Wanted XII

Wanted XII

Aang opened his eyes only to realize that darkness surrounded him. His vision was blurry at best and he couldn't make out anything with the killer combo. He groaned and the sound reverberated back at him; he was face down on cement or concrete.

Closing his eyes again, he tried to lift his head, but regretted it immediately. A throb, dull and deep, pounded in his skull, behind his eyes; making it damn near impossible to see.

In a vain attempt to make sense of what was going on, he raised his arm, and tried to feel around for something. His bones screamed out in protest as he stretched them, but he didn't stop. 

Where was he? Is this just a bad high? Too much weed?

No, he decided, he wasn't tripping. This was legit. Something had happened. Maybe Toph could- Toph! 

Where was she? He didn't hear her anywhere. And surely she would have come to him  had she noticed he was hurt or finally awake, right? Yes, that much he was sure of. So where was she? What the fuck happened?

Pushing his arm further up, hoping to find anything to help, his hand collided with something soft and wet; like a wet napkin, and a shoe. The hell? Dragging his head up, he fought against the pain and opened his eyes, needing to see if this was real.

On the ground, right in front of his face was what he had thought before. A wet cloth of sorts and a shoe. But not just any shoe... It was Toph's shoe. Her lime green shoe, so small and petite lay alone. 

Fear gripped his heart, where had she gone?

"Aang? Toph Bei Fong?" a rough voice was calling his name and his Toph's name. He had to let them know that he was there...maybe they knew where Toph was.

He opened his mouth to speak, but nothing came out. His throat worked and he cleared his throat before he could finally manage a grunt. Footsteps came running toward him.

"Aang! Man, are you okay?" Zuko's voice registered in Aang's mind and he felt his friends hands on his back, checking him for any bruises, cuts or any other sign of damage.

Again, Aang couldn't speak, could only nod his head, yes. He didn't felt like there way anything broken. He just assumed he was knocked out by the person who took Toph.

Wow. Who knew that after only a couple of hours of not smoking he would be able to put little pieces like this together. He tried to chuckle, and was surprised when a mewling noise came out. At least he was making some kind of noise.

Zuko realized he was trying to laugh, "Bro, what the hell is so funny? You've got a nasty ass bruise of your head, we found you on the sidewalk in the park and Toph is missing."

That brought Aang back to earth. Closing his eyes tightly, he pulled every ounce of strength from his being and forced it into his voice. His question came out in a painful croak. "I thought Suki was, like, missing?"

Zuko's voice lowered, "They found her, she said whoever took her was coming after Toph next. We tried to get to you guys as soon as we could. But I think we were too late. The police want to see if maybe Suki can lead them back to where he was holding her. But they don't know if he'll still be there." he stopped and looked down at Aang's hands, as though just noticing the shoe, "Aang, is that...?"

Aang nodded. "I think he was here, knocked me out and took her..." He closed his eyes against the onslaught of pain, "I should have protected her. But because my brain was too fucked up from the high, I was useless. I... She could be...it's my fault."

Zuko sighed, "Look, dude, you don't know that. Maybe she's alright. She's a tough girl. She'll be fine." he stood and stretched his hand out to Aang who took it immediately. "Do you need to go to the hospital?"

Aang shook his head. "No, brah, I'm fine." sadness etched his voice and Zuko never wanted to hug someone so much than he did at that moment.

"Come on, man. Let's go talk to the cops."

*** *** ***

Darkness was nothing new to Toph. Nothingness wasn't either, nor was the empty feeling of being in the dark. She was born like this. Her home was in the shadows. She felt at ease here.

But what she felt now, what surrounded her wasn't her home, it was something evil, something menacing, something malicious, something that terrified her all the way to the core of her being and filled her with dread. She'd never felt so scared her of anything in her life. 

She knew she was alone in whatever dank place he had put her. She could smell the mold growing in the corners and on the walls, decaying any beauty the place might have had. Her body erupted in a shiver as wind blew through an open window. 

Pulling her legs up tighter against her chest, Toph bowed her head, resting her forehead on her knees. She tried to breathe evenly and deeply, but no matter how many times she breathed, she couldn't calm herself down. Pain throbbed, dull and aching, in the back of her head where he had hit her when he threw her in here.

When will this end? How long had she been in here? Were people looking for her? Of course they would. They would be looking for her as much as they were looking for Suki.

She sighed heavily and sadly as a door opened, immediately she looked over in that direction and tried desperately to hear anything that would indicate what would happen next or who had appeared.

Footsteps heavy and loud echoed through the small room; it was a wonder she hadn't heard those footsteps while he was stalking her and Aang.

Oh, Aang, poor Aang...

She choked back a fresh wave of tears that would surely rack her body. She didn't want to think about it, though she knew her mind had other plans. Instantly, she was thrown back to when she first got here.

His grip on her arm was fierce and painful. He dug his fingertips into her skin every time she resisted and tried to get away. She shook her head, forcing the weakness from her and brought her tightened fist around to his stomach, hitting him with everything she had.

He grunted and bent low, giving Toph the chance to run away. Her blindness, for the first time, her weakness as she ran through what she assumed was a hallway. Her arms were outstretched and she pumped her legs faster. 

No matter how fast she ran, the hallway seemed to go on forever. She felt like she would never get out. Too late, her fingertips felt something hard in front of her and her feet didn't stop in time.

Her head made a solid thunk sound on what felt like a wall. Unable to stop herself, she felt her body fall under gravity's pull and hit the ground hard. 

She opened her eyes and was blinded by light.

Wait, blinded? Light?

Covering her eyes with her hand, she saw the sun high and burning in the sky. She could see the...sun? She swiveled her head around and saw brightly colored grass that made her feel like rolling around in it. What was this color? How was this possible?

"Toph?" his voice floated over her, wrapping her in lazy silk that had her feeling like she could fly.

She looked to the sound of the voice and saw him standing there. Aang. Her Aang. He was even more amazing than she'd thought he would be. So handsome, his eyes were cut through in zagged lines of some dark color. Red, her brain supplied.

She suppressed a giggle; she'd heard that pot smokers had bloodshot eyes. She didn't care though. He was still hers and he was still beautiful.

He reached his hand out and she took it without hesitation. He leaned forward, his lips outstretched, he was going to kiss her. Giddiness fled through her veins and she couldn't wait to kiss him again. 

But just as their lips touched, he disappeared into thin air, "Aang?" she called out confused.

She walked through the grassy feel, unable to appreciate the small waterfall and the animals playing. She was only set on finding Aang. She called his name out again, as she grew more frantic.

Where was he?

Taking another step, her foot fell through something squishy. She looked down and a scream was frozen in place. What was once beautiful green grass was suddenly something dark, grey and nasty. She looked up, searching for something to help her out get out and noticed that all the other colors were fading from their spaces. 

She tried to move, to get out of the squishy, inky mud, but couldn't budge. She glanced down and saw it creeping and crawling up her legs, pulling her under. The colorful world was leaving her in darkness again. 

No! She didn't want to go back! She wanted to stay here with Aang. 

Aang.

Where was he?

This time her scream fell through her mouth, "AANG!"

She opened her eyes again and this time everything was dark. Like before. The cold, hard ground met her back and she knew she had been hallucinating. The man grabbed her arm roughly again and yanked her to her feet.

She must have actually screamed out Aang's name, because the man's next words damn near killed her, "Pretty girl, don't you know your boyfriend is dead." his voice made her want to weep as he spoke the words she feared most.

Breathing in deeply, she dispelled the horrid memory of that night. Aang was dead, it was all her fault. Suki was missing and she was captured. Life was hell and she had no way to escape.

The man's footsteps came too close to her. "Time to say goodbye, pretty girl." the click of a barrel sounded. Her first instinct was to fight back, but the more she thought about it, the more she didn't want to. 

What did she have left?

If this was the same man who took Suki, then she was as good as dead. The only guy she really loved was Aang, and now, he would never know that. But he was dead as well. She had nothing left.

She lifted her head and stared with her cold, blank unseeing eyes, straight into what she hoped were her killer's eyes and let the overwhelming darkness welcome her. 

Pain exploded in her chest as the bullet flew through her. She slumped to the ground, gasping for air until she saw a white light. At the end, was Aang, his hand outstretched, like before, "Come to me, Toph."

She smiled as her last breath left her lungs.