An odd purgatory had taken over the Lab in the weeks that followed. Jumping was still to painful for Korra, but Asami was more than happy to drive her across the city to Varrick's facility. Korra's lips were getting chapped, not because of the weather, but every time she looked at Asami she had to bite them to stop herself from kissing her. Fourteen days. She urged, tracing her fingers up and down the seam of the engineer's calf with one hand, leafing restlessly though equipment receipts on the bank of laptops in front of the couch.
There were certain things Kuvira wold have to buy to rebuild her machine. From certain places and if she were starting up her insane plan again. Varrick could acquire them no problem, but not only would Kuvira have to use a pseudonym, she'd have to make up a fake tech start up to justify buying them from the suppliers. It was like looking for a needle in a haystack as big as the world. Asami rationalised if they looked deep enough into every buyer eventually the front would prove false. Tracking her was another impossibility all together. If she truly realised how wrong she had been and was simply running there would be next to no way they could find her. Even her adoptive family hadn't heard a word since Bataar Jr's cremation.
It made Korra's eyes sting thinking of where she could be or what she could be doing, to her self, to others, with no one to guide her. She stole a glance to the heiress skimming through both receipts and Future Industries Stock holdings on separate computers, her chest swelled with a sense of affection and admiration that she'd bottled up for the longest time. How much worse could Kuvira get knowing that Korra was in love with someone else. She looked back, numbers and names and contracts buzzing and filling her brain and heating it. She blinked, lifting her fingers from the track pad to squeeze into the bridge of her nose.
"Korra."
"I am not wearing my glasses, they make me look like an old lady. And just for screens I mean what difference does light make-"
"Korra." She looked over at Asami who's skin was glowing and eyes fixed on her. Korra hadn't realised she had hiked up her trouser leg, a her warm gentle hand had been stroking the smooth expanse of her calf without thinking. She swallowed, feeling her breath hitch in her chest.
"Oh."
"How's your stomach?"
Korra watched her emerald eyes flick down to her own mouth. She admitted silently that it still burned deeply every minute that went by, but held back the confession as she watch Asami's red lips and worried her own with her teeth.
They were locked in a gaze, unaware that Mako and Bolin were running the newbies through their paces. Jinora precisely and practically sliced through the obstacle course, whereas Kai seemed to be every where at once.
"Nailed it!" He crowed, "Totally beat you!"
"You can't win at the obstacle course with speed Kai. It's about precision."
"How's this for precision!" he jumped in front of her using his height to send her arching back, blushing hotly she shoved him so hard he teleported at random. Landing squarely on the couch behind Korra, who flinched out of her reverie.
"Oh my god Kai! did I hurt you?" Jinora was quick to apologise and jump to check on the wheezing young jumper. Through his coughs and laughter Korra deciphered the pieces of his reply as her ears burned with frustration.
"Me? Hurt? Never."
"No you can't win at the obstacle course," Mako piped up, Bolin jumping onto the obscenely small couch between Kai and Korra and hooking his arms around their shoulders. Korra's gaze may have been snatched away from her engineer but she kept her grip on her pale ankle.
Bolin mimicked a Movie trailer voice over when he added. "But there's nothing stopping you from being the first to enter the box!" He teleported up and down to emphasise his point.
"Bolin- Bolin! My doctor said no heavy machinery and no cheerleading Bo!" Korra tugged herself from his grip as he apologised profusely, taking the opportunity of distance to casually lean her back into Asami's front. A knee either side of her waist. She listened to Asami's breath skip against her ear and felt her hands settle against her hips.
"Is this okay?" She heiress whispered, closing her eyes and feeling the soft strands of Korra's ponytail tickling the expanse of her lips. Her warm breath pooling over the nape of her neck, Korra bit on her chapped lips once again and nodded looking back at her from the corner of her eye.
They watched the Jumpers try and try without progress to make it inside the box. Asami found herself grinning madly, at first because she enjoyed hearing Korra's laughter, even though it pained her so much her tanned hand sought her own and gripped tightly, but then she remembered the toy that she kept in her jacket at all times. The owner to their prize was in her arms, and between her legs, right then and she was all hers.
"You know I bet you, you can go in there and get it right now." Korra laughed a little softer.
"I haven't jumped since RC."
"You can do it. I believe in you. Don't let anyone tell you you don't deserve what you want. Not even you."
"Wow you must really want that red thing."
"What can I say? Red's my colour." She thumbed at her ring finger as if by instinct feeling the faint indent that had remained.
"And what do I have to bet? Miss Sato."
"I'll kiss you," Asami watched her ears glow red.
"Before the date?"
"Before. Today. When you get that red…whatever. In there." Asami leant her head forward to press a kiss to the nape of her neck. She smiled against her skin as she listened gleefully to the half laugh half moan the Water Tribe girl emitted. "And you can stop biting your lips when you look at me."
Elated Korra sat up and stared intently at the box. One by one everyone sensed that she was about to make a move. Wordlessly everyone turned to watch as Korra straightened her back, tilted her neck and took in that last shaky breath. Her jump sounded like a bullet from a gun and Asami flinched. Panic rising in her throat like a bile. She listened intently, everyone did, the silence was vast, overbearing and unbearable. For a moment she thought she heard Korra laughing.
A yelp emanated from the live console bank. Varrick had taken to working from there, with Zhu Li, watching each other quietly and working in an unusual, healing, reserved and quiet way. Asami sat up on the couch but couldn't bring herself to stand. Kai and Jinora exchanged confused looks as Mako and Bolin rushed to meet the Varrick's.
Asami felt numb. Colour in her cheeks faded and the worst swirled around her head like a tornado. The next three seconds felt like an eternity. Asami's smile found her lips as she listened to the deft unraveling of the string and plastic in Korra's fingers. That silken voice broke the air from behind her.
"Asami go." As Asami turned she felt the air palpate and listened to the thwipping of the Jumpers coming between her and Korra. And behind Korra Kuvira, arms raised fingers clenched and aimed towards Korra in the air. Asami watched as Kuvira's hands twitched and floating in mid air Korra's body jerked in an unnatural and painful way.
"Kuvira stop!" Mako yelled, lunging.
"This is crazy!" His brother leapt two, it took hardly any effort for the older woman to expand her grip on their molecules. Asami finally found the muscles in her legs, they sprang, aiming not for the exit but for Korra's kit bag and jacket and the glove tucked inside.
"It is our duty to share this evolution with the world." Kuvira spoke in a soft tone that filled the room and was almost deafening. Asami felt her muscles contract and her feet lift from the ground. A wholly disorientating and sickening sensation enveloped her and twisted her in midair. She heard Korra cry out her name.
"How are you doing this?" Zhu Li screamed against her clamping throat. Talking back was nearly impossible as they twisted. As Asami closed her eyes she could feel a presence penetrating her mind, searching for something deep. The idea that Kuvira was wrong and trying to change it. The world began to spin and the memories, Korra fighting, kissing Korra, the panic they shared on that rooftop came loose and malleable.
"Exposure to the spirit energy has made me more powerful than any of you."
Korra touching the spirit ray as it enveloped the city, Korra drowning under the archway of Yue Bay. Asami opened her eyes a crack, frantically searching for the Water Tribe woman, until she caught the blood pooling and seeping through her shirt as she struggled and stitches tore. Their memories were being twisted and tampered with, and all the while Korra kept on twisting and arching until she fell. She hit the wood and didn't move. Asami could do nothing but watch and taste the shape of her name on her lips until her aching body grew numb and felt her mind expand and lift free. The instant before total separation Asami parted her lips to cry out.
There was a total shift in well, everything. Korra on the floor let out a sopping gasp and inhaled sharply. A light blue gleam skimmed across the floor from her eyes as blood pooled around her abdomen. Twitching, gasping and bleeding Korra made a similar call to the one she made two weeks ago.
Asami drew back into her own body as Kuvira's grip loosened with surprise.
Two beings stepped out of the light, shouts of shock could be heard, and for a moment their eyes were dark and normal. Both with chestnut brown hair and piercing ethereal blue eyes. One with that bob Asami couldn't wait to claw her fingers through and whisper sweet nothings into, clutching ribbon with one hand and the other clamped into a fist. The other had such a long intricate braid that dangled between her captivating shoulder blades. Matching patchwork spine scars peeking out of their collars. Short bob in her stolen bomber jacket, long braid in a tank top and cooking apron. She had finger paint sprawled along her forearms and the back of a red silk choker caught Asami's eye for a moment. Her gaze roamed her body and gorgeous skin. It seemed the more time Korra had the more Asami wanted her.
They spoke in unison, even Korra bleeding gently on the floor was moving her lips.
"You are out of balance Kuvira. And I have come out of time to stop you."
Kuvira dropped her influence on the now mostly exhausted and unconscious audience and raised her arms to fight. She grasped at the air, and for a moment as the Korra's stepped they arched forward as if they were being pulled back. But only for a moment. Kuvira charged for one and aimed a series of calculating trained kicks and attacks at someone who was fast enough to capture and deflect every single one. The two Water Tribe women took an arm each with one hand and trained their thumbs on Kuvira's forehead.
"Be free from this power Kuvira. Live your life."
The air cooled and Kuvira stopped fighting, conscious, eyes open and lips slack. Her whimper echoed, mad eyes becoming still as her abilities dissipated beneath her fingers. She pitched forward, forehead touching the ground as she sobbed quietly, grieving finally.
The Korra's stepped back, eyes dimming, blinking on their new surroundings.
"Katara?" The braid whipped her head around as though looking for someone towards the ground, grasping at her own paint smeared hands in earnest until she caught sight of Asami and smiled sweetly at her. "Oh." She looked beside at herself. "Oh." Her grin only widened seeing Asami looking so cute and confused, feeling her memories and reality merging so exquisitely.
Asami did her best to take her in from a distance, the faint design of her pendant, the crinklings of ageing beginning around her eyes. A tiny streak of grey amongst the brown. The flecks of paint on her cheek, a tiny new scar that marred her left eyebrow. The timeless way her eyes held the engineer, with complete admiration and love. Years from now, she still looked at her that way. If Asami wasn't so shell shocked she would have allowed the sob that was building in her throat.
The older Korra gave a giddy laugh, and slapped herself on the back of the bomber jacket.
"I'll let you take this one." She gave Asami a pointed look, kissed her hand and blew it to her before waving and stepping back into her own time. "No spoilers." Korra warned before she left.
Asami pulled together five words as her mind reeled and struggled with what she was seeing. She is so fucking cute.
"What day is it Asami?" The heiress turned her attention to the other Korra in the room. She said nothing, taking in the woman she'd cried over at the turn of the year, who hadn't aged a day. "How long have I been gone?"
Asami gingerly found her feet, testing the limbs that had recently been disconnected. She felt Korra's strong hands guide her up into a tight hug.
"You're bleeding." Asami pulled back and held Korra's face in her hands, unable to quell the stupid hopeful grin that was tugging at her lips, she looked down at the unconscious present Korra on the ground.
"You can't tell her what she did. I didn't know until now."
"No spoilers." Asami recited. She looked back, combing her fingers through her bob cathartically and enjoying the silk. She smelled better than she remembered, still fresh from their bed. She bit her lip as the memories filled her with warmth and an inappropriate tightening. She felt it was probably best if she took a step away from her before she had her way with her on the gym floor for everyone to see. "You know I thought you'd be taller."
"Oh ha ha."
Asami knelt down to Korra on the floor and touched her arm. She moaned and twisted her face away and so her cheek graced the cold wood.
"Korra can you hear me."
"M'tummy hurts 'Sami." Asami looked up to future Korra hugging herself awkwardly.
"Why are you so fucking cute?" Korra laughed.
"I'll see if anyone is conscious to take me to RC. Again." Tucking a lock of hair behind Asami's ear and kissing her temple, she headed towards Mako, wobbling about on this hands and knees like a newborn baby moose-lion.
Zhu Li and Varrick were already tending to Kuvira. Apologising profusely as her mind began to ease and clear, arms wrapped around herself the woman looked so small. She thought she had been making everyone safe. So anyone could save themselves. Varrick went about taking blood samples and checking her vital's immediately, affirming that yes, her abilities were gone. As was her need for a Familiar and so her mind returned.
Meanwhile Asami took off her belt and strapped it over Korra's wound to apply pressure.
She kneeled beside her after turning her onto her back. Korra's eyes opened and closed as her jaw set and aching head calculated her wound.
"Can we make out now?" she whispered half heartedly, twisting the hand that had been clutching the yo-yo so Asami could see her prize. The heiress cupped her jaw and pressed her lips gently to Korra's. "I've got butterflies." The Water Tribe girl drawled happily, "They really hurt."
"Okay." Asami spoke against her lips. Smeck. "Everything will be okay."
"I still get to date you in two weeks." She whimpered softly.
"Fourteen days." Asami confirmed.
"Ahem." Mako's jarring interruption resonated through them both. Korra groaned softly, fading slowly into unconsciousness. "Uh 'Sami I can get her…uh you. Past You to hospital now." Asami looked up to Korra biting her lip to keep in her laughter as the looming bleary golden eyed boy babbled. Asami stood and let Mako take Korra in a fireman's carry.
"She's lost a lot of blood." He observed by way of cop instinct.
"I'll be fine." Future Korra patted his shoulder before looking back at Asami. She reached for her hand and knotted their fingers. "I think I can make it back to my own time."
"No." Asami said it out of pure instinct.
"We're together now. She needs you." Korra raised there hands and trained Asami's fingers so they curled into his jacket. Stepping close to whisper into her ear. "Wait for me. Just a little bit longer. It's worth it I promise you." Asami caught her tucking something silken and blue, from the corner of her eye, into her pocket. "I love you Asami."
Mako gulped but found his voice.
"You ready to go ladies?" Asami shifted away from Korra's deft kiss on her ear, almost forgetting where they were.
Future Korra stepped back, allowing Mako to concentrate. Asami watched her, smiling softly but unable to fight the sadness in her eyes. She mouthed I love you. Korra blew a kiss before Mako, unconscious Korra and Asami arrived in Republic City General Hospital.
"Korra." Kuvira's voice cut through the silence. "I don't know what to say."
"It happened. It's over." She turned shoving her fists deep into her jacket pockets as she turned to her. "I'm sorry about Bataar." Fresh tears cut down Kuvira's cheeks.
"I'm sorry about…everything."
"I know." Korra met her eyes and gave her a soft smile, "Goodbye 'Vira."
In a flash of gold, and blink of piercing blue, Korra was gone.
