Thanks so much for the reviews! I'm glad that a lot of people are curious about what's going to happen. Sorry that I've been gone so long. With a busy summer and it being my last year of high school, I wanted to make sure that everything was in order before starting to write again.

Now, here's chapter two!

Warning for Mature Content, Graphic Rape, and Language.

I will tell you when the explicit stuff begins and where it ends for those who don't want to read it.


Spirit Broken


Days pass as swiftly as the guards change their shifts. Agonizingly slow nights fly by in the hellhole that is my home. I guess that's why this is called a prison. It's too torturous to be here even one second, much less a life sentence against the "Fire Lord".

Every night has been the same ever since I got here, with Shen sitting with me and trying to start idle conversation. I always try to turn away from it, though since talking doesn't help any when I'm stuck in this Godforsaken prison cell.

I often wonder about everyone that I knew. Tai Li has a daughter, I know, with what's-his-name, and Mai married Zuko almost a year ago. I've heard talk from the guards that she's close to giving birth; like I care anyway. They've come to visit me a few times, mostly during holidays and birthdays, otherwise they leave me alone. I don't know why they won't just stay away.

'They're sorry-'

'-Pitiful Princess.'

I scowled as the voices rang in my ears. I want them to leave me alone forever.

'Never.'

Ugh.

--

The night continued to go on as usual, with Shen bringing me my "dinner" of old bread, thin soup, and dirty water. A trick that Shen had told me to do was to dip the bread into the soup. Then the bread wouldn't taste so bland and the soup would be absorbed into the bread. A thought of helping the taste of this horrid paste they call food is too wonderful to pass up.

Shen continued to watch me as I slowly ate, his topaz eyes staring hard at my face. I masked everything, as I usually had, underneath my dirty appearance; trying to look as tired and weary as I could. Maybe then he'll leave me alone.

I chewed my food as slowly as I could as the minutes wore by; until Shen broke the silence.

"You know, I've always admired you."

I suddenly stopped all movement and it was absolute quiet again, until his voice spoke into the darkness as he looked away from me and at the dirty floor of my prison. He spoke in a warm, generous voice, one that I never expected.

Shen leaned closer to the slimy bars. "I think you're beautiful."

I blinked my eyes, not believing what he had just said to me, out loud. He stared into my eyes, trying to read my response. However, I continued to mask my emotions; it's something Shen never has to see, or anyone. I bit my lip, but only for a second, to make sure that the voices never played a trick on me.

Then, he stood and walked toward the door to my cell, using his keys to unlock it. Perhaps he's letting me escape?

The door to my cell creaked softly as Shen opened and closed it. His dark eyes never left mine; they were filled with unmasked desire. I didn't move. His steps were slow and quiet that built up the suspense of the silence for what he would do next.

Shen knelt down toward me, and reached to my dirty face with a gentle touch of his fingers. "Azula, you're trembling," he whispered in my ear. I glanced toward my hands and saw that they were, indeed, shaking. I instantly frowned at my body for disobeying me. I mean, just because he's too close for comfort doesn't mean that I have to act like a scared, little child.

Still, my eyes were away from his; I was ashamed that I wasn't being as strong as I should be. It's embarrassing. Shen sniffed my neck, sending chills up and down my spine.

"Even under those rags you smell sweet," he murmured so softly in my ear.

Shen's hand gently glided from my face, down my neck, and gripped my shoulder tightly; a little too roughly. "That's what makes you so irresistible," he whispered in a grueling hiss. His other hand seized the back of my head, taking handfuls of hair and sending stinging pain down my spine, and turned my head to face him.

I held in grunt.

The man brought his lips on mine and kissed me forcefully. His teeth bit my bottom lip so hard that I tasted blood. His grips on my arm and head tightened as the kiss grew more intense. My hands finally responded to the signals I sent to it what felt like hours ago. I brought my hands to his chest to push him away, but he held me tight to him.

'Keep trying-'

'-Pull yourself-'

'-Away!'

I'm trying, I'm trying! I shouted back to the voices.

I tried to yell and scream for him to stop, but Shen forced his tongue inside of my mouth. It felt warm but foreign. Before I could bite down on his tongue, his lips left mine and he pushed me onto the floor so hard that all of the air was knocked out of my lungs.

I told myself not to cry, that it would make him see more weakness than he should. I tried to concentrate on Fire Bending him off of me and burning him to a crisp, but my mind was screaming at him to stop; all of my screams I held inside. Then, I did something that I regretted: I whimpered like an injured dog.

Shen slapped me, relentlessly. "Shut the hell up, bitch," he whispered harshly, and slapped me again after I flinched at his tone.

This wasn't the Shen I knew. He was so gentle and cautious when it came to me. Whenever someone talked bad about me and tried to spread horrid rumors, he defended me. Gods, how could I be so pitiful?!

(A/N: Here is where the mature content begins. Scroll down until you see another A/N if you don't want to read any further.)

Shen's once-gentle hands roughly ran all over my body, trying to feel every part of me. He kept one hand binding mine together at the wrists so that I couldn't push him off, and his knees pressed my legs down against the cold floor. I pushed and squirmed underneath him, but he was too fierce. He reminded me of an animal.

His other hand ripped the fragile material of my shirt, and then threw the tattered pieces to the side. I closed my eyes and turned my head away from what he would do. I just… couldn't watch. Shen's lips kissed my neck; his head moved downward.

I tried as hard as I could to push him away, but nothing worked… It was so pitiful. I held in my screams as best as I could. I felt him bite my breast and squeeze so hard with his hands that once handed me my dinner plate.

For Gods' sake, why wouldn't anyone help me?!

'Why help-'

'-Pitiful Princess?'

…You're right.

But still… I can't fathom what was happening… Shen is kissing my body and biting wherever he can; I can't help but wince, which makes him grin. Still, I try with all that's left of my will to not scream.

No matter what, don't scream. Don't scream. Don't scream.

I clenched my eyes shut, but Shen forced them open. The look on his face was almost twisted with disgust and vengeance. He moved closer to my face, though slowly. His eyes glinted deviously into my own, chilling me to the bone; he pressed his lips against my ear, speaking in a malicious tone

"Your armies murdered my wife and newborn son in the Earth Kingdom."

His whisper was powerful, though it lacked volume.

Stay strong, stay strong…

"I could kill you too, but that wouldn't let you suffer long enough."

An intense, hurting feeling surged from my back; an awful smell reached my nostrils. It was horrible. He was burning my back! Damn, I couldn't help it…

I screamed at the top of my lungs.

I couldn't think of anything else but the Gods-awful pain! Oh, there was nothing else that he could do that would hurt so badly! I writhed in pain on the dirty floor with Shen on top of me, watching me squirm. He let out a laugh, though it wasn't loud enough to be heard out of the privacy of my cell.

The burning sensation stopped, but my back throbbed with the pain, the awful pain. "There's nothing that I could do worse to you than what the armies that you commanded did to my wife and boy."

His free hand roughly ran across my stomach, over my breasts, and to my neck. It squeezed my throat so tightly. I opened my mouth, gasping for air, but no oxygen came into my lungs.

"Yes," Shen hissed heatedly. "Feel the asphyxiation."

My vision began to blur. Every sound ebbed from my ears. My strength left me quickly and I stopped struggling. He could do whatever he wanted to me.

Shen leaned close to me, pressing his body weight on my stomach. "Don't worry," he coldly assured, "I won't kill you. That wouldn't be good enough."

What else could he possibly do?

His hand left my throat and I gasped loudly for air. My chest convulsed as the air flowed into my lungs and rushed out as I breathed. With one of his hands still holding my wrists tight together, Shen's free hand lightly touched from my neck downward. My eyes couldn't help but watch.

Shen's finger trailed down my dirty body to my breasts. He used his whole hand to squeeze so tightly that I held in a grunt and pinched my nipple. He moaned like an animal. It was so disgusting.

The free hand let go of my breast and roughly trailed lower and toward the pants that I wore. Realization struck me like lightning, and I shook like a fish out of water.

"No…" I mumbled softly. "Please, stop…"

Gods. I'm so pathetic.

Shen only laughed at me and his grip on my wrists grew tighter. "Oh, Azula," he whispered softly, almost spitting my name, "as my pain of my loss can never stop, neither can the pain that I am about to cause you."

My eyes gazed into his dark topaz gems that glittered with vengeance and satisfaction. I couldn't mask anything that I felt anymore, like my mind and body was betraying me. My fear spilled into my eyes and my pitiful emotions were no longer held back. I knew that I shouldn't have done that; it was what Shen had wanted.

Shen moved himself to my side with his eyes never leaving mine. "If you squirm, I'll burn you again." The raw emotion in his voice told me that he wasn't bluffing.

In one last pitiful attempt, I suddenly became defiant. It didn't matter now if I was talking or not, but I had to get him off of me.

"I'm not scared of your fire," I murmured to him, though my voice was shaky. My fear, the fear that I was determined to hide, flowed out as I spoke. Damn it…

A smirk curved slowly on Shen's lips. "You will be, Princess. You will be."

It sounded like a promise.

Shen's hand grabbed the thin material that was my prison pants and ripped it from the seams and threw the pieces aside. I looked away and shut my eyes tight. I didn't want to watch this…

But Shen forced my head forward quickly with his hand and he gripped my face tightly. "I want you to scream. No matter what, no one would come to your aide. Of course," he said with the grin on his lips growing wider, "they'll believe that you're having those night terrors that you used to have. No one would be so suspicious."

I realized with regret that he was right. No one would help a traitor like me. They all believe that I'm crazy. I've heard stories like this about what Shen wanted to do to me. There was a horrid word…

'Rape.'

Yes. Rape. I grew up knowing the birds and the bees; being a teenager I had to. I've only kissed though, never sex… I've heard stories from the maids about it. There were scandals and affairs, and crimes. They all said it hurt but felt good later on. I don't believe that my first experience would be so pleasant.

Shen slowly climbed on top of me as he drew the string to his pants out and let them fall. With my body failing to protect itself because of the lack of oxygen, I couldn't even fight back as he leaned on me to forcibly kiss me on the lips. His hands roamed to places that I don't even want to say, but he never stopped.

A heated pain inflamed inside me; like a growing fire that spread further and further and refused to go out. It came from inside my…

I shut my eyes before I could see anything, and I told myself to hold in the screams that I was dying to let out; that he demanded be let out. He pushed himself into me, and I bit my lips as hard as I could to keep in my screams. His hands were all over my body and stopped at my neck again. He lightly squeezed.

"Scream," Shen demanded forcefully, squeezing even tighter and forcing my eyes open. "Or I'll burn you and choke you."

His hand lifted from my neck before I could get light-headed again. They went to my legs to maneuver them so that I was more exposed to him.

'Why lay there-'

'-Pitiful Princess.'

There's nothing left to do. So I screamed until my lungs hurt as he pushed even harder inside of me.

I smelled blood.

Mind, please take me somewhere else. I don't want to be here. I'm trying as hard as I can not to act like a scared little girl, but he won't stop.

I kept screaming, just like he wanted me to. However much I tried to hold them in, tears spilled from my eyes and I sobbed. He continued to push in and out; I screamed and sobbed.

Until darkness came over me.

--

(A/N: Here is where the rape ends.)

I don't know how much time passed when I woke up. Minutes, hours, days. But Shen was gone and I laid in a small puddle of my own blood, naked. I glanced down at myself, much to my disdain. My body was scarred and bruised from Shen's burns and how hard he pushed into me. My throat was dry and no sound came out when I tried yelling for help.

But help came to me.

The door to my small prison cell room opened and a small beam of light followed. It must be sometime after noon.

Tura and Ning came into the room slowly, as if they were expecting me to jump on them like a tiger on its prey. But I just laid there, dazed. Ning slowly put her spear on the cold concrete and approached the door to my small cell. Her keys jingled loudly in my ears and the door creaked.

A flash played before my eyes.

"I want you to scream."

I can't. It hurts.

"Scream. Or I'll burn you and choke you."

A light, cold hand touched my shoulder, chilling the memory away, and I shook it away.

"She's trembling," Ning murmured to Tura across the room. Shuffling sounds echoed in my ears. "She's bruised everywhere and burned, and drew blood this time; a lot of it."

"Should I get the doctor?" Tura asked, just as quietly.

"You'd better," Ning replied. "I don't think that simple bandages will do. Dr. Zhin will know what to do."

There was a pause.

"Maybe the family physician would be better. Considering her state maybe a familiar face would help," Tura suggested.

Ning lightly touched my side and I flinched at the light touch of her finger. She let out a soft sigh and very lightly stroked my ebony hair from my face to see it clearly. My eyes opened slowly at the dark, blurred vision of the day guard.

"I think you're right, Tura," Ning finally replied. "Go to the palace. I'll see to cleaning her and getting her fresh clothes." Her eyes glanced to the tattered remains of my shirt and pants in the dark corner of my prison cell.

I don't care anymore what they do.


There, finally! I'm sure that the rape scene was a bit OOC-ish, but I think it turned out okay. But it's really your opinions that I care about! Don't forget to review. See you guys soon!

Raynn.