A/N: Written on a spurt of sadness because of the first episode of Book 4.
I don't own The Legend of Korra.
It had been ages since Mako, Bolin, and Asami had seen each other.
Yes, they were all extremely busy—Asami worked day and night to finish the trainhouse the president requested in a month, while Mako was hardly seen out of uniform as Chief Beifong's right hand man. Bolin was in the Earth Kingdom with his new job, working as a soldier. Things were hectic and crazy, and time was always scarce for them.
At least, that's what they told the people who asked.
What the public didn't know was that President Raiko had actually set the deadline for the project more than four months away. Crime rates had significantly dropped in Republic City, especially with the airbenders around, and Kuvira had actually allowed Bolin a week-long leave.
These things Mako, Bolin, and Asami kept to themselves because the truth was, they needed excuses not to run into each other. Of course, they called each other every now and then, but that was mostly to reaffirm the reasons why they wouldn't be able to see each other.
They were asked about it—in interviews, by the people at work, and sometimes, even by people they had never met before. They all whipped out the same trained response: "Things have been busy."
Sometimes, there were even people who thought they understood. They would sport knowing looks, nod sympathetically and remark how Team Avatar really wasn't the same without the Avatar.
Even when asked individually, all three of them would react in the exact same way—they would look away from the inquirer with just a hint of a sarcastic smirk playing on their lips, probably even giving just the tiniest shake of their head. It was only they who knew the truth after all; of course other people would think like that. It was common sense—Team Avatar required the Avatar.
What the people didn't know, however, was that Team Avatar was so much more than that. It was a year's worth of laughter, tears, pain, joy, heartbreak, and fun. It was a ragtag group of almost-adults with completely different backgrounds and personalities, but nonetheless learned to love each other like family. It was inside jokes and near-death experiences, all in the name of saving the world.
But as impossible as it sounded, they all knew that Team Avatar could exist with or without the Avatar. Yes, they were lacking something essential at the moment, but it wasn't what everyone thought.
It was Korra.
Korra, with her bright blue eyes and winning grin and her zeal for life. Korra, always standing up for what she believed in, never giving up without a fight. They missed her confident voice, her tan skin, the sound of her laughter. She was the reason they had all been brought together, the reason their lives gained a purpose. She was the center of their group, and yet she was missing, throwing them all out of orbit. More and more each day, Mako missed the girl he loved, Asami yearned for her best friend, and Bolin longed for the closest person he had to a sister.
As long as she wasn't with them, Team Avatar was nothing more than a bittersweet memory, something that may have been too good to be true. A reunion, a meet-up, or even a dinner with just the three of them would be futile and would only emphasize the gaping hole they were already well aware of. There was no need to subject themselves to the pain of seeing an empty chair in the table for four, or attempting the impossible task of avoiding anything related to her in conversations. Unlike Korra, they didn't have the courage to face things head on, so they all decided they'd rather avoid it. They kept themselves busy and drowned themselves in their work, and it had been effective for the past year.
So whenever they were asked by the curious public about how Team Avatar was doing, they could never give a direct answer. Little did those naïve souls know that as long as she wasn't there, there wasn't any Team Avatar.
Because Team Avatar wasn't Team Avatar without Korra.