A/N: Ok, ok. I'm sorry, people, but I am DISCONTINUING this story! I've just moved on. Lost all inspiration, you know? I am REALLY sorry, but I just won't be able to write anymore. But, as a parting gift, here's something I wrote forever ago, and happens a bit further into the story.

Festivals

Grinning from ear to ear, Tori sprinted into the woods, Zuko close behind her. Suddenly, she turned around and ducked, so Zuko was forced to hurdle over her. As soon as he did so, she was up and running for the Inn, laughing.

Throwing open a door, (and "accidentally" into the guy who had grabbed her rear the other day) she ran for the steps, only to crash into Tammy.

"Tor-wha-?" Tori poked her on the head and ran off, scream over her shoulder, "You're it!"

Tammy turned, saw Zuko, smacked him right in the head, knocking him head over heels (Damn, that girl is strong went through his head as he stared from where he lay (upside down, against the wall)proclaimed him 'it' and ran after Tori, yelling, "ZUZU'S IT!"

o0O0o

From the hot springs, Iroh listened intently to the few moments of silence that accompanied that sentence, only to hear his nephew shout, "STOP CALLING ME THAT!" This was shortly followed by screams of laughter, as the three-person game of tag escalated to include the entire Inn. Chuckling, he leaned back and relaxed in the hot waters, a smile on his face.

o0O0o

Zuko ran through the halls of the Inn, which, strangely, seemed to be deserted, chasing after Tori, who would always be turning the next corner, just as he turned the last one; her long brown hair flicking round the corner after her, her laugh ringing in his ears.

o0O0o

Tori had never had so much fun. For someone who's been training all his life, Zuzu's pretty slow- Since she had been looking over her shoulder, a wide grin on her face, Tori had been relying on memory to guide her through the halls. But, she hadn't counted on someone being in her way.

With a hard exhalation of air, she fell back onto her rear. "S-Sorry-" She laughed, shaking her hair out of her eyes so she could see who she had run into. Her pupils shrunk, and she began to babble nonsense, slowly trailing down to dead silence as she began to panic, her limbs shaking in fear. She just stared for a moment, before she screamed as loud as she had ever screamed in her whole life, and scrambled to her feet and running faster than she'd ever run in her life in the opposite direction.

o0O0o

Zuko frowned. He was lost. Tori had led him into a part of the inn that he had never seen before, and was now hopelessly lost.

Suddenly, he heard Tori scream. Oh no…He turned around and ran towards the scream. He wasn't the only one, as it turned out. Along the way, He and Tammy met up, and exchanged a few brief lines of dialogue ("what wassat?" "Tori." "shit") as they ran towards where they thought they had heard the scream…only to run into a hall that spilt into two.

"…She's this way!" They both shouted at the same time and ran in opposite directions, only to stop and stalk back to the intersection when each realized that the other wasn't following.

"Where the hell are you going? Tori's scream came from that way!" Zuko screamed, gesturing over his shoulder.

"What are you talking about, stupid? Her scream clearly came from that way!" Tammy screamed right back, pointing at the hallway behind her. And so it continued, the two screaming obscenities at the other's obviously horrible sense of direction, because it was obvious that they themselves were the right one.

But then, Tori ran, shrieking from the hallway Tammy had chosen, and straight to Zuko, almost knocking him down as she slammed into him, hugging him as she twirled so that he was between her and the way that she had come.

"…" "…I was RIGHT! HA! IN YOUR FACE, ZUZU! I WAS RIGHT! HAHA!" Tammy started celebrating, only to stop and listen. Quickly, she turned on her heel and strode back towards the hall Tori had come from and pressed her ear against the wall, knocking twice.

A small panel slid open, and the person on the other side whispered something to the slave, who frowned as she nodded, sliding the panel shut as she turned back around and walked towards the couple, grabbing Zuko's arm in one hand, and Tori's in the other, pulling

A/N: ok, that's where this chapter stopped, and here's something else I wrote. Background: Zuko has asked Tori to come back to the Fire Nation with him once he has captured Aang. Asked her, that is, to come as his fiancé. Yeah…I don't this Ozai's gonna like that. ANYWAYS, just when Tori had almost persuaded him to give up his crazy hunt, he gets word that the Avatar is headed towards the North Pole and immediately prepares to leave.

"Zuko! Please, don't go!" Tori ran up the ramp-thingy and onto the deck of Zuko's ship.

The two kissed, while Iroh (down at the bottom of the ramp) did his "Happy Dance" at the sight of his nephew kissing a girl.

"Why not?" Zuko asked as they drew apart.

"'cause Uncle Ma (FORTUNE TELLER) foresaw the death of a Fire Nation man at the North Pole!"

"But Tori, I know for sure that that's where the Avatar is headed-" Tori cut him off.

"Is this pointless search for something you'll never get, more important that your life?" Tears began to run down her face as she continued. "Your father never intended for you to-"

Zuko slapped her.

"WATCH YOUR MOUTH GIRL! WHEN I CAPTURE THE AVATAR, MY FATHER WILL WELCOME ME HOME WITH OPEN ARMS!" Tori slapped him right back and yelled,

"IF THAT'S TRUE, THAN WHY DID HE ORDER SOMEONE ELSE TO CATCH THE AVATAR TOO?" Tori threw something small and hard at him, turned, and ran off the ship, crying so hard, she could barely see where she was going.

On her way down the ramp and back towards the inn, she brushed past Iroh, almost knocking him into the water.

"Prince Zuko? What happened?" Iroh asked his nephew once he reached the deck.

Zuko was silent as he looked down at what Tori had thrown at him.

It was the ring he had given her.

He drew back his hand to throw it into the bay, but Iroh caught his hand.

"Don't. Save it. Now, what was Miss Tori crying about?" Zuko sighed and slipped the ring into his pocket and whispered,

"She told me that Father never intended for me to catch the Avatar." Then Zuko brushed past his Uncle and quickly strode into the ship.

As he did so, Iroh could have sworn he saw a lone tear sparkling on his nephew's scarred cheek and sadly thought,

It's over…

Tori's POV

I ran, sobbing, into my room, collapsed onto my bed and began sobbing into my pillow. Just as I had stopped crying, the door opened.

"-and here we have-" Miss Cooper stopped talking when she saw me staring back at her in surprise from my bed. "Tori? What are you doing here?"

"This is my room, Miss Cooper…" I trailed off as I saw a timid brown-haired girl in the same slave/servant outfit as me…with bags…

"Not anymore, it's not." my attention snapped back to Miss Cooper.

"What? Why?"

"I sold your contract."

"To who?"

"To me." Admiral Zhao walked into the room, a triumphant smirk on his face.

"WHAT?" I yelped, recoiling as if I had been hit. I looked between Zhao and Miss Cooper in panic and confusion.

"B-but y-you-you pr-pr-promised G-General I-Ir-Iroh that you-you'd h-hold my con-contract-!" Zhao smirked at my panic-induced stutter. Miss Cooper just shrugged.

"The good Admiral paid 500 gold. General Iroh was offering 250. Who would've thought that trouble-making, rebellious, procrastinating Tori would make me so rich? She's trouble you know." She informed Zhao, who smirked.

"Don't worry; I'll break her of that habit." I bristled.

He talks of me as if I'm an animal to be trained! My eyes flickered around the room, looking for a route of escape. My eyes landed on my "window", which was just shutters, leading to the outside. Currently, they were half open.'

Keeping my eyes on the monkey-man, I slowly inched towards the window. But I froze when Zhao reached into a pouch at his waist (MAN-BAG!) and drew out a rust-red collar with a golden Fire Nation insignia stamped on it.

"No!" I shrieked. I recognize that collar! That's a-

"So, you've seen a Fire Collar before, Tori?" Apparently, my stark-white face answered his question. "I see you have. You should feel honored. This Fire Collar was custom made for you. It answers only to me," He paused and ignited his thumb, pressing it to the insignia, making it glow a molten gold, and the collar popped open. "and my fire. It was necessary, given your escape record."

"There is no way in hell I'm gonna let you put that god-damned thing on me." I spat at him. Zhao only laughed, a cold, humorless sound. He leaned in so close; I could smell his rancid breath.

"I don't recall giving you a choice." One of his hands shot out, shutting the shutters. (Ha-ha…shutting the shutters…awkward silence -coughs- I'll just go over there… -slinks into corner-) "So don't even think about trying to escape." With a scream of fear and hate, I pushed Zhao away from me and into the wall, running into the hall; slipping on the freshly-waxed floor.

I burst out of the building and ran for the docks.

Must find Zuko…Must find Zuko…Must find Zuko… was the only thought in my head as I ran into the dock-side market. Hope sprouted within me as I gained sight of the very top of Zuko's ship.

Then my whole world came crashing down. Several Fire Navy men in skeleton masks had blocked my path to Zuko's ship. I slid to a stop and ran into the opposite direction. While looking over my shoulder at the men, I bumped into someone, and before my vision had cleared, the person had pushed me around so that they were behind me and twisted one of my arms up behind my back, making me whimper and rise up on my toes to try and lessen the pain. I felt a moist breeze touch my ear and winced and turned my head away as Zhao whispered, "I told you not to think about it."

Then he shoved me back towards his men.

Two grabbed my arms, and another two grabbed my legs as a third grabbed my hair and yanked back on it, exposing my throat. I thrashed and screamed, but it did no good. I did manage to kick one soldier in the crotch, but another just took his place. With one hand, Zhao unlocked my old collar, and let it and its key clatter to the ground, while he unlocked the Fire Collar and snapped it shut around my neck. I gagged.

It's so frickin' tight! I shivered. The Fire Collar was burning hot too!

During my stays in various slave pens, I had seen too many slaves burn to death while wearing collars similar to the one around my neck now. Maybe… It was time for an escape trick. Maybe I could get out of the collar's receiving distance before Zhao had time to activate it!

I went limp and predictably the soldiers all loosened their grips on me. I took the chance to pull loose and run into a near-by alley. Zhao let me get halfway. Halfway down the alley, I turned in time to see him snap his fingers, creating the tiniest flame imaginable. Then, everything went red with pain.

It felt as though every inch, every centimeter, of my body was on fire, causing me to loose my footing and tumble to the ground. And the physical pain I felt was nothing compared to the mental pain. It felt as though someone had taken a red-hot poker and shoved it right into my brain, then scrambled everything around. I fell to the ground, screaming at the top of my lungs, holding my head and thrashing.

Zhao must have then extinguished the flame, because the pain suddenly stopped, leaving me shaking and panting, with silent tears of pain running down my face and curled up in a fetal position in a puddle. I heard footsteps echoing through the alley, but I didn't even have enough energy to sit up, let alone run away as someone grabbed my hair and pulled me up. I winced, and a new bout of tears ran down my cheeks as I groaned and cracked my eyes open to see Zhao smirking at me.

"That was just a tiny flame Tori; a tiny taste of what's to come. Disobey me, or try to escape again, and you will beg for pain like you just experienced." He hissed, and then threw me at a soldier, who carried me onto his ship.

o0O0o

Tori was thrown into roughly into a cell and into the wall. Hard. Her head was ringing and she could taste blood in my mouth. Before she could fight back, four soldiers clamped shackles around her wrists.

"LET! ME! OUT!" She screamed, pulling at the chains and screaming. "YOU CAN'T DO THIS TO ME!" Zhao turned around right out side the door, a wide smirk on his face, and merely said, "Yes I can." And then he walked away, ignoring the girl's enraged screams.

o0O0o

"The Admiral wishes to see you." A masked soldier informed Tori on the second day of her imprisonment. "Why?" She snapped, trying to get a reaction out of the cold-voiced man. He said nothing, merely unlocking her cage and grabbing her arm as he roughly hauled her to her feet, despite her screams that she could do it herself.

o0O0o

"What do you want, asshole?" Tori glared at the man lounging before her. Zhao smirked up at her. "I am having a business meeting with a few gentlemen, and would like you to take that time to practice your serving skills." Tori snorted. "Like hell."

o0O0o

Damn him DAMN him DAMN HIM! Tori mentally roared as she stared at the garment he expected her to wear with a look of utter disgust on her face, and replied once more to him, "Like hell."

o0O0o

Damn him DAMN him DAMN HIM! Tori was wearing the goddamned thing. Her hands were shaking so hard with anger that the tea set she had balanced on the tray in front of her was rattling so hard that it was in danger of falling off.

As she stalked towards the appointed room, she saw that the door had fallen open just a crack, and soft candlelight, as well as whispered voices, one of which was Zhao's, where drifting out into the hall.

"So the plan is clear, gentlemen?" Murmured yeses. Now a new voice spoke up. "Yeah. Sneak on the brat's ship, set the explosives and BOOM! No more princey!" The voice cackled until there was the sound of a smack, and the second voice muttered "ouch."

Prince…princey? PRINCEY? Tori remembered that she herself had once used that nickname to aggravate Zuko. Zuko…OH MY GOD! THEY'RE GONNA BLOW UP ZUKO'S SHIP! She leaned against the wall to prevent collapsing, and stared down at her white-knuckled hands and they gripped the tray. Though it did make sense, in a twisted sort of way to Zhao, she figured. Getting rid of Zuko would not only eliminate any potential rescue attempts, but also get rid of any competition for the Avatar's capture.

I can't let him know I know. She realized with a chill. If he finds out… She shuddered. But, if he doesn't find out that I know…I can warn Zuko! Tori calmed herself and knocked on the door, walking in and countering the lustful stares with glares and colorful insults, her mind already preoccupied with thoughts and plans of escape.

o0O0o

Two days later, Zhao walked up, a wide smirk on his face and his hands behind his back.

"Come to gloat again over that damn dress, asshole?" Tori snapped from where she paced in her cage, now back in her normal clothes.

"Well, that wasn't my original plan, but now that you mention it, why not?" He walked forwards, keeping his hands behind his back as he leered at her through the bars. "You know, I don't see why you insist on wearing those horrid tomboy closes all the time." "It's better than a skirt that shows perverted old men my ass." Tori was in no mood to be polite.

Zhao scowled. "If you continue to address your master in that tone, I shall have to punish you." "Bite me, ass wipe." He chuckled at her defiant response. "I believe that the next time some obscenity comes out of that pretty little mouth of yours," His hand reached out and grabbed Tori's face, dragging her as close to the bars as her chains would allow, his ragged nails digging into her skin and effectively shutting her "pretty little mouth". "I shall have to dock you…say, your shirt, for starters?" The crewmembers behind him gave out a cheer at this as Tori turned dead white, already imagining those disgusting men leering at her through the bars all day, and God! If they had keys…She began to shake in Zhao's grip, terrified at the thought.

Seeing her properly subdued, Zhao released her as he pulled his other hand from behind his back, revealing a small metal circle the size of his palm. Tori all but leapt away, shaking as she backed up to press her back against the cold metal.

"Y-you- you wouldn't-" He smirked.

"I would. I should. I can. I will." The metal in his hands turned cherry red as he unlocked the door and strode through.

By now, Tori was pressed against the wall as if she could sink through it and was wishing she could. Zhao grabbed her shoulder, his nails digging though the thin fabric of her shirt to pierce her skin. She whimpered, tears stinging her eyes as she tried to push him away.

"Let go!" She now screamed, kicking him away, but only for a moment. He returned, stronger than before, and before she could do anything, he punched her across the face, spinning her around, and then grabbed the back of her head and slammed her, face-first, into the wall, stunning her long enough to be dragged out and into the waiting arms of the crew.

As she weakly struggled against them, Tori found her hair pulled, her arms (and other parts of her body) rudely grabbed, and one man even placed a rough, sloppy kiss on her mouth, only to fall back screaming with a bleeding tongue and lip. But, there were too many of them. Still, a good portion would be seeing the ships' doctor very soon…

Anyways, pinned against a wall by a hand on her neck and others holding down her arms and legs, Tori felt the neck of her shirt torn to reveal the upper left-hand part of her suntanned back, right over her left shoulder blade. A slight sting in her neck signaled that Zhao had lit something up.

"What the-!" She bit out, before something burning hot was pressed into the skin of her back.

o0O0o

Training on the deck, Zuko heard a faint sound that sounded like a scream of pain. Turning to see his uncle walking onto the ship, he rushed over.

"Uncle, did you hear that? What was it?" Iroh raised his head, the sadness on his face startling his nephew.

"Miss Cooper has informed me that our offer for Tori and her freedom has been turned down in place of a greater offered sum by another man." It took Zuko a moment to process this. And when he did, it wasn't pretty.

"WHAT!" He roared. "THAT HAG PROMISED SHE WOULD HOLD IT FOR US! WHO BOUGHT HER!"

"I-It pains me to say…"

"What, Uncle? Who?"

"Admiral Zhao."

"WHAT?"

o0O0o

Zhao ripped the brand out of the screaming girl's shoulder, mercilessly poking the still-smoking wound.

"S-s-stop it!" She screamed. "P-p-pl-please!" But he ignored her.

"Hmm. It still isn't clear enough. I want everyone, and I do mean everyone to know who you belong to, my dear." More and more tears rolled down Tori's face, from internal pain at his words, and external pain as he pressed the red-hot brand into her shoulder again.

o0O0o

Tori was dieing, little by little. With each new burn, hit and cruel remark, another part of her fell into the darkness. But with the darkness came anger. And with anger comes the strength to use it

"BASTARD!" She screamed, pulling out of his grasp, grabbing the wrist that held the brand, and, her hand tightening until a loud crack was heard, pulled him forwards, so his nose had a rather unfortunate meeting with her fist.

Pushing past all the shocked sailors, Tori ran out into the hall, tears and the smell of burning flesh trailing behind her as she jumped off the railing and into the icy water that held back the burning pain from her neck and back.

Her head resurfaced in the harbor by Zuko's boat. In the twilight, she pulled herself up, slipping a few times, until she was resting on the rough wood of the pier.

"Almost there." She whispered to herself, pushing herself up and running towards the ship; towards Zuko; towards the light; towards salvation.

"Zuko!" She happily yelled, running up the ramp, only to be sent flying back into a near-by building as the ship exploded. "NO!" She screamed, struggling gout from under the wreckage, running out of the spectacular hole she had made in the wall, only to find a huge, floating bonfire.

"No." she gasped, falling to her knees, staring up through her tears at the ship, where-in was the charred remains of the man she loved. (Or so she thought.) "NO! NO! ZUKO!" She tried to run into the flames, but hands held her back. She struggled, reaching out in vain towards the tear-blurred flames. "ZUKO!"

"Tori! TORI! IT'S USELESS- oh spirits, child. What happened to you?" Iroh whispered in horror as he saw the burns, the bruises and the brand.

But she could not answer. Tori could just stare at the flames in shocked horror through the tears running so think down her face, she could barely see. "No." She gasped again, refusing to accept what had just happened. "No."

But if that was bad enough, it just got worse.

The clang of metal boots on wood announced the arrival of Zhao and his soldiers. "General Iroh! What happened here?" From her trance beside Iroh, Tori numbly whispered,

"Why does he ask? He knows. He ordered it done." For the first time in years, Iroh felt rage unfurl its dangerous, fiery blossoms in his heart and soul and stick in its thorns to stay. Zhao had ordered the death of his nephew? He was ready to kill the man right then and there, but Tori again mumbled in that horrible, empty voice, "There will be a time for revenge; a time for sorrow; and a time for rage. Those times are not now. Now is the time for pretending." That voice was horribly blank, just as blank as her emerald eyes, which looked without seeing as tears flowing down her face.

"There you are." Zhao snarled at Tori, dragging her up by her arm. She made no move to resist him as he dragged her back to the ship, only staring back at the burning ship, tears dripping down her face to soak the remains of her shirt.

o0O0o

Zuko dragged himself from the waters of the bay, coughing up saltwater and trying to figure out what the hell had just happened. Wiping the stinging water from his eyes, he looked up in time to see Zhao drag a crying, unmoving Tori up onto his ship, Iroh following behind, sadness visible in every fiber of his being.

Zhao. There was no doubt in the Prince's mind that the man who was dragging his girlfriend away was the one who had tried to kill him.

You will pay for this, you conceited bastard. He growled as he stalked after them, careful to keep to the shadows. My "death" will give me an edge on you, but I need to find a way to tell Tori I'm alive. Tori…I won't let that ass hurt you anymore. I promise.

Tori POV

I have lost the will to live. I live, but do not. My body lives on, but it's on auto-pilot, doing what it wishes; my heart and soul, however, have died.

"The Admiral wants food and refreshments. He and General Iroh are in his quarters." A soldier said. I nodded and made my way to the kitchen, walking with the slow, stumbling walk of one who has died inside.

And here's an alternative ending to that scene

Soaking burnt and scraped and not to mention pissed off, Zuko dragged himself out of the water, seeing his uncle walk away after Zhao, who was dragging Tori. Her tear-blurred eyes met his and her face lit up in happiness. Since only Iroh could see her face, he turned to see what she was looking at, and the relief and happiness to see him made Zuko feel like he belonged. His father, and defiantly never Azula had looked at him like that. His mother had, but- Zuko cut off that line of thought before it went into memories he had long buried.

o0O0o

Tori felt as if she had been trapped in a shadow for days, and then shoved back into the light. He-He's alive! I-I can't believe it! Now the tears flowing down her face were of happiness, though she kept her true feelings hidden behind a mask of shock. Never the less, Zuko saw her elation.

Ok, once again, I'm sorry that I'm discontinuing this story, but I hope that this makes a nice parting gift.

-dancinglemur