Chapter Text
Chapter One:
Korra glided high above the train, heart pounding as she looked down and saw some of Zaofou’s metal benders ripping through the roof into the engine room. She drifted lower and lower as she grew impatient with the amount of time it was taking to stop the train. Out of the corner of her eye she saw a group of speeding trucks navigating through the hills next to the tracks.
“Fuck it,” Korra sighed under her breath, willing herself lower in the air and landed on the roof of the train right before it came to a screeching stop. Her knees buckled as she fell forward, stopping herself from faceplanting by bracing her arms. With a groan she stood up and hopped off to the side of the train, greeting the oncoming trucks that stopped a few feet away.
Immediately, Opal appeared from the window of one of the trucks. “Ha! I saw you fall!”
Korra huffed indignantly. “Whatever. We need to focus.”
”Geez,” Opal sighed as she hopped out and walked towards the avatar. “Touchy much?”
”These have been the most stressful three days of my life, don’t you get that?” Korra narrowed her eyes at Opal, who just raised her hands in defeat.
”Considering all that you’ve been through, that’s a huge claim to make,” Opal responded, but after seeing the frustration on Korra’s face she sighed and stepped closer, putting a hand on the other girl’s shoulder. “She’s on this train, and if she’s not, we’ll find her.”
”I don't know what I’ll do if we —“ Korra began to mumble, but a loud shout from one of the carriage doors cut her off. Swinging around, she saw one of the guards waving them over.
”We found her. She doesn’t seem to be in distress.” The guard explained as the girls ran forward.
“Well, hurry. Let’s get her out of there.” Opal said quickly and the guard nodded, looking over his shoulder.
“She’s right here.”
Another guard appeared from inside the train, holding Asami by her upper arm as they stepped outside. She seemed to be lost in thought, looking out over the hills instead of at the people gathered around her.
Once her feet touched ground and she straightened herself, Korra immediately jumped forward, pulling her into a tight embrace. “Oh my god, Asami. I was so worried about y—“ Her words were cut short by a heavy pressure to her stomach, which threw her backwards with such force that she stumbled, the rocky ground hitting her backside. She looked up at Asami, who was towering over her and looked so angry that fumes could’ve started coming out of her ears. Korra opened her mouth to ask what was going on, but couldn’t get any words out before she felt the sharp impact of Asami’s boot against her jaw. Reeling over, the avatar was seeing stars, holding her jaw in her hands while she heard chaotic movement around her. It felt as though all the breath was ripped from her lungs, not that the pain was that bad compared to what she had been through, but because it was inflicted by the person she loved the most.
“Korra, are you okay?” Opal crouched down next to the avatar, who was now face-first on the ground, her face hidden in the crook of her elbow. Opal rubbed her back slowly as Korra’s shoulders shook, unable to hold her tears back. “Korra, something’s wrong with her. We don’t know what it is, but we’ll figure it out. That wasn’t Asami. You know it wasn’t.”
Korra lifted her head, finally looking around. Asami was being led to one of the trucks, hands pinned behind her back. Suyin was there, speaking frantically to her, probably trying to piece together what the hell had happened to her.
With a defeated sniffle, Korra let Opal help her back onto her feet. “I want to talk to her.”
Opal’s gaze drifted between Korra and Asami, who looked completely uninterested in what Suyin was saying to her. “I don’t think that’s a good idea right now.”
”I have to talk to her.”
”She just kicked you in the face. I don’t think she wants to talk.”
A sharp pain rippled through Korra’s chest as she turned away from Asami. “Okay, let’s go back to Zaofou.”
—
A few hours later they were back in the ornate city of Zaofou, people in the halls congratulating Korra as she passed, deeming the mission a success as they had finally found the brilliant engineer who had been taken hostage by Commander Guan. Korra knew she would be expected at dinner, where they would recount the day’s tasks and discuss the further actions, so she let her feet lead her down the hall towards the dining room.
But before she could reach the doorway, someone grabbed her by the elbow. She flinched slightly, but turned back.
“Korra. I wanted to speak with you about Asami.” Bataar Jr. let go of her arm and stood nervously, his balance shifting from one foot to the other.
“What is it? Do you know what’s wrong with her?” Korra pleaded, turning her full attention to the man as he grimaced slightly.
“Well… it’s complicated.”
The avatar sighed loudly and crossed her arms. “Try me.”
”She’s been… mentally compromised by Guan.”
Korra felt her eyebrows furrow as she let Bataar Jr’s words sink in. “What? Do you mean like… brainwashed? Brainwashed into what?”
Bataar Jr. looked extremely uncomfortable now, fidgeting his fingers into his palms and then pulling on his shirt collar. As the moments passed with nothing but silence, Korra felt her frustration rising, bubbling up to the surface. “Bataar! Just tell me.”
”Okay, okay. I just want to… to preface by saying I think this is reversible, if I can rebuild the machinery… we might want to call Varrick however… and I’m not sure how long it will take… but we used to do this type of thing when Kuvira was in charge, so it can’t be that different…”
Korra stopped his rambling by pushing him against the wall of the hallway, holding him at an arm’s length as she tried to suppress her anger. “You think it’s reversible? Why is she so angry?”
Bataar Jr. cleared his throat. “Well, she’s been quite polite since we’ve arrived. Quick-witted as always, but…”
”How can you say that? She kicked me in the face!”
“That’s the issue… she hates you.” Bataar Jr. whispered, looking down.
Suddenly, whatever anger that was festering inside her vanished, only to be replaced by a wave of nausea. She let go of Bataar Jr., taking a step back. “Wha… why?”
Straightening the front of his jacket, Bataar Jr. sighed. “I assume Guan wanted to turn your closest ally against you in an effort to isolate you. Basically psychological warfare.”
”Well let’s tell her she’s been brainwashed. She’s smart, she’ll be able to recognize that what she’s thinking isn’t true.” Korra persisted, but her hopefulness faded as the man in front of her shook his head.
“Suyin doesn’t think we should press her to change her inner monologue right now. And I agree. It’s too much. We should deal with her how she is until we can reverse it.”
”So what about until then, she’s just gonna hate me? Does she even remember who I am to her?” Korra looked towards the doorway, away from Bataar Jr’s face as she felt tears threatening to fall.
”No, she doesn’t.” Bataar Jr. spoke softly, before taking a step closer to Korra. “I think Guan had to erase everything about you, or muddle it up in some way, because she would never hate you if she remembered who you are.”
”Can I at least talk to her? Is she gonna attack me?”
“I think you can talk to her, but I don’t think she’ll be very receptive. However, Suyin talked to her for a long time and eventually Asami agreed to keep it civil… unless provoked.”
Korra wiped a hand down her face and groaned. “This is a nightmare. I just… she just… you have no idea how horrible the timing of this is.”
”Well, if it makes you feel better, my fiance tried to kill me and she was in her right mind.” Bataar Jr cracked a smile as Korra glared at him. “At least you know her hatred isn’t real. Just give me some time to emulate the technology. Let’s go eat.” He didn’t wait for a response, turning away from Korra and walking into the dining room.
Trying to muster up some sense of calm, Korra took a deep breath and entered the dining room, where most of the biefong family and friends were taking their seats for dinner. At the horseshoe shaped table, Korra was about to pull out a chair when she looked up and saw Asami already sitting down at the opposite end. She sat rigidly, eyes downcast at the empty plate in front of her, hands clasped in her lap. Korra swallowed hard, longing to go lift her mood, but knowing it would make it worse. But the seat next to the raven-haired girl was empty. And the avatar couldn’t resist, despite the hard look she got from Suyin as she timidly crossed the room.
Korra put her hands on the back of the empty chair next to Asami, leaning over it slightly to catch a glimpse of the frown plastered on the older girl’s face. “Hey.”
Korra was almost concerned that the engineer had hurt her neck with the way she forcefully snapped her face towards her. To Asami’s credit she didn’t outwardly look repulsed, but Korra could read her eyes better than anyone and could see the disgust leaking out of them.
“What do you want?” Asami said through gritted teeth, her voice laced with an undercurrent of anger.
”I just… is this seat taken?” Korra had to fight to keep her voice light, but with the way Asami was looking at her all she wanted to do was vaporize on the spot.
“Don’t even think about it.”
The avatar sighed loudly, rubbing the back of her neck as she felt the hate-ridden glare burning into the side of her face. “Can we talk?”
”Why?” Asami spat, wrinkling her nose as she turned her attention back to her plate.
“Because I miss you. More than anything.” Korra hated the way her voice sounded, so full of desperation. But if it meant Asami would talk to her, she would’ve gotten on her knees and begged in front of everyone.
“Go away.”
”Please.”
“I’m serious, Korra.” Asami spat out her name like a curse word, making Korra feel like she had been stabbed in the chest.
The avatar hesitated, almost backing away until she glanced down at Asami’s hands, which were now clasped tightly on top of the table. Her heart lifted, and before she could think it through, her own hand reached out. As her hand touched the pale girl’s knuckles she realized what she was doing, but didn’t pull away. Korra leaned forward slightly over the chair, trying to search the eyes of the girl next to her. For a split second she thought she saw the hardness wash away from the pale green, replaced by a certain calmness. That was before she felt the pain.
Before she knew what was happening, her knees were buckling under her as her fingertips were being pushed back towards the inside of her wrist, a pale hand gripping her palm painfully. Asami was standing now, leaning closer as Korra bent deeper, the pain in her wrist causing her peripherals to darken, spots dancing across her vision.
“Don’t touch me.” Asami warned, her voice dripping with malice as she bent Korra’s hand further.
Korra was basically on her knees and she felt sweaty. “I’m sorry.” It came out as a little more than a whisper, but Asami must’ve heard it anyway, because she casually dropped Korra’s hand and sat back down. It took a moment to recover the feeling in her fingers, the sharp jolts of tingles overcoming the numbness that had spread. She flexed her hand as she stood up, sparing a glance around the room to notice that everyone was looking at them. They immediately looked away and resumed their conversations once Korra glared back, but Suyin just sighed and Korra could read her face: it said “I told you so”. Dejectedly, Korra walked to the other side of the room, plopping down in the open seat next to Opal.
“Damn dude. That was tough to watch.” Opal leaned over as the staff brought out the food.
“I just wanted to talk to her.” Korra sighed, turning her wrist in circular motions.
”Maybe not tonight.” Opal gave Korra a weak smile as she picked up her fork.
Not even remotely hungry, Korra picked up her own fork just to move around the contents of the dish. She could feel it, the feeling of slipping further down into herself. But she was immediately pulled out of it when someone took the seat next to Asami.