Avatar: The Fifth Element

20. Betrayal

Cautiously, Rumi set up a small camp far away from the village. She made a bed from some leaves and grass, and now was sat huddled up close to a fire. She crossed her fingers in hopes that the fire wouldn't give away her location, but knowing how powerful she was, everyone would still be shaken up from the blow. Yes, Kaito was convincing and vindictive, but Rumi didn't believe they'd come after her right away.

She had time.

As she was just starting to relax—not to the point of being tired,—Rumi heard a twig snap in the distance. Lacking the control to put out the fire with firebending, she jumped up and readied herself in a fighting position, knife close to her side.

It was dark by now, and just when the silhouette appeared, Rumi defensively rose her hands, creating a rock wall between the two. It must've hit the intruder, as she heard a loud thump on the ground.

"Rumi! I-I'm not here to hurt you!"

Zuko! Rumi felt her heart flutter with excitement when she knew it was him, but those happy feelings soon turned to dread. No, if he's seen with me, if he sides with me, people are going to want to hurt him too.

"Get away from me!" Rumi screamed when Zuko stepped into the light of the fire.

"W-what?" he was taken aback, but didn't stop moving closer to Rumi.

She stepped backwards with her hands raised defensively, "Go away, Zuko. I don't want to fight you, but I will."

"Why would you say that?! No!" Zuko shouted back, continuing to move forward.

Instinctively, Rumi kept stepping away from him while still looking at him, unaware of the tree she bumped her back into, stopping her dead in her tracks.

"You know I won't hurt you!" Zuko gripped onto Rumi's arm, pinning her to the tree. "I was so worried about you!"

A boulder dropped in Rumi's stomach when she heard the anger rising in Zuko's voice. She wouldn't admit it, but it unsettled her. "I'm not worried about you hurting me," she kept her voice steady as she forcefully shoved Zuko back. "Quite the opposite actually."

It wasn't her push, but rather Rumi's words that made Zuko fall to the ground. His legs went weak when he heard her say that, but he still persisted.

"Rumi... I don't care what you are! I just-I just care about you!"

Rumi took a deep breath, making sure her emotions were in check. It wasn't anger she was worried about, she just couldn't let herself feel bad, that would have to be for later.

She stared at Zuko, her eyes blank. He was still on the ground, head now against the dirty forest floor. He's crying, Rumi thought. I need to go...

But as she turned to run away, Zuko grasped onto her leg. When she turned back, his head still hung so that she couldn't see his face.

"Please don't leave me," although his voice had no anger in it, his hardening grip on her leg said otherwise. "Please! What happened to the past week in Ba Sing Se?! I care about you... I need you!" I love you...

Rumi winced, her whole body aching as she bent down, grabbed onto his hand, ripped it off her leg, and did what may be the most difficult thing in the world.

"Well, I don't care about you," as she said this, Zuko finally looked up at her, tears streaming down his cheeks. "Come on, Zuko. Did you really think I'd like you? Look at you, you're a mess." Rumi kneeled down and made direct eye contact with him, her eyes cold as ice, "And I definitely don't need you."

Before she could let Zuko say or do anything else, Rumi jerker herself up and took off running as fast as she could. She sent a surge of energy hurdling Zuko's way, to make sure he couldn't follow her. Only when she was far enough away did she let her tears start falling, but that didn't stop her from running.

Before her body gave out, she stopped and climbed a tall tree. It had lots of thick winding branches and leaves that could conceal her. Rumi had built her village home in a tree, so it brought her comfort to be in one again.

From her vantage point, Rumi could see the glow of the fire she lit before, and she wondered if Zuko was still there.

"Oh god, Zuko... I'm so, so sorry," Rumi cried, burying her face in her hands. What am I supposed to do? I'm all alone. People are gonna eventually come after me, I just wanted to live a happy life.

When Rumi opened her eyes again, the first place she looked was towards the fire, but it had gone out.

"That can't be good."

***

After Rumi left, Zuko sat on the ground, staring deeply into the fire, unblinking.

"How could I be such an idiot?! Of course she'd never be with me..."

Zuko was stuck at a crossroads. He wanted to keep chasing her, but she didn't want him. And even if he chose to follow her anyways, he couldn't. Her blow to him had knocked the wind out of his lungs, and he had fallen on the side he had injured when the Dai Lee attacked.

He had just made up his mind to rest there for the night, and find Aang and the others the next day, when he heard voices and a rustling in the distance.

Without warning, a wave of water crashed into him and immediately froze into ice, holding Zuko still. Another wave was thrown onto the fire, putting it out.

"Where are you hiding her?!" Kaito's voice came out of the darkness.

"I have no idea where she is! I haven't seen her at all!" Zuko lied, squirming in the ice, but the moon was full that night, and Kaito had the advantage.

"You're a horrible liar, I guess we're gonna do this the hard way."

Zuko writhed around, his fists heating up until he had lit a strong flame and bursted out of the ice. With the light of his fire, Zuko could now see two people standing behind Kaito; his sister, Siku, and his earthbender friend.

"That was a bad idea, Zuko, and you're already injured," Kaito had a devilish grin on his mouth, and with a quick hand signal, the other two lunged at Zuko.

-

A/N ~ oops, i just made zuko take an emotional beating. sorry,,
anyways, guess what.. i finished writing the whole thing! there's of course the prologue, then 29 chapters and an epilogue! i'm so happy to have completed writing it, and now all i gotta do is post everything!
i'm not gonna dump it all out though, i'll just post chapters twice a week, probably on Saturday's and Wednesday's for consistencies sake.
i hope y'all are enjoying this, and don't forget to vote/comment/share!!
—Blaise⚡️