Dark Puck

Fool for Love
Dark Puck

2

 
it’s not the end that i fear
~ with each breath ~

The sound of tearing metal echoed around the compound.  Startled, Mai and Ty Lee turned in time to see the Dai Li agent’s impaled body slam into the ceiling.  It hung there limply, pinned by the metal spike that had turned a man into a corpse.

And the earthbender boy was getting to his feet, coughing, a chain tripled over and clenched in his fist.  Still hacking, he stumbled towards them.  “Go!” he called hoarsely, in between coughs and gasps for breath.  Instead, Mai flung out one arm, throwing senbon past him to thud into the throat of the man coming up behind him.  Ty Lee bounded down the hall and threw one of his arms around her shoulders, supporting him with her deceptively strong body.

“Quickly,” said Mai.  “More will be coming.  Can you run?”

The young man nodded, rubbing his neck and coughing a bit more.  “Y-yeah.  I’ll keep up.”  He slipped out of Ty Lee’s hold and ran on his own.  “We have to be fast.  I don’t think I can fight them all on even ground.”

Mai nodded.  “And I’m running low on weaponry.  Ty Lee?”

“As long as they don’t sink me, I’ll be fine,” the younger girl reported.

“I’ll keep you on solid ground,” promised the boy.

Together, the three of them bolted from the metal compound.  After a few miles, all three of them had to stop, as they were exhausted and the boy could barely breathe.  “Up,” he gasped.  “The trees—”

Ty Lee looked up, nodded, and then grabbed the chain out of the boy’s hand.  Using a pair of trees as her base, she bounced from one to the other until she was far above the ground.  Once she was firmly settled, she lowered the chain down so Mai and the earthbender could climb up.  The entire operation took barely seven minutes, then to be careful they moved higher still, until the ground was hidden from sight.  The boy promptly moved as close to the trunk as possible and wrapped his arms around it.  His coughing had mostly stopped.

Mai turned to him.  “It’s later.”

The boy stared at her for a moment, then the light dawned on him.  “Oh!  Right,” he said,  his voice still raspy.  “Um.  Prince Zuko told us what happened at the prison.”

“You know Zuzu?” Ty Lee asked, looking surprised.

“Not well,” he admitted.  “He only recently joined us.”

Mai’s eyes narrowed.  “You’re with the Avatar.”

“Was with,” the boy corrected.  “I can’t go back.”

“Why not?” Ty Lee asked him.  “’Cause you saved us?”

He shook his head.  “No.  Physically can not.  Have no way to go back.”

“So Zuko told you,” Mai said.  “So what?  You have no obligation to us.”

To her surprise, the boy met her eyes squarely.  “I saved you because you saved him,” he said quietly.  “I know what it’s like to do something… dangerous for love.”

Mai stared at him.  “You are a romantic fool,” she informed him at last.

“I know,” he replied quietly.  “But at least I’m a useful one.”

He had a point there.

“You could have been killed!” Ty Lee exclaimed, earning shushings from the other two.

“That possibility isn’t entirely new to me,” he said dryly, rubbing his neck lightly.  “I accepted that possibility months ago, far before the invasion plans were made.”

“Do you have a name, then, mystery boy?” Mai asked him.

“Haru.  My name is Haru.”

Mai snorted.  “Spring.  Of course it is.”

“Would you prefer Lee?  I could go by Lee.”

Ty Lee giggled quietly at that.  “I think Haru’s a pretty name.”  She shot the boy a coy glance, and Mai rolled her eyes.

“Could you wait until we’re not in mortal peril to flirt?”

*           *           *

Dawn.

All three teenagers were exhausted, having remained awake the entire night lest they fall from the tree.  The Dai Li had been by more than once, but fortunately had not been able to find them.  Now that Haru was mostly recovered, they deemed it safe to climb to the ground and continue on.  They walked until noon, and then the boy turned to the two noblewomen.  “And here is where we must part, ladies,” he said, offering them a bow.

Ty Lee frowned.  “Part?  You’re leaving?  But I thought…”

“I have other business,” he explained.  “And I know you two can take care of yourselves.”

“So, that’s it, then?” Mai asked.  “Save us and then leave us?  Some rescuer.”

Haru sighed.  “You do remember the war?  We’re not on the same side.  I’m going back home, and you two can just… well, do what you want, I guess.”

“How stupid are you?” Mai wanted to know.  “The Dai Li will be watching the ports.  That one saw your face — and he isn’t the one you killed.”  The boy flinched.  “They’ll be looking for you, and they’ll be looking for us.  Like it or not, you’re stuck with us.”

“I have other things to do,” Haru insisted.  “You’ll be fine.”  He turned to go.

Mai glanced at Ty Lee, then jerked her head towards the bender.

A flash of pink, a blurring of hands, and Haru yelped and toppled forward, no longer able to move.

Mai allowed herself a small smile and moved forward, squatting beside the fallen earthbender and turning him over onto his back.  “I think you missed what I said,” she told him.  “They will be watching the ports.  They will be expecting us to split up.  Ty Lee,” she said then, taking a moment to address her friend, “keep him still.”

Grinning, the acrobat plopped down gently onto Haru’s stomach.  “What the hell are you doing!?” he sputtered as Mai drew the knife from his belt and moved around to his head.

“Making you unrecognisable,” she said coolly.  “Now hold still unless you want me to cut you.”

Green eyes glared darkly at her, but the earthbender held perfectly still as his blade pressed against his chin and scraped gently upwards.  When Mai was done, she examined his now clean-shaven face closely and nodded.  “I thought so.  Ty Lee?”

The younger girl leaned forward, resting her elbows on his chest so she could get a good look.  “Oooh.  You’re right.”

“Stay with him,” instructed Mai.  “And keep him here.  I’m going back to that house we passed.”

“Okay!”

Mai made the trip quickly, knowing the three of them needed new clothes to help avoid being caught.  She had noticed that it was apparently wash day, and was also good at estimating sizes and a quick browser, so in under five minutes she had made her selections of clothing and begun her return trip to the other two.  When she returned, Haru had regained mobility, but Ty Lee was sitting on his chest now and he seemed reluctant to sit up and send her tumbling.

“Catch,” Mai said, tossing one of the bundles at her friend.  Ty Lee happily rolled over and caught it, looking it over. 

“Oooh, these are pretty.”

“Just put them on,” Mai said as Haru sat up.  He opened his mouth, and got a bundle of clothing to the face.  “You too.  Or I’ll have Ty Lee disable you again.”

He glared daggers at her and went to do as she said — then came right back out again.

“You have got to be kidding me.”

Mai’s small smile was malicious.  “I can guarantee this is something the Dai Li will not expect.”

“No.  No way.  Absolutely not!”

*           *           *

Seung brightened considerably when three lovely young ladies approached the ticket counter.  “May I help you?” he said eagerly.  All three of them were pretty little things — well, except for the tall one in the back who seemed to be sulking.

The littlest of them gave him a brilliant grin and toyed with a lock of brown hair.  “My sister, cousin, and I are looking for passage to Ember Island,” she told him, grey eyes sparkling.  “May we have three tickets, please?”

“It would be an honour to serve such charming ladies,” Seung replied, turning to get the tickets and thus missing the simultaneous eye-rolling of the other two.  The transaction was made, the littlest one winked saucily at him, and then the ladies walked away.  He was so busy watching their retreat that he didn’t hear a word of what they said after.

“This is humiliating.”

“But you look so pretty!”

“I am not pretty!”

“Well, you’re not exactly a paragon of masculinity.”

“You take that back!”

“No.  And don’t forget your new name.”

“I still say we should have called him Aika.”

“There is not enough ‘no’ in the world.”

“Either shut up or pitch your voice higher.  We’re dead if we’re caught.”