A/N: I hate you all. 8D
Ok, not really. But I did hate writing this. Down to the freaking core. It was very hard to write, seeing as it is falling action, which I despise.
Enjoy the story. I will NOT be writing a sequel. xO
KATARA
I stared at my face-planted brother and my sarcastic friend in stunned disbelief "Sokka! Toph!" I breathed, walking towards them. "How…where…you're here." I felt tears pooling in my eyes, and made no effort to stop them. Aang, a few paces behind me, spoke:
"How did you guys get in?" He asked, looking at Toph and Sokka as though they might disappear without warning.
"Through the wall," Toph said, picking Sokka up by the shoulders and pulling him into a standing position. "I punched through it. Then we had to walk inside of the wall for awhile," She motioned towards Sokka, "he was scared of the dark."
"What? I was not!" Sokka retorted. His voice was just as I remembered it. A tear trickled down my face. "I just couldn't see."
"Right," Toph said, punching him goodheartedly in the arm. "That's why your hand was shaking in mine the entire time we were underground."
"Wait, you guys were underground? I thought you came in through the wall…" Aang questioned, standing next to me. Sokka looked at Toph, who raised her eyebrows.
"Let's tell them about the building." She said, sitting on the floor. Sokka sat down beside her without second thought, and I slowly sank to the floor, still staring at them in disbelief. Aang followed me, more slowly than I could have imagined.
Toph, with some help from Sokka, explained the layout of the building. Sokka traced a (very horrible) diagram on the floor, and said that they would be able to get us out.
"So, if we leave the way we came in, we'll be able to sneak you two out without a hitch." Sokka said, nodding at Toph, who grinned. I thought about the floor plan of the building that had retained me and Aang for what seemed much longer than two weeks, the hallways Toph and Sokka had traveled through without fear, and wondered why it was all so simple for them. Their plan was so easy, and I desperately wanted it to work. I looked at Aang, who was staring at the floor. I touched his hand lightly, to get his attention. He jumped slightly, but laced our fingers together easily, naturally. I lay my head on his shoulder; he wrapped his other arm around me, hugging me. Toph chuckled.
I directed my eyes towards her. She was leaning against Sokka in nearly the same position I was leaning on Aang, but the two of them looked more like best friends or drinking buddies than a couple. Then again, Sokka's arm was not wrapped around her, and they were not holding hands, as Aang and I were. "Yes?" I said, choosing to ignore the fact that Sokka was eyeing me and Aang suspiciously.
"Oh, nothing,." Toph said, shrugging. She turned her head slightly, now speaking to Sokka. "They are just friends, after all."
"We are just friends." I said, not quite believing my own words, "Can't friends hug like this?"
"Sure they can." Toph said. "Come on Sokka, let's hug like just friends." Sokka jumped at the mention of his name—but complied. He wrapped his arm around Toph's shoulder while she wrapped her arms around his waist.
"Now," Toph said, smirking, "let's hug like Aang and Katara." She put herself in Sokka's lap without hesitation—he inhaled sharply—and wrapped her arms around his neck, burying her face in his chest. Sokka looked down at her, his eyes wide. He wrapped his arms around her waist somewhat nervously, holding her close and resting his head on hers. His eyes slowly closed; I felt my eyes widen. Now they looked like more than a couple. If I didn't know that they were making fun of Aang and me, I would have thought they were in love…
"Come on, Toph. Aang and I don't hug like that." I said, desperately trying to distract myself.
"You're right." Toph said, still clinging to Sokka. "The two of you hug standing up." Sokka laughed, releasing her from his tight embrace. Toph pulled back from Sokka's chest, her hands still around his neck, laughing with him. I looked at Aang—he was watching the two of them with a thoughtful expression. Were we thinking the same thing?
Suddenly, the laughing stopped. Toph set both her feet on the ground, concentrating. I looked at her anxiously…
"Someone's coming." She whispered. "We need to hide." She said to Sokka.
"Quick, under the cot." I said, lifting the bed skirt Ning insisting on having. Sokka dove underneath the cot immediately, pulling Toph in after him. Not two seconds later, the door flew open to reveal Yoon and Chao. Yoon was carrying Yoko's usual tray with bread and water, while Chao stared menacingly at Aang and I. I stared back at him, trying to not scream as he began to smirk. With a fluid motion, he grabbed Aang by the forearm and tore him away from me. Without thinking, I grabbed Aang's shirt, determined to hold on. Chao's smirk widened and he pushed me easily to the floor. Before I could lift myself up, he had slammed the door, and Aang was gone. Yoon quietly set the tray of food at my feet.
"I'm sorry," She whispered, and scurried out the door.
"Who were they?" Sokka asked from under my cot.
"The girl is Yoon, and the jerk is Chao." I said. I saw Sokka's foot from under the bed skirt, and shoved it back under; he yelped, and Toph gasped.
"What was that for?" Sokka whisper-yelled.
"They're going to come back." I hissed, straightening the bed skirt.
"She's right." Toph said. I listened intently, keeping my eyes on the door. "They've stopped…I think they're talking…that Chao guy isn't to happy…the girl is walking by—she's trying to talk to Chao…"
"Wait, how can you tell all of this? How far away are they?"
"All three of them are right outside the door…" Toph said. I stared at the door, wishing I could see through it… Toph continued to narrate the scene outside the cell: "The girl—did you call her Yoon, or something?—is trying to reason with Chao, I think…he's really mad… she—OH." A dull thud sounded from outside the door.
"What? What happened?!" Sokka asked nervously.
"Chao smacked her…" Toph replied. I turned away from the door, trying to block Toph's voice from my mind. I didn't want to know anymore. I didn't want to know that Chao was hurting Yoon, who didn't deserve to be here in the first place… "Aang's talking to him, and they're fighting, now…" I covered my head with my arms; why wouldn't Aang just come back? "They're about to come back"
And she was right. They burst through the door just as they had hours before, fighting. I stood up to try and help, and saw a twitch in the bed skirt—I guessed that either Sokka or Toph (maybe both) wanted to help, and the other held him or her back—I stood in a fighting stance, facing Chao and trying my best to plaster a brave expression on my face. Chao caught sight of me, and laughed. Aang turned his head for a second, smiling and frowning at the same time. I couldn't tell whether he wanted me to help or not. I took another step forward, this time bending the water out of the bowl Yoon had brought earlier.
"What's this, Avatar?! You have to get your girlfriend to fight your battles with you? Are you really that bad?" Chao sneered, his eyes moving from me to Aang, who was becoming ever angrier. (I wouldn't have been surprised if he exploded, only to turn into some horrible, anger-fueled monster.)
"I can fight my own battles, and so can Aang." I said, raising the water above my head. "But you need to leave, now--" I cut myself short in horror. I had looked past Chao's head and into the hallway, where Yoko was helping a stunned Yoon off the ground. Yoko's eyes connected with mine, wider than I had ever seen them. She slowly shook her head, her eyes becoming liquid-like and sad. She was silently pleading with me. I raised the water whip I had formed, suddenly feeling the pain of my many burns pull against my skin as I did so. I winced, but kept my stance. I looked back at Yoko, who was now on the brink of tears, it seemed, trying my best to silently communicate to her that I had to help Aang…
I looked back at Chao, who was staring intently at Aang, whose stance matched mine, though he had no water whip. (I guessed he was planning to Airbend) I looked at Aang, who was looking at me, his expression sad. He opened his mouth slightly, and closed it again. I pursed my lips together, realizing that he didn't want me to fight. Nobody wanted me to fight. Not Aang, not Yoko, and probably not Sokka, wanted me to go up against Chao. I slowly came out of my stance, bending the water back into its bowl. I stood up straight, and stared at Chao, who was now looking at me, smugness evident.
"I see that your girlfriend is smart, Avatar." He said, a coil of fire rising around his hand. He caressed the flame, wrapping it between his fingers as though he was trying to be menacing.
"Katara." Aang spat. I looked at him, somewhat appalled. However, he was glaring at Chao. "Her name is Katara!" He shouted my name and whipped Chao in the face with a sharp gust of air. Chao stopped playing with his little ring of fire, and clutched his face where Aang had hit him. His stare bored into Aang's for a second, and, suddenly, he turned on his heel and fled down the hall.
Aang's breath came heavily, and he only panted while I waited for him to talk. Instead of speaking, though, he whipped air from around his head and slammed the door shut.
"Aang…"
"Let's leave, Katara." He said, facing the door. I took a step near him. The compelling need to simply touch him, to make sure he wouldn't disappear in a sudden explosion, was overpowering.
"We've got Appa. He's just outside the building. We can leave the way Toph and Sokka came in. And if Chao and Malai come back, we can fight them. I just want to get out of here…"
"Aang—"
"You know," I spun around to see Sokka standing not three feet behind me, Toph at his side. "That's not such a bad idea. It's probably the best one we'll be able to come up with, actually."
"And we'd be able to get out the way we came in. Just like Aang said." Toph added.
I turned to look at Aang. He was looking Sokka and Toph with the utmost concentration. I wondered whether he was decided if leaving was a good plan…
"Let's go, then." He said, straightening up—I had not realized he was bending over slightly—and walking towards me, taking my hand. I laced our fingers together, and turned to face Sokka and Toph. They—Sokka, rather—were looking back at me, reassuring and optimistic. I took a deep breath, trying to brace myself for our quiet escape, though such escapes were not the norm for our little gang. Clearing my lungs and filling them with new air did not make me anymore ready, however much I wished it would.
--
TOPH
"Katara, would you stop shaking? It's screwing up my reading." I whispered to my nervous wreck of a friend as we—Sokka, Aang, Katara and I—inched down the long hallway connecting Aang and Katara's cell and the door where Sokka and I entered the place. She had been more nervous than any of us as we exited the cell, but now she was fully—and maybe visibly—shaking.
"Katara, it's okay. We're almost to the door. Right, Toph?"
"Yeah. We're almost there." I answered Aang, who was trying to calm Katara's nerves. I noticed that Aang had relaxed considerably the moment we left the cell and found no one in the hallway, while Katara had reacted in exactly the opposite way.
"Come on guys. We've got what, about two more turns, and then we're underground. After we walk through a very long, dark tunnel, we're going to scale inside a wall. Then we're free!" Sokka exclaimed, a stupid smirk probably plastered on his face, oblivious to the fact that Katara's heart rate had increased the moment he uttered the word 'underground'.
"Sokka… just stop." She whispered, "I'm scared that we'll get caught as it is, I don't need you telling me about where we'll be going to make it worse."
"Sorry." Sokka said. I imagined that Katara was glaring at him, and he was possibly holding his hands in defense. I sighed and turned another corner, the last one, and walked even faster down the long hallway. No one was coming, I knew, but I couldn't help feeling a bit apprehensive. We were so close to breaking Aang and Katara out, and the tension was rising
"Toph, wait up!" Sokka said, running to catch up to me. I slowed down slightly, allowing him to make pace.
"Are you alright? You seem nervous…"
"I'm fine. We're just breaking out of a high security prison, after all."
"Yeah. We're just doing something that is totally normal for us." He said, chuckling and taking my hand in his.
I did not let go. Even as we walked through the underground tunnel, even when Sokka tripped. I did not release his hand as the four of us huddled together in terrified silence, for I had heard the door opening. Even after we felt safe enough to continue on, I did not let go of his hand.
AANG
Katara's hand shook in mine. She had not let go since we left the cell, and I was now sure that my fingers were going to turn blue, were they not already.
"Alright, now we have to get inside the wall," Sokka spoke from a few feet in front of me. "We're going to walk up these stairs, and, when we get to the top, there'll be door made of stone. Toph is going to open the door, and we'll scale between the actual building and the metal protection layer. When we get to the hole that Toph made, we'll crawl out of it, jump on Appa, and fly away. Any questions?"
I tried to see Sokka through the darkness. I wanted to see if he looked as confident as he sounded…
"Well, let's go, then." Toph said, presumably climbing up the stairs Sokka has mentioned. I felt my way ahead, pulling Katara along—she came less readily—and began to climb the steep steps.
We continued to climb for several minutes in silence. Katara's hand still held mine. I sometimes squeezed it reassurance, trying to silently tell her that we would get out soon, and that everything would be ok.
"We're to the door." Toph said suddenly. I stopped in my tracks.
A quiet scraping started—Toph was opening the door. I worked to steady my breathing. I was so ready to be rid of this place, and freedom was so, so close. I could nearly taste it…
"Everyone holds hands now," Sokka said, trying to take my hand. I pulled back.
"That's my hand, Sokka!"
"Sorry… Katara, where are you?"
"Right here…"
"Grab my hand. Toph will lead." Katara did so, and we began to scale the inside of the wall, just as Sokka said we would. It was tight, dark, and uncomfortable. Katara hand squeezed mine tighter than it had previously, and I wondered if she was just as scared as I was…
The small space slowly became lighter, though it was still dark. "What time do you think it is?" I asked aloud.
"Nighttime." Sokka answered immediately.
Nighttime. Toph and Sokka couldn't have picked a better time to come rescue me and Katara. We would escape in the dead of night, with no one to catch us. We would fly away on Appa, dispose of the horrible clothing we had been forced to wear, and buy new clothes in the Earth Kingdom. Katara and I would be able to talk freely again, without fear of being hurt. We would laugh easily again, just as we had the day we 'eloped', and were captured.
"Here's the hole." Toph said. And it was true, there was a hole in the wall, and it was nighttime. The light ahead of me was blue, and it illuminated Toph's face as Sokka helped her through the hole. She landed with a small thud.
"Katara, you're next." Sokka said, pulling Katara towards the hole. She finally released my hand—I rubbed my sore fingers—and climbed through the hole, landing with a thud only slightly louder than Toph's.
"Aang, do you want to go next?" Sokka said, turning to me. His face was half lit by the blue-ish light of the moon, and his expression was sincere.
"No, you go ahead of me."
"Ok…" Sokka did so, and I followed suit.
I stood up to find myself inside a bush. I looked around, and saw that Toph was heading through a clearing in the bush that was exactly her height. Sokka, Katara, and I hunched over, following Toph through the gap. When we exited the bush, I took a deep breath of fresh air, the first I had in weeks. Beside me, Katara burst into tears.
"Hey!" We all whipped around to see Chao coming from around a corner, dragging Yoko by the arm. He face was bruised and tearstained, and her eyes were half-closed.
"RUN, GUYS!" Sokka shouted. But I needed no encouragement. I ran flat out, following Toph and Sokka, and pulling Katara along.
"Appa!" I shouted, spying my beloved Air Bison not twenty feet from me. Appa growled, and stood, ready to take flight.
Sokka reached him first, and hoisted himself onto the bison's head, pulling Toph up after him. Katara reached him next—I had pushed her ahead—and she jumped, taking hold of one of Appa's horns, trying to pull herself up. Sokka wrenched her up by the arm. I prepared to Bend myself onto Appa's saddle.
As I bent down to twirl myself in the air, a hang grabbed my sleeve. "AH!" I shouted, flailing my arm around, and subsequently smacking Chao in the nose with my forearm. He shouted, grabbing his face just as he had earlier, and I jumped onto Appa, accidentally kicking Chao in the head as I did so.
"GO!" I shouted to Sokka, who had the reigns. Without another second passing, we took flight, leaving Chao, and the prison, behind.
A/N: 'The Facile Flight' is another way to say 'the easy escape'. You see, the escape was very easy because Yoko had created a mayhem in the hall, knocking over a priceless statue of Ozai. Malai, Ning, and the guards were distracted with cleaning up the remains of the statue and /punishing/ her, and they did not realize that their two prisoners were missing until it was too late. Oh, Yoko. You clever girl. Too bad Chao punched the crap outta you at the end...
Katara was extremely scared to leave the island, even though she hated it with every fiber of her being. This is because a woman/girl that is in a horrible situation e.i. abuse, whether it be sexual, physical, mental, or verbal is often afraid to leave the situation, because she cannot imagine life any other way. Have you ever seen a woman who is abused in some way, shape, or form, but refuses to leave her abuser? That is exactly what I am talking about.
However, once she has escaped her situation, it becomes apparent that leaving was always the best thing to do.
Thank you for sitting through my story, and I look forward to hearing what you think. I particularly enjoyed a review from my friend, Invaderk:
"Awesome work, Para! The imagery was really great, and the different scenes played on all the right emotions. Nice work! 3333
Angry Aang was especially neat to see, since he's usually such a happy dude all the time, and the effect of the changing perspectives was nice, too.
ANYWAY, really hoped that you enjoyed this, and I certianly hope that you are ready to read more of my work, because it is most definitely on the way.