Title: Some Things Never Change

Word Count: 689

They had spent decades together, traveling the world, protecting Republic City, and loving each other. Countless memories, both happy and sad, all came down to this. For one of them, this would be the final memory.

The room was lit by two small electric lamps. In a bed to one side of the room lay Sokka, with Toph at his side. His once fit and muscular body was gone, replaced by a frail shell of his former self. The light cast shadows over every crease in his skin, and over his now gaunt face.

Sokka lay sleeping, the even rise and fall of his chest occasionally hitching for a moment as his old lungs struggled for air, even at rest. Toph sat in a chair next to his bed, her eyes still red from crying. The fingers of her hand were perfectly laced between his. She was slumped back in her chair, her body displaying her mental fatigue.

He stirred a bit as he woke from the latest of the naps he had taken that day. At the sound of his movement, Toph sat straight up in her chair, and squeezed his hand tightly. Sokka opened his eyes as he chuckled.

"I'm still gonna need that hand for a little longer."

Toph blushed a bit as she relaxed her iron grip on his hand.

"Sorry, you just…caught me off guard." She said.

At this, Sokka smiled and laughed.

"It's all right, you can say that I scared you."

The years had changed much about him. His eyes, once a deep blue, had faded with age. His skin sagged, his body shriveled, and his health started to decline. At first, Sokka tried to tough it out; tried to hide the signs that he wasn't all that he used to be. But even without her sight, it wasn't long before Toph began to notice that he was slowing down. A few years had passed, and now, here they were, together at the end of his journey.

There were, however, some things about him that time could never erase. He still cracked a joke whenever he could, no matter what. He was always the guy who took charge of a situation, and always had a plan. Sokka even still made faces whenever his sister and Aang kissed. But most of all, you could still see the sparkle in his eyes whenever he was with Toph.

Sokka stared up at the ceiling for several minutes, the room completely quiet. Finally, he spoke.

"I guess this is it, right Toph?"

She cut him off before he could go any further.

"Don't say that! You'll be fine, trust me, I can tell."

Sokka closed his eyes, a small grin appearing on his lips.

"Oh Toph. I know you can tell when anyone is lying, but I can tell when you are. It's all right, I'm ready to go."

With that, he gently placed his hand on her knee.

Toph clenched her fists. A moment later though, she relaxed her hands, and placed one on top of Sokka's.

"You're right," She said, "You've been here long enough, it's time to move on to a better place. I'll always love you. Always."

She paused for a moment, and then smiled.

"Here," Toph said, "Take this. You gave it to me all those years ago. Now I'm giving it back, so you can always have a piece of me with you."

With that, she used her bending to unwind the meteor bracelet from her arm, and then wound it around his bony arm.

Sokka smiled at her and said

"You look beautiful."

Toph laughed a little, and replied

"You look pretty handsome yourself."

Sokka took a firm hold of Toph's hand. He closed his eyes and smiled as he rested his head against his pillow.

"Some things never change." He said.

Toph held Sokka's hand tightly, feeling his pulse slowly fade away. She stood up, and crossed his arms over his still chest. To anyone else, it would just look like he was sleeping.

"Goodbye, Snoozles." She whispered, landing one last soft punch of affection on his shoulder.