Author's Note: I just thought I'd stop being lazy and post this. Sorry to keep you all waiting. This was a tricky chapter to put together... hope it doesn't sound too cheesy or unrealistic.
"Katara!"
Katara was startled by arms suddenly wrapping around her neck—a little too tightly in fact, and she clawed at them to get them off.
"Sokka?" she asked. She could recognize that scratchy, excited voice anywhere.
"Yeah!" she could almost hear him grinning, "How are you doing?"
"Good," Katara smiled, "I didn't even notice you walk into the room, though."
An awkward silence suddenly enveloped them, broken by a stifled cough.
"So, how are you doing with that?"
"Dad?" Katara recognized the voice. She tried to stare in the direction of the voice, but she wasn't entirely sure of where it came from.
"Yeah, we're all here, Katara," came the unmistakable voice of Toph.
Katara smiled as all of her friends offered an awkward hello to her. There was Haru, Zuko, Teo, The Duke, and Pipsqueak also there in the room.
"You guys are all the best for coming here," she told them all gratefully.
"Katara, I don't think I'll ever get used to that," Sokka's voice from right next to her explained.
Katara raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"
"You're just staring into space!" Sokka complained. "It's kind of freaking me out!"
"What's wrong with that, Sokka?" Toph asked smartly.
Sokka sounded panicked, "Ah, nothing! It looks okay with you, just not Katara! Her eyes look kind of duller, and at least youknowwhere people are in the room, she's looking nowhere near us!"
Katara's face turned a deep red. She must look horrible now, and she thought she was looking at them. Apparently she was wrong.
"You can shut up now, Snoozles," Toph told Sokka.
"Oh, right…" Sokka's voice trailed off until he was speaking inaudibly. "So, Katara, does anything hurt?"
Katara pretended to laugh. "Yeah, but I'll be fine."
"That was some crash," she heard her father say. He tried to sound fine, but the pain in his voice made Katara's throat tighten.
"Really, Dad, I'm fine."
There was silence again.
"Well," Haru coughed, "We all made you get well cards. We knew you wouldn't be able to read them, so we poked holes in it to make brail!"
Katara smiled appreciatively. "Thanks, but you know I can't read brail."
"Well, maybe someday when you can you'll be able to look back on these," The Duke laughed.
Katara laughed too, "Yeah, maybe." Her voice became serious again, "But I'll get my eyesight back someday, you know."
Another awkward silence consumed the room.
"Katara," her dad explained. "I'm not sure how much information you got from the doctors, but your eyesight isn't going to be that good. You'll be—"
"Legally blind, I know," Katara growled.
Her father coughed, "Okay, then."
She heard some people shift uncomfortably. Why was it so awkward to be in a room with close friends and family? There was something on their minds that was causing these silences, and Katara took a wild guess at what it was. She was going to have to discreetly lure herself into the conversation that was itching at everyone's minds.
"So…how long was I out for?" Katara asked firstly.
"Um, about a month," Sokka was the one to answer.
"A little less than that," Pipsqueak chimed in.
Katara nodded. There was no way she could avoid the subject—she ran out of things to say except for one vital thing.
"Did you guys get any information about Aang?"
That was all it took. That one question and the whole entire room was enveloped in the biggest of the awkward silences Katara had ever been in. She wondered where the friendliness had gone.
"Katara, Aang couldn't be found," Zuko explained.
Katara huffed, "I know that, but they said they sent out a search team!"
"They…did…but they still couldn't find him," Zuko replied.
"That's impossible!" Katara shouted. "He's in there! He definitely is! He was…the last thing I ever saw."
Katara remembered. Just before she passed out, she looked over to Aang in the driver's seat.
"He was definitely there," she announced in a determined voice.
Her father sighed. "But he isn't now," she felt a hand on her shoulder. "Katara, Aang is… probably dead."
She heard a few sniffles around the room. They were crying. It was like they had already given up on him. She wasn't crying. Not a single tear dropped on her cheek as her head rose up in the general direction of her dad's face in disbelief.
"He's not dead," she told him.
"How do you know?" her father sounded tired.
"How do you know he's dead?" she snapped back.
Her father sighed. The hand on her shoulder was removed.
"Katara, you guys fell in the water," he explained. "If Aang's still in there, he can't breathe anymore."
"What if he's not in there?" Katara asked.
"…Well then, where would he be?" her father tried to fight reason into her, but she refused to belief.
"…I don't know," she admitted. "But I do know he's out there."
Her father sighed again. "Katara, you must be tired. Have some sleep, it would do you well. Maybe it will clear your head a little."
Katara's anger rose. "What, so I'll start speaking some sense? Dad, I know Aang's out there somewhere! I can… I can feel it!"
"Katara, don't be so naïve. We all wish our lost ones were still out there. Don't you think I'm upset? Don't you think Sokka is, Toph is, or Zuko is? Don't you think that I wish your mother were still out there sometimes?"
Katara's chest ached. Her mother had died on 9/11 almost eight years ago. She bowed her head.
Her father's voice softened. "We'll see you tomorrow."
She heard retreating footsteps, some murmuring, and then silence.
A single teardrop fell from Katara's eye, followed by another.
"Katara?"
She jumped. She was so sick and tired of not knowing when people were there!
"What Toph?"
Toph sighed. "Katara, I can only imagine how hard this must be for you. I was born blind, so it's a whole different story…"
"Toph, you're the last person I'd expect sympathy from."
Toph huffed. "Do you want me to finish or not?" She sounded angry—impatient.
"Fine, sorry," Katara muttered.
"Do you know how I see?" Toph asked.
Katara lifted her head, "No, but there must be some way. Toph, you're the best all-around player in school! Is there some technique that you use to see?"
"That's what I was going to tell you," Toph sighed exasperatedly.
"Sorry," Katara smiled smugly. "Are you going to teach me how to see?"
"Sort of," Toph explained, "More like teach you how to look at the world in a different way. I'm not sure if it'll work for you. We'll have to see, and you'll have to try really hard."
"I'm willing to do anything," Katara told her.
"Good, that's the attitude," Toph said.
"…Toph?" Katara asked apprehensively.
"Hmm?"
"Do you believe me?"
"About what?" Toph asked.
"About Aang," Katara replied, "Still being out there."
"Oh," Toph replied. "Umm…"
"Toph, I just want to know. Your decision isn't going to change my mind, though. Please train me so I can find him."
"Hey, Sugar Queen, I'm not gonna lie. Your idea sounds really, really far-fetched."
Katara bowed her head.
"But if it's something you really believe in, I'm not gonna stop you."
Katara lifted her head again and smiled. "Thanks, Toph."
"Yeah," Toph said sheepishly. "And I don't trust you on your own. I know that you'll go crazy looking for him, so I'll come with you to wherever you're going."
"Thanks Toph, but I don't need help."
Toph laughed. "Oh yes you do."
Katara laughed a little, too.
"So, where are you planning on going?" Toph inquired.
"The city," Katara replied.
"What!?" Toph yelled. "And you thought you were going to be fine on your own? Katara this is New York City we're talking about! You're insane you know that?"
"Desperate is the correct term for it," Katara replied. "Toph, I need to do this."
"Katara, I think you lost it. You are the most determined person I've evermet." Toph explained, "But I got your back. This could be an interesting adventure."
Katara smiled. "For a second I thought you were going to change your mind about coming with me."
"Me too, but I'm a girl of my word Katara, and I'll try my best to bite my tongue."
Katara smiled. "I appreciate it."
"Of course you do," Toph responded. "Now get some sleep, just like your dad said. I'll see you when you feel better."
Katara nodded. "See you around."
With that, Katara listened to Toph's retreating footsteps. Smiling, she lay down in bed and pulled the sheets up to her neck. She leaned to her side and closed her eyes tightly, hardly able to control her happiness.
Toph believes me. She's going to help me. I'm going to be able to see again…
Author's Note: A few things...
1.) I had a little too much fun with the italics in this chapter. -.-
2.) Sorry I made Katara's Dad so mean. I tries to just make it sound like he cares so much for her that he's harsh, but it didn't come through. That's the reason why he's like that, though.
3.) Just so you know, the compromise is that Toph will teach Katara how to see in exchange that she gets to come with her.
4.) I believe that Katara's mom, in the series, had died three years previously, right? Since she was fourteen that would have made her eleven, right? Gosh, probably not since Katara looked five in the flashbacks. Well, anyways, if I did my math correctly (which I probably didn't -.-) than the Twin Towers should have crashed when she was eleven. If not, than just pretend she was eleven when her mom died.
5.) Sorry for all the lame dialogue.
That is all! ^^ I'm going back to school tomorrow, so I won't be able to work on this again for a while. *groans* Please enjoy!