Chapter Text
Prologue:
Battles after battles. No matter how hard she tried, there were always someone else who tried to take her down. Last fight cost her her freedom, her independence. Stuck in a wheelchair for over a year, 2 years to be able to fight and bend on a basic level and into the third year she is still haunted by her darkest demon- herself. So she ran away on her own, lied to her family, the last people to believe in her. She stripped her title, threw away her name and walked away as a nobody. Because, if she could no longer be the Avatar the world needed, who was she?
6 Months Later...
Looking out the windows, the city is full of life even at night. No matter what time of the day, there is never a moment of rest in the place called Republic City, Aang’s city. A hot-pot full of people from all nations, benders and non-benders. Living together in peace.
Korra huffs. ‘Well, mostly in peace. Sometimes.’
Perfect for those who want to go from being no-one to someone.
Korra frowns. ‘Or to a nobody.’
She sighs and straighten up from her leaning position on her mop to keep swapping the floors. She looks back one last time at the big city below through the wide glass windows and goes back to work. One good thing that came with getting a job as a cleaner at Future Industries is the big view over the city from the tower. She had been a cleaner at Future Industries Tower for 2 weeks now. One of the requirements was to be able to work night shifts, when the tower were empty, which with her situation, couldn’t be more perfect. Barely anyone knew she even existed here, except for the HR. She didn’t need to socialize, talk or engage in anything than the motion of swapping the floors. After she had been wandering around through all four nations, even the spirit world, looking for any traces of Raava, she found herself back in Republic City after 2 years away. Irony that she is hiding in the city she is exiled from.
Korra snorts at that. She had seen the job post in a magazine from a hobo and with nothing to lose, she had gone to the job interview.
‘I got the job more out of pity than anything, I looked like I hadn’t showered in weeks.’ Korra stopped swapping. ‘ Well, I hadn’t…’
After 6monts of her run away, people had stopped searching for her, and the search for the new Avatar had begun and to be honest, she herself had given up by this point.
‘I don’t even know if my parents believe I'm still alive…’ The thought stings in her chest. ‘It was my choice, I couldn't stay any longer…’
Her life right now was painful and pointless. She went through her days mostly numb to everything. She had decided that If she didn't get some type of epiphany the next couple of months, which she didn't have high hopes on, it might be better to step down for the next Avatar to take her place.
‘After all, what use am I?’ Korra sighs and resume her swapping half heartedly.
Some Floors Later...
Click! Clack! Click!
Korra wakes up from her daydream from the sound.
Clack! Click! Clack!
Someone is walking towards her in rapid speed. Korra slows down her swapping but doesn’t look up to acknowledge the person.
Click! Clack! Click!
It’s a woman consider the sound of the heels…heels!
‘Should I tell her to slow down, it is pretty wet on the floor’ Korra thinks absent-mindedly while doing the side to side motion with the mop.
Clack! Click.. WHACKKkk!!! “WhaAA…”
Korra instincts kicks in and she catches the woman from behind, hooks her arms underneath the woman's shoulders. Saving her butt and head from the hard stone floors. She faintly uses some water bending to make sure her feet doesn’t slip too with the woman hanging in her arms. Korra looks down and comes face to face with the stranger. She is greeted by peridot eyes, surrounded by sensual purple eye shadow. The woman seem to be in shock from the slip and have trouble to decide where on Korra’s face to focus on. The dark red lips slightly open, small gasps escaping.
‘I should probably help her up now so she can keep running to whatever important thing she was heading to…’ Korra decides.
She helps the woman back on her legs carefully, in case she is still in shock and keeps her eyes averted. When the woman is standing stable on the floor again, Korra lets go of her and picks up her mop that she had dropped in the rush of everything and continues with her work. It takes a moment for Korra to notice that she hasn’t heard the woman walk away yet. She glance towards the direction of the woman, but making sure to keep her eyes at the floor. Nobody should recognise her, but being careful saves you trouble. She sees the woman's heels and they are indeed not moving.
“You should continue, seemed important considering that you were willing to run on wet floors with heels.” Korra says in monotone and rough voice. Korra cringes.‘I really haven’t used my voice in a long time…’
Korra looks back to her work and resumes swapping. The woman starts walking after some seconds, although a lot more carefully. When the footsteps sounds has faded, Korra stops and leans on her mop and sigh. Her shoulders sloping, head hanging down. Tired. Will somebody be able to save her? Because she has tried and failed for so long now.
“Tired. I am so tired.” Korra whispers alone in the big hallway.
Few Days Later...
Asami POV
‘Too much paperwork. How am I suppose to come up with new ideas with all these blanket forms to fill!!’ Asami grunts frustrated. “Deforestation.” She mumbles while filling in one of the ‘1,3,10,30’ papers in front of her.
Asami was a busy woman as she was the Future Industries CEO at age 21 years old after her father were sent to jail for his involvement with the equalist movement.
Radio: Republic Citizen, this is the Republic News! Again, the Triple Threat Triad have hit the streets last night and the police force, with Chief Lin in the lead, are close on their heels!! With Future Industries new train rail almost complete a new way to Earth Kingdom is soon available!! Don’t miss the opening ceremony next month!! The white lotus is still looking in Earth Kingdom for the new Avatar...
Asami stops writing and listens.
Radio: They believe it will be a boy and hope to find him early to protect the new Avatar from young age!! Former council member Tenzin, leader of the new Air Nation, states that the former Avatar still is alive and will believe that until other proof can convince him otherwise. His air benders will keep looking for Avatar Korra until then and keep working for what Avatar Korra stood for in her lifetime!! This was the Republic News!!
Same thing everyday: Triple Triad, the construction of the city and the dead/or alive Avatar? Asami breathes out, looking out over the city from her chair. Avatar Korra had caused quite the stir those years ago, when she arrived to Republic City. Butted heads immediately with the chief and made the titles in the papers. In those 1-2 years she was here she made big changes for the life's of the people, the world, and herself. The Avatar had stopped her father, the revolution and Amon. Asami is a very influential person in the world, but she had always missed her chances to cross paths with the Avatar. It was as if they were never at the same place at the right time. Sometimes she believed that the young Avatar had avoided her because she was the one that had found evidence against her father and helped in the arrest. Now the Avatar is gone and they are searching for the new one, while the Air benders still believes she is alive.
‘Out of all the connections I have made with "important people", I feel like I missed the most essential somehow...’
Avatar Korra had believed her purpose was to bring back the new Air Nation, so she had sacrificed herself in the fight against the Red Lotus. The Avatar never came back to Republic City after that. There is not a lot of information out about it to the public. Speaking of ghosts. She hadn’t seen that cleaner girl after her very embarrassing slip on the wet floor from few nights before. She had ignored the signs of warnings and speed through the hall anyway, to almost have her head cracked if it hadn’t been for that worker. To make it worse, the worker had practically lifted her up on her feet again like she was a weightless doll and then went back to work like nothing.
And yes, she had been so shocked from the slipping, to the lifting and the whole awkward situation, that she had in the end left without saying a word of gratification.
“I should have said thank you. How stupid can I be?” she mutters to herself. “Now that person must think I am some rich upper-class woman who doesn’t bother to speak to someone who cleans the floors. Maybe even blame her for it.” Asami rubs her face.
She didn’t look at me either, so it wasn’t only me who made the situation awkward. Eye contact is A and O for communication and I couldn’t even tell what colour she had. Then the girl had spoken. She hadn’t been prepared to hear a tired and rough voice. It had sounded so sad somehow...and beaten down. Asami listens to the buzz from the outside. The city underneath is busy as always. She takes the pen again and starts filling in the forms in front of her.
“Deforestation”.