CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

Zuko and Ozai's Rematch

Three and one-half days later Zuko finally woke up. He didn't know where he was, or even who

he was. All he knew was that he felt horrible, his stomach hurt, his head hurt, everything hurt.

For a few moments he couldn't even see, but he could hear; and what he heard scared him to

death. "Glad to see you are finally awake Prince Zuko" said a voice dripping with icy sarcasm

and hatred. Zuko's life flashed so suddenly before his eyes that it felt like his head had been hit

with a ton of bricks. He knew who he was now, and he knew who was speaking to him, but that

didn't improve the situation; it only made it worse. Zuko tried to get up, but felt so nauseous that

he fell back down. Zuko felt shackles clinging tightly to his wrists, and discovered that

he was chained to a wall; he then realized that his legs were shackled as well. He struggled,

but still being very weak he didn't put up much resistance against his bonds.

"Are you comfortable in your suite?" asked a female voice. "Hello yourself Azula" said Zuko

bitterly. "I just love family reunions" said another familiar voice. "Admiral Zhao" Zuko spat out

the name as if it left a bad taste in his mouth. "Actually I am The Grand Vizier now" said Zhao

gloatingly, "I'm the second most powerful man in your father's empire." "Congratulations" said

Zuko sarcastically.

Zuko decided it was time to dispense with the small talk, "where are the others?" he demanded.

"They are right here with us" said Fire Lord Ozai; "except The Avatar. He is still sleeping safe

and sound in his own private room." "You mean you're keeping him in a drugged stupor so that

he won't make any disturbances." Ozai didn't answer, but he didn't have to; Zuko knew the

truth. "You know, you wouldn't have us here if our captors hadn't tranquilized us so that we

wouldn't have any choice but to come quietly." "That doesn't matter" said Ozai leaning down to

stare his son in the face; "what matters is that we have all of you right here right now."

Ozai gave a signal, and Zuko felt a jolt of dread in his stomach when he saw Kattara and the

others. Ozai suddenly grabbed Kattara and roughly steered her towards Zuko's cell so that they

could see directly into each others eyes. Kattara saw hatred, bitterness, sadness, and fear. Zuko

saw fear and strangely a brave determination.

"Your girl friend is very pretty." said Ozai lightly caressing her face with his index finger.

Kattara cringed away, not from fear, but from disgust. "You don't like compliments?" asked

Ozai with a wicked chuckle. "Not from you, I don't!" said Kattara fiercely. Ozai chuckled again,

and then suddenly he punched her as hard as he could knocking her to the ground. Kattara didn't

let out a sound, though that punch hurt her like hell. Zuko and Sokka however could not restrain

themselves. "DAMMIT! LEAVE HER ALONE!"Zuko bellowed. "I'LL KILL YOU!" Sokka

roared. Ozai chuckled again and said quietly "I'd like to see you try," he then set Sokka on fire

from a blast of his hand. Sokka screamed in pain, and fell to the ground; luckily he managed to

put it out by rolling on the ground. Azula and Zhao then took turns kicking Sokka in the stomach

and the back. Sokka moaned in pain and curled up in a fetal position. Kattara shot up "LEAVE

MY BROTHER ALONE YOU MONSTERS!" she screamed through tears.

Ozai walked up and suddenly planted a fierce kiss on Kattara's lips. Kattara struggled for a

moment before pushing him away, wiping her mouth with a look of disgust and utmost loathing.

"AAGHHHH!" screamed Zuko straining and struggling with all his might; as if he was a caged

platypus-bear. Grand Vizier Zhao strode up to Toph and Haru who had thus far remained silent.

"Don't you two have anything to say?" Toph looked Zhao directly in the eyes; even though she

was blind and quietly declared "All I have to say is that it doesn't matter what you do to us; The

Avatar will set things right." Zhao laughed and retorted "You stupid little girl, nothing can stop The

Fire Nation now! Not even the Avatar." Zhao then moved on to Haru. "What about you?"

Haru didn't answer, he just stared directly into Zhao's face and let his eyes do the talking.

Though Zhao tried to stay calm, something in Haru's look made him quite nervous.

Ozai suddenly broke the silence."Whom should I kill first Zuko?" He suddenly grabbed Kattara

by the hair and placed a fiery hot hand dangerously close to her face. "Should I kill her first? Or

should I kill her last?" "LEAVE HER ALONE!" shouted Zuko though his voice was quavering.

"You haven't answered my question." "I SAID LEAVE HER ALONE!" roared Zuko again. "I

have something special for you, after I'm done with them." "I DON'T CARE WHAT YOU DO

WITH ME; JUST LEAVE HER ALONE!" "I'm not going to kill you, oh no. I'm going to leave

you alive." "What are you going to do?" asked Zuko feigning indifference; but Ozai could sense

the fear in his son's voice. "You're a coward, always have been and always will be. This is what I

will do to you. I will burn your face off, after I have dealt with them." "NOOOOO!" screamed

Zuko, "Let them go; and give me a chance to fight for my honor." "I already gave you a chance;

and you refused it!" "I WAS YOUR SON! YOUR LOYAL AND LOVING SON; AND YOU

TURNED ME AWAY!" cried Zuko as tears were coursing down his face. "Your pathetic" said

Azula scowling down at Zuko. "Come Darling, let's not waste any more time here." she said to

her husband. "I agree my love" said Zhao.

"I know what I'll do" said Ozai at last. "I'll kill your little sweet heart last. You will get to watch

me killing all your friends. I hope you like the performance because it will be the last thing you

will ever see." A fiery rage exploded inside of Zuko so suddenly it looked as though he had

literally exploded into a ball of flame. The intensity melted through the shackles and through the

bars of Zuko's cell. Ozai dropped Kattara and scrambled back with a plastered look of horror.

Kattara and the others scrambled to safety, this situation was getting too hot too handle and they

didn't want to wait around when it exploded in their faces. Zuko sent out a blast of fire so powerful

that though Ozai blocked it to the best of his ability, he was still bowled over. The heat was

unrelenting, Ozai could feel his skin beginning to burn, he would die soon if he couldn't find a way of

escape. Ozai caught Azula and Zhao in the corner of his eye, they were fighting to stay alive too.

Ozai hadn't anticipated this, his own son it appeared was powerful enough to defeat him. Zuko sent

out another blast, and this time there was nothing Ozai, Azula or Zhao could do to stop it. They

burst into flame, as they shrieked and ran around in pain their lives were being devoured. In a matter

of minutes there was nothing more of them then charred remains.

Slowly the fire that engulfed Zuko's body began to die down, it was some moments before it was

safe to go near him. Zuko stood stock still breathing rather harshly, Kattara and the others slowly

began to walk towards him. Kattara slowly placed her arms around Zuko to calm him down,

something she usually did for Aang after his Avatar State had been triggered. "I can't believe it, we

won" Sokka said with a look of utter surprise. "We can't celebrate yet, we have to find Aang; but

we don't know where he is." Kattara said. "I know how we can find out" said Zuko."Wait a

second" said Sokka your completely naked. "What?" asked Zuko. "It's true" said Kattara trying

hard to stifle a laugh along with the others. "Your clothes must have been burnt off during your

outburst. You need to get dressed first before we do anything." Zuko heaved a huge sigh of

embarrassment, he didn't know where to go to get a change of clothes. Fortunately Sokka had an

extra set of clothes, and tossed them to Zuko. He was about to get changed when Kattara noticed

something else."Zuko your hurt" "What are you talking about?" he asked her. "Look at your

wrists and ankles." "Those burns are from the shackles, they were heated to a super hot

temperature when I melted through them." "Doesn't it hurt?" Kattara asked astonished. "No, I must

of burned the skin so badly that it's dead." "We need to heal that right away." Kattara said

worriedly. "We can do that later" Zuko impatiently. "Besides not even you could heal this." "We

could try" said Kattara. "Yeah I guess we could, but first we need to find The Avatar." "Your right."

With that they went off for a second time to search for Aang.