𝐖𝐀𝐑𝐑𝐈𝐎𝐑𝐒

THE TALES OF JISEOK

a woman came by to visit him. "hi jiseok, i'm siyeong" she smiled at the nine year old. "do you know why i'm here?"

jiseok shook his head, not really able to think of a reason. so he just gave her a small shy smile, looking down at the floor.

gunil, who was standing next to his brother, just encouragingly patted his shoulders. "come on, ji, siyeong is a nice lady" the eleven year old told him, reassuringly patting his back.

jiseok couldn't talk to strangers, he never even tried to. but when he had to, he couldn't. mentally, physically.

siyeong smiled at the young child, kneeling down in front of him. "let's draw something together, shall we?"

reaching out her hand, she waited for jiseok to grab it. he looked up at gunil, awaiting an answer, to which he just nodded. "it's fine."

his brother's words were the only thing he needed, so he grabbed siyeong's hand, who led him to their living room.

jiseok's parents were present, too, looking at siyeong and their son with high expectations. siyeong didn't like that.

"excuse me, but during my sessions, my client has to be alone.." his mother wanted to say something, yet was interrupted by his father, who pulled her out of the room.

once they were gone, siyeong gave him a piece of paper and a few colored lead discs to use for a drawing.

"now jiseok. do you mind drawing me what you're thinking about?"

[...]

"your child is getting bullied at school" siyeong told his parents after the session ended and jiseok went outside to go play with his brother.

"i told him to draw what he was thinking about, and that's what he did." she showed them the picture, his mother gasped.

jiseok drew a few stickmen, one of it was lying on the floor, with eyes closed and curled up, while the other had their feet on him, grinning evily.

he drew a big building on the right, which was identical to their island's school building. jiseok's mother gasped, putting her hand in front of her mouth in shock.

siyeong sighed. "the stickmen look identical, so jiseok could also be a bully. but that's not what i think"

she pointed at the stickman lying on the floor. "it has a silver stroke on its arm - just like jiseok's bracelet."

jiseok's mother was close to crying as she kept staring at the picture. but siyeong wasn't done. "also, every stickmen has a speech bubble, except for himself. miss, does jiseok talk to anyone outside of the family?"

the woman couldn't speak, still in shock as she took another look at the drawing, so his father answered. "he barely even talks to us" he admitted.

"the only one he's talking to is his brother. i've never seen him talk to anyone else, no." siyeong nodded, understanding.

letting out a small sigh, she handed the picture to them entirely, letting them take a closer look at it. "jiseok is most likely selectively mute. did something traumatising happen to him in the last few years?"

both of them didn't need time to think. "he was kidnapped when he was six" his mother answered, her hands still trembling as she held the picture.

"he never told anyone what happened! not even the guards, we- we thought he was just pushing the memories aside!"

siyeong just nodded again. "well, this was just our first session after all. if you want to, i can keep continuing the art therapy with him."

they immediately agreed to it, agreeing on two sessions a week that jiseok had to go through.

[...]

the art therapy was helping jiseok a lot, feeling free to express himself, on paper and even verbally.

his parents noticed how their kid started to talk to them more. even gunil noticed how much more jiseok talked to him while tutoring him some of the most important airbending skills.

when jiseok was twelve, he didn't return home in time. the guys, that have been bullying him for the last four years, decided to strike again, after leaving him alone for a month.

jiseok was lying on the floor, protecting his stomach with his arms as they kept kicking him. two guys were airbenders, while one of them was a firebender - his mother was from the fire nation, while his father was an air nomad. he had his mother's genes, being able to bend fire, while the other two were non-benders.

they laughed as they pinned jiseok down on the floor, watching how the small boy squirmed in fear and shock.

"ooh, are you scared?" one of them mocked him, and the other grabbed onto his hair, forcing jiseok's face into the mud.

the firebender among them laughed, sitting down on the back of jiseok's thighs, slowly starting to undress jiseok's shirt.

panicking, jiseok tried to wiggle free, yet impossible. the guys were older and stronger than him, he couldn't defend himself.

jiseok expected the worst, but he never thought, that he'd suddenly feel fire etching away the skin on his back.

his screams were muffled by the mud his face was plunged into, the guys just laughed as the firebender kept burning the skin on his back, that started to adapt into a leathery appearance and big blisters.

yet before he could reach the top of jiseok's back, it felt like he got hit hard, sending him flying away from the boy. the same happened to the two other guys.

they were surprised to see gunil standing there, their senior. no matter how much of a rebel one was, one would still respect gunil.

so the three boys were suddenly so pliant, standing up before running away. gunil let them flee, not caring about them, caring more about his injured brother.

---

gunil sat down next to jiseok, who had his feet in the lake near the place they were staying at.

his younger brother was facing the water, yet he probably noticed gunil, who was standing behind him now.

as he was shirtless, gunil saw the burn scars on his lower back, that reminded jiseok of his childhood.

"are you alright?" gunil asked, gently wrapping his arm around jiseok's shoulder. the younger brother just nodded. "i like to believe so, yes."

it was silent between the two, just enjoying the cold water cooling them down from the hot weather.

"i just feel kinda shitty because i yelled at seungmin before because he asked me about my scars" jiseok mumbled, barely audible.

gunil sighed, rubbing his hand on jiseok's arm comfortingly. "it's not alright to scream at someone. but if that's what made you feel safe in that moment, i think it was good you didn't force yourself to anything. i'll talk to seungmin later about it."

his younger brother nodded, smiling lightly. "thank you, gunil. really, for everything..." gunil didn't know how to react. it came out of nowhere, even though jiseok told him that quite often.

he pulled his brother into a comfortable hug. "someone has to take care of you, after all"

jiseok chuckled as he pulled away. "oh, come on, i'm not a small child anymore!" the elder brother returned the chuckle.

"but you're still a small kid to me." jiseok punched him lightly for that, to which gunil splashed some of the lake water at him.

a water fight started between them, what ended with jungsu scolding them for wetting their only pieces of clothing, sending them away to buy new pairs of clothes.