Prologue: Fallout

"No Korra! It's not okay! He's your father!"

"You don't get to tell me what to do with my father, Asami!"

"Korra, please... just listen to what he has to say... Listen to what I have to say..."

"You know what? No! You, of all people out there, have no right to butt into my business like this!"

In an instant, Asami's gaze froze; the fiery edge to her glare vanishing in an instant, replaced with a haunted, almost hollow look. Seconds later, the raven haired woman turned her gaze aside.

A nerve had been struck, and Korra knew that she had gone a step too far...

"... I... Asami... I'm-"

"I'm just trying to stop you before you make a mistake that you will regret for the rest of your life." Asami interrupted before she turned hard on her heel and stormed away at a brisk pace. Even if her head was held high, it was easy to tell from the way that her shoulders sagged that the woman had been hurt by such a comment.

"Asami wait!" Korra cried out after the fading image of her partner, but still, Asami's figure continued to fade into the distance...

"No! Asami!... Come back!"

"Asami!"

Korra jerked awake in her bed, her hair matted against her forehead and dull with perspiration. It was another dream. That same dream she had been having ever since Asami had left for her business trip with some foreign dignitary...

Above the avatar, a small stream of light shone brightly through a crack in the drapes covering one of the windows in her room. The early orange blaze of dawn had finally broken the darkness of night across Republic City. How many days had it been since Asami had left? One? Two?... How many days until she would return... One... Two.. Too many...

Heaving a groan, the avatar allowed herself to fall back onto her pillow as she brought her knuckles up to her eyes and rubbed away the lingering vestiges of sleep. With a sigh, Korra shifted around on her bed, using her forearm and bicep as a makeshift pillow for her head. Her thoughts lingering on that of her now absent friend... companion... partner...It had been a few days since Asami had left Republic City for some business opportunity in a foreign land. New Opportunities... as Asami put it.

"Pfft... more like a waste of time..." Korra growled to herself. She might have been the avatar, but Korra was still impatient as ever. Things like this just seemed to drag on forever, and things were only made worse by the fact that she couldn't do anything to make them go faster.

Matters were only made worse for Korra, knowing that those things she had said in her dream were the words that the two women had parted ways with. There wasn't a hug and a kiss and a gentle "See you soon", but instead only spiteful words and bitter tears. At the time, Korra simply couldn't quite bring herself to think straight. Looking back on the things she had said, the avatar knew that she taken things a step too far. It was something she had a nasty habit of doing. She was naturally hot-headed in matters like these. More importantly, she didn't get defensive when she was wrong, she got aggressive... And this time, Asami had been on the receiving end of it.

Grumbling to herself in clear annoyance with the things she had done, Korra finally kicked off her blankets and rolled out of bed. Not much point in loafing around in bed and letting her mind mull over her mistakes now, right?

A few minutes later, Korra emerged into the Sato Estate's expansive back yard. It was a strange place to live in, even if she was only staying at the estate temporarily. For the most part, Korra only stayed there simply because Asami lived there. Only now, seeing as that Asami was away on some trip, the place seemed oddly empty even if Mako and Bolin's relatives lived in the place...

Thankfully enough, before the avatar's mind could wander back to that topic she was so desperately trying to avoid, a familiar body barreled straight into her, knocking her over before place more than enough sloppy licks all over Korra's face.

"Ah! Hey! Ahahaha! Aww, c'mon Naga..." Korra giggled as her polar bear dog gave her a typical good morning greeting. The avatar returned Naga's enthusiastic greeting by giving the polar bear dog a familiar pattern of pats, strokes, and rubs across her face.

"There, there, who's a good girl..." Korra questioned with a smile, "Now will you let me up?"

Finally obliging her master's request, Naga backed away, allowing Korra to rise back to her feet. Yet, before the avatar got too comfortable, Naga made a slight whining sound, the polar bear dog turning her head around and sniffing the air as though she were looking for another person too.

"... Sorry Naga... Asami's still on her trip..." Korra sighed, her thoughts dampened once again when she was reminded of the things that had come to pass.

Not quite able to understand what Korra was saying, Naga merely made another whining sound and gave Korra another lick on the cheek, clearly trying to cheer her back up.

"Alright! Alright, I'll stop making that face, jeeze!" Korra laughed again, finally pushing her cloudy thoughts away and focusing on her giant, furry companion.

Seemingly satisfied, the polar bear dog merely trotted behind Korra before sticking her nose between the avatar's legs, swiftly moving forwards and then tossing her head upwards, flipping Korra onto her back.

"Okay, Alright Naga!" Korra laughed, unable to resist her pet's charms. "You know if you wanted to head out for a walk, you could have just told me..." She continued, teasing her friend ever so slightly.

Naga merely growled in response and started trotting away towards the rear entrance while Korra continued teasing her.

"It'll just be us for today then, Naga!" Korra finally spoke up after she felt like she had teased her companion enough times. Just the two of them...

Just like old times...

Asami gaze bored a hole into the metal ceiling above her. For the past hour, she had nothing more than the drone of an airship's engines to keep her company. It was a tediously long trip, but the raven haired woman did her best to keep a positive outlook. The possibilities in this business venture seemed promising at least. And yet, Asami couldn't quite shake that lingering sense of doubt from her mind. It was a nagging sort of annoyance that constantly reminded her of the sour note she and Korra parted ways with.

Thankfully enough, before her mind could flash her with those vivid memories of Korra yelling at her, the airship's captain emerged from the pilot's cabin.

"Miss Sato, we have just entered our nation's airspace. We will be on the ground within the next hour..." He respectfully addressed Asami.

"Thank you..." she replied with a nod of her head.

With that, Asami returned to her seat and fastened the buckle around her waist, and of course... her mind wandered back to those thoughts of that one special avatar that always plagued her mind...

"... Korraaaa..." Asami sighed to herself with a measurable amount of exasperation. Had she really been too tough on the avatar? The raven haired woman shook her head slightly and turned her gaze down to the tips of her boots. No... all she had said was that Korra should have at least listened to what her father had to say, and yet Korra had been so vehemently opposed to such an idea. What was it that Korra's father wanted anyways?

Again, Asami sighed as her mind came up blank yet again. It was all a great mystery to her... Why was Korra so upset? What was it that her father had said to put such a rift between father and daughter? Annoyed with the amount of things that she clearly didn't know, Asami bit the edge of her lip and cast her gaze out of the closest window. Her eyes were immediately met with a brilliant crystal blue ocean that seemed to sprawl out for eternity. When she looked downwards, her gaze found a similarly vibrant shade of green. Foliage belonging to some sort of tropical trees...

Despite the fact that she was descending into a tropical paradise, Asami merely leaned back into her chair and shut her eyes, waiting for that inevitable bump that would signal their landing.

Her thoughts still focused on that of Korra, Asami merely renewed her determination to figure out what it was that had caused such a fallout between Korra and her father. She knew better than anyone else how much the split had hurt her back when her own father committed his crimes, and seeing such a thing start to happen between her closest friend and her family was simply agonizing to watch. Whatever it was, after this business trip was over, that was going to be her top priority.

Asami wasn't about to let Korra go through the same pain she had to experience so many years ago...

At last, the gentle jostle of a soft landing shook Asami out of her brief internal reverie. They were here at last, and she needed to have herself together if this business plan was going to work. As the doors to the ship opened, Asami's eyes were met with the vibrant hues of a tropical paradise. The colors of life all sprung out at her, shining brightly beneath the tropical sun.

Never the less, Asami shut her eyes, took a deep breath, and steeled her resolve before finally taking her first step out into paradise. Little did she know, as she took those fated steps down the airship's boarding ramp, she was creating the very perfect storm she was trying to prevent...

Author's Notes:

Hello everyone, I hope you enjoyed the prologue to the next story that I am writing. Those of you who may be following me here from Behind the Veil of Power over on the league of legends page, welcome back, and I hope that you will enjoy what I have planned. Next chapter should be out within the coming week. I'll be keeping this A/N a little bit short seeing as that this is only the prologue for what is to come. It's good to be back, and I hope to see you all in the chapters to come.

-M