Author's Notes: (Edited 7/27/20) This chapter just needed a lot of fixing overall. Added lots of details and hopefully it just flows better now. It was originally one of the shortest chapters.

Jie Duan- "sever; split; cut off"

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

Book 1: Fire

Chapter 5: The King of Jie Duan

The beauty of the Fire Nation sometimes made Aang want to burn it all away, to do to them what Ozai did to the Earth Kingdom.

But those were dark, dangerous thoughts. He was the Avatar. The bridge between the spirits and nature and humans and innovation. He was an Air Nomad. He was supposed to treasure growth like this, a rare gem not found in the rest of the world. Greenery like he hadn't seen in over a year grew from the mountain slopes, turning to gold as the rising sun crested over the eastern horizon. A dusty village rested far away at the base of the mountain, its squalor so at odds with the natural beauty surrounding it.

Katara had insisted it was a terrible idea to come to the Fire Nation, the heart of their enemy. But Sokka reasoned that the whole world belonged to them now and it was just as perilous as anywhere else. If they were lucky, an opportunity to attack Phoenix King Ozai might present itself. Perhaps he would make a stately visit to the outlying villages and lord his power over the people. And also, perhaps, the dormant volcano beneath Royal Caldera City would awaken and kill him and Azula in a cauldron of fire and miraculous peace would come.

Aang felt reasonably certain he had mastered all four elements, or had at least come close to it. He thought he could take Ozai in a one-on-one battle now. Now that the comet had come and gone, he was just one master firebender. The problem was finding an opportunity for that to present itself - they had no friends who could help mount an invasion force to get him in the Phoenix King's proximity anymore.

He decided to stop fake-meditating and joined his friends back at camp. Zuko took inventory of their supplies while Suki brushed Appa. She often volunteered to do that, more than even Aang nowadays. She confessed to him once that it reminded her of a different time, a great mission where she had succeeded in carrying out one of her most important tasks. He didn't press her for details.

A topknot and then Sokka's face appeared over the hill leading toward the path to the village. Toph's head bobbed up at his side a moment later, her gait harsher than normal as each footfall felt like a stomping clarion to Aang's earthbending senses. Something had angered her. He gave them his full attention, eager to hear the news they brought back from the village.

"Guys, something bad happened," Sokka said, confirming his suspicions.

Katara's wrists rolled and twisted in a rhythm over a pot of vegetable broth, stirring that night's dinner, but she stopped at her brother's words. "What is it?"

"Long Feng," Sokka said. "He's working with the Fire Nation."

The broth turned to ice and Katara's posture hardened with it, her shoulders quaking with rage and the memory of Jet's demise.

Zuko tightened the drawstring of one of their supply bags and furrowed his brow. "Who's Long Feng?"

"Just some more trouble," said Toph, rubbing a knuckle as if she wanted the former Grand Secretariat there so she could plant it in his face. She stomped her foot again but then her eyes widened and she threw herself at Aang just as an arrow bit deep into his shoulder. "Aang!"

"Aang!"

"AANG!"


"Aang!"

Azula's shouts pulled him from his sleep and the crushing weight of years of loss bore down on him, his world shifting from hazy memory to bleak reality. Both worlds felt equally as stifling and humid.

"Ahh!" he cried out upon seeing Azula's face. She jumped back as his arms went up reflexively to protect himself. It took him a moment to realize he was safe.

"What was that for?" Azula asked him, standing up and brushing the dirt off her clothes. "I was just waking you up to tell you we're leaving." Aang exhaled with relief.

"Okay. Sorry, Azula," he said, looking up into the blue sky above. Why was he having these nightmares? They only reminded him that he needed to get back home, and quickly. He didn't know what was happening to his friends without him. Other than that, they were only bringing painful memories to the surface... back in 'the real world,' he still had the scar from the arrow wound, which Katara thankfully healed after they fought off the assassin. Every scar that he previously received—including the one from Azula's lightning bolt through his back and foot—disappeared in this world, leaving his skin healthy and his body undamaged.

He looked at the Azula and memories of lightning shook him to the core. If the opportunity ever presented itself, he would be sure to never give this Azula the opportunity to learn to bend lightning. He wasn't ashamed to admit to himself the fear of lightning linking them together like a chain, as if it would awaken something in this Azula he'd rather not see.

Because of the dreams, he was getting more desperate to return home. He needed some kind of advice from someone he could rely on. Avatar Roku, his biggest link to the Spirit World, was out, at least through his temple at Crescent Island that wasn't there in this world. There were precious few possibilities left that he could rely on, and even fewer that he knew even existed in this weird world. After packing up camp and flying away on Appa, Aang decided to ask Zuko and Azula if they knew one of them.

"Do either of you happen to know someone named King Bumi?" he asked them. Both of them stared at him blankly. "What about Omashu, in the Earth Kingdom?" Everything else he knew seemed to be in the wrong place, so it was worth a try.

"No, we've never heard of either," Azula responded. "We've never left our village before." Aang sighed and lowered his eyes, beginning to give up hope of ever returning home. Bumi could have at least offered advice to him.

"I haven't either, but there is a city with a king not far from here," Zuko said. "And it's Earth Kingdom." Aang stared at him, confused. An Earth Kingdom city, in the Fire Nation?

"How would you know?" Azula asked him, her voice ringing with doubt. "Oh, wait. You're always sitting in your room and studying maps instead of doing something useful like hunting, I forgot."

At this comment, her brother looked away, hiding an embarrassed blush on his face. "Actually, it was from that man that visited our village a few years ago, remember? He said he came from Jie Duan to the north. I was looking at our map before and we're really close to it."

Well, it was worth looking into. "Alright, we'll head there then," Aang decided. He turned around and pulled on the reins, steering Appa toward the southwest.

"Why?" Azula's question cut through the wind, a doubt in Aang that she decided to air rather than let fester. "Why bring us to all these places? You stopped us at the Western Air Temple and then Crescent Island for pointless reasons. You've brought us far out of the way of our intended destination and I'd rather not face more trouble on our way to the Golden City."

"I'll explain when we get there."

She crossed her arms and said nothing, setting her lips in a thin line that made Aang think of a crack in a pane of glass.


Zuko had been right. It only took them an hour to get to the city of Jie Duan situated at the very edge of the mainland, the eastern archipelago beginning in its wake. More like a large village, it clung to the mountains at the highest altitude possible as if climbing to get away from the water. Terraces made a stairway down the mountainside, ending at a bay nestled in the crook between the eastern archipelago and the southern, at the end of which Zuko and Azula's village lay. As they neared the landmass, Aang could see water shimmering in the sunlight of each terrace, meaning they could only be a series of rice paddies.

Jie Duan mostly clung to the mountainsides the same way trees did, with homes dotting the slopes above and around the rice paddies - solid structures on leveled ground made of stone and wood like in the Earth Kingdom. A broad, leafy plant called an arrowhead littered the mountains like a dark vein corrupting the water - a common infestation for rice paddies that weren't properly maintained. They even grew over some of the houses like strangling ivy.

On the higher levels, Aang saw signs of construction. Homes and shops and teahouses cropped up the higher they went, though he wondered if they were for presentation more than anything because there didn't seem to be enough of a population in Jie Duan to live in all of them. When not twisting to meet the standards of the natural mountainside, the other buildings had been arranged in an orderly grid. The few people they did see cowered away from the bison as it flew over them until Appa landed and they meandered up the rising incline toward the largest building at the mountain's peak - something of a palace.

These people feared the war. But even with the abundance of rice paddies Aang saw hunger which he knew as well as he knew war. Jie Duan seemed intimately acquainted with it themselves. Children huddled together under the eaves of empty houses, scrounging for scraps discarded by soldiers. He saw only soldiers and no peacekeepers, and began planning out escape routes in case they needed to make a quick getaway. The weapons wielded by these soldiers and the armor they wore seemed cared for more than the people, gleaming with cleanliness in the sunlight.

Aang, Zuko, and Azula walked among the people and Earth Kingdom soldiers of the city's streets. The two siblings looked around uneasily. "So why did you want to come here?" Zuko echoed Azula's earlier question, eyeing some rough-looking people in one of the side alleys.

"I used to have a friend named Bumi," he answered, not at all worried about any potential thieves or fights. Aang could handle that. "I need to speak with him."

"But... that was a while ago," Zuko said to him, voice heavy with sympathy. "He's probably..."

"He's not. At least, he shouldn't be," Aang said firmly. Bumi lived through age in his world, didn't he? Azula didn't kill him here... at least not yet.

It didn't take long at all for them to approach the palace gates, far more impressive than the rest of the town and emblazoned with the insignia of an erupting volcano. The guards immediately seemed defensive. "Stand down," Aang told them, holding his palms out to them. "I would simply like to meet with the king. I am the Avatar. There is nothing to fear from me." He tried his best to take on the guise of a commanding, respected adult. The guards looked at each other and then rushed to obey his orders, leading them inside of the palace.


The three kids and the lemur were led to a lavishly decorated room off of the main hall of the palace and then left alone. Azula made a beeline for the pile of cushions and silks and lounged on them, helping herself to the bowl of papayas on a short table next to her. Zuko frowned at her with disapproval and sat cross-legged at the tea table, pouring himself and Aang a cup of spiced herbal tea that was surprisingly more Fire Nation than he expected to find in a place that reminded him so much of the Earth King's palace in Ba Sing Se. And yet, this palace had none of the age or timelessness of a mountain, no hint of the countless and sometimes clashing styles of centuries of dynasties piling atop each other. Barely a speck of dust kissed the tabletops and corners of the room.

And he kept seeing the insignia of the volcano, a stark reminder that this was a mix between Earth and Fire. The insignia of burning earth.

Aang did not yet touch either the fruit or the tea, sitting in front of the table with his back straight and staring patiently ahead, waiting for the arrival of the king. If he wasn't his old friend Bumi, then he wanted to be on guard, just in case. Now was not the time to act childish.

There were two doors in front of them, one the entrance and the other leading to some other room or hall. In the center was a raised platform, meant for the king's seat when meeting guests. Aang was mildly surprised that they were able to get into the palace so fast, but hoped that it was indeed Bumi and it was because he loved to meet guests, but more and more told him that it couldn't be his friend. This king cared too much about appearances. His blank gaze turned to the door as it opened.

Three robed men came in, wearing conical hats. It took almost no time at all for Aang to recognize who they were with their dark colors and hands folded behind their backs—the Dai Li. His eyes hardened. What were they doing here? The last figure to walk into the room made the Avatar's brow crease and his grip tighten on his staff in his lap. Long Feng strode confidently into the room, looking at them with fake kindness written all over his face. He sat down in the king's seat, his robes far more opulent than Aang had ever seen him wear, with jade rings encircling his fingers, gold woven into the black and emerald of his robes, and a mustache and beard that might've been two or three times longer than he remembered. He wondered about the change to his facial hair and couldn't help but think of how he wanted to pull them right off the man's face.

"It is a pleasure to finally meet you, young Avatar," he said. It was the same deep, lightly scornful tone he remembered. Aang's knuckles turned white. This man killed Jet and was responsible for many more deaths in Ba Sing Se and the Earth Kingdom when he joined Ozai. It took all of his willpower to hold back from attacking him. "I am King Long Feng, ruler of Jie Duan."

"I am Aang," he said, his voice plain and restrained. "These are my friends, Azula and Zuko." It was then that he realized that he far preferred this 'nice' Azula to Long Feng.

"Please, eat your food. You must be tired and hungry from your long journey," the ex-Grand Secretariat of Ba Sing Se said.

"No thanks, I'm not hungry," Aang replied. Zuko and Azula seemed fine to let him do all the talking, but they both listened attentively; the latter sat with her back to the wall as if to take in every detail. Aang knew because he would have liked to do the same. "I have a few questions for you, if you don't mind."

One of the king's brows rose as he took a sip of wine and straightened his posture. "And what would they be?" His Dai Li agents loomed behind him like a pair of guard towers.

"Why is there an Earth Kingdom town and king in the Fire Nation?" Aang didn't want to mention Ba Sing Se or Omashu just in case they didn't exist. He did not want Long Feng to be suspicious. He was a dangerous enemy, and the less he knew, the better.

"You do not know the current state of affairs in the Earth Kingdom?" Long Feng asked him. Aang shook his head. "The war with the Water Nation has become disastrous for the Earth Kingdom. Every month at the full moon, the waterbenders' powers increase and they are able to mount successful - and devastating - invasions. They hold many of the shores and it is considered dangerous to be near water. The Fire Nation is relatively untouched by the war, and the people came to live here for a safe haven."

"Untouched?" said Zuko, scowling. "Have you seen outside of your city at all?"

Long Feng's temple twitched as he regarded Zuko. "I assure you, it would be a lot worse if we weren't here. We have soldiers stationed all over the Fire Nation mainland defending from assaults from the seas, independent of the Golden City… who, I might inform you, only bothers to defend their northern territories. We've had to do what we must in order to maintain stability in the absence of the Avatar for one hundred years. Since I've come to this city, we've made many great strides toward protecting the people of the Fire Nation."

"But a king?" Aang asked, ignoring the slight against him. He filed away that comment on the Golden City for later, aware of the possibility that he could be lying. "Couldn't they have sent a governor or something?"

"Jie Duan is considered separate from the rest of the Earth Kingdom. I have had a... disagreement with the king of Ba Sing Se, Kuei, in the past. We split, and I came to rule here. I rule all of the Earth Kingdom villages in the Fire Nation. The Golden City allows us to stay," he said, his voice layered with malicious intent, as it always was. Aang did not want to know what their disagreement was.

"So the Earth Kingdom is split in two," Aang mused.

"Much more than that, nowadays, but yes."

"What about Omashu? Can you tell me anything about them or King Bumi? Is he still alive?" he asked the end hopefully.

"Omashu was invaded by the Water Tribes five years ago. The city was close to the water despite the ring of mountains around it, and they have fought miraculously for the last one hundred years, but they were not able to withstand every full moon. They fell, and now the city is in ruins," Long Feng informed him.

"And King Bumi?" Aang asked again.

The King shook his head and averted his eyes and Aang had no way of knowing if he spoke the truth. "I know not of his fate."

Aang lowered his gaze. Was there any hope left for him? After a long pause, Aang looked into Long Feng's cold eyes again.

"Thank you for answering my questions. We'll let you get back to your work," he said, eager to leave. Azula stood up with him, while Zuko remained seated, looking slightly confused.

Long Feng furrowed his brow. "You are leaving so soon?"

Yes, I am, and you can do nothing about it.

Aang couldn't keep the coldness out of his voice as he thought of Appa alone outside the city, too close to Long Feng for Aang's comfort. He would never let the rat-viper threaten someone he cared about again. Never let anyone hold that kind of leverage over him. "We have to get on our way."

Long Feng reclined on his throne and steepled his fingers. "I see."

The three stood up and turned away. "Thank you for your hospitality." Aang took a step, but found his feet stuck to the floor. He suddenly couldn't move and he lost balance. He windmilled his arms to stop his fall and a stone hand clamped over them and pinned them behind his back by his wrists, leaving part of his hands free. Aang's head turned to Long Feng, anger all over his face. "What do you want?" It was the Dai Li agents that had bound him, Zuko, and Azula, who were both in similar positions. Even Sabi, who was perched on his staff, had been attached to it in a stony grip to make it look like some ancient sage's scepter.

"You will not be leaving so soon. I have a request," Long Feng said, perfectly calm. He folded his fingers under his chin. "My adversary, King Kuei of Ba Sing Se, chooses not to... hand over some of his power," he said, choosing his words carefully. "He does not want to play any part in our defense, and his weak kingdom is falling to the Water savages." He spoke business-like, his voice deep and steady like the rumblings of a quake. "I believe it would be in all of our best interests if the Earth Kingdom were to come under the rule of another."

"You mean you," said Azula.

Zuko's anger came out in a snarl. "No way! Why would we do that?"

"You three kids don't know what I'm capable of," Long Feng said. It sounded simultaneously like an assurance and a threat. "I could bring stability to the Earth Kingdom. I did for many years, at least until Omashu fell. I have far more experience than that childish king."

"And what do you want us to do?" Azula asked. "Where do we fall into this?"

"Go to Ba Sing Se and gain the king's trust," Long Feng said, standing up and pacing, his hands folded behind his back. "Once he completely relies on you for support and strength, I want you to remove him from power. Assassinate him, if you must - you'd hardly be the first Avatar in history to do such a thing." Aang's eyes widened. "I believe no one has the strength and the ability to gain his trust like you do, Avatar."

"And if we refuse?" Aang asked, his eyes narrowed. This Long Feng was a desperate man, a puppeteer who once had a whole kingdom under his thumb and lost it all. He wanted power purely for the sake of it, obsessed with the appearance and the illusions while the people outside his palace starved and struggled.

"You will not leave," he said simply. His words hung in the air, resonating within Aang. What was going on? He thought this timeline, or whatever it was, was following his own previous adventures, except just reversing the roles of his friends and enemies. But what was this? This never happened! This wasn't supposed to happen. Something had changed that made the world like this. Was it like Long Feng said? Were the Water Tribes really that bad?

King Kuei was a kind man. Aang did not remember the exact last moment he had seen him, but according to Katara and Sokka, the king left them to journey on his own while Aang was in his coma. None of them had ever seen him again, but they heard a little of his whereabouts. Shortly after the fateful day of the Comet, the king had assembled a makeshift rebellion to rise against the Fire Nation menace. They had been crushed like insects. Kuei was just too inexperienced. Aang didn't know his ultimate fate but they had assumed the worst.

Aang and Zuko were silent, staring into the eyes of their captors, unwavering. The Avatar was trying to formulate a plan to get them out of this situation. Therefore, they were both surprised when Azula spoke up. "Fine, sounds easy enough."

"What are you talking about, Azula?" Zuko asked her, squinting at her. "We're supposed to help Aang! You're the one who wanted to go to the Golden City in the first place!"

"Oh please, Zuzu. Do you really think I wanted to go there for a reason? I just wanted to get out of that miserable little island we lived in. I used the Avatar as an excuse to escape," she said, and she sounded exactly like the Azula that Aang knew.

Chills of anger went up and down Aang's spine, coiled inside of him and burned in his belly so hot that he thought he would unleash a breath of fire right there. Buried underneath that, however, was the fear. It still lingered, a beast that stirred in the back of his mind after all this time.

"I knew I shouldn't have trusted you!" he shouted at her. She was just as malicious, cunning, and evil as she was before. He knew there was no good in Azula. She was the manifestation of malevolence, and she always would be.

Zuko struggled against his bonds. "Azula! What are you talking about? You must be crazy!"

"Unfortunately," Long Feng's voice interrupted the three of them, "one young girl isn't enough. I thank you for your offer, but we need the Avatar."

"That won't be necessary, your majesty," Azula said to him, a look of derision in her eyes. "A master firebender will be enough. Furthermore, I have received training from the assassins on Crescent Island. That will suffice." Aang's eyes betrayed surprise yet again and he realized she was bluffing. What was she trying to do, save her own skin? Zuko fell silent, his jaw hanging limp.

Long Feng seemed to consider this for a moment. "Fine then. I would like to see a demonstration of your abilities shortly. First, I would like your final decision, Avatar."

He glared at Azula with hatred as he spoke. "Never."

She smirked with triumph.

"I see," Long Feng said, turning on his heel. "I will now take my leave. Girl, I will see you soon to oversee your firebending demonstration." He walked out of the room without a glance at any of them. The Dai Li agents followed, leaving one more behind to look after them.

"Now," Azula said to the agents sweetly. "Can you let me go? This hurts quite a bit." The agent pondered it for a moment, but their king didn't give him any orders to the contrary, so he freed her hands. She ignored the glares of Aang and Zuko as she stretched. "So what will be done with them?"

"They will be put into prison chambers," the Dai Li agent answered.

Aang and Zuko stood silent, staring at her with baleful glares. He dared her with his eyes to talk to them. Neither of them struggled out of their bonds, though their feet were freed when Long Feng left so they could be led to the prisons.

"We'll see about that," Azula said, her voice low.

"I'm sorry?" the Dai Li agent asked. His answer came in the form of a blast of fire to the face and he screamed as he shielded himself with his arms, his sleeves going ablaze. Azula tackled him shoulder-first to knock him to the ground.

"Let's get out of here, quickly," she said to Zuko and Aang. Zuko gaped like a fish out of water, but Aang took the moment to jump into action and make his escape, running as fast as the wind out of the room and down the hall, picking up a constricted Sabi and his staff along the way with his exposed fingers and hooking it under his arm. Azula pulled Zuko along after her—they needed to get out before more Dai Li agents heard the man screaming. People looked out of numerous rooms as they passed by, disturbed by the loud wailing. Azula ran as fast as she could, still dragging her unresponsive brother along. When they neared the exit of the palace, he began to regain his bearings and started running on his own.

"Azula, what was that?" he asked between breaths as they ran. "I thought you were really betraying us!"

She just smirked in reply.

The siblings rushed through the open palace doors, greeted immediately by warm, refreshing sunlight. Aang watched Azula revel in it for a moment, closing her eyes and taking a deep breath, but the rush of footsteps behind her of pursuing Dai Li made her run faster. Aang led the way through town, dodging around people before the soldiers could recuperate and begin chasing after them. He looked back just to make sure Zuko and Azula skirted at the edge of his vision, even though a large part of him wanted to leave Azula behind…

They found Appa surrounded by a squad of six soldiers, refusing to fly away and leave his companions. The bison roared at the advancing men but Aang approached with a wide, sweeping kick that knocked three of them off their feet. Another managed to hold his bearings and rushed Aang with a spear, but Aang jumped through a loop of his own arms so his cuffed hands were in front of him and he slapped away the weapon with the rock bindings just in time. He swung his conjoined hands on the soldier's helmet and knocked him out while Zuko barreled into a fourth soldier with a tackle and Azula took down the last one with her firebending.

He regarded Azula with a stony face as they climbed onto the saddle. She pointedly avoided looking at him.

With a growl and a wave of his tail, Appa lifted off into the sky, blowing the pursuing Dai Li away with gusts of wind as they assailed them with rocks. It took them no time at all to get a safe distance away from the palace and Azula grinned once they made it out of range, putting her hands behind her head. "That was too easy! The Dai Li and that king are all idiots."

Aang and Zuko were silent, staring at her as they both struggled to find words. She lost a little bit of her confidence and fire as they stared her down, looking away and pouting. Sabi, wrapped completely in earth except for her head and the tops of her fingers, let out pathetic cries from the floor. "What?" she asked them.

"Why did you do that before?" Zuko asked, his tone accusing. "You... seemed so convincing," he added in a weaker tone. "I thought you really wanted to turn against us."

"But it got us out pretty easily, didn't it?" she snapped back at him. "I was hoping you two wouldn't be thick enough to believe me, or even worse, spoil my lies."

Aang grimaced. "You could have given us some kind of warning. I was ready to attack you."

Azula paused. "I was just trying to help." She folded her arms and looked away from them. They could not see the expression on her face.

All of the anger and hatred Aang felt for her moments before immediately melted away to be replaced by overwhelming guilt. He so readily thought of her as a traitor to him, and even though he felt he had good reason to, he also thought he should try to trust her more. The young child buried deep inside him by loss and death was slowly emerging... And it was telling him to forgive and forget. "I'm sorry, Azula," he said quietly. "I knew you wouldn't betray me all along, I think," he said. "But you were really believable, I have to give you that."

She looked at him again, allowing a small smile. "Yeah, I guess."

"Where'd you learn to lie like that?" Zuko asked her. Aang wondered the same. It seemed that this Azula kept all of her cunning and deceit, as well as the princess's brilliant acting.

She ignored her brother and looked at Aang. "But why did you think I would turn against you so easily? Don't you know that I want to travel to the Golden City as much as you do? Don't you... trust me?" This was a newer, more sensitive side he wasn't used to seeing from Azula.

His mind raced for something to say to get him out of this type of situation. "I've... had bad experiences in the past," he admitted, averting his eyes. He knew it was a flimsy excuse and she likely thought so as well, but she didn't press him for once. "But I'm willing to keep it there this time." This time, he spoke the absolute truth. He still wanted to get back home, but now his immediate concerns were for the present, in this place.

"Then maybe the three of us can all start over again, and you can count Zuzu and I as real friends," Azula said, looking at them both. Zuko nodded with agreement. Aang and Azula clasped hands, made somewhat difficult by his bindings, but they managed.

"Friends," he agreed.

He was officially friends with Azula now, he thought with a grin. What was the world coming to?


Author's Notes: Boy, that was a difficult chapter to write. Sorry if it seems choppy, because I wrote it over a long period of time. I don't know when the next update will be, but the craze of Super Smash Bros. Brawl has sort of been dying down. Sort of. Anyone who has the game want to trade friend codes? (:

Please review!