A/N: This is book five, chapter sixteen of the Avatar story. While Aang and Katara are finishing their missions, let's see how the rest of the gang is going in the physical world. Since we haven't heard from Tophs parents, I figured there should be an episode about them. Personally, I'd prefere it to happen after the Boiling Rock and before the Southern Raiders so Toph could, you know, had a personal field trip with Zuko. I was going like "How come everyone but Toph gets to go alone with Zuko? That's just unfair!" Anyways, here, we meet Toph's parents again. They say that they finally understand and accept Toph. Oh, is it true? Let's find out.

Chapter 16 - Parents

It's a normal day in Ba Sing Se. Well, not too normal since the gang are living without Aang and Katara, who are still in the Realm of Dreams finishing up their mission. Right now, Sokka is relaxing on the couch. Kya hands her son a cup of tea.

"How are you feeling?" Kya asks.

Sokka accepts the tea. "I'm doing better. I'm glad to get rid of that bad luck." Sokka takes a sip of the tea. "How do you think Aang and Katara are doing?"

"I don't know, but I did saw Aang in my dreams. He was asking me some advice about him and Katara being forced to break up." Kya says.

Toph walks right up. "Yeah, yeah. Who cares? I'm getting tired of those two together, they're heartbeats just drive me crazy!"

Suddenly, Zuko walks right in with Hawky on his wrist. "Hey guys, a messager hawk came in."

Sokka takes a look at the hawk then smiles. "It's hawky!" Hawky walks off of Zuko's arm onto Sokka's shoulder. "Where have you been, I've been worried!"

"Me and Katara send a letter to my parents." Toph says. "What does it say?"

Suki reaches for the message on the messager hawks back then unrolls it. "Dear Toph. We're glad to hear you're doing all right. We've been thinking and you were right. We're sorry for the way we mistreated you. We would like for you to come home so we can talk about it. The Beifongs." Toph just frowns a little and crosses her arms in front of her chest. "You gonna go see them?"

"I don't think so." Toph says. "The last time I got a message from my parents, it was really a metal cage trap from Xin Fu and Master Yu."

"Come on, Toph. Maybe your parents are finally opening up to you." Suki says.

"Yeah, even if they don't, we'll go with you. Make sure you stay out of trouble." Sokka says.

Toph just sighs. "All right, let's go see them."

So, Sokka, Zuko and Suki goes with Toph to see her parents, they ride on Appa, flying around the earth kingdom lands for the Beifongs. Zuko steers Appa, and Toph sits with Sokka and Suki in the saddle, holding on to the wall of the saddle.

"So, what's up with Toph and her parents?" Suki asks.

"Parents never understands me. They always think I'm helpless cause I'm blind." Toph admits.

"Probably cause they never heard of earthbending senses. Without that, you really are helpless." Zuko says.

"I guess you're right. Of course when I show them my true power of earthbending, they still think I'm helpless. They even banned Aang, Katara and Sokka from ever coming back. It's like they never love me." Toph can feel a tear running down on her eye.

"Believe me, I know that feeling. My father is the samething. Only much worse." Zuko says. "He took away my mother, he challenged me to a dual when I was 13, he burned me and banished me. All this time, I wanted my father to love me, but I should have known that's never gonna happen."

"Well, you're father's a monster." Toph says.

Suki wraps an arm around Toph. "Toph, don't worry about your parents, I'm sure things are going to be different this time."

Toph just stares at Suki with her blinded eyes. "Yeah, you never experienced my parents."

"I'm with Suki, Toph. Things are going to be different." Sokka says.

Just then, Appa lands. "We're here." Zuko says.

Everyone hops off of Appa. They all walk through the courtyard, then steps in front of the doors of the house. Toph takes in a deep breath, opens the door and walks in, with everyone else following her.

Everyone enters the living room and they see Tophs parents sitting on their throne seats. "Toph, we are so glad to see you are home." Mr. Beifong says.

Mrs. Beifong takes a look at Tophs friends. "And I see you brought your friends. How...nice."

Zuko notices that little pause and the expression on Mrs Beifongs face.

"Well, Toph. Any friend of yours is welcome here." Mr. Beifong says. "Say, why don't we go eat?" Mr. Bei Fong says.

Zuko walks up and grabs Tophs hand. "You guys go ahead, I need to talk to Toph for a minute."

The Beifongs nod and head towards another room. Sokka and Suki feels weird being left out of the conversion then just follows the Beifongs. Zuko takes Toph is another room, away from the guards.

"What's wrong?" Toph asks.

"Something's up." Zuko says. "That sudden pause in that sentence, the expression seeing me, Sokka and Suki. They're up to something."

"Sounds like you're jealous, Zuko. My parents finally accepts me while yours didn't." Toph back talks.

"I'm just saying, something's up. We shouldn't let our guard down." Toph just rolls her eyes.

"Whatever you say, hot man." Toph says.

"Will you stop calling me that!" Zuko angrily says.

Toph and Zuko gather at the dinner table with everyone else. The servants passes out the food and places them on the table. "So, fire nation prince..." Mrs. Beifong pauses, trying to figure out his name.

"Zuko." Zuko answers. "And I'm the Firelord now."

"Oh, the Firelord. How nice. How are things?" Ms. Beifong asks.

"Fine...just fine." Zuko answers. "Me and the Avatar are working hard to heal the world from the war my great-grandfather caused."

"Well, that's great. I'm glad to hear the war is finally over." Mrs. Beifong says.

Mrs. Beifong looks directly at Toph. "Toph, honey. We just wanted to say we're sorry for the way we've been treating you. We thought we were doing the right thing to protect you, but it turns out we're not."

Toph can feel tears in her eyes. "And I'm sorry for running away."

"That's all right, Toph." Mr. Beifong says. "What matters is that you're here. Plus, I guess we needed you to run away to teach us a lesson."

While everyone eats, the Bei Fongs and Toph talk to each other. All though, Zuko doesn't really say anything, for he is very suspicious about all this.

"So, Toph, who's your other new friend?" Mr. Beifong says.

"I'm Suki, leader of the Kyoshi Warriors." Suki says.

"The Kyoshi Warriors? I think I heard of them. They sound pretty elite." Mr. Beifong says.

After dinner, Zuko gets up from his chair. "Now that we're done here, we should get going." Zuko says.

"Going? All ready?" Mr. Beifong asks. No one says anything, for Toph, she's feeling annoyed for Zuko. Suki and Sokka just sits in silence.

"Yeah, we should." Zuko says.

"Well, can you at least stay for the night. We insist." Mr. Beifong suggest. Zuko doesn't answer, but Toph accepts it, and Sokka and Suki agrees.

Toph goes back into her old room, and everyone else joins in with her. "Isn't this great? My parents finally accepted me." Toph says, excitedly.

"Good for you." Suki says.

"They sure have changed." Sokka adds.

"Yeah...perfect." Zuko says, sarcastically.

"What's your problem?" Toph asks.

"What? Nothing!" Everyone just glares at Zuko, like they know he's hiding something. "...It's just that...something's still not right here. Your parents accepted us, they said it was all right for you to run away and now they're suggesting we stay for the night."

"I think you're just Jealous that my parents accepted me and your father didn't accept you!" Toph yells at Zuko.

Suki cuts right in. "Toph. Don't say that. Zuko's not jealous!"

"Yeah, I'm not jealous! I'm just suspicious." Zuko starts yelling back at Toph. "If there's one thing I know about parents is that they never change! I haven't seen my father in three years and he's still the monster who burned and banished me!" Toph doesn't say anyhting, she just turns around and lays on her bed. Zuko just grunts angrily and buries his face in his pillow. Suki and Sokka just looks at each other, confused.

Later at night, everyone is sleeping. The Beifongs are quietly passing by the halls. Zuko wakes up hearing a crack on the wooden floor. One of the Beifong sshushes from that noise.

"We don't want to wake her up." Mrs. Beifong whispers. Zuko still heard her say that.

Zuko looks out in the hall and sees the Beifongs walking down the hallway. Zuko slowly, quietly follows them down the hall. The Beifongs enters another room, with the door opened slightly a crack. Zuko moves to the door and takes a peek. Zuko sees a sealed wooden cage, just about Tophs size.

"Do you think this will work?" Mrs. Beifong asks.

"Trust me. Toph is an earthbender and I hear she can bend metal too. Wood is no part of the earth. She won't be able to escape from this." Zuko widens his eyes, he was right. The Beifongs were up to something. "Once we have her in this cage, we'll move far away where the avatar and his friends can't find her. We'll also keep her in this cage until we find a way to get rid of her bending, forever."

Zuko backs up a little, until a bar slams into him and bends all around him, tying his arms in place. Just then, Xin Fu and Master Yu appears right in front of him.

"Well, well. Looks like we've got ourselves a stalker." Xin Yu says. At dawn, Zuko is locked up real good in a metal cage. Xin Fu shows his face in front of the window bar. "Comfortable, firelord?"

"So, you must be the dunderheads that locked Toph in that metal cage." Zuko says. "How did you escape from that cage she trapped you two in?

"Let's just say, prison gives you time to learn." Xin Fu says, then master Yu shows his face.

"While we were traped in there, we learned how to metalbend. Watch." Just as master Yu was starting to bend the cage open, Xin Fu knocks master Yu in the air with earthbending.

Xin fu metalbends the cage shut, then master Yu crashes to the ground. "What's wrong with you, blockhead? You can't just metalbend a cage open with the prisoner in there!" Xin fu shows his face through the cage window again. "Anyways, do all you want. You're escape here is futile, firelord." Xin Fu lifts the cage with metalbending and loads it onto the cart.

Xin Fu and Master Yu mounts of the cart and rides off. Zuko takes a look around his prison, trying to think of a way to escape. Zuko looks up and sees the ceil is really just closed with prison bars. He gets an idea. Zuko creates a torch flame from his fingertips and starts burning the ceiling bars.

At home, Toph walks down the hallway, then Mr. Beifong shows up. "Hey, dad. Have you seen Zuko?"

"He just went on a morning walk with your mother." Mr. Beifong says. "Come, there's something I would like for you to see." Mr. Beifong leads Toph down the hallway. Mr. Beifong opens a door and Toph walks inside of it.

Toph gives a good feeling on the floor. "Why is the floor made of wood?" It was then she realizes what's going on. "Uh-oh." But it was too late, Mr. Beifong closes the door and locks it. Toph starts banging on the door. "Hey! Let me out of here!"

Mr. Beifong pulls the wooden cage out, then Ms. Beifong appears. "You just won't listen, Toph. We're doing this for your own good." Mrs. Beifong says.

"Oh, and don't worry about your 'friends'. Master Yu and his partner are gonna take care of them." Mr. Beifong says.

Toph widens her eyes, Zuko was right all along, something was up. She's more surprised to hear Xin Fu and master Yu are back. The Beifongs moves the wooden cage outside and hooks it to a cart. The Beifongs mounts on the ostrich-horses and then takes off.

Meanwhile, Sokka and Suki are still asleep. They wake up, yawning and stretching, then noticed something. "Hey, where are Toph and Zuko?"

Just then, they hear a cry for help. They look out the window and noticed a wooden cage on a cart that's moving fast. They hear the cry for help again, only the sound is more clear. "I found Toph. Her parents are kidnapping her!"

"They probably took Zuko as well, we've got to help them." Sokka says. "You find Zuko, I'll try to slow down the Beifongs." Suki and Sokka rushes outside, then went their separate ways. Sokka takes Appa to catch up on the Beifongs.

Meanwhile, Zuko is still torch burning the bars. He then breaks through the last bar and the whole thing falls into his hand. Zuko quietly places the bar down and climbs his way out. Zuko reaches to the top and sees Xin Fu and Master Yu.

"Hey! Blockheads!" Zuko yells. Xin Fu stops the ostrich-horses and he and master Yu turns around. At that moment, Zuko bends a blast of fire at them, directly at each of their eyes. Master Yu and Xin Fu yells in pain, when Zuko stops, they collapse on the ground, yeling in pain. "Know how I feel!"

Zuko hopes off. Just then, Suki catches up to him. "Zuko, you okay?"

"I'm fine." Zuko says. "We better hurry and find the Beifongs."

Suki and Zuko hurries off. Appa flies over the cart carrying the wooden cage. Appa passes them, land and slams his tail, creating an air blow directly at them. Appa blows the Beifongs and the cart away, then everyone crashes.

Toph yells from crashing then realizes it Appa. "Guys? Is that you?" Toph yells.

Sokka rushes to the cage. He takes out his sword then cuts the lock off. Toph opens the cage door and gets out. The Beifongs starts to stand up, just as they do, Toph uses earthbending and buries her parents into the ground, up to their shoulders.

Just then, Zuko and Suki arrives, about to watch this little event. Toph stands in front of them and gets into their faces.

"YOU TWO ARE THE MOST SELFISH, MEAN, COLD HEARTED PARENTS EVER! You never listen to me! You never understand me! You just see me as a helpless little girl no matter what I do to show you I'm not! Just because I'm blind doesn't mean I can't fend for myself! Aang and his friends saw my fightning and they know I was blind, but did they see me to be helpless? Did they treat me with 24/7 protect? NO THEY DIDN'T! They are my real family! And they make a better family and you two ever will in a million years!"

Toph jumps high and gives a heavy stomp. At the moment, the Beifongs get launched into the air, screaming. Everyone gets surprised to see Toph do that.

"Do you think they'll survive that landing?" Suki asks.

Toph just turns around and walks to a stump. "I don't care." Toph just sits on the stump, upset.

Sokka walks up to Toph then puts his hands on her shoulders. "Hey, don't worry about them. They don't love or care for you."

"I know...It's just...I actually thought they finally accepted me. Understood me." Toph says, with a sad tone.

"Well, they're not your real family. We are." Suki says.

Toph has tears escaping from her eyes, then everyone gathers for a group hug. "I wish Aang and Katara are here...You think they're done with their mission?"

"I don't know, let's head back to Avatar Island and find out." Suki says.

"Actually, on the way, drop me off at the Fire Nation Palace?" Zuko says. "I have some work to do."

Everyone gets on Appa then takes off, to check on Aang and Katara on Avatar Island.