What Happens On Ember Island
Title: What Happens On Ember Island
Genre: General, Crossover, Humor
Rating: PG
Pairing: None
Summary: The story of the Last Airbender gets reworked by a cast that, admit it, you would all love to see. The story of just how the Ember Island Players pulled off the Comedic Event of the Century.
I usually use breaks to catch up on episodes of Supernatural and other Dramas that I accidentally ignore during school, but even so, I should still have time to write something, right? Right? But somehow, I never do. But if I didn’t post something during break, I would feel like a quitter. So you get this.
I’m not sure if I should include a brief overview of the Last Airbender for people who haven’t seen or heard of it. I don’t know how many people that group would consist of. Which is why I’m keeping my totally warranted fangirling to an absolute minimum and just telling you what you need to know.
So, skip the next two paragraphs if you already know what the story is about.
There are people in the world who have the capability of using martial arts to control a specific element, being fire, earth, water, and air. This is called bending. No one person can control more than one element, save for the Avatar. This ultimate power representing the balance of the universe is embodied in a human being who is reincarnated throughout the ages. When the Avatar is reincarnated in a young boy, he is frightened by the responsibility and runs away, getting trapped in an iceberg for a hundred years and opening the door to a century of domination by the Fire Nation, and also the genocide of his people. When he is rediscovered, he has to face his past and future and save the world with some friends, enemies, and generally awesome people (i.e., Iroh).
This is their story (in that a friend of a friend’s uncle’s brother’s nephew’s cousin’s former roommate told me that this was how it all went down). JK. Later in the story the ‘save the world’ group attends a play about their adventures, in which the creators make fun of the fandom in general. This fic is based on that seventeen minute episode, which, if you find it online, you should WATCH THE ENTIRE SERIES. Because I cannot underline how awesome it truly is (M. Night is a lie).
You can find the episode here and the pictures of what our boys look like here.
---
What Happens On Ember Island
---
“I must capture the Avatar to regain my honor.”
Leeteuk sighed and rubbed his forehead, bent over the script. “Go ahead and run the lines again, but Siwon, please try to sound a little more . . . jaded, maybe? And loud. Our dear Prince isn’t well known for controlling his temper.”
“Leeteuk-sshi, I don’t know if it’s quite as dramatic that way-”
“This is a comedy, people!” Leeteuk shouted, jumping up from his seat to pace. Men and women were still busy crafting the set just on the other side of the wall, even as the cast worked. Lines were marked on the floor for spots, and the thack-thack of hammers did not stop at the sound of his voice. It was one of their more complex sets, and they couldn’t just pause the construction every five minutes for the actors’ benefit. The sounds trickled in from the open door to the cast room backstage, where the costumes were being fitted. “I know you’re not used to it, but I need you all to act so well that everyone thinks your acting sucks.”
“How will they know the difference with Kangin?”
There was a smattering of laughter, and someone - Heechul, probably, getting his make-up done - started cackling and clapping. Kyuhyun, still getting his wig adjusted by a nervous make-up artist, bowed and sent the entire mess to the floor again. Lounging at the other side of the set, Kangin only held up his middle finger and settled back into his seat, fiddling with his little gold headband. There would probably be retribution later, when Kyuhyun found that his dinner had only been half cooked or some other nasty surprise.
Leeteuk cleared his throat. “Are there any other questions? Actual questions?”
Heechul raised his hand, adjusting the skin-colored hat, tugging the arrow a little off to the side. Leeteuk ignored him. “No one, really?” Heechul raised both hands and waved them. “Then, we’re going to split into groups for specific scenes in Book one! Team Zuko, you guys can use the cafeteria. The Avatar’s posse, we don’t need you guys to be banned from any other parts of the theater, so no repeats of what happened in the orchestra pit-”
“That never would have happened if you had actually provided the snacks like you promised!” Heechul shouted.
“That didn’t mean you had to go looking for booze!” Leeteuk rubbed his forehead, feeling a headache coming on. He had worked with the Ember Island Players for years, he’d gotten his start here. They were all talented (and now very famous), but all that didn’t stop them from acting like five-year-olds when it suited them. “Remember, we have the cast party tonight so you guys can get drunk then. Now, Azula, I want to go over your lightning choreography again, so you stay here.” Henry nodded seriously, silvery ribbons gathered up in his hands. “Everybody, break!”
~~~
Crammed in a tiny practice room was not exactly where Kim Heechul wanted to be. Of course he was cast as the leading lady - he always was. He had no problems with this, since he was more beautiful than any of the female members of their cast, but it was hard taking on all that responsibility and having to present a perfect face to the public.
Not that he wasn’t capable of continuing with it. He knew he was the only one who could.
But all the same, if he was going to be crammed into a tiny practice room with Hannie, he would have preferred being stuck there, with Hannie, and no one else. As it was, Yesung sat in one of the corners, tugging at the pony tail -excuse me, ‘Warrior’s Wolf Tail’ - that was sticking like a pineapple off the top of his head. “So where are we going to start?” he asked.
“I’ve already gotten all my lines memorized,” Heechul said, adjusting himself in Hannie’s lap, his arms dangling loosely around the other man’s neck.
“But not all of us are as lucky as you are to have such prodigious talent,” Han Geng sighed. “Grace us with your presence a little longer, your highness.”
“Oh, I would love to hear that more often.”
“Try out for Azula’s part next time, then.”
Heechul seemed to actually consider it, before shaking his head. “All that lightning and bad energy would be bad for my skin.”
They practiced Sokka and Katara’s lines at the opening, Heechul putting in where he had to. He sort of wished Hannie didn’t have to wear the fake boobs, but Heechul could admit that he made a decent chick, as close as anyone could get to looking as good as Heechul himself.
From there, Heechul let his mind wander to the other actors that had to put up with dressing like a female and being eclipsed by Heechul’s magnificence (he couldn’t help it if he was perfect, but he wasn’t about to stop), to Henry who would have to perform Azula’s part to Azula herself at some point. No one in the royal family, he knew from his time as a court performer, was particularly well-adjusted, so they all had the right to worry. They usually toned their performances down when the nobility was around. It was the best way to keep out of prisoner of war camps, everyone figured.
Since several of them had already been there, done that, it was something everyone wanted to avoid. They knew how to keep their heads down and stay safe, but members of the younger generation, recent additions to their cast, they were just kids with no idea of how dangerous the world could be. Heechul knew there were times when he was cruel to them, but if they didn’t understand that the world was crueler, they were never going to survive it.
---
Leeteuk leaned up against a pillar, his bare feet hanging off of the stone porch into the garden below. Nights in the Fire Nation were so muggy that he couldn’t stand to be in the stifling room any longer, all the younger actors drinking and partying and running around making fools of themselves. Leeteuk had done all that before, and the press of bodies was a bit more than he could handle. It didn’t help that Kangin kept pressing drinks into his hands the entire time, and quickly the warmth of a pleasant buzz turning into something that would have him puking all over Heechul’s designer sandals if anyone else jostled him.
It wasn’t too odd for him to excuse himself early from parties. He, Eunhyuk, and Shindong had the day to day running of the company to worry about, and all that was very hard to do with a hangover. But Shindong was actually from the Fire nation and had been raised in the sweltering heat, and Eunhyuk, even though he had grown up half way across the world, was still from a desert people and was adjusted to it.
Leeteuk had grown up in a house made of ice, and even when his family had become little more than beggars in the Earth Kingdom, winter always came quickly and the summers never got too hot. When the former leader of the Ember Island Players had come to his village, looking for stories and the talent to tell them, he couldn’t imagine a world with anything different.
He hadn’t seen snow since.
The breeze that was coming down over the mountains and out into the harbor was refreshing, leeching the heat from the rocks and wood that it had soaked up throughout the day. It smelled like sulfur from the hot springs and barbeques and if he closed his eyes he could try to imagine it smelled like sea salt and smoked seal jerky.
He let out a sigh, trying to let those thoughts leave him, because he knew it would be near impossible to return home, even if he had a home to return to. Anyways, his home was here, protecting the ne’er do well performers from the public and themselves.
“Someone’s taking life too seriously again.” Leeteuk looked up at the voice, its owner still standing in the shadowed porch. “I thought you would go to bed.”
Kangin sat down heavily beside the older man, leaning back on his arms. He was quieter than he usually was drunk, but maybe that was just because the party had only just begun, and Leeteuk was a lightweight so that may have been why it felt like it was four in the morning when . . . Leeteuk had no idea what time it was. He wasn’t really entirely sure of anything. The only thing he was absolutely certain of was that he should not trust his mouth in this situation.
“The musical will be a success, if that’s what you’re worrying about,” Kangin said, filling the silence. He was uncomfortable with quiet at the best of times, and after a drink or two, he would talk for no other reason than to assure himself he could still hear.
Leeteuk mumbled something in reply that he hoped sounded like ‘it’s too morally ambivalent.’
“You worry too much. It’s going to be funny, and you tacked on that oh-so-happy ending to keep everyone calm. It’s not like anyone will care. It’s just caricature.”
Leeteuk didn’t mention the newspaper cartoonists that had been sent to prison for doing caricatures, and it was in bad taste to mention what happened to Heechul. They kept away from doing too many parts that portrayed the Fire Lord and his daughter - but comedy demanded that they be cast, and Leeteuk may or may not have purposefully cast only Fire nation citizens as members of the royal family, and known dissenters as the, well, dissenters.
People accepted that performers had their oddities, and allowed them to live their lives without a lot of intervention, as long as they played by the rules of the man in power.
---
It wasn’t the most important moment of his life, standing on that stage. Not that night. But if he had been asked to order the crowning moments and turning points of his life, most of them did take place on the stage, from his last-minute audition in front of the directors as the crew built a new set, to his debut to, well - everything that he wanted to remember and tell his children about were related to the theater and the people he met there.
And performing was nice. Exponentially better than nice. Sometimes it was like being splashed awake with cold water, but - no, it was more pleasant than that.
It was like going from mechanically sleep-walking through every venue of his life, to being awake, alive, and really aware. And after all that -
“Kyu, stop daydreaming, and help us carry these things!”
A disgruntled groan was the only answer one of the prop-wielding hyungs received, but Kyuhyun stood up and walked over to take one of the piles of costumes. The show was over, for now, and there was a possibility of going on tour. The Ember Island Players were renown among the elite on Ember Island, but performing to the rest of the Fire Nation, or the rest of the world, even -
Kyuhyun was very tempted to drift off into another daydream, but he shook himself out of it, and helped to carefully fold and store the costumes. Leeteuk didn’t want to take any chances with any of the props, especially if that chance to tour fell through, which was why Kyuhyun was oh-so-carefully quietly pressing the folds out of Eunhyuk’s smelly King Bumi muscle suit. “Hyung, where do I put it?” he asked, holding it as far away from his nose as he could.
Leeteuk looked up from his checklist, as he recorded the box and tag numbers of the costumes. “Uh, don’t worry about it. I have another job for you.” Leeteuk took the costume from him, setting it on a bench nearby.
“Heechul and Kangin disappeared, along with their costumes. If you could find them and bring them back, I’d appreciate it. They’re probably just using them to get free drinks at the club, or something, but we need to get them in.”
Kyuhyun was going to ask which club, but Leeteuk already raced off at the sound of a huge crash - someone was trying to dismantle the warships, but from the sounds, Kyuhyun guessed
they were going about it in the wrong way. Just a guess.
---
It didn’t take long for Zuko to figure out that someone was following them. He wasn’t exactly paying complete attention to Toph prattling on about her life - she apparently hadn’t noticed, either, but it was no huge surprise. Walking on sand, it was almost as if she actually was blind.
Sure, he felt responsible for her, and her life was hard and everything. But they were looking for Aang, who’s sudden and inexplicable stage fright could literally destroy the world. Correction - Zuko was looking for Aang. Because Toph couldn’t see.
The point of staying in groups was supposed to make it safer, right? But Zuko was babysitting, having to watch his back, and hers. It didn’t help that she apparently thought of it as one adventurous field trip, which proved that, despite her maturity, she was still just a child.
Zuko knew better than to start a confrontation with whoever was trailing them on the sand, where the blind earthbender was practically defenseless. He didn’t know how powerful the enemy would be, or even how many there were. Zuko only managed to catch sight of one out of the corner of his eye, but if it was him, he would use a clumsy or obvious person as a distraction while he took the target out from another angle.
But that was just him. Obviously whoever it was knew what they were doing, trying to set up an ambush in an arena which hobbled their best fighters. But what they wanted was another story. Zuko cautiously grabbed Toph’s shoulder and steered her toward the steps leading up off of the beach.
“Hey, hot pants, what’s the big idea? Aren’t we supposed to search the beach?” she complained, finally stepping onto the wooden stairway.
“Just climb,” Zuko mumbled. “The beach ended in twenty feet. Aang isn’t over there.”
Zuko wondered how whoever was following them would deal with the stairs. It would be the last chance to really ambush them, but there was no lick of flames or screech of steel. All the same, Zuko kept on edge, one hand on his swords as the beams creaked beneath their weight as they climbed.
Finally they reached the stone landing at the top, and Zuko turned. “Hey, the stairs couldn’t have gotten you that winded,” Toph mumbled. “Why are you so nervous?”
“Who are you?!” Zuko shouted, ignoring her. “Why are you following us?”
“Sure, don’t tell me what’s going, on. It’d not like I could help you or anything.”
Zuko ignored her, his swords drawn as he glowered at the man who stood frozen on the steps. He didn’t know why the man looked so familiar, or why he reminded him of a two-bit cartoon villain. It wasn’t important, anyways.
The other man seemed to find his voice. “Oh, man, that is so cool!” He sounded more like a beach bum than an assassin, but Zuko wasn’t good at giving people the benefit of the doubt.
“I asked you who you are.”
“It’s the guy who played your dad in the play,” Toph said, her voice suddenly serious as her eyes stared into the general direction of the man.
The man seemed unusually happy to be recognized, and despite the fact that Zuko knew he had to be older than them, his huge eyes and dorky smile made him look like a child. Hardly dangerous looking, but Aang looked that way at times, too, so Zuko knew better than to judge him harmless.
Though he was beginning to believe more and more that the man really wasn’t all that dangerous. “I’m a huge fan!” he finally managed to shout out, though he looked to concerned by the fact that Zuko was armed to come any closer. “Can I please have an autograph?”
“What?”
“Oh, this is awesome,” Toph shouted. “It’s like being the Blind Bandit again. Who should I make it out to?”
The man seemed to take this as an invitation to come closer, and Zuko was really too surprised to stop him. Toph seemed to carry a charcoal pencil with her for just this purpose. While the others dug through their clothes for a stray piece of paper, the traitor prince wondered, not for the first time and certainly not the last, just what happened to his life once he joined the Avatar.
---
“Guys, guys, you’ll never believe who I just met!”
“Oh, do tell us, Firelord Ozai.” Kyuhyun recognized the odd lilt to the voice before anything else - it dripped sarcasm like venom, and it was the first part Henry had to perfect. But Henry wasn’t the one who was sitting in Leeteuk’s chair, behind Leeteuk’s desk, while the man himself stood off to the side with a grim expression and a black eye.
Kyuhyun’s world jerked to a sudden, shuddering stop as he froze in the doorway, his arms still splayed out, stuck as he was in the ‘hero returning victorious’ pose. The contents of his stomach threatened to make a return visit at the abrupt change, and he knew he must have gone ten shades paler the moment he realized Princess Azula was in the room.
But in the space of time it took his brain to completely shut down, it jumped to life again, working twice as fast. “Sung Si Kyung!” he practically shouted, still looking at Leeteuk and trying to exude all the dorky ignorance he possibly could. “I didn’t know he had a house on Ember Island!” He actually didn’t know if he did or not. “Teukie-hyung, what if he came to our show?! What if he was in the audience, and saw me perform?!” This was actually a valid fear, Kyuhyun thought, and he could feel his stomach tighten in what he thought was real panic. “What if I messed up and he noticed it? Oh, God, Teukie-hyung, what if-”
Working himself into a fangirl-ish panic seemed to do the trick. The princess of the Fire Nation had always somehow managed to terrify him, but she only exuded the patronizing boredom that meant she would overlook him as she would a buzzing insect - as long as he stopped buzzing. “That’s all very interesting, but really, Teukie, if you don’t get control of your little singer, well, I can’t guarantee he won’t be brought up on charges for illegally portraying a member of the royal family. I thought you said we wouldn’t be disturbed?”
“Kyuhyun-ah . . . .”
Kyuhyun swallowed nervously, trying to smile. He waved as he left, not trusting his voice to stay in a manageable octave should he try to speak. As he closed the door behind him, he let out a long sigh, nearly collapsing against a wall.
“Now, Teukie, are you sure that’s who he saw?”
A/N: Why do I do this to them? Kangin, go save Leeteuk!!! Why are you out running around and playing Toph?
In other news, I found everything that Kyuhyun wore in the concept pictures at Claire's and Forever XXI when I went to the mall yesterday. I fyou're looking for a Halloween costume idea, well. You might have just found it. I would, but I'm already going as a Dai Lee agent . . .
Genre: General, Crossover, Humor
Rating: PG
Pairing: None
Summary: The story of the Last Airbender gets reworked by a cast that, admit it, you would all love to see. The story of just how the Ember Island Players pulled off the Comedic Event of the Century.
I usually use breaks to catch up on episodes of Supernatural and other Dramas that I accidentally ignore during school, but even so, I should still have time to write something, right? Right? But somehow, I never do. But if I didn’t post something during break, I would feel like a quitter. So you get this.
I’m not sure if I should include a brief overview of the Last Airbender for people who haven’t seen or heard of it. I don’t know how many people that group would consist of. Which is why I’m keeping my totally warranted fangirling to an absolute minimum and just telling you what you need to know.
So, skip the next two paragraphs if you already know what the story is about.
There are people in the world who have the capability of using martial arts to control a specific element, being fire, earth, water, and air. This is called bending. No one person can control more than one element, save for the Avatar. This ultimate power representing the balance of the universe is embodied in a human being who is reincarnated throughout the ages. When the Avatar is reincarnated in a young boy, he is frightened by the responsibility and runs away, getting trapped in an iceberg for a hundred years and opening the door to a century of domination by the Fire Nation, and also the genocide of his people. When he is rediscovered, he has to face his past and future and save the world with some friends, enemies, and generally awesome people (i.e., Iroh).
This is their story (in that a friend of a friend’s uncle’s brother’s nephew’s cousin’s former roommate told me that this was how it all went down). JK. Later in the story the ‘save the world’ group attends a play about their adventures, in which the creators make fun of the fandom in general. This fic is based on that seventeen minute episode, which, if you find it online, you should WATCH THE ENTIRE SERIES. Because I cannot underline how awesome it truly is (M. Night is a lie).
You can find the episode here and the pictures of what our boys look like here.
---
What Happens On Ember Island
---
“I must capture the Avatar to regain my honor.”
Leeteuk sighed and rubbed his forehead, bent over the script. “Go ahead and run the lines again, but Siwon, please try to sound a little more . . . jaded, maybe? And loud. Our dear Prince isn’t well known for controlling his temper.”
“Leeteuk-sshi, I don’t know if it’s quite as dramatic that way-”
“This is a comedy, people!” Leeteuk shouted, jumping up from his seat to pace. Men and women were still busy crafting the set just on the other side of the wall, even as the cast worked. Lines were marked on the floor for spots, and the thack-thack of hammers did not stop at the sound of his voice. It was one of their more complex sets, and they couldn’t just pause the construction every five minutes for the actors’ benefit. The sounds trickled in from the open door to the cast room backstage, where the costumes were being fitted. “I know you’re not used to it, but I need you all to act so well that everyone thinks your acting sucks.”
“How will they know the difference with Kangin?”
There was a smattering of laughter, and someone - Heechul, probably, getting his make-up done - started cackling and clapping. Kyuhyun, still getting his wig adjusted by a nervous make-up artist, bowed and sent the entire mess to the floor again. Lounging at the other side of the set, Kangin only held up his middle finger and settled back into his seat, fiddling with his little gold headband. There would probably be retribution later, when Kyuhyun found that his dinner had only been half cooked or some other nasty surprise.
Leeteuk cleared his throat. “Are there any other questions? Actual questions?”
Heechul raised his hand, adjusting the skin-colored hat, tugging the arrow a little off to the side. Leeteuk ignored him. “No one, really?” Heechul raised both hands and waved them. “Then, we’re going to split into groups for specific scenes in Book one! Team Zuko, you guys can use the cafeteria. The Avatar’s posse, we don’t need you guys to be banned from any other parts of the theater, so no repeats of what happened in the orchestra pit-”
“That never would have happened if you had actually provided the snacks like you promised!” Heechul shouted.
“That didn’t mean you had to go looking for booze!” Leeteuk rubbed his forehead, feeling a headache coming on. He had worked with the Ember Island Players for years, he’d gotten his start here. They were all talented (and now very famous), but all that didn’t stop them from acting like five-year-olds when it suited them. “Remember, we have the cast party tonight so you guys can get drunk then. Now, Azula, I want to go over your lightning choreography again, so you stay here.” Henry nodded seriously, silvery ribbons gathered up in his hands. “Everybody, break!”
~~~
Crammed in a tiny practice room was not exactly where Kim Heechul wanted to be. Of course he was cast as the leading lady - he always was. He had no problems with this, since he was more beautiful than any of the female members of their cast, but it was hard taking on all that responsibility and having to present a perfect face to the public.
Not that he wasn’t capable of continuing with it. He knew he was the only one who could.
But all the same, if he was going to be crammed into a tiny practice room with Hannie, he would have preferred being stuck there, with Hannie, and no one else. As it was, Yesung sat in one of the corners, tugging at the pony tail -excuse me, ‘Warrior’s Wolf Tail’ - that was sticking like a pineapple off the top of his head. “So where are we going to start?” he asked.
“I’ve already gotten all my lines memorized,” Heechul said, adjusting himself in Hannie’s lap, his arms dangling loosely around the other man’s neck.
“But not all of us are as lucky as you are to have such prodigious talent,” Han Geng sighed. “Grace us with your presence a little longer, your highness.”
“Oh, I would love to hear that more often.”
“Try out for Azula’s part next time, then.”
Heechul seemed to actually consider it, before shaking his head. “All that lightning and bad energy would be bad for my skin.”
They practiced Sokka and Katara’s lines at the opening, Heechul putting in where he had to. He sort of wished Hannie didn’t have to wear the fake boobs, but Heechul could admit that he made a decent chick, as close as anyone could get to looking as good as Heechul himself.
From there, Heechul let his mind wander to the other actors that had to put up with dressing like a female and being eclipsed by Heechul’s magnificence (he couldn’t help it if he was perfect, but he wasn’t about to stop), to Henry who would have to perform Azula’s part to Azula herself at some point. No one in the royal family, he knew from his time as a court performer, was particularly well-adjusted, so they all had the right to worry. They usually toned their performances down when the nobility was around. It was the best way to keep out of prisoner of war camps, everyone figured.
Since several of them had already been there, done that, it was something everyone wanted to avoid. They knew how to keep their heads down and stay safe, but members of the younger generation, recent additions to their cast, they were just kids with no idea of how dangerous the world could be. Heechul knew there were times when he was cruel to them, but if they didn’t understand that the world was crueler, they were never going to survive it.
---
Leeteuk leaned up against a pillar, his bare feet hanging off of the stone porch into the garden below. Nights in the Fire Nation were so muggy that he couldn’t stand to be in the stifling room any longer, all the younger actors drinking and partying and running around making fools of themselves. Leeteuk had done all that before, and the press of bodies was a bit more than he could handle. It didn’t help that Kangin kept pressing drinks into his hands the entire time, and quickly the warmth of a pleasant buzz turning into something that would have him puking all over Heechul’s designer sandals if anyone else jostled him.
It wasn’t too odd for him to excuse himself early from parties. He, Eunhyuk, and Shindong had the day to day running of the company to worry about, and all that was very hard to do with a hangover. But Shindong was actually from the Fire nation and had been raised in the sweltering heat, and Eunhyuk, even though he had grown up half way across the world, was still from a desert people and was adjusted to it.
Leeteuk had grown up in a house made of ice, and even when his family had become little more than beggars in the Earth Kingdom, winter always came quickly and the summers never got too hot. When the former leader of the Ember Island Players had come to his village, looking for stories and the talent to tell them, he couldn’t imagine a world with anything different.
He hadn’t seen snow since.
The breeze that was coming down over the mountains and out into the harbor was refreshing, leeching the heat from the rocks and wood that it had soaked up throughout the day. It smelled like sulfur from the hot springs and barbeques and if he closed his eyes he could try to imagine it smelled like sea salt and smoked seal jerky.
He let out a sigh, trying to let those thoughts leave him, because he knew it would be near impossible to return home, even if he had a home to return to. Anyways, his home was here, protecting the ne’er do well performers from the public and themselves.
“Someone’s taking life too seriously again.” Leeteuk looked up at the voice, its owner still standing in the shadowed porch. “I thought you would go to bed.”
Kangin sat down heavily beside the older man, leaning back on his arms. He was quieter than he usually was drunk, but maybe that was just because the party had only just begun, and Leeteuk was a lightweight so that may have been why it felt like it was four in the morning when . . . Leeteuk had no idea what time it was. He wasn’t really entirely sure of anything. The only thing he was absolutely certain of was that he should not trust his mouth in this situation.
“The musical will be a success, if that’s what you’re worrying about,” Kangin said, filling the silence. He was uncomfortable with quiet at the best of times, and after a drink or two, he would talk for no other reason than to assure himself he could still hear.
Leeteuk mumbled something in reply that he hoped sounded like ‘it’s too morally ambivalent.’
“You worry too much. It’s going to be funny, and you tacked on that oh-so-happy ending to keep everyone calm. It’s not like anyone will care. It’s just caricature.”
Leeteuk didn’t mention the newspaper cartoonists that had been sent to prison for doing caricatures, and it was in bad taste to mention what happened to Heechul. They kept away from doing too many parts that portrayed the Fire Lord and his daughter - but comedy demanded that they be cast, and Leeteuk may or may not have purposefully cast only Fire nation citizens as members of the royal family, and known dissenters as the, well, dissenters.
People accepted that performers had their oddities, and allowed them to live their lives without a lot of intervention, as long as they played by the rules of the man in power.
---
It wasn’t the most important moment of his life, standing on that stage. Not that night. But if he had been asked to order the crowning moments and turning points of his life, most of them did take place on the stage, from his last-minute audition in front of the directors as the crew built a new set, to his debut to, well - everything that he wanted to remember and tell his children about were related to the theater and the people he met there.
And performing was nice. Exponentially better than nice. Sometimes it was like being splashed awake with cold water, but - no, it was more pleasant than that.
It was like going from mechanically sleep-walking through every venue of his life, to being awake, alive, and really aware. And after all that -
“Kyu, stop daydreaming, and help us carry these things!”
A disgruntled groan was the only answer one of the prop-wielding hyungs received, but Kyuhyun stood up and walked over to take one of the piles of costumes. The show was over, for now, and there was a possibility of going on tour. The Ember Island Players were renown among the elite on Ember Island, but performing to the rest of the Fire Nation, or the rest of the world, even -
Kyuhyun was very tempted to drift off into another daydream, but he shook himself out of it, and helped to carefully fold and store the costumes. Leeteuk didn’t want to take any chances with any of the props, especially if that chance to tour fell through, which was why Kyuhyun was oh-so-carefully quietly pressing the folds out of Eunhyuk’s smelly King Bumi muscle suit. “Hyung, where do I put it?” he asked, holding it as far away from his nose as he could.
Leeteuk looked up from his checklist, as he recorded the box and tag numbers of the costumes. “Uh, don’t worry about it. I have another job for you.” Leeteuk took the costume from him, setting it on a bench nearby.
“Heechul and Kangin disappeared, along with their costumes. If you could find them and bring them back, I’d appreciate it. They’re probably just using them to get free drinks at the club, or something, but we need to get them in.”
Kyuhyun was going to ask which club, but Leeteuk already raced off at the sound of a huge crash - someone was trying to dismantle the warships, but from the sounds, Kyuhyun guessed
they were going about it in the wrong way. Just a guess.
---
It didn’t take long for Zuko to figure out that someone was following them. He wasn’t exactly paying complete attention to Toph prattling on about her life - she apparently hadn’t noticed, either, but it was no huge surprise. Walking on sand, it was almost as if she actually was blind.
Sure, he felt responsible for her, and her life was hard and everything. But they were looking for Aang, who’s sudden and inexplicable stage fright could literally destroy the world. Correction - Zuko was looking for Aang. Because Toph couldn’t see.
The point of staying in groups was supposed to make it safer, right? But Zuko was babysitting, having to watch his back, and hers. It didn’t help that she apparently thought of it as one adventurous field trip, which proved that, despite her maturity, she was still just a child.
Zuko knew better than to start a confrontation with whoever was trailing them on the sand, where the blind earthbender was practically defenseless. He didn’t know how powerful the enemy would be, or even how many there were. Zuko only managed to catch sight of one out of the corner of his eye, but if it was him, he would use a clumsy or obvious person as a distraction while he took the target out from another angle.
But that was just him. Obviously whoever it was knew what they were doing, trying to set up an ambush in an arena which hobbled their best fighters. But what they wanted was another story. Zuko cautiously grabbed Toph’s shoulder and steered her toward the steps leading up off of the beach.
“Hey, hot pants, what’s the big idea? Aren’t we supposed to search the beach?” she complained, finally stepping onto the wooden stairway.
“Just climb,” Zuko mumbled. “The beach ended in twenty feet. Aang isn’t over there.”
Zuko wondered how whoever was following them would deal with the stairs. It would be the last chance to really ambush them, but there was no lick of flames or screech of steel. All the same, Zuko kept on edge, one hand on his swords as the beams creaked beneath their weight as they climbed.
Finally they reached the stone landing at the top, and Zuko turned. “Hey, the stairs couldn’t have gotten you that winded,” Toph mumbled. “Why are you so nervous?”
“Who are you?!” Zuko shouted, ignoring her. “Why are you following us?”
“Sure, don’t tell me what’s going, on. It’d not like I could help you or anything.”
Zuko ignored her, his swords drawn as he glowered at the man who stood frozen on the steps. He didn’t know why the man looked so familiar, or why he reminded him of a two-bit cartoon villain. It wasn’t important, anyways.
The other man seemed to find his voice. “Oh, man, that is so cool!” He sounded more like a beach bum than an assassin, but Zuko wasn’t good at giving people the benefit of the doubt.
“I asked you who you are.”
“It’s the guy who played your dad in the play,” Toph said, her voice suddenly serious as her eyes stared into the general direction of the man.
The man seemed unusually happy to be recognized, and despite the fact that Zuko knew he had to be older than them, his huge eyes and dorky smile made him look like a child. Hardly dangerous looking, but Aang looked that way at times, too, so Zuko knew better than to judge him harmless.
Though he was beginning to believe more and more that the man really wasn’t all that dangerous. “I’m a huge fan!” he finally managed to shout out, though he looked to concerned by the fact that Zuko was armed to come any closer. “Can I please have an autograph?”
“What?”
“Oh, this is awesome,” Toph shouted. “It’s like being the Blind Bandit again. Who should I make it out to?”
The man seemed to take this as an invitation to come closer, and Zuko was really too surprised to stop him. Toph seemed to carry a charcoal pencil with her for just this purpose. While the others dug through their clothes for a stray piece of paper, the traitor prince wondered, not for the first time and certainly not the last, just what happened to his life once he joined the Avatar.
---
“Guys, guys, you’ll never believe who I just met!”
“Oh, do tell us, Firelord Ozai.” Kyuhyun recognized the odd lilt to the voice before anything else - it dripped sarcasm like venom, and it was the first part Henry had to perfect. But Henry wasn’t the one who was sitting in Leeteuk’s chair, behind Leeteuk’s desk, while the man himself stood off to the side with a grim expression and a black eye.
Kyuhyun’s world jerked to a sudden, shuddering stop as he froze in the doorway, his arms still splayed out, stuck as he was in the ‘hero returning victorious’ pose. The contents of his stomach threatened to make a return visit at the abrupt change, and he knew he must have gone ten shades paler the moment he realized Princess Azula was in the room.
But in the space of time it took his brain to completely shut down, it jumped to life again, working twice as fast. “Sung Si Kyung!” he practically shouted, still looking at Leeteuk and trying to exude all the dorky ignorance he possibly could. “I didn’t know he had a house on Ember Island!” He actually didn’t know if he did or not. “Teukie-hyung, what if he came to our show?! What if he was in the audience, and saw me perform?!” This was actually a valid fear, Kyuhyun thought, and he could feel his stomach tighten in what he thought was real panic. “What if I messed up and he noticed it? Oh, God, Teukie-hyung, what if-”
Working himself into a fangirl-ish panic seemed to do the trick. The princess of the Fire Nation had always somehow managed to terrify him, but she only exuded the patronizing boredom that meant she would overlook him as she would a buzzing insect - as long as he stopped buzzing. “That’s all very interesting, but really, Teukie, if you don’t get control of your little singer, well, I can’t guarantee he won’t be brought up on charges for illegally portraying a member of the royal family. I thought you said we wouldn’t be disturbed?”
“Kyuhyun-ah . . . .”
Kyuhyun swallowed nervously, trying to smile. He waved as he left, not trusting his voice to stay in a manageable octave should he try to speak. As he closed the door behind him, he let out a long sigh, nearly collapsing against a wall.
“Now, Teukie, are you sure that’s who he saw?”
A/N: Why do I do this to them? Kangin, go save Leeteuk!!! Why are you out running around and playing Toph?
In other news, I found everything that Kyuhyun wore in the concept pictures at Claire's and Forever XXI when I went to the mall yesterday. I fyou're looking for a Halloween costume idea, well. You might have just found it. I would, but I'm already going as a Dai Lee agent . . .