Time: Eight Years ago. Place: Ocala Florida Orphanage For Children.
P.O.V: Donny Keeney.
I had my father's knife in one hand, a swirling ball of water in the other. I was sitting at the small river bank that was about half a mile from the Orphanage fence, as I always am after school. Everyday for the last two years since I came to this stupid orphanage after my mother died, I've wiggled under the small hole under the fence and come to this small riverbank. Everyday, I practice my water bending, just moving water around my hands, and then i started to get better at it. I began to be able to transform water into ice, extremely sharp ice. I used it like a knife, even cutting myself a few times. But never have I ever dared to try Blood Bending, I was always too scared of what would happen. I've been in school and have been taught enough to know that Blood Benders like me were supposed to be extremely powerful, but more importantly, really dangerous. Blood Benders, or more often called Benders for short, can control water, ice, etc. But Benders are more known for being able to control people. Hense the term 'Blood' bender. Benders are supposed to be able to control the systems of the human body, be able to shut them down, or to control them. They're supposed to be one of the most dangerous mutants in the world. The orphanage has plenty of mutants, but I don't think they would be too thrilled about my power. Blood Benders are only supposed to be able to have their have their powers when they're about fifteen because their powers have to have time to grow and manifest in their system. To this day, I still have no idea what is so messed up about me that I got cursed with getting my powers at this tipping an age. I've had my powers since I was seven, and since the day I got them, I wanted to get rid of them. I was so scared, hell, I still am scared, that I would end up hurting someone, or that they would put me in a mutant prison. So when I found this river bank, I practiced my Water Bending. It had anyways made me calmer, feeling the familiar cold water swirling between my fingers. Every time I was stressed or angry, I would run down to the bank and practice until I was calm again and I would have to try to explain to Mrs. Wallis and Mr. Malcum- the adults in charge of controlling the kids at the orphanage- why my clothes we're soaked. Maybe that's how I've managed to hide my powers for so long.
But I should've known that it wouldn't last forever.
I was so engaged with my Water Bending that I didn't hear the voices of two teenage boys drawing closer. I had my knife in a loop in my belt. The ball of water in my hands was growing and growing until it had covered the front of my vision completely.
"What the-" a voice nearly yelled out of surprise and I turned around so fast that everything seemed to blur.
I'd lost all concentration that I'd had and a second after I turned the water that I had been Bending, dropped, soaking me to the bone.
"Bender," one of the two kids whispered. Derick, an older boy from the orphanage that I'd never gotten along with.
The two boys were brothers, with the same dirty blond hair and strong build. The older one was about twelve, the other was fourteen. They both starred at me with wide eyes and open mouths.
"Please," I begged. They were going to tell Mrs. Wallis and Mr. Malcum everything, and who knows what they would do. "Please, please, don't tell them. Please." I was so scared I couldn't raise my voice above a whisper.
They started to back away, stealing glances at each other and back at me.
"Go get Mrs. Wallis and Mr. Malcum, tell them that we have a situation." Shawn murmured and Derick started to run off in the direction of the orphanage.
"Wait, please!" I yelled in desperation and reached my hand out toward the Derick, maybe hoping to grab him.
let's just say it didn't exactly happen like that.
As my fingers grazed his wrist, I felt the fear and panic that I hadn't felt in two years. But, deep in my body, I felt something new stir and rise above the other feelings. Something unusual, something powerful. Something that I'd never felt before, and the worst part? I loved it. Before I could understand what exactly the feeling was, the younger boy dropped to the ground. His body started shaking and writhing and his mouth, ears, eyes, and nose started to bleed.
Blood Bending. That's what the feeling was, Blood Bending.
"Derick!" Shawn screamed and bent down and gripped Derick's shoulders and tried to shake him.
"I didn't mean to, I swear I didn't mean to do that." I whisper, backing away.
Shawn slowly got to his feet, his hands shaking in anger. "You little Mutt." He snarled and lunged for me.
I screamed and jumped into the grass, barely missing him. I ran as fast as I possibly could back to the orphanage, not even thinking about what would happen once I got there. I scramble under the broken fence, the boy just steps behind me. I jump up from the ground once I was in front of the gate and run to the old wooden doors and pry them open. I slam the doors shut behind me and made sure to lock them. I turn to run up the stairs where the rooms are- hoping to grab a couple things and then run maybe- when I, literally, run into Mr. Malcum.
"Donny," he says, steadying me, worried. He'd heard the screaming. "What was all that noise outside, I thought you all might be hurt." he raised an eyebrow, Mr. Malcum always seemed to know if we were lying, or if something was wrong. Right now, that alarm of his must be going off the radar, I know mine is. And it was screaming 'RUN STUPID'!
"Nothing's wrong." I squeak. Now, I've told some pretty bad lies, but this topped it off without question.
"Donny, just tell me-" the door started to shake, and he was yelling, banging on the door.
Mr. Malcum let go of me to unlock the door. Once he did, the boy stood there for a moment before finding me. The other kids were looking at us now, wanting to know what was wrong.
"Shawn!" Mr. Malcum glares at him, annoyed. "What do you think you're doing, banging on the door like-" Shawn lunged for me again, pushing past Mr. Malcum.
He grabbed me by my hair and slammed me against the wall. My vision swirled and I thought I felt something wet on my face. I felt blow after blow to my face and stomach. It seemed like it was a lifetime before they stopped. I could hear adults yelling, hear kids screaming. Mr. Malcum was holding back Shawn as best as he could before some of the older boys intervened and stopped him. It took me a minute to see Mrs. Wallis was bending over me, trying to get me to sit up.
"I didn't mean to do it." it came out of my mouth before I could stop myself.
"You little Mutt!" Shawn screamed at me, trying, but failing, to get past the people holding him back. "I'm going to kill you for hurting him! Hear me? I'm going to kill you!"
"What are you talking about?" Mrs. Wallis yelled, raising her voice and glaring at the two of us.
"He hurt Derick, he was bleeding really bad. By the river bank." he added.
Two of the older boys who weren't holding back Shawn ran out the door to see if he was right. "Call an ambulance, just in case." Mrs. Wallis instructed to no one in particular, but knew that it would get done all the same.
"You're nothing but a filthy Mutt!" Shawn snarled and tried again to break away.
"Enough Shawn!" Mr. Malcum yelled, trying to calm the situation, but that effort was immediately defeated once the door opened again and the two boys burst in with Deric between them.
Once everyone caught sight of the bloody mess that was Derick, everyone started to freak out. one of the boys laid him down and checked his pulse. "He's alive!" he had to shout to be heard over all the noise. Now everyone was looking between me, Shawn, and Derick, trying to figure out what could possibly have happened. Just as I finally began to sit up, we heard the sirens, and I couldn't tell if it was an ambulance or the police. Either way, I was not going to stick around for when the truth comes out. I tried to stand up, maybe In preparation to run out the door the first chance I got. That was not going to be the easiest thing I've ever done. As soon as I was on my feet, the room started to sway and my head felt like it was pounding out of my scull. I took a step toward the stairs and felt my feet slip out from under me and felt Mrs. Wallis grab me. There was a pounding on the front door and multiple kids jumped up to open it. Paramedics rushed in and started to check Derick for vitals. I needed to run, and I needed to do it now. I shook off Mrs. Wallis's arm just as three police officers came in.
The kids were screaming and it took several minutes for the police to calm them down. "What happened in here?" one of the male police officers yelled, looking between Derick- who the paramedics were putting on a stretcher and hauling out into an ambulance- and Shawn, who the older boys were still holding back. "Let go of him." another officer commanded, nodding at Shawn. The boys hesitated but in the end, let go of him, though a few did move to stand between us.
"He's a Mutt! He was Bending, he's a Bender!" Shawn growled and pointed at me.
"That's not true!" I lied, I was going to do anything to not go to some mutant prison, or to one of those 'Mutant facilities'. They're supposed to help mutants control their powers, but there was a girl who came here after she went to one of those facilities, and she told me that they tortured her until she's control herself. I would never go there, no matter what.
Now everyone was starting at me, as if the truth would appear on my face if they starred hard enough. The only thing that I could rely on was the fact that I'm young, and I was going to try to seem as innocent as possible.
"I never hurt him, how can I even be a Bender?" I tried to roll my eyes, but that only made the pounding in my head worse, so I stopped. "I'm freaking nine!" I put as much sarcasm as I could muster, and that's saying something. I'm a very annoying kid, in case you couldn't tell.
"Then try to explain why your clothes are soaked, Hell, why they're always soaked!" Shawn demands.
Crap, he had me there. I opened my mouth to say something, what I have no idea, when Mr. Malcum butted in.
"Just because his clothes are wet, doesn't mean he's a Blood Bender. Blood Benders are fifteen-at least- not nine." I knew there was a reason that I liked Mr. Malcum.
"Everybody shut it!" another officer commanded, and looked at me. "If you're not a mutant, then you wouldn't mind doing a blood test, would you? Just to verify?"
It didn't seem like I had much of a choice, but I also knew what would happen when the test came back positive.
"It will only take a few short minutes, we have a blood kit on hand. And then, if they it up negative, we can find out what happened." a lady officer added, but I didn't miss the whole 'if' part.
"Do I have to?" Very convincing, Donny. Great job! Way to make it sound even worse for you.
"Yes." the one in charge narrowed his eyes at me. He didn't believe me.
"Okay." I whispered.
The lady pulled out a syringe and keeled down beside me, grabbing my wrist gently. I barely felt the needle pierce my skin, I felt numb I was so scared. She stood back up and put a drop of some grey liquid into my blood and shook it. The lady turned to Mr. Malcum and Mrs. Wallis.
"In a minute or so, the color will change. If the blood turns green, he's mutant. If it turns blue, he's human." she shrugged.
My heart was pounding so hard I thought all of New York might hear it. It took a few minnutes before the blood started to change it's color. It turned a dark green. There was a moment before I did anything. But I'm not stupid, I'm not alive today because I'm a sitting duck. I ran past the officers and kids and threw open the front door and ran like I've never ran before. I could hear the officers saying things into their radio, hear Mr. Malcum and Mrs. Wallis call my name- but I didn't stop. The gate was already open from the paramedics and officers coming through, and I ran through it. The orphanage was snack dab in the middle of the city, with stores, houses, and people walking around without a thought.
"Kid, stop! Now!" one of the officers yelled, and out of stupid, ridiculous instinct, I turned around.
Other people started to look over, wondering why they were yelling. And more importantly, why they were now drawing their guns.
"Stop kid, stop and get down on your knees now!" the officer in front said and I noticed that his badge said 'Officer Smith'. The lady officer also had her weapon drawed and aimed it at my chest. Her badge read 'Officer Reems'. The third officer didn't have his weapon, but was saying something about backup into his radio and trying to keep the other kids back. His badge read 'Officer Danes'.
"Don't move and get down on your knees, hands behind your head!" Officer Smith yelled, aiming the gun at my chest. Slowly, I got down I got down on my knees and raised my hands in the air.
I noticed a boy, maybe seventeen, edge closer, looking concerned. He had short dirty blond hair with bright blue eyes that switched between the scene that had now become my personal horror scene, and another boy that couldn't be older than twenty. The boy he was looking at had blond hair with a cruel smirk and hard yellow eyes.
Officer Smith came up from behind me and yanked my hands behind my back harshly. "You know what was so stupid 'bout what you just said?" I asked loudly, leaning my head down to face the grass.
"Entertain me kid," Smith laughed, and I could feel him grabbing a pair of handcuffs from another officer. "What?"
"How can I not move, and put my hands behind my back, and get down on my knees at the same time?" the officer said nothing for a moment, and then laughed.
"What kind of stupid thing is that to say?"
He barked out laughing and hauled me to my feet, shaking his head. As he did, he opened up the handcuffs and I could feel cold metal clamp tightly around my right wrist. It felt like my body was forcing itself to stop. If I was going to do it, I needed do it now.
"Stupid-" he started, but before he could get abother word out, I snapped my head up to meet his and head butted him as hard as I could.
"Yeah, I know. Mutt."
As if it were even possible, my head felt like it was about to break open. I ran right into the crowd that had started to form that'd been watching. I felt something wet fall down my face, and when I tried to wipe it off, my hand came back red. Dang it. I ran into the street, hearing the cars screaching to a stop and horns blaring as I ran past them. As I ran, I fumbled for my father's knife, thinking that maybe I could cut the cuff off my wrist. New sirens blared, but I knew that these weren't paramedics, so I ran faster. I was right. The knife cut clean through the cuff, and I hastily threw it off my wrist. People dodged me, not wanting to get in my way. Or, that's why I thought they were moving aside. As I found out after shoving a man aside, there were two police cars blocking me off from the front. The officers started to get out when they saw me. I turned to run into the traffic on the left, when a police van screeched to a stop right in the middle. They started to get out.
"Crap!" I whispered.
Out off the charger of my eye, I saw that same seventeen-year-old boy and the yellow-eyed boy not far behind me, though they kept eyeing each other cautiously.
I sped up, wanting to run around the corner, and found four police officers aiming their guns at- guess who- me.
"Put the knife down kid, or this going to get worse," one warned.
The other officers were getting closer. I backed up and tried to turn around, maybe I could take a different route before they shot me. Before I could even completely turn around, I felt the butt of a gun hit me in the back of the head. I screamed and grabbed the back of my head with my free hand. Before I could swing my knife, it was knocked out of my hand and someone had me by my shirt up against a wall.
"You're lucky I don't fill you with lead, kid!" Officer Smith sneered at me. He had a fistful of my shirt in his hand and, I'm glad to see, a bloody nose that- hopefully- appeared broken.
I could barely see with the blood that was coming from my head, but I could still see the teenager, who was looking at me like he wanted to help but didn't know how. A lot of the pedestrians were staring now, and most looked slightly disturbed- like they also wanted to help. Some of the onlookers started pulling out their phones to video it. Good, because they weren't going to like what I was about to do.
"Go to Hell," I growl so low that only Officer Smith could hear me.
"What did you say, kid?"
"I said GO TO HELL!" I raised my voice, and for the first time since my mother died, I let all of the anger I'd been feeling for the past two years rise to the surface.
I let it simmer for a moment, my hate for the Order, the sadness that I've felt since she died, my fury that nobody would do anything about it, my anger that I've had to hide what I was for two years. Well, there's no hiding it anymore. And there's absolutely no going back now.
And I'm damn done asking for permission.
I grabbed his wrists with both hands and let my anger curl into my hands, let it seep into his skin, into his bones. I felt the same odd pull in my stomach that I'd felt when I touched Deric, only now it was much stronger than before. I heard the officer scream, a loud tortured scream before he dropped to the ground. He was in obvious agony, and I was surprised that I truly couldn't bring myself to care. You could hear bones cracking inside his body, you could see his eyes rolling into the back of his head, see his body start to actually tear. But only I could feel what was else was happening. I could feel his heart stopping, could feel his organs start to malfunction. I could feel it all. Maybe that's what smacked some common sense into me. The other officers around me raised their guns. I put my hands over my face and squeezed my eyes shut automatically, but no bullets came. There was no odd pull at my stomach, so I knew I hadn't Blood Bended. I put my hands down and unclenched my eyes to see why I wasn't pumped full of metal. The short-haired seventeen-year-old kid was standing in front of me, his palms out toward the officers. Keeping the officers back was ice. Sharp prices of ice that were the length of spears that was inches from killing them.
"And I thought I made the worst messes when I'm pissed." the boy joked and looked me over carefully.
"Nope," I mutter, dropping to my knees, scrambling to find my father's knife with blood covering my vision. "That's me. Hurricane Donny, twenty-four seven." I felt the boy pull me to my feet and press a familiar cold blade into my hand.
"Looking for that, kid?" he asks, letting go of me. I nodded as I fumbled to put the knife back in the loop. I tried to wipe off the blood on my face best I could and kept rubbing it off until I could see again.
"Thank you," I say earnestly.
"Don't thank me yet, I have to get you out of here first. Now," he says, no longer joking. "When I melt the ice, you have to run like you never have before, okay? I can hotwire a car to get us to where we need to go, but we have to dish them first," he ordered. He took a stance like he was preparing to run.
"Ready kid?" the boy asked. I nodded.
The ice melted almost immediately. The boy took ahold of my shoulder tightly and pushed me forward. We ran until we were both out of breath, we ran until we couldn't run anymore and didn't have a hope of a siren in earshot. He pushed me into an alleyway where the boy found an old looking stick drive car and dove a piece of rotten wood into the driver side window.
"Hurry, get in, before someone sees us." he urged, opening the driver's door and began to wipe off the glass from the seat.
I didn't hesitate. Right now, anything was better than turning around. After he took a moment, the car came to life.
"Thank you God." the boy muttered and turned the car out of the ally and onto a regular road.
"What's your name?" he asks after a minute or so.
"Donny Keeney. Yours?" I ask while trying to wipe away the new blood making its way down my face.
"Jacob Wills." he says and eyes me like he thought I was lying.
My vision was starting to sway and I thought I might puke. Jacob looked back and noticed my reaction. "Hey, you alright there Donny?" he asked, readjusting his mirror. Before I could answer though, my vision started to fog and I couldn't hold my eyes open any longer.
____________________________________________________________________
I woke up gasping for air and covered in sweat. My powers reacted to the memory, and I watched the ice crawl and form icicles on the ceiling. I haven't dempt of that day in a few months now, and I always tried not to think about it either. I remember everything about that day, but more than anything, I remember being so terrified. Jacob brought me here and taught me how to use my powers, or more specifically, how to control them. Jacob is a Bender too and he, unlike any Bender that I've heard of, has unnatural control over his powers. He taught me how to control my emotions, to not let them affect my powers. Since that day, Jacob and I have been like brothers. When we went on missions, we protected eachother, we've always had eachother's back, no matter what. I grabbed my shirt off the floor and tugged it over my head and walked out the bedroom door. I didn't want to wake Jacob up, I didn't want him to be stuck staying up with me. The hospital wing in the basement had pills to make you sleep, but they didn't have any that made you have a dreamless sleep. So, until they come up with those, I'm going to stay up a bit. I jogged down the stairs and out of the building. I was tempted to go to the Commander's Building and see if Kaylee had slept yet- she sleeps in there most days, with a large hammock in a small room in the back of the building- but I didn't want to risk waking her up if she wasn't. I opened the door to the training building and did what I normally do, I Bended. Though I don't like to Blood Bend, Water Bending usually calmed me down. My mother died ten years ago, murdered by an assassin from the Order and, much to my dislike, he was a Bender. My mother had been amazing woman, she was pretty with brown curls hair so dark that many thought it was black. I had her dark hair, but my mother claimed I got my eyes and personality from my father. He died long ago, just a month after my mother found out she was pregnant. My father had been a Keeper and died in battle. She'd never had any photos of him in the house or talked much about him. I'd always just assumed that she was always too upset to talk about him. The Bender who killed her didn't wear a mask, and made no move to hide himself. I had been hiden, like my mother had told me to be- I'd thought that we were playing hide and seek- when he came in the door. I was hiding behing a closed door and when I realised what was happening and tried to open the door, I realised it was locked. Lets just say, I haven't really liked playing hide and seek since. I concentrated on my bending, hardening the water swirling between my fingers into a thick ice glove. Jacob taught me how to do a lot with my Water Bending, creating armor being one of them. I trained with my Water Bending until I was overly exhausted. Water Bending took a lot of concentration and it wears on you after a while. I had to sit down for a minnute so I didn't fall over from exhaust. I remember closing my eyes, but I don't remember falling asleep.