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fyregrayfong · 3 years

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In These Arms | Chapter 15: The Red Lotus

CW: Blood and violent fighting

Lin looks over the injured men and women resting while you and Su check on the officers. Kuvira helps Tonraq down and walks him over to the injured as you bring over medical supplies. “Your arm is pretty beat up” you comment as you hand Kuvira the bandages “It could’ve been worse”. “Hold on, Kuvira you got him?” you look over at her and she nods as you excuse yourself to help bandage another officer’s ankle.

“You look pretty beat up, y/n” Iris voices out nearby as you turn your back away from her and focus on the ankle “Nothing I haven’t dealt with before. I’m fine” you mutter as you hear a shrieking noise and turn toward the sound. What the fuck is that god awful noise . Su stands up and points to the sky and your eyes follow her glance “Caw! Caw! Caw! Caw!” Lin turns around and looks up “Caw! Caw!” a baby bison rapidly descends down to the ground “Caw! Caw!”

The bison lands and skids along the grass, exhausted. Bolin is thrown off from the crash landing. The poor calf whines and Asami gets off as well. The four adults, you included, run up to the group and you grab hold of Asami “You good?” you ask as you check her over, and she nods.

Mako and Lin help Tenzin disembark from the calf's back while Su helps Bolin up as the kid airbender starts to talk “Hey, everybody. There's something I gotta tell you.”

Lin cuts him off and looks at the teens “How did you guys make it out of that temple alive?”

“It was all Bolin. I thought we were done for. Then out of nowhere, he lavabends!” Mako looks over at Tonraq then at Bolin

“Well would you look at that!” you smirk as Su rests a hand on Bolin's shoulder “I knew you had the potential for something big. You just had to believe in yourself.” Bolin smiles widely at Su,

“You're right. Being moments from death was a pretty good motivator too. Of course, we never would have made it back without Kai.”

Kai smiles “Glad I could help. So anyway-“

“--Did Zaheer get away with Korra?” Tenzin interrupts and you notice Kai frowning, you purse your lips but continue on listening to the conversation.

“I'm afraid so.” Lin laments and Su remarks as everyone turns to her “Apparently, he can fly now.

The crew and Tenzin, Asami, and Bolin raise their eyebrows with surprise “What?”

“How?”

“Are you sure?”

Lin looks over at Tenzin “I wouldn't believe it either if I hadn't seen it for myself.”

“I thought the ability to fly was impossible or just some story.” you look at Tenzin,

“I've heard the legends about Guru Laghima's ability to fly. But I never imagined they were true.” Tenzin looks down, worried about Zaheer’s new ability.

“So what's our next move?” Tonraq asks around the group and no one says anything, unsure on how to proceed.

Kai gets off his bison and walks up to the adults “I have an idea.”

Lin sharply talks to Kai “Not right now, kid! We need to figure out where Zaheer took Korra.”

“--And find the airbenders.” Tenzin adds to which Kai is not amused.

You slightly lean over at Kai and whisper “if you want them to listen you gotta say it with your chest, kid” Kai looks at you and nods then irritably yells out “That's what I've been trying to tell you! I know where the airbenders are, and I bet it's where Korra is too!”

Mako looks at Kai and frowns “Well, why didn't you say something?”

Kai frowns and gives a frustrated sigh.

“I mean you guys never gave him a chance. Kept talking over the poor boy” you purse your lips as everyone glares at you and you fold your arms shrugging.

“Where are they? How did you find them?” Kai turns his attention to Tenzin as the baby bison walks up to Kai “After I got blasted out of the sky, I woke up on the side of the mountain where this little fellow found me.” Kai rests a hand on the calf's head and the baby bison whinnies and Kai kneels down to stroke its snout “I tried to sneak back into the temple to see if I could rescue everyone, and that's when I saw the airship leaving. I followed it to some caves a few miles from here. That giant lady met up with some people who took the airbenders into the caves.”

“Was it Ghazan and Ming- Hua?” Lin asked, listening to the young airbender.

“No, there were four more of them. Didn't look familiar.” He stands up and looks at her,

“Must be more Red Lotus members than we thought.” Mako looks over at the group then down to the ground.

“I couldn't fight them all on my own. So I came back here, hoping you guys would show up.” Kai looks at the group “Smart thinking” you gave him a nod then turn your head to Lin

“We need to get to those caves.” Lin remarks and you look over in the direction Kai had mentioned seeing the other airbenders being held,

Kai shrugs “How? I don't think we can all fit on my bison.”

You, Tenzin, Mako, and Lin look at Kai as a shadow passes by overhead and you all look up as a grunt from an air bison is heard. You recognize Oogi circling the sky and Tenzin calls for him “Oogi!”

Oogi lands on the ground in front of his owner and takes a step forward.

Tenzin rests a hand on Oogi's head, and the bison grunts again “I'm glad to see you too, old friend.” He rubs his hand affectionately over Oogi's fur.

“Well no better time than the present. Let’s go there now,” you suggest, and everyone agrees. You earth launch yourself and Asami onto the saddle first. Lin and Su climb in after as you help Tenzin sit down as the rest of the crew get in while Asami holds the reins atop of Oogi’s head. Bolin climbs up Oogi's tail into the saddle - Mako is on the ground looking up at the saddle.

Kuvira walks up to the bison and speaks to Su “I want to come with you.”

Su shakes her head “No, Kuvira. Stay with the injured. We'll be back for you once we have the Avatar.”

Kuvira nods and walks away. Kai climbs on to his baby bison and the calf purrs. Mako walks over to Kai and they exchange some words.

You stay upfront near Asami and Tenzin “You got the reins, ‘Sami?”

“Yeah, I’ve flown Oogi before remember”

“Uh…right. I forgot” you rub your forehead as you move to the back of the saddle and Mako climbs up. Soon Kai takes off with Asami tailing behind him and flies in the direction he last saw the airbenders.

You lean back against the saddle as you fix up your metal forearm sleeves, bending out the dents.

“How are you holding up?” Lin whispers to you and you look down at the chest plate and bend out the dent at your side “I’m good, I just want to get korra and the airbenders out safe” you grit your teeth as you fix the plate trying not to focus on the bruises underneath before leaning back against the saddle.

“I hope Opal is okay” Su looks out towards the view of the mountain ridges

“Since they have Korra now, she and the rest of the airbenders should be fine. They got who they wanted.” You look over at Su before looking away.

Kai comes up beside the saddle “The place where I saw them taking the airbenders is around here.”

“That's gotta be where they took Korra.”

He points to a mountain where there are five airbender statues carved into the side. The statue in the middle is the biggest.

“That's it! Down there, Lefty.”

Lefty moos and flies down. Oogi follows soon after and the two bison land in front of an opening in the mountain. You grab onto the saddle and hop down, you look up and watch Lin slide down Oogi’s tail. Tonraq and Bolin support Tenzin as he gets down from the saddle. Tenzin groans in pain as he holds onto Oogi for support. Su walks towards him.

You start toward the opening and look up at the largest statue as Asami walks up beside you “I don’t know what Zaheer is planning against Korra but…”

“We’re going to stop him and get Korra back, y/n” Asami looks at you and you nod at her “That thing charged up?” you look at the glove and Asami powers it up with blue electric waves sparking out, “Always” Asami sports a determined look.

“Ready?” Su looks at the both of you and receives a nod, the group starts running into the opening of the secret Red Lotus hideout.

As Su and Lin make quick work of digging into the cave the voice of a Red Lotus guard comes from behind the last piece of earth “Hey! What do you think you're doing?” there’s a muffled noise as Lin and Su send a chunk of rock from the side, knocking the guard out cold when he collides against the wall. “Saving them” you glare at the guard in a defensive stance as another one runs forward before looking to the side at your group of intruders. The guard bends the two slabs of rock behind him towards them. Su bends up a protective wall of earth and the projectiles collide with it, making the top half crumble. You and Asami leap over the remains of the wall and she ducks as the guard sends another slab at her while you check for any guards more coming. Asami reaches up to grab the guard's arm and proceeds to electrocute his back as she brings him down to the floor. “All clear” you state walking back and the rescue team relaxes when the guard falls unconscious and Su looks to the side locating her daughter “Mom!” Opal is happy to see her mom as Su runs to her daughter and rests her hands on Opal’s shoulders “Oh, honey, I’m so glad you’re safe” she embraces her daughter.

Bolin runs up and roughly shoves Su away, hugging Opal as well “Me too”.

Su sits up and glares at Bolin as Asami starts unlocking people’s cuffs. You eyes find and rush over to check up on an unconscious Kya and Bumi, reviewing Kya’s injuries as Lin helps to support Bumi. Broken bones, bad bruises, overall badly injured…shit, they both look like they fell from a high place. “Kya…” you call out to her softly trying to wake her up as you lift her head a bit, putting your hand on the back of her neck “y/n?” she weakly responds as she opens her eyes “Hey, you guys found us.. Took you long enough” she smiles weakly coughs turning her head towards you. “Yeah…we’re here. Can you walk?”

“My leg…” she says weakly

“It’s okay….don’t worry. We got you now” You look around and grab a bender “Hey what’s your name?”

“Otaku”

“Hi, Otaku, can you help me support Kya?” another female airbender offers her aid as well and you help them support Kya before checking up on Bumi. Asami unlocks the remaining cuff on Jinora’s wrist and the girl rubs them when it's off. Asami walks away, revealing Kai in the background. Jinora runs to Kai “You’re alive!” she throws her arms around Kai “I can’t believe it!”

you turn your attention back to Kya and notice her leg looks more messed up then you thought whispering to the two airbenders to not let Kya put too much weight on that leg. You greet the kids and Opal before helping Lin support Bumi “I see you had a lot of fun, Commander”,

“Ha! I’ve had better, Captain” he coughs weakly trying to laugh, but his face can’t hide the pain and tiredness.

“Hey Commander, stay with us” you shake him softly.

“We have to get these two out of here now.” Lin cast a glance to Bumi “They don’t look so good”

Bumi coughs weakly “What are you talking about?” he punches his arm in the air “I feel great” he coughs weakly again.

Tonraq addresses the rest of the team “You guys get everyone out of here. I'll search for Korra.”

Mako and Bolin step forward “We're going with you.”

“Me too” you step up as Lin gives you a look as you notice Jinora step forward “You don't have to search for her. I know exactly where she's being held.” The four of you turn to listen as she explains “we’ll run and talk. I’ll bring Jinora back once we’re almost to Korra’s location. You can wait for us here” you look at Pema before taking off with the small team. Once Mako, Bolin, and Tonraq get close to Korra you grab Jinora “come on, let’s get you back.” you look at Jinora “but, I can help!” she protests as you rest your hand on her shoulder, “I know, but you need to take care of the airbenders. Your dad...he’s injured so I need you, Meelo, and Ikki to lead them out to safety.” she looks at Korra’s direction then back to you and nods “Okay, I can return on my own. You join them” she looks at you with determination, “you sure? I can escort you back”

Jinora shakes her head “there’s no time. Save Korra, y/n!” she yells as she scooters back to the others.

The four of you run up to an opening at the side of the cave and see Korra yell out a battle cry as she breathes fire out of her mouth. “What have they done to her?” you look on with concern at the scene. You’ve never seen Korra like this while in the Avatar state. Tonraq calls out to his daughter “Korra!” She ignores him and sends out streams of fire toward Zaheer and he dodges, flying up into a hole in the ceiling. Korra propels herself from the ground by blasting fire from the soles of her feet and chases after him. “We have to help her!” Bolin quickly steps in front of the water tribe chief “Look out!” he bends a protective wall of earth as rock collides against it. You look over and see Ghazan then kick up some rocks and punch them at him. “You help Korra. We got this” Mako looks at Tonraq who nods and starts running after Korra and Zaheer.

Mako punches fire and dodges a small piece of ice that flies over his shoulder. You roll over to the side and send a wave of rocks at the waterbender. Ming-Hua avoids the fire and earth and jumps up, swinging the crystals on the ceiling with her water arms. Mako chases after the armless waterbender as you assess the situation with Bolin. Bolin bends a rock at Ghazan who punches it into dust. Bolin sends over another boulder again and Ghazan raises a wall of earth to protect himself. He then bends the wall to Bolin who cuts it clean in half. As he does so, Ghazan charges and tackles Bolin by the waist, causing them to roll along the ground. Bolin throws the older lavabender off and when Ghazan lands, he quickly sends two slabs of rock towards Bolin. The teen dodges the first one and punches the second one into dust.

An ice shard comes within an inch of hitting your face and you look back at Ming-Hua who has a smug grin on her face, “Oops”. Your eyes narrow and you grit your teeth as she tries attacking you again and you jump up to avoid it. At the same time you bend a chunk of earth with you and send it at her. Ming-Hua uses a water-whip to cut through the slab. You land on the ground and send two boulders at her - she dodges and sends a tendril at you turning the tip into an ice shard. You quickly jump to the side as she attacks and Mako sends a flame over to melt the ice. Looking over at Mako, the waterbender uses that quick second wrap her water arm around your neck gripping tightly as she pulls you up from the ground. “Let me go, you bitch!” you spat out as you bend a dagger out and try cutting the water while Mako fights her trying to break the hold she has on you. “Sure” she smirks and throws you across the cave - you hit the ground rolling then fall into a crevice below, landing face first in some water. You push yourself up groaning as you blink your eyes trying to adjust your vision to the darkness, your clothes drenched. Standing up you sense it’s an underground cave filled with water, the only way back is up through the crevice.

The splash catches Ming-Hua’s attention and she swings herself away with her water arms and Mako runs after her, shooting fire as he chases the waterbender. Ming-Hua starts bobbing and weaving behind a small pillar of rock as she intercepts the flames and they evaporate. She scurries backwards and trips, falling and rolling onto a small ledge below. She sits up as Mako stands at the top in a bending position. He has Ming-Hua backed up against a wall.

“You have no water. It's over.”

“Not yet.” she gives him an evil smirk

You look up and hear Ming-Hua and Mako’s voices and your eyes widen. If she comes down here we’re fucked. You bend a protective wall to hide behind as you hear someone jump down into the crevice followed by a fire shot. Mako lands down and you call out to him “Mako” he turns and you look around in the dark against each other's back. He bends a stream of fire from his hands to illuminate the area. “She’s here somewhere” you whisper as you try to use what little sight you have despite the fire. Sensing danger behind him, Mako turns around, you sense him leave your back and you turn in his direction and see Ming-Hua above the water with multiple water appendages on each arm.

“Now it's over!” she screams launching at the both of you.

She swings forward, Mako immediately extinguishes his fire and the both of you run to avoid the attack. Ming-Hua has encased the lower half of her body in water and she continuously whips her numerous water arms at the both of you. “Get out of the water!” Mako orders as he starts running toward the various stalactites and stalagmites. You run towards a wall before having to backflip to avoid a tendril, then jump on a pillar. The firebender rolls backwards behind another pillar and dashes off to the side. You shoot your cable to the ceiling and hang, pulling yourself up until your palms touch the ceiling. You bend the earth to encase around your arms as you hang on. Mako starts climbing and supporting his weight in between two columns of earth. Everything is happening so fast but the next string of events seemed to happen in slow motion. Mako begins to shoot lightning at the water with one arm. Ming-Hua makes a last ditch attempt to stop Mako and sends tendrils at him with a sharp ice shard. You look up at your arm before bending the earth off and scaling down and get in front of Mako. Kicking the ice off two of them before you feel a piercing sensation entering the left side of your abdomen. Your hand starts to go to the spot, but the entire cavern lights up and you cover your eyes instead. Ming-Hua screams from the electrocution and soon everything goes still, you let go of the cable and jump down to the water, recoiling your cable. Mako joins you as the both of you look shocked at what’s left of the scorched Ming-Hua.

“Let’s go” you mutter as you tilt your head over to the crevice opening and launch the both of you up to the surface.

You jog over toward Bolin but feel a dull pain and trip down, Mako kneels down to help you up “y/n”.

“Go, I’m fine. Help Bolin,” you groan as you look up and see Ghazan bend up a chunk of earth gets knocked back by fire hitting the rock and he is thrown backwards. Mako gets in a bending stance and he runs at the other man, propelling himself off the ground with firebending and passes over Ghazan's head to join his brother. You push yourself up and head over to the brothers once the pain passes. Ghazan bends up a chunk of earth but Mako quickly cuts it with fire. Mako lands on the ground as the three of you send a barrage of earth and fire to the lavabender. Ghazan bends up a small chunk of earth but is soon overpowered by the constant attacks. Bolin sends a rock hurtling at him and it makes contact as Ghazan stumbles backwards. He stands up as you three flank him from a distance.

“There’s three of us and one of you” you yell as you bring your fists up to your face,

“Give up, Ghazan! You can't win!” Bolin yells down at the lavabender.

“I'm never going back to prison. If I'm going down today, you're coming with me!” He turns around to face the group then punches the ground beneath him. The cavern shakes as rocks fall and the ground quakes underneath you, you look at the boys and the floor gives out from under you. You reach out to them as you fall and Bolin manages to grab your hand. Ghazan smirks and reaches for your leg, the burning sensation spreading from where the palm of his hand holds on. You yell out in pain as you try to kick him in the face while Mako sends lightning at him causing him to let go. They both pull you up while dodging the rocks falling from the ceiling. Ghazan shoves his hands down and lava drips down in an attempt to collapse the floor underneath him. Rocks start to fall down from above, “Hang on!” Bolin yells and you ground yourself as Bolin bends a platform of earth and slides the three of you up a slope of flash cooled lava. Reaching safety, you notice a Red Lotus motif on the wall breaking up and disintegrating. The area continues to collapse. Once it’s safe you three glance at each other before turning away and running off.

Joining the rest of the team you’re forced to shield your eyes from the wind. You try to look for a reason for the sudden wind and see Jinora and the airbenders controlling a massive tornado with Jinora in the eye of the twister as she moves her arms around in a circle before she pushes her hands forward. As the twister moves, you feel a sharp pain in your abdomen. You place your hand there feeling dizzy “Boys…” you weakly call out getting their attention before falling on your knees. “y/n!” Bolin looks at you and notices your face looking pale as Mako notices you holding on to your abdomen. “She’s hurt” Mako helps you up as Bolin puts your arm around his shoulder “Stay awake, y/n” Mako looks at you as you try to keep your eyes open while they walk you toward the group. They set you down gently besides Bumi and Kya as Asami rushes over “Y/n! What happened?!” Asami yells as watches you go in and out of consciousness. Lin turns around at the sudden noise behind her and sees you, her eyes widen and a pit forms her stomach.

“I don’t know. We were running out of the cave when y/n collapsed” Mako stammers out as Lin kneels beside you “Where’s Ghazan and Ming-hua?” she barks out while she sits by your side and Asami puts your head on her lap as the brothers stand over you.

“Taken down”

You feel woozy like if your blood pressure is dropping as you blink trying to focus on Lin as she calls out to you, “y/n, focus, talk to me”.

You slowly blink then slowly turn your head over to her and give her a small smile “Hi” you whisper then try to sit up but Asami keeps you down “You’re hurt” her eyes watered. You look confused at first then realize the pain hitting again, wincing, “My abdomen..” you untuck your tunic and lift the drenched clothing up to reveal the stab wound. “I guess that chest plate didn’t really help, Chief” you let out a weak laugh then cough out in pain.

“Shit…” Lin looks and immediately applies direct pressure on the wound “When did this happen?” she looks at the brothers but you speak “10 minutes?…” you wince at the pressure “Mung-hua...she was coming at Mako. I intervened, wasn’t fast enough” you grimace as you cough.

“You’re losing a lot of blood” Lin’s voice full of worry as she looks at the wound and you look down to see it for the first time “Put it back in then” you quip as you try to breathe and go to laugh but the pain gets worse and you wince. Lin looks at you in disbelief at how you’re trying to crack a joke at a time like this. “This isn’t the time for your wisecracks” she snaps at you and you put your hand over the one she has over your wound, “It's good to find humor in dark moments sometimes.” you smirk as you look up at the sky “How did you not feel this?” Asami asks you - when you don’t answer she looks up and notices you starting to close your eyes. Asami looks at Lin and tells her something but you don’t quite hear.

You were starting to feel a weird need to close your eyes and go to sleep. A temptation to just close your eyes and let go. But your mind and heart rushes to Lin - you’d never want to leave her, not when you just got her. You open your eyes up more as you fight hard to stay awake.

“y/n, stay with me” Lin calls out and you didn’t seem to hear, she thinks your hearing is starting to fade “What?” you blink trying to focus. Asami repeats the question “Adrenaline.” you try to talk but you start to feel weak and tired and you wince, looking over at Asami who has tears in her eyes, “I’ll be okay, ‘Sami” you whisper as you tuck some hair behind her ear then look at Lin, “Lin… I’m sorry”

Lin shakes her head “You’re fine. You’re strong and you’ll pull through. You’re not quitting on me”.

Your eyes well up but you refuse to give in to the tears “I’m not quitting”

Turning your head over to Mako “Mako, how much for you to pry Chief’s hand off of me”

“I’m not doing that. You’re going to be okay, y/n. There’s no exit wound so it’s probably not that deep”

“Probably”

Kya regains consciousness and looks out at the scene beside her and musters enough energy to scoot over beside Lin assessing the situation “I can probably bend the water out of their clothes and use it to stop the bleeding” she speaks weakly as she looks at you then Lin. You shake your head “No, save your energy for Korra” you look at Kya and she gives you pleading eyes, “You’re the one who needs help right now, y/n”.

“Hey...I’m fine it’s just a scratch. All in a day’s work..” you smile weakly looking at the two older women as Kya rolls her eyes “You sound just as bad as Lin” she smirks back as she starts bending the water out of your clothes. Lin scoffs as she applies more pressure on the wound to prevent you bleeding out in the meantime. You bite your lip, fighting back a groan “I thought you were fine” Lin quips and you curl your lips up as Kya gives Lin a nod to move her hand. She brings your hand down with her and doesn’t let go. While Kya starts to heal you “I was until you did that, chief” you laugh but cough out in pain again then notice Korra coming to the surface. “Look - Zaheer!” you mutter as Lin looks over then looks at you conflicted. “Go, Kya’s got me. I’m feeling better. Take the bastard down, Chief” you urge her, and she looks at you with concern “I got her too, Lin” Asami looks at her and she nods heading to the scene. Korra slams Zaheer into the earth and she’s laid out on the ground as well. Lin and Su encase Zaheer in a rock pyramid pulling him upright.

Feeling concerned about your injury you exhale “I’m fine right?” you look over at Kya and she just nods not looking at you or Asami “Yeah, you’re fine. You’re going to be okay. I stopped the bleeding. It cut through a piece of your liver, but it’s fine. That’s the best I can do for right now.”

“You truly are quite the master healer” you smirk as you sigh in relief “Don’t spend all your energy. Korra might need you” you grab Asami’s hand and try to sit up as Kya nods “You can’t fight, one hit and that wound opens back up. You’re not completely healed.”

“Thanks for saving me yet again” you smile as you hold on the wound while Asami helps you back to your feet but you feel weak and Kya step in and help as well. “No need” she takes your hand and you both support each other with Asami’s help. Asami notices Korra, whose eyes are open in the Avatar state. Tonraq picks her up in his arms and your eyes soften at the weakened Korra. Asami looks worried for Korra and you nudge her to get close to Korra, “Go” you whisper to her and Asami “I can’t leave you”

“It’s okay, Kya and I got each other” you whisper back and Asami relents and slowly walks towards the scene.

“Korra, sweetheart” he looks down at his daughter, resting a hand on her face “It’s me, your Dad. Please hang on” Korra looks over at Tonraq and reaches out to touch him but her hand drops and she falls unconscious. Your throat tightens as you watch the scene in front of you, your eyes tearing up. Tonraq laces his fingers with hers and tears form in his eyes. A deep chuckle is heard and everyone looks over at Zaheer who has started laughing like a mad man. You glare at Zaheer and ball your fists bending a dagger out of your sleeve and try to walk towards him but Kya stops you shaking her head. “The bastard hurt Korra” you try to reason with Kya as she stumbles a bit. She looks at you as you fight back the angry tears forming in your eyes “Don’t stoop to his level. You are not a killer, y/n. He’ll be dealt with. ” she reasons back in a hushed tone as you support her. Kya’s eyes also show great concern with the young avatar she’s seen grow and helped raise.

“What are you laughing about?” Lin casts a dirty look at him as he turns his head to look at the Chief “You’re too late!” he smiles full of glee “The poison’s been in her system too long. The Red Lotus has won.”

Poison….Zaheer poisoned Korra.

Jinora walks up toward the Beifong sisters “You can save her. The poison is metallic” both sisters look at one another surprised by the revelation and Su quickly runs towards Korra. She drops to her knees at Korra’s side and her hands rest on her forehead and shoulder and she concentrates on the metallic poison in Korra’s body. Su starts to bend pulling movements from Korra’s legs and goes up her body. The sound of liquid can be heard and everyone around watches with a mix of worry and hope that Su can save Korra in time. She keeps pulling the poison up Korra’s body until she moves her hand above Korra’s head and the teenager opens her eyes. The metallic liquid is pulled out of her mouth and Korra coughs. Su bends the poison to the ground and it falls down in blobs. Korra opens her eyes and comes out of the Avatar State turning to look at her dad.

“Dad? You’re... alive” she says weakly as she gives a small smile. Tonraq, relieved his daughter has woken up hugs her tightly “I’m here for you. I’m never going to let you go”. You smile fondly in the background until Zaheer starts yelling “No!” he starts to become unhinged “You don’t understand. The revolution has already begun. Chaos is the natural order of all--”

You watch as Bolin takes his shoe off and balls up his sock and shoves it into Zaheer’s mouth causing his voice to become muffled. You look at Bolin smiling in amusement and a bit of disgust that Zaheer now has a used sock in his mouth. Lin and Opal on the other hand look purely disgusted by the action.

Bolin looks proud and smirks pointing over at Zaheer “You see what I did there? I put a sock in it.”

You bring your hand up and pinch your nose “literally” kind of embarrassed by the boy.

“Classic Bolin” Opal looks at Zaheer as she dryly responds to her boyfriend.

“I do what I do” he smiles as he puts his shoe back on.

You cough covering your mouth as you wince as your stomach flexes, Lin looks at you then walks over to Tonraq putting a hand on his shoulder “We should move Korra somewhere safer.”

Lin and Su helped the injured climb up onto Oogi’s saddle, Tonraq holding onto Korra, Bumi and Kya supporting each other, Asami sitting between you and Korra as she watched the both of you. The Beifong sisters made room for you to lay down with your head on Opal’s lap, Su let Lin take a spot next to you Lin didn’t think about the gesture but took it. You were going in and out of consciousness “one of the officers is a healer, y/n will be okay” Su assured Opal but it was meant to be more for Lin, “You have to stay awake y/n” Opal cupped your cheek and your eyes fluttered open and you give her a soft smile “I’m trying honey”. Kai led the group back to Laghima’s peak to meet up with Kuvira and the rest of the Zaofu guards. Once the injured are set onto cots in the bunk rooms, the pilot set a course to Republic City. Bolin and Opal help you to one of the beds and Opal calls her mom for help to bend off the chest plate. “Hey y/n?” Bolin hesitantly speaks and you look over at him “yeah Bo?” you say weakly and look at the younger brother as he tries to formulate his words. “Thanks….for saving my brother”. You inhale deeply as you feel your throat tighten a bit but give him a nod “anything for you boys. Mako would’ve done fine without me. I was reckless.” you give him a small smirk

“I’m sure Mako will be equally appreciative as I am, just hang in there, okay?” Bolin spoke with such gentleness with a slight concern and you give him a nod “I’m not going anywhere. Who else is going to make sure you kids don’t end up in trouble” you smile as you grit your teeth as a sharp pain hits your side. Opal rushes out the room and calls for the healer, Koda, to evaluate your injuries. Closing your eyes once you feel the relief from the healing session, but wince a bit but once the new bandages are placed. Koda excuses herself and you thank her. Looking up to see Su is now with Opal giving them a soft smile, “Hi…” you notice Opal tearing up and you nod her over opening your arms. She walks up and hugs you and you rub her back. “I’m okay, Opal. barely a scratch” you whisper as Opal lets out a disbelief laugh “That’s more than a scratch. I saw the wound just now”.

“Eh looks worse then it is. The worst is over” you chuckle a bit as you groan a bit at the sudden discomfort causing Opal to pull back. You assure her it wasn’t her as she sits back as Su steps forward, “How are you feeling?” Su takes a seat beside you as she rests a hand on top of yours as Opal scoots back.

“The adrenaline definitely wore off so I’m starting to feel it all.” you smile then frown a bit “It happened so fast. I felt something, but didn’t think much of it. It wasn’t until we made it outside that the pain came rushing in.”

“You’ll be back on your feet soon” Su looks at you smiling softly as Opal holds your hand. You look around then at the two of them “Wait where is everyone? Kya and Bumi? How’s Korra?”. They exchange a glance before Su speaks “Koda is healing them as best as she can at least until we arrive in Republic city. Korra...she took a great toll. She’s completely worn out. Tonraq and Asami are with her.”

You nod as you sigh looking up at the ceiling “I’m surprised she lasted that long with that poison in her body” you look back down before you hesitantly ask “Where’s Chief? How’s Lin?”

Su raises her eyebrow but answers your question “She’s fine just minor scuffs and bruises from the fight with P’li. She, Mako and Bolin are guarding Zaheer. “

You nod in understanding “Good, that guy deserves to rot in prison for what he’s done” you sneered as you turned your head looking upset. Su takes a couple of moments to gather her thoughts before she speaks and your ears perk up “I...we want to thank you...it was reckless but for you to step in front of Lin like that...” you interrupt Su,

“--I told you I would protect your family.” you don’t look at her as you look away.

“You’re part of our family too, y/n” Opal cuts in and rests her hand on top of yours and Su’s. Su agrees with her daughter - “We might not be blood, but you have a family with us. We all love and care for you, y/n.” Su gently smiles and you tear up nodding “Thank you”. The three of you share a smile before Su taps your hand gently.

“We’ll let you rest” Su and Opal stand up and you nod as they head out the room.

Lin made sure everyone in the bunk was asleep or busy before she walked over, but noticed someone seated beside you. She was going to walk away, but her eyes narrowed, noticing the Zaofu guard armor and stepped in. Iris had taken a step closer to you, asleep, contemplating whether or not to take your hand taking a seat on a nearby chair. Lin stepped further in once she notice Iris placing her palm on your sleeping face. Lin balled her fists feeling tired of this pathetic woman, she slowly stomped her way over composing herself, "If my memory serves me correctly... y/n stated that you have no reason to touch them"

Iris let go of your hand and stood up at attention "Chief Beifong, I-"

"I don't need to hear your reasons. Get out." Lin sneered as her eyes narrowed at the graying firebender who's eyes had widened by the demand "I just wanted to check up on y/n..." Iris's voice slightly pleading with the Chief of Police.

"The last thing Captain y/n needs is stress and from the last interaction I witnessed. That's all you are, a stressor. I won't say it again." Lin's voice lowers as she stands over Iris and watches as Iris looks back at you before backing down "I'm not going to stop" Iris looks at Lin, testing the Chief looking her in the eyes ``What is that supposed to mean?" Iris keeps her eyes on the Chief but says nothing and walks out of the room. Lin looked back at you and took a seat beside your cot.

She watched you sleep, taking in the wounds on your body. She wondered why you didn’t take your metal sleeves off as she softly brushed her hand down your arms and bent the sleeves off you herself. She set them beside you and even though the healer on the team checked you she wanted to see herself. She was careful to check on you noticing the bruises on your arms, your left arm in a sling with bandages on your left shoulder, side, then found bruising around your neck, probably from Ming-Hua. Lin traced her fingers on your hand before intertwining your hand with hers. She watched as your chest rising and falling with every breath with your left arm laid on your middle. She didn’t want to wake you, but she had to check up on you. Lin looked around and saw everyone was still asleep then scooted closer towards you and sighed. She didn’t understand the emotions she was feeling. She has dealt with officers getting stabbed while on the job, herself included. But having to see you being walked out and then the wound bleeding and your face getting pale. She did get worried. Lin shook those thoughts away, you’re sitting right next to her. She’s safe and alive, you’re touching her, holding her hand. Lin leans over towards you and moves a couple of loose strands of hair out of your face. Lin is tough but when it comes to her emotions and putting those to words, she has no experience. Despite the lack of confidence, she tries to formulate her emotions, settling to tell you while you’re asleep, she whispers “I look at you and my heart is open to the future. For years, I didn’t think I’d be open to the possibility of a relationship like this again. You fill the cracks and crevices others have created and take away the years of loneliness I’ve felt”. Lin looks over you for a couple more minutes until sleep starts to overcome her and she dozes off on the chair, not letting go of your hand.

You must’ve dropped off to sleep after talking to Su and Opal from the pain relief medication, because suddenly you’re waking up to something squeezing your hand. You open your eyes and turn your head and see a sleeping Lin sitting beside you. Her fingers slowly trace over yours so as to lull herself to sleep. Your eyes soften as you rub Lin’s hand and pull her hand softly to your lips kissing it gently “Lin?” you whisper to her. Lin doesn’t budge so you let go and put your hand on the cot to push yourself up and wince a bit. You moving about causes Lin to stir and wake up “y/n, what are you doing?” she sits up quickly and helps you but you dismiss her attempts and lay back down and blink, focusing in the dark room. “How long have I been out?” you look around as Lin rubs her eyes “A couple of hours”

“C’mere” you pull Lin to you and she looks around to make sure everyone is still asleep before she climbs into the cot beside you.

“First you jump in front of me and almost get blown up by that third eyed freak then you get yourself stabbed” Lin huffs but wraps her arms around you and holds you tight, her voice muffled by the nape of your neck. You put your arms around her "Take my heroics actions minimize them why don't you" you quip before you tuck some of her hair behind her ear “I couldn’t let her get to you or let Mako get hurt. I did the same thing you would’ve done.” you softly speak to her not to waken up anyone as you hold onto her just as tight. “It’s different when it’s you getting hurt...” she breathes out into your neck as you tighten your hold on her. Your eyes widen and you stiffen up a bit then run your free hand down her back “I’m sorry, but you understand better than anyone on the why.” you whisper back giving her neck a light peck.

She pulls back and reaches her hand up to cup your cheek. “Doesn’t help your case.”

“It’s just a scratch” you try to sound convincing as you kiss the palm of her hand, she rolls her eyes. “Just a scratch, my ass”,

You smirk letting out a soft chuckle as you run your hand down to grab her ass “I could do that” Lin grabs your hand and stops you, giving you a glare.

“I’m alive, Beifong” you offer her a smile and kiss her palm again.

“Not for long” she says gruffly as your mouth gapes open

“Lin Beifong, you wouldn’t...that’s murder” your eyes widen,

“I would and I can get away with it too” she quips back as she shuts your mouth, causing you to smile more. You kiss her forehead as she runs her hand across the small of your back as you do the same to her. “Ah yes I forgot you’re Chief of Police Beifong” you chuckle before softening a bit, and change the subject “How’s Korra?”

“She’s asleep. Tonraq is staying with her and so is Asami. Kya gave Korra a bit of a healing session but it wasn’t much success due to her condition.”

“Is Tenzin going to call Katara to come to Republic City? You should ask Asami to offer an airship to get her. She’ll get there faster” you suggest as she nods “Asami offered, but Katara wouldn’t be able to handle the trip…”

Your brows furrow “Then maybe you should take Korra to the south pole”

“Republic City is on the way, the injured will be healed there. Then considering how the recovery goes there we’ll call for Katara.” Lin explained as you sit up a bit to adjust yourself, the motion causing you to wince.

“Good” you adjust a bit as Lin pushes back but you pull her closer “What about Zaheer?”

“Mako, Bolin, and some of the Zaofu guards are guarding him. Uncle Zuko and Raiko are making preparations to make a prison impossible for him to escape.”

You let out a breath and nod. Lin looks around and starts to get up, you grab her wrist “Lin...”. Lin gives you a look, “I need to...”

“--I know...don’t let him out of your sights.” you kiss the back of her hand before she sits up leaning over you and give each other a slow kiss cupping her cheek ending it with one, two, three kisses before she gets out of the cot and heads out the room. Not before giving you another glance as you settle back down on the cot closing your eyes.

You couldn’t help but feel guilty that because of your encouragement, Korra sacrificed herself - you feel somewhat responsible. You take a deep breath as you look up at the metal frame of the bunk above you and think of how lucky it is that everyone made it out somewhat alive.

#linbeifong #linbeifong x reader #lin x reader #lin beifong x reader #linxreader #tlok #TLOK3InTheseArms #wlw #fyrefics #fyrefic

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paritiis · 5 years

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Kuvira’s treatment post book 4

Ruins of the Empire part 2 is coming out in November and I’m interested to see what happens. Before that I’d like to take time to talk about the treatment of Kuvira in part 1.

I’m confused as to why Kuvira is being held in the same prison that holds Zaheer. She’s surrounded by earth it looks like. Post the finale I did put some thought into what her jail cell would look like and this image never came to mind. I imagined at first something like what they used to hold Ghazan and Toph in atla. Both are imprisoned in wooden cells. They took Ghazan a step further and put him on an entirely wooden boat so that he couldn’t earthbend. She’s on a little platform that I assume is made of platinum. So that she can’t bend it... But she’s also surrounded by earth, so I feel like that’s pointless. Or maybe Kuvira gets chi blocked every so often so there’s not issue with her being around earth…? But when Korra visited Zaheer he was all floating and stuff, so they don’t chi block him. Yeah, so my summary is that this doesn’t make much sense to me. If they explain it later, that would be great. Or if someone else has any ideas I’d like to hear them.

Is Kuvira completely innocent? No. Is she as bad as Unalaq and Zaheer? Also no. Kuvira was arrested and held because she committed crimes against the Earth Kingdom and United Republic. She did engage in a fight that displaced people from Republic City. People are angry with her; it makes perfect sense. Part of Kuvira’s trial is to appease the masses. To make it look fair before throwing the book at her. It’s interesting that the trial is in Republic City. I am by no means a master at understanding the judicial system but shouldn’t the trial take place somewhere else? For every trial you have a jury; which is meant to be unbiased and impartial. But if they’re using citizens from Republic City, she kind of destroyed their city, they have every reason to hate her and want her locked away. Should like the U.N. of the tlok world be doing this? Yeah... IDK…Is Korra going to do anything about the trial not being fair?

On to Korra’s treatment of Kuvira. To be honest I’m not that shocked about Korra not being the kindest to her. Though Korra saw similarities between her and Kuvira that doesn’t mean she trusts her. For all of the good in Kuvira she does have some negative qualities about her. Kuvira is a master manipulator; whether it be through physical force, coercion, or simply using sweet but sly words. She’s stealthy and a strong fighter making her a difficult opponent. She’s a strategist and left her army by choice. There are still some loyal to the Earth Empire and her cause. Unlike some of Korra’s other villains Kuvira still has a following after being defeated.

If Korra lets her guard down how will she know if Kuvira isn’t planning to double cross her. This is the same woman who was willing to sacrifice her fiancé for the good of the cause. Kuvira realized that she was wrong and surrendered but that doesn’t mean that she’s suddenly done a complete 180. She straight up mocks Korra and Wu’s idea of having an election. She’s in chains, awaiting trial and is still smug. She tells Korra that she needs her to help with Gaoling and that Korra just has to realize that. Kuvira knows she’s dangerous, she’s aware that they view her as the wildcard.

That’s all of my thoughts for now. I’m always up for a discussion. I might make a part 2 for what I didn’t get to analyze yet.

#tlok #kuvira #ruins of the empire #korra #lok #the legend of korra #post book 4

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bellatrixobsessed1 · 5 years

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Wrought Iron Machine (Part 23)

I swear to God I spell Ghazan’s name differently every single time but like who needs proofreading. *Shrug*

Azula thinks herself to be recklessly ambitious at best and something of a flat out fool at worst. She dresses herself in tribal wear. Around her neck and in her hair, she wears a splendid plume of bright red and yellow feathers with a dash of orange here and there. Equally adorned in feathers is a gold fringed bra with many beads and dangling gems. It is a risky apparel choice for a high scale event. But Fire Of Agni is high risk--everything about them. In way of a skirt she wears an authentic Sun Warrior piece--all four of them will wear such. They will all perform barefoot and with a simple golden band around their biceps.

Her hair is tied up in a high ponytail, fashioned into a golden cuff. In her bangs are a few wooden beads. Under her eyes are three horizontal finger trails of golden face paint.

Zuko stands at the opposite end of the room, entirely topless, exposing his new chest piercings. Azula had questioned that decisions but ultimately it is up to him what he has pierced. He too has weaved some feathers into his hair. Alongside the vertical face paint over his unscarred eye is a similar trail down his chest.

Trying to use her voice as little as possible, Azula motions TyLee over. The girl skips over. She has gone overboard on the feathers. Azula pinches the bridge of her nose and sighs. “You’re going to have to pluck some of those feathers.” She instructs in a whisper. She helps TyLee pick a few feathers from her braid and her outfit. She replaces them with a wood-bead necklace.

“Can you give me a hand?” Mai asks from across the room. She instructs Zuko where to weave the shells into her hair, muttering something about how she’ll have the stylists fix it later. She waves off Zuko’s reluctance with a flick of a wrist decorated with a bamboo and palm leaf bracelet. She fingers the shark tooth necklace Zuko gifted to her.

After fussing a tad more with TyLee’s outfit, Azula turns her attention back to her own appearance. Her stylist finally emerges with overly large gold-plate earrings. With careful hands they fix them into her ears and begin brushing her hair. She watches the other members of their makeup artist team get to work on the other three. She instructs the man doing her hair to give it some waves.

“Oh you look so, so cute, Azula!”

She is going for fierce, perhaps even a little feral. But she doesn’t protest, she has to save her voice for more pressing things. Instead she nods in way of a thank you.

“You all look so cute!” TyLee claps her hands together. She fishes around in her personal bag and snaps a few photos. Azula frowns, she wasn’t picture read. TyLee throws her arms around her and snuggles her.

“Careful with my make up.” Azula says softly. “We don’t have time to do it all over again.”

“Oh sorry.” TyLee loosens her hold.

As soon as she runs up to Mai, Zuko approaches her. “Are you sure you want to do this? You can just play your guitar and TyLee can fill in for you.”

Azula shakes her head. “I need to do this Zuko.”

She sees him bite the inside of his lip. She is worrying him.

“I’ll be fine.” Azula insists as as one of the makeup artists adds a few final touches. “I promise.”

Their crew packs up their tools and Azula motions for her bandmates to stand before her.

When all is said and done, Azula is satisfied. She has worked hard to design their costumes and they have come together just as perfectly as she had planned. Perhaps, better, with their hair and makeup in order.

Her content smile fades.

She can’t help but feel as though they’ve gotten all dressed up for nothing.

.oOo.

Kuvira stands in her dressing room, her stylist just having finished fashioning her hair into a elegant and braided low side bun. It had been tricky to find the perfect outfit so last minute, having something custom made had been out of the question. So instead she wears something she found a second-hand store of all places. Deep forest green in color and with a high, black collar. She had handed it over to the band designer and let the woman and her team make tweaks and adjustments. To make it into something more unique. The woman hasn’t failed her. Her stitchwork is impressive with lovely embroidered patterns. She has taken it upon herself to adorn the hem and sleeves with black gems and sequins. All in all it is a rather ritzy gown.

Baatar chooses to wear the dress suit and top hat from the music video. Their designer pins a few broaches to the left chest area; their logo, a guitar, a saxaphone, and a music note among other small symbols.

She slips into the dress and asks Baatar to help her with the zipper. To her relief it goes up without a hitch. She smooths the fabric down and drapes her arms over Baatar’s shoulders. He kisses her on the cheek, sending her teardrop earrings swaying. “You’re going to do wonderful tonight.”

Kuvira rubs his shoulders. “As long as you’re here I will.”

The man flushes and rubs the back of his head. She intends to draw the small moment out. But P’Li barges in. “Have you seen my monocle anywhere?”

“Have you tried your own dressing room?” Kuvira quirks a brow.

“That’s the first place I checked.” She grumbles, pushing at her conductors hat. The V shaped tail of her suit flap about as she picks her way through the room. Her dress shoes click loudly on the ground.

“I found it!” Ghazan calls. He gives P’Li a second to look over before tossing the eyepiece to her. The man standing in the doorway looks more suave than he has in a long while in his long tailcoat with his beard and long sweep of hair combed and styled nicely for a change. He has a few copper pieces threaded into his hair and beard, she could imagine that Ming fancied it.

The woman appears next to him clad in a pair of over-large goggles and a pair of loose fitting overalls. In the pocket are a faux wrench and a faux hammer, they will serve as her drumsticks tonight.

Fashion-wise they are at their best, they will match well with the mechanic, orchestral atmosphere they are trying to create while Kuvira does her best to represent the jazz side of the band.

With luck, they will bring their crowd into a new world, at least for the twenty or so minutes it takes them to play their introduction and sing their three songs.

Kuvira checks her makeup a final time and asks her stylist to highlight her beauty mark a little more as another works to curl a few more strands of loose hair. She inspects the other three and asks if they have any final requests.

“Make my face look more dusty.” Ming instructs. A good idea if she is going to be playing a mechanic.

The stylists take a step back and Kuvira takes it with them. She observes the band as a whole, finding herself satisfied. She goes to join them and motions for their photographer to do his thing. The camera flashes.

Kuvira picks up her decorative cane and leads them to the designated seating area.

.oOo.

They watched an hour’s worth of bands some of them more pleasing than others. Though she absolutely hated some of them, stylistically--Kyoshi’s Power Fist to name one--but regardless they were all undoubtedly talented. Kyoshi’s Power Fist, if nothing else had been unique with their corpse paint and guttural vocals. They were among the new debuts. It is the very same category Fire Of Agni are about to perform under.

Azula is dissatisfied to know that, that meant she will be among the first few bands to perform. But they are the last of the newer bands. With luck the crowd has been warmed up enough.

Standing behind the curtain she is horrifically nervous, maybe even downright terrified. But they need this. They need this more than anything or they will have nothing. Nothing but a smug Ozai taunting them. She is a mess up away from having to resort to begging the man to take her back.

“You’re gonna do great.” TyLee gives her a quick kiss. On a normal day it would have washed the nerves away.

“I hope so.”

She hears the announcement and they are on stage. It puts a dismal pang in her heart to leave the introduction fully to Zuko. “It took a lot to get here.” He announces. “When we started out we could barely scrape together a simple music mover. We were just a small candle.”

The crowd cheers.

“Now we’re here.” He pauses. “And our Fire Of Agni can’t be extinguished.”

The knot returns to her belly; perhaps water and bad press can’t put them out. But a small cyst can smother them completely.

“Get ready Southern Air Sounds, because we…”

“Are the flame!” The crowd chants over him.

Without missing a beat, Azula tears into the first song that they have written. Normally she would save that one for last, but Agni forbid she can’t make it through the whole show. She wants to start strong.

The guitar wails in her hands, in tune with Mai’s bass. TyLee is surrounded by a collection of drums both standard and tribal. If all went according to plan, her drum display will be surrounded by a ring of dancing flame.

So far things are going well, she is forcing out her screams, powerful as ever while Zuko provides backing vocals and a steady flow of fire. Halfway through she sends a thin trail of flames in the direction of TyLee. The wall dances around their drummer as she wails on the cymbals. With each hit, Azula and Zuko flare the flames higher until the song fades out.

The crowd is frantic with cheers. So much so that Zuko almost can’t announce their second song. One of their newer ones. Azula passes her guitar to him so that she can move through a Sun Warrior traditional belly dance. It is something of a cop out, but she likes to think it a clever one. Fire Of Agni has never performed an instrumental version of any of their songs. Not until now. But it leaves a critical window of rest for Azula’s tortured vocal cords.

She tries not to dwell on the injury as TyLee begins. Instead she sets the scene, trying her best to imitate what her music mover had in terms of the haunting blue lighting. TyLee is doing a stunning job of creating a foreboding sound. It is a low and rhythmic pounding of a large fox-deer hide drum. TyLee beats upon it slow and steady with a single drumstick nearly as large as the drum itself. Next to her stands a newly hired woman. She is draped in a feathered cloak with a shekere. Every few beats, the woman gives it a shake. For herself, Azula occasionally gives her rainstick a shift. With each beat a new cloaked figure emerges. One stands with a kora gitar another stands with a small balafon. TyLee has worked tirelessly to teach others to play djembe drums and bongos among other things. TyLee ends the ominous intro with a hit on a gong. A moment of pause and Zuko and Mai begin with their guitar and bass respectively.

Azula has worked just as tirelessly as TyLee to learn this traditional dance inside and out. The beads in her hair smack against her neck and back as she goes through the twirling parts of the dance. The gems stones glimmer across her middle as she shifts and rolls her waistline. The crowd is wholly quiet, they listen more closely than they have in a long while. Towards the end of the song, the guitar and bass fall silent. The song tapers off into a rhythmic beating of the drums. And Zuko comes to dance with her. A highly intimate dance. Close with his body pressed against hers and his hands trailing over her torso.

That is when she spies Ozai in the crowd. The man crosses his arms, his face the picture of disgust.

Azula ignores the man, her performance is better than it ever has been and she isn’t going to sabotage it just to make the man uncomfortable.

By the end of their dance the room falls into complete silence again. They leave no room for cheers and get right into their final song. The song Azula has been dreading. The one with the shrillest shriek midway through.

Her voice seems to have already reached its limit by the end of the first chorus. Her mind screams at her to cut the show short. But ambition takes over. She moves into the tricky climax of the song. She lets out a scream but it isn’t the one she had in mind. Her voice cracks and pain sears through her throat.

It is instinct to try to cry out in pain.

She fights back tears.

And she makes a mistake.

She looks into the crowd.

The smirk on Ozai’s face is wickedly smug.

Azula’s stomach lurches. He has come to watch her fall and he is getting the show he paid for. Her voices has failed her.

She has failed her band.

Failed herself.

.oOo.

Kuvira cringes at the sound that tears from her rival’s throat. Reflexively, she grips Baatar’s hand. It isn’t normal. It is pained and horrible. And she feels some sort of secondhand agony.

There is something overwhelmingly unsettling about watching the poor girl get escorted by a team of paramedics from the stage. It is a wonder the girl is keeping herself together. Deep down, Kuvira knows that the girl will break behind the curtains.

She looks to Baatar who wears a sympathetic grimace.

But the fire isn’t extinguished. The band pushes on with the girl’s brother taking her parts and the drummer taking his. Kuvira is impressed with their quick thinking. Though it leaves her with a sneaking suspicion that they were well aware that the girl was having vocal trouble.

Kuvira is left with way too much time to dwell on it. She finds it hard to pay attention to any of the following bands. She can’t focus on Tears Of Yue, the new band she had been looking forward to. She hopes that she will calm by the time Wan Shi Tong’s Waltz, the very band that inspired her to start her own, took to the stage. They are on after her band, she is thankful for that. With luck she will be able to watch them and enjoy them in full without having to worry about her nerves.

For the time though, they are frayed and frenzied. She simply can’t get the sound of the Fire Of Agni girl’s faltering scream out of her mind. Out of her ears.

She forces it to the back of her mind as she is beckoned backstage.

Wrought Iron Machine is one of the last bands to perform. It is both intimidating and thrilling. She knows how these shows work, they start with lesser known bands to warm up the crowd and move into the esteemed and renowned ones. She is starstricken to be among them. Only Tui & La, Chong And The Nomads, and Wan Shi Tong’s Waltz perform after them.

It settles her anxiousness some to know that, even if they don’t win, they are famous enough to perform nearly last. They are on in ten minutes. That leaves her with ten minutes to sooth her baby. She is under the impression that her own anxiousness has reached the child-to-be. She rubs circles on her belly in an attempt to get the baby to stop squirming so much. It takes Baatar kissing her belly and murmuring something soft and cooing to sooth the babe. Baatar rests his hands on her waist and presses his forehead to hers until they are called onto the stage.

They have a few extra minutes as their full orchestra plays through an extended version of what will be their newest album.

“Let’s kick some fuckin’ ass everyone!” P’Li shouts, as Ghazan pops a bottle. He fills all of their glasses until he comes to Kuvira, “sorry, none for you.” With a boyish grin he skips over her glass and fills Baatar’s.

“Fuck you too, Gazhan.” Kuvira jests.

“Here.” Ming holds out one of her watery arms. “Drink.”

“Gee, thanks, Ming.”

Baatar chuckles.

They set their glasses to the side. P’Li and Gazhan make their way on stage first. Ming waits for the claps to die down before following them. And then She and Baatar wait for round two to die off. She lets the venue go completely quiet before they walk, hand in hand, onto the stage. Her cane thumps on the floor and echos.

She skips the greetings and goes right into her operatic introduction. After another moment of quiet Baatar and P’Li start in with their lead and rhythm guitar and Ghazan follows with his bass and Ming with her drums. The orchestra doesn’t begin until the chorus.

The set itself is a chaotic flurry of moving cogs, wheels, and spokes. A fully functioning and whirring machine that spits smoke and sparks at designated intervals. It doesn’t take on a particular shape, it is more or less a collection of clanging parts that look aesthetically pleasing.

The crowd is hyper with an energetic buzz that they had lacked since Baatar’s near departure. Kuvira grins at the crowd. Their first song comes to a close and her nervousness give way to exilheration. “It’s wonderful to be here again.” Kuvira leaves a pause for applause. “How long has it been, Baatar?”

“Ten years.” He replies.

“Ten years.” Kuvira repeats. “Ten years since we first came here. We were just a rookie group.” She runs her fingers through her hair. “Raava, I didn’t expect us to get this far.” The smile doesn’t leave her face. Because she has made it, they have made it. She wishes that her childhood self--even her teenage self--could see her. “For a second I thought that…”

Baatar rubs her back. “But we have. And of course we have the lot of you to thank for giving us enough attention to land a spot here.”

“And for supporting us despite our…” she considers her words. “Our mishap.”

The crowd gives another uniformed cheer.

“You guys kick ass!” P’Li announces.

Ghazan pulls out another bottle. “If you got a drink, you better drink with us. Most of us anyways, Kuvira still isn’t invited.”

This time the crowd gives a few light-hearted boo’s.

“Pregnant.” Ming points out.

Another round of cheering. “Congratulations!” She can’t place where in the crowd the booming voice has come from. Kuvira gives a soft laugh, looking down to cover a light blush, and wipes some locks out of her face. “Thank you.”

Ghazan finishes his toast and they enter their second song. She scans the crowd for the frontman of Wan Shi Tong’s Waltz. It sends a pleasant trill up and down her spine to see the man nodding his approval at their new take on jazz. It is surreal to have her idol staring up at her with approval.

She unravels her braid and tosses her head back for the final note.

She doesn’t think too much of it, moving into their final song just feels so natural. She may not be able to dance with her baby bump in the way, but she can still give the crowd a show. She puts extra care into her vocals; working with flawlessly through more difficult vibratos.

She adds a flare of metalbending from shifting platforms up and down for she and her bandmates to stand upon to crafting herself a case of stairs to lean on when the baby started acting up.

Normally with a crowd so energetic and lively she would enter it. But her management and doctors had advised against so she leaves that to Ghazan and P’Li, settling for simply brushing fingers with front row attendees.

Ghazan and P’Li finish out the song from within the crowd. The last note echos about the venue only to be swallowed up by cheering and hollering. Kuvira is grinning rather uncontrollably. Perhaps even laughing. One hand falls to her baby bump and the other holds her microphone to her lips. She manages a few thank you’s before they are motioned off of the stage.

They have made it.

Victory or none, they have left an impression.

#Avatar #Legend Of Korra #Kuvira #Azula #Baatar #Zuko #P'Li #TyLee #Ming-Hua #Mai #Ghazan #Fanfiction

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avatarrewatch · 6 years

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Okay, so I, @perishingshards, have just Rewatched the Legend of Korra Book 3 two parter finale. And my heart … it hurts. I legit started to cry. I so feel for Korra and what she was put through … the fact she still gave it her all and persevered even when grieving for her father, poisoned, chained and physically injured. Even while going through all that hardship … being put through the impossible … my girl Korra still fought. And with the help of others, she succeeded … but with grave grave consequences … with trauma, physical injuries, a broken mind, being emotionally tortured and more. Her story … Korra’s story and her strength, and yes, the fact she was ALLOWED to be weakened. It means so very much to me with everything I’ve been through in my life. Korra didn’t bounce back right away. That is VERY important. She didn’t succeed on her own. That is also very important. Just … thank you so much, Bryke and staff and crew. This is the story I needed told. Thank you very much for telling it. I can’t express how much it means to me. And this isn’t even including Korrasami!

3.12 Enter the Void

We start the episode off with the extended Team Avatar planning on how to save the airbenders while Korra stares solemnly out the window of the airship. Everyone is hopeful that a plan would work, but it seems Korra is lacking that hope. She’s already made up her mind. She’s decided to give herself up in order to save the airbenders. And urges everyone to let her go with her plan and work on rescuing her after if need be. Everyone, in my Rewatch pain, decides to put their trust in Korra and back up her self sacrificial plan. My heart hurts.

Korra gives a warm hug to Asami and Mako, before Bolin hugs her while whimpering on her shoulder. This is meant to be her goodbye to her dear friends before she bids goodbye to her father and sets out to meet Zaheer and P’Li. Asami, Bolin and Mako fly off to pick up the airbenders. Ghazan meets the three before Ming-Hua reveals herself. It’s a trap! Mako manages to radio Korra to relay the message before Korra is forced to fight for her life while chained up. Her dad joins her soon after and Korra does a remarkable job fighting off Zaheer considering all four of her limbs are bound together with platinum. Zaheer manages to airbend Tonraq off a cliff much to Korra’s horror. The poor poor girl!

Lin and Su help fight off P’Li, before Lin, as she’s done before, willingly sets out to give up her life to save Su and the others. Thankfully, Suyin comes to her sister’s aid and deals a finishing blow to P’Li with some clever metalbending that is timed just right! Since this is a kid’s show, we neither see nor hear the explosion. But it’s made clear that P’Li doesn’t survive.

Zaheer, witnessing P’Li’s death, manages to finally get the upper hand on Korra. Right when the freed up Suyin and Lin confront Zaheer (who’s carrying Korra on her shoulder) Zaheer proves himself as the ultimate airbending and Guru Laghima fanboy by literally flying off into the air with his airbending.

But there’s some good news! The Zaofu guard captain (ominously introduced as Kuvira) has managed to save Tonraq’s life! Thank goodness.

Asami, Bolin, Tenzin and Mako are forced to flee from Ghazan’s lavabending. At the very last minute, with their lives in real mortal danger, we discover that Bolin can lavabend! He saves all their lives with his new found skill before Kai finds them with his newly found sky bison, Lefty, and flies them all to safety. Bolin and his little bro save the day! They were more than right to trust Kai after all. Heck, even Mako admits this and apologizes to Kai! Maybe he should also finally give that heartfelt apology to Korra and especially Asami? It’s not too late, Mako!

The episode, to our sheer heartbreak and horror, ends with Korra chained up to the floor and ceiling of a Red Lotus hideout cave while Zaheer (with Ming-Hua and Ghazan at his sides) gives the command to some metalbenders to poison Korra in an attempt to kill her while in the avatar state. Thus ending the avatar line forever.

Poor, poor, Korra! She doesn’t deserve any of this!

3.13 Venom of the Red Lotus

This episode starts off immediately after the last. It turns out Jinora is using her astral projection to spy on Zaheer explaining his plan to Korra. She returns back to her body and we see her and the rest of the airbenders and Kya chained to the floor while guarded by some Red Lotus members in what looks like a cave.

Korra is brutally poisoned and tortured. The metallic poisoned is metalbended into her skin. Wait … this is supposed to be a kid’s show, right? But this is so brutal and dark … you don’t even show deaths, but you’ll show physical and mental torture? Are you sure you have your priorities straight here, Nickelodeon?! Korra enters the avatar state, intermittently, as she fights off the poison. She hallucinates vividly in a super creepy day nightmare of all her former foes. Nickelodeon, this IS supposed to be a kid’s show, right?

Kai leads Tonraq, Asami, Bolin, Mako, Tenzin, Suyin and Lin to where he’s discovered the airbenders are actually being held captive. They manage to break into where the airbenders are being held captive and we once again witness Asami’s extremely impressive fighting skills as she takes out a Red Lotus member in a fight sequence fueled by pure Asami Sato determination! Nothing will stand in this girl’s way! Korra’s life is in danger!

Bolin does a Bolin by pushing the mother of his girlfriend away from hugging her own daughter so he can hug Opal himself. Word of advice, Bolin: You just might want to stay on Suyin’s good side. Considering you want to continue dating her daughter. Asami and the others unchain the airbenders and Kya.

While in the avatar state, Korra manages to break her chains and fight off the Red Lotus to escape the cave. But Zaheer is hot on her tail. Korra is hurting so much and enraged so much …

Bolin and Mako fight off Ghazan and Ming-Hua, respectively. Their fights are tough and life-threatening. But the two brothers persevere and manage to escape with their lives. Ming-Hua and Ghazan don’t.

A brutal heartbreaking fight takes place with Zaheer and Korra. Oh, Korra …

Tenzin is reunited with his family and the rest of the airbenders as he watches Korra fight for her life.

Korra …

Korra, try as she must, has the poison start taking a toll on her and start slowing her down.

Jinora, dear loving and capable Jinora, comes up with an idea and leads the airbenders to create an airbending tornado to suck in and capture both Zaheer and Korra. This move, on Jinora’s part, happens to be what finally saves Korra’s life. She collapses amidst her father and friends with Zaheer captured by Suyin and Lin’s earthbending.

Korra, while still in the avatar state, reaches out to her father, before collapsing in Tonraq’s arms. Once again, Jinora comes to the rescue by informing everyone the poison is metallic. And Suyin Beifong manages to metalbend the poison out of Korra’s body. Korra is allowed to finally breathe again. She’s weak and injured, but GODAMMIT SHE’S ALIVE!

The next scene is what truly breaks my heart. Korra doesn’t just jump right back to being the avatar. She isn’t just magically better after a few day’s rest. She’s … Avatar Korra is bound to a wheelchair two weeks later while Asami takes care of her and prepares her for Jinora’s master airbending ceremony. Korra has bags in her eyes and stares off in the distance at nothing. She’s broken inside and out. And I just want to hug her and make her all better!

Everyone is worried for Korra. But no one seems to show any true empathy except for Asami and maybe her dad. The episode, and the book, ends with Tenzin, while trying to praise Korra during his daughter’s master airbending ceremony, practically tells Korra she isn’t needed anymore. Korra puts on a brave face and tries to smile for everyone else’s sake, but the last we see of her is her tearing up while Jinora hugs her father.

Fanfiction

Where She Belongs

Rain

What’s it Feel Like?

Fan music video

Landsailor

Fanart

Avatar Korra

Korra flying with firebending

Daddy’s Little Girl

Bolin fighting Ghazan

Red Lotus Forever

Zaheer saves P’Li

P’Li and Zaheer

Zaheer flying with P’Li

Zaheer into the void

Suyin and Kuvira in Zaofu

Jinora at her master’s ceremony

Kai and Jinora

Discord server: https://discord.gg/dtajJx3

Avatar Rewatch Calendar: http://goo.gl/NUV1Kp

(These ominous episode title cards were made by the very talented @masterkiddojinora, formerly known as theredshewolf)

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seyaryminamoto · 6 years

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Who do you think are the most useless characters in LoK?

Ha, damn, you guys really do love making me a controversial blogger!

As with all controversial questions, this goes under a Read More

There’s different kinds of uselessness at play here, if you ask me. Most characters are skilled at one thing or another, so your typical definition of uselessness doesn’t work. Useless, though, as in “provided nothing to the plot”, is something that certainly happened in LOK. And useless as in “could have been amazing and was a huge disappointment” is even more prominent than the previous one.

So, shall we split this question in those three sections?

Useless #1: no skills to speak of, too much screen time was wasted on them:

Wu: I actually considered having him in the third category instead, but why lie? His character only had potential because of his position in the world. When you weigh his character and his development for themselves, without focusing on his role, you realize he’s absolutely irksome and unnecessary as a character. When even Bryke asked themselves how on earth did they keep the badgermole singing scene, which is, LITERALLY, the only useful thing Wu ever did, you come to the conclusion that in order to make Wu a good character, his entire concept had to be utterly different from what it was. Ergo, yes, he earned this spot fair and square.

Unalaq: oh yes he had skills, skills to bend spirits, which was probably the biggest disservice to spirits ever done in the entire saga. Unalaq was a waste of time, and, as the entirety of Book 2 is a spit in the face of everything Avatar, it’s safe to say this entire franchise would have been better off without him. Heck, people in general seem to forget he even exists and I’m glad they do. He’s just that useless.

Useless #2: provided nothing to the plot, caused the show to drag on pointlessly:

The entire Su Beifong branch of the Beifong family: I’m not even going to apologize for being as blunt as I am about my distaste of Su Beifong and everything about her. The drama she provided the show with was seriously a waste of time. Imagine how many things could have been developed better if all of the Su Beifong family drama from both seasons 3 and 4 hadn’t happened? Her very existence was simply… so unnecessary? After two seasons, bringing in another daughter of Toph’s as they did was utterly pointless. Nobody ever made a reference to her before, zero insinuation of her very existence, let alone of the existence of her family. Why were they necessary at all? Well, they weren’t. They derailed the show and half of the FINAL SEASON was wasted on trying to unravel their ridiculous drama. Excuse me, but I would have rather had Kuvira being an independent agent, not in love with Bataar, so all the pointless melodrama could be scrapped altogether. Maybe that way Korrasami would have had enough screentime to develop properly.

Varrick in seasons 2 and 3: I will give him a pass in season 4 as that’s the only one where he did SOMETHING. But honest to gods Varrick was painful to watch for me in seasons 2 and 3. I wasn’t amused by him in the slightest. The whole matter of the civil war between tribes got shoved under such a huge rug that I literally don’t remember anything about it. Or about the Movers. And if him making a magnetic suit would have come in handy eventually, his appearance in season 3 might have served SOME purpose, but no. So yes, he goes in this list. He absolutely earned his spot.

Zaheer: oh yes, a lot of people loved/feared/revered this asshole, and indeed, perhaps he fits in the “wasted potential” category just fine. But frankly, I couldn’t bring myself to put him there. Truth be told, Zaheer was a pain in the ass for me. His character felt flat and irritating, a mere attempt to make an “intellectual” villain that backfired entirely because his literacy didn’t make him more interesting in the slightest, he legit came off as an edgy communist teenager in the body of an adult, playing at being wise while knowingly sending the world to shit. There was a story behind everything he did, yes he had motivations, yes, he had skills… and yet you have no idea how the blazes he came into acquiring those motivations and skills. He saved P’li from enslavement? Is slavery a problem in the Avatarverse now? If slavery has been happening, why hasn’t it been developed more as a seriously bad issue in the Avatar world? Well, screw that, turns out the only function for “he saved P’li” is so he looks cool and noble. Same as his interest in Air Nomad culture and knowledge, that just makes him cool! Also, ironically, his attachment to his goal of killing Korra should have kept him from flying because AMBITIONS ARE ALSO ATTACHMENTS. Basically, Zaheer is an improvement on Unalaq and yet still a failure of a character in a thousand ways where Unalaq failed, too. He wasn’t believable for me at all: in the end he was only around to play at being Korra’s worst foil. Both Amon and Kuvira get believable motivations and their villainy goes beyond playing Final Boss for Korra. This is not the case with Zaheer. Everything about him seems to revolve around Korra.

Useless #3: absolutely wasted potential, deserved better than what they got:

Bumi: I am still SO PISSED regarding how horribly this show mishandled Bumi. His first appearance was so promising, showing a character who outright looked crazy…! And suddenly turns out he’s dorky, not crazy, and his quirks are simply stupid-funny, which is what his character was all about until he becomes a rookie airbender. Did they seriously introduce a character to us as COMMANDER BUMI… just to make him a laughingstock? Just to make him funny? What military skills did he have? How did he make it so far in life when all we know of him is that he can play the flute? Someone, please, explain. And his story regarding feeling inferior for not being an airbender, just for him to end up being an airbender all the same in the next season? I HATED IT. Waste of screentime, right there. No development needed, let’s just forcibly kill his insecurities by making him an insta-airbender. Ugh.

Asami: this is even painful. We’re talking about a girl who had ten thousand skills and could do all sorts of jobs, with insanely high quality training in combat… and what did she do for this show? Provided the money for the Fire Ferrets in season 1, then the air crafts needed for every other season, and became a love interest. The majority of the stuff she did with her skills are off-screen. We HEAR about Asami, we seldom see her in action and she is CONSTANTLY, CONSISTENTLY, removed from important events in every season. She literally gets written out of Book 2′s finale as a whole. In Book 1 she faced her dad, wasn’t involved in the final, main conflict. In Book 3 she couldn’t do anything to help with Zaheer in the final fight. In Book 4 she got written out of the fight too after her dad becomes a martyr. How. Just. How?? This character HAD potential. It got squandered and thrown to waste because the biggest bigots when it came to bending and non-bendng were the show’s writers.

Bolin: this guy had a completely incoherent arc and development, mainly because his character had no clear motivations and no obvious interests throughout the entire story. No doubt, he wanted to make something of himself, but it isn’t until Book 4 where he finally channels his motivation into something productive. Otherwise, he was only ever following Korra around. Adding to this that most his presence in the first seasons was about turning him into a laughingstock, with only a handful of serious moments, and that his love life was even more messed up than his character arc, and he’s just one big pile of wasted potential.

P’li: I am singling out P’li specifically, despite Ghazan and Ming-hua also should be included here. But P’li is the one that bugs me the most because she could have provided countless answers regarding combustion bending if only the show had included her as something other than Zaheer’s explosive girlfriend. The fact remains that I was mainly interested in her character because of the expansion of lore she could offer, and in the end she provided nothing new for us. It’s beyond disappointing. As for Ming-hua and Ghazan, yes, they were underused and their storylines cheapened too. All three of them are exponents of wasted potential.

Kya II: she was cool, could’ve been a much more complex character, and yet I think she must have had less screentime than Zuko? I don’t even know, but the point is, she was around only for a couple of seasons, wasn’t particularly prominent in either one, got ZERO lines in book 4... she’s an immediate candidate for this category.

Iroh II: basically the same as above. It’s kind of sad because he was the leader of armed forces that achieved nothing at any point in the show? I’ve never seen a show that brings up armies and warfare as much as LOK did while also never allowing full-blown armed conflict to unfold. I mean, I’m not asking for Helm’s Deep, but every single time Iroh brought out his troops he was either wiped out or left to watch things unfold from the sidelines. Honestly, he was around to cater to Zuko fans and nothing more, while having the potential to BE much more. Fans used this character a thousand times more than the show ever did.

Desna and Eska: not a lot of people liked them, but the fact remained that they had potential, especially after turning against their father and becoming leaders of their tribe at such young age. The conflict Desna showed when it came to Unalaq was actually pretty nice, and for me to say such a thing about ANYTHING in Book 2 is a shocker. And yet they practically did nothing else in the other seasons, aside from a creepy joke that sounded like incest was being hinted at. Neat-o.

Senna: it’s actually embarrassing that the show did next to nothing with Korra’s MOTHER. I have no doubts she had potential, honest to gods. It’s disappointing to no end that all we know about her, by watching the show, is that she’s someone’s wife and someone’s mom. She’s cute and adorable and just... there. Cool. What a waste.

I suppose there are more characters worth sorting in here, but if I keep going I won’t get to any other asks. So here you go :’D

#seyary finally answers #ask #I'm sorry for the delay #this got long

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iruka-2013 · 7 years

Text

Fanfic: Winds of Change - Voidbending (10/11)

Summary: Book 3 AU in which Asami becomes an airbender and goes with Tenzin to the Northern Air Temple, while Kuvira joins Team Avatar. Approx. 60,000 words so far. (Based on this post by Ikkinthekitsune.)

Previous Chapters:

Prologue: New Airbender Chapter 1: Thief

Chapter 2: Captain of the Guard Chapter 3: Traitor

Chapter 4: Level Zero Chapter 5: Earthly Tethers

Chapter 6: The Crew Chapter 7: Red Lotus, Part 1

Chapter 8: Airbending Master Chapter 9: Red Lotus, Part 2

My fanfiction master post

Asami’s world had narrowed to the column at her back, the chains binding her to it, the agony of her wounds, and the rage swelling inside her.

Her throat was raw from screaming. Frigid night air filled the darkened tower room and washed over her skin. Something warm and stinging dripped across the fresh brand on her face.

Any chance of restoring the Air Nation as it had developed after Harmonic Convergence had died with Tenzin. Asami no longer cared how it was about to change, or whether she would survive another day. Making the Red Lotus pay was the only thing that mattered now. If they dared to loose her again, she would rip them apart.

After using her to bait the trap for Korra, Zaheer had left her under the guard of the two Red Lotus henchmen who had helped brand her. They hadn’t gagged her again; they were enjoying the sound of her pain. When they grew bored with listening to her groans, they took turns at the window with binoculars, trying to see the cliff-face below.

“How’s it coming?” one of the men muttered.

“Too dark to see, and the angle’s bad anyway. They’ll be through with him by morning. If there’s a rag or a bone left, Zaheer wants it brought to the Lotus Cave. Might help break the Avatar.”

A dry laugh. “Zaheer can go down there and get it. You’d have to be an airbender to reach that cliff.”

Lotus Cave… Red Lotus.

She remembered the cavern she had found with Kai and Jinora. So that was where they had established their hideout, and where they would take Korra.

After the guards fell silent, Asami became aware of another, fainter sound. Past the ringing in her ears, the voices of Zaheer and the others seemed to echo through the stones of the wall.

She closed her eyes and forced herself to focus on the Mechanist’s network of passageways. There was a hollow space behind this wall; the noise she heard came from the room above, where the remaining masters of the Red Lotus were talking. She strained her ears, struggling against her body’s desire to shut out the noise and slip back into unconsciousness.

“…fitting revenge for Ghazan and Ming-Hua,” P’Li was saying. “They destroy our friends, we destroy theirs, and the Air Temple as well. That is, if you’re sure we can make this work.”

“Jing-Gui seems certain. If we reroute the gas feeds to the upper levels and concentrate them in a small area, then then leave Sato there for the Avatar’s friends to find and try to firebend loose…”

“And if they don’t use firebending?”

“We can make sure firebending is the only way to free her. Eun Hwan says he can see to that.”

“And the poison?”

“Ready. For weeks he’s been testing it on every creature he can trap. Once Korra uses the Avatar State, a few seconds of voidbending should be enough to break the Cycle for good. We’ll succeed where Unalaq failed. Are the chains ready?”

Something heavy and metallic rattled against the floor above. “We may have a cave full of airbender irons going to waste,” said the combustionbender, “but we’ll get plenty of use out of these.”

Their words percolated slowly through her mind, forming a picture of the Red Lotus’ plan.

Unalaq. Korra’s uncle had tried to destroy the Avatar by breaking the Cycle. Zaheer showed no desire to become an Avatar—dark or otherwise—but aside from that his plan appeared to be similar. The Red Lotus would never let Asami go; they would trick Korra into surrendering, drag her in chains to their hideout in the ancient airbender cave, and murder her in some way that would end the Avatar Cycle forever.

The next part wasn’t hard to guess. With Korra and Tenzin gone, their home Temple destroyed, and no one to protect them, the new airbenders would become fugitives to be hunted down and killed or forced to join Zaheer. The leaders of the Four Nations would be next on Zaheer’s hit list, followed by anyone else who got in his way. Asami didn’t doubt that restoring true freedom would turn into a plot to force Zaheer’s own warped idea of order on the world.

I have to find a way to warn Korra.

That was when she realized the voices from inside the wall had stopped.

The door behind her opened. “We’re moving the hostage now,” said the combustionbender’s voice. “Zaheer’s orders.”

P’Li loomed over her. In her hands was a wooden mask with fangs dripping blood, a grotesque mockery of a human face. Asami caught her breath, her fantasies of revenge evaporating beneath the cold hatred of the woman’s stare.

“I know your kind, Sato,” she hissed as she crouched down. “You’re a weapons dealer, pretending to be innocent while profiting from human misery. A warlord masquerading as a decent human being.” P’Li reached toward Asami’s face and brushed one manicured fingernail over her blistered skin, making her throat seize up with pain. “It was a pleasure ruining that beautiful mask of yours.

“Such a warlord murdered my parents when I was a girl and tried to make me into his personal assassin. Zaheer freed me, and together we’ll free the world from scum like you and the Avatar.”

Asami felt her fury rising again. Past the soreness of her throat she whispered, “You may manage to get rid of me, but you don’t know Korra. She’ll survive tomorrow, but if you fight her, you won’t.”

“So our spider-rat is a fortuneteller.” P’Li held up the mask next to Asami’s face. “I don’t have to know Korra to know it’s time the Avatar was put down for good. Holding that much power for that long would corrupt anyone.”

Asami managed a scornful laugh. “Right. Look what airbending has done to Zaheer—unless he was already crazier than a rabid wolfbat.”

P’Li’s fist lashed out; its impact against her head mingled in Asami’s ears with the woman’s curse.

Her head seemed to be splitting in two. She never felt P’Li’s backhand blow, nor the others that followed it as she spiraled back into the dark pit. Her last thought was that the expression on the woman’s face had been worth the pain.

Something was bothering Jinora, something beyond the stress of her family and nation being threatened with extinction. Spirits, “threatened with extinction” had been the normal state of the Air Nation for the better part of two centuries. At least Captain Kuvira’s hunch had proven correct, and her father and the others were still alive.

The adults were busy; once they’d heard the escapees’ story, there had been little time for talk, and Jinora had fallen out of the planning loop. She paced the corridors of the airship from Zaofu, watching the preparations for the upcoming battle—the training deck where the metalbenders were checking their equipment, the cargo bays that had been turned into makeshift bison stables, the war room with the topographic map where Korra, the Beifong sisters, and Captain Kuvira had spent much of the night finalizing battle plans.

Hearing her own name, she paused in the doorway of the map room.

“—what Jinora told us,” Kuvira was saying, “Bumi and Kai are here…” She pointed to the position of the ancient airbender cave on the map. “… but the Red Lotus will have their forces concentrated over—”

Jinora started as though she’d been bitten by a spider-snake. “The what?” she squeaked out.

The adults turned and frowned at her in puzzlement. “The Red Lotus,” said Korra. “Zaheer’s gang. He told me its name when I talked to him in the Spirit World.”

Suddenly Jinora couldn’t get enough air in her lungs. “The Red Lotus is Zaheer’s gang?” she gasped. She remembered the red-painted lotus tile in Asami’s hand and the mammoth wall painting, too new and too strange to have been made by airbender hands.

Why didn’t I realize it before? I have to tell Kai!

Korra stepped toward her. “Jinora, what’s wrong?”

Without answering, Jinora dropped to the floor in a meditation posture.

Kai kept his eyes on the sky, half-expecting an attack from above, as they neared the shelter of the ancient airbender cave. Beside him waddled Lefty, bearing the unconscious Tenzin and Kya slung across his back, while Bumi brought up the rear. With two people injured and only one small bison, they had tramped through canyons for hours to complete a journey that would have taken a few minutes by air.

Once they were inside the mouth of the cave, he breathed a sigh of relief. Two realizations struck him at once: Their group had no flashlights to carry into the tunnels, and walking blindly into the darkness would make the airbenders’ natural discomfort at being underground that much worse.

Bumi was reaching the same conclusion, patting down the pockets of his tunic and finding only a bison whistle. “Any port in a storm… but I wish I had my lighter.” Bum-Ju chirred and brightened his Spirit light by a few degrees, earning a smile from Bumi. “Thanks, little buddy.”

Kai reached out to steady Tenzin on Lefty’s back. “There are glowy green crystals inside, toward the rear of the cave. If we want light, that’s where we need to go.”

At least they could slow down once inside. Lefty grumbled deep in his throat at being led into the claustrophobic darkness. Kai hoped he could remember the way to the crystal cavern as he moved in front of the waddling baby bison.

The caves were silent, but Kai couldn’t shake the eerie feeling of being watched. They reached the place where the corridors branched, and he spotted a dim green glow beyond the end of the connecting tunnel.

He was about to call out to Bumi when earth rumbled up ahead and the glow disappeared.

Bumi groaned. “A rockslide!”

“No, but close enough,” said a new voice. “Zaheer will be pleased to hear that some of his hostages have wandered back.”

A flashlight switched on, held in the hands of a mustached and bearded man who shone it into Kai’s face. Spinning around, he saw that their way back was blocked by two more men—both wearing the same dark red uniforms and shoulder-length headdresses as the first, carrying chains in their hands. The airbenders were cornered in a cramped section of tunnel, with little room to fight.

“Surrender, airbenders,” growled the earthbender with the flashlight.

Bumi’s casual demeanor never wavered. “I thought I smelled something rotten down here. Bum-Ju!”

Bum-Ju blazed to life directly in the faces of the two men blocking their exit, who stumbled backward. The next moment, Bumi was on them with a flurry of airbending punches.

The bison whistle was already between the older man’s lips, and though Kai couldn’t hear it, Lefty could. Bellowing, the bison whipped around—a tight fit in the narrow tunnel—and smacked his tail into the legs of the earthbender blocking Kai’s path.

Before the man could recover his balance, Kai blasted him off his feet. The cave went dark again as the flashlight fell from the earthbender’s hands and rolled away.

Kai had to guess what happened next from the movement of the air. Balancing Kya and Tenzin on his back, Lefty launched himself into a shallow airbending arc that ended with his big paws splayed across the earthbender’s chest. The man wheezed and gasped as Kai recovered the flashlight and stood over him.

“You surrender, and I’ll call him off. Deal?”

The earthbender had lost his red headdress, and the dark hair beneath stuck out in all diretions. Going purple in the face, he nodded. Kai tugged on the scruff of Lefty’s neck and whispered in the bison’s ear, coaxing him to ease one paw off the prisoner’s chest.

“I haven’t had a workout like that since Meelo was in charge of the obstacle course,” Bumi grinned, massaging his knuckles. At his feet lay the other two invaders, their hands and feet already locked in the shackles they had brought for the airbenders. He jerked his thumb at the earthbender. “Now, what can we use to secure this prisoner?”

Kai pulled the orange sash from around his waist. “How about this?”

Bumi contributed his own sash and some knotwork he claimed to have learned from airship pirates in the Eastern Ocean to bind the earthbender’s hands and feet, then slung the man onto Lefty’s back next to Tenzin. The bison grunted, but bore the load patiently.

“This isn’t over,” the earthbender gasped, his face now purple with rage. “Zaheer and the others will be here soon, and he’ll put you airbending spider-rats in chains where you belong. You can’t take down all of us!”

Bumi nodded. “Good point. Your boss is coming, so we’d better make sure he gets a suitable welcome. Bum-Ju, scout ahead and find out of there are any more bad guys waiting for us.”

He retrieved the earthbender’s cloth headdress from the floor and stuffed most of it into the man’s mouth, silencing any more threats. The prisoner nearly choked in surprise when a glowing human form materialized in front of his face.

Jinora looked just as surprised to see him and the two prisoners on the floor. “Oh. Am I late?”

“Right on time,” said Kai, patting Lefty’s head. “You can tell Korra we found the place where Zaheer’s gang was hiding—”

“—and secured it!” Bumi finished.

“They’re called the Red Lotus,” said Jinora. “Korra says she talked to Zaheer in the Spirit World. When she hears we stumbled onto their hideout—”

Kai remembered the painting in the chamber at the end of the tunnel. “We’ll keep going. There may be more of them. Tell the others to hurry.”

Nodding, Jinora faded away again. Farther down the corridor the airbenders found a room that was knee-deep in chains—evidence that Zaheer had expected many more hostages than he had. There they left their three prisoners, gagged and cocooned in metal links, and took the earthbender’s flashlight to complete their exploration.

The large chamber with the Red Lotus painting had gained a piece of furniture since Kai had last seen it. Now it contained a pedestal supporting a basin filled with some kind of shimmering metallic liquid. Kai shivered as he watched the flashlight ripple over its strangely solid-looking surface.

“Wonder what that stuff is?” Bumi put out one finger to touch the molten metal, but Kai stopped him.

“Don’t. I think it’s dangerous.”

“Must be, if Zaheer put it there. Whoops!” Bumi knocked the basin with his elbow, toppling it off the pedestal and over the ledge. “How clumsy of me!”

Kai looked down to see the stone bowl in broken to pieces by the sharp crystals and the liquid metal splattered across the cavern floor. The sight made him grin.

It took an hour’s work with wind-blades and the sharp luminescent crystals to booby-trap the cave’s entrance, ensuring that passage into the cavern would be more trouble than it was worth for the Red Lotus. For the rest of the night they hid near the mouth of the cave, taking turns resting and watching over Kya and Tenzin while they waited for their friends to arrive.

It was Mako and Bolin who led a trio of Zaofu metalbenders on bison-back to meet them, a few hours after dawn. Mako sent two of Kuvira’s Security Force men to extract and interrogate the three Red Lotus prisoners. Then the explanations began.

The ruined Northern Air Temple was clearly visible through the mist at the base of Laghima’s Peak. The sun had almost completed its agonizing climb to the zenith, and the Metal Clan was making final preparations.

Mako hugged Korra fiercely, wished everyone luck, and left with Kai and the airship for the Air Temple. The ship’s non-combat crew, as well as the airbenders and their bison herd, had orders to stay hidden in the trees at the base of Laghima’s Peak.

Kuvira had decided that was also the safest place to care for Tenzin, Bumi and Kya. If everything went well, they would be back aboard the ship soon enough; if not, they could be evacuated on bison-back with the rest of the Air Nation.

Kuvira finished tuning the handheld radio and held it out to Korra. “We have to assume Aiwei informed them about your metalbending ability. In that case, they’ll have been careful to make the chains out of something unbendable.”

“Figures,” Korra muttered, fidgeting with the strap of the leather case that hung by her side. She took the handset and tucked it inside without meeting Kuvira’s eyes.

“Korra.” Kuvira put a hand on her shoulder, prompting Korra to look up. “I promised I’d get you and everyone else out of this alive, and I always keep my promises. Our forces are moving into position now, and our strategy is foolproof. Just concentrate on your part of the plan… and trust me.”

“I do,” said Korra, straightening her back. “You’ve been a good friend, Kuvira.”

That sounded suspiciously like a farewell, but before Kuvira could say more, Chief Tonraq stepped forward and wrapped his arms around his daughter. With a huff of frustration, Kuvira turned away.

Korra forced herself to smile as she backed out of the embrace. “I love you too, Dad. Don’t worry—I’ll be fine.”

Her father would keep out of sight during the initial attack. Once Kuvira and Security Force had engaged the Red Lotus, Tonraq would crest Laghima’s Peak at a different point and take Zaheer from behind, cutting off his escape to his airship.

When he had followed Kuvira’s men up the side of the mountain, Korra took a few moments to steel herself for the coming confrontation. Kuvira and Su seemed to see this operation less as a hazard to Korra’s life than as a sting operation to take down the Red Lotus once and for all.

Korra wished she could share their confidence. Dread—not just for herself, but for Asami, Kuvira, Tenzin, and the future of the Air Nation—had settled like a ball of ice into the pit of her stomach. She couldn’t shake the feeling that they were badly underestimating Zaheer.

She snapped open her glider and launched herself through the sheltering pines toward the bare, rocky summit.

As agreed, Zaheer and P’Li and were waiting.

“I want you with me when I go after Asami,” Mako had told him. “You know the Temple; you can help me guide the airship to Zaheer’s rendezvous point.”

To Kai, his meaning was clear: You’re pretty much the only airbender who hasn’t been beaten, tortured, or traumatized into utter uselessness by Zaheer.

Tenzin, Bumi, and Kya had been treated in the airship’s infirmary, then moved to a makeshift hospital at the base of Laghima’s Peak where the airbenders were waiting out the fight. Hours after their rescue, Tenzin showed no signs of regaining consciousness. Not all of the other airbenders were happy about being excluded from the fight, but Kuvira had insisted that her metalbenders could handle the Red Lotus without the help of noncombatants.

Within five minutes of meeting the captain from Zaofu, Kai had realized the futility of saying aloud what he was thinking: Zaheer invaded my home. I am a combatant! He would have to settle for going with Mako to retrieve Asami while Korra and Kuvira faced Zaheer.

Now Kai tried to force down his nervousness as an aerial view of broken towers and the debris-filled courtyard filled his mind with memories of the brutal fight for the Air Temple. The damage was even worse than it had been before his escape; the effects of the explosion he and Bumi had heard from the canyon floor were laid before him in horrifying detail. There was a crumbling hole in the mountainside where the Temple’s lower levels had been.

Mako guided the airship to the landing Zaheer had designated, then held his handset ready as they descended the gangplank. As they crossed the courtyard, Kai searched the broken walls and piles of debris for the watchers Zaheer had said he would leave. He saw no one.

Slowly they walked up the steps to the small, shadowy room that had been the bathhouse. Kai felt sick at the thought of what they might find there. If the Red Lotus had beaten Tenzin almost to death for daring to stand in their way, what would they have done to the woman who had killed one of their friends and ruined their plan to take the Air Nation hostage?

The noonday sun threw a half-circle of light onto the floor of the bathhouse, which only deepened the shadows surrounding the figure kneeling at the center. Asami was held upright by chains stretching from the manacles on her wrists to a pair of stone pillars on opposite sides of the room. Her hair was singed and her airbender tunic darkened with blood and soot. She appeared to be unconscious, but Kai couldn’t be sure, because her face was hidden behind a grotesque construction of wood with wide yellow eyes, red and white stripes, and fangs dripping red paint.

A Fire Festival mask? Where did Zaheer get one of those?

Mako sprinted forward and fell to his knees before Asami, gently removing the mask and brushing aside the veil of her hair. Kai glimpsed her bruised face, blackened eyes, bleeding nose, and a raw, red burn mark gouged into one cheek. A strip of cloth was wound tightly around her head, covering the lower part of her face and bandaging her mouth shut like a wound.

Kai sniffed the air, then wrinkled his nose at the powerful stench in the air. What was that smell?

“Asami?” Mako breathed.

Korra used her staff to steady herself on the hike up the steep slope to the flat area where the Red Lotus airship was tethered.

She crested the ridge to see Zaheer, a scowl on his face, talking into his radio handset. She saw that his ship was a rickety Ba Sing Se model with a fading Cabbage Corp logo on its underbelly.

Asami would’ve laughed.

Korra closed her eyes. That scream…

She reached the top and stood facing the two criminals who had pursued her across the world. Zaheer examined her with narrow eyes, but P’Li’s face wore a triumphant smile. She had the chains in her hands.

Holding Zaheer’s gaze, Korra raised her radio. “Mako, is she there? How does she look?”

“She’s here,” came the reply. “She’s alive,” he added after a moment.

“Throw down your staff and surrender,” Zaheer ordered.

Moving slowly, Korra lifted the radio’s shoulder strap over her head and dropped it to the ground at her feet, then did the same with her staff, kicking it away. She raised her hands as P’Li approached.

Kai watched Asami breathe in sharply through her nose and force her eyes open a little; they were nearly swollen shut. Her chains twisted a little as she pulled against them, but her arms were stretched painfully tight. Terror shone in her good eye as she raised her head and looked straight at Kai, struggling to make herself heard through the gag.

Mako gave her shoulder a gentle squeeze. “Keep still. I’ll have you free in a second.”

The firebender raised two fingers to the chain above Asami’s clenched fist. Kai’s gaze fixed on the place where the water heater had once connected, which now held nothing but the gaping mouth of a broken pipe. Understanding jolted through him.

“No!” He seized Mako’s hand in both of his, almost knocking the older man to the ground. “No fire!”

“Kai, what’s wrong with you?” Mako shoved him away. “She’s hurt. We have to get her out of here.”

“It’s a trap!” Kai leaped at him again, grabbing both of Mako’s wrists. “Smell that? It’s gas—the kind that destroyed the lower levels. She’s trying to warn us. If you firebend in here, you’ll blow us off the mountain.”

“I…” Mako hesitated, sniffing the air. Frowning, he looked at Asami, who nodded wearily.

After his encounter with the bison rustlers, Kai had vowed never to be without his lock-picks again. He fished one out of his pocket and searched the manacle on Asami’s left wrist for a keyhole. “I’ll handle these chains. You work on the gag.”

The seconds ticked by. Kai bit his lip, finding no entry for his lockpick. Mako worked to free Asami’s mouth, but the Red Lotus had gone to a lot of trouble to make that task difficult.

Asami twisted her arm away from Kai’s searching eyes, and he shot her a glare. “I’m trying, okay? I can’t find the lock on this thing.”

At the word lock she shook her head emphatically. Kai blinked. There was no lock.

Mako finally succeeded in loosening the cloth enough to let her speak. “Their metalbender made those chains,” she said, forcing the words out between gasps. “You’ll have to bend them off—try the wind sword.”

Her eyes fixed on something in the shadows. Kai followed her gaze, then ran over to search the pile of debris, picking out a piece of wood the length of a sword hilt that would work to focus his concentration.

While he blew icy breath on the chain above the manacle, Asami looked at Mako. “Have to warn Korra. Mako—your radio.”

Kai stepped back and swung the sword hilt down as though it were attached to a real blade, straining to bend the air above it into a razor-thin stream. The invisible blade struck the chain and exploded outward, shattering the frigid metal.

Mako caught Asami in his arms as one of the chains went slack. She clutched at him to steady herself, then took the radio from his hand.

Korra looked away from P’Li’s smirk as the combustionbender tightened the manacles around her wrists, then crouched down to chain her ankles. The heavy links dragged her arms toward the ground, and she tensed her muscles to counter their weight.

“They’re platinum,” the woman hissed in her ear. “You won’t be bending your way out of this.”

Zaheer’s hand fell on Korra’s shoulder. She shot him a glare.

“We finally have you,” he breathed, his black eyes shining. His fingers tightened. “Into the airship, Avatar.”

“Korra!”

The familiar voice sounded hoarse. Chains clanking, Korra turned and looked down at her abandoned radio. “Asami?”

P’Li went still, one hand gripping Korra’s arm. Out of the corner of her eye, Korra spotted the look that passed between her and Zaheer.

“Korra, they know how to break the Avatar Cycle—destroy the Avatar forever. Don’t let—”

She heard no more; Zaheer had grabbed her staff and whipped up a gust of wind that hurled the radio twenty feet through the air, over the edge of the cliff. Their gazes locked again.

“So that’s your plan,” Korra breathed.

Zaheer’s eyes narrowed. “Knowing won’t help you. It’s already too late.”

Korra answered by aiming a double fire kick at his face.

“Kuvira, go!” Mako yelled through the handset. “Get Korra out of there!”

Shouting to her men to follow, Kuvira channeled all her pent-up tension into hauling herself up the side of Laghima’s Peak. Lin and Su Beifong reached the top ahead of her. Kuvira’s first sight of the plateau was the combustion blast that greeted them.

Leaving the Beifong sisters to keep the combustionbender occupied, Kuvira scanned the clifftop for Korra. The Avatar was locked in a bending battle with Zaheer—as much as she could be, with her hands and feet chained.

Kuvira pounded toward them, with Shan and Hong Li behind her. Zaheer saw them coming.

He swung Korra’s staff over his head, creating a barely visible distortion in the air. Instinct warned her to leap to one side as the ripple sped toward her. When it struck the ground it sliced a slab of rock in two, showering her armor with stone debris.

Kuvira stared at the gouge in the rock. He couldn’t do that when we fought at Zaofu!

Korra slammed her palms into the ground, sending a wave of earthbending through the rock under Zaheer’s feet and making him stumble. Kuvira seized her chance to fire a barrage of metal shards at his exposed side, but he recovered his balance, spun toward her, and knocked them away with another scythe of air.

The wind blades kept coming. Korra remembered Tenzin’s lesson, that first day on Asami’s airship—how Jinora had made air cut stone, and Tenzin had warned that it could slice through flesh just as easily. Like a Dark Spirit absorbing the powers of those it defeated, Zaheer had twisted Tenzin’s technique into something nightmarish.

Kuvira and her men hesitated for a second too long, and Zaheer whirled and slashed the air again. An invisible force struck the nearest metalbender—Hong Li, a young man no older than Korra—and ripped a gash in his armor from shoulder to hip. He fell with a strangled cry as the wound began gushing blood.

Shan dropped to his knees, trying to shield the younger man with his own body. Zaheer, his face twisted with hate, dropped the staff and executed a new movement—a sweep of his arms, followed by clenched fists. Korra felt a powerful burst of chi vibrate through the air and into the wounded man.

Hong Li gave a strangled cry, clutched at his chest, and died choking on his own blood.

Shan stared, stunned, as the life flickered out of his comrade’s eyes. With an inarticulate howl, Kuvira charged Zaheer.

Korra’s heart stopped. She knew Kuvira intended to defeat Zaheer or die trying, but this was suicide. Their plan was coming apart, and Kuvira needed more help than Korra could give her while bound hand and foot.

Trust me, Kuvira had pleaded. Could Kuvira trust the Avatar to do what needed to be done?

Raising the chain between her wrists—preparing to rip it apart like dry grass—Korra closed her eyes and reached out for Raava.

When she opened them again, they were glowing.

Zaheer was watching. In that instant, he struck.

Kuvira pounded toward Zaheer. He was facing Korra when she saw him perform the same combination of movements that had killed Hong Li.

If I died in the Avatar State… no more Avatar.

Somehow, Zaheer knew.

Korra, her eyes still glowing, dropped to her knees, fighting for breath. Desperately, Kuvira flung a handful of metal projectiles at Zaheer.

She missed, but only because something else hit him first. A mass of gray and white fur swung out of the sky and swatted the Red Lotus leader a dozen feet through the air, to land in an awkward roll at the far edge of Laghima’s Peak.

“Need a little air power, Kuvira?”

Kuvira looked up to see Jinora, perched on Oogi’s saddle. Behind her was arrayed a small fleet of airbenders on their own mounts—Ikki and Meelo, Otaku, Opal…

Kuvira found herself too out of breath to speak. She could only answer Jinora with a double thumbs-up.

The girl cupped her hands around her mouth again. “What do you need us to do?”

Shan struggled to his feet and pointed at Zaheer’s airship. “Capture that ship and cut off their escape!”

Good idea, thought Kuvira. Strategically vital, but not too dangerous. It was to have been part of Tonraq’s job.

Jinora waved the bison into formation around the giant airship. The airbenders sliced its tethers and began guiding it away from the peak and out of Zaheer’s reach.

Still gasping for breath, Kuvira searched the clifftop for the Red Lotus leader. He was on his feet facing Korra, who had broken the chain between her wrists. That freed her only partially; the broken link was off-center, so that her right hand was still chained to her feet.

Kuvira would rather she fight with one hand bound than risk the Avatar State again with Zaheer ready to strike her down in an instant.

And he won’t try that killing move on her until she does—not if he wants to break the Avatar Cycle for good. Stalemate.

The stalemate ended as Tonraq flung himself up and over the lip of Laghima’s Peak with ice-bladed fists flying, forcing the airbender to turn and confront him. That exposed Zaheer’s back to attacks from both Korra and Kuvira.

A combustion blast ripped the ground beneath Kuvira’s feet into rocky splinters. Her armor saved her from multiple broken bones as her body catapulted sideways into a stone ledge, then crashed to the ground. The Beifong sisters had failed to keep the combustionbender occupied.

The towering woman had blasted the peak clear of Security Force metalbenders and pinned Su and Lin behind a cluster of boulders, freeing her to give her leader some help. As Kuvira watched, Lin Beifong leaped from cover and renewed the attack, shouting something the captain couldn’t hear.

When the woman faced Lin and began charging her combustion powers again, Su struck from behind and encased her head in metal. A moment later, it was all over except the smoking.

Kai finished breaking the second chain, then ducked beneath Asami’s arm to help Mako support her.

Asami smiled and hugged him around the shoulders as they helped her limp toward the airship. “Nice work, Kai. Knew you could do it.”

Kai’s chest puffed out with pride. “Yeah—I was pretty great, wasn’t I?”

“Of course, you could’ve airbent the gas away…”

“Oh. Right.”

“…but Mako’s firebending would still have been too dangerous. Another gas explosion would finish us and the Air Temple.”

“That’s still the plan, Sato,” said a voice from in front of them.

Two Red Lotus guards stood at the top of the gangplank that led to Mako’s airship. The one in front held twin fires in his hands, while his companion grasped a bow nocked with a flaming arrow. As they watched, he pulled the string back to his ear, taking aim.

“We’ll take your ship,” the front man grinned. “You can have the Air Temple—or what’s left of it.”

The archer loosed his arrow at the broken gas line.

Asami had been leaning on the boys as if she had no energy left. Now she shoved them aside and launched herself into the path of the arrow. As if this were one of Tenzin’s blindfold exercises, she sensed its position and struck it from the air in midflight.

She stumbled on landing, but she wasn’t finished yet. Nor was the archer, who was already aiming a second fire arrow. The other Red Lotus laid down covering fire, and Mako rushed to Asami’s side to shield her with his firebending.

Kai watched in amazement as she blocked the second arrow, and the third, and the fourth. Her airbending was an impenetrable wall as she and Mako fought their way toward the airship side by side.

Zaheer stared, horrified, at the combustionbender’s charred remains. Though her chest ached, Korra’s heart leaped.

Only one of them left. We can win this fight.

Her enemy turned with a fierce new determination in his eyes. When his furious gaze fixed not on her but on Tonraq, Korra knew with horrible certainty how he meant to avenge his comrade’s death.

“Dad, look out!” The shout came out too weak; she couldn’t get enough air in her lungs. When she tried to move, the ankle chain entangled her feet and brought her crashing down awkwardly on her right forearm. The bones of her wrist snapped beneath her weight, and she collapsed onto her side, gasping in shock.

Tonraq threw an ice-covered punch at Zaheer, but the airbender dodged and countered with a wind blade bigger than any Korra had seen before. The ledge beneath her father broke from the rest of the mountain and slid into the canyon below, taking him with it.

Pain and horror fueled Korra’s scream.

“Dad!”

Kuvira moved instinctively. The Avatar would never forgive her if she let Tonraq die.

As their eyes met for a split second, Kuvira tried to send her friend a silent message. I’ll come back for you. I won’t let Zaheer win.

She launched herself over the cliff-edge in a graceful somersault, firing one cable into the cliff face below the Water Tribe chief. Tonraq plummeted past the handhold, but Kuvira’s quick retraction of the cable dragged her downward to meet the cliff face below him, and she flung out a second cable that wrapped around his wrist and jerked him to a stop.

The world flip-flopped and Kuvira’s armored feet ground hideously against the stone mountainside. Her arms gripped the cables—one stretched up, the other down—and her muscles screamed as the big man’s weight dragged her down several feet before her cables and raw strength overcame the momentum of his fall.

Panting, she braced her feet against a protruding boulder and tightened her grip on the lower cable as Tonraq began to climb toward her. Though the cable rigs at her hips bore the brunt of his weight, they would have been ripped from her armor if she hadn’t been pouring metalbending chi into holding them steady.

“We have to go back!” Tonraq bellowed over the howling wind. “We have to help her!”

Korra’s wrist was on fire; paralyzing agony spread up her arm. She couldn’t breathe. As Zaheer picked up her airbending staff and strode toward her with madness and murder in his eyes, her body—injured, exhausted, and weighed down with half its weight in platinum chains—refused to work.

Dizzy and disoriented, favoring her broken wrist, Korra fought her way to her knees. Zaheer darted forward and smashed the staff down on her back, knocking her flat on her face.

Then he did it a second time… and a third… and a fourth.

Sometime after she lost count, Korra passed out.

The Red Lotus tried a different tactic. Their orders were to destroy the Air Temple and the Avatar’s friends. If they couldn’t trigger an explosion from the ground, they would do it from the air.

Setting aside his bow, the archer pulled the gangplank up from the ground and aboard the ship with metalbending. The firebender sliced through the tethering lines, and the ship began to rise.

Asami wouldn’t let them go without a fight. Building up speed, she leaped into the widening gap between the flagstones and the ship’s gondola.

Without a glider, the leap was impossible. Kai flung himself forward and fired a burst of wind from his hands to boost her onto the ship, and she landed safely on the edge of the doorway. Safely, at least, until the two Red Lotus guards got their hands on her.

Airbenders could be dangerous too. Kai watched, transfixed, as Asami executed two quick airbending motions he had never seen before, ones that Tenzin had never taught them. The metalbending archer gave a gargling scream and collapsed with blood flowing from his mouth.

She turned on the firebender, lowering one shoulder and bracing her feet as if she intended to throw him bodily off the ship.

The man bolted, using firebending to launch himself over Mako and Kai’s heads. He landed, white-faced and running for the bathhouse, blasting fire from his fists. Asami howled in fury and punched the air with wind blades that ripped into the stone around him.

The fifth blade struck him down from behind, slicing him nearly in two. As he died, his final gout of firebending reached the gas built up in the confined space.

For a second, everything around Kai seemed to freeze. Asami, tattered and bloodied, stood tall and straight in the door of the airship, bestriding the body of the first man she had killed. The savage look in her eye terrified him, but it thrilled him as well. He had never seen airbending like hers.

Beneath their feet, the mountain rumbled.

Kuvira’s body screamed with the effort of supporting a man twice her size. She looked down at the holster that held her radio. If Tonraq could reach it, then call the others for help…

The holster was empty. Kuvira cursed under her breath.

“Can your cables reach the top?” Tonraq called. Having lost his water skins, the big waterbender was doing his best to spare Kuvira his weight by bracing his boots against the stone beneath him. He clung to her cable with one hand and her armored foot with the other.

Kuvira craned her neck, gauging how far they’d fallen. “I think so.”

“Leave me,” he shouted, searching the cliff face for handholds. “I can get up by myself.”

It was a brave offer, but Kuvira disagreed. Without his water skins, he’d never make it to the top alone.

The faraway echo of a female voice reached her.

“It’s over, Zaheer!”

Kuvira strained her ears. Su.

“Release the Avatar!” Lin shouted.

They’ve got him cornered, she realized, directly over our heads.

“This is your last warning!”

When Zaheer’s body—with the Avatar slung over his shoulder—plummeted over the edge of the cliff, Kuvira thought for a horrible moment that he had decided to end his own life and Korra’s rather than surrender.

Impossibly, the rogue airbender’s fall arrested itself halfway between her position and the top of Laghima’s Peak. He righted himself in midair and hovered in place, glaring up at the Beifong sisters who peered incredulously over the edge.

He’s… flying!

Adjusting his unmoving burden, Zaheer turned his back on his pursuers and flew away from the mountaintop with Korra’s manacled arms trailing down his back.

“No!” Kuvira growled.

She had one foot free. She kicked it backward, dragging a ledge of stone from the cliff below—thick, but barely wide enough for her and Tonraq to stand side by side—then yanked her upper cable free of the cliff.

Translating the momentum of her fall into a metalbending motion, she flung her right-side cable with all her strength at the retreating figures. She sensed the metal wrapping around Zaheer’s leg. Tonraq quickly grabbed hold of her as she pushed off the mountainside and began, slowly, the reel the cable in.

“Don’t let go!” the waterbender bellowed as he began to climb over her. Kuvira clenched her teeth as she felt the big man’s fingers dig for handholds on the neck of her armor, his Water Tribe furs scratch her face, his booted foot knock her helmet askew.

Another flat mountaintop loomed ahead. Intending to get rid of his unwanted passengers, Zaheer abruptly dropped through the air.

The cable was retracting, but not fast enough to avoid the collision. Feeling Tonraq brace one foot against her shoulder, Kuvira focused her entire consciousness on the few inches of metal in contact with Zaheer’s ankle, willing it not to come loose—

—and struck the column of rock with a shattering crash that crumpled her armor and clouded her vision with black spots. Metal scraped over sandstone, but her grip on the point of contact held firm as Zaheer dragged them both across the cliff face.

Incredibly, once the initial shock was past, Tonraq continued to climb. Kuvira felt her consciousness slipping, but she poured all her remaining chi into retracting the cable and shortening the distance between the chief and his daughter.

She felt his weight disappear from the cable as he reached the top of the cliff. Then the weight came back—for Tonraq had braced his feet against a rock and was dragging Zaheer out of the sky hand over hand, betting Korra’s life on the strength of Kuvira’s grip.

“Hang on, Captain,” he yelled over his shoulder.

Grimly, Kuvira did. Pushing away from the rock with all her strength, then letting the cable drag her body perpendicular to the cliff face, she walked up and over the edge, hauling backward despite the strain on her muscles and the crack of her joints. Zaheer fought them both like an elephant koi on a fishing line, darting back and forth across a narrowing band of sky until, with an animal roar, Tonraq yanked him crashing to the ground.

A cloud of dust settled around the two unmoving figures. Kuvira stumbled toward them. Her left arm was on fire. When Zaheer stirred first, she reached down into the earth one-handed and bent a cone of rock around his body to pin him in place. Clutching her shoulder, she turned her attention to the unconscious Avatar.

Tonraq was already on his knees, reaching to gather Korra into his arms. “Stop!” Kuvira ordered, and the command in her voice froze him in place.

“Something’s wrong.” Kuvira knelt on her friend’s other side. Korra’s body lay twisted in a disturbing way that Kuvira remembered all too well from her time in the Earth Queen’s army. “Her spine may be injured. We could compound it if we try to move her before a healer gets here.”

Korra’s eyelids flickered, then cracked open. She smiled faintly.

“Dad. Kuvira. You’re okay.” Her breathing was shallow; she tried to inhale deeply, but something inside her seemed to catch and she coughed instead, a deep, wet sound rolling up from inside her chest.

Kuvira mentally catalogued the Avatar’s injuries, counting many more than when they had left her alone on the cliff with Zaheer. Tonraq wiped away a trickle of blood from the corner of Korra’s mouth and rested a careful hand on her cheek. “You’re going to be all right, sweetie. Don’t try to move until Su and the others get here.”

“Chaos always wins in the end,” said a hoarse voice. They looked at Zaheer, whose bruised face wore a smile.

The rogue airbender spat blood onto the ground. “You have nothing to celebrate. Look to your friends and your precious Air Temple.”

Tonraq’s face hardened. He rose, closed the distance between them in two steps, and slammed his fist into Zaheer’s face. The airbender slumped unconscious in his stone bonds, streaming blood from his nose.

Korra frowned at Kuvira. “Did they get Asami out? Where’s your radio?”

“Back on the mountaintop. Don’t worry—I’m sure she’s safe.”

That was when the air behind them was rent by an explosion that echoed through the ground. Kuvira struggled to her feet and turned to see the mountain that held the Northern Air Temple dissolve into a cloud of fire, smoke and rock dust.

Korra saw it too. “No—” she gasped.

Kuvira remembered that Zaheer had a radio, and punched a hole in the airbender’s stone restraints to get it. The handset was still there, in an inside pocket of the airbender’s robe. Kuvira’s fingers shook as the tuned it to the Metal Clan’s frequency and hit the push-to-talk key. “Mako, come in!”

“We’re here, Captain. We made it out, just barely.”

Korra looked faint with relief. Kuvira fought to keep her own voice steady. “What is Miss Sato’s condition? Is she injured, or unconscious?”

“She’s driving. Don’t worry, all three of us are here. Zaheer set a trap for us—ordered his men to take our ship and blow up the Temple with us inside. They got it half right.” He paused. “But I guess you already know that.”

The debris from the fiery explosion was spreading, darkening the entire northern sky. Kuvira could feel the reverberations through the soles of her boots. “It is hard to miss.”

“What about you? Is the fight over? Did you get Zaheer? Was anyone hurt?”

“We stopped Zaheer from escaping with Korra, but she was seriously injured. Zaheer is in custody. The combustionbender is dead… and so is Hong Li.”

There was silence on the other end. “I’m sorry, Kuvira,” said Mako.

Tears stung Kuvira’s eyes, but she didn’t let her voice waver. “It was an honorable death in the line of duty. Zaofu will never forget him.”

They signed off, and Kuvira put Zaheer’s radio in her own holster. She felt a touch on her shoulder, and turned to find Tonraq holding out his hand. “Captain, I want to thank you. You saved Korra’s life. Tell me what I can do to repay you.”

Kuvira shook his hand. “There is one thing. Would you mind popping my shoulder back in?”

Though Tonraq’s eyes widened, he didn’t hesitate. Grunting, he shoved the heel of his hand against her left shoulder, and she felt the dislocated joint grind its way painfully into its proper position.

Kuvira swayed a little as the Water Tribe chieftain stepped back.

“Better?” he asked.

“Yes, thank you,” Kuvira said with a crisp nod.

She turned away, took one faltering step, and passed out at Tonraq’s feet.

The airship from Zaofu was austere but top-of-the-line, including a fully stocked infirmary. When Mako had burned off her manacles, Asami searched out an ice pack for her blackened eyes, a sink with towels to clean the blood from her face, and a bandage to cover the brand on her left cheek. Mako and Kai had said nothing about that; they probably assumed the healers could fix it.

When that was done, she ousted Mako from the driver’s seat and set her mind to deciphering the unfamiliar controls. At least that let her think of something other than the corpse of Eun Hwan, the Red Lotus metalbender, down in the hold.

They stopped at Laghima’s Peak (one of the most sacred places in the Air Nation, Tenzin had once told her) to pick up the rest of the Air Nation and the Metal Clan, and to do what they could to help clean up the debris of battle—broken armor, dead and wounded metalbenders, bits of P’Li. The buzzard wasps would do the rest.

Finally they arrived at the high plateau where Zaheer had been dragged from the sky. A dozen Zaofu healers and metalbenders pounded down the airship’s ramp. More slowly, Asami followed them.

Before the soldiers and healers surrounded them, she caught a brief glimpse of Korra, Tonraq, and the metalbender who sat beside them, cradling her head in her hands. The Avatar lay unconscious on the rocky ground, her father’s hand resting on her forehead. Her ankles were chained together, with a connecting chain to her right wrist and a broken one trailing from her left.

Zaheer had demanded that Korra surrender herself to be slaughtered in exchange for all the world’s airbenders. She had done it for one.

Bewildered and exhausted, Asami sank down with her back against the ramp and let the tears come.

Mako, Bolin, and Lin Beifong all urged her to lie down and sleep.

“I’ve been sleeping too much lately,” Asami told them. She didn’t mention that closing her eyes brought her nightmares even when she was awake.

When the Zaofu healers had done something for her nastiest bruises and dressed the worst of her burns (though she wouldn’t let them touch the bandage), Kai, Mako and Bolin dragged her with them to the airship’s mess hall, where a Metal Clan victory-and-thank-the-Spirits-we-survived party was in progress. The fact that the ship’s stores consisted mainly of preserved meat meant that there were no other airbenders in attendance, which was fine with Asami.

She stared unseeing at her plate of fried noodles, her mind running in circles. Many had been hurt in the fighting, but the greatest casualty was the new Air Nation.

The Temple is gone, and Tenzin might as well be. What happens to us now?

She could feel the answer working its way up from the depths of her mind, and it frightened her. Maybe Zaheer was right—once change had begun, nothing could stop it.

“Hey, Asami,” said Kai from across the table. She frowned at his expression, which was equal parts shy and awestruck. “You were amazing during that fight. I mean, Bumi and I captured three of those Red Lotus goons in the caves, but you took down four all by yourself! And that choking-them-on-their-own-blood thing—you have to teach me that. Everyone should learn it. It’s, like, the ultimate airbending technique!”

“Asami, you okay?” Bolin asked around a mouthful of noodles.

“Fine,” said Asami through her teeth.

Mako gestured to her hand. “You just broke your chopsticks.”

She blinked at the splintered bamboo poking out of her clenched fist, then slammed the pieces down on the table and stood up, pushing her chair back. “They must have extras. I’ll go find some.”

Asami strode out the door, leaving her food untouched and her three friends exchanging confused looks. For a long time she wandered the corridors, trying to rub warmth into her arms. Cold winds followed her through the corridors, and Tenzin’s self-warming techniques weren’t working.

She stopped in the blood-red sunset light from a porthole on one of the lower decks, thinking of a long-ago sunset on Laghima’s Peak and the best friend she hadn’t spoken to since.

Korra. I have to talk to her.

When she found herself standing outside the Avatar’s cabin, she carefully eased the handle downward and pushed the door open. The room inside was spare but comfortable, softly illuminated by a bedside reading lamp. Ignoring the stranger asleep in the chair beside the bed—one of Suyin’s people, no doubt—Asami stared at Korra.

The Avatar’s injuries were much worse than Asami’s. Her broken back had been stabilized by a complex-looking rig of bars, straps and cables that held her to the bed. Her hair was down and disheveled, and much of her body was covered with bandages, some with blood oozing through. The color of her skin looked disturbingly wrong, ranging from bruised purple to ashen gray.

Some involuntary noise must have escaped Asami’s lips, because Korra stirred slightly. Her eyes opened a fraction, and a furrow appeared between them, the closest thing she could manage to a frown. When she saw who her visitor was, the frown changed to a faint version of her lopsided smile.

“’Sami,” she murmured. “Spirits, you look terrible.”

Asami stepped closer and tried for a smile that wound up being mostly grimace. “Not as terrible as you.”

“They didn’t get me in the face. Heal that myself if Kya can’t. Promised Meelo I’d fix whatever they did to hurt you.” So much speaking seemed to exhaust her. She tried to breathe, and her body convulsed with a cough. Where her head turned against the pillow, flecks of red appeared on the white fabric.

Zaheer...

Tears stung Asami’s eyes. She gave up trying to speak and knelt by the bed, reaching one arm across Korra’s shoulders and hugging her as tightly as her own injuries would permit.

Korra’s left hand came up in slow motion to rest on the new white burn dressing that swathed Asami’s forearm.

“Rough couple of days, huh?” the Avatar breathed, so quietly that Asami would have missed the words if her face hadn’t been buried in Korra’s shoulder.

“Yeah,” Asami whispered. “It sure was.”

She thought of Tenzin, clinging to life in the infirmary, and her breath hitched again.

“Korra…” she began.

“What are you doing in here?”

The stern voice startled her so badly that Asami jumped to her feet and spun around, hastily rubbing at her eyes.

The woman who had been sleeping in the chair was standing as well, her fists clenched and her back ramrod-straight, with an expression of calm authority that told Asami she’d guessed right about this person being one of Su’s soldiers.

“I just came to see Korra,” Asami said, hating both the quaver and the knee-jerk defensiveness in her voice. “She’s my friend, and I was worried about her.”

“The Avatar needs rest Miss Sato,” said the woman, drawing her heavy black eyebrows together disapprovingly. “If you insist on disturbing her, I’ll be forced to—”

“Kuvira,” said Korra, her voice sounding strained. “’S’okay. It’s just Asami.”

Instantly the security woman was at Korra’s bedside, all but shouldering Asami out of the way. “Korra, don’t tax your strength. This is my fault for falling asleep on duty”—the admission clearly pained her—“but I promise that will never happen again.”

The woman named Kuvira gave Asami a glare that would have done any firebender proud. “Out. Now,” she hissed.

“Never mind,” said Asami over Kuvira’s shoulder. “I’ll visit you when you’re feeling better, okay?”

Asami squared her shoulders and stalked out the door Kuvira held open for her. Outside she stopped, her fists clenched. Whether she was angrier with the security woman or with herself, she didn’t know.

She isn’t the one making me angry. It’s him—the man who broke Tenzin, almost murdered Korra and me, destroyed an entire way of life…

The man who thinks he holds the key to the Air Nation’s future.

She knew where she was going.

There was a metalbender guard at the door, but when the woman saw Asami’s airbender garb she let her in without question. Suyin wanted the airbenders to be able to face their tormentor and see him stripped of power.

Even after everything he had done, it turned Asami’s stomach to see Zaheer hanging by his arms from the chains attached to the walls of his steel cell, looking as bruised and battered as Korra. The rogue airbender raised his scarred head. “I’ve been expecting you. Bereft of one master, you come seeking another.”

“No,” said Asami. “I just wanted to see for myself that you can’t hurt anyone else I love. You were wrong about the Air Nation, and about me.”

“You’re fooling yourself, Sato.” Zaheer smiled a patronizing, bloody smile. “My master was Xai Bau, founder of the Red Lotus, who discovered how to break the Avatar Cycle. You showed me the secret of voidbending, so I’ll tell you something you don’t know: The way to break the Avatar Cycle is to kill her in the Avatar State. Then no more Avatar, ever.”

That sounded horribly plausible. It would certainly explain why Korra had been so careful with the Avatar State since Harmonic Convergence.

“By choosing the right moment, any airbender could free the world by destroying the Avatar. I almost got her myself. Deep down, you recognize the truth. Chaos is the natural order of the world, and air is the element of chaos.” Zaheer laughed breathlessly. “I wasn’t wrong. The forbidden art will spread, and you’ll bring such change to this world that no one will be able to stop it.”

Korra, coughing blood... Yasuko, at the mercy of firebending demons...

Rage sparked in Asami’s chest, pushing aside her pain and nausea and infusing her with energy. She clenched her fists and felt the chi burn through her veins, straining for release. How had she ever lived without bending?

Behind the bars, Zaheer sneered. “I know you want to use the power the universe has given you. Why resist? You were made an airbender for a reason!”

The shadowy prison turned red. The air inside the monster’s body beckoned irresistibly.

She grasped that air, sharpened it into blades inside him.

“Stop right there!”

Something hard and cold wrapped around her wrists and dragged her backward, slamming her against the wall, metal on metal. Asami howled and fought, but she was trapped.

The metalbender guard’s furious face emerged from the darkness. Asami watched, dazed, as she brought a radio to her lips. Behind her, Zaheer hung limp in his chains.

“Lieutenant Shan, get down here. There’s been an attack on the prisoner.”

[To be continued...]

A/N: This chapter completes the main plot arc, but the Epilogue is nearly as long--it’s at 9,000 words and counting. I may not have as much time as I anticipated on Monday to polish and post it, and although it would be a shame to starting missing deadlines now... well, getting three chapters out of four posted on time isn’t bad, right? -_-;; (If I have to push anything all the way past my Wednesday deadline, it will be the remaining three Top 40 posts.)

#Legend of Korra #Fanfics #My fanfiction #Winds of Change #Korra #Asami Sato #Airbending

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bellatrixobsessed1 · 5 years

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Wrought Iron Machine (Part 20)

Whenever Azula finds herself in a more stable position, her father always seems to have this way of shattering it. Not that she hasn’t expected him to make an appearance at some point or another. She doesn’t know if it is she or Zuko who has spotted him first, but they exchange a look. One of both horror and fury. Their father had a lot of nerve showing up after telling them that they would die as dirty and gaunt street trash.

Azula pretends like she hasn’t noticed her father smirking wickedly towards the middle of the crowd. She will have to pretend that he isn’t there at all if she and Zuko are going to stick to their regular show.

She has a feeling that Ozai believes that she won’t go so far with him eyeing her. She screams out a final note, the one that the fandom has described as pained and haunting. The one that always tears from her throat before she grabs Zuko with a false-roughness and presses her lips to his with a vicious depiction of resentment.

It is nothing like their ‘practice’ passionate kisses and as she takes Zuko, she hopes that it will put a crawling under her father’s skin. For good measure, Azula shoves Zuko up against the nearest pillar, this time drawing out the kiss. To her surprise, Zuko returns the gesture with just as much ferocity. She can’t tell if he is angry and trying let her know or if he wants to make Ozai seeth as much as she does.

She draws back, panting softly before picking up her microphone and proceeding with the next song. Her head is dizzy, wondering if she has taken things too far again, but the cheers tell her that she has not. Even so…

She scans the crowd, Ozai is scowling.

Any doubt that she has crossed a line, fades into the background for the time being.

Security is doubled is they make their exit. Her management advises that she cancel her meet and greet. But she can’t afford to hand everyone a sum of money back and, just as much, she can’t afford a second round of outrage. Instead they move the location of their meet and greet to their tour bus. It is guarded much more intensely, fans only allowed in, in groups of two or three. Yet Ozai never makes his appearance. It leaves Azula more antsy than it would have if he were to create a scene.

She finds it hard to keep herself fully present during the meet and greet. The only time her attention isn’t divided is when a familiar face comes into view.

It is almost enough for Azula to forget about Ozai to see the girl again. With a grin she introduces Azula to her little sister. “She’s going to be in my band.” The girl declares. “Though we’re probably not going to put on the same kind of show you and your brother do.”

“I don’t recommend it.” Azula shrugs.

“Then why are you doing it?”

The question takes her aback. “It’s an attention getter, I suppose.” The former princess confesses. “Though, I don’t think that it will hurt to...educate the public. Not many people cared to learn about the Sun Warriors until this album.”

“You like history?” The girl asks.

“Naturally.” Azula replies. She has probably gone way over time with this girl, Mai is staring at her with a hint of impatience. “I suppose I should wrap things up.” Azula scrawls her number on a scrap of paper and pushes it towards the girl. “We can finish this conversation some other time.”

The girl nods. “I’m Quoa, by the way.”

It is well to have a name to go with the face.

.oOo.

Another month has slipped away and they only have one more music mover to show for it. Kuvira is well past caring though. She is growing as careless as Ghazan. Their new sound isn’t what she had expected it to be. It isn’t as bombastic as she had hoped nor as grand.

Baatar had always known how to compose the instrumental portion of their songs…

Because her idea has had a lackluster outcome, their music videos leave a lot to be desired. Considering the circumstances she has given it her all. But she can’t bring herself to care. She supposes that her parents were right, she isn’t going to make it. She was never supposed to. She has had her moment in the spotlight and it is over.

Perhaps she can join a dance team. That would suit her well enough.

“Have you seen this!?” P’Li hollars from the other room.

“That’s some bullshit.” Ghazan grumbles. She notes his pause, probably to take a swig of booze. “They don’t know shit.”

“I don’t know why you’re surprised, it’s the same stuff as usual.” Ming mumbles.

“Our video wasn’t disappointing.” P’Li states. There is a rustle of paper and Kuvira knows that she has thrown the magazine.

Kuvira doesn’t understand her outrage, the articles weren’t lies. They speculated about how the band is getting lazy, about how their experiment was a tragic failure, and mostly about how Baatar was clearly the brains behind the group. The only thing holding them up.

For the most part, Kuvira agrees. She only finds it in her to be angry that they were so grossly underestimating the work she has put into the band, how much she has contributed. She imagines that Baatar is probably pretty smug reading those articles.

.oOo.

“You didn’t have to go that far!” TyLee protests, tears dot the corners of her eyes.

“It’s just a performance.” Azula insists. “You know that, Ty.” She tries to reach out, but TyLee backs away.

“You didn’t have to go that far.” She repeats in a mumble.

Azula wonders if Zuko is getting a similar lecture from Mai. She thinks not, it is more Mai’s style to entirely cold shoulder him. “I was just trying to get my dad to leave.”

“Sort of like you were just trying to get some extra money for us.” TyLee rebuffs with a dangerous edge. She is teetering on the edge of implying that Azula is whoring herself out to her brother.

Azula keeps her lips pointedly locked, lest she remind TyLee that she has the highest count of fans under the sheets with her. “I do what needs to be done.” She hisses when TyLee doesn’t say anything else. She is the only one who seems to care what happens with the band. “Maybe you should try it some time.”

TyLee’s lower lip trembles. The girl has brought it on herself though, she shouldn’t start fights she doesn’t have the capacity to finish. Azula tosses her jacket onto the bed and goes onto the balcony for some fresh air, thanking Agni that they have a hotel tonight.

She isn’t alone, Zuko sits on the floor propped up against the banister, sulking with a drink in hand and his hoodie drawn up. It is all the confirmation that Azula needs to know that Mai is giving him as big a hassle as TyLee is giving her, maybe more of one.

“Rough night?”

“We started our night with father...of course it’s a shitty one.” He snaps.

Azula rolls her eyes, his outbursts are something she is used to by now. She pulls up a chair and sits. “I don’t suppose Mai made it any better.”

He scoffs.

“If it makes you feel any better, TyLee is being difficult too.” He doesn’t even look up from his drink. “They’ll come around.” Azula notes.

.oOo.

Her nights get much worse as the days wear on. A few articles later and she decides that perhaps Baatar had done most of the work afterall. That he is the only reason that they have made it as far as they did.

Maybe it is for the best that she is fading out of the spotlight. She rolls from her side to her back and stares at the ceiling with one hand on her belly. She won’t have time for touring soon anyways. Not without help.

Help that she no longer has.

Kuvira knows that she should call Baatar. Should let him know. But Raava forbid she gives the fandom more grounds to accuse her of being manipulative and abusive. Raava forbid, the tabloids find out about her condition at all. She has only barely managed to cover it up in the videos.

General public aside, Kuvira can’t bring herself to call her ex-fiance. He would see it as a desperate ploy to get him back. She absently taps her fingers on her belly, trying to decide what to do about it. About all of it.

About the band. About Southern Air Sounds.

About Baatar.

About the baby.

She knows she will have to choose between the music and her child.

She knows that she won’t turn her back on the baby, won’t let it suffer that special brand of torment she does.

She supposes that the decision isn’t that difficult.

Kuvira hates to put P’Li, Ming, and Ghazan in a tricky position. Truly she does, but they can take care of themselves. She can’t see herself being able to perform well enough to get anywhere anyways. Still, she isn’t sure how she is going to tell them that they are withdrawing from Southern Air Sounds.

#Avatar #Legend Of Korra #Kuvira #Azula #Baatar Jr #Zuko #P'Li #TyLee #Ming-Hua #Mai #Ghazan #Fanfiction

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bellatrixobsessed1 · 5 years

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Wrought Iron Machine (Part 11)

Kuvira stares Baatar down quite furiously, she has no intention of backing down on this one.

“We can’t do a song like that.” He insists. “Combining the two styles.” He pauses. “They just don’t work together.

The more he speaks, the more steadfast she grows. Wrought Iron Machine is her band, she had been the one to form it. She crosses her arms and her frown deepens. “We need to do something new.”

“That’s fine. We can do something new.” Baatar agrees. “Just not that.”

“We are doing that or we will do nothing at all.” She knows very well that he is aware that she wouldn’t make good on this threat. Southern Air Sounds meant too much to her.

“Look, I like metal. I like Jazz. But they should be kept seperate.” Baatar replies. “We should do something like what Tui & La did and…”

At this, Kuvira’s jaw nearly drops. “I don’t want to be like another band.” Frankly, she can’t fathom why he would even try to suggest trying to copy another band.

“...And blend metal with an orchestra.” He presses on regardless of her dismissal. “It can be bombastic and powerful. I’ve always liked classical music.”

“And I’ve always liked jazz.” Kuvira states flatly, she hopes that the argument sounds as ridiculous as it is. “This isn’t about what we like, it’s about creating something new. Something that will change the industry. We need to leave an impression.” She gives that time to settle. “We can be the first band to try to blend metal and jazz, Baatar.” She takes a mouthful of tea. “The first.”

“Perhaps no one has done metal jazz because it doesn’t sound good.”

Kuvira grips her cup a little tighter before setting it down with a force that splashes steaming liquid onto the table. She spares the man a final glance before turning her back on him and exiting.

“You haven’t even asked the other three what they think!”

She doesn’t take the bait, however valid the point is. She is torn between to responses anyways; a prodding, ‘they’d agree with me’ and a kinder, ‘I want your okay first.’ She says nothing.

“You always do this, Kuvira!”

She leaves that bait unbitten as well.

“Why does it always have to be your way?”

It is her band.

It is her dream.

She bites her tongue.

“Why are my ideas never good enough?”

.oOo.

Her bath does little to cleanse the kind of dirty she feels. The filth runs deeper than the water can penetrate. The steam of the springs curls around her body as she washes her hair. She has already scrubbed herself down several times but she still feels a phantom tingle where Zuko had run his fingers under her shirt.

Somehow she feels violated, despite that he was the dreadfully reluctant one and she was insistent.

She wonders, not for the first time, what is wrong with her. Wonders if her mind is fraying again, under the pressure of trying to keep them afloat. She runs the soap along her arms once more. The water pleasantly heats her skin and she tries to think only of how pleasant it is to have a soothing bath.

Her privacy is interrupted by footsteps. Before she can matter an inquisitive, ‘Mai, TyLee, is that one of you?’ a voice exclaims, “I know you!”

But the woman doesn’t.

She doesn’t know Azula at all.

She knows the person The Blue Empress.

A perfectly crafted stage persona.

“Do you?” Azula murmurs, she tries to be spiteful to the fan, but Agni was it vexing to have a private moment intruded upon. She curses, again, the lack of funding to go to a truly private bath house.

“Yes.” The woman nods. “I do. It is your fault that my daughter is out of control! You make her do things that she shouldn’t.”

“Oh?” Azula quirks an eyebrow, she hasn’t realized that she has gotten back into the business of manipulation. “And how did I manage such a thing?”

The woman snarls. “She cusses and sneaks around. Boys in the house every night, making a mess of it! She doesn’t listen to me…”

“That’s nice.” Azula replies smoothly. “But it isn’t what I asked.”

The woman dodges the question again. “She was almost arrested for destruction of public property.”

Azula shrugs, destruction of public property is more work for her father, and that is fine with her. Her passive shrug is replaced by a somewhat satisfied smile. “What fascinating news, I suppose that it’s good to know that I still have an influence.”

With a curt sniff the woman deflects, “I don’t know what I was expecting from a tramp who so freely shows everyone her chest.”

Azula sighs. “We are in a bath house, shall I bathe with my robes on?” She pauses. “Would you like to tell me how it’s my fault that you have no control over your daughter?”

The woman looks at her as though she wasn’t about to say the most ridiculous thing Azula has heard in awhile. “It’s your music! You sing about destroying things and defying parental figures and she idolizes you and your sleazy brother.”

The words arouse something unpleasant within Azula. An unexpected desire to defend her brother, the very brother she had spoken ill of for most of her life. Perhaps it is because she knows that Zuko was just going along with her schemes. “I assure you, he isn’t…”

The woman cuts her off, splintering her patience that much more. “He is. All four of you are. What you do is the work of Raava, bidding children to rise against their parents..”

Azula decides that she has heard more than enough. With the raising of her temper, her voice lowers into a cold hiss. “I’ve found that children these days don’t ‘rise against’ their parents without good reason.”

The woman’s lip twitches. “I don’t want to hear that from a deviant...a lunatic who has perversion for her own brother.”

Azula swallows. The woman tosses her bathrobe aside and begins furiously scrubbing herself clean, if nothing else she respects the woman for not cowering away after delivering a low blow. Evidently, Azula wants to flee, but she won’t give the woman the satisfaction. She dips her head under the water to mask the tears that managed to escape. The woman is still raving at her from across the room, she can hear her, but only as background noise amid the doubts finally working their way in.

The realization that she has probably made a mistake.

The realization that this isn’t something she can do damage control over, something that can’t be explained away by spinning a tale about too many drinks.

They have the funding they need for their mover. But the woman has successfully left her feeling diriter than before she had entered her bath. The woman left her with the knowledge that people thought her a sexual deviant. She dries herself, trying to come up with a way to save herself.

Herself and Zuko from a lifetime of shame.

She squeezes the water out of her hair and bends to pick up her bathrobe.

“It’s a shame that you’re brother isn’t here to see this…” Azula’s face grows hot at the provokation. “...isn’t it?”

.oOo.

Baatar doesn’t speak with her for the better part of the night, apparently more than content to return her cold shoulder. So she tries something simpler. “Can you pass me some dessert?”

Ming pushes Kuvira a plate.

“I was talking to Baatar.”

“Oh wow, thank you Ming, you are such a good band mate.” She hears Ming mutter to herself, drawing a snicker from Ghazan.

She has half the mind to tell Ming that she likes her better when she doesn’t talk. But she doesn’t want to fight on two fronts, possibly three if Ghazan chose to defend his woman. Kuvira shoots P’Li a look and the woman shrugs.

“Baatar…”

The man pushes his chair in and bids his mother a good night. She knows that she shouldn’t press him but they truly don’t have time to keep an argument going so she follows him. “I don’t have a problem with your ideas--”

He cuts in. “It’s just that yours are better, right?”

Kuvira falters, “I never said that. I wouldn’t ever say that.”

“You don’t have to.” He says dryly. “I get the picture well enough.”

She opens her mouth to speak but they have reached their bedroom and Baatar has slammed the door. Not many things throw her stoic demeanor but that does the job, it leaves her sputtering, “that’s...this is my room too. My pillows are…”

The door opens, but before she has a chance to smile, her pillows and blanket are flung into the hallway. She blinks at the closed door, standing there for a moment, before resigning herself to that she is going to have to sleep on the couch.

#Avatar #Legend Of Korra #Azula #Kuvira #Zuko #Baatar #Mai #Ming-Hua #TyLee #P'Li #Ghazan #Fanfiction

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bellatrixobsessed1 · 5 years

Text

Wrought Iron Machine (Final Part)

It hasn’t taken long at all for the headlines to announce her vocal struggles and declining health, to have them plastered for everyone to see. Even if she wants to she can’t say anything on her own behalf. She reads another headline; ‘Has the Fire Been Put Out: Fire Of Agni Frontwoman Loses Voice.’

Azula sits in an emergency room back in the Fire Nation, they still don’t have the equipment to correct the worsened cyst. For the time they only monitor her vitals and pain-levels. She doesn’t think much about the pain though. Her head is preoccupied by the image of her father’s complacent look of satisfaction. By the realization that she had made a fool of herself at the world’s most extravagant and esteemed music competition. By the thought that she will never talk, much less, sing again.

She doesn’t know which matter concerns her the most, she supposes that they are all interconnected. Even if she does recover, after unleashing such an Agni-awful, ear-piercing sound on stage she can’t imagine that she’ll be getting another invite to Southern Air Sounds. Her musical career is over. Her only option is to wander back to her father and hope that she can win him over with her firebending talents. She can’t beg him for another chance if she can’t speak.

There is a pressure behind her eyes and she wants to let it out. But crying will only do more damage to her delicate vocal cords. The doctor warns as much. So she tries her best to choke back her embarrassment and grief.

She truly hopes that she won’t hear from her father anytime soon, she can’t take it. Zuko takes a seat next to her and squeezes her hand. She appreciates his company and the gesture, but it is little condolences. Just as little as TyLee’s tight hugs and loving kisses. Mai tries to assure her that the crowd was kind. “They weren’t saying anything bad about you, you know? After the show everyone was just asking if you were okay.”

“They were really worried.” Zuko adds.

“Someone told me to give this to you!” TyLee smiles. She hands her a stuffed fire ferret and a get well soon card. Azula takes them without a sound, she barely looks up. She isn’t sure who is rubbing her back but she thinks that it is either Zuko or TyLee.

“Do you…” she rasps but it is broken and painful so she ceases trying to vocalize her question.

“Here.” Mai pushes her a pad of papers. She pushes it back, opting to spell her question in the air with fire. If she can’t speak she may as well make it look cool. With her fire she asks if they’ve been barred from attending S.A.S in the future. It is easier to simply use the acronym so that is what she does.

“I don’t think so. We were doing amazing up until…” Mai trails off.

“They said that they admired our creativity and ability to improvise.” Zuko points out.

‘No thanks to me.’ She spells out.

“Creativity!” TyLee points out. “They liked your idea to have an instrumental number. None of the other bands did that.”

It is only a sliver of reassurance. At least she hasn’t completely messed up. She stares at her hands. She just wants her voice back.

The pain finally begins setting in, it rips at her throat bringing tears to her eyes.

Zuko’s back rubs increase.

“Are you alright, Azula?” TyLee asks, her eyes sympathetic.

She only has it in her to spell out, “hurts.” She curls herself up

.oOo.

The temples are stunning, more stunning than Kuvira remembers. They have added some decorative chandeliers. She feels blessed that they have invited her to stay. She and the rest of her band have been invited to a dinner with the three bands that performed after hers. An unexpected but every bit as welcomed victory surprise.

She triple checks her hair and attire. She has her hair in another neat and tight braided bun and has applied a touch of makeup to her face. “How is this, Baatar?”

“I already told you that you look amazing.” He replies, “can we just have dinner?”

“Yeah, I’m getting hungry and I hear that the wine is fantastic.” Ghazan remarks, putting his arm around Ming.

“You’re always hungry.” P’Li remarks.

“Correct.” He winks.

Kuvira adds a comb hair clip to her outfit and checks the mirror for a fourth time. She wants to leave a good impression if she is going to be dining with musical legends. Baatar takes her hand and pulls her away from the mirror. “I think that that’s perfect.”

“You say that about everything I wear.” Kuvira points out.

“Because everything you wear is perfect.”

“Ugg.” P’Li grumbles. “Definitely didn’t miss that.”

Kuvira unfolds a cloth map and leads her band down the hall. Baatar links his arm with hers. They wander for some time, stopping on one occasion to see the Southern Air hall of fame. It is organized by category from jazz to pop and folk to metal. Kuvira scans the category reserved for the musical legends, it is surreal to see an image of their band among them. It is from their performance three days prior.

“Now Ming, don’t touch anything.” Ghazan says.

“Ha. Funny man.” She mutters.

As they chatter, Kuvira wanders further down the hall viewing the metal category and finding a second image of Wrought Iron Machine. Still it is dream-like to see it hanging there in a frame of swirling gold. The rest of her band comes to catch up with her. She comes to the last category, a seemingly new sub category. There is only a single photograph in the section for bands with the most unique concepts.

She wonders if they are even aware being as they were forced to depart so soon.

Baatar nudges her, “we’re going to be late.”

Kuvira picks up her pace and soon she is standing before a set of almost absurdly long double doors. The insignia of the air nomads is carved at the center of both of them. Kuvira takes a breath and smooths a few wrinkles out of her outfit. Baatar rubs her shoulders encouragingly.

She heaves the doors open and makes her way to the empty chairs reserved for she and her band. “Welcome.” Greets Karou. The frontman of Wan Shi Tong’s Waltz sits at the head of the table, their dinner and competition host.

It is somewhat hard to maintain composure, the result of some residual teenage crush that never had a chance to fully extinguish.

“Thank you.” Baatar fills in for her. “We’re honored to be guests here.”

Karou shakes their hands each in turn. “And I’d like to personally congratulate you for joining us in the hall of fame and for the baby. Perhapst the child will share your musical talents.”

Kuvira smiles. “Thank you. I hope the same.” Even if the child has other interests she makes a very special point to let them flourish. “Though she may take up Baatar’s fascination with machines.”

Another woman speaks, Xing-Bora from Tears of Yue. “I think we should also congratulate the two of you for saving your marriage and the band.”

“It’s a wonder you all pulled through so close to the competition.” Remarks Chong. “What was that about anyways?”

His own wife nudges him. “Apologies, he still has is countryside manners.”

P’Li scoffs, “we’ll forgive him if you all forgive Ghazan for being a human disaster.”

“It’s a long story.” Kuvira cuts in before they can start a secondhand embarrassment inducing round of bickering. “To put it simply, even though I let him name the band,” Kuvira sneaks in, “he felt as though he didn’t get enough creative freedom.”

Baatar rubs the back of his head. “A man needs to show his brilliance every now and again.”

Conversation breaks off momentarily as appetizers are passed around. Kuvira resumes the chatter with a simple. “It was a pleasure to see you perform.” An understatement.

“And a pleasure to listen to your band as well.” Karou returns cheerfully. “I was hoping that you would be willing to perform during our next competition.” He pauses. “Of course, you won’t be able to perform as a contestant. Instead you will be performing with us during the esteemed after-competition show.”

“We certainly plan on it.” Kuvira replies. Though she isn’t entirely certain what ten years will bring. How their child will impact their band. She decides to take things as they come and hope for the best.

“It will be hard to top this decade’s contest.” Chong notes.

“It was certainly eventful.” Xing-Bora remarks. “It’s a shame about Fire of Agni…”

“How is the girl?” Chong’s wife asks.

“If the headlines are to be trusted, she’s due for surgery sometime within the month.” Karou replies.

“I hope that it works.” Chong’s wife says softly.

“Yes,” Kuvira adds. “She…” she isn’t sure if she should use past or present tense. She feels optimistic. “She has a very unique talent, I don’t think that I’ve heard a voice like hers.” Again, her heart pangs for the girl.

“I thought that your band didn’t like theirs.”

“It was a phase.” P’Li waves her hand dismissively. “We needed someone to shit talk so we wouldn’t shit talk each other.”

“We did it anyways.” Ghazan shrugged.

“No less, the kids have talent.” Karou speaks. “I would love to see them back next time around. They have it in them to win if Azula makes a full recovery. They have it in them to win even if she only recovers partially.”

Their discussion dies down again as the main course is set before them. Kuvira takes the opportunity to gaze at the other tables; like their own two others are lined with golden tablecloths. They host other past winners of Southern Air Sounds. The ones lined in silver host the second placers and the honorable mentions. And a bunch of others tables a reserved for audience members and bands that had paid to have seating. She sees four empty spots at the silver tables. Karou follows her gaze. “We figured that it would be respectful to have a spot open for them even if they can’t fill them.”

Kuvira nods.

The rest of their dinner is mundane. She inquires some about the bands and styles that have influenced Wan Shi Tong’s Waltz and Ghazan makes a few off-color remarks as the beer gets to him. Ming really only speaks to ask why her ice cream is topped with two cherries while everyone else only has one. It is more laid back than she has anticipated. And it goes by much faster. It seems as though they have barely finished desert when guests start heading for the door.

Karou turns to her and hands her an envelope. “Your prize money and an invite to our next competition.”

Kuvira will have to split the prize money when she gets a chance.

“If you run into Fire of Agni before they receive their letter, do tell them that they have been invited.”

“I can hand them their letter personally.”

.oOo.

The surgery leaves her terribly anxious. They say that it can ruin her voice. All the same she wonders if it even matters, she has already done that herself. She does wish, though, that they hadn’t told her of the possibility of something going wrong enough to kill her. On the other hand, she no longer knows if she is entirely opposed to that.

She faintly thinks that she is being overly dramatic. If nothing else she still has TyLee. She still has Zuko and Mai.

The three have worked so hard to uplift her spirits. To remind her not to bother with her father. To remind her that she still has a spot in the band. They don’t tell her how, they leave her to remind herself that she can still play the guitar. That she can still organize the band and design their sets and write their lyrics.

She repeats the reminders to herself as TyLee pulls her into her arms. She doesn’t particularly want to be held at the moment, she has received enough pity and babying, but she doesn’t resist either. TyLee holds her tightly, it is almost too brief because a nurse comes to beckon her forward.

Azula listens to them explain the procedure to her, cringing inwardly at some of the descriptors. After a certain point she wonders if she even wants to know. She decides that she does, she wants to know exactly what to expect.

Not long after, she finds herself drifting into a drug induced sleep.

She wakes up groggy. She opens her mouth to speak but is immediately scolded. It takes her mind a moment to catch back up with her. The words die on her lips. She sits herself upright, they let her do so but it leaves her feeling dizzy so she goes to lay back down. Zuko holds her up as TyLee props a pillow up for her. She scans the room for Mai and finds the girl leaning against the wall as quietly as ever.

Doctor Fing-Sho reappears, taking a seat next to her bed. “I have a few instructions for you.”

Azula nods.

“Obviously I advise that you talk as little as possible for the first two weeks, perhaps three. When you do speak, be brief. Don’t yell or try to sing.” He pauses and she nods her understanding again. “Your voice will sound very hoarse. This can last up to eight weeks. We can start vocal therapy during week three. I know I said you can begin talking more after two weeks, but I would like to play on the safe side. You are very lucky that we were able to fix the damage you’ve done.”

Azula subtly gnaws the inside of her cheek.

“With that said, I recommend that you find yourself a vocal trainer who specializes in musical techniques.”

Azula nods once more.

“Finally, you have a visitor.” Fing-Sho smiles.

Azula knits her brows and then the panic sets in. Rather quickly she spells with fire, that she doesn’t want to see her father.

“It’s not your father.” The doctor replies.

Using her fire she vocalizes her approval and Fing-Sho beckons her visitor into the room. Azula tries to hide a scowl when she sees the face of the woman who she’d handed her victory over to. Kuvira makes herself as comfortable as she can in a hospital chair. She rests one hand on the arm rest and her other on her belly. “I hope you don’t mind me coming by.”

Azula absolutely does, but she doesn’t use her fire to depict as much.

“I actually came by to give you something.” She holds an envelope out.

Azula reaches for it and her brows knit again at the sight of the seal.

“There was an after party of sorts. I spoke to Karou, he says that he hopes to see you at the next competition.

Azula’s face softens, the woman is doing a good job of breaking the ice whether she wants to admit it or not.

“He believes that you will do well even if you don’t make a full recovery, I don’t know if that makes things any better.”

This time she does let the woman know that it does not.

Kuvira gives a small laugh. “I didn’t think so. Not much made me feel better when Fing-Sho worked with me…”

Azula tilts her head so Kuvira elaborates.

“Awhile back...a long while, Wrought Iron Machine tried to do something like your first album. I don’t have the vocal type you do. I messed my voice up rather quickly trying to force something that I wasn’t good at.” She shrugs.

“Why are you here?” Zuko asks. “Your band hates ours.”

Kuvira shrugs a second time. “We don’t hate your band. We just...got a little competitive.”

How diplomatic, Azula thinks to herself.

“We were falling out of the limelight and you were in it.”

She is the jealous type.

“You’ve created a sound that no one has heard before and...we wanted to do that for ourselves.” She pauses. “A success by the way.”

“Well congratulations.” Mai grumbles, “it’s our turn to be on the bottom.”

“That’s not what I meant.” Kuvira replies. “I meant that your creation was a success. You have a spot in the Southern Air Sounds hall of fame for it.”

“We do?” TyLee smiles.

“Yes, you do.” She turns back to Zuko. “To answer your question; I’m here to make amends.”

Azula frowns. She has very little interest in the woman, she is condescending and self-righteous. She folds her arms over her chest and glowers at Kuvira. The woman looks terribly unfazed. Azula supposes that she isn’t all that intimidating in a hospital gown and without her voice.

“You remind me of myself. You have reckless ambition. A drive to make it to the top.” She pauses again. “I’ve only ever seen that kind of determination when it’s all or nothing.” Again she halts. “Mine comes from spite I suppose. My parents thought that my dreams were foolish so they dumped me on the side of the road for trying to pursue them. I was hoping that my appearance in Southern Air Sounds...” She breaks off. “I just thought that they would show up. For some reason I expected them to. I don’t think that they even know who I am anymore.”

Azula wishes that the woman hadn’t shared because now there is a sort of connection, now she feels inclined to hear the woman out. Zuko speaks first. “I don’t know if you heard about it but Azula and I didn’t leave home willingly either.

Kuvira nods empathetically. “I had a feeling. I know what an abandoned child looks like…”

She remains quiet in thought for a long while. “That’s also why I’m here. I have another offer for you.”

.oOo.

The house is quiet. Quiet and empty. She and Baatar haven’t quite gotten around to moving all of their furniture in. P’Li, Ghazan, and Ming-Hua have taken to exploring their new neighborhood. Kuvira herself decides to stay home and try to tidy the place up a bit, plan out how she’d like to lay out their furniture. She looks over Baatar’s ideas, deciding that they are probably good enough. The man in question is away as well, somewhere between his childhood home and their new one, driving a large satomobile full of their possessions. She would love to help but they are down to the heaviest of their belongings and she has already received a good scolding from her doctor against heavy lifting.

Eventually she resigns to that she is six months along and needs to take it easy. She supposes it isn’t so bad, she hasn’t left him totally alone. He has help from his brothers and from Zuko. Most comfortingly, he has Lin’s assistance. Kuvira is half convinced that the very reason so much progress has been made in their move because of Lin alone.

Azula wanders into the nearly barren room, Kuvira didn’t hear her come in and wonders how long she has been there. She doesn’t talk much and Kuvira, at first, assumed that the girl was still weary of hurting her voice further. But she has come to find that the firebender is simply a quieter person. When she does speak it is typically soft-spoken. The kind of soothing timbre Kuvira had been expecting and not expecting all at once. Looking at her, it makes perfect sense but after hearing only her music for so long it is hard to imagine her speaking so softly.

“How was therapy.”

“It was…” she thinks for a moment, “it went better than last time.” There is still a hoarser undertone to her voice, but the raspiness is becoming less pronounced as the healing process continues.

Kuvira has cup of tea ready. It is still steaming when she pours it for the girl. “Here, drink.”

Azula takes the cup in her hands. “Uncle makes better tea.”

The girl has a bit of a difficult temperament, Kuvira has learned to brush off her more prickly moods. She no longer takes the more off-handed commentary to heart.

“It’s not the taste that matters, it’s the effect.” Raava knows that the girl has fought her on this many a times. Kuvira stands by her opinion; as long as the tea can help soothe the girl’s throat, it is serving its purpose.

Azula routinely argues that Kuvira should learn to make better tea if she is going to make her drink it every other day.

“Have a seat.” Kuvira offers only to have the firebender decline.

“I like standing.” She sips at the tea, just once before holding it over a small fire in her palm.

“I’ve never seen firebending like that.”

“It’s actually quite common for firebenders to heat their tea like this.”

Kuvira rolls her eyes, feeling a faint hint of amusement. “I’ve never seen someone use blue fire.”

Azula gives a prideful smile. “Good. I like to think that it is something only I can do.”

The remark is the loudest Kuvira has heard from the girl since adopting her. She wonders if the firebender’s voice had always been this soft or if it is the product of her injury. She tries to recall one of Fire Of Agni’s interviews. Before she can truly reach a decision her thoughts are cut off by a very loud and very cheerful, “Oh Azula! You’re home!” Kuvira watches the other girl throw her arms around Azula who returns the gesture by awkwardly patting her girlfriend’s head.

“It’s good to see you too, Ty.”

Kuvira finds it hard to resist making an inquiry. “Was her voice always this quiet?”

TyLee thinks for a moment. “Hmmm. Sort of. She used to talk a little louder, but not that much.”

“You need more tea.” Kuvira declares, needing an excuse to be on her feet.

“You need to get out of the house.” Azula shoots back.

The girl isn’t entirely wrong. But her tone of voice comes with a touch of sass. Kuvira supposes that it will do her well to get used to it. Her baby will be a teen eventually. Raising--though she uses the term loosely--the former princess, her brother, and friends has been an interesting feat to say the least. She doesn’t know how Suyin has managed to raise all of her children and Kuvira herself.

“I suppose that I will when Baatar gets home.” Kuvira says at last.

“What are you going to name it?” TyLee changes the subject.

Before she can give her answer Azula grumbles, “you better not name it after Karou.”

“We had two names in mind.” Kuvira replies. “Setsuko and Kotone.”

“Setsuko.” Azula casts her vote and TyLee nods in agreement.

Azula hands Kuvira her cup. “I don’t know what you want me to do with this.”

“Whatever my servants used to do with them.” Azula shrugs.

“I’m not your servant. I’m your mother.” It is still somewhat strange to say.

Frowning, Azula hands the cup to TyLee who flounces over to the sink and washes it. Kuvira rolls her eyes. One of these days she will have to get the girl to do her own dishes.

It would seem as though TyLee doesn’t share any of the awkward feelings. “Are you coming to or show tonight, mom? It’s our first one since S.A.S.”

“I’ll be there.” She replies.

“Good because it’s going to be my first time singing that many songs. And Azula has been really working hard on learning to play the guitar.”

“I thought that you already knew how to play it.”

“I put more focus into singing.” Azula shrugs. “But if I can’t do that, I might as well make myself known for play the guitar better than everyone else.”

So that is why Ghazan has been strumming his bass so intensely. She wonders if it is truly possible that her fiance is in an unspoken competition with a teenager. It begins to dawn on Kuivra that she has created a very bizzare family for herself. She supposes that she likes it this way, it keeps her occupied.

.oOo.

The past few months leave the former princess wondering why she had gone out of her way to create scandals and article material. Headlines seem to be coming left and right these days. The headlines have long since made note of Kuvira adopting four fire children with speculations ranging from simple observations to theories that they are about to form one large band.

The chatter of that had only just died down when Azula’s former rival found herself to be the subject of a new brand of talk with a slew of invasive journalists trying to get the first shot of the woman’s newborn. A seperate news article reported P’Li landing a good punch on one of the particularly eager ones.

For herself, Azula’s voice and the state of it are in constant discussion. The latest article unveils her plans to begin singing again. For the time it will be reserved for the recording studio only and depending on how that goes, she will be singing on stage when they tour alongside Wrought Iron Machine.

She is reluctant to thank Kuvira. Albeit a bit overbearing, the woman has gone out of her way to pass down a few of the vocal technique and warm ups she has learned. With the woman occupied by her baby girl, Azula almost misses having her lingering in the studio with her. But she has TyLee for company. Soon she will have Zuko and Mai as well. They are late again because Zuko refuses to leave without his beanie. Maybe if her brother kept his room more organized, he wouldn’t run into such a struggle. Perhaps she can get Kuvira to nag the boy. Such is another area of common ground; they both wish that one of their bandmates could tidy up a bit.

All in all, she is growing used to and fond of referring to the metalbender as her mother. She is closer to her than she had been with her real mother. And the woman, though prone to being somewhat of a hardass is kinder than her own father ever was. She is nearly at a point where she doesn’t miss her real parents at all. But if Kuvira is anything to go by, the disappointment never truly leaves.

Azula uses the spare time to get her new lyrics in order and her equipment adjusted. Her line of thinking switches. She is somewhat nervous to be back in the studio. Doctor Fing-Sho insists that her vocal cords are mostly healed, that the therapy is doing them very well. Yet there is still a faint tingle at the back of her mind that she can tear them apart again.

Screaming is still off of the table, at least for the time being. She is allowed a line or two of harsh vocals but it is advised that she doesn’t perform a set with them every single night. For now she will leave Zuko with that job and take up the gentler vocals.

No matter how solid her plan is she still feels vaguely insecure. The change is so subtle but she still finds that she can’t speak as loudly as before and there is still a very slight rasp to her voice that is going to take some getting used to.

Perhaps it will make her stand out. It isn’t a vocal quality many others have. TyLee speculates as much anyhow.

Finally the door opens. But it is not Zuko who enters.

Kuvira leans in the doorway Setsuko in one arm and a tea set in the other. Azula admires the woman’s creativity, she uses a metal platter, bending it to keep the porcelain on it from falling.

“I wrote a letter to the Jasmine Dragon a while back.” She says as she sets the tea set down. She brushes her fingers over the baby’s cheek. “You better like it this time.”

“Thank you.” Azula picks up the cup. It is heated to a satisfactory degree, things are off to a good start.

Baatar appears in the doorway. “Suyin says that she can watch Setsuko while we reccord tomorrow.”

“Thank Raava.” Kuvira mutters. She hands the baby over to the man.

Azula notes that the woman definitely looks worn. Her hair is some straggly and she is still wearing pajama bottoms. Baatar slips his free arm around the woman’s waist.

“What are you going to do today?” Azula asks.

“While Baatar watches Setsuko, I was going to take P’Li to visit Zaheer in prison.”

Azula krinkles her brows. “Seriously.”

Kuvira nods.

“Have a grand time.”

Kuvira laughs. “If you need anything just call Baatar.”

Azula nods. As Kuvira and Baatar leave, Mai, TyLee, and Zuko make their appearance. “It’s about time. I was about to start on my solo album.”

Zuko bumps her shoulder. “Good to have you back, Azula.”

It is nice to be in the studio again.

#Avatar #Legend Of Korra #Kuvira #Azula #Baatar Jr #Zuko #P'Li #TyLee #Ming-Hua #Mai #Ghazan #Fanfiction

1 note · View note

bellatrixobsessed1 · 5 years

Text

Wrought Iron Machine (Part 3)

The wail of Baatar’s guitar echos around the venue as it dies off. The sound of P’Li’s rhythm guitar had done so only seconds before. Taking a deep breath, Kuvira finishes off the acapella ending of the song. Once upon a time it had been a highly experimental move...to end a song with no instrumental backing. It had been a successful risk and it still does the trick when she decides to bring it back.

The crowd bursts into a series of cheers, claps and, whistles. Louder and more intense than she has heard in a long while. And, for a moment, Kuvira remembers the jubilation of their early days. For a moment, she feels as though she has regained some of the band’s former traction.

She smiles down at the crowd and nods at their kind reception. It is the best she’s gotten since coming into the Fire Nation. She watches Ming toss her drumsticks into the air and then catch them again. It is something she does when she thinks that all eyes are on Kuvira and off of herself. This time she gets a few claps, so she does it again, this time giving the drums a few hits.

Kuvira lets the impromptu display continue until the woman has had a full on drum solo complete with drumstick twirling and throwing. Ming ends it with a with a final toss and a final hit. The crowd cheers and she flicks one of the sticks into the crowd and then the other.

P’Li and Gazhan mirror the action with their guitar picks. The crowd momentarily, but frantically congregates in the directions of them. Once all of the picks save for one per band member have been distributed, they take their bows. “You guys have been wonderful.” Kuvira notes. “I try not to pick favorites, but I think that this is one of our best crowds of this tour.”

Baatar nods in agreement.

“How would you all like to take a picture with us?” She asks. The act of taking pictures with the crowd is a relatively new tradition, a trend started by Fire Of Agni and a few bands like them. As much as she loathes to admit it, it is a brilliant idea. A way to commemorate things and bring in a little more revenue. It isn’t very easy to distribute the photos taken and their film reel is limited so they have to pick and choose which crowds to take the shots with. The rarity of the photos typically warrant decent money when their record label auction them off.

After claps and cheers of approval P’Li adds, “then give us your best Vaatu horns!”

Many years in and Kuvira still has to laugh at whoever coined that term. Vaatu didn’t have horns, more like flared out whisps. No less she faces away from the crowd and slings an arm around Baatar and makes the hand sign with her free hand.

The Hakodak camera flashes. It’s a fine model, she must say; a folding autographic model, black-brown in color. It isn’t the latest model, but it is nice enough to get the job done and still earn a few buyers. The camera flashes thrice more. Kuvira makes a mental not to look through the four images after they print and decide which one to keep.

She leads them backstage and listens to the whooping and hollering until it becomes a familiar chanting of their band name, rather a shortened version. “Wrought Iron! Wrought Iron! Wrought Iron!” She lets them continue for sometime, building up the anticipation. “I think that they’re ready for us to come back out.”

“Do we have to?” Gazhan asks earning him a glower from P’Li.

“Yes.” Kuvira answers. “We do. This is our best show in a long time. Let’s end it that way.” She leads them back out and stands before the crowd once more. The cheering intensifies until she believes that it is reaching its peak. Kuvira nods in approval.

They scream for her, for her band.

Staring out at them is like looking at an army awaiting orders from a general.

“I’d say that they’re in the mood for one more.” Baatar announces. He looks at Kuvira but she knows that he is addressing the crowd.

They give another collective and affirmative cheer.

“I don’t know about that.” Kuvira replies, eliciting a more energetic round of applause. “Maybe they are, after all…” She trails off.

They begin chanting the band name again, it is nearly lost under cheers and whistles.

“Alright, but you’re all going to have to convince Ghazan.”

And they go from chanting the band name to Ghazan’s. It isn’t quite the response she had in mind, but it will do.

“Think you can handle this Ghazan?” P’Li asks.

Kuvira detects the taunt in her voice and goes tense. Raava, she hopes that they don’t start on stage. Not when they are having such a good night. And perhaps she is radiating this because Ghazan brushes the comment off and says, “I can. But can they?” He points his guitar at the crowd and they go wild once more.

“I think that we’ve reached a decision.” Kuvira notes. “I suppose, since you’ve all been so kind, that we should play a new song.”

“You all will be the first to hear it.” Baatar adds.

The volume of the applause is greater than even before. This lot has a lot of energy. It lifts Kuvira’s spirit some. A smile spreads across her face, one that she couldn’t stop even if she had tried. Ming pounds out the first beats.

.oOo.

Kuvira flops onto the bed and blows out a tired breath. She ought to unravel her braid and shower, but she hasn’t the energy. She said that they’d play one more song, their new one. But she played at least three or four. Raava, that crowd had been a good one. It had made her feel like they were in their prime days.

“Are you going to get dressed for bed?” Baatar asks.

She gives a dismissive hand flap, too drained to do anymore.

“Fair enough.” He chuckles. “I guess I’ll just sleep in my day clothes too.”

Kuvira feels the bed dip as he crawls up next to her as he so often did. One of his hands slides to her hip and the other caresses her cheek as she presses her forehead against his. He kisses her good night. It is a rare moment, a moment where things aren’t so tense. A night so good that she can pretend that there is nothing wrong at all. Not with the band and not between the two of them.

She squeezes his hand.

She wants to savor the moment, to drag the night on. But sleep takes her without her consent.

.oOo.

As soon as the sun rises, Kuvira is thankful that she has scheduled an off day. She is sore all over and her eyes still feel so heavy. She pulls herself upright feeling sluggish as all hell. The stretches she does as she stands, do little to ease the tension in her muscles. It is a familiar ache the kind that came in wake of dancing while managing an expensive microphone. Raava had she missed dancing, she wonders why she had stopped doing so on stage. She thinks back, unfondly, of accidently falling off of the stage. Of the incident that really set in motion their steady fall from grace.

Sometimes, in sleep, the sound of her leg snapping still haunts her. It was such a sickly sound. A sickly feeling when the blood started welling and worse still, knowing that she couldn’t actually feel her leg. And faces, so many faces.

Watching.

Judging.

The magazines and newspapers had their work made for them.

Such a slow physical recovery had at least given her time to write songs, but that had hardly made up for the sheer amount of cancelled shows. They still had half a tour left. A waste it had been. A shameful waste. She thinks that, that is why it is hard for them to gain traction in the Fire Nation. They can no longer be trusted to stick to a schedule. The more she thinks about it, the harder it is for her to decide what exactly is doing the most damage; the falling popularity in their style of music or their own unexpected mishaps and shortcomings.

Kuvira pinches the bridge of her nose, determined to think about something else. This isn’t how she wants to start her morning after such an optimistic performance. She motions for one of their firebender roadies to lightningbend their portable oven--another relatively new invention--in to useable condition and begins fixing herself a hot cup of green tea. She enters the time into the portable oven and puts the cup within.

As she waits for the thing to boil the water, she finds herself something to wear. Something very casual; a simple white T-shirt and a pair of green sweatpants. Baatar is already standing, shirtless, before the mirror when she gets there. Her eyes fall on the mechanical badger-mole he had tattooed on his chest during their first tour. He has another on his back, a large depiction of the mechsuit they had designed together. One day she ought to bring those costumes back on stage.

She watches him fumble with his small gauge earrings. She isn’t all that fond of them, but she makes no mention of it, especially since she had kind of brought it upon herself. She had been the one to suggest getting them in the first place and suggested that everyone in the band get at least one--some extra metal for an Zaofu based metal band.

While Kuvira has little ink of her own she admits to perhaps going a little overboard with the piercings; an arch of rings on both of her brows—the final ring on her right brow linked by a small chain to a different piercing on her ear—a stud collar bone pierced, many more on her ears, and a lip ring. She has been considering getting a new nose stud.

She thinks of Ming-Hua. Ming who is a stark contrast to herself. Ming who isn’t as adventurous, she keeps it simple with only a small navel piercing… the woman didn't even get her ears pierced.

And then she thinks of P'Li who is also pretty simple—the woman was more of a tattoo type. The only piercing she had gotten was one on her arm, a small ruby stud that acts as an eye for her fiery tigerdillo tattoo.

Ghazan is more like herself, having only one tattoo of Vaatu on his bicep but a collection of piercings. Most notably are his nipple rings, the man likes to make a point of reminding everyone of how much those had hurt. His ears are also pierced from top to bottom and more recently he had acquired himself some snake bites.

Kuvira squeezes next to Baatar and begins quietly unraveling her braid. In the mirror she sees Baatar lean in and slip his arms around her middle as he cranes his neck to press a kiss to the back of her own. Right on the one tattoo she does have; a lotus flower opening into a cloud of teeny music notes.

“How’d you sleep?”

“Very well.” She replies.

“Good to hear. And how is your throat?”

She lifts her hand and gives him a ‘so-so’ gesture. It could certainly feel worse. She hears her roadie call to tell her that her drink is done. “Join me for some tea?” She knows by now that he isn’t a fan of the drink, but she still likes to ask.

“I’ll pass.” He unhooks his hands and lets her return to her tea.

Staring into her cup she tries to come up with a way to keep last night’s momentum going. She hopes she can cling onto her spunk for at least two more shows. It could do the band wonders.

P’Li comes to sit next to her, slamming a magazine down onto the table with force enough to have some of Kuvira’s tea splattering on the table. “Look at this shit!”

Everything in the woman’s tone tells, Kuvira that she doesn’t want to. Either it is an article dragging them through the mud or something prising Fire Of Agni in a way they don’t deserve. No, she doesn’t want to know, but she looks anyhow.

Her nose crinkles in disgust. “That’s not the same picture is it?” She hopes that she is mistaken and that it is the one she’d already seen.

“Nope, brand new.”

If it is attention that the Fire Of Agni members want, they are certainly getting it. Kuvira tosses the magazine in the trash, thanking Raava that she’d never go that far for publicity.

What she doesn’t understand is why they need it, Fire Of Agni already has all eyes on them. Perhaps they want to completely overtake the spotlight.

The magazine glares up at Kuvira from the rubbish bin.

#Avatar #Legend Of Korra #Kuvira #Azula #Baatar #Zuko #P'Li #Ming-Hua #Ghazan #TyLee #Mai #Fanfiction

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