The World that Never Was

[ Korra in my Soldier Ma & Badgermole Girl universe. ] Korra meets Iroh and Lin, who are, of all things, siblings, all while living out the same life she has lived since she was five: inside a metal chamber. That is, until the leader of the rebellion swoops in to rescue her.

Author's Note: I made Iroh and Lin siblings because, as was hinted at, Zuko and Toph is the shipping of BM & SG. Lin is supposed to be her age in the show, perhaps a bit younger/more emotionally youthful, while Iroh is a bit older. LULZ. Korra's the same age, as is Amon. He's still a bloodbender, for the curious. I guess you can call this Amorra if you want. It's more like stockholm syndrome.

Korra laid helpless in the chamber. She closed her eyes, refusing to cry. She was the Avatar! That much her parents had assured her. Once. She thought. Swore. Recalled. Was told she was told. The teenage girl-skinny and emaciated and no where near the prowess she could obtain-was pale from missing the sun and her eyes were baggy from sleeping so much she found it meaningless. She longed for death, but they would never let her die. The Fire Nation had the world by its throat while they had her in its clutches.

The young General Iroh knew it, which was why he stopped by to show his young sister, the prize of their mother in her old age, the prisoner. "You see, Lin? She's weak. We're strong." He scratched the throat a very well bred badgermole, a creature that had slowly but surely come to be regarded as the second most popular Fire Army mount. Iroh generally didn't use them as he was a sea-faring warrior, but Lin, aiming to rule over a certain district as a Baronness one day, liked them very much.

"Weak as the last Avatar," Lin said slowly, languid as a cat and twice as malicious. She grinned down at Korra as the girl shivered. "Cold?" Lin asked. Her fists formed, but Iroh stopped her.

"No magma bending," he said strictly. While Toph loved nothing more than to magma and metal bend with her precious daughter, Fire Lady Azula put a strict stop to her sister-in-law's antics. Azula barely tolerated any children other than her own running around in the family tree ("You're a threat to my children's future," she once told them bluntly) so Iroh doubted the world leader would like anything less than to have an excuse to kill one of them.

Korra blinked. Why her?

"Just once." Lin said, still intent.

That was when it happened. For the first time in years, Korra saw the reflection of sunlight bouncing off the hole the sudden explosion had caused. She stared at the tunnel as dozens of men filtered in. Korra sat, too tired and too weak to do much.

Lin attacked, using metal bending and such to avid her captors. Iroh did well, too, but being older than his spry sister he found himself quickly over powered. She, too, was restrained.

Then, oh, and then walked Korra's angel. He wore a mask of white. He walked slowly over to the duo, ignoring the guards as they were taken down by his guerrilla raiders. Brief screaming preluded the collapsed royal siblings. The man turned her way, walking closer and closer.

"Avatar," he said simply.

She heistated to nod. Would the truth allow her to merely go from one cage to another? "Yes," she finally said, desperate for sunlight even if only for a moment.

"I will grant you freedom in exchange for one thing." He didn't even have to wait for her to struggle to stand, awaiting the terms. "Renounce bending. All of it. Tell people that it is evil, unnatural, and that the Avatar was created out of their abuse and is the biggest abomination."

"I'd offer to kill myself but that wouldn't help, would it?" she joked. Because that was what her humor had deteriorated into behind this iron fortress.

Amon shook his head, letting his foot soldier open the door. "No, no it wouldn't."

Korra hoped the sunlight was warmer than her angel.