Even with all the precautions he’d taken, even with how smoothly things were going, Shinji did not allow himself to be complacent. He took his time navigating the streets, guiding Kati by the hand from corner to corner. Under the moonless night, starlight and street lamps were the only thing that betrayed the couple’s silhouette, and considering who they could be running from, the teens clung tightly to the shadows.

Shinji almost gave in to the temptation to just make a run for it the moment the port came into view, but old lessons kept his impulses in check.

“Slow is smooth, smooth is fast,” as his father had said, and proven various times.

They slipped past two more city patrols before finally breaking into a run. Kati kept up with him without complaint, quietly huffing as they made a beeline for a particular boat Shinji had prepared for days.

It was a boat that would serve as their escape, a boat that would carry them to a new future where they could be together.

It was also a boat where seven shadowy figures suddenly popped out of, causing the couple to almost stumble to a halt.

Shinji didn’t need to wait for them to reveal themselves to identify them. Even before the electric lamps on the boat came on, he recognized the postures of his siblings.

“Brother,” his blood sister curtly greeted, full of disappointment and disgust. The stark illumination made Asuka’s scowl even more intimidating than usual, and even in simple attire the First Crown Princess exuded a domineering air.

Even as he gulped with fear, Shinji quickly pulled Kati behind him.

“Really, brother?” a venom-smooth voice commented dryly. Kachiko tapped her manicured fingers on her elbows as she regarded him. The Second Crown Princess looked flawless as always, as if she somehow had the time to put on some makeup and keep her hair in a perfect ponytail. “You really think we’re that stupid now?”

As his two sisters glared at him, the other figures stepped off the boat to approach Shinji. “Come now, Shinji. We are not here to harm you. Or Kati.” Shinji turned to his eldest brother, Bayushi, the diplomat of the family who had his arms open in a gesture of peace to match his assuaging tone. That made the teen take a few apprehensive steps back. Unfortunately, a quick glance around him told Shinji that he was already being surrounded. Trust his siblings to be efficient.

“Ho-How did you-”

“How did we know?” Asuka asked for him with an arched eyebrow. “Just because we’re not familiar with Agna Qel’a’s palace, you think we’d forget what your habits are, Shinji?”

“That snoring machine sounded too consistent,” Ty Fong explained almost apologetically from beside him. “And it stopped mid-snore.”

That had been a stupid gamble, in hindsight. Shinji had overlooked the blatant flaw of a windup mechanism. Stupid.

“And this vessel of yours isn’t registered to be here,” gentle Subudei bluntly said. “I checked.”

Of course he checked. Shinji lamented at having such a thorough book-sage as a brother right now. No doubt Subudei managed to get his hands somehow on a different docks registry to compare against Shinji’s amended ones. Knowing his brother, he probably compared the lists twice out of boredom. Thrice if he really had nothing to do.

“Now cease your cowering and we’ll all go back,” Asuka commanded. “If you’re lucky, we’ll get to stave off the damage from what you’ve so impulsively attempted here.”

Shinji was about to respond when his beloved let out a whimper of protest. “But…but I love him…”

Immediately, practically all of the siblings went stiff with restraint.

“‘Love’?” Kachiko hissed. “What sort of an excuse is that? Do you know what kind of shit the two of you would dump onto all of us by following your genitals?”

Shinji didn’t blame Kati when he felt her shrinking behind his back out of his sister’s wrath. Kachiko’s lingering resentment gave her anger a particular spikiness that sometimes made Asuka’s outbursts feel…mundane. He’d like to find a place to hide too, if he could.

“Truly, Shinji, did you not know the consequences of this?” Bayushi calmly asked.

“Of course he did,” Asuka answered for him. “Our brother’s an idiot, but he’s an educated one. Which makes things worse.”

The insult prodded Shinji to voice his defense. “High Chief Sokka and Chieftess Yue would understand! They wouldn’t put this on our family’s heads!” Behind him, Kati was nodding fervently in agreement.

“That is not how this works, Shinji,” Subudei softly replied. “You know this.”

“No, our intentions were clear,” Kati suddenly cut in. “I…I left a message in my room, explaining everything.”

That only provoked grimaces from the surrounding siblings. “A message?” Ty Fong asked with a groan.

“Fuck,” Bayushi hissed, almost inaudibly. “We forgot to consider her idiocy…” Beside him, Ty Fong and Subudei nodded.

Ignoring his brother’s insult, Shinji’s desperate gaze swept across his siblings. “Please, let us go,” he pleaded. “Put all the blame on me if you wish, ask our parents to disown me.” He glanced back to Kati, drawing strength from her before returning to address his brothers and sisters. His hand found hers, and their fingers quickly intertwined tightly. “I love Kati, as she does me. We don’t care about prestige or wealth or titles, we don’t care if we become fugitives.”

“As long as you have each other, right?” Asuka drawled bemusedly. “Unfortunately, brother mine, that’s not how the world works. Nevermind Agna Qel’a, letting you two lovebirds elope will send the wrong message to the world about our family. At a time when we need all the goodwill we can get to exert influence over the warring states.”

The oldest sister of the royal family narrowed her eyes in a familiar, dangerous glare. “Now surrender and let us salvage this while we still have time.”

Shinji didn’t need to hear ‘or else’ to know what the alternative was. Still, Kati’s hand squeezed his a little more, and Shinji exchanged a deep, silent look with his soulmate. She was afraid, but her determination was unbroken.

He’d promised they’d be together no matter what. He’d promised to do everything he could to make that happen. Even if it meant facing down his family. Even if it meant breaking himself to get them to the boat, to freedom.

Shinji drew in a breath and slowly let go of his beloved’s hand, and braced himself as he met his blood sister’s glare. “No.” Flames burst to life around his clenched fists, and Shinji dropped into a combat stance.

“Fool,” Kachiko sighed, and drew out throwing knives - blunted ones, the back of Shinji’s mind appreciated - while Asuka stepped off the boat with lightning crackling in her eyes and fingertips, and Bayushi covered his sisters with a flame-wreathed dagger. On Shinji’s flanks, Subudei lowered into a crouch while Ty Fong was still shaking his head as he drew out a truncheon.

“We don’t want to hurt you, brother.”

Shinji forced himself to grin and infused himself with confidence. “And I you, brother.”

The first move wasn’t made by his five siblings but by the two, until now silent, people who were all but family. Lin and Suyin lashed out with grim faces, sending a metal lamp post bending about like loose string towards Shinji and Kati. Shinji quickly sent a backhand that fired off a blast of fire to knock the projectile off its trajectory, and at the same time leapt aside to avoid Subudei’s tackling charge.

Shinji just barely got the time to push Kati away as Ty Fong lunged with his baton, but then the dogged children of Toph sent out another strip of metal that flew and wrapped around his left ankle with enough force to trip him forwards.

Desperately shaking off the improvised shackle with the aid of a burst of flame, Shinji still had the awareness to quickly bring his hands up to push away Subudei’s dive-bombing form. A blast of ice knocked the older prince off Shinji, though Kati’s timely rescue was promptly answered with a quick but gentle tackle to the ground.

“I’m sorry, but this is a family matter,” Ty Fong off-handedly remarked as he restrained Kati’s arms behind her back. “We promise we’ll be far more gentle when it comes to your turn, Princess Kati.”

Shinji got to his feet quickly, but he had to immediately twist aside to avoid Subudei’s grapple and Bayushi’s fire bolt. He was rolling on the ground again, doing his best to put himself between his siblings to stop them from effectively ganging up on him, but also ensure that he didn’t leave himself too vulnerable to any one of them. If he could only-

The frost-covered earth suddenly rose up to swallow Shinji, effectively incapacitating him.

Right. His metalbending godsisters could also earthbend. Not the right time to forget about such things.

Shinji gritted his teeth as he channeled his flames all over his body into a controlled explosion, blasting himself free. But it was too little too late, the momentary immobilization was all his siblings needed. Shinji’s jaws immediately opened wide and the air was blasted from his lungs as Subudei’s elbow came slamming down into his guts. Then Ty Fong’s truncheon was pressed on his neck, threatening to crush his windpipe. Just at the edge of view, Asuka, Kachiko and Bayushi were standing impassively, and on the other end, Lin and Suyin were frowning at him with heavy disapproval.

“Please yield, brother,” Ty Fong offered a bit too casually. “We’d very much like to not use plan B as an option.”

“P-Plan B?”

Bayushi was the one to answer. “It’s the one where we throw your broken form to High Chief Sokka and say that we’ve done our part disciplining you, in hopes of buying some leniency for all parties.”

“Yes, we prefer not having our image of family unity tarnished, if you can believe it,” Kachiko snarked. “So please, brother. Stop resisting while plan A - the one where you and Kati are returned to the palace unharmed - is still viable.”

Something caught Shinji’s attention then, a flicker in the stars.

His siblings noticed too, as Subudei’s and Ty Fong’s grip on him relaxed immediately.

“Fuck,” Asuka cursed for all of them, as the specks of darkness grew, and glinted in midnight blues and ruby reds.

The dragons landed laconically on the docks, but even from the edge of his view Shinji could see their carriage-sized heads were clearly showing irritation.

Worse than that, Orochi’s and Quai Yin’s passengers stepped off, and the royal siblings (godsiblings included) dropped to one knee in deference as their parents made their appearance along with High Chieftain Sokka.

Kati let out a short yelp as the bands around her were freed, and she alone stood in apprehension before the Prince and Princesses of Ba Sing Se and her father.

Shinji managed to force himself up onto one elbow to get a clear look at the scene while he caught his breath.

“Kati.” Sokka’s deep voice called out, and his daughter immediately shrank back into herself. He took a moment to study her from head to toe before simply asking, “You’re unharmed?”

Kati meekly nodded her head, unwilling to meet her father’s gaze.

At the same time, Shinji had no choice but to meet the palpable gazes of his parents. He forced his head to turn towards his father and mothers, and immediately regretted it. His blood mother, First Princess Azula, was clearly restraining her fury. Shinji’s other mothers, the Second and Third Princesses Suki and Ty Lee, were just exasperated and sad in different measures.

His father though… Shinji flinched from the immense disappointment from Prince Xing of Ba Sing Se. It was a look he’d fooled himself into thinking he could withstand, back when he and Kati hatched the plan to elope. It was an utterly foolish plan, Shinji now realized as the weight of his father’s gaze crushed him. Even with the aid of all the spirits, it was a stupid plan that was destined to fail.

Because as much as Shinji loved Kati, he feared his father’s disappointment far, far more.

“I…I’m…” the capacity for speech fled Shinji as he numbly got to his knees. On instinct he prostrated himself before his father.

He flinched again as he heard his father’s weighty sigh, but the Prince of Ba Sing Se’s first words were not directed at him. “How is your daughter, Sokka?”

“Eh, spooked, but alright. Your kids are sca-ry, I give you that. Thanks guys, for going easy on my girl.”

“Not as scary as us, I assure you,” Shinji’s blood mother replied coldly, her gaze still boring into his prone form. Shinji swore he could feel the high chieftain shudder in response.

“Anyway, I’m glad we caught up in time.”

“Indeed so.” Shinji let out a quiet gasp as he felt his father’s gaze on him again. “The question then remains…of punishment and reparations.”

There was silence for a few seconds before Sokka answered with a touch of awkwardness. “Eh, it’s no problem. You stopped my girl from doing something stupid-”

“Which involved my son’s own…lack of foresight.”

“True. But still. It’s not like everyone knows about it, so we can sweep all of this under the rug, right?” Another heavy pause as no doubt Shinji’s family were offering highly skeptical looks. “I mean… It’s easy for you guys, right?”

“Cleaning up the failed incident is not an issue,” Asuka answered in her formal tone. “However, it is the matter of not allowing such injustice to be unpunished that must be addressed, High Chieftain Sokka. A message, if you will entertain the notion. Our family member has…strayed and almost disgraced us.”

“Really? Xing, really? Wow, you guys are intense. Uh…”

“Please don’t,” Kati suddenly squeaked out. “It’s not Shinji’s fault. I-it’s m-”

“None of that, girl,” mom cut off. “You may have the heart, you do not have the brains to fully plan all of this. No disrespect, of course.”

“Well, son?” Shinji trembled as his father finally addressed him. “You’ve falsified dock registries, acted on false pretenses, and attempted to kidnap the princess of the Northern Water Tribe. You’re barely any better than a saboteur.”

He did not dare raise his head. He did not dare even risk a glance up at the disappointed eyes of his father.

“I…”

There was a shuffle of cloth, and then his father’s voice was much closer to Shinji’s head. “Shinji. Look at me.”

Shinji’s body obeyed the command, however much his mind resisted the idea. He found his father crouched and staring straight at him. Oh, how he wanted to flee right now!

“Tell me, Shinji. Do you truly love Princess Kati?”

It took a few seconds before Shinji realized he still couldn’t form words, and he managed to nod once.

“Then why didn’t you come to us about it?” His heart dropped at the growing disappointment in his father’s tone. “Why not voice your resolve, your stubborn desire to be with her, instead of this debacle?”

“Be-Be…” Because he was afraid of having to explain himself before his parents. Because he feared seeing them frown upon his affection for Kati again.

His father’s voice became firmer. “What do we do in our family, Shinji?”

Shinji finally found his voice. “We talk. W-We talk, fa-father.”

The Scorpion Prince nodded slowly, as if Shinji was a mere boy once again. “That’s right. We talk. About anything and everything. You could’ve brought this up with us, could you not?”

“I-I…I was afraid…you would sa-say no.”

“And why would we do that, Shinji?”

“Thuh-The proposal before…”

“Proposa-” Shinji couldn’t help flinching as his father sighed with exasperation. “The throwaway line you used that time. You said you might like a princess…”

Shinji could only nod, even as his blood mother groaned and his siblings’ palms smacked against their faces.

“Powerful, dangerous…” Suki sighed. “We thought you were alluding to Princess Mai Song.”

“Hey!” the high chieftain protested. “We’re powerful and dangerous!”

“He used ‘potential enemies’ too,” Bayushi pointed out with a groan.

“Oh. We’re not that. Are we enemies, Xing?”

Father finally broke his gaze from Shinji to turn to Sokka. “No, we’re not. Though… I suppose my son could be misconstruing our competing trade influences back then…”

“Right… Right, the puma whale thing. Wait, he came up to you about it that long ago? Kati, you’ve never said a thing about this!”

Kati remained silent, which promised for a lengthy conversation with her parents later.

“It seems that some…misunderstandings have been revealed. Sons, help your brother up. We’ll return to the palace to continue this at length. Lin, thank you for bringing this to my attention.”

Shinji could feel the surprise from his siblings as Lin stammered. “Bu-But I didn’t-”

He could hear his father’s grin. “Your subtlety needs more work, your excuses just now were not exactly that convincing.”

“Oh…”

“It’s no matter. Consider it a topic to be honed later, though for now I’m thankful for it.”

And then that heavy, heavy gaze fell on Shinji again, though with hurt instead of disappointment. Which made it infinitely worse on his conscience.

“Come, we’ll see if we can figure out a betrothal before the sun rises.”

“Give them at least six years before they can marry,” mom added with cutting anger. “It should give me enough time to formulate and enact a fitting punishment for my son for his idiocy.”

“Our son, Azula,” Ty Lee gently corrected, and Shinji suddenly felt dread for his coming years. “We’ll formulate a fitting rehabilitation for dear Shinji, to remind him of the importance of communication.”

“I swear Xing, you guys should adopt some of the dark spirits Aang’s fighting so you can scare them into behaving.”