Here comes Toph. :]

This chapter starts off a little strange, and it might confuse you a bit at first. Strike that, it bounces all over the place, and might confuse you quite a bit, just read it over again if that happens and it will make complete sense. I promise.

9. Truth

Toph, Suki, and I ran up the long flight of stairs at a rate which would normally be impossible under any other circumstance. It had been only minutes ago that we had received the anonymous phone call, telling us that our friends had been returned to us, and had been dumped where they had initially been found.

After the second day had gone by with no word from either Katara or Aang, I had decided it would be best that I stop by to see that everything was alright, that Aang had made the transition from hospital to apartment in one emotional piece. The first thing I noticed was that the door wasn't shut all the way, and then that the deadbolt on the frame had been yanked from the wall; my hair had stood on end, immediately fearing the worst.

My discomfort had only continued to grow as I made my way into the kitchen: food was strewn everywhere, the microwave door open and hanging out of the wall by its cord, a few broken plates were scattered across the linoleum, blood mixing with the various leavings. My legs sped up under me as I made a quick route through the rest of the house, the only other part that had been messed with being the bathroom; the mirror above the sink had been cracked and the sink itself seemed to sag a bit.

I had pulled out my phone and immediately dialed the one person who I felt would understand what I was feeling, who had been there the day of the accident, and who had 'seen' what I had seen.

"Sokka, long time no talk."

"Toph, I need you here as soon as possible."

"What's wrong?"

"I think we were right."

"I'll be there in a few hours."

I busted through the door, not even bothering to wait for Suki to help Toph up the last step, or to notice the rough shrugging of her shoulders as she pushed Suki's hands away from her, and continued running down the hallway on her own.

I ran right past them at first, running straight into the bedroom, hoping I would find them lying in bed, startled by my intrusion. I hoped for a split second that perhaps this had all been a nightmare; I reigned in my thoughts as quickly as they had developed. They were both sprawled out on the floor in front of the balcony, like they had actually been dropped in through the doors.

"Katara?" My hands reached for her face, tenderly brushing over the dark angry marks that covered her face. Her clothing was translucent, and wet, confirming my suspicions; it was pouring outside, and it was no help to either of us having the doors spread open, water falling into the apartment in copious amounts, drenching not only the carpet but the people within. Toph and Suki landed on the other side of me, trying to coax Aang awake, checking him over as well. He was dressed just as poorly: thin, wet, white cotton clinging to his skin. His scars seemed to stand out over every other feature in the room.

"What happened to them?" Suki whispered loud enough for only the three of us to hear. I shook my head and continued rubbing my sister's face, anger was beginning to build inside me, bubbling, and boiling at my very core. Toph tossed a blanket over the both of them and closed the doors.

"Katara, can you hear me?" Her eyelids fluttered at the sound of her name and slowly opened meeting my eyes with first alarm and then relief; I pulled her to me, embracing her, perhaps a little too roughly; a pitiful sound escaped from her lips. I sat her down gently, cradling her head in my hand until her hair made contact with the carpet.

"Aang?" she croaked, asking more with her eyes than with her voice.

"He's right here, Katara, he's OK," Suki's voice was soothing and kind, as it almost always was. Katara turned her head in the direction of her voice, catching sight of Aang and smiling; all of us watched as her hand moved beneath the blanket, finding his without any trouble. His eyes opened automatically, his head turning towards her, a brilliant smile lighting up his face, the gray in his eyes appearing almost silver. The way they looked at each other made me feel as if I should turn and look away, I felt intrusive, invasive, which contradicted the intense feelings of euphoria I felt as I realized I recognized that look.

Toph looked over in my direction as I gasped, my eyes met Suki's and she smiled, the tips of her fingers touching mine. He remembered everything, he was Katara's Aang once more, as if he had ever been anything less. Not only that, but I had my best friend back; my excitement could not contain itself, and I reached forward, embracing Aang, startling him at first. My happiness reached its peak as he tightened his grip, patting me on the back.

As he pulled away from our hug, his smile seemed to fall, his expression slackening into a completely different emotion: anger, irritation, determination, fear. "We need to leave, now," his eyes bore into mine and I didn't dare question his motives.

He turned to look at Katara, who had clearly taken most of the physical abuse, she lay limp on the floor, her eyes being the only part of her that seemed capable of moving. The tips of his fingers ran along her cheek and over her lips, his own set in a frown as they met gently with hers. "I'm sorry," he whispered, his words soft; small tender air kisses to sooth the bruises. She caught his hand against her face, leaning into it, inhaling, kissing the tip of his thumb and shaking her head at him.

"Suki, I need you to grab whatever you can manage to find in here for food," his eyes were still linked with my sister's. She nodded silently, running off into the small kitchen and set to work rummaging through the cabinets.

"Toph, could you gather up some blankets?" Although she was blind, she had been able to work out a way of seeing unlike anything anyone before her had done; she had learned to use the vibrations she picked up through her ears and the earth, the air, around her as her body interacted with the environment, turning them into a sonar of sorts; allowing for her to pick up on rough outlines. She was truly one of a kind. She too nodded her head and took off down the hall and set to work on the closet, pulling out all kinds of materials.

"What do you want me to do?"

"Find anything else you can think to look for: first aid, weapons; we're going to need it," he said as he struggled to his feet, looping his arms under Katara and pulling her up with him.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm going to get her out of these wet clothes," he said over his shoulder, walking back into the bedroom. I nodded and set to work.

↔↔⃝↔↔

I held her close to me as I walked down the hallway, trying both to keep her warm, and to reassure myself that she was in fact in my arms, safe, and away from them. Her eyelashes fell lazily over her cheeks; they deserved their rest, she had been so strong.

"Stop this! Look at what it's doing to him!" she screamed, her voice cracking, through the haze, the pain, I could hear her dragging herself across the floor in vain, as she smacked and kicked the arms of her captor.

My mind was being bombarded with images of my past, the pain was unbearable. My mind felt solid, leaden, weighted down; I could hear my arms and limbs smacking down on the wooden floor, the sounds of my own screams as the cruel woman continued telling her story in an ever increasingly loud voice. It was almost as if she were inside my mind, saying what she had to for the personal benefit of my brain cells, my neurons and dendrites.

"We had been watching you all night, as you ordered your dinners: a large platter of steamed vegetables for you, Aang, and a quaint little fruit salad for you, Katara; you fed her the first bite: a strawberry if I'm not mistaken." I could hear the laughter hidden behind her words, she was enjoying herself.

Flashes of that moment overcame my vision; the way the pink juices had stained her perfect lips, the seed that had escaped from the corner of her mouth, the way her lips had tasted when I stole a quick kiss, swiping a grape from off her plate.

A loud shriek field the room; my head throbbed. "Please!" Katara's voice broke through the noise.

"After you finished eating, you asked her to dance; a charming piano ballad."

Her sweet, melodious laughter comparable to the notes resonating from the piano keys, singing her own song in my ears, my heart full of happiness; my head seething. Her warm, solid, sweet smelling body pressed against my own as we moved in perfect unison with the music.

The vile woman's voice died off, and I was in a tux, she was in a form-fitting blue dress, a color that matched her eyes. I was younger, scrawnier; she was smaller, too, but just as beautiful. We twirled around in awkward circles, my face burning, her face buried in my neck; dozens of other couples our age surrounded us. She had asked me to go to her Senior Prom with her; she had told me that there was no one else she would rather go with than her best friend.

I was sure my hands were berating my skull, my face, the ground; breaking under the force at which I was slamming them into the ground.

"The moonlit stroll through the park was a very nice touch, I must say, Aang."

The look on her face as she took in my question flashed before my eyes, the excitement she had tried to contain long enough to maintain her usual repartee spirit, failing miserably.

Suddenly we were both young again, metal wires lined her teeth as she offered me a cheesy smile. It was after the first day of school, she had just started 8th grade; my first day of 6th grade had gone horridly awry. I had known no one, I had been picked on all day for being the new kid; as soon as the bell had rung, I ran off, eventually stopping and throwing my back pack down on the cobbled stone of an old white bridge; I hadn't even noticed that I wasn't alone. That smile was etched permanently into my heart the moment she gave it to me; I would love her for the rest of my life. Our parents came looking for us, it was way past our dinner times; I had been too caught up in her stories, stories of how she had come to find this bridge with her mother when she was younger, how she came here every day to say hello.

"I beg you! No more! Stop!" She was undoubtedly in tears; a new type of pain ripping through my system. A series of slapping noises, loud grunts, and a cold touch to my aching head, temporarily soothed my over-active brain, only to be ripped away just as fast, a scream of ferocity, a curse, and the sound of a low impact echoed through my ears. A soft and pitiful whimpering sound was followed by a feral laugh.

"Continue, Daughter," a rough, deep, and commanding voice invaded my ear drums. The sound of a door slamming loudly in some other part of the room overtook every other noise and prompted the voice to speak again.

"Don't worry, Azula, he'll pay for his actions later. Go on." The sound of his voice bringing on an entirely different set of memories; the pain in my head spread out to all of my limbs, my right side burning exponentially more so than the other. Red. Everything was a shade of red, bright red lights glaring evilly down into my eyes, darker red shapes moved into my line of sight, flipping me over. Red squares; the red was my blood, the smell of rust, salt, of life, of death, permeated my nostrils.

"Get on with it." The same voice, dark, deep, authoritative; light pressure begins building in the back of my skull. Intensity. Pressure. Pain. Pressure. My fists connects with the back of my skull, once, twice, three times; her sweet voice is loud in my ear, the man's bellows in the other. My fingers clench down and around something; warmth spreads over my fingers, the pain ceases; the screaming, kicking, and pounding stops.

My eyes open, and in my hands rests a crushed piece of metal. As soon as her eyes made contact with mine, she snapped. She was no longer flailing and blindly throwing punches, she was aiming to kill, she was going for blood; I had taught her how.

I pulled the sticky pieces of damp cloth carefully from her body, wrapping her back up in the blanket while I found her a set of warm, dry clothes to replace them with. I dressed her before changing myself. She had fallen asleep, and I would let her.

I rummaged through the drawer I knew she kept our emergency money in and grabbed all of what was there; which wasn't as much as I would have liked for there to have been. Her wallet had been thrown carelessly on the dresser alongside mine; I grabbed both of those. My old jacket, her favorite, hung off the bedpost along with an old messenger bag; I stuffed the jacket and our wallets into it, grabbing an extra set of clothes for the both of us before slinging the bag over my shoulder, doing a quick scan of the room to think of anything else we might need.

My head had begun bleeding again, I could feel it beginning to trickle down the back of my neck. I reached for a towel on the floor and wrapped it around my shoulders.

"We're all ready out here, Aang," called Sokka from the doorframe. I nodded, and picked Katara up off the bed, cradling her frame to my body, guiding the both of us out of the bedroom carefully.

Suki had managed to find quite a bit of canned goods, as well as some dried fruits and crackers; more than I had expected. Toph and Sokka both had turned up some useful objects as well: a comforter, a few sheets, a first aid kit, a small toolbox, a sewing kit, a box of matches, and a hatchet. No gun; It would have to do.

I gave each one of them a severe look, one of urgency, of gratitude, trust, "Let's go."