This is an idea that's been rattling my brain for ages, I've loved teleporter's since Jumper and it wasn't really until I thought of the character's as Asami and Korra did this story come to mind like fully formed. This is my first bit of fan fic so go easy.
Asami nursed her tea with a heat deprived sip. It was always cold in Republic City around the winter solstice but that didn't mean she had to like it. Even if the sky was indomitably beautiful, it was midday and the full moon still hovered pale and anxious in the blue.
In from the ice she waited and shivered, absorbing the hiss and bustle of the coffee shop around her, the smell made her nose wrinkle in a not too unpleasant manner, but the new crushed bean people were raving about hadn't peaked her interest quite yet. She tried not to drink too fast as she waited, not that she couldn't afford it, but if she drank the dozen or so cups she was craving, she might not be able to stay still enough to see Korra arrive.
She had had a telephone call the midnight prior, and Korra sounded elated and terrified, but refused point blank to divulge what had gotten her so riled.
Meet me at the new coffee place tomorrow 'Sami, trust me. This is something I have to show you in person.
How could twenty-one words hold so much hope? Asami chided herself for starting to expect too much. Korra was her best friend, nothing more. Since her accident it had taken time for her to even begin finding her way in this world again. Public services seemed to be a perfect fit, Asami had to admire how, after high school she had found the will to re-educate herself, from learning to walk, to taking up a new calling, police, paramedic, fire service, Korra was going to do it all. The CEO however was already thriving at something she was born to do, literally, she'd been learning to balance books for as long as she could remember. The pair had been inseparable for over a decade now, yet as of late, after caring for Korra so ardently this past three years as she reformed, Asami had felt her attachment grow, and in a big way. She had yet to mention it to Korra however, any moment she could break, relapse or go off the rails, Asami felt like her only lifeline. She couldn't bare to tarnish it with something so trivial as her unconfirmed unrequited complete adoration. Korra had only had hetero relationships, and Asami wasn't certain of her feelings at all. It was almost as if the more she pretended she didn't, it came true, and they were normal, easy, mixed with a bit of pain. Yet the evenings they spent together, casually watching movies, or sharing takeouts between work and school, Asami felt like the gaps between their thighs on her tiger-dillo skin couch was a chasm of volcanic consequence. Sure to explode if she edged her fingers too close to her leg. The months went by and Korra needed her less and less, as much as the heiress wanted to let her grow, she was having difficulty letting go. She was all to happy to know that Korra still depended on her, enough at least to call her in the middle of the night to let her know she was scared.
There was no logical connection between suddenly realising her love for the girl and her calling her to arrange a meeting at an ungodly hour. Korra wasn't cruel enough to play with her like that, was she? No, not her. She was certainly completely oblivious at times but Korra was always conscious of the emotions of others, unwaveringly kind, loyal, and yes, also brash, but Korra had a good mind for predicting consequences. Whatever had shaken her enough to reach out to Asami in this covert manner pointed to something big, yet unimaginable to the heiress.
Her alabaster ears almost pricked out of her raven locks as she caught a voice riding the steam. It took her a moment to witness Korra adamantly describing her order to the coffee clerk, bewildered at her odd frustration. Asami blinked, identifying mocha skin, muscular arms, hugged by a bloody bandage of her upper forearm, and her legs wrapped in sandy coloured cargo pants and black boots. What was most perturbing was Korra's hair, usually styled in wolf-tails at her cheeks and a pony tail high on the back of her head, was now a fetching, albeit slightly tousled brown bob that accentuated her jaw. Asami watched in disbelief as she listened to Korra reiterate.
"Come on Kwong, you've been doing my order for a like whole year; mocha latte with a caramel twist. You know this." The clerk blinked, eyeing Korra's cut face and arms and shuddering at the familiarity in which this apparent, dirty, bloody, sandy, stranger was using his name. He managed to open his mouth and form coherent words.
"We opened yesterday M-miss, I've never even heard of that drink."
"Very funny Kwong, just make it up like you usually do. And it's for Kor-ra in case you've forgotten you dolt. I'll be over there with Asami," and with that she threw her yuan on the counter and turned fully to Asami, grin widening in a way that made Asami's chest jolt. Her eyes softened and Asami swore, through her ridiculous inappropriate-for-the-weather tight white shirt, her stomach muscles were flexing all for her. The high school swim team and physical therapy had certainly been good to the Water Tribe Woman. "Hey you."
Before Asami had a chance to stand, Korra took two, perhaps three strides towards her, pitched down to her her eye level and shut off her brain with a gentile kiss on the heiress' open lips. Asami went numb and seized in surprise, barely registering her best friend's fingers seeping into her hair, tracing into places that sent shivers scoring down her spine. When Korra pulled away, sensing tension, she didn't relieve her of her delightful grip, her clear blue eyes searched Asami's emerald and brows drew together.
"Baby what's wrong? I didn't think I was gone too long this time." Asami double blinked in stunned silence as Korra inspected her, subconsciously tonguing the lipstick she had lifted from Asami's lips.
Asami felt the sting of tears bead in her eyes. She couldn't begin to establish what was wrong, but this was wrong. She had been so careful, so worried, so adamant in keeping her feelings a secret and here Korra was tearing them out into the open. How did she even know? Why would she even do this? Without another word she slammed down her now cold cup and shoved Korra back.
"Asami!"
"You're unbelievable." She clutched her hands to her chest and stormed out of the shop.
Kwong watched as he was about to charge Korra's weird though, not awful smelling drink towards her when he noted the distraught look on her face.
She marched over to him, ignoring her purchase her was preparing for her and demanded.
"You opened yesterday you say?"
"Ugh, yes, yesterday, December 26th 2014." He wasn't sure why he added the year, but it wasn't until the last number left his lips did Korra's face pale. She opened her lips an octave, and a revelation passed through them over a deft breath.
"Oh my god it happened to me."
What happened next made Kwong think he'd been slipped cactus juice at some point, because he blinked, and Korra's death grip on his shirt had been relieved, and better yet the terrifying brawn woman was nowhere in sight.
Asami bore down on her sobs with all her might, even though she knew Korra wasn't watching she wanted her to know she wouldn't get away with affecting her like this. There was so much she had to say and do before she could work up the courage to kiss Korra, and now that she had taken it she felt like something precious had been stolen.
"Twenty fourteen?" She stopped in her tracks, feeling her best friends warm breath on her neck she whirled.
"Get out of here Korra!"
"But that's the year right now, twenty fourteen?"
"Of course it is you bimbo! Did you forget how time works or something? First you tell someone you like them, then you wait for them to like you back and then you hold their hands and stick your tongue down their throat! In fact why am I even talking to you! We're done." She whirled and was stunned to find her face plowing into Korra's chest on the other side. Her hard hands gripped her elbows and eyes trained on hers. "What the-"
"I called you a year ago on the 26th, this is that december the 26th?"
"What are you blathering on about?"
"Asami, think about what I just did." A flash of lime green, red, gold and blue hit Asami in her eyes and the world around them shifted and morphed. They were back outside the coffee shop and Asami found herself trembling under Korra's hands. "I'm about to tell you what I can do. What I was put on this planet to do. I'm running late but I'll be here soon so this will have to be quick."
Asami was completely out of her element, as Korra spoke all she could do was question up and down, life and death, backwards and forwards, coffee and tea.
"Asami listen," She felt the pulsing warmth radiating from Korra's palm oh her jaw and cheek, "as far as I can tell, I am the December 2015 Korra, I have been a teleporter for over a year, since this day, and the 2014 Korra is on her way to tell you and ask you to be her, my Familiar, my confidant. It's a spiritual calling, there maybe only a few of us in existence, but we pull people out of certain death situations and save their lives. This is why I'm all bloody - I've just spent a week in Gaza extracting a family of four." Asami hadn't blinked for over two minutes as she listened. Finally she found her voice.
"Gaza is a fucking warzone."
"It's what I was born to do, but I need you to do it. To be there, to support me."
"You kissed me…is a Familiar a…a girlfriend?" Asami gently extracted herself from the younger woman's grip. Korra's hands hovered near her until she knew that she could stand on her own two feet.
"Not usually, usually its a sibling or a parent or even another teleporter. It's someone who can keep you sane. But you were the first person I thought of and, to be honest, in six months we're gonna start dating."
"Six months as in June?"
"Summer solstice yeah. You always joke that you picked it so our anniversary would let us get presents, every six months…" Korra gripped the back of her own neck anxiously. "I'm so sorry I startled you. I remember you said you lov- liked me, like this, since before my accident. So I'm sorry if you think I'm toying with your emotions but believe me," Her gaze dropped and absorbed Asami, even in winter clothes there was something to the imagination with the way that she held herself, her body, her beauty, her eyes. "I have them too…I honestly didn't know I was that kind of teleporter until now. I don't know anyone who can time travel…I don't even know if I can get back." She looked down at her boots and finally felt the cold seeping into her pores, and shivered. "A year without kissing you again. I don't know if I can handle that either."
Asami was still struggling to grasp the concept of teleportation let alone time travel and the new nuances, this different Korra and the Korra apparently on her way to tell her this surprising news.
"Why couldn't you…do that again? Now?" Korra gave her a hope filled look and answered with a soft tone.
"Because I don't want to change how we get together, not a second or a moment. It's perfect. Just like you."
"How can you be sure you haven't already?" Feeling oddly confident, Asami managed a step. She let her eyes travel up from the ground to Korra's loving gaze. She had never seen her look at anything that way. What had she done to make her look at her that way.
"You'll just have to trust me. I can tell you it is worth the wait." Asami subconsciously brought her mouth parallel to Korra's, only to watch the soft dark lips hide behind teeth and her head tilt back barely. Her eyes hit Korra's again, only this time the blue was trained on the brick on the ground. "I kind of have to go through somebody before I get to you. Another teleporter."
"Why do I feel like this is some kind of break up."
"She teaches me so much."
"She."
"It's worth it I promise you!"
"Korra-"
"You have to give it time Asami. Everything is in motion and if I change anything now, it could destroy so much!"
"How can you tell me this and then expect me to just let you walk away with some tramp!"
"Trust me." Korra's hands slid up her arms and Asami twisted, forcing Korra to wrap her arms around her shoulders. Her hot breath soothed her ear as she whispered. "Everything will be okay. I will have you all to myself. We will be the endgame for all time, I promise." Korra had heard these words before but dared not spoil them explaining that to Asami. They'd worked and the heiress wormed her arms out of her grip to cling onto her back.
"Prove it." She whispered. "Prove that we're going to be together. That you know me like that." The desperate ire in her best friend's voice tore into Korra. She supposed with their now messed up timeline that this was the moment Asami learned the affect that tone had on her besotted time-travelling girlfriend. Without missing another beat she turned her head kissed her jaw, up softly, turning hungry and passionate until her lips clung to hers. The CEO barely registered the screech and crash on the far corner of a Satomobile and it's drunk driver bowling into a post box. Their mouths came apart like putty, aching to stay together even at the molecular level, with each other printed on the skin.
"I know that crash," smeck, "I'm going to be coming around that corner any second."
"No…Korra-" She was silenced with another exquisite, knee trembling kiss, before Korra stepped away, unable to look at her. She said it with such pain in her voice, but she had to none the less.
"I love you, Asami. Wait for me." In another, unbearable flash of gold and green she was gone.
At least the Korra that was intrinsically in love with her was. True to form; Korra with her wolf and pony tail came jogging round the corner, expression unreadable as she looked back, amused at the stumbling pot-bellied drunk now being berated by the city's chief of police, who'm had just posted a letter herself.
"Hey you."