I am aware that it has been several months since I last ventured anywhere with this challenge. I apologize to anyone who has been waiting for me to continue. I didn't mean to drop off, but I've been in and out of the Avatar world, and unfortunately this got pushed to the back burner. But I will not lose to this challenge. I promised to do all one hundred prompts, and I will pull this off. It may take me some time to do this, but I will try to keep these updates less sporadic. I can't promise an update a week or month, but I will do my best. I knew that sooner or later the day would come where I would begin to grow bored writing Avatar fanfiction, but I didn't expect it to be this soon. But I'm back, and my interest is kicking back into play. So here we go. I don't own the Avatar series by the way.
*****IMPORTANT NOTE! So far, these chapters have been pretty K, if not K+. As of this chapter, that rating will be moved to T. There's nothing violent, or extremely gory, in here, but as a bloodbending chapter, I felt it was my responsibility to bring that bloodbending to the fullest I could take it. So blood in mentioned frequently, as well as the female menstrual cycle. Its nothing too graphic, but in order for me to realistically develop bloodbending, some blood was needed. And Hama is a woman. The moon is not the only one with a cycle to work with. Are you connecting the dots I'm making? It's nothing too graphic, I just wanted to give a heads up prior so no one can come back and say that I dropped something like this on you without warning. I was considering not taking the risk, and posting this as a separate one shot. But the prompt was blood, and I wrote this for the challenge. I made up my mind a long time ago that I would use Hama for this prompt, and I am not backing down. I can't back down.
Prompt: Blood.
-oOo-
Those of the Southern Water Tribe thrived in the harsh cold of the winter filled landscape. They grew in the falling snow, took their first steps along the white padded ground that they called home. The winter belonged to them, and them to it. It was their living, their breading. They were children of the snow, children on water. To deprive them of such comforts, to tear them from their snow padded homes on the ice, was a cruel act. Those born in the snow, and who had never ventured farther could not imagine a world not coated in a fresh pile of white. The images of the dry, dirt filled Earth Kingdom were unimaginable. The tales of the tropical covered Fire Nation, and its extra bouts of heat were unconceivable in their minds. The snow was what they knew. The snow and water was their comfort. But the snow did not cover the world, something they learned quickly as the distant war grew closer to their homes.
One by one they were rounded up. The demons in red destroyed all they touched with their flames. Homes destroyed, lives lost. War waged in the Southern Water Tribe, the flame filled monsters burning anything and everything they could get their hands on. The power given onto the waterbenders of the Southern Water Tribe by Tai and La did not seem enough to extinguish the flames of Agni's demonic children. Those who were not killed, where captured. Put in chains, stripped of their names and sent away from their home. One by one the waterbenders were collected. One by one they fell.
Comforting white snow gave way to harsh, manmade walls of steel. Warm fur parkas were replaced with robs as red as the blood within them. The winter of the Southern Water Tribe was lost to them. The water they controlled was removed from their reach. Home was no longer the snowy hills of the South Pole. Home was now metal walls, swinging cages, and an endless despair in the air as they waited to die.
The screeching of harsh metal grinding against one another forced the waterbenders to shrink away from the noise. They covered their ears. Tried to bury themselves as far into the rags they wore as they could manage. The clicking of armored shoes tapped through the air with a sick beat that resembled that of a heartbeat. Hama kept her head down, allowing the tangled mess of her hair to shield her face from the harsh glare the passing man attacked them with. She watched with shaky eyes as he moved passed, knocking into and rattling several of the surrounding cages. She thanked Tai and La for the reprieve of not having to deal with the man at this moment, but prayed mercy for those the warden felt to target today. The abuse died down shortly after it began, the warden growing tired of the torment he bestowed upon his prisoners.
Near silence once more sank over the prison cells as the man left, leaving behind scattered groups of guards to patrol. The scampering of rats passed through the air, melting with the coughs and moans that passed from the lips of her fellow waterbenders. Lifting her head to the bared grate in the prison ceiling, Hama blinked at the harsh light that swarmed over her. The sun was strong in the Fire Nation, something she despised dearly. At home the light of the sun bounced off the crystal white snow, enveloping the entire area in a shine that reminded her of something much more mystical. Here, in the damp cells on Fire Nation soil, the sun held a different feeling. It no longer warmed her, no longer comforted and lite her way. Now, now it only was a harsh reminder of the prison she was placed into. The rays of the sun beat down through the grate, baking the metal of her cells during the day, until she could burn her skin by touching the bars. Everything in the Fire Nation was harsh, metal and hot.
Days turned to months, turned to years, Hama had no clear way of knowing how long she waited. The sun would rise, baking her cell, and it would set. As it set, the moon would rise, and for a few hours, she would have a reprieve from the tormenting sphere of Agni. But those hours would never last, and the sun would once more burn in the sky. Many suns rose, and many moons set in their simple dance. Her throats was parched more than wet, the lack of water not only physically depleting them but proved to be spiritually draining as well. A soft, sadistic chuckle had escaped from her lips the first time she had come to the conclusion that the guards knew what they were doing. They knew the waterbenders couldn't survive on such little water. It was only a matter of time to see how long their game would last before they all dropped.
Their numbers grew smaller by the day. The guards took no risk, dishing out cruel retributions to even the slightest of slip ups. Dehydration killed off many. The attacks from the guards killed off more. The once mighty waterbenders of the Southern Water Tribe dropped like nothing. The mighty warriors died, chained to their swinging cells. One by one they fell. Hama knew that she would drop as well. The thought both scared and relieved her. She did not wish to die. She had yet to live her life. Yet, the thought of death was welcomed in the back of her mind. The sooner it came, the sooner she would be able to enter into Tai and La's kingdom. Free from the torture of her prison. Free from this war. Free from the Fire Nation.
Yet each time she openly welcomed death, she found herself unwilling to admit defeat. Casting her eyes to the sky, she let the tears run down her face. She welcomed death, but it would not come. It would not take her. Take a twenty year old woman from her Hell. So many of the surrounding cells swung empty around hers. She only wished that hers would swing with the same silence.
The shine of the moon beat down on her face through the bars of the grate. It glowed with a soft light in the star filled sky. Through the tears, she made out the full circle that graced the sky. The full moon, gracing the sky once a month, enveloped her in its light. It kept her alive. She cursed the moon, praying that it would fall so the sun would once more rise. She wished for the sun to rise and give her back the desire to die. It would push her to surrender her life. The shine of the moon only proved to prolong her life. She hated the moon. Hated it as much as she hated the sun. Yet every night it graced the sky. Once a month it reached its point of being full. Once a month it enveloped her in a light so unlike the rest of those that the moon bestowed upon them. The full moon shown brighter that before. Casting down its light. Casting down its glow. Its power.
Each month the glow over took her. Its light rippled through her skin, leaving her blood dripping with its power. The affect was metaphorical in truth, but each month the full moon made her feel as such. She was reminded of the old tales of the moon. That the full moon was a gift to waterbenders. That while it sat in the sky, their power would grow and expand to limits they could not imagine during the rest of the month. Each month she felt it. She knew those who remained could feel it too. Even if they showed no signs of it.
Months turned to years.
The cycle of the moon continued. Her own cycle of womanhood began to align to the full moon. She could feel them both coming. The power of the moon, and the pain of being a woman. Once a month the full moon would touch the sky. During that week, she would bleed. Her body would expel the blood, yet she no longer felt weak as many did during such week. The blood inside her left, being replaced by new. Her life drained from her body, to replaced by new.
Her blood.
Her life.
Blood.
Life.
They were one. It clicked one night under the moon, but she knew the thoughts had been residing in the back of her mind for some time now.
Blood was water.
Water was life.
Blood and life thrived on one another.
Her body expelled the old blood, replacing it with fresh once a month. The months continued to pass. Her hair continued to tangle, to grow ratted like the nest of the rats that moved along the cages. Where there was blood, there was life. Where there was life, there was water. Where there was water, there was freedom. The rats along the cells where nothing but skins of blood. The prisoners the same. The guards tainted, vile blood, but blood none the less. Even she was filled with the thick liquid. She was filled with blood, with water. Just like all living creature were.
The moon gave way to the sun, once more baking her cells and pressuring her to die.
Her eyes traveled along the pipes filled with dry air. She watched the guards walking passed, careful as to not draw attention to herself. She watched them. Watched them move. Talk. Breath. She watched for what signs of breathing she could see through the metal uniforms they sported. She watched. She waited. She practiced.
At night, when the guards were all but half asleep and uncaring of what was taking place. The full moon would grace the sky, her body would expel the blood, and she would take control. It sickened her at first. To bend the blood that came from her body. But the feeling grew less and less frequent as she practiced.
She cursed herself that she had not thought of this sooner. It saddened her that no one else had thought of this sooner. Or maybe they had, she had no way of knowing. Controlling the blood of a living creature, it was unhuman. Unmoral. The Fire Nation was unmoral, she reminded herself. They took her from her home. Stripped her of all she knew. Left her to rot with her brother and sister benders. Why didn't they deserve the same? The monsters guarding their cells deserved much worse than rotting. They deserved to suffer.
The full moon fell away, her cycle ended days later and the blood for her to practice with dried up. She soon learned that there were other ways to practice. A wrong movement on a jagged portion of the bars, and her arms would drip blood. Tiny cuts, here and there. Nothing too noticeable. Drops a blood throughout the night to get control over. She could only control so much without the full moon to guide her. Without it, the blood only felt like water. It felt nothing more than sea water. But under the full moon it was so much more. One drop of blood under the moon, taken from a jagged cut along her leg felt like drug under her fingers.
The sun took its place in the sky, its hours growing as summer came around the corner.
And once more the full moon would grace the sky. The blood she expelled was a gift from Tai and La themselves. It was water. Water that she could control in the moon lit corner of her cell.
The rats continued to scurry along the floors. The guards taunted her with their freedom. She felt the freed blood willing to obey her commands. She hide the red water well, but it too would grow useless as the air exposed it. The process had once felt disgusting and primal. She no longer cared. Many full moons brought along the gift of blood, and many full moons made her lose the hesitance to use it. But the blood from her body was not enough. She could not use her own blood to escape without draining herself too far beyond recovery. The gift of blood was not enough to free her from these cells. Not enough to get her and the few who remained alive to freedom.
The rats continued to scurry. Rats full of blood. Rats full of the liquid she had learned to control. They were nothing more than skins filled with liquid to do her bidding. Ready to break her to freedom. She control the blood. The moon was in the sky. It was half full, but she felt she had to try. She raised her hand, ready to test the theory. She flexed her wrist, demanding the blood in the creature to obey her.
The rats continued to scurry along the floor, uncaring of the crying woman.
The silence of swinging cells grew louder.
The full moon took to the sky days later.
Her body once more was graced with the power of the moon.
She was once more given the gift of blood.
The rats continued to scurry along the cells.
The guards paid them no mind.
The full moon draped its light over her.
The rats continued to scurry…
Blue eyes, which once shown with intelligent light now cast themselves onto the creatures with the same animalistic gleam as they gave her. She raised her hand, her fingers shacking in the process. The light of the full moon cast an eerie glow over her dark skin. She flicked her wrist. A simple movement. A basic movement.
The rat froze. A shudder shot through its body, before shacking it off and scampering away. Hama fought down the scream of delight that threated to pass from her lips. She could not give sign now. Now that she was close. She raised her hand a second time, her fingers shacking less than prior.
She flexed her wrist with a sharp motion. The rat froze under her control. She could feel it. Could feel the blood coursing through the creature's body. She felt every drop of blood as it pumped through its vein. She found the rat's heartbeat sending shivers down her spine as it beat franticly. It was nothing like bending her own blood outside of her body. The drops she had drawn through well placed cuts was nothing compared to the pumping blood inside this creatures body.
Exhaling the breath she didn't realize she had been holding, she let the rat go. It rushed away, squealing as it went, leaving the swinging cell empty but her. The guards appeared moments later, inspecting the source of the noise. She dropped against the cell bars, allowing her dried and dead hair to cover her face. Controlling her breathing, she faked sleep.
A smile graced her lips as the prospect before her. Pausing a rat in its track was not enough to secure her freedom. She needed more. Much more than a single rat. Eyeing the Fire Nation guards, she allowed a soft chuckle to touch her tongue, too quiet for them to hear. What difference was their between a rat, and a man? A Fire Nation man? They were both vermin. Blood filled vermin that were unknowing of the power she would hold over them. She would control them. Enforce her will onto them to secure her freedom. It would take time, but she would do it. It was a gift given to her. The power of the blood would be hers. And she would use it.
Many moons had been taken from her because of this cell. But now, now those moons were getting revenge.
-oOo-
A bit of explaining before I drop out. For one, you can bend blood at a time other than the full moon. Legend of Korra had that whole ark with bloodbending and Amon, making it a real cannon thing. Blood can be bent other than during the full moon, but for this case, Hama is not aware of this to some extent. At this time, she is unaware of that and we will pretend that the full moon is the case. I don't see a reason why you can't bend blood that's outside of the body at any time. It is simply water. Water filled with chemicals and such, but soup is filled with seasoning and they can bend soup water. So if I cut myself, or someone around me is bleeding, than why would I not be able to bend it? Its water. Water that is out in the open. That's where the menstrual cycle came in. Full moon cycles and womanly cycle kind of line up for her. At least close enough that the logic of moon and blood begin to form. I know, gross right. Bending that blood. Not really. Its blood. Blood is blood. Doesn't matter where it comes from. I'm pretty sure some guys may think differently, but that's not my focus. I'm not here for sex Ed class, so we will move on.
Bending blood in someone's body should be harder than bending a few drops of blood building up from a cut on your arm. That blood is pumping in their body. It's flowing. It isn't going to willing comply with your desires. Hence, full moon logic.
I hope I don't lose followers because of this. If so, I understand. I have definitely changed in writing style since starting this. (You can thank my adventure into Harry Potter fanfiction for that) The reluctance to dig deep into this stuff is gone. I'm trying to keep these from becoming dark. I think other than two, maybe three others might be a bit dark. But that's because I paralyze Teo in one of those… but that's not for a few chapters.
We'll get back to light hearted next chapter. Speaking of next chapter, here's what's coming…
Apple: Katara knew what trees were. She wasn't stupid. Apples? Apples were new to her.