Chapter 4, Imprisoned
After being recaptured Hama was taken to a new prison that had been designed especially for her, Hama was locked into a dark cell far away from any water and she was chained up so that she couldn't move at all.
Hama knew that she was in trouble, the Fire nation was taking no chances with her this time, with the way that she was restrained she knew that she wouldn't be able to bloodbend even it there was a full moon.
The door to Hama's cell opened and in walked a man carrying a large bad and with a sadistic look in his eye, "So, your the puppet master witch that I've heard so much about" he said as he got closer, Hama remained complicity silent.
"Don't be like that, it's rude not to answer a question" said the man only to receive no response, "So tell me, how was a simple waterbender able to control so many people and make them walk away from their homes and towards your little dungeon" asked the man who Hama was beginning to expect was here to interrogate her.
When Hama didn't answer the man slapped her across the face, "It seems you don't want to talk" said the interrogator as he put down his bag and opened it up to reveal many different torture instruments, "That's good, I was hoping you'd be stubborn" he said.
"Now try not to break too quickly, I want to enjoy myself" said the torturer as he picked up two small blades.
When Katara woke up she wasn't back home like she had hoped, instead she was still in the cage on board the Fire nation ship, Katara felt like crying but she didn't want to get hit again, plus she was too dehydrated to cry anyway.
Two men walked up to Katara's cage and opened it, Katara shuffled as far back into the cage as possible but this did little to avoid the men, Katara was pulled out of the cage and the men put shackles on her wrists that was heavy tight and painful.
Katara was forced to walk as the men led her to the deck, once on deck Katara saw that the ship had docked at a place that she had never seen before, if Katara was a little older she would have realised that she was in the Fire nation.
The Fire nation was hot, hotter than anywhere then Katara had been before, while most would have found this weather to be present Katara who had lived her whole life at the South pole found it to be hot, sweaty and uncomfortable.
Katara was led off of the boat and along a dirt road, Katara had no idea where they was taking her but she doubted that it was going to be anywhere nice.
After over an hour of walking they neared a large building made of metal, the building was bigger than anything that Katara had ever seen before, however she didn't get a chance to have a good look at the building before she was forced to enter.
Unbelievably it was even hotter inside the building and the air seemed to be so dry, the men who was escorting Katara walked up to two other men who was wearing guard uniforms and handed them her chains, "We've got a waterbender, make sure that this one doesn't escape" said the men as they left leaving Katara with the guards.
The guards dragged Katara deeper into the building pulling on her chains even rougher that the solders had done, Katara was taken deeper and deeper into the building where it only got hotter and hotter.
First them stopped in a room where the guards took everything that Katara had, they took away her clothes, her boots even the beads that was in her hair, then they forced Katara into some dirty rags that was an off red colour and smelled horrible, they then dragged Katara even deeper into the building.
Finally they reached a large room that was filled with empty cages that was all suspended above the ground, Katara was taken to one of the cages and one of the guards opened the door, "Get in" he demanded.
Katara didn't get in she didn't want to go into another cage, one of the guards picked Katara up by her rags and throw her into the cage then he climbed into the cage himself and attached Katara's chains to the corners on the cage so that Katara couldn't move her hands properly, he then attached another set of shackles to Katara's ankles so that she couldn't move those either.
With Katara restrained the guards locked her cage and left her, Katara tried to move around but the shackles limited her movement, she couldn't put her hands together and she certainly couldn't stand up.
Katara didn't know what was going to happen to her and she wasn't sure if she wanted to know, with nothing else to do Katara lay down on the hard metal of her cage and tried to go to sleep.
Time passed slowly in the prison since Katara had no way to entertain herself, Katara had learned to never try and speak to the guards the last time that she tried she had received a strike from a fire whip that had left a burn scar on her upper leg.
Katara was only given enough water to survive and when she was given water the guards made sure to pull back her chains so that she couldn't move at all, some days but not every day Katara was given food, however this food was barely edible, it was either rotten fruit or mouldy bread, Katara had already gotten sick more than once in her short time here.
Most of the guards looked at Katara with either hatred or disgust, they would sometimes bang on the bars of her cage to wake her up and make sure that she was still alive, there was however a couple of guards who looked at Katara with pity, unlike the other guards they didn't torment her and they seemed to think that it was cruel to lock up such a young girl like this but they was powerless to do anything about it.
As days turned into weeks and weeks into months Katara's appearance became more and more dishevelled, her hair became dirty and matted and would often stick to Katara's skin, Katara became thinner and thinner she now resembled a skeleton, and the rags that she wore became even dirtier than when she had been forced to put them on.
The guards never removed the shackles from Katara's wrists and ankles, there was times when these shackles would rub against Katara's skin so much that it became painful and sometimes they would even bleed.
Despite being below ground and not being able to see the sun or the moon Katara was still aware of the time, she wasn't sure why but she could feel when the moon rose into the sky and she would always knew when there was a full moon, the full moon was the only time that Katara felt any sort of energy in her weak body.
The only thing that showed any sort of light down in this horrible place was Katara's eyes, there was still a hint of hope in them, she hoped that she could leave this place, she hoped to see her family again, Katara wondered just how long her hope would last.
It had been 3 months since Hama was recaptured, it had been 3 of the worst months of Hama's life, it had been 3 months of hellish torture.
This was far worse than when Hama had been held captive originally, at least then most of the guards had left her alone, but now Hama was being beaten, cut up and burned every single day, the torturer had done a lot to try and make Hama talk and while Hama had remained silent up until now he could feel her will slowly breaking.
Hama was still chained up in the cell, at her feet was her dried blood from numerous torture sessions, Hama would have loved to bend this blood and use it to free herself and kill those who had imprisoned her but she still couldn't move enough to use her abilities.
Hama was covered in scars, some was from cuts and lacerations while others was from burns, Hama was missing several teeth that had been pulled out and she was even missing a couple of fingers that had been cut off.
The door to Hama's cell opened and in walked her torturer, "It's so nice to see you again" he said with his usual smile, Hama didn't reply but deep down she was terrified of what this monster was going to do to her today.
The torturer reached into his bag and pulled out a tiny knife, "Now, how's about we try something new" he said as he got closer.
The torturer grabbed Hama by the face and held her steady, "Don't move" he whispered to her, the torturer held up the knife and slowly moved it towards Hama's left eye, Hama tried to struggle but the man held on tightly.
The knife was getting closer Hama could see the reflection of her own eye in it's blade, the knife moved closer, "Wait" screamed Hama just as the knife was a few centimetres from her eye, "I'll tell you everything" said Hama her will finally broken.