Disclaimer: I so do not own the Avatar.

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Aang's pov

If I was ever guaranteed a serious look from the woman on top of me, I would tell her that she was really beautiful. She'd never really believe it though. After all, beauty is in the eye of the beholder and Toph was often blind in the real world. She really was, though. Beautiful, I mean. I had to bite my tongue to say anything. Then I really did bite my tongue when she suddenly started laughing, scaring me a bit.

"W-what's so funny?" I asked a bit labored, what – with a not feather light Toph lying down on my chest constricting my lungs and such.

She kept laughing, trying to catch her breath and form actual words that didn't sound slurred.

"Seriously Toph, why are you laughing? Should I laugh too?" I asked, getting a little bit concerned that something about the situation was extraordinarily funny and I wasn't getting it.

She started shaking and rolled off of me as she continued to laugh her head off at something. I nudged her side with my foot.

"Hello? Toph in the house?"

Her chest heaved as she took rapid deep breaths to calm herself down. She held her hands up in the air.

"I beat the Avatar!" she chanted.

I huffed a breath and shook my head. "You did not! You tricked me!"

"No, no, no. I had planned to trick you but I ended up just winning due to my winning strategy and your need to save everyone. So – hah! I beat the Avatar!"

She jumped up and pumped her fist in the air, congratulating herself. I got up behind her and wrapped my arms around her waist, bent on making her twirl till she puked. Unfortunately I didn't count on me getting dizzy so quickly. We ended up falling on our sides, our clothes unstained by the silky grass.

We were both intoxicated with our silliness that I had almost failed to notice that it was getting darker in the Spirit World. Well, I supposed it was time to get back.

Toph pushed my arm. "Hey, what's up?"

"We should probably get back."

"Yeah, if we're not back they'll probably miss us."

She pivoted in the sitting position and held her hands out to meditate with me. She raised an eyebrow.

"Well aren't you coming?"

I scratched the back of my head. "I just wanted to ask you a question," I said nervously as I took a seat next to her.

She looked at me like I was stupid to ask her if I could ask her a question. I probably was. Toph was as blunt as a rock shaped by the harsh erosion of a quick flowing river. "Ask away then."

"Um…" I looked down at the ground, for some reason afraid to look at her face, "why did you agree to come with me by flying? You hate it."

She picked her teeth, muffling her speech a little. "I don't hate it. It's not my ideal method of transportation but I really don't hate it." She flicked out some extra dirt she found. "I agreed because I trust you not to let me fall."

Out of all the answers I envisioned – "it seemed faster that way", "I wasn't in the mood to argue", "I thought I'd punch you while we were in the air to test your reflexes" – I honestly hadn't expected that one or the impact it'd have an a vital organ in my chest.

I mean, I knew we trusted each other. After all we've been through, saving the world and such, it was expected to happen. But to hear her say it with a straight face, well it made me feel special. Then I remembered that she probably felt the same for our whole gang. I felt the same. They'd saved my life on numerous occasions. If it wasn't for them there were a lot of times I could have been killed. Well I did technically die that one time so…yeah, I would have stayed dead if it hadn't been for Katara and the water from the oasis.

So I shouldn't really feel like Toph had just given me the compliment of a lifetime. I tried to wipe the wondered smile on my face.

"Okay," I said cheerfully, clapping my hands for effect. "Off we go into another world to take over and more."

Toph sniggered. "That has to be the worst poem I ever heard. Sokka could do better than that – in fact, he has. You remember his visit to the fancy haiku club?"

I looked offended for a second before falling into amusement over just all that Sokka had suffered that night.

"Getting kicked out because you added a syllable seems a bit harsh doesn't it?"

Toph nodded. "Yeah but people take their art seriously, you know? Well, some people. And I did tell you I hated cities because of these snobby people, right? They take things so seriously it's almost ridiculous."

I treaded carefully with this subject. Any form of civilization was touchy with her after all she had seen in her childhood. While I sympathized with her, I did think that her view was a bit prejudiced. Before I locked myself in an iceberg, I made friends with people in all nations of all classes. Most of the people Toph would consider snobby were real loyal friends to me who I enjoyed being around. Then again, a lot has changed in the past hundred years or more considering where exactly we had ended up.

"Well, it's not like they knew anything about the real world. Their life was all they had."

She narrowed her eyes on me and only then did I realize I sounded like I was defending them. I sort of was.

"Ignorance isn't an excuse. If they weren't busy with their lives they might have taken care to notice that the world was engulfed in a freaking war," she sneered. I had to give it to her. She had a point. Then again we had already proven that the Dai Li were purposely keeping people from knowing the true escalation of war. I told her as much and she pursed her lips. That wasn't a good sign.

"Okay. You got me there but still, didn't you say that some scholars you talked to looked like they knew something about the Fire Nation? They could have done something."

I nodded. "They could have but they were scared. The Dai Li weren't someone you messed with."

"Unless you're mentally insane," she smirked.

I smiled. "Guilty."

She kicked my shin too fast for me to block.

"You know, this abuse you dish out to people seems to stem from a deeper, psychological problem in your noggin. You should look into that. Can I recommend a therapist? Anger management? A cookie?"

She laughed and rolled her eyes.

"And your constant need to sound pathologically smart and sophisticated seems to stem from stupidity. Can I recommend a fist to your noggin to jumpstart it?" she countered back with cool tones.

I shook my head. "I'm good there. No need to make his handsome face suffer unnecessarily."

"Handsome? Oh please. Who told you that? Anna? Heidi?"

I gave her a cool look. "I can see it in their eyes. They don't have to say anything." I raised my hands to rest behind my head in gallant nonchalant.

She snorted. "Good thing I'm blind because I'm liable to throw up at those looks."

I mockingly glared at her. "I think I see you turning green with envy," I taunted.

She rested her elbows heavily on her knees. "You wish," she stressed.

I did. But I didn't say it. I don't actually know why I thought it in the first place.

"Have you ever been jealous of someone?" I asked, trying to seem more curious than I actually was.

She looked thoughtful for a second before nodding. "Sure."

I expected some follow up but she gave me none. My eyes narrowed in suspicion just as warm wind started to pick up and moved her bangs to cover her eyes. I pursed my lips and shook my foot up and down in impatience. I clucked my tongue against the roof of my mouth, first every five seconds but then I started getting into the rhythm.

As the wind sifted through the leaves the rhythm was getting swampy, reminding me of Tho and Due and Slim the Catgator. The sort of camaraderie we shared over a flickering fire was nice. It was during times like that I believed that the world could be a better place. I just kind of had to get back to it to make sure it stayed that way.

"Would you stop that," Toph commanded.

"Why I see no need to," I added a little cluck at the end to emphasize my point.

She narrowed her eyes at me. "Whatever. Didn't you say we needed to go?"

I nodded as we held hands and closed our eyes so we could both go back. Suddenly I started hearing a faint murmur. Toph's hands tightened in mine to give me alert to the noises about a second before I heard them. I thought it was the wind through the leaves but something about them made me think twice. I think they were trying to say something but no matter how hard I strained my ears I couldn't hear them.

I opened my eyes and couldn't contain the gasp that let my air escape. We were both submerged underwater, glowing as though we were about to be transported somewhere. No, I screamed in my mind. We still had so much to do! I didn't know if I had actually helped them or not. What about their problems? No, I couldn't go back now.

Not yet.

The voices grew so loud in my ears while at the same time just murmuring in the softest way. I let my hand slacken in Toph and expected her to let me go but she just held on tighter. My head was pounding and I couldn't see her anymore. But I could feel her strong hand in mine until the world fell away from me.

You cannot keep messing with the flow of time…

Well, I'm sorry, did you have any other ideas?

It was a good idea…well not the best I've heard and with little actual thought in execution.

Thank you! Wait a second…was that an insult?

Good job.

Well I just wanted to try it out.

You did and now you're done messing with them.

When I opened my eyes it took a while to take in my surroundings. Was I back in the Spirit World? Everything looked green. But the green was wrong. It was dirtier. I blinked several times before looking around with lucid eyes.

Oh right, we were in the swamp before we…what were we doing? Before I could try to think back a cough brought me back to the present. Wait, weren't we also in the Spirit World? We were probably still in the Spirit World. There were a lot of swampy areas where this world was concerned.

"Toph?"

I got out of the shallow shore I had been lying in, only to see my best friend crawling on the ground, trying to get a foothold.

"Toph!" I called out, trudging out of the muck without bothering to clean myself off. "Hey Toph, what's wrong?"

She stood up and smiled at me. The full force of it making me stumble back.

"I'm blind!" she yelled, both her hands waving in front of her face. "I'm blind and I can see you!"

I took a moment to process this. "Um…isn't that kind of a contradiction?"

She shook her head and then launched forward to shake me. "We're back! It's our world again!"

I looked at her like she was crazy, not that she could see me of course.

"We never left," I assured her.

A/N:

Now this chapter may seem sort of premature but just trust me if you please.

I do hope that you guys enjoyed it and are waiting for the next one.

Love: Lola of the Peaches

=]