"Bo. Turn around."

At that, Bolin turned around.

And so did Lin and Tonraq. All three followed Mako's gaze and finally saw the cruel sight.
A ghostly white girl, being dragged up the stage. Her body limp and smeared with blood.
All four were too stunned to move or even say anything. They just stared at the horrific scene.

"Hello Republic City. I'm standing here before you, to announce that I'm your new leader. I'm the one you will bow to from now on."

The crowd reacted both shocked and mad. They started to either shout or walk away, before something, or rather someone, caught their attention.

People were gasping at the sight.

The commander grinned. "Not gonna walk away now, huh? I knew I needed some leverage in order to have you listen to me. Luckily for me, your beloved Avatar was eager to help me. I suggest you all bow for me now, or else-"

"Or else what?!"
A very frustrated Mako suddenly yelled.
"You can't kill the Avatar, you'll just create a martyr. People will only start a rebellion!"

"Oh but I'm not going to do that. I'm not going to kill her, it's way to much fun to torture her. To torture her to the point she wánts to die, but doesn't.
"So, Republic City. I suggest you plead your loyalty to me right now, or else this girl you all worship, will cry out in pain even more than she already has."

People started dropping on their knees, bowing their heads as a sign of obedience towards the dictator in front of them.

"No! Don't you dare give him the satisfaction! Everyone, stand up, stand tall, he has no power over us!" Mako shouted.

"B-but, he has the Avatar. He is going to do terrible things to her, while she has been so good to us. We need her" a young woman behind him said.

"Korra wouldn't want us to give in to this monster. We can't do that to her. We need to safe her.."

"And with those words, people started running towards the stage.
"Attack!"

At first the commander stood perplexed, but he quickly regained his composure. His man came to his aid and city suddenly turned into a battlefield. It was a (literally) heated fight. No one came out unscratched, especially not the Avatar, but they did come out.

The firefighters and their commander eventually fled. Being outnumbered and not used to this kind of rebellion, they gave up. Leaving the city in a mess, but at least the Avatar was 'theirs' again.

In the safe hands of Mako, Bolin, Tonraq and Lin. They brought her back to the air temple for Katara to work on her.

"Oh my dear girl, what did they do to you."

Katara said more to herself than to Korra.
She had sent everybody out. She needed utter concentration. She couldn't focus on healing Korra's wounds, as far as possible, when people where hovering over her and gasping every know and then.

She had to admit, it wasn't a pretty sight. One of her eyes was swollen shut, she had a busted lip, numerous cuts and lacerations. Bruises everywhere, deep stabwounds, burns. That's not even taking her broken bones and internal and psychological wounds into account. Korra had 5 broken ribs, one broken arm, a broken nose, one of her lungs had teared and there was internal bleeding. It wasn't possible to say anything for certain about her mental health, because 5 days later, she still hadn't opened her eyes.

"Please wake up. We're all soo worried about you" said Mako while stroking her hand.
"Those firebenders are gone, Korra. They fled. It's safe for you to wake up now, they can't hurt you anymore. You're safe, you're safe"
he repeated almost like a mantra.

3 hours later, Bolin walked in.
Mako's head lay on the bed beside Korra's hand, which he was still holding firmly.

"Hey bro, wake up."
Bolin gently shook Mako.

"mh-huhh. Oh hey Bo, what's up."

"Not much, only.. Only I'm starting to worry about you Mako. You haven't eaten or slept for days."

"I slept until you woke me up. Besides, I need to be here in case Korra wakes up. I can't leave her alone again, if I hadn't in the first place, none of this would've happened."

"Bro.." - Bolin sighed "This isn't your fault. I know you've been blaming yourself the entire time, but you couldn't have done anything to prevent it. You really should at least eat something. It could be days before Korra wakes up, if she even wakes up."

"NO! Don't you say that! She will be wake up! She HAS to!" Mako practically screamed.

"Bro.. I really hope she will. I'm hoping her to recover soo bad. But we also have to be realistic. She has been in the hands of the commander for weeks. No food, barely anything to drink. And she was almost beaten to death. We may be glad she even pulled trough all of that *sigh*Look Mako, she's hurt real bad, you need to start thinking about-"

"NO! No no no! It couldn't be! Korra is the strongest, toughest, most brave person I've ever met. She will pull trough! She has to, because I can't live without her. I love her Bo."

*Korra*

~ Damn, what's all the commotion, it seems like someone is screaming. Someone else than my head. What's going on? Everything is bright, but at the same time, I can't see anything. I can only feel my body, all of it. Why does it feel so incredibly painfull? Man, I could use some fresh air, I can barely breath. ~

Her cheast started rising and falling faster than before. She started to panick for a bit.

~ I still can't see anything! I can't hear anything anymore, I can't move! I can't breath! ~

"Aaaah!"

Korra suddenly sat up straight, her eyes wide open in fear.

*Air temple Island*

"Mako and Bolin had just left Korra's room. They weren't sure whether Korra could hear them in the state she was in, but they didn't want to risk disturbing her, so they took it outside.
Suddenly they hears an ear piercing scream. It came from Korra's room. They immediately ran back to the room, to find Lin and Tonraq already there.

"It's okay sweetie, you're at air temple Island, you're safe. What do you remember?"

The girl was still breathing heavily and she lookedat her father with big eyes.

"Oh for Aangs sake, Tonraq, give her some space. Let her breath at least, can't you see she's troubled. Who wouldn't be after 3 weeks of torture and another full week of being in the dark."

"W-what?" Korra brought out weakly.

"Sorry kid, it's the truth. But first, let's have Pema prepare you some food. You must be absolutely famished."

With those words, Korra became aware of her body again. Her stomach growled and she could feel the pain she was in.
She looked at herself. It was a somewhat colored sight. Where she wasn't bandaged up, there were different colors covering her skin. Green, blue, yellow. It was an odd sight really.
But before she could really wonder about the origin of these, she felt exhausted by the sudden use of energy from waking up and fell back in an uneasy sleep.