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One
It’s been three days.
Three days since Aang went into a deep meditation into the spirit world.
Three days since he said it would just be a quick trip to commune with the spirits.
Toph doesn’t usually worry about Aang, he is the Avatar for spirits sake! But a small seed of doubt has settled in her mind after he hadn’t returned on the second day, and now that seed has grown into a churning pit of worry in her stomach. Without her sight, she has learned to rely on her instincts and she’s proud to say that they have rarely let her down. Which is why she worries something is wrong, that something has happened to Aang despite Katara’s words that Aang will be fine and he can handle himself.
Toph knows Aang can handle himself. She should know almost better than anyone considering she was his Sifu for a time. That doesn’t mean she can stop herself from worrying about one of the most important people in her life. For three days now she has watched over his body, so still, so quiet. So entirely not like the ever active and excited young man she loves.
“Come home to me Aang,” she whispers in the quiet room as she wraps her fingers around his still hands. “I miss you.”
She sits with him, her hands still wrapped around his as she listens to the rustling of the leaves outside and feels the steady pulsing of Aang’s heartbeat. Breathing in, breathing out; she matches her breaths with the slow almost imperceptible breaths he takes in his meditative state. Directing her senses to focus on him and him alone, she feels the exact moment when he returns to his body.
Grey eyes slowly flutter open as Aang returns to his body and his senses with him. The first thing he sees is Toph sitting in front of him in a lotus position, knees practically brushing his as her strong fingers are wrapped around his own. Her misty green eyes are closed, but he can see the way her lips begin to lift in a smile and he can’t stop himself from leaning forward the short distance and placing a sweet kiss on her lips.
“I missed you too,” he tells her as he pulls back.
Her jade eyes blink open in surprise at his words, her fingers squeezing his for a moment.
“You heard me?” she asks with a confused frown wrinkling her brow.
He nods, knowing she can sense the movement.
“I heard you,” he says softly, rubbing a thumb over the back of her hand. “I’ll always come home to you Toph.”
Two
She senses it almost before he does. So in tune with his body she can feel the exact moment something changes. They all knew staying in the iceberg for a hundred years took a heavy toll on his body, but no one really knew what that would mean. It’s not like anyone had done it before so there weren’t a great deal of other examples for comparison. It’s still so unfair though sometimes; the way life works out. Eventually even the mighty Avatar must fall at some point.
When Aang passes, she is there by his side like she has been for the last fifty or so years. Their fingers are intertwined and she can feel how his heartbeat grows weaker with each pulse of his heart. He lifts her fingers to his lips, pressing one last kiss as he smiles faintly at his wife.
“I love you Toph,” he whispers weakly, fingers barely squeezing her own as she squeezes his in acknowledgement. “I’ll wait for you.”
His heart finally stops as his body gives out and she thinks a little piece of her heart dies along with him.
Their friends and family gather for his funeral but it is all an incoherent buzz that she can’t bring herself to really focus on. All she knows is that he’s gone. Left her behind in a world without him and she loves him, but she also hates him for making her feel so lost without him.
When she sleeps that night, he visits her. She thinks this must be some spirit world journey he has taken her on, because he is a young man in his prime again and she is able to ‘see’ him in a way that she has never been able to do so before. Not only that, but she realises the ache in her lower back is gone and her knee doesn’t trouble her. It does feel nice to be a young woman again. He reminisces with her about all their old adventures together, reminds her of all the good memories they made with one another. He almost makes her forget that when she wakes up he will be gone again. With a tenderness that makes her heart ache, he wipes away a tear that spills down her cheek.
“Don’t cry my love,” he whispers, lips brushing against her damp cheek. “I will alway be with you, and I’ll be waiting for you right here. When you’re ready to come home.”
She wakes in the morning with tear tracks on her face, and though she knows her heart and her life will be just a little emptier without him, she knows that she will see him again. And that makes her heart feel just a little less broken.
Three
It was inevitable.
As the years went on, they all grew older, but slowly one by one their group grew fewer. First it was Aang, too young to go, then Sokka, Zuko, Suki and finally Katara. She stood there at each funeral as their group slowly dwindled down until it was just her left standing by the water as Katara’s body slowly drifted out further and further into the ocean. A fitting funeral for the waterbender; surrounded by her element.
Life goes on after but it isn’t the same. A small ridiculous part of her feels betrayed by her friends for leaving her behind. Of course she knows it’s not their fault and she’s probably just grieving, but still.
Why did she have to be the last one?
It almost reminds her of how her life was back when she was a child and didn’t have any friends. Except maybe it’s worse this time because she knows exactly what she is missing now, not just some eleven year old’s imagination of what it would be like to have friends. The heavy loss aches deep inside her, the old earthbender weighed down by the permanent absence of her friends; her family.
Just like how she senses someone approaching with her seismic abilities, she feels the way her time draws nearer. At times she feels herself drifting, her mind lost in flashbacks of times so long ago. The light and barely there footsteps of her youngest grandchild she more frequently mistakes for the boy she met at twelve.
"Twinkle toes?" She whispers as the footsteps approach.
Only for her granddaughter to take her hand as she gently reminds her that her grandpa Aang passed many years ago. Toph nods her head along, but it feels like he is near. Almost as if she can sense his presence.
When she drifts to sleep that night, she almost thinks she can hear him faintly calling her name. At the sound of his voice her eyes snap open and she cannot help the small sigh that escapes her at the sight of him, twinkling grey eyes urging her to come closer.
“It’s time to come home my love,” he smiles, arm outstretched and hand ready to take hers into his own.
She smiles, green eyes bright with unshed tears from finally seeing him again after so many years.
“I missed you,” she whispers, placing her hand in his, “take me home Aang.”