Hate Is Too Great a Burden to Bear

Hey. So this is my first Legend of Korra one shot. It's pathetic, trust me, but I hope you review so I can get better! It's an epiphany I had and have been mulling over for a while. Pairings are obviously Makorra, but I love Borra, so that's what this is about, and there's a little bit of, surprisingly enough, Bosami at the end if you squint hard. Mostly just their growing friendship. Mostly. Hope you enjoy.

Bolin sat cross-legged in the snow, making a snowball in his gloved hands. The sun was hovering over the horizon, stretching its rays over the frozen tundra of the South Pole. A light, cold wind ruffled his hair, and made him shiver slightly in his thick Water Tribe fur that Katara had let him, Mako, and Asami have.

He stared at the white ball in his hands, trying to focus on it, but, of course, his thoughts drifted. To her. To THEM. He felt himself shake, and unshed tears rose in his eyes. He blinked hard, and the tears receded. He breathed in and out, and closed his eyes. He tried to feel the Earth beneath him, to steady himself, to try and think of ANYTHING but them. It didn't work, of course.

He saw Korra coming in with Mako, her bending restored, and announcing that they were in love. He saw them returning from hunts together, training together, going out to dinner, for walks, snowball fights-he crushed the snowball to powder in his hands without meaning to. He opened his eyes and, sighing, brushed off his hands. There was nothing BUT them anymore. Everywhere he went, they were there. Or something about them-gossip, news, etc. He couldn't stand it anymore.

They had all been at the South Pole for a month and a half now, and there were no signs that they meant to leave soon. And Bolin just couldn't stand it anymore. He'd been following the news of Republic City, and he'd heard a week and three days ago that the pro-bending arena was again open and ready for the new season. He'd written Toza, who had said he was fine with their previous engagement-and so, tonight, as he'd been planning for three nights...Bolin was leaving. He was returning to Republic City. He was going to clean and keep up the arena, and live in the attic, and when Korra and Mako came back, they'd be over the newly-dating euphoria, and they could be the Fire Ferrets again. Bolin, however, knew it would never be the same. Not with the girl he loved in love with his brother. But, he would have some time to cool off, and so would they, and when they reunited, he knew that he could handle it. He just had to be alone for a while. He picked up more snow, and started to form it into a ball.

"Night's coming. What are you doing out here, kid?"

The voice shocked Bolin, and he half whipped, half scrambled around to find Lin Beifong standing atop a hill hidden under snow over him. He stood, brushing himself free of snow, and replied, "Thinking. Trying not to have a heart attack, thank you very much." Lin stared at him accusingly.

"Uh...something up, Chief?" he asked, confused at her behavior. Lin pulled a slip of blue paper from her armor, and waved it in front of him.

"This look familiar, kid?" Bolin felt his heart drop. Clutched in Lin's fingers was his boat ticket to Republic City. For a moment, the two were silent. Only the arctic winds whistled a lonely tune across the snow-covered, rocky land. He bit his lip, trying to think of some excuse, some lie to tell her-oh yeah, seismic sense. Crap. Then, unexpectedly, her face dropped, and she slipped the ticket back into her pocket. She walked down the hill to Bolin, and she placed her hand on his shoulder. Bolin was even more shocked. Lin was never very open with her emotions, just like Toph.

"Kid...if you think you're the last person to get overlooked by a girl, you're not nearly as smart as I thought." Ah, there she was. Bolin pulled away from her, and turned around.

"I know I'm not the only one." Bolin snapped at Lin angrily. "I know I'm not the first, and certainly not the last. But what I do know is...it hurts. Like a bastard. And...I can't wear a smile anymore, Lin. I can't fake my way through another week, another month, another day!" He was yelling now-he hadn't meant to, but it seemed like everything he'd been feeling was suddenly forcing its way to the surface. "I can't stand to see them hold hands, or kiss, or give each other goo-goo eyes! I can't stand it anymore, when all I want in the world is to be the guy doing it! The only girl I've ever really wanted on my arm, and she's ON MY BROTHER'S!" Bolin suddenly fell silent, and only the echo of his screams faded away in the snow. Lin was suddenly beside him, putting her hand on his shoulder, and gently pushing him down into a sitting position. She joined him on the ground, and pulled up an earth wall to lean on.

"Kid...I know what you're going through." Bolin scoffed at the snow.

"Yeah, right. Sure." Lin sighed and carried on.

"When Tenzin and I were young, we...we were close, kid. When we were kids, we were inseparable. We always spent all our time together, played together, bended together. When we got older, our friendship...got more depth." Bolin looked up at Lin, beginning to realize what she meant.

"He liked me. Everyone insisted. And even though I never would admit it, I liked him. A lot. Finally, when we were both 15, we...tried it out. For a long time, we were going steady. We were happy. Then...well, our viewpoints on life differed. He was all about peace, I was all about police work and war...it didn't work out. But...I still loved him. I thought, maybe, we could make it work...but then Pema came along." Lin's voice surprised Bolin. Instead of being filled with malice, hate, and anger, it was quiet, and filled with tired resignation, a resignation long old and accepted-almost an old friend. Bolin raised an eyebrow, waiting for her to continue.

"He was gone. Just like that. I was so...angry. I felt hurt. Betrayed. Alone. I...I tried to throw her in jail, you know." Bolin's head jerked to Lin's face. He started to laugh.

"You did?" A smile came to Lin's face despite the mood.

"Yeah. Didn't work out, though." Bolin sniggered into his hand.

"That's hilarious." Lin sighed, staring out at the sea which flowed just a few minutes away.

"Yeah. Wasn't so much then." Bolin stopped laughing.

"For months afterword, I wouldn't speak to Tenzin, or Pema. Bumi and Kya kept begging me to come back, but I didn't set foot on Air Temple Island for months. Finally, my mother exploded. She came home from work one day and just let loose on me. She accused me of being too afraid to face them, too afraid to face my fears. We screamed so loud, the milkman thought we were being murdered. Finally, we calmed down enough for my mother to tell me things calmly. And she told me this." Lin went silent, and Bolin stared at her, listening raptly now.

"I have decided to stick to love. Hate is too great a burden to bear."

For a few moments, the only noises were the wind and the silence, and the ocean in the distance. Bolin stared down at his boots, feeling a sudden hot rush of shame come to his cheeks. He had been hiding-from himself. He had hated them-he loved them, of course, they were his brother and best friend, but-he had hated them, or, more correctly, what they had. And he realized...it WAS too great a burden. He'd been melting down, slowly, for a month and a half now. He looked back at Lin, who was now looking at him. The two had a moment of silent understanding-they knew each other's thoughts and feelings, because they had felt them themselves. Lin reached out, and grabbed Bolin by the shoulder again. The two simultaneously stood up, and Lin reached into her pocket. She pulled out the ferry ticket, and handed it to Bolin.

"In the end, it's your choice, kid. Run or stay, I won't tell. But a little bit of advice? Running isn't gonna solve anything, just like not setting foot on an island didn't solve anything. You're stronger than you think, kid. Don't force the smile-find a way to make it come naturally." Bolin nodded, and, for the first time in a while, he felt like he could think without wanting to cry. Lin smiled at him. He smiled back. The two of them walked back to the village under the setting sun.

Asami was sitting on a cold stone bench overlooking the ocean from a cliff. This had become her little corner of solitude for the last month and a half, since the man who said he loved her had abandoned her for the Avatar. But she supposed she shouldn't be surprised. All the men in her life seemed to abandon her. Mako. Her father. Why trust them? They just broke your heart, time and again, and left you alone to pick up the pieces.

But that one bright corner left in her mind argued against the cloud of despair that threatened to engulf her. Bolin. He was in the same place she was, really. He had loved Korra, and she had shoved him off for Mako. They talked to each other on occasion, when they weren't off in their respective corners of solitude-Asami's was the cliff, while Bolin's was out in the rocky, snowy lands just outside the village. They had grown much closer since he had saved her from her father, and they really could only talk to each other without outwardly showing their inner turmoil. Sometimes. Most times, they went off alone.

The adults had already noticed, but, thankfully, were smart and let them be. Korra and Mako, through their haze of "true love', were starting to notice it too, and were getting what it meant. Asami hoped they didn't act on it-she hoped they just left her alone. That's all she wanted anymore. To be alone. With her thoughts, and with her regrets.

She saw movement out of the corner of her eye and, to her surprise saw a blue slip of paper floating through the air. She reached out for it, and her fingers caught it just long enough for her to read it-it was a ticket to the boat that left for Republic City every week. And it was addressed to Bolin. It slipped from her fingers, and floated off on the wind, in the general direction of Ember Island. Suddenly, she heard a light cough, and she turned to see Bolin coming toward her. He seemed vastly different-his step was lighter, his face seemed more at ease, and he was smiling lightly. He sat down beside her, and coughed lightly.

"Uh, hey." Asami said nothing, simply staring at him.

"Listen. Lin. She...she told me some stuff today. Stuff about-well,what-what we're, uh-going through." Asami came to life, crossing her arms across her chest.

"That ticket was yours." Bolin nodded.

"It was. Now it's not." Silence. "Will you let me tell you why?" Asami turned away, thumping her hands into the stone firmness of the bench.

"No. Go away." For a moment, Bolin said nothing. Then, he gently touched her hand, and wrapped it in his own. Asami felt tears rise in her eyes as Bolin's sudden warmth made the cold vanish from her hand, and she felt her heart thud in her chest for a moment. Just a moment...but it reminded her that she had one. And no matter how alone she was, the pieces of her heart she had to pick up were still worth something, right? And as she turned to Bolin, she thought that maybe-just maybe-she wasn't too alone after all.

"...Alright. Tell me why."

FIN

So, that's it. My first pathetic wheeze. The quote that Toph told Lin was actually said by Martin Luther King, Jr., and I thought it was the perfect thing for this idea that I coughed up. PLEASE review-it makes me happy, and it might make my stories better than this piece of crap. Hopefully. I'm a bit self-critical, if ya haven't noticed. (; Hope you found this worth something. Peace out.

Zane-Ice-Fairy