Summary: Asami and Korra's conversation just before their strike against Kuvira's giant mecha suit, and the army around it.
Korra stepped into a bustling room, breathing deeply as the silence filled her with a sense of impending doom.
Her feet carried her to the hummingbird mecha suits. She heard Hiroshi talking in one of them, about something.
"Yasuko, if only you could see her now, she's a lot like you, kind, forgiving, and…the best kind of person you could imagine, I wish you were here, but then—Korra, is that you?" he pulled himself out of the cockpit and climbed down to the floor.
"Ah, hello." she replied, uncertain how she felt about Asami's father. She wanted to forgive him, and so far he was on their side, but he had helped Amon, who had taken bending away from many people, and had almost killed Asami, an act that called upon the deepest rage in Korra's heart, now that she had fallen in love with the business woman.
"I know that you can't fully trust me, and you have every right…as the Avatar it may even be your duty to the people you protect to doubt me, but for what it's worth, I've changed, maybe you can't see it, you probably weren't here long enough to know how I was, but three years alive…I would have preferred to die than be tormented by the results of my actions."
"Well, I think everyone has every right to trust or doubt someone…for whatever reason, or just the way they feel, but I didn't mean to interrupt your…your moment."
"That's alright, and you're right, trust isn't a duty or a part of it…but now I don't even understand the word anymore."
"I think it's…how much you trust the person depends on a lot of factors, like how long you've known the person." Korra thought of Asami and added, "The situations you're in, and then…a lot of how they get you through it could help."
"Did Aang teach you that?" he asked, impressed with her explanation.
"I lost my connection to the Avatar Cycle before I learned how to connect with it, so some things Raava told me, a lot of stuff I had to figure out on my own, in a book, or learn from watching people."
"Where did you become so wise?" he asked, remembering the quick tempered Avatar he had heard about.
"I don't know, I never thought about it much, to tell the truth, it just now came to me in words, but I have experienced trust form, it's strange…it's not very much, and then it's suddenly there, and I can't say for certain where some ends and a little more begins, it's like…walking along a snowy plain, when I reach a point, a look back and see where I started."
"Do you think…if tomorrow we're rebuilding the city, do you think Asami will trust me more, now that it's returning to our lives?"
"Trust is broken…but sometimes it's buried…considering the person we're talking about, I think uncovering that trust was pretty easy to unbury, considering how it was buried, but if you just now got her talking to you again…she must have gotten really hurt. Will she trust you more tomorrow if the city's at peace again? No, she…probably already feels back home again, talking to you, I think she needs that…so ever don't hurt her again."
"She's suffered enough for a lifetime…but I trust you'll make it up to her."
"There are some things that can't be made up for, built around, maybe, but what's done is done, all you can do now is be the best father you can be, she really needs to trust you again, things have been rough for her and, and she really misses you…don't let her doubt you, Hiroshi, she doesn't deserve that anxiety on top of our present situation."
"That's true…I feel that more than anyone, you have the most authority on the matter, second only to Asami."
"I'm glad you can feel that way, but I can't take your place, you have to fill the hole you left. I'm looking forward to visiting you with Asami, but only for her sake, and I'm willing to give you the doubt of doing anything even half as terrible as helping Amon take peoples' bending away."
"You're probably also going to be there to make sure I don't try to ask her to break me out of prison."
"No, I trust her, and I hope that if you do, she tells me, and if she's tempted to break you out, that I can help her resist…that's all I can do…remember, I'm trying to give you the doubt of trying to do something that might mess up your new chance."
"Thank you."
"Thank your daughter, if it hadn't been for her being there when I was in the dark…she's perfect, Hiroshi, in every way, but you already knew that."
"Even as I destroyed the happy world she was accustomed to…the worst part was that she didn't see it coming, everything was perfect for her, but she never let it go to her head. She's too good for pride; she would put a price on it if it would help people. Even as a child she was simply proud of the idea of helping end so many evils, she thought I was like her, she was mistaken. When she was fourteen she could tell at a glance that there was a lot of profit that hadn't purchased anything, I told her what I knew would be easiest to accept, charity, she loved that, now even the best memories of me are nightmares, I would wish I'd never been born, but that would in turn rob the world of someone…who should live, just to restore our faith in humanity, forget cars for the majority, forget inexpensive aircraft, forget advanced needs, the most basic things are in her hands, and it's so natural to her that she can't even see it's there."
"She's good enough to restore my faith in you, here I was worried that she'd betray her own conscience, but you wouldn't ask her a second time to help you, would you?"
"Knowing that you'll be there? You may doubt that I'd hurt someone now, even if for her sake, but I believe, with all my heart, that you can hurt me even worse than I could imagine…a whisper to her ears and she could be gone. I saw you talking with her, but no one spoke, you just smiled at each other. After today I won't have to worry, I will make her proud of me, by helping you destroy Kuvira's giant mecha suit. I'm just grateful I made amends with her…or perhaps it was she who made amends."
"You did the equivalent of throwing water on a fire, and the kindling in the river. In all logic, you shouldn't have gotten her back, you should have remained uncomfortably cold as the frost ate away at your toes, yet she gave you everything you threw away with both hands, and then some, and now you're helping us, maybe you can redeem yourself in the eyes of the world leaders, and maybe a handful of citizens, but I trust her judgment, and she's forgiven you, all you had to do is ask, but the people…require more, you helping us could even shorten your sentence, though there's no telling what you'll do next, so I'll be watching you, for both our sakes."
"Hey, you two." Asami as she crossed the floor to where Korra and her father were talking.
"So, what's up for discussion?" she inquired, after hugging her father and Korra.
"Nothing much, we were talking about you, though." Korra said, smiling at the engineer.
"Only good things of you, I promise." Hiroshi said, staring at the floor under him.
"Korra, I know you might not trust him fully, so thank you for giving him this chance." Asami said, kissing her girlfriend on the cheek.
"I'm letting him start over, as far as I'm concerned…though I was still a little bitter about him trying to kill you."
"That's understandable, thanks for giving him another chance."
"You suffered worse out of everyone involved," Hiroshi observed, "people lost their bending, but you lost me…I'm grateful that you visited me, and your second chance has affected Korra in regard to her opinion of me…I'm truly lucky."
"Well, I missed you." Asami sighed.
"I missed you too, but I'm going to make things right, I promise…even if it kills me."
"Father-"
"What I went through for those years…it was a fate worse than being hacked apart by a war axe, or stabbed with many halberds, at least there would have been an end…but it was my own fault, I'm not going to push your kindness, tempting myself to ask for progressively larger favors, pushing you to larger stunts until I think you'll help if I ask for a breakout, I don't want to know if you would, but I don't doubt it would leave you with mixed feelings."
"So did making a split decision to help you or fight you."
"You did…what you felt you had to, I'm sure." He said in a low voice.
"You're still disappointed, huh?" she asked, hearing the sorrow in his voice.
"I don't know what would have happened, had Amon succeeded, but I almost did something I would have later regretted, you saved me from that." he turned to Korra and bowed his head, "Perhaps the world is a safer place with benders. Asami, I'm glad you found someone who loves and supports you in your decisions, even if she doesn't always feel comfortable with them."
"I—when she told me she was visiting you in jail—I could have been better about it."
"You meant to convey your concern," Asami began, "but I…didn't hear it right, I was just excited, and all the memories, talking about Father again and then what I imagined you would say…it was my fault."
"The fault was mine," Hiroshi corrected, "it was a choice, like everything else, Kuvira's just like that, and the world is threatened so long as she lives. Korra, when and if you can make that call…for Asami's sake, if not the future's, end her. Not for being a bender, but for constructing that doomsday weapon and unleashing it with no regards for those who suffered."
"I couldn't do that, Hiroshi, I'm going to find her and fight her, then corner her, Mako and Bolin will disable the mecha suit, Lin and Suyin will go in and arrest her, when the suit's disabled, and then will lock her away in a remote prison. I'm not killing her, unless I feel uncomfortable with the way the fight's going."
"Alright everyone, ten minutes until we're up!" Varrick called out.
"I should…clear my head," Hiroshi said, "thank you again…both of you."
"Korra—can we talk for a bit?" Asami asked, taking her girlfriend's hand in her own.
"Sure." Korra followed Asami to a window; Korra leaned against the wall and smiled at Asami, who stared at their hands, absentmindedly, seeming to have something on her mind.
"Asami, you know I'll listen to-" she lost all her words when the engineer reached forward and cupped Korra's face with her other hand, staring at her.
Korra glanced away from Asami's watery eyes to the people behind her. She who could see Hiroshi, glasses in one hand and a handkerchief courtesy of Varrick in the other.
Korra couldn't look away from Asami forever, and the silence became heavy.
"Asami, what do want to talk-" Asami kissed Korra, and let go of the Avatar's hand, favoring instead the back her shoulder. Korra wrapped her arms around Asami, then saw a tear run down Asami's face and backed away.
"Asami, what's wrong?" Korra asked, her thumb catching the nonbender's tear.
"I have missed you for so long, sometimes I lay awake at night, dreaming of you with my eyes wide open, and thinking of every moment…in my life where I—you almost left me." Asami put Korra's hand on her shoulder and kissed her again, this time not for so long, "It was terrible, seeing you helpless, after you were…poisoned, but it was pure bliss compared to what my love for you had put me through, and at least you were alive, at least you weren't…on death's door, about to leave me alone when I only wanted to be around you. I remember, finding you, on the ground, in the snow, and carrying you back, and then you, falling down, resisting the poison somehow, and you fell and you were dying, right in front of me, just like-" Asami took a deep, pained breath, "just like Mom did, it was…I just want to be happy, is that too much to ask?" Asami realized Korra was probably uncomfortable, being squeezed as she was, and released her hold on her.
"Asami…of course not, hey, look at me." Startlingly fast, Asami had both of the multibender's hands in her own, Korra let them become intertwined, and didn't know how much of her was scared or how much was sympathetic, maybe it was horror, listening to Asami as she poured her heart out, Korra was sure this was long in coming.
"No…you look at me," Asami cried, her hands gently running over Korra's temples, "If you need to run, then run…please, just…forget everything else, focus on you getting out of there alive, please, I can't bear to see…my worst nightmare come alive, a world without you…after everything you've been through, what I went through, I was there, I hurt because of your pain, I don't want to see you go, and the worst thing is that I know you will…you will do whatever you have to, to help people, and it hurts, to imagine that…being the Avatar, you might be…called upon to make that choice, please, find a way out, I'm glad that you can help people and that you want to, but don't…don't leave me, please!"
"Oh, Asami," Korra held her right hand behind Asami's head, the left on Asami's shoulder, and gazed into Asami's eyes, "you're my world, too so…be safe, alright?" Korra leaned up and kissed Asami, and, wondering how long they spent here, she slowly moved back.
"Alright, I will. I guess that—that's everything." Asami seemed devastated by that fact, so Korra hugged her, and rested her head on the engineer's shoulder, "I love you so much, Asami, you're so beautiful, and you don't even begin to know how much you mean to me, but I promise that when we get the Kuvira issue out of our way, I'll be there, looking forward to a lifetime of telling you everything you mean to me, and still, you'll never know."
"Sounds like a threat, but I get the idea." Asami said, laughing as she wiped the tears on her face away.
"Oh, baby, it's not a threat…it's a promise." Korra kissed Asami again, and held her close.
"Well…let's go then." Asami whispered.
They walked back to the hummingbird mecha suits, and as Asami prepared to make her way into the cockpit, she turned around and held her hand out to Korra, who took it and ran up to Asami, kissing her again.
"I'll make sure to bring her back to you." Hiroshi said, getting into place on the vehicle.
"Thank you, Hiroshi. Asami…I love you so much, never forget that."
"I won't. Be safe, Korra, you owe me a kiss when we get out of this mess, alright?"
"I know, I'll be looking forward to it." Korra turned around as her strike team of airbenders gathered behind her, the children engaged in whispering behind the team of red caped warriors.
Asami leaned against a pillar of the meditation pavilion, crying and sniffling, hugging her knees as she tried to stop breathing irregularly.
She was a mess and knew it, but she didn't care. She looked next to her and saw Korra silently joining her.
"Korra." she acknowledged, gasping her name as she struggled to breath over her sobs.
"Asami, I'm—I'm so sorry, you've been through so much, I—it's not fair." her hand gently squeezed Asami's shoulder, and the nonbender fell without a care into Korra's arm, and the Avatar comforted her in a warm embrace until Asami fell asleep.
Korra knew they might be stuck there for a while, but she would be there for Asami, like Asami was there for her. They would stick together through everything that would harm them.
She would never leave her.
Author's Notes: I try to do these prompts in order, just because, but some are easier to write than others, but still there are snags. This is number two on guest's (guest) prompt list, so I hope you like it!
Time Traveler 2017: I sometimes entertained the mental image of Korra where Mako was when he saw Asami's moped…correction, when he didn't see her moped…I might just have to make it its own thing, but I'll put in the summary that it's a prompt.
Just tell me if I misinterpreted your prompt…you may be asking to have just the first few episodes, though I can try to do a Korrasami remix.
Reader: I'd like to hear what you think, if you think about this, if you read it, if you had a thought you wanted to share…or if you want to flame me, that's fine too. *gets flame, runs to nearest waterbender healer*
KHH out!