Chapter Three
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Toph was sitting on a rock. With her eyes, she could see the desert far, far away. She could barely see it but it was there.
Back there, in the desert, she was blind.
Before the desert, she was blind.
Back home, in Gaoling, she was perfectly blind.
But as of now? Still seeing.
Se had no thoughts to think of, as she was mad. Most people would consider what Toph had been given as a miracle, but Toph didn't want it. At all.
Her shoulders slumped and she rested her arm on her leg as she looked around.
She earthbended a rock, and threw it all the way down into the ground, her anger with the rock. However, her power…
"Huh? I could have done better than that. Let me try again," she muttered.
She closed her eyes, greeting the darkness she was familiar with. She listened to the sounds…
She couldn't see.
She could "see" with sight but not actually "see". She couldn't "see" the ants scurrying underneath her, or "see" the rock she had sat on. Complete darkness.
Being blind might have rendered her eyesight gone but being blind made her "see" other things that when she closed her eyelids, she could still "see".
She gritted her teeth in frustration. Her? The once mighty Blind Bandit of Earth Rumble Six and Earthbending teacher of Aang? Weak and pathetic…so feeble.
And all because of Katara.
She never liked her from the beginning, being all soft and not demanding. Not…Toph-like. Her opposite. A Sugar Queen. Toph agreed to herself that the name fit Katara perfectly.
Toph bit her lip in aggravation, hating Katara for what she did to her.
Blindness, she had decided, was far much better than seeing.
Even though she knew her way back to Aang and the others, feeling exhausted and tempest tossed from the events of today, she collapsed to the ground and was ridden from the world and her newfound sight.
For a while, at least, it would be dark and suitable to Toph's liking.
Light was seeping in through the eyelidss of the Earthbender.
Toph squirmed, blinking her eyes. For a second, she was frightened of the sight, in a instant, she wondered why she was not blind. Then it sunk in her stomach like a brick. She could still see. The previous day's events came rushing in her head, Katara's hands over Toph's eyes…screams…anguish.
She froze. Something was wrong. She couldn't move her hands. Rope was dug into her skin.
"So you finally woke up," spoke an unfamiliar voice.
Toph looked up at her captor.
Her black hair was in a bun, some strands in her face but neatly placed.
Toph looked around. She smelled smoke.
"You shouldn't tie up a blind girl," Toph blurted without thinking of the fact she was no longer blind. She couldn't use that excuse. Toph silently cursed in her mind.
"Blind? I see no film over your eyes," she spoke in a voice that sounded sincere but could poke Toph's skin with words sharpened like daggers.
"Well…I was blind."
Not again! I blame sight for making me stupid.
The girl inspected Toph, walking around her captive.
"Was?" this slightly piqued her interest.
Toph nodded. This girl looked dangerous and she wasn't that bold to take her on. The old blind Toph could…but not this Toph.
"You look so sad. Is there…something wrong?" she said that sounded like she was worried but Toph refused to answered.
She raised a brow.
"Oh. Refusing to speak. I can see why. Being used as bait can really cause tempers to flare. You can ask my older brother…"
Toph snarled.
"Bait? You're going so low as to use bait? For what?" she demanded to know, wanting to belittle her captor.
She only smirked.
"I like your thinking. Trying to belittle me, hm? Too bad you weren't born in the Fire Nation. I could have used you."
Toph looked away. It was her fault she even got in this mess. But then again, Katara was to blame for her loss of her blindness.
It's all Katara's fault!
Not that I hate Katara, but it IS her fault. You know the old adage: Curiosity killed the cat. Or unblinded the blind girl or...oh nevermind!