After breakfast, Suyin Beifong sat in the family room by the fireplace, reading the newspaper. It was filled with news of the chaos taking place in the Earth Kingdom. She had to admit, even though Kuvira quickly became a power hungry tyrant, she had managed to make a big difference in the beginning of her efforts to merge the entire Earth Kingdom.
She sipped her tea, almost spitting it out when she saw a picture of Kuvira, from her Great Uniter days, with the headline, Mentally Unstable Former Great Uniter attempts suicide.
It had broken her heart a bit when Lin had called her two days ago to tell her Kuvira had attempted suicide. Despite feeling sad, she wasn't ready to see Kuvira as yet. It had been a year since the former Great Uniter had tried to kill her family. Even though she wasn't nearly as upset as a year ago, she was still pretty furious with the twenty-three year old whom she had raised.
"Hey mom. Whatcha ya reading?" Wei asked as he took a seat on the couch next to her. Su handed the paper to Wei with the section on Kuvira.
"Are you gonna visit her?" "I honestly don't know," Su said as she rubbed her head to ease the migraine she felt coming on.
Just then Wing entered the family room, snatching the newspaper from his twin's hands. "Ah so prison finally got to the crazy bitch," Wing said. "Wing! Language!"' Su scolded her son.
Baatar Jr was walking past the family room to get to his father's office when Wing called his attention to the newspaper article.
"Hey Junior! Your crazy ex finally went off the deep end." "What are you going on about?" Baatar asked. "This," he said, showing his older brother the paper. Baatar didn't know how to feel upon reading the headline.
"I'll be in my room," he said, walking away, newspaper still in hand.
He read the two paragraph statement of what transpired at the Republic City Prison two nights ago. He removed his glasses as a memory flashed in his mind. The first time he and Kuvira had kissed. They had been on several dates, ranging from late night dinners to secret conversations while she was on guard duty outside his home. The more time he spent with Kuvira was the more he fell in love with her. So many times he wanted to close that gap in those quiet moments when they would just stare into each other's eyes but instead he would get scared and look away and just like that, the moment would be lost. One night, one faithful night when he had asked her to meet him in the gardens just outside of his house for a moonlight picnic, he had finally done it. He had kissed her.
Flashback
Kuvira and Baatar laid on a blanket in the garden, an almost empty picnic basket to the right of Kuvira, as they looked up at the stars, saying what shapes the clouds were.
"That one is definitely The Kyoshi Medal," Kuvira said, pointing to a cloud moving to the right.
Baatar laughed. "No it's not. It's a super high tech weapon that shoots beams for miles, wiping out anything in its line of sight."
"Dangerous much?" Kuvira asked as she quirked a brow at Baatar. "What about that one?" Kuvira asked as a giant cloud settled over the two of them.
"That's easy. That's a super smart engineering genius and his powerful metal bending girlfriend." "Girlfriend huh?" Baatar turned on his side so he was facing Kuvira. "Kuvira?" "Yes Baatar?" She too turned over so she was looking into the green eyes she loved so much.
"Can I tell you something?" "Of course. You can tell me anything."
"I like you. Like really like you. Like I want you to be my girlfriend. What do you say?" "Yes," Kuvira said with a pretty smile.
Baatar cupped her cheek, looking deep into her emerald eyes which looked magnificent under the moonlight. Kuvira inched closer, so she was merely centimeters from Baatar's lips.
Baatar closed the small gap. He could feel his heart pounding in his chest, hoping that she couldn't feel it.
Kuvira could indeed feel Baatar's heartbeat, though she wasn't overly focused on it because her own heart was hammering in her chest.
The kiss was slow and passionate, lasting for a few minutes.
The two pulled apart once the need for oxygen became too strong. "Do you know how long I have wanted to do that?" Baatar asked. Kuvira chuckled softly.
"For the record, I like you too," she said. Baatar smiled widely.
End of Flashback
Baatar couldn't stand to think of her anymore which was incredibly hard to do since she was his first love. Truth be told Baatar had loved Kuvira long before they had even started dating. He loved her when they were just friends. She was the only girl aside from Opal, who would talk to him in his junior years. She didn't think he was too nerdy or weak, instead she found him smart and invited him to workout with her to build his strength.
His heart ached as he relived the memories. They had everything and she threw it all away for power. He had loved her and she had tried to kill him and nothing could change that.
Baatar shook his head, setting the newspaper down on the desk. He stood up, deciding that he had spent enough of his morning, thinking of her.
He exited his room, heading for the blueprints for his new project, from his father's office.
•••••••••
It was eleven at night when Su gave up on sleeping. She went into the kitchen by the mini bar and made herself a stiff drink. Ever since she read the newspaper article on Kuvira's suicide attempt, she hadn't been able to get the young woman out of her head and it both upset and hurt her.
Su walked to the end of the hall, to a room she hadn't been inside in seven years. Kuvira's old bedroom.
The room was merely converted into a guest bedroom now, with its plain white sheets, green drapes and a green carpet.
The room was almost bare now, not showing much remnants of its previous occupier.
Su opened the closet, finding an old bunny she had given Kuvira her first night in Zaofu. She'll never forget the smile on the little girl's face after receiving the teddy bear.
Su put the teddy bear back in the closet before moving to look in the nightstand drawer. She found a picture with herself and Kuvira back when Kuvira was a teen.
Su was dressed in her usual dark green dress while Kuvira was dressed in a white tank top, green loose fitting pants and metal boots.
The teen had won an earth bending competition at just fourteen and she had competed against some of the best earth benders Zafou had to offer.
Su was so proud of her that day. Kuvira was always so talented. Perhaps too talented for her own good.
"Oh Kuvira. Where did I go wrong with you?" Su asked sadly as she finished her drink.
