AN: In my story, I assumed that Omashu had been reincorporated after the war ended. My interpretation of the show wasn't that Omashu had been declared independent; rather it hadn't fallen to the Fire Nation for most of the war unlike much of the country. Given that and Kuei's ignorance of the war and life outside of Ba Sing Se, Bumi ran it independently but was technically subordinate to Kuei.

Bumi and his men made it to the capital city. The King went to meet with his "boss" and at first the guards asked him for an appointment.

"If you don't let me in, I'll just earthbend my way inside you twits. Kuei ordered me out here, and I want to know why."

"Of course."

He was "escorted" to the throne room where Kuei was fussing with his advisors.

"What is the meaning of all of this?"

"King Bumi, please tell me you brought your troops."

"Well duh. I mean what is going on? Why did you want them in the first place."

Kuei's advisor told him, "The lower ring has revolted. We need reinforcements."

"Where is the Avatar?"

"He joined the rebels," Kuei blurted out before the advisor could shush him.

"What?" He must have had good reason. "Did he tell you why?"

"It doesn't matter why. What matters is that you are a king of the Earth kingdom and you are bound to help get it in order."

"Like hell it doesn't matter. He's been my friend for over 100 years. I'm not going to war with him without hearing his side."

The advisors threatened to jail him for insubordination.

Kuei found himself taking a back seat to the conflict.

Bumi's troops however, were waiting for orders from somebody. They had no idea what the plan was. Their king hadn't told them.

"I assume he went to Kuei to find out," one of the men said.

"I could really use a hot bath," another said.

"Yeah, you reek."

As the men ribbed on each other, another set of troops got ready for battle.

Azula had visited her father in Boiling Rock. She knew Sokka wouldn't approve, but he wasn't here and she needed to talk her ideas out with someone.

He was surprised to see her. "Fire Lord Azula, you came to visit this poor little convict."

He looked different in his prison garb, and he looked like he had lost muscle mass. His eyes, however, had the same terrifying gleam to them. "Father, I don't know why I am coming to you, but I could use an ear."

"You could use an ear. I could use my throne back and my bending and the daughter who was loyal to me."

"You walked all over me. I couldn't do it anymore. The costs were too high."

"What was it? What was so good that you stabbed me in the back?"

"I fell in love," she told him quietly.

"YOU FELL IN LOVE. WITH WHOM?" He hadn't heard yet.

"His name is Sokka. You might have seen him crashing all your sky ships during Sozin's Comet."

"A water tribe peasant."

"Yes."

"How did you even meet such a creature?"

"I first encountered him in Omashu when it was New Ozai."

"Didn't you realize the heat of battle is just an expression?"

Azula smirked. "I guess it is also a truism."

Ozai shook his head. "I thought I raised to be above such nonsense."

"I guess you didn't."

"So what now? He's going to be your Fire Lady."

"I think he prefers the term Fire Man, but yes."

"And your stupid brother?"

"Last I heard, he was out fighting crime as the Blue Spirit."

"He became a masked avenger? My children are such a disappointment."

"Maybe you'll like your grandchildren better."

"YOU'RE PREGNANT!"

"No."

"So why did you come here other than to traumatize me?"

"Kuei has lost control of Ba Sing Se."

"That stupid king, why do you care?"

"He started using the military against his own people."

"And?"

"And I want to stop him."

"So invade his ass and kick him out. You did it once before."

"I'm not the same girl who just shoots people with lightening when they stand in her way anymore."

"You want to stop a military, then you need an army even if it is your ragtag group of peasant friends."

Sometimes, the simplest solutions are the best ones.

Azula wasn't going to deploy them right away. She instructed them to take their orders from Mai. They would engage only if she deemed it appropriate. She wrote out the order so they could take it to the resistance by hand.

"I assume they will be meeting in my uncle's teashop, the Jasmine Dragon. It's in the Upper Ring."

She hoped this panned out okay. Ozai told me to do it would hardly be an excuse if it didn't.

The soldiers made their way to Ba Sing Se, waiting outside of the city as they sent in one soldier disguised as a merchant.

He made his way to the Jasmine Dragon only to find it close. He started to bang on the door. "Yo anyone in here!"

"Can't you see we're closed," Sokka snapped.

"Aren't you the Fire Lord's boy toy?"

What? "No, you must have me mistaken with someone else."

"No, it's you alright. Soccer."

"Sokka!" Damn it!

"Can you give this to Lady Mai?" He handed him a scroll.

The warrior delivered it to the diplomat who opened it up. "Well that was fast." Azula had delivered her some troops and left Mai to be in charge of them. "Well, we have an army."

"What?"

Bumi found himself in jail for refusing to obey the King's orders. He made a real mess before they took him down, the throne room in shambles.

"At least I'm not in a coffin," he said to himself as he bided his time. Once the drugs wore off, he would escape and get his men.

Kuei wasted no time finding Bumi's troops, well the men he sent to find them wasted no time.

"You have been ordered to support King Kuei."

"Where's King Bumi?" one soldier asked

"Kuei runs the kingdom. You answer to him!"

"I answer to Bumi, now tell me before I put my boot up your ass."

The men started clamoring. Finally, one of the messengers said, "he's in the palace with King Kuei. They are discussing strategies, now come on."

The men reluctantly followed and then they got their assignments.

Arnook, Mai and Sokka met while the others were out fighting.

The Chief was hesitant to join Azula's troops but he was also hesitant to invade alone. It was weird. Working with the Fire Nation sounded disastrous. The two nations had warred for 100 years. Surely their men hated each other, but invading alone sounded suicidal.

"I don't know what to do now," he admitted.

Mai said, "I think we should wait and see what Bumi does. If his men appear, then we have to fight back. We won't have a choice."

Sokka agreed. "We have to stop this before the entire kingdom collapses."

The next day, Bumi's men appeared alongside Kuei's and the resistance was losing ground quickly. Toph was whisking people away with her earthbending, so they didn't get captured.

"A little help guys!"

"We're doing the best we can!" Aang was using all of his elements trying to keep the troops back. He was reluctant to go into the avatar state, less he get a repeat of the invasion of the Northern Water Tribe. He couldn't see that many men die again.

Zuko and Iroh were trying to come up with a way to get some kind of advantage. Iroh had it.

"Go with Ty Lee and see if you can capture one of their men."

While Zuko assailed with Fire, Ty Lee weaved through the battle lines and chi blocked a man. When he fell, she and Zuko dragged him away.

The man came too in the Jasmine Dragon. "What is the meaning of this?"

"We're not going to hurt you," TY Lee promised.

"I can't feel my body."

"Oh that will wear off in like 10 minutes."

"Why did you bring me here?"

"We're hoping you would help us."

"Why would I help you when the King ordered me to fight you?"

"What do Kings do?" Zuko asked him.

"They bark orders and like in splendor."

"They're supposed to protect the people. How can you work for a King who's attacking his own citizens?"

"I don't know. Bumi took us here and then he disappeared and Kuei ordered us into battle."

"Bumi was here?" Mai questioned. "When?"

"We got here two days ago. He went to talk to Kuei, but he never came back."

"What if refused to fight?" Ty Lee posited. "He might be in jail."

"Jail?" the soldier repeated. "They told us he was strategizing."

"There's one way to find out," Ty Lee suggested.

That night, Toph and Mai snuck the rest of the Fire Nation soldiers into the capital city while Ty Lee and Aang snuck into the palace.

Toph laughed at the irony. "I can't believe I'm helping you conquer Ba Sing Se again."

Mai rolled her eyes. "Well, I promise we won't shoot Aang this time."

"You better not!"

Aang and Ty Lee made it through the palace and Ty Lee couldn't help but reminisce about the last time she had been here. "Is it weird for you being back here, because Azula shot you and all."

Aang gulped. "Well, she won't do it again."

"I guess that was awkward of me to say."

"Just a little bit."

They found Bumi who had been drugged again in his sleep, hampering his attempt to escape.

"Aang?"

"And Ty Lee."

"We came to get you out of here."

"I'm going to kill Kuei."

They were half way out of the palace, when a guard spotted them. Ty Lee chi blocked him and stole his uniform.

"What are you going to do with that?" Aang questioned.

"It might come in handy later."

When they got back to the Jasmine Dragon, the King was surprised to see a bunch of Fire Nation soldiers in the place. It was a full house. Most of the troops were hidden in various homes of their allies, but they didn't have space for them all, so the rest crammed into the Jasmine Dragon.

"What the fuck is going on?" Bumi stammered.

Iroh fixed him some tea as Mai explained that Azula sent the troops to support the resistance and they were under her control.

"So where is the Fire Lord?"

"At home."

"I should have stayed home," he retorted, with my troops.

If the Fire Nation soldiers knew anything, it was how to get control of a city. Now that they had a sample uniform, it was easy to make replicas so that they could send a group to masquerade as the King's guards. Once they had them ready, they started issuing orders to the soldiers, temporarily convincing them to hold their fire.

Once the ruse was up, the rest of the Fire Nation troops descended, so fast that Kuei's men didn't see it coming. They took control of the gates and of the roads, regulating traffic and halting the looters.

Both armies from the Earth Kingdom were ready to attack before Bumi called his men back.

"But the Fire Nation is here."

"They're just trying to stop Kuei from killing everyone."

The men were skeptical but some of them followed their king.

"I am the last person who wants to watch the Fire Nation invade again but look around. The stores are all closed. The food supplies are dwindling. We can't go on like this. The people will starve.

While the Fire Nation got control of the city, Arnook's men along with the resistance stormed the palace, taking out the guards and putting Kuei under house arrest.

They voted to put Bumi in charge until they decided what to do with the throne. He was not pleased, but when he heard that their other plan was to ask Azula to do it, he agreed.

"Were you really going to give Azula control of Ba Sing Se again?" Toph asked Aang.

"No, but Sokka suggested if we told Bumi that, he would take the throne instead."

"He is learning from her, isn't he?"

"I guess so."

The Fire Nation troops worked alongside the Earth Kingdom soldiers and the citizens to rebuild the stores and roads. The other cities and the Fire Nation send food to the capital city to help get everyone fed and in the weeks that followed, Ba Sing Se was starting to look normal again, well a new normal.

Bumi had ended the segregation of the rings. Few objected at this point, having seen what the dispute had cost them. The ones who did threatened to pull their political support for the crown, and Bumi responded that he had enough friends and he was just too old to care.

They had a World Leaders' meeting to decide what to do with the throne of the Earth Kingdom.

No one thought Kuei was fit to rule at this point. "All he does is take the words of his advisors as gospel even when it causes civil war."

Aang suggested leaving Bumi was the king as he was the most experienced and was pretty popular.

Bumi objected. "Look, I'm really old and I hadn't even found an heir to take over Omashu. When I die, there will be an empty throne and this debate will start all over again."

He had his own suggestion for who should take over the crown.

"No way," Toph retorted. "I am not going to do it." She was the only noble, who actually stood up for the people when they were in trouble. Kings were traditionally the best fighters and who in the kingdom could match her? Her family had the necessary political contacts, and she was already well acquanted with the rest of the world leaders.

"But you're the best choice," Bumi said.

"I'm not even 13 yet!"

"Why don't you name Toph your heir and run the throne temporarily?" Sokka suggested. "It would give her a chance to prepare for the throne."

"Snoozles! What's wrong with you?"

The more she insisted that she was a terrible choice, the more popular the idea became. Azula offered to send Lo and Li to help her get ready to rule

"I'm not going to get out of this am I?"

"No."

Toph was not amused, but when Azula suggested Toph's father take the throne, she reluctantly agreed to do it. Later she said, "I got had didn't I?"

"Yeah you did," Aang said with a giggle.

Bumi took control of Ba Sing Se, ruling Omashu along with it until he could find a King for that throne.

Toph, on the other hand, quit her job training the police so she could focus on learning how to be a sovereign.

Her father was elated that his daughter would be queen and had all kinds of ideas for her reign, mainly ideas to make him money. Toph made a note not to listen to anything her father said.

Shameless plug: I have a new story The Crown. It's Harula (is that the right ship name?) and eventual Ty Lokka (Ty Lee + Sokka)