Chapter 7

"Zuko, please don't do this!" Sokka cried, "This is more evil than you were before!"

"Well, excuse me for not wanting to be pulverized by a spirit!" Zuko yelled at him.

"You know Aang was always good! He'd never do anything to you!" Sokka pointed out desperately.

"I can't take that chance, Sokka. If she tells him, I don't know how angry he'll get. I've seen him do some powerful things, and I don't want to be at the bottom end of it! Besides, it's not like I'm going to kill the girl!" he said, "I just need to scare her enough to do what I say." He spoke menacingly and smirked at Kura as he drew closer to her with the swords. "Now, it's your choice, Kura: Would you like me to use these swords?" He sheathed them and drew a small dagger, "Or this one?"

"The dagger!" she choked. Her throat was caught in fear.

"That choice, however, comes with one condition," he said, "That you will do whatever I say from now on. No questions, you just do it. And you tell no one about it, or this. Keep in mind, your decision effects what happens to him." Zuko added, gesturing to Sokka. "The smaller the sword, the lighter the pain."

"Don't listen to him, Kura!" Sokka said angrily, pulling at his ropes, wincing at the pain in his wrists.

"Keep quiet, peasant! And stop struggling, it's pointless." Zuko said, then tuned back to Kura. "So what will it be? This dagger..." he pulled the swords out an inch, "...or these swords?" Kura sighed. She knew it was all just a plan to scare her, but it was working. She really didn't want to risk it with the dual swords, but if she chose the dagger, which looked extremely sharp anyway, meaning it would slip through her skin less painfully, she might be giving up her freedom. Who knew how often Zuko would exercise his power? And how far he'd go? Zuko was glaring at her; she didn't have much more time to think. She saw Sokka still tugging at his ropes. She knew if she chose not to surrender, he would give Sokka some serious injuries. If she did what she said, he would just warn Sokka not to tell. She sighed again, making up her mind.

"I choose the dagger. I'll do what you want. But don't hurt Sokka any more than you hurt me." Kura stated bravely.

"No!" Sokka cried, now thrashing violently to get free, then he suddenly became calm, "Don't give up your freedom for me, Kura! You're the Avatar, your much more important than me! You can't do this! Zuko will torture you forever!"

"Sokka, I won't watch you get hurt while I know that I put you through it. We'll get through this somehow. Just trust me; you said it yourself, I'm the Avatar. I can do this." Kura said, still confident. Sokka was shaking his head despairingly, murmuring "no" over and over.

"She's made up her mind, Sokka...right into my hands." Zuko said, "Besides, she couldn't change her mind now if she wanted to." He walked toward her, dagger held pointed at her chest. Now he was but three inches away. Sokka's "no's" were growing louder. Zuko's expression was not one of evil, but one of tactic. He took the dagger to her head and made a cut across her forehead. Kura winced in pain, but didn't move otherwise. She was afraid to move out of the way of the dagger, for her and Sokka's sake. Zuko now made another cut down her left arm, from her elbow to her wrist, making Kura gasp at the stinging. Even Sokka had grown silent by now. Zuko cut across her right shoulder and a little below her right elbow. Kura squeezed her eyes shut tight to try and numb the hurt. Zuko chuckled at her affliction. Sokka looked at Zuko in confusion of his organization. Zuko knelt down and cut across Kura's right ankle. She drew in a quick breath. Sokka looked at her prophetically. Zuko made one last, very deep, cut, very slowly, from Kura's left knee to her ankle. Kura cried out in pain, and began to quietly sob. Zuko now walked away a few paces to clean his knife, and give Kura a moment.

Sokka finally thought to crawl under the dock, and he got a little over halfway there. Kura crawled painfully to him. The cuts around her body hurt badly, not to mention the deep cut in her left leg. That one was the real killer.

"Are you okay?" Sokka asked quietly. Kura tried to answer, but choked and found her voice had left her completely. "That bad, huh?" Kura nodded, gesturing with her head to her left leg. "I swear, when I get my hands on that dirty little -" Kura kneed his legs, and shook her head. "I won't have the chance, will I?" Kura shook her head again. She cleared her throat and tried to speak. Her voice was rough and quiet, yet still audible.

"I think...right now we'll need to just play along with him." Kura coughed out, then whispered in Sokka's ear, "But I will tell Aang. Maybe not about this, but about what he told me not to. Even if Aang does get super mad, Zuko deserves it." Sokka shook his head with a smile.

"He won't be mad enough, even at Zuko." he said. "But maybe if he knew about this...I don't know. You may not want him to know, even if he's your past life."

"I'll decide later. For now – OW!" she was cut short by a pang in her leg. Sokka scooted over and rubbed her shoulder against hers once or twice. She leaned her head on his shoulder.

"Hey, you two!" Zuko yelled, "Come out of there!" When Sokka came out, Zuko eyed him and said, "It's your turn. Your punishment will not be as severe, though." Zuko walked over to Sokka with the dagger. He held it against his neck and hissed, "I just need to make sure you won't be spoiling my plans." Sokka gulped nervously. Kura hung her head sadly, wishing she'd never gotten him involved. Zuko now stood in front of Sokka, dagger at his side. "Now, let's see..." he said to himself. He made one long cut down his right cheek. The water tribe warrior winced. Kura also winced as another pang in her leg hit her. Zuko made a cut across Sokka left wrist and one more across Sokka's right ankle. Sokka also squeezed his eyes shut as Kura did. Kura noticed Zuko grin and she glared at him. However, that was all Zuko did to him.

"That's it?" Sokka said angrily, "You give her all those cuts and just give me three?"

"I told you that your wouldn't be as bad. She disobeyed me, you haven't done as bad. Like I said, this was really just a warning for you." Zuko replied, putting his dagger away. He untied Sokka and led him over to where Kura was. "Don't move!" he hissed to Sokka as he let go of him to untie Kura. Once his roped were away, he looked at the pair of them. "You two look quite a mess. Look at all that blood!" he said. He was right, actually. The cut on Kura's forehead was bleeding into her eyes, and there was a pool of blood coming from the deep cut on her leg. Sokka's cuts were also beginning to bleed. "Why don't you two wash off!" he said menacingly, and he pushed Kura into the water, waited a few seconds, then pushed Sokka in. Even more surprisingly, he then helped Kura, then Sokka, out of the water onto the dock.

"What was that all about?" Sokka spluttered. Kura was too cold, and her leg was stinging even more now that the salty water had gotten in the cut. She fell to her knees, but told Sokka to let her be.

"You both shall see when we go speak with Katara. And if you don't play along, we'll come back later!" Zuko threatened. Sokka looked to Kura, and she nodded. They'd play along. Kura had a plan. Before Sokka could help her up, Zuko pulled her to her feet and held her close to him in a hug as he began walking away.

"You get your hands off her, Zuko!" Sokka yelled.

"You will not tell me what to do, Sokka!" Zuko yelled back, "And you will be walking on the other side of Kura, with your hand on her shoulders." Sokka sighed and did as he asked. They hobbled slowly away from the docks. When they got to where people were, Zuko began murmuring words of comfort to Kura, and nodded to Sokka to do the same. Zuko said quietly to Kura, "If you aren't doing so already, start crying." This wasn't too difficult. She'd been on the verge of tears the entire time, but she was holding them back, to not get Zuko angry. Now she merely let them flow out. She noticed Zuko's mouth flick to a smile for a moment.