Wounded Warrior

Disclaimer. I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender or Anything related to it.

Toph groaned as her conscience came back to her.

What happened?

She realized her feet weren't touching the ground; someone was carrying her across their shoulder. Based on his strong grip on her arm and around her leg, it had to be Sokka.

She gritted her teeth from the burns. It came back to her now. She was running with the Earthbending unit in search of the enemy. Someone screamed to look up at the sky. The next thing she knew she felt the ground erupt heat and force embrace her body. Luckily she had on her Earth Kingdom helmet or else she would've cracked her skull open falling hard against the ground. The last thing she heard before slipping into unconsciousness was Sokka running for her and telling others that were behind him to get the Waterbenders.

"Hang in there, Toph," he whispered to her as he knelt down beside her. He lifted her up by the head slightly. "You're going to be okay." She had went blank after that.

"Sokka...." she muttered.

Sokka turned his head to face her. He smiled at Toph. "Don't worry; I'm looking for Katara."

"The others...."

"They aren't as burned as you are," he told her. "You really took the worst of it."

Toph smirked. "Hmph. I couldn't tell by my smooth skin."

"Wounded and you're still using sarcasm," Sokka said softly.

The softness in his voice prompted her to rest her head on his shoulder. "I'm just glad I'm alive."

He patted her leg as lightly as he could. "Same here."

Toph smiled to herself and closed her eyes. "You'd better be."

The travel turned into silence between them as soldiers passed by them, continuing on with finding survivors. Sokka looked around; there was no sight of Katara. Out of nowhere he heard a growl from the sky. Appa. Sokka looked up to find Katara riding in the saddle while Aang had the rein. Appa landed in front of Sokka. Katara hopped off Appa's saddle. Her blue eyes augmented at Toph's condition. "Toph!"

"Well, that was short," Toph muttered to herself.

Katara ran over to the duo, looking at Sokka with questioning eyes.

"The Fire Nation balloons had bombs," he explained.

Katara nodded with understanding. Sokka gently took Toph off his shoulders, took off her hat, and laid her on the ground. Katara drew water from her skin pouch and began working on Toph's feet first. Toph's hands were flat against the ground, which caused her to blink. She felt rapid heartbeats...and they came from Sokka. He sat next to her and ruffled the top of her head. She turned her head away. She felt Sokka shrug but he stayed right where he was.

Just from the fact that he made sure she got to Katara and that he was staying beside her, the burns Katara had yet to treat didn't feel as bad.

El Fin