Author's Note: I'm pretty sure everybody hates me now. I know I took a long time to update, sorry! I've been... busy. -.- Forgive. But I'm back! And I'm here to say... it is sooo hard to write a story without describing appearance! I've had to correct myself numerous times in this chapter alone! So if I accidentally describe something in that sense... tell me, but forgive! D: Oh, and thanks to one very good little reviewer with an excellent question, there will be MOAR SOKKA IN THIS STORY!! :O See, commenting will get you places. :) So, thank you so much ??? (That's literally their name... anonymous writers are made of win. :P) for the awesome point that I can't believe I didn't think of!
After checking in at their hotel, Katara and Toph went into their rooms. They had packed light since Katara wasn't sure whether or not she would have to escape in the dead of night in order to come or not. She had honestly expected she would have to, though.
The room was a quaint, two queen suite with a mini-fridge, closet and connected bathroom. A large window took up one whole wall where they could see the majestic view of New York City. Of course, Katara and Toph couldn't enjoy this luxury.
Upon entering, Toph instantly sprinted towards the bed closest to the window and called dibs as she sprung onto it, messing it up right away.
Katara put her hands on her hips. "Why do you want that one so bad?" she asked.
"Window seat, duh!" Toph retorted.
"That's a bed," Katara pointed out.
"Seat, bed, same thing," Toph growled as she almost instantly began dosing off.
"Stay awake," Katara warned as she headed into the bathroom to check out the soap quality. "We're wasting no time."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Toph asked dazedly.
"It means that we're heading out as soon as we're done unpacking," Katara explained.
Toph groaned. "Come on, this bed is so comfy!"
"Toph, don't forget what we came here for," Katara reminded her as she sniffed the shampoo. "You, yourself told me not to give up."
Katara headed back into the bedroom where she threw her over-the-shoulder duffel bag onto her bed. Toph grudgingly sat up and stretched.
"Fine," she said. "But only 'cuz I want to find him and get back here to sleep as fast as possible."
"Good enough," Katara smiled as she began putting her clothes in some draws.
After getting situated the two girls instantly went out on the first stage of their journey. They pretty much approached random people on the street and asked them if they saw Aang around anywhere.
"This feels hopeless," Katara admitted, sighing heavily.
"Remember I told you how far-fetched this sounded in the hospital?" Toph asked.
"Yeah?" Katara responded.
"Well it seems even more so now."
Katara's head dropped. "I know," she whispered.
The first thing that Katara noticed about it was how utterly improbable it all started to seem. In her head it seemed so easy. Like she was just going to walk out into the streets and feel Aang's vibrations. Like he was just going to be part of a passing crowd, walking around aimlessly, and then reassuring Katara that he was waiting for her all this time. Was she expecting someone to have seen him just wandering about? She wasn't sure what she was looking for anymore—a dead body or a living person? But she knew one thing: she was looking for the truth. She wanted to know what had happened. People don't just disappear from sinking cars. His body at least should have been found. That's how Katara knew there was a secret…a secret being kept from her.
The second thing she noticed when she approached people was how strange they acted around her. They acted differently than anyone has ever acted in front of her, and it made her cheeks feel hot and she felt ugly and unbelonging. When she started talking to someone, she could literally feel their intense gaze upon her face, hear the confusion and brutal amazement in their voice, and sense their uncomfortableness around her. She could tell they were treating her more like a lost child than a mature seventeen-year-old girl.
She wanted to yell at all the people who stared at her. I'm perfectly fine! In fact, I'm better at seeing than you! So stop staring at my eyes like I stole them from some alien and used them as my own!
Deep down she knew she must look strange. Toph's eyes should have been a pale green color—vibrant and beautiful. But when you looked at Toph, they looked cold and lifeless, like dead eyes. They stared straight ahead and appeared to be able to look through a thousand brick walls when in reality they could see nothing. There was no light in them, like the soul had been sucked out of them. They were faded and intense. Katara tried to depict her own cerulean eyes faded and lifeless, but found it rather difficult. Whenever she tried the picture in her head was too ugly to continue thinking about any longer.
Only one person had treated Katara and Toph normally when they approached her—an old woman who's voice was so sweet and fragile it made Katara think of honey and chocolate. She talked to them just like she was talking to a long lost friend—with eyes and all. It was probable that the woman was so old she simply could not see the blank look in the girls' eyes, but she treated them nicely either way. It felt good to Katara, not having a proper conversation with anyone but Toph since the accident.
After about four hours of walking around asking for a seemingly random boy amongst the thousand or so people in the city, Katara's and Toph's feet began to ache with such ferocity and Toph's stomach began grumbling so loud that you could hear it from across the street, they decided to head into a restaurant for a well-deserved break.
Both girls were completely silent once inside. Neither of them talked while waiting for a table, and they silently smiled at the waitress when they were seated. Not until after the two had given their orders did Toph speak up.
"What are we going to do after this?"
Katara glanced down, even though there was really no need to. "Go look again, I guess."
Toph's groan was audible throughout the whole restaurant.
"Come on, can't we head back to the hotel? This is supposed to be relaxing! Our first moment of freedom!"
"What's so relaxing about looking for a possibly dead friend?" Katara snapped.
Toph fell silent. Katara turned her head away, as if shunning her. Neither of them spoke again until the food arrived.
Toph toyed with the food on her plate. "You know…when we came here, I never expected to actually find Aang," she croaked.
Katara stiffened but did not say a word. She was afraid if she opened her mouth she may accidentally scream.
"The moment I heard about the accident, I instantly thought both of you were dead. I was so sad, but when I heard you were still alive, and you had chances of making it, you know what I did?"
The question was rhetorical. Katara didn't bother to answer.
"I laughed," Toph said. "I laughed so hard at the thought of Sugar Queen toughing out something like that. And you know what I thought after that?"
Again, Katara didn't reply. She had already abandoned her fork and simply sat, clutching at the seat cushion.
"If only Twinkle Toes could have made it," Toph voiced her thoughts. "But then the doctors told me you were the only one in the car, and I knew it wasn't right. I told them, but they insisted it was only you. I was so confused, but I thought that maybe Aang was busy and let you just borrow his car. Deep down I knew I was only making excuses, but I forced myself to believe them."
Katara placed her elbows on the table and dug her nails into her scalp, not knowing whether or not she wanted to hear this information.
"When Aang didn't come home that night, his foster dad, Gyatso, called us. We got the police involved and everything. They couldn't find him. They told us that kids his age run away all the time, and that he'd show up in a couple days when he realizes he needs food. Again, something didn't feel right, but I made myself believe them. We all did."
Tears welled up in Katara's eyes. This is what had gone on while she was unconscious. The story was tearing right through her, and she knew what happened next.
"Then you finally woke up. You determined that Aang was really with you in the car, and everyone's thread that was holding them together just broke. We had all been hanging on to the fragile possibility that Aang had simply run away for some inexplicable reason. None of us knew what happened to him, but all of us made the final resolve that he as dead, gone. I think that's what made your father so edgy."
Katara finally picked up her fork and began prying at her food. Her head still hung low so nobody could see her crying silently.
"Then, after we all got used to the painful awareness that Aang was dead, you started talking about how he was still out there, alive. We had to adapt ourselves to the stories we'd been hearing for so long, everyone was too weary to believe another one. What were we supposed to believe in? Aang had become a mystery, and that's not what we wanted. We wanted to know exactly what happened, who lived and who didn't. Not knowing, it just tore us all apart."
Katara wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. She had successfully ripped apart her chicken dinner with her fork.
"Nobody was willing to believe a different story, but I was, Katara, as long as it had a happier ending. That's why I'm here, you see."
Katara sniffed and lifted her head. She smiled at Toph and she felt the younger girl's hand place itself on her shoulder.
"But, you should know, this is another one of those stories I'm forcing myself to believe. It's really hard, but I'm doing it for the sake of you, possibly Aang, and for all of us…so we can finally know the ending. I'm not here to find Aang; I'm here to find the truth."
Katara nodded. "I guess that's fair," she blushed at how much she sounded like she had just been crying—which she had. "Now that I think about it, I guess that's what I'm looking for, too."
All of Katara's memories concerning Aang came flooding back into her head all at once. His smile, his laugh, his gorgeous eyes, his voice, they all played back for her in shades of sepia. She clenched her hands into fists on her knees.
"No, I'm looking for Aang," she corrected. "I know he's out there."
Toph nodded but didn't say a word. After a while she turned back to her plate. Katara's mind was swirling with thoughts of a small boy as free as the wind as she slowly picked at her food.
Once they headed out of the restaurant, Katara felt a gust of wind blow past her. She closed her eyes and felt its soothing feel brush past her arm and blow her hair. She smiled contently at the element that described her missing friend in so many ways.
"Maybe all I have to do is follow the wind," Katara muttered, thinking out loud.
"What was that?" Toph asked.
"N-nothing!" Katara stuttered, blushing.
"Oh no, I heard what you said," Toph put her hands on her hips. "What I want to know is what do you mean by that?"
"Nothing, it didn't mean anything!" Katara defended herself. "I was simply talking crazy. That chicken must have had something in it!"
She patted her stomach and rushed forward, back to the hotel. She felt Toph's vibrations follow her after a few seconds.
When they finally reached the hotel again, Toph instantly fell on the bed into a deep sleep. Katara sat down on the corner of her bed and thought about what she had been thinking since she exited the restaurant.
Maybe following the wind might help. It is Aang's element, after all. It sounds so stupid, though.
She closed her eyes and thought about Aang...all her happy memories with him. She smiled at them. A gust of wind blew through the room from the open window, enveloping Katara in a cool embrace. Suddenly, without warning all the bad memories with him began flooding into her mind. She frowned as she remembered every quarrel, every sad moment spent with Aang. It all ended with memories of the crash… that fateful day.
"Katara!"
"Aang, seriously, don't panic!"
The hummer suddenly swerved out of its lane. The tires squealed and Katara barely had time to scream before the two vehicles collided. Both cars crashed into the gate of the bridge and the sound of the metal caving to the pressure was heard before the sensation of falling filled Katara's senses.
"Katara, no!"
Katara screamed as she heard her name. They jerked forward and she heard the sound of splashing. Katara jerked along with the car. It seemed to be rolling every which way and she couldn't interpret up or down anymore.
Everything was blurred in a rush of speed and adrenaline as Katara jerked forward yet again, colliding her head with the dashboard.
Katara's eyebrows furrowed. She wished she had listened to Aang when he had told her to get out of the car. Instantly she felt guilty for ever wanting to leave Aang behind in a situation like that. But there was one question: Why did Aang want to get her out of the car? Did he know what was about to happen?
Katara squeezed her eyes tighter.
"Anything wrong?" Katara asked.
Aang leaned back looking confused. "Does that look strange to you?"
Katara looked forward and saw a hummer on the opposite side of the road. It was zooming at full speed, with a determined looking woman inside. Her eyes were planted right on their car.
"What is she doing?" Katara asked, slightly nervous.
Aang looked panicked. "Katara, I don't think you should be in this car anymore."
Katara was confused. "Excuse me?"
Aang unlocked the doors and slowed down a bit, rolling up his windows. "Quick."
"You're kicking me out?" Katara's annoyance was triggered. "The car is still moving!"
Aang glanced nervously out his window at the hummer, still quite a distance away and quickly approaching. "Just trust me on this one."
Katara's eyes snapped open. What wasthat woman doing? She could remember the face clearly—as it being one of the last visual memories she had. Long black hair, ruby red lips, deathly determined eyes… yes, Katara could see her quite clearly.
It suddenly occurred to her that she might be searching for the wrong person. Was the suspicious looking woman the real target? Katara gasped and she quickly got under the covers, closing her eyes. She suddenly realized how tired she was, and her focus was drifting in and out. She knew what she was going to do tomorrow, and the last conscious thought she had before drifting off into a world of unpleasant dreams was the determined face of that woman at the steering wheel, and the panicked look of Aang as they collided.
Author's Note: I can't believe I've gotten any reviews for this story in the first place... me being such a bad updater and all OTL but more would be much appreciated! And thanks to everyone who took my poll!! I may just do another one, now... :O I love those things! Anyway, see mistakes, tell, sorry, fanfiction messes my writing up for some reason. The document is flawless though! Hahaha okay maybe it isn't because my writing certainly isn't flawless but there were no visible mistakes that I could see in the five hundred times I re-read it. My eyes hurt now... oh great I have school work to get to now... I hate the end of the summer the most. :(
P.S. Oh yeah, second longest chapter FTW!!