chapter 3
Sunlight poured in through the many holes from the broken house that Korra woke up alone in. She had cried herself to sleep the night before and decided to leave it at that, she wouldn't bother to spill another tear for people who didn't seem to even want her around anymore.
"Well time to start a new day." She sighed, pushing the rag of a blanket off of her and stretching. If she was going to be alone and live the way she wanted, thievery was no option, she was going to have to pour her heart and soul into finding a decent job, and that day would be the start of looking for one.
Eyes shinning brightly with hope, Korra left the house and went off to face the day. "Look out world, Korra is here to take you by storm!" She beamed before heading towards the city with her head held high. Unfortunately for Korra, it seemed as if the world had taken heed to her warning and had indeed been looking out for her and seemed hell bent to not let anything go her way. Bakeries, stores, small shops, big time businesses; not one of them wanted Korra to even take out their trash.
"Ugh!" Korra grunted slumping down on the sidewalk and shoving her chilly hands in her pockets. She had scoured the city and had yet to find anything, and she knew if she couldn't find anything in her area, the rich area definitely wouldn't want her. "Why does everything have to be so freakin' difficult!" Korra yelled, tilting her face the the sky, not caring about all of the strange looks pedestrians gave her as they went where ever they were going. She was in the more middle class area of her city, so people paid more attention to the poor girl yelling in the streets than they would in her part of town. The strange looks Korra received reminded her that she was pretty far from home, but pretty close to where Asami, Mako and Bolin were. The urge to go see them, just one more time pulsed through her, but she ignored that feeling. If they wanted to find her, they could have, where did they think she would've gone anyway? They should've known that no matter what she would always, always come back to them.
Korra shook her head and got to her feet before her thoughts had her crying again. "Guess, I should head back then." she murmured to herself as she began walking the hour long walk back to where she lived.
An hour later, Korra should have been home right? But something had caught her eye along the way in one of the stores she passed. It was a store she had passed the day before and thought nothing of until she peered in the window that day. A long flowing beautiful sky blue dress with white embroidering decorated the collar of it, while a set of shining blue hair beads seat next to it in a case, instantly catching Korra's undivided attention. Korra wasn't one for dresses and her hair had become so matted that she wasn't even sure she'd have been able to get the hair beads on, but from the outside of that window, she allowed herself to day dream. She imagined the soft silky dress against her clean skin, hair parted in three smooth ponytails, the beads decorating ones near her face, the way she vaguely remembered her mother wearing her hair before she had passed away. In her mind, that dress had instantly become the symbol of a better life and she promised herself that the day she could afford it, that dress and those beads were gonna be hers, even if she never wore it, she wanted it.
"Something you like in the window?" A familiar voice pulled her from her day dreams as she spun around in shock and stood face to face with the bearded man that she recognized as the gym owner from the day before.
"Oh, uhm, n-no." Korra stammered, embarrassed to have been caught day dreaming.
"Ah, sorry to have startled you." the man laughed gently, "It's just that I recognized you from the other day. You seemed troubled then."
Korra cleared her throat before speaking, "Oh, it wasn't much of anything, I had just mistaken the people from yesterday as some old friends." It wasn't a complete lie, she had mistaken them for friends, when they seemed to be actively proving that they indeed were nothing of the sort.
The man nodded, not seeming to believe Korra, but still kind enough to pretend that he did, "Well is there something in this shop that you like? My wife, Pema, owns it and I'm sure she'd be thrilled to hear she's got a fan of her work."
That was oddly angering to Korra. There was no way this man could look at her dirty rag covered form and assume she had the money to afford anything in that store. "Don't look down on me!" she snapped pointing her thin dingy finger up at him, "Just cuz' I'm poor doesn't mean I'm a joke!" she was yelling, hands curling up into fists.
The man threw his arms up in surrender, "I wasn't trying to make fun of you at all, I was just curious if there was anything that caught your eye."
Korra gave him a wary glance before speaking again, "I'm not into pity gifts, whatever I get, I want to get it with my own hands," She glanced briefly at the dress and beads in the window, "Even if I showed you what I was admiring, I can't afford it and I don't really want a pity gift from you or anyone else." she sighed, trying not to let her irritation show anymore and letting it all but fade away.
The man gave her a small gentle smile, "You seem to be a strong willed girl, that's quite adirable at your age. You seem troubled though, I wish I could help you out, but I'd hate for you to feel as if you were being pitied."
Korra wasn't really sure what to say to that as she blinked up at the man, "Uh, well thanks." she said. It was better than nothing said at all.
"How about this, if you ever run into any troubles, you can come here or to the gym, I'll tell my wife your name so that she'll know." Korra stared up dumbfounded yet again as the man waited for her response. Though Korra really didn't want to go getting more and more random people involved in her life, she could;t help but think, if something happened to her, it would have been nice for someone to have noticed her missing. Nice to have someone to turn to if everything turned to shit, she figured before replying.
"M-my name is Korra." she muttered.
"And I am Tenzin. Very nice to meet you Korra." his voice was stern yet friendly, and just from that alone Korra figured he must have been a bit of a tight ass.
"Uhm, likewise." she murmured, shifting uncomfortably from foot to foot, "Well I was just headed back to my part of town so I guess I'll be go-" Korra's words were cut off by a woman holding a wad of fabric swinging the door of the shop open.
"Tenzin! You're here, we have to get going soon if we're going to be able to pick up the kids and go to the dinner." The woman was quite plain looking, with a motherly air about her that matched well with Tenzin's fatherly air. Hearing them talk about family was like a knife in the gut as Korra stood there knowing she didn't have anything to go back to.
"Ah, yes, Pema." Tenzin replied stroking his beard as the woman named Pema looked curiously over at Korra.
"And who is this? Another fighter of yours?" Pema was asking, pity for the dirty girl before her etched on her face.
"Ah, her name is Korra, I believe she's a friend of some of my fighters." Tenzin gave her a knowing glance, and Korra scowled a bit at his assumption.
"I told you, they were people I thought were friends." She insisted.
"Well of course." he chuckled politely
"Why don't you join us for dinner?" Pema suddenly piped up, "We have a big family home, setting one more placemat is no big deal to us." She smiled so warmly that Korra almost said yes, the way she really wished she could, but looking down at her dirty clothing, she didn't feel right sitting in their home and dirtying things up, especially when she barely even knew these people. Korra politely shook her head 'no'.
"Thank you so much for your kind offer," she smiled the best she could at Pema, "and thank you for your help," she regarded Tenzin now, "but just offering me somewhere to go if I really need it is enough for me."
Tenzin and Pema looked at her with what seemed to be awe on their faces, as if they couldn't believe the independence and strength this young street girl possessed.
"Well then please feel free to come by anytime, we'll be glad to see you." Pema gave her another warm smile, gently placing her hand on Korra's shoulder. A soft smell wafted off of her, the smell of honey, home cooked food and clean clothing, a smell of a real home. Korra felt jealous that her children had such kind people as their parents. Unsure what to say, Korra smiled and waved before her resolve could weaken and she begged them to let her go with them.
With her mind set to not let anymore distractions get in her way, she made her way back home hoping that after the last three hectic days she had, that she would have been able to just get home, rest and start up her job search again tomorrow in hopes that her tenacity would pay off. A heavy sigh escaped her as she flung the front door open and collapsed in a tired heap under her blanket, mind reeling with thoughts. Her stomach was growling with hunger, but it was a feeling she was so used to that she had already learned to ignore it. Instead Korra let her mind swim from thought to thought as she waited for sleep to come over her. She had decided not to think of the people who recently left her, but instead of the people she had recently met. Pema and Tenzin seemed like such kind people, the fact that Mako, Bolin and Asami got to see them everyday made her a touch jealous, but the kind offer of help they had extended to her was more than enough for her at the time. The next person that came to mind was the odd fire scarred rich man, Amon, if she remembered correctly. With all of the things that had happened, she hadn't had time to even think about their odd encounter. Though Korra didn't feel he was a bad guy, he gave off a bit of an unsettling vibe. The way he spoke about how hard it must have been for her living on the streets, it sounded as if he almost knew himself how difficult it was, as if his good deed was done because he wished someone would have done the same for him, but maybe Korra was just thinking too much into it. It was impossible for a man that insanely wealthy to have been poor, that kind of money couldn't have just been built up in one lifetime and the air he gave off was that of a well bred society man. No way he could've been poor.
Korra's mind drifted lazily as she felt herself falling asleep with one last burning question on her mind, 'But why was he all the way out here that night?'
A month passed and Korra had visited every place in the city from the poorest part to the riches in hope for work, but all she had to show for it was a fever from walking out in the increasingly chilly weather. She hadn't seen Amon again and hadn't gone back to see Pema or Tenzin, even as she sat on the floor eating day old baked goods and imagining eating a home cooked meal at a table with them and their family, but it didn't seem right to take advantage of their kindness, even if they offered. Korra could figure it out on her own, she was a tough cookie, just like the ones the bakeries gave to her when they had left overs.
Korra awoke one cold evening with a terrible headache and a bit of a fever, most likely from hunger, or the cold, she couldn't have really been sure, but she shook it off knowing she needed some food, she had gone a bit too long without any at all. She stepped outside and sneezed as the air, laced with the smell of incoming winter, seeped into her clothing.
She traveled through the alleyways that she knew no one passed through to avoid trouble police trying to in force the curfew that no one cared about. Usually, she'd be able to find something behind one of the bakeries. Entire bags of stale goods waiting for the rats or street kids to take them, whichever fought off the other first.
Relief surged through her as she realized she was the first to get to the bakery and an entire bag of goods had been sitting there as if waiting for her to claim them. "Finally, something is going right." She chuckled to herself as she picked up the bag and began to make her way through the alley and towards home.
The night had gone over pretty well, she may have been sick, but she had an entire bag of sweets to hold her over until they went bad, that was a major score. Korra was so caught up in her happiness from her find, she almost didn't see the man who stood before her in the alleyway.
"Oh sorry sir." she jumped upon seeing him.
"Ahh, oh it's okay.." he was muttering and hiding his face with his hands, Korra assumed he had taken some bad drugs or something so he was acting funny and began to walk around him when he grabbed her arm, "Please don't tell anyone you saw me here, it'll ruin my image!" he blurted.
"What are you doing?!" Korra yelled jerking her arm free. The man looked at her with shocked ice blue eyes.
"You mean you don't know me? You don't know who I am?" he pointed at himself clearly proud to be him. Korra squinted and looked closer at his face for anything that she would recognize. She had to admit he wasn't too bad looking for an old guy, but he didn't look familiar in the least bit.
"I'm pretty sure I don't know who you are." she wrinkled her nose at the smell of overpowering cologne he seemed to have bathed himself in. The man scoffed in disbelief before frowning.
"It must be because you're a street kid, but even so you should no who I am, I am Tarrlok, I'm bound to be in charge of this city soon." he smiled again, a creepy politician smile with too many teeth showing. Korra remembered seeing him before on a television in the window of a store, she didn't find his face too memorable at the time, but did remember hearing him and thinking he was a slimy politician. It indeed was a small world.
"Don't worry, I don't care enough about you or whatever your slimy campaign is." she snorted, rolling her eyes, "But why are you here?" She wasn't stupid, she knew that desperate 'society' people came to that part of town when they needed someone else to disappear.
"That is my business, just scurry back to your rat whole." he snorted folding his thick arms over his chest. For someone who didn't want to be noticed, he sure did a crappy job seeing as he was wearing his signature powder blue suit jacket.
"If people like you did more to help out people like me, I'd have a home instead of a rathole." she could hear people coming their way and saw Tarrlok go stiff with nerves.
"Fine, fine, I owe you one, just don't tell anyone you saw me and get the hell out of here!" he growled under his breath pushing her a bit. Though Korra wanted to argue a bit more, but the last thing she wanted to do was find out what business he had to come out there for, it was sure to be nothing good. Korra walked on briskly to get out of there before his friends saw her and scoffed mentally that he had the nerve to say he 'owed her one', she was more than sure he's be glad if he never saw or heard from her again and she would feel the same. She picked up her pace even more, at the thought of having shelter from the wind and a place to sit and eat her goods.
Korra pulled what was left of her ratty jacket close to her as the winds picked up. She was sneezing by the time she was closer to home, her fever had noticeably went up was making her feel a bit lightheaded. A cough shook her body and she leaned against the wall of an alleyway that she vaguely remembered had been where she hid when she almost robbed Amon a month ago. A weak feeling that Korra wasn't used to feeling came over her and she slid against the wall to the ground. She felt like she was dying, every breath burned her chest like hot coals. Before when she was living with Mako, Bolin and Asami, they took care of her if she had gotten sick but she hadn't seen them for a month and had been too busy going around looking for a job to even care until this very moment. Her thoughts drifted to Pema and Tenzin, they had offered to help her if she needed it, but they were an hour away, she didn't have it in her to make it there. Another hack racked her body as she tried to think of what to do, but her head was too fuzzy, she just wanted to go to sleep. She could hear a voice calling her and in her sick state she thought it must have been her father calling her, beckoning her to join him and her mother in heaven. A smile crossed her face, she was alone, she had lived a tough life, maybe dying and going to heaven didn't seem to bad, but anywhere was better than dying from a fever in the streets.
Korra felt her eyes flutter shut as the voice came closer and closer, she lifted her arms weakly towards the sky "Mom and dad, I can't wait to see you too." she murmured before her hands smacked back down to the sidewalk. A warm feeling came over her, the voice was closer than ever. Holding on to the joy of being in the end of her suffering, Korra closed her eyes and let herself slip into the sleep that had been beckoning her, content with the fact that she wouldn't wake up again. Or at least it seemed so at the time.
A/n okay thanks for reading, there wasn't as much action in this chapter as I originally thought, but I wanted to take the time to introduce some other characters properly and you know set up the story some more and such, but I didn't want to make a huge chapter sooo I end here for now, I appreciate the reviews I have gotten and am glad that the people who have read so far seem to like it, the story should start getting a bit more… interesting from here on out to say the least :)