February 103AG

Gaoling

The normally alert and combative earthbender was drained. After two years of captivity and sedatives, her bending was practically nonexistent and she was too weak to walk very quickly, much less run. She hobbled down the street, hoping to find sanctuary somewhere.

It was easy for Xin Fu and Master Yu to capture Toph. "Easiest 2500 coins we ever made." Master Yu said as he picked her up and hoisted her over his shoulder. They were on their way to their carriage to take her back to the Bei Fong estate.

Unfortunately for them, someone else wanted Toph.

Their ostrich horse, which had been pulling the carriage, shrieked before running away. Someone had burned through the rope, scaring it into fleeing.

"What the?" A powerful flame hit Xin Fu right in the chest, making him scream in pain. Master Yu turned to see a foot kicking him right in the knee. The assailant grabbed Toph from him as Master Yu fell to the ground from a fire kick to the groin.

He coughed up blood as he fell to the ground.

Their carriage had no horse. They were wounded and on the ground, and their bounty was gone.

Well Shit!

Toph wouldn't wake up for another three hours. When she did, she realized she had no idea where she was. She was in an unfamiliar bed, which meant she was in a new house and she had no idea what city or town she was in.

Her stomach growled. She was so hungry. She reached out for anything to grab and she felt a glass. Toph held it to her nose.

"It's just water." She drank it, needing to try and soothe her dry throat. She tried to get up, but she just fell down. Without her earthbending, she couldn't see and even if she could, she was on a wooden floor.

"FUCK!" she cried out in frustration after she hit the floor. Toph hated weakness, and she was too weak to walk.

Suddenly a person ran into the room. Two hands grabbed Toph and pulled her back onto the bed.

"Are you hurt?"

It was a woman's voice; it was a deep voice but it was definitely a woman's. Toph knew it, but she hadn't heard it in some time. Who was this?

"I don't think you should try to walk for a while. You were pretty weak when I found you."

The voice was bothering her. It was so familiar, but it was different. The tone was not what she was used to hearing from this person. "Who are …"

She doesn't recognize me. I could lie, but then she'll freak out when she actually has her senses back. "I'm Azula."

That's the voice. Toph knew it, but it sounded sweet, caring. That just can't be.

"Why do you have me here?"

Azula didn't have a lie to tell. The truth didn't make her look bad anyway. "I saw these two men trying to take you away. I couldn't tell it was you at first. I was at a distance, but I thought they might have been rapists or something. You were clearly unconscious, and they were well kind of old.

When I got closer, I realized who you were, and I knew they had to have done something to get you so weak, so I beat them up and took you to my home. You've been here for almost three hours. Are you hungry?"

Starving. "What do you got?"

Azula had made some dumplings earlier that day. She just needed to boil them. With her flame, she could cook almost anything pretty quickly.

She told Toph to stay put. Her attempt at walking well was a total failure.

About 15 minutes later, Azula came back with a bowl of dumplings, a fork, soy sauce and a chili sauce.

"These are actually pretty good." Toph could tell they were homemade, and they were pretty flavorful.

"I worked in a restaurant as a line cook, well before I saw that Iroh frequented it. I fled Ba Sing Se and came here."

"You went back to Ba Sing Se?"

"I figured no one would look for me there or in Capital City, but I was less recognizable there. A lot of people have heard of me, but not that many people there have seen me, especially in the middle ring."

"How did you get out?" It was obvious she had escaped or else she wouldn't have hidden from her uncle.

"They drugged me, a lot. I couldn't bend or even really talk. I just felt numb. I thought it was the herbs, but when I palmed them instead of eating themand threw them away, it didn't help. I realized the drugs were in the food, so I stopped eating it.

I got my bending back, but I still was too weak to do anything since I hadn't been training for months, and I had no food. I had been throwing it away through the bars and smearing some on my lips so they thought I ate it.

I had to eat to get out, but eating would knock me out. It was the perfect paradox," Azula laughed bitterly. "I figured out the only way to have a chance was to eat sometimes, so I had some energy, but not enough such that I had that much of the drug.

Instead of eating the two meals a day they brought me each day, I ate once every two days.

Eventually, I got to a point where I had just enough energy to break out. The guard thought I was catatonic. I had to fake it when I skipped my meals. That was torture. When he came with the tray, I burned him, snatched his keys and locked him in the cell.

He, of course, screamed for the other guards. I waited for them and feigned surrender. When they all came to put me in my cell, I slipped through them and locked them all inside."

Azula grinned, that was fun.

"With the keys, I was able to lock everyone in the asylum. They designed it to lock down from the outside in case the patients got out of their cells, to keep them in the premises. In hindsight, that was probably pretty stupid of them."

"How long was it before anyone found them?"

"I have no idea. I fled immediately and started stowing away on boats, so I could get out of the Fire Nation."

"How long have you been out?"

"Almost two years now."

"TWO YEARS!" Toph expected her to say months. How could Toph not remember the past two years? Someone would have told her if Azula got out two years ago. "How can that be? I never even heard you got out."

"Where have you been?" Azula questioned. Everyone should have heard by now.

"I've …" Toph stammered. "I don't know."

Azula frowned. "It sounds like you got drugged too!" Azula could barely remember anything from the time before she stopped eating her meals. "I can't remember the first six months I spent at the asylum. The drugs kept me too weak to think straight or do anything."

"Who would (drug me)?"

"I doubt you were taken by the rebels. They would have tortured you, and surely your friends would have come to rescue you if you were missing for two years."

Toph just shook her head. "I don't know."

"Let's start with what you do know. Do you remember the end of the war?"

Toph closed her eyes: the sky ships, kissing Suki by mistake, Aang took Ozai's bending. "Yes."

"What happened next?"

"We went back to the Fire Nation. Zuko got coronated once he was out of the infirmary. We threw a big party that night."

Azula scowled at that.

Teo and Haru found their fathers. They got separated from them during the war. Hakoda was there with Sokka and Katara.

"Your friend …"

"I don't have any friends," Azula said coolly.

"Well, your former friend Ty Lee joined the Kyoshi Warriors."

"She would run around with a bunch of peasants who can't even bend."

Toph rolled her eyes. "Mai stayed with Zuko."

"Kissing his ass like she always has."

"Sokka went back to the tribe. Aang and Katara left together."

"What did you do?"

"I …" Toph remembered Kuei coming up to her at the party.

"Your work was most impressive Toph."

"Thanks, your Majesty?" She wasn't really used to correct titles or anything.

"I wanted to talk to you about employment. We need someone to train a new police force since well the Dai Li is untrustworthy. You're the only one who can metalbend and I thought you might be up for the job."

Beating up rookies all day! "Awesome."

Toph didn't realize she said "awesome" again.

"What's awesome?"

"I moved to Ba Sing Se to help train the new police force for the city."

"Then how did you end up in Gaoling?"

"I'm in Gaoling?"

"Well the outskirts, but it's the closest thing here."

"I'm from here. My parents still live here."

"Maybe you went to visit them?"

Toph thought about it. "I did. They asked me to come home. They said they wanted to apologize for keeping me in my room all the time, and they were proud of me."

"What happened next?"

"They hugged me. We had dinner, all of my favorite foods, fried chicken, dumplings, taro puffs and then …" That was it, her memories ran out.

"Maybe they drugged you and kept you in your room, so you wouldn't leave again."

"They accepted me! They invited me to dinner."

"Maybe it was just a rouse. They might have been waiting for a time that they could marry you off to some nobleman."

"My family wouldn't do that to me."

"Really? They kept you locked in your room your whole life and sent bounty hunters after you when you escaped. I saw you with what I assume were bounty hunters today. Maybe you did escape, got too disoriented to get away, and the bounty hunters found you quickly. It sounds like your parents."

"But they're my family. They wouldn't keep me drugged and locked up for years."

"Really? My family would if they could find me."

"But that's different. Everyone hates you." Toph didn't realize how bad that sounded until Azula got up to leave.

"Maybe your friends will come find you then." The missing princess left the room.

"Oh great. I just pissed off the one person who actually bothered to help me in years." Toph realized. "Wait, I still don't know what year it is." Shit!

Lao Bei Fong came to the hospital when he learned his bounty hunters were in it. "What happened?"

"We found Toph. She didn't get very far, but then some guy came and beat us up. He took her."

"What did he look like?"

Neither of them knew. "I think he was tall," Master Yu said.

"I think he was short, said Xin Fu."

"He threw fire."

"He was good at it."

"He kicks hard."

"He ran fast, and he let our ostrich horse loose."

"We don't know much else. It hurts to talk."

SHIT! Lao had no idea where to find her. Who could have taken her? Why?

In the morning, Toph had to use the bathroom, but she couldn't find it. She was walking along the edge of the wall, using her hands to brace herself. She had to move slowly. It still hurt to walk, and she couldn't see anything.

Azula was training in the back of the house. She came inside to see, "what are you doing?"

"Trying to find the bathroom."

"Oh."

Azula guided her down the hall and then went to make breakfast.

She opened her cooling unit. She was a bit low on food, but she had enough for a decent breakfast before she would have to go to the market.

She started to peel and dice the fruit, forgetting about Toph until she heard a knocking.

Oh yeah. She can't walk. Azula went to get her.

"Where are we going?"

"The kitchen."

Azula got her to a chair. Toph put her hands in front of her to try and steady herself. It was a nice table. The wood was expensive.

"How can you afford this place?"

"It was abandoned. The family who lived here before thought it was haunted, but no one would buy it from them, so they bailed. I found it boarded up and I just fixed it up and moved in."

"So you're a squatter."

"I'd like to say I'm an improver. It has fruit bushes now and I actually had to do the landscaping without earthbending."

"EW!" Toph thought that sounded dull.

"It makes me pity those who can't bend anything."

Toph didn't pity Sokka. Where was that idiot? Why didn't he come for her? Toph had no idea what to do. She couldn't bend. She could barely walk. She was at Azula's mercy of all people. It didn't seem so bad now, but Toph would eventually have to leave. Would Azula try to stop her?

Clank! Toph could smell the food in front of her. "What is this?"

"Scrambled eggs, bacon and there's a bowl of mixed fruit on the side. It's not much, but well, I only shopped for one person."

It smelled better than any breakfast Toph had during the war. She picked up a fork and started to eat.

"Why are you doing this?" Toph asked her.

"Doing what?"

"Helping me."

"Because I know what it's like to have your life stolen from you."

It made Toph angry that years had been taken from her. She hardly had any to spare. "What year is it?"

"It's February 12th 103AG."

"It's been over two years."

"Which is why you didn't know I escaped. I got out in May of 101AG."

"Why didn't my friends come for me?"

"Maybe your parents sent letters on your behalf giving excuses as to why you couldn't see them. They could have said you had some infectious disease or …"

Toph snorted. "My mother's too proper to suggest a Bei Fong has any kind disease. They probably didn't bother to look for me."

Azula could hear the sadness in her voice. "Friends aren't everything."

"They are to me."

"Everyone leaves. It's easier to just forget them once their gone."

Flyers went up all over town with Toph's portrait painted on. "Missing: Toph Bei Fong, kidnapped by a tall, brutal, firebending male. Consider him armed and dangerous. 10,000 coins for the recovery of Toph, 1000 coins for any information that leads to her rescue or her kidnapper's capture."

Azula managed to swipe one on her way back from the market. "Well they got two out of four right."

She tucked the flyer in her pocket and got to the house. Toph was on the couch. She couldn't do much in the house by herself. She should get Azula to take her outside.

"Well your parents put out a reward, so expect a lot of goons to try to grab you."

"Goody. How much?"

"10,000 coins for getting you home; 1000 if they find information that leads to your rescue or the capture of the tall, brutal, firebending man that kidnapped you."

"I thought you were short."

She is.

"I'm taller than you!"

"Who isn't?"

"Yeah I'm pretty short! I don't know why they thought I was a tall man or a man actually."

Her breasts were pretty well sized and it's not like she was disguised as a man.

"Maybe they were too embarrassed to say a girl beat them up."

"That's a good point. They probably made me sound big and scary to save their own egos."

"Well you are scary, even if you're an oyster shrimp."

"You can't call me an oyster shrimp. That would make you a wasp."

"Can you take me outside? I can't exactly see on wood."

Toph fell once she got to the grass. "I guess I can't see on Earth anymore either."

"They probably gave you chi blockers along with the sedative, so you couldn't bend, even if you woke up from the sedation."

"Is there anything about this that doesn't suck?"

"You're free now."

"No offense but not really. I can't see anything. I can't walk anywhere. I'm pretty much your prisoner even if you're a nice jailer."

"I was in the same boat, but I didn't even have a jailer. It was just me."

"How did you handle it?"

"Well, being able to see helps, and I had gotten back some strength before I broke out, even if it wasn't a lot. I usually just moved at night, so people couldn't see me. It took months to feel normal again."

Toph groaned. "I don't like being helpless."

"No one does, except those who are too lazy to care for themselves. It's one thing to be helpless and another thing to be hopeless. You learned how to earthbend once; you can learn it again."

They went back inside. It was chilly out, and Toph didn't have a coat. This was going to be a long road. Toph just hoped someone was there for her at the end of it.