Dislcaimer: I don't own avatar the last airbender.
Toph was sure they were going to die. Not from her concussion, or Sokka's broken arm. They were going to die facing Katara's wrath.
"I hate to admit it, but we should have listened to Katara."
"Agreed."
It wasn't their fault that they ended up this way. All they wanted was to have a drink. The fire nation loyalist party thought otherwise.
"Where do you think we are?"
"Yes, ask the blind one for damn directions."
The last thing they remembered was clinking their bottles together and chugging down sake. Apparently, some loyalists thought it would be a good idea to drug their drinks with a sedative, take them out into some god forbidden forest and beat them senseless while they were unconscious. Why didn't they finish the job? Toph didn't care. She just called them pussies.
"I didn't even know the fire nation had a forest. And for that matter so close to the capital."
She snorted at him. "Maybe you shouldn't sleep while we are flying places. You'll probably learn a thing or two paying attention to our surroundings."
Sokka looked at her irritated. "Maybe you should take your own advice."
"Do we really have to go through this again?" Toph was the frustrated one now.
"No. No we don't." He had blundered once more forgetting she couldn't see anything through her milky blank eyes.
Sokka had walked several paces more before he noticed that the sound of someone following him had seized. He looked back and found Toph bent over, one hand on her knee and one hand holding the right side of her head. He raced back to her.
"How you doing there, Blind Bandit?"
She breathed shakily. "I retired remember?"
Sokka chuckled. "You'll always be the Bandit to me. How's the head?"
"You know how I like to throw small rocks at your head?" He nodded. "It feels like that over and over again."
"Maybe it will let you rethink doing that to me then?"
"Not a a fucking chance, idiot."
Sokka grabbed her shoulder and led her to a nearby tree. "We're going to rest for awhile then."
Toph tried shaking him off but found his arm more than comforting. "No, we should keep going. Katara is going to spank us and that's all I'd like to receive, thanks."
"Look at us? We were just fucking kidnapped and we are worrying about my sister of all things flipping her shit."
"I know you are scared of her."
"So are you."
Toph leaned into him. Sokka wrapped his left arm around her. "Sleepy time?" She didn't answer in words, just a series of grunts and moans. "Alright. Fifteen minute nap."
As much as he wanted to go to sleep too, Sokka forced himself to keep an eye out. He alternated from surveying their surrounding and observing Toph, making sure she wasn't in any discomfort. He had no clue how bad her head injury was. The only sign he got was when they first woke up. She had puked and Sokka was thankful she did when conscious otherwise he would have found her choked on her own vomit.
His eyes wandered to the pendent around Toph's neck. It was visible only to him as Toph's collar usually covered it on ordinary days. She stated that she didn't want others looking at it and getting ideas. The stone he carved was a expensive emerald and Toph treasured it. As Sokka studied the necklace more his eyes widened in alarm at the bruises. Wanting the sign of his betrothal to be unique, instead of a usual silk fabric for the necklace, he had mounted the pendent on the rare meteorite he found near the end of the war. Toph could easily take the necklace, on, off, or adjust it. On most occasions, it never came off.
Sokka shook her to consciousness. It had only been seven minutes. "Toph, wake up."
She growled. "Fuck off."
"Toph, get up." He shook her harder this time.
The master earthbender groaned loudly before sitting up. "What is it, damnit."
Sokka made a note of her increased irritability, another symptom of her concussion. "You have bruises on your neck."
"In what world was it okay to give me hickies right now?" She scowled at him.
"Toph, they were trying to take your necklace."
She was silent for a moment before her scowl turned into full on fury. "I'm gonna fucking kill'em."
"Not if I get to those shit heads first."
The two of them pushed on through the forest. At some point, Toph began leading the way while Sokka tried keeping up with her. The pain in his arm was getting worse. He was sure leaving it dangling as it was wasn't going to help his cause. But they had no time to stop and take care of it. They only had a few hours to get back to the capital and according to the placement of the sun, it was already mid day.
It was Toph's turn to run back when she felt Sokka stop behind her.
"It's the arm huh?"
Sokka grunted in paint. "I need to immobilize it. See if you can find any mud."
"Aye aye captain."
Toph carefully felt the ground for anything as loose as mud.. She found a good log that acted as a bridge above a large mud puddle. She thanked the spirits for such a discovery. Luck was on their side. Carefully, the master earthbender bent a large amount of the mud and made her way back to Sokka.
Toph smirked. "Did someone order mud?"
"Excellent!" Sokka could always count on Toph coming through for him. He painfully lifted his broken arm into the air and straightened his forearm the best he could. "Now, I need you to bend the mud around my forearm. I think my ulna is broken."
Toph carefully surrounded Sokka's arm in the damp mud.
"Make sure you get it past my elbow joint and my wrist. Also keep my -fuck!- fingers open." Sokkaclosed one eye in pain.
The earthbender did as she was told silently. She hated seeing him in so much pain. The mud covered all the spots he needed and Toph didn't need to be told to harden the mud. Sokka smiled at her. Two great minds think alike he supposed.
He inspected the make shift cast for any discomfort and was happy to find his arm feeling better. "This is good. It doesn't hurt as bad. Ever tried a career in medicine?"
"I'll leave the healing to your sister. Greatest earthbender in the world is my only occupation." She grinned.
Sokka placed a hand to his hip. "Will that pay our bills?"
"We aren't married yet, stupid." Toph laughed.
The water tribe warrior took the lead once more. "We will be eventually. There is always something. A riot in the earth kingdom, finding Zuko's mom, emergency council meetings. Aang and Katara getting married of all things!"
Toph put her hands in the air. "And we were engaged before them!"
"Exactly!" Sokka exasperated. He looked back at her. "But don't worry. After today, I don't care about engagement parties, announcements, wedding planning. We are just going to damn well do it."
"We never wanted any of that shit anyways."
"Right. Fuck all that. Let's get married."
Toph smiled genuinely at his words.
Mid day turned into late afternoon and the sun was making its way to the other side of the sky. The couple was now holding hands making their way to the forest. It was the peak of summer. Summer in the fire nation was the worst and it wasn't helping Toph's concussion. Sokka noticed her weight starting to increase on her hand. She was sweating profusely. The sound of running water made Sokka's head perk.
"Alright, Toph." Sokka walked towards the sound of water. "Let's cool you off."
He couldn't be happier when he found a small river, just big enough to submerge his lovely fiance into.
"Is that a river?" She asked through her exhaustion.
Sokka grabbed her tiny waist. "Mhm."
"Get me a drink will ya?"
"Sure."
Before Toph could even register, Sokka had picked her up. She was small and light for his single arm. He made his way into the river, the water reaching his knees. Toph tried fighting through her headache.
"Wait, Sokka don't-"
Too late.
"I am so dead."
Sokkka dropped her and the water hit her face. Her arms and legs flailed trying to lift herself out of the water. The master earthbender yelled and screamed. "I can't swim, damnit! Fuck, help!"
"Toph."
"I'm gonna kick your ass when you die! Even if we are in the fucking spirit world!"
"Toph."
"I hope you're shitting your pants right now laughing at me! Being an asshole letting me drown!"
"Toph."
"Are you really not gonna fucking help me, jack ass?!" She was panicking now.
Sokka rolled his eyes. "Damnit, Toph. Stand up."
The metalbender stopped moving. In all her frantic yelling, she hadn't noticed the stone underneath her. She hissed as the cold water cleansed her newly formed scratches. The stone had cut parts of her arm and legs. Toph couldn't feel any stupider.
She slowly stood up, the water coming to her upper thighs. "Why the hell didn't you tell me the water was so shallow?"
Sokka shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know. I needed a good laugh I guess."
"Ass hole."
"The one and only!" The water tribe warrior splashed her with water and began running away.
"Get back here!" Toph followed after him.
The two messed around in the water for about another half hour. Sokka didn't really regard the fact that the movement wasn't helping Toph's headache. But the earthbender wasn't complaining. Unfortunately for him, the mud had re-softened and completely washed away. The cold water contradicted the pain from having his arm moving around again. Toph could always just make more mud.
They were sitting in the water at hip level. The sun was beating down on them hard. Toph's hair was out of its bun, the tips of the ebony locks on the surface of the water. She soaked it every now and then when it started getting too hot.
"Where do you want to get married?"
Sokka sighed. He cupped some water and washed his face. "Anywhere. As long as you are there."
She punched his good shoulder. "That's not what I meant. Like where? In the fire nation? My parents estate? Ba Sing Se?"
He didn't even mention the South Pole. As much as he wanted a traditional water tribe wedding, their last couple of visits to his homeland assured him that Toph was nothing but uncomfortable in the frozen land of ice that was the Southern Water Tribe. Sokka couldn't blame her. He would hate being out of his element too if it meant being actually blind.
Toph practically fell over when he answered.
"Let's go find a forest."
She glanced in his general direction. "You want to get married. In a fucking forest."
"Yes, I want to get married in a fucking forest. With a fucking river."
"Out of all the places we have been, you want to get married in a damn forest."
"You forgot the river."
"With a river."
"Think about it." Sokka grabbed her hand. "It's pretty nice here. There is both earth and water. It's like us. I'm sure there are times that the river floods when it rains, but think of it as me always being there whether you like it or not. And the earth gets eroded away by the running river. But it's like me eroding your tough walls where I find something," He touched her nose with a finger. "Absolutely beautiful."
She scoffed. "How philosophical of you, oh wise one."
"Don't ruin the damn moment."
"Fine. Let's find a fucking forest with a fucking river. But not this one."
Sokka looked around at the trees in disgust. "Definitely not this one"
And once again, the pair of them were walking once more. Toph had fashioned him another mud cast after a quick ten minute nap for her.
Toph questioned their sense of direction when she realized that the sun wasn't bothering her anymore.
"Are we going to find any civilization soon?" Her head was getting the best of her. She couldn't wait to sleep uninterrupted when they got back to the palace.
Sokka looked around. They had been walking for several hours. "Are you well enough to earthbend us up so I can get a better view?"
She didn't answer with words, but did as he said. Quickly, they ascended on an earth pillar. They broke through the trees and the sun was back on their faces. Toph stopped when she figured they were tall enough.
The water tribe warrior scanned their current location and couldn't help the groan that escaped his lips.
"What now?"
Sokka stared at the large volcano that he knew the fire nation capital was situated on. "Our kidnappers were certainly persistent with our disposal."
"Why do you say that?" Toph put a hand to her head.
"They took us all the way out of the capital and down the volcano."
"Fuck me."
"Maybe later."
She punched him with a smirk.
Sokka, used to her abuse, didn't even flinch. "Focus. Can you feel the town about two miles away?"
Toph tried her best to use her seismic sense to feel the bustling of people or the structure of buildings. She got only a small glimpse, her head ache making it hard to listen.
"Just a little. My head is killing me."
"Another nap?"
She lowered them back to the ground and the earthbender sat on the floor holding her head. "A short one and then we keep going."
Sokka let her head rest on his lap. He silently prayed that these next two miles wouldn't take too long. His eyelids were suddenly heavy and before he realized it, he succumbed to his exhaustion.
"Aaaaaaah!"
His back hit the metal hard. His arm practically came out of its socket as her weight pulled down hard.
"Just hold on, Toph."
"Aye, aye, Captain."
His eyes darted from left to right. The boots clanked on the metal platforms as the firebenders prepared in a stance to burn them alive. Even after throwing his boomerang and sacrificing his first sword, more soldiers surrounded them.
He panicked when her hands slipped and their fingers were the only thing keeping them together.
"I don't think boomerang is coming back, Toph. I think this is the end."
Her hand began to tremble and it shook him all the way down to his toes.
"Sokka...I love you."
Her hand slipped and her screams were all he heard as the fire came at him.
"Gahhhhhhhh!"
He jolted awake and looked around frantically. A weight came off of his lap and he panicked even more. He was in a forest, it was practically night time, and he wasn't being burned alive.
"Sokka! Calm down, it was a dream! I'm right here!"
He searched for her voice, but he turned too quickly to realize that she was holding his shoulders and facing him directly. She placed her hands on both sides of her face.
"Stop it. We won. We didn't die. Calm the hell down."
His eyes found her green ones. Toph always had an unusual skill of locking eyes with people. He had always been so surprised when he found her "staring" straight at him when talking. Creepy at any other time, more than comforting right now. He continued to stare as he assured himself everything was okay.
"That's it. Breathe, idiot."
He did as she said and both were glad to find his heartbeat slowly change from the hard thumping from before to a tolerable rhythm.
"How did you know you were in my dream?"
Toph rolled her eyes. "You always grip my clothes or hair when you have a nightmare about me."
"What was it this time?"
"Hair."
Sokka sighed deeply. "Did I hurt you?"
"I already had the headache."
He grabbed her head and brought her lips to his. They crashed together violently. Sokka moved his lips roughly, however, unconcerned that he was overwhelming her. He had learned early on that Toph wanted to be dominated during intimate moment such as these. She put up a good fight herself which only caused Sokka to push more. He pried her tongue open with her mouth and she gladly let him enter, their tongues beginning their usual routine. Her hand fisted his clothes while the other raked his back, the one thing that caused him to surge in delight. He arched his back and pressed into her more. His lips were everywhere. On her own lips, her chin, her jaw, her cheeks, and down her neck. He felt her shiver with excitement and it caused him to smirk against her skin.
Sokka moved back and brought their foreheads. Toph was suddenly brought back from her high, always the one asking for more.
"What was that for?" She whispered, her breath tickling his face.
Sokka chuckled. "Just needed to feel you."
"You even made my damn headache go away for awhile."
"My pleasure."
"Remember when you said you would fuck me maybe later?"
"Let's keep moving."
Toph's scowl was all he needed to feel better. Sokka helped her up with his good arm and the earthbender latched onto it just like when they were kids. They walked through the early hours of the night, the breeze blowing through their hair. It seemed in the last few moments of the day, clouds had moved in to inhabit the sky. They made small conversation for the next hour.
"But where did the earth king get the bear?"
Toph shrugged. "How the hell should I know? I didn't even know just bears existed."
Sokka moved his hands as he spoke. "It was a fucking bear! Not a platypus bear, armadillo bear, or gopher bear. Do you think he was artificially made?"
"How the hell do you artificially make a bear?"
"You see, I had this theory that if we take something that had all your genetic information, like a piece of hair-"
Toph covered Sokka's mouth to make him halt his speech. He tried refusing at first but found the familiar look of alertness in her eyes. Toph stood still and listened.
"What is it?" He whispered once her hand moved away from his mouth.
"I feel footsteps." Toph listened once more. "30 foot radius from us."
His hand had already reached for the hilt of his sword. Why they left his sword on him? Sokka called them pussies.
Toph's posture changed and she seemed to relax. "They're gone."
Sokka kept his guard up. "I don't believe you."
She understood. "Where could they be? Obviously not on the ground."
"I don't know." He searched the trees carefully for any rustling. Any movement. Something. The silence was irritating and slightly spiking their paranoia. They traveled in a circle, backs to each other.
"I'm not liking this, Sokka."
He knew she was frightened of being surprised by the enemy. She had a reputation of catching attackers seconds and even minutes before they did attack. However, there were rare enemies that figured out ways to evade Toph's feet.
"I know, I know. Just be ready."
The water tribe warrior made his third cycle looking at the trees. In the corned of his eye, there was a glint of something. It shined against the moonlight. He had never moved so fast in his life.
His arms grabbed Toph and he pulled her down until he crushed her with his own body. He could have sworn he felt the blade rip part of his clothes before it was embedded to the tree trunk opposite to them. Toph was squirming.
"What happened?"
"They're in the trees. Get into formation."
They had gotten into a situation like this before. As a team, they went out on missions often, whether it be for Zuko, the Earth King, or other important affairs. After almost getting killed the first few times, Toph and Sokka had worked out a formation that consisted of Toph shielding her back side with an earth shell while hiding behind Sokka. The water tribe warrior stood protective over her (after much arguing from both) and acted as her eyes to whatever was coming from the air. He shouted orders and Toph, who rarely did what she was told, did what she was told.
"Three o'clock. 60 degrees."
Toph shot a rock in the direction and smirked when she heard the grunting of a man. Once he hit the ground, she capsuled him in stone.
Sokka searched the trees once more and was happy to hear the leaves rustle and move. Her ability to frighten people was one of the things he found most attractive about his fiance.
"Toph! Shield!"
The arrows clinked against the stone wall that she covered Sokka with. Toph sent the same wall towards the attacked and he fell out of the tree as well. The large stone fell with him and he was pinned to the ground.
Sokka unsheathed his sword and blocked the knife coming towards the slit to their right side. He growled. "Eight o'clock. 50 degrees."
The earth shook from under the particular tree and the two or three men fell like apples. They were restrained immediately.
Toph's eyes widened with alert. She grabbed his shoulder tightly and roughly turned him to his sharp left. Sokka's sword clashed with another, the eyes of a savage staring at him in the night. He engaged fighting at once.
As Sokka was busy with his attacker, Toph on the other hand grinned impishly. With the adrenaline healing her concussed head for the time being, her senses almost returned to their peak. There were now a dozen people on the ground. She treated them not any different than a pest and flicked them to and fro with earth pillars. The men flew across the forest at top speed, disappearing into the darkness.
Rain had began to drop from the sky and the earth soon was slippery. Sokka felt his boots lose its grip with the loose wet dirt and he barely saved his chest from being impaled with a quick gesture.
"I would say you were a good swordsman but I remembered I was fighting with one hand."
The man swung his sword upwards, trimming the hairs on the water tribe warrior's chin. "Come here, you piece of shit."
"I'm flattered, fuckface, but I am engaged presently." Sokka rolled and called out to Toph. "Isn't that right, honey?"
The earthbender grabbed the metal of the armor one of the men had on. She bent it off and wrapped it around his hands and tripped him violently knocking him out when his head hit the ground. "What's that, darling?"
"Tell this lovely motherfucker," he jabbed the hilt of his sword directly on the man's forehead which caused the attacker to stumble backwards. "our wedding plans."
Toph buried three men into the ground, their heads left sticking out. She fought easily as she kept talking. "We want to have it in a forest near a river. My fiance is such a sweetheart and said that it symbolized us, the earth and the water. Isn't he just dreamy?"
Sokka couldn't help but snicker at the last thing she said distracting him from another swing of the enemy blade.
Meanwhile, Toph had fought off the last of the men when she felt the familiar warmth of fire dance near her face. She flinched backwards and looked around and assumed the firebender was in the trees. She fucking hated firebenders.
"Are you going to hide like a little pussy? Or are you actually gonna fight like a man, fancy flames?"
The feet that touched the ground were very light that she had almost mistakened him for Aang. Toph shielded herself when she heard the flames shoot into the air. She mumbled to herself as the heat bothered her more and more, even through the light rain. "Let's dance, asshole."
Sokka swung three consecutive times, trying to catch his fellow swordsman. He failed each time and was met back with a fierce return. Sokka struggled with blocking the attacks as his strength was withering. They pressed their swords together and battled for dominance. He despised the whisper that came into his ear.
"Don't worry, I'll make good use of your little bitch before I kill her."
The power that came over him was shocking. First he was pushing the lunatic up against the tree. The next thing he knew he had his arm raised and cut the man's hand off. His sword remained in the lifeless limb. The attacker roared in pain and Sokka just turned his back.
Toph felt the ground for the firebender, but every time she decided to earthbend and try to trip him up, he would evade her attacks quickly with a flip or roll. She was growing frustrated.
Several more fireballs came at her before they seized. Toph cough at the smoke and ash around her when she noticed the onslaught stop.
"Toph! Restrain him now!"
Sokka had a good grip on the firebenders throat as he ordered Toph. The earthbender fashioned the enemy's hands, arms, and legs with rock. For extra measure, Sokka headbutt him to knock him out of consciousness for a good few hours. His grip on him loosed and the bender dropped to the floor with a painful thud.
He ran up to her. "Are you hurt?"
She continued to cough. "No. But my headache is back." Her legs gave and she dropped to the floor.
"Woah, woah, woah. You are going to take it easy from now on. Even when we get back to the palace."
"Fan-fucking-tastic."
He stroked her hair. Both for comfort and to pat down any strands that had caught on fire. "I'm going to go interrogate handless over here."
"You cut off his hand? That's so bad ass!"
"Not the time, Toph."
"Bring him over here. I want to rough him up. Plus I am the world's best lie detector."
Sokka didn't have to compliment her further. He walked over to where he had left his new handless acquaintance. The guy was still conscious so Sokka felt no sympathy for him as he dragged him towards Toph.
"Alright," He let go of him violently. "Let's start out with what's your name?"
"I don't have to tell you two shit." He spat on the ground near Toph. He didn't expect a jagged earth spike to come up between his legs.
"What's your name?" Toph asked indifferently.
The man growled at her. "Fuck off."
Sokka pulled his hair. The man scowled. "Alright then, we're just going to call you Handy."
Toph snorted. "Very funny."
"Thank you, thank you very much." The water tribe warrior tugged harder. "I can be here all night."
The pitter patter of rain was all they heard during any silence in the conversation.
"Next question: who sent you?"
Handy turned his head away, refusing to answer. Another spike erupted from the ground, this time closer to his crotch. He tried scooting back but was only met by a large stone wall.
Toph laughed. "I like this game."
"Are you gonna answer? Or should we ruin the rest of your life?" Sokka crossed his arms.
It took a few growls and curses before Handy finally exploded. "You two were supposed to die! But those dumb asses didn't have a clue to what they were doing! We had to be sent after them to finish the job!"
"You might want to look for a new job because you guys aren't really good at it." Toph stuck a finger in her ear casually.
"With you guys out of the way, getting to the Avatar and the Firelord would have been a piece of cake. "
Sokka slowly looked over to Toph. There was a lull in the conversation before the couple began to laugh obnoxiously. Toph held her stomach as it ached from the repeated contraction of her muscles. Sokka fell to the ground in a fit of chuckles.
"What the fuck is so funny!?" Handy screamed at them.
This attempt only caused the two to laugh harder.
"Stop! I can't," Toph held a hand out. "I can't breathe."
Sokka pounded the ground. "No more! No more!"
As the earthbender and water tribe warrior calmed themselves, the rain drenched the three of them. Toph's hair stuck to her face. Sokka got up once more, giving his fiance a hand up as well.
"Listen here, Handy." Sokka leaned down to talk to him like a child. "I don't know what you loyalists do all day, but you have to get some facts correct."
Toph joined in. "As much as it is nice to know that you imbeciles think the backbone of Team Avatar is us, because I mean why wouldn't we be, you guys are forgetting a couple of things."
"One," He held out his index finger. "You guys are dealing with the fucking Firelord. The guy has a lot of anger to get rid of that has built up from the past few years and you guys wouldn't have lasted two damn minutes with him."
"Second," Toph slapped her two fingers across Handy's face. "You're fighting with the almighty, master of all the elements, glow it the fuck up avatar. The one and only in the world. It would be a disgrace if your whole dumb ass loyalist party hasn't shit their pants more than once already."
"Three," They said it together.
"If by some miracle you could have beaten both the Avatar and the Firelord, there is no way in hell that you guys are off the hook."
"Because lastly, you would have to take on my sister."
"The most horrifying,"
"Craziest,"
"Don't forget terrorizing,"
"Creature that has ever walked this earth, and when she finds out what you did to us and what you were planning to do to her husband,"
Toph crouched down and smirked evilly. "There is going to be hell to pay."
With that, she punched Handy right across the face and the handless man passed out. She stood right back up, hands on her hips.
"Nice work, Toph."
She sighed. "You would think they would have tried harder."
Sokka nodded. "At least give us a challenge. Make sure that these shit heads can't get away when they wake up, I'm going to go pick some pockets for some money."
As Toph restrained each person of their ambush party with stone cuffs, Sokka searched their bodies for anything valuable. There was no doubt that when they get into town, any services that would get them up to the capital would cost money. Not to mention that they were both starving. They hadn't eaten all day.
He had left searching Handy last seeing that he had put up some kind of a fight. Finding a few silver pieces, Sokka's eyes lit up when he felt a metal box in one of Handy's pockets. He pulled it out carefully.
His panicking heartbeat shot up Toph's feet.
"What? What is it?"
"We have to get back to the palace now."
Toph walked over to him and placed one hand on his shoulder. "What did you find?"
She felt metal placed in her hand.
"That's a device that controls a bomb. I don't know what kind of bomb, but something is going to fucking explode. And it may just be the palace."
"But the party is tonight!"
"We gotta move."
The couple held hands the entire two miles to the town. They were practically jogging, much to Toph's dismay. She didn't understand how Sokka could be so strong with a broken arm and so much pressure. Then again, she was suffering from a head injury. It took them twenty minutes to get to town and once there, they sent out a messenger hawk to Aang asking him to come get them immediately wherever they were on the path to the capital. Next, Sokka asked Toph as apologetically as possible to earthbend them up the path. The earthbender complied and through her raging headache, Toph rode on an earthwave up the long path up to the capital.
"How are you doing?" Sokka yelled.
Toph didn't answer back immediately. He could have sworn she could see her wincing. "I'm good. How's the arm?"
The watertribesman laughed. Toph was annoyed.
"What?"
He calmed his laughter. "Your damn head is exploding and you are worrying about my wimpy little arm? Katara could fix this easily. Don't worry about me."
"I try to be concerned and what does he do? Make fun of me. Asshole."
Sokka laughed again.
Half an hour later, he began to really notice her bending faltering. She was breathing harder than usual and her face was stuck with an emotion that was a cross between irritated and painful. It was getting too much for her.
"Toph, you can stop."
"No, we're almost there."
He placed a hand on his shoulder. "I'm sure Aang is on his way right now. We can just continue walking. You can't handle it anymore."
The earth wave suddenly halted and the two tumbled forward. Sokka tried his best to protect his arm and grunted in slight pain. Toph had rolled a bit farther due to her smaller form and she stayed face down.
"Fuck! Toph!"
The earthbender struggled to get up and Sokka caught her body before it made contact with the ground again. His fiance began to vomit on the ground and his concern spiked.
"I should have never asked you to carry us up the volcano. Damnit, I'm so fucking sorry, Toph." Sokka held her up as she finished puking.
The earthbender wiped her mouth and used Sokka to stand up once more. "Shut the hell up. It's okay. Is blurred vision a symptom of a concussion?"
Sokka had remembered she was blind this time. "Why would that matter to you?"
"I can barely focus to bend so the world looks really fuzzy through my feet. Fuck, I hate this."
"I guess it applies to you then." Sokka wiped her forehead of the sweat that had built up. He maneuvered them so that Toph was on his back. Her head lay on his shoulder and he continued walking.
"Hey, was that you stomach?"
Sokka raised an eyebrow. "What was?"
There was a deep growl that echoed in the air.
"That."
The water tribe warrior looked the happiest he had been in the past 24 hours.
"It's Appa."
Toph sighed. "Thank the fucking spirits."
The large sky bison landed near them and it was only a second later that Aang and Katara were running towards them. Sokka had somehow fallen to his knees while watching them land.
His sister panicked at the sight of the both of them. "What happened to you guys? This better not be some result of a shenanigan."
"We couldn't even pull one last night. We were drugged and kidnapped." Sokka carefully moved Toph from his back to his arms. "She needs the most help."
"Hi, Tara." The master earthbender's head bobbed.
Aang crouched down. "Does this have to do with the danger you mentioned in your message?"
"Hell yeah it does." Sokka kept his eyes on Toph. "There is a bomb somewhere in the palace. I doubt it has been stopped."
"A bomb?!" Katara looked at her panicked while she healed Toph.
The metalbender below them winced at the waterbender's yell. "Too loud."
"We gotta find it. I can stop it with this remote." Sokka pulled out the metal box. "But I want to get it out of the palace just in case it is rigged to detonate anyways."
Aang carefully lifted Toph with his airbending and placed her into the saddle. "Let's go!"
"I think I'm gonna fucking puke again."
The water tribe siblings looked at each other.
"I need help with her."
Sokka nodded at an instant. "Gladly."
The trip to the palace took only five minutes. Within those limited minutes, Toph had managed to vomit once again in the saddle. Katara told her brother that all the physical activity that they had been put under did not help with her concussion. Sokka nodded in agreement. He promised her that all they wanted to do was go out for a drink. He didn't expect anything this horrible to happen and Katara couldn't help but completely let go of the anger she had built up since their absence. The two may be troublemakers, but the waterbender knew that none of this was their fault this time.
Aang and Sokka slid off Appa. "We have to find that bomb."
"I'll help."
The water tribe warrior glared back towards his fiance making her way out of the saddle clumsily. "Stay with Katara, Toph or so help me-"
"You'll what? What the hell are you gonna do?" Toph stumbled towards her former student and her partner in crime. "Don't tell me what to do."
Sokka grabbed her shoulders. "Please, Toph. I'm begging you. Stay out of this one this time. You've done enough. Stay fucking put, damnit."
A strong finger came to his chest. "That remote is built out of metal. This means it is almost certain that the bomb is metal as well. As far as I know, Aang doesn't know shit about metalbending. You best chance at finding that bomb is through me. So its either, suck it up and let me help or let the damn palace blow the hell up. Your choice."
He growled at how right she sounded. Toph pushed herself to smirk.
"Fine."
"Alright then. Let's get to business." The earthbender clapped her hands together and stomped her right foot hard into the ground. She gritted at the radiating pain that hit her head but tried to remain focused. She looked for any weird formations anywhere. Toph sneered. "Fuck Sparky and this mostly metal shit hole."
"What are we supposed to do now?" The avatar asked calmly.
"We search each room, of course."
Toph, Sokka, Katara, and Aang ran through the halls of the palace. They entered each room and both Aang and Toph used their seismic sense to sense anything. They found failure in most of the guest rooms and studies. The group made their way towards the more personal areas of the palace. Toph didn't bother knocking and bent the large double doors open to the firelord's chambers.
She almost vomited again. Katara looked at her with concern until she realized what she was gagging at.
"What the hell are you guys doing in here?!"
Zuko was in bed, obviously undressed, with Mai to his right not even bothering getting up.
Aang clapped his hands over his eyes. "Sorry, Sifu Hotman!"
"No time for fucking apologies!" Sokka exclaimed. "We have a bomb to find!"
Zuko became ten times more alert. "A bomb? In the palace?"
Toph hobbled towards the middle of the room and slammed her foot down. She stayed still for a couple of seconds before her eyes widened. Sokka ran to her.
"What is it?"
"It's under the bed."
"Really?"
"Really."
Aang, Katara, Sokka, and Toph crawled under the bed. Zuko shot himself from the bed to the bathroom and grabbed his robe. He pulled it on immediately and followed his friends under his sleeping quarters.
"Did you guys find it?" The scared firelord questioned.
In the middle of the underside of the bed was a large metal box with wires coming every which way. Everyone stared wide eyed at it while Toph used her hands to get a feel for it.
"That's a bomb, alright." The earthbender said bluntly.
The avatar rubbed his bald head. "Imagine that, Zuko. You would have blown to pieces."
"Right after he just got blown." Sokka added. It earned him a slap in the back of the head from his sister.
There was a silence as they all observed their discovery for another minute.
Katara was the one that brought them back to reality. "Well, aren't we going to get rid of it?!"
Sokka pulled out the remote and pressed the button in the middle. The bomb carefully beeped and everyone cringed as a countdown started at two minutes.
Zuko yelled at the watertribesman. "You just turned it on!"
"What the fuck?! I didn't mean to!"
Toph crawled out from under the bed. "Nice job, dumb ass!"
"We have to get rid of it!" Aang yelled.
Katara grabbed at her hair. "But where?"
Sparing a second to roll her eyes, Toph gently bent the bomb from underneath the bed and began running out of the palace. The other four were sure to follow quickly. Once outside, Sokka called for Aang at once. "Aang! We need a ride to the lake outside the palace!"
The avatar bent his staff from Appa's saddle and opened it. "Just like old times?"
"There is no time in the world to reminisce!"
Sokka and Toph climbed on the top side of the glider and Aang quickly began to fly into the air. He struggled remembering that they had all grown substantially over the years.
"This is so much harder now!"
"Faster, Aang!" Sokka screamed.
The three glided past the walls of the fire nation palace. Very quickly, they were right above the largest lake in the capital. Sokka ordered Toph.
"Drop it now!"
The metal box began its descent towards the water and Sokka began hounding Aang to move, move, move. Everything seemed to go in slow motion. Sokka watched the box enter the water. Aang tried keeping them up with his airbending but was starting to falter. Toph held on for dear life. In the next ten seconds, a large explosion echoed from below. The blast was powerful enough to blast water higher than the fire nation palace. The blast is what also caused Aang, Sokka, and Toph to become disoriented. All three were falling from the sky now.
"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!" Toph screamed. Her arms and legs were looking for anything to grab onto. She was panicking far beyond normal.
Sokka grabbed out towards her. "TOPH!"
He hit the water hard when unconsciousness finally won over his body.
Sokka didn't expect himself to wake up in bed. His eyes were greeted by the familiar ceiling of the palace. The familiarity almost made him think that he was dreaming the whole thing of being kidnapped, breaking his arm, and getting rid of a bomb. When said arm began to ache, he was sadly brought back to reality. The twenty four year old groaned.
"Your arm will be sore for about two or three days. If I had got to it sooner, it could have been painless. But it isn't broken."
He turned his head to find his sister walking over to stand above him.
Sokka smiled at her. "Thanks, Sis."
Katara ran her hand through his hair. He had always liked the gesture. Toph liked to do it when they were just laying down in bed. Surprisingly, her hands were softer than he expected even through the rigorous bending she engaged in.
The waterbender was startled when her brother jolted and sat straight up. "Where's Toph? Where's Aang?"
"He's alright. She's fine." Katara said calmly.
"Where is she? Can I see her? Is her head okay? Is she puking again?" Sokka was already making his way out of bed. Katara quickly halted his movement.
"Hey, hey. Calm down." Sokka stared at her panicked. "Toph is sleeping in the next room. Would you like to go to her?" He nodded speedily. "Alright then. Slowly."
Katara watched as her brother tried to move slowly, but she could sense the anxiety. Sokka slid his door open and looked back and forth down the hallway. He targeted the door closest to his room which was the next door on the left and walked quickly. He opened the door quietly and couldn't help the feeling of crying overcoming his eyes. The watertribesman pulled his self together and entered the room. His body took him to the chair next to her bed and he grabbed her hand at once.
Toph stirred slightly, groaning in irritation. "Let me sleep, Sugar Queen."
"Come on. Won't even let your damn fiance talk to you for a few minutes?"
Her eyes opened and she turned towards his voice. "Well, well, well. Look who decided to finally visit me."
Sokka frowned. "Not exactly the greeting I expected."
"You've been asleep for eighteen hours."
"What? And you haven't been sleeping?"
She scowled. "Katara has been constantly waking me up to check my damn head. The last time she woke me up, I told her I'd send her and Aang's bed out the fucking window and see how she likes not sleeping."
He couldn't help but laugh. "I see by your irritation that your concussion hasn't healed yet."
"Your damn right it hasn't."
Sokka kissed her hand. "Do you know what happened after I hit the water?"
"Yeah I do." Toph snatched her hand away and crossed her arms. "I had to save your sorry ass before you drowned."
"You saved me? You swam?" Sokka asked in disbelief.
She turned her head away. "Yeah."
"I...thank you, Toph." Sokka looked at her gratefully and with surprise at the depths she had gone just to save his life.
Toph kept her face hidden from Sokka. "Shut the hell up."
"Do you want to tell me what the fuck I did? You do remember I was unconsciousness and there isn't a lot I can do while I have no awareness right?" Sokka was back to frowning at her.
"I wasn't supposed to save you, damnit."
"Well what the hell was supposed to happen then!"
Toph faced him. "You were supposed to save me!"
Sokka looked at the silent tears streaming down her face. He put his hands on the side of her face and wiped them away. She didn't refuse the contact.
"I would have, if I could have. You know that, baby."
Toph grabbed his hands on her face. "It was like the airship again. I thought we were gonna die, baby. Both of us."
It was one of those rare times where both their walls had come completely down and all was left was their vulnerability. Toph was no longer the hard headed earthbender anymore. Now she was a little girl again, looking for someone to end her loneliness. Sokka was not the strong warrior. All he was was the broken man desperate to protect everyone after losing too many loved ones for a lifetime. And this is why they fell in love in the first place. They both needed someone whenever their strong exterior cracked and for them there was only one person that could do that. For Sokka, that was Toph Beifong. For Toph, that was Sokka of the Southern Water Tribe.
"I'm sorry I wasn't there, Toph. I tried. I tried so hard."
"Don't leave me like that again, please."
They pulled each other into a bone crushing hug. Toph cried into his shoulder, trying her best to breathe but struggled. Sokka sobbed silently, just trying to get Toph as close to him as humanly possible. They stayed like that for a long time, eventually ending up with both of them lying down remaining in their death grip of a hug. Milky green eyes and blue eyes were slowly losing their battle to stay open.
"Do you know what's the best part out of all the shit we went through?" Sokka whispered into her hair.
Toph mumbled her response. "What's that, Snoozles?"
He chuckled softly at the nickname before replying. "Katara didn't give us hell for missing our own engagement party."
The couple laughed quietly. They let the other's heartbeat lull them into deep sleep.
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