I'll Get You To Safety: By Luna Mrow

Disclaimer: I don't own A:TLA or its characters.

~X~X~X~

A muffled scream filled the air followed by a very painful grunt. The small earthbender grinded her teeth together as her hands pulled out the knife thrown into her stomach. Blood came pouring out as she fully took out the knife and she dropped it on the ground. Breathing heavily she unstuffed her mouth with her shirt, which was what she used to muffle her scream of pain. Quickly she fixed her top, and pulled her long raven locks of hair behind her ears and out of her eyes—not that it mattered her hair was in her eyes but she did it anyway.

"Come out, come out wherever you are Bei Fong. Don't tell me the little blind girl is afraid!" laughed a taunting voice. Toph snarled, standing up from the rock she was crouching under. Even though she was blind she still turned her head in the direction of her challenger. "Ah, there you are little blind girl," mocked the voice. Challenging Toph a rebel named Xing who was a young man in his late teens, who not only had skill in fire but in knife throwing.

Toph had been getting challenged lately, but this was the first time she found herself in a fight with a rebel. The war had ended, Zuko was the new Firelord, Aang had saved the world blah, blah, blah, but most Fire Nation citizens didn't like the idea of peace. Why should they? They had been under the previous ruler Firelord Ozai for so long, and had hatred for all the other nations for quite some time. Now Ozai's banished son is Firelord and he expects them to get along with the other nations?

For most the idea of peace was fine. But for a good percentage of others, this was not acceptable. So the ones who fought against Zuko called themselves 'Radicals' and were becoming quite the cult—and a problem. The Radicals were causing problems lately, and it was expected they'd attack those who helped Aang—like Toph. She was an easy target for Xing, off by herself without her friends, and if he captured her he knew she'd be valuable.

And that is what brings us to now. Xing followed Toph until she was outside the Fire Nation city and made his attack. The two faced each other, blood still spilling freely from her knife wound. "You're going to pay for that!" she growled menacingly.

Before Xing made a quip back at her, Toph quickly extended her arms, manipulating the earth around her and sending a boulder straight at his direction! He jumped in the air and twisted his body like an acrobat, landing on his feet. She smirked—she expected as much—and when he landed on the ground she swiftly made rock go around his ankles which mimicked shackles. Xing grunted and tried to free himself from her earth and Toph smirked even wider when she heard him struggle.

There were things Xing gravely underestimated about Toph Bei Fong. For one thing, she wasn't a twelve year old girl anymore, she was now fifteen almost sixteen. In the three years since the end of the war she had not only grown taller, her hair get longer, her insults get wittier, but most importantly she got stronger. The knife wound would have killed her three years ago… but she was a lot tougher now.

Xing used fire and burned the earth around his ankles, making it crumble like bread. He slipped a knife from his sleeve and threw it out, Toph using the earth and making a wall to block the blade—a good thing too, it would've hit her in the neck if she hadn't. "What's the matter?" she taunted. "Can't even kill a 'little blind girl' huh? The other 'Radicals' would kick you out of the club if they found out."

She knew she shouldn't taunt him… he was surprisingly a tough challenge as it was, and getting him angry would only make it harder to fight him. Sometimes Toph thought her worst enemy was her own stupid mouth. She couldn't see him, but if she could she wouldn't make smart ass comments. Xing was tall, well built with muscles, and the current look on his face—well let's just say if looks could kill Toph would've been dead before the fight started. But she was blind, which in this case was a good thing.

Not wasting time to return her mocking Xing raced towards her, jumping in the air and using fire to propel him closer, and when he landed on the ground he was right next to her. She became alarmed—she wasn't good with combat, because she couldn't see him if he punched only if he kicked. Immediately Toph tried to create distance between them, but Xing reached out and grabbed her wrist, burning it as he tugged her forward!

With her other arm she quickly bended the earth and created a crack in the earth between them, separating the ground between them and pushing herself far from him. He smiled when he figured out she couldn't fight close. Once again he jumped through the air, a knife in both hands, and when he landed he drove one knife through her shoulder, the other in her lower back, all swipes quick and fatal.

"AH!" She screamed, resisting the pain to fall to the ground. Toph knew the lower back blow was going to be a problem. She couldn't give up on the fight, she wouldn't lose to a fire bender! An idea went through her mind. She remembered the bracelet Sokka gave her all those years ago that was made out of special space rock. Quickly she took her bracelet and bended it into a small sharp spear!

Shunk!

Just like that the small spearhead went through Xing's neck! He fell to his knees, eyes wide open with shock. "Yeah bitch," Toph smiled, her voice pained from her own wounds. "I win." She wanted to kill Xing, she wanted to kill him more than she ever wanted to kill anyone in her life. But if Aang found out she'd never hear the end of Twinkle Toe's whining. "I'll let you live," she managed to say, grimacing through her pain. "But just this once."

Xing watched as she walked away, amazed at how she was still alive with a knife in her lower back and shoulder. He wasn't about to let her escape. He took out his final blade, retracted his arm back, and threw it towards her!

Wham!

Toph found herself being knocked to the ground on her side. Her eyes flew open and she was about to yell at whoever knocked her down, but instead she yelped in pain. The body that pushed her down was on top of her. "Are you okay?"

Her blind eyes widened. "Zuko?"

"Hold on!" He got to his feet, running towards Xing. Zuko made his hand go aflame. "No one gets away with that!" he yelled angrily. And then it was over. Xing was on the ground. Toph couldn't see, but she heard two heartbeats and then one heart stop beating.

Oh no. "Zuko!" she screamed.

Warm hands went around her arms and she was lifted on her feet. "It's okay," Zuko said, his voice still angry. "Are you okay? Spirits Toph you're covered in blood! You could have been killed!"

"I know," she replied dryly. Her hand went to her shoulder and she tried to take the knife out.

"Let me," he insisted, lightly but forcefully smacking her hand away. "Spirits this is in pretty deep. This will hurt."

"So will keeping it in just take the stupid thing out!" she yelled. Zuko nodded and started to ease the knife out of her shoulder blade. Toph cried out and made her hands into fists trying her hardest to endure the excruciating pain. "It's out," he finally whispered. She heard him drop the bloody knife on the ground. Tears were starting to form in her eyes. "Toph, I'm so sorry—"

"Don't," she said, cutting him off. "Just take the other one out."

Zuko sighed. She was trying to be strong but he could tell she was on thin ice with herself. "It's my fault," he murmured as he reached an arm out and behind her back. He was still standing in front of her, and his other hand was on her shoulder. She felt him grab the handle of the blade. "Toph this is my entire fault."

"Save it Sparky," she said, her voice now hoarse. "Please, pull the knife ou—AH!"

As she said that Zuko quickly pulled it out. Instead of going slow the first time he did it quickly the second time. She found herself leaning into his chest, her face buried in his shirt. Toph could smell her own blood, she could hear the drops roll down and off the knife. Zuko's arms went around her protectively. "It's over," he said softly, "It's all over now." He could feel a slow wet feeling seep through his shirt—she was crying softly against his chest. The now nineteen year old Firelord held her even tighter. This was the first time he saw this side of her. "It's my fault you're in danger," Zuko murmured, "The Radicals are attacking you because of me."

"Please stop talking," she mumbled.

That was the second time he heard her say please in the years he knew her. The first time was only a few minutes ago. It wasn't fair what Zuko had put his friends through and he knew it. Ever since he became Firelord things had gotten dangerous, not just with the Radicals, but with other nations as well.

A lot had happened over three years: Sokka and Suki got married, Aang and Katara were living at the Southern Water Tribe, Zuko managed to make peace with the Water Nation… but bad things happened too. The worst toll on the young prince was Mai's death. Mai had been dead for well over a year but he still felt the same pain when he thought about her. It was his fault she died, and it would be his fault if Toph died in his arms from blood loss.

No. He wasn't going to let Toph slip away. He wasn't going to watch her die. "What are you doing?" she asked when she felt him pick her up and hold her tightly in his arms bridal style. "Zuko?"

"We're leaving," he answered sternly. "You need your wounds tended to. And don't you dare tell me you don't need help because you do Toph, and I will drag you to the Fire Nation palace if I have too. So you might as well get comfortable because if I do drag you it won't be pleasant."

She was impressed by how he took control of the situation. "In case you haven't noticed, we're probably ten or fifteen miles from your stupid palace, Princess. I'm no doctor, but I don't think I'll make it."

"Don't doubt your life so quickly. We'll make it."

"How did you even find me anyway?"

"You told Uncle that you were going to leave the city for awhile."

"Oh." Toph couldn't help but smile a little. "I should have known Iroh can't keep a secret."

"You should be grateful he can't."

"I never said I wasn't." Toph reached out her small hand and brushed Zuko's chin lightly. "You've got some stubble," she said without really thinking. He didn't answer, he was too busy walking as fast as he could. Toph's hand went from his chin to his nose, her fingertips lighting brushing his skin. And then, she felt the rough skin of his scar. She felt him flinch. "I'm sorry," she murmured. "I knew you had a scar, Katara told me once, but I never felt it." Zuko didn't know what to say. His scar was a tender subject. Luckily Toph kept mumbling, "I'll probably have scars after today."

"Don't say that," he said.

"It's okay, I can't see them."

He noticed her voice was hushed. "Go to sleep Toph," Zuko said softly, "You need to rest."

There was a pause. "What if I don't wake up?" she murmured.

Zuko could feel the slight fear in her voice. "I won't let you die," he promised. "I swear, I'll get you to safety."

This was the first time Toph was putting reliance on someone else. This was the first time she was completely letting go of her own life, her own survival, and putting it in the hands of someone else. Not just someone else… Zuko. Could she really trust him with her life? Toph closed her eyes. "Okay Sparky."

She could trust him. She knew she could.

Author's Note:

So I'm extremely nervous about how this story is going to go down. I know Toko isn't the hottest buns on the market (that would be Zutara lol) but I really wanted to try writing Toph/Zuko.

This is in fact my first A:TLA fic and I would really appreciate constructive criticism and reviews. Even flames are welcome (but please let them be critique flames).

If this fic turns out to be a success, I will continue it as a five maybe six chapter story. If not, well… I'll post it as a two-shot. Thank you for reading, extremely appreciated!

~Luna