As we exit the restaurant, Runa sighs, and her posture becomes more relaxed.
"that was a living hell" she leans into my shoulder, "I thought it would NEVER end!" I chuckle and Lou huffs.
"It wasn't that bad! Uncle Bo was telling me about his trip with Bumi!" Runa giggles.
"oh but you see we're much more interesting, Lou!" I nod in agreement. I tousle Lou's hair playfully, she slaps my hand away.
"you guys are so... Uhg." she crosses her arms over her chest, and walks up in front of Runa and I. Runa gives me a look and i Shrug.
The street lamps are spaced far apart so we keep walking through small pools of light, then engulfed in the darkening evening.
Lou walks ahead a few feet ahead, so the small ball of fire she bends only provides enough light for her.
After tripping over yet another unseen obstacle, I sigh.
"Runa, a little help?" I trip again and she grabs my arm and pulls me back up into a standing position.
"Sorry," she bends a small flame and brings it close to her face, blows on the tiny flame. It grows until it's about the size of her palm.
"Better?"
the fire reflects and dances in her eyes, The walk in front of us illuminates enough so we can see our path.
"much, thank you." she smiles shyly, then pulls me forward and we begin walking again.
Slowly Lou slows down enough to re-join us.
"feeling better?" I ask her, she's still pouting, but she shrugs.
"so what are we goin-" Runa was cut off byt a large crashing sound followed by a roar. We all stoppe dead in out tracks.
Then our of nowhere a guy comes flying from an alleyway about ten feet in front of us. Runa races over to the man. Lou and I follow.
Runa kneels to examine to man, she makes a disgusted sound, then gets up and enters the alley.
Lou takes one look at the guy and says: "gang member" I look at him, he,s out cold and has whip in his hand I pick it up.
"why would he have this?" I ask. Lou shrugs.
Then we hear Runa yell "DUCK!" we turn and see Runa crouching on the ground clutching her head.
we hear another roar, then see another guy also holding a whip, flying towards us, along with various other objects. Lou and I duck and we hear the man land across the street. I jump up and look back at the man his cloths are torn and dirty. I then follow Runa who's already running down the ally again.
"RUNA WAIT UP!" I yell, Lou runs behind me, panting. Runa doesn't slow down, but skids under another man, who's been thrown down the alley. Lou and I do the same.
We come upon group of gang members all with whips, surrounding and whipping a very large creature, of which we cannot see, we stop next to Runa, who seems to already be assessing the situation.
One of the men notices us and turns around, "hey you, get outta here, this doesn't concern you!" when we don't budge, he bends a large boulder out of the ground and throws it at us, Runa uses her firebending to gain height as she jumps over the boulder. Lou and I both slide under the boulder more surprised than Runa. As we stand we see Runa kick the man with a flaming foot.
The man falls to the ground, and doesn't get up, note to self: don't piss off Runa.
A few more gang members move to confront us. I have no water to bend to I have to rely on my hand to hand combat, I make quick work of another earthbender, dodging the rocks he throws at me and move to hit his pressure points.
I can't see Lou, but I can hear her fighting close behind me. Runa confronts two gang members, another firebender and a waterbender. She throws flaming punches and kicks at them. Shes much smaller than them so she's faster, and dodges their attacks easily.
An firebender comes from behind and kicks at me, I jump almost being missed, but he clips my hip, I seethe, then punch the guy in the face, really hard, hard enough to hurt me too. I shake my hand ad the guy slumps to the ground, stunned.
I hear Runa yelp and I whip around to see the waterbender lying on the ground, the firebender has Runa pinned against the alley wall, arm pressed against her throat, flames dance around her clutched fists.
She sees me and chokes out, "J-Jace,*cough* help... M-me"
Red tinged my vision and suddenly I can feel the blood pumping through the man's body, and I immediately know what I have to do... The man goes stiff then convulses, and falls to the ground... Black spots pepper my vision and I feel myself losing my grip on everything, I fall to my knees...
I promised myself id never do that again, that I'd never bloodbend anyone again, but I had to, didn't I?
Runa braces herself on the wall and looks at me. She looks confused, but staggers towards me, her breathings broken and ragged, she kneels and hugs me...
"shh, Jace it's okay... You're okay I'm okay, but I need you now, there are more of them, we need to fight" I hear Lou knock out another gang member... By now all I can see is black, but I listen to Runa trying to call me back, and all I want to see is her face, and be able to come back and fight but I font think I can pull through this darkness...
((for obvious reasons)) Runa's POV:
I can't help myself as I choke on sobs, begging Jace to come back, stroking his hair.
I don't think Lou's knows what's happening yet, she's to busy with the gang members.
I suddenly hear a laugh. I don't turn to see who's laughing,I just hug Jace tighter. i sense a large figure loom over me and Jace.
"what a cry baby, not so tough without your little boyfriend are you?" I glare at the man who's leering at me mockingly. I turn away and lay Jace down gently. I sniffle, then stand to face the man.
I take a protective position over Jace and the man snickers, he bends some water out of a pouch on his back , makes a whip, and snaps it threateningly.
I smile ruefully , bend a ball of fire and make it into a whip. I snap the fire-whip at the man and he jumps back, grunting, good I surprised him, I'm angry and right now I'm going to take it out on this guy.
The fire-whip takes the shape of a dragon and I make it give the man firery bites all over. The man yelps and starts to whip me, but i dodge most of the snaps, and ignore the rest but then the water-whip wraps around my arm, water covers my arm, and then freezes. I growl in anger and start to melt it by raising my body heat. But the ice spreads until I'm completely encased in ice. I slowly melt the ice, but of course the man starts laughing freezing all the spots I've melted.
"RUNA!" I hear Lou yell, she comes running at the man but he throws her back with a wave of water. She slams into and alley wall and slumps down, knocked out.
"you ((okay guys pardon my French)) bastard!" I yell struggling against the ice.
Suddenly I hear a roar and the creature that the gang was attacking before tackles the man. It must of finished off the rest of the gang members. I struggle to see what happens, I see the creature slash and claw the man until he stops fighting back. When the man lies limp on the ground, the creature turns and moves over to me, and for the first time I see what it is. A Torch Tiger cub.
The cub moves over me and claws the ice, breaking through to my arm, at first I think maybe it wants to break the ice, so I'll be easier to eat. But then it sniffs my arm, and starts to break the rest of the ice, with it's claws, and teeth, purposely avoiding breaking my skin.
When it's teeth or claws touch the ice it melts faster than my raising of my body temperature trick. That's why it's called Torch Tiger, they can firebend... Kinda. Now I know what the gang was doing with it, Torch Tigers are extremely rare.
When I'm fully out of the ice it moves closer sniffs my face the licks my cheek. I press a hand to cheek, it's tongue made it feel all warm and tingly. "huh, thanks?" I say. It grunts then lays down quietly. I get up and examine Lou, she's still out cold, I slap her cheeks gently, nothing... So I slap her face hard, she gasps and sits up.
"OWWW! Ruuu-naaa! Why would you- woah.." she looks at the Cub, "is that a?"
"a Torch Tiger? Yes. Now up ya goo" I help her stand and she leans against me, still a little woozy.
"where's.. Jace" she presses a hand to her forehead. I lead her to where Jace still lies. I kneel down, and press my head to his chest, hearing his heart beat, it's strong and healthy, thats good.
I look at his face, stroke his nose, "Jace, please please please, wake up" and like magic, he slowly comes too.
"Runa?" he asks gently.
I smile, "yes, how are you feeling can you get up?" he closes his eyes, thinking silently, probably checking over everything. He opens his eyes.
"I'm fine, but I can't get up" I look over him worriedly.
"why?" I ask.
He chuckles, "your pretty much lying on top of my, Runa" I feel myself blush, Lou laughs.
"oh, sorry" I get up and take his hand helping him stand. "wow, I bet we look pretty beat up!" he laughs then stop abruptly. " what is that?" he asks, pointing at the Torch Tiger.
"uh" the cub stands and rubs against my legs, purring, I scratch behind his ears, "I kinda made a friend?" I say, the cub leans into my hand.
Jace laughs, kneels to examine the cub, patting his head "wow no wonder they were after him, Torch Tigers are extremely rare" Jace stands, "better take him with us" he winks, I smile, the cub purrs,I'm happy now because I'm taking him home with me
But then I realized somethings, Jace is a bloodbender. And obviously he already knew this, there's no way a person who just realized they were a bloodbender could bend like Jace had. And that leads to the fact that he never told me he was a bloodbender. This I needed to think about.
Jace sees my expression, comes closer and asks: "you okay, Runa?" I nod dully, he still looks worried though. "well we better get going" Jace leads us out of the alley and down the street. I walk blindly, consumed in my thoughts.
The cub suddenly pushes me and I bump into Jace, I look at the cub thankfully, I was about to walk into a street lamp, "sorry" I mumble to Jace, then I continue walking.
"are you sure you feel all right, Runa, your acting weird" Jace stops me by taking my arm. He presses a hand to my forehead worriedly.
"I'm fine" I snap. Jace pulls his hand way, surprised by my rudeness. I pull away.
"okay" he says, still looking worried. Lou walks next to me and I wrap an arm around her, she sighs gratefully and leans into me.
As soon as we turn onto the restaurant's street, I hear someone say: "there they are!" Our parents and Bolin run towards us.
"I said be back in a hour! We were worried!" my mother scolds.
I'm still in a daze, but I mumble "sorry" staring at my feet.
Korra gasps, and helps me with Lou. "what happened to you?" she asks, Jace and Lou start explain what happened as I stare into space.
"and I guess the torch tiger cub saved Runa and freed her from the ice, because Runa woke me and Jace up" Lou finishes.
My mom waves a hand in front of my face, "that true sweetie?" I don't respond, "oh your soaked!" my father comes up and wraps his uniform jacket around me.
"Runa, are you feeling all right?"
I finally nod, "umm, yeah sorry... I'm just out of it a bit" I feel something brush against my legs, I look down to see the cub hiding behind my legs, growling faintly.
I notice Bolin kneeling trying to get a good look at the cub, (he's kinda an expert on animals now, i learned that when he told me about his trip with Bumi during dinner) but the cub keeps moving and hiding behind my legs.
Bolin notices my stare, "umm Runa can I?" he gesture towards the cub.
"uh, sure just let me-" I lean down and carefully pick up the cub, who proceeds to bury his muzzle in my hair. Bolin comes closer and examines the cub, gently poking at it and saying reassuring thing to him, and after a few minutes the cub relaxes.
"he seem to be quite young still, and he's a bit malnourished ."
"well I don't suppose gangs take the best care of their 'pets' " my dad says, we all nod agreeing.
"but" Bolin continues, " he should be fine, as long as you feed him well and give him a bath"
my mom gives me a look, hands on her hips, "and I suppose you want to keep him?" my mom asks.
I nod mutely, stroking the cub's ears. I hear my mom sigh.
"fine! As long as you promise to actually take care of him... And if you agree to give him a bath when we get home" she pats the cub's neck, "no offense little one, but you don't smell of tiger lilies!" we laugh, I set the cub back on the ground.
"its getting dark out, we should get going" suggests Mako. I started walking towards Turk but Korra stopped me.
"Runa, I'm not sure Jace is stable enough to take Turk, could you take him to your house and I'll meet you there, heal you if you need it then ride Turk home?" she asks
I nod, "of course, Korra, see ya" I wave and go climb onto Turk. As I sit in Jace's regular spot in the saddle, Jace climbs up.
"what are you doing?" he asks. "your mom wants me to take you to my house so she can heal us, then she'll take you guys home" I snap the reins and Turk starts to trot down the street.
"but-"
"no buts Jace"
"Runa!" I ignore him, snapping the reins again and Turk goes faster.
Jace sighs, "I'm not going to win this, am I?" he asks,
Lou laughs, "of course not!" I nod, directing Turk to turn.
When I stop Turk in my yard, Korra and my parents are already there. Korra must've told Mako to take Bolin to his apartment and to go home because I don't see Naga. Jace jumps off Turk, followed by me. I turn and help Lou down, she still looks a little woozy.
"you okay?" I ask, she nods giving me a weak smile. I lead her to her mom. Korra smiles.
"thank you" she whispers, taking Lou from me.
"better check her out first" I say, Lou shoots me a look, " ya know, better safe than sorry" I explain, shrugging and turning towards Turk, who still has the cub on his saddle. I laugh, watching the cub pace around the saddle several times, he stops and peers down at me. "are you afraid, little one?" I ask he makes an annoyed sound, I laugh.
"just jump down!" I tell him,pointing to the ground beside me. He looks at me and climbs to the edge of the saddle and crouches down like he's about to jump down. But he hesitates and slips off the saddle.
I jump up and catch him landing on my butt. "oww!" I whine, the cub growls and licks my face as if to say 'thank you' Turk bumps my back with his head. I pat his neck, "I'm okay Turk." The cub climbs off my lap and rubs against me, purring. I stand patting the cub's head, I see my mom and Jace in the garage. My mom turns sees me and beckons me to them. I walk into the garage, followed by the cub.
"what's up?" I ask as I enter. Jace turns and kneels to pet the cub.
"oh we're just getting a bath set up for your little friend." my mom explains.
Jace nods, "you should give him a name, Runa, it'll make it easier for all of us" he says. I nod.
"that can wait till tomorrow morning though." Jace nods, standing.
"well, I filled a tub with some water, we were just trying to figure out how to heat it." Jace explains, motioning to a wooden tub filled with water nearby.
The cub walks over to the tub. He looks at the water suspiciously,then at me questioningly. I nod encouragingly, and he hesitantly dips a paw in the water. He looks at the water, then dips his other paw in. The water starts to steam and I laugh when I hear my mother and Jace's surprised gasps.
"how'd he do that?" asks my mom.
"they're called Torch Tigers for a reason guys" I say. I go over and rub the cub's ears.
"wow I always thought they were named for their coloring, not the ability to bend fire.
"he can only bend a little... Simple stuff like boiling water." I say, Jace kneels beside me, "cool" he looks at me and smiles, I turn away like I don't notice his stare. He sighs.
The cub climbs into the tub. He turns and looks at me. I pat his head and stand to go get some shampoo.
When I come back I push up my sleeves the I start to rub the soap into his fur. I start to have trouble rinsing the shampoo out of the cub's fur, because he keeps moving.
Jace, who I've been trying to ignore, kneels next to the tub and starts to help rinse out the shampoo our with his waterbending, ignoring his stare I say:
"thank you"
he nods, "no problem" We continue working together quietly. The cub turns and licks my face, purring. I push his head away laughing.
"thanks allot!" the cub just purrs more loudly, and turns so I can wash his tail. I gently lather his tail.
"Runa, does your neck hurt at all?" Jace suddenly asks, my hand flies to my neck.
"not really, it's just a little sore, why?" I ask worriedly
"it looks a little... bruised, that guy was pressing against your neck pretty hard, right?" Jace winces as he says this.
"yes, I guess..." I say quietly The cub growls and bumps his wet head against my chest. I pat his head. I look at the cub and then at Jace, I shrug.
"it doesn't really matter"
Jace rinses of the cub's back. "I could try to heal you, but I'm not that good at it yet, my mom's much better" Jace explains.
"it's okay, Jace, it's just A bruise, I can wait till your mom's done with Lou"
"are you sure? I'd actually like to try, if you don't mind, I haven't healed anyone in awhile." he says looking down at his hands. the cub splashes him playfully. I laugh as Jace splashes him back.
"sure, just don't try to hard" the cub, deciding that I would be an easier target, splashes me. I yelp. I splash him back, but now I'm soaked.
"ahhh! Now I'm soaked!" I complain. Jace laughs, coming over to me he bends the water out of my clothing and hair. "thank you" I tell him, he kneels nodding. He bends some water around his hand and gently presses it against my throat. His hand starts to glow. My neck feels tingly, I haven't been healed in a long time, not since I was little and broke my wrist when I fell from a tree.
After a few moments the tingling stops and my neck doesn't feel as sore.
But Jace doesn't remove his hand,his hand just moves to cradle my neck instead. I look up at him , and his aqua eyes search my golden ones.
Then he leans closer, looking at my lips.
I'm assaulted by a range of emotions, and suddenly I can imagine how good his lips would feel on mine
. But something shouts for attention in the back of my mind: One word: Trust. Jace didn't trust me with his secret, he never told me, he kept it from me. I turn away just before our lips can touch.
Jace looks hurt, but says: "I'm sorry... I just thought-" he sighs. I can't look at him, so I stare at my hands instead.
"No, I'm sorry, I just-" I start, looking back up, but he shrugs and smiles.
"it's okay Runa" but the smile doesn't reach his eyes, his eyes are are sad and stormy, "I'll go get my mom" he walks out of the garage. The cub crawls half-way out of the tub and licks my cheek. I gently push him back into the tub, and numbly continue to rinse him off.
"come on, buddy, I gotta dry you off" he climbs out of the tub and shakes himself. I can't help but chuckle as he purposely try's to get me wet, trying to cheer me up.
"Hey you" Korra says as she walks into the garage "Hiya" I shift to my left knee so I can wrap a towel around the cub.
"How ya feeling?" she asks, kneeling to help me with the cub.
"I'm... okay, I guess..." I mumble.
"wanna talk about it?" Korra covers my hand with hers, looking at me questioningly.
"Nah, I'll bore you" I reply sarcastically, smiling. She nods and pats my shoulder.
"Okay, well, I gotta go soon, so we should get to it and heal you up!" I nod, standing, followed by the cub.
"Bye Runa!" Lou hugs me tightly and smiles, "call me sometime, kay?" I nod quickly.
"see ya, Lou!" I wave as she jumps up onto Turk. I turn and sigh as Turk trots off.
"it's just you and me now, buddy" I tell the cub as I kneel to scratch behind his ears