"My lady!" shouted a panicked voice. Mai looked up lazily from the floor and winced when she saw the worry written on the guard's features. "The avatar and his friends were spotted earth bending their way below the ground. They are headed here now!" Mai didn't respond to him and didn't seem to even care. "What should we do?" he asked after a moment. With Long Feng busy with Jin, she was now the one in charge, but it hardly meant a thing to her.
"Well... get them, idiot!" she half snapped at him. The man nodded and scurried out. Mai closed her eyes, knowing a final confrontation between herself and Zuko was eminent, but she smiled despite it all. He was no match for her and she knew it. In the end he would die, and she would be forever free of all the pain he had caused her. Her eyes strayed to the bracelet and she moved as if to take it off. Something stopped her, however, and she couldn't bring herself to do more than to pinch it between her fingers. Despite how badly she'd convinced herself that she hated Zuko, a part of her was still fighting her will to let him go entirely, and she knew now that unless he died, she would probably never find the strength to remove it. The bracelet was almost like a chain now.
"I won't let him survive after what he's done!" she growled as she got to her feet. "He will not leave here alive!"
----
The breakthrough to the other side happened almost completely unexpectedly, and the group, rather than hit the ground running, hit the ground rolling and crashing into each other. Zuko was the first to scramble to his feet, looking around as if he expected Jin to be right there waiting for them. Unfortunately she wasn't, but just knowing she was near was enough.
"What is this place?" asked Katara, half groaning as she got to her feet. They all took in the grim appearance of this underground prison and Zuko grimaced when he saw how small the cells were, a part of him picturing poor Jin cramped up inside of one... waiting for him to find her.
"It looks like there's a lot of prisoners," said Aang after a moment. "If we split up we'll free them faster."
"Good idea," said Katara. "Everyone split up and take a hall. I have no idea where the guards are, but they can't be far so be on your guard. They won't let anyone through without a fight."
"If one of you finds Jin before me," said Zuko, but he paused, not really knowing how to end that sentence.
"Don't worry," said Suki with an understanding smile. "We'll protect her with our lives."
Zuko gave a half smile and a nod as he turned and headed down the first hall he could find, praying he'd find Jin there.
----
Kiri poked her head up when the bars in front of her were suddenly removed and she gave a shout when the Dai Li guard reached down and pulled her to her feet. Three other girls were having the same thing happen to them and Kiri looked up at the guard with distrust. "What are you doing?" she asked. He didn't answer her and she knew right away she was being sold. "No!" she screamed and began to struggle as the man dragged her.
Twisting herself around suddenly she bit his arm and he let go with a cry, and she took off running as fast as she could, the guards barely having time to go after her. She ran for all she was worth, now that she had her freedom, she was not giving it up without a fight. Sadly, she didn't get even that. From the shadows a dart flew out and struck her in the neck. Blood spurted out and she fell, dying almost the minute she hit the floor. Her tangled dark brown hair covered over the small portion of her face that wasn't burried into the ground, and Mai stepped out to admire her handi-work.
"You know," she said to the corpse contemplatively. "With hair like that... you almost look like Jin. Almost."
There were footsteps coming down that hall and she sighed. "No time to chat, I'm afraid. Time to settle a score with a firelord."
----
Zuko stopped for the third time in the hall and looked over his shoulder. He knew he was being followed, but couldn't see anyone. "Why don't you show yourself already?" he asked. There was silence for a moment, then from the shadows, Mai emerged, darts in hand, ready to fight.
"Still haven't found your lover, I see," she said mockingly.
"Where is she?" asked Zuko coldly, showing he was in no mood for games.
"Like I'd really tell you," she muttered and took a fighting stance.
"If you've hurt her..." warned Zuko.
"What are you going to do? Kill me? You don't have the heart to kill. You're weak!"
Zuko let the words she said roll off him as he drew his broadswords. "I may not have the intention of killing you," he said cooly. "But I'm not holding back unless you tell me where Jin is right now!"
"Then you'll have to defeat me," said Mai, and without warning to fired an army of darts at him. Zuko managed to dodge and deflect them all, and then lunged at her, taking advantage of the fact that she had briefly dropped her guard to see if any of the darts had hit him.
He hit her legs violently, using the back of the blade she he wouldn't cut her, and she fell over with a shout. Pointing one of the swords at her face he snarled, "Where's Jin?!"
She threw a burst of flames at him and he was able to bend them away, their heat still scorching him. While he was distracted she kicked his hand, knocking the sword pointed to her face away, and he leapt backwards before she could kick him again. Having just enough time to reach for his dropped sword he leapt over her head as she threw fire at him and then slammed his elbow into her back, knocking the wind out of her.
Mai collapsed to her knees, panting for air and Zuko sheathed the broadswords, not wanting to inflict any more damage. "Enough, Mai. Tell me where Jin is!" he commanded at her.
Mai hung her head low. Her back was throbbing and she was still struggling for beath. Zuko could finish her now if he wanted to unless if she firebended to kill him. Without sufficient breath she'd never be able to conjur up a good enough blast, even though he had now put his weapons away. She gritted her teeth. This was not supposed to happen this way! She wanted him to
regret! She wanted him to suffer...
Her eyes snapped open. In the back of her mind an image flashed again of Kiri's form crumpling as the dart hit her in the neck... her hair making her look a lot like...
"Very well," Mai sighed, holding back a smile. "You win... Jin's waiting for you in that hall..." she said, pointing where Kiri's body lay. Zuko nodded and walked right past Mai, not looking down at her once. "Go find her..." said Mai, now unable to hold back the cruel smile that spread across her
lips. "Then mourn... scream... regret... and cry yourself to death!"
Zuko darted down the hall and stopped cold. A limp body lay in a pool of blood, completely lifeless. The dark brown hair was unmistakeable. His heart stopped, his breathing came in short gasps, and his legs gave way. Unable to blink, unable to shout he sat on his knees, staring at her... tears stinging his eyes.
All at once his voice came to him and he screamed out a loud a deafening tone, and Mai smiled, knowing it was the sound of his heart shattering into millions of pieces. The same way she had felt when she saw him press his lips on that filthy little...
"There..." she grunted as she got to her feet. "Now... we're even..."
----
Katara and Toph stopped what they were doing when the cry rang out, and Sokka came running with Aang and Suki. "What was that?!" shouted Sokka.
"It sounded like Zuko..." muttered Katara. Toph suddenly stiffened.
"The Dai Li's coming!" she cried and they formed a circle, backs facing each other as they took fighting stances. When the Dai Li arrived, Mai showed up, running in front of them.
"Don't bother with them!" she ordered. "We've been beaten. Retreat!" Sokka raised an eyebrow in confusion. They hadn't actually beaten anyone.
"But the young women..." objected one of the earthbenders.
"All the valuable ones were sold almost an hour ago. Let these ones stay and rot for all I care. We must go and find Long Feng now!" They nodded in agreement, and before Aang or any of the others could stop them they earthbended their way out of there faster than lightning.
After a moment of standing there perplexed, Katara recalled the shout. "You guys quick! Free the rest of the prisoners while I see what's happened to Zuko." They nodded and she took off in the direction Zuko had run in.
----
Zuko's legs were numb, he couldn't move, couldn't tear his eyes away from that grim sight. When the footsteps came behind him he silently wished for it to be Mai so she would finish him off. The gasp that emmited from the person behind him proved his hopes to be false.
"Oh no!" cried Katara as she cautiously approached Zuko.
They stood silent for a while, tears of rage and pain rushing down Zuko's face and gradually some of the others rejoined them. "The last of the prisoners are above ground with Toph and Aang... oh no!" It was Sokka.
"No!" gasped Suki, hands going over her mouth.
"How could this have happened?!" shouted Sokka, showing more frustration than any of them had expected. "We were all down here and never saw any of them, and she just turns up here? How did this..." Katara then understood. He was reliving the same frustration he'd felt when he'd
been unable to save Yue.
"Mai must've done it right before were entered," sniffed Suki. She was crying. So was Katara from the sounds of it.
"Well... we shouldn't leave her down here," Katara's voice stated weakly. "Zuko?" she asked and he nodded.
"I... I can't..." he was trying to express that he didn't have the strength to get up and pick her up... to see her eyes glassed over... to feel her body completely limp...
"Sokka?" asked Katara. "Wanna help..." He nodded and they walked over to Jin's body silently. Sokka stepped so he was standing towards Jin's front... then stopped... staring at her for a minute. At first, Zuko thought it was to see how she'd been killed, but when his eyes turned to surprise Zuko looked at them curiously.
"Wait a minute...!" muttered Sokka and he pushed the hair out of her face. A pair of glazed eyes stared back at him, but they weren't Jin's.
"This isn't Jin!" he called, and Zuko's heart suddenly sprung back into life.
"WHAT?!" he and Suki cried together and they ran over as Sokka and Katara rolled the body over. Each of them looked at the lifeless face and gasped.
"I know that girl!" said Zuko, unable to keep joy from his voice. "She used to be a regular at the Jasmine Dragon... Carrie? Cory?" He was so relieved it wasn't Jin and once again there was hope. The world which had stopped a few moments ago was now springing back into life and he was struggling to feel the sadness he should have over Kiri's body.
"But we looked everywhere..." said Suki. "If this isn't Jin... then where is she?"
Katara gasped and jumped to her feet. "What?!" asked Sokka, a little annoyed by her sudden burst of movement.
"Don't you remember what Mai said before they left?" she cried, looking at Aang who soon returned the horrified gaze.
"All the valuable ones have already been sold..." he repeated, and Zuko's hands clenched into fists.
"Those bastards!" he shouted, his joy gone altogether now.
"This is bad. She could be anywhere!" cried Suki. "What do we do now?" Zuko glanced down at Kiri's body, now realizing the tragedy of it, how she'd suffered so much in the last few days, perhaps even weeks, and hadn't had the chance to see the light of day or happiness before her life was stolen from her.
"Let's take her above and burry her properly," he said softly. "And then... we start looking again."
----
Jin had dozed at some point on the ride, but was awoken by the bouncing that came with the cart she rode chained onto came to a halt. Long Feng grabbed her and pulled her off, a redlight house coming into view and he smiled as he saw her face contort with tears. "We're here," he said, and she was dragged in, trying to repeat Kiri's words in her head with every step. "They can have my body... but they can't touch my soul..."
----
(A/N: R&R! And I got word that the computer has been gutted of all viruses and will be ready to use tomorrow! Big yay! Oh, and to give back credit where it's due, the line "Mourn... scream... regret... and cry yourself to death!" was taken from the manga, Rurouni Kenshin, the line Yukishiro
Enishi said when he pulled a similar stunt on someone. That pretty much inspired that part of the chapter.)