Title: Falling in the Water (part 3 of 7)
Author: Kyra Rivers
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: Violence, mild language, allusion to rape, dark themes.
Genre: Horror, Supernatural, Action
Notes: This story takes place during Avatar season 2, sometime after the episode "Bitter Work". Also, I pretty much just assume that the Earth Kingdom equates to China, so all of my original characters will have Chinese names. This story will be Gaang-centric (with extra Toph), and it will also include a few minor OCs. Minor Kataang hints (no more than are already in the series), and uh. Tokka if you squint. Kinda. I can't really see them together at any time in actual canon, to tell the truth, but that doesn't mean I can't allude to it. :) This story can pretty much be assumed to be AU, though it's kinda more like a really dark what-if episode than an actual change to the storyline.
Thanks: Thanks again to He Li Wen and Zhou Li Kai for sound boarding, and special thanks to my fantastilicious beta reader, Countess of Lace, who has informed that I misuse commas and should probably seek help. Oh, and she informed me (multiple times) that "desperately" is spelled as such. ;P
Summary: Aang makes a mistake. Toph pays the price.
PART 3
In the wake of Toph's disappearance, Aang couldn't do much more than stare disbelievingly at the empty, dark forest around them. Proper thoughts failed to form in his mind, leaving him with nothing but a vague but growing realization that he had made a terrible mistake.
This thought was compounded when Sokka whirled around and glared at him, anger clear in his eyes.
"You said she was after Katara!" Sokka accused, his fists clenched at his side tightly.
"I," Aang began, unable to look away from the spot where Toph had just been. "I... that's what I thought, that's what she said--"
"What she said," Sokka repeated, and Aang couldn't remember the last time he had seen Sokka this angry. He asked, "What exactly did the wraith say, Aang?"
Aang's thoughts did not grow any clearer the more they spoke, though as the reality of Toph's absence sunk in, Aang could feel his stomach twisting up in painful, guilty knots. He swallowed, murmuring, "Um, she said--," as he tried to remember exactly.
Finally, he recalled, "She said my maiden stole her maiden…" He frowned as guilt assuaged him, adding, "I thought she meant Katara! I mean, Katara was there--"
"Katara," Sokka shouted, "wasn't the person who stole that girl! Toph was! The Wild Woman was talking about Toph, Aang!"
"I didn't know that!" Aang defended, though in the back of his mind, a cruel voice was accusing him at the same time, saying you should have known; you would have figured it out, if you had bothered to think of Toph at all. Aang wrung his hands at the dual accusations of both his inner voice and that of Sokka's, curling his shoulders in defensively without thinking. He hadn't thought about Toph, not once after Sokka mentioned her in passing before they had left to rescue He Li Wen. Even though he knew Toph was just as much a maiden as Katara and was at just as much risk, Aang had let himself be entirely concerned with protecting Katara.
"You should have!" Sokka said, unwittingly mimicking Aang's internal monologue. "If you had just told us what she actually said, instead of insisting it was Katara--"
"Will you stop it?!" Katara interjected, stepping in between Aang and Sokka to glare ferociously at her older brother. "Can't you see he feels bad enough? Yelling at Aang isn't going to help anything!"
Sokka yelled back, "We could have stopped her!" he insisted, though as he spoke Aang saw a mirror of his own guilt reflected on Sokka's face. "If we had just realized--" Sokka's voice broke slightly, and he looked away from Katara with a shameful twist to his angry expression. He said, "I knew what she was doing, I saw the wraith staring at Toph. I was right there; I had her hand, and I let her go-"
"Sokka," Katara said gently, laying both her hands firmly on Sokka's shoulders, forcing the taller boy to look at her. "It's not your fault any more than it's Aang's." She turned to include Aang in the last statement, her face set in a resolute expression. She continued decisively, "Right now, we need to focus on getting Toph back. We just need to find her like we did He Li Wen--"
"How?" Sokka interrupted, his anger flaring up at her words. "The only way we found the other girl in the first place was because Toph found her!" He met Katara's cold expression for a moment, but soon redirected his glare to the ground, crossing his arms and gripping them tightly with his fists.
"We'll figure something out," Katara said sharply, looking displeased at Sokka's attitude. She turned to Aang and asked, quietly, "Do you think we'd be able to use Appa to scan the forest?"
"Um," Aang replied, still finding it difficult to think under the thick blanket of guilt that he felt. He scrambled for a response, staring up at the sky and trying not to think about Toph alone in the hands of the deadly wraith. He considered the thick canopy of trees that covered most to the surrounding forest, and that added to the dark of the night made such a feat next to impossible.
"We'd have to wait until morning," he finally managed, feeling even more awful at that realization. Toph would be stuck alone in the woods all night, freezing cold in the presence of the Wild Woman. A fleeting thought struck him, latching on the possibility of Toph escaping by herself with earthbending, but he logically dismissed it as soon as it appeared; everything he knew about spirits suggested that they would limit her bending abilities somehow, whether through force of will or simply by limiting access. Aang despaired to think of how scared Toph would be without her ability to see with her feet, and forced himself to stop thinking about it before the guilt consumed him.
The other two went silent at Aang's admission, all obviously thinking about Toph alone in the woods with worry clear on their faces. However, before anyone could break the silence, it was shattered by an outside voice.
"May I be of any help?" the low, gravelly voice of Lao Mei Ying cut in, and all three travelers turned to see the old woman standing at the edge of the meadow with Chen Dawei shadowing her nervously. The newly lit torch in her hand highlighted her pained expression, her posture bowed in sympathy.
"We all saw what happened," she informed them, and they could all hear the real pain in her voice. Aang was struck as he recalled that her own daughter had been taken by the wraith, and had never been recovered.
"He Li Wen is safe with her family," Chen Dawei mentioned quietly, looking at them, Sokka in particular, with trepidation. "But Lao Mei Ying suggested that perhaps our local knowledge might help to find your Earthbender friend."
"No one has ever been rescued from the Wild Woman before," Lao Mei Ying said, "At least, not to common knowledge. When you saved He Li Wen, it angered the Wild Woman quite a bit. I imagine if she's that enraged, she might bring your friend to Lost Man's Cave."
"The Lost Man's Cave?" Katara repeated, frowning. They had all formed a semi-circle around Lao Mei Ying as they listened to her speak.
"We suspect it's where the Wild Woman was killed so long ago," the old woman explained. "It's located in the far north of the forest, toward the mountains. No one ever travels near the area, for to do so as a man means certain discovery by the wraith. Even as a woman, it's a dangerous area naturally, and easy to get lost even without supernatural help. I am not an expert in the land, but I've spoken to some wise Earthbenders who have felt out the land, and they all sensed something wrong about the area."
"If she did die there, that would be where her spirit is concentrated," Aang mused thoughtfully. "An unnatural rift between our world and the spirit world would be enough to make the land feel wrong."
"It might be where the Wild Woman took your friend," Chen Dawei offered. He was half-turned away from them, periodically looking back at where He Li Wen and her family were huddled around Appa, his expression wistful. He gave them all a small, hopeful smile. "It would be a good place to start, at least, rather than just flying around hoping to see something."
"These woods are too large to play guessing games," Lao Mei Ying agreed somberly.
"That's great," Katara said, her blue eyes lighting up hopefully. "If we know where we're going, we can fly Appa there right now!"
"The woods around the Lost Man's Cave are much too thick for your bison to get through," Lao Mei Ying said. "You can fly part of the way, but once you cross over the river, you'll have to walk. From there, the way is very difficult to maneuver, especially at night."
"We're going now," Sokka said simply, his tone decisive. He didn't sound as angry as before, but his words had a bite to them. As they all looked at him silently, he added, "I wouldn't be able to sleep anyway."
Aang nodded. "We'll go now," he agreed. "If we take a couple torches, we should be fine. The sooner we get to Toph, the better."
"Besides," Katara added darkly, her expression wry, "it's not like daylight would help keep the Wild Woman at bay anyway."
Toph awoke to the feeling of water dripping down her arms in a languid stream, brushing by her inner elbow and making her twitch with a sudden twinge of nerves. Her head felt heavy, hanging down to rest against her chest, and as she grew more aware, she felt a deep throbbing pain in her wrists and ankles. She shifted experimentally and immediately wished she hadn't when the dull throbbing changed to a sharp shooting pain, making her gasp out in agony. She couldn't quite help the whimper that escaped upon that discovery, her eyes shut tight against the fire in her limbs.
When the wave of pain had died down, Toph shifted a little more, but slower this time. Her head ached, as did her shoulders, though by far the worst injury was in her wrists and ankles. From her position, Toph got the impression that both her extremities were tied down by something, and by the way she was sagging downward, she assumed she was propped up against something, not lying on the ground. It felt like she was tied down with a bunch of slime-covered ropes, while something else thick and heavy pressed her tightly against what felt like a jagged wall: it was firm and straight, but with many dips and juts. Shifting against it -- trying not to jostle her wrists too much in the process, though just breathing made jolts of pain shoot down her arms --, Toph tried to get some sort of feel for the object she was tied against. It only took a few moments for her to realize that it was a thick tree, and that the many ropes were probably vines of some kind. Toph didn't want to think about what kind of tree was designed to pin people to it.
She considered these observations and realized, with a growing dread, that the water she felt streaming down her arms was probably blood.
"Gross," Toph muttered, more to hear her own voice that anything else. It came out dry and cracked, but it was at least familiar. Unfortunately, hearing her voice only made her abruptly aware of the heavy silence that surrounded her. She couldn't feel anything; even if her feet hadn't been numb with pain, Toph couldn't sense any ground close enough for her to get a toe on. She was tied against a tree above the earth, rendering her well and truly blind.
"Okay, okay," Toph said to herself as she felt the first swell of panic begin in her chest, her breath already beginning to grow short. "Okay, Toph, stop it, stop it." She forced herself to take some deep breaths, focusing only on her breathing for a few long moments. She could feel herself shivering in fear and hated it, but really, when it came down to it, Toph didn't know what else she was supposed to feel. She didn't even know how she had gotten there.
Breathing deeply and trying her best not to hyperventilate, Toph frantically tried to recall what had happened. They had been waiting for the Wild Woman to attack. Toph remembered feeling everyone's heightened heartbeats through her feet, judging where the wraith was by Aang's defensive position in front of Katara. Sokka had been keeping a death grip on Toph's hand, pulling her away from where the cold was radiating, and Toph had been getting rather annoyed with not being able to sense the spirit at all when Wild Woman said--
"You're guarding the wrong maiden."
--and then Toph had been pulled up, blinded by slimy, cold limbs as they pinned her against a solid chest, her hand tearing from Sokka's even as she fought, and then--
Then she woke up here, cold and alone and tied against a tree.
The Wild Woman had taken her.
She kept as much attention as she could on her breathing, her mind working rapidly beneath the steady flow of air. A few crucial facts stood stark in her mind: one, she was trapped against the tree, and if her initial struggles had proven anything, it was that she wasn't likely to escape on her own; two, she was blind -- really blind, without even her earthbending to help, and that reality only supported her first point all the more; and three, she was hungry, exhausted, and shivering. Unless she was so deep in the woods that no sunlight could penetrate, Toph assumed it was still night time.
She considered the story that Aang had told her about the Wild Woman. The wraith tortured maidens and left them to die, the knowledge of which wasn't really helping Toph keep from panicking at the moment. So, trapped as she was, Toph figured her best bet was hoping that Aang, Sokka and Katara managed to find her. In the back of her mind, a traitorous voice noted how difficult such a feat would be, given the sheer size of the forest, but Toph resolutely ignored it. They would find her. They would. Or by the land, she would come back and haunt Aang for the rest of his life.
As it was, Toph discovered after a few long minutes of hanging against her bonds that she was not suited to patiently waiting for rescue. The hungry growls of her stomach paled in comparison to the shark cold of the night. She couldn't control the shivers that wracked her body and sent shooting pains through her arms and legs every time she shuddered. But worse than all of that was the overwhelming helplessness she couldn't help but feel. Toph hated that feeling. She hadn't felt it since she first met the badgermoles and learned from them the ways of earthbending. No matter how much her parents tried to make her rely on others, Toph had resisted her entire life, carving out her independence with her bending. Now she was forced to wait, bound and weak, until her friends came to save her. Pride might be a vice, but Toph felt her's was well-earned, and hated that it had been forcibly taken away.
Besides, she considered as another wave of cold hit her and made her body tremble, at least if she was actively doing something she could ignore the silence around her and the terror that she couldn't quite quench. The longer she waited, the more she longed for Aang and the others to just get there already, so they could get on with it.
However, she hadn't been awake for thirty minutes when the air around her grew abruptly colder. She could feel the bite of frost growing on the vines around her, freezing the blood streaming over her arms and feet against her skin. Toph felt her heart racing ever before her mind caught up with the only reason why the weather would change so rapidly, remembering the wraith's presence from before.
"My maiden," a hissing voice whispered from inches away, making Toph jerk in surprise. She winced as the action made her arms and legs ache. The voice grew nearer, and Toph smelled rot on the surprisingly hot breath that brushed by her cheek. She cringed away from the foul presence. "My precious maiden, you bleed so beautifully, my dearest heart."
Toph said nothing. The waiting and silence from before was suddenly incredibly appealing compared to the horror that she now faced, the wraith that was close enough for Toph to smell. It was like being surrounded by rot and decay. She held her breath as long as she could, and gagged on the taste of the wraith's stench when she finally had to take in air.
A cold hand pressed against Toph's cheek, forcing Toph to look up at the wraith. She couldn't see the spirit, of course, but she could tell from the strength of odor that the Wild Woman's face was bare inches from her own. The hand that clasped her face was dry and icy cold, and Toph could feel things moving in it, crawling out from beneath the thin skin onto Toph's face. Toph closed her eyes and mouth tightly, trying to hold fast against the wraith, not wanting to break, not now, even though she was shaking with the urge to scream.
"I saved you," the Wild Woman murmured, her voice somehow both piercing and quiet. "The men, they kill you, they kill us; they take us and pet us and make us theirs, and then they kill us, they use us, they fuck us, and we die." The hand against her cheek shifted, and Toph felt a pair of cold lips press against her temple.
The horrible voice continued against her ear, the hot breath making Toph shiver more than the frigid air around her. "I will kill you, my darling child," she whispered, and Toph felt the hand on her cheek slide down her neck, sharp nails digging in all the while. She could feel new, hot blood welling up in the gashes. The hand came to a rest at the collar of her tunic, cold fingers resting just under the cuff.
"I will kill you," the Wild Woman continued, sounding almost excited by the prospect, "and you will become one with me, sustaining me in my life. But I will not use you, my maiden," she insisted, and the hand drifted under Toph's tunic, cutting deep rents in her skin. Suddenly, both cold hands were against Toph, tearing at her tunic and digging sharp nails into her bare skin.
"Stop it!" Toph snapped, unable to stay silent as the hands drifted lower, piercing the more tender flesh of her chest. One icy hand drifted to glide against her side, just under her small breasts, and it slide down her waist before tearing into her tunic just above her hip. Toph squirmed away from the invasion, shrieking, "Stop it; stop it! Let me go!
The Wild Woman ignored her, whispering words that sounded like dying insects in her ears; words that didn't form sentences but pictures. Toph didn't quite imagine it -- couldn't exactly see it, and not just because she was blind -- but she felt the Wild Woman's story. She knew without reason the way the men's hands felt on her shoulders, shoving her down against the frosted grass outside the cave; she cried out as they kicked her, struck her, screamed at her for the things she hadn't done; she sobbed as they plowed into her again and again, and though the physical pain grew numb and muted, the feeling of desperation, of helplessness and fear, grew all the stronger. Toph was suddenly keenly aware of how it felt to die alone in the woods, left for nature to take its course because she couldn't move through the pain of her injuries. The Wild Woman had died frozen against the ground, naked and bleeding and cold.
Toph came out of the waking dream as though she had been underwater, suddenly aware of herself and the hissing sound of the Wild Woman pressed against her. Sharp nails dug into her skin and ripped at her clothing, but they abruptly stopped. One hand pressed splayed across her chest while the other dug painfully into her hipbone. The Wild Woman kissed her just shy of her ear, and whispered, "I'll let you die a maiden, my lovely little girl. This much I can give you."
The cold, fleshy hands moved again, and Toph was reminded of the false memory of the men, how they thrust and touched and forced; suddenly, she could think of nothing but escape and terror, her logical mind vanished in her intense desire to get away. She struggled fiercely, ignoring the shooting pain her bindings cause her, and heard her own voice screaming. "Let me go! Let me go! Letmego, letmego, letmegoletmegoletmego--!"
Just when Toph thought she couldn't deal with it anymore, the groping hands vanished. Toph gasped, shrinking back against the jagged tree bark anxiously, but the hands didn't return. She sniffed tentatively, but could smell no rot or feces. The air wasn't bitter cold anymore, and there was no longer the endless stream of whispered threats and promises. The Wild Woman was gone.
Toph was alone again.
She didn't feel the sob coming, but was instead overtaken as she felt hot tears against her cheeks, her chest tightening and making her breath catch painfully. Toph had never been so terrified before in her life; not even when she had gotten lost in the caves before she could "see", not when she had been kidnapped for ransom before she left her family, never. The feel of the Wild Woman's hands -- of the phantom men's hands -- it made her skin crawl and her stomach twist in revulsion, and she wanted nothing more than to curl up and make it go away. But her hands and legs were still bound and bleeding against the tree, and now she had a multitude of various bloody gashes around her chest and hips. She was still trapped and splayed.
Slowly, Toph's mind caught up with her body, and she began to breathe regularly again. Only then did she notice that the forest was utterly silent. The air, which had felt warm compared to the icy feel of the Wild Woman, grew cold again as it blew through the tattered remains of her clothing. Toph shivered and drew herself inward as much as she was able, pressing her face into one arm and feeling sticky half-dried blood smear against her cheek. All the while, she concentrated on her breathing, in and out, trying to ignore the terror that kept trying to take her over.
They'll find me, she thought desperately, counting one-two with every breath. They'll find me. It was the only thing she could focus on to distract her from her situation and the memories of the wraith. The knowledge that her friends wouldn't just leave her -- that they knew what had happened and were searching, despite the Wild Woman's efforts -- was the only thing that kept the fear at bay and enabled her to concentrate on inhaling and exhaling, counting every time she did.
They'll find me.
It was taking too long.
This was the only thing Sokka could think as he rode on Appa's back, his eyes pinned to the ground below. He could barely see the ground at all through the thick trees, and suspected this would be the case regardless of the time of day. They had been traveling for nearly a half an hour on Appa's back, heading for the northernmost part of the forest, and every passing second made Sokka's hands clench tighter around his club.
He had her. The memory of Toph's hand in his, ripped out of his grip like it was nothing, was replaying over and over in his mind. Her shocked face as the Wild Woman smiled cruelly behind her was all he could see. Even as they traveled, flying fast to find her, Sokka couldn't help but fret over the past. He had known the Wild Woman's intentions before anyone. He yelled at Aang for not realizing what the wraith meant, but Sokka knew that he was really just berating himself -- he had realized, but clearly that didn't mean anything, because he still hadn't been able to save her.
A warm hand touched his, and Sokka looked up to see Katara sitting next to him, her blue eyes nearly black in the dim light. She offered him a concerned smile, and said, "We'll get her back."
Sokka couldn't even will up a hopeful smile in return, and simply stared back at her with a dark expression. "I should have taken her and run the instant I knew," he muttered without thinking, unable to stop his thoughts from spilling out.
Katara leaned forward and rested her chin on Sokka's shoulder, reminding Sokka of sitting around the campfire at home, listening to Gran-Gran tell stories of the tribes of old. He swallowed as a pang of homesickness hit him, for a moment longing desperately for a time when he didn't feel so guilty.
Gently, Katara said, "No one could have stopped it." She hugged him, and Sokka sank back a little against his little sister's embrace. She said, "The Wild Woman was more powerful than we thought, but now we know. We can get Toph out of the forest."
"We don't even know if she's at the Lost Man's cave," Sokka debated bitterly. He could feel Appa slowing down even as he said that, and glanced over to see Aang leaning forward and talking to the bison quietly.
"We'll deal with that if we have to," Katara said. "Let's focus on finding the cave first," she instructed, reminding Sokka of home again, when she took over after their mother died. Katara was his little sister, Sokka knew; she was fourteen and needed his protection, no matter how great a waterbender she was. But it was times like this that Sokka also knew that Katara took care of him just as readily as he did her, and not just in battle.
Quietly, he said, "Thanks, Katara." He still felt guilty and terrified, not wanting to imagine what lay before them or how Toph was managing, but at least he knew that Katara would be there.
She smiled at him, not saying anything more. A few moments later, they both turned as Aang called out, "We've made it," and Appa landed heavily shortly thereafter. Sokka looked around at the expanse of land, which looked as though it used to be a river but had since dried up. There were rocks layering the long stretch of cracked dirt, surrounded by sparse shrubs for about fifty feet in any direction before the forest picked up again.
"Okay," Katara said, immediately taking charge of provisions. "I've put some essential travel and first aid supplies in one pack so we can travel light--"
"I'll take it," Sokka offered immediately, knowing that his style of combat would likely be the least effective against the wraith. Also, he was strongest; if one of them needed to carry Toph, it would probably wind up being him.
"--and Lao Mei Ying said it would take about twenty minutes to get to the Lost Man's Cave," Katara continued as if he hadn't spoken, though she passed him the pack with a grateful look. "She said to keep to the center of the woods and watch for a giant willow tree, which is apparently by the cave's entrance."
"Sounds good," Aang said. His expression was set in what Sokka called his "battle" look. His eyes were black in the dark of the night, staring resolutely out into the woods. He jumped down to the ground and then looked back up at Appa, saying, "You'll have to stay here, buddy, but we'll be back soon. Get ready to fly fast when we do."
Sokka and Katara climbed down after Aang. Without another word, they started into the forest with Sokka in the rear, trusting the other two to find the best path. Aang, if nothing else, could try to feel out the earth if they got lost, even if he wasn't nearly as talented at it as Toph. Sokka focused on what they would do once they found Toph, trying to mentally catalogue every item they had in their first aid supplies. He Li Wen had been sliced up with her dress torn around her, but had been more or less all right. She hadn't been unconscious or anything, or bleeding too horribly. Hopefully the Wild Woman's wrath wouldn't mean that Toph's injuries would be worse, though Sokka couldn't help but suspect otherwise.
The trees seemed to loom over them with spiny dark shadows, letting the barest amount of moonlight shine through. As they progressed deeper through the woods, the light grew fainter, and Sokka was forced to rely on Katara's torchlight more and more. The flickering flame only made the darkness of the forest even more prominent, causing each tree to look like a demon and each branch like a scaly, grasping hand. Unconsciously, the group grew closer together the further they traveled, avoiding the massive trees and foliage as much as they could.
After they had walked for a long while, growing rapidly more apprehensive with each step, Aang suddenly paused. Katara and Sokka had to stop short to avoid running into him, and Sokka whispered irritably, "What's wrong?" His voice had a clear hint of panic, though he tried to swallow it down.
Aang didn't reply to the shrill accusation, his eyes narrowed as he looked around at the dark forest. He tilted his head quizzically, and then said, "Nothing's making any noise except us."
Katara and Sokka both froze in order to listen themselves. The forest was dead quiet, save for their breathing and the cackling of fire from the torch.
"Wait," Aang said, frowning. He drew himself up as though he was holding his breath, and Sokka and Katara followed suit. For a long moment, the only sound was of fire. Sokka was about to give up on this exercise when he suddenly heard it: a faint gasping just ahead, like someone was trying to catch her breath. Sokka's eyes widened as Aang darted forward, clearly hearing the same thing.
They all ran forward, crashing through the woods and breaking up the deafening silence. Not a minute later, they came into a small clearing, and Sokka immediately saw the dark mouth of a cave highlighted in the torchlight. Just to the side of the opening was the tallest willow tree Sokka had ever seen. Its trunk was nearly three times his arm span around, and its long, tangled branches hung over the entire meadow, as though the meadow itself was created for the soul purpose of being under the tree. It was a sight that in the daylight would have been merely dank, perhaps even a bit pretty in the light. But at night, the hanging branches only looked like ropes about to snare, the gaping mouth of the cave an abyss of darkness, and the tree itself was just another monster ready to attack. But all the scenery was unimportant in Sokka's eyes.
The torchlight was just enough to see Toph hanging pinned against the tree, thick branches twisted across her chest and legs with vines tying her arms and ankles tight against the trunk. Her clothes hung loosely off her, half torn to shreds, and Sokka could nearly see as much pale skin as he could green cloth. They weren't close enough yet to see her face, but she didn't seem to have noticed them; her chin was tucked into her shoulder, face in shadows, and she didn't move. Sokka felt his breath catch in his throat at the sight, stomach twisting in terror; if they hadn't heard her breathing, he would have been certain she was dead.
"Toph!" Aang cried out, his voice like a clanging bell in the silence. They all darted forward as one, caution forgotten in the moment.
Toph jerked in surprise, raising her head with a gasp. As they approached, Sokka saw her face wince in pain at the moment, and he suddenly realized that the dark streaks on her skin and clothes weren't just shadows: it was blood. Dark red dripped down from where her wrists and ankles were bound tight with vines, and still more blood welled from a mess of deep cuts along her chest and side. Sokka could even see blood smeared across her face, casting a ghastly impression against her pale skin and shrouded eyes.
Sokka, with the benefit of his longer legs, arrived first at the tree. Up close, Toph looked less like a corpse, but it also had the effect of giving Sokka full view of her injuries. The cuts were like an animal attack, deep and criss-crossing across her chest. He noticed suddenly that her shirt was ripped uncomfortably low across her chest, cuts disappearing down past the beginning swell of breast, and he looked away hurriedly, preserving her modesty as much as he could himself. Instead, he touched her face gently, looking at the blood there to make sure it really was just an imprint, not an actual injury.
"Toph, Toph," he called gently. Her face was shockingly cold, and Sokka rubbed his hands and warmed her cheeks with them. Katara and Aang had arrived in short order, and Sokka noticed absently that Katara was adjusting Toph's clothes to cover her better. He kept his hands on her face, feeling the strange urge to whisper in the oppressing woods.
"Toph," he said again, "Are you awake? Are you with me?"
"Sokka," Toph replied quietly, her voice sounding raw and shaky. She swallowed and leaned into his hands, looking relieved. "Please..." she began, and then mumbled something that Sokka couldn't quite catch.
"What?" Sokka asked, leaning forward. He saw a maggot squirming in her hair and brushed it away with a wince of disgust, remembering the way the insects had moved around the wraith.
Her voice was no more than a whisper. "Please get me out of here," she said, her voice rising in desperation with each word. Sokka's eyes widened at her tone; he had never heard her sound so scared in all their time together, and he didn't want to think of what the Wild Woman had done to make Toph look so terrified. Injuries aside, Toph was actually shaking under his hands, bare shivers that couldn't all be explained by the cold.
Immediately, Sokka replied, "We're here, Toph, we'll get you out. We can cut down these vines in no time, right Katara?" The last part he directed toward his sister, who had pulled out her water and was actively beginning to heal some of the deeper cuts on Toph's chest.
"See if you two can," Katara commanded without looking up. Her hands moved in gentle circles over Toph's chest, water glinting in the light of the torch that Aang was now holding.
Toph's chest hitched as Katara began to heal her, and Sokka looked back to see her with her eyes screwed shut, lips pulled back in a grimace. It took a moment for him to realize that she was trying not to cry, and a little while more to understand that it wasn't due to pain. He felt a wave of fondness at her unrelenting pride, impressed by the way she was able to cling to it. He didn't think he'd be able to do the same, given similar circumstances.
"I can cut you out easy," Sokka told her, ignoring the tears that were leaking out the side of her closed eyes. He pulled out his boomerang and braced himself up against Toph -- and seriously, he could feel the chill of her skin through his clothes; they really needed to get her warm --, aiming for the nearest vine. The vine severed fractionally under the sharp edge of his weapon, and though it took a few more swings to get it, it snapped. "Gotcha, you little bastard!" he cheered, mostly for Toph's benefit. He could see her respond to his words with a faint smile.
Unfortunately, just as he began to chop the next nearest vine, the air grew frigid. They all froze in their efforts, watching with growing dread as the grass around them began to turn white with frost.
"Dammit," Toph cursed weakly, sounding defeated. Sokka hated the way she sunk back against the tree, looking even smaller than she truly was. Setting his jaw resolutely, he ignored the growing chill and kept slicing away at the vine. The second one snapped under his efforts, and he moved onto the third without pause.
However, just as he raised his arm to strike, a strange energy seemed to run through the vines, causing them to all snap back even tighter against the tree. Toph shrieked from the sudden tightening of her bound extremities. Sokka glowered at the plants and began chopping at them with renewed effort, but something had changed. The vines were barely getting dinged under his blade, as though they had somehow become immune to the sharp metal. Even more disturbing was the way that the tree branches abruptly shifted around Toph, throwing Sokka and Katara away from her, with the latter ramming into Aang and sending both crashing to the ground. The torch flew out of Aang's hand and flickered weakly on the iced grass. Toph, still pinned against the tree, cried out again as the tree branches tightened around her, covering most of her torso in thick bark. Her breathing started to become shallower, as though she couldn't quite get enough air.
Aang leapt to his feet with a snarl, snatching up the torch in one fist as he did so. "SHOW YOURSELF!" he shouted, sounding furious. Sokka noticed with wide eyes the way the grass began to flatten around him, and saw the hair around Katara's face begin to rise up.
Nothing happened for a long moment, but just as Aang was beginning to shout again, the Wild Woman suddenly appeared from inside the cave, her pale glow illuminating a large part of the meadow. She seemed larger here, as though the proximity to her death place was enough to grant her more strength. Her cold black eyes were locked on Aang as she stepped forward, teeth bared in her deep scowl.
"Take the torch," Aang snapped at Sokka, who jumped forward immediately to take it. The young man's clothing was nearly floating around him, and as Sokka drew near, he could feel the beginning of a whirlwind surrounding the Avatar. Aang gave Sokka a sidelong look and instructed, "Get Toph out of here. I'll take care of the Wild Woman."
Sokka nodded, whirling away immediately and pulling Katara along with him. She instantly summoned her water up again and stepped up to Toph alongside Sokka, who held his boomerang at the ready. Aang turned away from both of them and faced the Wild Woman, who was growing ever closer.
It was time to end this.
END PART 3
WORD COUNT: approx. 6,425
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