Author's Note: I now present to you...the first General Fong/Mai fanfiction! Yay for me! I know this really sounds like a crack pairing, but trust me on this...I think it will work itself out in the end. This is rated T, but it's a really strong T. Tell me if this should be M. I am assuming that Mai is 15, since I don't know her age, and I'm also assuming that General Fong is younger than he looks and that the beard is what makes him look old.
Another Author's Note: Daniel Dae Kim, the actor who plays Jin (I'm happy) on LOST (Dodogrrl has just lost herself in a dreamland with Jin), is the voice of General Fong. I'm just thinking of him when I write this fic. Also, I saw a picture of General Fong; he's not hot, but he isn't some old geezer, either.
stoic: a person who, with practice, makes him/herself indifferent to both pain and pleasure
It was easier to capture her than he thought it would be, in fact it was too easy. The girl almost literally handed herself over to him on a silver platter. Who would have thought that merely threatening the Fire Lord's daughter and some circus girl's lives would be all it took to get her to subdue herself to what he wanted? If that were the case, he would have done so a long time ago. No matter how it was done, he simply knew this: the governor's daughter was his prisoner, and that would be all it took to destroy the Fire Nation scum in this "New Ozai" and reclaim the city which should be called Omashu.
He grabbed her by the arm and dragged her to an empty bedroom. He only did this because all the dungeons were filled up, yes, that was the reason. Yet he couldn't help but stare, intrigued, at the empty eyes which glared at him with all the hatred she could muster, and then slightly below, at her lips, formed into a sardonic smile. With all of the authority that was required of him, he commanded, "Tell me exactly who you are."
"I'm the governor's daughter, that's all you need to know," the girl replied, with an air of empty sarcasm.
"That's not all I want to know, though. I command you to tell me more." He was surprised at her blunt answer, but he knew she hid an amazing amount of information behind that expressionless face. All he needed was a way to get through.
"Or else what? You don't have anything to hold over me, there's nothing you can do that can make me tell you anything." She would be a hard informant to crack, but once cracked, this interrogation would definitely be worth it.
"There is torture, you know." She'll crack now, even the bravest Fire Nation soldier shakes in fear when he thinks of my methods of torture, he thought, anyway, she'll be much more sensitive to the pain.
"Torture can't break me, I've learned long ago to shrug off pain." She was really starting to annoy him now, so he took out a knife and pointed it at her throat.
"We'll see about that." He then moved the knife slightly to the left and slashed her right shoulder. He looked at her face, expecting to see tears, and was shocked to see not a trace of emotion in her face, even as the blood from her wound dripped from her shoulder to the covers of the bed.
"I told you I wouldn't break, so don't try it again." He was furious at her reaction to her wound, but a small part of him admired her resistance to pain. He decided to take a much more subtle approach to the situation.
"At the very least tell me your name." No harm in revealing one's name, right? Or rather, no reason to not reveal it, it's not like it's the most important thing in the world. He'd like to know something about this girl, well, other than who her father was.
"Tell me your name, and I'll tell you mine." This was an easy deal, all that was needed was his name in order to start the slow but steady dissection of this girl's mind, and he wouldn't pass up a deal like that.
"My name is General Fong," he stated, superiority and pleasure laced into his voice.
"Well, then, General Fong, I'm Mai." So Mai was her name, he liked the sound of it, it rang in his ears like a medium-sized bell, not too high, not too low, just right.
He whispered it to himself, "Mai..."
Mai could hear the whispering of her name by the general, and she noticed that the tone in which he said her name did not exactly sound of hate. In fact, it sounded like, no, it couldn't be...it shouldn't be...for the first time since being dragged into the room, she felt uncertain of what to feel, should it be horror, disgust, or...no, not that. How he dares.
How dare he ambush them while Ty Lee was recovering from a broken leg, how dare he threaten her, and then Azula too, how dare he force her to come with him to this, this dump he calls a camp, and in order to do what, use her as ransom, and now, he dares to say her name in such a tone, with such a purr to his voice, it made her feel feelings she had felt only a few times before. She felt disgusted, both with this general, and herself.
She knew not to show these feelings to this general, he could use them against her. She had to control these feelings racing inside of her, if only to protect the stoic reputation she had worked so hard to build, out of only the many burns and cuts she had received in her life. She had to play the role of the stoic, if only to protect her nation and her own sanity.
She breathed silently and steadily in order to calm herself down. She placed her hand to her wrist, and felt her pulse quicken. She came to the conclusion that this foreign feeling must be fear, and not...that.
With that knowledge she stood up straighter and composed herself, resuming the role she had played for so long. She saw how he paced around the bed, and how he returned to where she was and sat beside her.
"I know I will not be able to break you, Mai, but I can try to make you bend to my whim," the general hissed in her ear. His voice still showed an air of command, but it also held a more primal core, one she could obviously hear.
"Why should I pander to your more incompetent self? All you want is information," Mai answered, knowing full well that she was lying to herself. It was very obvious the general wanted more, but the problem was that while part of her knew that the general's advances were unethical, another part of her mind wanted the same thing.
"Are you sure I only want information? Because you know, there are more ways to bend than you think." That sealed it. The general wanted something she could not, no, would not give up. It was growing harder to play this role, as both her feelings of disgust and...the other feelings, both interfered with her stoical character, the character she had taken so long to create, the character she could not, no, would not, let be destroyed.
It took much more effort to regain composure this time, but she managed it. She remained quiet for some time, as to find some way to get this general to stop.
She smiled again, as he continued, "Because I could show you."
She scoffed at him, and with a mocking tone she retorted, "I do believe you're losing control of yourself. Well, if not that, then you're certainly losing your touch, General Fong."
General Fong stared agape at this girl. He had tried everything with her. First commanding, then torture and finally this: pretending to make advances toward this girl in order to make her crack. He had always been an excellent actor, and pretending to have feelings for this girl was easier than he had expected, as she was a pretty girl. Even with that, she still wouldn't tell him anything.
He struggled to control his anger, mainly because he felt like strangling the girl then and there. He grabbed the covers and squeezed them as hard as he could, growling to himself in the process. The furious general then recalculated the reasons why he shouldn't strangle this girl, or rather, Mai.
First and foremost, showing his emotions to Mai would make him seem weak, and that was the last thing he wanted to be seen as. Another reason was that she was the governor's daughter, and he needed her for ransom, and alive. Then, a third reason sneaked in and struck him unawares. Mai wasn't so much of a girl as she was a young woman, and as he stared, he was finding more beauty in this woman.
Something broke in him, or rather, it got so startlingly distorted that his rationality changed. He smiled to himself, letting this new rationality take over. As he silently ogled at her, he determined that there must be some beauty hidden under her armor. This was how he would break her, how he would make her bend to his every desire. "Mai..."
Mai could hear him purr her name, again. Those feelings inside her, her disgust and her...not-so-mentionable feelings, woke up, again. Only this time the latter was stronger. Her pulse was quickening, and so was her breathing. Her body was shaking, too, but softly, in a way she could control. There was still a way her stoic self could claim the victory, but she had to do so quickly, before her feelings got any stronger.
It took all of her self-control to compose herself this time. Her unnamable feelings had already triumphed over her disgust, and it would only be a matter of time before these feelings destroyed her stoicism as well. With her last remaining sarcasm, she asked, "What do you want?"
"You..." For a moment, Mai lost all her rationality. All she wanted to do was lose herself in this moment, to the man sitting next to her and purring her name. However, her rationality came back the very next moment, and she took the next few moments to think up a deal.
"General Fong, you like deals, right?" she asked, knowing that it had taken a deal to get her here in the first place and hoping he would say yes.
"Why do you ask?" he responded, his hand reaching her hair and stroking it softly. His fingers felt good in her hair, and the deepening touch made her shiver, no, she had to control these feelings, lest they control her. She also had a deal to seal.
She said, her hands placed neatly on her lap and clenching themselves for a fleeting feeling of control, "Because I have a deal for you, General Fong."
General Fong loved the feel of her hair between his fingers, the tips of said fingers caressing the head which held the ebony hairs. He felt the rationality he had embraced moments ago slowly take control of him, making his body shudder in utmost pleasure, but another feeling was slowly forming in his brain, a feeling he had long heard about in legends, but never thought could overtake him; could it be something more than mere desire? All in all, he rather liked these feelings, and he got an inkling of emotion from her face, stating that she liked it too. "State your bargain, Mai."
Mai could see a smile on General Fong's face. Wait, ever since when had she referred to him as General Fong? Oh wait, it was when she called him by that name, thus accepting him as someone other than a general, or rather, someone more than a general, someone like a, no, he couldn't be a lover, could he?
With the stark realization that her stoic self was already surrendering to this new self that had emerged from the abyss of her mind, she answered, with the last traces of the cold, calculating self she had once been, "Bargain? This is more like a game. I have weapons, you know, ones you couldn't find. They are very uncomfortable for me to carry, as they are very sharp-"
"And why is this relevant?" General Fong interrupted. He wasn't supposed to interrupt me, Mai thought, but his question did need answering.
"Well, these weapons are an important part of my deal, General, and here it is. For every part of my armor you take off, I'll throw one of my weapons at you. Easy enough, right?" Mai stated, a smirking air to her voice, which she had noticed didn't sound as cold as it should have been. In fact, it sounded faintly warm, like a touch. She continued, her voice getting steadily warmer, "So, do we have a deal, General Fong?"
General Fong almost laughed to himself at the deal this woman was making. She would let him remove her armor and see her underneath the metal plates she had long hidden behind, and all she wanted in return was to throw some pieces of scrap metal at him, and, dare he brag, not even hit him? That wasn't so much a deal as a steal, and he felt a tinge of guilt, but if that would be the case, he'd gladly take full advantage of it. He chuckled, "Well, if that's your deal, then I'll play along, Mai."
Mai sniggered back, "I'm not so sure you should be chuckling, General, but, a deal's a deal, and I have to fulfill my end of the bargain. Go ahead." She tried to say this in the most sarcastic way she could, but she could not deny that excitement was coursing through her, and that she was quite looking forward to the general's touch.
To her great surprise, she giggled to herself, wondering what would happen if Ty Lee and Azula were there. Ty Lee would most likely be quite literally flipping in glee, saying how cute Mai and General Fong looked together, and then make wedding plans, whereas Azula would be attempting to murder General Fong for even thinking of touching her friend, one of the few people she actually cared for, that way, and just for being someone who wasn't from the Fire Nation.
Her thought process temporarily stopped, as she felt the back armor plate slip silently off her back and then land with a soft plop on the bed, and then the touch of his hand caressing the white silk on her back, the camisole part of her undergarments. She had forgotten she was wearing that, and she blushed a bit, grateful for that camisole.
Struggling to hide her blush, she turned to the intent general and told him, "I believe you must fulfill your end of the deal now." Was she feeling remorse? I shouldn't be, it was part of the deal, she thought, but a part of her didn't want to throw the weapon in her hand. However, she did.
Thud.
General Fong did not expect the weapon to hit him with such accuracy, or such brute strength; he was surprised that she could handle the star-shaped weapons so efficiently. His shoulder bled, the crimson drops mingling with the covers of the bed. There was a higher price to pay than he thought. Even so, it only made what he was getting in return seem more satisfying. With that mindset, he grinned at Mai. While taking out the weapon, he said, "Good hit, Mai."
She blushed again, he liked seeing her blush, it implied that she, though she tried to hide it, was enjoying it too. With that small victory in his head, he took off the armor that covered her right shin. She herself had decided to take off her shoes but left on her socks. Her sock-covered calf was prettier than he expected, and he sat back, waiting for another weapon to-
Slash.
Mai smiled this time, as the weapon didn't so much hurt him as graze his shirt in a way that opened it up and revealed a teasing amount of skin. She was feeling warmer than she had felt in a while, and her arms were boiling underneath the armor, so she decided to remove her arm plates. They annoyed her, anyway.
She savored the new freedom of her arms, and especially her hands. She used this freedom to grab his hair and feel it between her fingers. It did feel good, though she would get used to this new self slowly. She kicked his arm, wondering if she could be any more obvious as to which part of her armor she wanted him to take off next. She sighed in relief as he gently took off the armor of her left shin. She dreaded having to throw another one of her star-shaped weapons, but she was getting a bit annoyed by something. She sniggered to herself, knowing where she would throw next. She threw it, then-
Snip.
General Fong was very shocked. He could not believe she cut his beard off. He was growing it out for a reason. He didn't want any of his older subordinates to attempt to overthrow him because of what his age was supposed to imply about inexperience in the army. Sure, he wasn't older, but he wasn't completely young, either. Also, he really liked his beard, it was really puffy. He could hear her laugh, saying, "That beard really annoyed me. It made you look stupid, and now you look much better." He rolled his eyes.
He was growing impatient with this armor thing, so he decided to take off both of her upper leg plates at the same time. As he untied both, he heard, "You know that means two stars being thrown at you at the same time, right?"
"Yes."
"Well, fine," she replied, though he could definitely spot a smile on her face, and a part of him smiled too. He then took off the offending leg plates to see white leggings gently covering her. He wanted to touch her, but he wasn't quite sure she'd comply. Anyway, he still had to face the wrath of two stars. She threw them, and-
Thud-thunk.
One of them hit his other shoulder lightly, while the other bounced off his armor. A wave of relief fell over Mai when she saw that there was no deep wound this time. Why did she not want to hurt this general? Was it because he represented all that was forbidden in her life, and here was a chance to indulge in equally forbidden fruit? Or was it because she felt something for this general, something she could say she had only felt once before?
She sat beside him and used a pillowcase, she was surprised there was one, to silently nurse the wounds she herself had caused. She murmured to herself, "It"s surprising..."
"What is so surprising, Mai?"
"I always thought that whenever I got the chance to brutally hurt someone, knowing they'd comply, that I'd take it and hurt them to my fullest abilities. I'm not doing so, because I can't really hurt you, without hurting that silent part of me...I don't know if you'd understand what I mean by parts one must keep silent-"
"I completely understand, dear. Even now..." Mai heard him ramble on about him having to act strong to protect himself, and not being able to show feelings one would normally be able to show, but she only remembered that he called her dear.
A few long minutes later, he grabbed her close, and took the chest plate off, the final piece of armor. She smiled the sincerest smile she could, and she took hold of her last star. She knew she had to throw it, she didn't want to at all, but she had to. She sat up straight, positioned her arm and hand, ready to throw, and she aimed for where it would hurt the most. She didn't like this at all. Then, a smile crept up her face. She threw the star, and-
Completely missed.
Both stared at each other after the star landed on the ground, awed by what had just happened. They came closer to each other than they thought they could, General Fong grabbing her hand and Mai stroking his hair. Then, they kissed.
General Fong relished it. It was everything he thought a kiss should be, and more; maybe it was that feeling he had only thought could happen in stories, could it be, love? Plus, he had to give Mai credit for the beard thing. Not having a beard in the way made it much easier to kiss. He stopped grabbing her hand and grabbed her waist as he pulled her closer. As he deepened the kiss, he forgot that she was the enemy.
Mai surrendered to her new feelings, feelings she could now name as desire, need and dare she say it, love? She savored the kiss as she would an excellent meal, though she could definitely say it was better. She was glad she cut off his beard; it made it easier for her to kiss him. As she pulled him closer, she forgot she was a captive, and she let her stoicism go.
Both understood that stoicism was the endurance of pain, but the other facet of stoicism, the resistance of pleasure, was one neither of them had realized they had accepted, one they could not comprehend, and one they were glad to let go of, in each other's arms.
And now we're done with this tale.
Please, I really want to know if this is a good story, so REVIEW, please.