This happens during an AU: Instead of hindering her ability to win, Azula's breakdown actually enables her to defeat Zuko and kill Katara at the Agni Kai. Aang realizes what happens and gives up, but Ozai is also a being a psychotic jerkass at this point and kills him, only later realizing that this means he has to go and destroy every last Waterbender in the world, so he's kinda busy with that. Anyways, the Fire Nation won, so now the world sucks for everyone else. I also had it figured out where Sokka, Suki, and Toph ended up, but at the moment I can't remember because I initially came up with the backplot at 2 in the morning.
...and because that's all just an excuse for incestuous torture-porn, that's the best I'm going to bother to try writing it up. Going along with that, I apologize in advance if Zuko seems like more of a bitch than usual, but had I written him %100 IC most of the fic would just be him CONSTANTLY trying to fight back until the very end. In case you didn't notice, he's really more of a stubborn ass than fandom gives him credit for.
"Poor little Zuzu. All of his precious new friends are dead, aren't they?" Azula taunted, hand on her hip as she smirked viciously at her older brother. Zuko glared up at her, his defiance clear. "Well, not all of them. We had to make the survivors into an example, you see. To prevent any more rebellions or traitors. You'd know all about that, wouldn't you Zuko?"
"Let them go," Zuko growled, "or else!"
"Or else what? You'll struggle around and spit at me some more?" she asked, and then shrugged. "I guess that does scare me quite a bit. I'm shaking, Zuzu. Can you tell?" she asked calmly, before all at once launching into a hateful shrieking laughter. Zuko frowned angrily at this new development. Even now, her sanity still slipped at times, and he got to see glimpses of what really lurked behind her carefully constructed facade.
Slowly, she regained control of herself, and tilted her head, regarding Zuko thoughtfully. "But you still haven't paid for all the the things you've done against Father and I, have you? It's just a pity even I can't firebend in this cell. It's dreadfully cold, isn't it Zuzu?"
"You can't do anything else," Zuko hissed, "Traitor or not, I'm still the son of the Fire Lord."
"Don't you think I'd remember something like that?" Azula asked, acting mockingly confused. Then, suddenly, she kicked him in the stomach, hard. Even with his wrists chained behind his back and to the wall, he doubled over and dry-heaved, which only served to pull his arms back painfully. "I'm the Fire Lord. Don't you dare forget it," she hissed venomously.
"Th-the Fire Lord is a meaningless title, anyway." Zuko spat as he breathed heavily through the pain, glaring up at her.
"Not as meaningless as you!" she screeched back, grinding the heel of her boot into his thigh. "I can do anything, absolutely anything, unless Father himself says otherwise! He hates you, Zuzu, he hates you and he wouldn't, he wouldn't even care if..."
"If what! If you killed me!" Zuko roared back, "Well he wouldn't! He wouldn't even bother to thank you for it! You're as worthless to him now as I've alw-" the brutal kick to the side of his face stunned him briefly, even though he realized he really should have been expecting it. What he didn't expect, though, was for her to go further on and stomp directly on his leg, and he cried out as the calf fractured from the impact.
"You will regret saying that," Azula promised him, her voice ice-cold, even though she snarled at him viciously.
"Prove it then," Zuko challenged her, still wincing. He watched with some curiosity as she reached for the chains restraining his arms. She forcefully pulled him up to his feet and wound up the chains to keep him there, grinning victoriously when she noticed him wince and shift in heavy favor of his uninjured leg.
"Oh, did I hurt you?" she cooed, leaning in and stroking the unmarred side of his face. "It'd be nice if I could firebend," she purred as she watched his expression go from determined to confused, "then I could make the other side match. But maybe I'll save that for last, I'd rather break something pretty."
Zuko did, finally, slightly pull back from her, turning his head away as he watched her with wary. It almost seemed like the facade was back by the way she acted, but the things she said didn't match with that. Was she suddenly purposely trying to act insane?
"That's really the only thing you have going for you, isn't it Zuzu? It's really too bad you didn't take after Father more," she said, still sounding relatively sane, if a little wistful. Zuko grimaced, though not at the throbbing pain in his leg. "Oh, don't make that face. It looks no good on you."
"What's wrong with you?" he asked, fully expecting to be hit again. However, Azula only laughed softly. It was the fake laugh, not the high-pitched shrieks she made when she lost control. Zuko suddenly detected the taste of blood on his lips. Azula's boots much have cut him.
"Nothing's wrong with me, Zuzu. You're the one who's being held captive, right? That means you did something wrong. And clearly just chaining you up isn't teaching you your lesson," she sighed dramatically. "Father's busy with the Waterbenders, so that leaves me to have to try and make something out of you. But you don't have any actual talents to take advantage of," she said, regarding him with pity and disgust as she crossed her arms.
Zuko glared at her, though he fell silent, not sure what to make of her rambling.
"You really are just as worthless as everybody thinks, aren't you?" she asked. Zuko only continued to glare at her, though he briefly tried to put more weight on his fractured leg, tired of standing so awkwardly. "Say it," Azula then ordered him.
"No," he said with just as much force.
"When I said I could do anything, I meant anything. Not just to you. Do you really care that little for Mai? She and Ty Lee are still locked away for a rainy day."
"...you wouldn't dare," Zuko growled.
"I would. Care to try me?" she said, tilting her head as she regarded him. He stared back for several more heartbeats, before sighing.
"I'm worthless," he tried to whisper, still looking at her.
"Like you mean it!" Azula demanded, and reached forward, twisting her hand in his hair and pulling his head down until he was nearly bowed at the waist. "And you will look down while you do it properly!"
Zuko shook softly and let out a breath he didn't realize holding in. "Fine!" he spat, glaring at the floor as if it was her, "I'm worthless, just like you and Dad always thought! I can't do anything right, just leave her alone! I love her!"
"You do not. You cried for the filthy Waterbender bitch."
"She was my friend," he said softly, immediately remembering Katara's charred body and his desperate attempts to wake her up, "unlike you, I cared for my friends."
"Your friends were almost as worthless as you," she replied dismissively, crossing her arms. "Mai was once useful. Once she chose to forgo that, naturally I lost any respect I may have had for her. A pity, really. Maybe your talent is ruining other peoples' talents."
"What about Ty Lee?" he asked, "What did she do, refuse to-" once again he was cut off by a strike to the head, when Azula grabbed his hair once more and brought his face crashing into her knee, his arms forced back to the point of extreme pain as she did so. When she let go, Zuko reared up and forced himself to switch to his injured leg as his leg swung out at her.
She backed away, then closed in again once he half-crumpled to the floor, suspended only by his bruised and strained shoulders. "We'll have to stop you from doing that again, won't we?" she stated lowly, before smiling widely. "Well, I guess I have no choice. I'll be right back, Zuzu."
And like that, she was gone. She'd even left the thick metal door open. Zuko struggled to stand back up, trying to roll his shoulders, though that only made the pain worse. He wouldn't be surprised if they dislocated the next time something like that happened.
However, he was shocked from even focusing on his various injuries as a wave of intense heat rolled over the room, immediately causing the once ice-frosted walls to become slick with quickly-melting water. In fact, the sudden change of temperature made him feel slightly ill, if only for a moment as he immediately reined in his reacquired firebending to accumulate his body to the change.
But what was she playing at? Sure, in the warmed room she could now firebend, but did she forget that he could too? As if to answer his question, two Dai Li agents quickly strode into the room, and before he could kick fire at them he found a pair of the earthen gloves they already wore wrapped around his lower legs, and one of the gloves from the other man covered the lower half of his face, just barely leaving his bloodied nose free enough to breathe.
Azula came in after them, and Zuko glared at her and said something to the effect of her calling on her backup, though she pretended not to understand his muffled shouts, instead turning to the two men.
She quickly instructed them on their duties, surprisingly polite "Now, if you'd kindly move him so he's laying flat, on the floor, spread eagle." Zuko once again looked surprised, this time by her exact specifications, "Muzzled, of course, and all four limbs restrained. Oh, and his hands and feet covered. Feel free to use force."
The Dai Li looked at each other, as if gauging their reaction based on the other's. Then they shrugged, and reached for Zuko with rock gloves, though one paused. "I'm afraid neither one of us are metalbenders, Fire Lord Azula."
"Oh, that's no good," she said, but tossed the agent a key. "And by the way, once you're done with that, you can both leave the palace."
Zuko heard the other Dai Li agent sigh very quietly as the one with the key undid the chains around his wrist. He then immediately pulled him free and threw him to the ground, where the disgruntled agent straddled him. He was slammed in the chest by the man's remaining rock-covered hand, knocking his breath away, while the unarmed one immediately gripped both hands tightly around his throat to prevent him from taking another one in.
Eyes clenched shut, he tried to struggle against them, clawing at the hands around his neck. However, that was quickly stopped by the other agent, who grabbed both hands, and forced them above his head, where a thick casing of hardened earth immobilized them.
Just before he lost consciousness, a clap sounded, and they suddenly stopped strangling him and pulled away. He immediately tried to stand up, though it made absolutely no difference. His legs were bound together, arms completely restrained once more, though not nearly as painfully, and he had to struggle to stop hyperventilating once they let go.
He heard a cruel chuckle, and opened his eyes to find Azula leaning over him, watching him with a light in her eyes that now honestly frightened him. "Was that fun, Zuzu? Oh, look. Whoops." She leaned down further and caressed his neck, focusing on the ring of bruises developing along his throat. Zuko shivered, assuming she would continue what they had started, if not finish it. She did squeeze for several moments, though only enough to put pressure on the burst blood vessels, it seemed. "You're starting to finally get scared, are you? You won't be escaping... and neither will any of your precious friends."
She stood up, looming over him even more now. "Even if they did, they'd probably be too busy saving each other to bother with you." Zuko glared at her, though he looked nowhere near as intimidating by now, bloodied and bruised and held to the floor as he was. His breathing sounded wet, blood dripping back down his nose. Azula sighed, looking down at him in annoyance.
"Take off the muzzle," she said sharply.
"But, Fire Lor-"
"Would you like to leave in coffins?" she asked, turning slightly to glare hatefully at them from the corner of her eyes, "Take it off!"
They approached Zuko once again, and while one agent set to forcefully spreading and restraining his legs, then other agent pulled the rock around his head back into a glove quickly, then backed away as if he expected to be burned immediately.
Zuko only looked up at the agent in something resembling pity. "You're not working with her," he stated, "you're only working for her." Neither answered, though the one that had unmuzzled him relaxed slightly.
"Did I give you permission to speak?" Azula asked him, glaring. Zuko turned his head away from her dismissively. He then heard her huff. "Leave," she said simply. Both agents stood, turned to bow to her, and then left the area. Zuko watched them go, feeling his blood run cold as the door slid shut. He then looked at Azula, who was staring at him intently.
"Oh, you'll look at me now? Is little Zuzu afraid to act strong now that he's alone with his little sister?" she walked towards him, and he tried to slowly pull in a large breath, hoping with what little hope he had left that she wouldn't notice.
That hope puttered out when she paused, just out of reach. "Let it go, Zuzu. You've got enough to regret." Zuko glared at her, still for a moment, before he released his lungs, letting out little more than a bit of smoke. She then drew up to him, and settled down to kneel between his legs, smirking venomously. Zuko wanted nothing more than to pull away and set her aflame - but daring to hurt her now would only result in his death. She was expecting it, this she made clear as leaned over him. She lightly pushed her outspread hand against his chest, smiling softly.
Zuko stared up at her, but even so was thoroughly surprised when she suddenly bent down to force her lips over his. His eyes flew open as he tried to jerk his head away, only for her to grip onto his hair, holding him in place. Zuko struggled against the rock encasing his limbs, huffing through his nose. When she tried to introduce tongue, Zuko instinctively bit at her.
At that, Azula reared back and slugged him across the face, rage written all across her face. "Don't you dare!" she screamed, and hit him again across the other side of his head. Zuko flinched each time she rose her fist for another hit, eyes closed tightly. Finally, after laying there for a short while with no more incoming blows, he opened his eyes, stubbornly blinking away tears from his good eye that he hadn't noticed until then.
He saw Azula looking at him blankly, and she then sat back. "You know, I was almost ready to forgive you for kicking at me earlier." she said simply, before the sly smirk came back "But I guess we'll just go back to the original punishment."
"What are you talking about?" Zuko groaned, voice even more hoarse than usual.
"You're not very good at learning, so we'll just keep you from doing it again," she explained to him as she slid back, massaging his left thigh. Zuko paled, as her plan started to dawn on him.
"N-no..." Zuko stuttered, casting a pleading look at her. "You can't possibly..."
"We went over this. I can do anything, Zuzu," she purred, as a torch-like, bright blue flame began to issue from her index finger. "Maybe you'll learn a lesson for once."
"Please, please" Zuko begged, this time ignoring the tears streaming down the side of his face. "I'm sorry, Azula, it won't," he had to pause to hiccup, "I won't do it again, p-please."
"You're so pathetic," Azula hissed at him, holding down his hip with one hand as she leaned over his leg. Zuko sobbed, but couldn't bring himself to look away as the flame lowered over his thigh. He tried not to cry out when the flame first burned through his clothes. "You big baby," she paused to chide him, before she started to burn through the first layers of skin. Zuko only managed to gulp back the first few sobs before he flung himself back and screamed out, flailing against his bonds.
Azula growled and held down his hip with more force. Zuko only cried harder as what little he could move was forced still. Grunting, she stopped and let go. Zuko continued to sob, and Azula watched blood slowly ooze out of the mostly-cauterized, half-removed stump. Quaking, Zuko silently pleaded at her with fear and horror.
"Why?" he asked in between whimpers.
"You did something you shouldn't have," she said, turning to him. She looked rather content with herself, though her bright golden eyes held an inhumane, predatory glint. Zuko turned away from this, sobbing into the ground beneath him.
"J-just stop," he pleaded softly.
"Mmm," Azula hummed, "no point in only going halfway." She then smiled, and reached into the burnt split, piercing into hard muscles with her sharp nails. Zuko arched back and screamed again as she forcefully tore into the flesh, watching his face contort in pain.
He tried to beg her to stop, but found himself unable to form understandable speech. At least burning had destroyed the immediate nerves as she sliced through. He threw his head back and forth, choking on his cries. Azula let out a strange shivery sigh as she watched him struggle, only to smile serenely as she pulled her hand free, staring at the slender, blood-stained digits. Curiously, she pressed her index finger to her tongue, then hummed in approval. She cleaned her fingers delicately, and then languidly stretched over Zuko, grabbing his chin to hold him still as she pressed her lips to his once again.
Zuko didn't bother trying to fight it, only closed his eyes in pain and tried not to cry so hard as to upset her. He did shudder violently when she forced her tongue into his mouth, and finally tried to pull back upon realizing that she had purposely neglected to swallow his blood. "You're sick," he spat weakly as they parted.
"You're sick, Zuzu," she said, her eyes glazed as she rose up and turned to straddle his waist, her back to him. She turned back slightly to say, "Only a little more."
Zuko sobbed even before she started to burn through the remaining bone and flesh. He found himself more capable of handling this, now knowing that this was far from the worst she was capable of. Even then, he still whined pathetically all throughout, and he did scream shortly when she burnt away at what she'd torn apart manually.
She stopped, and Zuko dimly wondered what was holding her up now. However, he felt himself grow ill when she climbed off of him and he saw his own severed leg laying there. She'd actually done it. He leaned back and squeezed his eyes shut, his entire body shaking as he silently cried. It didn't feel right, it felt like it was still there, he could even still feel where a rock had been jabbing into his shin.
"Oh, poor Zuzu," she cooed, though it sounded more like she was making fun of him, "it didn't have to come to this, you know. Now, if I remember correctly, you also bit me, and you spit at me even earlier. Not to mention all the insults..."
"No!" Zuko screamed, eyes flashing open as he stared at Azula like a frightened animal. "No, no, no! No more, please!"
"You should have thought of this," she purred, scooting within reach of his other leg, "before you turned on us. Or did you honestly think a bunch of children would win against us?"
"Azula..." Zuko pleaded, not really listening to her.
"Poor Zuzu," she repeated, before she summoned another constant flame. Zuko turned away to avoid watching, whining low in his throat. Azula hummed, watching as the flesh was seared apart. "Maybe you'll learn not to cross me," she said softly, then grunted in annoyance. "Bone is so hard to burn through," she lamented, her flame glowing brighter as she worked to burn through the rest of the limb.
Zuko bit his lip and opened his eyes when she finally stopped, fighting with himself whether to look or not. She caught his eyes and smiled viciously at him. Moments later Zuko winced and whimpered loudly as a shot of pain zapped up his spine. Azula laughed at him, and he opened his eyes and looked down to see that he'd drawn what remained of his legs together, scraping the bloodied ends across the rocky floor in the process.
He quickly began to hyperventilate. It had almost been bearable before, but now he could clearly see what he'd been reduced to. "Oh, spirits, spirits," he mumbled under his breath, and started to sob. Azula grinned at him, and then hovered over her brother, hands on what remained of his thighs. "What's wrong?" she asked.
"How could you!" he screamed at her. Azula smirked, and Zuko felt her hands trail up under his shirt. "D-don't touch me!" he shrieked. She pushed his shirt up and leaned down over him, trailing her tongue up the hard planes of his stomach. "Stop it, stop!" he yelled, trying to pull away from her. Azula growled at him and pulled back, fixing him with a hateful glare.
"You still haven't learned?" she asked coldly, and grasped onto his right shoulder to prove her point. Zuko immediately went silent, staring up at her pleadingly. "Well?" she insisted, her hold on his shoulder tightening.
"Sorry," he choked out, trying to relax back and submit himself.
"You've said that so much, I don't think you know how to mean it," she growled. Zuko felt himself whimper, and then fidgeted in embarrassment. Azula just laughed, and as she did so Zuko felt her hand heating up over his shoulder.
"I mean it!" he said, trying to tear himself away from her to no avail, "I'm sorry Azula, I'm sorry! No more!"
"Lying, you're lying," Azula told him coldly, before starting to viciously carve through his shoulder with blasts of blue flame. Zuko strained to arch his neck and head away from the heat singing at his hair, even as he writhed and screamed in pain. Azula grunted, and Zuko felt her flames grow stronger until he was sure he'd outright catch fire.
Once the deed was done, Azula paused, panting softly with exertion, and then grabbed Zuko by the hair and twisted until he turned his head toward his severed arm. Zuko's eyes immediately squeezed shut, though he retched at the now-overpowering scent of charred flesh. She let go of him and cackled loudly, and Zuko blinked blurry eyes open at her, the look on his face making it clear his wishes to every spirit he could remember that she'd just end it all. "Stupid Zuzu, stupid worthless Zuzu," she sighed as she stopped laughing, then looked back at him, smirking softly.
If she wouldn't end him now... Zuko shut his eyes, tried to focus past the pain and shock. Immediately a hand encircled his throat, and his eyes flashed back open as he immediately began to panic again. "You're so obvious!" Azula crowed in victory, and then tightened her grip as she slammed her other fist into his stomach.
After several moments of letting him flail, she let go and climbed off of him, and Zuko groaned lowly, trying to curl into himself. "Why can't you ju-"
"Save the dramatics!" Azula snapped, "You're such a negative person. No wonder Mai liked you."
"L-liked?" Zuko asked softly, knowing that Azula was one to purposely word things.
"Well, of course. I mean, look at you now. She might have endured the scar, Zuzu, but you're beyond a freak now," she said, then laughed lightly. At least she was faking it again. She started to walk away, toward the door. Zuko watched her, hoping she wouldn't pause. But she did, and turned slightly back to him.
"Maybe I'll let her see you and decide for herself," she said lightly to him. Zuko tried not to answer, though he wondered why he was bothering. She already knew the last thing he'd even want Mai to see would be... this.
"But even if she doesn't visit, I will later. See you, Zuzu," she said to him, and then opened the door and strode out, swaying her hips happily. Zuko slumped back against the ground, and though he thought he'd cry once she finally left, he found himself unable to. Which only disturbed him more. Pain assaulted him from all angles, but he only found himself able to close his eyes and try to ride it out.
However, the door creaked open eventually, and Zuko wearily glanced toward the sound, wondering if many he'd blacked out and it was Azula again. Instead, he saw two Dai Li agents, though from his angle Zuko could see it was two different ones than from earlier. The older one hadn't yet looked at him, and was, of all things, making jokes.
"Did'ja see the way she was prancing about now? If I didn't know any better, I'd say she had herself a ni-" the younger one stopped dead in his tracks, staring at Zuko from under his hat in shock. The older one paused as well, and followed his gaze until he was staring at Zuko too. Zuko bit his lip, turning away. If even hardened warriors reacted like that, then... Mai.
"Oh, spirits. Look at all that blood. You still alive?" the younger one asked. Zuko grunted.
"I wish I wasn't," he told them, his voice hoarse. The older one tried to chuckle, but it came out forced and hallow. "It wasn't a joke," Zuko added harshly.
"I'd almost consider it, if I wasn't liable to take your place afterward," the man replied, bending down to touch the ground. The rocky restraints melded back into the earthen cell, and Zuko closed his eyes and focused on flexing his remaining hand to ignore the severed limbs surrounding him clearly now.
"Do we have to clean... do we have to get rid of...?" the younger one almost sounded timid, and finally trailed off, giving up on finishing his thought out loud.
"Of course, you idiot," the man told him gruffly. Zuko flexed his hand harder. "This is, oh spirits, this is her own brother, isn't it? You think I'm going to dare cross her now? Look at what she did to the damn guy! Her own bro-"
"Stop it!" Zuko yelled, bashing the back of his head against the ground, "Just get them and get out!" Even though he didn't mean to, he used his forceful voice. The one that reminded him he was related to the likes of Ozai and Azula.
Both agents went silent, though he heard scuffling around him. "I didn't think just a pair of legs would weigh so much," the older one complained. Zuko growled, and then heard them quickly move to leave. Finally, they were gone.
He relaxed, though that only served to let it sink in. They had left, and they had left with almost every limb of his. Azula had burnt off his legs, and his arm. Oh, spirits. And now he was alone, with himself and his thoughts, and he only had the faint hope of dying sometime soon to look forward to. Shuddering, Zuko let out a small, mournful moan, covering his face with his remaining arm.