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avatarwindboy · 7 years

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A 3,000 word one-shot all about Aang dying.

Just for you, @seismicsight. Just for you.

“Keep up there, Twinkle Toes,” Toph snapped behind her, “the gangs won’t wait forever.”

She grinned, waiting for a sniffled reply from Aang, some paces behind her, but didn’t come. She heard his breathing and, though her feet, saw him shuffling along. He was tired. They—her, her police force, the council—were all tired, of course, but Aang seemed to be showing it the most today.

She wasn’t surprised, of course. After the week the city had had. After the months, really. The gang activity had taken to new extremes recently. It and runs on Monday—two people hospitalized–, knife fights on Tuesday—one death–, case of illegal blood bending on Wednesday (perpetrator still at large), and yesterday the explosion. Half the street gone. Three homes destroyed. Six death. Two children below the age of ten.

And that was just on Toph’s plate. On the rare days she allowed herself a break, she overheard on the radio talk about how the Northern Water Tribe was annoyed with the Fire Nation over a naval spat and how the United Nations was expected to intervene, and if they did, the Northern Tribe would consider it an act of war and blah blah. It was all political and pointless and a bunch of short minded men beating their chest over dominance. Toph expected it to blow over by months end. No skin off her butt. But, she also didn’t have a kid in the United Nations. She wasn’t the Avatar, meant to keep this sort of crap from happening.

“I heard men age faster than women, but this is getting ridiculous.” She had stopped now to let him catch up with her. She could still feel the hesitation in his step, his slump. He was distracted. Or depressed. Probably both. Teasing him helped keep him young. Or, it helped keep her young and that was something at least.

“I’m just tired,” Aang told her with a sigh when he reached her, and he sounded it.

She knew he was tired. On top of all the speculating his worries, she had heard so from one of her officers earlier.

Aang had come to the station over an hour ago. Late, as usual. He was walking slow then too. She knew something was wrong, but it was one of her rookies who nudged her and whispered, “Is he alright? He looks terrible.”

“That’s just his face,” she had replied. She, of course, had no idea how he looked.

Teasing helped, though.

“Yeah, well,” she said with a shrug, “I think we’re all tired. The sooner we get this over with, the sooner you can get home to your wifey and a cup of tea or whatever it is you do. Me? I have hours more of this crap.”

He was keeping up with her pace. For now.

“I’m not sure how much more of this I can handle,” she went on. “Explosions, blood bending. Remember when all we had to worry about was some wussy Fire Benders? Maybe it’s time I retire, hand the reins over to Lin. Get myself a wifey, huh?”

He didn’t laugh. Distracted, she reasoned, because that was funny.

“So you got briefed on what’s going on?” Toph asked. Fine, he wasn’t to avoid small talk for once. Fine.

“Briefly.”

Now he wanted to be funny.

“We got Chin Long in custody right now. Civilians arrested. Apparently there’s still a protest outside, how he should be handed over to the families he hurt. I expect rocks to be thrown, nothing I can’t handle. Be prepared for some back talk, some of those folks are part of that nonebender rally movement. They’re still mad at you for replacing Sokka with that frilly water bender on the council.”

“Right…”

“Speaking of Sokka,” she went on, “I heard ol’ Chief Meat Head wants to arrange some sort of meeting with my force. Called this morning. Some sort of gang activity spread into the Water Tribe recently, probably the work of Arrluk, he hasn’t been seen since he escaped prison. Told you you should have just taken care of that one, he’s dangerous.”

Aang didn’t answer. He didn’t have to for that one. He knew the six families with murdered loved ones from Arrluk’s boomerang gang. He probably remembered how they screamed at him during the trial for justice. Sokka’s problem now.

“I don’t think I can spare the men,” she continued. “Not with what’s happening here. You’ll probably have to go yourself. Don’t worry, I’m sure Junior will keep your seat at the Island warm. Just remind him he owes my girl a drink from time to time.”

“Toph…”

He was slowing down again. Better get this all done with quick.

“The explosion yesterday wiped half the West block. We got a hundred people who need to be rehomed,” she continued. “I got half my force just dealing with corralling them all, answering questions. Nothing’s really getting done.”

“Toph…”

“I think half of Katara’s medical staff is there, too. Treating burns. Plus the nurses have a way of calming things down. Which is good, ‘cause it’s mostly just a lot of screaming. Not sure why; what are we supposed to do for them besides what we already are, but I suppose that’s our constant struggle—“

“Toph.”

His was sounded small. Far away.

She stopped walking and waited, listened. She couldn’t hear his footsteps besides her or his breathing. She tried to see him through the ground and realized the problem. Something was wrong. His image was fuzzy, swaying, as if he was suddenly too heavy for his legs. It reminded her sharply of war.

“Aang?”

She heard his rasped gasp and saw him fall.

“Aang!”

She didn’t make it in time to catch him. The force of his body hitting the ground thundered in her body like an earthquake. He wasn’t there long. She was at his side in a moment, hands searching over him.

He had never seemed so loud in her sights before, nor so incomprehensible. He shook in and out of her visions. She felt everyone one of his trembles like something physical through her. Panic welled up within her. She could feel her own limps tightening with his, her bones felt thick, heavy.

“Aang! Hey! Talk to me, what’s going on?”

Her hands found his face. His quivering chin, his too-lacked jaw. She felt the struggle of air in his throat. She found his chest, his arms. His stiffened left side.

“No, no—Hey! Listen to me! Aang!” She slapped at his face, softly. Enough she hoped he felt her. She wasn’t sure what else to do. “Hey! I’m here! You’re okay! You’re going to be okay!”

He gasped and she thought she heard sound. No words she could make out.

“Someone help!” The force of her own scream pounded at her ears. Too loud. Too desperate.

She could see them on the ground. The citizens that had stopped to watch. She could hear their gasps. See their useless bodies pointed towards Aang. Hesitating in leaving, desperate to see more.

“Help me!” she screamed again.

“Somebody! Call an ambulance!” someone cried. Pounding feet down the street. She had no idea where the nearest working phone was.

Lines had been dead all over the city since the explosion.

Aang gasped again. She felt something warm and wet trickle from his mouth. Toph had no idea if it was saliva or blood.

She sat up and tore at her uniform, found her radio at her breast. She nearly snapped it in half pulling it to her mouth.

“Beifong to all officers—“ she shouted into it, “I need an ambulance immediately. Any working vehicle will do. Emergency. East side, New Omashu block! The Avatar is down! I repeat—the Avatar needs medical attention!”

She was meat with what felt like years of static. She repeated herself. Twice, until finally met with, “I’m on my way.”

Lin.

“Everything’s going to be okay,” she said to Aang. She dropped her radio on the ground, returned to him. She wasn’t sure why, but she tried to lift his shoulders from the ground, cradled him in her arms. She felt she had seen Katara do the same before.

“Lin’s coming. She’s not about to let anything happen to her uncle; she’s your biggest fan.”

He gurgled and more of the wet stuff leaked on her hand.

“You’re going to be okay.”

Her hand searched over his chest. She could feel his heart like a force in herself. Too fast, too heavy, too out of control. Her hand hesitated over his heart—was she meant to pump it? Hit it? Lift him, lower him? Why hadn’t she taken more medical classes? It was hard to breathe herself now. Her chest felt tight. Her head crammed. Her hand found his and she squeezed. He squeezed back.

“You’re going to be okay,” she told him again. His fingers began to spasm on her grasp.

“SOMEONE HELP US!” Her voice cracked, her throat tore. Her eyes felt hot and her vision had never seemed more black.

She could hear the people around her shouting for medics. No one stepped forward, though. They just all watched. Years ago, there was an Earthquake in New Omashu. She remembered how Aang had supported half the street’s buildings with his bending. How he had spent days sifting through the rubble looking for survivors. She wondered how many of these useless people Aang had saved.

Her radio buzzed.

“Robbery, North Side. Taku Noodle Shop.”

“—Copy.”

A car rushed by on the street. It was deafening, rumbled right through her. It didn’t stop. Someone shouted from down the road, and then laughed. A radio somewhere above her ranted about rebellion and poor choices.

Aang gasped.

“You have to stay with me,” she told him. Her voice was breaking and she hated that. She needed to be strong. There was no reason to cry. Aang was fine. He was going to be fine.

“Lin’s on her way.” A crack. She felt something warm roll down her cheek from her eye. There was no reason to cry. He’d be fine.

He’d be up by tomorrow. Sore and tired. Ready to take on the gangs and the shouting citizens and the robberies.

And all the crime that never stopped. The Avatar was down. He was in her arms. And it didn’t matter. It continued on.

“It’s going to be okay. You’re okay.”

“Ar…a…” His arms had stopped shaking now. She had pulled him close to listen to his breathing, his heartbeat. It had become too hard to hear it over the rumble of the city. It had grown so quite.

“You’re okay—“

His breath shook, rattled somewhere in his throat, wet and clotted, and never made it to his lungs. His hand squeezed at her fingers. His eyes felt wet against her palm.

“—Katara—“ It was nothing more than a breeze. A last whisper of Air bending from his usually smiling lips.

She’d never know what he was trying to say. If he was asking for Katara, to speak to her one more time. If he was desperate for her medical attention, believed she alone could heal him as always had. If he had a message important enough to struggle through death for Katara he wanted Toph to deliver.

He never finished his sentence. He barely finished his own wife’s name.

Toph hardly heard anything else after.

She continued to tug and pull and slap at him. To shake him awake. Eventually, the crowd drew closer. Someone even got down to examine him, though they didn’t even touch him. Their whispers surrounded her like a storm. She wanted to shout them into pieces. She thought she might have shouted, but didn’t remember what she said.

And then, she heard them all gasp. She felt the warmth of something on her face, like a sudden sun beam. Knew it was something remarkable, something otherworldly. Knew it was from Aang.

Later, she would hear witness speaking about the event like observing a real-life spirit. How bright the light was, how it seemed to look right into them. How it was even beautiful.

She’d never see any of that. All she would ever see was her best friend, limp and heavy in her arms, stiffening.

Lin’s car screeched to a halt near them later. The scream of the wheels snapped in Toph’s ears so loud she let go of Aang to cover them.

Lin didn’t waste a moment, even with Toph shouting at her to hurry. She pulled Aang from her mother, checked for pulse, positioned her hands over his chest and pumped. Listed for a pulse again. Repeated. Lin was a good girl; she went to all the medical classes. She knew what to do. Aang would be alright. They’d lift him together into Lin’s car and rush him to hospital. He’d be able to tell Katara whatever dumb thing he had been planning himself.

Instead, Lin sat up.

“I’m sorry, Chief—“

Her voice was broken. Toph could hear the tears.

That, more than anything, was what defeated her.

“Mom?”

That’s when the ringing started. It followed Toph the rest of the night. Overpowered what Lin and her other officers said. It consumed her head when the reporters tried to break down the door, and shot through her when she recognized Katara’s feet running down the hallway.

Toph managed to sit through explanations with the medic. Hours later. When they had wheeled Aang’s body into a private room for Katara and Tenzin to grieve over. Lin was with them, the only thing holding Tenzin above the floor. Toph wasn’t sure how she was there. She chalked it up to not being able to move anywhere else.

When it was suggested his old age, she felt sick. The toll of the Avatar State, she felt the ringing grow louder. When it was suggested it was stress that finally ended him, she could bear it no longer and left.

She wasn’t sure where she needed to go, but it had to be away from here. Away from the hospital, the police. She could hear the whispers as she passed. Everyone, everyone was buzzing about the Avatar’s death. Radios, normally blasting screeching voices and trumpets, were low with steady, somber voices. Nurses whispered about tragedy. Toph wondered what worked had kept them too pre-occupied to save Aang.

“Chief Beifong!” An officer met her outside the ward. The clank of his metal armor pinged in her entire person. “I’m sorry for your loss, but you should know: We caught Arrluk. He was trying to slip into the border. He’s taken responsibility for the blast last night—“

“What…”

“Officer Lu just finished his interrogation. He suggests there might be another attack might be planned—“

And he handed her a file. Actually lifted a stack of paper and handed it to her. Her force had taken the time to track a criminal. A criminal who was planning to hurt others. To deconstruct the building’s and lives Aang had protected. Her force had caught him. Locked him in a prison. Legal action with lawyers and reporters must have happened. Someone had taken the time to type everything out in braille for her.

All while her best friend was dying.

A death on behalf of the whole world. And the world literally didn’t give a single fuck.

The officer was sent flying to the wall, some ten feet back, pulled by the metal in his own suit. Her brain snapped with the effort of her own bending, a little surprised at her impulse. The countless leaves of paper fluttered in the air, fell slowly, softly.

“I don’t care,” she said. Her voice was even, steady. It was the first sure thing of the day. She continued her march on.

“Give your report to Officer Lin Beifong. As of now, I resign. She’s your chief.”

She thought the officer gasped, maybe even called after her. She wasn’t sure. She didn’t care. The ringing was too loud to hear him anyway.

She needed to get away. From the hospital. From the police. From the city. From every singly, Spirit-damned city that had sucked the life out of Aang. From all the twisted, thankless citizens that chewed every last bit of him up and spat him out.

Who never appreciated him. Or her. Or Team Avatar. Or all the work they did.

Who would never stop fighting. Warring. Killing each other just for a taste of power that would never last.

It was all for nothing. Every last fight, adventure, and moment of it.

And none of it was ever worth Aang.

And now, it wouldn’t be worth her.

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