A/N: This is and entry for the pro-bending competition. It's not my best work, but I was pressed for time. Oh well.
Pro-Bending Tournament Circuit Round 4
Position: Manager
Team: Ba Sing Se Badgermoles
Prompts: 1) An AtLA character meets a LoK character in a crowded bar. 2) (word) falling (1 point), (dialogue) "If I could take it all back, I would" (2 point), (quote) "A real friend is one who walks in when everyone walks out" - Walter Winchell (3 points) 3) Round element: Metal
Word Count: 1,238
The whiskey in her glass was delicious. One cube swirls around the edges as she turns it in here hand, just watching the frozen piece, mesmerized by its slow decay. She stops and takes a sip, reminding herself that maybe she should have stopped a few glasses ago, but she didn't really care.
She'd been falling, ever so heavenly, into a drunken stupor for the last few hours. It was all she could do to keep from berating herself after her slip up that afternoon. Her friend, her confidant, had been so angry with her. Without even thinking, after three years, she had to open her stupid mouth and make a comment about Asami visiting her father. It wasn't even her problem! But something about the idea clung to her insides and the words came out before she even had time to think it through.
Leaning back, she tossed the liquid contents into her mouth and swallowed harshly, slamming the glass back down on the bar top not more than a moment later. She nodded to the bartender for a refill, who sighed and complied, obviously not wanting to deal with another badgering customer complaining about being cut off.
When she walked in earlier, there wasn't an intention to get drunk. It just kind of… happened. Somewhere around five or six glasses in. At some point, she had moved from her centrally located spot to one in the corner, unwilling to talk to anyone, and instead staring at that damn cube. Three years of silence will do that to a person. Leave them with a fortitude for continued silence, even if warranted and placed singularly on one's self rather than by accident. It wasn't that she wanted to be alone, but rather that she felt like it's what she deserved. She told herself that she had to talk to somebody, but she wasn't ready, and when she thought she was, all that happened was she made the one person that really mattered angry.
Sometimes she blamed the poison. It was that damn metal concoction's fault that everything happened the way it did. But then, she'd remind herself, she'd metalbent it out, and really, there was nothing left to blame but her own poor judgment. Asami was brave and beautiful and stood by her side through every bit of torment the Red Lotus had imposed on her, but she pushed the woman away. She pushed the person she loved away, and no metal could be blamed for that.
Angering herself at the thought, she stood up, apparently too quickly as the alcohol curved her balance and she began to fall to the floor. Though, the crash of limps to the wood others expertly walked on never came, as two arms caught her shoulders before she could topple completely. She shrugged them off, steadying herself. "I'm fine."
A young boy's voice rang in her ears in response. "Are you sure about that, Avatar?"
Intrigued, she looked up, though, not very high, to see whom it was. A young man, wearing the copper red and yellow robes of the Air Nation, a bald head, big eyes, and blue arrows adorning his skin looked up at her. "Aang?"
The pearly whites of a cheesy grin confirmed her guess. "The one and only!"
Chocolate locks of a short bob waved around as she shook her head, trying to clear her mind of what was happening. "What are you doing here?" she asked. "Last time I saw you, you were… taller."
Bouncing on the balls of his feet, he continued to smile, clasping his hands behind his back. "Yeah, well… I'm not here on Avatar business. I'm here on friend business. Just, don't puke on me." He laughed to himself loudly.
The young woman sat back on her stool, obviously shaken by the sudden encounter that was bestowed upon her at the shack of a bar. She stared, not necessarily at him, but at essentially nothing, trying to come up with words. "I'm… so confused, right now…" Her confession drifted off, as if waiting for an answer to suddenly peak itself into her brain.
Aang's feature's became more stern as he airbended himself up onto a stool beside her, propping his legs onto one of the bars and bending over, elbows to knees, hunching forward in interest. "You're punishing yourself for something that isn't your fault."
She locked back to his face, her eyebrows furrowing at the comment. "Isn't it, though? I'm the one who left. I'm the one who walked away and didn't come back for three years. Hell, I ran away because I was too scared to face myself."
"And do you feel like you would have chosen differently, given the chance?" he asked, quiet and contemplative-like.
"If I could take it all back, I would," she stated. "But, that's not an option."
"And why is that?"
Turning away, she hesitated before answering. "Because, it wasn't fair to her. In fact, it wasn't fair to any of them, but especially not her. And yet, she stuck by me, wrote me letters, kept in contact, but I kept pushing her away, refusing to answer." Tears formed on the brim of crystal ocean eyes, the waves daring to spill over the edges.
He nodded in understanding. "You know, someone once told me, 'A real friend is one who walks in when everyone walks out.' She sounds like a real friend, to me."
Dark lips twisted into a small smile. "She is a real friend, more than a friend, even." That smile turned to a frown as she contemplated the next part. "But I haven't been a real friend in return. Her life has been so hard, and yet, I remain selfish and think only about myself, my needs, my fears, my frustrations. Instead of her focusing on herself, she focuses on me, too. But I –" A pause, if only for a moment. "I walked out."
"So, walk back in," he returned matter-of-factly, as if the most obvious answer in the world.
She looked up at him, frustration plastered across her face. "It's not that simple! I hurt her, and now, I don't know how to fix it!"
"I do," he smiled. "You walk back in. Take charge of the situation. Apologize. Be the friend she needs and let her be the one you need too."
Bowing her head and returning to her drink, she picked up the glass and sipped it once more. Was it really that simple? Would Asami accept her is she made an effort after so long? Placing the glass down once more, she turned back to the boy, but he was gone.
The bartender walked up in her peripherals, noticing her staring at the stool beside her. "Who were you just talking to?" he asked.
Stunned, slightly, she turned to the man, sloppily in her drunken state, but more aware than she was before. "I – uh –" she started, realizing the boy was a figment of her imagination, or the Avatar State, or however it is that she communicates with her past lives. It wasn't worth trying to explain. "No one. I do have to go talk to someone though." With that, she threw a few yuans down on the counter and stood up, sprinting out of the bar and into the street, determined to pick up the pieces of her friendship before she lost the woman for good.