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chapter eight
"his name is Chung, he's a wealthy earthbender who lives right outside of town. big house, can't miss it. he uses his bending to threaten people into working at his coal factory. he might use it on you, but remember-"
"-don't use my bending unless necessary, i got it" Manami rolls her eyes. Folami set some 'ground rules' for the missions she would go on, and the most important one, don't use dual bending.
Folami crossed his arms over his chest, "you don't seem to be taking this seriously"
"you killed my family exactly a week ago. i'm so sorry i'm not as enthusiastic about this as you want me to be" she snaps at the man, "lets just get this over with"
Folami hands her a set of daggers and a leg wrap, "use the wrap to hide these, we don't want people seeing you carry daggers in broad daylight"
"yeah, yeah. whatever" Manami put the wrap over her thigh underneath her skirt and set the daggers in its holders. she then walked out the door and towards Chung's mansion.
the mansion was about a 10 minutes walk from the Sato house, so it took no time for her to find Chung, best him in hand-to-hand combat, and take his bending away using her energybending, a skill Xuan Yige gave her to complete these missions. back when she and Ty Lee were friends, Manami learned her chi blocking strategy. she used it on Chung so that he couldn't earthbend at her while he fought him.
Chung was wide eyed as he tried to earthbending, but failed, "what are you?" he asked shakily.
Manamil fixed the hood upon her head, making sure her face was still covered, "someone you don't want to mess with"
Manami threw up her breakfast just as she reached town. she suddenly felt drained, and didn't know if it was because of the person she had now become or something else. but instead of finding out, she cleaned herself up and continued on the walk back to the Sato house. the nausea hit her heavy as she walked through the door to the house. her face was pale, she could barely walk, and she felt as if she'd be sick again for another few hours.
Shan walked into the main room with a smile but frowned as he saw the state Manami was in, "are you okay, Nami?" he asks.
before she could respond, she collapsed into the ground, but Shan caught her before she hurt herself anymore, "we need to get you to a healer!"
Manami shook her head, "no, just take me to bed" she says.Shan obliges and calls for his father.
"it's probably nothing, but if she's not better by tomorrow, then we'll call a healer" Folami says as Shan lays Manami down on her bed.
"what do you mean nothing? she looks like she's about to die!" Shan panicked.
Manami placed her hand on Shan's. she could feel him shaking in worry, "your father is right, I probably just ate some bad fruit. I'll be okay, Shan," she could tell he was worried about her, and felt guilty for everything he and his father did to her.
Shan looked down at her and intertwined their fingers, "okay..." he sighed, "but I'm going to be here for you the entire week. I'll stay by your side, bring you food, read you books, the whole thing," he chuckled as he sat down on the bed, "you'll be sick of me by tomorrow probably, but I promise, I won't let anything bad happen to you"
++++++++++++
Manami had a feeling that this wasn't an illness from eating rotten fruit. the fruit she ate was bought by herself the day before, and picked from the crops only a couple hours before that. she had a deep feeling that she knew exactly what was wrong, but she didn't want it to be true. not with this life she was currently living. she wanted this under different circumstances, she wanted to go back to the life she had only a week before. all she wanted was to be happy, but she knew she never could as long as she was under the same roof as Folami.
currently, Shan sat slouched in the rusted wooden chair beside Manami's bed. light snores escaped his lips every couple seconds as his head bobbed up and down with each breath he took. every time Manami looked at him, she saw his father and what he did. she saw that spine chilling smirk on his face as he burnt down her home with her family inside, the way his eyes sparkled in amazement and victory as she turned into her dark form. she saw every bad thing his father did to ruin her life. but that wasn't what made her want to look away, it was the fact that Shan knew. he was apart of the whole plan, and he just stood by as his father destroyed everything that she loved. she had spent three and a half years loving Shan and seeing a future with him, but now all she saw was a coward who would rather watch the world crumble than stand up for what's right.
Manami wanted to believe that he was good, she wanted to think that Shan wasn't like his father, but this other feeling in her gut told her that he was just like him. it made her believe that Shan did have the power to do horrible things for what he thinks is right, and she didn't want to be around for the day that happened.
a/n:this is just a short filler chapter/ transition into the next part of Yanmei/Manmai's journey alone!!
