A/N:

DISCLAIMER: (Because you ALWAYS have to make sure to respect Bryke and Nick.) I don't own Avatar: The Last Airbender.

So HELLO! I'm so excited to be posting so soon after getting an account! This story is PARTIALLY pre-writ, so updates SHOULD be regular. After I catch up to my pre-writ chapters, I cannot make any promises to being timely and updating regularly, since there's always the opportunity to better my knowledge and such. But I WILL NOT GIVE UP on it. Nope. If worst comes to worst, I will put it up for adoption or write a very long apology letter, but I like to finish things, so I doubt that will happen.

I'm happy to have already received such a warm welcome from ManofManyHats, so a special shout-out to you! I love communicating and 'networking' with other creative individuals in the fandom realm, and I'm looking forward to many great stories and the chance to finally publish and get feedback.

I'm happy to get started on the "torture Zuko" game, and check out my profile to get the full reason why. Please leave comments/feedback, since I'm here to grow.

This will be a 'two part-er', since another idea/prompt of mine fit in with this one.

Warning: mild language, though I won't have anyone swear too much, and attempts at hitting the reader right in the feels.

Enjoy!

Chapter One - The Burning Firebender

"AHHHHHHHHHHH!"

The screams of a poor someone in agony echoed throughout the secret passageways underneath the Fire Nation capital city. Aang, Sokka, and Toph, retreating, stopped in their tracks and swirled around at the sudden noise, adrenaline still pulsing through them at a breakneck pace.

"Who was that?" Sokka demanded.

"I don't know," Aang replied.

"That wasn't Azula, was it?" Toph asked.

"No. That was too masculine sounding. But it's coming in the direction she went…" trailed Sokka, slowly creeping forward with his sword at the ready.

"Shouldn't we be getting out of here?" Toph asked, grabbing him before he could continue any further.

"What if it's one of our own?"

"Sokka, we're the only ones from the invasion down here," Aang said. "We need to go before we…"

Whoever was injured on the other side of their tunnel groaned loudly, his echoes eerily washing over Aang, Sokka, and Toph.

"Toph, who is it?" Sokka asked urgently.

"Azula and… I don't know. I've never felt him before."

"Great. So we for sure don't need to go check it out. Let's get out of here, now," protested Aang, backing towards their exit.

"No. I, I need to go check it out," said Sokka, shrugging off Toph and sprinting forward. "I've got a gut feeling…"

"Sokka! You're mad! We can't face Azula!" Toph exclaimed, catching up to him, Aang grumpily following close behind.

"No, but we sure can lose her, Toph. I don't recall firebenders getting through a nice, sturdy earth wall very well before."

"With some lightning, yeah!" Aang called.

"Then Toph can bury her ass or something."

They slowed down as they got closer to the source of the noise and could clearly hear two pairs of feet scuffling along in the adjacent tunnel, punctuated by heavy panting and pathetic moaning.

"Come on, ZuZu. You're fine."

Toph pulled Sokka and Aang back into the shadows as Azula dragged her brother, hunched over, clutching his side, and handcuffed, by.

"Oh. It's just him," Sokka muttered, glaring at the pair. "Sorry I wasted our time." He began to leave finally, not giving a second thought to the siblings in front of him. Toph gladly followed him, but Aang, this time, didn't move. Toph sighed.

"Let's go, Twinkle Toes!" Toph whispered feverishly, turning to grab him back. "They aren't any of our business."

"But why would Azula attack Zuko?" He whispered to her.

"How do you know that?"

"Well look! Or feel, or whatever. He's hurt badly. You can sense that, right?" Toph nodded. "She had to have run into him as she was leaving us."

"Why do you care all of a sudden?"

"Why don't you?" Toph grumbled, trying to pull Aang away.

"No!" Aang hissed. He shouldered her off him and launched himself into the tunnel right behind Azula and Zuko, splitting them apart with a well-placed air blast before they could realize that they had company. Toph quickly boxed in Azula before she could turn on them, since Aang was so sure about confrontation now, and Zuko fell, crumpling to the ground against the opposite wall with a yelp and pained groan.

Sokka came back yelling at them, furious and confused.

"Are you nuts?! What do you think you're doing?!" Aang ignored Sokka, and turned to Zuko instead. He was clutching his left side, refusing to expose whatever injury it held. He was sweating buckets, and his skin was warm to the touch. Faint wisps of smoke curled their way between his shackled hands as he breathed heavily, his brow deeply furrowed in tantalizing pain.

"Did Azula attack you yes or no?" Aang asked him. Zuko refused to meet the Avatar's eyes, overcome with a new wave of aches running through him. Sokka unsheathed his sword, walked over, and proceeded to hold Zuko at swordpoint, forcing him to turn and look up at the three of them.

His eyes were unfocused, darting all about, and glistened with unshed tears. Azula pounded on her prison walls, unable to even blast her way out.

"No!" She yelled. Zuko seemed to re-focus at the sound of his sister's voice.

"Yes…" He seethed, glaring in her direction.

"Traitor!" Azula yelled, still trying to burst through without her lightning.

"Why did she attack you? I thought you two were in league together?" Sokka asked, glaring at his old enemy.

"Not anymore. I want out of here, and, and…" He cringed as his charred side sent his entire body shaking. He panted and bit his lower lip hard, unable to double over and cradle it. Aang bent down next to him, and reached for his injury.

"Can I see?" He asked.

"Careful Aang!" Sokka exclaimed, pressing his sword blade against Zuko's throat, daring him to move or attack. Hands shaking, Zuko pulled them away, careful not to trigger the Water Tribe warrior, and esposed the severe burn given to him by Azula. Aang hissed, grimacing at the sight of the plate-sized red and bubbly burn just above Zuko's left hip. There was a clear indention where his outer layers of skin had been melted away and had left an angry, deep shade of burnt tissue red in its place, bumpy with peeling skin and blisters. At its epicenter, it looked fairly deep.

"I know someone who could heal that," he said, getting up. He extended his hand to Zuko.

"Aang, no!" Sokka exclaimed, not drawing his sword away. "She won't, you know that!"

Zuko knew who they were talking about immediately, and felt even sicker than he already was. The waterbender, Katara, would not be at all happy to see him. But, he had to get help, even if it was from her. If that burn didn't get medical attention, then it could heal wrong, get infected, stay problematic for a long, long time…

"Please," he choked out, trying to make himself form a coherent sentence. "I'm sorry, I'm, I'm sorry…" He tried to plead, not bothering to hide emotion if it would show his sincerity, "...for everything." His face was damp with traitorous tears mixed with perspiration, and he was embarrassed beyond belief. He continued to tremble uncontrollably, his heart racing and vision slightly swimming. He wanted to curl up into a ball and bawl. Sokka turned to Toph, nudging her gently. She nodded.

"Pathetic!" Azula yelled from behind them. "Groveling to a bunch of kids! Slaughter them now, and maybe Father will forgive you!"

"Shut up, psycho!" Sokka snapped at her. He turned to Aang and Toph, absolutely fuming.

"I need to speak to both of you in private please," He hissed. Sokka turned to Zuko before he drew his sword away.

"Don't you go anywhere."

"Do you think I can?" Zuko moaned, glaring at the unfocused mass of Sokka. Sokka replaced his sword in a flash against Zuko's neck, pressing a bit harder this time. Zuko instinctively stiffened up.

"Don't test me. You're in no position to be cocky here."

"Sorry," Zuko murmured shamefully, right before another violent shaking fit overtook him. As soon as Sokka took away his blade, he slid down the wall and curled in on himself on the tunnel floor. He felt bile creep up his throat, threatening to make him hurl.

"What do you want to do?" Sokka whispered angrily to Aang once they had moved away from the trapped princess and sickly prince of the Fire Nation.

"We can't leave him here," Aang said, nervously glancing over his shoulder at his former enemy, a mass of shaking, overheating, firebender. He was turning frighteningly pale, Aang noted.

"After everything he's done? Chasing us down, attacking us, playing games? If we take him with us, he'll slow us down! If he doesn't die on the way out, Katara will surely kill him before you could even begin to explain yourself!" Aang sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"I know, but I'm not leaving him here. Leaving him here is leaving him to surely die. All life is sacred Sokka, even his," Aang explained before Sokka could retort. "Has he lied to us yet?" He asked pointedly to Toph.

"No, he hasn't. Now, I don't know what beef exactly you've got with this guy, but you're right, Aang. If he was shot down by his own sister, then he doesn't have a great chance here if we don't get him to Sugar Queen."

"Then it's settled then. Toph, cover our rear and Sokka our front. I'll get Zuko," Aang said, glaring at both of them sternly, daring them to argue. Sokka sighed, storming over to the older boy.

"Get up," he snarled, upset over Aang's weird decision making skills. He cursed himself for leading them to Zuko in the first place. "We're leaving."

"Really?" Zuko croaked, cracking his eyes open to stare at Sokka, Toph, and the Avatar, dumbfounded.

"Yes, really. You're not doing so hot, if you haven't realized," Toph said. Zuko nodded, trying his best to sit up without getting sick all over himself or straining his burn.

"You're lucky, ZuZu! Father would have finished you off!" Azula shouted, trying again to burst out without her lightning. Toph had done a good job squeezing her into a corner.

Zuko did in fact count himself lucky that he had gotten found by the Avatar and his friends, or he surely would have endured a slow, painful death at the hands of the man he just almost killed. The others ignored her, though, as Aang moved beside Zuko and helped him stand.

"Are these yours?" Sokka asked, pointing to a set of blades and sheath a bit down the tunnel.

"Yes," Zuko said breathlessly, trying to adjust himself on Aang, who was considerably shorter than himself. Sokka collected them for Zuko and took the lead of their little pity party.

"I'll find you! I'll find you all!" Azula shrieked as they marched away as quickly as they could toward their exit.

And there you go! I'm trying to show, not tell, more, and capture feelings. (The two biggest selling points for me.) If you have any questions that relate to writing, Avatar, and this story, feel free to comment and if we get winded I'll PM you or mention you in the Author's Note for the next chapter. Just depends if we talk spoilers or not.

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