A/N: Here we go, folks. Sorry for the delay. Hope to hear from you soon! Happy Spring break everyone
Healed and Hunted
Home
Chapter Forty Six
The Airport
Kat
She sees Mushi coming back with various Russian trinkets, and she is broody. She doesn't want to be angry-especially not at him- but it was hard not to be. They had all lied and kept secrets. But, honestly, it was tiring being angry. So, she closed her eyes and envisioned the anger as breath. She breathed in, collecting all of the negative emotion, and breathed it out, calming herself.
Lee is sitting next to her, having to use a wheel chair to get around, neither of them particularly chatty today. She wonders, briefly, if he is apprehensive about flying.
Toph, who decided to come home as well, is sitting across from Kat, seemingly interested in all of the noise around her. Toph could speak Russian. Well, she'd picked it up quickly, anyhow. It seemed the language agreed with her.
Kat had been struggling, but could now hold a conversation with children.
She supposed it didn't matter, now.
"Here, give these to Kyoshi. And this one to Alice. And this one goes to-"
"I will, Uncle. You've told me already." Lee said, sounding tired. He and his Uncle had been going back and forth about what to do now. Mushi was staying here, just for a little while longer.
Lee didn't want to leave anyone behind in this place, and Kat could hardly blame him. She wanted nothing more than to put things back where they belonged.
When the time came for them to board, she hugged Mushi tight. He had her promise to call him when they landed, and when they were home, and just any time she felt like she needed to talk to someone. He said he would be home in a few months, depending on how the war went.
She asked him to watch over Aang, quietly so that no one would hear. She was still hurt, but he was going to need someone here.
Toph apparently wasn't going to do so.
They flew first class, and Kat took the time to appreciate the fact that, even with a war on, commercial airlines still found time to operate. Normally, they would have taken Appa, but the poor thing was sick, and they couldn't exactly take him to a vet. He was 400 years extinct, after all.
Kat holds Lee's hand while they sit, and falls asleep with her head on his shoulder. They don't speak, but she thinks they both find comfort in the touch. It is reassurance that they are, indeed, together again. It wasn't fair that their lives had been so altered.
But it didn't matter. They were going home now. Together.
International Arrival Gate
Kyoshi
She remembers the last time they were here, in this very airport. Two years ago, before Alice had been born. They had waited until the last crew member had climbed off the plane, waiting for an uncle that would never come.
Now, her aunt was coming back. Both of them, actually. And they had a surprise. Kyoshi hoped it was chocolate. Grandpa Mushi had been sending Russian chocolate since he left, nine months ago. It was really yummy.
Alice is fidgeting in her stroller, so Kyoshi wiggles her fingers to entertain the girl. Alice was so cute! But sometimes Kyoshi wished she would stop squealing. People kept looking, especially now. You were supposed to be quiet-ish in the airport.
"This is their flight." Daddy said, looking at all of the incoming people.
Kyoshi stood on her tippy-toes, trying to see. Bodies washed by, one surge of heat and smell, but none of them were her aunts. Minutes crept on, and dread filled Kyoshi's heart. This wasn't going to be like last time, was it?
Ten minutes, then fifteen. She knows that Aunt Tara will be here. She promised.
Twenty minutes, and Kyoshi turns to her parents.
"This is the right one, right?" She asks.
Her father is staring at the door, waiting patiently, "She'll be here."
Twenty-five. Crew members were now starting to file off, and Kyoshi closed her eyes. She didn't want to see this again. She had her posters, just as she did then. Welcome home, Aunts Tara and Toph.
Welcome home, Uncle Lee
"Oh my god." Her mother said suddenly. This tone of voice was reserved for the highest of surprises, so Kyoshi looked back to the door.
She knew she wasn't supposed to-not in an airport full of people- but she screamed. She, in all four foot nine of her, pushed everyone out of her way, shoving elbows into people's sides trying to get them to move.
Once she broke free of the crowd, she took off in a full sprint, only stopping just shy of a wheeled chair.
"Kyoshi." The man said, surprised and misty eyed.
The girl pulled the chain from around her neck, producing a very fat ring that she had watched over for two years. She'd prayed every night to trade this ring back for Uncle Lee, and no one had listened.
"This is yours." She said, dropping it in his extended hand. She looks to Aunt Tara, "You…found him?"
Her aunt nodded, "Something like that."
"I prayed so hard." Kyoshi rubbed her eyes, "I'm so glad."
"Hey, kid, what? No hug?" Uncle Lee asked, eyes bright with his own tears.
At that, she jumped to him, not realizing that he was still hurt until he groaned, and buried her face in his shirt. He mumbled, but didn't push her away. She sobbed, because he was finally home! Aunt Tara was home, and Aunt Toph.
"I prayed, too, kid. I missed you." Uncle Lee breathed into her hair.
Her parents were behind her, now, but she didn't care. They could wait their turn.
"You should introduce me to your sister. I haven't met her yet."
The little girl nodded, laughing. This was so wonderful! Better than chocolate. Better than the birthday where they had all crammed in her closet, or the time when Uncle Aang had shown up at her school. Better than when daddy had come home from the hospital. Better than when Alice had been born.
"Uncle Lee, this is Alice Ulva. Alice, this is our Uncle Lee. He's been gone a long time, but he's home now. You're gonna love him. He loves Aunt Tara, and he hates tea, and he wears lady pants." Kyoshi explained to the infant, "You remember all the stories I told you, don't you?"
"Hey, I haven't worn lady pants in three years! That was one time!" Uncle Lee objected, sounding insulted.
Aunt Tara snorted, "It was one whole year, at least. Don't act like you didn't dress like that all the time. You totally did."
When the two of them laugh, Kyoshi feels something weird. She didn't notice the tension before, but suddenly, in their exuberance, she feels something beautiful. It sounds like healing.
It sounds like home.
Kat's Art Studio
Lee
It has been lifetimes since he's been here. And, judging by the state of things, the same was true for Kat. Dust was everywhere, coating paint containers and canvas alike.
She didn't want to come here, but he'd asked her to. After a little cajoling, she drove the two of them here. Everyone else went on back to the farm, which had apparently also been abandoned in his absence.
"We'll have to order something to eat. There's no food here." Kat told him, turning on the lights in the kitchen, "I don't even know if the water is on."
She came back and sat next to him in the middle of the floor. He could walk short distances, but had been too tired to go any further than this spot. They moved to lay down next to one another, and he put his head on her stomach, comforted by her breathing.
Lee shrugged, "I could really go for some Chinese."
"Sounds good. I'll call it in, mkay?" She moved to get her phone, making the call before he could say anything. She didn't bother asking what he wanted- she knew. He missed this ease.
His head bobbed with her breath, "Kat, I don't know where to start."
A hand of hers found his hair, "You can start anywhere. The bad days, the good days, if there were any. I can't stop the hurt any, but maybe I can help you bear it."
He bit his lip, "I was so afraid that I was never see you again."
That was the crux of his imprisonment. Every day, wondering if her airport-goodbye kiss was the last. Wondering what she was going to do after he was dead and gone.
"I never… I wasn't afraid of dying. I just…I wanted to get back to you, and tell you I loved you. Because I never said it enough. I could spend every breath for the rest of my life saying it, and it wouldn't be enough."
They can't look at each other as he speaks. They're both an emotional wreck, and it won't do to make eye contact and admit it. Right now, they were bearing the weight together, and Lee was going to power through.
Without thinking, he starts his story.
"I had just answered your text. I said see you tomorrow. Tossed my phone on the bed. I was about to go to sleep when Azu-… when Azula banged on the door. And we ran."
Her grip tightens on his hair. He bent back into it, fighting the first wave of panic that overcame him. He kept having to remind himself that he was safe. He moved further into her lap, and she adjusted.
"They were in the hall. They shot me with… something. I don't know. I slept for days." He continued, eyes closed, "And when I woke up, we were in that camp."
"It was near Perm Krai. I don't know if anyone ever told you." She was very quiet, and he barely heard her.
"No, they didn't. Thank you."
Silence.
Then, he continued, "I watched my sister waste away."
"I'm sorry. That must've been…impossible." Kat breathed. He could hear her struggling, trying to keep her emotions in check. She was carrying his burden, and doing her best not to complain about it.
"Aang rescued me a few days later. It was…awful."
Her foot starts to tap, and they both jiggle with the movement. She's redirecting her energy. She doesn't know what to do. Neither of them, really, do. What do you say, in a moment like this? Where a soul's damage is being laid bare, ragged edges and all?
The doorbell rings, and Kat pushes him off, not looking at him. He can hear her talk to the doorman, who asks if she's alright. She answers by saying she was watching a sad movie, and shuts the door. The white boxes are placed in a ring around him, Kat making sure he could reach all of his food.
Lee and Kat ate together, occasionally sharing bites of food, feeding each other with chopsticks. It always ends terribly when they try, but they do because it's amusing. Today it is his time to end up with a noodle hanging off of his face while Kat laughed.
He removed the noodle and tossed it at her, feeling slightly guilty when it lands in her hair. She scoffs, surprised, but keeps laughing. They both giggle like children, and Lee is elated. He hasn't felt so light in a very long time.
He takes her hand, kisses it, and then leans to kiss her. He thinks it's been a million years, but here they were. He's got the rest of his story to tell, the parts he skipped over, but it was enough. She was his, and he was hers.
And nothing was ever going to be more right than that.