lavanya_six | Rejected Ideas for Chapter 2 of FMB

All the stuff that got cut during the extensive revision process:

* Starting the chapter in medias res with the Iroh/Toph tea scene.

**Rejected by my beta readers for being pointless.

* Toph convinced the gAang that she should attack the tank straight off, resulting in the tank's destruction (via a mega pothole and then Toph metalbending the shit out of it) and Azula's capture when Toph realizes her value as a hostage. Toph breaks Azula's arms to keep her from firebending, which horrifies the gAang. Zuko teams up with Mai and Ty Lee to save Azula. Eventual showdown in the ghost town.

**Rejected because it didn't jive with the gun-shyness that Toph demonstrated in Chapter 1 against Xin Fu. FMB!Toph can be casually brutal, but she wouldn't start a fight if she could help it. Also it was a little too Sue-ish for Toph.

* After their tank is destroyed on the mountaintop, Ozai's Angels track the Gaang to the ghost town. Zuko inadvertently foils their ambush. The fight devolves into a Mexican Standoff, with everyone holding everyone else at sword/fire/water-point (including Azula threatening to kill Mai just to psych out Zuko) when Toph and Mushi arrive.

**Rejected for being a bitch to choreograph, and unnecessarily complicated.

* At the end of the chapter, the gAang drops a captured Azula off with the Earth Army despite Toph's objections, who feels that they should just kill her because she's the current Crown Princess ("And that's as good as her being a Fire Lord.") Toph, who has realized just how powerful a firebender Azula is, is also overruled by the Earth Army commander they surrender Azula to after she tells him that he should break Azula's legs -- the commander doesn't think a teenage girl could be a threat, and that it would be cruel to treat a prisoner that way ("We're not the Fire Nation. We have standards.")

**Rejected because that level of brutality from Toph would have been a deal breaker for the gAang.

* Going by the way he breathed, as well as the way he rejected her offer of a smoking pipe, Toph realizes that Mushi is a firebender. She inwardly debates about just killing him, but then decides to let him go because he's an old man and not a threat to anyone. Toph doesn't invite Mushi back to the gAang's camp for tea. Instead, Iroh goes to the camp separately after the three-way fight starts.

**Rejected because I didn't use the "Mexican standoff" plot.

* While Toph and Mushi are talking, Zuko confronts the gAang and challenges Aang to an Agni Kai -- airbending against firebending. If Aang wins, Zuko promise to leave him alone forever. If Zuko wins, Aang has to surrender himself and the Water Tribe siblings can't ever attempt to help him escape. After some debate, Aang agrees to Zuko's challenge with one proviso: they fight with weapons, not bending, so Zuko can have a fighting chance. Zuko agrees, whips out his twin dao, and then Aang says he should have two weapons as well. Zuko agrees. Aang throws a pieces of fruit at Zuko (Weapon #1), who catches it, and then Aang sicks Appa on Zuko (Weapon #2). Aang KOs Zuko.

**Rejected by my beta for being too "Season 1" Zuko in behavior. A "Season 2" Zuko would plot would have been to ambush Aang when he went to the bathroom. Further, it didn't make sense for Zuko to risk everything on an Agni Kai, especially one that had to be heavily modified because Aang wasn't a trained firebender yet. Also Chapter 2 was too damn long as it stood and didn't need another 800 words.

Rejected Ideas for Chapter 2 of FMB

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