Disclaimer: I don't own Avatar: the last airbender
Chapter 35
"The Dai Li must've sent Jet to mislead us…and that janitor was part of their plot, too." Katara assumed to everyone, who stood crowded in front of Jet in a secluded room they had managed to find in an abandoned building.
Jet sat on a stool, head hung low.
Akemi noted how upset he's been about all of this, and despite her previous attitude towards him, she felt bad for him. While it wasn't her fault directly, she felt as though she was at fault for this, even though Jet was the one who lashed out and got arrested in the first place all on his own.
She shook her head and tried to focus on the situation at hand.
"I bet they have Appa here in the city! Maybe he's in the same place they took Jet!" Aang added on. He glanced at Jet. "Where did they take you?"
Jet looked up, his eyes glazed over in confusion. "Nowhere! I don't know what you're talking about!" Jet responded sincerely, and he seemed desperate for answers as much as everyone else in the room.
Aang rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "We need to find a way to jog his memories."
Akemi, who was leaning against the table next to Smellerbee with her arms crossed, retorted, "And how do we suppose to do that?"
Aang shrugged in response and Akemi nearly let out a groan of irritation. Her mind was running a million miles a minute as she was caught up in her thoughts,, but not for the reasons the others probably would assume.
"Maybe Katara should kiss him. That could bring something back." Sokka teased, wiggling his eyebrows mischievously.
Though Akemi was preoccupied, even then, it was impossible for her not to notice how Aang's expression became glum at Sokka's suggestion. She pursed her lips and found herself smiling.
As she was noticing Aang, Smellerbee was also noticing certain things as well; specifically, she noticed the small grin that grew on Akemi's face.. Smellerbee frowned and muttered enough for the girl to hear, "And what are you smiling about?"
Akemi heard and her smile dropped. She huffed, "Nothing that would impress you."
Smellerbee crossed her arms. "Really? Try me."
Akemi frowned and glared Smellerbee down and was about to question what her problem was until she realized the situation at this point and assumed Smellerbee thought she was laughing at Jet's plight. She sighed and straightened up, murmuring a, 'nevermind' under her breath to keep the peace so they wouldn't fight.
She focused back in time on the siblings to see Katara glaring at Sokka and responded, "Maybe you should kiss him, Sokka!"
Sokka's held his hands up defensively. "Hey, just an idea!"
"A bad one." Aang mumbled under his breath.
Akemi snickered at the perplexed look on Jet's face. "Katara, I think your suggestion might induce more nightmares." She commented, and looked over at Aang.
'Oh...so the Avatar's got a crush on Ka-ta-raaaa~! Well, I'm not surprised. She's beautiful.' Akemi thought to herself and chuckled mentally to herself in amusement. As he looked her way, she rapidly quicker an eyebrow suggestively, and he seemed to understand that she had figured him out.
Aang, now quite flustered, avoided eye contact with Akemi and pretended she didn't exist for the time being. She nearly snickered again as she thought, 'Looks as though I've rustled his monkeyfeathers.'
Sokka looked around and seemed to eye the hay bale in the corner of the room. "OH, Wait! I got it!" He interjected, grabbed a piece of hay from the pile, and stuck it in Jet's mouth. He held his breath and waited for a response from Jet.
Akemi saw how this didn't seem to help but start to make Jet look unnerved by the lack of progress on their part.
"...I don't think it's working." Jet responded and spat out the hay.
"Try to think of something from your past that triggers your emotions." Toph suggested.
Smellerbee suddenly stepped forward.
"The firenation! Remember what they did to your family!" Smellerbee told Jet, and Akemi felt herself tense. She shifted in her spot and the muscles in her arms tightened; she wasn't sure how to help now, considering they were going to use her home nation as a catalyst to help Jet regain his memories.
"Close your eyes. Picture it." Katara, on board with the idea, urged Jet.
Jet slowly inhaled and shakily shut his eyes as he did what they wanted; he focused on his past. Inside his mind, unknown to everyone, a faint image of him as a little boy crying in front of a burning village came into his mind, and he saw flames, destruction, and remembered the screaming-
Jet's eyes shot opened and he lurched over his seat as he tore himself from that horrible memory "No! It's too painful..."
As everyone looked on in pity, Akemi couldn't watch Jet anymore, despite how much she hated being around him.
As Longshot took a glance at her, she knew what he was probably thinking right now; she had no business here. She hailed unfortunately from the same enemy nation that has caused grief to everyone in the same room, even though she's also become victim of the nation's tyranny. However, she knew it didn't matter. The two freedom fighters saw her as a fire nation apologist, and she was the only one who stood out amongst them.
In this moment, Akemi suddenly felt small, vulnerable, and vilified by the now two freedom fighters who were glancing at her with mild contempt from where they stood. She glanced away and her fingertips subtly tightened their grip on her arms, and she unconsciously started to shrink back into the corner of the room in an attempt to make herself invisible.
Originally looking forward to helping Aang, suddenly she felt as though this was giving her a good reason to opt out of it. 'Maybe they'll understand…?' She thought to herself as she glanced at Aang from behind, who was focused on Jet.
She opened her mouth to speak, but seeing how distressed Jet was getting over dwelling over his trauma made her hesitate, and she wondered if speaking would only make everyone else start glaring daggers at her. Akemi sucked in a silent breath and tightened her lips shut until she could hear her breaths become quiet.
Akemi now wished that Zuko and Iroh were here; she felt somewhat defenseless, with no one in the room around to connect and relate to…she was technically the enemy in the present moment.
'As if I wasn't feeling alone as it is leaving them…now, talking would only make everyone resent me even further, it feels like.'
Katara suddenly walked over behind Jet and murmured, "Maybe this will help..." Bending the water from her pouch into the palms of her hand, she hovered the water over Jet's temples. Jet's shoulders slumped and his eyes became half-lidded as he started to feel his mind start to heal.
Akemi rapped her fingers against her arms silently. "I should just leave…" She murmured to herself quietly as she reconsidered her options.
And, besides…
'They don't know how corrupted the city is.' She thought to herself and a bead of sweat rolled down the back of her neck as she remembered that Iroh and Zuko more than likely were living out their days still in the teashop unaware of the dark secrets. 'Agni, I hope they're fine and nobody has suspected by now. I need to go back, I-'
She was then aware someone had taken a spot next to her against the wall. Akemi blinked, mouth agape at the person who seemed to be trying to keep her company. "Toph…?" She whispered.
Toph crossed her arms, albeit more loosely than how Akemi was. "You really need to relax a little, Smalls. Nobody is going to attack you over this."
Akemi stiffened and bowed her head. She glanced over at Smellerbee and Longshot; she felt herself able to breathe a little easier when noticing they were no longer giving her the cold shoulder. "…Well, Jet's companions sure could've fooled me, considering they look like they were about to tear me from the inside out." She whispered back to Toph in response.
Toph 'tch'ed underneath her breath. "They'll get over it; they're gonna have to. Also, I'm sure you remember I can feel every physical motion in this room," She whispered and blew a strand of hair out of her face, though it ended up falling back into its original position again in front of her eyes. "So you need to stop sweating, it's starting to annoy me."
Akemi nodded and relaxed her stance. "Considering my situation, I assumed you would've given me a little slack for this." She nearly let out an air of amusement when Toph raised a brow and shook her head.
"Not even for a second, Smalls."
However, despite Toph's attempt at trying to ease the tension off her shoulders, Akemi felt herself dismayed by the girl's comment. Her eyebrow twitched and she sighed. 'Toph's got this nickname permanently for me. Agh, I was hoping she would forget about it!' As she glanced away from Toph, she nearly froze up when realizing Katara had, apparently, at some point noticed the quiet interaction while healing Jet.
The moment she made eye contact with Katara, the girl immediately glanced back down at Jet and looked concentrated as she continued healing Jet, and Akemi wondered if she was trying to make the situation for her less awkward.
Jet's muttered something.
Akemi found herself drawing her attention back on Jet, whose face was shifting into something in that of recognition of something."They took me to a headquarters under the water..." Jet recalled and Katara removed her hands. "Like a lake!"
Sokka perked up in his spot.
"Wait!" Everyone turned their attention to Sokka.
"Remember what Joo Dee said? She said she took a vacation to Lake Laogai!"
Akemi jumped in her spot, taken off guard when Jet shot up out of his chair without warning, eyes wide in realization.
"That's it! Lake Laogai!"
She let out a long sigh to herself, and she wanted to inquire, but remembering how his friends had glanced over at her earlier made her want to stay quiet for the rest of the session unless someone speaks to her first. Not that she was intimidated, but she knew that she was the odd one out of the bunch, and she assumed that if she said anything, someone would try and pick a fight with her now that the reality of how treacherous her birth nation seemed to be fresh in their minds.
Next thing she suddenly knew, a hand was placed on her shoulder and she jolted in place.
She found herself staring at Katara, who had a consoling look. She then noticed that everyone else had virtually left the building.
"…So, is this the part where you're gonna tell me to get lost?" Akemi joked, but it seemed to have no effect on Katara.
The water tribe girl, for the first time since Akemi joined the group, seemed rather…concerned? Akemi thought she was just seeing things, but she hoped this meant that she was starting to accept her as an actual person instead of an enemy.
Katara spoke, "Everyone's ready. We're just waiting on you, now."
At the mention of the others, Akemi felt her expression drop from her uneasy, attempt at lightening the mood look, and she suddenly seemed uncomfortable. She glanced away.
However, Katara noticed, and she tightened her grip slightly on Akemi's shoulder. "Look, right now there's no sense in making this about you. This is for Aang, so…" She seemed to grow more sympathetic the more she examined the way Akemi was starting to look more downtrodden. She let out a quiet sigh. "Just…try not to hold us back, okay?" After that, she made her way towards the door, unaware of how much those certain choice of words carried a heavy weight on Akemi; unaware of how much they affected her.
Akemi's eyes bugged out of her sockets after Katara's last statement, eyes now glazed over as she stared at the ground blankly. She was in disbelief. What Katara just said, and how she said it, made it as though it was a fact that could not be disputed; that perhaps she was holding everyone back.
She bared and grit her teeth, her hands trembling as she felt herself growing even more tense. Through the fabric, her nails managed to puncture through the skin underneath it and she felt the faint, warm sensation of blood trickling down her arm.
'Am I truly just…a burden on everyone around me?'
And it was then she thought back on the last time she was called a burden.
And it was then she thought that perhaps Zuko had been right at the time.
She slowly leaned away from the wall and dragged herself outside, where she assumed Katara was probably waiting on her.
..
..
..
Lake Laogai was huge. Akemi thought she had seen enough large bodies of water while traveling the world a few years ago, but this…was something else. She marveled how large the lake was from the shore's edge as Sokka asked,
"So where's this secret headquarters?"
This jogged Akemi's memory as she remembered they were supposed to be looking for a hidden base for the earth agents. She shook her head. As she glanced around, Jet seemed to be troubled as he tried to remember whatever Sokka had asked of him.
"Under the water, I think..." Jet responded, scratching the back of his head; he seemed extremely unsure of himself.
Akemi pitied him.
"There's a tunnel right there, near the shore." Toph said out of nowhere and pointed to her right. Everyone watched as she walked over a couple of feet and then earthbended a small bridge with a hole at the end of it.
Akemi's jaw dropped at how easy this was, and thought to herself how Toph continued to astonish her in so many ways.
With that, they made their way to the entrance leading under the water. Toph removed the lid just as everyone crowded around it, and Akemi nearly felt light-headed when realizing how deep and dark the cavern was. 'Do we really have to go that far down?! Ohhhh, I don't like this!' She thought and grimaced at how some moss that was growing on the tunnel walls.
Momo flew away without warning. Akemi wished she could do the same thing as everyone started to climb down.
"Are you coming or what?"
Akemi jerked in her spot when the interjecting voice broke through her chain of thought. She then became aware that she wasn't alone, and that Sokka was there waiting with his upper body sticking out from the hole. He was on the ladder, supporting himself with one hand and holding out the other towards her as if to guide her down.
She blinked and shook her head. "Yeah, just keep going."
Sokka shrugged a shoulder and withdrew his hand and made his way down, Akemi following suit.
When she touched the ground, she then felt overwhelmed when observing their surroundings they ended up in. "Are you serious?" She hissed in disapproval at the large underground tunnels that stretched on, seeming endless, and she nearly wanted to whine in frustration at realizing how hard it was going to be to find Appa. "Appa could be anywhere in h—"
"SHHH!" Everyone minus Jet shushed her, and she immediately quieted when hearing her voice echoing down the cave. They held their breaths, and listened for any sign of any Dai Li agents incoming.
It felt like hours, but eventually they all collectively sighed in relief when noting they were safe. For now.
"Let's get moving." Smellerbee whispered to everyone and turned to Jet. "Lead the way."
Jet still seemed unsure, but nodded and gestured with a hand for them to follow. He then drew his weapons as quietly as he could in case of any oncoming danger as they tiptoed down one direction.
"It's all starting to come back to me..." Jet murmured.
Along the way they passed by a room full of women along with a Dai Li agent. Everyone tried to ignore how the agent was brainwashing them, though Sokka would've been stuck watching if not for Akemi coming up from behind and nudging him to move along. For a while, they seemed to be alone, and it was then Akemi became on edge.
'Shouldn't there be more agents?' She thought and glanced behind her to keep a look out in case they were being followed. The silence, save for the echoing footsteps of the group that permeated the vicinity, was gradually making Akemi more anxious. 'Something isn't right…'
"Is this even the right direction?" Akemi whispered uneasily, though she realized her question came out ruder than she had intended it to be; Smellerbee was the first to look back at her in response, and Akemi once again felt her piercing gaze trying to bore holes into her for the umpteenth time that day.
Smellerbee hissed, "Of course it is, Jet knows what he's doing!" Jet from up front glanced behind to see what was going on as they trudged on down the hall. He slowed his pace.
Akemi frowned and retorted back to Smellerbee quietly, "I wasn't asking you, I was referring to our leader here who seems to be confused about everything!" Smellerbee didn't look like she was going to back down. Akemi then thought to herself that she wasn't going to continue to be pushed around by Jet's friends just because everyone's sympathizing with Jet and his struggle and she wanted to avoid fighting.
She threw all caution into the wind; Akemi halted in her tracks, slamming a foot down on the ground just enough so that she could get her point across without drawing attention from possible Dai Li agents around.
Everyone paused at the ringing sound of a foot hitting the ground and they whipped around. Most of them were starting to look distressed over the fact in the wake of Akemi getting pushed to her limit with Jet and his friends was potentially going to get them caught.
Katara barked to Akemi under her breath, "Will you cut it out?! This isn't the time for this!"
Akemi crossed her arms defiantly. "No. Frankly, I'm not going to until short snack over here quits throwing an attitude every time they glance in my direction!" She points at Smellerbee, who now seemed to be up in arms now that Akemi was confronting and sounding hostile.
Toph made a sound of amusement at Akemi's statement. "You're the one to talk, Smalls." Akemi glared in her direction, but then immediately focused back on Smellerbee who also looked equally as ticked off.
Smellerbee stormed over towards Akemi. "What makes you think you're the one in charge of what we do?!" She stood toe-to-toe with Akemi, glaring each other down and both as tense as they could be. Things were not going swimmingly in terms of finding Appa, and this was only delaying their search further.
"Guys, please!" Aang whispered. As distraught as he was, he also seemed to be slowly getting tired of all the arguing and tension that was going on between Akemi and Smellerbee. "Katara's right, this isn't the time to argue! We need to keep moving!"
Akemi responded without once ever taking her eyes off Smellerbee from their stare down, "You guys keep saying that, but why am I the one being reprimanded when she's the one who's been making me out to be the enemy?!"
Smellerbee growled, "That's because you are the enemy, in case you've forgotten. All firebenders are no good, imperialistic liars, and you're no different!" The girl looked as though she wanted to smirk when seeing her words were starting to make Akemi look angrier. "What's the matter? Did I strike a nerve, or is your true nature starting to show?!"
And it was then Akemi finally had enough.
With a frustrated shout, disregarding that they were still supposed to be quiet, she unsheathed her sword strapped at her hip switfly, and Smellerbee immediately drew her weapon. Much to Akemi's disadvantage, Longshot almost instantly appeared next to Smellerbee and had his bow and arrow drawn and ready to shoot at her.
"Oh nooooo, oh noooo," Sokka moaned in a panic and clutched his hair in his hands. "Now we're really not gonna find Appa without getting caught at this rate!"
Aang grit his teeth. Normally, he would try to resolve the conflict calmly, but they were in a very intense situation as it was; which is why he quickly stood directly in front of Akemi, leaving no room for her to advance further. His upfront attitude would've normally shocked her, but she was too angry to even notice. She barely even took her eyes off Smellerbee and Longshot as if she hadn't even realized Aang has stepped in between them.
"Akemi. Stand. Down," Aang sternly ordered.
Akemi turned her glare to Aang and seethed, "Why don't you tell them that?! I'm sick and tired of being glowered down, and I'm sick of staying quiet about it just so we don't fight while trying to find Appa!" At that, it was then Aang finally knew that she's been receiving this mistreatment since they've tagged along.
His hardened expression dropped as he analyzed the way Akemi's breathing picked up and she was nearly blowing steam out of her nostrils. Aang slowly turned towards Smellerbee and Longshot with resolve behind him, whose expressions also fell when realizing Aang was no longer taking their side.
Suddenly, Jet stepped forward. "Smellerbee. Longshot. Stop it."
Akemi and Smellerbee's jaws dropped simultaneously, the latter wanting to protest but shutting her mouth when Jet briskly walked by her and gave her a knowing look. She looked away, leaving Akemi staring at Jet befuddled as he made his way…over to where she was.
Aang moved out of the way as Jet approached and nodded in thanks. He rejoined by Sokka, who was fanning himself and trying to compose himself from his hysteria over the possibility of being caught. Fact, which, made Akemi even more suspicious; she was sure that at least one of the Dai Li agents should've heard them by now, given how heated her and Smellerbee's fight was, but…
"Just keep going down the hall," Jet said and pointed up ahead down the tunnel. "I'm sure I remember going down this way, and we should find Appa soon."
Aang nodded.
Sokka grumbled under his breath. "If we're lucky enough…" He also mentioned something incoherent under his breath, which Akemi couldn't pick up but could only assume as much as Katara grabbed him by the ear and started to drag him away, Aang and Toph following behind. Longshot eventually followed behind, and Smellerbee hesitated until Jet nodded for her to go on, and she eventually acquiesced and walked on.
Akemi glanced away just as Jet turned his head towards her, though even he wouldn't maintain eye contact with her for some reason. "I'm not going to thank you for this," Akemi mentioned haughtily after they were left alone for the most part. She slowly slipped past Jet and continued to follow down the path at a much slower pace from the group up ahead.
Not even a minute later was she joined at her side by Jet, much to her displeasure. She resigned to remaining silent the entire trek down the nearly endless underground maze. And as the minutes went on, the more she felt as though they were never going to find App and they were going to be subjected to being trapped down here forever.
Her eyes shifted so she was staring at Jet within her peripheral vision. Jet looked distant and impassive. His eyes kept roaming around the tunnel, and every now and then his brows would furrow and the lines in his forehead would crinkle; Akemi assumed that he was slowly starting to gain more memories bit by bit as they continued on.
Jet then angled his head towards her, and she immediately shot her eyes to the side so that he wouldn't notice that she had been observing him.
"I'm sorry for trying to get you exposed that night," Jet spoke out of nowhere.
Akemi quirked a brow. "Look, I get that your memory is a bit hazy, but didn't we just have this session not that long ago back in the barn?" She responded, feeling snarky. Surprisingly enough, Jet chuckled at her, though her comment wasn't intended to be humorous.
"Right. My hand is still feeling the after-effects of that," Jet answered back with as much farce and briefly lifted the arm connected to the hand that had suffered Akemi's wrath back then to make his point. While being around Jet did not bring a good feeling to her given that she was still untrusting him since he tried to harm her; however, the corner of her lips twitched upwards.
"But, no, actually…when I apologized back then, I knew I tried to hurt you that specific time, but I didn't exactly know why I had done that," His lighthearted moment only seemed to last temporarily, as immediately he seemed wrought with penitence soon after. He once again spoke, which would surprise Akemi once more, "All I knew was after apparently I was taken in by the Dai Li, I was living peacefully in the city but I had done harm to you. I became frustrated for a while trying to figure out the reason why, but eventually I gave up, and…I just wanted to apologize to you to make things right."
Akemi's eyebrows raised, her mouth slowly parting open as Jet continued with his explanation,
"But, when Smellerbee mentioned the thing about firebenders being no good…I immediately remembered the exact reason why I attacked you that night that got me into this mess to begin with and brainwashed. And—" He glanced around as if to make sure no one was watching.
"-Seems that you guys have been doing a good job keeping your firebending secret under wraps, considering when they were trying to 'reform' 'me, they kept telling me I was wrong for attacking you for no reason."
Akemi's eyes widened.
Jet, though she wasn't sure if it was because the lack of light shining down in this environment, now seemed to now had a subtle hint of a genuine smile gracing his features.
She paused in her tracks, and he ended up doing the same. Jet blinked at her.
Akemi didn't seem to realize how slack-jawed and vacant she suddenly looked as she continued to stare at Jet with unfocused eyes. Inside Akemi's head, she nearly wanted to break everything around her. Whether she wanted to destroy something out of frustration or being unable to deal with other emotions that started to flood her emotional bank was something she couldn't figure out. The realization of what Jet had told her had just filtered in.
'This means…thank the spirits, Zuko and Iroh are still safe!'
Jet placed a hand on her shoulder, and she jolted out of her trance immediately.
"We need to catch up, now."
She took a glance down at Jet's firm, reassuring hand…and shrugged it off. "Fair enough," She responded monotonously and slowly started walking on ahead.
But, as Jet caught up with her, she quickened her pace enough so that he would be able to catch up as they hurried to meet up with the others who had apparently gotten far enough without them even realizing it. Nobody said anything or asked when they finally caught up, which Akemi was thankful for. Jet left her side to take his place up front to continue guiding them all.
Old feelings that had started to develop for Jet that she had disregarded long ago after he had betrayed her started to surface; feelings of wanting to form a friendship, but still unsure as to whether or not to go forward with it, lingered in her mind. Admittedly, his strong spirit and his good morals he brought forth to the table in the beginning back on the refugee was what made her curious and willing to try and open up to Jet, despite past experiences with being closed off and hesitating to meet new people.
Now that he was trying to make things up, she felt that opportunity start to rekindle again. Now that he wasn't vehemently after her, and apparently he seemed content that her secret of being a firebender still remained that way, maybe this was her shot.
'After this is all over and done,' Akemi thought to herself and stared at Jet walking next to her. She gave herself a grunt of approval to herself and turned her head back to the front, the corners of her mouth lifting as she thought of how much Jet was making an effort. 'If he's willing to try, then…so will I!'
She hoped at the end of all of this, she and Jet would be able to be on good terms, and perhaps…become more than just acquaintances.
Like friends.
"I think there might be a cell big enough to hold Appa up ahead." Jet mentioned.
A while later, they came to the end of the tunnel with a door; the largeness of the door made Akemi uneasy for some reason.
"I think it's through here." Jet told them, and slowly opened the door. The ominous echo of the stone being shifted against stone rang in Akemi's ears, and she flinched violently.
Indeed, the room he had mentioned was big.
But…
Appa wasn't in there.
Akemi nearly wanted to scream in frustration and hopelessness once more, and her heart started to pang as she watched Aang's expression start to fall. She sucked in a breath and straightened herself up; she needed to be strong for him.
As they stepped through and got to the middle of the room, the door suddenly shut behind, and she nearly broke face out of being startled. Akemi looked at Toph expectantly, but when Toph held her hands up in defense, indicating 'It wasn't me!', her biggest fear when coming into this place suddenly awakened.
The lights flickered on, and Akemi almost didn't want to follow everyone's lead when looked up. As rumbling and shifting of other bodies from overhead became louder, eventually she knew that she could no longer ignore the imminent danger present; she slowly, ever so slowly, looked up and saw all the Dai Li agents raining from the ceiling.
"Now that's something different..." Sokka muttered half-heartedly as they all landed and surrounded them.
Akemi noted one man who was distinct out of the large group of Dai Li agents; the man, who had his long hair in a low braid and she identified as the leader, spoke as everyone got ready to fight, "You have all made yourselves enemies of the state. Take them into custody."
She raised the hand that wasn't gripping the sword and started to bring it out in front of her—
As the Dai Li agents took their earthbending stances, she froze.
Her hand shakily pulled back into a fist before it slapped onto the hilt of her sword, now grasping it in both of her hands. Her arms became ever-so tense as she started to become aware of the disadvantage she had in this place. 'If I lose, I get arrested. But, if I firebend, I'll get arrested AND killed. AGH!'
Suddenly, the agents threw earthen hands, which Toph disintegrated with her own earthbending. She then created two masts, knocking them away in separate directions. Akemi mused how Toph, even Katara, were lucky to be able to bend in this place without much detrimental consequence; her, not so much.
Akemi sliced one of the earthen hands in half with her sword, and rolled towards an agent. She leapt up, uppercut the agent under his jaw, knocking him out effectively. As he fell to the floor she slithered away and went to take out more agents that seemed to come in droves around them.
Luckily, Aang, Katara and Sokka were faring on their own. Toph, of course, was naturally in her own element; she summoned a large mast beneath herself and the two agents created masts beneath themselves to attack at two different angles towards Toph, while two more attacked from the sides as they ran up the wall.
While being so accustomed with fighting her battles for the most part with firebending, Akemi was confident that she was very adept with her sword mastery. She didn't train with it for years for nothing, especially when she needed it the most in this fight now that she was forced to suppress her firebending otherwise face lawful consequences (as known as death).
Suddenly, she lurched forward as she felt a weight settle on her feet. Akemi's eyes widened and she stabbed at the earthen hands that rooted her feet to the ground, and cursed herself aloud repeatedly for not paying close enough attention.
"AKEMI!" Sokka called out from far in front of her as he took notice of what had happened, but also looked up above directly where she was stuck.
Akemi froze as Sokka pointed above her head, and she didn't even need to look up to realize that ensured death was coming down from above her. As she glanced up, and how right she was as she saw a large earth mast being uprooted from the ceiling and launching down at her, the world fell into slow motion.
As the mast drew closer, she wondered how much she might have messed up to bring her to this point.
As her hands on her sword started to slacken their grip on it, she was filled with regret that she would not be able to see the end of when they were going to find Appa and see Aang when he would be happy upon reuniting.
As the shadow of the mast started to darken as it loomed closer, she wondered if the spirit world was where she would end up immediately after this.
As she continued to stare at the danger that was crashing down on her, unaware of the fact that Toph destroyed the earthen hands holding her feet to the ground and she had the time to move out of the way, she regretted that she would not be able to see Zuko and Iroh again.
BOOMF!
Akemi's body was jerked to the side, the weight of another body at breakneck speed running and slamming into her mere seconds before the mast that would've surely flattened her slammed into the ground, leveling the area around the target location.
She and the person who their arms firmly encompassing her around her waist and shoulders rolled across the ground from the resulting momentum of the brute force of the person slamming them to the side. That lasted for seconds until she was flat on her back, the person hovering above her but remaining a tight grip around her as though they were shielding her.
Akemi shot her eyes open to see her savior.
And she immediately was now staring into the coal-black eyes of a disheveled-looking Jet, his face very much close to hers to the point their lips were nearly touching. She would've blushed by the sudden, close proximity of him within her personal bubble if not for the fact they were in this situation where they had to fight for their freedom.
Jet let out a long exhale. His chest heaved as he caught his breath with beads of sweat rolling down his temple; Akemi's eyes became wide when she realized how overexerted he was in this moment.
Jet had, on the spur of the moment, had saved her life. Given how fatigued he was, too, she then figured that he had probably sprinted as fast as he could in order to stop her from being crushed to death. He had risked tooth and neck to assure that she wouldn't have died right then and there.
Her olive eyes stared into his black ones as she searched for answers, wondering why he, someone who has had a long history of despising people of her kind, has made a previous attempt in nearly exposing her heritage to earth kingdom law enforcers, would, on the face of it, didn't want her to die.
"LONG FENG IS ESCAPING!" Aang exclaimed.
They broke eye contact with each other and Akemi gasped when seeing Long Feng escaping out a door he slammed shut behind him. Jet's weight quickly shifted up and off of her, and he sprinted towards the door just as Aang broke it down.
Akemi opened her mouth to call out for him, but all that came from her throat was a fractured sound of distress. She immediately leapt to her feet and let out an angry grunt. 'No choice but to ask him later!'
An earth wall appeared from behind her. She whipped around just as the wall retreated back into the ground to see a Dai Li being thrown against the outer wall of the cavern by a earth mast that shot out from under him. Akemi nodded to Toph, who now stood behind her in thanks and they broke in different directions to continue on with the battle.
Akemi became aware of how tedious this battle was starting to be; she gritted her teeth and her hold on her sword tightened as much as it could. She charged at another agent, and leapt in the air, bringing her sword down with the overlying thought of being determined that this would be what would end this fight-
Suddenly, the agent created an earth dome, shielding him from the incoming attack, and it was then with horror that Akemi realized her mistake.
As soon as the sword hit the dome, a crack echoed.
She watched in horror as a white jagged crack streaked across the sword slowly.
Then, it broke in half.
Her eyes wide, she watched in despair as the pieces of her token sword broke away from each other and clattered on the ground beneath her feet as she landed on her back. Her sword, her dear sword that had been with her since childhood, was now destroyed.
Katara from the side caught the agent by his ankle with her water whip, making him dangle air momentarily before throwing him in a random direction.
Akemi barely registered when she rushed to her side to make sure she wasn't harmed; she just stared at the broken pieces of her sword blankly, eyes still bugged out and gaping at her precious treasure that had easily broken on a whim; how easy had it broken, and how easy it was that the item she valued most that she had brought all over the world with her, through thick and thin…broken.
She got up on her knees clumsily and scrambled over the two pieces of the sword that split in half when contact was made with the dome. There were no more sounds of fighting in the room, which meant that all the agents had either been knocked out or they retreated.
Katara knelt next to her, putting a hand on her shoulder. "We can't stay here. We need to find them." As hurried as she was, she looked sympathetic in a sense, but Akemi couldn't tell.
She read the inscribed words on the sword as she placed the two halves together briefly.
Trust yourself, and go forth. The inscription said.
Her hands shook as she found herself placing the pieces gently on the ground in front of her. There was no time for her to drag these along; she couldn't fight with it anymore, and they still had a long way to go.
Akemi had no other choice-
She left the broken pieces of her sword behind, not even sparing one last glance to it.
She caught up as Toph opened the door that had been shut previously and noticed Aang kneeling next to Jet lying on the ground.
Her lungs dropped in the lowest part of her stomach as everyone gasped and ran over to where Jet now was practically motionless in. Akemi's foot dragged on the ground until both her feet her scraping the floor as she trudged herself with slack towards where she had her eyes fixed on.
'No, please no…' Akemi thought to herself as she watched Katara kneel next to Jet in a hurry. 'No, no, no, no, no—'
As she came up to them, she saw how Katara summoned water from her pouch and let her glowing hands hover over Jet's torso. She also saw when Katara's expression drop, and Akemi desperately hoped it wasn't because what she was fearing it was going to be,
"This isn't good." Katara said gravely.
Her face blanched, and Akemi's fingers slowly curled into her palms.
'NO, NO, NO!'
"You guys go find Appa. We'll take care of Jet." Smellerbee said, and Akemi nearly wanted to break down in a fit of tears at the implication:
Jet wasn't going to last long.
Jet wasn't going to make it.
Jet managed to catch her stare, and he angled his head towards her as Katara argued to Smellerbee that she could help. His eyebrows raised in surprise at how melancholic Akemi was looking; it's as though he wasn't expecting her, of all people, to be so affected by the fact he's down for the count.
Her eyes narrowed and she felt her eyes start to get damp with tears that almost threatened to spill out of her eyes. She shut her eyes tightly and gnashed her teeth together.
Jet was going to die.
And there was nothing Akemi could do about it.
She slowly turned her body away so nobody would be able to see her expression as she nearly slapped the palms of her hands up to her eyes, nearly popping them from how much she was pressing into them in an effort to not show any weakness.
"We're not going to leave you!" Katara responded, equally as upset as Smellerbee was. None of them seemed to notice how Akemi was slowly becoming overwhelmed with grief. None of them seemed to notice how Akemi's shoulders were starting to tremble as she tried to regain her composure and breathing.
"There's no time."
Everyone nearly fell over when Longshot, of all people, spoke. This was the first time he was speaking, which naturally would shock anyone in the general vicinity, including Smellerbee and Jet.
"Just go. We'll take care of him. He's our leader," Longshot said sternly, but his eyes reflected something else other than calm.
Akemi dropped her hands from her eyes and slacked where she stood, her arms wrapping around her torso in an effort to try and bring comfort to herself.
"Don't worry, Katara," Akemi heard Jet speak quietly from behind, "I'll be fine."
Akemi turned her head and saw Katara shut her eyes tightly and reluctantly get up from her spot. She started to walk away, and everyone slowly, one by one, followed behind her as they each looked at Jet; while they said nothing, Akemi knew that they were saying their final goodbyes to Jet.
She staggered as she made her way over to the fallen freedom fighter now that there was room for her to look at him fully. Akemi didn't seem to recognize that the others were drifting away as they made for the exit up ahead; Jet was the only person who was in her line of vision at this point. She didn't seem to notice how Longshot and Smellerbee were watching her with mixed emotions.
Nothing seemed to matter but Jet to her. How she couldn't do anything.
"Jet, I…" Akemi whispered as she kneeled down by his side, ignoring the look Smellerbee was shooting her from across where she sat. "I'm sorry."
Jet blinked and let out a small chuckle. "Why are you sorry?"
"You saved me, and yet-" Akemi croaked and her voice immediately died down. Her hands that were fisted in her lap tightened until her knuckles turned white.
Jet's eyes widened as he saw how grief-stricken Akemi looked, how bitter tears were indeed starting to water in her eyes but she was holding them back, how her arms started to tremble and she looked like she was going to shatter her teeth from how much she was clenching her teeth.
"And y-yet-"Akemi's voice trembled and she bowed her head, her hair falling and hanging down so it was completely blocking her face. "When the time came, I…I couldn't even save you!" She nearly wailed the last part of her sentence, and she knew that she had just broken her strong façade she was desperately trying to put on, and she was grateful that everyone else wasn't nearby to see her like this.
The last thing she wanted was for Aang and his friends to see her as weak.
A hand rested on one of her hands. Akemi let out a small gasp in surprise, opening her eyes and realizing that Jet had rested his hand on hers. She raised her head and nearly choked up when seeing him sending her a reassuring smile.
"Don't worry about it," Jet rasped, and Akemi heard how much his breath was starting to come out in wheezes now; he was starting to succumb to the pain of his internal injuries.
Akemi's eyes quivered in her sockets at how much Jet was trying to put on a brave face; her hand that Jet's didn't clutch reached for her small pack at her side, digging around in the satchel while never taking her eyes off Jet as he shut his eyes and his brows were tightly furrowed when another wave of pain shot through him.
Smellerbee blinked and a line appeared between her brows when she pulled a small vial from her satchel and popped the cork off with her thumb, but Akemi elected to ignore her suspicious glare.
"Here," Akemi held the vial up to Jet's lips and poured the medicine in. "It'll help with the pain. This was originally for me, but..." She was relieved that Jet relaxed moments after giving him the remedy, and she ignored how her own lungs were starting to burn from overexertion from all the fighting. "…You need it more than I do."
She gave him a once-over to assure his pain had completely died down before her olive eyes darted up to Smellerbee, who for the first time since meeting up with her, wasn't trying to glare holes through her.
In fact, Smellerbee had something meaningful etched in her features. But under the surface that Akemi was able to catch, she also looked agonized; she looked as though she was ready to break down as much as she wanted to. Akemi knew that Jet meant more to her and Longshot than she would ever understand.
Akemi handed over the vial that was half-empty to Smellerbee, which moved the girl who for so long continued to glare down and saw her as the enemy for the longest time, and now they were dissolving any bad blood now that they were here for Jet.
"Make it last," Akemi whispered and forced a half-smile, despite how painful it felt to try and seem happy while Jet was literally dying on her right at her feet. "It's not much, but…I hope it will mean something for you."
Smellerbee slowly took the vial from Akemi's hands, her hand lingering as Akemi drew her hand away after placing the vial in her hands. She slowly clutched it close to her while being careful as to not spill a single drop of the medicine.
"A-Akemi," Jet's voice, unsteady and raspy, called out for her. Akemi looked down at him, and she felt his grip on her other hand tighten. "Do you remember that night…back when we first came into the city?"
She nodded slowly.
"I didn't realize it at the time because I was too obsessed with revenge, but," Jet started out and once again put on a smile for her. "Talking and interacting with you made me start to think that maybe…just maybe, not everyone who was fire nation was bad. But, I didn't want to believe it back then," He coughed and Akemi placed a hand on his chest to keep him from trying to sit up, her other one turning upwards to clutch his other hand tightly.
"Now—"
"Jet, don't—" Akemi's voice cracked. Being angry, being hateful, being resentful at Jet not that long ago, and suddenly feeling sorrow for him, it truly was a change of face for her. How had she gone from wanting his presence gone to wanting his presence not to be gone permanently from this world? "Please, don't talk."
Despite her best interests, he continued,
"Now, it's so much different. You…" He looked so at peace, and it scared her. "You made me understand that despite the fire nation being merciless and terrible now, there are a few good souls out there living about—like you."
Akemi's eyes quivered in their sockets. "Jet..." They locked gazes and the world almost threatened to disappear around Akemi as they realized that these were their last moments together. This was the last time they were ever going to see each other.
"Everyone's waiting for you up there," he suddenly mused, and Akemi looked up and saw the group, surprisingly, waiting in the distance for her; she was sure they had already left to go after, Appa, and yet…
"You should get going," Jet rasped, and his grip on her hand slackened as he bid her to move on. "Like I said...I'll be fine...so you better get going."
She wanted to scream, 'stop lying!'. However, this was already heartbreaking for her. Her voice didn't want to seem to listen to her mind.
However, her body did move on its own; she bowed her head once more, leaning over Jet—
She placed a kiss on his forehead.
Jet, now slack-jawed and wide-eyed by Akemi's gesture, slowly relaxed and closed his eyes as he took in her silent goodbye that was implemented in her action, taking in the feeling of her gentle, yet chapped feeling of her lips on his forehead. 'If only I hadn't messed up back then,' He thought to himself in regret. 'Things could've been different for us.'
Meanwhile, Akemi barely registered a small sound escape from Smellerbee's throat in displeasure, or how Longshot shifted in his place as he readied his bow and arrow from behind her as he made a look out for any Dai Li agents that threatened to ruin these last moments with the fallen hero.
She reluctantly brought her face up, her lips lingering on his forehead for a moment before she slowly got up and spared one last glance to Jet.
Then, she turned away and rushed to catch up to the others.
As she wordlessly came up to Toph, she noted how sympathetic she looked; she must've felt with her seismic sense what Akemi had done back there. Akemi turned her head away and followed with her as Aang, Katara, and Sokka started to make towards the exit.
Her eyes narrowed in grief as the echoing sound of Smellerbee's now quiet sobbing from far behind reached her ears.
Finally, they went and reached the end of the line; as they opened the door, they were greeted with a vast space that was big enough to indeed hold a giant bison.
However, Akemi nearly wanted to scream when there was nothing but large shackles left in their wake: with no Appa.
"Appa's gone!" Aang cried. "Long Feng beat us here!"
And it was then Akemi swore that Long Feng was going to suffer for this.
"If we keep moving, maybe we can catch up with him!" Sokka reassured and they left the room quickly. Toph found another exit and earthbended it, and they quickly got out and started running along the shore of the lake.
Akemi furiously whipped her head around as she searched for the man responsible for the death of Jet. The man responsible for ruining the chance she could've-
Dai Li agents suddenly were pursuing them from behind, more and more coming out from the exit. She felt her heart drop when she realized what this meant for Smellerbee and Longshot back there.
"You think we can outrun them?" Sokka asked Aang in panic.
Aang looked ahead and his expression dropped. "I don't think it's going to matter!"
Akemi angled her head back to the front at Aang's panicked response and her eyes widened. Everyone came to a screeching halt as they found Long Feng and more Dai Li agents were blocking their path up ahead. They created walls in front and behind them, effectively trapping them.
They were now outnumbered. Even if Aang was the Avatar and was in the presence of two of his bending masters, the Dai Li agents were quick and they were adept at earthbending; this seemed like a fight they couldn't win.
She didn't seem to care. All she cared was the man who was responsible for her rage, her grief, her losing a friend—was standing in front of her, as smug as he looked. Her arms trembled and she raised her fists up.
"There is nowhere for you all to run. This is your last warning: surrender now and come quietly." Long Feng stated threateningly and took a step forward.
No one moved, but they readied their battle stances. Long Feng frowned at the uncooperativeness and responded tersely,
"Very well. Apprehend them swiftly at once!" He ordered the agents in the area and also crouched down in his own fighting stance. He slammed his foot in the ground, summoned a boulder, and launched it in their direction.
Not even seconds until it would've reached impact with the group did it disintegrate and his eyes widened as he watched the boulder he launched was…
Burned.
Embers from the rock fluttered in the breeze that wafted, and he found himself staring into the unforgiving glare of the enraged girl standing in front of the group.
Akemi didn't give him a chance to react, or anyone, for that matter. She didn't care about anything but to take down the enemy in front of her. She summoned a wave of fire with a battle shout and blew it violently towards Long Feng and the Dai Li agents blocking the front. She was lucky that even the agents had not seen this coming, and they were effectively knocked out as they were blown back by the fire and slammed into the earth wall behind them.
More sounds of shifting of the earth happened, and she quickly acted.
Agile and light on her feet with the adrenaline rushing in, she twisted around and circled Aang and his friends, and created a ring of fire to protect them just as more boulders were launched in their direction from the other side, destroying the rocks while being mindful not to bring the fire too close to the stunned members inside of it.
Akemi dashed through the fire and leapt out, running after the agents and without even planning out her attacks as she just continued to launch fire in their direction; no form, no control.
At this moment, she was a berserker, and she would eliminate the enemies responsible for destroying the one possible chance she had in actually rebuilding a relationship with Jet.
She leapt and slammed her foot in one of the agent's face, jumping off of him as more agents tried to use their resource around them to hit her, but she was too quick in this point in time; she jumped over a mast and picked off another agent with a stream off fire that blasted him feet away.
Growing ever-so frustrated with the agents that were relentless, with a final shout, her high-pitched scream vengeful and anguished, Akemi erupted a large fire whip and struck more agents conveniently lined up near the edge of the lake, sending them plummeting into them.
Someone got up, and when she saw it was Long Feng, her exhaustion and the searing pain of her lungs burning as much as the surrounding area was ebbed and she raced towards him. He managed to dodge all of her attacks as she blindly tried to hit him at every angle, but as her vision started to blur, she knew she could only keep this up for so long.
Akemi didn't care, though.
Long Feng was standing here. Jet wasn't.
And it was his fault.
Her eyes wild but focused on Long Feng, who was clutching his arm with the sleeve of his robe burned off and looking dumbfounded, and his expression was self-explanatory in that he was not expecting her to be firebending. Akemi smirked and raised her hands up once more.
During the heat of the moment, she heard Aang's pet lemur chirp and she looked up to see him fly into the sky.
Suddenly, something large came flying at them. As it came into view, Aang exclaimed, "APPA!"
Akemi realized that Appa, indeed Appa, Aang's beloved pet, was flying straight in their direction-right smack dab where she and Long Feng were!
She let out a distressed yell and quickly dissipated the fire in the surrounding area, jumping out of the way just as Appa came slamming down in between where she and Long Feng were. Unfortunately for her, he jumped in the same direction she did and she had no time to regain her footing to fight him.
Appa crashed through both the earth walls, and the Dai Li agents she had knocked out temporarily who ended up waking at some point dodged out of the way. Without even a second to spare, Aang and Toph earthbended a wide platform and knocked the agents that lingered on the cliff into the water.
Then, Appa landed in front of Long Feng. He growled and Akemi felt herself shrink back when realizing that the beast was seeing her as an enemy too. But much to her surprise, the back of her shirt was grabbed and she was yanked back by Sokka who had probably realized it as well.
Just as Long Feng threw a kick towards Appa, the ground shifted, but a pillar of earth barely even lifted from the surface before Appa bit down on his leg and launched him into the water.
Akemi was disappointed she wouldn't extract her revenge, now.
Everyone let out a cheer and ran past her up to Appa to embrace him, with Toph petting his nose. "I missed you, buddy..." Akemi heard Aang whisper from where she stood, and she felt her heart swell as she saw how overjoyed Aang was to the point a tear was trailing down his cheek.
Despite everything that just happened, she smiled to herself.
She took a step forward—
-but Appa startled everyone off when he heard her come forward and growled, and Akemi nearly fell over onto her back. 'Is this big guy's hearing THAT good? Oh, noooooo he's coming to—AHH!' Akemi shrieked in distress as Appa made a threatening step in her direction, and she stared at his overly large teeth that would guarantee to rip her to shreds in an instant.
Her savior, Aang, came to the rescue; he ran in front of Appa and waved his arms down while he consoled, "HEY, HEY, HEY! Buddy, easy!" He placed a hand on Appa's nose to calm him, and the bison only barely seemed to relax at Aang's touch. However, the presence of Akemi did not make him happy.
"Appa, it's okay! She's with us!"
His words reached her ears, and her face suddenly lit up in recognition.
Akemi was sure it had been her imagination when he said those words, but he sounded as though he fully accepted her into the group. She then thought that maybe she was tired to the point she was jumping to conclusions and disregarded that hope.
She suddenly felt extremely exhausted, and as though her mind was numb. As she glanced at the environment around her, she realized that she didn't even remember causing all of the burnt and charred earth on the walls, the ground…everywhere.
Akemi's face suddenly drained of color as she attained to what she had just done.
She had firebended.
She firebended.
And she had done so in front of the leader of the deadly earth kingdom law enforcement of Ba Sing Se.
And he had escaped.
'Uh…oh.'
..
..
..
It had taken what Akemi felt like it was forever for Aang and his friends to convince Appa that Akemi wasn't a threat until they were able to safely get her on him to fly away from the mess.
The reality of what just happened back there settled on Akemi, and she now was paranoid. 'Idiot, idiot, IDIOT! I'm so STUPID!' But, along with fear of what is to come—capital punishment, death, under earth kingdom law-she was also mixed with other negative emotions from everything that just happened, and she wasn't sure which she was supposed to be feeling at this exact moment in time.
She looked over at Katara next to her and her concerns faded away when she saw that she had tears in her eyes as she stared at the water below them.
In the past, she has proven from time to time she was no good with comforting people she didn't know well. But the more she stared at her face, the more she saw the anguish of what she knew she was thinking about it, she felt the walls of her heart start to break and started to feel an overwhelming amount of empathy and for the first time wished she could do something to help. Akemi haltingly stared to raise a hand and made a reach for her shoulder to try and comfort her. However, Aang beat her to it.
Aang placed a hand on Katara's shoulder, and she looked up. Aang, Toph, and Sokka came around the girl and they then formed a group hug as they collectively comforted and mourn their loss.
Akemi's eyelids dropped and she looked away, scooting to the side and giving them room when remembering she was the odd one out of the bunch. She was content, though, that they were taking in each other's presence and now happily reunited with Appa, who continued to fly without destination. Her eyes peered over the lake as they continued on, and they passed by the shore where the entrance to the headquarters was…
The image of Jet flashed in her mind, and her eyes once again became glossy, but this time, she felt as though those tears that she had been holding back the entire time were gone and she had none to give for this moment as she continued to mourn the loss of someone she started to call a friend.
Within her silent sorrow, she failed to realize someone had been calling her name from the side.
"Hey! Akemi!"
She glanced towards the group, and noticed that everyone now was looking in her direction apprehensively.
Akemi was unprepared for when Sokka held out a hand for her and gave her a half-smile.
Akemi was unprepared for when Sokka then declared, "Come on! You have to be a part of this, too!"
Akemi was unprepared when the group nodded their heads in agreement and opened up space for her.
Akemi was prepared, however, to turn down their offer; she felt as though she didn't deserve to be a part of it, given that she had let Jet down even after he had saved her life and held a hand up. "I-It's fine, I—"
Despite that, Sokka didn't seem to give her a choice; he lunged to her hand and reached out for it. Akemi yelped when he gripped her wrist and pulled her into the open space in the group hug. Unable to escape as they close the hug, she felt herself stiff and glued her arms to her sides awkwardly.
As the hug tightened around her, she felt something warm and fuzzy enter her senses, and the heartache that has oppressed her since leaving Jet, and leaving Zuko and Iroh to figure herself out, eluded her.
She suddenly found comfort in this; she felt as though for this fleeting moment, it was as though she wasn't truly out of place being here. Akemi relaxed in her spot slightly, but kept her arms remained at her sides while continuing to be encompassed by everyone around her as she wondered how to appropriately respond to this.
Eventually, she gave up on trying to act, and just went with enjoying this feeling of being part of this small family as she mourned what could've been with Jet, how things could've been different, and how she wished things had been different when meeting Jet.
Her eyes shot wide open, unbeknownst to everyone else.
It was then she remembered while briefly taking comfort and her worries dying out that now that she's been caught firebending, things were drastically different for her.
Akemi realized that news of her being a firebender would reach the earth king, seeing as Long Feng has escaped. Akemi realized that now that she was going to be exposed, no one can associate with her.
Akemi then knew that she could never go back to Zuko and Iroh, lest they also be exposed by being affiliated with her.