Ok, so this is the first chapter of a story Ive written on Tophs life, from early childhood until the moment she met the Gaang. Since Im an absolute naming genius, I gave this fic the most original of titles : Tophs Story. Now I know it sucks, but trust me, the story is kinda good... or at least, thats what I think (doesnt say much, considering Im the author...). If you like it, PLEASE REVIEW! If you dont... REVIEW ANYWAY! Just a few words so I know you have read. Its VERY important to me!

I plan this story to be roughly 6 chapters, depending on how inspired I am. The three first chapters are all about how Toph discovered she could earthbend when she was just four years old... hope you enjoy reading this as much as I enjoyed writting it!

Chapter 1: The Unseeing Child

It was a very bright, sunny day in the Earth Kingdom. The bright blue sky stretched endlessly over the city of Gaoling, its soothing azure sometimes masked by a few pure white clouds. At the very limit of the horizon, a chain of impressive mountains hovered, their abrupt cliffs and sharp tips seeming a dark shade of purple in the distance. Vivid pink and orange flowers grew along the tall walls that encircled the Bei Fong property, the vast garden behind the familial mansion shaded by the couple of oaks whose branches swayed gently in the spring breeze. It was a beautiful afternoon, one of those were colors erupted everywhere you looked, and the whole place seemed to glow in the light of the sun.

But the little girl couldn't see any of it.

Sitting beneath one of the oaks, her tiny figure hunched over the ground to be as inconspicuous as possible, she could hear the rustling of the leaves as the wind brushed the thick canopy above her head. She could smell the sweet perfume of the flowers nearby, and feel the soft grass under her feet and hands. The sweet aroma of the spring air clung to the tip of her tongue as she breathed in deeply, and she could tell by the warmth on her face that the sun was high up in the sky.

But all she could see was crushing darkness.

Ever since that fever that had almost killed her three months ago, she had been surrounded by this obscurity: she had tried to open her eyes wider, struggling to see the daylight, but the blackness still remained. She had cried a lot, screaming that she wanted to escape the shadows, and her mother had held her tight, trying to reassure her, telling her it was okay, promising that she would soon see again... but despite all the cures, all the doctors and all the treatments her parents had provided her with, the small four year old remained blind.

To her parents, it was a catastrophe: their little daughter, only inheritor of the Bei Fong family, one the greatest noble families of the earth Kingdom, their tiny child, who had always been so fragile, so sensible since the day she was born, was blind.

To her, it was just... terrifying.

But what was even more frightening was the way everyone acted around her: she was used to being treated as a small child, surrounded by servants and guards day and night, but this was different. She could feel the pain and fear in her parents eyes whenever they looked at hear, feel the horrified and shocked gaze of the people she met, the pity of the doctors who treated her... it was as if they believed she was doomed, that her life was over. It scarred her to death. It hurt her too: nobody treated her as if she were a person anymore; she was merely the blind freak child, or the fragile, defenceless creature her parents had to protect. They didn't play with her anymore; her father didn't pick her up in his arms like he used to, her mother didn't read her any bedtime stories or talked to her in that comforting warm voice of hers...she just cried.

She wanted them to treat her like their daughter again: she wanted their love back. They were always fussing over her, her mother dressing her in fancy dresses she could no longer see with stiff hands, as she would with a doll. Her father held her hand tightly to guide her when she walked, but there was none of the affection and softness she yearned for in the gesture, just fear. When she cried, they wouldn't comfort her as they did before: they would send in a doctor to make sure she wasn't hurt. And then they were confused because she had nothing, not understanding that the hurt was inside.

She tried to persuade them that she was fine, that she was still the same little girl she had always been, their little girl : but then she would stumble into a wall, or be unable do something as simple as eating a boll of rice without dropping some all over her tunic. She hated feeling so helpless, incapable. She hated them treating her like she was incapable. And she was frightened and sorrowful because somehow, she knew that it would always be this way.

Those last three months had been the most miserable moment of her short existence, and she knew it was only going to get worst. She couldn't stand it anymore: if only her sight would return! That's why she had run away from the house and was now hiding under the oak. Her parents didn't let her out of the mansion anymore, and she could tell, in spite of the innocence of her young age, that they were not only doing so for her security: they were hiding her from view. She remembered that, shortly after the discovery of her blindness, visitors had come to their house unannounced: her father had hidden her in her room with a servant until they were gone. Afterwards, nobody had ever come to visit. She knew it was because of her, and it filled her with shame.

She knew that by now her mother would be looking for her, and began to crawl towards were she thought the walls of the property might be. She had to get out of here fast, before they found her and locked her up in her room. Escaping the supervision of her guards and getting out of the house had been difficult, even more so since she didn't know were she was going. She had tripped countless times on her way out, and it was only out of pure luck that she hadn't stumbled into anybody. But finding the gates that led out of the family's terrain would be that much harder: and how would she get through without someone to open them for her? She hadn't given any thought as to where she would go and what she would do once she was out, but for now it didn't matter: she just wanted to be free.

Suddenly, she bumped into a hard surface, and a small smile spread across her face as she realized she had found the walls. She crawled along them, hoping they would lead her to the gates. But then, as she felt her way with her hands, she noticed a hole at the base of the wall's foundations. Its sides were ragged and irregular, and it was just big enough for a tiny child to crawl through. She had no idea what was on the other side, but she was brave for her age and determined to escape: she crawled through the hole and was out in the outside world.

For the first time in her life, she was free.