A/N: Happy Halloween! Not sure if I'm too late, but here's a bonus Halloween themed drabble tacked onto the first half of the chapter. Note: some mild PG horror, comparable to RL Stine's Goosebumps series. If, however, you don't like reading horror stories, I've marked the part where it ends with *.*.*.* so just run a search and read after that. It makes no difference to the overall chapter, although I would like you to know that a night passes in the Halloween drabble

Also, there may be major errors/typos. I practically didn't sleep trying to get this chapter done on time. Feel free to point out plot holes or anything if you see them.

Though the Equalists remained far behind, they now had a far more immediate problem. Their stolen truck had completely broken down, and it was only gravity that kept it rolling downhill. When the sloped hillside gradually evened out, it crawled to a stop, leaving the four inside sitting in stony silence.

'What do we do now?' Shenzi said, all her earlier cheer gone.

Yuuka pushed the dented door open. 'We walk.'

'All the way back to Republic City?'

'There is no other option.'

Song climbed out the truck and glanced up worriedly at the sky. 'It's almost nightfall. Maybe we should camp out here for the night before making it back. Let's make for the trees over there so it's not so open.'

The sun had set by the time they found shelter underneath the heavy canopy of trees. Here, where the underbrush crowded the ground, snow did not fall nearly so thickly. Finding a compromise in the area where there was not much snow or vegetation, Song erected a large earth tent over their heads. Korra snapped the lower branches off the nearest pines and added them to the blaze of their small campfire. Flames crackled as tinder caught alight, their dancing orange forms reflecting in the eyes of the five people that around it in a ring.

A spicy tang arose as the pine needles burned. Korra coughed and gagged at the smell, but Shenzi closed her eyes complacently and smiled.

'I haven't gone camping since I was a little kid.'

'I've never been camping at all,' Korra admitted. 'What do people normally do?'

'Well,' Shenzi said mournfully, drawing her legs up to her chest. 'Normally there's food.' As though in sympathy Korra's stomach grumbled.

'And after the marshmallows we tell each other scary stories,' Shenzi finished.

'Really?' Korra said excitedly. 'Spooky stories? I have one!'

'You just made that up on the spot,' Shenzi accused.

'No, I didn't!' she said indignantly. 'This is a true story. It happened to Katara's mother, Kya. It's become a legend amongst the Southern Water Tribe.'

Her four companions sat up taller and gazed at her intently.

'There was a time when a heavy snowstorm buried Kya's village,' Korra began. 'For weeks no one could go outside. When a month passed and they were able to clear the snow from the roads, the villagers realised one person was missing. A little girl named Nini.

'So Kya and the rest of the villagers went to check on Nini's family. They cleared the snow and knocked on the door, but no one answered. The men kicked down the door, and found no one home. The house was coated in a layer of dust. Only a dying fire burned in the fireplace.

'Kya remained behind while the others went out to search. A cold draught blew through the house, so Kya closed the door. When she did, however, the house seemed to become colder. She went to the fireplace to warm herself, but there was someone sitting in front of the fire.

' "Hello?" Kya called. The person did not answer, but turned around to face her. It was little Nini, and she was blue as though frozen.'

Korra lowered her voice to a low hiss.

' "It's so cold, and I can't get warm!"

'Kya ran outside for help, nearly breaking her nails as she struggled to open the door. But when the village came back with her, little Nini was gone, and the fire had dwindled to smouldering embers.'

Korra inched closer to the fire so that shadows stood out in sharp relief on her face. 'To this day Nini's house stands empty. However, in the coldest of winters you can see smoke seeping from the chimney, like little Nini is still trying to get warm…'

Shenzi shivered and curled into a tight ball. Banzai put his arms around her, though his knuckles were white. Song, too, looked unnerved, kneading a small ball of earth through his fingers and passing it from one hand to another. Only Yuuka remained impassive, arms folded over his chest.

'That is not frightening,' he said dismissively. 'The Northern legends are much more terrifying.'

'As if!' Korra said. 'My cousins are from the North, none of their stories can beat mine.'

'Then you must not have heard of this one.'

'Oh really? Well if you're so wise why don't you share it?'

'Very well,' Yuuka said, folding his hands carefully over his lap. After a long pause, he began in a low, threatening voice:

'They say that the Koi fish is the most sacred animal in the Water Tribes, and that you must never kill one, for doing so will bring the wrath of the Ocean down upon your head.

'But there was one boy who ignored the law. One day, when he went on a hunting trip with his friends, he came by a mystical pond. In this pond were a school of large, beautiful fish. When his friends saw, they warned him against harming the fish, but the boy was hungry and would not listen. He killed the biggest and dragged it to shore.

'The clear water in the pond turned blood red. His friends were appalled, but when the boy cut up the twitching carcass and handed out the meat evenly, his friends praised him for his bravery. At that moment, a sharp wind screamed through their ranks, nearly blowing them over. Nervous of bad weather, the group went home. When they arrived back at the village, a severe blizzard had started.

'As the boy split up from the others on the way to his house, he heard footsteps behind him. Thinking it to be a friend, he turned around, but there was no one there. He dismissed it as a illusion, and entered his front door. Noticing how chilly the house was, he went over to the fireplace to light a fire.

'When it flared to life, something on the wall made the boy uneasy. There was his shadow, flickering from the crackling fire. But next to his shadow was another one, and this shadow was misshapen, with a jagged outline.

'The boy spun around, but there was no one else in the room. His shadow matched his movements, but the extra shadow never moved, only drifted along, silently, after him whenever he walked. He put out the fire, preferring the chill to the strange shadow he saw on the wall, and went to bed.

'The next morning when he woke up, he was still feeling cold. His limbs responded to his movements slowly, and he moved like an old man crippled by winter. He went outside to clear snow from his year, but when he stepped outdoors, the bright sun beating down cast strong shadows on the ground. That day, there was no second shadow following him, but the boy noticed something strange with his own shadow. It did not resemble his outline. Rather, odd lumps and protrusions stuck out at odd angles. He ran his hands over the areas where the shadow showed the protrusions, and was horrified to find that the skin was rock hard in those places.

'Attributing it to frostbite, he quickly went inside and lit a fire to warm himself. But the moment he did so, again there was that extra shadow on the wall. This time it had gotten bigger and more monstrous. He quickly put out the fire and went to visit his friends, but no one answered the door. In fact, his entire village ceased to become active. No one wandered the roads, and all shops were closed. He saw no one the entire day.

'That night he went to sleep feeling colder than ever. When he woke in the morning, he could barely move, so stiff was he from the cold. It became hard for him to think clearly, and every movement caused excruciating pain. He stumbled from bed and crashed to his knees onto a cold floor. It was then that he realised a thick layer of ice coated his entire house. Frost had sealed his door shut, and he was trapped in his room.

'As he pounded frantically to be let out, he caught his reflection in the glassy surface of ice. It was not his own face. Black sockets marked where his eyes were, and the mouth was stretched in a permanent scream. Ice crystals sprouted from his arms and shoulders.

'Terrified, the boy turned away, but found he could not move. In the time he spent observing his own reflection ice had crept up his feet and frozen him to the floor. He had no idea when it happened, but ice grew out of him, so that his body became a bristling mass of crystals. In a panic he struggled, only to keel over backwards. When he hit the floor, he lost all sentience, for he had turned to ice.

'Over the next few days a transformation overcame the village. Ice spread from the boy's house like an infection, and soon the whole village became covered.

'No one knows what happened to the rest of the villagers. They were never seen again. Some say they suffered the same fate as the boy. In the years that followed those who passed by the village often claimed to hear screams, as though hundreds of people were trapped in an icy cavern. But those who went into the village never came back, so no one dared investigate.

'And thus you must never kill a Koi fish; doing so will not only result in your own demise, but all those around you whom you care about…'

Only the faint snapping of burning wood filled in the silence of his fading voice. Korra swallowed, her throat dry, and nervously ran her hands over her arms to check that she was unharmed.

'I am never going to a Water Tribe slumber party,' Shenzi said, huddling against her partner.

'They're not normally this creepy,' Korra said.

'Is the great Avatar afraid?' Yuuka teased.

Korra balled snow between her hands and let fly with a hard snowball to his head. He ducked; still rattled, Korra turned her back to him and lay down next to the fire.

'I'm going to sleep,' she announced. Everyone nodded in agreement and inched closer to the fire before settling down. All but Yuuka, who remained seated.

'I'll keep watch,' he said.

*.*.*.*

Korra had barely closed her eyes when she found herself shaken awake, rather roughly, by Yuuka.

Still groggy from sleep, she was irritable and short-tempered. 'What?' she snapped.

'It's time to leave,' Yuuka said, dumping an armload of snow onto the campfire. 'They've tracked us.'

She sat bolt upright. 'Have they? Where are they now?'

Yuuka tilted his head in the direction of their destroyed truck, then shifted away from her and proceeded to wake the other three. Korra rubbed her eyes blearily and squinted into the darkness, finally making out a pair of lights twinkling in the distance, faint at first, but steadily growing brighter as it approached.

'Ugh,' she sighed. 'They just don't give up.'

'Neither will we,' said Song, collapsing the earth tent. 'Let's go.'

Korra remained where she was. 'You go ahead,' she said resolutely. 'I'll hold them off.'

'You can't do that! It's too dangerous. We'll stand with you.'

She shook her head fervently, though she wasn't sure the metalbender was able to see her under the scattered half-moon light. 'No, don't waste time. I'll catch up with you later. You have to go back to Republic City and tell Lin about this, then return with reinforcements.'

'Are you sure?'

'Just go,' Korra sighed, standing up and sensing their reluctance. 'I'll be fine.'

'I will stay,' Yuuka said, taking place by her side. 'You three go ahead. Follow the North Star and it should take you home.'

To Korra's annoyance, they obeyed him much more readily than they obeyed her. She shot Yuuka a resentful glare, daring him to challenge her authority, but realised under the dim lighting conditions he probably didn't see. Back to back they stood together, waiting for the Equalists' approach. The soft footsteps of Song, Shenzi and Banzai gradually receded into the night silence.

'Wow,' Korra said, feeling her heart pump with anticipation for a fight in the darkness. 'I can't believe Hiroshi would go to all this length just to keep benders from finding out about this supposed tsunami. It's revenge overkill.'

'Revenge?' Yuuka repeated, shifting his weight slightly. 'Oh, I doubt think revenge is his main motive.'

'His wife was killed by firebenders,' she explained. 'He holds all benders responsible.'

'Yes, and at the heart of it, he holds himself responsible.'

Korra's eyebrows rose in surprise. 'What do you mean?'

'Is it not clear to you by now? Your friend – Sato's daughter – she had no idea about her father's affiliations until she stumbled upon it by accident. If Sato truly wanted revenge, she would have known about it long beforehand.

'Think back to his past. He had everything in life, until the Agni Kais showed up and took away those he loved. You can imagine the blow to the man's pride when that pack of street rats invaded his home. He failed to protect his family. Worse, he lost them to people at the bottom of the social ladder. He may hate benders, but who he really hates is himself. He failed. Even though he tells himself it is revenge he is after, what he really wants is a chance to redeem himself. If he can save every non-bender in Republic City, then it will be proof that he is no weakling.'

She was given no chance to think over Yuuka's words, for presently the earth beneath her feet began to tremble as the Equalist vehicle drew closer, the glare from its headlights blinding her. Before her eyes could adjust to the brightness, it was switched off. Dancing yellow spots swayed in her vision as the site was plunged into darkness once again. She heard the vehicle stop, and the soft thuds as people began leaping out.

'How can they see so clearly?' she hissed as their shadowed forms sprinted unerringly. Never once did she see a break in their ranks, nor anyone stumble over the loose rocks and shrubs on the ground.

'Night goggles,' Yuuka answered.

Korra groaned inwardly. This was turning out to be an incredibly uneven fight. Of course, she could always light a fire, but the Equalists didn't know yet she was the Avatar and she wanted to keep it that way.

A man came rushing towards her! She sidestepped, and he was gone. Silent save for the barely audible footfalls, he seemed to fade into his surroundings. Korra lunged for him several times but always missed; it was impossible to touch him while he had such a clear advantage. He reverted to offense; already she was having trouble blocking his attacks, deflecting his blows at the last minute and sending her hair standing on end at the dangerous proximity of their encounter.

She got inventive; when the Equalist closed the gap again she lashed out where she thought the eyes were. Hitting glass, her other arm snaked round and constricted him in a headlock. With one ripping slash she swiped the goggles from the man's head, robbing him of his night-vision.

As she jammed the goggles over her eyes, another Equalist sneaked up behind and attempted to cripple her. She sensed his movements in time and spun around, catching his wrist, only for his other arm to swing from nowhere and fell her with a blow to the temple.

Dazed, she crumpled to the ground, tasting muddy slush from the churned snow and dirt. Against the limited light from the moon, she saw the man crouch over her and unwind a thick rope. Gritting her teeth to fight the nausea that threatened to overwhelm, she struggled back on her feet. The man backhanded her and knocked her down. The instant her head hit the ground, a sharp breath of air whooshed overhead.

Then the man was gone.

Korra gaped. Coils of ice froze the man to a nearby tree. Waterbending. But there were no other benders in the vicinity besides herself…unless, Yuuka? She searched for him, and found him holding his own against five more Equalists, punching and jabbing with practised ease. Though he wasn't bending, his fluid movements spoke all too clearly of a waterbender, of one used to moving with the flow of battle.

But it was more than that. Something about the restraint in his movements, as though he had no wish to fight the Equalists, was profoundly familiar. She watched him for a moment longer, seeing the way he weaved between his opponents like an eel-hound through water, his flowing movements punctuated by rigid jabs, and the overall fluidity of his form.

Everything fell into place.

Why he had been so uneasy around her in the beginning.

Why he knew the Equalist compound so well.

Why he could decipher Hiroshi Sato's true motives.

Him.

Fire rushed through her veins. Earth rumbled and snow blasted away from her with a explosive snap. She leapt to her feet, all injuries forgotten, and charged towards him trailing fire from her clenched fists.

'YOU!' she roared furiously, charging through the Equalist ranks, knocking them aside, blood thudding loudly in her ears, throwing her arm forward in a spinning vortex of fire –

He looked at her, and in that one glance her body stopped of its own accord. Her jaws grinded so tightly together that all she could do was snarl through her teeth at the man who so effortlessly dictated her movements. She closed her eyes, summoning the Avatar State to break free. But before she could do so, she caught sight of an almost motionless flick of his wrist.

Agonising pain sheared through her head, and she knew no more.

She woke with the smell of dust and mould in her nose. When she opened her eyes, she found herself staring at a ceiling draped with a thick layers of cobwebs. Streaks of dawn light shot through the murky window and onto the brittle floorboards.

She had been placed on a large bed, though the sheets were moth-eaten and dotted through with holes. The fibres in the linen was stiff from years of neglect. Korra sat up dizzily, recalling with mounting fury all that had happened. Amon was nowhere in sight. She swung her legs over the bed and managed to stand without shaking. Floorboards creaked underneath her feet as she crossed the room and opened the door.

The sight before her had her frozen in shock. She had been here before.

There was that metal cage where Tarrlok had imprisoned her, the shattered light bulb dangling over the grille where the Lieutenant tried to electrocute her. Jagged ripples of rock fanned out from the box where she had so long ago struck the ground to escape.

Horrified, Korra backed away, wondering if Amon had plans to keep her locked up as well. Her scrabbling hands bumped into something on a upturned desk and sent it crashing to the shattered floor. She jumped at the noise, glancing down at the source. A small wooden object. Curious, she bent down to pick it up, finding it upon closer inspection to be a picture frame. She turned it over, and her breath caught.

The photograph was faded, but even in its poor condition a beautiful woman could be seen smiling through the cracked glass surface. She had intense violet eyes – the rarest colour in the Water Tribes, and a tall imposing man had his arm wrapped protectively around her. There was no mistaking him. He looked different to the flashbacks Aang had shown her – of course he did – but the eyes were the same colour, that smirk the same mockery.

Yakone.

And in front of the parents, two chubby little boys grinning broadly without a care in the world. Korra stared at the brothers; had it not been for Yakone in the picture she would have never guessed the two children to be Tarrlok and Amon. No bitterness haunted their faces.

'I see you've found my little family portrait.'

Korra jumped. Amon was standing silently on the staircase landing, staring down at her with an unfathomable expression on his face. He made his way down slowly, running his hands over the peeling wallpaper as he walked.

'This house used to belong to my father,' he said quietly.

The sight of him only filled her with rage. How dare he speak to her like nothing had happened! Spewing fire from her nose, she blasted air from her palms and bowled him over. Without waiting for him to rise, she stomped hard on the ground and sent a wave of earth forward, slamming him hard against the steps. As she leapt after him, he hustled to his feet and snapped out his arm, once again constricting her in the tight clutches of his bending.

'Let go of me!' she snarled, unleashing a vicious jet of fire that splashed harmlessly onto the metal steps.

'Are you going to behave yourself?'

'Let go of me right now or I'll go into the Avatar State!'

'Don't abuse your powers.'

'Stop. Using. Bloodbending,' she growled, her vision simmering red.

'Stop trying to kill me then.'

'You deserve to be killed!'

'That's somewhat irrational, coming from the mouth of an Avatar.'

'Irrational?' she nearly shrieked, struggling against his bloodbending grip. 'I trusted you! And then you turned around and betrayed me!'

'I had no choice, Avatar. I was not going to spend the rest of my life rotting away in a cell.'

'It didn't have to be a lifetime! You could've gotten yourself pardoned!'

'Oh really?' Amon said coldly. 'And who would've spoken up for me? I had no one.'

'You would've had me!'

It was just something that slipped from her mouth, a simple statement without malice, and definitely not calculated to hurt. But Amon recoiled as though she had struck him. The hold he had over her vanished, and she fell on her knees to the floor, gasping with relief at her sudden freedom. She stared at Amon. Faint traces of sorrow clouded his eyes. In that moment, Korra was exposed to a surprising insight.

Amon cared about her.

She had always assumed, all those months, that he had manipulated her just as he manipulated the Equalists for his own selfish gain. But now, as he crossed the room and knelt down to her level, taking her face in his hands, she realised that perhaps there really had been some feeling on his end before he betrayed her.

'Korra,' he whispered.

His lips were upon hers then, his hands roaming down her neck to rest at the small of her back. She smelt his familiar musk, remembered the contours of his mouth, and briefly closed her eyes in oblivion, enjoying the feel of his skin upon hers.

But all the past hurts he had inflicted upon her came rushing back to her head. Armed with the knowledge that he genuinely cared, only a savage pleasure remained when she realised she finally had an edge over him. She was not going to let him get away.

It would have been easy, so easy, to forgive him. He wanted that. And she could give it. It was the Avatar's duty to forgive, after all.

Yet at that moment, Korra was not the Avatar. She was just a young girl who had given her trust to a man, only for it to be shattered. Her fury was that of a woman scorned. She parted her lips for his tongue, waiting as he nudged his way inside. Pausing a moment longer, enjoying one last feel of him, she bit down sharply.

With a strangled cry Amon pushed her away, cupping his hand to his mouth. Blood trickled between his lips and dribbled through his fingers. She stared at him indifferently, triumphantly, and launched him into the wall. As he slid down, she shackled him in place with earth, meeting his gaze unflinchingly before turning around and climbing up the staircase.

He was too proud to call after her as she walked up the steps to the outside, a bitter mockery of his betrayal. Pushing open the door to the snowfields, she paused one last time at the height of the stairs.

'Stay away from me, and don't come near me, ever again.'