A/N: And we're back!

Twospirit: Reimagined is going very well. The first five chapters have been redone. Check them out. I'm also posting the reimagined version as a new fic over on AO3.

Enjoy.

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Walking through the familiar streets of his youth was a challenge. Fortunately, Zuko had help. After the sixth familiar landmark threatened to send him into fearful obedience, Zuko called upon Ye Yue's gift.

The black dragon's memories unfolded before his eyes. Seeing human buildings for the first time. Learning not to eat stray chickens. Listening in fascination to chirpy human voices and slowly learning to understand them. Ye Yue's blessing was a part of the black dragon's spirit. Zuko looked again at the buildings they passed. The royal city seemed strange, unfamiliar, full of right angles and clearly defined straight paths, all of which Zuko now saw as aberrations. Everything he had seen as powerful and unchanging now looked like no more than flimsy attempts to defy nature, destined for destruction. That house in the distance, for example - it was hollow. As Ye Yue got older, she had learned not to touch houses because the slightest shift in her weight could cave in their flimsy walls. So small. So flimsy. So bizarre.

In other words, her gift fit right in with the new state Zuko was trying to maintain. He did not wobble anymore. He thought to himself, I am elemental. I do not obey humans. I am of the wind and rocks. Now he genuinely believed those things in his heart.

They reached the palace gate. "Time to face the fire," Azula said with a cruel smirk. She took hold of the shackles that bound his hands and marched him through by herself. Zuko went with her and felt no frustration, because she didn't have the power to control him. She was only human.

They passed through the door, then through an admittance hall. The admittance hall ended in a double set of enormous floor-to-ceiling doors embossed with a giant version of the Fire Nation crest. As two staff members labored at their pulleys, the doors slowly swung open.

Fire glowed beyond. A wall of fire on a stage, and behind it, a shadowy and menacing figure. Ye Yue's instincts readied him for a fight. A ball of warmth flared in Zuko's belly, comforting him. As Azula led him past the columns and into the firelight, he saw that they were not alone. The twin crones stood aside, serving as witnesses. Among other duties, they faithfully recorded the Firelord's official pronouncements. When he saw them, Zuko knew he was not going to be quietly executed or tossed in jail. Nothing that simple.

"Father," Azula said, bowing her head. "I have brought the traitor home to face justice."

"Release him from his chains," Firelord Ozai commanded. Azula used her key. The shackles that bound Zuko's hands and feet fell away. After their removal, there was a lengthy period of silence. Zuko knew he was expected to kneel and grovel, but felt little desire to do so. So far, Ye Yue's gift was working.

The firelord's hands tightened on his knees. "Prince Zuko. Are you so far fallen that you will not even bow to your firelord?"

"I'm not yours anymore."

The flames flared higher. They soon settled, but Zuko's heart pounded fast. Whooshing flames had accompanied his last, disastrous war meeting. He squinted as if his eyes were about to be burned again. Ye Yue! The black dragon's memories were remote. They could not help him now.

"Family, country, destiny. All are inescapable. To defy them is a fool's choice, and it leads only to death and misery." Firelord Ozai stood. "If death and misery is what you choose, then that is what you shall have."

Zuko was seized by the urge to plead for mercy. Elemental! Wind and rocks! "That's exactly why I make this choice. For so long, I fought against those things. I turned away from the family of people who are like me, who have shared in my experiences. I defied the destiny I was born into, which is to protect the helpless. I tried for so long to fit myself into your ideas of who and what I should be, and in the end all that did was make me miserable. It almost made me dead, too. I turn my back on the Fire Nation because I want to live."

"Crones, heed my words," Firelord Ozai commanded. "Zuko. I hereby strip you of your heritage. You are no longer my son. As far as history is concerned, you never were."

Despite everything, hearing those words still felt like getting his heart torn out. But Zuko knew what his true feelings were, so he smiled and said, "Thank you."

"Azula," Ozai continued. "Princess. My heir. See this traitor imprisoned in the royal cells."

"Your wish is my command," Azula said, kneeling and bowing. She rose, retrieved the shackles and replaced them around Zuko's wrists and ankles. Firelord Ozai sat. Azula yanked on the chain, making Zuko stumble. She seemed to be enjoying his disgrace.

But as they made their way out of the caldera, Zuko sensed that the truth was very different. Azula yanked on his chains much more than necessary, inflicting a sheer frequency of cruelty that he hadn't seen since their childhood. She's rattled. By what? By how I was able to stand up to Dad and she wasn't? No; he's not Dad anymore. I'm free.

Zuko was shown to a bare cell with a single blanket and pillow on the floor. He was thrown in, the door locked, and promised no food until the next morning. Then he was left alone. He turned to face the back wall and let tears roll down his cheeks. The family he'd devoted himself to for so long was gone for good.

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The Avatar's whole party had to stop at the wall. The defenders of Ba Sing Se weren't about to let an unidentified animal soar into a crowded city unchallenged. Aang explained that he was the Avatar, bending air and earth just to prove it beyond all doubt. "We have a woman with us who's going to give birth any second! She needs help. Let my bison pass."

No commander was there to give orders. The group of common soldiers looked at each other. Ying cried out very loudly. The entire group of big, strong men jumped and started to shake in their boots. "The bison can pass," one of them said quickly.

"Katara, take her to a hospital," Aang commanded. Appa took off before Katara could even flick the reins. Sokka, Toph and Aang faced the soldiers. Aang told them, "Take us to whoever's in charge."

They were shown to a very busy man. The commander was racing around giving orders for various teams of earthbenders to attack the drill. In between, he peered out of a spyglass mounted on the wall and whimpered. He was obviously panicking. "General Sung," Aang called. "I'm the Avatar and I'm here to help."

The man attempted to stand straight and hide his panic. He succeeded at neither task. "A-ah! Avatar! Welcome to the Outer Wall. It is an honor."

"Save it for later," Aang said. "That drill is going to reach the wall soon."

"Yes," the general admitted. "I have sent teams of elite earthbenders to deal with it. They've slowed it down, but haven't quite found a way to stop it. I'm sure we're on the verge of a breakthrough, but just in case… Your help would be appreciated, young Avatar."

The man seemed more interested in maintaining his pride than anything else. Aang called, "What do you see, Sokka?"

Sokka adjusted the spyglass. "The drill has a thick metal shell which doesn't even look scratched. It's built in sections. It advances one section at a time, by gripping onto the rock beneath it and pushing off."

"Have your elite teams tried reducing the rock to sand?" Toph asked the general.

The general blinked in surprise. But then, he quickly said, "I'm sure they would have tried that, if they hadn't been struck down by enemy agents."

"I see something," Sokka called. "It looks like a battle. It's hard to see because there's dust, but… Huh. It looks like there's only one attacker. Highly mobile, smaller than all of your guys…" He gasped. "Ty Lee!"

Aang's grip on his staff tightened. "We need to deal with her."

"Un, we need to deal with the drill," Toph reminded him.

Sokka let go of the spyglass and stood straight. "Ty Lee's good. As long as she's guarding the drill, we won't be able to do anything."

Toph punched her palm with her other fist. "I've got an idea! I can tunnel underground and turn the rock to sand by myself. Aang and Sokka, you guys distract her."

"Good plan. Get a team of earthbenders out there with us so that Toph's earthbending doesn't immediately give her away," Sokka told the general.

Aang smiled, impressed with Sokka's forward thinking. The general diverted earthbenders from the wall to form Sokka's squad. Aang and the earthbenders lowered a platform of rock down to ground level outside the wall. Toph stood in the middle, completely hidden from view. As soon as the platform touched the ground, she tunneled. "Sokka, direct the earthbenders," Aang said. "You're a better general than me and I'm the only one maneuverable enough to match her." Sokka grunted in agreement.

Aang flew out to challenge Ty Lee while Sokka and the earthbenders raced for the first section of the drill. Ty Lee's face lit up when she saw him. "Yay! Azula won't be mad after all!"

"Is she here too?" Aang asked, glancing nervously around.

"No. She went with Zuko to the Fire Nation and left us in charge." Ty Lee darted forward while speaking. Aang, distracted by her words, barely dodged. "Mai's the leader now. I think she's really enjoying it!"

Aang dodged several more attacks by thin margins. His mind was reeling from the news. If Azula was with Zuko, that put Zuko in greater danger than ever! She could be torturing him at that very moment!

"Don't worry!" Ty Lee called, sounding genuinely concerned. "He was fine last I saw him."

What did she know? Aang yelled and lashed at her with a gust of wind. She leaped out of the way. He expected her to dart towards him again, but instead she ran the other way: towards the earthbenders. He had to give chase. He spread his glider and flew after her.

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Mai's attempt to take a break was cut short when a messenger found her. The lady soldier knelt. "Apologies for the interruption. You must come to the bridge right away! The Avatar has been spotted!"

Mai ran up to the bridge. War Minister Qin asked her to point the spyglass at the front of the drill. Mai's eyes widened. She could clearly see the distinctive orange clothes of the Avatar, as well as Ty Lee's pink and a large group of earthbenders in brown and green. A little less than half of the earthbenders were disabled, and the Avatar was protecting the rest. Mai focused on the earthbenders who were still active. They were making bending motions, but she couldn't see what they were doing.

The drill groaned. One of the loudspeakers hissed into operation. "Bridge! Urgent report for the bridge! Section One has lost traction and cannot advance! Earthbenders have turned the rock to sand!"

Mai gasped and pushed the spyglass aside. Of course! How had she not foreseen that? "War Minister Qin," she barked. "Stop the drill and deploy soldiers to stop those earthbenders. I'll handle the Avatar."

War Minister Qin looked at her curiously. The Mai who barked out commands now was nothing like the quiet, apathetic girl he knew. That girl had none of the qualifications necessary to be a leader, but this one… "Deploy soldiers from Sections Two, Three and Four for defense!" he called.

Mai raced from the room. She emerged from the top of the drill's second section and looked down. Ty Lee and the Avatar were engaged in an intricate dance, both of them moving so fast that Mai could not target one without risk of hitting the other. At first she stayed her hand, not wanting to risk her friend. Then she remembered Azula's example. Sometimes it was necessary to take a personal risk. Ty Lee and the Avatar closed on each other, each staying behind the other's back. Mai loaded her hand with spare shirshu poison darts saved from the desert. "Sorry," she whispered, and let them fly.

The Avatar was hit. Ty Lee was also hit. They both went down like sacks of rocks. Mai slid down the side of the drill and leaped off, her hand already loaded with normal unpoisoned weapons. She forced the earthbenders on her side to stop their bending. Sounds of combat could be heard from the other side as soldiers joined the fight, and a small group appeared behind Mai. They engaged the earthbenders and forced them to retreat.

"Aang!" screamed a teenage boy dressed in blue, one of the Avatar's Water Tribe friends. He threw himself over the Avatar and pounded on the ground with one fist. Before Mai could react, a hole opened up in the ground and swallowed them both. Mai glimpsed a tunnel below as the hole sealed itself shut.

"They're tunneling underneath the drill!" she told the soldiers.

"We can't do anything about that!" a soldier replied. They were right. An earthbender encased in solid rock was an earthbender untouchable as far as their present weaponry was concerned. Mai gritted her teeth. Their superweapon depended on the very element that their enemy could manipulate! If only it had a track of metal to stand on!

A track of metal…

Another soldier ran towards her from the front. "The earthbenders have been driven off, but Section One is starting to sink!" they reported.

Mai's mind raced. Could the drill be saved? With earthbenders working in underground tunnels, enough of the earth could be turned to sand to bury the drill. Even if all of the earthbenders were repelled this very second, the drill would not be able to advance. The only thing that could save it was, ironically, earthbenders. Turning the sand back into rock would free the drill. Anything else was hopeless.

A substantial group of soldiers had gathered around her by this time. In her loudest voice, a voice she hadn't known she possessed, Mai called, "They're going to bury the drill! We need to get our people out!"

"What about the invasion plan?"

Before Mai could answer, a loud screech came from the junction between Sections One and Two. Section One had sunk far enough into the sand to twist the metal. Soldiers were already pouring out. Mai silently pointed at their example. The group surrounding her voiced no more doubts. They ran off to spread the evacuation order.

"I'm sorry, Mai!" Ty Lee said. She sounded on the verge of tears.

Mai lifted her up. "We had no way to know the Avatar would be here," she said. "Besides, this drill plan was doomed from the start."

"What can we do when they can just tunnel underneath us and turn the ground into loose sand?" Ty Lee agreed.

"Azula would never rely on a monstrosity like this," Mai said while hauling Ty Lee to the nearest tank. The tanks, which originally had flanked the drill as part of an invasion force, now assisted with evacuation. Teams of earthbenders were emerging to fight the soldiers; the tanks closed ranks, forming a solid barrier that rocky projectiles bounced off of. Soldiers fleeing the sinking drill could regroup in safety behind them. Mai hauled Ty Lee into the shelter of a tank and apologized for hitting her with a paralytic dart. "I was thinking like Azula. I'm starting to understand how she thinks."

Ty Lee moved a single finger, but that was all she could manage. The drill groaned as more of it sank into sand. The soldiers organized a retreat, worried that the sand might spread to bury them. "A plan of Azula's wouldn't fail like this," she said.

"Good thing the drill wasn't our plan, then. The blame for this disaster will fall on War Minister Qin."

"We need a plan of our own," Ty Lee said. "We need to capture Ba Sing Se, or the Avatar, or both. Otherwise Azula will be angry!"

"I already have an idea. I'll tell it to you later." Mai beckoned a couple of otherwise unoccupied soldiers. They helped her carry Ty Lee in the direction of retreat: the direction of safety.