Let It Go 2

Chapter 1



“Alright kids, want to practice bending?”

“YEAH LET’S GO!”

“Papa? Can I watch? I can’t bend…”

“Of course you can sweetie, come on, mind your brothers though.”

“Why are you letting me out father? You said I wasn’t allowed to bend anymore.”

“Not in public you’re not, I know you’ve been practicing in the basement, young man.”

“HA BUSTED!”

“That’s enough, Fuuma, after we practice yours we’re going in the basement so your brother can practice forms.”

Kotori and Seishirou watched from the sidelines as their brother and father practiced their earth bending.

“You miss it, don’t you, bigger brother?”

“Nah, nothing to miss about throwing flames around, but what about you; don’t you wish you could bend?”

“Yes but I know I’ll never be a bender, it must be worse to be so talented and not being able to do it then never being able to do it.”

Amber eyes widened briefly in shock and then he was hugging the younger girl. “I suppose you’re right.”

The day the inspector came, I was seven years old, my sister was five, and our brother was fourteen. The new chairman wanted to make sure everything about our bending was accurate and move us into protection from our crazy mother who had escaped prison.

He approached Kotori first. “So little lady, I was told you have no bending, is that correct?”

“Yes sir.” She was hiding behind me and my brother; she didn’t like strangers very much.

“You’ll be safe from the Equalists, but even still, hide her, just in case.”

“Which one of you is Fuuma?”

“That would be me!” I walked forward, proud.

“Last we checked your bending hadn’t revealed itself yet, has it since then?”

“Yes sir! I’m an earthbender!” I wasn’t afraid; I had no reason to be. “Councilman Teru, mind if I see the boy’s bending? Just to make sure?”

“You can inspect my son’s bending, but I shall follow you, Kotori you stay here with your big brother.”

My dad followed me outside where I demonstrated my earth bending by moving a few rocks. I ran back in the house and saw my sister laughing with our brother. Until the inspector came back in, she instantly hid behind Seishirou again.

“So this must be Seishirou then, they have you marked as a firebender, is that correct?”

“It is.”

“Mind if I see, son?”

I saw my dad’s eyes fill with worry, why? So Seishirou was a firebender, that didn’t mean he was crazy like mother. “You know he’s a fire bender, why does he have to prove it?”

“Hiding something Teru? You know why, his mother had the curse of hellfire, like Princess Azula. Given who the boy’s mother is, I need to make sure.”

~#~

“Wait a minute…what the heck is hellfire?”

Honey brown eyes locked on violet. “You’re the co-leader of the Dragons of Heaven and you don’t know?”

“You know I only took it because my older brother asked me!”

“Hellfire is the term they gave the rare blue firebending, can I continue with my story now?”

~#~

“I’m not afraid father, I have nothing to hide.” I watched as the fire sage approached my brother and pulled one of his gloves off. Seishirou then conjured a blue flame in his hand.

“So he does have the curse of hellfire too! Well for your safety and the safety of your other two kids, we best take him in. Maybe it’d be for the best if he lost his bending for good.”

“Before you take away my bending...or try to for that matter, know it’s not the only thing I can do.” Knowing his family was in danger; a hand reached behind him and conjured a ring of green flames as well.

“The boy’s a monster! He’s worse than his mother; stand aside Teru...the boy has stronger firebending than the Fire Lord.”

“SO? YOU CAN’T HURT MY BROTHER JUST BECAUSE HE CAN OUT-BEND YOUR CRUMMY FIRE LORD!”

I saw my dad react fast, collapsing the earth under the inspector. “Run Seishirou...go where they can’t find you. I’ve shown you safe houses you can stay at, just run.”

“Nii-san!”

“Bigger brother!”

“Don’t cry you two, we’ll meet again someday.”

~#~

The fourteen year old ran up the snowy mountain in the back of the village, almost slipping a few times before finally he had enough. He looked at his reflection in a patch of ice. Neat hair, wire framed glasses to filter his intense amber eyes, the white cloak his mother gave him, and the black gloves his father gave him to remind him not to bend. Normal firebending wouldn’t be hot enough to melt them off and he couldn’t pull them off thanks to the spell the fire sages put on them.

“Well my firebending isn’t exactly normal, now is it? I’m tired of being this perfect boy. I am ME.”

He clenched his fists, engulfing his hands in blue flames, incinerating the gloves off his hands, the ashes landing in the snow. He unclasped the cloak his mother gave him—“You’re my precious little heir remember that.”—and flung it to the wind, shooting it down with fire so the ashes joined the remains of his gloves.

He came face to face with his reflection. Closing his eyes, the fire around his hands turned pink before he blasted it at the ice destroying his reflection.

He winced afterwards. “Yeah yeah I know, to use judgment fire you need to set up an agreement with it which I haven’t yet…otherwise it burns you.” Pausing again, the fire turned white to heal the burns on his hands. Afterwards he pulled off his glasses before throwing them in the air and shooting them down with lightning.

The path had ended and another village called to him. He made a wall of green fire behind him so he couldn’t be followed.

He reached into his pocket and pulled out a photo of him, his siblings, and parents. “There’s no going back for me, not now or ever, I’m finally free.” He tossed the picture backwards into the flames, letting it catch fire before walking into the new village, messing up his hair a bit as he did so.

~#~

“I didn’t see my brother again for about seven years. Briefly he told me about the Dragons of Heaven and Earth and said I should join the Dragons of Earth and be the co-leader since Yuui Flourite wanted nothing to do with it. I haven’t seen him since and that was about four years ago.”

“So why is your brother the leader of the Dragons of Earth if he’s not around at all? Granted, Subaru’s not around much either. But at least you’ve met Subaru; I’ve never met your brother.”

“Honestly? I don’t know. I will say this though; there are six levels of firebending, excluding lightning bending. You have basic fire bending which is what every firebender plus the avatar can do. Then you have what’s known as hellfire which to my brother is basic firebending. After that there’s what they call barrier fire, which is green fire. When I last saw my brother he could do it. Said he had someone he needed to protect. Who that was? I have no idea. After barrier fire there’s holy fire which is white which he can also do, he healed Kotori with it. There's energy fire which is purple, no idea what it does or if my brother can do it. The last one is called judgment fire which is pink and guarantees instant death...if you make a condition with it...I don’t know if he can do that one or not.”

“I can do energy fire. The way you talk though, you would make it seem like you’re the firebender and not me.”

Violet and honey brown eyes looked up; standing above them clad in all black, complete with sunglasses, was Fuuma’s older brother.

“WAIT A MINUTE, THIS IS THE DRAGON OF HEAVEN HEADQUARTERS, HOW DID YOU GET IN HERE?!”

“I let him in Kamui; calm down…he is my husband after all.”

“YOU?! Subaru, THIS IS THE GUY YOU WENT AND ELOPED WITH?”

“Yes.”

Kamui put his head down. Things around here just got more chaotic.