"I'm sorry, dear," is the first thing her father says to Toph that night, just after they've finished their last course of dinner. It's been a whole afternoon of utter silence between the three Beifongs.

Toph immediately straightens up, carefully monitoring her father's mood. It's always been hard to tell with him.

"...I'm sorry it took you being kidnapped for us to realize how… poorly we've handled your upbringing."

She doesn't know what he means. He doesn't sound worried or angry, just… tired. "It's okay, father. I don't blame you for all that's happened."

"But you should, dear," he shakes his head, setting down his chopsticks. "You're clearly acting out, and it's gone unchecked for too long."

The shift in his tone is sharp and biting. Toph stiffens. "What? I-I'm not—"

"Don't interrupt your father," he reminds her, and Toph's mouth clamps shut. "You've been using your quirk, in public and unsupervised," he accuses. "You were taken because of that quirk, Toph. You could've been killed because of it."

The words ring oddly in her head. That quirk. Like he blames the power itself. She frowns. "Isn't it—isn't it the villains' fault? They wanted elemental quirks, I told the officers everything about it, we were picked because—"

"This isn't about the villains, Toph! We don't discuss villains at the dinner table, it's unbecoming," Lao derails her argument, sighing heavily. Toph purses her lips. "You snuck out. You disobeyed me when we've been telling you all along that your ability was dangerous. You went out to use your quirk, and now villains are after you."

What, like villains didn't exist before she was kidnapped? "Well—it's my quirk, what else am I supposed to do? Just—just not use it?"

"Not like this," Lao answers lowly. "You're too young to understand. That quirk—all it does is put you in danger. Do you know you sustained eighteen different micro-fractures in your hands? We're lucky you didn't damage any nerve endings. You are a Beifong. You are my heir. You will not do anything like this ever again—you will not go gallivanting off to become a hero like that despicable man, Endeavor."

Toph jolts her in her seat. "I—I never said I wanted to be a hero," she argues, but it's useless. They know. That's what this is about.

Her father is tense, and she can sense his hand moving sharply through the air as he speaks. "Toph, you will never be a hero if I have anything to say about it! That Yoarashi boy has been filling your head with lies, and I'm not going to let it continue. He's not good for you, Toph."

"You—you can't stop me," Toph exclaims, rising to her feet. "Twink—Inasa's never lied to me, he's seen what I can do and he thinks I can be a hero—!"

Lao's hands slam on the table. "He. Is. Lying."

"You're the liar!" Toph screams. "You think I can't tell when you're unhappy with me?! You think I don't know why you haven't enrolled me in school or let me outside the grounds? You don't care about what I want or need, you just wish your cripple daughter was gone! Problem solved! The Beifongs don't have a daughter!" She jerks away from the table, and her chair clatters to the floor loudly. She turns away.

"Don't you walk away from me, young lady!" Lao barks, and Toph freezes. "Get back here right now!"

She doesn't move.

Lao stays seated, but she can sense the tension in his body by the stiff movements of his arms, the strain in his voice. "If you cannot do as you're told, I have different ways of making you obey, daughter."


Endeavor stares at the files in his hand for a moment longer before they warp and crumble in his fist, and he tosses them aside. Nothing. There is nothing on the Beifongs. He can't get anyone to talk. Even the detectives he's supposedly working with aren't helping. It's so obvious, even if no one would dare utter the words.

The Beifongs are protected. By who, by what, he can't figure out. They still haven't filled out the quirk registration forms, and if they don't do it within the next two weeks at least Endeavor will have reason to formally request an inquiry into the family.

But until then, he's stuck with the one crumb of evidence that'll let him keep the Beifongs on his radar: Toph Beifong's police interview.

According to Toph Beifong, the Elementals mentioned working with Amon's Vision. She mentioned the phrase casually, and clearly had no idea what it was—a powerful cult that was broken up several years ago—but it meant the kidnapping case wasn't closed while he investigated her claim about the cult.

What it meant for the Beifongs though, is that Endeavor still had an incredibly valid reason for keeping tabs on their daughter. Because of her enhanced hearing, she's the only one that even heard the cult name. And even with that, he's getting a hell of a lot of pushback from the police force about his inquires into her family.

It's absurd how much pull those Beifongs have—no detective will touch the case. Saitama's chief of police has already visited him "just to check in" and blatantly advised against any further investigation.

There's no doubt in his mind that the Beifongs are corrupt. It's just a matter of how corrupt, and how that ties into their treatment of their daughter, if at all. Hell, their daughter's probably fine! She's strong. She's got a great quirk, and she seems resilient enough to withstand whatever nonsense her parents tossed her way. He should focus on the potential for corruption in Lao Beifong's businesses in Japan and China.

Either way, he's stuck. On his own he can't find anything on the Beifongs that even hints towards criminal activity, and using the resources at his disposal would require a formal request for information—something he's been denied twice already.

A sinister, furious part of Enji bets that if All Might asked about the Beifongs, no one would even bat an eye.

For now, he'll just have to focus on the kidnapping. Even if the villains they detained on-site weren't talking and haven't confessed to any ties to Amon's Vision. Fucking hell.

"Give it a rest, Endeavor," one the detectives leans against the far side of his desk. She peers over the files in his hands slyly, and Endeavor has to stop himself from moving them out of her sight. "I know it still bugs you that they nabbed your son from right under your nose, but c'mon," she says lazily, "It's over. The kids are all safe."

Are they? All of them? The fact that Enji can't answer that is reason enough to keep digging.

"You've read the transcripts from the interrogations, haven't you?" Endeavor replies evenly, his eyes sliding over to the name stitched over her chest.

"Tch, yeah I have," the detective rolls her dark eyes. "Bunch of idiots, they're all still pissed they got caught so quick."

"You think any of those idiots are clever or powerful enough to pull off a mass kidnapping like this, Detective Ito?" he asks her plainly. "Because even if they were stopped early on, it still takes a lot of resources and coordination to move so quickly."

The woman frowns slightly, but just rolls her eyes again and scoffs. "I suppose that's why you're called Endeavor, eh?" She pushes off from the desk, sipping from a styrofoam cup of coffee. Enji is half-certain it's his coffee, actually, but he sure as hell doesn't want it back now. "You just have to keep going, don't you?" She shakes her head as she leaves, patting his shoulder consolingly.

Endeavor frowns at the files once more. Out of the three detectives he's in contact with, Detective Ito seems the least problematic, but she's certainly just as skeptical as the rest of them. He doesn't blame them. So far there hasn't been any further evidence of a link to that old cult. And as for the Beifong angle, none of the detectives spoke to the girl the way he had. They were only there to watch Lao Beifong say a few words to a doctor, make a phone call, and then turn his back on the Number Two Hero.

The crumpled files, a series of totally normal financial reports from one of Beifong's mining sites, feel heavy in his hands. There's no proof. There's just a blind little girl and her absolute scumbag of a father. Was this even about Toph anymore? Or was it a question of who's ego was bigger: his or Lao Beifong's?

He'll just have to keep working to find out.


Her mother's heart rate jumps, and Toph hears the swish of fabric as Poppy leans over to touch her husband's arm. Her voice is a balm, a satin ribbon twisting in the air. "Lao, please. She's only seven."

"Like what?" Toph demands of her father, lifting her chin in a blatant challenge. "I'd love to see you try to stop me."

"Toph, Lao, stop this," Poppy cries, rising to her feet as well. She clutches her husband's shoulder, heart fluttering. "My love, there is a better way," her voice lowers to a gentle, controlled whisper. "I have a better way. Let me handle this. Please sit down, Toph, I know we can work out an agreement."

Toph's heart is pounding, a sharp contrast to the gentle, fluttery nervousness of her mother. Toph doesn't want to work out an agreement. She wants to see Inasa and Shouto, she wants to fight and play and run without feeling like she's doing something wrong.

Yelling at her parents doesn't make Toph feel good. She just wants them to understand. And isn't that the point of an agreement? she thinks. Slowly, Toph returns to her seat, her lips pressed into a hard line. "...Okay, mother."

Poppy sits back down, her hand slipping off of Lao. "I think we need to start by explaining some things to you, dear." Lao grows tense at her side, and Poppy laces their fingers together once more. "I'm worried about how this whole event might be affecting you, Toph. And I know you don't want to tell us when you're afraid or scared."

Toph bites down hard on the urge to declare that she was never afraid during her kidnapping.

Her mother sighs. "That hero seemed concerned for you too. I think a good way to prove to us and to him that you're recuperating well is to hire a quirk therapist to update your records. Someone you can talk to freely about your quirk, a-and your experience." Poppy's heart is fluttering again in worry. "We just want you to be safe."

A therapist, not a quirk doctor? Toph isn't sure what the difference is. If she's updating her records, that's what Endeavor wanted her to do anyway, right? That's the part that's actually supposed to help her…

"You won't... make me stop using my quirk?" Toph asks to be sure.

"Goodness, I don't see how we could," Poppy replies easily, giving a short laugh. "But we want you to be more careful about it. I do agree with your father about that Yoarashi boy—"

"He's my friend," Toph snaps, clutching the edge of the table. "Don't tell me he's lying to me!"

Poppy is silent. Toph can feel the tension return to the air, and grimaces.

"I—I'm sorry. I shouldn't have yelled." Even though all she wants to do is scream.

Her mother takes a deep breath and continues. "I think he's made you unruly. But I also think you must be lonely without anyone your age here," Poppy says tenderly. "That's why we're moving to a new prefecture, somewhere safer—" Toph sucks in a sharp breath "—and you'll be enrolled in school next year."

The pang in her chest lessens, if only from bewilderment. "...School?"

That had never been an option before.

Her mother's earrings jingle as she nods, a familiar melody of thin golden hoops. "I told you, my lotus. We can compromise."

Toph exhales a long, slow breath. "But you won't let me say goodbye, will you?" She guesses, but the answer is obvious. It's why, just minutes before Toph knew her parents would enter the hospital ward, she hugged Twinkletoes so hard that neither of them could breath for a moment, and why she didn't have an answer for him when he teased her about wanting mushy hugs after all.

"He's not worth your time, my dear," her mother answers gently, in a voice so syrupy Toph wants to barf. "If anything, playing with that boy is what put you in danger in the first place."

"But we were—"

"—He's the reason you thought fighting villains was the right thing to do," her mother continues. "Wasn't he?"

"But mother, Inasa was just—"

"Toph!" She cries, her voice wavering delicately. "Please, my dear. You were the only two children to be hurt today, and the fault lies with that boy. I will not hear anymore about it. Is that clear, my love?"

"Toph, I can't wait till we're heroes!" Inasa cries, flopping onto the hard ground. "We're gonna be so cool together, we'll be unstoppable! The greatest heroes!"

"Together?" Toph wonders. "Like hero partners? Partners are rare, aren't they? And they don't last as long," she points out. She's been trying to learn more about heroes ever since meeting Twinkletoes.

"Well, yeah, but they're not us! I mean, you're crazy strong anyways, you could go solo too. And so could I. But…"

"But?"

"But aren't we stronger together? I think we are. Plus, you know if we're rivals in school, I'll know your moves as well as you'll know mine!"

Toph snorts. She'll always know his moves better than the other way around. But instead of telling him this, she reaches out and punches his shoulder.

"Ouch!" Inasa complains, still cheerful.

"I think we'll have to be keep being rivals before we're hero partners," Toph decides. "How else will I know if you're even worth partnering with? Ask me again once we're pros, eh?"

Inasa laughs. "Ugh! Fine! We'll keep bein' rivals for now! But—we're still friends, right?" He checks.

Toph doesn't care if it's a contradiction. "We're always gonna be friends, Inasa."

"Toph?" Her mother calls her name again. "You're not going to cause anymore trouble over this, are you? You will not speak of that boy. You will not speak of becoming a hero."

Her fingers slowly curl into tight fists beneath the table, out of her parents' sight.

We'll meet again, Twinkles, she vows.

"I won't," Toph replies resolutely.

When we're the greatest heroes.

Toph doesn't have to talk about heroes to become one. She just has to do it.


Inasa doesn't understand. After Toph stops showing up at their secret meeting place—well, it makes sense, this is where they got kidnapped—he doesn't know what to do. His parents don't know her parents. The Beifong family is super rich and impossible to contact. But he's friends with their daughter, so surely they won't mind if he visits her? Even just seeing her face would be enough, it's been weeks since the Elementals incident and Toph can't still be grounded. He just had to do more chores for a week and then he was off the hook.

But when he tracks down the Beifongs' address—really, just the biggest mansion in the prefecture—there's nothing. No one even answers the doorbell at the gate.

He waits a few more days before deciding he has to check it out himself—and maybe it's not very heroic to trespass, but if the Beifongs caught him, Toph would totally vouch for him anyway—so he flies up over the walls and catches himself on a windowsill late at night. He even waited until the full moon so he wouldn't have to bring a flashlight.

Inside the house, all the furniture is covered up with white sheets. He can't see any signs of Toph. It's just a cold, immaculate palace. Or a mausoleum.

Inasa has a sinking feeling in his gut.

"Why can't we hang out at each other's' houses?" Inasa asks her, splitting his bento with the tiny girl.

"My parents are very protective," Toph sighs, rolling her sightless eyes. I'm not supposed to play like this. If they knew about you, I'd never see you again."

Well jeez, he didn't think she was being serious back then. And she did give him a pretty passionate hug back at the hospital. But—it was okay. He would find her. After all, the Beifongs were super rich, and he was bound to hear about them sooner or later. His moms tended to give him a lot of freedom even though he only just turned seven, so he could probably ride the train to Toph's new house once the Beifongs made the news again.

Easy, right?