Author's Note: I am sorry for the long wait, but life tends to get in the way. I want to thank the guest Klyme for badgering me to update and for giving suggestions on the story along with Guest101. I do plan on using some of your suggestions because some of them I thought of prior to the update, but you'll have to stick around and see. Please enjoy and leave reviews.
DESERT BASE
It was early in the morning, Haru sat in the bed chained in silence after the revelation that he had a son with Heather. It was like a dream, but the more he thought about it, the more real it was. He was a father, he missed his child's birth, his first steps and words, he wasn't there for him. Now he was chained up and his son was so close. He began banging his chains on the wall making noise.
"Dagur!" he called. "Dagur come on!" he shouted as he banged his chains.
Soon the door unlocked and Dagur walked in stretching and yawning.
"What's the commotion for?"
"Please. Let me see him. Let me see my son." Haru asked.
"Oh, so now you want to act right, because you realize how much of a deadbeat father you are."
"How can I be a deadbeat if I didn't know about him. You and Heather kept him from me." Haru challenged.
"With good reason. He's better off without you." Dagur said crossing his arms.
"Please Dagur! You know my father died before I was born, but I'm right here, living and breathing, and my son is just a room away."
Dagur sighed and looked at Haru with sympathy.
"Look, I'm sorry I can't let you see him. Heather's orders."
"Then at least let me out of these chains and go for a walk. I can't stay bedridden I need exercise."
"Ugh! You Beifongs are so annoying." Dagur left and slammed the door. Haru sighed and looked downcast. Not a moment later the door opened again and Dagur came back with a long box in his arms. He pulled a chair over to the bed and sat down to open the box.
Haru looked over and saw a prosthetic leg in the box. It looked to be made of polished wood and metal. It had leather straps, there was also a cloth hat?
"Who made it?"
"Hiroshi made it for you."
"Of course, he did." Haru rolled his eyes.
"It's made from the same metal of those mecha tank thingies."
"Platinum?"
"Yeah that. It's a strong metal, heavy too. Though it'd make for a terrible sword, but you'd know all about that. Oh, wait I forgot no bending." Dagur faked sorrow. Haru glared at Dagur, who laughed and pulled Haru's leg closer, removing the cast.
"Huh it's healed up nice but still needs time. Too bad we don't have a healer."
"What are you doing?"
"Putting on your new leg, what does it look like?"
Dagur took off the cast completely and put a new gauze around the stump. The cloth hat was actually supposed to go on the stump to protect it from chafing. The leather straps were connected to a platinum cup. Dagur put the cup on Haru's stump and tied the straps to his knee. Now for the leg, it wasn't shaped like a normal foot, more like a curved crescent with a flat underside. The leg was a twist on and twist off. Once Dagur twisted it on it was locked into place. Haru looked at his new leg and wiggled it.
"Hiroshi's not half bad, I guess. Still might make a few tweaks."
"Yeah whatever." Dagur said taking the chains off Haru's wrist. Haru rubbed his wrist a looked at Dagur strangely.
"This doesn't change anything Beifong. If you so much as attack me with that new leg or try to escape, I'm gonna break your other leg. No regrets." Dagur threatened.
"Wouldn't dream of it." Haru said.
Haru got up from the bed slowly he stood on his two "feet" and took a step with his new leg. He winced a bit from the pain, but it was tolerable. The leg weighed as much as the real thing maybe a bit heavier, but it still felt like the real thing.
"What happened to you guys?" Haru asked suddenly. Dagur was a bit confused by the question, but nonetheless he answered.
"What do you want to know?"
"After you left the city, there was a widespread manhunt for you two. How did you escape?"
"Well we never truly left. Some of the triads owed us a favor so they kept us hidden until the coast was clear. We went back to our grandmother's place and soon after that Heather found out she was pregnant with your kid. Of course, being her big brother, I wanted to burn you to a crisp, but Heather wouldn't have it. She loved you too much." Dagur explained.
"Hmph" Haru grunted.
"Hey, we were in deep with the criminal underbelly of Republic City. It's not something you can just walk away from, especially with a child."
"But it's ok to raise a child in said underbelly?"
"Your kid was fine. Our grandmother took care of him while we made plans to get out of the crime life."
"By joining Amon and his terrorist? I don't see how that's escaping the crime life. You let that monster take your bending, a piece of your soul for what!?"
"So that Heather could get back to you, idiot!"
"What?"
"The plan was to convince Amon that we hated our bending, so that he would take it from us and let us join his ranks."
"That doesn't make sense, Dagur."
"Does agent Windshear ring a bell?"
Haru was confused for a moment when suddenly his eyes widened.
"Heather was agent Windshear? She's the crazy axe wielding chi-blocker!?"
"The one and only."
"How? Why?"
"By giving you information about Amon and his plans, we'd hoped the entire organization would crumble and we'd get a pardon for our crimes and that the new avatar would restore our bending."
"That…that…is actually not a bad idea."
"Grandma always said to go out with a bang."
"But, how would you even know Korra could give you back your bending? She's never done that before."
"No, but Avatar Aang took away Fire Lord Ozai's bending and Yakone's. If bending was given to us and can be taken away, then there is a way to get it back again. The Avatar is the key. Aang was her past life and the knowledge of restoring bending is within her through Aang." Dagur explained.
"All of this, just to leave the crime life. How did you even come up with this plan?" Haru asked.
"Our grandmother, she knew almost everything about the avatar, read many books and travelled a lot."
"I have to meet her one day. What her name?"
"Well her name's—"
SLAM!
Haru and Dagur jumped into battle stances when the door slammed open. A woman with long hair walked in. Haru paused when their eyes met. Her hair was as black as night, her eyes a golden yellow, like the sun, her olive toned skin, he knew them all too well from the past.
"Heather." He said.
"We have to go. Amon has attacked and is trying to take over Republic City." Heather stated. Haru shook his head with shock.
"What!? How'd this happen? What's happened to my mom and Korra? Are they alright?" Haru asked frantically. It hurt Heather the way Haru asked about Korra, but this was not the time.
"I don't know. I rode here on Toothless as fast as we could to get you back home, but I'm sure they're fine, but Haru there's something I have to tell you."
"I already know about my son."
Heather was shocked and looked at Dagur angrily.
"YOU TOLD HIM!?" she yelled incredulously.
"It wasn't my fault! Your kid should've stayed in the room!" Dagur retorted.
"I can't believe you Dagur!"
"Will you two shut up!" Haru yelled. Heather and Dagur immediately silenced. "Republic City is under attack! We need to get back as soon as possible and stop Amon. Let's get our dragons and head out now!" Haru ordered.
Heather huffed and walked out of the room. "I'll meet you outside." She said.
While Dagur and Haru got ready. Heather made her way upstairs and walked down a hall to her left. She came upon a room and slowly opened the door and entered. Inside the room was a small bed with a child sleeping in it. She made her way to the side of the bed and sat, softly nudging the child awake.
"Wake up sweetie, it's momma." She said softly. The boy woke up and rubbed his eye.
"Momma? Momma you're back!" The boy said happily as he hugged Heather.
"I missed you momma." The boy smiled. "I missed you too sweetie. Are you ok? Did Uncle Dagur feed you?" Heather said looking over her son.
"Yes, we had noodles and chicken and other food too."
"That's good."
"Momma?"
"Yes sweetie?"
"There's a man downstairs with uncle. He saw me and when uncle found him, he jumped out the window. It was scary."
"Oh, I'm so sorry you had to see that sweet thing." Heather said hugging her son.
"But the man looked familiar momma. I've seen him before in my sleep stories."
"Sleep stories? You mean your dreams?" Heather asked.
"Yeah. He was flying on big black dragon in the sky."
"Wow that's amazing. As a matter of fact, there is black dragon right outside."
"Really momma? Can I see it?" the boy asked excitedly.
"Of course, I'm sure the man will let you ride his dragon, but first we have to pack up your things, we're going on a little trip to the big city."
"Awesome I can't wait."
Heather looked at her son with soft eyes. He was just a sweet boy and she loved him so much, but the strange talk of seeing Haru in his dreams was shocking. Maybe this was a sign, maybe there was a chance for all of them to be the family she always dreamed of the last 3 years.
Once their things were packed, they rushed outside. Heather held her son's hand as they stepped outside. The boy gasped at what he saw, there before him was the man from his dreams as well as the big black dragon. The dragon was nuzzling the man like cat or dog. The boy couldn't believe his eyes. The dragon turned and looked him in the eye, this caused the man to look as well. The boy quickly hid behind his mother's leg. Heather giggled and put a hand behind his back and softly nudged him forward.
"It's ok sweetie." She said reassuringly. "The man and his dragon won't bite, I promise." She said.
The boy stepped forward and looked up at the dragon and then the man.
"H-hi." He said nervously.
"Hi how's it going?" the man knelt before the boy. "What's your name?" the man asked.
"Jr." he replied shyly. "Haru Jr."
The man seemed to freeze when he answered at looked at his mother. He then turned back to him and smiled.
"Well Haru Jr., my name's Mr. Beifong and this is my dragon Toothless." He said introducing the dragon. Haru Jr. giggled at the name.
"That's funny. Windshear and Vulcan are dragon's and they have big teeth."
"Windshear and Vulcan?"
"They're my mom and uncle's dragons."
"That's amazing. Well I assure you Toothless is indeed toothless, see?"
Toothless stepped forward and smiled his signature gummy smile, causing the Jr. to giggle and laugh. Suddenly Toothless brought out his teeth which scared the boy and he ran back to his mother.
"Hey don't be scared."
"How did he do that?" Jr asked.
"Toothless is a special dragon, he can make his teeth disappear whenever he wants."
Haru Jr. slowly stepped forward and looked at the dragon.
"Can I touch him Mr. Beifong?" he asked nicely.
"Sure, you can." Haru replied.
Junior slowly stepped closer to Toothless, who let out a low rumble as the child came closer, he could feel the hot air coming from Toothless' breathing. He was filled with a mixture of fear and excitement as he stretched out his hand to Toothless.
Toothless made a grunt sound that made Junior look away, at this Haru had flashbacks to when he was a kid and met Toothless for the first time. This boy was most definitely his son, his whole personality echoed 'Haru Beifong'. When Toothless saw the boy look away, he sniffed his hand and slowly put his snout in his hand. Junior felt the dragon's smooth and warm scales in his hand, he slowly looked up amazed this was actually happening. It was a dream come true.
"Sorry to butt in on this very touching moment…" Dagur interrupted, ".but we have company." He said pointing west.
Out in the distance Haru and Heather saw six chi-blockers riding on Eelhounds heading towards them.
"Amon must have known I betrayed him. We have to go now." Heather said aloud.
"I can't fly Toothless; my new leg won't be able to open his tailfin." Haru stated. Heather turned to Dagur.
"Help him get Windshear and take Junior with you." She said. Dagur nodded and picked up Junior and ran to the stables with Haru in tow. Heather got on Toothless and they flew into the air toward the chi-blockers.
The chi-blockers saw this and scattered their formation, they managed to dodge Toothless' fire blast and returned fire of their own by shooting arrows. Toothless and Heather dodged but they couldn't get in close. Suddenly a bola wrapped around Toothless' tail, causing him and Heather to fall to the ground. Heather quickly recovered along with Toothless but now they were surrounded.
Dagur quickly opened the stable doors wide and rushed in with Junior, Haru followed behind as soon as he walked, he stumbled at the sight of a giant red and black dragon.
(Titan-Wing Monstrous Nightmare).
It had a long neck and long horns on its head. The dragon roared at him because it didn't know him.
"Hey! Stop it! He's a friend!" Dagur yelled. The dragon calmed down, but it still growled as Haru walked by. Haru came up the next stable and saw a silver colored dragon almost the size of Toothless. It had a long neck and tail and many sharp spikes.
"You must be Windshear." Haru said softly. The silver dragon crooned at the sound of its name and came closer to Haru. It sniffed his hand and rubbed against it.
"Good…girl?" Haru said, not sure the gender of the dragon. Windshear crooned more, Haru took this as confirmation and opened the stable.
"Well girl, it's time we got out of this place. What do you say?"
Windshear warbled as she walked out of the stable, she put her wings down so Haru could ride. He gets into the saddle and grabbed onto the handlebars.
"Huh this just like riding a cart." Haru thought aloud, suddenly Dagur called to him.
"Let's go Beifong! Heather's in trouble!" he said as his dragon went out the door. Haru and Windshear raced out and into the air. He could see Heather and Toothless fighting the chi-blockers, he urged Windshear to go faster and had her blast at the attackers. With more dragons joining the fight the chi-blockers were having a hard time dodging the fire attacks. While they were busy trying to stay alive. Heather got the bolas off of Toothless tail and they managed to get into the air, now with all three dragons airborne they blasted the enemy and their Eel hounds ran away with fear, leaving the chi-blockers stranded.
They all flew west towards Republic City.
As they flew to their destination Haru flew closer to Heather to speak more discretely away from Junior's young ears.
"So, when did you plan on telling that you were Agent Windshear and that I had a son?" Haru asked a bit angry.
"I planned on telling you everything after Amon was taken down, but things got hairy."
"3 years Heather! I've had a son and you didn't tell me! Not even a letter or picture."
"Will you quiet down!?" Heather said sharply as she looked over to her son. He was asleep in Dagur's arms while riding Vulcan. "I didn't know how to tell, how to face you after what I'd done to you. I'm truly sorry, but at least now you know."
Haru huffed and looked ahead through the clouds, He then turned to his son, there was so much he had missed. From now on things would be different, but how would he explain this to his mother? And Korra? What would she think of all this? She had been insecure because of his past relationship with Heather, and now he had a son. This was too much.
"What happened after Amon kidnapped me?"
"On the same night. Korra went to City Hall to confront Tarrlok. It turns out he was the one that planted the bomb in your office, not Amon." Heather explained.
"Tarrlok? I knew he was bad news, but to have me almost killed?"
"There's more. It turns out he's a bloodbender and used it to kidnap Korra."
"What? Why didn't you tell me earlier?" Haru asked with shock.
"That wouldn't have changed anything, besides she fine now. Amon along with me and the other Equalist found where he was keeping her. Amon took Tarrlok's bending and I escaped with Korra."
"Does she know about you?" Haru asked, he never thought his girlfriend and ex-girlfriend would ever meet each other, this scenario was way to weird for his taste.
"Yes. Your mom and your little friends made sure to tell her I was your ex and that I helped kidnap you. Surprisingly she didn't get upset."
"Really? Wow I must be rubbing off on her." Haru chuckled.
"When Amon attacked, they let me take Toothless to bring you back and now here we are."
"Hmm. These past few days have been very…eventful."
"You have no idea." Heather agreed.
"Dagur told me about you guys' plan to get your bending and have your criminal records expunged. It's not a bad plan, but it won't change anything between us." Haru said in a serious tone. Heather's eyes widened a bit.
"What? Haru, I've changed these past 3 years. I-we have a son, we can be a family, a true family."
"What about Korra?"
"What about her?" Heather scoffed.
"She's my girlfriend."
"I was your girlfriend once." Heather reminded him.
"Yeah three years ago after you used me and left me." Haru retorted.
"Did Korra give you a son? Did she nurse him and feed him, even change his diapers? Does Korra love you the way I still do?" she asked rapidly. Haru looked away from Heather, he couldn't bear to look her in the eye, too many feelings came up. She was his past, she left him. So why has her presence brought up these feelings he thought were long gone?
"Look at me Haru Beifong." Heather said sternly. Haru reluctantly did as she asked, he could see she was serious, this wasn't the Heather that was sly and sneaky, this was the girl whose spirit attracted him like a moth to the flame. This woman before him had been his world.
"I love you." She said. Haru's heart clenched at those words. So much had happened after she left him, he had thought about her almost every day, but she was gone, and he had to move on with his life, there was no point in waiting. Now here she is, three years later with his son, his own child, but it didn't matter he had found new love.
"Say it back." She said. Haru stayed silent. "Say it back Haru. Say that you love me, and we can work through this together. We can raise our son together, I'll get a good job and we can be happy, just say those three words, please." She said sincerely.
"I can't." Haru said finally. Heather was astonished, this wasn't how it was supposed to be, he was supposed to say it back, he was supposed to be with her.
"Our time has passed Heather, I've moved on. I love Korra now, I still care for you for the sake of our son, and I will be there for him, but we can't be together anymore." Haru said sternly. You could see the pain in her face as he said those words, her sadness quickly turned to anger and then a stern calm. She turned away from Haru and gripped the saddle on Toothless.
"Fine." She said before making Toothless fly faster, far ahead of Haru and Dagur. Dagur turned to Haru with a confused look on his face.
"What did you say to her?" Dagur asked. Haru only looked ahead and sighed.
"The truth."
REPUBLIC CITY
They flew for most of the day and arrived at Republic City at night, Amon had completely taken over. Airships and mechas patrolled the city. Benders stayed in their homes afraid of Amon and the Equalist, there had been raids and benders were being taken from their homes to have their bending stripped away. Air Temple Island was taken over as well, it had been Haru's second home and now his uncle Tenzin and his family had been forced to run away, He looked at Avatar Aang's statue and there was a giant Amon mask covering his face. That was the final straw, he would make Amon pay for this, no matter what, but first he had to find Korra and the others.
"Did Korra say where they would go?" Haru asked
"No, they didn't." Heather said plainly. Haru thought for a moment and then he had an idea.
"Follow me." Haru said flying off. Heather and Dagur follow him in the air.
WATERFRONT at YUE BAY
They all flew to Yue Bay and landed near a sewage tunnel, one big enough for the dragons to enter. Heather took her sleeping son from Dagur and held him close.
"Are you sure your little girlfriend is in there?" Dagur asked unsure of the tunnel.
"It's the only safe place to go in Republic City." Haru replied. They all began walking down the tunnel.
UNDERGROUND
After a bit of walking Haru could see light's up ahead, they exited the tunnel into what looked to be and underground settlement, some people that saw them ran away because of the dragons. Suddenly a fire ball flew at them, Toothless quickly blasted it and roared loudly.
"Mako wait, it's Toothless!" a voice said. Haru looked up and saw Asami, Korra, Mako and Bolin.
"Haru!" Korra said running to her boyfriend. She jumped on him and he held her tight as they embraced, he'd longed to hold again ever since he woke up from his coma. Once their embrace ended, she looked down to his leg.
"You're walking? I can't believe it!" Korra said happily. Haru rubbed the back of his head sheepishly as he showed his leg.
"It's a parting gift from Mr. Sato." He explained. The other came and hugged him as well.
"It's good to have you back Chief." Mako replied.
"I missed you so much" Asami said.
"We've been lost without you." Bolin said sniffing his nose.
"Thanks guys. I wouldn't be here without Heather and Dagur," he said gesturing to his ex and her brother. Heather only flipped her hair out of her face while Dagur smiled. Korra then stepped over to them.
"Thank you for bringing him back." Korra said bowing to them.
"You're welcome." Heather said with no emotion.
"It was nothing, anything for my brother." Dagur chuckled.
"I'm not your brother." Haru deadpanned.
"Aw come on! Just once you don't spoil the mood." Dagur pouted.
Korra looked back at Heather and saw the sleeping child she was carrying.
"Who's the kid?" she asked. Heather smirked a little before she answered.
"This is my son…Haru Jr."
The world stopped; everything went silent in Korra's head except the echo of Heather's words. Son? As in Haru's son? How? They broke up 3 years ago! These were some of the thoughts that went through Korra's mind. The more she stared at the child the more real it was. He looked just like Haru except for the black hair, this was too much. She knew Haru and Heather went further when they were together, but she didn't expect this at all. She couldn't breathe, she had to get some air. She quickly ran away from the group, away from everything.
"Korra!" Haru called after her. He soon followed after to see where she went.
The others stayed back and looked at the child. It was true, this was Haru's son, Asami couldn't believe it, but there was no denying it.
"Awkward." Bolin whispered. Mako shook his head at his brother's lack of sensitivity to the situation.
Haru turned a corner and found Korra crying on Naga, he walked over and touched her shoulder.
"Korra I-" before he could finish Korra shoved him away.
"Don't touch me!" she yelled as tears came to her eyes. This wasn't supposed to happen.
"Korra please. I didn't want this to happen."
"But it did Haru! You have a child…with her!" Korra retorted.
"It happened after she left me. I didn't know about him until two days ago, honestly."
"So, what happens now? What happens to us? Are you going to go back to her now?" She asked angrily.
"No Korra, I won't. She wanted me to, but I refused. I refused because I love you Korra."
"This changes everything Haru. I don't think I can do this." Korra admitted.
"Korra don't say that, please. My love for you has not changed, I still want us to be together."
"I-I can't do this right now. I need time to think." Korra cried shaking her head.
"Korra please." Haru begged, he tried to get closer, but she spat fire at him.
"Just go away!" she yelled. Naga growled to emphasize. Haru nodded and left her to her thoughts. When he left Korra sobbed into Naga's fur into the night.
Later that night Haru met up with Asami by the waterfront along with Toothless.
"The universe must hate me." He said as he stood next to Asami, looking at the stars.
"Yup" Asami said bluntly.
"Huh? Usually you're supposed to make me feel better, with words of encouragement." Haru remarked, but Asami just shrugged.
"Honestly I've drawn a blank. First you get your leg blown off by an evil blood-bender, then your ex-girlfriend, who left you three years ago, comes back to help a terrorist kidnap you and tells you that you are the father of an adorable 3 year old boy, while you are in a relationship with the Avatar. Yeah the universe hates you." Asami concluded. Haru looked at her annoyed.
"Thank you for summing that up." Haru said sarcastically. He ran his hands through his hair and sighed deeply. "What am I gonna do? I love Korra, but she won't speak to me, Heather wants me to leave Korra and get back with her to raise our son, but I said no."
"I'm surprised either of them haven't killed you."
"Maybe their biding their time to strike." Haru grumbled.
"Honestly my advice is to give Korra some time. She's new to this relationship stuff, she'll come to you when she's ready and as for Heather…I don't know she's crazy." Asami finished.
"I never understood why you hated her."
"Haru you can't be serious. Anytime I was around you in school she would get jealous and pick on me when you weren't around."
"Really?" Haru said a bit surprised.
"Yes! I tried to tell you, but you were just so in love that you didn't see it."
"Huh, interesting."
"But's it's all in the past. I still don't like her, if she tries anything, I can definitely take her." Asami said flexing her arm.
"I'm sure you could." Haru smiled. "Come on let's go to bed."
They left the waterfront and walked back to the settlement. Dagur was sleeping on Vulcan, while Heather stayed awake by the fire with her son and Windshear, Haru Jr. was still asleep with a small toy in his hand. Heather saw Haru and Asami walk in and narrowed her eyes at Asami. That girl always clung to Haru and it angered her to no end, but what did that matter? Haru made his choice and he chose the Avatar. Heather snuggled up with her son next to Windshear and drifted off to sleep. Her son's love was all she needed, she thought to herself, that's all the mattered.
NEXT DAY
All through Republic City Amon's mecha tanks patrolled the streets. Equalist airships roamed the skies waiting to snuff out any insurgence against their might. In front of City Hall, with Equalist airships and mecha tanks around it. Hiroshi Sato stood on the front steps, addressing a large crowd.
"It is a glorious day, my Equalist brothers and sisters! Amon has torn down the tyrannical bending government! He has declared bending illegal, and he has the Avatar on the run. Our great leader has a vision for the future. One day soon, bending will no longer exist and we will live in a world where everyone is finally equal! The United Forces are on their way right now to try and stop that dream. But we will prevail!" He announced raising his fist
The crowd cheers loudly in response. Near the back, two female chi blockers look at each other before they turn and walk away. They push aside a clump of bushes in Republic City Park and enter a small clearing with a large rock in the center. One of them earthbends the rock aside, revealing a hole, and both jump inside as the rock slides back over.
UNDERGROUND
The chi blockers removed their masks and revealed themselves to be Korra and Asami, walking down a dim hallway.
"Can you believe your dad?! "The Avatar's on the run". I'm not running from anyone! I ought to go back up there and knock some heads; they'll never know what hit 'em." Korra said turning around to go back.
"Korra relax. We have three fire breathing dragons and General Iroh's coming with an entire fleet of battleships. Amon will get what's coming, you just have to be patient." Asami assured. Korra groaned in annoyance.
"Sometimes I hate this being patient stuff." She replied rolling her eyes. The two of them turn back to continue their journey down the corridor.
Bolin, Haru, Heather and Haru Junior were sitting on crates as they watched Pabu do backflips and tricks for meat treats from Heather. Haru and Junior were getting acquainted more, Heather had decided to tell her son that Mr. Beifong was his 'daddy'. The young boy took the news well and became excited, he adored Haru to no end, all he talked about was flying and Dragons. Haru was doing well for a first-time dad, though he missed most of Junior's life, he was determined to be there every step of the way.
Everyone looked up to see Korra and Asami come back. Korra looked at them and stiffened a bit at what she saw. Haru, Heather and their son looked like a family, happy and playing together. It stung seeing them that way, but there was a sliver of hope in her heart, maybe one day she and Haru would start a family of their own.
"Hey, you guys back from recon?" Haru asked. Korra shook herself from thought before she answered.
"Uh-(coughs) Yeah it was…something." She said nervously. Gommu, the hobo leader walks over happily with a big pot in his hands.
"Welcome back! Hope you worked up an appetite 'cos dinner is served." Gommu placed the pot over the fire and uses a ladle to pour rice into their bowls.
"Thanks so much for letting us hide out with you the past few days." Korra said as she took a bowl of rice from Gommu.
"Honored to oblige." He smiled. He picks up an empty bowl on the table and offers it to Bolin as he ladles the rice into the bowl.
"My associates and I heartily oppose Amon's so called "Equalist policies". We got benders and non-benders living together down here, but do you see us fightin'? No siree. We figured out how to harmoniously co-exist." Gommu emphasized by hugging himself.
"You are a wise and noble hobo." Bolin bowed. He took a spoon of the rice into his mouth. "Mmm... This is the best tasting rice I've ever had! Seriously!" Bolin said happily.
"You can thank Mr. Dagur. He got us a crate of rice and other foods last night." Gommu said gesturing to Dagur who waved.
"You mean he stole it." Haru corrected. Dagur turned to Haru with faux shock.
"Why my dear brother, how could you think I would do such a dastardly deed.?"
Everyone looked at Dagur with blank faces, not buying his innocent act.
"Fine I stole it." He shrugged. "From Equalists I might add!" he said quickly. "If it wasn't for me, you'd all be eating street gruel!" he exclaimed.
"Hey! What's wrong with my street gruel?" Gommu said asked sadly.
"It's disgusting! I'm sorry it had to be said." Dagur said curtly. Gommu sniffed like he was about to cry. Dagur put his arm around the man and patted him.
"There, there stinky man, it's alright, the truth hurts, I know."
Later in the day Haru built a makeshift forge with the help of Bolin, Mako and the locals. His current leg would give him away too easily and it couldn't flick the stirrup on Toothless' saddle, so he had to build a cover that looked like a foot and a whole new stirrup to match his leg. Boy did he miss his bending, but that couldn't change now, plus he kind of missed doing things the old-fashioned way, it brought back good memories. Heather and Junior watched from the side along with Toothless.
"Why is daddy building a new leg momma?" Junior asked curiously.
"Because a bad man hurt daddy and took his leg." Heather explained.
"Why can't he get it back?"
"Because it's gone forever and even if he did get it back it wouldn't go back to normal, that's why he's building a new one."
"Will the bad man go to time out for taking daddy's leg?"
"I sure hope so sweetie. I sure hope so." Heather said holding her son and rubbing his back.
After an hour Haru had finally finished rebuilding the stirrup and the leg cover. Toothless and Junior perked up when they heard silence. Haru held up the saddle with the new stirrup, with a smile on his face.
"You wanna go for a test flight?" Haru asked. Toothless bounded towards excitedly and then stood still when Haru put the saddle on him. Toothless stretched and moved around, getting a feel for the saddle.
"Alright bud let's go for it." Haru said getting in the saddle. Junior walked over to them sheepishly.
"Um, daddy?"
"What is it Junior?"
"Can I go with you and Toothless?" He asked hoping his dad would say yes. Haru pretended to ponder his answer.
"Hmm I don't know Junior. What does your mom say?" Haru replied. They both looked to Heather with pleading eyes, even Toothless gave her puppy dog eyes.
"It's fine by me." she shrugged. Junior jumped for joy and hugged Heather.
"Thanks momma!" he said happily. He went back to climb onto Toothless with his father's help, as soon as he was buckled in tight in front of Haru Toothless flew through the tunnel and into the air.
Heather went and watched the best she could as they did loops and dives in the starlit sky, she could hear slight giggling and laughter from them and a roar from Toothless as they flew overhead. It brought a smile to her face that Haru was with their son, as it should have been from the beginning. Heather heard footsteps coming from behind and turned to see none other than the Avatar herself.
"Out for a night walk?" Heather asked. Korra shook her head no as a response.
"I thought I'd see them in action, it's been a while since I've seen him fly." Korra replied.
There was a moment of silent between them, it was an uncomfortable situation for the both of them, but it couldn't be helped. They both loved the same guy and said guy has a kid with one of them, of course this moment would be weird.
"I still love him." Heather said bluntly, not looking away from the sky. "I told him to leave you to be with me, but he refused. He's just so dead set on staying with you." Heather explained. Korra looked at Heather confused, was she trying to provoke her or what?
"I want him to be happy, for the sake of our son, and if him being with you makes him happy then so be it. Just know that if you hurt him, I will be there." Heather stated. Korra was kind of at a loss of words, what could she actually say?
"You've got a good man Avatar Korra." Heather said looking Korra in the eye. "Don't blow it like I did." With that Heather walked away and back to the settlement leaving Korra to her thoughts.
LATER
After their flight Haru dropped off Junior with Heather and went to find his little corner to sleep. As he lay against Toothless, he looked up and saw Korra, he sat up."
"Hey." she said nervously.
"Hey." Haru said getting up, but Korra stopped him.
"Don't, it's fine, sit." She said. Haru obliged and sat back down. Korra let out a sigh, gathering her thoughts. "I had a talk with Heather while you were flying."
"What did she say?" Haru asked plainly. He didn't show it, but he was terribly nervous.
"She told me she still loves you and how she wanted you to leave me to get back with her, but you said no."
"See? I told you."
"Yep, you were right. She also said that you're a good man and that I shouldn't blow it."
Haru smirked a bit at the statement.
"Look, I was upset. There's a lot going on with Amon and the Equalists and before all of it you were my comfort, you hand me anchored and at peace. But the whole ex-girlfriend and now your son situation, it's a lot to take to take in."
"Korra" he started.
"Let me finish." She cut him off. Haru relented and let her continue.
"What I'm trying to say is, I accept it. It was out of your control and what's done is done, I see that. I'm willing to continue this because I can't imagine my life without you in it." Korra explained. They both smiled, Haru stood up and held Korra's hands.
"You're a great guy, you're the most loyal, brave and selfless person I've ever known." Korra admitted. Haru smiled and moved a hair behind Korra's ear.
"I think you're pretty incredible too, but you already knew that." Haru said softly.
The two of them looked at each other fondly for a few seconds. They both lean towards each and shared a kiss. It was magical, it had only been a week since they had last kissed like this, but it felt like forever. They there in each other's embrace for some time before laying down next to Toothless. They covered themselves in a blanket and drifted off into sleep.
MORNING
Early in the morning at the drainpipe Mako stood at the entrance of the tunnel leading to the hide out, it was foggy, but one could never be too careful. Haru, Korra, Bolin, Asami, Heather, Dagur and the dragons walk into view. Mako leans against the side and looks out carefully.
"Coast is clear." He waves a hand and beckons the team to follow him.
The team slowly climbs up a flight of stairs beside the entrance to the top of a platform overlooking the bay as the team kneels down behind the railings to get into position.
Bolin looks through a telescope. The bay is thick with fog and Air Temple Island can barely be seen.
"Once the United Forces arrive, we need to be ready to help in any way we can." Korra said addressing everyone. They all nodded their heads in agreement.
"They're here." Mako called out. Korra and the others turn their heads towards the water. Haru looks at Bolin confused.
"Why do you have the telescope backwards?" he asked. Bolin gasps and turns the telescope around, and he looks through it the right way.
"Whoops. He-he."
UNITED FORCES.
On the leading naval ship General Iroh looking at the sea suspiciously through the fog.
"Hmm... Amon had to know we were coming." He said. Looking around he saw that the entire bay was relatively empty.
"Why aren't we meeting any resistance?" he asked aloud
TEAM
"Wait a second. Where are the Equalist airships?" Korra asked standing up. Everyone got up and looked around there was no sign of any Equalist near them. Mako takes Bolin's telescope and runs further down the platform to scout. He looks through the telescope surveying the warehouses at the side of the water.
"I don't see any mecha tanks either. What's going on Heather?"
"How should I know? I haven't been with the Equalist in almost three days. A lot can happen in such a time."
Korra became very confused, the team watches the fleet slowly make their way into the bay. At the edge of the boats by the water. Korra could make out black balls in the water, she got Haru's attention and pointed Haru surveyed the water and suddenly his eyes widened.
"Oh shit."
BOOOOMMM!
A gush of water raised up at the side of one of the ships. Those black balls were naval mines and they were exploding right and left under the fleet. On the deck of the ship General Iroh looked at the fleet and saw chaos.
"It's a trick!" He yelled.
He grimaces as another explosion goes off behind him and he runs to take cover. Back at the top of the platform the team watches the fleet of ships get bombed.
Korra jumps over the railings and diving into the water. She waterbends a spout to cushion her dive. While under water she swims towards the ships.
Above water Iroh makes his way into the control room, standing in front of a microphone.
"Water and earthbenders, detonate those mines." He ordered. Suddenly there was a loud buzzing sound coming from the air. "What is that sound?"
Iroh looks out and sees one of the ships is billowing black smoke, he then runs forward to look at the source of the buzzing noise. He has a look of shock on his face. In the water Korra surfaces for air and she looks back to land. The loud buzzing sound gets stronger.
"What is that noise?" Asami asked.
"I don't know." Mako said as he looked into the telescope trying to see anything out of the ordinary. The sound grew louder, the six looked around the shoreline, seeing if the mechs where back, Toothless and the other dragons growled and looked into the sky, "What is it bud?" Haru asked.
"Something's coming." Heather said as she held Windshear.
No sooner did she finish that sentence multiply high-speed planes appeared as they flew towards the fleet.
"You have got to be kidding me." Haru said, the others looked up to see a squadron of airplanes headed towards the fleet.
"Where does Hiroshi find the time to keep inventing new evil machines?" Bolin asked comically.
"Alright we're up." Haru said hopping on Toothless. He turned to the others.
"Mako, you're with me, Heather, Dagur, let's give them hell." He smirked. Mako jumped behind him in the saddle and they launched into the sky, followed by Heather and Dagur on their dragons.
They came up behind some planes and began to shoot them down. Focusing on a target, Toothless shot out a plasma blast, hitting the wing, the plane fell from the sky. The other planes quickly scattered, so the dragon teams split up to catch their prey.
Toothless, Haru and Mako went after a pair that stuck together. Toothless shot at one while Mako used firebending to take down the other.
Just then a plane passed them, but Haru recognized the pilot.
"Hiroshi." He whispered in shock.
He shook his head and called to Dagur, "Aim for the wings and tails, they're most vulnerable."
Dagur nodded and started to aim for the wings, Vulcan used his talons to grab the wings, ripping them to shreds before they fell. Heather and Windshear and managed to get about three planes in rapid succession.
"WHOOOOHOOO!" Dagur cheered as Vulcan blasted five planes with a long stream of fire. The destruction was thrilling to him.
Though it seemed the three dragons gave them an edge in the battle in the air there were still too many planes proving difficult for the fleet to handle.
Just then Korra rose out of the water on a giant water pillar and made large icicles rise out of the water and cut the wings of the planes flying low to the water.
A plane collided with her water pillar and tore through it and she plummeted to the water.
"Korra!" Haru shouted in concern, he was about to dive after her, but he saw that Heather was already on it.
Heather dove into the water with Windshear and grabbed Korra in her claws and swan to the surface. Korra coughed up some water and looked up.
"Haru?" she said her eyes a bit blurry.
"Wrong, it's me." Heather replied with a smirk. Korra did not expect a save from Heather but nonetheless she was grateful.
"Thanks." She said.
"Don't mention it." Heather replied and they flew back to the drainpipe.
Elsewhere Iroh opened a hatch and climbed a ladder to one of the lookout posts on the mast. He starts firebending and manages to destroy two planes out of the air. The range of his flames are long and powerful. He continues firing as one plane dodges. More planes fly around the chaos and the ship next to Iroh's has sunk. He looks straight ahead and sees three planes flying towards him.
With a look of determination on his face, he firebends a series of shots by punching and kicking. The trio of planes dodge his flames successfully. However, one of the planes gets hit and it drops to the water. The other two planes keep on flying and another firebending blast knocks another plane off course. The remaining plane keeps flying towards Iroh's ship as it keeps dodging the flames. As it nears the mast, it drops a bomb. Time begins to slow down as Iroh firebends at the bomb.
Time picks up again and the bomb explodes, taking out the mast while the plane flies by unharmed. The explosion throws Iroh off the mast completely and into the water, the left sleeve of his uniform has been burnt off and there was a nasty wound on his arm. Iroh's body slams into the water, unconscious. As his body begins to sink gradually, Toothless and Haru along with Mako dive in to grab his body and resurface.
Iroh coughs and look up towards Haru.
"Thanks kid." Iroh smirked
"Anytime Sparky." Haru replied.
With that they flew back to the hideout.
UNDERGROUND
They all gathered around Iroh as Korra used her water bending to heal his burned left bicep.
"I was prepared to deal with Sato's Mecha Tanks and Air Ships, but not these new high-speed aircrafts." Iroh said as he grunted a bit from the healing he was given.
"Looks like someone forgot to mention that." Asami said glancing at Heather.
"Hey, I held up my end of the deal and gave all the info I knew. I had no idea Amon and Hiroshi were building new machines." Heather said angrily.
Dagur placed a hand on her shoulder to calm her down before she did something she'd regret.
"It wasn't your fault sis." Dagur said.
"No one is to blame, but Amon." Haru said looking at Asami.
"Every time we have the advantage, he outsmarts us." Korra said in aggravation.
"Whatever plan we come up with, he always has a better one." Bolin said in hopelessness.
"Amon is winning so far, but we're not out of the fight yet." Iroh said in determination.
"I like this man's confidence!" Bolin said excitedly. "So, how are we not out of the fight?" Bolin asked. Iroh stands up and Korra stops healing. He puts a hand over his wound.
"A second wave of reinforcements is on the way, but I need to warn them. Do you still have a way to get a message out?" Iroh asked.
"I know just the man for the job." Korra smiled.
Gommu sits down in a chair and plugs two wires into his make-shift telegraph station. He turns to Iroh and the others standing behind him.
"And who is the recipient of this top-secret message?" Gommu asked.
"Commander Bumi, Second Division of The United Forces." Iroh replied. Gommu cracks his fingers, massages his wrists and waves his right hand around.
"Tenzin's brother?" Korra asked.
"Yes. Bit of a wild man, but the bravest commander you'll ever meet." Iroh remarked with respect.
"Ready, sir." Gommu said prepared to work his magic. He begins to press the dial of the telegraph device repeatedly as Iroh speaks his message.
"Fleet ambushed and destroyed by Equalist aircraft. Retreat to Red Sand Island until my signal. Do not approach city until you receive the all clear."
Iroh spreads a map of Republic City on a table, his hand moves along the map and stops in the upper left corner of the map. Everyone steps closer to get a better look.
"Now comes the hard part, we need to ground those aircraft. Otherwise, Bumi's fleet will never be able to re-take the city."
Mako steps up and points to the upper left part of the map.
"They flew in from this direction. The airfield must be somewhere over this mountain range." He said pointing to the upper left.
"Everyone, get ready." Iroh said with a serious tone. "We leave at dawn."
Everyone nods in agreement before they dismiss and walk away.
"It's time to take down my father.
As everyone walked away, Korra stood back.
"Wait," she said, and everyone looked at her, "I'm not going with you tomorrow."
"What?" Mako questioned in surprise.
"Why not?" Asami asked
"I'm sick and tired of hiding from Amon. It's time I face him." she boldly declared.
"That's not a good plan. We need to stick together." Iroh said, trying to reason with Korra.
"I'm not waiting for him to hunt me down. My guts telling me it's time to end this, on my terms!" Korra stated.
"Then I'm going too." Haru declared. Heather and Korra looked at Haru like he was crazy.
"Haru, that is a bad idea." Heather stated while shaking her head. Korra nodded in agreement and held Haru's hand.
"I agree with Heather, you don't need to do this, they need you more right now." Korra added.
"Asami can fly Toothless and if push comes to shove, I can handle any chi-blocker and Amon one leg or not." Haru reasoned.
"Haru you are being completely stupid. She's the Avatar, she can handle herself. You were evenly matched against Amon when you had BENDING. As of right now you are a one legged NON BENDER and Amon will destroy you! You will get hurt!" Heather argued, but Haru persisted.
"Whatever happens I accept the consequences." He said unmoved.
"What about our son?" Heather asked in disbelief at his words.
Iroh's eyes widened with shock and turned to Haru.
"Wait you have a kid!?" he asked incredulously. Haru sighed with annoyance.
"It's a long story." He replied before turning back to Heather.
"I will be fine, and I will return back home to my son, bending or no bending, but I will not leave Korra to face Amon alone and that is final." Haru said determined.
Heather in anger stormed away from them. Korra looked to Haru with worry.
"Are you sure about this?" she asked. "Are you the Avatar?" he retorted. Korra nodded.
"Then there's your answer."
"Then I guess we'll have to trust you." Mako said.
Everyone left and went their separate ways. Haru and Korra were about to leave together, but Iroh called to him.
"Haru can I have a word?"
Haru kissed Korra and let her leave, he turned back and went to speak with Iroh.
"I know, I know, the whole kid thing is a surprise." Haru said rolling his eyes.
"It's not that, although we will talk about that, but I wanted to ask you about the kid's mother and her brother."
"Heather and Dagur? What about them?" Haru asked confused.
"It's something familiar about them. What do you know about them?" Iroh inquired.
"Well, they're both Fire Nation descent and they were once criminals. Heather sort of used me to obtain police documents and once they were found out there was a city-wide manhunt, but we never found them. They joined up with Amon and let him take their fire bending so they could blend in and give us information to pardon their crimes." Haru explained, just what was Iroh getting at?
"Their bending, what color was their fire?"
"Dagur's fire was the same as any others, but there was always more power in his fire, like he was a living sun."
"And Heather?" Iroh inquired further.
"Um her fire was special, it was blue, why all the questions?"
"Do you know about my Grandfather's sister?" Iroh asked.
"Princess Kiyi?"
"No, Azula." Iroh stated.
"Azula? Didn't she disappear sometime after the Hundred Year War?"
"Yes, she disappeared but that doesn't mean her legacy has." Iroh said with a hinting tone.
"What are you saying?" Haru asked.
"When Azula was a kid she was a prodigy and as she got older her fire color changed from red and yellow to blue."
"Sparky maybe that bomb knocked a screw loose. There's no way Heather and Dagur are related to Azula." Haru said with a chuckle.
"Come on kid think. Azula is the only firebender in history with blue flames and now the mother of your child had blue fire? It can't be a coincidence."
"But what does any of this matter?"
"Azula was dangerous and broken, she's did unspeakable things. Any of her descendants could be trouble."
"Heather and Dagur aren't dangerous, at least not anymore, they have no bending." Haru defended.
"Did they say anything that would suggest Azula is alive?"
"Dagur mentioned a grandmother but that doesn't mean anything."
Iroh held up his hand in surrender and stopped he relentless questioning, it was late, and they had to be ready for tomorrow.
"You know what? You're right, maybe that bomb is making me see things that aren't there. Just be careful." Iroh said leaving.
Haru pondered their strange conversation and went to sleep beside Korra, Toothless and Naga, not before kissing Junior goodnight. A sense of nervousness swept over him as he slept. Tomorrow he would face Amon.
NEXT MORNING
Everyone was getting ready to leave, Haru Junior cried as his mother, uncle and father said their goodbyes, he would stay in the shelter until they returned. Mako, at Asami's request, had decided to go with Haru and Korra as backup. It was now time to leave Bolin walks towards Mako and both brothers grab each other's hands and embrace each other.
"Love you, little bro."
"Love you back, big bro." Bolin replied. Gommu was crying at the show of affection, Mako and Asami kissed each other and hugged, Bolin walks towards Korra who is in her chi blocker uniform along with Haru.
"Korra, Amon is a nasty dude." He said raising his finger for emphasis, he then spreads his arms open for a hug. "Be careful."
"I will. Good luck." Korra breaks the hug and pets Naga. "If you're going into the mountains, you should bring Naga."
Naga raises her head up and Korra nuzzles her companion as the polar bear dog grunts.
"Take good care of Bolin for me."
Naga licks Bolin as he looks on unamused while Korra gives him a sheepish smile. Dagur walked over to Haru carrying a long object wrapped in cloth.
"Well little brother looks like this is where we part ways for now, here." He said handing Haru the object. Haru took the object and unwrapped the cloth, revealing a sheathed sword, he discards the cloth and drew the sword out. It was straight sword or jian, the same make as his uncle Sokka's, the metal was shiny, and the weight was light in his hand.
"Since your so boar-headed about going with your girlfriend, I thought you'd be better off with a weapon at least." Dagur said with a smile. Haru looked at the sword with wonder, it was amazing, unlike any weapon he'd seen. He turned to Dagur, they had been good friends at one point, he was like an older brother, despite his plan to use him in the past, he thought at least that part of their past was real.
"Thank you Dagur."
"You're welcome Haru, give Amon hell." Dagur replied hugging Haru. The ended their hug and went their separate ways Mako and Korra were waiting for him and they left together.
"Good fortune and success to you valiant heroes." Gommu called out to them.
At the bay the trio, now disguised as chi-blockers, walk into the water, Korra waterbends a bubble of air around them as they walk under water to Air Temple Island. After some time they resurface on Air Temple Island's shore they clamber onto a rock and put on their chi blocker masks.
As the trio climb up the slope They looked up and saw Amon board one of the Equalists airships by the high tower.
"There's Amon."
"Dammit we we're too late." Haru tsked. The airship flew off towards Republic City
"He might come back later. Let's wait inside the temple and when he returns, we ambush him." Mako suggested. Haru and Korra both nodded in agreement.
"I like the sound of that, let's go." Haru said leading the way.
The three of them made it to a path and began walking towards the tower. But someone else was walking on and adjacent path and spotted them.
"You three, what are you doing here?"
They look to the side and see to the Lieutenant staring sternly at them. They had to think of something quick to not seem suspicious.
"Uhh... we were just transferred." Mako blurted out, Korra and Haru nodded in agreement.
"Well, you're getting transferred again. Amon wants extra security at the arena today."
"The arena? For what?" Mako asked. The Lieutenant narrowed his eye a bit.
"The rally? Right?" Haru quickly asked. the Lieutenant seemed to return to normal.
"Yeah, the rally, you three forgot the briefing?" Lieutenant asked.
"Don't worry sir, we'll be there." Korra gives the Lieutenant a bow as well as Mako and Haru. Satisfied the Lieutenant walks away, when his back turned Korra whispered to the other two.
"I know another way in, follow me." She said.
The trio slowly shuffle away from the path and quickly make their way to the temple. Once there they find a small secret wooden door built into the wall. Korra lifts the door up and they all crawl inside the hole in the wall as the door shuts behind them.
INSIDE TEMPLE
They enter inside of one of the rooms in the tower as they ascend the stairs and walk across the room. Korra points to a ladder on the far side of the room.
"Let's hide in the attic."
The trio all start to climb. Mako enters the attic first and looks inside.
"Uhh... we're not alone up here." He said. Haru and Korra both look at where Mako has his gaze and saw a lone figure clad in blue being held behind bars in the attic.
"Well, well, well look who we have here." Haru drawing his sword.
"Tarrlok?" Korra said in surprise as she took her mask off, as did Haru and Mako.
"I don't suppose you're here to rescue me?" The tattered Tarrlok asked.
"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't gut you alive?" Haru said walking forward pointing his sword. Korra held him back, she knew why he was angry, but she didn't want to see that side of him.
"I see you got a new leg." Tarrlok smirked lightly. Rage was apparent in Haru's eyes as he tried to force his way around Korra, but she and Mako held him back.
"Too soon?" Tarrlok said.
"That's enough out of you Tarrlok" Korra warned.
"What are you even doing here? Are there other prisoners on the island?" Mako asked.
"No. I'm the only one." Tarrlok replied.
"Lucky you, what makes you so special?" Haru spat, still angry.
"I'm Amon's brother." Tarrlok said seriously.
Korra gasps as both she and Mako are shocked by the revelation, Haru is slightly shocked, distracting him from his anger.
"Amon is from the Northern Water Tribe. He's a waterbender and a bloodbender, just like I was." Tarrlok explained.
"What?!" Korra yelled surprised. The trio turn their heads to look at each other.
"Did you know this all along?" Mako asked.
"No." Tarrlok said putting his head down. "Not until after he captured me."
"Tell us everything you know." Haru demanded.
"It all began with my father, Yakone. With the help of his former gang, he escaped prison and underwent surgery to change his appearance. He assumed a new and settled down in the Northern Water Tribe. That's where he met my mother. A warm, caring woman. Before long, they started a family together. Amon was the first born, under the name Noatak. I was born three years later. Noatak was a good-natured kid, always looking out for me. Those were the good years before my brother and I discovered we were waterbenders. At first, we were excited by our new abilities brought out a different side of my father. He was stern a strict and wouldn't accept our failures, he was specifically tough on me.
Even back then, my brother wanted everyone to be treated fairly and equally. When I was seven, my father took me and Noatak on a hunting trip. Far away from our home. He told us his true identity was Yakone. Republic City's most notorious crime boss, and that he was once a bloodbender of rare skill. Apparently, we came from a long line of powerful bloodbenders and so the good days were behind us. Every full moon, our father took us on another supposed hunting trip where he secretly trained us in Bloodbending. We kept the truth from our mother always. Our first time our father made Notak practice on a yak. He was impressive, my father was proud, but it didn't settle with me. A few years later, my father taught us to bloodbender any time without the need of the full moon. We practiced constantly and I hated every minute of it. I had no stomach for manipulating helpless animals. My brother however, seemed to revel in his newfound power. He was a prodigy, mastering my father's psychic bloodbending technique by the time he was fourteen. Even though Noatak was my father's favorite, it wasn't any easier for him. He carried the burden of all Yakone's expectations and demands. Something began to change in Noatak over the years. The loving brother I once knew became cold and detached. Our father pushed us to extremes and one day, he made us bloodbend each other. Noatak had no problem doing so, the feeling of not being in control of my own body, the twitching, the cramping of my muscles, it was awful, and I refused to do so to my brother. My father was furious when I didn't do as he said and threated to beat me, but Noatak attacked our father with Bloodbending and tried to convince me to escape with him and be free of our father. I couldn't do it, I couldn't leave my mother with that man, not alone. Noatak rebuked me for being weak and ran away. My father and I searched for days we never found a sign of Noatak. We thought he perished in that storm. My mother was never the same after the loss of my brother. My father stopped training me, with Noatak gone, his hopes for revenge with it and he passed away a few years later." Tarrlok finished his story.
The information was a lot to process, the origins of Amon, Yakone, Bloodbending, it was a lot.
"That's one of the saddest stories I've ever heard." Korra remarked.
"Avatar Korra, Chief Beifong, I am truly sorry for all that I did to you. I thought I was better than my father, but his ghost still shaped me. I became a soldier of revenge, just like he wanted me to be. And so, did my brother. The revolution may be built on a lie, but I think Amon truly believes bending is the source of all evil in the world."
"How did you figure out Amon is your brother?" Mako asked.
"When he took my bending, the sensation was somehow familiar. I later recognized it as my brother's bloodbending grip."
"So, he somehow uses bloodbending to take people's bending." Korra said
"I don't know how he does it but then again, I've never encountered a bender as strong as Noatak." Tarrlok said in reverence.
"He must be using Bloodbending as a form of chi-blocking, he's not taking bending away, he's only blocking the energy inside people, its literally the only explanation." Haru explained.
"How in the world do we beat him?" Korra asked. Mako turned to the couple.
"We can't. Any attack we throw at him, he'll re-direct with his mind. That's how he has been able to challenge any bender."
"So much for our ambush. If we stay here, we're toast." Haru said with defeat. Suddenly Korra's eyes widened, she had an idea.
"But there's another way to beat him!" she exclaimed.
"How?" Haru and Mako ask.
"This whole time, Amon has been one step ahead of us but finally, we (places a fist on her chest) have the advantage. We know the truth about him. If we expose him as a bender in front of all his supporters..." she drifted off.
"At the rally, we could take away his true power!" Haru continued.
"And undermine this whole revolution." Mako finished. As they begin to leave Korra turns her head towards Tarrlok.
"Thank you, for your help." She said with a hint of sadness Tarrlok nods and looks to the side. Korra turns to Mako and Haru as they walk off.
"We can't just leave him here."
"You wanna tell that to my leg?" Haru said raising his brow.
"It's fine, Amon can't know anyone spoke with me. Defeat him. Put an end to this sad story." Tarrlok said grabbing the cell bars.
They all nodded and as they walked away, Haru turned to Tarrlok one last time.
"Until next time ponytail man." He said as he followed Korra and Mako down.
Author's Note: Finally finished, I'm beat, tried my hardest even with writer's block. There's so much I want to write but no time. Please leave plenty of reviews, questions, suggestions, critics and praise are welcome. Thank You!
Dagur's fire power is in between a regular firebender's output and a Sozin's comet output.