A/N: Hey guys, sorry for the delay! Hope you all have had an awesome start to the new year. This chapter is quite boring imo, so I'm sorry. But I'm hoping future chapters will be more interesting. Hope you enjoy anyway.
Aang's POV:
When the door finally opens, I sigh in relief and jump to my feet. Being stuck in a small room by yourself would've been fine if one side of the wall wasn't covered with all your darkest secrets and a projection of your most painful memories playing on the opposite side of the wall. I grit my teeth and sprint away just as a certain memory starts playing.
"If they had just listened to me the first time, none of this would've happened!" 14-yr old me shouted.
"I understand your anger, Aang, but it's just..." I hadn't given the man time to speak before cutting across harshly.
"Just what, Roku?! What?!" I screeched.
"You were a child. It was fair to assume that a child would have an overly active imagination, especially after experiencing trauma."
"Stop defending them Roku! They're dead because they didn't believe me that someone killed my parents. This is their fault."
"Aang, stop it." The older avatar orders sternly.
"Yeah, shut me down like the council does. You all are just terrible!" I scream. "Just as terrible as me." The whisper are the last words I hear from the projection as I drop down another slide.
I close my eyes tightly as my heart thumps rapidly against my ribcage. 'I was a real jerk to Roku and all he wanted to do was help. All he ever wanted to do was help.' I take a shuddering breath just as I fall into another stone covered room.
"Huh, me and Twinkletoes. What a surprise." I look up from my crouched position on the ground to stare at Toph who's standing a few paces away from me with her arms crossed. I furrow my eyebrows and look at her in confusion.
"Are you really going to keep calling me Twinkletoes?" I ask in bewilderment.
"Not my fault you walk like a feather. Love it or hate it, I don't care because you're stuck with it." The earthbender explains with a careless wave of her hand. My lips part in surprise as I rise to my feet.
"Ok?" I answer unsurely, making the woman grin as she reaches forward to thump me in the back.
"That's the spirit! Snoozles spent the better half of the year complaining about his nickname. Don't know why since all he did was sleep the day away." Toph recounts with a shrug. Something about how blunt and easy-going she is, fills me with an ease I haven't felt in a little while, it's refreshing.
"So, what crazy room were you just stuck in?" The earthbender suddenly asks. I swallow and turn my head to the side.
"I was by myself with that projection." I mutter.
"Oh great. I was lucky enough to have that as my first. It's not like I need to be reminded that my parents view me as a disappointment or that I never had friends before starting uni." Toph voices offhandedly.
I stare at her, unable to understand how she can be so flippant with things that obvious must've hurt her.
"Anyway, what's the dumb riddle this time?" She continues on, as if she didn't just spill some of her deepest memories to basically a stranger. I shake my head in disbelief, but glimpse around the room anyway.
"Friends can become strangers and strangers might be the ones who saves you from dangers."
I read aloud for the girl's benefit, but I'm scratching my head as I read it.
"Weird. The other riddles actually told us to do something. This one doesn't mean anything." Toph notes with a hand on her hip. I glance at her and shrug.
"This should be the last room anyway, so maybe they decided to change things up a bit." I suggest, prompting the girl to shrug in return. I rub the back of my neck as I think of something to say. "So, which room were you just in?" I ask eventually, more so to fill the silence.
"The one that spins around a lot until you get sick. Well, I was fine, but Katara was ready to puke." Toph says with a laugh. I feel my facial expression falling at the mention of the waterbender. "Hey, what's up with you? It wasn't that bad of a room." The earthbender asks with a raised eyebrow.
"Oh, it's nothing." I lie with averted eyes.
"Heads up Twinkletoes, I can sense when someone's lying." The girl stares bluntly. My eyes snap back to the student in wonder.
"What can't you do?" I echo in amazement, making the raven-haired bender grin.
"Obviously I can't bend air." She teases which makes my lips twitch upwards.
"Obviously." I say with a smile.
"So, if it wasn't the room…oh. Sheesh you and Sugar queen sure have a lot of drama, don't you?" Toph realises. I cringe at her bluntness and kick at the ground.
"It's complicated." I mutter, using the cheesiest excuse there is.
"Huh, for someone that loves you, you'd think there'd be less arguments." The earthbender voices offhandedly. My head jerks up at those words and I stare at the girl.
"Katara doesn't feel that." I correct her once I feel the blood returning to my face. But my response only elicits a snort from the bender.
"Oh yeah, who says?" Toph retorts with crossed arms.
"She said." I answer pointedly, hoping it will trip the girl up. It doesn't.
"And you believed her? I thought you're meant to be a genius or something." The earthbender utters, her tone frank. I frown at her.
"Why would she lie?" I ask with tightly knit eyebrows, prompting the girl to slap her forehead.
"Because that would make things awkward if you don't feel the same, duh." Toph drawls out. My lips part in realisation as my gut swirls with unwanted feelings. "Which she shouldn't worry about since you obviously feel the same." She continues, but I'm already shaking my head.
"Toph, it's not like that." I mutter which causes the woman to tilt her head to one side.
"Oh? Care to explain the erratic heartbeat when you're around her or the constant urge to push her away because you think you're dangerous? Or how you two argue like a married couple?" Toph elaborates while making finger quotations around the word dangerous. I stare at her.
"How do you..." I start, but the blind girl quickly cuts me off.
"Sokka." She answers. I scrunch my nose up, but choose not to comment.
"I'm not good for anyone. That's just a fact. And if Katara isn't bringing it up, then I certainly won't." I voice firmly, eliciting a loud groan from the earthbender.
"Don't get me wrong, I think the whole lovey-dovey romance scene is pathetic, but the tension between you two is somehow even worse." Toph utters, moving her hands to rest them on her hips. I roll my eyes at her.
"There is no tension. We're just having a disagreement. That's all." I stress, only for a smirk to appear across her features.
"That answer was confirmation in itself Twinkletoes." Toph sings. I glare at her.
"Nothing's going to come out of it. So please give it a rest." I grit out and instead of the snark that I was half-expecting, the woman's features contorts into mild pity.
"I don't understand why you refuse to let yourself be happy. Your whole life thus far sounds like a total mess, why not add a bit of joy in it?" I gape at Toph's question until I remember that she knows just as much as the water-tribe siblings do. I swallow and look away.
"It's because my life's a mess that I shouldn't let anyone in it. People die when they get close to me. I don't want that for Katara or Sokka." I voice with conviction.
"Dramatic much? So, you've had a couple of bad experiences, it doesn't mean that you're doomed to be miserable." Toph points out. I release a shallow breath and shake my head.
"You wouldn't understand. You have parents who care about you. The most amount of trauma you've faced is letting them down." I mutter.
"That's easy for you to say. I get your situation is vastly different from mine, but you don't have the right to belittle it." The earthbender growls and I immediately feel guilty.
"Sorry. You're right. That was horrible from me." I apologise as shame runs through me. A loud sigh penetrates the room as the girl blows her fringe off her face.
"You can be a jerk when you want to be, can't you?" She expresses while tilting her head towards me. I bite my lip and look down.
"I'm sorry." I whisper. I hear her sigh again before she reaches forward and punches my arm. Hard. "Ow. Was that really necessary?" I mumble as I rub the sore muscle.
"One thing you should know about me Twinkletoes? That's pretty much the closest I do to affection." Toph says with a slight smirk. I eye her wearily and shuffle back a little bit.
"Right, well I'm fine on the affection front then." I announce, but that only makes the girl snort.
"Of course you are, you've got Katara." The earthbender voices slyly. I shoot her a stink eye before turning away from her.
"Very funny." I mumble.
"You know what's the worst thing about my parents?" At Toph's sudden change in conversation, I find myself looking up in surprise and curiosity. "They don't know me. Half the time they're away on business meetings and the other half they're so busy criticising me to notice how much I hate living with them." The earthbender mutters as she clenches her hands at her sides into fists. I gaze at the woman, sympathising her plight as I exhale quietly.
"It seems that perfect families are always ripped away, while imperfect ones stick around." I note sombrely, making the bender raise an eyebrow.
"That's ironic." Toph utters with a scrunched nose. I give her a half smile while she taps a finger to her chin. "You know, sparring always makes me feel better." That's the only warning I get before a huge rock is lodged in my direction. I automatically spin to my right, barely dodging the boulder to stare at the woman.
"Toph, what on earth?!" I yell, prompting the earthbender to shrug.
"I've never sparred against an airbender before. It'll be fun." Toph reassures. She doesn't give me time to agree or disagree as she fires another rock in my direction. I jump well over it, before landing lightly on my feet.
"Fun for you maybe. Airbenders are pacifists." I point out seriously, only for the older student to roll her eyes.
"That doesn't mean you can't defend yourself." She retorts as she slams her foot against the floor, making the ground beneath me shake violently. I lose my balance and fall backwards onto my behind. I remain lying on the ground, staring at the top of the stone covered ceiling as a thought occurs to me. I push myself onto my elbows to stare at the girl.
"Wait, couldn't you just earthbend us all out of here?" I demand, wondering if the girl has purposely left us to be trapped in these horrible trials. My question receives me a pointed gaze from the earthbender.
"Are you sure you're a genius? I would've thought you'd ask me that ages ago." Toph voices bluntly.
I glare at her and jerk my head to prompt her to answer. She raises her eyebrows before sighing.
"Of course I tried that smart guy. It was the first thing I did. But every time I pulled back a wall, it just got replaced with a new one. I got bored after a while. Ironic how discovering metal bending was easier than getting out of here." Toph utters in annoyance, but I just stare at her.
"You can what?!" I echo back loudly which elicits a huge grin from the girl.
"Oh, did I forget to mention that? I forget people don't know who the greatest earthbender is." Toph boosts with a pleased smirk. I shake my head at her.
"You're joking right?" I ask wearily, but in response the earth beneath me flicks up, throwing me into the air. I twirl in mid-flight to slow my descent and gently return to the ground with a light tap.
"Does that answer your question?" The earthbender asks bluntly. I give her a half smile.
"You're good, I give you that." I concede, but Roku's show of earthbending prowess sticks prominently in my mind. Toph frowns as she crosses her arms.
"You saying you've seen someone better?" The blind bender queries with downturned lips. My lips part as I scramble for something to say.
"Well, if you can metal bend then I'd say that puts you on top." I reply carefully, but the girl isn't taking any of it.
"You think I'm lying?" She accuses with slit eyes. 'Oh monkey features.' I shake my head vigorously.
"No! I just..." I trail off when I feel the metal band on my left glove shaking rapidly.
A moment later it flies to the opposite end of the room and right into the earthbender's hand. I slap my right hand over my left, instinctively covering my arrowed hand. The girl's eyebrows furrow for a moment, before she whirls the glove around in her hand.
"Ok, so I shouldn't have been sceptical." I mumble, but I can't deny how impressed I am at the display of metalbending. "Makes me wonder why you aren't well known." I add as an afterthought. The earthbender snorts.
"My parents didn't want the extra unwanted attention. Funny, since I'm a Beifong." Toph drawls out in displeasure as she throws me my glove back. I catch it just as my jaws slacken.
"You're a Beifong?! Why do you rent with Sokka and Teo, if you could buy a whole house?" I question in disbelief, prompting the girl to quirk an eyebrow at me.
"You just answered the question. I don't want to be treated differently just because I'm rich or a noble. It's nice to actually behave the way I want without my parents breathing down my neck." The metalbender explains with a wave of her hand.
I chew my lip and stare down at the glove clutched in my hand. My eyes flicker to the blue arrow, wondering what it must be like to not have to hide who you are.
"Speaking of which, what's up with you covering your hand like your life depended on it?" Toph asks after a moment of scrutinising me. I open my mouth, getting ready to deny it, until I remember that it would be pointless to lie.
"It was just instinct. My tattoos would draw too much attention to me which is the last thing I need." I confess with a half-hearted shrug.
"You've got tattoos? Maybe Twinkletoes isn't the right nickname then." The earthbender jokes. I roll my eyes at her as I snap on my fingerless glove.
"Every airbender gets them once they've become a master." I explain, prompting the girl to tilt her head to one side.
"So, you're not just an academic genius then. Interesting." The metalbender murmurs to herself. A moment later the earth beneath my feet shoots up. I side step and jump off the growing pillar with ease. "What are the tattoos of?" She asks as she throws rock after rock at me.
"Blue arrows. They follow my chi path." I say as I dodge each and every boulder.
"You mean you have blue arrows all over your body? Even your head?" Toph snorts as she makes the ground tremble once more. My lips twitch in amusement at her questions.
"Yep. I didn't think you were one to be interested." I admit as I backflip a few metres away.
"There's a lot you don't know about me Twinkletoes." Toph calls out as I feel the wall behind me shuddering. I jump onto my air scooter just as several rock pillars strike out of the wall.
"Oh yeah, like what?" I call back.
"Like how I picked up your weird reaction when I said you should have an airbending teacher." At her words, I find myself losing control of my air scooter and tumble to the ground painfully.
"Ouch." I mutter as I rub the base of my jaw as I push myself up onto my knees. A pair of feet appears in my line of sight and when I look up, I spot the master bender staring down at me with a hand on her hip.
"So?" She prompts with a quirked eyebrow at me. I scrunch up my nose and get to my feet.
"Ever heard of privacy?" I mutter as I dust my clothes down.
"Ever heard of being weird?" Toph shoots back. I glare at her.
"Yes, plenty of times. Thanks for reminding me." I retort sourly which elicits a sigh from the woman.
"That isn't what I mean. You're hiding something." The earthbender elaborates. I give her my back as I try to keep my heart beat in check.
"What else could I possibly be hiding? The spirit snake pretty much ratted out everything." I mutter, sticking as close to the truth as possible. I hear a short hum from the metalbender, making me glance back to find her spinning a small pebble in her hand as her features contorts in thought.
"I don't what it is, but I get the feeling it's important." Toph voices, her partially blind eyes fixing on me firmly. Fortunately, I'm not given the chance to answer as a new door opens. 'Praise the spirits.' I think in relief.
"We should get going." I opt to say as I start walking towards the dark exit. But I don't take more than two steps when a tight grip is wrapped around my wrist. I look down at the small hand with a pointed gaze.
"You're only going to hurt people if you continue like this." The earthbender voices gravely. I roll my eyes at her, especially considering that she appears to be the last one to know anything about emotions.
"Oh yeah, like who? I don't have anyone, remember?" I retort sharply. Toph leans back and releases her hold on me.
"You might act like you don't, but even a blind girl can see that the water tribe siblings hold a place in that stubborn heart of yours." She fires back. I press my lips tightly together at her words and cross my arms over my chest.
"I'm stubborn? Have you seen yourself?!" I throw back, but when the girl narrows her milky eyes, I immediately snap my jaws closed at the insensitive wording.
"I don't need to see myself to know who I am. Even with parents who refuse to truly see me. And at least I don't lie to myself and pretend things are fine when they aren't." Toph grits out with clenched fists. I stare at her long and hard before scrunching up my nose and spinning on my heels away from her.
"Maybe that's because being not fine for you is easier than my version of being not fine." I mumble, silencing the earthbender. After several beats of silence, I continue my trek towards the exit. Only stopping briefly to read the new riddle, written in white:
"At your darkest hour, there may not be someone to lean on if you push them away."
I almost release a bitter bark of laughter at the irony of the twisted wisdom. I'm just about to go through the door when a second riddle, written in green, appears underneath.
"Sometimes your help is unwanted, but don't take that as a reflection of yourself."
My lips part slightly and I can't help but chance a glance at the girl behind me, still standing in her same spot, glaring at the ground. I swallow, suddenly feeling guilty, especially when I know that she was just trying to help. 'Just trying to be a friend.' I internally kick myself as I turn to look at her.
"Come on, we should get going." I say, pulling the bender away from her glaring as she frowns at me.
"You can be a real Airhead." She mutters as she crosses the room to reach me. My lips part.
"Is that my new nickname now?" I ask uncomfortably, prompting a quirked eyebrow from the woman.
"Why, miss your old one?" Toph fires back as I roll my lip between my teeth as I consider my next words.
"Let's just go." I finally say and move towards the darkness. Instead, of falling down yet another slide, I'm greeted to a vast array of books. Shelves upon shelves and levels upon levels of books. "Woah." I breathe out in awe.
"Aurgh, I hate books." Toph grumbles behind me. I glance back at her in confusion.
"Then why are you at uni?" I query in surprise, earning a shrug from the earthbender.
"An excuse to get away from my parents." She voices simply. I frown at her answer, but before I can question her, she nudges me in the ribs and points to the floor below us. I peer over the balcony and spot both Sokka and Katara talking.
"Hey guys!" I call down, catching the siblings' attention.
Katara's eyes catch mine before she flickers them away and clutches her elbow. Her brother on the other hand is doing that exaggerated wave he tends to do when he's relieved to see someone and it almost makes up for the churning in my stomach. Almost. I turn back to Toph.
"Come on let's go join them. We just need to find..." I don't finish my sentence when the earthbender jerks her head up.
"He's on the floor above us." Toph answers offhandedly. I gawk at her before nodding my head. 'I seriously have to get her to teach me how she does that.' I think to myself as we go down the flight of stairs to re-group.
A/N: Welp that's the end of the 'trials', and I'm sorry if they were a bit dry, but now I'm just going to move the plot along. I've run out of back up chapters, I'm currently writing chapter 44 and it's nearly finished, but future chapters are going to be slow coming out which I apologise for in advance, I just need you guys to be patient with me. Please leave your thoughts, I always love hearing from you all. But yeah, basically I can't give estimates for when future chapters will come out since I haven't written them. If I'm taking too long just drop me a message and I'll try and speed up. Hope you all are keeping well and see you when I see you!
11/1/21