Hello. I write this from a coffin. Yes, I'm dead. Now that would be a hell of an excuse, wouldn't it?
This took... far longer than it should have. Explanation's at the bottom. Now, go, what are you waiting for? The story's AFTER my rambling! Go on, get!
Ps. Enjoy peeps.
I think I might have said too much
About a bag of gold
That I have hiding in the line of my coat
I think they probably know too much
About the things I've done
Cause there all breathing just a little too close
Vultures are waiting
There waiting to take me
But not this time
Had a taste of the dream
Come to find it's not as sweet
as I thought it would be
See these shadows over me
In the desert of my mind
Friends like water, hard to find
Is there no one left to trust
Vultures circle up above
Ohhhhhh
There flying, flying, flying
Ohhhhhh
But I won't be dying, dying, dying vulture
Vulture
I see them all sniff around, damn I'm stuck
Cause I'm too tired to get up right now
They all think I'm dead, so serve me up
But over my dead body you better try your luck
Vultures are waiting
There waiting to take me
But not this time
Had a taste of the dream
Come to find it's not as sweet as I thought it would be
See these shadows over me
In the desert of my mind
Friends like water, hard to find
Is there no one left to trust
Vultures circle up above
Ohhhhhh
There flying, flying, flying
Ohhhhhh
But I won't be dying, dying, dying
Ohhhhhh
There flying, flying, flying
Ohhhhhh
But I won't be dying, dying, dying vulture
Ohhh yeah
Why don't you let me be
Leave me with what I deserve
Saying ohhh yeah, yeah
I'll go on living now
There's nothing left ohh scavengers
Give up, give up, ohhh
Ohhhhh
Yeahhhh
I'm not
I'm not
Vultures circle up above
Ohhhh, yeahhh
Ohhhh, no no
Come on, come on, come on yeah
I wont be dying
Ohhhh no
"Vultures" - Labrinth
The teleportation was fast, but half of the demon thought that he shouldn't have bothered. The Spirit World was vast and ever growing, but the damage the Avatar had inflicted could be seen from miles away.
With so much rubble and wreckage strewn across the canyon, Shin La had to be careful not hurt his feet as he landed. There was a soft thud as he did so, with a couple more stones rattling down the great monolith of what once was. Hearing more rocks shift under an ever moving creature, the demon turned to face it, his idle memory reminding him that, where he was standing now, used to be the top of a colossal rock formation.
Now, it had been dragged down to Earth.
"Koh, my dearest," he called out among the devastation. "Are you present? Are you alive? This seems awfully anti-climactic. I never imagined that this is how you would die."
To anyone else, it would look like he was talking to the wind. But the ghost's indelible hearing did not lie. He heard the tell-tale scuttling, the sound that would usually compel lesser creatures to run. But just as he heard its strength, he sensed its frailty. He could hear some legs dragging against dirt, struggling to escape the earthy prison. Looking over to his left, Shin La hopped down to get a better view.
"You really don't have to play up this charade," he chided. "I know you're there." He paused afterward, as if a possibility unknown to him until now had struck him. "Or perhaps you're not. Maybe I should bow and herald the conquering hero! Avatar Korra, the bridge between spirits and humans. A title well known for its falsehoods."
More rummaging followed. Pebbles and debris continued to shift and move underneath his feet. Shin La studied its patterns closely. They seemed to go in a circle…
Finally, the beast reared its ugly head. Shin La saw the Face Stealer and immediately flashed a grin.
If not for his quick reactions, the phantom would have been speared into the ground. As soon as Koh saw him he lunged, legs pointed downward to impale his victim. But Shin La was expecting it, moving closer so he could grab the spirit mid-air. Almost effortlessly, he flipped him onto his back.
"We've danced like this before, Koh," he said, stamping on the monster and effectively pinning him in place. "It doesn't end well for you."
The creature in question was reluctant to reply. Every time Shin La smiled, or raised his eyebrows or smacked his lips Koh winced. The freedom of his expression was more aggravating than any mortal injury. "You cannot blame me for trying," he replied, still avoiding his gaze. "One of these days, I shall be successful."
"Perhaps," Shin La said, releasing his hold on the Face Stealer and allowing him up. "But not today. I see you have some renovating to do. The Avatar's work, no doubt."
Koh nodded. "I am afraid you have missed her. She escaped my lair as it crumbled. Where she landed, I cannot possibly say." The way his face moved as he talked was strange to the demon. He knew Koh's penchant for shifting expression at the top of a hat, but to see it in practice was still unnerving. Particularly when he knew that, for him at least, it was not in an effort to manipulate him.
"That is quite all right. We're on this journey together, her and I. We shall see each other once more. No, I am more interested in what you had to say, old friend."
There was a thinly veiled threat to his words. Koh caught it immediately. "Oh? And why is that? I serve no masters. I give out what I know freely. Anyone willing to risk the reprisal is worthy of hearing it. There are some things even you can't change, Azran."
Shin La's eyes narrowed at the use of his former name. "Maybe not. But rules can be bent, if not broken. And just as one primordial being came knocking for knowledge, so do I. Considering our past history, there is only one relevant thing you could have told her."
For the first time since he'd arrived, Koh grinned. "The key to your downfall? Yes, I admit it. She knows. Raava has always known. You will expect her soon, should she survive the journey back to the mortal realm. And I make no apologies for that. Your battle with her should be… interesting."
"Oh? And why shall that be?" Shin La said, catching the almost mischievous tint to the old collector's voice.
"Nothing except the truth that we both know you want to deny. Is it getting harder to resist? Ordinary people… they can only sustain a being like you for so long, can't they? You paint yourself out to be a monster. But even a monster has to heed nature's call. You must feed. You must remain whole. You didn't exactly come back right, now did you?"
"What are you talking about?" Shin La demanded, on the back foot for the first time in the conversation. "I am more powerful than I have ever been before. You would be wise to remember that."
"Aye, you are," Koh agreed with a lazy grin. "But all that power comes at a price. Someone has to pay it. Will it be Korra? Or shall it be you? Your thirst will never be quenched Shin La. You will always need more. And you know what happens when a spirit overdoses on power."
The phantom narrowed his eyes so hard he nearly let slip of his tight control over his bestial form. He was frothing at the mouth on the inside, the inner fiend tearing at his walls of patience to attack for Koh's blatant threats. But he kept his cool as he responded, merely allowing his pupils to go black as a warning to the Face Stealer. "They are the rules of the world. Rules are made to be broken."
Koh had the gall to laugh. "They apply to all who live under the shadow of Ezrath."
"Then when I rip the Veil between worlds apart at the Winter Solstice, we shall no longer be living under the shadow of the sun," he smirked. "And I will roam free whenever and wherever I please."
"The Avatar will stand in your way. Your little war on her allies will mean nothing when you face her. She has all the tools to defeat you. I'm not saying she will defeat you… I know that she can."
"Yes," Shin La agreed, clearly agitated by that declaration. "She can, because of you. But no matter. You are going to help me, Koh, just as you did to her. You're going to tell me just what I need to know. Am I clear?"
It was a strange back and forth between monsters. They were different yet cut from the same cloth. Morally ambivalent, yet they used their views on the world in a different way. Both had nihilistic viewpoints, only one sought to see it realised. "Hmm," Koh hummed, like he was thinking about it. "What is your question, Shin La?"
Koh had to quickly shift his gaze to the ground again as the phantom grinned in response. "Simple. You told Korra the means to destroy me. You're going to tell me how to resist it."
The long shadow the buildings always cast brought a deep unsettling feeling to the detective as he walked the streets. The sun hung lazily in the sky, shining even as the season threatened to roll under the blanket of Autumn. Mako was just glad for its continued light. He couldn't help it now. Once so nocturnal in his ways, the dark now gave him shivers.
He shook that feeling away as he approached the park. He'd never really had much of a childhood, but he did remember a few unwritten rules. No one got by in their teens on the streets looking weak. Especially cushy little adults who lived in their houses and had no idea what the cold feeling of the pavement for a bed felt like. He turned up his long coat. He needed their respect if this was going to work. Specifically, one kid's respect.
As he arrived through the tattered railings and the rusty swings, he saw the young group he was looking for. They were all adorned in red bandanas, the small hats they wore long gone by today's standard of thug fashion. Their ages ranged from kids as young as ten to adolescents nearly reaching their early twenties. One boy in particular stood out.
He was leaning against the black railing that outlined the park, black paint flaking from years of overuse with no one bothering to repaint it. Judging from the way small swears came from his lips, he was struggling with something. With a cigarette hanging from his mouth, Mako didn't need to guess twice.
Some kids, mostly the younger ones, looked at him with curiosity. Most of the teens were too busy pretending not to care to take much notice. The older ones, the leaders, they held him in outright disdain. But Skoochy, somehow, manage to have a different reaction than any of them.
"Yo, mister!" he said, when he saw Mako approaching him. "Got a light?"
"It depends," Mako replied, removing what he called his 'detective cap' off of his head. It was a birthday gift from his brother, some years ago now. Before, he'd always felt silly wearing it, like a child playing dress up. Now, he didn't care. Better to embrace the hardboiled detective stereotype than to fight it. "What are you willing to trade?"
His eyes narrowed at the adult. "You some poof, mister? Because in that case, we don't take kindly to you lot round here. Ha, would be with a jacket like that!" he scoffed. The other kids, buoyed by his courage, started to laugh. Mako rolled his eyes.
"Oh yes," Mako deadpanned. "I'm a raging homosexual come to snap your innocent little minds. Grow up, Skoochy."
His response, the sarcastic one as opposed to the offended, 'how dare you?' one they were probably used to getting startled them a bit. Skoochy himself seemed to think as he heard his nickname. "Huh," he said, rubbing his chin. "I haven't used that name in a long time. Last person who called me that was-" he trailed off, before he put two and two together as he was about to say the firebender's name. "Mako. Mako? That you?"
"Yep," the man in question replied simply. "I've got some questions, Skooch. Some that you need to answer."
"Oh, don't do that," Skoochy groaned. "Don't ruin the reunion by going all popo on me! You used to be one of us! Don't tell me you've turned into one of the Republic's yes men."
Mako internally sighed. Great, he was sixteen and going through his 'F*** the man' stage. "Yeah I was one of you. Then I grew up. Don't worry, it'll happen soon to you too."
Skoochy snorted. "Not likely."
The firebender sighed. This could be a drag. "Look, Taren," Mako said, hoping the use of his real name would disengage him from the prying eyes of his peers. "I've got questions. Questions that someone like you can answer. You answer them, I'll be on my way. Deal?"
The teen arched his eyebrows. "Just like old times?"
"Just like old times."
"All right," Skoochy conceded, before raising a pack of cigarettes to the detective's face. "Light one of these for me, and we can talk."
Mako did so, albeit reluctantly. "You know, they're saying that stuff will shorten your life by about thirty years."
"Oh, blah blah blah," he coughed back. The smoke hung thick in the air, but somehow the youngster sighed in relief. "Okay, ask away."
Mako put his hands in his pockets and scrounged for a notebook, but then decided against it as he realised he may have looked a little bit like a novice to the kids. He didn't know why that thought affected him so. Maybe it was because he remembered himself in their shoes. Maybe he wanted to give them an example to look up to.
"You were arrested about two weeks ago, yes?" Mako inquired, careful to keep his voice neutral so he wouldn't antagonise him. "When they searched you they found fliers and leaflets for a meeting, specifically a meeting with 'The Dreaded'. What can you tell about that meeting?"
Instantly Skoochy's eyes darkened. Mako had never seen him this apprehensive, his cigarette poised above his mouth and his eyes hesitant to look at the detective. He gulped audibly. "Man, you sure you want to know? That's some… I don't know if you want that burden, Mako. There's some stuff on the streets you leave well alone."
"Answers, Skooch," Mako pressed. "I've faced ruthless tyrants, amoral terrorists and creatures that are known for ending the world. Theses streets stopped giving me nightmares a long time ago."
Skoochy merely shrugged. "Fair enough man. Don't say I didn't warn you," he said, flicking his fag to the ground and stomping out the light. "Those fliers were part of a job. One of the urchins heard about it. One for the closet clubs and secret societies. You get them every so often. They're easy money. Usually they fizzle out because there's too many majors and not enough soldiers or people don't get behind their half-baked agendas but… this one's different. Got a large following. Paid well, as I said. The main difference was that they offered us food and shelter."
The detective was taking notes mentally. "That doesn't happen often?"
Skoochy snorted in response. "Oh, it happens but not usually. Generally these guys don't want riff raff like us. They're fine giving us a few coins for labour, but they're too stuck up to associate with us. Assholes."
Even though he was questioning him, Mako felt a pang of sympathy. He remembered people looking down at him like that. "So they let you in?"
"Not me. I'd a feeling about them, in my gut. I've learnt to trust it. I'm pretty sure it saved my life."
Mako rose his eyebrows in slight alarm. "Why's that?"
Skoochy fingered another cigarette gingerly in his palm. "Because two of the urchins, Costa and his brother, went to that little meeting. His brother came back muttering about how he'd 'seen what's coming', and that he was never going back there again. As for Costa… no one's seen him since. This was right before I was arrested."
"Not on the streets? Not even a sign of a body or anything?"
"Nope. Nothing. His brother hasn't been the same since. In the day, he just stares at the sun. Pretty sure he's burnt out his vision. He barely eats. And in the night, he wakes up from bed screaming," Skoochy breathed, like he was telling a ghost story, one that he had never quite managed to shake the shock from. "Look, Mako, I can't stop you from doing whatever you're going to do. But for Spirit's sakes, don't go looking for The Dreaded. Costa was one of the strongest people in this dump. He's been arrested and acquitted a million times. He's a criminal, and he's just vanished into thin air. Who knows what they'll do to you?"
Mako stared at him for a second. He let the young man's words sink in. And then his face set in a grim expression as he made up his mind. "I guess we'll find out," he said finally. "When's the next meeting?"
Skoochy's face looked pained. "Mako…"
"Tell me, Skooch. I need to know."
"Fine," the teen bit out, clearly unhappy with what he was about to say. "It's tonight, at the old rally building Amon used to use. Use the password 'Amorlak' to get in. And… be careful."
"You too, Skooch," Mako said, the purpose of his visit complete. He was about to leave when the youngster opened his mouth as he was setting off.
"Here," he said, waving his pack at Mako. "Can you light another one?"
He looked at the young man, all skinny limbs and tattered clothes. Again a fleeting reminder of himself in the same position crossed his mind. He'd been there, begging and rustling in the streets. Then another vision passed him, showing him what he could have become. What Taren was becoming. A ragged, aimless teenage boy, angry at the world and everyone in it, to be swallowed up by the city and spat out dead at age thirty.
"Sure," he replied, before he yanked the whole pack out of his hands and set it alight without a moment's hesitation. "Hey!" he protested as the detective throw it onto the ground, but it was too late. The cigarette pack crumpled into a pile of ash.
"That stuff will kill you, Taren," Mako said. "Or it will lead you onto something more addictive that will. I was in your position once. It's not too late. You're better than this."
"Yeah?" the young man replied as Mako started to walk away. "Screw you! I don't need to prove anything to you!"
"No, you don't," Mako fired back. "Prove it to yourself."
With those parting words, he walked out of the park, the sun already setting and leaving the smoking city crowd into darkness, a young boy amongst them staring at pile of ashes where his evening's entertainment once was. Mako silently wished he'd made a difference as he walked away.
The little whisper in his head told him he hadn't.
She'd searched the rubble and found nothing. She'd looked up to the sky and found no help or aid. She waited for hours, for something to confirm both her worst fears and her greatest hope. Neither came. So she took matters into her own hands.
Her boots sloshed against the water, the days of walking starting to take a toll. The soft mud of the riverbed clung to her feet as she waded across the swampy jungle. The vines up ahead threatened to tangle her into a knot, and only the extended knife she brought kept her from being trapped in their embrace.
The sunlight glinted across the blade. She'd kept it from Korra's sight of view on the journey here. She knew the Avatar wouldn't approve of interfering with the Spirit World, even in a small capacity.
But Korra wasn't here.
Not knowing if she was dead was almost worse than wondering if she was alive. There was no sign of life or death. Just a collapsed cavern, nothing more.
Perceivably, no one could survive a ruin like that. The rocks would crush her body, and if she was lucky to avoid their wrath they would have pinned her down and condemned her to a slow death, either by drowning as the water rose or starvation as the days started to become weeks without food.
If the latter was the case, then she'd still be alive. But she searched the wreck as much as her body would allow. And there was no body. She didn't know if that was positive or not.
So she'd looked up to the sky, and seen the massive beam that now dominated the flat landscape of the Spirit World. And she decided that the best thing was to return home. The long way round.
The thick jungle hadn't become any more accommodating. In fact, now it seemed even more cumbersome. Her pack was considerably lighter, but it still held several emergency rations and a good bit of hiking equipment. And without a universal bender to mould the terrain to her whim, she was stuck with twice the work.
And it showed. She was making less ground. Her breaths were becoming longer and wheezier. She'd need to set up camp soon, but right now she was up her waist in muddy, murky water. A potential campsite was nowhere to be found. And as the height of the water rose, so did the weight of her pack as moisture seeped in and made her burden all the heavier.
She cursed. How had it gone so wrong?
"She lost her composure," An amused voice cut in. "With a temper as volatile as hers, is it such a surprise? But of course, the prize is worth the risk. How else can you defeat me?"
Asami's legs were tired but they still leapt into life as she whirled to get away from the voice that was so familiar to her now. The water splashed against his cloak, but still the spectral figure stood, charmed by her attempt to get into a fighting stance when she was clearly unfit for such a battle.
The glints of sunlight shone in fleeting bursts through the trees high up above. Asami noticed that he was taking special care not to walk to close to where the leaves and foliage separated to show a glimpse of the sky. She took a breath, her body at the ready, even as her bones ached and her headache throbbed.
"What? Not going to ask what I want this time? Demand an explanation for what happened to place you in your current predicament? Or am I getting too predictable in this saga of ours?" Shin La laughed. His voice swayed with the breeze, his cloak buffered by the wind. Asami shoved a lock of hair behind her ear so she could see him at all times.
"How are you here?" Asami said, her tone a mixture of anger and hate. But underneath it, she knew there was a tired edge to it. She was left asking questions to what she didn't know far more often nowadays. The answers never seemed to satisfy either.
"The power of imagination." His reply was characteristically cryptic. "I've borrowed the mind of one of Republic City's citizens. A teacher, to be exact. Very creative, enough for me to transport myself here. So we can have this lovely conversation."
She kept her hands up. "Why are you here? To taunt me or to kill me? Because if you don't mind, I've got somewhere to be."
"Yes, you do," he agreed. "Here, let me help you."
Asami reacted, but her attempts to evade him weren't fast enough as Shin La's cold grip closed around her wrist and the next thing she knew, she was transported somewhere else, far away from the damp, warm swamp of the Spirit World.
The sun was, for lack of a better word, beautiful. Especially now, with how fleeting its presence would soon become. The big yellow sphere shined in all directions, highlighting the lush grass and glowing pavements. It was a giver of life, and it brought happiness to all who bathed in its light. It made everything around it better. As Bolin gazed in its direction, he wondered why he'd never looked at the gold star that way before.
But it paled in comparison to her.
Her hair was swept up in a ponytail. Unconventional for her, but certainly not unpleasant. With her hair pulled back he could see her delectable neck, skin that he wouldn't normally see on a day like today. When he pushed his careful watch up to her eyes he knew he'd been caught. She had that amused look in their depths.
The lake beside them reflected the light of the sun. Lily pads and fish bobbed on and underneath the fresh water, while small little spirits flitted in and out of the square centre in Republic City. And there Opal sat, eating one of his sandwiches, looking absolutely perfect.
It was, in a word, idyllic.
"I like days like today," she said thoughtfully, after she'd swallowed down her lunch. "It helps remind me how good life can get."
"True that," he replied, lying languidly on the tie dyed cloth he'd brought with them to sit on over the grass. "I don't think I've felt this relaxed in weeks."
In retrospect, the picnic idea was genius. Absolute genius. Score one for Bolin, he thought. He remembered her checking out of the hospital earlier, running to him so quickly in excitement that she'd nearly missed the wicker basket that was heavily weighing him down. Naturally, she'd bumped right into it. Only the power of her airbending saved their picnic becoming a mess on the side of the road.
She still had scars from her encounter with Shin La. Hell, so did he. But right now, hers were all the more prominent. A thick cast adorned her left arm, the plastic covering up to the knuckle. She flinched when he went in for a high five. It would take time for her to heal. The doctors said as much. But that fact didn't stop him from wanting to clench his fists at the reminder of her stress.
It could have been worse though. At least they were enjoying a picnic on a nice day, and not attending a funeral on a sad and dreary one.
So, today was a day to relax. To take a chill pill in this crazy rollercoaster they called life. And also to celebrate the fact that neither of them were dead.
He was so lost in his thoughts that he didn't even register that Opal had said something. "Hmm?" he said, hoping she hadn't noticed.
She smiled. "Thank you for bringing me here. I needed this normality. Our lives have been pretty crazy recently."
"No bother, my lady," Bolin said. "They have been, haven't they ?"
"Yeah. And now we find ourselves in this weird little… interval. A port in the storm. That's the thing about storms, you can't tell what phase you're going through. The eye, the crest, the dissipation, whatever. When it's winding down, you've no clue whether it's about to end or if it's just a temporary reprieve. He hasn't gone after us for a few days. Peace and peril in the matter of a week. How long do you think that'll last?"
"I don't know," Bolin said, scratching the side of his head. "Could be a week, could be tomorrow. We just can't tell. The only thing we know for certain is that he'll be back again."
They lapsed into silence for a moment, lazily watching the sun creep across the horizon. The light tones accentuated her tanned skin. "I guess. It's just… what a contrast. Here I feel safe, happy, even though I know it won't last. My family tried to come here, you know. They heard about me and wanted to come help," she said, turning onto her side.
"And?"
"I blocked them. I said no. I don't want them to be here. They'll just be another target, or worse they'll be a weapon Shin La can use. Korra did the same to hers. The city isn't a place to keep your loved ones right now."
"I know," Bolin sighed. "Sometimes I wonder. Does getting the hell out of dodge make you the smart guy who lives to fight another day, or does it make you a coward who left his friends to die?"
There was a palpable tension, where there wasn't before. They looked at each other, reading their partner's thoughts so clearly. "We could leave," Bolin suggested half-heartedly, more out of a sign of acceptance than anything else. They were both thinking it. "We could leave together and we'd be well within our rights to do so. Just you and me against the world."
"We could," Opal agreed, still gazing at the ever glow of the sun, watching its progress as it slipped in and out of the clouds above. "Mako would understand. Korra would understand. They all would. We could leave and build a life together, regardless of what happens here. Have a lot more days like these."
"But?" Bolin probed sensing the word coming. To be honest, he knew what she was about to say. He was thinking it too.
"But we won't," Opal said simply, her gaze turned to him and those clear green eyes. "Because we won't abandon our friends, no matter what. I want them to be here when it's good. I want to be laugh and joke with them. If we don't try to live then… what's the point?"
"Nothing worth having comes easy," Bolin echoed her sentiments. He looked into her eyes. "And you, my family and my friends are definitely worth having." He cupped her cheek as he talked, and he felt the curve of her lips as they formed a soft smile only for him.
"So we're staying," she said.
"We're staying."
She leaned back to press her head back against his shoulder, before she suddenly got an idea. A mischievous thought crossed her mind and blossomed to full bloom. "Hey, Bo," she said with an inquiry. "You trust me right?"
His answer was immediate. "With my life."
"Good. I want to show you something."
The man's eyebrows furrowed but he did as his lady requested, getting to his feet as she got to her. Gingerly striking a stance, a small gush of wind started to envelop around the earthbender's feet. "Uh, Opal," he said, concern just a tiny bit prevalent in his voice. "Are you sure you can-"
"Trust, babe," Opal chided with a smile. "I can do this."
Though not as fast as normal, the air around him was soon whipped into a frenzy, encircling him and propelling him upward, a small tornado howling at his feet. Pretty soon, he was levitated ten feet above the ground.
His fists clenched. While he wasn't actively afraid of heights, he didn't seek them out. He was an earthbender after all. His mind was much more solid when his two feet were planted firmly in the ground. "Opal…" he intoned, worry in his voice, before she appeared behind him, caught in her own hurricane.
Wait a minute… no. No, Bolin realised. Her feet were hanging in the air, even as she was suspended to the same height as he. Wind whipped her ponytail but all of her airbending was focused on him. It was like she was walking on air. And then he looked up to see the massive grin on her face.
She was flying. He could scarcely believe it. Judging by her breathless smile, neither could she.
He laughed. He couldn't help it. He thought he'd seen it all but his little spitfire had to go and surprise him once again. And spirits, she was flying! Only one other airbender had ever been able to achieve that, and that took him years and years of meditation and training. Opal had mastered mere days after her body first demonstrated the skill to utilise it.
He tried to rush to her, but he couldn't move. Seeing his intention, she let him down gently, before sinking herself back down to Earth. His restriction gone, Bolin ran over to his girlfriend and hugged her.
She was warm. Her hair smelled of shampoo. He twirled her round, laughing as he did it. she was sure her cheeks would grow sore before long, because she simply couldn't stop smiling.
There was only one thing to say. "I love you," he whispered to her, foreheads touching, lips scarcely a centimetre away. "I love you, Opal Beifong. I love you."
Her smile was as bright as the sun itself. "I love you too."
They clinched those words with a kiss.
They knew a fight was coming. They knew they were in the storm, be it it's eye or its end. But in this little moment, they found peace. More importantly, they'd rediscovered what they were fighting for. What all of them were ultimately fighting for.
Each other. And that was something Shin La would never be able to take away from them.
The rush of teleportation was something Asami had experienced quite a bit in the last few years, but she'd never get used to it. Even when travelling with Korra through the portal, queasy, bloated feelings rushed her stomach and made her sick. The journey with Shin La was even more unpleasant.
She didn't have any time to get her bearings before her gut reacted, and she emptied the contents of her stomach on the smooth purple plain before her. After the initial surge she ran her tongue through her teeth, spitting up the last few remnants that still remained as her stomach settled.
Shin La looked on. "Humans." He shook his head. "Always have to make a production out of everything."
The human in question wiped the last of it from her mouth. "Screw you. Why did you take me? Where are we?"
"Home," Shin La said, still looking over the vast lilac horizon. "For you at least."
"Ha, ha," Asami deadpanned. "What do you-" Her words died as she saw the golden portal in the distance, the one leading right into Republic City. The one that, a day ago, she'd just been stepping into.
"Why?" she asked suspiciously. "Why bring me here? This gains you nothing."
He stared off into the distance. "The end, Ms. Sato. I want to see your face when it happens. And it will happen soon. Mark my words. Go on, go home. Prepare yourself, warn your friends, await your lover's return. Whatever it is you humans do. Meddling with the Republic's affairs grows quite dull when you have no captive audience you care for."
Asami glared at him, trying to find the root of some unforeseen trap. Maybe a twisted game that the demon was playing with her. But his face seemed surprisingly sincere. "You're letting me go? Because you want me there at the end? You're not even going to possess me?"
"Yes," he replied simply, a smirk underlying the straight face. "When you are as powerful as I am you can afford a little discrepancy."
The woman checked her surroundings cautiously, but she slowly started to walk away from the demon towards the portal. Every so often, she would give fleeting furtive glances, convinced at any moment that Shin La's true intention would appear and she'd be left fighting for her life. But it never did. She kept walking as the spirit stared into the portal's golden depths.
She was nearly out of earshot when she heard Shin La's parting words. "Of course, maybe I can't wait to see the sorrow in the Avatars face when you break her heart."
They stopped her dead. Slowly, apprehensively, she turned around once more. "What did you say?" she said, her neutral tone belying the suspicion and anger pending up in her head.
The smirk grew wider on his face. "You heard me, my dear. You know, I've always wondered how mortals are so damaged by loss of affection. In your case it may well tear her apart."
Asami clenched her fists. "What are you talking about?" she snarled more than asked. "You know nothing about love or compassion. Someone like you wouldn't even be able to grasp the concept."
"I know enough, young one. I see how happy you become, I see how you shut down when you're not. Love can build you up and then send you crashing down. That is why I have returned you to your little workshop. I want to see the heartbreak in Korra's eyes when she sees you with another."
Asami's blood ran cold. "You're bluffing," she stiffened her lip and bared her teeth. "You don't know anything about me or who I am or what makes me happy. You don't know anything about any of us. That's why you'll lose."
"Hmm," Shin La shook his head, speaking like one would to a child. "But we both know that isn't true, don't we? I know that Mako pines for Korra, a wish hidden for years. I know Lin is, sorry, was bitter because she had to spend a lifetime protecting the one thing she could never have. And I know your struggle, Asami Sato. Tell me, has Korra met the young Tenshi yet?"
"How-" Asami spluttered, like the world had been taken away from under her feet. "How do you know about Tenshi? How do you-"
"No secrets can be hidden from me here," Shin La cackled wickedly. "And you humans do fall in and out of melodramatics so easily. Have you come to your senses yet? Are you ready to let her down gently? Or are you delaying the inevitable because you know the hurt you will cause. Who knows, maybe it's even genuine. You say I can't understand but I see love's vices far clearer than you ever will. Love is a sedative. It dulls the senses and makes you puppets to your own selfish desires. So, I shall leave you in the comforting embrace of your city. I will allow you to anxiously wait for your Avatar to return, all the while you dwell on my words and face the young man in every facet of your life. And who knows? Maybe if you grow closely enough to him I'll end him with dignity."
Maybe it was the smug, snake-like look on his face. Maybe it was the fact that somehow he inexplicably managed to mark a pinpoint on her confused and muddled feelings, instantly telling her the truths that she couldn't deny. Or maybe it was because he talked so damn much.
She leapt forward and slapped him hard across the face.
He staggered. Lesser men would have fallen. As it was he teetered on his feet, before regaining his equilibrium.
For her part, Asami was astounded she even connected at all. Every other time she'd encountered him before he felt like a mirage, a shadow. But here, for the first time, he seemed… physical. Real. Tangible. Existent.
Her thoughts clicked, just as she attempted to hit him again.
He grabbed her hand this time. "Don't test my patience, girl." He shoved her away. His voice was low, his eyes black. She expected him to bare his fangs at any moment. But still, Shin La felt solid. Different than how he was in the real world, in her world. That was something to ponder.
"Fine," she said, but a little less shaken now. "Enjoy your little gloat. I swear, returning me for some cheap entertainment is going to be the worst mistake you ever made. Just you watch."
"Oh, I will, Asami," he replied. "Say hello to Tenshi for me. I'll be visiting real soon."
With that, the spirit started to walk away, shadow starting to roll off of him before he melted away entirely, lost to the breeze of the Spirit World. For a moment, Asami couldn't think as she watched the demon vanish into thin air. And then a resolute expression set in, and she set off for home.
One thing was clear. She had a lot of work to do. Another thing however was not. Shin La's words resonated within her, and silencing them was no easy task. And not for the first time, her mind began to wander…
No time for that. Now, it was time to go home.
The rain made a short, sharp plodding sound as it hit against his hat. Underneath it however he was dry, the long tanned coat protecting it's wearer against the ruffling breeze. He looked around with furtive glances, but no one followed him into the den. Any around here was there for one reason and one reason only.
"It's a lonely night, isn't it?" one of the men said conversationally, though his eyes betrayed him. He was studying Mako as he approached, brown eyes alight with suspicion. "If only the spirits could send us some company, eh?"
Here it was. The test. Fortunately, Mako was savvy enough to realise. "Amorlak would be ideal," he replied, and that got him a welcoming slap on the back. "Welcome, brother!" he clasped him, in what looked to be a friendly greeting but instead was a quick frisk. "May you walk down the path of enlightenment."
To his credit, Mako didn't react, just nodded and continued on his way. This wasn't his first rodeo. In fact, it felt very familiar. He'd done this dance before, infiltrating a secret underground base with nothing more than a passcode and a flier. Back then, he'd had the prettiest girl he'd ever known on his arm. Back then, things were infinitely less complicated.
The level of light was low due to the candles. He walked through the hallway before going through the main doors. More candles burned at the wick, sending sulphurous gas into the air. Soft little flames burned at a pier up ahead, where a large group of people were congregated. Briskly, he walked towards them.
As he approached his ears picked up a low hum, an organised melody. If his eyes weren't playing tricks on him, people were swaying to its rhythm, their eyes fixed to the flames. They circled the flaming effigy, some of them barely even blinking away from its light.
He tried to strike up a conversation with one of the men staring into the fire. "Hey," he said, trying to lighten his natural deep tone and appear younger than he actually was. "I'm new here. I'm from the park, you hear? I was wondering where the free food is? Because-"
The man shoved past him with nary a word, and just kept glaring into the flames. He stood transfixed, unable to unwilling to tear his eyes away.
A sudden piercing pain struck Mako in his head, and he rubbed his forehead to alleviate the stress. Ugh, headaches. Not now, he thought.
Since he was getting nowhere with the man, he tried a different approach. "Hi," he said to a young woman wrapped in a robe, currently facing away from him. "I'm from the park. Do you know where Costa is?"
She turned around and judging by the way her eyes rolled, she was about to dismiss him the same way the other man had. But then they widened behind the fabric , and before he knew she was pulling him by the hand behind a curtain to a little tent inside the warehouse.
"What the- What are you doing?" Mako complained, trying to keep his whine pre-pubescent to avoid suspicion. But his voice dropped when the woman took off her cloth faceguard.
"Aria?" he said, his own surprise evident on his face as he recognised the blue eyes and brown skin of the new rookie in his department. "What are you doing here?"
"I could ask you the same thing," she replied, moving past him to look through the opening in the tent to see if they'd been followed. When she was satisfied that they hadn't been, she zipped it shut. "How'd you find this place?" she asked.
"An old lead," Mako replied, before an eyebrow rose in slight suspicion. "How'd you get here?"
"I lived on the streets Detective. I hear things. And I remembered that body I found. I thought I'd do a little digging."
"All right," Mako nodded, although inside he kept a sceptic mind-set. "Tell me what you've found in that case."
"Not much. I haven't been here long. No one really talks to each other, they just hum and chant occasionally. The words are hard to make out, and… Mako, are you all right?"
Mako jumped. He hadn't even realised, but he was fast falling into a stupor, completely ignoring his cohort and caught staring into the deep embrace of a candle. The flickering flame was almost hypnotic. He shook his head. "I'm fine. Continue."
"Right. Well, there's not much more to it. A lot of people are gathered here, but I don't know what for exactly. I- Do you hear that?"
She'd asked another question, but this time Mako was alert enough to answer it. The slow hums had now been elevated into a louder chant, the words old and impossible to make out but the mantra somehow clear to understand. Walking over to the entrance, Mako peeked through the tent.
The large group had now been turned into a packed crowd. Loads of people were watching the pyre rise and rise with flame, yet no one seemed able to do anything but stare and sway. The way they moved, back and forth, back and forth… they looked drug addled, their eyes focused on nothing but the flames but there was no life in their pupils. Salty tears ran down their cheeks as they refused to blink, too caught in red haze of the fire. And as he watched them, he slowly felt his eyelids flutter and water, and the shadow of Aria grew bigger and bigger, until her hand seemed to reach for him and…
He grabbed her hand and she yelped. Looking back, he saw her expression scrunch up in confusion, her palm on his shoulder offering support. He let her hand go, and another aching pain wracked his head. Wincing, he looked across the room, only for his eyes to find another yellow little candle.
Wait, the candle. The candles. Oh crap, the candles!
Immediately Mako got to his feet, and he had to resist the urge to fall as his legs turned to jelly for a moment before he gained his balance. "Come on," he said urgently to Aria, or at least he meant to. His own voice sounded garbled to him. "We have to… have to go."
"But why?" she asked, her voice like something out of a dream. Mako fought the hypnotic urge nestling inside his mind. "It's not safe," he said, his legs on the verge of collapse if he didn't make a move soon. "The candles, there's… there's something in the candles," he ground out, his voice cracking.
Aria seemed to pause, and in that moment Mako made his move. Grabbing her by the arm, he roughly pulled her to him, before ripping out of the tent.
His exit did not go unnoticed. Immediately, every eye was upon them, their blank stare making the firebender increasingly paranoid. He couldn't afford to make excuses however. Right now, his only priority was-was getting out. Yes, getting… out.
The people didn't try to stop him, they just studied him with big wide, empty eyes. Mako damn near scrambled to get away from them. Their hollow gaze unnerved him, and he knew that if he stayed any longer, he'd become like them. Not thinking, not feeling, not seeing. Just a slave to the soft flicker of a candle.
Mustering all his strength, he burst through the double doors he'd entered through.
The cold night air was like a freezing blast of adrenaline to his drug addled brain and he immediately lapped it up like soup. He took deep wheezing inhales, doing nothing but staring up at the starry night sky as his brain tried to reassert itself. He looked around. The man who'd let him in was nowhere to be seen. He tried to get up but quickly fell back down to earth, like his legs were unused to movement and needed to warm up a bit. He turned over to his side to find Aria's sleeping body next to his.
He'd entered that place… he couldn't remember when. He knew he'd done it but the memory was hazy. As was everything about that place inside. He tried to wrap his mind around his thoughts and when he attempted to remember what had happened only one thing rushed to the forefront of his mind.
The Dreaded. The Dreaded. The Dreaded. The Dreaded. The Dreaded. The Dreaded. The Dreaded. The Dreaded. The Dreaded. The Dreaded. The Dreaded. The Dreaded. The Dreaded. The Dreaded. The Dreaded. The Dreaded…
He opened his eyes. The night was gone, replaced by a cloudy morning. His walkie that Asami had given him was crackling. Wearily, he picked it up. "It's Mako," he said. His voice was rough.
"Oh, thank Spirits!" The relieved tone of Bolin filtered through the line. "You weren't home when me and Opal got in, we thought you'd just gone out! Where the hell were you?"
Lokking around, blinking in confusion, Mako could only answer with the truth. "Honestly, Bo," he said, ruffling leaves out of his hair and checking that he had the same clothes on that he put on last night. "I have absolutely no idea."
Fog…. Thick, yellow fog. That was all she could see. With her right eye anyway. Her left one blinked to find nothing but dense earth. Shaking her head free, Korra got up.
She rubbed her head to alleviate the cobwebs, and as she did so flashes of her battle with Koh materialised. She remembered Asami screaming, remembered her concern for her safety. She remembered a mighty wave crashing into the beast and sending the woman away, right before the cavern caved in and everything became dark.
She looked around. She could barely see three foot in front of her but this was definitely not a cavern. The atmosphere felt different, more spacious, and if she squinted she could see the sun high up above. So, yes, definitely not a cavern.
She struggled to wrap her mind around the past few hours. Come on, come on… she remembered snippets of a conversation, the smug slasher smile on Koh's ever-changing face. Then she remembered the feeling of desperation, right before power coursed through her system like she'd been electrocuted. And then finally, she remembered smashing clean through the ceiling to get away from that awful place.
And she had. The Avatar State had evidently decided to get as far away as possible, not caring an inkling about the direction she was going in. And now she'd woken up from her haze, only one question remained.
Where the hell was she?
"I think a better question would be where in hell are you," a voice beside her chuckled, a rich deep baritone sending a shiver down her spine. The voice was familiar. Too familiar. When she was younger she'd had nightmares, when that voice was the only thing she could hear before the dream ended. No way it was… it couldn't be…
Korra whipped her head around to see the smiling mask of Amon.
She couldn't speak, for she was too much in shock. Amon had no such qualms however. "Did you miss me?"
…
…
…Well did you?
As I said up top I have been a creative wreck recently, but to me that isn't really an excuse. I said I'd have it up in a month and I didn't. So yeah, I can blame illness and I can blame writer's block and I blame college and, you know, life but ultimately they're just obstacles. Ones that I should jump over instead of stumbling like a bitch. But, for what it's worth, I hope you liked. Oh, consistency, you ever elusive bastard. Let's see if we can achieve that for once.
Read and reviews boys and girls, you know the drill. Meanwhile, I'll just sit here listening to Ballroom Blitz on repeat after the awesomeness that was that Suicide Squad trailer. See yas!