Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

(Please read the beginning note first to avoid confusion)

Zuko stubbornly glares from across his desk at a grimy wall, biting back a yawn and trying to ignore the exhaustion creeping into his limbs. The small room was dimly lit, the light of his candles not quite reaching the corners and leaving dark dusty voids inhabited only by cobwebs and various assortments of rats and insects that he didn’t want to think about right now. 

All firelords were given a study for them to work in, but something about being in the same place Ozai once was didn’t sit right with Zuko. So he found himself the smallest, dingiest room in which no one of noble blood would dare step foot into, and holed himself inside until every little task was finished. Which was a rare, almost impossible occurrence, but Zuko didn’t want to think about that either. It was all part of running a country, after all. 

The brushstrokes on the scroll in front of him had started to blur from his bloodshot, teary eyes. Zuko groans, deciding that this wasn’t the best time to write a placating letter to his political rivals. He furiously crushes the scroll in his fists and throws to the front of the chamber, yet another addition to his growing trash pile. 

He jolts as the door slams open without warning. The room is so tiny that the wooden edge is driven into his table with a terrific crash. 

“ Hai Bhagvan…” someone groaned from the doorway. 

“Mai?” Zuko does a double take. “What are you even doing here?”

The girl doesn’t even blink. 

“ This is where you’ve been holed up in for all this time? No wonder I never know where to find you!” An uncharacteristic hint of frustration creeps into her usually apathetic tone. 

The two teens stare at each other for a long moment. 

“Go to sleep.” Mai finally snaps.

“You think I have time for that? There’s an entire mountain of letters here for me to attend to!”

“Big deal.” She responds unsympathetically. “You look like you haven’t closed your eyes in a week.” 

“I can’t do that, Mai,” Zuko sighs. “Everyone’s going to get on my case if I get behind.”

“How many times do I have to tell you that you are literally the firelord? ” Mai cries. “Just tell them to shut their mouths! Or, even better, get someone else to do it for you!”

Zuko chews on his lip, stubbornly shoving his nose into a brand new scroll. The girl before him huffs in annoyance. 

“Fine. It’s too late for this anyway.” Mai quips, turning on her heel and sauntering out. She doesn’t even bother closing the door behind her. 

Zuko wakes to a frantic knocking. 

“What is it Mai?” He grumbles, rubbing his eyes. 

“Are you in there, my lord?”

Zuko jolts, then scrambles towards the door. 

“-Ji? Is anything wrong? What brings you here so late?” he sputters. His head advisor stood before him, condescendingly raising an eyebrow. 

“You have missed three of your meetings.”

What? Zuko didn’t have any meetings until tomorrow morning. How could there be-

Wait. 

“What- What time is it?” The firelord asks timidly. The older man’s lips pursed into a thin line.

“It is almost noon, sir.” 

“ Agni, I am so sorry I swear it won’t happen again-”

His advisor sighs. 

“No need for any of that. It is to be expected of an irresponsible child.” He practically sneers. 

Zuko swallows down another barrage of apologies. Mai had a point, he shouldn’t be letting them walk all over him. Right?

He looks into the man’s eyes, which were not showing the slightest sign of remorse, or even fear after spitting out such a scathing insult. If he was so confident about it, then it must have been his fault after all…

He just needed to work harder. Then people would finally start respecting him. 

You’re already pushing yourself to the limit, a voice chimes from the back of his mind. You haven’t slept in a week until just now, and god knows how long it’s been since you’ve had a proper meal.

How much thinner could he possibly stretch? Maybe he would never quite get there.

Before he could squeeze in even a millisecond of thought, he pushes the councilman aside and leaves without a backward glance. 

The guards posted by the front entrance give him a couple of weird looks as he walks past them and onto the road, but none try to stop him. 

Zuko squints, shielding his face from the sunlight relentlessly beating down on him. He keeps walking until the sight of his palace gates slowly grows smaller and smaller. The crunch of gravel underneath his feet, thankfully, drowns out his muddled thoughts. 

Zuko doesn't know what he’s doing anymore. Has he ever known what he was doing in the first place..?  He just keeps walking. 

The firelord stops short, breathing heavily. What was he doing, standing out here in the middle of the road? What was he even hoping to accomplish? After this pathetic breakdown, his staff would have less respect for him than ever before. The teen hadn’t fathomed that it could be possible.

Zuko groans in humiliation, burying his hands in his hair. His legs ached from all the movement after stiffly sitting in a chair for so many hours. How will I even manage to go back now? He thinks, looking over his shoulder to the palace now fading from view. 

The boy jolts as a rushing noise fills the air around him. He whirls around to see a huge locomotive sprawled out in front of him, casting an unearthly green glow onto the road. Zuko squinted its wheels, which ran along sturdy metal train tracks. He could have sworn that they weren’t there before… 

He stares at the vehicle in shock as it grinds to a halt before him.  Who thought they had the authority to build their train tracks over the path to the royal palace? Brows furrowed, Zuko stands in front of the entrance to one of the train cars. If not anything else, confronting the conductor would be a valid excuse for running out of the palace like a coward. 

A small part of him wants to step on and be whisked away by the train, to go to a place where he wouldn’t have to constantly work for everyone’s approval and be free from the burden of fixing his war-torn country…. 

Snap out of it Zuko. He shakes his head, his gaze focusing on the train in front of him. He had a situation to handle. 

Zuko steps inside, and everything goes black. 

____________________________________

“Thank you, Sifu Toph. See you tomorrow!” 

Toph merely grunts, attempting to nod in the general direction of the student. She was never one for formalities, after all. She waits until the sound of her pupil’s feet pattering against the stone paths recede, and smiles to herself. 

“The rest of you can go inside,” she tells the rest of the kids standing behind her as an afterthought. 

While some people didn’t live far from her academy, a good portion of her students had traveled quite far in order to learn from the only metalbending master in existence. As a result, Toph found herself buying a large building to provide them living accommodations after hours. 

The academy was three floors tall, the bottom floor being used for training, and the upper two for living space. There were about ten rooms, plus a smaller storage place where toph kept all her training and unfortunately, cleaning equipment as well. 

Maintaining the place would have been absolute hell if it weren’t for the other kids pitching in during their freetime. Not to mention that her blindness made it especially hard for her to determine whether something had been cleaned or not. Not that she would admit that sort of weakness to anyone who lived under her roof. 

While the kids were pretty amiable, most interactions happened amongst themselves. Any words said to her in or out of class were short, sweet, and painfully polite. As it should be with teachers, but Toph couldn’t help but feel isolated despite the fact she was living with nine other kids around her age. On the bright side, it was funny seeing some of the older teenagers get nervous around a tiny blind girl. 

The place was perfect for Toph. It was lavish and spacious, with enough room to practice forms, and walls that didn’t break easily upon impact (there were still holes sometimes, but nothing she couldn’t fix). The only problem was those godforsaken carpets.

And these weren’t just any carpets, these were thick, luxurious soft things that stretched all over the floors of the bedrooms and made toph's seismic sense extremely fuzzy. One of her students had helpfully suggested simply removing the rug from Toph’s room, but she would be damned if a simple piece of fluffy cloth was going to overcome the greatest earthbender in the world!

So no matter how many times she stumbled into her bedpost or that desk she never even used, Toph never once considered the idea of removing the floor covering. On the plus side, it was really soft. 

The light chatter of her pupils in the hallway faded away as Toph shut her door behind her. She lingers there for a moment, listening to the words that slipped in through the cracks. 

“... You should have seen Rishi! Oh man, you looked like you were peeing your pants!” There was a light thud, presumably Rishi getting punched in the shoulder. 

“ Oh yeah? Well… well uh… you should have seen your face when she called you up to the front!” came Rishi’s rebuttal. Toph snickered from the other side of the door. She may not have seen their expressions, but she had certainly felt their heart rates quickening during lessons. 

“ If only Sifu Toph wasn’t so… scary all the time. Then we wouldn’t have to freak out, you know?” This statement was followed by hushed nods of agreement. 

The young girl frowned, peeling her ear from the door. If only those muttonheads understood that it was simply Toph’s teaching style! They didn’t have to take all of her jabs so personally.

The young earthbender made her way towards the general direction of her desk, accidentally brushing against her bed along the way. She hadn’t touched  it since she moved in, so it was surely collecting dust by now. 

She pressed her finger against the wooden surface, wrinkling her nose as she could practically feel the grime that had accumulated there. She runs her palm across the table in a great sweeping motion, a hasty attempt at getting rid of some of the dust. 

Something collides with her fingers, and Toph hears it being flung across the room and shattering into pieces. Her brows furrow at the sound. Last time she checked, there hadn’t been anything on the table before…  

She heads towards the sound in an attempt to clean it up, but a sharp stab in her foot causes her to cry out in pain and shock. 

“ Sifu Toph? Are you alright in there?”

Toph’s brain was too muddled from the bit of glass embedded in her heel to respond. She manages to hurriedly wipe at the tears brimming in her eyes before Rishi barges in. 

“I’m fine, I’m fine!” She yelps hastily, one foot awkwardly poised in the air. 

“Sit down, Sifu. We’ll clean this up.” Someone placed a hand on Toph’s shoulders from behind, guiding her to sit down. The young earthbender bit back a scream. Since when could people just approach her like that without her knowledge?

“I can take care of myself!” The young girl barks, shrugging away Li Jing’s hands. 

“But you’re bleeding-” She insists.

“How did this even get on my desk in the first place?” Toph shouts. Anything to distract her from the fact that there was something literally lodged into her foot, her blood dripping onto the carpet, her chest caving in on itself because it hurt, oh god it hurt-

“I left it there… for you,” Rishi responds timidly. “... Sifu” He gulps when he sees the fury cross his teacher’s face. 

“Why didn’t you just tell me? ” Toph growls, gripping the shard in her foot and preparing to pull.

“I left you a note.” 

He freezes when he realizes his mistake.

“How many times do I have to tell you, ” Toph tightens her hold on the glass. “ That I’m blind! ” She mercilessly rips it from her foot, biting her lip to keep from crying out in pain a second time. Her students gasped as blood flowed freely from the gash. 

“Sifu Toph, let us get you some banda-” 

“Get away from me!” She snaps, storming out of the room. Her injured foot makes her wince with every step, but she keeps walking nonetheless. 

Toph carefully ignores her students' pleas to stay as she runs into the forest surrounding the academy. She was in no doubt leaving a trail of bloody footprints in her wake, but it wasn’t like anyone would have the guts to run after her.

“ Those knuckle-headed lily livers,” Toph grumbles as she stomps through the woods, not caring about the broken branches cutting into her bare feet. How dare they! 

The crackling of wood pauses as the earthbender becomes aware of a noise coming from in front of her. She walks slower this time, trying not to snap as many branches as before. The noise grows more present, like wind rushing in her ears. It sounded like… a train?

Toph shakes her head. What could a train possibly be doing here in the middle of nowhere? 

But as she hears the unmistakable sound of wheels slowly screeching to a stop, Toph decides that there was simply no other explanation.

She presses a palm against the smooth wall of a train car. It felt like metal, but it hasn't registered under Toph’s seismic sense. She frowns, stepping in front of what felt like an open door. 

“Hello?” She shouts into the void. No one responds, except for her own voice echoing back at her. 

“ ... the fuck?” Toph mutters, and against her better judgement, she steps through the doorway.

____________________________________

Zuko was in the spirit world. 

At least he thought he was in the spirit world. He honestly couldn't think of any other explanation to this. How did one of those trains like the ones from the earth kingdom lead to the spirit world? He would have to ask Aang how this place worked later. 

Which led to one extremely important question: how was he supposed to get out?

Zuko sighs, sitting down with his back to a tree. The browns and blues of the forest loomed all around him, bathed in the gold light of the setting sun. He could hear the chirps of crickets and birds, as well as…

The firebender stiffens. From the sounds of it, there was a decently-sized creature slowly making its way towards him. He takes a defensive posture as the sounds grow closer, instinctively lighting a flame in his hand. 

A small face pokes out from behind a bush a few feet away from him. As the animal toddles out from behind the plant and stares at him carefully, the teen relaxes slightly. 

It was a small blue monkey with big, curious eyes, and two odd-looking metal contraptions strapped to its shoulders. It stared at Zuko’s flame in wonder. The creature eagerly runs up to him, nearly sticking its face in the fire.

“Woah!” Zuko shouts, hastily extinguishing the light. “Don’t touch that,” he chuckles. “You could get hurt.”

The animal eyed him again as he spoke, but didn’t seem to understand any of his words. She curiously poked at his palm, frowning. “ Light?” She babbles. “ Where?” The monkey pouts at the firebender, then turns towards his hand again. “ Number!” She giggles, pointing at his palm. 

“What is it?” Zuko pulls his hand closer to his face to take a proper look. 

There was a strange set of glowing green symbols engraved into his skin. The firebender does a double take, gently rubbing at the lines with his thumb. They were still shining brightly, generating a soft thrumming noise from within his skin. Zuko panics, furiously rubbing his palms and willing the strange marks away. But it was to no avail. 

“ Mama!” He hears the monkey call in the background. The teen looks up in alarm. While he hadn’t understood the baby animal’s words up until now, this sounded awfully similar… 

A huge beast towered behind the baby, presumably its mother. It looked like a carbon copy of the tiny thing, with the same blue fur, gentle eyes, and slightly different metal contraptions attached to it(they looked sort of similar to Uncle’s Tsungi horn). Zuko slowly backs away from the two, holding up his hands in surrender. If the turtle ducks back home were so protective of their chicks, he didn’t even want to think about the reaction of a beast this powerful.

The mother carefully steps around her child, and surveys the young boy carefully. Zuko’s heart leapt to his throat as she slowly walked closer. There was no way he could take on such a great creature without causing harm. He keeps walking backwards, away from the hulking beast, until his back slams into a tree. 

Now the large primate was merely a few feet away. It cocks its head at the shivering boy, slowly extending its hand. Zuko braces himself for an attack.

Instead, it simply pats his head, smiling gently. The monkey then softly grips his hand, seemingly looking at the strange symbols there as well. It nods with a knowing look in its eyes. 

Then, she turns to her child.  “ Come Bugle. let's go home.”

And with that, She lumbers away, the smaller animal toddling behind her. The firebender breathes a sigh of relief. 

The next few hours seem to pass by in a flash as Zuko tries to find a plant that was somewhat recognizable as edible. At first he had assumed that he wouldn’t get hungry in the spirit world in the first place, but in due time his stomach began to prove otherwise. Unfortunately for him, nothing that grew in this place was even vaguely familiar. 

By the time the sun rose, he decided to go in the pursuit of meat instead. Zuko found some vines and carefully set up an animal trap that Uncle had taught him while they were on the run. The firebender smiles fondly at the memory, now climbing a tree to secure the last bits of his net. He often struggled to find purchase on the strangely-smooth bark, but he hadn’t fallen so far so it should be fine. 

He just needed to finish tightening this last knot… and there. Zuko stands up on the branch to admire his work from above.

Big mistake. 

His foot slips, and he’s crashing to the forest floor. The fallen leaves don’t seem to provide the slightest amount of cushioning as he thuds heavily against the ground. 

Zuko laid there as the sun streamed down from the cloudless skies and desperately gasped for air. It took him about a full minute to start breathing normally again, each inhale sparking a new sting in his ribs. He groans, propping himself up on his arms. Even the small movement makes his head spin.

“ Light?”

A familiar pair of big black eyes stare down at him. Then another, larger face. 

Zuko blinks warily at the two, trying-and failing- to sit up completely. His breaths came in shallow gasps, and he could practically see stars. 

Slowly, as if not to startle him, the larger monkey scoops him up and comfortably settles him in one arm. Zuko jolts, searching the gorilla’s face for any sign of malice. Thankfully, it just shifts his position slightly and pats his head once again. The firebender wants to protest, but with his current injuries he decided it wasn’t probably the best time to pick a fight with a creature three times his size. 

Zuko knew he should be scared. He was going to be carried away to Surya-knows-where by a giant blue monkey when he was practically paralyzed from the pain of his fall. But something about the animal’s presence was comforting. Maybe it was his sleep deprivation talking, but he just wanted to curl up in her fur and fall asleep in the lull of her footsteps. 

Finally, the three arrive at a small cave, where two more small monkeys were wrestling with each other at the mouth of the cavern. The mother gorilla ducks her head under the stone ceiling, and carefully sets Zuko down on the floor. She settles herself across him as the two children both tumble into the opening. 

“Trumpet, Cornet,” She thunders. 

They both split apart almost instantly and take seats on either side of the their mother. They weren’t as tiny as the smallest child, but not much larger either. Both of them had metal contraptions that were much more complicated-looking than the first child as well. One of them looked fairly normal, however his brother sported a ridiculously thick mustache. 

Zuko was too bewildered by the whole situation to question it.

The youngest child promptly seats herself in her mother’s lap, quietly sucking on her thumb. All of them stare in silence at their new visitor.  

“Hello…?” Zuko waves awkwardly at the family. 

Meanwhile, the largest monkey picks up a pile of leaves and starts distributing them among the children, who begin munching on them almost instantly. She then neatly folds the final leaf and presses it into the firebender’s palms. 

Was she… feeding him? 

Zuko chuckles to himself, wincing at the sting in his ribs as he did so. He watches as the mother tries to coax the monkey in her lap to eat, much to the little one’s annoyance. The teen then looks down at the leaf in his hand, wondering if he should at least try it out of politeness.  When the large monkey’s gaze settles on him once again, he decides that it would be a good idea. 

He reluctantly brings the folded leaf to his mouth to take a bite. It was… surprisingly chewy. Not great tasting, but definitely better than what he expected from a giant gorilla and her children. 

Besides, he’s way too hungry to be picky about food right now. Zuko takes another bite. Then another, looking up to the mother for approval. Her lips curl into that slight smile once again before focusing she focuses her attention back to her little one. 

Her mother still hadn’t gotten her to eat before Zuko was finished. 

“Noooooooo!” The child squeals in protest for what felt like the hundredth time. The firebender smiles. 

“Hey! Look here!” Zuko calls, lighting a flame in his hand. The monkey quiets, staring at the flame in awe. The larger one takes this opportunity to shovel a piece of leaf into her mouth. The baby chews mechanically and swallows, too preoccupied with the sight to notice or care. 

“Light!” she points at the flame with glee.

The next ten minutes goes by with Zuko using the same distractions he’d once used on Tom-Tom in order to feed the small animal. Once they were done, the baby monkey ran over to her brothers, who were playing just a few feet away. The firebender watches everything with a spellbound fascination.

“Tuba” The hulking blue gorilla rumbles quietly. Zuko turns towards the animal again, frowning. 

“Tuba,” She repeats, pointing to herself. The teen stares in shock. Was she telling him her name?

“Tuba,” It repeats for the third time. 

“Tuba,” Zuko echoes numbly.

“Now you,” She responds, pointing to the firebender instead. 

“Zuko,” He obliges, mirroring the gorilla’s motions. 

“Zuko,” She repeats, nodding. 

“Mamaaaaaaa!” It was the little girl, running back to her mother in tears. She collapses in her mother’s lap. 

“What happened, Bugle?” 

It was clear to Zuko that they were communicating somehow, but he couldn’t understand a single word. 

“Trumpet pushed me!” The baby wailed. The mother huffed a little laugh, propping the child up to wrap her arms around her. 

“Don’t be a worry baby

No need to hurry baby

When you’re with me”

She rocks the baby in her arms as she sings a simple melody.  Zuko stares at them with wonder. He knew monkeys were intelligent, but he’d never witnessed anything quite like this. He supposes then that spirit monkeys would naturally be more intelligent than the rest. 

The baby sniffles, before joining in.

“ Just take it easy-peasy

My little lemon squeezy

‘Cause you’re with me”

Zuko smiled sadly at the sight. It couldn’t help but remind him of how his own mother used to sing to him for comfort. 

The ground practically shakes as the gorilla- no, Tuba- scoots closer to him. The firebender stiffens, only for her to gently brush away the tears forming on his cheeks with a massive thumb.

He laughs wetly. “Sorry, didn’t mean to cry...” he mumbles despite the fact that none of them would understand his words. Tuba just pats him on the head again as he scrubs at his eyes.

“Light!” the baby exclaims once again. 

“Zuko,” her mother corrects. 

The younger one frowns, looking up to meet Tuba’s gaze. “Light?”

“Zuko,” Tuba grabs her hand and helps her point to the firebender. The baby’s finger lightly pokes his nose. “Zu-ko.”  

“Rukooo!” She grins. Tuba smiles as her daughter clambers out of her lap. 

“Bugle,” She declares to the teen, gesturing to the small child. 

“Bugle,” He laughs as she climbs up onto his shoulders. “What are you doing?” He asks the baby in amusement.

“See Rukooo,” Bugle states a-matter-of-factly, sifting through his hair. Zuko tries his best to stifle laughter. His uncle had told him about how these sorts of monkeys would groom each other, but never in a million years would he have predicted he would get to experience it firsthand.

Bugle managed to pluck out a few leaves and specks of dirt, but thankfully nothing else. Zuko chuckles as the monkey plops herself in his lap afterwards, feeling more relaxed than he’s been in years.

_______________________________________

A cool breeze rushes over the earthbender. Toph jolts awake, gasping. Her hands grip the ground for purchase and bring up fistfuls of soft grass.

She sits up slowly and takes in her surroundings. The air smelled like fresh earth and fallen leaves. There was a faint buzzing noise emanating from her right as well. 

Doing a double take, she presses a palm to her ear. The humming noise was louder than ever, like something you would hear from a running machine. She runs her calloused fingers over her palm as her breaths start to come in short gasps. However, there was nothing out of the ordinary to her touch. 

A small whimper escapes from the young girl’s throat against her will. Where was she? What was happening?

Toph takes in deep breaths while shakily bringing herself to her feet. She winces when her left foot touches the ground. When she reached down to feel her wound, she found her soles miraculously clear of any remaining blood. The gash seemed to be closed with small, neat stitches. Toph nearly screamed. Who could have possibly found her and healed her without her knowledge?

As she extended her seismic sense into the land around her, it became clear that she wasn’t in the forest anymore. This sort of grass was something that didn’t grow anywhere near her academy, large cliffs loomed in front of her, and everything seemed to just… stop. All the land was contained into one large, but perfect rectangle. It made Toph feel like she was in a cage. 

She starts marching forwards before the dread can fully sink in. Surely she could find an answer to this. 

“ You can do it, passenger! You can do anything you set your mind to!” 

The earthbender frowns from her spot right below the cliffside. Who was that? She hadn’t felt anyone else’s presence within this weird earth-rectangle. And what the fuck were they saying?

Toph carefully bended a column to carry her to the top. All the while, the high pitched voice continued cheering enthusiastically. 

“ Wow, that was fast!” the mysterious person continued their unintelligible titters as the earthbender reached the top.

“Who are you?” Toph shouts towards the sky, cupping her hands around her mouth. “And… where are you?” She whispers in amazement. Nobody was anywhere near her, save for the single rock that was slowly moving towards her. 

Wait. 

She scoops up the stone in her calloused palms, inciting a surprised yelp. Toph almost drops it in shock. 

“What are you?” The young girl gasps. 

“ I’m sorry miss, but it appears that I can’t understand what you’re sayi-“

“I can’t fucking understand you! What is this, some sort of spirit language?” 

The rock just squirms from her grip, lightly landing on the floor. “ No matter. You braved the perils of rock climbing, so now you get to move on to the next car! Isn’t that wonderful?”

Toph vaguely registers the sound of a door opening. She runs towards it, and surely enough, there’s an empty space leading to some sort of metal platform. Actual metal this time. 

“Wha-” She turns back towards the strange rock-spirit for answers. “Did you do that?”

“ Go on, Miss! Another journey awaits!”

“Where am I?” The young girl screams, pinning the talking stone in place. It simply continued its meaningless chatter although it was significantly more nervous. 

“I… I know you’re responsible for this! Take me home!” Toph pleads desperately. 

Somewhere in between her yelling, the little rock had begun to cry. 

The earthbender huffs. It was no use harassing this spirit, then. It made her feel a little guilty too, like taking candy from a child. 

“Fine. I’ll find my own way out,” She resolves, marching out the door.

Chapter Text

Toph steps through another door, and is instantly swarmed by the buzzing of insects. There were so many of them that she couldn’t even begin to guess their numbers. They were flooded into every square inch of this stupid metal cage that the earthbender was trying to get through, choking the air with their fluttering wings and coming dangerously close to flying inside her nose and ears. 

The young girl tries taking a deep breath to steady herself, but it only results in three of the disgusting things to enter straight into her mouth. Toph coughs and sputters in disgust, blindly rushing forward in search of the exit. She couldn’t see in this car, either because it wasn’t made of earth, or because she could feel the insects crunching underneath her heels with every step she took. 

She was still gagging on one of the creatures when she slammed into a wall. 

Finally, she thinks, desperately pressing her palms to the cool surface. Her heart pounds so loudly it almost drowns out the incessant buzzing in her ears. She keeps searching for the door, but her fingertips only meet smooth metal. 

Please let there be a door please let there be a door please-

She finally feels the handle, and desperately scrambles for purchase. With a mighty heave, she twists the metal gates open and runs out. She stands there triumphantly as the doors close behind her, taking big gulps of that sweet, sweet, insect-free air. But a stray vermin clogs her throat without warning and she doubles over, coughing fiercely. 

After hacking up the last remains of bugs from her mouth, she slides down against the closed door of the car. The metal practically vibrated with the buzz of the flying creatures on the other side. Gross.  

Toph shuddered. She wanted to be out of here as soon as possible, but she was shaking too hard and panting too heavily to even think of walking. 

You’re the greatest earthbender in the world, and you let yourself get beat by a bunch of bugs? She chastised herself. Pathetic. 

A shiver runs through her again, tears threatening to prick at her sightless eyes. She had been traveling on her own for over three days, and still hadn’t found a way out of this hellhole. She would be lying if she said she wasn’t shaken up by the whole situation. 

But that wouldn’t stop her from denying it.

She jolts as she hears a shuffling sound coming from her palm. 

“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” the earthbender groans. “Not this again.”

Strange noises had been coming from her hand every now and then, but the girl still had no clue what it was. It didn’t seem to be affecting her, so she eventually tried to shake it off. She had bigger things to be worrying about, after all. 

Toph shakily pulls herself to her feet, brushing off her clothes and hair. She’d started pulling it up in a simple ponytail to keep it out of the way since she no longer had the time to put it into her signature pile every morning. Honestly, she had stopped being able to tell night from day a long time ago.

Ok Toph, she thinks as she makes her way towards the next door. You can do this. 

She turns the handle and tentatively steps inside. 

She wasn’t getting eaten alive by locusts. So far so good. 

This place seemed more similar to the first section she had landed in. It was more natural, which allowed Toph to see well for once. It was much bigger than the car with the cliffs, with dense forests and a large assortment of animals roaming around within the trees. Not only that, but there seemed to be a person in there too… 

Whoever they were, they would get her one step closer to getting out of this godforsaken place. Toph makes a beeline for the familiar pulse, smiling triumphantly to herself.

_______________________________________________________________

Zuko steps out of the cool stream, wringing the end of his damp sleeve in his palm. Wearing freshly-washed clothes was cold and uncomfortable, but it didn’t take long to dry because of the warm weather and it wasn’t like he had a spare set anyway. 

After giving his clothes and hair a final shake, he heads back towards the cave. 

Zuko carefully steps through a line of thick foliage before catching a glimpse of Tuba’s two sons tumbling around the forest floor like usual. Both of them straighten when they notice the boy’s presence. 

“ No, ” Zuko warns, wagging a finger at them. He’d learned a single, one syllable word from Tuba that the children seemed to get discouraged by. Not that they listened to him when she wasn’t around.

“ No. Don’t. Don’t do it.” He repeats.

The monkeys’ eyes glint mischievously, and Trumpet lifts his hand to point at the cornered firebender. “ Get him!” He shouts, grinning at his twin. The two of them promptly tackle Zuko to the ground. 

“Alright, alright, that’s enough,” He grunted after the two were able to land a few punches. He pulls himself to his feet despite the animals clinging onto him. “Off, you two. Go. Shoo!”

Cornet backs away, but his brother looks inclined to continue the attack. Zuko fixes the monkey with a stern look. Trumpet shoots him a withering glare in response. It takes all of the teen’s willpower not to break into laughter at the expression. The little mustache alone nearly sent him into laughing fits on a daily basis. 

Finally, the two monkeys run off to busy themselves elsewhere. Zuko sighs in relief, walking into the shade of the cavern. Tuba was watching his approach from a corner, her daughter peacefully snoring away in her lap. 

“Hello,” He murmurs quietly, taking a seat next to the two. Tuba just silently hands him a leaf.

Zuko leans his head against the stone wall and closes his eyes. It had been five days since he had arrived at this mysterious place(he highly doubted it was the spirit world at this point, but he still couldn’t rule out the possibility completely) and he still hasn’t found any answers. He had wandered around the forest a bit in the afternoons, only to find that the only other living creatures here couldn’t speak at all. 

He feels a thumb on his forehead, trying to smooth out his furrowed brows. 

“I’m fine, Tuba,” The teen offers weakly, but she doesn’t seem to register his words as usual.  

“Bhayya?” A small voice calls, snapping him out of his drowsy state. A girl stood at the mouth of the cave. 

“Toph?” He calls back in disbelief. 

“Is that really you?” The earthbender sounds like she’s on the verge of tears. “Is that you Bhayya?”

“Yes, It’s me.” He says reassuringly, pulling himself to his feet. Toph rushes towards him and wraps him up in a bone-crushing hug. 

Just as Zuko gently hugs back, she roughly shoves him away and decides to give him a hefty punch in the shoulder instead. 

Tuba growls and gets up from her seat, glaring at Toph. 

“What is that?” The earthbender yelps, her voice still shaking slightly. 

“ No, Tuba!” Zuko calls hastily. “It’s alright.” He hurriedly puts an arm around Toph’s shoulder and holds her next to him. The young girl frowns at the gesture, but says nothing. 

“She’s a friend.” He pats her head to reaffirm his words. 

The animal didn’t look entirely convinced, but sat back down anyway, carefully keeping an eye on the two. 

“Is that a monkey?” Toph whispered. 

“Yeah… “ Zuko responds, awkwardly fiddling with his sleeves. 

“Does it understand you?”

He furrowed his brows. “Kind of… it’s smart enough to communicate with me.” He pauses. “I think it talks to its children though.”

“The ones over there?” Toph points to where Trumpet and Cornet were plucking berries off of a bush. 

Zuko nods. “That’s them.”

The earthbender nods silently. She looked uncharacteristically down, the firebender notes. 

“Do you want to sit down?” He asks the younger girl. She doesn’t provide a response, just silently follows him into the cave. Zuko watches her carefully as she plops down across from him. 

“Why are you staring at me?” She snaps. 

The firebender stops short. “Um… what happened to your hair?”

Toph snorts. “There isn’t much time to style it when you’re on the run,” She quips.

“What about when you were on the run with the Avatar? Didn’t you have time then?”

“Katara- Jie-Jie used to do it for me,” She says quietly. They both pause.

“I miss her,” Toph blurts without thinking. 

“Toph-”

“Anyways, we have no time to waste. Do you know on which side the exit is?” She interrupts, quickly standing back up.

“Exit?” Zuko gapes. “You know how to get out of this place?”

The earthbender rakes her hands across her face with a dramatic groan. “You don’t know a single thing, do you?”

“What are you talking about?”

“There’s like… “ The young girl frowned. “Different… sections… of this weird spirit-world place. And they’re all connected… with these giant metal plates..” She informs him, vaguely miming with her hands. 

“I don’t understand a single thing you just said.” 

“Ugh! Fine , whatever.” She grabs Zuko’s hand and starts dragging him away. “Let’s just get moving.” 

“Toph, wait!” He pulls his hand away from her grip. The earthbender’s face visibly crumples. 

“If you’re not coming with me, fine. I can make it on my own.”

“No of course not, I’m not leaving you alone in this strange place-”

“I don’t need your help!” Toph insists.

“That’s not what I meant.” Zuko sighs. “Listen, I’m coming with you, but I can’t just leave all of a sudden. Tuba will get worried.”

The earthbender raises an eyebrow. “ Tuba? ” 

“She’s the uh… the monkey.”

“You’re going to say bye to the monkey. ” Toph repeats slowly. 

“ Yes, I am. ” Zuko smiles at himself. “She’s a kind animal, Toph. Intelligent, too. She’s the only reason I survived all these days.”

The girl just shrugs. “Fine by me.”

Bugle had awoken by the time he was going to leave. 

“Rukoooo!” She toddles up to the boy and tugs on his sleeve. “Up!”

The firebender laughs and hoists her onto his shoulders. 

“It knows your name… “ Toph smiles in bewilderment. 

“Tuba,” He says, and the mother’s attention snaps towards him.

“I am.. Leaving.” He puts Bugle down and mimes walking out of the cave. “... With my friend.” He pats Toph’s shoulder, then pulls her with him to emphasize his point. “We are leaving.” 

Understanding finally flickers in Tuba’s eyes at the action. 

“ Trumpet, Cornet, come say goodbye.” 

Zuko watches in amazement as the two instantly run up to him. Cornet gently walks forward and tenderly wraps his arms around the firebender’s legs. Zuko smiles warmly before kneeling down to return the gesture. 

Behind him was Trumpet, who tentatively stood in front of the firebender. The teen holds his arms out for an embrace.

The monkey gleefully brings a fist to his face instead. 

“Ow!” Zuko cries, instinctively bringing a hand to his cheek. He couldn’t help but laugh. Honestly, what else was he expecting from this one?

“ Trumpet,“ Tuba thunders from her corner. “ Say you’re sorry.”  

“Sorry,” Her child repeats, apologetically rubbing the place where he had hit the teen. Zuko hardens his gaze again. 

“You’re a little menace, you know that?” He wags a finger sternly in Trumpet’s face. He managed to hold his stare for a moment, but one look at his big black eyes and that ridiculous mustache caused him to melt completely. Zuko pulls the small animal into a hug, which lasts for only half a second before Trumpet squirmed out of his grip. 

Tuba walks over and pats his head before handing her daughter over to him. 

“ Bye Rukooo,” She babbles, wrapping her arms around his neck. Zuko smiles and gently places the baby on the floor. 

“Goodbye everyone,” He waves to the family, who all wave back. 

He walks over to Toph, who was observing all of this with an unreadable expression on her face. 

“Are you crying?” He smirks. 

“Shut up!” She grabs his hand and pulls him out of Tuba’s view before punching him in the arm. “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Sure I don’t,” He replies, nonchalantly brushing tears from her cheeks. The earthbender promptly slaps his hand away.

“So… did you just get adopted by a bunch of monkeys?” The young girl asks as they make their way to her proclaimed “exit”.

“Guess I did,” Zuko chuckles silently, barely audible over the sound of leaves crunching under their footsteps. The earthbender cackles next to him. 

“That means I’m going to have to start calling you… Bandar Bhayya!”

The firebender wrinkles his nose. “I would prefer it if you didn’t.”

“Why not? It has a nice ring to it!” This earns Toph a playful shove.

The firebender stops short. “I see a door.”

“Great! That means we can finally get out of this stupid jungle.” Toph crows.

“Do you know where it goes?” Zuko asks her, nervously wringing his hands. 

“Nope!”