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05:50 pm

Head Games Chapter 7
Title: Head Games
Author: Dark Puck
Fandom: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Characters: Xin Wan (OC); Ichiro, Yui, and Kouji (OCs); Liu (OC); Zuko and Iroh
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: Mindbending of children, creeptastic
Notes: Xin Wan, Liu, and most other Dai Li OCs belong to BeckyH2112 and are used with her permission and assistance.
Summary: A refugee child in Ba Sing Se is found somewhere she shouldn't be by a Dai Li agent. This proves disastrous for her and her brothers, as they have a secret: they're all from the Fire Nation...

Safe

And now a hand's extending outward
Quiet comfort they invite
Do we dare take what they offer?
Do we step into the light?

Kouji was sound asleep by the time Zuko and Ichiro made it back to the apartment. Without saying a word, Zuko took the boy from his brother's arms and carried him to his room. Before Ichiro could protest, Yui exploded against him, sobbing and apologising and holding onto him as tight as she could.

Carefully, Ichiro knelt and hugged his sister close. "Shh, Yui," he said softly. "It's all right. Everything will be all right now." He stroked her hair, trying to calm her, and watched Zuko emerge from his room, now dressed in Ba Sing Se fashion, and have a quiet word with his uncle.

He did not like the thoughtful expression on Iroh's face.

"Yui, run along and check on your brother, okay?" he asked her.

She looked up at him mutinously, and he smiled. "I'll join you soon. I would like a word with our… hosts."

Yui sighed and went to Kouji. Once the door to the room was closed, Ichiro dragged himself to his feet and faced the two wanted princes. "Now what?" he asked quietly. There was no doubt in his mind that Zuko had told his uncle about the bending.

"That is a very good question," the Dragon of the West replied. "The Dai Li will be looking for you."

Ichiro nodded. "For all of us. Long Feng has… uses for my brother and I." His eyes narrowed. "I will not see my siblings turned into pawns."

"But you and your siblings bring danger to my nephew and me," Iroh pointed out calmly.

"You knew that when you helped them," Ichiro countered, feeling his muscles tense. "Sir," he added as an afterthought.

"Would you rather we have left them to the Dai Li?" Zuko snarled at him.

The other boy glowered at Zuko. "Did I say that?"

Iroh ignored his nephew. "The question remains, Ichiro — what do we do with you? You can't remain here."

"Didn't plan on it," replied the colonist.

"But," Iroh went on, "we can't ignore your presence here, either. Your sister has implied you aren't friendly towards the Fire Nation."

"You can call me a traitor," Ichiro told him. "It won't hurt my feelings."

"You're not—" Zuko started, but the other boy cut him off.

"I am. I'm not in Ba Sing Se to help the Fire Nation."

"But are you here to help the Earth Kingdom?" Iroh asked.

That pulled Ichiro up short.

Technically speaking, he was a traitor — but what damage had he done the Fire Nation, really? He was a colonist and the son of a farmer, and very embittered toward his mother nation. Long Feng would be an utter fool to take anything he said at face value, and he knew the director was anything but.

On the other hand, telling the Dragon of the West he'd told Long Feng everything he could might be a fatal mistake.

"I came here to hide," he admitted. That was safe enough, and even true.

"And have done an interesting job of it," said Iroh drily.

Ichiro flushed. "Things go wrong. It happens."

"How did they even find you?" Zuko demanded.

"How in hell should I know?" Ichiro shot back. "I came home from work and the twins were gone. Maybe too many people got concerned about my eyes and tattled. I don't care."

Zuko looked taken aback. "How can you not care?"

"Because there's nothing I can do about it," Ichiro growled at him. "And I'm not going to waste the time I could be using to get the hell out of this creepy-ass city on a futile revenge mission!"

The Dragon of the West arched an eyebrow at him. "And where will you go? It isn't any safer for you to be travelling now than it was when you first arrived. You will have the same problems as you did coming here."

"But this time Kouji won't be dying!" Ichiro snapped. "So if you're trying to drag us into the war, don't bother. We don't want any part of it."

"Because of your father?"

Iroh's tone was mild, his expression anything but. Alarm bells went off in Ichiro's head. "So what if it is?" he demanded of the old man. "I'm supposed to leave minors in the hands of a man who would murder them because the law said to—"

"It says no such thing!" Zuko snapped at him.

The colonist paused. "What was that?" he asked slowly.

The air around the prince was distorted with heat. "There isn't any law that says earthbenders should be killed," he growled at Ichiro. "Especially not Fire-born ones!"

Iroh rested a hand on his nephew's shoulder. "To be exact, there is no provision at all in the laws of our nation for… rarities like your brother."

Ichiro stared at them both, refusing to accept what they had said. "That's not true. It can't be. Dad said…"

"That your father decided this was so is regrettable," said Iroh quietly.

No.

It couldn't be true. It couldn't be. Kouji was a kid, not yet eleven years old. Their father wouldn't have attacked him if the law didn't…

"Hey, Dad?" he had asked one night, three years ago. "What would happen if someone born in the colonies was born… y'know… an earthbender?"

Their father had been silent for a long moment, not realising how intently all three of his children were watching him. Finally, he had said, "Such a freak would be culled," and then ordered Ichiro to never speak such a blasphemy again.

Ichiro had used that to convince his brother that showing him their bending would be a bad idea — but even then he had denied how their father really felt about Earth folk and earthbending. He should have seen that as a warning and left with the twins, not stayed in New Sozin where…

Ichiro sat down heavily, stricken. This whole thing was his fault.

"Ichiro," said Iroh quietly, and the boy looked up briefly before turning away from the sympathetic expression on the old man's face. "Eat something and get some rest. You have been through quite an ordeal."

Ichiro shook his head. "They'll be looking for us, we can't—"

"You can't go anywhere at all with your brother overextended," Iroh interrupted. "Eat, sleep. We can discuss this when you're rested."

"I'm all right, really," Ichiro protested. Not that he wasn't grateful to Zuko for saving him, but what would the princes do while he slept? He shouldn't even be taking shelter with them now, not after—

Ichiro shied away from the memory of staying with Liu. How could he have been so stupid?

He'd not get caught out again.

"Ichiro," said Iroh, not unkindly. "Yui took a large risk when she asked us to help her. I will not betray the trust she put in me."

That caught Ichiro's attention, and he looked up to meet Iroh's eyes. Yui had asked? She knew the risks, she'd been fully conscious throughout their desperate flight across the Earth Kingdom… and she'd still asked Iroh for help.

"…all right," he said at last.

Ichiro felt much more human after eating, having some uninterrupted sleep, and eating a second time. His mood was also improved by Kouji suffering no bad effects from yesterday's rescue, aside from a mild increase in appetite. Ichiro, used to the amount of food his brother normally inhaled, smiled slightly at Zuko's aghast expression.

Aware that they were guests, however, Ichiro curbed Kouji before he ate to the point of rudeness. Once they were out of this Agni-damned city, he could hunt with an eye to his brother's appetite.

Which came around to the real problem: what they would do once they left.

Everyone present knew that the three colonists couldn't remain in Ba Sing Se, but Iroh was staunchly opposed to them just striking off on their own, while Zuko was opposed to… Ichiro wasn't sure if he was actually opposed to anything, or if he was arguing for the sake of arguing. But it wasn't Zuko's future at stake, so he ignored the prince until Iroh sent him to another room to entertain the twins.

Finally, Iroh said, "There is a man in charge of Fire-occupied territories in the western Earth Kingdom. Daimyo Torao."

"I've heard of him," Ichiro admitted. "New Sozin's right at the edge of his territory."

"You and your siblings are refugees through no fault of your own," Iroh went on, nodding. "It falls to the daimyo to ensure you will be cared for."

Ichiro frowned. "I'm not sure. Dad— Daitaro seemed to think he'd be… I don't even know. That he wouldn't be punished for trying to kill a kid. How do I know the Daimyo won't be of a similar mind?"

"I have met Daimyo Torao," Iroh assured him. "He is very fond of children, and would see your brother as a treasure, not as an oddity."

Ichiro's eyebrows rose. "That's not exactly comforting."

The Dragon of the West smiled at him. "You're a resourceful young man, Ichiro. You have already done much for your brother and sister. I believe that, with some care, you could build a life for the three of you with only minimal assistance from Torao."

The old man had a point, Ichiro realised. He could work for the daimyo, rather than beg charity off him. Maybe work as a farmhand. It could work. "All right," he said at last. "I'll see him."

Iroh smiled. "Now. We will plan your path out of the city, and to Torao."

Long Feng was in a foul mood.

Not only had Xin Wan lost the Fire twins, one of them had found an ally in Ba Sing Se and managed to free his firebender while Liu was out doing his job. Worse, while Kyung had tracked them for a good while, eventually they'd shaken him off their trail and he didn't know where they had gone to ground.

His second-in-command, to his credit, listened to his irritated dissection of the current situation without referring to his distaste for mindbending. When Long Feng finished, however, Hyo said, "What interests me is the girl. Her running away indicates that Xin Wan's mindbending was somehow broken."

"It isn't unheard of," Long Feng replied, giving his subordinate a sidelong glance. "Xin Wan himself has never lasted longer than six months under a mindbending, and that was back when he was hardly trained."

Hyo made a noncommittal sound. "Still… Xin Wan was never a ten-year-old girl, and she was only with him a fortnight."

The Director paused to consider this. "Curious. Get Niran and Bae to work on it. We need to know what went wrong."

"Yes, sir," Hyo replied, and rose. "I need to take Mi-Cha home." A gesture took down the stone he'd used to thicken the walls, and he opened the door to let Long Feng out.

Hyo's young daughter sat outside in the hallway, turning a bit of agate over in her hands and humming quietly. Both men paused at the unfamiliar tune.

"…that is not an Earth song," Hyo said.

"Hm." Long Feng knelt by the child. "Mi-Cha, where did you hear that?"

She smiled brightly up at him. "Lei taught me."

Hyo fought to hide a smile of his own as Long Feng remarked, "Really. How sweet of her," and looked over at him. "Never mind having Bae and Niran work on it."

"Yes, sir," Hyo replied. "Mi-Cha, the Director and I will be a few more minutes, all right?"

His daughter was agreeable to this, and the two men returned to Hyo's office. When the walls were back down, Hyo spoke first. "Music."

"Fire music," Long Feng clarified. "That an Earth child should not know."

"Interesting," mused the other man. "Xin Wan is thorough; there wouldn't have been a conscious memory." He managed to nearly suppress an expression of distaste.

Long Feng replied, "You've seen his music boxes. He wouldn't think twice about his girl singing songs."

"So simple," said Hyo thoughtfully.

"I should have him flogged," muttered the Director.

"He never should have kept her," Hyo pointed out. It was easy to translate 'kept' to 'changed'.

"But once he had," Long Feng said, ignoring Hyo's well-known dislike of what Xin Wan did, "he should have kept her until we had use for her."

"Opportunity lost," the Commander said. "All three of them are likely long gone by now."

"A pity," murmured Long Feng.

"Or a blessing," Hyo answered. At Long Feng's arch look, he elaborated, "If they stayed in the city, they might run into the Avatar."

Silence descended on the room for a moment, as the Director considered the possibilities of that. "A blessing indeed," he said at last. "Have Liu speak with the mindbenders. This will not happen again."

"Yes, sir," Hyo agreed, and cleared the way for them to exit again.

Author's Notes

Well, that's it for Head Games! I hope you all enjoyed the ride as much as I did. I'd like to thank BeckyH for all her help with this, especially in on-the-go beta'ing and giving me a much better handle on the Dai Li, Iroh, and Zuko.

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