"I'm telling you I didn't do it!" Tonraq roared as masked figures in uniform surrounded him and his wife.
"Now, now Tonraq," the leader replied. "Don't make this harder than it really is."
"Amon, you know I did not kill those people," the man continued. "I am not a murderer!"
"I don't doubt that," Amon admitted. "But I need someone to take the blame, and you are perfect for the job."
"I have a family. My wife is pregnant with my child, how could you do this to me?"
"You should be thinking about your family," the masked man continued as he approached the pregnant woman. "It would be a shame if you were to lose one of them. Or both."
"Don't you dare touch them!" Tonraq snarled.
"You are in no position to make threats."
"Please," Senna begged. "We'll leave Republic City, just let him go."
Amon nodded at his Lieutenant and the man approached her kali sticks in hand.
"No!" her husband screamed.
The leader held up a hand, motioning his second in command to stop.
"I need three words from you."
Tonraq slumped to his knees and closed his eyes.
"I did it."
Had Tonraq known that his wife would be coming to his prison, he would have never agreed to any of this, not that he had a choice to begin with. The thought of her being there with him in that prison and their child being born there caused unbearable pain to the young twenty year old. Senna soothed him, assuring him they would be fine, but she knew they wouldn't. Their prison was like no other they had seen. It was designed like a well, and had many tunnels or cells inside it. In the middle there was a small courtyard where you could glance up to the sky.
The months passed quickly and one night a loud wail broke through the air as their child was finally born. One of the female prisoners there helped her give birth while everyone else waited in the courtyard.
"It's a girl," the woman whispered to the new father as he rushed inside to meet his daughter.
Senna was on the floor drenched in sweat but smiling and cooing at the infant in her arms. When she saw her husband she grinned and handed the baby over to him.
"Korra," they said together.
Tonraq took the smiling child out for their fellow prisoners to meet her. There were a lot of people there serving sentences for crimes they didn't commit like he and his wife. He held out the baby and everyone smiled at the child.
An older man, named Aang, stepped forward and asked him to hold her. He smiled at her and the baby giggled in return.
"A prophesy was written about a child that will change the world," Aang began. "The child would suffer, losing everything they had to find their path. She will not be alone however; there will be those that will stand by her. Their path would lead to the liberation of all those who are oppressed. I believe it is this child," he finished.
Tonraq and Senna shared a look.
"How can you be so sure?" the child's mother asked.
"The true mind can weather all the lies and illusions without being lost. The true heart can touch the poison of hatred without being harmed. Since the beginning-less time, darkness thrives in the void but always yields to purifying light," Aang replied as he looked up to the opening of their prison where the moon shined brightly. "She is the light."
The years passed and although Korra was the only child in the prison, she never felt lonely because everyone there played with her, happy to see the little mischievous girl running around. There they taught her fight to defend herself, but at the same time doing everything possible for her to have a "normal" childhood given the circumstances. Every time Amon would come and visit the prison, they would hide her, in fear that he would take her away, or do something worse. But, one day they weren't as lucky.
"Search for the girl," Amon coldly commanded as Equalist tore down cell doors in search for the child.
Tonraq and Senna shared a look and their cellmates sensing their worry broke out in a riot in order to distract the guards and masked man, giving the couple time to try and find a safe hide out for the girl who was to fulfill the prophesy.
"There is no way out!" Senna cried holding her seven year old tighter.
"There is," her husband countered looking up to the wall.
"You think she'll make it?"
"She'll have to," Tonraq responded before looking straight into his daughter's eyes. "Korra, we need you to climb this wall and run. Don't look back okay, just run."
"I don't want to leave you here," Korra whispered.
"We'll be fine, ok, we need you to be safe," her mother added.
"Listen," Tonraq began placing a hand against her cheek. "You are going to hear a lot of bad things about us out there, but you know the truth. Be safe, my little Korra and stay strong."
The seven year old nodded as her parents embraced her. Tonraq gave her a lift and the child began to climb up the wall.
"I'll come back for you," Korra promised.
"We love you so much," Senna whispered.
"There she is!" a guard called heading over to the wall. Both parents began to fight the wave that came towards them, determined to not let them harm their daughter. Korra came to a part where she would jump to get further up. She was scared, but she knew she had to do it, for her parents. The seven year old leaped and grabbed onto the rock as she lifted herself up and continued to climb all the way to the top. She looked down her old prison and say the happiness reflected in her parent's faces as the prisoners cheered.
"Me too," Korra answered her parents last statement before running into the darkness and never looking back.
Korra's POV
I was born in the darkness, kind of ironic if you think about it. It's not what my parents had planned for me. No, they had prepared an entire room for me, with lots of toys and all sorts of decorations on the baby blue walls. But an unfortunate chain of events ended all of those plans. I loved them regardless. And I say 'loved' them because I don't even know if they are still alive. But I made a promise to them and I intend to keep it. I will get them out of that hell hole, and we will be the happy family they wanted us to be. If fate decides to take them from me before I rescue them, then I'll give them a proper burial and promise to avenge their deaths. I will not rest until I find them. That promise I made to myself.