Author's Notes: Oh yes. A Toph-centric chapter. No Aang, no Zuko, and no Azula! This chapter starts directly after the end of the last one.

Just a warning, another reason why this story is rated T… There is one scary image near the end of this chapter. Please be ready when you come across it. Also, prepare for lots of angst.

How's this for a quick update?

Disclaimer: I don't own Avatar: The Last Airbender and I am in no way associated with the creators of the show.

Book 2: Earth

Chapter 6: The Blind Bandit

Tears rolled down her pale cheeks.

She wondered, over and over and over again, why Jet did what he did. She must have seen it over the years, but he was always a symbol of justice to her. He always did what was right. But what happened to him? What made him change his ways? She believed in him so much… Was he manipulating her all this time? Was he manipulating all of them?

She still had faith in her other friends. She believed they still had a chance to do the right thing. Because of this, she found herself back in her Freedom Fighter camp. Her home. She wiped her eyes, refusing to let her friends see her tears.

Bandit – no, Toph? – sensed Smellerbee, Longshot, and the others all stumbling to their feet, their heart rates fast with anger as they faced their defeat. None of them seemed hurt to her, and for that she was glad. Smellerbee was the first to notice her walking into the camp.

"Bandit! Did the mission succeed?" she asked. The earthbender turned her head in the direction of one of her best friends.

"No." Her answer was flat.

"Was it the Avatar?" Smellerbee asked, her voice scathing.

"Yes," she replied. "I helped him stop Jet." There was a noticeable jump in Smellerbee's, and indeed everyone's, heart rate. Only Longshot showed no reaction, as always. She would miss that.

"Why?" Smellerbee sounded betrayed. "What are you doing back here? Did you leave Jet with the Avatar?"

"No, Aang and his friends left. I'm leaving, too. And you're stupid if you're going to keep following Jet," Bandit said.

"I'm always going to be behind Jet," Smellerbee said heatedly.

"Yeah! He's always been with us. He's fought for us from the beginning," Pipsqueak added in.

"Jet only fights for himself," Toph mumbled, wishing to avoid conflict. She strode over to her earthen home and pulled down the door. Once inside, she shifted the ground and four things emerged.

The largest objects were dual hammers, meant to be the weapons of an earthbender. Most of the time, she never left these behind, but now she took them, sliding the handles first into her belt.

Second, she felt an old, heavy belt… the Championship prize of the Earth Rumble VI tournament, which she participated in when her parents were still alive. She left this object on the ground.

The next object was a box – wooden, with a fine lacquer finishing, carved with the insignia of the Earth Kingdom and detailed, grainy corners. Even after being underground for an extremely long time, it was clean, because the box's owner kept off as much dust as possible upon reemerging.

The girl knelt down and opened this box. A few odds and ends were inside.

The first thing she pulled out was a small porcelain doll of an Earth Kingdom girl, gifted to her by her mother when she was little more than a baby. The girl didn't like it at the time, but it was one of the few things she was able bring with her after leaving her house. This doll was the first thing she packed into her bag. Next was a green comb, with which the girl spent several minutes grooming her hair. It used to belong to her mother. Her hair, a little matted but rather straight, fell down to her back. When she was done, she gently placed the comb into her pack.

Finally, she procured a green headband from the box. On each end of it were balls of dyed cotton and yarn, soft and upper-class. This was given to her by her father, who told her to use it to show her pretty face instead of hiding it behind her hair. She put it on her head.

After packing the little bit of food she had in her home, the girl set out from the Freedom Fighter camp, but Smellerbee was waiting outside.

"Where are you going?" the other girl questioned.

"I'm going my own way," she replied. "You're welcome to come, but I'm never coming back here."

"But Bandit…!"

"Don't call me that," she said, cutting her short. "I'm not Bandit anymore. My name is Toph Bei Fong."

And then, Toph left. Smellerbee didn't follow.


Sokka gazed up into the stars.

He couldn't sleep, not when his thoughts were so active. The Avatar, the firebender, and the swordsman were sleeping in their bags around the fire, unusually tired after their day of battling and betrayal. He was still in shock because they were battling for him and a town which his own people controlled.

The Prince shut his one eye while he pounded his fist against the ground.

What was with them? Why were they acting this way? They were supposed to be his enemies! They had captured him, kept him away from his grandmother. It was supposed to be the other way around. Sokka had to capture the Avatar.

And not only that, but the kid was unusually kind to him. For Sedna's sake, the boy and his friends, who regarded him with extreme dislike, saved his life! Were they enemies? Captors? Companions? Comrades? Friends? No, definitely not the last one…

Sokka wanted to shout. He wanted to get away. He wanted to put them behind him forever. They confused him way too much!

And now, there was nothing stopping him. He wasn't bound and defenseless. He wasn't being watched through the night. He could escape.

So he did.


Toph couldn't sleep.

So she walked, and she thought. She remembered. She turned her thoughts to her family, which she tried not to think about ever since she met up with the Freedom Fighters.

When they were alive, she detested them. The Bei Fongs were a rich, noble family – probably the wealthiest in the whole Earth Kingdom for a business she was too young to remember – and they kept their little blind daughter in seclusion. They hid her from the world. They thought she was too fragile and weak, like the porcelain doll she carried in the bag over her back.

Along the dry, desolate road, Toph sensed a group of people and two ostrich-horses sleeping in something that was little more than a pit against the trunk of a dead tree, one of the only ones for miles. The girl snorted. All of them – six men, all traveling merchants – were asleep and defenseless. They were probably on their way to Ba Sing Se. Nobody was keeping watch, so Toph wandered into their camp, glanced at their wagon, and took what she needed. She didn't even think about the concept of money, because the Freedom Fighters never had a need of it, so she stole what she thought she might have a use for later.

She wasn't called the Blind Bandit for nothing.

After her success, Toph looked over her findings, feeling them between her fingers. Surprisingly, it was a comb, but the teeth were sharp and the whole thing was made of smooth bone. Scowling, she threw the thing into the dirt. It was a Water Tribe material, which meant those idiotic merchants were either Water Tribe themselves or trading with them. The little bit of guilt she felt in her mind was eliminated.

Her hatred of the Water Tribes was justified.


The seven-and-a-half year old girl was hidden under the cover of night. She couldn't "see" the darkness, but she felt tired, so she reasoned it was time for bed soon. And just as well, because she was on her way home to do just that. It was way past the bedtime her parents set for her, but she didn't care in the least.

She was grinning the whole way, immensely happy for her traipse into the city. She snuck into the Earth Rumble IV tournament all by herself, and won the championship belt! On her first try, too! All those guys were fakes, and the badgermoles taught her well. She wanted to thank her friends the next time she ran away into their caves.

Toph Bei Fong wasn't a master earthbender yet, but she was working on it. Soon, she told herself, she'd be the best in the world!

With her feet, she felt the guards of her estate running around in a blind panic, and Toph froze with fright. Was she discovered? Did her parents know she snuck out?

"Protect the estate at all costs!" one guard shouted. Toph scrunched her face in confusion, feeling the distant feet of hundreds of people, all infiltrating the city of Gaoling. There could be more that stretched past the reach of her senses. They were sneaking around, moving weirdly, knocking other people to the ground without being near them. Were they bending? She didn't feel the earth moving with them… Were they waterbenders? Toph was instantly curious.

Toph was inside the safety of her estate's walls, but she felt people lightly sneaking around, holding long weapons (spears?) and spreading out over her estate. She growled when one neared her, nearly scaring the man because he didn't see her. She punched her hand forward and the ground rose up to grab him around his midsection, holding him in place.

"Why are you guys coming into my house?!" she demanded to know. The man didn't answer, but his arms couldn't move, so she felt reasonably safe from attack. She started to run towards her home. She had to warn her parents! The guards were getting knocked down all around her, the weird sticks poking out of their chests. Why didn't they get up? Why couldn't she feel their heart rates?

This was bad… The seven-and-a-half year-old knew it. It was very bad.


The cold metal and bone of Sokka's boomerang felt just at home in his hands again. He threw it experimentally, trying to feel if it still flew the same or if Azula messed with it somehow, but everything seemed to be in order. Even his club was the same as ever. He managed to find all of his possessions, which he took back before leaving the Avatar's camp.

After being a long way away from them, the warrior's mind felt clearer. He chose not to dwell on the topic of his rescue. Instead, he began to plan ahead to keep his mind from going in that direction.

First, he was going to regroup with his grandmother somewhere. After quickly studying the Avatar's map, but leaving it with the boy, Sokka decided that his best bet of finding her lied in the port city of Gang Kou, which was under the firm control of the Water Nation, like most port cities in the Earth Kingdom were. It was large, but along the major trade routes. He felt reasonably confident about his decision. As an added bonus, it was rather close.

So, with a brighter outlook than he had in days, Prince Sokka walked along the road on foot.


By day (which she knew, because she felt the sun hitting her face), Toph came across a signpost.

For the first time, Toph considered where she wanted to go. She hadn't even considered thinking about a destination before. She just wanted to walk and put as much distance between her and Jet as possible.

Did she just want to wander aimlessly, without a purpose, stealing on a whim from whoever crossed her path? Or did she want to go somewhere else and start a new life? Find a new gang of kids, orphans, which she could lead from experience? She rather liked that idea. Finding a life in someplace like Ba Sing Se didn't appeal to her.

But she would have liked to know where she was. In the distance, she heard and felt a cart moving in her direction, pulled by two ostrich-horses. How ironic.

"Excuse me?" Toph called sweetly to the merchants up on the wagon. "Could you tell me where I am?"

One of the seedy merchants stopped the cart, while she felt them all peering down at her. "What's a girl like you doing alone?" one of them asked. "Aren't you a bit young?"

"I'm just trying to find my way back to town because I ran away. I want to see my daddy again," she gushed. Everyone fell for this.

"Can't you read the sign? Gang Kou is along your left path," he said irritably. Toph hung her head.

"No… I can't read. But thank you very much, sir!" she said. The merchants drove away, headed down a different path. "Jerks," she muttered under her breath.

Gang Kou. That sounded like a good place to start.


Toph hurried through the empty halls of her house, feeling all around for her parents. Most of the guards that patrolled the corridors were out trying to eliminate the waterbender menace, but Toph knew that her parents would be safely locked inside. She put her hand on the ground, willing her senses to extend even further. There… She found them heading hurriedly to her room. They were on the same floor as her.

"Uh-oh," she mumbled to herself. Luckily, there were tunnels that she built herself twisting all around the bottom of her house, leading to each of the rooms. She lowered herself into the ground and made her way through the tunnel, appearing right in her bedroom and sealing the hole just as they were coming in.

"Toph! What are you doing awake?" Lao Bei Fong asked her sternly.

"I just heard scary noises outside," she said weakly, fitting their image of a little girl. "I wanted to come find you." Crap, she hoped they didn't notice the dirt that was all over her…

"That's okay, dear. Come along," said Poppy, her mother. She held out a hand and Toph grasped it, following her parents as they left her room. "Just stay quiet and don't be afraid, Toph. Okay?" Strange, considering her parents' heart rates were shooting up like crazy. What were they scared of? Surely the guards could handle things. And if not, Toph could!

Toph felt lots of crashing around the bottom floor of the house – the same floor that the small family was on. Apparently, her parents heard it too, and they stopped.

"Toph, would you be able to dig a hole in the floor with your bending?" asked her father, kneeling down in front of her. Toph was taken aback by surprise. Her dad never let her earthbend unless she was under the strict eye of Master Yu!

Something must have really been wrong.

"Y-yes, I think so," she said. Now even Toph was beginning to feel scared.

"Do it now," said her father. "And go into that hole, and don't come out, no matter what you hear, okay?" He grasped her shoulders sternly. "Promise me, Toph."

"I promise," she said quickly. "But what's wrong? You can both come with me! I have secret tunnels all along the bottom of the house… We can all hide together!" She almost expected them to be mad at her declaration.

"No," said her mother. "They would be too suspicious, and they would search, and they would find all of us. They don't know you exist. You are safe, my love." Her mother knelt down on her other side. "We love you, Toph. No matter what."

"Where are you going?" she asked them. Wet tears trailed down her face now.

"We are going away for a little while, to deal with these angry customers," said her father. "But we'll be back."

"Promise?" Toph wanted a confirmation.

There was a noise in the back of her father's throat, but he answered her. "We promise." There was a sudden change in his heart rate again, which Toph caught. What did that mean…?

Later, after surrounding herself with more people, she found out that it was called a lie.

Both her mother and her father hugged her, but there was another crash, and it was much closer this time. "Go, Toph!" her mother hurried her. "Dig your hole, and hide! Remember, don't come out!" With a quick nod and a sudden determination to show off to her parents how good her earthbending really was, she collapsed the floor away and fell into her pre-made tunnels. They disregarded her bending, only seeing their little girl fade down into the darkness. Toph held up her hands and clapped them together, closing off the hole from them. They couldn't see her anymore, but she knew they were still there. And then they both hurried away.

Using her tunnels, Toph followed underneath.


Gang Kou was one big city, which Toph realized once she laid her feet on it. Her mouth was open in awe, never expecting something like this. She thought the town in the valley was big, and maybe even Gaoling, her old hometown, was even bigger (not that she remembered much of it) but this…

The two Water Tribe guards paid no attention to the little girl as she walked through the gates, surrounded by traders going in and out. The twelve year-old was proud of herself for finding it all on her own. And a town this big had to have war orphans!

As she walked around the city, she learned from eavesdropping on conversations that it was a port town, and a rather important one. That meant that it had water… And where her seismic senses suddenly cut off, it meant the water was near. She wouldn't be able to see the large ocean (not that she was a fan of water anyway) but she hoped to feel it in some way. With her guided sense of direction, Toph made her way over to the docks.

Strangely enough, many people were also making their way over, excited about something. Keeping an ear on their conversations as they eagerly ran past her, Toph was able to gather that someone important was arriving.

"The Princess? She's really coming here?"

"But why?"

"Let's go see!"

Princess? Did the Earth Kingdom really have one? Toph had to wonder.

"Ice Princess Katara!" One rabid fan of hers was foaming at the mouth.

Guess not.

A Water Tribe Princess, eh? Toph's interest was grabbed, and the girl couldn't help but wonder if she was just a prissy little princess or if she was really worthy of her title. She knew nothing of waterbender customs. If she could fight, then … Toph smirked. Either way, that girl was going down. It would deal a major blow to her enemies if their princess was taken out, wouldn't it? Toph wasn't afraid of repercussions. She was the greatest earthbender in the world.

So Toph followed these people to where they were gathering. Vibrations were going wild, but she was able to detect a ramp lowering from a docked ship. It was made of very expensive metal. The earthbender joined the crowd as they waited in front of the ship.

The first to descend were the Royal Guard, forming neat flanks as they walked onto the rocky port. The moment they were all stopped and ready for their Princess to follow them and make an appearance, Toph made her move.

Separating herself from the crowd, she plunged her arms forward as the earth came up around each of the Royal Guards and pulled them down, sinking them all up to their shoulders. Instantly, Toph rendered all of the Princess' guards useless. The crowd went into an immediate uproar and the town guards – Water Tribe – came after the earthbender, but slabs of stone rose up in front of all of them and crashed into their guts, sliding the spear-wielding soldiers into the salty water, which they couldn't bend. Toph smirked as she felt someone else coming down the ramp. Three someones, to be exact.

"What kind of assassin are you?" asked one of them as they stepped on solid ground. Toph's senses immediately covered this girl, telling Toph that she wore heavy clothes and she was currently fanning herself. "You're attacking right out in the open!" Could she be the Princess?

"I'm not some stupid assassin!" Toph shouted back, once the other two girls followed the first one. The girl in the middle was revealed to have lighter clothing, but nothing was remarkable about her. She was also unarmed. The third, however, was wearing robes, which was strange because it was kind of hot out, and she was the only one Toph could notice that was armed with a weapon – a long katana. That was it? Just three girls, two of which were unarmed? She didn't know which one was the Princess, but she could handle them all, no problem! "I'm just here to take the Water Tribe down a peg!"

"I'm impressed," said the girl in the middle. "You took down my whole royal guard." Toph cocked an eyebrow. So this one was Princess Katara, since it was her guard? Toph grunted and spread her stance, pulling her heavy hammers off of her belt. "Suki, Yue, deal with her." The crowd was silent.

"Got it!" the one with the fans said enthusiastically. "I'm so ready for a good fight." She flicked another fan open and charged at Toph, which made the girl snort. Really, what did she expect to do with a pair of fans? Her own mother used them quite a lot, and she couldn't think of any deadly use for them. Toph smashed the ground in front of her with both hammers, sending cracks along the ground that rose and contorted, creating an uneven wave of rock pillars that went in a straight line. The fan-girl, Suki, she assumed, twirled gracefully out of the way, but on the same beat she rushed at Toph again. She lifted one of her hammers, trailing a pillar after it, and she batted the rock she raised, launching it at Suki like a missile. With astounding speed, she ducked low under the attack and advanced on Toph again.

Toph took a step back.

Her steel hammers twirled, sending a rain of stone at the girl when she was close enough to hit Toph, sending her back a bit as she used her metal fans to block the small, numerous attacks. Quickly, realizing the hammers were too slow to help her in this battle, Toph hooked them both back onto her belt, and jabbed her hand forward to shift the earth enough to give Toph some more room.

The second girl, after showing some hesitation, ran after Toph now, holding the long, slim katana at her side, trailing it behind her. Toph launched two consecutive rocks at both the girls, which Suki dodged and Yue sliced in half with an underhand swing, and they came at her again. Once Yue neared, Toph sidestepped her heavy cut and punched a boulder at her exposed side, while she twisted around just in time to feel the bladed tip of Suki's fan graze her elbow, but a series of rocks pelted her away. Toph cursed. Turns out those fans really are weapons.

She slid forward on the earth as it bent and smoothed to her will, and now that she was behind the girls, her back to them, she leapt forward and forced her elbows back, striking them both in their behinds with uplifted earth, pushing them into the crowd of people, who suddenly became panicked and ran.

Toph lifted her clawed hands in Katara's direction while she stood still and observed the battle, while Suki and Yue rose to their feet behind Toph and settled into stances again. They didn't move, waiting to see what Katara would do.

During the battle, Toph was able to gain a detailed analysis of the two girls at her back. Suki was quick, aggressive, and unexpectedly dangerous, the first to rise to the battle. Her light weapons gave her free access to move. Yue, on the other hand, was burdened by her heavier weapon, but she was able to use it for deadly cleaving strikes. She swung her katana with a kind of slow grace, kind of like the movement of water. She seemed to be holding back with her blows, almost as if she didn't like fighting. She hadn't spoken a word.

"Again, I'm impressed," said Katara. "Come on, girls. This will be a good warm up for our fight against the Avatar."

"Come on! I want to fight you now, instead of your little friends! You must be a prissy little princess if you need them to fight your battles for you!" Toph taunted, catching the fact that their target was Aang. That was interesting. Katara uncrossed her arms and settled into a waterbending stance.

"You're good, but I'm better!" yelled Katara. "Let's see what you think after this!"


Toph followed her parents as they ran to the meeting room, where the earthbender could sense the last of the estate guards hid. They were planning to make one final stand against the raiders. Toph could hear most of what was being said.

"They flooded most of the town," said one guard.

"They froze everything and ripped it all down," said another. "Master Bei Fong, what should we do?"

"We have to keep fighting. We'll meet them in here," said Lao.

"They're coming!" Poppy shrieked. The doors to the study crashed open as the people came into the room, moving their arms and legs outwards at the occupants. Sometimes, Toph could feel water rushing along the floor above her, but when they held their element above the ground, Toph couldn't feel a thing. Her own guards were knocked to the floor, where their heartbeats became faster and faster and then became still. Toph was worried. What did that mean? What was happening to everyone?

Finally, her own parents were the only ones left standing. Lao stepped in front of his wife. "What do you want with us?" One raider sliced his arm and Lao fell to his knees at the scream of Poppy, who was shaking so much that Toph had trouble feeling anything else. Toph herself was quivering… What was happening to her parents? Would they become still like the guards? Toph wanted to help, to fight against these waterbenders, but she promised to stay here, no matter what!

No matter what.

"Leave my wife alone!"

"Lao!"

Toph curled her knees to her chest and cried.

Her parents were lifted from the floor suddenly, both without a sound, and when they fell back moments later, they felt… Different.

Many hours later, as the soldiers spread all throughout her house, Toph drifted into unconsciousness.


Even later, Toph awoke to find that everything was still. She was still curled up into a ball, leaning against the rock, tear tracks staining her face. Everything was quiet up above her. She didn't feel Mom and Dad. Were they kidnapped?

Finally, Toph figured that it was safe to come out of her hole, emerging right into the study where she last heard her parents. There were people lying down all throughout the room, which happened more than once in the Bei Fong household after her parents' parties. But now, no one was beating.

She walked over to where her parents were last, feeling an unidentifiable pair of people lay on the floor next to each other. She knew this was them, wearing their usual heavy, lavish robes.

"Mom? Dad?" she asked tentatively, kneeling down next to them. Her hand grasped one of their arms. Why couldn't she tell them apart? "Wake up." She shook the person, but they were stiff. She grasped the arm tighter, but she didn't expect it to be so thin. And it couldn't be her mother, because now she sensed shorter hair. This was her father. "Daddy, please, open your eyes!" What was wrong with his arm? Her hand lowered to grasp her father's fingers, but they felt dry and brittle, so wrinkly like an old person. She felt his bones under his painfully thin skin.

Toph wept over the bodies of her parents.

Thank whatever gods there were that she couldn't see, because the expressions of her parents were locked in horror, their skin tight and dry, stretched over brittle skeletons, their bodies frozen forever in their last writhing.


Katara raised her hands and an immense wave from the port rose to her beck and call, gathering over her head and spinning, but Toph couldn't see this happening. Once Katara crashed her hands down, Toph erected an earthen shield, not expecting the sudden power behind her attack. Her flimsy rock began to crack under the pressure as the water leaked all around, washing up near her ankles. Despite the water, Toph felt Suki and Yue moving to attack behind her, so she thrust her hand down and lifted, elevating herself higher on an earth pillar.

Katara moved to attack again, hurling water in her direction, but a slab of stone was impaled with ice in Toph's stead, while Suki surprised her by also throwing something. Toph jerked her hand backward, catching the metal fan right before it hit her, where it was knocked back into the ground. She felt water twisting around the pillar below her, rising up as it gained in power just as Suki wall-climbed up the rock herself.

Toph kicked her foot backward, hitting Suki in the gut and knocking her down, while she toppled her own earth pillar and slid forward on it, disrupting Katara's attack and throwing her hands up, blocking the sudden rush of water. Once she was lower on the ground again, she felt Yue coming at her, moving her sword in quick horizontal swings, but Toph slid numerous blocks along the ground to try and disrupt her movement.

Instead of drawing more water from the sea, Katara gathered more ammunition from the briny puddles in the wake of her attacks and wheeled her arms to shoot numerous, speedy razor-sharp waves at the earthbender. Toph was hard-pressed to dodge them all, since only one was needed to cut through her rocky defense. She put all her concentration into blocking Katara's attacks, so she wasn't ready for Suki to come out of nowhere with her fan outstretched. The Kyoshian flicked it closed at the last moment and punched Toph across the face, knocking her on the ground where she twisted on her back, thrusting her hands upward at Suki with a column of granite, which she lightly stepped off of and twisted away. Before Toph could propel herself back up, ice covered her form and pinned her in place. She was totally unable to move.

"You pesky little earthbender," Katara said scathingly. "You come to challenge me out of nowhere and don't have the skill to back up your words. I'm not even going to bother taking you prisoner."

"Hey, you said yourself that you were impressed!" Toph argued, taking this offensively. "I'm the greatest earthbender in the world!"

"Then the Earth Kingdom is in a sorry state," Katara answered, forming an ice lance out of the air with her bending. "Goodbye, earthbender." She prepared to stab down at Toph, who tried shifting the frozen earth beneath her… Wow, this girl was good, even freezing the ground several feet beneath her… Toph grunted and strained.

But something, whatever it was, made the Princess pause in her attack, and that was what Toph needed. She burst from her ice holds with an explosion of rock and earth, causing all three of the girls to recoil. Instead of fighting back, Toph chose to flee, twisting onto her feet and sliding across the ground, whipping up a cloud of dust behind her to hide her escape.

Toph's expression was dark as she ran away from the battle. She hated admitting defeat, but that stupid Ice Princess cheated and made it into a three-on-one battle, which wasn't fair at all. She did have to admit, however, that Katara and her two cronies were powerful, and the fact that she was headed after Aang wasn't good at all… She had to warn them, and possibly get another chance to fight against the waterbender…


Some time later, Toph ran away from home.

After gathering some of her useless possessions, like an old doll and her mother's comb, she put the two in a tiny polished box that her daddy owned. And then she left the Bei Fong estate behind her forever.

Outside, in Gaoling, she was able to sense that the raiders were gone… But so were all the people. Their heartbeats were also still, and the houses broken down, the stone rubble falling everywhere.

But somewhere in the wreckage, there was one heart still beating. It was under so many rocks, so Toph was surprised to find it. The beating was slow, but once she began to lift the rocks away with her bending, it sped up as the small figure became wracked with excitement. It was a boy who was hiding away in his little hollow depression until he heard no more fighting, but when the houses fell down he must have gotten stuck. He was a little bit older than Toph, and they didn't know each other, but they were happy to have found someone.

She later learned that his name was Jet, and she told him she was called Bandit, part of her Earth Rumble IV name.

It was needless to say, but they became the best of friends… The only survivors from the destruction of Gaoling.


Toph dragged her feet along the dry, rocky path. She was thirsty, wounded, and tired, but she couldn't stop. There were soldiers that were after her, but they lost the earthbender somewhere in the desert-like place. They must have abandoned the chase, knowing that she wouldn't survive.

The heat of the sun was burning her expressionless face. She didn't realize her steps were becoming slower. And she didn't know when her head hit the ground, because she had blacked out.


"Did you find her?"

"No, Princess. She escaped our men, but wandered into one of the driest areas in the Earth Kingdom, second only to the Si Wong," said the soldier.

"Well, then. She won't make it after all," answered Katara. That stupid little earthbender got lucky, because Katara could have sworn that she heard a distracting voice shouting for her to stop what she was doing, but she must have imagined it. It was such a familiar voice, too.

She dismissed it. That was way too strange.

"Hama," said Katara, calling over her teacher. "I'm leaving the Royal Guard behind. They just proved their uselessness today. I'm traveling alone with my small team. We'll hunt the Avatar with just the three of us."

"Very well," said the old woman.

Suki smirked. "Time to find Sokka!" she said suggestively. Yue simply smiled.

"Yeah, Sokka…"

"Stop drooling. You didn't even see him yet!"


Sokka shaded himself from the harsh sun, taking a long swig from his ample amount of drinking water. The port city was tantalizingly close, where he could find a warm meal, a real bed, and his grandmother… Yes, things were looking up.

His feet patted against the dry, rocky path for a long time. The monotony was getting to him, so his sharp eyesight (which lacked depth perception) scoped out for something interesting. Almost immediately, he spotted a black splotch ahead of him on the path. The Prince tilted his head. His eye was able to distinguish the figure of a person. He ran over to the collapsed figure, but skidded to a halt when he recognized her.

It was one of those Freedom Fighters – the earthbender. What was her name? Bandit?

Help her, you goof!

But she was one of the Freedom Fighters! She tortured me! It didn't even occur to him that he was arguing with his subconscious.

Not her specifically! Give her some water!

Make me!

But as Sokka thought about it, his chivalrous side won out over his rational side, and he knelt down next to the fallen girl and uncorked his water skin. Her mouth was hanging open, her eyes glazed over. This wasn't good.

"Here, take a drink," he said to her. He poured some on her face and bent some into her open mouth and down her throat. She choked and opened her eyes weakly. Her hands grasped the ground and her blank gaze turned fierce.

"Get away from me!" she yelled.

"I'm trying to help you!" he shouted back. She sprang away from him with a sudden burst of energy.

"No you weren't! You were choking me!" she argued, but was suddenly overcome with a wave of dizziness and fell over. "No, I won't listen to you."

"Wait, what?"

"Didn't you say something?" she asked.

"No… Are you okay?" he questioned tentatively. "What are you doing out here alone?"

"Don't think I can handle it 'cause I'm blind?" she challenged.

"That's not it. You're dehydrated," he answered. "Here, drink some more."

"What if you poisoned it?"

He rolled his eye, taking a sip to prove that it was fine. Then she grabbed it out of his hands and gulped a large portion of it. "Hey! We still need to get to town!"

"I'm not going to town," she answered, wiping her mouth. "There's some crazy waterbending princess there who's hunting down Aang. I have to warn him." Sokka's eye widened and Bandit suddenly jumped with surprise. "Hey! Why aren't you with Aang, anyway?"

"I ran away…" he mumbled. "You said you want to go find him?"

"Yeah. And you're coming back with me, since he was so adamant about keeping you the other day!" she asserted. Surprisingly, he gave no challenge to her declaration.

Go with her.

"Okay, fine. I'll bring you back to him," Sokka told her.

If he was with Aang… That meant he would find his sister.

And then, Sokka went back the way he came, with Bandit at his side.


Author's Notes: Wow, finished this chapter in one sitting. Look at that. It's a bit shorter, but last chapter was my longest so far, but I hope it was exciting nonetheless. Toph's backstory was fully explained… Sorry for that horrific image of her parents. I won't describe in any more detail what happened to them, but I left just enough information for you all to guess.

Hmm… Does anyone spot some Tokka? I hope I pleased a few of those fans. That's the first time this particular pairing popped up in this story.

I hope nobody's confused by Sokka and Toph's motivations to suddenly return to Aang. Toph was never beaten, so she took that loss against Katara personally. Sokka, well, he's still confused.

Oh, and if there are any fans of the Fairy Tail manga out there, please check out my new story!