"W-What?" Mai stumbled back a little, how could he be a Prince? She knew he was attractive and a gentleman but a Prince?
"I'm sorry I had to lie to you all, we had actually known about this for a while, and when the machine attacked your home, well it got more serious" Mai was in shock, she couldn't talk.
Nilak and Zei were the same, they were speechless, Mai slid back down clutching her stomach
"Is your name even Akai?" She asked in barely a whisper, he nodded
"Everything I have told you about myself is true, the only thing I didn't exactly flaunt is my fire bending" He said rubbing his neck, Mai chuckled. She knew he was better than that, his moves were sloppy and he had power in his throws. No one who wasn't trained in traditional styles could do that.
"So you're a prince, and an under-cover cop thing?" Nilak said trying to wrap his head around it; Akai pulled up a chair and sat on it backwards,
"I've been in Republic City for a few months now, trying to get into their good books. The army thought it was some sort of betting scheme, but it was the total opposite to what we thought…" He said sadly,
"How old are you?" Zei asked
"What does that have anything to do with it?" Akai asked, Zei waited for an answer
"I'm twenty" Mai froze, she was turning seventeen in two days, he was three years older than her. That wasn't two bad she thought to herself, at least he didn't say he was forty. She mentally punched herself in the gut for being so gullible.
"I need some air…" Mai jumped up running out of the room and outside to the cold crisp night air, it felt so good hitting her skin. It made reality finally hit her, that this was bigger than her family, her friends and her.
She heard footsteps come out the door, she turned around to see Akai standing in the door way.
"Your Highness" She tried to say jokingly but it came off cold, he lent against the doorway,
"Mai I-"She cut him off.
"I don't care that you're a prince, or a general. I just want to know…was any of it real or was it all part of your plan?"
"I wasn't supposed to get involved with you…guess that back fired" He chuckled, the sides of Mai's mouth perked up but she refused to give him any satisfaction
"Your twenty, I thought you looked older then you seventeen and your fire bending is obviously superb being a royal and all." She said quietly, he came and sat next to her letting out a sigh
"I didn't want to get you involved in any of this; we are in this together no matter what now. But un-fortunately you're in too deep" He sounded worried for her, and he genuinely was. Akai never wanted any of them involved in this.
"No matter what, they are going to be after us. We are now officially on the run…" He said looking down into his hands fiddling with his thumbs
"What about my family? My brothers, they can't be involved in this…My parents have to be safe, I won't let them be dragged into something that could potentially kill them"
"Your brothers are leaving tonight to go discuss this with anyone of significance…we will sort this out Mai" His words were shaky, Mai couldn't tell whether he wasn't sure or if he was scared.
"What is going on? What is this whole mess because I have no idea anymore" Her voice broke half way through her sentence and Akai moved closer lightly touching her hand
"From what we could can tell, they have been training water benders to be blood benders. Using some sort of mind control device that they used to use in Ba Sing Sei, it has become more advanced and now…well you can see what's happened." He said, his raspy voice also sounding more upset each time he spoke.
"So now your friends know that we know, what are we going to do?"
"The only thing we can do," he paused looking up to the sky and back at Mai, her gold eyes burning in the moonlight.
"Fight" He said, sadness and pride mixed together in his voice, Mai wanted to crumble. Footsteps came behind them and her brother walked out
"We have to go now Mai, we will tell mum and dad you are safe, try get back as soon as possible…lord knows we need you" Tui said, the both stepped forward giving her a hug
"We know we annoy you, and aggravate you…but we love you Mai" Tonraq said squeezing tightly, a tear rolled down her cheek. She nodded trying to hold back the cry forming in her throat, she released them
"Make sure you tell them, tell them everything." Mai was on the verge of tears, they nodded themselves were also starting to choke up. They gave a nod of respect to Akai and walked off into the night. Mai stood there for several seconds watching them leave, her heart was wrenching inside her chest. Akai lightly placed his hand inside hers and enlaced his fingers.
"Everything will be fine" He said soothingly, Mai swallowed trying to remove the dryness from her throat; she pulled away from Akai and walked back into the small shop. Nilak and Zei were packing a bag of weapons
"What are you doing?" She exclaimed, running over to them
"Pick a weapon and come on we have to get out of here" Nilak said gruffly, Mai shook her head,
"We are benders, why do we need weapons?" She said confused, Zei stood up puling a belt under his shirt.
"Because, those guys showed us we need more than our bending, it's alright for you I mean you have been trained your whole life to defend yourself but we haven't, so choose a weapon and lets ditch this place" Mai reluctantly agreed, they were right her whole life she had been taught to master bending as well as how to defend herself but she still felt insulted that he said it.
Mai walked over to a shelf that had previously had a cloth on it, she pulled out a leg strap which went around her thigh and two arm straps. She slid off her coat and strapped them around taking some small knives and stilettos. She placed them on her arm and continued to look at the weapons
"Mai, here we saved one for you" Nilak called, Mai shrugged not liking any other weapons besides two katana swords. Walking over to Nilak she saw him holding two Sais, she smiled to herself in spite of the situation.
"But these ones are mine?" She said lightly taking them from Nilak's hand; it had her father's nick named engraved on the blade of them with a special leather that was purple around the handle.
"Akai went to your house and got them for you" he said sounding upset that it wasn't him who was the one to retrieve them. Mai squeezed his hand,
"Thank you" She said to Nilak he smiled and continued packing, she placed her Sais on her leg, she didn't think she was going to use them but she felt comfort having some part of her parents with her.
"So what are we going to do?" Zei asked looking to Akai who was himself looking through the weapons; he turned back to the slumping down on the table,
"First we need to go see some friends of mine, and then we will go find the avatar. We will need your mothers help throughout this, then the general forces are going to relocate you so you and our families are safe." All three of them shot up,
"What? You cannot expect us to just sit on the side lines now!" Nilak said sternly, Mai nodded and so did Zei,
"It's for your own protection" He said standing up himself,
"He got to my brothers, two of the best water benders in the world. What makes you think putting us into hiding will help?" Mai said aggressively, he walked further towards the three of them.
"Because hiding will enable us to keep you safe"
"They have known every move of ours before we have even made it Akai; we are not going into hiding. We are going to help you, we are a team and above all else we are friends, and friends help each other." There was softness and hardness to her voice, she wasn't about to give up on this and he knew it. He sighed running a hand over his face,
"You realise you could get hurt, or taken, killed even? We will all be working on this including your parents and your brothers" He said almost as if he was trying to justify himself, Mai walked closer to him,
"Listen to me; we know the risk and we are willing to take it…please Akai" Nilak and Zei both stepped forward as well
"These dirt bags have tried hurting all of us, it's officially personal" Zei said, Mai had never heard him sounding so serious and so deadly, it sent shivers up her spine.
"Alright, but whatever happens, we stick together" Akai sounded so regal when he had said it, it made Mai giggle.
"So what are we doing first?" Nilak said sizing up Akai, he turned to look out the window then turned back to the group.
"Well first we have to go meet a friend of mine," They waited for the rest of the sentence,
"He is a bit of a handful" Mai sighed, she should have been used to this by now.