Fanfic~ The Final Binding Chapter 2

[ldydragon7]

 
Title: The Final Binding
Author: Enki
Chapter: 2 of 4
Pairings: Katara/Zuko, Toph/Aang and several non-romantic relationships
Rating: PG
Warnings: Not for this chapter.
Summery: The Avatar has kidnapped Toph Bai Fong. Fire Lord Zuko wonders how he got stuck cleaning up the mess. Chapter 2- Sokka makes an appearance and Toph and Aang reveal their plans.
Notes: This is connected to the one-shot “ If You Could Choose” and takes place a little over 12 hours after “ Heist”. Some of the background provided in “If You Could Choose” is referenced in this chapter. Set four years after the final battle.  Beta-ed by hanishi.

Chapter one is here.

Zuko could hear Ambassador Wen’s voice though the heavy door arguing with one of his guards. He had to give the man credit, he was persistent at least. He turned his attention back to the stack of paperwork on his desk and the pot of strong black tea next to it. He had ordered his guards that he was not to be disturbed while he was working in his study. The Ambassador could object all he wanted as long as Zuko didn’t have to deal with him, that’s what he had guards for after all. Well that and to stop people who were trying to kill him.
Zuko leaned back in his chair and sipped his tea. He was in a rather pleasant mood, despite the frustrations of yesterday and the stack of paperwork waiting for him this morning. He’d been up at dawn as usual but a half-asleep Katara had mumbled something incoherent, pulled him back down on the bed and refused to let go. Given how late she had kept him up last night, he decided not to feel guilty for indulging in an extra hour of sleep.  
 “What do you mean, ‘No one can see the Fire Lord’?” A new voice joined the commotion outside Zuko’s study. A far too familiar voice and unfortunately one he couldn’t ignore. Apparently it was the season for unexpected guests. He opened the study doors just in time to see Sokka go toe to toe with his guard, pointing with his boomerang at the now open door to emphasize his point. “Look you, I don’t care if he’s busy. That royal jerk in there is sleeping with my sister and I haven’t skinned him alive and made myself a nice Fire Lord-shaped rug. That alone entitles me to disturb his royal Jerkiness whenever the hell I want. So you march yourself in there and tell him--.”
Zuko cleared his throat and leaned back against the doorjamb. The guard was staring at Sokka, obviously having no idea how to respond to this crazy Water Tribe warrior. He visibly sagged with relief at the sight of Zuko, “My Lord! I’m sorry, but he just--.”
“You!” Sokka stomped over to Zuko, “What have you done with Aa--.”
“Sokka, my Brother-in-Law.” Zuko forced a smile which was probably more of a grimace. “What a pleasant surprise.”
Sokka stopped dead, staring at him, mouth gaping open in shock. Zuko’s forced smile turned to a smirk, moments where Sokka was rendered speechless were few and far between and to be savored while they lasted.
He grabbed Sokka by the arm. “Why don’t we go into my study?”
“Wait, Lord Zuko!” Ambassador Wen somehow managed to insinuate himself between them and the door. “I really must speak with you. I have been trying all morning to arrange an audience.”
“I was under the impression that last night we had discussed everything that needed discussing. Unless you have some hard evidence to present to me that will substantiate the Bai Fongs’ claims?” Zuko held his breath, hoping the man hadn’t managed to find clumps of Appa’s hair or something.
“Well, not exactly.” The man still wasn’t moving from the doorway.
“I see. Then I believe that is all we have to discuss. Now if you would excuse us, my brother-in-law wishes to speak with me. I’m sure you understand.”
Zuko started to walk forward, hoping the Ambassador would move before he had to push him out of the way. “My Lord, a young girl is in grave danger. Isn’t there anything you can do?”
Zuko stopped and sighed. He glanced quickly at Sokka. The Water Tribe warrior’s mouth was no longer gaping like a stranded fish and his eyes were narrowed as he kept glancing between Zuko and the ambassador.    
“Ambassador, based on what you have told me I can not justify ordering the royal guards to search the entire palace. However, if you feel so strongly about this, I can assign one of my guards to help you search the infrequently traveled sections of the palace where someone might be hiding.” Zuko raised his eyebrow at the Ambassador.
“I would search?” The Ambassador looked rather unsettled at the idea.
“You would have a guard to protect you and if you find any signs that Toph’s kidnapper is indeed hiding her here, then at that point reinforcements would be called in to deal with the situation.”
“Well I, that is…”
“Excellent.” Zuko turned to the guard. “Please escort the Ambassador on his search. I suggest you begin with the unused sections of the palace where a desperate criminal might chose to hide out. Report your findings to me this evening.”
“Yes, my Lord.” The guard bowed deeply andthen turned to the Ambassador. “Your Excellency, if you would follow me this way.”
Leaving the Ambassador to the care of the guard, Zuko pulled Sokka into his study and closed the heavy wooden doors.
Sokka opened his mouth, most likely to begin yelling again and Zuko shook his head sharply. “Wait.” He hissed.
After a few moments, they could hear the muffled sound of footsteps retreating. As soon as they faded, Sokka exploded. “What did you do with Aang?! And what was that all about? Who kidnapped Toph? And how could anyone pull that off? Toph’s the most unkidnappable person I know! And if anything’s happened to Katara….”
“You’ve already gone into great detail on that subject.” Zuko waved his hand as if he could somehow cut through Sokka’s tirade. “I haven’t done anything to Aang, though he has apparently made off with most of my palace staff. That was about the Ambassador insisting Toph’s kidnapper is hiding out in my palace based on nothing more then the Bai Fong’s accusations. Aang. And as for how he pulled it off, I believe she went willingly. By the way, ‘unkidnappable’ isn’t a real word.”
“I know that!” Sokka took a deep breath. “Where is Aang? I received a note telling me to meet him here immediately. But when I arrived everyone was insisting that he wasn’t here and no one had seen him.” Sokka directed a glare at him. “It was all very suspicious.”     
“Aang is in the guest quarters with Toph. They are apparently hiding from Toph’s parents, don’t ask me why, and don’t want anyone to know where they are. As you can see, Ambassador Wen is rather persistently trying to find them, so my court has been ordered to deny any knowledge of the Avatar’s whereabouts.”
“You do realize that just having people say, ‘nope, haven’t seen them, don’t know anything’ is a pretty flimsy plan.”
Zuko glared at him. “I didn’t exactly have the time to come up with anything else. Besides, its better then some of the plans you have come up with in the past.”
Sokka glared back. “Hey, my brilliant planning is what got you your throne. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go see what Aang wanted. He’s in his usual room?”
Zuko briefly considered continuing the argument, but it was an old one that went nowhere and really wasn’t worth the effort. Besides he still had a pile of paperwork that needed to be finished. “Yes, he’s in his usual room.”
Sokka nodded and left.
 Zuko returned to his desk and reheated his tea with a groan.
 **~~**
Zuko retreated to his study after another long session with his council. A fresh stack of documents awaited his approval. With luck he would get though most of them before dinner. At least he no longer needed to worry about Ambassador Wen ambushing him. His guards were ensuring the man was being kept quite busy searching the most out of the way, disused parts of the palace they could find.
The door opened and Zuko tensed, ready to duck and roll into a better position to attack. After the first two years the assassination attempts had mostly stopped, but Zuko knew better then to let his guard down.
Toph strolled in and plopped down in the chair in front of his desk.
He relaxed. “You shouldn’t be wandering around, someone might see you.”
“Don’t get your topknot in a twist, no one saw me. The Dai Li may have been backstabbing bootlickers, but they had a few tricks worth picking up. Oh and your guard at the door,” she jerked her thumb over her shoulder, “is ridiculously easy to distract.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.” Zuko leaned back in his chair and waited. Neither of them were big on the meaningless small talk. She would get around to what she had to say sooner rather then latter.
Toph sat in silence for a few moments, kicking her heels against the floor. She took a big breath and blew her bangs out of her eyes. They fell back into place. “Aang and I are getting married.”  
Zuko raised an eyebrow in surprise. He knew Toph and Aang cared about each other, he just hadn’t expected this development so soon, and after all they were still so young. They were-they were the same age Katara was when she married him, the annoying voice in the back of his head reminded him. “Congratulations.” He gave her a small smile. “So this is why you and the Avatar have hijacked my servants?”
“Yeah. We decided to have the wedding here. The head of the palace staff said they could have everything ready by tomorrow, so that’s when it will be.”
“Tomorrow.”
“Yep. You’re invited of course. We want to keep it small, just Katara, Sokka, Uncle Iroh and you. I’m not much for formal events, and Aang has enough fancy parties to deal with because of Avatar stuff.”
Zuko nodded. “So I heard you skipped out on your 16th birthday party and gave your parents quite the farewell.”
Toph grimaced. “That whole thing was just an excuse to parade a bunch of potential suitors in front of me. I was supposed to chose one and make the announcement by the end of the night, or my parents would make it for me. I think I made my choice pretty clear to them.”
Zuko wasn’t surprised, getting Toph married off to an appropriate suitor would give the Bai Fongs a male heir to take over the business and ensure that Toph was no longer their problem. Aang, despite his influence, was not considered an appropriate choice. Zuko rest his hands on his desk and paused, trying to think of the best way to phrase what he wanted to ask. “Toph, I know how important your freedom is to you, and I know you care about Aang. I just want to be sure that you are doing this for the right reasons.” Zuko held his breath, bracing for an explosion.
A peculiar expression crossed Toph’s face before it twisted into a lopsided smile. “Are you worried about me? Awww, Flamebreath, that was practically mushy.”
Zuko glared at her, “Watch it, Brat. Remember who is paying for this little party of yours.”
Toph giggled. “It’s ok, really. Aang and I both knew we were going to get married at some point. We were just comfortable with how things were going so neither of us had brought it up until my parents pulled their latest stunt. Really, the only thing they affected was the timing. I’m of age to make my own decisions, and once I’m married there is nothing my parents can do about it. But that isn’t the main reason I’m marrying Aang.”
Zuko nodded, relieved. “Then I wish you both a long and happy life together.” The formal words held sincerity behind them.
“Thanks.” Toph graced him with one of her rare true smiles. She tapped her heels against the legs of her chair. “There was … something else I wanted to ask you.” Toph blew her bangs out of her eyes again. “I’m going to ask Uncle Iroh too, but would you, that is…” Toph stopped, took a breath. “My family won’t be at the wedding, obviously, the whole point is to get it done with before they find out and can object. So I wanted to ask, would you… would you stand in the place of my family?”    
Zuko blinked in surprise. He looked at the little girl in front of him, not so little anymore, and remembered the sparring matches and battles shared. She never treated him like an evil, scary firebender, but rather just one more misfit to add to a group of misfits. She defended his Uncle with a fierce loyalty that matched his own. He remembered conversations with words left unspoken and companionable silences. Zuko realized that somehow, he’d managed to forge with her the kind of relationship he had always wanted to have with Azula.
Zuko smiled at her, even though he knew she wouldn’t see it. Undoubtedly, she would hear it. “I would be honored to stand as your family, Toph.”
**~~**  
Fire Lord Zuko was the last to arrive at the royal family’s private dinning room. There was a flurry of greetings as he took his seat next to Katara. Sokka and his Uncle had already made a rather large dent in the food, but Katara had set aside his favorite dish and used the water from her drinking goblet to smack Sokka’s hand every time he tried to reach for it. He picked up his chopsticks and dug in gratefully. It had been a long time since lunch.
Uncle Iroh beamed around the table at everyone. “Ahh, it is so wonderful to have friends and family gathered together and for such a happy occasion.”
Aang chewed, swallowed and grinned sheepishly. “Thanks a lot for letting us have the wedding here. I know we kinda dropped in unexpectedly, but we really wanted to have it where our friends, no, where our family is.”
“You are always welcome here, Aang. Expected or not. Isn’t that right, Nephew?” His Uncle looked over at him.
Zuko gave a non-committal grunt around a mouthful of rice.
“So Zuko, is it true you’re going to be standing in with Iroh as Toph’s family?” Sokka looked like he was waiting for the punch line of a joke.  
Zuko swallowed, and then looked Sokka straight in the eye. “Yes.”
Sokka was obviously looking for some new way to tease him and didn’t seem to know quite how to react when Zuko refused to play along. He smirked slightly as his brother-in-law quickly turned his attention back to his food.
He glanced over at Katara and saw that she was giving him one of her warm, approving smiles. Her hand slid over his under the table and squeezed it lightly. Zuko found he had to swallow again for an entirely different reason. It had been over four years since she had first given him one of those smiles and they still made him feel like jumping up and taking on an entire army for her sake.
He looked back at their guests and realized Toph was giving him one of her I-can-hear-you-blushing smirks. He just barely resisted the urge to stick his tongue out at her and instead grabbed his steaming tea cup to cover his red cheeks.
He knew she was silently laughing at him, until a question from his Uncle prompted Aang to grab her hand and pull it against his chest.
“We’re really, really happy.” The young Avatar beamed. “Isn’t that right, Toph?”
“Y-Yeah, sure. Can I have my hand back, Twinkletoes?” Zuko smirked as Toph turned bright red.
“I’m afraid that is just one of the things you’re going to have to get used to, Toph. Spouses seem to think that being married entitles them to commandeer your hand whenever they want.” Zuko instinctively scooted closer to his Uncle to avoid Katara’s elbow. 
“You know that reminds me of the advice Gran-Gran gave me when I became of marriageable age. She told me that the secret to getting married is finding the one person you want to annoy for the rest of your life.” Katara looked over at him with her sweetest smile. “After that I just knew I had to marry Zuko.”  
“Wait, what?!” He sputtered. “Just what do you mean by that?”
The rest of the table was laughing uncontrollably. He glared at all of them.
Katara laughed and grabbed his arm, cuddling up to it. “You know I only tease people I care about.”
Zuko found he really couldn’t be mad at her when she brushed a light kiss on his cheek.  
“Hey! Hey! No! No kisses faces at the table, some of us are trying to eat.” Sokka managed to somehow look nauseous while continuing to stuff his face.
The conversation soon turned to plans for the next day and the rest of the meal passed in relative peace.      
**~~**
As dinner ended and the group began to disperse, Zuko pulled the Avatar aside. “Aang. I want to talk to you for a moment.” Zuko kept his voice soft so the others wouldn’t overhear.
“Sure, Zuko.” Aang smiled brightly up at him. The airbender had definitely grown in the years since the end of the war, but he was still shorter then the Fire Lord. He still bore the same boyish smile he had when he was 12, though tonight it seemed magnified 10 times as his ‘family’ celebrated his upcoming marriage.
Zuko motioned for the younger man to precede him into the hallway and they walked in silence to Aang’s room. Only when the door was firmly shut behind them did Zuko turn to the Avatar.
“Aang, I am speaking to you tonight not as the Fire Lord to the Avatar but as Zuko to the man who is marrying Toph. I want that to be made clear.”
“Sure, Zuko.”
Zuko walked farther into the room, hands clasped behind his back. His eyes scanned the room before stopping on Aang. “I’ll get right to the point. I am certain you remember my wedding. And I know you understand that at the wedding ceremony the bride is ‘given away’ to her husband so they can begin a new family. I want you to understand that while the bride joins her husband’s family, she does not completely sever ties to her own. Marriage is actually as much a joining of two families as it is a joining of two people. That is why so many alliances are sealed with a marriage, especially when the alliance is between two formerly feuding families.”
“Okay.” Aang was looking at him rather oddly; Zuko could tell he had no clue what all this had to do with him.
“It wasn’t always easy, but I learned to put up with Katara’s family.”
“Yeah, I remember how Sokka was glaring at you all the time. Oh and how he took you aside to have that talk.” Aang was laughing now at the memory. “He kept coming up with all these really creative things he was going to do to you if you ever hurt Katara. And the look on your face when he described all the things a person could do with a boomerang.” Aang was now doubled over, clutching his stomach. Zuko crossed his arms and watched him intently. Aang managed to catch his breath, though his mirth was still evident in his voice. “I guess I’m lucky Toph doesn’t have an older brother to take me aside and…” He trailed off and looked up, the predatory look Zuko was giving him penetrating at last.   
“Toph has asked my Uncle and me to stand in the place of her family. This is not simply a mere formality for the ceremony as you seem to believe. That she has asked this of us has even more meaning considering that her blood family has pointedly not been invited. So you see Toph does have an older brother.” Zuko paused, letting that sink in. All trace of laughter was gone from Aang’s face. Zuko walked towards him until they were standing face to face. “You remember the rather ‘creative situations’ Sokka described, so I won’t bother going into details. I will say only this, if you hurt her, then no matter how fast you run or where you hide, I will hunt you down.” Zuko leaned forward until they were mere inches apart, “And I will find you. And Sokka’s ‘creative situations’ will be nothing compared to what I will do to you.  Do you understand?”
Aang’s eyes were as wide as the dinner plates they had so recently eaten off of and Zuko could hear him gulp. He nodded, “Y-y-yes.”
Zuko stepped back and nodded. “Good. Of course this all depends on weather or not Toph catches you first and grinds your bones to powder.” Zuko smirked at the young man. “Congratulations on your marriage.” He turned and left the room, leaving a very shaken Avatar behind.  
Toph was leaning against the wall of the corridor. She gave him a slightly bemused grin, “You didn’t have to do that, you know.”
“I know.” Zuko smirked, “But it was fun.”