As always, thank you, thank you for the lovely reviews. They keep me going, and keep me inspired to continue writing this. There will be two more chapters after this one (once I find the time now to finish that last one, anyway; life happens quickly, doesn't it?). Almost done!

I appreciate every one of you for reading this far, and I hope you enjoy this chapter!

Silence of the Sound

Chapter 7

Dawn came cold, but the sun rose in a valiant attempt to chase the constant freeze away. The clouds, which had been continuous for days unending despite breaks here or there, were fading on the horizon to give way to spacious blue sky so, perhaps, this day would pass with no more snow or rain. Lin leaned forward in Oogi's large saddle, looking over the front to try to make out the town far ahead over Tenzin's shoulder.

"We're not quite there yet," he told her as quietly as he could, her uneasiness contagious. She was ready to get this coming fight started and over with, one way or another. "Settle back, Lin, you're going to fall."

She pursed her lips, sending a glare to the back of his head. "I am not," she snapped, though she leaned down on her heels anyway.

Not wanting to engage him further, she glanced behind her to Weyoun. The old man was huddled in an overlarge coat near her side looking both excited and nervous. The marble sphere containing half of Ku's soul was cradled in his hands. He had been too wary of stashing it in a pocket, and so had been holding it tightly for the last hour as they flew, his knuckles white with the strength of his grasp. She eyed the stone for a moment before turning around and taking a seat.

"When we get there," she told him firmly, "you're going to stay outside. Don't get involved until Tenzin and I are ready for you. Got it?"

"Yes, ma'am," he said with a nod.

"I am not going to be responsible for you, too," she muttered, eyes darting back toward Tenzin. Weyoun noticed but said nothing. When she looked back at him, he was watching her the way her officers did before a dangerous assignment. She frowned, quickly turning the expression bracing. "We'll be fine," she told him. "Just be ready to act when we need you. Tenzin and I have worked together like this many times, we're going to be finished before you know it."

Weyoun nodded again but did not respond this time. Instead he turned his gaze out to the land flying beneath them, absorbing it in silently.

Lin fell silent herself, taking a deep breath and holding it in her lungs for a moment before letting the air out slowly. She reached with her senses, feeling the metal of her armor and cables as her second skin, finding familiar comfort from them. Once they landed, she would be able to feel the earth beneath her feet as well, surrounding her, supporting her. New as this particular threat was, the specifics didn't necessarily matter. All that mattered was fighting to the best of her ability, which she knew she would. As long as she had the smallest bit of strength left, she would be able to fight. The most important thing this time, the one thing she needed to focus on, was keeping Rala and Tenzin separated as long as possible. Easy enough.

"We're getting close," Tenzin called back on the wind, interrupting her thoughts. She crawled back to the front of the saddle again, able to see the town now. "Do we know which home is his?"

"That one, the big house on the hill away from the others." Weyoun pointed it out from his spot, not wanting to move while they were flying. Lin followed his arm to see where he was showing them and conveyed the location to Tenzin, who was unable to see the other man behind him.

It did not take much longer from there. Minutes later, Oogi had landed in the street outside Rala's home. The building was far enough away from the others that no one seemed to notice them just yet. That would likely change if – when – Rala put up a struggle. Lin leapt down while Tenzin assisted Weyoun, her heart starting to beat in her chest with anticipation. Tenzin began to walk ahead as she got her bearings, but she reached out and grabbed his arm.

"I'm going first," she demanded, leaving no room for argument. Glancing over her shoulder once, she set Weyoun with a hard stare. "Stay here."

She shoved past Tenzin and went up the uneven steps to the front door. Pausing for just a moment to decide her best approach, she forwent the polite knock Tenzin would have given and immediately rammed her metal-clad shoulder into the wooden door. It gave with a slight splintering at the latch in the frame, swinging to hit the interior wall. There was no light from inside, all spilling from the sun behind them to land on polished wooden floors and whitewashed walls. Everything was silent once the door stilled.

"Rala!" Lin called into the quiet house. Her voice echoed slightly, giving the impression of vast emptiness.

"Is he here?" Tenzin asked her, looking around them as they walked carefully inside.

"There's no earth for me to check," she replied softly, "I don't know. Everything is crafted from wood rather than stone in this part."

She pulled back the curtains on the windows in the entryway to let sun fill the front hallways. There was an electrical switch on the far wall, but neither went to flip it just yet. While the house felt empty and unloved, it appeared spotlessly clean. There was no dust on any of the surfaces. He had definitely been living here.

"Tenzin," Lin whispered as she studied their surroundings without touching anything. "Doesn't he have a wife? Where is she?"

"I don't…I don't know."

They both realized as the words were said that Rala's wife was either gone or dead, and likely had been for a long time. A creaking from above made both their heads snap up toward the ceiling. Someone was walking quietly over the floorboards on the second floor. "Found him," Lin muttered, beckoning for Tenzin to follow behind her as she crept up the stairs.

The top landing opened into a long hallway with four rooms leading from it, two on either side. All the doors were closed. They paused, Lin standing quietly as she held her breath to listen again. If we were on this side of the house downstairs, she thought, and heard him there, he should be…

She pointed to the room on the far left, then held her hand up to Tenzin, silently asking him to remain where he was while she opened the door. He paused, clearly torn, before nodding once, shortly. Remarkably soft considering her boots were made of metal, she edged down the hall and placed her hand on the doorknob. She knew immediately that, even if Rala was not in here, Ku was. The rush of elemental current through the brass was unmistakable.

Not wanting to wait any longer, she carefully opened the door, using it as a shield against whatever may be behind it.

A good idea, it appeared, for no sooner had it begun to move when shards of ice flew toward the opening. She pulled the door to again, letting them wedge in the wood, before shoving it open all the way to charge inside. She could handle a spirit-damned Waterbender.

Rala, briefly surprised at her burst of attack, shrank back toward the far wall for a short moment before regathering his resolve and raising an arm. A wall of ice, brought from a small bathing trough on the floor behind him, rose with the gesture. He moved it toward her, but she spun and extended her knife, cutting through the edge before it could even scrape her armor. The ice fell but he pulled it back to himself, turning the form around into more, larger, shards. Not faltering for a second, she whipped out a cord and shattered those closest as they flew toward her. She snapped the cord around, flinging it toward him with the intention of snaring his arm, but he darted to the side at the last second to flee out an open door in corner of the room.

"He's running!" Lin yelled to Tenzin, who sprang into action from the hall behind her.

He used a strong gust of wind to bust open every door along the hall. They just caught a glimpse of him sprinting down a tiny hidden staircase at the back of the next room. Lin took off after him, Tenzin at her heels. She could feel Ku, likely on Rala's person somewhere, as the spirit was dragged to and fro like an unwilling doll.

The stairs passed the first floor and went underground, into a large cellar under the house. She could smell the damp before her eyes adjusted quickly enough to see the rivulets cut directly into the dirt floor, lined with stone and filled with fresh water. As soon as she realized they were there, a wall of that water came rushing toward her. She rolled out of the way and heard Tenzin do the same. But they were surrounded by earth now, too, and she exposed her feet to find Rala in the dimness before lashing out with a cable.

The space was large, though, and he was able to knock it off course enough to evade her again. The metal did meet its mark with sufficient force to rip fabric and flesh on his waist, and the edge was stained with blood when she pulled it back.

"Stop this, Rala!" she barked, falling back into an aggressive pose. Tenzin came behind her, his own defensive. "Just let it go, okay?"

"I don't think I want to. Not when you've brought me what I was waiting for." He smiled at them, his teeth a chilling white through the murky light coming from a tiny window in the back corner. His eyes focused on Tenzin for a moment and Lin shifted, standing more in front of him, protective. "I must commend you, however," he said with a false cheer as he took a step forward. "Your tenacity is something to be admired, I truly did not think you would figure out what was going on before it was too late. Ah, well. Perhaps it is already too late for you after all."

With her feet pressed to the ground, Lin felt his movement in that briefest breath before it happened. She pulled the earth just as he pulled the water, and she surrounded herself and Tenzin with a shield of clay a heartbeat before a deadly slice of ice tore through the air. It hit the wall of her screen with enough force to crack, though it remained strong around them.

There was only a moment for them to look at one another, crouched together under the earthen wall, but their silent communication was instantaneous. Lin dropped the earth. Tenzin quickly spun the air around them into a forceful vortex, rushing forward with it while Lin ran behind him, cables ready to snare Rala the moment he fell.

But then she felt it. Ku.

Rala had released his half of the spirit, lifting the small chest from under his robe. The spirit, even split as he was, was huge as he emerged from his cage, inky brown and green. He was shapeless, confused and angry after being confined so long. And he saw Tenzin, began to focus on him.

Acting without thought for herself, Lin shoved Tenzin away from his line of sight and ran forward as Ku did the same. Tenzin, a pile of orange and red on the ground with his concentration broken, called out to her in sudden panic, but she ignored him with determination.

If binding with a mere fragment of the other half had been painful, this was sheer torture. The instant she held out her hand for Ku to come to her, to leave Tenzin be, the overwhelming burst of being on contact was too intense. She clenched her jaw against it, vaguely aware of Rala laughing somewhere very far away, Tenzin crying for her somewhere even further, and fell to her knees.

I didn't want you, the consuming voice thundered, far louder than the one before. There was so much anger, so much power, she could feel her body – her body that was no longer hers, just like that – quivering with it.

Take me, she thought desperately, not even sure if he would hear her. Take me. He can't help you, I can. We're the same element, you can use me.

I want to kill him.

Him – Rala. Ku wanted to kill Rala, she could see the image clearly. Fine, she relented without resisting. Use me.

You will die, Ku warned without sympathy, forcing her legs to stand again. She felt herself rise, could see through her own eyes without the control to do anything herself. She wanted to scream as she felt her bending being overrun, but already she could feel her will, her soul, becoming weaker. This would be over soon. Once Rala was dealt with, Tenzin would be able to rejoin the halves, he would be safe. That was all that mattered to her at that point. It was too late for anything else.

I understand, she thought toward him.

Very well.

Rala watched in amazement as Lin – Ku – stood and turned toward him. "It worked!" he cried with genuine surprise. "Look at this, Tenzin, Beifong is actually holding the spirit! It is a shame her own soul won't survive," he added without the vaguest hint of remorse, his eyes gleaming with gleeful cruelty as he watched her walk toward him. "Imagine what we can accomplish now. Why, we could probably take as much power as we wanted, with you by me!"

Tenzin stumbled to his feet and tripped backward, his hand out to find the wall for support. Rala paid him no attention, focused solely on his spirit. "Lin?" he whispered. If she had been there, she would have been able to hear, she would have found some way to give him a sign of her response, but she didn't. His eyes stung with hopelessness, tears making his vision blurry. "Lin, please."

"Oh, she's gone," Rala said with a careless wave of his hand. Lin's body was standing beside him now and he reached out to touch her paling face with his fingertips. She didn't react at all; her glassy eyes did not even blink. "Why did you not tell me this powerful bender was also spirit touched? I never would have wasted my time with you. Now look at this, a Beifong! Isn't it perfect!" He chuckled then, looking over at Tenzin and smirking when he saw the fresh tear tracks down his cheeks. "It's touching, she did it to save you from this very fate. Tsk, tsk. Love makes people do such stupid things."

Things happened very quickly.

The second Rala stopped talking, Ku raised Lin's arms, bringing with them the entire back wall of the house to come sliding forward at an alarming rate. Rala turned at the roaring sound, but he didn't have time to run before the rock came tumbling down on him. Not finished yet, Ku swept half of the floor up and back down onto the heap of rubble, and then pushed it down with force. He stopped suddenly, having found Lin's proclivity for Metalbending and, as Tenzin stumbled back toward the stairs in fright, every piece of copper piping in the basement came soaring toward Lin's outstretched hands. Ku directed them into the mass of rock and then, with a burst of choking screams, Rala was jerked up into the air, the copper pipes surrounding him as one, coiling up and around tighter and tighter.

"Lin!" Tenzin darted up behind her and tugged on one of her arms as Rala gasped for breath, clearly dying. "Lin, stop! Please, stop!" She – Ku – shoved him away with force, and he landed in a heap at the foot of the stairs.

Weyoun was standing there, startled as he took in the sight before him. "Master Tenzin -"

"The spirit!" Tenzin explained in a rush as he got to his feet again, "It's killing him! How can I stop this?"

The old man just shook his head incoherently, still in shock. But it was no use trying. Deafening silence fell, through which Rala's body dropped with a muted thud. Ku turned, gazing sightlessly through Lin's eyes at the two people by the stairs. Tenzin swallowed, not sure if he could fight her even knowing it wasn't Lin doing this. It would kill him to hurt her.

As they watched in hesitation, Lin collapsed, her eyes fluttering closed and her body crumpling to the ground beside Rala's as her physical strength diminished like a candle's flame being extinguished.

Tenzin was at her side in an instant, cradling her into his arms against his chest. The tears began afresh as he stared down at her ashen face. "Lin?" He ran his fingers over her forehead, cheeks, lips, hoping to elicit a response, but she wasn't there. Her skin felt like that of a corpse, and he choked out a sob before biting the rest back. "Lin! Do something," he pleaded of Weyoun, turning his fearful gaze to him. "Please, you have to do something."

At just as much a loss as Tenzin, Weyoun knelt beside him and held up the marble sphere containing Ku's other half. Using his bending, he split the sphere open. The second Ku rose from the marble just as the other had, shapeless, brown and green. He remained stationary, concerned as he watched the scene unfold.

"I don't…I don't know how to get this half out of her," Weyoun admitted worriedly. "I never thought something like this would actually happen!"

Moving gently, Tenzin rested Lin back on the ground. "When she removed it before," he recalled, stroking her matted hair, "she did so by making a cut in her skin and bending the spirit out."

"Bend him out? The entire half? I…" Weyoun stared down at Lin with wide, scared eyes. "She's much stronger than I am, I don't know if I can -"

"You have to try!" Tenzin snapped with more venom than he had meant as his desperation grew. "With every second that passes, the farther she gets from me – us." He lowered his head, blinking his tears away to clear his vision and feeling the loss of her already like a hole through his very soul. "I'll…well, I'll cut her palm, like she did. You bend Ku out."

Weyoun nodded curtly, not arguing anymore. Tenzin laid one of her hands out, palm upward, and picked up her other arm. It took a moment, but he found the mechanism to release the blade on her gauntlet without Metalbending. Shaking and silently begging her forgiveness, he cut her skin. Blood was slow to flow, unlike previously, and Tenzin's stomach clenched, thinking her heart was no longer able to pump it. Before he could truly begin to worry, Weyoun fell back on his heels and pulled with his bending, putting every bit of effort he had into it.

Brown quickly overcame crimson, flowing out through the wound. Rather than dripping down this time, Ku rose like smoke to immediately begin joining with his other half. It only took seconds for him to release himself of Lin's body and, less than a minute later, the halves of one soul twirled together, reforming into the whole.

What was once a piece unable to hold a form was now a full spirit, muddy brown and bright mossy green. Pale pink thrummed, pulsing, from his heart chakra. Beautiful in his own right.

Tenzin looked up at Ku briefly before turning his gaze back down to Lin. Her palm was no longer bleeding, and he reached out to touch her cheek again. "Lin, sweetheart?" Her skin was chilled through this time, without a hint of warmth left. Her lips were turning blue. Panic making his limbs numb and clumsy, Tenzin pressed trembling fingers to her neck. Her heart was no longer beating, having stopped once Ku – the only lifesource to sustain her by then – left. Her soul truly was gone, just as Rala had said.

"No," Tenzin murmured in disbelief, pressing his fingers against her skin harder, as if her pulse was simply hiding from him. He took her face in his hands and turned it toward his, wanting to shake her awake, like this was merely a bad dream they would both stir from. "Lin! Lin, please. Don't…"

It was no use. He bowed himself over her, slipping his arms under her back and shoulders to hold her body against his tightly. His weeping was quiet and excruciating, his tears falling onto the pallid skin of her neck and into her hair. Her head fell to the side limply.

"This woman means a lot to you."

The unfamiliar gravelly voice startled him, and he raised his face in dazed confusion. It was Ku, with his regained sense of self now able to speak clearly. All Tenzin could do was stare at him dumbly. This was all too surreal, all too unbearable. Surely this was not happening. Any second now, Lin would say something acerbic, she would push him away from her and scoff at how touchy he was getting lately.

But she didn't. Instead, she remained lifeless in his arms, her soul traded for Ku's. For his, he realized sharply, his heart aching so horrendously he thought he might die. "I love her," he rasped to the spirit hovering over them, the admission breaking him all over again.

"Yes," Ku agreed simply, lowering himself closer to the floor. "She cares for you, too. It was very easy to feel."

His blazing green eyes swept over them both and he nodded a few times, as if thinking to himself. "She did not fight me, when our souls met. She sacrificed herself to me. It was not something I was expecting, and because of her actions and her strength, I am whole again." He paused, reaching out with a vined arm to touch her forehead. "I did not want to hurt her, either time I found her. Knowing I did so makes me very sad. I would like to bring her back. Mmm, yes, her body is accepting of this."

"W-what?" Tenzin could only watch as a small flare of light came to life under Ku's fingertips, on Lin's forehead. It blazed briefly before extinguishing. He withdrew his arm. Lin herself seemed wholly unchanged. "What happened, what did you do?"

"I returned her soul," Ku said in his low tone. "It had not yet passed on, given the chaos in which it was forced out. Give her body time to recover, however. Human bodies are quite frail sometimes, are they not, old friend?" He had turned to Weyoun, who was smiling through his own tears nearby.

Tenzin, though, was no longer paying either of them any attention. He had felt the faintest puff of breath against him. "Lin?"

Her eyes were closed and she did not respond to her name, but he laid her out on the floor again, eagerly running trembling fingers over her cheek to find her neck. A thudding pulse, which had not been there minutes ago, was beating life through her body again. Color was returning to her face, heat to her skin. He leaned over her to press his forehead to hers, cupping her cheeks as new tears of joy and relief spilled down over his face.

"Tenzin…"

He laughed, though it half turned into an elated sob. Her eyes were still closed when he opened his, and he wasn't sure if she was answering his call from moments before or if she simply felt him nearby, but he put his thumb gently against her lips to prevent her from speaking again before she was ready. "Hush, it's all right. You're all right."

She made a soft sound at the back of her throat.

"You saved us, Lin," he murmured, his thumb tracing her lips in a way he hadn't done in years yet could not stop himself from doing now. "You saved Ku, you helped Weyoun. You stopped Rala from harming anyone else." He fell silent for a moment, closing his eyes again and tilting his head so his nose brushed hers. "You saved me."

She moved slightly, holding a hand up toward his face. Her fingers only just swept across his damp cheek before they began to fall, and he quickly grasped them in his, holding them where she was trying to reach. "I'm sorry," she breathed.

"No, Lin, no." He shook his head quickly, raising himself slightly and turning his face into her hand to kiss her palm. It was the one he had cut, though the blood had long since stopped flowing and the wound was dry. "I should be the one begging your mercy, every day for the rest of our lives. I can only hope you'll forgive me."

She let out a slow breath, the air hitting Tenzin's lips as she did. Her eyes were still closed and no more response was forthcoming. He wasn't even sure if she had heard him, though her fingers moved slightly against his skin. He didn't mind. She was alive, and that was all he cared about. Everything else was trivial in comparison. After another long moment simply basking in her living presence, he turned his head to glance over his shoulder.

Weyoun was sitting on the stairs, watching without trying to interfere. Rala's twisted body was still very close by, all of a sudden a stark reminder of what had been done to cause this. Ku was hovering behind Weyoun in silence.

"We should find Eri," Tenzin said softly to the older man. "The healer. Just in case there is something more for she can do for Lin. And Rala…" As loathe as he was to do so, he leaned back into a kneeling position, still keeping Lin's hand encased in his. "I should at least do a ritual for him before he's buried. We don't need any more displeased spirits around here after this."

Weyoun nodded his agreement and used the banister of the stairs to help himself to his feet so he could go in search of Eri. Ku hesitated for a moment before following after him.

"Tenzin…"

Lin's hand squeezed his, and he looked back to her quickly. She was gazing up at him blearily with cheerless eyes, blinking heavily through her fatigue. Tenzin turned around fully and pressed his free hand to her warm cheek. "Welcome back."

She gave him a fleeting smile and closed her eyes again.

"What's the matter?" he asked worriedly, leaning close and rubbing his thumb over her skin.

"Bodies," she whispered hoarsely. "Under the floor."