A/N: Hello, I'm still alive! I can't begin to apologise for the lateness and randomness of my updates. I never intended to be this bad, and when I always find writers leaving such long gaps between their updates I get annoyed and now I find myself doing the same! Unfortunately uni is a real mouthful I still got lab reports to do, but I will always make sure to update when I can.
Toph's POV:
'Who does he think he is?!' I stop my angry strides and sink to the floor '...my former best friend that's what.' I stifle a sob that threatens to emerge from my throat, resulting in some sort of weird gurgling sound. 'How dare he?! I hate him, I hate him, I hate him!' I try to keep up my bitter mantra to get rid of this overwhelming sensation of loss. 'How could I be so blind to not see behind that facade, that lying, cheating, happy go lucky facade?! How?!"
Suddenly I'm overwhelmed with the urge to lash out, shout, scream or punch something. I spring up and smash my fist into a tree trunk causing it to shake under the impact but nothing more happens. I scream so loudly and so intensely that the birds in the area fly away in haste.
Soon I just flop down in a heap on the ground. 'This is the last time I ever care about anyone again. Sokka, Zuko and Katara are going to have to deal without me. If this is what it's like to have friends then I don't want to have them any more...' I squeeze my eyes shut as I think about each one of them, '...they'll be devastated, but I can't help it; I don't want to be hurt anymore.' I let out a shuddering sigh at how much I hurt Sokka earlier today. 'I shouldn't have said that, I know how much he's suffering from what that Avatar did to us, yet I was so selfish and wallowing in my own anger to be sympathetic.'
I place both my hands on the ground, something I usually do whenever I seek comfort from the troubles of this world. However, as I place my hands on the earth, I feel vibrations of what feels like a fight in the same location of where I left the Avatar. I concentrate harder, trying to see if I can feel his presence. I get my answer a moment later, the vibrations of Aang being slammed into the ground repeatedly as I feel other people being thrown off balance and hitting the ground.
My eyes widen in alarm; 'What in the world is going on?!' I jump to my feet and run to the place I was trying so hard to get away from. Weirdly only one thought is present on my mind, 'Please be ok… please be ok.' I repeat in my head as I sense the struggles increase. Soon I find myself in the exact place I left Aang in and I'm confronted with the presence of 8 people surrounding the Airbender, who is on his knees withering in what must be agony. I grind my teeth in anger. 'No one hurts my friends but me.' I stomp onto the ground and bringing my hands in front of me I send earth spikes at all of them, which catches their clothing and hurdles them into a tree.
"Who dares to interfere?!" A booming voice reaches my ears. 'He must be the leader, lucky him.'
"That would be me." I step forward and encase him in an earth chamber. Not long after I feel the ground shaking underneath me and hear the splintering sound of rock breaking into lots of small pieces. 'Oh so this guy is an Earthbender. Let's see how good he really is.' I smirk to myself. "You don't know what you're in for." I boast and we become engrossed in a dance for about 5 minutes before I'm finally able to pin him down permanently. 'Good think I keep some metal cuffs with me and thankfully they don't know how to metal bend.' I grin. 'Man it's good to be an awesome bender.'
A movement behind me makes me shield myself with rock. Fortunately for that as I feel a hot sensation in front of me. 'What in the world is Firebenders doing here? I guess Snoozles was right in saying that not everyone is happy under Sparky's regime.' I let the ground swallow me whilst tunnelling under and pop back up onto the surface behind the firebender. I tap him on the shoulder. When he spins round in surprise I encase him in a thick layer of earth. I quickly assess the situation and find that I've managed to metal cuff all the Earthbenders, encase most Firebenders in rock and the other Firebenders are still unconscious and stuck to the tree that I had pinned them to earlier. Making sure I've counted everyone I spin round and rush to Aang who is on all fours panting heavily. I kneel down beside him, waiting for him to catch his breath.
"How? No, why? Oh it doesn't matter." He says breathlessly.
"I would've thought you could take out a group of 8 people." I say offhandedly.
"I would've… could've but my head is giving me some problems." I bite my lip and look away in shame, 'It's my fault he was too battered to even defend himself. Wait! Why was those people attacking him anyway, could it be a...?' Fear grips my heart and I'm unable to finish that thought.
"What happened?" I question worriedly as I hear his panting die down. I feel as he quickly springs to his feet, yet I sense the imbalance in his stance and grab him by the shoulder to stop him from toppling over.
"The meeting, we've got to go! Everyone's in danger!" I widen my eyes in alarm.
"What?!" He shakes his head at my outburst.
"No time to explain, we've got to get there!" I nod and quickly scan the area for his staff. Finding it abandoned beside a tree, I go grab it and pass it to him.
"Can you fly?" I question, well aware of his exhausted state.
"Yeah, just about. Hold onto me."
"Spirits I hate when you do this!"
"It's the quickest way." I begrudgingly encircle my arms around his waist and hold on tightly. My grip increases as I find us leaving solid ground. I decide to talk to distract me from my fear.
"Aang?" A pregnant pause pierces the atmosphere. The only noise I hear is the rushing of wind for what feels like an age.
"Yes?" The tentative response gives me confidence to continue.
"Was that an assassination attempt?" Another pause, but this time shorter than the last, his sigh indicates his unwillingness to reply, but he goes to do it anyway.
"Yes." My heart pounds in fear, 'if someone is willing to take out the Avatar, something big must be up.' "They want to get rid of all the leaders and people who helped end the war and they are doing it today, soon, that's why we have to rush." I nod in understanding, before another question takes form in my mind; I decide to voice it out.
"How long?" Another sigh.
"3 years." I grimace, 'As I finally understand why people say that ignorance is bliss.' My heart sinks when I realise I've been a jerk to him while all this time he's been dealing with this. I open my mouth to question his actions, but before I can I find us touching land once again. "Listen, no more questions alright? We've got a mission to focus on. After that you can chew me out as much as you want, ok?" I give him a smile, my first real smile in years.
"Good plan." Aang nods and together we sprint to the meeting hall.
Aang's POV:
As we run to the meeting hall, I find my thoughts in a jumbled mess, 'Oh spirits, she knows! I should've been more careful. I should've waited longer before confronting those assassins. What is she going to say, what does she think? What will everyone else think? I just let out my secret in the worst possible way... by being caught in the midst of it!'
"Aang, are you alright?" Toph's questioning tone breaks me out of my swirling thoughts to find us standing in front of the door to the meeting hall.
"Fine." I say distractedly while grabbing hold of the handle.
"Liar." That biting word nearly makes me pause, but I shake it off, 'Now is not the time for another argument.' I push open the door and step inside, half relieved to find the room untouched, yet the fierce glares sent to me makes me flinch, but having Toph stand by my side brings me a sense of comfort to withstand those heated looks.
"Good to see the Avatar has finally decided to grace us with his presence." The nobleman from the last meeting sneers at me. I go and stand on the pedestal.
"I apologise for being so late, but you all must leave immediately!" A chorus of outrage courses through the room.
"After you make us wait for you for nearly an hour you want us to just leave?!"
"Yes Avatar Aang, what's the meaning of this?" My gaze fixes on the Head Councilman and I swallow, unsure what to say exactly, 'Do I tell them about the planned assassinations?' Fortunately Toph comes to my rescue and steps in.
"STOP your pretty arguments and LISTEN! You are all in grave danger! A group of rebels are planning to assassinate you all in any minute. So you have to..."
"Well said Chief, now it's our turn to give a performance, but let's do this with some action." I whirl round to come face to face with one of the assassins that attacked me 18 months ago. 'Oh no.' I think as everyone else gasps in shock. "Men, FIRE!" A torrent of screams are heard as arrows rain down from above.
A/N: I hope you all enjoyed this update, and I'm really sorry it's quite short. I want to say:
I will never give up on this story and I will see it through to the end, because this fic means so much to me. So don't worry about my awful updating schedule, you will see it to the end. And I thank you all for being so patient with me.
To those reading Will they ever Understand, I'll try to update that soon, I know it's been a long time since I updated that one!
Please review! I love hearing your thoughts and it does wonders for my confidence as well pushes me to update. No reviews, no updates (hope that's enough of an incentive for you).
