Burn and Bloom - Phan

CHAPTER EIGHT

"Nobody move, or the earthbender eats fire!"

Dan's hands were shaking, and he could feel the fear emanating off of Pj and Louise behind him. Phil looked pale, more so than usual, and Peter grinned maliciously from behind him. One of his arms was wrapped securely around Phil's middle, the other pressed firmly over his mouth. Elijah and Jaxon stood on either side of Peter, and Elijah conjured fire, which he held before Phil's face threateningly.

It was disconcerting that they knew Phil was an earthbender. It meant that they'd been close to Dan and his friends before, close enough to observe them when Phil was earthbending without them knowing. And the fact that they'd been so close to the camp this night, even when they'd been up keeping watch... How had they not noticed them? How could they have been so oblivious? And when had the soldiers been here, during whose shift?

Before, Dan might have been almost glad to see the assholes, as long as it meant he'd be able to go back to where he belonged. But now... he wanted nothing more than to get away. A disconcertingly large part of him wanted to rush forward and save Phil, wanted even to reach inside himself and firebend if he had to. And why was that? They weren't actually friends, they were just... acquaintances of some sort. Still, Dan couldn't deny that he didn't hate Phil anymore.

"What do you want?" Pj asked shakily. If they were lucky, the soldiers wouldn't know that Pj was a waterbender. It was unlikely though, he bended much more often than Phil did. If the soldiers had really been watching them for so long, then they'd most likely know about Pj already.

"Give us Howell," Peter demanded. "And we'll let you two go free."

"No way!" Louise said immediately, stepping forward. Her hands were balled into fists at her sides, and Dan's heart swelled. He hadn't realized until now that this friendship was actually real. He realized that he cared for Pj and Louise, wanted them to be safe, wanted them to get away from the soldiers. And he cared about Phil too. Some part of Dan realized he had to get them to safety.

"We'll destroy you all if we have to," Elijah said cockily. The fire was so close to Phil's face, there was no way it didn't hurt. Dan had to do something, had to save Phil...

Suddenly, the earth exploded underneath Phil. It went flying in every direction, and the firebenders screamed in confusion.

"Did you forget that I can bend the earth?" Phil scoffed, already running through the clearing dust. "Run!"

Surprisingly, he snatched Dan's arm and yanked him as he ran past, and Dan stumbled into step beside him, glancing over his shoulder as they ran. Pj and Louise were running beside them, cursing as they ran through brambles and foliage. Peter's face was one of rage, and he and his sidekicks charged angrily after them, yelling threats and other nonsense.

Plants caught at their ankles and cut into their skin, yet they kept running. They were pretty much out of tricks to get away. Phil couldn't create a secret passage for them to run through fast enough to keep the firebenders out, and Pj didn't have a big enough source of water to be able to cause any real damage.

"What do," Louise panted, "we do?"

"Evade them for long enough to come up with a plan," Pj said hopelessly. "Why are they so desperate to capture you two anyway? All for one earthbender?"

Phil exchanged a wary glance with Dan. "It might be a bit more complicated than that," Phil allowed, just as a ball of fire skimmed his side and a tree beside them went up in flames.

And then everything started happening really fast. Dan was sure that they were going to be able to get away, they always seemed to come up with something, alway seemed to escape in the nick of time. But there was an outraged yell behind them, and Dan couldn't resist glancing behind himself to look. Peter shoved his hand forward and fire exploded from the end of his palm, big and hot and heading directly for Phil. Dan shoved Phil forward with one hand and raised the other to the fire, absorbing some of the fire into his body, while the rest encased him and burned like high hell. But Dan knew it would've hurt Phil so much more.