dad…you always worried too much…please, don't worry at all…
My eyes slipped close as sweat beaded my forehead. The war will go on…everything will go on…so Sokka…please do the same…tell a joke…act stupid like you always do…you're brave, you'll make it…just continue on somewhere.
