The darkness within

Prologue: y/n's origin story

Trigger warnings: physical absue, substance abuse, violence

Third person POV

Y/n grew up in republic city as an orphan. She had lost her parents after her birth. At least that is what the chief of police Lin Beifong had told her foster parents, who had taken y/n in as a baby. She stayed with the foster family until she was thirteen. After her thirteenth birthday she promised herself that the only way for her to survive was to run away. In her foster home, her foster father had repeatedly beaten her whenever she did not behave in his eyes. That included small actions like not getting up to greet her foster father, when he came home from work, or doing her homework at the dinner table instead of at her desk in her room.

Y/n had collected all sort of scars over her body from all the beatings she took over the years. Her foster mother was a kind but very timid woman. She was only hit once by her husband, since then she had followed every single one of his crazy rules. She was taking care of y/n as best as she could, but the rules did not allow her to show the level of affection she wanted to give y/n. Y/n's foster mother kept urging y/n to follow her foster father's rules, but something inside y/n prevented her from doing so. Y/n wasn't sure if that was just the beginning of her rebellious teenage years or if it was something deeper inside of her wanting to come to the surface.

A week after her thirteenth birthday y/n had made up her mind to leave. She knew it would break her foster mother's heart, but y/n also knew that she would not survive the physical beatings any longer. Her foster father was getting more and more violent, which coincided with his increased consumption of alcohol. He not only beat y/n when she wasn't following his rules, but on top of that any time he wanted to release his frustrations about his own pathetic life. Y/n was not sure what would happen to her foster mother when she left. She was scared that her foster father would start beating her foster mother, because where else would he let out his frustrations when y/n would be gone? However, y/n also assumed that telling her foster mother about her plans to run away might derail her plans. Y/n assumed that out of fear her foster mother would tell her foster father, what she had planned.

Laying in bed at night y/n decided that she would run away tomorrow night, since her foster father would be out late at a bar and her foster mother would be asleep. While going through her escape plan y/n looked at her still empty backpack. On top of the backpack sat a stuffed polar bear dog toy, which her foster mother had given her, when she was four. In that moment y/n made herself a promise: once she got set up somewhere new and started getting her strength back, she would come back for her foster mother and save her from her foster father. With those thoughts y/n fell asleep with a smile on her face.

In the morning before anyone got up y/n had already packed all her things, which wasn't much. She took two t-shirts (black and white), a grey tank top, a pair of black jeans, a black hoodie, some underwear, socks and sport bras. Y/n was never one for all the sparkling and colorful clothes. However, sometimes y/n wished she was more like other thirteen year old girls. Just worried about what skirt to wear tomorrow or what boy was in what class with her. Y/n quickly pushed all of those thoughts away. She didn't want to allow herself to feel hopeful for a better life. She saw the harsh reality ahead and swallowed slowly. Living on the streets is not going to be easy, but it sure was better than dying here.

In addition to her clothes y/n packed a toothbrush, toothpaste, some soap, a water bottle and two pre-made sandwiches. That will have to do for now, due to her limited space in her army print backpack. To get some warmth during the nights on the street y/n rolled up a blanket and attached it to top of the backpack with clips. And of course she safely placed her polar bear dog toy in between the blanket and her backpack. She needed to take the toy to keep reminding herself of her promise. She will come back for her foster mother.

Since it was Saturday, y/n didn't have to go to school and was able to mentally prepare herself for her escape later at night. Y/n was so nervous she barely left her room, because she was going through her plan in her head over and over again. She would wait for her foster father to go out and her foster mother to fall asleep. Then she would climb out her window and somehow scale down the fire escape. That was the trickiest part of her escape plan. She has always been good at climbing on playgrounds when she was little, but it was never from that height. Her foster family's apartment was on the second floor. Not super high, but still a significant risk of injury if she were to fall. She strategised every possible grip or manoeuvre she could do to prevent that.

Suddenly a thought occurred to her: if she had the ability to bend she would have been able to leave years ago and take her foster mother with her. She starts to softly cry into her pillow. In between her sobs she thinks of the chief of police Lin Beifong and how impressed y/n was by Lin's metal bending skills. If metal bending were allowed in the pro bending fights, no one would be able to keep up, y/n thought. Lin had checked up on y/n over the years, even though that wasn't in her job description. Somehow Lin had developed a likening to y/n, maybe because y/n reminded her of herself. Both women had a cold exterior, not showing much emotion, but still somehow radiating enormous warmth. Lin recognised that in y/n from a young age.

Slowly the sun set and y/n grew more nervous as time passed. Y/n heard her foster mother working in the kitchen, preparing supper. Y/n could smell her foster mother making her delicious Lok Mei soup. A soup made up of some simple Chinese herbs. Her foster father was sitting in the living room drinking beer and mumbling to himself. He was already drunk. Suddenly y/n 's foster father gets up and storms into y/n's room. He tells y/n to come to the kitchen and help her foster mother prepare dinner. Y/n replies a little too late for his liking: "I will".

"When I speak to you, you will answer immediately, understood?" He roared through the whole apartment. Y/n's foster mother winced in the kitchen. Y/n tries to calm the situation by hurriedly coming out of her room, but it was too late. Her foster father grabbed her by her collar and smacked her across her face, leaving a red mark. He lets go of her and pushes her into the kitchen. Y/n stumbles and falls to her knees in front of her foster mother. There is pure terror in both their eyes. Y/n tries to stand back up, but gets hit in the back of her head with a fist. Y/n tumbles forward, now lying on the kitchen floor. Tears roll down her face. Y/n could feel the pounding pain in her head that was all too familiar. She knew what would happen next. Her stepfather would beat her for the next ten minutes or so, until he runs out the door into the first bar he sees. Y/n was about to accept her fate, since she knew that she would escape later, but suddenly she hears her foster mother's voice: "That's enough! You have done enough damage to my daughter!" Y/n has never heard her foster mother's voice that clear and strong before. Y/n turns around to lie on her back and sees her step mother stepping in between her and her step father.

"You don't want to do this Tuyen. Remember the first and last time you didn't follow my rules?" Y/n's foster father warned.

"I remember, Fong. I should have left you right then and there. But I have been too scared. I love this girl with all my heart and she will no longer be threatened by you." Tuyen stands her ground, shielding y/n with her body.

Fong's eyes turn ice cold and a small smirk forms on his lips: "If that is what you want, then I shall give you the beating of your life."

Fong charges at Tuyen and shoves her against a nearby wall. He places both his hands around Tuyen's neck and starts tightening his grip. Tuyen tries to loosen his grip with her own hands, but she is not strong enough. Tuyen starts struggling to get air in her lungs.

Y/n got up off the floor despite her headache. She ran up behind Fong and jumped on his back, trying to get him off of her foster mother. Fong and Y/n struggled for a bit, causing Fong's grip on Tuyen to loosen. Tuyen gasped for air. Finally Fong released both his hands from her neck and focused completely on y/n. Fong threw y/n off his back against a wall. Y/n got the wind knocked out of her upon impact and struggled getting up. Tuyen had collapsed to the floor grasping at her neck. Fong focused back on Tuyen picking her up by her shoulders and pressing her against the wall. Tuyen and y/n eyes meet. Tuyen croaks: "Run y/n! Run for your life! I will be fine."

A single tear escapes y/n's eyes as she gets up and runs to her room grabs her backpack and runs out the door. As y/n runs down the hallway she can hear whimpers and screams from Tuyen. Y/n just kept running. She ran down the street, clutching her polar bear dog toy for dear life. This memory will haunt her forever.