AN: Thanks to Vin-the Mazoku, TBei15, Tomboy 26, and AnimeFallingStar! I had every intention of posting both parts of this chapter at the same time, but I ran out of writing time before I had to get some damn sleep before I go to work. I appreciate everyone who liked what I saw in Ty Lee and Suki, in my mind, the two are just right for each other. However, more on them later. NOW, we return to our beleaguered Hero and Heroine as they find ways to deal with Toph's own Fatherlord!

...Don't tell Zuko.

Sidenote, the next part will be up within a day or so. The two parts of Chapter 9 are really meant to be done together, but I'm already only getting four hours of sleep as it is and I hope a little's better than nothing.

Thanks again! RxR! I like it way mucho!

~Raggy

Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender. I went classy on that disclaimer's ass.

"Guards! Arrest that boy!"

"...Wait, what?"

Sokka really hadn't been paying attention, but when a bunch of guards leveled weapons and began to advance on him, he snapped to pretty quickly.

"Why am I being arrested?...Again?"

Lao's fury only increased.

"I want you locked away before you and that delinquent Avatar steal away my daughter! Again!"

Sokka blanched. Right. Figures he'd remember that.

"Okay, Enough!"

Toph stomped her foot, and a wave of earth radiated outwards, sending guards (and unfortunately the picnic) flying.

If Lao was mad before, the outburst only likened him to a volcano.

"Toph, you are my daughter and I will not have you running off with this...Water Tribe peasant again!"

And that's when Toph lost it.

She couldn't help it anymore. She began to laugh, a deep, piercing howl-like sound, from down, deep in her soul. Sokka knew that laugh. That laugh only came out when it was the only thing keeping her from quite literally killing something...Or someone. The tears in her eyes and the rolling on the ground meant violence was going to ensue. Shortly. Sokka closed his eyes, and prepared for the worst.

This was going to get bloody.

Lao, clearly bewildered, stood with his mouth agape as he watched his daughter quite literally roll around on the grass, laughing and crying to herself.

Much to Sokka's surprise and eventual glee, for the first time in the entire lifetime he'd known Toph, that spectacle did not end in copious amounts of death.

With a huge sigh of contentment and a few more chuckles, Toph got up, brushing herself off before pointing her sightless eyes at her father and grinning fiercely.

"How are you going to stop me?"

Toph could not have surprised her father more if she had come home with spiky hair, bending fire, and juggling turtle-ducks while proclaiming to be the new Fire Lord.

"I'm...Father..Me...Young lady...Never..."

Toph shook her head in disgust. "I come back for a visit after almost four years, and the first thing you do is try and arrest my best friend? The one who's saved my life more times than I can count on my fingers and toes?" She laughed again."Even worse, you actually believe all of a sudden I care what you think? I ran away when I was twelve. I'm almost seventeen now. What in the name of Oma and Shu did you expect to happen, I was just going to come running back like the little pathetic blind girl you always made me out to be?"

For once in his life, Lao Bei Fong had no answer. So, predictably, Toph decided to rub it in a little more.

"I helped save the world. I trained the Avatar. I'm a personal representative to both the Fire Lord and the Earth King, I have a standing invitation to the Council of Four Elements held every year, I was also personally inducted as an Acolyte in the most secret and powerful society in the four nations by the master himself, and was officially named the greatest earthbender in the known world by the man who previously held the title for inventing my own style of bending." She stopped laughing, and glared daggers at the rapidly shrinking man in front of her.

"What have you done lately?"

No answer came.

"I thought so." Toph answered, smugly. "Sokka, get our stuff. I think it's time we left." Sokka, eternally relieved, disappeared.

Poppy came forward to stand by her defeated husband. "Toph," She tried to say, "All we ever wanted was what was best-" Toph was having none of it.

"Oh spirits mother, don't give me that. You saw ironclad proof that I could take care of myself, that I could hold my own and be my own person, maybe even make a friend or two, and instead you tried to lock me away from the rest of the world even more than you already had. I lived here until I was twelve and it took me helping to save the world before people even knew I lived here!" Toph ranted, practically screaming. "I've had enough of whatever your "best for me" is. I know what's best for me, and it sure as the ground I'm standing on isn't to be found here. You've spent years pretending you don't have a daughter; Here's your chance to live it." She spit, taking a deep breath for the finishing blow.

"I'm leaving. For good. Good-bye Father, Mother."

Decision made, she turned to her uncle. He stood, small smile on his face as he held his arms open for her, a comfort she gladly accepted.

"I love you, little flower." He whispered to her. "You are free now; Make the most of it. Live your choices with your choices, the way you and I always knew you would." She smiled up at him.

"If you're ever in Ba Sing Se..."

He smiled, hugging her close.

"I know. We'll see each other soon."

She sniffled, determined not to let her favorite and only uncle see her cry anymore. Setting her shoulders, she walked past her still-stunned parents and made a beeline for the giant courtyard door...Before her mother grabbed her shoulder, spun her around, and slapped her as hard as the small woman could, the violent sound reverberating around the courtyard like a thunderclap.

Stone-faced, Toph said nothing and left, Sokka re-appearing right on her heels.

The doors had scarcely closed behind them when Toph stopped, sighed, and leaned back against the stone wall, dropping to the ground with a audible thump.

Sokka sat down beside her. "Do you wanna talk about it?" He asked, softly.

She shook her head, absolutely determined not to cry." No. Not here. Not ever, really." He nodded.

Rooting around in his pack, he pulled out his canteen and dabbed a clean cloth with some water.

"Here. For your cheek. It'll bruise if you don't." She waved it off.

"Let it. I deserve it."

Sokka pulled it back, clearly confused. "There's no way you didn't feel her coming. You let her do it." It wasn't a question.

"Yes. I did, because that was the only original thought my mother has ever had, and she deserved to see it through."

Sokka shifted uncomfortably, clearly not satisfied with the answer.

Toph sighed, a small square of earth lifting her to her feet.

"Com'n Sokka. I want to go home."

Sokka got up beside her, a bit less gracefully, and brushed the dirt from himself.

"But the tournament's tommor-"

"Do I LOOK like I care, Sokka?" Toph turned and screeched. "I want to get OUT of this city and NEVER come back! Do you hear me? I want to LEA-"

Sokka's hand clamped down over her mouth, with surprising force. A stunned Toph was recovering and just about to attempt to bite Sokka's hand when he removed it, and placed it against her cheek instead.

"I hear you. I do. It's me, Toph. There's a problem though." He squirmed a bit.

"What, Sokka. What is the problem." Toph deadpanned.

"The ferry's closed for another two days."

"Of course it is."

"You knew that. I told you when we left. Which is why we left when we did."

"Don't try to pin this-" She was about to yell, remembered he was right, and deflated. Defeated, she sighed again and hefted her pack.

"It won't be so bad. We'll stay in town for a day or two. How about I buy us a drink?" Nothing. "...Or two?..." Still nothing. "Or as many as you want?"

Toph's famous-or infamous, depending on the perspective- wicked, "we're getting into so much trouble tonight but you damn sure know you love it" smile flashed, for but a moment.

"Now you're talkin', Snoozles. Time to drink!"


Whatever the Innkeeper had seen before in his lifetime, he had never experienced the combined might of Sokka and Toph's drinking prowess.

Bottles came and went as the pair frolicked and cavorted, splitting their time between drinking the inn dry and regaling the other patrons with wild tales of fabulous pranks and war stories-The time Aang went on a spirit-world journey and they left his body in a hog-monkey cave was a particular favorite- but the Innkeeper couldn't argue with the business they were bringing in. After all, it wasn't every day one got to meet two war heroes, especially ones that were part of the team that helped saved the world, not to mention that one was the avatar's earthbending teacher and a hometown hero to boot. The other...Well, he was entertaining at the very least.

As the night went on, it became easier and easier for the Innkeeper to notice- a man, who, after all, read people for a living- that the two currently making a mess of his inn (while at the same time giving him the most profitable night in months) in all his years he had never seen two people more in sync with each other. Each movement, however exaggerated, was met with an equal response, each antic or joke meet with just the right amount of smack talk or even violence.

However, he wasn't a fool, and he knew they weren't either. They had seen war, pain, sadness, and loss firsthand, and rose above it to become heroes of the world and champions of their respective nations. Of course, they were still young, and were clearly enjoying themselves.

They were blowing off steam, and from the looks of it, it was a well-practiced act.

Still, he was more than a little relieved when the water tribe warrior snatched the last bottle they had and, (much to the girl's dismay) drained it, picked her up, tossing her over his shoulder (to her much louder and more vocal dismay) and brought her upstairs, with plenty of whistling and cat-calling accompanying them.

Smiling a little to himself in spite of their positively destructive antics, he pulled out the bag of coins they'd given him before their first drop, and the little note they'd left inside:

Sorry in advance. Mostly.

Sokka and Toph

The Innkeeper could see scribbling where the line above had been written, crossed out, re-written, and what appeared to be crossed out again.

Toph and Sokka