A/N - Okay, I lied! Back by popular demand! Well, not really but the majority said they wanted me to update or continue the story :P
I felt really guilty when I saw that a lot of ppl had alerted it/ favorite it so...people do have power in masses. Here's the next installment. It'll probably be a short 5 chapter story. Maybe. Probably end up as 7 chapters. I don't know yet where inspiration will lead.
Disclaimer: Don't own anything!
Warning: Slight choppiness and switching of verb tenses. Also, possible major let down that this chapter isn't as awesome as the first, damn.
So...this story is officially AU? I wrote this after I watched the season finale...which unsatisfies/satisfied my LoK fangirl. But cheers for the slight iroh/korra moments!
Do not read this if you have not seen the season finale! Not only are there spoilers but I wrote this assuming everyone has seen it! Which means there are parts of the episodes in here and some parts glossed over!
Only A Glance, Nothing More
Summary – General Iroh II had seen both Avatars once, in his lifetime in different stages of his life. Setting eyes on Korra once more, he can't help but be enchanted by the bold crass manner of her. Unfortunately, Korra has her eyes on Mako, who has only eyes for the beautiful Asami while Bolin has eyes on her. But Iroh has inherited patience from his ancestors, and perhaps, when the war is over, Korra's eyes will rest on him at last. K/I
II. Three Days in Republic City
The question asked in order
To save her life or take it
[...]
She answered him knowing what would happen
Her last words still hanging in the air
[...]
- Cassie, Flyleaf
When Toph Beifong died -master earthbender, creator of metalbending, of the prestigious Beifong family in the Earth Nation, chief of police- her daughter Lin did not cry...in front of others. Others who were only acquintances, her mother's fans, her students, they all were crying as they came to pay their respects to Lin Beifong.
Chief Lin Beifong now.
She was the very image of Toph at the age 24- with her long black hair twisted into an elegant hairstyle (thanks to Katara), her emotionless blank piercing green eyes, and her fine green dress that displayed her rich Earth Nation ancestry (thanks to Suki).
With the diplomacy she had been taught by Uncle Sokka, Lin accepted their condolences while exchanging fond memories of her mother. She was the first in line to be given condolences, next was Avatar Aang and Katara, followed by Sokka and Suki, and etc. Though her eyes were misty when her mother was laid to rest into the very earth she loved, Lin Beifong still did not shed a tear.
Behind close doors however, surrounded by her mother's closest friends, Lin Beifong mourned the loss with deep grief. For it had always been the two Beifong girls against the world and now there was only one.
A year later, though professional at her job as chief, Lin was still mourning her mother deeply. Not even Tenzin's consolment and assurances could bring her out of it despite his efforts to do so.
It had been Avatar Aang, closest to the Spirit World, that had made her stop mourning her mother strongly. He did not say, "Pull yourself together, Chief, and get back to work," but merely reminded her about information she had forgotten.
"Lin...where was your mother buried?" asked Avatar Aang gently.
"In the earth kingdom." she whispered, looking up at him with a tearstreaked face.
Having come from one of the highest nobility family of the nation, Toph Beifong had been buried in the most prettiest site in the earth kingdom where it had been declared a national monument.
Avatar Aang sat besides her and wrapped an arm around his future daughter in law.
"And what did your mother love most, besides you, her daughter?" he continued as he rasied a hand and wiped the dried tears away.
"Earthbending." she said.
At this, he smiled and said, "Close your eyes Lin and tell me what you sense."
She stared at him for a shocked moment but at his gentle urging, she did as he asked, closing her eyes to sense...
"The earth. I sense the earth, Uncle Aang. The metal as well." she replied.
"And what else?" he asked patiently.
Puzzled, Lin closed her eyes and tried to sense deeper, tried to figure out what he meant. When she finally sensed what he wanted her to, Lin opened her eyes and stared at Avatar Aang, gaping for words.
"You know Toph and her parents were never really close but you, Lin. Even in death, she hasn't abandoned you. From the Spirit World, she is still with you." he said gently before getting up and leaving. Lin leans back and relaxes, sensing the earth.
In the earth and metal, Lin could sense her mother's spirit. She could feel the whispers of her footsteps, the faint sound of her mother's rowdy laughter. In that moment, Lin felt the earth was her mother, her mother who would never fail her.
0o0o0
Thirty years later, it is Lin who fails her mother. She fails to take down both airships, having forgotten to watch her back. Didn't her mother alway warned her to never let her guard down? Toph Beifong would've taken down both easily if she had been there.
She fails her mother in the way she is easily captured and quickly chi-blocked. Her mother had invented metalbending when she's been captured on a bounty in order to escape.
Under the light of the moon, Lin Beifong is forced to kneel in front of Amon. When he gives her a choice - her bending for the Avatar- Lin doesn't think twice before responding, her anger exploding from her calm exterior.
"I won't tell you anything, you monster!" she spat out defiantly as she looked up at Amon in the eye. Her words echoed throughout the place, echoed in the air itself. How dare he ask her such a question? To betray the Avatar was to betray her own mother, her family. Because Avatar Aang had been her family too, one of the many father figures she had while growing up.
Even more than that, the world needed the Avatar. She may have failed her mother in almost everything but Lin Beifong would make her mother proud. She would make everyone proud.
"Very well." said Amon smoothly as he began to walk behind her.
She close her eyes in order not to see the triumphant looks the Equalists were shooting each other and instead focused her attention in the earth, the metal surrounding her body.
She focuses on the increasing footsteps of her mother thudding through the earth, the startling silence of her rowdy laughter.
And then, Lin Beifong stopped feeling the earth and metal calling. Stopped sensing her mother. Stopped being connected.
Startled wide-shock green eyes opened to meet faded green ones for a brief moment.
You have never failed me. I am proud of you, Lin.
Though her eyes closes against her will, her body falling to the side no longer anchored down by the earth, Lin Beifong could've sworn she felt her mother give her one of her rare hugs, felt her mother's hands -startlingly soft- brush back the strands of grey from her face.
Then she knows no more.
0o0o0
When Lin Beifong wakes up, it is dark. She tries to sit up but finds that her armor -once so light as a feather - prevents it. Gasping, she looked around her surroundings to notice that somehow she is underground, in the sewers precisely. There is a soft glow casted from the fire a few feet away from her.
"Hold it there, Chief. Don't want you hurting yourself with that heavy armor. Let me help you up." a familiar voice said as something clattered on the floor and she heard footsteps coming towards her.
Arms hooked on her arm pits, Lin was helped into a sitting position and her helper popped into view.
"Gommu. I should've known it was you." she said as the hobo sat next to her and started peeling potatoes.
Gommu was an old friend to the police force. More than once, he had been caught breaking laws and gone to jail. Lin Beifong remembers many occasions where she had been forced to escort him to jail. After a few moments of Gommu's humming, she asked, "How did I get here?"
"Ah, asking how instead of where are you? Good choice, Chief." said Gommu, nodding his head wisely before throwing up his hands -one holding a peeler, another a half-peeled potato - and continuing, "I found you while looking for ingredients to add to Ayame's chicken broth near the harbor. Saw the equalists dumping you near the shoreline just as the tide was coming in and decided to bring you here, to the Underground, so you can recover peacefully from your ordeal."
"Thank you." she said simply. Had she been Chief, she would've analyzed every word, every advantage that came from saving her, but she was not and she knew Gommu well. He couldn't lie very well.
Suddenly, a woman close to Lin's age appeared.
"Gommu, I've been waiting for those potatoes since the sun came down." joked Ayame, Lin concluded.
"No worries, I'm almost done. Just been catching up with the Chief y'know. Would you mind lending her one of your outfits until she recovers?" asked Gommu.
Lin is automatically taken back and tried to protest as Ayame nodded, ordered Gommu to watch the broth, and took Lin to her home.
Lin Beifong is stubborn. Nothing gets in her way. That's why she is still reeling emotionally as she sat in a huge circle around the bonfire, eating chicken broth. Ayame's sister, a metalbender, had helped taken off the uniform before Ayame had dressed Lin in a earth kingdom dress that had seen better days.
Ayame had been the one to tell her that the Underground consisted of benders and nonbenders living together, either by choice or refuge from the chaos of Republic City. The benders had been the few to get away from the Equalists. The rest had been taken into custody and waited to be "cleansed."
Someone from the circle suddenly said, "Did Gommu pick the ingredients again?"
"The finest ingredients from the best dumpsters in town." proclaimed Gommu proudly, puffing his chest up in pride. The whole circle of people nodded in agreement at this. Nobody could dumpster dive like Gommu and find ingredients that made food semi-decent.
They all secretly peeked at Lin to get her reaction about the origins of the delicious food but, her face emotionless, she kept on eating the murky chicken broth. Secretly though, it tasted better than what she expected. Bumi's creative "cuisine" back in her childhood still kept number one on her list of worst food.
It is only until the dishes had been collected and the children put to sleep that one of the nonbenders approached Lin.
"What are you going to do while the United Forces are coming, Chief?" he asked.
"The United Forces?" replied Lin in shock.
Tenzin must have had time to send a wire to the United Forces Fleet before Amon had tried to take his family behind his back.
The nonbender - Ren was his name - nodded. The whole crowd was watching them now.
"Hiroshi Sato has stated more than once that the United Forces are on their way. It seems that Amon managed to get his hands on the reply that the General of the United Forces Fleet had sent back. So what are you going to do, Chief?"
What are you going to do if, Spirits forbid, you can't bend anymore, Lin? her Uncle Sokka's voice whispered in her mind. She had been a cocky girl of 12, sitting in on the training of Sokka's daughters to be Kyoshi warriors, and refusing to participate.
That's silly, Uncle Sokka! Only Uncle Aang can take my bending away and Mom will kick his ass if he does! replied the sassy 12 year old with a head toss, her green eyes flashing angrily at the thought. Had her Uncle predicted the situation she was in now?
"I'm not Chief anymore." she says instead.
Here everyone shrugged.
"You might as well be. If the Avatar, who only wields one element at the beginning, refuses to be called as such. Does that make the Avatar not the Avatar?" asked Gommu.
Lin nodded at the old hobo. She was concentrated, her eyebrows drawn together in deep thought.
Whatcha going to do Lin, when the world is against you?
I'm going to kick some ass.
And a plan started to form in her mind. It flowed and pieced together so startlingly fast that Lin had to go over it more than once to make sure it was solid. The she answered Ren.
"I will gather my own forces. We will fight with the United Forces together and take back Republic City."
Then she turned to Gommu.
"I must locate an old friend. Perhaps someone knows where he is?" she asked.
He nods eagerly.
"Who?" he asked as he took out a scrap of paper and a small pen point from out of nowhere.
Lin tells him.
0o0o0
She fell in love completely at the age of 15. Surprisingly, it had not been Tenzin who had captured her heart -that was much later - but an earthbender with dark bedroom eyes named Hikaru.
Hikaru was her equal in every way but unfortunately he was not interested in the police chief's daughter. Why get caught in that drama when there were other girls? So when Lin Beifong tries to tell him she liked him, he refuted her advances.
It is only when Lin Beifong is swept off her feet (literally and figuratively) by Tenzin that Hikaru realizes he lost an opportunity with her and would forever be "could've been." But it had been his choice and backed off, swallowed his pride. Now it was Lin who refuted his subtle advances on her. They remained good friends while Tenzin and she advanced past that point.
The last time they had parted as equals had been at their graduation from the earth/metalbending academy. They had been the two with high perfomances and it had shocked Toph to learn that Hikaru wouldn't be entering the police force along with Lin.
If Lin knew her mother well at all, she knows that is her only regret - letting such talent walk away from her even with the heavy persuasion she was known for.
The final time they had met face to face had been at her mother's funeral. She was chief of police, he was under the employment of the United Forces. Hikaru had barely entered the room when Lin had looked up and caught his glance. He automatically shot her a quick grin and got in line to see her. When it was Hikaru's turn, they just stood there and stared at each other.
Hikaru doesn't say anything. He doesn't offer condolences to her or something. He merely smiled sadly at her, squeezed her shoulder gently, and placed a fragile rose on top of the elaborate mud coffin in the middle of the room.
It would be thirty years later, at the beginning of a fierce battle for Republic City, that Lin Beifong - no longer a bender or chief of police - would remember Hikaru.
0o0o0
Gommu finds who she's looking for easily - the earthbender Hikaru.
He lived in the outskirts of Republic City, where city and nature blurred slightly, the only house for miles. Gommu offers to accompany her but Lin refuses. Just because she no longer had her bending didn't make her weak. Lin Beifong had been around the daughters of Sokka so much that Uncle Sokka had more than once slipped and called her "daughter." (When she was younger, Lin would stare at her reflection, tilting her head back and forth, trying to catch evidence that Sokka really was her father.) She had been trained with his daughters in the way of the Kyoshi Warriors after being presuaded to train.
It is funny how things that were forgotten about come back to the surface of her mind when the rest is gone.
The house is shabbily kept, some parts falling here and there, but that was just Hikaru's personality on the house. Opening the gate, she walked past the house and into the backyard.
She finds him hard at work, gardening at what she assume is his vegetable patch, before he sensed her coming and stood up. Hikaru looks her up and down, raising his eye brows at the sight of her metal uniform.
"Do my eyes decieve me? Is that the Lin Beifong coming to visit me?" asked Hikaru in amazement as he comically put his hands up in shock.
He still had the same eyes, the same built, what attracted her was still there. Lin scoffed and retorted, "I know you have induced hallucinations but I doubt I will even visit you in such."
Hikaru laughed. It seemed as if time hadn't moved on.
They traded remarks back and forth before Lin became serious.
"Hikaru...are you still the Air Keeper of the Word?" she asked.
At this, Hikaru freezes before slowly nodding. The Word was something Avatar Aang had invented for the four Nations in their time of need. Inspired by the telegram, Avatar Aang had whispered one word - the Word - in the ear of each current leader. Though the gaang and their children knew about it, they were never told what it was (except for Sokka, who had been Chief of the Southern Water Tribe then, and even he had remained quiet about it surprisingly).
Hikaru, though an earthbender, had been chosen by Avatar Aang to represent the Air Nation at the time since he had been an air acolyte for a while.
"Is the situation in Republic City that serious, Lin?" he asked, his eyes locking into hers.
She nods.
"Those on the council have been kidnapped - the exception being Tenzin. But even he had been forced to flee with his family from the Equalists. The Avatar herself has been sent away for fear of being struck down while she is moderately weak. All benders are being lined up to have their bending taken away and we all know benders make up 85% of the city's population. Until what point do you suggest I wait before asking you to send the Word?" she retorted.
"Only the current leaders, the council, and the Avatar can authorize the sending of the Word, Lin." he reminded her gently.
She stood up straight and gave him her best look.
"Then I can assure you, Hikaru, that the Avatar herself has authorized me before fleeing Air Temple Island." she said in her "chief of police" tone.
It seemed Hikaru was unaffected though.
He smiles softly as his hand automatically went to caress her cheek before thinking twice about it and settled it on her shoulder instead.
"You know I would do anything for you, Lin." he says before letting his hand fall from her shoulder and continuing, "Go inside the house and rest, Lin, while I send out the Word."
Surprisingly, she did just that as he sent it out. It took only an hour to get the necessary responses from each nation, who readily agreed to send out forces they could spare to meet up at Hikaru's house.
Unfortunately, it will take four days for reenforcement from the four nations to arrive undetected but Hikaru reasoned that it was better than nothing.
Going into the house, he chuckled at the sight of the formidable Lin Beifong cuddled up in the couch, asleep. Covering her with a blanket, he left her alone to catch up on needed rest.
0o0o0
When Lin Beifong wakes up, it is already morning. Seeing him entering the living room, she immediately demanded to know what happened. Unfazed by her behaviour, Hikaru handed her her breakfast plate before telling her the result. Satisfied, she ate her food and started to think about how to warn the United Forces not to go to the harbor when Hikaru spoke.
"You should stay here Lin. It's dangerous for you in the city and this way you can greet and strategize with them when they arrive." he proposed, fiddling nervously with his silverware.
She agreed. The rest of the day was spent in uncomfortable silence as they tried to balance each other's presence but by the time night falls, they are comfortable.
Day two of waiting, the Kyoshi Warriors arrive along with the Southern waterbenders. The leader of the Kyoshi Warriors, Mei Yue, hugs Lin warmly and bashes her for not visiting them. Together, Hikaru and Lin greeted them and made them comfortable in the house as best as they could.
It takes Mei Yue (who had taken after her father) all her restraint not to cry out "How cute you look together!" despite how much a couple they looked already. Mei Yue knows the story behind those two and so she keeps quiet.
As dusk fell, they all drafted out a plan to take back Republic City with the United Forces.
On the third day of waiting for the rest to arrive, Lin suddenly feels the earth shift violently on her feet. Hikaru's arm makes its way around her waist and lefts her up slightly despite the weight of the armor. The shock of being against him makes her drop the plate she had been drying to the floor. Hikaru, despite the earth shaking, is still like a statue, never moving. The rest of the group cry out and losing their balance, fall to the floor.
When the shaking stops, Hikaru sets Lin back gently on her feet and takes a glance over to see if she was all right. The rest got to their feet shakenly.
"What was that?" she asked as she looked towards the harbor where it seemed the temors came from.
"Bombs. Coming from the harbor." he answered her simply.
With a widening of her eyes, Lin was gone from his sight, running towards the harbor to find the problem. Without a thought, he followed and so did the others.
It was as Lin almost ran past the trees that she stopped, gathering her senses, and crouching behind a nearby tree. She peeked to see what was going on.
Her heart skipping, she sees the answer herself in the harbor- the United Forces fleet, sinking. Airplanes let bombs go on the fleet and despite the efforts of those onboard, the United Forces was losing. She sees the Avatar herself trying to save them, propeled by a stream of water, before she herself is thrown down into the ocean once more.
The familiar warmth of Hikaru announced his arrival along with the rest and all of them stared in horror at the attack on the fleet.
Quickly, she orders the Kyoshi Warriors and Southern waterbenders to go rescue the soldiers of the fleet. Surprisingly, they followed her orders without a complaint. Hikaru also goes with them, leaving her right side unusually cold.
0o A couple of minutes earlier o0
As soon as General Iroh gives out the order to start firing at the harbor, his instincts scream at him that it was wrong. Luckily, his second even pauses at the order as they both scanned the harbor. Though the soldiers were ready to fire, they too glanced at the harbor like their superiors.
The startling empty peaceful harbor.
General Iroh voiced out loud what the soldiers were thinking inside.
"Hmm... Amon had to know we were coming. So why aren't we meeting any resistance?" he asked out loud, his mouth suddenly dry as his heart began to thud faster. His eyes scanned the harbor more than once, trying to pinpoint where the enemy was hiding to no success.
General Iroh strengthen his spine even more to the point he felt it was going to snap and tried to analyze the situation. No enemy waiting for them. If he were them, why wouldn't he be waiting for them?
His eyes widen as soon as the answer clicked. He opened his mouth to order his fleet to retreat when he is distracted by a sudden buzzing noise becoming louder.
And then everything exploded.
0o0o0
Korra's heart thudded with fear as the group entered the city undetected thanks to General Iroh's part of the plan. As the Avatar, she is destined to take down all that threatens the balance of the world but how can she achieve this when she had only mastered three elements so far?
Even Avatar Aang had mastered the four elements before confronting the Fire Lord.
She tried to remember everything that Tenzin had tried to teach her, every piece of advice his children had given her but her mind is too preoccupied to think about it, trying to hide undetected from the eyes of the Equalists.
The sudden booming sounds coming from the harbor signals that something is wrong. The plan has gone wrong somehow but how? Korra immediately runs from her cover to stare at the sight that greeted her.
A buzzing noise became louder as aircrafts came from out of nowhere and started to bomb the fleet. Her eyes quickly latched onto a familiar figure on the top floor of the main ship, firebending. Her mind quickly registered that the majority of the attacks are aimed to the specific ship.
Where General Iroh was.
Without even stopping to think, Korra runs in the direction of where they just came from and flung herself over the railing, ignoring the cries of her friends.
She can't leave him.
0o0o0
Immediately, as soon as the underwater bomb detonated, General Iroh pressed the intercom button and ordered the earthbenders to try to detonate the rest of the bombs. He mentally cursed himself for agreeing to Bumi's request of exchanging his waterbenders for more earthbenders.
But though the fleet tried to recover from this surprise attack, they couldn't recover from the second wave of attack coming in the form of aircrafts.
They fought their hardest. General Iroh fought his damn hardest. He firebended to the best of his abilities, perhaps even beyond that, but it wasn't enough. From the corner of his eye, he notices that Avaar Korra had joined the fight and his heart leap in fear. What if she was captured?
Though he tried to keep an eye on her, the fight proved to be more challenging and found himself firebending away a torpedo that fell directly in front of him.
The resulting blast blew him overboard into the water.
0o0o0
For the first time in his life, General Iroh feared the water.
He never had any reason to do so until now. Now it seemed the water itself was dragging him under, making it harder for him to move his limbs, to swim. He felt himself sinking deeper, his short supply of air running short, and his eyes drifting shut from the lack of oxygen. The burn on his arm burned as if newly singed despite the coldness of the water.
Recognizing a defeat, General Iroh let himself drift off into unconsciousness, mentally apologizing to Avatar Korra. He won't be able to complete his promise to her, to himself.
He barely registered a slender strong arm wrapping around his waist before being brought up into the surface.
A/n - Okay, I really hated that they didn't show what happened to Lin or that she didn't come and fight but she shows up in the south pole, semi-composed and its like wtf? Where were you? Did you immediately ran to Katara?
So I gave Lin a badass (in my mind) part in my "finale." which seriously lacks some korra/Iroh goodness *sweatdrops* So there will be more in the upcoming chapters. Even though Lin isn't badass right now but she will be.
And the song at the beginning...I know it has religious meaning and all that but I felt that it fitted Lin's situation. Not trying to put people off or anything.
Please tell me what you think ;)
Or how disappointed you are.