A/N: Well, it's one day past two weeks so I'm making progress with being more punctual. Maybe a week and a half for the next update who knows, but I'm not making any promises. I was going to post this yesterday but I was stuck at a Super Bowl Party (the game was the worst super bowl I have ever seen). I don't know but this chapter took me awhile to write. Anyway thanks for all your support and if anybody lives in the tristate area don't go out because the roads are terrible. I think it's going to snow between 6 to 8 inches or something so be safe! Please enjoy and review! I love feedback!

Be warned there is smut in this chapter...

7/5/15- Revised

A Terrible Synergy

Chapter 14

Her face was uneasily stagnant as her lungs took up air, "he's your brother?" she repeated. Her mind told her to be furious but her heart commanded her to be still, at least for his sake. She hadn't given much thought to his origin after he revealed himself as Amon because he could have come from anywhere, like how he dropped out of the sky into her life. The masked man's origin story being raised in the bucolic pastures of the Earth Kingdom a farmer was a bust, as was his alleged birth in the city and childhood spent in a fictional orphanage. Her blue eyes ran over his features reexamining them and she was regretful that she hadn't noticed the uncanny resemblance before. She couldn't discern what kind of emotion she should feel whether it should be joy that he finally opened up to her or anger at the uncovering of the horrendous lies he has been keeping all these years.

"Yes he is," there was a noise at the door shadowed by the sound of footfalls. He hesitated as if he was considering something, "Look, I will deal with him myself if you don't show up tonight."

"What? What do you mean? What are you going to do?" she muttered back with insistence. The vague wording of 'dealing with him' did not put good thoughts into her head. Tarrlok was not a good man but didn't deserve to get his bending taken away, no one did.

The Airbender had returned like promised with guards at his sides. Noatak's heed bounced back to her from watching the door. Maybe she was being too hard on him because when she looked into his eyes she could see how difficult it was for him to tell her that. He didn't look like he was at a total point of weakness, it was just the way his face remained so dejected with a hidden misery that she was fighting so hard to comprehend. The Avatar didn't know that he was breaking into memories that he had forced into the darkest, deepest place in his mind. They were things he had kept inside since he could remember. Things that weighed his spirit down but forced his body and feet forward. They were burdens and hardships that guided his hands and moved his chi like flowing rivers through his body. They were what made him who he was.

As her master neared his voice dropped an octave, "Here," he whispered in a dialect that was so familiar to her. His accent revealed that he wasn't from the Northern Capitol like her father was because it was heavy yet it held a unique elegance to it as he knitted the syllables together. She wasn't at all fluent in her native peoples' language since she largely spent her life in the gated white lotus compound where her only real connection to the pure and authentic word of her people were the waterbender guards that spoke it after their shifts were done. She could remember the nights of the full moon when she couldn't sleep; she would sit by their quarters and listen to their conversations until she understood. She eavesdropped on protectors almost every full moon when she couldn't find sleep because their soft banter brought her back to her earliest memories when her father would kiss her temple and pull the covers up to her chin chanting her a soothing, ancient lullaby until she closed her eyes. Even with the variance in word meanings and verbal tenses between the Northern and Southern vernaculars, anyone from the poles could decipher it. The language was something that connected the tribespeople together reminding them that they all stemmed from the same place once. He handed her a worn, folded piece of paper, "For your eyes only."

She nodded taking the piece of paper gently from his hand and placing it in her pocket. He hadn't uttered his native tongue in months. He had learned his first words he had ever spoken in that northern language; it was his father that taught him how to speak like everyone else, like the rest of the world. All the powerful nations and great cities used a language that originated from the Fire Nation. His father always told him, "If you don't know how to speak Fire Nation than you are nothing but an uncultured savage from the North. Everyone speaks it, so you should too." His father, like so many times before, told only parts of the story that he wanted him to hear. All his words and guidance were only prepping him for his so called destiny. When he finally realized the holes in his father's stories, he felt hollow himself. There was once light inside him as he ran around without a care as a child, as he played in the snow with Tarrlok, or curled up in the embrace of his mother's arms, but he wasn't made of light like he thought, just brokenness.

The standardization of the language only came about by the violence of the hundred year war. The earth kingdom started speaking it once the troops invaded; the rest of the world was quick to follow. It was because of the firebenders' relentless endeavors to indoctrinate people into worshipping Ozai as a God. The process was similar to weening a calf off its mother's milk: you start out slowly then the moment the calf has its guard down you take it away completely, almost as if it never existed. The Fire Nation would invade and occupy cities across the earth kingdom reassuring the residents that they would only be there for a couple days, but soon the days stretched into weeks then to months and years. The process started as they introduced curfews and small scale restrictions claiming it was for the town's safety. After a couple of weeks, the town grew comfortable again, and then over night the temporary regulations changed into permanent laws and nothing could be done. Quickly, the firebenders flushed out the existing culture with theirs by burning temples, books, and even prosecuting earth kingdom intellectuals that knew better than to allow or follow what the Fire Nation was doing. The people were like livestock, so easy to condition. All one had to do was cram lies down their throats like his father had with them until it became the truth, until it was all you saw.

He was no different from that dead Fire Lord or his father. He had done the same with his own followers. They were people that had nowhere to go, and desperate people were always the easiest to take advantage of. They would blindly believe anything if you promised them what they wanted. It was the idea of freedom and equality and the possibility of being a part of a new world after the ash had settled that drove his soldiers. It sounded like a noble thing, but it wasn't. The revolution was built upon a lie. He was exactly like his father and the late Phoenix King. They were the kind of people that would destroy anything in their way, even their own family because the end always justified the means. He would end up like they had, in a jail cell or in hiding battling his demons for the remainder of his life until he succumbed to old age or disease because he couldn't fathom anymore how he would ever take her bending. It was strange because it was something he dreamed about for decades but now couldn't picture. He couldn't even view himself as the father of his supposed glorious revolution. It was all just a ploy to get power, wasn't it? To seize the city and be a good boy for his father. In his gloomy reality of self-destruction there was a way out, but it was road that was long and uncertain, and he didn't know if she'd take it with him.

Two guards were trailing Tenzin as he made it to their position, "I'm sorry to interrupt things but I'm afraid it is time for you to go," her master affirmed. A guard placed a hand on his broad shoulder and guided him away from Korra. Noatak lowered his head as he furtively caught a glimpse of her face, "I hope to see you soon," he stated softly as he submitted to the man's push. His steady hands pulled up is hood. The Avatar hadn't told him half of what she wanted to as a result of the short time and her mounting shock. Her teacher remained beside her as the sentries accompanied the stranger out, "He did have a boat and it was where he said it was," the Airbender stated, "He was telling the truth."

The Avatar glanced down at her pocket curious at what he had handed her, "I told you that you could trust him," she paused allowing her eyes to follow the strong line of his shoulders until they disappeared from sight.

"He seems like an intelligent and reasonable man."

"I wouldn't say reasonable all the time," she stifled a laugh, which in return covered up her sadness at seeing him leave.

"Well nobody's perfect," Tenzin countered. Then her teacher faced her with an expression that signified all the love and respect he had for her, "Korra, I don't care at all who you love. All I want is your happiness. I know I am not your father, but I care for you as if you are my own. With that being said, Korra, I hope that this man can give you everything that you have given him."

"Geez, Tenzin," she stated in surprise, "It's not like we're getting married or something," she replied childishly, but she honestly didn't know how to respond to her master's sudden outburst of emotive sentiments.

"I know, I know," her master consoled, "I just could tell that he loves you a lot," he ended quietly.

She sighed, her eyes staring at the doorway again, "You don't have to worry about him, Tenzin. His heart is in the right place," her arms reached out for her teacher. She wrapped them around his golden torso and hugged him warmly, "Thanks for always being there for me. I know I don't say it as much as I should, but you're one of the best mentors an Avatar could ask for." She continued to hug her teacher but her words failed enormously in expressing the true depth of her gratitude. He was always watching out for her and always wishing for her success, even when things fell apart, he was always there help her up.

-0-

Her fingers crawled toward her pocket. They settled over the note he had given her. She sat in the darkness of her bedroom for what seemed like hours before she actually built up the nerve to pull it out. She didn't know why it daunted her so much. Perhaps it was the way that he boldly spoke his language that threw her off or maybe she was just scared of what she would find. Her polar bear-dog stirred in her sleep at her feet probably dreaming about stretches of ocean filled to the brim with rainbow fish. Her friend had been fast asleep since she had walked in.

The Avatar released a long, agonizing breath as she unfolded the parchment to find something unexpected. In her hands was an old black and white photo. At first glance it was easy to recognize that the tall, lean teenage boy was him. His face was boyish but the forming lines of his strong nose and jawline could be seen. His arm was slung around the shoulders of a smaller child who couldn't be anybody else but Tarrlok. The councilman couldn't have been any older than ten at time of the photo; his features were youthful and innocent outlined by two fleshy cheeks that have long hollowed out in his maturity. Behind them stood a beautiful lady with two dark braids and intense, deep blue eyes just like Noatak's. She had to be their mother. She looked like a simple and kind-hearted woman. Examining the photo more closely, Korra could make out a large, gloved hand wrapped around the mother's tiny waist while another rested on Noatak's shoulder. The gloved hands belonged to the large-framed man that stood beside his mother, but she was unable to see his face because it was cut off. He had to be their father, something must have happened. She had so many questions. The picture could be the solution to everything. She flipped it over discovering a written note: This was my family.He wrote. This is what I came from and what I was once. You're the first, other than the people in the photo, to see this picture. I gave this to you because you deserve to know. My right to keep secrets from you has long expired and I will tell you what you want to know.Underneath the writing was an address and an apartment number.124 South Bend Avenue.

Without another thought, the waterbender grabbed her parka and opened her window welcoming a snowy, arctic breeze into her relatively warm bedroom. She needed to get a grip on what was happening and he was going to help her with it, "Sleep tight, Naga, I won't be long." Jumping onto the snow-covered roof that stood below her, she landed in a soundless thump. She moved swiftly and with purpose as the crunching snow beneath her feet gave her new life. Leaping to the ground off the first floor roof, she landed beside the old guard quarters and pressed her body to the wall. With caution, she peeked her head around the corner and scoped out the surrounding area for any passing white lotus sentries. Her teacher had certainly bulked up on security in light of her recent, hostile interactions with the equalists as well as the overall increasing instability in the city. With the area clear, she sprinted to the cliffs of the island diving straight into the grasp of the icy waters below without a single hesitation.

Half way across the bay, her head broke the surface of the water for air. Her foggy breath spilled out from her mouth as she looked back at the island. "I'm sorry, Tenzin, but I have to do this," she spoke. Loud bangs could be heard from across the bay. It was Memorial Island's clock signaling that it was midnight. It had been an hour or so after he had left. She could be too late and the deed could already be done, so she swam even faster propelling herself more powerfully with her waterbending.

-0-

He sat with his mask in his hands as his head zipped through thousands of scenarios at once. He stared at the door, she isn't coming. Perhaps she didn't want to come, didn't want to know. It hurt to think of the possibility that she didn't want him anymore because she didn't want any part of the real person he was. It wounded him to think that she could help him but in reality he could never atone for the things he had done, but it didn't explain why he was so hopeful of a sudden. Hope, he hadn't felt it so long. It was all waste. He should have listened to his own rules. Never get involved with the enemy. The end result over self. He signed. Leaving his mask behind on the table in front of him, he combed his dark hair back with his hand and rose to his feet moving into the main bedroom of his apartment. Traveling to his closet, he lowered his body to his knees placing his palms against the cool floor boards. His fingertips scanned the surface searching for a specific groove. Noatak hadn't felt this weak in years, not physically weak, but mentally lost. He was lost because he no longer believed in his infallibility.

He removed one of the planks opening one of the secret compartments located in his apartment. He looked down at his uniform holding it within his hands. This was the only thing he knew how to do. This is what he was. He began to undress himself. Limbs were numb. He couldn't feel his own body. He felt like he was somebody else.

"Noatak?"

He thought he imagined her voice, but then it came again.

"Noatak!"

He turned to the sight of her standing in the frame of the doorway, "Korra…" was all he could manage to say. He blinked stupidly believing for a moment that it was just his imagination toying with him.

"What the hell are you doing?"

He looked down at his hands and bare torso, "I assumed that you weren't coming."

"So you were just going to take out your own brother!"

"Precisely."

She pinched the bridge of her nose, "Spirits, Noatak…" she grumbled shaking her head irately, a small puddle of water formed around her feet. He hadn't noticed that she was soaking wet; snowflakes stuck to her freezing hair sprinkling her brunette locks with blotches of white. He wanted to give her some dry clothing but her voice stopped him, "I just can't take it sometimes. You think it's… it's always you against the whole fucking world."

"It's not so different from you. You believe you can just enact vigilantly justice were ever you go."

"That's not true!"

He found his feet nearing her, his muscular chest outlined attractively by the light from his bedroom, "I'll just go out and get myself killed! Will that make you happy? You won't have to deal with any of my shit ever again," he swallowed unsteadily noticing how her wet clothing clung appealingly to body showcasing her toned muscles and plump breasts.

"Don't you dare!"

"Then stop me," he challenged.

The distance between them was gone and her arms captured his body with her own as she wrapped them tightly around his neck. Her lips smashed against his in an insurmountable show of passion and he realized that there was nobody like her he had ever met that could make the desire to surrender so strong that it hurt, so strong that it turned his weakness into an unbreakable strength. He could feel his anger turn to dust and his misery pour out at the spots where her fingertips touched his skin. In a moment's time his clouded eyes became clear as if he had been blind his whole life and all he could see was her.

Without breaking the embrace they exited the closet and entered the bedroom. He pressed his tongue into her mouth deepening the kiss as his arms pulled her body closer. Her dripping clothes rubbed against his bare torso. She should've been freezing abut she wasn't. She had maintained her core temperature with her firebending. They needed to be closer, they needed each other. They broke away as he withdrew her shirt from the grace of her body. His finger immediately fingering her wrap undone while his lips planted opened mouth kisses down the side of her neck. She could feel his rock hard cock through the thin fabric of his trousers. Had he been missing her this much? Her fingers followed the trail down his firm abdomen until they reached place she was searching for. She was happy as he trembled underneath her touch. She rubbed his shaft tenderly with the pad of her thumb. He grunted in aching ecstasy, "What are you doing, Avatar?" he got out successfully, "Trying to get the better of me?" he growled playfully. He didn't know where her sudden audacity came from. The first time they were together, she was very demure and mindful. He licked his lips. He liked this side of her.

"That's the plan," she smirked as she started stroke the length of his penis again. His eyes rolled back into his skull from the pleasure created by fingertips but stopped her short grabbing her wrist, "My, my, when have you gotten so bold? It was only a week ago you were timid."

"Life's too short," she answered quickly.

"Then you should know not to toy with me. I'll make you pay."

In one swift motion, he liberated her breasts from her waterlogged wrap by undoing the final tie and pushed her down on the bed with her legs dangling over the edge. His hands were at her thighs drawing her pants down until she was absolutely naked. He stood above her breathless, marveling at the sight of her naked form, "I'll show you how play with someone," he murmured with lustful hunger. His face was full of wonder from the perfection of her body as he dipped his head between her legs. She giggled feeling his sideburns brush against her skin, "Then show me," she teased. His mouth left hot trails of open-mouthed kisses down her legs as paraded down to the most intimate part of her body while his hands trailed up to her breasts massaging them with rough assertion. He tilted in to taste her. His warm fingertips heated her skin as they pulled at her taut nipples as his tongue began to inflict its torture on her body. After a few minutes, the Avatar was moaning so loud that it was hard to hear anything else. She gripped the bed sheets around her for stability as she neared her peak. He could sense the pressure building up inside of her as her muscles tensed and her face began to shine with a frenzied high. His tongue darted in faster touching her sensitive lobe in titillating, circular motions.

"Noa…. Noa…" she groaned breathing hard, "please…" she begged. Her fingers crawled between her legs gripping the hair on his head that was wedged between them, "please…"

Standing up, he unloosened the belt dropping his pants and boxers to his ankles. He grabbed her hips positioning them in front of his. She could feel the heat from the head of his penis at her entrance, "Noatak…" she pleaded once more.

"Say you want me," he insisted in deep, yearning voice.

"I want you, Noatak! I want only you," she shouted and he penetrated her in a violent thrust. A sigh of satisfaction released from their lungs as they molded into one another. His fingers bruised the skin around her hips as he pressed into her with unparalleled force hastily picking up the pace. Her back arched off the bed moaning deep from her throat, body aglow from pressure and friction. Without breaking any connection, he leaned down on top of her catching her face within his hands staring deeply into them. She kissed his collarbone and shoulder but he wasted no time in finding her lips. Her nails dug into his back. His hands were in her wild hair. She could hear his heartbeat in her ears, and his whimpers of pleasure above. Approaching their peaks, he slid his hands outward toward the top of the bed as waves of ecstasy crashed down on every limb and cell in his body. Korra screamed as her coil snapped with her legs tensed and arms slung loosely around his neck.

Bare bodies sprawled out on the bed, limbs tangled in sheets and each other with foreheads damp with sweat. They both pulsed in happiness and exhaustion, their skin glistening in a radiant glow of lust. Still out of breath, he gingerly untangled his sweating limbs from her body plopping over to her side. His hands pulled her back into his body, and they laid there in silence not wanting to disturb the moment.

"You never said those words before," her fingertips lazily traced circles on his chest.

"What words?" his now coarse voice asked.

"I love you."

"Well it's true," he smiled sleepily.

"I think I love you too" she whispered. She leaned in and kissed his cheek, "I love you too."

"Please don't say that."

"Why not?"

"Because you will regret it. I'm not worthy of your love."

"Well, you got my heart now, so you gotta live with it. You're not a bad person, you're not monster."

He sighed, "I'm a bender, Korra. I'm waterbender."

She sat up, her bare breasts broke out in goosebumps from the contact with the cool air, "well, that's not really a surprise. You're brother's a bender too," she turned and looked at him, "You're so scared that I won't accept you, but thing is, Noa, I have already chosen my fate, you."