A/N: Fun fact: I actually wrote this chapter yesterday, but held onto it until now. XD This is actually the first time I've been a chapter or so ahead of posting. I usually post chapters almost immediately after writing it and giving it a quick edit. Now I'm ahead! Wow! ...Wonder how long this'll last?

Chapter summary: In which Long Feng realizes the true nature of an enemy, Li makes a deal with a devil, and Jin is definitely the mom-friend of the group.


50: Kuchisake-onna

He couldn't keep his thoughts straight. They kept slipping… away…

Find her.

Who? Who was he supposed to… Woman in White. But she wasn't… not anymore… why?

Find her.

Water. She hunted through the water. He had to find water.

Find her.

Stone rumbled but he didn't flinch or slow. He had to look, to listen, to feel, to find. He'd asked him to. The man who asked so many questions -he shouldn't have answered!- had asked him to find the Spirit who wasn't a Woman in White. He had to look. He could hear her in a strange, distant sort of way. Almost like…

Find her.

What was he thinking? Why couldn't he…? Where was she?

:Fire.:

There. So close. Where… Up?

:Come to me, little bird. I can show you peace.:

"Where are you?" he whispered. Stone above him. Not water. He was confused. Unless above the rock... "I'm not an earthbender. I can't come to you."

:No? Then I shall come to you.:

He tilted his head. "How?"

A scream.


"Sir, what is he doing?" Agent Guotin asked, staring at the entranced firebender suspiciously.

Long Feng followed the prisoner's gaze to the stone ceiling and frowned. "I don't know," he replied. "But I think we can assume the Spirit is-"

A scream ripped through the echoing stone chambers of the Dai Li headquarters at the same time the hairs on the back of Long Feng's neck stood on end.

"She's here!" he cursed. "Come boy!"

The firebender moved, keeping pace with Long Feng and Agent Guotin. His glazed eyes remained fixed ahead of him with just the slightest hint of emotion flickering there. Once again, Long Feng wondered how thoroughly the boy was entranced. It would be most unpleasant if the boy broke free of the mindbending in the middle of a battle. There was no telling which side he would take.

They rounded the corner and the mindbent firebender was suddenly at the very back of Long Feng's mind. The Spirit was here, but she was most definitely not a Woman in White. Next to him, Agent Guotin cursed colorfully and launched his rock gloves at the Spirit. He wasn't fast enough.

The abominable Spirit slashed her narrow blade across the hapless Joo Dee's face. The force of her strike snapped the Joo Dee's head to the side revealing a ripped, bloody slash where the mindbent woman's mouth used to be. Joo Dee screeched and collapsed in a heap on the ground, clawing at her face.

Long Feng had only ever read about such wounds and the malicious Spirit who dealt them. He'd thought them unique to the Fire Nation as there was so no record of them appearing anywhere that was controlled by another country. Yet here she was, in his city, murdering his people.

The girl the Dai Li had arrested with Li -Jin, that was her name- was staring at the fallen Joo Dee and covering her mouth to muffle her horrified screams. The Spirit moved and was suddenly right there in front of the girl.

"Child of Earth. Why are you in such a place?"

The girl was shivering in terror. Long Feng may have had her arrested, but she had been ultimately innocent. The meant she was a citizen of his city, someone he'd sworn an oath to protect.

"Kuchisake-onna!" Long Feng shouted, drawing the Spirit's attention.

He crouched and pushed the earth, propelling a boulder out of the ground and straight at the monster. For a moment, it seemed as if the Spirit's poisonous green eyes flickered with disdain before she vanished. The stone crashed into the wall by the Human girl's face, ripping another scream from her.

Where! Where did the Spirit disappear to?

"On your guard, men!" Long Feng commanded. "It's a Kuchisake-onna."

The Dai Li in the vicinity immediately leapt into action, readying their iron chains. The iron would burn the Spirit if it made contact, but it would not hold it for long. The Kuchisake-onna would not be easy to defeat. There actually wasn't any details about how to defeat such a Spirit that Long Feng could remember reading in the Dai Li's records. It seemed the Kuchisake-onna had been rare even in Avatar Kyoshi's time.

Damn.

"You came."

Hair standing on end, Long Feng spun and bent his own rock gloves out, halting them just short of the firebender's face. His eyes widened when he saw the Kuchisake-onna draped over the firebender's shoulders, her horrific face nuzzling his scarred cheek. He held up a hand, stopping his Dai Li from attacking.

This may be his chance to understand what was going on.

"Of course," the Spirit murmured, looping her arms around the firebender's chest so her hands pressed against where his heart would be. "I told you I would. I keep my promises. I am faithful."

That… sounded more like a Woman in White than a Kuchisake-onna. The boy had said the Spirit may have begun as a Woman in White. If that was true, then perhaps there was enough of the original Spirit left over to deal with her. Permanently.

"There is no sunlight here," she whispered in the firebender's scarred ear. "No warmth. No Fire. No Knowledge Seeker to keep me at bay." Damaged lips pressed against the firebender's scar. "Come with me. Let me show you peace."

The Dai Li twitched and Long Feng clenched his upheld fist, silently commanding them to be still. This didn't make sense. All records of the Kuchisake-onna said she hunted her victims, asked them an unanswerable question, then killed them. Why wasn't she doing that now? What did she want?

"No."

Unearthly green eyes opened, dark lashes still brushing wraith pale cheeks.

"Not until you tell me who betrayed you."

Good. This could be their chance to find the Kuchisake-onna's weakness. Keep going boy.

"Why do you wish to know?" the Kuchisake-onna asked, her gentle tone edged with the same razor blade as the knife she still held in her right hand. The same hand that currently pressed against the firebender's heart.

"You said we were a matched set," the firebender said, sadness impossibly tinging his words. "That we were both betrayed by someone we trusted." Pale gold blinked slowly as something like tears pooled in the corner of his good eye. "I can't remember who my betrayer was. But you do. Let me help you."

What was he-

"You would do that, little bird?" the Spirit murmured, slipping around the firebender's body with a grace no Human could mimic. "You would help me have my vengeance?"

Damn. If the boy saw her face, he was done for.

"Li!"

Startled, Long Feng instinctively turned to the voice. Why hadn't the stupid girl run when she had the chance?

"Li! Wake up!" Jin shouted.

Green the shade of the glowing crystals, and just as sharp, narrowed dangerously when they beheld the mindbent glaze over pale gold. "What's wrong with your eyes?" she hissed.

Long Feng jerked his attention back to the Spirit, releasing his fist and the Dai Li attacked-

Fire!

Heat blazed as a swatch of red-gold flame exploded into existence between the Dai Li and the Spirit, knocking the thrown rock gloves aside and shattering them as if they were mere pebbles. But how-?!

Fire faded and pale, Fire Nation gold eyes sparked with life and consciousness and fear. Damn that Spirit to Agni's fire. She'd broken the mindbent trance!

"Don't attack her!"

What?

"Don't attack her," the firebender commanded again, holding out his hands palms out in a sign of peace. "Let me speak to her. Please."

This was insane.

Long Feng met Agent Guotin's gaze and the Dai Li nodded. Iron chains flew out from dozens of green sleeves, tangling around the Kuchisake-onna's corporeal form. The Spirit screamed as wraith pale skin burned angry red where iron touched.


"No! Stop! Please," Li cried, grabbing the chains and trying to pull them off the Spirit.

Something grabbed the back of his collar and yanked him back and away from the fray. He landed on the ground hard enough to make his ears ring. Why? Why were they attacking!? What was going on? Where was he? When- How did he get here?

"Li!"

Jin! He sat up too quickly and promptly keeled over as the blood drained from his head to his feet. His vision abruptly tunneled and his mouth felt like it was made of cotton. His head and fingers tingled but he managed to catch himself on his forearms before his face smacked the ground. Dainty hands grabbed his shoulders and shook him gently.

"Li?" he heard Jin call. "Li!"

"'M okay," he muttered as his vision cleared and he lifted his head. Something thumped dully against his back before crumbling. He turned around and saw the remnants of a rock glove lying in pieces on the ground where he'd just lain. He was so confused. "What's going on?"

"The Dai Li got us," Jin said, hauling him to his feet. "We need to get out of here before that thing attacks us."

"What thi-" Oh. That thing. Her. The Spirit. Burning emerald eyes trapped in a web of iron chains met his gaze with blazing emotion.

:Fire. You said you would help me.:

He shuddered as the Spirit's words infiltrated his mind like it had in the ice. His grip on Jin tightened but he didn't look away.

:I seek vengeance,: the Spirit said, unleashing a ear-piercing wail that rang through the stone cavern like a death knell. :Give that to me, little firebird. A life for a life. The traitor for my children. Do this and I will ease your escape.:

He couldn't… But he had offered. He gulped, eyes wide. "Don't kill them," he pleaded. "Please. Promise you won't kill them!"

The Spirit hissed, wrapped a long-nailed hand around an iron chain, snarling when the iron burned her, and flung off two of her attackers with ease.

"Promise you won't kill them!" Li cried, staggering. "Promise me and I'll help you get your vengeance."

The Spirit stilled and met his gaze with her own, cold emerald fire glowing with all the hatred, anger, sadness of a bereaved mother.

"Deal."

Her wail became a laugh that chased Li and Jin as they raced, hand in hand, through the stone caverns. Li had no idea where he was going and neither did Jin, but they were not with the Spirit and that's all that mattered. The memory of the squalling Joo Dee, writhing on the ground with her face slashed just like the Spirit's...

"Kuchisake-onna," he whispered, feeling dread creep into his spirit and take root. "She's a Kuchisake-onna."

And he'd made a deal with her.

"I don't care what she is," Jin snapped, frightened but determined. "I'm not letting her do that to me."

Li certainly couldn't argue with that.

"Wait!"

Li hesitated, looking back over his shoulder but Jin didn't stop and he was forced to stumbled after her or jerk them both to a stop. And stopping was something neither of them wanted to do.

"Wait!"

The voice was familiar but Li couldn't- Grrk!

Both he and Jin choked as rock hard fists grabbed handfuls of their clothes and yanked them to a halt.

"No!" Jin cried, gripping Li's hand and flailing for a handhold, foothold, anything. "No!"

Li held onto Jin's hand, trying to dig his feet into the ground to slow down their backwards movement. No good. Gritting his teeth, he planted one foot, turned with his right hand clawed and ready to rake heat away from a body-

"Shanyuan?!" he gasped. His shock only lasted a second before he began struggling again.

"Wait!" the young Dai Li commanded again, his stance firm and rooted. His eyes were wide enough for Li to see white surrounding the earthen brown irises. "Please wait!"

It was the fear tinging the Dai Li's command that made Jin slow her struggles. She turned and glared at her captor, fully prepared to let loose a deluge of angry words. Except then the stone fist clinging to her let go, as did the glove holding onto to Li, and returned to Shanyuan's shaking hands.

"That thing," Shanyuan gasped. "What was that? You're a firebender but you made ice and that- that thing?! You know!" he shouted, pointing at Li. "You know what that was. That- She- That Joo Dee- Wha- What was that thing?!" Shanyuan cried in a voice that was almost more sob than shout.

Agni, the Dai Li looked like he was coming apart at the seams from terror. "She's a Kuchisake-onna," Li said, swallowing over a fright dried throat. "If you see her, run. Don't talk to her. Just run. Throw something at her if you can. If she speaks to you, do not answer her. She will kill you whether by her own blade or by destroying your sanity."

Jin was shaking and Agni have mercy if Li wasn't shaking just as badly. Shanyuan looked like he was going to collapse and empty his stomach. Shanyuan may be a Dai Li but Li wouldn't wish a death at the hands of the Kuchisake-onna on his worst enemy.

"Come with us," he said.

"What?!" Jin cried. "Li, no! He's Dai Li!"

"Would you rather he stay here?"

Jin blanched, her soft brown eyes flashing back to Shanyuan. "No," she whispered. "But-"

"Shanyuan," Li said. "Is Tengfei here?"

The young Dai Li gulped but managed to shake his head mutely.

Good. "Then come with us," Li said fiercely. "Tengfei needs to know about the Kuchisake-onna. Someone needs to tell him." He held out his hand. "Come with us. No one can blame you for leaving. You're spreading the word."

"But-"

"Shanyuan," Li commanded, jolting the earthbender from his panic, "come with me and live, or stay and die." The young Dai Li flinched. "You're not trained enough to fight her. You know that. I know that. You're Tengfei's apprentice. Tell your Master what's happening. He needs to know."

Shanyuan shuddered. "This isn't what I was trained to do," he said, wrapping his arms around himself. "I- I'm supposed to stay and fight and-"

"You're an Apprentice, Shanyuan," Jin said suddenly. "An apprentice! No sane Master expects an apprentice to do a Master's job. None! But your Master needs to know what happened. It's your duty as an Apprentice to tell your Master about a problem. Now come on!"

Jin broke free from Li's gasp, snagged Shanyuan's sleeve, and pulled him along behind them. She took Li's hand with her other hand and together the three of them fled down one of the tunnels branching off from the main cavern. Another shrieking wail chased after them at the same time dark elongated shadows and pounding feet advanced on them from the ahead of them.

Before either Li or Shanyuan could react, Jin yanked the boys towards a wood and metal door along the wall.

"Open it," she commanded.

"I don't have the key," Shanyuan said, shaking his head frantically.

Jin stomped her foot. "But you can bend th-"

"Move," Li commanded.

He nudged Jin aside and pressed a hand over the metal latch. He felt the cool metal heat under his hand. It took more effort than he thought it would to keep the heat contained within the metal so it couldn't burn his hand. In, hold, out. The metal latch snapped off in his hand.

He and Shanyuan slammed their shoulders against the door, forcing it open and tumbling inside. Jin didn't wait for them to recover before quickly turning and shutting the door firmly behind them. Li and Shanyuan pressed against the wood with her, fully prepared to hold it shut should they need to.

They listened intently as the rushing feet of the Dai Li thumped past their hiding spot towards Long Feng and the Kuchisake-onna. Only when the hallway beyond was silent once more, aside from the Joo Dee's screaming, the Kuchisake-onna's wailing, and the occasional cry of a Dai Li agent, did the three slump in relief.

"Don't relax yet," Jin said, her eyes gleaming in the eerie light of the glowing green crystals. "We still need to get out of… here…"

Braced for the worst, Li turned and followed Jin's dumbstruck gaze. Erk! "Wha- What by Agni's flaming teeth is that thing?!" he cried.

The beast lifted it enormous head, opened its massive mouth and… oh Agni the thing could swallow all three of them whole! A low bellow reverberated through the cavern. Agni. They'd escaped the fangs of one danger and run headlong into another. Jin shrank against the door with a whimper. Li and Shanyuan looked at each other, then turned their bodies so they could keep Jin out of sight and protected. If that monster wanted them, they would make sure Jin had a chance to escape.

A heavy thud shook the ground and chains rattled-