Choices
Of Zhao and Decisions
A/N: I should be doing my summer homework. Instead I watched Pirates of the Caribbean 2 for the third time. I can’t wait for the third one to come out. Oh, and I just had an Avatar marathon yesterday. We watched every episode. Then we watched fan videos, read fan fics, and looked at fan art. It took ten hours… I have too much free time.
Disclaimer: I own two dogs and several books and CD’s and that’s about it.
Warnings: AU, rape, torture, slash, child abuse, violence, and just all around meanness…
Spoilers: Selective use of the cannon up till The Fury of Aang
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Chapter 2: Of Zhao and Decisions
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Zuko followed the Captain onto the other ship and down a long corridor and into the Captain’s cabin. It was dark, but Zuko could tell that it was covered in treasure. Captain Yau pulled back the curtains and Zuko flinched back to see a man chained to the desk. Zuko turned unnaturally pale at the amount of damage done to the man.
The position of the man left little to no doubt about what had occurred, arms and head off the edge of the desk, bottom up in the air, making it easy to take advantage. And judging from the dried fluid, advantage had been taken. Several times. Perhaps most cruelly, there on a separate table, just inches away, but as unreachable as the moon, a plate of still-warm food.
Captain Yau, seeing Zuko’s reaction laughed, “Yes, he’s a favorite of mine. But he’s a broken toy,” here Yau grabbed the man by the hair and pulled him up in a painful arch.
Zuko flinched back in shock, “Impossibe!” He breathed. The face was so covered in blood and bruising and so badly swollen that it was hard to recognize the man beneath the mask of gore. But Zuko would never forget that face, “Zhao,” he whispered again.
Yau laughed again, “I see you recognize my little toy,” he chuckled, shaking Zhao’s head. Zhao didn’t react except for the tears in his eyes. “As I was saying, he’s a broken toy, he barely screams anymore, and what’s the fun in a toy that don’t play back?”
“What’s that got to do with me?” Zuko asked guardedly.
“I’ll give him to you, for a price,” Captain Yau smirked.
“What price?”
“You, an hour of your time.”
Zuko stepped back in shock, “You want me to whore myself out to you!? For him!?”
“Yes,” the simple reply.
Zuko stepped over to the severely damaged man. Could he let another suffer the way Zhao had made him suffer. Could he endure another rape for his rapist. To buy time he brushed the hair out of Zhao’s eyes. He looked deep into them to see if anything of the old Zhao remained. He saw only fear and resignation. If he’d already given up… But there was still some glimmers of life in the blank eyes. He couldn’t let them die.
“Alright Captain, I accept. Just let me tell the General that it will take some time to complete negotiations,’ Yau nodded. Zuko walked back across to his own ship.