Full Summary: Team Avatar struggles to settle the unrest between the nations following the events of Sozin's Comet. As Firelord Zuko must decide between standing up for his nation or forcing the colonies to return, he is also at risk of losing his throne to Fire Nation Rogues. Meanwhile, Jin seeks out the Fire Nation rogues responsible for her father's death. As their paths cross and intertwine in a quest to defeat the rogues, secrets expose themselves, memories are recalled from the past, and suppressed feelings revive themselves.
Author's Note: Life happens, which in my case is 3 years of college... Sorry for not updating. But I suddenly got inspired to write again! I've proofread my chapters a bit and decided to develop it and make a bigger plot. I can't just write romance. And because this is a ZukoxJin fanfiction, you're probably here because you like ZukoxJin or you want to give it a try. If not, please don't read and respond to something you know you're not going to like. Here we go.
Wind Child
Flight
"They're here, in the city!"
Jin rolled over, trying to drown the sound out with her lumpy pillow. This movement, however, threw her over the edge of the bed, and her head collided with the floorboards. She rubbed her head as it swam. The sound came shrill again.
"They're here! Flee the city! Hurry!" It was an old man, followed by several other shouts and screams. Jin peeked out over the window sill, and surely, refugees like her were wrapped up in the hysteria and rushed through the streets. She could not believe her eyes. The sky, not too far away, was tinged red in the dead of night, and she saw columns of black smoke rising. The Fire Nation broke through the lower ring.
Her first instinct was to run, but she could not. What if her parents were still sleeping? Instead, she began filling the knapsack under her cot with a couple family heirlooms: a luxurious jade comb and her grandmother's silk kimono—and then she hurriedly stuffed in a couple changes of clothes. That was all she needed. After all, she was used to being a traveling refugee.
Jin burst into her parent's room, nearly ripping the sliding door apart. "Mama, Papa… Wake up." She knelt by her mother and nudged her. She lay peacefully in her husband's arms, serene, and her dark hair hung over her shoulder in a beautiful long braid. Her eyes fluttered open and she looked concerned at her daughter, unaware of anything that was happening, wondering why she looked so panicked. "Mama, we have to leave."
Jin's father woke and he rubbed his eyes. "Jin, what's wrong?"
"The Fire Nation is here, in the lower ring," she explained, "I saw the smoke with my own eyes."
A couple shrieks from the outside could be heard, and the roar of fire, faint for now, was advancing.
Her father looked frantically at his wife. "Hiromi, do you have the passports?"
"Yes, dear." She leaped out of bed and snatched what looked like booklets from her desk. "Have you gotten everything packed, Jin?"
"Yes, Mama."
Her parents packed the belongings, at least, whatever would fit. And then they fled, but they did not know where to. The three followed the crowd, clinging to each other.
"Papa, where do we go?" Jin shouted above the crowd.
He looked in the direction of the flow of the crowd. "Not to the docks. The soldiers will have beaten us there. We will have to get out through the wall."
Jin knew what that would mean. It was their only option of escape now. The only way out of the city walls was earthbending. "But Papa—"
"You must, Jin!" She knew the pleading in his voice. He'd always believed that she could earthbend.
The trio rushed, hand in hand, plowing through the crowd of refugees and then stumbling down a steep and dusty hill. They finally reached that colossal wall; the wall that once offered protection, which was now a prison. Jin heard the roaring wall of fire now, much closer, and turned to see a house set ablaze.
"You can do it, Jin!" her father encouraged. She turned again to the wall. This wall was the only barrier from their freedom.
Jin studied the barrier as she inhaled deeply. Strong, she thought, positive jing. She threw a punch as she exhaled, plunging a hole into the rock. She continued these movements until her arms were about to give out. As she threw the last punch, the barrier fell away to expose the millions of stars. She grabbed her mother's hand. "Let's go!"
But she would not budge. She was stiff, looking the other way. Jin gasped when a couple yards away, she saw her father in the grasp of Fire Nation soldiers.
"Jin, Hiromi, go!" Mother and daughter were frozen as they watched him struggling to fight them. "Go, now!"
He earthbended as a defensive maneuver. His long braid, a sign of his honor, was cut from his head as soldiers barely managed to shackle him.
"Go! I'll come for you!" he shouted, letting the soldiers drag him off. A couple others headed in their general direction. Hiromi pushed her daughter closer to the end of the tunnel.
"Let's go, dear."
"But, Papa—" She did not believe him one bit.
"We'll find him, I promise!"—there was anguish in her voice—"Now, go!" She nudged her daughter once more. Jin leapt with agility down the boulders and rubble, her mother following closely behind. Tears glazed her eyes as she ran for her life. How could he do that? She needed him. He'd supported her; worked hard to provide his little girl with all she needed, taught her, deemed her the jewel of his eye. She still needed him. And now, she would have no way of finding him.
The two ran through the safety of the forest, shrouded by nightfall. After running a good five miles, they rested near the clearing. Jin's tears still flowed, maybe from shock, maybe from fear, or a bit of both.
Jin came into contact with her mother's sleeve and sobbed even harder, the heaving of her lungs becoming an unbearable ache. She clung to her embrace, a child slowly finding comfort in her mother's arms. "Why…why?" she blubbered.
The sound of her sobs even made it hard for her mother to bear. A lump formed in her throat, but she knew that she should be strong for her daughter's sake. She tried convincing herself that they would both find her husband as she stroked Jin's dark hair, but she was still very uncertain. She gently rocked her daughter back and forth as she did when Jin was a baby. Eventually the sobs calmed to sniffles, and then quieted into a deep slumber.
She gently placed her daughter onto the meadow grass and slid her own knapsack under her head. She lay beside Jin and let her troubled mind wind down.