A Kiss in Ba Sing Se

A/N: Avatar the Last Airbender is owned by NICK

Toph's true nature shines forth as well as that of her cousins.

Caution: Graphic violence/rape/incest

Vengeance and Promise

Chapter 75

"Did you actually think I was going to let you do as you please… mother," Toph snarled as she glided closer to Poppy. The queen was on her hands and knees before her daughter completely stripped bare and bleeding from where debris had grazed her. She was less than regal in appearance.

"Have you forgotten that I'm your mother?" Poppy screamed in rage as she staggered to her feet only to have her knees buckle and sag back to the ground. "I'm only looking out for your best interest and that of this family! Can't you see that or are you truly blind?"

As Toph raised her hand, Poppy was suddenly lifted into the air and floated about a meter above the ground. "I think what you forget, dear mother, is that they are part of this family as well! Just because they are more devoted to me than you should not come as a surprise! You have used and betrayed everyone you have ever known, including poor daddy Lao. When I lived with you, I overheard many of your schemes and plans. Always looking for a way to get more at any cost."

The queen felt as if every part of her body was being pulled on. It wasn't painful, just uncomfortable. "You're mistaken my dear," Poppy gasped, unable to move a finger. "I… I never used you. I would never betray…"

"SILENCE!" Toph's voice boomed as the room shook.

The only ones left standing were the djinns. Poppy had hit the ground hard, knocking the wind from her lungs as she rolled over on her back in fear and pain unable to speak.

"Please don't even attempt to lie to me, mother," Toph growled menacingly. In this form, I can see right into you like looking through water. You can do that, right?" she asked as she looked over to her cousins for affirmation.

All three of them nodded and shrugged at the loose analogy but that was good enough for the dazzling earthbender as a smug smirk curled her lip.

"Glass." Poppy corrected her.

Toph turned and stared at her mother. "What?"

"The proper term is, 'I can see right through you like glass', Pumpkin. Perhaps you've been hanging around with that waterbending hick for far too long," Poppy added.

The petite goddess sighed as she rolled her muted green eyes. "Does it really matter, mother?"

Before Poppy could answer she felt a slight constriction in her throat. The Earth Queen decided that discretion was better for now. "I suppose not, my dear, (cough)."

"Glad we agree," Toph answered in a surly tone. "Now on the matter of betraying me, how did you ever explain to dad about how a small, defenseless child ever ended up in a badger-mole den? If I do recall, I was blind and unable to bend at that time. He was away on business and you were supposed to be taking care of me. Or was it that you became embarrassed when your father told you that I was broken and defective and that I should have never been let to live. Wasn't that why you ordered my nanny to, what was the term, oh yeah, make me disappear."

Poppy swallowed hard as she looked around the room at the surprised expressions of her nieces. "Honey, baby, you know I would never do such a thing? You were always smart and mischievous. You slipped away from that irresponsible excuse of a nanny and…"

Toph held up a hand to silence her mother's excuses. "Please, in this form, even my childhood memories are crystal clear. I admit that I convinced myself of the improbable lie of a hapless child running away because I didn't want to see that you were really a heartless, selfish and arrogant shit eating vulture-viper, mother. What the monkey-fuck! How does a blind kid end up in a scavenging badger-mole den? We lived nowhere near one! Tens of kilometers away!" she exclaimed closing her eyes and grimacing as if recalling something painful. "This robe, the one you call Toph, is strong and yet she will lie to herself because she wants you to love her. Pity, now even she… knows the truth about you. Pray Poppy that her anger doesn't turn to hate," the Jade Emperor's daughter warned.

Poppy's eyes opened wide in fear. "Please, Pumpkin, this is just a misunderstanding! Let me explain!" she exclaimed trying to look innocent.

"Mimi, slay this one," Toph ordered in a flat tone pointing in Thing One's direction.

Poppy could only look in shock and dismay as her Dark Lady's head rolled from her shoulders as if an unseen blade had severed it. The thick black ooze that constituted the djinn's blood boiled up from her neck and spilled down her still standing body before her lifeless form fell flat on the ground. It immediately transformed as the appearance of its normal black dress disappeared leaving a nude form. Her skin appeared to be made of deep bluish scales that shimmered, covering her entire body. Both her hands and feet resembled talons more than human appendages. Surprisingly, it made very little sound to speak of as it twitched and flailed on the tiled floor. There was, however, a strong stench of sulfur and iron in the air. So much so, Lili and Lei began to wretch.

Tsimi stooped down and tasted the fluid that was still pouring from the decapitated creature. "She's recently fed, a young woman no doubt," the small djinn declared picking up the head. "May I examine further your Majesty," she requested.

Toph nodded as Tsimi's mouth became almost bear-like and four prominent fangs grew out. She then bit into the top of Thing One's head with a loud crunch, devouring its wirelike black hair, skull, and brains from where she bit.

Lili and Lei began to vomit convulsively, but Mei Mei appeared more fascinated than repulsed by the gory site.

"Well, now there is just one of auntie's scary bitches left. I think I like cousin's girls, clean and neat, except for their eating habits, that is," Mei Mei laughed seeing the black and gray muck that covered Tsimi's muzzle.

"Why Toph, why did you kill her!" Poppy wailed as her eyes filled with tears. "She was like… like a daughter to me!"

Toph's brow furled tightly. "Yes, both these, things, have been like your children, haven't they mother? That's why you didn't need a crippled child. While you attempted to have your real daughter eaten, these monsters were covering up your trail by devouring everyone who knew and then altering even my memories when that plan failed! That's why I killed that one. She dared to enter my mind and take the truth of your treachery! That is why she had to die! If not for the agreement with my father you made to robe me, I would've ended you as well, mother!" she roared in a voice that caused even Poppy to tremble. "Annie?"

"Yes my Queen?" the tall djinn replied hungrily as her grip tightened in anticipation on the remaining dark djinn.

"Enjoy," the princess replied with a wide wicked grin.

"No! Please, Toph, daughter… mercy. I beg you! I plead for mercy!" Poppy screamed as she bowed to the floor, prostrating herself. "I'll do anything, anything you ask! Just don't take her from me! You're Zhinu, the merciful daughter of the Jade Emperor! I-I'm sorry! I was cruel and stupid! I should never have listened to my father! He was the one that shamed me into abandoning you. Your true father, the Emperor, had him flayed alive for that."

The moment Poppy began to plead, Toph had signaled Anromia to stop. "So that's how grandfather died. Always heard that he was killed by firebending assassins. Can't say I miss him. He barely even said a single word to me other than get the fuck away from him," she recalled. "I still don't see why I shouldn't kill this other piece of shit and perhaps your beloved brothers," she threw in. "I don't think anyone of my cousins would object, would you girls?"

"I don't have a problem as long as I can watch and it's nice and slow, with a lot of pain and crying involved," Mei Mei spoke up.

"Please don't, your majesty," Lili pleaded as she wiped her mouth. "True that I hate him for what he took from me and put me through, but he is still my father!"

Lei made no comment, but the blood that spilled from her bottom lip said more than words.

"Okay, that would be two, one with torture and I assume, based on Lei squeamishness, one swift," Toph counted holding up two fingers.

"No, I want him to suffer as well!" Lei spoke up in a bold voice. "I want him to beg for his miserable life as they shove rods up his ass until he pleads for the escape of death as I did!" she spat. "And you can add his dimwitted wife too! I'm sure she was the one who suggested this to him after my mother died! She just wanted me out of the way!"

"Oh, feeling a bit vengeful are we Lei? I didn't know you had that in you. I guess we're more alike than I thought," Mei Mei sighed with a half-grin.

"Please, Lei, Mei Mei, you're talking about your father's, my uncles! This isn't just a mere suggestion or make-believe. Songbird is serious. She'll really have them killed!" Lili pleaded with her cousins in panic. "Just look at what a signal to that small one did to that other creature. I'm sure if she told them, your fathers would be dispatched to the spirit world in short order! Lei, we are talking about the man who raised you!"

Lei began to seethe in anger as she confronted the chief lady-in-waiting. "My father, my father you say? Well, let me tell you what my father did the first and only time I went home. I begged him to let me stay and not send me back to the royal court. I told him about all the horrible things they had put me through." As she began to tell them, the tears streamed from her oval, emerald eyes. "He just sat there as if I was telling him some fable or fairytale. Then he tells me that my cousin became a countess and that his brother was an Earl of an entire township and if I expected to be more than I am now, then I would have to step up. I couldn't believe he was saying this to me, after all, I told him. What more do you want me to do dad? I asked him as I bowed to the floor before him. I was crying so hard it felt as though I was going to die. That's when he said, 'I'll show you what you need to do. What I expect of you a member of this family and a lady of his majesty's court and harem!'." Lei took in a huge breath as she wiped at her eyes. "That's when my own father began to ravage me. He tore at my clothes as if he was some wild animal and I kept saying, 'No, please daddy, no! I'm your daughter, your own flesh, and blood!' But he just kept at it until…"

Mei Mei hugged her sobbing cousin. "I'm so sorry Lei. Even my own father didn't go that far. He was madder than a saber-wasp after I told him I fucked all my brothers to get back at him and even slapped me around… okay, he punched me like I was a man. He knocked me the earth out in fact, but it was worth it! I woke up in a carriage heading back to the palace with a message never to come back and that I was dead to him. He didn't realize that he was already dead to me."

Lei sighed deeply as she pushed away from Mei Mei. "If only that was the end of it. He called in the head of his guards and had that man take me. Then he called his chief steward and I don't know who after that. It was one man after the other, all pounding into me wherever they could. I reeked of their stench! I couldn't move a muscle or even cry after what they did to me. I lost all sense of time. I just know I was taken from morning till after sometime into the night. I don't know if they ran out of men or my father just got tired of the show. I was carried to the bath and after that, they dressed me and sent me back to the palace. He even wrote me a nice letter. I guess what little conscience he had remaining might have been bothering him over raping his own daughter. It said, 'I hope I have helped you daughter, to grow up a bit more. Please do your best for our family so that we all can be proud of you, love, Dad.' Lei's voice was choked and strained at that last line.

Lili stood with her hands over her face as tears flowed freely down her cheeks. Lei's father had been her favorite uncle of Poppy's three brothers. He had always been kind and generous towards her. It was hard for her to think of her lighthearted uncle in these terms. Still, she believed Lei totally. Her own father was also dispassionate about her plight when she sought his help. Those bitter words still burned in her mind. "Lili, some serve with the strength of their arms while others, their keen wit. You have been asked to give solace and comfort to his imperial divine majesty. Perhaps even bear him a successor. Can you imagine, a Soo Hahn on the Golden Badger-Mole throne? Wouldn't all your woes than be worth it?" he asked her as he dismissed her to a life of servitude.

Even after that, she never wanted him dead. But Mei Mei blamed her father for months of unspeakable torture and the death of her fiance. Lei seemed to have an even more compelling reason for wanting to see her father dead or worse.

Lei started laughing maniacally. "Can you believe the nerve of that bastard? That hog-monkey-fucker rapes his own daughter and then serves me up like I was a hippo-cow ham to all his men! Then he has the balls to write he loves me! Damn him, damn him to the Valley of the Lost! He has the nerve to act as if he was being a loving father by betraying and humiliating me! Well, screw him just like he did me!" she shouted striking her chest. " I want that bastard dead! In fact, I want every man that violated me emasculated! You can do that, right Tophy? You'll do me this small boon, won't you cousin?" she asked with a forced smile.

"I can cousin," Toph replied with a twisted smirk as she turned to look at Poppy. "So you would get to keep one of your precious siblings, mother. Or would you rather try pleading for their miserable existence? I do recall you speaking of how much you loved them How the five of you endured that wicked bitch of a mother. Of course, it's always a tragic tale of how your mother killed her own daughter when she refused to seduce a nobleman. A stern lesson I see you learned from, mother. Unlike you, I do have a shred of compassion. Come, kiss my foot and I'll spare their lives," Toph/Zhinu offered, putting one foot forward.

"But you said you would kill him for me!" Lei shouted in tears. "He deserves to die! Die like the animal he is! I'll kiss whatever you want if you would dispatch him!"

Toph smiled softly at Lei. "Peace. I would never subject my beloved, gentle cousin to such humiliation. I see the anger in your heart, but if you thought you killed your father, then remorse would consume your soul. I cannot allow that. It would be like killing you as well. Do you understand Lei?

"This is unfair Toph," she cried out falling to her face. "I hate him and I'll hate you too if you continue to let him breathe!" Lei swore into the ground.

There was silence as everyone gasped at the comment.

Lei suddenly felt as though her body was lighter than air. "I could never let that happen," Toph/Zhinu replied with a wide toothy grin. "Why not we kill your stepmother instead? She's always been a bitch to me and I'm sure her death would cause him no shortage of sadness," she suggested. "Would that make you happy sweet cousin?"

"It would indeed," Lei answered with an innocent looking smile. "But he would only get another wife in a month or two as he did after my mother passed. It was as if she never existed. He is quite wealthy and spry, very desirous among the noble women. His loss would then be consoled by younger thighs and lips."

Toph began to giggle. "But what if he could not satisfy those younger thighs no matter how those lips suckled. What if his frustration was insatiable? Wouldn't that be a fate worse than death?" she asked sarcastically. "Do you think he would suffer then? In fact, what if every man of that house that so brutally used you experienced the same malady? Aged or young. They all could become eunuchs!" she laughed loudly. "Wouldn't that be just delicious?"

Lei moved to her feet. "Your wisdom is truly awe-inspiring, your divine majesty," she replied with a bow. "May it be as you have said to the house of my father, Houching Soo Hahn and all his attendants that dared to violate me!"

Before Lei could completely look her direction, a lady in a beautiful silk dress appeared. She was clearly disoriented and stared about at Toph's mystical looking study.

"Where am I? What's going on?" she asked before focusing on the familiar face. "Daughter Lei, what trickery is this that you have brought me here? Return me immediately to my home. Your father will be very displeased with you if you don't. Remember what happened the last…"

The young woman, just a couple of years older than Lei, began to choke as she clawed at her heavily bejeweled golden necklace that was garroting her. Slowly it grew tighter as her mouth dropped open and her brown eyes began to bulge from their sockets and her tongue fall forward. As the glowing goddess behind the stricken woman closed her hand, the pressure on her thin neck increased.

"Please stop this Toph!" Lili called out in horror. "You're killing her! She may not be a good person, but Auntie Dakshayani is family! I know she's hurt Lei, but is that enough reason to kill her?"

"I dunno, ask Lei," Toph deferred dispassionately as she calmly continued the slow, excruciating execution.

Lili turned to look at her cousin who appeared to be enthralled by the sight. "Please, Lei! Ask Songbird to stop this! For the love of all that is holy, please don't let Dakshayani's life be on your head!" she pleaded grasping Lei's arm.

Lei sighed. "You're right Lili, I don't want her life like this," she said as the jewelry noose loosened and Dakshayani began to sputter and wheeze, falling to her hands and knees.

Lili exhaled in relief as Lei's stepmother spit up on the floor a pool of phlegm and blood. She was gasping and coughing violently as well, but breathing.

The whites of Dakshayani's eyes were blood red from the strain. She lifted her head slowing to glare at Lei. "You'll… pay… for this Lei!" the drooling, spewing, coughing woman warned as she regained her ability to speak. "I'll make sure your father knows all about this. We're going to sell your pretty little ass to the pleasure slavers! That I can promise you! They'll use you up till you die of the rot!"

Lei grabbed her stepmother by her hair and taking out her dagger, opened the woman's throat in a single smooth stroke. The shower of bright red spray covered the front of both ladies' dresses.

"Now that's better!" Lei stated as she watched Dakshayani's life ebb way in surprise. "This cheating, treacherous bitch will never deceive anyone else!" she said, spitting into the dying woman's face. "I don't think you're going to tell anyone anything where you're going, cocksucker!"

"Whoa, I did not expect that," Mei Mei exclaimed pridefully. "Good job girl!"

"How can you compliment her on such a terrible thing, Mei Mei!" Lili shouted pointing at the still gurgling body. "That was her stepmother!"

Mei Mei rolled her big emerald eyes. "Oh please, don't act all high and mighty now Lili. You've killed plenty of people for less than what this whore did to Lei!" the Toph look-a-like said as she crossed her arms. "If she hadn't done the deed, I would have smashed that pig-cow's head in with a rock. You can't tell me you didn't want to end that petty waste of flesh, Lili?"

Lili turned away. "Of course, but I've changed. I follow a new path. Besides, the other times were about war. It couldn't be helped," she mumbled.

Lei looked over at the chief lady-in-waiting in disbelief. "So that Beetle-head guy with that oddly shaped member, that butt-fucked you till you bled and turned your asshole inside out, that was due to war? Lili, we all heard you cut that poor bastard from his stomach to anus a day later in his room, and shoved that weird dick of his in his mouth…"

"Dick and balls," Mei Mei interjected shaking her head. "And don't try to deny it. Did it really look like a skinny pinecone?"

"No, more like a mushroom with a huge top and a skinny stalk, and I'm not denying anything. I asked him to stop several times but that ugly fucker just kept saying he was going to ruin me and make me bleed. In the end, I ruined him!" Lili admitted with a huff.

Mei Mei chuckled lightly. "Well, everyone knew it was you girl anyways! They just couldn't prove it. Good to know though, I never want to piss you off. The palace had to pay a small fortune I'm told to keep the peace," she added rubbing the tips of her fingers together.

Lei nodded in agreement. "I heard he took days to die after they found him. The pain was so bad that he went cuckoo! Isn't that right cousin Lili? I heard you went to visit him several times, is that true?" Lei asked her reserved relative.

"I only visited him to replace his pain medicine with tea. It was really good tea," Lili commented in a flat tone.

Both Mei Mei and Lei started to laugh hardily. Even Poppy was giggling.

"And then there was Lady Tisha. You two never got along, did ya," Mei Mei recalled tapping her chin. "Didn't you strangle her with your bare hands after she got you 7 stripes on your feet, saying that you stole a Northern Water Tribe diplomat's purse. Lei, that sounds pretty much like revenge to me, how about you!" Mei Mei snickered.

Lei nodded wiping the blood off her blade on Dakshayani's dress. "Me too Mei Mei. I think someone has got a bad case of self-righteousness now that she's found religion. Remember Lili, I was there when you choked the life out of that cunt. Once you could walk again, we found that purse in her room before you ended her. How she begged you not to tell. She was crying like a sniveling little bitch until Lili says, 'Okay, but you'll have to take 21 lashes on the soles of your feet!' That's when she got uppity and said she would only accept 7, same as Lili got and we split the money. Lili told Tisha all the purse belonged to her now for the pain and dishonor she caused. Lili also promised her that she was giving her all those stripes, whether she liked it or not. Then Tisha pulled out her dagger and tried to stab Lili. I knocked it from her hand and cousin had her fingers around that scrawny witch's neck that next instance and didn't stop squeezing until she snapped it!" Lei laughed as she replaced her short knife. "She looked just like one of those chicken-pigs at the market with its neck wrung!"

"So what did you do with the body?" Poppy asked Lili unexpectedly, apparently engrossed in the story.

The chief lady-in-waiting turned around with a smirk on her lips. "Your majesty, we wrapped her up in the bed linens and carried her out. We then sold her body to some Ba Sing Se University med student. They are always looking for bodies in good condition and don't ask questions. At least we got our money's worth out of her carcass!" Lili chortled. "The harem master thought she just ran away. I presume Lei told you, Mei Mei."

Mei Mei smiled brightly. "Only after I noticed her where a new outfit that would cost a fortune. I had to tickle her to an inch of her life!"

Lei's face turned bright red. "That wasn't tickling Mei Mei! Relatives should never touch each other so! That was way too personal and you know it!" she declared covering her face.

"It got me what I wanted, including seeing your cute love face. I count that a double win!" Mei Mei boasted with a flick of her tongue.

Lei crossed her arms still looking angry. "Eat me, bitch."

Mei Mei laughed loudly. "Is that a request for seconds, cousin?"

Lei stormed up to Mei Mei and slapped her so hard it turned the earthbender's head. She then kissed her firmly on her bleeding lips. "I love you so much, I hate you, Mei Mei," she declared, hugging her buxom cousin tightly. "You know you ruined me."

Mei Mei moved a strand of Lei's thin dark hair from her face. "Yeah, I have a bad habit of doing that. My brothers are still sending me gifts and asking to come and visit," she sighed with a lilt of her head. "I just get carried away."

"Disgusting," Poppy muttered rolling her eyes.

"As if you're one to judge mother. Or should I tell your nieces about some of your stranger appetites?" Toph asked bluntly.

Once more the Earth Queen bowed before her daughter. "Forgive my uh, judgemental ways, your Highness. I will be more thoughtful and considerate in the future," Poppy promised.

In a blink of an eye, Lei's stepmother's body vanished.

"Where did she go?" Lili asked of Toph.

"I sent her body home. I'm sure they will conclude that one of her many lovers ended her in a fit of jealousy," Toph/Zhinu summarized. "Her indiscretions are well known."

"And what of the second half of your promise, your Highness?" Lei asked with a deep bow.

"Done, dear cousin. Their manhoods are as dead as her," Zhinu replied with a soft smile. "You need not fear them any longer. Oh, by the way, mother, my petition on behalf of my cousins, what of it?"

Poppy kept her head on the floor. "As soon as I return to your father, I mean Lao's side, it shall be done," she informed her daughter.

"Excellent. I think we all need a bath now. Thing Two, go and prepare it. And remember, your fate still may be the same as that of your sister," Toph warned pointing to the remains of the fallen djinn.

The remaining dark djinn bowed towards Toph and then to Poppy before leaving the room.

"Would you really dispatch her as well, Toph? It was only by the Emperor's grace I escaped punishment over that badger-mole incident. He was so angry that he was going to kill Lao too so that I would really suffer! I sacrificed my own mother in exchange for his.. his life. You do love you daddy Lao, don't you Pumpkin?"

Toph jaw stiffened. "Unfair, mother. Playing on my fondness for that human. Indeed, he has always been the most kind and concerned for this robe. I did enjoy his tales of adventure and romance he used to read to me and this robe would be grieved to lose him," Zhinu stated as her eyes flash brightly. "I think he inspired me to go with the Avatar on that great adventure. So, mother, I'll be merciful since you saved him. But don't think for a moment that I believe that was a sacrifice. You hated grandmother more than anyone! Still, it was an amicable and shrewd trade. I admire that in you, mother. Despite how you've treated others, you seem to have sincere feelings for my father Lao," Toph said with a sigh. "I'll spare this one on condition of your servitude and total obedience, mother. I'm sure the terms are agreeable?"

Poppy exhaled as if she had been holding her breath. "Let it be as you have said, most benevolent Zhinu."

The big breasted djinn began to pout immediately. "Not fair! Tsimi got to eat hers!"

"You're not missing anything," Mimi replied wiping her mouth with the back of her hand. "This one tastes absolutely putrid. You can have the rest of her."

The princess began to slowly stroke her chin. "Anything you say? Absolutely anything… mother?"

Poppy shakily began to nod her head. "Anything… your majesty. I swear by the ordinances of the Guild! May the wrath of the Jade Emperor befall me if I break this oath, even into the spirit world!"