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"We need to talk." Lin growled. No longer trying to mask the disdain in her voice, nor caring about how the Waterbender in front of her felt.
Kya had barged into the station, much to Lin’s surprise. She had been dead set on avoiding her former friend ever since she’d arrived back home.
"I've been trying to talk to you for weeks now." Kya murmured, placing her hand on her friend's shoulder.
Kya had permanently moved to Republic City after the destruction caused by Kuvira. It seemed like the most logical decision, it would allow her to stay longer hours to help with reconstruction and healing efforts for stranded citizens.
Her soft smile quickly faded when Lin pulled away and headed towards her office, Kya following quickly behind.
"Why are you here?" she snapped, sitting down in the chair by her desk, arms folded to her sides like they always were when she got upset.
"What do you mean? Here in Republic City? You might be chief but that doesn't mean you can tell me where to stay and go." Kya teased.
"You know what I mean." Lin hissed. "Why are you at the station? I don't want to talk to you right now. I have to focus on work."
"Am I really that distracting Beifong?"
"Don't call me that." Lin warned.
It seemed to be working. The last chance effort of getting Lin to talk to her was coming to the office and annoying her. It sounded pathetic, maybe it was but Kya was desperate to make things right.
"Would you rather me call you chief Beifong, chief, Linny, perhaps?" Kya taunted.
"Get out."
"Lin-" Kya grimaced, walking over to the desk side opposite of the Earthbender.
"No. You don't get to come here after twenty years to my office and taunt me." she snapped, with a clear emphasis on the ‘my’.
That's when it hit, the realization. Lin was still pissed, of course she was. Kya had to sit down on the chair when she realized. Why didn't she think of it sooner?
"I'm sorry Lin." she paused. "I didn't want to hurt you." she whispered, trying to keep the tears from starting. She knew once they did she wouldn't be able to stop them.
Lin suddenly slammed one of the books she had been holding onto the desk, producing a large thud. Moments later a confused Mako barged in, not fully comprehending the tension in the room.
"Everything alright in here chief? People heard a crash." he stated as a reason for coming in without knocking, an action he had been yelled at for beforehand.
"Fine. Tell everyone to leave."
"What." Mako questioned, it was still early and many people still had a lot of work to get done.
"You heard me, tell everyone to leave." she repeated once more.
Kya could see the way the officer was gritting her teeth in anticipation. They stood there for a moment in silence, an agonizing couple of minutes went past. Then, Lin got up from her chair, opened the door and made sure everyone had left. It was just her and Kya, the Earthbender wasn't sure if that was a good or bad thing yet.
She sat back down on her chair, huffing a big sigh of air that did nothing to calm her nerves. "You wanted to talk. So talk." Lin grunted, waving her arm in the air.
"I- well..." Kya stammered, the confidence she had only moments ago now gone. "You're angry at me. I messed up."
"Of course I'm angry. You come into my office unannounced and tease me." she scoffed.
"Dammit Lin, we both know that's not the issue here!" Kya scolded.
"Then what is? Hm? What is the issue Kya?"
The vague grin on Lin's face alerted her to what was really going on, and what she really wanted. She wanted Kya to say it outloud, what she did all those years ago.
"I left. I ran away." Kya murmured.
It wasn't her proudest moment. In fact, it was one of the worst times in her life. Lin was also going through a hard time and she knew that, and decided to leave anyway.
"You didn't even come to say goodbye."
Kya could hear the falter in Lin's voice. Her heart broke when Lin repeated what she had said once, then again. As if it were a mantra that needed to be heard.
"I couldn't." Kya choked out.
"No, you wouldn't. You were my bestfriend and you wouldn’t say goodbye?" Lin shouted.
She hoped that her check of the station was through enough. That she hadn't missed anyone that could be hearing the things coming from both of them now. At this point she wasn't sure if she cared enough to do anything.
The healer couldn't hold back the tears that ran down her face, messing up the light amount of makeup she had on. She wasn't sure what to do, or what to say to make it better anymore. Part of her was unsure if there was anything she could do to begin with.
"Kya, I- I didn't mean to make you cry. Just go home. We can talk later, it's late." Lin pleaded.
She wasn't sure if she really wanted Kya to go. Or if she wanted to hold her friend and never let go like she should have done a long time ago.
"I loved you." Kya choked out in between heaves and her labored breaths.
"what was that?" Lin asked, now concerned and upset with herself more than she was at her former friend.
"I loved you!" Kya shouted, she couldn’t tell if it was anger or sadness fueling her confession but she no longer cared. "I left because I loved you and you loved Tenzin!"
Silence filled the air. Lin couldn't comprehend the words that came out of her mouth. Everything seemed to be blurring together and all she could do was stare at Kya while she broke down in front of her.
"You loved Tenzin and I tried to be happy for you... but every time you talked about him I wished you were talking about me. I wanted you."
"Kya..."
"Even when you weren't around- I had to listen to my brother talk about how great it was kissing the person I thought was the love of my life. I couldn't do it." she sobbed.
"So you left?" Lin asked, handing her a box of tissues.
Kya let out a humourless laugh at the small gesture, grabbing the box and wiping her makeup and stray tears off of her face.
"I wasn't planning on it. The night it happened I was actually headed to your house. I was going to confess. Apparently I had been interrupting something." Kya revealed.
Instantly, Lin realized what Kya had seen. A moment between her and Tenzin. A grossly mistranslated one at that. Before she had the chance to speak Kya spoke once more.
"The next thing I knew I was back home packing my things, writing a note for my parents, and buying a ticket for the farthest place I could think of."
"Kya… He broke up with me that night. What you saw, whatever you saw, we- he ended things that night.”
Lin wanted to scream, to shout, to tell Kya that she loved her. That she was sorry, sorry for not realizing. For being too damn stubborn to do anything now.
“So you’re telling me I left for nothing?” she groaned, “I left you right after you got broken up with, oh spirits, I’m an idiot.”
Kya got up, pushing her chair in and getting her stuff to leave. It was what she did best. Better to do it now than get hurt or hurt her friend again she thought.
“Don’t go. I loved you. I didn’t realize then but I did. Don’t go.”
“I don’t want to hurt you again.” Kya murmured, pulling her hand away from the door.
“You’re going to hurt me if you leave, if that’s what you want then go.” she said. “But we’ve already been hurt enough for one lifetime so please… Stay?”
Lin felt embarrassed. She never asked people to stay. Never bent from her stubborn display of strength and independence but she didn’t care anymore. She knew Kya wouldn’t just waltz into her office if she messed this up again.
She was thankful that in a lifetime of bad luck that the spirits were on her side this time. She let out a sigh of relief as Kya sat back down.
“Tell me about it.” she jokingly demanded.
“hm?” Kya murmured, still wiping the tears from her eyes, she was tired but so thankful Lin seemed to be opening up.
“Your travels. Tell me about them.” Lin insisted. “Or maybe tomorrow if you’re not up for it?”
“Is that your way of telling me I look tired Beifong?”
“Well you do.” the Earthbender teased. “Gorgeous, but tired.”
It was true. Kya had been spending more than a few sleepless nights trying to come up with the courage to even talk to Lin again after all the time that had passed. The hue of purple forming under her eyes among other things was only evidence of her disheveled circumstances.
“Go get some sleep. We’ll talk soon. I promise.” Lin said, walking her over to the door.
“No more pushing me away?”
“You’ll have to fight to get rid of me.” Lin retorted, punctuating her sentence by kissing the Waterbender.
Twenty years. Kya waited to kiss Lin Beifong for more than twenty whole years. She wasn’t wasting this moment now. She leaned down slightly, allowing for the chief to pull her in even closer. Lin couldn’t help but smile into the touch of Kya’s mouth against hers, it was better than she could have imagined, better than anyone else before the Waterbender.
“I don’t think you’ll have to worry about me trying to get rid of you. I don’t want to go home.”
“couch?” Lin questioned.
“Why do you have a couch in your office?” Kya giggled, resting her head against Lin’s, gazing into the green eyes she always adored so much.
“I crash here sometimes, large caseloads, no big deal.” she shrugged.
“you’re insatiable.”
“what does that make you?”
Kya sighed happily at the question. “just about the luckiest person in this whole world.” she responded.
Lucky because Lin was there with her. A second chance she wasn’t sure she’d ever get.