𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐓𝐇𝐀𝐓 𝐈 saw when my eyes first opened was the bright light shining down upon me. Wincing in pain, I blocked the light with my hand while also letting out a groan. My head didn't feel right at all; all my thoughts were fuzzy like I couldn't concentrate on anything that was going on around me. It reminded me of what had happened when I was a little girl, the fuzzy feeling did. I hated it.
Warmth overtook me as someone laced their fingers through mine. The touch was so tender and sweet, allowing me to forget about what happened all those years ago. I couldn't open my eyes or the pain in my head would get worse, so I focused on the feeling of the hand in mine. My ears were picking up on some voices; I didn't listen to that hard to them. Instead, I listened to the sound of my heart beating steadily in my chest. I was still alive, even after everything I had been through. I was a survivor.
"Raya, are you awake?" a soft voice said. "Please tell me you're awake."
I squinted up at the person talking to me and muttered, "I'm awake now."
The only thing I could see was the signature hair of Tahno as it flopped into his face. He must have been running a worried hand through his hair a lot because it was a mess. I knew there was another person in the room with us, but I didn't want to look at who it was. My head couldn't take the immense light.
"Mako, go get the doctor," Tahno said. I winced in pain as his voice hit my ears. "Tell him that she's awake."
A voice answered Tahno, but they were much softer than Tahno was. The soft click of the door told me that whoever else was in there had left. I groaned as a wave of dizziness hit me.
"What's wrong, Raya?"
"My head hurts so much right now," I told Tahno. Thankfully, he sat forward, blocking all the sunlight from hitting my eyes. He was shrouded in darkness as he blocked the light. The pain in my head lessened slightly, giving me more headspace to think about what happened." "What's wrong with me? Where am I at?"
"You fainted," he said with a quick nod. "Thankfully, there was a doctor at the match, so you got help very quickly." I continued to stare up at him, so he sighed. "We're actually in Mako's apartment above the arena, waiting for the doctor to come back. He had to go check on one of the spectators. A fight broke out right as you passed out. One person probably broke his nose."
The match. The probending match. I frowned slightly as I began to remember what had happened before I fainted. I was angry about something, I knew that. Angry and confused, perhaps. I didn't know right then, but I knew I was still angry at Tahno for whatever happened.
I didn't have more time to try to remember what happened because the door to the room I was laying in opened up. A man I had never seen before entered, with Mako trailing behind him slowly. Mako looked upset about something as he hovered in the corner of the room. The man walked up to me, an easy smile on his face.
"How are you doing, Miss Raya?" he asked gently. His voice was low enough that it didn't hurt my head.
"Not so well," I told him truthfully.
He laughed softly. His gray hair made him look older than he was. If I blocked out the gray hair, he would be a handsome man. "Well, Miss Raya, it's because you have a concussion," he said with a nod. "I assume you have been feeling very dizzy lately and have also had a recurring headache."
"Yeah, I have." Tahno gave me a look, but I ignored him. I didn't need him on my back about me ignoring what was wrong with me. "I just thought it was because I was working so much that I felt like that."
"It could have added to your pain, but the concussion is the root of everything that has happened thus far." The old man gave me a soft smile, reaching into his pocket. He produced a pair of glasses with dark lenses and handed them to me. "These will help with the light. I made them specifically for people who get concussions since I'm usually called here when there's a terrible match."
The man stood up straight, and I slid the glasses on my face. The pain in my head lessened slightly, and I smiled at him. "Thank you!"
"You're welcome, dear." He looked over at Tahno and said, "Is she going to stay with you?"
"Yes," he said as I was saying, "No."
"Raya," Tahno said, giving me a weird look. I ignored it with a shrug. "We live together, so, of course, you're coming home with me." He laughed nervously, but I shook my head. "I don't want to fight with you right now."
"Then don't. Allow me to choose where I want to stay," I said, giving him a grin. However, the grin was laced with a little anger, telling him to back off.
"Yeah, let her choose," Mako said, stepping forward. He had a glare on his face as he stared at Tahno. "She's her person. You don't own her."
"Neither do you."
"Boys, stop it," I said, sighing. I figured I would get angry, but no anger came. Instead, I was disappointed in them for fighting yet again. By now, I knew that they were fighting when I fainted. They made it very obvious by the angry tension coursing through the room. Even if I did have a concussion, I wasn't blind to the anger. "Tahno, I'm going to stay with Nora. Mako, I don't need you fighting my battles, but thank you."
"How are you going to get to Nora's house if you don't have a ride?" Tahno asked, raising an eyebrow. He turned his anger back on me, but it lessened when he saw the disappointed look on my face. "You know we don't have a car, and if we did, you wouldn't be able to drive it."
I stuck my tongue out at him as Mako said, "I know someone that can drive her." He stood up and walked out of the room, leaving Tahno and the doctor, and me alone.
"Raya," the doctor said, and I glanced over at him, "for the next couple of weeks, I want you to lay low. That means no working, no straining physical activity, no nothing. You need to stay in bed and relax."
"I can't do that. Sorry."
"This is serious," the doctor said, a frown appearing on his face. He crouched down, looking me straight in the eye. "If you don't relax and rest, you may end up dying. Trust me on this. I've had people die because they didn't follow my directions."
Fear washed over me, and I looked over at my brother. Dying was not an option right now. I didn't want another near-death experience again. He had a worried look on his face as he locked eyes with me. He shook his head once, and I sighed. "Fine. I'll take two weeks off from work and relax. But after those two weeks are up, I'm going back to work. Nora won't make me work that much."
"Thank you. I'll check up on you next week, alright?" I nodded, and the doctor smiled. He stood up and waved, leaving the room.
"Why didn't you tell me sooner?" Tahno asked, moving forward. I adjusted the glasses on my face, glad that most of the pain was gone from my head for right now. "Even I know that hitting your head is serious."
"I wasn't worried about it." I shrugged, shaking my head. Just that movement made me dizzy, so I screwed my eyes shut for a second. "I've gotten headaches nearly my whole life, so I didn't question why my head hurt. I was confused why I was so dizzy, though."
"Raya, I'm your brother," Tahno said quietly. I opened my eyes and saw him staring at me with a concerned look on his face. He took my hand in his, saying, "I know I've been a jerk recently, but that doesn't mean that I stopped caring about you. You're the only person that I can be my true self around, and that's saying something." He chuckled softly, his dark hair falling into his eyes. "I'm sorry I wasn't a good brother --"
"You are a good brother!" I said quickly, cutting him off. "You're an amazing brother. I haven't been the best sister to you."
"Maybe we both need to work on that." He gave me a quick grin, letting go of my hand. "Do you still want to stay at Nora's?"
"Yeah." Tahno nodded, but he didn't look quite as upset as he did before. He was wearing that smile he usually wore around me at home, which meant that he wasn't angry with me. "Don't worry, though. I'll stay with her for a couple of days and then come back home."
"Good."
There was a soft knock at the door, so Tahno went over to it. He stuck his head out into the hallway and spoke a couple of words with the person there. I strained my ears to hear what he was saying, but he spoke too quietly for me to hear anything. He stepped out of the room, and in his place was Mako. He didn't look very happy, which I understood completely. Tahno and I destroyed his scarf, one that he held dear. I would be upset if that ever happened to me.
"I'm sorry for ruining the scarf," I immediately tell him. "But it was bound to happen sometime and --"
"I didn't come in here to talk about that." His tone made me frown. There was something in it that didn't sound right at all. He forced a smile onto his face as he said, "I came to say that I don't think we should see each other again."
My throat went dry. I wasn't sure if I heard him correctly or not. My head had to be playing tricks on me right now. He didn't want to see me again? I thought there was something between us, something good. I was sure that we both shared feelings for each other, or at least were attracted to each other.
"It's for the best, really," he continued. He wouldn't meet my eyes, though. Instead, he was staring at a fixed point just beyond my shoulder. "I've never been good at relationships, and this proves it."
"What proves it?" The voice that came out of my throat was scratchy and shaky. "I don't understand, Mako."
"It's my fault that you fainted. I was too focused on my hatred for your brother that I couldn't focus on what was important - you."
"It wasn't --"
Mako held up his hand, silencing me. This time, he locked eyes with me as he said, "It was nice meeting you, Raya. I'm glad we got to meet. I'm sad that that's all we'll ever be, but it's for the best." He stood up and headed over to the door. With a final glance back at me, he gave me a sad smile. "Goodbye, Raya."
And just like that, he left. I was still shocked when Iroh and Sarrin and their little girl walked into the room. They were saying something to me, but I wasn't paying attention. I couldn't. Mako's words were still playing in my mind, over and over again. I didn't think they would ever leave me alone for the rest of my life.