Chapter Text
At this point in life, you were sure that the gods or spirits or whatever exists out there truly hated you. You should have left before they came, left before they came for you.
By the spirits…you still feel it despite it being gone, still feel their hands, feel the axe, feel your arm!
You feel pathetic, but you know you aren’t, you know that you’ve gotten stronger since your debt was collected. A small part of yourself felt it still, felt the limb that wasn’t there, felt your damned payment to those men.
It was for the best if it meant you could keep your autonomy, keep your body for yourself.
Your body tensed at the reminder of it all, of their crude words and the looks they gave you, the way they were already pricing your body. For a moment, all felt helpless as you lost yourself in your mind. You wanted a drink or a knife at this point, but neither would help your brain right now, so you force yourself to relax and try not to feel it, the air below your left elbow where your lower arm, wrist, and hand should be. It felt so wrong. You couldn’t help but hate it.
For now, all you had to do was focus on the blueprints in front of you. The miniaturized versions of the breeder tanks meant for elemental cells have been working well enough, especially for the electricity.
Lightning in a bottle, who would’ve thunk?
The streams of the electric force amplified off of itself yet remained in the small tanks, a small amount of proof that you haven’t lost yourself in spite of your recent loss. It would work well as a replenishing power source, a stream of never ending electricity that amplifies its power by existing in the tank.
You set the vial back down in the containment chamber, a small, generator-like object that looked more like a power core than anything else. Perhaps it was because that was what you were making, or perhaps you’ve just been reading too many scientific fiction novels and are going crazy, it wouldn’t be the first time.
The thirteenth prototype, the fifth successful one.
It’s time to try something new.
You place the generator into the arm, a platinum arm to avoid earthbender’s metalbending it as the pure metal held no earthly minerals to give them an in, and then you close the shell. The outer shell of the prosthetic you made was copper and had a few pops of color, mainly from the village kids, they gave you little drawings and you put it on the arm, a show of gratitude for everyone’s kindness. The arm itself was intentionally made to not look like a human arm, that felt like an act now.
And you were truly shitty at acting.
The base of the prosthetic, the part that connected to the amputation site, was meant to allow for a seamless transition. The shell then flared out and stopped, almost like a curved triangle with a mechanical hand on the large end. It looked slightly stupid and was insanely obvious, but it was yours, it gave you a sense of individuality in a sea of nothingness.
You grab a black inner sleeve and make sure the seam is facing away from the scarring that was left behind from the amputation before pulling it over the site. The sleeve was a thick yet comfortable one, the texture wasn’t that noticeable anymore, working as a sock for your elbow of sorts. You grab an outer nylon sleeve and use your right hand once more to pull it over the inner sleeve.
The prosthetic itself was easy to put on as it worked with suction and twisting it to be tighter, so you did just that. Once it was on and still turned off, you grabbed a glove and placed the outside edge of the entrance to the glove in your mouth, teeth clenching as you work with your mouth to put on the glove one-handed, it wasn’t that fun.
As soon as the glove was on, you turned on the prosthetic and connected it to the glove so you can have the extra hand using waves of frequency to do so. It was time for something new, something that could increase the amount of bounties you got. It was time to attempt faux bending using bending.
Earlier on, the current avatar merged two worlds together, and airbending returned beyond merely a bloodline. You were one of those it affected, but you would never admit that.
Instead, you locked yourself in an once abandoned war tower, now your home and began to make theories, a myriad of theories. Though, one in particular kept on reoccurring.
What if I could use the cells in the air to use other elements? Air is in everything, I could make so much money being basically a diet-avatar.
Spirits, you wanted…no. You needed money, and you could make it with this…idea.
So, you taught yourself using stolen scrolls from past generations you acquired from a past client’s house, and it worked.
You weren’t too powerful yet, but if you could hone it, if you could manually release the cells needed to use airbending to become something else, you would become rich and wouldn’t have to worry anymore, wouldn’t have to work yourself to death anymore.
You could live it up on top, you could afford to drown your sorrows in drinks beyond measure, afford to end the feelings and ease the pain a lost part of yourself left.
With a slightly shaky breath and priorities focused, you extended both hands, and allowed the process to begin.
The prosthetic released air that contained barely noticeable but compressed cells, and you channeled your bending to target them.
The air shifted slightly and suddenly, everything was bright and hot. The air made fire spread fast.
You really should’ve done this outside.
And because the gods…spirits…whatever they are, HATE you, someone nearby noticed, because of course they did.
A voice came before you finished processing the burning wood and smoking stone, the home you made, the one that held everything, was dying as a result of your mind, of your damned theories!
You really need a drink or knife now.
“Hey! Hey you!” The voice finally snapped you out of your thoughts. You looked over to the stranger from where you stood. Judging from the brown skin, water-tribe garments, and the utter muscles of the woman, it was the avatar, or at least someone with the same general description you received of her.
“What are you doing? Get out of here! It’s quite literally burning down!” The avatar yelled, using her waterbending to tame the flames, and judging from the faint colors in the water, she was using your paint water. It would’ve been amusing if you allowed yourself to process it, but you didn’t.
Instead, you bolted from the tower, only to come face to face with a group of random people, evidently the avatar’s companions.
Embarrassment came over you, and your face made no point in hiding it.
Fuck you’re such a chud.