Hello, Goodbye
"Lin, get your butt down here now!" Toph yells up the stairs, her voice carrying well up the earthen walls to Lin's ears. She rolls her eyes and gets off her bed, tossing the book she'd been reading on the wooden bed in the corner of her small room, if it could even be called that. Lin had a small hard bed and a single dresser that took up most of the space in her room. She had enough room to walk from the door to her bed and that was it.
"Coming!" She hollers back taking her time down the stairs knowing that when she got down her 'mother' would want her to do something. "Yes, Mother?" Lin asks stopping to stand several feet in front of the seated earthbending master who was lounging on the fluffy couch. When Lin came in Toph sits up, a sneer that Lin thinks is permanent adorning her face.
"What did I tell you about calling me that, brat." Toph snarls at Lin making her flinch.
"Sorry, ma'am." She says meekly. "It won't happen again."
"I should think not, you remember what happened last time you messed up?"
"Vividly." Lin shudders thinking about it. "Good, now go make dinner and remember to be quiet I don't want Su's concentration to be disturbed by all the noise you make! She is making rapid progress with her earth and metal bending, unlike you. Have you even managed to move a rock yet?" Lin's cheeks flush red with embarrassment and suppressed anger.
"N-no, ma'am." Lin grits out through clenched teeth. "That's right because you're a non bender, a filthy stain in this family. I never would have thought my first born would have had the guts not to be a bender, but then I had you. Too bad you didn't die in the womb, it would have saved me so much stress." Toph looked up at her with her cold dark green eyes.
Seeing her mother's eyes made Lin's head tilt, her mother had white eyes since she was blind…. And she was too a bender! A damn good one! "What are you waiting for! Get to it!" Toph's fist swung out to meet Lin's jaw rage filling her green eyes.
Lin sat up in her bed with a gasp, sweat running down her face and back.
"Just a dream. Just a bloody dream." Lin mutters as she takes several deep breaths trying to calm her racing heart. The soft rays of sunlight flitting in through her window tell Lin it's morning, she pushes herself off the bed and heads into her bathroom. A heavy hand searches for the light switch flicking it upwards when it finds it. A soft grumble escape dry cracked lips as Lin turns the cold tap on splashing her face gently with her hands. With a flick of her wrist it turns off and Lin drys her face with the fluffy towel hanging next to the shower.
Lin pads back into her room intending to get ready for the day but freezes when she sees Pema sitting on her bed looking furious. "Pema?" Lin walks all the way into her room and places her hand on her hip. "What are you doing in my home and on my bed?" Pema stands and launches herself at Lin tackling her to the ground. Lin hits the ground hard and all the air leaves her lungs with a swoosh. Lin blinks rapidly and barely manages to block the punch Pema sends her way. "You stole him from me!" Pema rages sending blow after blow towards Lin's face. "You man stealer!" She screeches.
"What!? No, I didn't, you stole him from me!" Lin yells flipping them over to pin pemma to the ground. "You with your stupid young body and wanting children!" Pema slams her head up against Lin's chin and she goes reeling, blinking rapidly as she does. "Lin? Are you alright?" Pema looks across the small table at Lin, her face full of concern. Lin looks around wildly, they were suddenly at the courtyard at Air Temple Island drinking tea…
"What just happened?" Lin turns to her. "We were at my apartment beating the shit out of each other then we're here…" Pema reaches out to feel her temperature pulling her hand back when she feels normal. "That happened several years ago Lin, were best friends now. We fought each other and after that we talked it over and discovered that we had a lot in common and became best friends. We went from mortal enemies to best friends that day. I've even watched your children from time to time."
"C-children?!" Lin gasps. "Yes, you know you and Tenzin's kids?" Pema looks at her funny. "You sure you're alright there Lin?"
"No! I'm not!" Lin stands up and runs into the house and sees several children sprawled out on the floor giggling. Seeing them Lin promptly passes out.
Lin sits up in her bed with a soft gasp as she wakes… again. "Stupid dreams." Lin mutters getting up and restarting her entire routine. Cautiously Lin pokes her head out of her bathroom door, a smile lighting up her face as she sees an empty room. "Good." With a firm nod of her head Lin leaves the bathroom and quickly dresses before heading down for a quick breakfast.
Flicking the lock on her door Lin sets off and a brisk pace for the Police Station. Greeting people as she walks a smile on her face. Lin contemplates her bizarre dream and quickly dismissing it as just some bad cheese. "Good morning, Chief." The receptionist at the station greets her with a smile.
"Good morning, Liza." Lin returns the smile and heads up to her office. As soon as she gets on her floor a very nervous looking lieutenant approaches her. "C-Chief?" He stumbles over a crack in the floor reaching out to grab something. Lin quickly steadies the man who steps back blushing furiously. "Sorry ma'am."
"It's alright lieutenant." Lin says while she bends the crack away. "You were telling me something?"
"Ah, yes…" He trails off looking over his shoulder to glance at Lin's office. "Well out with it." Lin says firmly making his head snap back to look at her with wide eyes. "Right, um well you have a v-visitor. They're in your office." He stutters and quickly dashes off before Lin could ask who this presumptuous visitor was. Feeling her blood pressure rise Lin storms to her office throwing the door open. "Just who do you think you are to barge in my office-" Lin stops staring at the person in her desk their feet raised up to rest against the desk, bits of dirt had fallen off and now littered her paperwork.
"Lin!" Kanto smiles seeing her standing there. "I hope you don't mind me popping in like this, I just wanted to come see how you are doing."
"How. I'm. Doing?!" Lin roars at the man, the metal in the room shrinking a bit under the force of her anger. "You didn't seem to care my ENTIRE childhood why the hell should you care now!" Lin takes a menacing step towards the man and he takes a cautious step backwards having stood up when she entered. "Get. Out." Lin says with a very quiet voice.
"Aw, come on Linny-"
"Don't call me that! You have no right! You abandoned me and my mother and I never heard a peep from you till what two weeks ago!" Lin yells at the man angry tears streaming down her face.
"Lin, please." He begs. "I know I wasn't around for you but I want to be now! I want to be a part of your life and celebrate and cherish the years I have left with you."
"Well that's just too bad." Lin snarls ignoring the voice in the back of her mind telling her that this wasn't real. She had a lot to say to this man, real or no. "You do not get to just waltz in and suddenly be in my life! You don't deserve to know anything about me let alone be a part of my life!" As she wipes her cheeks Lin glares daggers at him.
"Please Lin, I'm sorry I couldn't be there when you were little but it was for a good reason!"
"Ohhhh, sure." Lin laughs weakly. "Let's hear it then." She folds her arms and waits tapping her foot with her impatience.
"I wanted so badly to be a part of your life, so so badly to be a part of it but I couldn't. I was an engineer on a very important project. We were trying to find a new source of energy, the cities were expanding so rapidly that conventional means weren't working. I was the head engineer during the project and that's how I met your mother. We fell in love and she became pregnant with you, by the time you were born we'd discovered electricity. An invisible source of energy that could light up the homes of everyone in the nation!" He explains quickly, using his hands a lot as he speaks.
"That's where I got it from." Lin thinks knowing she had had a bad habit of using her hands when she talked. A habit she had worked very hard to break.
"Since I was the head engineer I couldn't leave; I'd signed a contract with the company and they wouldn't let me out of it. I had to leave Republic City and go install power stations all across the globe. By this time Toph and I had fallen out and she didn't want me anymore, and she didn't want a father for you that could only drop in once every few years. She made me promise not to come back and not to come looking for you." He chuckles darkly. "She all but banished me from the city. I stayed away so I wouldn't break your heart over and over again. Coming in your life then leaving over and over. I couldn't do that to you." By now Kanto had several tears streaming down his cheeks.
"I don't know if you could ever find it in your heart to forgive me, even if you can't I'll understand. I just…. I wanted to see my daughter one time, at least one time before I leave this world."
"I…" Lin trails off as she looks at the now broken man standing before her. She tentatively walks towards him and engulfs him in a hug. "Dad." She whispers as they collapse to the floor hugging each other tightly. "I-I don't know if I can forgive you, but I'm willing to try." He holds her closer. "That's more than I could have ever hoped for." He whispers, the world draining away as Lin wakes up, tears streaming down her face as she sits up.
"I hate dreaming." She chokes out pulling her pillow close to hug it. Lin pinches her forearm, relieved when she feels it. "I'm finally awake." She whispers into her pillow tightly closing her eyes. "What a night." Lin sits up and wipes the tears from her face getting up to go use the bathroom, her hand hesitates on the door nob. "Dad…" She whispers wishing with all her heart that it had been real, that her dad was really back in her life.
"Lin." Someone whispers behind her. Lin spins around taking a fighting stance as she sums up her attacker. It was a spirit. "Lin, it's me Kanto... You're dad. The spirits have granted me this last request. My physical body is no more but they allowed me to contact you, one time so that I may say hello and goodbye." His image flickers. "I don't have much time, but everything you just dreamed about was me, it was easier to reach you in a dream state it just took a few tries." He glances up sheepishly. "I'm sorry if you had any weird dreams. This is my farewell to you, my precious daughter. I have loved you since the day your mother told me that she was pregnant with you and I have loved you my entire life. It is my own fault for not seeking you out later in life and for that I am sorry."
Lin looks up at him as more tears stream down her cheeks. "I love you too dad, as much as I have hated you for not being there a part of me has still loved you." He smiles at her as his image flickers once more.
"I must go, I love you Lin." He whispers before vanishing altogether. Lin slowly slides down the bathroom door as hot fat tears stream down her cheeks, over her scars, and slowly fall off her chin. "I love you too dad and.." Lin swallows the lump in her throat. "I forgive you." She whispers to the empty room.
A.N. This is my submission for the Pro-Bending circuit semi-finals TV Tropes, my prompts are parental favoritism, defeat means friendship, and dream within a dream. Word count - 2168