Sorry it took me so long to put up this chapter, I had a bit of computer difficulty…
Disclaimer:
Avatar does not belong to me, but a girl can dream, right?
When they got to the inner wall, Sokka turned to Aang.
"How are we meant to get up there?" He pointed to the top of the wall.
"Watch this." Aang opened his glider and flew up the wall. Once he was at the top, he signaled to Toph and together they created a big staircase from the earth. Toph started up the stairs, calling for Sokka and Katara to follow. When they were all on top of the wall, Toph and Aang sank the stairs back into the ground. Sokka looked over the edge of the wall, and immediately walked back.
"Uh, Aang? How do we get down?" Aang peered over the edge.
"Easy! Just grab on," he said, pointing at his glider. Sokka looked at Aang incredulously.
"You want us to put out lives in the hands of you and your glider?"
"You've done it before," Aang shrugged. Katara stepped forward.
"He's right, Sokka. And we should be quick, so come on."
Once everyone had a firm grip, Aang jumped off the wall. They fell rapidly through the air, and everyone but Aang sank into a state of panic.
" I can't see!" cried Toph, her legs thrashing the air frantically. Sokka let out a scream, suddenly noticing how close the ground was. In the nick of time, Aang made an air bubble, and they landed on it, breaking their fall.
"I am now officially afraid of heights," Toph proclaimed, and proceeded to fall flat onto the ground.
"Yeah, could we take the elevator next time?" Sokka whined.
"Well maybe next tine you could try getting us up and down the wall!" Katara snapped.
"Fine, would you like me to earthbend us up?" Sokka said sarcastically. Aang broke up the argument.
"We have to get to the outer wall by sunrise," he said urgently. "We don't have time for arguments." He pointed at the sky, which had become brighter. He began to walk, Katara catching up with him to walk by his side. Sokka couldn't help but stare at the two of them, walking in complete silence and yet seeming to communicate all the same. Toph seemed to know what Sokka was staring at, and flicked him on the back of his head. "Don't say a word," she hissed quietly. Sokka felt his face grow warm; embarrassed that Toph could tell what he was worrying about so easily.
"I don't see what the big deal is," Toph said, staring straight ahead. Sokka shrugged.
"I don't know, it's just… she's my sister, and I don't want her to get hurt. I want to protect her." Toph shook her head.
"Well what will you do if she doesn't want your protection? She's not a baby, and she's definitely not helpless." Toph kicked a rock along the ground. Sokka looked down, following the rock's progress.
" I know, but I want to know that she's safe. That she won't get hurt." Toph laughed, and kicked the rock to the side.
"She's fighting the Fire Nation. She's not safe, and she's going to get hurt at one point. You can't avoid it, no matter how much you want to. But she trusts Aang with her life, something that you still don't want to do, no matter how much you've been through together." She looked at him, and Sokka felt uneasy. How can eyes that can't even see look right through me? He shrugged again, feeling defeated.
"It's not that I don't trust him… I just…"
"Lemme guess, you don't want anyone to take away your sister? She's not going anywhere. First of all, she loves you. You're her brother, and she can't escape it. Secondly, Aang would never consider 'stealing' her. He's a good kid."
"Yeah… he's a good kid." Sokka's thoughts were interrupted by Aang's yelling.
"The wall!" Sokka looked up. Sure enough, in front of them loomed the gigantic outer wall.
"Want to earthbend us up now?" Katara said, smirking at her brother.
"Ummmm… I'll pass," Sokka said, taken aback by the size of the wall.
"Yeah, I thought so," Katara said, not trying to hide her smugness. Toph stepped in front of Sokka.
"Boomerang brain," she said, so quietly that only Sokka could hear. She shot out her arm, and a solid platform rose out of the ground.
"Everyone get on, I don't have all day," Toph jumped on to the platform and crossed her arms. They obliged, and when Toph felt everyone on the platform, she bended the platform up the side of the wall.
"Okay, everyone off, let's go," she moved her hands down, and the platforms sunk into the earth once more. She went to the other side and raised another platform, but she suddenly put her hand to the ground.
"Guards coming!" she hissed. Quickly, Toph and Aang opened a hole in the ground. They all jumped in and Toph closed the ground behind them.
"They'd better leave soon, or we'll run out of air. "Plus Katara, you're sitting on me…" Sokka said.
"Shhhh! They can't hear us or we'll get caught. They can earthbend too, you know," Katara whispered.
"Toph, are they still there?" Aang asked, trying in vain to listen for the guards. Toph put her hands to the ground above them.
"Yeah, they're still there… hang on." She took her hands off the ground and then punched the top. The earth lifted into the air, the soldiers along with it. Toph deposited the soldiers on top of a watchtower.
"Why didn't you just dump them off the edge?" Sokka asked.
"They're not our enemies. If we killed them, we would be considered traitors, and enemies of Ba Sing Se. We would be watched every minute, or worse, thrown out of the city." Katara looked at Aang. "We can't leave without Appa." She put her hand on Aang's shoulder. Sokka stepped in front of them.
"Katara, we're already being watched by the Dai Li."
"So we'd just get in more trouble if we did do anything to those guards," Katara said pensively.
"Hey, look at the sunrise," Aang said, wanting to take his friends minds off of their troubles. They all quieted and watched the sun rise over the mountains that made up the Serpent's Pass.
I finally finished… that was a longer chapter, although it wasn't that long… I'll try to put up more chapters soon, and remember, the Avatar season finale is December first!