Hey there, fine and lovely readers! The chapters might come out more slowly, now that school has once again begun. But I promise to update as often as possible. Enjoy! (This chapter has some interesting fluff and competition. Let me know what you think or how I can do better!)

They trekked along what used to have been a well beaten trail. Now it was overgrown with weeds, but it wasn't overly difficult to step over the wild plants as they were still close to the ground in height. It'd been about three days since their departure from the City, and they were looking for a safe place to bed down for the evening. They had worked out a schedule that was supposed to allow both of them to sleep for part of the night and be on guard the other part of the night. The only problem was that Bren wouldn't wake Bolin up when it was time for his shift until his shift was already halfway over. If he tried to protest, she'd give him the evil eye until he shut up and let her sleep. She was too stubborn to allow anything other than her own actions on this journey. They came across a clearing and Bolin breathed a sigh of relief. Bren was sensitive to Bolin's exhaustion and didn't push him further, but it was clear that something was bugging her.

"Something doesn't feel right about this place," she muttered, rubbing her arms up and down like she was cold even in the comfortable heat of the summer night.

"Do you want to keep going?" Bolin tried to keep the disappointment from his voice. He was just so tired, even with Bren taking the extra shifts. He wasn't used to traveling like this. It wasn't anything like training for probending tournaments. He was used to using short bursts of energy, not continuous the pushing of his body like the past few days had been.

She straightened her shoulders. "No, I'm sure if it is anything, I can handle it."

"Oh, good, I-" Bolin tripped over something hidden beneath the leaves on the ground. "What the-?" Bren tackled him forwards, knocking him out of the way of the fire lash that spewed from between the rocky outcropping alongside the path. Bren swore colorfully, words that would normally be shocking to hear come out of a lady's mouth spewing out of her like lava from a superheated volcano.

"Move!" Bren shoved Bolin ahead of her, deflecting water attacks and other various projectiles with a rock shield. "They found us, idiot. We're sitting turtleducks out here!" There was a sickening crunch as Bolin's face met with a rock she'd deflected and she winced as he collapsed like a ragdoll to the ground. Well, that takes escaping out of the equation.

She collected her thoughts, letting the tension of an impending battle flow through her and let her relax. She spun a spinning web of water around her arms, using the extended limbs to crack through the foliage and trees surrounding them to knock any unseen opponents out into the open. She crowed with victory, the heady taste of fighting thick in her mouth as she roared and rushed into the attack, beating the would-be attackers into a pulp. She was halted by a blast of fire that nearly singed her hair as she ducked and rolled, stamping a foot into the earth to send a wave of shifting rock in the direction the attack came from. The attack sent a cloud of dust up into the air, making for an exceedingly low visibility level. She cursed again, rolling to avoid razor sharp bullets of stone, only to roll over another painfully pointy rock.

Where in Yue's name was Bolin?

She searched for his prone form, expecting him to be where she left him, but he'd disappeared. They hadn't taken him, had they? This had been a bad decision from the beginning. Only you knew what these idiots were capable of, you had no right to involve anyone else.

"Bren?" Bolin's voice sounded scared, almost childlike in its quietness. She swiveled in the direction his voice had come from, an illogical sense of joy that he wasn't dead or kidnapped sweeping over her until she saw the cause of his fear. She lurched to a halt, nearly falling to her knees. She swallowed, taking in the vision of Bolin's captor. The man was holding Bolin by his throat like he weighed nothing, but he wasn't looking at Bolin. He was staring directly at Bren with a satisfied, sardonic smile on his face.

"Put him down, Snipe." She spoke quietly, noting that the rest of the attacks had ceased as the fight squad looked to their leader as for what to do next.

"Is that all you have to say to me, Ciena? I mean, it's been years," he grinned, "since we last went on our little adventure together. I thought you'd be happier to see me alive." He shook Bolin lightly, like he was admonishing a bad puppy. She glared at the man with murderous intent, studying his appearance in the meantime. He was tall with a muscular build that emphasized strength and speed, his head sported strong, handsome jawline coupled with perfect teeth and a devilish grin, and he had a mop of clean and fluffy dark brown hair. She could overpower him if she went dark-eyed, but he outranked her in strength and speed otherwise. She spat on the ground in a very unladylike manner, grinding her foot into the gravel below her.

"Don't call me that. I discarded that name a long time ago. Put him down. Now."

He chuckled, the sound rolling deep in his throat. "Why would I do that, Ciena? I could easily just kill this dude, whoever he is, and then take you for my own. You know, they gave me permission to do whatever I wanted to you, as long as you came back in about one piece." His gaze traveled down her body leisurely as she remained motionless. Bolin was too groggy to do anything about his current position, struggling weakly against the man's grip as his vision faded in and out with his consciousness. She clenched her jaw. It was her fault that she hadn't just run off before Bolin could have demanded to join her, so now she needed to take responsibility for his capture.

"If you don't put him down-"

Snipe thrust Bolin away from him, unceremoniously dumping his unconscious body with a flick of his wrist, sending him crashing into a tree to lie in a crumpled heap at the base of the trunk. Bren stepped towards Bolin, intent on making sure he was still alive when Snipe appeared in front of her, blocking her path and seizing her thin wrists in his grasp. "There," he breathed in her face, "I put him down. What're you going to do, now?" She froze, hating the situation nearly as much as she hated Snipe for abandoning her all those years ago.

"You're dead to me," she spat. "When we got caught, you chose to join them, become their head of security. You became what we were escaping from, you traitor. Do you know what it's like to have your-" She choked on the word, forcing it out of her mouth a moment later. "Your best friend turn into your worst enemy?"

"Oh, we were much more than that, if you'll trouble yourself to recall," his breath tickled her ear, sending shivers up her body. Not fair. She rocked back on her heels, retreating as far away as Snipe's grasp would allow. Two years ago Snipe had been a sweet, kind-hearted fighter. He'd been the one who Bren had trusted; he'd been the only one she'd ever trusted. They'd gotten each other out of the rings, and they'd nearly made it to the City before they'd gotten captured. They'd both been given the chance to either work for the Rings or go back to the cages. Bren had thought that Snipe would choose the cages again, just like she had, but he'd shocked her by taking the other option. She vowed to never speak to him again, a promise she'd intended to keep until she saw him today. She'd been fifteen when they escaped and he'd been sixteen. That meant that he was now a man by all definitions. He would have turned eighteen a few months ago. They had been more than friends back then, partly because of the level of trust between them. Her body reacted strongly to his closeness whether she wanted it to or not.

"Bren…" He whispered. "I could make it so you wouldn't have to fight any more. We could go back to the way it was before. You'd like that, right?" He switched his grip on her hands so they were enclosed with one of his hands and nudged her chin with his open hand to face him. She tried to push away again, but he wrapped an arm around her waist and yanked her into him. He claimed her lips with his own in a punishing kiss, releasing his grip on her hands to pull her head even closer to deepen the kiss. Her mind was fighting her body; she knew she wanted to end the conflict here and kill him, but her body arched into his like it had back when they were still close and she whimpered. Tears streaked her face as she continued trying uselessly to push him away by his shoulders. Her emotions were too conflicted for her to go dark-eyed, so she wasn't able to defend herself against his advances. She wasn't quite sure she wanted to. Despite the utter feeling of wrongness, she felt more comfortable in his arms than she had in the last couple of years alone. Even though she bit down on his lip viciously in an attempt at escape, he didn't back off. He was breaking down her internal defenses that she'd so carefully built up since she saw him last. She had to get Bolin and get out of here, otherwise this mission would have been all for nothing. His hand ran smoothly down her spine, playing with the contours of the muscles in her back as he rubbed gentle circles on her lower back. Her thoughts raced frantically, everything blurring together, making it hard for her to think of escaping his hold. She couldn't bend any element; he'd burn through it at the instant she created it, seeing how close together their bodies are.

"GRAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!"

She couldn't have been more surprised if it started raining badgermoles. Bolin had risen from his stupor and punched Snipe in the face. Snipe hadn't been expecting such a fierce attack either, apparently, as he flew thirty feet through the air to slam into a tree. Bolin stomped over to Bren, threw her over his shoulder, and drilled them both underground to evade any elemental assaults from the enemy.

Bolin kept moving, racing through the tunnel he made as fast as possible and continuously closed it up behind him. Finally he stopped moving after he made sure no one had followed them too closely. He grasped her limp form and held her in front of him by her shoulders. Her face was blank, like there was no one home. "Hey." He shook her lightly, but she didn't respond. "Hey!" He moved his hands to her waist and held her up so her head was level with his. "Look at me. What was that? Who was that?"

Her gaze wandered sideways. She was still processing everything that had just happened herself, Bolin could see that. He sighed and sat down, creating seats for both himself and the unresponsive girl. "Take your time. You weren't expecting all that, were you?"

"N-no," she stuttered, falling silent again. She took a breath, centering herself. "No. I wasn't. I thought maybe they'd send a small team like usual. I didn't expect them to send him. Although I should have been warned, especially since Scoochy told me to beware of Snipe hunting," she trailed off dejectedly.

They sat in the silence a few more minutes before Bolin's blatant staring got under her skin and she snapped. "What?"

He moved in front of her, invading her personal space. "There's blood on your lip. Are you bleeding?" He swiped a finger delicately along her bottom lip, blood trickling down the pad of his finger when he removed it from her lips.

She scooted backwards as far as the wall would allow without her discomfort from Bolin's familiar-ness becoming obvious. "No, I'm not hurt. I…" She paused, grinning momentarily. "I bit him. It's his blood, not mine."

"Oh, GROSS!"