Guess what guys? The games begin! Yeah, hope you guys like it! Please review! Tell me how day 1 went. *Smiley face* I know this is kind of quick, but oh well.
Disclaimer: If I did, I wouldn't be writing this, now would I?
~*The Games Begin*~
Test 1: The candle.
"Let's go, get up!" A voice shouted at Zuko.
Stirring in his sleep, Zuko slowly opened his eyes to an empty prison cell. For a moment he forgot where he was, but then all the memories flooded through his head all at once.
"Where's Katara?" Zuko asked when he sat up. Katara was no where in sight.
"You'll see her soon enough, now let's go!" The Dai Lee barked again.
"Where. Is. Katara." Zuko gritted through his teeth.
The Dai Lee agent was about to beat him senseless, when another agent burst through the door.
"She wants him to wear this." He threw a bundle of clothing at Zuko, who barely had enough time to catch it, but he did.
"Hurry up," The first agent ordered, walking out and closing the door.
The bundle of clothes were his old Agni Kai uniforms. How did that woman get a hold of these? Why did she want him to where his old training clothes anyway?
Ignoring his confusion, he quickly changed into the uniform and brushed the hair from his eyes. Determination plastered across his face as he banged on the door. A Dai Lee agent opened the door and raised his eyebrow before frowning and grabbing Zuko's shoulder.
Baggy pants and no shirt. Yeah, because that's what you wear when you're 100 feet underneath the ground.
Walking down hallways after hallway, Zuko wondered if these agents knew where they were going. He was about to interject, when they reached a door and shoved it open.
Being shoved inside, Zuko quickly looked around and took in the view. They entered a large cave, similar to the crystal catacombs underneath Ba Sing Se. One one side, was a large cage that was placed on the ground, a stone table was inside it. On the other side, two tables stood about 20 feet apart, separated by a pit full of spikes. They reminded Zuko of the time him and Aang traveled to the Sun Warriors civilization. The entire place was booby-trapped.
One of the tables, near the far wall, stood a measly candle, unlit. The other table laid spark rocks and sticks, a bow and arrow, and a small animal which was curled up into a ball, asleep.
A balcony was perched in the middle on the room on the far wall, the masked woman sitting in what looked like a small throne, guarded by two Dai Lee agents.
"Welcome Zuko," The woman announced loudly. Zuko's eyes were preoccupied by the six other women in white being led into the large cage with the stone table inside. "these lovely ladies from the asylum agreed to help me with this. . .test."
Zuko wanted to hurt this woman badly. He still hasn't seen Katara since last night. Before he could continue though, his thoughts were interrupted by the masked monster.
"You know, being locked up for more than five years," The woman raised her hand and examined her fingernails. "with no hygiene, no sanitation, no cleanliness, you start to grow your own deadly weapons."
She was referring to the girl's nails. They had to be long, possibly razor sharp. What does this witch have in mind?
"Bring her in." You could feel the grin in the woman's voice.
Doors opened to agents dragging a struggling Katara in. Her hands and feet were attached to chains, the other ends were cuffs, waiting to be latched onto something.
"Zuko!" Katara cried, eyeing her love across the room. She wanted to run into his arms, but the chains around her hands and feet restrained her from doing so.
The two agents that brought her in, opened the cage doors and forced Katara to lay down on the stone table. The ends of the chains were long enough to attach themselves to the cage bars. She couldn't pull her arms or legs close to her. The six insane female's just grinned, waiting for the approval for attack.
"For the first challenge, you must stay behind the table and use what's in front of you to light the candle on the other side." The woman stood, pointing and ordering the agents that held Zuko to bring him to the table with the weird objects. "These lovely women agreed to lend me their nails for this task. Fail to complete the task will end in severe suffering."
The woman looked at the cage, and nodded. That's when all hell broke loose.
The six women went right to work, using their fingernails to rip apart Katara's beautiful skin, or it used to be, four days ago. Her arms and legs, blood spilling quickly.
Screams echoed through the room, deafening everyone who heard it.
"Katara!" Zuko tried to stop the torture, but he couldn't take a step before restraints stopped him.
Just hurry up and complete the task; Zuko told himself. Then you can get Katara out safely, or at least before they reach a vein.
Shaking the horrible image out of his head, Zuko went right to work.
How is he supposed to use spark rocks and sticks to light a candle twenty feet away? There isn't even enough sticks to cover the long distance, let alone get a flaming one over the candle long enough to light it.
So that theory is out of the question, what else?
The small bundle, or animal, moved so it's head could look up and examine Zuko. It was a Dragon Fly. They were know to be found in the Earth Kingdom, and they could breath fire.
Gently picking up the animal, Zuko pointed his face towards his own, and looked the animal dead in the eye.
"Go light the candle for me." Zuko ordered, pointing to the candle.
Of course, the animal just blinked before yawning. This was getting him no where and Katara's screams were getting more and more desperate.
I'm running out of time.
Placing the animal aside, Zuko studied the table of objects with a stern look on his face. Picking up the spark rocks and arrows, Zuko lit the end of the arrow and readied the bow with it.
Zuko was only skilled in a few things, and archery wasn't one of them.
I have to try.
Lifting the bow up and pulling the arrow back to his face, Zuko alined the arrow with the candle tip, and took a deep breath.
He fired.
Yes! He lit the candle!
NO! The candle blew out just as fast as it came. Dammit all! Throwing the weapon aside, Zuko lifted his foot to kick the table in anger.
"What kind of test is this?" Zuko demanded at the masked figure.
Of course, she said nothing.
Zuko fell to his knees in despair. He failed Katara, again! Her screams couldn't be zoned out, in fact, it only made it worse.
I'm a failure.
No Zuko, you are not; a familiar voice shot through his head. He knew that voice anywhere.
Lifting his head up and glancing around, no, he couldn't have heard it. It was impossible.
A memory surfaced through his head, memories of the North Pole siege.
"Don't forget your breath of fire, it could save your live out there!"
There is was again! It was his uncle! But how? That sentence repeated itself in his head over and over again, trying to tell him hints, clues to success.
They blocked my chi so much I won't be able to waterbend for at least a month; Katara's voice echoed through his mind.
Won't be able to waterbend for at least a month.
Able to waterbend.
Waterbend.
Bend.
Bend.
Bend! Firebending! Of course!
Feeling stupid, Zuko got to his feet and stepped as close as he could to the candle.
Curious, the woman sat up in her chair, demanding to know what the young lord was thinking of.
Taking a deep breath and closing his eyes, Zuko collected as much heat in his body as possible, then all at once, releasing it towards the candle.
All that was left of the burst, was a nicely lit candle, none of the wax had melted.
Smirking, Zuko turned to the stunned masked woman. "Seems like I won, now let Katara go."
Growling underneath the cover, the woman stood and raised her hand, ordering the six women to stop, and they did, leaving Katara breathing heavily and exhausted.
"Very well, congratulations," The woman clapped once, and the Dai Lee dragged a weak waterbender to the Fire Lord.
Once he touched her, he held onto her for dear life.
"I am so, so sorry Katara," He whispered in her ear, begging for forgiveness.
"Take them back to their cell," The woman departed, leaving the silent firebender to cry into his lover's hair.
Back in the protection of the prison cell, they were allowed to share a cell, just for the night.
Zuko didn't waste a single minute of it. Using his old clothes and some of the water they were given, he started to clean Katara's fresh open wounds.
She was covered in small cuts and scrapes. The dirty fingernails might have cause infection if Zuko weren't cleaning the wounds right now.
"Zuko, you did it." Katara weakly smiled as Zuko wrapped her arm up in his old shirt.
"Yes, I am so sorry Katara, I tried to stop it as fast as I could but-"
"Shh, no need to apologize, you are forgiven."
"How can you forgive so easily?" He asked her.
"It's easier to forgive, than to forget." And with that her eyes closed in exhaustion and drowsiness.
Zuko thought about today's events, only to hope and pray to the spirits that luck would be on their side.
Please review! I love all of them so far! Thanks guys!