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「The Infinite Hole
Tom Schley
The Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe – The Complete Soundtrack」
96 Years Later…
A set of lights flicker on in a secluded laboratory room, it’s remained undisturbed for many decades as the inhabitants of the laboratory feared any possible consequences from entering. The sectored laboratory room is only to be used in dire emergencies; anything less is considered the ultimate sin. In its center sits a tube. It’s attached to a machine that begins to turn on and initialize all the processes it needs to run to wake the sleeping person held peacefully within. The sleeper twitches involuntarily as adrenaline slowly begins to pump into the body. A lone, small, robot descends from above and stations itself at the terminal in front of the vat. It types away, giving further instructions to the programs.
The tank illuminates from within, showcasing the hibernating person for all to see. The monitors in front of the tank show the slumberer’s vitals and the pod studies the information. It calculates what remains of the process and enters the last of its command. The adrenaline pumping through increases substantially and the person inside twitches more. Their eyes tightly shut as they battle the surge of energy. It doesn’t take long for their eyes to shoot open. With a sharp inhale, they relax and study their surroundings.
The person with long black ravenous hair, and brilliant green eyes, looks above her at the monitor that’s housed within her tank. She studies the information displayed on the screen that she knows is about her and notices that there are no anomalies in her body or her vitals. She reaches above and presses a button that starts to release the water from inside. It doesn’t take long for the water to drain out, so she takes off her breathing apparatus and presses another button to open the tube’s door. It opens slowly, as she takes her first wet step onto the cold tiled floor.
She exits her stasis chamber and turns to face the monitors that the pod was using. She read the date at the top of the screen and the note that followed under it. It displayed only a single statement. “Restoration Complete.”, and it took only an additional second for her to take in what that briefing truly meant. It was…done. Everything that Raava and her had worked on…was finally completed. A second, more dreadful, realization enters her mind…, the Korra of this period has passed. Quickly overwhelmed with a surge of dreadful thoughts, she shudders to herself. A sense of remorse fills her body, as she now knows she could never thank that Korra for everything that she did for them, ever again. She sighs, trying to steady her emotions as she stares at the screen, and frowns at the pod.
“Download all the data you can for Korra of this time period,” Asami instructs the pod.
“Acknowledged. Download complete. Inquiry: is there any specific data that you need to parse?”
Asami’s frown holds strong as she closes her eyes, “Just want to know how and what she did after she left us.”
“Acknowledged. Analysis complete. Inquiry: shall I disclose this information at this time?” the pod answers emotionlessly.
Asami shakes her head, “No. Not right now. There’s someone else who needs to hear it too.”
“Acknowledged.”
Taking another moment, Asami thanks the spirit of Korra from this time period for everything that she did for her and hopes that she was able to live a happier life after the mess Asami threw her into. She regrets how it had to happen, but she knows it was the only way. While it doesn’t fix the situation, Asami continues to thank Korra and hopes that she could forgive her.
“Analysis: All studies have been completed. Tests and experiments were successful. Proposal: We should awaken the original test subject.”
The pod rips Asami out of her mind and brings her back to the case at hand. She’s at the precipice of returning to her life, albeit it being thousands of years in the future. She takes a deep breath and a smile forms on her face.
“Yes. You’re right. Let’s wake her up.” Her conviction grows as there is only one last test, one last procedure, that only she could do, for her to have her life back. She swallows the growing, anxious, knot in her throat and quickly strides to the adjacent laboratory room that holds her love. How long has it been? How much was sacrificed to get to this exact moment? Asami’s mind races as the finality sets in.
She practically pushes the door off its hinges as she bursts through the door. She quickly makes her way up the small set of stairs and plants herself in front of her Korra. Asami's heart beats faster as she stares at her lover. This was all done so that Korra could have her life back, her destiny returned to her. Asami didn’t realize her hand already made its way onto the glass, she is so close. Asami’s staring is interrupted when she catches movement in her peripheral. The pod followed her into the room and waits for Asami’s instruction. It’s time.
Asami quickly begins typing away at the computer and the pod follows suit. As she types away, she glances up at Korra every once in a while, to see if there’s any slight change. The monitors display a plethora of information in a blink of an eye as the awakening procedure begins. Asami could feel her heartbeat throughout her chest and head, her anxiousness now at an all-time high as she attempts to resurrect her love. Korra’s vitals continue to display well within the safe parameters as the process continues.
“Push adrenaline stimulation to 30%” Asami commands.
“Excessive stimulation might be overbearing for the heart. Proposal: Recede adrenaline stimulation to 20%”
Asami shakes her head. “No. We need her to go into the Avatar state for Raava to rebound with her soul.”
“Acknowledged. Adjusting acceptable parameters for final procedure. Analysis: Subject might still experience cardiac complications even with entering Avatar state.”
“Noted.” Asami shortly addresses. There isn’t any turning back now, there can’t be any doubts now that she’s breaking the threshold of the ending.
Her undivided attention is on Korra, how her vitals fluctuate with the stimuli, and any of all movements that she did in her tank. The process is going smoothly thus far, but Korra still showed no signs of waking anytime soon. Was her premature ejection from her vat from before causing her to not wake up? Was keeping her in suspension for all this time, instead of periodically waking up as Asami did, damaged her severely so she couldn't wake up? NO! Asami ejects those ideas from her mind, she can’t be doubting herself now. She knows better than anyone that her technology was perfected. Her androids ran tests on Korra after the incident with Argo and everything came back fine.
Asami forces herself to stare at the monitor, to get her mind back to reality. Even if there was going to be a risk, Asami is a problem solver, and she can come up with alternatives on the fly. Pushing her self-doubts out of the way, she focuses on Korra’s health display, everything was well within healthy parameters. She takes a long steady breath; she realizes that she needs to be more patient.
Not too much longer, Korra beings to visually show symptoms of her waking up. Various parts of her start to twitch. Her brows begin to furrow. Her various muscles tighten. Asami’s eyes dart all around Korra’s body to study each of Korra’s involuntary movements. It’s happening. As Korra’s expression furrows more, Asami dares not to look away. Any second now Korra will wake up. Asami waits with bated breath as she watches Korra experience what could look like a bad nightmare. Asami isn’t aware that she’s leaning forward as she impatiently waits for Korra’s flight or fight response.
Deciding that she can’t sit any longer, Asami stands up and stares directly onto Korra’s eyes. Asami can tell that Korra’s eyes are moving rapidly underneath her eyelids and how tightly she’s keeping them closed. Asami holds her breath in anticipation of the next moment, whenever that may be. Without any warning, Korra’s eyes burst open, and they glow ethereal white.
Asami lets go of the breath she was holding and jumps into the air in celebration as Korra’s eyes slowly return to normal. She’s finally awake again. With Korra successfully being in the Avatar state it only means that Raava was able to reconnect with her soul. Tears slowly begin to flow from Asami’s eyes as she watches Korra stir to life from her 12,000-year sleep.
Korra looks around, trying to get her bearings, nothing around her is recognizable instead of the woman standing in front of her. She’s in tears, yet her face holds the brightest smile. The look that her lover gives her everything she needs to know. Whatever had happened in her slumber, seems to have been resolved. She watches as Asami wipes away the tears from her eyes and begins to use a machine in front of her. Korra begins to move around in the tube, slowly at first and it starts to get more frantic as she can’t seem to figure out her harness. That is until she hears a knock, Korra turns to face the noise to see Asami holding up a finger in front of her.
Asami presses something on the tube and the water begins to drain out of the vat and she still holds out her finger. Korra impatiently waits as the water finally empties out of the tank. Asami does something else and the tube opens, but Asami couldn’t be patient as she squeezed through the entryway and rips Korra’s mask off, and slams herself into Korra. She grabs her excessively tight and pulls Korra into her chest. It didn’t take too long for the tears to come back. Try as she might, Asami fails to not break down completely. Her cries echo in the chamber that barely contains the two.
Korra slowly pulls away and tries to take a look at Asami. Although her cheeks are stained with her tears, the smile is still proudly present. Korra returns the smile and places her hands on Asami’s cheeks.
“H-Hey!” Korra’s voice is still groggy. “Hey, it’s ok.”
“I know.” Asami sniffles loudly and she chuckles, “I just missed you so much.” She wraps herself around Korra once again. “I missed you,” she repeats softly.
The reunited couple slowly sways together in their embrace, even if the small tube restricts their movements. They don’t want this moment to end, even if it would get them more comfortable. Asami rubs her head on Korra’s as they remain in silence for a while.
Asami finally makes the decision that this was far too small for them to be comfortable. She wants to get out of the vat and show and tell Korra everything and start making up for the lost time.
“Do you know anything about what happened?” Asami finally interrupts the moment.
Korra nods, “Yeah, I think I so…,” she tilts her head and looks up, “I think there was a guy that broke into here and attacked…me? But also attacked me that was awake? And had some sort of machine enhancement?” Asami nods in agreement. “And then that me used lightning bending and won the day? I don’t remember doing any of that though?” Korra looks back at Asami for answers.
Asami smiles, “What you don’t know is that reincarnation is actually a thing. That other you was a reincarnated version of yourself. She was practically a mirrored version of you. She was kind and loving and was–”
“Was?” Korra interrupts, she needed to know her suspicions, there definitely was a pattern with how Asami was speaking about that Korra.
Asami frowns and nods, “Yes…was. She uh…just recently passed away. And because of that…,” Asami takes a deep breath to steady herself, she still feels awful just thinking about it. “...this is able to happen. Ultimately, it was her natural sacrifice that made waking you up possible.” She could only give a small smile.
“Oh…” is all Korra could muster. Her body is overcome with a sense of dread and grief over something that she didn’t quite understand. She’s pulled out of her mind when Asami takes her hand.
“I know. I feel it too, but…let me show you something, okay?” Asami smiles gently at Korra. She nods and follows Asami throughout the laboratory. They eventually reach the central elevator shaft and take it up to the top floor. During the ride up, Asami squeezes Korra’s hand, “I’ve downloaded her life’s story, I wanted to listen to it with you on the balcony. I feel like…we should honor her life.” She turned her head and flashes a smile at Korra, who simply nods in agreement. The door slides open, and they walk together to the balcony that Asami built specifically for their reunion.
They step outside to the sight of the setting sun. Asami steps in front of Korra and takes both of her hands as she leads them out onto the balcony. She stares lovingly into Korra’s majestic blue eyes, and she dares not to resist the need to smile longingly.
Asami’s smile is infectious as Korra simply does the same. Both stare into the eyes, the very windows of the souls, of their lovers, as it seems as the most romantic thing to do.
“Korra…,” Asami begins, with a slight hesitation, “...everything that has transpired was because of you. My love and desire for you made me find a way to fix the Avatar line and give you back your destiny. We weren’t so sure back then, how the separation from Raava would affect you, but preserving you seems to have been the best option for everyone involved. And sure, my scientific mind helped…but we wouldn’t be here without the help of the Korra of this time period.”
A pod comes flying from below and situates itself between the two girls. Korra looks at it slightly scared and bemused.
Asami chuckles, “It’s a machine that I made long ago. Technology has evolved a lot since you went away. I call it a ‘pod,’ It can fly and talk, and it has access to multiple libraries of information and can process most of it in less than a second.” Asami smiles in pride, “But I called it here to tell us of what happened to the other Korra.
Korra nods as she still eyes the pod suspiciously.
「Stanley's Sacrifice
Tom Schley
The Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe – The Complete Soundtrack」
“I am Tactical and Research Unit Pod 835. This Pod has been tasked to inform the primary authoritative personnel and testing personnel alpha of my findings of this particular reincarnation of Korra of the Southern Water Tribe.”
Korra is taken aback by the words the pod use and how synthesized the voice sounds. It is not even close to what Korra thought it was going to sound like. Asami notices Korra’s surprised reaction and she chuckles again. She squeezes Korra’s hands once again to bring her focus back to her.
“After her final departure from the laboratory and after receiving her wish, she returned home and deliberated about her life.”
“Receiving her wish?” Korra interrupts, confused.
Asami blushes, “So…to thank Korra, I told her that I would grant her a wish, essentially. I told her I would do anything in my power and ability to get her anything she wanted.” Asami looks away from Korra and her cheeks start to turn several shades red. “I made androids to assist me in this whole endeavor. They were crude looking at first, but I toyed around with the idea that they should look more humanoid. I had the thought that they should look like you since we were all working on fixing you.” A frown slowly begins to form, “But after I created one that looked like you, the sadder I felt. While it looked enough like you, it…wasn’t you. I just kept on thinking how much I wanted you, how much I wanted you back.” Asami pauses for a moment to collect herself, “So after a bit, I scrapped that idea and decided to use the image of myself instead. It was a bit jarring at first, but I quickly got used to it.”
Korra raises an eyebrow, “What does that have to do with her wish?”
The blush returns to Asami’s cheeks, “Well, after creating the first android version of myself, uh, she was able to create more during my sleep. I instructed her that each should have their own personality traits in hopes to provide a more diverse think tank. One of those androids, Number 4, met the Korra of this time, and that Korra seemed to have made a connection with her. So…” Asami looks away from Korra, the heat in her cheeks intensifies, “...I made Number 4 more…real.” Asami looks up and stares at a nonexistent point in space, “I made sure that she had free will and was able to have her own decision-making skills and... other…things…. It took me a bit, but I essentially made Number 4 a real person who was able to learn, to think, to love, and to age.” Asami finally gains the courage to look at Korra once again, whose eyes are wide, and her mouth hangs agape.
A smile quickly forms and Korra laughs, “Of course you’d give me…you.” The almost absurdity of the statement made Korra laugh more.
“They made a connection! Who am I to try to stop them?” Asami tries to defend herself, although she didn’t have to.
Korra’s laughter slowly dies down and she kisses Asami’s cheek, “I know, I know. It’s just…you’re so sweet.” It was her turn to squeeze Asami’s hands.
“We’re forever indebted to her, and I wanted to make sure she got everything she deserved from us.” Asami softly said, still feeling the weight that she never did enough to thank the other Korra. Her Korra nods simply before Asami continued, “Okay, let’s just hear what else happened.”
“After receiving her wish, she returned home and deliberated about her life. She still felt lost in the world. She couldn’t shake the feeling of her not being her own person. She struggled with it for a long period of time. It took her closest companions to convince her otherwise. Number 4 had to remind her every day of how unique she really was. Their relationship grew, albeit it not being the best circumstance for Korra, but she admitted her love for Number 4 and vowed to get better. After a few months, Mako, Bolin, with Opal, and Number 4 motivated her to feel better about herself and to do what she strived to do.
“It was then that the group went out and tried to confront the corruption of the world and fight for the innocent. Word began to spread throughout the undercity and eventually to the surface layer. They were welcomed to the surface as soon as information could be verified. Their influence grew exponentially.
“After being officially welcomed by the populace on the surface, they were able to assist people from other countries. They were immediately welcomed by the impoverished populace. It took several years for them to be recognized by the nation’s leaders.
“Through years of selfless strife and hardships, the world’s inhabitants put their entire trust into the group. The leaders came together and marked Korra’s birthday as the new Avatar Day. A festival dedicated to the group and anyone that stands for true justice.”
Asami grins widely as she stares at Korra. She always knew that the two Korra’s were alike in many different ways. Any Korra was simply amazing.
“As Korra and Number 4 got older they got married and found a new place to call home. They, along with Mako and Bolin, dedicated their later years to raising a new generation of freedom fighters and guiding as many people as they can to become new, influential people in the world. There are groups located around the world, who have dedicated themselves to keeping the teachings and lessons of Korra alive and spreading the word to others, kin to the Airbenders from long ago.
“The last couple of years she spent most of her time secluded from the world and dedicated it to being with Number 4. Korra died peacefully from old age in her sleep.”
The Pod flies away after it finishes its story. Asami’s eyes sparkle as she hears the many selfless actions of the other Korra. It seems that all Korras are destined to help the world and others around her. Asami laughs in pure happiness as she can no longer stop herself from kissing Korra over and over again. She tries to restrain herself as much as she can, but she can’t and won’t stop now. Korra joins in the laughter as she willingly takes the onslaught of kisses coming from her partner.
Korra stops the furry of kisses and pulls Asami into a hard and passionate kiss, she can’t think as to why she didn’t do that sooner. Korra continues to kiss Asami passionately, slowly at first but with each kiss, it grows faster and hungrier. To Korra’s surprise, Asami pulls away, but Korra definitely caught the yearning in Asami’s eyes. Asami takes a breath before placing a finger in front of them,
“What do we do now?” Korra asks, not putting in much effort to compose herself.
“I…bought a plot of land years ago. It’s mostly undisturbed and a bit isolated. I thought we could go there for a bit; before we make any rash decision making. Besides,” Asami lets her inner desires come uninhibited, “I want the time back that I missed with you…alone.” She bites her lower lip as she eyes her Korra.
Korra lightly chuckles, “Yeah?” she asks with a cocky grin and raised eyebrow.
Asami exhales, mostly in the fact that she needs to calm herself down…at least for just a bit longer. “Yes. But we have to get there first…and a lot has changed since you were last awake. Unfortunately, we need to take this slow, so you don’t go into shock.” She stops to contemplate her options.
Korra starts to feel guilty; she doesn’t want to continue to be a problem for Asami to solve. “Why don’t we just stay here for now? We can figure this out later.” She offers softly. Asami has already spent so much time, energy, and resources on her, she needs a break from it.
Asami shakes her head, “No! I don’t want your first night to be here! I want to go home with you!” she loses her decorum; she wants to be selfish at this time. She has crossed the proverbial finish line, why is there still more red tape to go through? Why can’t they just transport them to her home? So Korra couldn’t see the world–” Wait!” Asami’s eyes widen. “Okay! I have an idea!” Asami chuckles.
“What is it?” Korra asks, confused.
A sly smile forms on Asami’s face, “I’m going to blindfold you…and I’m going to take you home,” she finishes her sentence in a suggestive tone.
“O-okay…but what about –”
Korra didn’t have the chance to finish her thought on the matter. Asami leaps toward her and crashes her lips into Korra’s. Korra could hear Asami chuckle into the kiss and she is able to calm down about how Asami is feeling.
Asami pulls back once more, “Sorry, I’m just really excited. I get to have you back after all these years.” Her wide grin slowly fades into a gentle smile, “Tonight…it will just be us. None of this,” she gestures to the buildings around them, “Nothing will exist in the world besides the two of us. I promise you that. We can deal with whatever comes next in the morning. Or next week, or whenever you decide you’re ready. We can discuss everything and anything then. I promise you.”
“Asami, I…” Korra thinks for a minute. While she believes it would be better to take things slowly, she completely understands where Asami is coming from. Asami had sacrificed so much for her…she deserves to have a rest…even if it’s against her better judgment. She recollects what Asami just said to her, they can discuss it whenever they’re ready, and Korra can be happy with that. All she really wants to do is make Asami happy. Korra ends her inner thoughts and notices Asami staring at her in waiting. She could tell Asami is slightly worried about what she could say next, and the last thing Korra wants to do is make Asami worry anymore. “Asami…I love you, so much.” Korra speaks softly with a large grin on her face.
“I love you more.”