::The Last Avatar::

Gamer Edition

BOOK TWO
TITAN

2.4

Forging Bonds

"Well I assume that it is due to whatever happened when the Cetra were almost driven to extinction by the Calamity, certainly the Life Stream is not as peaceful as it could and should be, so perhaps when the Avatar Spirit was forced from Gaia that included all of your past selves?" Buganhagan theorised thoughtfully. Rue's eyebrow twitched at the vagueness of it all. Her peanut gallery remained silent. It seemed no-one was willing, or able, to give her a more detailed answer to the majority of her questions.

"Great, so how do I get them out of my head?" she asked bluntly. Bugen huffed and stroked his bead as he considered her, and no doubt Rhys next to her. Rue was well aware that, as a member of the Shin-Ra army Rhys was unlikely to be really trusted by anyone here in the Canyon any time soon. The only reason he was sitting in on this conversation was because Rue had requested it. If the kid was going to watch her back then he needed to know what she did and, most importantly, understand what was going on around him.

"I think for now, you should concentrate on getting better, though I do have a gift for you, it's been collecting dust for decades in my home ever since I stumbled across it in my youth," Bugan told her as he moved closer and pulled a scroll from one of his voluminous sleeves. Rue's eyes widened as she stared at the offered scroll, it had the symbol of the old Earth Nation as a seal. This was an Earth Bending scroll.

"I-Thank you, Master Buganhagan, this is invaluable," she took the scroll from the old man carefully. It wasn't as well preserved as her Water Bending scroll had been, she would need to be very careful with it. "I haven't really mastered Water yet, but looking over what lies ahead won't hurt, at least while you people still have me on bed rest," her rueful smile helping Rhys at least relax a little in his seat by her bed.

"Indeed, our physician seemed rather concerned as he took his leave, did he say why?" Bugan was fishing for how much she had been told that was plain. Rue had no doubt at all that the old man had already been told her current state.

"Oh you know, just that I probably shouldn't be awake, let alone fully cognisant. The amount of Mako my body absorbed in the accident and is still retaining means that I should probably be brain dead if not actually dead, so yay for being special," was Rue's sarcasm-laced response to the old man's probing. She knew she was being childish, but being stuck in bed again was not something the adult-turned-teen was enjoying over much. She really needed to stop getting injured, because it sucked ass.

"Wait, what do you mean dead? Like...dead-dead?" Rhys had apparently not been kept in the loop concerning her current heath-crisis. She really needed to sit the poor guy down and explain some shit to him, the sooner the better.

"That's what I said, but normal people apparently don't survive that much Mako and come out the other side all hunky-dory. Sure I've got burns, but the stuff in my system isn't doing squat so far, that's why the doc and Angeal are so worried about me," she explained quickly to the worried young man. Rhys just stared at her in shocked disbelief. Yeah. She really needed to have that info dump with him soon.

"Yes, your accident, I understand that there were some oddities surrounding that?" Bugan asked lightly. Rue's eyes snapped back to the old man sharply, but found herself unable to hold his gaze. The guilt was almost overwhelming, even though it had been Hojo, and the vile man deserved everything he got and more, it was more the feeling of controlling someone so completely that cause her adverse reactions to just the thought of what had happened in the Labs.

"I discovered, accidentally of course, that I can Blood Bend, I think I'm the first Avatar that can….maybe…" she trailed off. None of the other Avatar consciousnesses in her head had mentioned being able to, either because it was the truth and she was the first, or out of shame and slash or guilt. Either way, Rue could, and that was what she needed to focus on.

"I see, is that a bad thing?" Bugan enquired a little too innocently. The seemingly doddery old man definitely knew something.

"Usually…as far as I know only one person that could be considered a good person has had it, and she hated it so much she moved to have the skill made illegal," Rue explained glumly. Katara had been very public and open with her dislike of her ability to Blood Bend, that had been fairly clear. Strangely, while Aang and Korra's presence were much stronger in her mind, they remained silent on the subject. Rue wished she knew why.

"And the others?"

"Thugs, bad guys, and generally crazed lunatics?" Rue offered helpfully with faked cheer.

"I see," Buganhagan said again and went quiet for a while. Apparently deep in thought.

"Well, then just find a useful, non-bad way to use it," Rhys suggested awkwardly. He shifted under the stare Rue awarded his contribution with, her confused disbelief apparent on her face.

"What?"

"Well, I mean, if all it's been used for is bad, as far as you know, find a better use for it," when no response was forthcoming Rhys shrugged and sighed. He ran a hand through tawny hair. "I just- everyone here talks about balance and spiritual stuff I can barely follow, but what I have managed to piece together is that everything has a counterpart, or something, that it goes hand in hand with, right? So, what is this Blood Bending thing's counterpart?" Rue's mouth had slowly slid open as Rhys had spoken. Surprised at the awkwardly worded wisdom he was offering her. The man had a point after all. Everything balanced out, so she considered his question.

"Water Healing, I guess? That would be it's more passive counterpart, maybe," she answered finally.

"Okay, so could you use the Blood Bending together with the Water Healing?" Rhys asked hopefully. Rue's whole face seemed to turn downward at the idea, but the more she thought about it, the more it made sense. If she found a way to use both skills in tandem somehow, her Healing could, theoretically, be far more precise and powerful than even Katara's was. Maybe.

"It's…not a terrible idea…" Rue admitted slowly. Rhys relaxed at her words and beamed at her, glad to have been able to help a little. "Good point 'New Sokka', and thanks," she said with a slowly forming grin.

"New 'Sokka'? What's that?"

"Never mind, Boy Wonder, never mind," Rue waved his confusion off and turned back to where Buganhagan had been only to find the sneaky old coot had taken off during their discussion. "Typical,"

"So, you're not from Modeoheim?" Rhys asked as he tried to recover his thought processes from the information that had just been dumped on him. Rue shook her head with a grimace.

"I just told the others that 'cause, you know, who'd believe the truth?" she admitted with a sigh.

"But I'm supposed to?"

"Hey, you're the first member of the newly reformed Team Avatar, of course you're supposed to believe me!" she Rue gripped at the other teen. His only response to that was an amused snort as he stared at the floor, arms crossed over his chest. Rue wasn't really sure what to make of the kid honestly, he was hard to read, though that might have just been because he wasn't an actual character that had a part in the final fantasy VII franchise. Which, of course made her wonder, just who the hell was this guy, and where the hell had he come from? With this in mind, Rue leaned back on her mountain of pillows and considered Rhys for a moment. "So, where are you from?" she asked him after a surprisingly long silence. The question startled Rhys out of whatever thoughts were running around his head, and he turned back to her.

"What?"

"Where are you from?" she repeated patiently.

"Midgar..." was the evasively short answer Rue got for her effort. Her unimpressed stare seemed to get to him after a moment or three and Rhys sighed. "Sector Seven Slums," he added as though no other explanation was necessary. In a way, it wasn't, and yet, the awkward almost-shame on Rhys' face made Rue want to know more about her new friend. Because that's what he was, her friend. Being from the slums seemingly bothered him, so maybe, like he was helping her deal with her Blood Bending, Rue could help him deal with his past.

"You wanna talk about it?" she asked him carefully. She wouldn't push, just leave it open in case he ever did. No doubt it wasn't a bag of cats Rhys would want to open for shits and giggles.

"Not particularly,"

"Okay, but I'm here if you ever do,"

"Yeah, thanks, I'll remember,"

AN: HEY! More than one chapter this year?! Hot damn! No, but really, this was going to be longer, but then Rue and Rhys had that conversation at the end and...well...it felt like that was all this chapter had to say? I know that I said it was gonna be longer and stuff...but honestly this is what happened instead...

Admittedly I did avoid some of the explain-y things, just cause I figured no-one wanted me to rehash what you, as the readers, already know. So the info dumps and things all happened off screen. Also...Bugan is surprisingly hard to write...but I'm pretty sure he knows things...just not ALL the things...

Explanations on the things Rue has been wondering are forthcoming, they just keep saying 'nope not till you deal with this shit' every freaking chapter I write. Soon though. Not even gonna try and guess when though, I always prove myself wrong.

You can prolly tell I'm just trying to flesh Rhys out as much as I can, in ways that makes sense. Cause he needs to be.

Annnyways, reviews are always welcome and appreciated more than you probably know! As are the faves and follows~!

Till next time guys and gals~

RLK