AN: I'm sorry I haven't posted for a couple of days. I was feeling really burnt out. I've been writing every day for the last forty days, so it's been quite the streak. I think I just needed a bit of siesta. Forgive me.

Requested by Jokermask18

Bumi is Amon

The stillness between them was tangible, frozen like concrete. Past them, beyond the bars of the cell, were Tenzin's wife and children, all of them fast asleep; they were dozing the trauma away. They'd been through a lot in the last twenty four hours-bagged, bundled, and kidnapped in the darkness. Taken hostage by men in masks wielding weapons of electrocution and fear. They were too young to experience these horrors. And they were too brave to ignore them.

Tenzin didn't try to fight the chains laced around his wrists and ankles. He'd already worked his wrists raw, rubbing and hissing at them until someone came along to check what the air bender prisoners were up to. Jinora had strained against hers until she cried. It must've been hours he watched his daughter struggle against her bindings. He felt ashamed that he'd given up so easily. She'd fallen asleep with her head in his lap, his hands desperate to brush her tears away.

When he finally came to confront him, Tenzin had been very careful to maneuver Jinora so that she didn't wake from her slumber. Spirits knew, his children deserved to get some sleep. Furthermore, she need not know the truth of their captor. He would never stop trying to protect them from things that might hurt them.

"You are quiet, Tenzin." Amon noted across from him. He stood across from the seated Tenzin, studying him beyond the macabre mask.

"I do not wish to wake my children." Tenzin noted quietly, staring quite determinedly at the floor.

"I see." That was his only reply. Silence stretched.

"Why have you done this, brother?" Tenzin's words were weak, almost lost in the silence. He felt the defeat sink into his skin, latch onto his bones, and make a nest in the pit of his stomach. He waited for the answer that would confirm his worst fears.

He didn't reply for several minutes. Tenzin feared he wouldn't; he feared he'd be stuck with this never ending unanswerable silence. He had to know the truth. He had to know why everything-family, duty, honor, love-had been abandoned for a vendetta against innocent people. He had to know how it had come to this. What had he done wrong that it had gone this far. To the ends of the earth.

"Tenzin, you know the answer to that question." He finally replied. His hood fell back and he pulled the mask from his face, revealing the dark, aged face Tenzin had long known as his brothers. He looked older than he should have and there were lines under his eyes that beget a deep seated hatred. It was unsettling, seeing that face on a man who had once been so full of life and joy.

"I'm not sure that I do, Bumi." Tenzin replied, anger leaking into his speech.

Bumi's eyes narrowed but he did not move from his spot across form Tenzin. "You know how hard it was to live in his shadow. Imagine living in that shadow with nothing remarkable to your name. You're an air bender, Tenzin. You were always his pride and joy. And Kya was the same with our mother. But me? A nonbender? What could I ever do to compare? It took me a while to figure out, but I realize this-this power that I've been given-this is what I was searching for all those years." He paused, the mask falling from his hands. His fist clenched. He looked like he almost wanted to take a step forward, but he hesitated.

"Don't you see, Tenzin? I just want equality. I want everyone to be on a level playing field. I don't want anyone to ever feel like I did all those years-locked in inadequacy." His voice was pleading, begging for his younger brother to understand.

"But father never saw you as inadequate, Bumi. Nor I, nor Kya, nor mother. You were the brightest of us. Smarter and braver and more fun than Kya and I combined. But this? This isn't a semblance of the person you were." Tenzin paused, struggling to find words. "We thought you were dead, Bumi! Do you have any idea... You disappeared and you came back as this. I don't even know what you are anymore. You're certainly not my brother."

Bumi's expression grew savage. He began reattaching the mask to his face. "Then perhaps it's better if Bumi stays dead, don't you think."