a/n: i actually have no idea how i came up with this. happy new year, everyone!
dedication: to a fresh start.
disclaimer: i don't own anything.
summary: A spoilt child grows up to become the world's greatest firebender. – Tom-Tom.
dragon
one
Tom-Tom is only a year old when he gets kidnapped. Of course, he doesn't realize it at the time, only that he wandered away and that he found some new friends to play with.
He doesn't understand that he was a hostage, or that his sister refused to barter for his life.
No one ever tells him.
two
Tom-Tom has already figured out that if he wails at precisely the right pitch, he can get anything his tiny heart desires.
Yet, his favorite is the cold girl who is the only one who doesn't give him what he wants, but she does teach him how to throw a knife.
Tom-Tom thinks she is the coolest person in the world and he lives for the rare smile she bestows on him.
Four years later, he finds out that this girl is his sister.
three
He is growing up to be a nightmare. His parents have spoilt him for so long that all he has to is scrunch up his face and the cavalry will come running.
Unfortunately, the Fire Lord drops in to visit while Tom-Tom is in the middle of a spectacular tantrum. Unused to being ignored and annoyed at the interruption, Tom-Tom unleashes the full force of his three-year-old temper on this strange man with a strange eye.
The Fire Lord just looks at him with those bright golden eyes, one fixed in a permanent scowl.
Tom-Tom never throws another tantrum.
four
Tom-Tom discovers he is a firebender at age four. It is the happiest day of his life.
He does not notice his parents' worried looks.
five
He is still a very spoilt little boy. He may have stopped throwing tantrums because of the scary man – Fire Lord Zuko, his teacher's voice chants – but that doesn't mean he can't get what he wants in a different way.
He starts setting things on fire.
six
The cold girl walks in as Tom-Tom lights the curtains on fire. She stares at him for a second, and twists a wrist.
In a flash, he is pinned to the wall, right next to the curtains he just lit on fire!
His parents hurry into the room upon hearing his screams and stop cold at the sight of the girl. She smiles at them, and Tom-Tom is too young to understand the mockery as the girl shapes her hand into the Flame and bows.
His parents look from her to him and leave, though he's screaming at them to come back and why won't they come back?!
The cold girl looks at him and he can see utter disgust in her eyes as he begins crying and begging her to take her knives away.
She looks from him to the fire and tells him that if he's going to start a flame, he should know how to extinguish it first.
Tom-Tom manages to wriggle free of the knives that pin him to the wall and goes running from the room, sobbing for his mother.
It is then that they tell him that the cold girl is his sister, Mai.
Tom-Tom learns how to stop fires.
seven
Whenever Mai is over, Tom-Tom is the perfect little boy. He listens to his parents, he does as he is told and shows manners worthy of the nobility he is.
When Mai is gone, all bets are off. He turns back into the hellion he really is, though he is careful not to leave signs of his behavior lying around where his sister can find them.
However, something soon happens that changes his life forever.
Tom-Tom is seven when his fire flickers blue.
eight
Mai avoids him right now. He is too young to recall a mad princess with blue death at her fingertips and so Tom-Tom is puzzled, wondering why his sister disappears at the first sparks of blue.
Only after the Fire Lord personally comes to see him does Tom-Tom realize that his blue flames aren't just a pretty sight.
The hottest fire ever bent, and Tom-Tom is talented enough to do that.
They call him a prodigy, a genius, but Tom-Tom wishes all his talent to be taken away, if he can just see his sister smile at him again.
nine
At nine, Tom-Tom is sick of his name. It sounds like baby speak, stupid and child-like. His anger rises at the taunts the other children make, and shuts them all up with a tongue of superheated fire.
Tom-Tom ignores Mai's disapproving look and goes to the Fire Lord to legally change his name.
He is now just Tom.
ten
They cover the line of succession in his history books and Tom is surprised to find another prodigy bending blue. Her name is Azula, the books say, and she was Fire Lord for a few minutes before her brother challenged her in an Agni Kai and won the throne.
The books don't speak of the ruthless princess' descent into insanity.
Tom goes home and shows the book to his parents and happily announces that he wants to be just like Princess Azula.
His mother faints.
eleven
His family treads carefully around him now, as if one word could set him off. Tom doesn't understand why they are doing this and tries to have normal conversations with them, only to always be shut off.
His sister is the only one who speaks to him normally, truthfully, though Tom can see the fear in her deadened eyes.
He asks her why she is afraid.
Mai does not answer.
twelve
Tom gets challenged to an Agni Kai when he is twelve and he trumps the older boy easily, winning the honor match.
He smiles to his parents but his mother just sobs, burying her face in her hands.
Mai still does not answer.
thirteen
Tom has had enough of his family. He stalks up the Royal Palace and walks through the halls until he reaches the throne room. The Fire Lord is there, along with a thin girl in a faded pink dress.
He walks up to them and demands – politely asks, because Tom is still scared of the Fire Lord and the huge burn scar seared into his face – to know why his family is scared of his fire.
The Fire Lord exchanges a look with the girl – Ty Lee, he calls her – before motioning him forward.
They travel to the passageways underneath the Palace to see a woman, delirious and cruel and so obviously insane.
Tom shudders at the sight of his role model and, for the first time in his life, understands.
He immediately wishes he didn't. It is not a pretty realization.
fourteen
When Tom turns fourteen, he embarks on the traditional journey of the world. He is a powerful firebender, and his honor demands that he search for the fabled dragon's egg of lore, to prove his worth.
Of course, no one has found the stone yet, but Tom is determined to succeed.
It is only when he ventures out of the Fire Nation that Tom realizes his art is to be feared. Many people remember Princess Azula and her blue flames and being a firebender in the heart of the Earth Kingdom is a dangerous thing indeed.
So Tom runs from the mobs and lessens his dependence on fire.
fifteen
After a year of searching, Tom manages to find the Sun Warriors temple. He has heard about them, these ancient protectors of dragons, the first firebenders in the world.
He passes through the temple silently, paying his respects to every shrine. When he is confronted with a locked door, destined only to be opened by five firebenders, Tom unleashes his restrained blue fire and scorches the door until the lock clicks open.
He enters to find that dragons are not dead, after all.
sixteen
Tom returns to the Caldera after a year of training, his eyes hardened by what he has seen. He is no longer a child, and he has seen things no human has laid eyes on in centuries.
His flames burn with all colors of the spectrum – cold blue, passionate red, playful green, mourning blue.
Tom accepts a position as an Imperial Firebender in the Royal Palace.
He is the strongest firebender in the world.
le fin
a/n: 13 fics for 13 fandoms to celebrate 2013!