Couldn't help it:D

Random Chapter: Nightmares

1 week after Fu's adopted

"Stop! Please Papa, no more!"

"Shut the hell up brat. I can do whatever I want to you. You eat MY food, sleep in MY house, you pretty much belong t me!" Laughing in a crazed manner as if surprised by this fact, he raised a fist and thrusted it at the boys face.

"Ah!" Giving a small yell, Fu immediately held up his hands to his face, assessing the now swelling eye and cheek. "I-I'm sorry, I won't bother you anymore!"

"Like hell you won't." Rising from his chair, he stood tall, hand grasping a knife. "I will remove you from this world…permanently."

Fu attempted to run backwards, but found he couldn't. His feet were stuck in place, unable to move. "Please Papa, don't! I'm sorry!"

Cold and murderous eyes looked back, flashing the tiniest glint of red. From behind his father came the glinting of several other eyes, staring down at him and laughing. Behind him, his mother suddenly appeared, holding a knife as well.

"Today is the day Fu." And with that, she lunged at him, hand grasping the knife firmly in his direction and laughing maniacally.

Fu woke up, gasping for air. His face was covered in sweat and tears, blanket wrapped around his body. Lips shaking, he could only mutter few comforting words to himself before lying back down. "It's just a dream," he said shakily. "Get over it already."

Groaning, Fu slipped out of bed, preparing for another all sleepless night.

"Hey Kuvira." Baatar asked uneasily.

"Hm?" she answered, head buried in the documents surrounding her desk.

"Well, I've noticed something about Fu. He…seems a bit off I guess."

At the mention of her newly adopted son, Kuvira's head shot up. Focusing intently now, Kuvira's eyes railed Baatar's face in suspicion. "What do you mean by off Baatar?"

"Weeelll…he just seems really tired all the time. Not as lively as usual and has developed quite vivid bags under his eyes. I think there might be something bothering him that you should check up on."

Raising an eyebrow, Kuvira looked at Baatar skeptically. "Why don't you check up on him? For all I know, you could have just been seeing things."

Baatar looked at her in disbelief. "Kuvira! Everyone knows that that's a mother's responsibility! Besides," now looking down at the ground sheepishly, "I'm not that good with that type of stuff. You guys have a similar background, so you connect better."

Rolling her eyes, she simply nodded. "Fine. Even though I'm sure it's nothing, I'll check up on him tomorrow. Happy?"

"Very." Smiling now, Baatar retreated from her office. Before closing the door, he called back, "And get some sleep! It's already past midnight!"

Despite her exhausted condition, Kuvira couldn't help but snort. "Hypocrite." she muttered. Standing, Kuvira made her way out of the office. Before arriving at her room however, she decided to make a quick stop at Fu's room. It's what mothers do…right?

Creaking open his door, Kuvira peeked in and observed around. Satisfied at is sleeping figure and calm conditions, she closed door. Sure his bed sheets were a bit tangled, but that's probably because he's a heavy sleeper or something. Nothing more.

Arriving at her room, she opened the door and began the usual routine for getting ready for the night. Sliding into bed, she began thinking to herself.

So Fu isn't acting like himself. Baatar did mention something about bags under his eyes. If Baatar's not somehow seeing things, then Fu's 'problem' may relate to something at night.

"Hmmmmmmmm…tangled sheets." She muttered to herself. "Tangled sheeeeettttss…." Eyes going wide from realization, Kuvira shot up from her bed. "TANGLED SHEETS!" Jumping out of her bed, Kuvira ran and threw open her bedroom door. A couple of passing by guards quickly stepped aside and saluted her.

"Great Uniter." they murmured.

Ignoring them Kuvira continued to run at full speed towards Fu's bedroom.

"What was that all about?" One of the muttered.

"I don't know." she answered uneasily."Probably had something to do with that kid."

"You mean the one she just adopted?"

"Yup, that's the one."

"Huh. Well, I'm going to store that picture in my memory." He held his hands up high, gesturing an imaginary headlight. "The Great Uniter, master metal bender and all time powerful leader…running through the halls in her pajama's."

Snickering, the guard only received a huff from his fellow colleague.

"What?" he asked, genuinely confused.

"Dude, she's a developing mother. Don't criticize her."

Huffing, the guard crossed his arms. "Fine." he muttered. Smiling now he continued, "I guess it is kinda cute. The kid would probably do her good." Grinning he nudged his friend with an elbow. "Betchya she's totally gonna be the irresponsible type."

"Ugh! " Throwing her hands up in exasperation, "Your unbelievable! I'm sure, if anything, she's going to be the overprotective type."

"Ya right! I'm sure at this very moment, she's probably clue less at to what to even think of the kid."

Giving him a doubtful look, the female guard merely rolled her eyes. "I doubt it, now c'mon, we've got guard duty in the west gate."

WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO DO?! Kuvira panicked. Hands behind her back, she paced the front of Fu's room, conflicted with herself. I-I could talk to him…no too awkward. Sing him a lullaby…no, too weird. Raking her hands through hair, she gave a load groan. What am I gonna do?! I can't believe he's been having night mares…AND HASN'T EVEN TOLD ME ABOUT IT! Hands still tangled in her hair, Kuvira looked up at the ceiling in dismay. What was I thinking? I'm no mother, I'm a leader, a captain. I even abandoned the only thing I could actually call a mother! I have no idea have it even means to be a mother!

"NO!" Stiffening, Kuvira stopped pacing. Her focus now shifted entirely to Fu's bedroom. Moans and whimpers pierced her ears like knives. He's in the middle of a nightmare. Crap, now what?

"Alright Kuvira." She said, attempting to motivate herself. "You can do this. You've taken out bandits, criminals, and worse. This shouldn't be difficult."

For the sixth night in a row, Fu woke up gasping. Chest heaving for air, he was completely unaware of a wide eyed Kuvira, staring at him in shock.

Alright Fu, he thought, just another dream. It's not real…anymore. Bringing his hands up to his face, he wiped away the tears and looked around. Eyes going wide when he spotted the dark outline of a person nearing his bed, Fu gave a strangled cry and scrambled madly backwards, falling off his bed.

There's no way they could have found me. His hear beat rapidly as the figure moved closer to him. Crap, no, NO! They couldn't have found me! They left me! Tried to kill me! Why would they come back for me? He felt a chill creep up his spine as a dark thought entered his mind.

To finish the job.

He felt the blood drain from his face. "NO PAPA!" he yelled as the figure continued to approach him. His yell however, caused his 'father' to stop. "P-please, don't kill me! I'm sorry I ran away!" His voice was now shaking in fear, afraid of what was to happen next. "Please, d-don't hurt me anymore! I promise not to bother you anymore! Honest!"

He watched as the figure began walking towards him slowly until it stood tall, looming in front of him. Shaking, Fu looked up, ready to meet his fate. The figure bent down, and Fu was finally able to get a good look at the face it belonged to.

"Ms. Kuvira?"

"Yup."

"…..Oh."

An awkward moment passed between the two. Finally, Kuvira spoke up. "So….you wanna talk about it?"

Through the darkness of the room, Kuvira saw him shake his head.

What's there to tell, Fu thought miserably, I just blabbered pretty much everything to her. Standing up, Fu climbed onto his bed, glad that the darkness of the room masked his embarrassed blush.

"Weeell, okay then." Kuvira said in an unsure manner, watching as well as she could as Fu tucked himself in. "Goodnight Fu."

"G'night."

Placing her hand behind the nape of her neck, Kuvira awkwardly began to rub the area. "You know Fu, you could talk to me about this stuff. I kind of understand the whole thing with the nightmares and all."

She heard him sigh, "No you don't. No one does."

"Yes I do Fu. You're suffering from nightmares based on you past life. And I'm willing to bet that most of them are about the abuse."

Maybe I shouldn't have said it so bluntly, she thought while watching him cringe up into a ball.

"Go away. I'm tired."

"C'mon Fu, don-"

"No."

Holding back a yell of irritation, Kuvira decided it was time to switch to Plan B. As fast as a snake, she thrusted her arms under his body and lifted him from the bed.

Giving a surprised squeak, Fu remained in silent shock as Kuvira carried him out of his room.

"What're you doing Ms. Kuvira?! he finally managed out. "I said I need to slee-"

"We both know you weren't planning on falling back to sleep Fu."

Fu opened his mouth as if to argue, but closed it and huffed in defeat. Entering her own bedroom, Kuvira plopped Fu down on her bed.

"Alright Fu, start speaking. Tell me everything about your parents."

"WHAT!? WHY?!"

"Because," Kuvira answered calmly, remembering how she had uttered those two exact words back to Suyin. "I said so."

"What's there to tell?" he huffed. "You already heard it all."

Kuvira only looked at him expectantly, waiting for to continue.

Crossing his arms indigently, Fu looked up at her angrily. "FINE! My Papa and Mama always hated me! They never even tried NOT to show it! Whenever I walked by, came back from school, played in the backyard, it was always 'Get outta my way brat!'

When Kuvira spotted the tears beginning to gather in his eyes, she immediately put her hand up, signaling for him to stop. But Fu didn't even seem to notice. Emotions beginning to rake his body, he continued talking, imagining every detail of the words he spoke.

"They never helped me, never hugged me, and hardly ever LOOKED at me. A-and w-whenever I did something wrong, it w-would always mean punishment." At the mention of the last word, he shivered. "P-punishment meant a beating…sometimes no food, or water for the whole day. They would even…lock me up, t-to teach me not to do it again. And then the-"

"Enough Fu."

The words snapped Fu out of his trance. Muttering a quick "Sorry", he fervently began wiping the sweat and tears on his face.

"Alrighty then, to bed."

Picking up a surprised Fu, she carefully slid into bed to where her back was leaning on the bedside and Fu was forced to lie in her arms.

"Wait, why did you make me say all that?" he asked with slight irritation.

"Because, I wanted you to see that, that was the past. Nothing like that will EVER happen to you again." Looking at him now, she asked, "You wanna know why?"

Eyes going wide with curiosity now, "Why?"

Kuvira smirked. "Cuz they would have to go through me first."

For the first time in days, Fu felt a smile twitch at the edge of his mouth. "Thanks Ms. Kuvira." Yawning, he snuggled deep into Kuvira side.

"Good night Fu." She said softly, stroking his hair affectionately.

"Night…Mom."

:D