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The Chong Sheng Trilogy: War by rachelthedemon

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The Chong Sheng Trilogy

PART I: War

Chapter 7: Underground

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"This feels like the right place," Toph remarked, tapping the ground with her foot. "Not the exact spot, but pretty close to it. Not like Appa would stay still in a place like this anyway."

Jin swung her lantern to examine the walls, narrowing her eyes at a particulatr spot and running her hand over it. "This is definitely the Quing East main passage. He would've likely been dumped into the venting tunnel north of here. Which means the only direction he could've come is this way."

Aang came up behind her, curious. "What's that?"

"What's what?"

"That mark on the wall that you're looking at." He pointed to it, frowning. "It's...not writing. Or doesn't look like it, at least."

She shook her head. "It isn't. Not writing you would understand, at any rate."

He followed her behind Toph as they headed further into the passage, feeling his insides knot up at her crypticness. "Look, we're on your side, okay? You don't have to keep us in the dark anymore."

She shook her head. "We're living in a dangerous time, Avatar. The less you know of these things, the better."

He pursed his lips, brows drawing together. "Which means I can't just blindly trust people. You know things even the Dai Li don't, but you won't tell me why. Or how. I'm just a kid, but if I'm supposed to save the world, I can't go running in without all the facts, you know?"

She turned back to the ground, the glow of the lantern making her features appear harder and more drawn than they ever should have. As if the knowledge she harbored had aged her unfairly. A sigh seemed to pull the last of her energy right out of her, eyes misting over in the firelight.

"The Earth King who built these tunnels a hundred years ago when the war first started. At that time...they weren't just a precautionary refuge. Ba Sing Se was the headquarters of the White Lotus. The passages were built as a secret means of travel throughout the city for the society's members. But as the Dai Li grew more powerful and tightened their choke-hold on the throne, the White Lotus moved their main operations elsewhere."

Aang blinked. "The White Lotus?"

She nodded. "A society whose history goes back almost four hundred years, when the current dynasty of the Fire Nation first took over. Originally founded by one of Fire Lord Yuan's advisors and some palace servants." She snorted, smirking a bit. "They've been plotting for centuries to turn things over, but they just haven't had the support for their cause until now. Hard to find too many people in your own brainwashed and war-hungry nation who will go against a Fire Lord willing to give you everything you want."

Toph stopped ahead of them, raising her head. "I don't think you ever answered Twinkle Toes' question. How do you know all this?"

She arched an eyebrow at the girl, then turned back to Aang.

"And we're depending on you to save the world?... We're so doomed."

* * * *


He hated the dark. He hated the damp. He hated the smell and cramping and the dirt in his fur. Most of all, he hated the way the air felt down here, still and heavy and almost sick, not at all the free-flowing, happy breezes he'd grown up with atop the spires of the Southern Air Temple. This was depressed, trapped air. Air that knew it was not where it should be; inside the earth rather than above it.

Most of all, there was a distinct lack of apples, which made him grumpiest of all. If Fire Lord Ozai himself deigned to offer him one, he might have licked him.

The voices from down the passage helped somewhat. They'd fed him what little they could, though for a ten-ton fluffy monster, some strips of dried fruit and rations of jerky weren't nearly enough. Their company was what kept him calm as possible, though. The mere chance of finding other humans in this dark, cold subterranean hell was comforting. Even if they did wear strange clothes, they were friendly, and with any luck they knew a way out of here.

He yawned, curling up to sleep, as there wasn't much else to do and he didn't want to risk getting more lost than he already was. His eyes closed heavily, that rhythmic purr shaking the rock itself as he drifted off.

* * * *


"Look," Aang growled. "I've just been held captive in a dungeon by the city that's supposed to be on my side, and I got rescued by the guy who's been trying to capture me since before Winter! I really can't afford to go assuming anything about anybody, 'cause chances are I'm wrong! And now? This late in the game? Being wrong about one thing can mean disaster for everybody!"

Jin stopped, sighing and staring back at the ground. "I know. Believe me, I know. It's not easy to trust people when you know they're hiding things from you. But you've got to this time. I can't just go spilling all my secrets to you, no matter how much I'd like to. You have no idea how many lives are hanging in the balance, here. I'm just asking you to trust that I will help you do what you need to. You don't have to know how."

Toph turned around, facing them with that utterly blank stare. "You said the tunnels were built by the Earth King, right?"

"Yeah."

"Then that means there should be one going into his chambers. Or one would hope, if he was in league with the White Lotus."

Jin nodded. "There is. But you wanted to find the bison first, right?"

"If that many people are in danger, we may not have time. Right now, the information we have for the Earth King could save thousands of people. And clock's ticking."

"She's right," Aang sighed. "If we can find the Earth King before we find Appa..."

Jin nodded. "Follow me. The Chamber Passage is in the dead center of the city. Southwest of here."

They turned, heading down the first branching tunnel with a quick, determined pace, Jin in the lead. Aang could barely keep track of the twists and turns as the girl led them through the winding labyrinth, lantern swinging ahead of her, every so often checking the walls for those carvings. Time was utterly lost on him. Not without a sun to go by. Measured only in the sounds of her skirts scraping over the ground and the dull, throbbing ache in his feet.

I'm sorry, Buddy. I'll find you soon. I promise. But there are too many people counting on me right now, and I can't disappoint them...

* * * *


Hours later -- or even days, at this point he really couldn't tell -- found him struggling to drag one foot in front of the other, trudging down the passages. Until a sudden stop from Toph made both him and Jin freeze in their tracks.

"What is it?"

"People," she said. "Ahead of us. I thought you said these tunnels were secret."

"They are," Jin growled, her brow furrowed. She turned, putting the lantern out and plunging all of them into velvety pitch black darkness. She pressed her back to the wall, feeling along it, until even they were able to hear what Toph had felt long before. They were deep and low. Male and many. She she could faintly smell the smoke of campfires.

Why on earth there'd be people camping in the middle of the tunnel network... There were only two reasons for it. One was good, the other meant they'd better get the hell out of town and fast. Her features hardened even further as the first flickers of firelight shown on the walls ahead, round the corner. She stopped them, turning to Aang.

"Stay here. Let me go first. I'll tell you to follow if it's safe. If not, be prepared to start running." With that, she edged forward, enough to peer around the wall into the passage.

Cooking and campfires crowded the tunnel like ground torches, each one surrounded by tall, burly men dressed in shabby, dated uniforms. The thinner men still wore shirts to keep warm in dark and cold of a world sans sunlight, while the larger ones went without to get as much out of the scant breeze from the venting tunnels as possible. She guessed from the looks of things that there were at least a couple hundred.

Yet it wasn't unil she caught the firelight glinting off the piles of armor in the passage alcove that her stomach twisted into a sickening knot of dread.

She gasped, pulling back so as not to be seen. Only to have her hands knock a loose chunk of rock to the ground with a very loud, very unstealthy thud.

One of the men looked up immediately, eyes squarely on her. She gulped, meeting that gaze for mere seconds before backing up and running.

He was up and chasing her in equal time, fire blazing from his palm. "You! Come back here!"

Like hell!

She shouted to them, pushing Aang ahead of her. "Run!"

Their footsteps pounded down the passage, Toph pulling Aang with her while Jin periodically turned around to gauge how much ground they were losing. Of course, she realized, she probably ought to have relit that lantern. But when being tailed by a Firebender -- nay, one of a whole camp of Firebenders -- such details are really the last things to come to mind, even if they should be the most important.

Indeed, had she been able to see where she was going, she might not have tripped on that pesky stone, hitting the ground with a grunt and a slam of stinging wrists and knees, and a shock of pain up her leg.

"Jin!--"

"Run!" she shouted. "You don't have time! Just keep going southeast to the flower bed!"

She heard Toph pull him away as she tried to get to her feet again, only to be yanked up by a large, strong hand over her wrist. Its partner blazed inches from her face, and she found herself staring into that of a rather angry man.

"Who are you!" he damanded. "What are you doing down here!"

She struggled, fruitless as it was, defying on pure principle. It didn't surprise her in the least when the wall met her back and his hand clamped both her wrists to the rock. The rest of his weight pinned her legs to the wall, and he growled again. "Answer me, and I promise you won't be harmed. Who are you, and what are you doing down here?"

She growled, meeting his face for a moment before spitting in it. "I could ask you the same thing, buster. What the holy flying hell are your kind doing down here! You think I owe you a goddamn work when you throw me against a wall? Do I look armed?"

"You found this camp, little girl. That's more than enough reason for me to get the truth out of you." He pressed her harder against the rock with his weight, letting the edges dig into her back. "Who are you?"

She grunted, straining against his grip. "What scum wants to know?"

"This labyrinth is a sanctuary. Curious children shouldn't be playing down here." He glared back just as angrily, the fire in his fist flaring just a little hotter. "You know of my camp's location, which gives me no choice but to kill you in the next three seconds if you don't cooperate. I won't hurt you if you tell me who you are, and why you're down here in the first place. You're far too young to even know these tunnels exist."

"Too young?!" she shrieked. "I've been playing in these tunnels since I was six! My father showed then to me! If there's anyone who doesn't belong here, it's you!" His eyes widened in bewilderment, grip slackening enough for her to wriggle her hands free and shove him off. She advanced, scowling and seizing his wrist and pushing up the sleeve of his threadbare tunic.

The tattoo stared back at her, unmistakeable in the light of the fire flickering from his opposite hand. "Goddamn. Did your initiator teach you to beat the crap out of random women, or was that something you picked up in the military?"

He gaped, looking from his arm to her face and back a few times. "What the...? You? You're a...?"

"Why the hell else would I be down here?" she spat. "Now it's my turn. Who the hell are you??"

He slid from her grip with a look of utter shock on his face, stepping back and bowing low to her, as though she were several notches of status above him. "My sincerest apologies. Please, forgive me."

She gulped, looking at him warily. It wasn't every day that a Firebender kissed the ground at her feet. "Um...ok. Apology accepted. You can stop bowing like that, it's kinda freaking me out."

He rose again, looking at her severely, his previous anger replaced by a long-carried reverence. Which, really, she found far more disconcerting than the scowl and look of imminent death.

"The daughter of the man who saved my entire battalion demands that kind of respect."


TO BE CONTINUED...


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