Burn My Dread Complete

By Iain R. Lewis

Disclaimer: Characters and concepts belong to Nickelodeon, some of the concepts are similarly inspired by Atlus's Persona 3 and 4.

"Fueling the fire with a burning desire. Get up off of that thing, dance, shake and swing. Come on girl, let me rock your world."

-- Iwatodai Dorm

Month 2: The Chariot

Rumble

"Miss Bei Fong?"

Master Yu furiously rapped upon the Bei Fong dorm door, "Miss Bei Fong, it's your private tutor. I was hoping to go over some of your classic Earth Kingdom history with you. The Phoenix School midterms are coming up. Miss Bei Fong?"

Toph's room. It was filled with posters of her favorite wrestlers. Even though she couldn't see them, everyone else could, and it let them know clearly that she wasn't some weak girl. She was not in the bedroom.

The light in her bathroom was on, and her shadow was cast long against the floor.

The running of water, her face staring at the mirror blankly. Her eyes were dead, useless things, she didn't have any use for mirrors, but it still hung over her sink. She clutched the porcelein and leaned forward. She felt sick.

"Miss Bei Fong!!"

The stupid old teacher her parents sent, she didn't even register his voice, but she felt him pacing outside her door. Her stomach was lurching.

Something was wrong.

She felt wrong.

Something was watching her, she just knew it, but she didn't know who or what. She grabbed the soap dispenser and shoved it into mirror in front of her. She could feel the glass cutting her, but she didn't care.

"Miss Bei Fong! Are you ill? Should I call a doctor? Miss Bei Fong?"

There was a loud pounding on Aang's door while he was tying his headband on. "Aang?" it was Azula's voice, "Would you mind accompanying me to school today?" Aang opened the door and stepped out. "Good, you're ready. I would have to reprimand you if you caused me to be late."

"What's up, Azula?" he asked as they walked out the front door.

"In regards to Zhao. Father has contacted me and requested that we cooperate with any police questioning as to his disappearance."

"We are?"

"Yes. However, that is to say," she said, "We're to tell our cover story to them. Zhao was called back to the Fire Nation to oversee a new project. I don't think I need to remind you that we can't allow anyone to know about Yue's kidnapping, or the Bending and Spirit World research."

"Yeah," Aang said. "That's kind of sad, though."

"I know. I wish we would have just let Zhao rot," Azula said. "The man was a traitor, but his actions have left us with no other choice. Wherever he is, I hope he's scared that we'll find him and make him pay."

"Do you think he's going to come back?"

"I doubt it," Azula said, "But you never know with such foolish men."

Class.

Aang was nodding off. And received a prod from Teo for his efforts. "You see Toph this morning?" Aang shook his head. "Maybe she did skip class after all."

"Huh?"

"Nothing," Teo said. "I didn't say anything."

"Mr. Aang!" Bumi said, "Do I need to remind you that next week Midterms start? I'd pay attention if I was you, this is going to be on the test!"

"Midterms," Teo said. "I can't believe it's midterms time already."

"Want to study together?" Aang asked, hopefully.

"Can't. Dad's really pushing to finish that glider. Don't you go to the same dorm as Azula? She's the top in her class. She's famous, actually! Her test scores are off the charts."

"Maybe I should ask her if she wants to help me study," Aang said, pensively. The entire class jerked awake as one collective unit when the door was slammed open by a very irate looking Toph Bei Fong.

"Miss Bei Fong, you're late," Bumi said, "Do you have an excuse."

"Yeah, yeah, right here," Toph said, handing the crumpled up note to Bumi and taking her seat. "Stuff it, I don't want to hear your lectures. Just get back to teaching."

"Well, fine," Bumi said, looking hurt, "But it was a real good lecture on showing respect to your elders and you just ruined it. Thanks a lot."

"Toph?" Teo looked worried, "Are you feeling okay? That wasn't like you at all."

"I'm fine, okay?"

"What happened to your hand?" Teo asked.

"Nothing. Accident, nothing," she muttered. "Leave me alone!" She hid her hand behind her back, and sat, rigidly, paying absolute attention to Bumi.

"Okay, she's acting really weird," Teo said.

"Yeah," Aang muttered, "I can't believe she yelled at Bumi."

"I can hear you two," Toph said with a low rumble.

"So, Toph, how'd this weekend go?" Aang asked, quietly. The girl suddenly lit up. "Something good happen?"

"I'll tell you all about it after school!" she said. She leaned forward, "Unless Teo already blabbed like I knew he would."

"I didn't say anything," Teo complained, "I'm much more reliable than you give me credit for!"

"Sure," Toph said. She seemed like her old self. "After school, on the roof. Be there or be prepared to face the fury of the Blind Bandit."

"Who?"

"You'll see!" she said, impishly.

Aang sighed. And sunk into his seat as he was called on to answer a question he hadn't even heard asked.

Aang arrived on the roof first, and waited by the chainlink fence and looked out at the courtyard below. He could see the students walking home from school flow out from the school's main doorway.

He didn't see Toph approach him stealthily from behind. He heard someone's breathing for a second, before it erupted into the loudest noise he'd ever heard. "Hiya, Twinkle-Toes!"

He leapt a good foot in the air, and Toph laughed. "Wow, you're really easy to scare!" she said, and then she grinned at him. "I brought something to show off to you!" She pulled out a rolled up piece of paper. "Presenting for you!" she unrolled it. Aang looked at the backside of the flyer puzzled.

"The Blind Bandit!"

"Toph, you have it facing the wrong way," he said, politely.

"Oh."

She turned the flyer over. And there she was, a rather impressive photo of her standing over a very large man in tights. He looked a bit like a hippo, actually. Her hand was being raised by a referee.

At the bottom of the flyer, it said, "Introducing the Blind Bandit."

"Who? But, you?"

"Yes! I'm a wrestler now! See, they held auditions this weekend, so I thought I'd go and try out. They liked the blind angle a lot, and wanted to see me fight. I pounded that hippo into the ground!"

The door slammed shut.

Aang looked at it, but no one had come out. Toph paused. She brought her voice down to a low whisper and put her arm around his shoulders, bringing her head close to his ear. "I don't want the whole school finding out though. I could get suspended. And then my parents would find out and then kill me!"

"That'd be bad. I hope that was just the wind."

"Er, yeah, me too." She looked nervous, "Still. I'm being brought in as a new face, since the current big face they're pushing is a total loser that only idiots like. That Hippo's a heel, right now. It was billed as a battle of mythic proportions, and I put on a show! You should have seen me!"

"So, it's all just staged?"

"Well, yes and no. I still get to hurt people!"

She put him into a headlock. "Ow! Toph!"

"See?"

"I see, Toph! Let go!"

"Pansy," she said, releasing him. "So, come and see me tonight. They're putting me up against some Iron Sand guy. It should be fun, and if things go well, they'll be putting me in Earth Rumble!"

"That's great!" Aang stopped, "But wouldn't that blow your cover?"

"I'll insist that I need a mask for televised appearances, to keep with the bandit motif. Should do it, right?"

"I hope so," Aang said.

"I'm glad you're not freaking out about this, Aang."

"I just feel bad for the other wrestlers."

"You should!" she laughed.

"Where is she?" Sokka wasn't used to being accosted in the street. As far as he knew, it was something that only happened to other people and he was strictly in the not-other-people category in his mind.

But, today, he was being accosted in the street by a famous star. If he was going to be accosted, he may as well be accosted in a high-profile fashion. "Who?"

"Yue, you jerk!" Hahn yelled. "She's been missing for days."

"How should I know?" Sokka asked. "Did you try asking the embassy?"

"They said she was with some school official guy, but he's gone missing now too. And last I hear, you got way too cozy with Yue. So, what do you know?"

Sokka sighed, "Zhao got reassigned to the Fire Nation. I didn't know Yue was involved in this."

"Look, if Yue shows up hurt -- or worse -- I'm holding you personally accountable. So you'd better get a good lawyer, pal." He was shoved -- by a movie star no less! -- into a wall, and Hahn passed by.

"What was that guy's problem?"

It was Suki, coming to his rescue, "Hey," he muttered, "He was just getting mad because he thought his girl ran off with me somewhere, I guess."

"I haven't seen her around, though," Suki said. "I'm a little worried myself. The gossip rags are saying she broke off the engagement, but I don't know. Yue doesn't seem like the sort. She totally should though."

"Yeah," Sokka said, "It's complicated anyway. Want to go grab something to eat? Maybe get some studying done? Man, Xin Fu was really something today in homeroom, wasn't he?"

"The way I hear it, the second years got it worse. Katara's homeroom teacher is Pakku, remember?"

"Oh man, I remember Pakku's exam speech. That was painful."

"So, you finally want to put Mission Get Sokka to Graduate back on the rails? What brought this on, Mr. I'm Suddenly Too Busy to Answer My Phone," she said, with a cocked eyebrow. Sokka looked at his phone. It was dead. No batteries.

"Forgot I had this thing," he muttered. "Last month was really busy. Azula had to drag me into her stupid historical club thing."

"The infamous Bending Club," Suki said with a laugh. "Azula's own little army."

Sokka paused.

"What?"

"What have you heard?" Sokka asked.

"Just that you guys are on her beckon call. Just because her dad owns the place, she throws her weight around. But, still, a second year winning the election for Council President was something. You saw her speech, right?"

"Yeah. She was something else," Sokka said. "Totally not my type, but most of the guys totally got smitten with her right then and there."

"The Principal even stole her speech!"

"I remember that!"

"So, are you on her personal army? What coup does she have planned for this semester?"

"If I told you I'd have to kill you," Sokka said. The two of them laughed heartily. Things seemed to finally be calming down. Sokka smiled at Suki, and she smiled back. "So, let's get some food. I'm starved."

"When aren't you? Come on. You're paying, though."

The girl's bathroom was empty except for Katara and Azula. They were at the sinks, and Katara was focused on the water that was washing over Azula's arm. It glowed, brightly, and should anyone walk in they would be exposed as magic freaks.

Azula didn't care. The pain in her arm was subsiding more and more every day. "There, that should do it," Katara said. "The arm's healed a lot this past month, but I'd still go easy on it until you get a doctor's okay."

"Which will be tomorrow," Azula said. "Walk with me, Katara."

The two girls walked outside and to the main entrance. Katara looked at the floor, completely unsure of what to do or to say. Azula walked like a princess besides her, head up, straight ahead. People were watching them.

"Katara, we'll be starting to climb the tower. Tomorrow, I'd like to take our first steps up the tower, and I'll speak to Aang about it."

"Aren't you going back to leader if you get the doctor's approval?" she asked.

"Hardly. It's more convenient to let Aang make the decisions, and besides," she said, "I'm sure he'll do a much better job than I ever could. Don't you agree?"

"I suppose," Katara said, looking to the side. "What's this about, Azula?"

"I wanted to know if you're all right with climbing the tower. It's undoubtedly going to reveal much about what happened with the accident. And I'm sure it'll provide some answers onto what happened to your mother."

She froze.

Azula watched her carefully. She anticipated for any reaction for that. But, Katara's expression remained icy. "I guess it will, won't it. I hope you don't think you're going to replace me on the front line, Azula. I'm going."

"I'm glad to hear that, Katara. Really, I am."

Azula frowned. She tapped her chin, then started for the stairs, "If you don't mind, I have a Student Council meeting to attend. I'll see you tonight, Katara."

"Hi, Aang!" Ty Lee's voice was very, very high pitched. "Coming to Student Council today? I hope so. We have so much to do!"

"Sure, I guess," Aang said, shrugging. "Let's go."

"Great!" she said, "You know, about that one time? Forget I said anything, okay?"

Aang paused, "About what?"

"About Azula," she said. "Sometimes it's me who gets frustrated. I just couldn't cut it as an actress, or a dancer, or anything. When I was little, I wanted to run off to the circus. Silly, right?" she sighed. "They don't have circuses like they used to anymore."

"I saw one, once," Aang said, "It was bright and colorful, and they had so many strange animals dancing on little balls."

Ty Lee nodded, "Wasn't it great? When I was really little, my parents took me to see one. We all were so excited, but I think I was the only one who still loves the circus. It has a way of taking you away from all the bad things in your life, even if it's only for an hour."

"An hour's a long time," Aang said.

"It can be," she said, "That's why I want to be a performer, to take people away from being themselves, even if it's just for that little short period of time."

"I still want to see you act!" he said. "I'm sure you're great."

"Aang," she said, blushing, "You're embarrassnig me. I'm not! But," she nodded, "I'll show you my skills sometime! It's a promise. But right now, I'm so busy I just don't have the time. We have fliers to make! And we need volunteers to run the dance, too. The dance is only a month away!"

"Right. Okay, so, fliers!"

"Fliers it is!"

"I think you should design them, and I'll make and distribute them around the school." Aang said. "I'm sure you're better at creative things than I am."

"Oh, Aang, please," Ty Lee giggled, "You'll make this girl blush with talk like that. Come on, Azula's probably throwing a fit because we're late now."

Ty Lee ran ahead, and Aang just watched her for a second, scratching the back of his head. The link between them was growing stronger, but he still couldn't shake the feeling that she wanted to tell him something.

"What are you waiting for? Come on!"

The Dorm was quiet tonight.

When he walked in, Sokka greeted him, but otherwise the place was empty.

"Azula said she'd be out, so no Spirit World today," Sokka said. He sounded disapppointed. "Hope Yue's doing okay in there."

"Me too. Anyway, I had plans tonight. Toph gave me some tickets to some wrestling thing tonight. Want to come?" Aang asked.

Sokka looked at him, looked at the tickets, and squealed happily, "Aang, you are officially the greatest person in the history of forever. Oh man, do you think the Boulder will be there? I hope he's there. He's the coolest!"

"Uh, actually, I'm going to cheer on the Blind Bandit," Aang said. "But maybe?"

"The Blind whoosit? Aang, you have no taste in heroes."

"She beat up a hippo guy?"

"That's nothing. He's past his prime," Sokka said. Aang wondered, for just a second, whether Sokka knew that the whole thing was staged, but, shrugging, he listened to Sokka for a bit. "The Boulder's the real deal."

"Let's just go before we're late, Sokka," Aang said, annoyed. Sokka eagerly snatched up his jacket and followed Aang out to the venue. It was a small, well, Aang wouldn't have called it a dive, but it definitely seemed seedy.

The tournament was being held underground, in a large ring. The area was caged off with a big chainlink fence, and people were eagerly shouting and cheering at the people below. There was already a fight going on when they arrived.

"And the Million-En Man is down. Ladies and gentlemen, your winner, Aruk of the North!"

"Oh man," Sokka said, "It's really busy tonight. We must be on for a good show. Hey, what's the big draw tonight? Tell me it's the Boulder, please, tell me."

"No way, kid," one of the patrons said, "There's a blind girl supposed to be fighting the Iron Sand Sheikh."

"Oh." Sokka paused, "What's a Sheik?"

"I don't know," the patron said, "Sounds rich, though. Hope she whallops him into the ground." Sokka laughed. "What?"

"You want a little blind girl to beat up some guy with Iron in his name? I don't know, seems unlikely."

"Yeah, but I got a bet riding on it."

"Oh," Sokka said, "Good luck then, sir." Sokka looked around, "Aang? Where are you?"

"Down here!" Aang called, waving, "I got really good seats!" Sokka walked down and looked around. "Wonder why no one else is sitting here."

The answer to that came in the form of a man being thrown out of the ring. He landed just to their right. Aang and Sokka looked at him, for just a second, and then turned their attention back to the ring as though nothing happened.

"That was quick," the announcer yelled. "But now, the fight you've all been waiting for. He hails from the deserts, riding the sands like others ride the waves. The Iron Sand Sheik!"

"Wow, he's big," Aang said. The man was wearing a mask common to those who travel the desert. But he wore only a pair of tights besides that. He was muscular, tall, and bulky. He compared him to Toph, who just now walked into the ring.

The difference was like a very small insect walking up to a man's boot.

She stared straight ahead, at his legs.

"And in this corner, the mysterious little girl with the pale green eyes, the Blind! Bandit!" The crowd cheered. She smriked.

"You hear that, Iron whatever? I'm the crowd favorite."

"In the desert, we don't go easy on the blind. Or the young."

"Oooh, scary!" Toph said, "I bet I can take you with both hands behind my back."

"Now there's a challenge! The referee is separating the fighters so we can begin the match." The Sheik looked at the girl The girl waved.

"Fight!"

The Sheik ran up to grapple the girl, but she just moved aside and pushed him back with her foot. He stumbled and nearly teetered right out of the ring. "Already, the Blind Bandit is showing the same level of confidence as her sensational debut against the mighty Hippo!"

"Wow, she's fast," Sokka muttered. "Like she already knows what they're doing before they do it."

"I know," Aang said.

"Still, how can she? She can't see them, can she?" Sokka laughed, "Or is that blind bit just her angle?"

"She's really blind, Sokka," Aang said. "Don't you recognize her?"

Sokka blinked, then squinted his eyes. "Wait," he said, "You don't mean. Oh no," Sokka bit his lip, then said, "You're telling me that's Toph? Like, Toph Bei Fong? As in the girl who's rich enough to buy us, Azula included, three times over?"

Aang nodded.

"I did not know she was that good at grappling." She currently had the Sheik in a chokehold. Down in the ring, the Sheikh was desperately trying to break out of the hold.

"Girl, you don't have to do it so hard," he said, "I'm really hurting here."

"Oh, sorry," Toph said, throwing him down to the ring, "Is that better?"

"Much," he groaned.

Aang stood up as the Sheik grabbed Toph in a hold, she looked like she was really in pain. "You think she's okay?"

"They aren't going to hurt a Bei Fong."

"You think they mentioned who she was?" Aang asked, incredulously.

"Oh, that'd be bad, then. What am I saying? This is all made up, Aang. Sorry if I'm ruining the illusion."

"The Sheik seems confused. He's breaking the hold. You can hear the boos. The crowd is not happy. But, wait, what's this? The Blind Bandit's up, and she hits him wtih a nasty blow the the stomach."

And then she kicked him off of the ring. "And the Sheikh is disqualified. The Blind Bandit wins her second match. Wait, wait a second. What's this?"

"Oh my spirits, the Boulder! It's the Boulder!" Sokka squealed. The big, clean-shaven wrestler stormed the ring, and looked at the Blind Bandit.

"The Boulder saw what you did there, little Bandit," the Boulder said. The Boulder seemed to like to refer to himself as The Boulder, Aang surmised. But who was he to tell The Boulder what The Boulder could or could not do. "That was a dirty trick, and The Boulder is not going to stand there and let it go."

"What are you going to do about it, Pebble?" she grinned, and settled into her stance, "Wanna fight it out?"

"The Boulder will not dignify that with a violent response. While you are a blind and a tiny child, The Boulder challenges you to battle The Boulder at Earth Rumble. And The Boulder will not fall for your childish tricks."

"We'll see about that, 'The Boulder.' The Blind Bandit accepts The Boulder's challenge. And The Blind Bandit challenges The Boulder to use a first-person pronoun, too."

"The Boulder does not use those pronouns," he said, simply.

"Wow, she got challenged by The Boulder," Sokka said. "That's amazing. She must be making them a mint." He scratched his head, "But how is she doing that?"

"What?"

"She's seeing them but she's blind," he said, "Look, didn't you notice when the Boulder got on the ring but before he said anything? She turned to face him. Sort of."

"Maybe she just heard him get on?"

"Maybe," Sokka said. "But you know what? She's always seemed like she could see. Ever see her run down the halls? She'd be able to avoid crowds easily."

"She did throw a paper airplane at my head once."

"Exactly," Sokka said. "These are things blind people can't really do without help. But I've never seen her with a seeing-eye animal or a cane. Not that there's anything wrong with being blind. But, I wonder if Azula has a file on her."

"You think she may have the Potential?"

"I bet she does," Sokka said.

The event was winding down, and people were beginning to leave. Aang and Sokka thought to, as well. "Maybe we can go see Toph, and ask her?" Aang said. "At least, you know, to come down so we can talk to her about it."

"Sounds good, Aang," Sokka agreed. "And maybe I'll be able to get the Boulder's autograph."

The two of them went down to the backstage area. Aang smiled at the big burly bouncer, and showed him the tickets Toph gave him. He looked at them, and nodded them through. The backstage area was full of people going about. The Sheikh was walking around, without his mask, and didn't look very much like a desert-dweller to Aang.

"So, you kids looking for the Blind Bandit?" he asked.

"Yeah, where is she? We're friends of hers," Aang said.

"Back in her room. Turn down the hall, it's first on your left. You can tell because she's screaming about that whole Earth Rumble thing."

"Nice guy," Sokka commented as they walked down the hall. "This must be it. I can hear her from here."

They knocked on the door, and they heard the yelling stop. Then, a moment later, Toph peeked out through, sticking a foot out the door. "Oh, Twinkle-Toes and Snoozles. Come on in. Can you believe it? Me! In Earth Rumble!"

"You really impressed me," Aang said. "Congratulations."

"Yeah, grats. Look," Sokka said, sitting down, "Toph. How are you able to do that?"

"Do what?" she asked. "Beat a guy up? You just grab them in a choke hold and --"

"No!" Sokka said, "The whole sensing them coming thing. The way that guy looked you really deviated from the script there."

"So?"

"Well, you couldn't know where he was coming by seeing him --"

"Watch it."

"-- But, just how do you, er, see?"

"I can feel them moving, can't you?" Toph asked. "Since I was little, I could just feel when people moved about. That's why Twinkle-Toes here is Twinkle-Toes. He walks like he's on air."

"No kidding. Toph," Sokka said, "Come down to the Dorm tomorrow. Maybe you'd like to move in. We have some open rooms and it's got to be cheaper than where you're staying right now."

"Er," Toph said, "Money's not that much an issue, or did you forget who I am?"

"Yeah, just." Sokka said, "Come down. Azula'd probably want to talk to you about your sensing people move thing."

She shrugged, "Whatever. I'll show."

"Great. We got to get home and study now, but congrats again," Sokka said. "Come on, Aang, let's go."

They walked out into the hall, nearly bumping into a man on the way out. Sokka looked to apologize, but the man had already walked down the hall. He scratched his head. "What was that about?"

"Huh?"

"That guy," Sokka said. "Anyway, if Toph really does sense people move, it'd be like how scientists think Badgermoles see. Vibrations through the Earth. And some people say that Earthbending was originally based on Badgermoles."

Aang nodded, "An Earthbender. I need someone to teach me how to Earthbend, and if it's Toph, then that'd be great!"

"Well, we'll find out tomorrow."

Toph's mirror image stared at her.

She stared back. That feeling was back, that paranoia. She hated this. She couldn't sense anyone around, except for someone pacing the halls outside. Most of the other wrestlers had gone home.

"Blind Bandit? It's me," someone said, approaching the door. "The Boulder. Wanted to say congratulations on getting to Earth Rumble. Took me months to get half the fanbase you got tonight."

"Oh, uh, thanks," she said. "Don't take me personally out there, okay? It's part of the gig, right?"

"I got you," he said. "Good luck, Bandit."

Then he walked away. The feeling was still there, like a creeping finger down her spine. Her hairs were on end. She looked towards the door. Whoever was pacing was just standing there, now. Then, a knock on her door.

"Yeah?" she called.

No answer.

"Who is it?"

Nothing.

"I said -- What are you doing here? Hey! Don't open that door. What are you doing?" She was grabbed, very suddenly. She didn't have time to react, but she could hear the man breathing heavily as he pushed her, very strongly, against something.

The sound of very distant glass breaking was the last thing she heard before she opened her eyes.

And she saw something crawling in a dark, deep cavern.

To be continued...