Story Title: Pony-Tail
Rating: T for language
Pairings: Sokka/Toph (?)
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Avatar: The Last Airbender themes or characters. That is all owned by Nickelodeon. But if I did... -evil laughter and lightning in background- ...Woah, where did that come from?
A/N: Okay, this isn't a Sokka/Toph pairing--its just a soft pile of fluff I found in the darkest corners of my mind. I thought I would roll with it, and so I did. I tried to make it funny, while staying on the basic track on that Sokka is one depressed puppy. Anyways, this is not a "Songfic". I couldn't find a good song for this one, so this is just a normal drabble. Its short, and it has the worst ending possible, but that is all in my opinion. Please review and tell me how you liked this one...its kind of different for me! Thanks, and enjoy! -Solar Beam
Pony-Tail
The young, Water Tribe boy gazed up at the moon from where he sat beside the stream. He hadn't gaze up at the large orb in a long time, not since the North Pole. Not since his first love became the Moon Spirit herself. For a long time, he just couldn't handle it. When Katara would ask him to go be her sparring dummy out by a body of water at night so that she could be most powerful, he denied and went to sleep without eating. When Aang and Katara sat on top of Appa's saddle and just gazed at the stars, exclaiming how beautiful they are and how Sokka really should come over and look with him, he just shook his head and got into his sleeping bag to sleep. Toph would make fun of him for it; she would say that he had lost his brotherly instinct. Whatever that meant. She wasn't there during the attack. She didn't know how much it hurt to lose a loved one. She didn't know Her.
And so Sokka sat by the river, his feet in the cool liquid as it swept past his legs and cleaned the soot off his legs from an attack from earlier. He lay back on the grass with his arms supporting his head and just watched the moon. It was as if nothing else was in the sky. Just the moon and Her beauty. He believed he could almost see her face shinning down on him, but knew that he was just trying to tell himself that she did not die without reason. He sighed heavily.
"…Pony-Tail?" Toph stood uneasily behind the boy, her eyes staring into nothing as she felt his body hit the ground. She didn't know if he were dead or alive, and she was worried. For some reason, Aang and Katara had told Toph to go find Sokka. It was probably so that she could tell him that dinner was going to be late so that they didn't have to face his wrath. No answer. She sat herself beside him and she lifted her head to the sky, shutting her eyes, wishing she could see the stars just this once. "Twinkle Toes and the Princess told me to tell you dinner will be late." No answer. That's odd, she thought uneasily.
Toph wasn't so used to the annoying Water Tribe boy to be silent, and it made her nervous. She finally opened her eyes and looked straight ahead, her lips pursed to a thin line. Finally, she spoke up, "You know, you shouldn't dwell on the past." No answer. "That girl, that princess; Katara told me about her. Is that what all this is about? This depression?" Slowly he tilted his head toward her to study the blind girl's meaning; what was she getting at? He had never thought of it as a 'depression'…but it made sense so instead he looked back up at the moon. It seemed to be glowing dimmer now that the words were said. "You know, that princess would have wanted you to be happy, Pony-Tail.. As much as it pains me to say it, you're a good guy. There are tons of other girls out there, just waiting to throw themselves at a handsome, boomerang-throwing, loud-mouthed, show-off, sexist Water Tribe boy!"
A curve of a smile appeared on his lips at her description. Handsome? Well that was something new. It was as if all the other words did not touch his ears, only the first one. Still, he said nothing and he shut his eyes so that he could imagine himself being bathed in the moon's silver beams. When he didn't answer, she continued, "Katara said she had said that she would always be with you. She always is, Pony-Tail. You need to get that through your brain; she isn't gone forever." No answer. "She became something more than just a spirit, Sokka." At his name he stirred slightly on the grass, his arms still supporting his head as he tilted it to the right to look at the girl beside him. "She became a Goddess. The Moon Spirit! She is always with you, Sokka…in your heart!"
Sokka was silent for a longer amount of time, but so was Toph. She just looked straight ahead into the forest in which only looked like darkness to her. Everything was darkness to her. She sighed heavily and made way to stand, "Well, Twinkle Toes and the Princess just wanted to make sure you knew that dinner was to be late. I better get back to see if I can cause any chaos to help out." She started to turn back when suddenly something grabbed her small wrist. She froze; his touch was so cold! She looked down at Sokka, trying hard to see his face. She could see nothing…like usual.
"I loved her. Yue, I mean." Toph sat herself back down beside him carefully, and after a hesitant pause, Sokka removed his hand from her wrist. He sat up now, his eyes scanning the sky. "It killed me when she said she was engaged…to some stuck-up guy who only liked her for her looks or something. When I met him, I just wanted to kill him, Toph. I attacked him…I hated to think that this was who Yue was going to give children to one day. It really killed me inside. That was why I joined the army that night when I found out; why kill myself when I could just get some Fire Nation ass to kill me?" He sighed heavily and put his head in his hands. "Then her father told me to protect her instead. So I did. I promised I would let nothing happen to her, Toph! Look what happened to her! What a great protection I am! I couldn't even save her from her destiny."
Toph was silent and she finally looked down at the earth. She padded a small dirt circle with one hand, and then picked up a fist full and let it slip through her fingers. "It was destiny, Sokka. You can't stop destiny…you can't even slow it down. Once it's begun, it's unstoppable."
For a long time Sokka didn't answer, he just buried his face into his hands, soaking in her words. Finally he ran his hands down his face, thankful that Toph was blind so that she could not see his tears. Who knew what kick she would get out of that? "Toph?"
"Hmm?"
Sokka was silent a moment, and finally he sighed and sat up straighter, looking at the moon. "I won't get over Yue, Toph. I never will…it's impossible. Eventually I will…but not now. I will mope around a few days longer, until we get to Kyoshi Island. I couldn't have stopped destiny, Toph, but Yue was my destiny. I was so sure of it! I was so sure we were meant to be and that nothing could have torn us apart." He sighed, and Toph took in his words.
"Besides your destiny with Aang, you mean?" she asked quietly, once more taking a fist full of dirt and opening her palm just as a soft breeze rustled by, taking the dirt with it.
"Besides the journey with Aang," he agreed sadly. There was a long pause, and he said, "Toph? Thanks."
Toph stood and stretched, and then stomped her foot. A pillar shot up under Sokka and threw him to his feet. He nearly fell into the slow-moving river, but he caught himself. Toph snickered, back to her old self. "Whatever, Pony-Tail. Don't mention it," she started moving back to camp, and then paused and turned back to him, "Literally." And with that she made her way back to camp, leaving Sokka in her dust.
He shook his head and looked back at the moon with a dreamy gaze. "I'll never forget you." And then he heard Katara yelling into the forest that the meal was now finished and he clapped his hands together, realizing that he was indeed starving. He would never forget that Toph actually did have a soft spot. He would also never forget what she told him. He had learned something that night, though he didn't know exactly what it was. Whatever it was, it had cleared the fog in his path and now he could see clearly.