'Alright,' Shiro murmurs lowly as they walk around the compound on patrol. He must have pulled a few strings because Lance was suddenly seeing a lot of him. 'I can show you tomorrow. You can meet him.'

Lance had already sent word to Pidge, of a special extraction that needed to be made but he hadn't specified just who it was for. There was a certain amount of risk with sending off information and they always tried, even with coded messages, to only give the most basic form of what they had to communicate.

Lance hesitates though, enough for Shiro to notice. 'There's protocol for how to capture members of the Resistance, and I promise you that this isn't one of them,' Shiro says lightly.

Lance supposed he had a point and agreed to meet with Shiro. The morning he was on duty but after that he was free - or rather, he wouldn't be missed. Shiro nodded and remained silent after that. No one spoke much here, there was a stilted air, even among the fire nation. Something Lance couldn't bring himself to break.

The tension remained as he went to bed, woke up and went to work. Every second seemed twice as long as he mentally prepared himself, until Shiro intercepted him in the afternoon, redirecting him from where Lance had been walking without a word.

'Down?' Lance asked as Shiro brought him to the castle intersection, closing in on the stairs. He hadn't been near this area very often though Lance had attempted to venture closer to investigate, he couldn't push it too much without creating suspicions. Here, now, he could guess why.

'Yes,' Shiro replies lowly as he pushes on the door that leads down steep stone stairs. The narrow staircase was lit through torchlight but it was still eerily dark, foreboding. 'It's safe,' he reassures when it's obvious Lance pauses at the top.

Lance huffs a laugh. 'Cause it is, just going down into the Fire Nation's killing dungeon.'

Shiro snorts. 'People die on every level,' he retorts with a grim expression. 'Maximum security is down here.'

Lance steps down, hand digging into the wall for balance. His knees felt weak on these stairs as the door closed behind them and it grew darker. The air was thicker, cold and damp even with the torches. 'For important people?' Lance asks as he tries to ignore how chilled his flesh has become, his hair standing on end and his muscles tense.

'You could say that,' Shiro says. 'I don't look into any of the cells but the avatar's; you'll just feel guilty when we can't save them all.'

Lance's stomach twists uneasily but he silently agrees as they enter into a tight corridor. Shiro pats his shoulder and gestures to go left. Their footsteps are loud but the chorus of pain; muffled groans, muted crying is louder still.

Lance feels sick.

'This one,' Shiro says and Lance is almost thankful when he is reaching to his belt to pull of a large collection of keys. He barely looks at them when he inserts one into the metal door. Shiro the guard unbolts the security lock and then turns the handle.

Lance isn't sure what he is expecting when the door opens into a room that couldn't fit four people inside. Squinting through the shadows, Lance vaguely sees the silhouette of a man slumped against the back wall; his arms shackled and chained above his head. He was hanging there like a pinned butterfly.

Shiro grabs the torch outside and hastily hands it off to Lance as he hurries inside. Lance blinks as he follows after, clumsily lifting the torch to light the way. It's disquieting for Lance, to have this element so close to him but it's admittedly useful.

The darkness recede and the cell burns ember. Lance's eyes sting but he blinks through it to watch Shiro crouch in front of the presumed avatar, leaving his back unprotected. That - actually makes Lance feel a lot better over this situation as his eyes flicker from the guard to the prisoner.

The man around Lance's age is gaunt, threadbare clothes hanging off of him, he was a mess and not at all impressive. His heritage was clear too, with his pale skin and dark hair, the shape of his eyes, even the straight slope of his nose.

His eyes peel open and those - those aren't a colour Lance had expected, or even seen before for irises. Indigo like his mama's flowers, like the sky when the sun is setting. Not blue or grey. Indigo.

'Hey, bud,' Shiro murmurs lowly, gently as he reaches out to cup the avatar's cheek. Lance shifts uncomfortably, unseen if he should be seeing this.

'Shi-' the avatar coughs, hoarsely. 'Shiro? What're you - what're you doing -?'

Shiro hushes him quickly as he leans back to grasp at a water-skin Lance hadn't spied until then. Shiro feeds it to the weakened man and Lance almost winces at the sounds of the desperate, dry swallows. Lance didn't know how Shiro had gotten a hold of that; water-skins weren't allowed here but he was happy Shiro had it here.

Finally, the avatar finishes and Shiro reseals it and restrings it to his belt. 'Better?' Shiro asks after a moment where the avatar is regaining his breath. Settling back, the avatar levels a glare at Shiro that was about as threatening as a kitten's.

'Shiro, why are you here?' the avatar demands but there is something stressed about his tone. 'If someone finds you -'

'Sh, sh. It's okay,' Shiro reassures. 'You'll - we'll be getting you out of here soon.'

The avatar frowns, obviously baffled. 'What're you talking about?'

Shiro shakes his head. 'We don't have the time,' he mutters and turns to Lance, who see the exact moment the avatar notices him. He startles, eyes rounding and face closing off. 'Don't worry, he's here to help.'

'Help? Shiro!'

'I know, I know,' Shiro tries to sooth while Lance remains lost and confused with this conversation. 'Just - trust me.'

The avatar blinks then, before he snorts. 'Why are you here?'

Shiro swallows, Lance can hear it. 'I need - I need you to prove it.'

'Prove what?' the avatar asks in annoyance but as the silence continues, something seems to click and he begins to shake his head. 'You can't be serious -'

'Please.'

The avatar scowls, deeply unimpressed. When Lance is readdressed, he tenses at how unexpected it was. 'I don't have a lot of strength,' the avatar states, voice rough as a light blush briefly colours his sharp cheeks.

'I - I'm sorry,' Lance says after a brief pause of hesitation. If this was real - best case scenario, it could mean everything. But he needed that confirmation.

The avatar licks at his dry lips and beckons Lance forward, which he does after a moment. The avatar reaches out, hand trembling in the air for the torch. Lance flinches as the flame pulls away and into the avatar's palm. He can't do much more with it than that, not with how he was restrained but he does feed it, makes it bigger before sending it make to the torch.

Just that seems to tire the avatar out but he looks back to Shiro. 'Water-skin,' he asks and Shiro pulls it out, uncorking it just as fast. The avatar takes a breath and pulls. The moments are untrained, awkward and Lance can tell this is probably three times as difficult. Eventually though, small droplets emerge from the nozzle.

Lance stomach twists and he's not sure the emotion that rises in his chest at those shaky bubbles. The avatar can't hold it for long before what he managed to control breaks and wets Shiro's thigh where it falls.

'Is that enough?' the avatar asks with some tooth. Lance desperately wants to say yes. 'You're kidding me.'

'There's two of you,' Lance feels the need to point out.

The avatar glares. 'Water is my hardest element and Shiro isn't a bender at all -'

'But I don't know that,' Lance interrupts far more steadily than he feels. 'Just one more - Just…'

The avatar inhales deeply and Lance feels like he may scream when instead he exhales it; turns it into the strength of a strong wind, right into Lance's direction. He doesn't have enough time to react, to stop himself from being forced back as he is suddenly on his arse, torch forced out of his hands and rattles into the wall. The fire, miraculously survives.

'Air,' Lance gasps as he opens his eyes to see the avatar's flushed, exhausted face, Shiro's concerned expression. 'You're -'

'Yeah.' The avatar's nose wrinkles. 'And you should be leaving. Shiro, get him out of here. It's been too long already.'

Shiro grimaces, reaching out to squeeze the avatar's shoulder with regret. 'I'm sorry.'

'It's fine,' the avatar says gruffly but his lips tilt in a small smile. It doesn't quite make it to his eyes though, which are shining with concern, eyebrows narrowed with frustration.

'I'll be back,' Shiro promises. 'It won't be much longer now.'

(Originally uploaded: 28/05/2018)