Thanks for the reviews guys! I love you all. :D Again, I've taken some of the original dialogue from the show and used it in here.
Disclaimer: I don't own A:TLA or its characters.
Chapter 14: One week before mid spring/Toph's birthday.
Sokka, Katara and Aang approached the upcoming town somewhat cautiously; tired of being chased out of villages by the Fire Nation everywhere they went. While Aang still wore a kind of smile on his face, despite the danger, Sokka's expression was set in a deep scowl. His thoughts were stuck in an endless loop.
Seven days. Seven days. Seven days.
I've failed.
I've lost her.
Maybe this town. Maybe this time.
No.
Seven days. Seven days…and so on.
They passed the first few buildings, which were just houses, and made their way towards the shopping district. Katara led the way, as she always did when they were getting supplies. She veered towards a food stall and Aang followed her every step like the love-sick airbender he was. Not being in the mood to help with the groceries, Sokka turned his attention to watching for any sign of danger. A thought suddenly crossed his mind and he swerved to a store on his left and purchased a rice worker's hat. Jogging to catch up with his sister and Aang, he placed it on the monk's head to hide his tattoos.
"What-oh! Good idea, Sokka." Aang said.
Sokka merely grunted in reply and turned back to keeping a look out. After a few minutes something caught his eye. A shop across the street, selling all kinds of bags. He wandered over, looking around constantly for Fire Nation soldiers, and picked up a large green satchel. He asked the merchant how much it was.
"Three silver coins." The bearded man replied.
"Three silver-!" Sokka exclaimed. "Spirits."
He asked if he could do a better price. The man gave a deep laugh. "You're in Gaoling, boy. Everything's expensive here."
With a sigh, Sokka was about to turn away when he remembered something. Aang and Katara came up behind him as he spoke again to the shop owner.
"Just out of curiosity, have you ever heard of something called Earth Rumble?"
The man tensed visibly and his face became stony, "No."
"Are you sure?" Sokka pushed.
"Yes." The man folded his arms. "Now, if you're not going to buy anything, you can leave."
Aang and Katara exited the shop almost instantly but Sokka lagged behind.
"Sokka!" His sister hissed at him.
"Hold on." He turned back to the merchant. "Just one more question, have you ever heard of the Bei Fongs?"
The man shrugged. "Of course. They live on the other side of town."
Sokka's heart stopped.
He gripped his chest and coughed, trying to keep some composure. "Th-thank you." He said quickly before bolting out the door, making straight for the Bei Fong estate. He didn't see, but Katara snuck a few silver pieces to the shop owner and purchased the bag for him, concerned that her brother was about to get his heart broken again. As she and Aang ran to catch up with him a man stopped them and shoved a flyer into their hands for some earthbending academy. The two of them didn't give it a second thought, pocketing the slips of paper and making after the Water Tribe warrior.
It was as if the ground were gripping onto his feet, as if the air had become thick like a liquid, pushing against him. Sokka felt like he couldn't run fast enough, his lungs wanted to burst from his chest, but he kept going, running from massive state to the next in search of the one house he needed. He came up to the last one on the street, feet almost tripping over themselves in speed. As he rounded a slight bend in the road he saw the gates…and above them a massive golden symbol.
A flying boar.
Something stirred in his memory, of when he had first met Toph on her father's boat. He had seen that same sign above the doorway to her room, and again on some of the furniture in there. He'd paid no attention at the time, and, really, he'd never noticed it at all. But all of a sudden the images came flooding back into his mind and he knew this was the one.
He'd done it.
He'd found her, with only a week to go.
But that was still better than the alternative.
Sokka made his way up to the huge front doors. A ridiculous smile on his face. Joy practically exploding from his body. He stopped in front of a guard. The man was shorter than Sokka by a few inches, but defiantly wider with muscle. Sokka barely noticed this and ignored the fact that he usually would have found the man kinda imposing, had he not been so drunk on elation. Sokka wiped his face of sweat, his palms meeting the stubble around his jaw and dropped his hand, trying to calm himself down to the point of being able to talk.
This probably wasn't enough as his first words were, "You have to let me in!"
At his attempt to place a hand on the ornate door handle, the guard moved into his way. "Do you have an appointment?" His voice was rough and somewhat threatening.
"I-wh-..." Sokka felt dizzy. "No, but-"
"Then you'll have to be on your way." The guard pushed him back a little.
Dimly he noticed Aang and Katara come up beside him. His happiness was slowly starting to seep into the ground. "No, no. You've got it all wrong." He tried to explain. "Ask for Toph Bei Fong, she knows me!" This had no effect. "I'm sure she'll be pretty angry that you didn't let me in."
The guard didn't even blink at the threat. "There's no 'Toph' here." He stated.
For a moment Sokka was overcome with a panic that he'd got the wrong house, that maybe these were some relatives of hers that had the same last-named and family crest. But then he remembered that Toph had once told him how her parents had never let her outside her house, that no one knew she existed except for a few privileged and trusted people.
"There is. You just haven't met her!" Sokka began to plead, his joy having turned completely to confusion and worry about how he was going to make this man understand. "Lao's kept her hidden since she was born an-"
"You'd do well not to address Mr. Bei Fong by first name." The guard cut in and, without warning, gave Sokka a more violent shove towards the street. "Now, be on your way before I have to call for more men!"
As he stumbled back, all his pain and worry and angst from these last five months suddenly exploded and anger took over. Something like a red haze descended on his sight. He let out a roar and tried to charge the man. "You have to let me through!" He yelled, pushing past and making for the door. A flat hand on his chest threw him to the ground, winded and gasping. He scrambled back up and reached for his bone club, but before it was even out of its hilt the guard had tackled him and they fell into a skirmish.
Faintly he heard Katara cry his name.
Sokka's efforts to get back up and to the door were overcome easily. As he landed a blow to the guard's ribs, he felt a thud against his face and the taste of blood filled his mouth before everything went black.
The first thing Sokka saw when he came to was Katara's face hovering over him. As he blinked a few times and her image became less blurred he heard her give a nervous laugh. "Thank Tui and La, you gave me a scare, Sokka."
Groggily he sat up and instantly regretted it, there was a sharp pounding in his head and his face hurt like heck. Tentatively he touched his lip, there was no cut to explain the blood in his mouth. He looked around to see that he was in Appa's saddle back at camp. Aang was nowhere to be seen.
"I healed your cuts" Katara was saying from his right. "But I couldn't do much for the bruising."
At these words he prodded his cheek with one finger and drew it back quickly. "Argh!" He exclaimed. "That hurts way more than it should." He complained.
"Yeah, well. You shouldn't have been so stupid, Sokka." From her tone he knew that she didn't mean it. She gave another nervous laugh and Sokka realized something was bothering her.
"What?" He asked, still a little sluggish. He tried to stand and Katara helped him up.
"I don't know, back there you were so…" She didn't meet his eye. "I've never seen you like that Sokka. You weren't my just my cynical, lazy older brother anymore. Your eyes…you became a strange man, so angry and full of rage." She gave a sigh and began to straighten his clothes. She always became overly mothering when she was worried. "It was kind of scary, Sokka."
Her voice was quiet and he immediately felt guilty for being such an idiot in front of her. Over these past months, he'd been so sad and angry, he had never even thought that he might be dragging Katara down with him. Because that's who she was, she couldn't help but feel for people and want to help them any way she could. He realized that she was probably the one who had kept him from totally loosing himself over this. Sokka pulled her in for a hug and noticed how much taller he was than her now, the same height as his father.
"I'm sorry, sis." Was all he could say.
Katara pulled back and smiled. "That's okay, lets forget about it and try to focus on how we're going to bust into the Bei Fong's."
Sokka laughed and then stopped because it hurt his head too much. "That sounds like a plan. Where's Aang?" He asked as an after thought.
"Back in town." She said. "Some guy gave us coupons for some earthbending lessons, so I told him to go check it out while I looked after you."
Sokka climbed down off of Appa and gestured with his hand. "Well, lets go get him and then back to Toph's."
They made their way back into town and to the earthbending school by following the directions on the flyer. Sokka saw that the lesson wasn't finished yet and sat down on the steps outside, his fingers drumming on his knee with impatience. He fiddled with the new bag Katara had kindly bought for him, she'd said that he deserved something nice. He adjusted the straps and tried to ignore his throbbing cheek. Sometime later Katara looked up and, at the motion, he glanced to the left and saw Aang coming through the doors of the school.
"How'd it go?" Katara asked.
Aang shrugged. "Eh, he's not the one."
"I could have told you that." Sokka said with a roll of his eyes. Katara hit him. "Hey!" He complained. "Don't abuse the injured."
Katara made a 'tsk' sound and stood up, Sokka followed suit.
His attention suddenly turned to the conversation of two students walking away from them. "I think the Boulder's gonna win back the belt at Earth Rumble six." One teen was boasting.
"But he's gonna have to fight his way past the best earthbenders in the world to even get a shot at the champ." The other boy replied.
Sokka ran after them and grabbed one by the shoulder. They looked about Aang's age and he stood a head or so above them. Trying to sound as adult-like as possible he asked, "Hey, uh, so where is this tournament?"
The older looking boy raised an eyebrow and said smugly, "It's on the island of Nunya."
Sokka gave a look of confusion.
"None of ya business." The teens laughed and started to walk away. Sokka stood there angrily for a moment and heard one boy whisper to the other, "What happened to that guy's face?"
This stirred him and he called out. "Hey!"
They kept walking and Sokka ran to catch up with them. "Hey!" He yelled. "I'm talking to you!" He was about to grab the boys by their collars and shake an answer out of them when Katara placed a hand on his arm.
"Let me handle it, Sokka." She said and then more quietly, "I don't think you're exactly with it right now."
He opened and closed his mouth for a second and then nodded, letting her go after them. He was slightly shocked, Katara was actually afraid of what he might've done to those kids. He wouldn't have hurt them…would he? Sokka shook his head and decided not to think about it, even though he knew the answer.
Katara came running back to them after a minute or two. "Sokka, we won't have to do any kind of breaking in now, because we're going straight to Earth Rumble six!" She proclaimed.
Sokka grinned and shouldered his new bag, walking off in the direction of the center of town.
"Uh, Sokka." Katara said. "It's the other way."
"I knew that!"
Sokka looked around warily as they entered through a cave in the mountainside. Hundreds of people were lined up in front and behind them, all looking rough and kinda scary. Not that he took much notice, the second they had their entry passes he made for where some benders were walking through a side door in the rock. He walked over and guard dressed in green and brown studded leather moved into his path.
"I need to get through." Sokka told him. "I have to see Toph, I mean Bandit, I mean the Blind Bandit."
The guard's eye's narrowed. "The Blind Bandit doesn't talk with anyone."
"She'll talk to me!" Sokka said. "Please, just, let me through. I promise, she'll want to see me-"
The man shook his head. "Am I gonna have to throw you out?" He asked gruffly.
"I-no-just, at least ask her for me." He asked desperately. "You'll see, tell her its Sokka."
The guard shrugged his shoulders but turned and walked through the opening in the rock and out of sight. Sokka passed nervously while they waited for him to return. He was so close now it was killing him. When the man returned, it wasn't with the news he wanted to hear.
"She doesn't want to see you."
"Wh-but-…did you tell her who it was?! Did you tell her it was me?!" Sokka exclaimed, pounding his chest in emphasis. The guard hesitated and Sokka straightened up and lowered his voice.
"Did you?" He said in a deadly calm.
"I-uh." The man seemed more afraid of the intensity of Sokka's questions than his attempts at looking physically imposing. But it didn't matter either way.
"You didn't, did you?!" Sokka's fist clenched and he snarled. "Go back and tell her!"
The guard seemed to debate for a moment, but then made up his mind. "No, you should get to the show. She won't see anyone." Clearly he found Toph more of a threat than Sokka.
"Argh!" Sokka yelled and raised his arm. Aang stopped him with surprising strength for his age.
"It's okay, Sokka. We can try again after the contest." He reasoned with the older boy. Sokka knew Aang had a dislike for violence and, conscious of his sister's presence as well, he decided to back away.
"Fine." He said, shrugging off Aang's grip and walking towards the arena.
As the crowd funneled in through a large stone archway, Sokka spied a few scantly dressed women, pulling men off to the side and through doorways that he never would have seen otherwise. He frowned and tried to push Katara along so she didn't notice the activities around her. Some voice in his head told him. She's seventeen, of course she knows about- he spoke out, "C'mon, I think there's some free seats down there."
They chose from the empty seats near the front, completely naive of the reason why they were vacant. They quickly discovered why and regressed a little further back. The crowd cheered as the host jumped down onto the ring and opened the match with an air of authority.
"The rules are simple!" His voice carried throughout the stadium. "Just knock the other guy out of the ring and you win!"
He bended himself back to his referee's podium and the battle commenced.
Sokka had never witnessed such a display in his life. The sheer strength of these men, hurling the earth itself at each other was amazing. As the night wore on he realized how truly awesome Toph must be at earthbending to be the reigning champ. As each match ended his nerves grew more and more intense. His heart was beating faster than normal and he was tapping his boomerang against his knee to try and work off some of the apprehension. After what seemed like an eternity, the last match was over and huge badgermoles cleared the arena of rubble.
The Boulder stood at one side of the ring, a smile plastered on his face.
"Now," the announcer was saying, "The moment you've all been waiting for! The Boulder, verses your champion, the Blind Bandit!"
At the sound of her stage name, Sokka saw a speck of green and yellow emerge on the other side of the ring.
Toph.
He scrambled down to the very front seats to get a better look. He watched as she lifted up her championship belt and the crowd gave a deafening cheer. Time seemed to freeze as Sokka stared at the girl he loved for the first time in five months. She wore a dark green under shirt and pants, overlaid with a yellow tunic. A thick leather studded belt secured the clothes at her waist and she had green cuffs at her ankles and wrists. He saw with a smile that she wore the puffballs he'd made her on her headband, but his grin disappeared when he noticed that she wasn't wearing her necklace. Though he didn't have long to think about this as the bell rang and the match began. Sokka sucked in a quick breath.
The Boulder looked to be making the first move, he lifted his leg into the air but before he'd even brought it back down to the ground, Sokka saw Toph move, fast as lightning. He blinked and saw that a line of earth had wormed its way from her foot to where the Boulder was still brining his leg down, his foot met with Toph's tunnel of earth and he lost his balance, legs split unnaturally wide. The Boulder gave a cry of pain.
Sokka's mouth dropped open. She had made her move even before the Boulder had finished his first. How could she have known?
Toph took a step forwards and, with a flick of her wrist, bended her opponent out of the ring and into the wall with a 'crunch'. The whole fight had lasted less than thirty seconds. Sokka saw the smug grin that crossed her features. His chest tightened, it had been so long since he'd seen that smile, any smile of hers.
"She waited…and listened." Aang whispered beside him. Sokka hadn't even noticed him move down beside him. The airbender continued, "It's her, Sokka, the girl I saw in the swamp!"
"Uh-huh." Was all he could say. His eyes were glued to Toph's every movement, simply drinking up her image, savoring every second. He felt like he'd been in a desert for months and was finally having his first sip of water. It was amazing.
The host called out. "You're winner, and still the champion, the Blind Bandit!"
The crowd gave a mighty roar.
A grin split Sokka's face all by itself and he felt immensely proud. This girl…how had she ever fallen for just some regular guy like him?
Aang nudged his side. "That's her isn't it? Toph. Your girlfriend."
"Yeah…" Sokka replied, suddenly wondering how he was going to get to her. Would she leave straight after the match?
Aang's laugh distracted him. "She's amazing!"
"…I know."
The announcer was speaking again. "To make things a little more interesting, I'm offering this bag of gold pieces to anyone who can defeat the Blind Bandit!" He flashed a heavy looking green bag to the audience.
There was a silence.
"What? No one dares to face her?!" He questioned.
Suddenly Sokka knew this was his chance.
He called out in such a loud voice that his throat hurt. "I will!"
Toph's head whipped around of its own accord. She stumbled at the sound of his voice. A hand went to her temple as the ground became blurry.
Sokka.
She mouthed his name and took a step forward.
Spirits!
He'd actually come.
He was actually here.
A bark of laughter escaped her and she practically ran to the center of the ring to meet him. As she waited by the host for him to make his way onto the stage, she remembered dimly that she was still obliged to give the audience a show; otherwise she'd probably be in trouble with Shin Fu. So as she felt Sokka's familiar footsteps on the stone stairs and his heartbeat for the first time in what felt like forever, she tried to keep her composure. She hardly noticed as Shin Fu bended himself back to his podium. Sokka walked over with a painstaking slowness and stood a few meters away from her. She took a moment to look at him properly; he was taller and more bulky than she remembered and his heart was beating so fast she was suddenly worried he was having some kind of heart attack.
Placing a hand on her hip, Toph called out loudly enough for the crowd to hear, "Well, this is the first time another earthbending girl has come up to face me."
Sokka seemed taken aback by the taunt and she tried to wink to tell him it was just for show. She wasn't sure if she'd done it right, but he seemed to get the message anyway. "Oh, I'm no bender." He called back.
"What?!" She laughed. "Only a Meatheaded idiot would come up here and challenge me with no bending!"
The crowd laughed with her.
"Oh I'm sure I can handle myself just fine." Sokka gave a shrug. Toph could feel the grin on his face and found one splitting her features too. She tried to control it enough to be able to talk.
"What ya gonna fight me with then?" She called. "Your bare hands?"
Sokka pulled out his bone club from its hilt on his back and Toph shook her head. No weapons were allowed. But before she could tell him so, Shin Fu cut in. "Maybe we could make this a little more interesting! Should we let this peasant fight with his club?!" He yelled to the crowd.
They screamed 'yes' and Toph gave an attempt to roll her eyes. Settling into a stance she said, "Alright then, Meathead, lets give the people what they want. A real show!"
She waited and let him have the first move. After a hesitant second, he lifted his weapon and ran at her.
Sokka almost tripped over himself making his way up the stairs to the fighting ring. As he crested the last few steps and Toph's image entered his vision, he had to take a deep breath. He saw her lips mouth his name and she ran to the center of the stage where the host was standing. Once there, she seemed to calm down a little and stood waiting with an expressionless face as he made his way over. Sokka knew she'd always had more self-control than he did and, with each step he took, the urge to run over and lift her into his arms, kissing her senseless, became stronger and stronger. But something in the way she stood, told him that this probably wasn't a good idea. So he took a few deep breaths and came to stand a few paces away from her in the center of the arena.
Being closer now, Sokka's eyes wandered all over her. She was shorter than he remembered, or was he just taller? And thinner too, which concerned him, she had already been quite small when he'd last seen her. But right now, she looked more lean and he could practically see the strength in her thighs and calves. He swallowed a hard when he saw her hands. They were rough and bruised.
The belt she wore emphasized the gentle curve of her hips and her tunic was tight at her chest. He followed the pale line of her neck up to her face and saw that her smile was still the same. Those familiar lips pushed at her pale cheeks making her light green eyes shine with a happiness he'd missed.
Sokka was distracted as the host leapt back and onto his platform. Toph's smile faded and she called out to him and the crowd, "Well, this is the first time another earthbending girl has come up to face me."
His eyebrows met in confusion. What was she talking about? Wasn't she happy to see him? But then he watched as she tried to close one of her eyes in what Sokka took as an attempt at a wink. Suddenly he understood that the show was still on and he was actually going to have to fight her. He called back and they began a banter of words for the audience. Sokka couldn't take any of it seriously though, he grinned and felt giddy the whole time. He saw that his joy was infectious, as Toph's attempts at talking grew more labored through her own smile.
"What ya gonna fight me with then?" She asked loudly. "Your bare hands?"
Sokka thought for a second before pulling out his club and settling into a fighting position. He saw Toph shake her head subtly.
What?
Maybe weapons weren't allowed.
The host suddenly called to the audience, asking them if Sokka should be able to fight with his club. They all answered 'yes' in a deafening cheer.
Toph rolled her eyes. Sokka noted that she'd gotten better at it than the last time he'd seen her. "Alright then, Meathead, lets give the people what they want. A real show!"
Sokka heard her emphasis on the word 'real' and realized that she did actually want a proper fight. That was fine by him, he was ready for a rematch and, really, he was just ready to do anything that would get this over and done with so he could talk to her properly.
He raised his club behind his head and charged at her. She didn't flinch as he brought his weapon down towards her side. When she still didn't move Sokka suddenly thought she wasn't going to defend herself and he stopped his attack short. A column of rock shot from the earth to his right and knocked him away. He hit the ground with a thud and coughed as he tried to stand up. Toph was laughing.
"I've told you before, Snoozles, don't underestimate me!" She pumped her arms twice and Sokka felt himself being lifted from the ground on a section of rock. He was dumped roughly back in front of her. The crowd whistled and laughed.
She was playing with him.
Sokka stood and wiped the moisture from his brow, he re-adjusted his grip. Alright, if that's how it was going to be…He ran at her again, this time he faked to the left before trying to hit her right side at the last second. She seemed to anticipate this though and another bit of earth swiped him away, bruising his ribs.
They continued like this for a while, Sokka continually trying to change tactics, but no matter how hard he tried, Toph seemed to know what he was going to do even before he'd known it himself. The audience became restless.
"Finish him!" They called.
"End it already!"
"C'mon Bandit!"
Toph smiled and knocked Sokka back once again. This time though as he slid across the ground, he turned and threw his boomerang out of reflex. It sailed past the side of her head and off towards the crowd. Toph seemed surprised by the projectile and flinched visibly before yelling, "Missed!" She tired to sound tough, but Sokka could hear the wobble in her voice and realized that she never would have been able to see his weapon as it flew through the air. But she continued, "Looks like it's time to end this!"
Time slowed as Toph pulled her arm back, ready to bend him out of the ring, and Sokka looked behind her to see his boomerang spinning back around. He staggered up, his body protesting with aches and pains, and his voice was hoarse as he tried to warn her. "Look out!"
But he was too late as the projectile completed its loop and rushed towards the back of her head. Sokka stood frozen with horror as it met its target with a sickly 'thwack'. He stepped forward and then broke into a run as Toph swayed and fell hard to the ground. Everyone seemed too stunned to do anything. The arena was eerily quiet as Sokka scrambled to Toph's side. He knelt down and pulled her roughly into his arms, her head on his lap. Her eyes were closed and her body was limp. "Toph!"
No answer. He shook her gently.
"Toph! Wake up! C'mon, please." Guilt was pouring over him in waves. How could he have been so stupid?
Then she gave a moan and shifted in his arms. "Nnn, s-Sokka?"
He gave a cry of relief and kissed the top of her head. "Yeah, Toph, I'm here. I'm so sor-"
He didn't have time to finish as one of her small hands landed solidly against his chest. She gripped his tunic and the earth rumbled around them. Sokka looked around frantically as the earthquake became more and more violent. "Toph wha-!"
The ground gave way and they were both plunged into cold darkness.
:3
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