disclaimer - I don't own ATLA, just the OCs
Two Weeks Earlier...
Jin walked out of the palace doors to the outside, smiling. She breathed deeply and allowed the sun's warmth to touch her face. She walked over to the pond where turtle ducks swam and reached into her pocket for bread which she broke into smaller pieces and tossed them into the water. She watched the turtle ducks eat their bread pieces then went to the stables to see Jynx.
She walked inside and walked to Jynx's stall. Jynx snorted when he saw her. She patted her komodo rhino on the neck and he closed his eyes in contentment. She set up a saddle on his back and opened the stall doors wide enough for her to lead Jynx out. She opened the stable doors and jumped onto Jynx's back. She urged Jynx forward and he walked out of the stables and toward the gates to outside the palace grounds.
Jin looked around to see if anyone was watching then snapped the reins and urged Jynx into a run. Before Jynx ran through the gates, however, Zuko appeared and stopped the animal.
"Whoa." said Zuko, stopping the komodo rhino. "Where do you think you're going in such a hurry?" he said to his daughter. Jin jumped off her mount and patted its neck again.
"Hello, Father." she said, avoiding Zuko's eyes, "I was just going out to explore the city for a little bit."
"Jin, you know you can't leave without-"
'Without a guard with you for protection." Jin interrupted, "I know that, but I've been practicing my firebending since I learned to walk and I'm perfectly capable of taking care of myself when there's danger."
"Well, I just want you to be careful. Accidents can happen. You could easily get hurt, or even get lost."
"I'm not a little girl anymore, Father. I know my way around the city."
"I want you to stay in the city at all-"
"At all times, I know. Can I go now? Please?" Jin gave Zuko her wide eyed look though she knew it wouldn't work. Mai came outside and approached the father and daughter. Zuko exchanged a glance with Mai, remembering when they did the same thing as kids.
"Very funny." he said, facing Jin again, "Alright, if you can go through today without any problems, then I'll know you're capable of taking care of yourself."
Jin bowed to her father and jumped back onto Jynx. "Thanks, Father." She urged Jynx forward again he walked through the gates. Zuko started calling after her.
"And remember to come back before nightfall!"
Mai smiled and kissed Zuko on the cheek, patting his shoulder.
"She'll be fine." she assured her husband. She walked away towards the pond. Zuko waited until she is out of earshot to address a guard.
"Guard."
A guard from the gates walked over to Zuko and bowed.
"Yes, your highness?"
"I want you to keep a close watch on Princess Jin." he instructed the guard. "You know she's bound to get into trouble."
"I won't take my eyes off her for a second!" said the guard
Jin rode on Jynx through the streets. She prefered to ride on her komodo rhino instead of by palaquin. This way she didn't miss a thing when she went through the city. She had Jynx stop in front of a shop and jumped off him. She tied her mount to a nearby pole and entered the shop.
Unknowingly to her, the guard from the palace was following Jin through the town. The guard watched Jin smell the firelillies in a vase on the counter through the window. Jin bought some food for her and Jynx and turned to leave the counter. When she turned, she could have sworn she saw someone staring at her before ducking under the store window. Her eyebrows raised in a questioning way. When she left the shop, she looked at the outside of the window only to find nothing but some barrels. Giving Jynx some of the food she just bought, her eyes stared to the side at the barrels.
Seeing the barrels move slightly, she dropped the food and ran to the barrels and pushed them aside to find the guard crouching on the ground.
"Oh, erm," The guard jumped to his feet and bowed to the princess, "Good afternoon, Princess Jin. Lovely day we're having, isn't it?"
"What are you doing here?" she asked the guard sternly with a look to match. As she watched the guard stammering, she realized something
"My father sent you didn't he?" she growled in anger and ran back to the komodo rhino. "After he promised to let me do this on my own, he turned around and sent out a bodyguard for me!"
"He's just worried!" explained the guard.
Jin jumped onto Jynx. "I should have known he'd never let me do this on my own." she had her mount turn around and urged him into a run back to the palace.
Jin ran down the corridors in the palace, looking for her father. She saw her younger sisters Morana and Ursa.
"Where's Dad?" she asked them angrily. The girls flinched at the anger in their oldest sister's voice.
"He's having a meeting with his advisors." answered Ursa, "He doesn't want any disturbances!" she added, yelling out to the running Jin. Jin ignored her and made her way to her father's throne room.
She made to get through the entrance of the throne room but the guards on either side of the curtains and stopped her.
"Let me in!" she yelled at the guards but they refused.
"Princess Jin?"
Jin turned around and saw her great uncle Iroh coming towards her.
"Is something wrong?"
"I've got something to say to Dad but the guards," she gave the guards a dirty look, "Won't let me in!"
"I think it's best to wait until your father is done with his meeting, Princess Jin." He put his hand on her shoulder, "Come have some tea while we wait."
Jin glared at the curtains and at the guards then reluctantly allowed Iroh to steer her away from the throne room.
"How could he order a guard to spy on me?" she questioned Iroh as they drank tea. Or at least, Iroh drank his tea. Jin hadn't touched her cup. She was pacing the room angrily as she talked to her uncle.
"It's so stupid! I'm fourteen years old! I don't need a babysitter! I'm perfectly capable of taking care of myself."
"Your father is very concerned about his family's safety." said Iroh, sipping his tea. "It may seem he treats you like a child, but he really wants to make sure you are safe."
"He's taught me firebending and how to be stealthy for as long as I can remember." said Jin, standing in front of Iroh. "He's even had Ty Lee teach me acrobatics and I can master dual dao swords and knives."
"You can?" asked Iroh, "I don't recall your parents giving you lessons on the use of weapons."
Jin's face went red when she realized she just told her uncle a secret.
"Well, they didn't teach me." said Jin sheepishly, "I actually taught myself."
"Hmm." answered Iroh, helping himself to more tea.
"Even if I didn't know how to use weapons, I can still protect myself with everything else he taught me."
"You're father has a good reason for being protective. The Chikara Army contains ruthless soldiers that show no mercy. I'm sure you remember-"
"Of course I remember!" snapped Jin, "How can I forget that horrible day?" She blasted fire at the wall in anger. Scorch marks appeared where the fire hit. Jin sighed and turned back to her uncle.
"I'm sorry, Uncle." she said softly, "I just miss him."
"I understand, Princess Jin." Iroh stood up and walked to Jin. "It's hard to lose someone you care deeply about. I felt this way when I lost my wife and when my son Lu Ten." He put a comforting hand on Jin's shoulder. A tear fell down Jin's face as she remembered the death of her little brother Izuru and walked out of the room.
As she walked down the corridor, she noticed some of her father's advisors walking in the opposite direction.
The meeting must be over. thought Jin, Now I can talk to my father
As Jin walked past the advisors, she heard what they were talking about.
"...enough on his mind already," said on of the advisors, "Now a planned attack on the Southern Tribe?"
"The Fire Lord won't sleep well tonight." said another advisor. "Let's hope that it won't happen. Something wrong, Princess Jin?" the advisor added, seeing Jin stop in her tracks, pale as a ghost. Jin didn't answer, she just ran straight towards the throne room, pushing servants aside as she ran.
She saw her father leaving the throne room and ran towards him.
"Are you okay, Jin?" he asked when he saw Jin out of breath and pale. When he saw tears brimming her eyes, he added, "What's wrong?"
"Is it true?" she asked him, her vision getting slightly blurry from the tears forming in her eyes, "Is the Chikara Army really planning on attacking the Southern Water Tribe?"
Zuko looked into her eyes and answered sadly, "It's true. My spy told me that there has been talk about an attack. Elvira is looking for the Avatar now."
"Well we've got to go and help them!" cried Jin, "Are our soldiers getting ready to leave? When are we going?"
"'We'? Jin, 'we' are not going anywhere. The Fire Nation soldiers are being sent out to the South Pole as we speak, but we're not going with them."
"Our friends are out there, I want to help."
"I'm sorry, Jin." Zuko put his hands on Jin's shoulders, "But I don't want you to get killed."
"Oh why don't you order a bodyguard for me to make sure I'm protected?" yelled out Jin, pushing Zuko's hands off her shoulders.
"What's going on?" asked Mai as she walked towards Zuko and Jin. Morana and Ursa followed her.
"I know you sent that guard to follow me around." Jin said to Zuko angrily, acting as if there was no interruption.
"Yeah, I did!" Zuko retorted, "And I'm not ashamed of it either! You're still a child and you shouldn't be going off on your own!"
"You were just fine when you were thirteen!"
"I had Uncle Iroh with me!"
"Just admit it, you don't think I can take care of myself." Jin turned and walked away from her father, walking past her mother and sisters as she went.
"You want to go to war and watch everyone around you die before your eyes?" yelled Zuko. Jin stopped in her tracks but didn't look back, "Then go! Go with the soldiers to the South Pole and see what it's like. See if I care!"
"Zuko, that's enough!" a shocked Mai yelled out. Morana and Ursa hid behind their mother. Zuko ignored her and continued to yell.
"You think you can handle that kind of pain now?" Jin turned to look back at Zuko, glaring at him, "You want to leave? Then fine! Get out of here! No one's stopping you!"
"Zuko!" yelled out Mai, but it was too late, Zuko's words hit Jin hard. She threw a fireball at Zuko and ran away, crying. Zuko deflected the flame and watched his oldest daughter go, surprised that she attacked him. Mai glared at Zuko.
"I hope you're happy." she said to him as she lead her terrified daughters away from their father. Zuko looked down, feeling upset about what he said to her.
Jin sat on her bed, hugging her knees and crying. She was angry at her father for what he did and what he said. She knew that he was trying to protect her but she wished he wouldn't treat her like something so fragile she could break just by walking.
She hated her father for not letting her be in the city by herself like he promised and for what he said but mostly she hated him for telling her she couldn't go to the South Pole to help her friends. She hardly ever saw them as it was she didn't want to not see them permanently. She looked up at the picture of her with her friends from their last visit; Kya had her arms around Jin and Toshiro. Rikiya stood next to Jin. All of them had a big smile on their faces. Even Haruki, who stood next to Toshiro with his arms crossed, had one of his rare smiles on his face. Jin took out her headpiece, making her long black hair fall to her back, jumped out of bed, and left her bedroom.
She ran silently down the corridor, lightning flashed while she ran. Jin quietly entered her parent's bedroom as they slept and placed her headpiece on their dresser. She opened her mother's drawer and took out her mother's knives. Before she left the room, she looked back at her parents.
"I'm sorry." she whispered, and hurried out.
Jin went back to her bedroom and started packing clothes and supplies. She looked at the family picture on the wall. It was made when Izuru was still alive. Zuko and Mai sat in throne like chair smiling. Jin, Morana, Ursa, and Izuru sat on the floor in front of their parents. Jin's eyes trailed from the picture of Zuko to his hand on the younger Jin's shoulder. The younger Jin had her arm around the two year old Izuru. She took the picture off the wall and put it in her bag. She sat down at her desk, picked up a brush, dipped it in ink, and wrote a letter to her family about what she had done. When she finished, she rolled up her letter, tied a ribbon around it, and placed it on her bed. She put on her cloak and ran out of her room.
Jin ran to her father's study and took his swords hanging on the wall placed them in the scabbard which she then put on. She pulled out the drawers in his desk and took all the maps inside them.
Jin ran out of the palace and ran to the stable and opened the doors. Jynx snorted and stomped the ground at the sight of her, not recognizing her in the dark. She ran forward and comforted the beast showing him that it was her. She put on her hood and walked Jynx out of the stable. Jin took one sorrowful glance back at her home and rode the beast through the gate and into the city.
Ursa woke up with a start to the sound of the komodo rhino running away. She ran to her window and saw a hooded figure ride away. She ran into Jin's room, a flame in her hand for light, and saw that it was empty. She noticed the letter, picked it up, and untied the ribbon. She unrolled it and began to read. Her eyes widened as she read it. Morana and Ursa ran into Zuko and Mai's bedroom, Ursa still held the letter in her hand.
"Jin's gone!" yelled Morana, waking up her parents.
"What?" yelled Zuko as he woke up. He saw the headpiece on their dresser and recognized it as Jin's. He jumped out of bed and ran out of the room. As he ran down the corridor, he passed his study. He noticed something and ran back to see his swords gone. Mai ran to Zuko and stood beside him.
"Jin took my knives!" she informed him.
Zuko ran past Mai and ran outside.
"Jin!" he called out before seeing the stable doors and gates open. "NO!" Zuko fell to his knees and brought his fists down on the ground. Fire grew where his fists landed but where immediately extinguished from the rain.
Jin rode Jynx towards the air ships, hood still up, though the rain was clearing up. The airships were getting set up for the trip to the South Pole. A guard appeared and stood in a firebending stance.
"Who are you?" he called out to Jin.
Jin took off her hood so the guard could see who she was.
"Princess Jin!" The guard got out of his stance and bowed to the princess. "Why...what are you..."
"I'm here to help the South Pole. My father gave me permission to come."
"Oh well..."
Jin slid off of Jynx and walked to the nearest war balloon, her bag over her shoulder.
"A war balloon will do nicely." she said, jumping into it. "When are we taking off?" she asked the guard
"We're going to take off in just a few minutes." said the guard.
"Excellent."
Jin firebended into the tank of the war balloon to keep it flying. She was following the two airships and six war balloons to the South Pole; they were over the Earth Kingdom at that time. She wore a black fireproof outfit and shared a basket with a soldier named On Ji.
"Do you mind if I ask you something personal, Princess Jin?" asked On Ji after a long moment of silence.
Jin stopped firebending for a moment, hesitating, and then resumed.
"Go ahead." Jin said finally, blasting fire into the vent.
"Why did you run away from home?"
Jin looked at On Ji, shocked. How did she know?
"I didn't run away," Jin lied, "I told you soldiers before, my father gave me permission to go."
"He let you ride your komodo rhino to the airships so early in the morning without an escort?" On Ji answered slyly.
Jin looked away from the soldier and continued firebending.
"It's complicated." Jin silently answered.
On Ji left the subject at that and there was silence once more.
Jin leaned against the basket, staring at the stars while On Ji took care of the fire. She was thinking about her friends at the Southern Water Tribe and hoping that they won't be too late.
"We'll be there in a couple days." On Ji told Jin, "You should get some sleep."
"Don't you worry about me, On Ji." Jin told the soldier, not taking her eyes off the night sky. She looked down at the ground and saw something that made her gasp; dozens of Chikara Army catapults were below facing the airships and the war balloons. She saw a rock being loaded into a catapult and set in flames. The Fire Nation soldiers noticed this too for Jin heard shouts and commands. She saw fire blasted from the airships towards the catapults but the firebenders below shielded the catapults from the flames and sent fireballs at the war balloons. Jin watched two war balloons go down, bringing the soldiers to their deaths below. On Ji tied one end of a rope around her waist and the other end around the vent. She tied another rope to it and pulled on them to make sure they were secured. When they were, she tossed the other end of the spare rope to Jin who also tied it around her waist. The catapults were set off and the flaming rocks were thrown high into the air at the airships. Some of the flaming rocks collided with one of the airships, causing it to go down. Jin made to blast fire at the soldiers below but On Ji held her back.
"You can't let them see you, Princess." On Ji told her, "We need to get the balloon out of range."
"We can't abandon them!" Jin told the soldier as she tried to get back to the side of the basket but the soldier continued to hold her back.
"The only chance we have is to escape. We aren't any help to the Southern Tribe dead." On Ji rushed to the side of the basket and made to signal the other soldiers in their balloons but was knocked backwards as a flaming rock narrowly avoided the balloon, but made a little flame on the side of the basket. On Ji quickly put it out but then another fire rock zoomed past the balloon again, making the basket rock dangerously and causing On Ji to lose her balance and fall out of the basket.
"On Ji!" screamed Jin as she ran to the edge of the basket to help the soldier.
On Ji's life line was secured enough to allow her to be hanging in the air. Jin saw another little fire forming on the basket and put it out while On Ji struggled to climb up her rope. The soldiers below noticed the hanging woman and started blasting flames at her, hoping to cut her rope. Seeing this, Jin started to pull on On Ji's life line, blasting fireballs at the soldiers on the ground every now and then. When On Ji was close enough for Jin to grab her hand, a fireball made contact with the rope and cut it. Jin quickly leaned forward and grabbed On Ji's hand before she could fall to her death. All around their balloon, soldiers fell from their balloons and the other airship fell to the ground. The rest of the soldiers desperately tried their best to get out their balloons out of line of target but to no avail. Jin struggled to pull On Ji back on board, trying hard not to fall out as well until their balloon started to go down.
"We didn't get hit!" said Jin confusedly, "Why are we going down?"
"It needs more fire!" said On Ji. She looked into Jin's eyes and Jin knew what On Ji was thinking.
"I'll help you back up," said Jin, trying to convince On Ji, "We'll get out of this."
On Ji's hand started to slip out of Jin's fingers. Jin tried to desperately to hold on.
"No. On Ji!"
The soldier's fingers slipped out of Jin's hand and she fell to the ground.
"NO!" Jin reached out for On Ji again but On Ji was already many feet below her. Tears formed in the princess' eyes as she watched the devastation around her. She realized that her war balloon was the only one left in the sky. She looked at the soldiers on the ground aiming the next fire rock at her. She closed her eyes, waiting for it to come, waiting for death. She then remembered On Ji's wish to get Jin out of danger and ran back to the tank and firebended into it. The balloon stopped falling out of the sky and started rising again. The rock missed her by feet. She blasted as much fire as she could into the vent to keep her rising back into the sky. The firebenders on the ground shot fireballs at her and she them as much as she could while firebending into the vent. Finally, the war balloon was out of range and she was safe. Jin sat down in the basket and cried herself to sleep.
After two days of nonstop traveling Jin finally saw the ice and snow. Jin hadn't eaten anything or slept much since the attack. For a few hours, Jin tried hard to not fall asleep. She slapped herself and rubbed falling snow on her face to keep herself awake. Finally, she head shouts and looked down to see soldiers in black firebending at warriors in blue. She lifted her face mask that covered the lower half of her face. She didn't want to risk the soldiers to know who she was and try to capture her. She saw a boomerang flying towards the balloon and rip the side of it, making the basket fall to the ground. Jin put on the scabbard holding her father's swords and grabbed her mother's knives. When the basket was at the right distance, Jin jumped out of the basket, somersaulted in the air, and landed catlike in the snow. She stood up and saw Toshiro in front of her in a battle stance. She saw a soldier behind Toshiro and, realizing that he's about to firebend at her distracted friend, pulled out one of her mother's knives, and threw it at his feet, causing him to be pinned to the ice. She ran past Toshiro and kicked the soldier in the chest, knocking him down. She heard a soldier running toward her from behind and turned in time to dodge his sword, pulling out her father's swords as she did so. Her fight with the soldier was brief before knocking him to the ground. She fought more soldiers either using swords or firebending or both. She fought two soldiers at once, dodging every attack but this fight was also brief for she suddenly got hit in the head. She dropped her weapons and fell in the snow. The last thing she saw was a soldier holding a fiery fist before everything went black.
don't hesitate to give me tips on how to make it better, no flames please