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Raava, people should stop bothering spirits already…
Korra didn't like dealing with this and what would come next, which was a press conference and another boring meeting with Raiko about "how dangerous spirits can be for mankind". Well, if people didn't want to be turned into half-spirit people, they should leave the spirits alone ! Anyway, what was done was done… She had to fix it.
The bandits who were partly turned into spirits were attacking citizens and using their new forms to destroy and steal things. When she arrived on the scene, the damage was already done. It looked like some people were injured but it could be worse. She landed and used her kite to produce a strong gust of wind that knocked down two men against a wall. At least, she could use her bending however she wanted since things were already broken. She was sure Beinfong would find a way to nag at her about this though.
There were four bandits left. When they noticed two of their group had fallen, they turned to the Avatar. Three of them stopped moving, becoming pale, but the fourth one attacked her, so the others followed. They appeared to be non-benders and their spirit-like abilities were misused, which means Korra didn't make much of an effort.
She tripped one with her earth-bending and knocked him out with her knee. Then, she used fire-bending and air-bending to push back the others. One was part tree and used his branches to attack her, as if they were spikes. The other one was some kind of fox and was trying to claw her. It took her some time to find a way to reach them because they were using their new parts as a shield.
Eventually, she burnt all the branches and threw a big fireball right into the tree-spirit guy chest, knocking him out. Then, she managed to get the huge claws out of the way and kicked mister fox right into the head. She was about to relax but she noticed one of them was missing. She looked around only to see a huge wall falling onto her.
Oh oh…
She was about to jump out of the way but she noticed an old lady hiding behind a box. She was going to be crushed!
"Watch out!" she screamed.
Then, she grabbed her and air-bent them out of the way, using her body as shield, so that the woman would not be hurt. Ouch… She would get some serious bruises… Some healing would be necessary or Asami would scold her. Again.
However, she did not pay any attention to it for now. She pushed the woman on the ground, checking that she was fine and got back into the battle. The last one was some kind of rock guy. He had used his hands as a lever to make the wall fall. He certainly was an earth-bender too because that was damn impressive. She wouldn't have been able to catch that wall except by using the Avatar State. Whatever. He might be strong but that meant he was rather slow. So, she propelled herself upward using her air-bending and hit his head with the back of her feet as she turned around. And that made it four!
She gathered all the criminals and used the broken metal that was laying around to tie them together. Well, she'd better wait for the police. She might as well check if everyone was alright and if she could heal some of them.
She started with the woman she saved.
"Hey, are you okay?"
"I'm fine. Thank you."
The old woman smiled.
"Great. If you're not hurt, I guess I'll-"
"Wait! Just a moment. To thank you for saving my life."
Korra frowned. She was glad to be thanked but she really didn't need anything. Actually, it made her feel uncomfortable whenever people were acting like this. However, it would be rude to decline… Maybe she could just say she had urgent matters to attend to. She did. She had to take care of the injured.
While she was thinking, the woman had already taken her hand. Korra froze. What the hell did she want now? The old lady was looking at her palm with a serious expression.
"I can tell you your future. Do you want to know something in particular?"
"Something in particular?" she repeated, dumbfounded.
Was it one of those "I'll tell you your future or I'll curse you"? She didn't believe in that stuff anyway. Being the Avatar, her future was already pretty much decided. She didn't have to worry about money with the White Lotus assuring her daily necessities and people willing to help her. She would certainly get into a fight, get hurt and die, and reincarnate like every other Avatar. And she was pretty sure Asami was the love of her life as far as she was concerned.
"Like love?" the woman offered. "People often ask about love."
"I'm fine, really."
"Yeah, I can see that… There is someone really important in here and very close and loving people."
Well, duh, everyone one knows who the important person is, Korra thought. She just took her hand back.
"Hum, thank you? I really have to get going. Injured people to heal and criminals to catch, haha."
She really didn't like that stuff…
"Very well, then," the woman said. "But…"
Oh spirits, was now the time she cursed her for eternity? Why did she save her again?
"I think you'll have some visit soon."
"Visit?"
"Yes. From a lingering spirit."
"Oh, you mean, like a spirit."
There were a bunch of those, so that sounded about right.
"No, I meant someone who is not from this world anymore."
"Like a… ghost?"
"That's what people call them, indeed."
"Hum, thanks? I'll get going. Take care."
Go away, go away, go away… Whatever. She didn't believe in that stuff. She just didn't like hearing all those gloomy predictions. Life was fine when you lived in the present. And what about ghosts? As if a ghost would come and haunt her. Yeah, right.
Asami got out of work. She felt so very tired. She had urgent matters to take care of, so she had started work at 4. It was the middle of the afternoon and she really needed a break. She had handed the last details to her assistant and decided to get some fresh air.
She took a deep breath and looked at the spirits twirling around Future Industries' tower. It made her smile. Every time she saw them, she remembered her vacation with Korra and she felt at peace. She really hoped they could do something like that again someday. When the world wasn't burning down and people becoming mad.
Since she thought of Korra, she felt like she wanted to see her. Maybe she was at the Air Temple Island… It couldn't hurt to check. So, she took her keys, got into her car and drove to the ferry. A few minutes later, she finally reached the Air Temple Island. She crossed path with Rohan and asked him of Korra was there. He answered she was being healed by Kya.
Asami would have almost rolled her eyes. What did she do now? But she didn't say anything. She only thanked him and walked to where her girlfriend was supposed to be. When she entered the room, the healing session seemed to be finished as Kya was not there. Bolin was though. Korra and him were sitting across from each other. They looked like they were in deep conversation.
"Hi," Asami said, waving at Bolin and putting her hand on Korra's shoulder. She felt Korra jump as if she was scared and raised an eyebrow.
"Hi!" Bolin said.
"Hey, 'Sami," the Avatar said, finally looking at her, with a faint smile.
"Are you okay? I heard you got hurt."
"Oh that was nothing. I just fell. I just didn't want you to worry."
"Okay…"
She felt Korra was weird, though. But she didn't say anything and joined the conversation. Apparently, Bolin was avoiding Opal because she kept talking about having children. She felt like avoiding her was not a good idea…
"Maybe you should just talk to her, you know," she advised. "Tell her you need a little more time to think about it. I mean, you're still young. Maybe she doesn't want to do that now and just wants to know what your think of it."
"I guess, having her own family would be important for Opal," Korra said. "I mean, she does come from a big family. You too, Bo. You just didn't know about it at first."
"Yeaaaah but I mean, I don't want us to fight," he complained.
He looked very upset. Well, she could get that. She didn't like to fight with Korra either. But it made for really steamy reconciliations. She was about to make some witty comment but a strong gust of wind hit the door (it must have been the airbenders playing around) and she saw Korra jump again. She was really jerky. That was not normal.
"What's with you?" she said, frowning.
"Me? Nothing."
"Did something happen? You're like… really on edge."
"No I'm not."
"That's because an old lady told Korra she was haunted by a ghost," Bolin said, smirking. He then proceeded to make "boo-oooh" sounds and Asami only raised her eyebrow.
"That's not what she said! She said a ghost would visit me. And it could be a spirit as far as I'm concerned. Maybe they will be nice. I don't believe in that stuff anyway."
That was, well… contradictory, to say the least.
"I mean, ghosts don't make sense to begin with," the engineer said. "If the Avatar reincarnates, don't we all? Or maybe the rest of us just dies."
"That would be sad," Bolin said.
Asami shrugged. She didn't care. They couldn't change it anyway.
"Well, that's logical," Korra said, crossing her arms as if she was really satisfied with this. Yet, she didn't appear very peaceful… The young CEO let it slide and started a conversation about the Earth Republic. They talked for two hours, then Asami started to doze off and she decided to leave. Korra followed her to be sure she would get home safely.
"I feel so sleepy," Asami said.
She waited for Korra to settle down on the couch and lay beside her, putting her head on her thighs.
"You can sleep," she answered.
"Mmm…"
It was almost time to go to bed. They had chatted some more when they got home, mainly about their days and different plans they had. They had eaten early and now Asami just wanted to sleep. If Korra hadn't been there, she would have taken a nap. She had been awake for too long.
"You'll carry me to bed?" she asked.
"Sure."
"I sure feel loved," she purred.
"That's because you are."
Asami chuckled. She wondered if she'd ever grow tired of flirting with Korra, or holding her in her arms, or kissing her. Everything felt like a blessing. She just felt so warm when she was with her. So, so warm…
She was drifting off but she felt Korra jump again. What now? She opened her eyes and got up, a bit grumpy. She was just fine where she was…
"What is it?"
"The lights went out."
"Well, that's a bit weird, but they said they would do some electricity work around here. That must be it."
"Now?"
"Okay, maybe that's not it. Then, it's just a problem with the power plant, the cables, or whatever they needed to work on. You know what, I'm going to bed."
"W-Wait! I'm coming!"
"Don't tell me you're scared."
"I'm not! I just don't want us to trip on things. Here."
She made a little flame with her hand to help them along the way.
"Thanks."
Asami took her other hand and they went to their bedroom. They prepared to go to bed. The young CEO yawned as she started to lie in bed. She just wanted to hug Korra and sleep. But obviously, she didn't choose a good day to be tired. The lights started to go on and off for a few seconds and Korra looked completely fazed.
"And that? You're not going to tell me it's the electricity guys again, right? Right?"
"Come on… There has to be some logical explanation. Maybe they are just testing something or some spirit is having fun with electricity. I thought you didn't believe in that stuff?"
"I don't! But it's weird!"
"Go to sleep, Korra. The day was long enough without some supernatural elements to trouble my sleep."
"Okay, okay!"
They lay down. But even as tired as she was, Asami couldn't sleep. She could feel Korra's nervousness and it just triggered her.
"For the love of- Will you stop that?"
"What?"
"Whatever you're doing. Just admit you're scared. Do you want me to call the electricity company?"
"How come you're not scared at all. Isn't there even a tiny little piece of your rational mind that's scared?"
"I could be scared but right now there is no reason to be. That lady must have been very impressive for you to freak out that much."
"I'm not "freaking out"."
"Sure. You're the Avatar, what could a ghost do to you?"
"Well, uh, possess me!"
"Possess you? You've got a damn spirit inside of you, Korra. I'm not even sure you can be more possessed than you already are."
"Right… You've got a point. Possess you then! What would I do?"
"I'm pretty sure you can just tie me up somewhere and figure something out."
"You can't even fight a ghost. How would I do that? You can't touch them, right? Maybe they are like spirits and I can waterbend them away."
"I wouldn't know, I've never met one. But that sounds about right. Now that we figured what to do in case a ghost attacked us, can we get some sleep? Please? Or do I have to make you?"
In other circumstances, Korra could have found that sentence quite alluring but the tone of Asami's voice told her it was not time to mess with her.
"I'll sleep," she answered, shortly.
"Good."
Asami started to get comfortable under the blankets but the bell rang. Who the fuck? And why couldn't she get some goddamn sleep?
"That wasn't me!" Korra said. "I swear!"
"I know, you dummy. Were you waiting for someone?"
"No. It must be an urgent matter for your company. Or Avatar duty. We'd better check it out."
"Right…" Asami groaned.
She got up and put some kind of long coat on her to hide her night attire. Korra just used a tank top and shorts so you couldn't really see the difference. They went to the door, noticing the shadow of a man with an umbrella behind the door.
"Do you think it's raining outside? What if there is lighting? Wasn't it supposed to be a full moon today?"
"Are you kidding me? I thought we took care of that."
"I'm just being cautious, that's all!"
"Whatever. Let's get it over with."
Asami put her hand on the door knob. At the same time, the light went on.
"That's weird," she admitted.
"See?!"
"It doesn't mean there is a ghost, Korra."
Just that the timing was a little bit suspicious. Now she was starting to feel nervous too thanks to Korra. Ugh, whatever. She just opened the door.
"Iroh?!" both Korra and her said at the same time, astonished.
"Hello," the old man said with a calm smile.
"What are you doing here?" Korra asked, frowning. "Is there a problem with the Spirit World?"
"Not at all! Ever since you two came to the Spirit World, I've wanted to try to come back to the human world. It seems like there is enough spirit energy for me to come but I can't stay for long or go too far. I'm a bit disappointed, I wanted to surprise my nephew. I'm sure he would have made a very surprised face. Anyway, I thought I would say hello but time sure flows differently here…"
"Hum… Do you want to come in?" Asami asked out of politeness.
Honestly, she just wanted him to leave. She was too tired to have a conversation about complicated spirit stuff. If he stayed, Korra would take care of him and she would go to bed.
Then, she noticed the lights went out again and a few sparks out of the corner of her eyes. She saw a tiny spirit glued to her electric cables.
"I told you already to stop feeding on those cables, Uji!"
Well, it didn't seem to care much… At least, that explained why their lights were all weird. Total logical explanation! Well, not quite what she expected but still logical. She looked at Korra with a raised eyebrow meaning "I told you so". The Avatar only glanced at Iroh as if to say: "It's still a ghost. Somehow." Asami just rolled her eyes.
"I guess we'll leave," Iroh said. "Uji loves those cables way too much. I think the city will complain. It was nice seeing you are well. I'll try to drop by while it's still daytime next time."
"Please do," Asami said.
They said goodbye and the green-eyed woman closed the door. Finally! Time to go to bed!
"Well, the old lady was right," Korra said, thinking.
Asami just rolled her eyes.
"Sure, she was. But I'll tell you what happens next: we get some damn sleep. Now."
They made sure to turn off all the lights and, without some ghost intervention, they spent a peaceful night in each other arms.