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13. Shang
He lingered in the shadows as Long Feng took care of Windu. The Water Tribe warrior was starting to break though the hypnosis the Dai Li agents had performed on him.
"Let me outta here!" he shouted angrily, throwing his weight uselessly against the shackles that kept him chained to the wall, yet another prisoner to add to the collection of the two evil men he'd helped against his will. "Let me go!"
Long Feng was smirking, relishing in the fury and panic and fear in the young man's voice. It was like a sweet, sick lullaby to him.
"I don't think you should be counting on anyone meeting your request, Windu," he said coolly. Admiral Shang couldn't help but give a small shudder when he felt that chill that came so automatically race up his spine.
A Dai Li agent appeared in the middle of the room, between where Shang and Long Feng stood. He faced his master and dropped to his knees, bowing. "Sir, you summoned an assistant?"
"Yes." The evil man spoke silkily. "It appears that my servant here, Windu, has outgrown his hypnosis treatment. I require someone to repeat the process and hope that it works permanently this time." He turned to the Dai Li agent with a cruel smirk. "I do not want him to overcome his hypnosis again. Am I understood? Whoever conducts the process on him this time is to get it right, or else, they will end up much like those who get in my way on purpose and their body will be turned to mince by an ... accidental rockslide."
Shang watched with a smirk on his lips. There it was – that slow, hard swallow of fear that everyone couldn't help but fall victim to whenever Long Feng spoke to them. That slow bobbing of the man's Adam's apple was the perfect giveaway that he was afraid.
No, that's incorrect. The man was not afraid – he was completely and utterly, hands-down, without doubt or question, terrified.
The Dai Li agent nodded stiffly, "Yes, Sir." He dared not show any other sign of his fear – he was trained not to do so. He kept his face perfectly composed as he bowed once more to his master. "I will go and get some more agents to assist in escorting the prisoner to the Hypnosis Chamber."
"Very good," Long Feng smirked. Then his agent disappeared, letting himself be sucked up by the earth beneath him.
For the few minutes that followed, the only noise came from Windu as he continued to shout at the two men before him – mainly Long Feng, as he was the one right in front of him while Shang remained in the background – and throwing himself against the chains that held him back. Admiral Shang couldn't help but smirk to himself. Windu was an idiot. He should know better than to be wasting his energy trying to shout and intimidate them into letting him go, or throwing himself against the chains. All he was doing was weakening himself. He was just making the game all that much easier for him and Long Feng and the agents who were going to hypnotize him again.
There were four Dai Li agents that appeared to take Windu away. Once the man was gone, Long Feng turned his piercing emerald eyes to the Admiral.
"I am pleased with our success," he said, his face vacant of any and all expressions, chilling Shang's blood and making it impossible to be able to predict him in any way whatsoever. But Admiral Shang was not about to let himself show his fear. The only thing that could have possibly given him away was that slow bob of his Adam's apple as he gave into that hard swallow that nobody could resist when around Long Feng. Whether or not the said evil master mind had noticed the action was something Shang would never know, but he just hoped that it wasn't going to turn out to be a bad thing if he had noticed.
Long Feng said no more and opened the stone wall behind Shang so that both men may exit. They parted ways and Shang went to his quarters.
As night fell, Zuko retired to his room where he lay on his bed, sticking to one side – a habit he'd gotten into since he and Katara had started sharing. And he refused to let that habit go when she wasn't there. As he lay on his bed, he stared up at the ceiling and sighed.
Shang had her. It felt like the end of the world for Zuko. His Katara – his beloved – in the hands of that sick, twisted, evil monster who was capable of Gods knew what!
Zuko shook his head – he knew exactly what Shang was capable of. After finding out what he had done to his own little sister, Zuko knew that the man did not know of limits. He did not have limits.
Zuko bit his lip and a tear ran absently down his unscarred cheek. He'd known that Shang was bad news since the day he'd met him...
"And might I introduce you to my lovely wife, Ursa," Ozai smirked as he took the woman's hand into his own and held it out for the young Admiral to take. Zuko watched as his mother forced a smile to her lips at the pleasure of meeting yet another one of her husband's friends from the army.
"A pleasure to be meeting you, Admiral," she said pleasantly as he took her hand. Zuko watched him, a frown on his brow.
Shang kissed his mother's hand, "The pleasure is all mine," he bowed slightly. Zuko scowled.
Ursa had always forced herself to smile whenever Ozai had introduced her to his 'friends'. The noble woman did not much fancy these men of violence and war. Of course, the men that her brother-in-law spoke of seemed like decent enough men, so she didn't have to pretend when Iroh was introducing someone to her. But all the men that Ozai spoke highly of in the army sounded so cruel and sadistic and vile and bloodthirsty. Zuko, being his mother's son, went by whatever her opinions were. If she didn't like someone, then he didn't either. Zuko always trusted his mother's judgement and although she was not a judgemental person, she did know the difference between a decent man and one who was not so decent.
"And might I chance a guess at who this strapping young man might be?" Shang asked, looking past Ursa, right into Zuko's eyes. Zuko's eyes went dark as they met his, and he had to resist the urge to hunch his shoulders and stalk away.
"This is our son, Zuko," Ozai said in a bored drawl. "Zuko, where is your sister?"
Zuko did not break his eye-contact with Admiral Shang when he answered his father.
"She's out in the gardens with Mai and Ty Lee," he answered, a little coldly.
"Right this way, Admiral. I'd very much like you to meet my daughter." Ozai led the man away, towards the gardens.
Zuko edged a little closer to his mother, "Mum, I really don't like him..."
"I don't either, darling." She placed a hand on his shoulder. "But he is one of your father's friends, so we must respect him."
Zuko shrugged her hand off his shoulder and ran after the two men. He took a shortcut out to the garden and arrived there just ahead of them and crouched behind a bush as he watched his father present Azula to Admiral Shang.
"Azula," Ozai called over to his daughter. She and her two friends looked over to him and Azula left them to stand before her father and his friend.
"Yes, Father," she smiled sweetly up at him.
"Admiral Shang, I'd like to introduce you to my daughter, Azula," Ozai gestured. The little girl looked up at the strange man and curtsied for him. The Admiral smiled approvingly. "She is a firebending prodigy," Ozai smirked proudly. "And she is learning and developing her skills very quickly. Her brother is... rather pathetic against her."
Azula, nearing the age of six, tilted her chin up arrogantly and smirked, straightening her back and holding her hands together behind it, legs parted to keep balance.
"And a fine young lady she is!" the Admiral said.
"Thank you," Azula smiled, looking up at the man.
Zuko cringed at the look he gave her – it was as if she was something to eat.
"Quite the perfect little princess too."
"Unfortunately, it is her cousin that is next in line for the throne, after my brother, Iroh, dies. And even he won't rain until our father dies," Ozai sighed.
"Really. Such a pity."
Zuko looked back to Azula's face. It had changed since he'd looked away. There was a very faint crease in her brow that the two men before her were most likely overlooking, but it was not something that could go past Zuko undetected. He bit his lip and scowled harder at the strange man.
Ozai led Shang away and Azula stared after him, that strange look on her face that gave away the fact that she was uncomfortable.
That look was something that she would soon learn to cover up before anyone, even Zuko, could notice she was uncomfortable.
"Azula, come on!" Ty Lee shouted over to her. Zuko's little sister placed that smirk back on her face and skipped back over to her friends. Zuko let himself step out from behind the bush and glared after the Admiral's retreating back. When he looked back at Azula, she was looking after the two men as well. Then she looked to him, smiled again, and went on after Mai and Ty Lee as they explored the garden.
Azula remained innocent then. It wasn't until she was about to die that he had discovered what Admiral Shang had ended up doing to her after he had left. Zuko knew it was not his fault that such terrible things had happened to his dear little sister, but a part of him still took the blame upon himself.
A tear trickled down the side of his face. Shang had beaten and raped his little sister, Zuko didn't know on how many occasions. What was he doing to Katara?
"Shang," he whispered up to his ceiling. "I will find you. And if you have lain one finger on Katara, if you have touched a hair on her head, if you have caused her so much as a scratch, your death will be more painful than I was already planning because of what you did to Azula."
Azula stared darkly into the well as she watched Shang. If there was one person who competed with her father when it came to who she hated most, it was Shang. Everything he'd done to her... everything he'd taken... everything he'd tried to do... everything she had to give him.
The spirit woman cringed in disgust at the thought of him.
The young girl ran to her father at his call and smiled up at him, "Yes, Father."
"Admiral Shang, I'd like to introduce you to my daughter, Azula," Ozai gestured. The little girl looked up at the strange man and curtsied for him. The Admiral smiled approvingly. "She is a firebending prodigy," Ozai smirked proudly. "And she is learning and developing her skills very quickly. Her brother is... rather pathetic against her."
The compliment, though an insult to her big brother, made Azula's heart miss a beat and a cruel smile tugged her lips upwards. She stood proudly and looked up at the Admiral her father had just introduced her to.
"And a fine young lady she is!" the Admiral said.
"Thank you," Azula smiled, looking up at the man.
Looking at the man as he eyed her, Azula had to resist the urge to shift her feet uncomfortably. She felt a small crease appear on her forehead as she tried to remain as composed as possible. But that look he was giving her, that look of hunger and longing, unnerved her.
"Quite the perfect little princess too."
"Unfortunately, it is her cousin that is next in line for the throne, after my brother, Iroh, dies. And even he won't rain until our father dies," Ozai sighed.
"Really. Such a pity."
She swallowed lightly on the lump in her throat and did her best to smile. When her father led them man away, she stood and stared them off. When Ty Lee called, she shook the horrible feeling of danger from her little head and skipped off. But when she reached them and Ty Lee picked up with what she'd been saying before Azula had left, she looked over to where to two men were disappearing to again, that sense of foreboding crept into her stomach and a small, involuntary shiver ran up her spine.
As she was about to look away, she noticed her brother. They looked at each other for a moment, and she knew that he didn't like the man who was walking with their father either. She tried to flash him a smile before she rejoined the conversation with Mai and Ty Lee properly.
That had only been the first time Azula had met Shang. That sense of foreboding never left her. It returned every time she saw him, every time she caught him looking at her, every time she thought of him. And as she grew older and became more developed, the sense of foreboding grew. And as she learned more about the world around her, sick, frightening thoughts ran through her head as she tried to think of what might be going through his head every time he looked at her like that – as if she was something to eat.
She was right not to have dismissed the foreboding...
She cracked at her father after a while. For so many years, she'd hidden away her feelings – her true self. She'd gone along with whatever pleased her father; even the parts that made her betray Zuko. And finally she cracked and voiced to her father her disagreement.
And when her father locked her up in her room, after striking her repeatedly, that sense of foreboding reached its peak.
Shang was the next person to pass through her bedroom door before her innocence was stolen from her, forced from between her legs by the paedophile she had seen and feared for nearly seven years. And with his rape came his beatings whenever she chose to struggle. And with his beatings came his pleasure. And with his pleasure came his satisfaction. And with his satisfaction, he left and she could do nothing more than curl up in a ball and cry, wondering why such horrible things were happening to her, wishing for it all to just end, to all be over, to just die.
And with all the pain, she was broken. She feared. Feared her father and the man that so constantly stood by his side. The man who over and over was the one to deliver her punishment whenever she displeased the Fire Lord until she escaped him at last, the day she revealed the truth to her brother and then died in his arms...
Azula swiped the surface of the water in the well, distorting the image of Shang in his chambers, smirking happily to himself.
"One day, you will get what you deserve," she vowed quietly. "One day, everything you've done will catch up to you."
Ursa approached her daughter and placed a hand calmly on the girl's shoulder.
"My love, come away, have a break. The dwellers of the world below us that we are watching rest now. It's a waste of time to continue watching them until their morning comes," she said soothingly.
Azula let her mother lead her away from the well. And for the first time since Azula had arrived in the Spirit realm, she left the secluded area she had found herself in originally with the well, her mother and Yue.
Shang lay on his bed, looking up at the ceiling, feeling a creeping emptiness welling up inside of him. He'd started feeling that emptiness when he'd lost Azula. And every day since he'd learnt of her death, the feeling had grown a little more each time he'd had a spare moment and his mind had turned to her.
He sighed. He missed the days he could call her his own. She belonged to him. Her father had no problem with it. Really, it was a shame that he was her punishment. He didn't hate the girl – he was quite fond of her.
Azula had been a very pretty girl. Truly beautiful, much like her mother. But not quite the same. Ursa's face had been very angelic and round. Her features had been quite soft and round. Azula had much sharper features, even as a small child, as she was when he'd first seen her. But she was so beautiful.
At first he had been quite confused of his feelings for the girl. She was so young. And she was royalty. What could possibly drive her to want a mere Admiral?
"Absolutely nothing..." he murmured tiredly to himself.
Nothing could have made Azula want him. He was far too old for her in any case. The only reason she'd go to him would be if she was put in an arranged marriage with him... which is exactly what ended up happening. The sad thing was, he knew that she wouldn't be happy as instantaneously as he was. He'd have to show her how much she really meant to him. He'd have to show her he could make her happy. He loved her – he'd have to prove that to her too.
He knew what he felt was not acceptable. So he only ever permitted himself to look at her, and occasionally speak to her. But never alone. And never touch. If he did something wrong and she told someone, he could have been killed on the spot.
It wasn't until after her brother had been banished that he discovered that Ozai had read him like a book. He knew exactly what went through the Admiral's head every time he saw his daughter. And much to Shang's surprise, Ozai didn't mind one bit.
Ozai was not the man Shang had expected him to be. He was not loving towards his children or caring towards his life. Or at least not after she left. He became quite cold after he became Fire Lord. It was something that Shang really hated. But he gave him his daughter. So he didn't mind so much.
"What do you want from me?" she whispered to him, trying to make herself look as strong as she could. It didn't work in the slightest. Her face was bruised and tears were forcing themselves down her cheeks from whatever pain she was in. It saddened him, somewhat, and he felt the urge to comfort her.
But that was not what the Fire Lord wanted. If he was going to please the Fire Lord and be allowed to continue to see his daughter like this, he'd have to please him properly.
"I just want you," he said, smirking. He wouldn't let her know what he really felt. It just wasn't safe.
He taught himself to keep a smirk on his face whenever he hurt her, so that she would never know what he felt for her deep down. And he took her whenever the Fire Lord claimed she needed punishing.
Shang did not expect to have to honour of marrying Azula at any point. As far as he was aware, he was merely a way of punishing the Princess whenever Ozai felt she needed it. The day Ozai came to him to ask if he'd be interested in marrying the girl, Shang had to keep a very straight face so as not to betray his joy.
"Of course, My Lord," he said, bowing down to his 'friend'.
"You understand as well as I do the risks taken in her punishment, yes?"
"Of course, My Lord," he said again.
"If my daughter were to fall pregnant, unmarried, the people would not think lightly of it."
"I understand, My Lord."
Ozai's cruel, cold eyes scanned him, "Good."
When he'd been engaged to the Fire Princess, he was on top of the world. Things were starting to look up. Soon, he'd be able to show her that he really did care. And she would learn his true feelings for her.
That night they were to dine together, he thought she looked absolutely splendid in that sweet red dress. Her raven hair cascaded down her back and over her shoulders like an ink black river, with the moonlight shining off it. Her eyes were so empty though. She didn't want to be there. It saddened him.
And then that boy had walked past while she was standing on the balcony. The way she looked at him... tore Shang's heart out. He didn't even know who the other boy was, only that he saw him again during the final battle before Ozai fell.
But jealousy truly did drive Shang mad.
He'd almost taken her again, completely on his own free will. The only reason he'd failed was because she, for once, had overcome him and knocked him out. Otherwise, he would have taken her as he usually did.
Of course he'd regretted it the next day. So he said nothing to Ozai and apologized to the princess when her father was not listening.
"…was just telling me of what a lovely evening he had with you last night," the Fire Lord said with a fake smile. "I'm so glad that you are finally getting along nicely with him."
At this point, the Admiral gave her a smile; she returned it nervously, but did not show her doubt.
"Anyway, you are getting married tomorrow! Isn't that grand?! You must go and make those last minute preparations, and I also must be going and attending to my own business." With that, Ozai stood and left the room. Just before he exited, he shot his daughter a look that said you're lucky that you didn't screw up on that one.
She and Shang rose at the same time and headed for the opposite door to go and make last minute wedding preparations, but she rounded on him before they could leave the room.
"Why didn't you tell him what really happened?" Azula asked shortly.
"Because –" He pulled her engagement necklace out of his pocket. "– I know that what I was doing was wrong. I jumped to conclusions and it made me do something stupid." He placed the necklace around her neck. "And I'm sorry. I didn't say anything because I didn't want to get you in to trouble for something that was my fault."
Azula stayed stock still for a moment in confusion. "Well… that was very…very kind of you, Shang," she smiled.
Shang smirked quietly to himself.
But the good things never last.
The wedding ceremony wasn't even completed. The Avatar attacked the city and everything, all the plans, all of the fantasies which were about to become realities, fell apart. He had to help Ozai defeat the enemies. But the attack cost Azula her life at the hands of her own father. And once Shang realized that her brother knew what had happened between them, he knew he couldn't stay – the boy surely would have killed him. He had always seemed quite protective of his little sister, even if they weren't particularly close when Shang saw them.
And there Shang was right in that moment, lying on his bed in the undergrounds of Old Ba Sing Se, looking up at the cold earthen ceiling, thinking, remembering...
Yep, Shang's a pedo. Big time. There is definitely something wrong with that guys head...Well, now you know a bit about Shang's background. Tell me what you thought. Remember, five (5) reviews, or no update, so please get those reviews to me peeps ^_^ Love ya's :)
Guys, seriously, can you go and check out "The Necklace" by She-Poe? It's a really good story but so far I'm the only reviewer. Give the girl a fair chance!
Oh and btw, JOIN TEAM ZUTARA!!! XD