Note: This is a fic based on "ikkinthekitsune's" anonymous prompts of Bolin having visions post book two, as the Spirits now share the Physical World. I was reading these prompts online on her blog, and as you can imagine, the Bolin Lover that I am, I freaked out! I was like akhfkarfahhahddha! I just had to do my own! So this is not my original idea, and all credit goes to "Ikkienthesune"
P.S My one-shot would probably make a little more sense if you read her anonymous prompts beforehand, but you get the general idea here. According to the prompts- and these are my own words- since the Spirits have been in the mortal world as part of the New Age, some people are gaining strange abilities, and our Bolin, well, yeah, he can see the future in visions. :/ He see's things involving the Spirits, and people who get caught up with them, dying. Sounds fun, right? Sometimes he and the Krew can prevent them from happening, other times...shit goes down and people die and get hurt and all that. Hey, I didn't request these badboys, nor did I write them. I am only a crazed fan obsessed with Bolin! Now, I will not tell you anymore about said prompts; if you want to go and read them, go right ahead, they are wonderful! This is my version of one!
(Actually, I probably will spoil the other prompts in this one, sorry. If you want to read those first, you can. But it really doesn't change anything, really.)
Warning: This story is rated T for a reason. To those who know my writing style, this is going to be very angsty and dark.
I am trying to make this a one-shot...a long one-shot. May make it multiple chapters, and will make that clear at the bottom, if I chose that length.
Enjoy! :D
He's in town with his friends when it happens.
At first, his visions had started out only in his dreams, and were mostly painless and not very complicated. His first vision, however, unfortunately had not resulted without casualties, and left angry emergency crew workers' glares trailing behind him, and nightmares of vines swallowing him whole with screams that would never scream again.
With every vision he had, he kept trying to push the lingering feelings away. The nightmares he had no control over, but at least he could try to suppress and hide how each vision flashing across his eyes sucked his soul into someone else's body in the past or future, memories and feelings not his own crawling under his skin and into his mind. He could try not to cry in anguish as he saw a building full of people explode into a burst of heat and ash right after the detonator went off. He could try not to scream in pain and pass out as he felt a knife jab into the neck-the-was-his-but-someone-else's and leave him for dead.
He could try to separate the feelings and pain in his visions, from himself. Tell himself that those people weren't him, that he wasn't guilty or responsible for saving them. Mako had said he was proud of him, that his visions could help people.
And if Bolin could try to believe that, too, maybe things wouldn't have gone the way they did.
He's with Mako and Korra and Asami in the little shopping part of town that sells nice cakes and bak choy, just because, and food that smells like summer and makes the Fire Nation in him known. It's one of the hottest summers he can remember, and the way the sun is backing the pavement and dissipating the grease off the sidewalk, makes everything feel sticky. He's sweaty, and hungry, and glad this store has a freezer section because right now he kind of wants to stick his face in the big frosty thing and doesn't care what anybody says.
It one of those rare off days where Korra doesn't have training, Asami is taking off work, and apparently the air conditioning in the Police Station broke yesterday, making it hot enough for all the ink on the papers to melt together and make even never-miss-a-day-Cheif-Beifong surrender to mother nature and declare it be fixed by Monday.
He goes over and inspects the frozen dumplings and packs of organic noodles. Half contemplating buying some for dinner that he will only try to make himself eat, and half just wanting to go swim in the bay, he mulls over the possibilities of which dish would be easier to prepare. He tells himself thinking about the petty things will keep his mind from going to the dark places- or at least tries to. Because Mako and the girls are getting worried, even if they don't verbally tell him so, but if he can seem as if he is choosing what to eat for dinner, then it is easier to hide the fact that he really can't seem to eat anymore without thinking of the people who will never eat again.
But he's trying not to think about all that.
It really isn't working.
He feels it before he see it.
Somewhere is his vision, he catches the 'Missing' poster tacked onto the wall. In the middle of the paper, is a little girl-seven, maybe eight- smiling down at him. The poster reads she has been missing for two weeks so far, last seen getting off her school bus, towered home. Her innocent wide eyes and narrow chin are black and white from the glossy 15' by 15' inch print, but somehow he can tell her eyes are green-Earth Kingdom on her mother's side- and she has a bit of Water Tribe from her grandfather on her father's side, though she doesn't look it.
Like a puppet being pulled on a string, his hand goes up to touch the print, and the pads of his fingers lay flat over the girl's face. He feels his eyes roll back into his head as his eyesight goes out of focus, and he's trapped in someone else's body, memories not his own tugging at him.
The little girl was running, running away and running fast.
"Nylaaaaa...Nylaaaa..." the man was chasing after her, a crazed sound in his voice and murder in his eyes, "Come out, come out, wherever you are. Nylaaaa...What's the matter, Nyla? Don't you want to play with me?"
The girl cowered and ducked behind a couch, biting her tongue to keep from crying.
"Come on, Nyla, I just want to play with you."
The man's breath stunk of cactus juice and his face was covered in old scars.
"Nyla?" His beady eyes scanned the room, going back and forth. He looked behind the curtains, and scowled. "Where are you, you little shit?"
He punched a wall, and Nyla jumped, pinching her leg to stop herself from yelling. All she wanted was her mommy.
He starts going into the other room, and she lets out a shaky sigh of relief. Nyla starts getting up slowly, slowly-but her elbow knocks into the little cheap radio, and it crashes to the ground with a thud.
Nyla whimpers, and holds her breath as the sound of the man's clambering footsteps come closer, and he barges back into the room, face red and monstrous.
"THERE YOU ARE!" He roars, and lunges for her. Nyla screams and kicks, but he gets her in his arms and doesn't let go.
His big meaty hands are around her throat, and her face is turning blue. She is clawing at his hands, but he squeezes tighter, until finally, her head bashes against the wall until it cracks with blood and her body is limp on the floor.
The man smiles, "Poor Nyla. If only you would have played nice."
There is screaming in his ears before he realizes that it's his friends' voices yelling his name frantically, mixing in with his own screams.
"Bolin! Bolin, snap out of it! Come on, bro! Bolin!"
There are hands on his arms as he flails and shudders and yells, and more voices calling his name, until he is shoved into someone's chest that has something soft and red around their neck, and his eyes finally snap open, darting around frantically.
He coughs and sputters and tries to talk and breathe all at once, but he grips Mako's shirt tightly, his shoulder's heaving. Tanned, and manicured hands are rubbing his head, pushing his hair out of his face as he gulps in air.
"That's it, bro...you're okay. Take it easy. Just breath..."
His vision comes back into full focus now- the store with its bright lights and rows of food, and people all looking at him with mixed expressions. His own friends and brother's faces are very concerned and scared and he shutters, gripping Mako's shirt. The people in the store- thank Agni there weren't many- look away from him now, and disperse when the lady at the counter rings the bell and says, 'okay, people, nothing to see here. Give them some space, come on.
The people grumble and whisper as they are ushered out, and the woman turns the sign over on the door so that the inside says 'Welcome, all. Come on in.'
The lady huffs, her green eyes turn to look at them.
"Thank you," Korra says.
"Of course," she replies, "You want some water, hon? You really took a swan dive there. This heat, by Agni, it's like the Fire Nation..."
As she goes around back, Mako-at least he thinks it's Mako. His head is still fuzzy- asks, "Bo...? Hey, what happened? Are you alright? You nearly gave me a heart attack."
"W-where's...where's Nyla?"
Bolin puts his head on Mako's shoulder and breathes in through his mouth. He groans. Mako grips him tighter, "Shhhh...You're okay now..."
"What did you see?" Asami asks gently.
He rubs his head against Mako's shoulder, wincing. "....Horrible..." he rasps, " C-can I have some water...?"
"It's coming," Korra soothes, as the lady comes back around the bend not a moment later.
"Here you go, sweetie," the woman offers the cool glass down to him.
Bolin doesn't hear her, "Where's...Nyla?" he asks again, "I jus- just saw her..."
He hears glass shatter with a sharp intake of breath. His eyes snap open, as he see's the lady's face drain of color.
"What...? What did you just say...?"
Bolin can see now-with his eyes back in focus and his head now having stopped spinning- something very clear. This woman and the girl- Nyla- look very much alike. They have the same eyes, and same nose and cheekbones. And while Nyla's hair was darker and thinker, and her lips were a bit fuller, he has no doubt that this woman is her mother.
"You saw Nyla!? My baby!? You saw her, when?" the woman exclaims, green eyes starting to tear. "Did you see her on your way over here? Is she coming this way?"
Something gets caught in Bolin's throat and he coughs again.
Nylaaaa...Nylaaaa...come out, come out, wherever you are...
A scream rings out in his mind, and he whimpers.
"Bo?"
And he can't. The lady- he now sees her name tag read 'Saba' -is clasping her hands together, looking hopeful. By Spirits, he just can't do it.
"I'm sorry..."
Saba's face falls. She doesn't understand. "Nyla, my baby girl. She's only eight. She went missing two weeks, on her way home from school," She takes the poster off the wall and hands it to Korra. Bolin feels all three of his friends' faces fall, realization cutting in as they look at the picture-then to Bolin with pitiful eyes- and back to the poster. They understand now. They don't know what happened, but Bolin can tell that they are realize that that little girl is never coming home. That Saba will never see her daughter again.
"So, please, take this, let people know. If you see or hear anything..." her voice cracks and she whips her face.
"Of course," Mako says gently.
And they are all slowly walking out of the store now-when did he stand up? When did he start walking?- Mako is holding him close, supporting him. And he tries not to think about what just happened;how the little girl screamed and cried, how the man laughed, how her head cracked as it hit the wall- how he was the little girl.
Somehow, he gets in the back seat of Asami's car and closes his eyes. His mind escapes to the darkness of a dreamless sleep, as he hears voices whisper around him.
The hushed conversation in the car continues on, but he wills his mind to shut off and roll away with the heat.
Poor Nyla. If only you would have played nice.
...
He comes back into consciousness some time later. He doesn't ask how long, so they do not say. He's covered in a layer of cold sweat, and his mouth is dry.
He wakes up on a bed at Air Temple Island, Mako by his side, a small, weary smile on his face that does not meet his eyes, nor can Bolin seem to match. He silently drinks water, and sips soup, and tells himself he is Bolin/Bolin/Bolin but down the hall, a door slams loudly, and a baby hollers, and the small, plain bedroom keeps switching into a horrible dark basement, with an old, faded couch and a hole in the wall.
Then, after a while of silence, the girls come back in and they all ask, so he tells them quietly, huddled up in a ball, describing it in a way that he doesn't think makes much sense, but he's trying.
He closes his eyes so he doesn't have to look at their scared, worried, pitying faces, and sees the dark of his closed eyelids.
He tells them about how he was drawn to the 'Missing' poster, about how he saw Nyla- no, how he was Nyla, because he felt everything. He tells them of the fear, the helplessness, and pain as her air was cut off, he rubbing his neck the whole time. He describes the man- no the monster- as best as he can. There were definitely scars on his nose, and his breath stunk- a smell that is isn't sure he will soon be able to forget. Mako asks what Nation he thinks the man was from, if he bent at all. He shakes his head, and says it was dark, he doesn't remember what color they were, only that they were beady and crazed. He says the man had to be about six feet tall, and was bald. And- he closes his eyes tight- and says that he smacks her head against the wall. He whispers about how the man smiled and laughed and how he hates his visions so much that he just-
He's crying now, biting his lip, and he just wants to erase it all.
"It's like I died, too..." He whispers, his face in his hands.
"Oh, Bo..." he hears Mako say softly, and climb into the bed with him, wrapping him tight.
"I hate them so much," he cries, "At first I thought it would be okay because you said it would be. You said even though they were scary, that they would help people and that you were proud..." He shuts his eyes, "But's it's not okay, Mako. It's not okay."
Mako is at a loss for words, not knowing what to say. Bolin hears him sigh wearily, and hold him close. "We'll get through this, Bo. I promise you..."
Then, two other pairs of arms -Korra and Asami- are around him, too, and he wants them to go, wants them all to leave, because can't they see he's cursed?
He want's to go back to before. To go back to bed and start the day all over. Because he's seen people die in his visions before. Angry Spirit attacks on innocent crew workers; an exploding building full of unsuspecting citizens; a Triad man murdered, only because he wanted what was his birthright; his bending back. Sometimes, he could prevent it. The building was saved that day, and the other time, only half of the crew workers that he saw killed, actually did die, and sustained injuries. But the Triad murder had happened in the past, like this one. And being killed in a vision, past or present, is not very pleasant either way.
And the fact is that he's never liked this whole 'vision thing' from the start. Sure, he saved some people, (far less than he'd have liked), and he stopped a killer Equalist after who knows how many victims, but it's getting harder and to remember who Bolin is which each person, and every surge of memories. And he's never been good at defining reality to begin with.
"Korra? Would you please come in here?" Tenzin's voice rings out, and everyone looks up. He knows the told Tenzin, and will explain to him the rest later.
Right now he just wants to lay in a shower, and maybe bang his head against the wall a few times to keep it from spinning and thinking too much. And every time he close his eyes, he sees her face.
"What am I going to tell the mother?" he asks desperately.
"You, nothing," Korra says as she gets off the bed and starts moving to the door, "Don't worry. We'll handle most of it. All you have to do is I.D. the guy."
"But, Korra-"
"-Hey..." Mako cuts in, "Just try to rest for a bit okay? You really stuck a landing there, bro." Mako tries to joke, but it's not helping, "We'll go home in a little bit."
Mako refills the water glass, and the three of them walk out of the room. He's too tired to argue, too tired, too tired.
Bolin doesn't know how to tell them that he has no idea where the house is, and even if he did, how does he tell them that he thinks the game isn't over yet, when Nyla is now above the rules?
Bolin feels like he'll never be able to sleep again.
Will you play with me, Bolin? the voice asks. Her voice is think because her neck is still swollen.
Bolin doesn't know how to tell her that it's a game nobody wins.
...
"What I don't understand," Mako says in frustration, "is how this little girl could be missing for two weeks, and the Police not know about it?" He pinches his nose and sighs.
"Maybe only some were notified," offers Asami, "I mean, not all of you get the same cases and work. Maybe some guys were working on it."
"Yeah, but don't you think Mako would have at least seen her picture in the station?" Korra asks.
"Good point."
"I'm just really worried about Bolin, you guys," Mako says, "He never been affected this badly, at least, not that he's shown. Sure he's freaked out, and wanted go help, and felt guiltily after. But not...not like this," Mako runs a hand through his hair, "It's not just me, right? You all saw what happened at the store. I nearly had a heart attack."
The girls nod, "Me, too," says Korra, "I just wish there something we could do to help Bolin. How can we even find the guy; do you think Bolin knows where he lives?"
"His visions have never really been that specific, but I'll ask him," Mako sighs, "Maybe-"
"Korra, I just got off the phone with Lin," Tenzin comes into the room then.
"And?"
"She and a squad are doing a patrol of the areas near where the girl was last seen, and any suspicious buildings. They'll be on the lookout."
"What about the parents?" Asami asks.
Tenzin's face falls, "They haven't been notified yet. They won't be until a body is found."
"But there will be a body found!" Asami exclaims, "What do you think Bolin just went through? How can you give them false hope, only to break their hearts afterward?"
"Asami," Mako puts hand on her shoulder, "I hate it, too, but this is how the law works. We can't just go and tell them what Bolin saw, tell them their daughter is dead when we have no proof, or know who this guy is. No one would believe us, despite Bolin being right in the past. No matter who we are, we'd be put in court."
"It's just so horrible..." she says.
Tenzin cuts in, "It's been a long day. Why don't you all get some rest? We can continue this tomorrow."
The three bid each other a weary goodnight, and go on their separate ways.
...
"Tenzin?" Korra's feet pad across the cold floor, her form being outlined by the desk lamp in Tenzin's office.
"Korra?" Tenzin looks up from his paper work and turns another light on,"It's the middle of the night. Are you alright?"
Korra shakes her head, tears threatening to spill. "No," she says, "I'm not..."
Tenzin takes out the other chair and motions her to sit down. Despite it being well past midnight, Korra is like a daughter to him, and she is just starting to voice her difficult feeling to him, so he would never turn her away.
"What's on your mind?"
"I...It's just..."Korra struggles, "Do you think I made the right choice?"
Tenzin doesn't understand, "With what?"
"With leaving the Spirit Portals open?"
"Korra..." he puts a hand on her shoulder, "Remember how we talked about not doubting ourselves? I told you that whatever decision you made, I would support you. And I still hold true to that."
Korra looks down, " I know, but...the weight of it, it being a permanent change to the whole world...What if I'm known as the Avatar who changed the whole world for the worse? What if..."
"Every Avatar had their own problems and regrets," he says, "it is part of being the Avatar. And, part of being human."
Korra goes silent for a long moment, finding great interest in playing with the end of her ponytail.
"But, it's been weeks, Korra. What brought this doubt along now?"
"B-bolin..." she says softly, "All those people with..." she trails off.
Tenzin takes a moment to contemplate.
"Oh, I think I understand," he says finally, "Korra, you are saying that you blame yourself for what Bolin's going through? That you think that it's your fault that all these people have these abilities, because you were the one to bring the Spirits into our world?"
Korra cringes, "Isn't it, though? Bolin and Mako, they must hate me. They must blame me for-"
Tenzin shakes his head, "-Korra, listen to me. I know that this all seems to be your fault, I understand why you are feeling this way. But you must understand, that is the Spirits' will, not yours. You said it yourself the we are entering a New Age, that world is changing, and with it, the people as well. The Spirits choose people for a reason, and I believe, no matter how bleak things may seem now, that things are meant to be this way. Change takes time, you'll see."
"I just want the old Bolin back," she says.
"I know you do. Things are going to be alright, Korra. We just have to be-"
"-Patient?"
Tenzin smiles, and wraps his arms around her tight.
"I love you, Tenzin."
"I love you, too," he says, "and I want you to remember something: not all change is bad, or permanent. Everything changes, but that is how we grow."
"Maybe, but it's still hard."
"That it is, my dear, that it is..."
Sooo...yeah.
A lot longer than I expected. Once I started, I just couldn't stop.
More action and POV's next chapter. We're going to see more about the horrible man and the family and the murder.
Soooo...let me know what'cha think! :D