A/N: Heya! Throwing my hat into the ring of LoK fanfic and found myself really craving some angst to write with it. I might be a bit obsessed with the show at the moment.

Anyhow, chapter 1, starting things off with an emotional bang, hope y'all enjoy!

Korra sat with her head in her hands, a sigh dropping heavy from her lips. People milled about the park bench where she slumped, voices chatting and laughing all around her, and yet she could barely hear them. From this spot at the top of Queen Anne hill, the iconic Seattle skyline was in full view: the prominent Space Needle right in front, the glistening waters of Elliot Bay to one side, the snow-capped Cascades in the distance. But all she could do was stare blankly ahead, her heart untouched by the city's splendor.

Three years. That's how many years of her life had been stolen away by addiction, and she was only now beginning to realize what that meant. Three years blurred together in an all-consuming, bleary-eyed haze that had almost made her forget everything, right down to who she was. Three years of money, of opportunities, of potential, of life – wasted.

God, how Korra wished she didn't know any of this. Korra would be lying to herself if there wasn't a part of her that just wanted to numb the pain all over again, take a hit, feel that high-

Korra rubbed at her face and groaned. Fuck. Just like a specter from the shadows lurking at the back of her mind, those thoughts kept coming and going, tempting Korra to jump right back into it. It would be so much easier to stop resisting and feed that ravenous beast that demanded more and more and more. It would be so much more comforting to forget how she had shambled from one stranger's place to another just to avoid sleeping on the cold, hard concrete. It would make her feel so much better to forget about how she let the people closest to her down: Mako, Bolin, her parents.

Asami. Korra took her head out of her hands, straightened up and cast a forlorn look at the neighborhood around her. Her house wasn't too far away from here. Korra could get up and be there in ten minutes, but it might as well have been on another planet for her. Korra could close her eyes and have fleeting memories of her old life - a different life - when she and Asami would hang out together after school and go for an ice cream at the place right around the corner from here, head to the gym or simply chill at her house to study for a bit.

None of that mattered anymore. Asami was much better off being far, far away from the world Korra had found herself in.

"Korra? Is that you?"

Korra jolted in her seat, the familiar voice shocking her out of her melancholic stupor. As if the action took all of the effort in the world, Korra turned around, craned her neck and found herself looking back up at Asami. She looked just as Korra always remembered her: long, silky raven hair flowing down to the middle of her back with those striking green eyes that always seem to shine with intensity.

Korra turned back around to look forward and sharply exhaled. No part of her was ready for this conversation. She was an absolute mess, inside and out. Asami was more than just perfectly put together, more than just beautiful and successful and - and all the things Korra wasn't. More importantly, Asami also managed to still hold a special place in Korra's heart as one of the most precious people in the world to her, and having Asami seeing her like this was absolutely crushing. All she wanted to do was hide. Instead, Korra said in her tired, raspy voice, "What do you want?"

"What are you doing here," Asami asked, her voice filled with worry. "And where the hell have you been?"

Korra shifted around in her seat. What was she doing here? Korra should have known better than to come here, to expect that the answers to her woes would be here. Korra sighed deeply, her shoulders slumping as she said, "Around."

Asami scoffed. "Around? That's all you have to say after disappearing on me for six months?"

Korra heard the frantic steps of Asami's boots on the pavement as she walked around the bench and whirled around to face Korra. When Korra looked up at her, Asami stared down at her with her mouth stretched into a thin line and her arms crossed, her eyes boring into Korra's.

"I was worried sick that something bad happened to you. I asked your parents, I asked Mako, I asked Bolin. And yet here you are, showing up here out of the blue like nothing even happened." Asami huffed and added bitterly, "Guess I had nothing to worry about then, huh?"

Korra averted her gaze to look down at the back of her hands, focusing on the bits of her tattoos that poked out from the sleeve of her flannel shirt. Asami had every reason to worry about Korra. The path that Korra walked in was full of darkness and danger. The last thing Korra wanted, however, would be to drag her friend down into it, sully her good name with her sins.

Korra shook her lowered head as she mumbled, "You wouldn't understand."

Asami let out an exasperated sigh. "What is there to even understand, Korra? You never tell me anything anymore. All I hear from you anymore is half-assed excuses and lies."

If only things were that simple anymore, Korra could just tell Asami about her woes and things could get magically better. It was a stupid, naive thought. "Not everyone can live a perfect life like you can. I'm doing the best I can."

Asami hotly replied, "Bullshit! You just want to shut me out because your stupid pride thinks that I can't handle whatever you have going on."

Korra couldn't weigh Asami down with her numerous problems. Even as tough as it got, Korra needed to prove she could stand on her own two feet. Korra couldn't let herself languish in the past and be the same weakling she was back then. Korra clenched her jaw and coldly said, "There's nothing to handle, Asami. I don't need your pity."

Asami narrowed her eyes at Korra, her posture stiffened from barely concealed anger. "Really? Because there's nothing more pitiable than someone who used to be so strong, let one setback define her life and then use it as an excuse to keep throwing their life away."

The words struck Korra like a blow to the chest. A "setback," she said, as if having her body mangled, her mind shattered, having everything she had worked for snatched away from her in the blink of an eye wasn't a big deal. Korra found herself gripping the bench so tightly she trembled, looking back up to meet Asami's gaze with a fiery glare.

"How fucking dare you say that, after all of the shit we've been through!" In an instant, she sprung up from the bench and got right in Asami's face, snarling, "You wanna talk about pity?! You screwed Mako behind my back just to work out your pathetic daddy issues because you couldn't fill that void while I was down and out!"

Asami's eyes widened, her breath hitching as she stumbled backwards.

Korra, however, didn't relent as she stomped over to keep herself in Asami's personal space. "Hit a nerve? Go cry on Mako's shoulder or hit up your dad in the state penitentiary instead of trying to project all your problems onto me!"

Asami lost her balance and dropped to the ground trying to back away from Korra again. As Korra stood there with the blood rushing to her head, her ears ringing and panting for breath, she noticed that a small crowd had gathered around the two of them.

Korra looked back to the crowd and down at Asami, who was looking up at her with eyes gleaming with tears and her lips trembling. A pit of dread formed in Korra's stomach, just now realizing what she had done.

Korra began to stammer out, "A-Asami, I didn't-"

"Save it," she spat with a wavering voice. Asami picked herself off of the ground and faced away from Korra. "You're on your own now."

The world felt like it was dropping from under her as Korra heard those words. Even with as much as Korra felt her life slipping more and more out of control she couldn't imagine it would quite get to this point. Without Asami, she had nothing left.

Korra started briskly walking over to catch up with Asami and placed a hand on her shoulder, pleading with her, "Wait, Asami, please, I didn't mean it, I was-"

"Don't," Asami growled, swatting Korra's hand away. "I meant what I said. Goodbye, Korra."

Goodbye. The word rang over and over again in Korra's ears as she stared listlessly at Asami walking away. Seven years of friendship, of a bond that Korra thought could never be broken, now laid in pieces right before her very eyes.

Goodbye. Korra was struggling to keep her breathing steady. Everything tethering her to that old life was severed. There was nothing left for her to latch on to pull her out of her pit of despair.

Goodbye. Korra clenched her fists so hard she could feel the sting of her nails digging into her palms. It seemed no matter what she did, Korra was doomed to make the same mistakes, repeat the same vicious cycle, be the same broken mess.

Goodbye. There was nothing. Korra was nothing.

Korra crumpled to the pavement in a kneeling position, burying her hands in her face as all of the tears she had been fighting started coming out in broken sobs. It felt as if someone had a vice grip over her heart, smothering her with pain sourced from deep within her. Korra remained there doubled over without any sense for how much time was passing around her. Everything hurt so much, and she wanted nothing more than to make it all go away.

After what seemed like ages of sobbing on the ground, Korra gingerly picked herself up and shambled back over to the bench that she had been sitting at. Korra took her phone out of her jean pocket with shaky hands and caught a glimpse of her reflection distorted by the cracked screen.

There was nothing more left for Korra to do but to give in.