Zuko's Regression

Part Five

Lei cried out as she was flung into a room. Groaning, she forced her resistant limbs to stand and face the enemies in the doorway.
"Well, isn't this cozy?" Azula remarked with a scathing look at the rough cinder block walls. The only thing adorning the room was a small oil lamp hanging on the wall.
Azula flicked her fingers and the lamp lit, bathing the dingy room in a sinister orange glow.
"I suppose you're used to such arrangements though," Azula said. "Coming from the slums."
She was trying to make her angry. Lei was in no position to lash out. She was still fighting off the effects of Ty Lee's chi blocking and her only weapon was at the bottom of a river miles away.
"Anyway," Azula continued. "This will do until my brother comes to rescue you."
"He won't come for me," Lei said. "He's not that stupid."
"I think he will."
Azula turned and her posse followed obediently.
"Honestly, I don't know what he sees in you," she drawled as she reached the door. "You're wholly pathetic."
"How's your hand?" Lei asked cooly.
Something dangerous flashed in Azula's eyes, but disappeared instantly under an unsettling mask of calm.
"Oh, that's right," Azula said with a wicked smirk. "Thank you for reminding me."
The princess surged forward. Lei didn't even get a chance to dodge before she was forced to the ground.
Azula's knee pressed down on the back of Lei's throat. The princess held a tight grip on Lei's left wrist.
"Mai," Azula said amiably, "Can I borrow one of your knives?"
Lei struggled against the princess's grip as a blade flashed in her peripheral vision.
"Fair is fair," Azula remarked as she brought the dagger down.
Lei screamed as pain exploded all the way down her arm. Azula released her and Lei jerked her injured hand to her chest. Two of her fingers did not come with it.
"That was incredibly cathartic," Azula said with a relieved sigh.
Lei grit her teeth and pressed the stubs where her fingers had been against the fabric of her fire nation disguise. She once again had no bandages to halt the bleeding.
"What about it Ty Lee?" Azula asked. "You already got revenge for your hair, but what about your face? It's her fault your cheek was cut open."
Lei glared up at the trio through watery eyes.
Ty Lee took the knife from Azula and stalked forward.
Lei scrambled away, sliding across the rough stone ground until her back collided with a wall.
Ty Lee crouched in front of Lei and grabbed a hold of her throat so she couldn't escape. Lei wheezed against her fingers.
Ty Lee's face shifted. She no longer looked angry, just confused and perhaps a bit pitying.
"You know, I actually don't mind the cut," Ty Lee said, releasing her grip on Lei's throat and handing the knife back to Azula. "I think it gives my face character."
"Oh, well," Azula sighed. "I guess if that's how you feel. I'll just do it myself."
Lei screamed as Azula, quick as a hedgehog snake, drew the blade across her cheek. Lei clapped her uninjured hand to her face. The cut wasn't deep, but it stung like crazy.
"What about you, Mai?" Azula asked. "What did she do to you?"
"She stabbed me through the hand," Mai said disinterestedly.
Azula yanked Lei's already injured hand away from her chest.
"No! Stop it!" Lei shrieked, But Azula was already burying the blade through her palm.
Lei screamed and instinctively flinched away from the pain, causing the cut to widen slightly.
"Well there we are," Azula said casually as she yanked the knife back out.
Lei collapsed against the wall and clutched her hand to her chest.
The fire princess stooped and picked up Lei's two severed fingers from the floor.
"All those preachy sages were right," Azula said as she examined her prize. "Justice is rewarding."
The three turned to leave and Lei shuddered in relief.
"Oh wait," Azula said as she reached the doorway.
"Wasn't there one more thing she did to you, Mai?"
Lei tried to rack her pain-muddled brain for what new torture was about to be inflicted upon her.
Mai crossed her arms and turned her gaze to the floor, not looking at either Azula or Lei.
"She stole the boy you love from you," Azula supplied while smiling wickedly at Lei. "I guess we'll have to return the favor."
"No," Lei moaned, but the princess simply laughed and pulled the door shut behind her. Lei was left alone and in pain with tears streaming down her cheeks.
"Zuko," she whispered to herself. "Please don't do anything stupid."