A/N: Hello all and welcome back. This chapter...is actually pretty pivotal, and leads to end of the second act of this fic. I hope everyone enjoys and once again, and you so much for reading!
The goodbyes to the Swamp People and Tahno were kept brief and concise, the only fading regrets being Amon still refusing to thank them specifically for the drowning incident. As if karma were following him, the first hour or so of the return on the speedboat were spent with Amon leaning over the boat's edge, the vertigo aggravated by the toss of the waves.
"You have no idea how amusing this is knowing that you're Amon," Emi commented when Amon finally collapsed onto the boat's floor.
"Yeah, not being able to see straight is completely hilarious. Enjoying people suffer: such a Fire Nation trait. Oh, excuse me, firebender trait."
Emi smiled. "You feeling better?"
He squeezed his eyes shut and opened them. When he made sure the world wasn't moving where it shouldn't be, he answered. "Okay."
"How does the dizziness thing work?"
"Ears control balance and since one of my ears was kind of destroyed, the other ear has to figure out how to keep balance without it."
"How do you know this stuff?"
"I read a lot as a kid."
Amon's thoughts went back to the exact time he "read a lot." He hadn't been a kid per say, fifteen to be exact…
"Eastern Air Temple, right?"
"Yeah."
"So Mr. Leader of the Equalists…are you any more willing to talk now then before?"
He shook his head. "Unless you'd like to understand the trials and tribulations of running a revolution."
She played with a piece of hair. "Yeah, sure. Does it involve you being too busy to have sex cause that'd get me down too."
Amon resisted pushing his palms against his face. "No, it doesn't involve sex." He took a deep breath. "Explain something to me: why is losing your bending such a tragedy?"
"Uhh…why wouldn't it be a tragedy? Bending is awesome." She looked back, and Amon, as usual, was not amused in the least. "Well…why don't you tell me why you think it wouldn't be? Then I'll give you my opinion."
"After each bender lost his or her bending, there was this mourning for it, as if they'd died. People called me a monster, as if I'd gone into homes and murdered children. I took away bending. No one dies from it. So someone lost some special skill. It shouldn't be taken with a reaction like that. The way people would cry and mope about it was revolting."
Emi bit her lip. "Well, I think you're looking at bending the wrong way. Don't think of it as some special power that we flaunt and boosts our pride or whatever. Think of it as a talent, something you discover you have, nurture, and it becomes a part of you. Take you: are you an excellent acrobat. What if someone pushed your forehead and you could never stand on your two feet again?" Emi didn't even realize how close that hit to home. He thought about his ear, and how considering how he'd been, he'd probably never be able to do the balancing tricks he showed her in the swamp. "It's a part of us, Amon. I guess you wouldn't know unless you had it. I mean, look—I don't hate you because of what you did. You have your reasons if your scar story is true." She swallowed, and Amon swore she was almost crying. "You have no idea how lucky you are."
Amon's brow furrowed. "Why am I lucky?"
"Because people don't still view non-bender Fire Nation people as automatically evil. You lived in our town—you know how the old people used to talk about the firebenders. We started a war, Amon. People can't just forget that. Sure, maybe non-benders were part of the war, but it was the benders who killed and killed and killed. We slaughtered an entire race, were willing to burn another to ashes. And then the Triad members just won't let us forget."
"What's with all the self-pity?"
She shook her head. "I just wish you could've taken my bending that night. All my life, even my own sister viewed me as a threat, despite the fact I'd never hurt her. I spent day in and day out fearing that I'd accidentally hurt her and she'd never forgive me. My mother, a non-bender, always clung to my sister because I was too much to handle with the bending. I don't use firebending in whatever job I would eventually require, and it really only has two positive uses."
"Are you just saying this to make up for—?"
"Amon, please, I'm being serious right now." She locked the wheel. "Taking away bending is all about illusion, right? Give me a good illusion."
She got down her knees and pulled him up. "I really can't—"
"Why aren't you taking this opportunity? You've met your first bender who doesn't want to bend."
Amon swallowed and put his hands in the right places. "You will now be cleansed of your impurity."
As opposed to every other time he'd said that, his voice was deflated, confused, and unconfident. Even so, he shut his eyes and tried to feel for the ability he once possessed.
Amon couldn't say he was happy to have to follow Koh's particularly un-human-friendly commands, namely hitching a ride with sandbenders to find a buried library. He'd only been lucky enough to find a Knowledge Seeker fox-like animal that knew how to dig in the right places. Now, walking through a dim, dusty old library, his distaste had turned to wariness. For one, he looked down an aisle of this friendly library and saw a corpse.
"Are you sure this spirit is friendly?" Amon whispered.
Since his mask was on, he didn't worry when Koh's form came crawling up from behind him. He hadn't seen Koh's full form since he was six years old, but he hadn't changed from his nightmarish look. "Don't worry, young one. Wan Shi Tong is an old friend."
Although Amon wasn't exactly used to wearing the mask, it felt like a protective wall between him and Koh. Since the original meeting nine years before, he had almost forgotten how massive Koh was.
"Your chi blocking training is complete, correct?" Koh said.
"Yes, master. Ty Lee herself said I was better than she ever was at her peak."
Koh smiled, the current face being a Water Tribe woman's. "I am powerful, young one, but not in the ways as Wan Shi Tong. Perhaps he could give you spirit-like perks. Being human is a bit bothersome, wouldn't you say?"
Amon shrugged. "I wouldn't know it any other way."
Amon couldn't keep his eyes off the books. There were just so many. As a farm boy, he didn't grow up with a great amount of time for reading, and probably couldn't even read most of the books inside. A Knowledge Seeker rubbed against him, and he stroked the fox's back.
Koh ordered Amon to stop, and when he did, Koh wrapped his horrible bug-like body around him. But, he couldn't say he didn't appreciate it, for Wan Shi Tong didn't come without a grand and terrifying entrance. The spirit turned out to be a giant black owl that got his beak inches from Amon's face.
"Is this it, Koh?" the spirit demanded.
"Don't underestimate him, Wan. He's perfect: his family was murdered by a firebender, he has literally no one, and is already a master chi blocker. All he needs is your power."
"Get your protective hold off him. I want to see how tough he is."
Koh unraveled himself and Wan Shi Tong removed Amon's mask. Knowing Koh would still play his games, Amon kept the straight face he'd been practicing for years.
"Very serious eyes. Wise for his years. What's your name?"
"Amon."
Wan Shi Tong looked to Koh. "And he'll perform our mission, no more?"
Koh nodded. "He's an obedient human. In fact, the only setback I can possibly think of with Amon is his humanity. You know the strange and tedious routines of humans more than me: eating, sleeping, and such. Perhaps you could help him with that too?"
Wan Shi Tong approached Amon again.
"He's a handsome boy, isn't he?" Koh commented.
Wan Shi Tong took a deep breath. "Yes, I think I could help you a lot. Put the mask back on and sit still."
Amon did as told, and watched as the owl began circling around him, Koh wrapping around the outer ring. When the owl and Koh dispersed, there was something different about him, and Amon could feel it. He took a deep breath, a smile spreading across his face.
"My powers are channeled just as Koh's."
Amon looked up, and Koh continued Wan Shi Tong's talk. "You now have the ability to take away a person's bending, permanently."
"Not permanently, Koh. If a human can discover the ruse and unlock his or her chakras, they can reverse it, but it is very difficult." The owl turned back to Amon. "You take one hand and put your thumb on the middle of the forehead, and one on the back of the neck. Make sure they fear you, and it will be nearly impossible to reverse."
Amon stepped out from the huddle the spirits were making, amazed at what the bird had done.
"As well, while most humans can only go hours without food, he could potentially go a few days. Is that enough, Koh?"
"It's perfect. Don't fret, Wan Shi Tong. Amon will not disappoint us."
A moment later, Koh was in front of Amon. "You have one task, little one: the next Avatar was revealed this year to be a four-year-old girl from the Southern Water Tribe. When the time is right—when you can terrify people out of their wits, you are going to take her bending."
Amon nodded. "I won't fail you, master."
Koh smiled. "I know you won't."
Amon let Emi go, and she fell forward for effect. But, she recovered immediately. "Did I do it right?"
"Can you bend?"
Emi made a couple firebending motions, but nothing happened. "Illusion achieved." She smiled deviously. "Now do you like me?"
Amon feared he'd admit his true answer to that question. "It's an improvement."
She smiled. "Definite progression." She paused. "So…can you explain to me how you got your power?"
If she was changing mindsets, he figured it was a good time for reward. "The simple version of the story is after the Triad member burned my face, I awoke in the Spirit World, in Koh's lair. He didn't face me, but told me that he was going to save my life if I'd become his agent. Naturally, I chose not to die, but when Koh turned to face me, I was scared. I mean, I was six, and knew nothing about Koh. He kind of smiled and said instead of taking my face completely, he'd slowly 'take' it, which in his case, meant he would slowly give me my unburned face back as I aged. I'm not sure, but I think he kept my burned face and my unburned childhood face. Anyway, afterwards, he made me train for years with the original user of chi blocking and when I was fifteen, took me to another spirit's lair—a library—and the other spirit gave me the ability to take away bending. Both powers were channeled through the mask which just recently broke."
"How'd it break?"
Amon suddenly empathized with the Lieutenant whenever he made him talk about losing Air Temple Island. "I was fighting the Avatar, and even after I took her bending, she…she somehow still had airbending—really amateur airbending—and one gust managed to knock the mask off. It was made of porcelain, so it shattered."
Emi nodded. "That's…really unlucky." She shrugged. "But hey, maybe it was meant to be. You know, the universe telling you that maybe it's time to stop being the leader of the Equalists. Do you…think Avatar Korra will regain her bending?"
Amon considered her fear level. "She was terrified when I performed it, maybe less than Tahno, but still scared. But, she's perseverant; I imagine she will."
Emi tried not to smile. "You don't necessarily sound like that's such a bad thing."
Amon stopped all conversation just to consider that. Did he really not care if the Avatar got her bending back? Of course he did! If she got all her bending back, it would be just that much harder to take it again! He couldn't think like that. He was going to regain his abilities, find Korra, take away her bending and make sure she never gets it back, find and kill Tarrlok, then come back to his revolution with a bang.
"You misinterpreted my tone."
She rolled her eyes. "Whatever you say."
Amon moved from his spot on the floor near the back to standing beside Emi. "It's beautiful out here, isn't it? For me, it's almost uncomfortable to be away from the view of the ocean."
Emi nodded. "Without a doubt."
She left her hand hanging at her side, and Amon accidentally brushed against it when he tried to get his hair out of his face. The slightest blush pinked his cheeks, and he sidestepped a fair distance between the two of them.
The instinctual man part of him wanted so badly to just watch her, the wind blowing her hair and that content smile on her lips as she drove, but he kept his gaze forward. Well now she's not mentally a bender… that inappropriate part of him thought. He shook his head; he'd barely known her a week. Or, at least not long enough for the Fire Flakes she brought to lose their flavor. He wasn't sure how long that took, but it couldn't be that long.
She wants you too, his dangerous thoughts continued.
Amon took a deep breath; this was not the time to be chasing after girls. He didn't even chase after girls when his teenage hormones would've liked nothing more than that. He was twenty-eight years old and such frivolous things should've been a childhood desire turned to fading memories.
A few more hours were spent with Amon battling his desires against his power quest, with neither able to really stomp the other into nothing.
"Hey Amon, uhh, I think we should take a quick port stop."
Amon finally turned to Emi. "Why?"
"We…don't have food?"
Amon looked around the boat, and realized that before he started feeling sick, Emi had mentioned something about animals "burgling" the ship. "I didn't think you used a real word."
"Soo…port?"
Amon nodded. "Port."
The Earth Kingdom port they stopped in wasn't anything magnificent, but both figured it wasn't so impoverished that they sold food that would not pass a basic health inspection.
When they disembarked, Amon picked up his mask instinctually, but Emi swatted it out of his hands. "You shouldn't be ashamed of your scar. Fire Lord Zuko wore his burn scar proudly, and he got it as a shame mark from his father. Be the Fire Lord, Amon!"
Her bubbly personality has its lines between cute and annoying, Amon thought as they entered the town, him mask-less.
"Let's get in and out, okay?" Amon said.
"I'll try."
While Emi began scouting out food vendors in the city square, something else caught Amon's eyes.
A couple kids were playing earth soccer, while some played with marbles on the floor. Amon figured from the fact that the kids looked the same age that the ones with the marbles were non-benders.
A guy with a head too full of brown hair in a shoulder-revealing shirt and a teenager's posture strode between the boys.
"Hey Tyro, look at the bottom feeders. Come on, Wu. Why aren't you and your friends playing soccer?" the teen said as he looked between the groups of kids.
The kid who must've been Wu glared at the dirt. "Why don't you go hang out with your friends, Tao? I'd just slow down the game if I played."
"Yeah, come on. Wu doesn't want to play," Tyro said.
Out of his group of friends, Tyro seemed oldest, perhaps thirteen while the other kids were about eleven. Despite the slight defense, Tyro did nothing as Tao picked up Wu and placed him at the goal.
"Give me the ball," Tao said to the boys playing earth soccer. He smirked. "Actually, give me all the kids too."
The bender boys, excluding Tyro, took one of the non-bender boys and held him standing in front of the goal. Tao shot the ball over to his foot, stood back a bit, and used a rock flying out of the ground to propel the leather playing ball right at the boy's gut. The boy cried out in pain and fell forward. Just when Amon thought Tao would let the boy go, a perfect rectangle shot itself out of the ground and hit the boy back to his feet. The boy came up tears rolling down his cheeks and he looked vaguely nauseous. Amon had his own share of fast shot rocks to the gut, and could almost feel the sting and ache.
Amon's fingers twitched in anger as he watched the boys throw the first non-bender aside and pick up the second of the three who were playing with the marbles. The boy was already in tears when he was placed up front, and Tao laughed at him. Amon took enough steps forward to move from the public and into this little game as a spectator. Tao pulled the ball into the air with a quick lift from the earth, and coated the ball itself earth. Amon ground his teeth as he watched the ball rocket through the air.
The shot seemed to even surprise Tao himself, the ball landing on the boy's chest, causing the boy to fly backwards into the stone wall that dead-ended the alley the boys were playing in.
"Spirits, Tao, I don't think he's breathing!" one of the earthbenders shouted.
The non-bender boy was unconscious, blood pooling out of a wound in his head. Amon took another step forward, just waiting for one more trigger.
"Forget him, kid. Give me Wu," Tao said.
"You must think you're something special," Amon growled as he approached the boys.
Tao took one look at Amon and grinned. "Look at the way he walks, gentlemen: just another non-bender with big dreams."
Even so, the kids who could ran out, Wu and Tyro carrying the bleeding boy. "He could be dead, you know. Do you care?"
"Benders are the predators in this world. Simply keeping the world in check."
"It's people like you who turn this world to war and hatred."
Tao smirked. "Look at the Fire Nation non-bender trash here. Who gave you that scar, man? Your old man? An angry firebender? You're just like the rest of your kind: too weak to defend even your faces from melting off."
Amon knew he shouldn't have taken the bait, but it was too easy. "Don't incite me, boy. I can do things beyond your wildest nightmares."
Tao looked at his dirt-encrusted fingernails. "Y'know, maybe if you were a firebender, I'd be scared of you. But, since you're clearly not." He straightened up. "This'll be a quick fight, Scar Face."
I know. Amon shot forward, and was able to feel the earth beneath him cracking up with enough time to let it take him upward and still land square on his feet. A second passed where Amon let a smile spread across his face as Tao's eyes widened. The next second, a sheet of earth came up and smashed Amon against the wall of the alley. Amon shook off the pain and ducked to avoid a rock hurled at him.
"You fight with strength, but no finesse," Amon commented as he jumped to avoid a couple shards of earth meant to cut his feet.
With Tao within feet, Amon began his final attack, using the wall to push off the wall and land behind Tao. Once at full access to his back, he chi blocked him with jabs that would leave bruises. The young earthbender fell to the ground where Amon grabbed him by the arm and thrust him back to his feet and against the wall the boy had been thrown against. There was a crack, and Tao cried out in pain.
"What did you do?"
"Bending is a gift, kid, and you've done nothing but abuse it." Amon put the toes of his boots on Tao's feet, and put all his weight onto them. "You're disgusting, the way you use your bending. I wonder every day why people like you can slither through life while good people die early and horrible deaths. I think it's time that reality is twisted a bit."
Amon let go of him, and watched as he slumped to the floor. Gripping the young man's good wrist to the point of nearly breaking it, Amon pulled out his shuriken. Sweat rolled down Tao's face as his eyes filled with fear.
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to insult you. Please, just—just don't do this."
"Do what?"
"Take my—"
"Your what? Your bending?"
I don't need spirit magic to make my vision a reality. All I need is some broken limbs and death.
"Amon…"
He knew who was behind him, but didn't look back. She didn't understand, and knew she never would. She continued to speak, but Amon lost her words in their uncertainly and the quiet tone.
"I can't hear you," Amon snapped.
"Killing him won't solve inequality. It'll just further divide the two sides. You even knew that as the leader of the Equalists."
The young man's blood was already dripping onto his hands as he pressed the shuriken into his neck. "Stay out of this. If this guy thinks non-benders are afraid of him, it's only fitting I can correct him."
"Even your spirit wouldn't have wanted you to go to this extreme."
Do everything you have to, little one.
"So you really want this offer to work out?" Hiroshi Sato asked as the two of them stood in front of the recently turned former firebender and leader of the Agni Kai Triad, trembling at the sight of the masked man Amon at age twenty had already become.
"Yes. I've showed you my power, and all I need is you."
"I need to know that you're committed to every part of this movement if I'm to fund it."
"Anything."
Sato looked down at the Triad leader. "Kill him."
"My movement is not about killing."
"I know. This is about a connection between you and I. I want to know that you're fearless."
Amon pulled out the shuriken his father had given him as a child and threw it at the man. He died almost instantly, and Amon was over digging the weapon out of the Triad leader's head before Sato could voice his approval.
"He told me to do whatever I deem necessary. I told you to stay out of this, Emi. Back down."
Emi put her hand on Amon's shoulder. "You know you'll regret doing this."
No one ever found out about the Triad leader. Is that why Asami looked at me with fear, even without the mask? Did she see the walls I'd broken down in myself?
"Stop talking."
She moved her other hand on top of his, where she slowly massaged the skin in little circles. "You need to relax, Amon. It's been a hard few days."
He let go of Tao, and Emi turned to walk back.
You're crazy, Amon. A monster. Amon-ster, that's who you are. It's like Mom and Dad knew from the beginning.
In one last fit of rage, Amon took the toe of his boot and kicked Tao in the jaw, sending his head bashing against the wall. Emi tightened her grip on Amon's arm and they walked silently back to the boat. Amon collapsed into hugging his knees to his chest, his head turned to the ocean.
"Just give it some time, and you'll cool off I think," Emi said as she checked to make sure she didn't forget the food she bought. "Look Amon, I get it—I get the anger, the pain when people bring up stuff like that."
"How long were you there?"
"Long enough to see your fight. My mom was killed by firebenders too. I don't have a scar or anything, but I hate it when people try to make you seem weak because you couldn't save them. You're not weak because you didn't save your family. I'm glad that you came to your senses, though. You're stronger than you think, mentally."
She knelt down and wrapped her arms around his waist, and he didn't pull away.
A/N: It's funny thinking that ABM!Amon is willing to kill. Now that we know Noatak was a bloodbender, it makes me wonder if even canon Amon was secretly a bit of a killer. Those of you who find it a bit strange that Amon was led to an emotional extreme, it is touched upon in the next chapter. Hope everyone enjoyed this chapter regardless.
