Author's note:

Hello! This is my first ever fanfic that I've written, and it's about my favorite ship ever: Tokka. I love them so much that my heart can't handle it sometimes. This was originally supposed to be a short one-shot, but it's morphed into a short story with multiple short(ish) chapters that I'll be posting soon. This is going to be a dramatic, angsty, emotional, confession of love in the rain type of story, so I hope you like it! :) This takes place 9 years after the war, with Sokka being 23 and Toph being 20. I do not own any avatar characters or any part of the franchise.

Chapter 1

Sokka

The smell of smoke filled Sokka's nose. Waves of heat slammed him in his face, the airship groaning beneath him as it collided with another. He looked at Toph admirably. "Have I ever told you how awesome it is that you invented metal bending?"

"You could stand to mention it more." Was her reply. He looked at her, like he was looking at her for the first time. With his eyes, he saw a sightless girl, young, small and helpless, but as he thought over everything he knew about her, he realized that his eyes lie to him, and they lie to anyone who underestimates her. She was strong, brave, and she could bend metal beneath her small hands. She was ready to put herself in danger, leave behind everything she had ever known, climb aboard a flying ship, even though she hates flying, all to help Aang. She was remarkable. He realized that the entire group never gave Toph enough credit. He started to say something, to tell her how thankful he was for what she was doing, when a burst of fire and "there they are!" yell choked his words.

He grabbed Toph's hand and ran. They ran across the top of the ship, bursts of fire barely missing them. Suddenly, his feet slipped and they both fell through the air. He wrapped his hand tightly around Toph's and landed on a ledge, his leg dislocating underneath him. The pain clouded his mind and he felt almost like passing out when he felt her small hand clutching tightly to him. Panic made him alert. She was dangling, nothing under her feet, the only thing tethering her to safety was Sokka's hand.

"Hold on Toph!" He yelled as fire nation soldiers surrounded him.

"Aye aye captain!" She said. Those words brought tears to his eyes. She had always treated him like he meant something, like she valued him, and now, he wasn't going to be able to save her. He threw his boomerang, knocking one of the soldiers out, and cut fire with his sword, but it fell away. More soldiers surrounded them and he realized he was helpless, weaponless, and her hand was slipping out of his.

He curled his fingers trying to hold on, but she slipped even more. He turned his face towards her, only to see her terrified, tear-stained cheeks. "Goodbye Sokka." She whispered and dropped his hand.

"TOPH NO!" He screamed as he watched her fall to the ground.

Sokka awoke with a start. He clutched his chest as he breathed heavily, sweat pouring down his face, and tears running out of his eyes. It's just a dream. It's just a dream. It's the same dream you've been having the past 8 years. He shook his head in defeat.

The nightmares were the worst during the first 2 years after the war. It was when everyone had just moved away. Toph, to go start her metal bending academy, Aang and Katara to travel around the world and help the recovery after the war, Suki with the Kyoshi warriors and Sokka went wherever he was needed, often being the eyes of the group, going undercover and making sure that revolutions and power-hungry benders were not destroying the fragile peace that was holding the nations together.

Sometimes, Toph would be with him. She would help him find information, or if he was ever up against too many benders she would be there. In those times, his nightmares were able to subside. He would dream of her hand slipping away and awake to be able to assure himself that she was in another room. But time went on, and he moved back to the water tribes until he was 18, when he was voted to be ambassador of the Southern Water Tribe in Republic City. He was 23 now, living in Republic City, and plagued by nightmares of "what if". Toph was miles away, nothing to ease his nightmares.

Sokka stepped out onto his balcony, seeing the light from the sun cast its dawn shadow over the buildings. It reminded him of a time in Ba Sing Se, when he and Suki had broken off their engagement 2 years ago.

He shook his head. He didn't want to relive that memory. It wasn't necessarily a memory that caused his heart to break, but he missed Suki still. She meant a lot to him, even if he wasn't in love with her.

All the people that he missed came crashing in, all at once, Toph being the first in his mind. He had been haunted from that day, the day when he almost failed to protect her as he should. But he missed his friend. Toph could always make him laugh, and while Aang and Katara were together pretending like they weren't in love, it was Toph that would end up spending time with Sokka. He always felt like he was weak and useless, but she always made him feel like she valued him and as if she wanted him there, even if he wasn't a bender.

Today is the day! Sokka thought excitedly. It was Aang and Katara's wedding, and everyone would be there. Zuko and Mai were coming in, Toph was maid of honor, and Sokka was best man. It would be like old times.

It had been 5 years since everyone had seen each other. Sokka had seen Katara and Aang a few times, but they all hadn't been together at the same time in 5 years. Plus, Sokka hadn't seen Toph for 5 years either. He hadn't even talked to her much. He used to write to her to fill her in on important things in his life, but eventually, she stopped getting someone to write back, so he just stopped writing.

After the 3 years after the war where they saw each other pretty regularly when Aang needed their assistance, she sort of just disappeared from his life. He left for the water tribes, and she wrote to him all the time, filling him in on every detail of her school and how her metal bending students were doing, but when he was elected Southern Water Tribe Councilman and got engaged to Suki, she stopped writing. He sent her letters upon letters, begging her to visit. He didn't know if she even read them.

But he would see her, finally, after 5 years. In his heart, he was hoping that there would be something he could say, to apologize for whatever way he had hurt her, or what he had done to put this space between them.