Sticks and stones may break my bones

[calledmenasir]

WHO| Nasir and all the people he fights during the week (open)
WHAT| Nasir explores the mall, kicks some ass, and gets his ass kicked
WHEN| Throughout Week 2
WHERE| All over the mall
WARNINGS| Some serious violence, brief mention of past torture

Nasir had not done well during the Arena. His fights had been failures. He had not seen Gannicus since the Cornucopia. And the autobiography of himself had made him burn, not the least of which because he didn't know if the starting chapter was a lie. To make things worse, it taunted him with pictures of better days with Agron.

He was tired. He felt the bruises from his battles here. His muscles were still aching from the torture he'd been through at the hands of the Peacekeepers. He could barely sleep as memories haunted him. Then there was the fear that this was not enough. That they would not return him to life and he would break his promise to Agron. He would fail him and his brother and they would all die for it.

Comments

[calledmenasir]

The humiliation of having everything dropped on him, at having to chase this man down fueled Nasir in his rage. And his rage, as always, only lent more strength to him. He dodged and blocked Zuko's attacks. It was no easy task to drive him back. Each step back he took, Nasir pushed forward again.

He was not going to die. He was not going to lose. He owed Agron and his brother more. He had to protect them. There was no stronger motivation than love and even something so beautiful could drive someone to cruelty. As it did now.

But he was outmatched, even at full strength he would be, and Nasir was not at his best. After a time he slowed and the only way to avoid Zuko's kicks was to be driven back further to the escalator.

Nair launched a flurry of assaults at Zuko, swinging his blades on after another, trying to round on him to get to his back.

[failbender]

Zuko was used to attacks coming from all directions. After all, when you faced a Waterbender or Earthbender, not all of their attacks would come from the front. They could just as easily cause earth to jut out behind you or water to whip in from the sides.

He kept parrying the attacks, constantly deflecting the blows, still trying to herd the man towards the escalators, driving in even more aggressively. His attacks earned him several cuts to the face and neck, since they gave Nasir several small openings, but ultimately paid off when he managed to knock both of Nasir's hands away from his chest, leaving him an opening to kick him solidly in the chest, hard enough to knock him onto the escalator.

[calledmenasir]

Nasir's body struck the front of the escalator before he fell back onto the steps. One of them fell out from under them, exposing his back to the gears beneath it and he heard a sucking sound and a pull at his flesh. It wasn't easy to spring back up onto his feet but he accomplished it without being sucked down into the escalator. His flesh did, however, catch on the metal at the sides and streaks of blood ran down his arm and side.

He glared up at Zuko, who was fading farther from sight-- that was until Nasir placed the handle of one knife in his mouth, planted his hand on the rails of the escalator and vaulted himself up onto it. He retrieved his knife.

"Come."

[failbender]

"RAGH!"

The cry was almost a growl as he jumped onto the railing as well, skidding down to where Nasir was. In between slashing blows, kicks, and blocks, he danced between the two sides of the escalator, sometimes taking advantage of how it was moving up or down.

[calledmenasir]

Nasir hissed in response to the cry. He balanced his feet on the rails of the escalators on both sides before stepping over and onto the end of the rail. He moved up while Zuko moved down, and then jumped back onto the other rail to bring himself back into reach of his enemy. When he could, he tried to strike at Zuko.

It was an acrobatic display, each of them balancing carefully on a moving contraption. One slip would lead to a potentially fatal fall. And Nasir was tiring. His feet kept refusing to cooperate and more than once he nearly lost his footing, leaving him open.

[failbender]

The viewers at home got a good show as the relentless flurry of blows and blocks continued, the two of them only managing to deal minor damage to each other as it went on. They danced back and forth from railing to railing of the up and down escalators, barely cheating death with every risky leap.

One quick blow he couldn't block almost sent Zuko falling over the edge of the escalator. Catching the railing at the last second - and dropping one of his knives in the process so his hand was free to do it, he managed to hang on. With one last burst of ferocious energy and an equally ferocious cry, he heaved himself up and vaulted back up over the edge, kicked off the railing, managed to block both of Nasir's arms wile in mid-air and finally landed a solid kick to his chest, hard enough to potentially knock him over the side.

[calledmenasir]

Zuko's foot struck Nasir's chest hard. It seemed his bruises would never heal with the damage he was taking, but that was of no concern as he lost his footing. There was no chance for him to try to cling to the rails as he went back almost head first but then his back arched.

He landed on the floor with his back first, then his head snapping back to slam against the tile. His legs and arms struck and only then did he release his grip on his knives.

Nasir tried to keep his eyes open but everything was blurred and out of focus. Pain radiated from his spine down to the rest of his body and yet more pain shot from his head down his neck. That was proof enough he wasn't paralyzed but he couldn't move.

He had lost.

[failbender]

And now he would die. All Zuko had to do was run down, take his knife and -

And he heard the voice of his uncle in his head. Funny how it came unbidden and he could never quite summon it up when he was actually trying.

"You don't have to do this, my nephew. The man is beaten and like so many here, he is desperate and afraid. Besides, you're already tired. If you try to keep fighting him, you may get so exhausted he gets the upper hand. Some victories aren't worth pursuing if the price of defeat would be too great and some victories aren't victories at all."

He wanted to end it, especially since this man would likely go on and try to kill others. But if he was honest with himself, that meant he'd have to try to kill anyone that was that kind of threat when this whole place was filled with people like that. This place was reducing people to their worst selves when they might have otherwise been able to live in peace with the people around them and if he killed every one of them he came across, there'd be an endless fountain of blood on his hands and he wouldn't be hurting the people actually responsible for this.

Zuko also didn't want to be his worst self, either.

The man was down and he could get away and if he attacked again, he wouldn't hesitate, but this wasn't a blow in the course of battle that would kill his opponent, this would be killing an enemy that had already fallen and risking more of a fight when he was already exhausted.

He hopped onto the railing of the up escalator, balancing perfectly there, and it carried him off. He pointed his knife down at Nasir.

"You fought with honor," he shouted. No sneaky tricks, no dirty moves, no friend waiting nearby in ambush - he'd fought a cleaner fight than Zuko and had been fearless and daring during it, something Zuko could at least respect. It had been one warrior simply battling another in this place where that had to happen for people to survive, where everyone was reduced to fear and violence because of their captors. "I'm sparing your life just this once. If you attack me or any of the people under my protection again I won't show you the same mercy."

Once he reached the top of the escalator, he hopped off and disappeared. He'd lost his one knife but he could come back to the shop later to reclaim it and get another, after he'd caught his breath and Nasir had time to clear out, naturally.