AN: Howdy, been a while since I've been on FanFiction. Surprisingly, this is my first published LOK story, and I hope you all enjoy.
Warnings: violence, use of fire
Disclaimer: I'm not Bryke, but don't we all want to be?
Love each other, respect all life, don't run with your spears, and don't forget to review!
What Bolin has learned about fire.
-It's a thief.
It took their parents, their childhood. It took something from his brother which he'll never get back, having seen them killed himself at the tender age of eight. It stole their home, their shoes when it rained, the food when they were hungry, the trust they had in others. It took the future Mom and Dad wanted for them.
-It's saved his life more times than he can count.
For months after their parent's death, he hated his brother's abilities. He didn't want to see the flames or feel the heat, wondering how long it took his parents to realize they were going to die - was it slow? did they smell the smoke, feel the singed flesh? did it choke the life out of them? - and he hated that dancing gleam Mako gets in his eyes when he's in sync with his bending. His brother doesn't even notice that it happens, but it does. For a while, it was almost maddening.
When Mako firebended as a kid, it was as if he was the most powerful bender in the world, up for any challenge. To Bolin, he already was. When Mako started small fires, there were times when Bolin backed away from it. Mako looked less hurt and more concerned that his brother would rather freeze to death than be near it. He told him he was being ridiculous. You have to get over it soon, Bo.
It took several more years for Bolin to admit that it was integral to their survival. It heated food, boiled water that was undrinkable, and kept his fingers from going numb. On cold nights, Mako took Bolin's hands in his and just breathed, and for a few moments the warmth made Bolin forget about his latest worries. He couldn't see those flames, so they were okay. Was Mako even bending, or was he just naturally warm?
It seemed unfair that he could hold so much life in his little body. Bolin is just as much Fire Nation as he is Earth Kingdom, but there were times when nothing made him feel more separated from his brother than watching him bend. They were practically from different worlds.
-It makes people fear them.
Well, they really fear Mako, the one who wields it with such quiet ferocity, but seeing as how there's no Mako without a Bolin, especially when they were homeless, it was Bolin's fire, too. Their ghetto were mostly kids of Earth Kingdom descent, so this made Mako an anomaly. He was certainly the best young firebender on the street, catching attention from all directions.
He even became the underling of the notorious gangster Lightning Bolt Zolt and had the honor to be one of the man's only students in lightning generation and redirection. With those new skills in his arsenal and the guts to use them, Mako and Bolin were rarely bothered.
Rarely didn't mean that it didn't happen at all, which led Bolin to another observation:
-It makes Mako a monster.
When Bolin was twelve, he caught an older boy trying to steal the food that was supposed to last them a week. The boy was so skinny, his clothes draping over his skeletal frame like heavy curtains, but his grip was iron. Bolin learned the hard way, as the starving thief lashed out like a wounded animal when he tried to stop him, wrapping spindly fingers around his throat, squeezing so hard that he was seeing stars and couldn't muster up the focus to earthbend.
When Bolin thought he was well and truly done for, he heard a piercing shriek from the older boy, and the hands at his neck retracted immediately. The thief bellowed in pain as he clutched his left shoulder blade, where clothing and skin had been burned away. Bolin gagged; it smelled like overcooked meat. Mako, his hand still engulfed in flames, got in between Bolin's barely moving form and his attacker.
Bolin was lying at an angle that allowed him to see just enough of Mako's eyes, and he was actually terrified when the amber orbs narrowed in hatred, and for the first time he saw them as the tiny little flames they are themselves. There were a lot of firsts that night, the most important being that it was the first time Mako had burned someone intentionally. Yes, he's a firebender, and when he gets into fights, they all know the outcomes of his bending, but wrapping his hand in fire and holding it down to someone's skin until he heard screams... that was new.
Go.
The warning from Mako was all the boy needed before he was tripping over his legs to get as far away as possible. Bolin still shudders at the thought of how a kid like him would get the proper medical attention for a burn like that. What was worse was that Mako didn't look disgusted by what he did. He helped Bolin to his feet and wrapped those same hands around him, and for a moment Bolin expected to be burned himself. He apologized for him having to see that but not for doing it. Didn't have a choice, Bo.
-It gave them a new start.
Even though Bolin always joked about carrying the team, it's Mako's bending that gave the Fire Ferrets even an iota of a chance at a real career in pro-bending. At first glance, the crowd saw a driven, aggressive, and good-looking young bender, a natural athlete. It didn't take long for Mako to occasionally be recognized outside the stadium, long before Bolin acquired a rather impressive fan club himself.
To Mako, pro-bending ended the age of poverty, and he didn't need the glitz and the glam as much as he needed the money, rather, the security that came with the riches. When Avatar Korra practically crash landed into their lives and the Equalist movement hit home for the brothers, their priorities changed.
Bolin learned long ago that many things in this world aren't black and white. Good people can do bad things, and bad people can do good things. Some bad people are just hungry. And some good people aren't really good. He feels the same way about firebending. The thing that cut down their parents is the same thing that his brother used to protect him, to protect himself. Without his firebending, maybe Mako wouldn't have come back to him one of those nights.
For that, he'll never hate it.