The darkness within

Chapter 1: y/n's birthday

Trigger warnings: violence, mention of suicide, mention of drug deals, mature language

Y/n's POV

"Y/n! Wake up! Eggs and bacon, or pancakes? What's the best breakfast?"

"Y/n?"

"Please, just let me sleep." I mumble into my pillow.

"It's already eleven thirty in the morning, how could you still be tired?" Bolin looks at me in confusion.

What he didn't know is that I didn't fall asleep until six in the morning. I hated sleeping on the couch in the middle of the attic. There is no privacy and you can't throw people out of your room when they annoy you. It still beats living in the streets, thought. At least the view from my window is amazing. I can see all of air temple island.

I moved in with the two pro bending brothers Bolin and Mako a couple months back. It took two and a half years of living in the streets, until I finally found a home. We moved into the attic of the pro bending arena, which was formerly used for storage. It was small, but we made it cozy. Bolin and Mako share a separate room as a bedroom and I sleep on the couch in the living room.

"So?" Bolin asks.

"So what?" I finally look up at Bolin, clearly annoyed. Pabu, Bolin's fire ferret, is sitting on his right shoulder, also looking at me.

"Bacon and eggs or pancakes?" Bolin demands an answer.

"Pancakes for sure. Now let me sleep!" I yawn halfway through the sentence and turn back around to go back to sleep.

I met Bolin and Mako when they were working for the Triple Threat Triad. I joined them almost immediately. In the beginning we did small jobs for the triad, like picking up and delivering various packages all over Republic City. Eventually, we worked our way up and gained the respect of some of the highest triad leaders. Mako and Bolin always wanted to stay on the right side of the law, or at least as best as they could while surviving. As for me, some of the leaders saw the darkness in me that I always feared. They involved me in the shadier side of the triad business. That is where I learned to fight, defend myself, chi block and so on. I never told Mako and Bolin about these extra jobs, since I never had to explain where I was when I lived by myself under the bridge. When Mako and Bolin managed to start a pro bending team and I became their trainer/manager, we all decided to leave the triad and live off of the pro bender team earnings. Leaving the triad was easier than all three of us imagined, but somehow I still don't believe that there won't be some sort of consequence. The last words of one of the leaders are engrained into my memory: "Don't you worry y/n! You will be back. Just wait and see."

In the beginning the finances were tight. However, the arena manager took pity on us and lets us stay in the attic for free. As I drift of to sleep again a memory creeps into my mind:

»Flashback«

"Come on Bolin! We are going to be late if you don't hurry up!" Mako yelled at his brother, clearly annoyed with his tardiness.

"Don't worry Mako, we have plenty of time if we take the shortcut." I suggested.

"You know we only take the shortcut in emergencies. It crosses right through Agni Kai Triad territory." Mako turned down my suggestion. Mako was two years older than Bolin and I, so most of the time we did things the way he wanted them to be done.

"Bolin!" Mako yelled.

"Yeah, sorry! Pabu wasn't ready, but now we are good to go." Bolin petted the little head of his fire ferret that was now sat on his right shoulder. It produced a high pitched squeak in response to the pat on the head.