Zuko shot fire from his clenched fists and it crashed into the ground below him. "Dammit!" he shouted. "Bastards!"
"It happened so fast, we tried to stop them but it was too late," said Suki. "I'm so sorry, Zuko."
Katara frowned and lowered her head. "We were so close..." she muttered.
"And who knows where they've gone with Jin," added Sokka. "We're right back to where we started." Zuko felt himself burning up with anger having been unable to protect the one he loved a second time.
"It's like we're meant to be apart..."
"No..." he whispered. "It's not over yet." He began to turn to the others but his back seized up on him and he collapsed with a sharp intake of air, gritting his teeth together as the burns on his back began to fire up unrelentlessly.
"Your back needs to get healed now before it gets infected!" said Katara, running to him. "I'll heal it for you, then get some rest and in a few hours we'll look for Jin. We know the spot where she was dragged down so maybe Toph's earthbending will help uncover something."
"I can't promise anything, Katara," said Toph, shaking her head.
"I'm not asking you to, Toph," said Katara gently. "But we need to at least try." Zuko nodded and followed Katara into the shelter where she quickly saw to his burns. Almost as soon as she was done he fell asleep, now completely exhausted from fighting and staying up the night before. The others simply let him sleep and waited, hoping that Jin would be all right and it would not be too late when they found her.
----
A violent blow fired across Jin's face and she spun around, falling on all fours to the stony ground. She gave a cry as her blood fell like rain drops and she was kicked in the side, the earthbender's boot bruising her insides. "We warned you what would happen should you try anything," growled Long Feng as the beating continued. Jin was tossed around and mauled unendingly by the guards, all the while screaming in pain as she felt her skin tear open, her hair get pulled, even one of her fingers crack as it hit the stone at an odd angle.
"Thought you'd run away," taunted Long Feng. "Thought you'd go live happily ever after, did you?" He laughed at her and kicked her in the face. "Where's your prince now?"
"That's enough!" shouted a voice, and all at once the men stopped, turning around to face Mai, who was staring down at Jin with a look of pure hatred. "Lock her up and let her rot in her cell!" There was something in her eyes that Jin couldn't fully read... something she had caught before when she had gotten a glimpse of Mai's face after Kiri's beating. Regret? "That was an order!" she half screamed at Long Feng, and then stormed off, leaving the Dai Li to obey her. Jin was tossed just as violently into her cell, and because of its small size she crashed right into the stone walls and dropped like a wet rag, listening to the men laugh as they walked away.
Then it was quiet. Jin lay on her back, memories flashing through her head. Zuko's loving arms around her, their first kiss on the hill before the final battle, Iroh's lifeless face staring blankly up at her as she held his head in her lap screaming, Zuko slipping the bracelet around her wrist and promising her...
"Jin!" whispered a voice. "Jin, are you all right?"
She knew it was Kiri, but she couldn't bring herself to answer. She had been so very close to escaping... so close to completeing her dream of finally belonging fully to Zuko... and now that dream seemed utterly empty.
"Jin, I know you can hear me, so listen to me," said Kiri. "Those men... they're only hear to tear you down, and they want that more than anything." Jin took in a shaky breath as tears fell down her face. "Whatever you do you mustn't give that to them. You've got to hold on. Think of the one who loves you... who is giving up everything just to save you." Thinking of Zuko was now more painful than ever. "You need to hold on!"
She felt Kiri's hand reach through the bars and grab on to her own, and Jin squeezed it tightly, taking what little warmth and security she could from it. When she found the strength to raise her head a little to at least look at Kiri's fingers she saw the bruises and cuts on them and realized the Dai Li must have given her a second beating while she was gone. Kiri had already proven to be a rebelious spirit, and now it was beginning to cost her. But yet there was still a small flame of hope in her and Jin couldn't understand how that could still be there.
"Kiri..." whispered Jin. "How can... How can you possibly hold on? After what all they've done to you... and will do to you...?" Long Feng's threat was still ringing in her ears. "My men have been in prison for months, and they've been without a lot for too long. There's no telling if I would be able to help you should something... happen."
Kiri just gave Jin's hand a squeeze and somehow Jin knew she was giving a small smile as the words left her mouth. "They can have my body," she answered. "But they can never touch my soul. That's how I keep going." Jin closed her eyes and found a small light re-ignite in her. A light that was small but strong enough that she knew she'd be able to make it as long as it would take... until Zuko finally saved her from this awful place.
----
Mai leaned her back against the wall as bitter tears rolled down her face. "Mai... my heart belongs to Jin. I love her. Not you."
Mai closed her eyes as more tears fell.
"No!" she shouted, anger now radiating off of her and pumping through her veins. "It's not the way it was supposed to be! You were going to come back for me and we would be together! You promised!"
Looking down at the ratty bracelet she gritted her teeth and slammed her fist against the floor. "You promised! You promised!"
Her door opened and Long Feng stepped inside. "Apologies for the disturbance, my lady..."
"What is it," she asked coldly, wiping the tears from her face and locking her emotions inside of herself once again.
"I've come to make a proposition for you," he said, seating himself across from her. "The Firelord has betrayed you and the Fire Nation is now divided, only a few of its inhabitants following the new Firelord. An uprising is inevitable."
"What do you want of me?" asked Mai, just wanting to cut to the chase.
"Your help in uniting those unloyal to the Firelord with the Dai Li. Your family may have been overthrown but they still hold power to their people. I have a feeling they will do what they can if they know you feel strongly about it."
"And what good will this bring? What's the point of this?" she asked lazily.
"Revenge," answered Long Feng with a smile. "The Dai Li and that great of a number of Firebenders... teamed up the Firelord will be a sitting duck. Not even the Avatar will be a match for that." Mai didn't respond to this and Long Feng stood up, preparing to leave. "I'll leave you to think it over, but remember, that man hurt you in the worst way. Don't you think it's only fair to make him suffer for that injustice?" He turned to leave but then stopped, remembering one more thing. "And there is the question of what's to become of that girl... Jin?"
Mai looked up, eyes narrowing at the sound of her name and she looked up at Long Feng. "Get rid of her," she answered.
"I'll have my men execute her at once then," said Long Feng with a nod.
"No!" called Mai. Something inside her had contorted at his words and she shook her head. "No, don't kill her." Her eyes darkened and she felt her hatred take her over. "I want her to suffer. Sell her to a brothel and let her rot away in there." Long Feng smiled and nodded.
"As you wish. With a pretty face like hers, it shouldn't be hard to find one that will take her."
"Whatever," shrugged Mai, her apathetic self beginning to surface again. "Just make sure I never see her face again. And make sure she never sees her beloved Zuko again either." Long Feng nodded again and dismissed himself.
A war was raging in Mai's mind. On the one hand she knew what would surely happend to Jin, knowing now already that the girl was not one to give in without a fight... and the ghosts of being thrown to the ground and pinned while screaming and fighting the hands that held her in vain still haunted her... even more so now as she watch the Dai Li gang up on innocent young women and torture them. It all was haunting reminders of her own abuse... and allowing it to go on caused turmoil in her own mind.
But Zuko had betrayed her, and if it hadn't been for Jin none of that would have happened. She blamed Jin for everything, every hurt she'd had to endure since, for her parents sitting in a Fire Nation prison, and most of all for her broken heart. It was all that wretched girl's fault and whatever happened from now on to her was nothing more than she deserved.
Mai repeated that last thought over and over in her mind knowing eventually she would be able to convince herself that it was nothing more than the truth, but until then the battle waged on in her head, and she knew for now she would have to do all she could to avoid Jin. Her own sanity depended on it.
----
The cell door was opened and Jin poked her head up from the ground in time to see hands come down and clasp on to her arms, hoisting her up and dragging her out of her cell. "Where are you taking her?" asked Kiri suddenly as she saw what was happening. Long Feng stepped out with a smile that sickened them both and said to Kiri, "We have a buyer."
The blood drained from Jin's face and she began to fight them, ignoring her many injuries from their attack on her. "No!" she screamed. "I won't be sold! I won't be sold!" But despited her efforts she was still taken away, struggling in vain.
"Where are they taking her?" cried Kiri, looking up at Long Feng in horror.
"That's none of your concern now is it?" he said, then spun on his heal, leaving her there to listen as Jin was dragged away screaming.
----
"That's the last of it," said Sokka, finishing up loading up Appa. "Out of curiosity, how are we gonna get this guy underground?"
"We won't," said Katara. "As soon as we find Jin we'll need to make a break for it, so it makes sense to have Appa ready to go so we can just take off."
"Yeah, but that's assuming we find Jin the moment we're down there and quite frankly I doubt that's gonna happen."
"Well I have hope and so does everyone else so be a little optimistic would you?" Katara scolded and then turned to Toph. "Whenever you're ready, Toph," she said and Suki lead Toph to the spot where Jin had been dragged down.
"It happened directly below your feet," said Suki. "Can you feel anything?" Toph moved her toes around a little but shook her head.
"No vibrations. They must have gone down deep... assuming they went straight down that is," she muttered. Zuko frowned and left the shelter, not really having much interest in watching Toph breakthrough the ground. Something inside him told him that Jin would not be there where they were searching, but it was the only idea any of them had. He thought of the spot where he had felt Jin and walked over, bending down to touch the ground again, wondering if he'd feel her.
There was nothing, no rush of energy, not sparks, nothing. Just cool blades of grass between his fingers. "Zuko?" called Katara. "What are you doing out here? Aren't you going to help Jin?" He didn't answer right away but traced his fingers over the spot a little more.
"Last night..." he said softly. "Last night I felt her here." Katara made a face.
"What do you mean you felt her?"
"Right here," he answered. "I could feel her and it was like she was right there on the otherside of the ground-" He froze in midsentence, then felt like slapping himself for not thinking of that earlier. It all made sense now. He'd felt her there because she WAS there! "Toph!" he shouted, glancing over to them. "Toph, come here!"
The others came running to him from inside the shelter, all of them wondering what the fuss was about. "What's wrong?" asked Aang.
"Jin's down there!" he answered, pointing to the spot on the ground.
"What?" all of them except for Katara asked in unison.
"Just trust me, she is! Toph, come over here and feel for yourself."
Toph looked a little skeptical but trodded over curiously, placing her feet where Zuko told her to. After a moment she turned to the others and said, "I feel vibrations!" Without another word she opened up the earth and began to tunnel her way through, Zuko and the others following while Sokka stayed behind with Appa.
"The vibrations are getting heavier," said Toph as she made their way through. "We're getting close." Aang assisted by making sure the tunnel didn't cave in on them and Zuko provided light for them.
"Be ready to fight you guys," said Katara. "I have a feeling we'll have to hit the ground running."
"And don't forget about the other prisoners," added Suki. "We need to save them as well as Jin." Zuko nodded but secretly thought that none of them would be near as important as Jin.
"I'm coming for you, Jin," he thought to himself.
----