Toph wasn't sure what was making her feel this way. Sure, Sokka had been cute and she could feel his muscles and length but it was just a mere crush. Something that didn't even get in the way if their friendship. And he probably didn't even reciprocate an ounce of what she did romantically.
Then there was Aang, who she had just spent the first couple hours of the morning sparring with in the sand and having fun. Fun. With Aang. Sure, he was regarded as one of the more fun loving people of their group, but it wasn't generally her type of fun. She thought that perhaps if she had made the effort in the past, she mightve found otherwise.
Yet the feeling she felt in the pit of her stomach would not relent. As they wrestled about on the beach, she found that she wanted to press their bodies closer, for there to be no distance between them whatsoever. The feeling scared her. Her crush on Sokka had been shallow and irrelevant, almost. She could feel herself warming up to Aang in a new way, or else in a way she simply hadn't noticed before. They were so young. Twelve and thirteen. Did they really need a relationship? Did he want one? Would he be willing to get over Katara? Would Katara eventually come back to steal her man?
There were too many questions and all of them went unanswered. They didn't disappear either, when Zuko walked out of the house a couple hours past dawn to find the blind earthbender on top of the Avatar, faces centimeters apart from each other while covered in sand. His breath tickled her nose.
The firebender faced Aang. "Uh, was I... interrupting something?" 'Katara won't like this at all' Zuko thought.
Aang airbent Toph and the sand off him, sending the girl reeling into the beach and stood all in rapid succession. "Nope! Nothing here" the boy chuckled nervously.
Zuko bit back the urge to say 'Yeah, I don't believe you' and instead chose to reply with "...Okay. I was going to do some training with you this morning, but since I had a late night last night and you're covered in sand for some reason, why don't you rest and come back in the afternoon."
"Sounds good, Sifu Hotman" Aang replied cheerily.
"Or, if you keep calling me that, we can train right now while you're exhausted."
"I'm ignoring you" Aang sang as he walked the trail into the house, causing Zuko to roll his eyes.
Toph, meanwhile, picked herself up and dusted herself off. She would've glared at Aang as he walked away if she could see, but once again, she caught herself with that feeling. Aang was acting a lot less like the feminine and emotional Avatar 'The Boy In The Iceberg' portrayed him as, and admittedly, the Aang she had built up in her head. It seemed Aang wasn't all about being a goody two shoes, but that he could still maintain his carefree and well meaning nature.
"So, are you okay?" Zuko finally asked her.
"I'm fine" she shouted, except she was smiling. It had been a good morning.
Zuko shook his head and sighed as soon as Toph was out of earshot. He began his firebending forms when he thought, 'Why are girls like this to me?' He resolved to ignore the situation he has interrupted, for his own mind's sake, and continue on with his solo drills.
Inside the house, everyone had finally awoken and were preparing their own breakfasts. Aang re-entered their temporary home smiling, and was greeted by the off-putting aroma of meat cooking. He was glad to have had breakfast earlier.
"Gee, Aang, did you even sleep last night?" Suki commented as she noticed the bags underneath his eyes. The play had been bad on all of them, but it was no excuse to remain awake through the night.
"Of course!" he defended. "Just... not well." It had taken him over an hour just to fall asleep, and then waking up every hour of the night had really put a nail in the coffin for any chance of good quality rest.
"So what were you doing outside?" Katara asked him suspiciously.
"Sparring with Toph" he answered plainly.
"Oh" Katara grimaced. "Do you need a healing session?"
"No, I'm fine" he told her. "But, uh, Toph might" he said, scrunching up his face.
Everyone's eyes widened in shock at Aang's implication, and Tophs arrival into the beach house only perpetuated their surprise. She was covered in sand and bruises, yet she was also smiling a little. Her happiness faltered for a moment as she angrily punched the Avatar in his arm. "That's for beating me!" she accused. "But also... good job."
Suki, who hadn't been a part of their group for very long and was oblivious to the multi faceted relationship hidden behind Aang and Katara's relationship, caught the hidden tension and feelings between Aang and Toph. It would be fun to watch this new couple blossom, especially if it meant Toph finally getting over Sokka. Katara unnervingly noted the new easygoing relationship the pair had.
"So" Sokka broke the awkward silence, "I was thinking about our plan to go after the Fire Lord."
"Isn't it the same as always?" Aang wondered.
"Yeah, but you're obviously not ready. I mean, you've only had a few months training" Sokka told him.
Aang, annoyed at the teenager's comment, crossed his arms. "I can suffocate everyone in this room to death in thirty seconds with the lift of my finger" Aang threatened. "Ozai is no different. I choose not to." The sentiment behind Aang's statement was a little uncharacteristic, but they brushed it off. They were well aware of the dark side of airbending. And they were all under a lot of pressure.
"Wouldn't it make our job a lot easier, if you did?" Sokka asked.
"Killing is against my philosophy. I won't do it unless necessary."
"Right..." Sokka trailed off. "Well, in that case, what I meant was that we should hold off on fighting Ozai until after the comet."
"Wasn't the entire reason Roku messaged Aang to get him to do it before it arrived?" Katara asked.
"Sure, but Ba Sing Se was taken. The war is practically won."
"And next is Kyoshi, and then the Water Tribes" Suki listed. "The Earth Kingdom was their major obstacle to total victory."
"You make a valid point... I don't want to kill Ozai" Aang stated. "If more training means not breaking my moral code, I'll do it. So long as we don't compromise anything."
"So you're actually okay with this? Postponing the big fight?"
"Yeah. I think it's the best shot we have" Aang told him truthfully. "I won't risk going in there unready."
"So it's settled then!" Suki concluded.
Everyone murmured their agreements, and spread out to do their own thing. The days where the benders had all of their focus on Aang were a drag for the nonbenders, and for the masters when they weren't teaching the Avatar. For Toph especially, she knew that Aang would eventually go to Zuko for his training, which would leave her in limbo. Spend time with her old crush and his girlfriend, or with the girl Aang loved. She didn't know why spending time with Katara suddenly made her stomach lurch in anxiety, but it did.
When Aang left for his room, the blind girl opted to join him. For Katara, it was quite the nuissance. She had planned on restoring their relationship, clearing the tension and feelings between the two and maybe progressing past anything they had experienced before together. But as she watched Aang leave with Toph, not even realising Katara had wanted to talk with him, it filled her with immense jealousy and pent up frustration. She made a butchered attempt at calling his name, but decided against interrupting whatever it was that Toph wanted him for. 'She clearly likes Sokka, anyway, right? I hope so.' She didn't even know why her mind went to that. But it made sense. They were closer in age and she had just rejected Aang. He had every right to try to move on, no matter how insulting it was to do so quickly. Her heart ached at the thought, but she was sure that their love would be stronger than that, to be marred by one rejection overnight. She decided it was unlikely that Toph and Aang would ever get together.
"You don't really think this is a good idea, do you?" Toph asked him as they stepped into the privacy of Aang's room. She sounded serious.
"Why not?" he returned. "You said yourself, my earthbending needs improvement."
"That was before..." she paused. "This morning" she finished, blushing.
Aang smiled. "Yeah, I enjoyed it, too. But did I really do good?"
"Twinkletoes, I don't know what got into you this morning" she said, "but it wasn't like when you were training."
"I guess I just do better in a less rigorous environment" Aang concluded.
"For fun" Toph elaborated.
"Yeah" he finished. "What do you think about the idea to wait?"
"I don't know" she sighed. "I just think about my first lessons in earthbending with you. Shouldn't you be facing it head on? Not avoiding it until the last moment?"
Aang hesitated to answer as he pulled his shirt over his head and tied his red belt around his waist. "I don't see it as avoidance, to be honest. There's no other way around it; Sokka was right." He turned to look at her. "I'm just a thirteen year old kid who's been training for a few months in the other elements. I doubt I could be called a master in any of them, save for water and air. You heard how Zuko described his father."
"You said yourself you could take him out using your airbending, though!" Toph protested. "I've killed before to get out of dirty situations. You're the Avatar, what's your excuse?"
He sighed. "I'm also the last airbender. And my job as the Avatar is also to maintain that part of me, so that the Air Nation isn't lost forever" he explained to her. "We believed in total sanctity of life. It's just how things are. I won't break that."
Flashbacks of her own parent's explanations flooded through her mind. They would constantly tell her that things were done this way 'just because.' It was infuriating, to not get a proper answer. "So that's it? Because 'muh culture!?' "
"It's not just that!" he raised his voice at her. "To kill would corrupt his soul, and my own along with it. We believed that all life is sacred, and I stand by that. Not because it was a simple belief; but because it made sense and I believe in it. It's also all that I have left. Me, Appa and our philosophy. Don't you have anything like that? About your parents? Gaoling?" He didn't know why he regretted saying that. He knew the subject of her parents was a sensitive one.
Toph felt herself shrink at his comment. Her parents were her one sore spot. "Toph, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to upset you!" Aang reached out to her, placing a hand on her shoulder. When she attempted to shake it off, he kept it firm.
"What does it matter to you?" she spat.
"I understand how it feels" he told her gently.
'Of course he does. So much death and grief.' She relented. "This headband. It was given to me as a toddler" she told him. "When it wasn't so important that I couldn't see, when I wasn't as independent. When my family actually accepted this part of me." She looked away as the tears she had been holding back finally slipped through her sturdy eyelids. "It's all I have left to remember that time."
"Do you need a hug?" he asked her.
"Why would I-" she cut herself off, then released her breath. 'Katara always said Aang was a great comforter.' "I... suppose."
Without hesitation, he put one hand around her waist, and placed the other on the back of her head. She pressed her face into his neck. The tears she had shed were only the exception, but found that, regardless, being wrapped in Aang's arms was quite calming. She returned the embrace by slipping each arm under his, squeezing his back tightly. Each of their hearts beat rapidly at the closeness. Aang blushed.
If there was one thing Aang loved, it was comforting people. He found that, since waking up in a wartorn future, everyone needed a bit of it, and he was only happy to give. Toph was one of the last people he had ever thought about giving it to. She kept a strong and resolute shell on her at all times, so that one would believe that was it. There were no soft, emotional innards. Here, Aang had discovered the truth. He felt as if he had lost the right to ever comfort Katara again, clearly some other man was destined for that and he bore no ill will against either of them for that. Although he was sure there was no other man, at least for now.
He wasn't stupid. He had seen the change in perspective that came from Toph since their talk this morning. Since his infatuation with Katara, it seemed as if he was able to decipher the feelings of anyone around him- anyone except Katara herself. The way she had talked about Sokka was in the past. It felt as if she was after Aang now. He didn't know how he of all people ended up on the receiving end of Toph's crushes, but for some reason he felt honoured by it. Like he was embracing it.
And that's when the guilt hit. It had been a day since Katara had rejected him, and here he was, already thinking about another one of his best friends. Admittedly he wasn't as acquainted with Toph as he would like to be, but he wanted to make the effort. His time previous had always been taken up by Katara, not that he complained. It wasn't something that he could continue on with, though. He couldn't live his life pining after a girl who, at the very least, didn't want to love him. Maybe moving on wasn't such a bad idea.
When Toph finally relinquished him of her grip, he sighed a little in disappointment at the loss of contact. "Sorry" she immediately said.
"Don't be" he told her. "I've cried plenty around you."
"I just don't want to be portrayed as weak. I'm the greatest earthbender, for spirit's sake, and I'm not weak for being a woman" she told him defiantly. "Like in that damn play." She paused. "I'm going back to the common area."
She turned to leave, but Aang clasped her hand, preventing her from taking a step. She looked at him, puzzled, and with bubbling anger. "Wait!" he called. "You know, when you need to, you can always come to me for a hug, or a chat. I won't judge, you don't need to be strong around me." It was an offer to continue this budding relationship they had.
Releasing herself of his grip, she softly replied, "I might take you up on that someday." And she reciprocated. She wiped her tears away and made for the door.
Katara watched Toph leave the airbender's room. She had been keeping an eye on her best friend and future boyfriend's room for a while. When neither of them left after a while, she had to fight back the urge to burst in there, simply to make sure they were okay or hadn't snuck out the back window, of course. Not to stop them from having a makeout. She closed her eyes and breathed a sigh of relief when she watched the girl exit the room, as disheveled as she normally is and nothing more.
She was sure the blind earthbender could feel her standing there, probably for the duration of whatever had gone on inside Aang's bedroom. Despite that, she tried acting nonchalant and oblivious regardless.
As expected, Toph could feel her presence there, anxiously waiting. She decided against saying anything, for the betterment of the group. She wouldn't have an argument sprouting and forming splinters. As much as she felt like a competitor with Katara, she still valued her and the group too much to let them go. They had become her found family. She walked past the girl, feeling nervous and the heat on her cheeks obvious to any person.
Katara's heartrate skyrocketed at the sight, her worst fears practically confirmed. She couldn't believe that she was now in competition with Toph of all people for Aang. She was almost insulted that Aang had moved on so quickly. Maybe it was a conscious decision he had made, or maybe their connection simply hadn't been as strong as she thought. He was thirteen... maybe it was foolish of her to think he could understand the full extent of his emotions. She certainly saw how much he loved her. The question was, did he? Or was he moving on from her on purpose?
Either way, she knew she would have to act fast to clear the misunderstanding between the two, because it was clear Aang wasn't going to. As soon as it was evident Toph was well past her, she shuffled her own way to Aang and knocked on his door.
A muffled "Yeah?" could be heard from within his room.
Katara took it as an invitation to enter, and opened the door to step inside. The curtains were drawn, and there was little light in the room. Aang looked like he was cleaning up his bed, which had been a mess since last night. "Oh, Katara" he said, surprised. "What are you doing here?" he asked, nervousness evident in his tone.
"Hey, Aang" she replied, her own anxieties matching his. She really wanted to finally have the conversation with him, but her curiosity got the better of her. "So, what were you and Toph doing in here?"
He laughed awkwardly, rubbing the stubble on the back of his neck. "Nothing, really. She just had some... concerns about what Sokka had suggested. That's all." The awkwardness caused by Aang's kiss and Katara's statement the day before had left things awkward between them, and now they felt like they were walking on eggshells to avoid provoking or making the other uncomfortable. Katara planned to nip this feeling in the bud, before it could take root and cause problems for there relationship in the future.
"Makes sense" she said, eyes furrowed.
"So what did you come here for?" Aang pressed.
"Just..." she began, unsure of how to proceed. "About last night-"
"Aang" Zuko's hoarse voice could be heard calling from the hallway. "Come on, let's get your lesson started" he told him, unaware of the situation unfolding in the Avatar's room.
Katara grimaced. "Oh" Aang said. He didn't want to get into this conversation right now, and he didn't want to get rejected again. Though he did want to make it up to her, eventually, he didn't feel like a conversation would make things better right now. His apology would be to give her some space, and to lay off of her. "Duty calls" he laughed. "I'll talk to you later" he told her, before giving her a brief hug and leaving.
She was left alone in his dark room, feeling bereft and longing for more after his hug. She had always loved being hugged by him, and made the effort to make them last as long as possible. 'Is he brushing me off?'
She lounged around his bedroom for a few minutes, before finally deciding she had outstayed her welcome there. She knew Aang would be hard at work on his training, so she began preparing watermelons to drink for everyone. It was a simple enough drink to make, considering the fruit was bendable to her. She grabbed the melons, threw a couple straws in them and headed outside to announce herself. "Who wants a nice, cool glass of watermelon juice?"
Aang was the first to answer. "Oh, oh, me, me!" he yelled in excitement. Training with fire always left him parched, and he knew better than anyone that Katara's cooking creations were well worth it. He attempted to leave Zuko's lesson, who instead caught him by the boy's tunic and kept him there.
"Your lesson's not ever yet. Get back here!" the firebender admonished, as he picked the pouting Avatar up by his collar.
"Come on, Zuko" Suki complained. "Why can't he take a break? What's the big deal?"
"Fine" he relented. "If you want to lounge around like a bunch of snail sloths all day, then go ahead!" he yelled at everyone, as Aang ran up to Katara, blushing, to grab one of the watermelons.
"Maybe Zuko's right. Lounging around the house has made us pretty lazy" Soka concluded. "But I know just the thing to change that!" he announced, with Suki looking tentatively at him. He ripped his clothes off, screaming "Beach party!", his voice riddled with the cracks of adolescence. He ran and dove into the water, Katara quickly followed him on an iceboard.
Aang immediately went to work on a sand sculpture of Appa, having taken off his shirt once more. Having spent the morning sandbending with Toph, he had gained an appreciation for the art and decided to put his newfound skill to work. It was what he did best, using normally violent arts in the least violent ways possible. It was actually going quite well, and when he used seismic sense, it went even better. He managed to get every detail of Appa correct, even filling in the details of his fur. It was satisfying to feel the product of all of his hard work with Toph being put to artistic use for once, rather than a violent one. Appa roared in contentment, satisfied with his sand replica.
"Check out my Appa sand sculpture, Toph!" he was excited to share his creation with his master.
"Wow, good work twinkletoes" she praised, which normally came rarely. The truth was, she was amazed at his sculpture. It was incredibly detailed, and he had done it in only a half hour. "Not bad, baldy, but you're gonna love this!" she boasted, doing some quick separating movements with her limbs to create a replica of Ba Sing Se's upper ring.
"Woah..." Aang breathed. "Wow, you even made a little Earth King and Bosco." Toph smiled before him, proud of her accomplishment and happy that Aang liked it.
The pair walked over to Sokka, who was attempting his own statue. "Try to top that, Sokka" Toph mocked.
The older boy pouted, before smirking and presenting his giant sculpture. "Ta-da!"
Aang pointed at it, confused. "Is that a... blubbering blob monster?"
"No!" he complained. "It's Suki!"
There was a pause. And then laughter. Aang wrapped an arm around Toph's shoulder as they snickered together at Sokka's creation. "Oh, Suki, we'll all understand if you break up with him over this" Toph told the older girl.
The Kyoshi Warrior took one look at her charming boyfriend and decided, "I think it's sweet..." Sokka sank down to her level on the blanket and kissed her cheek sloppily.
Aang finished his chorus of laughter, and removed himself from Toph. "But it doesn't even look like- ah!" He was interrupted as Sokka's magnificent work was destroyed by a fireball from the Fire Prince. Aang turned to take cover and looked behind him to identify the perpetrator. Zuko lept off the cliffs behind him, and shoved multiple balls of fire towards the Avatar.
Aang leapt over Toph's creation, attempting to avoid the next barrage of fireballs airmed firectly at him. Each landed directly behind him as he moved, destroying Toph's palace sculpture. Aang ran next to his Appa statue, attempting to hide behind it as Zuko chased the boy.
"What are you doing?" Aang screamed at his master as he peaked out from behind sand-Appa's head. It felt like old times again, and Aang began to wonder if Zuko had really ever changed.
"Teaching you a lesson" the teenager responded cryptically, throwing a firewall at Aang, destorying Appa's replica. He threw more and more, attempting each time to hit Aang as he doged and evaded his attacks through airbending. The boy hopped up a cliff just as a jet of fire was bound to hit him, heart pounding in his chest as his mind assumed the worst- that Zuko was betraying them. The implications of this weren't even a concern to Aang, as he attempted to figure out how to end this without hurting Zuko.
A jet of fire struck the cliff, causing some rockfall which Zuko used to climb up after Aang. They chased each other for a while, going in circles, until Aang found himself in a palm tree which his master promptly lit on fire. He leapt onto the roof of their beach house, where Aang hoped Zuko would not attack him out of fear of destruction.
Zuko hopped up, using ledges and poles to propel himself onto the roof after the airbender he was chasing. He was greeted by Aang, in an offensive posture. "Get a grip, before I blast you off this roof" he threatened.
"Go ahead and do it" Zuko replied seriously, chucking more fire at his friend.
Aang merely dodged his advances, choosing instead to leap to the other end of the roof and slide down, swinging himself into a derelict room through a broken window.
There was complete silence for a minute or two, until Zuko decided enough was enough and burst through the roof, landing in the room on both feet. He took a look around, trying to get a hold of his surroundings, when suddenly a drawer was coming at him from the opposite end. He took it apart easily with a swift blade of flame, taking after Aang once again as he escaped past Zuko and down the hallway.
Zuko, tired of Aang running away, encircled himself and the hallway in fire, and extended it to envelop Aang also. He was determined to finally beat him, or to get him to react.
He was right. As Aang observed the flames envelop him on all sides, underneath him included, he grew angry. He put out the flames with one swift bout of air and stared steely at his firebending master, the flames reflecting in his eyes, reflecting the frustration within him. "Enough!" he ordered, before concentrating all of his energy on creating an air blast that threw Zuko backwards, breaking the wall of the house and landing him on the ground outside.
Aang observed from the hole in the wall. "What's wrong with you?" Toph chastised. "You could've hurt Aang!" Katara raised an eyebrow, as that was normally her line.
"What's wrong with me? What's wrong with all of you?" Zuko shot back. "How can you sit around having beach parties, when Sozin's Comet is only three days away?" he demanded. His friends looked pensively at him. "Why are you all looking at me like I'm crazy?" he gestured.
"About Sozin's Comet..." Aang stepped forward. "I was actually gonna wait to fight the Fire Lord until after it came."
"After?"
"I'm not ready. I need more time to master firebending" he explained.
"And frankly, your in-combat earthbending could still use some work, too" Toph told him as he pouted.
"So... you all knew Aang was gonna wait?
"Honestly," Sokka spoke up, "if Aang tries to fight the Fire Lord right now, he's gonna lose." He paused. "No offense."
"The whole point of fighting the Fire Lord before the comet was to stop the Fire Nation from winning the war" Katara came to their defense. "But they pretty much won when they took Ba Sing Se. Things can't get any worse."
"You're wrong" Zuko said defiantly. The others looked at him as if he was crazy. "It's about to get much worse. Worse than you can even imagine." He sighed. "The day before the eclipse, my father asked me to attend an important war meeting. It was what I had dreamed about and wanted for so many years. My father had finally accepted me back. He wanted a plan. A plan to break the Earth people's hope. And Azula suggested... burning it to the ground." There were gasps. He sat down on a nearby rock.
"He wants to use the comet to..." Suki trailed off. Her home. Toph's home.
"To burn the Earth Kingdom to the ground. To wipe them out like the Air Nation" Zuko continued, bringing tears to Aang's eyes. "My whole life I struggled to gain my father's love and acceptance. And once I had it, I realised that I had lost myself getting there. I'd forgotten who I was."
Aang facepalmed, and Katara was on her knees. "I can't believe this" she shook her head.
"I always knew the Fire Lord was a bad guy, but his plan is just pure evil" Sokka said.
"What am I gonna do?" Aang pondered aloud, feeling more hopeless than he ever had.
"I know you're scared" Zuko spoke up. "And I know you're not ready to save the world, but if you don't defeat the Fire Lord before the comet comes, there won't be a world to save anymore" he warned. Aang did not miss the way Zuko did not refer to Ozai as his father.
Aang jerked a thumb at his chest, and began yelling at Zuko. "Why didn't you tell me about your dad's crazy plan sooner?!"
"I didn't think I had to! I assumed you were still gonna fight him before the comet. No one told me you decided to wait!"
"This is bad... this is really, really bad..." Aang fell to his knees, as he walked way from the group. His hands clutched desperately at his face, hoping for any kind of escape out of this hellish nightmare.
"Aang" he heard Toph's voice tell him. "You won't have to do this alone. If we all fight the Fire Lord together, we got a shot at taking him down!" she cheared.
"Fighting the Fire Lord will be the hardest thing we'll have ever done together" Aand told his friends. "But I wouldn't want to do it any other way." They all came forward and embraced Aang, who would eventually become their saviour.
"Get over here, Zuko" Katara called out to him. "Being part of the group also means being a part of group hugs." Reluctantly, he trudged over to his new friends and wrapped his arms brotherly around them all. Appa landed himself on top of them, signaling his importance in the group, and knocking them over, laughing.
Aang got Appa off everyone, and said, "Alright, back to training the, I guess" he said seriously. As everyone walked away, he pulled Toph back by her shoulder. "Thanks for the words, Toph. They meant a lot, I really needed to hear it."
She smiled, "If there's one thing I have learned from you bozos, it's that being a part of the group means you can rely on each other. Thanks, Aang. We got your back." She punched his shoulder, and he smiled through the pain. He hugged her briefly, before going to join Zuko in the atrium.
Katara looked back as she entered the house once more, to find Toph and Aang having yet another one of their moments. She was beginning to feel overly jealous towards the two, and it felt like there was just nothing she could do to stop it without being an ass. She was losing him, and she didn't know what to do about it. Though everything seemed okay between them now, and back to normal, it wasn't at all what she wanted. She couldn't just be content with normal anymore, after being given a glimpse into more.
The pressure on Aang had mounted exponentially. Despite voicing his concerns earlier about the act of killing a person, Ozai included, his friends seemed to take it as an invitation to increase their lobbying to convince him to take a life.
'You'll have to take the Fire Lord's life before he takes yours' Zuko had told him. Didn't he care? This was his father's life he was asking a pacifist to take. Did he care about either? He just taught Aang how to redirect lightning- possibly the most unstable form of bending- and was expecting the boy to use it to murder- before leaving him there in the atrium, alone.
Toph had observed the quick lesson with interest, particularly in regard to Aang. He had been excited, as usual, to learn something as cool as lightning, but Zuko's description of the manipulation of lightning had turned him off it.
She, who had been watching the interaction alongside Katara, came up to Aang, who was standing there as if in a trance. "Are you alright?" she asked, a hint of concern evident. He looked at her, but no response came. She seemed to notice the change in his posture, because she continued. "I wish I could offer you a different angle, another way to win this."
Aang perked up. "Isn't that the opposite of being an earthbender?"
"Yes!" she said. "But I see the pain it's causing you right now. I just wish..."
"I know, Toph" Aang sighed. "Thanks for your concern. Let's go join Sokka."
"Sokka? What does he want?"
"Something about a training exercise" Aang elaborated. "Don't you want to spend some time with your crush?" he teased, snickering.
She punched his shoulder, but he continued laughing. "Do not bring that up again" she warned. "I'd rather spend time with you, anyway" she finished, a little quieter than usual.
Aang smiled. "What was that?"
"Don't push it, twinkletoes. Come on." She grabbed his hand, and led him out of the house to where his friends would be meeting.
It had just led to yet another crazy attempt at a training session by Sokka. Aang was beginning to think his friends were all behind a conspiracy to convince him to murder. It made him feel betrayed. Toph felt like the only person who even cared about his mental wellbeing, and his people's philosophy. Sokka had chided him for not even having the courage to knock down the Melon Lord. He didn't realise what that represented to Aang, and the turmoil it would cause him after. They were all piling this expectation on him, as the Avatar, and expecting him to do it. It was just how the Avatar operated, right? No one ever thinks about the personal sacrifices one makes to fulfill their duties. Especially when it came to Aang, apparently, who likely had the biggest sacrifice of them all. And it felt like his friends were just ignoring that part of him, the part the grieved day in and day out for his people and his old family. Everyone except Toph.
He was starting to wonder if he was actually catching feelings for Toph as well. Though he thought Katara would be the one he could love forever, he felt naive for thinking that. She didn't want him, and he had misread some signs. But here was Toph, surprisingly supportive in moments like this. He found her to be the pillar he needed right now, when Katara would no longer be. Or at least, he wouldn't force her to be. He was incredibly thankful for Toph.
The boy spent the rest of the day bothered and conflicted over what he might have to do. When the time for dinner came around, he refused to even join his friends, choosing instead to eat alone away from them. Everyone was either ignoring him, or forgetting about his presence altogether. Neither was preferred by the boy. He couldn't stand this rift forming between him and his friends. While he sat in isolation, his friends talked loudly and enjoyed their presence among each other.
Katara finally joined them, oblivious to Aang's positioning within the group. "I have a surprise for everyone!" She unfurled a scroll, revealing an image of a Fire Nation toddler. "I was looking for pots in the attic, and I found this! Look at baby Zuko. Isn't he cute?" Zuko grimaced. "Come on, Zuko, lighten up! I'm just teasing."
He sighed. "That's not me. It's my father" he elaborated. Everyone reeled in disgusted shock. They had just been admiring the baby... and it had turned out to be a portrait of the most evil man on the planet.
"But he looks so sweet and innocent!" Suki reasoned.
"Well," Zuko said, "that kid grew up to be a monster, and the worst father in the history of fathers."
Now it was Aang's turn to speak. "But he's still a human being." Katara looked in his direction, finally noticing him. 'Your father' he almost said.
"You're going to defend him?" Zuko asked incredulously.
"No, I agree with you!" the Avatar shot back, standing now. "Fire Lord Ozai is a horrible person, and the world would probably be better off without him, but there's got to be another way."
"Like what?" Zuko pressed.
"I don't know" Aang admitted. "Maybe we can make some big pots of glue, and then I can use gluebending to stick his arms and legs together so he can't bend anymore!" he suggested, desperate for a way out.
"Yeah, then you can show him his baby pictures, and all those happy memories will make him good again" Zuko mocked his younger friend. 'So naive' thought Zuko. He had no idea what it was like to truly live in a world of war, as Ozai's son.
Oblivious, Aang continued, "Do you really think that would work?" he asked, excitedly.
"No!"
"This goes against everything I learned from the monks" Aang told them. "I can't just go around wiping out people I don't like."
"Sure you can. You're the Avatar. If it's in the name of keeping balance, I'm pretty sure the universe will forgive you" Sokka stated bluntly, no concern given for the boy in front of him.
"This isn't a joke, Sokka!" Aang finally broke, reeling on his friends. "None of you understand the position I'm in." Though his friends had seen enough grief themselves, Sokka and Katara included, they didn't know how it felt to be left alone in a foreign world, arms and legs stretched thin. Because the only thing he had left was his philosophy, and he wouldn't give it up if he could help it.
Aang, we do understand. It's just..." Katara trailed off. How could she comfort him, when she really didn't understand.
"Just what, Katara? What?"
"We're trying to help!" she yelled.
"Then, when you figure out a way for me to beat the Fire Lord without taking his life, I'd love to hear it!" he shouted back, directed at Katara. His eyes were narrowed and his friends were sure they had never seen the boy so full of pure rage. And Katara hated every second of being on the receiving end of it. She had a feeling it had to do with a lot more than Aang's non-violence. He walked away, not a care in the world given to how he had left things with his friends, and the one he supposedly loved. Toph certainly hadn't been this much of a jerk about it.
"Aang, don't walk away from this!" Katara called out to him as he receded, but to no avail. She was held back by Zuko's cautious hand.
"Let him go. He needs time to sort it out by himself" the older boy told her.
She decided not to relent, to talk to the one she loved and comfort him and hopefully get him to see reason, but someone had beat her to it. The same person who had been doing so all day.
"Oh, shut it you two. Aang clearly needs someone right now" Toph reasoned. "Guess I'll do it."
Aang had just settled down on the cold, hard wooden floor of a balcony. He had taken some fruit and candles with him for sustenance and light. Munching on an apple, he sat in his meditative lotus position. Closing his eyes, the first images that appeared were his surroundings. Thanks to his earthbending master, vibration vision was second nature to the airbender now. Whenever his eyes were closed, it was all he saw. It could be a distraction for meditating, but worth it, since he was vulnerable in this state.
In this case it was just an annoying distraction. Even on the wooden floor, he could still feel the heavy footing of an earthbender walk up to him from within the house.
"What do you want, Toph?" Aang asked before opening his eyes once more.
"You're getting good at vibration vision" she complimented.
"Well... thanks" Aang blushed visibly. It was a good thing she couldn't see his face.
"I can feel that heartbeat" she admonished, laughing a little. Though this was worse. "You kinda left the main room a little angry there."
"I know, I'm sorry for yelling at you, Toph" Aang apologised. "I shouldn't have done it."
"You weren't exactly yelling at me, though" she corrected him. "They had it coming, anyway. It was satisfying to see you actually get mad, justifiably, for once. You don't do it enough."
He sighed, his demeanor finally weakening as he leaned into his arms, propped up against his legs. "I wish I didn't have to."
"There's no point in thinking like that, twinkletoes" she said. "Like it or not, they were asses, and you stood up for your beliefs. It might not be the earthbender way... but you're not just an earthbender. You're an Air Nomad, and you gotta remember that." She paused, and then mimicked his posture as she sat down next to him. "I'm sorry I didn't realise this sooner. When I first started training you."
"You don't have to apologise for that, Toph" he convinced her. "It needed to work in it's own way. I had so little time..."
They were silent for a while, and they were both content with that. "You manage to find another way yet?"
Aang smiled sadly. "Nope."
"I know you'll do what you can" she told him confidently, then kissed him on the cheek, causing him to flush crimson. She smirked. "I'll leave you to it. Good night, Aang."
He returned to his meditation, his mind now calm. Far from the conflicted state he was in earlier. He was honestly surprised at Toph's ability to do that to him.
Later, before sleep overtook him, and the Lion Turtle with him, his last thoughts were of his blind earthbending master.