"Heartbeat" By Dimitrius

Chapter One: Swept Away

Dedication: To Pacifickay, for being very supportive of this fic.

Your heartwarm love has always made me feel good.

Thank you for your kindness.

o . O . o . o . O . o . o . O . o

Toph laid on the cool surface of the earth. A sudden draft of warm air flowed through the crevices of her self-made rock tent, tickling her slightly exposed neck. She put a small hand, palm face down, on the floor. Miniscule waves of vibrations reached her ears as she sensed the little creatures of the woods chirping in to the night sky. Combined with the small noises were the steady and rhythmic heartbeats of her companions located not too far away. Tranquility seemed to reign the night but a storm was brewing within the confines of the young girl's heart. Ignoring her heart, Toph listened carefully to her companion's heartbeats, distinguishing each one and matching it to each owner.

A small, light heartbeat resonated through the air. It was flighty, Toph noted, befitting for its owner. He was after all the only air bender of the group. A sudden movement from the air bender told her that he had turned in his sleep. Toph listened to the Avatar's heartbeat. Somehow, she had imagined it to be rougher and strong. At least, that was the image that was produced in her mind when she thought of the Avatar. He seemed to have that aura around him despite his childish behavior. Speaking of which, Toph thought of the name she had given the Avatar: Twinkletoes. He was just as his nickname was: always flighty; his toes never seemed to stay on the ground, always straying from the sanctuary of the earth, or at least that's what Toph believed. The earth was her element and it was the one thing she felt safe on. Of course, the Sugar Queen would disagree, water being her element.

The water bender was not too far off from the air bender, judging from the close proximity of their heartbeats. Toph let a devious smile cross her features as she thought of the two of them. The both of them have been quite intimate lately, holding hands secretly and planting chaste kisses far from prying eyes. Not that she could see, of course but the kisses had become louder and the heartbeats beat faster when the two of them were near each other. Toph sighed as she reminisced of the day before when she had caught the Sugar Queen and Twinkletoes extremely close to each other, hugging of course, but Toph felt that they could have both died from lack of oxygen the hug was creating, that's how tightly wound up they were.

But Toph could not forget the small twinge of jealousy that had tweaked within her when she caught Aang and Katara in their little moment. The two of them had each other to care and love for, but who did she have? Who would actually love someone like her, a loud, raucous, freaky, little, blind girl? No one, for sure. And that hurt, no matter how many times she denied it to herself. She truly wanted someone to care for, someone to whisper a "I love you" in her ear and plant the kisses she yearned for. And she wanted that someone to be none other than the Water Tribe Warrior.

A young, clumsy adolscent much like herself (though she didn't show it), Sokka was the object of her affections. Though he appeared brash and a jerk when they first met, little by little, as they journeyed together, she began to fall for the humorous and sarcastic teen. A smile began to creep across her face as she thought of him. His soon-to-be-manly voice rang through her ears as she remembered the moments they've had together albeit the fact that those small moments she cherished probably didn't matter much to him. The moments were nothing but mere moments of when they were just physically together. They usually involved the both of them just sitting together or walking side by side on their seemingly endless journey with the Avatar.

And then there were those moments that she absolutely loved. Those were the times when the both of them would constantly bicker and exchange sarcastic remarks with each other. Even though it wasn't what most would call romantic, the comebacks would set her heart wildly on fire and send waves of passion throughout her body as she thought of how this boy was talking to her and her only. Toph would tune out the world and it would be only her and him. And that was all that mattered. If only it was something more. But sadly, Toph knew that he would never go beyond the feelings of comapnionship for her. And it was all because someone else had already captured his heart. Someone by the name of Suki.

Toph felt her chest tighten in jealousy and anger. She still remembered the way his voice held immense love and a gentle tone to it that she had never heard it directed to anyones else before. No one but that Suki. Ugh. The name itself was enough to raise the copper taste of bile to her throat. What was so amazing about her?, thought Toph. Other than the fact that she is an amazing Kyoshi warrior and that maybe she's way prettier than you?, spoke her sarcastic mind. Toph felt anger slowly rising within her. So what if she wasn't a Kyoshi warrior! She was the world's greatest earth bender, for crying out loud! That ought to account for something! But, deep down, Toph knew that no matter how great of an earth bender she was, no one would ever love her just because of the one thing she abhorred: her blindness.

It was as simple as that. Her lack of eyesight had always obstructed her path. It was always this one obstinate obstacle that Toph felt kept anyone from truly feeling any affection towards her. After all, of what use would a blind girl be, besides shoving huge chunks of rocks aside for the Avatar? Toph hated this. She hated the feeling of being useless and the despondency that followed soon after. And the more she thought of it, the more anger welled up within her.

Outside, a few miles away, medium-sized rocks began to whirl around in the air like crazy due to Toph's unconscious earth bending as her small frame began to shake in anger. Meanwhile, tears began to well up in her eyes at the injustice of life and her unrequited love. The storm in her heart that was simmering for quite some time was beginning to overwhelm her. And the result was getting quite ugly. Wracking sobs muffled by her hands echoed across her mind, leaving no other sound to dwell.

Which was, unfortunately, not a good thing at the moment.

While young Toph was consumed with her misery, tall, lurking shadows crept quietly towards the camp that the Avatar's group currently inhabited. Narrowed eyes watched calculatingly at the sleeping figures that lay on the earthen floor. One in particular stared with a hard look, her small mouth set in a smirk. She appeared to be the leader, seeing how she stood in front of all the others. Suddenly, she raised two fingers in the air and her mouth opened to utter a single word.

"Fire!" she whispered, ice lacing her word.

And without any further instruction, fiery balls emerged at the fingertips of the shadows, glowing brightly yet dangerously. And in one sweeping motion, they hurled the fire at the makeshift camp. Sudden yelps told the shadows that they had hit their mark. Hurriedly, they advanced from their positions behind the large trees and quickly entered the battlefield where a certain water bender and air bender were coaxing the river onto the flames and extinguishing it. Meanwhile, a certain Water Tribe Warrior was hopping about them and letting out a stream of curses to the air as he tried to extinguish the small fire that clung to his thick coat. At the unwelcome entrance of the shadows, which were without mistake Fire Nations soldiers, Aang jumped to a battle stance, his staff gripped tightly in his hands.

The shadows, no longer under the guidance of their leader, who had retreated after her command, began to attack mercilessly upon the makeshift camp. Aang quickly evaded each attack and using his air bending skills began to swerve each ball of fire thrown his way, making the fire return to its owners. However, these soldiers were not ones to back down. Meanwhile, Katara was extinguishing every flame with her improving water bending skills. On the other side of her was Sokka who was weilding his boomerang dramatically and hitting a few Fire Nation soldiers on the head while engaging in some one-sided witty banter all the while complaining of his lack of beauty sleep.

As the three fought to protect themselves, Toph quietly emerged from her tent. When her tears had subsided and her emotional outburst was over for the moment, she was able to think clearly and hear the earthquake-like vibrations that were resounding from the ground due to the commotion outside. Hurriedly, she moved outside and began to prepare a surprise attack to the enemy. All of a sudden, the Fire Nation soldiers heard an unusual rumbling from beneath their feet and without any warning, all were propelled high in the air with sharp, jagged rocks shoving them in the air.

"Alright, Toph! That was awesome!" came his excited voice.

Toph could feel the enormous grin on his face and couldn't help but grin back herself. She felt a warmth rising through her at his compliment and her concentration on the rocks broke for a second, leaving the soldiers to collapse mightily from their high positions as the rocks gave away from their feet. Another whoop of laughter came from him, putting Toph in a giddy state.

Come on, Toph!, spoke the rational part of her brain. Stop it. Stop thinking about him now. We're in the middle of a damn battle. You can ponder over his gorgous laugh later!

Toph shook her head as she cleared her mind and began to sense the vibrations around her. The soldiers had resumed the battle with Aang and Katara since their collapse and his boomerang was also swinging around. She was about to launch another attack when suddenly there was an ear-piercing scream followed by an angry human roar. Guessing from the two sounds, Toph inferred that one of the Fire Nation soldiers had hit Katara with their balls of fire and must have encased her in them, leaving her to scream in agony as the scorching flames tortured her mercilessly. The other sound must have come from an extremely angry Aang. This was followed by the small whimper of Sokka, for reasons unknown to Toph.

But, suddenly, Toph felt the ground beneath her trembling. It felt angry and was shaking uncontrollably. The air around them that was tranquil moments before was now caught in a whirlwind. There seemed to be a sharpness to the wind around her and Toph could not help but feel fear entering her body as she suddenly became part of the forceful winds. Toph heard voices shouting all around her but the winds were too strong for her to distinguish them. She tried to concentrate and find some sort of rock but her efforts were futile. Then, she began to levitate even higher in the air.

Suddenly, there was an extreme jolt, and Toph felt herself being flung by the harsh winds. Panic and fear engulfed her body as she let out a scream. The sensation of soaring 2000 miles per hour surrounded her and she felt long slender fingers encase around her small hand. Toph felt herself soar across many acres of land, still being held onto by a stranger's hand, whose grip was becoming tighter by the moment. Several moments passed before she began to feel descent. Not having any piece of earth, she could not stop or brace herself for the inevitable crash.

The last thing she noticed before slipping into unconsciousness was that the stranger still held onto her hand.

o . O . o . o . O . o . o . O . o

TO BE CONTINUED...