Work Text:
Rangi couldn’t sleep. Her leg throbbed through the healing ice that the water healer Atuat had placed on it, a constant reminder of the worst day of her life. The day that Yun, a boy she’d sworn to protect with her life, had tried to kill her. Kill her. Rangi had faced many threats in her life, from her days in the Fire Nation academy to her travels with Kyoshi, but none had affected her as badly as this. It wasn’t just the pain in her leg. Her heart hurt too. Yun had not just been a job to her. He had been almost as good a friend to her as Kyoshi. A wave of pain, mental this time, swept through her as she remembered the early days at the compound. The charismatic, masterful Yun, the awkward, towering Kyoshi, and herself, the composed, tough bodyguard. Back in those times, the only thing she had to worry about was making sure Yun didn’t sneak out of the compound alone, or making sure that Kyoshi wasn’t off being bullied somewhere.
How things change.
Now, Yun was dead. Killed by Kyoshi, the true Avatar, after he allowed himself to be corrupted and set out on a path of revenge for the title she had rightfully assumed. Rangi had initially hoped that Yun hadn’t decided on that all by himself. She had held out hope that Kyoshi was right, that Yun had been taken over by a dark spirit. But as the atrocities he committed piled up, that hope trickled away, until all that was left was pain. And then. The last day at the compound. All of them together again, in some sick, perverted version of their previous happy selves. Fighting Yun that day had cost her nearly everything. It had almost cost her life. Rangi shut her eyes, clenching them tightly against the memory of the earth spike impaling her. Of Kyoshi’s screams.
Kyoshi.
Rangi knew what Kyoshi had done to save her. Rangi wished to the spirits she had never had to. She had killed Yun, killed what was left of her friend, because Rangi hadn’t done enough. Rangi hadn’t protected her. And in return, Yun exploited Kyoshi’s greatest weakness, and Rangi hadn’t been able to stop him. She hadn’t been able to protect her Avatar. Not only that, but she hadn’t been able to protect the girl she loved. Rangi swore, cursing Yun’s name and her own in the same breath. What good was she? Kyoshi deserved better. Kyoshi always deserved better. Right from the beginning, Rangi had known she would do anything for her giant girl. Her greatest regret was not doing this for her, not defeating Yun herself. She had failed her task, leaving Kyoshi to clean up her mess. Leaving Kyoshi to kill Yun. She curled in on herself, ignoring the complaints from her injured leg. She couldn’t stop the tears welling in her eyes, and she began to cry. Once she had started, she couldn’t stop. Everything she’d felt since the fateful battle just boiled up inside her, spilling out and over in her short, sharp breaths. She cried for Yun, and for her mother. She cried most for Kyoshi.
The door to her room creaked open.
Rangi tensed up immediately, still on edge, the intrusion finally allowing her tears to pause. “Hei-Ran?” Her mother had arrived the previous day, and though Rangi had been moved out of the infirmary by then, and had even begun taking small, painful steps, Hei-Ran was still extremely worried and had been hovering over Rangi since.
“No, not this time.”
Rangi felt a wave of warmth, coupled with shame, wash over her as Kyoshi stepped into the room. She hastily wiped away her tears, composing herself as best she could before she sat up painfully to face Kyoshi. “What’s wrong? Are you okay?” Rangi couldn’t hide the slight tremor in her words, but did the best she could. She should have known it wouldn’t fool Kyoshi, who knew her better than anyone else in the world.
“You were crying.”
It wasn’t a question. Rangi shrugged, trying to play it off as best she could. She had to be the strong one. She had to be strong for Kyoshi. “Your room is at the other end of the hallway, Kyoshi. How could you possibly know that?”
Kyoshi frowned. “I heard you. You know I always hear you.” She moved closer to the bed, blocking out Rangi’s view until her giant girl was all she could see. “Rangi. Are you okay?” Rangi had seen that look on Kyoshi’s face many times since the day of the battle. Kyoshi was worried. Rangi sighed, knowing all attempts to be strong were off the table. She couldn’t bear to see Kyoshi so worried on her account, not after what she had done. She braced herself.
“I…don’t think so.” She sat up straighter, wishing she could stand tall instead. She had to own up to her mistakes. “I failed you, Kyoshi.” Her voice broke on the name. “It’s my fault you had to kill Yun.” The admission nearly broke her again, but she gathered herself together, waiting for Kyoshi’s reaction.
Kyoshi looked as if Rangi had just struck her in the face. “What are you talking about? Are you insane?” She sat down on the bed next to Rangi and took her hands in hers.
Rangi slipped her hands out of Kyoshi’s grasp. “I failed you. I should have been stronger. I should have fought harder. I should have stopped Yun myself so that you didn’t have to but I didn’t. I failed. I let him win. I let him beat me, and I almost let him beat you too. If I had just been better, I wouldn’t have been injured and you wouldn’t have had to stop him yourself. You shouldn’t have had to do it, Kyoshi! You shouldn’t have had to kill him! It should have been me! I swore an oath to protect you with my life. I was too weak! I-“ Rangi could have kept going much longer, but her outburst was cut off at the source when Kyoshi leaned in and kissed her. Hard. Rangi tried to pull away, but couldn’t, as Kyoshi refused to allow it. When Kyoshi finally pulled away, her face was flushed. Rangi knew it matched hers perfectly. “But Kyoshi…he was our friend. You had to…to kill him! That’s a burden you should never have to carry. And you wouldn’t have had to if I had just done my job!”
“Stop.”
The calm in Kyoshi’s voice took Rangi by surprise. She tried to look away from Kyoshi to hide the tears now streaming down her face, but her gentle girl took her chin and turned it back.
“Rangi. You have never, ever failed me. Do you hear me? Ever. I can’t believe that I know you so well, and even now you still surprise me like this. How could you think that? How? I killed Yun because he hurt you. In that moment I could have killed anyone for doing that to you. He just happened to be the one in my way. Rangi, you are my everything. My world. I would throw away being the Avatar if it meant I could stay with you forever. You will never be too weak in my eyes. Never. Don’t you know that, my strong glowing girl?” Kyoshi was crying herself now. “Yun was your friend. He was our friend. You shouldn’t have had to go through that, Rangi. Not just me. You too. I should have protected you, too. I should have protected my world.”
Rangi never knew she could feel as much emotion as she did in that moment. The shame she had felt so keenly just moments before was slowly being washed away and replaced by the warmth and strength of Kyoshi’s love for her. She had always been aware that Kyoshi was the person who meant the world to her, and she knew that Kyoshi did have feelings in turn, but she hadn’t allowed herself to dream that Kyoshi felt the same pain and joy of having one person be so important, over all the world. She surged upward, wrapping the taller girl in as tight an embrace as she possibly could, freely crying now in the face of the feelings Kyoshi had just expressed. She knew she never wanted to let go again. Rangi could finally say what she had wanted to say since the day Kyoshi fixed the back of her armor in Yokoya such a long, long time ago. She whispered three words as softly as she could, knowing Kyoshi would hear them regardless. “I love you.” Rangi pulled back, the depth of her feelings clearly written on her face, still afraid of the reaction she was about to receive. She had barely enough time to register Kyoshi’s brief look of wonder before it was replaced with affection enough to match Rangi’s.
“Rangi.” Kyoshi murmured. “I love you too.”
Rangi let out a breath she didn’t know she had been holding. Her training as a Firebender had taught her to keep her emotions contained, and to never show how she truly felt. To open herself that much, even to Kyoshi, had frightened her more than she had realized. It was only now that Rangi realized that the love she felt for Kyoshi was fully reciprocated, and it gave her a sense of peace that she hadn’t felt since she was a child. Rangi’s world curled up beside her in the bed, planting a kiss on her hair. Rangi rested her head on Kyoshi’s shoulder, finally content, and finally free of the burden she had been carrying since the day she had nearly lost everything. She knew that with her giant girl beside her, she would heal. She would get stronger. She would make sure she always protected her Avatar. She would always protect the girl she loved, and who by some miracle loved her back. Rangi lay back, and with her Avatar beside her, finally fell asleep.