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New Fic!
Title: Head Games
Author: Dark Puck
Fandom: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Pairing/character: Yui (OC), Xin Wan (OC)
Rating: PG
Warnings: Mindbending of a child, creeptastic
Notes: Xin Wan belongs to Bex and is used with her permission and assistance.
Doll
Curiosity kills
What you don't know won't burn you
What you don't know won't make its mark
Yui has never seen locks as guardians of forbidden places, but rather as challenges with prizes beyond. She has a gift to make any lock open before her, something she jokingly calls lockbending. That gift has saved both her and her brothers several times in the journey from New Sozin to Ba Sing Se: Opening the way to medical supplies when Kouji cried out in fever, freeing Ichiro from an Earth prison and a Fire prison, getting food and clothing when the winter was at its coldest and Ichiro couldn't leave Kouji, and helping to get them to the Impenetrable City.
Now it is spring, and Kouji is no longer in danger, though the ugly burn on his chest will never go away, and Ba Sing Se is full of challenges for a bored little girl. She keeps her lashes lowered to hide her Fire eyes, and travels from ring to ring with so much assurance that nobody seems to notice she shouldn't be where she is.
Today she is wandering the Earth King's palace, flitting from room to room, being mistaken for a servant's daughter and sent on errands that entertain her. To her disappointment, she doesn't manage to see the Earth King, but perhaps on another day. Her wanderings take her deeper into the bowels of the palace, until she starts coming across locked doors. Pleased, she follows them a little deeper, until she finds one that she likes and settles in to work on the lock.
This one takes longer than most, which makes her even happier - all too often the locks are simple things, more decoration than functional for what good is a lock in a palace of earthbenders? However, Yui is a lockbender and therefore this lock gives way to her after a few minutes of fiddling. When she opens the door, she realises why this room has such a good lock - it is reinforced by metal.
Curious.
Yui slips inside to explore in the dim light spilling from the hallway, and is confused. The room is empty but for a lamp, some chairs, and a table. All in all, a room that must have fallen to disuse... but why protect such a room against earthbenders and those without the key? Yui is confused and pads to the table and the chairs. All wood, all clean.
No dust.
It makes no sense.
Still, the wood is very fine, smooth and polished under Yui's hands. She smiles, then leans forward and sniffs. Katsura wood! Katsura doesn't grow in the Earth Kingdom, this must be an import - or a war prize. She can smell spilled inks as well, and smoke, but those scents are extremely faint, even to her. Three of the chairs are the same, only without the ink, but the fourth...
The fourth does not belong. It is rosewood, painted to look like the others, and it has restraints. She smells sweat, newer than the smoke and ink, and it makes her nervous. This room is not what it appears.
Suddenly this isn't fun anymore.
She backs away from the chair, then turns to leave the room - and there is someone standing in the doorway, looking at her.
"Hello there," the man says, the light from the hall silhouetting him and making it impossible for Yui to see his face. "How did you come to be here, little girl?"
Yui swallows, her eyes wide. No adult sounds so pleasant when they find her where she shouldn't be. She doesn't answer and is relieved that her lock picks are tucked safely away in her armband.
"You must know you shouldn't be here," he adds in that same tone, but with an undercurrent of steel. "It would be better if you answered me."
She gulps and takes a step back. "I- I was curious..."
"Is your curiosity satisfied?" he asks her, now sounding mildly curious himself; no longer trusting her voice, Yui nods.
"A pity it led you here at all." The man steps fully inside the room, closing and locking the door behind him. Before he can even turn around, Yui has darted behind the unmatching chair, silently cursing that her vision has to adjust to the lack of light again. This is very, very bad.
He sighs as if saddened by her trying to keep away from him. "Little doll, little doll... you're not going to win this."
"Then come and get me!" she throws at him, trying to hide her fright. He's right, but by Agni she won't make it easy for him.
And so he comes, circling around the table; when Yui scrambles for another chair, he sends something flying at her. Rather than go to the side to avoid, she dives under the table and rolls to keep it between them, scrambling to her feet.
"Good thinking," the man says, sounding pleased. He gestures, and Yui skips aside more on instinct than anything else. A good move; something brushes past her sleeve and slams against the metal wall. However, the man darts forward now, quick as a striking snake, and she yelps, diving under the table again- too slow.
He snatches her from the air and wraps her tight in his arms so she can't wriggle loose. "Don't fret, precious. Don't fret," he says soothingly, ignoring the kicks she unleashes at his knees. "I won't hurt you. I will keep you safe and loved." Still holding tight, he brings her to the chair that doesn't match and sets her in it, holding her down with one hand on her shoulder and his leg tight against hers so she can no longer kick. "Don't fret." With his free hand he drags Yui's arm up and ties it to the arm of the chair, ignoring her struggles and her cries of fear. Limb by limb he binds her, tight enough to hurt so she won't escape, talking to her in that soothing tone all the while.
When she's safely restrained, he releases her and takes a moment to look her over. "You will be a pretty little doll," he says, reaching out and petting her dark hair, "a nice little playmate for Mi-Cha."
In answer she tries to bite his hand.
Frighteningly, this doesn't seem to anger him. He even sounds approving as he strokes her hair again. "Feisty," he says. "You'll be fun to make." And he draws away from her and lights the lamp.
She cries out again at the sudden brightness, closing her eyes and turning her head away. "I know, I know," he says, apologetic. "It's always too much at first."
Yui curses him then, using words that she learned from Ichiro those first few nights when Kouji only clung to life by a thread. She keeps her eyes closed, refusing to draw comfort from the light that no longer seems as harsh as it first did. Silence stretches from the man, but still she doesn't open her eyes, squirming against the too-tight bonds holding her in place.
Minutes pass by, one after another, and still there is silence from him. Finally, Yui can no longer stand it and carefully opens one eye. The man is on the other side of the lamp, watching her with a smile on his face.
Both eyes go wide; that smile frightens her to her very core.
The man tips his head slightly to one side. "Fire-eyes," he says wonderingly, and Yui jerks in fear. "Where did you get Fire-eyes, little doll?"
Yui is silent; let him think her a child of the war. There may be No War in Ba Sing Se, but her heritage is quite obvious and it is the only explanation.
Her silence doesn't annoy him, or seem to have any affect on him at all. "I will ask you again later." That smile never falters as he goes on, "Now I need to make you. Do you want to be my daughter? Or perhaps a cousin's extra daughter left in my care?"
Yui can't even begin to hide her confusion at his words. What is he talking about? Make her? Make her do what?
He seems to be almost ignoring her now, except his eyes hold hers as he continues to speak. "I think there would be questions if I had a daughter, since I have no wife. A cousin's daughter then, sent to be kept safe in Ba Sing Se."
In response she bares her teeth at him, letting an animalistic growl rumble in her throat like she's heard Ichiro do when facing Earth or Fire soldiers. In Ichiro the sound is intimidating.
In Yui it is merely cute.
"Oh, aren't you precious?" he comments, annoying her. "I should try to keep that." He remains behind the lamp, and the glow soon drags Yui's eyes down to it, since the flame moves and he does not.
She does not see his smile widen.
"There is no war in Ba Sing Se," he says soothingly. "There is no war within the walls. Here, we are safe. Here, we are free..."
Yui follows his voice into darkness.
Listen to the mission
I've been telling the tradition
And I'm giving you permission
To be in my head
"What's your name, little doll?"
"Yui," she replies quietly, looking up at him. There is lingering pain in her arms and legs, but that pain is distant and she doesn't remember why she hurts. It doesn't matter.
"Where are you from, Yui-darling?"
She remembers nothing, but the answer leaves her mouth anyway. "New Sozin."
"New Sozin," he says, sounding surprised. She neither knows nor cares why. "Why did you come here, Yui-darling?"
"We ran away." She doesn't wonder who the 'we' is.
"Who is we?" He wonders for her.
"Ichiro, Kouji, and me," she tells him.
"Tell me about Ichiro," he says, stroking her hair.
"Ichiro is my big brother," she replies. "He's sixteen and was born in midsummer. He's a firebender, but that's a secret. He's strong and stubborn and loves us."
His hand stops petting her, but it still rests against her head. "A firebender," he says softly. "Well." Raising his voice again, he adds, "Tell me about Kouji."
"Kouji is my twin brother," she tells him. "He's ten and was born in late spring like me. He's an earthbender, but that's a big secret. He's sweet and shy and scared."
"Well, well, well," he says, surprised and very intrigued by what she has just said. She doesn't wonder why. He begins to stroke her hair again. "And tell me about yourself, Yui-darling."
"I'm ten, and the lockbender. I like to sing and I don't like not knowing things. I hate my father and love my brothers."
"Why do you hate your father, Yui-darling?" he wants to know.
Emotion colours her voice now, faint traces of anger. "Because he tried to kill Kouji!"
Again his hand stills on her head. "Now why would he do that?"
"He found out Kouji was an earthbender." She is shaking, she realises, and then realises that she is shaking with anger.
"Don't fret, Yui-darling. You are safe here," he tells her soothingly, and her trembling abates. He is right; she and Kouji are safe behind the walls of Ba Sing Se.
"Why did your father find an earthbender son so terrible?"
"He hates earthbenders and earthbending. He told us two years ago when Ichiro asked that any colony-born earthbenders would be culled." Her tone is flat and even again.
"He would not be pleased to know you are here, would he?"
"No," she replies. "But he won't leave New Sozin to find out."
"That's good. Where are your brothers, Yui-darling?" he asks her.
"We have an apartment in the Lower Ring," she says, and then tells him the address.
There is a long silence, then he asks, "Why is it a secret that Ichiro firebends?"
"Because of the Firebending Law," she replies. "Any firebender born and discovered in the colonies has to go back to the homeland for training. Ichiro didn't want to go back. He wanted to stay with us, and then later he had to protect Kouji."
"From your father?"
"Yes," she answers. "And to train Kouji."
"Tell me what happend, Yui-darling," he says.
Yui has to close her eyes - she doesn't want to say. But he wants to know.
"Father had secured an apprenticeship for Ichiro. He went to find him, and found Kouji earthbending. He got mad and firebent Kouji. I was with Ichiro and felt it. Ichiro took off running; by the time I got there he was fighting father and Kouji was lying on the ground. Ichiro defeated father, picked up Kouji, and told me to run. We ran."
"You felt it?" he asks her curiously.
She nods. "I feel when he hurts, and he feels when I hurt."
"Did he feel this?" he wants to know.
"Probably," is her reply.
He made a soft 'tsk' sound. "You probably miss him, don't you?"
Did she? She didn't feel anything. But the words were rising again. "Yes."
"We should bring him here, don't you think?"
She looks up at him. "He won't like that."
"Why not?"
She finds that question difficult for a moment, and has to think. But there's nothing in there for her to think about. She doesn't remember, but clearly some part of her does, because she's speaking again. "He won't like what you did to me. He won't like being taken away. He'll fight."
"That's all right, Yui-darling. They always fight," he tells her, stroking her hair a bit more.
Oh. That's all right, then.
Stay with me
Safe and ignorant
Just stay with me
Lei opens her eyes to the late morning light spilling across her face and is briefly disoriented - she isn't at home! But then she remembers: she was sent to Ba Sing Se to be safe from the war. Only she isn't to mention the war here, Cousin Xin Wan told her so last night when he met her at the trains into the city. They are safe in Ba Sing Se, so there is no need to speak of the war.
Yawning, she gets up and moves across the room where an actual silver-backed mirror is mounted on the wall. She gets a good look at herself in it: long black hair, pale skin, amber eyes. She lowers her lashes to hide her eyes, mark of her mother's shame. Perhaps here none will comment.
She looks down to take stock of her body, already burgeoning into that of a woman's. She knows that it's very early for such a thing, but perhaps that, too, is the mark of Fire in her. With a sigh, she pads across the room to the closet where Xin Wan helped her hang her clothes last night and selects a pretty kimono of pale green silk. She runs her fingers over the brocade with a soft smile before changing from her nightclothes to the kimono. She selects a dark green obi and matching pantaloons to go underneath, then finds her brush and goes looking for her cousin.
It doesn't take her very long to find him; he's seated at a table, looking over some papers. He hears her come in, looking up and smiling at her. "Good morning, Lei-darling," he says.
Lei bows politely. "Good morning cousin," she replies, smiling back.
"Did you sleep well?" he asks her.
She nods. "Yes, cousin, very well," she says, pushing some of her long hair from her face.
"Do you need help with your hair, Lei-darling?"
Lei brightens. "Yes, cousin, I do," she says.
He gestures for her to sit in front of him and takes the brush from her hand, gently running it through her hair. After a few moments, he comments, "I'm thinking of making a new music box. What sort of song do you think would sound nice in one?"
Lei considers this, thinking of songs that she knows. After a moment, she begins to hum one.
He listens to her, carefully twisting her hair into a braid, then says, "I don't recognise that one. Could you sing it for me?"
"All right," she replies, then closes her eyes and begins to sing.
"Come, firefly, come!
There the water is bitter
Here the water is sweet
Come, firefly, come!
Up this mountain path!"
Xin Wan listens carefully to her singing, then he hums it back to her. Lei closes her eyes to listen, and nods slightly. "That's it." She's impressed by his ear for music; he's note-perfect on it.
"I'll need to deliver that to a watchmaker I know. Would you like to come with me or would you like to meet Mi-Cha?"
Lei considers this for a moment. "I think I'd like-" She cries out as she feels an impact against her chest, and then her back and head ring with pain, as if she'd just been thrown against the wall - but she hasn't moved! Nothing has touched her!
Xin Wan's hand stills against her hair, and then he says, "The Dai Li bid you safe journey from Ba Sing Se, cousin Lei."
Confusion and fear and identity slip away from her, and she answers, "It was an honour to stay here."
"Let's roll back to just after I asked you if you wanted to accompany me or meet Mi-Cha. Don't remember the pain. It was unimportant," he orders her.
"Yes. It was unimportant," she repeats.
"It pleases me that you understand." He touches her shoulder. "The Dai Li welcome you to Ba Sing Se, cousin Lei."
Lei considers this for a moment. "I think I'd like to meet Mi-Cha, cousin."
"Mi-Cha is a nice little girl," Xin Wan tells her with a smile. "She'll help you get accustomed to the ways of the city, and maybe you'll be able to go up to the palace with her sometime."
Lei beams at him. "I should like that very much."
Next chapter
Current Location: my desk
Current Mood:  creeped out
Current Music: Hotaru Koi - District SSAA Chorus
Tags: character: xin wan, character: yui, fandom: avatar, story: head games
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