Chapter 8 - Kidnapped
A/N: Alright, I've nothing much to comment on this chapter so... Hope you enjoy it! Oh, and thank you all for the reviews and subscriptions! I really appreciate them!
Disclaimer: I do not own A:TLA, although I wish I did.
"Hey, Sparky," Toph spoke first.
"Yeah?"
"I'm ready."
"Mmhmm? For what?" He replied, still staring at the fireworks that joined the lanterns in the night sky.
A wave of pain shot through his leg as something crashed into his shin. He finally tore his eyes away from the scenery and yelped in pain as he clutched his new injury. As if one on the shoulder wasn't enough...!
"Must I spell it out?" Toph said impatiently as he looked up. "I'm ready to meet my parents again."
"Oh," He said, registering the information. "Oh! That's brilliant! Let's go then!"
"I think I should call you 'Captain Lag' soon…" Toph muttered under her breath as Zuko closed his hand over her arm.
"Did you enjoy yourselves?" Shinju asked them, a big smile plastered on her face.
"Yeah, we did," Kazuya answered.
Mai nodded, sweeping a hand over her lips again to check for any unwanted crumbs. She felt a pang of guilt for not having asked Kazuya about bringing his mom along for the view. Shinju looked surprisingly unaffected by being left behind, however.
"Alright then, I suppose its time we turn in for bed?" Shinju asked.
Mai agreed while Kazuya said he would be staying to take care of the logistics first. Shinju snapped to attention, exchanging looks with Kazuya. He shook his head slowly and patted the hand Shinju had placed on his right arm.
"I'll be back home soon. Promise."
Shinju searched his grey eyes for a moment more before nodding wearily. Mai glanced at the two of them before she offered to escort Shinju home before she returned to her inn. Shinju agreed, turning away from her son while Mai stepped into pace behind her.
Mai turned to glance behind her.
He had left.
She gripped the back of Sparky's robes, taking in its coarser material as comfort. He patted her hand without turning around, leading them both towards the guards that stood in front of her house.
"Hello, nice to meet you," Zuko began. "Can I meet the Lord and Lady of this house? There is something I need to deliver to them."
"Who are you?" The guards demanded immediately.
"… Sparky!" Toph hissed. "You can't say that! Your status! Flaunt it!"
"Oh right!" Zuko whispered back. "I forgot."
You can't just forget about these things! You're the Fire Lord! Toph mentally retorted.
"I'm Zuko, the new heir to the throne of Fire Nation." Zuko introduced himself. "I know this is… Er… Sudden. But I believe once you see what I have to deliver, I'm sure you'll let me in."
Zuko nudged Toph, causing her to step out from behind him. She scowled, knowing the stares she was about to get. The earth gave her feedback, telling how fast the hearts of the guards were now beating. She hoped it wasn't in anger.
"My lord! My lady! Toph has come back!" The guards rushed into the house, shouting to the household.
Zuko turned his head towards her. "Does this mean we just stay here or something?"
She nodded, her grip on Zuko's sleeve relaxing a little. Then, she felt her heart starting to pound against her chest erratically. She anxiously scanned the house for her parents' footsteps. Something she had wanted to hear for a long time.
Zuko glanced down when he felt the grip on his sleeve tighten once more. He turned around fully to face her, his back facing the main door. He gripped her shoulders. She was really tense. He had never seen her like that before.
"Hey… Toph?" He asked slowly. "Everything's going to be fine, alright?"
"No…" She whispered. "It's not."
He frowned, studying her features.
"Why?"
"There are only servants in the house. But there are only two who are currently conscious… Their hearts are beating irregularly at a much faster rate than before…" She rambled thoughtlessly.
For a moment, Zuko turned to face the door again, as if examining it.
"Sparky…" She breathed, causing Zuko to snap back to attention. "My parents are nowhere to be found."
She started shaking uncontrollably. Alarmed, he tightened his grip on her shoulders and shook her gently, telling her to calm down. He walked closer to the door and took a whiff.
Smells familiar… It reminds me of my days in exile… He frowned.
Before he could take another step towards the door, the main doors flung open. He took a step back in shock before staring at the two guards. Before he could react, the guards tackled him to the ground.
"Wah- What? Hey!" He protested.
"You did this, did you not? Firebender!" One of the guards growled at him, his malice fully concentrated on the last word.
"I did not!" He shouted immediately.
Toph stomped up in front of them. "Xing! Jun! Let go of my friend!"
Zuko strained his neck to look up at Toph.
"But… Toph…!" The guard protested, turning his attention away from him.
Big mistake. Zuko landed a kick on each of the guard, causing them to back away.
He jumped to his feet before rejoining Toph.
"I assure you, I have nothing to do with this. After all that I have pledged to my country, I would not recklessly set fire to an innocent family's house. Let alone that of my friend's family."
The guards glared warily at him.
"Now," Toph cut in. "What happened?"
"W-We don't know," The guards answered.
"This is the first time in many years that I haven't spent the Moon Festival with my husband."
Mai glanced at Shinju, her pace slowing. Shinju had a sad smile on her face, the crow's feet even more significant with her sudden weariness.
Mai decided to risk it. "What happened?"
"My husband… He is a citizen of the Earth Kingdom. Our marriage brought about a lot of controversy within this town. So we fled to the nearby Earth Kingdom town. Life was difficult, but we managed. Just when things were starting to go well, we learnt about the Harmony Restoration Movement. I was to leave for Fire Nation."
Mai opened her mouth, before she shut it again. She looked up at the moon to see the shadows form a shape of the spirit residing in the moon.
Shinju continued. "I had to head back, along with Kazuya. My husband had to stay. To make it easier for our transition, he staged an act, to get me to leave him. He wanted Kazuya to hate him, for me to hate him. This way, my sympathetic relatives would offer Kazuya and I shelter. It worked, only for a while. My relatives decided that I deserved my plight, and my husband's plans were leaked to Kazuya."
They reached the house.
"Thank you, Mai," Shinju said, lying down to rest on her bed.
Mai bowed politely in response, noticing Shinju's red eyes in the dim light. Mai was still thinking about Kazuya. Despite the story, something was awfully wrong about him. Images of the crazed expression on his face remain firmly etched into her mind. How he was usually, and how he was then…
Which one's the real Kazuya?
"Ming…" She hear Shinju murmur in her sleep.
A smile played on her lips as she sat on the chair in the corner of the bedroom. She looked up into the bright yellow moon.
Interesting.
"Sparky… Describe the place for me," Toph murmured, her hand still not leaving his now-wrinkled sleeve.
"The place is… A mess," He consented, for once. "There are flames everywhere. I presume the servants, those who were in the know, put up some form of resistance… They are… At the very least immobilized."
Toph gulped and scanned the area. She could feel their life vibrations. They should be fine. The casualty numbers should be at the minimum considering that most of them would be celebrating the Moon Festival currently.
"How did they get in? We're sure we didn't hear anything out of the norm…" The guards looked to each other for confirmation.
She frowned. It was not exactly a difficult thing, to enter without the guards knowing. Aang and the others entered by the backyard as well. Of course, they had an airbender with them. If the invaders were firebenders…
"They were after me," Zuko stated coldly, clenching his fists.
He had come to the same conclusion. It was not her parents that they were truly after. Toph tugged his sleeve, urging him to follow her.
There's probably a note somewhere.
The guards left to check on the servants while Zuko and her went to the backyard. He inhaled sharply as they reached. Before she prompted, he already told her the scene before them.
"There's a huge hole in the wall. It's still smoking."
"Toph! All those who should be here are accounted for… Except one: Lang."
Lang. He was her family's gardener. He was in his late twenties or so. He was quite the lazy fellow, but then again, her parents never complained because he always does a good job of tending the garden. He was friendly… Lin and him were dating…
Now he's gone.
Zuko walked towards the wall and bent down to inspect it. Toph followed him and felt the rough edges of the hole. She traced it down to the ground, where a fine layer of dust covered the soil. Then, she felt a smooth surface. It was thin as paper. It must be a note! She quickly picked it up and unfolded it. She handed it to Jun, who was nearer to her.
"What does it say? Don't gloss over anything," Toph ordered.
" 'We have the Bei Fongs. If you want them back unharmed, send Zuko, the newly crowned Fire Lord, to the plateau near Xuanwu Gu immediately.' "
She scowled. It was that stupid rebellion again. They won't even let them catch a break.
"They used dynamite," Zuko declared, breaking the ensuing silence. His face was grim.
"What?" Xing questioned. "Then wouldn't we have heard the blast?"
"I presume they timed it with the fireworks. There was probably an especially loud blast, but you waved it off as celebratory equipment," Toph answered.
"Oy, Kazuya! Hurry your ass up!" A gruff voice shouted through the noise.
"Sorry!" He answered.
"Apology not accepted! You were trying to hook up with some girl while we do the dirty work!"
Kazuya laughed in response. "Was it that obvious?"
Mai grimaced as she crouched low from behind the convenient obstruction. She could not risk a peek at this point in time. This had definitely nothing to do with logistics…
"So how are our guests?" She heard Kazuya ask.
"See for yourself."
Mai strained her ears to hear a faint flip of the cloth, groans and following, muffled screams. She gripped her sleeve hard just to remind herself not to make any false movements.
"My sincerest apologies, the two of you. But it is absolutely necessary for my friends to have done this. You'll be released as soon as the real target is here."
Mai's eyes widened. Target? Don't tell me…
"Oh, how rude of me. I forgot to introduce myself. I'm…" Kazuya began, adopting the tone he used with Mai during her less-than-well duel.
Mai's eyes went wide open. The truth of the situation finally hit her, right smack in her face.
Kazuya… You're-
"The leader of the Dracen Knights, voices of the unheard."
'Dracen Knights'? What a horrible name.
She frowned slightly as she adjusted her position. Either her ears were suddenly failing her, Kazuya lowered his volume significantly, or they have just moved to another area. She needed to know what was happening.
"I have a reason for doing so, Mai. For once, I hope my hunch is wrong."
You were right.
"Well, well, what do we have here?"
Mai's eyes flickered up immediately, to the source of the voice. She leapt away from her hiding spot and reached into her sleeve to retrieve a dagger.
She focused on the target and flung it in the person's direction. The person dodged it by a mere inch, advancing towards her. Considering that they are a resistance group, they would be wise not to make a commotion here. Her would-be pursuer was fairly lean, probably a good sprinter.
Damn! She cursed.
Her only chance is to just run, but how to do so without being discovered?
The man ignited his fists, the orange flames blazing brightly, in stark contrast to the dark night. Mai ran diagonally, launching a couple of stilettos at him, pinning his left leg and his right arm each to a side. The man immediately started to tug the deeply embedded stilettos out. Mai took her chance to make a mad dash out of the area.
She ran, feeling her hair flying around in random places. She spat out a bit of hair that flew into her mouth, wondering why she ever let Shinju touch her hair in the first place.
Then, she slammed straight into a wall. She gave a small groan, rubbing her bruised forehead, before looking up.
It wasn't a wall.
The towering figure looked down upon her and grinned, "Sorry, my dear. My leader just can't take any chances. People on watch duty go in pairs."
"Toph! Wait!"
Yada yada yada! I can't hear anything!
She hurried down the path, feeling her feet heat up from the constant friction against the rough ground. The vibrations of the group of people grew stronger as she neared them. However, for some reason, she could not exactly pinpoint everyone's location… Was it a trap?
Oh heck. She thought, preparing herself for the run in.
Then, she felt someone clamp his hand over her mouth. She started to flail about, trying to land a kick on the attacker.
"Toph!" He said as softly as he could.
Oh. It's him. She scowled.
"Okay, I've got the plan. I'll go in first, then, while I occupy them, the guards will go in and take the Bei Fongs to safety." She felt Zuko turn to look at Xing and Jun. "And I mean all three of them."
What? Sokka could conjure a better plan than THAT! If I could just kick him…! Stupid short legs!
"Toph! Listen to me!" He half-yelled, causing her to snap to attention. " Once you escape with your parents, don't wait for me. This is my fight. Stay out of it."
Her struggling stopped. The coldness of his tone he put in the last statement chilled her. She felt her cheeks and ears grow hotter.
What happened to being part of Team Avatar…? What happened to working together?
You're behaving just like my parents! Sparky, I…
I hate you!
"Mai… I can't believe you…"
"Why did you kidnap them? Whoever they are," She asked coldly, her voice muffled by the gag.
"They're bait. For your boyfriend," He said, contempt in his voice. "Who knew that the Bei Fongs had a daughter?"
"This explains everything. You were using me," She spat.
He undid the gag, and his voice took on a softer tone. "You've got to listen to me. I have every right to do this. We have every right to do this. I wanted to convince you to join me. You would make a fine addition to this team."
She looked in his direction, or at least, she hoped it was in his direction. She finally knew how Toph felt when she is cut off from the earth.
"Right?" She questioned slowly, her anger growing.
"Yes," He said. "I'm doing this for the people… And for my broken family."
Oh… How noble of you! She thought sarcastically.
"How do you know this is what the people want?"
"… I do. At least that of the people here. We learnt about the early plans of the Harmony Restoration Movement through a friend of ours. You have no idea how many families are going to be broken up just because of this. 100 years worth of bonds, all wiped out with a single decree of one man?" Kazuya intoned. "Ridiculous!"
"That's why you want Lord Ozai back? You are completely selfish. You have no ide-"
"No idea what his rule was like? I have. I have heard about it. But these people are happy here. We don't want this change that your boyfriend is offering us. The people over in Fire Nation have told me that they were happy following Ozai's ideals!"
"So that's how you see it?" She asked frostily. "Gag me. I have nothing more to say."
A/N: And that's all for now! Not surprised if most of you guessed Kazuya's role in the story pretty easily. Haha. x) "Dracen Knights" is... to be honest, not a really well thought-out name for a group of rebels. If anyone has suggestions for the name, please feel free to PM me or just mention it in a review. Thanks! :D
If I've gotten the facts wrong, please do correct me as well! Thank you! Please review! :D