"Hurry up, Tiny, or Naga will go without us" she yelled at the girl from the door. Naga was waiting for her nightly stroll outside, by the fence, doing a lousy job at being patient, whining and jumping around, wishing Korra would hurry up already.
"Coming" Akemi responded. She was meticulously arranging all of her plushies in a perfectly straight line along their sofa, for reasons that escaped Korra entirely. Maybe Akemi was spending too much time with Asami.
"Don't forget your coats!" the engineer said from her place at the table, currently hogged by a bunch of papers all lined up tidily in front of her.
Akemi was definitely spending too much time with Asami.
And If she knew something about Asami was that sometimes it took force to get her away from her work, so Korra went to get the girl herself, picking her up over her shoulder, a flying lemur plush still dangling from Akemi's hand.
"Wanna come by?" she asked Asami, the last words muffled by a flying lemur to the face. Akemi laughed mischievously.
"You two go ahead, I'll finish up before you come back" Asami said.
"Kay, be back in a bit" Korra planted a quick peck on Asami's lips, before heading to the door, but a sudden pull on her collar told her otherwise, so she backtracked, returning to Asami's side "If Naga breaks the fence you better learn woodbending, cause I don't know how to use a hammer" she said to the girl over her shoulder, bringing her closer to the table. And still dangling from Korra's back, Akemi handed her plush to the engineer.
"To keep you company" she said, with the most shit eating grin if ever Korra has seen one. Asami kissed Akemi on the forehead.
"I'll tuck you in when you come back" she added, placing the flying lemur besides her on the table.
"Can we go now?" Said Korra looking over her shoulder. The girl nodded and grabbed Korra's braid to stabilize herself on her back. Asami chuckled under her breath at the scene before going back to work.
"Coats!" She didn't need to look back to know Korra had forgotten them.
"Thanks!" This one yelled, quickly grabbing Akemi's cardigan and closing the door behind them.
Naga had plucked a good amount of grass with her claws while waiting for them, but had luckily spared the fence. Without wasting more time Korra propped Akemi onto Naga's saddle and sat behind her, hugging her over the rains, making sure she was secure in place.
She whistled, giving Naga the go ahead, and before she could airbend the gate open, the polar bear dog jumped over it, opening her way through the night.
Korra looked down for a second to see Akemi closing her eyes, enjoying the wind in her face as they rode. It was a widely different reaction to the first time she had asked to ride Naga. She had grabbed Korra for dear life, eyes wide with terror, her ego the only thing stopping her from begging to come down. But Akemi had grit, and surpassed the initial fright, she quickly became a big fan of their nightly strolls.
They slowly started to become part of the routine once Korra discovered, in a parenting equivalent to winning the lottery, that it apparently made the child sleepy, usually ending up with Akemi passing out in Korra's arms.
And tonight was no exception, just as they rode along the docks by the coast, Akemi's head dropped to the side, giving in to exhaustion, her body heavy and floppy against Korra. She commanded Naga to stop and dismounted carefully with Akemi on her arms, carrying on their stroll by foot.
Korra enjoyed this time of day. She had grown to like it, even if nighttime in Republic City could be as busy as in broad daylight, so different from what nights used to be like back home, with its lights and sounds that wouldn't seize until well past midnight. After all it was well over a decade since she had first set foot in Republic City, and yet it seemed like no time had passed at all. She looked down at Akemi's sleeping face, her mouth slightly opened, breathing heavily. Korra smiled. Well, maybe a little time had passed since.
And right then, walking by the water, the noises of the city drowned by the distance and just enough lamplights to guide their way through the piers, Korra felt right at home. Specially in nights like those, when the drop in temperature made her shiver. But then, maybe she had grown weaker against the cold after being away from the poles for so long.
Better still make sure Akemi was warm, though.
She stopped walking for a second as she untied the coat around her waist to wrap Akemi in it, Naga growing impatient in front of them.
"I'm sorry, girl, made you wait long enough for the day, huh?" She whispered, trying to comfort the polar bear dog who was fidgeting in place, while herself tried focusing on untangling her coat with one hand and holding Akemi as steadily as possible with the other.
Naga suddenly froze up and starting to growl. "Okay, okay, I'm almost done, quit whining" Naga's patience was at the low end that day, apparently. But she was done anyways, she covered Akemi's head before looking up and resuming the walk.
Thing was, Naga was the one not moving this time. She remained positioned in front of Korra, shielding them with her body. The low growl was a warning to whatever thing was creeping in the night. And Korra could suddenly feel it too, making every hair in her body stand on end. She didn't know how, but she knew she needed to get out of there.
That need only increased in urgency when with a single zap, every lamplight in the block went off, leaving only darkness in their wake.
Korra held a fighting stance, but realized soon enough she was defenseless, both of her arms busy shielding Akemi. She knew she had to flee, but where to? Everything was pitch black around her, her eyes not yet accustomed to the darkness. Far too quickly the familiar scene became menacing, full of sharp edges and dark corners for her attackers to hide in.
Korra managed to get a good enough grip on the girl to free her right hand and produce a self-generated torch to light her way out of there. But the seconds they spent in the darkness were enough for it to creep through the night undistinguished. The black bead it had for eyes reflected back the orange hues of Korra's flame. She only focused on its eyes, too horrified to look at the rest.
The flame went off instants after being lit up, Korra's right hand returning to its rightful place, cradling Akemi's nape protectively, as she drew a circular kick in the general direction of the thing that was following them. The gust of wind it produced impacted its target successfully by the sound of it.
But Korra wasn't about to check, her only concern was getting out of there, feeling true helplessness as she ran with the girl on her arms, guided only by muscle memory and the faint shadows her eyes were now able to discern.
Naga was stepping on her heels behind her. Korra just needed to draw enough distance between them and whatever that thing was to jump onto the polar bear dog and escape.
But from the corner of her eye, she could see the shadow of the thing following them, moving way too swiftly to be human, approaching at a dangerous speed. Korra didn't let herself panic and instead focused on the next lit lamplight in the distance and sped up, eager to get out of the darkness. Something told her she needed to reach the light.
The same instinct made her kick fire when the figure intercepted her, finally catching up to them. The creature screeched even though Korra didn't project the flame far enough to burn it. But coursing through the space between them, the brightness lingered for a while longer this time. Long enough for the creature to suffer. Long enough for Korra to see it wasn't a creature at all.
It was a human alright, although it could have fooled anyone at first glance. He was… messed up, to say the least. Most of his face and down the left side of his neck was covered in what Korra could only describe as gray melted wax. It looked slimy and moist, like a bad burn, although it had hardened in some places over the scalp where the light had shone on the most. Speaking of scalp, his was dented in the places the black mat of hair didn't cover it. His right eye bulged forwards and didn't blink, rather it opened and closed very slowly, the other eye seemingly human but impossibly black, as if the pupil had taken over the entire organ. The rest of him seemed unaltered, although his thighs seemed thicker than most, and his fingers were elongated and clubbed at the nails.
Korra put two and two together and knew this was Nilak's doing, only an enraged spirit could cause that kind of wreckage on a body without killing it. The more reason not to trust him.
She drew a circle of fire around her with her foot, the asphalt reluctantly setting aflame. She covered Akemi's head and face with her coat when the man started screeching from the pain, but it didn't last long. The ground suddenly rose and flipped over where the ring of fire was lit, extinguishing it entirely, leaving them once again in the dark.
He was an earthbender.
"Wait, I'm not here to hurt you" the man croaked, his voice raspy and labored, as if drawing breath was painful. Korra stood in place, the voice giving her an exact clue of where the man was standing. She proceeded to throw a kick in his direction, sure she wouldn't miss. But a wall of dirt rose noisily in front of the fire ball. Akemi tussled in her arms. "Please, you have to hear me out" In your dreams.
Korra wasn't sure how she would get onto Naga quickly and swiftly enough, but the polar bear dog was already at her side. She set a foot on the stirrup hoping her core would do the job her arms coudn't.
Once again, the sound of earth jumbling filled the air, this time it had shifted to cuff Naga's four paws and the foot Korra still had on the ground. With a turn of her hand she freed herself, but the earth cuff quickly rose again, this time trapping both of her legs up to her knees.
"Please, there is no much time" he begged, Korra looked back at him one more time. He was in sending bridge position, holding all the cuffs in place. He seemed more than capable of attacking them, given Korra's disadvantage, but he hadn't so far. Maybe she should listen. "It's about your little girl" the man realized he had caught Korra's attention and capitalized on it "Akemi. I know her, Akemi"
It didn't go as he planned. It struck a nerve with Korra alright, but not for his advantage. She freed her right leg with a kick, landing of her foot on the ground, dissolving Naga's cuffs to smithereens. She shifted Akemi slightly, and with a pull motion with her hand, encased the man in the asphalt he was standing on, only his head poking through. She approached him slowly, holding a flame close to his face.
"What about her?" Korra said, menacing, looking how the man's skin dried and scabbed over in the presence of light. The man seemed to be in too much pain to respond. Korra put off the flame. "What do you want with her?" She repeated, with clenched teeth.
"Nothing. I swear" Korra didn't notice, but her grip on the girl had tightened. "But the people I am with, do"
"Nilak" she spat with disdain. The man's beady eye opened wide in surprise, the other one just blinked slowly.
"How did you- It doesn't matter" he shook his head "He wants her. He knows she's with you, he's known for months. He's waiting to strike, but he won't be waiting much longer"
"I don't get it; she is just a child. What use could she mean to him?" She looked down at the sleeping girl. It made her sick to her stomach thinking about Akemi being alone with that maniac.
"He wants her because she's a child. That's the whole point" he gulped "The Spirits… they don't like communing with humans. They have to be coerced; you've seen it. But that's the easy part. The hard part is making it out alive"
"What's your point?" Korra snapped, more heat than light.
"I'm getting there" the man said, patiently "What I mean is, it's different with kids. Your daughter is the proof. She was the first one. She survived with little to no side effects" Korra was holding Akemi's little fist in her hand, stroking the scars with her thumb. I wouldn't say none "And yet, she got more powerful. Have you ever seen a four-year-old firebend like that? I can only imagine what she could become with proper training. And her fire, I've never seen blue fire" Korra quickly became uncomfortable with the way the man was talking about Akemi. She closed her fist to tighten the clasp of rock around his body. He stopped talking, out of breath.
"What-is-your-point?" She repeated. He gasped for air.
"He wants to create a whole new generation. One both in touch with their earthly selves and their spirit selves. In a literal sense. He thinks spirits and humans shouldn't live separately, the fact that only kids are pure enough to embrace that union reinforces his theory" he looked at Korra meaningfully "After all, the Avatar is half human half spirit" a shiver went down Korra's spine.
"You seem to have eaten all of his crap. Why are you here then?"
"Because I've seen it happen" he looked down "I've seen kids possessed by spirits never rise up again, only to be condemned as 'not pure enough'" Korra gave a step back. She remembered the kids back in that basement, and thought just how many more should have been there, but weren't because of Nilak. She thought how Akemi could have easily been one of those kids. "And I've seen children survive it all to never be the same again. I've seen enough to know it should never happen again"
"Again?" Korra's voice came out faintly.
"That's the other thing I am here to tell you" when he looked up again at Korra, she could see his fiery determination behind every layer of deformity "There are more. He is preparing for another raid on the spirit portal, but this time, you won't be able to stop him"
"Why?" She asked.
"That I cannot say. But you have to save the children before then" the street lights started to light up again slowly, one by one "They are in a compound, downtown, away from our main center of operation" the man looked side to side nervously and with a nod of his chin, the rock encasing him disappeared from around his body.
"Where is Nilak?" Korra asked the free man, not even bothering with trapping him again.
"You will find out soon enough" was his only answer. He turned around, ready to flee before the last lamplights came on.
"Wait, don't go back with them, we can help you" Korra knew it was a lost cause before the words came out of her mouth, but she had to try.
"No one can help me. Look at me" he turned back around momentarily "Back there I am a hero, and a survivor. Out here I am only an outcast" He stated it as a fact, devoid of feeling "I made my own bed, and I plan to lay on it" were his last words, before running away from the light.
Korra just stood there, watching the moonlight dance in the water over the piers, everything around her back to normal, as if nothing had happened at all.
A/N: Sorry for the very detailed description of the poor frog-man. If I had to imagine it, you have to read it. Also, I did not forget about Hakue.
Okay people, back to once a week uploads. I really wanted to keep uploading twice a week, but med school waits for no pandemic and I already have a thouthand pdf waiting for me in google classroom.
I hope this extra long chapter makes up for it. Take care!
