A/N: Mmm... actiony. ish.

Dum de dum de dum. Writers block wont go ewai, so I'm writing more fanfiction to pass the time. Yay me.

All my chapters seem to be horribly disfigured cliffhangers... . Excuse that.

Sokka's Instincts 2: Yeah. Katara isn't Ty Lee. She's just gleeful. Sorry ;) About to change anyway... bwahahah!

Disclaimer: I do NOT own Avatar: The Last Airbender or any of the characters within it.

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Chapter 10

"Ugh! This is horrible. Why did I even agree to this?" Toph complained, trying to stay as still as possible as the woman behind her tightened the laces on the dress she wore. It was a pale pink with a small bow attached to the waist, ribbons extending down to her knees.

"Because I asked you to. Now stop squirming!" Sokka replied, mixed emotions of annoyance and humor flooding his tone.

He stood in the doorway watching the woman behind Toph make a disgusted face every time the adolescent earthbender fidgeted with the garment.

They had been in eight different stores and Toph had tried on at least two dozen dresses. She was far past the point of exhaustion and wasn't too keen on the idea of looking for a dress anyway. She'd rather wear her regular Earth Kingdom clothes from home.

She growled under her breath.

"What color is it?" Toph demanded.

Sokka sighed, but the woman dressing her answered.

"Pink."

Toph couldn't supress her anger any longer.

"PINK!? I hate pink! It's girly and... and... ugh! Sokka?! Why?!"

Sokka seemed unruffled. He shrugged.

"Well, it looks nice on you."

Normally, Toph would have blushed at his complement, but at the moment she was too furious to even give it a second thought.

"I don't care. I'm done looking for dresses. I think I'll just wear what I always wear."

She stepped down from the platform, stumbling and reaching for Sokka's arm. She'd almost forgotten that the whole store was made from wood and that the earth she loved so dearly was at least three feet from giving her 'vision'.

"Toph, be realistic. You can't even see what you're wearing... no pun intended... so why do you care what you have on? If you look nice, you should wear it. And... since you can't pose your own opinion, why ignore mine?"

The dressing lady rolled her eyes and walked out of the room. Toph crossed her arms.

"...Pink?" she asked simply.

Sokka pursed his lips in aggravation.

"Yes. How about this... we go home and ask Katara, Aang, and my dad's opinions? Maybe when we get there, Sukki will be there too." He smiled at the thought of seeing his love again. Toph made a face at the name.

"Fine," she mumbled in a harsh tone. Strangely, she wasn't in the mood to fight.

--

Aang was sitting on the floor, his arms around his knees and his face buried into the cocoon he made out of himself.

"How could this happen? She was just there..." he trailed off and began to mumble unintelligibly.

"It's not your fault, Aang," Hakota tried to comfort him.

Aang looked up from his fetal position and stared at Katara's father with weary eyes.

"Yes. Yes it is. If only we didn't... k-kiss... then Sokka wouldn't have made me go into another room and I would be here to protect her..."

He sobbed deeply and moaned.

Hakota patted him on the back.

"None of this is your fault. You can't look back on hindsight and say you should've done something differently. I don't think it's fair to blame yourself." He paused and shifted his eyes from the wreck known as Aang, to a scroll in the young boy's hand. "Could I see that?"

Aang nodded softly and lazily handed the parchment to him.

Hakota unrolled it, pulling it apart with two hands. It read,

Avatar,

We have your water tribe peasant. If you ever wish to see her again, you will do as I say.

Outside the grand fire nation capitol lies a trail.

It parts at a crossroads after a short distance as you most likely know.

Follow the trail and take the left path.

There will be another, smaller trail that leads off of the originial path.

Follow this to find our cave.

If you are with company, you will not be able to see us.

Come alone.

You have until twilight to find us. Or else for her...

Death... If she's lucky.

Hakota rolled it back up.

"What do you think they want?" he asked.

Aang's eyes narrowed.

"A fight."

Hakota pondered the words. He felt so much grief for his daughter and the young boy in front of him. They had been through so much. Now the war was over. They shouldn't have to suffer anymore. He should've known it would never really be over.

"How did they even get her, though? I didn't hear anything."

Aang looked away.

"It's even more my fault then. I heard someone talking, but I thought it was someone we knew..." He trusted his head into his hands again. "I can't believe I let this happen. Why didn't she scream? Why?... Oh spirits..."

"Aang..."

The door opened. The two reflexively looked upwards, but didn't move otherwise. It was only Toph and Sokka.

Sokka immediately knew something was wrong.

"You look nice," Aang said softly to Toph, though his voice was threaded with melancholy.

"Uh... thanks?" she replied, unsure of his comment.

Sokka interrupted them.

"What happened?" he demanded.

Aang handed him the scroll as he walked over.

Toph looked over his shoulder instinctively, though Sokka quickly caught on and read it quietly out loud to her.

Concern and shock clouded Sokka's features.

"That doesn't sound good," Toph managed, though the atmosphere was too thick for words.

"What are we going to do?" Aang asked, peering through his knees at the ground.

Sokka smirked.

"Exactly what the note says to do."

Toph smiled at the thought, but then realized she wouldn't be the one beating people up and frowned.

Aang threw Sokka a puzzled glance.

"You're the Avatar. You defeated Ozai! You can easily take out these thugs."

"Sokka, Aang shouldn't have to..." Hakota trailed off, pleading.

Sokka ignored him.

"Aang. Don't you want to save your... girlfriend?" He winced very noticably at the term. Anything to get him motivated...

Aang looked up and raised an eyebrow, but then shook his head to shake off the unrelated questions.

"Of course! If she gets hurt..." He looked back down.

"Come on, you Avatar, you!" Sokka said enthusiastically, extending his arm to help the airbender up.

He took it, inhaled a deep breath, and wiped away his drying tears with his free hand.

"Okay..."

"Good. You better hit the road. We don't want to miss the party," Sokka said encouragingly.

Toph laughed. "I wouldn't mind," she said.

Sokka rolled his eyes.

"I bet you wouldn't."