Title: Breathe
Fandom: The Legend of Korra
Characters: Korra, Mako, Bolin, Asami, Shiro (OC), Yodo (OC)
Word Count: 1,417
Summary: When news that the Avatar's bending has been taken away, the White Lotus decides to take matters into their own hands.
Author's Notes: AU based upon future plot point idea for the LJ RPG "fireferretsrpg". Story follows game canon, not actual canon. Also, not beta'd. **ALSO** Thank you to Jaid (our Asami player) for coming up with the idea in the first place!
They move silently, stealing through the dimly lit hall after everyone else has gone to sleep. They find and enter the storage room that has temporarily been converted to sleeping quarters for the Avatar and her friends. Moving slowly and making certain their footfalls are as light as humanly possible so as to not alert the earthbender, they step carefully and patiently. It would've been easier if the Avatar wasn't at the back of the room, but so be it.
Shiro focuses on his breathing, keeping it slow and soft. Even though committed to the cause, he still couldn't help feel trepidation. This is the Avatar, after all, even in her diminished state. What they were going to do would be a most unforgivable sin.
But they had to. They had to. The Avatar, with her bending gone, was diminished. And Shiro, along with others in the Order, remembered the tales all too well of what happened when the Avatar had simply gone missing: war, terrible war, and genocide; the loss of an entire nation and art of bending that was only now struggling to keep itself from absolute extinction. The near-destruction of the Southern Water Tribe. The death of the Moon Spirit, who was reborn through pure providence. The world couldn't withstand that again. True, there was no threat of war, but one did not wait for calamity before acting. One took the proper measures to avoid the calamity in the first place. The world needed the Avatar. It needed a fully-realized Avatar who could 'bend for certain.
They found the current Avatar at age three. And three years was a trifling time compared to the grand scheme of things. When this Avatar passed, they would find the next one and train him or her up.
The Avatar lay on her back, face slack with sleep, arms thrown up over her head. Yodo crouches down next to the Avatar's head – all of the group had been given spare blankets and floorspace – and uncorked the bottle of ether. The cloth the other Order member carried is quickly wet, and then pressed over the Avatar's nose and mouth. The young woman makes a small sound, barely audible, before she sinks into deep unconsciousness. Yodo quickly put the bottle and cloth back inside her jacket in the hidden pocket there. She whispers, "Shiro."
Shiro gestures, and bands of earth rise from the floor to slide over the Avatar's wrists and ankles, just in case. He then positions himself over her torso, ready to hold her down if she bucked.
"Spirit of the Avatar," Yodo begins in a reverent murmur, "please understand we only do this for the sake of the world, who needs you in your full power, in case something should arise. Please, forgive us what we are about to do." And then she pinched the Avatar's nose and mouth shut to cut off the air.
For a bit, nothing happened. Then the Avatar arched up as much as the bonds and Shiro would allow; the body's instinctive fight for air. This lasts for half a minute, before the body then slumps again. Shiro glances up at Yodo. Is the Avatar—
Something hard smashes into the back of his head and causes him to collapse on top of the Avatar. Disoriented, he tried to get up, only to have something grab him by the back of his tunic and bodily hurls him with a roar away from the Avatar. He slammed into the wall and then slumped, his head ringing from the blows. Voices, angry voices are saying things, but he can't make out the words. Then something grabs him by the front of his tunic, and hauls him off the floor – and off the ground.
"What did you do to her?" an infuriated voice demands. Bright light suddenly stabs Shiro's eyes, and it takes him several long moments to adjust. Fire licks up from a hand near his face, and it takes more time for him to realize that it's the firebender boy – Mako, the Avatar had called him.
"Mako, she's not breathing!" a panicked male voice proclaims.
"Move, Bolin, I know what to do," a calmer, softer female voice responds.
"Answer my question, Shiro," the firebender snarls. "What did you do to her!?"
Shiro stays silent. This boy doesn't need to know. Not about what he was doing with Yodo (who he can't see), not what his brothers and sisters believe, not about the split in the Order. He will say nothing.
Then the firebender is shoved aside and Shiro's feet touch the floor again. In the light of his flame, Shiro sees the other brother's blazing green eyes for a moment before large, cold hands close around his throat, forcing his chin up. "They were killing her, Mako," the earthbender said in a too-calm voice, "they were smothering her! Why were you doing that!" The hands start to squeeze, and the voice slowly grows louder and more hysterical. "You're the White Lotus! You're supposed t'protect her! Not kill her!"
Shiro tries to fight back, but the blow and the choking makes it hard to concentrate on his earthbending. So he does what anyone would do, and claws at the hands choking him. Dimly he realizes why the hands are cold; they're encased in stone and his scratching has no effect but still he tries. He continues trying, until he blacks out.
When he wakes, Shiro knows time has passed. He's bound hand and foot by stone that encases them completely. He can't wiggle fingers or toes. He can't move at all, really, for his hands are behind him and the stone holding them is attached to the stone at his feet. It's an awkward and uncomfortable position, but he's endured worse. Yodo, he's relieved to see, is bound the same way next to him, though she's still slumped, unconscious.
Before him are the Avatar and her companions. The firebender boy has his legs apart, body squared and ready for the fight that's in his eyes. The nonbender girl stands beside him, her whole posture angry and disapproving. The earthbender boy is curved protectively towards the Avatar, whose hand he holds. And the Avatar herself... She looks sad, and frightened, and betrayed. Shiro feels his heart go out to her.
"Why?" she asks, her voice quiet and thick.
"Answer her!" the firebender commands when Shiro doesn't speak fast enough.
Shiro glances away. He would not answer the questions of the others, just to the Avatar, who he reveres and loves. He looks up again, and focuses on her.
"Why?" she asks again.
"Because the world needs you," he says quietly. "The world needs the Avatar, fully realized and able to 'bend. You saw what happened when Avatar Roku was murdered, when Avatar Aang hid for one hundred years. We can't allow something like that to happen again. The world wouldn't survive."
"But I'm going to get my bending back!" the Avatar protests.
Shiro replies, keeping his voice gentle, for she is so very young, "You don't know that, child. You're guessing. And there are no more dragons. How will you relearn firebending?"
The Avatar looks like she's been slapped in the face, and she looks sick as well.
"I'm sorry," Shiro continues. "We wanted to make it as painless for you as possible. I'm sorry we failed. Please, forgive us." And he bows his head as much as he's able, eyes on the ground.
"Forgive you?" the earthbender chokes. "You try to kill her, and you want her to forgive you?"
There's silence, and he can hear the Avatar sigh. "Guys, let's... let's just go," she says tiredly.
"What about them? Korra, they tried to kill you!" the firebender retorts.
Another quiet sigh. "...Leave them."
"Korra—"
"Mako, I said leave them! I'm not killing anyone!"
"You don't have to," the earthbender replies darkly. "I'll do it for you."
Female gasps.
"Bolin, Bolin no," the Avatar pleads. "No. Let's just leave, please?"
"But Korra, how do you know they won't try again?"
"...I don't. But I don't want anyone to die because of me."
"Listen to her, guys," the other girl interjects. "Please."
Silence.
"Let's get the fuck out of here."
Movement, rustles of cloth, and words muttered too low to be heard. Then footsteps. They're leaving, growing more distant, until...nothing.
Shiro exhales, slowly, and lifts his head. The blankets are gone. He doesn't mind.
Though they failed this time, the chance would come again.
-end-