Disclaimer: I don't own Korra. I could never be that awesome. No. The awesomeness that is Korra belongs to Mike and Bryan and all those happy people at Nickelodeon. ;D

A Trip to the Spirit World

Tired and beat out, Korra pulled herself from her bed early the next morning. She groaned in resignation as she realized that this was the first day that Mako, Bolin, and Asami were all staying on Air Temple Island. It was not that she wasn't excited to have her friends staying there with her, but she really did not want to have to deal with all her emotions when seeing Asami and Mako together. She wondered briefly if any of her past lives ever had to deal with issues such as these. Surely Aang never did.

'Whatever.' She could do this. She was the Avatar and she had to do what was right for the world, up to, and including her closest friends.

She stretched and put on her air bending clothes. Then, after pushing her feet into her water tribe boots, she made her way to the meditation pavilion. The water tribe girl was surprised to see that nobody else was present and she wondered if she was late again.

As the young Avatar pondered this, she came to the realization that she was early, not late. She laughed quietly as she watched the sun rise over the Earth. (She never really enjoyed getting up early enough to watch the sunrise.)

It brought with it the chirping of the birds and the colors of a morning sky. She felt a light chill wind pass over her and with it came the smell of the ocean waters off of Yue bay. She did not remember closing her eyes, nor did she take up the proper meditation position, but she felt a deep inner peace come over her as she sat and listened to the sounds of the Earth waking up.

'Maybe this is what Tenzin meant when he said that I need to detach myself from the world around me.'

LoK ~ LoK ~ LoK

Inside the breakfast room of the temple, Tenzin, his family, and the guests of the Avatar were communing for the first meal of the day. Tenzin was trying to keep Meelo from charging around the small room on an air-ball, Ikki was talking a mile a minute to Bolin, who was only barely listening, Asami and Mako were speaking in low terms, and Jinora was reading from her scrolls quietly. As Pema brought out the bowls of fruits and rice she looked around and smiled. She was glad that her family was able to help Korra's friends. And speaking of Korra – "Where is Korra?" Pema asked into the maelstrom.

Everything stopped and seven sets of eyes turned toward her. (It was rather creepy).

Mako shrugged. "Probably still in bed, she never did seem to like the morning." Asami giggled a little, which made Bolin cringe at the seemingly non-caring attitudes. Bolin was slightly panicked himself and he voiced his fears aloud. "What if she was abducted in her sleep? What if the Equalists broke into her room and took her from her bed, and she's tied up in some dank and dirty cell where no one can find her?"

Before Ikki and Meelo could pick up on any of Bolin's fears and start ranting as well, Tenzin lifted a hand for silence. "I doubt she has been abducted," he tried to soothe the frantic boy. "The Order of the White Lotus sentries are on duty all over the island and they would have notified us of any funny business."

"Plus," Mako added, "Doesn't Naga sleep in Korra's room. I'm pretty sure she wouldn't let anything happen to her master."

"Still, shouldn't we form a search party and go look for her or something?" Bolin asked the group.

Murmuring broke out amongst them and as it began to get louder, Jinora broke away from her scrolls. "Korra's at the meditation pavilion. She's been there since sunrise," she said in a loud enough voice for everyone to hear.

"But, Korra doesn't meditate…" Tenzin said in an air of disbelief. He rose from the table and took off to see the phenomenon for himself. Bolin, Mako, and Asami followed him.

LoK ~ LoK ~ LoK

Upon arriving at the pavilion, they found Korra right where Jinora said she would be, looking to all the world as if she were asleep sitting up. Her eyes were closed and her back was straight, but her legs were not in the lotus cross, and her hands were sitting idly in her lap. Clearly – she was not meditating.

"See Bo. She's fine," Mako stated from next to Tenzin.

"Hmm…," Tenzin murmured.

"Something feels – I don't know… Off." Asami said quietly.

Bolin walked slowly over to the Avatar. He agreed with Asami. Something didn't feel right about the air surrounding them. This was one of the most spiritual places on the island. The air here was always clean and pure, but for some reason it was oppressive. As if there was a gathering storm just behind the clouds; except – it was a cloudless day.

"Korra?" Bolin asked the girl, gently touching her shoulder. She didn't even flinch at his touch.

Mako was not sure, but he was certain that the light wind that was blowing around them picked up just a little bit. He glanced at Asami and saw that she had a look of worry on her face as she watched the scene unfold. He didn't want her to add Korra to her list of worries. She was stressed out enough. And then there was Bolin, who was freaking out because the Avatar was ignoring him. He didn't like it that the two most important people in his life were scared.

He went into protective mode. Not even thinking about what he was doing, Mako stormed up the steps, pushed Bolin to the side and stood directly in front of the water tribe girl.

As if sensing what the fire bender was about to do, Tenzin called out, "Mako! Wait!" But it was too late.

"This isn't funny anymore, Korra! Quit playing around and open your eyes!" Mako demanded of her. Just as before when Bolin called out to her, Korra still did not answer. But the wind picked up even more. This time it was noticeable.

"Mako…," Asami said. "Maybe we should let her be." Tenzin seemed to be of the same idea, and he went up the steps as well, if only to usher the brothers away from the Avatar. Asami, not wanting to be left alone in the overly oppressive and chilling wind, also went up to the small enclosure.

"No." Mako said with some heat in his voice. "She needs to know that she can't just ignore us!" He reached out his hand to push on her shoulder and a great many things happened at once.

"I don't think –" Tenzin began.

"She's not –" Bolin said.

"Mako, don't!" Asami yelled.

Korra grabbed Mako's hand with a strength that was not normal for any bender, even her. He looked at the brown hand that was gripping his and then he looked up into the bright glowing eyes of Avatar Korra.

Mako swallowed his next breath.

LoK ~ LoK ~ LoK

He knew she was the Avatar. Of course he did. She could bend three out of the four elements and she was working on the fourth. He also knew that the Avatar was the bridge between the spirit world and this one, but he never gave it much thought. She was just Korra to him. Hard-headed, stubborn, abrasive, and just to be contradictive to all these negative qualities, she was also kind and caring.

Just because he knew she was the Avatar though, did not mean he knew why her eyes were all glowy and white. It was rather freaky. Asami came up beside him and linked her arm around his, hugging herself to him. "Is she – is she going to be ok?" She asked quietly.

Bolin was on the other side of Korra quietly contemplating the girl he had come to know and care for as his best friend. Neither brother had an answer for Asami, because neither one of them knew what was going on.

It was Tenzin who answered her. "She's in the spirit world right now," he said as he came up to the three of them. The only thing you can really do is sit with her and make sure her body is safe from any outside forces. My mother says it's a very boring thing to do, unless you have a crazy fire bender prince after you." He added the last part with a slight smile that made the three teenagers wonder about that particular story.

"I don't care how boring it is," Bolin piped up. "I'll sit with her and make sure nothing happens." He sat down where he was standing and picked up a pebble.

Mako shrugged. He didn't like that Bolin was going to stay out here in the wind storm, but he had to credit his brother for loyalty. Turning to Tenzin, he asked, "couldn't we move her body to a place where the wind wasn't so strong?"

The air bender shook his head. "We could. But it is not a wise thing to do. Besides, I think that once Korra comes back to this world, the wind storm will die down."

"Fine," he said. He turned to Asami and began to pull her with him as he walked away. However, Asami had other ideas.

"Actually Mako. I think I'd rather stay out here too. I want to make sure she is ok when she comes back from the spirit world." The underlying meaning was that she wanted to question Korra about what it was like in the other world. Maybe even find out if it were possible to find Asami's mother and Mako and Bolin's parents.

The fire bender glanced at the girl with the glowing eyes and sighed. "Alright, fine. We'll all stay and make sure that nothing happens to her." He glanced at Tenzin who looked like he wanted to interject to this plan. But the older man merely shrugged his shoulders at them.

"As you wish," he said. "Just make sure that you don't bombard her with questions as soon as she wakes up. I hear a trip to the spirit world can be quite draining on a person." With those parting words, Tenzin left the three teenagers to their own devices. He prayed that the spirits would keep Korra safe and that they would return her soon.

LoK ~ LoK ~ LoK

It was four hours before Korra came back to the land of the living. When she did, she found Bolin's head resting comfortably in her lap and his eyes closed tight. Asami and Mako were in a similar position, only it was Asami's head in Mako's lap. Mako was sitting up resting against one of the poles in the pavilion and he was staring straight at her when she opened her eyes. It was a rather creepy sensation.

"Hello, Korra," he said quietly. The entire time she had been out, Mako had been trying to get his own thoughts and feelings in order. He knew that his staying there along with Asami had to be hard on the young Avatar. But it had been Korra herself who had invited them; and why she would do that to herself was beyond him. He was grateful for a place to stay nonetheless.

However, the longer he sat and thought about their strange friendship, he realized that Korra was an enigma in a way and he would never truly understand her motives. But even more than that, he had been a massive jerk to her lately and she really didn't deserve it.

So when she finally – (finally) – opened her eyes, he was ready to apologize to her. Before the fire bender could say another word, Bolin woke up. Upon realizing that Korra was awake, he threw his arms around her neck and hugged her for all he was worth.

Mako could hear him muttering something along the lines of, "I'm so glad you're ok." The fire bender had to give the girl credit. She barely even flinched. Her eyes were weary though, and Mako could tell that it was taking all her strength to hold her own within his brother's hug.

"Alright Bo, that's enough. Let her breathe," he said. Asami woke to the rumblings of Mako's voice and slowly sat up.

"Korra! You're awake!"

In his head, he was sure that he heard a certain Avatar's voice say, 'way to state the obvious.' He didn't like the Korra voice that much.

Asami continued on in an excited way that reminded him slightly of Ikki. She was asking questions about the spirit world. "What did it look like? Who did you meet? Were you able to talk to any human spirits that passed on, besides Avatar Aang, of course?"

Korra's eyes got wide at this last question and it made Mako wonder if she actually did get to meet any other spirits.

Remembering what Tenzin said about letting Korra be when she first came back, Mako said, "Asami, I think we should let her get re-acclimated to her surroundings."

Korra pulled herself from Bolin who was still hugging on her and slowly stood up. The other three followed suit, and the young Avatar nodded at all of them before she began to walk back to toward the main part of the temple. She made it about half way there and then promptly passed out from sheer exhaustion.

The spirit world could take a lot out of a girl. Especially when she was being chased by a monster with many faces….

LoK ~ LoK ~ LoK

AN: I cannot begin to tell you how sorry I am about this. I don't know where it came from, but it would not leave me alone until it was typed up and published to fanfiction. I'm just gonna go and work on Lily's story now. *grimace*

P.S. Don't forget to leave a review. PLEASE LEAVE A REVIEW! Especially if you fave it…(although I don't see why you would) But still. Reviews are the only payment we as writers of the Fanfiction world get. SO PLEASE, for all that is wonderfully marvelous in the world, Leave a review! :D

CHEERS!
~Jeni