Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar or any characters thereof. I'm just having fun. ENJOY!

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Chapter 1

Captured & Confined

The camp was silent with Aang and Katara gone. They'd gone to market in a nearby town to buy food and supplies, leaving Sokka and Toph alone to watch Appa & Momo. The stars were out, but that didn't matter to the young Earth Kingdom girl. Sokka was asleep, and Toph lay reclined on a boulder and listened to the sound of the sea.

She'd never cared that much for water before. It made her cold when it got on her, and she was afraid of it at times. Only when she'd met Katara, Aang, and Sokka had her feelings about water begun to change. She marveled at the smooth flowing vibrations she felt when Aang and Katara did their bending, and it made her think that water must be beautiful... and Sokka... He didn't bend water, but there was a different kind of beauty in him. Like water over a rock, he had begun to smooth her rough edges.

Her thoughts were broken by the feeling of something hard falling to the ground on the other side of the rise, and it was followed by foot steps. Toph jumped to her feet and waited, feeling the heavy vibrations. There were men headed toward the camp where Sokka slept, and they wore heavy boots and metal armor. They were fire nation.

Toph took off running toward the camp screaming for Sokka, but as she ran, something heavy fell on her back. A cloth, wet with something that smelled pungent and sour was pressed to her face, and she felt the world grow still.

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When Toph awoke from her slumber, she was lost. She could feel the floor beneath her, but there was no earth. She caressed the floor and felt a splinter pierce her fingertip. Her yelp caught Sokka's attention.

"So, you're awake," said Sokka from a few feet away, "I was getting worried. How hard did they hit you, Toph?"

"They didn't hit me. They put something over my face, and when I breathed it I went unconsious."

He nodded, but she didn't know that. She was lost, and she was afraid.

"Where are we?" she asked, her voice cracking a little as she spoke.

"The fire nation soldiers brought us by balloon to this ship. I have no idea where we are except that we're somewhere in the ocean. I guess they must have known who we were. They knew you were an earth bender and drugged you because you were a threat. They just attacked me in my sleep and tied me up," he said, and she thought there was a twinge of bitterness in his voice.

They didn't say anything for a long time.

"Did they take your weapons?" she asked. She knew they probably had, but it was a small hope.

"Yeah."

There was another silence.

"Sokka? Will you come over here? I can't... see you anymore. I can't see anything on this wooden floor." said Toph just to break the silence. She was trying hard to keep her fear from showing in her voice. It was one thing not to see, but it was another thing entirely to be truly blind.

"Yeah, I know Toph. Don't worry," said Sokka as he walked over and sat beside her, "I'm sure Aang and Katara will rescue us soon," said Sokka from beside her. He didn't say anything when she latched onto his arm, and she was glad of it. He always let her use him as an anchor when she couldn't see.

She had soon fallen asleep against his shoulder, and though he wanted to keep watch, he too was soon asleep with his head rested lightly on top of hers.

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Two days after their capture, they sat huddled together talking softly over the remains ot their daily bowls of rice.

"Sokka?" said Toph timidly.

"Yeah, Toph?"

The young earth bender turned her face in the direction of his voice, and he reached his hand up to lightly brush the tears from her cheeks. He thought he'd felt her move slightly into his touch, but he couldn't be sure.

She smiled at him and said in a strangled whisper, "What do you think they'll do to us, Sokka?"

He didn't have an answer for her, but he saw in her pale eyes that she needed a comforting answer, "They'll probably just keep us prisoner for a while. After all, we're friends of the Avatar and good hostages. They just don't know how far Aang will go to rescue his friends, so we have the upper hand." said Sokka with false cheer.

"I want to tell you something, Sokka, in case you're wrong." said Toph with a sad smile.

"What is it?" he asked grimly, as he scanned the long corridor for any other people. There was no one. There were no other prisoners in their room, and the guards only came in to give them their food. They were alone, and he was glad of it. He'd been hiding so long, he didn't like being around people he didn't know anymore.

"I know I'm mean to you sometimes, but I really care about you... you're my rock, Sokka." Toph paused and then began to giggle nervously, "Get it? My rock? I'm an earth bender."

Sokka jerked his head around to look into her pale green eyes. He forced himself to laugh a little bit, hoping it didn't sound too forced. What does she mean? he thought, Does she just mean that she holds my arm when she can't feel the earth, or does she mean... something else?

His heart was racing now, and he was a little glad that they were on wood. At least she couldn't feel his physical reaction to her words now. He struggled with letting the issue drop or subtly trying to get her to say more. He finally decided to try that latter.

"So, I guess I'm pretty important then, huh? I mean, rocks are a big deal to you earth benders." he said as lightly as he could manage.

"Yeah." she said, seeming uncomfortable. Then she quickly switched moods and said with a smile, "Well Snoozles, I think I'm gonna lie down now. Wake me if anything good happens."

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Sokka spent the next several days thinking about what Toph had said, and he felt like his heart and mind were being ripped apart. She wasn't the kind of girl he'd usually be interested in. She was three years younger than he was, blind, and not in the least feminine, but he'd slowly fallen for her just the same. Now she had gone and called him 'her rock' and it was spinning his mind out of control. He couldn't even go off to be by himself to think because he was trapped in this blasted cage.

Toph was trying her hardest to be tough, but the longer she sat in this cage totally blind and having to wait for rescue, her tough act was breaking down. She sometimes cried when she thought he was asleep, and he wanted so much to go comfort her. Only the fact that he knew she was trying to hide her tears kept him from breaking her illusion of secrecy.

After about a week in their prison, Toph felt her way over to him and whispered in his ear, "We've gotta find a way out, Snoozles. I don't think Aang is coming."

He sighed and agreed with her. They couldn't keep waiting. Something had to be done.

Their plan was simple. They had to somehow get their hands on a small bit of earth or metal so Toph could bend it into a hook so he could reach the peg that held the wooden lock bar in place so he could remove it, but they quickly learned that simple plans aren't always simple to carry out. The fire nations soldiers guarding them seemed very aware of the danger Toph could pose if she were given the chance. Sokka also learned that Toph had pretty erratic mood swings when she was hungry and under stress.

"Oh shut up, will you!?" she screamed at him as he mumbled to himself one day.

"Why are you so grouchy?" he retorted with almost as much disdain. Her ill temper was getting on his nerves. He quickly came to regret his words though because she slunk back to the back wall behind the small curtain that hid the bucket that served as their bathroom, and it was obvious from the sound of sobbing that she didn't really have to go.

"I'm sorry, Toph." he said in a sad voice. He hated hearing her cry.

"Its... it's ok, Snoozles. I really was being grumpy. I just can't stand this, being helpless and hungry and grimy. It's getting to me. The least those jerks could do is give us a bucket of water to wash ourselves and our cage. I smell so bad that even I would love a bath right now." she said with a pathetic sound that might have been a laugh.

"Yeah, it's getting dusty in here," said Sokka from where he sat against the cell wall.

Toph's gasp startled him and he jumped to his feet, cracking his head on the low ceiling, "What's wrong?" he asked.

"Dust... dust is earth. If I can gather up enough dust..." she cut off her thought and began racing around the cell running a cupped hand over the walls and into the corners to gather up as much of the powder as she could.

When she was finished, she had a huge handful of gray dust and a huge grin spread across her face. Sokka smiled back at her, marveling at how pretty she was when she smiled, even after all this time locked in a cage.

"Now, lets see if I'm right," she said, and she cupped her other hand over the mound of dust. She seemed at first to brighten, but then her dejected look returned. She removed hand to reveal a tiny pebble, "Guess there's not a whole lot of substance to dust." she said humorlessly.

"So thats all you have once its compressed?" he asked as he studied the little black rock. She nodded and dropped it on the floor looking more hopeless than ever.

He reached out and pulled her into a warm embrace, and held her as she cried into his tunic.

"Toph?" he said, sounding nervous and sad.

"Yeah, Snoozles?" she asked with a sniff.

"I want to tell you something," he said softly, "in case we don't get out of here. I want you to know that I love you," he held his breath, waiting to see if she would pull away. She didn't. She pulled him even tighter to her and she nuzzled his neck.

"I love you too, Snoozles... but I wish you had told me before we got locked up in a crate."

He sighed and stroked her hair before tipping her chin up and brushing his lips against hers, "Me too, Toph. I wish that too."

She smiled a little and reached up to gently stroke his face. The light returned to her eyes for just a moment as she said teasingly, "You need a shave. You feel like Momo," and then she snuggled against his chest. He held her until she fell asleep, and then he gently lowered them onto the wooden floor for the night.

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He woke to Toph shivering and the feeling of motion sickness. The boat they were on was rocking worse than usual.

"Must be bad weather," said Sokka. He knew he was stating the obvious, but he needed to say something.

"Yeah," Toph muttered as she clung to him. He knew how much she feared the water because she couldn't swim. A storm at sea must be the worst thing imaginable for her.

He wrapped his arms around her and scanned the room again. The rocking of the ship was becoming worse with every moment. Before long the motion had become so bad that their little bucket had gotten overturned, and they had to move to the left side of the cell to avoid the stinking trail of liquid that ran down and out of the cage. Sokka sat listening to the sounds of the ship creaking and the soldiers running down the hallway as he watched the lamp on the far wall flicker. It was the only metal in the room, decorated with swirling filigree patterns the looked like dancing flames. He shifted his weight to lean on his palm and felt a pain up from his hand. He picked it up quickly and saw the small pebble made from dust.

"Toph..." he said softly. Then more loudly, "Toph!"

"What, Sokka?" she whimpered. She was really afraid now.

"How hard can you launch a pebble with your bending? Hard enough to knock a sconse off the wall?" he asked, his excitement growing.

"Maybe..." she said softly, her milky eyes directed at the floor, "but I can't see where to aim it," she said sadly.

"If I helped you figure out where to aim, could you do it?" he asked.

"Well... maybe," she said, a little bit of his hopefulness rubbing off on her.

A few moments later they stood on the cell floor, trying to keep steady despite the rocking of the ship. Toph clutched the pebble in her left hand as Sokka guided her right hand so that she was pointing exactly at bar that connected the sconce to the wall.

"Ok," she muttered as she fell into her fighting stance, and with a swift punch in the lamp's direction, sent the pebble flying.

It missed by just a little bit, but the boat was tipped away from the lamp, and the pebble rolled back to them. Sokka retrieved it and they tried again. This time he helped her aim, being extra careful to point her in the right direction. She launched the pebble again just as a hard wave slammed into the ship, making her jolt.

They were rewarded by the resounding ring of rock on metal and a chunk of the filagree metal flame came sliding toward them with the pebble.

Sokka took it and handed it to Toph, "Can you make a rod with hook on the end with this?" he grabbed her hands and held them about two hand spans apart, "about this long?" he asked hopefully.

She nodded, "But it won't be very strong," she cautioned.

Soon he held a thin rod with a sharp hook on the end, and was leaned as far as he could reach around the peg. With a little bit of work and several glances at the door to make sure no soldiers were coming, he managed to dislodge the peg and force the bar up. They were free.