Breathe

By: Riley

Summary – He always found the best way to keep his anger in check was to remember just to breathe. Sort of sequel to 'Focus'.

There was a reason Rocky was the one known to be 'solid, cool as granite rock'.

More often than not, anyone that met him would describe him the same way.

"He's totally chill."

"I don't think I've ever seen him mad."

"He has total control over everything."

And it was those feelings that other people didn't realize, made him a ticking time bomb. His grandfather had instilled upon him some of the best advice he had ever received; don't let emotions get in the way of a level head, amongst others. It was something the eldest Douglass brother thought back to each and every time there was a moment where he would need to get angry. His martial arts training had done him well in mind, body, and spirit, though he had some grievances as well.

The times where he got a grade he felt he didn't deserve, his frustrations from Emily's head games—one minute she liked him a lot, the next he would've inadvertently done something that would anger her—, don't get him started on 'being a showoff'. Being compared to his brothers, having all of the responsibility of being the one that was looked up to, being a role model for those around him, the constant praise he got form his parents due to his sense of responsibility…he internalized it.

There were many moments where he was so angry he wanted to scream at the world, angry enough that he wanted to hurt someone. Badly. To be able to use his martial arts practices in the way his brother did, following his emotion rather than his head. To bruise the skin and prove how much power he held inside him.

Your true power is in your ability to hold back.

Ha!

But instead of letting it all loose, he had to hold it down, keep it hidden, knowing that if he ever took the chance to unleash all of his grievances, annoyances, frustrations, people would never look at him the same way again.

The funny thing was, he never knew he was so angry. He did his normal technique of breathing deeply, redirecting his anger into a more creative outlet. He would practice his martial arts, being sure he performed his katas to the best of his abilities, using the breathing techniques that went along with it to calm himself down from what had managed to bother him that day.

Praised by the teacher for getting the best grade in the class.

Breathe in.

Had to cancel plans with his friends to take Tum-Tum to his dentist appointment.

Breathe out.

Reminded of how responsible he was.

Breathe in.

Reminded of how much of a showoff he was.

Breathe out.

And he continued to breathe, internalizing each and every thing that managed to chip away at his calm exterior. Even as his brothers consistently teased him about Emily, he didn't really let in on how much it was bugging him. (Though there would be a well timed sneak attack that would result in a playful wrestling match when they didn't see it coming). Even as his mother and father continued to praise him in front of his brothers, even when he heard how annoyed his brothers were by it. He would continue to sit in silence, silently stewing away before the rumbling anger disappeared and he was simply content.

And yet, everyone had their breaking point and Rocky's came at the most inopportune time.

He and his brothers were at their grandfather's cabin and were practicing on the light up dummy, using it for strength more than the accuracy they had initially been instructed to do so. Colt and Tum-Tum had gone first, having done a great job at showcasing their strength on the dummy. Colt, Rocky was always ready to admit, was definitely the strongest out of the three of them. In fact, if it wasn't that Colt was so overrun by his anger emotions every now and then—he had a berserk button on almost everything—Rocky was sure he would be the greatest ninja out there.

Then it was Rocky's turn. He stepped up to the dummy, that had been tied to a tree—over the years it had started to fall apart, even one of the light up eyes had fallen out—and started to go through his kata. Unfortunately, he had miscalculated one shot and managed to drive his fist straight into the bark of the tree.

He could feel his skin split open and splinters immediately wedged themselves into his knuckles. Then the pain radiated up his hand into his body, giving the pressure cooker that were his pent up emotions the heat it needed to burst open.

"Fuck!" The word slipped out of his mouth with such ease it was as if he had used it all of his life, though he was adamant not to. (Maybe something else he had internalized from his praise). As soon as the word came out of his mouth he felt all of the anger and frustration that he had kept inside was gone.

Twisting around, holding onto his wrist, his blue-green eyes lifted to see his grandfather, Colt, and Tum-Tum all staring at him, eyes and mouths wide open.

"Rocky," Mori said, voice a mixture of amusement and surprise.

Colt then burst out laughing. "Wow, Rock. I never thought you would actually curse. You're always so uptight."

"Ooh, you said a bad word," Tum-Tum added.

Rocky continued to shake out his hand, waiting for the pain to subside. He didn't think his fingers were broken but it still throbbed along with his pulse. As Colt continued to laugh, Rocky turned to go into the house to get some ice.

And he walked the whole way, smiling.

He finally released some of his nagging anger.

He could breathe in peace.

A/N: This was another idea I thought of to bring up in Crossroads that I noticed in the international ending of the first movie. As I mentioned in Focus, Rocky seems to have the same sort of anger troubles that Colt does, but does a better job of keeping it in check. It has to do some sort of damage to hold it in all the time.

For those that haven't seen the international version of the movie, you can see the parts that were taken out in the 'deleted scenes' videos on YouTube. They may appear similar to the actual movie at first, but there are differences.

And I plan on having Crossroads up soon.

Cheers,

-Riles