Wishfull-star: Ace will be okay. Just might take awhile.


The door slid open, and Ace started to hyperventilate at the prospect of more humans coming to hurt him. He shut his eyes tightly, waiting for the pain. "Oh you poor child," a kind voice said. Ace opened his eyes and looked to the side at the human coming closer. Ace growled threateningly, even if he could do nothing to defend himself.

It was an older fat man with gray hair and a gray beard. He looked kind, and had a bowl of rice with him. It smelled bad, he didn't want it. He wanted meat. Anything else upset his stomach. Then there was the scent of leaves. The man didn't walk towards him, but he crawled to look less threatening.

"I've brought you some tea," he said with a bow. "Would you like to drink it?" Ace growled. "Yes, I assumed taking anything from any of us would be untrustworthy after everything," he said reasonably, not sounding angry. "I'd like to help you, Ace." Who was Ace? His questioning look was on his face, the brows looking confused. "You're name is Ace. You were a human on-" Ace growled at hearing he was ever a human!

"My name is Iroh. I am Zuko's uncle. He wishes to see you, but I don't think that's a good idea." The human, Iroh, was pretty honest, it seemed. Ace hadn't been visited in months. But it was still scary for the door to open, holding the memories of people to come in and test on him again, all the time.

Iroh went back to talking about helping him. "Ozai is busy with other things, and does not think of you much anymore. I'd like to take advantage of that. You don't belong here. I think Zuko should not see the state you are in, for he blames himself for his best friend being tortured and chained." He sounded so sad.

Ace did recognize the name Zuko, but could not place where he knew him. "Zuko was your best friend, the prince of the Fire Nation. He is nothing like Azula. Though he is angrier and more hostile after what happened to you two years ago, and another incident as well." So, it had been two years… It felt so much longer.

"I want him to be able to see his friend again, but not like this. Is there any way you can return to your human body?" Ace snarled. "If you turn into a human, I can help you escape. You're hard to miss in this form."

He was never a sick, dirty, and cruel human. How dare Iroh insinuate that? He was deeply offended. "I can see why you'd never want to be a human, after what they've done to you. But if you do so, I can smuggle you out." Ace didn't know how to turn into a human if he was telling the truth. This was his body, a dragon.

Iroh walked to him, and pulled something out of his pocket. Ace growled, trying to get him to go away. But he could not move. But the man got too close for comfort, and Ace whimpered, closing his eyes tightly. But he heard a clicking noise, and watched as the visitor unlocked the cuffs, one by one.

But Ace could not stand up. He had sores all over the places where he'd been confined for two years. His neck hurt, his mouth hurt, everything hurt. Iroh looked angry at the sores all over his body. "I'll be back," he said, and left the room, leaving the lights on.

Ace tried to stand up, and managed it a bit before collapsing on legs that were unable to hold his weight. Iroh came back with a huge bag. Ace smelled both food and chemicals. Iroh moved closer, Ace baring his teeth. He could attack the man now, but he had freed Ace from his bindings.

He was given meat, and he tore into it. He'd been given mushed up meat, always through the hole in his teeth from where they ripped them out. From a tube, mashed up, but food. He had trouble chewing, and as he did so, Iroh put some sort of cream on the sores all over his body where he was locked up.

There was a bowl of water brought next that Ace drank in one gulp. "Can you walk, Ace?" The dragon tried standing up, but his legs had lost so much muscle from never moving in the last two years. Iroh climbed onto Ace's wings and took the nails out that kept them to the wall. They slowly relaxed down, stiff beyond belief.

"I am sorry I did not come sooner, Ace," Iroh said, bowing in regret and shame. "But you need to turn into a human to get out. The door is too small for you to fit through." Ace shook his head, and hissed at the pain. "Please. Once you're out and safe, you can turn back into a dragon and leave on your own to be free."

Ace wanted to be free. And he would only be in human form for a little bit. Ace cried in shame as he imagined himself being a human. He shrunk, wincing and whimpering at the pain of changing into a human. When he was back, he was covered in black for most of his body. Iroh approached Ace, who stepped back and went to the wall, curling into a ball.

"I'm just giving you clothes, and a cloak to hide under," Iroh said patiently. Ace was heavily emotionally and mentally scarred. Being tortured with hallucintations of his death and more torture for so long, and then chained up with no way to move as he was tested on week after week. Month after month.

Iroh slowly approached and sat in front of him a few feet away, giving Ace the cloak. He was naked, he had only just noticed. And he was very cold. He cautiously took the clothes, and had trouble putting the pants on, and then some shoes. He then took the cloak and covered himself in it. His ribs were showing, completely malnourished. It was much more obvious now than in his dragon form.

Iroh offered to help him stand. Ace did so on his own, still trying to distance himself from the stranger, no matter if he'd helped him a lot just now. He extended his hand, and Ace took a good five minutes of deliberating, Iroh waiting patiently and with an understanding look.

Ace took his hand with his black, scaled one. Iroh pulled the hood up, and linked arms with the malnourished seventeen year old, though his demeanor was that of a scared child. He lead Ace out of his cage, with the teen having tears down his cheeks, saying good riddance to his prison. He had trouble walking, and was supported heavily by his rescuer.

They walked through the silent prison, Ace shaking in fear of coming across any humans. He was breathing quickly, and Iroh took his hand of the linked arm, and held them securely, rubbing his hand with his thumb to comfort him. "Zuko has dearly missed you. He will be happy to know you are free."

Ace couldn't speak, and stayed silent. When they made it to the exit with no problem, Ace stepped out into the cold night, shaking. It was dark outside, but not pitch black like the room he was confined in for over two years. Two years of absolute hell. He started to cry louder, but not full blown sobs.

Iroh walked to the edge of the palace, the exit that wasn't heavily guarded because the man had knocked them out. He had a bag there that was holding a shirt and gloves. As well as a mask to cover his mouth and a large container of the cream from before. A map of the Fire Nation and world were there, as well. It had a canteen full of water in it, and a dagger in a sheath. "Be free, Ace. Zuko will find you some day, most likely to apologize. But never come back here. Go far from this place."

Ace didn't wait to leave the human, and changed back, flying away, even if his wings were stiff and in pain. Plus, he'd never flown before. It was rocky, but he was able to fly away, far from his hell.

In the back of his mind, he knew that the firebenders had hunted dragons down, and that Ace was not safe anywhere near firebenders. He flew along the coast of the country, thick tears down his cheeks. He followed the curve of the huge island before he grew hungry. He crash landed, dragged along the ground. He stood on shaking legs, and looked around. He smelled something in the forest, and following inside, trampling plants as he walked. Well, he found a dead deer. It looked fresh.

He ate it without hesitation, eating even the bones, everything. He felt much fuller after that, but spat out some fur before he went back to the cliff. He had to get far, far away. He wondered what Zuko looked like. What any of the people there looked like. He didn't remember the faces of Azula or Ozai. None of the scientists, either. It had been so traumatizing that they were just blank faces now.

Ace got back up and walked on the beach, not flying, giving his weak wings a long break. Following the curves for hours, he got tired, and found a cave to squeeze himself in. He didn't want to be in the confined space! It was scary! But he wanted to not be seen, too. So, he slept in there. The sores on his body were raw again, though the cream had helped.

He fell asleep in fresh air, not confined to the ground anymore. Ace woke up with a start, whimpering when he thought being free was a dream. But when he saw and heard the ocean in front of him, below his cave, he knew he was free. Thanks to one old man's kindness, he was out of there.

Getting down from the cliff, he walked along the beach again, stomach rumbling. He ignored it, continuing his journey. He flew again, his wings well rested, low to the ground so nobody saw him easily. He made it to the tip of the country, able to snatch large fish from the sea and eat those mid flight, and find a source of water, though he didn't need it too much.

When he made it to the tip, he followed a path of smaller islands to the next land, leaving the Fire Nation behind, never going back, no matter what.

-x-

Ace tried to find anywhere to belong. He was lonely, but didn't want to be with humans. Though there were no more dragons in the world. He was completely alone unless he socialized with humans. But they gave him a panic attack anytime he saw them. Even when he tried to be a human once, and managed to get the black to stay away, after stealing Earth Kingdom clothing, walking into a village… it made him have a full blown panic attack where he curled into a ball and started to scream.

He'd managed to get away from the humans trying to help him, and fly far away. Every time he tried to work with humans, it just wasn't happening. He wasn't able to be in the company of anybody at all. So he search for some place to live on his own. He only fit in with himself. He was only okay by himself.

Ace was all alone, and didn't remember anybody from his old life, before he was a dragon. He never tried to. Zuko, he didn't have any clue who that was anymore. Didn't know their relationship or what he looked like. He remembered that he once lived in comfort somewhere, but was then taken and put in that room.

That was when his life's memories started. He settled eventually to make it to the air temples, following the helpful map, but there were people there already. He flew far over the Earth Kingdom and the open ocean. He flew far, far over the ocean, to a more isolated place, and found it after a while of journeying, catching food from the ocean surface, like birds and other easy to catch animals on the surface. They weren't filling, but getting a lot was good.

The weather got colder, but his scales kept him warm. He no longer had the Fire Nation outfit. He knew he wanted nothing to do with them ever again. They were behind his torture, he knew. The princess and Fire Lord were who did it to them. Then he remembered the kind man. He didn't know him. But he couldn't forgive the Fire Nation when their leader was the one to kill Ace and replace him with a scared, shy and damaged person/dragon.

He found glaciers and frozen ocean below. But he kept flying, able to catch seals easily, good sources of food that kept him full for longer. He kept flying until he found the huge glacier, maybe an island. He landed there, and slipped along the ice before he dug his taloned fingers into it.

There was a vast nothing, and it was relaxing. This place was too cold for any firebender to go to. He felt safer, and all alone. Ace went looking for any sort of shelter he could find. He found some caves of ice, and went in there. It wasn't dark at all, not like in the room. He looked down at the sores on his wrists.

They had healed a bit, but the skin/scales were permanently damaged, a lighter color than everything else. Light and raw. He slept peacefully, despite the chill. It didn't affect him too much, just making him chilly, but not painfully or really uncomfortably. He stayed asleep for a long time, feeling safe.

When he woke, he was thirsty, and tried to eat the ice, but it wasn't water it seemed. He wished he could use fire, but he couldn't. He'd not been able to even if he tried. Dragons were supposed to breathe fire, right? But he couldn't do that to protect himself. He left the cave to try and find any water somehow. The ice below him in the cave had not melted despite any body heat.

Maybe his scales were too hard or cold to melt anything. While he was searching, he heard and smelled a person coming towards him at a fast pace. He started running in the opposite direction, not wanting to be involved with any people. He wanted some place he could be completely alone.

Well, he was lonely, but he also desperately wanted to be safe. "Hey, I won't hurt you," the voice said. Soothing and sincere. Ace turned around and saw who it was. Some guy in his late teens or early twenties with blonde hair and a reassuring smile. He had his hands down, and was wearing thick clothes with a furry hood.

It looked nothing like Fire Nation or Earth Kingdom clothing. Looked soft. "Are you hungry? Thirsty?" Ace licked his lips, couldn't help it. "Here," he said, and a clump of water came out of a pack and he waterbended it to Ace. It smelled like water, and he was very thirsty, so he drank it cautiously. "There. See, not so bad. My name is Marco. Are you lost? I've never seen a dragon before, but surely they don't live in such cold places."

Ace didn't know what to do. He couldn't talk this way, but was too weak to survive in the cold as a human. So the dragon just stood there. "Well, if you want, I can make you a shelter. If you want to stay out here and aren't lost," Marco offered.

Ace just watched as he lead Ace to a place on a high cliff of ice. He bended the snow and ice to form a big enclosure that was big enough for him to stay in. He walked inside cautiously, and then jerkily whipped around. "I won't hurt you. Or touch you. Oh, you have so many wounds," the blond said sadly. Ace looked at his wrists, the only place he could see. "You've had a terrible time, haven't you?" he asked in sympathy.

He offered to heal his wounds, and Ace surprisingly let him. As long as it wasn't fire, it was water, he would be okay. He thought, but didn't know why. Marco walked inside and got some ice, turning it into water. Slowly, the human got closer, and put his hands covered in water on Ace's wrists. It took five minutes for the water to act, and the wounds, the sores, to heal until the scales weren't raw.

Ace looked at it in surprise. "See, I won't hurt you," Marco said with a smile, unafraid. He moved to the other wrist, and the same happened. Ace watched closely when he moved to his back legs and tail, before cowering away when Marco tried to get to his neck and snout. Marco just gave him a reassuring smile, and Ace let him heal him.

After an hour, Ace's wounds were gone. He had nothing to remind him of that time anymore but for his memory loss and fear. Deep, deep fear of being captured by humans again. "There. You don't have to see what happened to you," Marco said in satisfaction. Big tears started to go down Ace's cheeks, and the waterbender looked at him in such pity and sympathy.

"I'll come visit you if you want," Marco promised. "I go exploring all the time out here to hunt." Ace nodded, and Marco just sat with him for a long while until it started to get late, and he headed back. He was a nice person. The nicest person Ace remembered ever meeting. He left, and Ace felt sad and even more lonely now.

But for the next two weeks, Marco came to see him every day for long periods. He'd bring him foods to try, and a large blanket for him to lay on. He brought ice to plug the hole of his big igloo at night. He even brought books and would read to Ace. The dragon felt safe to be around a human. He was unafraid of Marco completely.

Ace felt he was a real friend. Ace supposedly had a friend before. He remembered nothing of him other than the fact he never came to see him. Marco came to see him every day, and Ace wasn't even chained up and tortured. Ace could hurt Marco if he wanted, but he trusted him to not do so. Why hadn't his friend done the same? He didn't consider that person from before ever as a "friend". And Azula told him it was partially the "friend's" fault hat he'd been captured at all.

Ace had no idea if that was true, but it could be. So, one day, Ace transformed next to him into his human self. No longer malnourished, and with no sores. It's was as if nobody could tell from his appearance that he'd been through anything traumatizing. Marco was shocked, and gave Ace his coat when Ace started to violently shiver.

"You're a human?" Ace looked ashamed of that fact. He spoke for the first time in years, and said he originally was a human. He wanted nothing to do with them, honestly. But… he was lonely. He was still shivering.

"Did humans hurt you?" Ace nodded. "I'm sorry. What's your name?" The shorter gave his name. "Why don't you come home with me, Ace? I can give you someplace to sleep." Ace shook his head. He didn't want to be around people. "You'll just stay alone forever?" Ace shrugged. "Why don't we start slow? I can bring my brother over. Then you can get used to more people.

"I'm sure you'd be welcomed in the water tribe." Ace shook his head, frantically saying he couldn't handle more than one person. More was too many. "Okay, I understand," Marco said. He hesitantly put his hand on Ace's shivering shoulder. "You'll be safe here, nobody comes out this far but me," he assured him. Ace nodded.

"Did you have a family, Ace? Maybe I could help you reunite," Marco offered kindly. Ace shrugged, and said he didn't know. He didn't remember anything before he was "treated badly". Other than the fact that it was Fire Nation that had done it. Marco's face twisted into a scowl. "Well, you'll never have to go back to them," he said very firmly.

Ace let out a shaky smile. "I'm really sorry it happened to you. Truly. I hope someday you can be around more people. But you don't have to have that day anytime soon, don't worry," Marco assured him. Ace nodded, feeling hope that he had a real friend, who felt for his situation. His old friend had never cared, but Marco did.

Marco left and came back with some warm clothing and bedding. As well as a nice pot to boil water to drink. Ace cried he was so thankful, and allowed Marco to give him a light hug. He was still like a skittish animal, but had developed a trust in his new friend. Ace actually looked forward to the next days.

He visited everyday, bringing Ace things to make his lonely home more comfortable. It was touching and Ace didn't think he could find anyone kinder or more understanding than Marco. And nobody noticed him smuggling things out, as him going hunting out away from the tribe was normal and usual.

Marco was 19, two years older than Ace was. After three weeks of his constant friendship and kindness, Ace spoke about his time in the Fire Nation, and mentioned the name "Zuko"and "Iroh". He knew them sometime in his former life, but despised Zuko. Marco was surprised to hear those names.

"Do you know anything about your life before?" 'Before' was always talking about the time before his torture and what he didn't remember.

"I know I had a friend that abandoned me, and his sister was cruel and tortured me for fun," Ace said. "I've tried to remember before, but I think I'd rather not. I won't ever go back to the Fire Nation. I hate them. Even if I once had a friend, they… abandoned me to be tortured and experimented on."

Marco frowned in sympathy. He seemed to know those names, but said nothing of them. But he did say Ace should not say their names. "Why?"

"They are terrible people. They've hurt a lot of people, and you ever being on friendly terms with them will not really be understood."

Ace looked devastated. "I was friends with people like that?" he asked in shock. Then he looked utterly ashamed. Marco said his previous life didn't matter. He wasn't the person from before. Ace was still upset. Marco put his arm around his shoulders, and said the best thing he could do for himself was to move on.

"Those people betrayed you. Don't try to remember anything painful, or that you simply do not want to remember," Marco said kindly. Ace nodded, but said he would be ashamed to be Fire Nation. They had done horrible things to the world. "Yeah, they have." He helped Ace move on, and went hunting in human form, Marco showing Ace how it's done.

The younger was successfully distracted from his earlier woes or guilt and shame.