A young, blind girl wandered the wilderness. She was lost and confused; in more ways than one.
Toph's life had not been an easy one thus far. Her parents, concerned for her safety and for the integrity of the Beifong family, had denied her any semblance of a normal life by shutting her away in her own home.
They didn't understand her.
They would never see her as anything but a blind, helpless girl.
They would never see her.
Then Toph had escaped. For the first time in her life she had felt like she had a chance to live her life as herself, and not as her parents' delicate daughter.
At first, Toph had exalted in her newfound freedom; in being able to look after herself instead of constantly being under her parents' keen eye; in being with people who understood her. They had treated her like a person instead of like a china doll to be protected and locked away or like a painting to be seen but not touched.
But Toph's happiness had been short-lived; her newfound friends hadn't understood her, either. They had constantly badgered her, trying to get her to see to their chores as well as hers.
So Toph had left them in search of someone who would understand her.
She doesn't know where to look, but she knows she can't go back.
She wandered alone.
A man wandered the wilderness. He was searching for someone. Someone he had lost.
Twice.
The man was incredibly old; not in body, but in spirit. He called himself the Doctor. He would have liked to think that he deserved that name; the physician, the healer of hurts, but now he wasn't so sure. He had lost many friends and loved ones throughout the centuries. He couldn't save them.
There were so many. An endless parade of faces marched behind his tired eyes, each one with a name and a story of its own. However, they all had something in common; they were all gone.
One would think that he would learn to accept it and move on, but each time it just grew more painful. He had long since learned to hide his pain behind walls of light-heartedness and humor; not many could see past those walls.
The Doctor liked this world and he visited it often; it had a peaceful atmosphere and was a good place to think.
He contemplated his lost friend; the last in a long line of lost souls he had taken under his wing, but had ultimately led to their deaths. The peculiar thing about this particular soul, however, was that he had inadvertently caused her death twice. And if that wasn't strange enough, she hadn't remembered him; it was as if she were two different people living completely different places and times. But that couldn't be true, the Doctor was absolutely certain she was the same person. It was a mystery.
To distract himself from such heavy thoughts, the Doctor focused on his surroundings. This world really was fascinating, especially the natives; they-
The Doctor's musings were rudely interrupted when a spire of bedrock erupted from the ground and slammed into his tailbone, knocking him to the ground.
Toph inspected the prone figure before her. He seemed normal, but looks could be deceiving. Just a moment ago she had sensed his footfalls on the trail behind a large boulder and hadn't given him a second thought, until she noticed his heartbeat. His double heartbeat.
"What are you, some kind of spirit or something?" she demanded.
The Doctor looked up in confusion.
"A spirit? No, last I checked I wasn't. Do you want me to check again? Sometimes I'm wrong about this sort of thing." The Doctor gave Toph a quick grin.
"Then how come you have two hearts?" Toph asked, bewildered.
"Interesting story, actually. You see- wait, what?" The Doctor gave a double-take. "How can you know that? Especially since- wait a second"- the Doctor gave her a quick scan with his sonic screwdriver- "Yes, you're completely blind. How is that possible?"
"Oh, I'm only the greatest earthbender who ever lived" Toph replied off-handedly, "I just sense vibrations through the ground and use them to see things, that's all."
"Psychokinetic echolocation" the Doctor murmured, amazed. "Brilliant, absolutely brilliant, that's what you are. It's not every day I meet someone who surprises me, so thank you Miss- um"
"Toph Beifong."
"Nice to meet you, I'm the Doctor. Anyway, thank you Miss Toph."
"Don't call me that" Toph muttered.
"Sorry, didn't catch that."
"Don't call me 'Miss Toph'. It reminds me of my parents."
"Ooh… mommy-daddy issues. Nasty business. Are you running away, then?"
"Not exactly, it's a long story" said Toph, unwilling to talk.
"Well, I've got all the time in the world. Literally." The Doctor said; sitting down, inviting Toph to join him.
"I was running away, and then I ran away again."
"Sorry, I'm confused. How do run away while you're running away? You've got to teach me that trick."
"I'll just start at the beginning." Said Toph, holding back a grin.
"Always a good place to start. Have you ever tried starting from the middle? It's not easy, I can tell you that."
Toph chuckled.
"See?" the Doctor said. "Life's not that bad. In my experience it's almost never that bad. Although, I'm a little fuzzy on the definition of 'that bad'. It can get tricky."
Toph thought that there was something a little familiar about the way this man, the Doctor, kept rambling on. A familiar feel to it. Suddenly, she got it. That was what she did whenever she felt insecure or uncertain, although her outbursts tended to involve a lot more violence, possibly also some boulders. She wondered what, or who, the Doctor was thinking of that made him feel this way.
"Sorry Toph, I'm interrupting your story, aren't I? Please, continue."
"Well, my parents and I don't exactly agree on the subject of personal freedom. Sometimes I feel that I'll just suffocate from all their worrying and doting. Then I met some new friends who treated me differently. They actually seemed to care about me and wanted me to join them and help them. I agreed immediately, of course. I even went behind my father's back when he refused to let me go." Toph's expression grew wistful. "At first, it was great. It was all I had wished for. I was free." she frowned slightly. "But then it all went wrong. They didn't care about me; all they wanted was another pair of hands to do their chores. After a few fights with them I couldn't take it anymore and I left them." The earthbender felt an uncharacteristic upwelling of emotion. "All I wanted was to be free; is that too much to ask?" Toph fought back a couple of rebellious tears.
The Doctor looked at Toph with those old, tired eyes. "Ah, to be free," he sighed; his voice for once completely devoid of laughter or sarcasm, sounding like the world weary man he was. "A most noble pursuit. I myself have clashed with authority about it as well." His eyes sparkled, as if recalling fond memories, but that spark quickly faded. "Sometimes I wonder whether they were right; I always try to do good on my travels, but sometimes it seems that I harm more than help." Faces flashed in his mind's eye. So many faces, all dead because of him.
"I lost a friend recently." The Doctor said.
"'Lost' as in lost, or as in…" Toph trailed off.
"I don't know, it's complicated. That's the frustrating part, I don't know who she is, if she's even alive and, even if she is, I wouldn't know where to look for her. I'm completely lost."
Toph nodded sympathetically. "How did you find her the first time?"
"Well, I just sort of bumped into her."
"I think that if you just wander around, you're bound to meet her again eventually."
The Doctor looked at Toph with renewed hope. "Thanks. Maybe all I needed was somebody to believe in me. It's been so long."
Toph smiled. She felt a little better herself. But her smile faded as she remembered her own problems.
The Doctor gave her a discerning look. "You know," he said. "You might not be as lost as you think either."
"What do you mean?" she asked.
"Well, try to think of this situation through your friends' eyes. They've been traveling together for some time and they have certain norms, like everybody helping to do chores instead of caring only for themselves. Where you see people slaving for others, they see people helping each other to get the job done. It's not a crime to help others or to accept, or even ask for help occasionally."
Toph grew thoughtful. She thought about her friends and the way they trusted and helped each other.
As she reached a conclusion it must have shown on her face because she could sense the Doctor smiling at her. "Maybe you're right." She said. "Maybe I wanted so badly to escape my parents' pampering that I got it into my head that accepting help was showing weakness. I see now that I was wrong. Thank you for helping me realize that."
The doctor regained his characteristic goofy grin. "You are most welcome." he said, rising. "Now I think I'll be going. I'm going to take your advice; if I just keep wandering maybe I'll find my friend."
Toph stood up as well. "Thanks for your advice." she said. "I hope you find her."
The Doctor gave Toph one last smile and sauntered off into the woods as if he hadn't a care in the world.
Taking a deep breath, Toph turned around and began to head toward the faint impressions of her friends she sensed on the ground far away.
A/N: So, this is my first attempt at a fanfiction. It's supposed to be a mashup of the scene where Toph meets Iroh and the prologue to The Bells of Saint John where the 11th Doctor unknowingly meets a younger version of Clara while looking for her. I'd very much appreciate constructive criticism and suggestions as to what to write next. I hope you enjoyed the story.