AN: Thanks for the support everyone, here's four more!


009: Vision

Needed Sacrifices

Sokka looks at his helmet and is about to sigh when all the air is thrown out of him from a slap on his back. He turns around, expectant of his Father from the force, only to see a short, petite girl.

"Toph," he says her name softly as she sits down next to him without a word. His feet hit the water on the edge of the pier, but her feet can't. Her bare feet seem so vulnerable and small next to his boots that it makes him bite his lip; it shouldn't be like this.

They're kids, she isn't even a teenager; they shouldn't be going off to war.

"I want you to write my name."

The order is soft and he almost misses it over the lapping water, but he does catch it and he turns to her.

"But you can't read," he states the obvious.

"Carve it in the earth, right here," she orders, ignoring his factual statement. He takes out his sword and, feeling a little awkward and unruly like the kid he should be, makes the cuts into the earth dock.

He pulls the sword away and she reaches a hand out, a pale index finger tracing the lines that make up her identity.

"Now do yours next to it," she asks as she ducks her head, black bangs looking ominous to her youthful face.

He does it a little quicker than hers from practice and when he's done, she puts a hand over both of the names and smiles. She takes that inquisitive finger and easily carves a seemingly perfect circle around the two names.

Sokka wants to ask what it means and does.

"Circles never end," she says and she looks at him sharply; his exhale sounds rough and ragged. It seems crazy, but there's something in her eyes, like he knows that she wants to tell him something but is too afraid to. But it sounds crazy, because he knows that Toph isn't scared of anything.

But then there's a call and he has to go and get something for the invasion ready. She nods at him, silently telling him to go.

As he walks away he glances over his shoulder; her hand is over their encircled names still and her shoulders are trembling.

.

071: Moon

Want To Show You Something

Sokka likes to bring her out on nights when the ocean is high and crawling up the shore, where he can somehow see his way in the darkness easier. He likes to climb onto the roof the most, where they'll lie back down on the still-warm tiles from the hot day recently passed.

They lie on the roof and he stares up at the sky; Toph stares across to the young man across of her.

She counts the days between their visits and learns that it's akin to the lunar cycle. She finds he brings her out on the nights where the moon, something she never really gave heed to or cared about, is full and sheds light on the sleeping world below it.

He doesn't need to tell her why he does this; Katara has told her years ago. He's secretly happy about this fact because he doesn't even know how to begin talking about his first love.

At first Toph is offended, angry that he'd bring her like a rebound, to comfort him on these nights he couldn't stand to be alone in.

But then, as the months passed and she noticed how calm and peaceful he was when they lied aside each other, Toph realizes that he isn't bringing her for support, he's sharing this with her.

Even though she can't see it, he's sharing something with her that had meant him the entire world at one time. He cherished and trusted her enough to bring her to be part of something that had shaped him, something that he didn't talk about anymore.

It gave her resolve to cry freely for him and to reach for his fingers to intertwine with her own.

.

028: Hinder

Night on the Town

There were too many pounding feet, too many moving bodies and laughter and music clustering Toph's head. Her feet somehow remembered to move in rhythm with the chaos, to the bells and strings that were almost indistinguishable over the voices and yells.

Feeling the hand on her shoulder squeeze to get her attention, she faced up to Sokka who was smiling down at her.

"Some crazy party, yeah?" he asked as they continued hopping and dancing, just two bodies in the moving mass.

She tried to smile, but when someone brushed her shoulder, she could only show a frown. True, this party mostly was better than the diplomatic ones they'd been forced to go to lately, where there were only people twice, or even three times, their age and boring ballroom dancing.

Here, at this hole in the wall, there was energy and life; but there was too much for Toph at the moment. She could probably account this, too, to how she was every bit sober; she needed something to drink or something equally relaxing to hit her.

When Sokka had said they'd have some time alone, she had thought he'd meant time alone. As in, just the two of them, no roomful of strangers included.

But then he was ducking his face down to her; his lips brushed her only for an instance, just long enough for her to feel his lips and his breath.

"Hide in the numbers and no one will notice," he whispered into her neck before he was spinning her in a new direction. How like him, to use a battle plan and bring it into an everyday occurrence; it was a disturbing ability but Toph appreciated it regardless.

The earthbender lost sight of the people and ruckus around her and began focusing on Sokka and his surprise kisses that she tried to number.

But between the fast moving feet and bodies around her and how both of them were trying to steal kisses from the other, she forgot to keep counting; Sokka was always too distracting for her own good.

.

026: Trials

Broken Pieces Mashed Together

The war had stolen things from them before they realized it themselves. It took their childhood along with their peace of mind. It made their days hectic and stretched, their nights dreamless and fretful.

The time chipped away at their minds and abilities. It was small things, like how Toph had to sell her rumble belt for money and Sokka ran out of seal jerky for months on end. Even these seemingly insignificant things made their smiles feel heavier.

It left them fractured, even in the soothing peace.

So they cling to each other to try and remember what it was like when they were young and stupid, when they didn't care about locking doors and sleeping with a weapon or feet planted firmly to the ground.

They try and remember what it was to just be kids and not remember the fire, the pain and the strife they had to go through. The yells and the screams that left throats raw and horse; how they would grasp for what they wanted so much their fingernails would chip and bleed.

He looks into her blank eyes and tries to see his past and the boy he used to be; she feels the man's hands before her and tries to remember when her own were soft and scar free.

They know time will heal all but they try and speed it up with their wary kisses and tight hugs.