What happened to Lin all those years ago?

!CHAPTER WARNINGS!

!STOP AND READ PLEASE!

This chapter will include physical abuse and implied rape/non-con. I do not go into details, but I wanted to warn.

A/N: I also created an instagram, so come say hi! Same username. You can see the art I have created for this story there, including the photograph from the last chapter, which I also kept colourized for this chapter.

Spring 136 AG

Lin sluggishly woke. Her limbs felt so heavy, as did her eyelids. She was able to get them open, but it took a few minutes plus another few to be able to keep them open long enough to look around. She noticed she was in a wooden box. It was large enough for the futon mattress she was on, but she couldn't make out anything more as she couldn't move her head and it was fairly dark.

She felt herself drift back into a slumber by some sort of rocking.

When she came to again, the box she was in was being moved. She was able to roll onto her side and glanced through the slats in between the wooden panels. She winced at the blinding white that came into view. She realized she was being carried outside of something. The cold wind that followed confirmed that. She frowned as she shivered. The only way it could be this cold out was if they were at one of the poles.

It felt like forever before the box was brought into some building, and set down on the ground.

Lin steeled herself against the fear that had taken over her. She closed her eyes to control her breathing, channeling her mother and her Uncle Aang. 'Get it together Beifong. Don't let them sense your fear. Find out what they want, then keep yourself alive until Mom finds you.' She thought to herself.

The top of the box was soon opened and she was immediately yanked out. The room was freezing and she could tell the building was made of ice. A quick glance around showed that there were only three men in the room with her, one was holding her up while the other two stood intimidatingly in front of them. On the wall behind the two, was a banner with a red lotus on it.

"Welcome young Beifong." The older man said, giving her a crooked smile that made her gut clench in revulsion.

She narrowed her eyes at him. "Who are you and what do you want from me?"

"Well you see, young Beifong, there are a few reasons you are here today. The first being you are the daughter of the strongest earthbender to ever live. We've been watching you, and we know you have become a master yourself of both earth and metal. You see, this would benefit us greatly." She hastily repressed a shudder at the thought of someone watching her all this time. "The second being, you are the daughter of Toph Beifong, Chief of Police;" he spat out her mother's title, "the reason one of my colleagues has had to move and change his whole life. Between your mother and the Avatar, his life has been ruined." He approached her and lifted her chin to look him in the eyes. "You will help make it up to him."

"If you have an issue with my mother, take it up with her. Leave me out of it." She hissed at the man.

The older man just laughed, as the middle aged man started smirking at her. "That's not how this is going to work. Your mother cannot give us what you will be able to give us. Not to mention, pretty soon they will think you are dead and stop looking for you."

"Then you obviously don't know the Avatar or my mother very well. They will never give up. They will find you, and end you."

"Oh they will believe it when we send them proof." The older man stepped away from her and reached into his pocket. He then held up her meteorite bracelet that her mother had given her when she had first started metalbending. "But first, we need to get down to our first order of business. Let me introduce myself. I am Xai Bao, leader of the Red Lotus." He then motioned to the middle aged watertribe man beside him. "This here, is my colleague. You may not recognize his face, but you'll probably recognize his name, Yakone."

Lin's eyes widened. This was the bloodbender who had terrorized the city and almost killed her mother 8 years before.

"Ah so the young Beifong does know my name. Tell me, did your mother ever have nightmares of me?" He said with a chilling sneer.

Lin just glared at him, refusing to answer. Inside she could feel her panic mounting.

"The man holding you is Tulok. He is Yakone's nephew." Lin looked up at the man keeping her upright with a tight grip on her arm. He was easily in his early 30's, with dark brown hair, tan skin, and light blue eyes showing off his watertribe heritage. She was pulled back into the conversation when Xai Bao spoke again. "Tulok is to be your husband."

"My what? Do you not realize I am only 16. That is disgusting." She exclaimed in horror, her stomach sinking like a stone. "Just kill me now."

Xai Bao just waved off her suggestion, before giving her a steely look. "You have a purpose to our organization. You will bear his heirs. Tulok is a strong bender himself. Between the two of you, your children will be strong benders who we will train to be the best of the best."

"I won't do it." A Beifong bowed to no-one, that was one thing her mother and grandfather shared the same sentiments on.. She refused to be different.

"Shut up, bitch." Came the voice of the man beside her, who squeezed her arm more tightly. She could feel it more as the shirshu sedative was leaving her body. "You will be mine, and there is nothing you can do about it. There is no earth for miles below us. You will be kept in a home with no metal. You will be powerless." He ducked his head to speak into her ear. "I will very much enjoy breaking you."

Lin spat in his face. Tulok sneered at her. "You insolent little bitch." He backhanded her across her face, splitting open her lip and causing her to fall as he let go of her. With her limbs still heavy, despite the sedative wearing off, she couldn't catch herself. She smacked her head on the side of the box, giving her a decent cut above her eye. Her limbs were still too weak for her to get herself up, the double knocks to her head leaving her disoriented.

"Put her back in the box and grab the camera. We'll take pictures of proof before you can heal her." Xai Bao ordered Tulok.

Lin was lifted back into the box. She went to lift her hand to her head but her body seized up and felt like it was on fire. More accurately, her blood felt like it was on fire.

Tulok bent her body into a slightly awkward position, making it look like she had died. Including having her look off to the side, staring at nothing much like when someone was murdered. The blood leaking steadily from her head helped complete the image. It would need to be convincing to get the RCPD to believe that the picture was real.

After Yakone took the picture, Tulok healed her head with his bending. When he healed the lip, he sneered, "be good and you won't get a new one." She flinched as icy cold water was used to pull the blood off her face, leaving her shivering even more.

"Here is your new background history. You will memorize it, and you will never bring up your past life again." Yakone started, staring down his nose at her with a hard look. "If anyone asks, your name is Meriwa. You are from a remote village off the south coast of the Earth Kingdom where Southern Watertribe mixed with Earth Kingdom. Your father was of mixed heritage, while your mother was only from the Earth Kingdom." He said.

Lin was yanked back up by Tulok. She glared at all of them. "And if I still refuse?"

"We'll just go take your sister. She is a pretty little thing too. She'll be even more so once she gets older." Xai Bao answered with a sickening smile.

"You leave my sister out of this." She growled at Xai Bao.

"Then we have a deal. If you don't fight or do anything to ruin our plans, then we will leave your sister alone."

Lin felt her spirit die a little, but nodded in defeat. "Fine." Anything to protect her little sister. Even if it meant doing the one thing Beifong's didn't do: give in without a fight.

"You will change into these new clothes. You need to blend into the Northern Watertribe. We will make our way to the city centre, where you will marry. Don't worry, it will be completely legal, 16 is the legal age for marriage here in the North still." Xai Bao said in a mockingly reassuring voice.

Lin was handed a set of clothes and was then shoved behind a changing screen. It was still in the same room as the three older men, but Lin was grateful for the small sliver of privacy. She stood shakily and started undressing the top and bottoms she had been wearing. She shivered as the cold seeped further into her skin. She quickly slid into the warm navy coloured pants and the long sleeved tunic like purple dress that was long, but had slits in the side to allow movement. She noticed a pair of fur boots that were already behind the screen with her and put them on. She then shrugged on the heavy fur coat that was a mix of dark blues and purples, with white fur lining the hood, belt and cuffs.

"You've had enough time, get out here, or you'll be dragged out."

Lin took a deep breath, before moving as steadily and confidently as she could with her limbs still recovering. Tulok grabbed her and sat her down on a chair. She winced when he started brushing her hair, then braiding it in a traditional style. "You will need to learn how to do this quickly, if you are to be convincing that you are part watertribe. Not to mention, no wife of mine will look unkempt. You will always look the part of the perfect wife. Understood?" When Lin didn't respond, he yanked on her hair that he was still braiding. "I said, do you understand? I expect you to answer any question I ask you."

Lin gulped slightly. "Y-yes. Understood."

When he finished her hair, which consisted of tight braids on the sides of her head interconnecting to a larger braid that went down the middle of her head and ending just before her neck met her shoulders.

Lin then felt something being placed on her neck.

"This is your betrothal necklace. If anyone asks why it is made of ivory instead of a stone, you will reply that it is the custom in your village that betrothal pieces are made from ivory or bone. You will also never take this off." Yakone said, his tone leaving no room for argument. She wouldn't anyways, she couldn't allow them the opportunity to kill her to then take Suyin. Not on her watch.

She was then handed mittens, before they all were leaving the building. She realized this was a secret hideout far from the edges of the city. She was led to a set of three buffalo yaks. Tulok lifted her onto the back of one before climbing on behind her. "Remember, no funny business." To show his seriousness, he took hold of her blood for a moment before letting go. Lin held back the shiver that wanted to run through her, before nodding quickly.

True to their word, the ceremonial officiator did not question her age, nor why they were marrying so soon after her arrival to the North. Their story was told that they had been refused marriage in her village, but they were so in love, they ran off to the North and had to marry as soon as possible. They played Lin off as being shy, as to explain why she was so quiet and demure.

They were then taken to Tulok's house. Apparently he was fairly high up in the government of the Northern Watertribe. This made Lin nervous as she definitely couldn't speak to anyone now who would believe her story, especially with this being the Northern Watertribe and their still backdated views on women. It did make her slightly hopeful, because sometimes her Uncles Aang, Zuko, or Sokka or her Aunt Katara came to speak with the Chief, so maybe they would see her. It was the only thing she could hold onto at the moment.

"This is where we leave you two. Enjoy your honeymoon." Konai (as Lin learned was his alias) said, before the two men left her alone with her new husband.

"Take off your coat, and hang it up." Tulok ordered. "You will never wear your boots in the house, there are a pair of moccasins under the coat hooks. Those will be yours to use around the house." He did as he had asked of her and waited for her to do the same. Lin just stared at him for a moment, debating if she should refuse, but decided to not incur any anger. She followed his orders before scowling as he grabbed her arm and led her into the main part of the house.

She was led through the living room into the kitchen. It was simple, but she assumed it was better than others in the tribe. It had some newer appliances versus using just an open fire to cook with. There was no cold box, as the whole kitchen - no the house was one. The house was like the hideout, made of ice, as were most of the buildings around, but it did have heavy furs and skins on the walls to keep the inside insulated.

"My Uncle's wife, Istas, will be giving you cooking lessons. I expect to have a hot meal to return to when I finish work." He then pulled her down the hall and at the end, the door opened to a bedroom. "Now, I'll go easy on you this time, my wedding gift to you. Fight me and you will not enjoy what will happen at all."

Lin froze, realizing in this moment what was about to happen. She felt him grab her face and forced a kiss on her. She ignored her body's impulse to pull away and gag; she kept picturing them doing this to her sister and all the fight left her. She would not give them the satisfaction of taking both Beifong sisters.

When Tulok finished, he pulled the heavy blankets up over them and turned away from her, quickly falling asleep. Lin curled up on her side, away from him and tried to control the sobs that wanted to break through. She hurt both physically and emotionally; she had never felt so alone or broken than at this moment.

She still had some hope that she would be found. It was her only comfort as she silently cried herself to sleep.

A/N:

All the characters going forward that are from the Northern Water Tribe will all have actual Native American or Inuit names. I always like choosing the perfect name for a character, so I can spend hours on finding the perfect name and meaning.

Meriwa - Thorn (Inuit)
Tulok - Warrior (Inuit)
Istas - Snow (Native American - Cheyenne Origin)

Ages 136AG:
Lin/Meriwa - 16
Tulok - 33
Yakone/Konai - late 50's
Istas (mentioned) - mid 30's
Noatak (not mentioned) - 6
Tarrlok (not mentioned) - 3