12.Together

Mewua Wentai stirred his tea nervously, when he realised Bú Yi was on the return after having made Kai murder the young master, he was more worried for his own life than ever before. He knew he wasn't a perfect man, in fact, he had destroyed countless lives in order to get what he wanted. He pitied himself for how the spirit had consumed his free will, but gave minimal care to how he had consumed Kai's as well. There were a few times where he wished the spirit had simply asked, but he wondered idly if he would have accepted once knowing the consequences.

He lost himself in the memory of when Bú Yi first found him.

He was in his large, comfortable home in the eastern Earth Kingdom, it was three months after the blow-up he had in Republic City at the Airbenders and the Avatar.

Birds hoped happily on his window sill as he tossed them bread crumbs, he sighed. He thought about the words that he had spoken out of anger, and regretted every one of them. Not for the reason of offence, but for fear that they will affect a possibly decision later, should they choose to give the land up. He sighed as he called for his maid to fetch him a piece of paper, I need to express my apology to Master Tenzin and Avatar Korra. I should have never assumed they would give me their sacred land so soon after the crumple of the templ-

There was the sound of a clay pot falling to the tiles in the kitchen, "Joo Dee?" Mewua had called, "Joo Dee? Are you well?" he stood from the table and walked towards the kitchen, he rounded the corner to find one of his prized vases smashed into hundreds of pieces. However, he was more concerned about his most reliable maid lying unconscious, "Joo Dee!" he yelled, lowering himself to rest his fingers against her wrist, her heart was strong. He turned and headed quickly to his office to radio for medical help, when a force knocked him to the ground.

The pain was like nothing he had ever felt, or anything he could have imagined. It crippled him, rendering him into a horrible, swirling black. The pain pulsed through him and he thought he must have died or be dying, floating in the darkness with nothing but his thoughts and constant pain. When he came back to consciousness, the light hadn't far shifted from its position on the floor. There were still birds flying around his window, he was sure that he had been gone for hours, he realised it had only been minutes. He struggled to his feet, he glanced behind him, Joo Dee still needed medical assistance. He turned slowly towards his desk and radio.

That was the first time he saw it.

It was hovering over the radio, it was ugly, it was large.

It smiled.

Bú Yi cleared its throat, bringing Mewua back to the present, he scowled at the spirit, "Forgive me, Bú Yi." He huffed, feeling his heart take off in a run.

The spirit was terrifying.

"Do not apologise, old friend." It huffed almost sarcastically, "I can forgive a wandering mind…" Mewua was about to speak when pain crashed over him, "The first time, was fine, but this is becoming a habit and you need to play your part." Mewua groaned against the pain, "Speaking for one is hard enough, but when we are both in a room together, you will do whatever I need you too. I demand no less, then, and only then, I will free you."

Mewua regretted the partnership, Bú Yi would release him once he had the young master, he realised how selfish it was, but what was someone else's pain to his. Of course, Bú Yi made sure not to inform him that it will always have the potential to regain control if it saw fit to. When they had realised that the men had hit Kai with the tiny spirit portion of Bú Yi, Mewua was sure that he would never be free, he was furious. He quickly worked on an alternate plan to ensure that the outcome would be the same, in public Bú Yi made him out to be immensely crueller, parts of that had begun to seep into his attitude towards everything he once admired.

He just wanted to be free.

Bú Yi released his hold over Mewua, there was a knock on the door, two men entered after a short time. They handed the master letters and spoke briefly, one of the two could see Bú Yi, yet another could not. There were many who joined Mewua without hesitation, knowing that there was a fortune for each in the mining process. There were others who tended to abandon the plans after hearing the Avatar forbade them, Bú Yi found it easy to force necessary and beneficial parties to commit to the plan. The two men left with more jobs to complete for Mewua, closing the door behind them. He spoke softly, "You made him murder that girl… I thought you wanted her."

"I altered my plans." Bú Yi said, staring at him, "The young master will live, I will keep my eyes on them both."

"While… Y-you are remaining with me?" he was terrified at the possibility.

"No." Bú Yi said, "I will take her, but only once she has been healed. It was worth the risk, Kai needed to know that I would stop at nothing to separate them."

…

Lin had her head in her hands as she leant over a cup of tea, most of the steam had gone, leaving the liquid lukewarm and unpleasant. She picked up the teacup, twirling it in her fingers, she sighed. She was trying to concentrate, trying to think of a plan that could help them find, beat and destroy whoever was behind this. She let a scowl set across her face, she wondered why she hadn't arrested the man after the threat to Tenzin and his family. It was grounds for at least a few hours behind bars and one crappy meal… She huffed, some police chief, I could have stopped this before it had started...

She heard voices rapidly approaching, she could hear it was Bumi, Kya and Pema, they were all trying to calm someone down, Lin realised who as they burst into the dining area. Tenzin's face was red with fury, as his eyes narrowed in on Lin he stormed across the hall. A few of the acolytes looked confused and others watched with an expression of disbelief, Tenzin stood over Lin and knocked the tea cup from her hand. "Tenzin!" Pema gasped, she had never him be so rude, and especially to someone who could tear him apart in an instant.

He stood over her for a moment, Lin scowled and pushed out from the table, "You got something to say, Tenzin?" she said angrily, she saw it as a sign of condescension and found it very offensive when anyone did that to another person, she stood and looked him directly in the eye, "Say it."

"I told you not to release him! You did not respect my instructions!" he yelled, swinging his arm in the direction of the medical rooms.

"I take responsibility for releasing him, Tenzin." Lin growled, "But it was your daughter who snuck out the window after, you. Told. Her. Not. To."

"Because of your careless actions, my daughter was almost murdered!"

"Tenzin!" Kya whispered, "I told you that she will be fine."

"BUT WHAT IF SHE WASN'T!" he yelled loudly, "We could have lost her, Kya!"

"I would have lost her too! We all would have!" she yelled back, "I wouldn't have let it happen! Lin was only doing what she thought was best for everyone!"

"Yeah Tenzin," Bumi said, taking a step forward and placing a hand on his younger brother's shoulder. "If it wasn't for Linny, we would have never found out about how the spirit works or-" Bumi was suddenly knocked to the ground, Tenzin's fist was quick and precise. Bumi was in shock, the only times that Tenzin had ever punched him, were mock-fights-gone-wrong or one time where he jumped out and frightened him when he was fifteen.

Lin reacted automatically due to the sudden violence, she wrapped her cables around his wrists and pulled them behind his back. This angered Tenzin, he used airbending to force the cable apart and slip his hands free, he blasted air towards Lin. It knocked her backwards over the table, Kya sent out two streams of water and captured Tenzin's hands. Suyin had arrived down the stairs as she saw Tenzin blasting Lin, she threw her cables towards him, catching his torso as Kya's water caught his hands.

"What are you doing?!" Tenzin bellowed.

"You just attacked your own brother and Lin! With all the possessions going around, I am not risking anything!" Kya yelled.

"Me either!" Suyin said, keeping half an eye on Lin as she sat up slightly, rubbing the crown of her head.

"I am not possessed!" Tenzin shouted, the acolytes presents looked between each other.

"That is exactly what a possessed person would say!" Bumi yelled, rubbing his chin.

"Are you possessed, honey?" Pema asked, her hands over her mouth.

"No-"

"You just hit me!" Bumi said.

"You deserved it!" Tenzin huffed, his bad mood now replaced with pure annoyance. Kya kept his hands surrounded in ice, Tenzin decided not to push his luck, they will never believe me if I fight them…

"You knocked Lin over a table!" Bumi said, getting to his feet as Lin emerged unscathed.

"You both deserved it." He snorted, "Ask me anything! I can prove that I am truly myself! Come on, something only I would know."

"How will that help?" Suyin said, letting her cables fall loose, worried that she would harm him for no reason if it proved he wasn't under any control.

"If I don't answer, it means they don't know the answer. If I do answer, how could they know unless they were there too?" he said, his face still red with irritation, "I wouldn't even try to answer if I was possessed, just to prove I am not..."

Everyone was silent for a while, in theory, it was perfect, though Bumi was looking sceptical about Tenzin's explanation. They thought hard about something that only Tenzin would know, something each of would also be able to answer if in the same position.

"When you were departing Zao Fu, after asking me to help with the Earth Kingdom, where did Wei's power-disc strike you when it rebounded from the post?"

"My left shoulder." Tenzin said, "I had weaker airbending in that arm for three weeks. It was only after Kya convince me it was all in my head that I was able to relax…"

"At what point of receiving your airbender tattoos did you tell Dad you regretted them with great, large tears in your eyes?" Bumi snickered.

Tenzin scowled, "… The backs of my knees… Then again for the top of my head…"

"Well, I'm convinced!" Bumi laughed, still rubbing his jaw.

"What were we going to call Jinora, if she were a boy?" Pema asked, they had never discussed this with anyone but Katara.

"Aang." Tenzin said, smiling lightly, "That one may be easy if they gave it a moment of thought."

"I have a birthmark shaped like a triangle, where is it?" Lin asked, scowling at Tenzin.

Tenzin hesitated, glancing at his wife, she had her arms crossed and an eyebrow raised, "Your… Left inner thigh…" Tenzin said softly, blushing slightly, trying to play it off as an offhand, detached comment.

Everyone glanced awkwardly at Lin, Suyin's lips were pressed into a thin, amused line, threatening to burst out in laughter, "He is correct." She said nonchalantly.

"Hmm, must have missed that…" Bumi said loud enough for everyone to hear, although he was actually talking to himself. Lin punching him in the arm, Suyin snickered and the others pulled a face of repulsed humour. "I am just saying! He could have been lying!" he leant towards Lin and whispered, "I will have to confirm…" Lin punched him again this time, throwing him off balance as he hit the ground with an 'oof'.

"Why Tenzin," Suyin said slowly, "I think you just came up with the perfect way for anyone to check when Kai and Opal are under possession!"

…

Jinora couldn't stop trailing her finger along the recently healed scar under her shirt, Kya had done an incredible job. The fineness of the blade made it particularly convenient for Kya to heal, however when Jinora had woken up and tried to get to Kai, she had unintentionally undone a bit of Kya's work. The inside of her chest still ached, which she was told to expect, as the water can only do so much.

She was rolling ideas over and over in her mind, she was trying to think a way to beat the spirit and keep everyone safe. I need to know whether the man is the head of the whole operation… Why would a spirit agree to help someone mine lands that have such a strong spiritual connection and meaning to so many peaceful individuals? Both human and spirits treasure the area, despite the temple being gone. She huffed a loud breath, she thought about Kai, her stomach filled with butterflies as she realised she finally had a chance to linger on their night together. She felt like her cheeks were on fire and her lips were suddenly tingling, she remembered his hands exploring her body, and she relished in the remembrances of his sighs. It wasn't long before she recalled the circumstances, she could almost feel his bruised, scraped skin beneath her fingertips. Why did it get Kai? Of all the airbenders? One day, Kai will be a great leader, he will be an important symbol and forever remembered as one of the first masters to follow harmonic convergence, well, once he gets his tattoos… But, he still has a few years before he will have any major pull over the decisions that will be applied to the nation and nomads, it would have made more sense to seek my father.

No, he would have never agreed to it, everyone would have known something was off… Besides, dad wasn't there when Kai got attacked. Maybe they were seeking someone with pull that was younger, maybe they thought that being more accustomed to change, would result in them swaying a decision to share, or even give the land? Someone who would slip under the radar and no one would expect? Someone everyone trusts? Someone who would assume a lot of responsibility if something was to go wron-

Oh.

Someone like me… It all made sense, she was with Kai on the plateau, she was with him when he was knocked to the ground. They were after me… Kai knocked me out of the way unintentionally, she swallow, feeling her throat constrict, as if she was being strangled again. They wanted him to kill me. They want him to kill anyone who could possibly prevent them from succeeding, they want that land.

She lingered on her attack for a moment, Kai slamming her against the wall, his body had been so determined to harm her. She thought about his urgency to get away from her the night he sought after her, not that he wanted to leave, but as if he thought something would happen if he stay.

He was scared. She held, thinking carefully, they wanted him to kill me.

The next thoughts caused her hand to fly to her lips, a gasp escaping her lips in heartbreaking realisation. They were going to make me kill everyone… That is what they are trying to make him do… She felt her breathing become erratic, her head felt like there was suddenly a massive amount of pressure expanding within it, she felt dizzy.

Like she would be sick.

Her breaths became shaky, she closed her eyes tightly, I can't help anyone like this! I can't help anyone at all! I can't help Kai!

There was a knock at the door, it tore through all she was feeling. It was as if the feelings were chased away, hiding from plain sight, keeping everyone else in the dark. She lifted her head towards the door as it opened, Opal pushed in, closing it behind her. "Master Jinora." She smiled with relief, "How are you feeling?"

"Practically normal." Jinora said softly, she had only just realised that her nails were digging into her hand, "Just trying to piece together what happened before Kai… Stabbed me." She folded her hand gently across her lap, sitting politely.

"He thought he was harming the spirit, not you!" Opal said quickly, mistaking her quiet words towards her as being silent fury or crushing fear of Kai, "He would never intentionally harm anyone, especially you."

"I know, I saw the spirit messing with his mind. I should have been more careful when I ran for him…" She was worried about someone seeing her fear, she kept her gaze averted.

Opal's eyes were wide, "You saw the spirit? Did he attack you too?"

"N-no, I can see all spirits. I mean, I am a spiritual master. Why? What does being attacked have to do with seeing the spirit?"

Opal explained that she and Kai had realised that once you have been possessed, it was easy to see Bú Yi, unless he caused himself to evaporate. Opal told Jinora all she knew, from the moment she realised where Kai would be, to when she was attacked and watched helplessly as Bú Yi pursued Kai. Jinora, in turn, told Opal how she had leapt out the window in the medical room to go after them both, when it was made clear to her that no one would willingly let her.

They were interrupted by another hesitant knock on the door, Bolin pushed the door open slightly, he smiled softly walked in. Kai followed him cautiously, he almost collapsed from joy when he saw Jinora sitting up in the bed. He stumbled slightly before he rushed forward, as she hoped down from the bed they crashed into each other, his arms encircling her. There was a sharp pain in her chest when they collided, she ignored it, she couldn't care less at this moment.

He was pulled from her as he cradled her body when she was stabbed, he hadn't been permitted near her since. He recalled as his bloodied fingers traced her tattoos, and his voice cracked as he tried to keep her consciousness with him. He whispered moments shared between them as he watched the mass of people come towards them. He had tried to fight against Bumi and Mako's grips as they took her body from his arms. He had realised that they only wanted to heal her, though a part of his mind had him convinced they would not let him have her again, and from there he went semi-willingly.

Now he could hold her.

She pulled back from him, holding his face in her hands. The only person that she thought could share the fear she felt, the only one she wanted to understand, stood with his body pressed to hers. She never wanted to be let go, he never wanted to hurt her again.

His eyes looked faded, as if someone had been draining their colour, his smile was crooked and looked like it took a lot of effort. She pulled his face to hers, their lips met and Kai groaned softly, the heat rose in his body and he thought he would shiver with the pleasure. His arms hooked around her torso, pinning her to him, her hands tangled in his hair. She opened her mouth and he moved with her, they were lost with other for a moment. They were both back in the bathing room, back with the heat and the desire. Her lips were warm, against his, his were cool with worry. He wanted nothing more than for them to be alone, he wished they could be alone. They both knew, that after all this, they would be able to do nothing but be together.

It was when Bolin cleared his throat and Opal huffed a soft laugh that they tentatively drew back from each other, still not moving more than a few centimetres apart. Jinora blushed and hid her face against his shoulder, he didn't smell like he usually did, but she had missed him too much to care whether the scent was overly pleasing or not.

He was beyond words with guilt, sure, she is okay… But what happens in a few years' time? She might stop loving me, looking for a reason to leave me… He felt a felting of disgust and fear rise in his throat, he opened his mouth, "Jinor-"

"I wasn't your fault." She whispered, still hiding against his shoulder, "I know it wasn't your fault."

"I could have killed-"

"You didn't." she said, pulling back and looking him in the eye, "The sooner we figure out what to do, the sooner we can go back to just being us." She smiled lightly, Kai pulled her back against his chest, rocking her slightly.

"That sounds wonderful." He kissed her eyelids, and then her arrow, keeping his lips against her skin as she held him tightly.

There was another knock, Mako stuck his head through the crack in the door, "I think this is wher-yeah, found him."

Mako pushed through the door, "Mako! You came!" Bolin said, walking towards his brother.

"How could I not? You left about fifteen notes all over my room and one on the back of my shirt…" he stood in the room, upon seeing Kai, he lowered his eyebrow in remorse, "I am sorry that I didn't believe you, Kai. What you went through must have been terrible, and how we all treated you must have been just as hard." Asami poked her head around the lip of the door, before heading in.

"It's all cool." Kai said, shrugging his shoulder, "If anyone of you had appeared to have done it, I would have been the same."

"Hey Jinora, are you okay? How are you feeling?" Asami asked, patting Kai on the shoulder and taking a seat on the end of Jinora's bed.

"The wound is healed, but it still hurts inside." She smiled, Kai swallowed loudly at her words, still feeling mortified. "Aunt Kya says that I will be good as knew in a few days, when they properly saw the wound, they were so relieved."

"Yes, Korra said that it was an inch off being a completely different story."

"Yes, the blade clipped my lung, but Kya specialised in respiratory wounds when she spent a few years in the mountains, they have a bundle of respiratory things up there." She mumbled, absentmindedly rubbing her new scar through her pyjama shirt, "I mean, any more central to my sagittal plane and I may not have been so fortunate…"

"You are one smart human." Bolin said, rubbing the back of his neck while trying to remember what part of the body was called 'sagittal', he was pulling up blanks.

"I know," she smiled, but quickly turned serious, "but why did you call Mako and Asami here? Is something else happening?"

"Kind of," Bolin smiled, "Su just found me and told me to get you, Asami and Mako. Wei and Wing are guarding Korra while she is still spiriting-it-up, but we need to start planning. I didn't know where they were, but I left notes on both their doors and on the back of their jackets…"

"Planning?" Asami prompted, "Planning what?" she was the one that saw Mako walk past with a piece of paper between his shoulder blades. She had laughed until she realised she had one on her back too.

"A course of action, they are brainstorming as we speak… But, err, Kai can't come for obvious reasons..." Bolin said awkwardly, glancing at Jinora then to Kai, still in each other's arms. "Neither can Opal, just in case."

"We best get moving then." Mako said, turning and heading towards the door.

"Wait, I will pop down to get a cup of tea before you all leave." Opal turned and grabbed Bolin's hand, "Would you both like one?" she asked Kai and Jinora, they both nodded.

"I will help you carry them back, the 'brain-trust' can wait." Bolin smiled eagerly, always happy to help and even happier to have a few moments with Opal. Mako and Asami walked towards the door, stopping only when they realised that Jinora hadn't followed.

"Y-you guys go ahead." Jinora said, "I will be after you all in a moment." they hesitated, looking between each other, "I can handle this, I will not be taken off guard again." Though they were sure that she would be fine, Mako refused to leave until Bolin and Opal returned. Asami went ahead to convince the others to wait.

Jinora and Kai sat on the edge of the medical bed, Mako suddenly got a hint of suspicion of why they wanted to have a moment alone. His expression dropped and he pressed his lips into a thin lip, he had his eyebrow raised as he tried to think of a conversation topic. He cleared his throat awkwardly, hoping they knew he was here for safety reasons only, "I-", a blast of air threw him across the room and his body hit the wall hard, he slid down the wall and dropped to his knees before falling forwards. Kai's eyes were wide as he glanced to his left.

Jinora's arms were stretched out before her, her face set in a determined, almost terrifying stare.

"What did you do that fo-?!" Kai was shocked, Jinora didn't say a word as she grabbed a flight suit from the cupboard and striped from her bed-clothes. Kai blinked twice as he watched her body slip comfortably into the suit, his heart sped up abruptly, he couldn't take his eyes off her as his cheeks warmed dramatically. He was still mesmerised as she turned towards him and grabbed his hand, she pulled him towards the window as her free hand fastened the zipper on her suit.

"No one else needs to get put in the way of potential death," she said coolly, she looked outside the window and couldn't see anyone, she glanced back at Mako ad saw he was still very much unconscious, "We can beat this without needing to harm the others."

"We could, bu-" Kai started, but Jinora interrupted him.

"Are we in this together?" she asked, "Or not?"

He looked at her for a moment, the sun coming through the window and lighting one side of her face. Her eyes shone brightly, the brown being enhanced by the light, her arrow seemed to be illuminant against her skin. He smiled, taking her hand in his, "Together, I thought that would be crystal clear."

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