Hello world! Sorry for the terrible wait we've been putting you all through, but you know how it is with life getting in the way and stuff. Anywho, here's a little ditty for prompt 26 - trials. The idea for this one actually comes from a writing journal assignment in Marla's english class. The question on the board was "would you be willing to plead guilty to a crime you didn't commit, to protect a loved one?" and you could've answered it anyway you wanted to (essay, creative writting, ect.). The first half is what she came up with, the second half is something RubyT tacked on afterwards.
Oh, and for the record, we fully intend to add on to our last story Taste. So...yeah, don't worry, we won't leave you hanging.
Before we began, a special shout out to Tomboy 26 and Ann Bei Fong. Don't get us wrong, we love all of our amazing, spectacular, awsome, tokka-rific, reviewers out there; but we just gotta give these two special props for being so loyal. Seriously, you two are like a fanfiction author's wet dream! You guys review pretty much every chapter now a days (even the sucky ones) and pretty much always have something good to say. Like we said: AMAZING!
We don't own ATLA. (Disclaimer monster is in bed...)
"No. There is no way in hell I'm agreeing to this."
His majesty sighed mournfully, still gently patting his beloved pet as Bosco rested his massive head on the Earth King's lap. "I understand you have your pride Toph, but this is a sensitive issue. I can't make you do something you don't want to do, however, I'm simply asking you to think about it," King Kuei explained delicately to the young woman before him. She gazed upon him with unseeing eyes as he spoke, black hair piled up into a simple bun and bangs tucked securely behind her ears to respectfully allow the King to see her face.
The earthbender's eyes narrowed. "I want to talk to Sokka about this," she demanded, crossing her arms tight over her chest in a small act of defiance. Her voice echoed across the massive throne room, indicating how alone they really were. Only her, the Earth King, and Qin Lee, the king's newest and most trusted adviser, remained a part of this highly sensitive and possibly corrupt conversation. Not including Bosco, unhelpfully snoozing at Kuei's side as his master comfortingly stroked behind his ears.
"'Sokka', highly objected to the idea," Qin Lee replied, twisting his thin, black bead between two fingers thoughtfully. "It seems he failed to see the benefit in saving his own life."
Toph's mouth twisted into a scowl listening to the adviser's attitude, of which she hadn't been a fan of since the day he was implemented as a permanent replacement to Long Feng. The Earth King, never one for unnecessary conflict, glanced nervously between the two before gently cutting in. "What Qin Lee means to say, is that Sokka has a bit of a…conflict of interest here. It's really your decision and he would just…complicate things."
"So what? We're just supposed to stand around here and decide his fate for him? He killed an assassin! Why is he even on trial here?"
"Vigilante justice will not be tolerated here in Ba Sing Se!" Qin Lee nearly exploded, though his heart beat remained unnaturally steady and well controlled. "We have rules, laws, guidelines! Nobody is exempt from the rules, no matter what the case!"
"Well your rules stink!" Toph spat, realizing that it was a childish retort, but not necessarily caring. "Any one of us would've done the same thing! You can't just hang him for being in the right place at the right time!"
"It was murder!"
"He saved your lives!"
Guilt shadowed the Earth King's face. "I know…" he admitted softly, cutting off Qin Lee before he could respond with something sharp. "This is all my fault. I should've listened. I should've increased security. Then none of this would've happened…"
His adviser sighed, what appeared to be genuine concern in his expression. "Do not blame yourself my liege," he comforted with a slight bow. "What's done is done. We must not dwell on what could have been done differently." Toph didn't miss the quick glare he shot in her direction as he spoke, her hands balling into fists at her sides.
"But I do owe him my life, adviser," the King admitted.
Qin Lee nodded. "I understand your majesty. But to pardon a foreign peasant over Earthkingdom nobility would be an act of political suicide, no matter how questionable the man's intentions were."
"Sokka has more honor in his little finger, than you do in your whole body you jackass!" Toph erupted. Politics were never her strong suit; that was more Sokka's thing. Unconsciously she bit her lip, flexing her fists nervously as the conversation continued down a bad road. If only he was here now, he'd know what to do. After all, he was the plan guy.
To her distaste, the adviser simply ignored her and continued to convince the Earth King. "The people would demand blood. After all, the Pang family is a very prestigious family, and well adored by the people."
"Xu Pang is a thug! We don't even know why he attacked you in the first place!"
Qin Lee suddenly snapped his head back to the interrupting young woman before them. "One more outburst and the decision shall be made for you Miss Bei Fong! And I promise you will not like the result!" Toph shut her mouth and fell silent, still glaring blind daggers in the direction of their voices. The adviser then turned back towards the King, his expression softening. "As I was saying, war hero or not, admitting to the people that a Water Tribesman is responsible for the death of a member of the Pang family and that you won't be taking any disciplinary measures would only invoke a backlash. After all your majesty, an eye for an eye is the golden rule…"
Toph snarled at the thought, the ground literately tensing under her feet. She felt Qin Lee shoot her another glance, more out of curiosity than anything, and the earthbender swallowed. The King's eyes were on her too now, and he silently prayed to the spirits that he wouldn't have to soon search for another adviser.
"But there must be some other way," Kuei pleaded, a silent desperation in his voice.
The hints of a twisted smile tweaked the corners of the older gentleman's mouth. "However…if the deed had been committed by someone considered equal in status, then we could throw the matter in the mercy of the court." Qin Lee started to pace as his plan formulated before them, returning to twisting his bead between his finger tips like before. "Someone from a prestigious family themselves…"
"Someone like me." It wasn't a question. Toph knew exactly what he had been asking all along.
The adviser nodded. "Not to mention, your majesty, how lady Toph is a celebrated war hero and Earthbending master to the Avatar himself. There wouldn't be a council or jury in the entire Kingdom unwilling to grant mercy upon the great Toph Bei Fong."
The King nodded slowly. "Indeed…" he agreed, inspecting the woman's reactions carefully through the gold spectacles perched low on the bridge of his nose. "But you must understand that admitting to a crime you didn't commit…it would tarnish your reputation regardless. Not to mention you would be ostracized from the royal court…"
Toph pondered this in silence. They said they had already run through this plan with Sokka and he had obviously rejected it. Usually he knew what he was doing. He was good at this kind of political stuff. Over the past few years as ambassador, first to the Fire Nation and now more recently to the Earth Kingdom, it seemed like there wasn't a single loophole that those slimy lawyers could get by him, especially with her helping out as the designated lie detector. Qin Lee's plan seemed full proof, so why didn't Sokka agree to it? He had his pride, sure, but Toph had never known him to willingly die just for the sake of honor.
"I want to talk to Sokka," she said finally.
Qin Lee frowned. "That would be highly inappropriate."
The earthbender's hands balled into fists at her sides once more. "Why can't I see him?" she demanded. "I want to know why he didn't agree with your plan! I want to know what you aren't telling me!" Toph's head was nearly spinning. It all seemed so easy; admit to killing some creep, save Sokka's life, receive a slap on the wrist and go home. But what was wrong with it? What did he see that she couldn't?
"The decision is on the table Miss Bei Fong. Either take it, or Sokka of the Water Tribe will hang," the adviser retorted coolly, his patience wearing thin.
There it was.
Toph felt the Earth King give a mournful sigh, his eyes closing. She knew his hands were tied, and even if they weren't really, there wasn't any way she could think a way out of this. That was Sokka's job. He was the plan guy. All she wanted to do was talk to him for five minutes, but apparently she couldn't even have that. A decision would have to be reached now.
"Okay. I'll do it…"
Drip…drip…drip…
The warrior turned ambassador sighed, leaning against the wall of his cell and praying it wouldn't give him splinters. "Why do these places always leak?" he muttered bitterly, ready to tear his hair out by the wolf's tail.
This was taking way too long. Sokka knew full well they didn't have the grounds to keep him here, the past year of studying Earth Kingdom law told him that much. He smirked a little at the memory, sliding back into a laying down position and resting his head in the crook of his arm. Everyone had mocked him for studying so hard, but who was laughing now? Pretty soon he'd be out of here without so much as a slap on the wrist.
And how was he going to get out of here? Two words: 'diplomatic immunity', baby.
An old policy most people had forgotten about since the hundred year war, and wasn't even valid when it came to Fire Nation. However, the policy was technicality never revoked between the Water Tribes and the Earth Kingdom, and as ambassador he had no doubt it would be enough to protect him, even if that man was a Pang. The King might not be aware of this (which really just showed how in the dark the poor man had been kept his whole life when it came to international policies), but his adviser would have to know. I mean, how couldn't he?
Until then, Sokka would just have to wait. He wondered briefly if Toph was doing alright on her own, then nearly slapped himself for thinking it. Of course she was fine, she was Toph! Maybe she wasn't exactly an Earth Kingdom book of law like himself, but the girl did fine enough on her own here in the city as…well her job title mainly consisted of whatever it was convenient for her to do. She'd go to meetings as a lie detector and accompany the Earth King every time he left the palace, but other than that there wasn't much she could do. Don't get him wrong, she always did seem to prove herself useful, but Toph was about as good with people in a political setting as he was at those fancy Earth King parties…the same ones he had been banned from.
The deal was, he made the plans and Toph enforced them. That's the way it'd been going for some time, and the Earth Kingdom had never ran smoother. She was the power behind the plan, without her Sokka was pretty sure nobody would listen to a thing he'd say. He was just happy it had been him there that night, as opposed to Toph, who was about this close to visiting the King instead. Sure she was a war hero and all, but up against the court in a trial like this…well…she had been known to step on quite a few toes since they'd came here. Although yes, she got people to listen, tact wasn't exactly in the woman's vocabulary, and more often than not she'd gone too far with an insult or two.
As much as he hated to admit it, the court would eat her alive. Him too, possibly, but at least he'd have a couple years worth of studying Ba Sing Se law under his belt. Toph had nothing like that, and he knew more than a few people that wouldn't mind her out of the picture.
Sokka sighed, sitting up again to pick up his discarded dinner knife in the near-dark, wooden cell. All he could say was that it was a good thing this was happening to him instead. He was in pretty good with King Kuei, and had no doubt the man would use this loop hole as a good excuse to stop this matter from going to court, where spirits knows what his fate might be. The warrior mused that hanging would seem a bit extreme; after all he was protecting the Earth King. Banishment seemed probable though. It wasn't a stretch to assume a couple of nobles hated him and Toph's guts enough to send one of them away for good. Really that wouldn't even be that bad for him, after all, Sokka was sure there was still a place for them in the Firenation. But for Toph – to give up her family, her home, her everything – that was another reason Sokka was more than grateful it was him in this armpit of a situation instead of her.
In his boredom, the warrior suddenly started toying around with the remaining eating utensil, tossing it from hand to hand as he whistled. It kind of reminded him of that night he and Toph had spent in the drunk tank after 'upsetting the peace' back in the Firenation. A brilliant idea suddenly came to mind, and Sokka quickly went to work.
Without speaking, he started chiseling away at the side of the cell, grateful that it was wooden, but a bit disappointed that Toph would never be able to see what he was doing. It didn't take long to finish, and when he did, Sokka stepped back a ways and squinted back down at his handiwork.
"Toph and Sokka" was all it said, scrapped fairly decent against the side of the cell considering the only thing he had to work with was a dull old prison knife. Immediately he felt like facepalming. Years of being forced to write her name before his must've brainwashed him, otherwise this could've been his chance to finally receive top billing in one of their thousands of works of graffiti they'd left behind (unbenowned to Katara during their travels). Such a loss.
Then he stopped for a second and glanced around the cell, a crazy thought coming to mind. Sokka considered for a second the notion that Toph would be unable to read anything he decided to scribble into wood and couldn't help mauling over all the potentially evil possibilities. He glanced back over to their names carved deep into the wooden grain with a dark smirk, only to find himself stopping his hand mid-air as it was about to carve something he knew Toph would probably bury him up to his neck in rubble just for considering.
Sokka wasn't sure why, but suddenly the air changed. He thought for a moment, glancing around nervously once more out of, mostly, embarrassment. Before he gave it a second thought, the warrior pressed the knife deep into the wooden grain and carved out two little misshapen half-circles around the names, far lighter than the characters themselves.
The result was exactly as he intended, and what he knew Toph would definitely bury him up to his nose in earth for, for being so unbelievably corny. It gave him a tiny smile though, the skin of his cheeks tinted a little pinker than usual for just barely a second. He sighed and leaned back down against the other side of the cell, staring at the little heart containing their names in it and thanking the spirits Toph couldn't read on wood because if she could he might've literately died of embarrassment.
He couldn't help it though. After all, he was Sokka: plain guy, meat guy, sarcasm guy, swordsman guy, ambassador guy, warrior guy, boomerang guy, and – just maybe – disgustingly clique romantic…guy.
Sokka snickered. Although she'd never know, he couldn't help thinking Toph would painfully agree.
After a while though, the novelty wore off, and the man just rested his head back against the wall behind him, wincing at the feel of wooden splinters sinking into the back of his neck. Only a hint of worry remained as the minutes stretched out into hours. Sooner or later, they'd have to come get him, and when they did, things would go right back to normal. Until then, he supposed a nap would suffice. It wasn't like he was going anywhere, and besides, his friend would probably be there as soon as he woke up, ready to greet him with a sarcastic comment and a punch in the arm.
Oblivious to the world outside his cell, Sokka fell asleep with a smile on his face.
So there you have it. Just a little something we whiped up on the spot. And for the record, Toph can't tell when Qin Lee is lying. Lets just say for the sake of convencence that he has some kind of Azula thing going on. Don't ask us why, its just a one-shot; and not even one of our better ones at that.
Until next time, this is Invaders Marla and RubyT signing off!