I fell to the floor as, Amon, released me from his grip. His thumb was no longer on my forehead and I felt I could move again. Like the invisible ropes he was using to constrain me hat been cut down. I blacked out for a second, just a second, but it felt like a lifetime. When I arose, I felt horrible.

My head hurt, my mind was foggy, I couldn't think straight, and for some reason my entire body ached horribly. I slowly sat up; my arms felt like noodles, they felt like they would break under my weight.

Then, when I was sitting, I felt it. I felt different, I felt… empty. I felt like someone had cut me open and took out one of my internal organs, or all of them. I felt hollow.

No… I thought. I looked down at my trembling hands, and then for some reason I knew. He had done it. He had taken my bending away.

I looked up, up at the man that took my bending away from me. He looked much scarier now. His mask looked angrier, and his voice sounded much more chilling as he said: "Your bending is gone."

The crowd roared and went into a chorus of applause, screaming "Equality!" and cheering Amon, in his evil act. "The revolution has begun!" he screamed, gaining more cheers and applause from the crowd. Then I felt like he was looking right at me when he said, "The era of bending is over."

I woke up with a fright. I was breathing heavily and I had broken into a cold sweat. I looked down at my lap and there was Pabu, cocking his head to the side and looking at me with a curious expression. I sighed with relief. We weren't at the revelation, Amon wasn't here and I was fine.

I looked around the apartment familiarizing myself with my home once more. I looked down at Pabu once more and scratched him behind his ear; he loved it when I did that. "It's okay Pabu, it was just a dream." I looked down at my hands, no longer shaking from fear. "I still have my bending."

Even though I knew I was still an earthbender, I felt like I had to prove it to myself. I looked over at Mako's bed, he was still sleeping. His back was towards me and I'm sure he's sound asleep. I picked up Pabu and let him climb up to my shoulders; I then proceeded to climb out of bed as quietly as possible. I didn't bother to put on my shoes and just walked down the stairs barefoot as quietly as possible and made my way towards the practice room.

I turned on the lights and made my way toward the stack of earth rings. Pabu, jumped over to the press bench and sat there. He knew when it was time to back away. I got into position and moved two of the light rocks of clay. I just played with them for a little while. Weighing them in my hands with my bending and then, pop pop, they flew across the room into the net designed to catch them.

I sighed in relief. That felt a lot better. I felt much calmer and felt my peace of mind coming back. I kept going for a while; trying different combos and techniques. I probably should've gone back to bed, but I didn't feel tiered, and I was also kind of scared of going back to sleep. I rather stay awake for the rest of my life than see Amon's face every time I close my eyes. Well his 'face', mask, thing…

I lifted up two more pieces of rock once again. I took a deep breath. Alright, I thought, getting myself focused. I focused on the net all the way across the room. Alright Bolin, just breath and…

"What are you doing?"

"Aah!" I lost control and just ended up tossing the rings pretty hard. They missed the net, crashed into the wall and broke, and I cringed as the pieces fell to the floor. "Aw."

I turned around and saw, Mako, leaning against the door frame. "That was horrible by the way."

"Yeah, but in my defense, you scared the living spirits out of me," I said to him.

"Excuses," he said shrugging.

I laughed and began using my pending to pick up the rings in the net that were still intact and putting them back in the pile.

"What are you doing up at this hour?" he said walking over to me.

"I couldn't sleep, so I decided to practice. Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you."

He waved it off with his hand. "Don't worry about. What happened?"

I sighed. "Nothing, just a bad dream," I said to him and walked over to Pabu. He looked lonely and neglected.

He kept quiet for a while, and then looked at me skeptically. He knew something was bothering me, and he knew I wasn't talking. "Mhm. You want something to drink?"

"Milk?" I asked him with a hopeful smile.

He chuckled and walked back to the room to go get the refreshments. I took the time to clean up the mess of broken earth rings. I picked up the broom leaning against the far wall and swept up the broken pieces into a small pile.

Mako, walked back in with two glasses of milk. I leaned the broom against the wall once more and made my way toward him. He handed me the glass of milk and I took one large gulp.

Ah, nothing like warm milk when you can't sleep. "Thanks, bro."

"No problem," he said, then taking a sip of his own beverage. "So," he said as he made his way toward the bench. "What was the dream about?"

I sighed. I saw this coming. I walked over to the pile of rings once again. "It's nothing really. Don't worry about it," I said and kept drinking my milk.

And then he gave me that look. That look that says: Yeah, sure, I know your lying. I know something's bothering you, so how about you just tell me? It'll make things easier for the both of us.

Yeah, that look. I hate that look. I almost always cave under that look. "I don't get it," he began. "You usually never shut up, and now that I want you to talk, you won't say a thing. I don't get it, Bo," he said with a smirk. Once he noticed I really wasn't laughing or making a joke out of the whole situation he got the worried look on his face. "You know, you'll feel better if you talk about."

I kept silent, my gaze at the floor, tracing the top of my glass. "Talk to me," he said in that big brother type way.

I caved in. I let out a long breath that I didn't even know I was holding. "I was at the revelation again. I was on the stage and… and Amon took my bending away. You weren't there, Korra wasn't there; I was alone with no bending, no one to help me, nothing." I sat the glass down on the floor and started starring at the rings of clay that I use for bending. "The worst part was, after he took my bending, I was so confused, and miserable, and empty. I was there on stage so scarred and all the people did was cheer." I raised two more rings using my earthbending. "They didn't care. They didn't care that I lost a part of me. No, it was worse than that. They were happy about it." I hit the rings as hard as I could and they went flying across the room landing in the net, the force of the rocks causing it to hit the wall as well.

The room was quiet for a while. The atmosphere was dark and tense. Pabu jumped from next to Mako onto the pieces of earth and climbed up my arm up to my shoulder snuggling his face against mine in a comforting way.

"Bolin," said Mako finally breaking the silence. "I'm sorry about what happened. I had no idea it was that scary. I was shaking and I wasn't in the position you were in. But know that I'm never going to let that idiot do anything to you." I looked up at him as he kept talking. "That man is never going to get near you enough to hit you, little own take away your bending." He walked over to me and put a hand on my shoulder. "I know you're scared, I am too, but we're going to stop that man. If not, Korra, someone will take that man down, and he's not going to take anyone's bending ever again. So calm down, okay?"

I nodded. I had to admit I felt better. Talking about it does help. I know that no matter what happens, my big brother's there to take care of me. Even if I did lose my bending, he'd probably find a way to get it back. I smiled at him, "Thanks, Mako."

"No problem."

At that moment I let out a big yawn. He laughed. "Sleepy now?"

"Maybe a little."

He chuckled. "Come on, let's go to bed."

"Okay," I said as we began to walk out of the practice room. "What are we going to do tomorrow? We have no practice."

"I'll tell you what," said Mako. "If we have the yuans to spare, how about we go see Korra at Air Temple Island?"

"Sounds good to me."

We both laughed, turned off the lights of the room, and made our way back to the apartment.