Chapter 4: Revenge

I knew I didn't have much time before the whole Fire Nation knew about my father. After about ten minutes, the adrenaline died down, and I realized that I needed to think. The army would realize my father was severely injured any moment; I didn't stab his stomach, which would've killed him. I realized that I didn't have any money or extra clothes; if I ever was to get out of the Fire Nation and move somewhere else, I would need cash.

I ran back to my house and kicked open the door. My father was still lying on the floor. He cried my name, but I ignored him. Knocking down the door to my father's room, I stole a sufficient amount of money and grabbed some clothes. When I was heading for the door, my father called me over.

"How could you kill my mother?" I asked him, sobbing. "And then, you try to cover it up?"

"Hiuoko, listen. I didn't mean to kill your mother. It was just…accidental. I was caught in the heat of the moment, just like you were a few moments ago. You've made your point, and it's your decision whether to run away or not. But, could you at least heal my wounds, at least to stop the blood?"

Reluctantly, I knelt down and started to heal the wounds. After about five minutes, I heard voices outside. All of a sudden, a group of five soldiers, face masks and all, knocked down our door. In a matter of seconds, I was grabbed, handcuffed, and carried away from my house. I called to my father for help, but he was getting aided by some old women. And he was smiling.

I wasn't able to bend, because my hands and legs were tied together. I tried bending with my mind, but it was to no avail. In ten minutes, we arrived at the prison, the same one I broke into an hour ago. The guards remembered me and were more than happy to throw me in jail. My hands and feet were tied together with thick ropes to prevent me from bending. My cell contained nothing, and it was filthy.

I was so exhausted that I didn't even think about escaping. I went straight to bed and was woken up the next morning to a rattling of my cage. A guard was standing there with a plate of food. He put it on the floor of my cell, without giving me any utensils. Starving, I dug my face into it and consumed every morsel. As I looked around, none of the other waterbenders had their hands and feet tied. I sat there thinking, trying to figure out a way to escape. If only I could get my hands free, the rest would be a piece of cake.

Later that day, my father came to "visit" me. I couldn't even look at him as he spoke to me.

"Hello, Hiuoko. Do you see what attacking a Fire Nation Admiral gets you? It gets you a comfy cell in prison. There's no hope of escaping. Dry air is pumped in here all the time, and since you apparently can control body fluids, your hands will remain bound at all times. Pretty soon, you'll lose use of your hands and feet, and you will slowly deteriorate. At least Mizu didn't have to suffer. She was killed on the spot."

"Don't you EVER speak about her!" I shrieked. "She could've KILLED you, but she spared you. Just like me."

"But you see, that's exactly what I was trying to rid you of. Would you like to know why I started capturing waterbenders. It's because I hated them: their peaceful ways, their better element, their ability to heal. They had the easy life, and they were easy to conquer. I tried to get rid of that in you; that's why I forbade your mother to teach you waterbending, but she did and that's why I needed to kill her. To counter what Mizu had taught you, I tried to teach you a violent art, the way of the sai, so you would become Fire Nation material. But still, you spared me and continued to use waterbending. You are a failure to me, and I had every right to turn you in. I knew the soldiers were coming, and I needed to stall you."

I had no idea what to say; I was at a loss for words. So my father used my mom as eye candy, as something to look at. Why did I ever spare him? One blow to the heart and he would've died.

"Well then you better get going, Mijou, before I break out and kill you," I responded. My father laughed and walked away.

As soon as he left, I decided on a way to escape. I could use my sweat and saw through the rope. Then, with one hand free, I could bend water and cut my other bonds free. So, by wiggling my fingers, I managed to make a small water whip and began cutting through the rope. It took about an hour, but it finally fell off. Then, I began to do pushups until I was sweating bullets. I then used the sweat to cut through my other bonds; I was now free. Then, I used all of this sweat to saw through the metal cell. After about fifteen minutes of sawing, I was finally free. Before I escaped the prison, I needed to get my sai, which were probably being given back to my father, along with the rest of my things.

Exiting my cell, I began to head for the main guard, for he had to know where my sai were. Running down the hallway, I saw two guards. Before they could scream, I stopped the flow of their blood to their heart, inducing a heart attack. This was only for a second, though, and was only done to stun not kill. I did this a few more times until I reached the main guard's office. I bust in, threw him to the floor, and made his hand bleed by pushing the blood through the pores of his skin. I demanded to know where my things were, and he told me my father had them. Kicking him, I bolted out of the room and made my way out of the prison. Everyone knew in the prison that I had escaped, which meant that I didn't have time to chat with my father. Instead, while running to my house, I bent a large amount of water from a pond to my side. When I reached my house, I threw the water onto my father and froze it, leaving him there. I grabbed my sai which were on the table and shoved my extra clothes in a bag. I then ran out of the house as my father watched in disbelief, unable to stop me.