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Chapter 10: Azula

Sokka's POV: I woke up, and my head was throbbing. I blinked my eyes open to find myself in a cold, dark cell, with burns and cuts all over my chest and back. Suddenly all the events of the previous day came back to me. I remembered the Battle in Front of the Tea Shop, and me stopping Ty Lee from getting Aang, and falling into Azula's clutches, and me yelling at Aang to leave, and Hisato beating the crap out of me.

I groaned, and tried to sit up by pulling myself up with my hand, only I overestimated the strength of my wrists, after holding up my entire body for hours, it couldn't support me at all, and my body fell back to the cold floor, and I felt my hand land in something wet. Through the dim light, I could barely make it out, but saw that it was blood. I looked at where I'd woken up, then at my bare chest, and gulped. That was my blood!

Only, I would've expected to be much more cut up, and my burns to be more severe than they were. Did Azula send for someone to clean me up after I passed out? My instincts told me that she wouldn't do that. If she was going to torture one of the Avatar's friends, she wasn't going to worry about cleanliness; I would guess she'd want me as disgusting, filthy, and beat up as possible. Which could only leave one option; someone had done it after I fell unconscious, someone without orders, someone in secret, who was on my side. I gave a half smile, I might have a friend!

My mini smile was immediately wiped from my face as Azula strode in; Hisato followed her in like a King-Crab-Dog, blindly following its master.

"Good morning, peasant. You still have the choice of telling us where the Avatar is, or facing a punishment for being bad. You choose!" I frowned, knowing this was coming. I didn't care what she did to me; I wasn't going to betray Aang. The face I made gave her my answer, along with a shake of the head that came with a side of a glare.

"Very well. I'll give you another choice, you can receive your gift from Hisato hanging from your wrists again, or you can do it with your hands on the bars, and arm leaning on the bars too."

I glared, but knew the better of the two options. Without voicing my choice, I grimly walked to the front of the metal box and wrapped my hands around two of the bars, and pressed my arms down on them. Azula smirked as she walked over to me, and wrapped my hands and two places on my forearm, stopping me from pulling away or changing my mind.

Hisato pulled out the whip that I'd named Flameio, which happened to be the phrase that Aang used all the time when we were infiltrating the Fire Nation as Colonials.

Toph and I would always tease him about that. We would sit around the fire for hours after Katara and Aang had gone to sleep, talking and teasing each other and every one we knew. Once Toph had done a great Aang, walking around quickly just saying 'Flameio Hotman!' to every tree, bush, rock, and everything in the vicinity. I was rolling in the dirt that night in hysterics. That was the night I noticed she was just glowing. It was then that I noticed something different 

about her. I thought it was just her new clothes, which we had gotten only a few days before. But I began to notice the difference more and more, and my heart would speed u whenever I came near her. I quickly realized it wasn't the clothes, it was Toph. I realized she was beautiful.

When I named the whip Flameio, I imagined the goofy voice she used that night, pretending to be Aang. And I almost laughed.

Then I felt Flameio make contact with my back, and I wasn't smiling anymore. Azula was standing right in front of me, her hands on the same bars I was strapped to. She was watching excitedly as I writhed in pain. The whip reopened up some of my cuts, while it made new burns, and I began to bleed.

Azula was doing something too. The way she gripped the bars was unusual, almost as if she was…! I gasped, as the bars I was holding on to began to get warm. I finished my train of thought. The way she gripped the bars was almost as if she was firebending. The bars started to glow a dull orange, being heated up by Azula. They quickly turned neon orange, brighter than I've ever seen anything, even when I was making my own sword! Every fiber in my being shouted in pain, and I followed suit, screaming in agony and suffering. I collapsed to my knees.

She made a gesture with her head to tell Hisato to take over in heating up the bars while he walked to my bleeding back. I looked at my tied up hands and arms that were quickly becoming red and black. She had tied me up well; it took all my strength just to unwrap my fingers from the bars. In the back, Azula saw this, and replaced my fingers on the metal bars.

"You're trying to escape your punishment. When you're doing that, you're not learning. You're being bad." I felt her hands heat up to incredible temperatures, and I feared she was going to touch my face, but instead she moved to my blackened back.

"If you're gonna burn my back I fear you're getting a tad redundant. Are you losing your touch?" I knew I was gonna pay for that one, but I couldn't resist, it was on my mouth and coming out before I could stop it.

"Who said I was going to touch you?!" I was curious of what she was doing, my arms still screaming out to me. She just put her hot as hell hands close to my back. I felt my eyes bulge out of my head as I guessed what she was doing. And I was right too. She was trying to boiling my blood! I could feel it too, it burned and ran, hot and destructive. She just moved closer to my cuts, ignoring my shouts, and cries, and pleas. She was gonna boil the blood in my bloodstream! I shouted and begged her to stop, tears coming to my face.

"You were bad. I can stop, but only if you admit to it."

"What?" I felt my hot blood burning me from the inside, out. It was torture, and I was shaking violently. I just wanted her to stop.

"Say it." I would do almost anything for her to stop.

"I…I am b…b…bad." I stuttered out, my voice cracking under the pain.

But suddenly, the heat on the bars was cooled immensely, and Azula had backed away from me.

"Now say it again."

"I am b…bad."

"Last time." I looked at her curiously, but complied.

"I am bad."

She nodded, satisfied with hearing that. She walked out. Hisato turned to me and whipped me three times before walking out as well, and positioning himself outside my door. I know Azula is up to something, I just can't figure out what. And what was with the 'I am bad' stuff. What was that? I shuddered as I remembered how she forced me into saying it, not once… but three times. I wiped the tears out of my eyes; I had no idea how painful that would be. I hear people use the phrase 'making your blood boil' before, but I could never see it the same way again.

Just to escape my torture, I thought of memories of all my friends, especially Toph, those memories are all I had to hold on to. With those memories still playing through my thoughts I fell into a dreamless sleep.