Chapter 6: Recalling the Past.

I rubbed my numb leg as I laid back in the hammock. "It's been 6 years since I messed up my leg and now this happens and to the same leg no less." I thought out loud and looked up at the stars.

"How?" I was snapped out of my thoughts by Sky sliding a chair next to me and curling up into it.

"How what?"

"How did you hurt your leg in the first place? The first day we met I could tell you had hurt it before and also you we covered in bandages that day as well come on tell me." Sky tucked her arms inside of her jacket and crossed her legs while facing me.

"Oh yeah that's right. Yeah a couple days before we came to republic city I was trying to perfect new Lava bending move and it totally backfired" I chuckled and remembered back.

"Wait you can Lava bend?" Sky sounded shocked and I tilted my head.

"Yeah you didn't know? I can metal bend as well." I laughed. Her deadpan expression brought me to a stop.

"No I didn't, no one did. That's so crazy you can perform two of the rarest types of earth bending and you've been keeping that a secret?" She shifted in her chair.

"Well I wasn't trying to I just thought everyone already knew and they just didn't care. In Zaofu metal bending is common but Lava bending is still pretty rare though so I could see why no one knew."

Sky got up from the chair and took the hammock next to me just as Hope appeared in the doorway.

"Hey dinner will be ready soon so come on in in a little bit." Hope hollered and she started to turn back inside.

"Sis wait come here Akira was about to tell me a really interesting story and I think you might want to hear it!" Sky yelled and swung herself side to side.

"Ok just give me a minute Aura and Sokka are supposed to be here soon so wait for us." Hope hurried inside and I waited patiently looking up at the moon. A couple minutes passed before Hope came outside again but this time she had Aura and Sokka with her.

"Yeah apparently it's supposed to be a really interesting story, well enough for Sky to be so excited about it." Hope was saying to them.

"Oh yeah? Well if Sky is that excited how can I say no?" Aura sprinted and managed to slip herself into the hammock with me, and positioned herself opposite of me with her feet digging into my right armpit, as Hope jumped into Sky's. Sokka took the open chair and they all leaned in more.

"Come on Akira tell them!" Sky almost shouted.

"Well first of all the obvious is that I can metal bend seeing as who my family is and where I am from and secondly I can Lava bend." I moved Aura's feet from my armpit onto my chest. The whole group let out a long OOOOHHH.

"Roll that back a second, you can lava bend?" Aura accidentally pressed her heel into my chest and I winced. "Oh sorry."

"Yeah I actually learned one day while I snuck up on my dad while he was practicing it. I got too close and some lava splashed towards me and I guess instinctively I knew what to do and I bent it away from me." I pushed on Aura's feet as she kept digging them into my chest. She curled them back before she hopped out of the hammock and slipped back into it but this time she laid her head on my shoulder.

"How old were you when you did it?" Sky looked like she was shivering and Hope wrapped her arm around her sister.

"I think it was a couple days before I turned 5 which was probably why my dad left us. It's a monstrous skill and I know from personally experience how dangerous it is." I scratched at a small fading patch of scar tissue on my neck.

"That's crazy... We all have a special sub-type of bending." Sky was shaking more now and her voice cracked. "Sokka's flight, Aura's lightning, Hope's combustion and my blood bending."

The group went silent and I thought for a moment.

"Wait wasn't blood bending outlawed a long time ago?" I shifted a little to get Aura's hair out of my face. "And I thought it was passed from parent to child."

"Yeah it is and in almost all cases it is but sometimes individuals who are born with an extremely high water bending potential can learn it easily." Hope cradled her sister as tears fell silently from Sky's face.

"Sky hates her blood bending; she found she had it a couple years ago while we were messing around at the water park. We were running from her and she just tried to get us to stop and boom blood bending." Aura did an over exaggerated gesture and turned over so she laid on her side.

Sokka stood up and walked over to Hope and Sky and picked up the latter. He carried her inside and Hope followed them in.

"I really hope she doesn't shut down again." Aura groaned. "She was doing so well too; it's been a couple months since her last episode and that was one of the worst ones she has ever had."

"Episodes? Shut down? What are you talking about Aura, fill me in here." I shifted and pulled my right knee my chest.

"She closes herself off to the world. She starts to feel like she shouldn't exist because of her abilities. It had gotten so bad a while back she tried to kill herself." Aura curled up and turned towards me more.

"I was wondering why she was so excited to learn that I can lava bend, but I just thought that it was because it's rare." I turned away from Aura and swung my legs off of the hammock. "I'm gonna go talk to her."

Aura grabbed my arm. "It won't do any good the only person that can get her to talk is Sokka and it still takes a couple days."

"I've gotta try Aura, it's my fault now." I pulled my wheelchair over to me with my bending and sat myself in it. I rolled to the door and bent up a small ramp to get over the steps. I went passed the kitchen and saw my aunt Kayna sitting at the table crying, I kept rolling to the room Hope and Sky shared.

Hope sat curled up outside the door sniffling. I stopped just a foot before her.

"Hope, I'm sorry I didn't know, I just thought she was curious because lava bending is rare but I didn't mean to bring up bad memories." I slid myself out of my wheel chair and scooted over to her. "It's going to be OK Hope I'm gonna try and talk to her."

I sighed and wrapped my arm around her. 'At least I hope so.'