A/N: As a tribute to Isaac Asimoz, a chapter from a different view. Hope you enjoy and R&R. May be a bit before I post the next chapter. )
Disclaimer: I don't own Avatar.
Chapter 10 Toph's chapter
Toph awoke lying on her side with a headache. She felt as if she'd been hit by a thousand boulders. And her head felt as if a swarm of bees had taken up residence in her skull. She tried to hold her head in her hands, but as soon as she tried to raise her hands, she found them tied securely behind her back by rope.
She tried to get some slack, but the ropes were bound tightly and rubbed her wrists raw when she moved them. Her ankles were also bound. With shock, she realized she couldn't 'see' anything. No vibrations came to her feet at all. For the first time in her life, she was truly blind.
She fought back the fear that threatened to overwhelm her as she used her feet to feel her surroundings. The floor had a unique texture, one that she had felt many times before.
"Wood, they've put me in a wooden cell."
"Very good deduction," she heard a sarcastic, female voice say from about ten feet in front of her.
Toph smirked up to the voice. "Hello miss platypus."
She heard footsteps walk away from her and a metal door open.
"Keep an eye on her. And send word if she tries anything. Ty Lee, if she shows any signs of bending, take it out of her. I'll be at the helm."
With that, the door slammed shut. Toph heard a set of footsteps approach her.
"What's going on between you and Zuko?"
Toph recognized the voice as Mai's, and the usual dull tone held a hint of anger.
"Nothing," Toph replied, pointing her head up towards the voice as she struggled to sit up.
"That's not what it looked like on the beach. Or today."
Toph heard the anger grow in the monotone voice, and was sure Mai was scowling at her.
"We're friends, that's it." Toph sighed as she reached a sitting position. "He still likes you."
She heard Mai's footsteps stalk back towards the door as she sighed again. She felt unsure and sadness had overtaken her when she told Mai that Zuko still liked her. She knew he did, and that he didn't see her as anything more than a friend.
Toph examined her own feelings as she sat in the silence. She liked Zuko, but surely not in that way, did she? She had liked Sokka for so long. He was funny, creative, and expressed himself easily. Zuko wasn't funny, but he did make her laugh. He was sincere, thoughtful, and understood her, more than anyone else did.
She realized with a start that she did like Zuko, maybe more that she had liked Sokka. But before she could see where that would take her, she'd have to get out of here first. She felt her meteorite bracelet on her bicep and reached with her tied hands, trying to pull it by bending.
It didn't respond at all. She remembered what Katara and Sokka had said about Ty Lee and her way of taking bending away. It eventually went away, but with Ty Lee standing feet from her, she had to bend before the cheerful girl could disable her again.
She concentrated her hearing and picked up steady breathing from where she had heard Mai stalk off to. Fidgeting feet sounded from across the door about twenty feet away from Toph. A sigh would sound once in a while until the fidgeting feet left the ground and the sound of hands walking across the floor let Toph know exactly where Ty Lee was.
She continued to try to bend as the girls waited in silence before Ty Lee finally spoke up.
"So do you think Zuko might be right?" Ty Lee asked Mai.
"About what?" Mai's monotone voice replied. A hint of anger was still there.
The sound of Ty Lee's feet hitting the ground came to Toph and she heard the light footsteps of the gymnast walk over to where Mai's voice and breathing came from.
"His destiny. About helping the Avatar. Could he be right?"
Toph heard an angry "Humph," from Mai and then silence for a few minutes as she continued to try and bend. She suddenly felt a tug on her arms as the bracelet tried to move towards her hand. She forced herself to keep a smile off her face as she kept trying.
"I don't know," Mai said finally. Toph heard her sigh. "I just don't know anymore."
She heard Ty Lee walk her way. "What about you?" Ty Lee asked her, the girls' voice a mere foot from Toph.
"What do you mean?" Toph asked her.
"Is Zuko right? About how we need peace, instead of war. That we've been spreading fear, not prosperity, and balance needs to be restored."
"Where did you hear that?" Mai asked from her spot near the door. Her tone held a note of surprise in it.
"Azula. She didn't know I was there, and she was ranting about Zuko and what the Fire Lord had told her after the day of black sun."
Toph thought as she kept trying to bend.
"Yes," Toph said finally. "I think Zuko is right. You guys have been through the earth kingdom. Everyone fears you. The fire nation wiped out the air nomads, and almost succeeded wiping out the water tribe this winter. With the last of the major cities of the earth kingdom fallen, you aren't spreading anything but fear."
"Yeah," Ty Lee said, uncertainty in her voice. "But he's been trying to defeat the Avatar since he found him last year. Why the change?"
Toph shrugged. "I dunno. I think I remember him saying that he was never happy, that it wasn't the real him."
She heard Mai's breathing change slightly, and Ty Lee's breath was on her face as she had moved closer.
"He went through a lot, and I think he finally learned to open his eyes and see what was happening," Toph said. The bracelet was moving more and she felt as if she almost had it.
"You really think so?" Ty Lee asked in a breathless whisper.
"Yep," Toph replied as the bracelet fell into her hand. She put her hand around the space rock and molded it into a knife as she began to work on the ropes at her wrist, trying to minimize her movements. She heard Ty Lee walk back towards Mai, switching to her hands halfway there, and then back to her feet as she stopped in front of Mai.
"You knew Zuko best, Mai. What do you think about what she said?" Ty Lee asked her friend.
Mai sighed again. "I don't know. He wasn't happy unless he was with me, and then the day before the eclipse, he seemed…distant."
Toph heard Mai start to pace as the ropes became looser around her wrist, but she kept working.
"I just don't know anymore," Mai said finally as Toph heard her stop in front of Ty Lee again. "Just…just keep an eye on her. I need to breathe. I'll be back."
Toph heard Mai stalk to the door, the door creak as it was yanked open and then slammed shut as the sound of her footsteps disappeared. Ty Lee sighed and from the sound that came from her, Toph thought that she had sunk down into a sitting position. The ropes around her wrists broke at that time. Now all she needed was a distraction to pull Ty Lee away.
She waited for what seemed like forever until finally she heard dull thuds outside the door. The sound of Ty Lee jumping up and heading to the door made her perk up. Here was the distraction she needed. All she had to wait for was for Ty Lee to leave.
The door suddenly slammed open and she heard it slam into Ty Lee and then the sound of the girl hitting the ground hard. Sounds of struggle occurred and then two sets of footsteps approached her, one barefoot. She quickly cut through the ropes at her ankles and jumped into a fighting stance with her meteorite knife pointing out.
One of them, a man, chuckled. The sound was muffled as if something covered his face. The other, a young woman, sighed.
"She can't 'see' you on wood. Idiot," the young woman said to her companion, irritated.
