Title: Falling in the Water (part 6 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: I could not possibly have written this story without the help of my friends. Thank you to He Li Wen and Zhou Li Kai for being awesome sounding boards, and as ALWAYS, thank you to Countess of Lace, who is the Sokka to my Toph. :) Complete with purse-shopping and destruction of property.
Summary: Aang makes a mistake. Toph pays the price.
PART 6
It took a few moments for Sokka to realize he was still alive.
He could hear the heavy sounds of his breath in the darkness, and felt the way his heartbeat was going crazy with fear. His back still felt uncomfortably warm, like when he got a sunburn for the first time after joining up with Aang and setting out on the quest to the north pole. But the air was still around him, and it was utterly dark. At first, the only thing he was aware of was the ragged sound of his own breathing.
After a short while, he noticed that he could still feel Toph pressed tightly against his chest, her arms draped around his torso and face pressed into the crook of his neck. Her breath was hot and face damp against his skin, breathing shallowly in soft little bursts.
"Toph?" he asked. He moved to shift her weight against him and found that he couldn't. His arms were pinned down by something solidly unmovable, pinning him to an equally firm, curved wall of some sort. As he examined further, he realized that it wasn't just his arms: his entire torso seemed to be covered by some unyielding presence, save where Toph was pressed firmly against him. In some ways, it was nice; his shoulder had been popped back into place and wasn't moving, which meant that aside from the occasional throbbing if he thought about it, Sokka wasn't forced to actively deal with his injury.
But sitting in the darkness and being unable to move was disconcerting at any time, and having just survived a fiery death -- somehow -- Sokka found that he wasn't in any kind of mood to entertain strangeness.
"Toph?" he asked again, leaning his head down to rest beside hers. It was a strangely comfortable fit, which Sokka supposed was due to their odd position. "Toph, hey, say something. Toph? C'mon, mutter crazy crap again, I don't care, just say something."
Her breath grew a little deeper and she stirred against him, the strands of hair around his face tickling his nose. She turned her face a little, which Sokka only noticed as he realized that her lips were brushing past his neck.
"Sokka?" she murmured vaguely. It was the first time in a while that she had actively responded to something he had said, and Sokka leapt on the opportunity eagerly.
"Toph, hey, are you feeling okay?" he asked, and then rolled his eyes at his own inane question. "Never mind, of course you're not, but hey, uh, we're kind of -- I'm not even sure. We're tied up? Or. Something. I don't know where we are. But I'm here, so don't worry."
Yeah. That was reassuring. Sokka could only imagine what a healthy Toph would have to say about his little speech, and concluded that it would probably involve a lot of derisive laughter.
As it was, Toph didn't reply to him for a while, as though it was taking a little while for his words to process. Then she huffed a laugh against his throat and said, "We're in the mountain, Sokka."
"The... mountain?" Sokka repeated, confused. There had definitely not been a mountain near the forest. Not for a couple hundred miles, in any case. He frowned down at Toph, asking, "What the hell are you talking about?"
"The mountain that fights the dragon," she explained, and Sokka realized with a sinking heart that her break from insanity had been a ruse. She went on, "The dragon takes and takes, and burns and burns, but the mountain won't bow down, and the dragon can't burn it, it can't eat it, it can't kill it; it can only wait until the mountain falls, but," she said, and she giggled against him, her chest hitching, "but the mountain stands fast -- it will never fall, because it is the mountain and it bows to no living being."
Sokka listened to Toph's delirious story with a certain bemusement that turned rapidly into startled recognition.
"Are you telling me a fairy tale?" he asked incredulously, realizing that he was actually familiar with the story that she was spinning. It was a story about a greedy dragon that roamed the earth destroying villages and taking the gold and food. The dragon was never satisfied and kept on taking as much as it could from the world -- it conquered kingdoms with its fire, drank all the water from the rivers, and burned all the forests down. But when it went to the mountain to achieve its final victory, the dragon realized that it could not destroy the mountain, because it was too powerful against the dragon's flame. The dragon tried its best but couldn't make the mountain fall, and wound up dying from trying too hard to force the mountain down.
The tale was a warning against greed, and Sokka remembered it from when Gran-Gran had held story time around the campfire for the little kids. He hadn't realized at the time that it was an Earth Nation folk tale, but now that he thought about it, it made sense, what with the overpowering presence of earth. It wasn't surprising that Toph would have heard the same story growing up.
That still didn't explain why she was bringing it up now, though.
"We're in the mountain," Toph repeated, and giggled. It was strange to hear her normal laugh beset by her weak constitution, considering how it was usually powered by a ridiculous sense of overconfidence. "The mountain never bows to the dragon."
Sokka frowned but took pause before he dismissed her ramblings. She had warned him about Azula approaching through her metaphors before, as though she was still somewhat aware of what was going on despite her limited grasp on the reality of it. And, now that he thought of it, she had referred to Azula as a "dragon" then, so if he were to follow her logic, then --
Sokka suddenly realize the significance of the pressure holding him and Toph down as well as just what the curved wall behind his back felt like. Shortly thereafter, he noticed with a jolt that though part of Toph's arms were pinned to his sides, he couldn't feel the rest twisting around his back, which could only mean that the rest of her arms were in the wall.
"Toph!" he accused, shocked and a little awed by the realization. "Did you earthbend us into a rock?"
"The dragon tries and tries," Toph muttered, and Sokka could feel her lips curving into a small smile on his neck. "But the mountain can't feel the flames and will never fall."
Sokka sat in silence for a moment after her rather poetic explanation, adjusting himself to this new reality.
"Okay," he said appreciatively, "I admit it. You're cool. I mean, I knew you were a great earthbender and all, but now I'm officially on the Blind Bandit's side. No more Boulder. I am 100% Bandit, all the way, from now on."
"The men cannot enter and freeze the ground, can't touch and hurt, because sun's fire is gone," mumbled Toph in response.
Sokka blinked, then added, "And maybe when you're not delirious I'll thank you for saving my life."
They sat in relative silence for a few moments. Toph was apparently calmed by the presence of earth around her, and seemed to be able to think better when she was surrounded by her element. As for Sokka, he took the time to be profoundly grateful that he wasn't dead, but as the moments passed slowly by, he began to strain his ears to listen for sounds of the battle outside. As great as safety was, Sokka knew that Aang and Katara were still out there, fighting for their lives.
Just as he was about to suggest to Toph that she open a viewing window in the rock or something, the walls around them shuddered under a fierce blow. Along the wall to his left, Sokka felt the rock heating with the hit, and he saw it glow faintly red. Before he could say anything, another blow hit in another section, then another, and still more blows came in rapid succession. In the red glow that resulted from the heated rocks, Sokka could see the shape of their safe haven. It was as though Toph had hollowed out a medium-sized boulder and pinned both of them down with rock to the bottom. There was perhaps enough room for a couple more people to fit pushed up against them, but only just. If he were free to stand, Sokka doubted he'd be able to do so comfortably.
"What the hell--?" he gasped out as yet another hot strike sounded against their rock, though already his mind was suspecting the cause of the attacks.
He focused as best he could through the ringing sound within the boulder, and could faintly hear the shrill sound of Azula shrieking outside the fortress. Something about not getting away, he gleamed, but it was hard to decipher her meaning amidst the constant blows.
Toph growled against his shoulder as the attack continued, and she snarled, "Dragons shouldn't use the sun. Mountains hate the sun, they like the cold, they like the plants and the cities and earth, not the sun."
"Well, maybe mountains should tell the dragons that," Sokka replied sarcastically, vowing to tease Toph about this entire exchange forever if they managed to survive the ordeal.
Toph froze against him, and Sokka felt a spark of worry grow in his mind as he felt her beginning to move against him. Her arms shifted up, moving within the rock with irritating ease, and Sokka knew immediately that he was right to worry.
"Toph?" he queried anxiously. "Toph, what are you doing?"
"The mountain doesn't have to take this crap," Toph replied with vigor, sounding almost like her old self, and Sokka would have been relieved to hear it if not for the horrifying realization that the boulder was moving.
The earth surrounded her, and she was back.
Still the world was on fire, but Toph could feel the stone revolving around her and reveled in it, stretching out her senses to grasp where the rest of the earth could be found. The dragon stalked violently outside, throwing the sun again and again at the stone walls, but she could take it.
She was the mountain. No dragon would beat her.
But the fire grew hotter with the barrage of sun, and she began to get angry. How dare the dragon attack, how dare it presume it could beat the mountain? The mountain was steadfast against the sun, but the dragon kept forcing the sun against her, heating her, causing her pain and making the warrior breathe heavier against her. She could feel his heart beat rapidly beneath her, and she growled.
And then he said something, she couldn't quite recall, but she abruptly remembered: the mountain could move.
Katara and Aang had been quickly separated by their opponents, with Aang yet again entertaining Ty Lee as Katara faced off against Mai. Katara was blocking another attack with a swift, downward swipe of her water-soaked hand when she heard a sharp clang behind her. She dodged away long enough to look back and see Azula whip around furiously, her face bloody and fists clenched down at her sides. A quick glance further revealed Sokka standing at the edge of the forest, Toph slumped limply in his arms and clearly visible to everyone.
What is he doing? Katara thought desperately as she called out his name in surprise, anger blooming in her mind along with fear as she saw Azula stalk toward the two. She couldn't imagine any reason for him to reveal himself except -- and then she suddenly pieced together the bloody wound on Azula's face with the princess's dangerously close position, and realized what must have happened.
Any further thought on the matter was diverted by Mai's resumed attack. Katara was forced to face the tall, thin girl even as she heard an explosion of fire behind her. She winced even as she whipped a string of water at Mai's face, trying to push the girl away. If only she could just defeat her for long enough to attack Azula, distract her somehow, just long enough for Sokka to run away and get Toph to safety. Katara didn't doubt that Sokka could at least hold his own against Azula in an ordinary situation, if only for a short period of time. The warrior was fierce, yes, but she was a fighter like the rest of them, and Sokka wasn't half bad. But right now, burdened as he was by Toph, Katara knew that her two companions were practically sitting turtle-ducks. She could hear Aang staying preoccupied with Ty Lee, fighting even further away from Azula than Katara was. Only Katara had the ability to stop it.
If only she could just beat Mai!
Unfortunately, Mai was not easily bested. Katara kept trying to knock her away, just for long enough to take a shot at Azula, but she kept dodging nimbly, her body twisting artfully. She wasn't ridiculously acrobatic like Ty Lee was, but she was swift. And though Katara was quick enough to dodge most of Mai's daggers, some still managed to pin down pieces of Katara's clothing. It was only through luck that Katara had managed to rip free before Mai could pin her down completely, and now she had so many tears in her tunic she would need to buy new thread just to repair them all. She supposed she should feel grateful that Mai wasn't actively trying to kill her; it appeared from the girl's aim that she was mainly trying to pin Katara down rather than actually hurt her.
Unlike Azula, who, even as Katara managed a particularly effective strike against Mai, was snarling something venomous at Sokka. Katara finally broke free from her fight with Mai long enough to turn and run toward her brother's position, but she hadn't taken two steps when she saw something that nearly stopped her heart cold.
Sokka was on kneeling on the ground, a motionless Toph half-draped in his arms. He had turned to face Azula, looking alarmed. Azula stood before him with a swirling ball of fire in her hands, and as Katara watched, horrified, she reared back and shot it straight at the pair.
Sokka's eyes widened, his face white in the light of the flames, and Katara screamed--
The fire collided and there was an explosion of dust as it hit the ground, shrouding the entire area in soot. Katara ducked her head away from the dirt in the air, feeling the sharp burn of tears behind her eyes. There was no way Sokka could have survived that. No way that he could have jumped away -- no way he would have, not with Toph lying helplessly in the line of fire. And even if he somehow miraculously made it, even then, he would be horribly burnt; he would probably die soon enough, and either way, Katara's big brother would be gone.
A dagger struck a tree trunk near Katara, and Katara whipped around, furious beyond measure. A stream of water streamed out from her hands sharply, and somehow Katara felt a new strength to her waterbending she hadn't felt all battle. Mai's eyes widened as she barely avoided the renewed attack, flipping backward with impressive speed. She landed a bit roughly and immediately drew back, adjusting to the sudden turn of the fight.
"That was my brother!" Katara snarled viciously, feeling hot tears in her eyes. In the face of Katara's fierce anger, Mai for once looked something other than bored; instead, glancing quickly over at the slowly clearing scene by Azula, she suddenly looked surprised and startled. But the emotion didn't stay long as she was forced to fend off Katara's increasingly violent attacks.
"He never did anything to you!" Katara added, not caring that Mai hadn't been the one who attacked Sokka and Toph. She followed her crazy leader, and it was her fault that Katara hadn't been able to stop Azula from attacking. She would feel the full force of Katara's anger until Katara could get to Azula herself. She shot a stream of water at Mai that struck the slim girl directly in the chest, sending her flying back five feet. She clenched her fists and advanced on the fallen fighter, saying, "Toph was only twelve! And your crazy leader just killed them!"
Mai scrambled to her feet, flinging a couple daggers that Katara knocked aside effortlessly. She looked away from Katara for a second, then replied simply, "They're not dead; you can stop freaking out."
And maybe it was just a ruse to keep Katara from finishing her off, but Katara was willing to buy it. She kept an eye on Mai even as she turned to look, and was startled to see that instead of a burnt out crater, the patch of cracked dirt where Sokka and Toph had been was now covered by a large boulder. It was taller than Azula by a few feet, and the outside was smooth and solid, like a large stone marble.
It took Katara a few moments to understand, but when it hit her, she felt tears spring anew in her eyes.
Toph had been awake. Despite her exhaustion and injury, somehow she had been conscious enough to know that Azula was attacking and had protected herself and Sokka behind an impenetrable stone barrier. Katara might have had issues with the young earthbender at times, but right then, she would have willingly agreed to anything the girl said for the rest of their lives, just because she had saved Sokka. Katara's brother wasn't gone, and Katara could hardly breath through her relief.
Unfortunately, even as she watched, she saw Azula begin to fling hot balls of fire at the boulder, screaming invective at the pair that dared defy her attack. The stone glowed red-hot under the continuous volley, and Katara realize in horror that even if the boulder didn't break under the flames, they could easily heat the inside of the boulder to a devastating degree.
Katara started toward Azula, meaning to distract the princess from her intent, but Mai had recovered from Katara's attack and leapt in front of her. Engaged at she was in dodging daggers, Katara could only watch the continuing action over Mai's shoulder.
But her worry didn't have time to grow too horrible, as within the next minute Toph apparently decided to take her own action against the increasingly dangerous situation. As Katara dove to the ground to avoid a strike -- whipping out a stream of water that knocked Mai on her backside as she did so --, she felt the ground beneath her shake. Glancing over at the battle ground adjacent to theirs, Katara saw something that she had not expected: the boulder was rolling forward, picking up speed even as Azula staggered backwards, looking startled.
Katara rocked back on her heels as Mai climbed quickly to her feet, but the tall girl surprised her by looking over at the ensuing adjacent fight and pausing, tilting her head quizzically. Katara stayed defensive, water whip hovering around her wrist, but she welcomed the respite. With half her attention, she too chose to watch the scene.
Toph's movement had clearly just been to startle Azula, as in the next moment the boulder halted and began to shoot out sharp slivers of rock at the slim woman. Azula dodged nimbly, but the boulder was large and was able to shoot out multiple shards of stone toward her. By the time Azula made it to the trees, she was cut twice and breathing hard, and only barely managed to leap up onto a low branch.
Katara noticed with mild surprise that Aang and Ty Lee had stopped their fight as well, and were standing nearby watching Azula catch her breath in the tree. The warrior glared down at the boulder that was slowly rolling forward, holding her wounded side. She looked away from the threat and saw the rest of them standing there, staring at the scene.
"What are you doing?" she asked, looking furious.
Mai shrugged, replying, "This was more interesting," though her tone suggested otherwise.
Azula stared at both of them incredulously, and then gave an outraged snarl, hitting the tree trunk with a curled fist in frustration. Unfortunately, the vibrations from the strike must have sent vibrations into the earth, because moments later, the boulder rammed into the tree trunk, apparently trying to knock Azula loose. It sat back motionlessly again as Azula clung to her perch shakily.
"Ugh!" Azula snarled down at the rock, looking furious. Then she looked over at Mai and Ty Lee, considered her options, and smoothed down her hair in a distinctly regal manner. "This fight is over," she announced, as though she was giving a royal decree. Her expression was as though she had bit into a lemon, but Katara figured Azula knew when the odds had turned against her. "Mai, Ty Lee," she commanded, "we're leaving now."
Promptly, the two girls turned away from Aang and Katara and ran into the woods, followed by Azula, who leapt from branch to branch instead of risking Toph chasing them in her boulder on the ground. Katara doubted that Toph even could, considering how densely packed the forest was.
As it was, though, she heaved a deep sigh of relief, feeling exhaustion settle firmly in her limbs. Any longer, she knew, and she might have passed out right there on the battleground.
Inside the boulder, Sokka's head spun horribly.
"OH LORD," he breathed out after the movement finally stopped. Just because he couldn't see in the darkness didn't mean that he couldn't feel dizzy, Sokka had figured out after the first minute of travel. Toph hadn't listened to any of his desperate screams for her to stop making the boulder roll around and tremble with reforming, so after the initial shock, he simply tucked his head into her shoulder and waited for it to be over.
Now the boulder was still, and Sokka was concentrating on quelling the churning of his stomach. He knew Toph would never forgive him if he repaid her saving his life by vomiting on her.
After a few moments, he finally felt relatively normal, if still a little shaky.
"Holy crap, Toph," Sokka muttered into the girl's shoulder, wanting nothing more than to get the hell out of that boulder. "I mean, that was awesome, but what the hell, man."
Silence was all he heard in response. He couldn't even hear Toph muttering to herself crazily anymore, and as he listened carefully, he heard her breathe deep and even. Her face was burning hot against his own.
"Toph?"
After the battle, Aang promptly took his glider and flew to free Appa and Momo. The three Fire nation warriors had apparently surprised the air bison and tied him down with thick cords, bracing them against the old, rooted trees of the forest. Appa was thrilled to see him, of course, and Aang definitely spent a few moments reveling in the fact that his oldest friend and newest pet hadn't been injured. Shortly thereafter, he took Appa and flew back to the clearing, where he saw Katara regarding the still motionless boulder with a concerned expression.
"What do you mean, she can't free you?" Katara was asking as Aang landed nearby, jumping off Appa in one smooth motion.
From inside the rock, Aang could just barely hear Sokka's voice shouting back, "She's unconscious! I can't wake her up."
"That's not good," Aang observed with a sinking heart. He regarded the boulder with an experienced eye and asked Sokka loudly, "How hollow is the rock?"
"What?"
"How much room do you have inside the boulder?" he rephrased.
There was a pause as Sokka considered the question, and then he replied, "I only saw it for a moment, but it's about five feet by five feet or so. Not much space."
"That's really not good," Aang concluded, grimacing. He looked over at Katara. "They can't have much air left in there, and if Toph is unconscious..."
"You need to let us out!" Sokka shouted from inside.
"Yeah," Katara agreed, looking at Aang expectantly. "Can't you just use your earthbending to break it apart?"
Aang frowned, considering the option. The top of the boulder was a few feet above his head, and from Sokka's approximations of the inner chamber, he presumed the walls were pretty thick. Smashing through the stone wouldn't be an issue objectively; he had certainly destroyed rocks twice as thick as this during a few of Toph's more intensive earthbending sessions, but whether or not he was capable was not the issue at the moment.
"Well," Aang began hesitantly, placing a splayed hand on the outside of rock. "I don't think I can."
"What?" Sokka replied, his voice cracking in his surprise. "What do you mean? It's rock, isn't it? Aren't you an earthbender?"
Katara added with a much softer tone, "Can you just -- I don't know, melt it away like Toph does with rock?"
"I'm not Toph," Aang replied honestly, brow furrowing. He caught the look in Katara's eyes and continued, "No, I'm serious, this isn't just me being frustrated. Toph is a really good earthbender. I may be the Avatar, but there's a reason I need a teacher. I can't sense the earth like she does yet." He started feeling around the boulder actively with both hands, trying to see if there was any way that he could break it open without subsequently crushing his two trapped friends inside. He explained, "Right now, I'm really good at destroying rocks en masse, but I really don't think you want me to do that."
There was a long pause, then Sokka called out weakly, "...yeah, I think I'm okay with not being pulverized by rock."
"But you have to do something!" Katara said, a hint of desperation showing in her tired eyes. She held up her hand and twirled a ribbon of water around it weakly, then added, "I mean, I could try with waterbending, but unless we have roughly a thousand years or so for me to erode the rock away, I'm thinking we'll have to bow to your earthbending on this one."
Aang grimaced at her sarcasm, recognizing the frustration that bubbled beneath the surface of her words. He nodded in response, trying not to think of Sokka and Toph inside the boulder, running swiftly out of air. Instead, he took a calming breath and closed his eyes, hands splayed on the rock in front of him. He wasn't great at earthbending yet, but when he concentrated, he could feel the dimensions of the rock beneath his skin. Darkness surrounded him, but when he struck the rock with the heel of one hand, he could sense the vibrations running through it, like seeing shapes through the fog. He could almost make out the shape of Sokka inside, lying pinned at the base of the stone. Aang wasn't able to discern Toph's position, but he imagined she was near the larger boy.
As he considered the task ahead, he was suddenly struck with the memory of his last training session with Toph. Was it really not even a day ago? Aang thought, amazed, even as he was recalling the instruction Toph had given him. Every rock had multiple weak points, she had said, even rocks constructed by earthbending. Aang's mind sparked with inspiration as he remembered the way Toph's mud warriors had dissolved, and he realized what he had to do. Presumably, if he could find the weakest point, he'd be able to break through the fortress without destroying the whole rock.
This realization in hand, Aang wasted no time in settling into a solid earthbending stance. He kept his eyes closed, not wanting to risk being distracted by something as irrelevant as sight when it came to sensing flaws in the rock formation. He placed his hands on the boulder and stretched out his senses, practically hearing Toph's high voice in his head: "It's not like a scan, Twinkletoes. It's something that you should be observing instinctually when you first feel it with your feet." It was with those words in mind that Aang focused his energy and sought out the flaws in the stone.
For a few long moments, Aang felt at one with the stone, as though the rock was just another extension of his senses. He doubted he would be able to bend the solid rock very well without losing the sensation, but it came to him that this must be how Toph always felt. Like how he was with air currents, so must she be with the very earth beneath her feet, and Aang was abruptly all the more aware of how difficult flying must really be for her. He couldn't imagine spending his entire life with this kind of connection to the ground and then having to lose it suddenly.
Once he was settled in his stance, it only took a couple minutes for Aang to locate the best fracture in the stone to use. In a way, the fact that the boulder was made by Toph's earthbending made the process easier; unlike normal rocks, which had dozens of natural weak points, Toph's stone had been constructed specifically to be a fortress. As such, there were very few breaks in the stonework, and those that were there were only there by design. And Toph had been practical in her bending: there were at least two different points of the rock that could break through it with relatively minimal effort.
Presently, Aang made his way to the most accessible point. He centered himself on the spot and took a deep breath before shooting his pointed fingers forward, sharply delving into the stone and shattering the framework around it. Opening his eyes, he saw that he had opened a good-sized hole in the side of the boulder, more than big enough for a person to climb through. In the stone, he saw Sokka blink in surprise and smile broadly.
"Awesome!" Sokka said gratefully, his expression elated. Toph was pinned to his chest; her face was tucked into the crook of his shoulder, and she showed no reaction to Aang's intrusion. Both Sokka and Toph were covered by rock, but Aang could sense the slimness of the stone and knew it wouldn't be too difficult for him to break both of his friends free.
"Well, you look comfortable," Aang teased as he climbed inside.
"Uh, yeah, no," Sokka replied, though his smile never dimmed. "Shockingly, stone? Not comfy. And Toph is practically burning me; her skin is so hot. I would really love to get out of here."
"Can do," Aang assured him.
Katara, from the entrance of the boulder, said, "And then we can get back to the village and get some help."
Aang glanced back at her and took note of the bags under her eyes and the way her hand clung tightly to the side of the rock, as if to steady her step. He looked at Sokka and saw dried blood on the side of his face and the way he winced as Aang dug at the stone around his shoulder. And Toph -- Aang didn't even want to consider how far gone she was. He didn't want to worry about if she had spent the rest of her energy saving Sokka from Azula, if the poison was too far along to be healed, if they were going to rush her to the village only to watch her die.
He worked swiftly, feeling his face settle into a hard expression. He wouldn't let anyone die. Not if he could help it. But even as he freed Sokka and Toph, Aang couldn't help the way the sight of Toph's limp body made his stomach twist with worry. She was barely breathing, unconscious in Sokka's arms as they flew quickly on Appa's back.
Aang could do nothing more than urge Appa to go faster, knowing that every moment brought his fears closer and closer to reality.
END PART 6
WORD COUNT: approx. 5500
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Sorry for taking so long to update this part! My computer died, and I had a bunch of tests at work to take care of. But to make up for it, I'll be posting the final chapter within the next few days.
As always, reviews are 非常好! Which is Chinese for "I'm a nerd who can't speak English anymore." ;P