The nightmares never really stopped. Yume pulled me into the Spirit World more frequently. But it was the nightmares that happened every night. I didn't tell anyone about them. I wanted to figure them out myself. But I had no leads to where to start looking. Not to mention I had a job, and some new friends with a strict training regimen.
I tried to go with Korra in the early mornings to their pro-bending practices, but found it hard, as I was getting less and less sleep everyday. On the mornings I did manage to wake up, I would bring the team treats from the local bakery, or from mom.
I pushed open the door to the training room, just as a larger man, wearing a fancy suit and hand pass by me. He nodded and smiled in a greeting as he walked past.
I held up a bag to the three tired looking individuals. "Er, I brought peach buns." Bolin's eyes lit up as Mako sourly packed away his bag.
"Honestly Yuki, you are the best!" Bolin said, graciously taking one and shoving it in his mouth. He let out a little sigh of content.
I glanced at the others. "Um, is everything okay?" Mako sighed.
"Not exactly. The Fire Ferrets need to pay thirty thousand yuan to enter the championship. And we have nothing." My face fell.
"What? But I thought you guys already got in by winning those games. They can't just ask you to pay up again!"
"Apparently not." Mako grumbled, slinging his bag over his shoulder. "It's fine, I'll figure something out." The weary firebender headed towards the door "I always do." Bolin trailed after him, taking the peach buns.
"Did you know about Mako and Bolin's past?" Korra asked in the silence. I nodded,
"Yea, their parents... they were killed. And they lived on the streets for a long time."
Korra nodded, "Yea... I just found out."
"Oh."
Korra and I both stood in the empty training room. My eyes felt heavy. I shook my head a few times and grabbed her arm. "Anyway, my dad's probably expecting you for airbending training. We better go."
~~~
Later that day, I sat with Ikki watching Korra train. Jinora was instructing Korra as she made her way through the spinning gates.
"Good." JInora called out, "Light on you feet!" I heard the shuffle of feet sliding across stone, with the whistle of the gates spinning on their gears. The sunset was warm on my skin and I began to feel drowsy. Ikki shifted as I slid down, tucking my hands behind my head and closing my eyes.
"Wake me up for dinner." I mumbled to my sister as I felt her pat my head.
But, my sleep time was short lived as I heard Jinora say, "Ohh, he's cute. Korra, is that the handsome firebender boy that drives you crazy?"
My eyes opened faster than I would've wanted as I shot straight up.
"What?" was the only word of out of sleep-muddled mouth. My two sisters ignored me, as Ikki jumped up,
"Does he drive you crazy in a bad way, or does he drive you crazy like you like him?" She asked teasingly. In a panic, Korra earthbended a slab of rock that my sisters jumped away from, giggling and running off. Korra glanced at me, a little flushed. I frantically rubbed my eyes.
"Korra-!"
"Heeeey, Mako!" Korra said quickly cutting me off and turning to Mako.
"You seen Bolin?" Mako asked, giving Korra and I both nods for a greeting. I groaned silently, standing up and slinking over to them.
"Nice to see you too." Korra said, folding her arms "And no... I haven't seen him since practice. Think something's wrong?"
Mako shrugged, "I don't know.... Bolin has a knack for getting into stupid situations." He sighed and turned around, "Well, see you later."
Korra and I exchanged glances.
"Where are you going?" I asked.
"Going to look for him."
"We could uh... help you look for him." Korra offered.
Mako shook his head., "Nah, I got it." Korra rolled her eyes taking a few steps forward to grab Mako's wrist.
"Hey, cool guy, let us help you. We can take Naga."
"Uh, who's Naga?" Mako asked as she dragged him along.
"My best friend." Korra said, "And a great tracker."
"Hey I thought I was your best friend." I said teasingly, as Korra went to go get the polar bear dog.
~~~
"So your best friend is... a polar bear dog." Mako noted. We had all climbed onto Naga, me being in the middle of the two. "Somehow that makes perfect sense."
"I'll take that as a compliment, city boy." Korra replied, tugging the reins as Naga bounded through the city streets.
We found ourselves at Central City Station. Night life was far more sketchier in terms of how many gang members and homeless people appeared, but it was cozy in its own right, with warm streetlamps, buskers and local children running around. Fire Lord Zuko's statue was alight with fire in his outstretched hand.
"Well, this is his usual hangout." Mako said, looking around. He slipped off Naga, scanning the area. Spotting several kids pushing each other around and laughing, Mako walked up to them.
"You guys seen my brother around here today?" He asked. The boys stilled as we approached. One of the ones at the front exchanged glances with his friends before turning to Mako.
"My memory's a little... foggy." He said, rubbing his two fingers together. With a grin he leaned closer to Mako. "Maybe you can help, clear it up."
Mako sighed, already reaching his hands into his pockets. "You're good Skoochy, a real pro." I slipped my hand into my pocket, thumbing out a yuan bill before Mako. I held out my arm to stop him, handing out my bill instead. Skoochy looked down at the crisp bill with a glimmer in his eyes. He snatched it from me, much to Mako's protest.
"Yeah, I seen him." Skoochy said, cleanly folding the bill and stuffing it into his pockets.
"When?" Mako asked.
"About noon."
"What was he doing?" Skoochy glanced at me, more so my pockets.
I leveled a glare, "Let's not get too greedy."
Skoochy held out his hands in surrender.
"Alright, alright... He was performing some kind of money rat circus... and then..."
Skoochy paused, leaning in closer. We all tilted our ears as the boy spoke quietly, "Shady Shin showed up and flashed some serious cash. Bo took off with him in his hot rod." I felt Mako stiffen as the boy continued, "The Triple Threats? The Red Monsoons? The Agni Kais? All the triads are muscling up for something real big. Now that's all you're getting outta me!" Skoochy ran with his friends seconds after, disappearing into the night.
Korra was undoubtedly, still confused. "What's he talking about?"
"Turf War." Mako and I said at the same time.
"Turf war?"
"The gangs in republic city are at it again, let's just say that." I said.
"And it looks like Bolin's about to get caught right in the middle of it." Mako said, his eyes darkening.
~~~
"So, where're we headed?" Korra asked, as we rode on Naga.
"The Triple Threat Triad's headquarters." Mako said, pointing us in the right direction. "Hopefully Bolin's there and nothing's gone down yet."
"The Triple Threat Triad?" Korra asked, "I beat up some of those yahoos when I got into town!"
"Oh that's just great." I grumbled, pulling my jacket around me tighter. It always got colder at night.
Korra ignored me, only ruffling my hair as she asked, "Why would Bolin get tangled up wit- Whoa Naga!" The polar bear dog jerked forward, chasing a small red creature. I felt Mako grasp onto my waist as Naga skittered to a stop under a street lamp, growling at the creature.
"That's Pabu!" Mako said, quickly releasing his hold off of my waist. He slid off of Naga, rushing to the small fire ferret. Korra pulled Naga away from Pabu.
"No Naga! Pabo's a friend, not a snack." Naga calmed down at Korra's words. Pabu peered at Naga from Mako's arms and the two creatures sniffed each other, touching noses. Pabu wriggled out of Mako's arms and ran along Naga's back. Mako got back on Naga, allowing the fire ferret to climb on his shoulders.
"We gotta hurry." Mako said, as Naga bounded off. "I have a bad feeling about this."
When we reached the headquarters, something did feel off. It felt too quiet. Mako stared at the entrance, looking tense.
"Something's not right." he said, "There's usually thugs posted out front. We better be cautious." As we snuck up to the door, Korra casually strolled up and knocked down the doors with a strong kick.
I snorted, "So much for being cautious." But we had little to worry about. As we entered, we saw broken furniture. But that was it, the whole room was empty.
"Bolin!" Mako called, "You in here?" There was no answer. From outside, behind the room, a truck engine was heard. We quickly ran to the back to see a truck and five motorcycles driving off. The trucks doors were still slightly open, and we spotted Bolin tied up and gagged with a bunch of others.
"Bolin!" Mako shouted, as we ran after the vehicles. Two of the motorcyclists, threw grenades at us, as they exploded in green smoke. I covered my mouth and nose, peering through my eyes to see them drive off.
"They're getting away!" I said, as Korra called for Naga.
We chased after them, Korra and Mako attacking them from behind. We ran into an empty square, when two of the masked cyclists, drew back from the escape party, and turned to attack us. A bola was thrown at Naga's legs, suspending the polar bear dog, as the rest of us flew off her back. Landing clumsy on my feet, I looked up to see the masked figures attacking Korra and Mako. Seeing their movements I narrowed my eyes.
Chi blockers.
Once they had suspended both benders, they turned to me. I heard Korra groan,
"Leave her alone!" They stared at me, as I held my hands up to defend myself. Kira had taught me several chi blocking moves, I knew how they moved. But to my surprise, they ran off and jumped on their motorcycles, driving away. I rushed to the others to help them up.
"Ugh, I can't bend!" Korra said as she flung her arm helplessly.
"Calm down, it'll wear off." Mako said. "Those guys were chi blockers. They're Amon's henchmen."
"Amon?" Korra asked, "That anti-bending guy with a mask?"
"Yes, remember? He's the leader of the Equalists." I said.
"Okay, sure, but what do they want with the Triple Threats?" Korra asked.
"Whatever it is." Mako said, "It can't be good." He folded his arms and scowled, "I can't believe Bolin got himself into this mess!"
I looked up from untying the bola around Naga's legs. Korra approached the firebender, placing a hand on his shoulder.
"Mako," Korra said, "We are going to save your brother. I promise you that."
Mako reached out and patted her hand. "I know," he said, "Thanks..." I quietly shook my head, ushering the polar bear dog onto her feet.
"Let's get going." I said, "Looks like we're on a time crunch."
~~~
We searched well into the night, but we couldn't find anything. It had to have been well past midnight when Korra had an idea.
"Sorry," she said, looking back at us, "I know, it's been a long night. You must be tired."
"Eh," I said, "This is one of the better ways to spend my nights." Not to mention, no nightmares this way.
Korra took us to Republic City Park, and explained, "The first day I got into town, I ran into an Equalist protestor."
"And you think they'll know where Bolin us?" Mako asked.
"It's our only lead right now." Korra said, as we settled down under a tree.
"I know the guy you're talking about." I said, "He was always trying to strike up a conversation with me, as if I was on his side."
"Really?" Korra said, "That must've been annoying."
"It was annoying," I admitted, "I stopped coming here all together because of him."
An awkward silence came over the three of us. I had scooted away from Korra and Mako. There was a strange feeling in my chest, as if part of it felt slightly empty, and there was a part of me that wanted to not speak to Korra. I let out a small sigh and curled up along Naga's broad neck, drifting off to sleep, having an inkling feeling that Mako and Korra were still talking.
The next morning, I woke up, to see that Korra and Mako were sleeping together. Korra's head on Mako's shoulder, and Mako's head on hers slightly. I frowned at the sight and sighed, standing and stretching. Not my problem...
From behind me, I heard the annoying voice of the protestor. Not wanting to go see what was up myself, I sat in front of Korra and Mako, waiting for them to wake up. Three minutes, passed and they both stirred. As they opened their eyes, they froze, looking at each other and jumping back, both stammering.
"Well good morning!" I said, forcing a smile. "You two sure got comfy." They both scowled at me and got up, soon distracted by the whiny voice behind us.
"Nonbenders of Republic City!" The protestor was shouting.
"That's the guy." Korra said, pointing. We started to walk over as he continued shouting.
"Amon calls you to action! Take back your city! It's time for the-" He gasped as he saw us walking over. "It's you again!" He said, pointing at Korra. "You cannot silence me Avatar!" Korra rolled her eyes and swatted away his megaphone. He squeaked as Korra, pointed a finger at him.
"Shut your yapper and listen up. My friend got kidnapped by some chi blockers. Where'd they take him?"
The protestor huffed. "I have no idea what you're talking about!"
"Oh I think you do." Korra growled, slamming her leg down, as a large slab of earth upturned the table, throwing the protestor and his stack of papers into the air. The protestor gasped and rushed to pick up the scattered papers.
Mako picked one up. "Witness the Revelation tonight, nine o' clock." He read, "What's this "Revelation"?"
"Nothing that concerns the likes of you two!" The protestor said, still collecting his papers from the ground.
I stopped in front of him, "Then what about me?" I asked, before Korra could provoke the guy any longer. He froze, seeing my face.
"W-well uh..." I took a step closer to the man, my eyes piercing through him.
"I may not be able to use bending, to provoke you, but you better know that it'll take two seconds to do what a bender could do in five." He squeaked again in fear. "Start talking."
"No one knows what the Revelation is!" The protestor said, panicked, "And I have no idea what happened to your friend. But if he's a bender, then my bed is he's getting what's coming to him!" As I opened my mouth to snipe at him, I heard a policeman from behind us.
"Hey! What's going on over there!"
The protestor shouted, "The Avatar's oppressing us! Help!" As the policeman ran towards us, Mako, Korra and I ran for it; Mako collecting some of the papers in the run.
~~~
We stopped under a bridge, at a trolley station, inspecting the leaflets that Mako collected.
"Why didn't the Equalists put a location on these?" Korra asked, turning the leaflet around.
Mako shrugged, squinting at the papers as if trying to find a hidden code. "Probably because the don't want just anyone waltzing in to their big "Revelation".... whatever it is."
I turned the leaflet to the back, eyeing the odd shapes it took on. "There's pictures on the back." I said, reaching out for another one, "I...think they're different from each other." Quickly, Korra and Mako flipped theirs over. We shuffled our collection of flyers around, hoping to find a pattern.
"There's four different images." Mako finally said.
Korra peered at the four images."So.. is it a puzzle?"
I stared at it, mapping the lines and shapes together. "It is!" I said, moving them together to match up along the lines.
"Of a map!" Mako added. He took the completed picture and compared it to a map on the side of the trolley station. Comparing it back and forth, I planted a finger on the red dot of the flyer, matching it with the location on the actual map.
"That must be where it's going down." Mako said.
I rubbed my hands together eagerly, "I guess we have a Revelation to attend."
"Right, about that," Korra said, "Are you sure you want to come?"
"What do you mean?" I asked.
"Well... it could be dangerous..." Mako said. Both of them were avoiding my eyes.
"Hey, I can defend myself." I said, growing annoyed. "Just because I'm a nonbender doesn't mean I can't fight. I won't hold you guys back, I promise."
They both didn't look convinced.
"So much for good friends." I muttered as Korra laughed,
"Hey now, we just don't want you to get hurt." She said.
"Korra, Tenzin is my dad. You'd think that I was trained to be able to handle myself."
"I just want to be careful," Korra reiterated before putting her foot down, "Here, I'll make a compromise. While Mako and I go into the meeting, you stake out close by and wait for us to come out, and get us out of there."
"That's basically doing nothing." I said, looking at both of them. Mako and Korra weren't responding. "Unbelievable." I muttered, while adding, "Fine, let's go."
~~~
Korra and Mako dressed up in long coats and scarves while I leaned against a wall, watching from a corner as they headed towards the location. They were admitted in by a huge man. Once he the man left his post, I made my move.
"I'm definitely not standing around just waiting." I muttered, running towards the building, and climbing up stairs in the alleyway next door. I climbed the wall and peeked through the high windows from above.
There was a stage at the front, with Amon's face plastered behind a line up of Amon's Equalist soldiers, with Amon at the front of the stage, speaking into a mic.
Unfortunately I couldn't hear what Amon was saying at all, it was all muffled by the walls of the building. It wasn't until familiar looking faces appeared on the stage, did I realize something really bad was going to happen.
Bolin was in the line up of Triple Threats. Their leader, Lightning Bolt Zolt was in the lead. They removed Zolt's bonds, and he stood to face Amon.
"Is he going to fight him?" I murmured. My eyes widened, as Zolt lunged for Amon, blasting fire at him, but Amon was too quick, and dodged all of them. He made quick work of Lightning Bolt Zolt, Amon grabbed his wrist, twisting him around, as Lightning hit the ceiling. I watched as Amon placed his thumb on the center of Zolt's forehead. The lightning bolt faded into a blast of fire, before sputtering to a stop. My blood ran cold.
Act, before it is too late. Yum's voice echoed in my head. A slow, methodical, haunting, alarm.
Amon took away Lightning Bolt Zolt's bending. There was no other explanation. Zolt tried to bend fire, but he could't. His limbs seemed to turn to jelly as he was dragged aside on the stage. Amon turned to the next Triple Threat in the row.
I gasped, "Bolin!" My eyes caught someone in the crowd, moving towards the back. "That must be Korra." I said, hoping they had a good enough plan to get out of there.
I waited in a tense silence as Amon took away the bending of all the Triple Threats. He rounded on Bolin.
"What is taking so long?" I hissed under my breath, as suddenly a loud explosion was heard as steam started to pour out into the large room. People were screaming and ran out as I saw blasts of fire from inside.
"Maybe, I should get back to pretending that I was waiting." I said to myself, sliding down the wall, and whistling for Naga. I took off running, hearing the rumble of people running from all sides. I tried to keep my head down, turning the corner.
Mako and Bolin were on the ground. An Equalist with two electrified kali sticks in his hands.
"You benders need to understand, there's no place in the world for you anymore." He said. I didn't stop in my run as I leapt forward, barreling into the attacker. He stumbled back as I swung my fist, connecting with his jaw.
"I beg to differ!" He stumbled and whirled around, kali sticks buzzing with electricity. I dodged his swinging arm and hit a pressure point. His arm fell limp. As I kicked him square in the chest. A large explosion came from behind me, Korra appearing through the dust and rubble.
"LET'S GO!" Korra shouted. Naga had arrived, scooping up Bolin as we all clambered on.
I looked back, to see Amon and several of his followers watching us go.
"He let us go." Korra said, sounding surprised. I gripped onto Korra's arm, urging her to go faster.
"To send a message, I'm guessing." I said, my mind flashing back to the events beforehand.
When we were out of the line of attack, closer to the harbor, Korra turned her head to me slightly.
"Also, for the record, we told you to wait much farther away than you were!"
"I was fine!" I argued, "Besides, Mako and Bolin needed help!"
"Korra, drop it." Mako said, "Yuki's right. She was a big help."
"Are you-"
"No," I said, "I am not hurt."
We dropped off the brothers shortly after. We promised to get back in touch with them soon. Very soon.
Korra and I headed back. I leaned against her back, feeling drowsy.
"How close did you get to the building?" Korra asked, as we neared the docks to get onto a boat. She wasn't mad, I knew that. I wasn't either.
I slipped off of Naga, watching the sun start to rise. Dawn had arrived. "Close enough." I said, hugging my arms. Korra reached out to squeeze my shoulder. Fear circulated through our heads.
We both knew what we saw.
~~~
When we arrived back on Air Temple Island, dad was already waiting for us in the courtyard. He rushed over to us in a flurry of robes.
"Thank goodness," He said, "I was just about to send out a search party." He looked at both of us, concerned, "Are you all right? What happened, did you find your friend?"
Korra and I exchanged glances.
"Yes but..." Korra started, "I was at an Equalist rally. I saw Amon." Dad looked rather shocked at this info.
"What?" He said.
"He can take people's bending away. For good." Korra said, not wanting to delve into the specifics.
"That's..." Dad started, "Thats impossible. Only the Avatar has ever possessed that ability."
"Dad, we know." I said, "But we saw him do it." Dad looked at both of our faces, his face also falling.
"I believe you." He said after a moment. And as he said that, dread filled his face. "I... I don't know how Amon as achieved this power, but this means the revolution is more dangerous than ever. No bender his safe." His eyes clouded, as he pulled me into a hug.
"I'm glad you got home safe." I sighed and closed my eyes, stiffening as Yume's voice rang clear in my head.
We're running out of time.
______________
A/N:
I'm ngl, I'm running short on time literally all the time. But I found some time tonight to finish up this chapter!
Happy reading and happy weekend to you all.
Thanks for readinggg :D