Behind the Flames .:H2OVanoss:.

.:Chapter 30:.

          Togek's heavily armored boot stirred clouds of dirt with his leaden steps. The shadows followed behind him loyally, growling at their game like a pack of wolves that had to endure a long winter starvation. The knight's devilish eyes swapped between David as he stood protectively over his brother, and Jonathan, who could no longer gather the strength to hold himself together.
Cry roared with anger as he shot another fireball straight into the dragon's face, doing hardly a scratch. The dragon spun around, using its tail to hit him back so the shadows could creep close and grab his arms and legs. He was quickly tethered to the ground, screaming cyan fire into the sky as the shadows burned into his skin and haunted his mind.
"Jon, get up, now!" David pleaded in a terror-stricken whisper.
          Jonathan's chest constricted with each breath. He choked on a silent, hopeless wail, begging for it all to be a dream. He wasn't able to calm his sobs, nor did he want to. Though David shouted him to get up, Jonathan refused.
          "I will never, ever, ever let it hurt you." Evan's promise leaked repeatedly from Jonathan's trembling lips, slowly growing more and more meaningless. He thought he knew the pain of loss from the last time Togek took everything from him, but losing his best friend for a second time shattered him in ways he'd never fathomed. It were as if that moment lightning struck Evan, stealing away his life, it stole Jonathan's away, too.
"Must I ask again?" The lightning bender crept even closer. His single emerald eye preyed on them like a lion's.
"Jonathan, please! Get up!" David reached down and lifted his brother's arm, but the other failed to acknowledge any sort of contact, remaining still as a statue. "Don't do this! Not now, Jon! Please!"
          Togek stomped his boot against the ground with a sigh of impatience. "Give yourself up, blood bender! You know you have been broken!"
          Jonathan lowered his head closer to the ground. He wanted the shadows to take him away from this hell. The pain, the guilt, and the anguish- he wanted it all to end. He wanted to hold Evan in his arms and cry into his shoulder. He wanted his Evan back. He needed his Evan back. He couldn't live without him. Not again.
Realizing the uselessness of his actions, David took a step forward, squaring his shoulders and stepping between the madman and his brother. "You can't break me, no matter what you do!" He twirled his arms and brought water from his packs to his hands.
          Togek smiled and faced him with fists aflame. "We'll see about that."
          Just as a long blast of fire emitted from his knuckles, David shot back a stream of water, colliding the elements in a misty explosion. The water bender took a leap of faith, flinging shards of ice into the wall of fire that shielded Togek. The enemy pushed forward, unfazed against the barrage of David's attacks, and threw a heavy punch against David's cheek. He fell, and a bony hand quickly made its way around his neck, lifting him off the ground. David grabbed at the hand, choking and struggling with all his might. His ocean eyes fogging with fear for his life.
Togek smiled. "I'm so glad we finally meet. I've waited so long." His emerald eye twitched as he admired the man before him. "Do not worry, I don't plan on killing you. Yet." He began to turn towards his dragon when all of a sudden, completely against his will, the emerald eye flashed black, gliding to the side and staring past this water bender, straight into the horrified stare of the one with the mask. Togek furrowed his eyebrows and his dragon let out a small rumble. It, too, had an obsidian eye.
Togek stared a little longer until a light chuckle escaped his crusty lips. He turned back to David, tightening his grip on his neck and pulling him closer. David choked, his face turning blue, and pulled at Togek's hand feebly.
"I admire your courage, soldier-" He pulled David closer to his helmet. "-but you should know that having any kind of courage against me will only get you killed." His voice grew heavier, as if a chorus were speaking all at once. "The shadows have figured out the truth. They have spoken to us." David's eyes widened, Togek's grip got even tighter, and blood gushed from where his fingernails met skin. "Don't worry, your sacrifice for him will not go unnoticed."
"STOP!!" A sudden plea rang out, just as a thick stream of water barreled into Togek's chest. He stepped back to catch himself, dropping his victim into the mud. David's eyes rolled back into his head as he hit the floor. "Not him too.. not him too..!" Jonathan had his fist raised as he shivered like a leaf in a monsoon.
Togek's helmet slithered back down his neck, revealing his very broken face and sideways grin. "And I was the one they called 'selfish'." He carelessly stepped over David's body. "He would have given his life for you, and you would have done nothing to stop me?" He took another long step closer. "You'd let all your friends die for you because of your cowardice and selfishness. What has the world come to, letting someone like yourself carry such a dangerous burden."
Jonathan heard the faint cries of his companions, pleading at him to get away and save himself. Tyler tried to get to him, but the shadows kept him back as his last vile was used up. Jonathan looked down at David, ashamed for being such a coward.
Togek sighed. "And here I thought I had to train for months just to have enough strength to overpower you...you're nothing but a waste of time. Such a disappointment." He towered over Jonathan and slowly raised a hand, pushing away Jonathan's fist. "We all know you could have saved Tarak, if you had cared enough to try."
With that, he grabbed Jonathan by his tunic and dragged him towards the dragon. He went limp as the others went hysterical. They shouted at the shadows, blasting them with fire, air or stone. They hissed in retaliation as more shadows arrived to stack the walls.
As Togek neared the dragon, it lowered its head to the ground, huffing urgently. The lightning bender prepared to climb up with Jon in tow, but he paused, and a devilish smirk grew on his face. "How about one last show before we depart?"
Without loosening his grip on Jonathan, he swiped his free hand to the side, sparking a bolt of electricity to life from his fingertips. It was so close to Jonathan he couldn't move or breath. The dragon lifted its head and roared angrily at Togek, but the man didn't seem to care at all, and took aim at the large group of people. Understanding their fate, they huddled together, hoping and praying that their shields of elements were enough to stop the blast.
To everyone's surprise, it never came, because Togek's eye flashed black once more, and his mouth opened with disbelief. The dragon's frills rippled against the wind and its tail swished back and forth with irritation. The ground began to rumble, trees shook in the forest, and a loud churning in the Earth drew near.
None other than the King's soldiers broke through the forest on all sides, surrounding them with steep barriers of ground. Stone hand cuffs shot out towards Togek, but the old man was fast. Still clutching Jonathan, he released the electricity into the Earth next to them. The cuffs crumpled midair in the explosion, and Togek leapt back to grab the horns of his dragon.
One of the guards quickly bent a wall of stone between him and the dragon, then another between he and Jonathan. Togek cursed and reached for Jonathan again, but the block rose higher, and more guards attacked from all sides. Quickly thinking, he called the shadows to his sides, and scaled the wall between him and his dragon. The beast opened its wings, tearing through any stone threatening to hold it down, catching Togek on the other side. The two dashed into the trees where the shadows followed in suit, and the voices vanished with them into the ground.
          A few soldiers pursued the lightning bender while the rest stayed behind to surround the group. Thirty, maybe forty Earth kingdom guards emerged from the forest. They raised their fists, threatening everyone to lower their hands and stand down.
Tyler was kneeling by David when he was suddenly tackled to the ground. Two guards wrestled with him until a pair of thick metal cuffs were wrangled onto his wrists. "Stop!! My friend is dying!!"
          "Stand down!!" One of them kicked him in the jaw. A few other guards ran over to David's unmoving body and checked his pulse. After a few moments, they gave a nod of approval. Thank the spirits.
          One guard rushed over to Jonathan, cuffing his hands with stone and dragging him over to Tyler. He kicked the back of Jon's legs, kneeling him to the ground and ordering him to stay. Jonathan had no words as his head hung low.
Soon enough, every one of Tyler's soldiers were cuffed and on their knees in a long line, all except Cry, who leapt to his feet furiously after the shadows released him. It took almost every guard to take him down, and even then, they couldn't get very close due to the intense heat he radiated. He viciously punched back three guards, blasted at a group of five, but was eventually brought down when the rocks beneath him broke apart, and the Earth wrapped around his body like a protective cocoon. Within moments, the case was still no match for his power, and he broke out effortlessly.
"Stand down!!" They ordered, flinging more boulders in his direction.
"Do as they say!!" To his disbelief, Tyler was the one who shouted this command. For a second, Cry stood still, until he was tackled down by four stone-armored guards. He writhed in their hands, cursing with venom, as tears streamed down his unmasked cheeks.
"FELIX!!!" He cried out again, repeatedly.
Tyler lowered his head sadly as the broken soldier howled out the only name that ever mattered to him. It was slowly overcome by sobs, then silenced by a brick encasing itself around his mouth. His arms were tethered behind him with many layers of earth, just as his legs were glued to the stone he knelt on. The heat eventually died down, leaving Cry choking on rocks and sorrows.
"Round up the fire benders." One of them ordered, pulling out multiple scrolls with their faces painted onto them. They quickly filed through, pulling aside Luke, Craig, and Marcel, and placing them next to Cry.
"Sir, one of the fire benders is missing." A guard held up Evan's picture. Jonathan shut his eyes and let out a choked whimper.
The lead guard squinted, pulled out a knife, and walked up to Tyler. They met eyes briefly, before the man carefully pressed it against Tyler's neck. "Where is he, traitor?" He pressed in, drawing blood from the tip of the knife.
Tyler growled through clenched teeth. "Swimming with the fishes, murderer."
"Sir!" Another guard called from the cliffside. The man with the knife leaned back to his feet and walked over. The younger soldier pointed at the remnants of blood and singed clothes strewn around the charred cliffs, then at the bloody owl mask laying in the grass. "Someone was killed here, probably by the lightning bender." The two peered over the cliff into the black water, then the older man leaned down to grab the helmet. He walked back to the prisoners and turned his head towards Jonathan when he heard him whimpering.
"Why do you mourn for the enemy?" He placed the mask on the ground in front of him. The water bender's body shook, eyes glued to the flecks of blood on the mask. "Anybody with the right mind would rejoice at the spilling of Fire Nation blood. Unless, of course, you chose the side of those monsters." Jonathan looked away but the man was determined to get in his face. "From what I heard, your birthplace had always been a part of Fire Nation lands. Your resistance to arrest was only further proof that anyone with Western blood can't be trusted."
Next to Jonathan, Tyler bared his teeth. The man scoffed and stood, just as another group of guards emerged breathless from the trees. They made eye contact and shook their heads. "They completely vanished! Right into the shadows!" One of them exclaimed.
"How the hell do you lose an entire fucking dragon?!" The older man spiked with rage. He spun around and punched Tyler as hard as he could, knocking him over and splattering blood into the dirt. Then he grabbed Tyler's shirt, spitting into his face, "You'd better damn pray that the King shows more mercy to your friends than I would!" He spun around to his soldiers. "Send out as many patrols as possible! Not a tree or bush or even a single leaf be left unchecked for that lightning bender!! Take the fire benders and the dragon back to the city, kill the rest!"
They struggled against their bonds as a large metal carriage with barred windows pulled into the area. Though they fought back, the fire benders were forced into the steel container one by one. Tyler met eyes with Craig as they lifted him to his feet and dragged him towards it. The fear on his face pulled at Tyler's heart.
"Ready!!" One of the guards shouted. The soldiers standing behind Tyler and the others raised their swords.
Jonathan exhaled slowly. There was a good that came out of dying, because in a few moments, he could be with Evan in paradise, without any worry for the world as it burned. He opened his eyes, meeting the bloodied ones of the owl helmet. His heart constricted painfully with realization. There may not be a paradise to go to if darkness be all there is to claim him.
The soldier opened his mouth to command, but another shout interrupted his own. They whipped their heads around to the cliffside, where the clouds stirred with movement, and a hurricane of winds suddenly blasted everyone away. Jon landed heavily on his stomach. He rolled over and looked to the sky, where the outline of a bison was vaguely seen in the mist. The shadow of a man leapt off the bison's head, landing heavily on the cliff and blasting more currents of air at the unsuspecting guards.
He was draped in a long blue cloak with loose silver clothes beneath it. The guards leapt to their feet and lift their fists, but another figure jumped onto the cliff. He wore a dark blue Water tribe tunic with a nicer, lighter blue cloak, pulling a long stream of water with his hands. He slammed it against the enemies and rolled them back into the forest.
"Get up! Get to the bison!!" The air bender grabbed Lui's arm and lifted him to his feet.
"Arlan?!" Lui watched him, eyes wide with hope, but he couldn't see the man's face under his hood. With a powerful string of air, he broke Lui's cuffs and went on to the next person. Excitedly, Lui turned to the cloudy shadow of the bison. He leapt into the air, opening his arms for a welcoming hug. However, as he got close enough to it, he was met with a mysterious bison he did not recognize.
The King's guards held their fists against the fallen dragon. Weakly, she growled with golden sparks dancing in her teeth, but they all knew she had given up long ago. Her usual radiant yellow eyes seemed blanched with hopelessness. Two Shirshu's were led towards her, layered with thick ropes strapped around their bodies. Carefully, the Earth benders removed the stones to begin harnessing her to the creatures.
          "LEAVE HER ALONE!!" Craig yanked himself out of the guard's hands just before he could toss him into the carriage. He only managed a few steps towards her before he was tackled to his stomach by four other guards. Luke and Marcel kicked at the metal door, desperate to escape, but the guards that held it closed and locked it tight before anything else could happen. The two fire benders pleaded for Cry to help, but the man slouched in the back of the carriage without a sound.
          "Stand down in the name of the King!!" A man shouted in Craig's ear. Their weight pressed against Craig's ribs like a thousand badgermoles. He screeched and pleaded for air but the guards wouldn't stop, and the more Craig struggled, the more he was asphyxiated.
"LOOK OUT-!!" Something massive slammed into the ground next to him, sending the guards flying in all directions. It then swung a foot down, snapping the chains on Craig's hands and reaching down to lift him to his feet. He briefly saw a flash of fury in Tyler's earthly green eyes before he grabbed tightly to Craig, and leapt out of the way of the oncoming boulders.
          The battlefield quickly became overwhelmed with enemy soldiers. The two mystery people corralled the team towards the bison as quick as they could, also struggling to get close to the dragon or the carriage. The water bender swung a foot at a guard's head and a punch at another's stomach, but as more guards kept appearing and tripling in number, he grabbed his companion's arm and forced a quick retreat to the cliffside. "Get on the bison, now!!"
"Wait, we can't leave them!!" Tyler dropped Craig by the rocky edge and knocked down an oncoming opponent. He could hear the steel carriage creak as the ostrich horses began to move.
"There are too many, you'll get killed!!" The air bender knocked the guards back with a wave. "We must leave, now!!"
"Not without our friends!" Tyler leapt forward, but was immediately knocked back by eight more guards. There were so many of them, Tyler wasn't sure they could handle it any longer, but he couldn't let them take the fire benders away. He couldn't bare to lose anyone else.
          "You have to! Or else we'll all get caught!" The water bender tried to convince him.
          "Luke!!" Craig cried out to the carriage. There were blasts of fire and loud banging coming from the inside, but the steel carriage proved too powerful for them.
          Inside the cage, Luke stared in shock out of the barred window. Beside him Marcel kicked and screamed with flames blasting from his feet, while Cry sat motionless in the corner. There were many guards full of energy, who hadn't broken a single sweat, ready to fight his horribly outnumbered group of crippled puppets. They advanced against his friends, showing no intent of mercy. They had to get away, and they had to now.
          "Tyler!!" Luke shoved Marcel aside to shout through the window. He jerked back when the horses picked up speed, hauling them down the path and around the trees. "Get everyone out of here now!! Don't worry about us!!"
          Tyler opened his trembling lips in denial, but the carriage already veered around the corner and out of sight. Luke's last words to him as he shouted over the chaos were, "Dont you fucking dare lose this war!!"