A/N: Okay, this is a dark fic and will only grow darker as the story progresses, so if you're the type that doesn't like stories without happy endings… I suggest you don't read this. Anyways, for those of you out there who find things like this entertaining, amusing, or just downright arousing, read at your own risk. It's not that bad, really. But I don't doubt the idea that I may earn a few flames for this, perhaps more. Ta, my readers.

Burn

By, Xx Love Said No xX

Chapter One

"You have interfered with my plans long enough!" Zhao snorted, his merciless grasp firming around his adversary's throat. Constricting, tightening until it was a struggle for the other to breathe. "It's about time you learned you true place!"

Zuko grimaced, wincing at the blockage of his windpipes. "I'll…never…give…into...you!" He managed to hiss, his muscles tightening as his vision slightly began to blur.

A grim, sadistic smirk stretched over the admiral's rough lips, his eyes burning with irritation. "We'll just have to see about that, it doesn't take much for me to break a foe." His thick nails dug into the skin, but that would be the least of Zuko's worries.

Desperately, the stubborn prince forced himself to thrust in the hold of older male, all the while attempting to create something of a flare. He couldn't seem to focus enough. "You'll…have…to…kill…me…to…keep…me…down!"

Zhao scowled at the belligerence of the banished one, briefly glancing down at his side. He felt a festering heat struggling to grow, and the source was emitting from Zuko's palm. "You think you can assault me with my own element!" He growled, forcing the boy against wall. For but a moment it seemed as if hell itself blazed within his orbs. "Perhaps that scar wasn't quite enough to teach you respect, perhaps you're in need of another!"

Zuko's eyes widened at that last remark, and with rash recklessness he squirmed like he never had before, though his tries ended in vain. "Bastard…!"

In less than a few seconds Zhao's had gleamed with fire, its remorselessness scorching into Zuko's pale flesh, tainting it forever with another mark of dishonor. He couldn't help but enjoy the shrieks that his enemy uttered, the immense suffering in his painful expressions. Firebending always had been his favorite of the four, not for it advantage over all the others nor its power, but for the agony and despair it brought about in his enemies.

The commander pulled away slowly and watched as Zuko dropped to his knees, anxious hands darting to grab his injured neck as he moaned in excruciating distress.

"I'll give you a suggestion, naïve vermin. Never disobey me ever again, unless of course you'd like another burn to display your defiance." Zhao muttered, kneeling before cupping the boy's chin. He could feel the body trembling , the exasperated breathes and gasps, the fear so vivid. He was hardly surprised to discover that he enjoyed this, that it gave him a rush… a high. Satisfied with the lesson in disobedience, he released the other and stood up, stepping towards the door. He took his leave, slamming it behind him, no doubt locking it as well.

Minutes passed, it took Zuko a while to grasp what had just happened, to pull the pieces together. The mutilated tissue on his neck felt as if it had been completely severed, though it wasn't, painfully sensitive to the air around him. The burning, it wouldn't stop. The moment, it was etched into his memory like the last tragedy. He wanted to scream, but couldn't utter a sound. He wanted to heave, but it hurt just to breathe.

Weakly, he lunged for the door, grabbing at its handle and yanking it with all his might. The dreaded thing wouldn't even budge a centimeter, yet still he hopelessly proceeded to pull until he collapsed, breaking in to muffled sobs upon the ship's floor, all the while wondering why his life repeatedly took detours into Hell's disdain. Why him of all people? Was he deeply despised by the gods that reined above the lands, or was it simply fate?

Gingerly, he raised a hand to cautiously touch the infliction, but drew it back quickly with a rough yelp. It would take time to heal, as did his eye. And Zhao promised more where that came from, what was he to do? In this room where he had been trapped, there were no windows or leads of escape and it was on the lowest floor of the ship. There was no way out, or at least… not yet. He didn't want to obey Admiral Zhao, he didn't want to be confined to his restrictions. All he truly wanted was to go home… but if he was to stay here, all hopes of capturing the avatar would be lost. He'd get away, he had to. Be it the death of him or not, he would.