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The Gift: Toph's Gift

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Toph's Gift

“Why am I doing this?”

Toph didn’t even know if she was searching in the right place.  All she had to go on was the general direction that Aang had given to her.  After two months of desperate searching, she hadn’t found so much as a nail.  Granted, what she was looking for was a bit bigger than a nail, but it was still like looking for a nail in a swamp.

Not that that was far from the reality.  The ground she was scavenging was wet and spongy.  It was like being in the desert, she decided.  Everything she saw was fuzzy.  She could only see a few feet around her with any certainty.

This has to be the worst idea I’ve ever had, she thought.  I only have two weeks left.  Maybe I should just give up-

A different vibration went up her leg and she gasped with anticipation.  “No way,” she whispered out loud.  She walked about three feet to her right and picked up a small metal object that lay in two feet of mud and water.  It was cold and wet, but she could feel that there was no trace of rust on it.  She held it close to her, not caring how dirty she got.  There was no mistaking what it was.

Boomerang.

Finally, after two months of searching the edge of the Earth Kingdom, she’d found what she sought.  She wasn’t sure how long she stood there holding Boomerang.  It was all she could do.  She though back to the day it was lost…

“Ow, my leg!”

A moment ago, they had been falling through the air, and now she was dangling from the airship, holding onto one of Sokka’s hands.  She had heard his leg break when he landed on the small outcropping.

“Hang on, Toph!” he yelled at her.

“Aye, aye, captain!”  It was all she could think to say.  The pain he was feeling must have been intense.  She could feel his heart beating impossibly fast through her hand.  But still he held on to her, attempting to save her life.

A moment later, she heard two soldiers approaching on outcroppings on either side of them.  It was only a matter of time before she and Sokka fell to the ground.  However, Sokka wasn’t giving up without a fight.  With his free hand, he grabbed Boomerang from its sheath and knocked one of the soldiers off his perch.  He then kicked his space sword up, caught it with his free hand, and threw it at the other soldier, cutting clean through the metal he was standing on.

“Bye, Space Sword,” he wailed.

More soldiers then appeared a few feet away and were ready to send fire blasts in their direction.  With Sokka’s weapons gone and her unable to Earthbend or Metalbend, it seeming like this was going to be the end for them.

“I don’t think Boomerang is coming back, Toph,” Sokka said.  And then, as if reading her mind, “It looks like this is the end…”


Tears rolled down her cheeks as she remembered that day.  Sokka had saved her life.

And in two weeks, he was getting married.  To Suki.

Not her.

This single thought did something she never thought anything could.

It made her cry harder.

She stood there, clutching Boomerang, and cried.  She cried for all the times she
could have said something to him and never did.

After a while Toph composed herself.  She wiped the moisture from her face and took a deep breath.  If Boomerang is here, she thought, the sword should be close.  Still holding Boomerang to her chest, she trudged through the marshy water, feeling for any other metal she could find.

About an hour later, another vibration ran up her body, and she smiled as she knew she had again found what she had been looking for.

****

“To Sokka!”

Everyone in the bar lifted their drinks in Sokka’s general direction.  He smiled and said something that vaguely sounded like “To me!” though after the amount of rum he’d had, coherence was the least of his problems.

Toph sat in the corner, nursing her drink.  Everyone there had been toasting Sokka and his nuptials all night.  He was getting married in a week, and tonight was his “last night with the boys.”  She was the only woman there, but it just was natural that she would be with “the boys.”  She never went in for all the girly stuff that Katara and Suki did.  Suki’s party was last night, and while she was there, she wasn’t that into her party.  Toph  thought that it would be different tonight, being with Aang, Sokka, and Zuko, since she felt more comfortable with them, but she was just as miserable as ever.

Lost in thought, she was startled when Sokka plopped into the seat across from her.  “Hey Toph,” he slurred.  “Whacha’ doin’ here by yourself?  Come join the party!”  He lifted his glass then poured its contents down his throat.  He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and slammed the glass on the table.

Toph hung her head.  “Don’t feel like it,” she said.

Sokka put his hands on the table and leaned in toward her.  “You don’t want to party?”  He turned to the rest of the bar.  “Hey, someone get a physician.  Toph’s sick.”

Toph grabbed the front of Sokka’s shirt and pulled him back to her.  “Will you shush up!  I just want to sit here for a while, okay?”

Sokka pulled away from her grasp.  “Hey, whatever.  I’m just trying to be a good host.”  He stood up and started walking back toward the crowd.  “Another round around!” he shouted.

Toph hung her head again and played with her drink some more.  There was no use.  She was one of the guys, and always would be.  And anyway, he was getting married in a week’s time.  It was time to let him go.  She decided there was only one thing to do.

She downed her drink in one swig, stood up, and went over to Sokka.  Even without her Earthbending, she still would be able to find him blind.  She just had to head in the direction of the loudest person there.

“Hey Toph!”  Sokka pulled her into a bear hug.  “You’ve joined us at last.”  He turned to the bartender.  “Another rum for my bestest friend!”

“I don’t want a drink, Sokka,” she said.  “Actually, I need to talk to you.”  He said nothing.  “Alone,” she elaborated.  Still nothing.  “In private.”  Still nothing.

“Oh, for the spirits’ sake,” she sighed, and pulled him outside by the front of his shirt.  There was hooting and hollering following them out of the bar, but Toph ignored it.  She pulled him to the little earth-tent she had made to sleep in that night. It was cheaper and quieter than staying at the inn, and she liked sleeping outdoors.  She’d gotten used to it during their trips around the world, and found that she still preferred it to an indoor bed and sheets after all these years.

“Where are you taking me?”  Sokka sounded like he was sobering a little, but Toph didn’t let go.

“Just walk Snoozles.”  She smiled at the nickname she’d given him almost five years earlier.

Just outside the tent, she let him go.  “I have a wedding present for you,” she explained.  “I was going to wait until next week, but I thought you’d want this for the ceremony, so you’re getting it now.  Just don’t expect anything from me next week, got it?”

“Aw, Toph!  And I didn’t get you anything!”  Apparently he wasn’t as sober as he let on.

“Just close your eyes, okay.”

“How will you know if they’re closed?”

“Are they?”

“Yep!”

Toph grinned.  “You’re lying.”

“Damn,” he whispered.  “Got me again.”

“Don’t ever lie to me, because you can’t.  Don’t even try.”  They’d been playing this game for five years, and she had never been fooled.  There had been a couple times she’d let him think he did, but just to keep him on his toes.

“Are they closed now?” she asked.

“Yes,” he answered.

Satisfied that he was telling the truth, Toph walked into her tent and got the items she’d hidden in there.  She cleaned them as best she could, so she didn’t know if they were clean enough, but she was sure Sokka would take care of that later.

She walked back out, holding Boomerang and the space sword out in her arms.  Her heart was beating fast; she didn’t know what his reaction would be.  “Okay, you can open your eyes now.”  It was judgment time.

For a moment, nothing happened.  It took a moment, but Sokka suddenly stopped breathing.  She could feel his heart start beating faster as he realized what he was looking at.  When he finally spoke, his voice was barely above a whisper.  “Are those...?”

“Yes, they are.  I found them and thought you’d like to wear them for your ceremony.”  Sokka picked up the sword first, and then Boomerang.  His breathing was still labored, but the slur in his speech had disappeared.

“I...don’t…believe it…”

“Do you like it?” she asked.

“Like it?” he repeated.  “This is the best gift ever!  I can’t believe you actually found them.  I thought they were lost in the ocean forever!”

“They were close,” she said.  She was going to elaborate, but Sokka cut her off by dropping the weapons and enveloping her in a hug.  He held one hand around the small of her back, the other on the back of her head.  Toph returned the hug with her arms around his neck.  She buried her head in his shoulder, just like she’d always wanted to do.

“Thank you,” Sokka whispered.  They stood like that for a moment before he pulled away.  He held her shoulders.  “Why?” was all he managed to say.

Toph regained herself and shrugged.  “It was something to do,” she replied.

Sokka shook his head.  “No, this must have taken forever to find.”

“A bit over two months, actually.”

“You walked around for two months looking for these?  For me?”

“Well,” she started as she pushed a strand of hair behind her ear, “you’re worth it.”

“I don’t know what to say.”  His voice cracked.  Don’t cry, Toph thought. I can’t do this if you cry.  “This is too much.  You are the greatest, Toph.”  He took a breath.  “I love you, you know that?”

It was more than she could stand.  She forgot why they were standing there, why there was a party going on a hundred feet away, and what was happening in a week’s time.  She stood on her toes, pulled Sokka’s face toward her, and kissed him.

There was no resistance on his part.  There wasn’t time to resist.  It all happened too fast.  Toph suddenly realized what she was doing and let go of him.  He reeled back a step.  She bent her head, ashamed.  “I’m sorry, Sokka.  I don’t know what came over me.”  Tears pricked the back of her eyes.  Damn it, don’t cry!  “Just forget I did that.”  Sokka took a step to close the distance between them, cupped her cheeks in his hands and lifted her face to his.  She knew that he could see the tears in her eyes, threatening to spill down her face.  “Just go back to your party.”

“In a minute,” he said, and bent his face to meet hers.

His lips touched hers, and she suddenly forgot how to breathe.  The noise of the party, the animals, the night, everything went away except for the two of them.  She wrapped her arms around his neck as he pulled her closer by the small of her back.  As their kiss deepened, Toph felt a warmth spread through her, and the only thing she could do was hold Sokka even closer.

After what was both the longest and shortest moment of her life, she pulled away from Sokka.  She closed her eyes and bent her head.  “Go back to your party,” she whispered.  She pulled out of his embrace.  “You’re not in the right state of mind and don’t know what you’re doing.  You’ll regret this in the morning.”  She gave a short laugh when another thought hit her.  “And Suki will try to kill me.”

“Toph, I-“

“Just go,” she said, cutting him off.  She turned to go into her tent.  “I’ll see you at the wedding next week, okay?”

“Okay…” Confusion clouded Sokka’s voice.  She didn’t want to know the exact reason for it, so she attributed it to the rum he’d been drinking.  She heard him pick up his sword and Boomerang.  “I’ll see you at the wedding.”  She stood outside the tent, listening to his footfalls getting farther and father away, until she felt him go back inside the bar.  A roar erupted when he walked back in.  She heard the bar door slam, and she flung herself into her tent, sobbing silently.

****

Toph was in the front row at the wedding.  She hadn’t spoken to Sokka since the night of his party, mostly because she couldn’t bring herself to say anything.  You’re a coward, she told herself.  Adding to the fact that Sokka hadn’t even let on that anything had happened, she felt it was better this way anyway.

Katara sat on her left.  When Sokka walked out, she gasped.  “Where did he ever find his sword?”

Toph shrugged.  “Got me,” she replied.  “Didn’t even know he had it.”  If Sokka hadn’t told his sister what had happened, she sure wasn’t going to either.

Aang performed the marriage.  From what she could tell, it was a beautiful ceremony.  He gave them a touching blessing, and Sokka and Suki promised themselves to each other.  When it was over, a cheer went up from everyone gathered.  Even Toph managed to clap.

The reception was a grand event.  There was dancing and drinking, and a good time was had by all.

Well, almost all.

Again, Toph sat by herself in a corner.  She felt Katara getting nearer before she heard her voice.  “It’s almost time for the guests’ dance with the bride and groom,” Katara announced.  “I know Sokka would want you to dance with him.”

“I don’t dance,” Toph replied.

“Liar.”  Katara grabbed Toph’s hand and pulled her to the dance floor.  “You’re Sokka’s best friend, so you get the first dance with him.”  Katara led her until she was face to face with Sokka.  He took Toph’s right hand in hers and put his left around her waist.  She felt  Suki and Aang dancing a few feet away.

An awkward silence passed between Toph and Sokka.  Finally, he broke it.  “Toph, about the other night…”

Toph shrugged.  “I gave you your sword and Boomerang back as a gift.  That’s all.”

“But Toph-“

“That’s all.”  She smiled at him.  “Besides, you were too drunk to remember what really happened anyway.”

Toph felt a tapping on her shoulder.  “Mind if I cut in?”  It was Mai, wanting her turn to dance with the groom.

Toph took a step back.  “Be my guest.”  She turned and walked back toward her table in the corner.  When she was sure she was out of Sokka’s earshot, she whispered, “I love you, too.”

The End
I got this idea around 10pm, and couldn't stop finishing until it was done. Five hours later, it's posted. Hope you enjoy!

Avatar, characters, etc are all owned by Nickelodeon and Bryke.

Part Two: Sokka's Gift: [link]
© 2008 - 2024 Leona629
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witchsmart's avatar
So beautiful! I actually read Part Two before I read Part One, so it was nice to fill in the gaps with Toph's feelings too. I've been reading your Tokka fics and they're very good, you're quite the talented writer!