Title: Apology
Summary: When Appa is found, Toph finally gets the apology she deserves.
Pairings: Taang (or just Toph/Aang friendship)
Comments: Don't get me wrong, I love Aang. But sometimes he can be a bigger jerk than Mako. Anyway, this is something that really bugged me: AANG NEVER APOLOGIZED TO TOPH FOR BLAMING HER FOR THE SANDBENDERS TAKING APPA. Anyway, enjoy!


As Toph sits on the porch in Ba Sing Se, wiggling her toes in the dirt, she can't help but feel angry. She should be happy – everyone else is, now that Appa's back. But no. She's angry, and she doesn't know why.

When she feels Twinkletoes's footsteps approaching her, her anger spikes. "Hey Toph," he says as he sits down next to her. He's smiling, and right now, she wants nothing more than to wipe that grin off his face with dirt.

Instead, she remembers her parents' teachings – to always be a sweet, demure girl and to never let on her real emotions. So she acts like her usual snarky self. "Someone looks happy."

"Yeah," he agrees as he stares up at the sky. "I can't believe Appa's really back. I mean, when he went missing, I was so afraid, and now that he's back—" Something snaps inside her, and she encases him in one of her stone tents – a smaller, more compact tent with barely any room for air – which works in her favor because he can't airbend his way out of there. "Hey, what's the big idea?" He sounds angry, but nowhere near as angry as Toph. She holds her hands out in front of her, resisting the young, idiotic Avatar's efforts to break out of the stone prison. As an afterthought, she kicks up a stone wall to block the door so Katara can't come running to his rescue.

"It wasn't my fault," she seethes, and she can feel his heart race. "Yeah, those stupid sandbenders got him and I couldn't stop them. Do you know why? Because I was too busy saving your sorry ass from a crazy spirit!"

"Toph—" he says, but Toph cuts him off; she's too angry to listen to his stupid air nomad violence-is-never-the-answer-so-let's-just-all-be-friends philosophy.

"And did I get a nice 'Thank you for saving our lives, Toph!'?" she continues. She clenches her fists and pretends not to hear him grunt in pain as his prison shrinks around him. "Not even close!"

"Wait…" Twinkletoes grunts out. "You're… really mad about that?"

"I don't know," Toph shot back. "What do you think?"

"I didn't know," he says quietly. "I didn't think you'd be mad about that."

"Mad about what?" she asks a bit sarcastically. "You blaming me for a bunch of sandbenders stealing Appa when I saved your life and couldn't do anything to stop them because of all the sand? What about you not caring about anything else when he was missing? Or, maybe it's the fact that you care about Appa more than you care about us!" She feels now like she did that day – a loneliness that made her feel more like she's back at home than like she's living her dream as a master earthbender, when Twinkletoes exploded at her and Katara and not even Sokka came to her defense – but now water's sliding down her cheeks. She feels something clench around her throat, and it's hard to breathe normally. She turns away and doesn't resist when he breaks out of his prison.

"Toph…" he whispers before wrapping his arms around her and hugging her from behind. "I'm so sorry. I had no idea..." She leans against him as the water continues to leave her eyes, and he hugs her more tightly. "I didn't mean to make you feel that way. Sure, I was angry about Appa getting stolen, but I shouldn't have taken that out on you. And Appa doesn't mean more to me than you guys. I'm sorry. Now will you please stop crying?"

Despite his last request, Toph knows his apology is sincere, and she turns around and hugs him back, making a mental note to tell Aang never to speak of this again.