Chapter Text
Fiat iustitia, et pereat mundus
He had failed. Again.
He had failed his best friend again.
He had failed the world again. Both of them.
All of them were responsible for this, and there was no turning back. But most notably him.
"We have failed", said Jianzhu to the mansion staff as he arrived in bloody clothes. Others followed him inside. They all were drenched in blood. There was nothing else to say. Nobody did elaborate.
Their group dispersed. He waved off the questions from the girl Kelsang adopted, Kyoshi, and slammed the door right into her nose. He ignored her scream as she hit her nose and he locked the door of the room. He didn't want to talk to anyone right now. He wanted to never wake up from this.
Again, he thought. He was great failure. He was mainly responsible for this. Everyone from their group felt like this, but he knew he was the sole responsible person.
They had lost a lot of men which went to the failed negotiation. A lot of good, loyal men, who were conscripted either from Earth Kingdom army, or given pay to serve the Avatar.
That was bad, but these were replaceable. A lot of the men would trip over their own feet to serve the Avatar, especially for his pay. It was awful, but not unfixable.
They had lost master Amak. The waterbender had been one of the Jianzhu's newer friends, whom he met after Kuruk's death. He taught both him and the Avatar poison resistance. And he was supposed to teach Yun waterbending when he was ready to learn it. He is gone too. But there are a lot of good waterbending masters in both of the tribes. He would also be replaceable. They weren't really close friends, but he would probably miss him.
The greatest loss, not only for him, but for the world too. The loss of the Avatar. Avatar Yun had been slain by Tagaka, the Pirate Queen, soon to be chief of the Southern Water Tribe perhaps too. Or conquer Shimsom. Or anything. Avatar is gone. Next avatar would take another 16 years at least, even if they started it's training prematurely. Jianzhu had wasted his entire life by teaching 2 avatars with no future. And he had failed both of them.
He dedicated his life to keeping this world in order and won't give up like that. But there was no hope for this world in close future.
Kyoshi felt huge dread when Rangi wouldn't even look at her now. She ignored the pain from hitting her nose on Jianzhu's door. Something was wrong.
Even Kelsang didn't have his easygoing smile he always had. What did it really mean that we have failed? And where is Yun? Was he captured? Or hurt? She went to Rangi's room and knocked. She heard sobs from inside and as she knocked, the sobs turned into a roar as she screamed "Go away Kyoshi". Kyoshi frowned and opened the door anyway.
First thing she saw was that entire room was smoking. And Rangi glared at her with tears and flame in her hands. Her robes were torn apart and she was only in sleeveless white shirt. Kyoshi blushed when she saw her, but Rangi screamed again "Go away!"
Kyoshi scowled "I want to know what happened there."
Rangi screamed again "Just go away!" Kyoshi wanted to say more, but she felt a hand on her arm. She stiffened and turned around and saw Kelsang. She had never seen him this sad and she gulped as dread took over her. She never saw Kelsang sad in the first place. He always had faked whatever he felt with his easygoing smile.
This was very serious. Did it have to do something with Yun? She gulped as she feared the worst.
"Come Kyoshi, I will tell you, don't make Rangi even more angry, I don't want to be burned." he spoke hollowly, failing to produce any humor in his statement.
Kyoshi followed out of Rangi's room. What she didn't know was that Rangi followed them too. When Kyoshi found out, she didn't say it. She didn't want to risk turning Rangi angry again. Rangi didn't scream like that on her ever since the mansion was under construction. And she didn't want to provoke her again.
Once they entered Kelsang's room, he locked the door. Kyoshi's eyes widened. He never did such thing, he wasn't used to it at all as well in the air temples and in general had nothing to hide from anyone.
When he locked the door, he turned to her. Rangi grabbed hold of her arm, and she felt tears pool from her eyes onto her robe but Kyoshi didn't mind it.
Kelsang took a slow breath, then spoke hollowly "Kyoshi, we failed. Avatar Yun is gone." he said simply.
Kyoshi's legs buckled and she collapsed on her knees. She didn't know when. She felt completely numb now. She saw rather than felt Rangi's grip get stronger but it didn't hurt. She saw smoke from her hands, but she didn't feel the burning. She saw Kelsang's arm on her shoulder but didn't feel it. Her eyes were leaking but she didn't feel it.
Nothing mattered now. Her friend was gone. She will never be able to see him again. She will never feel his touch again, see his smile, hear his laugh, anything. He's gone.
The same words hit her again and out of numbness and she broke down too. Kelsang and Rangi embraced her and let her cry while crying themselves too. Rangi was shivering from her sobs and Kyoshi squeezed her harder. Avatar was gone even before his era had begun. This was precedent in history, no avatar had died recently before even mastering any element other than native.
She cursed herself for this. He invited her. Jianzhu didn't allow. She had to know something like this would have happened. And she had no guts to speak to Jianzhu about it.
She knew it was not what she would have done. She would gladly take a blow for the Avatar. If he wanted her to protect him, the only way she could do it would be through sacrificing herself. She was no fighter or bender.
She still felt guilt about it. And it made her sob harder. She felt her head hurt from all the tears. The Avatar had died, but more importantly for her, her friend had died.
She will have revenge. She will kill Tagaka and bathe in her blood. She will kill all of the pirates. They will suffer. Spirits help anyone who would take them from me. Both Rangi or Yun.
Once they let it all out, Kelsang grasped shoulders of both of them and brought them on their feet. He spoke "Jianzhu will probably try to secure the body from the pirates, so we can give him proper burial. But they will demand a lot for it, I am not sure their terms would be good."
Kyoshi spoke, her voice cracking "Jianzhu will do everything they say if that is needed, right? Or he could beat them all?"
Kelsang looked away "I hope so too. I don't know anymore."
Kyoshi scowled "How could you say that? Isn't he your best friend?"
Rangi spoke now "Jianzhu was the most shaken person from this. It would make sense to at least give Yun respect of being buried traditionally."
Kelsang spoke hollowly "We will start searching for the Fire Nation Avatar. But it may take another 16 years. And the world needs avatar right now." He gave a signifficant look at Kyoshi and Kyoshi's sadness turned into dread. She knew what he thought about. He continued "This is horrible occasion but we must move on. I hope we could procure Yun's body to give him a proper funeral like an Avatar deserves." he said solemnly.
Kyoshi and Rangi nodded, tears falling to the ground with the sudden move "Now, go to your rooms and try to channel your emotions out without destroying the room." he tried to insert humour but failed. Kyoshi scowled at his attempt but was also glad that he failed, because she couldn't bother with his behaviour. Kelsang unlocked the door and Kyoshi and Rangi left without a word.
Rangi took Kyoshi's hand on the way out. Kyoshi shivered from the contact but ignored it. There were more important matters now. There was an Avatar shaped hole in her heart. Which wasn't her. She could never be Avatar. Avatar was slain yesterday, Kelsang is wrong. New Avatar will be from the Fire Nation now. And not her.
She didn't even realize until too late that both of them ended up outside, in the mansion's backyard. A crescent moon was shining high in the sky and Rangi let go of Kyoshi's hand and spoke to her "I missed you there. I had hoped that Jianzhu would have relented but now I am glad that you weren't there. You would have died there. A lot of good men have died there. I had blood all over my face for some time. But I failed to protect him. I failed in my duty, Kyoshi. I was his bodyguard. I was supposed to take the hit instead of him. But I failed." Kyoshi dimly registered another person emerging from the house.
Rangi pulled out a knife from her pocket. Kyoshi gasped while the person behind said nothing. Kyoshi felt dread. She couldn't lose Rangi too "Rangi, no!"
The person behind spoke harshly "Don't interfere, Kyoshi. She has to do this." Hei-Ran, Kyoshi recognized the voice. Rangi pulled the knife over her head and took top of her topknot in other hand. Then she turned to them "For my failure in my duty, I shall be stripped of my honour." In one swift motion, she cut off her topknot entirely, took Kyoshi's hand and put the severed topknot into it. She looked at Kyoshi, as she closed her hand, her face completely serious. She then looked at her mother, which looked at her the same way, and then she entered the mansion alone. Kyoshi couldn't follow. She was too stunned to follow. Hei-Ran, understanding Kyoshi's thought process, spoke once Rangi was gone "She swore on her honour to serve the Avatar and protect his life. In Fire Nation it is most valued. By failing this she has no right to have topknot by tradition. She stripped herself of her honour and the only way to restore it is to fix her mistake. But this one is unfixable. Avatar is gone."
Kyoshi started shivering, not even noticing that Hei-Ran also went back. She clenched her fists as she shook. She felt ready to break down again. She felt she was responsible. She couldn't have saved him. She could have only died with him. But she would have been then at peace. Her life was worthless compared to Yun's. Rangi's life was worthless compared to Yun's. And she swore to defend him. She could understand the feeling even if she didn't understand the symbolism.
It was only some time later that she felt that Rangi's topknot in her hand had disappeared. Nothing was there anymore. She felt like she will go insane. The southern winds started blowing harder and Kyoshi started to feel the cold. She slowly entered inside the mansion and only when she was inside did she see that her hands were dirty, covered in something black, soot like. She scowled and went to clean them. A jolt passed through her and an horrifying idea, but she pushed it away. She was cleaning the fireplace today, the winds probably dispersed Rangi's topknot. She didn't burn it. But she was pretty sure she washed her hands afterwards.
Yes. She is definetly going insane. And she didn't know how to stop it.