Tokka Week: Day 7

Prompt: Promise

I Promise

He'd been having the same nightmare for months now.

Of course, it was only his luck they'd strike this particular night, as the group reunited on their way to Mai and Zuko's wedding. Of course. The universe was always against him.

In essence, it was always the same. Sokka lay paralyzed by an unseen force as he watched Yue sucked into oblivion, unable to stop her from throwing everything, everything, away—their love, their future, everything. And for what?

A stinking fish.

Of course, in reality, Sokka didn't so much blame the fish as he blamed himself. Fish were good grilled and actually one of his favorite food, but not anymore—since Yue's death, eating seafood of any kind felt distinctly like cannibalism.

Occasionally, Suki was switched out for Yue, in basically the same situation. In Suki's case, though, Sokka was most often forced to watch her rot away in prison as he was led away from her, doomed to the same fate.

It shouldn't have surprised him, but, after all, this was the first time Toph had taken their places.

It was strange, though. His nightmare about Toph had been more terrifying than Yue and Suki combined. Swinging over a deep and bottomless pit, his own hand her only lifeline, Toph had slipped…and slipped…

And finally, as Sokka screamed with terror and grief, dropped.

Shivering, Sokka decided that he better lay off the seal jerky before bed. And, perhaps, stop telling war stories about Sozin's Comet. He'd jerked out of the nightmare in a cold sweat, with his fingers searching for a hand that couldn't be found…

Yes, indeed, the nightmare had been terrifying as it reached it's horrible, screaming climax.

But that wasn't what had woken him up.

Frowning to himself, Sokka wondered what had caused the object of his nightmares—Toph—to let out an admittedly soft cry in the middle of the night. Normally, his nightmares went on and on and on and on, but she'd saved him from the worst.

For the first time, Sokka wondered if it meant something.

Nah, he decided. Probably not. Just another one of nature's freakily sprung surprises…like the fact that someone as tough as Toph actually had nightmares, period.

Not that Sokka would ever bring that up around her.

"Sokka?" There was a shifting as Toph sat up on her bed mat, head inclined towards him.

"Yeah, what is it?" he answered automatically, then let out a hiss between his teeth. Darn it; she'd kill him for experiencing her moment of weakness…Unfortunately for him, Katara and Aang were camping in a different area of the forest (they better not be doing what he thought they were doing), and their exchanged would go unobserved.

But Toph didn't seem angry, quite the opposite—from her comforted sigh, he'd almost say she was relieved. Her next words only assured him of the fact.

"Okay, good," she murmured, half to herself. "You're still there."

Sokka's brow furrowed. Was she…was she having nightmares about him, too?

Wait…so that meant they were having nightmares about each other, right?

Forget freaky, this was just plain…disturbing. And a little bit of a relief, too, that Toph did not simply regard him as a throw-away friend. No, their relationship went deeper than that. Deeper, Sokka almost felt, then his relationship with Suki…

"Wait…" Sokka realized slowly, "Where did I go?"

Even in the darkness he could see Toph's flush. "It's just…you…it's not that…" The earthbender heaved a sigh. "It felt so real," she began again, slowly, "I just wanted to check if you were there. That's all."

Sokka paused, to check if this was really Toph Bei Fong he was speaking to. "Oh. Alright then."

There was a moment of awkward silence, before Sokka asked hesitantly, "But…what happened? Was I swinging over a pit of crocodiles, a moment of death? Or—or caught in a deadly explosion of poisonous mushrooms?" Now he was really getting into it. "Or maybe I was in a room and there were snakes and the floor was—"

"Unfortunately, no," Toph interrupted slowly, "It wasn't anything that exciting. It's just that…you left me," she shrugged.

The entire world seemed to have gone silent as the true meaning of her words finally sank in.

Sokka couldn't believe—or quite understand—what he'd heard. Leave Toph? Him? But for who, or what? Now that he considered it, leaving Toph was…was…

Well, honestly, Sokka didn't think he could stand to spend too much time away from her unless it was absolutely necessary for her own wellbeing. And even then, he'd probably end up pulling some selfish act and sneaking up to her window in the middle of the night.

"But why…why…" Sokka struggled to get the words out. "Why would I leave you? And why would you care?" He squinted at her carefully.

"I don't know," Toph said softly, somehow answering both his questions at once. "It's just…I have dreams about you, and…" Her face seemed to glow read by the light of the moon. "And this time you decided someone else was more important than me."

"Toph." He shot her a funny look. "We're just…"

Sokka broke off before he could say "we're just friends." For all he knew, that would upset her. Confusing, girls were. That's why he'd broken up with Suki in the first place—though that didn't stop the possibility of her loss from haunting his sleeping hours.

Funny, he'd only had them—at first—directly after Yue died. And now, this…in fact, now that Sokka thought of it the nightmares had only returned after he'd begun to grow distant from Toph.

Funnier still how it was a night like this to bring them together again.

"Toph," he repeated, surprised by the way his mouth caressed her name, as if it were a mantra or a prayer to the heavens. "There's no way I'd never leave you. Of course," he continued, "we're leading separate lives now, so we're not going to be as close as we once were…"

Sokka's mouth fell open in shock, and he swallowed. Hard. Toph had an expression on her face that seemed to say, "Finally, he gets it."

And he had.

"That's what it is, isn't it?" Sokka realized. "You're scared that if we go our separate ways after this last journey together, we'll never be best friends again. That we'll be separated…permanently."

He didn't need the look on her face to tell him he was right. "Toph…" Sokka said softly, hands closing around empty spaces; empty spaces she should be.

That seem to be her cue to crawl over from her sleeping back, and wrap her arms around his middle, head snuggled right around his heart.

"I'll never leave you," he whispered, hands drifting to rest on her hair.

And after this, how could he?

The bonds forged tonight rebuilt so many broken bridges, and once they were repaired Sokka knew he could never bring himself to tear them down again. He'd already adapted a nomadic lifestyle, so it couldn't be too hard to go wherever Toph was…

Her voice, muffled in the fabric of his shirt, distracted him. "You promise? Do you promise not to leave me?"

The earthbender in his arms suddenly seemed very weak and vulnerable. Although Sokka had never realized it—perhaps because he'd never realized how deep their relationship ran, until tonight—Toph relied on him, and he relied right back on her.

Smiling gently, Sokka glanced up at the moon, and thanked Yue silently for letting him have this relationship to carry on, even when his first had been obliterated.

After all, who knew what he and Toph—what they—would turn into?

"Yes, Toph," Sokka whispered, feeling the bonds between them as deeply as if they were unbendable, unbreakable steel—except, he supposed, by Toph herself. "I promise."

A/N: Tokka Week is over. Thank you all for reading my last fic, and if you have done any fanfictions or fanart yourself, for participating in the first place. I've made so many great friends through the planning and commencing of Tokka Week...it's sad to think it's over, isn't it?

But now...if you want, you can go vote on geekmage's profile for the best Tokka fanfiction on the site! XD