Feeling a painful throbbing in my head, I groaned as I started to wake up, feeling my face pressing against something hard and cold whilst my hands were locked behind me, trapped in what felt like a rigid casing. "Kanna! You're awake!"
"Jinora?" Recognising her voice, I blinked as I turned slightly, vaguely noticing that we were in a cave somewhere and I was on the floor. Shifting, I tried to move but my hands were locked behind me so I twisted, trying to see.
"They bound your hands in earth so you wouldn't be able to bend. You've been out for a while." Jinora worried as I began to sit up, woozy from being knocked out but trying to quickly set my senses straight, blinking repeatedly and looking around.
"Mom!" Seeing my mother and Bumi lying on the ground, beaten up and unconscious, I naturally moved towards them but with no arms or hands to help balance me, I could barely even wriggle forwards.
"Take it easy Kanna, you've been badly hurt too." Pema said to me softly, holding Rohan in her arms. She looked frightened, but was also doing her best to stay strong as a means to reassure her children and everyone around us, the other air benders in just as bad a situation as we were. They were all chained up, even the kids.
"Don't worry, we're all going to be okay." I promised them, doing my best to remain resolute as Ikki nuzzled against me with worry and Meelo did the same, the both of them laying their heads in my lap. I wish I could hold them, but I can't do anything with my hands locked behind me like this. I need to think. Fast. "Jinora, have you been able to get a look around?" I whispered to her, keeping an eye on the guards but stopped when one looked our way, frowning before shrugging and turning back.
"Not yet, I'll keep trying." Taking a meditative seat, I watched Jinora as she took a deep breath before focusing on her inner spirit in order to let it drift from her body and allow it to take a look at what was going on outside. Whilst she was gone, I looked around and asked if everybody else was okay.
"We're not hurt, but your mom and uncle…" Opal worried, shivering slightly so I shifted and leaned over to her, unable to give her a hug so I pressed my forehead against hers as the only means of comfort I could offer, wanting her to stay calm and be strong. Jinora was gone for a long while, but when she came back she gasped softly, like she was waking up from a dream and we all eagerly paid attention to her. "Did you find any way to escape?"
"No, not yet but don't worry. We'll find a way out soon."
"They might not make it that long." Gritting my teeth as I knew the air bender was right, I looked over at my mother and uncle with frustration. If only I could heal them!
"Korra will come to save us, right?" Asked me in a small voice and I glanced at Jinora who didn't look hopeful. She knew something, but she didn't want to tell us to make everyone panic. Guess Korra isn't in a great spot right now either, which means it's likely she's been caught as well and Jinora saw her.
"We'll be just fine on our own Ikki. Between us, we have a whole bunch of air benders and a water bender. Don't worry. I have a plan." Grinning to her with a wink, I made sure the guards weren't paying attention before I turned to Meelo. "Alright Meelo, I got a special job for you."
"I'm your man." He told me proudly so I bumped heads with him lightly with a smile.
"You sure are. Now. Spit." Everybody looked at me like I'd lost my mind, even Meelo frowned at me as I shifted around and turned my back to him, lifting my rock covered hands. "Spit as much as you can on here, I'll use the water in your saliva to break free, then we'll see about the rest. Quick and quiet, you can do it." I instructed him before then turning to Jinora and Ikki. "When I give the signal, distract the guards somehow, make them focus on you so I can water bend without them hearing or noticing, okay?" Nodding their heads, everybody got on board as Meelo made the most disgusting wads of saliva he could.
This was so totally gross, but I couldn't think of any other way to make my own water than to have somebody pee in front of me, and I wasn't that desperate yet. Actually, Meelo did a great job, slobbering all over the earth bond until I began to feel the pull of moisture. "That's great, a little more." I encouraged as I took a deep breath and began to draw the spit and saliva through the rocks, focusing on it before I then nodded to Ikki and Jinora.
"I'm thirsty!" Ikki suddenly whined, making the guards both look at her with annoyance as Meelo then joined in as I began to freeze his spit, making it turn to frost all the way through the earth that surrounded my hands and kept me from properly bending.
"I gotta go pee!"
"Me too." Other air benders joined in, adding to the complaints until one of the guards turned around to face us.
"Hey. Keep it down over there or you're all going to end up like them." He threatened, pointing at my mother and Bumi which only pissed me off more. There was a slight cracking sound as the earth began to destabilise from the frost biting through it, the sound a little too loud and was almost noticed by the guard but Pema was quick to distract him.
"Sir, please. Could we just have some water? There are children and a baby here." The guards looked at each other, contemplating on whether or not to give the water and the other one shrugged.
"Alright fine, but none for the water bender, you hear?" I turned my face away as if I didn't care. This was all part of the plan, let's just hope it works. Jinora thrust out her hands to make a blast of air which caused the guard's robes to fly up and in the process, knocked his keys off his belt too as he yelled. Meelo quickly air bended the keys into Opal's hands and she hid them from view before the robes could fall down and the guard could see again. "Oh, so you just called me over to attack me? Fine. Now nobody gets any water." The guard informed us angrily, taking a gulp himself before pointedly walking away, complaining. "I don't know how we ended up here in day care while everyone else gets to watch the Avatar being destroyed. I can hold a bowl of poison." Poison?
Korra was in trouble, so we have to move now. Nodding to Opal, she started to unlock the shackles as I stood up, rising to my feet behind the guards and focused on the water behind me as I continued to freeze it to the absolute limit before all at once, I made the ice burst and caused the rock to shatter behind me as I dashed forwards with a step onto open air. Jinora, Meelo and Ikki all bent the air under my foot like a game we would play all the time, super leap frog, sending me flying at the guards as they turned around.
My arms pulled free and I opened my hands, seeing the whites of their eyes before my palms slammed against their faces and I buried them into the ground with a furious clang, knocking them both out at once. "Yeah! That was awesome Kanna!" Meelo cheered so I hurriedly hushed him to make sure his noise didn't bring anymore guards running our way.
"Everyone hurry, Opal you get everyone unchained." I started to instruct just as I sensed the rocks beginning to move to the left of me. I quickly dodged out the way as a boulder came flying at me, turning onto my hand to cartwheel neatly and flip backwards as I pulled the water from the unconscious guard's water pouch and started to water bend at whoever was attacking me as she appeared, a woman who had aged into a stunning silver haired beauty, but just before we could launch ourselves at one another, Asami appeared and quickly yelled to stop us.
"Wait! She's one of us!" One of us? Was she talking to me or the woman? "This is Kanna, Katara's granddaughter." The older woman blinked and straightened up, understanding her near mistake.
"I apologise, I sensed you standing there and thought you were a guard." She said before turning and looking at the air benders, a sudden flush of relief overcoming her as I just blinked dumbly and pointed meekly, utterly confused until the woman dived for Opal. "Opal!"
"Mom!" Oh…that makes a lot more sense now.
"Oh, honey, I'm so glad you're safe."
"Kanna, you've no idea how glad I am to see you." Asami said to me as she came and gave me a hug, Bolin and Mako entering the scene too, though Bolin went straight to Opal and even pushed the girl's mother out of the way in order to hug her with relief.
"Me too."
"What are you guys doing here?" I asked as Mako came to see that I was okay, everybody getting themselves unchained and up. "Not that I'm complaining, it's great to have some backup."
"Yeah, though it looks like you had it handled." Mako gestured down to the unconscious Red Lotus guards so I shrugged.
"I'm a girl of many talents." Then I remembered. "Mom!" Really worried about my mom and uncle, I rushed over to them and quickly started to heal them both, working simultaneously as people reunited together, Jinora running to Kai and hugging him tightly, saying that she was glad he was alive. That's a point, I actually hadn't twigged that Kai hadn't been with us until now.
"Why? Just because I was blown out of the sky and fell hundreds of feet down a cliff? Don't you know it takes more than that to get rid of me?" I have many questions which will have to be answered later, my mom and uncle were in bad shape, there was no way they could get back into a fight in this condition, they'd get themselves killed.
"We have to get these two out of here now." I heard Lin say as she came and put her hand on my shoulder, looking down to my mom and Bumi sceptically. "They don't look so good." Thanks to my healing, Bumi started to wake up first, hearing what Lin said but just coughed weakly and tried to protest.
"What are you talking about? I feel great."
"You're not going anywhere." I said to him firmly, continuing to heal them as best I could with the little water I had available. I needed to get them into an herbal bath as soon as possible so I could properly address their injuries. It looks like it'll take a while for them both to recover fully. Those damn bastards must have really done a number on them like they had my uncle.
"You guys get everyone out of here. I'll search for Korra." Tonraq, Korra's dad was here too. It seemed like everybody had come to help save all of us as well as Korra.
"We're going with you." Said determinedly as we started to get my mother and uncle up onto their feet.
"You don't have to search for her. I know exactly where she's being held." Jinora informed us all determinedly, making me stop and look over at her with worry. I looked at my uncle and mom, scrunching up my face before deciding that Korra's life was probably in danger right now way more than theirs, and she has a whole bunch of Red Lotus fanatics trying to poison her, apparently.
"I'll come as well. Pema, please take care of my mom." I asked then knelt down before Jinora so that she could give us the instructions on how to reach Korra before we all split off. I went with Tonraq, Bolin and Mako in order to rescue Korra, all of us worried to the point of being frantic as we followed Jinora's instructions until we came to a larger, open cavern where we saw Korra fire bending from her mouth, fully switched into her Avatar state with chains wrapped around her arms and legs with rocks attached. "Korra!" I cried out for my best friend, devastated to see her in such a state before I felt anger. Wrathful. Vengeful.
It was them who hurt her, those Red Lotus bastards, and I'm gonna make them pay. Korra dove at Zaheer and he flew, literally flew without any visible form of air bending in order to dodge her, Korra pursuing him with fire bending out of her feet to propel herself upwards. "We have to help her!" Her dad looked immensely distressed, seeing his only daughter in such rage and pain until Bolin shoved him aside and earth bended a wall to protect us all.
"Look out!" I heard something collide with the wall, making it shudder but it held firm. I'm guessing the earth bending lava maker, Ghazan, had noticed us.
"You help Korra. We got this." Mako said to Tonraq, the guys both turning to face Ghazan and Ming-Hua whilst I looked around for the other person, the one who blew things up with her mind.
"Where's the fourth one?"
"She's…dead." Mako informed so I blinked before shrugging. At least we don't have to worry about getting blown up anymore. Korra and Zaheer were already gone, leaving it just two against us three. "Think we can take them?" Bolin and I both paused, looking at each other uncertainly before laughing weakly.
"Um…sure?" Loving the confidence guys. Real inspiring. Mako and I ended up facing Ming-Hua for a better type matchup whilst Bolin faced Ghazan. When Ming-Hua used ice attacks first I smirked, quickly and effortlessly stepping in front of Mako in order to redirect the ice flawlessly, taking control in order to force Ming-Hua to dodge and move further into the open where I then dropped down and stretched out a leg as Mako jumped over me with a slicing kick, sending fire blasts at the tentacle lady as we worked together to try and corner her, but she was difficult to pin down.
She swung from the crystals that hung from the cavern ceiling, forcing us to chase her though I paused and looked back with worry as Bolin and Ghazan fought, the latter looking rather smug. "What are you smiling about?!" Bolin demanded as the older earth bender merely smirked.
"I was just remembering the last time we fought." Raising the ground in front of him into lava, I was about to turn back and help Bolin but then he did the craziest thing. He actually bent the lava away. What?!
"Well, a lot has changed since then." Bolin responded, bending two streams of magma at Ghazan who had to spring back to avoid the deadly rock before he then looked back up at Bolin, my jaw completely slack.
"So that's how you got out of the temple. Not bad. Let's see what you've got." Unable to believe it, I turned at Mako and pointed at his brother as he continued trying to fight Ming-Hua on his own.
"Since when is your brother a lava bender?! HOW MUCH HAVE I MISSED?!"
"A lot, don't worry I'll fill you in later, mind giving a hand?" Mako drawled at me so I hurriedly reach forwards and grabbed the collar of his jacket to haul him back, moving fast to pull him out of the way of one of Ming-Hua's water tentacles which had come rushing at him. I caught the end on my hand then redirected the flow, taking control and spiralled the tentacle in order to drag Ming-Hua as I yelled, slamming her into the ground before I cracked my neck and my fingers. "Um, thanks?"
"No worries pretty boy. Let's get to work. The sooner we kick their butts, the sooner we can go help Korra." We continued hammering down on Ming-Hua, having figured out a strategy. I'd steal as much water from her as I could each time she attacked to form a defence, and Mako would attack with all the firepower he had in order to evaporate more of her tentacle arms until finally, she had nothing left. Both of us stood before her as she tripped up, landing on the floor.
"You have no water. It's over." Mako said to her, thinking it was over but Ming-Hua just glared at us.
"Not yet." Without further warning she then jumped over a crevice and disappeared from sight, both of us lunging after her and Mako blasted some fire, only to hear her splash into some water down below. "Not good."
"Not bad either, water is still my element." I reasoned, preparing to jump in after her but Mako grabbed my arm quickly, looking at me seriously.
"But you're afraid of water."
"I'm afraid of the ocean, and I don't have time for fear right now. Korra needs us, and all water can turn to ice. She might be strong, but I am too, and I have you with me. So let's go." Not wanting to waste time messing around, I grabbed Mako by the hand in order to jump forwards together. Feeling the water before we even landed, I wound it up towards us in order to slow our fall, giving us an ice landing to fall onto before we then paused and looked around. It was completely dark, our eyes not having yet adjusted so Mako bent a stream of fire as we stood back to back and when his flames illuminated the cavern, my breath hitched as I came upon a terrifying sight. "Mako…"
He quickly turned around and his first instinct was to shield me, seeing Ming-Hua crawling above the water on the cavern wall with multiple water tentacles on each side, like some kind of monstrous spider from the worst nightmare you could possibly imagine. "Now it's over!" With a single swing all of Mako's fire was gone, plunging us into darkness again so I quickly bent some water and applied healing properties to it in order to create light.
Ming-Hua whipped her arms at the both of us so I quickly water bended with one arm, creating an ice surf for us and jumped on it, pulling Mako with me as I tossed aside the healing water and kept us moving, gliding over ice as he let me pull him along and he focused on fire bending at Ming-Hua. She continued trying to catch us and every time she came close I'd twist her water away or circle it so that it would double back on her, sometimes freezing the entire tendril until she was seething with frustration.
Throwing everything she had at us all at once, at least eight arms came our way and I squeaked. Spinning around I bended an ice sphere around us, holding off as much as the attack I could before the ice shattered and I cried out, losing my grip on Mako. "Mako!"
"Kanna!" Our fingertips brushed against one another as we reached out but then we were lost, slamming against the water with a crash. We weren't even given time to recover ourselves, Ming-Hua bending the water with both of us held captive, so I struggled against it, gasping with an instinctive flash of fear before I closed my eyes and held my breath. I focused on the water, feeling the push and pull before all at once I sliced out my hands to split it down the middle, causing the water to crash against the walls with a thunder of sound as Mako and I dropped. Seeing him fall, I quickly caught him on a soft water bed and sent him off to the side where he could catch his breath for a moment.
"I'm coming for you, girlie!" Oh hell no, I hate it when someone calls me girl, and girlie was way worse.
"Come at me you squid freak, show me what you're made of!" Completely soaked through, Ming-Hua and I raged at each other, water and ice clashing together as Mako just stared, holding a flame open on his palm in order to see until I glanced his way. We need to get to Bolin as soon as possible, and this lady was really starting to be the biggest pain in the ass I'd ever met. Mako held his hand in a stance, ready to strike and when I saw his two fingers positioned together, I knew he intended to use lightning in order to defeat Ming-Hua, but he couldn't with me in the water.
Our waves crashed at one another with equal force, frothing and foaming as Ming-Hua suddenly burst through and launched herself at me. Throwing all caution to the wind, I dragged all the water in the entire room back as a crazy idea came to mind and all at once, I swirled the water around us like a cocoon. It was terrifying for me, but I'd never been able to control this much water before and it was rather exhilarating, making me momentarily forget my fears as I froze the water around the both of us, freezing us both in place and as her arms turned to ice, Ming-Hua had no way to move.
I remained there, frozen in my bending pose and I couldn't help but think back to how my gran-gran had described her fight with Azula and how she'd defeated her. This at least gave me time to think, and it was oddly calming being surrounded by such freezing ice. It reminded me of home. Releasing an exhale, I warmed the water around me in order to release myself before I then pushed outwards, propelling myself out of the water and I shot back onto the cavern floor which was covered in damp from where it used to be the waterbed. "Kanna!"
"Get ready!" I coughed, dragging myself up and stumbling slightly before I found my feet again rushing towards him. "She won't stay put for long, so make sure your aim is good." Nodding his head, Mako prepared his lightning strike, the humming thrum of electricity buzzing through the air as I jumped up and got myself out of waterbed before I then turned, holding out my hands before slowly lowering them down, causing the ice to sink. It melted then collapsed altogether, returning to water and before the sphere could lose its shape, Ming-Hua still trapped inside, Mako struck forwards and released the lightning inside his body at Ming-Hua just as she began to rise out of the water.
I closed my eyes and looked away when I heard her scream, Mako reaching out to curl his arm around my head and pull me in as I flinched. It's not like we had a choice, she would have killed us unless we'd done something first. "Come on." Mako said gently once it was all over, the lifeless body now floating upon the water. "We have to go." Nodding my head, I brought the water forwards and made us an ice floor which I skated upon, letting Mako slide with me until we rose up out of the opening and I brought all the water I could manage with me.
It formed one giant wave which I sent rolling towards Bolin and Ghazan, the two of them still fighting and Bolin was currently running away from the lava that was chasing him, only to yell in terror at the wave coming at him. He tucked up and shielded himself but I parted my hands quickly, making the water make an opening and swerve around him to leave him totally unharmed and used it to cool down the lava and hit Ghazan instead, knocking him back and washing him away as the three of us then turned to face him, Bolin now grinning at us happily.
"Give up, Ghazan! You can't win!" He said as the three of us stood in a row, facing the only one left standing in our way between us getting to Korra.
"I'm never going back to prison. If I'm going down today, you're coming with me!" Realising exactly what he meant and seeing what he intended to do, Ghazan began to punch downwards at the floor, the earth already bubbling and glowing red but before he could commit, his body froze up. My eyebrow twitched before I exhaled in concentration, hands held flat with my fingertips pointing forwards as I felt his pulse beneath his skin, every muscle and tendon mine to bend as I willed. When Ghazan gasped, grunting and fighting against me, Mako and Bolin both frowned before looking at me, seeing me in a water bending stance until for Mako, it suddenly clicked.
"Kanna you…you're…you're blood bending." Bolin's eyes widened in shock as I grunted, finding it harder to hold Ghazan without the added rage and rattling emotions that I'd had last time and he seemed to be fighting me more desperately now, like his will was beginning to overtake my own. "Kanna stop!"
"He's going to bring this whole place down. Get out, go before I can't hold him any longer." I instructed the brothers who continued to just stare at me and with a twinge of sadness, I realised that they looked horrified. Steeling my resolve, I quickly spared them a powerful glare. "Go!" Bolin jumped and grabbed hold of Mako as I bared my teeth, feeling the push and pull between Ghazan and I as we fought over who had control. Bolin pulled his brother away, forcing him to begin moving back as Ghazan growled.
"You're not going to take me back. I'd rather die!"
"Fine, but you're not taking my friends and I with you." I answered, moving my hands to control his arms and force him to his knees, keeping him pinned as I maintained control. He roared then, releasing a torrent of pure fury and with a powerful swing, managed to free one arm from me as I cried out and stumbled, losing focus as he punched downward and all at once, began to destroy the entire cave. Everything trembled and lava bloomed out of every crack and crevice, rocks tumbling from above as I regained control, forcing him back so that he couldn't bend anymore. I should have chi blocked him but I didn't dare get close enough in case he lava bended me at close range.
"Kanna let's go!" Bolin called to me as I slowly started to back up, holding onto Ghazan for as long as I could to give us the best opportunity of escape. "Kanna!" Hearing Bolin's panicked cry, I instinctively looked up to see a boulder coming down on me but Bolin quickly earth bended a spike out of the ground, knocking it aside as Mako ran back to grab me. When he pulled me away, I lost my hold on Ghazan and he immediately recovered, hammering both fists into the ground in order to shake the very foundations of the cave, sending lava chasing after us but Bolin got us to the wall where he then lifted us all out, Mako still keeping a firm hold on me.
It was Bolin's earth bending that saved us, keeping us from being crushed and finding us a way out where we finally stumbled out into the open, the sunlight stinging our eyes as we coughed on the dust and Bolin sealed up the exit so that the lava couldn't follow us. Outside was just as hectic as in the caves, wind hurtling and pulling at us as a huge twister made by Jinora and the others down below us. I could see Korra and Zaheer, my friend lying on the ground and I started forwards, intending to try and reach her somehow but both Bolin and Mako caught hold of me and held me back, both of them moving to cover my head as the wind became too strong and we had to duck down, Bolin forming an earth tent over us.
Out of the opening, I could see the twister and inside, Zaheer who had picked up Korra and tried to fly away with her but he was being pulled back down, forcing him to try and fly faster. He loses grip and quickly tries to regain control, carrying Korra under her arms but the wind was too powerful and he lost that grip too. I couldn't see a great deal after that, just general shapes and I could tell where Korra was because of the blue of her shirt and the glow of her eyes as she woke up then turned on Zaheer, clearly filled with unbounded fury.
I saw something shoot upwards as Korra began to fall, a chain I think, and it grabbed hold of Zaheer to keep him from flying away as he almost escaped. She dragged him back to the ground, falling through the centre of the tornado and I quickly pulled away from Bolin and Mako who were still protecting me in order to see, watching as the force of Korra's landed dissipated the tornado, Zaheer following after her. She stood up and for a moment, I thought she was going to be okay but then she collapsed, making me shout her name and almost instinctively dive off the slope to reach her.
"Hold on! Don't be stupid, Kanna." Mako wisely grabbed me again, tears in my eyes as I saw my best friend in the entire world lying there, Bolin bending the ground beneath us to get us down there as fast as he could whilst the others rushed to Korra. Before I could reach her, Zaheer groaned and started to get up, so all of my blinding wrath and hatred turned on him, pulling water out of thin air from behind me before I bent it at him.
"You! You did this to her!" I sliced the fine whips at Zaheer, unleashing everything at him as the water battered against him as he staggered to his feet before starting to air bend at me. The others moved to help but I howled with fury, coming down on him like a demon as I turned and pulled more water from the air, taking out his feet with an ice hook before I then struck him in the chest once more, intending to have him pay for everything.
He started to fly away, choosing to escape but before he got more than a few feet off the ground, I naturally pulled him back as I cut off his ability to bend through my own bending, manipulating the cells of his body through the bloodstream and he dropped with a cry of pain. "You hurt her, you hurt Korra. What did you do to her?!" I tried to force it out of him, my hands and arms rotating as I held him down and slowly pushed them towards him in order to intensify the control, squeezing everything I could so that he was in the same kind of agony Korra was right now, ignoring the shouts of people behind me.
Zaheer twisted and contorted sickeningly as I pulled at his body until suddenly, earth shot up out of the ground in order to pin him, trapping his arms at his sides as all but his head remained visible as he coughed, groaning from both Korra's crash landing and my unleashing hell on him, though I felt it wasn't nearly enough. I went for him again, raising water up above my head but before I could do anything, Mako tackled me. "Kanna stop! Don't do it."
"He hurt Korra!"
"I know, but look. Look at what you're about to do, and look at who's watching you. Look Kanna!" Mako forced me to see, one arm wrapped over my front whilst the other hand gripped my raised wrist as I continued to hold the water above my head, but I did as he asked. Turning my head, I saw all my cousins staring at me with wide eyes, fearfully gripping onto their mother and father as my uncle Tenzin looked horrified, knowing the blood bending immediately for what it was. Then I looked at Zaheer who was blinking but now defenceless thanks to Lin. All my friends were watching me, my family, and I had been about to…I don't know, destroy a man in front of them. I don't know if I'd have killed him, but I had been blinded enough to have kept on hurting him until I felt the anger wear off, and I don't know how long that could have been.
Lowering my arm, I let the water fall away as Mako then held me, embracing me from behind as I bit down on my teeth and felt all the frustration, fear and fury melt with each tear I shed, until Zaheer began to laugh which only made Lin scowl at him and me glare. "What are you laughing about?"
"You're too late! The poison's been in her system too long. The Red Lotus has won." No! Korra can't die, she just can't!
"You can save her. The poison is metallic." Jinora informed everyone and Su rushed forwards to Korra as I broke away from Mako to join her. A lot of people stepped out of my way quickly, not wanting to get in my way as I dropped down to my knees beside Korra, whispering her name and touching her forehead. As Su began to feel for the metal in her body. She began to make pulling movements with her arms, drawing the poison out of her body, large beads of dark greyish matter until finally, Korra opened her eyes.
At first they were brilliant white, completely aglow with her Avatar state power before they faded and I saw the familiar bright blue of my best friend's gaze. I choked on a sob of relief, clutching at my chest as her dad knelt down beside her, making Korra look at him and whisper weakly. "Dad? You're alive." Full of emotion Tonraq held Korra in his arms as Su backed away to give them space and I breathed in deeply, pulling water from the air before nodding to Tonraq who loosened his grip on Korra enough for me to start water bending over her to begin any healing she might need as he continued to hold her, smiling lovingly.
"I'm here for you. I'm never going to let you go."
"No!" Zaheer suddenly bellowed, outraged that his plan had failed and that Korra was clearly going to live. "No! You don't understand. The revolution has already begun. Chaos is the natural order of all-!" I was glad Bolin did something because otherwise, I would not have been responsible for my following actions to make Zaheer shut up. Rather comically, Bolin stuffed a sock in his mouth so that his shouting was muffled, forcing him to be silent as Bolin looked rather pleased with himself.
"You see what I did there? I put a sock in it. Literally."
"Classic Bolin." Opal acknowledged, making him puff up his chest all the more.
"I do what I do." Finishing with my assessment, I reached out and brushed aside some of Korra's hair as she breathed lightly, like she was in pain and struggling to breathe but she managed a shaky smile at me.
"Hey, you're here."
"Of course I'm here dumbass. Don't worry, I'm going to make sure you bounce back from this. You'll be fine in no time." I assured her, pressing my fingers into her hair to lean my face against hers as she nuzzled me softly. "Just get some rest. We've got you now Korra. You're safe." As if those were the exact words she needed to hear, Korra allowed her to fall asleep and for a moment there was silence until finally, I swallowed back the lump in my throat and stood up, turning around to face everyone. "We need to get her back to Republic City. She needs emergency treatment. Now."
