Dawn of a New Prince (Star Wars/Avatar Crossover)

"Sneak... out?" she said. Grimacing, because any little movement hurt her, Toph slid a little out of his arms, and put her hand on the floor of the cell. Her brow furrowed. "Why the hell did that idiot put me in a cell made out of stone?"

"He was either overconfident about how much he hurt you or he had something planned," Sokka supplied as he looked around his cell, "We could wait to leave, if you want."

"I don't really feel up to doing anything right now," she said, brutally honest. "I'd end up just making things worse, if I tried." She sighed, hurting both emotionally and physically. "I just... I just need a chance to rest. Catch my breath, you know? Then I might be able to pull something outta my ass."

Toph leaned back into him. She frowned almost at once.

"You don't sound too good either, Sokka."

"Bruised here, a broken bone there, nothing I'm not used to," he joked to her with a grin, hoping that Vader didn't notice his mistake until the two managed to escape. He wanted to make sure that Tooph, at least, was safe.

"If I just ignore the pain, I'm sure it will go away," he told her with a shrug.

Toph did not bother teasing him, or even scoffing at the statement. She just nodded. She knew he was right, in a way. They could not afford to sit around for too long, or their chances for escape would slip away from them.

"Then we should both take a chance to breathe," she said.

She curled up next to him again, as if she needed his presence close by just to function. And, in a way, it was the truth. If he hadn't been there for her, Toph knew she would have fallen deeper than she had even been a few minutes ago.

He had saved her, and he probably didn't even know it.

"Thank you," she said. The word was simple, but it had weight and depth to it.

"Anytime."

With that said, Sokka nodded and laid down, his arms wrapped around Toph. He was glad that he was able to help her and some part of him was proud that he was able to foil even one of Vader's actions.

He looked at the girl, a gentle expression on his face. She loved him. He was still shocked to hear that, but he should have known. He shouldn't have found out from Vader. Did he love her? He honestly didn't know. He just knew that he wanted to get her to safety and make sure she was never hurt like this ever again.

Helios

Now on the streets, Helios found himself wandering through the middle ring of the city. All the people around here were just so... he couldn't find the word for them. He detested them, and at the same time, envied them. Their lives were normal, stable, and while they would never achieve greatness, they had something to rely on other than themselves. They were fools for it, but they got to feel secure in their foolishness. He wouldn't ever switch places with them, he didn't want to now, but still that knowledge they were content was something he'd never have. Not while enemies still existed, not while power was still waiting to be claimed, and not while he remained who he was.

Iroh

After the fighting was over, Iroh looked around and sighed. "I don't know. It could cost us some days profit. I am more concerned about that young man, he let his anger consume him, I fear for his future," he said.

Toph listened to his heartbeat. Weird as it sounded, she could not help herself. It calmed her like nothing else. She could not go to sleep, exactly. Her arm hurt too much. But she rested and relaxed, as much as she was able to, and knowing Sokka was there with her comforted her a great deal.

Had the situation not been as dire, she might have enjoyed having his arms around her more.

OOC: Sorry for the double post, but I figured I should go ahead and do something with Katara too.

***

Katara woke from a light slumber, convinced something terrible had just happened. She felt it in her heart. It terrified her, and she wonderful, with growing fear, if her brother, or Toph, or Aang had been hurt.

It made her feel sick to her stomach.

She sat up, thirsty and light-headed. The agents didn't dare leave any water in her cell, for fear of her using it. As weak and tired as she was, Katara doubted she would have been able to do much anyway.

She wished someone would tell her something, anything!

***

Her nerves were a wreck. Toph groaned and nudged Sokka.

"I think... Before we try anything, we need to wrap this up," she said, motioning towards her maimed left arm.

Darth Vader

"I am afraid that will have to wait, child." Darth Vader said as he opened the door to Sokka's cell and came in. Before either could react, Vader raised a blaster pistol and stun the both of them into an unconscious state.

"A crude weapon, but effective." the Sith Lord noted. He tossed the pistol, which landed nearby the cot Sokka had, and proceeded to pick up the earthbender. He carried Toph to her new cell. After traveling down to floors, Vader reached his destination. He handed Toph to a Dai Li agent, who threw her into a wooden cell. Two Dai Li agents used some rope and chains to pull the cage up into the air, far away from any earth or metal. Satisfied, the Dark Lord walked away.

Fi

"Oh? Well, I suppose that's one way to look at it." Fi said, looking thoughtful. "Still, I'm sure you have the better life of the two of us."

Zahanna

"Come on, we'd better go. Azula won't be asleep for long, and we still need to find Vader. He has my bounty." Zahanna said.

Long Feng

"Ah, is the prisoner awake?" the sickeningly sweet voice of Long Feng asked as he approached Katara's cell.

Lilith

Lilith bit her lip as she began to feel guilty. "I don't know....Honestly. I don't have a home anymore, not since I killed Dad. The Army's all I have. And I'm a minority in it, which is not all it's cracked up to be..."
----------------------
Mai

"Fine, lets go then." Mai said after sighing loudly.
-----------------------
Anwar

Anwar nodded his head in agreement as he tried to forget the sight of watching Jet being dragged away. With a few changes, that could have easily been him. "I need to change....do we have any medical supplies in the back?" Anwar asked.

"Long Feng." Katara glared at the man, who, as far as she was concerned, was a snake in the grass. "What do you want?" she demanded. "Haven't you done enough, allying with Vader? It won't work out."

***

Toph woke up, slowly but surely. Her entire body ached, but her arm was killing her. She bit the inside of her cheek to keep from crying out. Silently, she was swearing. She sat up, woozily, and held her maimed arm close.

It did not take her long to realize something was wrong. The cell was smaller, and upon touching it she realized it was wood, all wood. It wavered with her every movement, and she had the distinct feeling that she was in the air.

Panic built up in the back of her throat.

"Sokka...?" she ventured. "Sokka?"

There was no answer. She could not hear him or feel him anymore. He was gone.

And she was alone.

As vulnerable as she was, Toph had been depending on Sokka to steady her. Without him, what bravery she had been mustering, even after all that had happened, slipped away. She lost it.

She cried out for her friends, again and again, Sokka's name coming forth more than a few times. No one answered. She tried reaching out for earth or metal, anything she could bend, and found nothing.

Alone...

Toph curled up in the corner of the wooden box and sobbed.

Helios

As Helios walked along, a few choice words made their way to his ears. "Azula won't sleep... Vader... my bounty," someone nearby said. Zuko looked around, trying to discern where the source of the words were. A potential threat, or nuisance, was something that could be nipped in the bud now if it came to it, but Helios was more concerned with how they knew of his sister and his master.

Iroh

"There should be some medicine and bandages there, yes," Iroh said, and began to clean. They would have to close the shop for today, on such a rotten note.

Sokka groaned as he awoke, uneasy from the dreams he had been having. He dreamt that Toph was alone in the dark and crying. He couldn't get to her no matter how long he ran; she was always out of reach.

His eyes widened as he remembered waking up to Toph's voice and the sound of something being fired. He looked around his cell, not finding anyone.

She was gone.

He roared and beat at his cell door, not caring about the throbbing pain of his fists or even when they started to bleed. He was so angry and afraid that it didn't matter to him. He needed to find Toph.

"LET ME OUT!!!!!" he cried, punching the metal door again and again, "LET ME OUT!!!!! TOPH!!!! CAN YOU HEAR ME?!!!! EVERYTHING'S GOING TO BE OKAY!!!!!!"

"Would you stop yelling?"

A Dai Li agent, one of those commissioned to keep a close watch on Sokka, glared at him from the corridor. It was easy to hear the boy; his screams carried down the corridor and throughout the general vicinity.

"You are not going anywhere, and you friend can't hear you, so you might as well sit back and shut-up," he said.

***

She finally stopped crying. She had no more tears to give, and her throat was raw and achy. Toph lay on her side, cradling her maimed arm, and drifted between troubled sleep and frightened waking hours.

Toph focused all her thoughts on her friends. It helped her fight against the hysteria she had so easily fallen into, but even then she knew that all they were were just that: memories. She was afraid, not only for herself, but for her friends, her second family.

She needed Katara.

She needed Aang.

She needed Sokka.

"Damn you, I won't shut up," Sokka snarled angrily at the Dai Li agent, glaring at him from behind the bars, "I won't let you get away with this! How can you just ally with a mechanical monster like Vader. Your leader is a fool to trust him.

"Then again, this isn't much different than what he's used to doing, is it? I wonder how many small girls he's imprisoned before this. Hundreds? Thousands?"

Sokka couldn't bring down the door keeping him away from Toph and freedom, but he could still attack with his tongue and he was letting it run wild, using all his wit to attack, hurt, to get back at them all for what they were doing.

The agent frowned. "Loyalty amongst the Dai Li is never a sure thing. We are only loyal to the strong, and those who prove themselves worthy to have us as their allies. Grand Master Long Feng saw this in Vader, and so we serve him."

But still, even he had trouble believing this strange man in black metal would return the favor. He was unnatural, strength or not strength, and the agent would be a liar if he did not admit he found it somewhat troubling that they were bullying children.

"So that means you'll work for whoever's the biggest bully on the playground? Is that it?!" Sokka quipped with a grimace, "And you'll do whatever Long Feng says without question. Vader tramatized my friend and now he's doing who-knows-what with her! What does that say about him? He'll do it to every man, woman, and child in Ba Sing Se without any remorse if it would further his goals!"

Sokka banged on the door in frustration, tears running down his cheeks at the memory of the damage that Vader had done to Toph, "I hate you all!"

"We are not so fond of you, either, kid," said the agent. "We've put a great deal of effort into protecting this city, then you and your friends show up and it all goes to hell."

Of course, was it really fair to blame the Avatar and his allies for that? Vader would have arrived sooner or later.

"What would you do, anyway, if you did manage to escape?" he said.

"Gee, imprisoning people you don't like and scaring people into submission sure protects them. Not to mention allying with psychopaths. You guys do a good job," Sokka told him sarcastically before rolling his eyes at his question, "Why do you care? First of all, I would save Toph and then get back to trying to save the world from the Fire Nation and mechanical monsters like Vader."

The agent snorted. "You wouldn't get too far. These caverns are our base of operations. We Dai Li are stationed on every corridor. You are injured, and you are not even a bender. What makes you think you would make it further than a couple of feet?"

Sokka looked into the man's eyes, his cold blue eyes flashing with something ancient, something that was entirely Water Tribe. Whenever a Water Tribesman was set on protecting someone, he did so, that was what his father told him. That someone was Toph and he knew deep down that he'd get her to safety.

"Why don't you let me out and find out now? Or you can leave and you'll hear about it later," he told him in dead-serious tone, one that sounded foreign coming from the usually goofy teenager.

The agent actually smiled. It was not smirk or sneer, either. It was a genuine grin.

"If you are so dead-set on getting killed," he said, "then who am I to stand in your way?"

The Dai Li moved forward, swiftly and quickly, and unlocked Sokka's cell door. He stepped to the side. He frowned upon noticing something out of place.

"Ah. The machine man left one of those strange weapons in your cell. You might want to take that."

Sokka raised his eyebrow at how the Dai Li Agent opened his cell before doing as he said and checking out his cell. He found a weapon in the corner. It was strange, but he thought he knew how they used it. They just pulled a trigger here.

He jumped at the sound of a bright red blast hitting the wall. He was guessing that was to kill. He pressed a button and pulled the trigger again, this time releasing a quieter, white bolt. That one was to knock someone out.

He gripped his new weapon and walked out of the cell before turning to the Dai Li Agent, "How do I know this is not a trick or that you're not going to rat me out?"

"You don't, do you?" said the agent. "But what are you going to do? Go back into that cell? I'll shut the door behind you, if that's so. Otherwise, get your tail in gear before another agent happens this way. We work in circuits, you know."

He huffed, arms going behind his back.

"I'm sure I'll die for this..." he muttered under his breath. Louder, he said, "Your friend was taken two floors below us. I don't know where the other two are. Some of us aren't privy to that information."

The agent walked away.