Wahooo! It's finally here! So, yeah, sorry it took so long and I hope you enjoy. To all those who haven't read Toph's Pride, may I suggest that you do so. I may make references to it in future chapters and it's not a bad story in its own right. I won't keep you guys any longer, so I'll just say that I don't own Avatar: The Last Airbender or any of its characters (though I'd settle for being able to write some of the scripts.)
Sokka's Stubborn Streak
A pair of synchronized snores cut through the small campsite illuminated within the darkening surroundings by a small fire. The powerful breaths gently nudged the tall grass and circled into the peaceful clouds above. As the sources inhale, the receding air currents can be traced back to the mouths of a certain airbending monk and his faithful sky bison.
Katara looked up and smiled at the sight of Aang resting atop Appa's head. The cold breeze blowing through made her shiver slightly, prompting her to pull the blanket tighter around her shoulders and move closer to the dwindling fire. She grabbed the last handful of twigs that she had gathered earlier, hoping it would be enough to last them for the night. The loud chatter in the background increased in volume until it finally cut into her bubble of tranquility.
"Would you two give it a rest? It's getting late, and we already agreed to leave early in the morning because we're running short on supplies." Katara reminded her brother, Sokka and semi-new friend, Toph. "You know that the market is going to be crowded by afternoon."
"Hey, I'm all for getting to sleep now." Sokka assured. "If you want something done about it, convince Toph to stop practicing while I put up the tent poles!"
Toph thrust her arms down to direct the rocks she was working with back into the ground. She shot Sokka one of her trademark scowls. "Look, Snoozles! You're the one who insisted that I be more involved with you guys!"
"That doesn't have anything to do with why you're shaking the ground while I'm working!" Sokka protested.
"Just be happy that you're involved with my training. Now that Twinkletoes is done for the day, I need someone to spot me." Toph replied. She felt that Sokka was both ignoring her and having difficulty forcing the last tent pole into the ground, so she discreetly twisted her foot to soften the soil he was working with.
He managed to get it into place and smiled with pride for his pseudo show of strength; not that he was aware of the assistance rendered. "So I'm next on your list of opponents, huh?"
Toph shrugged. "Well, with Katara almost asleep, and Momo already there, I don't have anybody else really."
Sokka counted of the names on his fingers before looking up with an annoyed expression. "Not only am I fourth, but I'm after Momo?" He asked incredulously. "You'd actually rather train with Momo than me?" Sokka hissed, barely remembering that Aang was getting some much needed sleep.
"Look on the bright side, Snoozles." Toph advised. "You still have Appa beneath you in the polls." She consoled, voice full of mock sympathy.
"How can Momo be better practice than I am?" Sokka inquired. "All he does is fly around and eat bugs!". As if he new he was being talked about, Momo rolled over on Aang's stomach before returning to sleep.
"Oh sure, pick on someone who can't even defend himself." Toph chided.
Sokka pointed an accusing finger at her, not really caring whether or not she knew it. "That's exactly what I'm talking about! My boomerang alone is twice the threat Momo could present!"
Toph put her hand to her chin, appearing to be considering this new angle. "You know what, Snoozles, you're right." She admitted.
"Ya see? It all makes sense once you stop and think about it." Sokka lectured, raising an eyebrow and smirking. Katara rolled her eyes and tried to make herself comfortable on the ground.
"It seems I haven't given proper credit where it's due." Toph continued. Sokka nodded his head expectantly. "Your boomerang should come before Momo…and you." She corrected.
"WHAT?" Sokka yelled, completely forgetting to keep his voice down. Fortunately, Aang and the air animals remained oblivious to the noise. "How does my boomerang rank higher than me, when it can't even move on its own?"
Katara sprang to her feet. "Enough already!" She shouted. "Sokka, give it a rest and finish setting up the tent. Toph, take advantage of the fact that Sokka finished off the food you were supposed to put away, and get some sleep."
Sokka shook his head. "Just a minute, Katara. I want to hear Toph's brilliant deductions for why I should come after an inanimate, though very sleekly designed, object."
"If you really want to know, I suppose I can let you in on our secret." Toph relented.
"Our?" Sokka turned a suspicious gaze upon his sister. "Are you in on this?"
"You're joking, right?" Katara yawned and eased herself back onto the ground. "I don't have a clue as to what she is talking about, and I don't want to. It's been a long day and I want to get some sleep."
Sokka ignored his sister's complaints. He turned his attention back onto the young earthbending prodigy who had crossed her arms behind her back and was 'staring' back tauntingly.
"By 'our', I mean your boomerang and me. We got to talking, and boy did it have interesting things to say about you, but the thing that got me was how unhappy it sounded, Meathead." Toph relayed. "It knows that it can be so much greater, but you're holding it back while you toy with its emotions." She wiped away a fake tear.
Sokka slapped his palm to his forehead and dragged it down across his face. "Okay. I'm starting to accept this whole 'bending' thing as something more than sophisticated parlor tricks, but reading emotions from my boomerang is going in some completely crazy direction. I doubt that Aang could even if he went into the Avatar state."
"It's as plain as day, Ponytail. Your boomerang has a sad fate. Everyday, it travels far away, only to return." Toph smiled devilishly. "And let me tell you, Snoozles, it doesn't come back by choice!" Toph threw her head back and laughed.
Sokka, to his credit, lasted a full second and a half before running at Toph with the intention of strangling her.
Katara instinctively reached for her waterskin and extended a waterwhip to prevent Sokka from wrapping his hands around the small girl's throat, but she saw that Sokka had already been stopped in his tracks by a pair of stone boots. Katara lost her focus and dropped the silver line of water in front of Sokka at the exact moment that Toph turned the ball of her feet to release him, causing Sokka to fall into the newly formed mud.
Toph snorted, breaking into a fit of laughter that propelled her to her backside. Sokka slowly pushed himself to a kneeling position, expression completely masked by the muck on his face.
"Sokka…are you okay?" Katara asked carefully, biting the insides of her cheeks to keep from laughing. Sokka remained silent, both hands being used to wipe the wet dirt off of his face and fling it aside. He walked past both girls and retrieved their canteens, Katara's waterskin and a bucket.
"I'm gonna refresh our water supply." He muttered, dumping what little supply they had onto the already soaked ground. He proceeded into the overgrowth of trees, pausing long enough to grab his bag before disappearing from sight.
"Is he okay?" Toph wondered, her voice betraying emotion that was possibly concern.
"Yeah, he should be fine." Katara assured. "It would probably be better if we let him cool down some."
"Are you sure? He's almost as bent out of shape as his boomerang."
Katara shrugged. She picked up the tent and started draping it over the poles Sokka had set up. "He's pretty sensitive about not being taken seriously just because he's not a bender. Haven't you noticed?"
Toph sat up and rested her chin in the palms of her hands; her eyes closed as she tried to recall an instance when he seemed displeased…
Flashback
"We can take 'em. Three on three." Toph remarked upon 'seeing' their opponents.
"Actually, Toph, there's four of us." Sokka pointed out gruffly.
"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't count you." Toph shrugged. "You know, no bending and all."
"I CAN STILL FIGHT!" Sokka yelled, face turning red with outrage.
"Okay…three, on three plus Sokka." She decided, ignoring the sound of Sokka's teeth gnashing.
End Flashback
Toph opened her unseeing eyes. "Nope. Can't say I ever have."
Katara sighed as she secured the last rope. "I'm calling it a night. Don't stay up too late, Toph." She advised, opening the mouth of the tent and climbing inside.
Toph grinned. "No chance of that happening, Sweetness." She assured, clapping her hands above her head to bring two slabs of earth out of the ground in the form of her usual earth tent. "I wanna try sleeping before Snoozles comes back to wake me up with his snoring. If he made any more noise, I'd probably go deaf as well."
Katara rolled her eyes at Toph's unique sense of humor. "Okay then. Night, Toph."
"Night, Sugar Queen."
Sokka dragged his feet around sluggishly as he returned to the stream they had found earlier. 'Stupid, Toph! She's always belittling me. I've already told her about all the times I saved the day.' Sokka counted off each instance on his fingers. 'There was at the Northern Air Temple, that prison full of earthbenders, the Temple in the Fire Nation…'
"I SAVED AN ENTIRE VILLIAGE FROM DROWNING!" He shouted into the treetops, scaring a small cluster of bat moles into hiding. He was so focused on his ranting that he wasn't watching where he was going, finding to his dismay, a very moist feeling coming from his boot after he stepped into the stream. Sokka cursed his inattentiveness, taking off his boot to shake out a small fish that had managed to take refuge inside. He shoved his boot back on and angrily stomped towards the mouth of the stream to refill their reserves.
'I am so sick of dealing with Toph's insults.' He thought crossly. He stared at the now full bucket in his hands.
"Maybe it's time she got sick for a change." He decided with a sly smile, rummaging through his bag to find some rope…
The lack of stars in the sky made it seem all the darker without the light from the campfire. Not that it mattered to a certain little girl whose alias is the 'Blind Bandit'. Toph rolled over for what felt like the hundredth time that night, trying to find any position that would bring sleep easier. She sat up frustrated, placing both palms on the ground to survey her surroundings. It took her a moment to realize that there was an unnatural gap in the in the rhythm made by the sounds of her friends' breathing. Toph bumped her forehead with the heel of her hand once she realized the reason for the altered harmonics.
'I can't believe it. Without Sokka's snores keeping me awake, I can't focus on getting any sleep.' She quickly, yet silently, opened the door to her tent and crawled out into the cool air. She shivered a bit, locking her jaw to keep her teeth from chattering, and stomped the ground to get her bearings. Toph did one final double take to make sure that no one was awake to catch her voluntarily going after Snoozles, before she followed after the surprisingly necessary warrior.
Once she had walked out of Katara and Aang's possible hearing range, she started calling out her various names for Sokka. She stopped long enough for him to respond before starting again as she walked a bit deeper. Still getting no response for what seemed like half an hour, Toph started making mental notes of anything that had a heartbeat in the chance that something was preventing him from answering; she brushed her feelings of anxiety on the simple fact that Sokka was prone to trouble.
A rather large tree with deep running roots soon blocked her path, but just as she was about to earthbend her way around it, she heard a rustling in the leaves above before someone called her name.
"If I'm no use to you, maybe I should just get out of your life."
Toph felt her blood run cold at the tone of his normally warm voice being replaced with a deathly low whisper.
"Sokka?" She questioned uncertainly.
"Goodbye, Toph."
"Sokka!" She called with more force, but her fear-filled cries fell upon deaf ears. She heard his footsteps leave the branch, but the most terrifying sound was the cracking sound of a tree branch followed closely by a noise that could only be a body hitting the ground.
"Sokka, Sokka!" Toph cried out, tears openly cascading down her face, but she knew by the way he'd hit the ground that he wouldn't answer. The smell of fresh blood overpowered her nose, making her gag despite the realization that it was coming from her fingernails digging into her skin. She took a shaky step backwards, not even realizing the open air beneath her foot before she teetered and fell with a splash.
The chilling cold of the water pierced to her bones, pressing around and suffocating her with its mere presence.
'Sokka…Sokka…I'm…sorry…' Her last once of breath escaped and bubbled to the surface, her fate unknown to another living soul as she surrendered herself to the all consuming darkness…
(A/N: Yeah, I was feeling very sadistic when I thought that up. Sorry if I upset any of you.)
"SOKKA!" Toph screamed, instantly sitting up and vaguely appreciating the fact that she kept the ceiling high per usual. The cold sweat from her nightmare made her tunic stick to her body, but she pushed that thought aside and ran over the events she experienced in her terror-filled dream. Panting heavily, she quickly put a palm to the ground, finding herself a bit frantic when she verified that Sokka was still not present. She shook her head violently and gave her arm a good pinch to dispel the sounds from the dream and opened the door to her tent, not even bothering to worry about stealth.
'No way is he going to try something like that, not even in Zuko's treasured fantasies!' She declared silently as she ran after him, for real this time…
'All check.'Sokka thought as he confirmed that the rope was secure. He gave it one final tug before he got into position in the branches of a large tree.
"MEATHEAD!" Toph yelled at the top of her lungs. "GET YOUR BUTT OUT HERE RIGHT NOW!"
Not one to rush into certain annihilation, Sokka remained silent as he observed Toph from his hiding spot. Toph stood in the middle of everything and tried to zero in on the wayward warrior, trying to control the beating of her heart that sped up as she neared the tree that was too strikingly familiar to the one in her dream. She heard the sound of a rope being cut, followed by a freezing set of clothing when a large amount of water found its way to her head despite the obvious fact that it wasn't raining. The fact that her head was now covered with the bucket that housed the water, combined with the sudden drop in temperature caused her to lose focus on her surroundings.
Toph stumbled backwards and tripped over a tree branch, falling hard on the ground as her hand landed on something small and furry.
"Ow!" She exclaimed, gritting her teeth and pulling her left arm closer. She ran her thumb over her palm and winced as the long gash now present protested against the action. She vaguely noticed the vibrations from what must have been a person jumping to the ground, but the burning in her hand prevented her from giving it her full attention.
Sokka walked over to her with a confident stride. "I think it's safe to say that I'm a cut above Momo." Sokka stated smugly. He spied the blood now trickling down her wrist and raised an eyebrow. "Did you hurt yourself?"
"It's nothing. I landed on something small and furry, and now it's gone."
Sokka looked around, but his eyes couldn't penetrate the darkness. "There's nothing out here." He stated matter-of-factly. "It was probably just a sharp rock you landed on."
Toph remained silent as she stood up. Sokka sighed lazily and walked over to her. He took her injured hand in his and fished a handkerchief out of his pocket with the other.
"Here, we'd better tie it before it gets infected." He stated, but she quickly snatched her hand out of his grasp.
"I can manage just fine on my own!" She declared before stomping back in the direction of their campsite. He shrugged, figuring that Katara would notice soon enough and take care of it before her arm had to be cut off. He followed after her, getting there just in time to see her searching in her bag.
Toph pulled out an expensive-looking handkerchief, and with a little difficulty, managed to tie it around the wound with a combination of her good hand and teeth. Satisfied with her handiwork, she crawled through the opening of her tent and turned around at the sound of his approaching footsteps.
Sokka was left wondering how a blind girl could give him a look that said she thought he was scum not even worth the effort it took to scrape it off the bottom of her shoe; if she wore shoes, that is. He didn't keep this train of thinking for long, crawling into the tent along side his sister and getting what he felt was some much-deserved sleep…
Daylight peeked through the cracks Toph left in her tent and shone upon her face like an unwelcome alarm clock. She rolled over slightly and struggled to sit up, ignoring her body's request to remain motionless. She placed her good hand to her sweaty brow, peeling away the bangs sticking together and detecting a moderate fever. She groaned, finding just enough focus to motion her sleeping quarters back into the ground.
Katara glanced up from the cooking fire and spied the weary earthbender. "Toph, are you okay?" She asked concernedly "You don't look so good."
"Ugh," Was all the ailing girl could manage to respond with. She took a few shaky steps forward, nearly falling before Aang steadied her.
"Katara's right." Aang agreed. "Did you get enough sleep last night?"
Toph turned her head in the direction that Sokka's vibrations were coming from, indicating that he was doing his morning exercises.
"Not really." She admitted. "I just had a few bad dreams; nothing to write home about."
'She just doesn't want them to know about me besting her last night.' Sokka mused while bending over to touch his toes.
"Maybe some breakfast would help." Aang offered. "Katara and Sokka managed to catch a decent amount of fish this morning."
Toph shook her head. "Thanks, but I think I'll go wait on the big fuzzball until you're all ready." She replied. "Is everything all packed?"
Aang nodded without thinking. "Yeah, Appa's all loaded. I already ate, so now it's just Sokka and Katara we're waiting on."
Toph didn't even wait for him to finish talking before slowly walking towards Appa. Aang trailed after her, keeping enough distance so that she wouldn't get antsy, but close enough to catch her if it looked like she might start falling again. He gave up on keeping his distance when she proved unable to climb up Appa's leg, grabbing hold of her waist and propelling the both of them up with his airbending.
"Thanks, Aang." Toph spoke before slumping over.
'Wow, she must be really tired if she's calling me by name.' Aang mused. He walked over to their bags and pulled out a blanket, throwing it over Toph's shivering body. He gave her one last concerned glance, noting the handkerchief curiously tied around her left hand, before jumping over to Appa's head and taking the reigns.
Sokka finally walked over to where the smell of fish being exposed to the open flame was originating. Katara looked up at her brother approaching while whistling an unknown melody.
"Do you know why Toph is so tired?" She asked, fairly certain that her brother was responsible in some way for Toph's current state. Sokka shook his head and reached out for one of the fish, ravenously biting into it as if he hadn't eaten for a week. Katara looked at him suspiciously, but let the matter drop in order to nourish her growling stomach. "I'm just relieved that you didn't get yourself bitten by a scorpion-squirrel while you were out there. They typically come out at night, and Aang found a burrow around one of the larger trees in there." Katara pointed in the direction that Sokka had ventured. "Those things are supposed to be really poisonous."
Sokka vaguely recalled hearing something about them somewhere, but put the thought aside and grabbed another helping.
With the meal finished, Katara doused the fire while Sokka packed the last pieces of their belongings on top of Appa. Sokka glanced over at Toph, taking small satisfaction over the probable expression on her face last night, seeing as it was almost too dark to see such details. Katara nudged Aang, who was beginning to nod off from boredom, and they took to the skies with a 'Yip, Yip'.
It wasn't long before the weightlessness began to take its toll on Toph's consciousness; each second emphasized by the pounding in her head. Her friends looked on in horror as she tipped over the railing and plunged headfirst into the clouds below…
A/N: Hope you all liked this first chapter (Wow, I sure make Toph fall a lot in all my stories, except in love, ba dum dum) Next project will be at least one chapter of Napu's Purpose because that one is long overdue for an update.