Transition
"I still can't believe it…" Her companion mumbled randomly after a short while of silence. Kya sighted and stared out of the window. She wasn't in the mood for Lin's grumpiness.
After Korra's distressed phone call Kya had gone to the police station. She had asked for Mako, but he wasn't there. He was bodyguarding Wu at some meeting. Lin however was present, so Kya thought she could help her out as well, Lin was after all the Chief of Police. As soon as Kya dropped Asami Sato's name Lin had gotten furious and dragged Kya to her automobile to set off to the hillside. And now here they were.
"Unbelievable…" Lin muttered under her breath, frustration sketched out over her face. Kya cocked up an eyebrow, trying to ignore Lin's complains one last time.
"I told her to stay away from Sato! I swear she's still just a stubborn teenager." Lin said, making a slippery and sharp turn. Kya held onto the door handle. The roads looked dangerous, but she trusted Lin to safely drive them to their destination.
"Is there any particular reason why Korra should stay away from this Sato person?" Kya asked. If she was going to listen to Lin's complaining she might as well know the reason behind it all. Lin just huffed in response and Kya rolled her eyes.
"Well, I'm still going to heal her." Kya said. If Korra wanted her help, she will give it.
"Of course you are. That's not the point. The point is that people expect me to keep them safe while they're all lying to me." Lin pointed out.
"I'm sure Korra didn't mean it that way." Kya tried to calm Lin, although she knew it was futile. Lin ignored her statement and concentrated on the road in front of them. Kya shook her head at her stubborn friend and watched the scenery go by.
"It's just unbelievable…" Lin murmured after a while.
Korra felt like her phone call with Kya was an eternity ago. She still held the limp hand of Asami between her own. It was warming, but showed no signs of life. Asami's face was tranquil, but that only worried Korra. She's slipping away… No! She's going to make it. Stop doubting her, she has been through worse than this. Korra felt like crying, but didn't allow herself to indulge in such a selfish act.
"Korra?" A familiar voice called out through the open door.
"Kya! In here!" Korra answered. She jumped up and ran to the door to welcome her old friend. She stopped in her tracks when she came face to face with a very displeased Chief of Police.
"L-Lin…" Korra stuttered, feeling a pang of guilt.
"Mako was occupied so Lin brought me here instead. Where's the patient?" Kya asked, pushing passed Lin into the destroyed house. Korra pointed to the couch and Kya walked right up to Asami.
"Lin, I'm sorry. I guess we have a lot to talk about." Korra said, averting he eyes from the stern face in front of her. She knew she had wronged Lin by keeping her location a secret. Lin wasn't the easiest person to deal with, but she had shown Korra nothing but loyalty and love, albeit tough love, through all the years they had known each other.
"Yes we do, but first we need to make sure no one dies today." Lin spoke coldly while walking further inside the house. She might pretend to be unaffected, but Korra could hear a flicker of disappointment in Lin's voice.
"How long has she been unconscious?" Kya asked. She pulled the blankets back from Asami's chest. With one finger to the unconscious woman's neck and the other hand on her forehead, Kya was trying to assess the damage.
"I-I don't know. I found her an hour ago, maybe longer. She asked for her mom and she recognized me at some point, but she hasn't moved or spoken for a while." Korra joined the duo around the couch. Even though the presence of Kya calmed her somewhat, Korra was still worried sick to her stomach.
"She had a pretty bad cold yesterday." Kya mumbled to herself.
"How do you know that?" Korra asked in surprise. She knew Kya was good, but that good?
"We found her sleeping in her car yesterday. Coughing and snotty." Lin explained.
"And you found her outside?" Kya informed further.
"Yes." Korra answered.
"The rain didn't do her any good…" Kya sighed. This was bad.
"And there was a cut on her wrist!" Korra said, suddenly remembering. "I healed it, but it looked like she had lost a lot of blood."
"That must be why she has such a hard time to get warm again. Alright, we need to take her to Air Temple Island, asap. With an healing pool and my herbs I can help her better." Kya decided. Korra nodded and without hesitation picked Asami up with blankets and all.
"Okay, let's go!" She said, happy that she could do something practical for Asami again. Lin led them outside to the automobile, opening the door for Korra and Asami. Korra carefully laid Asami, feet first, across the back seat.
"Wait, I need to get something. I'll be back in a minute." Korra said and ran back to the house. After a while she returned with a tube in her hand.
"Okay, let's go." Korra commanded and joined Asami on the backseat. As gently as she could she placed Asami's head on her lap. Asami was now laying on her side, legs pulled in and with Korra's hand securely on her shoulder.
Korra saw Kya sit down in the front seat.
"Don't you want to be back here, in case something happens to Asami?" Korra asked, while Lin started the engine.
"There's nothing I can do for her in the back of this crappy police car." Kya said, earning an annoyed grunt from Lin. "Besides, she seems to like the company she has right now." Kya smiled to Korra through the back view mirror. Korra was confused, until she noticed Asami hand creeping out of the mess of blankets, holding a weak but tight grip on the fabric of Korra's pants. This made Korra smile despite everything. She covered the pale hand with her own.
Kya gave them another smile through the mirror. The fact that Asami was holding onto Korra meant she was in a better state than Kya initially thought. Kya looked back to Lin with the smile still on her face. She was met by a raised eyebrow.
"Just keep your eyes on the road." Kya told Lin. She received another 'hmph', while Lin drove them towards the city.
"Korra! What happened?" Mako yelled when he recognized the Avatar in the hallway. When he had heard that Kya was looking for him, he had contacted Air Temple Island. Pema told him Korra was back with a friend of hers.
"Mako, you're here." Korra said, happy to see him.
"Yeah, what's going on?" He asked again, halting in front of Korra.
"Asami got attacked. She's with Kya now." Korra answered, glancing at the closed door.
"Oh, is she alright?" He asked, noticing the sadness in Korra's eyes.
"Of course she's not alright!" Korra yelled in frustration. Mako backed down and raised his hands in the air. Korra swallowed, knowing she shouldn't take it out on Mako.
"Sorry… I'm just worried and I… I couldn't stop them." Korra apologized.
"Who's them?" Before Korra could answer another question, the door opened and Kya stepped outside.
"Besides a terrible cold, Asami is going to be fine." Kya spoke the releasing words.
"Thank you so much!" Korra said while hugging the waterbender.
"It's okay." Kya said, returning the hug. "She needs a lot of rest now and I think you need to talk to Lin and my brother." Kya broke the hug and gave Korra a serious look.
"I know… I will." Korra half-heartily promised.
"I don't say that Lin is right to be angry with you or Asami, but you shouldn't have lied to her." Kya explained.
"I know. I'll make it right, thank you again." Korra said. Without saying goodbye, she turned around and walked away.
Mako gave Kya a questioning look, but she just shrugged her shoulders. Mako turned around as well.
"Korra, wait! Where are you going!?" He yelled after Korra.
"I'm going to put an end to this!" Korra yelled back.
They stopped in front of what looked like a giant metal elevator. The guards halted and made room for Korra to walk into the small space.
"You better leave now." Korra said in a low voice.
"I don't mind coming with you." Mako offered.
"I need to do this alone." Korra snapped back at Mako, she needed to focus on the task ahead, not Mako's feelings.
"No you don't." Mako retorted, a frown showing on his face.
"You don't understand. Please leave!" Korra tried again.
"No you don't understand!" Mako yelled out all of a sudden. "I'm your friend and you need to stop pushing me away. I get that you needed space to recover from the Red Lotus. I even forgive you for disappearing for three years without saying a word. But you need to let us back in. We all care for you and this is not only your battle!" A silence fell when Mako was done saying what he wanted to say for months now. One guard coughed awkwardly, but he kept his eyes on the wall in front of him.
"It's… I'm sorry. I know we're all in this together." Korra finally decided to break the silence. "I appreciate everything you guys did for me and I love you as a friend." She shouldn't have pushed Mako that far away, but she couldn't help it. Somehow caring for him made it worse to share her pain and insecurities.
"Good… that's… You know we got your back." Mako said, feeling a bit uncomfortable with all the emotions bursting in his chest.
"This however I need to do alone." Korra looked at Mako. "He broke me. Ever since I fought him I can't stop thinking about him. He's everywhere I go. He's blocking my Avatar state and without it I'm no match for Kuvira. I need to let him go and I can only do that when I confront him. So this isn't me shutting you out, this is me trying to fix myself so I can be there for everyone again." Korra started to open up, trying to make Mako understand. Mako slowly nodded, processing what Korra just told him.
"Okay, I'll be here for when you get back." He decided.
"Thanks and sorry if you felt left out… Sometimes it easier not to talk about stuff." Korra said, trying to nonchalantly shrug her shoulders.
"That's all in the past. I just needed you to know that you're not alone." Mako explained, already forgetting his anger.
"I know. Thanks again…" With a deep sigh Korra turned to the elevator, ready to face her nightmare one more time.
The cell looked more like a basement of an old temple. It was dark, cold and damp. In the middle of the room a man was floating in the air. His long hair and beard obscured his face, but Korra immediately recognized him. He was chained to the ground and didn't even look up when Korra stepped forward.
"You must be in a lot of trouble to come visit me." His deep voice said. It brought chills to Korra, but she kept walking up to him. It was too late to turn around anyway.
"I'm not in trouble. I came here to tell you that you mean nothing to me and that you have no power over me!" Korra yelled back, for once believing the words she said.
"Oh really?" He answered in a mocking voice. Without a warning Zaheer flew forward, a manic expression covering his face. For a fraction of a second Korra was back fighting Zaheer, struggling to stay alive. Out of shock she stumbled backwards. Before Zaheer could reach Korra he was pulled back by his chains.
"Haha, your body tells a different story!" He laughed. Korra blinked, but the Zaheer in front of her was real and not a trick of her mind, so she couldn't blink him away.
"This is not working…" She mumbled, backing up slowly.
"You're leaving? I could help you, you know." Zaheer said, without the mocking tone.
"How could you help me!? You have poisoned me and ruined my life! Because of you I can't keep the world in balance. I can't even help my friends anymore!" Korra's frustration reached the surface.
"Blaming me for your failures might make you feel better, but it won't help your recovery." Zaheer stated, returning to his meditation pose.
"My recovery? What do you know about my recovery!?" Korra was getting angry. Was Zaheer really pretending to care for her well-fair, after everything he had done?
"I know that it has been a while since you could visit the spirit world again and I guess you're here because you still can't reconnect fully with your spiritual side." Zaheer explained calmly.
"You can enter the spirit world from down here?" Korra asked in disbelieve.
"You see, that's your problem. You see only obstacles, but I see only opportunities. I'm chained deep under the city, but I have never felt more free. The spiritual energy is all around us, but you can't even tap into it because you're stuck in the past."
"I'm stuck in the past because you almost killed me. Why would I believe you want to help me now?" Korra's tone was less aggressive while she considered listening to what Zaheer had to offer.
"Kuvira is a problem for both of us. She needs to be stopped. We might have different opinions about freedom, but we're both agreeing that Kuvira's tyranny isn't it. All you need to do is to let go of what you once did wrong or couldn't achieve and embrace your limitless power."
"I don't think my power is limitless… I've been too weak to defeat Kuvira before…" Korra looked down.
"You keep saying that, but you're wrong. I put mercury in your veins. You should have died, instead you're still standing here. You're stronger than you think. Let go of the person you were and become the person you are meant to be." With those words Zaheer closed his eyes and slowly started to float again.
"Uhm… Hey… Zaheer?" Korra asked after a few seconds. Zaheer didn't give her a response. Rude… Was all Korra could think. She looked closer at the tranquillity bursting from Zaheer's face. He was locked up and chained, but he looked at peace. He surely wasn't the maniac from her nightmares. Maybe he was right. Maybe Korra had to stop comparing herself to who she was before the Red Lotus attacked her. She had to change.
Her eyes went from Zaheer to her own hands. Every time she entered the Avatar state she blocked herself with fear and visions of her past self. She was scared of failing and scared of killing herself with the state that gave her the most strength. When she first learned to control the Avatar state it wasn't heavy or confronting. It made her lighter, more balanced than ever. She had to stop see obstacles and see the opportunities her power gave her.
"I… I think I get it now…" Korra spoke, looking back at Zaheer's floating body. Zaheer kept his eyes closed and didn't show any signs that he would answer her. Korra sighed.
"I never thought I'd say this, but thank you." She turned around when she heard a soft "You're welcome."
Gah! He's still annoying… Korra thought, while she returned to the world outside.
It was already dark outside when Mako and Korra took the ferry back to Air Temple Island. Mako had to escort Wu to a meeting early in the morning, but he wanted to make sure Korra was okay.
A fresh breeze was blowing through the clear night sky and for a minute Korra almost couldn't believe that there was trouble hiding behind the horizon. She leaned a bit over the railing to watch the reflection of the moon in the water.
"So now you can get back to the Avatar state?" Mako asked, while he was looking at the stars next to Korra.
"I hope so. I need to train a little, but what Zaheer said actually made sense." Korra had told Mako a lot when she returned from Zaheer. About her anxieties and nightmares. She felt that he deserved to know. Mako in return had carefully listened to her.
"You will get it." Mako reassured her.
"I will." Korra answered. She smiled at her friend, grateful that he was being supportive. "First we need to sort the small council out. I will visit Raiko in the morning." Korra turned her gaze back to the sea while her tone changed to serious.
"I sat down with the council a couple of times, but it didn't seem like they were going to make a decision anytime soon." Mako said.
"That's why I will take the lead." Korra straightened her back. "Asami is the first victim in Republic City due to this war and I won't let that happen again because the leaders of this city can't make up their minds."
Mako smiled at Korra and nodded. The old Avatar, or better, the old Korra was back.
As quiet as she could, Korra entered the bedroom. It was dark, but she could make out a figure laying on the bed. Carefully she walked up to the sleeping person. It took a while before her eyes adjusted to the lack of light, but Korra could see that she was looking at Asami. Her friend's face was calm and her breathing slow, but stronger than it had been when Korra found her in the woods.
Korra pushed a chair to the bed and sat down. She hesitated for a moment, but then grabbed Asami's hand that was laying neatly next to her body. The hand was warmer, which was a relief.
"I'm so sorry…" Korra mumbled. "If I got myself together earlier I might have prevented all this. Now all I can do is promise to make it up to you." Korra kept her voice soft and low as not to wake Asami. Even though the engineer couldn't hear her, Korra felt slightly better by saying it.
With a sigh she sat back, still holding the hand. Today had been a crazy day. This morning she was still practicing in Asami's garage and now she was here taking the lead to defend Republic City. There was still a lot of work to be done and Korra still needed to train a lot, but this time she wasn't afraid of failing.
"Remind me of thanking you properly when you wake up…" Korra mumbled and for a moment she could have sworn that Asami hummed in agreement.
Asami felt something stir on her chest. What….?... Her mind was foggy. Something told her she didn't want to wake up and she slowly slipped back into sleep. A high purring sound erupted just a couple of inches away from her face and in shock she opened her eyes. She came face to face with big round orange eyes and white furry ears.
"Waaaaah!" Asami pushed the animal from her chest with a wild motion of her arms and fell from the bed she was laying in. Her scream turned into frantic couching, since her throat was still sore and painful. The coughing and the hard landing on the floor made every muscle in her body ache, not to mention the enormous headache she already had.
The animal flew through the air and landed on Asami's knee. Winged lemur... Asami registered. The lemur didn't look scary at all when it turned its head to look at Asami in a questioning way. Asami felt pretty dumb for her overreaction.
"Meelo! I told you to keep Poki away from her!" A voice yelled and Asami grimaced as the sound sliced through her head.
"Poki is just naturally curious." A boy's voice said. The lemur flew from Asami's knee and before she could wonder where it went a hand appeared in front of her face.
"Hi there. I'm Jinora and this is my brother Meelo with his pet. Sorry if Poki gave you a scare." The voice from before said. Asami looked up and saw a girl with a big blue arrow on her forehead smiling at her. She wore the robes of an Air Acolyte.
"Airbenders…" Asami murmured to herself when she grabbed the hand of the girl.
"That's right. You're at Air Temple Island." Jinora explained while helping Asami up. Asami sat down on the bed and cradled her hurting head in her hands.
"The pretty lady doesn't look happy." Meelo observed. Jinore sighed, trying hard to ignore her brother's useless comments.
"Air Temple Island… How?" Asami asked. She knew Air Temple Island, but she never thought she would ever visit the home of the last airbenders. Of course they weren't the last airbenders anymore since the Harmonic Convergence, but the place was still pretty special and highly secured.
"Korra, my aunt Kya and Lin brought you here." Jinora said.
Asami sat up, suddenly remembering what had happened. A mix of anger, fear and sadness crossed her face.
"They destroyed everything…" She said.
"Who? Korra, Kya and Lin?" Jinora asked with a confused expression.
"No… no." Asami said, looking at the kids in front of her. She could still smell the fire the soldiers had started in her garage. Burning everything inside. My blueprints!
"In need a pen and paper." Asami commanded more than asked.
"I have a sketchbook and a pencil you can borrow." Meelo said. His right hand disappeared somewhere in the back of his pants when he produced the drawing items. Jinora looked at him with a face of disgust.
"You keep those in your pants all day?" She asked in disbelieve.
"Not when I'm planning to fart bend." Meelo answered and deepened the grimace on his sister's face. He handed over the sketchbook and pencil to Asami.
Asami started to scribble things down on the paper. Her hand moved at a feverish pace, not knowing what to write down first. All her blueprints of the Humming Bird Mecha Suit were in her garage. She had to write the formulas and designs down now, before she would forget them. During her wild drawing and writing she felt two pairs of eyes boring into her. Slowly she raised her head from the paper in front of her.
"Uhm… sorry. I don't mean to be rude, but I really need to write this down…" Asami explained, realising she didn't even introduced herself properly.
"No need. When the muse calls out to you, you need to answer." Meelo pointed out. Jinora rolled her eyes, wondering where Meelo picked up those cheesy lines.
"We will leave you alone. I will tell my aunt Kya that you're awake, she might want check up on you." Jinora told Asami. Asmai just nodded. She could ask Jinora who Kya was or why she felt so terribly sick or she could thank Jinora and Meelo for the help, but all she could think about was her designs and how they could be lost forever if she didn't write them down right now.
She turned back to her writing when she heard the door in front of her close.
The pounding behind her eyes got stronger by the second, making the pencil lines in front of her dance. Asami was still writing everything down she could remember from her latest invention, but her mind started to wander. She kept seeing that stupid smirk on Juan's face, she could feel the cold hands of that general on her neck and she heard those awful lies she had told about benders and Korra.
Her hand stopped when a drop of water dripped on the page, blotting out a couple of numbers she had written down. Is the roof leaking? I don't hear any rain… Another drop hit the paper and Asami realised she was crying. Painful shocks went through her body when a feeling of loss filled her up. It was so unfair. First they took her mother, than her father, than her home and now they had taken Future Industries. She had nothing left.
With a crack the pencil broke under the pressure of Asami's hand. With heavy sobs she let the paper and pieces of pencil fall to the floor as she buried her face in her hands. Would it even matter if she couldn't reproduce the blueprints of the Humming Bird Mecha Suit? Would it matter if she just disappeared right now? There was just so much disappointment one could take in a lifetime. She felt terrible and disappearing actually didn't sound like a bad idea right now.
"Hey, it's going to be okay." A warm voice said, while she felt two hands on her shocking shoulders. In surprise Asami looked up and saw a familiar friendly face.
"The Water Tribe lady." She mumbled. She recognized the woman from the day before, when she gave Asami some water.
"They call me Kya, since there are a lot of Water Tribe ladies where I come from." Kya smiled, reaching out to a chair to sit across from Asami.
"Kya… Like in the daughter of Avatar Aang and master Katara?" Asami asked while her sobs subsided.
"Yes, no matter how old I get, I will always stay the daughter of…" Kya only half-complained.
"I'm sorry… I didn't mean to hurt your feelings." Asami apologized. Kya smiled.
"It's nothing. I guess we're in the same boat. It took me while to discover what a Satomobile was, let alone that I just healed the heir of the inventor of those damned things." Asami slightly frowned at the mention of her father's work.
"Don't worry, I actually think they're useful. Way more practical than the sleighs we're using to get around." Kya smoothed over any painful memories she might have triggered. She turned and picked up the tray she brought with her from the small table next to the bed. She placed it on Asami's lap while she took her seat.
Asami saw a few pieces of bread, a steaming bowl of clear vegetable soup and a cup of tea.
"It will make you feel better." Kya encouraged her. Asami saw how weak she really was when her hand started to tremble by just lifting up the spoon. Still she managed to bring a spoonful of soup to her mouth. It tasted wonderful, but she couldn't help but contort her face since swallowing was still painful.
"You don't have to eat it all, but you need some nutrition." Kya said. Asami nodded and tried a small bite of a slice of bread. Kya in the meantime grabbed the sketchbook and pencil pieces from the floor.
"Oh spirits… I broke the little boy's pencil." Asami mumbled, wondering how she could possibly be a worse guest right now. Kya laughed at her statement.
"I wouldn't worry about that. Meelo has more pencils than sketch ideas, although he wouldn't have liked it that you called him a small boy." Kya reassured Asami.
Asami smiled. She just started to get to know Kya, but the woman in front of her had a very calming effect on her. Her eyes and open demeanor somehow reminded her of Korra.
"So what is this weird looking monster you're trying to recreate here?" Kya asked while turning the sketchbook upside down and around to get a better view of the scribblings.
"Hmm... It's my invention. It flies while it doesn't need a lane and it's very agile in the air." Asami tried to sum it up. Kya nodded, while continuing turning the picture. Asami finished the slice of bread before she started coughing again. The food had dried out her already irritated throat. In haste she grabbed for the cup of tea, but she just ended up coughing up the warm contents.
"Wow, relax." Kya said while patting Asami on her back. Gently and without force she took the tray and guided the engineer back under the covers of the bed.
"Ugh… Thanks." Asami mumbled when her coughs stopped.
"Just take some time to sleep, I will leave the soup here for when you wake up. It still tastes good when it's cold, but that might be the Water Tribe lady inside me talking." Kya said.
"I can't sleep, I have to finish my work." Asami pushed herself up from the bed and mentioned towards the sketchbook.
"No you don't. These pictures won't come to you when your mind is consumed by exhaustion. And besides, I don't think I want to upset the Avatar by letting her friend work herself to death." Kya said with a friendly smile, but in a stern voice. Asami settled back down in bed, too tired to keep herself up. Kya was right, her panic drawing didn't do her any good.
"So… where is Korra? Is she okay?" Asami asked. Comfortable in the soft sheets of the bed she started to think about Korra. It was because of her that Asami was saved. The cold was making Asami feverish and every part of her body was sore. As she closed her eyes she could see Korra stare back at her. A tranquil smile on her face and soft blue eyes. The mental picture softened the pain.
"Don't worry about her. She's doing fine. She's meeting with the leaders of Republic City as we speak." Kya said. Asami's eyes sprung open.
"How long have I been out!?" She asked in shock. Korra taking political action? What else did she miss?
"Calm down, not that long. I would say you lost a good part of yesterday and you slept through the night. It's just late in the morning right now."
"Right… Okay…" Asami sighed in relieve.
"I will tell her to come by if I see her. Now you take a nap, you're safe here." Kya said and silently left the room. Asami could hear the soft thud of the door closing and her mind drifted off. Korra is okay. Korra is okay. Asami kept repeating in her head as if it were a mantra. Somehow it made her forget her pain and loss for long enough to fall back to sleep.
I know it's late, but happy new year everyone! Sorry for the delay, but the end of the year is always a busy time. I hope you enjoyed the chapter!