February 25th: Death - Super Saturday word count - - pay an escalation cost for each add-on.
400 words - Today we mourn [character], they died by heroically sacrificing themselves.
+ 200 words - Add a touch of Died in your arms tonight for dramatic tension.
+ 200 words - But I'm not completely evil, so add in a Not so final confession
+ 200 words - Your choice on how to play it: Overly dramatic, Straight up comedy, or We all know this is fake, but don't tell the enemy.
Neither of them managed to sleep. They tried. Lying in the dark, rolled onto their sides with their backs to each other. Chiaotzu kept his breathing slow and regular, eyes open wide and staring into nothing, his mind whirling. Afraid, in some small deep part of him, that if he sleep, when he woke, it would all have been a dream. Tao, his injury, his failed infiltration. Tien. All a dream.
The worry keep him up until light peeked through his shield at the roof. When he sat up he saw Tien was already standing, looking up at the cracks in the ceiling with a nervous frown on his face.
"Tien? What's wrong?"
Pointing out the gap where Chiaotzu had squeezed through, Tien asked, "Was that always red?"
Cold fists closed around Chiaotzu's body, wringing his nerves in opposite directions. He shot into the air, towards the spot, and touched the still wet patch of blood.
"Oh shit."
As if on cue, the wall in front of him shattered. Blasted to pieces. Ducking out of the way and sheltering his face, Chiaotzu flung out one hand and sent Tien careening into the depths of the cave. He'd be safe there. Ino would follow, would keep him hidden.
Tao was standing on the dusty stone outside, a smirk on his face and one cybernetic hand formed into a cannon. In the light of day, the metal integrated into his body gleamed with a flat oily light. "Good morning, Chiaotzu."
"Hello again." Keeping his voice casual, internally Chiaotzu was forming and discarding strategies in rapid-fire snaps. Most ideas were being shut down. He realised that he just didn't know enough about Tao anymore. About his style, his strength, his weaknesses. He'd need to keep a close eye if he wanted to survive this.
"Where's the boy?" Tao asked, peering down into the gap in the roof he'd made.
Not allowing himself to look down, to check, Chiaotzu said, "He's gone. When I got back he'd left. Maybe he's on his way back to the Crane school. You'd best hurry, you don't want him to get lost."
"You're a terrible liar." The red lenses of Tao's cybernetic helmet gleamed in the early morning light, whirring and clicking as they shifted. Were they focusing on Chiaotzu? Were they trying to see down into the dark? Chiaotzu hoped Tien was hidden out of sight. "You always have been."
Chiaotzu shrugged. "I don't know what to tell you."
"We want him back." The cannon of Tao's hand opened, bloomed like a flower, and then each petal rolled up and became fingers. "I can make you tell me, Chiaotzu. I can pull it from you, piece by piece." Another whirr and click from his headpiece. "Your blood led me here, your blood will tell me what I need to know."
"I'll die first," Chiaotzu said. His voice still level and casual. This whole situation was so surreal that he couldn't bring another layer of vehemence to his tone. It still felt like a dream.
Tao's smirk widened, revealing sharp teeth. "So be it then."
He darted forward. Impossibly fast. Hand already folding back into the gleaming blade. Chiaotzu had time, barely, to dodge. Directing his ki not just through his feet, but his palms as well. The knife caught his shirt as he twisted away. Sliced cleanly through the fabric. Glided through like a shark through water. No wonder he had barely felt the wound on his leg. If he'd been caught he would have been cut to ribbons.
Dodging the blade opened him up on one side. A cold metal hand closed around his upper arm. Squeezed hard. Yanked him up and forward. Hot breath blew against his face, the smell of coppery blood making his stomach turn. "Got you," Tao sneered. The tip of his knife pressed against Chiaotzu's throat. A warm trickle down his skin from the point. He hadn't even felt it break the skin.
But he wasn't afraid. Not even a little. Steel was threading through his veins, hardening his resolve. Even now, his mind was flicking through ways to escape, how to get free and fight back.
Before he could implement any of them though, a shrill little voice cut through the air: "Let go of him!"
Both of them looked down. Saw Tien standing in the circle of daylight from Tao's blast, his head tipped back and a defiant gleam in his eyes. His hand was raised, his fingers curved and contorted and glowing a brilliant yellow. Tao's mouth dropped open. Chiaotzu's heart froze in his chest. And then a massive blast of energy emerged from Tien's hand, electric crackling and roaring heat obscuring his words. The beam caught Tao. Filled Chiaotzu's vision with yellow. He could hear Tao's scream, his rage, and then the hand holding him loosened and the knife fell to the ground with a clatter.
It seemed to take hours for the light to fade away. When it did, Chiaotzu saw the smoking scraps of metal that were all that was left of Tao Pai Pai. The power of the blast had reduced him to ash. There was a moment where he wondered how Tien had made a Dodon ray yellow, before terrified understanding flooded him. Looking down. Seeing his brother collapsing, as though in slow motion, face-first into the dust of the cave.
He couldn't fly down fast enough. Couldn't catch Tien before he landed with a heavy, boneless thud. Reached him just as a slow rattling breath flurried as the dust. Particles floating in the clear sunlight. Settling onto the ground. And remaining still.
"T-Tien?" he asked, his voice seeming to come from very far away. Aware that his hands were shaking. That his whole body was shaking. Trembling like a leaf. Touching Tien's forehead, feeling skin that was clammy and an ashy grey colour. "Tien, wake up."
Tien did not wake up. When Chiaotzu rolled him over, his head lolled on his neck. Sand clung to his cheeks in damp clumps, soaked with sweat. Chiaotzu brushed the biggest away with gentle movements, eyes scanning for any sign of life, his entire energy focused on sensing any glow of ki inside the empty husk.
The Kikoho. He hadn't recognised it, not without the characteristic triangle hand position that Shen had taught him. A forbidden technique, a dangerous and reckless technique. Teaching that attack had killed Chiaotzu's comrades, in his time there. He had tried it only once, and the aftermath had left him weak and drained for weeks. The idea of Shen teaching Tien the Kikoho made fury boil through him. That he hadn't learned, that he still put children in his care at such risk.
He had almost given up, grief welling like a geyser about to erupt, his vision blurring and heart beating an irregular rhythm against his ribs. And then, a flicker. A low flame, flickering and sputtering, deep at Tien's core. Instinctively, Chiaotzu cupped his hands as though around a match, an act of protection that did absolutely nothing. But that spark remained. An oasis of life in a barren desert.
Ino trotted out of the depths, his eyes wide and frightened, his whole broad body shuddering. Letting out a horrified snort, he darted to Tien's side and nosed at a limp hand, frantic.
"He's alive," Chiaotzu said. "But he performed the Kikoho."
Ino let out a low, keening wail, despairing, and sat heavily on the ground.
"No," Chiaotzu said sharply, flinching at how harsh his own voice sounded. "Don't grieve. He's not going to die. We're going to save him, got it?"
A reproachful little look—Don't snap at me—then a nod. Ino lay down and put his nose beneath Tien's palm.
Hopeful, Chiaotzu watched closely for any twitch in the fingers, but there was nothing. Instead he turned his eyes upward, towards the gaping hole in their ceiling. "We need to move deeper. Get him out of the elements."
Ino's eyes rolled sideways, towards the door that Chiaotzu had reinforced the night before.
"We can't go to town," Chiaotzu said, hoping he was correctly interpreting the look. "Shen will still be there."
This time, when Ino let out a disgusted little snort, Tien's fingers did twitch the slightest bit. Chiaotzu's heart leapt into his mouth and he grabbed Tien's shoulder.
"Tien? Can you hear me?" Feeling the little flickering flame grow and become steady.
Tien groaned. The ashy grey receded from his skin, replaced with a pink flush. Eyelids fluttering, chest suddenly heaving into life with an irregular hurking noise. Recognising the signs, Chiaotzu quickly rolled Tien back onto his side just in time for the boy to vomit into the dust, Ino hopping backwards and out of the way. The wave of relief that washed over Chiaotzu made him feel weak and dizzy, and he had to stop himself from leaning down and hugging Tien tight. Instead he rubbed long slow circles on Tien's back, murmuring soft reassuring sounds.
"It's okay, Tien. You're safe. I've got you."
"Chaozu?" Tien asked, his voice thick and slow. His hand lifted and groped blindly over his shoulder. Chiaotzu put his other hand into Tien's, smiling as the fingers clamped down tight. "You…safe?"
"Yes, Tien." Tears spilling freely down his cheeks now. "You saved me. Thank you."
He could hear the smile in Tien's voice as he breathed, "Good. 'M glad."
"We're going to move you now, Tien," Chiaotzu said. "Just let me know if it hurts too much."
"Jus' need t' sleep," Tien said. His voice was slurred, but louder and clearer than it had been. "Kikoho…makes…sleepy. I'll be fine mornin'."
The words sent another furious bolt through Chiaotzu's gut. Not just once then. Tien had practiced this, enough to know the recovery time. He forced the feeling away. There'd be time to address that later. "Okay, Tien. You sleep. I'll protect you." Using a woven net of telepathy to lift Tien from the ground and gently carry him into the depths of the cave, where they would be hidden.
"Lu' you," Tien mumbled, and then he was asleep.
Chiaotzu smiled. Smoothed his hand on Tien's scalp, a soothing gentle touch. "I love you too, Tien."