Author's Notes: So I decided to split it into two chapters but you have to promise to review them both! There's a combined total of over 17,000 words between these two chapters and 40 pages. For reference, the previous longest chapter was "The Freedom Fighters" at 11k.

Anyway, here we are! The Book 2 finale!

Book 2: Earth

Chapter 20: The Crossroad Between Worlds, Part 1

"Avatar Aang… I am picking up a strong sense of turmoil from the city. Do you mind if I come back with you?"

Aang had just jumped onto Appa's head and taken the reins to depart from Lake Laogai when Xai Bau approached. He'd delayed only a moment to partially unsheathe his meteorite blade, contemplating Sokka's whereabouts, but snapped it shut and shrugged at the Sun Warrior. "I don't mind," he said, after considering the question. "Hop on. What kind of turmoil?"

"I cannot say," Xai Bau responded. "Something - or someone - has careened wildly out of balance."

"You can sense that?" Aang asked, frowning. He wondered why he couldn't, though he didn't want to voice that concern to this stranger. He also thought it had something to do with him and his decision to stay for the time being.

"The Spirit World has a loud voice, if you care to listen." Xai Bau climbed onto Appa's saddle, perfectly tranquil as the bison lifted into the night sky. Aang pondered his words and tried to listen for the Spirit World's 'voice,' but he didn't feel it as strongly as he did under the archway or in Pathik's meditation circle. "Riding a sky bison is always as I have imagined," he said, closing his eyes. "Dragon riding feels more perilous, though - in a thrilling way."

Aang looked back at him. Even in this world, there were only two dragons left - and he didn't think Ran and Shaw, the spirits of fire, allowed people to ride them. "You've been on a dragon before?"

Xai Bau shook his head. "Not physically. I've meditated into the Spirit World and rode them there. A different sort of experience, to be sure, but just as dangerous… if for other reasons."

Aang regarded the man for a moment before turning ahead again. "You're part of the White Lotus, right?"

"I am," said Xai Bau. His voice was deep and smooth, almost silky, but the way he spoke still conveyed warmth and friendliness. "I was the one who told Kanna and Piandao that you could not be trusted with our secrets yet."

A cold feeling settled into Aang's chest. "You were? Why?"

"I think they adequately explained that to you," he said. "But I came to Lake Laogai to stay with Bumi so I could meet you and judge your character for myself. Anyway, is it my turn to ask a question?"

Aang sighed as he thought back to how Kanna and Piandao said he was too rash and impulsive to be trusted with their secrets. But two could play at that game and Aang could hold secrets of his own. "Sure."

"You don't belong here, do you?"

Aang clenched the reins in his hands and Momo sensed his change in mood by switching to one of Appa's horns. "Which one of them told you?"

"None of them," Xai Bau said, and even without Toph's seismic sense Aang knew he spoke the truth. "Do not be alarmed - your secret hasn't leaked. I just see a different form of energy around you, multiple destinies converged into one being. To me, it is as obvious as a hummingwren in a hawk's nest. I do not know the details of your plight but I do know that something about you just seems… off."

"So just anyone can sense that about me now, huh?" He scowled as acres of farmland passed by underneath them. An actual spiritual guru was one thing, but Xai Bau too? "Are you going to tell me that I need to go home? That the turmoil you sense is my fault?"

"On the contrary, I support the idea of you staying here," he said. Aang looked back at him and he wore that warm smile again, as welcoming as a cookfire after coming in from a blizzard. At Aang's questioning look, he continued. "The barriers between our worlds and the Spirit World are blurring. The world will change, perhaps even faster than it was meant to."

He tried to grasp the implications of Xai Bau's words but if he meant something deeper - something more specific - the meaning escaped Aang. "What do you mean?"

"Change," he said. "Only that the world needs change."

The walls to the Lower Ring came into view as they reached the end of the agrarian zone. As soon as Appa passed into the Lower Ring, Aang looked down when he heard the sounds of battle far below. Rocks made grinding noises as they slid across the earth or slammed into things. People screamed and shouted. A plume of smoke rose into the air from a building that had been set on fire. The flames traveled fast due to how so many of the homes had clustered together.

Aang let out a gasp, angry and afraid at how things had careened so wildly off course while he was gone. "What's going on?" He was about to jump off of Appa's head to go help but Xai Bau stopped him.

"Let me down," the Sun Warrior said. "I will deal with the fires. You need to go find your friends and learn what has happened."

Aang grit his teeth, thinking of the last time he left his friends behind in Ba Sing Se, and knew that Xai Bau was right and the most important thing was to gather them together - then they could take on whatever was thrown at them. Appa descended on the city and as they got closer Aang saw figures in blue - Water Tribe warriors.

It never hurt so much to be proven right.

He almost joined Xai Bau in jumping off of Appa. Almost unleashed his rage on the Water Tribe warriors. But he reminded himself that if those warriors were here, then Katara and Sokka needed to be around somewhere as well. He would find his friends and then find both of them. He didn't know how Sokka and Katara infiltrated the city but he'd put a stop to it whatever it took.

Xai Bau siphoned heat from the burning buildings, forcing the flames to die down, and then attacked the approaching warriors with fists of blue and white flame together. Both types of fire simmered through the waterbenders' defenses, the concussive force behind his blasts knocking them back and into another building. Blue fire being used by someone other than Azula chilled Aang, but seeing it used in conjunction with white flames was beautiful.

"What are you waiting for?" Xai Bau asked, his gorget reflecting multicolored light. "Go, now!"

"Be careful," Aang said. Xai Bau nodded and Aang flew off toward the Upper Ring.

Ba Sing Se would not fall tonight. Not again.


"If Jet doesn't get any help, he's going to die."

Zuko tried his best to staunch Jet's wounds. He used his own vest to put pressure on the worst of the gashes in Jet's stomach and chest, but Zuko had no medical expertise and if he didn't do something soon Jet would bleed out. The blood loss already had him unconscious. Katara had at least allowed them both down from the cavern wall after her little torture session on Jet, but Zuko finally had to tell her that Aang wasn't even in the city.

He looked up at Katara, pleading. He could attack her - they both knew it - but it would accomplish nothing. She would overpower him, perhaps do worse to Zuko than she did to Jet, and if Zuko did that there'd be no saving either of them. He didn't like Jet, but that didn't mean he wanted the other boy to die.

"If you're not going to help him, why are you here?" Zuko asked, turning his attention back to Jet. His breathing weakened. Zuko had blood all over him and he had no idea people could lose that much and still cling to life. "Don't you have your invasion to plan?"

"It has already begun," Katara said. She had her arms crossed and kept staring into space since she returned to the cavern where she kept Zuko and Jet. Her voice sounded detached, distracted. "Something went wrong. Some giant monster appeared and it's attacking the city."

Zuko narrowed his eyes. He didn't know what he could do or what that meant, but her distress made him feel even more on edge. "But why are you here?"

"I don't know, okay?" She turned on him, yelling, and for a moment he feared she would attack him or Jet again. But she took a deep breath and calmed herself. "Parts of the city completely collapsed, including the tunnels out of here. I can't find Sokka or my friends. I have nowhere else to go. Cowering down here with you is the last thing I want. I feel trapped and I hate this."

Seeing her like that, he wanted to rage right back. She had gotten herself into this situation. Her cruelty did this to Jet and she just stood by as he slowly bled to death. How could Aang have loved her? He couldn't imagine a version of Katara in any world who could be as kind and caring as Aang had said. This Katara was cold and angry and bitter, a river's current that could change from calm to dangerous at a moment's notice. But he didn't expect it to feel so familiar, her yelling at him while he sat silently and took it.

"We've done this before," he said suddenly, staring up at her with shock.

"What?"

"We've been here. In these catacombs, like this," he said. He stood and he didn't know if it was the confusion at his words that stopped her but she didn't bloodbend him back down. "It feels like… I dunno, déjà vu." A memory belonging to Prince Zuko?

She scoffed. "You sound ridiculous."

He tried to grasp at the memory but it faded away from him. He clenched his hands still covered in Jet's dry blood, trying to think, connect to the scarred man somewhere inside of him. He could feel the anger and the blame and the shame. His face, the easy target for hatred, for everything that had happened. Pursuit and betrayal. Shared loss. Understanding. Could Katara feel all of this, too?


"My face… I see."


"Do you hate me?" he asked her, not knowing why he said it. "Is it what I did to your face?"

She glowered at him and the thin scar under her left eye became more pronounced. "Do you think I'm that vain? You're nothing to me - just an obstacle to overcome."

He shook his head. "Not vain. Prideful. I took you by surprise and you hate it."

"Are you purposely trying to antagonize me?"

"No, no. I guess what I'm saying is… I'm sorry for doing that to your face, for what it's worth." He didn't know why he apologized to the girl who imprisoned him and tortured Jet, the girl who had all the power over him, but in this moment he felt like her equal. He felt vulnerable saying it, not helped by the fact that he had removed his vest in his attempt to help Jet. He knelt back down at Jet's side and pressed the bloodied vest against Jet's wounds, but it had soaked through long before. "Please. He doesn't have to die."

Jet's head lolled to the side, but his blood rose into the air, swept off to the side by Katara, and she knelt on Jet's other side. Water coated her hands and glowed. Zuko watched, barely believing she actually did it. For a few minutes, the two of them stayed silent as the gentle ringing of her healing echoed through the cavern; Jet's occasional groans told Zuko that whatever she did was working. Katara pulled back, though, sooner than he expected.

"He'll live," she said, and with a flick of her wrist the wet blood drained from Jet and Zuko's clothes and off Zuko's arms. "But he still lost a lot of blood. I did the bare minimum." She stood and slipped away from the pair again and got that distant look on her face; the same one as when she told Zuko of the attack up above.

"Thank you," he said. Maybe Aang was right and there was good inside of her.

"I didn't do it for you," she snapped. "Or for him."

Zuko stared down at Jet, who breathed slowly but still didn't wake. "You did it because there's a little voice inside of you telling you what's right, isn't there?" he asked. "A source of good inside you. Not like a conscience, but something… else." The same sort of being that had somehow been buried inside of him.

His whole body jerked and for a moment he thought the ground moved but it was just him. The world spun and he pinned himself to the wall again, facing Katara who had her fingers splayed out with control over him. "Tell me what you know about it." Her order came out like a snarl.

"You remember something like this, too," he said, grunting as his limbs twisted and strained. "The two of us down here. Like… another life."

The cavern felt like a freezer when she spoke. "What do you mean? Talk or I'll do the same thing to you that I did to him. And I won't heal anyone this time."

"It's part of you," he said through clenched teeth. "I… understand you, Katara."

She twisted her wrist and he slid up the cavern wall. "Who do you think you are, talking to me like that? You don't know me!"

"You're a fighter," he choked out. "You feel like… you need to be twice as good. To get noticed." She lessened her bloodbending grip on his neck. "You made yourself get stronger out of spite. To prove everyone wrong. That voice inside of me is the same way."

She dropped him. He fell to his knees and massaged his neck and she crouched down to look at him more closely. "You think you understand, but you're not a girl in the Water Tribes. You'd never understand that. What it's like to have a father that doesn't want anything to do with you. Who prioritizes a sibling for something entirely out of both of your control."

Zuko shook his head. "No," he said. "Our circumstances are different… but fathers like that are something we have in common."


The palace descended into panic.

After Wu and the Dai Li agent's arrests, reports flooded in on an underground assault on the city. From what Azula and Toph had been able to gather, waterbenders were rumored to be the culprit this time. Most of the soldiers were stationed at the Outer Wall or beyond the city, leaving defense of the citizens to the Dai Li and handfuls of guard stations. Since the Council of Five had just thrown the leader of the Dai Li in prison, Azula expected the generals to go out there and fight back against the Water Tribes themselves.

But they stayed behind the palace walls leaving orders for their soldiers. They recalled a certain amount of soldiers back from the Outer Wall but still left many at their posts in case this was a simple diversion from another attack.

Toph stomped her way out of the palace offering angry exclamations to Azula, who struggled to keep her pace. "They're all idiots! Cowards, too. I can't believe they'd just hide behind their walls again while there's an attack in the city! What'll happen when the waterbenders get to the palace? Are they gonna hide in their bathrooms next?"

"What else are they supposed to do?" Azula asked her as they passed the ocher walls leading to the palace's entrance pavilion. Soldiers and guards marched in defensive positions around the outside of the palace, building hasty fortifications and clambering up on the walls to prepare their trebuchets. "They have to lead. Going out to the battlefield on their own to recklessly endanger themselves is a foolish move. For all we know the Water Tribes are indeed planning an attack from outside the walls."

"Whose side are you on?"

"The logical one." She looked up at the night sky and tried to think of a plan. If Sokka and Katara were indeed behind this, as Aang predicted, logic dictated Azula would have to search them out first.

"Let's go find Aang," Toph said. "And we never found Zuko yet, either."

"No," Azula said at once, but backpedaled when she realized how sharp her voice came out. "We don't need to find Aang." He might never come back. They had to do this on their own. "But Zuzu… Yes, I think he's been gone long enough. Almost long enough for his little sister to begin worrying."

Toph widened her stance, her feet sliding across the ground. "Hang on. Someone's sneaking around." She pressed her heel into the earth and Azula heard rocks move and a male grunt, so both girls followed the sound to the other side of the wall where she found a man encased in stone. It took Azula a moment to realize his head was not wrapped in bandages, but cloth to protect from the heat of the sun.

As soon as he saw them, he burst from his earthen cage with his own earthbending and clung to the palace wall, but Azula flung a handful of orange flame at him to block his path and send him scurrying the other way. "Who might you be?" she asked, trying to place his unfamiliar clothing. "Someone who doesn't belong at the palace, I suspect… especially during an enemy attack."

He twisted his hand into the wall and a hail of red sand burst from it, obscuring Azula's vision in a cloud of ocher dust and sending her into a coughing fit. She heard Toph stomp her foot and he launched from the wall and landed in a heap behind the two. Azula turned around, trying to cover her eyes from the sand and pin him down at the same time, but the red sand around them whirled and pushed at them both - eerily like blood in the darkness - only to be blocked by Toph, who snapped her arm downward and buried the man up to his neck.

"You're a sandbender," Azula pointed out once the dust had settled. She cleared her throat to dislodge the rest of the irritants in it. She examined the man - or boy, since he seemed about Zuko's age - and put two and two together. "You must be that Dai Li agent's brother. The one who got arrested."

His eyes widened, the only part of his face that she could see. "You know Nagi? She was arrested? Why?"

Toph spit to the side, likely to remove the bit of sand that got into her own mouth. "Why should we tell you? What're you sneaking around here for?"

"No, no, it's okay," Azula said, waving her down. They could use him to their advantage. "She was arrested on account of collaborating with you to raid the palace banquet a few nights ago."

"We had nothing - "

"We know who was behind it," Azula continued, speaking over him. "But what I am more interested in is the Water Tribe male you associated with. Was his name, by chance, Sokka?"

His eyes widened again, barely perceptible.

"Now," Azula said, drawing closer. That was all the confirmation she needed. "You can tell me where he is - and where his sister is - or you can keep the information from us and we'll alert the guards who will arrest the confirmed traitor who was caught sneaking into the palace again so they can take you away to never see the light of day for the rest of your miserable, pathetic life."

"I don't know where he is," the sandbender said, looking away. "But I know where Katara is."

Azula tried not to let her eagerness show. "Where?"

"I won't tell you," he said. "Not until you help me get my sister out of here. I've had enough of this city and I plan to leave with her, especially now that she's been arrested."

"Even though you could ride on the glory of your waterbender friends' attack?" Azula asked him with narrowed, accusing eyes. "Betray your own people to help them take this city?"

"It's so far beyond that right now," he said. "A mythical being from the legends of my people has appeared in the city. He destroyed so much of it already - Wan Shi Tong, He Who Knows Ten Thousand Things. I just want to find Nagi and get us both out of here alive."


The phantom soared, barely perceptible with his black feathers against the night sky. His white face, haunting and all-seeing, was the only indication that he was still there. His white face, his horrid face, imperceptible, unfathomable.

The ground still shook occasionally as the web of underground catacombs collapsed and took whole city blocks with them. City guards defied the orders of their superiors and worked to rescue townspeople from the wreckage instead of fighting the waterbenders, but no one could evacuate because there was nowhere to go. The same walls that protected the city and provided order also trapped everyone within.

The Water Tribe seemed to come to the same conclusion. They feared the spirit above just as much as everyone else. They'd been trapped and Mai wondered if many of their own had been buried in the tunnels below when the tower appeared. They fought with desperation, cutting down everyone in their way, so Mai and her companions fought back. The Roku Warriors wouldn't let fear win - they were professionals.

"Typical humans…" the voice echoed from above. "Warring and destroying each other even as you face calamity. A pity. I will have to free you all from the suffering you inflict upon yourselves."

Mai didn't know how or why, but foxes soon appeared as well, emerging as if from underground. Docile at first, the creatures hid from the humans until the owl spirit above made a ghastly sound, like hooting, which made the foxes triple in size and grow two extra tails. Their eyes glowed red and they became aggressive, bounding across the city with more agility than Mai or her warriors ever could. They snapped their jaws and unleashed cries that pierced the eardrums of anyone in the vicinity. Mai tried to give them a wide berth but they hunted with startling efficiency and soon she realized Aang would be their only hope of survival - much less victory.

Screaming and crying. Shouts of pain and anguish. Dust that never seemed to settle. The sickening sounds of bludgeons and slashing weapons impacting with flesh. Mai smelled blood, smoke, and sweat everywhere she turned. But she could not falter. A man wielding a heavy blue club attacked her friend Xiao from behind and Mai intervened before he could strike, nailing him with darts.

Lu Mao's voice shouted above the din. "Captain, look out!"

A Water Tribe invention Mai vaguely recognized as a sludge grenade - roughly the size of a kuai ball - rolled to a stop at her feet and she had just enough time to dive out of the way. A blast of force impacted her in the back as she tried to duck behind a pile of rubble, but the fishy-smelling substance struck her and she hit her head on a stone and knew no more.


"That sounds ridiculous," Azula said, but even so they ran through the palace halls with the sandbender, Ghashiun, toward where Toph said they kept the prisoners in metal cells. Dignitaries and other nobles watched the trio pass, unheeding or uncaring of the chaos outside. Behind the palace walls they thought the war wouldn't reach them, its opulence preserved in ceremony and pomp. Their feet padded on a lush rug with exquisite patterning of a white tiger beast pursuing prey through a bamboo forest. Toph made an abrupt turn down a hallway and Azula briefly admired the tailfeathers of a brilliant firebird under her feet down this corridor, its rainbow plumage streaking across the sky. She shook her head and brought her attention back to the real world. "Why would some bird spirit attack the city? You're just lying to get us to help you."

"I'm not lying," Ghashiun said. "And how should I know why?"

"He's not lying," Toph confirmed.

"Then he's ignorant enough to believe his own lies," Azula shot back. "Well, regardless, his Dai Li agent sister helped to smuggle Katara and Sokka into the city."

"No," said Ghashiun. "Nagi had nothing to do with that."

"So it's just you who's a traitor, then."

"Shut up, I'm concentrating," Toph said, stopping to put her hand to the floor. "These stupid carpets are making it difficult to sense where to go."

"We could just force Katara's whereabouts out of him," Azula suggested.

Toph stood straight and continued running. "We should get Wu out. Something about this whole situation doesn't seem right to me. I knew I didn't trust those generals."

"Well, duh," said Azula. "They're making a power grab. Framing sandbenders as their enemies behind these walls so they have a scapegoat that allows them to consolidate power from those they view as weak or a bothersome obstacle. It was all very well done. They did miss one thing, though - the Dai Li. Whoever controls the Dai Li controls this city, and right now no one seems to control them."

"Whose side are you on?" Toph asked her again, though it was more of a mutter this time and Azula smirked. There was no denying that Toph knew she was right, perhaps even impressed.

"You two are companions of the Avatar, aren't you?" Ghashiun asked as they edged around a corner. Toph signaled that they neared the stairs descending to the high-profile prisoner level.

Azula peeked ahead. Three guards in custom uniforms stood at the top of the stairs where they needed to go. "What of it?"

Ghashiun said nothing.

Toph approached the guards without bothering to hide, but one of the men stepped forward and took an earthbending stance. "Stand down," he said. "No one approaches without clearance from the Council of Five themselves."

Toph cracked her knuckles. "I don't think so, buddy. We're here to break out Wu 'cause you're all corrupt and stuff."

Azula rolled her eyes. "Heroic. Inspirational. Intimidating."

"We're the Terra Team, the best earthbenders Ba Sing Se has to offer," said the guard. "This is the last warning for you to stand down!"

Toph scowled. "And you're on cushy palace prison duty instead of guarding the walls?" She flicked her wrists and pillars jutted out from the ground underneath them. One was too slow to react, but the other two struck at Toph with a combined attack. She blocked it with a shower of stones. "Well I've got news for you, buddy. I'm the best earthbender in the world!"

Ghashiun moved forward as if to help, but Azula shook her head and he stopped.

The ground shifted under one of the soldiers and Toph jabbed her elbow to strike him into unconsciousness. The last one tried to rush her with a wave of gravel but she lifted herself up above it and slammed down on a slab of earth to throw him into the wall where he slumped down, motionless. "Eh," she said with a shrug. "You guys aren't that special."

They rushed down to the lower levels where they saw a corridor of metal doors. Ghashiun pushed his way forward. "Nagi, where are you?"

A face appeared in one of the windows set into the tops of the cell doors: the same young woman who had been arrested earlier. "Ghashiun! What are you doing here?"

He went up to her door and tugged on the metal handle to no avail. "How do I get you out?"

Wu's face appeared at another cell door. "What's happening?" she asked.

"We've come to bust you out," said Toph. She knocked on the metal. "But, uh… what's your brilliant idea to open these up, Azula?"

She sighed and jangled the key ring that she pilfered from one of the Terra Team guards. "Ever hear of keys?" Ghashiun lunged forward as if to grasp them from her but she pulled her hand back. "First, tell us where Katara is."

"In the catacombs beneath the Upper Ring," he said. "You can reach it by digging not far from your house, near the canals. And…" He averted his eyes for just a moment. "She has two of your friends there."

Azula blinked. "Two of them?"

"Their names are Zuko and Jet," he said. Azula felt fire flare to life in her palms and almost gripped him by the throat but Toph stopped her.

"C'mon," she urged. "We can't waste any time!"


When the Water Tribes attacked, the Freedom Fighters rallied to action. What was once a dozen kids more than doubled in size after coming to Ba Sing Se. The Lower Ring was full of orphans who cried for a cause and Jet had answered and now they fought to defend their new home.

Smellerbee used her curved knife to great effect, but her main concern was ensuring that the Freedom Fighters coordinated their attacks and none got left behind. With Jet missing and Bandit leaving them, she'd found herself the de facto leader of the bunch; a responsibility from which she didn't back down. She had Fleetfoot run to send a message to their contact in the Creeping Crystal, but while they waited for support they were on their own - she hated relying on adults but even she wasn't stubborn enough to think they could fight off all of the Water Tribe warriors by themselves.

Longshot supported them from above while Pipsqueak and the Duke barreled over any enemies who approached the area they'd designated as their defense point which even a bunch of refugees and their families hid behind. She watched Sneers take down warriors twice his size and Rattletrap ensnare a trio of them. Bugsy and Gogglecogs built up their defensive wall from planks of wood while Big Redd comforted a bunch of the younger kids who cried with every loud noise.

And there were lots of loud, sometimes strange, noises. Smellerbee swore she even heard an owl hooting somewhere in the distance. Shortly after that, strange giant fox creatures with three tails began appearing and devastated everyone in sight; she'd thought it to be Water Tribe trickery at first until the beasts began attacking the invading warriors too.

She fought until she realized she'd started crying, and even with Longshot putting a comforting grip on her shoulder she couldn't help but remember when the Water Tribes raided her village and destroyed everything she had ever loved. Every war cry brought her back to that night, that terrible night, the fury in the waterbenders' attacks and the sudden snow and she still hated the sight of snow, oppressive silent snow, and somehow she found herself curled up in a fetal position and she was a child again. She missed Jet and she wished for Bandit but most of all, she wanted her parents there, the dim memory of her parents that faded more and more with every passing year.

Smellerbee thought she had closed her eyes but the sight of an old woman kneeling down in front of her jolted her out of her state of limbo between present and past. "Come now, child," said the old woman, extending a hand. "You've fought bravely."

Smellerbee didn't think that was true but then she saw even Longshot wiping at his eyes and then she wasn't so sure anymore. An older man who wielded a sword better than anyone she had ever seen fought off scores of waterbenders down the street. She took the old woman's hand and rose to her feet.

"You're with the Creeping Crystal, aren't you?" the old woman asked. Her pale blue eyes looked sad. "So am I. And we're working to evacuate the townspeople to the Outer Ring - we got them to open the wall." But she looked to the northeast, toward the wall to the Middle Ring which hadn't opened, and she furrowed her brow. "I don't know what's happening there but I fear it is something horrible."

Words tumbled out of Smellerbee's mouth. "It's horrible here, too."

"Indeed," said the woman, and she gave Smellerbee and Longshot a smile despite the situation. "Will you help me?"

She flipped her knife in a reverse grip and gave the order for the Freedom Fighters to move out. "Yeah," she said. "We're not gonna give up."


"You've been working with the Water Tribe all this time, haven't you?"

Nagi's words came out like venom, stopping Ghashiun in his tracks while they fled from the palace. They'd tried to stay hidden, to make their way to the tunnels that led beyond the walls.

Ghashiun couldn't face her. "It was all so I could find you and bring you home."

"So you worked with the enemy? Allowed all this to happen?" Each of her words felt like physical strikes. "Ghashiun, do you realize how many people are going to die today because of what you've done? How many are already dying, as we speak?"

"Is it much worse than you living here in the viper's nest for these past two years?" He turned to face her with a scowl. "Working for those who never cared for our people, who searched for any excuse to imprison you and blame us for their troubles? If it wasn't for the Water Tribes knocking at their walls the Council of Five would have waged war on Si Wong City by now."

She turned her head away so that he couldn't see her face because of her cowl. Without the conical Dai Li hat, she looked more like his sister again. "That's different. Don't you dare try to compare what we've done." She put a hand to her chest. "I'm trying to change things from the inside. But you, you… I saw the way you look at that boy. You're falling for him."

"I am not!" he exclaimed, and from the volume of his voice he knew it wasn't convincing. He tried to change the subject, to bury it along with his feelings, because he knew Sokka would never notice anyway just like he never noticed the attention of Suki and Yue. "Anyway… I never expected the arrival of Wan Shi Tong. It wasn't supposed to be like this."

"Then we can't just run away," Nagi insisted, turning toward him fully again. She had a pleading look in her dark eyes as she grabbed his hand in both of hers. "We have to do what we can to help. Wan Shi Tong came from below, right? In the catacombs?"

"The waterbenders' reports said a tower even appeared in the Middle Ring," he said. "I think his Spirit Library has somehow manifested in our world."

Nagi's eyes widened and for a brief moment he saw the look of wonder she got whenever her passion for history came out. "Amazing," she breathed, but she gathered her wits as if reminding herself of the severity of the situation. "Then let's go. We may be able to find something down there, a way to reverse it. We can aid the Avatar's friends in this. Oh, Ghashiun, they must be so wise and knowledgeable…"

As she spoke, Ghashiun thought of Sokka under the light of a purple lantern. How foolish it was to ignore his instincts that said to run away…

Even if he disagreed with his sister he knew they would never be enemies. But he didn't want to admit to her that the real reason he wanted to run away was that he wasn't sure what he'd do if faced with Sokka and Katara again.

Ghashiun and Nagi reversed course and used their earthbending to make their way to the tunnels beneath the Upper Ring. He just hoped his sister wouldn't hate him for whatever events transpired below.


Trust the spirits to make everything go horribly, horribly wrong.

Sokka had managed to escape the tunnel collapse but he didn't know how many men they'd lost or how many had made it into the city. He didn't know if they'd be able to escape or evacuate. An icy feeling gripped his lungs and his heart when he thought of all the devastation throughout the city, all the lives extinguished, and wondered if Gran had even survived…

He turned to Suki and Yue, waiting with him under the night sky in a section of the Middle Ring that hadn't yet seen much of the fighting. Yue looked frightened but Suki had her face set in determination, ready for action.

"Any ideas, Sokka?" Suki asked.

"We'll call off the attack," he said. "There may be no escaping the city now, either. We've failed. Monumentally. My dad will be furious." He couldn't help but chuckle at the idea of his father learning of the defeat and capture of both of his children and his ward and Arnook's daughter, despite everything. There'd be no coming back from this weakness that reflected upon both of their families. He wouldn't be surprised if Hakoda ended up disowning them.

"Why are you laughing, Sokka?" Yue asked, lip quivering. "This is serious!"

To the Water Tribes, family and community were everything. But what could he do when his family had been broken for years? "I am serious," he said. "In fact, I've never been more serious about anything in my life. Come on, we have to find Katara."


Aang found Wu on the palace grounds rushing to her living quarters alone in the night. He had decided to head for the palace first to see if his friends were there, if they warned the city's leaders in time for the attack. His flight over the city from the Lower Ring to the palace was fraught with concern for everyone below - he felt guilty, terribly guilty, for flying over the battle, but he couldn't waste time. He had to find his friends, had to make sure the city didn't face a coup by Katara and Sokka. Battling the soldiers below would scarcely do anything to help, especially if it was only a distraction.

The city was huge; too huge for one person to make a difference, even if he was the Avatar. He had to rely on the hope that Xai Bau and the White Lotus could help. That Kanna and Piandao fought. That Bumi and the Creeping Crystal would arrive in time. Despite all of his allies he still had the feeling that something had gone wrong, that the veil between worlds wavered.

Appa landed in the pavilion right in front of Wu's pagoda, startling the Grand Secretariat so much that she gasped and nearly dropped the books and scrolls in her arms. "Avatar!" she exclaimed. "Oh, you've returned! Thank goodness!"

"Where are you going?" he asked, narrowing his eyes. "Are you trying to run away?"

Her face reddened for a moment but she frowned. "Well, yes! The Council of Five arrested me! What choice do I have but to flee this city?"

Aang scowled as he jumped down from Appa and wondered if Sokka and Katara took control of the Council instead of the Dai Li like Princess Azula did and wanted to hit himself for overlooking that possibility. "Tell me everything."

She launched into a tirade about the Council of Five, the fall of Jie Duan, and her arrest during the subsequent meeting. She told him about the Water Tribe attack and something worse, something he overlooked, something he normally felt he should have been able to sense but with the world so out of balance he missed (and he cursed the city for being so large that even flying over it Aang missed Wan Shi Tong and the devastation he had wrought). He realized then that the knowledge seeker he saw beneath Lake Laogai was simply a harbinger of the disaster to come. Finally, Wu told him that Azula and Toph had descended into the catacombs to rescue Zuko from Katara, and that was all he needed to hear.

"Wu," Aang said. His voice came out strong and steady, older and more focused than a twelve year-old's. "I need you to stay. Reestablish order. Whoever controls the Dai Li controls this city and right now I need that person to be you. Protect the people of this city until I come back."

Wu seemed taken aback, but gathered herself together and nodded. "But where are you going?"

Aang saw Sabi glide toward them and land on Appa. She chattered something to Momo who responded in turn and Aang couldn't help but smile. "I'm gonna go find my friends," he said, including Sokka among them. Maybe even Katara. "And then we're all dealing with Wan Shi Tong. Don't let anything happen to Appa and the lemurs, okay?"

Wu blinked and looked up at the enormous bison, who grumbled at her. "Uh… okay," she said, in quite an undignified way.

Well aware of the irony of leaving Appa in the care of a Grand Secretariat, he opened up a way into the tunnels and went underground.


"I wasn't always a bender," Zuko admitted, staring down at his hands. "It's… a pretty recent thing. But my sister has always been one - the star of the village, trusted to protect us all when my father and his soldiers left to fight in the war. She was always my father's favorite."

Katara scowled at him. "Bet that hurt you, didn't it? Having a girl be the one trusted to protect your teeny little village?"

He shook his head. "No, it's not like that," he said. "But she was the only firebender. He always showed her off. He sailed all around the southern archipelago to find her a master and only gave up because my uncle convinced him that he was needed to lead the village. My swordfighting was never good enough. After Mom died, he only got worse. Always just telling me to 'repair that watchtower' or 'clean up around the temple so that the spirits don't get angry and weaken your sister's bending.' Seriously? I don't know a whole lot about spirits or bending but I don't think it works that way. My uncle has always been more of a father figure to me."

Katara actually chuckled at that. She sat on the ground a few feet away from him and the whole thing almost felt… casual. "Wanna trade fathers? Mine barely knows I exist just because I'm a girl he can just marry off for a stronger connection to the other clans. I'm the far better bender of the two of us but my dad was probably willing to sacrifice me to spirits at one point."

"Ouch," said Zuko, and despite it all he couldn't help but offer her a smile. But then he looked at Jet and the horrible things Katara was capable of came flooding back to him. "We need to do something," he said. "We can't just sit down here and wait for that spirit to destroy the city." And Jet still needed a proper healing session - Katara had made it clear that she would do no more for him.

She stood up abruptly. "You can do that," she said. "But I've figured out what I'm going to do - kill the Avatar. That'll stop all this spirit nonsense, won't it? He's bound to show up soon to heroically save the city or something."

She said it so offhandedly that Zuko sputtered and stood up in shock. "What do you mean? Why can't you help us?"

"You can't seriously expect me to turn traitor and help the Avatar, can you?" she asked, striding away. "Thanks for improving my mood. And if you follow me, I'll just kill you too and then your friend Jet will be left behind all by himself, probably also to die."

She disappeared down the tunnel without looking back and Zuko kicked at a rock. "Jet's not my friend," he muttered. Now, he just felt trapped and angry at himself for falling for Katara's charming facade. For several minutes, he wondered at the logistics of carrying Jet on his back and giving Katara a bit of a head start so he could lag behind her and turn down a different tunnel to avoid her. If he were Azula, she'd be able to figure out a plan even if she wasn't a firebending master.

While he tried to heft Jet onto his back without making his wounds worse, the cavern started rumbling until a different tunnel opened up and Toph and Azula appeared. "Oh, Zuzu, there you are," Azula said as if they'd only lost each other in a city crowd.

Zuko rolled his eyes. "Thanks for the concern."

"What happened to Jet?" Toph asked, rushing over to Zuko's side. Jet barely stirred.

"Katara," Zuko said, hoping that would be enough explanation. "He needs a healer, I don't know how much time he has but she messed him up good."

Azula stepped toward the tunnel Katara disappeared into, staring into the shadows. "Where did she go?"

Zuko frowned, wondering if his sister was getting any ideas. "Down there. But don't think about it. We need to get Jet to safety and then find out what to do about the warriors attacking the city. And that giant spirit thing."

"No," Azula said. "You two need to do all those things. I need to defeat Katara once and for all."

Zuko threw his hands up. "Are you crazy? You can't take her alone!" He pinched the bridge of his nose. "I'll come with you. Wherever she's going, she wants to go back out into the city and find Aang to take him down herself."

Azula put her hand on her hip and glowered at him. "Um, no. You'll only get in my way - you're not a master firebender yet, Zuzu."

"Then take Toph with you!"

Toph looked torn, standing between Zuko with Jet hanging over his shoulders and Azula, facing neither of them. "As much as I want to punch Katara's face in… Jet needs my help. Despite everything, he's still my friend. And I can get him somewhere safe faster than you can, Zuko."

"I'll be fine," Azula said before Zuko could protest further, lighting a blue fire in her palm as she walked down the tunnel. Her eyes, cast in ghostly light, faced forward in single-minded determination to defeat Katara.


Katara's machinations would end today, Azula decided.

The Water Tribe princess caused Aang no small amount of pain. He'd always love her and he would never be able to see the evil she was capable of and one day, Azula knew, it would eventually kill him. She'd just have to stop Katara before that day came. She knew what needed to be done, and if Aang hated her for it? So be it.

She followed the tunnel until it opened up into an enormous cavern, bigger than any she had seen before. Emerald crystals shaped like fire emitted light from the corners and around the massive stone pillars that reached from floor to ceiling. Canals flowed with clean water from a waterfall that led to the world above - Katara's apparent destination, but Azula saw her running along the canal toward it and lobbed a fire blast in her direction.

Katara heard it coming and pulled water from the canal to absorb the blow, turning to face her opponent. She smirked. "I wondered when I'd run into you," she said. She sprung into action, running along the canal and gathering water to heave at Azula, which Azula deflected with a blast of flame so Katara circled it back and around to slam her with the full force of the wave. Azula summoned a wall of azure flames to evaporate the attack into steam, her hands spread wide.

Azula said nothing and launched into an offensive, emerging out of the steam cover with fists of fire, but Katara diverted all her blows with a watery shield and made the canal swell and overflow with a flick of her wrist. Water rushed over Azula's ankles and snaked around her legs, grasping at her until she blasted it with more fire. She kept moving, knowing that if she stopped for too long Katara would sweep her up. Instead, she pressed Katara's defenses, trying to overwhelm her from all sides.

The tactic seemed to be working - Katara was slower, her feet rooted to one place. Azula made her way closer, blazing through attacks and counters of water and ice both. Azula aimed at her feet and Katara smothered the fire and soon they were close enough for physical attacks, but Katara cocooned herself in water and whirpooled away, shoving Azula back along with icy daggers that she had to dive away from. In response, Azula sent a concentrated burst of fire which broke through Katara's icy whirlpool and the concussive blast knocked her back to land painfully on the ground.

Azula pressed her advantage. She leapt at Katara with fire at her fingertips but Katara slapped her away with streams that tangled in her hands and froze them, giving her the opportunity to press her own offensive. Water carried her to her feet again and she windmilled her hands to fire razor sharp arcs that came faster than Azula expected, which she just managed to dodge with a surprised grunt.

Pure white flames erupted between them and suddenly Aang was there. The three of them faced each other, Katara looking between them as if deciding which was the bigger threat. Without a word exchanged between either of them, Azula continued the attack, intent on overwhelming Katara before she got the chance to use bloodbending on them. Finishing her off would be more complicated now with Aang here, but… it needed to be done.

Even so, she felt a rush of emotions from seeing him again. First came the joy at seeing him fight at her side. Then the relief that he had returned at all instead of going back to his world. After that the dread settled in, heavy and nauseating; the thought of his reaction to her finishing off Katara, something she had not wanted him to see.

Aang dashed in a circle and swept up a current of air that carried him far above them, raining down crimson fireballs on Katara. She rode a current out of his range but Azula blocked her way, sweeping out her foot to trip her up at her base. It knocked her down but Katara pulled herself up, panting with exertion, and Aang latched himself to one of the pillars, keeping his distance. Azula couldn't read his expression.

Katara held up her tensed hands and for a moment Azula felt her limbs seize. "This isn't a fair matchup anymore, is it?" Katara asked. Before she could make Azula do anything, Aang's pillar wobbled and collapsed, bringing him down with it. Katara released Azula from her hold as they all looked around for the earthbender, but he rode in on an earthen wave and Azula recognized him as the sandbender from earlier, Ghashiun.

He circled his arms and called up a torrent of sand that spun toward Aang, only for Aang to disperse it with wind, but it converged again behind him and drilled into his back.

"Didn't expect you to show up," Katara said, holding her stance. "Thanks, though."

"Who're you?" Aang asked. Then his eyes widened in recognition and cycled through something like confusion before narrowing in surprising hatred - Azula had no idea if they'd met before in this world or his other one. Aang widened his stance and punched both fists forward, pulling them back so his elbows lined up. The ground shook and the earth erupted underneath Ghashiun but he rode a platform out of the way and retaliated with streams of sand that moved like water.

Katara punished Azula for her distraction, covering her with water and freezing it over, trapping Azula in place. Before Katara could do anything, Aang stepped between them, pressing his palms together in an attempt to clamp Katara between earthen jaws, giving Azula the opportunity to free herself. She turned to face Ghashiun, fists clenched.

"Why are you even helping them?" she asked, scowling. "You're a traitor to your people."

"It's none of your business," he said. "You know nothing about me."

She blasted blue flames at him which he blocked with a wall of stone, but when she continued the stream he had to use sand instead which hardened into glass half-dome in just moments. The glass shattered and the force of the attack blasted Ghashiun backward, and Azula continued her assault with fury and madness in her eyes.


Aang had never expected to meet Appa's kidnapper again - much less here in the catacombs fighting alongside Katara; a face he'd never forget. But he had no time to question it. There were more important things.

He and Katara exchanged a series of blows with fire and water whips, respectively, clashing and sizzling against each other. She swept her hand out and more water rushed from the canal, coiling around his arm and yanking him toward the water. He cleaved the tentacle with a fiery chop and spun around with a sweeping kick in an attempt to knock Katara off her feet. She froze her legs to the floor before the gale reached her and launched a flurry of icicles at him.

"What is it, Avatar?" she asked him. "No words this time? No tearful begging for me to stop attacking?"

"No," he said. "I'm going to keep fighting until you give in."

She grinned and jumped into the canal. "That's what I wanted to hear."

He leapt high above her again, swirling the winds around his leg into an axe kick that he dropped on her with enough force to blast away her shields. It sent her face down into the water, but she swirled it around her and rose up to his level on a water spout, sending wave after wave at him with every gesture once he fell to the ground. He covered himself with an earthen shield and punched forward to destroy the section of the canal, disrupting her water spout but making the flow of water spill over. She landed on the ground, hard, but rose up on the crest of another wave that surged like a tide over Aang and Azula, who had knocked Ghashiun away and turned to face Katara alongside Aang.

The wave bowled both of them over, but Aang pushed himself to his feet first and stomped so pillars of earth rose in a line toward Katara. It lifted her up and dropped her to the ground and for a moment Aang thought she fell unconscious, but when she dragged herself to her feet again on shaky legs she took a familiar stance, her arms spread and fingers splayed out.

"Aang," Azula hissed. "Do something!"

But Aang and Azula both went stiff, their arms clamped at their sides.


Zuko and Toph ran with Jet still unconscious on a slab of earth, the grinding sound of stone against stone rumbling through the tunnels. Toph led the way up the same tunnel she used to get down to the catacombs but it occasionally intersected with others on the way down. Movement felt painstakingly slow. Every second they spent below the city was worse for Jet as his breathing felt weaker and weaker. Neither of them said it, but both Zuko and Toph desperately hoped they'd be able to bring him to the palace medic, if they could even find one.

In one of the intersecting tunnels, they found Suki and Yue. Both girls fell into an attacking stance until Toph waved a hand and sealed off the tunnel, so they continued. Suki shouted something but Zuko didn't hear it before Toph cut her off.

By the time they surfaced, they found themselves in an eerily quiet Upper Ring. Nobles shut themselves in their homes or evacuated to the palace grounds. Glass shattered somewhere in the distance and someone shouted something unintelligible; somewhere else, an animal that sounded like a fox cried. Once he breathed in the cool night air, he turned to Toph.

"Where's Mai?"

She gripped the stone slab that carried Jet with both hands and pushed. "I don't know. She went off to Sanctuary Gate and we haven't seen her since."

Worry clutched at his chest, but before he could say anything else a flash of gold fell on him from above. He rolled out of the way, drawing his broadswords to face his opponent. "Suki!"

Toph slid her foot to ram Yue with rock spikes, but she danced out of the way. "Oh, come on! We don't have time for this!"

Zuko scowled. "Don't you two know what's going on?"

Suki slashed her fans toward Zuko, who batted her away with his swords. "Yeah, but the way we see it, you guys are the cause of all this and we have to get revenge for what happened to our men."

"I'm past the point of wanting to fight you," Zuko said. "Just leave us alone!"

"Suki, look out!" Yue exclaimed, swinging her blade to cut a stone bullet out of the air. Zuko looked around - that didn't come from Toph.

"It's that Dai Li lady," Toph grumbled.

Suki scowled. "Nagi!"

A young woman who couldn't have been more than a year older than Zuko appeared from around the corner, stone cuffs raised. "I know what you two are," she said, glowering. "Water Tribe! You're under arrest!"

Toph held her fighting stance and shoved a stone pillar at Suki, who leapt off of it. "What happened to your weirdo brother?"

"I had hoped he'd be with you," said Nagi. Zuko's head spun and he wondered why they worked with a Dai Li agent now. "He slipped away from me while we made our way here."

"Great," said Toph. "Now you can handle these two bozos while we go get help for Jet." Zuko nodded, ready to fight alongside Nagi if he had to, but the ground rumbled underneath them and Toph groaned. "Ugh, now what?"

Yue swayed on her feet and put a hand to her forehead. "Something powerful comes," she said, her voice low and afraid. "Something dark. This isn't supposed to be here. What on earth is happening to the Spirit World?"

Zuko felt sick to his stomach when he looked down at the tunnel they had emerged from. Something lurked in the shadows and he had the strong desire to get far, far away from there.

Toph raised an eyebrow, her face twisted in concentration. "It's got… a ton of legs. This sounds crazy but it feels like a giant centipede!" She turned toward the hole and clapped her hands together to seal it, but the rumbling continued and something burst from the tunnel.

It was indeed a giant centipede - so huge that it rose at least ten feet in the air and seemed at least the same width as the tunnel, enormous and terrifying even though most of its body stayed concealed underground. Its legs flexed like claws when it stretched under the moonlight, languid and euphoric. It looked straight at the sky and Zuko could hear it draw in a deep breath. Whatever it was, Zuko knew at his core that he did not want to look at its face.

It spoke. Its voice came out deep and smooth and slow, like inky black tar. "It has been so long since I walked upon the human world… I cannot let Wan Shi Tong be the only one to roam free under your sky tonight."

Yue held her hands over her mouth, her eyes wide, but she looked away. "Everyone, keep your faces as blank as you can! This is Koh the Face Stealer!"

Everyone ran. All of them, Zuko realized, except for Toph. She stood her ground in front of Jet's motionless body, as Toph always did, and pulled up rock spikes on both sides of Koh to pin him in place. She jumped forward and jabbed her hands, calling up a third spike to pierce through his abdomen. He wailed in pain but then his voice fell several octaves deeper and Zuko forced himself to look back.

He wished he didn't. Koh's face was demonic; a fearsome entity with bloodshot eyes, skin mottled by scabs, and a gaping maw filled with rows of pointed teeth. He didn't know if what Yue said was true and he had to keep a blank face, but he wasn't sure if he even could when he saw that. It didn't matter, anyway - the spirit focused its ire on Toph.

"Not so tough, are ya?" Toph said.

Zuko could practically hear the smirk in her voice.

Quick as lightning, a claw swiped out toward her face, and blood pounded in Zuko's ears as he shouted louder than he ever did before.


Author's Notes: Again, since I'm splitting this in two I'd really love to get some reviews for both of these chapters. I worked really hard on them and I need that validation!

Another note - before people potentially get up in arms about Vaatu somehow influencing things (because I know a lot of fans don't really like Vaatu or what he represents), the knowledge seekers didn't become "dark spirits" like the ones in LoK. Think of it more like Hei Bai's "angry black and white monster" form. On the other hand, I don't want to retcon any canon established in LoK, which includes things like Wan, Raava, and Vaatu, so I might reference their existence here and there but Vaatu is still sealed in the Tree of Time (and can only be released at Harmonic Convergence in 70 years) at this point so he's not gonna bust out and turn someone into a Dark Avatar.

...All that said, according to the Avatar Wiki page I just read Hei Bai did become a dark spirit. Oh well, I guess that's what they are then, but it's not a result of Vaatu's influence.