Chapter Text
"We will have to reschedule today's training, I'm afraid," Sir Nighteye apologized by not apologizing when he entered the teacher's lounge.
"I see," Master Ryukyu responded, watching expectantly for Mirio to say something. The kid didn't and only smiled while he stayed behind the lanky adult man. "Remember to practice the breathing exercises, then. Understood, Mirio?" she tried again to coax him into talking.
"Yes, Master. I will," the Avatar bowed. "Have a nice day, Masters," he waved goodbye as they left.
Well, that was something he was not doing. To say Shouta was having a bad day would be to put it lightly.
He was having a bad month. Or however long it had been since he took this job as a teacher for the Avatar and the next generation of Master Benders. From the moment he had seen Hizashi again after leaving him with only a note as a goodbye.
What had he been thinking? That he would come back to Republic City and Hizashi would just run into his arms, and it would all go back to normal? That they would kiss and makeup and they would be a happy family with Shinsou?
If only
No. Shouta had come here because he was weak. He missed Hizashi. He missed his smile, his warmth and those stupid dimples his face would get whenever he rambled on about something he found interesting. And he found everything interesting. One time, Shouta listened for an hour about gliders, just to see those dimples. What is wrong with him?
He is a lovesick fool, that's what's wrong with him.
He had been fully prepared to receive screams and insults of betrayal. He had been ready for his hate, thinking it would be the worst option. But he was not qualified for... this.
Teaching was easy. Seeing your ex-lover and love of your life again and be in this weird limbo of tension where they both danced around the subject to not hurt the other, but at the same time it is hurting the other, was hard. Even the rest of the teachers avoided being in the same room with them because it was so smothering.
And what did that girl mean with 'my boyfriend'? Did Hizashi refer to him that way? Was he obviously still in love with the blonde that outside people could tell?
Shouta groaned and planted his face on top of his stack of papers. The hood of his parka followed his movement and ended up covering his head. Shouta didn't mind, but his colleagues seemed to find it amusing, judging by their snickers. Rolling his face to the side so he could see them through the gaps of the white fur, he glared at them, which wasn't very effective to stop them.
"What?" he grumbled, putting on his most annoyed tone.
"Nothing," Thirteen rolled their eyes. "Just waiting for you to sigh again. You always do it when you have a Hizashi-related problem," they said, and while Aizawa can't see it, he knows they are smiling.
"I don't have problems with Hizashi," he denied, protecting the small amount of dignity he still had. "And instead of focusing on my relationship with my other colleagues, we should be talking about the Avatar," he replied, his tone getting serious.
Both Masters look down at that. They don't want to say it out loud, but Mirio is not good. He is an astounding earthbending. Unfortunately, the same cannot be declaimed with the other elements. They had all noticed, and they were all running out of ideas of how to solve it. Shouta had tried everything he could to get him to waterbend, save for locking him in a tank of water and hoping he bends the water before he drowns.
"Maybe it's the pressure," Ryuku suggested. "Guru Nighteye keeps comparing him to All Might, and while it helps with his confidence, I think it's damaging his bending. He is being babied when he needs to step up as the Avatar,"
"He is just a kid," Shouta mentions.
"I know, and I don't like it either... but this is how things are. I think it's noble of Nighteye to try to protect his childhood so that he could be a normal child. But Mirio needs to learn," what she said might have been harsh, but it was the truth. They all needed to face reality.
They didn't talk anymore after that, letting her words sink in. They waited for the school hours to begin, getting ahead of their paperwork to kill time. And then, all that peace went down the drain.
First, it was the screams and footsteps that echoed through the hallway. That made them all stand up, confused but ready for an attack. However, they were not expecting what came next. The door exploded, sending those nearest to it flying. Shouta felt his back hit the adjacent wall and saw Thirteen under a pile of broken desks.
The only one left standing was Ryuku. She had engulfed herself on a ball of fire, protecting herself from most of the blast. But it wasn't enough. Before any of them had time to react, a person came out of the storm, holding a thin baton-like weapon that sparkled with electricity.
They were using a Southern water tribe parka, and they touched Ryuku with the tip of their weapon on their hip before she could disarm them. The staff released an electrical discharge that ran all over her body. She went down instantly, knocked out cold. Once she fell, more people entered the room. They were all using the same weapon, and when they saw Thirteen move, they all went against her. They received four discharges in total before the air nomad Master went down.
Shouta moved into a defensive position and gathered enough of the element to get a water cloak stance. It wouldn't help with heavy attacks, but it might buy him enough time for the backup to arrive. An attack on UA was not going to pass by unnoticed.
Were they the only ones getting attacked? What about the students? What about Shinsou? And Hizashi?
One of the electric-baton users came after him, but he quickly knocked him down, icing him to the wall. The other attackers took a few steps back, rethinking the plan of going against him. But then, the Parka one, the person who attacked first, came to the front.
"Master Aizawa, Champion of the North, we are the liberation army! We have come here to liberate! Now stand down, and let us continue our mission! Or suffer the consequences!" he said like a preacher. Aizawa stared back at him and didn't move from his stance. His back hurt, and he could feel the start of a headache in the back of his head.
However, he would not stand down. There were seven attackers here, the Parka one, who must be the leader, and six other followers. He already had one out of commission, and he had to protect his colleagues and students. He was not liking his odds, but he couldn't stand down.
The Parka one understood that and immediately attacked. Shouta evaded him and tried to knock him out. But the guy was better than the others. He also dodged all of his attacks and moved out of the way of his punches. The guy probably knew how to chi block and was aware he knew too.
But Shouta miscalculated. Trying to avoid the leader, he came too close to his lackeys, and they used his water to electrocute him. Shouta fell to his knee's and the Parka one kicked him in the face, making him down to the floor.
The guy was about to kick him in the face again, but then a knife zipped past his face. It made his hood fall from his face, revealing long lashes and long white hair. The sharp weapon nipped him in the cheek, leaving a thin line that was now dripping blood. Both the attackers and the teacher turned their heads towards the opposite direction of the knife.
At the entrance of the room was another stranger. He had purple hair and a sleeveless robe. It was a deep red colour, and it had a black sash with a red lotus symbol. His naked arms are full of scars and ink, with the same red lotus symbols as the sash. The stranger was armed to the teeth. He had a katana on his hips, two more swords strapped on his back and two rows of daggers on his sash.
"Get him!" Parka guy screams the order to his lackeys.
One of them follows his orders, running towards the new arrival. But in the blink of an eye, he is down. The stranger disarmed the lackey and broke his shoulder in one smooth movement without even unsheathing his sword. The sound of the bone snapping out of his body resonated through the room.
The air in the chamber changes. The lackey on the floor with their shoulder broken screams in pain, and the others are too scared to move. Parka guy orders two more guys to go, and they obey but proceed with caution. They slowly approach him, their weapons raised.
The guy rolled his eyes tiredly and unsheathed the swords in his back. They were twin hook swords. In one movement, he tripped the lackeys and disarmed them. Once they were disarmed, he stabbed the two lackeys on their back with the pointed hilt of the sword. The two went still, and until he took out the sword of their bodies, they didn't breathe.
The stranger twirls his swords in his hands, cleaning them of blood, and then points to the leader with one. The challenge is obvious, and by the frown on the Parka one, Aizawa knows they will take it.
"Geten-" one of the standing lackeys tries to talk but gets shut up by the leader.
"Keep this one down. I'll deal with this one," Geten (?) said and grips his baton tighter.
The stranger grins amused.
"He needs to go into the Avatar State. That's how he will finally accept his destiny,"
"Alright, how are we going to do that? Can you bend him into it?"
"I can. But I won't. It's too risky,"
"Than what do we do? The guy is not going to go into it on his own. He's been thinking his whole life he can't bend anything,"
"We have to make him feel something so intense, his brain will shut off and only follow his instincts,"
"We could torture him. The Avatar State would turn on to help him survive,"
"Won't work. The guy is a pushover. He won't do anything. We would only end up killing him,"
"Hey!"
"What? You know I'm right! The guy doesn't care about what others do to him. He is too compassionate,"
"You are right! He is!"
"..."
"So, instead of hurting him to get a reaction, we have to hurt someone he cares about! And I know just the person~,"
When Hizashi came to the outside patio, he was hoping to meditate. He had been doing that a lot since Aizawa came back. What else was he supposed to do? He couldn't just throw himself at his feet and beg the man to love him. He had a little dignity still. Besides, he was still a little mad about how things were left between them.
A note! He left, took the earliest boat to the North pole, and only left a fucking note!
Hizashi had known this year was going to suck when he found out Shouta had accepted the teaching job. He thought he would break his heart and scream his lungs out at him. One of those things happened, at least.
He just couldn't stay mad at the man. He loved him too much and understood why he had left. He didn't like it, but he understood it.
And then to see him with a kid? With a son that was every bit like him and Oboro? That felt like someone took out his heart and placed it in a meat grinder. And apparently, it did nothing to hide the fact that he still loved Shouta. That girl noticed in an instant that he loved him; just by hearing a couple of sentences from him.
Was he that obvious? Did Shouta notice but didn't say anything because it would lead to them talking, and he wanted to avoid that at all cost?
So, he needed to meditate. He wasn't very good at it, as he had never been an Air Nomad, but it helped calm him. It was either that or work himself to death, and Miss Inko had been very clear over how he needed to rest. The woman wasn't scary, but all teachers would rather die than make her cry.
Too bad he was never able to. The minute he sat down, Cemento, who was practising, suddenly stopped and bent a wall of dirt in front of them. It exploded a second later, throwing the two teachers back a few steps.
Hizashi jumped into action a moment later, blowing away the smoke and creating an air barrier to stop the next explosive. They were being attacked by a crowd of people. The attackers had glowing batons, and a group of four were in charge of a cannon-like contraption; two held it, and two charged it. At the front, a tall man with brown hair and a residing hairline directed them and preached. He yelled things about liberation and rights and non-benders. Hizashi instantly knew he was a fake.
But that didn't matter. While the teachers were busy worrying about the canon in front of them, the crowd dispersed and surrounded them. Using some type of wire that they attached to their wrist and shoulders, they let out a discharge of electricity. Hizashi felt the burn and pain run through his body. It lasted a few minutes, but it was enough to make his vision spotted with black dots. He felt himself falling to the ground, and when he opened his eyes, he was inside a dome.
Cemento was next to him, ready to pass out. They both knew another explosion was coming their way. Hizashi calculated that the dome could withstand one more. He needed to come up with a plan for after that.
However, the blow never came. Instead, screams and yells were heard. Cemento pulled the doom down, and what welcomed them was an inferno. Fire was everywhere, and the crowd was in chaos. And in the middle of it, two strangers in black stood content with creepy smiles.
"Try to buy her time," he heard the ash haired one say to the one wearing a long black coat.
The guy grinned at the order, and with a movement that extended his arms diagonally, he let out another torrent of fire. Hizashi jumped into a defensive stance, ready to protect his colleague. They were getting attacked by two different groups. Maybe they were opposing groups, and they would just have to let them fight and deal with whoever came on top. But it didn't look promising.
The ash haired guy turned around, locking his gaze with the air bender. He had red eyes, and his face was messed up and dried. But there was something else about him. Something eerie that made his hairs stand on end. He looked young, younger than him. However, he felt older. If it did come to a fight between them, Hizashi knew he would not win.
Suddenly, the young, strange man moved his gaze elsewhere. Hizashi followed his sight, and just in time to see a person wearing a parka being thrown through the door. His heart stopped for a moment, thinking it was Shouta. But then the person revealed white hair under their hood, and he breathed again. Another stranger using black robes walked through the doors as the Parka one got to his feet. This one has tattoos covering his arms and twin hook swords in his hands.
The two are locked in combat, but it's not a fair fight. The tattooed man is clearly playing with the other one, dancing with his blades as if it was a mere practice round. Some of the people from the liberation army stop in their tracks when they see the parka dude. But he doesn't even acknowledge them, too focused on the duel.
The two clashed against each other, the electrical baton inches away from the swordsman's face. But then, in one flowing movement, he used the hook from his blade to disarm him and delivered a powerful kick to the chest. The parka dude got thrown back, landing on the pond that was half destroyed.
Hizashi couldn't tell if the swordsman knew what he was doing. But not a second later, the parka dude, who claimed to be a non-bender, froze a small section of the water and bent it into ice spears. They threw it towards the swordsman, but they didn't reach them. A gush of fire intercepts the spears, the fire bender from before grinning at the silence on the patio turned battlefield.
It's so silent that Hizashi heard the door opening again, this time with Shouta and Thirteen coming through and carrying a passed out Ryuku. The parka-wearing dude noticed the silence too, and the temperature dropped a few degrees. There is tension in the air, and Hizashi knows it can only end in disaster.
"You are bender..." one of the people from the crowd, with long locks that covered his eyes, stepped forward. It wasn't a question, and his tone was filled with betrayal.
"I- I-..." The parka dude was in a tight spot. He looked around as the people of the liberation army dragged near.
"Traitor!"
"Bender!"
"They lied to us!"
The people yelled words of hurt and betrayal to the one in the pond. Hizashi couldn't blame them. This was a non-bender exclusive group, according to the speech the leader had given. They wanted equal rights as benders social justice. But they were extremists, and instead of reaching out, they had used violence as their method of persuasion.
The people screamed at the parka user, and the guy didn't know what to do. He looked like wanted to flee or attack. But he also seemed to recognize the horrible consequences either move would have. Unluckily, someone took that decision from him. Hizashi didn't know who was it, but one of the non-benders threw their baton into the water. The electricity went off, and the entire pond became a death trap.
"Geten!" the preacher Redestro, was it? screamed and hit the ground with his foot. A platform rose from the end of the pond, taking Geten out of the water. The guy spasmed but otherwise seemed okay.
The people turned their heads towards their leader. But before anyone could do anything or even utter a word, the man fell down. Behind him, the ash haired guy, the one with red eyes and a black robe, was frowning.
"You lied to these people," he said, his voice making shivers go down everyone's back. "You used them for power when they needed to be heard. And I recognize you. Your father was the inventor, Destro. He created weapons that no one should use," the guy on the floor was terrified. He was trying to crawl away from the eerie man towering behind him.
He didn't get far, though. Before he could make another move, the guy took him by the back of his shirt and lifted him into a kneeling position. He moved his arms and hands in a circle, mixing moves from air bending and water bending, until he finally placed one finger on his forehead, and another on his chest.
"You have committed crimes against the Avatar and the natural order of the world. The Red Lotus finds you guilty, and so, we are burdened to bring back balance,"
Redestro looked like he was screaming, but no sound came out of his mouth. However, a woman near them did scream in horror, as she was close enough to see what was happening. She started moving backwards, and the others did the same. Suddenly, the feet of Redestro exploded in a gory mess. Bones and blood and teared up flesh replaced what had once been usable appendages.
Chaos took over the patio. People screamed and ran, toppling over each other. With such a commotion, Hizashi could barely see what was happening. He did, however, catch glimpses of the three robed strangers. The ash haired man stepped aside from Redestro, and he fell to the floor. And then the other two joined them before they ran back inside the building.
Cemento was still unconscious next to him, and a few seconds later, Aizawa and the other teachers were with them. "Did you see where they went?" Shouta asks him.
"Back inside," he responded, knowing full well who he was planning on chasing.
"Shit! The students!" he cursed and helped Thirteen places Ryuku on the floor. "Stay with them, Thirteen, protect them. Hizashi and I will bring the rest of the people back here," he ordered and jumped into action, Hizashi following after him.
They went room by room, not letting one door be left unchecked. The two found students hiding and some that defended themselves. They only found one student unconscious, and then four army members were knocked out in the principals' office. It seemed like the worst was over.
Until they reached the library.
"Mirio? Mirio!"
"Huh? What?"
"You are quite distracted today. Did something happen?"
"Oh, no, nothing happened. Everything is fine. I just... have a bad feeling..."
"Oh, Mirio... You always think something bad will happen if you are not there. It reminds me so much of Toshinori. But you don't have to worry. Nothing is wrong, alright?"
"UA IS GETTING ATTACKED!"
"..."
"..."
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When she heard the screams, Toga got worried. This wasn't the plan.
Then the door exploded, and a bunch of guys with glowing sticks came in. The rabid dog Bakugou didn't wait to attack. It was a mistake, obviously. The intruders evaded his blows, and then one hit him with the baton. An electric charge went off, and while it didn't knock him out, it did make him stagger in place.
"BAKUGOU!" Both Kaminari and Kirishi screamed, but only one went to help him.
Kaminari rushed forward, grabbed the other fire bender and pulled him away from the attacker. He didn't make it unscathed, though. As he retreated, the same man who hit Bakugou got him too. It made the two fall to the ground in their retreat. Luckily, Kirishima was near, and he raised a protective barrier with his bending.
Meanwhile, the other students were in a similar position. Iida, Uraraka and Shinsou were using a fallen bookcase as a shield. To their right were Izuku and her, behind a table he had toppled to protect them. He was so strong and so fast~
In a desperate attempt to disarm the attackers, Iida lassoed his wire to one of the men nearest to them. She knew his brother was the chief of police of Republic City, so he must have gotten it from there. She can tell it's a mistake the moment he does it; Izuku did too. The greenette yells his name, but it's too late. Iida had his wire wrapped around one of the men's arms, but it was in vain. Another one came to his aid and hit the wire with his electric baton. The metal conducted the electricity to the bender, making the boy with glasses scream at the shock. Luckily, Shinsou slashed the line before it could knock the boy out. The wire dispenser was not as fortunate, and it fell to the floor, unusable.
Then, a woman walks into the room with confidence, as if she owned the place. Toga hated her already. "Welcome to the new era, benders!" she exclaimed. "We are the Liberation Army, and today, we will no longer be held down by your chains! Long enough, you have had the advantage, but no more! Today, we tip the scales! Today, we all will be free! The Avatar will finally listen to our demands, and he would have no other choice but to acknowledge us!" she continued, the men with her hearing as if she was a goddess.
Which one was she talking about? The poser?
"GO TO HELL, YOU HAG!" Bakugou wasted no time in cursing her out. He took the words right out of Toga's mouth.
"Well, since you want to be difficult..." the woman grunted through her teeth in anger. "Fire!" she ordered.
Toga was pushed lower to the ground, and then she felt Izuku get on top of her. Her heartbeat a million times per second, and her cheeks flushed with excitement at being so close to him. But it was soon replaced with anger. The enemy fired again and destroyed the table they used as a shield. The blow got Izuku's side, but he held the scream inside. However, Toga didn't; she stayed in character.
If she wasn't in character, she could have done something. Roll them away, stop the weapon firing at them, kill all those who dared hurt her Deku-kun. But she didn't. She followed orders because she trusted her superior.
"Oh, look at that! Two 'mighty' benders rendered useless at the hand of non-benders!" she mocked them.
"You are wrong," Izuku grunted above her as he held her tight. "I'm not a bender. I'm the librarian," he confessed and made the woman stop in her tracks.
"The rumours are true?" she gasped. "UA has a non-bender as their librarian, working him like a slave-" she then exclaimed.
"No!" Izuku interrupted. "My mom is happy to work for UA, and if she were here, she would kick your ass for bad-mouthing her academy!" he yelled, mad. She loved it when he got mad. The way he would frown and his eyes would get all serious.
"I get it! Benders can be assholes sometimes. They will take advantage of their abilities and make your day horrible because they feel about themselves, and you are an easy punching bag," he was talking from experience. And if Toga wasn't under Izuku, she would have noticed how many eyes went to Bakugpu and how the blonde flinched at the words. But she didn't, and, instead, she wished she could glare at the rabid dog herself.
"I understand how you feel, and so does the Avatar. But attacking his friends? His second home? His school and mentors? It will only make him angry. You won't accomplish anything with violence," he finished his speech.
"You have been brainwashed by this academy," The woman said and turned to one of the guys behind her. "Take him away from here. We won't harm those who have yet to see the correct way to our future. But they must stay out of the way," she ordered, and before the guy could take a step, Toga switched them around.
"DON'T TOUCH HIM!" She screamed, her face twisting into a more feral-looking one. She also took some of the water Shinsou had and covered her nail with small icicles. She could do more. But she had to stay in character.
Toga knew it was a bad idea to put herself in front of Izuku and reveal she could bend. It wasn't like they were going to hurt him. At least, she wouldn't let them. But this is the opportunity she can't miss. And luckily, her plan works.
The woman grabbed her by her shirt, called her a bitch and attacked her with her baton. The electricity was painful, but Toga had felt worse. And the woman didn't know what she was doing. If she wanted to stop Toga from bending, she would have hit near her water chakra. But she didn't. Instead, she went for a safe spot, her waist. It has flesh, and there are no major nerves. While it hurts, it won't kill her. Still, she had to make sure the other didn't know she could take it.
So, she screamed. It sounded like she was being tortured. It didn't, but the scared gazes around her confirmed her it was believable. All the students looked scared, except one; Izuku. He was terrified, but his worry and anger for her outweighed his fear. He sure knew how to make a girl feel special~
"Let her go!" he screamed and tried to reach her. He was stopped by Uraraka, however. The girl took hold of him and didn't let him move further. Toga knew she had a crush on him, who wouldn't, but who gave her the right to hold her Izu-kun like that. It might be pretended, but Toga was still her boyfriend.
"Toga!" Izuku cried for her, still being held back by his friends.
"Enough!" the woman yelled, frustrated. She threw Toga to the floor which OUCH and turned to look at the non-bender. "If you are not with us, then you are our enemy! Get him!"
Toga knew at that moment that she had miscalculated. She had noticed one guy going back so that he could attack them from the rear. But she had never thought the woman would turn against Izuku. She had to do something. No harm should come to him; those were her orders.
The man that was going to attack Izuku stopped in his tracks. Toga had a good grip on his blood, and there was no getting out of her hold. The man grunted and tried to move in vain. He had everyones' attention, frozen midstep, a breath away from his target.
"What are you waiting for!? Take him out!" Chitose repeated with a shrill, reminding Toga of her uglysome presence.
"If you want to break someone, you go for the heart. If you want to stop them, go for the brain,"
Without wasting a second, Toga pounced.
"Lady Chitose!" one of the men noticed the movement and placed themselves in the way. He pushed the woman out of the path of her knife and took her place. He probably didn't know what he was doing because a second later, he had dropped dead on the floor, his neck opened by her knife.
It surprised everyone. The men, the woman and the students. But mostly, it surprised Izuku. He knew her as Sweet Toga. A confident girl who barely knew any bending that had a dark past she wouldn't talk about. Now, he was witnessing the real Toga. Knife in hand, creepy smile on her face, her clothes decorated with blood and no regret over having taken a life.
The discharge of electricity must have left her a bit sluggish. If not, Toga would have never missed her original target.
As blood dripped from her clothes, her white blouse ruined, she turned to her target. "Stop her!" Chitose screamed, and two other guys rushed towards her. She waited until they were close enough to attack. Using the dead man's blood, she made two spears that penetrated their skulls and killed them instantly.
The moment they dropped dead, their guts spilling into the floor, someone screamed. Toga knew it wasn't Chitose since she hadn't stopped staring at her. But from who it had been, she couldn't tell you.
She heard stomps on her right, and from the corner of her eye, saw two of the men trying to run away. With her bending, she redirected the spilt blood of their comrades to stop them. She went from below, catching them by surprise and impaling them on the ceiling.
Her vision started getting blurry, and she almost slipped on the blood behind her. The shock must have been worse than she thought, and bending so soon after was probably making it worse. But that didn't matter. She had to take care of this woman. She would hurt Izuku if not.
She heard a door being opened. Without taking her eyes off her target, dragged the last of the men away from the door. Once he was next to her, she stabbed him in the head. She let the body fall, finally done with the attack dogs and ready to take on the leader.
Lifting Chitoso with her bending, the woman opened her mouth to talk, but Toga didn't give her a chance. She tightened the blood vessels on her neck, cutting any speech of plea she had. "You have committed crimes against the Avatar and the natural order of the world," Toga said, just like she had been taught. "The Red Lotus finds you guilty, and so, we are burdened to bring back balance,"
With the judgement given, she kept on tightening her neck until it popped off. Her head went flying towards the earth barricade while the headless body dropped like a doll.
"...Toga...?" a whisper of her name reached her. Its tone was full of dread and fear.
Targetless, Toga finally crossed eyes with Izuku. His disgust of her broke her heart in that very second. The others are probably looking at her similarly, but she never cared about them. She knows she can't defend this. There are no excuses she could give to make this better.
But before that could happen, the adrenaline wears off. Toga felt her knees wobble and her lungs falter, and before she knew it, she was on the ground. The blood was still warm, and she thought this would be a nice place to sleep off the sudden wave of tiredness she just got.
That is when the doors were slammed open. Her family rushed to her, the people she had known all her life. The notion made her close her eyes and finally give herself to exhaustion.
"Blood-bending is not about taking. It's about balance," Master Stain said as the tiny child copied his movements.
"Water is the element of change. It helps us adapt and flow with our surroundings. But blood is much more stagnant than that. Blood has roots. It boils at a different temperature and runs in a different course. It's death, but it is also life," their Master stopped suddenly and kneeled by their side.
"There are two types of blood bender. Those who have never touched or seen their element, and those who will spill it freely in madness," Stain took out a knife from his pocket. The handle is clear, except for the red flower petals inside, and the double edge blade shines with the light.
"You must be both. You will never reach your full potential if you don't see your element. But losing yourself to the madness of blood will make you lose yourself," Stain handed the child the blade, and they gripped it tightly.
"As a blood bender, you can never stop moving. But you must never forget who you are. Is that understood?"
"Yes, Master Stain," Toga answered her Master.