Seokjin woke up shivering, searching for any source of warmth. He pried his eyes open with a groan, blinking in confusion when only bleary darkness met his gaze. He could hear a drip from somewhere and his legs were numb.

He stretched his neck, stumbling to his feet as he tried to figure out what happened. When the clink of chains and something heavy pulled at his arms he halted, eyes slowly adjusting to the low lighting so that he could take in the shackles on his wrists and ankles. He yanked at the metal harshly, letting out a grunt of pain when they cut into his wrists.

Darshi.

He remembered seeing her before everything turned into nothing. They were fighting. She must have won if this was the result. He tried to rub his arms to get some friction but the chains did not allow much room to maneuver. The room was freezing, no doubt an attempt to help dull his fire bending skills. He let out some flames from his hands and the metal turned orange. When it began to burn his skin he stopped, letting out a hiss of frustration. His head kept throbbing, the pain radiating from the back of his skull. He didn’t bother trying to touch it. He was pretty certain there wasn’t enough give in the chains.

As his eyes began to adjust he managed  to take in the room. It looked to be made of concrete, something only the Earth Kingdom used so he must still be there. There was a leak in the corner, a miniature river of water running straight towards him. He tensed when he saw the feet in a corner that were sitting on a chair, realizing that he wasn’t alone.

Darshi's expression was closed off, arms crossed against her chest as she took him in. Seokjin couldn’t help but think about how much things could change. Less than a year ago they were on the opposite side of the spectrum with him pulling all the strings. He wondered what she was thought when she saw him. Did she see him as he truly was? A terrified boy living in his father’s shadow. Or what he projected to the world? A man of unwavering strength and all too willing to hand out bloody consequences.

He didn’t know.

“How did you get in?” It was the only thing he could think to ask.

Her brows rose as if she hadn’t expected that question. “The portrait.”

“I checked them all after my paperwork went missing.”

The faintest of grins were on her face. “It wasn’t the frame that moved but the painting itself.”

He frowned, displeased with his own negligence. He should have known better.

“Do you know why you’re here?” She stood, the movement slow yet purposeful.

Seokjin snorted, rolling his neck. “Of course I do. I’m the Prince of the Fire Nation.”

“Do you know why I’m here?” she reiterated, unable to glimpse a smidgen of emotion in her eyes as she stepped closer.

His throat bobbed and he looked away. “I have a hunch.”

That drip became his only sound in the room besides the rustling of cloth as Darshi shifted. He bit his tongue, closing his eyes as he struggled to keep a level head and not let the chains get to him.

“I’m here because the leaders of the resistance voted for me to do this,” she said finally. “All of them were too afraid to be in the same room as you. It seems your reputation precedes you.”

“Yet you were the one who was enslaved by me.” He took in the ribbon on her neck, unable to make out the color with the darkness yet knowing its  bright crimson all too well. “You still wear it.”

“I’ll probably die wearing it.”

“Why?” He didn’t understand why anyone would want a reminder of their time in slavery. If it were him he'd burn anything that made him recall it.

“A reminder of my mistakes.”

The tension in his body dissipated and he slowly lowered himself to the floor accepting the situation. It would be impossible to get away, not with Adarshini in the room. The only person who could give her a run for her money was his father with King Shichiro dead. Perhaps Yoongi, but he was not certain of that.

Seokjin could remember all his mistakes, all the things he continued to do that was wrong despite knowing it. Starting with him becoming a man, letting out his anger in murder and feeling proud because of it. All the times his father complimented him on his ruthlessness during duels with his peers. How he killed off an entire race of people. All the water benders were on his consciousness. It was because of him they were dead.

Sometimes when he looked in the mirror he hated himself.

He was angry for what he had done, and angrier now that he understood the consequences of his actions. He was so confused about his emotions he no longer knew what to make of them, so he did what he did best and ignored them. Taehyung and his mother were right. He was a monster. The world probably made him pay for what he would one day do by taking them both away.

His mother was dead, but at least Taehyung was alive even if Seokjin never saw him again. He took comfort in the fact that Taehyung had to be happy out there somewhere with Yoongi, unable to be manipulated and scarred by their father. Freeing Yoongi and sending Taehyung off had to be one of the very few good deeds he’d done since his mother died. He told Yoongi where his little sister was located, hoping that was enough time to get the little girl before his father could send a letter to kill her. It took the Fire Lord longer to realize Yoongi was gone than Seokjin thought it would. Then again, his father had never been one to care about slaves.

Seokjin didn’t want to die, but it felt so wretched living. He understood why Darshi would want a reminder of the wrongs she had done, but Seokjin didn’t need one. His own face was a reminder of his immorality. Even though he knew he had done wrong, he couldn’t stop. He had been like this for so long. It was difficult to change, especially with his father breathing down his back more than ever after Taehyung disappeared.

That left him here.

In this room, with a girl he had forced to kill thousands of people who wore that reminder on her neck every day. The prospects did not look so good.

“What do you think about when you make a decision?” she probed.

Seokjin frowned, head lowered towards the ground. “I don’t know,” he mumbled. “I guess it depends by situation.”

She nodded, hands intertwined behind her back. It showed how much of a threat she thought of him. She didn’t even feel the need to be prepared for an attack. He remembered how easily she took to learning air bending with no teacher and only scrolls to read from. How vastly she improved in such a short amount of time. Darshi was a true prodigy of their generation.

“I think about what is best for the world,” she murmured, deep in thought. As if she had forgotten there was an audience in the room. “If I torture you, that isn’t good for you. It’s not good for me either. Doing that to another human being will be hard for me, but for the world….” She bit her lip and for the first time Seokjin managing to see a bit of the girl she had been on the ship what felt like years ago. The uncertain one, troubled by things that were out of her control. “It may help them,” she whispered. “I don’t want to do it, I’m very reluctant to do so, but what I feel about this doesn’t matter compared to the world.”

She stared down at her clenched hands, taking a deep breath in as she moved in closer with a firm expression was on her face. “Prince Seokjin of the Fire Nation. I ask you to give up any information regarding the Fire Nation. In return, you will have a clean death.”

“By your hand,” he pressed, wanting it to be no other.

She flinched as if taken aback, then her chin jutted forward and she scowled. “If that is your wish.”

He summoned fire to the palms of his hands, Darshi bringing her arms closer to the center of her body. She did not attack him, nor look tensed or ready to. With a light source he could see her face better, how beautiful it was to him. What it made him feel when he looked at her. It was impossible to push aside his feelings when she was right in front of him. The only thing blocking him from her human touch was the shackles on his body. He couldn’t recall what it felt like to feel her skin against his own. He could remember brushing against it, but back then he had not understood his feelings and put no impor