I know it's an odd intro to this drabble, but I'm hosting a Maikka (Mai/Sokka) week at the end of September. If you're interested, check out my deviant art account at loopy777 dot deviantArt dot com. And now, on with the show...
Captive Heart
She didn't even try to pretend she wasn't Fire Nation, or beg for a mercy she didn't deserve. That's what saved her life; he wouldn't have been able to control his fury if one of Their arrogant breeding machines presumed a right to exist when his own-
They bound her and dragged her back to the hideout. She refused to walk, but that wasn't a problem. Pipsqueak just threw her over his shoulder and carried her. He claimed she was as lighter than a basket leechee nuts. They stuck her in a little treehouse that separated a bit from the rest of the settlement. It didn't have any ropes or ladders leading to it, and the only way to even reach it was to swing from several trees over.
The only way to leave was to have a friend several trees over willing to swing a rope over to you.
Jet brought her food every day. He kept hoping to see some kind of despair or outrage take hold, but the days went by and she maintained a demeanor that, if anything, could be described as bored by the whole situation. So, he started telling her of some of the Freedom Fighters' activities.
"We ambushed a supply convoy today. Got away with some great stuff. Weapons and food, mostly. We killed all the soldiers."
"A town your people were occupying is now underwater. Got the whole occupation force, including the settlers. They didn't have any warning at all."
"We found one of you dirty Fire Nations wandering the woods today. Thought we'd bring you a friend. But she wasn't as smart as you, and gave me lip when we tried to take her captive. I killed her."
She couldn't have known which tales were exaggerations and which were the truth, but she never rose to the bait. The one time Jet got a reaction at all, he had just finished a long story detailing a completely fictional plan to rig some kind of scroll-like grenade using captured blasting jelly, which would then be sent to the newly renamed city of New Ozai in an ingenious strike at the civilian population through mass mail bombing. She rolled her eyes at that and flipped him off.
So he began threatening her. He started with death. She just said, "Please. I'm bored out of my mind here." So then he tried pain. That got nothing. He began coming up with new, creative tortures (at this point he was really starting to neglect his role as leader and mastermind of the Freedom Fighters) that would hopefully unnerve her, at least a little. She just corrected his grammar. Finally, he threw off his last pretensions of humanity and made threats against her femininity.
She looked him in the eye, and said, "I dare you, you delinquent."
At that point he had to admit he was in love.
END
