The next morning Scott was woken up to Tommy trying to open the door just like he had said. Tommy was pacing around the dining room, trying to figure a way out, muttering something about needing to go back.

"You alright mate," Scott said.

"No, I need to go back, maybe if I do now he'll let me off easily," Tommy muttered. "What if I show up at practice, then Sapnap and George will be there."

"How about instead you help me work on something," Scott said, he took out a notebook and set it on the table. "After breakfast you can help me sort out any problems, then if you're up to it, we can visit some friends of mine and start working on this."

"What is it?" Tommy said.

"An escape room, I make them for a living," he saw the pain in Tommy's face. "Or not, let me make some food first. You don't have to decide right away."

Despite Tommy not saying his decision after breakfast, which he hardly ate, Scott had taken him to Lauren's apartment, she would be able to help him better anyway. He stayed for a little to make sure Tommy would be alright. The look on Tommy's face was priceless when Lauren's dog came running over to him, he began petting him and laughed as he tried to lick his face.

"Looks like someone made a new friend," Bobby chuckled, "Do you like animals, Tommy?"

"Yeah, I once went to the zoo with Bad, Eret, and Sam." Tommy said, smiling at the memory, remembering how Bad had then defended him against Clay. Maybe he could go find the airbender soon. "I think Clay once had a pet, but I don't remember." Clay. Why did everything have to go back to him?

"Well I've got work to do, thank you so much Lauren," Scott said, "And if anything happens don't be afraid to call Eret."

"I think I can handle this," Lauren said, watching as Scott left. She was going to ask Tommy something, but decided not to when she saw how happy he was with Dexter. Instead she held out one of Dexter's toys and he immediately came up to her, grabbed the toy, then dropped it at Tommy's feet. Tommy grabbed the ball and threw it across the room, Dexter scrambling to get it. The game continued until Dexter grew tired of it and lay on Tommy's lap.

"You know you can move if you want," Lauren said as Tommy rapidly tapped his foot.

"But he's so peaceful and I don't want to bother him," Tommy started petting Dexter.

"Well I've got to go to work, love you Lauren, take care you two," Bobby said, kissing Lauren then as he headed to the door Dexter jumped up and tried to stop him from leaving.

"Can we take him on a walk," Tommy said, he needed some fresh air and it was the only excuse he could think of.

"Of course," Lauren said, Dexter jumped around when he saw her grabbing the leash.
As the three passed by the Spirit Wilds, Tommy felt a pull to something deep inside. Lauren stopped with Dexter and Tommy began wandering toward them. He gasped as his head started pounding.

'Look at you, the great Avatar reduced to a child incapable of protecting himself,' a voice echoed through his mind. 'No home, no friends, no family. Can't even protect himself from his own actions.' The voice brought pain, anger, and sadness, it was like drowning.

Tommy gasped for air as his vision started to tunnel, and his ears began ringing. He felt Lauren's hand on his back, she was saying something to him. Slowly he got up and followed her back to the apartment, despite away from the wilds his head still pounded. He couldn't take it anymore, he wanted to get rid of it.

Why wouldn't it go away?

The rest of the day crawled by, yet Tommy still felt horrible. The morning had looked so good, how could one thing, one moment turn everything sour?

When Scott came by to take Tommy back to his place, Lauren didn't have anywhere he could stay. Lauren didn't tell Scott what happened at Tommy's request. Other than that Tommy hadn't said anything except yes or no the rest of the day.

Self Harm TW, please don't feel the need to read the rest of this if this is something you're uncomfortable with. It'll be till basically the rest of this chapter.

They came to Scott's and Tommy went into the bathroom, not thinking twice about it Scott sat down. As he turned on the radio he heard a crash come from the bathroom. Running in, Scott found Tommy gripping the counter with one hand, and a shard of glass in the other. His knuckles were cut and bloody.

"Tommy, set down the glass please," Scott said, his voice wavered as he gripped it tightly, the glass starting to cut through his palm. "I'm not going to do anything to you. Look at me, I'm not mad."

Tommy slowly set down the shard, his breathing was shaky and blood hammered in his ears.

"Stay here, okay, I'm going to get some bandages for your hands," Scott slowly backed out, leaving the door open, but trying to show he trusted Tommy. The teen looked up at the shattered mirror, the mirror that he shattered.

Why? Why am I like this?

That question echoed in his mind, making him think back on everything he could remember. The memories stopped shortly after meeting Clay, according to Clay he had spent years on the streets of Republic City. So why didn't he remember any of it or his childhood?

"I found some bandages," Scott came back in, used a towel to push glass out of the sink, and turned on the water. "Can I help you clean your hands?" Tommy nodded and ran his hands through the water, watching the blood wash away, revealing small, shallow cuts covering his fingers and the back of his hands. Luckily none had been deep enough to call for a trip to the hospital, which would have been a mess of paperwork and Clay would have immediately found Tommy. Gingerly Scott dried off each hand and slowly wrapped them in gauze. Between hardly eating anything in the past day and all the blood loss Tommy had gone pale, he went with Scott into the living room and sat in one of the chairs. Scott had gone over to the house phone and dialed Eret.

"Hello Scott," he said.

"Hi, could you come over soon preferably," Scott said.

"Did something happen?" Eret said.

"Something like that. He hasn't been eating and, well it would be better for you to see yourself," Scott said, glancing at Tommy, he didn't want to talk about it without his permission.

It wasn't long before Eret had arrived at the apartment. She came in to see Tommy sleeping in a chair.

"Tommy, wake up you need to drink water," Scott gently shook him awake, setting a glass of water on the side table.

"Huh?" Tommy said, blinking, trying to wake up.

"Hey buddy," Eret said, "how we doing?"

Tommy just looked down at his hands, waiting for Scott to explain. Waiting for Scott to be mad at him. Waiting for either of them to yell at him.

"The mirror broke and cut his hands," Scott said.

"But you're okay and that's what matters," Eret said, they crouched down to Tommy's level, putting her hands on his legs. "I have an idea, but it's risky. Do you want to come spend the night with me? Change of scenery?" Tommy nodded, afraid of what would happen if he spoke.

Wow, can't imagine what'll happen at Eret's. Wait, I can, I'm the one writing this. Feel free to drop any theories or any fun comments down below, now off the work on the other chapters.

Thank you all for reading. Please vote and comment it helps alot. Peace out benders and Minecrafters from around the world!