This is a contest fic for *daughterofthestars on deviantArt and her pic titled "Ambushed". It's a sad, sad picture, and she did so well conveying the emotion and pain. :O Anyway, she got many offers from writers to expand on her short descriptive story and thus, the contest was born. Honestly, I don't care about being the best. I just wanna see the other entries! :D

UPDATE: I won da contest! :D This is officially the contest version, edited with the help if my amazing beta reader, Capt-BA from dA. She's the shiz, and I am so grateful for her wisdom and patience! There will be an Author's Cut, a full multi-chaptered fic to continue and further explore the characters! Yay Tokka!

[h e a r t],

Nyx

3. A Promise to Keep

Sokka stared at the useless lumps under the cover for what seemed like an eternity. A frigid blankness filled him, clutching at his insides like the talons of an icy monster ripping him apart from within. This couldn't be happening. This was still part of the nightmare! It HAD to be!

Silent tears poured down his face. How could life go on after this? How could he possibly be a warrior if he was bedridden for the rest of his life? Anguish broke over him like a tsunami, battering his heart and his psyche until they were all but shattered like the hull of a ship tossed against a cliff. Why? Why had this happened to him?

A wordless scream ripped itself from his throat. He screamed his grief into the night. It was the sound of a lonely wolf torn from everything he knew and loved.

Frantic scuffling came from outside his door, but he was too far gone to care. The door burst open and Aang, Katara, and Toph poured into the room. They stopped and stood motionless, staring wide-eyed. His scream died away with a chocked sob and he sat on the bed with his head in his hands, chest heaving, with tears pouring unabashedly down his face.

"Sokka…" Katara said tentatively, and she started towards her brother, tears stinging her eyes and throat. In all their years, he'd always protected her, been there for her when she needed him. The one time he needed her most, and she felt like she'd failed him.

"Katara, why? Why couldn't you heal me," he accused, a maniacal edge to his rasping voice. His head snapped up and he fixed an angry glare at his sister. "WHY, KATARA?"

She stopped a few feet from him, taken aback at the anger in his words. "I-I tried, Sokka. I swear I tried…" She looked down at the floor, unable to meet his accusing glare. Her own bitter tears of sorrow and shame flowing freely down her cheeks. "There wasn't enough left to heal," she finished quietly.

He shook his head in denial. "No, no, this is still a dream. I'm still dreaming, aren't I? As soon as I wake up, this will all be behind me. I'll be whole again." Before they could stop him, Sokka heaved himself up on his arms and swung the bandaged stumps of his legs over the edge of the bed.

"Sokka, no!" Toph cried, her own voice thick with unshed tears. She felt her heart breaking for him, and she wished she could take away his pain and rage.

He ignored her, fixing them all with a steely glare, and pushed himself off the bed. Together, Aang and Toph rushed to the bedside and caught him before he hit the ground. He thrashed and fought them, screaming and swinging on them the best he could, but he was still so weak that he did little harm and gave up. The gently laid him back in the bed and covered his now limp form with the light linen sheet as his silent tears began again.

"Sokka," Aang began. The compassion and pity in his eyes made Sokka look away, ashamed. "This is no dream, buddy. We're here for you, whatever you need, we're here. Just call." Aang put an arm around Katara, who remained motionless, weeping inconsolably for her brother's pain, and led her quietly out of the room.

Toph remained with Sokka and sat with him, silent well into the moonless night. He was nearly catatonic, and she almost wished he'd start lashing out again, just to know that he was feeling something, that he wasn't shutting himself away. He did nothing but stare out the window and breathe slowly, his heart beating the rhythm of a mournful dirge. He didn't so much as twitch a muscle.

She decided to take a chance. "Tell me what it looks like."

He slowly turned his head toward her. "Tell you how what looks like?"

"The Moon." She tentatively reached for his hand, but he snatched it away. Disappointed, she turned away from him.

He turned back to the window, "It's not out tonight, Toph." Bitterness and resentment colored his tone.

"Oh," she replied, momentarily defeated. "Well, tell me what the sky looks like, then."

"Why do you care? You wouldn't understand even if I told you."

That hurt her, and she very nearly went off on him, but she maintained her calm. She'd been blind her whole life, so she didn't really, truly know what she was missing. Sokka, though, knew full well what the consequences of his injuries were. It killed her to try to imagine how it must feel to have something so vital, something you depended on so heavily ripped away and be left trying to cope.

"You said you'd be my eyes whenever I needed you," she whispered.

He didn't respond.

She cleared her throat. "I made you something while you were passed out." She bent over and pulled a box out from underneath the bed. She placed the heavy box on top of the sheets beside him.

"They'll probably need some tweaking, but it's a start." She pulled out the first of two knee-length metal boots.

He huffed angrily. "Just what do you expect me to do with boots, Toph? In case you haven't noticed, I have no legs to -"

"If you'd shut up for just a second and let me finish, then you'd know how they work!" she snapped at him. "They're prosthetics, Sokka. They strap on to your legs and should allow you to walk again. That is what you want, isn't it? Or do you want to lay in bed for the rest of your life and feel sorry for yourself?"

She threw the blankets back and roughly grabbed his right leg. None to gently, she shoved the bandaged stump into one of the prosthetics and began strapping it on, heedless of his howl of pain. Her chest was heaving with anger and frustration, and tears threatened to spill over again.

He grabbed her by the wrists and pulled her down onto the bed, holding her close to restrain her flailing limbs.

"Let me GO, Sokka!" She struggled against him with all her strength, but he held her tight and buried his face in her hair.

"What if it doesn't work, Toph," he whispered into her hair, sounding so much like a frightened little boy that she stopped struggling.

"Then we try again. We keep trying until we find something that works." She leaned against him, taking and giving comfort at the same time. His arms were warm and gentle around her in a hug and a pleasant shiver took her when he pressed his lips to her hair.

She turned around in his arms to face him and with one hand, she reached up to lay a tiny palm against his cheek. "You promised to be my eyes," she whispered again, her hand tenderly roving over his face, exploring his features, memorizing every nuance and curve. She traced the scar above his left eye from a sledding accident when he was eight, and the fine stubble of the beard that had grown in the past week. With gentle fingers, she trailed soft lines over his eyebrows, spending time on the smoothness of his eyelids and tickling his lashes, over the bridge of his nose, softly across his lips and slowly down his throat where they stopped, curled against his chest.

"If you'll be my eyes, Sokka, then I'll be your legs, one way or another. We'll figure it out together, ok? I'll be there for you."

He nodded silently, the appropriate words escaping him, and he hugged her tightly against his chest. She laid her head on his shoulder and he could feel her soft lips curving into a smile against his neck.

The rain on the roof was the only sound that surrounded them the rest of the night, soothing and washing away their pain and heartaches. None of this would be easy, they both knew, but neither of them would go it alone.

A/N - When the full version comes out, the ending of this chapter will be drastically changed!