Dao and the Freedom Fighters

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟏𝟎 - 𝐋𝐞𝐚𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐇𝐨𝐦𝐞

Third Person POV:

Apparently Gaipan didn't agree with the Freedom Fighters' methods of ridding the valley of the Fire Nation soldiers. The leader of the town told them that they had to leave and that they weren't to ever come back for the danger they risked to the town. He claimed that it was only a matter of time before the soldiers came back and when they did the Freedom Fighters better be gone.

So they left. 

If the people of Gaipan didn't want them there, then they'd leave. They didn't need the town. They could get food and supplies in other ways.

The Freedom Fighters hadn't realized just how badly the people had wanted them gone until they were chased out of their forest as well.

Somewhere in their escape, the Freedom Fighters had gotten split up. Pipsqueak, the Duke, and Sneers had ran one way and Jet, Longshot, Smellerbee and Dao had gone the other. By the time they got a safe distance away from the village, there was no way of telling just where the other half of their family was.

Luckily, they'd planned for if they ever got separated that they would all meet up at Ba Sing Se. After all, it was supposedly the safest city in the world, even with the unusual decrease of Fire Nation camps and soldiers in the Earth Kingdom). 

Which is how Jet, Longshot, Smellerbee, and Dao ended up at the hidden ferry to Ba Sing Se months after fleeing the forest.

╭══❤️‍🩹═════ღ❦ღ══╮

    𝐎𝐍 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐅𝐄𝐑𝐑𝐘

╰══ღ❦ღ═════❤️‍🩹══╯ 

Dao held onto Nookie, while Jet talked with the ferry lady about getting tickets. Thankfully, the passports they'd 'borrowed' seemed to be enough to convince her. Other than hearing that, Dao wasn't really listening. It had been a long walk just to get the rest of the way here and all he wanted to do was sleep until they made it to the city.

He was trying not to fall asleep when he heard the ferry lady say something about him not being able to take Druk with them. And then Jet agreed to her terms, so Dao was kinda freaking out a bit. Jet took the tickets from the lady and led them over to a bench to wait for the ferry to board.

Dao held tightly to Druk. He'd had him ever since that day Jet found him in the woods. He didn't want to let Druk go.

So when the ferry called for last minute boarding, Dao clutched Drum to his chest one last time. That was until Longshot tapped him on the shoulder and lifted up his hat. He motioned to set Druk on his head- which Dao did -then lowered his hat and refastened it around his chin, effectively hiding Dao's turtleduck any wandering eyes. Longshot gave him a wink before taking putting his hand on his shoulder again to lead him onto the boat

They found an empty spot on a rickety bench near one of the doors that led below deck. Dao immediately curled into Longshot's side while Jet and Smellerbee went to case the ship real quickly, just in case a narrow escape was needed, hopefully it wouldn't be, but in the event of an escape being needed, they wanted to be prepared.

Dao must have fallen asleep at some point because next thing he knew, the sun was setting off the side of the ship. Smellerbee was leant back against Lonshot's legs, her eyes closed and she was either asleep or just giving the appearance of being asleep, Dao had learned that one time when he and the Duke had been trying to sneak around late and she'd caught them in the act. Longshot had taken Nookie out from under his hat and sat her on Dao's lap. His hat was now hiding his eyes, so there was a good chance he was actually asleep. It'd been a while since they were actually able to rest comfortably. Jet was sitting on the floor against the wall, though the difference was he was still awake; watching the people around them and probably the occasional guard that was on their part of the ship. 

Dao carefully scooted out from Longshot's side, not wanting to wake him or Smellerbee. Jet glanced over at him once he noticed the movement

He gave Dao a smile. "How're you doing, man?"

Dao rubbed his eye, getting rid of the lingering sleepiness. He shrugged, looking over the railing out to the water.

He really didn't like being on a boat. It reminded him of what had happened in the days before Jet found him in the woods. Of course he had all his good memories of home, but those last few days were something he'd rather forget. The ship grandfather had put him was like this boat.

"Dao? Buddy, are you okay?" Jet asked, he'd taken the usual piece of wheat out of his mouth, so Dao knew it had to be serious. Jet never went anywhere or did anything without his wheat stalk in his mouth.

"How much longer until we get there?" Dao moved Druk to rest in the space between him and Longshot so he could hug his knees up to his chest.

"Bad memory?" Dao nodded. "Do you want to talk about it?"

Dao shimmied on the bench for a moment. "It was from before." Jet stayed silent while he waited to see if Dao would continue. "A man put me on a boat with other bad people. They scared the hell outta me."

Jet rested a hand on Dao's back. "We'll be there tomorrow okay. And we aren't gonna let anything happen to you. Freedom Fighters protect each other, right?"

"Always," Dao said, uncurling himself and leaning forward to throw his arms around Jet's neck. Talking to Jet always seemed to help when bad memories showed up.