Can You See Me Now?
A/N I'm working on the next chapter of Honor in the Fallen, so, don't kill me! The chapter's just difficult to write. Anyway, this got in my head and I can't get it out!
Summary: After the war, Toph sees her parents again. Will they understand her now, or will her and her parents become estranged because they still believe she needs protection?
~0~
Toph felt the fallen Fire Lord, Ozai, nearby, weak from his encounter with Aang. They were awaiting guards to take Ozai to the Prison, where he would stay until he died. She heard her friend's laughter, and her own, as they finally and fully realized that the War was over, they were safe, and Zuko was to be Fire Lord. A time of peace was about to dawn, and happiness would fill the air, no fear of your home being burnt to the ground, of your family murdered by the ruthless Firebenders of Ozai's army.
In a week, Zuko would receive the crown, and officially end the War that had destroyed so many lives. Life, love, and hope replacing death, despair, and hatred. A smile was on the face of the young master Earthbender. Her friends were here, her enemy beaten.
~0~
Toph was getting ready for Zuko's coronation. Soon, Aang's training would resume. Toph almost felt bad for the new Fire Lord, he would have to finish teaching Aang Firebending while trying to fix a country. Almost. After all, Aang was only a master of Waterbending and Airbending (and the Avatar State if you count that, but that didn't make him a master of Fire and Earth.) She shrugged on her green tunic, tightening the belt around her waist, when she felt someone coming towards her door. She turned and opened the door, startling the servant who had his fist raised to knock on her door. The servants found the Earthbender odd, her eyes gave her the look of a blind girl, but she seemed to see better than any of them. The Fire Nation servants found it quite unnerving.
"What do you want? I'm not due at the coronation for another three hours." Toph said. Her hair was still pointing everywhere, and dirt still coated her body. She planned to wash some of it off. That would be as close to formal dress as Toph got.
"There are two people here to see you, miss Toph." The servant said, dropping the raised fist to his side and bowing to her.
Toph assumed it was the Boulder and The Duke, they had said they'd meet her before the coronation, but she hadn't expected them to be this early.
"Should I tell them you are not ready...?" The servant asked, eyeing her haphazard appearance. Surely no lady would let anyone see her like this...
"No, send them in," Toph said with a shrug. She couldn't see herself, couldn't see others, so why would she care how others saw her?
The servant nodded and left. Toph sat down on the couch. She'd bother with her hair later.
A minute later, Toph felt the servant begin to approach again, and she felt the two footsteps following behind him. Toph shot up, stomping her foot down to make sure she had 'seen' those footsteps right. Those steps weren't the Boulder's, or the Duke's.
"Impossible..." Toph said as she opened the door.
"Oh, Toph!" Her mother said, throwing her arms around her daughter, before stepping back to get a good look at her.
In front of the Earthbender stood her mother and father. The servant left, closing the door behind him. That look of shock on Toph's face had made his day, but now it was time to attend to Master Appa, and make sure he was fed.
"How did you find me?" Toph asked bluntly, never one for pleasantries.
"The news of the Fire Lord's defeat spread quickly, dear Toph. We heard of the Avatar's marvelous achievement, and that he would be here for the coronation of the new Fire Lord—Zoinko, or whatever his name is. So, we knew you'd be here, with your kidnapper. Come, Toph, you are finally free to come home with us, and be safe." Her father said, grabbing Toph's hand while her mother nodded.
"His name is Zuko," Toph said, jerking her hand out of her father's grip and taking a few steps back. "Aang didn't kidnap me, I ran away to teach him. I explained all this in the letter I had Katara write."
"Oh, my, we knew that letter had been forged, in an attempt to make us think you had left willingly! Don't worry, your mother and I read between the lines, how you desperately needed our help. So we're here now, to save you." Her father insisted. "Come on, it's time to go home, where you will be safe and protected."
"I'm not going anywhere, dad! That letter wasn't fake, I had the Waterbender in our group write it for me. Dad...I helped defeat the Fire Lord and end the War. I am teaching the Avatar Earthbending. I've seen all of the Earth Kingdom and the Fire Nation. I invented a new type of Bending. What makes you think I want to go home? I don't need protect, I'm already more powerful than our guards!" Toph insisted. Toph had known she'd have to face her parents sooner or later, but she had intended to do it in her own time, on her own terms. Not a surprise visit to the Fire Nation.
Lao looked at his daughter. Even though her eyes were sightless, her emotions could still be read there. And right now, he saw only determination. A determination to prove to her parents that she was not weak or fragile.
"But...you are blind, and fragile. I know you have done much, but surely all that was luck? You cannot expect to be able to get the world blindly forever!" Why was his daughter being so stubborn? She needed to be home, in safety.
"Dad...That's the one thing you never understood, and will never understand. My blindness is not a weakness, because it is my greatest strength. I can see more than you will ever be able to. I will not be the weak little girl I pretended to be anymore. I'm not weak. And if you can't accept me, and can't accept that I'm independent, then it's best if you just leave. I have nothing else to say to you, and I'm done arguing. I am staying here, to watch one of my friend's get the crown. I am staying here, to finish the Avatar's training. I am staying here, where I have finally friendship, something you two tried to deny me my entire life." Toph said.
Finally, Lao realized that his daughter was just like him. Stubborn and strong, but with a proud sense of love. Lao looked at his wife, who was watching him silently. His wife knew Lao would do whatever was best, and she would go along with it. Yes, Toph certainly had gotten her attitude from her father.
Lao looked at his daughter, conflicted. Somehow, he knew if he denied her her freedom, and acted like her blindness made her weak...he'd never see her again.
Toph stood there silently. She really had nothing else to say. She'd been without them and their protection for months now, and saved the world to boot. She would not go back to having no freedom, being treated like she was weak for her blindness.
She'd never tell the Gaang this, but she liked it when they forgot she was blind. She saw so well through the vibrations, she might as well have sight. Why couldn't her family think of her the way the rest of Team Avatar did?
"We...we understand." Lao finally said. "I'm always going to worry about you, but I realize now that we can't control you. You have helped save the world, after all. We love you, Toph."
Poppy looked at her husband. They weren't going to protect their little girl anymore? She didn't understand, but she knew her husband knew best. She didn't want to lose her daughter either.
"Really?" Toph asked, happiness building in her heart.
"Yes, really." Lao said, capturing his daughter in a hug. Poppy joined in on the hug, glad to finally have her family back together. She hated to admit it, but she knew this was the first time her family had ever been truly happy.
~0~
Her parents left five minutes later, after she promised to tell them all about her journey later. Their conversation had managed to last two hours, and Toph was supposed to be at the coronation soon.
Using all the dirt in her hair, she Earthbended her hair into it's normal bun, and she was presentable.
The coronation went off without a hitch.
It took nearly two decades for true peace to reign in the world.
Toph began training Earthbenders in the art of Metalbending. When Toph gave birth to a daughter, Lin, they both spent a fair amount of time at the Bei Fong estate, while Toph recovered from her pregnancy.
Somehow, Toph knew Lin would make a fantastic Earthbender. And somehow, Toph also knew that this peace would not last forever.
One thing Toph did know for sure, though.
As long as there was an Avatar, there would always be hope.