Private Lessons - Tahno x Reader

Chapter 14

It was as if someone had ripped Tahno's heart out and forced him to swallow it once more. There were shivers shooting up his spine, and his eyes were getting dry from his continuous stare.

"M-Mother..." He called out silently, almost inaudible. But it tore him apart as he got no response from her. She just eyed him, head lulled to one side and lips slightly parted. Her pupils twitched in sync with her fingers, and it made Tahno want to reach out to her.

"S-Stop! Please!" He yelled, eyes brimming with tears as he watched Kaito's grip tighten around her throat. She dangled from his grip, legs and arms loosely hanging by her sides as if she had been dead already. But Tahno knew from the way she looked at him that she was still conscious. Barely, but enough to fuel Tahno's rage towards Kaito.

"Remember the way I held you like this, Tahno?" The man spoke, voice deep and fitting to his whole image. It was dark, sinister, a voice belonging to a true psychopath.

"You have her eyes. Same pain. Same fear."

"Why are you doing this?! Let her go, you bastard!"

As if on cue, Kaito dropped Tahno's mother to the ground, and the sound of her body falling to the floor was something that Tahno would remember forever. The gasp that slipped past her lips as he released her and the grin that Kaito gave him when he did. 

"She's a pretty one... such a shame she'll have none of that left when I'm done with her." 

Tahno wanted to be courageous, he really did, but Kaito was too powerful. His knowledge and all the information Tahno had gave him was now used against him, and now he hadn't just infiltrated his home, but hurt his mother as well. 

He wanted to scream, to kill this bastard so brutally the word would spread like wild fire. He wanted people to fear him, to know not to touch his family and friends. 

But he was just Tahno.

An above average water bender who was good at bending championships and betraying his own kind. That was how these people saw him, both benders and non-benders. There was no real place where he belonged, and it felt like he was going one step forward and two steps back.

So maybe it was time for him to continue walking. To say good bye to one of the two life's he lived and carry on with one that could guarantee not only him, but his family some safety as well.

"Kaito..." He started, an unrecognizable amount of confidence in his voice that for some reason intrigued Kaito. It was a tone he had only heard once before, and the man smirked as Tahno kneeled before him and placed his forehead on the ground in front of his feet.

"I'll come with you and fight alongside the Equalists once more."

"Are you willing to sacrifice yourself-"

"Yes."

The man smirked, and told Tahno to rise from his position. The sound of handcuffs against his metal prosthetic was making Tahno's breath hitched, and it didn't surprise him to see Kaito snapping a pair of cuffs around his wrists before attaching a leash to them as well. He really was nothing more than an undomesticated animal to him. Ready to be captured and taken into hostage. He was going to be trained, abused and forced into submission, until he was another weapon once more.

"Any last words?" He asked Tahno, eyeing the unconscious woman in the ground. Tahno nodded and used the time he was given to confess to his mother. Even if she wasn't awake, he hoped she'd hear his words.

He averted his eyes to hers, and although they were closed, they gave him just a slight bit of comfort. She seemed like she was sleeping... but when she would wake up she'd lost a son.