A.N. Just trying to get back into it. OTT as always with me. lol. Proof read with tired eyes, so probably some mistakes.
A Rift Between Us
The Confrontation-Part 1
170 AG
Kuvira wrapped her arms around Suyin, holding her guard's helmet clasped within her fingers. The corners of her mouth slowly turned up into a genuine smile as she watched Suyin's eyes scan over the chest plate of her uniform; the other woman lost in her own world of thoughts. Giving the matriarch a light squeeze with her arms, Kuvira's smile dropped into a smirk watching the effects of her lighthearted gesture play out as Suyin was jarred from her internal thoughts.
Suyin stared at the skin of the guard's neck, unknowingly avoiding the gaze which loved so. Looking into Kuvira's eyes brought back old adolescent feelings; tinglings and jitters she hadn't felt since her teenage years. It was one of those things Suyin didn't like to admit. As prideful as she was she didn't want to give in, letting the guard know she had strong hold over her. A powerful one that in this moment between them worked against her own will, as she felt a finger beneath her chin push her face up, until two deep green eyes gazed back into hers.
"What are you doing? hmm?" Suyin smiled raising an eyebrow to the younger woman whose hand found its way back down and around her waist. Feeling them begin to sway, she glanced around the dancehall they had met in many times, hours later after practice was over, after the sun had receded and the city was left to darkness. After curfew had forced people into their houses.
Only then did they consider their risky midnight rendezvous "safe". Suyin pressed herself to Kuvira; the metal from the guard's uniform creating a chill through her clothes that slowly started to warm from her own body heat. "There isn't even any music Kuvira."
"There doesn't need to be." Kuvira spoke softly and pulled Suyin closer, resting her chin on the lower shoulder in front of her. Calming sensations of ease passed over her, as the matriarch's hands ran from the base of her neck to her mid-shoulders; her fingers breaching the small confines of the captain's armor.
Closing her eyes Kuvira released a captive breath, letting it drown out into a sigh of content as she felt Suyin's finger tips manage to grip the fabric of her shirt. The Zaofu elite guard uniform wasn't exactly designed for easy access, it was made to stay. Some of the guards often joked that it was Suyin's twisted way of keeping them loyal. Smiling to herself, the Captain took note of how fast Suyin's hands always found a way to the soft green shirt beneath the metal. The matriarch knew the location of every clasp keeping the whole uniform together. After all, she did create it.
Suyin gently pushed Kuvira away, taking the guard's face into her hands as their motion slowly stopped. "What is this all about?" She smirked. "Not that I don't like this side of you."
Kuvira pulled out of Suyin's grasp and rested her chin back onto the other woman's shoulder. "Nothing. I just want to be close to you." She pressed her face into the side of Suyin's neck; her feet resuming their slow saunter as she led their movements to the imaginary sound in her head, despite their music-less surroundings. "For a little while at least." Smiling Kuvira tightened her hold around the woman's waist, feeling vibrations under the bottoms of her feet at every one of Suyin's steps responding in return to her own.
"Are you…doing ok?" On the other side of the guard's shoulder Suyin raised an eyebrow, as her fingers found their way back onto Kuvira's neck, caressing the soft tufts that didn't quite fit up into her braided ponytail. "You seem to be in a very good mood. It's actually a little scary." She laughed under her breath. "You're not…drugged up on something are you?"
"Yeah, I am."
Suyin forcefully pushed Kuvira up with her hands on the guard's chest. "Wait, What?"
Thrown off by the sudden forceful push, Kuvira momentarily stared wide-eyed at Suyin's furrowed brow, before her heightened shoulders slumped and she sighed. "No, I'm not on anything. I-I meant yeah, I'm in a good mood."
"Mhm…whatever." Suyin smirked and pulled Kuvira back.
The conversation died between them as both enjoyed feelings of bliss and comfort in each other's company. For now, they'd both made an unspoken pact to forget a little bit about everything else while they were together. The moments they had were rare, and far between the duties of their individual lives.
Tonight wasn't a night to satisfy urges either…just to be together.
A low hum passed through Suyin's ear, to the matriarch's wide-eyed disbelief. It's slow and sultry melody mixed with rich dark and deep tones, sending a liquid fire through her veins, and chills down her back. It took a moment for it to register that the enticing sound Suyin heard came from the woman holding her.
She had never heard Kuvira's voice as she was now. The stoic guard she knew didn't sing, didn't hum, and hardly spoke. But if one could be intoxicated by sound alone, then surely, Suyin felt her mind drowning in the poisonous depths of Kuvira's voice.
"It's rare that I feel like this…" Kuvira smirked, burying her face into the crook of Suyin's neck. "So enjoy it while you can." She whispered and kissed the skin right under Suyin's ear.
Suyin's eyes closed, as she listened to the humming resume. "Trust me, I am."
174 Zaofu- A few hours after Kuvira's fight with Korra
Kuvira stared at herself in the vanity mirror of her temporary Zaofu residence. Victory was hers but the jovial feelings of celebration were short lived in her mind. Remembering Suyin's face in the front of the crowd, pushing the Avatar, encouraging her with anger brimming in her eyes, Kuvira looked down. The woman she loved was pushing for her quick defeat. Of course she deserved it; she had taken everything from that woman, even her son.
With a growling cry erupting from within her chest, Kuvira smashed her fist into the glass once, then twice; the impact so fast and quick the sensations of pain had yet to catch up. Taking in huffing breaths, Kuvira looked down to examine the damage. Slowly she curled the fingers of her hand into a fist, squeezing as she watched the blood run out from between the fresh cuts.
Ignoring her throbbing hand, Kuvira looked up at the broken mirror.
"Great Uniter?" A guard peeked his head around the corner. Dropping the prison chains in his hand, he called for her, albeit cautiously, from the door she had left open.
Already on edge, Kuvira's intolerance rose with just his presence.
"Great Uni-"
"WHAT!?"
Her eyes drew into slits as her heart raced a wild fire of burning rage. Yet, the flash of searing heat that one felt as their adrenaline spiked, preparing their body for attack, Kuvira had yet to feel. That meant she hadn't gone over the edge, and self-control was still well within her grasp.
The guard gulped and tentatively stepped into the window-less metal room with his gaze down, looking at Kuvira's back only a second before, as her bloodied hand fell to her side.
His eyes widened behind the mask he wore. "Do you want me to-"
"No." His concern was useless to her, but to her annoyance, Kuvira still sensed his presence. "Is there a reason you're still here?"
"U-Uh, Suyin is requesting to speak with you."
There it was, that searing flash of heat. It coursed through her, leaving only a numb pulse to run wild throughout her body as her jaw locked, setting in a rigid position.
"No."
"She's being very adamant about it."
"I don't care."
"She-"
"WHAT PART OF NO DON'T YOU UNDERSTAND?" Kuvira turned around, striding towards the shrinking guard with a quickened pace. Her limits were being tested as they always were with the mention of Suyin, although now, the matriarch's name brought less thoughts of pleasure and more of apathy.
"What kind of control does she have over you? YOU'RE supposed to be the guard…Not her."
Standing outside the door, Suyin listened to every word Kuvira said. Her gaze dropped to the platinum chains around her wrists and the shackles at her feet. Kuvira wasn't the person she knew anymore. The voice she listened to was riddled with fury. Suyin knew the Captain of her guard well-enough to hear the frustration, anger, and even resentment in her voice. But that Captain would have never locked her up, making her a prisoner in her own city; a city she knew Kuvira loved.
It hadn't been but a few days since Kuvira's guards came, apprehending both her and her family at the Great Uniter's request. Now she stood leaning against the wall, wondering what on earth she could ever accomplish trying to talk to Kuvira in the Great Uniter's heightened state.
Suyin lightly shook her head. It was almost futile to get anything through to Kuvira when she was riled up. But she'd done it before, in those rare moments Kuvira stormed into her office after losing her temper.
'Kuvira what is it?'
Suyin smiled to herself and kept her head down. She could hear her response to the Captain's heated intrusion in the imaginary office scenario playing in her head. She could see herself standing from her desk, making her way over to Kuvira, before she pacified the irate woman with a gentle touch, as she always did before they talked it over.
But Suyin's smile soon faded to a deepened frown, and her brow knitted together. This was a different Kuvira, one using that same anger and frustration as part of a means to drive her motivation.
She couldn't just waltz in, lay a hand on Kuvira, and expect that to solve all their issues. No that wouldn't work, and Suyin didn't expect it to. But still the proud woman was ever confident in her abilities. She knew there was a way to bring Kuvira back, just figuring out how was going to be a challenge. Her plan was to simply go in blind, and figure out a solution as they spoke, that is, if Kuvira would even give her the chance to talk.
"She uh…k-kneed me in the…" The guard pointed between his legs.
"I could care less if she stabbed you. Are you that incompetent that you can't handle ONE woman in chains?" Kuvira reined in her self-control and sighed in annoyance. "You people are useless idiots sometimes."
The Guard dropped his head down. "What would you like me to do, Great Uniter?"
"Take her back."
Suyin narrowed her eyes hearing Kuvira's words. 'Guess I have to force it.'
Sucking in her breath, Suyin walked around the corner, stepping into the room, coming face to face with the angry dark eyes of the Great Uniter that had shifted over to her as everything went silent. Suyin let her eyes soften as she stared back at Kuvira.
Their first reunion after Kuvira's long absence, had been in her office. Suyin stood along with the rest of her family, looking at a confident Great Uniter who was "politely" demanding to assimilate Zaofu into her Earth Empire.
This was technically their third reunion, if the first discussion they'd had in the Great Uniter's quarters following Suyin's botched murder attempt was to be considered their second.
In the present moment, Suyin stood staring into the eyes of a lover who felt betrayed. Suyin couldn't see the betrayal, but she could definitely tell that the anger behind Kuvira's eyes was personal, and not wholly political.
"Get her out of here." Kuvira glared, turning around to walk back towards the vanity, pulling out a small glass shard left in between the knuckles of her hand with a slight wince. "I have nothing to say to her."
"Kuvira-"
"You're the last person I wanna talk to."
Tilting her head up, Suyin set her gaze into a deadpanned stare, trained onto the back of this new monster called the "Great Uniter" …that she'd no doubt had a hand in creating. "Give us a moment." She directed her words to the guard still in the room, keeping her eyes glued to Kuvira.
When the guard didn't move out of her peripheral vision Suyin looked over to him with narrowed eyes. "Just do it."
The guard stared at her through the eyes of his helmet for a good while before he turned and walked out of the room, closing the door behind him.
Suyin smirked. He knew better than to cross her with foolish disobedience; he was probably one of her former guards too.
Suyin looked back to Kuvira, watching the Great Uniter set her hands on the edge of the dresser and look down. "Kuvira-"
"I don't want to talk to you." The Great Uniter raised her good hand, drawing it over her face. "You shouldn't be here." She said her words with an emotionless drone as her fingers drifted over her tired eyes.
Suyin's eyebrows furrowed out of irritation for Kuvira's stubborn personality.
Then in contrast, her eyes started to soften once again looking at the person she had shared so much with, leaning over the vanity, broken, but still standing.
Soon happier reminiscences of the times before the Great Uniter, and the better moments she had spent with Kuvira drifted into her mind, as her entire face began to soften with ease. "So, where am I supposed to be…in a prison cell?" She looked down at the chains on her wrists. "Aren't these enough?" Suyin took a second to glance up to the shards on the floor, then to the Great Uniter's bloodied hand, connecting all the pieces.
"Obviously not for you." Kuvira's gruff voice sounded, low and seemingly full of apathetic detachment. "Somehow, you still managed to get in here."
"And you're stuck with me." Suyin paused. "I won't leave until we talk."
"You speak as though you have a choice."
Suyin narrowed her eyes drifting them back to Kuvira's injured hand.
Deep crimson drops of fresh blood, ran from the raw skin around Kuvira's split knuckles to her fingers, dripping to the floor as she moved her hand from the dresser to her side. Suyin slowly looked away, tired of watching Kuvira's whole process of self-destruction in front of her eyes.
There was an inkling of doubt that passed through her mind.
Maybe Kuvira was already too far gone, past the threshold of anything she could do to bring her back. Or maybe Kuvira wasn't gone at all, maybe this is what she wan-
Suyin steeled her jaw, and blocked out the negativity of doubt trying to take over her confident mind. Doubt couldn't work on her, and she'd be damned to let herself give in to it.
-Feeling the blood trickle into her palm, Kuvira ignored the pulsing pain, slowly clenching her hand once again into a fist. She narrowed her eyes, listening to Suyin exhale a deep breath with the soft rattle of the chains around her wrists following shortly after.
There was so much she'd wanted to ask Suyin.
So many questions regarding why the woman she loved chose the Avatar, were still left racing through her mind. She would never stop loving Suyin, but now what Kuvira saw was a woman willing to betray her.
Suyin was supposed to be loyal to her, at least that's what the lover in her said.
With a hand on the vanity, Kuvira stared down into the metal surface. "You wanted her to kill me." Kuvira's low voice crawled in defeated anger.
"What?" In a swift move Suyin looked up with her face drawn into the perfect portrait of confusion, furrowing her brow she stepped closer.
"You were telling her…to kill me."
Suyin looked down; her eyes darting over the ground. Rolling her foot to a stop, she stared at a spot on the floor, coming to a realization. Kuvira was talking about her fight with Korra, the fight that was still clearly reminiscent in her mind. Suyin lifted her head and glanced over the dirt still lodged into the fabric of the Great Uniter's uniform from where she had slid across the ground. Her once messy hair had been brushed but left down after being strewn out of place from its meticulously done bun.
That fight ended hours ago, but was still fresh in everyone's mind, including Suyin's.
Watching Avatar Korra lift the boulder over Kuvira's head, Suyin remembered the sudden regret she felt at what she had pushed Korra into doing.
She was mad at Kuvira, but never so mad that she wanted her to die, and she certainly didn't want to have a front row seat to watch it happen. In fact, Suyin was grateful Kuvira was alive. She actually let go of the breath she'd locked within her chest once she realized that the boulder hadn't landed on top of the Great Uniter.
Now that that was over, the personal resentment she held for the Great Uniter could be resolved, and one day it would be. But the pain of watching Kuvira die would have tormented her forever. She'd never be able to un-see Kuvira's death. It would haunt her waking hours along with her dreams, turning them into nightmares. And worse…she wouldn't be able to run to Kuvira and ease her mind seeing the guard was still alive and well. No, Kuvira would be dead, and one of her worst fears would become true.
The nightmare would be a reality.
"I was not. I would not." Suyin defended. "I was just telling her to go into the Avatar state."
"And what did you think was going happen?" Kuvira whipped around, seething through her teeth, as she brought the room to deafening silence.
Suyin paced away from the door. "You challenged her." She stated, putting a halt to any of Kuvira's arguments, even as she felt the Great Uniter's anger emanating towards her.
Making her way further into the open living space, Suyin stopped before she got too close to Kuvira, knowing it was wise to keep a good amount of space between them. With no words to say, she leaned against a nearby wall; her eyes taking in the lonely attributes of the room that looked more like a larger version of a solitary cell in her opinion.
All Suyin could do was sigh.
Ultimately Kuvira's near defeat had been her own fault. In her cockiness the Great Uniter faced the Avatar one on one; believing Korra to be too weak to fight. Kuvira used that chance to exemplify to everyone how powerful Great Uniter truly was. Taking down the only person who could bend all four elements would have given Kuvira a status not many had. She would have been revered, as well as feared.
In a normal setting, with Korra at 100 percent, it wouldn't have been a wise move to take on the Avatar alone. But taking advantage of Korra's weakened state, Kuvira knew she had shot. And of course, who did the Great Uniter have to tell her otherwise?
No one would dare.
A tough fight later, Kuvira ended up winning…even though technically by default. Either way Zaofu was hers, and every bit worth the struggle it was to get it.
However, the only thing really keeping Kuvira from becoming united face first into the ground, was Korra's mental break. But the Great Uniter didn't know that.
Why the Avatar didn't drop that rock when she had the chance, would forever be a mystery to her.
Staring into the face of death, that was one of the few times Kuvira had actually shown fear as she looked up to see the massive boulder hovering over her head, and an Avatar with every intent on dropping it. In awe of the first hand display of Korra's true power, the person looking up was no longer the Great Uniter, but the little overly curious street kid who knew she'd gotten herself into more than she bargained for. She heard stories of the Avatar's powers, but that was the first time she witnessed it for herself. That boulder over her head was larger and heavier than anything she could single-handedly bend.
Kuvira was a master of her skill, but in that moment she knew she had made a mistake in doubting the Avatar's abilities.
Suyin pushed off the cool wall and cautiously walked closer to Kuvira, feeling the other woman's unstable yet raging thoughts within the heavy tension in the air. "Kuvira I-" She reached her hand out, as her fingers brushed against the Great Uniter's shoulder.
"Leave me alone." Kuvira jerked her shoulder away from Suyin's hand, rejecting the woman's touch.
At the sudden movement Kuvira grabbed her left side as a shockwave of pain tore through her. With a grunt she braced through another stab of pain, squeezing the edge of the vanity with her left hand, leaving her fingers imprinted in the metal.
Korra had done more damage to her than Kuvira wanted to accept. She let out a few quiet labored breaths, trying to regain her composure. "Zaofu is mine now…you won't get it back…no amount of your…fake groveling will work."
Suyin furrowed her brow and pulled her hand away from Kuvira's back. "I was hoping that Korra would have taught you a lesson, if anything." She stood for a moment in silence then stepped back and shook her head slowly.
"The Avatar is weak." Kuvira seethed.
"No, you are." Suyin could envision the Great Uniter's enraged face as those bold words left her mouth, but yet she defended them. "Korra is changing. She's becoming stronger…you…are getting weaker." For just a moment Suyin let herself forget about how much she cared for Kuvira; her words becoming spiteful, thrown out of anger for her city and the situation she'd been put into. "You deserved it." Suyin dug back into the past, again referring to Kuvira's defeat, but maybe also more.
"All of this is no one's fault but your own." Suyin kept the eyes underneath her furrowed brow glued to Kuvira, knowing that she was provoking a ticking time bomb. "If you expect me to bow to this Great Uniter…I never will, and it doesn't matter who you are to me."
Kuvira's eyes narrowed at the vanity. "Careful Suyin…Don't forget which one of us is in chains."
Another bout of silence followed the Great Uniter's threatening words, as a malicious fire began to boil within Suyin.
She too felt betrayed in so many ways. First as a mentor, then as a boss, and last as a lover. "You have no right." Suyin started her voice soft, yet brimming with contained anger. "I taught you everything you know…and this is how you repay me." Suyin stayed quiet for a long while, glancing down to the ground then up to Kuvira once again.
Kuvira slowly shook her head, disgusted that Suyin felt even the right to be hurt. "I think I've made enough payments to you over the years."
Suyin took the harsh side comment from Kuvira lightly. Even though it hurt, she knew it was only Kuvira's anger talking. "As much as it bothers me…" Suyin took a deep breath letting her anger fade, as she stared with cold eyes. "…that is beside the point-"
"It's not my fault." Kuvira cut Suyin off, not wanting to hear the thousand and one reasons the matriarch had to convince herself she wasn't the cause.
"Yes it is."
Kuvira looked over the same shoulder Suyin had tried to touch, stretching herself up to a full stand, despite the pain now throbbing in her side. "No…it's not."
"Then who's at fault. It seems to me like you're the master mind behind it a-"
The Great Uniter turned around. "The only reason why I'm here, is because you were too much of a selfish bitch to step up and help your own people." Kuvira seethed; her eyes growing darker and her voice louder as she strode towards Suyin. "I've done nothing wrong."
Suyin stepped back, her narrowed eyes staying in place. Inside she felt an underlying fear but wouldn't allow Kuvira the satisfaction of seeing it on her face. She could hear the angry closed-mouth pants Kuvira took, as the woman stared back at her, and she could see her shoulders moving up and down with every livid breath.
Did her former guard really hate her that much?
The Captain she knew would have never called her such names. And as determined as Suyin was to stand her ground something about Kuvira's dark demeanor pushed her back.
Kuvira's beating words had been enough to send Suyin's back to the metal wall.
The vulgar names she'd been called in the past never fazed her, and they still didn't. What hurt her the most was who they came from this time. The guard who used to defend her against such slander, now made those words another expression of her own enmity.
Advancing towards Suyin step by step, Kuvira slowed her pace.
"I did what you wouldn't." Kuvira took another step closer, lifting a finger from her injured hand to point at herself. "I give them stability…"
The matriarch took notice of the slight shake tremoring Kuvira's hand. She didn't know whether it was due to her anger, or from the numbing pain Kuvira's hand was probably in.
"I give them hope. I'm restoring their livelihoods." Kuvira noticed the tremor of her hand and squeezed it into a fist as she grit her teeth together. She looked back up to Suyin, meeting the woman's eyes, knowing she'd caught it too.
Before despair could seep into her eyes, Suyin reeled it in and pushed off the wall, smirking for a moment at the words the Great Uniter spoke. "You only help knowing they're indebted to you. Sure, you give them food and what they need, but you expect a high commitment in return…am I right?" Suyin paused. "And if they say no?"
Kuvira's eyes narrowed. "Everything has a price Suyin."
Their gazes lingered on one another a moment longer.
"You go to these people, knowing they're in need of human nature's most basic resources to survive, and you give it to them only under certain terms and conditions." Suyin looked down. "You're raising an Empire -If you want to call it that- based on lies and coercion."
"I do not lie, I'm very straight forward."
"That's right, you are."
"So what happens if they turn you away?"
The Great Uniter stayed silent before giving a smirk of her own. "That's Politics. I guess I know a lot more than you thought I did-"
"They suffer, don't they? Only to have everything taken from them by force." Suyin looked up in anger. "It's dirty. You're making a name for yourself off the backs of these people, telling your followers it's all being done for the good of the Earth Kingdom. And obliviously, they stay loyal-"
"Unlike you."
"I won't be part of this Kuvira. You know why I-"
"What right does a coward have to tell me what I'm doing wrong?" Kuvira snapped and resumed her advance toward Suyin. "My way gets solutions. What have you got to show?" Kuvira stopped, looking down into the angry jade eyes staring back at her. "You were more worried about keeping yourself safe in your little fortress, than helping the hundreds of earth benders who were dying just a city away!" Kuvira raised her voice, watching Suyin's back hit the wall again. "You watched the Earth Kingdom burn…" She lowered her voice; her disappointment thickening her words as she let her unyielding gaze lock directly into Suyin's. "You saw the smoke…from your office window." Kuvira growled as she invaded Suyin's personal space, trying to take down the last shred of pride she knew Suyin still held. "You did nothing to help…I did." Kuvira watched Suyin seemingly deflate and glance down; the matriarch's jaw locking out of guilt.
This wasn't supposed to be how things went down. Kuvira trusted Suyin and her kindness, never thinking she'd turn down an opportunity to help her own, or in the least, to give Zaofu an even more inflated ego than it already had. But when it came down to it, the once enthusiastically rebellious woman had softened with time. Twenty years ago she would've tried to take on the challenge of becoming the leader, if for anything, to help the earth benders she thought to be suppressed under the monarchy. That woman was eager to fight for a cause. That was the Suyin Kuvira wanted, and the one she needed. It sickened her to think that the woman before her now could sleep well at night knowing what she'd turned away.
The outcries for help probably didn't even faze her. And at that thought, Kuvira's softening face transformed into an unforgiving look of malice. The only thing this woman cared about was keeping her hands clean. Or rather was keeping her hands clean. The reason Suyin stood before her with fettered wrists and shackled ankles, was because the woman had proven she was willing to get her hands dirty; willing to kill to protect what's hers; willing to stand in the Great Uniter's way.
Kuvira's temper flared, and without warning she punched a hole into the metal wall beside Suyin's head. "Don't you dare tell me that this is my fault." She turned her back to Suyin, trying to collect her anger as she paced a couple steps away. Her reprieve didn't last long though, and moments later she strode back towards Suyin, readying herself to do more damage. But before more harmful words came from her mouth, she was stopped.
"Kuvira please, just…calm down." There was a slight hesitance before Suyin looked up into the Great Uniter's furious eyes with guilted defeat showing in her own. She reached out, placing a hand on Kuvira's stomach softly, a bit surprised that the Great Uniter didn't jerk away. "There's no use in us playing this irrational game of back and forth." Now she was groveling, but pacifying the Great Uniter's anger was the first thing Suyin had to do. She could admit to her own faults after Kuvira had calmed down.
Maybe then they'd be able to have a civil conversation.
The Great Uniter stood silent, not wanting to admit that Suyin's touch was softening her resolve. It always did, she hadn't forgotten that. She also hadn't forgotten how it was the matriarch who pacified her temper, bringing her back down to a sensible level. Yet, odd as it was, Kuvira had started to notice, back some months ago, that the anger she had been so good at suppressing, was beginning to come back with a full vengeance. The reality, the Great Uniter connected, was that the brunt of her emotional down fall started the day her and Suyin became more than just work partners.
With all those rapturous feelings of passion running wild between them, it had unlocked an emotive side of herself that Kuvira had avoided for years.
She couldn't compartmentalize Suyin, she hadn't found a way.
In other words, Suyin was her passion's craving, but also her demise. The matriarch had the unique ability to evoke such an emotional rise from Kuvira, that it drove her mad.
And here they were again, inches apart.
Enemies this time, but still drawn together.
Kuvira turned her head away from Suyin's gaze, releasing a slow breath out through her nose, as she felt feelings of calm trying to remedy her anger. Every thought in her mind told her to push Suyin away, but she stayed, frozen where she stood by some paralyzing force.
"You're right."
Hearing Suyin's soft confirmation, Kuvira shifted her eyes over to the shorter woman, then down to the chained hand on her abdomen. Irritated, she locked her jaw again as Suyin's thumb slowly kneaded into her uniform.
This was all part of Suyin's mind games, and the cunning older woman was trying to suck her in again. Kuvira knew it; she was used to it.
The arguments they had were always the same. If Suyin knew she was wrong, she had a method to turn everything back into her favor.
First, she'd admit defeat humbly. Then, give a subtle touch to calm Kuvira's heightened state. And last, she'd restate in an analytical way why she still wasn't wrong, hoping Kuvira would be converted to seeing her side. And most of the time the guard did. Suyin's method worked, but was also the reason Kuvira felt so indoctrinated by her at times. Suyin kept her guessing, that much was certain.
But…The Great Uniter wasn't about to give in that quick. Suyin would no longer be her weakness.
So Kuvira played along.
"I should have stepped up." Suyin continued in a soothing quiet tone, looking at her hand and where it lay against the Great Uniter's uniform. "But I was concerned for Zaofu's well-being." It was working, Suyin could feel Kuvira's muscles relaxing, and her furious breaths returning to normal as she slowly looked back up to watch the Great Uniter's eyes roam over her face then begin to travel lower. "It's not that I don't care, but this is my city and-" Suyin's words were steadfast before she paused, feeling Kuvira move in closer to her, resting her injured hand against the wall above her head.
"...and?" Kuvira said staring straight down into Suyin's eyes; the softer almost soothing tone to her deep voice confusing the matriarch.
A moment ago Kuvira was yelling a tirade, and now she was trying to arouse her with a proximity close enough to kiss and a lulling voice. Suyin stared back blankly not knowing what emotion to put forward.
"You still haven't told me the rest…" Kuvira put her good hand atop the wrist out-stretched to her abdomen.
Suyin glanced down, she could see the reddened knuckles of Kuvira's hand over her own. "A-And these are the people I'm responsible for." She looked back up, watching the Great Uniter's head move down closer; the uncertainty of Kuvira's actions leading her heart to race.
Leaning in next to Suyin's ear, going slow, Kuvira let her face brush against the side of the shorter woman's cheek. She stopped, her lips resting close to the rim of Suyin's ear, close enough to bite. "Is that…how you rationalize it?" Kuvira spoke, the end of her words turning aggressive as her facial expression transformed to one of anger in a second.
Feeling Suyin jump, she smirked and pulled away from the woman's ear.
Shoving Suyin's hand from her, Kuvira backed up shaking her head slowly at the older woman out of disappointment. In silence Kuvira turned and walked back over to the vanity that sat nearby a rigid-looking bed that had been hardly noticeable, due to the room's dim light. "You haven't changed a bit since I left." She paused before taking a few extra paces around the bedroom, that started to look more like an office.
Practically snatching out the first few buttons of her jacket until the flaps hung loose at the top, Kuvira left her white tank underneath partially exposed. "I was hoping that after I'd gone, you'd at least figure things out."
"So…" Suyin's brow furrowed. "You wanted me to basically say "Kuvira you're right and I was wrong, let's do things your way"."
"Well…yes."
"Is this your way?" Suyin held up her hands, to emphasize the chains around her wrists. "By locking me, and my family up? What solution has this reached?"
"You wouldn't co-operate." Kuvira said softly, her eyes staring a hole into the ground. "I had to do it."
Suyin interrupted the Great Uniter's rationalizing with a stronger, more aggressive tone to her voice. "Throwing non-earth benders living in the earth kingdom into prison camps?"
"They don't understand us." Kuvira spoke again; her voice raising just a level.
"Destroying cities, and the livelihoods of the same people you say you're trying so hard to help?"
"SHUT UP!" Kuvira looked over to Suyin with furious eyes. But even her furious eyes now held a small, minute measure of doubt in them as the Great Uniter glanced down, letting her anger settle once more.
After a moment of silence, she spoke; her voice returning to a normal level. "…I'm doing what's right." Kuvira looked up to Suyin then back down again, as she slowly took a seat in the rigid metal chair in front of the vanity, giving Suyin a full profile of only the side of her body and face. "At least it's something…" She focused straight ahead.
Suyin mentally sighed, watching Kuvira physically do the same, slumping slightly in her chair. She was starting to crack the Great Uniter, and get through to the guard she once knew; maybe her first attempt had broken through more than she realized. Now it was time to keep pushing. "I know everything Kuvira. Korra and the others have told me a lot. And it was hard enough for me to believe that you would even be capable of things like this…" Suyin stopped and looked away. "…in fact…I didn't want to believe it. I didn't for a while." Suyin gazed back up to Kuvira staring blankly at the metal wall on the opposite end of the room. "The Kuvira I know is more sensible than this. You're not the monster they think you are."
In twist of her expectations, Suyin heard a hearty laugh from Kuvira fill the room.
"Is that what they call me?" Kuvira grinned. "A monster?"
"Among other things."
"Do you ever think that maybe they're right? Maybe you never really knew who this "monster" was?" Kuvira looked over to Suyin and smiled; her dark eyes resembling nothing of her former guard. Even if a smile was on Kuvira's face, it was only a haunting one trying to imitate the past. The saddened but treacherous gleam in her green eyes betrayed the sincerity of her smile. They held in so many years of negativity. Years of hardship that had all once been hidden away behind a veil of genuine smiles and polite passiveness.
The Great Uniter was that side of her guard Suyin had always felt lurking beneath the darker depths of Kuvira's personality; kept suppressed for so long until now.
Kuvira's façade was no more than a mask covering the shell of her broken former self. But old Kuvira wasn't quite strong enough to lead a nation, so she created a new visage that was.
Kuvira had become so cold and separated from her actions, that she could smile like she did that day in the matriarch's office with Bataar Jr.; the day they'd returned to Zaofu. That jeering smile horrified Suyin more than anything. She was more focused on how much of Kuvira had changed, and less concerned about the words coming out of the Great Uniter's mouth.
Feeling disconnected with this Great Uniter, Suyin could feel the family's presence in office with them, the world didn't drown away like it normally did when her and Kuvira spoke. No, now it was about more than just them. Lives were in danger, lives that included her family's.
Kuvira couldn't see the blood on her own hands, but everyone else could.
"You took in a street rat Suyin…" Kuvira started, turning her head away once again; her face serious, devoid of any earlier sarcasm or amusement. "…and turned me into something you could recognize." She paused. "Did you ever think…that maybe I'm not the person you think I am?"
Suyin watched the Great Uniter with saddened eyes.
"Are you trying to tell me that everything's been a lie?" Suyin said softly, knowing Kuvira wasn't talking about the whole Great Uniter mess. She was talking about them, and what they used to be…until the fight that tore everything apart.
"I'm telling you…" Kuvira turned her hand around examining the damage in front of her face. "…maybe…I'm good at faking things I don't feel." She stared at the raw skin on the back of her hand. "…I've done it for years."
In a switch, Suyin furrowed her brow with a disbelieving smirk setting on her face.
"No…try if you will, but you can't convince me of that." Suyin walked towards Kuvira with no hesitance in her steps, as she pulled, dragging the chains with her. "Maybe in some ways you have…but when I remember the way you used to kiss me…" She paused, stretching her smirk into a small, almost untraceable smile, as she thought of all the kisses she had shared with her former guard. And there were many. Definitely more than a dozen, but fewer than twenty-maybe even thirty, Suyin suspected.
Not only did she miss those kisses, but also the way Kuvira held her. The guard's grip was always tight, but never suffocating. She knew enough about Suyin to give her the space and freedom she needed, knowing that she'd always return on her own.
Quality was placed over quantity in both their opinions. After Kuvira mastered the art of kissing the high maintenance woman, Suyin hungered for more. The guard's kiss was always tender and warming, never rough—Well…
Suyin felt her smile stretch to a grin as she moved closer; her eyes grazing over Kuvira's form.
…Only when…
Suyin caught her mind wandering away from the situation at hand, and gave up the tempting thought. Stopping inches in front of the Great Uniter her soft grin soon faded.
Drawn back into the present, Suyin had forgotten her words.
All she could do was look down at Kuvira's tired eyes, that didn't even bother to acknowledge her.
The days had worn Kuvira out; her nights probably sleepless, Suyin knew all too well. The responsibilities of ruling were taking its toll. Power had a way of doing that. When the novelty eventually wore off, leaders were left sleep deprived with a mound of paper work on their desks.
Kuvira was no exception, no matter how many odds she had defied.
Suyin lifted her hand, the rattle of the platinum chain startling in the room's silence. Reaching out, she slowly brushed her palm against Kuvira's cheek. Her eyes followed her hand as it ran up with gentle ease over the warm skin beneath it. "You're tired." Suyin whispered knowingly, with a sincere look of concern on her face.
Slipping her fingers into Kuvira's hair, she softly pulled down, tilting the Great Uniter's head back until Kuvira's eyes stared back into her own.
"I am." Came a rasp from the Great Uniter, who stared at Suyin a moment longer then closed her eyes, feeling a thumb gently rubbing circles just behind her ear.
A soft smile escaped, but not Suyin's…Kuvira's.
"There was never a time I didn't feel every part of you kissing me back." Suyin continued the words she'd almost completely forgotten.