In the cell

Azula woke up in a daze.

Upon waking, the pain came rushing back to her. Her shoulder still radiated agony, but she soon noticed a new pain – in her head. She could feel something cold across the right side of her face, starting at the outside of her right eyebrow. She remembered the white flash she saw just before losing consciousness, and realized that something had hit her, knocking her out cold and splitting her skin open just above the eye.

Taking survey of her surroundings, she noticed she was in a small, dimly lit room with a metal door, which had a small iron-barred window. She tried to move, but she belatedly realized that she was still manacled. Looking up, she confirmed that her wrists, still in shackles, were chained together, and the chain was looped through an iron ring far above her head. Her arms, which were being held taught above her, supported most of her weight. If she worked at it, she was able to relieve some of the pressure on her wrists by standing on her toes. Her left arm, she noticed, was still dislocated, but the position of her arms actually helped numb the pain some. Still, she could feel the rough shackles around her wrists and ankles, cold and heavy, and digging into her skin.

As she dangled there, trussed up like some sort of prized catch, anger and rage filled her. She had no control over what was happening to her, and it killed her to feel so pitifully helpless. With her temper rising, she began to thrash and shake in her blind fury, hoping to free herself from her bindings. She screamed and grunted, her voice still raspy. But her wrath soon began to fail her, and her intensity waivered against the cold, unyielding chains.

Finally, after several minutes, she stopped fighting. She had no more strength to fight the chains holding her captive. She suddenly became aware of warm liquid trickling down her arms. Blood, she realized, from her torn wrists. It cooled as it slid down her skin, saturating her one remaining sleeve, left over from when she battled Zuko and Katara. The only thing they removed from her was the armor she began the Agni Kai with. She started to sob in her utter hopelessness, her broken mind trying to piece together how she had fallen so far, so fast. The only thing keeping her mind from slipping into complete delusion was the excruciating pain from her shoulder; with her thrashings, the pain had returned in full force. It was so intense that she barely noticed the blood still dripping down her arms and the throbbing of her head.

Slowly, the pain started to become dull again with her body drained of all energy. Her eyes began to get heavy, and eventually, she lost consciousness.