Hello all! I apologize for being non-existent in this story for the past weeks. Life has been incredibly busy and I haven't had time to write new material (I've only had time to update History: Part II, my other fic, since it's already written). Anyway, here is the latest update for Korrasami Month. I still have one prompt to go that I'll hopefully get done in the next few days, and then this fic will be on hold for a while until the next Korrasami week or month.
I would like to thank all of you for taking the time to read my story. I'm glad I ended up writing this. It has been a blast. Hearts to all of you, because you are my inspiration to continue writing.
Without further ado...
(-)
Korra sat inside of the public restroom with her head in her hands. She wasn't even sure where she was or how she got there or most of what had happened, for that matter. All she remembered was the rain. The rain and running. Naga was somewhere outside, guarding the door. Lucky for her, it was much too late in the evening for the bathroom to be busy.
She hadn't stopped crying since she fled, though her tears were masked by the rain. Thunder made the ground shake, signaling the storms to come.
Korra's fingers were in her hair, cradling her skull. Her elbows rested on her knees. Everything flashed in front of her when she closed her eyes.
The last kiss she shared with Asami.
The death and destruction of the war.
The drop of her heart from the news upon her return.
She whimpered as she sat on the toilet, clothed and dripping from the rain.
It was then that the shaking became too much. She couldn't sit still anymore; she had to move. She had to keep moving.
Korra shoved the door to the stall open, grateful that the others were empty. She walked across the room, having been in the stall at the very end, and caught herself in the mirror.
She froze in her spot and peered at her reflection.
Korra inched closer to the mirror, entranced by the look in her eyes. Her face was tired, the circles lining the underside of her sockets, making them dark. She looked thinner than before, after having been on an IV for a month in a coma. She still had a bit of tone to her muscles, but nothing near what she had in Zaofu.
Not that she could even see them all that well with this damn United Forces uniform on.
She felt just as sick in it as she did after the party her and Asami went to that resulted in her nearly killing a man for the first time.
Korra glanced at herself, wondering if there would ever be a last time.
She flinched at the thought and lowered her eyes to the ground. She could almost feel the cold of the floor seep up to her through her booted feet.
Even the sight of her army footwear made her angry. She brought her focus back to her reflection. Her loose hair cascaded over her back and down her front, as wet and dripping as her uniform was. She stared at the ribbons she earned while in ROTC, all of which were still pinned to her coat.
Korra leaned against the counter, her arms shaking on the granite. Her shoulder ached from the pressure.
She didn't care.
She just kept staring at those ribbons, anger leaving red marks in the corners of her eyes.
You ruined everything. You fucking ruined everything.
Korra growled and latched onto one of the pins. She ripped it off and threw it to the ground.
Nothing was going to stop her now.
Every cord, every ribbon, every sort of honor and distinction she had earned in that pee-wee bullshit training during her schooling fell to the floor in her rage.
Some smashed against the wall.
Others landed right in the trash.
Korra paced, her palms covering her face in agony and frustration. Her limp was heavy and her hip was in great pain.
As was her heart.
"You fucking ruined everything," she whispered with gritted teeth.
She walked from the start of the stalls to the opposite wall near the door.
"You fucking ruined everything!" She hollered, stopping in front of a metal paper towel holder.
Soon, her right fist smashed into the alloy.
Once.
Twice.
Three times.
And she just kept going.
She latched onto it with her left. Korra punched it until there was a bloody dent in its front and she could no longer do anymore damage to it.
She tried to rip it off the wall in her ire but only fell to the ground in a painful crash.
Korra groaned and curled into a ball on the bathroom floor. She held her bloody, possibly broken knuckles to her chest, not caring if her blood stained her uniform.
She had already shed enough blood for those fuckers.
Her gasping morphed into deep sobs. She tucked her knees to her chest and cried.
"I fucking ruined everything," she whimpered to herself.
(-)
Korra wandered the streets in the rain. It was dark and empty, just as she felt.
Naga walked beside her, her head and ears hung low to match the pain in Korra's heart.
She had stopped crying about an hour ago and pulled herself together into a false display of stability when her growling dog alerted her of someone approaching the bathroom. Once she was out of sight, bloodied hand hidden in her coat pocket, she meandered around Republic City. The lights reflected in the puddles in the roads, their orange rays tracing the ripples of the rain drops.
Korra caught herself staring at them in a trance. A roll of thunder would always shake her out of it, and she would continue on in emptiness.
She found a small alleyway and collapsed in it, unable to carry on with the pain in her hip. She shouldn't be walking on it at all, let alone running and falling on it. The injuries to her ribs and shoulder weren't getting any better any time soon, either.
Naga whimpered beside her and rubbed Korra's face with her own.
Korra responded by pushing herself to her hands and knees, only to collapse again.
She was too weak. She needed to recover. She was hungry and cold and wet and broken.
This brought tears to her eyes.
Naga nudged her again and licked her cheek.
"I'm trying, Naga," she whispered.
Korra glanced up into the alleyway from the ground. She army crawled to the back corner and propped herself up against the brick of the buildings – though not without several attempts.
Once Korra was stable, Naga joined her side. She plopped her head into Korra's lap and wrapped her body around as much of her as she could.
Korra smiled in quiet appreciation and put a dirty hand on her scruff.
Man's best friend, she muttered in her head.
I guess it's a woman's best friend, too.
She sighed at the ache in her heart. All she could picture was Asami and Mako kissing, of them making out, of Mako's hands trailing up and down Asami's body, of the moans that might have ensued.
Mako, she thought, fucking Mako, of all people.
Korra huffed in frustration and curled into herself. She started shivering from the rain, but she had no means of escaping the storms. Even if she had some shelter nearby, she didn't have the strength to get there. She was just too hurt.
Her fire faded away into a dark emptiness.
She stared at the water bouncing off the street. The rain intensified. It washed away some of the stagnant puddles with its runoff streams.
Korra pulled Naga closer, knowing full well that this was going to be a long, sleepless night.
(-)
There was a soft knock on the door.
"Coming, coming," Bolin called in response.
The pounding didn't cease.
"Okay, okay, I hear you, I'm right –" He pulled the door open and lost all of his ability to speak from the shock. "Fucking hell. Korra?"
She stood before him, shaking in a torn up uniform that was covered in dirt. Her eyes were dry and red. Her face was tired. "Hey Bo," she smiled weakly, "can I come in?" She ended her question with a violent cough. She had been out in the storm for too long, and even her arctic-hardened body couldn't fight off the cold and the rain.
"Of course, get in here." He pulled her into his apartment and guided her to the couch.
Naga followed after shaking her fur at the doorway. She hopped up on the couch next to Korra, though her nose wrinkled to the scent in the plastic-leather sofa material.
"Here, let me get you a blanket and some tea." He rushed to the entrance and shut the door. He flicked the deadbolt to lock it and scurried into the kitchen to put tea on the stove.
Korra curled into herself, her shaking now violent tremors. Her teeth were clattering.
Thunder roared outside. It didn't look like it was going to stop anytime soon, its darkness making the day seem almost like night.
"Here, here's a blanket. Get yourself warmed up. I'll crank the heat, too." He wrapped the thick fleece around Korra and twisted the knob on the thermostat.
Korra pulled the blanket around her and stared at the floor.
He joined her side on the couch and put a hand on her shoulder. "What the hell happened? How did you get back? I – I thought you might have been... When did you get back?"
Korra just gazed at the ground, lost in a shivering trance once more.
Memories flashed in front of her eyes and she snapped out of it with a visible shake of her head.
"Korra?" Bolin squeezed her shoulder.
"I've been – wandering around – the City – since yesterday," she choked, coughing between some of her words and chattering after others.
"Why were you out in these storms? You could have come here sooner! I would have taken care of you."
"I – I was too – tired. Too – weak." She hacked and held her ribs from the pain. "I got – hurt – in that – explosion."
"Shit, you were actually there? Like, when it went off?"
She nodded. "I was – in the room with – Kuvira," she whispered, the words starting to flow a bit better now that she was warming up.
"Fuck. What happened? Does Asami know you're here? Does she know that you're alive?"
Just as she opened her mouth to speak, a twisting key in the lock caught her attention. She tensed, unsure of who was entering.
Bolin turned to the door as Opal stepped inside.
"Sorry I'm late, Bolin, I went to check on Asami and –" She froze in her spot once her eyes fell upon Korra.
Her face morphed into a scowl.
"What are you doing here, Korra," she attacked with darkness in her voice.
"Woah, woah, easy there, Opal. Korra's been out in the storm since yesterday."
"That's her own damn fault."
"What are you talking about?"
"Her. Korra. It's her fault that she was in the storm."
Bolin furrowed his brow. "How is it her fault?"
"Because she ran away from Asami," Opal clenched her fists, frustrated with the shaking soldier on the couch.
Bolin turned to Korra in confusion. "Why would you run away, Korra? Aren't you happy to see Asami again?"
Korra lowered her eyes to the floor and took a breath, preparing to reply, when Opal did it for her.
"Because Asami told her about the party."
"Ohhhhh." Bolin looked away for a moment and then back at Korra. "She told you about that, huh?"
Korra nodded.
"Of course Asami did," Opal interjected. "That's just the type of person she is. This whole thing has been eating away at her for weeks. She hasn't slept. She hasn't eaten. She didn't even go to work the first week after it happened. She's been tearing herself apart over this, absolutely broken over the mistake she made."
"Well, she should be upset over it," Bolin scrunched his brow and faced Opal, folding his arms over his chest as he did so. "Just a little bit."
"Just a little bit? What, you think Asami deserves all of the sadness she felt over this?"
"Not all of it. But she did cheat on Korra with Mako." Bolin retorted. "She made out with him on this very couch!" He threw his hands up in the air and pointed to the seat beside him. "She should feel at least a little bad for what she did."
"And you think she deserved to get yelled at and abandoned over it, like how Korra screamed at her and ran away?!"
"I think Korra has every right to be upset over this," Bolin hollered in response to Opal's volume. "Korra was away at war, forcibly, and she goes through all this shit. She was there when the bomb went off, Opal. She was right there with Kuvira, and we all know how that ended for the 'Great Uniter'," he mocked her title, his frustration growing. "I would be pissed too if I came back after being at war for two years and found out that my girlfriend had made out with someone else."
"Oh, so if I get drunk and accidentally kiss someone because I've been missing you and slipping into depression and tearing my heart out over whether or not you were alive after not hearing from you for over a year, and you came back and I told you honestly about it, you would storm off too?"
"I might. I don't know... But I do know that I wouldn't be happy about it." He rose to his feet to match Opal's glare. "Korra has been risking her life to stop Kuvira, and to come back and learn that Asami made out with Mako? Korra loves Asami. You didn't see her when she was gushing over Asami almost twenty-four seven every day. Nearly talked my ear off about her. She would do anything for Asami."
"Oh, and I guess Asami doesn't love Korra, so much so that she was broken while Korra was gone?"
"I'm not saying Asami doesn't love Korra. I'm saying that Korra didn't deserve what happened to her."
"But it didn't happen to Korra. It happened to Asami."
"That doesn't mean Korra isn't affected in all of this! If I died in combat, wouldn't you be affected by it?!"
"Of course I would. And that's exactly how Asami felt this entire time."
"And that's why Mako made a move on her."
Opal's face was in shock. "You can't possibly be blaming Asami for this and defending Mako."
"No, I'm not defending Mako at all. He was a fucking asshole who didn't listen when I told him to back off. If anything, I'm saying Korra isn't wrong in feeling upset about this. I would be pissed over what Mako did, and I still am pissed, hence why I haven't talked to Mako since this all happened."
"Well neither has she. She cut off contact the night it happened, Bolin." She took a step forward and pointed a finger at him. "And you and I both know Asami did not go to that party with the intent of getting drunk or making out with anyone for that matter."
"But she still did it! Just because she didn't mean to, doesn't mean it didn't happen and it doesn't mean there weren't consequences. I didn't mean to fall off that stool when I was putting the dishes away, but it still happened."
"And if you hadn't fallen off that stool, none of this would have happened."
"Oh, so it's my fault that Asami and Mako made out with each other and were sucking face and grabbing each other on the couch when I wasn't even in the room?"
"You were supposed to be keeping an eye on them!"
"So were you, but I don't hear you blaming yourself over this."
"Oh, like I haven't been? I feel just as bad about this happening as you do. But you haven't even seen Asami to know how much she's been hurting. She has nightmares about it, about what happened and about Korra being dead. Then Korra comes back and completely blasts her for her one mistake."
"Well do you blame her? Korra's been to hell's hell and back again. You wouldn't be upset over something like this?"
"I wouldn't scream at her and storm out, that's for sure!"
"Oh, like how you are right now?"
Opal glared at him. "What is that supposed to mean?"
"You're not even trying to see this from Korra's side!"
"Well you're not trying to see it from Asami's. And neither is Korra. All she did was think about herself!"
"She was at war. She almost died. Tell her Kor –"
It was then that they realized they were just inches away from each other's faces, red and huffed from the screaming.
It was also then, as they both turned to face the couch, that they realized Korra was gone.
"Korra?" Bolin asked the empty space with concern.
As angry as Opal was, she couldn't help but feel the same drop in her chest.
(-)
Asami stared at the phone in her shaking hands with dry eyes, hoping for a notification to pop up. But not from her email or her social media apps.
Rather, from Korra.
She knew this was an impossibility. Korra didn't even have a phone, from what she could tell. And if she did, Korra certainly didn't have her new number. The only people who knew it were her father and Opal.
And Asami knew sure as hell that she wasn't going to text the former.
She swiped the screen and clicked on the messaging icon as fast as she could, hoping to avoid the pain in her heart upon the sight of her background picture with Korra.
Thunder pounded outside. It had been raining for over a day now.
And it had been over a day since she heard anything from Korra after she ran away with Naga.
She found Opal's number and sent her a message.
_ _ _ _ _ Hey Opal. Have you heard from Korra at all? Or seen her? I'm really worried about her.
There was a long pause that felt like hours.
Her heart jumped when she saw the typing icon.
Actually, I did. She was just here not too long ago.
Asami's face was in shock.
_ _ _ _ _ What? She was there? When?
A while ago. She came to see Bolin.
_ _ _ _ _ Is she okay?
I don't really know. I didn't get a good glimpse of her before she left.
_ _ _ _ _ When did she leave?
I'm not entirely sure. I was distracted.
Asami raised her brow.
_ _ _ _ _ Distracted? By what?
Bolin. We were fighting.
Asami frowned.
_ _ _ _ _ I hope not over me.
There was no reply.
_ _ _ _ _ How long ago was your fight? Maybe I can still find her if she's nearby.
About an hour or two ago.
Why do you even want to find her? She acted like a complete asshole to you.
_ _ _ _ _ Because I'm worried about her. I've never seen her so upset
_ _ _ _ _ I don't think upset is the right word
_ _ _ _ _ What if she hurts herself because of me? I've already hurt her so much. I don't think I could live with myself if something happened and she
She couldn't even finish the thought, let alone the text. She didn't want to. Nor did she realize she pressed send. She cringed and continued.
_ _ _ _ _ She's not stable. I want to look for her, Opal. I want to make sure she's okay and make things right if I can.
I don't understand why. You've been waiting for her for so long. She had no idea what you've been through and then she blows up on you when you were being honest and vulnerable and hurting and just trying to make yourself less broken.
Asami paused and took a breath.
_ _ _ _ _ That doesn't mean I didn't break her in the process.
She stared at the screen until the typing icon popped up.
That doesn't make what she did to you okay.
_ _ _ _ _ I know, Opal. I know.
_ _ _ _ _ But that doesn't make what I did okay either. I just want to make things right. I just want her to forgive me.
But why, Asami? Why bother?
_ _ _ _ _ Because I love her.
Tears streamed down her cheeks.
_ _ _ _ _ I still love her, even after how much we hurt each other. She's in a bad place right now.
_ _ _ _ _ And honestly, so am I.
Her hands shook.
_ _ _ _ _ I need her just as much as she needs me right now.
_ _ _ _ _ And I want to get better. I want to forgive myself for what I did.
_ _ _ _ _ I want to help Korra.
_ _ _ _ _ I want to help myself and put this all behind us.
_ _ _ _ _ I still love her, Opal
_ _ _ _ _ I don't think I'll ever be able to not love her
_ _ _ _ _ And I'm so worried about her.
_ _ _ _ _ Can you just tell me if you know where she was heading?
There was a very long pause that lasted minutes.
Eventually, the typing icon popped up.
No. If she said anything, I didn't hear it. I was too busy arguing with Bolin.
I didn't even notice her leave, to be honest.
Neither did Bolin.
But it wasn't too long ago that we noticed she was gone, so she might still be nearby.
Asami nodded at her phone, determination in her eyes. She rose from her spot on her mattress, still in her clothes from the day before, and grabbed her keys with gusto. She wiped her tears away and texted Opal while she moved through her barren apartment.
_ _ _ _ _ I'm heading over to find her.
She paused at the doorway and added another text.
_ _ _ _ _ Please don't argue over me. Or Korra. Go blow off some steam and talk things over with Bolin, alright?
There was no reply.
Asami sighed and put her phone in her back pocket. She crawled into her Satomobile and brought the engine to life.
Before she knew it, she was speeding off to Bolin's apartment to try and find Korra.
(-)
Asami dashed through the wet streets of Republic City like the true expert driver that she was. She managed to make every light with her maneuvering. She was just a few blocks away from Bolin's apartment when she saw the flashing lights behind her.
It was the last thing she wanted to see.
Her heart skipped a beat in its fast pace. She cursed under her breath and pulled over. Asami scowled out of her windshield as the wipers pushed the pouring rain away. Her eyes wandered up to her rearview mirror. She watched with intent as the officer got out of their car.
Her stomach wrenched.
No, not him, anyone but –
A tap on her window interrupted her thoughts. She sighed and rolled it down, realizing there was nothing she could do but obey.
"What do you want, Mako?"
He glared at her. "Is that how you address someone in uniform?"
She rolled her eyes. Uniform, she mocked. That's not a fucking uniform.
Her thoughts wandered to what she considered a real uniform in her rage.
And, of course, Korra came into her sight.
"What do you want?" She repeated, more with annoyance than venom this time. "My license and registration?"
"Considering you were going sixty-five in a thirty, yeah."
Asami exhaled and dug her registration out of her glove compartment. She looked around for her wallet and flipped her bag upside-down to find it.
Fucking hell.
Mako sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "You forgot your license again, didn't you?"
Asami scowled over her shoulder and continued searching. Her patience was wearing thin.
Mako crossed his arms and furrowed his brow. "Just like how you forgot to answer your phone, apparently."
She stopped dead in her frantic movements and turned to him. "What did you just say to me?"
Asami, don't be stupid now.
"I called you and texted you and messaged over a dozen times to talk, and you never answered." There was ire in his tone and his eyes.
"Why do you think that is?" She growled back.
Deep breaths, Asami. In and out.
"I don't know because you won't fucking tell me!" He threw his arms up in the air. "I'm not a fucking mind reader, Asami."
The anger boiled up inside of her.
Asami, don't –
"Then maybe you can read this," she replied as she flipped him off.
"Get out of the car," he commanded.
"I don't have to do shit," Asami grumbled, gripping the steering wheel as she did so. She resisted the urge to just take off and leave him in her dust.
"Actually, you do. You see this," he reached into his coat and pulled his badge out. "I'm a fucking cop, remember? Now when I say get out of the car, I mean get out of the car."
Asami pounded her hand on the unlock button and ripped her door open. She tore her seatbelt off and emerged from her Satomobile. She slammed the door shut and faced him. "Fine, I'm out of the car. What do you fucking want?"
He waved his badge again. "Cop, remember?"
Asami bit back her tongue, though the corners of her eyes lit red.
"Now, where is your license?"
"I already told you, I don't have it."
"Actually, you didn't tell me anything, just like you haven't been telling me anything since we kissed at Bolin's party."
"What is your fucking problem?"
"My problem," he stepped up to her, frustration and hurt in his eyes, "is that you led me on and left me to hang after you kissed me."
Asami scoffed. She almost laughed. She couldn't believe the words she was hearing. "I led you on? How could I have possibly have led you on, Mako, when I spent most of our time together talking about Korra?"
"We talked about other things, Asami."
"Oh, you mean the weather?"
"We talked about more than that!" Mako turned from her and walked away towards the building she was pulled near. He took a breath to calm himself.
It was then that Asami realized it; Kitsune was not the only one involved in all of this. "You fell in love with me, didn't you?" Before he could respond, everything started clicking into place. "You did this on purpose," she took a step forward, vexation in her voice. "You – you planted all those thoughts about Korra being dead in my head so that – so that I would come crawling to you for comfort." She gritted her teeth and clenched her fists. "You lied to me."
"I didn't lie, Asami," he snarled and faced her. "I was being realistic. While Bolin and Opal were in happy hopeful optimistic land about 'everything being okay'," he mocked them, "I was considering reality, just as I always did when I raised Bolin on my own. Korra hadn't written to you in months. It was logical that she could have been dead."
"And what would have happened if she was, huh? You would have swooped in to rescue me?" She moved closer and stared into his eyes with fire in hers. "Well you can go fuck yourself because you will never replace Korra. You – you're a fucking asshole." Her heart raced. Adrenaline pumped through her veins. She felt an odd sort of tingling as realization washed over her. "Bolin told you to stay away from me, but you made a move on me anyway."
"I was just trying to be a good friend!"
"A good friend?" She snarled. "Do good friends make out with each other when they're drunk?"
"I didn't know you weren't supposed to have alcohol!" He advanced on her, his own frustration boiling over. "All I wanted was for you to have a good time and to forget about things for a while."
"Forget about things or forget about Korra?" She snapped in response.
"Fine, I wanted you to forget about Korra, but not so that I could make out with you."
"Then for what reason, Mako. What justification could you possibly have for kissing me when I was drunk?"
"Because I loved you!" He hollered over the roll of thunder behind him. "And I still do. I care about you, and seeing you so fucked up was painful."
"So you thought you could cure that by fucking me?"
He balled his hands into fists. "We didn't fuck and I never meant to make out with you! Yes, I love you, and you can't help who you fall in love with, but you weren't the only one drunk that night."
"Being drunk doesn't justify your actions."
"Oh, and it justifies yours?" He moved closer to her, forcing her to take a step back. "It takes two people to make out, you know."
"You were well aware of my situation, Mako. But you still went after me."
"You led me on and made me think that you liked me, that you cared about me and wanted me closer to you! Or did you forget all the nights we talked and texted until three in the morning because you couldn't sleep? Or the times you cried on my shoulder? Or all the times we met up for tea when Bolin and Opal weren't there? Or even when they were. I wasn't trying to go after you; I was trying to look after you. And besides, you kissed me."
She scoffed. "That's a fucking lie and you know it! Korra kissed me."
"Korra wasn't even there!" He threw his arms up into the air in frustration once more. "The only person who's been there for you was me, and all this time, I've been trying to contact you to talk things over about what happened and move on from this and you just completely fucking ignore me. Do you realize how much that hurts? How worried I've been about you? I've been tearing my hair out wondering if you were okay!"
"I don't fucking care how 'worried' you've been," she mocked, her fists shaking in anger. "As a matter of fact, I don't fucking care about you. The only person I care about is Korra. You want to know why I stopped returning your messages? Why I changed my number and blocked you everywhere I could? Because I want nothing more to do with you, Mako. I never have and I never will!" Tears welled up in her eyes. She couldn't stop herself from falling over the edge. Everything – her emotions, her exhaustion, her entire situation – consumed her. "You fucking ruined everything. Everything I had is gone because of you." Her voice weakened into an angry, painful sob. The tears streaming down her cheeks were hidden by the pouring rain. This fueled the storm inside of her. She took a breath and growled, part of her composure regained. "Our 'kiss' was not because I loved you. We might have been good friends, I never loved you. I kissed you because I was so drunk that I thought you were Korra because I love Korra and I will never, ever, with a single ounce of fiber in my being, love you. Our make out session? It meant nothing." She pointed her finger in his face with rage. "You mean nothing. Now give me my fucking ticket so I can get on my fucking way!"
"I am an officer of the law. Get your finger out of my face," he commanded, reaching up to push it away.
A firm hand on his right shoulder stopped him.
Before Mako knew it, he was being spun around with a hard tug from the same hand.
The first sight he saw was a pair of blue eyes that were filled with a deathly rage ten times worse than the peridots behind him.
He didn't notice the hand that clenched the front of his coat.
A split second later, before he could even register anything but the eyes, a bruised fist struck him square in the nose.
Mako flew back and stumbled onto the ground, cradling his broken, bleeding nose with gritted teeth. The pain was immense. He looked up and saw an almost-shadow standing over him – its outline somewhat fuzzy from the downpour – while Asami stood in complete shock where he had left her.
Then, it stepped into the street light and bent over. Their faces were inches apart. He could see every little detail of her face, every scar, every ounce of pain and destruction engrained in her from the war, the blood splotched, tattered grey jacket of her uniform hitting his peripherals.
If looks could kill, even his future grandchildren would be dead right now.
"Stay. Away. From. Asami." Korra growled, more menacing now than she had ever been in her life.
Naga was beside her, snarling and bearing her teeth with just as much ferocity.
Mako was frozen. All he could do was hold his nose and watch on with an ever-growing fire raging inside of him. He was an officer of the law, dammit, and Korra had just struck him. This called for an immediate arrest, and he knew she wasn't going to go without coercion. He scrambled to his feet as Korra turned her back on him.
Naga barked and dug her toes into the cement.
This alerted her. It was then that Korra noticed from the corner of her eye that Mako's hand was going towards his gun.
She acted with the split-second timing that they had trained her for in her years with the army. Korra lunged at him and caught his wrist as he pulled the glock from the holster. She twisted his arm away from them and smashed the back of his hand with hers, forcing the weapon from his grip. She took hold of it and released him.
Part of her told her to aim, begged her to, demanded her to.
She resisted.
Instead, she released the clip and let it fall to the ground. She slid in the same motion and pulled the slide back, emptying the round in the chamber. Korra flipped her hold to the barrel of the gun and smashed the heavy end into Mako's skull behind his left eye before he could even react to her speed.
Within several seconds of him getting up and reaching for his gun, he was on the ground again.
And this time, he wasn't going to get back up.
Korra stared at his unconscious body on the sidewalk, the gun still in hand. Her arms shook. Blood trickled from Mako's wound and mixed with the rainwater, the force of her blow enough to knock him out cold.
A voice told her to keep going. Give him what he deserves. Get out all of your frustration. Beat him to a bloody pulp for kissing Asami.
It was then that she realized where she was and what she had done. She had been seeing red for too long, and the moment she got close enough to act on the argument between the two of them was right when Mako's arm went up to Asami, and her entire sight was taken over by red, searing rage.
The images played back in her mind. She had punched a cop. She disarmed him, emptied his gun, and struck him with it.
And this was not a good thing, justified or not.
It was then that she became very aware of the weapon in her right, bruised hand, of the rain falling on her and the street light illuminating her morphed, previously almost-animalistic face.
It was then that she became aware of what she had done, of everything she had done. Of what she had let herself become after the war.
Of the person standing just a few feet away from her, terrified.
Korra dropped the gun and lowered her head in shame. She watched the rain from the storm drip off of her nose and hit the ground.
Silence was between them.
She turned to Asami and stared into her green eyes as the storm raged on.
(-)