Thank you so much for reading. I hope that you have liked the story.

Ayimsilentbunny. Thank you so much. That is such a nice thing to say. I was really worried that as it has taken so long then all the things that I had tried to set up wouldn't pay off.

She didn't know why but Toph found herself clenching her eyes shut as she started to fall. She didn't know if she was going to hit the ground or water. In a way she didn't care, a smile crossed her face. It was the mystery that made it dangerous and exciting. In the end she didn't hit either. A strong pair of arms caught her just as she was about to hit the ground. Only once she found herself lowered onto the ground she forced herself to knell on her own facing Aang did she open her eyes. Aang looked her in the eyes, they were now the deep green colour he had seen them before.

"Making a habit of this aren't you twinkles."

The voice that came out of her month didn't seem to belong to her. A part of him wanted to get to his feet, and drag her away from this place, but his body wouldn't move. So they stayed knelling on the wet ground facing each other. In the back of her mind Toph was so glad that, again Aang had swooped in at the right moment to save her, the rest of her was annoyed with him and she didn't understand why. He was still not saying anything, he was just staring at her eyes.

"I understand why you like to show off that marble trick, so much." A little laugh left her month as the memory of that power, how strong she had felt returned to her.

"You...can bend air." It was more a statement than a question.

In response Toph laughed even more, the power was staring to wash over her again. It was different this time, it was coming up faster than before, and stronger. A second later Toph let out a scream, as she placed her hand to her head.

"Toph. Toph!"

It seemed to be happening again, just like in the fort. Her eyes where shut, so he couldn't see if they were glowing again. When he was finally able to move again, he placed his hands on her shoulder. Her body was giving off the same heart it had before, but he didn't care.

"Toph, you need to calm down...just breath. It will be ok." Her head shock a little at his comment. "Trust me." Removing a hand from her shoulder, he pulled her right one from her head, placing it over his heart. "Trust me. Try and breath at the same time as I do" he felt her hand shacking as she tried to do as he said. "Focus on me, my heartbeat."

She concentrated on each breath he took, feeling his chest rise and fall under her touch. Then once she had its rhythm she began to take control of hers. Trying to make it match his. After a few seconds she felt her heartbeat steady to a slightly less rhythm. Slowly Toph opened her eyes, she was still holding her head with her other hand, but she moved it up to face him.

"What did...you ...do." It took a lot of effort for her to speak, as she concentrated on her breathing and pushing the energy down, so it wouldn't take over again.

"What are you talking about...Toph talk to me."

Toph had dropped her head again. The air around them seemed to be picking up speed, the leafs started to circle them. She had lost focus, control.

"This place...was connected to the spirit world...that's why I was ...here...now I can't..."

She never finished what she was saying, she was interrupted by a sharp shot of pain that ran through her head, and ran down her spine. Aang pulled her close to him. Her head was buried in his robe. Her hands were both now back on her head, she bit her lip trying not to scream. When she couldn't hold it in any longer, she let out a scream of pain. Her hand's fell from her head resting against Aang's chest.

In the silence that followed Aang came to understand what had really happened. Toph hadn't run away to face Koh on her own, she had run away to stop herself from losing control of her power, and hurting anyone else. He had closed the portal between the swamp and the spirit oasis when he got here. He thought that was the right thing to do. The swamp was no longer connected to the spirit world. That meant that Koh had no power here. He couldn't hurt her. The swamp had contained her power, stopped it from reaching the real world, now there was no barrier, if she lost control again there was no telling how much damage could be done. The energy coming from her was so much stronger this time.

Through her clenched eyes a tear slid down Toph's check, and soaked into Aang's robe. The air around them was moving much fasted now. The water and grass of the swamp were all most uprooted. Aang noticed that a faint green light had clouded over the swamp, it was now getting darker. Like the blue light that he emanated when he entered the avatar state, Toph was now giving of a green one. Slowly they began to rise into the air, still on their knees.

"Toph, you have to push it back. Listen to me concentrate on my voice." He was taking right into her ear, but he was still shouting to be heard.

"I can't."

"Yes you can, you can do this To..."

"I am not strong enough, please Aang...you have to take away me bending." Toph had now gained enough control to push herself back, to face Aang as she spoke.

There was no way that she could know what the consequences of doing what she had just asked would be for her or she would never have asked him to do that. Toph was a reincarnation, a spirit like him. Her power, her life energy came from her bending, to lose her bending would be losing her very essence. It would kill her.

Her hand where now clinging on to his robe. Her grip was to tight her knuckles where white. Her large deep green eyes, where looking right into his, the traces from her tear was still visible.

"No, I can't, it would..."

Toph moved her head closer to his, resting her head on his shoulder. She whispered into his ear. "Please kill me."

She knew. That didn't change anything, his first priority was meant to be for the balance of the world, but if he lost Toph. He could even image that, he would lose his balance, his reason to protect the world, then what kind of an avatar would he be. He couldn't do it without her.

"NO!"

As she let out one last scream, and the energy started to escape from her, Aang place his right hand on the back of Toph's head pulling it closed to him. Her head again was resting on his chest, buried in his robe, as the green light clouded Aang's vision before everything turned white.

Thank you for reading. It was Aang that screamed no, at the end I just thought I would make that clear. This is the penultimate chapter, the next one will be the last one. I plan to have it up-dated by the end of the week.