shots in the dark
XI: Jinora
but with you, i feel again
"Last day in the shack," Kai's voice greets her first thing in the morning, his face swimming into focus. Blindly she reaches up a hand and feebly pushes him away.
"God Kai, personal space," she says, trying to sound annoyed, but she can't stop smiling. As Kai backs away she sits up, stretching her arms. There's a loud crack from one of her elbows, which is a scary because for a moment she wonders if she's done something to it, but after a few tests of swinging her arm back and forth, she knows it's fine.
"I know it's silly," Kai plops down next to her, "but I'm gonna miss this thing." He pats the nearest wooden wall of the shack fondly.
"Careful, you might make it cave in on us," Jinora says dryly, rolling up her sleeping bag. "But I know what you mean. It was nice to have some place that's relatively safe for once."
"On the bright side," Kai says cheerfully, pulling out their map. "We're only a day or two from Omashu." He places the map back in his bag carefully so it doesn't get crumpled.
"A new coat," Jinora says brightly, slipping her arms into the sleeves of her current jacket. She shoulders her backpack, heavy with food, water and other necessities, her knife held in one hand. Her knuckles are cracked from the cold, dried blood trailing along the cracks, but she's almost immune to it now. The early winter has made it's home inside her bones.
The air is cold and crisp, the few stubborn leaves hanging onto their branches swaying in the wind, bitter against her face. Everything is dusted with powdery snow, a thin carpet of leaves and snow underneath their feet.
"You know," Kai begins, "it's too bad there isn't more snow. I can throw a mean snowball."
Jinora raises an eyebrow, smiling. "Oh can you?" She bends low and scoops up some of the fluffy snow in her bare hand, and quickly throws it into his face. "You might need to be more resourceful."
"Hey!" Kai splutters, brushing his face free of the snow. Laughing softly, Jinora reaches up and combs her fingers through his hair, picking out some of the snowflakes when she pauses, studying him carefully. The stubble on his chin has grown, and he was quite scruffy.
"Don't start growing a beard on me," she tells him, smirking.
"As long as you down start growing one on me," he jabs, giving her a playful shove. Laughing, Jinora rejoins his side.
"Shut up."
This is what having a best friend is like, she realizes, beaming at him, far more radiant than the sun, shining dully in the cloudy gray sky. Maybe at least one good thing would come out of a zombie apocalypse after all.
"When we get to Omashu," Kai says around the fire that night, "we should get marshmallows."
"Marshmallows?" Jinora repeats, half-laughing.
"Roast them around the fire. It'll be like a good old camping trip," he picks a stick off the ground and pretends to pull a marshmallow off the end.
"A good old camping trip in the middle of winter with death, you mean," Jinora adds, chuckling. There are only two options: be terrified or joke about it; Jinora prefers the latter. It makes Kai smile, anyway.
Kai laughs, bright and clear in the cold, silent night. "Well if this is a campfire, shouldn't we sing some campfire songs?"
Jinora raises her hands. "I don't sing."
"You're a killjoy, that's what you are," Kai says, trying not to smile. Jinora laughs so hard she snorts.
"You're wrong; you're my best friend," she corrects him. Kai's smile softens.
"Yeah," he agrees, "I guess I am." Jinora's grin reaches her eyes, lighting them up in the firelight as their eyes meet.
"You're also an idiot," she teases.
"And you're mean," he sticks his tongue out at her. Giggling, Jinora turns her attention to the stars.
Now that the clouds have faded, they're as bright and lovely as they've ever been, she thinks, remembering her first night after the Sanctuary fell when the stars had brought her peace. Her smile fades, her eyes turning sad. Things were better now, but they are still going to be hard. Kai seems to sense how she's feeling, placing a hand on her shoulder and giving it a reassuring squeeze.
"Hey," Kai says gently, and she turns her attention to his face, eyes shining with the light of the stars, "it's going to be fine. You got me, right?"
Jinora covers his hand with her own, squeezing his freezing fingers. Like her own hands, his are rough and cracked from the cold. She traces a thumb over his hand gently. But underneath the cold, there's a pulsing warmth. He's warm and alive and still standing next to her. Her nightmares never have to be a reality. "Right." Jinora half-smiles at him.
He grins back.
"Dammit!"
Jinora whirls around in alarm, staring at him. "What's wrong?" They're walking in the woods, alongside a gravel road that has long been overtaken by nature, the road is still etched into the landscape.
"Stubbed my toe on something," Kai grumbles, shaking his injured foot slightly, looking for the source. Jinora helps him search, when she finds it: a glittering silver chain, barely visible in the snow. Cautiously, she picks it up.
"This?"
Kai nods. "It looks man-made." She hands the chain over to him. "It seems recent, well-oiled. And attached to something. It's probably part of a hunting trap, you know?" Kai eyes it warily. "There must be other survivors around."
"And that's not a good thing?" Jinora judges from his tone.
Kai sets the metal chain down carefully. "Maybe, maybe not."
"Thanks for the straight answer," she says dryly.
"You didn't let me finish," Kai rolls his eyes. "It just means we have to be careful. They could be allies, safety in numbers you know? Or they could be psycho. Trauma mixed with the survival instinct makes people do crazy things. The head of the Hunters told us about this Hunter once, you just completely lost his mind one day, just snapped, and ran at a pack of zombies without a single weapon. They tore him to shreds. Zombies, at least, are predictable; humans aren't."
Kai glances at the trap and Jinora swallows hard. For so long, she hasn't thought of any other humans except her family and her best friend, and certainly never thought running into other survivors could be anything but a good thing. She knows that if she and Kai hadn't stumbled across each other, she likely wouldn't have lasted long on her own; nor would have Kai, for that matter either.
"We'll be ready for either case, then," Jinora tightens her grip on her knife, raising her head up high.
Kai smiles a little at her. "That's the spirit Jin."
"Someone has to keep us from losing our minds." Jinora lowers her knife, readjusting the strap of her bag. Having found its position to her satisfaction, she loops her arm through Kai's. "Or maybe we should be all poetic and lose our minds together."
Kai squirms out of her grasp punches her lightly on the shoulder. "I think I like the first idea better, but we'll call that Plan B." He lets his hand fall, her fingers just brushing hers.
Her hands aren't so cold anymore.
Jinora knows Omashu is a big city, but when they stop at the city's gates, the sheer size of it takes her by surprise. The buildings scrape the clouds; quite a few of the skyscrapers have collapsed in on themselves. A light dusting of frost coats everything, but Jinora doesn't have to imagine the chaos that must have taken place. Thousands of people lived and died here, everything changing within the span of a day.
"It was named for a pair of lovers, you know," she tells Kai as they linger at the entrance. He doesn't seem to want to go into the city; maybe the magnitude of everything is hitting him too, and it's not just her with a lump in her throat. "According to the legend. And during the 100 year war, it was called New Ozai before being reclaimed by the Earth Kingdom."
"It was a great city," Kai agrees. He purses his lips as if tasting something sour. "Now it's just dust." They stand in the silence for a few moments before Kai breaks it, "Ladies first?"
"What a gentleman," Jinora replies, but she leads the way into the city anyway, Kai following close behind. Whatever the city brings, at least she has him by her side.