Nightmares and Dreams

by janechristine

Sokka has been plagued by nightmares of what if Toph had slipped out of his fingers that day on the airship during the war and died, and Toph has painfully dreamed of him at a distance, not speaking or seeing him for 5 whole years in an effort to patch up her broken heart. But when the 2 meet at Aang and Katara's wedding, unexpected feelings pop up again.

3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Sokka

Sokka stood at the front of the aisle, his breath hitched and his heart stopped. All-time stopped for him, as he stared down the aisle at the girl he knew to be Toph, but didn't know why when he looked at her, a breath of relief and feelings of… home walked in when she did, swept through him. She began walking down the aisle and he ran his eyes over this Toph he had never met.

She is beautiful. That sentence ran through his head, over and over, loud and clear, as if it was something he should've realized a long time ago. The person walking down the aisle was not the 12-year-old girl hanging from his hand. She was a woman, her raven hair falling in light waves and hitting her waist. Her bangs covered her forehead, but not her face, like they did when she was younger. Her green, sightless eyes looked ahead, and as he watched them, losing himself in them, he thought that he had never seen anything more beautiful.

She was taller now, but at least a foot shorter than he was. Her sage green dress matched her eyes and flowed to the ground in soft billows. Sokka followed her with his eyes. She had put on makeup, but not much. Her eyelashes were black peaks, a beautiful mountain landscape. Her skin was the color of smooth sand. Her cheeks were pink with sunset light.

He hardly paid attention to the wedding at all, because his eyes couldn't be pulled from her face. She stood silent and powerful, her shoulders high back, listening with a slight smile to Katara and Aang's lovely vows. But she also looked flighty, the whites of her knuckles showing as she held her hands together tightly. After Aang and Katara descended the aisle, now a married couple, Toph raced after them without a single glance back at Sokka.

Sokka looked for Toph all throughout the reception, but couldn't get her to talk to him. If he walked her towards her, she would immediately walk away. But, he finally spotted her talking to Katara, and since Katara spoke to him first, she couldn't get away.

"Toph!" He said. "It's so good to see you!" Katara was whisked away by Aang, leaving them alone. She smiled lightly and answered very properly back.

"It's good to see you too, Sokka."

"How's the metal bending academy going?"

She waved a hand in the air. "Oh, you know. They're not as good as me but they're slowly becoming less incompetent than I thought." He smiled at her statement as music started to play.

"Hey, Toph. Do you want to dance?" Sokka said, suddenly, surprising himself. He looked down at her small frame that was staring away from him.

She stilled. "No." She said roughly, and turned around, and walked away, leaving Sokka standing there alone. It was in this moment that his heart caved in on itself. His fears were true. What he had known all along but didn't want to believe was true, had happened: she hated him, and the finality that the realization brought made his life look bleak. He had always thought that eventually they would talk again, or make up, or something. But that wasn't what she wanted, and it became painfully obvious that his life would be one lived without her. If she was going to cut him out, he couldn't live never knowing why.