The Longing ⇝ BOOK 2 > LOK

18

Lyra (2)

At the prison, we all waited for Mako out in the main hall. On the way here, Bolin and Asami explained everything to me.

I felt a little bit guilty for leaving him here alone. Maybe I could have done something to stop this.

When Mako walked out with Bolin at his side, all of us clapped for him. He smiled at the sight, making me feel warm.

"Nice job, Mako. You're going to make a great detective." Beifong promotes.

"But chief, there aren't any detective openings right now." One of the detectives said.

"Actually, we have two openings."

The detectives looked at each other worriedly. As this went on, Mako's eyes finally met my own.

"Hey, you." I said shyly.

"Oh, did I forget to tell you? Lyra's back!" Bolin pointed.

"Lyra... hey." Mako simply just stood in his spot. "When did you get back to the City?"

"Not too long ago. Little did I know though that I'd come back to my boyfriend being a convicted felon."

He shook his head. "It was all a misunderstanding."

I nodded. "Bolin filled me in. I'm sorry I wasn't here to help."

"Don't worry about it." Mako took quick glances from me to the side of me. When I turned, Asami was looking straight at him. I sensed a weird vibe coming from both of them.

I looked back to Mako, but before I could say anything, Korra walked over.

"I'm sorry to interrupt." Korra walked over to us slowly. "But I just wanted to apologize about the fight."

While the two of them talked, I backed away and joined my father and the others. Bolin smiled at me and I forced one back.

"Did anything else happen while I was gone? Anything I should know about?" I asked him. He only shook his head. "Hm, no. I pretty much filled you in."

I slowly nodded. "I see." I took one last look at Asami and when her eyes met mine, they  quickly darted away.

"We don't have much time." My father said. "We need to figure out how to deal with Unalaq."

"I think I know just the man to talk to." Bolin said.

>>>

Beifong guided us to Varrick's cell - exquisite cell might I add. Bolin said he should be able to help us.

"Guys, hey! What do you think?" Varrick asked as he spun around in his expensive cell. "Varrick Industries built this prison and I had this cell made special. I had a feeling I'd end up here one day."

A small ding went off and Varrick wasted no time to yell for Zhu Li. I wasn't even surprised when she walked into the room.

"Zhu Li, come on! We got guests! Whip up a pot of that green tea I love!" He ordered. Zhu Li nodded, "Yes Sir."

"Zhu Li's in prison with you?" Korra asked him.

"Of course! I don't go anywhere without my assistant, do you?" Varrick retorted like it was obvious.

"We're not interested in your tea. And this isn't a friendly visit." Mako interjected.

"Don't tell me you guys are still mad about everything that happened. I did some good things too." Varrick began to list off one good thing he's done for each of us. Well, excluding Mako and I since I was never really involved and he got Mako thrown in jail.

"You stole everything from me and you tried to kidnap the President. Those are pretty bad, too." Asami reminded him.

"I wasn't going to hurt him. I just needed to start a war. Well, a bigger war!" He defended.

"Well, we're going to end it. Where's all that stuff you stole from Asami?" Bolin asked.

"The Future Industry stuff?" Varrick placed his hands on his hips. "It's on my battleship."

"You have a battleship?" I asked, but clearly should've known.

"Of course I do! I bought the first one they made!" He turned and walked back to his chair. "Named her The Zhu Li."

Bolin furrowed his brows. "You named your battleship after your assistant?"

"Yup. They're both cold, heartless war machines."

Zhu Li placed down a tea cup on the table next to Varrick. "Your tea, Sir."

"Look, I am truly sorry for the mess I caused." Varrick picked up the cup before smiling over at us. "Let me make it up to you. Take Zhu Li."

Zhu Li looked down at him confused. After finishing his sip of his tea, he clarified for us. "My battleship. It's yours, and everything on it."

"It's not the fleet we were looking for, but it's the next best thing." Korra smiled.

Bolin cheered. "Alright! Team Avatar is back in business!" He grabbed us all and squeezed us in a tight hug.

>>>

We had already set sail for the South Pole on the battleship. The moon shined high and bright in the sky. The water's breeze sending chills down my body. Yet it still was a very pretty night.

I leaned over the railing and looked down at the water. I put my hand down and felt the water that hit the boat splash on my fingers. Hearing the waves crash against the boat was soothing.

"Lean anymore and you might go overboard."

I turned around and Mako was behind me. I only looked away from him and back to the ocean. 

"Here, you must be cold." He wrapped a blanket over my body.

"Thanks." I said, wrapped it tighter around me.

"Of course." He leaned his back against the rail and crossed his arms. From the corner of my eye, I could see him staring at me.

"Is there something you want to talk about?" I asked him, my tone of voice laced with attitude. "Is that why you came out here?"

"I came out here to be with you." Mako turned his whole body to face me. "Is something going on?"

"Is there?" I furrowed my brows, turning to look at him. "Because you've been practically ignoring me since the prison. And Asami won't even look at me."

Mako sighed, looking down to the floor.

"If something happened, Mako, you have to tell me. Because I don't like feeling dumb -  its not fair."

"I know, I know. You're right." He brushed his hair back then faced me. "When Asami and I found out that all of her machinery from Future Industries got wiped out, she was worried and- and vulnerable so she... she kissed me."

I let my arms fall to my sides. "She kissed you?"

"It meant nothing to me. I just didn't know how to tell you."

I scoffed. "Asami kissed you."

Mako sighed, reaching his hand for mine. "Lyra-"

I backed up, not letting him touch me. "She's still in love with you, Mako."

"That doesn't matter."

"It does matter." I took off the blanket and handed it back to him then walked away.