Chapter 40

“Kenna close the portal.” Rangi said firmly.

But she didn’t move, didn’t say anything. “Kenna close the damn portal, it should be fine now so please just do it!” Rangi pleaded as she approached the waterbender.

Tears started streaming down Kenna’s face, as almost a maddening torn smile crossed her features, but she still didn’t move.

“I can’t.” She cried out at last. Although it almost sounded like a laugh.

Rangi’s eyes went wide. “What do you mean you can’t? It should be fine now” She demanded.

Kenna pulled her arms around her middle. “Do you have any idea what position I have?”

What was Kenna talking about? Rangi thought as stood guarding Kyoshi’s limp body. “You better start explaining right now.” Rage still settled in her chest from Kyoshi’s actions.

“My sister Wren is the prodigy child.” She said almost mockingly. “And Narulok…” She took a second to look at her brother’s dead unmoving body.

“The one who took all the credit for my idea which I was fine with, I didn’t want anything to do with the spirits. I just wanted to help people to prove myself” It sounded like a plea.

“You still can, close the portal Kenna and everything will be fine” Rangi argued, still trying to figure out what was going on.

“But I don’t want to be in last place forever, I was always the weakest of the three and now I could say I’m the one who bested the avatar”

“So now what? What do you want?” Rangi said.

Kenna still looked very conflicted. “I don’t know, for a while I worked with Narulok. I thought that could put me ahead, I needed to get ahead”

“What do you mean you worked with him?” Rangi asked desperately.

“Well for one they always had your location, it was just a matter of preparation. And I tried to prolong the Avatar’s recovery for as long as possible so they could prepare, but she’s so stubborn, and you were always watching her. I never made any progress of the sorts towards my goal, it was basically useless” there was a sound of sparrow to her words.

“We trusted you, I trusted you” Rangi muttered when something clicked in her head. “So did you even try to help Kyoshi close the portal?” 

“No.” She suddenly looked guilty. “I couldn’t betray them, because if I could prove myself as helpful then I could maybe be considered something other than the worst”

“So what are you going to do now?” Rangi asked, a part of her felt bad for Kenna. To feel like you were always the worst, she almost could see the reasoning for the water bender’s actions.

“I don’t know” the tears continued down Kenna’s face. “All I wanted was to prove myself, to prove I wasn’t the weakest and now my brother is dead.”

“Then you’re free now Kenna you can do whatever you want. You don’t need to prove yourself” Rangi tried to offer.

“That’s not for you to decide,” Kenna snapped back.

In any other instance Rangi would have been furious that someone spoke to her that way but she still needed Kenna to close the portal, otherwise everything Kyoshi did, everything she had sacrificed would have been for nothing.

“I won’t try to kill you if that’s what you’re worried about, I’m not that much like my brother.” She smoothed her hair over. “Just walk away and turn a blind eye to everything here. Sounds good?” Kenna almost sounded like she was pleading.

Rangi’s eyes widened. “I still don’t understand”

Kenna sighed. “At first when I first came up with the plan, I was going to take the Avatar out if Narulok didn’t first. But then at that moment she was working on the portal, my golden opportunity, I couldn’t. You guys grew on me as pathetic as that sounds. I really hoped that you would have given up, so that we could have remained friends.” She continued.

“I was hoping that if Kyoshi couldn’t close the portal she would give up, and we could just go our separate ways, then I could have said that I had dealt with her and for the others not to worry,” Kenna explained.

Rangi tried to follow the jagadness of Kenna’s words, she had been a spy to monitor Kyoshi’s location. Then once Kyoshi insisted on Kenna coming she was hoping that Narulok would have either taken her out or Kyoshi would just have given up if she couldn’t close the portal. No matter what was going on now the only thing Rangi could follow for sure was that Kenna was never going to close the portal, no matter what they did.

Before either of them could say anything more the portal started to spit sparks again, it was wilder than before, it seemed to be almost failing. For a moment Rangi was convinced that the portal would just collapse here and now.

But then, probably the last person she wanted to see stumbled through. Wren’s feet landed on solid ground as she came through looking at the people surrounding her as her gaze fixed on Kenna first.

“What the fuck did you two screw up this time Kenna?” She yelled accusingly.

“I was trying to help”

Wren looked over to the brother’s corpse.”and what a great job you did” she said sarcastically. It’s then that she saw Rangi and Kyoshi on the ground beside her.

“Wow and great job to you too, body guard of the year.” Wren called mockingly at Rangi. “Has she finally gotten herself killed?”

“Close the portal Kenna” Rangi repeated for what felt like the hundredth time, trying to ignore Wren’s words.

But as she turned back to Kenna she was now crying hysterically. At this state Kenna would be completely useless to them, but now there was someone else who could fix it.

“I can’t do this, I won’t do it” Kenna yelled as she almost looked like she wanted to run. But Rangi wouldn’t let that slide, she yelled out to Lao Ge who had spun and sunk Kenna knee deep in the earth so that she was immobilized, and sobbing hysterically while Rangi could focus on Wren.

She approached the woman slowly at first, Wren almost looked like she would have wanted to attack at first, taking a jab at Rangi and then another. One hit her side, the other leaving her open enough that Rangi could restrain her. “I know you can close the portal so do it, ” Rangi demanded, holding her fingers out like a knife producing a small flame at the tip, inches from burning the water bender’s throat. She was done playing games, she would finish what Kyoshi started.

“Want to make a deal?” Wren asked, a grin forming. “And what would that be?” Rangi replied.

“As much as I know you hate it you need me just as much as I need you”

“And how so?” Rangi refused to admit how much Wren was right, but she didn’t know how she came into play. “What do you want?”

“I want immunity from the Avatar when Kenna and Narulok’s and only Kenna and Narulok’s sham falls to pieces”

So she wanted an out, she didn’t care about credit like Kenna had suddenly seemed to care about she wanted freedom. Freedom that she knew would be taken the second they left here if she was associated with the group. But it might be worth it, after all the balanced nation would be sure to crumble without its source of power, the spirits.

“Fine” Rangi didn’t even try to fight her on it. “I will admit to anything you say, you can have your immunity from the fire nation army but please close the portal. ” Rangi found herself almost crying as she begged.

“And how do I know that she won’t hunt me down?” Wren asked skeptically, Rangi knew exactly who she was referring to. “You only mentioned immunity from the fire nation.”

“Kyoshi is-” Rangi knew she was just saying this to get Wren to believe her but the words still made her ill. ” Kyoshi is gone,” Rangi cried as she stepped back from Wren, allowing her to move freely. The waterbender watched over Kyoshi’s body for a minute, she was barely breathing, Rangi thought certainly not nearly noticeable enough for as far as Wren was standing.

But even then Wren didn’t seem to trust her words. “And how do I know that you won’t go after me?”

Rangi looked at Kyoshi’s body and then went back to Wren. “Do you really think I care about that anymore? This was the last thing she wanted”

Wren looked from Kyoshi’s body over to the other members of the flying opera company, who’s attention seemed to have been caught by Rangi’s words. They remained still off to the side no one dared to move. They hadn’t heard the details of when Kyoshi explained her plan to only kind of freezing herself. To their knowledge they were some of the first to grieve Kyoshi’s death.

This finally seemed to convince Wren at least, she now held out her hand. “Fine, but you know I failed the last time I tried my hand at this stuff”

“Okay but just know your immunity is on the line” Rangi said firmly shaking on it.

Slowly Wren works at closing the portal, it looks exhausting, but she must know the value and the trouble that was waiting for involved members.Rangi waitched as it looked like ropes of glowing energy, similar to when Kyoshi was trying to close the portal, like huge stitches, slowly started to shut it.

Wren had to be able to close it now that Kyoshi had done most of the dirty work, leaving the portal essentially powerless. Rangi thought

As soon as it’s closed Wren nearly falls to her knees, but a smile still curls her lips. “There, now I get my immunity right?”

Rangi nodded, amazed that it had finally been done, there was nothing there anymore, just a burn from where it once stood.

But then a shriek fills the air, Rangi looks over to Kenna who is freaking out now. She had pulled any water she could and was forced to absorb into the ground until she could yank herself free.

“You ruined everything” Kenna yells at Wren grabbing her at the shoulders as they both fall to the ground.

Rangi and the rest of the group just stare and watch, unsure of what they should do. The two siblings continue to thrash and wrestle on the ground as Kirima and Wong start to move to the space between them and Kyoshi’s body. It was the least they felt they could do at this point. Her body deserves to rest. Kirima thought as they watched the siblings fight, not daring to look at what she believed to be a corpse behind her. 

Kenna seemed to lose all sight of reality as the two staggered to stand. “Why did you do that for them?” Kenna yelled as she shot ice at her sister.

“I had to put myself first”

Kenna scoffed as she evaded one of Wren’s attacks. “As if you would ever do anything else, you were ready to throw me and Narulok under all for the sake of yourself. I was keeping the portal alive so that we could all thrive”

“That has always been your mistake, you always think too much of others, and what they think of you” Kenna shrieks at Wren’s words as she uses a shortened water whip to attack her once again, but Wren freezes it joining the two together.

“You’ve always been weak” Wren shot.

Kenna closes the space between them even more. “And you have always thought of yourself as better, but we were always the same”

They fight now in closer proximity. “But we will all have the same fate” Kenna said as she used water to wrap the two of them together as she walked closer to the edge.

“Kenna you’re insane”

“Admit it,” Kenna demanded. “Admit that we are the same, that I can do something just as well as you. I protected the portal and disabled avatar in the process. We could have the nation for ourselves because of me”

“You’re crazy and you always have been, just chasing the attention of others” Wren shot as she struggled against her sister’s grip.

“Then I will prove we are the same”

She took a step back as they both fell, Rangi closed her eyes tightly as the sound of rocks crumbling along with the thud of two objects torn through the silence.

Wong walked over to the edge, alongside Lao Ge and looked over. As he turned to meet Rangi’s fearful eyes he shook his head. They were both gone. 

A ringing seems to string through the air, Rangi twisted and stumbled towards Kyoshi’s body, throwing herself over her, a hushed cry of exhaustion barely escaping. Eventually Kirima is the first to step forward as she tries to pull Rangi off Kyoshi’s body so they could leave, it still wasn’t safe here.

At first she wanted to yell at Ragi for letting Kyoshi do that to herself. The last she had heard was Rangi was trying to convince her otherwise, but now it seems she had failed.

“Rangi please let go” Kirima said softly as Rangi smacked her hand. “you have to let her-”

But she had stopped herself. Kirima had wanted to say she had to let her go, for now anyways. This was not a safe space to grieve. She could taste the salt of her own tears, as much as she hated to admit it Kyoshi had of course grown on her ove time. Even Rangi, which just made this more gut wrenching.

“NO”

Rangi huffed, her voice hoarse and strained. “You don’t understand she’s- she’s still alive”

At first the crew thought that Rangi was in shock and probably in denial. Kirima looked over at Kyoshi’s unmoving body, until she swore she saw her take in a shallow breath.

Kirirma knelt so that she was beside Rangi now as she pressed her fingers to Kyoshi’s neck to try and feel a pulse, but her body felt like it was frozen over.

Many long seconds passed, maybe even minutes. I must have been imagining things, I’m in denial. Kirima thought. This is really it.

Then she felt a light thud, she smiled through her tears. So Kyoshi really will live to cause chaos another day.

I finally feel like I kept my word on promising you guys another chapter soon. This chapter was kinda hectic so let me know if there was any confusion, or if you guys have any ideas on how it could have been better or made more sense let me know. I was writing this sort of manically so that might be on me. But I still hope you enjoyed<3