Chapter Text
Kyoshi never liked the cold. It was something she had to live with, spending most of her life on the streets as an orphan in Yokoya. But just because she had to live with it, didn’t mean she liked it. The cold always brought the threat of death, and this time was no different.
Rangi’s body was getting colder, all her warmth seeping out of her back in hot sticky liquid, running over Kyoshi’s arms and hands. She had no way of putting it back. Of fixing her. No amount of pressure was stopping the gushing liquid.
She closed her eyes, if she opened them, she knew the light would take over and the world would fall apart around her. The same way her own world was falling apart on the inside, leaking right through her fingertips.
“Kyoshi.”
Rangi’s weakened voice was the only thing that grounded her. She opened her eyes, long enough to see her firebender reach for her face.
“Stay here, with me,” Rangi whispered, a faint smile on her lips. A shudder rippled through her, her hand falling right before it could reach her face.
And then there was a very bright light.
_____________
Kyoshi woke up thrashing about. She couldn’t see, she was blinded. Something warm was on her face, but the rest of her felt cold and damp.
“–oshi!” A voice from a distance yelled.
A flurry of horrific images flashed in her mind. Kelsang dying, Yun being spirited away, Lek dying, Rangi’s kidnapping, Hei-Ran getting stabbed, Jinpa being impaled, Kirima and Wong's legs being mutilated. Rangi dying .
It was hell, too much. She could feel the tears streaming down her face, a brand of her sorrow.
“–yoshi!” the voice cried out a little louder.
Rangi’s blood was all over her hands. She was dead, cold and lifeless she–
Kyoshi’s eyes flew open, there was a light. But it wasn’t the Avatar State, it was the sun. And then the sun was gone, eclipsed by the most beautiful thing in the world.
“Kyoshi!” Rangi’s frantic face popped into view. She could feel the smaller girl shaking her.
Kyoshi instantly shot up in disbelief. “Rangi! You’re–” Her head started to spin and she fell back onto her elbows into mud. “Ah– Wha–”
Dizzily, she assessed her situation. It looked like she’d fallen off the hill path back towards the mansion. Buckets, with their watery contents emptied on her and all around her, laid thrown about nearby. Had she fallen? And why was she in her old maid outfit?
She shook her head. No. She was fighting Yun. She was losing. The Flying Opera Company were losing. Rangi had di–
Her eyes snapped back to the firebender when Kyoshi felt warm hands on her shoulders.
“Are you ok? Did you fall? What’s going on?” Rangi’s hands were poking and prodding her. Turning her head this way and that, looking for signs of injury. “Are you hurt? Why are you crying? Tell me where your inju–”
As usual, Kyoshi was breath-taken by her girlfriend. From her beauty, to her touch, to the sheer vicinity of her. It was distracting her from her pain and sorrow, from her raging thoughts, and from the fact Rangi was trying her damndest to get her to her feet.
“Come on, let’s–ah! Let’s get you to your, argh, feet!” She asked as she was attempting to lift Kyoshi’s massive form up again. After the third attempt, Kyoshi finally got her knees working underneath her and stood up.
Once she was standing relatively straight, Rangi started rattling off a series of questions, but Kyoshi couldn’t hear any of it. Instead, she stared dumbly at her girlfriend, analyzing every part of her face. Something felt a little off, but she couldn't put her finger on it. It didn't matter. She looked good, not damaged in the slightest. And most importantly, alive.
“Hey? Are you listening?” Rangi snapped her fingers in front of Kyoshi’s face, trying to get her to focus.
It didn’t work, she felt like her head was still full. Swimming. Numbly wading through mud and sludge. She only had the energy to think about one thing.
“You’re okay!” Kyoshi whispered, her voice was hoarse, but the joy was still evident in it.
Rangi blinked at her confused. “Of course I’m okay, but you aren’t! What happened? Did those brats push you–”
Kyoshi’s hands clasped both sides of Rangi’s cheeks, she was soft and warm. So warm. Fresh tears formed at her eyes again. “You’re okay, you’re here and you aren’t hurt!”
Rangi froze under her touch yet her face blazed a beautiful red. “W–what’s gotten into you? Did you hit your head or something? L–let go–”
She was so vibrant, so beautiful, so full of energy. So full of life. Kyoshi couldn’t stop herself from what she did next.
She dipped her head down and kissed her. Warmth, safety, happiness radiated from the brush of skin. Such a small, simple thing was able to burn away all of Kyoshi’s fear and anxiety.
Then there was a small muffled sound, it came from Rangi. Kyoshi was about to pull away when Rangi’s hands pinned Kyoshi’s where they were, and she appeared to lean into the kiss. Kyoshi forgot everything in that instant. Everything that led up that moment. Everything the past two years. Right now, it was just them.
Kyoshi slanted her mouth and ran her tongue along Rangi’s bottom lip, begging to deepen the kiss. Rangi’s mouth opened with a gasp, and just as Kyoshi was about to take advantage–
There was a snapping sound.
The next thing Kyoshi knew was she was being pushed away, then she was on the ground again. Flat on her back. She looked up and saw Rangi’s hands outstretched with a shocked look on her face. She’d been the one to push Kyoshi. Her gaze flickered back between her hands and Kyoshi, she acted like she had blood on her hands.
It was only now that Kyoshi realized something, her first realization of many. Rangi looked just a little bit younger than when she last saw her. That, combined with Kyoshi wearing her old uniform… Well...something was obviously off.
Am I…in the past? She thought through her quickly splotching vision.
Instead of her final thoughts wondering how she’d made it to the past, like they should’ve been. They drifted to Rangi yet again. If she was in the past, and they were still working at the mansion… Then this would’ve been before they got together.
Kyoshi’s second realization, as her head hit the ground and she heard Rangi’s distant voice came clamoring after her, was that she’d kissed her friend out of the blue. She kissed a version of Rangi, that may not have been into her yet. One who pushed her away in the middle of a kiss. One who Kyoshi may have mucked up her own chances with, coming on so strong so early on.
As she left the realm of consciousness, she came to her final, despairing realization. She may have, in fact, dug her own grave.