"You will not leave here!" shouted Mai angrily. Jin bit her lip, wondering what Zuko had done to make her so angry, but Zuko merely turned, not taking a fighting stance or drawing any weapons as he faced her.
"It's useless, Mai. You'll only make things more painful than they need to be." Mai said nothing but did not stand down. "I will leave here, and I will take my fiance with me. Whether or not I will have to fight you to make that happen is entirely up to you. And I'd rather not fight." Jin looked at Mai to see what her answer would be to this, part of her hoping she'd quit now while she was ahead. But Mai took a fighter's stance, darts armed and ready for attack.
"You won't fight me! I know you won't!" she shouted. She looked like she was about to lose her sanity she was so angry, and Jin began to feel even more afraid with the fact that half of her was entrapped in stone.
"I promise I will," said Zuko. "Stand down, Mai."
"No! I will not lose you to that peasant!" Jin's eye's widened and she looked at Zuko, placing a hand on her hip.
"What is she talking about, Zuko?" she asked in a more accusatory tone.
"Very well," said Zuko, ignoring Jin -that mess would be dealt with later, he knew it-. "I hoped it wouldn't come to this, but since you leave me no choice..." He crossed his blades and sent up a large burst of flames directly into the sky. Everyone jumped back in surprise but when they saw the blast was not directed at anyone, only the clouds, they resumed their defensive stances. "This is your last chance, Mai," he warned. "At any moment the avatar and his friends will be here. Let us go." Mai gritted her teeth and looked to Jin. Her eyes changed from pure rage to that of a killer, and Jin felt her blood run cold for a minute. Taking her aim, she fired at Jin's throat. Jin screamed, barely able to move out of the way, but Zuko jumped in time blasting the dart away with a ball of fire. "I do not wish to cause you more pain..." he said, slowly raising his head to look at her. "But I promise I will take you down to protect the one I love!" With that he conjured up a blast, not so large as to inflict significant damage, but enough to knock Mai off her feet. Mai's aiming stance was broken as she dodged the fire, and Zuko blasted again.
Turning to Long Feng, Mai barked at him, "What are you waiting for?!"
"Men!" ordered Long Feng, and they nodded, joining in on the fight. Zuko stepped closer to Jin, his back to her as he watched them carefully, making sure none of them would lay a hand on her.
"Zuko..." Jin whispered, grabbing on to his shoulders. She couldn't find the words to say. She was terrified that he would not win, but didn't want him to know she thought he had no chance at all. He turned his face to her and smiled warmly, much to her surprise.
"Don't worry," he assured her. "You and I will be returning home together, I promise you," he said. He turned to face them again and she gave his shoulders a squeeze.
"Promise me that home won't be the afterlife," she whispered, and kissed his cheek.
----
Katara was about to fetch the others to start looking when the flare went up. "You guys!" she called. "You guys we need to go! Zuko's in trouble!"
They came running out of the shelter and looked around.
"What happened?" asked Sokka.
"He went into the woods after a strange noise and just sent up a flare. We gotta go." Sokka and Suki grabbed their weapons and the group hurried into the woods.
"I wonder if he found Jin," said Aang as they ran.
"I hope so," muttered Katara. "I really hope so"
----
Mai fired an army of darts at Jin and Zuko blasted them all away, Jin still attempting to cover her face and duck, despite the fact that Zuko had proven he would protect her. The earth beneath Zuko's feet suddenly became unstable and he sank down to his ankles, the ground then hardening, trapping him in place. For that one second his guard was off, Mai managed to fire a dart at Jin and it sank itself into her shoulder. Jin gave a cry of pain and Zuko fired up with rage, striking the ground around his feet with lightning so he could free himself. He thought of freeing Jin the same way, but decided against it, too afraid he would miss and hurt her... or worse. Instead he decided to wait for Toph to come and earthbend her out. Until then, he fought to keep Mai from hitting Jin again.
It was not too long before Aang and the others finally showed up, and by that point it had become so cloudy it was nearly too dark to see, let alone fight in the woods. But that didn't slow them down, and the Dai Li continued coming on as strong as before. Toph came running to Jin's aid the moment she spotted her, and the stone encasing was crumbled away. "Don't let her escape!" shouted Mai. Jin's knees gave way and Zuko caught her before she could fall.
"Are you strong enough to fight?" he asked her. She nodded, finding her feet and standing upright, and he handed her his broadswords to fight with. "Here. Careful." She nodded and turned to the Dai Li, joining up with the others, leaving Mai to Zuko.
Long Feng was near the front of the group and Jin thought of gutting him like a fish, thinking of poor Kiri laying bleeding and bruised below the ground. But before she could even come close to completing her dark musings he was throwing attacks at her that she was just barely able to dodge. The lack of food she had received was really beginning to weaken her as she struggled to keep herself steady, and after only a few swings she really began to feel light headed. Katara quickly noticed and hurried to her.
"We'll take care of Long Feng," she said while helping Jin dodge attacks. "Run down that path over there and you'll see the shelter Toph made for us. It'll be safer there, and you look like you need to sit down."
"I want to fight!" argued Jin, but another wave of dizziness hit her and she nearly fell.
"You've done enough," reassured Katara. "You're no good to Zuko dead. Now go!" Jin reluctantly agreed to this and turned, running in the direction Katara had told her to go. "Sokka! Suki!" she called to her brother and Suki. "Go with her!"
They nodded and hurried to catch up to Jin. Gradually they began to decrease the Dai Li's numbers, Toph opening the ground beneath them to trap them, Katara attacking them with her water whip, and Aang knocking them off their fighting stances with his airbending. But the Dai Li were still very powerful, and the few attacks they did manage to land succesfully were often near deadly. Katara got launched into a tree when one of the earthbenders made the ground beneath act almost like wave, an oncoming curve beneath her feet suddenly propelling her upwards. She hit the tree with a sickening crack and Aang was below her in time to catch her before she could hit the ground.
"I'm okay..." she groaned, a small trickle of blood running down her forehead. "I'm okay." Toph knocked the oncoming attackers away and turned to them. Aang glanced up to see how Zuko was fairing and spotted him deflecting more of Mai's darts away from himself.
"All his attacks have been defensive," he muttered. "Why isn't he trying to bring her down?"
"Because he can't," said Katara. "He's too held back by guilt that he doesn't want to lash out on her."
"Well he's gonna have to get over it soon," said Toph. "Mai doesn't look like she'd about to back down, and who knows how many of those darts she has stored away?"
Katara suddenly looked up and glanced around. "What is is?" asked Aang. After looking around for another moment she turned to them.
"Where's Long Feng"
----
Jin's legs gave out, despite her efforts to keep herself on her feet, and she collapsed, exhausted and dizzy. "Whoa!" called Suki, running up to her and checkiing to see if she was all right. "We're almost there," she said comfortingly and slung one of Jin's arms over her shoulders. Sokka did the same with the other and they made their way back to the shelter. When they were inside Jin collapsed on the floor and Suki helped her sit up so her back was leaning against the stone wall. "Bring some water, Sokka!" she called, and Sokka hurried off. "It's gonna be okay, Jin. Just hold on," whispered Suki. Jin blinked lazily and Sokka came darting in with a water pouch.
Suki took the top off and held to to Jin's lips, ready to help her drink it, but the moment Jin realized it was water, she snatched it from Suki's hands and began to chug it as if she'd been without it for years. Suki laughed a little and when the bottle was drained Jin rested her head back with a smile. "There..." she gasped. "That's more like it."
"We'll go get you some food," said Suki. "Just rest a while. You need your strength." She and Sokka headed out, planning on staying close just incase, and Jin shut her eyes, ready to fall asleep at any moment. None of them were aware of the figure in the distance, smiling when he saw at last his prey was alone and defenseless.
----
After nearly an hour of fighting the Dai Li were all defeated, and Katara, Aang, and Toph all surrounded Mai alongside Zuko. "It's over, Mai," called Aang. "Give it up!"
Mai looked around realizing she was outnumbered and lowered her hands, hanging her head in defeat. The others came out of their fighting stances, all of them but Zuko that is. Mai looked at him with tears in her eyes. "It wasn't supposed to be like this," she said sadly. "I loved you... I was loyal to you... It was supposed to be me!"
"I can't take back what happened, Mai," said Zuko. "No one can. But puting yourself through this is not the answer." He lowered his hands at last and turned to leave. "The pain you felt was unavoidable," he said, not looking at her. "But suffering this long afterwards... that's your choice." He began to walk away, but Mai gritted her teeth angrily, her eyes lighting up in a bright blue color. She reached out a hand to him, and before anyone could stop her a blast of fire shot out of the brightest blue they'd ever seen, and it struck Zuko in the back, making him fall hard on his face.
Katara's eyes widened and Aang's jaw dropped. "Did she just...?" muttered Katara, still in shock.
"Mai..." gasped Aang. "Mai's a firebender?"
----
A strange sound, sort of the like the scattering of small stones caught Jin's attention and she opened her eyes, allowing her head to roll to the side to see what was going on. A small mound was growing in the ground from the center of the shelter, and it poked up out of nowhere. For a moment Jin thought it might be a mole, and she crawled over to get a better look. Her fingertips just barely brushed the top of it when a hand shot out, grabbing on to her wrist, and before she knew it, she was dragged under the ground screaming.
Sokka and Sukki heard the screams and came running, but they only got there in time to see the last of her hand sink down below the earth. "Jin!" shouted Suki, and she ran to the spot, digging with her barehands as fast as she could. But it was too late. Jin was pulled away too fast and they couldn't reach her now.
"This is not good!" cried Sokka.
----
"Mai's a firebender?" asked Katara. She glanced at Zuko only to see he looked as surprised as they all did. Everyone resumed a more defensive stance now and Mai looked around at them, her eyes still glowing a bright blue.
"My parents knew from the day I was born that I would have struggles with firebending because my emotions are too intense," said Mai, her voice even seeming to change into a deeper one filled with hatred. "'She'll have not control!' they said. So they taught me to bottle up emotion, become numb to the world, and instead I was taught the art of the darts, practicing relentlessly to learn to pin a target with one shot. But in time I soon learned my true fighting style that even my parents couldn't keep hidden. And now I will use it to put an end to you all!"
She threw a blast at them, but they all managed to duck. "She doesn't have any control at all," said Zuko. "Her anger is so intense and untamed that all she can use is blue fire. But she doesn't know how to bend it correctly! Be careful you guys!"
Mai fired again at them, but he deflected it. Aang created a wind sheild to save himself and Katara managed to dodge. Toph, on the other hand, was not so lucky. Just barely escaping that attack, she fell to the ground with a scream, and used her hands to cover her face from the flames. When the fires faded, her arms and the backs of her hands were badly burnt. "Toph!" shouted Aang, running over to protect her, and he was able to block the next few blows from hitting either him or Toph.
"Zuko!" shouted Katara. "You have to fire at her! We can't get her between blasts!" She was struggling to keep up with defending herself, as well as Aang, and the blasts were becoming more frequent and badly thought out making them all the more dangerous. Zuko closed his eyes, not wanting it to be this way.
"Mai!" he shouted, deflecting another blast. "I didn't want this... but now I have no choice..." He waited and when she blasted again, he deflected it and then through the opening fired a bolt of lightning. Mai was struck and fell backwards like a rag doll. At once everything went silent and Zuko straitened up, turning to Katara. "She's not dead..." he said when he noticed she was staring at Mai's body in worry. "She'll be in a lot of pain though. We'd best get out of here while we can."
Toph gave a grunt of pain and everyone's attention was called back to her burns. "Oh Toph!" cried Katara, pulling out her water. "Here!" She healed the burns and Toph gave a sigh of relief. "I'd better heal you too. Mai got your back pretty good."
"It can wait," said Zuko, and he smiled a little. "There's someone I've been without for too long and I need to get back to her now." Katara smiled in understanding and nodded. They took off running, Zuko eager to take Jin into his arms again.
Their smiles melted like ice when they returned and Sokka and Suki could only greet them with bad news.