A/N: Well, I don't know what's gone into me with all these updates. I suppose I've had these chapters sitting on my phone for 6 months and I felt I should get them out. Also, I'm trying to get as many chapters out before uni re-starts because I know I won't have much time to update. I'm not sure if I said, but I've graduated from Biomedical Science and thanks God I'm going to start medicine in a couple of weeks, which I expect will be quite full on. But I'll always try updating as much as possible, until then I'll keep trying to get as many chapters out.
I'm currently writing chapter 40…yeah I know how is it going on for that long?! Not a clue, just feel like I want to have a complete story. Hope I didn't ruin that for anyone, since some people like stories that don't have that many chapters. Anywayyy, here it is, hope you enjoy.
Aang's POV:
My heart thuds painfully against my ribs as my eyes remain glued at the doorway that Katara disappeared through. 'Dumb brain! I just closed up on her again, it seems evey time I start to open up I just end up clamming up all over again. It's like I can't get over this block. Maybe...I'll never get over it.' I grind my teeth tightly together before shaking my head, 'no I refuse to accept that. I will get better. I will restore my friendship with everyone. I have to.' I sigh sadly, but I decide to push those thoughts away and focus on something else.
My eyes wander around the room until they rest on a closed door at the far side of the room. I glance back to the open doorway to make sure that Katara won't reappear suddenly and with a definite nod I swing my legs slowly to one side of the bed. I grind my teeth painfully together and take a deep breath in an attempt to still the sharp throbbing of my stomach. 'Looks like I just took a few steps back in my recovery process. Spirits Kyla is going to kill me! Note to self: try to delay my next meeting with her for as long as possible.' Once I've managed to bear with the pain I put my feet on the ground and get up but agony runs through me anew as the stretching pulls on the recently closed wound. 'Forget Kyla; Katara's going to kill me when she finds out I've left the bed.' I try to take a step forward but find myself stumbling and I quickly latch onto the bedpost to stop my descent into the ground.
I scan the room again; this time in search of my staff and find it resting by the closed door that I plan to go through. 'Great. Nothing is ever easy is it?' Taking another deep breath I follow the wall around until I reach my staff and the door where I grab the former and reach an arm out to the door knob, twisting it. As I open it I find that my expectations are correct and see the open courtyard of the palace. I take one more glance back at the room and stumble through the door till I'm outside. 'I'm assuming they haven't transferred the rebels to the prisons yet, so they should still be outside, in front of the palace.'
As I get my bearings I turn and slowly make my way up front whilst leaning heavily on my staff, 'this feels way too familiar'. Finally, I catch sight of a ponytailed warrior further ahead and despite myself I find a small grin working its way up my face as I see Sokka mocking the rebels in their makeshift metal prisons. The Water Tribe man must have sensed my presence as he looks up when I draw closer.
"Aang!" He exclaims and meets me half way. He gives me an analytical look as he looks me up and down and without a word he comes up by my side and throws an arm around me and I find myself instinctively leaning against him. "Are you alright? Shouldn't you be in bed resting? Katara will freak when she finds you wandered off."
"Good to see you too Sokka." I quip dryly and with a soft stamp of my foot a stump-like rock emerges from the ground and I gingerly take a seat and wrap an arm around my stomach as Sokka releases his hold on me. But a frown appears on his face.
"Seriously you should be in bed. You were bleeding quite a lot." I roll my eyes at him.
"Since when have you become such a worry wart?" I tease but Sokka's frown just deepens.
"Since I found out the type of secrets you hid from us." I widen my eyes at Sokka's blunt remark but he shakes his head apologetically. "Sorry. I was just worried, there was a lot of blood." I sigh and erect another rock stump for Sokka to sit on. Once he does take a seat, I look him straight in the eye.
"I'm fine now...or I will be fine. How's everything going in here? Has there been any problems?" The pony-tailed warrior looks at me conflicted but decides to let the subject drop as he shakes his head in response to my query.
"No problems. We're just trying to figure out how to escort them all to the Fire Nation prisons. There's a lot of them so we've figured it will probably take several trips. At the moment we're cataloguing the rebels." I raise an eyebrow at this.
"Cataloguing?" I echo in confusion.
"Yeah, you know getting names, and background information on them."
"And they're reciprocating?" I question as doubt leaks into my voice and Sokka barely manages to hold back a snort of laughter.
"Some are and some not. I guess the ones that are, are hoping to get a lighter sentence. They're the ones helping us to get info on the others, but it's been a slow process." I nod my head, but I still find myself taken back with this revelation.
"And Azula?" I whisper quietly at which my old friend's face hardens slightly.
"We've already locked her up whilst she was unconscious. Though we've been talking and have come to the conclusion that it would be better that...you take her bending away." I sigh at this, strangely not surprised by the suggestion.
"Yeah, I guess there really is no choice left now. When?"
"When you're better. She won't be breaking out any time soon, so there's no rush." I nod in understanding when a question pops up in my mind.
"Do you think we've caught them all?" I ask in a shushed whisper. I watch as a frown makes its way on Sokka's face. And he leans towards me.
"You think there might be others that weren't present here today?" He questions, his voice dropping low to match mine and to stop the imprisoned rebels from overhearing.
"I don't know. It just seems too easy." At my response the pony tailed warrior brings her hand to his chin, his eyes unfocused as he becomes deep in thought.
"I know this isn't practical, but what about you do a round of the prisons? Maybe see if there are some rebels you know but aren't present here. That will indicate whether there's still more out there.
"I guess that's a good idea.' I say though not really convinced it is, 'do I even want to see the faces of the people who have made my life a nightmare for the last 4 years?' I chew my lip anxiously, but a hand on my shoulder brings me out of my thoughts. I look up to see Sokka's reassuring smile.
"It's alright. I'll be right by your side." I breathe in deeply and nod before shooting a small smile back at him.
"Twinkletoes? What are you doing out here?" I blink at the new voice and turn my head slightly to find Toph walking towards us with a confused expression.
"I thought to see how everything is going on out here." I say with a shrug.
"You should be in bed, resting. Katara will flip when she finds you out here."
"That's what I said!" I grimace at the two of them, not liking the reminder. The blind Earthbender crosses her arms.
"I wasn't asking you Snoozles." Sokka shoots her a glare.
"Right, I'll keep that in mind for future. Anyway, Aang was going to see if there are any rebels missing from the ones we captured." The blind Earthbender frowns at this and turns to face me.
"You think there are more?" Toph asks bluntly as her unseeing gaze bores into me.
"I don't know, maybe? I just want to make sure we did catch them all, it seems a little unlikely that they were all here."
"That could be a problem."
"Yeah." I agree quietly.
"Speaking of problems, it looks like Katara is heading this way." I groan at Sokka's observation and begin to move my hand away from my stomach, but the pain flares up again and I'm left with no choice but to leave it there.
"Aang!" I flinch at my Sifu's reprimanding tone. "At least your habit of running away from your problems hasn't changed." I deflate at hearing this.
"Katara..." I begin but the Master Waterbender doesn't give me any time to voice my excuse, as flimsy as it is.
"You should be resting! Not moving around, you're just going to make your injury worse if you haven't already." Katara scowls as her eyes zone in on my arm that's wrapped around my stomach. I drop my head down slightly.
"I'm sorry Katara. I just wanted to see how things are doing out here. You know I'm not one to stay put." I apologise sincerely and it must have done the trick as Katara chews on her lip and kneels in front of me.
"Alright, I'll let you off this one time, but no more walking around without my supervision ok?" I heave a sigh of relief that the subject is being dropped and nod in agreement. "Let's get you back inside." But just as Katara wraps an arm around my shoulders General How appears beside us.
"Master Katara, we need your help in healing a few more soldiers; their bandages don't seem to be holding." I watch as confliction arises on my Sifu's face and I reach out a hand to touch her elbow.
"It's ok Katara, go and heal them, I'll just wait till you get back." But the Master Waterbender shakes her head.
"No, you should be lying down in bed. Toph, could you help Aang back inside?" I share a look with Sokka.
"You're asking Toph? She's the least gentle person I know." Sokka voices out my silent thoughts. But he gets a whack from said person.
"Yes. Toph is sturdier than you are Sokka, if Aang falls I know she'll catch him. I can't say the same for you."
"I trip up that one time and you can't seem to let it go!" The pony-tailed warrior grumbles as he crosses his arms defensively.
"It just so happened to be at the most important meeting to decide the future of our tribe and you managed to drop the whole bowl of sea prunes on our important guests. It's a miracle that they still signed the agreement." Katara states with a pointed look at her brother but he resorts to incoherent mumblings and decides to leave the group to check on the rebels. Katara shakes her head at him. "Some things never change." She turns back to us with a small smile. "Ok, I'll be back soon. Toph, please try to be gentle." The blind Earthbender snorts in response.
"Sugarqueen you worry too much." But Katara doesn't answer and simply crosses her arms over her chest. "Fine fine, I'll be careful."
"Good." At this parting word, the Master Waterbender spins on her heels and makes a beeline for the troops.
"Hopefully." I blink at Toph's quiet muttering and I gulp.
"You know Toph I came out here on my own, I'm sure I can go back on my own just as easily." I try persuading, but Toph just goes to wrap an arm around my waist.
"And get grief from Sweetness over there? No thank you. Come on, the quicker you get up the quicker I can get back to Zuko and decide on prison arrangements and all that legal stuff."
"Fine." With Toph's help I'm soon on my feet and I have to hold in a yelp as my stomach pain becomes more pronounced. I adjust my arm around Toph's shoulders and hold the site of my discomfort with my other hand as we start walking back to my room.
"Are you alright?" I breathe in deeply as I hear the concern leaking into Toph's voice.
"I'll be alright." I say a bit too tight-lipped.
"If you say so. So what's up with Katara? She seems to be releasing her mother bear instincts more than usual." I let out a small breath to ensure my voice doesn't sound too cracked with agony.
"I told her...about my stomach." I whisper softly at which Toph's eyes widen briefly before returning back to their usual indifference.
"About time. What did she say? Wait...wasn't that where you were just hit?!" My Sifu's grip on my waist tightens ever so slightly with her last question.
"Well she was tearful, but I guess it wasn't as bad as I thought it will be. She was understanding, which she always has been and I was dumb for thinking otherwise. You were right. And to answer your second question, yeah I got hit in the same place which is why it hurts so much." I groan out as we finally step inside the palace and I find myself leaning heavily onto the blind Earthbender.
"You know what, let's take a break. There's a chair right there." I nod silently at the suggestion and release a sigh when I'm sitting again.
"Thanks." I voice softly.
"Don't mention it. So, what made you finally decide to spill?" Toph erects a stump to lean on as she questions curiously.
"Well, erm Katara sort of sensed that something was off when she healed me and made me spill, so I felt I owed it to her to tell her the whole story." I reply sheepishly as I drop my eyes down in embarrassment when I hear a snort from Toph.
"Well that's so typical. So you didn't give her the watered down version you gave me?" At this, I look up and study my Sifu's expression with a frown.
"No, I didn't." I say carefully with a wary eye.
"Fine by me. Come on, let's get you back to your room." Toph states neutrally, but when she reaches her hand out I grip it with my own.
"That...doesn't bother you?" I ask, suspicious of Toph's sudden strangely withdrawn attitude. I watch as she pulls back from me and crosses her arms.
"Why should it? You've always been the closest to Katara, it's expected that you would return back to opening up to her." My frown deepens at Toph's response.
"You didn't answer my question."
"Aang, stop being pushy and let's get you to your room." At Toph's growl, my eyes narrow and my heart drops slightly.
"Oh Spirits, it does bother you." I emphasise with wide eyes as realisation dawns on me. The blind Earthbender's eyes soon become slits as she forcibly pushes me to my feet. I suck in a deep breath at the abrupt movement and we're soon walking at a quick pace. I grit my teeth both in annoyance and pain.
"Toph, could you please slow down?" I ask, but my question falls on deaf ears. I shake my head and decide to go with another tactic. "Please Toph, my stomach already feels like it's on fire, I don't need to make it worse." Fortunately these words seem to get through to her as she sighs and we slow down to snail-pace.
"Sorry." My sifu mumbles out and I spare a glance at her before deciding to look ahead of me again. We continue trudging on in silence, but my mind is a whirlwind. 'Oh my gosh is...is Toph jealous that I've always been close to Katara? How long has she felt like this? But Toph doesn't get jealous...maybe I hurt her? That makes sense, I'd be hurt if I was in her position...oh man that's what I've been doing with all of them; sharing titbits of information with only some of them. I'm such a terrible person!' I groan internally and just as I'm about to open my mouth to question Toph further, I'm hit with a wave of agony in my lower gut. 'Not this again.'
I feel my legs threatening to buckle and it's only because of Toph's tight grip that I find myself still on my feet.
"Aang? Aang?! What's wrong?" I tightly screw up my eyes briefly before opening them again.
"It's alright...this is normal…aurgh." I gasp out, but my legs betray my words as I feel them buckling underneath me. Suddenly I feel the earth shift beneath me and I subconsciously realise that I'm now sitting on a rock stump, but a second wave of hurt runs through me and all conscious thought leaves me.
Toph's POV:
I bite my lip hard as I grab onto Aang's shoulders, but he barely responds to me. 'Way to go Toph! I had to bring up something so irrelevant, so pointless. You couldn't for once push your feelings to the side?' I grip Aang's shoulders more tightly. "Aang what's going on? Should I get Katara?" I feel him wither in pain underneath my hands and a loud groan follows after. 'Spirits what did he mean this is normal?! This is the first time I've seen him like this and we've been around him for the last two weeks!'
"Aurgh...yeah Katara should be able to help. Spirits, I forgot how much this hurts.' I feel panic rising up inside me, 'Aang never complains about pain, never. He must be in real pain.'
"But I can't leave you alone!" I answer as I use my feet to try to find someone nearby.
"Go...please." I bite the inside of my cheek hard and make a dash back the way we came.
Aang's POV:
As soon as I hear Toph's running footsteps fade away, I lean forward and clutch my stomach tighter. 'I was trying not to freak Toph out, but I don't think I did a very good job of that if her tone of voice was any indication. Aurgh, I was hoping that hit to my gut wasn't that bad, obviously not if I'm getting these blood clots again. Kyla will not be pleased.' I screw my eyes shut and try to inhale and exhale softly, but it comes out as panting and I begin to find it increasingly hard to breathe. The fringes of darkness seems to draw closer and I'm only pulled out of it when I feel a gentle hand on my cheek.
"Aang, what's wrong?" I open my eyes at the familiar voice to see Katara's worried orbs.
"Blood clots." I rasp out and with a determined expression I see Katara whip out some water from her pouch. At this I close my eyes and let unconsciousness consume me, knowing that I'm in safe hands.
Katara's POV:
I notice the second Aang blacks out as his whole body becomes lax. With quick precision I find the blood clot and begin work on dissipating it. A moment later I hear Aang's rugged breathing return to a slightly more normal state. I breathe a sigh of relief and pull back slightly.
"Is he ok?" I blink in surprise having completely forgotten about Toph's presence as soon as I saw Aang convulsing in agony. I get to my feet and put a hand on her shoulder.
"Yes, he'll be fine. I should've expected this would happen due to the extensive damage but it completely slipped my mind." I say guiltily as my eyes stray back to the young Airbender.
"You knew this would happen?" I hear the weariness in Toph's question and I let out a dry chuckle.
"Well, not exactly. Sometimes when the body has been damaged you could get the formation of blood clots which are dangerous as they can block blood flow, it's especially bad if it gets to the lung because it could restrict breathing. Good thing you fetched me." I say with a small smile but Toph's face seems to grow paler, more so than her usual skin tone. "Toph are you ok?" I ask with a frown and bring a hand to touch the Master Earthbender's warm forehead. After a brief moment Toph steps away from my touch and I drop my arm down and furrow my eyebrows further.
"Yeah I'm totally fine. It was just...unexpected. Aang said it was normal, so I guess I didn't know what to do." My eyebrows shoot up at this and I spare another glance at the young Avatar, 'If that's the case then I should keep an eye on him. It would've helped if he mentioned it to me.' I clutch the bridge of my nose for a moment before shaking my head and turn my attention back to Toph, her face screwed up slightly in...guilt? I blink and decide to engulf her into a hug, to which she reciprocates briefly before pushing back again.
"Ok, I'm fine. No more of that mushy stuff ok Sugarqueen?" I grin despite myself at Toph's request.
"Alright, but if you ever need some mushy stuff..." I finger quote, "then I'm here. Now let's get Aang back to his room."
In Aang's room:
Carefully, I rest Aang's head onto the pillow and slip my hand out from underneath. I pause before I move away and find myself looking deeply into the young Avatar's expressionless face and before I know it, my mind flashes to a similar scenario after Aang was shot in Ba Sing Se. I step back abruptly and hold my arms tightly as I try to suppress the unpleasant shiver that runs down my spine at the reminder.
"Katara, are you alright?" I shake my head and turn my attention to Toph hovering behind me. "Your heart rate dipped suddenly."
"Oh." I release softly, 'I forget that nothing much gets past Toph.' I let out a small breath before replying. "I'm fine. Just some old memories resurfacing." I say casually with a shrug.
"Of Ba Sing Se catacombs?" My eyes widen at the blind Earthbender's accurate perception.
"Yeah. It's so rare to see Aang down and this is the third time in the last two weeks that he has been. It's...unnerving." I answer with a sigh.
"I know what you mean. But like I said then and I'll say it again; he's Twinkletoes and there's nothing that will stop him."
"Sometimes that's what worries me. He tries so hard to do things on his own and his stubbornness is going to get him in trouble that he could avoid." I respond as I cross my arms, but Toph takes a step towards me and puts a hand on my shoulder.
"Well, we aren't going to let that happen. His little alone time is up and not even all his bullheadedness in the world will get him out of our company." At this I finally feel the corners of my lips turn up into a smile.
"You're right. Thanks Toph."
"No problem Sugarq..." The Master Earthbender cuts off as I envelop her into a tight hug. A few moments later Toph returns my embrace.
"No wonder Twinkletoes is attached to you, you're so affectionate." I feel the sudden heat of a blush rising to my face at her words and I step away from her with a glare.
"Toph!"
"Jeez can't you get a joke? Now come on, I'm starving! Let's get some food." As if on que my stomach rumbles.
"You're starting to sound like Sokka." I say dubiously which earns me a glower. I sigh.
"Alright." I coincide and with a final flicker to Aang's restful position, Toph and I walk out.
A/N: Ok, the whole blood clot thing about forming when the body gets damaged, I have not a clue if that's right (I get the feeling it might be wrong) so don't take it as accurate truth. I know blood clots form when you don't move for a while, but not sure what else causes it. However, since this is fiction I thought I could stretch it a bit. Although, the part about blood clots being able to move in the body and reach the lung which can restrict breathing is true! I learnt that during my university degree. Sorry, you'd expect me to know about this, especially as I'm going into medicine. Anyway, just wanted to point that out for anyone who's interested in the small science details. I hope you enjoyed this chapter and it's a bit longer than the last one, which is always a good thing. Again, a huge thank you to you guys for reviewing, it means a ton. You guys are the best!
12/9/19
