Okay not very good for starters but i promise it will get better. I will try to update as often as I can.

Chapter 1: Reilving the past, lost hope

"Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned" I thought to myself

"Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned" I thought to myself. It was what my mother used to tell me all the time. She told me it meant that I should never let myself be told I wasn't good enough, and to never let a man control me.

The words might as well have been meaningless to me now. Because everyday for the last five years of my life I had been forced to do things by many men, and had been told how worthless I was. That's how Water Tribe women were treated in Fire Nation prisons.

I knew exactly what my mother would say if she could see me now. I could imagine exactly how she would say it and the look on her face when she said it.

"Don't give up now. Just keep looking ahead and before you know it, you'll see the light. And the moment you see it, run towards it as fast as you can. Because sometimes if you don't run fast enough it will get ahead again. Don't let your dreams get away from you; catch them while they're in your grasp."

But even the words coming from her own mouth wouldn't change anything. I had no dreams anymore. Dreams were futile in the era we lived in. I remember having had dreams once a long time ago. But that had all ended on the day of the attack. I remembered back to that day as if I had only just lived it.

My brother, Ruki, had been telling me I needed to help out more with our mother. To help her get over the loss of our father. Back then I had always had hope even when others didn't. I had argued that Father wasn't gone just away for now. The truth was we had never really known for sure what had happened to him. He went to war and never returned. Members of our tribe came back saying the King had not returned with them.

Yes, the King. My father, King of the Central Water Tribe. Making my mother Queen, my brother Prince, and me Princess. But I'm getting off topic. I remembered back to what Ruki told me after I disagreed.

"When are you going to get it?" His words cut through me like sharp daggers. "Dad's not coming home."

"Don't say that," the tears pricked at my eyes. "There's still a chance he could just be in a Fire Nation Prison. Once he escapes he – "

"He's dead, Kona. Everyone else has accepted it. Why won't you?" His words were blunt, cold, and not like him at all.

"Ruki, what's wrong? This isn't like you."

"I guess I've finally gotten a grip on reality. I've seen innocent men die for our protection. The Fire Nation is ruthless. They don't take hostages, or prisoners, they just kill."

"But there's still a chance – "

"No! It's done, finished! Just…let it go." With that he walked away.

That was the day I realized everyone had given up hope. And that was the beginning of the end of my hope.

It had only been a few hours later when I heard the screaming. I ran from my room as fast as I could to find my mother. I looked in her room but she wasn't there. As I left I left the door open and ran down the stairs, nearly tripping several times. As I reached the bottom step I turned a sharp corner and went into the Nursery. My mother was standing there protecting my younger sister's crib. Sukaya was only a few months old. I stepped farther in to see what she was protecting the crib from and saw a Fire Nation soldier standing in front of her with a small flame lit in his hand.

"Where are your other children?" The man demanded

"Please leave us be."

"Tell me where they are!"

"I don't know! Please just leave us we have done nothing to you!" My mother begged.

"I'll get it out of you one way or another." He said with a malicious smile as he brought the small flame closer to her. I looked away as I heard my mother's screams and pleas. When they quieted I looked back at her and saw a scar slowly forming on the gentle skin of her left arm. "Now tell me!"

"Please leave them be they are just children! They have done no wrong!"

He started to bring the flame towards her again and I couldn't take it. I stepped forward without thinking.

"Mom!" the man turned to me and smiled a smile so sinister that the only words I could think of to describe it were 'pure evil'.

"Run Kona!" Came my mother's cries. And when the man started to walk toward me I did. I ran as if my life depended on it and even then I was sure it did. At first I went to run outside but a Firebender standing above the Water Tribe soldier he had just killed noticed me and began coming towards me. I turned and ran up the stairs, but about half way up someone grabbed my ankle making me fall. It was the man who had hurt my mother. I squirmed and kicked to get away from him and finally his grasp loosened just enough for me to slide my foot out, leaving my shoe behind.

I scrambled to the top of the stairs and turned into my mother's room, thankful that I had left the door open in my hurry to get down the stairs. I quickly shut the door behind me and back up. I looked around the room frantically for something to prop against the door. Finally my eyes settled on my mother's dresser. I went to one side of it and pushed it over in front of the door. I backed up and immediately something hit the door nearly causing the dresser to topple over. I ran and hid underneath the desk. It was built with a hole in one half of the side so that a chair could fit in. The other half, however, was blocked to the outside and was empty inside. I crawled inside there. Finally the dresser toppled over breaking and spilling all over the floor. Someone forced the door open and I covered my mouth to quiet my breathing.

"Find her." Were the only words I heard as I tried to keep calm. I heard shuffling around.

"She's gone, sir." Came another voice.

"The rest of the royal family has been killed. We were ordered by the FireLord himself to dispose of the entire royal family of the Central Water Tribe. So if you would prefer to keep your head I suggest you fine her! Smoke her out if you have to. She couldn't have gone far."

I tried to hold back the tears that came with the knowledge of knowing my whole family was killed. I tried to remain quiet. And once I saw the smoke I tried not to panic. Once the smoke entered my lungs I tried to find clean air to breathe and then I tried not breathing at all. Then all I was trying to do was to breathe. The smoke had filled my lungs making it harder and harder for me to breathe. Finally I crawled out from under the desk and ran to the window. It was closed and I tried to open it but it seemed to be jammed. I thought I was going to die. The last thing I remembered was passing out.

When I woke up I was gently rocking back and forth. It took me a while to realize I was on a ship. After that realization came to me I realized I was in chains. It wasn't long before I blacked out again. And then I woke up in the cell I was laying in at the very moment.

I had re-lived that day over and over for the past five years. It was hard to believe it had only been five years when it seemed like an eternity. It was also hard to believe I was only seventeen. She felt much older with all that she had endured. And yet she still felt much younger because she was too weak to do anything against her captors.

They called it 'The Boiling Rock'. It definitely lived up to its name. Only the rock wasn't always what boiled. Sometimes it was innocent, gentle skin against the fiery hands of the prison guards. She had only been burned a few times over the years as surprising as it was. And it had all been in the first couple of years she had been there. Because that was as long as it took for her to realize that submission was easier than defiance.

I knew I had lost what I had once had. More than just my innocence, I had lost my hope. I was just floating through life as if I wasn't even living it. As if I was watching it from the sidelines. And I knew it would take a lot more than freedom (if that ever even came) to give me my life back.

A/N: Okay yes a little depressing right now but I promise it gets better. Like I said I will try to update as often as possible.