"Heartbeat" By Dimitrius

Chapter Two: And So The Journey Begins

Dedication: to Taffy Cat, whose girlish youth has always made

me laugh. Thank you for being with me every step of the way

in the making of this fic and for always correcting

my mistakes.

o . O . o . o . O . o . o . O . o

On a lone desert, far from the prying eyes of the human civilization, the sun shone brightly and fiercely, its heat radiating to every nook and cranny of the barren land. Not even a single zephyr floated by, making the heat even more unbearable than it normally was. However, smack in the middle of the desert lay two figures face down, their faces appearing to be buried within the sand. One was clad in a garment of a beautiful shade of green while the other was in a sleeveless blue garment with a singular ponytail sticking out from the zenith of his head. Together, the two lay peacefully, hands linked together, until one of them began to twitch slightly.

Toph, who was beginning to regain some consciousness, lay on the warm sand, her mind still hazy and unclear from her fall. Everything was quiet around her and no vibrations could be heard or felt. Toph reveled in this unusual peace and solitude as her mind began to slowly clear. And just as slowly she began to notice things. For instance, how her face was feeling extremely dry and itchy at the moment. Even her lips were parched and chapped. Running a saliva-filled tongue over her small lips, she felt some of the excess saliva dribble down her chin. She pulled her right hand to wipe it but she realized she couldn't because something was holding down onto her. Something that felt like a hand.

A hand? Immediately, Toph's eyes snapped wide open as memories of the night before filled her mind. The screams, the whirlwind, herself floating in air, and the memory of a hand holding hers instantly went through her mind like a motion picture except there were no pictures but sounds. She immediately sat up straight and pulled the stranger's hand sharply along with hers. Her heart was racing wildly and she tried in vain to find some sort of vibration, just to know where she was. She didn't feel any earthly presence and judging from the texture beneath her bare feet, she realized she was in a desert, all alone with a stranger.

Toph sat still, fear beginning to take over her body. She was in the middle of nowhere and there wasn't even a rock nearby. Suddenly, she felt very vulnerable. All she could hear was the incresaing rate of her heartbeat. But wait a minute! There was the stranger's heartbeat too. It was steady and rhythmic and soft. There was a certain familiarity to it. The heartbeat had a unique pulse to it that Toph only heard from a certain person. It, it sounded like the heartbeat of . . .

"Snoozles?" whispered Toph.

'Snoozles' just grunted slightly and turned his head in response. It was quite obvious to Toph that he was still unconscious. Yet, she couldn't help but feel a bit happy that he was with her. Toph sat still for another moment, holding Sokka's hand protectively, until she decided that sitting around waiting for Ponytail to wake up was extremely boring. Trailing her unoccupied hand up Sokka's puny arm that was connected to hers via their hands, Toph searched for his face. Ignoring the blush that was furiously covering her entire face, she lighly slapped his face.

"Hey, Sokka! Wake up!" she said.

No response.

"Hellooooo!" I said, "Wake up!"

Still no response.

"Earth bending chick to Weird Meathead, do you read me?"

Zilch. Nada.

"Yo, piss-for-brains! I'm talking to you here!" yelled Toph into an unsuspecting Sokka's ear while banging her small fist on to the side of his head.

"Uuuuuuuggggggggghhhhhhhh." came the eloquent response.

Toph felt Sokka turn his head while continuing to moan incessantly. Rolling her eyes heavenward, she began to smack his head again. "Wake up, Snoozles! We haven't got all day here. In case you haven't noticed yet, we're in the middle of a frickin' desert and if you don't get your puny self up, I'm gonna punch you!"

Sokka groaned again. "I'll wake up in a minute, Katara. Just give me another minute. I promise I'll be up." he said in a sleepy voice.

Toph huffed. What the hell did it take to get Ponytail to wake up? Toph didn't even bother to think about it as she began banging her fist on his head, a little softer but still annoying enough to wake him up.

Toph felt Sokka's head snap up instantly and he cried, "Alright, alright I'm up! Sheesh!" But the minute he had awoken and noticed his surroundings, he let out a yelp. "Hey! Where the hell am I?" he asked, not caring for his unpleasant language.

"Well, gee, I don't know," Toph said sarcastically. "Maybe in the desert, smart guy?"

Sokka, his mind in a haze, looked at Toph as if seeing her for the first time. A moment passed by as he tried to sort through his thoughts and memories of the previous night flashed through his mind. Toph, finding the silence unbearable, spoke.

"Uh, hello? You still there, Snoozles?"

"Yeah, yeah," said Sokka distractedly. "Just thinking about what happened last night."

Another moment of silence passed by. Until . . .

"So . . .," trailed Toph.

"So, what?" questioned Sokka.

Toph smacked a hand on her forehead and let it slide down her face. "So what are we gonna do now?!" she asked the oblivious Sokka. "Cause I don't know about you, but I sure as hell wanna get outta here."

"But, we're like in the middle of nowhere!" exclaimed Sokka. "Heck, I don't even know where we are! What the hell am I gonna do, wander aimlessly until I find some sort of route or something?!"

"I don't know!" cried Toph indignantly. "You're the idea guy."

"Yeah, well I can't think under all this pressure! Plus, I have a headache the size of your huge head and your pesky little voice isn't helping!"

"I DON'T HAVE A HUGE HEAD! AND MY VOICE ISN'T PESKY!"

Sokka cowered under the fuming girl who was towering dangerously over him in rage. He even put up his hands in a placating manner. "Hey, hey. I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I was just kidding."

Toph scoffed and narrowed her eyes. "You had better be."

Then, with a thud, she sat down next to Sokka, her sightless eyes looking into nowhere. Sokka stared at her uncertainly, wondering if she was going to explode again. Toph, on the other hand, felt slightly guilty for yelling at him, so her expression softened. After a moment, Sokka stood up and began to stretch his limbs whilst looking at the barren land around him. He noticed his thick winter coat a few feet away, with a thin layer of dust covering it. Immediately, he retrieved his coat and trudged back to Toph, who was standing again.

"Man, Aang must've been real angry last night." spoke Sokka as he looked around him again. "We must be like a thousand miles away from the campsite."

"Nooo, reeaally?!" spoke Toph sarcastically as her voice took on the tone of dumbness. "I thought we were right next to it."

"Dude, who stuck a rock up your -?"

"DON'T even say it!"

"Alright, alright." Sokka looked around him again and he saw something he hadn't noticed before. "Hey, look! There's something over there." he said, pointing to something small in the distance.

"I would if I could see it."

"Oh, heh, right. Sorry."

"Well?"

"Well, what?"

"Argh!" growled Toph. She had the sudden urge again to smack her forehead again in exasperation. "Well, what is it?!"

"Oh. I don't know. It's too far away. But why don't we start moving and see what it is? It could be a campsite or something."

"In the middle of the desert?" questioned Toph with an eyebrow raised.

"Who knows, it could be. So are we gonna go or not?"

"Yeah, whatever," came Toph's nonchalant response. "Let's just get outta here."

Sokka, upon receiving her agreement, began to walk ahead, holding his coat in his arms. He only stopped when he heard Toph shout from behind.

"Hey, knucklehead! What about me?! Have you forgotten that I can't see and walk my way through this desert?!"

Sokka winced. He had forgotten that but he wasn't going to let her know that. Sullenly he walked back and roughly grabbed her small, warm hand into his. He didn't even notice the small blush that was creeping onto Toph's pale face as he began to lead her through the sand, intiating the long journey that was to come.

o . O . o . o . O . o . o . O . o

TO BE CONTINUED...