Note:
I'M BACK, BITCHES! It's been way too long, I know. And I'm sorry for taking so long to update. Hopefully, my hiatus is over, so I'll do my best to update regularly once every week or two. This chapter was not beta read, so please, excuse my mistakes and let me know if you find any. Anyways, I hope you enjoy the chapter, and I look forward to writing more for you guys!
There was a constant ring that buzzed through her ears and a harsh, bright light that blinded her eyes. Korra squinted and slowly curled, trying to sit up. With a groan, she failed to even roll onto her side. Everything burned: her ribs, her arms, her legs, her abdomen, her neck. It even hurt so much she found herself wheezing for a breath.
"Woah! Hold on there, kid. Let me help you up."
Korra couldn't make out the figure of whoever was talking. With her vision blurry and the contrast of the harsh light shining behind the person, the Water Tribe girl gave no effort in trying to focus on seeing them.
"Okay, on my count you'll sit up, and I'll prop you up on one of the walls, okay?"
She only let out a grunt because that's all she could do. Her voice was torn and raspy, while her throat was so aching sore that felt like there were dozens of fire ant-flies crawling down into her lungs.
It was obviously a man who was by her side, but Korra still couldn't make out much of him. He was smaller and his touch more frail. He seemed older, as for his fingers were bony, and his voice—though still muted by her ringing ears—had that older tone.
With his gentle touch and some effort, the man helped steady the Water Tribe girl onto her seat bones, her back rested against the wall of the room. As she relaxed her backside against the surface, her eyes could start to make out more details. The person helping her was definitely a man—an old man. His face was wrinkled and covered in grey stubble that connected to a pointy, grey beard. His hair was also the same color and traveled in all directions, mainly upwards. Flicking his hand towards her, he stated, "The name's Gommu!"
It took all in Korra just to reach out and barely grasp his hand to subtly shake it. "Korra," she replied at a whisper, her voice so raspy it came out somewhat broken. When she pulled her hand back, the Water Tribe girl winced at the burning ache in her right shoulder. Gommu saw that and immediately jumped up to fetch a long line of cloth.
"Whoops! I must've not found that while you were out. Looks like we've got a sprained arm or something? I don't think you broke anything, which is pretty lucky, means that you were beaten to nothing when I found you." He gently lifted her arm to place the cloth under, and Korra yelped. The pain seared up her arm, over her shoulder, and into her spine. The man was quick to stop his actions and let Korra recover before he continued to wrap her arm into a sling.
"There you go! Just make sure not to move it much. It'll heal faster if it's let alone." He gave her a smile, which she didn't return.
Through her dead voice, Korra could barely form her voice to ask, "What happened?"
"Well," Gommu started, "I found you laying in a pile of snow. You're head and upper body were sticking out of it—thank Raava for that because I wouldn't have seen you if you weren't poking out. Anyways, I found you all bloody and beat up on the sidewalk, laying in a bed of snow. You were unconscious, so I figured I'd take you to my place and hopefully patch you up. I'm glad you made it. I was getting worried you wouldn't because it'd been so cold in the storm. It took a few days, but you finally woke up! You're a fighter alright!" He let out a loud chuckle that sounded throughout the small room they were in.
Korra only grunted. She couldn't recall much of what had happened, not that she had tried to until now. She could remember being hit by that stranger on the street and blacking out, but that was about it. How did she even get there in the first place? Where was she even before, when she was in the city?
"You said—" she lost her voice and started to cough. Her lungs were filled with fluids, and every heave of a cough burned. "You said you found me on a sidewalk," another couple of coughs surfaced before she could continue on, "what street? Where was I?"
"Uhhh," he impatiently stroked his beard while thinking, "I believe it was..." His voice trailed off. "Hmmm. I'm not sure, actually. Somewhere in Downtown, I think?" He shrugged.
Great, Korra thought. He's completely useless! I'm never going to remember anything if he can't even remember a street or shop name. She let out a deep sigh. Maybe if I get out of this room I'll be able to find somewhere familiar and then know where I am.
"I'm just going to—" she tried lifting herself with her legs while pushing herself from the wall, but all over her joints buckled from underneath her. Gravity sent her back to the ground with a hard plop onto the flat, solid floor.
"I think it's best if you stay here for a little while. You're not in any condition to go places." Gommu suggested. "Here, let me help y—"
"—Get off me! I don't even know you, and I want out of here! I need to find out where I am." As much as it hurt, Korra slapped his hand away and found the strength left in her to lift herself back up against the wall. With a grunt, her back once again met the cold surface of the concrete wall. She growled at her own pain.
"Look, I know we're strangers, but I think it's best if you stayed with me for a day or two and rested, then I can help you find your way back from wherever you came from."
They were strangers alright. It gave Korra questions of why she even trusted him in the first place. He helped you and saved your sorry ass. You should be grateful for him. She puffed and continued her inner dialog, debating between her different notions. But he's still a stranger! You've only known him for a few minutes.
The dialog was useless; she would be infinitely arguing back the same points if she didn't stop. Sure, he was a complete stranger, but he also saved her life. For all she knew, she could have froze to death in the blizzard because no one else would've found her.
"Here, how about I take you to the main area to look around a bit." Korra looked at him with stern eyes. "Well, that's if I can get you up, first," he chuckled. "I'll be right back with a chair!" Gommu raced out of the room, his limbs flailing after him as he dashed off to catch something.
In the empty room, Korra only sat against the wall, chewing on her inner cheek. She hadn't really had time to observe her surroundings, but it made sense that she hadn't, means that there was only two chairs, a sleeping bag, a pillow, and a mug of something. It was a very barren little room. Peculiar.
A minute later, Gommu came racing into the room, pushing an old, used wheel chair. "This is going to have to do, if you want to get some fresh air. It can get a bit stuffy in the medical room here."
This is a medical room? How? This is just a room with chairs and a sleeping bag! The questions kept racing right to the front of her brain. What kind of medical room is this? Hell, why am I here and not the hospital?
The Water Tribe girl was snapped from her thoughts when the old man commented, "Now, I know you're sore, but either you try to get in this thing or you sit here for a few days." He shrugged. "It's all up to you."
"I guess I can..." Korra's voice broke out. She shifted to her right side, readying to push herself up. Gommu steadied her weight and kept her from sliding back onto her side.
"Here," he said, "let me just pull you up. You have a bad arm—it'll be very hard to get up that way." Carefully, the man wrapped Korra's functional arm around his neck and shoulder. He was squatted next to her, ready to help support her weight. "Okay, on the count of three we'll stand up and shuffle you over to the chair. Ready?" He gives her an optimistic smile.
The Water Tribe girl nods. She takes one last deep breath as the man counts up to three.
"Three!" He shouts. Together, both of them rise. Korra's legs ache with every inch she moves. Her muscles are tight from her lack of movement over the past few... days? How long has it even been? Who cares right now. I just need to get into this chair, so I can get out of this Raavadamn room!
The man gently lets the Water Tribe girl settle into the chair's seat. She tries her best to mildly adjust herself to the most comfortable position, but there isn't much comfort to gain at this point. With all of her joints and muscles creaky and aching, she does her best to position herself upright and stable.
"Ready?" he asks with that optimistic spark in his voice.
"Yeah, I guess," Korra sighs.
Turns out Korra finds herself in a colony of homeless people. The community seems very close and supportive. They share their food and clothes with Korra, which she constantly has to reject their kind offers. Some of the residents share their stories, while the Water Tribe girl's care taker is out scavenging for the community. Korra patiently waits and listens to each and every one of their tales.
She finds that most of the people living in the community have had hard lives in their past. There are some veterans from past wars, some families who couldn't find work, and some betas who were outcast by their old communities. The more stories she listens to, the more she feels a saddening tingle within herself.
"So how did you get down here, young one? What happened, if I may ask?" an older woman asks.
"Well, ummm..." she trails off, thinking of how she could explain herself. It's quite pathetic she's down here just because some omega scared her away, now that she thinks of it. Running from feelings, is that what I'll say? She chews on her lip at the thought.
Korra finds that she's attracted a rather decently sized crowd around her. They've formed a ring around her, all respectfully giving Korra the spotlight to finally tell her story.
The alpha clears her throat and attempts to start. "So, I guess I'll just start off by saying I had the life." Her voice is still very croaky, but she's at least able to form full sentences now without having to hack half way through. "I was living it, but then I messed it all up." The Water Tribe girl is hesitant to continue on, but she forces herself to. "I was going to graduate high school, go to college, and have a life. I also had a girlfriend, who was the most amazing person in the world."
Everyone's gazes are stuck onto Korra, listening gingerly to every one of her words. It's a small boy sitting across the circle from the alpha that encourages her to move on with her story, "What happened? Are you still with her?"
Gripping her hands together, she decides to tell the truth of it all, no matter how humiliating it may be. "No, I'm not. I had to let her go because things weren't working out between us."
The older lady that had asked about Korra's story comments, "It happens to all of us, kid. She obviously wasn't the right one for you if she chose to go another way."
"Well," Korra scratches the back of her neck, "I kind of drove her away and had to let her go because of it. There was this other girl, a new girl, who was very stunning and—"
"So you liked someone else and lost her because of that?" the woman asks.
This is what Korra was afraid of. Yes, she'd found herself attracted to another girl, and yes, she had lost Opal because of that other person, but she didn't know if she could find the courage to say so.
"I... I—" she stuttered, "we weren't able to work things out between us. We'd been falling apart for the past couple of months." Don't cut yourself short, asshole. Tell the truth, she reminded herself. "Just recently I'd met this omega, and she was literally the most stunning person I'd ever seen, not to mention she was very nice." Korra couldn't help but blush at the thought of Asami. She could remember her long, silky, raven black hair, always perfectly laying down her shoulders and back. She recalls her sweet voice, gentle with every word that had come from her lips. Korra then remembered their kiss. It was quick but tender and lively. She remembered the fireworks within her gut that were set off the moment when their lips made contact. It was something magical, something that the Water Tribe girl hadn't felt for what seemed to be forever ago.
Snapping out of her state, Korra decided to move on with her story. "I just lost control of everything in life, and then, I'd thought I'd gotten my girlfriend pregnant. Turns out she wasn't, which is great, but I had also kind of cheated on her. I knew I had to let her go. She was too good for me, so we split. I'd regretted everything and..." She finally realized what an idiot she sounded like—a complete moron who didn't care about others, who only cared for their own pleasure. And that's why you ran away. You didn't care about anyone but yourself, Korra reminded herself.
"And then I ran away," she finishes. Her eyes are set on the ground, her face resting with disappointment. She internally beats herself up as her mind races through everything she could've done to make things right again.
"Oh, you dramatic teenagers. I'm sure it'll work out, sweetie. You just need a breath of fresh air, and you'll be right back on your feet again," the woman laughs. "We all make mistakes, and we all have to accept them in order to move on. It just sounds like you weren't cut out for the relationship you were in, so it put you down a bit. I think you need to head back home and give yourself a fresh start. Stop punishing yourself for such unnecessary things."
"Yeah, but I cheated on her!" the Water Tribe girl argues back. "I was a shitty person to her, and she's no one who deserves that."
"Dear, we all make mistakes. I get you feel guilty about what you did to her, but you need to accept it, learn from it, and move on."
Nodding, Korra gives up. She's right, dumbass. The only reason you got yourself out here was because you were selfish and because you ran away due to your guilt. She huffs at her thoughts, having finally figured out how idiotic she really was. Now I get why the omegas and betas at school complain about alphas being too dramatic...
"Young lady, are you okay?" It's the woman. She's leaning forward in her seat, looking for Korra's gaze.
"Yeah, I'm fine," Korra voices lightly.
"Drifting off, were you?"
Nodding the alpha replies, "Just thinking of what I've done, of what I should've done to not have been so stupid."
Placing a hand on the Water Tribe girl's shoulder, the woman comforts her with gentle touches. Her fingers feel brittle as they brush lightly against the girl's caramel skin, but they still hold some strength. Or at least maybe a strength that's been slowly crumbling over the years. Nevertheless, some of it is still in her touch, and it soothes Korra.
With a slight smile growing onto her face, the alpha gazes at the older woman. "Thank you," she whispers. Korra never thought something so simple would calm her. Not one sound had to spill from the woman's lips to reassure her.
With her raspy voice, the lady lets out a little snicker only to comment, "You alphas get fed up with yourselves way too easy. You just have to remember that everyone messes up once in a while, and it's okay, as long as you're able to learn and continue forward. And don't worry, you'll find someone great someday, whether it's that girl or someone else."
Her smile now evolved into a giant smirk, Korra nods with confidence. "You're right. I need to pick myself back up, and I need to accept my past in order to move forwards. I still regret letting her go," she stops to look directly into the woman's pale eyes, "but it was the right decision for both of us. What relationship we had was unhealthy; we didn't work well together."
"Indeed," she smiles back. "Now that you're feeling better about it, how about you let Gomnu take you back to the room and patch you up a bit more? You should be out of her by tomorrow sometime, if you'd like to go."
"Sounds good," Korra smiles.
