Sorry for the lateness guys… Umm… Sophomore year is stressful, okay! Just uhh, forget about that thing I said before about "every Saturday…," due to the fact that I frankly have no time to write these days: thanks a lot, life-ruining-ditch-that-we-call-school. Anyways, ENJOY!
Getting to the Bei Fong family estate proved easy enough, but the true challenge would be trying to convince Toph's parents that her leaving was for the better of the world. The village was quiet, though many of the villagers had gathered around the estate to watching the unraveling events. Ten earth benders were waiting for them at the gates to the estate, an armed for numbering twenty stood in back of the benders. Jumping down from Appa, Toph declared,
"I am Toph Bei Fong, these are my friends, let us pass!"
"I am afraid, Lady Toph that we are under strict orders not to allow the Avatar into the estate," the guard stated robotically. Toph turned back to Appa, moving to remount and leave, before Katara stopped her.
"He said that the Avatar wasn't allowed to go with you. Maybe I can go with you, straighten things out with your parents and then everybody can come in and enjoy for R and R before we leave again for the Fire Nation," she offered Toph. Toph took her hand and they walked towards the gates once more. Recognizing the younger girl as Toph Bei Fong, and the older girl as "not the Avatar," they opened up their ranks and allowed them through. Aang couldn't help but feel sick to his stomach to be separated from Katara.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
Poppy and Lao Bei Fong, sat on their massive chairs as thrones, commanding servants vigorously; that is, until they saw their twelve year old daughter enter through the gates along with one of the Avatar's companions.
"Toph," Poppy whispered, as though the name were holy. Her face stricken with awe and relief, she allowed herself to shed a tear of joy. Lao sat on his throne like an icy statue, awaiting Toph's explanation.
"Mom, Dad…," Toph began, sadness filling her eyes.
"You do not reserve the right to call me that until and unless I have decided that your excuse was valid!" her father shouted at her, causing the pain in her eyes to vanish.
"I'm not sorry!" Toph continued her voice strong and firm. "I'm not sorry that I joined the Avatar and helped him save the world. I am not sorry that I wanted to see the world, to taste freedom; and I am not sorry that I made a name for myself rather than being trapped within your walls!"
"Then that is where we differ…," Lao said icily.
Poppy whispered to him, "You don't need to do this."
"Yes, I do!" the man shouted, his face flustered. He waved at the guards, "take them away." Toph, sensing that they were about to be arrested launched a pillar of rock from under the lead guard's feet, knocking him into the air. Katara, however, hadn't expected any violence, she was caught by surprise and was easily subdued, her hands cuffed behind her back with stone braces. With a flick of her wrist, Toph destroyed Katara's binds, and summoning a sphere of water from a nearby pot, Katara froze two of the nine guards. Calling upon the remaining water in the jug, Katara fashioned the stream into a water whip, which she expertly used to continue combating the guards, bending its shape to better slice through rock when needed.
Toph, a master Earth bender had managed to encase three of the guards in rock and knock out another.
Aang and Zuko both heard the commotion from inside. With a nod between the two of them, Aang jumped down from Appa, sweeping his staff low to the ground, knocking all of the guards off their feet. Zuko followed up by sending a horizontal arc of fire that knocked them all against the wall. They were all immediately frozen against the rock by Aang, who had utilized the water from the sewers beneath them. Aang finished by adding a layer of rock to their encasing, just for good measure.
Blasting the doors open with a gust of air, Aang demanded,
"What is going on here!"
The nine guards had regained their footing against Toph and Katara. Zuko, noticing that they needed help, jumped into the fray to join them against the guards. While the guards were occupied, Aang turned to Lao Bei Fong, who sat on his throne-chair, his face expressionless.
"Call them off," Aang ordered.
Lao answered with a simple, "No."
Recalling a Fire bending lesson with Iroh, Aang dropped his hands to his side, with two fingers straight, and the rest curled as a fist.
"Do not forget to breath," Iroh had told him. "Move your arms in circular arcs and draw out your chi. Separate them onto each of your extended fingertips. Feel the energy building up, when you feel the energy is at its peak, join your chis together in one hand, and fire your lightening. Remember, you do not control the lightening, you are simply its humble guide."
Aang performed these steps with perfect accuracy, the lightening showing on the tips of his fingers, joining them together, Aang fired.
The explosion was enormous. The ceiling shook and Poppy was knocked off of her chair. All of the fighting had ceased, as the group watched in horror at what Aang had done, that is, until the smoke cleared. Lao sat on bare floor, his arms stretched out for support. His face sported a look of intense shock mixed with mortal terror. The wooden throne that Lao had been sitting on before was gone.
"Forget staying, guys," Toph said bitterly. "It was a terrible idea."
"I agree," added Zuko, patting Aang on the back for his handiwork.
"As much as I'd like things to work out here, I'd rather leave," Katara mused.
"Alright then, let's go," Aang finalized, suddenly wondering what had become of Sokka, Suki, and Mai.
When the group came out of the estate, they found Suki and Sokka kissing passionately in one corner of Appa's saddle, and Mai in the opposite corner, her eyes turned towards the sky in exasperation.
"Mai," Zuko mentioned, hoping to elicit a smile out of Mai's bleak expression. Mai simply glanced at him neutrally, a gesture that Zuko knew meant, "Good to see you."
Aang jumped on top of Appa's head, a little disappointed that they were leaving already. Katara sat in the saddle, trying to comfort Toph, who had insisted that she needed no comforting and was perfectly fine.
"I'm fine, Katara," Toph had said. "They didn't want me before and they don't want me now, so I don't want them either. Hey Twinkletoes! Let's get going! This place is getting old."
Appa threw himself in the air after a hesitant "yip-yip" from Aang. For the duration of the flight, the group remained quiet, respecting Toph's unspoken desire to reflect upon the day.
The group ate around the campfire silently later that night, having landed at around sunset, their previous plans to rest for a few days skewed, the planned their next stop for resupplying.
Upon completing their plans, Katara and Suki had finished making supper, which the group ate silently and awkwardly, despite a few conversational attempts from Sokka. Toph ate quickly, and when finished, left the group silently and erected her earth-tent.
Realizing that there was no point in trying to talk to her, the rest of the gang also prepared for the night. From a nearby stream, Katara pulled water, fashioning it into a hollow dome, clenching her hands, the dome froze, making an instant igloo. Aang simply laid out his bedding and slept with no tent, and Zuko, Suki, Mai and Sokka were left to set up normal tents.
Late in the night, as the moon rose to its zenith, Aang made his way across camp, hoping to make it to the igloo unnoticed. He surveyed what was to either side of him, as well as behind him, looking mostly for Sokka, to make sure he wasn't caught in the act of going to Katara's "tent." Aang bumped into a soft figure. Both of them gasped shortly, but covered their mouths.
Aang stared at his firebending teacher awkwardly, scratching the back of his head and thinking for a liable excuse. The two benders stared at each other for a few moments until Sokka bumped into Aang whilst tip-toeing, having forgotten to look in front of him just as Aang and Zuko had.
"So… Watcha guys up to?" Sokka asked suspiciously, his gaze set upon Aang. Aang looked to Zuko who said with a completely straight face,
"I'm going to Mai's tent." With that, he brushed past Aang and Sokka without another word.
Aang glanced at Sokka, chuckling awkwardly, "I guess I'll be on my way then." He turned to leave, but Sokka gripped his shoulder.
"I know where you were going," Sokka glared at him, poking his finger into Aang's chest. Aang gulped. "You continue to dissiapoint me, Aang. What to do with you?" He stroked his chin, suddenly wishing for his old fake beard.
"Well, you were on your way to visit Suki…" Aang pointed out pointedly.
"What does that have to do with an—," Sokka's face fell in realization. "You're on your way to visit Katara!" He announced, not so quietly.
"Wait… where did you think I was going?"
"To stop the Ea—To visit my sister obsiously…"
"Right, so if you'd let me get back to that…" Aang strode away as nonchalantly as he could, only to be stopped by Sokka's firm grip once again.
Suki then poked her head out of her tent. "Sokka?" she called, gaining the immediate attention of the boy. Who stared at her stunned and smitten, waving like a child. Suki, while Sokka was distracted mouthed the word, "go" to Aang, who slipped away into the igloo, shutting the entrance with a hunk of rock, and lighting the inside with a candle, lit with firebending…
And there we have it, a little extra stuff on what would happen after the end of the canon series. I'm going to have to apologize right now: I'm not going to be writing another chapter. I was in an Avatar hangover at the moment, and well, I need to work on some other things. I might restart come summer time thought, so don't lose hope!