Waiting for tomorrow (yeah, tomorrow for me) and deciding to post this! I didn't trust Su in the beginning, but eventually I started to like her... So, watching the end of The Battle of Zaofu I couldn't help but be sad for her. I mean, when she first appeared she would be talking about her family all the time, and how she was proud of it and everything. It must break her heart to see the work of her life being stolen like that and her family being shattered, to make things better her oldest son works for the responsible for all of this... Actually, they're engaged. Yeah, not very good.
I'm not completely sure about the title, but I can't think of any better and I've been trying for two days now... (I'm open for suggestions!)
So, this one goes to Suyin Beifong, that I, despite not loving her as much as her mom and her sister, can't help feeling sorry for her.
Enjoy this one, and feel free to correct my mistakes.
"All happy families are alike;
each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way."
Leo Tolstoy, Anna Karenina
Maybe it was fated.
Maybe it was something she should have known it was going to happen, one way or another.
Su always knew that familial problems were a thing among the Beifongs. It wasn't a secret that her mother and grandparents had their issues in the past; their disagreements made them spent years without talking or even seeing each other. Not that she was one to talk, in fact, her own relationship with her sister wasn't that perfect. (Actually, it wasn't perfect or healthy in any way at all, probably the worst of the world).
But Su always thought that, with her children, things would work out a little different.
When Baatar Jr. was born she felt realized. She had found what she had been looking for. She was a mother, she had her own family. She held her little boy and she felt - she felt - that he would accomplish greater things than his parents had. She knew he was born for something big.
When Huan's time came her happiness increased. He had the most creative mind she had ever seen. He had obviously taken after his father on that (though he did have some aspects from Su's mother). He always knew what to do, always knew how to express himself. He was her little artist, her talented little boy.
Then it was her little Opal. Her cute little flower, waiting to blossom into the prettiest rose ever seen. A way better version of her younger self, the kind of girl she would hate, but secretly admire when she was fifteen. Sweet, shy and kind, but fierce and brave when she had to protect the ones she cared about.
For the last it was the twins' turn and her joy came duplicated. They were always laughing and joking, and they would do their best in everything they could. Always keeping the good humor and keeping their mother happy, but always ready to the serious business and to jump into action. They were her buddies, her comrades of battle, her babies making her proud.
And there was also Kuvira.
Her foster child, her protégée. The girl she taught everything she knew and embraced as a part of her family. The woman who grew up with a such a great pride and a twisted mentality that eventually turned against her. The serpent who seduced her firstborn and part of her people with her broken ideals. The dictator that brought her army to threaten her home, threaten her family.
She had always condemned Lin for taking so long to forget the past and finally forgive her, she couldn't point any fingers now.
Indeed, she couldn't do anything. Not anymore.
Maybe it was fated.
Maybe it was something she should have known it was going to happen, one way or another.
Maybe it was an unwanted legacy of her family.
Maybe there was something in the genes of all Beifongs that caused so much trouble generation after generation.
Of course she expected some fights, of course she expected some rough words. She expected her family to be a normal one, with all the crisis and flaws every family has.
But she wasn't expecting this.
She wasn't expecting this poison start to corrupt her home from the inside.
She wasn't expecting the rift, that started so subtly, to turn into an abyss, crumbling the foundations she spent years bringing together.
She wasn't expecting that everything would fall this easy.
She tried her best, she did everything on her power to keep her home safe.
To keep her family safe.
But she can't save anything now.
And in the end, all that Suyin Beifong, the leader of Zaofu can do is to lower her head while her family tears apart.