After the war

Head to head

The group had been laying on the floor tossing ideas around for a while now but Zuko hadn't contributed. The main reason for the Firelord's silence was that Sokka had been laying very close to him and he was wondering why. He was also wondering why the space between the two boy's fingertips was infuriating him, did he want to touch Sokka's hand? Zuko was broken out of his musing as Sokka suddenly sprang to his feet and shouted 'I've got it' so close to Zuko that his ears started ringing. "Spirits above Sokka that was loud!" Zuko scolded lightly swatting Sokka's arm as he sat up.

"Got what?" Toph asked also sitting up.

"Toph and Zuko go head to head in a supreme battle, and the first person to be knocked out of the ring will lose!" Sokka explained feeling incredibly happy with himself.

"That seems like a bit of a cop out" Katara noted. "Also, what ring? In case you hadn't noticed the Agni Kai slab is a very long rectangle" Katara challenged her brother in a tone that was far too motherly for her liking.

"Aang and Toph will put the Agni Kai slab back in the ground and make a large circle that Toph and Zuko will do battle on. First one knocked off the circle loses!" Sokka said while grinning at the group.

"However, there are more rules" Suki added. "No sharp objects, no fatal lightning shots, and no directly pushing someone off the circle with your hands, your bending has to push them out. There isn't allowed to be any outside interference either." She elaborated further.

Aang and Toph got to work earthbending a ring out of the ground, and the metalbender and the Firelord took their place on the circle of raised earth.

Zuko got into the stance from his trick earlier, arms in front of him, fingers extended.

Toph took two handfuls of metal and held them in front of her, forming them into wires. She held the wires at her side and waited for Suki to start the match.

"How about we do a best of three, Sparky? I wanna kick your butt as many times as I can!"

"Sounds good to me Beifong"

"Alright you two, on my mark, get steady" Zuko narrowed his eyes and sank further back into his stance. He watched as Toph did her best to glare at him and slightly shift her shoulders.

"GO!" Sokka shouted and watched Zuko and Toph spring toward each other. Zuko broke out his lightning whips and Toph coiled her wires back as she charged at the Firelord. Zuko pulled his lightning whips back ready to crack them forward, but as he moved forward Toph had pulled up, such a small part of the ring that it was barely noticeable, a tiny little bump in front of Zuko's foot, and as the Firelord charged his right foot caught on the bump and he rolled forward extinguishing the lightning as he went. He came to rest just in front of Toph's feet and groaned and curled in on himself.

"I've got you now Sparky" Toph sneered as she stood over the fallen Firelord. Zuko had curled in on himself to hide the fireball he was forming in his hand. As Toph reared her metal wires up Zuko shot up and threw the fireball at Toph, not enough to burn her, but enough to push her back. Once Toph was as far back to the edge of the ring as Zuko wanted, as quickly as he could, he produced two long fire whips and slammed them so hard into the ground that the fire broke through the floor of the ring. The whips reached just in front of Toph's feet and she instinctively moved back and teetered on the edge of the ring. In the split second that Toph was wobbling on the edge of the ring Zuko shot a small flame towards her, fully knocking her off the ring.

Toph lay on the floor. How had Zuko surprised her like that. Her pride was significantly hurt, and She felt Suki and Zuko approaching her. Zuko was the last person she wanted near her. "Go away Zuko!" She spat, showing Zuko how much he had hurt her pride.

"Come on Toph, you can kick my butt in the next two rounds" she heard Zuko trying to reason with her.

"NO!" She yelled at Zuko. "You won! Take your victory and leave me alone!" She yelled at him. She hated that she had reverted to her old ways of showing how hurt her pride was and letting her ego consume her, but she didn't care! She was meant to have beaten Zuko. She rose to her feet and stamped a hole in the ground disappeared inside of it. She used her seismic senses to navigate her way through the ground back to the palace, to collect her things and leave with the others back to her home. Leaving his sparky highness in the Fire Nation on his own.

"We should get to the palace and see if we can beat Toph there" Zuko addressed the group. The others asked him how he knew she was going to the palace. He explained that if his pride was hurt and he was away from his home, he would go to where his stuff was and make his way home. The others seemed to understand and followed Zuko to Appa.

With Momo curled up on his shoulder Zuko steered Appa knowing the way to the palace, and while he looked at him Sokka couldn't help but wonder how Zuko could look so beautiful and graceful while bending. "We've arrived" the firebender said in a sombre voice.

Sokka suspected he felt a little bad about hurting Toph so badly. Zuko landed Appa and hopped off his head and walked into the palace silently with his head bowed. Sokka walked a little faster so he was next to Zuko. He wanted to comfort his friend, but he wasn't sure what to say, feelings weren't Sokka's forte. "You didn't do anything wrong Zuko" Sokka said quietly placing a hand gently on the Firelord's shoulder.

"I feel bad Sokka, I hurt Toph's feelings, I should have gone easier, or not hidden my firebending. I fought as dirtily as my father!" The Firelord quietly seethed. "Zuko, how could you say that? You are nothing like your father!" Sokka scolded his friend in a low voice. Zuko was perfect in every way, and Ozai, he was a monster! A monster that had hurt Zuko!

Aang hopped on his air scooter and sped around the palace looking for Toph. He eventually came across her and Katara sitting on a very fancy looking red and gold chair just outside Azula's old bedroom. Zuko and Sokka rounded the corner and Toph stiffened when she realised the Firelord had approached the group.

"Hey, Toph..."

"Hi Zuko"

Toph and Zuko greeted each other awkwardly.

"You didn't do anything wrong Zuko." Toph sighed as she cast her eyes down in the direction of the floor. "I'm not used to being beaten. I couldn't see your fire blast coming and it threw me off. I shouldn't have let it throw me off, and more importantly, I shouldn't have stormed off and let my pride get the better of me." Toph kept her blank gaze on the floor as she apologised to Zuko.

"I shouldn't have pulled such a dirty trick-

"Would any other bender challenging you shy away from such a trick?" Aang asked.

"No... they wouldn't" Zuko admitted defeatedly.

"So, we're all overreacting to a little bit of fun and being silly?" Katara asked in a motherly tone. Toph and Zuko hung their heads and both muttered a quiet 'yes'.

"You guys, not to be too off topic but all this bending and drama has made me hungry. I could really go for some fire flakes!" Aang interrupted the silence while Sokka nodded furiously in agreement.

Zuko caught the attention of one of the palace staff and requested they begin serving the evening's meal. The Firelord took his place at the head of the table with Aang and Sokka sat either side of him. As the servants brought out the food and everyone began to dig in, Zuko, once again, couldn't help but fret about how close Sokka's hand was to his. He still couldn't work out why the space between their fingertips angered him so.

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I updated! Look we're getting daily updates out of me. Sorry if this one sucks it was written at 2 in the morning.

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