Hello everyone! I'm sorry this is a few days late; I've been super busy and haven't had the time to edit this to post until now. As you can probably predict, the next prompt is going to be a bit late too. My apologies.
I wanted to trigger warn this ahead of time because this chapter is... well... tw for drug use, strong depictions of violence, and references to sexual assault. There is a summary of what happens at the end of the chapter if you would prefer to read that instead.
(-)
Korra sat down on her bunk and fished a wrinkled piece of paper from her pocket. She dug in her jacket for a pen she had found on the ground during their travels through the outer slums of Ba Sing Se and scratched it against the sheet. When nothing transferred, she licked the tip and scribbled again.
Still nothing.
Korra's brow furrowed. She shook the pen as hard as she could, trying to get the ink to flow.
Come on!
With a grunt at the end, she put the pen to the paper for a final time. She ran it vigorously along its surface.
"Yes!"
A huge sideways grin hit her lips.
Finally.
She huddled into the corner of her bunk and tucked her knees up, trying to use them as a hard surface. When that resulted in the pen pushing right through the sheet, she frowned and flipped her position, using the wall instead to write.
Korra leaned forward until she was just a few inches from the paper. She wrote in small sections, having to shake the pen every now and then to get it to work.
'Dear Asami,
I hope everything is going well for you in Republic City. I haven't heard from you in a few months, since around winter time or so. Maybe before. It's hard to keep track of the days sometimes. I lost all of my belongings in a raid that happened in the dead of winter, including the letters from you that were in my bag. I still have our picture, though. I look at it every night before I go to bed – well, when I get to go to bed. Things have been rough lately. We've been here for almost a year now – just a day shy – and it still doesn't seem like we are making much progress on the war.
Luckily, we have a bit of a safe haven for the next few days. We're approaching the center of Ba Sing Se based on some intel that Kuvira might be stationed in the Palace so that we can end this. It's tough, though; it is not an easy thing to get through the massive walls of Ba Sing Se. We're in the outskirts right now, in the slums. We have a very small base here that we were able to win back from Kuvira's control. It's pretty fortified, so we should be safe for a while. The people here are a bit mixed about our presence, too, which seems to be happening in every village and town we go to. Some of them are still loyal to the queen despite her death, and they've actually helped us overtake the base. Others, well… not so much.
It's nice to have a roof, though. I spent a lot of the past winter and spring in tents when I was lucky, or in the trucks when we could. I wish I had my pelt that I had packed in my original bag. But I suppose I should be thankful I even got another bag and blanket; supplies have been running pretty thin lately the deeper we get into Earth Empire territory, and the lieutenant colonel isn't exactly fond of me.
I'm sorry it's taken me so long to write to you. I hope you got my two letters in the winter and the spring, though. I miss you so much, Asami. I think about you every night.
And I know this won't get to you in time, since I'm writing it the day of, but Happy Anniversary! It doesn't really feel all that much like an anniversary though, does it?'
Korra sighed and shook her pen for the tenth time, a frown on her face.
'I wish I could be there with you in Republic City to celebrate. Or that I had something to give you. But I don't have anything, really. I'm sorry. I hope that you're taking care of yourself, though, and taking care of Naga.
Sometimes, it keeps me up at night, when the flashbacks don't. I think of you and I wish I could have you in my arms. I know this probably isn't easy for you, but the end of the war is getting near.
At least, we hope it is.
I'm not sure how much longer we'll have to be here. I heard they might be sending some new recruits in. I really hope they don't send Bolin. It's not that I don't miss him, which I do! He's one of my best friends.
It's that – I don't want him to be in this. The movies and books glorify war so much, but it's terrible, Asami. People get shot in the blink of an eye and they don't come back.
It's terrifying.'
Korra took a breath and closed her eyes, trying her damnedest to calm her shaking hand.
'It's scary. I've seen people shot right in front of me. I've tried to save others. Training as a vet has actually helped a lot in that regard. While they aren't quite dogs, bleeding and stopping the bleeding is pretty much the same. Though, some of the people here are dogs, and not in the literal sense. There are some fucked up people here, Asami. And I '
Korra halted when she heard hollering down the hall.
What's going on now?
She sighed and set her pen and paper down next to her bag. She made her way through the corridor with haste, the sides of her open jacket fluttering behind her as she went. The closer she got, the clearer the noise became.
But it wasn't so much noise as it was a chant.
Korra pushed the door open as the hoots and hollers of "chug, chug, chug," pounded in her ears. She was taken aback when she saw several people holding Tuzi down as they poured a bottle of pijiu down his throat.
When the container was empty, they all cheered and released him.
Tuzi crawled to his feet, his head swirling. It had been his fifth or six, which were seven over his limit. He rushed past Korra and vomited in the garbage near the doorway.
"Oh, Tuzi, it looks like you're going to have to start over." One of the male soldiers called to him from the group.
Korra heard another wretch and put her foot down.
"He's not doing anything."
She turned to her friend and rubbed his back.
"Get it out of your system, Tuzi."
He nodded, not even aware of who was beside him, and threw up once more.
"What a fucking wimp." One of the other soldiers hollered.
"Do you always have Korra fight your battles for you?" Another laughed.
"Fuck off." She growled back before returning her attention to Tuzi. "Ignore them."
It was when Korra felt a half-full bottle of pijiu hit the back of her head that she decided to take action.
She tried to jump to her feet but a hand around her wrist stopped her.
"K – Korra? Don't – don't leave."
Korra looked at him with sympathy. She took a breath to calm her anger as she was taught to do back in Republic City and helped Tuzi to his feet. Her patience was wearing thinner and thinner with this lot of Fire Nation Soldiers, and they certainly knew her opinion of them with how much she vocalized it and told them time and time again to 'fuck off'. She turned her back to them, Tuzi's arm around her shoulder for support, and made her way to the exit with her intoxicated friend.
"Fucking savage bitch," one of them murmured in a drunken stumble and threw another bottle at her.
This one was empty. It smashed at her feet.
Korra halted, closed her eyes, and took another breath. She recognized that somewhat-deep voice; it wasn't hard to tell it was Gankona. As much as she wanted to throw Tuzi off of her and punch the fucker in the face, she couldn't; Tuzi would probably break his neck from the fall with how drunk he was.
Just let it go.
She inhaled once more. When her lids separated, she pushed her way through the door, ignoring the cackling behind her and the faint complaints from Tuzi about her squeezing his wrists too tight.
Korra took him to the women's bathroom and leaned him against the wall near the sink.
"What the hell were you thinking?" She growled, turning the tap on in the process. She cupped water in her hands and splashed it on Tuzi's face.
He jerked from the cold of the water and stumbled, using the wall behind him as a support.
"I – I don't know. I just… I wanted to forget."
"Forget what?"
"This." He barked back, gaining some control over his motor skills. His hands clenched to fists. "This fucking war. And all the death and bullshit and everything else that goes on." He took a step towards her, anger in his stance, only to fall over to the sink and vomit in it.
"Fucking hell," Korra grumbled, holding him up before he could collapse onto the floor.
It was then that she realized he was sobbing.
"I can't do it anymore, Korra. I – I can't. I'm not strong enough."
Korra slid him to the ground and propped him up against the wall. She cupped more water in her hands but this time, offered it to him. "Drink. It'll help."
"The only thing that will help is pijiu," he yelled, smacking her hands away.
The water splashed onto the tile of the floor.
"I just want to forget," he cried, curling into himself. "We've been here for so long, Korra. I – I –"
Korra embraced him as gentle as she could. "I know, Tuzi. I know. But getting shitfaced isn't going to solve anything. You're just putting a bandage on a symptom, not curing it."
"Well how the fuck am I supposed to cure this fucking war?" He pushed her away, anger in his eyes again. "I can't just run away. It'll bring dishonor on my whole family! Not to mention, I'll go to jail as a deserter."
"I'm not saying run away."
"Then what are you saying?"
She looked deep into his pupils, his alcohol laced breath suffocating her. "I'm saying you have to survive. It's the only way you're going to get out of this alive."
He shook his head and looked away, tears rolling down his cheeks. "What if I can't? What if I don't make it? What – what if I don't want to?"
Korra's heart dropped. She gripped his shoulders to get his attention.
Once their eyes locked, she continued.
"You're going to make it, Tuzi. And I'm going to make sure that you do. Now get the fuck up and drink some fucking water." She forced him to his feet and bent him over to the sink. Korra turned the tap on. "Drink. Now."
Tuzi sucked some water in and swallowed. After a few more gulps, he pushed himself away. "I want to go home," he spoke as he swayed. A sob escaped his chest. "I want to go home."
Korra put a hand on his shoulder. "We all do. The only way we're going to get there is to get out of this war. And it looks like the only way we are going to get out of this war is by winning it. And we can't win it if you're drunk off your ass." She slung his arm around her back and eased him to the door. "How long have you been drinking with Gankona?" She spit his name out like poison on her tongue.
"A few days. Since we got here and realized there was alcohol. I – wanted an escape. And I wanted to fit in." He stumbled over his steps.
Korra caught him.
"Things are different when you're forced to bunk with him. I didn't want to be an outcast anymore."
Korra lowered her eyes to the floor, knowing the feeling too well. She shook her head and kicked his door open.
There, on the mattress opposite of Tuzi's bed, sat a sobbing Kitsune. There was a bruise on her left eye. Her lip was swollen. Though it wasn't by much, her clothes looked tattered and disheveled. She glanced up and met Korra's eyes, instant fear radiating from hers.
"K – Korra? What are you doing here?"
"I should be asking you that," she replied with a stern tone. She lowered Tuzi into his bunk and rushed over to Kitsune. She sat beside her and stared deep into her eye, inspecting it. "What the hell happened to you?"
Kitsune looked away and took a shaky breath. "I – I didn't want you to see me like this."
Korra was having none of this. She held Kitsune's shoulders and brought her attention back to her worried oceans. "Kitsune. What happened?"
Her lip quivered. She caved and buried her face into Korra's shoulder.
Korra could feel the tears wet the fabric of her open jacket, all the way down to her undershirt.
"I – it – it was – Gan – Gan – Gankona."
Korra tensed. She pushed Kitsune away to look into her eyes once more. "What do you mean? He did this to you?"
She nodded and avoided Korra's intense gaze.
Her grip on Kitsune grew stronger. She could feel the onset of shaking in her arms. "What did he do to you, Kitsune? Is this all he did? And why did he do this to you?"
"Because he's an asshole." She closed her eyes. More tears spilled out over her cheeks. "Korra, please," she heaved.
"What happened, Kitsune?"
"I – I was – was on my way to my room, when he strong armed me. He pin – pinned me against the wall and then he – he forced me into his room. This room. He was bunking with Tuzi. I had hoped Tuzi would be here, but he wasn't. He – he –" Kitsune collapsed into Korra once more, too shaken to continue.
It didn't take Korra long to put it together. The sheets beneath them were slightly creased and ajar. Kitsune's hair was disheveled. And if Gankona wanted to beat the shit out of her, she'd have more than just a bruised eye and a swollen lip.
But no, he wanted something else, and Korra knew exactly what that was.
And at that moment, she saw red.
Korra rose to her feet, fists clenched at her sides.
"K – Korra?" Kitsune watched as Korra turned to the door. "Where are you going?"
This got even the drunken Tuzi's attention. He sat up as Korra stormed out.
They followed her, Tuzi slightly behind Kitsune because of his intoxication.
"Korra? What are you doing?"
Korra pushed the doors open and scanned the room full of soldiers until her eyes caught sight of one person in particular.
Him.
He finished drinking from a bottle and swallowed as Korra approached him. He was too drunk to see the fire in Korra's eyes. Instead, he chuckled. "Oh, look who's here bo–"
That was all he got out before Korra's fist struck him in the jaw. He stumbled back, bottle still in hand.
The entire room went silent. Kitsune and Tuzi stood in the doorway, mouths agape as the rest were.
Gankona swayed and put his fingers to his lip. The tips came back red. When he glanced up, he saw an angry Korra standing before him. A split second later was another fist to the same side.
The force was enough to send him into the wall behind him.
Korra aimed another punch at his nose.
He jerked his head to the side, finally realizing what was happening.
Korra's fist smacked right into the concrete. She was sure she felt a bone crack, if not several. The shock was powerful enough to shoot all the way up her arm.
She had no time to recover, though, as a bottle raced at her face.
Gankona hit his mark, smashing the glass into pieces.
Korra fell to the ground, the impact making her sight swirl. When it refocused, Gankona was on top of her.
He sent a punch to her face.
It hit.
He sent another from the opposite hand.
It hit.
Another.
It hit.
He tried a fourth, but Korra stopped him with a forearm block.
She struggled against his body weight and the force of his drunken blows. The red rage would not cease in the corners of her eyes.
He attempted a strike with his other arm, but Korra blocked it as well.
They fought each other for power, Gankona trying to inch his arms closer to Korra and Korra doing everything she could to keep him away.
When she finally managed to push his arms to either side, she attempted to punch him in the throat.
Even drunk, Gankona was fast. Fast and big. He put pressure on Korra's abdomen with his weight alone and parried her jab. Soon, his hands were around her neck.
"Die you fucking savage cunt!"
Korra refused to give in, the ire in her too potent. Sparks flicked in her sight, intermingling with the red. She put all of her might behind her right fist and sent it barreling at his nose.
Lucky for her, he was just a few inches away from her. She hit her target with perfection.
Gankona stumbled back, giving Korra just enough space to push herself away with her legs. She slid across the floor, blood dripping into her eyes. She glared up at him and growled, forcing her way up to her feet.
He was already barreling at her, the pain not registering in his intoxication.
It was then that she noticed he had a knife.
Korra sucked herself in and jumped backwards to avoid the swipe of his blade.
He extended his arm the other way, aiming for her face.
The knife made contact with the corner of her cheek. She cried out in pain and staggered from the quick burn of the cut. When she glanced up, the blade was lunging right towards her gut. Korra sidestepped out of the way, narrowly avoiding the stab.
Gankona snarled and turned to her.
Korra tried to punch him again, but he blocked it.
He shot the knife out at her throat.
Korra's arm went up in an instant, bringing his attack to a halt. She swept her arm outward in the same motion and twisted his, forcing the knife to fly from his grip.
It bounced off the floor several yards away.
Korra maneuvered behind him and pinned his arm against his back.
Gankona surprised her and sent her flying much like his blade with a powerful back kick to her ribs.
Korra smashed and rolled across the concrete ground, tattering and scraping both her jacket and her skin in the process. Before she could gain her footing, Gankona sent another powerful kick to her ribs.
If they weren't broken before, Korra was sure they were now.
She curled into herself and held her abdomen, horrible pain shooting up into her. She was forced onto her back with a push on her shoulder.
Gankona crawled onto her and struck her several times in the face.
Blood dripped down her skin. Her face was on fire with pain and swelling. Her arms fell limp at her sides, her breathing erratic.
A horrible grin curled up on Gankona's lips.
It was a smile that she knew she would never forget, should she live through this.
He pulled the open ends of her jacket apart, eyeing the prize he was going to claim.
Korra motioned to stop him when he punched her solar plexus. She gasped for breath, each inhale that tried to come making her rib pain worse.
"Well what do we have here," he taunted, pulling the folded picture from Korra's jacket.
She tried to reach up to him but found her arm wasn't moving. She simply coughed on blood and fought for breath.
"Awww, is this your girlfriend," he flipped the paper around and pointed to Asami in the image. "She's beautiful," he sneered, darkness in his eyes. He ripped the picture in half down the vertical, separating Korra from the image.
Her heart wrenched at the sound. She could feel it drop just as the portion containing her face fell to the floor.
"I think I'm gonna find her once this war is over," he snarled under his breath, leaning closer to her, "and I think I'm gonna rape her next."
Korra lost it. Any amount of control that she had in her conscious or subconscious was completely gone. Rage and ire and pure hatred filled every cell in her body. Memories flashed back to her, horrid images of seeing Asami sprawled out on the floor at a party, drugged and unconscious, a man crawling over her body with lust in his eyes.
Her wrath was only a speck back then in comparison to now.
Korra's hands had no time to shake from her fury. She punched him square in the throat with every ounce of her newfound strength.
Gankona fell backwards, picture abandoned to the floor. He held his neck, fighting for breath.
She was on top of him in an instant. She punched him in the face with her right, ignoring the horrible pain that shot into her arm because of it.
He tried to block her left, but she was too strong.
She shoved it away and continued her assault.
Punch.
Punch.
Another block.
She twisted his arm to free the path to her target.
Punch.
Punch.
Punch.
It was becoming a blur, the sound of each collision and the grunts coming from Korra as she struck him echoing against the walls, the sound moving around the motionless people in the room.
But Korra was far from them. She wasn't in that room at all. She was back in the dark, back at the party a year ago, punching Asami's aggressor in his bloody fucking face. It morphed into a bright room, one that was lit just as much as where she actually was. But it was empty. Only Korra and Gankona were in this room, and she kept assaulting his face until she could no longer feel her fists.
From this, she reached down her curled leg and into her boot. She pulled her knife out of its sheath and held it to his throat, just a small jerk away from slicing right into his esophagus.
"You think it's fucking funny, don't you?!" She leaned over him, blood dripping from her own facial wounds. "You think it's fucking funny, huh!?" Her voice boomed. She moved an inch closer to him, her vengeful eyes meeting his fearful ones. "You think it's fucking funny to rape someone? To beat them and force yourself inside of them against their will?!" She growled, a hand squeezing his throat while the blade remained against his skin. "Fucking answer me! You think this is a fucking game, huh? Is this a fucking game to you?"
When there was no response, she grew more violent.
"How about this fucking game?"
Tears rolled down his cheeks as the blade started to slit into his taut skin. It wasn't enough to split the tissue or cut through his esophagus, but it was enough to make him feel the pain of the blade.
And feel the terror in his pounding heart.
"What in the hell is going on here?"
Everyone but Korra glanced up in horror as the Lieutenant Colonel's voice shook them to the core.
His eyes fell on Korra and Gankona.
In an instant, Korra was ripped away from Gankona, though she didn't leave reluctantly.
"Get the fuck off of me!" She hollered, thrashing her arms and legs, trying to break free of whoever was holding her. She swung the knife out in front of her until it was pried from her grip, her red rage blinding her from everyone except Gankona, who laid choking and sobbing and bleeding on the floor. She struggled all the way into whatever corridor she was being taken into, and it wasn't until a blunt object smashed into the back of her head did she snap out of her fury.
Her sight came back to her in a swirl. She was in an office, slouched in a chair. There was blood dripping from her face onto her uniform. Her right hand was red and mangled. It hurt to breathe. Her ribs ached. Her face felt afire. She lifted her eyes up to the man in front of her, who was leaning over his desk with his palms flat against the top.
"What the hell are you doing?"
Flames flicked into her eyes.
The Lieutenant Colonel.
"You think it's just alright to assault and almost kill a fellow soldier?"
"He's not a soldier," she choked out, just now realizing how fucked up her jaw was. "He's a fucking abusive, cowardly asshole."
"He is a soldier and you had better learn to respect him."
"Oh, and I'm not a soldier?" She growled back. "Kitsune isn't a soldier, either? Doesn't he have to respect us? Or is this just a one way street?"
"He doesn't have to give you shit that you don't deserve," he snarled, hatred in his eyes.
"I don't deserve respect? Kitsune doesn't deserve respect? Are we just pawns to you? People you can send out to the frontlines and toss and throw away like your little fucking play things?"
"You are and will be whatever I tell you to be!"
Korra clenched her fists, as much as it hurt to do so. "So it's okay for Gankona to drink and rape Kitsune?" Her jaw was set, the blaze in her eyes intensifying.
"I want you to listen to me loud and clear and get this through your fucking head," he leaned closer to her, meeting the level and intensity of her glare, "women don't win wars. Men do. The women are here to serve the men while the men serve the nation." He bent forward. "They're here to do what it takes to keep the men charged and strong, whether it's bringing them their food or taking a bullet or an occasional fuck. Satisfied men win wars. And the women are and always will be in the back while the men are the heroes."
Korra couldn't believe what she was hearing. She struggled to find her voice in both her shock and her anger. "You're just going to let this slide? You're just going to let Gankona and the rest of the soldiers fuck us against our will?"
"If that's what it's going to take to win this war, then that's what it's going to fucking take!" He yelled back, slamming his fists on the table. "And as long as I'm in charge, then that's how it's always going to be. Are we clear?"
The ire returned to her. She pushed herself to her feet. "No, we aren't fucking clear. If you think for one second that I'm going to just stand aside and let these assholes rape Kitsune and every other woman in this squadron, then you clearly didn't read my background check before you signed me on for this motherfucking war," Korra growled, taking a step forward.
He looked back at her, frustration in his eyes.
"And if you don't like it, fine. Kick me out of the army. Send me home. Imprison me. I don't give a flying fuck." She tightened her fists and took another step. "But you've got another fucking thing coming if you think I'm going to just sit idly by and let this happen. You can go fuck yourself for all I fucking care." Korra put her palms against his desk and matched the level and intensity in his eyes. "And if you're gonna fucking kill me over this, then you better make sure the gun is to the back of my head, because that's the only way you'll ever be able to stop me."
They glared deep into each other's eyes, hatred and fury pouring out of their irises.
Korra maintained her stabbing gaze.
The Lieutenant Colonel narrowed his eyes and furrowed his brow.
"Get the fuck out of my office," he sneered.
"Gladly." Korra pushed herself off of his table and walked strong and tall, going so far as to turn her back to him in her defiance. She twisted the knob to the door and left, not a single bullet in her back.
Though this didn't mean his gun wasn't drawn.
(-)
Korra made her way to her room, passing through the main hall with her head held high. There was blood and glass spattered on the floor. It was then that the cuts she had gotten from the bottle on her face and her arm began to sting, as if reminding her of the incident from sight alone. She glanced around for the torn picture of her and Asami and found nothing.
Of course, she groaned to herself, holding her ribs along the way, one of those assholes probably took it.
She dragged her feet to the bathroom. She made her way to the toilet and vomited up blood.
"Fuck," she whispered to herself, realizing the severity of her wounds. She pushed herself back up, all stamina and strength gone, and slid herself to the sinks. She stared at herself in the mirror, her face bloody, cut, and bruised. Korra dropped her eyes to the floor, a multitude of feelings swarming her. She took a deep breath only to have it sting from her ribs.
She held her side and grunted.
I need help.
Korra forced herself out of the bathroom and made her way to the infirmary, posture tall once more.
But her eyes told it all; Korra was in terrible pain both physically and emotionally.
She approached the infirmary door and twisted the handle, only to find it locked.
Are you fucking kidding me?
She jingled the knob violently, and if she had more strength in her, she would have kicked the door down.
The light inside got her attention. She stood on her toes and peered in the window.
Gankona sat on a bed, a zoned look in his eyes. The male medic was looking over his shoulder at Korra, alerted from the door handle shaking.
The medic scowled at her and pulled the curtain around so that she couldn't see him or Gankona, as if they weren't in the fucking room at all.
Though this wasn't before Korra noticed the fear in Gankona's eyes, a tremor that she attributed to just her presence alone.
Good, she noted, feeling less remorse for her actions than before. Good.
She put a hand to her side and limped her way back to her room, unaware that her leg had gotten injured in the first place.
Fuck, I wish she hadn't gotten shot, Korra thought to herself, frustrated over the fact that the only female medic in the squadron was killed not too long ago. She would have treated my injuries, she added, her exhaustion and burning pain taking over.
"Fuck him," she whispered, knowing in all reality that there was nothing she could physically do to fix the situation.
Korra pushed the door of her room open, and there were Kitsune and Tuzi, quiet and distant on her bed.
They glanced up at her, a mixture of emotions in their eyes. She could pick out a few of them, though she wasn't entirely sure of herself with her spinning head. She thought she saw gratitude or perhaps a hint of pride.
But the majority of what she saw was fear.
Fear for or of who, she wasn't sure. But it was enough to make her look away in shame.
She shut the door with her back in a gentle click.
Once the latch locked, she slid to the floor, unable to keep herself standing anymore. Korra closed her eyes and rested the back of her head against the door, unsure for the first time since her fight whether or not she would live to the next morning.
Just when she thought she had found a safe haven, somewhere she could rest without worrying about being shot at or blown into smithereens by Kuvira's soldiers…
Korra sighed, the noise coming out as a loud wheeze. It ached her to breathe, but it was something she had to do if she wanted to survive.
She winced for a moment and opened her lids to a cloth moving against her cheek.
Kitsune was crouched across from her, a soft expression on her face and appreciation in her eyes.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to get your cut. I'll be more gentle."
"You're fine," she croaked out, gratefulness in her eyes. She gave her a calm smile, urging her to continue. Someone needed to stop her bleeding, and Korra knew sure as hell that it wouldn't be her in this condition.
So she let herself be vulnerable, if only to survive.
Kitsune wiped away as much blood as she could from Korra's face before the small cloth was soaked. She moved to her bag at the bunk across from Korra's and grabbed another.
"Here, Korra," Tuzi murmured, his demeanor nearly sober from watching everything unfold. He held a small canister up to her lips. "Drink," he insisted, a half smile on his face.
"Fuck you," Korra chuckled, ripping the flask from him and forcing a swallow from her sore throat.
He grinned back and sat beside her, his presence alone keeping her company. He put a hand on her shoulder and rubbed it.
Kitsune poured a small amount of water from another container onto a cloth to wet it. She went back to Korra's face and wiped the rest of the blood away. Luckily, most of her wounds had clotted in her resting time on the floor. She put a palm to Korra's cheek when Korra started to drift into unconsciousness.
"Stay with me for a little while longer, okay?"
Korra snapped herself out of it and nodded.
"I'm going to lift your shirt, okay?"
She rested the back of her head against the door and nodded, closing her eyes in the process.
Kitsune pulled up the hem of Korra's shirt and stifled off a blush; now was not the time for such things. She frowned and whispered to Tuzi. "This isn't good."
He leaned over and looked at Korra's abdomen.
"Fucking hell."
It was bruised and dark in some spots towards her ribs, where Gankona had kicked her.
"We have to get her to the infirmary," Tuzi shot up to his feet, his face in a mild panic.
Korra simply shook her head. "Tried. Wouldn't – let me – in."
"What about the Lieutenant Colonel?"
"Pfft," the noise came out of Korra in a painful, yet sarcastic, flinch. "He – fucking – hates me. He wants – wants me dead. I'm surprised he didn't – didn't shoot me when – when he had – the – the chance – in his – his – office. I heard it. I – I heard the click back of the slide. The safety – the safety was off. He could have – could have – shot – me. Probably, probably figured I'd – I would – I'd die from my injuries." She took a breath. "I guess it's – less – less messy than shoo – shooting – me."
Kitsune moved closer to her, worry on her face. "Korra, Korra, look at me. Korra," She held both sides of Korra's face, beckoning her attention.
When Korra wouldn't open her eyes on her own, Kitsune forced her lids apart with her thumbs.
Korra's eyes were crossing and rolling back rapidly.
"Korra? Korra!" Kitsune almost shook her, tears in her eyes.
Tuzi froze in his spot and stared at Korra, horror in his expression.
Korra snapped from her daze, though it wasn't by much. She mumbled incoherently and shook her head. "I – I need to lie down."
She crawled to her knees, a pair of supporting hands on each of her shoulders.
"Let us help you, Korra." Kitsune urged.
Korra surrendered and allowed them to take her to her bed. She noticed the wrinkled paper and the pen where she once sat, her letter to Asami unfinished.
It was at that moment that she was unsure of whether or not she would get the chance to finish that letter, or even see it again.
"Happy Anniversary," she mumbled, slipping into delirium as they laid her in the bed. "I'm sorry, Asami," she added with a sob, pulling the paper closer and clutching it to her chest. "I'm so sorry," she continued, tears rolling down her cheeks.
"Shhhh," Kitsune whispered, laying a blanket over Korra and stroking her hair. "We're going to help you somehow. And it's - it's going to be okay, Korra," she muttered, her owns tears streaming from her eyes. "It's going to be okay."
But it was a lie. A lie she was telling Korra. A lie that Tuzi overheard. A lie she was telling herself.
Because Kitsune was sure that Korra wasn't going to make it through the night, and once Korra's lids touched and she drifted into sleep, there was nothing she could do to keep her awake.
She gritted her teeth, her heart sinking in her chest.
There was nothing she could do to save the person who had tried to save the both of them and had paid the price for it.
(-)
Summary: Korra is in her bunk in a base that the United Forces has won back in the slums of Ba Sing Se. She fishes a wrinkled piece of paper and a pen from her jacket that she had found on the ground during their journey through the slums. Once she can get the pen to work, she starts to write a letter to Asami. She mentions how she hasn't heard from Asami in months, since the winter time or before then [the days are slipping past her], and that she hopes Asami is okay. She gives her details about the war and their plan of infiltrating the palace in Ba Sing Se based on intel that Kuvira might be there, and how she's just a day shy of being in the war for a year (i.e., this takes place a year after "Unexpected"). She wishes Asami a 'Happy Anniversary', though she notes that it doesn't feel much like an anniversary since they've been apart and quiet for so long. She mentions that she hopes Asami got her previous few letters from the winter and the spring time, and she talks about how much she misses her and wishes she could be back in Republic City to be with her again.
Loud noises from down the hall interrupt her writing. She leaves the pen and paper behind and heads to the main hall, where she hears people chanting. When she enters, she sees a bunch of male soldiers forcing Tuzi to drink. He ends up throwing up. Korra tends to him and tells the other antagonizing soldiers to back off. One of them throws a bottle at the back of her head. Tuzi stops her from retaliating. Korra helps him up. Gankona yells a slur at her and throws an empty bottle at her feet. Korra brushes it off and helps Tuzi to the bathroom to help him sober up again.
Korra questions his motives about drinking with Gankona. Tuzi reveals that he was drinking to forget about the horrors of war and to fit in in Ganokona's group, since he's been feeling pressure from Gankona ever since he was forced to bunk with him and he was sick of feeling like an outcast. He talks about wanting to go home. Korra sympathizes with him and rallies him to continue on, telling him that the only way he was going to be able to get home alive was to win the war and survive. She takes him to his room and when she opens the door, she finds Kitsune crying on Gankona's bed, disheveled. Korra tends to her and learns that Gankona had assaulted her sexually. She flashes back to when this happened to Asami and sees red.
Korra immediately goes to the main hall, ignoring Kitsune and Tuzi behind her, and strikes Gankona. They get into a bloody fight, resulting in Korra getting cut across the face and her ribs and hand getting broken, and Gankona getting punched multiple times in the face. Gankona finds the picture of Korra and Asami in her jacket as he attempts to take it off of her. He rips the photo in half and makes threats to sexually assault Asami once the war is over. Korra loses it and puts a knife to his throat after assaulting him further. The lieutenant colonel storms in and rips Korra off of him. He takes her to his office, hits her with a blunt object, and scolds her for assaulting Gankona. When Korra reveals Gankona's crimes, he brushes it off and essentially okays the sexual assault, claiming that "men win wars" and that only "satisfied" men win wars. Korra is appalled and threatens the lieutenant, saying that she isn't going to just stand by and let this happen, and that if he is going to kill her, it better be with a gun to the back of her head, because that's the only way he'll be able to stop her. He dismisses her from his office and she leaves, boldly turning her back to him. She leaves the office without getting shot, but she did hear him draw his gun and point it at her before she left.
Korra goes back to the main hall to find the ripped picture and finds it to be missing. She attributes it to one of Gankona's friends taking it. She heads to the bathroom to assess her injuries and realizes she's in much worse shape than she originally thought. She goes to the infirmary to get treated but the door is locked. Inside, a male medic is tending to a fearful Gankona. He pulls the curtain closed around them and ignores her. Korra returns to her bedroom and find Kitsune and Tuzi there, distant and fearful. She shuts the door and somewhat-collapses against it, the pain of her injuries catching up to her. Kitsune and Tuzi tend to her. Korra reveals what happened in the lieutenant's office and at the infirmary as she slips into delirium. They try to keep her awake but find it to be a losing battle. They help her to her bed and Korra sees the letter she was writing Asami. She realizes that she might not get to finish that letter after tonight or even see it again, fearful that she is going to die. She holds the letter to her chest and cries, wishing a "Happy Anniversary" once more and apologizing to Asami. Kitsune urges Korra to rest with false promises that 'everything was going to be okay'.
Well, that was a long summary lol. *hides*