The Element People

3. "None Of Your Business"

"P-please don't hurt me," the boy whimpered as he started to shake.

Zayn held his hand up. "I won't, I promise. I changed. I'm a good guy."

"I-I don't understand."

"You don't have to. I promise I won't hurt you. You need to promise me that you will act like you've never seen me before and I'll do the same. We'll make a fresh start okay? It will be our secret."

The boy was still shaking, but he nodded.

"Would you feel better if I brought Harry in?"

The boy nodded again.

"Alright." Zayn quickly left and came back with Harry in only a few seconds.

"Good to see you awake again," the curly haired said.

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"Zayn's right, we need to make this work," Louis told Liam as they were collecting stuff for the boy.

"Well, we are already doing that aren't we?" Liam grumbled.

Louis abruptly stopped. "Not if you keep having this attitude."

The waterbender rolled his eyes. "I'm not having an attitude."

Louis repeated his action with some exaggeration as he sarcastically said, "of course you're not."

"Can we just do our job without talking? I can work a lot better without your noise," Liam said as he fastened his pace.

The older one groaned. "Honestly why are you so stubborn and boring! You actually remind me of Harry sometimes."

"Great." Was the only answer he got.

"What is your problem!? Do you even have feelings?"

"Yes. Yes I do, and they are none of your or their business!" Liam snapped, "So why don't you all just leave me the fuck alone!?"

He created a wave with the water of the nearby river, pulled it on the ground, wrapping his legs in it and taking off.

Louis sighed. "Well that escalated quickly."

He created two big hills under his feet and followed after Liam.

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Harry watched the blond's sleeping form. Eyes concentrated on the boy's crunched up face, so that he didn't have to look at his beat up body.

A hand on his shoulder made him tear away his gaze. Zayn stood behind him with a cup of water. He had already put one down on the ground next to the bed of the boy.

"Thought you needed this just as much."

Harry took the cup, giving Zayn a thankful smile.

"Has he eaten much yet?" the raven-haired asked, eyeing the bowl in Harry's hands.

"No, just a quarter." He let out a sigh. "I know Caroline told us his stomach wouldn't be able to bear much food, but this can't be enough right? We need to make him eat more. He's already so thin. I can practically see his bones through his skin, Zayn. We need to fatten him up! We need to-"

The older one held up a hand to stop him. "Harry, he already looks exhausted. We can't do more than this."

Harry nodded. Looking back at the boy again. Slowly shaking his head.

"I wonder where those bruises and burns come from," he said.

"Yeah," Zayn said looking away. "Me too."

They stayed quiet for a bit.

"Harry, maybe we should-" the firebender looked down at his partner and saw he had his head in his hands. "Are- are you crying?"

The younger boy looked up at him.

"I-I just don't understand. How can someone do this to him," he gestured at the bruises on the boy. "He's so young. Our age. And he looks so broken. I can't believe the earth would allow that."

Zayn hesitantly put his hand on his shoulder. "I'm sorry, but the rest of the world isn't as peaceful as it was with the Air Nomads. You have no idea what is out there."

The curly boy shook his head again. "Why did they never tell us. My elders made me believe that the only danger to the world were Louis and I. Telling me that I had to find peace in order to control myself and help the people around me. But they just kept us away from the people who needed us most."

Zayn didn't really know what to say to that. He knew Harry and Louis had been with the Air Nomads since they were born. Louis had been lucky to grow up as an earthbender with the Air Nomads. No harm had been done to him. They also had been staying the longest with the Peace Proctectors. Since they were 15 and 17. Zayn joined a few months after Liam. Both 17 at the time. He had been so confused when he first met the waterbender. It explained why Simon had been so elated when he first joined the group. He thought they were complete. They had even celebrated his arrival even though he had spent that night in his tent. Only Louis had probably been at the party.

He didn't really know what to do with himself. He had felt so out of place. Still did. But maybe now there was going to be a purpose? Paul went back, shortly after setting up a plan with Simon. They had asked him to join them, since he obviously couldn't go back to the Fire Nation, but still knew a lot about them. But he had declined, saying that he wouldn't be of much use. After all, he had been lied to for years. So he didn't know what was truth anymore.

He didn't like it to see Paul go. Paul had been like a father to him for months, but he knew he had more important things to do.

"-probably be here for his next check-up. Zayn? Zayn, did you hear me?"

Zayn snapped back to where he was. "Sorry, I was just lost in some thoughts. What were you saying?"

Harry studied him for a moment. Then he said, "I was asking if we should wake him up, because Caroline will probably be here to check-up on him for a moment."

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"Liam, wait! I-"

Louis was almost next to Liam when he felt the root of a tree in the earth under him and he couldn't control the ground his was moving with anymore. He shot forward and knocked Liam off his wave.

They both fell to the ground. Liam cursed. "Jesus, Louis can't you seriously do anything? When will you learn to control your earth!?"

Louis murmured a sorry and scrambled up.

Liam created arm of water to help himself get up instead and cleaned himself from the dirt of the ground at the same time.

"Erm- can you do that for me as well?" Louis asked with a small voice.

"Use your own bending!" Liam snapped back instead, before creating a new wave and taking off again.

Louis huffed, but followed on foot instead.

A/N I hope you liked today's update!

What do you think happened to Niall?