Fieldtrip: Chapter 3 – Next Step In Friendship

Zuko got onto his feet and rubbed his back, a painful expression on his face. A faint sound in the sky made him look up behind him, seeing Appa flying away. His eyes widened before he turned to Toph, panick all over him. When he opened his mouth to tell her what was going on he got her hand on his lips. Her dirty hand.

"He's just going back to Aang," she said, "He always goes back to him." He licked her hand, and surprisingly enough, she didn't back down. She even grinned. "That won't work."

She slowly removed her hand from his mouth, and right after she'd done that, he spit a few times to get the dirt off his tongue. The flavor had already infected him though. When he seemed to get back to earth again and saw the two giant creatures – that were even bigger than Appa – in front of him, he swallowed loudly. Hopefully they weren't into meat.

"Firelord Sing-A-Song, badger moles," Toph said with a smile, "Badger moles, Firelord Sing-A-Song." She felt Zuko's heartbeat quickening. "Better known as Firelord Zuko."

"Uh... Hi."

Before Zuko knew it, a giant tongue licked him, making him completely wet. He made an ugh-sound when he was lifted of the ground for a second when the tongue touched him, and when he was back on the ground again, he had a disgusted look on his face. Sadly enough, he'd just found a more disgusting tongue than Aang's bison. His blind friend grinned widely, but he tried to ignore it by focusing on the moles.

"So, how does this work?"

All the sudden the badger mole that hadn't licked him bended him from the ground and made him fly through the air. He shouted loudly, clearly scared, and landed onto the beast's back, only his butt was pointed to the mole's head. He was too weak from the surprisingly rough bending, and so he remained outstretched on his stomac onto the badger mole's hairy back, his face pointed to the back. It didn't take Toph long to jump onto her other friend's back, that grin still on her face. She softly pushed her heels in his fur, and after making the most unusual sound, both animals turned around and walked into the tunnel, Zuko letting out a semi-girly yell. For The Blind Bandit, things were going to be a lot of fun.

Since the metalbender of the two didn't need any light – although she literally couldn't see a thing, she wasn't touching the ground – the firebender had created a little bit of fire in his palms, trying not to make it too big and scare their transport. If they would fall off and their transport would flee, they would be lost. He knew the curse of the cave all too well, the ones who didn't were probably the most stupid people alive. The cave seemed to be small, but the Firelord guessed that was because he was sitting on a giant mole and that he was pretty tall. The fact that he started to sweat wasn't an encouragement either. He looked around a bit and saw he almost had to duck to be able to go any further, luckily he didn't need to do that. Yet. It wouldn't last that long anymore.

"Hey, tough guy," Toph yelled, "You doing okay?"

"I'm doing fine." Zuko growled, looking back at his friend.

He shocked and looked down at the badger mole when he growled, he seemed to be angry.

"He's saying you have to duck!"

"W-What?" He seemed to have gone deaf because of the shock of the sudden sound.

"You have to duck!"

He turned around again and saw a slightly frightened look on her face. "I have to what?"

The badger mole growled again, and just when he turned around to look in front of him to see what was going on, his face hit one of the rocks that was sticking out. He grunted and fell off his carrier, things went black for him, literally. Because he had fallen down he'd stopped firebending too. He groaned loudly at the feeling of his back, he surely hadn't fallen on a good spot.

"You guys go, we'll be okay." he heard Toph say.

The earth moved fiercly, meaning the badger moles were leaving. Zuko looked around anxiously, the darkness surrounding him. He didn't hear a thing, not even the footsteps of his friend.

"Toph? Are you still here?" He swallowed. "Toph?"

Instead of getting an answer, he got pushed off the ground pretty roughly, the earth underneath him holding him up. He groaned again, the pain in his back increasing. His eyes shot open and he slowly put his hand on his back. The pain had vanished. Was it because of the help of the ground? To see if his friend wasn't standing near him, he made a flame in his right hand and held his hand up.

"Gee, Zuko, you're a real cry baby."

His heart skipped a beat at the voice that came from behind him before he turned around, his heartbeat going faster than normal. He sweated again, and this time it was because he was afraid. He started to calm down slowly when he saw his blind friend grinning at him, she seemed to enjoy every little bit of what was going on. He didn't care that she was amused though, at least he wasn't alone.

"You sent the moles away?"

"Yup."

"You do know the way out, right?"

"You mean the way in."

"Huh?"

"We just came from the way out," she explained, pointing behind her, "We're going to the way in. To get out."

He shook his head as if coming back to earth again. "I'm sorry, I didn't listen to a word you just said."

That comment earned him a punch in the stomac, it was clear that that punch didn't have anything to do with showing affection. Hopefully those punches wouldn't become repetitive. As long as he didn't comment, he figured, he'd be safe from those punches. The pain in his stomac reminded him of the pain he'd felt in his back, and how it had suddenly disappeared.

"Wait," he said, rubbing his stomac a bit, "Did you heal my back?"

Toph snorted loudly before passing him by and sending an echo through the cave. That was a clear no, yet there had to be an explanation for the sudden healing of his back. He was sure she'd done it, but he didn't feel like getting punched again. So he simply followed her, letting her lead the way. She knew where the exit was – or the entrance – and if she didn't... He'd rather not think about what could happen if she didn't.

Every time she'd led them to a dead end, she bended the earth away, making a new path for them. No matter how much she bended, they kept bumping into more earth that blocked their way. She'd been earthbending for a little while now, and it was obvious that she was getting tired. Even Zuko was getting tired, holding up his hand and bending a little fire became a hard job to do. He let out a frustrated sigh to draw her attention, which he managed to do. Toph turned to him with a frown on her face, she seemed to be annoyed. And for some reason, he didn't think he was the one annoying her.

"If you wanna stop bending then stop, you won't hear me complaining."

"I'd love to stop, but... then I couldn't see a thing anymore."

"You think I ever saw a thing?" She pointed to her eyes.

He gulped. "N-No, I guess not."

"You guess not?" she asked him, walking towards him and getting onto her toes.

"I know not!" he corrected himself. Why was he afraid of a girl who barely reached his shoulders?

"Good." She turned around and sent a big amount of earth away again.

"Wait!" She stopped, her hands clinged together. Instead of backing down, he just put out his fire. "Could you... Could you hold my hand?"

With wide open eyes she turned to him again, had she heard it right? "Come again?"

"I know it's a little awkward and weird, especially because we don't really know each other, but..." He outstretched his arm in front of him and opened his hand. "I could use some help in the dark."

Toph was glad he couldn't see the smile on her face when she took his hand. From the moment she touched him, his skin felt so rough yet soft, but the thing that impressed her the most was how big his hand was. Or her hand was just incredibly small. She shook her head, that wasn't possible.

"Thanks."

She sighed as if she were bored. "I know, I'm great."

They continued walking in complete darkness, the speed of Zuko's breath and heartbeat made the blind girl smile. She didn't say anything about it though, she figured he didn't need her teasing him now, since he had the darkness to deal with.

"Hey, Toph?"

"Yeah?"

"You do know the way out, right?" Her muscles tightened, and so did the grip on his hand. He didn't seem to notice though. "I mean, we've been walking for quite some time now."

"What is it," she almost snapped, "You getting tired already?"

"No." She was disappointed when she felt he wasn't lying. Crud. "But you are."

She stopped instantly and let go of his hand, he didn't seem to know what he was and wasn't allowed to say to her. She almost didn't notice Zuko stopping just in front of her. She barely felt the increase of his heartbeat, meaning he was nervous and probably afraid. He turned around fastly and she meant he was about to fall on his knees and beg for her forgiveness. Luckily he didn't.

"Toph, I-I didn't mean to offend you, really!"

She clinged her hands together as the frown on her face became deeper each second. She was shaking of anger, and for some reason the anger didn't seem to be towards the Firelord. He was just with her at the wrong time.

"Toph?"

Right then, something inside her snapped. But what? "You know what," Toph began, "You're right." She heard him gasping softly. "I am getting tired. And you know why?" He didn't answer. "Because everyone's always asking me for help. Toph, can you bend me up a bit? Toph, do you want to help me cooking? Toph, can you hand me the soap? Toph, can you hold my hand?" He swallowed. "Toph, can you help me with chosing clothes? Oops, sorry, Toph! Guess I didn't really care about your feelings, nor do I care about your needs! As long as you help me, I find it unnecessary to talk to you about anything decent! Everyone needs me, and when I need them, they're too lazy to even notice it! So yes, I am getting tired, do you mind??"

She panted as a drip rolled down from the side of her head. Even though he couldn't see her, he was scared to death. Yet he didn't back down. When he heard a thud, he lightened up the space around him once again. His eyes widened as he saw the tiny girl he found so strong sitting onto the ground with her knees. Her hands were crunching the earth underneath her, and her face was pointed to it too. Zuko saw through her bangs that she was trying not to cry, and in some way she looked so small in that big shirt of his. He sighed. The things she'd been through, the friendship she'd missed, it was all so sad. He wanted to make it up to her, even though he knew it wasn't his fault. He just felt it was time something had to be done. He knelt to the ground and lowered his hands to see her a bit better.

"I don't know what happened, or, didn't happen... But I'm gonna make it up to you." He put his hand on hers and gave it an encouraging pinch. "Hey, come on." He smiled. "Where's that grin of yours?" She sniffed. "If I tell something that's happened to me and you can make fun of me, will you be happy again?"

She seemed to wipe away a tear with the back of her free hand. "Depends."

He placed his hand on his knee. "I fell into the feed box with meat once and a cow-hippo started chewing on my ear, he even ate a piece of it."

He waited patiently for her answer. "So... Your ear's incomplete?"

"That's right."

"Let me feel it!" she yelled, grabbing for his ears.

"No, wait!"

She pressed her hands on both of his ears with a wide smile, which disappeared soon. Her eyes widened in an instant and she seemed to stiffen. Zuko's eyes were standing wider than Toph's – if that was even possible – and in a flash he remembered Katara touching his scar, only didn't it feel comforting at all. He stopped firebending and put his hands around her wrists, gosh was he trembling. In one movement he pulled her hands off his face, he didn't let go of her though.

She opened her mouth incredibly slowly, and for a moment she didn't seem to live. She swallowed roughly and opened her mouth again.

"What is that?"

"A scar." His voice sounded extremely hoarse.

"How?" she asked, clearly trying to find an answer.

"Training accident."

He got up, pulling her up by doing so, and started walking again, creating some fire in his right hand. He didn't say any other thing, he didn't wait for his friend to make sure she was okay, he just walked. He didn't realise she was struggling on the inside, she felt a little uncomfortable with the fact that he'd lied to her. Eventually she decided to focus on getting out, she would talk about it with him later. She ran towards the Firelord with a grin on her face and waved in the air.

"Hey, Zuko! You're going the wrong way!"

To Be Continued