Burn and Bloom - Phan

CHAPTER TWO

Dan was terrified. For one thing, he was being kidnapped, and there was absolutely nothing he could do about it. And for another: Dan could barely breathe.

He was trying desperately to do so, but the earthbender (Phil was it? He was still wearing his tea shop uniform from earlier, and that's what the name tag had read, at least) had secured a large slab of rock tightly over Dan's mouth. He couldn't make a noise, and he couldn't breathe through his mouth at all, and his nose was barely accessible, as the slab also pressed up into his nose. To make matters worse, the rocks around Dan's legs (at first it had been one large rock, securing him into the ground, but as soon as Phil had started running they'd broken into two, one encasing each of Dan's legs) were forcing him to run, much faster than he was used to. He was huffing and puffing through his nose but it simply wasn't enough. Dan felt sure he was going to suffocate.

And to think, just that morning Dan had thought that Phil looked like a nice guy. He'd tried to escape into that tea shop, had tried to get away from Peter and his annoying sidekicks, Jaxon and Elijah, but it was practically impossible to escape from those guys. He'd thought that maybe they wouldn't follow him into the shop, but he was wrong, of course.

Peter had hated him ever since Dan was sent to the city when he was thirteen. His father had sent him away to join the Fire Nation soldiers stationed in Omashu, thinking that the training and experience would toughen Dan up. In reality, the other firebenders had spotted a weakness in him immediately.

They practiced formations a lot, and they practiced their firebending. Well, most of them did. Dan always did his best to get away with not doing it. He'd skip practice, or stand in the back and do the motions without actually summoning fire. At first, a few people had thought that maybe Dan was joking around, trying to be funny or something. They'd figured out that he was just scared of fire soon enough.

It was torture, living with all those other firebenders. There'd been about six of them assigned to live in different cabins, and going to sleep in them was a nightmare. People were always tripping Dan up, or throwing fire his way just to scare him. On more than one occasion Dan had woken up with a fistful of fire being held directly in front of his face. He'd scrambled off the bed, gasping and panting, his heart thundering painfully while everyone else laughed.

No respectable firebender was scared of fire. Dan was a wimp. He was pathetic. He'd heard it enough times to know it was true. But still, he couldn't help it. Fire was terrifying! He could easily set something on fire, but once it was lit, there was no way to put it out again. Not unless you were lucky enough to be a waterbender, and even then, lucky enough to have water somewhere nearby.

Still, walking into the tea shop that morning, Dan had taken one look at Phil's face and thought, he looks like a nice guy. Dan's palms had been sweating, and he'd felt like he was fighting a battle just to speak, just to order a cup of tea. He'd barely even noticed as everyone in the shop grew wary at his presence, though he'd noticed their reactions when Peter and his cronies bursted in.

And then, of course, Dan had been dragged out of the shop moments later, with no one doing anything to stop Peter. And why would they? Why would anybody get in a firebender's way in this city? They were all blatantly terrified of firebenders, it was obvious, and yet no one tried to do anything to gain their respect instead of their fear.

That's where the Fire Lord was going wrong, Dan thought. He wanted to rule everyone with fear, to keep them in his submission simply by making them scared enough. But no one can rule a nation that way; even Dan knew that, and he was no leader. You needed to earn their respect, needed to have them trust you and put actual faith in your decisions. That's why Dan was nice to all the citizens he had to interact with, even though they were all obviously terrified to even be in his presence.