Title: What She Left Behind
Author: winterxlovee
Chapter Rating: M
Summary: The abandoned child of Fire Lord Ozai travels home after 6 years to find everything's altered. She is changing her family's plans, especially Azula's, and will come to find out hidden information on her true destiny . *Starts at the beginning of Book 3*
Disclaimer: I don't own anything except my original characters! All rights go to the Avatar team! Of course if I owned this series it would be so much less awesome, but it would have way more romance! ;D
Pairing: Zuko/OC, later on I'm pretty sure!
...
...
...
"I - I can't do this anymore. I need to get out of here before I go insane!" Aria broke down into heated tears and resumed the clawing of her arms that she always turned to when overwhelmed.
It had been over two weeks that she had been locked in this cold, metal cell, and it was driving her mad. She hasn't seen the sunlight since she'd been in the prison, and her weight had plummeted drastically; her ribcage and hip bones were showing, and her cheeks had grown hollow. Aria's womanly curves were in the distant past, and she had no energy given that her body was feeding on the only food source it had left, which were her muscles. Her only food intake were a few slices of bread that were given to her once a week to keep her from falling ill, and possibly a food - deprived coma.
She lay in her cell and faced the dirty wall, after an hour of endless scratching of her arms. The fire bender decided to stop once immense blood was shed, which had dried on her arms and splotches were covering her over - sized prison uniform. Given her circumstances weren't the best, she was bound to catch some type of influenza.
Hopefully, she would rot in this damn prison so the torture received from Azula and Ozai could be a thing of the far past.
She raised her arms in line with the dim beams of sun light that lit her cell from the hole with metal bars that served as a window and examined her flawed appendages.
Light scars from the endless burns and punctures by many objects masked her cream skin. Hakuna had healed eighty percent, but some of them, the Fire Lord wanted left marked on her skin to let Aria know who was actually dominating who. She was the victim of various beatings and the receiver of all the Fire Lord's wrath. She wanted to die.
"Zuko." Aria whimpered, lightly caressing the scars on her arms. "Where the hell are you? I need you so much right now, and you're not here."
She wept into the palms of her hands and lightly gnawed on her thumb to mask the sounds of her crying, for none of the guards liked crying. They probably pitied all the prisoners, and just couldn't accept the aftermath of Ozai's destructive decisions.
"Aria?" A familiar voice whispered heatedly.
Her whimpering halted and she rolled over to face Ty Lee, the only teen that was on Aria's side of this ordeal. Ty Lee hated seeing her best friend in such a broken state, but was forced to travel with Azula, for she didn't want to face the Princess's own wrath. She studied her friend and noticed the aura surrounding Aria's body like a halo. The colors were very dark, mostly black, with a hint of dark red, meaning that Aria was very nervous.
"Ty!" The prisoner half - crawled over to where Ty Lee was crouched on the other side of the thick bars, a rarely noted, worried expression coated her features.
"Ari, you look terrible! What's happened to you!" Ty Lee stood up and, flashing the set of keys in her hand, fiddled with the lock on the bars for a short moment and opened the cell door. Aria's aura had changed to a light blue once she realized it was Ty Lee and not a certain someone, so the acrobat knew that her friend had calmed down enough for her to discuss the important matters that had brought her there in the first place.
She stepped inside and plopped herself down in front of Aria with her legs folded under her. Ty Lee stroked Aria's long hair, and with her fingers, untangled the knots that had been formed from a lack of brushing over the weeks spent in here. Aria rested her head on Ty Lee's naked shoulder, purring in synch with the massage.
The acrobat, still continuing her treatments, glanced down at the dried blood covering Aria's arms and uniform and the multiple self-inflicted scratches. "What did you do to yourself?" She carefully lifted Aria's wrists and inspected the many scratches over her arms, and whether self-inflicted or not, they needed to be treated.
The fire bender pulled away from her friend's attentions and tucked her arms away from view. "It's the only way I know to come down to Earth and force myself to realize that all of this is actually happening." Aria paused to inspect her arms and run a finger along her pulse. "I'm not proud of it, but something is wrong with me, Ty! I hear so many voices, and they always nag at me about how unperfect and flawed I am! I deserve this! And If someone doesn't save me, I'll end up killing myself!"
The fire bender slapped both palms on the ground and let out a wail that could be heard all over the sector. She clutched her throbbing head as if someone was gnawing at the innermost, vulnerable parts of her brain; the memories that had been stashed away for nobody to ever know about. Her own mind was becoming her greatest enemy.
Ty Lee's heart broke as she saw her best friend unraveling before her very eyes. Aria was curled into a fetal position, and was sobbing on the floor, her tears were marked by little wet puddles on the dirty metal as they trickled off her face.
"P - please don't cry, Ari. I can't take it when I see my friends cry." Ty Lee stammered, her voice hitching as her own share of tears were cascading down her cheeks. She pulled her best friend in to a tight hug, finally collecting her thoughts and remembering why she came here in the first place. "I have something to make you feel better."
Aria, who was still sobbing into Ty Lee's arms, caught the faint glimmer of light reflecting from an object. 'Could it be?' She asked herself as she followed the path of the light and rested on a familiar necklace. "Is that...?"
"It's your necklace Zuko made you. I kinda stole it from 'Zula's room to bring it to you, so you would feel better... And I was planning on getting you out of here..." Ty Lee noted, her hopeful smile now showing the real Ty Lee that Aria loved. The bubbly, ditsy, always has something good to say about any situation Ty Lee.
"B - but... if anyone finds out you were the one to break me out, who knows what'll happen to you! I'm not risking it!" Aria panicked. When did Ty Lee become so selfless that she would risk her own life for a friend? She was always narcissistic - feeding off the attention everyone else gave her, admiring herself in every single mirror she walked by, and acting like she was so much prettier that other girls.
"Well, I was going to come back early tomorrow morning, let you out, and act like you kicked my butt while I was trying to stop you. That way I'm safe from Azula." Ty Lee suggests. It was a long shot, but anything that could be done to protect as many people during this, Aria would accept the challenge.
"I guess it'll work..." Aria wipes her face on the sleeve of her shirt and sniffles to show Ty Lee that she is done crying like a maniac.
"Great. So, see you tomorrow?" Ty Lee giggles as she sweeps Aria into a tight hug, sighing with relief. "You'll finally be rid of this place. Once and for all."
After her friend had left, Aria lay there and stared at the metal wall, and just reminsced on her past. There was one memory in particular she could not shake out of her mind:
...
...
...
"Mommy, why doesn't daddy love me like all my friend's dads do?" A six-year-old Aria was cradled in her mother's arms as they sat in their Earth Kingdom palace, in the study. They had just gotten back from their first trip to see Ozai and family, and Aria had been pretty down since then.
"It's complicated, my love." Inna smiles and kisses Aria on her forehead. "He does love you, he's just never been loved to know what it feels like, or how to show it."
"But he loves Azula." Aria sniffles in distaste, nuzzling her mother's neck.
"Trust me, baby girl, what he shows Azula is far from love." Inna assures, resting her cheek on the top of Aria's head.
"Has he always been like that, Mommy?"
"He and I were madly in love at one time. And he also loved Ursa."
"Ursa? Zuzu and Azula's mommy?" Aria looked up with a brightened expression on her face. Inna nodded her head in agreement, running her fingers through Aria's fine, almost-white hair.
"Do you miss them?" The mother asked her daughter, brushing her bangs out of the young girl's face. Inna stared into Aria's blue eyes, a mirror of her own. They showed such innocence, and the woman was terrified knowing that those eyes would soon enough be filled with remorse, betrayal, rage, and mostly, love. For love was the most frightening emotion; it could be heavenly and beautiful, but it could also hold along with it negative emotions. Inna knew from previous experiences. She didn't want her little girl to feel the same heartache she had when Inna was madly in love with Ozai. The woman had a feeling that it wouldn't be the last time the ex-lovers would meet.
...
...
...
"Get the hell up, scum! The Princess wants to see you ASAP, and she doesn't like to be kept waiting!" Two guards were hovered over her, lifting her up by the roots of her hair and her upper arms, and it felt as if her limbs were lead weights, so she couldn't escape if she tried.
'Shit! Not this again! Besides, it's dusk... Why does this have to be happening so late?' Aria thought to herself, the girl's head hung low out of sheer ebarrasment, and the fact that her neck could not support the weight of her head, so it just slumped sorely from her shoulders.
She was dragged out of her cell by only two guards this time, for both they and Aria knew that she was too weak to escape. The guards continued to drag her around a corner and through the halls of the Capitol Prison.
Everytime she saw a faint light shine in through the barred windows when the guards would drag her past, she would hurry and catch a glimpse. What windows there were, she could see the faint water of the ocean surrounding the prison, and also the jagged rocks along the cliff side, whenever the lighthouse would shine it's beam of light onto the area. Searching for escaped prisoners, no guess.
"Pick up the pace; I ain't got all day!" The guard that had just met with them instructed, thrusting her forward to emphasize his order, almost making her trip, if the men didn't start clutching her before she could face plant, that is.
"That room right there, men." The guard pointed to a metal door that was an exact replica of every other door in this prison. They opened the door with a squeak and Aria couldn't see what the room was actually holding, because they blind folded her before her eyes could adjust to the darkness. "Strap her in tight." He called again. She couldn't tell where the voice was actually coming from, but he was definitely in the room.
She was shoved into a cold, metal chair, and leather straps were wound tightly around her wrists and ankles, cutting off the circulation at those places. It hurt like hell when added to her already tender skin, and she gritted her teeth in annoyance as the three men left the room. She yanked at the bindings, creating heated friction between her wrists and the leather, but they never gave the slightest hint of giving.
"I wouldn't even try it. The leather is so strong I couldn't even escape." Azula called from behind Aria, her voice becoming bossy, as the prisoner could tell.
"We only chose the finest to tie you up in." Ozai added, stepping out of the shadows and into the light of Azula's now lit flame in the palm of her hand. "You should be grateful, wench."
Aria expelled a cackling laugh. "Grateful! You have me tied against my will, and I haven't had a meal in weeks! If this shit is what I'm supposed to be grateful for, I'd love to see what happens when I'm spoiled!"
SLAP! The skin to skin contact rang throughout the room, and the aftermath was felt on Aria's now - bruised face. She leaned over her chair and spat in the floor, the taste of copper now evident in her mouth from biting her tongue at the impact. Aria sputtered and coughed as Azula examined the broken prisoner before her.
"Well, well, well. Someone still hasn't found her place, now has she?" Azula mocked, lighting a small blue flame with her fingertip. "Well! Look at me!" The Princess gripped Aria's chin and twisted her face around so she could stare into her icy blue eyes. Azula's sharp fingernails dug into the skin of Aria's cheeks, drawing tiny droplets of blood. Aria wrenched away from Azula's advances to no avail, only forcing the princess to grip on to her tighter.
"Stop it!" Aria begged, though her words were slurred and barely audible given Azula's hold on her face.
"Father, what do you think we should with her?" Azula turns to the man who was beaming at the pair the whole time.
"I could think of many things, Azula." Ozai snickers, his face contorting into an evil grin, making Aria grimace and the hairs on the back of her neck stand on their own accord. "Azula, expose her chest to me."
The princess nods and reveals a small dagger from behind her back, then saunters over and rips the uniformed shirt from Aria's torso, exposed her chest just like Ozai had asked. Aria was wearing a plain white breast wrap, so nothing was exposed just yet.
Azula drags a fingernail down the pulse on Aria's neck and down her chest, applying slight pressure. "Aw, do I scare you, wench?" Aria was staring the wall adjacent to her and wouldn't meet Azula's cold gaze. The princess sighed. "I'll take that as a yes."
Aria struggled with the bindings once again as she felt the dagger that Azula held in her hand moments before being dragged across the skin of her chest. "Leave me alone, Azula! What do you want?"
"I want you to tell me all about your powers. Father and I did some research and found out that you're able to remove people's souls from their bodies. So, show us." Azula said as she applied more pressure to the knife, before bringing the tip to her lips and blowing on it, causing the metal to turn bright red. "Or else..."
"I'm telling you, I don't know how! Please don't hurt me!" Aria pleaded, tears forming at the corners of her eyes.
"Azula, you know what you have to do." Ozai spoke for the first time, as he had been too busy watching the interaction between the two young girls.
"Gladly, Father." Azula smirked, raking the smoldered metal across Aria's neck and chest as she yelped in pain. The princess carved the letters of her name into Aria's skin one by one while she bit back a loud scream. She straddled the prisoner's legs and gripped the hair at the back of the girl's neck, yanking her head back so the sensitive flesh of her neck was exposed.
"I'll take it from here, Azula." Ozai stated, moving from his position against the wall to behind the chair at which the Akane sat. He marveled at the terrified emotion and vulnerability in Aria's face, and he brushed his fingertips across her cheek as she whimpered softly. "It's so sad that it had to come to this; such a beautiful girl as yourself shouldn't be wasted. But you understand that if you join us, your life will be spared."
"And my mother?" Aria whispered as she stared up at the man that could be responsible for her death shortly. Ozai smiled lovingly and assured her that Inna would be let free. "Okay. I'll do it."
...
...
...
AUTHOR'S NOTE:
I have nothing to say, only that this was a very fun chapter to write, but the torture isn't over YET! :D
Sorry for the wait, but FF has been acting up; it wouldn't let me log in to finish writing. Has anybody else had this problem!
Well, another note, I just wanna say that I appreciate all the faves and alerts, because I appreciate them, but reviewing gives me feedback from you! So please review? :D
...
So, what's in store for Aria and friends the next chapter? Stay tuned for more on What She Left Behind: Chapter 11! :D
PLEEEEEEEAAAAAAASSSSSSEEEEEEE R&R FOR I DO ACCEPT EVERY COMMENT! I LOVE THEM AND THEY KEEP ME GOING TO WRITE THIS STORY. (:
TELL ME WHAT YOU WOULD LIKE TO SEE IN FURTHER CHAPTERS; THOUGHTS, IDEAS? (:
...
I would also like to say thank you to KJUN for adding this story to your alerts! *Glomps*
...
I THANK ALL OF YOU FOR READING THIS STORY, ADDING TO YOUR ALERTS, FAVING, AND REVIEWING! I LOVE YOU ALL!
*CUE CHEESINESS* YOU GUYS KEEP ME GOING ON THIS STORY AND YOU ARE MY INSPIRATION. (:
'TIL WE MEET AGAIN! :D