Chapter Text
Mingi snatches his hand away as soon as they reach the empty alleyway, quiet in comparison to the chaos they'd just escaped from.
"Mingi—"
"No," he doesn't even give Yunho a chance to speak, face set on a glare that prompts him to look away with shame. "No, I'm not talking to you."
And Yunho knows he fucked up. He knows this is neither the time nor place to be having this conversation but he can't help himself. Not when Mingi's looking at him like he's just set fire to his entire world. It certainly feels like he has.
"Mingi, please—"
"We're not doing this right now." He stops Yunho before he can get another word in. "Hongjoong." He looks away, back at the entrance of the ally whence they came but they both know that's just an excuse to avoid looking Yunho in the eye and really, yunho can't even blame him. "We have to help Hongjoong."
It's obvious what he's trying to do. Yunho goes along with it anyway, watching Mingi's face for the slightest shift in expression. He doesn't find anything but that hidden anger blazing behind his eyes. "Hongjoong can take care of himself." He says eventually. "This is his plan. The only way we can help him now is by getting out of here while we still can."
"I'm not going anywhere with you." The glare Mingi directs at him this time is harsh enough to slice through the tension between them, like a knife newly sharpened. Yunho ignores the sting.
"Well you don't have any other choice." He grabs Mingi by the wrist before he can protest, pulling him away. The prince goes along with it, mostly because he hasn't any other choice. His family wants him dead, the life he'd built for himself is collapsing as they speak. He has nothing.
The walk to the port is short and uneventful. It's only a few ways away from the palace, though the silence between them makes it feel longer than it actually is. They cut through the forest easily, as the rebels had marked a path for them in accordance to the directions they were given. Yunho keeps note of the ribbons tied to the branches, clearing a path for them.
Yunho stops them as they reach the end of the clearing, slipping his cloak off to throw it over Mingi's figure. He's thinner, Yunho realizes, and adorned in nothing but a patchy shirt and torn pants that are more than a little unreasonable for this type of weather.
His cheeks are hollow and his hands tremble as he pulls the cloak over himself, hiding what little Yunho can see of his lithe form behind the layer of fabric with a glare. Yunho can't even bring himself to be embarassed when Mingi catches him staring. No, he's too worried about the state Mingi's in to give a single fuck.
"Are you—"
"I'm not talking to you," Mingi interrupts, voice laced with venom. "Remember?"
Yunho scoffs but doesn't make any attempt to argue, turning his attention back to the task at hand. There are rows upon rows of ships docked at the harbor and the one standing across from them is by far the most crowded. That's the one Mingi is to take.
"Go." He hisses, pushing Mingi towards the crowd lining up to board. It's first come first serve and Yunho will be damned if he lets Mingi miss his one chance of escape because of a limited capacity.
The wind howls around them, snatching the cloak Yunho handed him before he has the chance to tie it. It slips out of his hand and Mingi's reaction is slow—nothing at all like the Mingi that used to effortlessly match him in speed during their spar. Yunho tries not to think about that as he hands the cloak back to the prince, lips pressed into a grim line.
Mingi tries to throw on the cloak once more but his hands tremble and in his haste, the fabric slips from his fingers more than a few times. The flurry of snow around them doesn't help in the least and Yunho's patience runs out after the third time. He grabs it from off the ground before Mingi can get to it, helping him slip it on. He buttons up the front with gentle fingers, pulling the hood on to keep him from being recognized.
He tries and failing to ignore the look of utter panic on Mingi's face. For a split second, Yunho thinks he is the main cause. He shouldn't get so close. He should stop showing that he cares. It's clear that in doing so, he's only angering Mingi further.
He realizes then, as he stares into Mingi's sorrowful eyes and the dark circles beneath, that it's not because of what Yunho's said, but because of what he's done.
"I can't get on that." Mingi hisses as Yunho hands him his ticket, the knot of anxiety in the pit of his stomach growing tighter at the sight of the Fire Nation guards checking the identity of everyone whose about to board.
And that's not all: there's too many of them. There's only supposed to be three at most, checking bags and letting people on. There's more than a dozen now and they all look to be searching for something. Someone.
"You have no other choice." Yunho says, even when he knows how dangerous this is. There's an uneasy feeling licking up his spine and he's just as scared as Mingi is, if not more. Still, this is the plan. This has been the plan. They can't stop now when they've come so far. It's not like there's any other route of escape they can take. Not with their time ticking fastly away. "This is the only ship that goes to the Western Air Temple." Mingi stumbles closer to him when a particularly hurried passerby bumps into him. Yunho catches his arm before he can fall; feels bone instead of meat and muscle like there should be. Mingi retracts his hand like he's been burned. Yunho lets him. "My father and mother have already made arrangements for your arrival."
Mingi's about to argue. Yunho can see it in his eyes. He's about to shake his head and say something when he freezes, gaze fixed somewhere behind Yunho. A hand touches Yunho's shoulder almost as soon as he notices the look on Mingi's face, turning to face the person who was trying to garner his attention. As soon as he does, he understands. He knows without even having to glance in the prince's direction that he's lowered his gaze so that the hood covers up most of his face.
"Boarding tickets?" It's a member of the High Council, if the insignia on his red jacket is a sign to go by. There should be no reason for a member of the High Council to be in a place like this, checking boarding passes. Not unless they know for certain that what they're searching for is here. They wouldn't know anything about that unless someone gave away their plans; unless someone gave away Mingi.
But that couldn't be possible. The only people who knew anything about where Mingi was headed was Yunho, Ryu, and Dolkara. It wasn't Yunho who gave him away and it couldn't have been his father. He would only benefit from having Mingi there, knowing it was the bait he needed to lure Yunho back to the temple. It was his idea to suggest the Western Air Temple anyway. He wasn't even here to alert anyone of their plans, unless he'd done so before he departure but even still, if he'd alerted anyone Hongjoong and the rest of the rebellion would've been apprehended even before they even had the chance to enact their plan.
That only left Ryu as the only viable traitor but that didn't make any sense either. She cared for Mingi like a son. She brought them all together and aided in Mingi's escape. She wouldn't have given them away. Not unless she had no other choice.
Not unless she got caught.
Yunho swallows down the bile threatening past his lips, forcing a smile on his face. "Sorry officer, but I fear we're a bit lost."
Commoners—the lower class, especially, cannot tell the difference between the council and the soldiers that work under them. They wear the same uniform and the same insignia and the only difference is that the councils symbol is only slightly different.
Different enough that people like Yunho and Mingi who grew up seeing them are the only ones who should be able to tell the difference.
"Where are you headed?" The councilman looks them over and Yunho tries not to show any signs of fear under his gaze.
He says the first thing that comes to mind. "Ba Sing Se, sir."
The man nods, pointing a finger further down the dock. "The ships going to the Earth Kingdom dock on the west."
Yunho bows. "Thank you, sir. Your help is much appreciated."
He nods before going on his way and as soon as he's turned, Yunho lets out a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding. He's grabbing Mingi's hand before he can think too hard about it, dragging them down to where the councilman pointed.
"Change of plans," he mutters under his breath so that only Mingi can hear. He takes them west where there's fewer boats docked, curtesy of the war between the Earth Kingdom and the Fire Nation. "We're not going to the Western Air Temple."
"I can't go to Ba Sing Se." Mingi hisses, and Yunho knows he's right. A city as big as that one is the most dangerous place to be and this isn't even considering how difficult it'll be to get Mingi past the soldiers that guard the gates. It's too late to contact Jongho now and it would be far from the smartest move to let anyone else know about the princes location, much less the king of the enemy nation.
Jongho is a King first and their friend second. Yunho isn't willing to risk Mingi's life by handing him over to the very people who want his family dead.
"I know," Yunho huffs, scanning the signs attached to the port for any other rural cities when he freezes, finding exactly what he's looking for.
Mingi stops beside him, directing his gaze to the wooden sign displaying their new destination. His reply is immediate. "No."
Yunho turns to look at him. "There aren't many other options, if you couldn't tell."
He shakes his head, pulling his hand out of Yunho's harsh grip. He hadn't even realized their fingers were intertwined. He hadn't even noticed how hard he'd been holding him, afraid that if he let go he'd lose Mingi again. For certain this time. "You're not sending me to some—some random village in the middle of nowhere!" He's panicking, lips curled in distaste. Yunho hates it. He hates that he can't do anything to make it better. "What am I going to do if I get found out? I have no one. They'll kill me. They'll throw me to the streets. They'll give me away for a large sum of money and my father will—"
"You won't." Yunho's voice is harsh. Desperate. Final. He tries to soften his tone somewhat; fixes Mingi's hood so that it falls over his face once more, having fallen in their hurry to get away. Yunho's grip firm enough that the howling wind can't pull it out of his hands. Not this time. "Mingi, it's either the Plains Village or Ba Sing Se." Or the Si Wong desert where the tribes are known for being extremely territorial and hostile. They'll tear him apart regardless of who he is. Prince or not.
Mingi shakes his head, eyes glassy with unshed tears. The snow falls harder around them now and he grabs on to Yunho's wrist which have yet to let go of Mingi's hood. His hands are cold. Much colder than before. They're pale, almost blue at the tips and Yunho knows they're running out of time. Mingi can't take much more of this.
"Yunho—"
It's the first time he's said Yunho's name. His voice is hushed, soft but panicked as the announcer calls for the last ones to board. They are the only two left. "Yunho, please—I can't do this. Not alone. I've never been on my own. I don't even know how to—" He stops himself with a firm shake of his head, hand trailing up Yunho's elbows to his biceps. His grip is firm, despite his trembling fingers. Weak, but firm. Desperate. "Come with me."
This isn't the plan.
Yunho is supposed to send Mingi away and head back to help the others. He's supposed to go back to Wooyoung so that they can find a new place to stay, away from the Elders who wronged them and the Lords that scorned them. He promised Wooyoung. He promised.
But Mingi is looking at him. He's looking at Yunho with fear and uncertainty and utter dread—laying himself bare for Yunho to see—and he looks utterly broken. He's the weakest Yunho's ever seen him and for him to trust Yunho enough to shed his mask completely—
"Please."
It isn't an order. It's a plea.
It's nothing more than a whisper, stolen away by the whispers of the wind. The same wind that rips Mingi's hood from Yunho's hands, waving wildly about as it starts to pick up speed.
Mingi doesn't care. He looks at Yunho with those sad eyes and really, that's all it takes. Just those eyes and the whisper of a prayer, asking him to stay, and Yunho caves.
It isn't a secret how important Mingi is to him. At the end of the day, they both know Mingi is Yunho's only weakness.
The journey to the Plains Village is a long one. Yunho remembers learning about all the Earth Kingdoms provinces as a kid but the only one he really remembers are the ones with importance.
What he's heard about the Plains Village he's heard from others, by word of mouth. It's a settlement located in the arid plains of the Southern Earth Kingdom, small and poor and full of suspicious figures. Merchants tended to rest for a night but they never stayed long. No one ever wanted to stay long, for reasons that were never really explained.
Yunho tries to justify his decision to tag along by thinking about all the thugs that band together to run the place. It makes him feel a little better, not sending Mingi off on his own to some unknown place but the guilt of having abandoned Wooyoung is still there, squeezing his heart with every gentle reminder.
There aren't very many people on this ship and it isn't until they're led to the brig that he realizes this is a merchant ship holding stowaways. This place is a means of escape for most who've boarded. They no doubt paid a large sum to those running it. Yunho and Mingi are no exception.
"This is all I have." Yunho says to the captain, forced to use half the fortune he planned to hand to Mingi before he set sail.
"If you can't pay, then get off." The guy spit in his face. Yunho tries his best to ignore his stinky breath.
"Please, sir," Yunho tries, "we need the rest for food. We have nothing else."
His eyes flit between Mingi and Yunho accusingly. "Are you two related?"
Yunho doesn't know why that's important. He doesn't know what answer he's expected to give, either. "Brothers, sir." He doesn't know why, but that feels like in a place like this, that's the right answer.
The captain pauses. "Does you brother speak, son?"
"No, sir." Yunho replies before Mingi can even part his lips. His voice is far too distinguishable in a place like this. Hell, even his face stands out from everyone else and right now, they couldn't afford anyones suspicion.
"Is he deaf too?"
"No, sir."
"Good." The captain turns on his heels, expecting the two to follow. They oblige. "I used to have a brother, back when I was a pirate. I'm retired now, so you needn't worry about walking the plank." He laughs at his own joke, walking as he talks. "He was deaf, so I know what it's like to be responsible for someone like that." They listen as he tells them about his younger brother, about how he was the finest gunman in the sea because he could not hear. The canons couldn't take the hearing of someone who didn't even have it to begin with. "Since neither of you are hard of hearing I won't have you in the engine room. You'll be tending to the injured since you can talk to them," he says, looking right at Yunho. "And your brother can help some of the crew repair different parts of the ship. How does that sound?"
"I have no previous knowledge of medicine, sir." He trades a look with Mingi. "And my brother hasn't held a hammer in his life."
"You'll learn." He barely pays his words any mind as he leads them down to the brig where all the other stowaways are scattered. Across soiled cots and lounging on the mess of crates and barrels. Some are missing arms and legs and some are clearly sick with some disease or another. "You'll sleep here." He motions to a cot tucked into a corner, barely big enough to fit one person, much less two. "Someone will come to get you in the morning for work and food. Rest for now."
Yunho nods his head; doesn't notice Mingi swaying on his feet until the captain leaves them. Only then does Mingi fall to his knees.
Yunho catches him before he can fall to the floor, lowering him onto their designated cot as gently as possible, as if trying not to spook a startled animal.
"Hey," he whispers, hands coming up to shake Mingi's shoulders. He feels bone again where there should be meat; remembers Hongjoongs words earlier that day. He was supposed to give Mingi something to eat as soon as he found him. Hongjoong never explained, but Yunho knows now why Hongjoong was so upset after having a talk with Mingi in his cell.
For a split second he is angry that the general didn't tell any of them that Mingi was refusing to eat. The anger is gone as soon as it came when he realizes why he did such a thing. Telling them—telling Yunho such a thing would only make him worry. Especially when they all knew there was nothing any of them could do about it.
"Hey, princess. Wake up." Yunho's voice trembles as he holds the prince limp in his arms. Mingi doesn't move, ribs so still Yunho questions if he's even breathing. "Wake up," he says again, pleading with the gods above. "Come on. You're hungry, right? I have something for you to eat so sit up. Come on."
Mingi looks up at him. He's using Yunho for support, leaning against his side like he knows that despite everything, Yunho will take care of him. He always will. There's a far off look on his face that Yunho doesn't like. He doesn't make to respond, eyes shutting of their own accord so Yunho pushes him back until he's sitting on the cot with his back leaning against the wall, mumbling out a string of curses when he realizes Mingi can't even sit up on his own.
He fishes out a bar of chocolate from his pocket before peeling the wrapper and thrusting it into Mingi's open palm. The prince merely looks at it, grip so light the bar falls into his lap, untouched.
Fuck, Yunho should've really given it to him earlier, way before the adrenaline wore off. He takes it in his own hand, gently pushing the chocolate past Mingi's lips.
It takes him a very long time to chew. By the time the first bar if done almost an hour has passed. Yunho pulls out a second. The only other one he has left. "Do you want more?"
Mingi blinks at him, eyelids heavy.
"Don't give him any more." Someone says from behind, startling Yunho out of his skin. "It doesn't look like he's been eating a lot. If you give him more than he can handle he'll just throw it back up."
It's a woman with dark blue hair. She isn't very short or very tall, but she somehow manages to stand out while blending in completely. Yunho can't even begin to comprehend why that is.
She crouches down next to him, examining the wrapper tossed carelessly onto Mingi's lap. She reaches a hand down her bag and pulls out a container. "Here," she says, handing it to him. It's homemade, he realizes. Chicken and salad. "Chocolate is good for raising his blood pressure but give him some actual food." Yunho listens intently, more shocked that someone is willingly helping them than by anything else. Anyone who knows who he is hasn't ever bothered to offer a helping hand. Why would they now, when he's dressed like a commoner with not a cent to his name? "Don't force him to eat more than he can stomach."
Yunho doesn't know what to say. He can't even begin to express how grateful he is. "Thank you, miss…?"
"Call me Dami." She nods her head in greeting. "I used to be a physician."
It's dark in the brig but the various oil lamps scattered around cast a warm glow, enough that Yunho can see her patchy shirt and fraying pants; the bag she holds close to her chest. She's one of them: a runaway.
"How do you find yourself here?"
She smiles, though it doesn't reach her eyes. "Helped some rebels back when I still had my clinic." Yunho doesn't need to ask to know what happened. She got caught, and that was the end of it. They took everything from her; her career, her life.
Mingi makes an indistinguishable noise and Yunho's head snaps to attention. Mingi is staring at her, eyes wide at the first mention of the word 'rebel'. The only reason they can even talk so freely about this sort of thing is because of where they are, stowaways on a merchant ship looking for a way out of the country. Yunho's willing to bet not a single person on this ship supports the Fire Lord and the High Council.
"What about you two?" She meets his gaze and holds it. "Why are you here?"
Yunho busies himself with feeding Mingi so he doesn't have to look her in the eye. "Got caught committing one crime too many." He says eventually, catching Mingi's eye. He chews the chicken Yunho feeds him, swallowing after a few seconds. "There was nothing left for us back there."
She hums, understanding. "What are your names?"
Yunho's hand pauses where he's bringing the fork to Mingi's lips. He doesn't know why he thinks of a book he read once, a very long time ago. It was a book unlike any other. One that talks of the existence of two dragons in the Fire Nation, though they're all far from extinct now. It was nothing more than a myth, even then, but while he was reading it in the Earth Kings library on one such uneventful day, he remembers thinking about how similar Mingi and him were to the firebending masters. Like yin and yang. Two sides of the same coin.
"You can call me Shaw," he says, spur of the moment. He hesitates a second too long but he hopes that Dami isn't as observant as he thinks she is. Or that at least she won't question it. He watches Mingi's eyes widen in real time, just for a split second before they go back to normal again, like he can see every thought running through Yunho's mind. Yunho doesn't doubt he can. "This is Ran."
Dami smiles, soft and sad. "Like the dragons."
He nods and does his best to ignore Mingi's gaze boring holes into his. He can tell there's more she wants to say but whatever it is, she decides against voicing it, falling silent as a little boy comes up to them.
"Is that chocolate, mister?" He's talking to Mingi, looking down at the bar of chocolate in his lap with blown eyes. Mingi reaches for it slowly—carefully—fingers trembling with the effort it takes to raise the thing.
He holds it out for the kid to grab.
The child gasps, all giddy with sparkles in his eyes. Yunho's heart melts in his chest when he accepts the bar, thanking them hurriedly before rushing away.
Mingi smiles, small and untethered. Yunho hadn't realized how much he missed seeing it. He hadn't realized how much weight Mingi's smiles carried until then, like it took too much effort for him to be happy.
He sees that happiness now, through the exhaustion. He sees it in his eyes, and he sees sadness too. Despite being away from home, Mingi is yet to have the one thing he truly wants. He is yet to be free. He still carries that weight and refuses to let go of it.
"I'll leave the two of you to rest," Dami whispers, hushed now that almost everyone has quieted, having taken to bed. "It was nice meeting you."
Yunho nods, accepting her outstretched hand. "Same here."
They bid each other farewell and an hour or so later, after Mingi has finished a quarter of the food they've been given, Yunho collapses beside him on the cot. The prince shuffles to lay down beside him, with his back to Yunho. The cot is so small that any form of physical contact is inevitable. It feels different though. Cold. Like Yunho is in a bed all by himself, despite Mingi lying beside him.
They don't exchange a word that night.