New Chances: Chapter 2 Burning Away Old Fears
DISCLAIMER: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended. ________Kara was fuming. Here she had a perfectly good plan of slowly getting Leon to reveal his true nature, and Benni had just ruined it. "Why the heck did you do that," she shouted at Benni. "I had a brilliant strategy and you just destroyed it by being blunt as usual. You probably broke Leon's brain you idiot."Benni rolled his eyes at Kara and said, "You're strategy as you call it, would have taken to long. And quiet down! We're in the nurses office, not our club room."The three left the room leaving Leon inside to rest. Kara, still fuming, was about to launch another barrage of anger at Benni when Zack stopped her, by saying, "Benni is correct Kara. Leon was leaving to go home after we made him show us his symbol."Kara looked from Zack to Benni to Leon's lying form and noticed the mark on his hand. "A flame huh, interesting," she thought. She then cursed herself for being distracted and turned back to Zack and Benni. "What do you mean he was heading home, schools not over," she asked."Well from what Leon said, I believe that he was not to reveal anything related to his powers, which we know now that he definitely has," said Zack.Benni joined in,"According to his record, Leon moved every time he used his power. That means that his parent or parents are trying to keep him safe from anyone curious about him. That tells us then that Leon has been told his whole life not to use his power. He probably doesn't even use it at home, as he's trying to live as normal and inconspicuous a life as possible." He shook his head sadly, "He most likely fears losing control and hurting someone by accident, like what happened with that kid he punched."Kara put her hand to her mouth and said, "Thats terrible! Even if he's afraid of losing control, not using that part of him is like denying himself freedom!" She calmed before saying, "Well, at least that explains why he was so tense back at lunch." "Probably not used to letting people in. If he did and then his secret came out he would have to say goodbye to all his friends. And thats not a wonderful experience to go through" said Zack. Kara was about to say something when she heard a noise from inside the nurses office. Putting her hand up to silence the others she asked, "Did you guys here something?" The other two also listened and then they heard something that sounded like a body hitting the tile floor. Kara quickly opened the door shouting very concernedly, "Leon!" and all three saw a very scared Leon looking back at them. "Oh great," thought Kara, "Shit has hit
the fan."_______Leon struggled to regain consciousness after he had collapsed, his mind yelling at him to get up while his body asked him to stay down. Eventually though, his mind won out, and Leon opened his eyes only to close them instantly. "Who the heck puts that bright of light up anywhere." Putting up his hand to cover his eyes, Leon shifted to an upright position and looked around at his surroundings. "I'm in a bed. Why am I in a bed?" he asked himself. He took in the room around him. It looked like something medical. Was he in the hospital? He heard voices. Familiar voices. His friends' voices. The memory of what happened in the boys washroom came back to him. Leon found himself both excited and scared at this. Here he finally had two people who could fully understand him and his problems and even cooler, they had powers of their own. But he was scared over what his mom would do about this. Would she have them move again? Leon shivered at the thought. He didn't want to leave, not when he could be so close to some answers. Swinging his legs over the bed to get up, Leon froze as his foot knocked over a clipboard that went clattering across the tiled floor. The voices outside stopped and Leon tried to get off the bed but as he stood his other foot stepped on a pen that sent him sprawling on the floor. He heard the door open suddenly and his name called out. Leon looked to see Kara, Benni, and Zack standing in the doorway. He couldn't control himself and blurted out, "I didn't tell anyone nothin"The three looked at Leon strangely and Benni asked him, "Are you alright there Leon?" A moment passed between the four friends before Leon said, "Did I really see you guys really... you know..."Benni and Zack grinned and turned their hands to show Leon their symbols, Benni's a forked lighting bolt glowing white, Zach's a leaf that glowed green. Leon blinked a few times to make sure he wasn't imagining it, then stood and pulled the two into a hug. "I knew that I couldn't be the only one out there." he said. He heard Kara say, "That's right Leon, and you never have to be alone again." Leon released the two in his arms and turned to face Kara and was both shocked and delighted to see her hand with a symbol too. A wave of water that glowed blue. Leon smiled a broad smile and looked at Benni, then Zach, then Kara. "So does this make us a team?" he asked.Benni said, "I do believe we are Leon. Welcome to our club." and he stuck his hand out in front of him. Zach put his hand out so it was touching Benni's and Kara followed suite. Then the three looked at Leon motioning for him to some over. So Leon put his hand out to the others so they were all connected. They looked at each other with smiles as a feeling of excitement filled the air. Thats when things got weird. The symbols on their hands began to glow, brighter than ever before. The lights began to merge surrounding the four,
surrounding them with a colourful aura that began to swirl around until it became a roaring wind. They glanced at eachother nervously and tried to pull their hands apart, but they found themsleves unable to do so. "Whats happening?' shouted Leon."I don't know," Benni shouted back. The colors and the wind both stopped suddenly, giving off an erie silence. Nobody moved until 4 different elemental vortexes touched down behind them. A twister of fire behind Leon. A spinning mass of lightning behind Ben. A storm of leaves behind Zack. And behind Kara was a vortex of water. All four spun around until they vanished leaving shadowy figures behind. The group found themselves able to move freely again and turned to face these figures, watching as they took shape. Cautiously Leon walked towards his shadow. Two star blue eyes appeared from the shadow and focused intently of Leon. Leon looked right back at it staring into those blue eyes and continued walking forward until he was satding right next to it. Whatever it was, it was much taller than Leon, but Leon didn't shy away. He reached out and touched what he thought was the creature's chest. Instantly he felt a surge of power inside of him and heard a loud voice say, "And so it begins." And then it was all gone and Leon found himself back in the nurses office, with his friends that seemed to be in just the same daze he was in. Was all that just a dream? Or was it soemthing else? Leon didn't now. "You guys ok?" he asked. Each one nodded and Leon felt relieved. "Well that was intense," said Zack lightheartedly his sunglasses on the hanging off his head. "I have no idea what that was, and frankly I don't think I want to," said Kara who was shaking slightly. Benni walked over to Leon and put a hand on his shoulder, "Part of the group fo 2 seconds and look what happens. Dang man, what other surprises are you hiding." Soon the room was filled with the sound of talk and debate over the eent but no one put forth anything that could even remotely explain what had just happened. Soon though the bell signaling lunch period was over rang, to which the group said that they would meet up after school. For Leon the last bell couldn't come soon enough. While meeting up and discussing what had just happened was fine, Leon was more excited at just hanging out with his friends after school. He was super excited.The bell that sounded at the end of school rang, startling Leon. "Finally!" he thought. Hurrying out of the room and down the hall, Leon threw his books into his locker and grabbed his backpack, and rushed out the front door of the school. Standing by the school sign were his friends who waved when they saw them. As he ran over to his friends Leon shouted, "Hey guys." When they were together Kara asked him, "So, how was your afternoon?" He threw his hands up, "Too long. I nearly died in there." Benni laughed, "Well you are
out now, and we are going to take you to one of our favorite places to make you feel better."And so the four friends began walking in the afternoon spring sun. They chatted about this and that making jokes as they went. After walking for about 20 minutes, they stopped in front of what looked to be a 60s diner. Leon noticed the name "Tonys" in thick wavy writing. Looked like a nice place, Leon thought, as he followed the others inside. "Wow," he said aloud. It looked like he had walked into the 60s. Black and white tile flooring. Retro colored wallpaper. the place even had a jukebox, brightly lit in neon colors playing some old song. Leon followed his friends and sat down in a booth. Seeing Leon's expression Kara giggled and asked, "So what do you think?" Looking at his friends, Leon said, "Well to be entirely honest, I'm half expecting Fonzie to walk out from behind that door." The others laughed and Leon found it to be quite funny too, and he began to laugh as well. Soon he noticed that the others had stopped laughing and were staring at him intensely. He felt a slap on the back from Benni (who was sitting next to him) and heard him say, "Nice to see you finally loosening up Leon"He laughed nervously. He had felt more open since meeting these people, but he could feel himself being pulled back into his shy self. Thats when Kara said, "First thing we're gonna do is get you out of that shell of yours Leon. No more of this shy stuff. You're with us now and we're gonna be out there."Zack nodded and then said, "After that we are going to help you train your skills so you won't have to be afraid of them anymore." Leon tensed up. Glancing around the room he thankfully saw few other patrons and said in a hushed voice, "Should we really be talking about this here in public?" Kara gave him a look and in a reassuring voice said, "Don't worry about it Leon. You have to talk about it openly in order for you to have confidence in your abilities. Besides to anyone who hears us its gonna sound like we're talking about some video game or movie we've seen."The way she said it in such confidence put Leon's mind at ease. "Lighten up you dolt," he screamed at himself in his head. It was gonna take a bit to get used to these people but he wouldn't have it any other way. He had gotten up and he was never going back. Brought out of his thoughts by the approach of a waitress, who Leon noticed wore modern clothing instead of following the rest of the diner's decor. Giving his order Leon turned his attention to the conversation. They all talked about the weird event that had happened back at school, but none of them could give any logical explanation. Their food and drink were put on their table, but they ate little. They thought about it long and hard until Benni cried out softly, "Gaaah! This is making my head hurt." "I have a headache as well," Zack admitted. Leon sighed at the little
progress they had made into this mystery and munched on a fry from his basket. As he took a sip from his root beer float, something prodded the back of his mind. He felt like he was missing some piece of a puzzle. A sharp spike of pain went through his head and Leon grimaced. Kara looked at him with concern and asked him if he was all right. Leon said, "Yeah I'm fine, I just was overthinking is all." Feeling that that branch of conversation was leading them nowhere, the topic turned towards the confrontation with Greg. The three were concerned about Leon's safety, as Kara put it, "Greg is a physco who won't stop until Leon is out of the picture. He's that crazy and stupid." So they agreed that one of them would be with Leon at school and go with him back home for added protection. To Leon it sounded a little unnecessary but stayed silent as they went on. If it sounded like something they should do for him, he wouldn't stop them. The talk then went turned to a lighter subject. Leon's firebending training. They paid for their food and walked out of the diner, leftover bags in hand. "So..." Started Leon nervously, "How's this training going to work." The grins he got from his friends were unsettling. ________Leon shifted uncomfortably in the armor padding that Benni had given. Giving his friend an uncertain look through his helmet "Is this armor really necessary?" "Unless you want a bunch of bruises, you might want to keep that on," Kara told him. Staring at the row of dummies in front of him, Leon asked, "So what is this doing again." Benni standing off to the side of the room said, "This test is to show us how strong you're tuned with your power. Each of those dummies is rigged with a pressure plate that when hit will tell us how much force is put in. You can use whatever form of motion to deliver the blow, but you mustn't touch them with your body. You have to use you power at a distance." Leon sighed. He still couldn't believe that he was in a training facility designed just for people like him. And even cooler Leon thought, was the fact that Benni had been the one to design it and even payed for it all. "Guess being rich has it's advantages."Giving a thumbs up that he understood, Leon took a combat stance that Kara had showed him either. Breathing in deeply, he willed his fire into his fist and his arm back. Focusing on the first dummy he thrust his fist forward... but nothing came out. He blinked in disbelief. He tried again with his other fist but the same thing happened. Nothing. "What is wrong with me?" Leon shouted angrily. He could feel his temper rising. Kara's voice was heard over his rage, "Don't worry Leon, Just take your time. It'll come to you.""Time," he thought, "I don't have time. I have to master this as soon as possible." A picture of his friends burned and hurt filled his head. "I won't hurt them. Damnit I
won't live with myself." His anger grew more, he was practically screaming in his head now. Every time I don't want to use my fire it does it anyway! Now I want to use it and it won't work!" Leon felt something inside of him, like some wall was cracking. He felt a burning sensation crawl like a thousand little bugs from his chest all over his body. "I have to get this right! Shit, why am I so warm." He began tearing parts of his armor off."Get this thing off of me," he yelled. He was burning, like he was in a furnace or something and he was having trouble breathing.. Kara rushed over to assist him, as Leon tore off his helmet sweating horribly. She reached out trying to help him out but quickly withdrew her hand. She held it gingerly. Looking to Benni and Zack who came rushing up she said, "He's burning up." Still sweating profusely Leon tensed. "I... burned... Kara..." He felt himself sink. He couldn't control it and someone got hurt again. At that moment that wall inside of Leon broke and a wave of heat washed over him. He wished he could just throw every bit of himself away. Rage surged into his right fist and he threw it into the ground. When it impacted the ground, it launched a huge wave of flames forward. It went through all the dummies cutting them right in half, and impacted the wall behind making a crater before disappearing. Benni and Zack stared dumbfounded at the damage, while Kara caught Leon's body as it slumped to the ground, his eyes staring at nothing.________Leon sat in a field of tall glass, the wind blowing gently on his face. "How did I get here?" He took a deep breath. There was a smell of fresh water on the wind. He layed down on his back and stared at the clouds passing by. "Peaceful isn't it," a deep masculine voice behind and above him spoke. Leon sat up straight turning his head over. The shadowy creature with the star blue eyes from before was standing behind him. Leon quickly stood and cautiously moved back. The creature gave off a sound that sounded like a snicker. "I'm not going to hurt you if that is what you are thinking." Seeing Leon's expression shift slightly, it smiled calmly and began walking over to him. Leon just stood there as the creature walked right up to him and then sat down in front of him. "Who-no, what are you? Where am I?" He asked. The blue eyes focused onto Leon's eyes. "You don't remember me?," it said in a hurt voice. Leon paused. "Remember you? I'm pretty sure I would have remembered a giant talking shadow."The shadow reached out towards Leon. "Maybe this will help you remember then." And the ground shook and a huge crystal broke through the ground next to them. Leon fell backwards onto the grass. How could this be happening he wondered. Inside the crystal was a brightly burning flame. Leon stared at it for a long time. Every so often it would flare and grow bigger straining against the confines of the crystal. Parts
sometimes broke through, but the crystal quickly healed itself covering the breaks.Looking at the shadow person Leon asked, "What is this thing?" The creature put a hand on Leon's shoulder. "That my young fire bender, is the part of your life that you locked away for years. You pushed it so far down that it feels betrayed. So it has been trying to break free to make you apologize." It's voice grew louder each sentence."So you mean all those accidents before," his eyes went to the creature to the crystal, "Were because of this thing." The creature yelled, "This thing as you call it, was a gift from your father that he thought you worthy of. But you just threw it away like it was a peice of trash." "My... dad...." Leon was speechless, "This is from him?" The creature nodded a look of displeasure on its face. Leon couldn't think and walked over to the flame crystal. He put his marked hand on it and for a moment everything was silent. Then all the anger he had over the years boiled to the surface. "This has been the reason for every move me and mom have had made. The loss of every friendship I ever had. My father abandoned my mother and left her alone to raise me by herself." He yelled at the creature, and each word made him feel slightly better. Soon his anger gave way to tears. "He was never there for when my mother cried. I had to be the one to hold her. He wasn't there when she needed advice on how to raise me. She had to learn on her own. He was never there for when I needed answers about my power." he slumped to the ground sobbing. The creature drew closer towards Leon. It wrapped it's arms around him in a comforting hug. Leon didn't stop it, and instead put his own arms around the creature and began crying even harder. They stayed like that for a time. Leon sobs turned to soft cries and he asked, "I know I don't deserve it and am far from ready, but is it too late to try and make this work? Can I learn to control this power and not hurt my friends." The creature looked down on Leon, it's eyes sparkling. "The fact that you know you are not ready means that you are deserving of it. No one is ready for great power. You can learn to use your power but only if you want to." Leon smiled brightly and began to laugh. "Oh I needed a cry like that for a long time." He stood and faced the crystal the flame burning brighter than before. "All these years of having to hide, and I finally have people who actually care about me and want to help me become better. They are amazing people and I want to be worthy of their friendship." Looking at the creature, "Besides, think of all the things that could happen with the four of us together. We'll be so much trouble. I'm never going back to that shy tense individual ever again." And he turned and threw his fist against the crystal. It shattered into pieces and the flame inside enveloped him slowly being absorbed into his body. Leon
realized that he had forgotten something and turned around to face the creature, "I forgot to ask you. What is your name?" The creature gave a smile and said, "When you meet me in the realm of reality you will know. But know I think it's time for you to wake up. Kara and the others are very worried about you. You really should stop fainting like you do." "None of that will be happening again" said Leon. And in a pillar of fire the creature vanished. Leon closed his eyes and when he opened them he found himself staring at the very concerned faces of his friends. Using his hands to help him get on his feet Leon braced himself for the barrage of questions that was sure to come but not before an intriguing thought came into his head. "If just one day with these guys can cause so much weirdness, what are we going to do with the future?" The answer to that question would be something Leon would be looking forward to.