37. meeting in prison au (Asami never hit Mako with her moped)
"We will contact you if we need anything else for the report." The policeman gave the avatar a small nod and returned to his desk. Korra just spent hours at the station getting questioned about the events that took place the day before, and she was exhausted. As she started walking towards the exit, she passed by a young woman who sat on the bench by the front desk. Her messy makeup did little to hide the bags under her eyes, and her back sagged making her appear really small on the wooden bench. Her hands were fumbling with a handkerchief and she sniffed quietly. As much as Korra longed to get out of this place, she just couldn't. She didn't know why, but she wanted to comfort the girl in front of her, so she turned and walked closer to her.
"Hey, you ok?" Korra asked softly.
The girl looked up at the avatar, looking confused as if she forgot where she was, and after a moment of silence, recognition spread over her face.
"You! It's all your fault!" her voice sounded hoarse and rough, and she jumped off her bench and pointed her finger right at the avatar. Korra recoiled at the sudden outburst.
"What did I do?! I've never seen you before in my life," the defensive tone in Korra's voice clearly visible.
"If it weren't for you, then none of this would have happened! I'd still have my dad, and…and," her voice went from pure rage to a whimper, and she slumped back into the bench, drawing her knees up to her chest, and burying her face.
Korra didn't know what to do so she just sat down next to the girl and looked down at her boots. "Are you Hiroshi's daughter? Asami, right? I think I remember you now. You were there when we went to get your father weren't you." Korra felt guilty, for what she exactly couldn't comprehend. It wasn't as if she could have just done nothing to stop the equalist from creating more weapons. She did the right thing, the evidence pointed to Future Industries, and they did find the secret lab at the estate so why did she feel so guilty all of the sudden.
"I heard what you did for us, and I want to say thank you. I don't think I'd be sitting here if it weren't for you." She remembered what Bolin and Mako told her when she woke up, the equalist's own daughter turned against him when she and the brothers came to the rescue. "It was really brave of you," she continued, the sincerity in her voice apparent. "If I was in your place, I don't know if I could have done what you did."
At this Asami choked out a sob, and curled up even more. Feeling responsible and awkward Korra did the only thing she could think of, she put her arm on Asami's back and pulled her in. At this Asami lost all restraint and started sobbing, no longer having the energy to hold it in.
Korra sat with her for a long time, and as the sobs died down to soft whimpers, Korra made up her mind. "You can stay with us on Air Temple Island if you want, I mean if you don't want to go back to your home or something." Korra figured that if her parents ever betrayed her like that, which she couldn't even imagine, then she wouldn't be able to go back to a place where all their happy memories took place. It would be too painful.
At this the heiress looked up, her swollen eyes meeting Korra's. She didn't know how to reply and she wanted to hate the girl holding her, but she knew it wasn't the avatar's fault but her dad's. It was all him. He made his choice, so Asami made hers. She felt grateful to the avatar for her offer.
"They still need to get my report on what happened," Asami's voice felt heavy.
"Wait they still didn't take it? But it happened yesterday, were you waiting here all night?" Korra sounded baffled.
"Well yeah, apparently I'm the daughter of a criminal mastermind. I can't be underestimated or something."
"That's just dumb, you were the one to save us!" Korra felt outraged, how dare Lin treat her this way when she saved the chief's sorry ass. Korra stood up and stormed through the doors leading to Lin's office. "I'm taking Asami Sato back to Tenzin's Island and you got to deal with it!" Lin's dumbfounded face was the last thing Korra saw as she walked back out, grabbing Asami by her hand, and dragged her off the bench and out of the station.