Chapter One: New Direction
Mako looked about what used to be his floor of the police station, or what remained of it. In the battle with Kuvira, the top half of the building was ripped off and toppled into the streets below, leaving debris and remnants of destruction wherever the eye could see. Now that the threat was over, and the celebration of victory and life was done with Varrik's wedding, the people of Republic City had to pick themselves up once again and rebuild their city. He sighed.
"Man, what a mess," the firebender muttered to himself. With one arm, Mako began standing up desks and hucking pieces of debris to the side, his other arm still in a cast from being tossed around inside the giant mech.
"Coming back to police business so soon?" a woman asked, coming from the rooftop of another building by metal cable.
"I don't know what I'm going to do, chief," Mako told Lin. The chief of police bent fractured metal and rocks of rubble up into the air, clearing the floor as best she could. The wreckage was sent to the rooftop she arrived from.
"Well maybe you could start at letting your arm heal up. Why don't you go back to Tenzin's? There'll be plenty to do even in a month or two when you're all set," Lin suggested to her former employee. Using her bending, she started piecing back together pieces of the wall that was once there.
"I don't know chief, I just feel like I should be doing something," he explained. "After fighting Kuvira I should've been dead; I shot lightning into the core of that thing to blow it up and I didn't plan on coming out of that."
"By that logic, none of us except Korra should've survived," Lin answered, taking a moment to think while she continued reforming the walls. "Listen, kid," she began again, "no one knew what to expect during that battle, and we're all just trying to do our best now."
"Right," Mako said with a bit of contempt.
"Alright, how bout I give you a lift down to the street?" the police chief offered, sending one of her metal cables around Mako's waist.
"Uh, I was gonna stay here-"
"I wasn't really giving you a choice. Go back to the temple and rest up," Lin told him. Without hesitation, she stomped on the floor to bend a piece of rock up to launch the firebender outside through the missing roof. Mako screamed in a panic, his eyes wide and his limbs, except his broken arm, flailed wildly.
"Whoah! Chief, put me down!" Mako gripped the cable holding him tightly as he flew through the air.
"I am! See you later, kid!"
Later that night, Mako sat at the docks of Air Temple Island. His legs went over the edge of the dock, his feet hanging above the water. All that could be heard was the tossing of the water on the island's shores and the wind blowing as it eternally did.
"Hey Mako, you gonna come eat?" Bolin asked, walking up from behind his brother. "Everyone's inside wondering where you went off to."
"I guess," the older brother responded unenthusiastically.
"What's got you down, bro? We beat Kuvira and destroyed the superweapon. There's not much to worry about anymore," Bolin said, sitting down next to his brother.
"What do you mean, nothing to worry about, Bolin? We have the rest of our lives to worry about now. Everyone's gonna be off doing heir own thing and I'll be stuck going through the motions of life like I was when Korra was still recovering. That's not what I want," Mako told his sibling. "Again, I feel like everyone's drifting away."
"And again, you should drift back dude! I don't know what the problem is, but most of us are right there," Bolin replied, his hand motioning towards the air temple.
"Yeah, but this time it's different. Prince- King Wu's stepping down and disassembling the kingdom, so it's not like I'm gonna be his bodyguard anymore. Beifong's telling me to sit here and rest, while you're getting ready to head out with Opal back fo Zaofu to help restore the metal clan and all, Korra and Asami are off doing whatever, Tenzin and his family's gonna still be doing their air nomad thing, and I'm just kinda... here." Mako's current disenchantment made Bolin frown, as his younger brother sympathized.
"Well... you could always come with us," Bolin offered.
"I don't think I'm going to. At some point, everyone's gotta find their own path, right?" Mako stated, though with apparent doubt in his reasoning.
"So... what are you going to do then?" Bolin asked.
"I'm thinking about going to the Fire Nation. I'm a fire bender but I've never been to my element's nation. I've never actually been trained as a firebender. I'm just a guy who learned a few neat tricks working at a power plant or scrapping on the streets and in a pro-bending ring. And pro-bending isn't like real fighting, and I feel like I could just do... more.
"It'd be pretty cool, if you were a firebending master then went back to pro-bending," the young lavabender said in support with his brother's plan.
"Well, I don't know. We'll see what happens. If the past few years have told me anything, I'll probably be next to Korra and Team Avatar, fighting some crazy some anarchist, chaos spirit god or something."
"Yeah, and we'll get Varrick to make it into a mover so that we can retell it with Pabu roasting it with firebending and have a king's meal, huh?" Bolin joked.
"Sounds close to your first mover, doesn't it?" Mako retorted with a smirk.
"No, my first mover was all about Nuktuk, Hero of the South waterbending, not a giant firebending fire ferret."
"Whatever bro. I think it's about time to head in and eat," Mako suggested, standing himself up. Bolin rushed to his feet too, putting his hand on his belly.
"Good, because I am starving!"
"Aren't you always?"
"Lava doesn't bend itself, Mako."
The spirit world was as calming and lively as ever. With the new spirit portal being opened, a new depth of tranquility and harmony seem to have been achieved. Korra and Asami found themselves in a forest tinted green by luminescent moss while spirits hovered in the branches. The sky was a soft, darker blue, inviting anyone to relax under its starry horizons.
"This place is beautiful, Korra," Asami uttered, still amazed by the vivid sights so common in the spirit world but absent from the world she grew up in.
"Yeah, it is," Korra acknowledged, her voice having a sweetness to it that it normally never had. She let herself fall onto light green grass beneath her, looking through the branches and up at what constellations may be in the spirit world. Asami sat next to Korra with her knees bent to the side. The youthful captain of industry let her hand run through the Avatar's hard, brushing it over and over as they sat content.
"I love you," Asami said.
"I love you too." It didn't take but a moment for Asami to lean down and the two to kiss. Eventually, Asami sat up, straightened out, and laid down next to Korra. Holding hands, they looked at each other, their love new and refreshing their battle-battered spirits.
"I'm happy you took me on a vacation here," Asami told Korra, cuddling closer to the Avatar.
"Me too," Korra agreed, simply lying in the blissful existence she and Asami found in the spirit world. Asami looked at Korra who closed her eyes, lying flat on her back.
"Korra, is something wrong?" Asami's hand ran gently down the side of the Avatar's face.
"No, why do you ask?" Korra answered plainly.
"Well, it's just that... you just seem out of it or disconnected right now," Asami explained.
"Oh. I'm tired Asami, that's all. Being here and especially watching the stars, I feel almost... overwhelmed by how calm everything is since Kuvira. I'm happy to just lay here with everything so still," Korra shared, her voice trailing off. Asami put her arms around Korra. The two kissed once again.
"You can rest all you need to now."
Bolin and Mako sat with the rest of the airbenders and air acolytes in the temple's dining hall. Suyin Beifong was staying there as well for the time being, along with her family.
"How are things going with Kuvira's... arrangements," Tenzin asked Su, struggling to find his choice of words. The airbending master and his family sat across the metal clan matriarch's, with Bolin and Mako joining at the end of the table to help square things off.
"Kuvira's prison will be completed within a month. We're using the platinum from her giant war machine to construct it; seems fitting, don't you think?" Su answered, ire in her tone.
"Yes, well," Tenzin went on, Su's apparent brutality not in his nature, "seeing Kuvira come out of the portal with Korra, I am to wonder that Kuvira's punishment could amount to more than being condemned to a platinum box the rest of her life."
"What are you trying to suggest?" Su pointedly questioned.
"Well, I was thinking that Kuvira could help in the effort to restore Republic City, and she'd work under the supervision of Lin and my children."
"Dad, I don't want to work alongside that crazy woman!" Meelo interrupted, holding his silverware in fists on the table.
"Yeah, that woman's a total psychopath, dad," Ikki butted in, "are we really gonna have to babysit her in the city?"
Jinora stayed silent, listening to the discussion unfold. She tuned the noise at her table out every now and then to gaze over at the table with the other airbenders, looking at Kai.
"Well, she did say that she owed the Avatar her life," Bolin reminded everyone, "Kuvira can be reasoned with. I mean, she might be slightly psychotic-"
"Do whatever you want!" Su sharply interjected. "World affairs and dealing with its criminals was never my business in the first place!" Standing up from the table, Suyin stormed off and out of the room.
"Su! Su we can-" Bataar tried to talk to his wife, but her emotion just seemed to be in the way. He sighed out of stress and turned back to his meal. "You'll have to forgive my wife. Since Kuvira's 'Earth Empire,' our family's been poked and jabbed at in all sorts of manners, and she's really been growing this deep anguish for Kuvira."
"It's alright, Bataar; the conflict only ended days ago. It'll take time for all of us to adjust to these changing times," Tenzin said.
Mako looked down at his plate, playing with his food after Tenzin's last remark. It seemed he had always been adjusting since he had broken up with Korra. Moreover, it seemed he had always been adjusting since the passing of his parents. Everything turned upside down when suddenly he was responsible for his little brother. But even then, the prospect of cute girls seemed to make things a bit more bearable. Recently, however, not having a girlfriend or ladies chasing after him was a bit different, and working as a cop after being through the ringer on the streets was a bit of a turn in his life. Thinking back on the conversation he had with Bolin, he turned to the middle-aged airbending master.
"Tenzin, do you happen to know any firebending masters?" Mako asked, interrupting whatever conversation he was in the middle of.
"Uh," Tenzin stumbled, taken aback by the interruption and the seemingly random question. Pema scrunched her face a bit at Mako's rudeness, but being an air acolyte, she didn't let it get the best of her. "Not personally, but I know people who can get you in touch with firebending masters. Why do you ask?"
"Well, I was thinking about going back to pro-bending when I was done recovering, but all these fights with the Earth Empire, the Red Lotus, chaotic spirits and all that has got me thinking; I never was trained as a firebender and I was wondering what I could learn from a firebending master rather than trial and error in a regulated arena. Do you think you could help me out?"
Tenzin ate a mouthful of food before responding, contemplating Mako's words. "I think that's a solid plan, but I'd have to look into it. I think I know who to talk to."
"Thanks Tenzin, you're the best," Mako spoke gratefully. The airbender took a deep breath and turned back to Pema.
"Anyways, as I was saying-"
A/N: Hey, if you've gotten this far, thanks for reading! I'm not sure how regularly I'll be able to write because I'm going off to college and all, but I've had the urge to experiment with the Legend of Korra since watching the last episodes some days ago. I'm gonna use this author's note to explain some of what I thought about the ending, and to give insight on where I'm taking this story.
I was honestly a bit disenchanted with how the creators cracked up the Korrasami relationship. From my perspective, Asami seemed to have the least character development, and Korra only had scant few serious conversations with Asami. And of that, I felt only one of those conversations yielded anything substantial, and that was when Asami pointed out the cool things that had happened because of Korra. The two always seemed like good friends, but a romantic relationship to me was a bit of a stretch. There are too many instances in the last two books where Korra and Mako stare at each other a bit longer than just anyone would, and Korra seemed like she could've cried tears of joy when Mako said he'd follow her into battle, "no matter how crazy things get." It just seemed that Mako and Korra always had a deeper connection than Asami and Korra, and the way the Korrasami thing was pulled off it just seemed more a political stunt than anything. All this blended together just, again, leaves me a bit disenchanted with how things ended.
As for where I'm taking this story, I'm not going to argue whether or not the Korrasami relationship is canon or not, but I'm thinking of how things will play out (again, in my opinion) after the battle with the Earth Empire. If this was just about the character's relationships it'd be boring, I want to bring to life some more epic element bending madness in the times after the series' end. And, I want to delve deep into the mechanics and methods of firebending, just because it seems like its got a lot of meat and potatoes to it. So this story is going to end up following mostly Korra, Asami and Mako, but we'll definitely have I'll definitely have the fillings of the other characters put in.
Hope you're still alive, because I'm hoping to dish more of this story out! Thanks for sticking around!