A/N: I just thought I should post a little story. Don't own LoK Enjoy.- Diana
It was cold; Lin had locked herself in the room that she was staying in. Her whole body was sore. Merely a day ago, she had jumped off of Oogi and sacrificed herself to save Tenzin and his family. All for it to not lose the air bending race. Even if she had taken down the second airship she would've been at the bottom of Yue bay.
Lin sighed.
Instead, she got captured and was brought to that monster. It sent shivers all through her body. Just remembering how they tossed her before him. She jerked the memory far back into her mind. She didn't need to be an emotional wreck right now. Losing her bending and being not able to regain it hurt her so much. The earth was her friend. It was her only connection to her mother. It was her strength, her barrier, and companion. Now, here she was in the South Pole with a bunch of hormonal teens and Tenzin's family trying to see if Katara, the worlds greatest water bender/healer out there, to see if she could do something to Korra or to even Lin. Sadly she couldn't do anything. Which caused Lin to lose all of the hope that she had.
"Never will I be able to feel the comforts the earth had given me..." She whispered softly.
Lin had behaved like a child. Right about now, everyone would be eating dinner. While she stood in her room, realizing that she will never feel the sensations she had felt with the earth beneath her feet. Somehow she managed to remove her uniform. She placed it in the corner of the room. As she slipped on her pyjamas. She hated the South Pole. It's frigid cold weather. Lin felt extremely hot. One thing that she was glad about is that the room wasn't boiling hot and had its way of cooling her down. All she wanted to do was curl up in a ball and try to sleep. As she began to climb into bed and curl herself to sleep, her body did something else. She broke down. She cried into her pillow. She had lost her source of life, the one thing that made her live everyday. The solitude of the earth, it's calming effect on her. She didn't have those things at her disposal. It was all dark and hollow. She couldn't sense anyone nor could she feel the rumbling of the earth. Her earth. When she thought she was done crying, only more tears would appear. Her sobs were soft since her pillow muffled them. She felt utterly weak. No one aside from Korra understood her loss.
A soft knock came from her door. She tried calming herself and hoped her voice wouldn't give her way.
"Go away." She croaked angrily.
"Lin, are you all right, you need to eat."
Lin lay in her bed back against the door. She recognized the muffled voice behind the door. As she gingerly rose from her bed and slowly made her way to the door to unlock it. She turned around as quickly as possible just so her visitor wouldn't notice that she had been crying for a good bit. She went back to her bed and curled up in ball again. Her back facing the door and her visitor who she knew too well.
The door creaked open.
"Lin?"
"What Tenzin? I'm not in the mood nor am I going to eat, I'm not hungry." She vehemently answered.
She heard him close the door behind him. She couldn't tell if he was standing around it or if he had approached her. Since he was a light walker. Her bed skunk deep. 'Guess he approached me. Well... Obviously, genius, Oh hush up.'
"Go away Tenzin; I want to be left alone."
She could hear him breathing softly. She could almost start to see how his chest would be rising and falling. She pushed herself farther away from him. He was being awfully quiet.
"Lin, it's not good to bottle up ones emotions, you do know I'm here for you, I might not know how it is to lose ones bending but..." Tenzin said softly only to be cut-off.
"Tenzin, stop, yes, you don't know but I don't need your pity, so get out." She retorted.
She could feel his eyes on her. Without even taking to consideration if her eyes were red she looked at him, her vision was blurry.
"Just go... I want to be alone. I don't want your pity nor would I ever ask for it. Now leave." She hissed.
What he did next made her gasp. He was hugging her. She felt him shaking while he was holding her or was it her?
"You shouldn't have jumped off... I... The city needs you... You're my one true friend Lin. Don't you ever forget that and you do have family even if you don't want to accept it..."
Lin only listened. When she broke down again. She knew the consequences and never did she take into consideration if Tenzin would have been hurt if she drowned beneath the chunks of metal. After all they had been through they were friends. In her little episodes of sobs she knew that he was trying to sooth her. Letting his hand slide up and down on her back while the other pushed loose strands of hair behind her ear and he gently placed his chin on top of her head.
"Don't you ever do that again... Ever... " Tenzin choked on his words. Letting a stray tear make its way down.
Lin felt a tear fall on her head. She pushed herself away from Tenzin. Again her vision was blurry. She blinked a few times just to make the blurriness go away. With the back of her hand she cleaned her face and her nose and placed her attention on Tenzin.
"T-thank you Tenzin but... I... It's not your decision to tell me what to do. I did it because you and your family are the only air benders left. I felt the need to do it. It's my duty to help others. It would have been wrong of me not to do it." She told him straightforward.
Lin reached out for his hand and squeezed it lightly.
"Now, can you go? I'm here now well partly here. I'm very much alive. So no more worrying, I'll be perfectly fine." She said giving him a peck on the cheek.
A quick blush appeared on Tenzin's face.
He cleared his throat. "I think I should be the one saying thank you and so, Thank you Lin... Thank you very much."
Lin swallowed hard. Trying to make sure she wasn't seeing things that weren't there.
"Oh, and Lin, go eat something. I wouldn't want to find you laying in the snow and being turned into an icicle." He jokingly told her as he got up.
Lin scowled at him. 'Ha, ha. Not funny'
"I'll eat something tomorrow... Right now, I'd like to be left alone so I can sleep. Never speak of this again, if you do, let's just say you won't be around for a few weeks. Lock the door on your way out. Goodnight, baldy," She said as she lay back in her bed defeated from all of this expression of emotions that she had just expressed. She knew he wasn't going to leave right away and that left her at ease and slightly irritated but she was pleased. Lin slowly drifted into her aching need of sleep.
Tenzin waited until Lin had fallen asleep.
As he took notice to her unconscious form he cautiously approached her.
"Lin?" He whispered softly.
The only response he got was the soft snores that she produced and her light breathing. He smiled.
"Goodnight Lin and sweet dreams" he leaned in and kissed her temple.
She stirred but didn't wake up and only gave a slight smile.
As he made his way out he made his last and final comment to his unconscious friend.
"I will always be grateful to what you did but I know I would feel a great pain if I lost you, my dear friend. Forever and always will I be thankful to you my friend... Forever and always," He said softly as he exited Lin's room.