A/N:
This story is rated M and has been since chapter 3 was released, almost nine years ago. This being said, I also know some readers are sensitive to certain topics, some of which will be touched upon in this chapter. I expect it will become obvious what it is once the scene is impending, so… I suggest that, if you're very much unwilling to read anything of that nature, use your search bar function in your browser and look up the line "It was preposterous", once you reach the break following the phrase "most deplorable mistake", and continue reading from there. I think I handled the scene itself carefully, but I can't pretend to know how such scenes in fiction affect everyone, so feel free to skip past it if you really don't want to put yourself through reading it.
I figured I'd also warn about the physical violence, although if you've been reading so far, there's been no shortage of that in the rest of the story… still, there's a pretty rough scene of physical violence in this chapter, so approach with caution in case it's darker than what you think you can handle.
If all those warnings sounded too ominous, all in all? Eh… maybe just skip ahead to 237 and let it fill the gaps of what happened in 236, if that makes you feel any better about life?
Alright then. Warnings done, proceed at your own risk…
The urgent summons, past his normal assigned working hours, sent unpleasant shivers down Fei Rou's spine. Four Imperial Guards flanked him as he entered Fire Lord Ozai's private chambers… to find the Fire Lord accompanied by five more guards, sitting before a most uncharacteristic disaster: the dinner table had been overturned, the dishes that once had been resting on it were now splattered across the floor and walls, just as there were scorch marks over the once-luxurious carpet.
But more than anything, it was Ozai himself who scared him, profoundly: the perfectly groomed Fire Lord's hair had fallen out of its top knot, his posture was careless… his shoulders rose and fell heavily with each breath he took, as did his nostrils.
Not for a second did Fei Rou suspect the Fire Lord might need an emergency health checkup. It was obvious, from the very beginning, just by the nature of the summons, that he hadn't been brought here to fulfill a straightforward, simple order. Fei Rou didn't dare guess whatever the Fire Lord's true purpose might be, but it was clear that it had sent Ozai into a spiraling rage he barely seemed to be containing, even now.
"Is it done?" Ozai was asking the other guards – they seemingly had arrived shortly before Fei Rou himself had "You have locked every door of the refuge?"
"Yes, my Lord" answered one of the guards, nodding promptly "As you commanded. The creature was resting, it shouldn't have noticed us"
"Very well" Ozai hissed "You may return to your stations"
The guards bowed to their nation's ruler, stepping past the newer arrivals without any words, without even acknowledging them. Fei Rou waited until they were gone to announce himself, despite he suspected the Fire Lord had already noticed his presence.
"You called for me, my Lord" said Fei Rou, bowing curtly in Ozai's direction. His hands trembled: being anywhere near Ozai when he was in such foul mood was more than ill-advised.
Ozai didn't speak to him right away. He remained in that same position, scowling profoundly, a leg drawn up, with a forearm resting on it… while the other hand ran over his slowly unraveling hair. Whatever he was troubled by, perhaps he hadn't yet made up his mind about how to deal with it… though, perhaps if that were the case, he wouldn't have summoned Fei Rou as he had.
After a long, tense pause, in which the man appeared completely lost in his thoughts, Ozai finally raised his gaze towards Fei Rou. Those golden eyes had never been kind… but they were especially heartless that very night.
"I called for you, Fei Rou" he confirmed: a sudden tremor shook the hand that rested on his knee "I must give you an order now"
The physician was puzzled by Ozai's wording, at first.
Once the Fire Lord voiced his command, Fei Rou failed to hide his emotions, for once. He always did his best to remain composed, professional, no matter his duty, no matter his job… but his liege lord's words were nothing short of disturbing.
"You… will do as I've asked. At once, Fei Rou" Ozai said, his eyes gleaming with poorly contained wrath "And once you have… you will communicate the results to me. Am I clear?"
Fei Rou had never been quite as tempted to refuse the Fire Lord's command before. He had always been compliant, servient, obedient… but he had never been asked to do something quite so alarming until that day. He shuddered, unable to suppress the bodily reaction…
… And also, unable to refuse his lord's demands.
"It… will be done" he said, his voice frayed and unpleasant: there was a knot in his throat, bile surging across his body, and he knew that, whatever happened next, those sensations wouldn't fade away anytime soon.
For he was no fool. He knew exactly what the result of that very specific physical examination would yield.
No man who had witnessed what he had over the last month could have ever been blind to the true nature of that bond.
His feet weighed tons as he stepped out of the room. As he left behind a Fire Lord who shuddered, his whole body overtaken by wrathful, anxious nerves.
It could be a lie. It might be a lie. It surely was a lie, considering who had spoken it… and then he would lose her trust forever, the only foreseeable outcome for his latest decision. She would never forgive him for this, for distrusting her, for questioning her loyalty, her faithful devotion to her nation and her Fire Lord… that was what he had to prepare himself for. That was it.
For there was no way his daughter could have ever made a mistake as severe as the one she was being accused of…
"It's Azula"
The words had brought a skeptical laugh out of Ozai's lips, even though Iroh's stern glare remained as undeterred as it had been ever since he entered the room. Ozai, however, disregarded it immediately.
"Of course. How very convenient that you would attempt to undermine my daughter by claiming treason when no one in this Palace has been as suspicious of treason as you are" Ozai hissed "You waste my time. Leave and take your platitudes with you"
"Is it a platitude, then, for your daughter to have given away her virtue to a man out of wedlock?"
The accusation was blunt, direct… and offensive, just as well. Ozai's mirth vanished immediately as it was slowly replaced by confusion… and soon enough, by outrage.
"You dare… you dare make such bold claims, General Iroh?" he said "Watch your words, or they may yet be your last…"
"Kill me if you wish: your daughter won't be any less sullied if you do" Iroh said, still completely confident, completely unyielding "I did not come here over rumors, of which there are plenty already: I wouldn't have brought this to your attention, brother, if I didn't know for a fact that it is absolutely true. I, too, would have sooner believed Azula would never commit an act quite as reckless as she did…"
"You know for a fact? What is that supposed to mean, Iroh?" Ozai hissed "Surely you're not saying you've… you've requested for a purity examination of any sort on her, have you?"
"I have no need for it. You might require one, of course, but not I" Iroh said, curtly. Ozai's eyes widened "For I saw her with him, with my own eyes, in the Grand Royal Dome, merely a few hours ago"
"You… you're lying. You're a liar, you're merely attempting to destroy Azula's rise to power…!" Ozai growled, rising to his feet, though Iroh still presented himself as undeterred as before "As if I'd ever allow Zuko to succeed me on the throne…!"
"You'd sooner allow her, then? Even after she desecrated herself with that man?" Iroh asked, raising his eyebrows "I suppose that is a choice you could make, brother… but is it one you intend to make? Will there be no limits for her? Is there no level of corruption or depravity she can sink to that you wouldn't condone?"
"You speak of… of vague matters, of some eyewitness account I can't see why I ought to take seriously!" Ozai snapped back, waving an arm furiously at Iroh "My daughter has never…!"
"Never rebelled? Never been anything but obedient and compliant?" Iroh asked, skeptical. His every word hit Ozai's nerves, one after another, with the precision of a full-body chi-block blow… "She has never bitten off more than she can chew, she has never been arrogant, she has never thought she can get away with absolutely everything she ever dares do because her dear father will forgive her every trespass: is that what you're trying to tell me, brother? I think you and I both know that's not the case"
Ozai had never underestimated his brother: he had always known, and impressed unto Azula, that Iroh would never lower his guard for real. That all those smiles and warmth and carelessness and jokes were merely the components of a mask he'd hide behind while he machinated in the shadows. He had known Iroh was waiting for a chance, any chance, to destroy what he had been working for, what he had been building, for as long as he had been Fire Lord…
What he hadn't known was that Iroh might actually find that chance without needing to fabricate it from scratch himself.
"I can see it in your eyes, Ozai" Iroh whispered, releasing a slow breath "You know Azula has changed… you know it better than I do, surely. You know she's capable of many things you would never consider appropriate…"
"Not this. Not something like this" Ozai said, and yet the inflection of his voice revealed he was no longer as reluctant to accept Iroh's words as a reality "She would never… she knows better. She knows what would happen to her if she were ever caught…"
"The bold, young woman who discovered blue and gold fire, and who knows how many other extraordinary techniques, who even found the last dragon… you truly believe she wouldn't be ambitious or foolhardy enough to believe she'd never get caught?" Iroh asked. Ozai gritted his teeth, snarling at his brother: his body started to tremble, a certainly bad sign about how difficult it was for the Fire Lord to control his temper right now "Please… you haven't even asked for the full details of what I saw. Worse yet… you haven't even asked who's the man in question. Because… you already know, don't you?"
Where Iroh's words had seemed to land lightly, whether bouncing off Ozai or sticking to him unsteadily, those last sentences struck him down harder than lighting could. He stumbled back, staring at his brother almost pleadingly now.
"Yes… yes, you do" Iroh finished, breathing deeply and releasing that breath slowly "You must have seen it… you must have thought it, at least once, or twice. Two young people like them, spending so much time together, whether out of necessity or not… just how unlikely was this outcome, truly?"
"Lies. You… you keep lying, this is… this can't be. This can't be!" Ozai roared… and yet the words weren't meant for Iroh: they were meant for himself. He needed to convince himself that Iroh was lying, but his current state of panic evidenced he could no longer dismiss his brother's words as easily as he had before.
"I suppose my word is that unreliable…" said Iroh, closing his eyes "Perhaps, then… you should do what is done in these circumstances, if you're so unwilling to trust me? It's hardly the first time a highborn lady lands herself in similar trouble…"
"SILENCE!" Ozai roared, startling Iroh at last "I… I won't even hear of it. I won't hear another cursed word from your foul, envious mouth! You're merely attempting to poison me against her, to turn us on each other so you may take over the throne once we've torn one another to pieces…!"
"How very wise of me to do so in such a manner, isn't it?" Iroh replied, disgust and mirth blended together in his voice tone "I can assure you, I'd have chosen a much more dignified manner to turn you against each other, if that was what I had been seeking. It's hardly my fault your daughter chose the worst possible way to disgrace you, isn't it?"
"I told you to be quiet!" Ozai growled "Enough of this…! Enough of you! Enough, ENOUGH!"
His kick was powered with firebending: his table, of beautifully crafted mahogany, with gold engravings across it, flew across the room, spraying food everywhere. Plates shattered, liquids spilled over the marble floors and luxurious carpets… some of it even landed on Iroh's clothes.
It was, perhaps, only at that moment that the reality of his own actions caught with Iroh: upon glimpsing his brother, standing before him with a wild, panicked snarl across his face. He didn't look like the composed, perfect Fire Lord he had ever hoped to be. He also didn't look like the wrathful monster Iroh had always believed his brother was: instead, he looked like a lost, stray dog, instinctively ready to lash out with anger at anyone who approached him, regardless of whether they intended to aid or harm him.
He hadn't seen that unexpected expression, an emotion besides rage, on his brother's face since a very long time ago. It was the first time it seemed he cared about someone else, genuinely, for if he hadn't cared, he would have taken action far faster. He wouldn't stand in denial before him, eyes twitching, lips twisted into a strong snarl.
Even monsters had souls, Iroh guessed… but that didn't make them any less of a monster, did it? If anything… perhaps it was all the worse this way. For if he had a soul… that meant he would be pained, hurt by this betrayal. And his ultimate reaction, the retribution he'd demand for this crime and sin, might be far costlier than Iroh had anticipated at first.
"Leave this room… if you know what's good for you" Ozai said, turning his furious glare on his brother "Get out, damn you. Now!"
Iroh swallowed hard… and obeyed. He stepped back, still keeping his eyes set on Ozai as he crossed the door and stepped out of his brother's chambers…
The guards who stood at either side of the door appeared concerned by the raised voices, the shattering plates and the loudly flipped table. But they were outright alarmed when Iroh, as soon as the door was closed behind him, turned on his heels and damn near raced out of the corridor, putting as much distance between himself and his brother as he dared.
More noise within revealed the Fire Lord was, in all likelihood, losing his temper completely over whatever his brother had said or done this time. It wasn't the first argument they'd ever had… but it was the first time Ozai had reacted so explosively to it. Why?
Five minutes later, Ozai himself pulled the door open, his eyes out of orbit, and he didn't even look at the guards before ordering:
"Assemble your squad, immediately. Half of you will… will make for the dragon's refuge. Lock every exit, keep it trapped. The others… will find Fei Rou, and bring him to me, now" he said, before closing the door behind himself.
And the Fire Lord was obeyed. He was always obeyed.
Or so it should have been. Or so he had believed. For defiance… it hadn't been in most people's best interests to dare stand up against their Fire Lord, not ever since he had taken the throne. He could simply make them disappear if they displeased him enough to unleash his deepmost rage.
And yet…
She had dared speak out against him, not only in private by challenging his decision to have her marry Chan's son, but in public as well, turning around the speech with which he had intended to pressure her into proving herself loyal and faithful to him and his rule. She had fought against his secret agent, even daring storm into his throne room to raise her voice at him, demanding for explanations and questioning his procedures. Ignoring his orders, disobeying him, to the point of spending a full month outside the Palace, if his memory served right…
A month was hardly all there was to it, too: so many trips, whether for serious reasons or for mere matters related to the damn gladiator business…
Even thinking the word brought such rage to his soul he couldn't contain himself: he punched powerfully through the perfect table, destroying it with violent, ferocious firebending that did nothing to appease his wild, aching soul.
It had begun with him. The very first of her rebellions… it had brought him into her life. Later, he had become the vanquisher of all her would-be suitors, by her request. Was there an ulterior motive to explain why he had been so ruthless, so harsh to that gladiator Kuan had brought to replace him? Just as there could be an ulterior motive to explain why he boldly dared talk back to Ozai, why he had stayed by Azula's side persistently through her recoveries, both the one years ago, over that cold, and now as well, over her corrupt chi…
He shook his head violently, unwilling to believe or accept this. Everything he had once interpreted as signs of how strong a leader his daughter was, of how talented a Fire Lord she would be, capable of even turning those she had nearly destroyed into her staunch supporters… he had damn near paraded that wretched slave before all the nation as the ideal to be followed. He had treated him with respect, far more respect than anyone of his station would ever deserve… all be it to discover now he had understood it all wrong. To discover his constant encouragement of his daughter, his support, had been completely misguided and misplaced: was it his fault? Had he truly emboldened her and corrupted her to the point where she no longer realized there were boundaries to abide by? Was that truly it?
He snarled, shaking his head rapidly again as he dropped against the foot of his bed, the frame offering his back some support… and even then, it wasn't enough support. Even if he were to lie down, he would still feel like he was falling, like the whole world was collapsing around him… the very world he had built, with his own hands, crumbling under the weight of his daughter's presumed sins.
It could still be a lie. It could still be a bold, insulting, foolish game on Iroh's part. It truly could be that simple…
It had to be. If it weren't, he didn't know what he'd do. He didn't know what he'd be capable of, and with each ticking second, the confirmation of Iroh's dreadful, thousand-times damned accusation loomed ahead, just as Ozai grew closer to finding out just how far his trembling hands would dare go to punish his daughter's most deplorable mistake…
She had only just stepped out of her chamber's bathroom, her heart still soaring over that incredible day, the joy of the crowd, the delightful intimacy she'd found with her beloved gladiator. Just as she fastened the sash around her waist tightly, she heard loud knocking on her bedroom door.
It wasn't an urgent, desperate knock: it sounded like a threatening one, instead. It was hard, stern, timed, and apparently unwilling to take no for an answer.
Her calm cheerfulness suddenly eased to a halt as she stared at the door. She couldn't think of anyone who would pay her a visit this late at night, let alone who would knock on the door in this manner… though, could it be Iroh? Was he here to insult her somehow, to take out his rage after Toph's loss earlier? Her heart clenched instinctively, alarmed, as she stared at the golden frame warily…
Again, three knocks, with that same potent, threatening connotation that she couldn't seem to make any sense of.
"Princess Azula: by the Fire Lord's orders, you must open this door at once"
Fire Lord's orders?
The voice was unknown: by the strictness of it, she would suspect it belonged to an Imperial Guard… which, while it meant it wasn't Iroh, didn't reassure her in the slightest.
"Is something the matter?" she asked, cautiously, from the safety of the other side of the door…
"Open the door at once, or we will be forced to open it ourselves"
Her pleasant mood shifted completely, as she was overtaken by outrage over that threat: how dare anyone speak to her in such a manner? Why would they, for starters? What could her father need all of sudden to warrant this sort of aggressive behavior from his men? And yet…
Yet her soul shrank, squeezed tight by an invisible claw: it was, indeed, a threat.
One she couldn't outrun or escape from in any way, especially not when her body was still weakened: she was about to start pondering how to slip out of their grasp when the door flew open forcefully, the doorknob's lock shattering under the impact of what appeared to have been a firebending-powered kick.
She stood, in her nightgown, staring at four fully armored guards with alarmed confusion… confusion that only increased upon glimpsing a man standing amongst the guards, with a most displeased grimace across his face. A man she had grown used to seeing frequently over the past weeks, too…
"What is this…?" she asked, glaring at them all "Whatever you needed from me, going this far was unnecessary! Fei Rou… were you asked to perform another health check-up on me right now? You could have waited…"
"I… wasn't sent here for that purpose tonight, Princess Azula" he interrupted her.
The meaning behind the guards' threatening behavior, behind Fei Rou's presence, behind such a sudden, unprompted development, could have been clear by then… and yet she wouldn't let the thought solidify inside her mind: the truth was swatting at her, slapping against her as the harshest, thickest droplets of rain in a storm might… and she tried to shut the windows. She tried to brace herself from the cold and damp. She tried to tell herself that a day as successful, as bright and beautiful as that one, couldn't possibly end in this manner… it made no sense for it to be this way.
Yet Fei Rou's remorseful expression spoke for itself, even if Azula was submerged in the deepest of denials regarding what it might have to say.
"Whatever any of you need… surely it can wait" Azula said, eyeing him and the guards with uncertainty "I'm sure by morning, I…"
"It will be no different… no better, come morning" Fei Rou said, lowering his head, his gaze "And it must be done at haste… as commanded by the Fire Lord"
Azula stiffened, taking a step back towards her bed: the guards stepped closer, and she snarled threateningly before raising her right hand towards them.
"Stay back. What the hell do you even think you're doing…?" Azula growled, yet her intent to sound menacing was highlighted by her obvious, undisguised fear.
"Fire Lord's orders"
Again, the guards spoke those words. Words they bore as shields, to hide behind and deflect all responsibility. Words they lived by, to pretend they served a purpose greater than their own design. Words that had damned countless others before they spelled out doom for Azula herself.
"Stay back, I said…!"
"Resisting will only make it worse, Princess…" Fei Rou warned her, as though that claim would somehow reassure her, or convince her to back down and let them do what they intended…
Evidently, the Princess was nowhere near as fragile as that, even in her current state.
She couldn't let the thought solidify in her mind. She couldn't truly process what was happening, refusing to accept it as a reality… but as soon as the first guard raised his hand towards her, she channeled her power through her right hand and cast a blast of fire in his direction.
Orange fire.
The struggle was over before it could even begin.
They had swatted away her attacks, taking advantage of her body's current weakness. The first one to reach her caught her left arm, twisting it painfully behind her back, disregarding that it was her badly injured arm… or, perhaps, taking advantage of that very fact to cripple her completely, as fast and easily as possible.
She screamed. She kicked wildly, attempted to shrug off the one who restrained her, struggling violently against his hold… and yet it wasn't enough. It wouldn't do. Four men, no matter how trained, would have been easily defeated if she had been in her best shape… but she was still as distant from that as she could be: the Imperial Guards, clearly, intended to capitalize on her incomplete recovery.
"D-don't be so harsh, she's…!" Fei Rou's voice was dwarfed by Azula's powerful shrieks, by her attempts to wrestle them off…
"Let go of me! Damn you, bastards, don't you dare…!" she exclaimed, her voice breaking as she struggled against his hold: she attempted to summon fire again, the flame sputtering in her free hand, no doubt caused by her still-recovering chi…
Only to wind up seized by two more guards, who helped the first one with restraining her.
They pulled no stops, holding nothing back, unwilling to underestimate her even when she represented virtually no threat to them, as she was. It was unfair, it was wrong, by all accounts… and worst of all, she was powerless to stop them.
"Stop this…! STOP THIS!" she roared, pain bursting wherever their hands seized her.
Their violent, cruel fingers dug into her skin, dragging her against her will to her bed: she was pressed down on the mattress, almost suffocating against the fabric as one of them held her face forcefully against it, muffling her screams: it would seem excessive, and yet none of the six hands holding her down weakened their grip on her body.
Every alarm was going off in her head, every warning, every single fear coming to life as the fourth member of the guards stepped up too… holding down her legs next, stopping her from kicking despite she felt too weak to deliver any actual damage with them.
Powerless. Completely powerless.
Another voice, not her own, roared within her mind. She could feel him… Xin Long was alert, aware of what was happening. He would come. He had to come, he would tear down this damn building if he could just to find her, just to save her…!
But when he attempted to open forcefully one of the doors of his refuge, it didn't budge.
He roared inside the building, releasing blue fire against those walls… walls built with fireproof material that wouldn't be torn down under his forceful fury.
He couldn't make it. He was trapped inside his refuge: even if he found a way out, it would be too late for him to help Azula.
This wasn't real. It wasn't happening. She couldn't accept it.
But tears burned in her eyes when Fei Rou approached, spilling onto the mattress as she realized what came next, unable to even plead with the physician not to do this. As the understanding of what would happen next finally manifested in full inside her mind… as the truth finally broke through the windows she had attempted to shut it out with.
She had spent her whole life meaning to fight against this. She had intended to change the world, so that no one else would ever be subjected to this misery, this humiliation, this outright violation…
And she had failed.
The guards didn't say anything else, but she could still hear their words ringing in her head as the physician's hands slid between her forcefully spread legs:
Fire Lord's orders.
It was preposterous. It was, in all honesty, the most ridiculous possibility. He had dismissed it, outright, upon first hearing of these accusations… he had thought her above this kind of childish, pathetic behavior. Tempted by something quite so base and ignoble as a relationship outside of wedlock? Someone with such grand ambitions wouldn't possibly make a mistake quite so stupid…
But apparently, the smartest people could still be ridiculously stupid.
Shaofeng had been summoned to Ozai's study: the Fire Lord, in his night clothes, sat there now, his head between his hands, his elbows on his desk. Clearly, he had great hopes for his daughter. Surely, he had believed she'd amount to so much more than this… Shaofeng, personally, always hoped she wouldn't. The sooner that meddler was out of the way, the better, as far as he was concerned… but that her downfall would be something quite so disgraceful almost made him pity the Fire Lord whom he had once counted as a friend. Almost.
"How long… can it take?" Ozai hissed.
"It depends on how much she struggles" Shaofeng answered, simply.
"She's weakened by that… that damn condition she was still recovering from. She can't struggle… even if she did, it would amount to nothing" Ozai growled "Unless your men are truly that incompetent…"
"You know, as well as I do, that they're not. It won't be long now" Shaofeng said, simply.
Ozai's whole body shuddered as a chill rushed down his spine. It wouldn't be long, then. He'd have his answer… he would. She couldn't fight back, that was obvious… but some strangely contradictory part of his very soul wished, for some reason, that she might. That Azula would retain her dignity, that she would storm through his study soon, leaving a group of unconscious or dead guards in her wake as she took her revenge against him, against everyone who had dared wrong her.
For if she truly had done what Iroh had claimed she had, he'd sooner die by his daughter's hand on this very moment than live with that shame for another day.
Sudden footsteps approached. Too many sets of them: it wasn't Azula alone.
His wild fantasy would certainly not take place, then.
The guards opened the door… yet Fei Rou appeared reluctant to enter the study. He looked sick, paler than Ozai had ever seen him, with a pained, stricken expression across his face.
"Well?!" Ozai growled, staring at his head physician with desperation "Tell me. Is it…? Is she…?"
Fei Rou opened his mouth for a second, unable to utter a sound at first. Then, he shook his head slowly… no? No what? She wasn't untainted, was that what he meant? Was it a 'no' meant to deny Iroh's absolutely outrageous accusations…? Or…?
"Her… her maidenhood is gone"
Ozai gasped. He rose to his feet, eyes wide, hands poised as claws… his eyebrows slowly drawing together into the most dangerous frown any of the guards or Fei Rou had ever seen before.
"No. You're lying. It's a mistake…"
"There… were signs. Of recent… recent intercourse. I… I'm…"
"NO!"
Another shattered piece of furniture appeared insignificant, in the grand scheme of things… and surely that was why Ozai's desk was suddenly smashed to pieces. Fei Rou shielded his face from the flames, from the splinters that seemed to fly in every direction: Shaofeng controlled the fire, an unexpectedly easy feat, for Ozai's outraged outburst appeared to have petrified his very soul after that initial explosion. His chest heaved and he shook his head repeated, lips trembling as they drew back into an outraged snarl.
"What will you have us do?"
Fei Rou, cowering against the Fire Lord's wrath, was astonished to hear the General of the Guards would remain so level-headed… so firm, in whatever his convictions might be. Where the Fire Lord appeared to be a storm of wrath and flames, Shaofeng was cold-blooded, unconcerned with the matter, treating it as a mere inconsequential mission when it was anything but…
Ozai roared with his angry snarl, flames pouring from his lips as he shook his head, again and again, unwilling and unable to accept this new reality. Unwilling to so much as consider what this would mean for him, for his rule, for his nation, in the long run.
The famed Crown Princess, admired and revered by people across the world, caught in an illicit affair out of wedlock.
The reality of it couldn't seem to sink in, not fully… and yet there was one factor, one very easily managed factor. One order he could give, without even thinking twice of it. He turned his snarl to Shaofeng, fists tight as though he intended to firebend yet again, despite the charred remains of his desk and all its contents still released smoke into the study…
"You… will take your men and capture him. You will imprison him, for I will kill him myself… I will execute that son of a bitch, the savage, the… the gladiator!"
Never had that word been spoken with such spite, such uncontrolled hatred, with the most powerful vitriol the Fire Lord could evoke from his dark soul. Whatever this might mean for his daughter in the long run, he would unravel later, perhaps if he ever regained a modicum of self-control… but for now, he appeared determined to lose his mind to his fury… and he had one ideal target upon whom he could unleash all that overflowing rage.
Just as he had the perfect subordinate who would stop at nothing to fulfill his orders whenever they were perfectly convenient for him.
"It shall be done, my Lord" said Shaofeng, nodding in his direction: his perfect composure was in direct, blunt contrast against Ozai's emotional outbursts. If anything… anyone who saw him now might think he was enjoying this.
They wouldn't be wrong to suspect as much, either.
Fei Rou stepped out of the study faster than anyone else: wherever he was going, whatever he intended to do, not even he knew. The unemotional, blunt, direct physician who never seemed to lose his nerve vanished by stumbling through the corridors, putting as much distance between himself and the resident royals as he found a dark corner where he could unleash the half-digested contents of his stomach. Stress, he knew, was the source of his violent reaction…
Stress over the Fire Lord's wrath. Over the Princess's defeated shape, of the tears that had streaked her face after she had known the battle was over, with an outcome that wouldn't favor her.
Over the knowledge that life in this Palace, and that of everyone in the Fire Nation, would change forever, for good, over the role he had played during this dark, sickening night.
It was late. Many guards were on patrol, busy with their respective assignments, and those who weren't had already gone to bed. Rui Shi had only just returned to the barracks, setting down his helmet in his room when he overheard an unexpected ruckus downstairs: many voices spoke at once, then one rose above the others and commanded them to be silent and professional. A familiar enough voice: General Shaofeng.
Rui Shi made his way downstairs quietly: the large dining room was the gathering location for most guards when they were off-duty, and he was right to guess that was the source of the noise.
He didn't enter the room, standing by the threshold instead, listening in on the conversation he had been too late to grasp in its entirety… yet from this angle he could still see the faces of his fellow guards, of Tai Wei, of Haoren, of Qiang… horrorstruck faces, as Shaofeng slapped another guard's shoulder in a congratulatory gesture of some sort.
The guard in question was none other than Renkai.
"It certainly was my mistake not to listen to you. I should have known better" Shaofeng said… smiling. He was actually smiling. Rui Shi wasn't sure he had ever seen the man displaying anything close to happiness until now, and both the content of his words and that expression on his face made his stomach sink unpleasantly "The only guard with the insight and attention to detail required to unravel this most unsightly crime, weren't you? I will see to it that the Fire Lord promotes you as soon as possible for this, Renkai"
"I… am honored, sir" Renkai said, bowing his head towards Shaofeng.
"You'll come with us, as the only member representing the third squad. First and second squads: all your available men are to follow me to the culprit's location, at once. Get ready: we assemble and set out in five minutes"
"N-no… but sir…!" Tai Wei gasped, but Shaofeng cast a sudden blast of fire in his direction, deterring him from speaking anew.
"Do inform your captain of the situation once he returns from his patrol, will you?" Shaofeng said: even now, when behaving violently, that damnable smirk continued to decorate his face.
Rui Shi gritted his teeth, hiding behind the wall at first, then rushing back to the guards' rooms at haste. He didn't know what had happened, not for sure… yet the sinking dread that took hold of his very soul had immediately brought the very worst possibility to mind. A possibility he had attempted to fight back against, to impede, for so long…
He walked past his room. He needed answers, and he intended to get them: he entered another room nearby, hiding inside it just before the footsteps of the preparing guards rushed through the corridor. No doubt, none of them from the third squad… his squad. His fellow guards… if his suspicions were accurate, albeit he deeply hoped they weren't, what would this mean for them? What would this mean for him? Were they all protected, safe from the fallout of this debacle, or were they to bite the dust, regardless of Azula's damage control and attempts to grant them plausible deniability…?
Finally, the door of the room he hid in opened. He waited silently, imperceptibly, in the shadows until the door closed again. Only then did he raise a hand towards the man who had just entered the room…
The carriage arrived just as a pair of staff members carried the weakened, flinching earthbender out through the doors of the Arena. Where the place had been overflowing mere hours ago, it was completely empty now… which meant she had been waiting for him, likely, for a very long time.
"T-Toph…" Iroh said, pushing the carriage door open and stepping off it nervously.
She couldn't sense him as easily as usual, not when the pain and the injuries were muddling her senses… but she heard his voice and frowned. A childish frown, it seemed to Iroh…
"Took you a while to show up, huh?" Toph growled "I was waiting for you! I thought you just wanted everyone to leave before getting me out, but if these guys hadn't checked the rooms before leaving today, I would've just been locked in the Arena all night long!"
"S-sorry… I'm so sorry, Toph" Iroh said, gritting his teeth "I didn't mean to make you wait, but… we need to go. We need to go, now"
"We needed to go like three hours ago, you dunderhead" Toph grumbled "I thought you were worried about how this fight was affecting me, but you just went and ditched me like that, huh…?"
The staff members had finally reached the bottom of the stairs: Iroh urged them to step closer, to help him hoist Toph onto the carriage. She still pouted, resentful for his apparent forgetfulness and disregarding of her circumstances… not once suspecting Iroh had been absent for so long for reasons far more severe than anything she might have imagined.
"Please, be careful" said one of the staff members, as Iroh climbed the carriage too "She needs a lot of care over those inj-…"
Iroh slammed the carriage door shut, startling Toph, the staff members, and even the carriage's driver by his brusqueness.
"To the bay. Immediately" Iroh told the man, his voice so stern and urgent it sent shivers down the driver's spine… and yet he obeyed without asking another question or saying another word.
"The… bay?" Toph repeated "You know, those guys were pretty helpful, you shouldn't have slammed the door like that… and hey, me telling you not to be rude? That's a new one, but still…"
"I… I'm sorry" Iroh said. Toph scoffed.
"Well, you'd better be, but… damn. Is something wrong, Iroh? You sound… weird. Weirder than usual. I mean, you ditched me and then came back so late, and you haven't explained why so far? What's the matter?"
"I… can't. I can't explain. I…" Iroh said, shaking his head "We need to go. We need to go. We have to go as fast as we can, Toph. That's all you need to know right now"
"Is… is it Zuko?" Toph asked, puzzled "Is something going on with him? You're usually only this wild when it's something about him…"
Yet her query went unanswered. Iroh slouched on the carriage seat, his head between his hands… his silence deafening and unsettling. His refusal to explain his absence brought a frown to Toph's face… the lack of questions of how she felt, seeing as he had been so furious about her state merely a few hours earlier…?
Something was wrong. Something was very, very wrong, and the longer Iroh went without explaining it, the more he worsened Toph's suspicions on the matter…
But he kept his silence all the same, as each turn of the wheels carried them farther and farther away from the Palace, and then from the city… closer to safety, putting as much distance as possible from the catastrophic consequences his words and accusations were sure to result in, not only for the two people directly involved in them, but for every single soul who would only represent collateral damage for the outraged and affronted Fire Lord…
Night spread across the Capital, a mantle under which most people rested in a warm slumber. The city was meant to be the safest place in the world: the latest events that had taken place in the mainland hadn't quite dispelled the illusion of security that most residents felt within the heart of the Fire Nation's land. Thus, only a handful of people were surprised by the sudden movement of soldiers, crossing the streets at an even pace, at the set rhythm of men with missions to accomplish.
Over twenty men had mobilized to the edge of the Capital. Their objective was a location easily pinpointed, yielded to their leader by one of the trembling palanquin bearers who had, long ago, visited that very building. Shaofeng could have, naturally, asked any of the members of the third squad… yet Renkai had never visited the house directly. The others, no doubt, had questionable loyalties: he would not rely on them even when it came to obtaining a simple shred of information. Frightened servants, unaware of what was happening, were far more reliable for the General's purposes.
The streets were less ornate as they came closer. The steep climb was still easily traversed, and it did nothing to delay them from their ultimate objective: a two-story house, an innocent image, a location no one would suspect had witnessed the sins that surely had taken place within its walls. But Shaofeng knew better than to underestimate the house's resident by now, as did the men he had ordered to come with him.
"We will move in fast" he said, still leading the march "He will fight back, as she did: we will stop him, no matter what it takes. A slave, a non-bender, is hardly a challenge for our might. I will hear nothing of failure today"
His men uttered a positive response: they were at the house's fence by now.
They were ready to strike.
The excitement of that day had dwindled very slowly, dimmed rather than completely dispelled by nighttime. Even so, Sokka had attempted to sleep, rolling in bed many times until his mind was clear enough for proper rest…
Somehow, it never happened. Somehow, there was a strange feeling in the air, one that had forced him awake with an anxious start the last time he had been close to falling asleep. Was it, perhaps, that too much happiness had somehow done a number on his soul? Was he anticipating something unpleasant would happen now because he wasn't used to this sort of overwhelming success?
Or was there some basis, unexpectedly so, for the unpleasant cloud that seemed to have taken hold of his mind? He gritted his teeth and shook his head, turning for the third time, seeking the side of the bed Azula had relaxed on earlier that day: her scent lingered, and so did her presence… but rather than being comforted by it, Sokka only longed for her. Longing in a rather strange, urgent way… why? He had been with her all day, they'd enjoyed themselves to no end… granted, he often felt the need to be with her immediately after they parted ways, but this, whatever it was, felt different.
He had been attempting to calm himself, to breathe slowly, to relax… when all his senses were jolted alert upon hearing sounds outside his room. Something rustled on the grass: it sounded like footsteps, didn't it? He frowned, sitting up and glancing at the balcony… but he couldn't see anything from his bed. Was he losing his mind? Why would anyone sneak into his backyard, anyway…?
A loud, blasting sound made him jump, shoving off the sheets immediately upon hearing it: had someone forced the front door open?
Footsteps. Many, many footsteps rushing through the wooden floors, up the stairs…
He snarled, jumping out of bed and rushing towards his weapons immediately: whoever was trespassing, he'd hold back nothing to make them leave. Curses, Song's room was closer to the stairs: they'd surely go to hers immediately, whoever they were… he wouldn't get there on time to stop them from reaching her, but he could still help her, even if he was a little late. He tossed aside Space Sword's scabbard and approached his bedroom door…
Only for it to be forced open with a firebending kick.
Sokka jumped back: the swinging door had struck his foot, but he disregarded the pain… for he was staring at what appeared to be a full regiment of Imperial Guards.
He wanted to say something. To demand for an explanation, to tell them to get out, to make them leave his house immediately, whatever the hell they were here for… but they attacked, immediately.
All he could do was defend himself, swinging his sword as a warning: what the hell was wrong with them?! He had fought alongside them merely a few weeks ago, why were any of these soldiers attempting to attack him now?
"Seize him! Now!"
Shaofeng's voice. Sokka's eyes widened.
"Don't come any closer or I'll chop off your damn hands!" Sokka roared, backing further into the room as he held the sword carefully, aiming it at the closest firebender "I don't know what you think you're doing but…!"
"You're in no position to make any demands, slave!" growled Shaofeng: he stood behind his men, unwilling, apparently, to risk injury by the sword while demanding the others faced Sokka "Put down your weapon and come willingly, or else…"
"Not a fucking chance" Sokka glowered at him, at all of them "Get out of here, or I'll…!"
A blast of fire struck his back.
The bastards that broke in through the garden had snuck up the balcony and attacked him from behind.
He couldn't let that break his focus, but as the firebenders poured into the room, it was obvious he was more than overpowered. He had never been able to beat more than four of Azula's guards in practice… and he wasn't sure he'd be able to do any better than that now, wielding a single weapon, wearing no armor, outnumbered fifteen-to-one.
He slashed, swinging his sword, leaping onto the bed to obtain whatever advantage he could, but where the firebenders were wary of his weapon, they were quick to strike at range: multiple fire blasts came his way, and he couldn't possibly dodge or swat them all away, not without Wolf's Bane's special properties.
Even then, he landed one ghastly cut across the chest of one of the guards: his breastplate broke, and the tip of the sword cut even through his helmet. Another took his place. Seven more fire blasts, three he couldn't dodge: he stabbed ahead, sliding his sword through one of the enemy's shoulders, and the very professional guard screamed… but held onto Sokka, taking advantage of the gladiator's close-range attack to immobilize him as best he could.
The man wasn't strong enough to hold down Sokka, who pulled away forcefully, spraying blood all over the room as he drew back his sword… but he held him down long enough that another volley of fire rained on him, and Sokka couldn't avoid it: his clothes were burning, his skin ached as the fire ate away at him. Every blow he landed was matched by three or four of theirs, simultaneously…
Another stab through a man's thigh, then another brutal cut that nearly saw a man's whole arm chopped off…
And then he took a potent punch to the stomach. It wasn't coated with fire, but after taking so many injuries already, it didn't have to be.
Sokka lost his breath, his footing, his control over the situation, his grip on his sword. More attacks, most of them with fire, some without, rained upon him as he fell on the floor, his body saddled with burns and the numerous bruises he had avoided receiving earlier that day. The bandage around his earlier wound was scorched to cinders, and when he tried to muster the strength to stand up, he was kicked again. He was punched, hard enough that his ribs appeared to have shifted in location; his jaw would swell after the last kick he had received, but what use was there in worrying about swelling now…? Would he even survive long enough for that swelling to even happen?
"Ease up. The Fire Lord wants him alive, after all" Shaofeng commanded, although the tone of his voice suggested he wouldn't be too broken up about it if the Fire Lord's order were disobeyed for any reason.
"Surrender now, vermin!" shouted one of the guards: the man pressed his knee to Sokka's back, forcing him to lie flat on the floor.
Sokka snarled, tightening his fists as he attempted to push himself up… another punch to his back, and the pain was so great he could barely move anymore. Another hand clasped his hair… and suddenly he found himself staring, in that darkness, at the daunting helmet worn by the General of the Guards.
"Keep resisting, and it'll only be worse for the two of you" he said "Mark my words"
"Wha…?" Sokka said: he couldn't even voice a question, for Shaofeng punched him square in the face now.
"Playing dumb, after committing high treason as you have, does not befit you as well as you wish it did, slave" Shaofeng growled.
Sokka shuddered, coughing blood on the floor. High treason? It'd be worse… for the two of them?
Perhaps, if he hadn't been subjected to the brutal beating he'd just received, he would have wondered, for a moment, if he was talking about Song. But with his mind in disarray, completely muddled by pain, desperation and confusion, the meaning of those words was surprisingly much clearer than he expected them to be:
High treason.
The truth was out.
"A… Azula…!" he gasped: another blow, straight to the eye, and even the guard holding him down had to release Sokka as the momentum outright flipped him over the floor.
"You dare speak her name, after soiling her as you have?" Shaofeng growled, rubbing his hand as though so much as touching Sokka disgusted him "If the Fire Lord didn't intend to execute you himself, I'd finish your lowly life this very second, scum"
Sokka breathed with difficulty, fear rushing through his body at an alarming rate. No, no, no… not this. Not now. Not when they were about to escape, to live their lives more freely, away from the Capital, away from Ozai…
"What have you… w-what have you done to her…?" Sokka still managed to speak, no matter how wounded he might be. Whatever pain he had to sustain, he would… but only him. If he was the only one hurt, he could take it. Not her, never her, please, not her…
Shaofeng scoffed, stepping closer… and kicking Sokka's ribs yet again: the gladiator roared in pain, again and again, and suddenly he was being held down by other guards, kicked by several feet at once… and yet none of the pain that bloomed across his skin mattered. Not when she was in danger.
"I… I'll come quietly…!" Sokka finally shouted. To his surprise, they actually eased up on him after those claims… yet some of those guards still moved to hold him down, to make sure he wouldn't escape "I… I will, if you just… j-just tell me… j-just tell me… w-what will he do… t-to her?"
The General removed his helmet: Sokka barely noticed it, however, for his reality was damn near impossible to reason with. He had to be bleeding everywhere now… a gurgle of blood surged in his throat, and he had to turn his head to cough it out, painfully.
"The Princess… will face the consequences she deserves for her indiscretion" hissed Shaofeng, kneeling before Sokka: the gladiator snarled, glaring furiously at the General through tearful eyes "It doesn't concern you: you won't live long enough to see it"
"Don't… please, it's all my fault, leave her be, I…!" Sokka gasped: another blow to the stomach, and he was rendered completely breathless.
His chest heaved, and as he lay in such a bloody heap, Sokka hardly even noticed the last of Shaofeng's humiliations: the man spat at him, setting the helmet back in place before looking at his soldiers.
"Chain him up, now. The Prison Tower will give this insect a proper welcome, though he won't linger there for long"
Sokka gritted his teeth: he wanted to fight back still, to find strength where he apparently had none left, but where his soul and mind were demanding for his body to move, the body itself couldn't seem to answer. He needed to go, to fight back, to find her… to save her. This wasn't how it was supposed to end… this wasn't how anything was supposed to turn out. Had their biggest achievement truly arrived mere moments before their ultimate damnation did…?
Cold metal around his wrists and ankles: he was fully shackled within instants. His limbs trembled violently when the soldiers pulled them together to put on the restraints, and then he was forced to his feet, despite he lacked the strength to even take a step forward… but it wouldn't matter: they pushed at him from behind, pulled at him from the front, making no attempt to avoid his wounds, disregarding that most his clothes were but charred rags by now. Parading a beaten, burned, bruised, near-naked man across the city seemed a completely agreeable notion for all these soldiers…
All of whom saw him as a traitor. As a criminal. As someone who had destroyed their Princess's virtue.
As if they knew the first damn thing about virtue, to begin with.
But try as though he might, he couldn't fight back anymore. An attempt to resist their forcefulness resulted in him being kicked in the shin, knocked to the wooden floors of his own house as he was dragged brutally. A place so safe, where they had been free, where their love had thrived and been strengthened… it had been breached, broken into, without the slightest concern, without even a hint of remorse.
It had been a long time since he had been on the darkest end of the Fire Nation's practices… and he certainly had never been on it in this manner. He shuddered violently as he was pulled down the stairs, tripping over his own feet, even knocking down one of the guards – served him right, tugging at Sokka's chain as he had been, though it earned Sokka yet another set of blows after they landed on the lower floor.
"Be careful, you fool!" Shaofeng roared at his own men, from the top of the stairs "Do you want this bastard to escape, is it?"
"N-no, sir…"
"Then spare us your carelessness, you incompetent imbecile. Seize him, and drag him out, now!"
The door had been damaged, partially torn off its hinges: Sokka only noticed it because he was dragged towards it by the next guard who found his chain and tugged him violently to his feet.
"You are making this harder for yourself than it needs to be" hissed a nearby guard: the voice sounded somewhat familiar, but Sokka couldn't place it right away. Was it one of the men he had commanded merely a few weeks ago…? "Go quietly and she'll be better off. Please... stop resisting. Stop already"
Sokka gritted his teeth, lowering his head as the guard holding his chain dragged him out, forcefully, yet again.
He shouldn't resist. He shouldn't fight back.
Fire Lord Ozai would get what he wanted, one way or another.
If only the consequences had been his own to face, his alone… perhaps he would have rebelled out of principle and nothing more. He would have forced them to kill him, right here and now, for he would never surrender against the orders of the man he most despised…
But this wasn't his crime alone. This wasn't his betrayal alone. Ozai hadn't ordered this sudden invasion of his home, his imprisonment or the pummeling he had just received, for no reason: he knew of his relationship with Azula. However he had found out, what mattered at this point was that he knew…
And it'd be Azula suffering through it. Her, not him, but her, for the rest of her life, most likely.
Tears streaked down his face as he continued to follow the guards, all the way to a small outpost the armed forces kept five blocks away from his house. There, they acquired some sort of metal carriage… and he was tossed inside the cage at the back, with no regard, yet again, for his many new wounds. Sokka coughed blood again as he landed on the carriage's metal floor… the door of which had been closed, locked safely, and then the wheels began to turn. Wheels, taking him far away from the place he had once thought of as a haven… from the woman he considered his home.
He shook as he cried in silence: his body was numb, and part of his mind appeared just as numb to reality as his heart was… and yet he couldn't stop crying. He couldn't. Not when she was in danger… when she probably had already been hurt, and he had failed to protect her. He had failed her… he had failed her.
"Azula…" he called her name quietly, as a desperate prayer: he didn't care what he had to face, whatever punishment Ozai deemed he deserved, he'd accept it… as long as she was safe. As long as she was spared. If only that was possible, he would die in peace…
But he was no fool: this was but the beginning of the Fire Lord's wrath. And just as he had failed to protect the love of his life right now, he knew there was no way he would live long enough to protect Azula from the rest of Ozai's fury in the future, either.
She was no stranger to violence: she had witnessed more than enough of it, lived through countless painful situations, even bearing permanent marks of it upon her own body. On every day she escaped any of it, on every day she could wake up safely, and go to bed just as safely, she thanked the spirits for the chance to live her life far more freely than most people in her station could…
But that glorious streak had ended that night, when she had jumped awake upon hearing the horrible blast of the torn down door. And then, when she had heard those footsteps rushing up the stairs… she didn't even know why it was happening, didn't understand it in the least, and yet she knew it was no mistake. She had been on the receiving end of so many Fire Nation invasions, striking when no one expected it, lost so many people dear and near to her heart that she couldn't even deceive herself into wishing this were nothing but an unpleasant nightmare: it was plain and clear to her that it was real, no matter how badly she wished it weren't.
She braced herself, jumping off the bed, shrinking beside it, trying to make herself scarce and imperceptible… but the footsteps rushed past her door.
Another blast opened Sokka's door. And then… a violent struggle. Sounds of a fight, no doubt, a most gruesome fight, going by the shouts she could hear… tears surged in Song's eyes as she shrank in place further, covering her mouth with a hand as she willed Sokka to win. Whatever was happening, he had to win. He was strong enough, she was sure he was strong enough, so…
Her door opened.
Song flinched and remained in place, hugging her knees to her chest as nervously as could be, trembling as she held her breath. Let them think she had spent the night out, whoever they might be. Let those footsteps go away… yet they were stepping into the room, closing the door behind them: no, no, no, she wasn't here. She wasn't here…
The footsteps slowed: they couldn't see her. They didn't see her. They would wrongfully assume the room was empty, and then she could… do what, exactly? Run to find help? She could hear the whooshing sound of fire… were they being attacked by soldiers? If so, what help could she even hope to find? Could she beg Rui Shi to fight back against his own people for their sake…? He'd likely do it, yes, and then what? He'd only be another victim of whatever this mess was, along with them, and then…
The person moved in the room. Song shivered, tightening her arms around her legs, her face against her knees: she didn't even want to know what would come next. Whoever this sudden arrival was, if they had come with whoever was attacking Sokka, they couldn't possibly mean her no harm, could they…?
The footsteps finally had moved past the bed: she was in plain sight for them. She wanted to disappear, to be invisible, to vanish from the damn face of the earth…
The footsteps approached her now and she flinched, cowering away from that person… from the hands that suddenly fell upon her shoulders, only to speak with the voice she loved most dearly:
"Stay quiet. It will… it will be over soon"
Rui Shi.
It was Rui Shi.
She gasped, and he drew her into his embrace to further ensure her silence: her body took to shaking violently as tears of desperation and relief surged in her eyes… as her hands pawed awkwardly at his armor, at his body, for it was him…
And that he would be here, not to help Sokka, but to protect her, was anything but reassuring.
"W-what is…?" she managed to whimper, but Rui Shi shook his head, tightening his embrace.
"We mustn't make any noise. Stay silent, Song…"
So… there was no fighting back. She was too weak, against any possible threat… and even Rui Shi, who was far stronger than her, seemed to believe there was no possible victory against whatever was happening in the next room.
He had come here to protect her. To save her… for she would be collateral damage otherwise.
Sokka couldn't be saved.
It was too late for him.
Rui Shi's behavior, the suddenness of the situation, the fact that the target was none other than Sokka… all of it, rolled together, answered some of the questions Song couldn't even bring herself to ask. She trembled violently as silent sobs shook her… as she heard Sokka roaring, fighting back, struggling… the voices of those men, soldiers, she suspected… guards, perhaps, just like Rui Shi? Was that how he had made it here? He had infiltrated their ranks somehow, slipping through the cracks to save only her, for only she could be saved anymore…?
Eventually, she could barely hear Sokka's voice anymore. Blows, attacks, they didn't seem to slow down for a long time… then a short exchange. More violence followed that, and she shuddered against Rui Shi upon every sound of aggression against her friend in the neighboring room: her tears fell upon Rui Shi's armor, spilling on the floor as she clung to him desperately… knowing it'd end. Knowing it would be over eventually, and she would be unable to make it end any faster. They were powerless to make a difference: the outcome had already been decided. There was no outwitting the enemy, no chance luck would shine upon them… no possibility of hope within the depths of darkness they had sunken to.
Just when she had started to fear it really might never end, footsteps started to resound in the house again. Rui Shi shuddered against her, clinging to her hard, desperately, hoping no one would decide to search the rooms now… search them for what, truly? They would find nothing else in this house… they had what they had come for. All they had to do was leave… leave, with Sokka in their power.
He snarled as he pressed his face to his lover's shoulder: further violence outside revealed Sokka had either fallen or been shoved down the stairs. More voices, more footsteps…
And then, nothing but silence.
They lingered where they were, beside the bed, still hidden away from the world, from any prying eyes… waiting just a little longer, just to be sure it was over. Just to make certain that the only guard left within the house was Rui Shi…
After two minutes of sitting quietly, of holding Song's sobbing shape, Rui Shi released a breath and let go of her, only to remove his helmet: he had never felt quite so breathless while in uniform, and yet right now it seemed the air was only escaping his lungs instead of staying in them long enough for his body to process it.
"W-what… what is going on, Rui Shi…?" Song finally managed to say, raising her tearful eyes to meet his own in the darkness of that room, in an even darker night "I… please, just…"
"The Fire Lord… has learned the truth about their relationship" Rui Shi said, gritting his teeth.
It was no surprise, not truly: Song had known, even if she hadn't wanted to accept it, that this would be the likeliest explanation… but being right had never been quite as unwelcome as it was that night. She shook her head, nervously, further tears streaming down her face.
"N-no, no, no, Rui Shi…"
"There's… nothing to be done. We can't… I can't help him right now" Rui Shi said, gritting his teeth as he tightened his hands into fists "All I could do… all I could do was ensure you'd be safe. No one will look for you, for now. But the Fire Lord… he might try to track down anyone who could have been a witness to their relationship, and there's no telling what he'd do, so…"
"You… y-you're saying he'll… he'll come after me?" Song asked, eyes wide. Rui Shi gritted his teeth.
"You will be safe, Song" Rui Shi declared, firmly "I don't know if I can save them… not anymore. But I still can and will protect you. If you can be safe, then…"
"B-but Sokka…! He was beaten, they must've…! They must have hurt him so badly, Rui Shi…" Song sobbed, shaking her head "And what… w-what have they done to her? Is Azula…?"
"She's… not going to be beaten to this extent, no" Rui Shi snarled "But that doesn't mean they won't hurt her… that the Fire Lord won't hurt her. Just sending the guards to find Sokka this way was… it was a way to punish her, too. He… he's reeling, at this point. He's erratic, and no less dangerous for it… but once he truly accepts this perceived betrayal… he will be completely unstoppable"
"But… d-doesn't this… d-doesn't this mean you are in danger too, Rui Shi?" Song asked, staring at him in chagrin "Rui Shi, please, you…"
"Yes. It means that I am" Rui Shi answered, earnestly.
Song's already broken heart seemed to shatter in a million more pieces. The obvious, immediate concern of course had to be Azula and Sokka… but the more she tried to wrap her mind around this new reality, the harder and more painful it became.
"N-no… n-no, Rui Shi, please…" she begged, hugging him tightly again as her tears flowed freely down her face "You can't be… y-you can't… I-I can't lose all three of you, I… I can't… Please…"
"I… will do my best to ensure it doesn't come to that" Rui Shi said, swallowing hard: tears burned in his eyes too, and he spoke with conviction he scarcely felt "I… don't know how to save him. I'm not sure… that there's any way to do it. But if I can help her… if I can do anything still, for her sake, I… I must. I will. You understand that, don't you?"
"I… of course I do, Rui Shi, but…" Song sobbed, raising her eyes to his again "I… I can't lose you… I can't be alone again, not… n-not after all this, Rui Shi, I… I can't take it…"
"I know it… it will hurt, love, I know it will. It already does" Rui Shi said, gritting his teeth: the tears escaped his eyes, as he drew her in for a powerful hug "But you're… you're the only one I know I can still save. If… if saving you is the last thing I ever do, then… t-then at least that will have to be enough…"
"No, no, Rui Shi, please…!" Song cried, clinging to him in desperation "My life isn't…! It isn't worth more than yours, than theirs, I'm a nobody…!"
"You're worth everything, my love, to me" Rui Shi said, swallowing hard "I will… I will do my best. I will try my hardest, for them too. Whatever sacrifice I must make, I will, but first…"
First, he would indeed spare her the pain. He would send her to a safe harbor… someplace where she wouldn't have to be alone anymore… from where she might, perhaps, someday travel all the way to Ba Sing Se and find her mother again. And then, hopefully, Song would never be alone again… even if it meant they would be torn apart, perhaps permanently.
So many hopes, so many dreams, so many illusions… all of them had been dashed against a wall, shattered under the weight of a collapsing mountain, destroyed beyond repair. But what little Rui Shi might still be able to do for those two, he'd certainly do it. Long ago he had rejected, condemned their bond…
And now he was willing to stop at nothing to save them both, even if he knew he was likely doomed to fail at such a venture.
But he would try, damn it all, he would try. It was impossible to save Sokka from the beating, from the imprisonment, from the condemnation… but perhaps something else could be done still. Perhaps he could be broken out, perhaps he could be taken someplace far from Ozai's reach.
And as for the Princess… that, he knew, was even more difficult to unravel. From the very beginning, she had intended to take the fall on her own… and she had almost succeeded, it seemed, for as sidelined as the third squad might be, they hadn't been held responsible for Azula's actions. Or rather, not yet.
That was a window of time she had bought for them preemptively. It was just another way to immolate herself, to take the brunt of this catastrophe and bear it upon her shoulders, and hers alone…
Which betrayed just how dire the situation had to be: if the Princess had failed to protect Sokka, if she hadn't been able to fly here to save him, as she would have, under any other circumstances… was she, by any chance, beyond any help already?
Rui Shi gritted his teeth, hoping to be wrong to fear as much… but all that fear would have to be put aside if he intended to save Song's life. They had very little time to waste… and the sooner he sent her to safety, the sooner he could set out to help Sokka and Azula… if there was any chance to save them at all, at this point.
She shivered. She shuddered. The night was warm, and yet she felt cold inside, as cold as she had when she couldn't feel her inner fire anymore. Another shudder, her head light, her stomach threatening to turn upon itself, yet even the strength to instinctively throw up seemed to have fled her very body.
Her breathing was slow, weak, even. Her eyes were open, but they saw nothing. A desperate, familiar voice inside her mind called for her, but she couldn't heed it. The light breeze that filtered through the open window could caress her skin, if it pleased… but she couldn't feel it either.
All she could feel was a void, a massive, overpowering void, swallowing her from the inside, drawing her deeper into herself… and she hoped that it would continue to do so until her very consciousness was completely gone. Until she could erase her very damn existence, if she could…
For years she had known this could happen. She had understood there was a possibility that she might pay for her choices one day… she had thought herself ready to face those consequences. She had been foolish enough to believe, for a long time, that she would overcome any accusations, and more than anything, that no one would ever prove capable of overpowering her and performing a purity examination on her against her will…
Just the memory of it made her recoil, flinching, shuddering as though worms writhed underneath her skin, poisoning her just as the rotting essence of the Bloodlust Spear had… oh, just upon thinking of that monstrosity now, she could only wish she hadn't fought back as hard as she had. She wished she had allowed it to cleave her, to drain her very chi, to leave her for dead, dried and defeated…
For that would be better than this. Better than lying on her bed, unable to move anymore, after having attempted to fight back to no avail, after having been subjected to the most undignified humiliation her father could have forced upon her. Once it was done, their hands had released her, and then they had walked away. They had their answer… and they wouldn't even stop to make sure she was alright. To make sure she would recover from this… nothing. Because no doubt, that didn't matter to her father or his goons, did it…? If they hadn't meant her any harm, they would have never done what they had, they would have never hurt her as deliberately… as remorselessly, too.
How? How had it come to this? She couldn't understand it. Why, all of sudden? Who had told him…? Had someone done it, or had he found out on his own…? She had neglected resonating throughout her recovery, so had his damn assassin spotted them at some point today, somehow? Or was it something else…?
All the questions she dared ask herself, she knew, amounted to nothing: the harm was done. Her fortune had been cast… and this time, there was no doubt the so-called luck she had been granted all through her life had run out completely.
No explanations had been given. She hadn't asked for any, either, for she had lost grip on her own voice, her own strength… all of it had fled her, for the magnitude of this ordeal was eating her away from the inside, destroying every fiber, every component, of whoever she had been once …
For this was the outcome they had known could happen. The outcome they had mistakenly assumed would never take place, because for so long it hadn't… because so far, everyone who had discovered the truth had intended to protect their secret. Either someone had gone back on their word, whether deliberately or by accident… or someone had discovered the truth on their own right, and they had believed this to be the perfect opportunity to destroy them. She had made no shortage of enemies over the years… but that someone, anyone, would believe her deserving of this living nightmare she was trapped within right now, certainly shook her to her core.
Her pride had been utterly annihilated, her emotions were completely obliterated, her soul was nothing but chaos and strife. Her mind was full of the desperate, mournful cries of the dragon who had failed to save her, her body felt broken, and the pain of her throbbing shoulder, of each spot where those damn gloved hands had held her down, overflowed her very existence…
And yet, in the most devastated shape she had ever been in, her thoughts were as distant from herself as she could be.
For all she could think of was Sokka.
She should have found it in her to thaw herself out of this state of paralyzed misery… she should have forced herself to get up, to liberate Xin Long from whatever restraints held him down, urging him to rush, at haste, to Sokka's place, but the fear and panic had kept her from conveying any coherent thoughts to Xin Long. The dragon had only focused on what was happening to her, not pondering that he might still be able to save his second rider if he broke out of the refuge on time to do so… and by now, Azula suspected, it would be too late. Too late.
What would Ozai do to him? What would his damn soldiers dare do, too? Would he be able to fight back, or would they seek to kill him on sight…? She should have warned him, she should have done something… but with what strength? With what willpower? Both had been broken. Once she found a way to thaw herself, if she ever did, there was no doubt that she'd regret this. She'd berate herself, endlessly, for not helping him, for not finding a way to save him… hell, in some ways, she already did.
And even then, she couldn't move a single inch.
The tears streamed down her face freely: her breath didn't hitch, her shoulders didn't shake. All she could do was tremble violently and will herself whole again… for she was no help to anyone this way. She had to get it together, to find a way to save him, because if she couldn't…
If she couldn't, her father would kill him.
Her father would kill Sokka.
Her lips finally parted with a grieving cry: she shook, she shrank in place, letting further tears stream down her face. They had doomed themselves from the start… more so in recent times, with their carelessness. So trusting they had been, so sure their relationship would overcome every challenge ahead, for it had for years… and now they found otherwise. Now they had been cut to size, their arrogance and carelessness were punished in the most heartless manner of all…
Their love, which they had meant to protect as best they could, now lay broken to shreds, shattered by the wrath of a man who knew himself invincible.
They had lost.
Tears poured down her eyes, again and again, and she guessed they wouldn't stop until the morning arrived… if they ever stopped at all. How to stop them, truly? Everything they had fought for had been cast into flames. All they had built, every single ambition, every goal… all of it, gone in a single night.
Would she ever even see him again…? Would she be able to reach him, before the worst happened? Whether to save him, or maybe to join him and perish alongside him…
For what was the point of living in a world without him?
More sobs shook her, and the breeze blew, and the curtains rustled… and the pain didn't mitigate in the least for any of it: there was no defeating this agony. There was no overcoming it. Her only option was surrender… fighting back would only make everything worse. How many would pay the price for their so-called transgressions? How many people had she failed to save from being affected by their sins?
She couldn't help the darkness of her thoughts… the dreadful paths they took her through, on the very worst night of her life. The fear, the regrets, the overpowering misery, saw her lying across her bed, the very place where her whole soul had been brutalized and destroyed, where all her hopes for the future had died in a single instant…
All of it, by the Fire Lord's orders.