a/n: The weather is unbearably hot... stayed up till 5am watching the entire 5th season of 24... Need I say more?

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+Katara+

"Because after today, none of it will ever matter."

With a startled gasp like breaking the surface of a lake after being submerged for what seemed an eternity, Katara woke from her sleep and immediately knew that everything had gone terribly wrong. From what she could see lying on her side, she was trapped inside a very tight, carpeted space. A car trunk.

She tried to scream and thrash but it was pretty much useless. Yumi had done a very thorough job of taping her mouth shut and tying all her limbs together. Without outside help, she was going to be trapped in there until there was absolutely nothing she could do to stop Yumi.

'Why? Why had she resorted to this? There must've been another way!' she thought frantically, trying her hardest to make a loud noise by kicking the side of the trunk with both feet. She could barely hear the thud herself.

'Oh, Katara, keep calm. Think your way through… think…'

There was a chance that Ethan could save her. She hadn't really seen what Yumi had meant when she had said that she had "taken care of" Ethan but she was hoping that he wasn't unconscious. The best she could hope for was that by some miraculous stroke of luck, he had freed himself and was looking for her. But even if he could find her in time, would it be enough to stop Yumi? It was almost unlikely but she pushed it from her mind. She had to get out of here.

She tried screaming again but only managed a pathetically muffled buzzing noise. Ethan would have to have his ear stuck to car trunk lid to hear that.

"Katara, this is the only way. You're gonna have to trust me on this one."

If only she could…

+Ethan Jones+

That conning, back-stabbing, two-timing-!

There were more adjectives to abuse Yumi's character building up in Jones's head even as he tried desperately to find a way to cut the bindings but even he knew inwardly cursing every inch of Yumi's skin was not going to cripple her. She was on her way to Clivian this very moment with a helpless Katara in tow and he had to stop her at all costs. If only he hadn't been such a stupid moron and had fled when he had had the chance. If only he hadn't agreed on that "deal" with Yumi.

But that was all behind him now. He didn't have the time or energy to sit there and bash himself for every single stupid thing he had done concerning Yumi thus far, namely trusting her in general. The last time he had seen her was when she had come back to collect something she had left in Katara's room. She hadn't said anything more to him (not that he wanted to talk) but she had kindly duct-taped his mouth shut so that he wouldn't be able to scream for help. Absolutely fantastic.

He was just wondering if he could risk standing and looking out one of the windows in an attempt to attract attention when he saw it. A nail was sticking out from the leg of the coffee table directly in front of him. It was parallel to the floor and so he would have to topple over, risking injury to himself but it he could just get the tape off his mouth, he could chew through the cords binding his wrists.

'Here goes nothing.' He thought bitterly, and he leaned forward, twisting his body so that he would land at an angle that enabled him to inch forward like some absurd caterpillar. He hit the floor with more force than he had intended and the wind was knocked from his lungs. Recovering from the fall, he started to inch forward, eyes fixed on the protruding nail.

When his head was positioned right up against the table leg, he carefully scraped his cheek against it, tricking to peel the edge of the tape off. It took a couple of attempts but finally he managed to get a corner unstuck. Ever so slowly, he rubbed until the head of nail was stuck to the inside of the tape. With one quick turn of his head, Jones succeeded in tearing the tape off his mouth.

"Yes!" he hissed, rolling over so that he could have some room to bend over and cut his bindings. It would take some time but excitement was already pumping through his veins. He had to save Katara. He just had to.

+Yumi+

A remix version of some long forgotten pop song was now being played on the radio. The digital sound effects annoyed the driver slightly but she kept her eyes on the road at all times, fingers gripping the wheel.

Yumi didn't normally drive while listening to anything unless it happened to be the police scanner. It was one of the few things that might have defined her as a person. People who knew this about her might have associated her at one point with the words "quiet" or "reserved" or "music hater". She smiled grimly, knowing that whatever anyone thought would no longer be of any importance once her task was finished today.

The road stretched in front of her. It was almost 10 o'clock in the morning and traffic would become hell soon. Thankfully this part of the highway had never been too busy but she had to make sure she was there on time. As far as she was concerned, failure was definitely out of the question.

As she made a sharp turn, the contents of her trunk made a thudding noise, reminding Yumi of what she had stored in there. She wondered vaguely if Katara was okay. Yumi had made sure there was no possibility of her suffocating but it still made her somewhat concerned. Not that Katara really had anything to do with much but Yumi silently hoped that Katara would understand in later life why she had made such a decision.

"I have a brother too, you know. His name is Sokka. Look, Yumi, I know how you feel right now but this isn't the right thing to do. Let me and Ethan help you."

Katara's pleading voice still rang in her ears. She had felt both sympathetic and a little sad for the waterbender. Of course, if Katara had a brother, she might know of the love one shared with a sibling. But how could anyone understand when they had never been in that particular situation when you had to choose? Yumi had made her decision many years ago but she was going to fix it today. Today was the day when all the years of suffering would come to an end. She would make sure of that.

"Ane-chan, please take me home. I want to go home."

She tried to ignore it just as she had done for over a decade. The pain of even thinking about that little boy's voice, that little boy who surely must have died the same night she had effectively signed his death warrant, was mentally crippling for her.

"Please take me home, Ane-chan."

A sign above her read "Welcome to West Verklay!". It wouldn't be long now. It was only a matter of time…

As she drove on, she spotted a car right in front of her. A small, Asian boy was peering out of the rear window, staring straight at her. He smiled and waved his chubby hand. Yumi thought her heart might stop. She had never reacted this way even a couple of days after the incident. But now that she was so close to ending it, her barriers seemed to deteriorate.

"Yuseong…" she whispered, feeling the tears pool in her eyes. "I'm so sorry…"

A single tear trickled down her cheek as the little boy turned to face the front again. She could no longer see him. She wiped the tear away with the back of her hand and, before she could help herself, whispered the words she had promised herself never to say again.

"I love you so much."

a/n: *sniff* Thanks for reading and Please Review~!