Haha, you guys crack me up. You didn't that was seriously going to be the end, did you? I'm not that cruel. Nope. But please, keep pouring in ideas cuz I'm not entirely sure where to go from here. Here's to false alarms ; )
_..._..._..._..._..._..._
The floor was cold beneath her knees. She knelt there, her breath scraping in her ears, watching from behind the curtain as the footsteps drew nearer. A bead of sweat trickled down her temple. The pair of boots stopped. Waiting. Listening. Korra's heartbeat felt like it was about to skyrocket out of her chest. Just when she thought for sure she'd been discovered, the feet moved on, the heels clicking with chilling weight against the stone floor.
Korra let out a breath she didn't know she'd been holding.
Suddenly, her body seized. Everything seized. It was like her blood was writhing her veins, straining against her organs, twisting and stabbing inside her. Korra screamed. Her body lifted through the air, bending at impossible angles. Her scream strangled in her throat.
A blast of fire ricocheted out of the darkness, and Korra heard Mako's furious bellow, "Let her go!"
Then his pained yell, as Amon made a fist in the air and brought him, paralyzed like her, into the air. The two of them struggled against the bloodbending grip, but to no avail. With practiced ease, Amon lifted his arms and slammed them into the ground. Korra saw stars.
Her body seized again, jerking up to her knees. Korra cried out, trying to twist away, but that cold, steel grip tightened in the back of her collar.
"No!" she yelped.
"Korra!" Mako cried.
Korra gasped as his thumb found her forehead. She strained to fight, to grab hold of something, anything, but she could feel the power oozing out of her, slipping away, drawn to that horrible grip on her forehead. Her eyes clenched shut. No, no, no, no…
He released her, and she slumped forward. There was nothing. Everything was gone. She was empty, empty…
The cold voice was a sneer as he towered over her. "I told you I would destroy you."
"No!" Korra screamed, jolting upright in the bed. Her whole body was slick with sweat, the sheets around her drenched and twisted around her body. She laid back against the pillows, trying to still her ragged breathing, her racing heart. A warm head rested itself on her forearm with a soft whine. Korra turned, resting an arm over Naga's concerned face.
"It's okay, Naga," she whispered. "It was just… a bad dream."
The polar bear dog pressed her nose into Korra's side, tugging under her arm and lifting her halfway out of bed. Korra smiled, trying to shake off the raw terror of her nightmare.
"Okay, okay. I know. Time to get up."
Korra untangled herself from the dampened sheets and stretched, banishing the last traces of fear. It was just a nightmare. Nothing that would ever happen. Taking a deep breath, she patted Naga on the head and rose to head down to the dining hall.
"I thought you said you'd be up by the time we got back?" chuckled a voice. Korra looked up to see Pema, one hand on her hip, tapping a wooden spoon against her palm. The rest of her friends had seated themselves around the table, waiting for her to serve the food.
"Ah, you know Korra," Mako drawled, doing a poor, high-pitched mimic of her voice. "'The mornings are evil'."
"Hey, I don't sound like that," Korra laughed, seating herself cross-legged at the other end of the table.
"I suppose that means afternoons are evil, too," Pema said, setting a bowl of steaming rice down in the center of the table. "You should have come with us. Tenzin had some things to settle with the Council, so the children and I went shopping."
"Look what I got!" Ikki trilled, stretching forward to jingle a pretty blue charm bracelet on her arm.
"That's pretty," Korra complimented. Ikki beamed at her. She elbowed her sister in the ribs. "Show her the lame books you got, Jinora."
"They are far from lame," the older girl pouted. "I'll have you know it's a historical saga of the never-before-told account of the final battle between—"
"It was booooo-ring," Meelo grumped, thumping his forehead against the table. "Shopping's for girls."
Korra grinned at him. "I'm not a huge fan of it either, Meel. I prefer to conk some heads together."
"Me too!" the boy declared adamantly, smacking a fist against the table. "Whaddya say, you and me, go messing with some air acolytes after dinner?"
"That's hardly an appropriate activity for an Avatar," Pema admonished, failing to hide the smile on her lips. "She'd do better to continue her airbending training with…"
"Whoa," said Mako. "Bro, you look… awful."
Korra stiffened as Bolin stumbled into the dining room, one hand scratching his disheveled head, the other still clutching the bottle of cactus juice.
"Oh, Bolin," Pema groaned. "Tell me you haven't gotten into that again."
"I…" Bolin shook his head is if to clear it. "I, um, didn't drink any of it. I just woke up with…"
Bolin's blurry green eyes moved around the room, resting on Korra. They widened a fraction.
"Korra," he rasped. "What that—in your room… was that real?"
Korra looked at him, quickly darting her eyes around the room to take in the confused expressions. "I… uh, don't know what you're talking about, Bolin."
Bolin swallowed, obviously trying to piece together the fragmented visions of what he'd seen before Amon knocked him out. "Well…" Now a bloom of color darkened his cheeks. "In your room… Guys… I saw Amon, in Korra's room."
"What?" Tenzin jerked to his feet, instantly on alert. "You saw him here? What was he doing?"
Bolin's face went impossibly darker. "Er… well, he was… um, kissing Korra."
Korra's face went red as a beet. She opened her mouth to deny the outrageous accusation. But suddenly, Mako, Meelo, Ikki, and Pema all burst out laughing.
"Oh, bro," Mako howled. "That is the wildest thing I've ever heard come out of your mouth. You've got to lay off the cactus juice, man. Give it here."
His face as dark as Korra's, Bolin crossed the room and dropped the little bottle into Mako's outstretched hand. Mako reeled back, waving his arms in a show of disgust.
"Geez, Bo! You smell worse than Toza's gym after a match gone sour. Go take a shower and sober up."
"I am sober."
"Your brother is right, Bolin," came Tenzin's cool voice. "You're forbidden to indulge yourself any more with that foul beverage. I think you should eat something to settle your stomach, and go to bed early tonight."
Bolin opened his mouth, looking so pathetically lost, Korra felt her heart twist for him. Then he snapped his mouth shut, reached down and picked up a whole bowl of rice, then turned and shuffled down the hallway. Korra stared after him, biting her lip. She wished she could tell him. At least tell somebody. She glanced up and encountered Asami's emerald gaze. Something flickered behind the girl's dark eyes. Something knowing. Korra quickly looked away, swallowing the rest of her food and excusing herself to her room.
Naga lay sprawled across her bed, drooling on her pillow. Her tail thumped when Korra entered. With a sigh, Korra let herself sink down onto the mattress, burrowing her face into the polar bear dog's warm fur. At least they'd avoided the explosion she'd been dreading. She still felt bad about framing Bolin like that, but she hadn't had any other choice. Pushing her guilt aside, she sighed into Naga's snowy pelt.
"What am I going to do, girl?" she murmured into her best friend's silken cheek. Naga whined and nuzzled the back of her head.
"Korra?" The knock at the door made her sit up, her heart instantly pounding. Asami's voice continued, a little hesitant. "May I come in?"
"Yeah."
The door creaked open, and her friend's pale face peeked into the room.
"Are you okay, Korra?"
Korra straightened, brushing her tangled hair out of her eyes. "Huh? Yeah, I'm fine."
"You can't lie to me as easily as you can Mako and the others." Asami moved to sit down on the bed beside Korra. "I saw your face back there."
Korra winced. She slid her eyes away from the other girl's penetrating gaze, tightening her arms around her knees.
"Bolin wasn't just a rambling drunk this afternoon, was he?"
Korra dropped her forehead to her knees. Here it came. Asami's gentle hand touched her shoulder, oddly comforting.
"Korra… do you have feelings for this man?"
Korra didn't look up from her knees. "No."
Asami sighed. "Korra, you're my only girl friend. I'd hoped we could at least be honest with each other."
There was that guilt again. Gnawing at her insides. Korra clenched her eyes shut, but slowly raised her head.
"I didn't mean for anything to happen," she whispered, everything coming out in a gush. "We were in the cave—I saved his life—I didn't know he was so… so human—it all just happened so fast. And when the Equalists captured me—he helped me escape, risking everything just so he could help me. Oh, Spirits, Asami, I've gotten in so over my head. I…" Her voice broke. "I don't know what to do…"
Her friend's warm arms wrapped around her, and Korra found her head buried in the taller girl's shoulder, her shoulders shaking with sobs.
"Shhh," Asami whispered, rubbing a palm over her shoulder blades in soothing circles. "It's all right."
"Don't…" Korra gasped, sniffing. "Don't tell anybody, o…okay?"
"Of course I won't." Asami squeezed her tight. "Your secret's safe with me." She let her go, and Korra saw a devious light in her bright green eyes. "Tell me one thing though. If you kissed him… you saw what's under that mask, right?" Her lips quirked in a mischievous grin. "Is he handsome?"
Korra felt her face warm, but she admitted, "Very."
"I knew it. He's not really scarred, is he?"
"A little. But not near as bad as he makes it out to be." She bit her lip, guilt washing over her. But she had to confide in someone. "Asami? I have to tell you something. But you have to promise not to tell anyone. I mean it."
Her friend chuckled, sitting back with her arms crossed. She cocked an eyebrow. "Well, if I told you one secret's safe, all your others will be too. So spill it."
Korra took a deep breath. "He's a bender."
Asami's smile faded. A glimmer of fear flickered behind her mascara-rimmed eyes. "What? But I thought…"
"Yeah, I did too. He uses bloodbending to steal people's bending."
"He's a waterbender." Asami's brow furrowed. "That makes him more dangerous than we imagined."
"I just had to tell someone. I don't want to keep it bottled up inside me. Not when the information could protect you guys in the future when we run into him again. But I don't want his secret to get out. His followers would turn against him, and everything he's worked for… it would all come crashing down. I can't ruin him like that."
Asami's frown deepened. "You really care about him, don't you?"
Korra dropped her eyes. Her shoulders slumped in defeat. "Yes," she whispered.
Asami sighed. "Well, don't worry. My lips are sealed. The two of you are going to have to be more careful, though. You can't keep dumping cactus juice on Bolin whenever he waltzes in on you guys."
The pain in Korra's chest came rushing back. "You won't have to worry about that. We're not going to be seeing each other anymore. He made that crystal clear. As far as he's concerned, we're over."
Asami's eyes ticked between hers, missing nothing. "But not as far as you're concerned?"
Korra closed her eyes, hating how her throat welled up again. "I know it can't happen. I know the risks are too great. I know we're enemies, on two separate sides of a war. But… I can't crush these feelings. I've never felt this way about anyone before. Not even…"She trailed off, realizing she'd said too much.
But Asami only nodded, a sad smile on her lips. "Not even Mako?"
Korra nodded. Her friend chuckled. "It's all right, Korra. I knew about that, probably before you guys even did. It's nice to know I won't have as much competition anymore."
Korra managed a faint smile. "Thank you, Asami," she whispered.
Asami leaned forward to hug her again. "Hey," she murmured. "That's what friends are for, right?"