Whoops I keep forgetting to upload these. Follow this story on AO3 if you want faster updates lol.

"So, Toph, did you bring any money?"

Katara smacked him.

"Hey! It's a valid question!"

Toph pulled out a large cloth bag. "Of course I brought money." It clinked pleasantly.

"...so did you know the Boulder personally or-"

Katara smacked him again.

"You guys stole from my parents last year. Why?"

Zuko winced, which she didn't see. He and Azula were in a particularly bad spot at the time, which was saying something considering they were fugitives fleeing from their genocidal family. "We only took some food and jewels to sell." They definitely could have taken more, the security was almost laughable.

Toph waved her hand apathetically. "Yeah, I know, but why?"

"We hadn't eaten in two days. And we needed the money."

"Well, shit." she paused. "You could have taken more, you know. I wasn't going to stop you."

Zuko huffed, trying not to laugh. "You don't know how hard it is to sell that stuff without suspicion. If we had too much we could have been arrested. Why did your parents have a jewel encrusted toilet seat anyways?"

"They like to shit in style."

"How did you learn to bend from badgermoles?"

"I just copied them. They're good teachers."

Aang turned around excitedly. "Can I do that too?"

"Eh, I don't know where Mochi or Rice Cake would be. They travel a lot."

"Mochi and Rice Cake?"

"Those are the names I made up for them." She shrugged. "I was seven, sue me."

"So Twinkletoes is the Avatar. Sugar Queen and Snoozles are from the water tribes." Toph pointed at each of them. "How on earth did you find two non-genocidal firebenders?"

Katara grinned. "They found us, actually. Aang had been captured by a Fire Nation general and they broke him out."

"Wait, I heard about that. They said it was the Blue Spirit."

"That's what they said to cover up the fact that two teenagers outsmarted an entire military base."

"Damn." Toph whistled. "What turned you against the Fire Nation, then? You guys from the colonies?"

Sokka sniggered.

Azula just sighed. "We're from the Caldera. Our Grandfather is the Fire Lord."

"What the fuck-"

"So how long have you guys been playing hide the sausage?"

Zuko began to cough, his face turning redder than a tomato-carrot. Katara thumped him on the back and turned to gape at Toph.

"We haven't- we're not-" She stammered, glancing in horror at Sokka.

"Oh, come on. Even I can sense it. You're saying you two haven't knocked boots? Rolled in the hay?" The grin on her face gave her the appearance of an evil gremlin. "You're not making bacon?"

"Katara made bacon for us yesterday-"

Sokka placed a hand over Aang's mouth. "Hush, Aang. That's not what she meant."

It was a long day. They did technically kidnap Toph, so they wanted to put as much distance between them and Gaoling as possible. Everyone was yawning as they set up camp, eager for a good night's sleep.

Katara frowned over her bowl of rice. Their newest addition still had not lifted a finger to help them, instead choosing to lean against a rock and chew on a stalk of grass. Her talk with Zuko had calmed her down a bit, and she felt that she owed Toph an apology, but she also thought that it would be good to tell her what they expected from her. They were a team. Everyone had to contribute in order for this to work.

She was also a little irritated for her to bring up her and Zuko like that. In front of her brother! And Azula! That was mortifying. They hadn't even played hide the sausage!

She was only twelve, Katara reminded herself as she walked to the girl's earth tent. A twelve year old girl who didn't have any friends and was trying to fit in.

"Hey Toph, I wanted to apologize for earlier." She started. "I think we're all just a little tired and getting on each other's nerves."

Toph shrugged. "Yeah, you do seem a little tired."

"I meant all of us."

She shrugged again. Katara resisted the urge to shove the grass stem she was chewing on up her nose. "And I just wanted to let you know that Zuko and I-" she blushed, glancing around to make sure nobody could hear her. "We're not rolling in the hay. We've only kissed a couple of times, and we haven't even had the boyfriend/girlfriend talk yet-"

"Okay, sure." Toph spat on the ground. "I was just teasing you."

Katara relaxed. "Oh. Good."

She thought the conversation was going well, but Toph suddenly rolled over and closed her eyes. "Goodnight," the girl said, as if they weren't just talking two seconds ago.

Katara stood there for a moment, stunned, before spitting out a goodbye and whirling around to march back to her sleeping bag.

She's twelve years old. You can't fight a child. No matter how rude they are.

"There's something coming towards us!"

Sokka startled awake with the others, fumbling around for his bone sword. Apparently there was an avalanche of some sort approaching them, which definitely made sense to his sleep deprived brain. They elected to leave and sleep somewhere else.

Toph and Katara had another fight when they landed.

"Look, I didn't ask you to help unload my stuff. I carry my own weight!"

"That's not the point! Ever since you joined us, you've been nothing but selfish and unhelpful!"

Everyone was too tired to intervene. They just watched with detached interest.

"Look here, Sugar Queen, I gave up everything to teach Aang earthbending. So don't you talk to me about being selfish!"

"Sugar Queen?!" Katara marched up the earth tent Toph had erected around herself. "Did you just slam the door on me?"

"Hey Katara," Aang said. "You guys both need to calm down-"

"I'M COMPLETELY CALM."

At that point Katara turned and began to bang her hands on the tent, as if she could break through it. Zuko stumbled forwards and pulled her away, practically carrying her back to the sleeping bags that Azula had set up. Sokka collapsed onto his own sleeping bag and hoped that would be the end of it.

"The stars sure are beautiful tonight. Too bad you can't see them, Toph!"

Never mind.

"Will you guys shut up?" Azula slammed her hand on the ground. "Get over yourselves and go the fuck to sleep!" Sokka pulled his blanket over his head for protection. Azula was not a nice person generally, but she was downright hostile when tired.

Toph popped out of her earth tent, and for a moment Sokka thought she and Katara would start whaling on each other. But, no, that thing was back again.

It was some sort of metal train, but there were no tracks. Sokka watched it until it faded away. The world was starting to blur because his eyes were so heavy.

"Okay," he moaned, falling to the ground as soon as they landed. "Forget about setting up camp. I'm just going to sleep here."

"That's good because Toph wasn't going to help anyway!"

Tui and La, he just wanted to sleep.

"Oh, I didn't realize the baby still needed someone to tuck her into bed."

"Come on, guys, there's something after us and we don't even know who or what it is."

Sweet, beautiful sleep. Was that still possible for him?

"It could be Ozai," Katara was saying. "We haven't seen him since Omashu."

"Who's Ozai?"

Sokka interjected before they could start fighting again. "Oh, just some crazy freak who's chased us before." He rubbed his eyes tiredly. "Also, he's Zuko and Azula's dad."

"Thanks, Sokka." Zuko mumbled from somewhere to his right.

"No problem buddy. Anyways, he couldn't have followed us here, so would everyone just shhh?"

He didn't even finish the sentence before the ground began to rumble again. Azula had some choice words for that, which he hoped that Aang didn't hear.

"Should we leave again?"

Aang shook his head, watching warily as it climbed up the hill. "Maybe we should face them, find out who they are. Who knows, maybe they're friendly?"

The tank slowed to a halt, and a door sprang open. Fire Nation soldiers began to pour out.

"We can take them." Toph said. "I've been wanting to punch something all night."

Katara's eyes twitched.

"That's a lot of people, Toph." Sokka yawned. "And we're not exactly on top form right now. I say we get back on Appa and-" he stopped talking as a larger figure came around the tank. Ozai sat atop a komodo rhino, his hands already rotating in familiar circles.

"Hit the deck!"

The lightning streaked over their heads, exploding the tree behind them. Toph hastily bent an earth shield in front of them.

"Okay, we wanted to find out who they are and now we know. Let's go!"

Nobody argued then. Probably because they almost got toasted by lightning. Sokka clumsily climbed onto Appa as the earth shield exploded. He leaned over the saddle and accidentally met Ozai's eyes as they flew away. They were dark and glinting in the early morning sunrise. He shuddered.

"What was that?" Toph's voice was small. Sokka reached forward and patted her shoulder awkwardly.

"That would be our father," Azula said coldly. "If you're going to travel with us then you should know that he has been ordered to capture us."

"Just Aang, actually." Zuko said. "It's the death penalty for Azula and I."

Spirits, that really put a damper on their already shitty night. Or was it day? The sun was already peeking on the horizon.

"We just got to keep flying." Katara gave them all an optimistic smile.

He was too tired to point out that even Appa had to sleep. His eyes were already slipping closed. What a terrible, no good, very bad day.

Appa lurched, and suddenly they were falling. Small hands grabbed his arm in a vice-like grip.

"What's happening?" Toph yelled. He wrapped an arm around her and clung to the saddle.

"Appa fell asleep!"

Lucky bastard. Sokka would kill for some sleep. If he wasn't in danger of falling off the saddle then he would have curled up like Momo in the saddle. His eye bags were probably big enough to sleep in. Aang woke Appa up just in time, and after crashing into a couple of trees, they came to a stop.

"He's exhausted." Aang patted his head. "We're not going anywhere for a while."

"Okay, then we'll all follow his lead and get some sleep. We've put a lot of distance between us and Prince Hotpants, so I think we'll be fine." Sokka threw himself down on the ground.

"Of course, we could have gotten sleep earlier if Toph didn't have such issues."

Oh mighty Tui and La, strike him down right now.

"You're blaming me for this?" Toph yelled.

"No, no she's not!" Aang exclaimed, but Azula had said "Yes, she is," at the same time.

"I'm blaming her!" Katara stepped towards Toph, looking like she was two seconds away from water whipping the girl back to Gaoling.

"Katara, maybe you should-"

"Stay out of this, Zuko!" Katara snapped.

"Both of you shut up!" Azula glared at Katara. "You two are the ones causing problems."

"Why is everyone fighting?" Sokka moaned into his sleeping bag. They ignored him.

"How is any of this my fault? I carry my own weight here. This guy was chasing you before I even joined you. And if anyone is to blame, it's Sheddy over here. He's leaving a trail of fur everywhere we go!"

Aang's face instantly reddened. Toph had poked a big sore spot there. "How dare you blame Appa! He saved your life three times today! If there's anyone to blame it's you! You're always talking about how you carry your own weight, but you're not. He is! Appa's carrying your weight. He never had a problem flying before you came along!"

Toph grabbed her pack. "I'm out of here. Good luck learning earthbending without me."

Aang had just yelled at his earthbending teacher. He had yelled at her, and now she was gone.

"Yeah, you two were pretty much jerks." Sokka called out from his sleeping bag.

Katara instantly wanted to apologize, but Ozai was still chasing them, and Appa was still too tired to fly. And, as Zuko pointed out, Toph would be pretty angry at them. It was probably better to give her some time to cool off before they went after her.

But Aang had a plan. First, they gave Appa a bath in the nearby river. Clumps of fur floated away from them. He felt a pang of guilt when he realized that Toph was right. It wasn't Appa's fault that he shed during the spring, but it would leave a perfect trail for enemies to follow.

The second part of his plan would take advantage of that.

"I'm going to leave a fake trail for Ozai to follow," he stuffed wads of fur into his satchel. "You guys should go find somewhere for Appa to sleep."

Azula rubbed her forehead tiredly. "And what about the Beifong brat?"

"Azula." Katara warned. "All of us were to blame."

"I wasn't yelling at her." Zuko muttered. Azula elbowed him. "Ow! I only meant that she probably won't want to talk to you guys. I should be the one to go find her."

Aang swung the satchel onto his shoulder. "That's a good plan, Zuko. Can you tell her that I'm sorry? We were so rude to her, and I really need an earthbending teacher."

Zuko nodded. He ruffled Azula's hair before turning and walking in the direction Toph had left. "No fighting while I'm gone!" He called out.

Azula crossed her arms and huffed. "He's just like Mother."

Pulling out his glider, Aang grinned at them. "This plan is going to work. You guys take Appa somewhere safe!" Then he was high in the sky, letting Appa's fur waft out behind him.

Appa had technically flown, maybe taking out a few trees on the way, but in the air nonetheless. The poor guy was exhausted, just like the rest of them. Katara kept rubbing her eyes to stay awake. Sokka flew them for another mile or two before landing again.

She chewed her lip, her stomach turning with guilt over everything she had said. She had scared Aang's earthbending teacher away and yelled at Zuko. Katara had a lot of apologizing to do when everyone came back.

Azula sat down beside her. Katara decided to start with her. "I'm sorry I yelled at you and Zuko."

"We're all tired." Azula replied dully. "I yelled at you guys, too."

"But I was the one who started it."

"True. It doesn't matter now."

But Katara had remembered something else she had wanted to say. "I'm also sorry for not telling you about me and Zuko. He's your brother, you have a right to know."

Azula almost smiled. "I already knew."

"He told you?"

"Of course he didn't." Sokka dropped down from Appa. "You idiots were just so obvious about it."

She felt her cheeks growing warm. "Why didn't you say anything?"

"We took bets to see how long it would take for you to tell us. You owe me, Azula."

Katara gaped at them. Azula grumbled and passed Sokka a few coins. "So you're okay with it?"

"Why wouldn't we be?"

Her brother had always been so protective of her, she had just assumed he would be the same way with her love life. But his disapproval over Haru and Jet might have just been because of the danger they had put her in, not necessarily because she was interested in them. Azula, on the other hand… she was fiercely protective over her brother. Katara had been expecting more of a fight with her.

Azula seemed to catch her line of thinking. "Zuko made it clear that I can't interfere with his love life. Not after what happened last time."

Intrigued, Sokka and Katara leaned forward.

"I may have outed us as firebenders to scare off his crush. It worked, but Zuko got angry with me. I promised I wouldn't do it again."

Katara covered her mouth to keep the giggles in. That was such a little sister thing to do.

The last of Appa's fur wafted behind him. He had left the green hills and now flew over an arid landscape, the wind blowing sand in strange patterns below him. Aang blinked his eyes repeatedly to stay awake.

He really hoped that his plan would work. Ozai was really scary, so scary that even Azula was frightened of him. Aang wondered if Ozai was as tired as they were.

A deserted town lay below him. Tumbleweeds blew away as he landed. Aang put his glider away and sat in the middle of the town to rest.

He waited. And waited.

But nobody came.

Toph liked to think that she was a pretty chill guy. But this Katara girl was getting on her nerves. Why did it matter that their sleeping bags needed to be unpacked? Toph didn't need one. What was the point of helping with dinner when she brought her own? She could carry her own weight.

She shoved a rock out of her way instead of going around. They all thought she was a spoiled rich kid who had everything catered to her, but they were wrong. She had to work for everything, had to fight for everything in her life. They didn't understand her. Why did she leave everything for those idiots?

Toph slowed to a halt, reaching the end of rocky terrain. Ahead of her was a fuzzy mass that made her toes tingle. Sand. It annoyed the shit out of her because it was technically earth, but she couldn't see very well on it. She sat down abruptly.

Those idiots would probably be looking for her soon. But Toph didn't want to talk to them just yet. She had joined them to help teach Aang earthbending, but she had also been hoping to finally have some friends, ones that would see her for who she was. So far all they've done was yell at her. And almost get her killed.

She didn't really think about that before joining them. The Fire Nation was always a distant threat to her, but now she was in very real danger. The Prince of the Fire Nation was after the Avatar, and now she would be a target if she continued traveling with them. But giving up would mean going back to her parents. Toph knew instantly that she would rather risk her life to be herself rather than staying safe and coddled in Gaoling.

She wasn't sure how long she sat there, playing idly with the sand, before she felt footsteps approaching her. It was Zuko.

"Hey, uh…" he stopped a few feet away. "Zuko here."

"I know, I felt you coming."

He sat down beside her. "Aang wants you to know that he's sorry. Katara, too. They didn't mean what they said."

She scoffed. "What, you mean it's not my fault that your crazy dad is chasing you?"

"They didn't mean it that way. Everyone is exhausted. I bet once we've actually gotten sleep then we can work it all out."

"What if I don't want to come back?"

He paused, his heartbeat quickening. "Then we can't stop you. But where would you go?"

"I don't know. Anywhere would be better than home."

Zuko shifted next to her, as if he wanted to comfort her but didn't know how. It was nice of him to try. "I'm sorry about your parents. It's hard when you can't be what they want you to be."

"Speaking from experience?" She wondered what it was like to be raised by a family who was ravaging the world. Probably not great.

He snorted. "Yeah, you could say that."

They were quiet for a moment. Toph began to run her hands through the sand again. "My parents always treated me like a fragile doll. People see me and think that I'm weak. They want to take care of me, but I can take care of myself, by myself."

"Everyone needs help sometimes, Toph." Zuko said. "Not because you're weak, but because people care for you. I know you didn't have that growing up, and it takes some getting used to. It can be scary, sometimes it still scares me. But it's worth it."

That sounded nice. She had always been taken care of, but not in the way that she needed. Maybe that's why she left to join them, because they appreciated her and her skills in a way that nobody ever had before.

"I'm sorry for yelling at you guys. I was just trying to show that I don't need to be coddled, and I lashed out."

"Nobody blames you for that. We all yelled too."

Toph stood up. "No, I was being a jerk. That's part of the reason why I became the Blind Bandit, to exaggerate how tough I can be. But I'm not invincible." She marched onto the sand, almost relishing in the way it blinded her. "See? I can't see shit in the sand."

Something moved a few feet away, she assumed it was Zuko, who huffed out a laugh. "You can't see on sand?"

"No! There's too much of it to keep track of, it's so confusing." She kicked around a bit. "Maybe I just need to practice more."

"Can you feel me over here?"

Wrinkling her nose in concentration, Toph stomped her feet repeatedly. There was something to her right, but with the way the sand moved it was impossible to tell exactly who it was. "I think so? But I can't feel your heartbeat, just your feet."

His voice was closer now, making her jump. "I'm sure you'll get it eventually."

Toph listened to where his voice was coming from, and punched her arm out.

"Ow! What was that for?"

"That's how I show affection. Thanks, Sparky."

He chuckled again. "No problem. We should probably head back now."

But Toph tilted her head and frowned, suddenly feeling a lot of the sand shifting behind them. Zuko grabbed her, his grip almost bruising on her arm.

Someone laughed, but it wasn't Zuko's soft tone. This man had a cold, humorless laugh that made her skin crawl.

Her mouth went dry as she realized that they were surrounded. Muffled vibrations in the sand came from all directions now. The man stepped closer, until she could literally feel static coming off of him. Zuko's breathing quickened. Toph instantly knew who this man must be.

"You're not going anywhere." Ozai growled.