"That lady is my hero"
"Yes… she is"
Empty.
All she could feel was the emptiness inside herself. Countless hours she spend looking at her hands not being able to do anything. The metal cell keeping her lock up was a mockery. Metal she easily could have turned to bend tin cans were holding her in place.
But they were safe.
Tenzin, the kids. Yes, even Pema. They were all safe from Amon and the equalist. Because of her sacrifice. And the Avatar. Well hopefully she was underground still planning the attack. And Lin. Lin was sitting empty headed against the cold wall looking without any emotions straight ahead.
The heavy click from the old lock echoed through the cells and made Lin move her head slightly to the side. New prisoners. Was it even possible to find any more benders in the city by now? At least benders resisting Amon. Lins formerly strong green eyes moved to see guards open the door.
"Bring her here. It won't be long before it all begins" long before what? What where the devils planning on doing now?! Intense anger grew in her chest instantly. Almost filling the emptiness where her bending abilities formerly had resident. But all the anger turned into a sight of confusion.
"Pema?" No.. No it couldn't be. NO! The former chef of police jumped to her feet and almost sprinted toward the cell door. "Get back!" The guard lifted one of the metal sticks and electricity started to spark intensely. Lins hands squished the cell bars tight as the anger returned but not for long. With a look of pure disgust, she backed away, letting the cell door open up without a fuss. Not that she didn't want to fight but one thing was putting herself in danger. Another was the baby resting in his mother's shaking arms.
As soon as the cell door closed and the guards walked away, Lin got a closer look at the woman she had the most strained relationship to in the entire world. "Pema.. what happened?" the air acolyte was shaking in fear as she desperately tried to keep her young son calm without letting her fear and pain reach him.
Lin was not the gentlest person or the most consoling. She never really enjoyed any form of physical contact even when sad herself. She stiffed up instantly with the bare thought of it. But Pemas scared look as she sat down with tears running down her checks made her rethink the decision on not consoling like a normal person. It was an awkward Lin who sat down on her knees and slowly, almost expecting to be rejected reached her hand out and let it land on Pemas shoulder. "W-w.." weird. She was never lost of words! But nothing seemed to come out. "He took them.. my kids.. He's going to hurt them and there is nothing I can do" Pema was sobbing while still rocking Rohan in her arms. "I'm… I'm so sorry" Pema learned into her chest making Lin stiffen up once again, holding her breath.
The younger woman was crying her heart out holding on to some sort of rock for support. With a light shake, Lin moved her arm around the other woman. Trying to give support. Trying to help. She didn't know how. She didn't deal with emotional women! She couldn't remember the last time she had actually done anything remotely like this last. Not since Aang died and Tenzin needed her. "The avatar is still out there… Korra can.. Korra will safe them" She did not believe her own words one bit and she didn't think Pema did either. Not because they didn't have faith in the young girl but it just sounded obscure. But somehow it made the woman stop shaking a bit. Maybe it was the strong arm around her shoulder giving comfort and support even though it was an awkward position. It was not hard to feel that Lin was completely uncomfortable! But that didn't matter right now.
Hours went by. Pema did not relax more as time went by and Lin started to get restless. Desperately trying to keeping her mind clear and not occupied by her own imagination of what could be happening and how incredible useless she felt, Lin started distracting herself by distracting the baby. She was not good with kids. There were many reasons she never wanted any. One of them being she thought herself terrible with them. But the little boy not even a week old grabbed her thin fingers and started making what Lin categorized as laughing baby sounds. Even though his mother was having a very understandable break down making the situation more tense.
The all to familiar sound of fighting reached their ears making Pema hug her baby close and Lin automatically stand up and stand in front of them. Protecting even though she didn't have nearly the same capability to do so as before. The heavy door to the prison bounced open followed by strong winds blowing inside making Lin close her eyes for a short time. Wind. Right now, that was the best feeling in the whole world. "Tenzin!" The look of distress in the old familiar face was almost heartbreaking but by the spirits was she happy to see him.
"PRISONBREAK!" The air benders got the door open and ran to the most important woman in their life. Lin spend a few seconds taking in the feeling. Kids spinning with happiness to see their mother. Tenzin and Pema holding on to each other for dear life so scared of what they could have lost. Lin was not very sentimental but even she had to admit it was beautiful. As the family reunion filled the air with a somewhat too sugary content Lin went on to free the rest of the prisoners with the guards keys. Members of the white lotus, officers from the force, normal citizens. She reached the fifth cell door when a small ball of too much happiness jumped too easily into the air and grabbed around her upper body with an incredible force. "Arh! Meelo!" Instinctly she grabbed around him with one arm and look a bit terrified down upon the very smiling face before he buried it into her chest. "My hero" She felt strange. Even though she had sacrificed herself she didn't see this coming. The stiffened body began to loosen up as a smile reached her lips and made her eyes stronger. "Guess we're even now huh kid?" Meelo, Jinora and Ikki had saved her behind on air temple island and Lin hadn't forgot and never would. "Now, let go! We have work to do"
