A/N: It has been a while since I have even read Avatar fics but I miss my Zuko and Mai. Since the last Maiko fic I wrote was on the fluffy side, this is more on the dark side. This set in the future where both Azula and Ozai have been killed and Ty Lee and the Gaang are off somewhere. . . . They might come in later on. This chapter is very short because it is the prologue. This fic will also be on the shorter side, probably only seven-ish chapters, depending on how much muse I have for it. Anyway, enough rambling!

Reviews are love and keep me from getting horrible writer's block.

Disclaimer: I don't own the Avatar. Psh. If I did, the third season would have STARTED already. The title of the fic is the title of a song by Rise Against.

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Ever since he had become the Fire Lord, Zuko had had dreams of being murdered.

It always started with him sitting in his throne, books of military strategies sitting on his lap. He would not able to concentrate, his mind wandering off to places that he preferred it would not wander to, images of his sister clouding his mind. It would be amazingly silent in the throne room, the only sound the soft crackling of the flames that surrounded his throne.

That was until there were these soft, almost child-like footsteps that echoed through the throne room. But, he'd always be too caught up in the military strategies to actually hear the footsteps.

"Zuko," someone would whisper into his ear, her, it was always a woman, lips grazing the soft flesh of his earlobe, causing a shiver to run down his spine. "Who are you?" he'd mutter. He always knew that he should summon his guards at this point, but for some reason he never did.

And he always regretted it as he felt the cool steel of a blade against his neck. "Move or try to summon your guards and I will slit your throat," she would whisper. But, no matter what he did, whether he tried to fight her off or if he just sat there as stiff as a board, he would still feel his warm blood drip down his neck and then he could feel his world become blurry and he would gasp for air, struggling to stay alive. He'd brushes his fingers across his throat and feel warm liquid and he'd realize that he was truly dying.

Within moments his world would go black.

And during his struggle to live, the woman would laugh and laugh and laugh and then during his last seconds of life, those soft lips would brush his ear once more and they would whisper, "This is what you get, Zuko.".

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Fire Lord Zuko woke with a start, his fingers gripping at his neck as he sat up in bed, panting and sweaty. He ran his fingers his neck over and over again, making sure that what had happened was just a dream.

He snapped. causing a flame to appear above his thumb. The young ruler looked around his room, using the light from his thumb, checking to see if anyone was there, as he did every single night after one of these horrid dreams.

Like always, there seemed to be no one there.

The Fire Lord sighed, relieved beyond belief. He blew the flame out and laid back down, still reeling from that horrible, horrible dream. He wiped sweat from his brow, his breathing still heavy. He placed his left hand over his bare chest, amazed at how fast his heart was beating. A Fire Lord should not be frightened by frivolous things such as nightmares, he heard his father's voice scold inside his head. Ever since he became Fire Lord, his father's voice was always informing him what he was doing wrong, since he could not very well scold him outside of his mind. Azula made sure of that.

Zuko took a deep breathe and rested his head on his pillow once more, struggling to convince himself that it was all just a dream.

And just as sleep began to come to the young ruler, something, actually someone pulled him back into the real world.

"Having trouble sleeping, Zuko?" a horribly calm, apathetic voice taunted. At first, he just thought it was that horrible dream. That was, until he felt the cold, very real, metal of a blade against his neck and very real hand over his mouth.