Disclaimer: I do not own Legend of Korra nor any of the characters that I have used in this story so far.
The finality in my voice ended the conversation between Mako and I.
"You should try to get some more sleep. It's the middle of the night. We'll talk more in the morning," Mako whispered.
I nodded my head slightly in agreement, feeling my exhaustion start to weigh on me. I stood up and walked back through the castle with Mako at my side. He left me at my door and walked down the hall before entering what must have been his room. I felt his missing presence, but I ignored it and walked back into my room. I was out like a light as soon as my head touched the pillow.
Memories invaded my dreams. At first, they were just flashes, but they evolved into full scenes and stories of my life.
One was of me waterbending for the first time. I remembered the power that I felt, and the reassurance of my father guiding my hands, helping me along. Once I had the ball of water stabilized in the air, my father's hands dropped from mine only to hug my waist.
His proud voice rang in my ears, "You are doing so well Korra! You will be the absolute pride of the water tribe one day!"
I felt the memory of the smirk that crossed my face, "And I will earn the position of chief before you even realize it, old man."
"Oh really?" my father asked as he lifted me up above his head despite my squeals and begs not to, making the ball of water I had been concentrating on drop, the water splashing everywhere. My squeals of delight faded away as another memory formed.
The throne room from my memories formed, with the raised stage where my father and I would sit during meetings in front of the large waterfall. The large area where our people would stand to watch any proceedings that were going on was completely empty except for me and my father.
I remembered the fast pace of my heart and the sweat pouring down my face as I worked to keep up with my father's attacks. I dropped to my knees as a particularly hard stream came at me, and I just managed to stop it.
"On your feet Korra!" my father yelled across the room.
"We've been at this for hours. I'm tired and hungry!" I moaned back.
"We don't have time for food and sleep anymore!" As my dad yelled this, a look crossed his face, one of regret, like he hadn't meant to say that.
"Dad, what's going on? You've never been this demanding about my training before."
He looked down at his feet, back up at me, and then sat on the ground, like his exhaustion had just caught up with him.
"I'm sorry sweetheart, I didn't mean to get so carried away. But there has been talk of rebellion, and I'm worried about you because you are the future of the Water Tribe. You've always been incredibly skilled for your age, but I just keep thinking "Is she good enough to defend herself if anything happened?"
I sighed and sat down next to him, leaning over to hug my father around his waist, and he wrapped his arms around me, "Daddy, I'll be okay, because I know that I'm safe with you, and I'm a big girl. We'll be okay."
My dad's arms tightened around my waist, "Go ahead and head to bed Korra, we'll continue your training tomorrow."
I nodded and got up to leave, but as I did, we heard shouts from outside the throne room's doors, and in the next second they were thrown open by waterbenders wearing non-Water Tribe armor.
"Korra, run!" My dad yelled to me. I acted on instinct and tried to run around the warriors, but they tried to block me. I hit both with a stream of water pulled from the waterfall behind the throne and slid under one of the legs.
"After her!" The leader screamed.
I ran around the corner and slid into the secret passageway that connected to the other end of the palace. The two waterbenders ran past my hiding spot, still looking for me. The last waterbender, the leader, and my father came spilling into the hall, fighting with all they had.
"Who are you?! Why are you doing this?" My father screamed as he send a volley of icicles at his opponent. One struck the waterbender's head, knocking off the helmet that had before concealed his identity. From behind the grate that hid me, I couldn't clearly see his face until he lifted his head. I silently gasped along with my father.
"Unalaq…why?!" My father screamed, distraught.
"Why brother, isn't it obvious?" Unalaq, my uncle, sneered with a creepy smile, "I want your throne." With that, the fight continued. The brothers seemed to be an even match until Unalaq managed to distract my father with a frontal attack, and then made my father slide and hit the ground with a sheet of ice under his feet. Before my dad even hit the ground, Unalaq had an ice spear pointed at my father's chest.
"I have waited a long time for this. Today is the day you die brother." And with that, Unalaq plunged the spear into Tonraq's chest.
I felt the terror spread through me, but all I could do was watch as Unalaq stood up straight and walked away. As he walked around the corner, I fled my hiding spot and ran over to my father's lifeless body. My mouth opened to scream.
"DADDY!" I shot up in bed, clutching my sides, sobs ripping through my chest and tears running down my face. All I could do was stare at the dying coals with wide eyes as I sobbed, not really seeing anything other than the body of my father in front of me.
Subconsciously I heard pounding footsteps running down the hall, and my door slammed open. I glanced over to see Mako standing in my doorway with a ball of fire held in his hand, either for light of for offense, should there be someone to protect me from. He saw me sobbing and extinguished the fire in his hand before running over to pull me into his chest, his arms wrapped securely around me.
"Korra?" What's wrong?!" Mako said to me.
"I…I saw…" another sob cut off my sentence. Mako pulled me into his lab, tightening his arms around me even more, but it wasn't uncomfortable.
"Shh, shh, it's okay. Take your time. I'm here, I'm not going anywhere", he whispered reassuringly to me.
I took a deep breath and tried to get a sentence out around my body-racking sobs, "I saw…m-my dad…get…murdered…r-right in front of me…"
Mako's face was suddenly right in front of mine, his amber eyes burning deep into my cerulean ones, "What? Everyone always assumed that no one was around when Unalaq and your father fought."
I nodded, "It's because I hid in a secret passageway that only I and my father knew about. I was supposed to run. I could see everything. I was the one who informed everyone of who killed my dad."
"Why didn't you run?"
"If I had run, they would have found me easily. I was barely nine when the attack happened. I wasn't a master yet. I saw a chance to hide where they wouldn't find me and took it." I laid my head against his chest, and Mako moved us so that he was leaning against the headboard, and he shifted his arms so they were around my waist. Tears were still streaming down my face, and Mako just held me, occasionally wiping off the tears. The last thing I remembered before I fell asleep was Mako laying his head on top of mine, and how familiar it felt to be in his arms.
I woke up slowly the next morning, my wounds being the cause. I looked out the window to see the sun starting to rise over the horizon. When I shifted, I felt something around my waist tighten. Looking over my shoulder, I saw the most beautiful thing in the world- Mako asleep. His usually stressed face had relaxed and softened, his hair falling across his tanned forehead, his dark eyelashes brushing against his cheeks. In his sleep he had snuggled down into his scarf, so that now his mouth and jaw were covered by the red scarf that I had never seen him without, not even on the day we had been officially betro-
My thoughts were cut off when suddenly my head felt like someone had come up from behind me and hit me with a club. Then all of a sudden, more memories came to me…but they were all of Mako.
Eight years earlier
I stepped off the Water Tribe boat with my father, my new dagger strapped to my thigh. It was only a couple weeks after I had been proclaimed as heir to the throne, and for so unknown reason (at least to me), me and my father had left almost immediately for the Fire Nation.
As I walked onto the dock, I spotted a small family at the end of the pier standing in front of a coach. There was a tall man with his arm around a beautiful woman and two boys around my age, one slightly taller than the other. The taller boy had messy hair, piercing amber eyes, and a smirk that almost immediately got on my nerves. The smaller boy had softer features than his older brother, his emerald eyes were just as piercing, but a more welcoming expression on his face.
My father took my hand as we walked towards the family. When we got close, my father bowed to the couple and they did too in return. As I stared back at the boy with the amber eyes, I felt a pressure on my shoulder and knew I was supposed to bow to, so I did, but never looking away from those eyes.
The beautiful woman looked over at her sons and cleared her throat. Both of them looked up at her, sighed, and bowed slightly, practically in sync. The woman looked at us and finally spoke.
"Chief Tonraq and Princess Korra, it is a pleasure to see you. Let me introduce you to my husband, Lord San, my sons, Princes Mako and Bolin," The Fire Lady said.
"It's great to see you again, Fire Lady, and you as well Lord San", my father replied.
Later that night, we were all at the welcoming banquet for my father and I. Suddenly, the Fire Lady stood up and tapped her goblet with her knife. The room quieted almost instantly.
"I would like to welcome Chief Unalaq and Princess Korra to the Fire Nation.
It is truly wonderful to have you here. But I have other news as well. As everyone already knows, I am not the true heir to the throne. My older brother Singin was meant to take the throne, and when he passed away three years, I was the only one left. Right now, my oldest son Mako is set to take the throne after me, but when his cousin and my neice Tangee is old enough, my sister-in-law and I have agreed upon letting Mako and Tangee duel to see who is the more powerful lightning-bender. But until that day, Mako has been proclaimed as the heir. And as heir, he is expected to have a powerful bender at his side as his wife. And that is the reason for Chief Tonraq and Princess Korra being here. For me and Tonraq have agreed that from this day on, Mako and Korra are betrothed to be married the day that Korra turns eighteen. Should Mako lose the Agni-Kai between him and his cousin, he will help Korra run the Water Tribe and also be counsel for Tangee. Should he win, Mako and Korra will run both domains, and the Water Tribe and Fire Nation will be a united front. That is the wish of me, my husband, and Chief Tonraq."
I sat there in complete and utter shock as the room burst into applause. Cerulean met amber as mine and Mako's eyes met. But I couldn't tell what he was thinking, for he had buried the lower half of his face into his fire-red scarf.
My next memory came in a flash of fire.
As the fire dissipated around me, I caught sight of my target, who stupidly stood in front of a fountain. I bended the water out of the fountain and onto the ground. My target looked curiously down at his feet and then shrieked as he fell on his butt when the ice formed. I took my chance and pinned him, laughing so hard that I could barely breathe.
Mako struggled for a second and then relaxed, smirking up at me. Before I could register the smirk, he shifted and rolled me over, pinning my down in his place. I never stopped laughing the whole time. Mako just rolled his eyes and sat across my legs, waiting for me to calm down.
"HAHAHA, you just hit the ground so hard!" I finally ceased my cackling and looked up at the boy with the messy hair and red scarf.
"Are you finished?" Mako asked, crossing his arms over his chest.
"HAHA yep!" I grinned at him as he got up and sat down next to me. I sat up and looked at him curiously, "Mako? What's wrong?"
"I was thinking about our betrothal," he deadpanned.
Immediately my good mood vanished. "Can we please not talk about that?" I almost pleaded with him.
"We have to talk about it sometime."
I felt water spring to my eyes, and before I knew it, I was sobbing. Mako looked at me in shock, but then pulled me into his arms to rest my head on his chest. "I just don't know how he can make that kind of decision for me!" I cried into his soft scarf.
Mako stroked my hair, trying to comfort me as best as he could for a nine year old. "We can't do anything to change it. And even if we don't like each other like that, we're in this together. So just stick with me and we'll be okay? Got it?"
I stopped crying, and wiping my nose, I looked at him, "You mean it?"
He scoffed at me, "Why are you so stupid? Of course I mean it!" When he looked at me again, his annoying smirk had returned.
I came back to the present, and looked back at the older boy-no man- that I had at one point been betrothed to. My heart felt so heavy, and my mind was clearer but more confused at the same time. I didn't understand what had happened, because he was betrothed to Asami… Suddenly a huge amount of guilt settled on me as I realized that I had spent the night in the same bed as a betrothed man. It didn't matter that nothing had happened or that at one point he had been betrothed to me, this was beyond inappropriate…but I didn't want it to end.
I had finally slept without nightmares by being in his arms all night, and I remembered a whole bunch of memories just because of him wearing his scarf (that I now remembered was the only thing he had left of his dad). He was so handsome, and I knew that I had fallen in love with him when we were younger, just because of how well we connected even though we fought constantly. And even though I hadn't seen him in seven years, just the fact that he was so worried about me and taking care of me just made my heart soar.
Mako shifted and opened his eyes. He looked blearily at me, rubbed his eyes, and then smiled at me. "Good morning," he mumbled. I remembered that this wasn't right, and stood up from the bed.
"I'm going to the kitchens," I said as I walked quickly out of my door.
"O-okay?" I heard Mako reply before the door closed behind me. I hurried down to the kitchen and realized that it was way too early for breakfast and no one was awake. I sighed as I walked out of the kitchens and just strolled around the hallways, my feet somehow knowing where they were going. A couple minutes later I arrived at what appeared to be a practice room. I walked in and noticed a bunch of practice stations. The fire and earth stations appeared to be well used and worn, but no less state-of-the-art. The water station however looked brand new, but yet was covered in dust. I remembered using those stations every day for hours when I used to stay there.
I walked over to the spout and poured some water into the trough. I let my body do the work for my brain, and naturally just started bending the water. Right as I pulled the water into a ball for a water whip to attack a dummy, my wounds decided to state their presence. I dropped the water ball, and as it landed with a splash on the floor, I clutched my side. Without thinking, I reached a hand into the nearby water trough and let the water cover my hand. As I pulled my hand out, the water on it started glowing blue, and I placed my hand over my wounds. Soothing feeling washed over the pain and before I knew it, all that was left of the pain was a little soreness. I repeated the process on my head and arm, and as I unrolled the bandages, all that remained of my wounds were pink lines.
Excited, I sprinted out of the practice room and down the hallway. As I was going, I heard a shriek. Without thinking, I opened the door I heard it behind, drawing my dagger that, as always, was strapped to my thigh. As I held my dagger in a defensive position, I looked through the doorway to see two people furiously making-out. When they heard the door slam into the wall, the two people turned their heads, and with the light from the doorway, I could make out who and what I had walked in on.
"Asami? Bolin?"
AN: HIIII I'M BACKKKK! I'm sorry loves, but I really have no excuse for why I haven't posted in so long. I beg you all for forgiveness! But let's talk about the story for a little bit before y'all start throwing stones. So I never gave the Fire Lady (lame name I know) a name because Mako and Bolin's mother has never been named in the series, and I didn't want to falsify that. San really is the name of their father though. So basically their mom was second in line to the throne, and San was a noble from the Earth Kingdom that she fell in love with, which is why we will later learn that Bolin is an earth bender in the fire royal family (if I hadn't already mentioned it). San isn't Fire Lord because he's an earth bender and all that jazz, which is why their mom is. And yeah, you'll find out more about the thing with Mako and Tangee (totally made that up on the fly). And there's a lot more drama to come! I love you all, I'll try to get on a normal writing schedule, but I don't know if that's going to actually happen. I've been writing this chapter for several months, and I finally sat down and wrote it all out. Oh! And one last thing! I made a mistake in my last chapter about the waterbending and bloodbending relationship (mostly because I was writing it really fast and late at night), but one of you lovelies pointed it out to me, for which I am so grateful! So I said that bloodbending is the specialized form of waterbending because of its hard to control the little amount of water in the blood. Truth is, blood is mostly made of water, so my new rule is that it's hard because it goes against the will of the human who's blood you're bending and because it's hard to control the water inside a body. I don't care if its correct, since I'm not breaking any rules of science anymore! So HAH! This is my world, you are welcome, but I refuse your reality and substitute my own! To all those that read all the way through this, if you tell me where the substitute my own reality quote came from, I'll give you a shoutout in my next chapter! Love you all, and please R&R!
-Dawn