One Hundred Days
Rating M (R)
Day 8
By now, she's gotten used to the bruises and the blows and the flames licking at her dark copper skin.
Solitary confinement, on the other hand, was something she feared, something she hated.
She sat, against the iron wall of the cell, dripping in sweat. Her breath was labored, so painful against her chest.
That Zhao sure did his research.
Katara wearily clawed at the skin of her neck, her eyes rolling back as she gasped for air. Her messy ponytail clung to her skin; sweat oozed from her pores.
The air was stifling hot, dry as a desert.
Dehydrating a Waterbender. Surely, surely, Zhao had stooped to a new low. She had heard rumors of criminal Firebenders being locked in an ice chamber, and that was supposed to be torture for them as well.
Katara crawled toward the cell door in a dizzy haze, feeling flushed and semi-conscious. She stretched out her arm, falling to the floor in a near faint, her head facedown.
Two hands gripped the prison bars, two porcelain hands connected to bruised arms that led to a scarred face that stared with two golden eyes a look of horror. Astonishment. They were capable of crimes like this? Torture like this?
They? Wasn't it we?
A noise escaped his mouth, an indescribable cry of anger mixed with pity and a little bit of self-condemnation.
She looked up, her whole body shaking as her graying eyes went in and out of focus. A trail of water crossed her cheek, and Zuko knew it wasn't sweat.
He fell to his knees and reached into the cell. He reached for her hand, so close, so very close to her shaking, dehydrated, dying body.
"Time's up."
He was pulled away harshly; yelling, cursing, and kicking. They commenced in another beating as she half-cried, half-whispered his name.
"Zu…ko…"
He heard her, over the guards' taunts and yells. And he let them beat him, just so that she would be left alone.
No wonder Katara was so obsessed with hope. Hope this, hope that.
Maybe some of her hope radiated to him. Maybe, just maybe, he would be strong for her.
At least until they escaped.
"Time for the pretty girl to meet the Admiral." A guard said as they opened her cell and dragged her out in front of the beaten Zuko.
Or maybe at least until they died. That would be merciful.
Too merciful.