Rangi found Yun on the outside balcony of Jianzhu’s old apartment, overlooking the city's skyline. She had no idea why anyone in their right mind would choose to be outside at this height- the bitter winds of December bit at her soul and every inch of exposed skin, despite the effort she had gone through to dress warmly.

Yun stood with his back to the apartment's door, gazing out onto the city. Like her, he had donned a thick winter coat appropriate for the weather. His long, uncombed hair was held in a high ponytail the same way he had styled it since Rangi had first met him. Unlike before, though it was long- much longer than it had been when Rangi had known him. The coat he was wearing seemed warm but worn, most likely years old or secondhand.

"What are you doing out here?" Rangi snapped as she approached Yun. It was hard not to be frustrated with him- he had been missing the entire evening, right when everyone needed him most. He just kept disappearing. "Kyoshi's been looking for you for hours and you're here?"

Yun turned to Rangi, revealing the parts of his form that had been concealed to her initially- his tired eyes, the flush of red over his cheeks from the cold, the lit cigarette held between his fingers.

"Really, Yun?" Rangi scoffed. From what she knew, he had taken up the unseemly habit some time in between when he left the first time and when he came back- he had to have done so. Rangi wouldn't have let him start smoking under her watch.

"Shut up," Yun muttered. "I don't bother you about your shit, don't bother me about mine."

"Oh, please, like you ever leave me alone nowadays." Rangi had once known a Yun who was kind, respectful, and charismatic. She didn't know where that boy had gone or when he had grown up.

"Your mom kicked me out again." Yun confessed. "That's why I'm here."

Of course. Rangi sighed and put her hand to her temple. Her fingers were colder than she expected. "What did you do this time?"

"I didn't do anything but exist in her presence." He paused. "Of course, even that's enough for her."

"It's-" Rangi became overwhelmed with the urge to defend her bloodline. "She cares about you, Yun. She really does, I promise. It's just-"

"I'm not her perfect little prodigy anymore, am I? She's found someone better."

"Yun, you know that's not what this is about."

"It's not? I could've sworn it was when she called me her greatest failure in front of Zoryu fucking Keohso. Your mother only cares about you because you're blood, and she only cares about Kyoshi because she couldn't fuck me up anymore."

"If you would get your head out of your ass for one minute you would realize how ridiculous you sound. My mother only ever wanted the best for you. She loved you. She trusted you. And you betrayed that trust."

"I didn't betray anything! She sent me away when I was sixteen!" Yun barked. His grip tightened over the bar of the railing. Rangi couldn't tell if he was steadying himself or bracing for a fight. "Sixteen, Rangi! What kind of loving parent sends away their ward when they're barely only enough to drive?"

Rangi paused. It wasn't often Yun brought up what had happened to him in the five-year time period between his strange disappearance and sudden return, so much so that she had a very incomplete image of what exactly had happened to Yun during the time. Now, she had a new piece of the puzzle. "My mother sent you away? Why?"

Yun stiffened and turned back to the skyline. "That's not important." He took a drawl of his cigarette. "So. Kyoshi sent you?"

"Yes. She sent everyone out to find you." Rangi paused. "You really think you can show up after five years, get everyone excited about seeing you again, and then turn up like this?" She gestured vaguely at his appearance, not wanting to have to pinpoint exactly what was wrong.

Unfortunately, Yun read right through her. "Is something wrong with how I look?"

"You know what I mean!" Rangi barked, though she was sure he didn't with that vague of a description. "You're- what happened to you, Yun?"

Yun glanced up towards Rangi and studied her features. "What?"

"You heard me."

"Yeah, and I already told you I'm not gonna say where I've been. It's none of your business."

"You disappear so thoroughly that we all think you're dead and it's none of our business? We had a funeral for you! We deserve to know the truth!"

“You’re the ones who tracked me down and dragged me back. Have you ever considered that maybe, if someone disappears, they don’t want to be found?”

“We tracked you down because we care about you, Yun!”

“If you really cared, you would’ve left me alone instead of dragging me back… here.” Yun sighed. He turned around so that his back was to the skyline. Rangi followed the motion.

Neither of them said anything for a still, silent moment. No matter how much she tried, Rangi couldn’t get comfortable in the present, torn between the knowledge of what she should be doing- taking Yun back, taking him to Kyoshi who was no doubt worried sick about the both of them, returning to what they all knew was a lie- and staying in this mockery of a memory, this parody of how things should be. If the two stood still enough, remained constantly quiet, someone could take a snapshot of the moment and almost pass it off as a memory from a timeline where things went right.

Rangi exhaled and saw her breath form a pale cloud in the dim light. It was colder here than she liked, the harsh winters a world apart from the small coastal village she had grown up in. Irrationally, she wondered why her family had ever left to the freezing hell they were in now.

She wondered, still irrationally, if the bitter cold was why Yun was so intent on leaving the life he had built in this city- this terrible, cursed, freezing-cold city.

“Did Kyoshi…” Rangi started, unsure of what the rest of the sentence was. Did Kyoshi know about where Yun had been or why he left? Probably not. Did Kyoshi ask about it? A fifty-fifty chance depending on just how much she thought she deserved to know. Did Kyoshi apologize for something she never did- something she didn’t need to apologize for?

“Did Kyoshi tell you that we’re dating now?” Was what Rangi settled on. Given her other options, this was the safe route. Barely.

“We as in… you and her? You’re dating Kyoshi?” Yun asked. He didn’t make eye contact. His expression stayed neutral.

Rangi hesitated. “Yeah. We got together about… almost a year and a half ago, now.” They had expressed their love under the joy of a long-ago summer, a blue sky that knew no bounds. Now, two winters later and one more summer passed, she stood under a different sky, a dark void above her promising nothing but the end of things.

The end of what, she didn’t know.

“Huh.” Yun said. His voice was so soft, it might’ve been a whisper. “I- I guess that makes sense. She always seemed happier around you than she did me anyways.” The man’s face was unreadable- Rangi supposed it would be, Yun was uncannily good at masking his emotions whenever he wanted to remain indecipherable. And for once, Rangi knew why Yun wanted to appear stoic about the matter. For a while, he and Kyoshi had been together, against the wishes of Yun’s ‘father’. According to Kyoshi, at least, they had really, truly, been in love.

And then Yun had left.

The five years the two had spent apart had done a lot to the both of them. Rangi knew that at least Kyoshi harbored no romantic feelings for Yun, not anymore. As for Yun…

Well, if Yun had cared about Kyoshi- if he had cared about any of them- he wouldn’t have left, would he?

The wind at their backs picked up speed and intensity, chilling the already-freezing night by a solid few degrees. Rangi straightened her posture and put one hand on Yun’s shoulder, leading him back into the apartment- into the warmth of the inside and the hostile comforts of old memories. “Come on, let’s go inside. Kelsang will be heartbroken if you die of frostbite after all of this.”

To her surprise, Yun wordlessly complied.