A.N. Part 3


Previously: Kuvira lifted the gun, holding it at Suyin with renewed intent. "I've waited too long…and won't anymore."


The Catch

Gaining her courage, Suyin moved past Kuvira without looking at her, and slowly approached Bataar. She lifted his head up and looked into the tears present in even his eyes.

"I'm so sorry." Suyin hesitated but laid her hands on his chest.

"She isn't lying…"

"No." Suyin looked down and shook her head.

Suyin looked up back into Bataar's eyes, she could see the "why?" inside of them, along with the past they'd shared together. After almost twenty years, he should have held priority over Kuvira; he was still her husband.

Fire erupted within Kuvira, watching Suyin choose Bataar over her again. She stood, seething from the inside as her eyes twisted into darkness.

"Bataar, take the kids and get out of here." Suyin said, sensing the oncoming danger.

"I still love you."

Suyin silently touched his cheek and nodded, saying nothing back. She needed to get everyone out of the house in order to really talk to Kuvira, and she knew he'd still listen to her.

She may have not been his reason at the moment, but the kids were. They didn't need to see what was coming.

Kuvira smirked. "Yeah, your wife and I have a lot of catching up to do." Her eyes flattened into a glare.

Bataar went to make a short lunge towards Kuvira, but Suyin held onto his upper arms, stopping him in his tracks. She knew he was thinking with his heart and not his mind. Even someone as smart as him, could fall prey to irrationality. To him Kuvira was the problem he wanted gone.

"Bataar." Suyin looked at him with saddening eyes that still managed to show a semblance of strength and courage among the fear. "Don't. She's trying to piss you off." She looked back over to Kuvira. "Just take the kids, I'll manage."

"No I'm not leaving yo-"

"Better listen to your wife." Kuvira pulled back the hammer of the gun resting by her side.

Watching Bataar's eyebrows knit together, and his eyes shift into Kuvira's direction, Suyin squeezed his arms to calm him down. Bataar wasn't a fighter, knew little about what her job really entailed, and unlike her, didn't know what Kuvira was capable of. He was just a gentle man and a great spouse; so much more than she could say for herself.

Suyin didn't know how much accuracy the drunken former assistant would maintain if she fired the gun. All that was certain was that Kuvira didn't hesitate to shoot, and that was dangerous enough.

"Bataar…" Suyin waited until she had his attention. "Let me do this, please. Let me fix it. The kids don't need to be involved." She glanced down again. "We can…talk about it later."

Bataar turned his head to the front door close by once, then looked again to his wife, watching her give a light nod. With an underhanded sigh, he looked up to the eyes gazing down from the top of the staircase. "Come on guys."

"Wait are you serious? We're not just gonna leave mom." Huan was the first to protest.

"What if she gets killed?" Then the twins.

Bataar looked down into Suyin's eyes, as she read his own worrying concerns.

"I'll be fine."

"Suyin-"

"Don't call the police either. We don't need a ruined reputation too."

Bataar wrenched out of her grip, and moved away without giving her a second glance, passive aggressively respecting her wishes…even though he didn't have to; his unfaithful wife really didn't deserve it.

Suyin continued to watch him as he opened the door for the kids that were obediently making their way down the staircase. Before they could look into her eyes, she turned her head back over to Kuvira, watching to make sure the mildly deranged woman didn't try to take any vengeance out on them. She knew Kuvira wasn't that kind of person, but at the moment, she really couldn't be sure. Though from what she saw, Kuvira wasn't even paying any attention to them. Instead, the younger woman had tilted her head back and closed her eyes; she was already lost in her own world.

Once all four kids met Bataar by the door, he turned back to give Suyin one last look before he left, but was heartbroken to see her focusing on Kuvira.

"Go on." Bataar softly ordered them out through the open door. The boys looked over to their mother, and Opal turned back to glance at Kuvira as they all filed out.

When Suyin went to look back, they were gone. She walked up to the door left slightly ajar. Maybe Bataar did that so she could escape too. Suyin smiled but pressed the door all the way closed. Resting her forehead against the wood she took in a breath.

She had to deal with Kuvira first.

Just thinking of her name made her brow furrow.

"How dare you come into my house like this?" She asked out loud without getting a response.

"I thought I was welcomed."

"Not like this." Suyin looked over her shoulder before fully turning around. "What did you expect to come from this?" She took a few slow steps in Kuvira's direction and stopped.

"Us."

Suyin broke into a laugh. "You think I still want to be with you, after all this damage you've caused?" She shook her head, but couldn't say no. "This is my family Kuvira. They mean more to me than a relationship I can't even afford to have." She paused. "I can't lose them."

"But you can lose me?"

Suyin glanced to the floor. "If that's what it takes."

Kuvira slowly opened her eyes and looked down from the ceiling. That was Suyin's first strike.

"That's what's going to have to happen, in order for our lives to go back to normal-"

"Stop lying to yourself, you know they won't."

"They will…over time." Suyin softly refuted.

"You want me to leave then…So you can continue your life with that bitch of a man?"

"He has done more for me than you ever could." Her words sliced into Kuvira.

That was strike two.

Kuvira turned, only giving Suyin a side long view of her body. "What? Give you kids?" She grinned.

"Bataar has been with me long before I knew you." Suyin stepped closer, slightly offended by Kuvira's laugh. "Did you just expect me to leave him, everything I had, and my kids for you?"

Turning away, the amusement drowned from Kuvira's face. Sparks flew through her racing heart; the heavy breaths coming from her nose growing erratic as she gazed down.

"You are the outlier in this situation."

She unwillingly listened to Suyin's words.

"I would never abandon him, and it was stupid of you to ever think so."

Strike three. Kuvira's eyes widened with rage, the only thing she saw was red. So much so that she hardly paid attention to Suyin's next words.

"I may love you, but I can't do that."

Kuvira rapidly turned around and fired a shot Suyin's way; the bullet going straight through the door behind the older woman's shocked face. With her expression softening, Kuvira lowered the gun and looked away.

'She...she shot at me.' Suyin stared, frozen in wide-eyed disbelief, wondering what would've happened had the shot not missed. What would Kuvira have done if she'd killed her?

"Kuvira?"

Kuvira heard Suyin's softened voice call her name, but was already too far gone. She was drawing herself away and distancing from reality. The woman in front of her could no longer be recognized as only the woman she loved, but who she deserved.

After willingly sacrificing everything for Suyin just to be toyed with in the end; it was only fair that Suyin deserved to be hers. And if she couldn't have her, nobody would.

Kuvira went numb, slowly raising her head as she lifted the gun back up to Suyin. In the stilled silence a stray drop of water slid from Kuvira's forehead, down the length of her nose and to the ground, as her narrowed eyes drifted over to Suyin. "That's not gonna work for me."

"You don't have a choice."

Kuvira locked her jaw and began to advance towards Suyin, step by step.

Suyin glanced behind Kuvira, towards the hallway she had just been standing in, mentally devising a plan.

"You see, I have so much stuck in my head that I can't just erase everything." Kuvira's words came out even more aggressive than before, taking on a low feral like growl. She was either at the breaking point, or already broken.

Backing up one foot after the other, Suyin put her bet on the latter of the two. She never let her eyes stray from Kuvira's, watching the pain in the young woman's eyes disappear into a void. "Kuvira-"

"They're driving me insane Suyin." Kuvira's tone softened a touch. "Everything…All these memories, all these feelings. And now all this pain that's come from loving you."

On instinct, Suyin's eyes darted down to the gun after watching Kuvira's finger move back towards the trigger.

"Kuvira don't do this." Suyin moved along the wall, passing front of a second hallway that sat opposite the staircase.

The cranking of the gun's hammer sounded again as Kuvira slowly entered the darker main hallway with Suyin, gradually shrouding her face into shadows as they moved out of the immediate light.

"We can still be together."

True fear bolted into Suyin's chest, hearing Kuvira's gruff voice begin to pan out into a drone. She moved further back into the hallway and lifted her hand to the wall by her side, formulating a plan in her head. From there Suyin gazed up to the light fixture hanging in the entrance room behind Kuvira.

'The lights. If I can get it dark, I can make a run for it.'

She slid her hand up the wall searching for the light switch while staying focused on Kuvira. "Think about what you're doing Kuvira-"

"That's what got me here in the first place."

Finally feeling the familiar light switch, Suyin flicked it down in one quick motion, hoping that in darkness she'd have a chance.

And she was right.

Out of habit–maybe luck–Kuvira's head turned back to the greeting room behind her. That was when Suyin shoved her down, and made her break, scrambling as quiet as possible into the nearby kitchen.

The hallway she'd fled from opened into the living room. Kuvira would spot her easy if the kitchen lights stayed on.

'Damnit I should've taken the gun.' Skidding past the black cabinets and light-wash marble counter tops, Suyin went straight for the knife rack beside the gas stove. She cut the remaining lights off, cringing as she listened to the gun scrap across the floor, guessing Kuvira was already recovering and getting back to her feet.

"Suyin?"

Adrenaline began to pump through Suyin's veins, picking up the already fast pace of her beating heart. Hearing Kuvira's voice get closer to the right side of the grand kitchen that looked out into the open living room space, Suyin slid a knife from the rack.

"Where did you go?"

Kuvira's voice put her on edge; sounding raw and frightening whenever she spoke in that mocking half-drunk almost half-crazed manner. All Suyin could do was wait, until she could judge the next move to make.

"Making me lose my fucking shit Suyin…" Kuvira's voice turned, again becoming more aggressive, as it echoed through the hallway like a roar. "And it's all your fault…" Her voice softened, but was still livid.

By the matte-finish silver sink, Suyin froze with her hands on the rim. 'This isn't happening…' She looked down into the sink, staring at the dishes she'd been washing earlier. Hearing Kuvira's steps coming down the hallway, confirmed her realizations that yes…it was really happening.

That dark *clack, clack* sound of Kuvira's boots on the marble floor, drove her mind into an anxious fury. She knew those boots well; they were Kuvira's favorite.

Designed for motorcyclists, they were made of tough black leather, with a strong, but worn frame that followed the contour of the foot, from the heel to the angular toe that just barely turned up in a rounded point. The hidden heavy leather-padded steel toe and heel always made them so god-awfully heavy, Suyin thought. But Kuvira would start a war over the shoes before she ever gave them up, that much she knew.

The familiar sound of the heel hitting the floor was always enough to announce Kuvira's presence in the house. Normally the noise from her boots meshed into the welcoming sensible chaos of an average day in the Beifong household.

The television running in the background no one paid attention to, the kids voices scattered throughout, dinner cooking in the kitchen, and Bataar's vocal frustrations over a new project in the downstairs office, had all been part of this environment Suyin had introduced to Kuvira years ago.

When the family heard Kuvira come into the house with Suyin, most came out or passed by, saying their hellos; only diving into small talk during the brief moments Suyin left her side.

But now with Suyin hiding in the kitchen amongst the dead silence, the haunting sound from Kuvira's boots slowly striking the tiles were the only thing she heard reverberating throughout the house; bouncing off the walls and corners to make Kuvira's location all the more ambiguous, and her presence even more foreboding.

"Don't make me search this whole goddamn house for you. I won't be happy if I have to."

Suyin crouched down and shrunk against the cabinets with an 8-inch chef's blade in hand, attempting to blend into the darkness. To her right, Kuvira's zombie-like figure stepped into her peripheral vision. She turned her head, briefly scanning over Kuvira's wet appearance. Her clothes had begun to dry. They were no longer dripping with water as they had been before. The gun was now by her side, and Kuvira pushed her drying bangs out of her face, keeping nothing in the way of her eyes so they could search for Suyin.

Trying hard to keep her shaking breaths quiet, Suyin inched back towards the darkest part of the kitchen, where the cabinets met in an L shape.

But the temporary hiding spot was only sufficient for a few minutes–maybe less if she wasn't lucky.

Kuvira only had to turn her head left to spot Suyin from the hallway.

She had to move; quickly and quietly.

A moment longer passed, and her eyes were still locked onto Kuvira as she wasted time to watch –frozen in disbelieving awe– the woman standing in the hall.

Seemingly in good control of the slight sways fighting to take over her body, Kuvira's blank eyes scanned the living room in search of her target.

Any other way Suyin would have been overjoyed to watch Kuvira come back, but not like this.

With the end of a relationship, love could feel as dark and painful as death. Some would even argue that love is death in another form.

However long it takes, moments of mourning eventually fade. People learn to cope; their lives move on.

But when a true love walks out of your life, the same feelings of loss remain constant, as the bond is never really broken.

Suyin wasn't a crier. But she cried on and off for days after Kuvira left.

Reminding herself of her responsibilities was how she pulled out of it all, and attempted to move on.

There was no use in crying for what was dead; tears wouldn't bring Kuvira back. That fact was made into harsh reality when Suyin watched –eyes watering in distress– as the other woman pried her hand from the wrist it had latched onto with a furrowed brow.

That was the same day her and Kuvira had come back to an empty house; Bataar having taken the rest of the family out with her permission, knowing she'd be late from the office again.

They took advantage of what time they had alone; Suyin leading Kuvira upstairs to the master bedroom, with every intent to dominate what came next. The few moments of passion Suyin roped them into, with a lusted kiss and hands that wandered under the assistant's clothes, came to an abrupt end when Kuvira pushed her away.

A furnace of frustration had been slowly festering within her over time, and finally it all became too much for Kuvira to handle; that was evident from the conflict on her face.

"Is this going anywhere Suyin?"

After that was said, the rest of the night and their relationship were doomed to fail. It didn't take Suyin long to get the message Kuvira was trying to send. She wanted more from her than Suyin was willing to give.

In her forty-five years of life, watching Kuvira leave was one of the hardest things she'd ever seen.

She'd been shot at, seen other people shot at, heard murder confessions that should've only come from a horror movie, and seen bodies that looked so bad they were unrecognizable. Her job had prepared her for so much, but watching leave was the worst knot in her stomach she'd ever felt, it left a sour taste in her mouth. That night she just stood on the porch, watching Kuvira speed off, and then long after that.

Inside was where she broke, sliding down the wall and crying in the same hallway a different Kuvira stood in now.

Months had passed, and Suyin was just beginning to feel success in leaving the past behind. Until in a twist of events, Kuvira had reappeared in a much worse state than herself. And finally Suyin saw that she wasn't the only one suffering.

An overwhelming confusion of emotions came over her when she stopped dead in her tracks, staring at Kuvira's tormented self by the front door.

Looking down that hall into the indescribable void of Kuvira's eyes, Suyin felt surprise, relief, and fear.

She was surprised to see Kuvira suddenly turn up after vanishing for so many weeks. She felt relief that Kuvira was still ok, even if "ok" was a loose term to use. But there was also fear looking into those eyes staring back at her, proving that not all had been forgotten.

To Kuvira, things were as fresh as the day they'd happened.

But even then, with all the threats Kuvira made, and the relationship she blatantly exposed, a darker side of Suyin still wanted her; the side that took to loving Kuvira in the first place; the one that didn't care who she hurt. She would keep Kuvira in the end, whatever happened, and no matter how.

Suyin had a lock over Kuvira; a hold over her so strong and tight it drove Kuvira mad.

That control was something Suyin prided on, and now felt conflictingly guilty over, seeing how far it had pushed Kuvira –the assistant she had come to love– to her limit.

Suyin didn't want to admit that Kuvira had just as much of a stake in her heart, but she did.

She might have not known it, but she did.

Standing her ground with Kuvira, Suyin made sure she always had the upper hand of control in one way or another. She was still the Boss and Kuvira, still the assistant. Letting Kuvira get complacent in the relationship they had would have been a mistake. So Suyin kept her close, kept her guessing, and kept her waiting.

Somewhere Suyin slipped.

She became the complacent one, feeling as though Kuvira was too strung up over her to ever leave. Her mistake was brushing off Kuvira's frustrated concerns and wants for the relationship.

Suyin was driving Kuvira down into quick sand without realizing it, and Kuvira wasn't about to drown without a fight, even if it drove her crazy.

"You know how much I love you Suyin. What's there to hide from?" Kuvira called out, her boots squelching under her as she turned with a slow pivot into Suyin's direction.

'Shit'

Watching Kuvira start to turn, Suyin moved in a low crouch to the kitchen island across from her and out of Kuvira's line of sight; thankful she had only socks covering her feet.

Kuvira's steps entered the kitchen, her eyes searching the corner Suyin had just moved from.

One.

Two.

Three.

Four.

Suyin pressed her back further against the kitchen island, counting Kuvira's steps in her mind before they suddenly stopped. After a few silent moments, a deep groan of irritation came from right above her.

Kuvira's footsteps sounded again, louder and closer this time, before gradually fading and growing distant. Suyin sighed, letting out the tension filled breath that had locked inside of her tightening lungs. So close to being spotted more adrenaline had surged through Suyin's veins, making her heart race from the suspense.

"Suyin!"

Kuvira's voice startled her again.

"Quit playing around…You're only pissing me off."

'She's in the hallway.' Suyin took in a breath, trying to steady herself. Physically her body felt so tired, but the fear pumping through her kept her awake, in a constant state of distress. After her long day at the office, she was never expecting it to end with her fearing for her life, protecting herself from the same woman she loved.

Every second time ticked by, they got closer to the inevitable moment they'd finally meet. Suyin was just hoping she'd get to Kuvira first, before the other woman found her.

Taking a chance, Suyin peeled herself away from the island cabinets and turned around on her toes. One hand reached up to grab the edge of the counter top…the other housing the knife, mistakenly missed, hitting the power button on the television remote nearby.

Springing to life, the wall mounted television blasted the evening news.

"Shit." Suyin felt chills run down her back.

A dark laugh followed sending more chills through her.

Kuvira smirked, looking from the T.V. into the hallway to her left. "Distracting me won't work." Kuvira reached down; her hands grabbing for her shoes as she swayed in her balance. Picking her foot up from the ground, the dizzying haze took over and she fell, collapsing on her side with a crash to the floor that made Suyin jump. Her gun slid across the floor and hit the baseboard down the hall, bouncing from the wall.

With her head swimming, Kuvira rolled onto her back, looking up at a blurry ceiling as her mind slowly brought the image back into focus. She groaned rolling over onto her hands and knees, before picking herself back up with slow coordination. She stood, twisting her back to relieve a crick in her side. Walking to the wall where the gun lay, she looked down and with a sigh put her back against it, sliding down until she sat beside the gun with her knees propped up.

Kuvira lifted her head, staring down an alternate hallway.

The setting, fit to be in a horror movie, wrapped around the kitchen, its walkway almost dark as black. Spots of blue light appeared on the floor in patches from the windows inside the open rooms along either side of the corridor. Not taking her eyes away from the hallway, Kuvira started unbuckling her shoes; she had an idea of where to search next.

Standing with damp feet, she picked up the gun from next to the wet socks she'd taken off, and stuck it haphazardly into the waistband of her Jeans.

Hearing nothing but television noise, Suyin took in her shaky breaths, exhaling slow to calm her nerves. Getting herself worked up into an emotional frenzy would only inhibit her rational thinking, and she needed that right now, if she was going to outsmart Kuvira.

Even with the television on, there was still an eerie silence; one devoid of any human life. Gone were the thumping footsteps and faint chatter of her children's voices that she was so accustomed to.

Suyin peeked over the island counter again, making sure not to touch anything besides the countertop.

Kuvira had disappeared. She couldn't see her, hear her footsteps, or even feel her presence. There was nothing but that unsettling silence.

'She could be anywhere.' Suyin swallowed the lump in her throat, and turned around. Softly pressing her back to the cabinets, she slid down and sat; her eyes staring over to the Kitchen's second entrance in front of her, illuminated only by the light from the television beaming into the hallway across from her.

Suyin tilted her head back and closed her eyes as a trail of tears fell from each corner. If Kuvira had really lost it, too much alcohol wasn't really to blame, she was. Giving Kuvira hope in a relationship between them was a cruel way to lead her on.

Suyin tried to distance herself at one point in time, knowing that what she was doing was wrong. But time and time again she kept getting drawn back in. There was something magnetic about the younger woman that kept making Suyin break her promises. And in the end, it was because she couldn't let go that had brought them to where they were now.

Suyin opened her eyes to the same view as before. Wiping her face, she collected herself and slowly stood. 'I can't hide here forever.'

Inching step by step in the dark, Suyin tentatively walked to the right side of the kitchen, to the hallway she'd just seen Kuvira standing in. She approached the main entrance, keeping her back to the other one. With the knife locked tight within her grip, she stopped. Peering into the hallway, she could hear herself breathing in and out through her nose.

From the entry way, she stepped out further, looking both ways down the hall, taking notice of everything but the shadow standing behind her.

Catching a glimpse of Kuvira's shoes left on the floor, she backed up; her eyes going wide.

Not another moment passed before she ran into two cold arms that pulled her in; the hands locking themselves around her waist.

Suyin froze as a hand reached out, snaking along her arm. It moved over her hand, and twisted with force, slowly wrenching the knife from her fingers. Seconds later, She watched the knife hit the floor; her hope going with it.

"Relax, I can feel your heart beating." The low voice laughed under its breath as Kuvira's mouth came close to Suyin's ear. "I told you you couldn't hide."