ETA: posted this so quickly yesterday that I forgot the author's note, heh.

AN: Couldn't update last week, but should be back to once a week starting today! And, if you can let me know what you think of the story so far that would be awesome! ;D

Also, anyone see Korra Alone? Omg the feeeeeeeels! I spent most of the week trying to recover from the episode! XD

Ch 26- The Spirit World

At first, it didn't make sense. Toph could see, but not any vibrations, not with her seismic sense. Things...what she imagined were colors shifted together, apart, then turned into new shapes, ones she felt she should know.

Someone was standing there, looking at her with a pair of light eyes. Toph had never seen his face before and yet she knew without a doubt that she was looking at Aang. She was actually looking at Aang! Even if the bald head and blue (if she recalled correctly) arrow on top of it weren't a dead giveaway, even if he hadn't been holding her hand, there was something in his smile that let her know it was Twinkletoes.

Some of her fear melted away when she realized it was him, but not enough to calm her racing heart.

"You can see me?" he asked with great trepidation.

Unable to speak, Toph gave a shaky nod.

"You can see me!" Aang laughed, wrapping her up in a giant hug.

He spun her round and round and she must have been in a state of shock. It was the only explanation for her failure to complain, or retaliate. Toph did, however, have to shut her eyes. The way everything swirled together made her dizzy.

"How's this possible?" she asked, once he let her go. Her nervous tone betrayed her emotions, but she continued. "I could hardly see anything earlier 'cause it was raining so hard...and now, my feet ain't working but my eyes are?" And what was far, far more frightening than that, Toph made another terrible discovery: she couldn't earthbend.

Once Aang had put her down, her plan was to earthspike him back to Omashu, but she was horrified to find the ground beneath her feet didn't respond like it was supposed to, like it always had. Ever since the day the badgermoles first taught her earthbending. It didn't make sense. And, it made her feel sick, nauseous.

"Toph," Aang was smiling. The way his lips curved up at the corners had her stomach fluttering. That wasn't helping her nausea situation. "I think we're in the Spirit World."

The Spirit World?

"How do you know?"

She didn't like the way he was looking at her. It made her feel funny.

When he crossed his arms over his chest, grinning like he had all the answers, Toph nearly punched him just so he could stop.

"Can you earthbend?" he asked her.

Okay, maybe he had some answers. Toph shook her head no.

"That's because there's no bending in the Spirit World," he explained.

"So why'd you bring me here?" she cried. Why would he ever think she'd want to be without her bending? Growing alarmed again, she grabbed the front of his robes and yanked him to her. "Whatever you did, undo it, Twinkletoes! And, take me back!"

Surprised, Aang could only stare down at Toph. "I didn't bring us here," he assured her, but even if he had, shouldn't she be happy? For some reason she could see in the Spirit World. There was no way he could explain it to her, or understand it himself, but it was happening.

"How the heck did we get here then?" she growled, releasing him.

"I don't know." Uncertainty filled Toph's countenance and when she turned from him, Aang felt like her let her down somehow. "But...the swamp is a mystical place, so-"

"So you knew this would happen?"

"What? No!" he was quick to defend himself, but then took a step back. "Well, um, now that I think about it, when I was first learning about the Spirit World, someone told me that as a solstice approaches, the physical world and this world grow closer and closer until the line between them is blurred completely. Maybe that's why Aunt Wu warned me to stay away from the swamp during the spring equinox. Could be the same thing happens, right? And since I'm the bridge between both worlds..."

When he went further into spiritual mumbo jumbo, Toph zoned out.

"...but I promise we'll get out of here, okay?" he concluded, touching her shoulder. "It's not all bad, though, is it?" Green eyes found his.

He was right. She didn't have her bending, but she could still see. It was all so weird.

"I guess," she shrugged, keeping her gaze glued to her toes, but that proved difficult.

Never having seen anything in this way before, Toph was consumed with curiosity. She had the sudden urge to look at everything she could lay her eyes on. Was that a tree? Was water constantly moving? Was Aang's smile always that infectious?

"What?" she snapped, knowing she was probably making a fool of herself, but really, who could blame her? She was seeing. Seeing. For the first time ever, just like everyone else.

"Do you want to see what you look like?" Aang asked and she realized he wasn't going to make fun of her, he was as much in awe of her being able to see as she was.

"How?"

He reached for her hand and she watched fascinated by how much larger his was than hers. It felt bigger, but actually being able to see the difference was strange to say the least. Barely stopping herself from pulling his hand to her face for a closer inspection, she settled on tracing the arrow on the back of his hand with her new found eyesight. The arrow continued up his forearm, curving over his elbow until it disappeared from view under his rolled-up sleeve.

Her face betrayed the disappointment when she couldn't see where that tattoo ended.

"It continues under my arm," Aang informed her, pulling his sleeve higher and raising his arm over his head to show her.

Toph almost asked if she could see more, but with a curt nod tried to move on. The bark of a nearby tree wasn't nearly as interesting though.

"Are they all the same?"

Aang didn't know what she was referring to.

"Your tattoos," she clarified, staring at a rock on the ground like it was the most fascinating thing ever.

"I can...show you the others?" Aang offered, wondering if it was possible to blush in the Spirit World because he could feel his entire head begin to grow warm.

The way his voice cracked made her look in his direction. Eyes narrowed in confusion, Toph tried to make sense of what was going on with his face and why it seemed to be changing colors. She was about to ask when it hit her: Aang was blushing.

"I'll just...take this off," he said, trying to sound casual and failing. While he tugged on his robes he wondered why he had changed into the long sleeved ones.

"Oh, uh, that's not necessary," Toph replied, blushing herself. Why was she getting flustered at the mere thought? Annoyed with herself for getting all worked up, she added, "What makes you think I'd wanna see you without a shirt on anyway?"

The thing was she did, but only because she had never seen anyone with their shirt off. Yeah, that was it, that was the only reason. Plus they were friends. They were best friends. Best friends could ask each other to do things like that.

It didn't matter that he was a boy who liked girls and she was a girl who liked boys. Or that they were the same age. Or that watching the color on his face intensify had a different effect on Toph than she anticipated. Because hey, if he was going to be embarrassed anyway, what did it matter if he took his shirt off or not? Might as well get something out of it. Wait, no, that came out wrong.

"Fine, if you want," she amended, not looking at him when she spoke. Honestly, when would she have another chance?

Why had he offered, Aang wondered, growing more embarrassed the more he thought about it. Well because he was being a good friend. Yeah, that was partly it. Who knew when she would get another opportunity?

"Okay, I'll do it."

"'Cause you want to. Not 'cause you think I want you to," she added for clarification.

"Of course," he replied, but knowing she was even a little embarrassed herself, made him relax a bit. Aang's movements were slow, but deliberate. And, his hands were steady.

C'mon, Twinkles, I hear you're without a shirt often enough, why are you being shy about it now? her eyes seemed to ask. And Toph could see the answer in his, because of the way you're watching me. But it couldn't be helped. Her eyes roamed hungrily, devouring every inch of his skin as she circled him. The hard planes of his chest, the lean muscle along his arms, covering his shoulders. The blue (he confirmed) ink running over his chi paths which had long ago become a part of him. That scar on his back. Absently, Toph reached for it, for him. She had never heard him complain about the wound and so she never imagined it could look that bad.

"Does it still hurt?" she found herself asking.

"No, not anymore."

Nodding, she managed to keep her hands to herself. Continuing her inspection, she concluded she very much liked the lithe look of him. Graceful and agile, but powerful too.

Toph was standing at his side, fascinated by every bit of him she was seeing. For a moment she wondered what her other friends might look like. Katara and Zuko and Sokka and Suki. Iroh. Her parents. But none of them were there so that settled that. Only Aang was...and he didn't seem to mind her sudden fascination with him.

"Did these hurt?" Her fingers suddenly on the back of his neck, tracing the tattoo up, pausing only to go in the opposite direction.

"Honestly, I don't remember."

From the top of his head down, her fingertips traveled lower between his shoulder blades, stopping above the scar.

"It's okay," he reminded her. "It doesn't hurt."

The skin was uneven and jagged. Nothing like the rest of him. There were various shades of what he told her was red and contrary to what he said, it looked like it hurt a lot.

"Sorry I wasn't there," she said. If she had been, maybe she might have been able to do something, help stop Azula. From hurting him, turning Zuko, imprisoning Iroh.

What are you talking about? he wanted to ask, turning to face her. They had split up, they each had things to take care of. Aang didn't say any of it though, not when their eyes met for a long time.

They stood there, contemplating the impossible and the possible.

"This...it's really happening."

Aang couldn't keep the smile off his face.

"Yeah. It is."

Toph could barely keep the smile on hers.

There was a horrible memory just out of reach. Something happened, she could feel it, almost see it. A cold sensation rose in her chest when eyes that had never worked before began to play tricks on her and the person standing before her morphed, not looking like Aang anymore. And yet, she still knew him somehow.

It was too much. Toph felt disoriented, confused in her elation. She was the first to look away.

"Are you okay?" Aang asked, not wasting any time putting his clothes back on.

"Now when people talk about your tattoos, I'll know what they mean," she said, grinning and purposely sidestepping his question. "What do you think we're doing here anyway?"

"I don't know."

Aang couldn't figure out the reason they crossed over. They had been in the swamp one minute and in the Spirit World the next. Sure, he had been holding her hand, but it couldn't be something as simple as that, could it?

But then again...it was the spring equinox. One of the few times a year when the Spirit World and Physical World nearly merged as one.

Out of the corner of his eye, he watched Toph take in the space around her. He couldn't know she was wondering if it resembled the physical world a little or a lot, and didn't ask.

Again her thoughts traveled to her other friends. It would have been nice to see if Sugar Queen was as beautiful as everyone said she was, if Snoozles was as good looking as he said he was. Toph would have loved to see how fierce Fancy Fans looked in her warrior makeup or if Sparky looked as intimidating as The Duke told her once. Though she knew there was no point in wondering, Toph did anyway.

"Hey."

Green eyes settled on Aang's again.

"It's your turn," he said, smiling in a way that made her know his smile was one of the things she would miss most about not being able to see.

"My turn? Look, just 'cause you got undressed doesn't mean I'm taking my top off, Twinkletoes," she declared, making his head turn all sorts of colors again. Maybe she could sense his heartbeat spike, but this was just as good.

"What? I didn't- You know that's not what I meant, Toph!" he stuttered, taking her hand to lead her to the pond only a few steps away.

For some reason, Toph held her breath knowing what was coming.

The water was still enough that when she leaned over to see her reflection, it was almost like looking in a mirror. At least that's what Twinkles said.

She studied the shape of her eyes, the color. Her eyebrows were very dark, the same as her hair. Her lips were full and she traced the outline with her finger. All her features were quite...delicate.

"So that's what I look like?"

"Yeah, why?" he laughed at her disgusted expression.

"It's...nothing like I imagined."

She always thought there would be some kind of toughness to her, something rough perhaps that spoke of her bending prowess, but that was not the case. No wonder everyone underestimated her, she didn't look like she could hurt a stinking butterfly bee!

Twinkles on the other hand, though there was a gentleness about him, didn't look quite as girly as she did.

"You must've switched our faces somehow," she laughed.

It was said in jest. A joke to cover all the things she was experiencing. But the moment the words were uttered, they both knew why they were there and Toph turned to him.

"Aang, we gotta get outta here!"

...

It was difficult to see through the heavy downpour of rain, but after being struck by yet another dangling vine while riding in Appa's saddle, Momo jumped off to fly ahead. When he did, he zeroed in on the strange sight below.

Both Aang and Toph appeared to be asleep. But, upon closer inspection the lemur realized that not only were his human companions holding hands, but Aang's tattoos were glowing.

They weren't sleeping, something else was going on.

...

After a series of questions and answers, a flurry of accusations and explanations on both sides, Toph and Aang had a somewhat better understanding of what they believed was going on. The dreams they had over the years, the nightmares that plagued them on this trip...

"Maybe Roku can help us leave," Aang said quietly because as far as he was concerned, they couldn't get out of the Spirit World fast enough. The whole thing was just too weird. As much as he tried to wrap his mind around it, he just didn't know what to make of the fact he and Toph had been having similar nightmares, featuring the same spirit. A spirit whose name she knew only because she heard him say it in a dream.

Aang called out to Roku, then Kyoshi, Kuruk, and Yancheng. None of his previous lives appeared to him.

"Maybe I need to meditate."

Toph watched him sit in a lotus position and close his eyes. He looked serene and peaceful.

"I'll stand guard," Toph whispered because there was nothing she hated more than feeling of little or no use.

The area surrounding them was pretty quiet. It still looked like a swamp, at least Toph thought it did (it was the only landscape she had witnessed firsthand with her eyes). Everything was fine until a thick, floating substance began to creep towards them.

"Aang?"

Startled that she used his actual name in that fearful tone, he jumped up. "What? What is it?"

"That," she pointed.

Under different circumstances, Aang would've laughed. Still he was incredibly relieved and simply smiled at her. Toph cursed her stomach when it did that fluttering thing again.

"It's only fog, Toph."

So that's fog, she thought. No wonder the others had complained of it often enough while they flew on Appa. Fog hardly allowed you to see anything beyond it, blocking your view almost entirely.

"Fog. Gotcha," she grinned, only a tiny bit embarrassed. "Well, what're you waiting for Twinkletoes, get back to finding the other yous."

"Only if you think you'll be okay with all the fog," he smirked, teasing her to keep the mood light. "There seems to be more of it now."

Green eyes narrowed to slits. "Don't worry about me, baldy, I got this," she grumbled, irritated that he had the upper hand in this place.

Annoyed with him and herself, Toph gave him her back and tried to see past the thickening fog. When she was about to ask Aang if fog and mist were similar, he wasn't there anymore. She spun in place and strained her eyes, but he was nowhere she could see.

...

Aang rose to find Appa and Momo looking back at him. "We made it!" he exclaimed, hugging his bison and letting his lemur curl itself around his neck. They were all soaking wet, but he didn't care. "I missed you guys!" he murmured burying his face in Appa's soft fur.

"Toph missed you, too. Didn't you, Toph?" Aang looked over at her. The rain made it hard to see - something she should've been complaining about - but she hadn't gotten up yet. Hadn't even moved. "Toph?"

No.

Unimaginable fear gripped his heart and he fought back tears of despair when he realized Toph was still in the Spirit World.

...

The fog seemed to clear all of a sudden. Toph had yet to make a decision what to do though. Unsure if she should search for Aang or wait for him to show up from wherever he disappeared to, she cursed him instead.

"Would you mind taking your profanity elsewhere?"

Some kind of animal was talking to her. Or was it a spirit? Didn't matter, neither was going to tell her what to do.

"Why should I?" she argued. The animal/spirit (a hog monkey, maybe?) huffed in annoyance and rolled its eyes. "This place is weird," she stated, trying to match what she remembered from all the vibrations she had picked up on over the years to what she was seeing currently.

"You are the only weird thing here," it deigned to reply. "You don't even belong here. Now leave."

"I ain't going anywhere," Toph replied, crossing her arms in defiance.

Normally, she wasn't one for waiting around, but there was something about this place that had her on edge, so she chose to give Aang a chance to return. However, impatience soon got the best of her and she headed away from the talking monkey spirit thing.

"That's what I thought," the animal/spirit said and it took all of Toph's restraint not to run back and knock the stupid thing out.

He was soon forgotten when not too far away she noticed a single tree with lots of branches, but no leaves. Something about it struck her as she walked towards it.

...

"I have to get back!" Aang cried. Appa and Momo looked on in concern.

After Aang carried Toph's body up to the saddle, he flew to take the reins. He spoke quickly as he guided Appa to the driest spot he could see. He told them to stay together. He asked them to take care of Toph. He assured them that the thick canopy of leaves and branches would provide some much needed shelter.

"I'll be back as soon as possible," Aang promised. Once he sat down inside the saddle, he reached for Toph's limp hand. He closed his eye and almost immediately his arrows began to glow.

...

Toph was sitting on one of the wider tree roots. Though she searched the surrounding area, her eyes kept returning to the last place she saw Aang. Where could he have gone, she wondered, growing more worried (and impatient and scared) the longer he was absent from her sight.

"Hello again."

Toph froze. She knew that voice. It made her skin crawl and her legs want to carry her away.

"I don't usually leave my home, but for you, my dear, I made an exception."

Deep inside she knew, she knew.

She shouldn't turn around.

She shouldn't engage in any sort of conversation.

She should run as fast as she could manage without her bending and never look back.

Toph knew all this and yet, that stubborn streak refused to back down, refused to let a spirit with nothing better to do than invade people's nightmares, get away with it any more. Before she could do anything too rash though, Aang's voice rang in her ears with words he had never spoken out loud to her but in a dream.

Don't show any emotion.

Toph pushed aside the swelling panic, inhaled deeply, and turned to face this...thing head on.

"Lemme guess, Koh?"

"How nice, you remember me."