Reunion time! Get your tissues ready, haha. I'm just kidding.

Or am I?

And this chapter will be a look into Korra's mentality just before and during when the Airbender kids find her. I might be skipping over where Korra and Kuvira face off in Zaofu and go straight to when they bring her back to Republic City. And most of Korra with Toph.

...

~Put your best suit on and carry on now...

What was she doing? What was she thinking?

What would her friends say if they saw her now?

Korra sighs and puts her face in her bruised hands. Her eye throbs painfully and it's shaded a terrible bluish purple color. She winces upon touching it and drops her left hand, glaring at her swollen knuckles.

This is a mess.

What would her friends and family say if they knew that she had been spending the past six months going from cage match to cage match to earn money? To run from her inner demon that lurked about at every single corner? They'd ask why she didn't come to them. They'd ask if she'd lost her mind.

And Asami would probably cuss her out. Not that she could blame her.

How could Korra just tell her that it's easier to talk to her and not tell her the biggest problem she was facing? Just disappear like that letter she sent meant nothing to either of them? Korra sighs and grabbed the gym back she's been carrying around with her and stands from the bench. She glances down into the ring and she becomes hyper aware of her injuries. She didn't win this match, or the one before it. Or the one before that.

She didn't win any of them. Six months worth of cage matches and every single one of them lost.

Tears build up in her eyes and she tries to convince herself it's from the pain of her injuries, though she knows deep down that's not true. She figures she should go back to the tiny inn she's staying in and clean up, since she'll be gone come sunrise. Might as well make the most of her last night.

She exits the arena and casts her head down. What kind of life was she suddenly living where her identity was reduced to a shadow at her heels? A ghost's name? She clenches her teeth as she starts to cross a street, not a second too late before she saw headlights coming up on her and heard a horn blaring. She looked up, frightened, and jumped out of the way, hitting the ground hard. Searing sharp pain rattles through her and she coughs heavily as the tears fall.

You have nothing left, go home.

I don't want to go home.

She picks her head up before getting to her feet. She wipes her eyes with her arm, skimming her eye. She drops her arm then as she sees something appear in her peripheral vision. A cold shudder possesses her and she flexes her hand.

Not you, not now.

Kota slowly raises her eyes to the shadow-fallen alleyway and her worst fears are confirmed when she sees the bright white glowing eyes of her former self. She takes a hesitant step back. "You..." she mumbles and she knows for sure then that she's insane. She's speaking to an apparition for Raava's sake!

Her eyebrows furrow together in anger and frustration. "Get out of here!" she demands her phantom. "Leave me alone!"

As always, it says nothing. It moves its arm back and whips the chain forward in her direction. Korra locks herself in place and raises a wall of rock in front of her. There's a beat of silence as the end of the chain scarcely misses Korra's nose and she watches in horror as the chain wraps around the wall and crushes it instantly. Panicked, Korra turns on her heel and starts to run.

How can you run from yourself?

That's not me!

She can't help but cry now as she hears the chain slinking against the ground behind her. She pushes herself to run faster, tuning out the protest in her limbs. She hears something cut the air and the chain wraps around her ankle, yanking back harshly. Her leg is taken from beneath her and she hits the ground for the second time that night. Her breath is knocked from her lungs and she gasps, curling up and wrapping her arms around her stomach.

What better way to go than by the hands of your own demon?

Please! Let me go!

Through the blood rushing in her ears she picks up the sound of her phantom closing in on her. She has no fight left in her body, she has no more drive. It's over, she knows. Too bad she never gave her friends and family an official goodbye.

It's in that moment as she's giving up that she hears a new sound, a dog barking. She opens her eyes a slit and turns her head to find a small white puppy running up to her, barking fiercely. It stands between her and her phantom. It growls and barks again, with Korra picking up the threat in the nose. There's a gust of wind and the chain is gone from her ankle. Slowly, she turns over on her back and stares up at the night sky. The dog came around and up to her head and she looked at it.

"You can see her, too?" she whispered.

The dog whineds and paws at her cheek. Korra smiles a bit and sits up. She reaches out to pet the dog but it steps away. It barks again and looks up the road. Korra follows his gaze, raising an eyebrow as she stands. "You want me to follow you?"

As if answering her, the dog takes off running up the road. Korra contemplates this for a second, now I'm sure I'm insane. I'm gonna follow a dog. "Okay, let's see where you take me." she says as she gives chase.

...

Korra wakes up in more pain than she'd passed out in. She groans and her head lolls to the side. She vaguely remembers her showdown with her Avatar spirit earlier and winces inwardly.

Note to self, don't follow strange dogs. she thinks, recalling how the dog wasn't even a dog at all but a spirit she'd met at the Tree of Time. She sits up slowly and her head swims. She feels the urge to vomit swell in her stomach and she curls her hand in a tight fist, fighting it. It's then that she hears the sloshing of liquid and raises her head.

"Feeling better?" a female voice says, which Korra follows to its source. A stout woman standing at a pot hanging over a fire.

"Where am I?" Korra asks, her voice hoarse. "Where... where am I?"

"I was hoping you could tell me." the woman replies. "I found you passed out in the mud."

"How did you know I was out there?" Korra says.

"I'm pretty tapped into the goings-on around here. What brings you to the swamp anyway?"

"A spirit led me here and told me I'm supposed to meet someone here." Korra says. She pauses, thinking. "Is that you?"

"Beats me." the woman says with a shrug. "But if your Avatar senses led you here, you should probably listen to them."

Korra's ears perked up at the word 'Avatar'. "You... you recognize me?"

"In a manner of speaking. We were good friends in your past life."

Korra raises an eyebrow and gets to her feet, slowly approaching the woman as she bends a small flame in her hand. The woman turns around and Korra's eyes widen at the sight of her familiar filmy eyes. "I don't believe it... Toph?"

"Nice to see you again, Twinkle Toes." Toph greets, smiling.

~fast forward a bit~

They'd found her. After three years, someone had found her. Jinora, Ikki and Meelo are the ones who are granted the honor of locating Korra. And they are honored with witnessing Korra remove the last of the poison from within her, which Toph seals securely in a hollow rock.

Unfortunately, they and Opal saw her fall when it came to facing off with Kuvira and saving Opal's family. If it hadn't of been for Opal and Jinora, she doesn't know what state she'd be in now.

But now... Now she's on her way home. Back to Republic City. Where she'll see all of her friends again. Her happiness fades to worry when she thinks about how they'll react. Especially Asami. Her reaction was the one she cared about the most. After all, she'd only written to her once before going dead silent again.

A hand on her shoulder brings her from her inner turmoil, and she looks up to find that the hand belongs to Jinora. Jinora offers her a friendly smile which Korra returns halfheartedly. To know that the kids aren't mad at her for leaving lightens her heart enough.

~and once more~

Okay, Korra. She's right there. Just go and hope for the best.

What do I even say? "Hey, sorry about ignoring your letters for two years and only sending back one? But I'm back now so it's okay?"

It is most definitely not okay.

Korra stands around the corner up the hall from Asami, who sits in the waiting area. Korra noticed almost immediately when she arrived that she's alone, no one else in sight. When Tenzin told her that they were waiting for her at this restaurant, she literally expected to find them all together, not her all alone.

Get it together Korra. It's just Asami. You can do this.

I am so dead.

She takes a deep breath and takes one last look at her choice of clothes. It felt weird to be back in Water Tribe styled clothing, trading it in for her Earth Kingdom garb. Still, she was that much closer to feeling like herself again. Looking like herself again. Well, except for her hair.

Korra steps out from behind the wall and walks up to Asami, her heart threatening to cause a scene and explode from her chest. She opens her mouth and-

"I hope you haven't been waiting long."

That's the best you could do? Three years and that's the first thing you say?

Much to her surprise Asami looks up at the sound of her voice and smiles, immediately putting the magazine down that she was looking at and standing. Her arms are open, welcoming Korra into them. Korra smiles and opens her arms in return. Her heart skips when she officially locks gazes with the emerald orbs that she didn't realize she missed so much until now.

"Only three years." Asami says as they make contact.

Korra buries her face in Asami's shoulder and takes a deep breath in. The smell of Asami's soap flows into her nostrils and her fingers curl against the heiress' back tighter as tears gather beneath her eyelids.

I'm home.

...

Aaah, that feels so much better. Though, don't get used to it. There are still more lyrics, which means more story so stay tuned! Same Bat-time, same bat-channel!

Thanks for reading!