A/N: Guys. It's unbelievable. Like, seriously. I found a new beta-reader whose real life name is JET O.O! Well, okay, it's Jett, actually. BUT STILL! GAAAAAAAAHHH! How cool is THAT, huh?! Don't you think? XD
Sooo... please note that the following chapter will contain A TOUCH OF JET(T) *lol* :'D... aka. RedBeetle here on FFN. Although, admittedly, he's only betaed it "mostly for spelling, grammar and punctuation errors" yet. And I'm being too impatient to wait for him to get back to me again :P. Nevertheless - thanks so much for taking over the job, it's greatly appreciated! ':o)

Apart from that... JKLÄXRjfkavnjfpaßfgyöqfh ó.Ò... Evil me is evil.

But believe me, my heart hurts whenever I write stuff like that. Like... seriously. Ouch.

So... once again, brace yourselves! I'm so sorry! ó_ò

And be aware that Zuko could seem pretty ooc in this chapter. But it's for a reason. I did that on purpose. And it will be explained later on. But for now, just don't be too shocked or anything. It will make sense once you can see the bigger picture. :P
And remember - "Everything will be okay in the end. If it's not okay, it's not the end." (A quote from loooooong ago... dunno if you can even recall those chappies ;)... but nevertheless, it's still valid ':o)! So don't worry, everything WILL be okay in the end... in the VERY end. But it's gonna take a while. Admittedly, a rather long while. But there is hope! And it will come true eventually!)

So yeah. Enjoy. Or whatever. ó.Ò

-20-

AT ROCK BOTTOM

"Z- Zuko…"

Sureen almost choked on his name. The air around her suddenly swallowed her voice and her body froze in place. Her mind couldn't – no, it refused to process what she was seeing. Sick to her stomach, she tried to keep herself from fainting out of shock as the room began spinning around her unsteadily.

What could she possibly say that would make things right between them now that he was here? Was an apology even enough to make up for what she'd done? It took what seemed like forever for her to gain his trust, and insanely enough – his friendship… only to tear down the last string of hope he had on ever trusting someone again. Only to make him realize he'd been right with his distrust, in fact. Maybe it was best to just leave things as they were… After all, was it even fair of her to ask for his forgiveness when she could not even forgive herself?

Ever since the day Sera saved her and she made the decision to leave everything behind, she'd spent countless nights wondering if she'd ever meet Zuko again. Her endless train of thought would keep her awake for days on end, whereas the few nights when she'd finally manage to rest her mind and sleep, her dreams would quickly turn into nightmares. Though, throughout all of this, she never once let herself actually believe this day would ever come. Recovering quickly in spite of her overwhelming emotions, the reality of the unexpected reunion began to set in.

Her wildly tiresome imagination never would have dreamed of meeting her former friend in a prison cell, much less finding him in a state she didn't even dare call 'alive'. He continued to stare out into the air blankly, completely unresponsive to her presence. No reaction, no emotion, nothing but sheer emptiness radiating from his lifeless eyes, not a single thought occupying his mind.

It felt as though Sureen's ability to sense emotions had suddenly been stripped away from her. Despite the myriad of times she's wished for her power to disappear, the moment Zuko's void of emotions truly hit her was more disturbing than she'd ever felt before. Because, in fact, this wasn't the lack of her abilities. It was the lack of Zuko's emotions, the absence of his very personality… of everything that made him who he was. As though his body was still alive, but his soul was gone.

Sureen didn't know how to fight back the panic seizing her heart.

"Zuko… W-what happened? And why? And are you… c-can you hear me," she asked stutteringly.

An empty stare was her only reply.

It was her last straw.

Eventually, Sureen had reached the point where she could take no more. Within this one day, everything she'd believed in, everything she'd lived for had become shattered.
Everything had once begun with the fierce idea to live up to her tribe's heritage. Hoping that maybe, possibly, she'd been the only survivor for a reason. That somehow, she was meant to survive, because she was still needed here. Trying to prove the world that she was worthy to be alive. And while her efforts made her become more and more involved in the war, she began to realize she wanted to contribute her share in order to finish it. To finally take action and go for her convictions. To follow her captain right into the lion's den, for there was a new light on the horizon, a new era of peace.
And maybe one day, when that new era of peace would have become reality, maybe there would be a way Zuko and her could meet again, could talk things over and finally leave the past behind. It had become her dream, the one imagination that had kept her going.

But now nothing of that dream was left. Not only had the invasion gone awfully wrong, but what had once been a determined alliance of Water Tribe soldiers had turned into a separated group of captives, scattered all over the Fire Nation's prisons. She'd been unable to prevent any of it.
But the worst thing about it all was - even Zuko… she couldn't tell if the Zuko she'd once known did still exist.

Unable to resist the surge of her despair any longer, Sureen doubled over, hiding her face behind her hands, while her body convulsed with silent sobs.

"Zuko, talk to me!" Swallowing hard and wiping her tear-stained face with her sleeve, she eventually lifted her head again, searching for Zuko's eyes in the dark, addressing the prince with a determined tone.
"If you're still there, then show me any reaction, dammit! Just stop being s-so… dead! Please, Zuko! What's wrong? What happened? Just what- did they do to y-?!"

Wait, what…? There it was! Some kind of… flicker at the back of his mind. As though something within him were reacting, reflecting the despair Sureen was practically throwing at his face. There was no visible reaction that would have given him away – yet she was sure of what she'd just felt. Even if it had only lasted for a split second.

But she wasn't given the chance to hold on to the flicker. Just as she was about to continue speaking, she heard the quickly approaching steps of the guards.
Clenching her fists and mentally cursing the worst possible moment for any 'visitors' to arrive, the girl retreated to her cot. So close. I was SO CLOSE, dammit! For a second, I'd almost found him. Crouching down in the very corner of the bunk bed, she helplessly dug her fingers into the moldy blanket and glared at the two guards that entered the cell shortly after.

While one of them waited at the lattice door, the other man balanced two trays on his palms. Apparently, it was lunch time. The guard wordlessly placed one tray on Sureen's cot, noticing she was huddled in the corner, but not paying her any further attention.
Then he turned towards Zuko. After putting the other tray on the floor, he took the bowl and the cup that were placed on it, approached the motionless prisoner even further and... emptied the contents of both pots right over Zuko's head. Sureen could outright hear the sick satisfaction dripping from the man's voice as he addressed the prince:

"Oh, that was awfully clumsy of me. I must have tripped and spilled your lunch over you! I'm terribly sorry, my lord," he sneered.

"EXCUSE ME?!" From the opposite corner of the cell, the words burst out of Sureen before she could swallow them. "Which part of you tripping did I miss? C'mon, who do you think you're kidding? You did that on purpose, you bast-"

In the blink of an eye, the guard spun around and hurried back to the bunk bed. Grabbing the bowl and the cup standing on Sureen's tray, he snapped, "You think? Well, it would be no problem to demonstrate again just how exactly I tripped. Especially for you, young lady!"

"Pffffft... Yeah, sure thing. Please, don't hold back." Folding her arms in front of her chest, Sureen spit out the words.

Ramming the bowl and the cup back into the tray and shoving the thing to the side, the man suddenly shot forward, pressing his hands into the mattress to support his upper body.

"You don't wanna find out what it's gonna be like when I really don't hold back, ya know...," he hissed in a threatening tone, his head so close to the girl's face that she could smell his foul breath.

"Stop it. Right now."

Sureen barely recognized the voice that was now reduced to a hoarse growl. But once she realized who had just addressed the words to the man right in front of her, her heart skipped a beat.

And the remark didn't miss its desired effect.

"C-come on man, I g-guess the Firelord's offshoot is right. It's enough. You know, there are some m-more prisoners waiting for their lunch… and it's not like… I - I mean, let's just go, okay," the other guard waiting at the door endorsed stutteringly, urging his colleague to get out of the cell.

Reluctantly and still snorting with rage, the man retreated from the bunk bed, then turned and flounced out of the room in a huff. His fellow guard hurried to lock the lattice door and follow him. As quickly as their steps had approached mere minutes ago, they now strode away and faded as both guards rushed down the corridor.

Sureen released a breath she hadn't been aware she was holding.

"Ugh. Spirits. I already figured they were rude bastards when they brought me here... but I wasn't expecting them to be that sick in their heads. I mean, seriously," she muttered to herself. Fixing her gaze on the silhouette in the half-light, she added "But hey, thanks. For... you know... shooing them out."

Noticing the absence of any reaction on Zuko's part, either visible or sensible, a sigh escaped her. Not that she'd expected anything other than that really. Regardless, the girl grabbed her tray with the - more or less - untouched lunch on it and got up from her cot. Crouching down in front of the prince, she placed the tray next to him.

"Here. You can have my lunch. I can't... I mean... I'm not hungry right now," she explained while shoving the bowl and the cup over to Zuko.

Slowly, his eyes ceaselessly wandering between Sureen and the tray, as though he weren't sure whether she really meant it, Zuko bent forward, reaching for the bowl. His labored moves and hectic, snatchy gasps left no doubt he was in pain. But the semidarkness made it impossible for Sureen to detect any visible injuries on his body.
Once the prince had taken hold of the bowl with shaky hands, he didn't waste a second to pitch into it. Greedily, he shoved lump after lump of what looked like sticky creamed rice into his mouth, barely taking the time to breathe while devouring Sureen's lunch in mere minutes. She could just stare at him in a mixture of shock and worry.

"S-so I take it today wasn't the first time they didn't give you any food, huh...," she ground out after Zuko had emptied the bowl. After wiping his mouth with his sleeve and averting his eyes, her cell-mate's only reply was a curt shrug.

The girl shot him a worried glance. She felt a lump tightening her throat again, accompanied by another flare-up of the all-too-familiar helpless despair looming in the shadows of her mind.
This was not the Zuko she'd once known. The person sitting across from her had nothing in common with the proud prince who'd fought unremittingly to find his way in life, his purpose. The one who'd always tried and struggled back to his feet, no matter how often he failed. Who'd never given up, even when his mind was full of nagging questions and he couldn't see the answers. The boy who'd been brimming with rage and pent-up wrath once his impenetrable façade of aloofness and standoffishness came down. The friend who'd had Sureen's back, who'd taken the risk to become vulnerable by allowing himself to put his trust on her.

It seemed as though all of that had been erased.

No. I mean... wait, maybe...!? Remembering the flicker of emotion she'd felt within Zuko's heart before the guards had appeared, an idea sneaked into Sureen's mind.

"Zuko, I... Okay, obviously, I don't have a clue what happened... like, why you were taken to this place and for how long you've been here a-and wh-... what happened in the meantime. 'Cause, I mean... you wouldn't change like that for no reason. So... all I know at this point is... well, I can only guess, but... whatever it is, it's definitely not fair, and it's all wrong and - and sick and t-twisted a-and..." Sureen took a deep breath to steady her cracking voice.
"Whatever. It's just, you - you didn't deserve it, you know. None of it," she added, struggling to keep her composure.

Endless seconds passed by, until finally -

"What if you're wrong? What if I do deserve it?"

His voice still sounded as hoarse and indifferent as it had when she'd first heard it a few minutes ago. Yet she could feel that flicker again. Like a tiny flame inside his heart, threatening to take over if he gave into it. Maybe if Sureen managed to fuel that fire just a little more, she could awake him, could make him snap out of his inner emptiness. Determinedly, the girl clenched her fists.

"No. You don't. No one would ever deserve this. No human being deserves to be treated like shit, like a worthless piece of dirt, or to be humiliated only for someone else's sick pleasure. No matter what you did, Zuko." - And the flame kept growing, she even could see it by now, by the way his back straightened, and his eyes started flaring, and his jaw worked while he clenched his teeth - "There's no crime in the world that could legitimate torture. Or justify a life in he-"

And without a further warning, the fire took over. Its greedy flames spread across his soul, devouring his every thought and each component of his mind... until his entire being was consumed by the raging, blinding inferno.

She heard him scream; it was the last sensation she took in before a wave of violent pain flashed through her face, making her vision blur and tears stream from her eyes. When Zuko's fist hit Sureen's cheek at the top of its speed, the girl's head spun around, almost making a 180° turn to the back, while her neck made the most disturbing cracking noise and her entire upper body was flung backwards. The girl barely managed to ram her forearms into the ground just in time before her face collided with the floor.

Breathing heavily, she froze in that position, unable to move or even think. All she noticed were the steady drops of blood falling from her left cheek, slowly staining the floor beneath her face. Like in a trance, with her moves decelerated, Sureen eventually pushed herself back up, then turned to face Zuko.
The prince still sat with his back against the wall. Only his trembling shoulders and his still clenched fist gave away what had just happened. Yet his inner flame had vanished as though it had never existed. When Sureen's eyes met his, again she found nothing but emptiness behind his dull stare.

Feeling hot tears welling up in her eyes, the girl struggled back to her feet and stumblingly escaped to the bunk bed. For Zuko either wouldn't notice her… or wouldn't care. Coiling up on her cot, facing the wall, she let the tears flow freely.

Until the rushed steps returned.

Just in time, Sureen managed to sit up and wipe the traces of the incident with her cell-mate off her face. Bringing her knees close to her upper body, hiding her banged-up cheek behind them, she silently watched as two men entered the cell. They were different guards than the ones who had brought their lunch earlier. Unlike them, these men rushed into the cell with an intimidating air of icy resolve.
Without wasting a word or even glancing over to the bunk bed, they marched towards Zuko, grabbed both his arms and forced him to his feet. Sureen's breath caught. The obvious fact that he could hardly stand by himself didn't stop them in the slightest. Unimpressed, they shoved him forward, out of the prison cell. When his legs refused to carry his weight, they stopped merely for a split second, only to drag him along when they marched off.

As quickly as the guards had appeared, they were gone. So was Zuko. Sureen could only stare after them, wide-eyed, unable to process what was happening around her.

x-x-x

Zuko inwardly cursed. He cursed this day and everything that was going on, and Sureen… and most of all himself.

He'd been absolutely sure things couldn't get any worse - any more humiliating or excruciating than what he already had to undergo since he'd been imprisoned. But of course he'd been mistaken again.
The very last thing he currently needed was company - people trying to interact with him, trying to make him think, make him focus. Make him get back to the state he'd fought so hard to get detached from. And why, of all people in the world, had it been her who had been brought here today? The only person who'd ever considered him a friend and had managed to gain his trust... and the only person he'd let down on purpose, he'd hurt deliberately - fully aware of what he was doing. Only because he'd been sure he'd found his true destiny. Only because, in fact, he'd fallen for his sister's manipulations. And now that he'd realized his mistake and finally managed to leave it all behind, all those nagging thoughts and regrets, and break free from the wretched individual he thought he'd been - just now they had to bring Sureen back?

And of course, the very first thing she did was trying to retrieve everything he'd hoped he would never have to get in touch with again.

His reaction had been a horrible disaster - more uncalled for and then way more unrestrained and uncontrollable than he'd considered possible. He hadn't expected that the depths lurking at the back of his mind would be that unrulable. Or unsettling.

Faced with everything that had just happened between them, Zuko was anything but detached. He managed to repress the raging flames that had taken possession of him mere moments ago. But no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't find a way to dissolve back into emptiness. Becoming one with the energy around him and letting go of himself - the state of mind he urgently needed to endure the procedure lying ahead - seemed absolutely out of reach. He was anything but ready.

When his knees buckled, the guards mercilessly dragged him along - to a certain courtyard he'd come to fear and detest like no other place in the world.

Awaiting the inevitable, he averted his gaze. Hoping it would be enough to conceal the tears of despair that were stinging in the corners of his eyes.

x-x-x

Still frozen with shock and disbelief, Sureen crouched in the corner of the bunk bed. Only after a muffled yet alarming noise made its way through the thick layers of convoluted thoughts clouding her mind, she let go of her knees and sat up with a start. Frantically listening to the eerie silence following the sound, she felt her muscles tensing up with the uneasy feeling that crept over her.

Just when she began to wonder if she was imagining things, she heard the noise again – this time it was louder and more unsettling than before.

Clearly, it was someone groaning with pain.

Alarmed to her core, she listened more carefully, and became painfully aware how labored yet restrained the voice sounded. As though that person were struggling to hold back, trying with a vengeance to swallow each groan. But to no avail. Sureen's eyes grew wide as the realization hit her – Zuko!

Now with all her senses focused, she could clearly picture her friend, feel him even through the many walls and corridors that separated them, and the sensation made her blood run cold. Searching for any means to cope with her reeling thoughts, she buried her fingers deep into the worn-out fabric of her sheets. She could hardly keep herself from tearing them to shreds in the helpless attempt to bear up against the crashing waves of Zuko's agony.

Until his anguished groans turned into screams.

Steered by nothing but the blinding, mind-shattering sensation, Sureen jumped up from her cot and ran to the grated cell door, grabbing its bars with both hands and clinging to them for dear life. Yet she just couldn't stop trembling.

'Whatever it is, it's definitely not fair, and it's all wrong and...' 'It's just, you didn't deserve it. None of it.'... 'There's no crime in the world that could legitimate torture.'... 'No matter what you did, Zuko.' Desperately pressing her forehead against the cold metal as his racking pains shot like lightning bolts through her body, the words she'd addressed at the prince earlier resounded in her mind.

"You sck... twstd... bstrds," she ground out through gritted teeth, her voice shaking. Loosening her grip around the bars, the girl slowly sank to her knees, eventually succumbing to the strangled sobs that burst out of her.

x-x-x

Song for this chapter: "Sights" by London Grammar

A/N: I feel like no matter what I'd add now, it wouldn't... it just couldn't... cause I can't... :/
Anyway. This one just killed me. But things will get better! At least a tad! Next chappy! Definitely! So hang in there, everyone... just a little longer... along with Zuko. ó.Ò

In the meantime, please leave a review if you guys are still alive. And see you next time. And again, a thank you to my new beta! Thx EVERYONE!