Chapter Text
The heat was raging from all around. The smoke was thick, dark and heavy, obscuring the view and stealing every precious breath of air from within the house. Korra is on her hands and knees, trying to keep as low as possible. Sometime during the chaos and fury she’s lost sight of Mako. She tries calling out for him but the roar of the fire drowns out any kind of reply so instead she pushes forward. Just when she’s about to give up, Korra spots a downed figure in the corner of the room. “There’s a survivor!” She calls into her headset, not entirely sure if she could be heard with all the cackling from the blaze. “I’m going after her.” She states despite the lack of response.
All Korra hears is static coming from the earpiece. Cursing under her breath, Korra surges forward, sharp blue eyes inspecting the charred foundation as she does. She notes that the house won’t hold much longer and she’s running out of time but she doesn’t have time to panic as she comes up beside the fallen victim. It’s a little girl. Korra mutters another curse as her hands quickly straps on a mask to ease the girl’s breathing.
The girl is unconscious and besides the gash on the side of her head she doesn’t look too worse for wear. Hoisting the girl into her arms with relative ease, Korra gets to her feet. The smoke is even thicker than before, making it difficult to distinguish what is left and right or up and down. But Korra has been doing this for years now and she’s good at her job. She follows the same path back that had led her to the girl, the layout of the house still fresh in her mind.
There’s one last corner separating her from the stairs before she is home free and she takes off in a mad sprint. As she rounds the corner her heart sinks. The stairs are engulfed in flames, its structure compromised. Korra has less than a second to decide on her plan of action. She opts to take her chances on the stairs, as it would take too long to backtrack and she’s not entirely sure if she could get through the basement window with all of her gear.
The first step makes her wince as the stair gives out a horrible screech from the new weight and she prays that it won’t collapse underneath her. Gingerly, she climbs the stairs in record time, ignoring the cracking and screeching of the scorched wood.
There’s three steps left and she knows she shouldn’t celebrate just yet.
Two steps but she can’t help but break out into a grin.
One and her grin disappears just as fast as it appears.
The wood cracks beneath their weight and Korra has just enough time to roll the little girl to safety at the top of stairs before she feels herself falling. She feels the flames reaching up around her, consuming her, dragging her down before all she sees is darkness.
She doesn’t know how long it’s been, doesn’t even know if she’s still alive. All she remembers is the fall. And the heat, especially the heat.
Everything around her feels so far away. She’s aware of some kind of movement happening around her, it feels like silk brushing up against her but she can’t grasp who it could be. Words, not hers, sound like they’re world’s away. There’s a terribly loud bang that resonates like a wave and Korra thinks she’s been brought to the gates of the afterlife, her actions back from when she was alive to be judged.
Korra has half the mind to start praying, to apologize for all the trouble she’s caused Tenzin, to admit that she ate the last pudding cup that started Meelo’s Five Days of Rage, to laugh about the time she had broken into Mako’s locker and stole all of his clothes while he was in the shower and was forced to wear the fire house mascot suit for a whole day…
Korra stops.
The memories are too much and she realizes that twenty-four is such a young age to go. There was so much more she wanted to do and so much things she wanted to learn. She didn’t even get the chance to try out that new noodle shop that just opened up across the street –
“— always so reckless.”
She hears the tail end of a scolding and Korra pauses. She knows that voice! It’s the voice she hears in her dreams or when she’s lost in thought, thinking about brilliant green eyes and a warm smile. Her heart flutters and she wishes her body doesn’t feel so heavy, even trying to open her eyes is proving difficult. “Trouble sure has a knack for finding you or it might be the other way around. Either way you tend to land yourself in my care more often than not.”
Korra huffs, or tries to at least. It wasn’t fair that she couldn’t defend herself. “If I didn’t know any better one might think that you are doing this on purpose.”
This time Korra chokes and her throat feels like it’s on fire, which probably wasn’t so far from the truth. She lets out a groan as soon as her cough calms down. Blue eyes open just in time to see what looked to be a worried expression school into one of professionalism. “Glad to see that you’re awake. You had quite a few people worried.”
Korra wonders if Asami was one of the few but mentally scolds herself for her wishful thinking. Asami removes her hand from her shoulder and settles herself into the chair next to her bed. She wants to ask how long she’s been sitting there because surely she has other patients to tend to. Korra watches as Asami crosses her leg, pulls out a pen from out of her doctor’s coat and leans comfortably back into her seat. “So how are you feeling?” She asks, her eyes focused on the clipboard in front of her.
“Fine.” Korra manages to croak out.
This time Asami lifts her head and her eyes are staring critically at her. Suddenly Korra feels small and she turns her head away. “Truthfully, I’ve had better days.” She admits as she feels pain shoot up her right leg and she grimaces.
Asami leans over to the side table and picks up a cup of water. “I’m sure you have.” She says, handing Korra the cup which she gratefully accepts and downs within seconds. “Where should I begin?” Asami questions as she flips through the documents. “Let’s see here…fractured right knee, first degree burns, minor concussion—”
“Don’t remind me.” Korra groans as she sinks into the pillow, thankful that she’s being pumped full of painkillers.
They sit in silence and Korra is well aware of Asami’s eyes on her. Korra silently notes that since she’s awoken, the doctor never once smiled that pretty smile of hers like she usually does. She doesn’t know why but it’s putting her on edge. “The little girl,” Korra says after clearing her throat, in need of diverting attention. “Is she…okay?”
Asami sets down her pen and straightens. Immediately Korra fears the worse and she wishes for darkness to swallow her whole again. There’s a sudden warmness on her hand and she instinctively tightens the hold on Asami’s hand. “She’s more than okay thanks to you.”
Korra lets out a breath that she didn’t even know she was holding. “Everyone in the house got out safely.” Asami adds in reassurance but she shoots Korra a look that she can’t decipher. “You on the other hand...” Korra blushes. “You can thank your friend Mako for that. He was the one that pulled you out of the fire.”
Of course he had, Mako was always looking out for her. Reaching behind her with her bandaged arm, Korra rubs the back of her head in embarrassment. “I guess I owe him one.”
They fall back in silence and Korra is dimly aware that she is still holding onto Asami’s hands. “For a moment I thought I had died.” Korra begins and she feels Asami’s grip tighten. “And I was wishing like crazy, hoping I wasn’t dead because there was so many things I wanted to do.” Korra confesses as she meets anticipating green eyes evenly. “Like there’s this new noodle shop, Narook's, I’ve been wanting to try out!” She misses the way Asami’s eyes deflate with disappointment as she's nervous herself and really, she's too drugged up to even focus properly. “And I was hoping that you would come join me.” Korra finally says, biting her lip anxiously.
Asami blinks. She’s not sure if she heard her correctly. “It doesn’t have to be noodles.” Korra adds when Asami doesn’t respond. “I know that not everyone likes noodles. There’s also this really good pizza place near the firehouse. Everyone likes pizza right? If not there’s this chicken —“
“Noodles sounds perfect.”
Korra pauses in her nervous ramblings just in time to see the smile on Asami’s face widen, realizing that the smile alone could brighten the crappiest of days. She returns the smile with a beaming one of her own. "Okay good." Korra says as she lets out of sigh of relief, flopping back against the pillows with a content look on her face. "Cause I totally thought you were going to turn me down."
Raising an amused eyebrow, Asami settles back into her seat. Apparently the signs she had been sending to the oblivious firefighter wasn't as obvious as she thought. "And why would I ever do that?"
"Because that talking marshmallow with leaf ears keeps telling me so." Korra answers, childishly sticking out her tongue at some mysterious figure that only she could see.
Despite herself, Asami turns in her seat just to check that there wasn't actually a talking marshmallow floating around her head sprouting nonsense. With the set glare Korra was sending it, it could've been as real as the flush across Asami's cheeks. Shaking her head, Asami hid her smile. The girl in front of her was too endearing. "Alright Casanova, I think it's best for you to rest up." She insists, patting Korra's hand affectionately before standing, her bones creaking in protest after waiting by Korra's side for hours. "I'll be here when you wake up." Asami promises with a smile.
"I don't wanna..." Korra whines but her eyes betrays her as the medication kicks in once again and her eyelids becomes too much to keep open.
Asami was just finishing Korra's check up when Opal, a nurse and friend, pops her head in. "Ready to go home Sami?"
Glancing down at Korra's peaceful form, Asami nods. "Just about." She replies, picking up her black sharpie marker from the table.
It wasn't until midday the next day when Korra wakes up again, her head pounding and her eyes disorientated. "What happened?" She mumbles, everything that happened the day before was all a blur. Feeling an itch, Korra tugs on her brace in irritation when a short message written in black ink caught her eye.
- Narook's with Asami, don't forget.
Korra rubs furiously at her eyes. It couldn't be real... she would have definitely remembered scoring a date with the beautiful doctor. Glancing anxiously back at her cast, the message was still there, permanent as the ink it was written in. "Holy shi—"
A laugh from the doorway interrupts her thoughts. "You're not thinking of backing out of it are you?" Asami teases, leaning casually against the doorframe, her arms crossed against her white coat.
Korra shakes her head furiously despite the pain. "Of course not!"
A grin spreads across Asami's features. "Good because I thought you might've been talking with a certain leafy marshmallow again." Asami says with a playful wink.