Dreams

Toph did her best to glare at the woman before her, but one could only do so much if one was blind.

Aunt Wu just smiled at Toph and Katara nodded enthusiastically.

"So, you want to know what about your future child? Do you wish to know if you will marry, or do you wish to know if your future brings wealth?" she questioned, her hands tracing the weathered edges of her prediction deck. Toph snorted.

"I can tell you that I will have wealth and I will not get married." Toph stated flatly. Katara rolled her eyes and nodded to Aunt Wu.

"Why don't you go ahead and do the prediction, Toph is a skeptic." Katara said with a slow smile. The trip had been, after all, her idea. She had hoped that Toph would have been a little more receptive.

Aunt Wu shrugged and shuffled the deck before asking Toph to cut it. As she laid the cards out on the table, her eyes widened and she gasped.

"My child, why are you so certain of your future?" she inquired. Toph rolled her eyes and momentarily forgot that Katara was in the room.

"Well, the guy I love is in love with someone else, and since I helped end the war and I am the sole heir of the Flying Boar enterprise, I'm pretty much set for life as far as money goes. I have no idea when I'll die, but it will probably be in battle, and I will most likely be alone." Toph informed her. Katara stared at Toph in concern and sighed. Aunt Wu smiled at Toph though.

"I will tell you the same thing that I told your friend; you are in control of your destiny, and you may shape it any way you want. Right now, your cards show exactly the path that you are on, but, should something change, should you tell this man perhaps, they could change as well. You may not end up alone after all." Aunt Wu assured her. Toph rolled her eyes and stood up.

"Thanks for the prediction." Toph said sullenly before stomping out. Aunt Wu turned to Katara.

"So, is she in love with your husband?" Aunt Wu asked in a hushed voice. Katara laughed.

"Not even…she's in love with my brother." Katara corrected.

Toph grumbled as she pushed her way through the throng of people trying to get a reading from Aunt Wu. She was determined to put the old woman's words out of her mind.

Toph wasn't forcing herself to be alone or to die alone, she just would. That was what destiny had for her. Toph couldn't change that anymore than she could change the fact that she was blind.

Just then, she collided with a large chest and the faint scent of meat wafted up to her nose. Sokka stared down at Toph, his arm muscles bulging in his sleeveless tunic.

He smiled as Toph shoved him away.

"Did Aunt Phony give you a good reading?" he asked, his voice deep from age. Toph grunted and blew her long bangs out of her eyes; it was about time for a haircut.

"Yeah, she told me I was going to die alone." She informed him. Sokka's smile dropped from his face and he shook his head vehemently.

"Toph, your life is what you make it. I told you before we came about how her predictions aren't always right." He comforted. Toph sighed and they walked back to the inn they were staying in.

"Whatever, it isn't like I care anyway. I like being alone." She concluded. Sokka stepped forward and unlocked her door for her. As the two entered her bedroom, Sokka took post on her easy-chair and Toph flopped down on her bed.

"But Toph, you aren't alone. You and I still travel together. You have me." He said quietly. Toph stiffened at his words and sat back up.

"Sokka, I don't have you. Suki has you." she replied, her milky eyes filled with rage. "I think you should go."

Sokka stood up and sighed.

"Alright, let me know when you're done being mad at me." He said with a sad smile before leaving.

Toph held the scissors between her fingers and held her bangs flush against her nose. She held them steady and prepared to make the short cut from end to end. Just as she opened the scissors, her door banged open and she jerked, the cut winding up angled shortly on one end and long on the other.

"Damn it!" she cried, casting the scissors to the floor. Sokka stared at her and the hair on the floor, and then rushed to her side.

"Oh spirits Toph, I am so sorry. Did you get cut?" he asked, checking her face for any signs of damage. Toph wrenched away from his and did her best to glare at him. Unfortunately, her glare was centered on his chest, and he was not intimidated in the least.

"No, and I'm still mad. You can get out now." She said with annoyance coating her words. Sokka smiled and pulled the scissors from her hand.

"At least let me fix your bangs." He reasoned. Toph sighed and sat down on the edge of her bed.

"Fine, then you go." She warned. Sokka nodded absentmindedly as he ran his fingers through her soft tendrils of hair. As he fingered her bangs, he made one strong snip, and then a few short ones.

Sokka stepped back to admire his work and Toph reached up to touch her bangs.

"Do you like it?" he asked expectantly.

"They don't cover my eyes." Toph said, her voice edged with panic. Sokka arched an eyebrow.

"Yeah, but it looks nice Toph, you can actually see your eyes." He protested.

"I can't see anything. And why on earth would I want someone to be able to see my eyes?" she demanded. She tugged furiously on her bangs as if she could stretch them back over her eyes.

Sokka stared at her in utter confusion and then smiled.

"People want to see your eyes because they're beautiful Toph, they're a part of you." he told her. Toph closed her eyes and bit her bottom lip. Sokka couldn't say things like that, not while he was with Suki.

"I wish they weren't." she said finally. Sokka opened his mouth to argue, but Toph put up a hand. "Why don't we go get something to eat?" she asked.

Though Sokka wanted to argue, he couldn't deny his growling stomach the sweet release of food.

"Katara, have you noticed that Toph has been acting…distant lately?" Sokka asked, his eyes clouded with worry. Katara looked up from the scroll Iroh had sent her and sighed.

"Yeah, but I just assumed you two had had another fight." Katara said. Sokka shook his head, then nodded, and then sat down beside her, jostling the romance scroll out of her lap. He swooped down and picked it up before speaking.

"We kind of did…I mean, I think we did. I don't know what set her off. It could have been me telling her that she had me or that her eyes were beautiful." He said, his mind drifting back to their fight. Katara slapped her forehead and took a deep breath.

"Sokka…you can NOT say those kinds of things to Toph. You give her mixed signals." Katara chastened. Sokka stared at her inquisitively.

"I don't understand…" he said carefully. Katara sighed and stood up. She knew it wasn't Sokka's fault that he was oblivious, but this had gone on for eight years. Enough was enough.

"You say that you love Suki, but you never see her, you live with Toph, travel with Toph, and you guys are so in sync that sometimes I don't know where she ends and you begin!" Katara snapped. Sokka was quiet as he considered her words.

"Are you saying that I love Toph?" he demanded, his eyes wide. Katara rolled her eyes.

"All I am saying is that if you love her, you should be with her, if not, you need to leave her alone." Katara clarified. Sokka sighed and took down his hair before running a hand through it.

"I guess you're right." He said finally, though what she was right about was unclear.

Toph tossed the last of her belongings into the small bag and dusted off her hands.

"Well," she said, turning to Katara. "That's everything. Wish me luck." She said, uncharacteristically cheerful. Katara had a strong sense that Toph was putting on a show, for her own sake more than anyone else's.

"Okay Toph…be safe and send me a hawk when you get there. Are you sure you don't want us to take you on Appa?" she asked. Toph shrugged and smiled again.

"Nope, I have to get used to not having a flying bison. Besides, it's not like Mr. Wonderful can't provide me with whatever I need." Toph stated.

Katara sighed. She was wary about Toph's plans to enter into an arranged marriage, but Toph was Toph, and no one could tell her anything.

"Just be safe Toph." Katara stated. Apparently, the guy came highly recommended.

Ever since Sokka had left a week ago to be with Suki, Toph had grown even more distant, and sprung the news on Katara and Aang one night.

"Hey guys, I'm going to go back to Gaoling. I'm uh, I'm getting married." She stated, her eyes filled with an undeterminable emotion.

Aang looked at Katara, who shrugged, and smiled.

"That's…good? What's he like?" Aang asked, imagining someone they must have met along the way that Toph had harbored secret feelings for.

"No clue." She responded, effectively crashing Aang's daydreams. Katara stiffened and closed her eyes.

"Toph, why would you do that? You have a right to choose who you want to spend the rest of your life with." Katara protested.

Toph simply shrugged and that was that.

Toph climbed into the carriage after hugging Aang and Katara a final goodbye, and waited until the cart had gone a distance before allowing her tears to fall.

She may have been engaged, but aunt Wu was right…Toph would surely die alone.

Toph lounged in the garden of her childhood home and felt the sun beat down on her pale face. She knew that she would be sunburned in a matter of minutes and that her mother would bitch, but at that moment, she didn't care.

She could feel the warmth of Sokka around her, feel his fingers in her hair, smell his unique scent of water and meat, and she could almost imagine that he had not left without saying goodbye.

Toph hated herself for loving him; the man caused her nothing but pain, and yet, she tortured herself for eight years by staying around him. And now, that damn knucklehead was embedded into her being, and she would never be able to forget him.

Toph grunted and rolled onto her back. She was in a strapless yellow dress, and the sun beat angrily on her shoulders. Toph groaned as she recognized her mother's footsteps moving towards her.

"Toph dear, your betrothed just arrived. Please put a robe on and come to the dining hall." She pleaded, her voice uncharacteristically worried. She was probably scared Toph was going to miff things up.

Toph sighed and trudged after her, grabbing a silk robe and slipping it on before heading towards the dining hall.

As she walked into the dining hall, she immediately noted the scent of the ocean. Perhaps her future husband had traveled from afar to be with her.

Toph tamped down the hope that gnawed at her; she knew her destiny, and sadly, Sokka was not part of it.

"So," he father said purposefully. "Tell us about how you aided in defeating the Firelord."

Toph rolled her eyes; oh spirits, this guy had lied to her parents and claimed to help take down the Firelord.

"Actually, I helped keep the air fleet off of Avatar Aang's back so that he could defeat the Firelord." Toph's eyes widened. Holy Spirits! It was Sokka!

What on earth was he doing here?

"That sounds like an arduous task." He father commented. Sokka laughed softly.

"Yeah, I wouldn't have been able to do it if it weren't for your daughter." Sokka acknowledged. Toph dropped her spoon.

"What are you doing here Meathead? Where's Suki?" she demanded, her patience gone. This was one real sick joke if you asked her.

"Toph!" her mother chastened. "You should not speak to your future husband in such tones."

Toph stood up so quickly that her chair clambered to the ground.

"You, me, outside, now!" she said, her voice forced through her clenched teeth.

Sokka stood and followed her out to the garden.

"Look Toph, this isn't exactly how I wanted things to happen between you and me…" he trailed off as he noticed the tears in her eyes.

"Are you trying to prove a point Sokka? Are you trying to show me that my dreams can come true if I open my mind to the possibilities? Do you think this is funny?" she demanded, her chin quivering. Sokka opened his mouth but she pushed on. "Well I don't. I think it's sick. I didn't even want to enter an arranged marriage, but you just left, and I was alone. I didn't want to be alone Sokka. I wanted to have dreams too…but I couldn't, because all of my stupid dreams involved you!" she said, dropping to her knees as sobs overwhelmed her.

Sokka knelt beside her and grabbed her shoulders, pulling her up to face him.

"Toph, I came here and asked your parents for your hand because I love you and I want my dreams to come true. I dream of being with you Toph, for the rest of my life." He assured her. Toph closed her useless eyes and willed herself to wake up, in case she was dreaming. But Sokka's grip never faltered, and she found herself awake in the one dream she had always had.

A/N: Wow, so I forgot that I said this one was coming next and I had gotten pretty far on the next chapter when I remembered that I had. So, I abandoned that one and wrote this one, but I think it came out okay. Thank you all so much for reading, but I really have to beg. PLEASE REVIEW! I have so many reads on this story, but only 21 reviews. It makes me sad. Anyway, to my faithful reviewers, you guys are the best. Pure and simple; the best. Thanks again for reading! ~Kirsten