Disclaimer: I so do not own the Avatar.

Read on…

I was jarred into a world of colors and I shielded my eyes that were not used to such scenery – any scenery – in the real world. This time, once my eyes were adjusted to the brightness, we were in a forest with trees as tall as mountains surrounding us in thick groves. A wind blew slightly through my long bangs and I put them back in order to better see my surroundings. Twinkle Toes looked around and immediately charged to the nearest tree and began climbing it.

"You know that if you fall you can't bend yourself a pocket of air?" I called out after him.

"I know," he yelled back. He was already halfway up the tree.

"He's like a freaking monkey," I said to myself.

I sat down on the ground, intent on not joining him…ever. Looking around, which felt really weird as I usually kept my head in one direction, there was no other man, woman, or Kop (I think that was the name of that caterpillar or whatever it was that Twinkle Toes refused to let me visit). It was just me and Twinkle Toes.

I fell back, feeling the grass on my skin. The grass here wasn't as itchy as the grass in the other world had been. In fact, it felt like pure silk gliding against my skin. I closed my eyes, savoring the feel of it. Then I heard a scream.

My body was immediately in alert for something to happen. I looked wildly around for Twinkle Toes, a bit of panic racing through my heart since I couldn't sense him through my feet.

When I located him he was hanging onto a branch by his arms and swinging softly back and forth.

"Hey!" I called out. "I told you not to fall!" I tried to sound angry, but a bit of the prior panic I felt crept into my voice.

"I'm not," he yelled back. "The view is just amazing!"

I heaved an exasperated sigh and looked around for a rock to lob at him. Then I remembered that he wouldn't be able to float down like the airbender he was and reluctantly decided against giving him a concussion. Hmm…could he get a concussion as a spirit? Well, I figured there were better ways of finding out.

I walked away – not because I was angry at him – but in order to calm myself down. A path opened up for me between the trees and I took a moment to pause.

"Um…" I whispered to them as their roots were curled inward, giving me maximum space, "thank you?"

I felt so stupid for talking to the trees but I figured it couldn't hurt to be polite to things in the Spirit World. When I heard indiscernible whispers my feet stopped cold. I'd heard the same kind when we were sucked into that vortex. The voiced seemed to be fading and when I could just barely hear them my feet unfroze. I followed them carefully through the myriad of trees that seemed to create a labyrinth around me. Pretty soon I was hitting dead ends and open spaces where ancient treasures of all shapes and sizes lay forgotten.

I moved faster and faster, feeling like I was catching up to something that was only just slipping through my callused fingertips. For some reason I felt I just had to catch it. It was as if my life depended on this. I was afraid it was.

The voices led me to a series of bent trees in the shape of a door. Warily, I took a step inside before I felt a hand on shoulder. I turned around, bringing my leg up with me as I did so.

Twinkle Toes was so lucky he had fast reflexes or I would have sent him flying back to the…where was the labyrinth? Behind him stood the tall trees that had opened their path to me, their roots were no longer dotting the landscape as it had prior to my entrance. When he let go of my foot I heard him ask something but I was too busy gaping at a clearing behind me to pay attention to him. Where was the door?

I shook my head. Something had taken me out here…but what? The thought of something sinister crept into my mind and I involuntarily shivered.

Finally I heard his voice, "Toph? Hey T…are you okay? You look like you've just seen a ghost."

Trying to forget my fears, I raised my eyebrow, "What does that look like?"

"Oh, right. Um…well I've never seen one up close but I think they look like a person or animal just more…transparent and blueish," he offered as explanation, still looking at me as if I was going to fall any minute.

"Do they talk?"

He shrugged. "I told you I've never met one before."

I nodded, not really satisfied with his explanation but it was better than freaking out over whispers that called out to me.

"Did something happen?" he asked. He walked towards me, holding onto my shoulders. I forced myself to stop shaking.

I shrugged, trying to act nonchalant. "I'm going insane. What else is new?" I tried to add in a small smile but instead a grimace pulled at my lips.

His face took on a serious look. "What happened?"

"Whispers."

He looked around, straining his large ears to capture some sound but he could catch none. I shrugged.

"Guess they don't like you," I teased.

His face told me this was no longer a teasing matter.

"Did they tell you anything?"

I shook my head. "Mumbles were all I heard. I couldn't catch the words."

He nodded, though he looked disappointed. Indignation flared up in my chest, igniting involuntary words.

"Well I'm sorry," I said with a large amount of sarcasm. "I didn't know I was supposed to decipher every little whisper in the freaking world," I huffed. When I looked up at his shocked face I covered my own. "Sorry," I said. "I just…I don't know actually."

The Spirit World was messing with my head and I was not enjoying it. Unfortunately Aang was forced to bear the brunt of my frustration. I dropped my head onto his chest. It was strange how I couldn't feel his heart beat unless I really concentrated. He put his arms around me. His strong fingers rubbed my back in gentle soothing motions.

I closed my eyes, wondering why in the world the Spirit World was messing with me. Why was I the only one who could hear the whispers? Why was I the only one who had to go through labyrinths? If so, then why? Ugh, this was just like that time in the Fire Nation with that freaky puppet master bloodbender hag. I was the only one who could hear the screams underneath the mountain, but then again those screams had been produced by humans – not otherworldly creatures.

"I'm sorry too. It's just that I'm trying so hard to get us back, but I can't do that when you're the only one able to hear the…things that got us here in the first place."

"I guess there's a new Avatar in town," I said lightly with a smirk on my face.

He pulled back to look at me and smiled. "A prettier one, who sorely lacks manners."

I punched his gut, softer than usual. "I'm sorry, what was that?"

He grinned wider. "I said you were pretty but lacked manners. Oh, and I apparently forgot to mention deaf."

I lunged at him, but he sensed me coming and started running away. I laughed maniacally. He should have known better than to run from me on land.

The trees didn't actually move for me this time so when I first started running I had to catch myself from tripping over their roots, losing some ground. However, I wasn't one to be outdone so I picked up my feet and ran after him with renewed energy.

Our laughter and taunts seemed to bounce off our surroundings, almost like the trees were throwing them back. It made me realize just how happy we both sounded when we weren't burdened by saving the world and whatnot.

Running through the forest this time, I didn't feel like my life depended on it. I felt light and powerful as I reached for the back to Aang's shirt. He slipped through my fingers and he freaking knew it! He laughed at me as he picked up his speed.

"Twinkle Toes! Just wait till I get my hands on you!" I screamed with fake vengeance.

"I would but you're taking too long!" He yelled back.

Even without his Avatar powers he was fast so I decided it was time for some underhanded measures. Now normally I am all for using such tactics when there is an enormous payoff afterwards, but for the most part I liked using my own strengths to win something. And today I was going to win against the Avatar, which is like the ultimate win in the universe.

When I was getting ready to fall on this rather prominent branch, I actually didn't see a small one jutting out a few feet before the large one. So my plan to fake fall miserably on my face wasn't as fake as I hoped it would be. When life gives you lemons…

You fall on your face.

"Geez!" I said through gritted teeth as the bottoms of my palms caught my fall. The fall hurt as much as I thought it would.

Aang came around just as I thought he would when he didn't hear me chasing after him like I had a butcher knife in my hand.

"Toph?" he asked, working his way around two trees impossibly close together. How he had ever gotten through that was a mystery to me and would probably always be.

"She's a little busy picking dirt out of her teeth, please call back later," I said, sitting up and wiping my hair from my mouth.

"Hey, you okay?" he asked, coming closer.

I nodded, finally getting my stubborn hair out of the way. I knew there was a reason I wore a bun. His compassionate nature gave way to his naïve exterior as he came in closer, missing the smirk I hurriedly put away as his elegant fingers stretched out to help me up. I looked away from him as I lightly grabbed his hand before quickly turning my head. My smirk was beyond my control as I pulled him down to the ground with me and proceeded to pin him down.

I pulled his arm across his chest and pinned it down there but that gave him an opening to use the one I hadn't pinned down to try to shove my shoulder away. Satisfied that his wrist was not going to move from the ground I used my free hand to pin his other wrist. He waved it around fanatically to try to keep it out of my reach. Granted his arm was longer than my reach so I couldn't even graze his wrist but I did manage to snag his elbow. I pinned that one above his head in triumph.

"Gotcha!" I said with a laugh.

When I looked down at him to gloat over my win, everything seemed to just slow down. I'd never really seen him from this close up before. I had never been able to. Just as I had never been in contact with him like I was right now. Where my hands were pinning him to the ground a circle of heat flared up as I looked into his smoky eyes.

And I started laughing.

A/N:

Sorry I haven't updated in a long time. I just had surgery yesterday and was on vacation for a while.

Anyways, I'm going to try and update sooner.

Hope you guys enjoyed.

Love: Lola of the Peaches

=]