Chapter Text
She was in the center of an inferno. The thick, heavy black smoke was suffocating, blurring her vision and making every draw of breath more laborious than the last. Everywhere she looked, flames sang out, drawing closer and closer.
Desperately, she reached out to grasp more water, to draw her element forth. And yet, the water would not come. It would not heed her call. It ebbed and flowed, unresponsive, so far down below in the sea, crashing against the steel beams that held the prison rig aloft. To her grim realization, the fledging waterbender came to understand that she could not control her element when she needed it the most. Not amidst all this chaos, all this havoc. She needed time to concentrate.
However, her focus was fleeting. Smoke was filling her lungs constantly, causing her to cough repeatedly. She grew light headed and disoriented. Cries of pain rang throughout her ears as fellow prisoners fell to the oppressive might of the guards, one after the other. Flames licked at her shoulder, biting at the edges of her hair, and she hissed in shock, terror starting to creep into her mind. Somewhere, seemingly far away, she thought she heard her brother's voice call out, "Katara, stop! We have to leave now! It's Aang! Aang's down!"
An Earth Kingdom inmate crashed into her side and both tumbled to the ground in a heap. The older prisoner, unresponsive and smoking from the aftermath of absorbing a firebender's attack, pinned her to the unforgiving metal flooring. Her breath caught in her lungs as she slowly slid out from underneath the burdensome weight. "Katara! Where are you?! Katara!" Distantly, she heard her brother shouting wildly, every word more panicked and frantic than the last.
Struggling to her feet, Katara attempted to call out to him, "Sok-!" She flew back as a boot slammed into her chest, knocking her over the Earth Kingdom body behind her and causing her head to impact the prison rig deck with a sickening crunch. Eyes hazy and world spinning, she fought to look up at the shadow looming over her.
The waterbender felt herself being raised skyward by the neck of her tunic, the constricting cloth and ruthless fist narrowing her windpipe and causing her vision to darken along the edges. Fruitlessly, she reached out with her right hand and attempted to call the seawater to her side once more. She could not quit. She would not quit.
"Foolish girl!" snarled the warden as he slammed her down onto the deck a second time. Katara coughed out blood. He sneered. "You thought a few inspirational words and some coal would change these people? These are the ideas of a child. One who does not understand how the world works. You failed girl. This uprising is over. I am the law here-"
Suddenly the warden was full-body tackled from the side by a young Earth Kingdom male who was shouting at Katara to run as he repeatedly punched the warden in the face. More flames. Another older Earth Kingdom male bellowed out in anger. More fire. The sickening smell of scorched flesh invaded her senses. The sounds of fighting were growing quieter and quieter. Somewhere, almost a haunting echo at the edge of her mind, she swore she heard a faint, "Yip, yip!" Katara grunted in pain as the cold metal shackles were tightened securely around her wrists. She was trapped. The swing of a baton and she knew no more.
When Katara awoke in her compact, dingy cell, she nearly stumbled forward until the chains caught her. She was standing along the far wall, secured to the metal panel by both of her wrists. The long metal chains shackling her creaked with rust but held fast when she pulled against them. She struggled in vain against the bindings. Fought and pulled and cursed. There were no windows, no fresh air, no light, save for faint wisps of illumination from dreary candles in the outside corridor spilling into her cell from the small opening under the unyielding metal door.
She resisted at first, of course. When the guards opened her door for the first time, she insulted them, refused to answer their questions, grappled with her bindings. She looked about as fierce as baby fire ferret in the guards' eyes.
These Fire Nation torturers were not going to break her. She was strong. A proud Water Tribe girl from the South Pole. The daughter of a great chieftain.
However, she was not ready for when one of the guards reached his grimy hand towards her and ripped her mother's betrothal necklace from her neck. Then they left, as swiftly as they had arrived, laughing and jeering at her. The shock of what had just happened froze her in place for nearly a full minute. Then, like a dam breaking, Katara raged uselessly against her chains for hours until she lost her voice, her cries growing more and more raspy into the endless night.
The leak was the worst part. The waterbender honestly could not be sure if the leak was intentional or not. Whether a calculated torture or a truly wretched coincidence, that leak was a constant reminder that somewhere, just beyond both her sight and her reach, there was water. Water that signaled freedom. Water that signaled hope. Water that betrayed her when she needed it most.
There was no food for the first two days. Water was given sparingly, from a long wooden spoon extended from the door and never enough to be considered a full drink. Hunger and thirst became constants.
The first few times she did receive water, she would wait until the guard left the hallway before she would spit some water out into her hands and try to loosen or freeze the locks on her chains with it. But it wouldn't work. She was not skilled enough for such delicate bending. And it left her even thirstier with the reduced water ration.
The beatings came next. The warden would sneer over her as one or two of his guards swung their heavy batons. At least there were questions initially. They would ask where the Avatar was going, who he was meeting with, what his plans to attack the Fire Nation were. She would refuse to talk and a baton would strike her face or her body. Food and drink tended to cease for a while after these sessions. But still, she would not let them break her.
She imagined countless times during the first two weeks that Aang and Sokka would return. She had seen Aang in the Avatar State. With that strength, he could turn this prison rig inside out and free her. Then, they could all escape together.
But they never came. Her hope began to turn into anxiety. Why weren't they coming? Was Aang gravely hurt from the failed prison uprising? Sokka had been shouting that Aang was injured and unable to fight. Was the injury bad? Did they think the Fire Nation took her to a different prison? Did they think she was dead? All she had were questions and no answers, save her growing trepidation.
She cried to herself sometimes. But only when she was absolutely positive the guards were not in the hallway. She had been naive, so terribly naive. Of course the Fire Nation prison guards would have been ready to quell any possible prison breaks. There was a reason why the Fire Nation had been winning this war for the past one hundred years.
They were not incompetent. The war wouldn't have lasted this long if they were. The guards had been well trained and ruthlessly efficient. Malnourished, fatigued prisoners were simply an unruly mob to them. After the initial shock of witnessing the coal burst into the prison yard wore off, the prison guards closed ranks and collapsed in on the prisoners. Divided them into smaller and smaller groups, until any semblance of unity was shattered and the uprisers fell one by one.
So many dead. So many dead because of her. A stupid, silly little girl who had believed with all her heart that good would always triumph over evil in the end. Her optimism, her hopefulness, her confidence cut short the lives of so many. Stirred them to act and die.
She had been surrounded by her element. Water was all around her on the deck of the prison rig. Just a couple hundred feet below, the sea waves swayed back and forth. But she had not been able to call her element to her aid when she needed it the most. She was not strong enough. She did not have the control, the skill. Despite the courage she had, she did not know how to reliably waterbend.
She had been caught up in the hope of the Avatar's return. Caught up in the belief that his return signaled the end of the Fire Nation's tyranny. Caught up in the idea that she, a young Water Tribe girl from the South Pole, could somehow support him in his fight to restore balance to the world.
If she recalled her brother's cries correctly, Aang could be seriously injured now. She was confident that her brother and the Avatar had evaded capture; otherwise, they would probably be down in the cells locked up with her. Or maybe even worse...
'No!' inwardly shouted some still rational part of the waterbender's mind. She couldn't allow herself to succumb to that way of thinking. Aang and Sokka had gotten away. They had to of gotten away.
Still, the fear that Aang's life had been threatened, that the faint flicker of hope the world had seen for the first time in the last century could possibly be snuffed out because of her, terrified her to no end. Sokka had been right. The liberation of the prison rig had been insignificant in the grand scheme of things. Aang could be dying because she had wanted to save a handful of people in one prison when countless others suffered across the world. The last, great hope may be gone because of her naivety.
Drip. Drip. Drip. And still the leak echoed softly somewhere behind the metal prison walls. Taunting hope and freedom. So close to her element and still so far away. Just like the earthbenders she tried to save.
Eventually, time lost its meaning. Days and nights blurred together as she remained locked away in her metal cell. The guards never allowed her to leave that room. Days, weeks, months; Katara lost her ability to measure time as she remained buried deep within the prison rig with only her constantly downward spiraling thoughts to keep her company.
Finally, the combination of pain, hunger, thirst, and deliriousness extracted their heavy toll on Katara. She just wanted it to stop. She just wanted it end. The promises to cease the constant torture if she would only answer a couple simple questions grew more enticing each passing day.
After one particularly brutal baton strike, Katara could not be sure if it was her own voice or not, the unrecognizable tone sounded so detached from her own consciousness, but she could feel the word "Omashu," leave her lips.
Almost instantly, the beatings stopped and she could hear the warden chuckle faintly in the background as the cell door opened and the guards left. She hugged her knees to her chest weakly and cried. Hours later, she still wondered to herself if she just condemned more people to death. People who had previously helped her and her friends.
She heard a noise in the night once. At least she thought it was nighttime. It was so hard to be sure. It had sounded like something big had approached the prison rig. There were lots of activity and shuffling footsteps on the upper decks. For one fleeting moment, she thought, 'Appa?' Was Aang about to burst down her cell door and come walking in with a goofy grin on his face as Sokka watched the hallway while saying 'I told you so.' Katara would give just about anything right now to hear her brother tell her that he told her so just one more time.
But there were no sounds of fighting in the hallways. No one running down the metal corridors to where her cell was located. Instead, she heard various doors unlock with a key and the shouts of guards telling people to move. She heard other inmates shuffle into the hallway, their chains clinking against the metal ground. No one came to her cell. The selected prisoners were led away. She never heard them return.
More time passed, but the interrogation sessions did not resume. Apparently the warden had gotten whatever information he wanted or maybe he had just grown bored of his latest toy. Perhaps he deemed her of little value or simply forgot about her. Meals and water continued to appear occasionally, but they were always meager, never enough to sate the hunger or thirst. Drip. Drip. Drip.
There came a time when the metal cell door burst open loudly and Katara shrank into the back corner of her compact chamber uselessly trying to disappear. A face hidden behind a masked helmet snarled at her and she curled up even tighter into a protective ball to shield herself from the strike that she was sure was coming.
She heard the clink of her manacles being removed from their secured place on the wall. A rough hand gripped her shoulder and pulled her to her unstable feet. Pain erupted all throughout her body as her legs protested to support her weight. "Move," came the gruff order from the guard as he gave the shackles a harsh tug. "Don't get any rebellious ideas." A flame burst to life in his other hand. "Or do, that could be fun too."
Katara stumbled forward out of the cell. She tripped over herself almost immediately and collapsed into the hallway corridor in a pitiful heap. The firebender simply kicked her in the side and pulled her back up by the chains. "I said move waterbender. The warden wishes to talk."
Katara grunted in pain, but offered no resistance. Resistance would only be met with another strike or kick. Somehow, she began walking down the corridor, her body pressed against the wall as she found the strength to slowly creep forward one hand at a time supporting her on that wall. As the guard opened the door at the far end, a swift blast of salty air caused her eyes to water.
Weeks? Months? Katara could not be sure how much time had passed locked away down in the prison rig. She had not seen the sun in what felt like forever and it blinded her. There was a chill in the air, but it was too warm for winter, spring perhaps then? She dared a glance down the scaffolding. Down into the prison yard where there had been so much smoke, so much screaming, so much death. She averted her eyes in shame. A tug at her chains propelled her forward.
At the end of the walkway stood the warden overwatching the prison rig. "And so our fair water rat graces us with her presence. I hope you don't mind the scenery. I do so love the smell of hots coals in the afternoon. Reminds me of a great victory."
Katara glared at him, but could not muster up the strength to put up anymore of a fight. Her shaky legs threatened to give way just from standing upright for the last couple of minutes. The warden seemed to notice this and smirked. "Rejoice! I have good news for you. I have finally figured out a use for you." He glanced at the guard behind her. "I trust she remains unsullied?"
"Yes, sir. No one here was interested in a pathetic bilge rat," replied the guard with an indifferent shrug.
"Good, good," beamed the warden. "That keeps her value high." He towered over the waterbender. "You see, we run a bit of a market for laborers and other... professions. There is never a shortage of buyers in the Fire Colonies." Katara's eyes widen as she started to comprehend his insinuations.
"Clean her, brand her, and ship her out," ordered the warden with a dismissing wave of his hand as he turned away and looked back over the railing. The guard gave a salute before pulling at the chains and half-leading, half-dragging the stunned girl back below the prison rig decks.
She nearly tripped on the first step down. It had been forever since she had walked on her own feet for any length of distance and this little excursion was exhausting her rapidly. A harsh tug at her restraints kept her upright and moving forward.
She smelled them before she saw them. The other prisoners marked for the slave barge. A blistering, grotesque Fire Nation flame emblem freshly branded onto each upper left arm just below the shoulder. A new terror surged upward within her mind as she took in the sight.
With a flash of unknown strength, Katara turned and bolted back down the corridor and towards the stairs leading out to the deck. Maybe she could get to the railing, to the side of the prison rig, to the water. Jump down into the sea. The hundreds of feet down a sheer vertical drop. Return to her element. Return to the sea. Figure out some fantastical way to escape.
She had caught her guard escort unawares. There was no other way how her chains could have slipped from the man's hand and clambered loudly to the ground, echoing throughout the corridor. She made it an impressive total of about ten steps before her own legs betrayed her and she crashed heavily onto the ground in a weakened mess.
Multiple guards tackled her within seconds. She screamed loudly until her voice gave out. She kicked. She flailed. She thrashed harshly. She bit. She still had some fight left in her and she was not going to go quietly. Not like this. Branded as a slave, humiliated and shamed further.
Her bound fists found purchase in some unnamed guard's chin and he staggered for a moment, stunned. His head snapped back in anger and with a growl, he punched her squarely in the face. She answered by sinking her teeth down deeply into his outstretched hand. "You wretch!" he cursed as he used his other hand to pull her head back to try and pry her mouth from his hand.
More guards rushed to help and Katara could feel the cold fingers press roughly beneath her jaw and chin and loosen her vice grip. Within seconds, she was gagged and further bound with more rope. Her rapid, forceful breaths slowed as her body brutally reminded her that she had completely exceeded her stamina with that last stunt. She felt the room spin as her vision grew darker and darker along the edges of her eyes.
"This'll scar," hissed a guard in pain from somewhere above her. "Damn water savage."
"Those stories from the Raiders might actually have some truth to them," commented another voice. "Who would've guessed a half-starved little girl would have that much fight left in her?"
"A savage I tell you. Definitely not a proper Fire Nation girl. I pity whatever dumb soul bothers to buy her at the market. She'll probably end up killing them if they aren't careful," continued the first voice.
"Not our problem," replied the second. "The warden pays well for this little side business and I'd rather not lose this extra stipend."
"That eye of hers is going to blacken," noted a third voice. "The warden won't like us lowering the price of his goods before the market."
"Hang her price. Just say she walked into a pole or something because she's clumsy." A swift kick was delivered into her ribs and she grunted in response. "And get her out of my sight. I'm going to go disinfect my hand."
Katara was fading in and out of consciousness when she noticed a bright red branding iron being pulled from the coals. The searing white-hot pain exploded all her senses as she screamed her voice raw and the sweet embrace of oblivion took her.