Mist
Chapter 2
Sokka gulped nervously, and eyed the whip with his right eye closed,
and the left one opened wide. He looked up to the Prince, and sighed.
The Prince of Asses wasn’t joking. Just his luck that he wasn’t
trust-worthy looking.
“I swear! I don’t know! I don’t know if they’re still heading there
anyway! ....What will happen if their not there?” Sokka gulped, but
tried not to let the fear of the pain show on his face.
“You will be whipped. Isn’t that just what I said you moron?” Zuko asked icredously.
“Well, yeah but...”
Zuko stared at Sokka with a half grin and waited for the response that was sure to be shot down.
“What if I just choke on my own blood? You’d never know where they would go!” Sokka tried to point out.
Zuko sighed while pushing the whip underneath Sokka’s chin.
“You wont choke on your own blood. My whip will be no where near
your...head.” Zuko chuckles sent shivers of apprehension down Sokka’s
back.
“Why don’t you trust me again?” Sokka whimpered out. Who would care about begging when their own life was at stake?
“Because...you are Water Tribe scum, and friends with The Avatar! Don’t
insult my intelligence!!” Zuko snarled out angrily. Sokka tried to
come up with something, but came up empty handed. What good was it to
try and argue with someone that would just shove it back in your face.
Sokka grimaced as Zuko grinned in his direction. It seemed The Fire
Prince was adamant on whipping his poor flesh to ribbons. As Zuko’s
glaring eyes cut into Sokka’s own blue ones. The scarred one reached
down to let the whip’s leather feather across Sokka’s back, and slither
down an arm.
Following the whip, came goose bumps which rose at a higher intensity
as Zuko continued to tease the water tribe boy with the weapon of
destruction of flesh. Sokka clenched his eyes shut, and tensed his body
trying to bring the contact further from himself. As he did so, he
tried to wriggle from the chains around his body, but was rewarded with
a snicker.
~*~
Zuko watched as his prisoner writhed in discomfort. It brought a smile
to his face, but then looked down sharply as the Water Tribe peasant
began to wriggle in the most strange way. His whip was probably very
uncomfortable, but it seemed that the other was trying to escape the
shackles around him as well.
Zuko watched in fascination as their was a rhythmic pushing, and
pulling of the other male’s body against the tight chains, and leather
that held him. Zuko felt a stirring in his blood and felt his tongue
reach out to swipe a bit of sweat from his upper lip. The salt taste,
and texture of his own bead of bodily moisture brought back reality in
a snap.
Zuko snickered as the other reminded him of a goose caught in a trap being poked and prodded by children.
“Do not try and struggle you filthy thing. It is impossible to break
these bonds even if you were a bender. It is a shame really. You are
the man of your family, and yet you cannot even bend properly. I do
suppose you have other talents though?” Zuko dashed out at Sokka,
wounding the boy more than a mere whip could do.
“Shut up...” Sokka muttered, letting his head fall.
“Ah? Now you tell me what to do. You are despicable. I cannot belive
that you would think you could possiably escape from me. I am a power
Fire Bender, and all you have is that little bone and metal boomerang.”
Zuko cut into Sokka’s ego ruthlessly.
“Shut up!” Sokka cried out a little louder, his head and body shaking with anger, and frustration.
“Still! You dare tell me what to do? What are your other talents?! Is
it craftsmanship? Healing? Or maybe...” Zuko leaned down, and whispered
almost sensually into Sokka’s ear.
“It might have to do with ...serving The Avatar and all his needs?”
“SHUT UP! Don’t be disgusting! Aang is only 12 you sick bastard! He
probably doesn’t even know what the word sex means!!” Sokka shouted,
his eyes clenched shut, and roaring the words with all his strength.
“Sex! Ha!! I was talking of his cleaning and washing! But you are
rather a dirty minded peasant aren’t you? How will we fix that?” Zuko
purred out, and circled the boy while still trailing the whip across
his skin.
“Just ...please stop it...” Sokka whimpered out pathetically.
“You don’t even struggle. Why?” Zuko asked, stopping at where Sokka’s head resided.
“I’ll be killed if I move. I rather save my own skin then die....” Sokka tensed as he mummbled the degrading words out.
“Yes, that’s true. You are the longest to hold out against struggling
truthfully against these bonds. They are quite tight, and most would be
sliced to ribbons at this moment.” Zuko looked curiously down to the
boy.
“I don’t care...I just wanna live...” Sokka groaned out, and sighed.
“You are the most peculiar creature to ever live. Why do you not
struggle? Why do you not run away? All of my prey likes to try and
escape before they die...” Zuko lifted Sokka’s head with the blunt tip
of the mean looking whip.
“I don’t care. I haven’t the anything to live for really...” Sokka’s
eyes were lifted to the scarred face and Zuko disguised his surprise
with a sneer.
The other male’s eyes were glazed, as if empty of emotion completely.
They were devoid of feeling, and so honest in the nothingness that it
almost hurt the ice surrounding Zuko’s heart.
“You have nothing to live for? PAH! You don’t know what worthlessness
is really about..” Zuko stormed angrily, and stomped down with a foot.
The heated appendage sizzled in the leather casing it was in as his
Fire Bending was let loose slightly. He had always been called the
Gouka of Fire Nature. It was his own Hellfire that helped him along
this far. All Fire Benders used fire from a source. Usually from the
deep confines of Earth, and Sun. He had his own fire inside him.
Constantly burning, and consuming thought almost completely.
He learned to control it was a delicate balance of mental strength, and
physical output. His Breath of Fire was a small part of what his Hell
Fire gifted him with, but it was also a great curse. Nothing tasted the
way it should, they were cinders in his mouth while water was boiling
down his throat. Nothing held the same pleasure as it did for normal
men.
Zuko breathed lowly out of his mouth, and a steam emitted with his own
carbon dioxide that was released. It smelled of ash, and the burning
scent of fire. Sokka’s glazed eyes turned to look at the man emitting
the scent and steam.
“What’re you doing?” Sokka asked, his tongue slurring as the scent of
ash and cinder washed over his senses and began to pull at them.
“I’m breathing...You have no idea what it’s like to be worthless when
you know it could be better for you. When you’re royalty and you
deserve the treatment your birth brought. No, you get pushed aside by
your younger sibling who takes the glory of it all. Then you get shoved
aside like worthless meat, only to try and earn your right by following
a boy of your own age, his younger sister, and their fucking 12 year
old GOD!!!” Zuko screamed out, releasing his energy.
As Zuko shouted the word, ‘God’ his eyes turned from gold to a fiery
red with a silvery energy flowing through them. As his eyes simmered
down to gold after the millisecond change, his fingernails flamed red
hot into claws as his mouth, and nose filled with flame. Two seconds
past as Sokka watched the Fire Adonis rage in front of him, and then
fall to the ground.
His worn posture showed the difference the fire inside had made. His
reserves were almost completely wiped from the energy he used to
control his own body.
“Guard!” Zuko called out, not looking to the amazed Sokka who stood there.
“Yes m’lord?” the Fire Bender asked out in a bored voice.
“Take this prisoner away. Put him in the same cell as before. Same
treatment, and meals as well.” Zuko stood with a shaky hand, and placed
the other upon his forehead.
“I require rest. Do not disturb me. Do not let my Uncle come to me.” Zuko ordered out in a weary voice.
“Yes m’lord.” the guard answered, and pulled the struggling Sokka still.
“Be still peasant.” As the guard unlocked the shackles, Zuko walked
from the prison. He replaced the whip on a hook just to the right of
the door as Sokka watched. His eyes widened slightly as the guard
ripped one of the chains right of his arm, and he cried out in pain.
It seemed skin wasn’t needed to be in a cell. Sokka’s partially skinned
wrist was wrapped in a dirty gauze bandage as he was led back to his
cell. The stinging sensation of the grime against his exposed flesh,
and the splinters in his feet made Sokka’s eyes water in pain. He
winced as particular large splinter drove itself into his foot.
“God...” He whispered out, cursing his bad luck.
Katara would probably be on their way still to the city of Sabachthani
even if he had been captured. Aang wouldn’t care that much, there would
be more food for the two of them to share, and he really didn’t do
much.
His main purpose on their voyage to was to keep the Fire Bender prince away from them. He was doing that quite nicely...
Sokka rolled his eyes at his own sarcastic thoughts, and fell into a light, dream heavy sleep.
~*~
“Lies.” Spoke the Fire Prince as he paced around his room, in a circling pattern.
“ Horrors, lies, falsities, and redemption.” Why did the thought of
that silly Water Tribe boy bring in such doubts about what he was
supposed to do. It all seemed so silly when you had part of what you
wanted near you. To defeat his greatest enemy, and be redeemed.
“My father is supposed to forgive me of my sins, but he wont let me
forget them. I wonder what people see when I give them something to
look at.” Zuko pulled at his hair, and the ribbon that held up the
black locks fell loose.
“Do they see colors, or do they see people? Do they see mankind, or do
they see animals. Do they see mountains, and trees, and water? Do they
see fire?” Zuko roared out in frustration as he ranted on. Throwing
himself upon his bed, he growled out.
“Or do they just see the bleakness that has been set out for them.
Fight for the chance to do something better!” Zuko tried to entertain
the thought that he could do better than his father. Do better, beat
him, and even rule.
“I know my own weakness, but I won’t reveal it. I am an enemy, but I
can also help. Does that make me a traitor to my people?” Zuko
pondered, and flipped over so that he lay on his stomache while
contemplating his own existence.
“Why do I even try? It’s all so POINTLESS!” With the shouted word, he
heard a crash above his head, and then the voice of his Uncle far above
on deck.
“Sorry! Sorry! Won’t happen again!”
“Damned....” Zuko let his face fall into the covers of his bed, and he groaned.
This mission would be completely pointless of something went wrong. He
had to find The Avatar, and fast. He couldn’t let any one else close.
Would that make him a protector of The Avatar as well? It would make
him....much more of an enemy then it already did.
“What if we asked a bargain...” Zuko grinned out menacingly.
“I would rule the Fire Nation as it’s King when The Avatar would take
my father from the throne. That little boy could have the world’s
religious facts at his feet, but their political standards would by my
own!” Zuko laughed as he rested again upon his sheets.
“What of the Water Tribe Peasant?” Zuko pondered as he fell asleep.
