Chapter Text
Toph couldn’t sleep.
She couldn’t stop thinking about what Zuko had said. She hadn’t had as much history with him as the rest of the group had, but she knew that he wasn’t a good guy…. Right?
Toph knew things. Because of her earthbending, she could tell when someone was lying. Their heartbeat sped up, and their pulse became random and sporadic. She hadn’t sensed any lies from Zuko. Maybe he was just a very accomplished liar, Toph had come across a few of those before, but she didn’t think so.
Even his voice held a note of desperation that was hard to fake.
No, Toph didn’t think he was lying. So, then, what was she going to do about it?
One more thing bothered her, though. Zuko’s heartbeat had been racing. Not sporadically, though, not like if someone was lying, it was more like if someone was in… pain.
Contrary to popular opinion, Toph was not heartless. She did care, and if Zuko was hurt, even if he was the bad guy, it didn’t sit right with her to leave him all on his own. Plus, she reasoned, hewas a firebender. Aang needed to learn firebending, and they didn’t have anyone else to teach him.
Toph crept out of the campsite, careful to avoid her sleeping teammates. She followed her senses, reaching out with earthbending to feel the vibrations of the earth. She sensed a sleeping figure not far from the Western Air Temple, and started off. It wasn’t a far walk, maybe a minute or two until Toph came upon a small clearing.
There was nothing to indicate a campsite, and Toph stuffed down a small pang of unease. Zuko was a prince, after all, shouldn’t he be used to traveling in style? Surely he had a tent or something.
She hung back at the edge of the clearing, reaching out with her senses. Zuko was laying near the middle of the small clearing, breathing swallow and uneven. Slowly, carefully, she crept nearer, wary. He didn’t so much as move a muscle.
She was close now, nearly touching him, and he still hadn’t moved. Cautiously, she reached out a hand, shaking his shoulder gently. He didn’t stir.
“Hey, Zuko.” She said in a voice just above a whisper. “Wake up. I just want to talk.”
Nothing.
“Zuko!” She tried again, louder this time. She shook him again, harder, but still he didn’t move. The feeling of dread Toph had tried so hard to dismiss surged up again, in full force.
Stay calm. She told herself. Everything’s fine, he’s just a heavy sleeper. She knew it wasn't true, but it was a nice idea. She rolled him onto his back, and his arm flopped to the side, bumping into her leg.
Toph concentrated, scanning his body for injuries with her earthbending. She wished Katara was here, healing was her area of expertise, not Toph’s, all Toph did was smack things around with rocks.
She frowned. It felt like his rib was broken. Reaching down, Toph tentatively touched Zuko’s side.
She screamed and jerked her hand away.
Her hand came away soaked in blood.
***
Katara jerked awake, heart pounding. Someone had screamed. She struggled out of her sleeping bag, noticing Aang and Sokka doing the same out of the corner of her eye.
“Wha’s go’in on?” Aang asked, stifling a huge yawn.
“Where’s Toph?” Sokka sounded much more awake than Aang, and had already scooped up his boomerang and club.
“I don’t know.” Katara swung her water skin over her shoulder. “But I have a good feeling that wherever she is, we’ll find Zuko too.”
“The scream came from that way.” Sokka said, pointing with his boomerang. The campfire had gone out sometime in the night, but the moon was bright and there was plenty of light to see by. Katara gave him a curt nod, cold determination settling in her stomach. She would do whatever she had to do to Zuko. Whatever she had to do.
It took them around five minutes to find Toph. She hadn’t gone far, only to a small clearing in the woods. She was kneeling on the ground, unmoving, with a prone figure in front of her, and Katara’s blood ran cold. If he had done something to her…
“Toph!” Aang shouted, sprinting to her side. “What’s going on? Are you okay?”
“Yeah.” Toph’s voice sounded distant, and Katara was by her side in an instant, checking her over for injuries. “I’m fine. But he’s not.”
“You’re bleeding!” Katara said, pulling her farther away from the prone form and turning her arm toward the light for inspection.
“No, it’s not mine.” Toph’s tone was flat, emotionless, and even with her reassurances, Katara washed the blood off her arm with a little waterbending.
“Katara.” Sokka’s voice was quiet, and Katara turned to see her brother kneeling by Zuko’s side. “I think you might want to take a look at this.”
“We should leave him.” Katara snarled, not wanting anything to do with Zuko. “He’s fine. He’s probably pretending to be hurt to get our sympathy.”
“I don’t think so.” Sokka said, reaching down and feeling Zuko’s pulse. “Katara, please, just look at him, he’s in pretty bad shape.”
“I don’t care what happens to him.” She said, but moved to sit beside her brother anyway. The moon had slipped behind a cloud, leaving barely enough light to see, but now the cloud passed, and Katara gasped. Zuko’s side was covered in sticky blood, and more blood was dripping sluggishly from a large gaping hole in his side to join the puddle collecting under him.
The wound – Sword, she guessed – was large, as large as her closed fist, and there was far too much blood.
“Oh.” There wasn’t anything else to say. A rudimentary bandage had fallen away from where it had been tied around Zuko’s side, the bandage still soaked with blood. His face was screwed up, even in sleep, and sweat beaded his forehead.
“We have to help him.” Aang said, reaching to feel Zuko’s forehead. “He’s burning up.”
“I-” Katara was frozen. She couldn’t move, couldn’t think. She hated Zuko, but she couldn’t just let him die. Could she? “I don’t know if I can heal him.”
“Yes you can.” Sokka said with no trace of hesitation.
“It’s infected.” Katara leaned closer to examine the wound, even as her stomach churned at the gruesome sight. “I don’t know…”
“Katara, you have to try.” Aang said, and when Katara met his watery gaze, she knew that he was right. She couldn’t let him die, even after everything he had done.
"Aang, get me more water.” She said, pulling the stopper out of her water flask and noting that she had very little left. “Toph, clean badges, sheets, blankets, anything.”
There were rocks and dirt under Zuko’s wound, and Katara knew she needed to get him somewhere clean and sanitary, but she didn’t want to risk moving him until the wound had stopped bleeding.
Bending a small amount of water out of her waterskin, Katara formed a bubble of water around her hands and laid them gently on Zuko’s side. There was no response, which bothered her more than if she had made him groan in pain. Was he too far gone to save?
No. She thought. You can’t think like that, Katara. Just keep going.
The water began to glow around her hands, the wound beginning to close.
“Katara, wait!” Sokka yelped, jutting out a hand to wrap around Katara’s arm.
“What?” Her concentration broke, and the water around her hands fell, splashing over Zuko’s side and washing away some of the blood, only for it to be replaced. “Sokka, what do you think you’re doing?”
“The infection, Katara!” He said earnestly, eyes wide.
“What about it?”
“When you heal a wound, does it heal the infection too, or just close the skin around it?”
“What?” Katara frowned. What was he trying to say?
“Will it heal the infection, or will it just seal it inside?” Sokka tried again, gesturing to Zuko’s side. “If it just closes the skin around it, the infection will grow.” He met her stare, eyes full of fear. “Katara, that would kill him.”
“I-” Katara paused. She really didn’t know anything about her healing powers. “I don’t know.”
“What do we do?” Sokka asked.
“I don’t know.” Katara repeated dumbly, hunching over Zuko to inspect the stab wound. Bending more water, she rinsed his side off, examining the edge of the wound. It was red and inflamed, and warm to the touch. It was noticeably smaller than when she’d first started healing, but the red of the infection still reached from where it had been. “You’re right.” She said emotionlessly, sitting back. “It’s just sealing the infection inside.”
“So what can we do?” Sokka asked again.
“We’ll have to take care of it without my healing.” Katara said, looking up as Toph ran back into the clearing. She dropped her load of bandages and blankets by Katara, and glanced nervously at the siblings.
“Will he be okay?” She asked as Katara wet one of the strips of blanket and dabbed at the blood on Zuko’s side.
“I hope so.” Katara said. “I really hope so.”