Chapter 120 - Chapter 122

Outside the town of Gaoling, Amell was walking, thinking about what to do about Aang. He had this strange feeling that he was alive, but he had no idea where to start. He couldn't get a read on Aang's energy signature, so he couldn't do much other than waiting around for Aang to show a sign that he was alive. And Amell felt he had to be alive. But if he wasn't he swore he would find and train the new Avatar, as a service to Gyatso and the air nomads.

He stood on a sharp cliff overlooking the town. He had a perfect view of everything going on inside the town. His look was stern, cold and calculative as he scanned the town for traces of the Fire Nation. This was all until his eyes swept over Toph's house and saw her sitting beside the pond in her backyard with an aura of sadness around her. She was using her bending to make three tiny rock circle around ontop of palm, but her motivation for bending seemed to have dwindled slightly since he left.

"What have I done to you, Toph. With your family situation, I should have realized that you would attach yourself to the first sign of a real father figure. So I can't abandon you, can I?" Amell smiled while the guilt inside of him only increased.

"Toph. inside now, time for bed." Toph's mother stuck her head outside of the door and yelled before going inside again. They were so overprotective of Toph to the point that they stopped being parents for her. She became more like an item that they were just proud of owning, and feelings rarely got involved in their interactions with Toph.

"Okay, mom!" Toph said, and stood up and walked inside while making it look like she couldn't see anything, but Amell, of course, knew she now most likely had better sight than her own parents. Toph looked towards the west with a longing gaze before walking inside again.

"What will you do, Toph. Will you leave on an adventure, or will you stay here inside this small and suffocating lifestyle?" Amell said.

Amell stood there watching the moonlight bounce off the water of the pond inside Toph's garden. He suddenly sensed movement inside Toph's room, and a quick look revealed Toph escaping out a window of her house. She was dressed in her nightgown dress that was clearly not made for night exploration, but she didn't seem to care.

She started running, and she didn't stop until she stood outside the entrance to the cave where she met Amell. She breathed out nervously and walked inside. She didn't need eyes inside her, her seismic sene gave her perfect vision inside these dark tunnels.

"This was certainly not something I was expecting her to do," Amell said as he stood on the clifftop and his cloak moved with the wind. He lightly pushed off against the ground and disappeared.

Inside the cliff Toph was walking with careful steps, "Amell, are you here?" She whispered and looked around despite her not being able to see anything with her eyes. She kept calling out his name, and she eventually reached the scene where he had trained her. She used seismic sense, but only saw stones and a slightly bigger rock.

'No, be here! You have to be!" She said to herself and used her seismic sense again, but picking up nothing. 'Be here!' She kept using it, but it always came back with the same result, nothing. After a few seconds Toph just stared at nothing, and she felt like breaking apart. She wanted to meet Amell more than anything, she wanted someone that really cared for her, since none at her house did that for her.

"A little too late for a little lady to walk around here, don't you think so?" A voice came from behind her and she immediately recognized it. She turned around and her seismic sense picked up the man she once mistook for a boulder because of his size. She immediately ran up to him and as hard as she could, she rushed into him and accidentally hurt her shoulder. He caught her before she fell down, and he held her gently with one arm.

"Now why would you do that? Let me have a look at that shoulder now." Amell said and removed the part of the nightgown that covered her shoulder.

"You are real, I wanted to know that you wouldn't disappear again. I was so sad when you disappeared before." Toph said, and when she felt Amell's gentle touch on her shoulder it immediately started feeling better. This is what she wanted her parents to do, to blow on a wound to make it better, or at least ask if she was okay, but they rather think about the damage to the clothes than a bruise on their daughter body.

"Of course I'm real, m'Lady. I'm sorry for leaving so suddenly, but I had a really important friend to go and save. Will you forgive me?" He asked while smiling.

"Yes, pay with hug!" Toph yelled happily while diving into him. And after a long hug, she finally released him from her embrace. She smiled from ear to ear with the most childish face Amell had ever seen. He started to feel the guilt and the pain from losing his friends to slowly melt away through the use of her smile. It was so incredibly pure and innocent that he was hesitating in touching her because he hated how much blood he had on his hands. He didn't wanna contaminate her by spreading all his death and gore over to her.

"Toph, you have barely any clothes on, so let's go back to your house. But I promise I won't disappear again without telling you." Amell said in a cam and tranquil tone.

Toph took on an adorable and stern expression, and she quickly reached out and grabbed his hand, "Promise to not leave again," She said and stared straight into his eyes, or close to it since her Seiesmic sense couldn't completely locate his eyes, and that made the act accidetaly much cuter since she was staring straight onto his forehead.

"Yes I promise. I won't leave without telling you where I'm going." Amell said. And Toph, after finding satisfaction with that promise agreed to go back home. So they walked back hand in hand.

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End