The Princess and the Peasant - (An Azula Epic)

My Name is Naoki

In the hazy distance.

The little girl saw the silhouette of the man named Strados in a green military uniform approaching over the horizon.

His hair blew in his pitiless blue eyes while his lips began to pull into a cruel smile as he strode towards her.

And then just when the man was about to reach her.

She was swiftly torn from her phantasm by the painful sensation of the whip yet again lashing against her bleeding back.

The child sunk to her knees with her brown eyes agape in unimaginable torment while her bloodied hands hung at her hips.

Her mouth was entrenched in an expression of despair as she collapsed into a heap upon the floor.

And all she could do was stare hauntingly at the ever-present metal wall.

That only served as a constant reminder of her imprisonment.

Seven years later.

The fourteen-year-old stood rigid in hospital robes in the center of a metallic cell with her now emotionless brown eyes gazing on ahead.

And she didn't even so much as flinch when an electric pain shot down her body.

She stood unflinching even when a projectile was lobbed at her cheek.

She stared ahead unblinking with unresponsive brown eyes.

As a team of scientists watched without remorse through a monitor as they assessed the girl's progress.

"They all have their merits. But without a doubt...Subject Number Two is the most optimal. As you can see. She no longer responds to painful stimuli. It is my belief that once we complete the control program...that this one will make the ideal supersoldier." A voice informed his superior as they watched the girl's skin get pelted by projectile fire.

Even when her skin was torn open.

She barely even scowled as she stood straight glaring ahead.

Meanwhile in another cell.

A brown-haired girl sat alone huddled in a ball in a dark cell devoid of light.

Her golden eyes grew wide in increasing insanity as she madly pulled at her hair while screaming at the top of her lungs.

"Won't someone...please turn on the light!" Subject Twenty-One shrieked in a maddened voice with her fingers digging into her scalp while her howls echoed throughout the prison halls.

Only for no one to answer her cries as she sunk back against the wall with her fingertips still pulling into her hair.

"As for Subject Twenty-One...her power seems to be latent." The voice commented in a rigid manner as the monitor changed from one subject to the next.

The now emotionless redhead sat unmoving in her cell with her cold eyes staring darkly ahead.

Only for her hardened eyes to flicker in annoyance when a voice called out to her from the opposing cell across the hall.

"How long have you been in here?" A boy with dark hair called out from where he stood while he gazed out of the small window on his cell door.

The orphan said nothing in response as she instead scowled in the direction of the boy.

"My name is Yuji..." Yuji stated offered in a frightened voice while the girl still glared at her door.

'Why did they have to go and put this fool near my cell of all places?' The nameless girl thought with her hands resting upon her knees.