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(Revised 5.1.21)

Trigger Warning! Almost Sexual Assault happens in this chapter! Read at your own discretion.

Azula

The peasant is making good progress.

Azula watched from the railing as the girl defied logic, moving around without the help of any element whatsoever. Her strange abilities were fascinating and she knew her father was eager to meet this girl.

Lo and Li claimed it must be the girl's spiritual energy that aided her to do the impossible things she did, that she was either very in tune with it or was receiving aid from an outside source. The girl had not said a word when asked about the spirit world. However, Azula was certain that in due time Clara would tell her everything she wanted to know. Azula had never paid any mind to the spirits before, other than the Winter and Summer solstices. They never did anything for her so she saw no need to do anything, other than what was required of her by Fire Nation royal tradition.

It was essential for Azula to find out more about Clara. When dealing with an enemy, being able to figure out how they think was crucial. It helped in predicting their actions, so she could always remain several steps ahead.

As the weeks had passed, the peasant's fighting ability was now almost as good as a low-ranking soldier. It was good given the short amount of time, but it would not be good enough for the Fire Lord.

They need to push her harder…

Then a new thought came to her mind.

No, they don't need to push her, she needs to push herself… and she seems to only respond the way I want when she's being hurt or threatened or others around her are being threatened…

Azula smiled before walking out of the training room. The only weakness she had found was the girl seemed to have a gentle heart, the same way her uncle did. Azula decided then to pay her fuddy-duddy of an uncle a visit. Glancing one last time at the girl, Azula left the training room.

As she rounded the corner she found Zuko leaning against the hallway wall. He seemed to be lost in thought as usual. She gave a quick but polite greeting. It was still a tad strange for both of them to be nice to each other but since he had helped her conquer Ba Sing Se, Azula, for the first time since she could remember, found herself not wanting to taunt her brother at every chance she had.

Zuko gave a silent nod of acknowledgment before turning away to look at the doors that led to the training room.

He's always been too easy to read, even when his face gives nothing away, his actions do.

"She's improved drastically since we captured her. Everything is going as planned."

Zuko just gave another nod before she decided to let him be. He probably didn't realize how his eyes were revealing his thoughts, that he looked worried but also frustrated for some reason. Seeing this, she was a little annoyed and knew something needed to be done to help him.

He still had a lot of compassion thanks to their foolish uncle rubbing off on him in the three years they traveled together.

Best to help him slowly want to get rid of that emotion. It doesn't do anyone any good.

Ever since Clara had clearly rejected Mal Ten's invitation, he seemed to have backed off entirely. It was a relief and when she wasn't forced to train, spent her free time relaxing with her music. She tried to avoid singing in front of Mal Ten. She had noticed that when she did, he got this look on his face that she couldn't describe or understand. It wasn't pained or annoyed per se, but it did seem like underneath the surface, some sort of emotion was simmering.

As Clara tried to get herself to sleep one night, a noise outside her cell alerted her to the guards' trading posts. She was facing away towards the wall. She closed her eyes again, as she had gotten so used to the routines of the ship by now. However, what followed next had her stiffening up in fear.

"Masaru, hold on one moment." Mal Ten's voice was low and harsh, without even looking at him Clara could tell something was wrong.

There was a silent pause.

"What do you think you're doing?" Mal Ten's voice was hushed but Clara could make out what he was asking. What had her afraid was his tone. It was full of suppressed anger that was slowly breaking loose.

For a second, Clara thought he was talking to her but Masaru answered him a moment later.

"Excuse me?"

"What do you think you're doing getting close to her? You told the rest of us that it was ordered, but no one higher up that I've talked to has given any such command." Trying to quiet her own breathing to hear better, Clara continued to listen.

Silence came over the prison room and for a while, Clara wondered what was happening. She wanted to know what Masaru would say next.

"I'm not permitted to tell anyone who gave those orders."

Mal Ten scoffed at that answer, "Isn't THAT convenient. Well, I don't believe you. I think you want her, so you told all of us you have orders to get her to trust you." His voice grew in volume as he kept talking.

The tension in the air was thick. The next thing that she heard, was not what she had been anticipating.

There was a loud whooshing sound which was followed by a crash.

Clara whipped her head towards the noise before she swiftly sat up to see what had happened.

Mal Ten was walking over to where Masaru had landed against the far wall. Masaru tried to stand, getting up on his hands and knees. A hard swift kick to the gut had him collapsing back to the floor, groaning in pain.

"You just want to keep her to yourself don't you?!" Mal Ten was furious but he managed to keep his voice low.

Giving him one final blow to the face, Masaru went down and ceased moving altogether. Silence once again descending on the small room.

"Shhhh," Clara's attention snapped back to Mal Ten who had noticed her and whispered, "No funny business Clara. Just keep quiet."

He approached her cell door before quickly unlocking it and shutting it behind him.

Clara's momentary shock had her unable to speak. The two stared at each other for a moment before Mal Ten smirked.

"W-what is the meaning of this!?" Clara stammered out, her voice sounding hoarse, fear openly showing on her face as she watched him.

"I'm tired of not getting what I want. I tried to be a gentleman... but you couldn't just…" his voice trailed off as rage turned to a small sinister smile.

The hair on the back of Clara's neck rose at his words as she began to panic. She stood up to move away, but his hand was quick, grabbing her right wrist firmly. Pulling away, she couldn't move at all.

"Let me go!" A cold sweat rolled down her spine and her stomach quivered as she watched him. He had the eyes of a hunter looking at his prey.

"You seem to not be very aware of yourself... Your unusual beauty alone will be coveted when we get to the homeland. And your voice," he seemed to be in a dreamlike state as he looked at her. That expression changed into one of disdain, his hand began to squeeze her.

"I wanted to show you a wonderful time but you kept evading me. Yet, you show him!" Mal Ten looked back over towards where Masaru was lying unconscious on the floor. Mal Ten shook his head quickly, his brow furrowed in barely concealed anger and frustration.

The smile he showed her, one that was confident and malicious is what caused something inside Clara to snap out of her panic. She was still uneasy but she realized at that moment that she had the upper hand.

Why am I afraid?

Clara did her best to smirk, "You really think this is going to work? I hear what you guards talk about... I'm going to be molded to be a weapon for the Fire Nation. You can't overpower me!" Her voice was shaky at first but the words were true, helping calm a bit of her underlying panic. She hoped her words would sway his resolve. From his expression, they didn't.

"Come now, you've been in confinement for almost a month. A peasant such as yourself is likely used to some form of companionship. I'm here to help you with that." Clara's eyes grew wide and bile rose from her stomach, threatening to have her fear overwhelm her once more.

"It's a shame since you were so rude to me, telling me no," his expression darkened a bit but he still smiled, "You have some nerve girl, trying to appear uninterested in me!"

Clara could tell by the way she had observed him the past weeks, his posture and manner, he thought highly of his looks and was used to getting his way when it came to things. He was handsome, but his personality was what had raised red flags in Clara's mind. Her intuition had been right, it usually was.

Trying to regain her composure, she looked to poke a hole in his sexist idea of her.

"D-did it ever occur to you... that my w-world doesn't revolve around finding affection from others?" She swallowed to help her dry throat before saying louder, "I'm perfectly content not having that! There is so much more to life!"

Mal Ten gave her a dubious expression like she was talking nonsense.

That made her furious!

She glared at him and his smile grew, seeming to like that she was challenging him.

Before Clara could do anything else, he wrenched her forward and brought a drinking canister to her lips. It tasted foul but as soon as it hit her tongue, it began to numb her. Turning her head away caused it to spill. Coughing, she looked at him in shock.

"What-!" Her legs crumbled beneath her and she went limp all over. It was like a slow fog moving inside, all over her body.

"Didn't think it would work so quickly," Mal Ten chuckled before he put the top back on the drink and stashed it away. He held her up by her waist, her head laying on his armored shoulder.

"I would have showered you with gifts but you made me resort to unpleasant things like this."

Laying her down, Clara's heart leaped out of her chest as she watched him begin to take off his armor. It was his turn to watch so no one else would be coming for a long time! Trying to move her body felt impossible, but the weight of the fog wasn't all-consuming. Taking a deep breath she focused her mind and felt her telekinetic energy still there!

Using her telekinesis, Clara threw Mal Ten against the cell bars. The monster hadn't bothered to lock them inside her cell. He flew past the cell door, hitting the opposite wall across from it, and landed on the ground near Masaru. He moaned but didn't get up.

Grunting as she forced herself to exert all her strength, she held her body upright through sheer willpower! Her feet she couldn't tell whether or not they were on the floor. Blinking rapidly, Clara became aware that if she used her ability she could now escape!

But...

Exhaling unsteadily, her body swayed in the air. It took all her concentration to remain balanced.

It may have been partially because of what had almost happened to her but Clara could feel her emotions try to take complete control, threatening to have her break down. A part of her was ice cold and the other a frenzied mess of too many emotions. All the built-up anger and fear she had been trying to cope with came bubbling to the surface. Tears filled her eyes but she refused to let them fall. Clara desperately wanted to leave this horrible place! It was full of twisted people and although she knew it wasn't their fault, their country had been feeding them propaganda for generations, it didn't make it any less true. The soldiers were taught to intimidate and kill and that power was the most important thing in life. Mal Ten... was proof that power handled poorly led to arrogance and selfish tendencies.

The people on this boat were forcing her to do things she had never wanted to do! Hurting people even while it was during training, training that would benefit her later when she met back up with the Gaang, she knew it was slowly eating away at her!

Clara inhaled deeply, trying to get herself together so she could think rationally. It felt like her lungs couldn't get enough air but she knew she needed to decide on something.

She couldn't risk Iroh by trying to escape now. Even if Clara was somehow able to find him, they were still in the middle of the ocean and she had no idea how far off from land they were…

Despite her yearning to risk it, to find Iroh and leave, Clara knew that she would be set free soon. And if it became too much she could try to hide within the Fire Nation until the eclipse. So she reluctantly decided to stay in her cell, allowed her body to sit down before she took a deep breath before she screamed as loud as she could.

The screaming was so loud she could feel her own ears protest at the volume. Clara was surprised when none other than Zuko rushed through the prison door, a couple of guards behind him.

"Restrain her!" Zuko ordered when he saw the cell door open. Clara's eyes widened as she realized what this might look like to him.