Chapter 3

How could you not tell me?

Fear fluttered into Asami. What could possibly be so bad that she needed to sit down first? All she knew was that good news never followed such instructions. Hiroshi stood and took a few steps before he turned around. He stretched his hand out palm facing his daughter, halting her from moving, "I'll be right back. Stay right there."

The tension in the room was so thick you could cut it with a knife. It didn't help that none of her friends would even look at her.

"Guys, seriously, please tell me what is going on?"

Opal was the only one to look up, other than Korra, whose gaze was on her the whole time.

Her best friend opened and closed her mouth several times before she spoke,

"Asami. No matter what happens. No matter what your dad tells you. We all just want you to know that we are here for you." Tears began to bubble into her eyes and Bolin promptly grabbed her hand, giving her a tender look.

"Well you guys aren't helping me now by not telling me anything! You're making it ten times worse. I'm freaking out over here! What happened? What's wrong with me?" Asami practically screamed. Her voice betraying her calm demeanor.

"There's nothing wrong with you, Asami." Mako spoke for the first time. His voice was gruff and filled with emotion, yet his face was as expressionless as always. His amber eyes locked onto hers, "It would just be better if your father told you everything."

"How do you all know what is going on? And why is she here?" she pointed to Korra, her voice sounding accusatory. The woman in question was about to speak when Hiroshi came back into the room carrying a small scrapbook. He looked at Asami, while absentmindedly patting the cover of the book.

For her entire life, there was one constant word that Asami could call upon to describe her father and that was composed. But the moment he sat down the man, for the first time in his life, was outright jittery. His fingers and face twitched, his breathing audibly increasing. His aura just screamed agitation. Asami reached out and took his hand in her own. Hiroshi looked up at the gently smiling face of his daughter. He inhaled deeply, "Okay. About a year ago I received the phone call that every parent fears. There was an accident…" Hiroshi broke his daughter's peridot gaze and began weeping into his hands. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I just… I can't. I can't relive one of the worst days of my life."

In a sudden movement he practically threw the scrapbook onto the table in front of him. The couch creaked once again as Korra sat down next to Hiroshi. She placed a calming hand onto his back, "It's alright. I'll take it from here." Delicately, she picked up the scrapbook and flipped to the first page. The young woman closed her eyes and took a few steadying breaths. She kept her eyes closed as she spoke, "It was a Monday when it happened. We were both in the mustang going home. You were driving and I was in the passenger seat. It wasn't super late, but there weren't many people on the road. It had to have been around 8 o'clock. Neither of us were tired and so we decided to take the scenic route back home. It was dark. Spirits, it was so dark. We didn't even see him coming." The younger girl visible grimaced. Her eyes cracked open and tears began to well into the pools of sapphire. "We were going around a curve when his pickup truck swerved out of his lane and hit us. The impact was so great that we went right through the barrier and down the hill. We rolled a total of 12 times."

She paused and wiped a tear that had escaped and was racing down her face. She took a quivering breath, "Y-you got hurt. Really badly. I-I don't think I have ever seen so much blood in my life. Your side took the majority of the impact. We were both knocked unconscious, but I came around first. By the time I did the ambulances had arrived. I pleaded with them to help you." She paused, clearly reliving the horrific night. "Spirits. There was so much blood. They managed to drag me out of the car, but they couldn't get to you. The damage was too great. I mean it didn't even look like a car anymore. Eventually, they were able to get the Jaws of Life down to the car and they pulled you out. I-I wasn't sure if you were still alive. When the paramedic announced he felt a heartbeat, I-I… I couldn't breathe. I had never been so relieved, so happy in my life. But by the time we got to the hospital there wasn't much they could do for you. The damage to your brain was too much. The doctor wasn't sure if you were ever going to wake up."

By this time the tanned woman was weeping profusely, not even attempting to wipe her tears anymore. "After being in a coma for a week, y-you finally woke up. Spirits, I don't think I had ever been happier to see a pair of eyes in my entire life." She chuckled sadly. She sniffled and used her sleeve to wipe her nose. "But that all came crashing down when you didn't recognize any of us. The doctor informed us that it was natural for someone with such extensive injuries to her brain to not remember much. He said that we were lucky you had even woken up from the coma." She chanced a glance at Asami before she looked down once again, "It was days before you finally remembered your dad. Slowly. So slowly you remembered us one by one. Opal. Bolin. Mako. B-but you never… you never remembered me. No matter how hard we tried to get you to remember me… nothing worked." Her lips began to pull into a pained smile. "It wasn't long after that when we started to notice that you didn't remember a lot of things. When we asked you what the last thing you remembered was you told us it was waking up the day after your dad's birthday party. Your dad's fiftieth."

Asami interrupted her, "That's today…"

Opal looked up, "Sams that… that was seven years ago today."

"What?" She felt numb. Nothing was computing in her mind.

"You didn't remember anything past your twentieth birthday." Korra continued, "Every day we noticed you began to forget more and more. Eventually, you couldn't even remember what happened the day before. The doctor's weren't sure what was going on, but a secondary MRI revealed damage to the part of your brain that holds short term memories. That's why you can't remember what you did yesterday or the day before."

The engineer's mind was whirring, "That's not true. I clearly remember… I-I helped celebrate dad's birthday yesterday."

Opal shook her head, "No, Sams. Yesterday, you came into the book store bought The Notebook, left, ran into Korra, and then went to work. You've been doing the same routine for the past year." Asami felt nauseous. Everything she had been doing for the past year was a lie.

Bolin spoke for the first time, his normally playful voice was somber, "Initially, we would tell you what happened every morning. We used the scrapbook. It's filled with all sorts of pictures and clippings of news articles about the accident." He pointed to the book in Korra's hands. "But we began to notice that your health really declined. You would sit staring at nothing for hours at a time, you wouldn't eat, you wouldn't speak; it was then and there that all decided it would be best for you if we never told you what happened. Unless something like this happened, of course."

Mako took over, "Once we stopped telling you about the accident, we noticed an immediate change. You were so much better, so much livelier. Since then we have all been doing our best to make sure no one mentions anything about the accident to you. We wanted you to live and have a normal life. Well… as normal as possible. You had already been through so much, we didn't want to put you through more."

Asami swallowed hard. No words were sufficient enough. How do you respond to something like that? It was finally beginning to sink in what they were saying. She was twenty seven, but couldn't remember the seven years of her life in between her twentieth birthday and the present. Every day she would relieve the same routine over and over and over again. Her body gave out physically and she slumped back in the seat. Her father looked at her worriedly and quickly took her hand.

"S-so who was the other driver? Where is he now?" she questioned.

Her father's grip on her hand tightened, "He was a delusional man named Noatak. He had a split personality… called himself Amon. T-that that monster broke out of prison and stole a truck. The police had arrested him for theft and aggravated assault. They told us that his Amon personality forced him to steal the truck. His first move once he was free was going to a liquor store where he stole spirits know how much alcohol. That son of a…" He let out an aggravated breath and released Asami's hand. His hands scrunched into fists, his knuckles turning white from the pressure. "His blood alcohol level was three times the legal limit. He walked away from the crash without a scratch." He stopped and began to clench and unclench his fists. Gradually, his voice began to raise in volume, "My daughter is permanently damaged for the rest of her life and that… that man has nothing wrong with him!" His hand rocketed down and smashed into the table. The whole structure shook, tiny particles of dust showered the ground. He closed his eyes and took a steadying breath. "I apologize for my outburst. I just can't stand that he is still alive after all he did to our family. All he got was life in prison." Asami nodded. She couldn't imagine what her family and friends had gone through. She placed a nervous hand on her father's back and began to rub it gently.

After an extended silence she shifted her body so that she could look at Korra better. "So were… were you hurt badly?"

Korra's grimaced, "No. I had a few broken bones and a pretty bad concussion. You really took the full blow of the accident."

"Is that why I dream about you? Because you were in the car with me?"

Korra swallowed in nervousness, "Yes. But among other things." Asami stared at her, urging her to continue. "I had always hoped that you would someday remember me in the slightest way. So when you told me that you dreamt about me… I couldn't… I just… it was amazing." She looked at Asami and reached for her neck. Her fingers pulled roughly at a chain that was hidden beneath her shirt and she removed a necklace. Her hand gripped tightly around the pendant. "The reason you dream about me Asami is because we… we are… we were married." Slowly, her fingers uncurled from around the chain to reveal two rings. One a simple silver wedding band with an intricate design carved into it and the other a square shaped diamond, the band emblazoned with the same pattern as the other.

Asami felt like she was going to pass out. She grabbed the arm of the couch for support. The world was spinning. Darkness began to encroach on her vision. She took a few deep breaths, her free hand clutching at the fabric of her shirt. She blinked a few times willing the darkness to leave her alone. Eventually, her gaze settled on the rings that Korra was holding out to her. Gently, she picked up the diamond ring.

"How… how long were we married… before the accident?"

Korra shifted uncomfortably, a few tears still sliding down her perfectly tanned cheeks, "We got married when you were twenty four and I was twenty three. We were married two years before it happened."

Two years. She felt her heart drop. She had been happily married and it was all ruined in a matter of minutes.

"Where were we coming from when it happened?"

Korra closed her eyes at her words. New tears began to leak out. She placed a shuttering hand over her mouth. "We... I'm sorry." She let out a sob. Opal stood and walked over to her. Once seated she grasped Korra's hands in her own and squeezed them tightly. The tanned woman sniffled a few times before nodding her head. "We… we were coming back from a doctor's appointment." Asami flashed her a questioning glance. "Well it was your appointment."

"What was it for?" Asami asked. Her heart rate began to pick up.

"It…it was… it was a prenatal visit." Asami was standing in a flash. All eyes were on her. She could feel herself wavering. She felt so ill.

"What happened?" her voice was barely above a whisper.

"You were five months in." Korra removed one of her hands from Opal's grasp and clutched at her chest. "You lost her in the crash."

That was it. Asami couldn't bear any more. She all but sprinted out the door. Her friend's cries of protests nothing but echoes in the back of her mind. She ran and ran and ran. Every inch of her body ached. She wasn't sure how long she had been running, nor did she care. Her legs blindly guided her. As the moon began to rise high in the sky Asami began to slow down. She had no idea how she got there. No idea why she was there. But she was glad she was. In the shadow of the night she could make out a small bench hidden underneath a large oak tree. She approached the towering foliage and placed an unsteady hand on the trunk. Her fingers absent mindedly traced the outline of a carving. YS and AS. Years and years ago she and her mother would visit this spot and enjoy the summer air, the shade of the tree, and the love that surrounded them. Every weekend they would visit the same spot and partake in a picnic. But then tragedy struck and her mother was murdered by a group of robbers. Asami hadn't returned since.

Asami released her grip from the tree and stumbled a few paces ahead. Her entire body was exhausted. What just happened? Was it all a dream? If she closed her eyes would she wake up? The horrible truth hit her. This was no dream. It was a nightmare. And she was living it. Suddenly, she couldn't breathe. Each breath became shorter and shorter. No matter of strength could force air into her lungs. No size of breath would satisfy her screaming lungs. Air. She needed air. Despite her best efforts, nothing would inflate her aching lungs. Her body began to falter. Slowly, her legs began to collapse underneath her weight. Distantly, she could hear her name being called. Pounding footsteps thundered towards her failing body. This was how she was to go. Suffocating to death on her own fear. Yet it wasn't the fear of the unknown that she was thinking of. All she could think of was Korra, as her body began to fade into the abyss of nothingness.

Strong arms pulled her into a loving embrace. It would have been so easy to just slip away. "Wake up, Asami. Wake up." Something called out to her. And then the world came back to her in a sudden rush. Her eye's snapped open. Korra held her tightly to her chest, her legs straddling either side of Asami. She was talking to her, but Asami couldn't hear anything she said. The older woman clutched at her throat, desperate for air. She shook her head and slowly Korra's words began to filter into her ears.

"Asami, listen to me. It's going to be okay. Babe, please just listen to the sound of my voice. I want you to concentrate on my breathing. Try to match each breath I take." Asami clawed at her throat more.

"Asami. Please." Desperation filled the younger woman's voice, "Feel the expansion of my chest. Follow it. Match it. I know you can." The heiress could feel the gentle rise and fall of Korra's chest on her back. With all her might she focused her energy on that. The air hit her lungs. She let out a startling gasp.

"Good, Asami. That's perfect, love. You are doing amazing. Just keep focusing on me, babe."

The second wave of air hit her. It felt amazing. So clean, so crisp. It was nothing like she had ever experienced before. Slowly, but surely, the engineer's breathing went back to normal. Each encouraging word from Korra allowing more air to enter her tired lungs. She didn't dare move. Korra's embrace was so warm and comforting. Nothing could hurt her as long as she was in Korra's arms. Asami shifted partially and rested her head on Korra's shoulder. Each breath filled Asami's lungs with scents of the ocean, snow, and fresh linen. Everything she imaged Korra to smell like. The younger woman turned her head and placed a tender kiss on the engineer's forehead, while gently stroking her hair, "I'm so proud of you Asami. I-I… I love you so much." Asami stiffened momentarily at the words and then the world faded to black.

Author's note:

Wow… so that was a doozy to write. I rewrote it multiple times before I was satisfied with the result. But alas you now know what happened to poor Asami. A couple of you guys had pegged it perfectly. Asami was in fact in an accident and forgot who Korra was. Oh and for a time line reference Asami and Korra met when Asami was 21 and Korra was 20. They got married when Asami was 24 and Korra 23. Asami became pregnant (via a sperm donor… I can't decide if I want it to be Mako or not… I'll let you guys decide on that) when she was 25-26. They were in the car crash when Asami was 26, Korra 25 and now Asami is 27 and Korra 26. Also I'm sorry. So, so sorry. I just had to make it as angsty as possible.