Summary – Sokka just got chipmunkskunked and Katara had a discussion with Azula but she doesn't know it's Azula yet.

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Chapter 12; The worst time of your life

She awoke to a loud crash. She opened her eyes but didn't move. The cell bars that held her only prison companion swung open and she could see the three evil girls standing menacingly watching him.

"Get up!" Her voice was like a knife tearing into the darkness. Katara felt her heart skip a beat. "Get up you filth!" One of the girls, the leader of the girls and the ship Katara guessed, kicked him hard in the gut and grabbed his hair forcing him to rise.

"Brother, this long while that I haven't seen you has only heightened my hatred and shame of having you as my brother. Not only have you succeeded in destroying our family's reputation but you have also succeeded in destroying your own. You had not come willingly from my command and I am sure to make you learn your respect. May I remind you I am a master now. You never have and never will defeat me. So, don't even try. You're going to lose anyway." How could someone have that much hate for their brother? To treat someone that way, to destroy them from the inside and the out was just shameful and just that much more ridiculing.

"Shut up Azula!" Katara's eyes flashed. She knew that voice. How could she not have known? How could he have a sister that cruel? And if she is his sister, she must be Azula, the esteemed prodigy and natural born leader of the fire-nation. Katara's only heard a few rumors and any news of the fire-nation never interested her but she did know who Azula was, and that was not necessarily a good thing.

"Don't talk back to me Zuzu!"

"Don't call me that!" She kicked him in the gut again. Katara flinched.

"Stop it Azula!" Zuko stood up and made a fighting stance.

"Don't even think about it Zuzu. You know that little injection you had? It took away your bending." Azula faced me. "That goes for all of you whelps with bending as well." She shouted into the brig. Katara's mouth widened and Zuko slid to the ground.

"You really think father wanted you back? You're lucky he didn't send someone to kill you earlier. You're going back home, yes, but the reason is far from what you think. You are to be assassinated once you get into the fire nation anyway."

"WHAT?!" Zuko shouted and Katara stood up.

"You're being assassinated for treason as well as Uncle Iroh and if Iroh hadn't escaped us then he'd be in the same fate as you. There are witnesses that say you helped the Avatar and went against the fire nation."

"But that's not fair! I had too! It's for my mission!" Azula smacked him.

"You no longer have a mission." She spat on him.

"You can't do that!" Azula as well as the other two girls whipped around to look at Katara.

"Well, well. Look what we have here Ty Lee, Mae. Trying to help out Zuzu now are we?"

"Yeah, who do you think you are?" The girl in the pink look pretty much out of place in the dark dungeon but glared and tried to make herself look fierce.

"It's just… you can't… it's not that! I'm just saying he wasn't committing treason. I… I saw him. He never did anything!" Katara looked down. She didn't know why she spoke out. She just couldn't see Zuko get hurt. He was always a part of her life. Sure, she didn't like him but she had always thought he'd be there. She didn't want any change in her life. She wanted to go back, not just back to Sokka and Aang. She wanted to go back to when she was a child, no worries in her life. She needed some control over her life and was sick of the fire nation taking everything away from her.

"How dare you speak out against me! You are not in this mess. I'll teach you some respect! Guard!" She called over a guard. "Take her out of my site. Do what you want with her but make sure to bring her back in two hours. Feel free to teach her a lesson. She deserves it." Katara's eyes widened as the guard grabbed both her arms and tried pulling her away.

"You can't do this! Let go of me! I didn't do anything! I… Let! Me! GO!" She struggled to break free of the large grimy guard. Azula walked up to her and grabbed her shirt.

"Let me tell you something. Here, on MY ship, you will do what I say whether you like it or not. You don't have the right to do what you want here. I hold the reigns now. The only thing your worth is keeping my men entertained so I don't have to get more. There's nothing else you can do. There's nowhere else you can go."

"Azula no! You can't do that! She did nothing." Zuko firmly noted.

"Don't interrupt! She would've had this happen eventually anyway. You'll get your punishment as well Zuzu don't you worry." Zuko sat down and Katara was dragged away, struggling all the time.

"Now that little incident is out of the way, maybe we can actually try pursuing our plan to get back Katara and get my revenge." Xayla said nonchalantly while leaning up against the wall of her hideout.

"Nice place you got here!" Aang was walking around her little humble home. "It looks like Jet's tree house!" Xayla's hideout was a small tree house perched high in the branches of the forest. It was made out of wood and had little to no belongings inside. There was a small little box with a latch that held her personal belongings and clothes and a small bag or pouch rather that held her smaller items.

"Thanks. I just scraped it up quickly. I didn't really have time to make it elaborate. I've only been here a week. I'm following Zuko you know."

"You built this in under a week?!" Aang whipped around with that surprised little grin and looked at her with amazement.

"Well, actually I built it the first hour I got here. My mom was a great earth bender but also knew the forest. She taught me how to build all this as well."

"Really? That's so cool!" Aang exclaimed. Sokka's entire face lit up but he quickly regained his untrusting glare.

"I still don't get why you have to follow Zuko. What did he do to you? I know he's a lying disgusting ruthless annoying hot-headed pony-tail freak but still. You seem perfectly capable of handling yourself if you ask me." Xayla raised her eyebrows.

"Well you are! I mean… I was gonna say… oh never mind." Sokka sat down in the corner.

"Actually, he wasn't the one who did me wrong. I just need to use him as ransom. I've been trying to find out a way to get back at the fire nation ever since they took them. I finally found some hope… in him."

"Woah there! Wait a second! Who did they take? Ransom? Why'd they take them? And you found hope in that pathetic mess?" Sokka was getting himself riled up again.

"The fire nation is ruthless okay? I thought of all people you would know that considering they took your mother's life. You don't know how lucky you have-"

"What?! Don't you dare say that ever again you hear me! You have no right to say that! I know how they can be! Don't you say that I have it lucky!" He stood up and was yelling in her face. Out of character and out of mind, he towered over the glaring nonchalant teenager and Aang watched in the corner attentively. "My mom died when I was eight! I watched her burst into flames! Don't you tell me I don't know! I watched as my mom died from the outside in and my seven year old little sister watched as she died from the inside out! If anyone you don't understand! Don't tell me th-"

"Both my parents and my little brother were sentenced to death by the fire lord himself when I was five!" Xayla stood up and faced Sokka, eyes bloodshot and filled to the brim with tears. Sokka stopped talking and stood still. "My father was a fire bender and the admiral. My mother was an earth bender, a lowlife peasant. My father was sent to kill an entire village but couldn't kill her. He stashed her away and fell in love with her. She got pregnant and had me. I remember spending my entire five years of existence hiding… never being able to see the light. My father had his own ship and a small secret area in his cabin where my family stayed. He tried so hard. My brother came a month after I turned five. He was so handsome. Then, someone found us. We were sent to death for treason and because I was both a fire and an earth bender. On the summer solstice we were sent to death. I was kept in a separate cell. I broke out by bending the earth in the metal. I went to break out my parents and my brother but they were already taken into the burn room. I got to the door and just as I looked in, fire exploded and I watched my mother, my father, and my little baby brother burn to death, screaming for the gods to save them. I set out there that I would get my revenge on the fire lord. I set out to find Zuko and use him as leverage to knock the fire lord and the fire nation down. So I've been following you and Aang and Katara and Zuko to find hope… any hope. I need hope. It's all I have left." She broke down. She fell into Sokka's arms and sobbed quietly. Sokka put his arms around her and they sat down while holding each other. Aang still watched from the corner, eyes in tears of sympathy.

"Don't! Stop! PLEASE! GET OFF OF ME!" The guard tied Katara's hands to the bed post. She struggled and screamed and begged for him to leave her alone. He took off his helmet. He had a scraggly beard and the expression of an eighty year old man. He took off his armor and was left with his pants. His chest was hairy and he had a noticeable scar on his ribs. He had a potbelly and it jiggled as he made his way to the bed. He grabbed a grimy piece of cloth and tied it tight over her eyes.

"Brace yourself peasant. This is going to hurt." He jumped onto the bed and gave her the worst time of her life…twice.

SO sorry for the wait! I had major writer's block and didn't know what to follow up on. I didn't want to make it so graphic so I took the… er… raping graphic stuff out for the younger viewers. Review please!!!