Found – Chapter 3

A/N: I am incredibly and happily surprised that people have been liking this story so far, and I promise you that more plot will occur in this chapter and the following ones, just with more non-canon goodness thrown in. There will be darker themes that delve into the realms of mental illness, so a trigger warning is in order from here on out. Once again, a huge thanks to joehnna for allowing me to use their comic Found as a baseline for this story, so please check them out on DeviantArt and review their work, and I own none of the Legend of Korra.

Shackles clinking, breath laboured, eyes weary, Korra slowly awakens into a nightmare. She is restrained in platinum chains, inescapable and unbreakable, and her assailants are before her, ready to carry out their diabolical plans. She is to be killed in the Avatar State, according to Zaheer, and she can do nothing but pathetically fight against her bonds, unable to steer clear of the poison that attaches itself to her limbs, and seeps painfully and forcefully within her body.

Agony.

Fear.

'I am going to die!' she screams within her mind. Her vision blurs as her enemies turn into her past conflicts.

"I told you Korra," Zaheer's face crumbling into the mask of Amon, "The world doesn't need you any more."

She looks to the left, Ghazan's head turning around like a top, turning into a smiling Unalaq "The time of the Avatar is over, Korra. Give up."

Her eyes drifted right, Ming-Hua's head dropping with her hair growing until it formed itself as Vaatu, flying before her face. "You're too weak to resist," he gloated, "and I am stronger than ever. There's no use fighting. Let go."

"Let go. Let go. Let go."

Her mind snaps, her vision white, Zaheer is her only target. She breaks free and fights him outside. He is weakened mind flight: 'Finish him!'

Too late.

'You're too weak.'

She falls, he attacks, she hits the cliff faces and slams feet first on a pillar, defeated.

"The poison has done its work," Zaheer tells her, "the Avatar Cycle will be over momentarily."

Air hoists her upright on her knees, a sphere of air circling her head, extracting her very breath from her lungs.

'Can't breathe ...'

'Can't breathe ...'

'Can't breathe!'

'I CAN'T BREATHE!'

Screams rip from Korra's mouth, the sound throaty and in desperate need of air she doesn't actually need. She claws at her throat, widened, crying eyes thousands of yards away, terror constricting her breath into choked gasps. One hand still clutched at her neck as the other embraced her stomach, rolling onto her side as she hugged herself, crying softly, yet loudly in the silent of the night.

A tender whisper reached her ears "Korra," and she turned over slightly to see pained tea green eyes gazing down into her own blue eyes with concern, compassion and empathy. Asami gingerly brushed her hand on Korra's back in a small effort to comfort her in her pain, non-verbally asking her to let her help her.

The scared young woman pleaded breathlessly "Help me, please."

Asami nodded, crawling into bed with her, cradling her within her arms as Korra clung onto her, sobbing woefully into the CEO's shoulder, letting out years of bottled up anguish, fear and grief. She tried to stifle some of her tears, but they pushed themselves through her personal barriers, making her next string of words rife with weeping.

"I-I was s-so, sca-a-ared," she wailed, "I-I was d-dying, a-and I felt s-so l-lost. I c-can't be n-normal again, I-I don't kn-know who I a-am any mo-o-ore! I-I JUST W-WANT MY LIFE BACK! WH-WHY MUST I BE H-HAUNTED?! WHY-Y-Y?!"

Asami grit her teeth to force her voice into being composed, despite the rivers streaming from her eyes. "I cannot answer that, Korra," she said, "however, I will be there for you, I will never leave you, and you will never be alone, for as long as I live. We will find the answers, together, I promise." Clutching her closer, Asami murmured "Let it out. Let it all out."

Korra didn't stop crying until she exhausted herself to sleep once more, Asami staying awake without relinquishing her embrace even once. Asami unconsciously inhaled the scent of Korra's hair, smelling mint and pine as she promised under her breath "I will never leave you again, Korra. Never, again."

The following morning came and the two young women awoke to a late noon, both of them silent as they contemplated what was said between them the previous night. Asami was the first to say something, peering down over Korra as she asked of her "I do not care where I am, or how far apart we are, will you please call for me when these attacks happen again? I do not care if it's in the middle of the night, or if we are half a world away, I will comfort you, and help you, in whichever way I can."

Korra nodded with a sad smile, saying "I promise it."

Asami nodded back, smiling tenderly at her, before getting up and preparing lunch. Korra in the meantime judged her injuries and informed her friend "My ribs are much better today. If possible, I would like to leave early tomorrow morning. I've spent too long in this town, and I feel like I should: it's … hard to explain."

The CEO looked at her from the sandwiches she was making and told her "You don't have to explain it, Korra, your gut instinct is something to be trusted. It's helped us out many times before. Lets leave at about dawn then, before it gets too busy."

"Alright," Korra agreed readily, accepting the sandwiches prepared for her gratefully. The two ate uninterrupted and leisurely until Korra asked curiously "Hey Asami, how did you find me exactly?"

Asami swallowed her mouthful before answering slowly "It wasn't easy by any means. I had to hire a rare kind of tracker: a shirshu rider. They lead me here after a two week trek, almost losing your sent halfway through."

Korra frowned in interest "How did the shirshu track my scent?"

Asami seemed to turn slightly red in the face as she replied steadily "I still have your dress from Jinora's Ceremony: I brought it to the shirshu to smell."

"Aaaah," Korra voiced understandingly, unaware of Asami's flustered face, "that'll explain it. Really clever of you to use a shirshu though: I would've never thought of one in your shoes."

Asami shrugged, her face turning back to normal "I'm surprised that you didn't: Aang was hunted by one in his youth, and I have found that Avatars often have similar events happening in their respective timelines."

"Not really."

"Okay," Asami began, "Aang faced bloodbending from Yakone, a bender who had the ability to bloodbend without a full moon. You versed both of his sons who used the same abilities as him. You both were trained by Katara, you both left the Southern Water Tribe to start your Avatar journeys, and you both had an awkward photo taken by that shop owner on the coast."

"Wait, how do you know of that?"

"Met him as the shirshu tracked your scent: one of the first major breakthroughs we had of finding you."

"Uh-huh."

"Yep: you looked so awkward."

"Shut up, Asami."

"Never," she finished with a grin. She then stood up and stretched, saying "We should go out and grab supplies for our journey. You ready to stretch your legs?"

Korra nodded and stood up, replying "Lets do it."

The two young women left the small room and walked amongst the market stalls, buying food rations, water canteens and extra clothing for different environments. They then briefly window-shopped around the town, seeing jewellery, weaponry, appliances and equipment for sale wherever they went. The last couple of hours before sundown saw them packing up their new gear, eating dinner and then going into a public bathhouse to relax.

The idea sounded great at the time, but Korra couldn't fully relax when she was sharing a bath, alone, with her gorgeous best friend, who was as equally naked as her. She did her best not to look underneath the water when she looked at Asami as she spoke, but her eyes occasionally slipped downwards before straightening themselves upwards before she saw anything. At the very least, the water soothed away the last of Korra's chest pains, so at least one positive came out of the torturous experience.

The two headed to bed early that night after paying Mr. Hatsu for the last time, awakening to the dark morning and already seeing people getting ready for the day before the sun was even up. The two shouldered their backpacks and soldiered out, too tired to say anything as they absent-mindedly walked the slightly run-down streets of the town, eating a steamed bun each for breakfast.

They were so far gone up in the clouds that neither of the girls noticed that a satomobile was heading their way until they heard the beeping horn of the driver. They both sprung into action, combat rolling off of the road, albeit rather awkwardly, and causing the car to quickly spin out, fortunately not crashing. Asami quickly shook it off, about to turn to the driver to apologise profusely, when her heart froze as her gaze landed on Korra.

She was holding herself up on the corner of an alleyway, the other hand grasping her head before she looked up, into the darkness of the alley. She frowned ferociously, but with a tinge of fear filtering across her eyes. "You again?" she spat, facing no one.
"Korra?" Asami said gently, yet worriedly, "There is no one there."

Korra didn't seem to hear her and suddenly punched a harsh stream of fire, before suddenly tripping and calling out in terror, her left arm over her head as if she was attempting to ward off an assailant. Asami could do nothing but stare at her, unknowing of the attention the young Avatar was drawing to herself, the downed woman crying out "LEAVE ME ALONE!" whilst firebending a larger stream of fire from her other fist.

Korra started breathing heavily again, seemingly snapped out of her episode as she heard the spectators talking.

"What's wrong with her?" a young man commented

"Young lady, are you alright?" an elderly woman asked, "Can I take you to a doctor?"

Korra scrambled to her feet and forced out quickly "No, I don't need any help" before stalking away before Asami could say anything. The CEO managed to overcome her shock and heartbreak, going after her after reassuring the locals that she'll help the young Avatar.

Asami jogged to Korra's side, beginning to ask her what happened when Korra snapped, the softening "Don't ask me about it ... not yet."

Asami lagged behind Korra for a little bit, keeping a concerned eye on her friend. 'That must've been the vision of herself that she's been seeing' Asami thought to herself sadly, 'She said that she'd fight her past self and it would disappear, but it's so unnerving to watch where you can't see what she's seeing, and being unable to help. In the end, in this case, I don't know how to help her.'

They continued in silence once more, neither one bringing up the elephant-koi in the room. After a good ten minutes or so, Korra turned around unexpectedly, looking on guard. Asami backed up slightly, unknowing of what Korra was seeing, or who. Korra then relaxed a bit before turning back around, stopping when she saw a cute little puppy sitting in front of her, yipping twice.

Korra and Asami smiled at the little being, Korra kneeling down to pet it as she asked him "Where did you come from, little cutie?"

She then looked up and her face went from happy to crestfallen, Asami's blood freezing again as she recognised that Korra was having another haunting. As she reached out to clutch Korra's arm in an effort to comfort her and break her out of her daze, she became surprised as the little puppy turned around and growled angrily in the direction of Korra's gaze.

"You can see her too?" she breathed to the little dog. She then frowned as the dog didn't let up, standing as she deduced "If you can see her too, maybe I'm not going crazy."

The puppy growled louder before barking as ferociously as his little body could provide, before whining and scampering up the steps before them, Korra asking in shocked tone "How'd you do that?!" Asami stood too and stared at the puppy as it turned around at them and barked twice.

Korra cocked her head to the side and asked "You want me to follow you?"

The puppy barked twice again before running off, the two young women looking at each other before Korra shrugged and said "Alright, let's see what we find."

The two young women ran off after the dog as the morning began to rise slowly to the horizon, lighting the world in a pale blue-grey. They followed the dog for ages, until the sun was well and truly up in the sky and standing on a hilltop that overlooked a town, and the renowned Foggy Swamp. Korra asked aloud in confusion "Why did you bring us to the swamp?" before continuing down the hill, catching up to the dog, as they breached the first of the trees, the dog turning into a little pudgy yellow spirit.

"Wait!" Korra remarked, "I met you at the Tree of Time." She frowned as she told him "You should've told me who you were."

The spirit turned around and asked her in a cute little voice "If I did, would you have followed me?"

"I get your point," Korra relented immediately, "Why did you bring me here? What am I going to find in the swamp."

"Not a what," the spirit corrected as he flew away, "a who."

"No, wait!" Korra cried out, running deeper into the swamp with Asami hot on her tail, "Come back!"

Korra shoved some vines out of the way before tripping into a small pool of water, standing right before her haunter, the haunter Asami can now see. Eyes widening, Korra stood up and back-pedalled, assuring herself "You're just in my mind. You're not real."

"Korra," Asami said slowly, "I can see her too."

"What?!" she gasped, looking at her. The past Avatar sent a powerful fire attack at them, blowing them back first into a tree with cries of pain. They gingerly got up, seeing the past Avatar stumbling towards them. Korra sent two strikes of water at her past self, the doppelganger dodging at inhuman speeds that cause her to become a blur. She attacked back with fire, water and earth, Korra and Asami back-flipping away, Korra copping a face-full of rock that sent her flying down into a ditch, the past Avatar chasing her down with a fiery axe-kick, which Korra dodged, but was blasted in the back with a water hosing move.

Asami rushed to Korra's aide, using her glove to try and strike the past Avatar, but missing several times with each of the past Avatar's inhuman speed. Try as she might, she was chain-whipped harshly into a tree, leaving her winded and dizzy as Korra fell back to gain a distance advantage. Korra dodged a fire blast, sending back a clump of earth and a ball of fire, before airbending into a tree, aiming to go higher. However, the past Avatar extended her chain and whipped the ground, before hooking it around Korra's ankle, causing Korra to hang for dear life on a vine.

Asami and Korra watched in fear as the metallic poison pooled from the past Avatar's feet, submerging her to her ankles, before she started to sink slowly into the poison itself without resistance. "KORRA! GET FREE FROM HER!" Asami cried as she tried to stand, the dizziness making her too uncoordinated to help her.

However, it was too late.

The vines Korra was hanging on to snapped and she fell with a scream, landing back first into the poison pool. She tried to get free, struggling violently, but the poison grabbed her and pulled her under, but not before calling out "HELP!" before both Avatars disappeared into the silvery depths.

"KORRA!" Asami screeched, collapsing forward as she started to fall unconscious, reaching out for her beaten friend as her vision went black.

Unbeknownst to her, an elderly woman soon came upon the site of the two unconscious women, sighing as she had to deal with two intruders of her peace and quiet. However, she used two earthbent slabs to carry them to her earthy hovel, before spending her day as she usually would, lying around all day before beginning to cook dinner.

Asami awoke first and clutched her head with a groan, starting when a voice asked "Are you now back in the realm of the living?"

The young CEO answered hesitantly "Er, yes. I apologise, but how did I, wait," she turned and found Korra beside her, sighing in relief before continuing, "how did we get here?"

"I earthbent you and your girlfriend here," the old crone replied simply.

Asami's heart raced in a fluster and corrected "Oh, no! We, erm, we aren't dating."

The older woman scoffed and told her bluntly "Well, get together. I felt your heartbeats earlier: you two love each other. So, get together."

Asami flushed deeply and responded quickly "It doesn't quite work that way."

"Yes it does. Stop wasting your time. You two are meant to be, so get together," she unapologetically told her. Asami was about to reply when a hiss of pain came from her right, causing her head to whip around, her brain protesting fiercely, and seeing her best friend wake up.

Korra grabbed her head and moaned, looking right at the young CEO and murmuring "Asami?"

The young woman smiled in response before the crone croaked "Feeling better?"

Korra asked her as she faced the old woman's back "Where are we? What happened?"

"I was hoping you could tell me," the elderly woman replied, "I found you two passed out in the mud."

"How did you know we were out there?" she questioned in reply.

"I'm pretty tapped into the goings on around here," the woman answered, a hint of warmth in her voice, "What brings you two to the swamp anyway?"

Korra took a beat before responding "A spirit lead us here and told us that we were supposed to find someone. Is that you?"

"Beats me," the crone stated, "but if your Avatar senses called you here, you should probably listen to them."

Korra and Asami looked at each other before facing the old woman, both of them standing as Korra asked "Wait, you recognise me?"

"In a manner of speaking," the old woman replied as Korra and Asami approached, "We were good friends in your previous life."

Korra lit a flame within her face and held it old to look more clearly at the old woman, the crone turning around with her glazed moon-coloured eyes staring at them.

The two young women were shocked to the core.

"I can't believe it," Korra whispered, "Toph?!"

The old earthbender chuckled slightly and greeted, "Nice to see you again, Twinkle Toes."

Does anyone else remember the shirshu? I was actually trying to figure out a way for Asami to feasibly track her down, and I immediately remembered June's shirshu from Avatar The Last Airbender. I wanted to crunch out meeting Toph at the end of this chapter, as it was a fitting end to the episode of Korra Alone and I wanted to keep that intact.

Korra's reaction to her dream is similar to how some people react from dreams or thoughts of death from their sleep, just amplified, as it's a personal traumatic event in terms of her being the one nearly killed and her experiencing that fear. This is speaking from my own personal experience, I haven't nearly been murdered, but I had traumatic dreams that occasionally to this day still cause me to gasp and wake up, thinking that I am about to die in my sleep, because of the sorrow of seeing my mother's corpse and due to the grief of her passing, though it's been nearly a year since then. So, I wanted that realism to come through and be expressed, as such night terrors do happen, and like Katara told Korra, the body believes that you are/still are in danger, and the feelings are what trigger it.

Nonetheless, thank you for reading, and shout out to joehnna for their permission to use their work Found as a foundation for this story, and a shout out to harleyquinn142257, who has requested a story based similarly to this, but this is a one-shot that is focused on Asami going through the angst of seeing Korra belted up in the earthbending arena. That is going to be written and published hopefully tomorrow night, if not, the night after that. The title is going to be called … "Fighting Mad."

Keep an eye out for it and good night!