Wishfull-star:(٥⁀▽⁀ )


This chapter features torture, beware.


When he woke up, he was in a room with metal walls and ceiling, and a concrete floor. He was shirtless, and was confused. His neck hurt when he touched it, and he remembered being choked. He stood up, not knowing what was going on. Then he found his ankles were shackled to the ground.

He was kind of scared now. No, he was really scared. They lied, Zuko didn't send them there. He never would betray Ace that way. "Hello?! Why am I here?!" Ace called angrily, trying to hide his fear. Then the door slid open, and showed Azula looking cocky. He glared, and demanded what was going on.

"You should talk quieter, you know. I heard all about your issue with firebending," she said with a sneer. "And I told father. But I let you have a week of calm before I did. Seeing you scared and exhausted was so funny." Ace grit his teeth in anger. He demanded to know what the point of this was, and when he was getting out. "Father wants to see what will happen."

Ace said he wasn't going to firebend, so they had no leverage over him. "Well, you'll get food and water after firebending. Until then, have fun in complete isolation." Then the lights were turned off, and the door slid shut, leaving him in complete darkness. The only way he'd see light was by firebending.

He tugged on the chains, but they were thick and tight. He sat down and curled into a ball. The darkness was suffocating, completely. It was too quiet, and he was robbed of two senses. He couldn't her anything but his breathing and couldn't see anything in the pitch black room. It was also drafty, and he was shirtless.

When he fell asleep, he was awoken with a bucket of water being dumped on him, the door open and letting some light in. "Don't think you get to sleep," Azula said in a mocking voice. Ace told her to go fuck herself. "No real witty comment to say?" she asked, unbothered. Ace snapped that he had no desire to even speak to her.

"That hurts my feelings." But he couldn't resist a response.

"Well, we all know how sensitive you are. Miss Loser-Tantrum. This is your way of getting back at me? Pathetic. Oh, 'you're hilarious' right?" Ace asked. He was kicked in the face, but it didn't hurt, and he spat on her. It pissed her off, and she left, leaving him in the dark again.

Ace laid back down, though the water made the room even colder. He shivered, and laid on his back, still refusing to firebend. He wondered how the Fire Lord would be watching this somewhere. Unless he was just there with some way of seeing in from outside of the room.

He didn't know how many days he spent in there, in the pitch black, but he hated it. It was truly suffocating. He was also dying to drink some water and hear anything. But he was given no food or water, and it exhausted him. Azula took advantage of his severe dehydration, leaving him weak and useless. She started to try and hurt him more.

Most attacks did no damage, but the lightning was getting uncomfortable. But finally, he shot flames back at her, filling the room with them. The lights were turned on immediately, and he got a look of triumph from the bitch. She tossed him a small bottle of water. He drank it quickly, but still laid down on his back.

He was so tired. Even in the dark silence, sleep was hard to come by. But now the lights were on, which was better, truly. But he wished it wasn't Azula in front of him. Zuko must be so worried. Azula closed the door, leaving the lights on, and Ace heard a hissing sound. He looked up, and could see some sort of gas entering the room out of vents near the ceiling.

Panicking, he tried to hold his breath, but he could only do it so long before his lungs started to hurt, and his nose was bleeding from the dangerous and painful gas he was breathing. He screamed at the pain, and felt his throat burning. He turned on his front, and coughed up blood and vomit.

It hurt really bad, but nothing happened with his appearance. After the gas dispersed, after a long time, he got no treatment. Nobody came to see if he was okay for hours before Azula came in and saw Ace's bloody face.

"How unsightly. It looks like you can be hurt from the inside, huh?" she asked in a joyous voice. "That's good information, now isn't it?" Ace sat up, and spat blood all over her, getting on her clothes.

"Fu-ck you," he said, his voice raw from the sharp gas. It was almost as if every particle was a knife that cut inside him. He hated the dripping and then dried flakes on his face. There was blood on the floor underneath him, too. Azula walked forward and gripped his neck, squeezing so his burnt esophagus was aggravated. He hissed at the pain, but showed no expression on his face.

Azula said, "Well, you'll break eventually and show father what he wants. It's only a matter of time, now. I've never tortured anybody before, so I think this will be a good learning experience for both of us." Ace glared at her hatefully. He was so hungry he couldn't sit up fully anymore. He should have run away when he stared having that overwhelmingly bad feeling. He should have trusted it.

Ace asked if Zuko knew. "Of course. But he can't do anything about it. Mother is happy you're gone, you know? Now Zuko can be a proper prince without a piece of trash with an attitude there to mess things up."

The freckled, bloody faced teen just didn't have the energy to get mad or reply. He asked when he would get food. She pulled a piece of bread and an orange at him. That was all the food he could get, but it was something. She slammed the door shut and put him in darkness once again, though he was glad to eat. Even the orange peel was eaten, Ace giving nothing to waste.

He laid down and sighed, curling into a ball. Why did this have to happen to him? He had nobody to come rescue him or convince Ozai to let him go. If he had been respectful to Azula all this time, would this have happened to him? Damn it! Tears dripped down his cheeks, not knowing if he'd ever make it out of here.

-x-

"Oh look, you threw up your food again," Azula taunted. "You know, you'll starve if you keep doing that." Ace didn't respond, just laying there, looking at the door across from him. Ace was having hard time eating because he felt someone was spiking his food to make him vomit. He would be wholly unsurprised.

It had been another... few days, and he still hadn't used his fire, knowing it might get worse if he showed it. He couldn't tell how long he'd been there. Maybe they'd eventually give up on it and let him go. They had no concrete proof, just Ace talking with Zuko, what Azula had overheard. Azula dumped water on Ace again. "You look pitiful. You'd be better off if you just firebend. Though you're too weak to do so."

Ace said nothing. "I was thinking, since you never talk anymore, why don't I cut off your tongue?" Ace erupted in flames, burning her clothes before she jumped out of the way. Ace continued to lay there, on fire to protect himself. She smirked, and Ace kept his fire up to keep himself as safe as he could.

She said she should have threatened him earlier. It had been almost two weeks by now. Of being chained to the ground with little water and littler food. Maybe he should just do what they want. They'd let him go, then. But he knew deep down that that was a fool's dream. He wouldn't get out of here without help. And nobody would help him.

He eventually fell asleep and the flames dampened. Nothing happened to his body while he slept, even after using all those flames for many minutes to feel safer. He hadn't even meant for them to come out, it was automatic to protect himself. He continued to lay on the ground. He wished he had a pillow. Or a blanket. Despite having no windows in there, the room was chilly.

When he woke up, Ozai was there, and Ace glared at him, though he was tired. "It seems you aren't turning into the dragon form I'd like to see." Ace said he'd never actually turned into dragon. They were all assuming when there was no reason to think so. "No, I think you'll become a dragon, and we'll do anything we can to make that happen.

"It'd be easy for you to just give in. Think about that. You have an hour to turn into a dragon or we'll force you," the Fire Lord said, and left the room, leaving Ace in the darkness again. He fell asleep, and the hour was up by the time he woke up. So, he woke to the sound of gas again. He panicked, and attempted to turn into anything nonhuman, but he stayed a fifteen year old boy.

The gas didn't burn him or hurt, but suddenly, Ozai opened the door an walked in with a sword, and started to rip apart Ace. Then Zuko came in, holding a whip. "Did you think I'd want a freak like you as a friend?" he asked. The gas faded away, and Ace only saw his friend and his father there to hurt him.

Zuko shot the whip around Ace's neck, yanking him down while Ozai carved into his back. "Ahhh!" It hurt. He felt blood trickle down his back. "S-Stop it!" he shouted as he felt the liquid pool around him.

"Use your firebending!" Zuko commanded, tightening his hold on Ace's throbbing neck. He was having trouble breathing. Ace was too scared to use it, though, and just cried and screamed while he suffocated. But before he passed out, Zuko released the whip, and Ace could breathe again.

He grabbed at his throat before a sword was pressed to it. It sliced it just barely and blood came out, but nothing major. Ace shoved him away, but it just nicked him deeper, the Fire Lord grinning and chuckling as Ace cried out for him to stop. "I'll follow your rules, just don't! Don't kill me!" Ace cried.

"Then turn into a dragon!" Ozai commanded. Ace sobbed, saying he didn't know how. "Do it!" the sword pressed to his throat and started to dig in, and black, thick scales formed all over his body, but that was it. "Do it more!"

"I don't know how! Stop it!" he screamed. The the sword was pressed into his mouth, to cut his tongue off until his body shifted into a dragon's, only not as long, and with stronger legs. A few minutes later, Ozai left him in the dark. And he fell asleep.

When he woke up, he touched his throat and felt no wound. He also was in human form. Phew, it had all been a very scary dream. He sat up and threw up again. The room stunk of vomit. He rolled over away from the stomach fluid and barely any food, and wiped his eyes, seeing he was crying in his sleep.

He expected Azula to come in and taunt him, but he stayed in the dark, alone to think about his dream. They could kill him somehow. Could poison him and kill him from the inside like they found out they could do. Would a sword be able to cut him, though? It never had been able to before.

It was terrible, being here. Maybe he should just give in and turn into a dragon so they stopped torturing him. But he didn't even know if it was possible! This could all be for nothing. A moot point. He'd only just had some of his body covered in black, hard skin and scales. That could be all there was.

Then some more gas came in, and he fell asleep, he thought.

-x-

"Look at you, pathetic," Azula said, standing above Ace, whose eyes were blank and distant. He'd been tortured daily with chemicals, and terrible hallucinations. Every time, he was nearly killed and threatened. Then there were times where Azula murdered Zuko in front of him and said it was because he had been friends with Ace.

He could not come up with a response, and managed to look to the side. "You should just give in already. It's been three weeks. Aren't you tired of being tortured?" she asked with a smirk. He replied, that he didn't even know if he could turn into a dragon. "Don't back talk to me, trash. You're not the strong willed brat you were before." She kicked him in the gut. It didn't hurt, which visibly annoyed her.

Ace rolled over, not wanting to see her anymore. A bucket of ice water was dumped on him, and he shivered. He wanted out of here, it was terrible. He wanted far, far away from there. Never see these people ever again. He wished somebody would come visit him besides Azula and Ozai in his hallucinations. The Fire Lord hadn't come once, leaving everything to his sadistic daughter.

The freckled teen regretted ever talking to her before. He should have just kept quiet in her company. He should have stayed in his place. A lesser person than her and Zuko. Not permitted to be himself. He should have run away a long time ago to be free. Even if he was homeless and hungry, no longer in a life of semi-comfort, he would have been able to do what he wanted, say what he wanted.

In the pitch black, he attempted to do it. He changed into a dragon as best as he could, the pain pretty bad as his bones shifted and his body grew in size. He had four legs that were large and long, a tail and wings that pressed against the ceiling. There. They had what they wanted. But he didn't look how he did in his hallucinations. He'd looked different each time.

But he was starved and weak, emotionally broken right now. The shackles were broken now, but even if he was strong enough to try and escape, the door was too small. The whole room was too small and cramped. He let out a deep sigh, and tried to turn back. Only he was stuck when the gas started to fill the room. It was usually the hallucinogenic one since that affected him more than any pain. In the dragon form, he saw arrows were shooting at him from the darkness that had formed in front of him.

They pierced the armor and got into his skin, his body not made of fire anymore. He groaned in pain and tried to swing a tail at them, but the arrows continued. One pierced his eye, and he screamed. Well, roared, in pain. He fell on his side and moaned, grabbed at the arrow in his eye. The pain was just too realistic to be fake!

But that's how it always felt. The door slid open, and Ozai was there, looking satisfied. "I knew you could. You should feel relief. You will no longer be tortured." Ace knew this was a hallucination. The lights were turned on, and he was told to change back.

He snarled at him. A hallucination couldn't hurt him more than he already did with the arrow still protruding from his skin. "I see. You think this is a hallucination. But you know, it was necessary, after all. Now that you can do what I wish, your treatment will be much more civil," Ozai explained in a simple voice, as if he hadn't been behind Ace's terrible, inhumane treatment for the last few weeks.

The last few weeks of complete and utter hell. More gas was sprayed into the room with the door closing, leaving him in the dark as he tried to get out in any way he could. But he was too weak, too hungry and thirsty. The gas was sleeping gas, and he passed out, falling on his stomach, tongue rolling out of his mouth without him meaning to.

His large body slumped, cramped in this room. He hoped he could be moved to a bigger cell now, at least. That was the fucking least they could do for him.

When he woke up, he was chained and shackled to the floor. There were cuffs that were pressed into the ground, not by a chain, around his wrists, ankles, tail, and his snout, so he couldn't even open his mouth. He thrashed around, but he noticed his new wings were nailed to either wall.

The membrane seemed so thin that it didn't hurt. He frantically tried being released, but it hurt his wings, making the thin skin tear. His back was also wrapped with chain. Fat tears came from his eyes. This was worse than before! Damn it! Ozai and Azula were there, smiling. Though Azula said she was bummed she could no longer torture him, it was satisfying to see her work had paid off.

"And now you can't talk back to me." Ace snarled, his upper lip curling up, even though he could only bare his teeth that way. "Oh look, you've finally turned into the wild animal you always have been."

"Azula, no longer taunt our guest. Having him angry will only make things harder," Ozai said lightly, conversationally. Azula huffed, crossing her arms, but did not refuse, didn't dare do such a thing. Look at what happened to Ace for refusing. Well, maybe this would have happened regardless, since Azula overheard.

He wanted to ask to see Zuko, but he couldn't speak in this form. Not just because his jaw was chained shut. This was painful and uncomfortable. The guards came in, some in doctor's coats, and walked to him, wheeling things. "You will be a great source of knowledge, Ace. You should feel honored."

Ace glared at him, blue eyes looking hateful. He couldn't move when they left, and the "doctors" and guards stayed. He tried getting out of the hold, but he was completely secure to the ground. They ripped up scales, which was painful, and then removed teeth, since he couldn't stop them by biting. And no fire was coming out.

Blood dripped from his gums and the places scales were removed. Blood was taken as well in large quantities. A needle drew fluid from his eye, and saliva was extracted by a swab through the hole in his teeth from the one they removed.

They did this all day, and tears were from Ace's big, slitted eyes the whole time, dripping down his angular face. This was hell, he couldn't move. He was given no food, but was given water. After they were done for the day, he was not released, he was kept in that position. They came in early the next morning, and started new tests.

If he reacted to lightning, fire, boiling water. The scales protected him from most of those things, but they were still scary, him being immobile and completely helpless. When the scientists left - as there was no way they were doctors - Azula came in.

"Aw, somebody is crying. Looks like ever coming to the palace was a mistake. Zuko wants to see you, but it's his fault this happened anyways. He's the one that told you to go for a walk, and now look." Ace glared at her. "We'll keep you here the rest of your life, taking tests when something pops into father's head."

Ace closed his eyes, trying to make her go away. She walked closer, and saw the spot where a tooth was removed, and pressed her finger against his raw gum, making him growl. "Oh, does that hurt?" She then lit her finger on fire and burnt it. He growled and grunted. "There. I cauterized it for you. You're welcome." And she left.

The dragon sobbed in his dragon way, scared and hopeless.