disclaimer: Mike and Bryan own the ATLA universe; Mariko belongs to me (: enjoy!
Icy Flames, Pt. II
Both master and student deadpanned at the airbender-turned-snowman.
"Well that can always be his second career plan if being the Avatar backfires somewhere along the line." Mariko noted aloud from her place watching the sparring sessions on the steps; she'd awoken early with Katara and Aang to tag along and be a spectator mostly because she would be bored out of her mind if she stayed in the hut meditating. "Master Paku, I know this is unorthodox, but may I try my hand at sparring? I've never fought a waterbender before, and, well, I was getting bored." She turned her amber eyes onto the waterbending master, tilting her head to the side and jutting out her lower lip in an attempt to win him over.
The older man rolled his eyes at her failed attempt, seeing the surprise on the younger girl's face before he sighed. "Normally I wouldn't agree given our culture's standing on women fighting, but seeing how far Katara has progressed against a girl that appears to be more knowledgeable in fighting is a sight I'm sure the other students would find appealing. Very well." He complied.
She beamed, hopping up and leaping down the distance the steps had with the flat slab of ice that was the landing, landing neatly and shuffling forward to stand opposite her friend. "Here," she reached into the folds of her parka to toss one of her daggers at the younger girl, shrugging out of the parka after taking a spare one from her belt, watching her mirror her gesture. "Fist-fighting isn't really my forte, but I've been known to be pretty mean with a knife." She said calmly, adjusting her stance, right foot slipping behind her by a few inches, the dagger in her left hand lowering to her side, noting she followed suit. "You first."
Katara noted the calm confidence exuding from her older opponent and initiated the spar by sprinting for her, the dagger swinging sharply for her head, leaving her side open.
Mariko inwardly tutted, hiding her smirk as she side-stepped the charge, weaving around the clumsy strikes the waterbender attempted on her face, torso, neck, noting she was starting to get tired. "Good try." She praised, ducking low on one particularly sharp swing that would've been a critical hit to her jugular had she not seen it coming; twisting on her left heel, she swerved to stand at her back, swinging her dagger down on the younger girl's open shoulder.
A light 'klang' sounded in the mid-morning air, briefly surprising both girls and catching their audience by surprise (the apparent elder of the audience simply raised his brows in mild astonishment).
Panting slightly, Katara stared down against Mariko, their dagger blades having clashed with hers descending on the blunt side of her opponent's.
Mariko's neutral face broke into a grin. "You do catch on quick." She disengaged the blades with ease, retracting and digging her left heel into the slab, the grin present. "My turn." She lunged, pretending to go for her ribs on the left side but instead jamming her elbow in the knife's place, punting her away.
Katara bit back the twinge of pain, her face losing the grin and going back to neutral; she swung her knife-arm out to catch her side, missing when she narrowly dodged only to have her knife knocked out of her hand.
Blinking back the surprise, she aimed a fist at her out of reflex, unintentionally causing flames to engulf her hand.
A sharp pain radiated up and down her extended arm when it connected with a shield of ice.
The waterbender winced a little at being the cause for her bloody knuckles, taking a step back. "Mari, I didn't… It was on accident…" She started to apologize when the older girl raised a hand to quiet her.
The firebender exhaled, leveling her with a calm amber stare. "I know, it's alright, Kat. It'd be better if we took the fight a bit more seriously; sooner or later you'd have to learn how to fight someone like me anyway." She felt the fire sparkle and ignite happily in the pit of her belly; she shifted into a stance, watching the younger girl mirror her.
Katara attacked first, summoning twin wings of water to scream at her opponent; Mariko narrowly feinted to the right, right fist extending to send a sharp bout of orange and red flames at her.
Water and fire clashed brilliantly, leaving the audience –which was really just a few boys plus Aang and Momo and Master Paku—enraptured in the display.
Panting, the firebender relaxed her stance and scowled determinedly at the waterbender that was as out of breath as she was.
One more go.
Summoning a large wave of water and controlling it with a fluid motion of her hands, Katara grunted and sent it screaming at her in an array of sharp icicles.
Twisting and swerving her body, Mariko snarled as she sent a fierce cartwheel of flames jetting forward to clash with the ice.
As expected, the ice and fire clashed and as the flames were extinguished with ease, the icicles were reduced to slush that dropped unceremoniously onto the slab.
A draw.
Mariko straightened her stance, shoulders slightly shaking from the exertion, before she did the honorable thing and bowed respectively to her opponent.
Katara blinked in surprise before quickly doing the same as both girls straightened.
"Normally I'd insist we keep the spar going, but for today I'll handle a draw. Thanks for sparring with me, Kat; you really have gotten better." She said calmly, smiling in admiration.
"I should be thanking you, Mari; I've never really faced a fire-bender like that. You've gotten stronger, too." She nodded, smiling back, albeit humbly.
"You two were awesome!" Aang crowed as he zipped forward to congratulate his friends, beaming like a giddy child. "Mari, you were definitely better than when you fought Zhao last time!" He added.
Both girls blinked once before smiling back.
Mariko shrugged, blushing a little. "Thanks, Aang…"
"I had a feeling you were not an ordinary 'nomad'." She winced slightly when Master Paku came forward as well, looking to her pointedly.
The older girl lowered her gaze shamefully. "Master Paku, please forgive me for not notifying you prior to the spar of my bending. I had no intention of lying, nor do I have any intention of bringing harm to your culture and tribe. The Northern Water Tribe has withstood a hundred years plus against the Fire Nation, so it would be stupid of me to betray your people's kindness." She bowed her head apologetically, keeping her eyes down.
Before anyone could say anything else, however, gray snow started falling with the soft snowfall that had begun minutes ago, tainting the pale white flooring of frost and slush with a dark gray color.
Soot and lots of it…
"Fire Nation."
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"…Spirit of the Ocean, Spirit of the Moon, be with us! I'm going to need volunteers for a dangerous mission." The Chief stated gravely.
"Count me in!" Sokka was the first to stand, surprising his friends plus the princess he'd apparently fallen for, his face contorted into a determined scowl.
More men stood as well, willing to fight.
Well what will you do? The little nagging voice in the back of her mind demanded, stepping to the fore. Will you stand idle and silently side with your nation or fight to protect a nation that doesn't belong to you?
Her gloved hands fisted on her knees and she scowled at her dark gray pants, likewise determination covering her pretty face.
"Be warned; many of you will not return from this mission. Step forward to receive my mark."
She saw the worry on his sister's face and placed a hand on her shoulder, meeting her blue eyes with an assuring amber stare; she slightly nodded, returning her eyes to the men who went to be given their mark by the Chief.
It wasn't long before they were ready and stood in the stillness that gnawed on the precipice between tension and chaos; a flaming rock screamed forward from being fired by one of the ships, crashing with the main gate of the city and making it tremble violently, cracking the symbol on the gate's outer face, another bomb crashing down on an upper ring of the city, creating chaos of the icy tribe's city.
"Aang, hang on!" She hopped onto the bison's neck with him, baffling the boy. She scowled stubbornly as he made to protest her being present, "They might be my people, but I'm not going to sit by and watch them destroy this great tribe." She added firmly, the fire that swelled in the pit of her gut sparkling brilliantly in her face, her amber eyes.
The airbender could only nod curtly and then they were flying off into the fray.
God help me.
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"Ow…" She muttered as she tightened the bandage on her left wrist, sighing and slumping against the wall. "Sixteen armada ships and they still wouldn't die… Is slaying a great nation really that dire to Zhao?" She wondered quietly.
She'd gone to the armory to see if they had spare bandages (she'd grazed her left wrist by narrowly dodging a fireball from one soldier before she'd sent him sailing overboard with a sharp bout of fire) and was now resting against the corridor wall just to catch her breath and wonder in what direction her loyalty was really going.
An angered cry sounded from somewhere down the hall, making her slightly jump, before she straightened and hurried to the source, skidding to a halt short of the weapons room to see two of the soldiers rolling around on the floor locked in a fight.
Upon closer inspection she recognized the one with the shorter ponytail; she'd recognize that lunk-head anywhere…
"Sokka, what're you doing!?" Mariko demanded as she tried to pull them apart only to be forced back when the second boy swung an arm out to deliver a punch to her friend's ribs.
"Both of you, enough!" The Chief ordered sharply as he stepped in and forced the two away from each other, the taller boy on one side and Sokka on the other. "Sokka, you're off the mission!" He added, shooing the spectators away.
Sokka balked slightly, blinking when he felt her hand grab his arm gently from the side, meeting his friend's amber eyes.
"All right, men, follow my lead! Everybody listen to what I say, and we'll take out this Admiral Cho in no time!" The taller boy announced smugly as he walked away with his comrades.
Mariko glared slightly after him, patting her friend's arm. "His name is Admiral Zhao, dumbass." She called bitingly to the taller boy.
He paused to look at the girl, taking in her slim figure and narrowed amber eyes, the mane of wild hair framing her face nicely; he smirked smoothly. "Is that right? Why're you hanging with this peasant when you could come watch me plan a strategy to take down that firebender?" He drawled.
She ignored the growled oath from her friend, giving him one of her deadly glares. "Egotistical dumbasses like you make me want to puke; piss off, Water Tribe." She spat at his feet, her eyes venomous.
The boy smirked again before leaving them be.
Mariko snorted, crossing her arms. "I can see why you were trying to kill him." She mused grimly.
"You didn't have to step in; I coulda handled it." Sokka declared next to her.
"I'll take that as a 'you're welcome'. That idiot's not worth the struggle anyway; he'll probably be killed on sight. Fire Nation soldiers don't take kindly to reckless fools who have their heads up their asses." Mariko pointed out, looking up at him.
Sokka quieted reluctantly, deeming her words correct, even though he felt bitter about the state of things. "Yeah, true. What were you doing here anyway? I thought you were with Katara." He wondered.
Mariko showed her bandaged wrist. "I couldn't find bandages so I came to the armory to see if you guys had any; Aang and I took down at least thirty ships out there. The idiots won't die though, they kept coming." She lowered her wrist, shrugging. "Even though it's my own people I'm fighting against, I can't stand to see them destroy the Water Tribe. It's not right." She mused quietly.
Nodding a little, his admiration for her expanded at seeing the apparent evidence that she meant what she said, even if it meant going against her own nation; he smiled slightly. "You both did what you could, though, right?" Sokka mused.
Smiling back, she nodded as well and then sighed. "Yeah." Though I'm pretty sure I signed my own death warrant by taking down sixteen Fire Nation ships for the sake of the Northern Water Tribe.
Dawn had come, bringing with it the full brunt of the assault.
Despite this she knew something was wrong, she felt it in the depths of her gut, and it was something that chilled her bones.
"Katara!" She hopped off the bison's back to greet her friend, seeing worry and anxiety color her face pale; her eyes sharpened slightly. "Where is he?" She asked.
"I-I don't know where he took him… Mariko, it was my fault! I…" She quieted when the older girl placed a hand on her shoulder, blue meeting amber.
She had a hard expression on her face, exhaling. "We'll find him. Yue, is there anything up there past the cliff-face?" She looked to the princess, amber eyes neutral.
Yue blinked once at the suddenness of her question before shaking her head. "No, there's only wasteland; it's uninhabitable terrain." She replied.
"That's perfect." Mariko smirked humorlessly, "I'm going to get a head-start, if you don't mind." She stepped away to hurry in the direction of the cliff-face.
"Mariko, wait!" Sokka barked, but his words fell on deaf ears as the firebender's stance shifted and she took off on flame-fueled rockets beneath her feet, jetting skyward to fly over the cliff-face and land on the high ledge.
She exhaled sharply and blew out a couple of fireballs before scowling determinedly and taking off into the howling winds of the blizzard.
It was with a bit of trepidation –she'd had to use the fire-rockets again to fly over a shattered part of the icy ground—that she made it further into the white wasteland, stopping to regain her breath and spout another fireball or two to make sure her breath of fire was still alive (which it was).
Peering past the howling wind and snow nipping at the exposed parts of her face, she caught sight of a small rise in the landscape, possible shelter from the storm; she beamed, inhaling and then taking off as fast as possible given the weather conditions.
Her dream she'd had of him dying in an explosion resurfaced briefly, but she fought the shiver and hoped beyond hope that he was here, that he was the one who'd taken Aang from the Spirit Oasis… He just had to be.
Once realizing the rise in the landscape was a small cave, she hurried the rest of the way, darting into the entrance and then doubling slightly to grip her knees, panting from having run so far.
A ball of fire narrowly missed her face when she straightened; sidestepping on habit, she looked to the one who'd thrown the fireball and widened her eyes in surprise.
Zuko's face was stony as he remained in a fighting stance; a few bruises and healing cuts marred his handsome face, one particular cut marking the top of the bridge of his nose.
He was alive, and he was here, he was actually here in the North Pole…
Mariko fought the prickling feeling of tears welling at seeing him still standing and stepping closer into the cave, pulling her hood down. "Zuko."
The stony face melted when she spoke his name, being replaced with a mixture of surprise and relief; he lowered his raised fists, some small part of him relieved to see she was here and a bigger part of him questioning how on earth she was here, that she was actually standing right infront of him with those brilliant amber eyes of hers that were teary… wait, was she crying?
She smiled warmly, relieved beyond belief that he was actually here, the relief overcoming the brief twinge of horror at realizing that her dream had been real after all… She broke the distance between them to throw her arms around the boy that was her childhood friend, the boy that was a banished prince… the boy that was her betrothed.
Almost teetering back, losing his balance, he regained it quickly and steadied them both, feeling her arms squeeze on his back and as he looked at her he could swear she shook slightly; was she really crying? Slightly awkwardly, he put his arms around her shoulders, noting that despite the coldness around them, she felt warm. He almost forgot the reason he'd come up to this frozen wasteland if not to feel surprise and just a hint of anger that she was here with him.
"God, you're an idiot." Mariko groaned, pulling away a little while still keeping her arms around him to give him a scolding look, "And you look terrible." She added on a quieter note, her jaw tightening slightly at giving his newly-acquired cuts and bruises another sweeping glance.
Zuko opened his mouth to rebut in a sardonic manner as he would've in a different time, but all that came was a slightly raspy chuckle, seeming to throw her for a loop; he looked away for a moment, sliding his eyes closed. "Like you're any smarter, coming out into this barren wasteland alone… Are you out of your mind? You could've frozen to death, Mariko!" His voice was a tad hoarse but the annoyed tone and serious scowl on his brow reminded her that he was a few months older than her and she could swear he was the slightest bit worried.
She would've smacked him on the chest at a younger age and different time, but she didn't; she was older, and she was more patient. So she shook her head a little and sighed. "So says the idiot prince who dragged the Avatar out here. Did you even think of a back-up plan if you got caught out here in this damn blizzard? You never think it through, Zuko; you've done this since we were little!" She stepped out of his grasp to regard him with a slightly disappointed look, her arms folding.
"I don't need a lecture! And besides, don't you think that I haven't thought of a plan yet? I have, Mariko! You haven't thought of a way out of here, have you?" He shot back, anger winning, settling on his brow that furrowed, mirroring her and crossing his arms.
"I…" She looked away then, her opened mouth closing shut, and he could swear her cheeks were turning pink. Whether from the rush of blood at finally letting her body come to a halt from all the movement she'd done previously, or from embarrassment, he wasn't sure. "I… Damn it, you're still a prat, no matter what happens." She inhaled and then exhaled steadily, her breath coming out in a soft fog. "We'll have to move from here at some point, hopefully soon, at least as soon as the blizzard dies down. We can't stay here forever." She declared evenly, taking on the responsibility of coming up with a plan.
Even when they were kids and got into trouble, Mariko was always the one with the level head; that's just how she was, for as long as he could remember. He had almost forgot how much he missed having her calm voice of reason there for him, especially at the lowest points in his life… He exhaled and nodded a little, shoving the nostalgia away. "Right." He now noted that she'd let her wild black hair grow, keeping it half-way up, preferably to keep her ears warm; his gold eyes seemed to soften.
"What're you staring at?" Mariko asked then, starting to feel awkward at being stared at; it usually made her feel just the slightest bit nervous. Instead of letting her nervousness show, she scowled pointedly and shifted her weight from one boot to the other, putting a fist on her hip.
Zuko blinked a couple of times before huffing and looking away, glancing at the still-unconscious airbender. "Nothing." He muttered, shuffling to sit down near the mouth of the cave.
She scowled slightly and then exhaled, giving up the option of starting an argument over something that was probably trivial, looking at the bound boy that was her friend and then going to join the prince, plopping down next to him.
He glanced at her in mild surprise before his face softened as he recalled how she would keep close to him when they were little, and it was more evident that she cared for him once his mother had left when he was nine.
Mariko was still his friend, even so much as to be considered his best friend, given he didn't have many friends growing up (his sister's friends didn't count, either). Of course time had matured her, made her taller and prettier and smarter than she had been in a more peaceful time. But she was still there beneath the surface.
Mariko was still Mariko… and for that, he was glad.
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She looked back at her for the hundredth time as they crossed over the wasteland and were getting closer to the city.
She caught her stare, looking down at the boy she'd knocked unconscious earlier in the snow now resting with his head on her knee, exhaling. "Like I said, I'll explain things once this is over. Please for the love of Tui and La, stop staring, Katara." She said with a slightly hard edge to her tired voice, amber eyes showing that her patience was beginning to wane.
Her brother looked at the girls, as did the princess; the younger girl made a face, opening her mouth to say something but for the exasperation in the firebender's pretty face she closed it and exhaled, looking to the distance. "Sorry." She mumbled.
She looked at the redness of the night sky and frowned, blinking when both Yue and Aang allowed a flicker of pain to show on their faces. "Yue, are you okay?" She asked quietly as Sokka asked the same of the princess.
"I feel faint." Yue answered quietly, to which Aang agreed. "The moon spirit is in trouble." Aang added.
The princess released her throbbing temples to lower her gaze, "I owe the moon spirit my life." At Sokka's confused tone in his question and Mariko's gesture for her to continue, she added, "When I was born, I was very sick and very weak. Most babies cry when they're born… but I was born as if I were asleep, my eyes closed. Our healers did everything they could, but they told my parents that I was going to die. My father pleaded with the spirits to save my life; that night, under the full moon, they brought me to the Oasis and placed me in the pond. My hair turned white, I opened my eyes and began to cry, and my parents knew I was going to live. That's why my mother named me Yue, for the moon." She said.
Mariko looked at the full moon and her brow furrowed as it clicked. "And if we don't get to the Oasis soon, we're all screwed. Appa, yip, yip!" She ordered, the anxiety starting to seep in and was quickly extinguished by her anger. "I have a bad feeling that Zhao has a lot to do with why the moon spirit is in danger." She added darkly.
They made it in time to catch the tail-end of a not-necessary monologue compliments of said admiral that was eloquently interrupted by a pounce from Momo.
"You forgot to mention 'Zhao the asshat'." The female firebender drawled, amber eyes trained on the admiral and the squirming brown bag he was holding, her brow tightened.
"Don't bother," Zhao bit out coldly once noticing the fighting stances the teenage quartet were posed in, lifting a threatening hand to blast fire at the bagged koi fish.
"Zhao, don't!" Aang declared, lifting his hands in defense, pretending the older girl near him didn't stifle an oath of discontent.
"It's my destiny, to destroy the moon and the Water Tribe." Zhao stated.
Aang's tone was placating, trying to reason, "Destroying the moon won't affect just the Water Tribe. It'll hurt everyone, including you. Without the moon, everything would fall out of balance. You have no idea what kind of chaos that would unleash on the world!" The fish squirmed in the bag again.
"He's right, Zhao." Mariko's eyes widened a little as she and the firebenders looked at the new voice that had entered the conversation.
"General Iroh. Why am I not surprised to discover your treachery?" Zhao drawled.
"I'm no traitor, Zhao. The Fire Nation needs the moon, too, everything depends on balance. Whatever you do to that spirit, I'll unleash it upon you tenfold: let it go, now!" Iroh commanded, the dark expression on his face reminding her just how and why he had earned the title Dragon of the West years before she was born.
Reluctant to lower his threat to the spirit due to being threatened, the admiral complied and lowered the bag slowly, releasing the fish into the pond; the red color of the sky disappeared to be replaced with its velvety blackness, the essence of normal once again.
Of course things never played out so easily as you'd think they would.
With a snarl, Zhao flicked his wrist and set the white koi aflame, embers dancing across the pond surface, before the world turned gray as the moon spirit was slain.
A flamethrower screamed at the firebenders; joining into the fray, a blur of gray twisted on her left heel and summoned a cartwheel of fire to take two of the benders down, swerving to the side as the general took down another three; she caught the sideburn-wearing admiral fleeing and growled under her breath, sprinting after him at top speed.
"Get back here! COWARD!" Mariko bellowed, shifting her stance and extending both fists at his retreating back once he'd made it into the open, sending a wide flamethrower screaming at his open back.
Zhao twisted around to block her attack with a flick of his right wrist, staring down the livid teenager's dangerous amber glare. "You stupid brat, what hopes do you have of coming out on top of fighting me!?" He snarled as he sent a vicious bout of fire screaming at the girl.
She deflected the flames by quickly twisting the sword she'd drawn from her back, embers dancing vainly before fading; she lowered the katana, amber eyes cold, before she bolted and slammed her weight onto him, the curved blade's sharp side clashing with his wrist guard, brown and amber clashing heatedly, before his rising left fist coated in flames jerked her attention away from staring him down, and she leaped back, landing nimbly on the balls of her feet, having dodged the flames narrowly.
Before he could retaliate, a sharp jet of flames screamed past his left ear from above, making both firebenders look to see Zuko standing on a low wall, his gaze stony.
"Zuko!" Mariko beamed.
Zhao's angered expression faltered in surprise, "You're alive?"
"You tried to have me killed!" Zuko snarled as he sent a couple of fireballs at him, forcing him to bounce back and retreat onto the ledge of the wall.
Mariko froze in sheathing her sword, looking at him in horror. "You what...?" The dream made sense now… it wasn't a dream, it was a vision!
"Yes I did. You're the Blue Spirit, an enemy of the Fire Nation! You freed the Avatar…"
"I had no choice!" A few more fireballs were thrown.
"You should've chosen to accept your failure: you're a disgrace! Then, at least… you could've lived!" He flew forward at the prince.
A hard boot heel clashed with his frontal lobe, sending him skidding back.
"Mariko…" He looked at her in surprise, quieting as he noticed her shoulders were trembling; his eyes sharpened.
"You…" The admiral growled as he shook his head, staggering into a straighter stance.
"H-how dare you… YOU BASTARD!" She snarled, bolting forward and unleashing several furious bouts of fire at him, her body twisting and swerving in a fluid blur of dark gray and orange and red, unrelenting as the horror and pain and anger mixed raced through her veins and kept her from backing down, pushing the admiral farther and farther away along the wall.
Zhao dug his heels into the icy ledge, panting slightly, arms raised to block his face from getting burned by her vicious attack, noticing she was slightly winded, her shoulders shaking in a mix of adrenaline and exhaustion.
"You pathetic leech! How dare you try to kill the crown prince, the rightful heir to the throne!? How dare you try to kill Zuko!" Mariko thundered loudly, her fists smoking and trembling at her sides.
She knew she couldn't blame this man for all that she had gone through, the pain and feeling of loss she'd withheld from her friends for the last few months, the separation from her best friend for three straight years, but this man was at least someone she could take it out on.
A narrow jet of fire whizzed past her right ear, sending her back a few steps, before another five or so bouts of flames screamed at her, forcing her to block and dodge, sending her on the defense; the breath left her lungs for a split second as she felt nothing under her right boot heel, scrambling onto the ledge quickly and barely putting up a sharp bout of fire before being knocked off by an angry flamethrower and sent tumbling.
"NO!" Zuko hurtled into Zhao angrily, orange and red becoming a blur as they battled, sending one vicious bout after another, becoming streaks of dark gray and pale gray highlighted by the color of the flames.
Mariko hopped onto the ledge from having used her fire-rockets to halt her fall, flopping onto the ice and panting slightly, shaking her head of the dizziness and straightening, noticing the two men had taken off, and judging by the blows, Zuko had Zhao on the run. She smiled a little, regaining her breath. "Thank you, Zu." She hurried after their trail, following the flashes of orange and red in the distance.
She was only a few buildings behind them when she noticed the color had returned; skidding to a halt, she looked up at the night sky and widened her eyes as she saw that the moon was there in all its bright and milky-white glory.
The moon… it was back!
"Aang." She started to turn and return to her friends but hesitated, looking down at the two firebenders locked in battle, and for what felt like the fourth time in her life, she was torn.
Stay with Zuko, or return to her friends?
Mariko deliberated one long second later before shaking her head, offering a sad smile to the prince; she turned to sprint back the way she'd come, the prickling tears breaking the dam that was her determination, slowly streaking down her pale cheeks.
"I beg of you, please let him be safe."
A/N: not much to put. sorry.