{the dark spirits}
on certain nights hana caught zuko sneaking off the ship. he'd wear all black, his swords, and a blue mask.
he did this often, so often that hana began to get worried. so one night she stopped him.
she grabbed his hand and pulled him into a storage closet, "zuko, what are you doing?"
he said nothing for a moment. then he sighed and pulled off the mask, "doing what's in our best interest."
"our best interest is you staying alive," hana told him.
"whatever."
"i'll let you go tonight, but you have to tell me what you find," she let his arm go.
he put the mask back on and opened the door. he looked back her.
"please," she grabbed his arm again, "don't get killed."
he shook her hand off and ran as fast as he could through the halls. she sighed and went back to her room.
the next day told he told her nothing of what he found, instead she was called into the main master.
when she got there iroh and crewmen were playing pai sho. she turned to her left and saw the lieutenant and zuko hovering over a map.
"what's wrong?" she asked.
zuko turned his head to her, "nothing has happened. we are trying to figure out where the avatar is going."
"ah," she nodded her head. zuko turned his attention back to the lieutenant.
"we haven't been able to pick up the avatar's trail since the storm," the lieutenant stated, to which it was very clear. "but, if we continue heading northeast-"
hana's eyes went wide when she saw the larger fire nation ship next to them. she looked at zuko and gave him a face.
"what do they want?" zuko asked.
"perhaps a sporting game of pai sho!" iroh said hopefully.
"i fear that's not what it is," she feared that zuko had been caught the night before.
a make-shift pass was made down to their ship and several men came down. they let themselves into the room that zuko, hana, iroh, the lieutenant, and the crewmen were in.
the soldier, who was clearly a superior to the two behind him, unraveled the scroll.
"WANTED" was plastered on it along with aang's face.
"the hunt for the avatar has been given prime importance," he lowered the scroll. "all information regarding the avatar must be reported directly to admiral zhao."
"zhao has been promoted? well, good for him!" he iroh moved a pai sho piece and one of the crewmen smacked their face.
they get it.
"i've got nothing to report to zhao. now let us pass," zuko told him.
"yeah, we have got nothing as of right now. you got any ideas?" she sarcastically asked one of zhao's men.
"admiral zhao is not allowing ships in or out of this area."
"zhao can go kick the bucket," she snarled.
"off my ship!" zuko snapped.
they turned and left.
"excellent!" iroh leaned forward and gathered the chips on the table. "i take the pot, but you're all improving. i'm certain you will win if we play again."
that's a lie. do not listen to him.
zuko looked out to the sea. hana walked up next to him, "don't worry. we'll get out of this. we always do."
he let out a sigh, "i'm going to train."
"alright."
hana let him go. she figured if he didn't let out any of his anger things would get worse. she wasn't looking for any type of escalation between zhao and them. mostly because she didn't want to see his pedophilic face.
what a revolting man.
she sat with iroh as they let zuko train. an hour went by before she decided to mention it.
"we should bug him. inspire him or something like that," she mumbled as she moved a pai sho piece.
iroh looked up at her, "i did not think you would want that."
"i feel bad about what happened. besides, i don't even want to entertain the idea of zhao capturing aang because that," she looked up at iroh, "that would be a shit show."
iroh laughed at the girl, "i suppose you are right." he stood up and extended his hand to the girl. she grabbed it and got up.
hana dusted herself off and walked to the door and opened it for iroh.
"thank you," he walked down the stairs and she followed.
they watched as zuko kicked and punched with flames coming out of his hands.
"is everything okay? it's been almost an hour and you haven't given the men an order," iroh asked.
zuko stopped and turned his head and looked at them, "i don't care what they do."
"that's not true zuko, and you know it, " hana rolled her eyes.
"don't give up hope yet. you can still find the avatar before zhao," he told zuko.
zuko turned towards them. he looked scared. she saw zuko scared of dying, but this, this was him about to lose everything he loved, and that hurts worse than dying.
hana hated everything he loved because the only thing he truly loved was his honor and his honor came with the throne and his family.
to be fair, who could blame her? her father and brother were gone at war, probably dead. her mother and sister were either dead or in ba sing se. she hoped they were in ba sing se but there was a slim chance of that.
"how? with zhao's resources it's a matter of time before he captures the avatar," he turned back to face the sea. "my honor, my throne, my country, i'm about to lose it all."
called it.
"i'm sure you can think of something. you are a smart man," iroh said.
"iroh is right. there's always more," she walked up to him and smiled deviously.
he raised an eyebrow in interest.
iroh had decided to take this as his cue to leave, "i will leave you geniuses to figure this one out."
zuko waited to hear his uncle's footsteps leave before he spoke to hana. "what do you mean?" he asked her.
"how have you been getting off and on the ship?" she asked.
he realized what she was about to propose, "no! no! no! that's the worst idea!"
"oh please! it is not! you've had worse!" she argued.
he sighed, "do you think this is the only way?"
"listen, i don't have another idea. besides, you know where his base is, no?" she asked.
"how'd you know that?" he asked.
she laughed, "because you didn't seem surprised when you heard he was promoted. i'm also not an idiot."
he huffed, "fine. you win."
"i always do, dear," she clicked her tongue. "let's go," she grabbed his arm.
she dragged him to his own room and pushed him towards the door, wanting him to open it.
"so you will just drag me to my room and then throw me at the door to open it?" he grumbled.
"yep."
he opened the door and walked in. he waved his arm letting her know she was allowed in.
"thank you," she fake curtsied.
she studied the masks on his walls for a few moments before zuko said something.
"get out. i've got to change."
"wait," she stopped him. "let me help. let me come with."
"no. that's an even worse idea."
she narrowed her eyes at him, "let me help. come on. i'm valuable now. i can bend metal."
"you say that as if you weren't valuable before," he scoffed.
she shrugged her shoulders.
zuko caved, "fine." he grabbed a white mask with black around the eyes. "just don't break it, please."
"do you have knives?" she asked.
"you are so needy," he walked over to a chest. "here," he handed her several knives.
she held several and one in another. the one knife began to levitate and went flying into his wooden table.
"woah," she breathed. "i didn't think that would work."
"yeah," he looked wide-eyed at her.
"alright, i'm going to go get changed," she stuttered and practically ran out of his room.
she stumbled her way into her room and threw everything on her bed. she quickly stripped herself and put on black clothes.
she braided her hair and wrapped it up. she didn't want her hair to get in the way or revealing who she was.
she heard a knock at the door. she opened the door a little bit, it was only zuko. she let him into her room.
"you can sit," she told gestured to her bed.
he studied it for a minute, probably deciding if it was dirty, but ultimately sat down.
"it's uncomfortable," he said with no sort of tone.
she turned to him, "yeah, everyone else gets the short end of the stick, prince zuko," she snorted as she strapped the knives to herself.
"i'm sure that isn't true-"
"it is," she cut him off. "i'm done. you don't have to sit on my uncomfortable bed anymore," she joked.
zuko stood up and grabbed her mask off the bed. he handed it to her and started to walk out of the room.
she followed him all the way to the back of the ship. it was a small boat. it was like the one they used for roku's temple. they hopped into it.
they were in it for a few hours. they even talked, not much, but they still did it.
when they arrived at land they pulled the boat up and hid it. if anyone found it there would be trouble.
zuko told her there was a delivery wagon that was always delivering things to zhao.
they walked for a while into the forest for a while before they saw a dirt path leading to what hana thought was a castle.
"is that a fuckin' castle?" she whispered to zuko.
"shut up, hana," he placed his hand in front of her face.
big mistake.
she lifted her mask a little and bit his hand. zuko couldn't scream at her but she could feel the glare he was giving her. it made her smile a little bit.
"here," zuko pointed to a wagon.
he jumped out and got underneath it, holding onto it. hana followed his moves, careful not to make any noises.
they stayed like this for a few moments until they came to a stop.
"all clear!" someone says.
hana turned her head to zuko, scared they were going to get caught.
she looked behind them and saw a pair of legs looking through the back. she looked back at her side and saw another pair of legs.
zuko tapped her and then pulled himself up, she assumed into the wagon. she decided this was her only chance. she did exactly as zuko did and fell into the wagon right next to him.
"all clear. go on in."
the wagon starts to pick up speed again and when zuko notices the path is clear he jumps out.
"shit. shit. shit. i don't wanna do this," she panicked before throwing herself out of the wagon. "ouch."
"sh," zuko shushed her and dragged her into a spot where no one was.
"what the fuck were you thinking? you just threw yourself out of a moving wagon!" she whisper yelled.
"be quiet and follow me," he ignored her.
zuko made moves dodging any light and she swiftly followed him.
as they ran by guards they heard zhao making a speech about the avatar and how great the fire nation was and that they had the best element.
it was the so-called best element. that was bullshit. no element is greater than any other.
she followed zuko to a wall. he threw a rope over it and quickly climbed it. she did the same.
they ran into a water drain. she decided it was best to just follow zuko's lead and shut up. the faster they got out, the safer they were.
zuko slid through metal bars and she just opened them to fit her.
he looked at her dumbfounded.
"what? i'm sorry i actually thought about it?" she shrugged her shoulders.
he grabbed a bucket of water. they continued down a long path until she saw an air vent.
he carefully opened it, trying to mot make a sound. he set it down next to him and crawled through. she passed the water through and then she crawled through.
the two of them heard frogs croaking. they went towards the noise and saw a soldier.
she immediately took him out. hana chained the man to the ceiling. then, zuko threw his helmet down the hall trying to draw more towards them.
another came in a defensive position. he couldn't do a thing before zuko knocked him out with his bending.
hana quickly chained this one up too.
they heard more footsteps and decided that the ceiling would be a good spot to hide. they perched themselves in a corner.
two soldiers came down the hallway and saw their fellow soldier chained to the ceiling.
zuko jumped down and used an extra chain and fought one.
hana took on the other quickly blocking the man's punches and pulled out one of her knives and pinned him to the ground.
her knife was close to his neck. she didn't say a thing, just stared. she was waiting for zuko to finish up and give her a chain.
"i've got him," zuko said quietly.
"give me a chain."
zuko passed her a chain. she quickly chained him up to the guy he had just dealt with.
they ran down the hallway the soldiers came from. they saw another reach for a horn but before he could, zuko pulled out a knife and threw it, knocking the horn away from him.
the soldier had nothing he could do other than to use fire. he sent a blast of flames towards the two of them.
zuko threw the water and used the bucket to sweep the soldier from beneath his feet.
she tied the soldier's arms to his legs. she watched zuko open the door. she pushed the man off to the side and followed him in.
she closed the door behind her. zuko took out his swords. aang began to scream but stopped after zuko cut him free.
"who are you? what's going on? are you here to rescue me?" aang asked several questions.
zuko didn't respond he just opened the door and motioned for aang to follow.
"i'll take that as a yes," aang followed zuko and she walked behind aang.
aang decided to follow the croaking of the frogs. she got zuko's attention and quickly went after him.
"my frogs! come back! and stop thawing out!" zuko picked him up by his collar. "wait! my friends need to suck on those frogs!"
they found where they originally came from. aang went into the vent first, then hana, and zuko followed them. he closed the vent, leaving no evidence of their existence.
they stayed against the wall trying not to get caught. they stayed there until the coast was clear. zuko poked his head up and looked around.
zuko dropped back down and pointed up. he jumped up and pulled himself up and out of the drain. she and aang followed him to where they originally entered the room.
aang began to climb the rope, as hana got on a horn blared.
oh shit.
"there! on the wall!" a guard pointed to the three of them.
another cut the rope they were climbing. they went flying down to the ground, luckily aang used his bending to catch them, and they landed on their feet.
zuko pulled his swords out, aang was in a fighting stance, and hana had her knives ready.
zuko pointed to an open gate and ran towards it.
"the avatar has escaped! close all the gates immediately!" zhao yelled.
zuko and hana ran next to each other and aang was behind them.
aang passed the two of them, "stay close to me!"
he jumped and used his bending and used it to push the soldiers to the side.
they kept running as fast as they can but zuko was stopped by soldiers, trying to fight them off. hana tried helping, but even she couldn't, she only had her knives. she didn't want to use her bending because the moment they realized it was her and zuko they'd be screwed.
she watched as aang ran. when he realized they weren't with him he stopped and looked back.
a soldier made a move to attack him. he used his bending to shove him off. he broke the spear the soldier was holding.
zuko and her were surrounded by soldiers. she and him stood back-to-back, "what's next?" she whispered.
"don't know," he continued trying to fight.
aang swept the men around the two of them away. he launched zuko and hana into the air.
it took everything in her not to scream.
who the fuck just randomly launches someone into the air? let alone someone who just saved you.
they landed on the top of a wall. they were instantly surrounded by soldiers.
aang grabbed zuko with his legs. she looked at zuko. he reached his leg out. she grabbed onto his legs.
she knew it probably hurt but it was their only chance of them all getting away successfully.
aang was struggling to keep the three of them in the air. it was only made worse by zuko and hana having to ward off spears.
zuko was struck by one and hana couldn't keep up. the fell onto another wall.
damn that hurt.
she got back on her feet and watched as more soldiers ran to attack them.
aang and on soldier ran towards the broken spear he had been using. the soldier knocked it off the side and started to make several moves trying to knock aang down.
instead of aang being knocked down the soldier was. zuko tackled him and threw him off the wall.
he grabbed two swords and began fighting the others with them. hana joined him and they knocked out several soldiers.
they looked back at aang who had taken out double the soldier they had. they looked down the other side of the wall and saw more of zhao's men climbing up.
zuko began taking out men with his words and hana used her knives to scrape or stab them, whatever works.
aang used a single blast of air and it took out a whole ladder of people.
she turned to aang who had grabbed the ladder, "grab it!"
she did as he said and pulled it up.
aang jumped onto the ladder and screamed, "jump on my back!"
the kid has got guts.
zuko jumped on aang first, then hana jumped onto zuko. they were stacked together.
the ladder began to fall and aang put another down moved his body onto it carrying them.
"hand me the next one," hana passed zuko the ladder she had been carrying. he then passed it to aang.
aang moved his body onto the next one. they began to fall but a soldier lit fire to the ladder making aang have to jump off.
they hit the side of a building and aang tried to hold on but couldn't. then zuko tried to hold the three of them up. he also failed.
it was up to hana.
she tightened her legs on zuko and held onto the side. the wall began to mold around her hands, keeping her in place for a few moments to figure out their next move.
"are you okay?" she whispered to zuko.
he only grunted in response.
"i'm not going to be able to hold on for long. i can soften the landing with bending but that's about it," she told him.
"do it."
she let her hand go. she bent the earth below her making it an easier landing on everyone.
they fell and aang groaned. hana and zuko quickly got up to guard aang.
blasts of fire were sent their way and aang turned them away from it and took the flames.
"hold your fire!" a familiar voice said. "the avatar must be captured alive!"
him. again.
zuko quickly crossed his swords in-front of aang's throat and she pointed her knives at him.
the stood there for a moment. they were waiting for zhao to let them go.
"open the gate," zhao gritted his teeth.
"admiral, what are you doing?" one soldier asked.
"let them out, now," he commanded.
the gate opens. the three of them back out, not turning their backs. they continued like this for a few minutes until an arrow hit zuko in his head.
aang looked at zuko on the ground but hana couldn't. she couldn't bare looking at him.
instead, she shot a piece of earth into the air. she wanted to block any more arrows coming their way.
she turned to zuko and aang. zuko's mask was removed and aang looked terrified.
"aang, we've gotta go," she looked at him.
"why?" he asked. "why did you guys do this?"
she began to collect zuko's items, "because if zhao got to you there was no saving you. at all." she shoved his things into aang's arms and picked up zuko. "into the forest."
aang took off and she followed. they ran for a while before they found a clearing deep enough in the woods.
she set zuko down and aang put zuko's items next to her. she pulled off her masks and set it next to her.
the young boy perched himself on a tree next to zuko.
hana sighed as she looked at zuko, "i am sorry that this is how things are. i wish i could change it. i do."
"then why don't you? come with my friends!" he said.
she smiled at him, "i cannot betray zuko," she paused. "and the moment i betray him is the moment i give up the hope that my family is alive. i can't lose that because sometimes that's the only reason i fight to be here any longer."
tears slipped through his eyes, "i'm sorry."
"don't be. you're doing everything you can to take on the role of the avatar at such a young age," she said. "i know that one day you will free the world of this stupid war. when that day comes i will be there, or there in spirit, and i will be smiling."
aang nodded his head.
the two sat there for a couple of minutes. zuko began to wake up. he looked at aang first and saw hana on the other side.
aang began to speak to him, "you know what the worst part about being born over a hundred years ago is? i miss all the friends i used to hang out with. before the war started," aang's head hung low. "i used to always my friend kuzon. the two of us, we'd get in and out of so much trouble together. he was one of the best friends i ever had, and he was from the fire nation, just like you."
she remembered her grandmother telling her stories of her mother, who was born before the war. she told them that the fire nation, air nation, earth nation, and water nation kids used to play together, in harmony. that's how it was supposed to be.
"if we knew each other back then, do you think we could have been friends too?" aang asked him.
zuko launched fire at him. aang jumped out of the way and jumped from branch to branch.
they would be.
lexi speaks;
um this is a late post.... anyways its like 4000 words.... what a mess... its kinda ass but yk whatever.
anywho, heres my friends trying to get the masks that hana wears named "trey"
(this is the mask)
LMFAOOOO HERES EMILY'S @ emilykujo