Title: The Trophy Wife
Rating: M
Words: 2352
Fandom: The Legend of Korra
Characters/Pairings: Everyone; Amorra, Masami
Author's Note: Creeping towards the end. It's bittersweet, as I've spent months invested in this. However time moves forward and so do I, working on new projects.
Noatak faces his true nature as Korra has to make a decision regarding his actions.
A huge thank you to my beta Relic, who is lovely and wonderful and finds my quirks endearing rather than annoying.
The scene back at City Hall was better than when Korra had left, but it still wasn't what she would have considered ideal. If anything, there was a general state of chaos that loomed over the area. Several metalbenders were marching captured Equalist dissidents towards their trucks to be taken to police headquarters for processing. All of the mechatanks had been disabled except for one, which was helping the earthbenders move debris about.
Spotting Lin, Mako, and Bolin, Korra urged Naga towards them, dismounting when she reached them. "Oh thank goodness, you're all okay!" Korra said as she hugged them in turn.
Relief washed over Mako and Bolin when they saw her. "Yeah, like a few crummy Equalists could take us down," the earthbender said with a cheerful smile. Looking around Korra, he spotted General Iroh. "Who's the guy in the uniform?"
"Ah, this is General Iroh of the United Forces. He's the backup that Tenzin arranged for. It's a good thing he did, too, because otherwise I don't think I would be standing here right now," Korra said, motioning to the man standing next to her.
"It's nice to meet you," Iroh said with a smile and a bow.
"Iroh, I haven't seen you since you were a small child, running around with chocolate smeared on your face," Lin said congenially, causing the general to blush.
"Yes, I would have been five the last time we saw each other," Iroh replied, managing to force a smile. He gave a quiet cough and then changed the subject. "It seems that you have everything well in hand here."
"Yeah, we do," Mako agreed. "Turns out those mechatanks work just like a Future Industries fork lift, so Asami commandeered one to fight with, and then has been using it to clean up the debris."
"Good for her," Korra said with a smile. "And the others?"
"I don't know, we got separated during the fighting. I'm sure they're fine, though. Not like those three will go down easy," Lin snorted.
"Go ahead and find them," Iroh urged her. "I'll work with Chief BeiFong to get things back in order."
"Are you sure?" Korra asked, a stab of guilt hitting her as she realized that she should be helping them.
"We've got it," Bolin assured her. "Mako and I have been helping Lin take down names and other information on the people we've arrested."
"You two have the makings to be fine policemen one day, if you're up to the job," Lin said with a half-smile.
Mako rubbed the back of his neck. "I don't know, maybe. We'll have to think about it. Bo's still only sixteen."
"Well, consider yourselves on the wait list, then," Lin shrugged. "Okay boys, that's enough of a break, back to work!"
Iroh fell in with Mako and Bolin, smiling and joking as they worked. Relieved that her friends were okay, she needed to go find her husband. Running through the decimated square, she yelled for Noatak at the top of her lungs. Every so often she'd have to stop because all of the dust in the air was causing her to cough, before she'd start searching again.
In the end she found Noatak helping Tenzin and Tarrlok with the injured near the steps to City Hall.
"Noatak!" she called as she raced towards him, relief flooding through her as she saw him lift an injured woman onto a stretcher. His face was smudged with dirt and there was a tear in his pants, but otherwise he appeared unharmed.
Looking up, he scanned the square until his eyes settled on a flash of blue that was headed straight towards him. She looked exhausted and her shirt was torn in a few places, but she was still alive. Leaping through the air, she tackled him in a hug, holding him tightly and repeatedly murmuring that he was okay.
Pulling away so he could better examine her, Korra could feel the familiar tingle of his bloodbending, trying to determine if she was injured anywhere they couldn't see. "Oh thank the Spirits you're okay," he said quietly as he pulled her against him once again after determining that she wasn't bleeding internally.
"I'm fine," she answered softly. "I was so worried about you."
"Why would you worry about me?" he asked. "You know I can take care of myself."
"Doesn't stop me from worrying," she said with a watery laugh.
"To be honest, I was terrified that something would happen to you," he said as he pulled away and guided her away from where Tenzin and Tarrlok were still helping the medics. "All by yourself against all of those airplanes…"
"I had some help. Turns out right when I needed them, the United Forces showed up. General Iroh's fleet did most of the work," she explained, looking up at his face. He looked tired and drawn and every bit his forty years. "Noatak, is something wrong?"
"It's been a long day, that's all," he answered, but he slid his gaze away from her, immediately making her suspicious.
"You're lying to me," she said flatly.
"I said it was nothing, Korra," he answered, his tone tired. He pulled away and tried to step around her.
Grabbing his sleeve, she shook her head. "No you don't. Come on, let's go up to your office and talk," she said, tugging him towards the door.
"We really should stay and help…"
"The United Forces are here," she said, indicating to the men and women who had just arrived by the truck load, standing out in their red and white uniforms. "They can step in and help. We won't be missed."
With a sigh he finally nodded. "All right, let's go."
They walked in silence, hand in hand, up to his office, where she locked the door behind them. He sat down in his chair put his head in his hands, refusing to make eye contact with her. It was then that Korra realized that his complexion was paler than usual, and a feeling of dread settled in her gut. "Noatak, what's wrong?"
"I don't know if I can tell you," he mumbled.
"Of course you can tell me. You can tell me anything," she replied, kneeling in front of him.
"I'm not so sure about that," he answered, looking up at her, his face haunted.
Her eyebrows rose slightly. "It's not like you were bloodbending," she said, reaching out and pacing her hand against his cheek. Flinching at the contact, Noatak pulled away. "Noatak, what happened? You can tell me, I promise I won't get mad."
"I bloodbent Meilan today," he confessed, his breathing going ragged. "I didn't know what else to do. I looked over to see how you were doing and I saw the flash of sun on the knife blade, but I was too far away from you to try and block her chi and stop her that way, and I panicked and did the only thing I could think of…"
"Wait, are you saying that Meilan tried to kill me?" Korra asked, blinking in surprise.
"You had gone into the Avatar State and were fending off the mechatanks. You were so focused on that, you didn't even notice that Meilan had come up behind you."
"She was going to stick a knife in my back?" Korra's voice now held an edge of panic. "Noatak, if she killed me while I was in the Avatar State, she would have ended the Avatar Cycle. Permanently!"
"I know that!" he answered morosely. "It's all my fault, Korra. Several years ago I was doing research on the Avatar and found that little bit of information and shared it with some of my companions over drinks. I never thought that they would remember it, though."
"So then what happened?"
"I don't know," he moaned in misery. "I just reacted. I never thought about what I was doing until after I had knocked her unconscious. I did it psychically, so no one could see me doing it, and if Meilan tries to tell anyone what happened they'll never believe her…but…I was trying to hurt her, Korra. I wanted to hurt her. All I could think about was how much pain I could put her in."
"You bloodbent for me," Korra said in quiet awe.
"I'm not proud of it," Noatak admitted. "I haven't used bloodbending like that since my father."
"Noatak…" she murmured as she reached out for him once again. He crumpled against her, shaking. "But you still did it, and you saved me and the Avatar Cycle."
He gave her a sharp look. "Screw the Avatar Cycle, I was only thinking about you."
Korra's lips twitched up into a smile as she climbed into his lap and hugged him. "It's okay, everything is over now. You'll never have to bloodbend again."
Resting his cheek against her forehead, he smiled. "I have to admit, I rather like the sound of that."
They sat in silence for several minutes, taking comfort in the other's presence. They had expected that the day would be hard, but Korra's near death experience at the hands of a woman who was jealous was not something either of them had anticipated. However, with the day's chaos behind them they could now start focusing on the future.
Even if it was simply the near future.
"We should probably get back down to the square and start helping again," Korra commented.
"Yes, probably," Noatak agreed.
"After all, it isn't fair to make everyone else clean up."
"No, it isn't."
"Even though I'd much rather spend the rest of the day like this."
"Mmhmm."
"Though…your desk does have some interesting possibilities."
"More than the one at home?"
"It is a little bigger."
"True."
"But we really should get back down to the square. I'm sure Tarrlok's whining by now about how we just ran off and are ignoring our duties."
Noatak laughed. "Knowing him, yes. Honestly, I don't want to listen to him complain the entire ride home."
Standing up, Korra stretched, wincing when something tweaked in her back. "Oooh, I don't think I was as ready for today's fight."
"Did you hurt yourself stretching?" he asked in disbelief.
"I probably pulled something while fighting off the airplanes. In the Avatar State, pain is dulled, so if I'm injured I'm less likely to notice it and keep fighting until the threat is gone. Pretty handy but also pretty dangerous."
"It sounds very dangerous. Pain is our body's way of telling us that something's wrong."
Korra arched a brow at him. "Are you really going to lecture a healer about pain's function?"
"Ah, yes, that's right," he said with a cocky smile. He blew out a breath and ran his hand over his hair, his eyes looking out the window of his office. "I suppose we really should get back down to the square for real."
"Come on," she said, taking his hand and tugging him towards the door. "You can let me know all the ways you're happy that I'm still alive when we get home tonight."
"Is that a promise?" he asked as he followed her.
She merely turned around and smirked at him.
Back out in the square, the United Forces had marched in and were quickly pulling things back into order. The earthbenders had gone about fixing the torn up streets and walkways, making the square look far more normal than it had when Korra had dragged Noatak up to his office to talk.
"Wow, Iroh's troops are good," she noted with an approving nod.
"The United Forces general?" Noatak asked as they headed over to where her friends were standing.
"Yeah, Fire Lord Zuko's grandson," Korra explained.
Noatak looked at the man talking with Lin and Tenzin and frowned. "Isn't he a bit…young…to be a general?"
"Is he? I hadn't noticed," she shrugged.
"Korra, he can't be much more than thirty," he said as they walked towards the group.
"He's also a member of the Fire Nation royal family. He probably started his military training the moment they learned he could firebend." With a wide smile she greeted them and congratulated them on a job well done.
Asami frowned. "Well, things could be better."
"How do you mean?" Korra asked. "I thought we managed to take down the rebellion."
"Well, yeah, we managed to capture a lot of the Equalists rebels," Bolin agreed, "but there's one person we didn't manage to grab."
Korra blinked. "Wait, you're saying that Hiroshi got away?"
"I'm afraid so," Lin sighed. "The minute we got the upper hand, he fled."
"And we have no idea where he is?" Korra asked in complete disbelief.
"Not a clue," Tenzin sighed. "This is most unnerving."
"I promise you," Iroh said, stepping forward, "my troops will do everything in their power to bring him in."
"Thank you, general, that is most reassuring," Tarrlok said. "How long will you and your troops remain in Republic City?"
"Until the council dismisses us," Iroh answered. "Anyway, I need to coordinate with my commanders and settle on a plan for the coming weeks. I'll be in touch."
"Thank you, Iroh," Tenzin said. "If you have a chance, please tell your grandfather that Lin and I say hello, and if he's nearby that he should visit. Mother is still at Air Temple Island and I'm sure she'd appreciate a visit from an old friend."
"Of course, Tenzin," Iroh answered. Turning towards Korra, he saluted. "It's been a pleasure to fight alongside you, Avatar Korra. Don't hesitate to let me know if there's anything I can do for you."
"Thanks, I'll keep that in mind," she replied with a friendly smile.
With a nod at the others, Iroh headed over to a small group of men and women in United Forces uniforms and began giving orders.
"So now what?" Korra asked, looking at her friends.
"Now we wait," Lin answered dryly. "Give it some time, Sato will show up eventually."
Noatak frowned. He seriously doubted that but refrained from saying so. It only would have killed the good mood.