Umm...I wasn't actually planning on doing another chapter since by the time this chapter is finished, Korra has already ended. :'( Honestly I have lost a lot of inspiration. Thks to karanthefirebender for the encouragement to not discontinue this story. Please review.
Book 2:Bonds
Chapter 3: Just Thinking
The Next Day...
Asami's POV:
I walked into Cheryl's room, finding her staring endlessly at the white ceiling while laying down. Her hands behind her head, dullness covering her eyes. I place her new clothing next to her: A Light Green Candice's Lace Peplum Top, River Island Green button through belted mini-skirt, Black Combat Lace-Up Riding Mid-Calf Boots, Light Green Under Dress Shorts, and Regular Green finger-less gloves. Plus, a colorful Butterfly hair clip. (A/N: Decided to use some real world clothing so you can picture things better).
"How?" She whispered. "How do you think I can get Republic City back?"
"I don't know. But you can start by getting some breakfast and trying on the new clothing." I say sarcastically. She turns to me, but still laid down, and raises her brow. I chuckle.
"Seriously, the pancakes are getting cold. You need all the energy you can get." She sighs and gets up from her bed. I walk out of the room to wait for her to finish changing.
When she stepped out,she looked gorgeous!The long black hair that usually hung to her shoulders in slightly wavy lengths was partially up, framing her peach-colored skin. The green color clothing (due to her Earth Kingdom nationality) made her eyes shine even more too. Though, she was a bit flustered at her new outfit.
"I've never wore clothing like these types. Especially, skirts."
"Nonsense. You look beautiful. If only I had a camera right now I'll take a picture. Now, hurry before Lily eats up all the pancakes." I help her down the stairs, her legs still a bit wobbly from sitting too long. When we got to the kitchen I found everyone eating, but Bryant was missing.
"Where is Bryant?" I asked. Akina pointed outside.
"Why is he outside?" Cheryl questioned this time. She shrugged.
"He wouldn't talk when I tried to speak to him." Akina eyed Cheryl. Understanding the message, Cheryl humbly crossed her arms, hugging herself before taking some pancakes outside. Most likely to talk with Bryant.
I sat down on the table with everyone else. Lily was eating hungrily with Akina scolding the girl that eating too fast was bad. Sean seemed his normal cool mannered self. Minding his own business, eating neatly and quietly like a well-mannered person.
"So how is the Fire Nation?" I say, trying to spark a conversation. Sean looks up fro his plate.
"Hmmnn?"
"Well, aren't you and Lily the Prince and Princess of the Fire Nation?"
"You recognize us?"
"Of course. Being a business woman means I get to travel the world and meet entity of famous people. Especially world leaders that have the lead to have the modern speed for technology. Besides, I think I visited you guys when you were younger."
"Really? Most people don't visit us at all. Usually go up to dad."
"Didn't you get to meet Korra though?"
"Yeah. She was really nice when she came to visit. All those yummy treats!" Lily answered.
"Lily, we never meet Korra. You're probably talking about Pema."
"How old are you?"
"16, almost 17."
"Oh, that makes sense." I say sullenly. Too bad they could never see how amazing she was. She always loved kids. Sean puts down his fork a too forcefully, creating a loud sound, causing us to all look at him with confusion.
"What's wrong?" Akina says with concern in her voice. Sean clasps his hands together studying his knuckles.
"How do you think my father will handle this situation? I heard from Akina's nonsense blabbing that the Earth Kingdom has had a rusty repetition, even with a semi-democracy placed."
"Hey! History is an important subject," Akina whines, but her face returns to being worried. Lily continues munching happily on the pancakes "But it's true that the Earth Kingdom had a lot of rough times. In the 100 year war, Red Lotus' chaos, Kuriva's tyranny, now with the Earth Queens' policies." She pauses. "How did they ever recover so easily?"
"The people of the Earth Kingdom are diverse and strong. They are persistent and enduring." Lily recites with a mouth full of food. Akina pours a glass of water and gives it to Lily. Of course the girl refuses until Akina gives her a scary glare. I could tell by Sean's nervous reaction to it, that it was used quite often during their trips and was her signature move to get things back in order.
"Of course." I say with realization, because of all the hard times they have learned to defend themselves. Similar to their bending style.
"So you think that your father will be all fired up? I get that the people of the Fire Nation are passionate and have the dire to achieve what they want, but is this really something directed directly towards them? This could turn into a world war-" Akina chimes in.
"It already is." Sean interrupts. Akina sighs and places down her fork that has a piece of a pancake.
"It's not that I don't want the city to be saved, Republic City is my home along with Cheryl's. Both of our parents live in this city too. What if they get caught in the crossfire? What about the other innocent lives? I'm pretty sure Cheryl is thinking about them too."
"I'm pretty sure they are worried about both of you." I say. She nods back.
"Cheryl's parents were a bit reluctant to let her leave though. Being busy business people, they never really got to spend time with Cheryl. She usually wandered around the city, making new friends with her cheerful nature. Other times when she's depressed and I can't get through her, she would literally run away. I don't know where exactly at points either. If it's mild, it would usually be the park or harbor. It's possible she sneaks into the spirit portal at points. When we find out that she's gone away instead of the usual wandering, there is no track of her. The police have even gotten tired of her parents' multiple missing reports, only to give up. They usually stop at the 3rd day she's missing, finding it a natural occurrence and only doing so because of her family's pleas. On the 5th day she's missing, Cheryl would suddenly appear in her bed during the morning. No one knowing when or how she sneaked into her home. Her parents just find her on the bed. Acting normal, as if nothing happened." I blink in astonishment.
"Wow. I never knew that she had such a background. She must have a great physical health and attuned to nature to have survived for so long on her own."
"I always wonder where she goes off though. She never tells me. And I don't think she's in the city nor the spirit world at points. Maybe even the forest nearby Republic City."
"Sole type eh?"
"Yup. But that doesn't mean she doesn't care about others. Sometimes she goes to help the orphanage." Truly mysterious girl.
"So where were we?" I asked, trying to get back to the main point. "Oh, yes. How we solve this Earth Queen problem." I tap my fingers, covering the silence.
"Well, I could get my Dad to help out." Sean states.
"100 year war!" Lily giggles out after wiping the syrup off her face. I love how this girl has such great ideas despite being covered in food. Gotta love her innocent, yet true statements. We continue talking about our choices for pretty much the rest of breakfast.
Bryant's POV:
All I could think about was the future. Things were already worse by the minute. Plus, I almost lost my new friends. Hadn't Cheryl saved us, we would have all been doomed. But then again, SHE herself almost died. I thought I heard the door open, but ignored it and concentrated on my thoughts.
Out of the corner or my eye I saw a girl about my height, but smaller sit next to me on the steps. When I turned right, I found myself staring at Cheryl's pretty green eyes. She had a new outfit that was fit for her adventurous styles, yet brought a girl side to her. She looked so amazing! I was speechless. My jaw must have been open because Cheryl pushed it up and giggled.
"How does it look?" Her voice turned into a shy girl's type of voice.
"Its...be-beautiful." I stuttered out, un-able to respond so quickly as I was still taken in by her new appearance. We stared at the skyline for quite some time till Cheryl broke the silence by eating some pancakes.
"So...why you out here?" She asked politely.
"Just thinking about how things have become."
"Oh."
"I feel like it was just yesterday when we were just best friends hanging out in the forest..." She studied me for a sec before returning her glance to the horizon. I still remember how that day played out.
-Flashback-
At that time I was 8 and Cheryl was 7.
"Wait up Cheryl!" I called out to her in the lush forest that surrounded our village. I was running logs and dirt, trying to catch up to Cheryl who was using the tree vines to get around. Despite the fact that the tree's leaves covered the sunlight from reaching the ground, we had managed to use the bits of light to travel through it. Usually we would just pretend we were adventurers and wander through the forest. Then, Cheryl would use her Semitic sense to guild us back. I was huffing and puffing most of the time I was running around.
"It's nothing!" She called back. Running out of breath, I used my airbending to push myself on top of a nearby tree. When I looked around, I could see the village far way to my left, and just light green leaves everywhere else. Of course there was movement in the leaves in one direction to my right. Guessing that it was where Cheryl went, I was just about to jump down when I heard Cheryl cry out in pain and the leaves stopped moving.
Rushing to where I heard the noise, I found Cheryl sitting on the ground clutching her knee and holding it close to her body. She was whimpering a bit, and biting her lip so she wouldn't cry out. When I got closer, I found that she scraped her knee. It was bleeding a bit. Thankfully, not a lot. Tearing a piece of my sleeve off, I wrapped the cloth.
"See? This is what happens when we go on adventures into the woods." I scolded her. She sulked as I put her arm over my neck so I could help her stand up.
"But it was so much fun."
"Well, fun comes with a price. Let's get you home so we can clean that injury." I said sternly. She simply sighed annoyingly and obeyed my command.
-Flashback Ends-
I felt like that whole process was going to happen again, just on a bigger scale. Cheryl would be diving into whatever situation, and I end up worrying like crazy. (A/N: Cheryl is actually quite level headed. But everyone has those moments where you are just looking for adventure, especially when you were younger). With time passing by, I fear for the worst to happen.
"Bryant?"
"Yeah?"
"Don't worry about me. I am not the same kid as before. And besides, I'm the-"
"Avatar. I get it. I get that you're the Avatar, but it doesn't mean I can't worry either. If I suddenly lost you to some world domintor manic, my whole world would just crash. I know you belong to the world, but please don't just throw your life away. Think about Akina, Sean, especially Lily. She looks to you as an older sister. How do you think they will react? What about your parents?"
"But they understand the risk of it. They always do."
Silence covered between us again.
"You going to visit them?" I asked.
"Who?"
"Your parents."
"I don't know." She said wearily. "I don't even know how I am suppose to take back the city. Can I even go back home, knowing that I let the citizens down?"
"Well, you are going to need to get more friends to help you with that one. There are guards roaming throughout the city and war machines all over the place. Plus, they made that statement saying no one on the streets. I think she's trying to break our spirits of having a rebellion."
"Yeah. Do you think the White Lotus will get involved?"
"Well, honestly no. They were jerks back when they tried helping Avatar Korra.(A/N: Please don't hate me for saying that in this story). Doubt they will do any good nowadays."
"I thought Akina was the one who knew all the history." She teased.
"Actually, my parents occasionally told me stories about them. Also, remember when Akina was talking about it on the ride to the South Pole?"
"I don't actually listen to that. It usually goes in from one ear and out the other. I rather take in the scenery."
"Well, at least we got the Red Lotus out of the way. Wait-" She looked at me with confusion.
"What?"
"Back there, a Red Lotus member said that there are some members stuck here in the city. Probably because the Earth Queen captured them."
"So...?"
"Maybe we can get them to help."
"But they didn't know what had happened. I'm pretty sure they don't trust me and would attack me at first sight."
"Or not."
"Can we not talk about this now? I honestly just want a moment of peace in all this chaos." Chaos? That's weird of her to say, usually she wouldn't say stuff like that. What happened? When I turned to look at her instead of the scenery, I found her head buried into her hands. Hesitantly, I pulled her to me, hoping to give comfort knowing that I was there for her if she ever needed me.
A/N: Okay guys. So the bonding that they had in the past was kinda off screen, basically it was the time they were going to the South Pole. I hadn't described it in detail. So by the Title of this second book, you can tell that I can making it up in this book. Along with some background information. I know it's weird but, it is the only possible way since book 1 had a time limit within the story plot line. So basically, one of the objectives is the detailed bonding so don't expect the final as fast this time. Though the funny thing is that I already have the book 2 finale planed out along with a possible villain for the 3rd book (if I have time to write a 3rd book. Have been thinking to do a crossover too). So hope you guys don't mind the flashbacks along with the bonding in this book 2. In addition, I won't change things to korrasami because it just complicates the plot I already have. So like 4 year old Korra saying this playfully:'This is the plot, and you gotta deal with it!' *giggles and laughs good-naturally* Sorry to those that wanted korrasami marriage, but changing that would also change the entire story and I can't do that. It would be too much work to do, so I am just going to continue the story with the way I originally planned it. Hope you guys still like the chapter and the story line. Please review. Also, Merry Christmas. Srry its late XD. Also sorry that there wasn't much action in this chapter. Just read this Author's Note over myself, man it is longer then usual.