TOP 5 PAIRINGS!
5. Korra X Mako
4. Korra X Asami
3. Korra X Silver
2. Mako X Asami
1. Korra X Tahno
All of the top ten pairings are so close to each other that just a couple of votes is the difference between 5th and first place!
I hope you enjoy!
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The First Avatar
Book 1: Greed
Chapter 21: Picking up the Pieces
Korra's head was full of jumbled and disjointed memories. As she lay in the warm, unfamiliar bed, she tried to piece together what had happened; what was real and what had just been a nightmare inside her own head. Tiny water spirits still moved through her body, fixing her from the inside, fixing her disturbed blood flow and cleansing her spirit.
As they worked, Korra put the order of events together. She had been arrested by Tarrlok and eventually taken to his cabin in the mountains. He had been revealed as a bloodbender and the son of Yakone, but it seemed he had tried to redeem himself at the last minute. She had met Necros, whose madness had terrified her, and he had a rivalry with Silver, which neither could end. He could also bend all four elements, but Korra didn't know how. Silver had joined up with Amon to rescue her and she had fallen down the mountain and been rescued by Naga and Takona.
Remembering Takona, Korra opened her eyes wide and saw where she was. It was a small apartment; only a bedroom, living room, bathroom and kitchen, and none of them were particularly well decorated. The bedroom had a vanity, two cabinets and a large double bed, which Korra occupied. Looking down, Korra had several small cuts and bruises which had been mostly bandaged up, and her clothes had been replaced by a plain night dress, not unlike the one that was worn by the girl beside Necros.
Korra blushed as she realised that someone had changed her, but Takona, who was watching her from the vanity, smiled. "Don't worry, I had my female assistant from the school bathe and dress you. You've been unconscious for a full day. Tenzin is already aware that you're here, and has asked me to return you when you've recovered. He wasn't keen to move you."
"Thank you for all the help Takona. I don't know what I would have done if you hadn't found me." Korra said, blushing. It was odd for her to be the one being rescued. As Avatar, she always viewed herself as the rescuer.
"No thanks are necessary. I made up a hot stew to warm you up. Come with me, you can be eating while I call Tenzin and Lin." Takona said, getting up and helping Korra out of the bed.
"Lin's back from Ba Sing Se?" Korra said.
"Yes, she returned yesterday. Apparently she was on a trip with Avatar Silver, but returned early. Avatar Silver hasn't been seen since that little mountain battle of yours." Takona said, helping Korra slowly walk to the living room.
"Silver has gone missing? I hope she wasn't hurt by Necros…or caught by Amon."
Takona chuckled. "I didn't see much of the battle while following Naga, but I did see enough. Necros, assuming he was the big scary red eyed guy, fled before fighting Silver. And it looked like Amon and Silver were working together. As for Tarrlok…his disappearance has left the city in a state of martial law."
"Things escalated really quickly. I get captured, meet a psychotic maniac that has it out for Silver, get caught in a battle between Amon and Tarrlok and now the whole city is going nuts. I don't know what to do." Korra said, finally sitting at the dinner table, waiting for Takona to finish making his stew.
Takona sighed and filled a couple of bowls before sitting across from Korra. "Eat up, while it's hot." He said, handing one bowl to Korra. "You are worrying too much. Stop and think what needs to be done; let Silver turn up, then try and find Tarrlok. Deal with Necros when he turns up again. There's no good in stressing yourself to the breaking point over a hundred different things."
Korra sighed, as she knew Takona was right. They ate in silence, though since both were feeling the cold air of winter, they ate fast, eagerly filling themselves with the piping hot stew. The young Avatar was filled with renewed strength and after helping Takona with the dishes, she went off to change clothes.
"No need to change yet. I called Tenzin, and he's bringing some fresh clothes. Lin and your parents are coming too." Takona told her as he turned the radio on. He was careful to turn it to a music only channel, not wanting to have the news stress Korra anymore.
Within half an hour, there was a knock on the door and Takona opened it, letting in the four guests. Senna and Tonraq quickly hugged their daughter, checking her over and looking sad and worried at the scratches and bandages. Takona explained everything that had happened to them while Korra changed into her normal outfit and when she returned, she told them everything from her end too.
"So Tarrlok was behind it. We think that he may be the one possessed by a Black Spirit, instead of Amon." Lin said, parroting what Silver had said. "The vault in Ba Sing Se was a trap to get Silver and I out of the city. When we realised what was going on, I caught a train back and Silver went through the Spirit World. I got back after Takona had already saved you." she told Korra.
Tenzin nodded. "We knew something was very wrong when we went to the jail. Saikhan said that you had been moved somewhere else and Tarrlok had already left the city. He came back to take you from the prison, but disappeared again before we could talk to him. Silver turned up not long later and then pursued you to the mountains. We haven't seen you since."
"So Silver and Tarrlok are both still missing? Any Equalist or Black Lotus Activity in the city?" Korra asked.
"The Equalists have been doing their usual thing, but Amon hasn't been seen. I had my militia arrest all the White Lotus sentries on the island and we're waiting to question them. We'll have you and Silver do that, since no one else knows anything about them." Lin said.
Korra nodded and sighed. She decided that since Necros was long gone and his Black Lotus Sentries were no longer a threat (at the moment) that it would be best to deal with the Equalists first. "Then I think we should save my friends. I'm not going up against Amon without all four of them with me."
Tenzin smiled. "Not being the lone wolf this time? I approve of this change."
"Yeah well, between having Silver and Takona save me and being beaten and knocked about by Amon and Necros, I really don't think I can do this on my own as well as I used to. I need you guys, all of you." Korra said, looking around the room at her parents, Lin, Tenzin and Takona.
"I'll be happy to help you." Takona said, grinning as he pumped his fist. "The police force should be ashamed to arrest innocent kids. I'll give them all a time out they won't soon forget!"
Lin laughed. "I can't say I'm happy to see my men kowtow to that idiot Saikhan. I'll give him a good beating and a reminder to stay out of politics!"
Tenzin shook his head. "I was hoping that now Korra was accepting help from others, the next step would be to help calm her aggressive side! You two are not helping. Though I do believe something should be done to save them."
Senna and Tonraq chuckled to themselves. "We'll help too. Though you may have to blame us for Korra's more fiery side." Senna remarked, bending the water from a nearby vase. "We weren't exactly tame when we were young!"
"Tell me about it. Courting you was like trying to wrestle a Polarbear dog into a corset." Tonraq joked, making Korra cringe at the thought.
"Then it's settled. We'll go to the jail tonight and break them out." Korra smiled, punching her palm.
Tenzin shook his head. "From defending a prison to breaking into one. Nothing is normal around this girl…"
Meanwhile, several miles outside of the city, in the snow covered mountain slopes, Silver was inside the heavily damaged remains of Tarrlok's cabin, carefully healing her many minor wounds.
She cursed herself. This always happened around Necros… she'd get worked up fighting his goons and she'd become reckless, letting herself get hit by attacks that she could normally dodge blindfolded! The woman grumbled to herself as she leant against the only still standing wall, using a self-made shelter of ice to keep the snow off of her. As the last of her wound was washed away with glowing water, the woman looked up sternly at the man who sat in the snow ahead of her, morosely looking at the battlefield.
There were weapons and bloodstains all over the normally crisp white snow, and numerous footprints, body prints and drag marks from where people had fallen and been dragged away by their comrades. No one had died in the fight, other than Tyraz, who had been murdered before it had even begun, but Tarrlok still felt great guilt as he gazed over the bloodied snow.
"Why look so guilty? You didn't do any of this." Silver said, looking angrily at him.
"I did, and you know it. If I hadn't brought Korra here…if I had never agreed to serve Necros."
"Shut up, we both know that he'd have killed you if you refused. There was a good chance he'd kill you if you said yes! Necros gets his name from the Necropolis; the place in the Spirit World were evil humans are kept after they die. He relishes in sending evil people there. Maybe that's why he killed Tyraz but not you." Silver said, getting up and walking to the disgraced waterbender.
"You don't think I'm evil?" he said, surprised.
"No. I think you're an idiot who got in over his head and then couldn't get out. I saw you save Korra. Why did you do it?" Silver asked. "Why the change of heart."
Tarrlok frowned. "I had never bloodbent another person. Korra was fun to torment, in a way. Not to hurt, but to watch her blush and pout as she tried to sound like an adult. I was ordered by Necros to bloodbend Korra if she got out of hand, and when Tyraz gave me the signal in the prison, I did it. It was horrid. Watching her writhe in agony was pure hell…not as bad as the hell I put her through."
"So you regretted it. you wanted to mess with her, but never really hurt her? Like a simple school yard bully."
"I guess that's a good way of putting it." Tarrlok admitted, not feeling up to being prideful.
"So who was your bully?" Silver asked. The question was met with a confused stare.
"Who bullied you? Most bullies are only like that because they have someone bigger picking on them. Who has you under their thumb? Was it Necros? Yakone…?"
"Or your brother."
Tarrlok stared hard at Silver, anger and surprise in his expression. "What did you say?"
"I know about your brother, Tarrlok. The one that Yakone really wanted to offer to Necros. I know how he ran away and left you in his place. He was always better than you at waterbending and bloodbending; was he the one that picked on you? That made you feel so small that you needed to inflict the same on someone else?"
"No!" Tarrlok yelled. "He never made me feel small! He was kind and caring…but the power of bloodbending doesn't leave one with the soundest of minds. He slowly began to hate himself, his bending and the world. And then he was gone forever. His bones are probably still freezing beneath a pile of snow somewhere in the North Pole."
Silver shook her head. "No Tarrlok. Your brother is alive…and I know exactly where he is."