...

"Si…." The sound slowly drifted across Sokka's mind. Was someone talking to him? A sudden throb made Sokka wince; Spirits, his head was pounding. He could barely think without sending pain throughout his entire skull. He couldn't even open his eyes, for the effort was too great, and he had an inkling of doubt that light would do him much good. Sluggishly, he began to notice his body being shaken; something he decided to happily ignore. After what felt like an hour, his thoughts began to pick up speed as coherence slowly began to restore itself. Why do I feel like this, he wondered. What could he have done that made him feel like this? What time was it? Where was he? As his coherence picked up, the more questions began to stir his curiosity, enough to even cause him to brave opening one eye. He waited until the throbbing had subsided to merely a migraine, then he opened an eye a crack.

Light spilled into it, sending a new wave of pain coursing through him. The Water Tribe warrior groaned and quickly shut his eye again, returning to the safe coolness of darkness. Suddenly, the shaking began again, only more fervently. "Sir! Sir! Are you okay?" Nope, wasn't going to be able to ignore this one. Sokka groaned again, if only to let whoever was calling him "sir" would know he was alive. Encouraged by the sign, the shaker doubled his efforts. It was there that Sokka drew the line; he couldn't handle much more shaking before his stomach lurched. He tried to open his mouth, only to find it so dry, he couldn't speak. Water…so thirsty…. He licked his lips.

"W…wa…t…." Sokka forced out. The shaking stopped and he felt the shaker leave for a few seconds. As Sokka's stomach fluids calmed down, he suddenly felt some liquid trickling down his mouth, the sweet, sweet coolness calming his throbbing head a bit; he could think just a little more coherently…at least, until he got a bucket of freezing water dumped on him. The Water Tribe warrior sputtered, and sat up, gasping. "Wh..what…the…HELL?" His eyes were wide open now.

There was a bewildered middle aged man staring at him, as if he had grown a second head; the bucket in his hands was all the proof Sokka needed. "You…bastard…" he tried to glare, but winced at the pain. He leaned back against the cool floor and groaned.

"I'm sorry sir, but I was afraid you wouldn't wake up." The well-dressed man-a waiter? , Sokka wondered- apologized. "Besides, you did ask for water, sir…."

"Yeah, in my mouth, idiot!" Sokka opened his eyes and stared the ornate chandelier hanging above him. "…where am I?"

"Sir?" This man was not helping Sokka's throbbing headache.

"I'm asking you a simple question. Where. Am. I?" The man nodded.

"Ah, yes; er…you are in the Jasmine Dragon."

"Iroh's tea shop?" The man shook his head.

"No sir; originally the Jasmine Dragon was just a tea shop, but we have expanded in the past few years. You are in one of our inns; the mother branch is still only a tea shop, but there are quite a few Jasmine Dragon Inns throughout the Earth Kingdom that have popped up as of late."

"Okay then, so which one am I in?" Spirits, it was like pulling teeth with this man…huh; oddly, the thought of punching the man's teeth seemed to help Sokka's mood. While he toyed with the mental image of the man missing a few teeth, said man was running his hand through his thinning hair.

"Well…you're in the Upper Ring of Ba Sing Se, sir. Don't you remember?" The Upper Ring? How did he wind up there?

"How long have I been here?" Sokka sat up wearily. The man shrugged.

"You and your lady friend showed up around 2 AM…it's 12:45 now." Sokka gazed around the room; it was quite larger than the bar that Sokka remembered being in, with a section roped off, filled with fancily clothed tables tossed on their sides, ripped drapes, and there were even a few dents and cracks in the marble floor…what the hell had happened?

"What the hell happened?" He asked; he couldn't quite ignore the sinking feeling that he was responsible.

"Oh yes…That was you and your lady friend; you said you were celebrating something and threw a party with some of the ruffians from the Lower Ring." The man scowled at the memory. "I hope you know that you both are going to have to pay for damages; you are lucky that we didn't even alert the Dai Lee!"

"The Dai Lee's still around? I thought they all jumped ship to Azula back when she was in power?" Where was Toph? If he was there, she had to be around there somewhere….perhaps in the largest crater in the floor? He reluctantly got to his feet, his stiff body almost creaking as he approached the hole, the waiter following closely behind.

"Of course they're still around! Without a Dai Lee, who would protect us from monsters and criminals like her?" the waiter pointed a shaking hand at the crater. "I didn't wake her because, well…" he trailed off, but Sokka got the idea.

"Because you like your organs where they are…right." The waiter nodded. "Got it. Suppose I can't blame you for thinking that…." Sokka had to admit that he wasn't exactly looking forward to being the one to wake a hungover Toph either…. "Do you guys have a long pole or stick around?" The waiter shook his head. Damn, there went the safe approach….. He tensed as he climbed down into the crater; it wasn't quite as deep as it had looked from the ground. There, in its center, lay a sleeping Toph; she was snoring a bit, and both hands were clutching drained glasses, which Sokka took to be a good omen. At least that way, she couldn't strangle him. "Toph? Hey, Toph? Buddy? You awake?" He called softly. Toph sneezed, then went straight back to snoring. Tentatively, he picked up a piece of broken marble and began to hit it against the floor beside him, hoping either the noise or the vibrations caused by the stone hitting earth would wake her.

Toph groaned a little. "Toph?" Sokka approached her, surprised it had worked so quickly. "Buddy? You okay?" He reached out lightly to give her a little shake, but the second his hand was on her shoulder, the girl lifted the drained glasses and hurled them at his head. "HOLY…!" he barely dodged, only to have the earth underneath his feet shoot up, hurling him through the air, and he landed next to the shaking waiter with a resounding thud.

"I-is it awake?" the man asked as he stared at the crater with horror.

"Oh yeah…"Sokka hissed, rubbing his lower back. "I'd hide, if I was you." The man complied the second he could see the tip of Toph's hair bun over the edge of the crater. "Good morning to you too!" The Water Tribe man scowled at the surprisingly clean earthbender.

"Right back at you, Snoozles." Toph yawned. She sat down beside him as he began to rub his lower back. "What happened to you? Constipated?" He glared at her.

"You know damn well what happened; you sent me flying through the air, that's what happened!"

"Please; as if you'd let a little thing like that hurt you. Besides, it was your decision to wake me up, not mine. I shouldn't be held liable." Sokka just grumbled as he continued to rub. "So…where are we?"

"Apparently, we are guests at the Upper Ring's Jasmine Dragon Inn-no, not the tea shop, but part of its new franchise."

"How'd we get here? Last thing I remember is you singing karaoke at that bar." Toph frowned, confused.

"I did what?"

"Yeah; you bellowed out a few verses of 'Secret Tunnel' after your fourth round…."

"I had four rounds?" His stomach lurched, and Sokka threw up a little on the marble; the man whimpered from wherever he was hiding. Even Toph grimaced a bit at the sound.

"Well, not anymore."

"Oh ha ha, real funny." Sokka wiped his mouth with his sleeve. "But seriously, you don't remember?" Toph shook her head.

"Nope; you?"

"No…." Sokka gave Toph an odd look. "Uh Toph? What's that around your neck?"

"What?"

"Your necklace! What's with that necklace?" Sokka asked, a pit of understanding beginning to form.

"Sokka, I don't wear necklaces…" she raised her hand to her throat as if to emphasize her point, only her hand clasped a thin, circular thing hanging from her neck. "What the hell?" Sokka leaned in to get a closer look: it was a black circle, filled with ornate carvings, though he couldn't quite make out the shapes, and the black material formed a thin band that continued around Toph's neck, like choker, keeping the circle suspended.

"Toph…what's that necklace made out of?" Toph focused for a second, then gasped.

"The space earth!" Sokka glanced at her arm, where she normally wore her space earth band; it was missing, confirming Sokka's growing fear.

"Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit…."

"Sokka?" Toph looked at him, confused; Sokka ignored her and called out to the waiter. "Hey mister, you said that we showed up here to celebrate something, right? What was it?" The man didn't respond.

"Answer the question, idiot; I can see you hiding behind that table over there." Toph added. Reluctantly, the man emerged from his hiding spot and approached the two.

"How may I be of service?" He asked, tense. Sokka rose to his feet and looked him straight in the eye.

"You said that we were here celebrating something. What. Was. It?" The man began to sweat. "Well?"

"You said…you said…" the man paused and took a deep breath. "You said, that you were here to celebrate your…engagement, sir." Silence followed those words; Sokka was dumbstruck and Toph just stared, shocked.

"You…you aren't lying." The waiter nodded.

"Yes, I quite clearly remember that you all showed up, saying that you, sir, had proposed to this…young woman, and she had accepted; even I, in all my ignorance, can recognize a Water Tribe betrothal necklace." He pulled a piece of paper from his pocket and handed it to the still Sokka. "Now could you please get out before I call the Dai Lee?" Numbly, Sokka nodded and the two walked towards the door. Sokka's headache hadn't improved and the sudden sunlight that hit them as they got to the street didn't help. He groaned a little, rubbing his forehead.

"Please let this be a dream…wake up, wake up, wake up…" he crooned quietly to himself. Toph meanwhile just stared at the cobble stone streets, lost in thought. Finally, she spoke up.

"Sorry." Sokka glanced down at her.

"Sorry for what?"

"None of this would have happened if I hadn't got you drunk, right?" Sokka blinked…and began to laugh. "What the hell are you doing?" Toph snapped. "I'm baring my soul here and you just laugh?"

"Toph, if you hadn't started that stupid drinking contest, I would still be in that bar, sitting on my ass in self-pity and angst-Zuko would be proud. Now," He raised the piece of paper he was holding. "I can be self-pitying for an entirely different reason. Besides, we were drunk, right? That means that the whole engagement thing doesn't mean anything, right? You can just bend the space earth back to its armband thingy form, we leave, and no one has to hear about this. I go back to Suki and you go back to kicking the crap out of mediocre earthbenders. Problem solved! Except this bill…." Toph had an odd expression on her face, but Sokka winced; his headache roared. By the time he opened his eyes, Toph was nodding slowly.

"Yeah…you're right. No one else knows; everyone else just thinks we're two crazy drunks anyway; who gives a crap what we do?" She brought her hands up to the necklace and focused. "I'll just bend this space earth…back…to…normal…." She grunted. Sokka waited for a few seconds, but nothing was happening.

"Toph?" She lowered her hands, eyes wide.

"It-it won't bend back."

"What?" He thundered. Toph was practically trembling.

"I can't bend it…. The space earth won't let me change it."

"How can that-I thought you could bend steel, much less space earth; you could do it before, so why not now?"

"I don't know!" she snapped. "It's space earth; maybe it stops being malleable after a few years? Who knows?" Sokka groaned and pounded his fist against the stone wall next to them. He hissed in pain as he stared at the ground, thinking. Despite his racing mind, he couldn't help but notice a flyer lying at his feet. The drawings on it looked vaguely familiar…."What are you doing?" Toph asked as he bent over to pick it up. "Sokka?"

"Shh…!" Sokka hissed. Toph scowled; if there was anything she hated, it was being treated like a child. After a few seconds, she had enough.

"Sokka, if you don't tell me what is going on, I'm going to shove a rock so far up your ass…."

"Toph…what did we do last night?" He looked at her, dismayed.

"I told you, I don't remember; it's all a big blur thing."

"Well, I just found a wanted poster…for us." Toph blinked, her impatience forgotten.

"What?" Sokka handed her the paper. "…you do remember I am blind, right?" He scowled and snatched the paper back.

"Right. Anyway, we're apparently the…" He squinted. "The Runaways, wanted for property damage, disruptive behavior, and doing oddly malicious things to goats…"

"…you're kidding, right? What the hell is 'malicious things to goats' even supposed to mean?"

"How am I supposed to know? Anyway, they even our portraits on it…hey! My nose does not look like that!"

"You find our wanted poster for goat torture, and you're upset over how they drew your nose?" Sokka grimaced.

"Well, no, but it's the sheer principle of the thing! As a wanted felon, I want to at least have the right to a halfway decent poster."(Known as the Sanji complex in most circles-Author note) Toph just rolled her eyes. She sighed and sat down by the entrance to a clothing store. Sokka joined her seconds later.

"So, we got drunk, can't remember a damn thing we did, are apparently publicly engaged and can't get rid of the evidence since the space earth went and screwed us over, have a bill for property damage, and are apparently wanted felons. Is that all?" Sokka thought about it for a second.

"Yeah…that pretty much sums it up." Neither spoke for a few minutes; they just stared out at the busy street, watching people just go about their lives, oblivious to anyone around them. Finally, Toph spoke.

"Well…this is officially the worst morning after I've ever had."

"Yeah, no shit." Sokka rolled his eyes. He paused as he glanced at the clothing store; suddenly, an idea struck him. "Stay here." He got up and entered the shop. After a few minutes, he came back holding a bag. "Here." He dug out a thin, woolen scarf from the bag and rested it around Toph's neck. "That should help with that." She lightly touched the fabric, as if surprised.

"You know it's July and 80 degrees out, right?"

"Hey, scarves are in right now; besides, it looks good on you, so no one should really question it much, right?" She blinked.

"Huh…I must say, I'm impressed Snoozles; maybe you aren't as dumb as that facial hair surely makes you look."

"How do you-never mind." Sokka self-consciously stroked his goatee. He then grabbed Toph's cloak, ignoring her protests, and put it on. "Hey, I need a disguise too. Oh yeah…you may want to take your hair out of that bun…it'll only make you more recognizable." While Toph reluctantly complied, Sokka continued. "Anyway, first things first, we need to get our stuff before getting the hell out of here." The two began to walk down the street, towards the large wall that loomed over the buildings in the distance.

"Hey, I'm good; I don't have anything I can't carry on me, and I didn't get a room before meeting you at the bar."

"Okay, well, I've got a room at the…the…" he gripped his forehead. "Damn hangover…I can't remember a thing."

"Are you serious?" He gave her a weary glare. "Fine, be a pussy." She stopped moving, causing Sokka to bump into someone. "We should get a carriage; it'll get us to the Lower Ring faster, and without people seeing us."

"Okay and how do you plan on doing that? We have no money, remember?" Toph didn't answer; instead, she waited. After a few minutes, a carriage drawn by an ostrich-horse came into view from around the corner. Sokka estimated that they had three minutes before it passed them. "Toph, there's a carriage down the street; now would you tell me what you're doing?"

"Just wave down the coach, Sokka; I'll take care of the rest." Sokka rolled his eyes; he hated it when other people played cryptic. He stepped out a little further into the street and began to wave his arm in the air. As the carriage got increasingly closer, it still showed no signs of slowing down. Determined, Sokka began to call to the driver as he stepped in further in the way. He has to stop now…. The carriage just kept coming. …Right? Now Sokka felt a little doubt creeping in. "Toph!" She didn't respond. "Toph!"

"Lay on the ground!" Sokka gaped.

"Are you out of your mind? You don't lay on the ground when a freakin' ostrich-horse is coming your way." Suddenly, he felt the ground under him tremble and he slipped, and fell onto the cool cobblestones, right before the ostrich-horse was upon them. He yelped and curled into a ball, eyes squeezed shut, waiting for the inevitable crushing feet….only nothing happened. Sokka opened one tentative eye, only to see that the ostrich-horse was unmoving, and some cobblestones had lodged themselves into the carriage's wheels. Toph must've earthbended…. He was annoyed he hadn't thought of something so obvious. Meanwhile, Sokka noticed that Toph had walked up to the carriage door and was presently shouting at the carriage driver.

"Are you blind, young man?" She thundered. "Your ostrich-horse almost ran down my husband while you were just staring into space!" Sokka picked up the cue and began to groan loudly. "Honey? Are you hurt?"

"Sir? Are you okay?" Asked an alarmed carriage driver as Toph helped Sokka to his feet.

"Oh fine, fine…considering I was almost killed by the most incompetent carriage driver in Ba Sing Se!" Sokka rasped as he glared at the concerned looking young man.

"Look sir, I'm so sorry! I didn't even see you there!" he pleaded.

"I have a good mind to report you to your boss, about my near death experience at your incompetent hands; isn't that right, Sapphire?" Sokka wrapped his arm around Toph's shoulders. She nodded in firm agreement.

"Yes, I do believe we should. Come on, dear; let me help you limp home…" They turned and began to walk away from the carriage. The driver blinked in disbelief; Sokka and Toph ignored him and kept going.

"So, how much trouble do you think that incompetent jackass is going to get in?" Sokka asked, just loud enough for everyone across the street could hear. That seemed to cinch it for the young driver, because he quickly called after them.

"Wait! Wait…" They stopped and turned to the sweating driver. "D-do you guys need a ride anywhere?" Toph and Sokka smirked. Bingo.

"We don't want anything you have to offer!" Sokka snarled. Toph reached up and placed a comforting hand on his shoulder.

"But, honey; with your injury, it will take us hours to make it back to the Lower Ring…why don't we let the man give us a free ride?" She looked at the driver. "It would be free, right?" The driver reluctantly nodded. "See?" Sokka paused, as if thinking it over, then groaned.

"I'll be shocked if he doesn't kill us in the process…." They began to hobble back to the carriage.

"Not to worry sir! I haven't had an accident yet!" Sokka gestured to his leg. "Er, in mid-ride…!" Sokka rolled his eyes and, with Toph's aid, climbed up into the carriage. "Sir, are you sure you don't need some more help…?"

"Keep your hands away from me!" The driver recoiled.

"Yes sir!" Toph climbed up and paused.

"Ignore him; just take us to the Drunken Lemur in the Lower Ring, please." The driver nodded and began to get the ostrich-horse ready to go. Meanwhile, Sokka reached across Toph and closed the carriage door. After a few seconds, they felt the carriage jerk, and it began to move. Outside of the faint creak of the wheels against the cobblestones below, silence filled the carriage. Sokka glanced at Toph, who stared in his direction…and began to howl with laughter.

...

The trip took a long time, most of it being spent in silence. Toph just sat there, arms crossed, gently twirling one of her bangs around her finger, while Sokka stared out the window. The streets were filled with traces of damage; whether it is a small hole in the ground, a broken shop door, a street lamp that had been set on fire, and a misspelled swear word was painted on some of the walls. Sokka couldn't help but feel a pit in his stomach; chances are, he and Toph may have had something to do with it. This suspicion was only increased by how often he saw their wanted poster posted, and every one of them had Sokka with a different nose. "Now they're just being mean…." He muttered.

"What?" Toph looked up. Sokka jumped.

"Er, nothing! Nothing…." She rolled her eyes.

"Let me guess: you're still obsessed over that nose thing, aren't you?" Sokka gaped.

"How the hell do you do that? Can you read minds or something?"

"Nope, you're just stupid." She shrugged. Sokka stuck his tongue out at her and went back to staring out the window. "So, were you staying at that bar you drank at?"

"I think so; I don't remember leaving much in the three days I was there…."

"Did you even bring anything with you?"

"Oh, I have stuff! I have lots of stuff! Cool stuff." He snapped. "Like my bag…"

"You mean your purse that matches my belt?"

"….No, of course not…." He paused. "Anyway, there was that, a change of clothes or two, and my sword."

"You got a new sword?"

"Yeah, well, even if the war is over, you can't be too careful. So I bought one as soon as I could." His expression fell. "Damn, I miss my old one…not to mention Boomerang…" He sniffed loudly. Toph knew how much those weapons had meant to the Water Tribe warrior; after all, Boomerang had been a gift from his dad, before he went off to fight in the war, and his space sword he had forged himself from a fallen meteorite they had found. She decided to respect his grief and went back to picking stuff out from between her toes. Sokka just rolled his eyes and turned his sad gaze out the window. "Oh, we're here." He leaned over to Toph. "Ready, 'Sapphire'?" She wrapped her hand around his.

"Of course, Wang Fire…" She snorted. "I still can't believe you came up with that disguise when we were in the Fire Nation; could you have picked a dumber name?" Sokka recoiled.

"What? It was ingenious! I fooled everyone with that fake beard and the deep voice, even the Fire Nation army."

"That you joined as a recon mission, only to get stuck on latrine duty and had to fake your own death to get out. But seriously, 'Wang'? That just sounds wrong."

"What's wrong with 'Wang'? What do you have against Wangs, anyway?" Toph punched him in the arm.

"Just shut up, will you? Do you have any idea what you're saying?" Sokka didn't reply; instead, he rubbed his now bruised arm fervently. "Now come on, let's get in there." She paused. "Could you open the door, 'honey'?" Sokka just grumbled while he reached over and undid the latch. Sokka got up, stepped over Toph while she slid to his seat, and got out.

"Oh my leg! It is in such pain…" He glared at the driver. "You're lucky that the ride kept things from getting worse; I still have half a mind to complain." He reached up to help Toph get down.

"Er, sir?" The driver gave him an odd look, then shook his head. "Anyway, here you are, sir." Once Toph had reached the cobblestones safely, he whipped the reins and the carriage departed. Sokka looked on as the carriage continued onwards. Then he glanced to the wall behind him.

"Shit." He muttered, and grabbed Toph's arm. "Come on; we need to go."

"Why the sudden urgency?"

"Because, I was stupid and helped you down, despite my 'wounded leg', and to top it off, there was a fucking copy of our wanted poster right above our heads; chances are, he's going to report to the Dai Lee as soon as he can." Sokka hissed while they entered the bar; the place was better lit than Sokka remembered, though there weren't that many patrons. The bartender glanced up at the sound of the door opening, but the second he saw who they were, his face fell.

"Oh, it's you two…." He scowled. "I hoped you had left town."

"Is that the way you usually greet customers?" Sokka returned his scowl.

"No, just you. So what brings you crawling back here anyway? Want some more of the 'water downed piss'?"

"No; with the hangover I have right now, the last thing I need is more alcohol. Anyway, I have a room here; I just came to get my stuff. The rooms are upstairs, right?" The bartender looked a little happier at the thought of Sokka leaving.

"Yes; just go up the stairs over there." He gestured to the staircase over by the stage on the other side of the room. "Don't let me keep you; get your shit and get out. Like in the next hour would be great." Sokka stuck his tongue at the bartender as he and Toph made their way across the room.

"Nice guy." Toph commented as they walked up the wooden stairs.

"Well, I suppose I kinda deserved it…" he mumbled.

"Oh, I know you did, but still; that was hardly decent customer service. Now, hurry up and get your stuff." They were now staring down a hallway lined with numbered doors. Sokka began slowly walking, glancing from door to door while he held Toph's hand to guide her; she still, no matter her skill, couldn't use her earthbending to see while on wood. He paused outside room number 15.

"Er…this might be it…." He began to check his pockets for a key. Toph sighed, exasperated.

"For the love of…did you seriously lose the motel key?"

"Maybe?" Toph didn't say another word. Instead she walked up to the wall, groped around until she felt the door frame, and proceeded to kick the door down. Sokka could only stare as a loud crack resounded throughout the hall, while the door just caved in on itself. Toph just turned to Sokka and mimed opening the door.

"Ladies first."

"We are so screwed, after this." He stepped over the shattered pieces of the door and entered the dark room. Toph followed him.

"Yeah, hence the 'get the hell out of town before anyone finds us' plan." The room was tiny and simple, with a small window, a stool, and a rather beat up looking mattress. Some sunlight managed to get through the dirty window and illuminate the room enough in order for Sokka to navigate the room. He glanced at the stool and under the bed; finally he just lifted the mattress and, after shrieking as some insects fled their dark sanctuary, groped around until he found his bag.

"Found it! Now let's get out of here."

"Took you long enough. Geez, I doubt there were that many places to hide it." Sokka gave his bag a quick scan to check if everything was there while they walked, and nodded. He pulled out his room key from the bag and, once they had returned downstairs, set it on the counter for the bartender. He glanced at them skeptically.

"I thought I heard a crack up there. Did something break?" Neither one answered; they just stared at the bartender until he groaned. "Great; even checking out, you have to cost me money. What did you do, lock your key in your room? How the hell did you manage that? Just when I think that things are idiot-proof, someone has to go and prove me wrong." He sighed and took the key. He looked tempted to speak, but stopped himself. Sokka and Toph shrugged and began to head out after a few minutes. Right before they walked out the entrance, the bartender said. "By the way, some guys were looking for you; they literally walked in the second you guys went to Idiot-boy's room. I didn't tell them a thing." The "even though I really wanted to" part went unspoken. Sokka tossed a coin to the bartender.

"Do you know who they are?" The bartender shrugged and went to wiping a clean glass with a dirty rag. Sokka could sense they were finished and exited the building. Toph was waiting for him out on the side of the road. Once he reached her, they began to walk, blending in to the crowd. "Apparently, we got people looking for us."

"So you were right; the carriage guy must've ratted us out."

"Yeah, guess so…or," he gestured to the wall. "It could have been any one of these beautiful, if somewhat less than accurate posters that did it."

"Would it kill you to let the nose thing go?" she reached up and grabbed his nose and twisted it a bit. He yipped and pushed her hand away. "There, now they match."

"I hate you…" He muttered as he pulled out a knife from his bag and ducked a little into the alley next door. After a minute, Toph's curiosity outweighed her desire not to know.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm shaving the goatee." Sokka forced out. Toph mock gasped.

"Not what must be hideous facial hair! Let us get arrested before you shave the face fuzz!" Sokka glared at her while he exited the alley.

"Oh ha ha; I'll have you know it made me look very refined. And knowledgeable. Not that you'd know what either of those look like…." He deflated; his retorts worked better on seeing people. At least then he could insult them without feeling a bit like an ass. Toph was about to retort when she stiffened. Sokka noticed and began to casually reach into his cloak. "What's up?"

"I think we have company." She glanced over her shoulder at the street and the narrowed her eyes. "There's been six guys following us since we left the bar."

"Right…." Sokka glanced around; the street was practically vacant, which alone was a sign that not all was well. It was practically three o'clock in one of the biggest cities in the world; there was always a crowd, no matter where you went. Unless, of course, someone wanted to "talk" to Sokka and Toph and had encouraged potential witnesses to take the long way around. "So, where are they?" Suddenly, they both heard some scrapping from above. They looked up just in time to see several people leap from the roof tops down into the alley. At the same time, Toph felt the earth shift as people sprang up from behind them. Just like that, they were trapped in the alley. There were even people above them wielding bows and arrows, trained on them.

"You had to ask." She sighed as she shifted her stance; Sokka could tell that she would be ready to attack at a moment's notice.

"Don't attack; let's just see what these kind people want with us." He said loud enough for everyone to hear. "This is quite a surprise; nobody told us that Ba Sing Se had such a dedicated welcoming committee!" He clapped. "It's nice to see that at least one place in the Earth Kingdom likes tourists."

"Shut up." A tall, scarred man approached Sokka, as the men before them parted to let him through; there was definitely an air of command around this man. Sokka's muscles tensed just a little. "Who are you?"

"Er, us? Well, if you're the welcome party, shouldn't you know already?" The man scowled and drew himself up to his full height, which appeared to be a full foot above Sokka. "O-or not; that's fine. Easy mistake, quite understandable. Anyway, I'm Wang Fire, this is my fiancé, Sapphire." He gestured to Toph, trying to ignore the men's snickers. "We just came to Ba Sing Se to celebrate our engagement. After all, her father was so pleased with the news that someone would take this little hellion off his hands." Sokka wrapped an arm around Toph's shoulders. "Relax and look like we're in love." He hissed out of the corner of his mouth. Toph was silent for a few seconds; Sokka knew that she much rather would have fought them all. Fortunately, he also knew that she would at least let him try to talk their way out of this. "So what can we do you for?"

"Last night, two people roughed up half of my crew that worked in the Pleasure District, and stole our money. Then I heard a funny story: these two people just 'happened' to use a large amount of gold they 'just happened to find lying around' to throw a party at the Jasmine Dragon for their…what was the word? Oh yes, 'engagement', as stupid as that is….sound familiar?" Sokka began to wish he had used a different cover story; Toph agreed and stamped on his toe. The Water Tribe warrior just blinked away a tear. The man drew a knife. "I don't let anyone, anyone, fuck with my crew, much less my money. Understand?"

"Bu-but sir, what makes you think it was us? We only just arrived here this morning; just ask the bartender!" Wow, could this guy be any more cliché? He's practically reading word from word of the criminal rulebook…why do we get all the posers, Sokka thought, annoyed.

"Bullshit. We saw the posters; we're not stupid. Now, we're going to get our money back…one finger at a time." The rest of the men surrounding them drew their weapons as one. Sokka counted; there were about fifteen of them…it was almost sad really. He pulled a thick-bladed knife from his cloak. The others smirked; they thought he was easy pickings….wonderful; granted, he was used to being underestimated, but still.

"Sapphire, I suppose we may want to show these kind gentlemen that they are quite mistaken…." Toph smirked as she raised her arms.

"Finally!" Before they could react, she snapped her arms towards the ground and the earth around them shot up, sending the men flying through the air. The leader jumped away and called for the archers to fire; just before any of the arrows could hit, earth surged and formed a ceiling above them. The sounds of thuds as the arrows and the minions fell against the new ceiling filled the alley.

"Dammit!" The leader charged towards Toph, knife drawn. Sokka cut him off, as he redirected the man into the wall with ease. The leader scowled and began to charge again, but Sokka used his knife and, with a quick movement, met the attack. Sokka looked a tad surprised at the force the other man had. Encouraged by this, the man quickly kicked Sokka in the gut, sending him back a few paces. Toph turned to intervene but Sokka waved her off.

"I-I got…him…"he panted. "Give me…more…credit than that…." He brought his knife forward and hit a switch with his palm. The knife began to thin out as the blade folded out, becoming a short sword. The leader watched, taken back; he had never seen a sword quite like it. "Told you I got a new sword." Sokka smirked at Toph. "Still think you stand a chance, mister?" The leader shook his head to clear it and charged again, knife brought up to receive the sword; however, Sokka just stepped aside, grabbed the man's blade hand firmly and pulled it behind the man as he went by, his own momentum caused the arm to pull out of joint. The man howled in pain and glared at Sokka, his one arm dangling freely, the other gripping his shoulder. "Hey don't glare at me like it's my fault; I never said I would use the sword. You just kinda…assumed. So really, that was all your fault." The man lunged at Sokka, his one good hand lunging towards his throat. Sokka raised his sword and smacked the hand away with the back of the blade and raised his open palm against the man's nose, as the larger man's momentum caused it to crack. He collapsed to the ground due to the pain. Sokka turned to Toph. "I think we're all done here; feel free to wrap him up." The man sunk into the street, until only his head was above the ground. "You all done?"

"Like five minutes ago; you're slow Snoozles." Toph rolled her eyes. It appeared to be true; most of the minions were struggling to dig themselves out of the earth, swearing. "I think we may want to leave these wannabes here; the Dai Lee would probably want 'em." Sokka nodded.

"Sounds good; anyway, we should probably try going the other way…you know, so we don't get pumped full of arrows?" Toph shrugged and, with a quick jab, forced a hole out of the earth. As they approached the tunnel, the buried leader spat.

"You think this is over? I have a fucking army at my disposal; you won't be able to stay in this town again! Do you hear me, Wang Fire?" Sokka blinked.

"Ah yes, I think I read you loud and clear. I guess…I'll let you go; you seem a bit buried at moment." He snickered, but Toph just groaned and jumped down the hole. "Huh…what a jerk; come on, that was totally funny, right?" The leader glared at Sokka and began to struggle even harder to claw his way out of the dirt. "There's no just pleasing some people." Sokka sighed and followed Toph down the tunnel.

...