Hello everyone! It's finally here: History: Part II. I've been so excited for this to come out, and I'm glad I was able to do it on the 15th (as I celebrate the 15th of every month, as some of you may know from the first post of History: Part I on June 15th!). And yes, I know this was technically supposed to be on the 14th, but, you know, I've been up many hours straight, so it still /feels/ like the 14th?
Heh heh... *shrugs and hides*
Anyway, before we get into the story, a few of my readers have asked if I could provide some sort of outline of what happened in Part I and when. So, I'm including this below! (Hopefully, I have enough characters). Here is a brief summary of what happened and when:
Asami leaves to go back to the Sato Estate on the 7th at the end of Chemistry ("Just two weeks").
Korra receives her letters (dismissal and threat) on the 11th. She leaves her dorm on the 14th. She travels to the restaurant (and meets Yezi!) and to the Southern Water Tribe Cultural Center (cue the cuteness that is Ahyoka). She stays the night there. On the 15th, Korra leaves the SWTCC and heads downtown. She stops at Urkoma's but leaves to rescue Kazoku. That night, she is attacked by the angry Triple Threats. The next morning on the 16th, she is rescued by Bolin. She goes to Aang Memorial Island and leaves that night for the Fire Nation. She arrives at the border on the 19th. The next day, they travel to Caldera City and Korra meets up with Zuko.
On the 21st, Asami goes back to the University to meet up with Korra and her family for lunch ("Will you be alright?" in Chemistry). History: Part I jumps right into their search for her. They trace Korra to Yezi's, the SWTCC, and Urkoma's, where Tonraq and Senna stay for the night. Asami and Naga sneak off to the University. Also on the 21st, Korra and Zuko train in Fire Bending kata and are met at the top of the Royal Palace by Tenzin on Oogi.
On the 22nd, Asami approaches the Dean with the evidence and hands it over to him. Her and Naga head back to the City and trace Korra's trail to the alleyway with the earth prison. They return to Urkoma's and the group tracks Korra to the shores. With the trail ending, they head to the police department to file a missing person report and end up helping Lin with the Strikers. After that, they head to Future Industries but decide to camp for the night. That is when Naga runs off after a strong breeze blows her way. Korra is taken to Air Temple Island and commences to do things like be cute with Meelo. That evening, Tenzin takes her to Future Industries. Finding it to be closed, she wanders into the forest for cover until the morning. A strong breeze blows her scent and the smell of her campfire up north (where Naga and company were). The conclusion of History: Part I ("Incomplete") and the beginning of History: Part II pick up right from this point!
*breathes*
Wow, that was a lot in a little bit of time. But I hope that helps clear some things up when it comes to the timelines and what happened when and what not! Okay, now, for the moment you've all been waiting for: who is coming into the clearing? Find out below!
(-)
Chapter 1
Too deep
Her heart was racing; while Korra had been prepared for a fight when she thought Naga was a group of stampeding animals, the heightened edge had dropped once she realized that it was just her polar bear dog. Now, the air was thick with tension, and the rattling of the bushes that got her attention during her parent's embrace echoed in her memory. Korra lifted her head and pushed herself away to examine the situation just as her parents turned to do the same, a subtle aggressiveness in her posture.
Korra froze – not expecting the sight before her in the slightest.
Blue ocean irises locked onto a pair of peridots.
Her peridots.
She blinked once or twice until her mind started working again. "Asami!"
Korra sprinted past her stalled parents at full speed towards the engineer, a feat she never would have thought possible given her physical state.
The bags slid off of the raven's shoulders. Her limbs were still out of her control, still stuck in their position of disbelief. Her heart was sunk in her chest, tears streaming down her cheeks. Here she was: the person she had been missing so much in her evenings at her empty Estate, running up to her in the past-middle of the night, in the past-middle of a clearing on a random ass mountain off the edge of the City. It wasn't a hopeful dream, where she would arise just before the woman reached her arms, where Korra was so close she could actually feel her in her waking moments. Nor was it a nightmare, where the brunette was struck down in front of her very eyes, before she could even touch her – the multi-martial artist and engineer extraordinaire unable to save her if she tried. And Spirits know that she tried. No, it was none of that. This was the real deal, as much as it did feel like a dream in her exhausted state. And it wasn't until the Southerner was a few feet away that all of this clicked and became believable.
"Korra!" She hollered with just as much enthusiasm a split second before the Water Tribe girl collided into her. She kept herself standing by redirecting the energy from Korra's jumping tackle into a spinning hug.
They melted into each other in mid-rotation, burying their faces into the opposing's hair. Their hands were tight on the other's back as Asami set her down. Tears poured down both of their faces. They never wanted to leave their embrace, despite how much their legs were shaking from their separate physical exertions.
"I've missed you, Asami. I've missed you – I've missed you so much." Korra intensified her hold – if it was even possible – and dug a hand into the heiress' locks, grateful to feel their softness again.
"I've missed you, too." She pulled her closer and ran her fingers into the woman's tan scalp, failing to formulate any additional sounds.
The pair remained in this position for quite some time, forgetting the world around them. All that mattered at that moment was each other.
Asami…
Korra…
They sighed the other's name in their head. Everything just felt… better? Right? Normal? They couldn't pick just one word to describe it, since each word seemed to fall short of the true feeling. They departed with reluctance and locked eyes.
Asami swam in the oceans before her like she had never seen the sea in her life.
Korra wandered in the light fields in front of her as if they held the very essence of her life.
They were lost in each other – far, far away from their surroundings.
And neither of them saw it coming.
They were on the ground in an instant, both being licked by the massive polar bear dog on top of them.
"Naga!" Asami squealed.
"Naga –" Korra chuckled.
She wouldn't relent.
"Okay, girl, okay. I'm glad you like Asami, but you're gonna lick her face off!"
Naga turned all of her attention on the Southerner.
"No, no, that doesn't give you permission to lick my face off! I like my face!" Korra couldn't help but laugh between her reprimands. It seemed like it was so long since she'd been this happy – with the exception of her ride on the back of Oogi. For just a moment, her worries melted away and she felt the way a teenager was supposed to feel at her age; relaxed, happy, and carefree, instead of a massive train wreck with what felt like the world on her shoulders.
A mixture of thoughts crossed Asami's mind upon Korra's plea. She blushed and tried to guide the polar bear dog off of the brunette.
"Easy! You'll have plenty of time to lick her later." Tonraq approached the trio and chuckled.
Naga hopped off of the pair and frolicked in a circle around them, tail wagging in absolute glee.
Korra and Asami sat up at the same time, caught each other's eyes, and reddened before looking away in embarrassment. They crawled to their feet and brushed their own clothes off.
"I'm so glad you're alive and okay, Korra." Senna wrapped her arms around her daughter again.
"Me, too."
"But you have quite a bit of explaining to do here." Tonraq was firm as he pulled the dismissal letter from the university out of his robe pocket.
"Not now, Tonraq. We just found Korra after all this time."
"No, no, it's okay. I really do have a lot of things to tell you." She pulled away from her mother and shivered to another chill. "Why don't we sit around the fire so we can stay warm?"
Asami nodded in agreement, already feeling much too cold from the wind and her shoddy winter attire.
Or lack thereof.
It's not the only thing you're lacking right now.
It took her tired mind a moment to put it together.
Shut up.
Her flushed cheeks deepened as she followed the Southerners to the fire, too focused on hiding her pink skin to pay attention to the beginning of the story. She sat beside Korra, but not too close to her. Tonraq was on her right. Senna was on his other side, next to her daughter to make a circle. Naga rubbed against Korra's side before lying against her back in a small, curled-up position.
Well, here it goes.
You can do this, Korra.
Yeah… I guess…
She took a breath, uncomfortable in having to face one of the moments she was dreading upon returning to Republic City. "Mom, Dad. I don't even know where to start." Korra dropped her eyes and fiddled with her thumbs. As much as it pained her to do so, she couldn't play on her stubbornness for this one – especially since her feelings were genuine. "I guess I should say sorry, first."
"For what?"
"For running away. Again. And for getting kicked out of college. I know how hard you worked to get me there, and I blew it. And I – I was afraid of what you would think of me when you found out. I didn't want to be another… another failure…"
She didn't look at them; she couldn't bear to. Water filled and left her eyes before she could stop it.
There. It's out.
Not all of it.
Just… stop. Please.
Asami had a violent urge to wrap her arms around her friend and comfort her, reassure her that everything would be okay. She refrained, despite her desire; Korra had to tell her story, had to get it out and clear the air instead of letting it fester. Her suspicions were right; Korra had run away in fear of her parents.
And most likely in fear of other things.
She thought to the note burning a hole in her pocket and couldn't stop her heart from somersaulting from her rampant thoughts. As much as she wanted to hold Korra and end the sadness the woman felt, her curiosity as to what actually happened made her restraint a bit stronger – just enough to keep her hands to herself, though they fidgeted with each other in the process.
"Korra," Tonraq interrupted both of their thoughts, "we know all about why you got kicked out of college." He spoke with a stern tone, the letter still in his fingers. "Asami filled in the details while you were gone."
Korra slouched further into herself.
"Tonraq –"
He raised a single hand to silence his wife before he continued. "Harassment? Physical harm to students and property? Threatening the safety of people? I don't know what happened to you in college that changed you into this type of person," he locked fiery eyes with the raven beside him before glancing back at his shriveled daughter, "but this is not how we raised you."
Korra opened her mouth to argue, but her father spoke before she had the chance.
Urkoma's words floated into the back of his mind. His face grew firm, but his heart grew soft. "Regardless; we understand the position you were coming from."
Korra lifted her head and met his gaze with her watery one. "What do you mean?"
"This letter," he waved it in front of him, "is one sided. It doesn't take into account anything that happened to you or the fact that most of the time, you were defending yourself from various things and people when these charges were filed. You were sticking up for yourself, and we can't be entirely upset at you for that."
Confusion continued to fester on her face.
"Like I said; Asami filled us in on the details. While we are very disappointed in you for getting kicked out of college," Korra lowered her sight to her feet upon the statement, "it's clear to us that it wasn't due to your academics so much as your misperceived behavior. But if this university thinks that they can just toss you out without even getting your side of the story through a trial or a hearing, then their system is clearly flawed. Any institution that decides to put themselves before your safety, welfare, and education is not a place I want my daughter to have any part of." Tonraq tossed the letter into the fire before them as he finished his final statement.
Korra straightened just a bit from his words and watched the paper burn in the flames. Her scar on her left cheek stood out as the shadows flicked across her face.
Senna reached out for her daughter and brushed the horizontal line with her fingers. "It's too late for me to try and heal this."
"It's – it's okay, mom. I'm used to it by now." Korra pulled away and held her elbows. Her hand brushed against her arm wound and forced a minor flinch out of her.
"What's wrong, Korra?"
"It's nothing."
"Your arm." Asami rose from her agura position until she was balanced on her knees. She moved the parka fabric around the brunette's wound until the somewhat-healed gash was visible on her right arm.
"What happened?" Tonraq almost rose from his spot upon sight of the wound.
"Relax, everyone. Please. It stopped bleeding days ago." She withdrew from the engineer's touch.
"But what happened?" Her father pressed.
"Take your parka off, Korra. I want to heal it. Tonraq, toss me your water sack."
"Mom –" She cut her own sentence off with a frustrated sigh as she removed her outer layer. "See, it's not that bad. It's not even infected."
Senna knelt down and examined the wound. She popped the cork off of Tonraq's container and Bent some of the water from it. "I can at least lessen the severity of the scar." She moved the liquid over the laceration and made it glow. By the time the fluid dripped away, a small, but jagged, line remained on her skin. "It looks like you have a cut on your elbow, too." She twisted her torso so that she could see the wound better. Within a second, she had more water in her control, healing the second injury.
Once the fluid fell, Korra retreated. "Thanks, mom." She rubbed her fixed gashes and smiled before sliding her parka onto her torso, grateful that her mother didn't inspect her further for more marks.
"Now, tell us how you got those cuts, Korra." Tonraq folded his arms over his chest after he swung his water pouch back over his shoulder.
"I – well, the elbow one, I just fell. But the arm… I had a bit of a run in with one of the gangs in Republic City. I couldn't dodge one of the rocks the Earth Bender shot at me, so it sliced into my arm."
"Was he the same one that put you into that earth prison?"
"How do you know about that?"
"We traced your trail, Korra. From that little pond outside of your campus to a restaurant, then from the restaurant to the Southern Water Tribe Cultural Center, and from there into the Downtown District to Urkoma's, and eventually to the remnants of your prison. After that, Naga led us to the shores of Yue Bay and we lost your scent." Tonraq dug into his outer layer and pulled two of Korra's shirts from within, one of which was covered in dried mud. "We used these to track you."
"Where did you go, Korra?" Senna leaned forward and clasped her hands.
She glanced between each of her parents, Asami, and back again in hesitation. "I went to Air Temple Island. I swam there and I was there until just a few hours ago."
"You've been in the City this whole time?" Asami had a bit of shock and a hint of betrayal in her tone.
Korra didn't want to nod, didn't want to fuel her lie, didn't want to hurt the engineer more than she already had, but she did anyway.
"Why? Why did you go there?"
She met her mother's eyes to answer her question. "I wanted to meet an Air Bender. Plus, they don't really turn people away, and since I was failing at surviving in the City – I went there so I could have a place to stay and heal. I wasn't doing all that great after the earth prison…"
Asami dropped her gaze to the hands that were now folded in her lap – still from her fidgeting. A small amount of pain crossed her face.
The notion shattered the pieces of Korra's heart.
"So you've been at Air Temple Island for days and you just now decided to come back?" Tonraq's voice held a bit of skepticism in it.
Korra locked onto him. "Yes."
"What made you leave?"
"I –" She paused for a moment and eyed the heiress beside her. "I was starting to feel like I was –" Korra averted her gaze to her feet and sighed. "There's no use in lying; I missed Asami."
Asami lifted her sight and stared at the woman beside her, a wave of emotion mixing in her chest.
"I had Tenzin take me to Future Industries to see if she was there. When they weren't open, I wandered into the forest for cover until I could go back in the morning."
A gentle smile crossed Asami's face.
"What about us, Korra? Didn't you miss us enough to come back?"
"Of course I missed you, mom. And you, too, dad. I figured that – since you were supposed to meet with Asami for lunch – then maybe you would be together, or maybe that Asami would know where you were or where to find you. She's a great driver. She could cover the whole City in just a few hours."
Senna and Tonraq glanced at each other for a moment, wondering for one, why none of them thought of that in the beginning of their search and, two, knowing firsthand the engineer's terrifying driving skills.
"If you missed us, too, then why didn't you just come back for lunch? Instead of making us worry for two days that you were hurt or lost or worse."
Korra faltered a bit, caught up in her own lie. "I – to be honest, I lost track of the days. I didn't realize until this morning that I had missed the date. I'm sorry…"
"That was pretty reckless of you, Korra." Tonraq glared at his daughter, his own exhaustion and the pained expression on his wife's face fueling his frustration. Urkoma's words left his mind in a flash. "Your mother and I have been worried about you for weeks. No letters. No response or word from you. We get one message after months of nothing and you tell us about how rough things have been for you, then you're missing when we come to visit. Do you know how much your mother wept when we spent the night at Urkoma's? We were afraid that you might have died out here in the City, and you were here the whole time!"
"But I'm not dead. I'm alive and I'm fine."
"Maybe next time you can let us know before we scour the City looking for you, afraid to look down the alleys to find our daughter's corpse."
"Tonraq –"
Korra shrunk into herself. They weren't wrong in their sentiments, and in all honesty, she didn't blame them for feeling the way they did; she hadn't written them much during the semester and she had disappeared when they finally got the chance to see her. And both lapses had been from her failing to communicate, from being so wrapped up in her own life that she neglected the others who were in it. She fell further as she recalled those times, when she was attacked by Kuru and the Triple Threats and all of the other fucked up shit that had happened to her.
A small flame sparked in her. In this part of her being, it didn't seem unreasonable that she hadn't written to them; she had nearly died, twice. She had more important things to deal with than responding to her parents letters, and if she hadn't, then they would have found her in some gutter or alley or morgue somewhere.
But this fire was soon put out with the thought that she had read the letters from her parents. She knew they were worried about her. She knew about the ice storms, knew about Naga and Master Katara. But she ignored it until the problem got worse, just as she had been doing with her exhaustion and whatever the fuck was going on inside of her head. The dull ache in her chest spread into a heart wrenching throb.
She could have done better. She should have done better. And if she had, she wouldn't be in this mess. She would be continuing university or maybe she'd even be a Water Bender.
But I'm not; I'm a Fire Bender.
The pain pulsed in her core, her usually-fire hot stubbornness dwindling down to complete submission.
"I – I'm sorry, dad. I –"
"I'm not the only one who deserves an apology."
Korra raised her head and locked onto her mother's watery eyes with teary ones of her own. She had hurt them both and she had never meant to. She suffocated in her self-blame. "I'm – I'm sorry, mom. Please, please don't cry anymore. I never meant to hurt you. I just… I…" She looked away and fought the lump in her throat.
If only they understood where I was coming from. I didn't choose for this to happen. Not entirely, at least.
Well then, tell them the truth.
What, that I swam to the Fire Nation to learn about Fire Bending? That I've been having nightmares and horrible headaches and actually only spent less than a day at Air Temple Island? That I've been lying from the very start of my story? That I'm a Fire Bender?
Well, it would be better than digging yourself into this hole.
You know, for being in my mind and knowing all of my thoughts, you know nothing.
A small nip on her left arm forced her attention away from the conversation.
Naga looked at her companion with a mixture of emotions in her expression.
Korra sighed, already too deep into the lie and already feeling much too low about herself to refuse any apologies – owed or not. It wasn't untrue that she hurt them with her actions, even if she didn't have total control over some of them. She thought to the letters her mother wrote her, about her polar bear dog not sleeping at night, halfway across the world, because of her. "I'm sorry, too, Naga. I know you missed me a lot when I was gone."
She barked and nudged her with her snout.
"And Asami –" Korra twisted to the engineer – wanting to apologize and explain herself to the Non-Bender the most– only to stop mid-rotation. "Asami?!" She jumped from her position and caught the heiress as she fell forward. "Asami, what's wrong?!" Her panicked eyes scanned the raven. Her arms held her close. Her body felt cold – much colder than what she was used to. Her skin was paler than normal.
She was unresponsive.
"Asami?!"
(-)