Severance

Chapter 18 -Sokka

By nightfall, the entire police force had managed to get rid of half of the invaders, but the other half was still going strong. Bodies laid on the streets, daggers were being thrown, fire and earth were being thrown back and forth. I was running out of energy, and I still hadn't managed to get to Toph's house.
People were getting tired, and the progress we had made so far wasn't enough. I decided it was time to give up and hide, but as I looked into the sky, I saw Aang. It was about time that he showed up, but I assumed he was getting his family to safety. I figured I would let him take care of it, and began to run. I needed to check on Toph, I had to make sure the kids were okay.
I ran and ran, until finally I got to the house. There were pieces of it missing, and that was immediately a red flag. There had either been a fight, or something had crashed into the house, and either way it wouldn't be pretty. There was all sorts of debris on the outside of the house, and broken metal laid next to the remnants of an air ship.
I ran inside faster than I had ever thought possible, practically launching myself into the living room.
The first thing I had seen was blood. On the walls, the floor, cabinets, the couch, lamps, everywhere.
"Toph?" I yelled. No answer.
I walked throughout the house slowly. It was eerily quiet for a house with two children in it, and that was another red flag. Dishes were broken, knives were bent, there was a giant indent in the wall. What could have possibly made that? It had to have been some sort of earthbending, so I knew Toph was behind it.
My hands began to shake. I turned my head in the direction of an incredibly faint noise, though I couldn't quite make out what it was. I walked to the baby's bedroom slowly, and attempted to open the door. It wouldn't budge. Something was holding it shut, and it proved to be a pain in the ass to get off.
I kicked it over and over again, finally being able to break it open. It seemed that there had been a metal block from the inside.
Suyin was in her crib, screaming and crying. I ran over, taking her and holding her. There was a small scratch on her cheek, one that seemed to have been done with incredible precision and care. If somebody had been trying to hurt her, why didn't they just kill her? That seemed to me like a motive if they were to be inside of the house.
So what had happened?
I held her close as I walked to the kitchen, trying to figure out what to do. Toph had always breastfed Su, and I didn't know what I could feed her, so I just rocked her slowly until she calmed down.
I looked around and analyzed the situation. I found bent knives, rocks taken out from the structure of the house and floor, broken windows, and I knew there had been a struggle from the looks of blood that had been smudged across the floor. I took a deep breath, and put her back in her crib. I needed to search the house for Toph, because I knew she wouldn't leave her kids unattended, she was too good of a mother.
Where was she? And what about Lin?
I ran to the bedroom, and saw that the door had been broken. I opened it as fast as I could and immediately found my answer.
There was so much blood.
I bit my lip, just staring at the blood, trying not to face what was in front of me on the floor. I took a deep breath to convince my body to calm down and look down.
And I did.
Laying there was Toph with Lin at her side—both of them were pale, and not breathing. Tears welled in my eyes, and I fell to the floor. I had never felt something so heavy in my heart before, it was like an anchor.
I stared at them, my hands shaking and tears falling one by one; I didn't believe what I was seeing. I grabbed Toph and pulled her into my chest, shaking as I laid my fingers onto her neck to search for a pulse.
There was none.
And I'll admit that I cried like I never had before; I began to plead with an unknown higher power. "Bring her back! Bring her back you fucking bastards! How could you do this?" I sobbed, screaming to the spirits.  I held her head onto my chest, laying mine on hers as I cried. "Bring her back..." I whispered, but it was too late; I was too late.
I laid Toph back onto the floor, and slowly picked up Lin, holding her tight; she was too young, she didn't deserve this fate. I took a deep breath to calm myself down, but let out a sob as I looked at the blood on the floor.
They were going to pay for this. I stood up to lay Lin on her bed when I heard a soft groan. Confused, I looked around. That surely wasn't Su—she would be crying—and I heard another one which seemed nearby. I looked down at Lin and laid my hand on her cheek, moving her head up so it was facing me. Her eyes opened.
I let out a breath of relief and hugged her close to me; I needed to get her to a healer immediately. I took one last look at Toph, and said my goodbyes in my head before running out of the room to grab Su. I left the house with the girls as fast as I could.
I didn't know where to go, as Aang had taken Katara out of the city, so I ran to the hospital instead. There were so many people there who were hurt, but they took Lin in as soon as I got there because she was a child who only had hours, maybe even mere minutes left. There was blood all over her, and I couldn't tell if it was hers or Toph's at this point, but either way it didn't matter.
They took her in to work on her, and I stayed in the waiting room waiting for any news all night.