A/N: Before anything else, there have been a few changes in terms of age and well, the circumstance, take it to a point that the two bloodbending brothers are too old for Korra (I got nothing against age related love, but we all know Korra is definitely not gonna look past age and think, oh yeah this guy's hot and romanceable.
So i lessened a decade to the age of both Noatak and Tarrlok. Make it a little more feasible for an understanding despite being an enemy once.
I do not own TLOK I'm doing this as a pass time hobby.
Enjoy
***
It was getting dark, the skies turning orange. Korra almost done with her packing, Naga sniffs her for attention. She had it all planned out. It struck her that today was not a good day. The thought dawned on her so quickly that she may never see her parents again.
"Steady girl... I'll be gone for a while. I need to be alone." She says brushing Naga's fur. "Guard my family for me." Naga whimpered, sad that it has to let go it's owner. It knows what she's going to do.
Korra stood up from Naga and said her goodbyes. When she went on the little boat that had a little tent, she bended the air forward. The fear held her like a python. Harder than anything she ever faced before. The avatar was not needed. Nor was the avatar able to quiet the nightmares waking her up every night. Guilt panged like a snare.
The boat swiftly moved on the ocean. She didn't dare look back for she knew she'll forget everything and come back to her family. Slowly, but surely, she thinks. Wave after wave and after a while, she looked back to see the mist engulfing the view of her home. The night was wary of any light and it let her focus up front than behind.
Then a gust of wind shook her sail. The wind will take her to the wrong direction. Getting the map from her pack, she lay it flat beneath her. Too late. The wind took the storm right above her.
"How?!" she cursed under her breath. Why was the storm already here? The wind shook her boat; waves getting out of control. If she continued bending, she would topple over and may drown. She shifted her hands immediately and water bent to the nearest isle she could see.
The lightning struck true on her tent. 'Why do I feel like am i the unluckiest person in the world right now?' she thought as she withdrew to bending the water for protection. She needed to be in the avatar state. Alas, when she couldn't focus out of fear, a manifestation of her avatar spirit instilled a paralyzing gaze. It was like her fear manifested into a state of uncontrollable raw power. A desperate spirit in destroying everything.
Unable to move, she wanted to succumb to the threat and be gone with it. She tried moving. Her arm wasn't listening. 'I'm gonna die'
+++
Birds chirped. It was Nature's call. A man in his late 20's walked past a tree hoping to find breakfast by hunting. He breathed slowly, pulled an arrow as he readied his stance. He crept up to his target with grace and shot it without hesitation.
'Thud'
He carried the dead animal on his shoulder whilst collecting traps. It was a peaceful morn the air felt clear, and not at all what will surprise him days after. The grassy plains welcomed his step, overlooking the town. With a tired huff, he then walked down the path to his home.
It was a humble hut, his abode. Not the stone finishes of republic city and certainly not ice like in the north. Their plot of land was secluded from the village which gave it a reason not to be visited as much. Kiyoshi Island was a very good place to hide.
"Noatak, you're early" He says dropping the dead meat from his shoulders.
"You're late." Noatak replied. He was sitting at a wooden chair focused on the radio. "I found something that may be related to our meeting with the moon spirit... " With a glance, Tarrlok quickly shifted his body. Curiously, he bolted towards the room.
This was becoming unbelievably painful for them. Three years after being revived by the moon spirit, they landed on the isles nearby Kyoshi but for the Avatar to land here where they did before, made Tarrlok shiver from surprise and eeriness.
"Brother, why did you bring her here? I thought we--"
"She's still a girl, Tarrlok. I doubt anyone would look at her without malicious interest." Noatak cut him off with guilt hidden in his voice.
"Oh sure, now you're a gentleman..." He trailed off observing the avatar. She was on their bed seemingly asleep. He thought she looked a bit deranged than the last time he saw her. It was like she had deeper eye bags, she was also sweating profusely. His curiosity got the better of him and he let the back of his hand check her head. He looked at Noatak who was walking at the bedside now with a damp towel in hand. With a swift move, Noatak put the towel on Korra's forehead.
"Never knew you cared." Says Tarrlok as he scoffed at his brother tending to the Avatar.
"I'm beginning to believe we weren't given a second chance just because we should leave her to die. Everything we did before... maybe this was what Yue wanted us to do in the first place."
Korra groaned in pain. Her fever was so high she didn't mind the two men's voices. Noatak gave her a drink from a huge jug, heaving with all her might, she drank it all and threw it across the room with irritation. Tarrlok avoided the object in the nick of time, "Brother I think this is the part where she knows us and enter avatar state to kill us."
"No. If she did, she wouldn't have just knocked herself out with our water." He shrugged and kept the towel on her forehead. Strands of her hair blocked his view and he gently picked it all away. He realized his heart beat furiously. Panicking, he strode back to his wooden seat near the radio and distracted himself from the thoughts.
Tarrlok still has a disbelief that Noatak was at peace with this at all. "Noatak..." pleading for answers, "Did you really do this out of atonement?"
"Don't worry brother, my reasons are purely for self interest. I get no pleasure in helping a bender but no one seems to be stopping the war up north." It was like Noatak shifted to Amon in a matter of seconds. The bitterness gripped them both in the despair that they prefer death.
Tarrlok got back to his hunted meat. Relishing the memory of his mother fixing a broth whenever he and his brother got sick, he seasoned the meat like so.
"How exactly did you find her, you say?" He began to ask. Leaving the broth to boil, he went back to the bedroom and changed her damp towel. She was still asleep. He observed how she breathed and how her sweat trickled down her throat. 'Poor kid, i never should've bloodbent you'
"She was alone in the beach. There was no polar bear-dog around nor did she have any annoying friends to fawn over her." He saw Tarrlok looking at Korra intently. Perhaps he wasn't listening
"And?" Still looking at her with intense eyes.
"At first I wanted to leave her ... However, I deemed it necessary to watch over until someone got her." He sipped some tea. "the longer I waited, the more fishermen got pulled by her young body... Her clothes were torn to the point of exposing most of her womanly features." Cooly he blew on his cup again. It was not new that old men prey on young motionless women. Deep down, the allure is there, it just wasn't the thing he'll do out of the satisfaction. He's not that kind.
Tarrlok felt sympathy wash over him. While waiting for the meat to cook, he pulled a chair and observed the fully realized avatar. Even before the shenanigans, he was not the kind of person to laugh at the malicious intent some people hold. It was in his mind, a deplorable and abhorrent thing to do to deflower an unconscious person. He at least had dignity not to sink that low.
For the past three years, he was bendless. Amon finally returned to being this older brother that looks out for his family. In no way does he realise this, but Tarrlok thinks that this was only done out of desperation for finding self worth. Perhaps Noatak's atonement comes not from the avatar's wake rather--a more subtle approach of making up with his past. 'Which makes it my destiny to help this young woman.' Tarrlok thought.
"She's gonna melt by the way you stare." Noatak said as Tarrlok snapped out of the trance.
"Noatak says sarcastically." He replied no humor in his voice.
"Funny"
Korra groaned again, this time, her hand reached above like it was grasping something they couldn't see. Noatak walked towards them in the bedroom and asked Tarrlok to tend to the food. He was not healing type but he does know a thing or two about survival.
Pondering the cause of her fever, he held her reaching hand as comfort. It was cold and sweaty. He hasn't held her hand like this, but he thought that her hands were warm. She was fiery, passionate, obnoxious, and rather childlike. What he sees right now is a cold death gripped Korra. Korra. It's so unlike him to say her name. Perhaps if she was not the avatar or if she was a non bender, he would've considered her as a companion.
"Let's eat, brother" Tarrlok called.
Noatak let go of her hand and wiped the sweat off his hands on his shirt. He sat down the dinner table just outside the bedroom. He can still see the avatar. Her breathing has stabled ever since he held her hand. He wonders if it helped.
A few days passed like wind, and a sudden thud in the bedroom woke both brothers up. They slept in the living room for the time being. Korra's fever had been going down for quite a while now.
"Korra?" Tarrlok stood up from the sofa, in panic. When he walked inside the bedroom, he saw Korra knelt down on the bedside her arm gripping the sheets. She was in pain. He didn't know if he should help her. The fear that without his bending, he couldn't protect himself from her clutches this time. She snapped up looking at him with fear.
Quickly she pushed herself off the floor and landed on her bosom. Her eyes blinked from glowing to normal in a fast frequency. "H-h-help..." She said. "Make it sto-op." She looked down on the floor as she held her head fearing to be out of control.
"Noatak?" He whispered loudly. "Help me out here."
"What, a young girl made you cry?" Noatak was still on the other sofa with his arm over his head. Tarrlok had a nerve pop out of the temple of his head and huffed in frustration. Without his bending, he would be defenseless against the raging avatar.
But
Somehow, he slowly knelt in front of her and paced to come near her fragile body. She wasn't wearing anything other than the bandage on her chest and her loose pants. Her hair let down, she looked up at him again, a hand shot up to hold her shoulders. Warm hands, she felt. She calmed down, and the glowing eyes stopped. Safe. Warm. Home.
With a tired sigh, Tarrlok helped the confused avatar up the futon. "Are you alright?" He asked.
Korra was looking at him--staring--as he placed a stool facing her and sat. She looked at her hands, then at Tarrlok, then around the room. "Who are you? Where am I?" Innocence at her voice.
Reality slapped Tarrlok. When Noatak came in the bedroom, Korra looked at him not knowing what to say. Her hair with uncontrolled waves made his heart skip a bit. Blushing as he saw she was not wearing enough garments. "Korra get dressed" he said as he threw his towel on her.
"She doesn't remember us brother." Tarrlok said still observing Korra.
'What?'
"What??" This was a cruel joke. How come she forgets everything he's worked up on? Cruel, cruel life, this is. He shot a glare to Tarrlok. Tarrlok gave a shrug with his shoulders. And he looked back to Korra as she covered herself with the towel.
"Wait, I don't understand. You didn't even answer my question!" Korra asked relentlessly. Her headache grew worse and she held her face in her hands. "Help me." She says.
The two brothers looked at each other, they both understood, Noatak went away to hunt and Tarrlok guided Korra with his hands. Careful from wrecking her mind, Tarrlok introduced himself and his brother and where they were. "What do you remember before this?" He asked.
"I don't. Who was I?" She was confused. She felt wary with the people she was especially that guy named Noatak. It was like her instincts are telling her to run. But maybe this was just the after effects of being in... wait... she doesn't remember. Where did she come from?
Gripping Tarrlok's warm hands, Tarrlok let her lie back down the bed. No matter how many women fawned over him before, this was the only time he flustered looking at womanly features. He felt a tingle in his spine when he saw how toned Korra's muscles were. Her hair grazing his arms, he looked below only to see her cleavage. Immediately he looked up for comfort. This was highly inappropriate.
"I only remember being blown away from my little boat. I was supposed to be headed somewhere. I can't even remember my name." She says. Tarrlok hushed her panic and offered her warm water.
She was beginning to trust this man, Tarrlok. Maybe he knew her before this. After drinking the cup, "You and your brother seem to know me... who exactly was I?"
Tarrlok was still walking on thin ice. Was he supposed to bombard her with information and scare her off? Tell her he used to bloodbend her and his brother used to be her archenemy? It was too much pressure in a short span of time.
"You're Korra. A bender of sorts..." He stood up and gathered more water. "You weren't exactly close to us but my brother knew you more than I did, perhaps."
It was quiet as she slowly processed what he had said. A sharp pain on her head made her drop the cup.
Tarrlok failing to grasp it felt as if water called to him ever so slightly. It's like his block vanished. All of a sudden, like a slow motion, he bent the water halfway Korra's lap however the mug landed with a thump. He can't believe it. He was waterbending. Again. For the first time in three years!
Korra looked dumbfounded. It's as if she felt calm knowing that he has shown his smile. She saw Tarrlok smile. Her blood pumped vigorously aroused by excitement. She didn't know why but when he bent the water with his hand, she felt akin to the element. Perhaps they have answers.
Noatak arrived just at the door. He dropped the bag full of fish at the entrance and he seemed shocked as he saw Tarrlok bending water. Nostalgia clung to him like a spider.
"You can waterbend!" Shouted Korra with a weak smile. He swears, if only Korra could be this ignorant of the truth, he will accept her as a friend. He hasn't forgotten their battle and she purposely air bent him to the sea. But maybe that was a different Korra... this girl was new—a child, a lady, an innocent soul—he couldn't bring himself to destroy her without the truth.
Tarrlok saw the figure by the doorstep. Feeling himself in the longest time, he shows Noatak his bending, "Brother! I can bend again" He poured the water in Korra's cup which she held out willingly.
Maybe this was a good thing.
Maybe the atonement was to start anew.
The world doesn't need the avatar anymore. The world can go shove its imbalance up its arse for all he cares.