A/N: Thank you Any-Muse and Anon for reviewing! I'm glad you liked the story! And, I know Anon, it was jsut so upsetting to know there were so many people reading and I hadn't gotten a single review yet...I don't think I've ever asked for a review in a story before that. I hope that everyone here enjoys this next chapter; and know that there aren't very many left!

-Toph-

Everything was burning. His back, his legs, his arms, everything! Pain shot up and down him, coursing through his muscels, shooting through his bones, and every time he took a step, it only made it worse.

It was a nice day out, Sokka thought to himself. Not too bright, not too cloudy, and it was that perfect mild temperature that he'd decided every day should be. The clearing they had landed in had a bunch of fruit tree's, which meant that Sokka didn't have to run around trying to find meat for every one. And, best of all, there was no sign of the Fire Nation any where. In fact, there was no sign of any one nearby.

He could feel blood dripping down his forehead, running into his eyes and blurring his vision. It stung, badly, but Sokka forced himself not to blink. If he blinked, he could miss her.

Katara had taken advantage of the nice weather, grabbing up the scroll on Water-Bending that she had 'borrowed' from pirates, and dissapeared down to the nearby stream for some 'along-time'. Aang had also taken advantage of the weather; both he and Momo had taken off into the tree's to play around with his glider. Sokka had been going to spend his day lazing around, something he had rarely been able to do since he was a little boy, before he noticed something...

Something was wrong with his leg. The sickening popping noise it made everytime he took a step, everytime he moved it, just seemed to add to the pain shooting through his knee. But he couldn't stop running. If he did, he wouldn't make it to her in time.

Toph was sitting, legs pulled to her chest, leaning against one of Appa's front legs. She seemed different than usual, Sokka thought, as he made his way over to her. More subdued. He'd been expecting her to be out making advantage of the day; maybe spending some time over with Katara or messing around on the muddy banks of the stream. Not sitting, alone, with Appa.

And then he saw her, over by the ledge of the cliff. She was still fighting, because she was always fighting, but the Fire Nation soldiers were slowly pushing her back. Closer, closer, closer, closer...

It had taken him a while to get her to tell him anything. Toph was being stubborn, like she always was, and even when she told Sokka what was bothering her, it didn't make him think any less of her. After all, he thought, flying was a completely reasonable fear for someone that couldn't see. Or for any one, for that matter.

He stumbled, a root catching his foot, and he barely kept himself from falling onto the ground. The pain shooting through his leg now, through his leg and up into his back, was enough to make him nausous; his stomach rolling and thrashing and threatening to upheave everything that he'd eaten earlier that day.

But there was something about the way she said it that made Sokka think, to himself and not out loud, that it wasn't just flying she was talking about when she said 'I'm afraid of falling'. He was smart enough to keep that thought to himself and not share it with the fiesty little girl beside him; after all, he didn't want to be beaten into pulp that day. It was too nice out for that to happen.

A soldier punched out, a stream of fire flying from his fist, and she bent backwards to avoid it. But there wasn't enough of a footing and, with a frightened yelp, she lost her balance. Arms waved in the air, fear plastered onto her face, and she was falling backwards towards the crashing water below.

"Don't worry, Toph." Sokka slung an arm around the brunnette's shoulder, completely oblivious to the deep red that was suddenly spreading across her cheeks, after he let himself drop down next to her. But, even though the motion was a simple gesture, his words were filled with a seriousness. A truthfulness.

Yanking his leg out from beneath the root that was trapping it, another sickening crack filling the air, Sokka bolted towards the cliff. The footing there was slick from the water splashing up onto the cliffs but he lunged forewards anyways. An awful ache shot through his arm as he shot it out to grab the girl, a blood-covered hand wrapping around Toph's dirt-smeared one.

"I promise, I'll never let you fall."

And, whether it was falling into something that she couldn't see, falling from words that hurt from daggers, or even falling because she just couldn't be tough Toph anymore, he would always be there to catch her and pull her up to safety before it was too late.