Hello Republic City
She was 21 now and had finally mastered three out of four of the elements, but she was still stuck here in this terrible place. No, she wasn’t talking about the Southern Water Tribe, but the compound and all the disgusting memories she now has from it.
She had developed a hatred toward almost all humans. The White Lotus made it easier for her hatred to grow.
Even Muzan’s voice in her head,
Humans are beneath you Korra.
And she believed it because his words were true.
She needed to leave this place once and for all and free herself from the White Lotus. Korra needed to finally learn how to air bend and it didn’t seem like Tenzin would be coming any time soon. An escape would be easy for her and she could have done it all those years ago by the help of Nakime, but she chose to stay to complete her duties as the Avatar to master the rest of the elements she had unlocked. To her, she owed Katara that much.
But now, she owes it to herself to live freely like Muzan said. To be able to finally live her life as a demon Avatar outside this wretched place, even if the world was kept under wraps about who the Avatar was after that night 13 years ago. It was time for her to embrace herself.
To fully explore the world.
She planned her escape right after she was escorted back from her hunt. The guards usually separated from her once they came back to the compound like they didn’t want anything to do with her. The feeling mutual.
She didn’t need to bring much with her, she already had a bag with extra clothes waiting for her hidden in the stable and it’s not like she needed any money either. Just herself and Naga against the world really.
As she made it to the stable and started putting Naga’s harness on before they ditched this place once and for all for Republic City, she heard a voice that was unmistakably Katara’s.
“A nice night for an escape, isn’t it?” Korra could hear the smile in her voice and was proven right when she turned to look at her master.
Adjusting the saddle on Naga she replied, “I couldn’t agree more with you.”
Katara walked up to Korra as she finished her preparations to leave. She faced her master and prepared herself for the goodbye.
Her waterbending master smoothed out her fur coat and released a sigh, “I want you to take care of yourself out there, okay?” That caring tone of voice of hers almost made Korra choke on her next words. Katara had always been by her side and for that she was grateful.
“I will do my very best, Master Katara.” As she hoisted herself up on Naga, Katara asked in more of a joking manner, “Anything you’ll miss from here?” She couldn’t help but laugh at that.
“Just the snow.” She smirked along with her response. She couldn’t care less about the compound and the people.
Katara followed her out the stable and into the snowy night. Last words were about to be said.
“Will you say goodbye to your parents?”
“Of course.” She gripped the reins tightly preparing for the escape, excitement now flowing through her entire body.
“I wish you luck out there, Korra.”
She did not look back as she and Naga were about to charge straight into one of the walls that surrounded this place. She bent the wall to open up just for them, nobody would notice or hear. Frankly, she didn’t think they would care.
In a quick flash they were out.
True to her word, Korra did say goodbye to her parents before she snuck her and Naga onto one of the boats headed to Republic City. They settled below deck where crates and other types of cargo were stored and nestled in till they arrived.
Korra had time to think until their arrival.
What would she do besides learn how to airbend? How could she be of service to Muzan now that she’d finally be in Republic City? She was sure that he would be happy that she’s out of that compound.
She knew the demon population was vast but they tended to be in more secluded areas and not cities except for upper rank two and six. She’ll make note to visit Daki of course and maybe she’d even run into Akaza. There was just so much to do, she thought.
One thing for sure is that she wanted to have fun.
The boat swayed from time to time and Korra waited to feel when they docked. It felt like forever since they had left the docks but she waited patiently. As she was lost in her mind thinking of all sorts of things, they had finally docked at the port in Republic City. Gently waking up Naga and getting right back onto the saddle they both stormed right off the boat and into the night of Republic City.
An open smile on her face as she and Naga explored what the night life had to offer. There were so many lights and people bustling about. So many buildings she could see in the distance varying from big to small. It was nothing like back home.
There were plenty of cars so she decided it would be best to leave Naga somewhere around this park she stumbled upon after avoiding crashing Naga into any cars. She guided her best friend into an area with trees and instructed her to stay put while she went off to get more familiar with the city.
She tussled the white fur around her neck, “I’ll be back, okay?” Naga just licked her face in response and she grinned at that.
As she was about to leave she had felt that presence right behind her.
She turned around and took a knee, bowing to Lord Muzan, “What do I owe the pleasure of your visit, Lord Muzan?” It had been a while since she had last seen him.
“My dear Korra, you may rise,” she did as she was told and faced him before he continued, “I wanted to welcome you personally.” He had a genuine smile on his face but Korra sensed something was wrong. He was angry and she wondered why.
He walked a little closer to her and let out a sigh of frustration, “Korra, I need you to get rid of three demons for me.” His tone of voice had turned from kind to serious.
“Consider it done, my Lord and if I may, what did they do to cause you such anger?” No one was ever allowed to question Lord Muzan because if they did, they would no longer cease to exist. Korra however, was the only one allowed to do so.
“They’ve become greedy pigs and I will no longer allow it,” he said while stepping to Korra's side resting his hand on her shoulder, “They travel together around the taller buildings in the city.”
“You have my word.”
“Good.” And just like that he vanished into the dead of night. Their meetings together brief and to the point.
She had a job to finish and so with that she immersed herself into the bright lights of the city among the people making her way to where she needed to be.
As she got further away from the hustle and bustle, the light poles started to become further apart and the streets less illuminated. It made a fine place for demons to catch their prey. She kept on walking, blending into the shadows of the night as she came across a pretty tall building with the words “Future Industries.” The name familiar as she had seen snowmobiles from home manufactured by them.
This seemed to be the place Lord Muzan had mentioned, it was just a waiting game now.
Korra waited atop a building right across from Future Industries since she took notice of the lights still being on. The time was late, surely people would have left their jobs by now. She perched on the edge waiting for someone to come out. Prey to be exact.
It was almost midnight and Korra was bored out of her mind.
“Geez who works this freaking late?” She said to herself while scratching her head in frustration, but not a minute later she perks up. The lights in the building were off and she saw a young woman now exiting the building. She had long black hair from what Korra could see and she watched till she started her moped. Korra followed her from the rooftops waiting for those demons to come out, she knew they would.
The thrill of a fight rushing through her veins just as the young woman stops at a red light and she sees them come out making their way towards her.
Asami tries not to stay late at work but sometimes projects get the best of her and she stays later than she plans to. It was a thankful text from her dad that made her notice how late it was and it was probably best to go home. You can’t do your best work with a tired mind.
She bid the security a good night and she checked the streets to see if they were quiet so she could speed a little. If there was one thing about her it was that she loved the thrill of racing, of course not without proper safety. After putting her helmet on and checking that the coast was clear, she sped off home. She was hitting green light after green light, what great luck she thought until she finally hit a red causing her high to die down. But something didn’t seem right to her. Call it instinct but she so desperately wanted the light to turn green.
Then that’s when she saw it or more like heard it. It was like teeth grinding so loudly and aggressively that she covered her ears and looked around. What was approaching her were three people who looked like monsters. They were scary looking and they kept on coming closer. She was instilled with fear at this very moment that she didn’t even realize the light had turned green. She could only yell, “Stay back!”
Those three demons just laughed and started to speak amongst themselves.
“Should we share this one boys?” The one with four eyes who walked on the ground like a feline said while darting out its long tongue.
There was the teeth grinding again and she now knew which one it came from. He had two horns protruding from his forehead just like the other feline type monster. But this one had deep red eyes like the other taller one who had what appeared to be drums attached on his body.
“She’s young so I know she’ll be tasty.”
They started to approach her slowly and all the years of martial arts and self defense training her father had put her in decided to just go right out the window. Fear overtook her body.
Of course Korra was watching this all play out, deciding when was the perfect moment to jump down to get rid of those scum. She noticed that one of the demons was an excommunicated lower moon and she did not feel like getting into his demon art. She’d make it quick and painful for them.
As the demon in the middle whipped out his long tongue towards the woman on the moped, Korra decided now to make her appearance. She landed right in front of her, catching the tongue in her hand and enjoyed the way they all froze when they saw what her eyes said when she opened them.
She could sense the fear coming off the woman behind her as her claws bit into the flesh of the demon’s tongue. Perhaps she could get rid of that fear for her once she disposed of these three scum.
She had a devious smile on her face as she addressed them, “Why do you all look scared all of a sudden? You should be grateful that you’re about to die by my hand.” They turned angry at that, including the one whose tongue was in her grasp. “Oh, you want your tongue back don't you?”
The demon to the right of him started to grind his teeth aggressively before he yelled at her, “I’ll take killing you as an opportunity instead!” As she heard those words she pulled the demon’s tongue that was in her hand straight to her. The sheer force pulled him right to her and in an instant she sunk her claws into his face and lit his head on fire with her demon art. Tossing the body away as it started to fade, she turned to address the excommunicated lower moon.
Pointing at him, “Do you know why you’re going to die, Kyogai?” He grit his teeth at her words while raising his hand to tap one of his drums. “I’m trying to get myself back into his good graces!” She wouldn’t give him the chance to activate his demon art.
She appeared right on his back in the blink of an eye, digging her claws into his head while she whispered into his ear, “You became too greedy and couldn’t rise up to his expectations.” And with that she crushed his head and set his body aflame with her demon art.
As he crumbled away she faced her next victim, that annoying teeth grinding demon. She laid her hands outwards by her sides provoking him, “Come on, I’ll give you the opportunity to go first!” That cocky smirk right on her face pissed him off.
Two swamp like dimensions appeared right below where her hands were and two clones appeared and cut them off. He had a smirk on his face as if he had an actual chance of winning when that was far from it. He’d never know that she let him cut her hands off.
She lifted her arms up and shrugged her shoulders as her hands regenerated back fast, “Wow, so there’s three of you? How exciting! I’ll make sure you enjoy it.” The swamp dimensions appeared again and with smooth movements she water bended his clones out from their swamps and froze them. She went at him and restrained herself to not use her full strength as she threw punches at him without giving him any room to defend himself.
Her fighting style was aggressive and fierce just like she was but she was also agile and quick-witted. She threw punch after punch, gradually increasing her strength until she heard the ice starting to crack. His clones were starting to attempt to break free.
She punched right through his stomach before finishing him off, “Any last words?” she asked while he spit up blood. She pulled her arm out and lit him on fire. He started to fade away while she lifted her hands and squeezed them, making the ice shatter into pieces and his clones no more.
Wiping the blood off her face and noticing the splatters on her jacket ( I knew I should've left it with Naga), the girl from behind spoke. Korra had almost forgotten about her, almost but the fear she sensed before was much fainter now.
Asami was not scared or at least not as much anymore. The woman in front of her, although she could mostly see her backside and side profile, her eyes were so captivating and the brightest shade of cyan she had ever seen, even with those slit pupils. She assumed whoever she was based on her attire and the waterbending that she was from the Water Tribe, though it did not explain that blue fire.
This woman saved her and she had to know, “Who are you?” she asked, anticipating an answer.
Korra stretched her limbs before slightly glancing at the woman on her moped with an unreadable expression, “A demon,” she started to walk away from her and left her with these last words, “Go home.”
Asami blinked and she was gone.
Korra made her way back to Naga so they could finally head to Air Temple Island but little did she know that she’d see that girl again.