Chapter 9: Hope
Mako, Bolin, Asami, and Opal languished in a room on Air Temple Island. Opal buried her head in Bolin's shoulder while Asami wrapped her arms around her legs. Mako had his arm around her shoulder, though it provided little comfort to either of them.
"I can't believe she's gone." Opal struggled to speak through her muttering and tears.
"They just blew her up, and I, I couldn't do anything to stop it." Bolin choked on his own tears while Pabu slowly moved across their faces, trying to comfort them.
"It can't be. It just can't be true." Mako let go of Asami and seized his temples with an almost crazed look.
"Mako, she's dead." The words cut deep into Asami as she spoke them. Mako felt his girlfriend's hands on his shoulders and clenched his eyes shut, both fists tightening.
"We failed her. I failed her if I'd taken down Pli-" Asami broke down worse than Mako, cutting him off.
"It was my fault, I probably couldn've killed her, but I wasn't shooting to kill." Asami covered her eyes with both hands, shaking like she was in a blizzard.
"Asami, don't say that." Mako tried to comfort her, but his own guilt and sorrow bogged him down.
"We all failed. We were her team Avatar, and now she's gone!" Opal wailed while all four turned to a picture of them with Korra, Diago, and Lin months earlier.
The ground around them began to turn hot as Bolin rose to his feet.
"It wasn't just Pli. It was Tahno. I saw him, and he can air bend now! Him and his damn teammates! They killed Korra just as much as Pli did! That stupid, self-satisfied prick!" Opal, Mako, and Asami had to get up from how hot the floor became. But perhaps more unsettling was Bolin himself. This was the first time any had experiences genuine hate in his voice and face.
"I'm going to find them, and then I'm going to melt them inch by inch!" Steam began to rise from the floor around them as Pabu trembled and scurried up into Opal's hands.
"Bolin!" Mako furiously grabbed his brother's shoulders and snapped him out of the haze.
"Bolin, you're not thinking straight."
"Korra's dead because of them! They deserve it!"
"Bolin, stop it!" Opal shouted. He turned and saw the fear in her and Pabu's faces. The floor began to cool as Bolin broke down into more tears. Opal embraced Bolin again, soon joined by Mako and Asami.
All of Air Temple Island fell silent in mourning. Most of Tenzin's students, the Air Acolytes, and White Lotus guards gathered around a picture of Korra with burning incense in front of it.
Kia felt his throat dry up as he struggled to keep his composure while looking at Korra's picture. He hadn't been as close to Korra as Jinora or the others, but her death still struck him like a ton of bricks. However, as he turned to Jinora, this would've been an understatement.
The young air bender continued to lose any sense of composure she had as streams of tears and unintelligible muttering escaped her mouth. Kia had no idea what he could possibly even say to her, so instead, he just put his arms around Jinora and let her rest against him.
In a nearby gazebo, Pema held baby Rohan in her arms, while Tenzin held Meelo and Ikki. Even the two parents struggled to hold back their emotions. Rohan ironically was the only one not crying.
"First father, now Korra." Tenzin breathed heavier, a true look of almost denial on his face.
"She had so much spirit, so much life... Her parents are going to be here tomorrow night. Pema, how am I suppose to explain this to them? Their little girl..." Tenzin finally broke down and hugged his two children in his arms so tightly it almost hurt, though neither responded.
"I, I don't know. Naga ran off, Lin and Kya won't leave their apartment. Diago, no one's even seen him." Pema similarly held Rohan close until she and Tenzin saw two more figures approach from the docks. Both stopped at Korra's memorial first before coming over.
"Tenzin, Pema." Varrick and Zhu Li approached. Tenzin never could've imagined what a mourning Varrick would look like, now he knew, and it was almost heartwarming.
"Tenzin, Pema, kids. I'd ask how you're all doing, but." Varrick looked back at Korra's picture and lowered his head.
"I can't believe she's actually gone. I first met her when she was only fourteen years old. I've never seen anyone quite like Korra. She really was something amazing."
"Yes, she was." Tenzin said, choking on tears.
"Well, I'm afraid we didn't just come here to pay our respects. Zhu Li, do the thing." Zhu Li slammed a newspaper in front of Tenzin and Pema, their eyes widening in horror.
"No! That filthy little!" Tenzin's face turned red as he seized the paper and almost ripped it to pieces.
"Daddy, what's wrong?" Ikki asked nervously.
"Raiko! He called an emergency meeting without telling me! He's claiming that Korra's death necessitates drastic measures! The election of a president!"
"How dare he use Korra's death like this!" Pema barely contained herself from screaming with Rohan in her arms.
"Well, we're not going to let this happen. This will be Raiko's undoing because my legal team has discovered that the President's provision allows any citizen to run for President!"
Tenzin and Pema's mouths dropped.
"Varrick, please don't tell me you're going to run for President!"
"What? Me? Tenzin, do I look like a politician to you? No, I had someone else in mind. Someone much more suited for the job of running a nation." Varrick smiled confidently as Pema and Tenzin slowly turned to Zhu Li, who looked slightly nervous.
"Zhu Li, you're running for president?" Pema asked.
"Varrick suggested it."
"Zhu Li's been running Varrick Global Industrie's relief program for almost a year. She knows this city and its people. Plus, if she can handle all my requests, the presidency can't be that much harder." Zhu Li chuckled a little at that last bit, smiling warmly at Varrick, who now put his arm around her shoulder.
"Plus, she'll have Varrick Industries and Future Industries backing her. Hiroshi's onboard with her nomination too, and when she's elected, I'll be the first man."
"What!?" Tenzin and Pema's eyes fixed on a platinum ring now resting on Zhu Li's right hand.
"Varrick?"
"Korra's death made me rethink a lot of things, really consider what's important in my life." Varrick said warmly as Zhu Li embraced him, planting a long kiss on his lips.
Tenzin and Pema wanted to smile, but the pain from Korra returned. Both looked up at storm clouds forming over Republic City.
(Play Asphalt and Ablution from Halo ODST)
That night, rain poured over the city as if the Republic itself mourned for Korra. Diago walked alone across the streets, numb to the rain as it seeped into his clothes and soaked his body. A few unsavory individuals watched Diago from the corners as he walked through the rain as if he were already dead.
His face pale and filled with so much lament that it actually frightened the ruffians off. Diago had lost his sense of smell or any physical feeling. The unbearable agony of his broken heart weighing him down more than any earthly pain.
Diago didn't know why he walked, what drove him to continue, but he did so, numb to the world around him as he walked Republic City's now dark streets in the downpour. The only sounds were distant thunder and the rain itself, unrelenting.
Diago stared up at the night sky, the Moon still full. He opened his mouth as if to speak, but no words came out. Instead, the Lieutenant just kept walking, walking, and walking, unable to do anything else, at least until he reached a street corner. There, he looked up and recognized the intersection, where he first met Korra, the battle over a year earlier.
This became too much, and Diago finally collapsed to his hands and knees, his tears rivaling the downpour.
"Diago." At first, he didn't hear the voice, but it returned. Diago slowly looked back and saw him, his father standing a few feet back.
"Get away from me!" Diago furiously bent water at Yahiro from the rain, knocking him off his feet. Despite this, the doctor got up with a tender look.
"Diago, please." He held his hands out and tried to approach, only for Diago to bend more water as his father, unable to control it as he sobbed.
"Get away from me! She's gone! Korra's gone, and you're probably glad, aren't you! She was just a bender, she-" Yahiro reached Diago and wrapped his arms around him. Diago dropped the water and broke down completely, sobbing into his father's shoulders as the doctor held him.
"Diago, you need to get out of the rain, please."
"I, I loved her."
"Diago, I'm sorry. I'm sorry for everything I've put you through. For driving our family apart." Yahiro felt a few tears stroll down his glasses.
"Why are you here!?" Diago breathed heavily. Yahiro removed his glasses, holding his face.
"Your mother left me. She couldn't take my hatred anymore. Hatred for my father, for bending...When I saw the Avatar, Korra had died. I knew the pain you'd be in, the pain I'm in. Being alone." Yahiro fell to his knees and stared at the ground.
"I don't expect you to forgive me. I know my father could never after all I've done. But let me be here for you, my son." Diago wanted to shout back, give his father a fury of emotions, but nothing came out. Instead, he simply hugged him.
"Grandpa never stopped loving you, dad."
Yahiro choked on his tears upon hearing this. The two men remained together for another few minutes before a harsh barking snapped them out of their trance. Both looked up to see none other than Naga in front of them, an anxious look on her face.
Diago's sorrowful passion returned as he tried to hug her, only for Naga to bark again, almost as if she needed to be taken out or something.
This enraged Diago who now stood up.
"She's gone, Naga! Korra's gone! Don't you get it! Korra's dead!" Naga snarked, almost knocking Diago onto his back.
"A polar bear dog?" Yahiro asked, a bit frightened.
"That's Naga, Korra's Polar Bear Dog. She just doesn't understand that Korra's-" Diago went still for a moment. Yahiro noticed color return to his son's complexion as he watched Naga.
"Diago?" Naga kept barking and nudging Diago in another direction.
"Dad, I need you to do something for me."
"Anything." Without warning, Diago grabbed his father and pulled him into Naga's back, the polar bear dog racing off with both in her saddle.
Two hours later, Diago slammed his fist so hard onto an apartment door he almost knocked it down.
"Lin, Kya! Open up!" He roared.
"Go 'hick' away!" Lin moaned in a slurred voice. Yahiro opened his mouth to speak, but Diago didn't wait another moment and kicked the door off its hinges.
"Hey, 'hick' that's breaking and entering, I'll arrest-" Lin stumbled out in her underwear, looking half-dead. Naga snarled and raced inside, knocking the police chief over.
"Come on." Lin moaned. Moments later, Naga dragged Kya out of the bedroom, who looked much like her wife. Yahiro entered the apartment after Diago and noticed a pile of empty liquor bottles on the kitchen counter.
"Well, that explains that."
"Get up!" Diago barked louder than Naga in his military command voice, now emphasized by the fact that he wore a clean uniform.
"Go away 'hick' I failed Korra, my student, the closest thing to a child I'll ever have." Kya sobbed, still drunk.
Lin vomited on the floor before wallowing in her misery.
"I let the Avatar die, I-"
Unable to take their self-loathing anymore. Diago bent water from the sink and submerged both women's heads for a moment before taking a deep breath and using healing. When Diago removed the water, Lin and Kya violently coughed.
"Ahh, what the Hell was that!?" Kya groaned, not getting up with good coordination.
"I just sobered you up. A neat trick I learned back in the academy." Yahiro almost laughed.
"That probably came in handy."
"Hmp, well, it just means I can drink more now." Lin reached for a half-empty bottle before Diago used water bending to knock it over.
"Enough! No more drinking! Both of you!"
"Go away, Diago, Korra's gone, we failed her, we-"
"Korra might not be dead." Yahiro said. Kya and Lin snapped to attention as if a light came on in their souls.
"What did you say!?" Lin shouted.
"I just examined the body you found in that building and went over the Avatar's medical records. There were things that didn't add up. I think the body you found was staged!"
Lin and Kya turned to each other, faint hope returning.
"Lin, you're the best detective in this city. We need to look at that building!"
"Yes, we do!" Less than an hour later, Lin and Mako, now in uniform, meticulously examined every inch of the building while the rest of team Avatar waited anxiously outside.
"Well!? See anything!? Is she alive!-" Bolin frantically shouted before a piece of metal flew over his mouth, gagging him.
"Be quiet!" Lin snarled. Opal held onto Bolin's hand so tightly she almost broke a few bones, though he didn't notice. Learning Korra might be alive filled the rest of Korra's friends with hope like a gleaming star. Yet Perhaps Diago and Kya, more than anyone, watched the investigation with an almost frightening intensity. Asami carefully kept the others back for fear that either water bender might snap if provoked.
"Chief, look at this!" Lin almost sprinted over to Mako, who emphasized certain burn marks and blast patterns on the floor. She nodded and meticulously looked over them.
"Footprints. Someone was moving around in here before the explosion, no, multiple people."
"Who? This building was supposed to be abandoned."
"All of the surrounding neighborhood was."
"Chief, you don't think?"
Lin stood up and slammed her foot into the ground, using her seismic sight before furiously slapping herself in the forehead.
"Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!"
"Lin-" Kya started.
"I'm an idiot! I was so fixated on the Red Lotus I never even thought to check if someone else was nearby."
"Who!?" Diago almost snarled.
"Equalists by the look of these footprints, it matches the patterns of their uniform's boots."
"There were Equalists in this building?!" Opal cried.
"All of the buildings, if I had to guess. I just saw hidden tunnels all over the street. I missed it before if I'd-"
"Lin, we don't have time for that! Where did they go!?" Diago growled.
The police chief kicked the floor again, breaking apart a portion of the floor, revealing a hidden passageway. Naga sprinted inside and began barking at the tunnel with a frantic look on her face.
"Ohhhh." Korra moaned, pain being the first sense to return, unfortunately. The Avatar's eyes slowly opened even as her head spun. Korra's vision remained blurry, yet she felt cold hard chains around her wrists and a firm hand on her chin.
Finally, her sight became clear, though she almost wished it hadn't. The Avatar trembled in fear when she saw who stood over her.
"Hello, Avatar Korra, I'm so glad you could join us." Amon said, his four Lieutenants around him.