Aang felt a huge rush of anger and power as his vision became hazy and red. 'No,' he thought. 'Not now. I need to stay calm. I need to stay calm and prepared.' Instead of blowing the roof off of his house, he slowed his breathing and asked calmly,

"Where did you hear this, Toph?" Toph looked a little alarmed from what Aang guessed was his blood pressure, but she answered just as calmly, and chose her words carefully.

"We have been receiving death threats for you signed by him. At first, we thought nothing of it, you being the Avatar. It could have just been some crazy person who wanted to get to you and used what he thought to be your worst fear to do it. But one death threat described the events leading up to his capture perfectly and then another one described having his bending taken away by you, and just how to do it. It was exactly like you said. Then, we started getting reports of bloodbending without the full moon in cases that sounded hauntingly familiar to his previous ones. We sort of just put the pieces together." Aang took a deep breath and tried to think.

"Why didn't you tell me sooner?" he asked. Toph looked down, looking almost, (Aang couldn't believe it) ashamed.

"Like I said, we thought little of it. We just assumed that it was some crazy person and couldn't believe that it was actually Yakone. Even now, we don't know who it really is, we're just assuming. None of us have actually seen him bending. But to tell you the truth Aang, we're all scared to find out that it's really him. I can feel it whenever the subject is brought up. You saw yourself what he did at that courthouse. He bloodbended all of us, including you!" Toph pointed to him. Even though her grey-green eyes were averted, Aang could see the terror and the hopelessness that she felt, and even several sleepless nights judging by the dark circles that encased them. Aang sighed.

"Even if it really is him, I can just take away his bending again," he said. Toph looked like she was about to say something, but refrained herself.

"What is it, Toph?" Aang asked. Toph sighed and shook her head.

"It's just, well," she began. "In the threats, he mentioned that. He said if you tried to take his bending away, he'd just come back. He says the spirits gave him the ability to take back his bending."

"What else did he say?" Aang asked quietly. "In those letters he sent."

"Tomorrow when you come to the station, I'll show them to you," Toph said. "Now let's get back to the others." Aang nodded and the two of them walked back outside.

Toph felt relived. She finally had that whole business with Yakone off her chest and could let Twinkletoes deal with it how he wanted to instead of her calling the shots. The whole time he was gone, and while he'd been working with the council and doing other Avatar like duties, she had been required to speak for him, but no matter how well she knew him, he was always impossible to speak for.

As soon as they stepped outside, Toph could hear Lin's laughter and felt her running footsteps. That assured her that she was safe. She was starting to understand why her parents were so overprotective of her. Well, almost. She still didn't want to treat Lin like a baby (as soon as she wasn't one) and to let her have freedom. But Lin was pretty much her world. She couldn't imagine life without her daughter. Lin was even starting to inherit some of Toph's humor. Toph found it pretty funny, but sometimes others did not. Like now for instance.

"Hand over the ball, butterfly wings!" Lin called to Tenzin. All the adults chuckled, but Toph shook her head.

"No little Lin, its Twinkletoes junior! But butterfly wings is a good try!" Toph called out to her daughter.

"Okay mommy!" Toph and Aang laughed and went over to join the others.

"Katara," Aang said. "Can I talk to you in the kitchen for a moment, love?" Katara got up quickly and followed Aang back into the house. The other adults sat in silence for a few moments until they heard a crash coming from the kitchen. As they raced in to see what had happened, Sokka looked at Toph and asked, "What did you tell him earlier?" Toph shrugged.

"He can tell you if he wants to," Toph said. She could hear Sokka sigh angrily. As soon as they ran through the door they could see Katara red in the face and Aang drenched from head to toe. The pots and pans that were originally hanging from the ceiling were now on the floor, their ropes broken. Obviously, whatever Aang had told Katara, she didn't like it.

"What do you mean he's back?" Katara yelled.

"I don't know how it's possible," Aang said, trying to calm her down. "Toph told me-"

"You already told me what Toph told you," Katara said angrily. "I just don't understand how that's possible! You told me you took his bending away!"

"And I did," replied Aang, drying himself off and pouring the excess water into the basin. "It's just somehow he got it back. I don't know how, but I do know that we need to protect you and the kids." This just seemed to make her angrier.

"I don't need protecting, Aang," she spat. Aang glared at her.

"No, but the kids do," he said. "And they won't go anywhere without you."

"They won't go without you, either," she said.

"I'm the Avatar, Katara," he said. "I can't leave. Plus, it's me he wants!"

"Twinkletoes," Toph cut in. Aang looked surprised that the whole group was here. He was obviously so into the conversation that he didn't notice them coming inside. Toph just continued nevertheless. "Yakone won't start with you. He'll target your whole family first. He'll want you to suffer before he attacks you personally. That's how these peoples crazy minds work." Aang glared at Toph, with no affect.

"Which is why we need to protect them," he said. "They're my family, plus Tenzin is the last of the airbenders. I won't let them be harmed by some lunatic bloodbender!"

"And we won't let them!" shouted Toph. "But he'll be expecting you to separate yourself from them. They will be much safer here, in Republic City then they would be on some remote island!" Aang sighed and looked down.

"I suppose you're right," he said. Toph smirked.

"Aren't I always?" she said. Aang rolled his eyes.

"But I want no less than five guards here while I'm gone." If Toph could have rolled her eyes, she would have.

"He's a bloodbender, Twinkletoes. He'll just use them against us," she said.

"Plus, I'm perfectly capable of protecting our children while you're out searching," Katara said angrily. "And I don't want any men here messing with our life. We may be in danger, but we still need freedom." Aang nodded.

"You're both right. No guards," he said. Toph smirked and Katara looked pleased. "But I still want some extra protection."

"How about Sokka and I stay here," Suki said. "Ty Lee taught us long ago how to chi-block. If he comes to take Katara and the kids, I'll block his bending, and then he'll be powerless while you and Toph arrest him, and poof! No more Yakone problem." Aang nodded and smiled.

"I would love it if you would come and stay with us, Suki," Aang said. "It would help me tremendously."

"Oh, I see how it is," said Sokka. "You'd love it if Suki could stay over, but not your own brother-in-law?" Katara laughed.

"We would be honored if you would stay with us, Sokka," she said. Sokka beamed.

"Well, now that we've solved that problem, let's go outside. I can just see Kya accidently flooding the yard while they are showing off," Sokka exclaimed. The adults all nodded and walked outside. Aang hung near the back of the group. Toph stepped back to join him.

"When we do find Yakone, what will you do?" she asked. "Yakone has found a way to restore his bending, so just taking it away won't work. You've tried everything you can. I know it's against your beliefs, but I think you need to prepare yourself for the fact that you may need to kill him." Aang looked away.

"I'm not the little kid I used to be, Toph," he said. "I'm well aware that this time, it will need to come to that. I gave him a second chance, and he blew it. There will be no more leniencies. I will kill Yakone."

Toph was shocked by the authority in his voice, but she didn't show it. Instead, she just nodded as they stepped up to the door.

But something was wrong. She didn't know what it was, but there was something defiantly not right about the feel in the air. The heartbeats outside were panicked and terrified, but there was no noise. In an instant she knew what had happened. She raced outside leaving Aang behind.

"Katara! Don't-" As soon as she stepped outside the door, she felt something come over her. She fought it with all her strength, but it was just too powerful. Her arms were forced painfully to her sides and she felt the panic as she was raised into the air, her feet no longer in contact with the ground. She couldn't see anything. She was completely helpless. With her last ounce of self control, she managed to open her mouth.

"Lin!" she screamed. Her voice sounded so mangled and tortured and terrified, which is exactly how she felt. Her jaw was forced closed, biting her tongue hard enough to draw blood. She heard loud, running footsteps and thought, no. Not Aang! But she couldn't speak. She was just forced to hover there, defenseless and helpless. Hopefully Aang would be smart and not face this thing head on. Be careful, Twinkletoes. We need you.

A/N: Hey peoples! I'm so happy that I've gotten mostly a positive response for this story. I actually just got my first flame review. To tell you the truth, I laughed my head off when I read it. Some things are just so immature that they're hilarious. So apparently I'm 60 years old still living in my parent's basement, haha! But don't look at the review my friend wrote as a response to that review. It's a little, well, verbally abusive. Let's just say, don't review anonymous hate.

That being said, Happy 4th! I am listening to fireworks go off as I write this. If you are not from America, the fourth of July is our independence day. We celebrate it with fireworks and BBQ's.

I am almost done writing the next chapter. I had originally planned for it to be a part of this chapter, but then it didn't look so good, so I got rid of it. Let me just say, that if you like action and drama, next chapter is your chapter! I absolutely love it! In fact, it may be posted late tonight, I love it that much.

Ok, review please! I love reviews. Even flames, cuz that last one was pretty funny, lol! But please, if you hate me, try criticism. I can fix that. Sorry for the cliffy. Next chapter posted soon, Ttyl!