A/N: I'm glad you all seemed to enjoy the last chapter! The next few chapters are action and plot focused as the story will come to a close, so I wanted to put in fluff and fun as much as I could. I will update "The Necklace' (collab under the name SomeKataangShippers) next and then I will finish this up pretty quickly.
Disclaimer: I don't own Avatar: The Last Airbender
As the dead of winter approached, Aang's training continued amongst the cold, dreary days. The airbender walked inside the mansion after waterbending practice with Pakku, sweaty and exhausted. The Master Waterbender placed a firm hand on Aang's shoulder, "You really have come a long way, Aang. It didn't take you long to beat me today. You're ready." Pakku gave a small smile and nod to Aang, which he took as the highest compliment since the Master almost never smiled. Walking back to his room, Aang changed his clothes and began to start scrolling through his phone. He saw 10 missed calls from Toph, the last call being 3:07pm. He checked the time to see it was now 3:21pm. Frantically, he called Toph, hoping he wasn't too late.
One Hour Earlier
Three boys wearing red hoodies were encircled around Teo, who looked frightened and trembled with nervousness. "Give us your phone and your wallet or say goodbye to your wheelchair," the tallest boy sneered. Toph had just turned the corner in the school hallway when she heard the hyena-like laugh from the three boys. She recognized their voices as that of the most obnoxious Fire Nation kids in her year. In addition to being annoying, she was certain all of the boys were the children of members of Ozai's resistance. She could not abide bullies, and especially not bullies that were supremacists as well.
"Hey! Pick on someone your own size," Toph yelled a few feet away from the scene. The boys turned around and grinned at the sight of her. "Oh look, it's the blind bandit! I'm sooo scared of a little, blind girl," the tall boy cackled. The student on the right side of the tall boy said, "Good one, Hide!" Toph rolled her eyes as she opened her locker, "Ugh, clever joke, you big oaf. I've definitely never heard that one before!" Hide and his two friends approached her, now encroaching on her personal space. Toph realized too late that there was a significant lack of earth around her to bend before she felt her body being moved.
The three boys laughed as they shoved Toph into her locker, her arms flailing as she screamed, "Get off me, you bozos!" The slam of the locker made her stomach flip. The sound of the boys laughing fading away as she heard a squeaking wheelchair approach the locker. "Good job, Teo! What, were you on vacation?" she asked sarcastically. He sighed, "I'm really sorry, Toph, as soon as they went over to you I started to look for help but then I heard you yell and I came right back. There's not anyone here really since school's over, but I'm going to keep looking. Sit tight!" Before she could yell obscenities at him through the locker door, he had left.
Toph fumbled through her backpack to pull out her phone. She voice commanded her phone to call her friends but only was met with unanswered calls or straight to voicemails. After what had seemed like a eon of calling her friends, her phone vibrated loudly and a robotic voice stated, "Goodbye!" Toph knew her phone was dead and cursed every curse word she could think of. Then, an idea appeared in her mind. "Wait a minute, metal is just earth, right? I should just be able to…" She grunted and groaned as she stood up and stomped her feet in soleless shoes into the bottom of the locker. Luckily, she was small enough to stand inside. She flexed her hands so her palms faced her, pressing her hands into the sides of the locker with force multiple times. After a few minutes, Toph felt the metal bend in her hands.
"Yes!" she exclaimed as she stomped her feet and pressed her hands into the locker over and over. After a few minutes, using all of her strength, ripped the door from the bolts and felt it crumple to the ground in the hallway. Ecstatic, she leapt out of the locker and on to the floor. She ran her fingers over the heap of scrunched up metal, admiring her work. A few moments later, Teo gasped as he moved towards the earthbender. "Toph! Are you okay! What happened?" Teo asked nervously. Toph grinned and held the scrap of metal over her head triumphantly, "I bended my way out of that locker. I'm the best earthbender in the world and don't you forget it!"
Aang called Toph a few times but her phone kept going to voicemail. He started to panic about all the possibilities that might have befallen his friend. He sat on the bed, becoming more and more worried that she was in trouble. Luckily, his phone began to ring so he answered quickly. "Teo?"
Teo replied, "Hey, Aang! Toph wanted me to call you since her phone's dead."
Aang sighed in relief, "I'm so glad Toph is there! Wh-"
Toph's loud voice came through the phone to cut Aang off, "I'm the best earthbender in the world! I just bent metal! No one else can do that, not even the you, Twinkle Toes!"
Aang's eyes widened as Toph continued to cackle into the phone, "Toph, what?! You bent metal?"
Toph sighed in annoyance, "Clean your ears out, Twinkle Toes, yes, that's what I said! Long story but I'm at school right now and I bent metal. Just wanted to let you know so I could hear your jealousy."
His friends' laughter made him smirk. Still in shock, he decided to bring himself back to the phone conversation, "Toph, that's crazy. I didn't even know that was possible. Is it okay if I tell Iroh about this? You could help us get to Ozai."
Toph yelled, "Tell everybody, Twinkle Toes! I'm in." Click.
After the phone call ended, Aang stared blankly at his phone for a few moments. He had never heard of anyone bending metal, but he couldn't dispute that metal technically came from earth. He smiled to himself, thinking, "If anyone could figure out how to bend metal, of course it would be Toph." The smile on his face grew when he imagined what this all meant for him. Ozai's camp could successfully be invaded. Aang could be facing Ozai sooner rather than later. It was happening.
One Month Later
At the start of the new year, Aang was in talks with The Order of The While Lotus whenever he wasn't training or doing school work. The Order had graciously welcomed Toph into the talks, as she would be the one bending the metal so Team Avatar could infiltrate. Usually at these meetings, Hakoda would update everyone on movements and positions of Ozai's camp. Today, Hakoda had come prepared with a more structured plan for the invasion. Katara sat next to Aang, their legs touching and her fingers interlaced with his.
"So, since we were able to capture the blueprints of the bunker, I've drawn up plans on how the invasion will go. We will arrive in two separate cars, parking a mile away from their sensors and guards. Katara, Sokka, Azula, Zuko, Mai, and Ty lee will stay with our vehicles and alert us if any threats appear. Myself and my men from the United Forces will take his guards out, creating a diversion for Bumi, Pakku, Iroh, Jeong Jeong, and Piandao to circle around the guards with Toph and Aang to the latch which leads to the bunker. After Toph bends the metal, she will lead the group through the tunnel until they all find Ozai. They will apprehend Ozai before turning him over to Aang. Any questions?" Hakoda asked as he looked around the table with a stern face. The room was filled with silence for a few moments as the members took it all in. Aang was the first to speak.
"Sounds like a great plan, sir. When were you hoping to execute it?" Aang asked. Hakoda paused before answering slowly, "I hope we can have everything we need ready to go in a few weeks. Attacking before the beginning of Spring will give us an advantage over the firebenders with the limited amount of sun in the sky. We can conclude this meeting unless there are any further questions?" Everyone shook their head no, prompting the group to stand up and exit the room one by one. Katara gave a reassuring squeeze to Aang's hand as they got up from the table. "How are you feeling about all of this?" she asked him. His brow furrowed in thought, "Honestly, I'm just glad that this will be over soon. I've waited so long. I want us, and the whole word, to be at rest." She smiled and kissed him on the cheek as they walked out of the room. "It will happen, Aang, I know it will. This is your destiny."
The following day, Suki and Aang had been texting back and forth in preparation for Suki's surprise birthday present to Sokka. Suki knew that Aang couldn't go anywhere to celebrate, so she had asked him to help divert his attention while she set up his surprise. Sokka was fairly quiet about his relationship with Suki when compared to his sister and Aang, who engaged in PDA like it was going out of style, but he still liked to attend to her often throughout the day. Suki knew that if Sokka didn't have something to do, he could be found trying to hang out with her or sometimes would just appear at her house. She found it sweet but this personality trait was rife with complications for executing a surprise. So, thanks to Aang, Sokka was lured to the mansion under the pretense of having Sokka give Aang "warrior" lessons in anticipation of his battle with Ozai. While this was all a ruse, Aang was actually looking forward to it.
Sokka arrived at the mansion around 4pm after school, carrying a collection of knives and his boomerang Aang gave him for his 17th birthday last year. He beamed as he set foot in the training area in the basement, "Don't get me wrong, the magic that you do is good, but hand to hand combat is just as good, if not better!" Aang chuckled as he walked over to his friend and pulled him into a hug, "Happy birthday, Sokka! Couldn't agree more." After breaking away from the hug, Sokka began to detail each of his weapons by describing his name for them, where they came from, and how to use them effectively. After his lesson, he started to show Aang some moves.
"Now, with your weight evenly distributed and knees bent, try to deflect my blows," Sokka ordered. Aang found the challenge easy as he was taught to use his opponents' forces against them in waterbending. Aang's seismic sense he learned from Toph came in handy during this training exercise as well. Sokka began to run to Aang, holding a knife pointing towards the airbender. Stomping with his feet on the ground, Aang quickly dodged Sokka's attempt, raising his arm to push Sokka's arm away with immense force. "Ow!" Sokka yelled as the knife flew out of his hand and he fell to the ground. Aang asked with worry, "Sorry, Sokka! Are you okay?" His friend tried to hide his whimper as he softly rubbed the bruise on his arm with his opposite hand. Sokka answered sarcastically, "Oh, just fine!" Aang reached out to grab Sokka's uninjured arm, pulling him to his feet. "I'm so sorry. Let's get some ice for that."
The two friends walked to the kitchen where Aang placed ice cubes in a plastic bag and handed it to Sokka. Raising an eyebrow, Sokka asked, " That didn't seem like someone who needed fighting skills. What's really going on?" Aang started to panic as he saw the time on his phone, knowing he needed to keep Sokka busy for at least another 20 minutes. "Uhhh, yeah, I guess it was pretty obvious, huh?" Aang nervously rubbed the back of his neck as he continued, "Well, I was wondering if Katara had made some college choices yet. She hasn't talked with me about it, probably because it's not a fun talk to have. I'm kind of nervous and just wanted to talk about it," he lied. Katara did tell him three of her colleges she wanted to go to, but the truth of the matter was that Aang really didn't know which one she preferred. Sokka smirked while holding the ice to his forearm, "I knew it! I knew this was all a set-up. You can't get anything past me, buddy."
Aang rolled his eyes but smiled when he pressed on, "So, any hints?" Sokka looked pensive and hummed for a few moments before stating, "Yeah, I think she narrowed it down to Republic City Tech, Ba Sing Se University, or...United Tribe University." The hesitation in Sokka's voice made Aang swallow hard. He felt lost. "Is United Tribe University terrible or something?" he asked. Sokka frowned and looked away from Aang, "No, it's great. It's...where our mom went to be a Healer. I think Katara might want to go there as a way to get closer to mom, but I'm not sure." He snapped his eyes back to Aang, who had a matching frown on his face. Aang was quiet as he processed all of this. For some reason he didn't take that school seriously because it was far away in the South Pole and because Aang thought she would want to stay close to him. But after Sokka basically looked like he was informing him that someone died, Aang considered that maybe that school was a frontrunner. While he knew he was being selfish, wanting her to stay close to him, he also wanted her to be free and be her own person. Aang knew all too well about feeling trapped by burden. He couldn't stand in the way of her career, even if it would make things for them more difficult.
"Oh," is all Aang could muster. He was also blindsided by the fact that her mother went to that school and he didn't know. Maybe she had told him and he had forgotten, but he was now certain that their future could be challenging, even after he defeats Ozai. "Well, like I said, I'm not sure. She just seems to like that one a lot and I think they give you financial help if your parents went to school there," Sokka shrugged. Aang smiled weakly but was interrupted by a text from Suki. He glanced at the text that said, "Pulling up now, bring him out." Aang smiled genuinely as he walked over to the doorway. "Well, thanks for that Sokka, really a big help. I did want to give you your birthday present, the only thing is it's outside behind the house." Aang grabbed Sokka's hand, leading him out of the kitchen. Sokka sighed as he was pulled by his friend through the house, "You could give me a heads up, geez!"
Aang laughed as they made their way outside. The shiny, green car parked in the middle of the driveway instantly changed Sokka's face. With raised eyebrows and a wide smile, Sokka jumped up and down and yelled, "Suki!" The two friends ran over to the car, Sokka opening the passenger side door as Suki leaned her head to look at Aang. "Thanks for keeping him busy, Aang! Have fun with Katara." Sokka rolled his eys at his sister and his best friend alone tonight but then he beamed as he kissed Suki, "So, where are we going?" Suki winked at Aang before looking at Sokka, "Oh, you'll see." Aang watched Suki back out of the driveway, blushing at the memory of Suki telling him she decorated a hotel room for them for the night. He knew this is something Katara would have no interest in knowing so he tried to forget it.
Katara arrived at the mansion at 6pm for dinner with Aang. Now that Katara was 18, she didn't have a curfew anymore, which made both her and Aang happy beyond belief. Normally Katara and her family would have dinner together on the twins' birthday, but Hakoda and Pakku were on a reconnaissance mission in Lake Laogai, so both her and Sokka were free to do whatever for the night. Aang cooked a meal for just the two of them, which consisted of stewed sea prune soup and grilled fish for Katara, noodles with tofu and veggies for him. They happily enjoyed the dinner, which was filled with blushes between the couple and Katara continuously praising Aang on his cooking skills. After dessert and cleaning up, the couple headed up to his room to watch a bunch of Grey's Anatomy, which Aang did not enjoy but it was Katara's favorite show so he mustered the will to power through it.
Aang brought up popcorn and candy for the two of them, placing the bowls of snacks on each of their laps. The couple snuggled together and gave several kisses throughout the binge, which made it all worth it to Aang. As the third episode began, he decided it was time to give her his gift. He cleared his throat before hitting pause on the show, "Hey, Katara, I wanted to give your gift. Close your eyes!" She giggled at the playful direction, covering her eyes with her hands. "No peeking!" Aang firmly stated. Katara laughed, "I won't if you don't hurry up, slow poke!" Aang sighed and said, "Okay, you can open them!"
Bringing her hands from her eyes, she quickly reached for the rectangular, silver box with a white bow tied around it. Katara's eyes widened in surprise, "Ohhh, I wonder what this could be?" Her giggles quieted as she opened the box, speechless at what she had found. Her hands reached into the box and pulled out two plane tickets with their names on it. "Aang.." she breathed quietly. "Happy birthday!" he yelled excitedly. Still confused, Katara asked, "I'm going to need a little more information here." She looked more closely and saw the words "Ember Island" on the plane tickets. "Wait, you got us tickets to Ember Island?" she asked as pink flushed her cheeks. "Yes! I booked them for June after graduation. I can't take you away now, but I will be able to in the future. Things will look up, I know they will. I couldn't give you much of a birthday today but after I defeat Ozai and we graduate, we'll be free."
Katara's eyes were shiny with tears. Her mouth opened and closed several times, trying to find the words. Finally, she spoke after choking on her words for a few moments, "Aang...this is too much. I can't believe you did all this. How much did this even cost?" Aang smirked, "Nothing is too much for you. And don't worry about it, I get an allowance from the Council as the Avatar, so I was saving up. After the past year and a half we both had, we need this. Is that okay?" Katara's frown changed into a grin as she leaned over to kiss him sweetly on the lips. She pulled away, looking deeply into his stormy grey eyes. "This is perfect. Thank you." Aang wanted to say he also did this because he wasn't sure if she would be moving away for college and wanted them to spend as much time together as possible, but he decided to hold off until tomorrow. He told himself that they have all of the time in the world.
Just as the couple began to kiss, Aang's door swung open. Zuko was standing in the doorway, panting. "We've got to go, now. Hakoda, Pakku, and some of the United Forces soldiers were attacked in Ba Sing Se!" Aang and Katara sprung up off the bed and on to their feet. "WHAT? Is my dad okay?" Katara questioned as she frantically put her shoes on. Zuko motioned his hands to have the couple hurry up, "We don't know, we just got a distress signal from them. We need to go." Aang nodded as he grabbed Katara by the wrist, running through the hallway. Aang's heart pounded in his chest as he looked over at Katara, who looked like she wanted to cry but held it in. He was tired of Ozai causing all of this torment for people. He wasn't scared or nervous like he was last time he went to fight, he was furious. He was ready.