Spirit and Mononoke
OH MY GOD. IT HAS BEEN A MONTH SINCE I LAST UPDATED. I AM SO, SO, SO SO SO SO SO SO SO SO SO SO SORRY.
This chapter was just…. hard to write. I haven't seen this episode for a very long time… and other stuff kept distracting me. TT_TT I apologize. I hope you guys can forgive me for making you wait this long.
Yep, a lame title. Couldn't think of anything better. I'm sorry.
How many of you liked last chapter? I'm okay with it. Oh, and I went back and changed it slightly. Now Tora has a water pouch. Just in case. *shrugs*.
Anybody see the summary change? I changed it… because I didn't like it. Then I had to change it again, because there was this weird glitch that wouldn't let me write the word "elements". It's crazy. I tried to fix it, but it never worked, so I changed it to what it is now.
OH! And I changed the first chapter! Not entirely, but enough so that I'm happy with it now. Nerdania had some wise thoughts concerning my prologue despite the rude tone he was speaking with.
Also, just because I can, I'm going to be writing almost this entire chapter in Third Person POV (Point Of View). Just because.
Disclaimer: Do not own anything but my OC's. And I like them, no matter what anyone says about them.
NOTE: I WILL BE USING NICKNAMES FOR BOTH ZUKO AND TORA. DO NOT ASK WHY. I WANTED TO DO THAT. SO DON'T ASK WHY.
The Blue Spirit or just Spirit (because "Blue" would sound weird, since it's the title of the story): Zuko.
The Mononoke or just Mononoke: Tora.
Just to let you know, so you guys don't get utterly confused.
Getting in was the easy part. They just had to make sure that Mononoke's clothing stayed out of sight, and they were fine. It wasn't easy, but it had been done successfully. Spirit had silently cursed her clothing, not wanting to make any noise, while Mononoke just glared at him from behind her mask. Not that he could tell. And not that she cared.
Once they were inside the prison courtyard, the moment the wagon had been cleared out - the two of them had miraculously not been discovered, and both of them had a fleeting thought of the Spirits watching over them - the two masked fighters darted from the wagon towards a darkened staircase half-hidden by the lack of light. Mononoke and Spirit silently sped up the stairs, up to a long walkway overlooking the courtyard, with guards stationed at all of the balconies positioned along the parapet. Once they got to the top of the staircase, Mononoke gestured for Spirit to go first. Spirit nodded, before speeding forward, pressed against the battlements, crouched down so no one who was looking from a certain angle would see him. Mononoke followed his example, crouching down before making her way quickly but silently after him, her boots making no noise at all.
As the two of them walked, they could hear Admiral Zhao making a speech from an elaborately decorated balcony - the balcony itself designed with an yellow, orange and red, almost petal-like, pattern, while the archway was decorated with bright red flamed wings, and large torches rested against the wall on either side - dressed in his usual uniform, with a red tunic with a wrap that went over his armoured shoulder. He called down to the soldiers in the courtyard, all standing at attention in rows in four large separated groups. "We are the sons and daughters of fire! The ultimate element!" He yelled to them. Zhao told them that before, only the Avatar stood in the way of the Fire Nation's victory, but now Zhao had him in captivity. This led to the loud cheers of the soldiers. "At the waning days of summer, Sozin's Comet will arrive and give us limitless power! The Fire Nation will conquer the mighty Earth Kingdom capital, Ba Sing Se, and the Earth Kingdom will finally fall! Our glorious Fire Lord Ozai will be victorious in the war, and the Fire Nation will rule all!"
Say what you want about Zhao, but he sure knows how to give a speech. Mononoke thought internally as she and Spirit continued to move stealthily along the parapet, darting behind soldiers standing in keeps and watching their Admiral. It's a shame that it's all about the destruction of Ba Sing Se.
The Blue Spirit and the Mononoke reached the end of the walkway, which was a large tower the towered over them and seemed to touch the sky. No doubt that was where the Avatar was being held. There was a doorway in front of them - the only problem being that it was a metal door, and locked up tightly. So that way wasn't a possibility.
But apparently Spirit had thought of this, and produced a long rope from around his waist. He tied one end around a crenulation, and letting it fall to the ground far below the two of them. Spirit took hold of rope and began to slowly descend, pushing against the wall with his feet and moving down the rope slowly, while Mononoke just seized the rope and began to almost walk backwards down the wall toward the ground.
Now the two of them were standing in a vast courtyard, completely abandoned save for stacks of barrels and crates in certain places here and there. In the center was a large grate, with wide spaces in between the bars. As the two approached the grate, Spirit noticed Mononoke's hands shaking very slightly. What's wrong with her? He wondered silently. If he hadn't thought that someone might have heard him, or that she would start to think that he cared, he would have voiced his question out loud. Instead, he stayed silent.
Mononoke peered down through the grates. She silently held up two fingers - signifying that the drop was only two metres down. Spirit nodded. Nothing they couldn't handle - though he had to work to contain a yelp as Mononoke simply jumped through the grates, feet first. Moving quickly, he jumped down after her, and landed in the sewers with a splash. Mononoke was already ahead, squeezing through the bars. She looked unhurt - why would she be hurt? The drop was only two metres. But still, Spirit let out a breath he didn't know he had been holding. Without a single word, he took off after her.
~~Water~~
Meanwhile, in his prison, Aang had given up on trying to escape. Now he was just standing there, his head down and his eyes closed. Suddenly, he felt squirming against his skin, and he looked down to see the frozen frogs he had collected from the pond - now almost completely unfrozen - escaping from his shirt and falling to the floor from his neckline, the hemline of his shirt, and his sleeves. "Ack! No! Don't unfreeze, frogs! My friends need to suck on you to get better! Stay frozen! Please!"
Outside the Avatar's prison, four guards stood directly outside the door, at all heard croaking, and looked down to see possibly the oddest thing they had ever seen in this prison - about four or five dark brown "frogs", inching along the floor, partially covered by a thin layer of ice. Before they could even begin to think of possible possibilities for the frogs being with the Avatar, they all looked up when they heard a "clanking" noise coming closer and closer. To their surprise, they all saw another soldiers helmet and skull mask bouncing down the hallway toward them and finally come to a stop at their feet.
The four of them had a silent conversation over who would be the one to check it out, and finally the last guard on the right went forward, holding his hands in a firebending position, ready to take any attackers.
Slowly, the guard reached the junction in the hallway, and turned right, disappearing from the other guards view.
Suddenly, a burst of fire erupted from the hallway. Then there was the sound of metal hitting metal, accompanied by a loud splashing sound.
Then there was silence.
Now thoroughly worried about their comrade, two other guards slowly followed the path the first guard had taken, both of them readying their firebending stances. As they turned the corner, they found, to their shock, the first guard - tied up and ganged, hanging from the ceiling by his wrists. Standing in front of the guard, with her back to the guards that had just come, was Mononoke. She had her sword and knife both clenched in her hands. The two guards let out a yell, alerting Mononoke to their presence, and she quickly spun around, pointing her weapons at them.
Abruptly, a blur of black and blue dropped down from the ceiling, and smashed the hilt of his sword against one of the soldiers helmets, quickly knocking him unconscious. While the second guard was distracted, Mononoke lunged forward and hit the man with the flat of her sword, swinging it almost like a bat. Now two of the soldiers were unconscious, with the first being unable to escape from his bonds. This left the fourth and final guard alone.
His eyes grew wide as two figures appeared at the junction. Thinking quickly, he seized the alarm horn from the wall next to him. But before he could blow it, Mononoke threw her knife, and it collided with the horn and knocked it from his hand. Without a second thought, the soldier let out a fist full of fire toward the masked pair as the two of them ran down the hall towards him. Before the flame could even touch either of them, Mononoke had uncorked her water pouch and… threw the water and extinguished the flame. Then, she lashed forward, and had the guard pinned against the door with her knife at his throat and her sword tip pressed against his armour.
"I suggest you surrender." She hissed. "Both of my weapons will cut through your armour like butter. There's no one coming to rescue you."
"You bitch…" The soldier spat. Mononoke waved her hand, and Spirit brought the hilt of his sword down on the soldiers helmeted head - with just slightly too much enthusiasm.
"What's the point of having the water with you if you're not going to bend it?" Spirit muttered to himself.
"I'm not going to give away my bending abilities, but better safe than sorry." Mononoke whispered flatly.
Without another word, Spirit undid the lock on the door and slowly opened it. Mononoke took a deep breath, before walking into the room.
Aang.
He was there.
It took everything in Mononoke's willpower not to rip off her mask and run to Aang and fling her arms around him in a tight hug. But she remembered their deal - she couldn't show Aang who she was until they escaped. Without a second thought, Mononoke wielded her weapons, ignoring Spirit as he closed the door behind them, and charged forward. She didn't care that Aang was screaming in terror as she approached him, she only cared that he was alive to be able to scream.
As soon as she was standing right in front of him, and holding back a laugh at his slightly comical expression of terror, she slashed her weapons forward. Mononoke watched as Aang as he slowly opened his eyes to find that he was still alive, and not cut into pieces, and instead, his arms were free of his chains. She waited a moment, before cutting off his ankle chains. Aang looked at her with wide eyes, as if he couldn't believe that she had freed him. Smiling at him from behind her mask, she cut off his cuffs.
"Uh… thank you." Aang said, still looking at her, wide-eyed. Mononoke only gave a brief nod, before tucking her knife and sword back into their respective sheaths, and reaching out and taking his shoulder, half-dragging him behind her as she made her way to the door. "Wait! Who are you guys? Are you helping me? What's going on? How did your knife cut through metal? Is this a rescue?"
Mononoke had forgotten about Aang's habit of asking a lot of questions when he was confused.
Spirit silently reopened the door and walked through, followed by Mononoke, who had released Aang. "I guess that's a yes." Aang said to himself, before chasing after the two. The trio passed by the unconscious guards laid out on the floor, and the one guard tied up from the ceiling. Aang heard numerous frog noises, and looked down. He spotted all of his frogs still crawling across the floor, inch by inch. Aang let out a yelp and got down on his knees, trying to grab the frogs. "Wait! Don't leave me, frogs! Stop thawing out!"
Spirit walked back and seized the Avatar by the back of his collar, and carried him away from the frogs, ignoring his very loud plea's. "BUT MY FRIENDS NEED TO SUCK ON THOSE FROGS!"
Mononoke managed to bite back a smile, not that it would have mattered if she had smiled, since Aang wouldn't have been able to see it. She settled instead for patting Aang's shoulder in a small gesture of comfort. Aang sighed, before nodding. "Right, focusing on escaping."
Silently, and fortunately without coming across any more guards, the trio managed to go back the way Mononoke and Spirit had come in. Back through the sewers, though now the courtyard wasn't as empty as it had been before. Now, all three of them could see the soldiers walking over the grate above them, and had to walk sideways, pressed against the sewer wall to make sure the soldiers wouldn't see them. They had to be patient, and wait for the soldiers to clear out. Finally, they did, but Spirit wanted to be on the safe side and decided to peer out of the grate, looking around cautiously for any signs of soldiers coming. There were only a few men, but none were paying attention. He dropped back down, shook his head, letting both Mononoke and the Avatar know that it was safe, before effortlessly reaching up and pulling himself out of the sewers. Mononoke followed quickly, before stopping to help pull Aang out.
The three of them quickly and quietly made their way across the courtyard, and miraculously, neither Aang's bright clothing and the Mononoke's were noticed in the darkness. The Blue Spirit pointed to the rope that was still hanging down from the crenulation far above them. Without a word, the trio began to climb the rope back up to the parapet, with Aang at the top, Spirit in the middle, and Mononoke at the bottom.
They were about halfway up, when -
"There! On the wall!"
Aang's first thought was, Oh, no.
Spirit and Mononoke's first thoughts were, Agni damn everything.
Aang looked up to the very top of the wall, and saw a Fire Nation soldier standing right in front of the crenulation the rope was hanging from. With a sneer, the man cut the rope in a single sword stroke. As all three of them plummeted the thirty feet to the ground, the Avatar screaming at the top of his lungs, Mononoke only had time to think one panicked thought -
ZUKO!
Only a metre away from hitting the ground, Aang managed to compose himself, and airbended themselves a cushion of air, making sure that none of them got their insides and outsides splattered against the cold metal of the courtyard ground. As the dust cleared, Spirit got to his feet, unsheathed his sword and pointed towards the wide open gate - that, of course, had to be all the way across the courtyard. They could all hear Zhao yelling orders from the balcony, where he had made his speech not even an hour earlier, for the soldiers to close the gates.
Mononoke whipped out her knife and sword, holding them carefully as they started sprinting towards the slowly closing doors. Aang, naturally being a faster runner than his saviours (he was an airbender, after all), quickly passed both of the masked strangers. "Both of you stay close to me!"
It was then that they all noticed the gate closest to them, the first one in a set of three, and being the one separating the inner and 2nd wall of the prison, was slowly closing, and so were the two gates after it. The Avatar let loose a blast of air that sent the guards standing in front of the gate flying through the air, out of their way.
So close… Mononoke thought, the white fur on her mask and cloak streaming behind her. She was so close to reuniting with her friends, with the people that were her family -
She suddenly skidded to a halt - so, so close to the gate - when she realized that Spirit was no longer with her. Biting back a swear word, she turned around to see him fighting off several soldiers with spears. Mononoke turned back around, and saw Aang almost at the still readily closing gate.
She could leave. Leave Spirit behind, join Aang. Join her friends.
She hated herself the instant she thought it.
They had made a promise to each other, hadn't they? Would Spirit leave her, if she had been the one trapped?
(Maybe he would have, but that was besides the point.)
Without another thought, Mononoke turned back around and launched herself into battle. She effortlessly cut off the head of a spear that had been aimed at Spirit's head without his notice, and pressed her back against his. She felt him stiffen momentarily, but he didn't dwell on it too long - the soldiers were attacking again.
It was weird for both of the masked people - to fight back to back with someone who was supposed to be your enemy. But still - neither of them had ever felt so protected. Not in a long time. It was well known that no human could see behind their back - this made it an obvious attacking point for any enemy. But fighting back to back put a stop to any sort of attack made to the others back. The two of them fought well together - put together Mononoke's brashness and smooth attacks with Spirit's blunt and head-on attacks, and you had a force to be reckoned with. Neither of them had managed to beat the other in their sword fight just days before on the ship. The two of them turned in circles together, taking down soldier after soldier. When a soldier made a stab toward Mononoke, she retaliated by suddenly turning her head out of the way, and managing to make Spirit turn as well, sending the spear's tip go right past Mononoke's nose, which she quickly responded with a lash that cut the spear in half. When another soldier attempted to do something different, and threw his spear, Spirit caught it in midair and suddenly twirled it so it was behind his back, and without even thinking, Mononoke caught it and swung it toward an oncoming soldier.
Then two blasts of air knocked the rest of the soldiers away from them. Aang had come back - and now the gate was closed. Spirit and Mononoke both leapt at the same time, and somehow Aang managed to airbend both of them onto the top of the wall surrounding their courtyard. Mononoke tucked her knees into her chest and did a somersault in midair - was it necessary? No. Was it cool? Yes - and landed flat on her feet, while Spirit simply landed on the wall and rolled before getting back up onto his feet. And of course, where else would they land but right in the center of a circle of guards?
The next thing they both knew, Aang was above them, twirling a headless spear over his head to keep him elevated. He wrapped his legs around Spirit's chest and lifted him into the air, and then turned his head toward Mononoke. "Come on! Grab on!"
It was admirable, Mononoke would later think, when she realized how much Aang was struggling to keep one person plus himself up in the air, and still told her to grab on. Without even thinking, Mononoke ran forward and latched onto Spirit's back, keeping her arms wrapped around his chest and her legs dangling, all while trying to make sure her weapons didn't stab either of the males she was close to. Spirit felt her hit his back and grab on, and felt some of his breath leave him at the sudden hit. He felt her tighten her grip on him, and could almost feel her shaking against him - why in Agni's name was she shaking?! He didn't have time to wonder about this however, as he started to knock away spears that were being thrown at them by the guards.
The three of them barely made it to the next wall. They were sent tumbling onto the battlement, and guards were instantly there in front of them, attacking them. Mononoke quickly got to her feet and tucked away her sword, leaving only her knife in her hands. As one of the guards started taking several swings toward her with his sword, she attacked him back just as fiercely, slashing her knife back and forth wildly, before Spirit seized the man and threw him over the wall. Mononoke let out a small squeak of panic as the man's screams abruptly stopped with a loud THUD. Aang airbended the other guards away from them and over the wall, making Mononoke squeak a few more times.
The soldiers wouldn't be stopped. Ladders were being placed against the wall up to the battlement, and soldiers were climbing them. The Avatar and the masked strangers were instantly knocking off the soldiers as each of them neared the top. With two blasts of air, Aang knocked off the rest of the soldiers on the two ladders closest to him, as Spirit and Mononoke knocked off the last soldiers on each of theirs. Aang managed to pull up the two ladders closest to him and stepped onto the one that Spirit had just depopulated, before handing the Blue Spirit one of his ladders. "Take this and jump on my back!" He glanced behind him at Mononoke, who was watching them behind her mask. "I'm sorry, you have to find another way to escape!"
But as the two of them walked away on their stilts, Aang added, "If you can't we'll come back! Promise!"
The Mononoke complied. She ran to the edge of the wall, and looked down. A clear drop. Soldiers everywhere. But there was a pile of bags right below her. Talk about luck in a luckless situation. She thought briefly.
Then she dropped down from the wall.
Her fur and skirt flew up as she dropped, but she couldn't bring herself to care.
Suddenly, the gray walls and the gray floor rushing up to meet her disappeared. Instead, all Mononoke saw was a roaring fire, it's violent red flames blazing in the air - then she felt like she had been plunged into a ice cold bath, she heard a splash, and then all she could see was water everywhere. There was the roar of a wave, then the crackle of a fire -
Something in her brain flicked on, and the next thing Mononoke knew she was turning in midair - and then she was on all fours, her knife clenched tightly in her right hand.
Finally, she got back to her feet, albeit a little slowly.
The Mononoke took off across the courtyard, running as fast as she could. The soldiers had finally taken notice of her, and half of them were now chasing after her while the other half were chasing after the Avatar and Blue Spirit while they moved the ladders across the courtyard as massive stilts.
Still, all Mononoke could see was the fire and the water clashing together.
"Give me the next one!" Aang yelled to Spirit. The masked man silently slipped the next ladder into the Avatar's hand. They were so close to the last wall! Spirit looked down to the ground, and saw Mononoke dashing wildly across the courtyard at unnatural speed. Whenever a soldier came close to her, she would find a way to dodge them. Mononoke would leap over them, or dodge to their side and knock them out with a single blow to their heads with her knife. But her moves were jerky and forced, instead of the wild and smooth attacks she had used in her fight with him. It was almost like someone else had replaced her in the last ten seconds since he and Aang had abandoned her on the wall. It wasn't like she had just suddenly changed her fighting style - it was like she had become someone else entirely.
Whoever she had become, Mononoke was still running across the courtyard, had yet to be defeated or stopped, and was getting closer to their stilts - and the wall.
"Once we're on the wall we'll-" The Avatar started to yell at him. Whatever they had been going to do once they were on the wall, Spirit never found out, because a Fire Nation soldier on the ground sent a blast of fire up the ladder toward them. Just before the flame reached them, both the masked man and Aang leapt from the now burning ladder toward the wall.
Beneath them, Mononoke had whipped the cork out from her water pouch and bent the water out, extinguishing the flames licking the now abandoned stilt, before manipulating the liquid and whipping the guard in the face with it. The guard let out a yell, but then was silenced as Mononoke lunged forward, and put her knife to his throat - it was exposed due to the man's lack of the skull mask - and cut his throat. The man collapsed to the ground, blood running down the sides of his neck from the slash, while Mononoke pulled her knife away and continued running, ignoring the blood running from her knife onto her hand.
Aang tried desperately to hang onto the wall, but failed and fell to the ground. Spirit tried to grab on as well, but the metal slipped from his fingers - and then they were plummeting to the ground, right where Mononoke had just reached. Aang managed to airbend another cushion, and they landed safely, and Mononoke finally caught up to them. The Blue Spirit drew his swords, while the Mononoke held her bloody knife up to her chest, pointing it at the soldiers now surrounding them all. The two of them were sending out a silent message to the soldiers: Come on.
Four of the firebenders surrounding them sent a blast of fire toward the masked enemies, and it surely would have killed them both, if Aang hadn't pulled them both behind him and airbended the flames away.
"Stop it!"
The firebenders all turned to stare at Admiral Zhao, who had walked out onto the courtyard, flanked on either side by skull-mask wearing soldiers. He passed by the soldier that Mononoke had stabbed - and most likely killed - barely giving the man a glance. "The Avatar must be captured alive!"
Without even thinking twice, Mononoke had wrapped her left arm around the Avatar's neck and was holding her knife up to his chest, the tip just slightly ripping into the fabric. Aang let out a small squeak as he suddenly noticed the blood running down the blade and dripping onto his clothes.
Spirit glanced over at his comrade, alarmed. Sure, he had been planning on doing the same thing. It was a good idea - to silently tell Zhao 'Let us go free or you'll lose your prize.' But he had a very good feeling - and a very good reason to feel - that if he had tried that, Mononoke would have flipped out afterward, even if she had known his true intentions. Never in a thousand years would he have expected her to be doing it to her friend.
Mononoke didn't even give the Blue Spirit a side glance. Her eyes were focused completely on Zhao. But she couldn't hear anything - almost anything. She could hear the roar of the flames and the crashing of the water pounding in her ears. The fire was still visible, and it was making her view of Zhao hazy.
Neither her nor Zhao blinked.
"Open the gates." Zhao ordered, not taking his eyes of the girl.
"But, sir-" one of the soldiers tried to say.
"Open them!" He roared.
Finally, the gate behind Mononoke and Spirit opened just wide enough for them to pass through, and the female slowly walked out backwards, still holding her knife against Aang's chest, while Spirit kept his swords out and took a stance from behind Mononoke.
"Sir, why did you let them go? The woman killed on of our own!" One of the soldiers on Zhao's side asked in confusion, making sure not to insult the admiral for fear of Zhao's rage.
"I know. But a situation like this calls for…" Zhao's lips pulled up into a smirk. "Precision."
With that, the man with the big sideburns turned and headed toward the nearest stairwell that would lead up to the balcony overlooking the path that his three enemies were currently walking down.
Mononoke had yet to let go of Aang. She could feel him breathing heavily against her, and could feel him shaking just slightly. She could practically hear him screaming in his head, There's blood on my clothes! Blood on my clothes! Blood!
She didn't care.
Spirit was still behind her, walking backwards as well, so if Zhao did try to attack - which Spirit was almost positive he would not do - any attack would hit the Avatar first, then Mononoke, and lastly him. It was a cowardly move, but the only safe place he could stand. The three of them were nearly at the forest, and once they reached the woods, they would be completely safe as long as they got away quickly enough.
What's wrong with her?
The thought had been on his mind since he had seen the Mononoke stab that soldier with her knife. He remembered the day they had found the village massacre - she had gone insane, killing all of the soldiers she had seen with nothing but a farming tool. She had fainted shortly after, and he had heard afterwards from his uncle that she felt horrible about killing them and swore never to kill a living human ever again. And yet, just minutes before, she had cut a soldiers throat and hadn't even flinched. She had held a knife up to her friends chest and hadn't hesitated.
What was wrong with her?
None of them saw the arrow coming.
At least, not until it hit the corner of Mononoke's mask, just above her left eye, and sent her world into darkness. Her head flew back and she was knocked off her feet, and her knife went clattering against the ground a foot away from her.
Aang instinctively raised a dust cloud to shield them away from the view of any more attackers. Spirit could have caught her before she hit the ground, but was caught of guard and wasn't able to.
A year ago, even a few months ago, if he had been in this situation, with Mononoke unconscious and completely vulnerable, he wouldn't have hesitated to grab the Avatar, hold his sword to Aang's neck and run, leaving Mononoke for Zhao to take.
But now - now he had spent weeks with her. He had fought side by side with her, had traded stories with her, had witnessed her wrath and her grief, had held her while she was breaking down and losing her mind, had fought with her and came to a draw, spent weeks on a ship with her. He had begrudgingly gotten to know her while she teased and challenged and never actually feared him. He knew her.
She was more than a hostage now.
Spirit placed his swords back into the scabbard strapped to his back.
Aang turned back to him. "We have to get her-"
Spirit glared. "I can handle this." He snarled. Aang looked terrified. Understandable. Someone's voice would become sort of memorable when they've tried to capture Aang as many times as Spirit had.
"Zuko?!" Aang looked like he was about to fall over. Suddenly words were rushing out. "You were the one who saved me? Why would you save me? Who's the girl? Wait, is she-"
Before the Avatar could finish his sentence, Spirit had punched a fist full of fire toward Aang. "GO!" He roared.
Aang didn't need to be told twice. He took off sprinting into the woods, airbending himself up into the trees and out of Spirit's eyesight. Thinking quickly, Spirit wrapped his arms around Mononoke and pulled her off the ground, before he managed to pull her onto his back, carrying her piggy-back style. Her mask slipped off, but he wasn't really thinking about that as he ran off into the woods, struggling under her weight just a bit.
When Zhao's soldiers arrived, the only thing that would give them even a hint that they had been there would be Mononoke's abandoned mask and knife.
~~Water~~
When Tora opened her eyes, the first thing she noticed was that it was morning.
The second was that she had a massive headache.
And the third was that she was lying on her back in the grass, staring up into tree branches far above her, while Zuko sat on the root of a tree nearby.
The prince seemed to have noticed she was awake. "You're awake." He said.
"It certainly would seem so." Tora said dryly, sitting up and immediately regretting it. She groaned in pain as her headache worsened and held her head in her hands. "Ow…"
"You shouldn't be getting up yet." Zuko said. "You took a pretty bad hit to the head last night."
That was when Tora remembered everything that had happened last night. They had broken into the prison, freed Aang, been attacked by soldiers, Aang and Zuko had taken off on ladders they had turned into stilts, she had leapt over the side of the wall - and then nothing. "Aang! Where is he? Is he alright? Are we dead? Did we get captured? Oh, Spirits, what happened last night? Wait, of course we didn't get captured, we wouldn't be outside if we had gotten captured, idiot!" The girl slapped her forehead, and then winced. "Ow!"
Zuko looked at her oddly. "You don't remember?"
"Nothing after you and Aang got those stilts. Regale me with your explanation of what occurred."
Cue another weird look from the Fire Nation Prince. "Well…" He began slowly. "I saw you running across the courtyard, and you were running faster than I know you can run. Whenever a soldier attacked you, you would dodge him and keep running. But then when someone lit the last ladder on fire, and you…" Zuko hesitated, before continuing. "You killed him."
Tora's eyes widened, and she whipped her head around to stare at him. "I what?"
"You killed him. You cut his throat. I saw it happen."
"I killed someone - again? But I - I wouldn't - why would I - I promised I wouldn't…" Tora buried her face in her hands.
Zuko quickly continued his story. "But then we couldn't get over the wall, and Zhao said that the Avatar had to be captured alive-"
Tora looked up and glared at him, her eyes practically shooting daggers. "You threatened Aang, didn't you? You used him to get out of there!"
"No… you did."
"I WHAT?!"
"You held your knife to his chest, Zhao opened the gates, and we were almost free. But then one of the Yu Yan archers shot an arrow and knocked you out. The Avatar tried to help, but I gave myself away and he ran off. So I brought you here, and let you rest."
"Wait -" Tora held up a hand, making him stop. "You're saying that you showed Aang who you actually were?"
"I spoke to him and firebended at him. I'm sure he recognized my voice."
"You exposed yourself. For me?"
Zuko didn't say anything for a moment, looking away from the waterbender's stare, before getting to his feet. "We should get back to the ship. Uncle will be worried." He paused for a moment, before leaning over and offering his hand, looking away from her again, almost like he was embarrassed.
Tora stared at his hand for a moment, before grinning and taking it, letting him pull her up. She staggered and put her hand against her head. Zuko quickly steadied her before pulling away. "Let's go."
The two of them had been walking through the forest for a few minutes, in complete silence, when Tora gave Zuko a sideways glance. The prince was staring straight ahead, looking like he was trying his best not to look over at her. His hair was down, free from his usual ponytail. It looked a little weird.
But that didn't stop Tora from grabbing Zuko's shoulder, standing on her toes, and giving him a quick kiss on the cheek.
Zuko stopped dead in his tracks. He blinked a few times. Then as Tora continued walking, he shouted, eyes wide, cheeks flushing, "What was that?!"
Tora stopped, turned back to him, and shrugged. "My thank you."
"For what?!" He took several steps forward until he was in front of her. Tora didn't flinch. Zuko looked far too flustered for him to be intimidating, even if she had been intimidated by him. She wasn't, so it worked out.
"You could have left me for Zhao to capture. But you didn't. You even let Aang go free so you could save me." She gave him a soft punch in the shoulder. "That's what it was for."
Zuko scoffed, glaring at her. It was mitigated by his pink cheeks. "We had a deal. Anybody would do the same."
"Mmm." Tora tilted her head as if in thought. "No, I don't think so. Not for a hostage."
Zuko nearly told her what he had realized earlier - that she wasn't just a hostage anymore. But he didn't. She would take it the wrong way, or she would reject it and he would look like an idiot.
They had kept walking for a few minutes, Zuko mostly silent except for when he would mutter something, and Tora was too lost in her thoughts to break the silence or realize he had said anything.
Why in Agni's name did I do that? I know why I did it, but why did I do it?! What's wrong with me?! First I can't remember anything but fire and water, and then I kill someone, according to Zuko, and then I threaten Aang! Maybe it was an empty threat, but still! Why the hell would I do that?! What's wrong with me?!
Suddenly, Zuko's voice intruded on her thoughts. "You're welcome."
It wasn't till a moment later that a thought occurred to the girl. "Hey, where's my mask?"
"I left it where you fell. It was weighing us down. And you don't need it anymore, anyway."
There was a pause, then suddenly Tora slapped her forehead. "Aw, damn it! We missed music night!"
"Thank the Spirits..." Zuko muttered to himself. "Uncle would have tried to get me to play the tsungi horn."
"But he said you played it 'especially well'! I really wanted to see that!"
The rest of the way back to the ship was spent squabbling over whether or not Zuko really played the tsungi horn well, but it lacked the bite their previous squabbles had held. By the time they were walking onto the deck, they were both silent, the exhaustion finally hitting them and draining them of the energy they needed to squabble. Iroh was sitting on the deck, playing the tsungi horn that Zuko and Tora had been arguing over. The old man looked up when he noticed them. "Where have you two been? You missed music night, you know. I thought you wanted to be there, Tora. You know, Lieutenant Jee sang a love song - very stirring."
"Yeah, yeah, don't rub it in." Tora muttered, walking past him. Zuko noticed she rubbed the place she had been hit as she walked back to her room.
Iroh turned to his nephew. "Prince Zuko, do you know what's wrong with Tora? She's not normally this short with people. Except for you, of course."
"I'm going to bed." Zuko said flatly. As he passed Tora's room, he paused for a moment, and then opened the door just a little bit.
Tora had flopped down onto the bed, face down, not even bothering to remove her fur coat, fang necklace, or anything else before falling asleep. She hadn't even removed her sword scabbard. She was snoring very softly, her mouth open very slightly, lying with her blankets underneath her. She looked oddly peaceful as she slept, more peaceful than what she looked like during the day.
Zuko slowly walked into the room, making sure not to make any noises that would wake her up.
When Tora woke up a few hours later, thoroughly rested, she found herself not wearing her fur coat, her earrings, her necklace, or either of her scabbard. She had been covered in a thick red blanket. When her vision was no longer clouded by sleep, she found a piece of paper beside her head. It read, Be sure to put some ice on your injury.
It wasn't signed, but she knew it was from Zuko.
Her mouth twitched upwards slightly.
~~Water~~
Aang tiredly placed one of the new frozen frogs into Sokka's mouth. After running away from Zuko - he was positive it had been Zuko - he had returned to the pond, found several new frozen frogs, and returned to the abandoned temple where he and his friends had made their hideout. After being up nearly all night, he was completely exhausted and drained of energy. He passed Katara and placed another frog into her mouth. "Suck on these. They'll make you feel better." He said quietly, before walking over to Appa's tail and collapsing onto it, curling up into a ball.
"Aang!" Sokka said, clearly still delusional from his fever. "Did you make any friends on your trip?"
Aang paused, thinking it over. Zuko had freed him. But then had firebended at him and sent him off. "I don't think so..."
But then he thought of the girl that had been there. Could it have been Tora? But wasn't she dead? But hadn't he seen her on Zuko's ship the night of the storm? Katara and Sokka had assumed that it had been a hallucination from the lack of oxygen, and he had agreed, but after seeing the girl, Aang wasn't so sure anymore. But if it had been Tora, then why hadn't she revealed herself to him? Why had she threatened him with a knife? A bloody knife, no less. But who else could it have been? He couldn't remember seeing any other girls on Zuko's ship the last time he had been there. Tora was the only explanation.
"... but maybe I found an old one."
I hate this chapter. At least, I hate the fighting scenes, and the last part. So most of the chapter. I just don't like it. You have no idea how long it took me to finish this.
If it sucked, I apologize very much.
Is anybody stressing out over whether or not Tora will be reunited with her friends? I know some of you are.
Some little romance in this chapter. :) I'm sorry if Zuko seemed out of character. It's been a whole month since I last wrote fanfiction for Avatar, so if he seemed OOC, I'm very sorry.
Gah, Tora didn't seem like herself at all. I HATE THIS CHAPTER.
I'm sorry if any of you were disappointed with this chapter after waiting so long for an update. I'm very, very sorry. D:
Unrelated, has anyone else besides me ever hear of the anime/manga "Fushigi Yuugi"? Or, "The Mysterious Play"? 'Cause that whole manga is awesome. Recently started watching the anime, and I realized - it wasn't as good as the manga.
Hopefully the next chapter won't take as long to write - or update. ^^'