Chapter 4: Misleading Motivations
Korra called out Kai's name repeatedly as she ran through the trees. At one point, Korra came to a stop to listen to the sounds around her. Her ears first picked out the constant rhythm of water rolling against the shores of the island, and then the calls of countless insects. The Avatar turned her head a bit and easily discerned the faint noises of someone crying nearby.
"Kai…" Korra murmured before she made her way to the Firebender. Kai sat with his back against one of the tallest trees and his face hidden behind his hands. When he heard Korra approaching, his head snapped up and he looked into her blue eyes. "Kai, what's going on with you? What… what are you hiding from me?" the Avatar asked. She was almost afraid to know the answer, but after Tenzin's angry reaction, Korra could not ignore the matter.
The Firebender wiped his eyes, but it was a futile effort. When he replied, he couldn't keep the tremor out of his voice, "I told you that no good will come of this for either of us…" He bit his lip and fought with his own frightened heart to get the words to come out. Kai stood up on his feet as Korra took one step closer, the Firebender unable to look at the fear in those blue eyes.
"Korra… I'm sorry. I didn't mean for things to go this far between us, but they have. It's not right for me to continue keeping this away from you, a-and if afterward you d-don't…" His words stumbled into a brief silence and he let a sob escape before he could go on in a small voice, "…If you don't want me around anymore, I will go…"
Korra shook her head with her response, "I already said that I want you around, always. I still mean that…" The Avatar stepped closer to Kai so she could embrace him, but he drew away from her and the motion caused a sad pain within Korra's heart.
Kai hugged his arms around himself for support and he finally admitted to Korra his biggest secret of all, "I'm not who you think I am… When I had to leave my home and start running, I decided to hide behind a false identity so if word of me got around, no one would know who I am, and my father and brothers won't be able to easily find me. I thought of a few different identities I could hide in, and ultimately I chose to disguise myself as a boy…"
For a moment Korra didn't register Kai's words, but once it all sank in Korra felt her blood run cold. She studied the Firebender in light of Kai's confession and suddenly it was very obvious to see. "No… no, it can't be true…" Korra whispered in defiance even though she already knew. Her disbelief lasted only a few more breaths and then exploded into raw anger.
She clenched her fists tightly to the point that they violently trembled and she screamed, "How the hell could you just keep hiding that from me? For this long! What were you thinking?"
"Please, Korra! I wanted to tell you before this, but-"
"But you didn't! You didn't tell me, and now I…" She choked on a sob and had to catch her breath to speak again, "If you really cared about me, you wouldn't have just lead me on! You can't do that to someone you care about and who cares about you! It's so wrong!"
"It wasn't my intention to fall in love with you, and it wasn't my intention for you to fall in love with me! It just kind of happened!"
Korra shook her head. Tears streamed down her face, but her expression was angry as she harshly whispered, "There is no way in hell I could ever be in love with a girl."
The Firebender's head dropped in painful shame.
Korra turned her back on Kai and she stared at the water from between the trees. "I want you to go," the Avatar flatly said. She didn't look back when she heard Kai walking away, but Korra's heart ached in a way that she had never felt before.
The last words that the Firebender said drove a sharper pain right through Korra's heart, "I told you I'm a curse…"
Korra stayed in the forest until well after night had fallen, then she slowly made her way back to the Airbender home. Quietly she entered the house with the sole idea of getting to her room before anyone could see her puffy red eyes, but Pema intercepted her in the hallway.
"Korra…" the older woman said with sympathy in her voice, "I know you don't want to talk right now, but I just wanted to tell you that I will be here to listen whenever you are ready."
"Did Tenzin tell you what happened already?" the Avatar questioned.
Pema nodded and replied, "Yes, he told me everything."
"Then there's nothing to talk about. I can't love another girl, it's as simple as that." Korra slumped as she said this, that deep pain piercing her heart again.
A disapproving frown touched Pema's lips. "You don't honestly believe that, do you?"
Korra met Pema's steady gaze as the Avatar replied, "In the words of Tenzin, it's an atrocity. What else matters? He's right."
Pema could not stop the chuckle and she replied, "You've got a bit to learn, Korra, if you think that Tenzin is right. When it comes to affairs of the heart and the feelings it holds, happiness and love always matter." She leaned closer to add in a soft whisper, "And if you find that your heart aches deep down inside, that means you still care a lot about Kai."
Korra drew back as she earnestly shook her head in protest. "No! It only hurts because Kai lied to me! I will never be in love with another girl!" Tears welled up from the Avatar's already burning eyes and she turned away from Pema. "It doesn't matter now anyway. I sent Kai away. Now I just want to forget about this entire disaster…"
The Air acolyte gently grasped Korra's hand to stop her from walking away and said, "Please don't shut yourself away from your emotions. Kai asked me to tell you that before she left today. She really cares about you and she only wants you to be happy no matter what, but that can't happen if you shut down."
Korra studied Pema's expression for a long moment and finally gave a nod. "I won't, but right now I don't want to feel anything. I'm going to bed. Goodnight, Pema." The older woman released Korra's hand and watched the heartbroken girl disappear around a corner. Once the young Avatar was gone, Pema set off to find Tenzin with determination blazing in her eyes.
One way or another, he was going to learn some tolerance and the importance of love, no matter what form it took.
Alone and in a state of emotional numbness, Kai aimlessly wandered the streets of Republic City. Even though night had already fallen, the Firebender didn't care about seeking out an inn to sleep. Instead, she simply collapsed against the wall of an empty building when her body became too exhausted to keep walking.
What was she going to do now? Her purple gaze dropped to stare at her hands that were clenched into fists. Of course she already knew what she was going to do. With Korra's rejection to her, Kai knew that she was going to fulfill the reason that had brought her to Republic City in the first place. The Avatar didn't care about her anymore, so Kai would find Amon and hopefully be cleansed of her taint at last.
That was all she had left for her now.
The last thing Kai thought about before her body's exhaustion pulled her into darkness was the sensation of being within Korra's warm and comforting embrace. It was still her absolute favorite place in the world to be.
The Chi blocker entered the dark room where Amon waited to hear the report. The masked man shut off the radio as the Chi blocker approached and knelt to the floor before him. Amon gestured for the man to rise, and the Chi blocker stood up again as he said, "The Firebender is back in Republic City, and he's alone. The Avatar is still on the island. Should we commence with the capture plan?"
Amon did not respond right away, musing over the information from the Chi blocker's report. He sat back in his chair and his icy velvet voice finally replied, "Yes. Go and prepare your men for the task. It's almost time for me to meet this Firebender face-to-mask."
The Chi blocker nodded and quickly left Amon alone in the room. When the door shut behind him, Amon laughed darkly and said, "Once I have you, bender, I will make sure that everyone knows of your power, then I will rip it right out of you for the entire world to see. The time for benders is drawing to its final conclusion. It starts with the moon-blessed Firebender, and it will end with the Avatar."
His breath came heavily as he crested the steep hill, where he paused to take in the scenery before him. The bright lights of Republic City pierced the darkness of night and shone to him like a beacon.
"Finally..." he whispered while clenching his fists. "Finally here. All I need to do now is track down that bastard Amon and take him out." These were bold words coming from the brunette Earthbender, but after weeks of hard travel from his home of Ba Sing Se, he was eager to complete his plan of revenge.
His hand reached up to gently grasp an old Earth Kingdom medallion tied around his neck, the only thing that the Earthbender had left of his father. While still cradling the medallion in his hand, his green eyes narrowed with intense focus and his breathing became steady once more. Releasing the medallion necklace, the brunette Earthbender began the descent from the hilltop towards the glimmering lights of Republic City. He estimated that he would reach the outskirts of the city sometime after sunrise.
"Amon... I'm coming for you..."
Dawn was still several hours away by the time Kai stirred. At first the Firebender wasn't sure why she had woken up, but when she sat up she heard movement all around her. Just as the shadows started to close in, the small Firebender jumped while kicking out. Bright purple-white flames shot away from her and revealed several men fully covered from head to toe. They stared at her with eerie green night-vision goggles and advanced towards her.
With the wall against her back, Kai had no way to escape. The only option left was to fight. She had instinctively taken a mental count when her fire illuminated the figures and came up with nine. Although she knew the odds were heavily stacked against her, she wasn't going to just surrender.
The circle was closing in on her and there was no time left to think. Kai lashed out with several quick punches, purple-white flames flaring towards several of the moving shadows, but they effortlessly avoided every lick of fire. It didn't even slow them down and Kai started to panic.
She dropped low to the ground to sweep her leg around and released a long curve of fire, but in unison the shadow men jumped over the half ring of purple-white. One of them rushed Kai, forcing the Firebender to focus her efforts on him alone. She deferred him with a well aimed blast of fire and broke his night-vision goggles, but too late she realized her mistake as another came up behind her.
Kai attempted to turn to fend him off, but an overwhelming jolt of electricity shot through her body from the base of her spine and crumpled her to the concrete with a cry. Her vision blacked out and before her consciousness followed, she heard one of the shadows say, "Tie him up quickly! Amon is waiting…"
Tenzin woke up late the next morning with a pounding headache. He had been up for most of the night because Pema refused to let him sleep until he listened to her lecture on love and its importance, no matter what form it took. Now, Tenzin felt like the biggest jerk in the world for being so close-minded and he wasn't sure if he could ever make it up to both Korra and Kai.
He rubbed his burning eyes and sighed. "Father, I imagine that you would have accepted that sort of thing with an open heart, instead of behaving like a child," the Airbending master mumbled.
"Well, at least you've taken a step in the right direction," Pema said from the doorway.
Tenzin smiled at his wife, but it was fleeting. "What am I going to do now?" he wondered out loud.
"For starters, you need to convince Korra that the way she feels isn't an atrocity, and from there you owe a few apologies."
Pema grinned as Tenzin haughtily replied, "I know all of that already. It was just a rhetorical question."
The Air acolyte laughed. "Get dressed, then, and hop to it!"
A few minutes later, Tenzin knocked on Korra's bedroom door. "Korra? May I come in? We need to talk…" Silence answered him. A few more moments passed and then Tenzin knocked again. "Korra?" Still no response. The Airbender opened the door to peer inside and saw that the room was empty.
He shut the door and turned to search the rest of the house, but Ikki and Jinora both blocked his path. "If you're looking for Korra, you won't find her in there~!" Ikki sang.
"Uh, yes I can see that, Ikki, thank you… But do you know where she is?" Tenzin asked.
Ikki opened her mouth to answer but Jinora beat her to the punch this time. "She left this morning to go into the city and find Kai. I asked her why, and she said that even though he lied to her, she still wants to help him."
Ikki stared up at their father with her head slightly tilted and she asked, "What did Kai lie about, daddy?"
Tenzin answered before he realized what she had asked, "Kai lied about being a boy."
Instantly both of his daughters beamed at him and Tenzin found himself wishing that he had not gotten out of bed.
"Wow, I had no idea! Kai does it so well!" Jinora said as Ikki spoke at the same time, "Girls can do that!"
Tenzin pointed a finger at the two. "Don't get any funny ideas…" he warned.
Both Ikki and Jinora said in unison, "Too late!" The Airbender sighed.
The sun brightly lit the day, but its warmth did nothing to penetrate the cold that Korra felt. The girl was exhausted in more ways than one. She had spent half the night tossing and turning while trying to ignore her thoughts, and the other half lost within devastating nightmares of Amon granting Kai's wish. By the time dawn struck her room, Korra had decided that she couldn't let Kai throw her bending abilities away. Even though Kai's lie hurt her deeply, the thought of Amon blocking her bending hurt even more.
I can't let that happen… I can't be with you, but I can't let you hurt yourself like this, either. I shouldn't have forced you to leave… She gently rubbed one of her tired eyes and groaned. Though it seemed like a good idea a few hours ago, Korra now felt the overwhelming weight of trying to locate one Firebender within the immensity of Republic City.
A small thought crossed her mind that made her release a bitter laugh. I should have learned my lesson about trying to find someone in Republic City after the last time I searched for Kai. She stopped walking for a moment as another idea came to her. Duh! Why didn't I think of this sooner? Naga can track down just about anyone…
Korra turned on her heel with the intent of going back to the island, but a loud trembling boom drew her attention. From one street over, Korra heard a commotion and people shouting, so she set off to investigate. Whatever was going on, it was powerful enough to make the surrounding buildings shake. As she got closer she realized that the buildings were quaking against the force of an unrestrained Earthbender, and she now heard frantic screaming. Korra broke out into a run and turned a corner.
The sight of chaos greeted her and she slowed to a stop in surprise. The entire street was now nothing more than piles of rubble, upturned vehicles, and people scrambling to get away. Her gaze was drawn to a lone figure standing in the middle of the debris when he screamed out, "Where is that bastard hiding? I'm gonna tear him apart!" The Earthbender jumped and then lashed out with two solid fists in sequence, and the ground was quick to respond.
The earth rolled away from him like a wave of water that sent vehicles and people flying. Korra's jaw set, and as the wave of earth came for her, she dashed forward several steps and launched herself over it with some earthbending of her own. She had no idea who the brunette Earthbender was or who he was searching for, but the Avatar did know that she couldn't allow his angry rampage to continue.
"Stop!" she called out, but her voice only drew his fighting focus to her. With a low grunt he stomped the ground to rip free sharp earth spikes and he kicked them in her direction. Korra jumped to add force for her swing and she hammered both fists into the ground. A huge chunk of earth leaped up in reply, and Korra quickly stood up with her hands still clenched. The spikes of earth shattered against Korra's massive shield, and after the last one fell, she drew her fists towards her chest. With a solid motion, Korra pulled her hands apart and the boulder she held split in half. She punched with her right hand and then her left in quick succession, sending both chunks flying towards the rampaging Earthbender.
The brunette let out a scream as he squared his feet on the earth and demolished one of the chunks with a solid punch. He didn't count on the second being so close behind and he was knocked backwards, but a quick and decisive kick crumbled the second chunk so it wouldn't land on him.
While he was still on the ground, Korra charged forward and closed the distance between them. The Earthbender rolled onto his feet just as Korra slammed a fist into the ground where his head had just been. She used her current position and shifted her weight to her hands so she could deliver a vicious fire kick. Surprised, the Earthbender jumped backwards to escape the flames but he stumbled over the rubble, which sent him crashing onto the ground again. The Avatar kept moving with the momentum of her kick and completed the motion, her feet swinging over her head until she could land on them upright again.
She turned around to face the Earthbender just as familiar air horns sounded from above. Korra glanced up to see one of the city's police airships right on top of them, but they had no time to react. Long whips of metal shot down and easily ensnared both the Avatar and the Earthbender in the same breath. Korra let out a vicious snarl as they were pulled into the air.
Why had she gotten involved? She didn't have time to waste sitting around in a metal room to be asked a bunch of pointless questions! "Dammit!" she swore while she thrashed against her bonds. The Earthbender looked at her with some bewilderment, but before he could say anything Korra managed to rip free one of her hands. Blue eyes glared hatefully at the air ship that they were being pulled up to, and Korra tightly grasped one of the metal cords.
With as much strength as she could muster from her rage, she savagely yanked on the metal whip. There was a surprised cry from above and the air ship suddenly lurched to the side when the Metalbender on the other end of that cord grabbed the doorway to keep himself in the safety of the air ship's passenger compartment. However, Korra's aggression had done the trick and a few more of the metal cords around her body loosened. The brunette Earthbender watched in stunned wonderment as Korra gave one final twist of her body and freed herself from her bonds. She landed easily on the roof of a factory building that the ship had just started to fly over and she made a mad dash for the nearby door.
"Oh no, I don't think so, Avatar!" a familiar and commanding voice called from overhead. The Earthbender scarcely looked up in time when someone jumped off of the airship and fired a length of metal cord as an anchor into the wall of the air ship's passenger compartment. Korra glanced up to see the chief of the police force coming for her. The armor-clad woman aimed her still free hand down at the roof and fired another length of metal. It embedded into the roof and stiffened up enough to slow her downward swing. She landed perfectly on the roof in between Korra and the door and instantly pulled back both of the metal cords from where they had been anchored.
From above, the brunette Earthbender whooped loudly and said, "I gotta learn how to do that!"
"What the hell are you doing, Korra? Didn't we go through this same mess during your very first day in my city? Oooh, Tenzin won't be able to wave his authority around to get you out of this one!"
Korra didn't verbally reply. Instead she charged towards Lin BeiFong with her fists held at her sides. The chief lashed out with a metal cord, but Korra twisted just enough to avoid her body being ensnared while one of her fists shot forward so the metal would wrap around her forearm. Lin let out a short huff and swung with her other hand, but this metal cord also missed its intended target when Korra let her other arm deter it.
"What the fu-" Lin's expletive was cut short as the Avatar ran right up to her and then over her. Korra used the chief's body as a launching pad and kicked off of an armored shoulder to leap high. Her body spun gracefully through the air and she grit her teeth just before yanking the metal cords wrapped around her forearms, which caused the metal to dig painfully into her skin. She had enough momentum to actually lift Lin up into the air, and as Korra landed right by the door she spun around and swung her arms to manipulate Lin's fall back to the roof instead of off the building's edge.
The metal cords loosened enough after this motion for Korra to yank free, and then the Avatar was gone into the building before Lin even landed again. The police chief landed hard enough to lose her air, granting Korra precious seconds to get a head start and vanish among the numerous workers inside.
Lin gasped for a few seconds before she could move again, and angrily she sat up and shouted to her officers, "I want three of you to come down here and help me catch her! Everyone else get back to headquarters and book that Earthbender! I'll question him when I return with the Avatar in custody…"
Chapter 4 End~