Toph

A couple of days before the ceremonies -

"What an entertaining match so far, Ladies and Gentlemen, probably the best one i've ever seen."

Sweaty Toph heard Xin Fu's yammering from ringside on a huge chunk of rock of his making, nonetheless she needn't focus on that right now, she was too focused on the match at hand, the match that she's come so close to lose at least 3 time thus far.

she was facing a young man called Tolan, probably one of her best opponents so far, she hasn't faced such a talented opponent, ever since Aang, thinking about the air bender made Toph lose her footing and almost tripped giving Tolan the upper hand for the moment,

Ugh, Why couldn't that weakling Twinkle Toes just take me with him, I hate him ! she thought losing her focus again and almost falling for one of Tolan's earth quakes that'd have made her fall had she not countered it in time, Toph finally decided to focus on the match at hand, Tolan kept throwing slabs of rocks at her repeatedly, that young man's speed and agility is truly remarkable, it really reminded her of The Avatar's speed.

she groaned inwardly as she almost lost focus again, countering yet another slab of rock with a wall of her own, she started punching the wall lunching small chunks of rock one of the rocks hit its mark and Tolan reeled back to the edge of the ring, Toph took the shot and lunched herself at Tolan with another rock trying to push him off the ring, Tolan was really in trouble now, as Toph with full force was pushing him off the edge, while he was struggling with his foot trying to keep his position but that didn't help at all when he started reeling back almost at the edge now, a few centimeters away..

"Go, Toph !" Toph knew the voice all too well, not just the voice, she sensed his light steps in the audience, she couldn't help but mutter..

"Twinkle Toes.. ?" Unfortunately, Tolan benefited for the distraction, he took a few steps to the left when Toph eased her pushing, he bended a chunk of rock to Toph's back which hit its mark on the back of her head, and Toph was thrown out of the ring to the floor.

"We have a winner, and the new Earth Rumble Champion, Tolan !" she heard the voice of Xin Fu struggling to keep herself conscious, last thing she felt were the light steps that belonged to Aang running towards her before she passed out..

When Toph opened her 'rather useless' eyes she felt a throbbing pain rushing to her head, she touched her head and realized it was bandaged, she felt someone sleeping on a chair beside her bed, she'd identify the owner of the body anywhere, it was Lady Poppy Beifong,

Toph had a faint smile on her face, her mother's always been kind and caring of her, perhaps in the past she was doing it in an wrong matter, but now she's changed and began to care for Toph in a different way, she knows that her daughter is one of the greatest Earth benders in the world, she'd let her do whatever she wants, she'd let her go to tournaments and Earth Rumbles, but in the mean time she still feared for her safety, not because she was weak, No, because she's her daughter, and she'd always fear for her safety no matter what, Toph realized and came to terms with that truth a long time ago,

which brought her to her other parent, The Man himself Lord Lao Beifong, one of the richest man in all of the earth kingdom, probably the world, and yet, he still doesn't know how to deal with a daughter, he still doesn't know how to address Toph properly, maybe he started to realize her true powers, but he still tries to overprotective, always yammering about family legacy, How about he saves his lecture for my sister Luna and just leaves me alone.

That's right i have a younger sister, she's 13 years old, but unlike me she's blessed with the gift of sight, My parents always loved her, though she reminded me of my younger self, well, she's just four years younger than me, but still reminds me of my younger self, she's full of herself, she's smart she's funny, she's a great earthbender, though perhaps the difference between us is that she's more bound to the rules, unlike me who's probably the biggest rebel there is, but more than that she's always been kind to me, Sometimes i wish i could hate that girl, but i just couldn't, she never left me a chance to hate her.

She realized it's morning already, and finally the events of the previous day dawned on her, her eyes narrowed as she remembered she lost her match against Tolan because of one man, as this happened her mom began to stir on her chair, finally stretching her hands and yawning indicating that she's woken up.

"Toph ! You're Awake !" She said loud enough for a huge part of the house to hear as she hugged her daughter so tightly, Toph struggled to breath in her mother's grasp but she hugged back anyway, after some moments, 3 other people came barging through the door, one of whom Toph kept her now angry eyes on for too long.

"Toph ! Thank Goodness, You're okay, I knew going to that stinky place again was a bad idea..." But she couldn't hear the rest of her father's rant as her eyes were locked on one man standing beside her sister, she decided to interrupt her father's yammering by saying..

"What're you doing here ?" while pointing at the man beside her sister, loud enough for her father to stop talking, and for her sister and mother to give a faint gasp, while one man stood there silent, understanding her anger too well.

"Toph, this you friend Avatar Aang, he was the one that brought you here after you blacked out." Her sister Luna informed, but Toph's eyes were still narrowed at him, but then she looked on the ground and said in a sharp voice..

"Thank you for your help, Avatar, but that's where your services are no longer required, you can leave now." Everyone in the room gave another gasp, everyone save for Aang of course he was still in complete understanding of her anger, finally he had the courage to speak for the first time..

"Lord Beifong, would you be so kind as to leave us the room ?" The Avatar said with a small smile on his face, Lord Beifong looked confusedly at the avatar for a couple of seconds before looking at Toph who looked like she was about to say something but then decided against it and kept her mouth shut, Lord Beifong then shrugged and decided to leave them the room motioning for his wife and daughter to follow him, a few seconds later sister and mother left the room with her mother sparing a glance at her daughter and the avatar then left.

The Avatar decided to rest his legs and sat on the Poppy Beifong's chair beside Toph's bed, they stayed in awkward silence for perhaps a couple of minutes, both contemplating their next words carefully, with Toph looking beside her on the ground and Aang looking at the roof above them, he knew Toph wouldn't see him anyway, but this was still hard.

Finally The Avatar decided to speak. "To be honest this doesn't look so bad, just a bandaged head and a couple of hours of unconsciousness, i remember times when you left me motionless on the ground with bruises all over my body." The Avatar tried to lighten the mood, maybe see her crack a smile, but instead he still saw her angry face.

"What're you doing here, Aang ?" she asked with irritation written all over her face.

"What ? Can't friends visit from times to times ?" The Avatar said calmly knowing what she was indicating with her question but instead tried to evade it.

"FRIENDS ?!" Toph yelled now looking him in the face, she could feel him flinch from her high tone but decided to remain silent and listen to her, "You left me here with these people for over a year ! I practically begged you to take me with you, you said i'd be back to pick you up in a few months, a few months that turned into a full year, A FULL YEAR, AANG !" The blind earthbender yelled again, Aang wasn't sure if that was the end of her talk or not, but either way he had nothing to say, so Toph kept on..

"I remember telling you about my state whenever i am here, i feel vulnerable, i don't feel safe here, i don't feel like i belong here, and you know it, SO WHY DIDN'T YOU TAKE ME WITH YOU ?!" She yelled again, this time she clutched her head in pain from too much yelling, Aang rushed to her, but she just pushed him back again with one hand, saying she doesn't need his help.

The Awkward silence returned again between the Avatar and the Blind Earthbender unsure what to say, but then he decided to speak anyway, because she'd probably tell him to leave if he stayed silent any longer..

"Toph, i never meant to leave this long, but you know i wasn't in my right state of mind either for the past three years, i was travelling alone ever since i left you, none-stop, nothing and no one with me but Appa, Momo and my pouch of wine.." Toph was about to say something when he said his pouch of wine, but she decided against it, her pride was so strong for her to care right now, so Aang continued..

"I was so lost, Toph, i never visited anyone, Not Zuko, not master Iroh, no one, and that resulted in a major problem.." Toph could feel the hesitation in his voice, and this time she couldn't take any longer, her curiosity beat her.

"What problem ?" she asked in a soft tone for the first time, Aang looked at her with sad eyes as he said..

"You know about the ancient spirits Raava and Vattu ?" Aang asked.

"The What ?" Toph asked with a confused look on her face, she's never been into spiritual mumbo jumbo but she had to hear from Aang what's the major problem.

"In Short, Raava is the light spirit, she's the spirit of peace, she combined with the first Avatar, Wan, to form the Avatar spirit, on the other hand Vattu is the dark spirit, he's the spirit of war, for centuries, these two battled each other for who has the upper hand on the world, until the combination of Raava and Wan that formed "The Avatar", as the avatar, Wan locked the dark spirit in a place in the spirit world called the tree of time.."

Toph was listening to the interesting story now, she never knew Spirits tales could be this good.

"For centuries the avatar kept the upper hand on Vattu, that until the coming of the lowest Avatar ever, Me."

She heard him say in a small tone, she felt so bad for him, she feared that the Aang that locked himself up from the world for two years has returned, Aang continued..

"A couple of days ago, i was in the northern water tribe, Chief Arnook informed me that there was spiritual attacks in the old forrest, so i took some men with me and headed for the old forest to investigate myself.."

He stopped again and looked on the ground making Toph nervous all of a sudden, he continued..

"When i entered the forest, i met Avatar Roku for the first time in three years.."

Toph's eyes widened as she remembered him saying the spirits would kill him if he ever to return to the spirit world, he continued..

"He met me with the kindest manner ever, like the past three years were nothing to him, he was just glad i finally visited, even if it were by accident, anyway.. he told me something that unsettled me." Aang said in a voice mixed with slight anger.

"What ?" Toph asked curiously.

"He told me that.. when i disappeared and dedicated my life to drinking and being a sorry excuse of a human being.. My light spirit's weakened, therefore, the dark spirit's grown in power, he's in now in more control of the spirits than he ever was.."

Toph gave a startled gasp finally grasping the situation, as Aang continued..

"If i kept on what i'm doing, then my spirit would slowly fade, and then he'd control all the spirits, and maybe start a war between humans and spirits, a war that can't be won, and it'll all be my fault." He finished in a low sad voice filled with guilt and regret.

Toph wasn't sure how to feel, Shock ? Anger ? Fear ? No, none of those, she found herself feeling sympathy, she felt bad for him, she wanted to comfort him anyway she could, no matter what he did to her, he's still her friend and she loved him.

"It's not your fault as much as it's mine." Aang looked perked up sharply from his position.

"What do you mean ?" Aang said in a confused voice.

"When we came to your hiding place a year ago to get you out of your hole, i should've smacked you so hard on the head to make sure you've returned to your old self." Toph said keeping a straight face.

Aang laughed lightly at this. "Cracking my skull isn't a way to get me back to my old self." Aang said still laughing.

Toph still kept her straight face saying. "Yes, It is."

Aang laughed loudly at this, Toph couldn't keep her straight face any longer and immediately joined him, as hard as it is for her to admit, but she did really miss him, Dearly, perhaps that's why she was so angry at him.

"Spirits, i missed you so much, Toph." Aang told her after the laughing died down a bit, Toph had a smile on her face as he said this and decided to tell him the same.

"Yeah, i know you did, i missed you too, Twinkle Toes." Toph said in a teasing manner, knowing that Aang wouldn't like it, and she got her wish when Aang replied.

"Toph, i told you, that name was cute when i was younger, but not anymore." He said with a pouting face.

"I know, why do you think i say it ?" Toph said keeping the smirk on her face, she heard Aang groan which made her even more satisfied.

"I knew i shouldn't have come to pick you up." Aang said, at this Toph immediately perked up.

"Pick me up for what ?" Toph said confusedly.

"For the ceremonies, Silly, The Peace ceremonies will start in a couple of days, we have to leave today, everyone will be there, Zuko, Iroh, Azula all of them." Aang said in an excited tone, making Toph smile inwardly as she remembered his old self.

"Yeah, Azula." Toph said yet again in a teasing manner.. "Do you know by now how Azula feels about you or are you still clueless ?" she asked knowing too well since the beginning how Azula feels about Aang, she remembered how her heart beat would get sky rocket whenever she's around him, she never imagined she'd hear heartbeats from Azula at all, but she did hear it whenever she was around Aang.

Aang grimaced a bit but still his face turned bright red from Toph's statement.. "I don't know what you're talking about, Azula and i are friends, just friends." Aang said in a hesitating voice.

"Oh, Come on, Twinkle Toes, you're telling me that after spending so much time in the fire nation with her, you haven't, Ummm, tried anything ?" Toph said, suddenly Aang's heartbeats turned sky rocket again, Toph meant it as a joke, but now, she wasn't sure whether it's true or not..

"Oh, Spirits, You Did !" Toph said, suddenly bursting into a fit of laughter, Aang didn't say anything back which confirmed her theory, and Toph kept on laughing hard and said, "So, what're princesses like down there ? i've often wondered." Toph said still keeping her laughing tone.

Aang stood abruptly and said. "We better get ready." then he left the room, Toph could feel his heartbeats still quickening as she laughed harder when he left.

She couldn't believe it, Aang slept with The strict, cruel, unfeeling Fire Nation Princess ?