A heart, strong and true
The heart that is strong and true shall win the keyblade.
I was still pretty new to using this thing and didn't know all the ins and outs of it, so when it just appeared floating in front of me, unbidden, I'd taken it in hand and it had opened one of those shimmering portals before vanishing from my grasp as per usual. It was just like the one that had taken me home after I'd gotten lost in that other world.
I would've thought it strange, though I'd received little instruction from the blue haired girl I'd run into in that other world, so I was honestly unsure if this behaviour was normal or not. I decided to throw caution to the wind and step through, hoping that I wouldn't be gone from home too long; I wanted to be ready for when Korra came back, and she would be back. I was sure of it
As I reached the other side of the mystical passage, my mind wondering to thoughts of the absent avatar and what to say to here at the reunion I was hoping would come sooner than later I was pleasantly surprised to not find myself in that strange dark world populated by those shadowy creatures, but rather the swamp.
I was confused as to why I would be brought here, till I heard the sounds of combat not far off, I quickly made my way over to the source to find a most surprising sight.
"Korra?" I whispered to myself confused as to her sudden appearance here and now and her visage she wasn't looking my direction but I could see her eyes aglow with the power of the avatar state, her clothes tattered and a familiar chain wrapped around her right arm; she looked just like she did after the fight with Zaheer.
I was snapped out of my line of thought by the sight and sound of her flicking out the aforementioned chain out and swung it up at someone in the tree she was facing at someone I just noticed. Her green clothes and short hair where different, but the sound of her voice as she struggled was unmistakable.
"Two Korras?!" I had to take a moment to process that, a moment too long as the vine the green clothed Korra gave way and I reacted in an instant; calling out the name that'd been on my mind for three years.
"Korra!" In a single swift motion I called my new weapon to my hand in a pulse of light and fired a shot of light towards the falling avatar, it stopping right in front of her and encapsulating her in a sphere of shimmering blue light, protecting her as in struck the ground and skidded and rolled away from her attacker.
I moved as fast as I could to the sphere as it came to rest and dissolved as did the occupant of my hand, depositing the subject of my last three years of dreams. "Korra!" I called out to her as she pulled herself into a sitting position. She was a mess, her eye was blackened and she was covered in small bruises and cuts.
"A-a-asami?" She panted out breathlessly as knelt down next to her. I couldn't help but crack a smile at hearing her say my name after so long. I could see it in her eyes, this was Korra, the real Korra. The other Korra was rising up in the distance out of a pool of that metallic poison, marching towards my Korra.
A part of me was utterly perplexed by these events and the logic behind them, a much larger part just saw this thing that looked like Korra trying to hurt her counterpart, my Korra (a third part was wondering when I started to call her 'my ' Korra but that didn't seem relevant at the moment) and nothing else mattered.
I noticed Korra be taken aback by my steely gaze at the thing marching towards us, there was only one thing to do. I got to my feet, put myself between it and Korra and prepared to stand my ground.
"I don't know who or what you are and I don't really care right now, but as long as I can still draw a breath." I drew my arm back and summoned my Keyblade. "You won't hurt Korra!" I threw it forward with all the strength that I could muster and it sang through the air only for my target to dodge to the side in an instant, moving like a gust of wind.
The weapon appeared back in my hand in a pulse of light as this doppelgänger rushed straight at me with supernatural speed; not even the airbenders could move that fast, thankfully I reacted fast enough, or so I thought.
Before she reached me I rose the blade in my hand skyward, conjuring a line of pulsing discs of light and waited for her to trigger the blasts they contained; instead she moved like air again coming right up beside me; on instinct I cartwheeled out of the way of her fiery blow only to be struck in the gut by a rocky pillar striking upward from the ground; this thing had all of Korra's powers?
"Asami!" I heard my Korra's voice call out to me as I caught myself rolling from the doppelgänger's strike back on my feet, ready for the next step in this dance. Then I saw her coming at me, bending waves of fire, arcing toward me from both sides, I reacted by dropping my blade behind myself thrusting my free hand forward and the shell of light rose in an instant.
I winced a bit as the flames crashed against my barrier, then smirked to myself as it held against the attack. When the flames ebbed I saw my opening, I stabbed my blade upward, causing the defensive shield to erupt in a counter attack. She gusted backwards in retreat as I launched my own attack, shooting forward with a dash only for my foe to again shift away as air once more.
She'd made some distance between us now, seemingly unwilling to get in range of my unique weapon, if she, or 'it', felt anything at all, it didn't show in the blank, hardened expression. She then started to whip out the chain still attached to her arm, easy enough to dodge. A simple side step as it came over head, a duck as it carved though the air at me, a hop as it swept at my feet; or so I thought. Whilst I was still in the air, my opponent snapped it back the way it came, catching me by surprise; ironic that she was as well.
As the chain was about to strike if went dead in the air frozen in ice, Korra, my Korra, was on her feet and had interrupted the attack. With a smirk at our working together against this thing I took aim with my blade at our foe, focused and felt power burst from the end of my weapon, a barrage of lights spanning the colour spectrum streamed at the enemy as she ripped her chain free of Korra's ice with a single pull just in time to shift again to dodge my blasts as I managed to get off a second volley; a fruitless endeavour as they followed her, as expected.
Her attempts to try and avoid the multi-coloured shots of light proved futile, they were very persistent in tracking their target. Korra earthbent a wall in the direction her doppelgänger was heading as I circled around to try and cut it off; conjuring another line of discs as I ran.
As the thing continued to flee the shots light pursuing her I gave a nod towards Korra as I got into position, surging forward with a raised barrier bursting as she came my way, Korra streaming a wave of fire on the other side of the shimmering discs and the shots chasing her our foe had nowhere to got, save a single direction.
The mines detonated as the blasts of light found their mark and for good measure I again sent my weapon singing through the air and obscuring smoke at that thing with Korra's face. The spinning blade exited the smoke cloud sailing into the air before I called it back to my hand as before.
Nothing, the smoke cleared as there was no sign of the enemy; I begin scanning the surrounding area sentimentally, searching for any sign, eager to not be caught unaware. "Did we get it?" I called to my Korra as she likewise was on the look out.
"I have no idea." She responded, I couldn't see any sign of the doppelgänger anywhere.
"I think we're good." I confirmed to Korra as I took note of how tired she looked, right before she collapsed to the floor, "Korra!" I ran to her side as she pulled herself into a sitting position, panting and out of breathe; as was I now.
"Hey Asami." I resisted the urge to give her a victory kiss, instead pulling her into a one armed hug and took in the scent of this woman that'd been missing from my life for the past three years. Korra seemed to have a similar idea as she took a deep breath. "My hero, arriving just in the nick of time." I chuckled a bit that, it had been close.
"How'd you find me anyway?" Korra asked as I pulled back, taking in the sight of all the cuts and bruises I hadn't had the time to notice earlier.
"This," I raised my, still summoned, Keyblade into view, "Led me here." It had technically teleported me if one wanted to specific, but I was not in the mood for semantics.
"Yeah, I was going to ask, what is that thing?" Korra nodded towards my weapon, I imagined that she would've cocked an eyebrow if not for her eye being swollen; I hoped that we could get that taken care of soon, the sight was distressing.
"I was told it's called a Keyblade." Korra seemed to be inspecting the length and shape of the blade, and was surprised when it vanished in a flash of light. I chuckled a little as I got to my feet and offered Korra a hand, "It's a long story, love the hair by the way." It really seemed to suit her.
"Thanks." Korra responded with a smile as she took my hand and I helped her up. "You're snazzy as always, even post-combat." This time Korra hugged me and couldn't help but return it.
"Korra, what happened?" I asked as the adrenaline started to wear off and I leaned back to look her in the eyes. "We were all so worried when your dad showed up and said you'd left the south pole six months ago, and what in the hell was that thing we just fought?" I asked as Korra drew away from me, her smile fading as I quickly began to miss the warmth of her arms.
"I don't have any idea what that thing is." Korra started as she drew up some water to her hand that became aglow as she brought it up to her eye to start healing her wounds hissing a bit as she did; Korra let out a sigh as she continued, "It's been hounding me for six months, since I tried to get back to the city," Had Korra been trying to lead that thing away all this time? To try and keep the city safe- "But it's never attacked anyone else before, I thought it was just in my mind." Okay now I was confused.
"Then why didn't you come to m-us to get help?" I had to catch myself, for a second I almost tipped my hand, and Korra had enough to deal with.
"I-" Korra quickly trailed off as she dropped the water she was healing herself with, hanging her head low, "I didn't come back because I didn't feel ready, I'm..." Korra stopped again as she looked away, "I'm sorry." I smiled as I placed a hand on her shoulder in comfort, glad I might be able to offer some absolution.
"No apology necessary, Korra." I told her as she turned to me, her confusion evident in her expression as I realised in the back on my mind how much I'd missed saying her name, "If you didn't feel ready to come back, you weren't ready to come back." My heart warmed as Korra's expression transformed into a smile.
"Thanks, Asami." I'd also missed the sound of Korra's voice saying my name as well it seemed. My mind then moved onto a pertinent inquiry.
"So, how did you end up here in the swamp?" I asked whilst mentioned to our surroundings, the question had been nagging a bit at the back of my mind.
"A spirit I met at the tree of time led me here," Korra answered with a shrug as she resumed tending her injuries, "When I asked what I'd find it said-" Korra stopped for a second, her eyes slowly coming to meet my own as I cocked an eyebrow at the sudden odd behaviour. " It said 'not what, who'" And I suddenly realised the reason for Korra's look of surprise.
"You're telling me you think we were meant to meet here and fight that thing together?" I wasn't entirely sure how to feel about that, the idea of me and Korra, because destiny says so; another part want to just kiss her right here and now, declaring all the things that I'd been afraid of saying before.
I was just starting to notice Korra's own deafening silence as a part of mind wondered if perhaps only someone with a Keyblade was meant to be here; then we where both snapped out of our shock by an unexpected to visitor.
"What's making all this blasted racket!" Came the shout as an elderly hunched over old woman came marching out of the tree line, I honestly had no idea of who it was, but then I noticed Korra lean in, her eyes narrowing in focus.
"Toph?" Toph? As in Toph Beifong? I noticed Toph get closer and smirk.
"Long time not see, Twinkletoes." 'Twinkletoes'? I had to suppress a laugh at that point; this should be interesting.
AN: I at first planned for Korra and Asami to get attacked by some heartless and make some references to Korra being Asami's light, but they seem a bit over the top. It's always risky to give an non-powered hero some type of power, but I think that Asami's actions show that the fits the whole 'the heart that is strong and true' thing well enough; also the keyblade's light based powers means that the only two people in this world who can utilize it are Asami and Korra, I like that. Please leave a review if you liked this.