Lots of things going on in this chapter! The wheels are turning~
I'm updating about a chapter each day, now, since Rikki and I are so far ahead.
Chapter eleven:
Jackpot
"Ma'am, where did you say you were from, exactly?" The exasperated voice prodded the sobbing woman once more. The platoon of soldiers had stopped, momentarily, to confront a hysterical earthbender woman who was, or so they assumed, lost.
The lady's voice when she answered took the soldier off guard, just before the ground opened up beneath each of the Fire Nation soldiers and dropped them down into an earth prison.
"Hate to do this to you, you actually seemed like pretty nice guys for once," Maun stated, grinning down at the Fire Nation soldiers through the earthen grate that allowed Maun to view inside.
He was answered with a blast of fire, and Maun merely stepped back, laughing.
"Keep 'em company, Mauny!" Nose chimed, running from the thicket of trees as she sprang out onto the deck. She carried something on her shoulder, the object covered in a soft, faded red cloth. Roko was not far behind, Turtlebiscuit on her back to make better pace and Asharion tagging along after them.
"Pretty dress, Mauny!" Roko offered helpfully as she zoomed past.
"I don't know why I even bother," Maun stated, laughing softly, shaking his head as he turned to scan the surrounding area. So far, the coast was clear.
Roko settled Turtlebiscuit down on the dock from her back, the boy running up next to Nose to dig into whatever object of interest was hidden within the parcel she carried. Asharion felt her gut tighten the moment they'd neared the docks, and now her stomach had an unwelcome nauseous sensation curdling inside of it.
"Roko," she urged, skin crawling as they neared the all-too familiar ship. "Roko!" she hissed, grabbing the earthbender's sleeve. "What are we doing here?"
"Cool your nerves, two-eyes!" Roko replied, grinning at her new friend. "This is the plan; -pants in there is gonna wake up to a surprise when he finds his ship's been looted. I figured you'd want to be a part of the group going in, and get back at the guy who handed you over to those prison goons. Besides that, you've been on his ship. You may know things we don't," she finished confidently, waiting for Asharion's frown to turn into a grin or some sort of mischievous smirk or something.
Instead, Asharion's eyes had widened, and she took a step back. "N-no way, I-"
"Ok, we're set!" Turtlebiscuit announced, after having helped Nose set up an odd contraption on the metal wall of the floating rig. He was standing on a slab of earth that Nose had lifted from the shoreline, and was keeping levitated out over the water for Turtle to stand on.
"Hit it, squirt!" Roko cheered softly, glancing back as other members of the Dousing Landslide joined them, Buckshot among them.
Asharion felt her chest tighten, memories flashing up into her mind as though she was reliving the moments anew. It felt wrong, to be doing this, but hadn't what Zuko had done to her been wrong as well? And what of the stories she'd heard from the people around her, now? They had filled her in with details on the war, how the Fire Nation soldiers had brutally attacked this Earth Kingdom village to make use of its convenient ports and fertile farmland. So far, Roko and Nose were the only one's who knew Asharion didn't have any memories beyond waking up on Zhao's ship, and she had been hesitant in divulging the memories she'd newly collected in any sort of detail.
"We... we aren't going to kill anyone, are we?" Asharion asked, finally, voice soft.
Roko turned to her, then, frowning. "Maun's always said that two rights don't make a wrong. I'm not up for killing anyone unless that person leaves me no choice, even with the casualties the Fire Nation has tallied up." She softened, then, sighing. "Relax, Ash. You've got nothing to worry about, not with everyone here around us," She placed a hand on Asharion's shoulder, before pulling the girl into a hug.
Asharion blinked, momentarily confused with the gesture before a flickering of familiarity slowly eased into her body, and she returned the embrace.
Turtlebiscuit was swearing softly, earning a reprimand from Nose, followed by her asking what was wrong.
"Stupid thing won't-"Turtle was cut short when the machine suddenly gave a loud buzz and hum, before Turtle grasped down on a lever and twisted, tracing a rectangular door with the otherwise silent device. Asharion and the others stared, watching as a soft glow cut into the metal. Buckshot had moved off to the side, bending water up and over to the glowing iron and watching as steam rose into the air, cooling the deep cut in the metal hull.
-~•*•*•~-
Zuko stared down at the pair of boots that lay, abandoned, in the center of his room. His back leaned heavily against the door he'd just closed behind him, jaw set. His uncle's words still echoed in his mind, bounding around and banging against the insides of his skull. He closed his eyes, not sure what he should be feeling.
Eventually, he let his shoulders slump as he pushed off from the cool metal behind him, walking across the room and stooping down to pick up the discarded shoes. It was settled, then.
His mind would not be at rest until he'd handed the Avatar over to his father, but that was the longterm. Short-term, and thus immediately fixable, he would not be at ease until Asharion was back on this ship and not wasting away in some barren prison. This resolve seemed to settle the crashing waves of emotions inside of him, calming them to a gentle ripple.
Exhaustion took over the firebender's figure as he made his way to his bed, dropping the boots on the ground by his dresser before he flopped down onto the mattress. It had started out unruly and hard against his back, but three years of usage and Zuko's body growing accustomed to the discomfort led the bed to take on a far softer appeal.
He closed his eyes. He opened them, staring up at the ceiling, lost in thought. He was impatient for the sun to rise tomorrow, impatient to get tomorrows events done and overwith, and he wanted to get back at sea and have things moving along at a swift, reasonable pace. He closed his eyes again, knowing that the sooner sleep came, the sooner he would be waking up at first light to start the day anew.
"..." He didn't know how long he lay there, eyes closed, trying to push every thought from his mind away so that he could sleep.
-~•*•*•~-
"Um... wow. I've seen crazy stuff before, but... what is all this stuff?" Roko asked, eyes widening as her small flame illuminated the first door they'd pushed open. They'd stumbled across the wonderful hoardings of none other than the Great Dragon of the West; not that they knew that, of course.
"Well, he is a banished prince," Nose suggested, shrugging. It made no difference; some of this stuff they could use.
Buckshot picked up a bolt of fabric, hefting it over his shoulder as well as a stuffed burlap sack. In silence he exited the room, and left for the opening in the side of the ship's wall, passing the looted items to a tall, lanky boy with cropped hair. Buckshot paused as the boy looked up to him, questions dancing in his eyes.
"Buckshot... I know Roko was kidding when she said blowing the ship up, but..." The unspoken question lingered in the air between them.
"Tell Tiger we are still going through with the plan. Once we've got enough stuff out of this treasure trove, we'll finish the job. I've an idea where to set the bomb, but I need help getting there."
Kaz, the other boy, raised an eyebrow, pursing his lips as he turned his attention to setting the items on an earth platform, and watching Tiger on shore earthbend it back towards him. Two other people were helping load stuff down into the mouth a tunnel that led to just inside the forest, their drop-off point before they started bringing the stuff directly back to camp.
"You're going to ask the new girl?" he asked, wiping his hands together as he turned to look up at his partner. Buckshot flashed a grin down at his friend, glancing back into the shadows of the eerie ship. "Yeah, of everyone here, I think she's got the most reason to help us with this."
Kaz shook his head, frowning. "She already said otherwise before, Buckshot."
Buckshot straightened as footsteps camp behind them, turning to look over his shoulder. "Hey, Roko, took you long enough," he said with a cock-eyed grin.
"I was getting the good stuff," Roko replied, hefting up a small bag that made a definite jingling noise. Slung over her shoulder was a large duffel bag, stuffed to nearly overflowing. "Hurry up and go get more stuff. Nose nearly ran right into a guard upstairs, but he didn't see her. She says they aren't patrolling the lower levels; this rig is waaaay undermanned."
With a huff, she deposited her loot into the capable arms of Kaz, winking at him before all but skipping back into the ship.
Kaz repeated for Roko what he'd done for Buckshot, but shook his head, sighing. "I dunno, Buckshot, Roko ain't gonna like it, and-" He looked up, stopping when he realized his words greeted empty air.
Asharion had entered the ship with caution, and now walked along the hallways in a deathly silence. She did not join the others in stealing-or looting, as Roko had adamantly told her was perfectly all right to do on a Fire Nation ship, arguing that the goods were probably stolen in the first place-but rather spent her time scouting and cataloging the insides of the ship. They were on the same level that her pitch-black cell had been located on, marked by the vaguely familiar corridors and the red light by the stairwell. She glanced down the corner of the hall, looking for any moving shadows or signs of life. Her ears met only the distant growling of the vessel's inner workings, and a soft creaking noise.
Occasionally the ship would give a soft lurch, reminding her of a comment Zuko had made about her not having sea-legs yet. Asharion assumed he meant something about her being able to keep balance with a moving, unpredictable floor beneath her. As far as she was concerned, however, after this she'd never set foot on another blasted boat, sea-legs be damned.
The girl froze as the sound of soft footsteps echoed faintly down the hall, and she looked over her shoulder from the way she'd come to see Buckshot walking toward her. She relaxed, muscles relaxing as the friendly face came into view.
"Hey," he said in greeting.
"Hi," Asharion returned, momentarily at a loss for what else to say. "How is the... looting going?" she asked, hesitating briefly on the use of the term.
"It's going great," the boy replied, grinning as he placed a hand against the wall. "Hey, I was wondering... with you having been on here and all, if you could lead me upstairs at all."
Asharion blinked, frowning. Why did he want to go upstairs? She knew that Nose was up snooping around up there, though she thought that the woman had already returned after pronouncing it safe to scurry about down here, as long as they kept their guards up and were quiet.
"Um... I... could, I guess, I mean I could try, but why?" Suspicion coiled in her gut, a frown appearing on her face.
Buckshot's smile vanished, his eyes darkening.
"Listen, kid. I know you're new around here, and Nose mentioned a bit of your past-what you can remember of it." Asharion narrowed her eyes, temper flaring in a way she didn't know it could. Even Zuko hadn't elicited an instant response of refusal from her.
"Don't call me kid," Asharion retorted, interrupting the man as he opened his mouth to speak. He closed it, his gaze seeming to measure her expression before he continued on;
"Fine. Anyway, you have no idea what kind of people these guys are. They've burned villages to the ground, set forests on fire. They've taken people from their homes, separated mothers from their children and vice versa, and so many innocent lives have been lost at their hands." Asharion flinched, swallowing. She'd heard some of the stories, or at least clips of them.
"Two wrongs don't make a right," she voiced, angry with herself for the bit of unsurety that slipped into her voice, causing it to waver.
"This is war, not some story in a fantasy world," Buckshot spat out, shaking his head. "You wouldn't understand, but someday you will. "We're almost done here, everyone's on their last load of loot. After we've got the last bunch out, Kaz and Tiger are joining us onboard. We are going to blow this ship and sink it into the harbor it stan-"
Asharion shoved him away from her, stumbling back a step, eyes wide. "T-that wasn't in the plan!" She stammered, shock gripping her before her mind came back to it's senses. "What about the people on board?" she demanded. She didn't know the crew, but she knew at least one soul on this ship was a good heart. She'd never forgive herself if he died and she could have prevented it.
"What do you think?" he said, rolling his eyes. "Sink with their ship and drown, or get blown to pieces. They're Fire Nation. They're barely even people," he stated, pushing off of the wall and blocking the narrow hallway that was Asharion's possible path out. "Which way to the nearest stairwell?" he asked.
Asharion froze, heart fluttering in her chest like a caged bird. Her eyes glanced behind her, to the long hallway that stretched left of right behind her. There was a red light above her head, a door behind her that marked a stairwell.
"It's... b-back that way," she said, pointing over his shoulder down the hallway he blocked off. Buckshot furrowed his brows in confusion, turning around to look down the hall.
"Where? I didn't see-" He whirled around at the sound of Asharion yanking open the stairwell door, and bolted.
"The hell are you doing?" He growled, grappling for a grip on her arm as she slipped into the passageway, his other hand wrenching at the door to pry it open. She writhed and squirmed, jerking her arm until his grip faltered and she could pull her arm through the opening to be with the rest of her body on the other side of the door. Buckshot let out a stream of curses as Asharion managed to pull the door shut, spinning the big turn-wheel lock on the door with a loud clacking noise that echoed in the hallway.
"Dammit! What is that craze-brained lunatic doing?" Buckshot kicked at the door, looking up at the red light, narrowing his eyes. Footsteps came, and he looked to find Tiger and Kaz running to him, worried looks on their faces.
"Roko and the others are out, Nose has the tunnel closed off and they've got everything heading back to base. What happened? Where's Ash?" blurted Tiger, looking with a confused look between the livid expression on Buckshot's face and the 'I-told-you-so' look Kaz was giving him.
"Hey! You, stop!" Asharion came to a skidding halt as a guard saw her, and turned to run the other direction. She was breathing frantically, eyes wide with panic as she tried to figure out what she was going to do.
'They're going to blow the ship up!' she thought, running down the hall as shouts followed her. She grabbed a handrail as she passed by it, swinging herself in a short, fast arc and bolting up the steps with thudding footsteps.
-~•*•*•~-
Roko let a grin spread across her face as she watched the alarms finally light up on Grumpy-face's ship. Boy, they were going to love the surprises they'd left on the ship. Turtle Biscuit and Maun had made some special treats of stink-bombs, and Twigs donated some of his precious smoke-screen pellets to lay a few special pranks for the firebenders.
"Oi, Roko, I did a headcount. We're missing Kaz, Asharion, Buckshot, and Tiger," Nose said, coming up to stand behind her friend, worry creasing her face as she looked out at the ship.
"What?" Roko snapped, whirling around to face Nose. "Aren't they with the supply cart heading back home? They were the first off the ship! Well, Kaz and Tiger were at least, though they weren't even on it. Buckshot went in to get Asharion out, do you think they got...?" Worry pierced her features, and Nose pursed her lips.
"We have to get them out," Roko stated, moving to run. Nose shot an arm out, catching Roko by the collar. "Wait, Roko," she started, shaking her head. "Think about it. I don't know about Asharion, but you know Buckshot has always been for a fist instead of a joke. I overheard Kaz and Tiger talking about sinking the ship. For real," she added to make her point.
"Th-they wouldn't!" Roko stammered, eyes widening, her gaze filling with rage as she turned to the ship. It was fine as a joke, but she certainly hadn't meant it! She'd been honest to Asharion when she said that she didn't want to kill anyone unless they left no choice!
Zuko sprang from bed even before the alarms were screaming bloody murder all throughout the entire ship, red lights flashing in the hallways. "What's going on?" he demanded, stopping a soldier as he rushed past towards the stairwell. Somewhat ironically, it was Kaite.
-~•*•*•~-
"Alarms sounded from downstairs by the mess hall," he stated in a clipped note, nostrils flaring slightly, eyes patiently waiting for Zuko to let him go. Zuko nodded, and Kaite took off, his captain rushing ahead as he jumped down the flight of stairs, one short leap after another.
Asharion had successfully cornered herself, staring up with wide, terrified eyes up at two golden orbs that matched the extremity of her expression with shock.
"What are-?" Zuko began, his fist tightening on the handrail. How in Agni had she gotten back here? What was going on?
"Zuko," Asharion stated, jerking herself out of her frozen shock. "Zuko, the ship is going to explode, we need to get off it,"
"What? How do you know this?" Zuko snapped, the shock that had previously softened his features evaporating.
"No time! Run!" Asharion shouted, even though her own feet refused to move from their spot on the landing.
An eternity seemed to pass before Zuko finally turned his head and bellowed out a command for everyone to abandon ship. Confusion lasted a heartbeat before people were scrambling up the stairwell, Asharion finding herself being dragged up the steps by Zuko, his hand curled around her wrist.
"Where's Iroh?" she asked, struggling to keep up, clammerings of feet behind her.
Kaite was already running down the halls, shouting the warning to any stragglers that hadn't caught the message, banging on doors as he ran down the hall before disappearing up a staircase.
"He'll already be on deck," Zuko barked, coming to a sudden stop. "You run as slow as a snailgoat," he growled.
Without any warning, Asharion suddenly found herself hauled up over Zuko's shoulder as he charged through the opening of an open door, jumping down the stairwell and slowing their fall to the deck with a churning mass of fire. Asharion grunted as his shoulder dug into her stomach, but otherwise didn't have time to say anything before he was off and running again. Everyone else was already off the sides of the ship, swimming as far away as they could get. Zuko's boat was one of four currently docked at the harbor, and the men were lucky that tonight the ocean was calm despite the past several days of stormy skies.