A.N.): Modern Taang with a twist. Just because I can.

In a way, it all started with the crash.

It changed his life so much… and in so many ways.

And it changed her life too.

His life had been going so well… he had finally helped turn Zuko's life around; they had finally gotten Zuko's bastard of a father sent to jail for his many crimes; they had cleared all of the false charges heaped upon his friends and their families… and to top it all off, he had finally gotten with Katara, the girl of his dreams.

It had been their first official date, and his foster father had been driving him to the restaurant.

Then, a truck driver had fallen asleep at the wheel.

Forty tons of semi and cargo had slammed into the driver's side of the car. Forty tons coming straight off the highway and straight into the car.

He had lost so much, his foster father, their car… and his sight.

He awoke to the sound of his own heartbeat in a world of darkness. The usually unnoticed and steady beat was suddenly loud in his ears.

Then it faded to nothing.

"Damnit! Clear!"

Pain lanced through his chest and his body moved on its own, jerking in place. His heartbeat fast and erratic in his ears once again, sound rushing back to him, jumbled bits of noise and sound reaching his muddled brain.

Words… he was having trouble understanding their words… were they talking about him?

He didn't know where he was. He didn't know what was going on. Why was it so dark? Were his eyes closed?

His head felt heavy, he could barely feel his arms… why could he barely feel his arms? Why did his eyelids feel so heavy…? And why was it so hard to breathe?

Was his heartbeat getting softer?

He tried to turn his head, to open his eyes, but his body didn't obey him and part of him distantly felt his head slump to the side.

Then his heartbeat ceased once again, and all other sounds faded into the background. All but one.

"Again! Clear!"

Pain flared again, and this time he was aware of his body trying to lift from some kind of bed as it jerked; the sound of his heart jerking into action once again filling his eardrums.

He didn't even realize he wasn't breathing until he felt the air forced into his lungs. It felt weird, and now that he thought about it, he could feel a mask pressing into his face. Was he in the hospital?

Did he hurt? Yes, he hurt a lot. Why did he hurt so much? What was wrong? What had happened?

His heart sputtered to a stop once again. Was he dying? Was this what it was like to die? He didn't want to die…

"Clear!"

The pain came all over again, surging through his torso. He actually felt his body jerk up off of the bed this time, and his heartbeat was loud and strong in his ears.

But he still wasn't breathing was he? Why wasn't he breathing? Why couldn't he make his body move? Why couldn't he make himself breathe?

Then the mask returned and the sensation of air being forced into his lungs came with it. It wasn't just weird this time… it was… painful?

His chest heaved, his vocal cords protested against the air rushing back past them and he coughed.

It hurt, it hurt a lot, but he was so happy. Because with the pain came a degree of control over his body once again. Weak as it was, even though his arms and legs still felt like they were made of lead, even though his body hurt and his throat already felt raw from the horrid coughing… he was breathing on his own.

Other sensations began to filter through into his head… happy but contained sobbing… too many voices speaking too quickly for his befuddled mind to understand… hands here and there on his body, some holding him down, some moving things, too much happening at once… he could feel a needle in his arm, straps on his body, cuts in so many places… he hurt so much…

But he had to find them, the people who had saved him, he had to thank them… and they would know what happened, they could tell him what had happened… but he had to find them didn't he? He had to open his eyes…

His body groaned in protest as he moved his head, why did his eyelids feel so heavy? Why did the side of his head hurt? Why was it so hard to open his eyes? Why was it still dark? Why weren't his eyes open?!

And then he realized.

They were open.

He could feel the cool air on his eyes and the trembling of his eyelids.

But it was still dark.

He was blind.

And with that terrifying knowledge, Aang passed out.

She got the call first thing in the morning… well, her father got the call, and he brought the news to her.

Aang was in the hospital.

The first thing she did was call Katara, the poor girl had been worried sick about him, none of them had heard from him since yesterday. The hospital only called her because he was in a Bei Fong hospital, all of their hospitals would call them if any of her friends were taken in.

It took Toph several minutes to calm down the near sobbing Katara, and once she had, she told her friend to get ready to get picked up. They both knew what she meant.

Toph's father surprised her though when she stomped up to him. He told her that the car was ready when she was. It drew the best smile from her that she could manage at the time.

Soon she was in the car, and everything around her faded into a blur. Her friend, her best friend, her firstfriend… was in the hospital, and she didn't know a thing about what was going on. The small girl hugged herself in the backseat of the car, trying so hard to keep herself from crying.

She didn't even realize they had arrived at Katara's house until the car door opened and the blue-eyed girl crawled into the back seat with her.

Toph could feel the older girl's eyes upon her and Toph turned her head towards Katara, for a long moment the two girls sat like that. Then Toph gathered herself together, "C-Close the door Sweetness… you're letting in the cold."

The smaller girl felt some of the tension lift as Katara smiled weakly at her, and soon the older girl closed the door, buckling herself in.

Time passed in a haze for the two girls… until Katara spoke softly, "Do… do you know anything?"

Toph's lips pressed into a thin line before she shook her head sadly, "No, they won't tell us a thing just 'cause we're not family." As her words sunk in, Katara's worry and fears came back to the fore, and the recently stopped tears threatened to break free once more.

Until the blind girl shoved her, "Hey, this is Twinkletoes we're talking about, he wouldn't dare die, he knows we'd bring him back to life just to kick his ass."

Her rough words and demeanor had the desired effect, she could feel Katara smiling. The older girl didn't notice the slight hitch in Toph's voice that didn't exist. And the smile on her face was completely real, not a fake thing about it.

But the older girl still teared up, despite her friends best efforts, and suddenly latched onto Toph, sobbing quietly against her, "I-I just want him to be okay…"

After an awkward moment, the smaller girl relaxed just a bit and wrapped her arms around Katara, "Hey… hey… easy… it's okay, he's gonna be alright," Toph's words were almost as much for soothing herself as the sobbing girl in her arms, because despite her tough exterior, the blind girl was almost as worried about Aang as Katara was.

Aang might've been Katara's boyfriend, but he was Toph's first friend, her companion, and the first person to ever even try to understand her. The thought that he might be gone, lost to them, shook her to her core.

But that didn't mean she was going to let Katara know that. She needed someone to be strong for her right now, and Twinkles was obviously not available.

The blind girl cooed softly and as soothingly as she could to the girl latched onto her, and the two young women held onto each other tightly. Each drawing comfort from the other as Toph's father drove them to the hospital.

It took too long to get to the hospital, and yet at the same time, they got there too soon.

And as they walked into the hospital lounge, Toph clutched Katara's sleeve as much for her own sanity as Katara's. They could feel the cool air-conditioned air hit them as they slipped between the automatic doors, and a feeling of dread wash over them both as a doctor noticed Toph's father and quickly walked over.

"Mr. Bei Fong?" At his nod, the doctor continued, "I'm afraid I have some bad news…"

A.N.): Wow, this is going to be fun to write. Alright, good news: I'm going to be alternating between this and my other Avatar fanfic, this is going to be shorter than Soft as Sand, Strong as a Hurricane though. Both are going to be coming easy to me.

And now the bad news: For whoever's reading this and eagerly expecting more. Well, you're going to have to wait a bit. I came up with a funny, mildly Taangy, oneshot idea that's screaming to be written. It's going to be awesome, but it's coming before my other to Avatar fanfics. That and I'm going to be going to college soon, I'm going to quite suddenly have less time to write... sadly.

Reviews and constructive criticism are wanted... please. I'm trying to make my writing as good as it can be, but to do that I need people to tell me what I'm doing wrong and what I could do better.