Adult Toph x Reader FanFic Part 4
As always, any feedback is appreciated. This is my first writing of fanfic. This is the final part to my main story. Anything else I write after this will probably just be cute little stories of the relationship or something - who knows?
Meant to be WLW.
Synopsis: You awaken after being abducted shortly after you and Toph have admitted your feelings for each other. Danger looms, but you know Toph and the Gaang are coming.
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Darkness. Muffled voices. Your head hurts. You feel woozy.
You blearily open your eyes, and your stomach drops at the scene. You have no idea where you could be, and you don’t see any of your friends. You look around at the rocky walls, unable to tell if you’re in a cave, or a building. The walls hint at a cave, but there are metal support beams throughout.
You shake your head, trying to focus. This must be another mine. You know there are a lot in this area, and it would make sense as a hideout. Looking around, you see a large cage. You squeeze your eyes shut and shake your head again, not quite believing what you’re seeing: a small, red dragon.
The poor thing looks half-starved and weak. A leather strap is wrapped tightly around its eyes, where you can tell it has been chafing, judging by what looks like dried blood on the edges. Raw skin peeks out from underneath.
Long shadows flicker on the walls to your left. Someone has built a fire, and you count at least seven shadows. Pretty outnumbered . . .
You realize your wrists are tied behind your back, and your ankles lashed together. A moment of struggling proves to be quite futile against your ties. Mind racing, you try to think of your next move.
“Ah, awake, huh?” a voice comes from behind you.
You whip your head around, and catch a glimpse of the grizzled, bearded man sitting on an overturned mine cart. He has clearly been watching for when you awaken. You don’t say anything, but you continue trying to surreptitiously loosen your bonds.
“You’ll be a little groggy,” he says, holding up a container that rattled dully as he shook it. “Shirshu-laced projectiles. Knocks almost anyone out. Nice, huh?”
You scowl at him, not answering. You want him to leave because you think you could get your hands out in front of you.
“I’m sure your group will be looking for us,” he continues. “Predictable, really. But while we wait, I thought maybe you could help us with some info.”
His words are met with silence.
The man chuckles. “You’ll tell us eventually. Everyone does. We just want to know how best to take on the Avatar. You travel with him . . . you must know some of his weaknesses. The non-bender should be easy enough. But maybe you can also share how to dry up the water-bender? Or crush the earthbender?”
You glower at him, still saying nothing.
The man unsheathes a jagged knife. Apprehensively, you look at it, but remain quiet. He walks to you, and pushes it up against your left ear. You wince as you feel the blade dig into your tragus. You think you feel a trickle of blood run down your jaw. The man is breathing heavily. “Most people talk after they lose an ear . . . “
“Rolf!” another man calls, closer to where the fire seemed to be. “They saw movement. I think they’re already coming.”
The grizzled man clicks his tongue. Disappointed. He keeps his knife out, but removes it from your ear. “Don’t even try to get out of here. Any sudden movements with your bending will send this ceiling crashing down on you. We’ll make sure of it.”
He moves to follow the other man towards what you assume is the mouth of the tunnel. He stops for a second, grinning at you. “And let’s hope your friends don’t try anything crazy . . . or they’ll bury you themselves.”
The minute he’s gone, you roll onto your back, struggling into a seated position. With some difficulty, you manage to get your hands to your front. You still can’t untie the binds on your wrists (chafing now, with all your movements), but you’re able to loosen and then slip the ropes on your ankles.
You can hear distant shouts. Were they really here? Could you risk trying to walk out? The words of the grizzled man – Rolf – echo in your head. Would they send the ceiling down on you if they caught you trying to escape? You could probably earthbend it away from you, but you’ve never really tried with so many pounds of rock . . .
Almost as if on cue, you hear a loud bang, and some rock tumbles from the ceiling, pelting the floor. Heart racing, you look around for an escape route. Suddenly, you hear a sad moan. The dragon. It’s clawing at the ground of its cage, nervously, hearing the commotion outside. You can’t leave it.
You walk towards it, trying to see if there is a way to open the cage. In the back of your mind, you also know there’s no way to predict how the dragon will act once freed. Another loud noise, and more bits of the ceiling crumble to the ground. You’re running out of time.
You look around at the metal support beams, some scattered on the ground, old carts placed here and there . . . You could form a shield over the both of you. With your hands tied, it would be difficult, but your legs were free . . . You’ve seen Toph use her feet to control earth and metal before. But was that too advanced? You hadn’t quite reached that territory yet.
You can hear the shouts getting louder, but that also means the ceiling is becoming more and more unstable with the results of the battle outside. If it was true that the poachers would send the tunnel into collapse, you were definitely short on time.
Desperately, you sit back down next to the cage, spreading out your feet and holding out your hands. “Come on . . .,” you grumble, willing the metal beams on the floor to move. At first, nothing. “Come on!” you growl. They begin to shift. You focus on your breathing and your movements.
Without warning, you can hear Rolf shout, “They’re too close! Bring it down!”
A deafening sound in your ears, as the tunnel begins to tremble. Concentrating hard, gritting your teeth, you continue to will the metal to move towards you. The ceiling begins to fall in larger chunks. You give an anguished shout of exertion as the ceiling starts to fully collapse.
You are plunged into darkness.
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Your ears are ringing. You can’t see. Someone is shouting and shaking your shoulders. For the second time that day, you blearily open your eyes.
The first thing you see is Toph’s face, scrunched up in distress. Behind her, you can see the outlines of the rest of your friends. You give a weak smile. “Hey, Tophee Nut . . .,” you mumble.
Toph lets out a sound between a strangled cry and a laugh. She hugs you tight, one hand cradling the back of your head. She whispers in your ear, “You disappeared.”
“I’m okay,” you say, unable to hug her back with your hands still tied.
“Don’t do that!”
You laugh weakly. “Sorry, forgot to run it by you.”
“I couldn’t feel you!” The fear in her voice shocks you. She’s breathing hard, hands gripping your shoulders, as if she needs reassurance that you’re real. “Are you hurt?”
“Nothing too serious,” you say, quickly tallying any aches and pains.
“Where?” she asks urgently.
“It’s really not – “
“Where?”
You hesitate, not wanting to concern her any more than needed. “Just some scrapes from the ropes and, um, I think a nick on my left ear.”
Toph’s fingers brush carefully against your ear, feeling the drying blood. You flinch slightly at the sting of it. Her brow furrows, angry.
“Is the dragon okay?” you ask, suddenly remembering the pitiful creature you had been trying to save with you.
“What?” Toph seems to snap out of a thought as she's undoing the bonds on your wrists, gently rubbing the skin there to check the damage.
“There was a dragon – “ you start, pointing towards where you’d last seen the cage.
You hear the others gasp. “Wow!” exclaimed Aang.
The dragon was okay. You then notice what you’re sitting in. Miraculously, you had managed, at the last second, to form a rough cocoon of metal around you both. By the looks of it, Toph had bended an opening to get to you. You sigh, relieved. Exhausted.
“You . . . did you cover yourselves?” asked Toph, voice soft. Amazed. “Instead of running out?”
“I couldn’t leave it,” you say.
There’s a short pause before Toph smiles, “You idiot.”
Before you can respond, she kisses you. Hard. Immediate. Relieved. You make a startled sound against her mouth, but she’s already pulling you up, one hand sliding to your waist like she needs the solid conformation that you’re standing here. That you’re alive. Safe. With her.
The kiss deepens almost instantly. Not because she’s trying to make it romantic, but because she’s overwhelmed. The fear turned into such great relief, she doesn’t know what else to do with it.
You kiss her back, wrapping your arms around her shoulders, grounding her the same way she grounds herself through the earth. Slowly, you can feel the tension leave her.
“Wait, did I miss something?” you hear Sokka say, confused.
You can hear Katara chuckle at him, sounding ecstatic. When you both pull away, you look over at the rest to see Aang and Katara beaming, Sokka looking shocked, mouth open. You blush, slightly embarrassed, but not enough to let Toph go yet.
“You’re incredible. But don’t scare me like that again,” she mutters, kissing your cheek.
Your chest aches at how vulnerable that sounds. You can see her wrestling to get her feelings back under control. For once, you don’t let her. You touch her face gently. “I’m okay,” you say reassuringly.
Her hands tighten at your waist again, like she’s reminding herself.
“Yeah . . .,” she says quietly. “I know.”
“Thank you. For finding me so quickly,” you say to everyone. “That guy was just itching to cut my ear off. He wanted information on you guys.”
“Which man did you say it was again?” asks Katara, eyes narrowing in rage.
“Older guy. Greying hair and beard. He had a jagged knife.”
Toph lets out a mirthless laugh, entwining one hand with yours before turning towards the group as well. “I sent some guy flying into the side of the mountain after he shouted about bringing this place down . . . hope that was him.”
Everyone else cringes. Katara makes a small "Ugh" sound.
“What? He’ll live,” says Toph flatly, as if that were the most unfortunate part of it.
“Oh, man. Zuko would have loved to see this,” Aang proclaims, walking around the dragon. “Well . . . maybe not in this state, but just seeing the majesty of this little guy.”
Sokka smirks, “He’ll regret having to tend to his ‘duties’ when we get immortal dragon luck.”
“That’s not a thing,” Katara retorts, rolling her eyes.
Everyone laughs. Relief is thick in the air.
You feel like you’re floating: the poachers have been caught (or at the very least, pummeled), a young dragon was rescued, you didn’t lose an ear, you somehow managed to achieve some pretty advanced metalbending, and you were here with your friends, and Toph . . . her hand in yours . . . You think back to that first time you dared to hold her hand. Funny, the way things can change . . .
