Responding to some of them: Like I said before, this will not be a Toko. I just thought, quoting MoonlitInuko, that "Toph is a person who is quite capable of whipping Zuko into shape". That's really the only relationship they'll have, although Zuko might mellow Toph out a little as well (I'm waiting to see how it turns out.) I'm glad you liked that last chapter; this one will be even better! (They actually talk to each other.)
And yes. This chapter is longer than the previous two. X3
I love con-crit.
I own nothing.
Toph knew as soon as she stood up that something was wrong.
Her feet were still wrapped in cloth, but less of it this time. The healer had improved her burns; now she only had faint red scars. They stung when exposed to open air. However, this wasn't her problem.
The problem was that she couldn't see.
The cruel, happy girl that had poked her had truly taken away her earthbending. She was blind—actually blind. She was so shocked, so astonished, that once she took a step, she fell flat on her face.
"Get up," the healer said in distaste, nudging her hard in the ribs with his foot. Toph scowled, placing her hands on the ground to try and feel the man's heartbeat.
Still nothing.
"He said get up." It was another voice, one more familiar. Toph looked up towards the source. The prince was standing above her.
"Make me," Toph said plainly, dropping so that she lay splayed on the stone floor.
Zuko yanked her up by the arm so hard she felt like he had torn it out of his socket. Stubbornly, she didn't make a sound. He was strong; she suddenly found herself dangling a foot off the ground, and being dragged out the door. "Hey, let go!" she exclaimed, struggling. It didn't seem to make much of a difference.
"We need to have a little talk," came the cold voice. Toph wished she could fold her arms grumpily, but currently one of them was in the possession of the moody prince.
"I've heard about you, you know," she said haughtily, trying to goad him. "You're 'the angry freak with the ponytail'."
Zuko actually chuckled, to her chagrin. "Don't have a ponytail anymore," he said. "Of course, you wouldn't be able to see that."
"Boohoo," Toph retorted. "It's not like I'm missing that much." Zuko said nothing.
A wooden door creaked against the stone. Suddenly, Toph was thrown forward and on to the ground. She landed heavily with an 'oomph', still unaccustomed to her lack of sight. She couldn't see where she was, or where Zuko was.
The door creaked shut.
"All right then, it's just you and me."
Toph sat up, legs helter-skelter in front of her, looking bored. "Uh-huh."
"Where's the Avatar?"
She threw up her hands, exasperated. "Why do you keep asking me that?!" she shouted. "He's DEAD, you idiot! Azula KILLED him. How many times must I say it?"
"Except we both know you're lying," Zuko replied savagely. "The waterbender had water from the spring at the North Pole, magical water. Water she could use to heal. She healed him, he's alive, and you just don't want me to know it."
Toph hesitated. How could he possibly know that? "The water didn't work," she said quietly. "She tried it, over and over again. It didn't work." Then her clouded eyes once more took on their fiery anger. "And how would you know that, Prince of Pansies?"
Zuko didn't reply to her insult. "She told me, when we were in the cave together. Azula imprisoned us both."
Toph suddenly remembered: the tea man, coming to their door, asking for help. Help to rescue his nephew, who was imprisoned with Katara.
The nephew who he had been tracking several weeks earlier, because he had wanted to be there for him.
"Where's your uncle?" she asked, and this time the softness of her voice wasn't acting.
-x-x-
Zuko tensed. How did she know about his uncle, besides when they fought Azula side-by-side so many months ago? That was the only time he remembered seeing her, and even then, she probably hadn't seen him or his uncle. She was blind, after all.
Wait…if she was blind, how could she earthbend accurately? She had thrown some pretty good attacks at Azula, but only someone who could see could be that sharp.
"How do you see?" he asked bluntly, ignoring her other question.
"Through earthbending," Toph replied in a tired voice, suggesting that she had answered this question a lot. "Where's your uncle?"
"So you can't see anymore?"
She took on a bitter tone: "Please don't tell me all that fire has burned away your brains. No DUH I can't see anymore, Prince Pansy. Where's your uncle?"
Zuko still refused to answer. "Where's the Avatar?" he asked again, furiously.
"He's DEAD," Toph screamed with a sudden ferocity, jumping to her feet. Her face was twisted with rage and frustration. "You dumb moron! Aang's dead, Katara's water didn't work, I'm BLIND, the world is doomed, and you're standing there asking me the same question over and OVER!" She started swinging punches, but they were easy to dodge. She couldn't see, after all. Her arms swung wildly back and forth, tears beginning to leak from her eyes. He wondered whether the tears were real, or acting.
-x-x-
Damn, she was crying. She wasn't even sure why; all she knew was that it wasn't acting. Perhaps it was just all the stress: being picked up and dragged by a prince much bigger and stronger than her; losing her sight, making her helpless and weak; having to act all the time, always on her toes, unable to let any stray emotion rise to the surface. Whatever the reason, her eyes stung, and her cheeks were wet.
"Where's your uncle?! Where is he, you sick bast—"
Zuko caught her wrists. It was a gentler grasp than she had expected, and surprise made her freeze.
"Azula gave me the decision as to what to do with you," he said quietly, sounding like he was thinking hard about something. Toph didn't speak. She didn't dare. "And I'm not quite sure what use we can put to a blind girl whose only talent is dirt."
Toph bristled. "I can do a lot more than dirt, if I could only see."
"Gardening it is, then."
He took her by the arm again, although this time he kept her feet on the ground. He didn't grip her as hard. His sudden change of mood had put her in such a shock, she didn't fight.
He led her down several hallways, taking turn after turn after turn. Toph lost track of where they were. Occasionally she would stub her toe on an uplifted stone, and would begin cursing wildly. Zuko would ignore her, dragging her on. He remained silent the entire time. She wondered what he was thinking about.
-x-x-
Perhaps she wouldn't have affected him so much if she didn't keep asking about his uncle. How did she know about Iroh? The question pushed its way forcefully to the front of his mind, and would not go away. He had only seen her once…Iroh had only seen her once…and that was in the middle of a battle. How did she know he was his uncle? Obviously she didn't know his name.
He was almost afraid to ask. He feared the answer more than anything else. Yet, he desperately wanted to know. He wouldn't answer her when she asked where Iroh was; Zuko was too ashamed. A small voice in his head still told him that he had betrayed his uncle, not the other way around. And he was sure that she wouldn't exactly take his side on this one if he told her.
He opened the door to the southwest courtyard. The cool night air struck him like a heavy curtain. The sky was clear above his head, and stars sparkled in the—
Toph tripped down the step entering the courtyard, yanking Zuko's arm downwards and immediately calling out several profanities. "Didn't learn those from the Avatar, I'm assuming," he said dryly, pulling her to her feet. She wavered unsteadily at first, placing both hands on his arm.
"No, not from him," the earthbender replied, her voice just as flat. She let go of him entirely, walking forward cautiously on her own. Zuko watched her place her feet carefully, and he could see the concentration on her face. "I wish I could feel the ground," she grumbled, standing alone in the middle of the courtyard, silhouetted only by the stars. "I feel helpless."
"You are helpless," Zuko said bluntly. "You're blind."
Toph whirled on him angrily, her face twisting again. He was becoming used to the expression. "Shut up!" she yelled. "I am not helpless! I can beat your butt any time! Just watch me!" She started forward towards him with furious, purposeful steps.
Suddenly there came a dip in the terrain, and she tilted dangerously to the side. Zuko thought to catch her, and actually reached out a hand—then pulled it back. She tumbled to the ground.
"You're pathetic," he told her venomously. "Stop trying to defy what you really are. If you just keep pretending, acting, running away from your fate, you'll never be able to help yourself."
-x-x-
Toph remained on the ground. She didn't even try to get up. She felt tired, worn, and stressed beyond belief. It felt good just to lie down, and not move. She lay on her front, her cheek against the grass, her arms spread wide.
"Good advice," she said honestly, closing her eyes and focusing on the feel of cool grass against her skin. "Too bad it isn't yours. It's your uncle's."
His uncle was the wise man. This nephew was the foolhardy young man who never knew what he wanted. Those couldn't be his words. He had taken them from the old man.
Zuko remained silent, and she knew she had gotten to him. "Something happened to him," Toph said, more a statement than a question. "Something that's your fault. You caused it."
More silence. Toph's heart seemed to stop.
"…Is he dead?"
She heard him take a deep breath. She held her own, waiting for his response.
It didn't come. He let it all out in a sigh. Toph did the same, clenching fistfuls of grass in her hands. No, he couldn't be dead…
"This is where you're going to work," Zuko said, breaking the silence. Toph opened her eyes. "This courtyard hasn't been worked in years. You are going to fix it up, make it look nice. None of the plants are dead yet, just wild and overgrown."
"If you think, for some strange reason, that I have any kind of green thumb—"
"You don't have a choice, Dirt Girl."
Toph scowled into the ground, only to have it taken away from her as Zuko lifted her up again. He took her arm in a harder grasp this time, leading her away. She remembered to step up as she exited the courtyard. Worst of all, Toph felt the cool touch of night air slip away from her as she once more entered the hot, stifling palace of the Fire Nation.
"You'll be sleeping on the floor in my room," he said. "A blind servant is a liability, and they want you watched. You can't sleep with the other servants."
"So I get a little towel in the corner, like a pet," she spat. "How kind of you, Pansy Prince. And I thought I was going to be treated like a prisoner."
"You get a pallet, like the rest of the servants, with a blanket," Zuko replied, his voice raised above her sarcasm. He hesitated for a moment, then added, "And yes, it is in the corner."
Toph closed her eyes and sighed. "At least you aren't throwing me raw meat through the bars of a cage."
"Azula mentioned something like that…I talked her down. We can't waste raw meat on you."
"Was that a joke?"
"Not really."