Hey everyone! Thanks for the positive feedback. Just a note: each chapter is told from the point of view the person who is the chapter name. So, this one is Bolin. Also, I'll definitely have some flashbacks to explain some things and have some fun Makorra scenes:)
Chapter 2- Bolin
"I should go with her," Bolin told his brother. "I'm always her defender. You'd be better at defending the city in her absence."
Mako sat silently, staring at the table, and Bolin knew his brother agreed, even if he didn't like it. They didn't fight over Korra, not really. Bolin knew Korra would never love him in a romantic way, and he also knew that Mako and Korra always had something between them, even if they never did anything about it.
Bolin wondered how much that had to do with Asami's execution. Probably a lot.
"I'll make sure she gets back in one piece, I swear." Bolin smiled. "Pabu and I are excellent defenders. "
The fire ferret peeked out from Bolin's tunic at the mention of his name and licked Bolin's chin.
"I know you will," Mako said. "I'm just worried that you guys might not like what you find once you get there. Make sure that she sleeps on the way. I'm guessing she'll be leaving within the hour."
"Of course," Bolin responded, wanting to groan at the idea of not getting to sleep before fighting again.
An hour later, Bolin found himself in a shouting match with Korra.
"Korra, you can't go alone! What if you get cornered? Always bring back up! That is our motto! Your motto!" Bolin shifted his pack on his shoulders, watching Korra strap things to Naga.
"I have to do this alone. I can't explain why. Just trust me." Korra sounded defeated, but Bolin would not give in, even if he felt guilty. He'd rather her be angry with him than her be dead.
"There is no circumstance that you should go into danger without back up. I always have your back, Korra. Why won't you let me help you? Your family needs protecting."
Korra yelled at the sky and turned on him. "Fine. But here's the deal." She poked his chest. "If there is no danger, you stay with Naga, on the outskirts of town. I will go check on my family, alone, and you will not see anyone. Clear?"
Bolin nodded, confused, but he would accept her terms.
She did not speak to him the whole way there, and she would only nod or shake her head when he asked her a question. It was only when they got closer to a small city that she made any move at all.
"No," he heard her whisper.
He saw a smashed igloo ahead and sucked in a breath. Looks like he wouldn't be staying with Naga.
Korra tore through the small city, finding many injured non-benders, but there were no benders in sight. The victims were children and adults alike, and Bolin wanted to do something for them, but couldn't.
They didn't encounter chi blockers until they reached the far edge of town. They were obviously leaving, and these were the last group. Almost two dozen of the anti-bending soldiers were grouped together. They looked to have their giant mechanized tanks ready to go. The tanks had a long hook on the top that Bolin knew could become electrified.
"Hey, what have you done with all the benders?" Korra yelled at them, her voice hoarse.
Without responding, the soldiers turned and got into a fighting stance. One blocker sent out a rod of electricity, which Korra whipped away with a splash of water. Bolin picked up a boulder from in front of the soldier and sent it spinning toward the chi blocker's head.
"Korra!" A voice yelled from amidst the mass of soldiers.
Bolin noted how young the voice sounded, but before he could think about it, he sensed the shift in Korra. Suddenly, her bending took on a life of its own. She froze three chi blockers in ice and knocked three others out with a slam against the icy floor in a matter of seconds.
Bolin himself moved closer to the voice, taking out two soldiers using a few swift punches he had learned from Mako. He could see a small boy now, being held by two chi blockers. He had a mop of straight black hair that had been pulled from a hair tie and was hanging in wet strips over his face. The child was bound and his face was bleeding.
"Korra!" The little boy screamed at her as he bit at a chi blocker's hand.
Bolin was closer to the child, but he was lacking much earth to bend on this glacier and had a hard time fending for himself. This was more hand-to-hand fighting than bending, with which he was less comfortable.
"Idan!" Bolin heard Korra yell. "You need to be special right now. Don't hide it anymore; do you understand? Act like you're playing with Mommy."
Suddenly, there were soldiers screaming, and Bolin could hear the child crying. He turned to see what happened, and he was surprised to feel heat and smell smoke. He punched out the soldier nearest him and tried to get at the hostage child.
Soldiers no longer held the boy. He stood on the ice, with a puddle of water around him. The ropes that had bound him were burnt ashes at his feet. He was still crying.
Bolin knelt in front of him, noting the burn marks on the child's sleeves. "Man, did you bend that fire?" He asked, trying to sound friendly and impressed.
The boy took a defensive position, moving his hands into a firebending stance that Bolin knew well. "I'm not one of them." Bolin held up his hands. "I'm here with Korra. We're here to save you."
"Korra's here?" He asked, sounding like he didn't believe it.
"Yeah, didn't you see her? You were calling for her. She told you to bend fire." Bolin frowned in confusion. The child must be extremely afraid.
The boy didn't say anything, but he was now looking about wildly. "Korra!" He yelled.
Korra was still fighting the last of the chi blockers on the other side of the tank. Bolin could hear the sound of ice and water flying and the electrodes hoping to meet skin.
"Stay here, little man. I'll go help Korra," Bolin told the child.
Bolin found her facing down three more chi blockers. He got one with a hard kick to the head, while they still didn't know he was there. He provided sufficient distraction for the other two so that Korra finished them of easily.
"Where is he?" Korra asked Bolin, as he looked down at the last fallen chi blocker.
"Help!" A horrified yell erupted from the other side of the tank, and Bolin cursed himself for leaving the child alone.
Korra took off running, and both she and Bolin halted as a chi blocker held the boy with an electrified hand held only inches from the child's face.
The boy was inching away, shaking and terrified.
"If you bend, I'll put enough electricity into this glove to kill you immediately. Do you understand?" The soldier told the boy. The little firebender nodded, looking too terrified to bend anyway.
The chi-blocker looked up at Korra. "Avatar, same goes for you. You let me go, and I'll let him live."
Korra was motionless, and she obviously didn't know what to do. Bolin knew she was terrified, but she wasn't thinking straight. "Korra, he's bluffing. Those things can't give out a fatal dose of electricity," he reminded her gently.
"But Idan's small, Bolin. He's only four. It could kill him. He's so small," she almost seemed to be talking to herself, rather than him.
Bolin did not think he trusted the chi blocker either way. "Just let him go. He's only a little kid," Bolin bargained.
"He'll be a big nasty firebender one day," the man sneered and shrugged. "Might as well kill him now. He isn't worth much anyway. We've got the Avatar's parents."
As the chi blocker moved to electrocute the boy, the child let out a final plea, his arm reaching for Korra. "Mommy, help me!"
As the boy's sad call echoed in Bolin's ears and his body went limp from the electricity, Bolin thought about how sad it was that his mother was not here with him. But then he saw Korra's stricken face, and he knew.
The boy had not been calling for Korra earlier because he had seen her. The little boy had been calling for Korra because he was doing what all little children did when they were afraid. He was calling for his mother.
Bolin's mouth dropped. "No. Way."
