Fanfic / Distorted Reality

Book 2: Earth, by Axxonu on DeviantArt

Distorted Reality (also on Archive of Our Own) is a Fan Fic of Avatar: The Last Airbender by Ogro. It begins three years after Aang fails to defeat Ozai, and he travels to the spirit world to reactivate the avatar state.

However, the previous Avatars decide Aang needs to learn a lesson, and they send him into a Mirror Universe. Aang is also sent back in time to the start of the series, with all of his memories intact but his body and powers are reset to what he had then. Aang must come to terms with fighting alongside his former enemies against his old friends.

For 10 years, the fic has been put in a hiatus, the author officially abandoning it. However, as of May 2020, Ogro decided to continue the story, from the point it stopped (and rewrote the prologue). Ogro has also gone back and edited previous chapters, sometimes with heavy alterations to the plot.

The fanfiction also has an audiobook adaptation releasing a new chapter each week, as well as a webcomic adaptation by Axxonu, with the link in the image caption, though only certain scenes are adapted.

This Work Contains Examples Of:

Tropes A-E

• Abdicate the Throne: The Earth King, Kuei, did it before the start of the story, and hasn't been seen in five years. Ba Sing Se is led by the Council of Five and the new Grand Secretariat, Wu, instead.
• Adaptational Badass: Kanna (Sokka and Katara's grandmother, and a normal in the main series) taught Katara here, and is on par with Iroh. Hakoda as well: he's the Water Emperor, and basically the counterpart to Ozai. Sokka is another example, in that he can waterbend now. Yue, too, has a special ability and can fight with a katana.
• Adaptational Heroism: Played with: Distorted!Katara seems to be far more kind/caring to her friends and family than Canon!Azula, despite the two being "counterparts" of a sort. However, she is willing to (maybe) murder troops from her own country to achieve her goals, so.... Played straight by Zhao, Azula, and Ozai, though all three show varying shades of Good Is Not Nice.
• Adaptational Villainy: The Distorted!Water Nation in comparison with the canon Fire Nation.
  • Whereas the Fire Nation are Colonialists and (according to Sozin) started with a White Man's Burden type motivation, the Water Nation's motives are not stated, and their methods are consistent Rape, Pillage, and Burn, razing cities like Omashu and Gaoling, massacring random families, and causing the Si Wong to spread greatly.
  • However, the Water Nation are at least willing to assimilate survivors of their desolations, such as Suki, the last surviving Kyoshi Warrior, something the Fire Nation didn't do in canon, and even include people of other nations in the court, like Xai Bau, a firebender.
  • The Water Nation's motives for starting the war turn out to be the complete opposite of the Fire Nation in canon: living in a harsh environment like they do, they are unable to support their people through the harsh winters and need the resources of the other nations to survive... but they choose to do this through war rather than peaceful trade.
  • With all that in mind, like in canon there are many people who don't support the ongoing war and generally live peaceful lives, and the Water Tribes are particularly known for making great strides in science and healing.
• Affably Evil: Kanna, Yue, and Suki.
• All Love Is Unrequited:
  • Azula has a crush on Aang. Sadly, he still loves his world's Katara.
    • In light of the latest chapter, Azula's romantic interest in Aang might not be unrequited after all. With narration noting that he is just confused about Alt!Azula as Katara was towards Aang in the old world and that he might well be repressing an interest in Alt!Azula to keep himself from becoming too rooted in the DR!World.
  • Also, Ghashiun towards Sokka.
• Amazon Brigade: Roku's Warriors, and formerly the Kyoshi Warriors. Also, Katara's team.
  • When the Roku Warriors make their reappearance later in the story they are shown to have male members, averting this trope.
• Anachronic Order: Aang's dream scenes at the beginning of each chapter which show snippets of how his life in the canon universe continued after Sozin's Comet. The scenes jump around to any period of time in the three years between Sozin's Comet and Aang departing for the Spirit World to come to this world, though one dream scene jumps back even earlier and depicts Admiral Zhao slaying the moon spirit. In Book 3, they seem to be showing how Aang's world changed so much that he lost the war, bit by bit, indicating a version of How We Got Here.
• And the Adventure Continues: The story ends with Azula travelling to Aang's world so she can continue helping him.
• Apocalypse How: an imminent Class Z, with Enma (the meditating monkey spirit) explicitly stating that the Spirit World is out of balance and the end is coming soon, and Guru Pathik expressly worried that the Spirit World faces oblivion. As of Chapter 41, Wan Shi Tong and his Library have been displaced from the Spirit World by this.
• Arranged Marriage: Ty Lee had one with Chan, and Yue went to one of the Water Temples specifically to subvert this, as she was arranged to marry Sokka. She still seems to have feelings for him, though.
• Artistic License – Geography: The author admitted to making an error involving Fire Nation geography and the location of the Western Air Temple, which in canon is actually north of the Fire Nation. Since Aang's main goal in Book 1 is to get to the Golden City at the northern point of the Fire Nation, it doesn't make sense for him to reach the Western Air Temple within three chapters, travel back south for all his adventures, and then go back up north to the Golden City; instead, geography was switched around a little bit so that the temple is further west of the Fire Nation and there's now a southern archipelago in addition to the normal eastern one, and the islands are bigger now overall.
• Ascended Extra: Yue gets this treatment, as well as Kanna/Gran-Gran. Ghashiun, the sandbender who kidnapped Appa in canon, also becomes a recurring character allying with Sokka and Katara. Aunt Wu, the fortuneteller, is also now Grand Secretariat of Ba Sing Se in this world.
• Bad Moon Rising: Seiryu's Moon, the Water Tribe equivalent to Sozin's Comet.
• Balance Between Good and Evil:
  • Blue flame, like Azula's, is generated using killing intent, and white flame is generated from the desire to protect.
  • It's later revealed that this is the natural state of The Multiverse - no matter how unbalanced worlds get, eventually they find some way to balance themselves, as shown in the past when Avatar Kyoshi's actions as an Avatar pushing for order ended up unbalancing many spirits toward light, and dark spirits began forming in an effort to balance them out. The surge of dark spirits ended up being a mess that Kuruk (her successor in this world rather than predecessor) ended up having to fix throughout his life.
• Balancing Death's Books: Since Aang managed to spare the life of Ty Lee and Jet in this world, Koh the Face Stealer takes Yue, Ty Lee's counterpart and the one who originally died in Aang's world, with him to the Spirit World. He also takes Nagi and Toph, for good measure as a form of Equivalent Exchange and to punish Aang for his hubris.
• Batman Grabs a Gun: Aang grabs a sword and starts wielding it in battle to augment his bending, along with his usual staff. Though it's implied he has not (yet) broken his Thou Shalt Not Kill policy, even in the original world. The drama of it comes from how he stole the meteorite sword from Piandao to give to Distorted Sokka instead of forging his own.
• Big Bad Ensemble: Unlike in canon, where Aang only had to worry about Big Bad Ozai and The Dragon Azula, here he needs to deal with Emperor Hakoda of the South and High Chief Arnook of the North (while the latter is subservient to the former they are both treated as independent threats). Furthermore, Xai Bau is shaping up to be another prominent threat, and that's not even getting into the antagonists in the Spirit World (namely, Wan Shi Tong and Koh the Face Stealer). Dealing with all of these is the primary reason for the Cast Herds in Book 3.
• Big, Screwed-Up Family: The Royal Family of the Southern Water Tribe, who are in charge of both tribes.
• The Bus Came Back: Ty Lee, Haru, the Freedom Fighters, and Iroh all return in Book 3, Chapter 1.
• The Cameo: Yin, Mako and Bolin's grandmother from Legend of Korra, appears as a teenage florist and shopkeeper in Ba Sing Se and meets Aang (and briefly flirts with him).
• Cast Calculus: Changes Book by Book, and sometimes halfway through:
  • Early Book 1: Two Guys and a Girl (Aang, Azula, Zuko). A constant throughout all of these lists is Appa, along with Sabishi the (female) flying lemur as the Team Pets ( joined by Momo as of Chapter 40).
  • Late Book 1: Four-Philosophy Ensemble / Four-Temperament Ensemble (Ty Lee as the Sanguine Idealist, Aang as the Melancholic Cynic, Azula as the Choleric Realist, and Zuko as the Phlegmatic Apathetic)
  • Early Book 2: Five-Man Band (Aang as The Leader, Azula as The Lancer and The Smart Guy, Toph as The Big Guy, Zuko as The Heart, and Sokka as the Sixth Ranger and The Drag-Along)
  • Late Book 2: Five-Man Band (Aang as The Leader, Azula as The Lancer, Toph as The Big Guy, Mai as The Smart Guy, Zuko as The Heart)
  • Late Book 2 (Ba Sing Se infiltration): Five-Man Band (Katara as The Leader, Sokka as The Lancer, Suki as The Big Guy, Ghashiun as The Smart Guy, and Yue as The Heart)
• Cast Herd: Book 3 has Three Lines, Some Waiting due to the cast splitting up into different herds in different locations:
  • Aang, Azula, Zuko, Sokka, and Katara form one herd, en route to defeat Hakoda and reach the Southern Spirit Portal to rescue Toph and Yue in the Spirit World.
    • Azula and Katara split off from this group to go form their own herd shortly into Book 3. Sangmu the airbender joins Aang's herd in their place shortly after.
  • Mai, Ty Lee, Haru, Jet, and the Freedom Fighters are en route to defeat Chief Arnook at the North Pole and try to reach the Northern Spirit Portal in case Aang can't, to rescue Toph. The Freedom Fighters, sans Jet, get left behind with Huu's pirate crew.
  • Toph, Yue, Nagi, and Spirit-Toph (aka Canon Toph) in the Spirit World, trying to escape.
  • Suki and Ghashiun are also in the North Pole while the White Lotus members are also preparing for the invasion in Ba Sing Se.
• Character Rerailment: Thanks to the two worlds fusing, the characters from Aang's world are influencing their mirror counterparts, bringing them closer to their canon personalities whether they like it or not.
• Collateral Damage: Ba Sing Se's middle ring is absolutely wrecked by Wan Shi Tong bringing in his Library. Wan Shi Tong explicitly states he doesn't care.
• Compressed Adaptation: Not the fic itself, but the webcomic based on it, which only adapts scenes from certain chapters (though there are summaries bridging the gaps between each comic).
• Conflict Ball: Despite knowing that Zhao is in Bato's role and thus a good guy now, Aang is still openly hostile to him. Aang is fully aware he's holding it.
• Crapsack World: Aang's world after Sozin's Comet and the new world thanks to the environmentally-damaging warfare of the Water Nation, who often pull water out of the ground to fight, turning much of the Earth Kingdom and parts of the Fire Nation into wastelands.
• Conflict Killer: As of Chapters 42 and 43, the breakdown of the Spirit World appears to be this, with Team Avatar and Ba Sing Se having to pull an Enemy Mine with the Water Tribes to contain rampaging Spirits. Displaced Spirits, being a veritable Diabolus ex Nihilo from the perspective of those fighting the 100-year war, might result in the war being put on hold until the problem is fixed.
• Dance of Romance: Aang and Azula have one at the welcoming feast in Ba Sing Se, but he spoils it when he talks about a similar dance he once had with Katara.
• Determinator: Guru Pathik thinks Aang has become one, and compliments him for it after the latter resolves to Save Both Worlds.
• Elemental Baggage: Waterbenders, when not near a water source, fight by pulling water from the ground and plants as well as their waterskins.
• Empowered Badass Normal: Distorted!Zuko, after Canon!Zuko somehow gives him the ability to firebend, whereas previously, he just had his swords. Yue is also this on new moons since she was blessed by a spirit which gives her the ability to waterbend during new moons.
• Enemy Mine:
  • Kanna and Piandao against Aang. Subverted when it turns out they were allies all along as members of the White Lotus.
  • Played straight with Aang, Azula, Zuko, Katara, and Sokka against Wan Shi Tong and Koh the Face-Stealer.
• Entertainingly Wrong: Until the Internal Reveal, Azula deduces that Aang is a time-traveller. She's only half-right.
• Equal-Opportunity Evil: The Water Nation, in contrast with the Fire Nation, actually is willing to incorporate denizens of conquered lands as members of its military forces. Suki herself was taken in by Kya at the fall of Kyoshi Island and raised as family.
• Evil Counterpart: Yue is this, in a way, to Ty Lee. Also, Hama to Kanna.
• Expendable Alternate Universe: For a while, Azula fears Aang believes this world is one, since it isn't "his." Later on, with Guru Pathik, Aang does resolve to Save Both Worlds, though... but never gets the chance to tell Azula this.

Tropes F-L

• Face Palm: Aang does this around Dock/Xu/Bushi.
• Face Stealer: Koh. Aang deciding to speak with Enma instead results in Koh not appearing until Chapter 42.
• Featureless Plane of Disembodied Dialogue: Intentionally done at the end of one chapter when the original, canon universe gang is speaking to each other in a sort of Spirit World void space, observing events happening in the fic.
• For Want Of A Nail: In this world, Omashu fell to ruins thanks to the Water Nation invasion five years before the start of the story. This led to Bumi going to Ba Sing Se, informing King Kuei of the war's existence, Kuei Abdicating The Throne so they could form La Résistance together, and ousting Long Feng (who fled to the Fire Nation and declared himself king of a city there). Now Ba Sing Se has no king, which makes the Council of Five and the new Grand Secretariat, Aunt Wu, wrestle for control.
• Foreshadowing:
  • Aang decides to skip the library and cut straight for Ba Sing Se after picking up Toph. Some time later, Nagi is giving her tour of the catacombs to Sokka, Suki, and Yue, and they find a book on anthropology, a waterbending scroll, and a rope tied into a butterfly knot, three items that Professor Zei, Katara, and Sokka himself donated to the spirit library in the Canon Universe. A Knowledge Seeker appears in Chapter 41 in Ba Sing Se. Guess who shows up in the Middle Ring at the end of chapter 41...
  • When Enma off-hand mentions he's seen Aang before, Aang talks with him instead of Koh. Guess who tags along with Wan Shi Tong in Chapter 42.
  • The fic will make the occasional Call-Forward to The Legend of Korra every few chapters or so. And then in Chapter 43, Aang is briefed by Avatar Wan about Raava and the Spirit Portals at the North and South Poles. Getting to the Spirit World in person could fix the breakdown of the Spirit World.
• Gilligan Cut: Sokka says to Kanna that they will not stop searching for Aang just because she wants to make cookies for his men. The next scene has both of them in a port and Sokka saying "I can't believe you talked me into this."
• Gone Horribly Wrong: All the previous avatars wanted to do was teach Aang a lesson. They accidentally unbalance the spirit world, which causes Aang's world to begin fusing with this one, which could destroy them both. And if what Guru Pathik says is true, could cause the complete destruction of the Spirit World and maybe even the mortal worlds as well.
• He Is Not My Boyfriend: Azula regarding Aang.
• Heroic BSoD: Aang completely shuts down when he finally sees Katara in Azula's role.
• Heroic Sacrifice: In Toph's backstory, Poppy and Lao Bei Fong tell Toph to go into her tunnels under their house, and refuse to go in themselves to ensure she wouldn't be found by the Water Nation, despite knowing they would be killed if they were found.
• I Hate Past Me: Aang gets frustrated with how physically weak his twelve year old body is.
• Instant Expert: Justified: when Aang is shown how to do a bending move he had learned in his world, it removes a mental block, letting him use that move as if he had never forgotten how to do it in the first place.
  • Defied with his waterbending; it's implied that his mindset changed too much for him to do it effectively, so he struggled a bit when Sokka started to teach him.
• Internal Reveal: After his secrets threaten to break his new friendships and Aang meets Katara, he is forced to tell the truth that he's from another world to Azula, Zuko, Toph, Kanna, and Piandao.
• Invading Refugees:
  • Si Wong Sandbenders, many of whom displaced by the Water Tribes and other refugees fleeing into the desert, have encroached on areas as far as Ba Sing Se.
  • Wan Shi Tong is displaced by the chaos in the Spirit World and forced to set up shop in Ba Sing Se. He is deliberately reckless regarding Collateral Damage.
• Kangaroo Court: The Council of Five runs one and orders the arrests of Grand Secretariat Wu and the Dai Li agent Nagi on flimsy charges.
• Katanas Are Just Better: The Kokkan Samurai, the Water Nation equivalent to the Yu Yan Archers, use Katanas instead of bows and arrows. Yue also uses one.
• La Résistance: The Freedom Fighters, as usual, but also the Creeping Crystal, led by the former kings Bumi and Kuei.
• Love Triangle: Sokka, Yue, and Suki have one, as both Suki and Yue like Sokka. Surprisingly, Suki and Yue get along just fine. And another person falls for Sokka, too: Ghashiun, who only tells his sister this.

Tropes M-Z

• Masquerading As the Unseen: Katara is the "real" Blue Spirit, but Sokka uses the mask once to hide his identity without knowledge of who previously used the mask.
• Mauve Shirt: Xiao and Lu Mao, two of Mai's Roku Warriors, who die two chapters after being introduced.
• Mirror Universe: The order of Avatars is reversed (Water, Air, Fire, Earth), and the Water Tribes are trying to take over the world. There are still differences between the worlds beyond the differences between nations, though.
• The Multiverse: Roku shows Aang several other parallel universes, including one that is a Shout-Out to another fanfic.
• Mythology Gag:
  • In Kanna's flashback chapter, we are introduced to Nini, who is a taboo-breaker and an outcast in the Water Tribe - which are described as little more than ghosts. In the canon "The Puppetmaster" episode, Katara tells a ghost story about her mother's friend, Nini, who died and became a ghost.
  • Yin the florist in Ba Sing Se idolizes King Kuei and sighs wistfully about one day having grandchildren who would surprise her with flowers, like Aang is doing for his "grandmother." She turns out to be Mako and Bolin's grandmother as a teenager.
  • Mai has an escort through Ba Sing Se who introduces herself as Joo Dee out of habit before quickly correcting herself, showing that this version of Ba Sing Se stopped using brainwashed Joo Dees five years ago.
  • Many characters have similar or even outright identical lines that they did in canon, just under vastly different circumstances and contexts. For example, since Zuko and Katara had a scene together in the catacombs in canon, it would be expected that their counterparts, Sokka and Azula, would do it in this fanfic instead. Zuko and Katara do indeed have a scene together under the catacombs, but this time Katara is imprisoning him and they have a talk about their issues with their fathers rather than their mothers.
• Oh, Crap!:
  • Aang, Azula, and Zuko when Sokka is the Blue Spirit.
  • Sokka when Ty Lee gets the jump on him.
  • Aang when Kuruk doesn't know what the former is talking about.
  • Aang when Enma says they've met before, showing that the Spirit World is connected to both canon and the Distorted universe.
  • Aang when Piandao and Kanna join forces to pursue him.
  • Azula when confronted by a vision of her canon self.
  • Aang when Azula starts exhibiting behaviors of her canon self when cooperating with Jet.
  • Aang, Azula, Zuko, and Toph when Katara, Suki, and Yue are chasing them.
  • Jet when he finds out Sokka and Katara are Waterbenders.
  • Zuko when Katara shows up at the Avatar's doorstep.
  • Mai when Wan Shi Tong brings his Library into Ba Sing Se's Middle Ring.
  • Everyone when Koh the Face Stealer appears in the physical world.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Bumi notes that Aang is acting like a cynical old man rather than the playful kid he used to know.
• Order Versus Chaos: Rather than the good vs evil dichotomy that Raava and Vaatu have, they now have an order and chaos dichotomy in this fic, where neither of them are truly good or truly evil. To reflect this, there are even beings called "light spirits" that develop in addition to dark spirits, while a spirit's balanced state is its natural form.
• Original Character: Sangmu, Water Chief Seiryu/Aniak (read: waterbender Sozin), his son and grandson, the Kokkan Samurai, Nagi...
• Outside-Context Problem: universes combining, resulting in the breakdown of the Spirit World, which results in Spirits being displaced into the human world.
• People Puppets: Bloodbending is back, and Katara learned it from Hama and is capable of doing it without a full moon. Kanna knows it as well and used it to kill the previous emperor, her husband. Kanna also taught Sokka how to do it, and he's said to not be good at it but he does manage to steal control from Katara at one point for a brief moment, a few days away from a full moon.
• Retcon: Minor ones, mostly after the author came back from his ten year hiatus to make the story flow better overall. Parts of Suki and Yue's backstories were modified, Kherra's name was changed to Sangmu (to be more appropriate to the Avatar world), and other little edits to previous chapters.
• Save Both Worlds: Said verbatim by Aang, when he resolves to do just that to Guru Pathik. Pathik admires Aang's determination to do so.
• Science Is Bad: The Water Tribes utilize science instead of metalworking like the Fire Nation's. The runoff from their experiments in one lab was polluting the river from 'The Painted Lady,' and causing said spirit to act similarly to Hei Bai. Later, this is given more attention and it's not so black and white.
• Screw Destiny: Aang refuses to let Ty Lee die, and takes a third option.
• Secret Test of Character: Aang thinks the White Lotus gives him one in "The Tale of Aang," but it turns out to just be a string of errands Kanna sends him on, such as picking up her laundry, as payback for all his secrets. Aang isn't as amused as she is.
• Slowly Slipping Into Evil: Distorted!Azula starts to become more and more like Canon!Azula as time goes by. However, she shows in the end she's still a good guy.
• Stay in the Kitchen: The Water Nation still has this attitude towards women, for the most part, and only a few waterbending women know how to fight: the rest work as healers or stay at the Poles, or else became sages at Avatar Kuruk's temple.
• Stealth Pun: Bumi and Kuei are secretly trying to lead Ba Sing Se from a hidden base under Lake Laogai. They're the Deep State.
• Take a Third Option: Guru Pathik tells Aang he can actually choose which world he could stay in, but he must choose, or every world faces oblivion. Aang decides to stay in the Distorted universe long enough to defeat the Water Emperor before going home to save his friends.
• There Is Another: Deconstructed. Aang finds Sangmu, another airbender, frozen in ice a hundred years ago by the winter spirit, Sedna, and frees her. Aang thinks that, with another airbender to carry on their culture, he now has the freedom to do what needs to be done in regards to ending the war and pushes the responsibility of carrying on their culture to her. Sangmu recognizes this and calls him out on it, and to his credit he realizes what he has done.
• Took a Level in Cynic: Aang starts off the story much more jaded and cynical than he ever was in canon, due to losing the war in his own world and suffering the losses of many people he cared about. He stopped shaving and started eating meat as a sign of his loss of values.
• The Unreveal: Kanna's story about what happened to Kya is not revealed to the audience when she tells it to Sokka.
• Unexpected Character:
  • Downplayed with Guru Pathik- It's the canon Pathik who somehow came to the Distorted Universe.
  • Played Straight with Momo, who came over with Pathik.
• Unperson: Essentially what a taboo-breaker is in the Water Nation. This is what happened to Kya when Hakoda made her wrongfully take the blame for Emperor Kvichak's murder, combined with You Can't Go Home Again.
• Warrior Prince: Ty Lee is one, as the princess of the Golden City and Yue's distorted equivalent. Also, Katara and Yue count, though Katara outranks Yue. Sokka also qualifies.
• Wham Episode:
  • Chapter 40. Momo and Guru Pathik travel from canon to the Distorted Universe.
  • Chapter 41. Wan Shi Tong and his Library are displaced into Ba Sing Se by the chaos in the Spirit World. The Middle Ring is absolutely wrecked by their arrival.
  • Chapters 42 & 43, HOO BOY- Koh the Face-Stealer is in league with Wan Shi Tong- and the heroes and villains pull an Enemy Mine against the two spirits.
• Wham Line:
  • Guru Pathik to Aang- " Aang, it's time for you to go home".
  • Wan Shi Tong- " If I can't have my library in the Spirit World, then the human world will have to do... again. Even if I have to wipe out this entire city to claim it."
• Wham Shot: a written version- Mai is walking through Ba Sing Se when suddenly there's an earthquake and a cloud of dust. She climbs onto a roof and sees Wan Shi Tong bringing his Library into the human world- right in the middle of Ba Sing Se's Middle Ring.
• You Are Not Alone: Aang says this to Sangmu, but it's subverted in that he thinks she can carry the burden of keeping their culture alive on her own, giving him the freedom to be the Avatar. He realizes he's wrong.
• You Can't Fight Fate: Aang fears this trope is in effect when he fails to stop the Painted Lady from taking Azula. He manages to prove otherwise later.