Howdy folks and welcome to Chapter 2 of A Walk Through Fire! I have decided to change a few things about this story. One thing being that I will be updating this story weekly on Saturdays. Another thing being that these chapters will be slightly longer. Hope you enjoy! Please PM me if you have any questions.
I do not own Avatar the Last Airbender. Only Nick does.
"Why hello Avatar. How's the hospitality been? I hope it's to your liking!" Azula smirked as she entered the cell, looking at her captive prey still being suspended in the air.
Aang looked up at her and grimaced; remembering their last meeting in the cell resulted in nearly being burned to death.
"What are you here to do, gloat about how you have food and water?" Aang spat back at her with venom in his voice. He doesn't know why she keeps visiting him; it was making him quite uncomfortable.
"No actually, I was just seeing if you would like to get out of this pitiful cell." Azula paced around him shaking the chains holding up his body causing him to groan in discomfort. "I mean, there's a catch, of course, but at this point, if I were you, I would accept the offer to get out of here," Azula quipped as she traced her long sharp nails down his back, causing him to moan, however unsure if it was from pain or pleasure.
"Well, it depends on what I would be doing since you obviously want me to do something for you," Aang said, confused as to why his captor would be setting him free so abruptly.
"I will be letting you out but only to have you work for me," Azula stated. "You will be my soldier. You will be loyal to me and me alone."
She stopped walking and tilted his head to see his eyes. Long were the days of those happy bright eyes; no, these eyes were hard and were cold like stone.
"I would never work for the Fire Nation," Aang proclaimed. "I would never betray my friends and allies. You can keep me locked in here for the rest of my life and I would still never help you take over the world!" He was proud that he wasn't broken even after weeks of torture he's endured.
"Hmmm, so it seems the guards haven't broken that will of yours, Avatar,"
Azula continued her walk around the cell, grinning at what she was about to do. She started moving her hands, creating small crackles of lightning. "Oh well. I guess a few more marks wouldn't ruin that sexy body of yours."
Azula stopped the moment she said the sentence but decided to move past it.
Aang was confused as he processed what the Princess was saying. She just called me sexy, he thought to himself while also mentally preparing for the sheer amount of pain he was about to endure from the Princess's lightning.
"Such a pity. Oh well, you'll break, Avatar, and it will be soon. Your body can only take so much lightning," Azula said, pressing her hand into his ribs, causing him to scream in pain and agony. The lightning was deliberately made so that it wouldn't kill him but would cause him excruciating pain.
"Only you can stop this pain," she whispered into his ear. "Only you can end your suffering, Avatar. You brought this misery upon yourself and only you can stop it. Just say those magic words and all this pain can end."
She was enticing him to quit, pushing him ever so close to the edge so that he would submit to her torture.
The torture went on for hours. Azula was moving her hands all over his body while producing lightning, causing immense pain all over his body. For some reason, she enjoyed seeing him like this. Yes, she was a sadistic monster, but seeing him so… helpless and submissive made her feel something different. She had never felt this feeling before, and honestly, she liked it. She felt a warm and tingling feeling moving down her spine. It felt...unexplainable. She hadn't realized that she was staring at her prey and blushing until she heard his voice.
"F-f-fine," Aang managed to croak, finally submitting to his punishment.
"What did you say, Avatar? I couldn't hear what you had said. You'll need to learn to speak up if you are going to serve me." Azula smirked. She knew that she was finally breaking him. She knew that he was hers, but she needed to cement her beliefs so she kept goading him.
"I will be your servant. I will do what you say... but please, I'm begging you, please stop!" Aang was at his breaking point. He had nothing left in the tank after being shot with lightning for hours.
"Who do you belong to, Avatar?"
"I…I belong to you."
Aang was barely able to say the words without feeling a jolt of electricity rock through his body, causing him to scream in pain.
Azula smiles. She can see his willpower slowly drain from his eyes. "Say it louder! I can't hear you."
"I belong to you," Aang wheezed as the electricity was getting worse the longer it was going through his body.
"And who am I Avatar?"
"Princess Azula of the Fire Nation." Aang was screaming from pain as the lighting was getting too much for him to handle.
Realizing that Aang was at his limit, she forced him to say one last thing before he fell unconscious. "And who do you belong to Avatar? Who is your master?" Azula was pushing him to the max and she knew it. She wanted to hear him say it. She wanted the most powerful person in the world to say that he was hers.
"I belong to Princess Azula of the Fire Nation!" Aang cried before the pain overcame his body, causing him to fall unconscious in front of the Princess who was smirking at him.
Azula spent some time looking at the Avatar who was now under her control. While yes, his body was smoldering and burn marks were everywhere on his torso, he still looked hot. He was glistening in sweat and his muscles were very tight from the extreme stress she had just put him under. She subconsciously licked her lips and smiled. Her brain was thinking of many different dirty thoughts as she was staring at him, and they only got dirtier the longer she looked.
Shaking her head and trying to rid herself of these new and unusual thoughts, Azula left the prison cell and took one last look at her prisoner in chains before closing the door.
As she walked towards the main part of the palace, she asked a guard what time it was and was informed that it was well past lunch and almost time for dinner. She needed sleep, but more importantly, she needed to change her clothes as she smelled like fire and sweat.
The walk back to her room was one filled with deep thoughts and confusion. Azula had always been known as the person who was cunning and calculating. She could always scan a room and instantly understand what was going on and how to affect the outcome to be in her favor, but right now she didn't know what her next step was. She knew that she was going to have to break the Avatar, but she did not expect it to be so soon. She also had not taken into account how attractive he would be.
Thinking about the Avatar caused her to blush slightly, something she never did when thinking about anyone. What is with him? Azula pondered. I haven't been able to get him out of my head for days. It's been 2 weeks since she had captured him and she could not for the life of her get him out of her head. She would try to busy herself in other things but Aang would always find his way back into her head. Mai and Ty Lee noticed that something was different about the Princess but never said anything to her and Azula was grateful for that.
She was so caught up in her thoughts, in fact, she didn't realize that someone was walking in front of her and ended up bumping into one of her friends.
"Zula!" Ty Lee exclaimed loudly, causing the young Princess to snap out of her trance-like state. "You really have to watch where you are going, girly. You don't want to hurt yourself. What were you even thinking about anyway?"
"N-nothing Ty Lee. I wasn't thinking about anything important." Azula exclaimed as she regained her composure and shuffled to the other side of the hallway, still looking at her friend.
"Well, you looked...dazed," Ty lee continued, "and your aura is really fuzzy for some reason, which is weird because usually it's-"
"Everything is fine," blurted Azula. "I do not wish to hear about my silly aura right now. I wish to simply go to my room and take a nap. I am very tired from my visit with our prisoner as it was a very long ordeal and I wish to sleep before dinner." At the mention of the Avatar, Azula starts to blush a little bit. Ty Lee seems to notice.
"Ohhh, who was the prisoner, Zula? Was he cute?" Ty Lee giggles and gives her trademark smile, making Azula blush more.
"Ty Lee, I do not wish to discuss the state of our prisoners with you," Azula states, trying to get her emotions under control but failing miserably. "If you don't leave me alone, Ty Lee, I swear to Agni I'll burn you to ashes!"
Not wanting to become a pile of dust, Ty Lee stifled her giggles and just smiles, walking past the still blushing Princess. "I'll see you at dinner, Zula!" Ty Lee walked down the hallway, leaving a still disgruntled Azula.
A few minutes later, Azula entered her room, locked her door, and looked at herself in the mirror. What she saw was a large surprise. She looked like she had run a marathon; drenched with sweat and dead skin, she decided to shower and just sleep through dinner.
When she did decide to join the land of the living, it was very late and almost dark. She had one of the Earth Palace servants fetch her something to eat and decided that now was the time to think about what she was going to do next. Eventually, she figured out what she had to do and ordered for the Avatar to be removed from his cell and placed into the room adjacent to hers. It was a decision that would start her on a path that even she couldn't see the end of.
When Toph had finally gotten out of her tent that morning, all she heard was a silence which was quite unusual for her. Normally she would hear someone talking over food or at least some kind of noise. However, this morning there was nothing.
Well, that's odd. Where is everyone? Toph then used her Seismic Sense to "see" where everyone was. She found Katara still in her tent crying, and both of the boys were getting wood not too far away from camp. Well, at least they aren't fighting like last night.Getting out of her tent, she made her way over to Katara's. When she entered the tent, she found Katara hunched over and crying about the events that transpired yesterday. "Yo, Sugar Queen, where's breakfast? I'm starving!" Toph tries to break the ice knowing that if she could get the Water Tribe native talking, life would be a lot easier for all of them.
"I guess I didn't think that you would want me to do anything since I apparently can't even keep Aang safe." Katara clearly hadn't gotten any sleep last night and was thinking that all of this was her fault.
"Now what kind of bullshit is that?!" Toph yelled, laughing at Katara who was still sulking in her tent. "Where in the fresh fuck did you ever get that idea? I mean, sure, Aang is captured, but he's probably not dead. We need you, Sweetness. This team wouldn't function without you on it." Toph sat down next to Katara very timidly. "Listen, while I don't know what happened yesterday down in that cave, what I do know is that you would have tried everything in your power to save and help Aang."
"Really Toph?" Katara looked at her friend with tears in her eyes. "I just wasn't strong enough or fast enough, I-"
"Will you please stop putting yourself down? I mean holy fuck, we'll get him back, he won't be gone forever. Now come on, let's go get some food and we can discuss our next move because I get the feeling that we are gonna be moving soon." Toph grabbed Katara and got her out of the tent only to find the boys sitting around.
"Sooo are we just not gonna eat today?" Sokka asked, looking at Katara and Toph, who was staring towards the noise that she heard.
"I think that you could go a day without eating." Zuko mumbles to himself, playing with a small flame in his palm.
"What would you know about skipping a meal, almighty Prince Zuko?"
"BOTH OF YOU BETTER SHUT THE FUCK UP BEFORE I BURY YOU ALIVE!" exploded Toph. "I'm sick and tired of hearing both of you arguing back and forth! We get it, you don't like each other, but right now we need to figure out a plan to not only get Aang back but also not die."
The boys were scared out of their minds causing them to squirm and shudder. Seeing both the boys shaking in place made Katara smile and laugh out loud.
"Alright, Toph, I think they get the message," Katara sputtered through fits of laughter. "You can stop scaring them now." She was wheezing at this point and was about to fall onto the floor, earning glares from both Sokka and Zuko.
"Alright, fine," said Sokka, "I will stop arguing with Zuko, but only if he does his part in the group and helps us." He looked at the Prince and held out his hand for him to shake it.
"Deal!" Zuko approved, "and I also wanted to apologize for chasing you guys for so long. I lost my way and didn't realize that what I stood for for so long was wrong. All the Fire Nation does is spread pain and suffering, not glory. I want to take down my father who gave me this scar. I want to take down my father for the families he's separated. I want to help you restore the world. I...I want to help." Zuko was full of emotion. A single tear fell from his face as the adrenaline fell away from his body, leaving him emotionally raw and shaking. He honestly didn't know what came over him at that moment but it felt good.
"What is up with everyone being so emotional today?" Toph scoffed and walked toward the young Prince, punching him square on the arm.
"Now that we've all made up and everything is fine again, can we PLEASE have some food? I'm starving!" Sokka cried out loud, causing everyone to laugh and smile for the first time in what felt like a while.
After the first day of everyone being together, the group started to get along very well. At this point they had been together for 3 weeks camping just outside of Ba Sing Se. They generally spent this time trying to find Aang, but they couldn't find a trace of him. They would try to sneak back into the palace, but were always either found, or couldn't find him anywhere. After the fifth time of getting caught and nearly captured, they decided they needed a new plan.
"Alright, we need a new plan because obviously this current one is not working!" Toph said to the others. "We've almost been captured like five fucking times and we still haven't found anything!"
"Man, I wish Suki was here," sulked Sokka. "With her, we could have an extra person to help with the search. " Sokka explained to the group.
"Wait... that name sounds familiar. Who is she?" Zuko asked.
"Well, she's the leader of the Kyoshi Warriors and my girlfriend. She's about five foot six, brown hair, blue eyes. Have you seen her?" Sokka looked at the Prince with intrigue and longing. He can't remember the last time he even saw his girlfriend and he missed her terribly.
"I think I know where she might be, but it's in the Fire Nation, and you won't like it. Before I decided to join you guys, I was snooping around and saw some prison transfers and she was on the list to go to a place called the Boiling Rock. It's a maximum security prison for the worst war criminals," Zuko explained to the group. "The transfers were recent, though, so maybe they haven't gotten to Pohuai Stronghold yet. If they get to the Stronghold, they would be boarding a ship, taking them to the island."
"So what you're saying is that you knew this fucking infomation and DIDN'T SAY ANYTHING?!" Sokka exclaimed towards Zuko.
He frowned at Sokka in return. "I'm sorry! I didn't think that it would be that useful! I also was, you know, trying not to fucking die! If we leave tomorrow, we might be able to catch them! Or, we can leave now and try to catch them. I'm pretty sure I read that it takes a month for them to get out of the Earth Kingdom, so we should be able to catch them."
"Yes, that makes sense, but what about Aang?" Katara pitched in. "He NEEDS us and we don't even know if he is alive right now or where he is."
"Yes, Katara, but we know for sure where Suki could be," said Sokka. "If we go get Suki, we could always come back and look for him again. We also aren't certain that he is still in the palace." His reasoning, surprisingly, began to convince his sister.
"Alright, you know what? Fine. Let's go get Suki and then we can come back for Aang. But one thing we are not doing is forgetting about Aang. No matter where we go, we will look for Aang," Katara exclaimed, looking at each member, getting their approval and nudging Toph to get hers.
"So it is decided," concluded Sokka. "We will travel to the Stronghold, break out Suki, and then we will return to Ba Sing Se to find Aang. Unless something happens that would change this plan, then it will be adjusted. Is that cool with everyone?" Sokka finished marking the map they have and starts planning how much supplies they will need. "We should be away from the city for around six days and we should be getting to the Stronghold in five. Hopefully, if Zuko's estimations are correct, Suki should be getting there the same day we are. So we will need enough food and water for a week. Katara and Toph, can you all get enough supplies with the money we have for the trip?"
"Sure we can. But what will you and Sparky over there be doing?" Toph asked, pointing to Zuko.
"Oh, we will, uh, be preparing Appa for the trip so that we can leave before dark. You know, so we can get a head start." Sokka smiles and shoos the girls away so that he can start packing up camp.
"Do you think this plan is actually gonna work?" Zuko looks towards Sokka while also helping to pack up the camp.
"I mean, as long as you're correct in your estimations, we should be fine. Let's just hope your crazy sister or anyone else isn't with them when we go to bust her out." Sokka doesn't look at Zuko but knows that he agrees with him.
After a few hours, the girls return with the necessary amounts of supplies and even some food for Appa and Momo. Once they got everything loaded onto Appa, the crew made one final sweep around the camp. Approving that nothing was left behind, they all hopped into Appa's saddle with Katara taking the reins. They lifted off into the cool afternoon air and set off for their next destination: Pohuai Stronghold.