Thanks for the review and the faves people, that was all I wanted to say.
CHAPTER 2
Katara sat up swiftly, her head covered in a layer of sweat as she scanned her surroundings feverishly, as if she was searching for something that could attack her any minute now. After a few seconds her body relaxed, knowing that it was because of the nightmare she had, thus the things that she dreamt about being non-existence and because of this couldn't hurt her. She touched the wound on the back of her head carefully and sighed.
She really hoped that one of the guards would bring her water soon, she was getting thirsty and last night she only got something to eat, not something to drink. As if on cue, a guard turned around the corner. Kataras' eyes lightened up for split second but soon dropped after wards when she saw that the man had no water on him.
The Fire Nation soldier came closer, stopping for the door before he opened it with a key he detached from his belt and walked inside, closing the cell door behind him with a loud click. Katara got into defense pose, not trusting the soldier at all as he came closer. The man wavered in his step for a second when he saw her shift, as if he hadn't thought that the prisoner would rebel against him.
"I have to chain you, orders of Prince Zuko."
The man stated in monotone, his expression shielded by the faceless mask that he had before his face. Katara narrowed her eyes at the soldier.
"You didn't really thought that I would let you chain me without a fight, now would you?"
The man shrugged and before Katara knew it he had her arms pinned behind her back as he slammed her against the wall. Katara groined as her face connected with the solid wall of her cell, her lip ripped where she bit on it. She felt weakened by the lack of good food and fluid in her body.
She could feel the man placing shackles around her wrists, which felt awful tight around her skin, as she was turned around sharply by the soldier so that she was now facing him. Katara spit at him, her saliva dripping from his mask but the man seemed to ignore it. He connected the shackles with long chains to the bars of the cell, pulling on them till Katara couldn't move her arms anymore.
She began to scream and to trash around for the man to release her but the soldier gave her words no heed as he walked out of the cell. Katara trashed even more around, pulling on her arms till she felt exhausted of her effort to pull lose.
She could hear someone nearing again and saw the guard returning, this time with a bowl in his hand. Kataras' eyes narrowed at him till her sight fell on the water. She was feeling so thirsty, Katara needed the water now. She felt as if she could faint of the lack of liquid in her body.
The man paced in her cell again and faced her, holding the water to her mouth so she had access to the liquid.
"Drink it."
Before the man even said the commanding words she had already taken some water in greedily. She drank till not even a drip was left in the bowl and the man took it with him outside her cell silently. He turned around and locked the cell door with the key with a loud click and turned around to walk back to his station.
"Wait, aren't you going to unchain me?"
The Fire Nation soldier looked over his shoulders at her.
"No, Prince Zuko gave me also the order to keep you chained till he said otherwise."
And with that he left, leaving a really pissed off Katara behind.
---
Zuko stared at himself through the mirror with pride, his hand gracing the layer of marred skin under his finger tips. He had at long last accomplished his mission; he had caught the Avatar after all these years. His uncle seemed to still have some doubt about all this. Why, he didn't know. He had to confront his uncle about this matter shortly if he wanted to get answers.
The Prince knew that asking his uncle would be the best thing to do, and to pass the time, and so he did. He walked out of his room, closing the door behind him loudly as he resumed paced through the corridor. His uncle would be drinking thee in the planning room, no doubt about it.
Zuko opened the large door, the only large door there was on his ship, and saw his uncle sitting before his Pai Sho table, talking happily with one of his crew members as he placed one of his pieces on the large table.
Zuko closed the door behind him; this time with more control out of respect for his uncle, and walked over to him. His uncle turned to face him and his expression brightened with a warm smile when he recognized the presents of his nephew.
"Come nephew, I would like to talk to you for a second."
Zuko nodded, sitting at his left side as he did so. The crew member excused himself and left the two men to their talking out of respect for the others. The Prince just waved him off stiffly and Iroh gave the other a respectful goodbye as the men left the planning room.
"What do you want to talk about uncle?"
His uncle's face fell slightly, sighing as he did so. Zuko, knowing his uncle for his optimism, didn't take this as a good sign and scowled slightly.
"Zuko, I know that you are happy with catching the Avatar. But I don't think this is the best option."
The Prince raised his one eyebrow at his uncle's, clearly confused at the older man's words.
"What do you mean uncle? How could you say that going home isn't a good thing?"
His uncle shook his head.
"That's not what I'm saying, nephew. I'm more anxious for what would happen to the world when you give the Avatar to your father."
Zuko rose from his sitting position, anger now clearly shown on his face.
"So letting the Avatar free is the best option!? Don't you care for me, to finally go home to take my rightful place as heir to the throne, to finally see my father again after all these years!?!"
Smoke was now rising from Zukos' nostrils, his anger now at a bowling point as he kept raging.
"No, you don't care. Is that it?! You're just an old man who is jealous of his younger brother. You can't have it that he was crowned as the Fire Lord and not you!"
Zuko turned away from his uncle and stomped to the door, intending to leave the room with a loud bang. Iroh stud up from his sitting position on the floor, his hand posed in front of him as to stop the Prince with the simple gesture.
"Stop Zuko, that's not-"
Iroh was cut off by his angry nephew's shouting before he could finish his sentence.
"You sicken me!"
Hus uncle flinched as the door was smashed shut by Zuko, leaving him bewildered alone in the large planning room.
---
Katara was pissed off, not only had they made her immobile by cuffing her wrists but she was also feeling hungry now. She hadn't heard Aang or her brother's calls and this was worrying her to no end. She thought it was the best idea to make the first move, and so she did by calling out to them.
"Aang! Sokka! Can you guys hear me?!"
The room fell silent after her words had echoed through the corridors of the cell-room till they fell to none-existence. Kataras' face fell but jerked up again when she heard muffled noises coming from around the corner.
"…Katara?"
She recognized the voice to belong to her brother and her eyes brightened with hope. Her brother did seem to sound drained and that scared her a little.
"Sokka, are you okay!?"
The room felt silent again and Katara felt her fears coming true, something had happened to her brother.
"I could feel better; I haven't eaten for a while now."
Replied her brother back to her, this time a little louder than the first time. Katara sighed out of relief, her brother and his stomach… At least he wasn't abused by the guards at the sound of it. She wished she could say the same, the shackles around her wrists grinding against her skin painfully by each movement she made.
"Are you okay!?"
The worried question of her brother echoed through the corridor and Katara felt her face fell at the question.
"No, they chained me up. I can hardly move!"
Her words got more strength with each word that left her mouth and she could heard her last few words echoing hard off the walls that surrounded her.
"Those bastards, hurting my sister like that! O, when I get out of this cell then there will be hell to pay!"
Katara could only smile at her brothers words, so full of self-confidence. The little happy moment didn't last long, though, as she heard an o-so-familiar voice echoing through the cell-room.
"Already been there, and I'm not going back."
Her eyes narrowed as she heard the reply of the banished Prince, the man she hated now with more passion than ever.
---
Zuko was eyeballing the low Water Tribe peasant with malice. The boy didn't seem faced by this as he gave Zuko a glare of his own.
"Well if it isn't is the infamous Hot-headed Prince."
Sokka said with a lot of sarcasm, clearly trying to thick Zuko off. The Prince only crossed his arms before his chest, the frown still posted on his face.
"And I see that the barbaric lowlife has made himself at home."
Zuko replied with sarcasm to rival that of Sokkas'. He wasn't amused by this and narrowed his eyes at the Prince.
"What are you going to do to us?"
Zuko noted little fear lingering in the Water Tribes' boy's eyes and smirked slightly, him now being the one amused.
"I don't think your stomach can contain its liquid when I'm finished telling you what I'm planning to do. But I'll tell you anyway, because you asked it so nicely."
Zuko stopped to make the tension in the air grow for more dramatic effect. His smirk darkened as he continued.
"First I'll deliver the Avatar to my father. Then, when that's all done, I'll throw you peasants in prison and let you and your sister there to rot."
Sokkas' felt as if he could be sick. Zuko noted the paleness on the other teens face and began to snicker, amusement clearly shown on his face as he paced before Sokkas' cell like a hunter would do to its prey. Sokka felt his body tense, feeling intimidated now by the hostile Prince as he backed off slightly.
"Y-you're sick."
Zuko just laughed at his words mockingly and turned away from the cell, pacing with long graceful steps away from him as Zuko turned around the corner to irritate the water-witch.
---
Katara was barely supporting her body with her legs, half hanging in the grip of the shackles that were bounded around her wrists. Her gaze was facing the ground in front of her, not even the bars that were so close to her position in her sight. She heard someone coming closer, most likely that cocky Prince again, but Katara didn't care to look up to her capture.
She could hear the sound of his movements stopping, the cell falling into silence again before the Prince broke it.
"Well, well. I see that captivity has drained you. I had thought more of you, water-witch."
Her head shot up and their gazes met. Zuko was standing there, his posture screaming cockiness as he watched her with seemed like light curiosity, awaiting her response.
"Want to trade positions, and then you can feel how draining this is."
This seemed the response he had hoped for because that annoying smirk returned to his lips. Katara just narrowed her eyes at him, daring him to insult her more.
"Care to try to make me, Waterbender?"
She trashed against her restraining, hoping on a miracle that the chains would cut loose somehow. They didn't budge though and she let her body fall so she was only supported by the chains that where connected to the bars of her cell.
"I'll let you loose of your shackles, but for only for one condition."
Her gaze fell back on the banished Prince, hope clearly shown in her eyes.
"Name it."
Zuko chuckled lightly.
"You let yourself chained every time you get water fed, do we have an agreement?"
Katara nodded her head feverishly; she wanted these restrains removed as quickly as possible. Zuko opened the door of her cell with the keys he had with him, closing the door afterward. He walked over to her, passing her till he was facing her back.
"I see that the guard didn't take any chances with you."
She could hear the amusement clearly in his voice but choice to ignore it. She felt the hands of the Prince on her arm and shuddered at the contact. His hands felt warm on her skin, must be because he was a Firebender. A clicking sound conformed that the first shackle was loose, the object soon connected to the ground with a loud 'clank'.
Katara flinched at the hard sound that echoed through the cell-room, her headache coming back with full force because of the hard noise. She saw her cell spinning before her and began to feel lightheaded. She fell forward but stopped midair when strong hands caught her by her waist, heaving her back up till she supported herself on her own feet again.
"Easy there, we don't want you to fall over now do we?"
She gave him a light 'thank you' but he seemed to shrug it off as he turned to the other shackle. The wrist-bounders fell with the same ear-defining sound to the ground but this time she was prepared for it.
---
Zuko walked passed her again to face her. The girl seemed slightly disorientated, her stance a little bit shagged in. The first thought was to place his hand against her forehead to feel up her temperature but dismissed the thought as soon as it came to his mind.
"How do you feel?"
Zuko asked with mild concern, he smacked himself inwardly after he registered the words that had left his mouth a bit too late.
"Not so well."
His gaze fell back on the bandage that was placed on her head, seeing that it wasn't cleaned since the last checkup. Zuko scowled at the laziness of his crew as he turned to call for the guard that was stationed to keep an eye on the prisoners to him. The man hurried to Zuko and gave him a quick salute.
"Why hasn't the prisoner's bandage been cleaned yet?"
The soldier let his arm drop beside him.
"We thought it wasn't necessary, Sir."
Zuko narrowed his eyes at the man for his stupidity. The Fire Nation soldier seemed to shrink in size at the cold stare the Prince was now giving him.
"Let me make that clear to you then, I want her bandage cleaned every few hours. Am I making myself clear enough for you?"
The soldier nodded his head sharply with a loud 'Sir!' and turned to get the said object to him. Zuko turned to face the Waterbender and found her paler than she first was.
"Maybe you should rest, you seem ill and I don't want you to die because of some fever."
The Prince didn't gauge her reaction as he turned away from her and opened the cell door so that he could leave. He closed the door behind him and marched off, leaving the ill Waterbender behind in his wake.
---
Katara didn't know where the illness had come from, but she knew one thing, she felt like shit. She let herself drag against the wall till she sat against it, her focus slightly off. Katara heard the guard entering her cell and looked to him; he held clean bandages in his arms and something else she couldn't indentify.
The soldier loosened the wrapping around her head and placed it besides him. He took a small bottle in his hand and did some of the liquid on his other hand, smearing it out over her wound. It didn't sting like Katara had though it would do and so she let the guard do his work. After the man was done he placed the bottle beside him again and began wrapping the clean bandage around her head.
The Fire Nation guard left with all his things without a word and Katara lay down on the cold floor, slightly whimpering at the cold sensation the floor was sending through her. Her head felt as if it could kill her and she felt slightly ill. If only she had some water to heal herself. Of course she knew that Zuko would never give her water without her hands restrained, let alone heal herself with it.
Katara sighed, defeated, as she closed her eyes and tried to sleep.
TBC.
