Chapter 1 - Heartache
My chest is throbbing, definitely more then a few bruises. I don't care, all I need to do is find Korra. Its only been 6 weeks since Kuvira was defeated, and another Red Lotus member had came out of hiding, he was a fire bender. He was on his own but probably more powerful then Zaheer. He ambushed Korra and I while we were on a camping trip together. I thought it would be a good idea to take her mind off of everything that has happened. Korra got hurt pretty bad at first, taking a fireball to her leg when he ambushed us. She passed out momentarily from the pain of her burning flesh and being thrown multiple times against a tree. I tried my best to take out the attacker, but he was too good, he seemed taken over with anger as we were fighting.
"THEY WERE MY FRIENDS!" He yelled as we fought, "THE RED LOTUS WILL PREVAIL AND KILL THE AVATAR, She should be DEAD!" I got knocked out and never felt so ashamed. I'm trying to ignore the pain throughout my body as I frantically search for Korra. I run over to the sound of screaming. I cant believe my eyes. Korra's face is red with blood, her clothes are torn where she had been struck with many blows. Her arms torn apart from the attacks that ripped over her body, I can see her flailing on the ground as her attacker shoots her with lightning. I try yelling to get the benders attention away from Korra and towards me, but I simply end up falling to the ground in pain instead. My whole body is screaming out as I try to get up from the ground, I can barley see due to the tears forming in my eyes. I look up to where Korra is and see the bender shoot a lightning bolt at her stomach. Everything seems to move in slow motion as I see the lightning stream out of his fingers and through her body. Her shirt is torn where the lightning struck and there was red mark on her entire stomach and the same painful marks covering her hands and arms. I manage to scream at the top of my lungs in pain, not just from my injuries, but as my heart shatters at the sight of seeing Korra inches from death. I manage to get on my feet.
"STOP PLEASE! GOD IM BEGGING YOU STOP THIS!" Tears are streaming down my face as I see Korras eyes open slightly. The lotus member turns to me and is about to release a flurry of fire at me. My stomach drops, 'this is the end, this is how I go…I'm sorry Korra' I see Korras eyes shoot open. A light shoots out of her eyes and she gets up in an instant with the help of air bending. She went into the avatar state. I fell to the ground, helpless to what is about to happen. Korra flies up in a ball of air and with one swift move, throws the fire bender away from me and into a tree. Even though her eyes are glowing, I can see the pain in her face, tears that are mixing with blood as they stream down her face. The Red Lotus member looks at her with complete and utter fear in his eyes, realizing the strength of the avatar. Korra strikes down the bender and leaves him an inch within his life when she encases him in earth. She stood only for a second before falling to the ground again. I looked in horror as I the glow in her eyes fades. I jump up from where I was laying, my vision blurry with tears. I completely forget about my pain as I rush over to Korras limp body. I skid on my knees to her, I am holding her in my arms as she shows no sign of life in her broken skin. I examine her body. She is covered in red marks from when she had been struck with lightning. I can't control myself as I yell out in pain and panic. Korra moves slightly and I look down at her, her eyes open slightly and she tries to put her hand to my face, her eyes quickly close and her body goes limp once again, but she still has a pulse. I HAD to get her out of there.
"Just hang in there Korra! You're gonna be fine… you're gonna be fine.. fine - its -its gonna be okay" I trail off choking back tears. I don't care how much this hurts, I stand up and shout out in pain. With all my might I pick Korra up in my arms and start running. After what felt like an eternity, I reached the road to find a satomobile slowly coming down the road. I flag the car down. The driver inside is shocked at what she sees, immediately she recognizes Korra.
"GET IN GET IN! I'll drive you to a hospital!"
I jump in the car as we speed to the hospital. We get to the building and I can barley get out of the car, I grunt and scream in pain, my limbs yelling at me to stop moving but I know that I can't. I run though the doors of the hospital with Korra in my arms. The doctors inside notice and take her from my arms. Before I could even say anything, I blacked out from the pain.
My head is throbbing and my entire body is sore, I try to open my eyes and get blinded by light. I rub my eyes as my vision comes back. I'm sitting in a hospital bed. I sat up in the bed and looked around the room. A healer walked in.
"Oh! you're finally awake. You were out for about a day. Your brother and another nice young lady - Asami I think her name was, wanted me to tell you that they'll be back as soon as they can. You should rest some more" She walked out of the room. As I regained my composure, memories were flowing into my head.
"KORRA!" I yelled as I ran out of my bed on a search for her. I ran past a room with her in it and stopped in my tracks. I ran to her side. Her head and arms were all wrapped in bandage, I lifted up the bottom of her shirt to see where the lightning had hit, it too, was covered in bandage but I could see blood stains all over the white cloth. I lightly held her hand in mine. She was cold, she barley had a heartbeat. I put my head on her chest and started to cry. I felt overwhelming shame and anger at myself. I let this happen to her. I could have stopped him!
I whispered to Korra, my face still flushed with tears, "I'm so so sorry Korra, this - this is my fault, I should have never taken you on that trip… if we were in Republic City like we were supposed to be, people could have been there to protect you and this never would have happened…. Now" I was trying so hard to not simply bawl into her chest, "Now I don't know that I'll ever be able to see your beautiful eyes again" I can't help it anymore, I cried as hard I could into her, I grabbed her hand softly and sat there like that, unbearable pain through my body at the thought of losing Korra forever.