Disclaimer: I don't own the Avatar. No der. but i do own the random song that Toph sings.

Read on…

Toph's POV

I felt an incredible force pull me out of my body, but at the same time I felt grounded.

The feeling stopped in the span of a few seconds but I still hadn't opened my eyes. I was too scared. As soon as the feeling stopped, I couldn't see anymore. I froze in place trying to figure out why I couldn't see and then I remembered what Twinkle Toes had said to me.

You won't be able to bend in the Spirit World.

I could put two and two together. I used my earthbending to see, but if I couldn't earthbend then I couldn't see. Maybe, now I truly was blind.

"Toph?" the voice made me yelp in surprise.

"Don't scare me like that, Twinkle Toes." I held up my fist to punch him but…I didn't know where he was because I still had my eyes closed.

"Sorry, Toph. How are you feeling?"

"I can't feel. Anything."

"What?" He asked, bewildered.

"I can't feel a thing. I actually have no idea where you are right now. I can only guess that you're somewhere in front of me. Am I right?"

"No. I'm actually right next to you."

I hurried to defend myself, "Everything echoes in here! How am I supposed to know where you are?"

"Sorry, sorry. I didn't mean to offend–"

"Forget it."

I tried tapping on the ground with my hand but I couldn't sense any vibrations and it was freaking me out. I decided that it didn't really matter if I opened my eyes or not so I opened them and the first thing that came out of my mouth was, "Well…this is different."

I remember when that time in the swamp (was it really only a week ago?) and I had been contemplating whether or not I was really seeing something but what I was seeing was something that I had never seen before. Then, something in my head just clicked and I got scared.

I held out my hand to try and touch what I hoped was seeing or what I thought I was seeing and I flinched back.

Something touched my shoulder and I screamed as I turned around. I closed my eyes again. This was just too much for me. A hand touched my shoulder again but its weight was familiar so I didn't move or flinch this time; I just kept my eyes shut tight.

"Toph, what's wrong? Are you hurt? Please, talk to me."

"Aang…if I'm not able to earthbend. And I use my earthbending to see…what happens?"

"You…can't see? Or you can?"

"I'm not sure. But…" I smiled. "I think I can." I opened my eyes and was faced with something in front of my face, but something about it was familiar.

"Toph," the object spoke and I gasped.

I reached out to touch the face of my best friend.

"Aang…I see you."

"You can see me? You can see me!" he suddenly jumped up. "That is so awesome! Wait…" he said calmly. "Are you okay with this?" he sat down in front of me.

"I can finally see, but…"

"But what, Toph?"

I turned away from him and was getting a headache trying to figure out just exactly what I was seeing.

"It's scary."

"Being able to see for the first time would be scary," he reasoned with such confident logic that I wanted to shake him.

"Well, that is scary but that's not what I'm talking about."

I curled up against something that felt like wood and hugged my knees, not knowing what I was looking at.

"It's just that…" I tried to come up with words to explain how I was feeling. "Every day I wake up thinking 'what am I looking at. Is it the darkness that people always talk about when they close their eyes, or what'? But it turns out…that it doesn't even seem like my eyes are there back where we came from. It's…how do I explain this?" I took a moment to ponder. "Well, you know the feeling you get when you stick your hand in an empty cup? There's nothing but air, right? Well…I've never been able to figure it out before now. My eyes back in Arizona and the Fire Nation, aren't even there. They feel as light as air. I know they're there but I just can't feel them and it's scary. Not even being able to feel your own eyes. Now…they seem sort of heavy. Aang…what color is that?" I pointed to a rectangular object.

"That's dark brown and it's a broken tree trunk."

"What's black?"

He reached behind me and pulled a thick strand of my hair in front of my eyes. "This is as black as black can get, Toph."

"So I have black hair. What color are my arms?"

"Ivory."

"What color is Heidi? She's always talking about how she's a Mexican and has a tan but what is that?"

"Heidi…is sort of like…" he looked around to try and find something to compare Heidi with. "She's sort of like…this." He held something that reminded me of the dark brown tree but was very loose. When he dropped it in my hand I gasped at the wonderful feeling of earth. "This earth is a lighter version of the color of dark brown of that tree. It's more or less a tannish color near Heidi's. Ana is just a shade darker than you and Todd is as white as you."

I looked at my arms and was admiring how they looked to me. Suddenly, I grabbed Twinkle Toes's hand and looked at the difference between our arms. Then I started laughing.

"What's so funny?" Twinkle's asked.

"Ha-ha-ha! I'm so much stronger than you! Look at the muscle on my arm, dude! This is pretty freaking sweet. I mean, I always knew I was stronger than you but, man, I didn't know it was this noticeable!" I laughed harder at the way his face looked to me.

"Hey!" he said in defense. "I haven't been practicing because we can't use our bending back in Arizona, so excuse me for the puny-ness of my arms. We can't all be as super macho as you." I could tell that he was pouting by the fullness of his lips.

"Yeah," I said with a smile. "I am a pretty macho person." I leaned back against the tree trunk behind me with my hands over my head and stretched. Suddenly I felt myself being pinned to the ground. "Twinkle Toes, get off!" I struggled against him but he was practically sitting on me. "You're so fat that I can't move. Get off me you fatty!" I spat at him and he only laughed.

"Who's the mighty macho man now?" he said triumphantly and I relaxed my muscles, signaling defeat.

In a dead-pan voice I said, "Oh yes, you're the macho-ist among the two of us girls." He uttered a disgruntled sound and started protesting against my words, and with a grunt of effort I managed to catch him off guard and flip myself over him so that my back was flat against his stomach, I then quickly flipped over and trapped his wrists above his head while straddling his stomach. "But only in your dreams," I smirked as I shoved his face in the dirt while laughing maniacally.

"Hello?"

Hello…

Hello…

Hello…

Hello…

Hello.

The echoes of Twinkle Toes's words reverberated through the empty space and it was a deafening sound that hurt my ears.

"Why is no one answering?" I asked him.

He ran a hand over his head, probably expecting to find hair but only to find baldness.

"Hey Twinkle Toes, what color is that?"

My brain was hurting because of all the new things I was learning from Twinkle Toes.

"So…this color is blue?" I held up a flower between my two pointer finger and middle finger and showed it to Twinkle Toes.

He took the flower from me. "No. It's purple but it looks similar to blue."

I groaned in frustration. "This is too confusing. Why can't they just have simple colors? No dark blue, blue-purple, red-orange. Just simple. Is that so much to ask for?"

Twinkles chuckled but stopped when I shot him a death glare.

"I'm gonna go meditate for a while to try and figure out a way to get someone to talk to us, okay, Toph? Stay close to me," he warned.

"Yeah, yeah. Go meditate to your hearts content."

I looked down at both of my arms and saw that the left hand wasn't covered in any sort of plaster. I stretched my fingers out in front of me, examining them. Turning them over, I stared at my palm, etching every single little line into my head. I then sat down on the ground looking at my feet from all over.

Twinkle Toes was currently meditating so I wouldn't be bothered in my inspection of my newly seen arms and limbs. Even when I was blind I'd stroke my arms, trying to get a feel of what it was but since I've never seen it before I could only feel the outline without getting any details. Now, I was able to see everything and it was so overwhelming and scary but exhilarating at the same time. I had a feeling that all these emotions would soon tire me out but I didn't really care about that at the moment. I was going to get as much out of this as was possible.

After I was done with the inspection of my arms and legs I started lightly touching my neck. I wondered….

Looking around I saw something glistening just about ten feet away and I walked up to it. I gasped.

I'm finally able to see my face. My eyes. My lips. Everything. I didn't know what passed as pretty anywhere but something about my face looked attractive and I liked it. I examined my face from every angle possible. When I used all of the possibilities I just started over again, eager to remember every inch of my face.

My eyes were captivating and I found myself looking long and hard at them. I have to say, out of all my features my eyes were my favorite. Muscles were a close second.

Out of the blue I heard some whispering. Just like the swamp.

I ran to Twinkle Toes and shook him out of his meditative state.

"Hey–meditating here! What's so–"

"Do you hear that Twinkle Toes? There's the whispering again…" Twinkle Toes grabbed my wrist and pulled me close to him.

"Stay close to me Toph. We don't know what'll happen now."

I don't know why my face felt hot or why my throat suddenly closed off when Twinkle Toes brought me closer but I didn't like it. I pushed his hand off my wrist but stayed close to him just incase something did happen.

Psst.

"Did you say something Twinkle Toes?"

Psst.

"No. I thought that was you." He looked around to see if there was anything that could possibly be making that sound.

"Psst. You two are deaf. Over here!" Whispered a voice that instantly just chilled me but I followed it anyways, only to be stopped by Twinkle Toes.

"What's wrong?"

"You are staying here. I'll go see what he wants."

"What who wants?"

"Koh."

The name sent shivers down my spine for no reason that I could imagine. I guess it just sounded creepy.

"What's so dangerous about this Koh guy that you won't let me go with you?"

"They call him the Face Stealer."

"Ew."

"Toph, don't laugh," he said in a disproving tone.

"I'm not laughing. It was just a comment. Doesn't he have his own face?"

"I'm not entirely sure, but I don't think so."

"Is that why he has to…'steal' faces?"

"Yes. If you show any type of emotion then he'll steal your face. I've dealt with him once before and I'll deal with him again."

"I'll go with you–"

"No!"

His sudden outburst scared me and I jumped.

"Toph, you aren't coming with me. It's too dangerous. I mean, even when I shove my hand in your face you become surprised, and that surprised face will be your downfall. And I can't have that happening to you."

I could see his where he was coming from but he struck me as sort of a masochist for wanting to put all of this on his shoulders without having me share some of the hardship.

"I'm the master of the stoic face, Twinkle Toes."

He shook his head. "I said no and I mean no," in that final tone I grudgingly accepted defeat.

"Fine, but if you let something happen to you I'll hurt you."

He put a hand on his chest, "You care that much?"

I scoffed, "As if that was it. You're the only one who can get me out of here."

I saw his face drop and I laughed at him.

"Now go," I pushed him in the direction of the dark hole inside the…dark brown tree. Yeah, I could remember that color. "And remember–" I put my hand in front of my face–"the face…remains blank," I said in a low, raspy voice. The one Heidi normally used to emphasize a phrase or word.

"Got it, Sifu Toph." He put on a blank face so quickly that it made me laugh, but I soon stopped when he gave me a stern look.

"Sorry."

He gave me a small smile and composed his blank face before he turned around.

Twenty minutes…twenty flippin' minutes I've been waiting for him to hurry up and finish talking to the Koh guy. Gosh, you'd think that they'd be reminiscing on old times with the way the time was dragging on.

Even though I could see now, I wasn't very familiar with it and I sought after the comfort of my own precious earth. So I promised myself that if Fancy Feet wasn't back within five minutes I'd go after him, despite what he said.

Three minutes later I was so bored that I started singing random lyrics quietly to myself.

"And who am I/ living in a world of nothing/though nothing's gonna hold me back/the colors of the flowers are so beautiful/ Finally able to catch a glimpse of the things I've never known/and it feels like I'm about to explode/I hear your voice calling me/ but I can't stop/ so lets get ready, get set, and go." Hmm…that's actually a pretty good song now that I think about it.

Behind me–about a couple of feet behind me–I heard a low creepy voice that made my skin crawl say, "What a beautiful voice. I bet it goes with a beautiful face. Show me your face my dear." He sounded far off and for that I was glad. Because once things start breathing down my neck I'm gonna have to hurt somebody.

"If I show you my face, I'd have to kill you," I said in a cheerful voice.

"I'm not sure I like that attitude."

"And I'm not sure I like that pedophile voice you have but you don't see me complaining," I said in strict defiance.

"Don't you want to know how to get back to your world?"

"I'm actually pretty intelligent despite my obvious charm and good looks."

"Really?"

"Yep. Hey Twinkle Toes! Let's get going," I yelled out into the open space.

I heard Twinkle Toes behind me also but he was speaking in a detached voice. "Koh. What do you mean by 'a bet'?"

I heard many feet skittering away. "Well, I'll let the all mighty and powerful Toph Bei Fong answer that since she is the most intelligent. I hope I'll get to see you soon, and maybe I'd get to see your face next time. Until then…"

I couldn't hear anything besides the one pair of footsteps of Twinkle Toes coming near me so I felt safe to turn around but I was being cautious and I had a blank face on.

Twinkle Toes suddenly grabbed my hand and practically dragged me away from the broken tree stump where that Koh thing made its home.

"Let go, Twinkle Toes. You're pulling my wrist out of its socket!"

He panted, "Just a little–farther."

After a couple of minutes he finally stopped running and I fell to my knees on the soft green grass, panting and huffing my head off.

"A little…warning would…have been nice."

He coughed. "Sorry about that…we had to get…away as soon as…possible." He took a deep breath and fell to the ground beside me to rest.

"Because if we didn't he'd steal our faces if we gave him the chance?" I asked.

He nodded.

"Well…" I punched his rib. "What did he tell you?"

Twinkle's sighed. "Something about time and a father and…love, of all things."

"Love? Fathers? Is this guy on crack or something? Why can't we ever get some straight answers?"

"I'm pretty sure spirits can't get high, Toph. But you're right: they are confusing."

"No duh I'm right. But hey…what did you mean by a bet?"

He closed his eyes. "I honestly don't know Toph," he said in a tired voice.

I yawned. "You know that we've probably been here for hours."

"You wanna head back?"

I laid my back against the ground. "I want to be able to go to sleep in my own bed. Or the ground. Either one will do right about now!"

"Alright," I heard him stir beside me. "Lets all get into the sissy position so I can get you out."

I giggled at the way the words sounded coming out of his mouth.

"Alright. Sissy position: check. What's next?"

He grabbed both of my hands in his and I tried to stop the heat from reaching my face. "Just think about getting back and I'll do the rest."

"Sweet. I've wanted to go back to my sweet, sweet earth."

He dropped my hands. "Aren't you going to miss all of this? Seeing, I mean."

I put my hands under my chin and looked at him with a stern look on my face. "No." then I forcefully grabbed his hands in mine, closed my eyes and focused on nothing but the wonderful feeling of earth in my memory.

"Make sure Toto doesn't see you," I warned Twinkle Toes as we parted separate ways. "If he does he'll ask questions and–sorry to break it to you like this–but you're not a very good liar Twinkle Toes."

I heard him laugh. "Alright. Well the sun is up but it's just barely over the horizon, so we shouldn't really be spotted. But…Toph?"

I sensed some uneasiness in his voice. "Yes?"

"Take this," he put in my hand something soft.

"What am I taking exactly?"

"My jacket. You should really think about wearing something else to sleep."

"What's wrong with what I'm wearing?"

"It's too short."

I scoffed. "So? Birdie's house is like right behind me so what does it matter?"

"It matters."

"No it doesn't." I handed him the jacket.

"Yes it does." He pushed the jacket back at me.

"Well why don't you do something about your hair?" I threw the jacket at him and backed away.

"What's wrong with my hair?"

"You were bald in the Spirit World."

"So?"

"I think you need some Rogaine foam or something."

"What's that?"

"Never mind."

"Toph."

"Avatar."

He groaned in frustration.

"Hey," he said as if he just discovered something. "Did you get a haircut?"

My hand immediately went to my hair and I tried to straighten it out.

"Yeah, Heidi did it. I lost a bet."

"I like it. It's still as long as ever but with a different style. It suits you."

I turned away from him so he wouldn't see the blush creeping on my face and I walked away without another word.

I hope they're not awake, was my first thought when I tried to open the window.

I opened it and when I stepped inside the first words I heard were, "The pickles will get you because they know the truth…. They also have the most awesome-nest color ever: green." Heidi sounded groggy but I wasn't sure that I could trust her just by her voice because her voice tended to fluctuate into different accents every minute of the day, even if she didn't mean to.

"Heidi?" I whispered.

Heidi suddenly sounded lucid and whispered harshly, "Get your butt in here Toph. You got some 'splaining to do!"

Crap.

A/N:

Wow, it's been a long time. Sorry about that ya'll.

Anwho, hope you enjoy this chapter until I finish the next.

R&R!

Love: Lola of the Peaches