She was talking on the phone in a hushed tone while stirring a pot of soup.

Chanyeol was sitting at the kitchen table while staring at the back of his mother at the stove, his lips etching downwards into a frown. He could tell that she was stressed by the way she sounded and moved, only proving his point when she slammed the telephone back onto the receiver. He merely continued to stare at her with his cheek resting on his hand before standing up and slowly approaching the woman. Cautiously, the boy wrapped his arms around her waist and gave her a hug, listening to her sigh and place the cooking utensils down in order to hug her son back.

"Things will be okay mom." He whispered, his throat felt tight and his vision became a bit blurry, however Chanyeol was able to hold back the tears. He wasn't sure why he was getting so emotional, maybe because of the fact he was lying or because he missed her so much - he couldn't be certain. Her fingers gently weaved themselves through his hair and when he looked down at her, the male noticed a smile lighting up her face. "Thank you Chanyeol, I'm sorry, but it seems as though dad won't be home until later tonight. He caught some sort of a virus or was bitten by something on his mission - he might be a little sick, I think he has something called luparine but I'm not sure what it is." She whispered while framing his face with her palms. "Why don't you sit down? your soup is ready."

His heart almost stopped when he heard that sentence from her. 

Chanyeol grew up thinking that his father was simply an abusive man who lost it one night and destroyed everything. He had absolutely no idea that the life changing event that occurred on that night was due to an evil force that had almost nothing to do with his real father. Like a zombie, the male wandered back to his chair and merely gazed into space while his stomach felt queasy. During his time at the academny, they all learned of things to avoid and illnesses that would change them and ultimately destory them - which is what happened to his father. A shaky sigh escaped his lips and he ran a hand through his hair.

And that's how the rest of his day went, he had lunch, played, and helped his mom out with some chores. It was hard when he sat down for dinner because Chanyeol just knew, he knew that tonight was the night when everything would change. The boy slowly chewed the vegetables and meat while his mom grew concerened and would often check his forehead, remarking that he seemed to be quiet. He refused ice cream for dessert and simply went to bed early, relishing the moment when his mother read him a story and tucked him in because he was positive that this would be the last time. 

The bender found himself once again awkwardly splayed atop of the small bed, his eyes staring holes into the ceiling as his mind wandered. After the accident, Chanyeol had encountered many nightmares in which he tried to prevent the events that unfolded that night. The male had always taken his mother out and away from the house, however his father had eventually hunted them down. He had attempted to tell his mother and neighbors beforehand, but it never worked out in the end. He had always tried to run away from the house and as he was staring up at the white paint, he realized that he needed to face his father this time.

As if on cue, Chanyeol suddenly felt a wave of heat, and he was sure that it had to be the house beginning to burn down. A rush a footsteps reached his eardrums, and in burst his mother with a frantic look dominating her pretty features. This moment had played in his mind so many times that the male had already memorized her movements and words to him, but this time, the fire bender cut her short and took her face in his hands. She seemed to be shocked by his sudden action, and was even more confused when he led her towards the window instead. "Mom, get out while you still can, I can protect you now."

He could see that she was about to object, but the male merely laughed bitterly while shaking his head. "It's no use, you're just a figment of my imagination - I lost you years ago." He whispered silently, a pang of sadness stabbed his heart as he continued to look at the one woman who shaped his life completely. Even if he knew this day wasn't real at all, it didn't stop him from feeling as if it was.

The male suddenly heard a loud bang, and when he turned around to investigate it, the heat only felt even more intense which caused him to scowl at the faint pain. Turning back to face his mother, Chanyeol then was startled to find that she had disappeared in seconds, as if she never existed. The bender hid the fact he was slightly hurt and told himself to get over it, she was never a piece of reality anyways. His sadness then transitioned into horror as he realized it was now time to face the one man he hated and feared for his entire life.

Chanyeol took a deep breath and walked towards the door before kicking it open with his foot and gasping when sudden flames at his skin. He was a fire bender but too much fire and heat wasn't good for anyone. The male stumbled through the ignited house in order to search for his father, who was the center of the violence. Another thing that the bender was terrified of was becoming anything like his father on his last day on earth. His dad had bequeathed his ability to manipulate fire to his son, however the man had used it in a violent and destructive manner. Chanyeol saw the fire inside of his body as a warm and comforting flame - he never ever wanted to see himself lose it and destroy the people and things he loved around him. 

He stumbled over debris and planks of wood, screaming out for his dad and cringing when he heard movement up ahead. The male took one last look behind him at his room as a baby and he received a sudden surge of courage, it was time to end the nightmares and paranoia he had been plagued with for his entire life. The bender didn't have to continue searching for the dark shadow lurking amongst the heat because in the next split second, Chanyeol was tackled to the floor and defending his face against the blows his father was delivering. He grunted from the mass hovering over his adomen but with a kick, the positions were swapped and the male was now atop his father.

Chanyeol had trouble even calling the man below him his dad, the man that would scoop him up onto his shoulders and bring him out to the park every weekend was almost unrecognizable. The majority of the skin present was charred and the once kind and soft brown eyes were now bloodshot and bulging with an predatorlike gleam. His mouth was producing saliva that hung off of his chin, and the soft black locks were burnt and leaving behind a disgusting stentch. However, even if all Chanyeol saw was a monster that had ruined his childhood completely, he couldn't bring himself to kill him. If anything, all the bender could do was trap both of his father's hands to the ground and being to cry softly.

"Dad" The male rasped, his voice scratchy and trembling as tears formed clean streaks down his ash coated cheeks. "It's okay." He yelled over the sound of the wood burning and the sirens in the background. "It wasn't your fault!" He was mortified of the creature below him, who was struggling and hissing out spews of spit, however Chanyeol was more afraid of causing even more destruction to something he had crushed enough - and that was him.

Growing up, the boy held fury and hatred unlike anything anyone had even seen, targeted solely at his father - who honestly was innocent due to the fact he was sick with a sort of virus or had been posessed by something during his mission. Chanyeol never found out about that fact until a few hours ago, he had completely blamed his father for ruining everything. As he begun to train, the boy learned to use his anger towards bending and that was what fueled his energy. Through meeting his comrades, he returned to his old friendly self but a burning loathing continued to remain deep inside his heart.

It was that day that Chanyeol realized a deep dislike was a double-edged sword, it made him just as hurt as the person receiving it. He spent his teenage years dwelling over something that happened many years ago when he could have been happy and spending his days with his friends and making memories. Many people would first assume that forgiving someone for messing up his life was extremely generous, but it was in fact actually a very selfish action. Chanyeol wanted to drop the burden he had been carrying all those years, he was ready to deposit it there and then - he was forgiving for himself. This all didn't mean he would forget the pain and the lessons that came with it, it did however mean that he was going to spiritually be lighter and happier. His source of energy for his fire would not be fury any longer, it would be a warm love inside his heart. It would be coming from a yearn to protect the people he loved as well as the innocent citizens that were currently being demolished by The Unforgivable. With this mindset, the male would go on to save many children that could have had a childhood ending with ashes.

"I forgive you!"

This holler was the loudest by far, and in the next second, the male was taken back and he woke up with a start next to the sleeping bodies of all the other benders. 

-

When did words become a weapon?

The male couldn't help but think this as the woman in front of him rattled off details and inuslts right to his face. Kai spaced out after a while and just merely stared at her with a blank expression dominating his features. He honestly didn't know what to say, he just accepted the harsh treatment and felt himself breaking on the inside. Tears were just silently cascading down his face as he gazed at the couple before him, wondering if they were possibly enjoying their actions or not.

All of the benders had weaknesses - heck, everyone did regardless of posessing a special ability or not. Kai was the strongest by far in the crew, he was practically fearless and extremely humble at the same time which made him well-liked, powerful and respected. The others couldn't count the times in which he made a sacrifice for each one of them, whether it was giving them his meal or offering up time out of his day to help them with something. The only thing was that none of them (except one) was aware of his vibrant weakness, which was probably the worst out of all of them. The male kept it hidden like a dirty secret, he didn't want the others knowing he was vulnerable - he wanted to stay their  superman.

Kai was severely insecure and he had always been ever since he could remember. It wasn't entirely his fault, it had to do a lot with the fact he was abandoned so many times and cast away like trash. He grew up like a rat on the street and eventually came to believe that he was, which was obviously not true. He just believed that he was never good enough for anyone or anything;he lived with a mindset that consisted of making sure that if there was a grendade thrown near the group, he wouldn't even think twice before throwing himself on top of it. Sometimes he cried about it, other times he told himself he wasn't worth the tears.

Back in the day when the other members were sad or tired from the intense training, Kai would often joke about how he was equivalent to a trash can and how all the garbage they stumbled across were related to him. The younger members fully believed him and would often bring him banana peels or tissues, remarking on how they found his cousins. It was an inside joke and the male figured he would use his weakness to at least make the others happy, it was the least he could do. Everyone would laugh innocently, having no clue he was insecure and merely thinking it was quite random and bizarre - everyone except Jessica. wouldn't even twitch as it remained in a firm line and her eyes would merely stare at him without a hint of laughter. He always thougt that maybe it was hard to make her laugh, but that suspicion was wiped away one day.

It was a day where Kai was more than frustrated with himself - he was disgusted with his entire being in fact. It was a very enervating training session due to the fact he couldn't successfully land a complicated move, and he was getting more and more furious as time went on. It got to a point where he excused himself with a smile, left to the woods outside and began to lay random blows on the ground and rocks around him - ignoring the stinging burning of the cuts splitting open on his knuckles. He yelled a little bit, but after letting out his anger, the boy merely crumpled to the ground and burst into tears. He absolutely loathed himself.

"You're not garbage."

The voice was calm and collected as the bender froze and didn't need to lift his head in shame to know that Jessica had been watching him the entire time. At first, he had absolutely no idea what to do - should he laugh? deny it? leave? he was at a loss for words and actions when suddenly the male felt a pair of arms circle around his neck and gently tug him forward. He felt his face light up due to the embarrassment and Kai couldn't help but hiccup from the shock. Jessica's soothing fingers rubbed circles into his back and softly pat at the exposed skin, encouraging him to let it out until he was satisfied because he was worth it. 

And that's exactly what he did.

Kai cried and cried until he felt like there were no more tears to be shed, and Jessica continued to console the trembling boy until he wiped his cheeks and took a few deep breaths. Once he was done, the ice bender then spoke up.

"It's okay to cry Kai - it doesn't make you any weaker than you are now. You are worth so much more than you think, trust me. I know that along with the other members, we would all be lost without you. You're not trash, you're not a waste of space, you're a valuable person and we all love and need you. " The girl's fingernails tipped his chin up so that he was looking at her in the eyes, "You're way too hard on yourself."

And that's when the boy smiled. It was the first time in his entire life that he actually felt important and loved. The healing process was slow and exhausting, but Kai was getting better and better at believing he was amazing - however it took just a few people and a dream to tear down his confidence. He was agonizingly close to giving in to the woman and man, until they said something that changed his life forever.

"That stupid wrench planted dumb ideas in your head"

Stupid Wrench.

Stupid Wrench.

Stupid Wrench.

Stupid Wrench.

S t u p i d W r e n c h.

STUPID WRENCH.

The words repeated in his head like a chant and Kai felt like a slow machine analyzing new data, everything was still as the 12 letters filled up his brain over and over again. The male couldn't hear the voices anymore, nor did he feel the cushion of the sofa he was on or the heat of the summer day. The bender only felt his heartbeat go from a slow and painful speed to an unexpected high rate as his fingers clenched into fists and red pools filled his vision. They were talking about Jessica, they were insulting her. Kai could take it when someone talked bad about him to his face and made fun of him, he absorbed the negative words and energy and came to believe it - however, if anyone, even if it was a magical and holy unicorn sent from above, said anything close to an abusive remark about his friends, he would absolutely not stand for it.

He couldn't remember grabbing the woman and hauling her up from her seat, however the male only knew that now his hands were wrapped around the fabric of her collar and he was snarling in her face. He thought that maybe the man had stood up to try and defend her, but with one shove he was thrown against the wall and left to slide down and gasp for air. 

"You listen to me, Jessica is worth thousands of you - I never needed you, I learned to live and survive without you and I'll always be more valuable than a slimy and terrible mom like you. In fact, you're worthless, you're not worth my time, my emotions, or my energy. I'm so much better than you and the fact you're degrading me is a reflection of who you are - a pathetic, lonely, and revolting piece of crap that relies on making others feel bad about themselves in order to gain confidnce."

He wasn't sure where all his courage was coming from all of a sudden, maybe it was the encouragement he had been receiving over the years from Jessica, or maybe it was the sudden realization that he was a human being that deserved things and was important. However, before the male knew it, everything faded and he woke up to being damp and in a puddle alone.