And I am almost done writing this fic. Three chapters and the epilogue are done. I'm just writing chapter 15 now and Fallout should be fully posted by Friday. Enjoy this chapter and please review.
Opal woke up from the pounding coming from the harbor of Republic City. The Fire Nation navy had been bombarding the city for a day and sleep was hard to come by. Kai and Jinora had already moved to a window to watch. The once tall skyscrapers were completely gone from the skyline. It was a depressing sight to see.
Sounds of boots now filled the halls of Air Temple Island as the Fire Nation navy and army set their command posts up on the island. Radios and maps were being moved into their positions and the airbenders had a hard time staying out of the way. They wanted to know what was going on, but were constantly being removed from the rooms by the men working them. It was not until Prince Iroh knew they were there that the airbenders were given a room to use for themselves.
"I want to be out there." Kai spoke up, bringing Opal from her thoughts.
"So do I." Opal said.
Jinora sighed, "We can't go, guys. Prince Iroh asked us to stay here."
"That hasn't stopped us before. Why the change of heart now?" Kai argued, "That's our home they're fighting for and we're stuck here."
"At least let us help them in a non-violent way. Maybe we can scout or something." Opal chimed in.
The prince knocked on the door, "Actually, I could use you three if Jinora doesn't mind."
The three airbender heads looked over at him.
"We have word that there's an underground bunker in the city that the Earth Empire is using to hide their mech-suits."
Opal and Kai looked at Jinora until it became uncomfortable. Jinora's face furrowed down in annoyance.
"Alright, we can go into the city."
Opal and Kai jumped with joy about finally doing something.
xxxx
As they glided above, the airbenders saw the smaller boats leave the ships. The sight of Fire Nation soldiers from above was a bit eerie to the airbenders. While they were being taught to be pacifists, they certainly knew what was bound to happen to a lot of them once they reached the ports.
Behind them were flights of airships. They were following; ready to drop their weapons on the bunker once it was confirmed.
Jinora pointed downwards to where the supposed bunker was. Kai and Opal nodded before descending, landing in a hole in a roof. They looked at their surrounding before Jinora sat down and prepared to meditate.
"Don't leave me alone, please." She said, setting the radio down on the floor besides her.
Kai and Opal nodded, taking their spots by the windows of the room.
"How's your leg?" Kai asked looking back at Opal.
She doesn't turn, looking at the Earth Empire soldiers below. She began to curse to herself as they walked towards them.
"It's going to have to be fine for now. I think they saw us come down."
Kai rushed over concernedly, "Oh no. I hope Jinora makes this quickly then."
They heard the young master sigh roughly as she came back, "It's there."
"Call Prince Iroh then. We're about to have company."
Jinora nodded, picking the receiver up, "Mother Dragon, this is Small Bird. Please respond."
"Small Bird, this is Mother Dragon. Go ahead."
"Location confirmed. It's full of the mech-suits."
"Affirmative, Small Bird."
"Now what?" Jinora asked rhetorically.
The sounds of storming boots and shouting voices were heard coming up the stairs.
"The airbenders are in here. Keep looking. Do not let them escape."
The first soldier stopped at the doorway of the room. His eyes widened as Jinora blasted the doorway with air, knocking him down the stairs. The ground below them then collapsed, revealing the earthbending soldiers below. Metal shards shot up through the hole. The airbenders flipped away from the attack.
"We need to leave."
Kai nodded before returning a gust of air back down into the hole. The airbender jumped to the roof, only to have the building fall from under them.
Then the shower of explosions began to implode against the ground.
xxxx
Her ears were ringing as she started to regain consciousness. Her head ached and the pain coming from her right leg was becoming excruciating. She propped herself up on the elbows, looking around at what had happened. A few hundred yards away was a crater, but she had forgotten why it was there in the first place. She tried to get to her feet but her injured leg gave out, quickly informing her that it was broken. Jinora cried out in pain as her senses finally caught up to the current time. A man in a dirty green uniform came running over with a bag.
"We have a live one." He shouted as his hands dug through the bag searching for what he wanted.
The airbender felt his hands try to hold her leg straight before tying two steel rods to both sides.
"Hold on, airbender. Let me finish with your leg and I'll get you inside."
"No," she spoke weakly, "The Earth Empire doesn't take prisoners. I won't go."
The green eyed man chuckled, "My commander isn't here to give me that order. You'll be fine."
Jinora nodded weakly, having no choice but to trust him for the time being, "My two friends; where are they?"
"I haven't seen anyone else but you and a couple of my compatriots. The Fire Nation really destroyed our bunker."
Two other soldiers rushed over, stopping to gape at the blue arrow tattoo on her head.
"She's one of them."
The first man nodded quickly tending to the cuts on her, "You'll have to excuse me Miss. You have a bad opening at your side. I need to tear your top off to get to it."
She sighed painfully, "I don't have another shirt on me."
The man nodded, taking his jacket off, "This will do for now."
She was placed on a stretcher after her injures were taken care of. Jinora was brought into some shade. The Earth Empire soldier soon sat down by her. He took out his water canteen and offered it to her.
She took it, taking a sip from it before handing it back. She then studied him for a moment. He was for certain, a low ranked soldier. His black hair was cut in the Earth Empire style. His smile was contagious though.
"How are you feeling now?"
"I'm still in pain."
The man nodded, "I don't have anything for that. I'm sorry."
Their small talk was interrupted when Kai suddenly came and blasted the soldier with a gust of wind. His head was wrapped, covering an eye and his left ear. Opal soon followed, her old wound tied.
"You bastards." He cried out.
"Kai, leave him alone. He was just trying to help."
The airbending boy growled, "They don't take prisoners anymore, remember? We should just throw him in the crater with the rest of his scum."
"Kai." Jinora tried to sit up, "He saved my life."
The man held his hands up, "I'm not one of the Red Collars. We haven't had that kind of order."
"But you sure know of it." Opal shouted, taking a limping step forward.
"Hey." The airbenders turned to see the soldier's comrades return, "Surrender and we won't hurt you."
"If you think we're going to surrender after all the harm and pain you and your leader has done, then you're crazy." Opal shouted back, turning to face them.
"Guys," Jinora tried to shout, "There's no need to fight right now."
"Our best chance now is to head south east out of the city. With the Fire Nation invading and reinforcements coming, we don't want to be here when the fighting begins again." The friendly soldier spoke up.
"But doing that would mean to betray our Emperor." One of his friends said.
"He's not sane now anyways," Opal mumbled.
"And how would you know, Airbender?"
"Seeing how this is Opal Bei Fong, sister of your tyrannical emperor, I think she'd know." Kai growled again.
One of the soldiers spoke up, "Now that you mention her name, she does look familiar. Yeah, you are a Bei Fong."
"Should we know each other?" Opal asked with her guard still up.
"No, but I am from Zaofu."
The first soldier spoke up, "I would hate to interrupt a reunion, but if we don't leave, the Red Collars will show up and we'll all be dead."
Four heads nodded in agreement. After another brief conversation, they decided that they would leave Republic City. The Earth Empire soldiers were afraid of what the Fire Nation would do and the airbenders did not want to fall into the hands of the Red Collars.
xxxx
Their first camp was just outside of Republic City. They each introduced themselves, forgetting their sides for the moment. The first soldier that Jinora nicknamed the 'Nice one,' was Chan. He said that he had come from Ba Sing Se. The second one from Zaofu was Ping. The last one, which the airbenders found out after their helmets were removed, was a woman from the Si Wong desert named Enkhtuya. The airbenders learned that each of them was forced into the Earth Empire army in some way. Chan came in because of his father's work as a doctor. Ping was brought in because his brothers were joining. Enkhtuya's family faced death if she did not join. Helping their fellow countrymen was the common gimmick to ease their minds over what Kuvira and later Bataar had really been doing.
Normally they travelled just off of the roads but the rain forced them to reconsider their path for the sake of the airbenders' and the earthbenders' injuries. Kai was helping Jinora along, whispering encouragement into her ear. She was laughing softly as he was also being sweet. Suddenly, Ping held up a fist, signaling for them to all stop. They all held their breath for a moment as they searched the woods. Nothing moved for the two minutes so they continued. Then the ambush happened.
An ice wall blocked their path. The three Earth Empire soldiers surrounded Kai and Jinora as Opal turned to watch the rear. Masked figures appeared, dressed in green with the emblem of the Earth Kingdom on their collars. One of them lowered his mask.
"Opal?"
Opal put her guard down, "Bolin?"
Everyone followed suit, lowering their arms as Bolin rushed to give Opal a hug.
"What are you doing with these villains?"
Opal hummed, "They helped us back in Republic City."
"They did?" Bolin turned to look at them before turning his gaze to Jinora, "You're hurt."
"I'm feeling a bit better." She smiled.
"Bolin," one of his men asked, "What are we going to do with these crooks?"
Jinora quickly spoke up, "Let them come with us, Bolin. They've done nothing but help us after we were hurt."
Bolin glanced at the soldiers, "Fine, but they have to be blindfolded until we reach our camp."
The three soldiers nodded.
They entered camp about noon. The blindfolds were removed, leaving the soldiers to feel the glaring stares of the Resistance. They looked down, signaling that they were now prisoners of war. Chan glanced up and something caught his eye.
"Hey, I've seen those black robes before."
Everyone turned to look at him.
"You saw the White Lotus in Republic City?" Bolin asked, turning to Kong, "Why would they be there?"
The man from Omashu shrugged, leaving a lingering fear in Bolin's mind. He knew he was correct that there was wrong with them.
Chan spoke again, "They never said they were this White Lotus. I overheard them say that they were there to help the Earth Empire. I always assumed they were mercenaries."
Kong hummed, "I'm going to get in touch with Prince Iroh. Make sure these six get tended to."
With that, Kong gave Bolin a wink after looking at Opal.
xxxx
The groan of an air bison rang out over the rebels' camp. Kong had radioed to Prince Iroh's headquarters the day the airbenders showed up. The prince had informed him that Tenzin was no longer with him and that he would forward the message. Four days later, Tenzin was finally here to take the injured airbenders away. From where Bolin was standing, he saw that the man looked concerned rather than what Jinora believed he would be.
The other two people on the bison pointed down from the saddle. A flash of frustration come over Bolin as he realized one of them was Korra. He had plenty of things to tell her as he had some time to really think about what happened in the swamp.
"Where are they?" Tenzin asked when he touched the ground.
Kong bowed, "I am the camp leader, Kong. Follow me."
The worried father was led through the camp. Some of the rebels nodded and greeted Tenzin as he passed. His throat choked up as he entered the tent find his students, daughter and the three captured Earth Empire soldiers battered from their last fight. He noticed one of the Earth Empire soldiers tending to her leg. His jacket was still being worn by the airbender's daughter. His brow rose, scaring the man from his work.
"I'm just checking on the break."
Tenzin waved him off, "How are you feeling, sweetie?"
"I've been better, father, but Chan has been treating my leg."
The master hummed as his gaze settled on the man, "You are from the Earth Empire?"
"Yes sir, but we're prisoners now. Since there's no proper doctor in camp, they asked me to continue to look after her."
Tenzin then leaned down to speak with Kong, "What are you planning to do with these three?"
Kong led him outside of the tent, "After you take your airbenders, we were going to have them executed just like they would us."
"Executed?"
"We can't let them go and we have no place to keep them. It'll be swifter than what they would do to us."
"Kong, I highly advise against that."
"You haven't been in some of the latest fights. You don-"
"Do not tell me what I do and do not know about the fighting. I may be in the Fire Nation now, but Prince Iroh sends daily reports to his mother. I cannot allow you to just end their lives. We are supposed to be better than Bataar."
Kong rolled his eyes, "Would you like me to leave them with a few guards?"
"I will take them back to the Fire Nation. I think Lieutenant Shin, the Avatar and I can handle them."
The camp leader's eyes widened, "The Avatar's alive?"
They looked back towards the air bison to see Bolin rough the Avatar's hair. Korra squirmed, trying and get out of his head lock.
"She is," Tenzin answered, "but I do not know when she'll return to her duties."
"She looks well enough."
The airbender sighed, "She does look better than when she found me five days ago but her mind is not done healing."
The Fire Nation lieutenant finally caught up to them, "Master Tenzin, the air bison is ready for the airbenders."
Tenzin stood up straight, towering over the soldier, "Thank you Lieutenant. Please make sure we will have enough room for three more. We are taking some prisoners along with us."
xxxx
After being released from his head lock, Korra gave him a hug. Upon being released again from the hug, he grabbed her chin.
"Are you ready to join us yet?"
"No. I've only been sober for five days now."
"Five days? Korra, I thought you quit when we last saw each other?"
Korra smirked, guilty as charged, "I sorta ran into my old friends and they had lots to share."
The comment earned her a punch in the shoulder, "Come on Korra. We're counting on you to come back."
"And I am." The Avatar mumbled, "It's not easy and my new babysitter is always close by. He hasn't let me smoke in days."
"And that's a bad thing?"
"Well no," Korra hummed, as she started to scratch her arms, "I guess it isn't."
"Korra."
"Yes?"
"Your new nervous habit is seriously scaring me." He said, grabbing her hands.
The scratching stopped, "What habit?"
"You are scratching yourself to the point where you're bleeding." Bolin said as he pointed to her arms.
"I never even realized it."
Their conversation was cut short when the captured soldiers helped with getting Kai and Jinora on the air bison. Bolin rushed to help Opal as she limped out of the tent. As they passed by, Korra noticed the confused looks on their faces. She grinned and waved at them which she found to be a mistake when Opal stopped.
"You're back?" Opal pushed herself away from Bolin, "Why are you even bothering?"
Korra shrugged, "Good question."
Mouths dropped when they watch the airbender slug the Avatar.
"What is it with Bei Fongs and beating on the Avatar?" Korra said, spitting out the blood that had gathered in her mouth.
"You should have just stayed 'dead.'"
Bolin grabbed her before she could pounce, "Woah Opal, she's back because I asked her to."
Opal pulled her arm away, "That was foolish of you to ask her to do. Who else is she going to get killed now? I bet Asami and Mako's deaths are somehow on your hands too."
Bolin frowned as he fully understood where she was coming from. It wasn't until Tenzin spoke up that Opal got into the saddle.
"Enough. We are leaving."
Oogie flew up into the air on Tenzin's command. Below, they could see the rebels' waving and hear their shouts of farewell. Opal gave Bolin a sad wave before the bison turned away.
xxxx
It was a silent return to the Fire Nation. There was a thick tension in the air and everyone was afraid that speaking could ignite it between the Avatar and the young Bei Fong. From her spot in the saddle, Jinora watched as Korra swatted at something from her mind. It was a bit confusing as she did not yet understand what was going on but at the same time she felt sorry for the Avatar. Opal had been wearing a glaring look the entire trip. She could tell that the captured soldiers also felt it. They spoke quietly between themselves, occasionally looking at them before returning to themselves. The Fire Nation lieutenant looked like he was deep in his own thoughts and Kai… well he was asleep. His bandages were removed from his face revealing a deep cut above his left eyebrow.
"Korra," Jinora broke the silence, "You can heal right?"
Her words pulled the Water Tribe woman from her mind games, "That's why I wanted to come."
"Can you heal Kai's cut?"
Korra looked over at the airbender, "If I had some water, I could."
"Are you though?" Opal snapped.
Korra glared back, "I know we're at ends with each other Opal, but please, do not push me further. I'm already stressed from everything else I've messed up."
The lieutenant threw a water skin at Korra to break up the stare match. Korra apologized and moved over towards Kai to do what she could.
xxxx
The tension between Opal and Korra did not stop after they reached the Fire Nation. Tenzin made sure to ask the lieutenant to take Korra to one of the open gardens in the Palace for meditation. Opal had made sure to make a snappy comment finally hooking the last of Korra's patience away from her.
The master airbender quickly had the captured soldiers taken away as well as Kai and Jinora taken to a healing ward. By the time they were taken away, Korra had already thrown the first attack. His arm was grabbed before he could get in between.
"Master Tenzin," Shin started, "I know it's not my place, but the Avatar has not shown this much motivation in her training. These two have a quarrel to do and letting them finish this in a manner in which we can watch over just might be for the best."
At the end of his statement, Opal had knocked Korra over. She then kicked out, working her way behind the Avatar.
"And Korra needs to let my lessons about stance and breathing set into that thick skull of hers."
Tenzin let out a short snicker before nodding, "I do not like it though. I fear for both of their health."
The Avatar stopped her attack amongst a coughing fit. She stooped over, hugging her chest as Opal took advantage of it, knocking her over again.
"You really are an useless Avatar." She said standing over the fallen Avatar, "And the sad part is that most of your issues are self-inflicted. Let me ask you this, Korra; what are you doing now to set the next Avatar up for success?"
Korra snorted before kicking out with fire. The airbender flipped back, circling Korra as the Avatar attacked. When she had chased Opal off some ways, Korra dropped to her knees. Her forehead touched the ground like she was begging for mercy.
Opal glanced at a surprised Tenzin and Shin as she stopped before the bowing Avatar.
"Wha- what are you doing?"
Korra didn't get up when she spoke, "Opal, I am so sorry about your parents and your brothers. They did not deserve to die and I'm sorry that you are the only Bei Fong besides your grandmother and Bataar remaining. You despise me and I'm surprised you haven't kicked me yet. The past five years have been the worst and the best I've lived but I know it has not been the same for you. If you choose to ever forgive me, I will appreciate the second chance. If you don't, then I threw away a friend's trust and it is my fault; one that I will have to live with for the rest of my life."
Korra sat up, still looking at the ground before her, "I finally understand what has happened since I left again. I stood by and saw my friends die and did nothing to help them."
Tenzin let out a sigh of relief that Korra was ending this on her terms.
"But," Korra then stood, meeting Opal in the eyes with a new stern gaze, "I will not apologize for Zaofu. Your mother and you pushed me into a situation that I was not ready for. The Avatar State is not a tool for you. I am recovering from mental issues and now my own self-inflicted issues but if you hit me again, physically or mentally, and I will put you in the ground. I have found my strength to return. Now I just need to find something good to put it towards, not burying you in front of the entire Fire Nation."
The master airbender's smile quickly changed as the Avatar side stepped Opal to leave the courtyard.
"I don't think you do." Opal said softly, "This is an act for self-persevering."
The Avatar continued on her way, snorting with a wicked chuckle. Opal's fists slammed onto the ground after she was put waist deep into the ground.