The Tale of Kotori (LOK)

Chapter 5: Almost Free

Chapter 5: Almost Free

     Kotori and Jett felt the air craft land with a thud. They heard men walking by them and hopping on and off the air craft. Then, Jett was dragged off. They took him down many halls, but he couldn't see anything so he didn't know how far he was going in wherever he was going into. He heard the latch of a cell door close and his blind fold was mercilessly yanked off, jerking his head forward.

    He saw rows and rows of cells that held pairs of people. They all had different coloring. Some had darker skin and dark hair, most likely water benders. And some with pale skin and brown eyes, probably fire benders. And there were some he couldn’t really tell. But he didn't see any air benders, which he expected, but he didn't see any earth benders either. He would've gotten up and looked further, but he was still tied up.

     Meanwhile, Kotori's ropes drug her around. The thin strands dug into her skin uncomfortably. She was drug onto a bench, her back scraping onto the side of it. But then her blindfold was very gently untied and pulled off, she watched as the guard walked off and remembered most of Amon's guards are being deceived and are just trying to make Republic City a better place. But Kotori also knew there were some heartless men who knew what they were doing, or didn't care.

     Kotori was in a long row of wooden cells. The whole room was wooden. She looked around and saw one person per cell. Kotori squirmed, and ended up falling onto the floor. "It's no use." The man in the cell to her right said. "There's no earth in here. I tried so hard to get away before I got my bending taken away." He added glumly. Kotori just laid there.

     Jett looked down the rows. He was one out of two people in the whole room who was wearing a face mussel. "Fire bender huh?" A girl across from his cell asked. "Yeah." Jett answered in a muffled voice. Then for the most part, it was quiet. Jett started fire bending with his hands, but they were still in the cuffs, but the metal started heating up. His hands started to hurt but he kept going. The ropes across he arms started to smoke and his hands burned hotter. Being a fire bender doesn't mean you're heat proof.

     The ropes finally gave and fell. He wiggled until only his legs were tied, his hands were cuffed and he was wearing the mussel. Every pair of eyes was intently set on him. There was a jagged edge on the cuffs and he cut the rope on his legs off. He reached over his head with both hands in cuffs and pulled off the mussel.

     The metal face covering hit the floor with a clang and all the captives held their breath hoping a guard wouldn't come. They waited roughly two minutes and nothing happened. Jett stood up and stuck his cuffs between a bar and the lock. He twisted his arms hoping to break either the lock or the cuffs. The cuffs snapped into two, his hands were separate but still individually isolated. "What do I do now?" Jett whispered. "On a scale of one to ten, how good of a fire bender are you?" Someone asked. "Uhh eight? I don't know." Jett said. "Okay, try to crush the lock, if the guards come, fire bend." Another instructed. Jett took his two incased hands and tried to squish the lock between them, but it kept sliding between them though.

     Jett tried multiple times and finally heard a crunch. The lock fell to the ground and Jett pushed the cell door open slowly. "Okay guys, I'm going to find my friend and get you guys out of here. Where do they keep the earth benders?" Jett asked. "We don't know, they use blind folds remember?" Someone said. "Oh, well then. I'll be back." Jett said walking out of the room. He walked down many halls until he got a glimpse of a wooden bar. His hopes got up and he forgot to stay alert. He walked openly in the hall and then looked up. There were two guards coming toward him. "Gah!" Jett scrambled as he scurried away on his feet.

     He turned the corner and unintentionally hit a guard in the head with his glove. They were a bit heavy and hard to hold normally. At this time he was being followed my four guards and Jett was actually starting to enjoy himself when he turned into a dead end. He turned around and kicked his leg up and spun around as he cast lightening everywhere.

     The four fell, but just to be replaced with five more. "Awe come on!" Jett shouted to himself. He threw blue fire from his feet, but the guards charged like it was nothing. The fight went on and soon Jett was back in his cell with disappointed eyes on him. But this time with two guards at his cell, with electric gloves which is like a substitute of lightning.

     A man who seemed to be wearing a higher rank uniform approached his cell and stopped in front of it. "I heard you have caused quite some trouble today. And put up a nasty fight, twice!" He slightly laughed. "But to talk about what you've done with your bending isn't what I'm here for. It's about what you will do with it. You're scheduled to have your bending taken away tomorrow morning." He said with hardly any expression at all. He walked away without another word.

     Jett was showing an awful frown, but then, you could only see the glare in his eyes because the mask was covering the rest of his face. He was no longer tied in several strands of ropes, but he got his pull over handcuffs replaced and his arms were behind his back and his feet chained to the ground, barely able to move two inches. With his mussel of course. He was no longer in a cocoon, but he wasn't quite comfortable. Kotori was in a similar position, she had more slack on her feet, and no mussel, but there was no earth to bend anyway.