I'm home sick, so i wrote another chapter. I'm having a good hit ratio for first to second chapter, so i hope everyone is interested enough to read this chapter and the ones to come later. PLEASE REVIEW. i LOVE reviews.


Sokka felt a little disoriented as he awoke from another dream about Yue. Instead of waking to her beautiful face smiling down at him, he found the vacant eyes of Toph staring at him from her spot a couple feet away…not that he was complaining about the change. The boy tried to shake the thought out of his head as he sat up and stretched. He was instantly consumed by pain.

"Argh. I feel like I was hit by a boulder," he groaned, giving Toph an evil, suspicious glare.

Toph , who couldn't see Sokka's glare, shook her head and pointed in the direction of the log he had tripped over. She then pointed to her head, showing him what he had hit. Sokka remembered how Toph said she was never going to talk, and he realized how annoying and difficult it would be dealing with her. But he did tentatively rub his head and found a large, egg shaped knot from where he obviously fell down. The water warrior winced. The earth bender smirked.

"I don't like your attitude missy!" Sokka started, walking up and poking her in the chest. Toph smirk wiped off her face as she clutched to one of her small breasts, as if it hurt. Sure, Sokka didn't really hit it, but it was fun to make the boy uncomfortable.

It worked, as Sokka soon blushed, but stood his ground, which shocked Toph. – he could tell by the scowl on her face as she took her hand away. "You'll have to talk sooner or later, Toph. You're too much of smart mouth to stay quiet forever." The girl shrugged and turned away, leaving the two in silence.

And it was the silence which would prevail for the next couple hours.


Too much pain.

Too much fear.

Too much doubt.

It seemed as if everything was a kaleidoscope of colors and scenes dancing on the edge of consciousness First, the Fire Lord in all this glory on the thrown. Red, brown, dried blood. Next was a small girl with blue eyes, looking up at Aang in hope. Her small body was covered with dirt as she continued to run to refugee camps from the Fire Nation. Blue. Green. Yellow. Kyoshi Island waiting for Aang to return again. Purple. Pink. Katara's worried face bent over his, their lips barely separated from one other. Black.

All went black

And the cycle started over. Again and again. Thoughts of pain, of hate, of fear and doubt. Aang was only one kid.

Yue turned to the boy as he looked out at the ocean, "You have to do something!" she cried.

"But I'm just one kid…"

One kid who had to deal with the fate of the world. One kid who just didn't want to deal with it.


Apparently, Sokka could not stand silence. He proceeded to tell me this twenty two times throughout three hours. He tried everything to preoccupy himself: sharpened his boomerang, hunted, attempted to nap, made a hat, counted Appa's hair, counted my hair (that didn't last long), sang songs (he wasn't a bad singer). It was ridiculous but kept me occupied by watching him.

But in the past ten minutes, Sokka had fallen into another fit of silence. He seemed…upset and thoughtful, something I have never really seen in him. Sure, I knew that Snoozles was not totally apathetic, but seeing him in this thoughtful of a state really irked me. I wanted to know what he was thinking about.

He seemed to be thinking the same thing.

"How do you go the whole day, not saying what's on your mind? Aren't you going crazy, just sitting there dwelling and not being able to talk about?" Snoozles asked me. I decided to acknowledge him by shaking my head. I didn't like not being able to snap at people, but I was used to not sharing my opinion with people and hiding the most important thoughts deep in my mind.

"You know what Toph? I'm going to make you talk. Sooner or later. Then you'll owe me," I was shocked when I felt him sit down in front of me. Sure I felt him get up and walk my way, but I was not expecting a one to one conversation. It would be a really one sided conversation though.

I did not know what to do, so I put on my mask of skepticism and smirked at him, showing my doubt.

I could hear him laugh, which turned my smirk into a scowl. He continued by saying, "I can always just bug you till death until you have to yell at me," I sighed inaudibly and crossed my arms in response. I never realized that body language could actually allow me to communicate, especially to Sokka who seemed not to recognize the earth beneath his feet.

"It all started when I was born on the warmest day of the year. My father used to tell me that I was such a big baby that my mother was upset with me…"

The boy droned on. I could have easily earth bended him into a small tent where I couldn't hear him, or actually knock him out with a boulder. But for some reason, I wanted to learn about Sokka's past. I had always wondered what made the boy tick in his odd fashion, so I listened; even to the parts that were disgusting or had way to much detail for my ears.

The sun was setting by now. I could tell by the movement of the fox-squirrel ten feet away from us. He had talked on for the past three hours, but was wrapping up his autobiography. "But I was rooting for The Boulder, and when I saw you, I thought "There is no way in the spirit world that she could beat The Boulder. So we met you and I thought you were the weirdest, most cynical and aggressive girl I have ever met…"

I raised an eyebrow, questioning his view on me.

I felt Sokka shrug as he stood up and walked farther away, "I still think that, but its not necessarily a bad thing."

I smiled to myself. First genuine smile I've had in a long time.