"Again!"

There were many things that Honora of the firenation had been taught in her years at the palace, in her years of training, of becoming a master of her own element, it was true...but there was also plenty that she had learned with her own two palms stained with divinity, with sin. She had been taught that the quickest way to kill a man was by the snapping of his neck, a quick jerk of critically placed hands and his soul would drift to the spirit world to await the judgement of Angi...but she had learnt that the most painful way to kill a man was by consuming him with ivory flame until flesh melted from bone.

A mere difference of nature versus nurture, of cruelty taught and cruelty learned, being turned into a monster and then becoming one through your own ruin. She had been taught that fire was devastation, it was a disease that festered in the dying light, a spark and a match and a bomb all rolled in one, that it was dangerous and good and powerful. But she had learned that fire was death disguised in warmth...and sometimes it seemed that only she could feel the burning, could smell the soot that choked her, could condemn the flame that scorched the earth in its desire to eat itself whole.

She was reminded of such things as the morning sun beat down upon her pale face in waves of amber, as it brushed over her skin, as it seeped into her flesh and made her feel alight with power, like she was on the crusp of exploding and taking the whole South pole with her.

But Honora didn't have time to linger on such thoughts for long as she felt the sudden heat creeping up behind her, a raging inferno of amber flame with its desire to burn...and with a long suffering sigh she simply clenched her fist, forcing the fire ball to diminish into nothing more than a mere brush of warm air that she wafted away with an aura of nonchalant boredom, glancing over towards her brother who was soaked in perspiration, panting for breath and growing more and more frustrated with every loss he'd suffer...as if he'd ever best her even on her worst days.

"Come now, Zuko. I'm sure you can do better than that...it's not possible that you're somehow becoming worse now, is it?"

There was a mocking expression of worry, of twisted concern that was too sweet to be true on her ethereal face as he growled at her furiously, her voice echoing through the mostly empty deck where no crew member dared show their face, rough and husky, like the flames she controlled had overwhelmed her so completely it had burned through her throat and made her every word seem like she was choking on the ash she left in her wake, a sultry seduction that spat venom and cruelty and was sharper than any mere blade that would cut into their path.

It was a voice that could command armies, a voice that had been raised to do so...and instead here she stood, using it to taunt her younger brother like they were children once more.

She was given the desired effect, his face shifting into a murderous scowl as with a yell, he pushed a large wave of amber fire towards her, the likes of which would be impressive if their sparring hadn't served a particular purpose...and so she simply lifted scarred hands to greet it, letting the flames consume her as her own whirlwind of ivory encased her in an embrace that grew and grew and grew until it was practically flirting with the skies, disappearing into the flames...before allowing them to seep into her flesh as she abruptly appeared in front of her brother who'd startled in suprise.

"You lose." The princess cooed, and then swiftly dug her forefinger into his stomach, letting the smallest current of lightning that she'd tamed drift through her skin and into his own as his muscles seized and spasmed, forcing him down to his knees as his own body betrayed him. She didn't hold on for long of course, she had no desire to actually hurt him as much as he may of liked to believe differently, she just needed him to take a moment to breathe before he'd pass out after over exerting himself to the point of self destruction again because he simply didn't know when to stop.

"That is enough, Princess Honora!"

However, to the judging eyes of their singular onlooker, it seemed that it was she who didn't know when to stop, and her efforts were most definitely not appreciated. Their uncle Iroh once had posed a cutting figure, the legends of his battles, his drive, his power of being the Dragon of the West, the General who'd been the closest anyone had ever gotten to breaking the impenetrable stronghold of Ba Sing Se...now nothing more than a fat old man who'd allowed his losses to overwhelm him completely, unintentionally showing the young Princess exactly what happened to fools who loved.

"Is it, uncle? Because I'm not quite sure he's learned the lesson yet." Now, who do you sound like, Princess? It's almost like you've never left his clutches, you truly are your father's daughter, how utterly ironic. She ignored the familar voice that echoed through her mind like a mockery, painful and raw as she instead watched her brother rise to his feet, fighting the desperate urge to help him with a hidden anxiety in her golden depths...because this was her lesson as well as his own, he needed to rely on his own strength, he needed to be stronger than he was, he needed to not need her.

There was something wrong in the air and Honora could feel it, could taste it heavy upon her tongue like ash, something that was getting stronger the further they moved through the icy waters below. And it felt like she was the only one who could sense it, could sense the omen in the air that drifted over her ruined flesh, that she was the only one that could hear the warning that something was about to change, was about to be released, was about to be set free.

And then Zuko finally managed to grab his bearings and captured her attention, scoffing dramatically as he stepped towards her, staring up at the dark features that painted her like a half forgotten god, bitter and devastating, a hurricane on the horizon, a bomb waiting to blow...a symphony of all the things he wasn't, of all the things he'd wanted to be as he trembled and shook with a rage that burned him from the inside out. "There is no lesson! You just want to humiliate me in front of my crew like you always do to prove that you're stronger!"

Honora almost laughed, and it would of been a hacking sound that ached with the burden of her knowledge, the desperation to ask if he truly thought she'd ever wanted to be like this? To be a weapon of mass destruction? That there was a price to pay for being powerful and it had been humanity, it had been everything...and she had taken that mantle for him, for her, for them. "You, little brother, humiliate yourself. You need to think with your head instead of your fists, letting your emotions control you will only lead to your demise...and I cannot protect you forever. Do you understand?"

"Protect me? When have you ever protected me!?"

I've protected you in more ways than you could ever even begin to know, she didn't dare let the painted seams of her lips peel open as the thought struck like lightning in the night, terrified of what she'd say, she'd confess as she stilled, her golden eyes narrowed with the glare of a thousands suns, bearing down upon his mortal flesh like a god about to cast its judgement as a tense silence followed, growing as thick as the ash of the dead and haunting...before she finally waved an idle hand with an air of boredom and glanced over to their displeased uncle tiredly. "He's all yours, I've had enough of this game."

"What? We're not finished here! You promised me we'd spar! We go again!"

There was a vein throbbing in Zuko's pale head as he shouted enraged and spitting, fury lacing it's way through his body, shaking hands clenching into tight fists as Honora simply turned her back to him indifferently, already beginning to walk away without so much as a backward glance as her arms folded behind herself as she tutted mockingly in the quiet air that was pulled taunt with tension around them. "And we have sparred, have we not? Just because I have yet to properly use my bending doesn't mean you weren't challenged and now you're done."

But then, just as the princess reached the helm, she paused for just a moment, and finally, finally gave him one dark and deadly look from over her shoulder that made him believe that they were right back where they started all those years ago, eyes long since dead and cruel as they stared him down like he was an insect to be stepped on, a root to be pulled, a spirit to be banished. "And before I forget, you'd do well to not to speak to me with such disrespect, little brother...after all...I've killed for far less."
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It had been a few mere hours later, after she'd swallowed in her own guilt and self pity of being so harsh on her brother that the foreboding, that the rot carving it's way out through her stomach like a melancholy warning proved to hold some substance when the skies lit up with a glowing beacon of an blue abyss. And, of course, within mere moments Zuko was changing the ships course to follow it like a hound catching scent of blood with the crew having no choice but to obey him...and Honora wondered if they could feel it now, the tension, the omen that something wasn't right.

The princess couldn't exactly ask of them considering she was far too busy becoming one with her armour once more, hardly even remembering the last time she had bathed herself in its familar golden sheen with the strangest mixture of longing and hatred boiling inside of her on just how quick she was to fall back into the monstrosity he'd made of her...yet her armour would serve its purpose, the pointed shoulders, the dark colours upon white snow, a deadly concoction of ash that painted her as the threat she fine well was, because if the Avatar was truly in the small tribe like her brother seemed to believe...he probably wasn't going to come easily.

And that, of course, lead her to where she stood now, behind the bowsprit of the ship, listening to the awful sound of metal grinding against metal as they crashed through the wall of ice that had been the villagers protection, pretending she couldn't see the way Zuko had almost stumbled as they lurched forward and finally came to a stop...and then, when the bowsprit opened and folded down upon the snowy fortress, it was to find that the village was practically deserted, with nothing more than old people and children cowering away from them in panicked terror.

"I thought they'd be more." Zuko whispered to the side of her, dark amber eyes drifting around as if expecting an ambush to suddenly erupt from the snow like daisies and engage them, which really, just proved her theory that when he holed himself up in his room he was reading those stupid fairytale books that their mother had used to read to him when he was younger...probably the same ones she used to read to...well, best not to lose herself into the past.

"From what? The southern water-tribe who's benders were wiped out years ago?" She hummed mockingly, not even stopping for a moment as she strolled forward with her arms placed behind her back regally, ignoring the scowl she was given as the snow crunched delightfully beneath their feet , instead keeping her gaze upon the trembling tribe as they got closer and closer and closer. "There's a reason I told you to leave your men on the ship, little brother. We don't need a firefight when we're standing on thin ice as it is, quite literally."

And then there was a war cry that split the air, a vicious sounding thing that was bordering on hysterics as a figure charged towards them from over the icy banks, club raised high and ready to maim...but Honora merely stepped forward to intercept him with an aura of nonchalance that was criminal, swift to grab his arm and twist it until she felt something pop before slamming her fingers into his side, a sharp burst of lightning burning through her flesh and into his, and with a scream, the water-tribe boy slumped face down, his body immobilized and paralysed.

Gasps broke through the silence like it hadn't been there in the first place, terrified cries, whimpers and screams, a horror that swarmed through the tribe like a festering disease as they tried to scramble closer together in semblance of protection, but the princess didn't even give them as much as a glance as her long fingers curled over the back of the boys shirt and began to drag him through the snow with a sinful ease, her gaze as golden the sun but as cold as the ice that condemned them, a vast emptiness of nothing in her depths that held them prisoner to their fear.

But Honora simply lifted the water-triber up by his limp arm and flung him towards the villagers, watching as he flew through the air and then crashed back down, tumbling towards them and almost knocking them off their feet before a girl quickly fell down beside him, frantically cradling him in her arms and calling him name before she lifted her head up and glared at the princess fearlessly, her eyes as blue as the skies, as the churning seas, as the flames that haunted her as they connected with her own viciously and forced her attention to a strange standstill.

"Where are you hiding him?" Zuko finally spoke up, his teeth bared in a feral snarl, a desperation clinging to the rasp of his voice as his dark gaze drifted this way and that...but his answer was nothing more than trembling limbs and blank stares, and it wasn't all that hard to decipher that they all had no idea what he was talking about as they huddled closer to one another, the sound of crying children deafening and raw...and then her brother lunged forward, grabbing one of the elders and showing her off like a trophy. "He'd be about this age. Master of all four elements?"

Metathorial crickets were chirping as the princess took a breath that burned in the icy air, wanting this entire show to be over as her temperature rose alongside her temper, watching as he threw the older woman back to the crowd with a frustrated shout and burst of amber fury. "I know you're hiding him!"

Obviously, they weren't hiding him, Honora could see that and deep within his delusions she prayed that her brother could see that too. But just as she took a step towards him, she felt something inside of herself give way to chaos...and then she suddenly shifted and latched out with her scarred hand ruined with sin, catching the boomerang that had been cutting through the air, mere inches away from caving into Zuko's skull who'd turned to stare at it wide-eyed, her fingers dripping red down her gauntlet as she slowly turned to glance at the water-tribe boy who withered in the pale light of the scorching sun.

"That was the wrong move."

She'd had no intention of leaving corpses in her wake during this small journey, to bare her teeth and burn melancholy ghosts that would haunt her like phantom memories in the night, to stake her claim to the name monster...but she was nothing if not flexible as ivory flame began to dance over her palm and melt the weapon onto the sizzling snow, the metal liquid silver as it soaked through her unfeeling flesh, all the while staring its owner down who looked close to wetting himself.

However, the princess didn't exactly get far in her plan to incinerate the little bastard, because she'd barely even taken a step before her ear abruptly twitched against her head, a brush of something wrong dancing over her skin and letting goosebumps rise in its wake...and then she stepped to the side with her dark hair drifting in the sudden breeze just as a boy riding a penguin slid past her and barrelled into Zuko's legs who'd folded in on himself like a house of cards with his ass in the air which was truly just humiliating to look at.

"Hi Aang...thanks for comin'."

Aang...now that's a rather strange name, wasn't it? Honora stared at the boy with something dangerous flashing over her golden gaze, a cynical rot that began to bloom as looked at the blue tattoos that blessed his flesh, at the grey of his eyes, at the difference in his clothes, but most importantly, at the heavy pit that had formed in her stomach and clawed it's way to her throat as everything clicked into place. And then without the slightest change of expression, she threw her sai, letting it soar through the air and cut through the boys cheek as he cried out.

"Well, well, well, looks like you were right after all, brother. The Avatar...in the flesh and blood." She said darkly, the venom that coated her raspy voice silky sin, looking at the single drop of red mortality as it fell into the snow and blossomed like a mocking flower in bloom. It was at her words, however, that Zuko finally managed to drag himself up, disbelief twisting his maimed features at he looked at the tattooed boy, the last airbender, the chance at regaining his honour, his fathers love, at the little kid that stood in front of them daringly.

"Him? You!? I've spent tears preparing for this, training, meditating and you're just a child!"

"Well you're just a teenager!" The Avatar counteracted, almost offended in some kind of way before suddenly swiping his staff and blowing said teenager off of his feet, sending him soaring through the air and crashing into an ice wall that crumbled on top of him...and then turning to look at the tall figure that had come with him, and the moment his eyes met hers, he found something in his stomach twisting with terrible unease, because there was something about her that was just completely and utterly wrong and cold and dark.

There was a sharpness to her teeth that wasn't in any others, there was a scorching heat that radiated from her like a toxin that he could feel even while standing no where near her...and there was a static in the air, a drop, an ominous spark that made him feel as though he was standing in the middle of a brewing storm that would devastate everything and anything that got between its path.

"I don't want to hurt you." He called out carefully, fingers curling over his staff until his knuckles went white and the tips of his fingers ached with the threat of splinters, hesitating at the thought of an actual fight that he desperately tried to blame of his pacifist nature. But she only tilted her head, a dangerous grin shaper than the blade that had cut him stretching across her face like a haunting vision as she slipped into a stance that simply filled him with nothing but foreboding.

"Oh, I wouldn't sweat about it, boy." Honora snapped her teeth tauntingly, the ominous clack ringing through the silence like an echo...and then gave the Avatar the honor of having the first blow as he forced a large gust of air and snow towards her, but she was swift to dive out of the way, twisting her body mid jump and the kicked a wide arc of ivory flame back towards him, the type of which he only just managed to move out of the way for while the igloo behind him wasn't as lucky, melting down to a burning puddle in a mere moment as he quickly stood up and stared at her wide-eyed.

But then while he was distracted staring at the Princess who was definitely flirting with danger, there was a sudden heat passing above his head as Zuko shouted, throwing his fists in quick succession as bursts of fire erupted from his knuckles that the Avatar dodged and leapt over like some form of intricate dance that no one knew the moves too...but Honora found her gaze drifting over towards the villagers with something cruel shining in the gold of her eyes...because if the boy wanted to play the defensive so badly...then she'd just have to force his hand.

The blows between the two boys kept coming, getting stronger, getting more desperate as the fight drew on and the stakes grew higher. But then there was a sharp, terrified scream that broke their concentration...and when the Avatar turned around, it was to see Honora holding her sai to a young girls neck, a thin line of crimson beginning to bead over her skin as she whimpered, staring at the airbender in absolute terror as he gasped and froze. "Katara! Don't move!"

"Katara? That's a pretty name, it matches those pretty eyes...now make sure you be a good girl and listen to the Avatar now, I'd hate to have to gouge them out." The princess cooed, sharp teeth gleaming in the dull light as she looked over at the Avatar with a dark grin that spoke of damning things, knowing that she had him exactly where she wanted him as the staff dropped to the snowy ground below him. She didn't make a point of killing innocents, at least not anymore, mainly to prove said point to herself that she wasn't her father...but he didn't know that.

"Let her go! Please...I'll come with you if you promise to let her go, if you promise to just leave everyone alone." The boy begged, his compromise coming out slowly, carefully as he looked at them all closely, ignoring the water-tribe girls cries as she yelled at him not to do it...but the deal was already struck as Zuko grabbed the airbender while Honora let her sai slip back into the comfort of her gauntlet, Katara falling to the snowy floor without the support of the strong arm around her stomach, back into the crowd and into the safety of her brothers embrace.

"Set a course for the firenation! We're going home."

Home, home, home, we're going home, the words echoed through her mind as the memories swarmed her, seized her so suddenly that Honora almost froze. The smell of burning flesh, the scars that wrapped around her body in shades of pink and silver, the screams of the dying that haunted her, the blood on her hands, her unfeeling palms that seeped so far into her flesh that it seemed like they would never be clean from her sins, every callous word, every threat, every 'lesson' that left her ruined and broken, the horrible screech from her brother when skin melted and everything changed...they were going home...where she would finally finish what she stared three years ago.

Her father had taken her childhood and left a weapon in its wake while promising her salvation, had tortured her to become his perfect monster, the executioner to his judge and jury, to be a shrine of all things tragic and devastating, an inevitable ending to all things good...Ozai had turned her to a creature to be feared, and in the end...fear her he would.