Asami Alone
Month 1
Ever since Korra’s parents had come to Republic City and were planning to stay, she had found herself returning to the island almost every night after work. She would sleep in what used to be Korra’s old room and lay for hours until she had to get up and go back to work.
Sometimes one of the boys would come to her office and drag her out just like Korra used to and she would find a bittersweet smile plastered on her face during those instances.
Even though Korra had been gone for a month it still hit Asami like a ton of bricks.
When she was at work she dove right into her projects and when she was at the island in her room, she would be working on making adjustments to her glove or she would be spending time with the kids.
She tried many things to get her mind off Korra but sometimes that’s all she could think about, especially with the girl’s parents being around now.
Now that there was a plan underway to save Korra, Tamayo and Yushiro had started to make visits to the island and would speak with Tenzin privately and sometimes Tonraq. She had put her trust into the both of them because if it weren’t for them, they wouldn’t know how to go about this entire situation. Now they were able to look at this with more hope.
Demons started to pop up more in the city which Tamayo had warned them about and also figured could possibly happen. Whether it was Muzan or Korra’s doing, she wasn’t sure, but they weren’t going to be stopped.
Month 3
A curfew was placed in the city. One of which residents of the city had to be indoors before nightfall. This curfew made Asami dash out the office right at 5 and head straight to the station to meet up with Mako and Bolin. They had formed a unit along with Lin to patrol the streets during curfew. Asami had insisted along with the boys to Lin that they would be of much help since there were even more demons starting to lurk around during the night. It took a lot of what Lin would call nagging to get her to agree.
Tamayo had introduced an ore to them the previous month that was able to kill demons. With this ore it created the nichirin blade which was the only material to be able to cut a demons head off and killing them. Lin was able to bend the ore and create blades for her officers who were metal benders and Asami was able to attach a good size blade on her electric glove that would come out of it with a release.
It took some practice for her to get used to wielding her newly modified glove but thanks to all the martial art classes her dad had her take when she was younger it wasn’t so bad.
They would often go patrolling in Asami’s new Satomobile which was a deep blue with no one in mind in particular. She just simply liked the color blue, that’s all.
When Asami had killed a demon for the first time she would stay there until they vanished after decapitating them. She never striked with anger or hatred but with calmness and peace as if she was releasing these demons from their fates. They were once people after all. They were still people even if others didn’t see it that way. Tamayo and Yushiro were people to Asami and so was Korra, despite them being demons.
Month 4
There was a lot of reminiscing going on, especially with Korra’s parents around and finding herself in Korra’s old room. A water scroll on one side of the wall and everything else mostly plain just like the last time the two of them were in this room together. Korra’s room never had much and maybe it reflected how Korra let everyone perceive her. Letting you in to see her but never really seeing her.
But when she was with Asami, it felt like Korra was letting her see more than she let everyone else did. When they were in alone together, Korra did small things for her like making sure she ate and took breaks, helping her out with her glove and the lingering touches. When they would lay in her room on her bed in peace and quiet, Korra’s eyes seemed to speak unspoken words that Asami couldn’t figure out at the time and sometimes her eyes had shown adoration towards her. Their hands would glide into one another like it was natural and sometimes Korra would even rake her nails along her forearm but gently like a feather. It was times like this where Asami felt that Korra was letting her see more of her. It was as if her walls were down even if Asami never forced her to do so or even forcefully probed about her life. Korra had trusted her, she realized.
Asami had been sitting on the bed, the window open letting the moonlight in. The realization that Korra trusted her and probably would have answered any of Asami’s questions if she ever asked, hit her. Of course, Asami was curious about Korra and wanted to know more about the girl that she surely knew at this point was falling in love with. But she somehow felt that it wasn’t right to ask yet during those times even when maybe the look in her eyes that she didn’t know was Korra’s way of saying she was being vulnerable with only her. It was their own intimate moments.
What Asami had learned before Korra had left them was that she was extremely caring, outgoing and that she loved being around others that she loved and cared about. So of course, the events from a couple months ago just weren’t making sense to her in her mind. She remembers being so crushed and watching Korra while she left on her knees pleading in her mind not to go. But she left anyway. It wasn’t like she heard the only plea she said out loud even if it was faint. She was going to bring Korra back.
But she wanted to know more about Korra and the two people who knew more about her were the girl’s parents.
She lifted herself off the bed and made her way out the room and to where she would find her parents, one of the pavilions. It wasn’t that late out; dinner was already had and some of them were heading to bed or just lounging in the common room. She passed by Jinora on her way out and waved back at her.
She shortly came across Tonraq and Senna at the pavilion where she was last with Korra when they had that one talk. Senna was leaning onto Tonraq as they stared out at the view in front of them. Asami didn’t want to disrupt their peace but she had stuff on her mind. She made her presence known to the two softly but loud enough to get their attention, “Excuse me.”
They had both turned the attention to her and smiled, welcoming her presence. Senna was quick to speak, “Anything troubling you Asami dear?”
She didn’t know where to start or how to even start the conversation so she asked if they could sit and they all took a seat in the pavilion facing one another. Her mouth suddenly felt dry, the words that wanted to come out just weren’t. Fortunately enough, Tonraq’s deep voice filled the silence in the air. “Do you want to talk about Korra?”
Bingo. Either they were pretty darn perceptive or were just reading Asami that well. Grateful enough for the help, she nodded at them and they hummed back to let her know that they were all ears.
“Korra had said something when we were all getting to know each other. It was during a pretty heated argument between her and Mako and she said she doesn’t really have any memories of before so I was wondering if you could tell me how Korra was like when she was a kid.”
The look on Tonraq and Senna’s faces were filled with melancholy but nonetheless a bittersweet smile ended up on Senna’s face. “A very headstrong and stubborn girl just like her father,” She nudged Tonraq in his side before continuing. “She loved facing challenges head on. I remember when she found Naga and we went looking for her. We had found them both curled up against one another in a little cave and I remember her being so stubborn and persistent about taking care of the little polar bear pup at the time. She said, ‘trust me! I’ll take good care of her, just trust me.’ And what could we do but not trust our little girl,” Senna let out a little laugh thinking as if that incident had just been yesterday. “They were practically glued to the hip. That was the same day we found out she was the Avatar.” Tonraq continued on for his giggling wife. “For days she would come out of her room yelling, ‘I’m the Avatar and you gotta deal with it!’ She was so excited about it too. She loved bending and kept saying she would help everyone in the world. When she met Katara they instantly clicked, and she did her water bending lessons at our hut and sometimes at the compound, but it was that one night where she fell asleep with Naga at the stables that things changed.”
He took a deep breath before continuing. “Our girl had changed and everyone else treated her with hate. She was stuck to stay in the compound, and I wish we had done something to stop that. Senna and I worried so much; we saw the change in her while she grew up when we would visit. She never asked us about her brief childhood or how she had met Naga, but she was still the same headstrong and stubborn girl we always knew. When she has her sights set on something, she’ll do it. Korra and I are very much alike, and even though we could tell how much she hated humans, she does have a big and caring heart.”
“Just like her father.” Senna said while laying her head on her husband’s shoulder.
This new information helped Asami with how Korra was with them before everything went downhill. It just seemed so off to Asami and then she remembered when Korra had asked if she trusted her that one night. Something about Senna talking about how could they not trust Korra when she wanted to keep Naga picked at her brain. The way Korra had asked her that question before she was leaving somewhere felt odd.
“I stayed the night on the island one night and Korra was being a little weird.” Her palms were feeling sweaty, so she rubbed them on her pants. “Two days before this, we had talked, and she told me she figured out what had to be done about maintaining peace and she asked me what I’d do. I replied saying that I’d do what was best to myself and the world. Two days after we were in her room. I was on the verge of falling asleep while she was getting ready to leave somewhere and asked me if I trusted her. And to be totally honest, I do, and I still do.” Asami hadn’t noticed she had been crying until Senna wiped the tears from her cheeks. “I don’t understand her actions, but I still trust her. When we were together, she looked so happy and the way her eyes would be so bright made me feel so warm. There were moments where things could have happened,” Asami tilted her head a little in embarrassment to opening up so much to the girl she loved parents. “but nothing happened, and she would just leave a kiss on my cheek or forehead but sometimes she looked pained and I hated seeing a speckle of that in her eyes.”
“It doesn’t make sense to me, but I trust her.”
“The way you talk about my daughter makes me believe that she trusted you,” Tonraq’s big hand landed on Asami’s shoulder in a comforting gesture, “It also seems to me that you even love her.” A big grin was plastered on his and Senna’s face while Asami blushed.
“Don’t worry dear, we’ll keep it a secret.” Senna brought her hand to her lips gesturing zipping her lips shut. “Korra is sometimes a hard to figure out person but maybe you’re right. Let’s continue trusting our Korra. We’ll get her back.”
Month 7
Republic City’s curfew was still implemented but it was a much lighter curfew than the much stricter one in the beginning. More people stayed out late but with their own safety precautions due to the demons out lurking. Some residents still scurried into their homes as the sun set Asami noticed and some continued on with their nights enjoying themselves. Their units still patrolled the city but now Lin had told every unit to keep an eye out for a specific demon if they were to ever encounter her. Korra.
It’s been 7 long months since they’ve last seen her. Doubt crept in when she heard Lin tell everyone that. It didn’t seem likely to Asami at this time if she were being honest.
On days where they weren’t patrolling because Lin insisted that they lived their lives and would make sure Mako even took days off, her and the brothers would eat at Narooks or sometimes Bolin would barge into her office with food making sure she ate. Sometimes she would imagine it was Korra or that she was there with them at Narooks. Sometimes when they got together to hang out it would be sad, but Bolin the ever cheerful and loud man would bring them out of those stupors of theirs and end the nights on a good note.
They were making progress on defeating Muzan and getting Korra back. Lady Tamayo had informed them that the poison to weaken and defeat Muzan was completed but that they had to wait till the man left his den. In other words, they had to wait for him to come to them. Scary as it sounded, they had faith in Tamayo and Yushiro, after all they were lots of help.
Although things seemed to be going well, they were told that they had to start going after the upper ranks by Tamayo and Yushiro. They explained that it would possibly lure Muzan to them. Asami even thought that maybe it would coax Korra out from wherever she was.
The three of them knew where upper rank 6 was. The red light district and it wasn’t going to be an easy feat but they were going to do it. It certainly was a good start at least.
Though Asami couldn’t help but think sometimes about Korra and what she was doing.
I still trust you.
Month 8
Their unit along with a couple other units had defeated upper ranks 6 and 5. They had all happened to be in the same place for them. It was one of the toughest fights for all of them. Asami had struggled a couple of times because Daki and her brother had to be beheaded at the same time to be killed. When they had managed that Asami had felt remorse for the demons. She knew that Korra had somewhat of a relationship with them but Asami was somewhat glad that they were able to move on and rest. She felt that way with every demon they beheaded. They were people and they deserved to be free from Muzan, who they had learned even more about. A cruel man who used others to do his bidding.
Upper rank 5 was a potted demon which also was difficult, but they all had managed. Some officers came out with brutal damages to their bodies but none of the damage was life threatening. This demon was quite the interesting person. His techniques were difficult but thankfully they all had worked as a team together. Asami had some minor bruising and cuts on her body but she was fine. She had gotten even stronger.
It was one night where they were patrolling with Lin that they had gotten a call for backup over the radio. The message was heard on every unit’s radio. After months of doing this, Asami noted that back up wasn’t unusual but the officers on the other end sounded exasperated so it piqued her interest on who they could’ve ran into.
Before they had even made it to the scene, Asami had stopped the car upon seeing officers running towards them yelling for Chief Beifong who was sat in the passenger seat. What caught Asami’s eye was that the men’s uniforms were being dragged by them with blue flames still on them and another man had a wound right through his cheek.
Korra. All that was racing through her mind at the moment was the woman they were trying to save. These men had run into Korra or Korra had purposely attacked them. It happened to end up being the latter once the men explained.
Asami was frozen at the wheel just mulling over in her head that Korra was here. She is here. She is in the city or at least in the vicinity. She felt selfish because she wanted to be the one to run into Korra and try to get some answers out of her. Asami trusted her but she needed to know why things happened this way. She wanted to know why Korra did this to them. Why she left them. Why she left her.
She was frozen at the wheel, gripping it tight and stuck in her head until one of the officer’s voices pierced through her ear. Something about them being able to actually get hits on her which in all seemed off to Asami. Jolting a bit in her seat, she snapped her attention to the officers talking to Lin.
“You guys were only able to land hits on her because she let you or more so she was in control the entire time.”
That was it. The memory of that night when they had that friendly spar. Every punch and kick she directed at Korra was like she was being goaded by her. Asami herself was never in control of that spar they had, Korra was the lead the entire time. Asami never noticed it back then but after hearing the officers it clicked.
Is Korra in control of everything? Was…was she in control from the start? When…
What are you doing Korra?
“It feels like we’re falling right into her lap.”
Lin got back inside the car and buckled up. She looked back at Mako and Bolin before responding.
“Don’t know what that kid is up to but whatever the hell it is, we’re gonna get her back. Besides, we also got Muzan to worry about.”
That was right. They also needed to get to that man.
Month 9
Tamayo had mentioned a flower to them that possibly bloomed on Air Temple Island. Tenzin had no knowledge of such flower, but it was so rare that not many people knew of it. She had told them that Muzan sought this flower out and had the 12 kizuki keep their eyes out for it. They were told to expect Muzan coming to this island soon and so they had to prepare because that was their ticket into finally getting to Korra.
Asami was filled with determination and nothing could stop that. They were so much closer now and a lot of things were happening. Especially on the island.
Pema had finally had her fourth child who was named Rohan and it brought happiness to everyone. It was beautiful to see the kids get to know their little brother. Everyone was smitten with him if she was being honest and so was she. Things were a bit peaceful, but nobody could forget Korra.
The kids had grown a little bit too. Jinora a bit taller, Ikki on the way and so was Meelo but still his rambunctious self. They were still young, but they had tenacity. They trained every day with Tenzin and sometimes Asami would watch when she was on the island which was a lot. She found herself staying on the island much more than her own room at the Sato Estate. Her father had worried at one point when he wasn’t seeing his own daughter at home, but he understood once she explained.
Asami spent time coddling Rohan and thinking how Korra would react if she were here right now meeting him too.
Everyone here had become like another family to her. Everyone was so kind and supportive and sometimes butting heads but what’s a family without that. It was so warm, but it was just missing something. Someone.
She missed Korra so much.
It was nighttime now and here she was sitting at the pavilion where her and Korra once sat. She was looking back on that conversation trying to find something in them.
The moon was beautiful tonight just like it was that one night.
I love you.
She wondered if Korra was looking at the moon right now. Wondered if she ever thought about them or her. Wondered if she missed them too like they missed her.
“Where are you?” She said quietly to herself even though she was alone, and nobody was around to hear her.
She had fallen for Korra along the way. She was sure that there was something between them, but nothing happened. Asami was sometimes too nervous and when she thought Korra was going to kiss her she did something else. But she cherished every single moment they spent together. She opened up her hand and closed it, repeating the action a couple of times. Korra’s hand fit into mine so seamlessly.
Things were so different now. The longing and the pain. The hope. The determination. Asami’s eyes were set on bringing back her friend, the woman she cared about, the woman she loved.
Sometimes when Asami was with Mako and Bolin they would talk about her and the things they had done together before everything. All the fun they had together, the goofy things that Korra and Bolin would do. She laughed to herself a little just thinking about it. The three of them wanted that back. Everyone wanted it back.
“I love you.”
Month 11
Asami had helped set up a trap on the island with Tamayo and Yushiro for when Muzan would step into range. Tenzin would be the one to detonate it and if all according to plan, spikes would emerge from the ground piercing his body and the poison would be coated on every spike. The boys helped putting the spikes in the ground and made sure they handled it with care.
Asami didn’t know what would happen next once the explosive and spikes were set off. Nobody knew really, but they’d have to wait till that day came and it was creeping closer. Time was ticking every second and soon they’d be able to see her.
Pema and the kids along with Senna were heading back to the South to stay with Katara till things were settled here. The kids had tried fighting their way to help them, but Tamayo was the one who was able to talk them into their senses. They needed to be safe and someone had to tell Katara what was going on. Plus, it was already set in stone on who was going to go. The team consisted of the krew themselves, Tenzin, Kya, Lin, Tonraq and Tamayo and Yushiro. The two demons as they put it, were vital help to making sure this worked.
Asami trained harder than ever before. Her and the boys trained together to be prepared for anything that was soon to be thrown their way.
They all ate one last meal together as a family before seeing Senna, Pema and the kids off to the south. It was filled with laughter and stories the kids were sharing. What caught Asami’s eye was one empty seat. One that should’ve belonged to Korra were she here right now. But Asami refrained from feeling down. Senna told stories about Naga and Korra and Mako and Bolin shared some funny story when they were playing with Naga the other day. Asami was content at this moment.
When she went to her room later that night after seeing them off, she let herself collapse on the bed. Tears started flowing right down her face. She had so much pent up and it was all coming out. Asami was hurt, frustrated even. Nothing still made sense and she had no answers and neither did Tamayo. But her tenacity never faltered.
Right now though she needed this. She needed this release because the last time she had cried was when Korra had left.
Eventually she stopped crying and took a deep breath to steady herself. She rubbed her eyes and looked out the window.
Why?
Month 12
Things were going to happen soon. Asami and everyone stayed on the island prepared for the menace himself.
Everyone was on edge a little because none of them except for Tamayo had been in the presence of Muzan. It was a little frightening to say the least, but the plan was going to work. Asami believed it would.
The man of the hour would show up soon.
They would see Korra and bring her back.
Whatever challenges they were going to face they were going to crush them.
We’re coming Korra.