Accidental Avatar 3.5: The Burn Book

Mangetsu gets adopted

Mangetsu sat at the edge of a cliff, the wind tousling his dark blonde hair, as he meditated quietly by himself.

This state of calm informed him when the others began to stir and wake, with Aang returned to his usual state. A brief morning greeting came from Mogui and Muteki, with the latter dropping yet another flower crown on the meditating boy's head.

He tolerated it while reflecting on how he would once have attacked these people for breathing at him.

He could hear Katara asking Sokka about whether or not fog would delay the invasion, only for him to be all "that is the invasion" while everyone ran down to greet the people. He stayed put, opening his eyes to watch the warm reunion of the siblings with their dad.

He supposed he should probably go down and say hello since Hakoda had trained him in some hand to hand briefly before he followed the Avatar on this little adventure. But he felt... misplaced.

He didn't feel like he belonged in that crowd, and now...

He could feel the darkness just under his skin, and Hama's words crawled through his skull, causing him to squeeze his eyes shut and clench his fists tight as he resumed his internal mantra.

I am more than this. I am not a monster. I am enough.

But what if I'm not? What if I'm a monster? What if I'm not enough?

SHUT UP!

He realized absently that he'd forgotten to breathe when he opened his eyes to find he had fallen onto his back and passed out.

That and Aang was hovering over him with an enormous grin and immediately started telling him about the various people that had been gathered, only for Hakoda to hoist the boy into a bone-crushing bear hug suddenly.

"Mangetsu! You're looking well!"

"Can't... Breath...!" he gasped, wiggling desperately to escape the warrior's grip. "I have small bones! You're breaking them!"

The warrior set the boy down, holding him by his shoulders as he tried to catch his breath.

"You've changed," Hakoda said, a warm smile on his face.

Mangetsu's eyes averted away as Mog came by and threw an arm over Mangetsu's shoulders.

The boy tensed and immediately ducked away.

"What is wrong with you people? Quit touching me!" he snapped, though that only got everyone laughing.

"You let firebenders get near you now," Bato chuckled. "Before, you'd sneer and call them some fire-related slur. You've grown."

Mangetsu held a hand up to his head as if trying to discern if he had, only for the chief to chuckle and shake his head.

"He means as a person," Hakoda grinned, putting Mangetsu in a playful headlock. "You're still just as short as I remember."

"Get off!"

"Mangetsu, I want you to meet Haru!" Katara dragged a boy with some slight facial hair, who smiled at the small boy.

"Hi!"

"He's an earthbender that we met," Katara explained. "His town was being controlled by the Fire Nation."

"As we mentioned earlier," a man with long white hair and beard stepped up behind Haru. "Thanks to Katara, we were able to take back our village."

"Uh-huh..." Mangetsu tried edging away, feeling the need to get away and just wanting to be left alone for some time. 

He ended up backing into a man who had random patches of his eyebrows missing.

"Oops, sorry," he grinned.

A boy in a wheelchair appeared. "Hi! I'm Teo!"

"Uh..."

"This is Mangetsu," Aang said cheerfully. "He likes to get into fights at school but doesn't like people touching him."

While everyone was chatting and mingling, Mangetsu saw his opportunity and slipped away.

Finding a quiet space, he sat down and resumed meditating. He heard a twig snap, under heavy footsteps, and turned to see Hakoda had come to find him.

"How're you holding up, kid?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about," he shrugged, returning to his previous position.

Hakoda chuckled and sat next to him.

"Well, when you're ready to talk, I'll be here."