"Bad isn't it?"

Toph glanced at the girl who had spoken. She was short, the same height as her, with dark brown hair. "I've seen worse." It was true; a simple boiler explosion at the local school was nothing compared to watching her home city burning. It was a family joke that evil followed them around but this time it looked like it had got ahead of her.

The girl was still blathering on about meaningless things. "Yeah I guess so; they say we can go back in on Monday. No need for uniforms since the school has no heating so we are allowed to wrap up warm."

Toph adjusted the strap of her bag and looked around at the people passing by. "Yeah." She gave a vague response; still not even listening.

"Hey can you see that I'm on fire?" That caught her by surprise. Had the girl really said that or was Toph hearing things again?

The girl was looking at her with a pleading look in her eye so Toph felt it would be best if she gave an answer. "No, look I got to go." The girl called her name, Emily, at Toph's retreating back and told her to look out for her at school. Like that was going to happen.

According to the scrap of paper in her free hand the flat she had bought wasn't much further. A few rich family members had died before the recent fire leaving her the cash to get set up on her own even if she was only 15. "Well, you're only as old as you feel as they say and I feel ancient."

"And you don't look a day under 80." Toph turned to confront the speaker but his oafish grin disarmed her, something that hadn't happened in a long time. "You look like you are new in town; want me to show you around?"

"No, thank you. I just want to find this place." She handed over the scrap of paper she had scrawled the directions she had been told over the phone by her new landlord and the address. The boy's dark skin made her doubt he was Canadian or, at the very least, his parents weren't.

He thought for a moment before snapping his fingers. "Oh I know this, it's over the arcade. You moving in? It's been empty since..." He trailed off and his face darkened for a few seconds. "Since like ever. Come on I'll show you."

"No just tell me..." Toph started but he just grabbed her wrist and started dragging her along behind him laughing all the way. She could feel a blush creeping across her face as he wittered on about silly nonsense. After a minute or so Toph could take no more and snapped. "Let me the hell go!" The boy stopped dead and she crashed into him. "Look why are you so eager to help? Think you are going to get lucky, is that it? Cause if so, will sleeping with you make you go away?"

"Did it again, idiot." He mumbled before swapping grips so he had her hand and shook it. "Sorry about that, my name's Sokka. I guess I come on a bit strong sometimes, Suki was always telling me off about that. We're here by the way, stairs are round the back." He turned to go but before he was out of earshot he spoke over his shoulder. "Oh and you are really good looking I would have liked to get to know you better." He turned a corner and Toph caught a glimpse of his haunted expression.

The blush that had appeared earlier came back with a vengeance; not only from his compliment but also because she was the one that had made him feel so bad. "J-jerkass. Why did he have to say that?" Toph wasn't used to all this attention over a whole year let alone 24 hours.

The landlord was waiting for her and quickly gave her the tour; he seemed to sense she wasn't in the mood to hang around and chat. The lay out was simple; the door opened onto the living room which branched off to the kitchen and bathroom on one side and the bedroom on the other. The only furniture was the bed and the bathroom and kitchen were both very basic.

After the landlord had handed over the keys and left Toph slumped down in the corner of the living room and sighed. "I guess all the things I've been running from have started to catch up to me. Maybe it's time I went to ground; this seams a nice enough place for me." And with that thought buzzing round her head she fell into a deep sleep.

Sarah stood looking over the railings of the ship and watched the reflection of the moon in the water. She had left her mother at the docks in Southampton because of the immoral way she always acted. "It just isn't right the way she acts, hurting people and ruining their lives all the time."

She was pulled out of her thoughts by the sound of shouting from the front of the boat. Looking up Sarah saw it was just a couple messing about like a pair of love sick idiots. Not that Sarah could really complain since she and Kate had been the same way when they first met. A smile flashed across Sarah's face at the memory of those simpler times; back when she was happy to live her mother's way.

"Hey, what happened? Why did you leave the room?" The soft voice caused Sarah to turn around. Seeing Kate stood there she immediately moved to support her.

"It's alright. I just needed some air is all. How are you feeling?" They were heeded to America as they had heard about the doctors there and were hoping to find someone that knew what was wrong with Kate; she lacked any real energy and kept fainting.

"I'm ok. How could I not be with you here? You all ways look after me and make me feel special and right and new."


Although it doesn't show it yet this fic crosses over with my Avatar fic that I'm writing at the same time. The plot merges about half way through. Both stories are part of the silicaverse, see my profile for details.

Emily from the opening is from 'make 5 wishes' which is a fairly awesome comic. If you have read it then I have no idea why she is still 'on fire' since Romeo doesn't exist in this universe. So don't ask.

The italic bit is a dream Toph is having but neither Sarah nor Kate is her neither was she ever on Titanic neither did she witness this event in any way.