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infinite

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"The best you'll ever do is to understand yourself, know what it is that you want, and not let the cattle stand in your way."

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I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas, Hanukah or whatever you may happen to celebrate. Finals are thankfully over for another four months, thank God.

I want to apologise to one particular reader of this story whom was quite offended by my lack of updating. So, LazyAndIKnowItP, this chapter is for you. I feel the need to inform you, that, similar to the title, my presence will always be infinite and always.

Also, this is surprisingly sappy in places. I'm so sorry.

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burning dawn

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Sokka jumped out of his truck, grinning broadly at Zuko. "So you finally shacked up, right? I've never seen Suki so flustered before." The air was cool around them, but despite it the tan man lacked proper winter clothing and wore a pair of slightly distressed jeans, a thin blue shirt and battered construction boots. "Congratulations. Toph is highly insane, and you deserve someone like her."

His words irked him. Azula had been insane, his father had been insane. Toph was different from his past. She was bright, brighter than the stars in the night.

"I do." He said shortly.

Sokka ignored his slightly snarky response. "Any plans for the evening?"

"She has a late class tonight." Zuko leaned up against the bright blue truck. The construction site behind them both was a loud scene, people shouting over the hammering and noise of the machinery. "Aang's walking her back after."

"Any news about the fire? Was it an accident, or something?"

The remains of the building were nothing more than a skeletal frame emerging from the wreckage of smouldering ashes. Three dead had been discovered, and eleven injured had been stolen away from the flames and delivered to the hospital in screaming ambulances. None of his belongings could have been recovered, not even the music box that had once been Azula's.

"What they're saying is that the wires were faulty."

Sokka frowned. "That was a really old building. Weren't you thinking about moving out at some point anyways?"

"Yeah, it was a crummy apartment."

"So, now you're living with Toph then? What's that like?"

"Fine."

It wasn't really fine. It was the best thing that had happened to him. Zuko was an angry and wrecked figure tortured by his past, but for now he was finally capable of living in the present. Zuko finally understood happiness, something that had always been void to him before.

"You don't look like an angry son of a bitch anymore." Sokka gave Zuko a long glance. "So, I'm happy for you. Toph's awesome. Don't mess with her though. Katara will rip your face off."

Zuko snorted. "Yeah, Katara would. Remember when Jet cheated on her with that Sally Bee girl?"

"Yeah. Sucker didn't get out of the hospital for weeks." He looked satisfied and oddly proud.

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"Do you believe in love?" Azula questioned him, cutting apart a shiny red heart. The entire room was decorated lavishly in a tacky Valentine's Day theme. She was seated cross legged on the floor surrounded by the hacked apart red hearts that were everywhere. "Mother claims that she loves Father."

Zuko looked up from the book his Uncle had given him. "Why?"

"Zhao told me he loved me."

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Toph sat down at the table, her short dark hair falling in her face. Her fingers drifted over a thick page as she focused on reading braille. A cup of peppermint tea sat next to her elbow, making Zuko feel concern at the way her arm kept shifting as she read.

"What are you reading?"

"Stuff about Van Gogh." She shrugged shortly before yawning. "Need to finish a paper for Friday."

"Have you thought about taking a break and getting some sleep?" Zuko asked before stealing away the thick textbook and setting it aside from her. She glowered at him from across the table where she sat, but the affect was lost due to how utterly worn out she looked. "Because you look like you're going to pass out."

She rolled her eyes at him. "I'm fine. Now give me back my book."

Zuko stood up and placed it on the top shelf of the bookcase where she would have difficulty stealing it back due to her unfortunate height difference. "No, you're going to bed before you work yourself sick." He moved closer, stepping loudly to ensure she knew he was nearing. Once he had snuck up behind her and it resulted in a full panic, her lashing out with her fists and him failing to calm her down.

"What the hell? I need to get this done."

"You'll get it done once you're awake and not falling asleep." He took her hand and tugged lightly. "You've been so busy lately that you're not yourself anymore. Your quieter, you aren't eating right and Aang told me you fell asleep in your class today."

She jerked her hand out of his. The motion knocked the cup of tea off the table and onto the ground where it shattered instantly. "Goddamn it." She hissed out. "Another fucking cup."

"Stay here."

"I can get it." She said shortly as she swung her feet down from her chair but was forced to halt by Zuko.

He pushed her back up onto the chair, glaring at the shattered mess on the floor. "Just stay seated. The glass is all over the ground."

"I can see that."

He ignored her sarcasm as he bent down to gather up the larger pieces. "What's wrong?"

"I'm just tired."

There was something about her words that sounded paper thin to him. Zuko paused, frowning. "Has Kuei gone near you? Has Zhao?"

She tried to get up out of her chair, her bare feet coming almost too close to the shattered tea cup. Zuko stood up and grabbed her by her waist before hauling her up and away. "Get off."

"No. You can just run away from me when you're scared. In case you have forgotten, we're in this together. It was my apartment that got burned; Zhao was targeting you because of me- I am not letting you go." He practically threw her onto the bed before slamming the door shut. "So, no. You can't just run away."

She covered her eyes with her hands. "What do you want?"

"I want to know why you're upset! Goddamn it, Toph. Just let me in for once."

"Fine. Therapy is a waste of my time and I personally want to peel off my skin off my bones and die. The court makes me go because I tried to kill myself in the hospital. They want to make sure I'm mentally balanced and capable, but for two hours every week I get judged by some woman who doesn't even know me. So fuck her, because I'm sick of it." Her words sounded hard but at the same time like they were falling apart. "Kuei left a message for me today; I have to write a fucking paper on something I can't even see, so yeah. I'm having a really bad day."

Zuko gave her a few seconds to compose herself before asking, "Better?"

"Yeah."

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Jin was a pretty girl with pretty brown hair. Despite her obvious prettiness, she was merely transparent. Her pale skin was near see through, allowing him to imagine himself dissolving away and hiding from the world. She talked enough, a never ending stream of chatter filling the world around them both.

She was a nice girl, but he detested her.

He hated the way she clung to his hand, how she darted after him in the hallways at school. She was a year below him, but that didn't stop her from chasing after him relentlessly.

Azula would gaze at her wit sharp eyes, analyzing her movements and slowly pulling her apart.

"I could get rid of her for you." She informed him at breakfast, her words filled with poison.

Zuko had ignored her.

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"What message did he send you?" Zuko hesitantly asked, unsure if he had given her enough time to gather her emotions. Ever since the fire she had been constantly switching emotions like lightning, each change in mood deadly.

She yanked out a piece of thick paper from her pocket, risen dots preventing him from understanding the contents. "It just says that he's watching us, and he'll hurt us in every way possible."

"I hate this creep."

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Jin walked into the school looking terrified, her hair falling out of her usually elaborate hair style. "You're sister is mental." She informed him blankly, crossing her arms briskly. "She just held a knife to my throat and told me to stay away from you."

Azula looked smug from outside the doors, her sharp smirk easy to see despite the distance from where they stood from each other.

Zuko looked at the pretty girl and leaned closer. "Then stay away."

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"Zhao and I have arranged a meeting for later. If I have to kill Kuei, I will."

"No." She demanded, eyes glaring at him. "I kill him. It's my right for what he's done to me."

He swallowed, looking at the hardness on her face. He had difficulty imagining her raised as a china doll, delicate and fragile. It was easy imagining her emerging from the flames the way phoenixes did, with her fists bruised and battered, her feet torn apart. She was a survivor, shadowed by smoke. "Fine."

Zuko sat down next to her, reaching for her hand. Toph squeezed back tightly. "I'm sorry, by the way."

"It's fine."

"No, it really isn't. I've been having a bad week, and I took it out on you. That wasn't cool of me."

He smiled. "I think you just need to get some sleep."

Toph yawned widely.

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He punched a wall, feeling very aggravation. His mother looked up from where she was on her hands and knees gardening. "Don't do that, you'll only hurt your hand."

He sighed, throwing himself down on the ground beside her. The weather was warm despite the month of February.

"What's wrong, darling?"

"It's this girl."

His Mother grinned at him, her eyes looking bright in the sunshine. "Do you like her?"

"No!" Zuko yelped. "I hate her. She's stupid. She keeps following me around and stuff, and it's annoying me."

"Zuko!" Azula shouted from the distance, appearing just by the edge of the tree line. "I need you."

He groaned. "I'm busy!"

His mother frowned. "You should go see her. You two used to be inseparable, but now you'll hardly even speak to her. I think your sister needs you."

Zuko got up and walked towards the thick clusters of trees where Azula stood with dirt staining her white skirt. "I need your help moving it, Zuko. I can't do it by myself." The sun burned the back of his neck.

He followed her into the shadows, slipping into the coolness of the thick covering of towering trees. "What are you moving?" He asked before he saw her, her legs tangled unnaturally. "What the fuck did you do, Azula?"

Jin was dead on the ground, her neck snapped. "She was bothering you, wasn't she?"

Zuko and Azula looked at the dead girl on the ground, her hair tangled and a knife sticking out of her chest. "We can throw her into the river." He decided, grabbing her ankles. Azula bent down to take her wrists.

"Thank you, Zuko."

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Toph slept sound in the bed, covered by a nest of blankets. The heating in the apartment was still not functioning, leaving the two constantly layered or wrapped in blankets. Zuko shut the door of the room quietly, slipping in beside her. She moved closer towards him in her sleep, seeking out the warmth his body radiated.

He could still feel her ankles in his hands, the way her body felt so heavy. The sound of the corpse hitting the water, the look of her long brown hair snaking in the water. How her body jerked through the current.

Zuko shut his eyes.

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"Stay the hell away from me, Azula."

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