Thousand
Hey guys, yes I know it's been forever and a day since I've done a Makorra fic. Miss me? Awwe, I know you did. ;D
This is just a quick little ficlette that has been niggling at the back of my beautifully creative brain for a while. Inspired by the last episode (or second to last?) of Avatar: The Last Airbender when Azula shoots Zuko full of lightening when he dives in front of Katara- Same principle except with chi blockers and Mako and Korra. Tada! I know, I'm a genius, but unfortunately for the both of us not enough so that they would hire me to write LoK.
*sigh* Cue disclaimer: Never owned, never will.
It was pouring. Thunder was crashing, shaking the very earth. Or maybe that was Bolin. If he was still able to bend that is. Lightening flashed across the sky, mirroring the chi blockers swift strikes. The rain stung, so cold it almost burned. The freezing liquid seemed to burrow its way deep into my skin, and soon I couldn't tell if I was shaking from exhaustion or from the layer of ice that seemed to coat my bones.
A blinding flash of fire here, the sharp, disjointed notes of metal meeting metal there, and the constant torrents of rain made it nearly impossible to see. Only the pitter-patter of the rain on their light armor alerted me of their presence a second before it was too late. I was on my hands in knees, coughing out the smoke and water that made an unholy substance in my chest.
A sharp kick was delivered to my side, jolting me onto the concrete. That got the shit out of my lungs just fine; the dying embers of my energy flared again, fighting not to fizzle out. My arm became jelly, and I couldn't push myself up. The eerie glow from a chi blockers goggles and the crackle of electricity had me rolling to the side just as the stick was slammed in the exact place I had been a moment before.
I forced myself to my feet, stumbling just a bit as my arm hung limply at my side. The slight tingling in my fingertips let me know that it was there at all. There was a blow to my stomach, and I hunched over instinctively, eyes widening as I realized my mistake. Just as I was about to straighten, minute jabs ran parallel to each other on either side of my shoulder blades rendering me as weak as a baby spider-fly caught in its own web.
I took another step back, and my already sore back was met with brick. I shifted, and clenched my teeth to hold in a moan as the abrasive rock rubbed against my bruised and torn skin.
Another flash of lightening, this one lighting up a new scene: Mako calling out for me while Naga followed him silently, her tail tucked between her legs. Bolin and Chief Beifong were lying across the saddle, but neither was moving. I opened my mouth to answer, but instead of a yell it came out as a squeak as someone gripped my pony tail forcefully, nearly ripping it out of my scalp and shoving an electrical stick under my chin.
The chi blocker's eyes glowed hatefully under the goggles, a terrible smile breaking across their face. They jammed the electric stick into its holster, ripping off the leather helmet. Her usually shiny and smooth ebony waves were frizzy from being contained, her pale cheeks flushed with color and a wild look in her flashing green eyes. The phrase green with envy ran through my mind.
"Asami?" I hated how my voice shook, how weak I sounded.
"Hello Uh-vatar" She adopted the degrading nickname from Tahno, and I wrinkled my nose in disgust. "You've been causing a lot of problems for Amon and me."
"What do you want Asami?" I ground out, baring my teeth.
She laughed manically, throwing her head back and jerked my hair once more with her dainty hands. "Equality- and get you away from my boyfriend." She sneered, and when I tried to protest, she snarled and slammed my head back against the crumbling rock. "I've seen the way you look at him."
"Asami," I breathed, eyes watering as I felt something warm that was definitely not rain soak into my hair and drip down onto my neck and shoulders. "Please- don't do this."
She shook her head slowly, her pearly white teeth glinting in the darkness. "You know what? I think after I have Amon take your bending away, I'll make you watch him take away Mako's. I always thought it was unfortunate that he was a bender. It's almost time to rectify that little genetic mishap though." She reached into the holster again for the weapon that would send me into blissful, unconscious oblivion.
"Korra!" Mako called out again hoarsely, struggling to be heard over the storm. Asami turned at the sound of his voice, and I saw my opening. I grit my teeth, thinking too late- this is gonna hurt before I ripped my hair out of Asami's loosening grasp and dived onto the cracked concrete beneath out feet. My back screamed in pain, and a groan slipped out of my mouth as I rolled, staggering to my feet a few feet away from a vicious Asami.
I could barely make out her quivering frame despite the fact that we were standing right across from each other. Then suddenly, she went still. Another flash of lightening came and went, but it was enough. She was staring at my feet… which were immersed in one of the gushing rivers that over took the streets.
She let out a barking laugh, not at all like the tinkling giggles she let slip out when she was clutching Mako's arm at some joke he told. She gripped both handles of the sticks in her hands tightly, and rushed forward, skidding on padded knees to rest in front of me.
Too late. The words flashed on my eyelids as lightening lit up the world that was temporarily closed off from me. Too late for everything. Too late to master Air bending. Too late to win the tournament. Too late to stop Amon. Too late to save Republic City. Too late to save what could have been with Mako.
In that single second, I closed my eyes, flinging my arms back, palms open and back arched, welcoming the dousing rain for what would probably be the memory I would have left of this life. Asami screeched victoriously, and I saw her in my mind's eye, about to slam both sticks down on the slick pavement.
I was jarred out of my stupor as a strong arm snagged around my waist, flinging me out of the rapid water. My eyes flew open just before I landed on something soft and very much alive. Mako let out a blood curdling, spine chilling scream, seeming terribly and horrifically beautiful as the volts ravaged his body.
Naga held onto my parka tightly as I lunged forward, holding me back. "No," I breathed, struggling weakly against her brute strength. "No," I was louder now, eyes filling with tears, shouting against the wailing winds. "NO!"
Asami looked at my sharply, narrowed eyes widening beneath sickly green goggles. She looked back to Mako, still writhing under the continuous torture. She pulled back, panting but still grinning wolfishly at his smoking form.
"Naga." I growled, the sound filling my whole being, making me even more shaky then I was. "Off." She immediately let go, whimpering as I sprinted towards the pair.
I gently turned Mako over, and he twitched as lingering electricity spider webbed over his clothes before he went still. I gasped, shaking my head as his broad chest shuddered one last time. I brought my head down to it, not caring if I burnt my hair. I didn't hear the steady thump, thump that had lulled me to sleep when we were in the park, looking for Bolin, or the whooshing of air in his lungs as I delivered a particularly powerful attack during training. There was nothing except for the deafening thunder and the sound of my own heart breaking.
I clutched his cold face in my hands, leaning over him, rocking back and forth as I called his name. It became my mantra. "Mako, Mako, Mako. Please wake up. Please." Again and again and again. I dropped my forehead onto his, body shaking with sobs against his limp one.
I hadn't noticed that Asami had risen to her feet, towering over us. No, not us. Just me.
"He got what he deserved. And now it's time you did too." Something inside me hardened, willing me to stand even as my legs shook from grief and exhaustion.
"You're right." I said faintly, like I was hearing it from a distance, from a memory. A thousand faces, a thousand lifetimes, a thousand memories- None would be as deeply engraved as seeing Mako die and me being powerless to stop it. "There will be consequences. But not for me. For you, Asami Sato."
I vaugely felt myself rise into the air, bending the currents to my will as everything began to glow in a white-blue light as all the cycles of Avatars before me rushed into the present.
To be continued…
Um- Yeah. Okay, this was supposed to be a one shot, but because I love getting reviews, I'm going to split it into two chapters. You know what to do: Click the button! Ten people do this, and it'll be complete. So- reviews are loved, the people who write them even more so. And I mean this truly.
SNO.