Chapter 2
Without warning, Zuko leapt up, and a jet of flame shot straight towards Toph's face.
She brought her fists up, and a rock wall shot up in front of her, the fire splashing against it. Without hesitation, she punched at it, sending large chunks of it flying towards the Fire Prince. He jumped again, landing on a ledge on the wall behind him, and the rocks crashed against the wall below. She punched the last of her wall at him, and twisted her foot, pushing the rock underneath him out.
Instead of it knocking him off his feet, he used the push to leap forward at her. She felt the heat of the flames surrounding his fist, squashed down her panic, and raised her arms, rising above him on a thick column of earth.
He twisted at the last moment, hitting the column with his feet and bouncing off, rolling away and back onto his feet. She raised her hands, closed her eyes, and jumped. The shockwave sent a thick layer of dust flying into the air, and he stopped moving.
Toph grinned. This is where it really gets fun…
She jumped off the column, softening the earth below her enough to cushion her fall. She straightened, moving her hands around and sending rocks as big as her torso flying around and toward him.
He darted and dodged, her attacks missing by bare centimeters. He was quick on his feet—not as much as Twinkletoes, but certainly a lot more than any other Earthbender she had fought.
She kept the attack up. "What's the matter?" She called, voice mocking. "Don't like not being able to see?"
Silence greeted her.
Very smart, Zuko. Too bad I don't need to hear your voice to know where you are.
He dodged another earth missile from her, then suddenly changed direction, heading towards the closest edge of her dust cloud. She whipped around, facing him.
"Oh no you don't," she muttered, and smacked her foot against the ground. Cracks raced from the impact point to where he was; as the ground gave beneath him, and he tripped.
Again, he surprised her: he used the fall to throw his weight backwards, then propelled himself into the air, and a stream of fire cut through her dust straight for her.
Shocked, Toph fell back, away from the heat, landing hard on her back. "Ah!" She twisted—feeling the heat of the flames barely miss her—and dug a chunk out of the earth, sending it flying back at him.
He must've dodged in the air; he landed, and she could feel the anger—but no pain—washing out from his connection to the earth. With the dust now gone, he was able to see her scramble up from the ground.
"You don't want to play with me!" He shouted, voice hot and angry—and instantly recognizable from the past.
Toph took her stance, using the movement to try to quash her fear—that voice was frightening. "Who said anything about playing?" She called back.
"Then really start fighting—!" He snarled, rushing towards her. He lunged to her from the left, flame-covered foot arcing down towards her head.
In the split second she had, she knelt and brought her hands up sharply above her head. A thick pyramid of earth sprang from the ground, sheltering her just in time. His kick bounced off, sending a jolt rippling through her feet. Ignoring the sudden headache, she pushed against the wall, sending him flying backwards. He rolled with it, easily coming back up into his stance.
Toph frowned. His style was so different from anything she had fought before. It was like that girl's, the one who chased them… Azula. His sister. Of course. It made sense. But what would it take to knock him down?
She straightened up and circled around him, hands poised to bend, stretching her seismic sense out and trying to find something she could use. He pivoted so that he was always facing her, waiting for her to make the next move.
There was something. It was going to be hard, but it just might work. Her grin widened beneath her bangs, and she angled her walk towards the cliff where she had first sensed him from. Several feet under the solid rock was a weak line, ready to explode with just the right push.
"Where did you learn your bending from?" She asked casually as she moved, as though they were still sitting and talking like friends and not in the middle of a fight.
Surprise laced outward from him, but he remained silent, still focusing on her.
She reached the cliff face, her head tilting to the side. "Still mad about those insults huh? Oh well. How about I show you a little trick I didn't learn from the badgermoles, hm?" Planting her feet firmly against the ground, she raised her arms and reached with her bending, pulling at the fault in the cliff face. The rocks were extremely heavy, so it was difficult, and she strained to both free the rocks and keep them under control. Her arms trembled slightly with the effort, echoing the tremors from the ground. He jumped back, and she grinned.
"ROCKALANCE!" She cried, and jumped. She landed hard and brought her arms into her body, then shot them straight out. The cliff face cracked, and exploded outwards, aimed right at Zuko.
He kept jumping back, but he couldn't outrun the flying rocks. His yells were almost buried under the sound of crashing earth, and Toph could feel him bouncing around in the attack. She stood still until everything settled, then took a deep breath, bending over and putting her shaking hands on her knees.
"Whoo…" she breathed out, trying to control her muscles. "That was a lot harder than I thought it was going to be…" she stood there a moment until she got her breath back, then walked over to the pile where she could feel Zuko's heartbeat coming from. She swept her hands to the sides, and the rocks parted light curtains under her bending. "You alive?" She called in his direction.
With a gasp, he threw himself out of the debris and onto the open ground; he dragged himself several feet away and sat up, moving gingerly—probably from injuries, Toph realized with a frown.
"Hey, you are alive!" She said, walking over to him. She held her hand out to help him up; it was still shaking slightly. "You're a great fighter," she told him quietly. "If you had been able to somehow dodge that, you would've won."
"… Maybe," he said grudgingly, not taking her hand.
She raised an eyebrow, then sat next to him, still a little short of breath. "No maybe about it. That last attack took a lot out of me. I don't think I would've been able to easily stop anything you threw at me." She paused, then grinned. "That was the best fight I've had in a long time. Thanks."
"… You're welcome," he said, after a long pause. "Just… what was that supposed to prove?"
"You have my approval," she said, spreading her hands. "We could really use your help to teach Aang firebending."
He turned his head away, and the roll of emotions coming from his was so complex that Toph couldn't even begin to read it. "If I teach the Avatar firebending," he said, his voice heavy, "then I betray everything."
Toph sighed, the shrugged. "Your choice," she said, sweeping her hands out and away from her body, pushing the rubble back to the base of the cliff. "I don't know your situation, so I can't tell you what to do, if that's what you were hoping."
"No," he said through clenched teeth. "It's a relief to have someone not telling me what to do every time I turn around."
Toph couldn't hold back a bitter smile. "I know how that is. That's one of the reasons I ran away from home—I just couldn't handle my parents and their strict rules anymore… telling me I couldn't leave the house, or have any friends, or even learn more advanced earthbending." She picked up a small rock and tossed it as she spoke.
"They said that?" Zuko said, clearly startled. "Haven't they ever seen what you could do?"
She caught the rock, rolling it between her fingers. "My father did, once. But for my whole life, they've seen me as their helpless, fragile, little blind daughter who can't do anything!" She threw the rock, and blew a crater into the boulder in front of her. "He saw my abilities, and then forbade me from leaving the house again." She drew her knees up, resting her arms on them and her chin on her arms. "They just don't understand…" she said quietly.
Zuko was quiet for a long moment, his face turned towards her. "It sounds like your father doesn't know you at all."
Toph shook her head, squeezing her eyes shut. "No. He doesn't."
"Funny how that happens," he said, his own voice bitter. "You'd think your parents would know you better than anyone else."
The way he said that… Toph turned her head towards him. "You've been through the same thing," she stated, instead of questioning.
"If I hadn't, do you think I'd be out here talking with you instead of helping my sis—Azula and my father?" The pain in his voice was just as plain as the early bitterness.
"Good point," she said, turning her face away. A thought occurred to her, and she barked a bitter laugh. "We wouldn't have met if it wasn't for our overbearing parents!"
"Or if we had," Zuko said, his voice ominous, "we would really have been trying to kill each other."
Toph bit her lip. "That's no fun to think about."
"No, it isn't." He was quiet and unmoving for several long minutes, and Toph wondered what he was looking at.
"You left home," he eventually said, his voice quiet. "You made the choice to take your life into your own hands—did it work? Are you… happy?"
Toph lowered her head, thinking about everything that had happened in the couple of months since she left home. She thought about Aang's struggles in his lessons; about Katara's constant, but almost comforting nagging; about Sokka's stupid jokes; even about fuzzy Appa and the terrifying experience of flying wherever they traveled. She thought about the yelling matches and the loss of sleep and the rush of fighting for her life with everyone.
"You know what…" she said slowly, "I am. I am happy. At home, I always had to sneak around if I wanted to earthbend, and my parents always wanted me to act like a lady—the complete opposite of what I am." She pulled a face. "Here… I have… friends. Sure, Aang stinks at earthbending, and Katara's really really good at annoying me sometimes, but I like being with them and traveling around. It's a lot better than being at home. I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself, and they can see that a lot better than my parents did."
"… you're lucky to have friends like that," he said quietly.
"Thanks," she said, smiling. "Usually, I think so too."
"Do you think you'll ever go back home?" He asked, his voice a little wistful.
"Honestly? Hopefully not." She shrugged. "Knowing my parents, they would probably lock me in my room and never let me out."
"I don't think there's a room built that could hold you. And… even knowing what you can do, they still won't see it?"
Toph laughed, feeling bitter. "If there was a room made of metal, I'd be pretty much stuck. And no. I'll always be their helpless, fragile, blind daughter. But I think… sometimes I think they're more blind than I am."
"It sounds like it. I wish I could be amazed at that kind of misunderstanding… but it happens." He shifted position, drawing his knees up and folding his arms on top, then resting his chin on his arms. "After all, I wouldn't be out here if my father and I saw things eye-to-eye."
"Don't you have damaged eyes too?" Toph blurted, the question popping out before she could stop it.
Zuko stiffened, one of his hands raising to ouch his face. "Just one. It's… scarred pretty badly, but I can still see out of it."
"Consider yourself lucky," she said, turning her face towards him. She lowered her legs to sit criss-cross, resting one elbow on a knee and putting her chin on her fist. "I've never met anybody with a scar like that before. Does it still hurt?"
Shock rippled through the earth. "I… no. Sometimes I think it does, but it doesn't really. It's dead."
She turned her face towards his, wishing hard that she could see details with her seismic sense… but that wasn't how it worked. "What does it look like?"
He turned his head away. "It's hideous. It's red and ridged and it pulls my eye out of shape."
She gave him a smile. "I think you look just fine."
"You have no idea how I look," he said, his voice sulky.
Toph chuckled. "It was supposed to be funny."
He turned his head back, and she wondered what kind of look he was giving her… and just what exactly a scar looked like. Curious, she lifted her hand off the ground, then paused.
I should probably ask… I don't want to get burned.
"You know, I've never 'seen' a scar before… can I touch yours?"
His shock was overpowering. "…what?"
She lifted her hand. "I can't see facial details with my bending, so I only know what people look like through touch. Can I?"
His pulse quickened, and again, his emotions tumbled over each other in a confused wave that she couldn't decipher.
"… if you want to."
IT'S TOPH'S TURN FOR A FIELD TRIP WITH ZUKO, OKAY?
OKAY.
Again, I can't take credit for 99% of Zuko's dialogue and actions.
Picking chapter breaks is HARRRRRRDDDDDD but this is way too long to post as one chapter.
