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Toph's pov

"What do you mean we never left? Weren't we…oh man, then I just had the trippiest dream." I rubbed my head, feeling only the slightest bit of pain behind my eyes. Didn't we get knocked out in the swamp? The rest of the dream was pretty fuzzy but I had the vaguest sense that water somehow came into play. Maybe I drowned. Not literally of course, seeing as how I was thoroughly alive and kicking. Either way, I had the weirdest dream that we ended up in an alternate universe where we were trying our hardest to get back or something or other but we had to help everyone we encountered to restore order…blah, blah.

But man, it was so real. Didn't the fall from our world to the future or wherever that place was break my arm? Bending said appendage I came to the conclusion that it must have been just a dream.

"Me too," Twinkle Toes said, scratching his bald head.

I turned my body toward his. "Did I break my arm in yours?" As soon as the words left my mouth I smacked my head. That sounded so incredibly stupid. Before I rescinded that stupid question he answered.

"Yeah you did actually. And you let your hair down. I think you even let someone cut it," he said with the same surprised, awkward tone.

I reached up to touch my hair. Patting around my head I concluded that I had indeed let it down, but it must have been from the fall. After all it hadn't been as secure as I wanted it before we landed and then when we crashed it must have just jarred loose.

Hair….

"Hey Twinkles," I called out with hesitation. "You're still…pretty bald aren't you?"

He chuckled before abruptly stopping and checking his head. I walked around him, loving the feel of vibrations I gathered from the tips of my toes to the top of my head. A smile grazed my face before I could stop it. In the last part of my dream I'd been in the Spirit World able to see. It had been strange to be granted eye sight. I never wanted to experience it again. I mean, I guess it was okay but I'd lived for far too long blind. Blindness accompanied me since birth, forcing me to make my way in the world without sight.

"Yeah, still bald. Still tall. Taller than you," he added with a snicker.

"Ha…not funny," I deadpanned.

I sidled up to him and poked his chest hard. "Being tall is nothing if you still can't beat me," I informed him. And it was true. I'd beaten a millions guys feet taller than me who thought they were all so big and bad.

"You're right," he agreed too quickly. "But it still irks you," he said with a smirk eminent on his face.

I put my poker face on. Of course Twinkle Toes would know just how to piss me off. It didn't mean I had to give him the satisfaction of showing him just how much.

"Want me to show you how much it irks me?" I threatened before suddenly being engulfed in a bear hug.

When my feet left the ground I felt a familiar rush of panic make it way through my veins. It was involuntary, really. Whenever all parts of my body left the ground I felt vulnerable, but only for a brief moment when I knew I was in good hands.

He let me down and I stumbled. "Sorry," he offered. "I just…needed a hug?" he chuckled nervously.

Before I could ask him what in the world had jumped into him and jerked his arms around me, I suddenly remembered a very important detail.

"Where's Appa? And Momo?" I missed my furry friends but I was pretty sure now that Aang was alerted to their absence that he'd most likely freak out.

I was right. He paced around for a few frenzied moments before it finally clicked. "We are in the swamp!"

I applauded him. "Great job! Now, where is your nose located?" I mocked.

He flicked me on the head and I punched him in the gut.

"Just give me a second to find them, okay?" he grumbled.

I mock bowed. "Of course, Avatar. Whatever it is you wish," I said in a chirpy voice, similar to the sounds his fan club made whenever he landed in a populated area.

Sitting down on my lovely ground, I picked at my toes while he did his Avatar thing.

Man, even though everything was just a dream, I could feel my soul come alive now that I was back. In my dream I honestly missed the sounds of the earth and animals. The city - even here - took a lot out of me; so that weird futuristic city in my dreams was slowly becoming too much to handle on a purely superficial basis. I needed the outdoors and nature. But all of that paled in comparison to just feeling the earth under my feet, feeling the signs of life all around me that had become an ingrained part of me. I didn't really believe in magic but I had to say that the feeling I got from it was just that.

"Got it," he announced proudly.

"You know," I said smugly as I got up to follow him through the twists and turns of the swamp. "You never answered me when I asked you where your nose was. Was that too hard for you?"

He groaned a sigh and, with a smirk, I let him push me in the direction of our furry friends.

When we found them over by the Swamp tribe's camp, we immediately had to find ways to pry ourselves out of their hospitalities. Unfortunately, we were both too famous for our own good now and it would be "their honor" to cook us up some giant bugs. Well, if they tasted good I had no qualms.

After eating the meal – which was surprisingly good if only slightly rough in taste – we were both too tired to do much other than fall on Appa's tail. I couldn't remember a time when I grew bone tired just walking through the swamp. Sure I'd been slightly fatigued, but this sort of exhaustion felt like I'd just taken on the second best earth benders in the world, nonstop for a week. Reflexively my eyes closed.

Aang managed to mumble beside me, "M'nigh Toph."

I gave a strangled grunt as sleep quickly shut off my brain. Or at least I thought it had.

Dreams for me were different than dreams for people who could see. I could see nothing of what - say Katara - could see in her dreams like colors and faces. Instead I had dreams of feelings and voices.

Except for tonight. When I'd passed out I was hoping to be mentally dead till morning when we'd clear out of the swamp and back to our respective homes. Then I heard a burbling sound like water boiling in a pot to cook up some Bug Part Soup (yes, the name is an extremely accurate description of the dish we ate that night but I will say again that it was ok food). I could hear drip, drip, drip as if water was falling into a pond. As soon as the drops hit the water, the softest, most enticing whispers sounded for a split second before falling silent.

Underneath my feet I could feel silky grass and the whisperings of life. A sigh here. A trot there. The flowers reaching for the sun that bore down gently on the land. I also stretched upwards, popping my joints in a much needed release of tension. Today had been hard but luckily this dream was turning out to be pretty peaceful.

Just as I sunk down into the warm ground with the grass acting as my personal blanket, a voice called out to me.

"You there! Get out of the flowerbeds. Jeez give them some breathing room," called out a grouchy, nasal tone.

I jumped about a foot in the air. How did she sneak up on me? I mean, sure I couldn't see her but I hadn't even been able to sense her. Who was she? Or was it a he? I opened my mouth to say something back but someone else interrupted me. This time the voice was softer, almost like a teacher's voice.

"Please forgive us for not granting you vision. It takes up much energy to do so and I figured you might not have been particularly inclined to see anyways," she ended with soft laughter.

I narrowed my brows at the direction of the voice. Was she talking to me?

"I suppose I'll find my breathing room elsewhere," grouched the nasal tone. I heard a strange sound coming from its direction. It was almost like roots being pulled from the ground. Not that I could see it.

"Please do," said a mild male tone from the same direction as the grouchy nasal woman.

A harrumph, was her snarky remark. Then I couldn't feel her there anymore. It was just me and two other bodies I couldn't see or touch. Needless to say, I was a bit out of my element here which put me on the defensive.

"Now that she's gone – whatd'ya say to a little swim guys?" asked the male tone in a carefree way.

I heard a sigh. "That is not why we have gathered," said the voice of Avatar Roku.

I scratched my thigh. "Avatar Roku? What are you doing in my dream?" He seemed to be appearing a lot in my dreams lately. Maybe it was the fact that Aang and I had landed in a creepy, magical swamp.

They all laughed and it ruffled my feathers. Was I missing something?

"I have come to apologize for the sudden departure you took from the future."

I nodded absently, their laughter still sort of pecking at my brain. When the full weight of his words hit me five seconds later, I felt like falling over. Luckily I didn't.

"Wait! – that was real?" I shrieked.

I could just feel hands fly up to their ears.

"Are you sure you're not an airbender?" the carefree voice said mildly.

"Excuse me?" asked the teacher with slight offense.

"You know what I mean," cool guy said to cover up his "offensive" question.

My hands flew up as if to stop something, but what that was I had no idea at the moment. I was barely getting past the whole: "Yeah that dream you and Aang both had was – surprise – real. You did break your arm. You did meet future people. And you also–" whoa Toph. No need to delve into that pot of worms (feelings, actually) just yet.

For a long time nothing came out of my mouth. I heard them express concern but Avatar Roku told them to just give me a moment to gather my thoughts. When I finally "gathered" a semblance of my thoughts I grew suspicious.

"Why is it that you are the one apologizing for the "sudden departure"?" I asked without a tone.

The teacher voiced her two coins, "It is really all of us who should be apologizing."

"Hey," the cool guy said, "don't look at me. I wasn't entirely up for this plan you know."

"It was a collective agreement," Avatar Roku settled. I could feel his essence, his power, come closer to me. "We were the ones who sent you and Avatar Aang to the future and also had to bring you back to the past."

Again I regarded him with suspicion. Avatar or not, I wasn't about to bow in reverence to him and agree to whatever he said like Aang had to. I mean, life would be a little strange if the Avatar started rebelling against himself. Normally I'd have to stifle a laugh at that thought but right now frustration was building alongside my confusion.

"Why?" I bluntly asked, ignoring the pinpricks on my neck that signaled someone looking at me intensely. It wasn't a creepy feeling, but it was strange. I ignored the direction it came from and focused on Avatar Roku.

A sad sigh sounded from where the cool guy last stood. What did he have to be sad about and why won't he stop staring?

"Well, that is a very good question Toph," he said evasively. Honestly Roku, wasn't he supposed to have all the answers?

"Do not tease her," the teacher admonished him. "If she's anything like Kyoshi I would not want to deal with her when she's angry."

Kyoshi? That Earth Avatar? How would they know her? Well, I assumed, shouldn't everyone in the Spirit World know each other? What else is there to do for an eternity anyways?

"You see, Toph," Avatar Roku finally relented, "Avatar Aang and you share a very special bond."

I snorted. "Yeah, he's my best friend."

A bit of an awkward silence passed. "Yes," he agreed. "But sometimes friends like you and Avatar Aang need a push in the right direction."

I crossed my arms. "And just what sort of "direction" are you planning for us to take?"

"Toph," the cool guy spoke. For a brief second I had wondered if it was really him addressing me since his tone had grown so tender it would have brought tears to weaker eyes. "You have exactly what Aang lacks in some respects and you have the ability to bring out the best in him–the worse too. It hurts to see the young Avatar pine for what cannot be his. It clouds his judgement. This is why we interfered. A little push was all you really needed. He might not understand just yet, but that's your job."

My lips pressed together in a tight line. Surely they were not asking me what I thought they were asking me.

"Oh, you know, you can't possibly be that angry at us," he continued, gaining some of his cool tone back. "If you think about it, it has been a long time coming."

I didn't answer. Honestly, I was a bit too shocked to answer. Then I heard it. A stream was rushing out at me. Before it had a chance to touch me, I woke up.

Feeling Appa's warm fur beneath me, I tried my hardest not to wake anyone else up, like Aang. I had no idea what time it was but it was either early in the morning or late at night judging by the crisp air. When I heard Aang's chipper hello from above me, I cursed the morning.

Moving quickly so as to leave without alerting the Swamp tribe, I crawled to where Appa's saddle was and plopped myself down.

"Toph?" Aang asked in that annoyingly caring voice of his. "Is something wrong?"

I bit my tongue to keep from yelling at him. After all, it was the intrusion of his past lives that were the cause of my anger, not Aang himself. At least not directly.

"I had a nightmare," I answered evasively. Before he asked I spoke up, "Care to drop me off at the Fire Nation?"

"I was planning to head over there anyways. Last night I was given a letter by Hugh. I couldn't read it in the dark and I was too tired to deal with it honestly, but this morning I read it. It wasn't good."

Ignoring any lingering hard feelings I tried to focus on just how troubled his tone turned. "What was it? What did it say?"

"The Fire Nation is in trouble."

A/N

I'm so sorry it's taken me forever to post this chapter but school got started and I've decided to participate in quite a bit of activities so I'll try my best to post the continuation of this story as fast as I can. Let's pray it doesn't take me four years this time.

Hope you enjoyed.

Love: Lola of the Peaches.