I don't claim to own any aspect of Avatar: The Last Airbender. This work has been written without permission and isn't intended for any profit.

I was watching "The Puppetmaster" the other day, and this just sort of popped into my head. Funny how that happens, huh? Anyway, I liked the idea, so I ran with it. Yes, I realize the title is the same as that Coheed and Cambria song off of Rock Band. No, it was not intentional. Don't try to hide it…I know you were thinking that!

Oh yeah, and I'd just like to note that Zuko's prologue was used purely as an introduction. I was not trying to imply that this collection would only cover people that he'd met. Thought I'd clear that up.

Welcome Home

"What is your name?"

The girl looked up at her adversary, met his stare straight-on, yet said nothing. Her sapphire-blue eyes burned into his crimson gaze, threatening to bore a hole through the back of his skull if he did not look away.

She was no older than sixteen and she was lovely; her dark hair cascaded gracefully around her small, round face and down her back, stopping just a little past her shoulders. She was dressed simply in a dirty brown tunic that still somehow managed to accent her slim figure despite its shabbiness. The girl knelt before the guard, held down by two other guards behind her.

The guard who had first spoken viciously backhanded the girl, incensed by her defiant silence. "I said, what is your name, filth? You will speak when spoken to!" There was only one way to deal with these Water Tribe vermin. The hard way.

If the prisoner was shaken by this assault, she didn't show it. Her icy gaze returned to the guard's face. "Kill me and save yourself the trouble."

He'd been expecting this. A great many of the Water Tribe people brought here had said the exact same thing…and more than often he was perfectly happy to grant their wish on the spot. But this girl…

He smiled wickedly. "You're a pretty girl." He turned and circled the prisoner, walking behind her back where she could not turn to see him, as she was still held down on her knees by the other two guards. "So pretty, in fact, that killing you would just be wasteful." He completed his circle, stopping once again in front of the girl and fixing her with his cold stare. "Now, if you don't cooperate, then believe me, there are worse things in store for you than death. A beautiful girl such as you has a lot of potential." He knelt in front of her and cupped her chin in his left hand. "So tell me," he snarled. "What is your name?"

The girl stared for a second longer, and finally her features softened. Her gaze dropped to the ground, and the metal walkway on which they stood pinged softly as her tears fell. "My name," she choked, a trace of defiance still present in her breaking voice, "is Hama."

The guard smiled and stood back up. "It's very nice to meet you Hama… You see, that wasn't so hard, was it? I can be personable when others do the same." To Hama's surprise, he actually cracked a small smile. "My name is Ken-Xing; I run this prison. You'll be seeing a lot of me, so I hope we can at least be pleasant.

"You'll quickly learn here that waterbending is strictly forbidden. In your cell you will be kept away from any water at all times except for when we allow you near it. On the off-chance that the thought even passes through your head and you attempt to waterbend, you will be severely punished." He motioned to the other guards. "Now…" he paused, considering the situation. The girl had defied him…her will could be dangerous if not addressed immediately. She would need to be broken. Swiftly.

"Take her to my quarters." The words descended through the air like a falling guillotine.

Hama's head snapped up and she gazed back into Ken-Xing's eyes. The tears ran freely now, her eyes hauntingly devoid of any life, of any hope. She said nothing, did not struggle as the guards carried her off, but continued to stare at him.

He laughed a cold, high, mirthless laugh. "Welcome home, Hama. Welcome home!"

Ken-Xing would make sure his guest was comfortable.

The steel was cold. That was the first thing Hama noticed as her sore, battered body hit the cell floor. However cold her metal cage was, though, it could do nothing to match the chill that had enveloped her heart. She felt so torn, so ravaged, that for that moment she wished for nothing more than to curl up in a corner and die. Maybe I can reach inside myself, she thought bitterly. I'll bend all the water out of my body until I wither away into nothing.

"Hama? They got you too?"

Hama looked up toward the voice she had just heard. After all she had just endured, the gentle timbre made it sound like a choir of angels, if not only for its familiarity. "Nomi?" she said in disbelief.

The cells were built in a peculiar fashion, they were suspended from the ceilings by chains, all spaced roughly a meter apart. The sides were nothing more than metal bars, however, so Hama could see her companion as she pressed herself eagerly against the side.

The other girl was slightly shorter than Hama. Her hair was just as dark, but cut short, barely reaching her shoulders. Her eyes were unusually light for one of the Water Tribe.

The girl called Nomi approached her cell's walls as well. "Yes, it's me," she said gently.

Hama almost broke into tears right then and there. "You don't know how good it is to see you…"

Nomi was younger than Hama by about a year. The two had grown up together in the Southern Water Tribe, until that fateful day when the first raids had begun. Nomi had been one of the first ones captured. Hama had long since given her up for dead. To see her again now was a blessing from the moon spirit itself.

Nomi smiled, and her eyes seemed to light up the room. "It's great to see you too."

For a moment, all the pain and indignity of Hama's experience at the hands of Ken-Xing was forgotten as she conversed with her long-lost friend. The room itself seemed to warm as they shared stories of their experiences apart from each other, and for the first time in what seemed like an eternity, Hama smiled.

"You must have given them some fight," Nomi was saying. "I wish I could have seen it…the other waterbenders back home will be talking about it for years, I bet!"

Hama found she had nothing to say after this remark. She wanted to tell Nomi…wished she could tell her the truth…but something inside stopped her. She looked into Nomi's bright eyes and saw something there—there was a fire that she thought would have flickered out long ago in a place like this. Nomi still had hope. She still had dreams and ambition. Hama couldn't bring herself to crush that. Not now. Nomi could never know that Hama was the last one…

Instead she changed the subject. "Where are the others?" she inquired.

Nomi shook her head. "We're the only ones in this block. She gestured to the side, indicating the other cells grouped with them. Hama gazed around and saw that the cells were arranged in groups of six, each block separated by a catwalk. "If we try to talk to anyone outside our block, the guards will hear us," Nomi went on. "So it's just you and me. There used to be more, but…" her voice trailed off and she looked away.

"Water break! You two, get away from your cell walls." Hama's head snapped around to see Ken-Xing at the far end of the room, flanked by four guards. She winked at Nomi and quickly did as she was asked.

Ken-Xing approached Hama's cell first. "Well my dear…I do hope you're comfortable."

Hama stared back and stoically kept silent.

Her lack of rebuttal seemed to amuse Ken-Xing further. "I'm sure you'll get used to it. In the meantime…" He motioned to two of the guards beside him.

Before Hama really knew what was happening, the guards had climbed inside her cell and grabbed her arms. Swiftly they chained her arms between the opposite walls of her cell and held her shoulders firmly, forcing her to kneel with her arms suspended in the air. Another guard extended a small tin cup towards her on a long metal pole. The fourth stood by at the ready, small flames dancing in his open palms.

Hama saw that the little cup was filled with water. Only then did it occur to her how thirsty she actually was. As soon as the cup reached her lips she bent her head down, drinking greedily from the little vessel. The water was dirty; she could taste the minerals in it and could feel minute grains of sand sifting through her mouth, sliding under her tongue and lodging themselves between her teeth. She didn't care.

When the ritual was finished the two guards surrounding her undid her shackles and climbed out of her cell. Ken-Xing gave a dismissive flick of his wrist and they unceremoniously slammed the cell door shut. Hama could hear the lock click ominously.

Ken-Xing and his guards moved on, and Hama watched them perform the same procedure on Nomi. Afterward they moved on further down the catwalk, giving tiny drinks to others who were too far away to see, too far away to even think about trying to talk to.

Hama slumped back into a corner of her cell. Was this all she had to look forward to? Was she condemned to spend the rest of her life in this iron hell? Even Nomi couldn't cheer her up. Not now. With bitter tears welling in her eyes, Hama laid her head down on her arms as comfortably as she could and faded into a restless sleep.

Three weeks came and went, though to Hama it seemed like three decades. There were no windows in this prison room, only thick metal walls. There was a barred grate in the ceiling above that was covered during rainfall, but it was too far up to notice or care about. No sunshine or clouds to cheer her. No sunset to lull her off to sleep. To make matters worse, Hama was sick. She had recently come down with a strange cough, and now she could hardly breathe. It felt as though someone had put a pillow on her face and was firmly pressing down. But deep down, for some sick reason, she was almost glad. Maybe her time here was almost at an end.

"Hama? Are you okay?" That was Nomi. Hama was too weak to pick her head up and look at her, but she knew. Nomi's gentle voice would never fail to warm her heart. She was probably the one thing that had kept Hama sane throughout her ordeal thus far. She had no idea what she'd do without her.

"It's not that bad," Hama rasped. "Besides…maybe it's a blessing in disguise."

"Don't say that," Nomi scolded, her voice uncharacteristically hard. "Don't even think about that. What would I do without you? You're all I have now. Don't you think about leaving me alone."

Hama smiled at her friend's rebuke. "Of course…what was I thinking? I'm sorry, Nomi. I just feel…so tired now. That's all." Her voice was now nothing more than a whisper.

She could practically feel Nomi's smile. "I have something for you, Hama. It may help."

Hama opened her mouth to ask exactly what it was, but at that moment, a cool rush flooded her senses, and the pain in the back of her throat lessened. She realized that she had just swallowed a mouthful of water. Cool, clean water.

She sat up slowly, feeling a little better already. "Where—where did you get that?"

If at all possible, Nomi smiled even wider. "The roof leaks above my cell. Water sometimes runs down the chains from the ceiling, and if I'm lucky I can catch it. The guards don't know about it…otherwise I'd have been moved by now."

Or you'd be dead, Hama mused darkly.

"Here," Nomi went on. "It's the last of what I've saved from the last rainfall. You need it more than I do."

Hama gratefully accepted the second mouthful of water, feeling more rejuvenated by the minute. "Thank you so much Nomi…you don't know how much this means to me. You need to be careful though…you can't be caught doing that."

Nomi's smile never faltered for a second. "Don't worry about that. You're my friend Hama…it's the least I could do." She lay down on her cell floor and motioned for Hama to do the same. "You need rest. I'll talk to you in a few hours."

Hama nodded and lay down as well. Nomi was right, of course. She quickly drifted off to sleep, dreaming of the South Pole and penguin-sledding and her mother's embrace.

Not even an hour after Hama had drifted off she was awoken again by a commotion outside her cell. She yawned. It seemed like only minutes. In her groggy state she could only make out loud, masculine voices. She wondered what Ken-Xing was raging about now.

"You used waterbending when you knew it was forbidden!" the prison master roared.

That woke Hama fully, and she tilted her head to see Nomi in the grasp of two prison guards on the catwalk right outside her cell. She stared in horror as Ken-Xing continued to berate her. "You little Water Tribe filth…you thought you could get away with this, didn't you?"

"No," Nomi protested, her voice cracking. "I didn't mean that at all—"

"Silence! You broke the rules. You will pay the price. Guards! Take her for a walk down the hallway."

Hama watched as Nomi was led away with Ken-Xing in tow. She wanted to cry. She wanted to die. She'd have given anything to switch places with Nomi right now. "Don't you think about leaving me alone," she whispered desperately, remembering Nomi's words to her earlier.

Miraculously, as if she had heard her, Nomi turned around to glance at Hama. She was scared, Hama could tell, but she found the will to wink and give a small smile. Behind her back, she flashed a thumbs-up. She and Ken-Xing disappeared down the catwalk, obscured by the darkness.

Hama lay down against the cold steel of her cell and wept miserably. Nomi…she had meant the world to her. She was all she had in this dark, horrific cage. She wanted to think she'd pull through. Nomi had always had hope. Even when she had nothing else at all, she had hope. She can't leave me…

Hama tried to sleep. She closed her eyes, tried to block everything else out and sleep. She'd see her friend in the morning, she was sure of it. She'd be sitting in the cell beside her, laughing in high spirits. But she couldn't sleep. Not this time.

Nomi's terrible screams made sure of that.

The next day, Hama was silent. She didn't stir, she didn't even bother to get up when Ken-Xing came around with water. She refused to drink. Ken-Xing got angry and took her to his quarters again, which she endured with a haunting silence. She wanted to pretend she was dead. She wanted nothing more than to join her friend and be rid of this place forever. She still half-expected Nomi to come walking back down the catwalk. She'd climb back into her cell and the two would share stories and keep each other's spirits up, just like they used to.

Hama began to weep. Her tears flowed down her petite face, and for the first time since she had arrived, she felt cold. So unbearably cold. She gazed upward out through the grate in the ceiling and saw the full moon staring back down at her, almost defying her to do something. She felt oddly refreshed by it, and a small flicker of hope danced in her chest.

She would do something. She would escape. And she'd make them all pay. All of them. The guards, Ken-Xing…the entire Fire Nation. They would all pay dearly.

As thoughts of revenge filled Hama's mind, her features actually bent into a smile for the first time in an eternity. It wasn't her usual smile though. She laughed as well, quietly at first, but then louder as she went on. It wasn't her usual laugh either. Her smile used to be beautiful and full; now it was slightly crooked. Her laugh had been melodious and light; now it almost sounded like a high cackle.

Oh, she would make them pay.

Welcome home, indeed. It never felt so good to be alive.

I had debated with myself at first over just how far I should take the opening scene. I think I found a nice balance, but hey, feel free to yell at me otherwise.

Trust me, there will be more. And I promise they won't all be as dark as this one. Deal?