Disclaimer: I do not own the Avatar. However, I do own the story and the words. Yay me!!

Read on...

**************************************************************

AANG'S POV

"Does the swamp seem…different to you…somehow?"

Crunch! The sound of nuts from my bag crunching under Toph's homemade nut cracker made me jump.

With her mouth full of food she answered, "It seems a bit…quiet doesn't it? And if feels like a storm's coming."

"How can you tell?"

"Heightened senses, Twinkles. Heightened senses."

Well, that sure explained why she would always build an earth tent an hour before a storm would actually touch land.

"When can we get out of here? Don't you and Appa have like some sort of Avatar-y connection thingy? Just feel him out or something."

"For that to actually work I need to go to the center of the swamp and it looks like we're days away from it."

"Well, isn't that just wonderful," sarcasm marked Toph's voice perfectly. She was about to lay down but as soon as her head hit the ground she jerked back up.

"Do you feel that?" she asked as she put a hand on the ground.

I was digging through my bag for any more food that I could eat when Toph had asked me that. My head shot up and I dropped the bag entirely.

I couldn't believe what I was seeing. After I had rubbed my eyes a good 3 times, I had to admit that what I was seeing was real.

A swirling vortex of colors and wind seemed to be emanating from deep within the murky water and it looked like it was moving. And not just moving anywhere; it was coming straight for us.

"Did you say something, Twinkles?"

"What-no, I didn't. Why? Did you hear something?" I said quickly as I racked my brain for an idea on how to get out of here.

I could fly but then I'd get stuck in the vines. I could waterbend us somewhere but how do I do that without scaring Toph. I mean, she couldn't see what I was seeing and I didn't want to freak her out.

I saw Toph stand up and from her gaze it almost seemed like she was entranced by something.

"It's like…voices. Whispering in the wind and swirling or mixing with the water," she whispered herself. It almost seemed that she thought that if she spoke aloud, all the voices would stop. I saw her walk towards the whirlwind and I had to snap her out her own trance. "It's so…beautiful," she breathed.

With each step she took towards the murky water I grew panicky. She didn't know what she was getting herself into. I didn't even know what I was getting myself into.

"Toph," I asked rather uneasily.

"Yes, Aang," she breathed and my eyes widened. Throughout this whole trip she had been calling me by my nickname and now she was calling me Aang?

Oh, this is bad, I thought to myself. I had to get her out of here, but how.

I grabbed Toph's arm and tried to pull her back but she kept on walking like there was nothing holding her back. And believe me, I was using all my strength to try and keep her away from the vortex that crept closer to us each passing second.

"Toph, WAKE UP!" I yelled in her ear as loud as I could. She didn't flinch. I bended a wall in front of her and she just went around it.

Let me repeat that:

Toph Bei Fong walked around a rock wall!

The winds picked up around me with a roar and the water seemed to just swirl deeper and deeper into the swamp. All the colors you can imagine were swirling in the wind. I took a waterbending stance and tried to reverse the water so the vortex would stop but I couldn't even move one drop of water.

When I heard Toph scream, I froze. I quickly defrosted and turned around just in time to see her hand flailing above the water.

"Toph!" I yelled as I dived into the water headfirst around the spot where I last saw her hand.

She could not be drowning. She could not be drowning. I wouldn't let her!

Under the water I was having a battle with the strong currents that tried to pull me to and fro and up and down. My eyes burning from the natural methane gas that the swamp produced, but I didn't care. I resurfaced, took a deep breath and went down back down.

You must be wondering why I didn't just bend the water out of the way or why I didn't bend my own bubble of air instead of taking a deep breath. Well, it was because I couldn't bend! On land I could bend but as soon as I had dived into the water my bending seemed meaningless.

Two things I knew for sure:

1. This was no regular storm.

2. The Spirit World had to be involved in this. They just had to be.

The second time I was underwater was a bit easier since I knew that if I moved a certain way that I'd be taken under and I wouldn't come back up again. A pale white shape caught my attention and I wished with all my heart that it was Toph. I stretched out my hand and--thanks to my growth spurt--I was able to grasp the hand that seemed to reach for me. I pulled Toph up to the surface and gasped for air as I tried to remove water from my mouth, which was a little hard since it had begun raining while I was down there.

Luckily, Toph was doing the same thing as me. I heaved a much needed sigh of relief.

"Toph, are you okay?" I asked, sort of yelling in her ear so I could make sure that she heard me over the roar of the winds and the rush of water.

She nodded and continued coughing violently.

"Hold on!" I instructed as I put her on my back and tried to swim away from the bright beam of light that had suddenly shot up from the whirlpool.

With each stroke I took I could feel Toph's grip on my shoulder loosen.

I yelled in frustration, "Toph, I said to hold on!"

I heard her hoarse reply as clearly as if we weren't trying to out-swim a vortex of water that was trying to consume us.

"Something's pulling me. Aang, help!"

I turned around and held her tightly to my chest. She put her arms around my back and her legs around my waist.

If Toph was going down, then so would I.

The water rushed around us and we were soon pulled into the whirlpool of colors where we swirled round and round until I was sure that I was about to throw up. I closed my eyes and held Toph as tight as she was holding me as we penetrated the bright light and were met with utter blackness.

********************************************************************

A/N: I hate being pelted with utter blackness! It gets on my nerves.

Anywho, review and tell me what you think.

Love: Lola of the Peaches

=]