Book 1: Revive

Chapter 2: Reunited At Last

The Outer Circle of Ba Sing Sae is home to the poorer people of the big city. But ever since the Earth Kingdom became a democracy, efforts have been made to change that. They weren't there yet, however, and the Outer Circle was still home to some homeless, and still had a ways to go. It was, however, improving, and the streets looked much nicer than they had been in the past.

A sigh came from inside one of the small houses as a little boy looked out the window, bored. "When's mother coming home?"

The other person in the room, a girl about his age, shrugged. "I don't know. She said she was going out to find father."

The boy scoffed. "She's not going to. Father hasn't been coming home lately. I wonder why?"

"Who knows? Mother never tells us anything."

The tense atmosphere was soon lifted as a knock was heard at their front door. Well, it wasn't really a knock, but more like something trying to ram the door down. Quietly, the boy walked over to the window and slowly peeled the curtains back.

"Who is it?" The girl asked, nervous.

"It's...a Badgermole."

Her nervousness had dissipated and was replaced with a questioning feeling. "What?"

"Yeah, it's a baby Badgermole...It doesn't look too good."

"Maybe we should let it in." She suggested.

The girl walked over to the door and opened it, revealing the little Badgermole. She gasped as she spotted bloody scratches all over it's body. The small thing seemed to be crying in pain. "Come in little guy, it's okay."

Not in the mood to protest, the baby agreed. The boy closed the door and followed his sister. "Go get the medicine kit from the hallway!" She ordered.

Immediately, the boy went for it while th girl tried to calm the Badgermole down with soothing words. Once he had presented the kit to her, she went to work, and began applying the standard materials. Once that was finished, she put on the finishing bandages. "Those should be fine for now. If you're still feeling bad, just tell us."

Finally, the boy decided to start asking questions. "How did it get here? And why was it so hurt?"

She sighed. "I don't know. Maybe it got separated from its' mother somehow."

"Well, what are we gonna do with it? I don't think we can keep it."

The girl smiled. "Maybe we can look for it's mother!"

The boy tilted his head. "Not a bad idea, but where are we gonna find a Badgermole in the city?"

She shrugged. "Maybe we can check the zoo? Or look outside the city?"

He shook his head. "There's no way they'd let us go out of the city by ourselves."

She stopped and sighed. "You're probably right. But if we can find it's mother, we'll have no choice but to keep it. Badgermoles grow to be pretty huge, so it'll need some sort of open space, and we just don't have that."

The boy began to think of another plan, when something clicked in his mind. "Maybe we can get some."

She blinked. "Huh?" "I remember two people who work in the stands talking about this thing called the Animal Registry. Basically, any animal entered inside the registry will be associated with a certain family. So if we put the Badgermole in the registry, he'll legally be a part of the family. They have to keep track of all the animals, since most of them grow to be pretty huge and cause the city damage. So if we were to move, the Badgermole would legally have to be provided some space."

She was kind of taken aback. "And...you learned all this from listening to people talking?"

He shrugged. "What? They talk about interesting things."

The day came to an end and the children were pretty tired. "Is mother coming back tonight?" The brother asked.

The sister yawned. "I don't know, just go to bed and see if she comes home tomorrow."

Of course they made sure to tuck in their little friend before going to sleep. The boy got down on his knees, tucked the Badgermole in, and watched it drift into a peaceful slumber. He didn't know why, but there was just some sort of connection he felt with him. He couldn't explain it, it was just there. Finally, after a few minutes, the boy left for his room.


About a year later, little Haan had been doing well as a part of the family. The twins did their best to raise and care for him. Badgermoles were natural born Earthbenders, and thus, helped the twins realize their hidden potential.

"I did it! I finally lifted a boulder out of the ground!" The boy exclaimed, gawking at the decent sized boulder he was lifting.

His sister scoffed. "That's nothing. Check out what I can do!"

With concentrated eyes and some heavy lifting, she pulled an even bigger rock out of the ground. The boy let a shocked expression overcome his face. "What? Where did you learn to do that?"

She smiled confidently. "It just came to me."

He of course, scoffed at this. "No way, Haan taught you, didn't he?"

She shook her head. "No, Haan taught you. I just have a natural talent for Earthbending."

"So are you saying you know more than the actual source of Earthbending?"

She shrugged. "I never said that, but with practice, I think I could become even better."

The boy merely rolled his eyes with a smile. "Yeah, right."

The sky was yellowing and the sun was setting, but the twins still took their time playing by the sakura trees. Soon, however, they saw a woman crossing the red bridge, accompanied by four men. She wore a long, green Cheongsam dress, and her long, brown hair was tied back into a bun. Her green eyes looked at the children with a mix of strictness and worry.

Immediately, they dropped what they were doing and ran over to her. "Mother! You're back!" The boy shouted to her.

The woman, it seemed, tried to hold back a smile. "We thought you might never come back!" The girl shouted.

The first thing she had said to them was, "Children, come with me. There is something I have to explain to you."

The excitement had disappeared and was replaced with curiosity. Silently, they followed their mother and the four men over the bridge and made it all the way out to a stretch limo. They exchanged looks with each other, neither knowing what was going on. The three of them had gotten the back seat, to themselves, while the men where further up front.

"Who are these guys?" The boy asked, wanting some answers.

"That isn't important." She answered coldly. "But I do have unfortunate news."

The girl gasped. "What is it?"

She answered straightforwardly. "Your father has been killed."

Understandable gasps were aroused, and the twins went pale. "...What...happened?" The girl asked after a long, tense silence.

She kept her cool. "He was attacked one night by a group of thieves."

Talking about it was draining, so she clenched her fist to her chest and stated down at the limo floor, trying to hold back tears. "I know this might be incredibly jarring, but life for us is changing as we know it."

She turned her attention to the girl. "You have shown a promising talent for Earthbending. I'm sending you to an Earthbending camp, where you will study and learn how to master it."

Her attention now faced the boy. "As for you, you will start working for Mr. Choi and helping him run his vegetable stand."

The twins took a second to let it all sink in. "But...why?"

Keeping calm in front of them was getting harder by the minute, but she had to stay strong for their sake. "Please, I know it's hard, but I am asking you both to trust me. I'm doing this for your well-being, so please, trust that I'm making the right decision."

They absolutely did not want to go through any of this, and being kids, that was understandable. But the look in their mother's eyes was just so worrisome and frightened, that they caved in, and agreed.


"Um, hey." He whispered over to his sister who was sleeping across the room from him.

It appeared that she couldn't sleep either. "Yes?"

The boy remained silent for a second, than sighed. "Are...we really separating?"

She didn't make a single noise. It didn't even sound like she was breathing. Eventually, she answered, "There's something mother's not telling us."

The boy released a breath he had been holding. "I know...but I think we should trust her. Maybe she's doing it to protect us."

She stared up at the ceiling, unblinking. "I know. I want to trust her, but...I want things to stay the same."

"Things won't be the same, now that father is..." He stopped talking, knowing that even saying the word would be too painful.

Sighing, he faced upward and shut his eyes, hoping to get even a lick of sleep. He opened his eyes, however, and found his sister lying next to him, with tears in her eyes. "I...I don't wanna leave! I wanna stay here with you and Haan a-and mother! E-Even if father is no l-longer with us, I-I-I-"

He tried his best to calm her down, but to no avail. He himself even let a few tears loose, knowing he couldn't keep them inside forever. "I-I know. I know it's hard, but...but, we'll see each other again."

After hearing that, she started to wipe away her tears. "R-Really?"

He forced a smile, trying to seem reassuring. "Yeah. I...don't know when, but we'll see each other again...I promise."

Her tears had pretty much dried out at this point, and her eyes were read and puffy. "Yeah, that's right...this isn't goodbye forever. Just...promise me you'll take care of Haan while I'm gone."

Sighing, he smiled. "I promise."


It had been ten years since those events occurred. Now at seventeen, Jin was standing at the Ba Sing Sae Metro Station, wearing one of his more nicer Changshans, which he rarely wore due to work, and waiting to see his only twin, whom he hadn't seen in so long. It was kind of strange, he thought, being honest with himself.

The station was running amok with people, busy to head to their jobs and their homes and families. Jin honestly wonder whether or not he would even recognize her, since it had been so long since he'd seen her last. All their lives, they had written back and forth to each other, which was how the meeting was arranged in the first place. But he didn't know what to expect, really.

Sighing, he pulled out his cell phone and looked over it. He couldn't do much with it, but he could at least check for missed calls. Turned out there were three. His landlord, who he was pretty good friends with, probably asking about rent. Yuki, probably to wish him good luck. And a random, unknown number, something that never really phased him. Nothing really major seemed to be happening.

"Jin?"

Snapping out of his gaze, Jin looked up to find a girl, just about his age, with brown hair, amber eyes, and two twin buns atop her head. She was wearing a green ao dai with white pants underneath, and looking at him expectantly.

"Nimyu?"

At this, she smiled wide, and looked to be on the verge of tears. Immediately, the reunited siblings hugged each other, and embraced each other for a good long while. After they separated, they quickly got to talking.

"Wow, you look different." Jin commented.

"You do to." She smiled, "I almost didn't recognize you at first, but then I saw your hair and immediately made the connection."

He laughed. "Well, let's head back to my apartment and catch up. I'm sure we both have a lot to say after all this time."