Chapter 28: Princess MingHua part 1: search for the truth

Normal POV

"Aunt Ti." Ming Hua gasped as she looked at the woman in the doorway with widened eyes, unable to believe the woman she had last seen when she had been a mere five years old was right there.

"Hello, Ming. It's good to see you again." The much older woman smiled as she walked to her with her arms spread wide, at which Ming ran into them.

"Aw. You can care." Ghazan commented with a smirk.

"Shut it." Ming snapped before she turned to her aunt.

"Why did you never call? Or write?" Ming asked firmly. "I thought you hated me."

"How could I hate that sweet little five-year old I met that day?" Aunt Ti asked smiling as she pulled a hair from her niece's face. "I was unable to call. Your parents told me if I would, they wouldn't be responsible for the consequences."

"Threatening their own family? Really?" Femke said as she looked at Ming's aunt sadly.

"It happens." Xai Bau noted as he looked at Zaheer, who nodded in reply.

"Family doesn't always mean you love each other." Ilene commented as she looked to the side sadly, knowing all too well.

"Too bad. If they had, Ming could have been a really good medical worker somewhere by now." Aunt Ti said with a smile on her face. "She was a very bright and lively girl back then."

"Are you sure we're talking about the same Ming?" Ghazan asked.

"Shut it." Ming snapped.

"People change." Zaheer commented, at which his girlfriend nodded.

"Most of you did so quite recently." Femke added with a smile.

"That was taken out of her I'm afraid." Aunt Ti said as she looked at her niece sadly. "If they kept up treating you the way they did by the time I arrived."

"I ran away from home for a while because of it." Ming said. "A family of polar bear dogs found me and took me in for a while. When my parents found me they first acted all sweet around me and pretended to be happy I was back." Ming kept talking. "Yet the mask fell off soon enough and the abuse continued until my friends found me."

"And the rest is history." Ghazan concluded with a smirk.

"How did you get here this fast?" Ming asked.

"I live close to the castle." Aunt Ti smiled. "I have job here a local healer. As soon as I got the message I came here. I'm so happy to see you're still alive and well, despite everything you must have been through."

"I'm also glad to see you again. Too bad i didn't know you were here. I could have ran off if I had known" Ming smiled.

"You probably would have been sent back sooner and I would have gotten into trouble as well." Aunt Ti said as she stroked Ming over her cheek. "I'm just glad you managed to get away on your own and found friends who like you the way you are."

"A violent anarchist who nearly killed our world's protector." Tonraq added firmly, which made Aunt Ti look at her niece sternly.

"Excuse me?" She asked firmly.

"But then we got defeated as Femke convinced us otherwise."

Ming explained curtly, not wanting to give out all the details. It was behind them, anyway.

"Do you have any idea what you could have done to the world?" Aunt Ti asked with a shocked look.

"We know by now." Ming commented as she rolled her eyes.

"I sure hope so." Aunt Ti told her niece.

"Would you mind stop talking to me like I'm five years old?" Ming replied.

"I know you must have fell like your parents pushed you on that path but I just want make sure you understand you caused a lot of hurt." Aunt Ti said as she looked at her niece sadly.

"I know." Ming said as she looked to the side, not wanting to show how much it affected her that there had been innocent people dying because of them.

"Let's get back to the matter at hand." Aunt Ti smiled as she placed a hand on her niece's shoulder, seeing she had understood that what the Red Lotus had wanted was wrong. "I know my sister and brother-in-law very well. They would do anything for money."

"So the princess is dead?" Femke asked, making Queen Ammi look down sadly.

"Probably not. I don't know if they would go as far as to kill a child." Aunt Ti replied as she looked calmly at her niece.

"Nobody in their right mind would." Ilene whispered to Dizanna and Selvia, who both nodded in reply.

"How big is the chance Ming is the princess?" Tziza asked as she looked at Ming's aunt sternly.

"Bigger than you think." Aunt Ti replied as she looked at Ming smiling "You see, I came to visit you before, that one time. Back when you were just a few days old." Aunt Ti started to recall.

A younger Ti immediately turned around when she heard the familiar voice of her sister and her husband draw closer. She heard them say 'this raid was a success, the master can be proud' so she expected them to have a sack of gold or something like that with them but she hadn't expected them to look at her shocked as they cuddled a newborn baby close.

"Ti! What pleasant surprise!" Her sister Minna Hua smiled as she walked over to hug her after giving the baby to her husband, who looked at the little dear smiling. She could feel it was all fake.

"I was close by so I thought I'd drop in to see how my sister is doing. I didn't know you were pregnant." She smiled as she looked at the little black haired baby in the arms of her father, noticing she was missing her arms.

"I was. I just had no time to write about it. We were busy." Her sister quickly said but just as she wanted to make a comment about it, the baby started to cry loudly.

"Yes, I'm going to make you a bottle. Calm down." Her sister told the baby as she walked to the fridge and got some things out to make a bottle, looking very tired and annoyed.

"Are you sure you're up to this?" Ti wanted to know as she looked at the child suspiciously.

"Don't worry. Just… not used to a kid, that's all." Her sister answered with a sweet voice as she started to get the milk warmed up.

"Let me handle this. I've learned how to deal with children at work."

Ti smiles as she held out her arms for the little one and took the bottle. After a suspicious silence the baby was handed to her as she hungrily started drinking from the bottle.

"She's so pretty, what's her name?" Ti asked as she smiled down at her now calm niece.

"Ming." Minna Hua said after she and her husband shared a nod.

"Hello Ming, welcome in the family. I'm aunt Ti." Ti smiled at the beautiful little girl, noting her dress was made from a fine, expensive fabric. Only the richest families in the Northern Water tribe could afford to buy something like this.

'They could easily have stolen those for her, stop being so suspicious.'

Ti firmly told herself. The news of the stolen princes hadn't reached her yet. And by the time it had, everyone thought the child was dead.

"Can you describe the clothes she wore?" Tonraq asked after Ti was done telling.

"Of course. She wore a pink sleeveless dress with darker ruffles around the places her arms should be and she was swaddled in a dark blue pelt." Aunt Ti started to describe the clothes, which made the eyes of the Queen turn wide, before they started to fill with tears.

"Those were herclothes." The Queen said as she looked up at Aunt Ti.

"Then my suspicion is right." Aunt Ti said as she turned to look at Ming.

Ming Hua's POV

Then my suspicion was right." Aunt Ti said as she turned to look at me. I had to think twice before I realized what she meant. If Aunt Ti had seen me wear the clothes of the princes then… No… no… that couldn't be. That had to be a mistake. I wasn't the princess. That's impossible.

"That makes no damn sense. If I'm the princes then why didn't they just kill me?" I asked with a stern voice. "Why hold on to a child that isn't their own?"

"I don't know. All I can is that they wanted to form you into a criminal like them at first." My aunt said as she walked towards me and looked me in the eyes sadly. "When that failed, they became abusive."

"I couldn't help that I was a slow learner at first." I huffed as I looked to the side sadly, trying to hide how much it affected me that they thought of me as weak.

"I know, but you became strong in the end." Aunt Ti smiled. "They failed to see that only focusing on what they perceive as signs of strength."

"Strength comes in many forms." zaheer added.

"That is over now. Maybe now ming can find out the truth about herself" Aunt Ti started but stopped when two people burst in and I was scooped up roughly and carried away.

What the hell?!

I thought as i heard the others shout my name behind me.

Do they really think this is going to work?

I thought as I struggled, kicking my legs their back as hard as I could.

"Hold still!"Tang Hua's voice called, which made me flinch and do as told. Even after all this time and all the things we have been through that voice still got to me.

"Were taking her home and if you follow us we'll kill her!" Tang Hua's voice called as Minna Hua smirked and pointed a dagger at my neck.

"Minna, please. Let her go. She has done nothing to deserve this." Aunt Ti begged as I lifted my head seeing she had walked towards us.

"She has. And so have youby sticking your nose in places it doesn'tbelong." Tang snapped as he looked at his sister in law firmly. "Now hand me the locket and let us go."

"Never! That's my niece. I care for her." Aunt Ti snapped as she took another step towards us. "If you did the same you would tell her the truth about her past."

"We did, she just refuses to accept she is not a princess." Tang Hua snapped angrily at his sister in law, who sighted.

"How did I get stuck with a bonehead as a brother in law." She groaned.

"Guess that Ming picked up some things from you." Ghazan commented with a smirk.

"Can we not get distracted?" Aunt Ti said as she looked at him sternly before turning her eyes back to her family. "I know you stole her from the Royal Palace."

"How did you…?" Tang Hua stammered as he backed away, turning pale.

"I remember them. Just like I remember you put my niece through Hell. Why? Just because you thought her handicapmade her unable to get strong?" Aunt Ti snapped, which made me look up at her, thanking her for her kindness in silence.

"Yeah! Ming a great waterbender!" Femke said as she looked at me with a smile.

"Can we stop with the saccharine nonsense? Somehow you always manage to do that." I said.

"We're glad she is our friend and ally. Without her things had been rather boring at times." P'li smiled now.

"She has the best wit off all of us." Ghazan added.

"In any case." Tonraq growled as he got to the front now. "I want to know now if this woman… " He said pointing at me. "Is not my niece then where is she? What have you done to her?"

"She's dead." Tang Hua said as he walked towards him with a devious smirk on his face. "We murderedher and fed her pitiful remains to a bunch of Polar Bear Dogs. Serves her right for meddling with our Lord's plans."

"No!" Queen Ammi gasped as she clapped her hands in front of her mouth with tears in her eyes.

"You monsters!" Femke screamed, as a horrified Zaheer had to hold her back from attacking them, her face more wolf than human.

"You were responsible for the death of so many people. What's so horrible about one baby?" Tang Hua said.

"We at least showed remorse for what we did. Your not even sorry for murdering an innocentgirl?" Femke asked as she looked at them with gleaming red eyes. "Who just happened to be born at the wrongmoment at the wrongplace for your precious master's plans."

"What are those plans, anyway?" Ghazan asked.

"We're not telling. You're not owned an explanation." Tang Hua said as he looked me dead in the eyes and for a split second I remembered a yell… A woman shouting 'My baby!'

This trick on my mind needs to stop

I thought as I kept looking at my father. But what if he was lying? What if he was making this all up to cover something up?

This is getting ridiculous

I thought as I remembered the locket I found and was hit with a strange feeling but before I could change my mind I threw it at the Queen, who caught it and looked at it, shocked.

"No!"Tang Hua called as he looked at it with shock while the Queen held it out so that everyone could clearly see it.

"This was my daughter's. And was found in yourhouse." The queen said bravely as she looked my father straight in the eyes. "If you murderedher, why did you keepit?"

"To give it to ourdaughter once we had a reason to be proudof her." My father snapped as he looked at me firmly.

"He's lying, Your Highness. I can sense it." Noatak said as he got next to her and reached out his hand. The mere threat was enough, because both of my parents, recognizing his Amon mask, backed away.

"They're terrible at it." Zaheer commented. "Just tell us the truth. Unalaq is dead. If you plead guilty you'll only get a light sentence."

"Not if I can help it." Tonraq growled.

"We're not lying and if you excuse us, we're taking our daughter home now." Tang Hua said after which he turned around and started to head off. I firmly started to kick around, not wanting to go with them and live out the rest of my life as their unwanted, unloved prisoner. I wanted to be free. Free to be myself and live around people that actually love me.

"Hold still."Tang told me as I fell a firm slap on my cheek, which got me groaning while Aunt Ti ran to me.

"Ming!" She called as she tried to reach for me. "Let her go, please!"

"No. Ming is our child." Tang said as he looked at my aunt firmly. "This is all yourfault. She wouldn't be doubting whether or not she was who she was if youhadn't filled her head with nonsense when she was five years old."

"That poor child was abused and starved." Ti called as she looked at me sadly. "I gave her a day to remember and told her what really happened."

"It wasn't true." Minna interjected. "She is not a princess."

"She's lying." Noatak said firmly. "I can sense it."

"Let Ming go!" Femke called as she used waterbending to make a wall of ice that covered their one exit before she used a water whip to smack my father against his hand, causing him to be distracted as I got away.

"Thanks." I smirked as I bended my water arms in place and whipped my father against the wall.

"They're all yours." Femke called as she dodged and flipped away. I used that to bend the water she had used to blocked the door at my mother, trapping her against the wall, which left me to face of against my father.

"You're going to diethis time." My father told me as he took his dagger and walked towards me but I was faster and managed to dodge him. I caught a blow aimed at the Queen, who looked at me with widened eyes as Femke tried to waterbend at my father, who was much faster then she was.

I need to take him down. He can't destroy any evidence that might be here

I thought as I dodged and struck wherever I could. Until saw to my shock that my mother had managed to escape and struck Femke against the wall from behind.

"Femke!" Zaheer called as he ran to her with a worried look on his face, leaving the Queen completely unguarded. My father took this opportunity as he threw a dagger of ice at her.

"No!" I called as I leaped in front of it, fearing that with the Queen, the truth about my past would die. I was not about to let that happen.

"MING!" I heard everybody exclaim around me as the dagger hit me and everything went black.

00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

Cliffhanger! Next time we'll see if Ming Hua will survive the blow or not so you better keep reading.

That was all for now! I hope you enjoyed reading this and thank you paranoidgirl for doing such a great job as a beta reader and advisor.

Please leave a review!