[color=bfbfbf][sub][table= //////= POST DESIGN v1=\\\\\\][row][sub][sub][sub][sub][sub][img]https://i.imgur.com/JbHDcS6.png[/img][/sub][/sub][/sub][/sub][/sub][/row][row][cell][sup][img]https://i.imgur.com/i97SqJz.png[/img][/sup]

[color=2e2c2c]___________________________________[sub].......[/sub][/color]
[/cell][cell][color=white][center][sub][sub][sub][sub][sub][img]https://i.imgur.com/DHKvx27.png[/img][/sub][/sub][/sub][/sub][center][color=2e2c2c]Tunnels under the Middle Ring   ·   Afternoon   ·   In collaboration with [&.Exit][/color]Tunnels under the Middle Ring/Desert Outpost  ·   Afternoon/Morning Next Day   ·   In collaboration with [@Exit][/center][/sub][/center][/color][quote][color=2e2c2c]_[/color]
[color=9f9f9f][color=white]”Chu… we have to go. If we wait any longer, we may not be able to make it out of the city before they seal everything.”[/color] Kanna was already standing a few feet away in the encroaching darkness of the tunnel. [color=white]”I’m sure she’s fine and will catch up.”[/color] She said, not really believing her own words.

Chu Hua shook her head emphatically. [color=firebrick]“No. No, she’s coming. Just thirty more minutes, please.”[/color] Her gaze was fixed on the abyss of the tunnel expanding behind them, hope and dread mixing in her eyes. An would come. She had to. Only hours ago, Chu Hua had begged An to stay behind for her own safety. But now… [i][color=firebrick] I can’t do this alone.[/color][/i] They couldn’t leave her behind, not with the city the way it was, and not with the evidence of her helping them on tape. Even underground they heard pained and terrified screams, the rending sound of gunshots, the explosions of bombs. She couldn’t leave her fiancee here.

[color=white]”You said ‘thirty more minutes’ thirty minutes ago…”[/color]

[color=firebrick]“So? We’ll wait. We can’t just leave her here, Kanna.”[/color]

[color=white]”Yeah. Actually we [i]can[/i].”[/color] Kanna grimaced as the words came out of her mouth. They sounded much harsher than she meant for it to. [color=white]”I’m sorry. I just… I hate this as much as you but if she hasn’t come down yet, either whoever was sent to check on her never left, or… or we [i]really[/i] need to leave. Regardless, as annoying as I think she is, I know she can handle herself. That much is obvious. She’s going to be fine but we definitely are not going to be okay if we stay.”[/color]

[color=firebrick]“You don’t understand,”[/color] Chu Hua insisted, growing agitated as she curled her hands into fists. [color=firebrick]“I know she can handle herself. But I can’t leave her here. I can’t. Maybe you don’t understand that kind of commitment, but she’s important to me.”[/color]

[color=white]”No I do! I understand you’re committed to her but she’s also committed to you! Tha- Ugh! This! Right here. She’s committed to getting you out of here and ignoring [i]that[/i]... that is what got my mother killed.”[/color] Kanna shook her head. [color=white]”She put her neck on the line for you literally a few minutes after finding out you’re a Firebender because you’re important to her too. We can’t let it be for nothing.”

Also I’m a fucking idiot and I put myself in this hole and I don’t want to die either, okay? I really dislike the idea of dying.”[/color]  

[color=firebrick]“But…[/color] Chu Hua leaned against the tunnel walls, wearing a look of devastation on her face as she realized she had no ground to stand on here. What Kanna said was true. They had very little time, and if they stayed in the city, the two of them- especially Chu Hua- were certainly doomed to die of a bullet to the head. She couldn’t leave her fiancee behind, the very thought of doing so rended her limb from limb, but she also couldn’t wait here and let herself and Kanna die. Although she certainly loved An much more than Kanna, her ex had also risked her life for Chu Hua. She couldn’t let her die, either. 

She was quiet for a long moment, staring into the distance, eyes empty. It was the thought of that obligation that finally forced her to speak. [color=firebrick]“I fucking hate you for making me do this,”[/color] she murmured, and stepped off the wall. [color=firebrick] “Fine. Let’s go.”[/color]

Kanna stole a last glance back down the tunnel toward where An had let them in. Like Chu, she wasn’t sure when or if she’d ever be back and figured that this was it. She hadn’t even been given the chance to properly gather anything from her house. Her clothing. Belongings. Photos. Her mother’s memory. All of it had been left behind, much in the same way that Chu was doing now with her entire world.

But then again, when Kanna really thought about it, there was little else left for her in Ba Sing Se. As much as she liked to give Chu shit about it, it was painfully obvious that Chu was going to over take her that year. Her time had been up a long time ago, she knew, and every victory at finals was just Kanna desperately postponing the inevitable. In some ways, the abrupt end of the game was a bit of a stroke of luck as there would be no official verdict as to who was best, but Kanna knew. She also knew that with no family left, the high-point of her career already at its end and no one to lament her absence in the same way An was Chu, her story was over.

[color=white]”Yeah. I hate me too.”[/color]

[hr]

After the two of them had left the tunnels and emerged from the city, they had set out to the desert outpost on foot. Kanna and Chu Hua sniped at each other on occasion, but for the most part they were silent. Chu Hua looked questioningly back at the slowly receding outline of the Ba Sing Se skyline every once in a while, looking for [i]something[/i], but Kanna didn’t comment. She couldn’t tell if she was grateful for that or not. Mostly, the trek blurred together. At certain points, her entire body just hurt so bad from the combination of burned and tired feet, burned skin, and general exhaustion and despair that she could only focus on putting one foot in front of the other. After all, they couldn’t stop. Someone would figure out where they had escaped to at some point and come looking- it was better to get as far from the city as possible as fast as possible. 

They finally reached the outpost when the first hint of light was touching the desert sky. Chu Hua almost immediately fell asleep for two glorious hours while Kanna made sure no one took their things. Chu Hua took second watch, waking up to let Kanna sleep for a while. She watched the last trickle of fugitives- benders, she guessed- filter in. It immediately put her on edge. It was hard to think of herself as one of these people. Bloodied, devastated, some raving. All was quiet, for the most part, with the occasion argument breaking out. As the sun finally rose, bringing with it an unbearable heat, she watched people prepare to leave and nudged Kanna awake. Their names had been announced as some of the people leaving in the first wave. 

Now, Chu Hua had one eye on the horizon and one eye on the car they were supposed to be leaving in. One foolish little part of her kept hoping that she would see An dashing across the sand, having fallen just a bit behind. [color=firebrick][i]But that isn’t going to happen.[/i][/color] She stuffed her burn-mottled hands in her red plaid jacket, wincing at the pain that caused. She drew them out. 

She eyed the storm critically, standing next to Kanna. It was strange- the one person she had wanted nothing to do with less tha twenty four hours ago was maybe now one of the only people in her vicinity she could trust. [color=firebrick]“Well. We weren’t murdered, so I don’t think the universe will sandstorm us to death,”[/color] she joked half-heartedly, provoking a glare. 

She nudged Kanna, gesturing to the Kyoshi. A few people were milling around it, trying to look like they totally weren’t considering stealing it. [color=firebrick]“I think that’s our ride. Wanna go… I don’t know, stand next to it or something? So we don’t get trampled?”[/color] They trekked over to the Kyoshi, taking up a spot a good few feet away from the car. She up-nodded one of the tough-looking guys and then diverted her eyes, shifting from foot to foot. Chu Hua stood in silence, trying her best to keep her eyes angled out of the glaring sun. Maybe the worst was over.

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