土

Underneath Central Terminal, Republic City.

Had it been hours? It had felt like hours. Or maybe it hadn't even been half that. She had no idea. One minute she was in the crowd, surrounded on all sides by the very people she had taken a side against, the ones making everything worse for non-benders. The so called 'Equalists'.

And now to discover that her father was now leading them? And his mecha-tanks were still in force and chi-blockers still ready to strike at a moment's notice? It was too much, it was just too mu-

She bit her lip more forcefully then she realized, and put a finger to her mouth only to see a small smear of blood on her index fingertip.

"We're here, ms Sato." The Lieutenant's gravelly tones startled her along with a knock on the cabin wall. In the almost completely blackened cabin of the trolley she looked through one of the wall cutouts as the warm lights of the tram platform chased away the complete darkness of the tunnels, settling into place as the tram's wheels began grinding to a halt.

In the darkness of the cabin she brushed her hand against the black leather case father had given to her, her fingers hovering over the handle in hesitation before she picked it up and stood up straight, steeling herself as the lieutenant opened the door for her to step out through. She had to get home, she needed to think, to make a plan. She couldn't afford to break down now.

He stepped aside as she ducked her head underneath the cabin's low doorframe and came out on the tram's tray, seeing it was at a complete standstill next to the well-lit platform. She waited patiently until he undid the latch on the side-wall, holding the door open for her to step off the tram.

Asami crossed over, her eyes downcast and her hands holding onto the case. Her thoughts were elsewhere.

"For what it's worth, ms Sato... I'm sorry for bringing you to see him. It must have been a shock." The lieutenant watched the girl, seeing nothing but a scared child standing there, thrust into events beyond her control. He could relate.

"I had to know after seeing his handwriting." she said, no warmth or color in the way she spoke. "Why did he let me leave like that?"

"You're his daughter. He's doing this for you." The lieutenant turned and closed the tram door behind him, separating the two of them. He stopped and looked over his shoulder as he adjusted his hat. "Come with me, I'll escort you back outsi-"

The lieutenant muttered a swear and ducked for cover in time for a blazing orange fireball to swoosh by overhead. A black kali stick dropped from his sleeve and he vaulted over the metal sidewall, tucking into a roll as a kick of fire swept towards him. He grunted and twisted out of its path, taking cover behind the end of a long bench running along most of the platform.

Her boots echoed as she ran for cover towards a series of thick square columns placed at regular spacing across the platform. She passed in between two of them, quickly stopping in the middle of a gap between two of them and staying still.

"Asami!" Iroh's voice managed to cut through the haze of fear and doubt threatening the wrench her down. Over his voice the whooshing of Iroh's fireballs and sweeps blistering through the air easily dominated, impacting all over the space around her as the lieutenant dodged and weaved around them in a dizzying pattern, easily dodging the intense general's unusually sloppy attacks. She peered around the column, seeing his shadow flit past its side as he maneuvered towards him. Iroh's frenzied yells reached her like hammer blows, and in that moment she didn't see the calm and collected golden eyes of the handsome fire nation prince looking at her, only eyes ofpredatory gold, staring.

Every other attempt at keeping a cool head had failed, so Iroh threw all of that out of the window as he furiously swept, jabbed and kicked at the Equalist, long dormant memories of his ship drowning and breaking apart under the weight of Equalist bombs, the men and women under his command and protection being scattered to the four winds, some of them still missing.

Her hands desperately scrabbled across the case's surface her fingers scraping against the metal before managing to find the latches easily. She tore open the case, plunging her hand in and feeling the cold metal of the 'gift' and dragging it out into the light. It felt heavy in her hands, and her breathing continued to frenzy as she heard a final whoosh of flames, and then silence.

Footsteps cut through the silence before long, and she held her father's gift close, closing her eyes and mentally counting to three as the tip of a black boot slithered from the corner-

A frightened gasp came out of her as she whipped the invention up, pointing it straight at the predatory eyes that had haunting her for so long-

"Asami. Its just me, Its Iroh." Iroh had stopped dead still, holding his hands up and keeping his unwavering gaze on the terrified girl.

The deep rich obsidian color of the metal alloy easily caught the light on its highly reflective surface, gaining a visible shine on the top of the object's long front section. She stared at the brass cog symbol embedded into the polished wooden handle, extremely smooth to the touch. "Where is he?" she managed to whisper.

"He got away." Iroh leveled a firm look at her as he indicated the dark yawning tunnel running alongside their platform. "Asami, those people back there, your father he was-"

"Yes, general," Listening to him adopt the tone of someone speaking to a ignorant child spurred her to adopt a cold tone. "I know." Immediately seeing the look on Iroh made her regret reverting like that. She looked downwards, letting her hair cascade to form a physical barrier between her and the world like it had done many times for her. "Sorry. You didn't deserve that."

A short laugh came from Iroh, surprising her. "As a high-ranking office of the United Forces, I'm going to agree with you on that." and just like that, the predatory gleam she had seen before disappeared, and his eyes looked like his own again. He extended his hand to her. "Ms Sato, if I may?"

"You may." she whispered, unsure she could speak any louder as she accepted his hand. Her thoughts continued to spin even as he pulled her up, still trying to process what she had seen in that dark place.

Iroh dipped his chin and nodded at the strange object in her hands. "What is that?"

Asami clenched her fists as she looked away from him. "I... don't know." her analytic side whirred into gear, cutting through the doubt and conflicting thoughts to examine the intricate, and sublime, she hated to admit, work of machinery in her hand. Before... when she had pointed it at Iroh, noticing that the long cylinder seamlessly connected to the bulk of the object mimicked the large firebender turrets on battleships like Iroh's... but judging from the cylindrical slots arranged in a ring in the main body of the object, which even had a hinge letting it swing out on its own, it looked like it loaded actual projectiles of some kind.

Something that a non-bender could use to defend themselves from firebenders or earthbenders with ease.

"Whatever it is... its just the beginning of what my father is planning." she whispered.

Tiān Shàng plateau, Central United Republic.

"Tarrin!"

Tai was up and running across the rain-streaked and muddy stones, slipping several times as his vision bobbed up and down wildly, his breath came out in desperate fits, and his thoughts all screamed to a halt and pointed in one direction and one purpose only.

Not once did he tear his eyes away from his older brother lying on his side in the mud and his chest barely rising or falling, clothes scorched and torn, glistening burns on his neck and face as his breathing came out shallow. He had no idea how long he had been out from that fall, only that there could be still be time for him to do something.

He stole a quick glance at his longcoat, and made the decision in a heartbeat to tear it off, he gritted his teeth in desperation as it kept getting caught by his sword and sheath. With a growl he projected a thin blade of wind from his hand and sliced the smooth brown leather strap clean in two, letting him strip off the longcoat and allowing the rain to hit his bare forearms and soak through the simply grey t-shirt underneath. "Come one damn it!" he expelled a sharp breath as he pressed the sloppily folded coat down on the frighteningly large patch of red blooming across his lower chest. "You can't do this to me, you can't - you can't - you can't-" he continued to repeat, his eyes wide and his breathing growing heavy and frantic again as he tried, failed to spot any movement coming from Tarrin.

Running a desperate hand down his face his thoughts continued to tumble over each over in a endless loop. This wasn't right, this wasn't right and it was all his-

He looked up in time to see a spiralling mass of turgid wind bearing down on him, leaving him no room to dodge or even move out of harm's way. It slammed into him, drilling into his stomach and forcing his mouth open with a choking gasp as it lifted him up in the air like he weighed nothing at all. The wind generated by it violently tore at his still brother but couldn't move him, instead managing to slide his abandoned sword and sheath out of reach. The boy tried his hardest to recollect his thoughts, to remember anything that could help him best Telei or-

Telei.

His eyes narrowed as nothing but rage filled him and the roaring of the wind-spear died down to nothing but a murmur in his ears, even the constant burning sensation it had drilling into his stomach drained away with a numb sensation replacing it. With a hoarse yell he plunged his hand into the core of the wind-spear, ignoring the pins and needles picking his skin as he forced the wind to bend to his will.

In seconds the spiralling mass coiled and writhed as it collected in the palm of his hand as a rough fast-spinning sphere. He outstretched his hand towards the approaching Telei as gravity grabbed him and pulled him back to earth. His teeth gritted and a wild look in his eyes as he barreled through the stinging rain, the mass in his hand now a violent whirling mass only just barely contained.

The old man looked up with a cold light in his eyes and his wizened face a mask of contempt, coming to a stop below him.
Inside Tai screamed and raged at Telei as he came into arms reach, the boy pushed forwards when the time came, only for Telei to hop back a step in the blink of an eye, letting the ground take the hit instead. As soon as the sphere made contact with the mud and ground the maelstrom inside broke free, the sudden force of the winds slamming into the boy all at once and bowling him over as the ground below it cracked and broke apart underneath the enormous stress, all while the maelstrom continued to billow and rage and consume, until with a final anticlimactic whisper it faded away.

Telei narrowed his eyes, searching the ground where the boy had been thrown to but finding no-one there-

He spotted a shadow in the corner of his eye, looking down in time to see a furiously spinning sphere of wind with a flickering flame contained within being shoved up towards him. Telei threw himself backwards again, and briefly his eyes widened in surprise as the sphere detonated, as a wave of fiery punches slammed into him all at once, blowing the airbender master off his feet and away from Tai, slamming into the ground several times with bone-crunching speed until coming to a rest at the other side of the open space.

The boy scrambled to his feet, shoulders heaving as he took deep heavy breaths, wisps of steam rising up from his arms. The old man stirred, slowly moving a arm. Growling and seething Tai extended his sword arm to the side and splayed his palm open, manipulating the air currents to pull the blade into his grasp, his fingers tightened around the black leather handle, smudges of dirt and mud getting on them. The rain had matted down his hair completely by now, making the boy stare through a thick fringe of sopping black hair at his enemy.

Running forwards he summoned a tightly controlled ball of fire in his free hand, springing into a lunge with the flame leading the way, his sights completely fixed on Telei with intent to burn him out of existence.

A raw shout tore out of his lungs as he thrusted his palm forwards, making the flame spasm for a moment before it billowed forth into a expanding stream of burning flame, as wide as a satomobile as it covered the ground below with a bright warm glow, highlighting the folds in the seemingly injured old man's thick robes as it prepared to hungrily devour him.

Tai's view of everything was consumed by fire, the light from it dancing in his eyes as barely coherent thoughts whirled and danced, all focused on the sensation of freedom and resolution from doing this one simple act, he could save his brother, he could finally put everything behind him and look to the future-

Grey eyes flashed through the flames, staring straight into him with unerring force. The maelstrom of fire began to churn and roil until Tai lost the strength to control it. Just like that like someone had removed a drain plug the flames flickered briefly before snuffing out entirely, leaving smoke and steam behind, which settled as thin carpet over burning grass, melted stone and hardbaked mud.

The boy's surroundings darkened to its natural state, and the rain continued to pour heavier than ever as his own breath rushed out of his lungs, forcing choking gasps on him as he tumbled to the ground, hands scrabbling at his throat.

A invisible pressure wrapped around his throat, constricting with enough to keep him gasping for air. His vision dimmed and flickered as his feet left the ground entirely, Telei barely had his hand lifted as he stared into the boy's wide eyes. "Emotion will get you nothing but the grave, student."

A ragged drawn-out gasp tore out from Tai as his throat constricted again, and he no longer had it in him to keep his eyes open. Slowly he began moving through the air, suspended upright by Telei and being brought towards the base of the steps leading to the spire.

Telei's footsteps were all he could hear apart from his own ragged breaths as the first few steps passed by below him. He tried to concentrate, trying to remember some airbending trick or loophole he could exploit to take down Telei. But his thoughts were half-formed. Incoherent gibberish amidst the few smoldering embers of anger and rage still circulating around. No matter what he tried he couldn't draw on those dark thoughts as some kind of strength, couldn't even hold onto them long enough before they slipped away beneath the miasma of half-consciousness.

Something began to burn, sending lances of pain throughout his body and managing to jolt his thoughts into action again, he bit down on a groan, fighting the urge to clamp a hand down on his shoulder where Telei had cut him at the South Pole. He gritted his teeth as it mounted and mounted. "Why haven't you killed me yet?" he managed to say through his coughing and gasping.

"I still require you."

His vision pounded and blackened as he reached the top of the steps, now floating in place before the spire entrance. He watched as Telei moved ahead a little before stopping, the boy seeing that his own sword was sheathed and instead he held Tai's, looking it over closely. Telei glanced back at the struggling boy before continuing into the spire's main entrance, the stone doors once standing there having collapsed into thick piles of plant-choked rubble long ago.

Tai's world darkened as he floated into the spire, seeing that a single unbroken room seemed to reach up the entire height if the spire, making it completely hollow. The space ahead had no light-source to light it by.

Suddenly the pressure surrounding him and keeping him up vanished with the sound of fading breeze, and the boy tumbled to the floor, his hands immediately scrabbling for any purchase in the stones to get some distance between him and the old man. Stars exploded in his vision as Telei leashed a vicious kick into his side, downing him again as dark whispers began speaking in his thoughts.

He froze, his own desperate breathing almost forgotten as the whispers mounted and grew louder, culminating in a near-chorus of harsh noises and distorted voices shaking with rage as they spoke. His eyes widened at the appearance of two ghostly eyes not too far away, glowing a burning yellow as they stared straight at him with a hint of what should have been amusement-

The eyes disappeared and the whispers quietened, but never went away. They stayed in his ears, in his head, in his thoughts, a constant undercurrent that easily stopped any attempt by him to concentrate and focus. His mouth went dry as his shoulder started burning, intensifying into the worst it had felt since he had gotten the cut.

Tai answered with a growl, his eyelids starting to droop as he weakly held a hand over his shoulder, lying on his side and just focusing on trying to breath. A shadow grew over him as something was ripped away from his waist. His vision cleared up for only a second when he saw the flash of his bright orange scarf, trailing in the air for a brief moment before falling limp in Telei's hand as he examined it.

"Loose fitting. Simple to grasp. Long length. I taught you better in choosing appropriate wear for battle, student." Telei leveled a look down at the boy, and the boy responded by opening his eyes as best he could and glaring back, a burning fire in his light grey eyes.

He managed a easy smirk, fighting through the whispers long enough to look back at him. "What can- what can I say? Korra's got a nice eye for colori-." He began to cough and sputter, cutting his sentence short.

His old master nodded as he held the scarf loosely, letting it lift off his hand with a push of air and back into the boy's grasp. "A keepsake then?" Telei's eyes narrowed as his open palm closed into a fist, and the boy gritted his teeth as he lifted into the air, hanging there as the pain came back. "How thoughtless." Tai didn't yell as he tumbled through the air this time, being sent over the crumbling baulstrade lining the twin ramps curving down to the bottom of the room. A almighty crack ran through his entire body when the opposite wall rushed to meet him, the boy catching a split-second glimpse of a wolf-carving before stars exploded and he crashed to the floor, his breath gone and entire body shaking as he curled into a ball, instinct taking over.

A unseen force dragged him away from the wall and into the center of the room, accompanied by steps sharply ringing around the curved walls. Tai could hardly think let alone move a muscle as he was forced into a rough kneeling position. All he could do was open his eyes, every detail swimming apart from the immediate stones around him highlighted by moonlight from above, and the wall in front of him.

With deliberate slowness Telei moved into view, stopping a bit to the side of the mosaic as he ran a hand over its surface. "Who are they, student?" his voice dominated the chamber, echoing slightly.

"N-no-" Tai growled as the whispers grew louder, more intense, feeling his own thoughts slipping away into what he could only describe as black thickness.

Telei's voice thundered in his head. SPEAK. ANSWER ME NOW.

Something compelled him to speak, promising him great pain if he didn't. "Air Nomads, from the Temple they-" he hissed, almost laughing hysterically as the pain in his skull intensified and his shoulder burned, so constantly that he almost couldn't feel it.

"No. They are not Air Nomads. Just Air Benders." Telei said, almost with a growl that could have just been Tai's imagination. "This wall shows them entering the spirit world." He moved in front of another section of the wall close to the edge, looking at a stylized wolf sitting upright next to the Airbenders. "My first thought was to enter as they had, using a Spirit-Wolf or other similar creature to gain entry and ensure I would not be lost upon arrival. However it seems their abilities have been greatly exaggerated. That mutt you've adopted was no use to me."

A low growl came out of Tai despite the pain and despite the thoughts that had been his but no longer were.

"I traveled far and wide looking for a portal to the other side. I visited the Northern Water Tribe's sacred oasis in their fortress-city, I ventured beneath the city of Oma and Shu to creep through the old haunts of the Earth Shamans, and I explored the city of the Sun Warriors to seek out their 'firebending masters', but all for naught. I found nothing. For years I found nothing." He moved again, coming across a carving of a vague person shape, wavy and indistinct compared to the ones of the monks. "So I made deals with bloodbenders and came to the South Pole. I visited a second portal, deep in the ice, and met the Dark Spirit."

The darkness of the cave haunted Tai's mind. The glowing yellow eyes burning into his psyche just like they did before.

"It told me that the Avatar would show the way." Telei had his hands clasped behind his back as he glanced down at the trapped boy. "That girl is the single most powerful creature in this world and the next. With her power I can cross over to the Spirit World, and get my satisfaction."

Tai managed a thought. "And what's that?" he whispered, his voice hoarse and heavy. He saw the old man's eyes light up and his features change almost instantly.

"Koh." Telei breathed. "It is Koh that I seek put a end to."

"W-what?" he whispered, remembering vague details of bedtime stories mom used to tell him and Tarrin used to scare him with, picturing the gigantic black centipede that wore the faces of those who dared show emotion in its presence. He wanted to kill that thing? "That's impossible-"

"No it isn't, you should know better. Nothing is impossible. Zhao of the Fire Nation killed the moon spirit. Why can I not do the same? That spirit has been around for long enough, student."

"But its a spirit, it has a place in the world you can't just-" Tai's thoughts slowed as he felt the blackness tighten constricting, watching the look in Telei's eye darken.

"Yes I can. Its only place in the world is to take families and cause suffering. I aim to end that." the old man's voice had dropped to a low whisper, and Tai realized this was the first time he had actually sounded like his age. "That wound I gave you had a purpose, everything I have done to you had a purposeIt's been proven that people marked by the spirit world can enter without being... changed. Your father had been marked as well."

A lightning bolt shot through the boy, briefly breaking the black's hold on him.

"Your little village had been built over a network of chambers and tunnels built by my people long ago. I was there during its destruction... Koh was as well." Telei's eyes narrowed as Tai's thoughts whirled and screamed, bringing him flashes of burning wood and screams coming from the distance, hounding a eleven year-old still half-asleep as he blindly ran out into the smoke outside, unable to see anything at all except four slits of burning orange hovering in the smoke by themselves. Was that thing- "Koh was in the midst of possessing your father, boy. I did him a favor. But Koh escaped."

Tai's thoughts caught ablaze. Even with his shoulder burning like no tomorrow the boy managed to struggle to his feet in the time Telei had been spouting his nonsense about killing a spirit as old as the world itself, thoughts turning to his brother as he managed to find his flow of energy, ad prepared to reach into it and-

His shallow breaths caught when he noticed Telei turning over his mother's sword. "This blade was hers. Yet you carry it." The old man glanced at the boy. "I had thought that you would have given up by now."

" until you answer for killing him." Tai gritted his teeth, swallowing as he notice sparks sputtering in between his fingers. It would need to be enough- the air shimmered as he registered a quick flash, and his breath caught again. His eyes widened at the feeling of cold fingers seeping through him, stemming from the cold blade biting through his hip all the way through. He saw blood. His blood.

"You're a waste of time and expenditure, student. You may have had a purpose when you first came to me all those years ago, but the Avatar will serve my needs far more greatly then you ever could." Telei looked him straight in the eye. "Rest with the wind."

A great pressure pressed against his chest, and Tai's vision went dark. And he felt cold. Too cold.

Ling wiped a sleeve across his mouth, breathing heavily as he watched the man crumple with a sigh, a dart with green feathers sticking out of his neck. "Sorry about that. I know he's forcing you guys to do this." he muttered, looking around himself at the battered and bruised bodies of the Dai Li agents around him. About twelve all up. All of them unconscious.

He looked up, seeing that the airship had moved from the top of the spire to the edge of the cliffs on the other side of the plateau, that wasn't good. He turned around, keeping a hand on his injured shoulder as he jogged across the open space back into the forest. He grimaced, realizing that the droning beats of the airship's propellers were speeding up, driving him to run as fast as he could before it could take off and leave the plateau.

The earthbender grimaced as the tree's started to grow thicker, forcing him to a halt as he gasped for breath and sweated like no tomorrow. To his surprise he watched as the airship's propellers sped up, barely able to see it floating above the thick treeline as it began to pick up speed and peel away from the plateau. He cursed as it leveled, staying close to the cliffs for now. He clutched his shoulder as he spotted a rocky outcropping near the treeline where they met the cliffs. A crazy idea entered his head. Risky, but he needed to catch up somehow.

Making his way through the tree's the black and green airship suddenly shuddered past, occupying the open air ahead. He grunted and broke into a sprint, going as fast as he could and keeping his rock-fist ready. He reached a outcropping of rock jutting out over the plateau's edge, making a fist and punching down just as he was about to tip off into open air.

A column of rock grew from under him, pushing him upwards and launching him into the air between the plateau and the departing airship. Rain stung his eyes as he kept them on the open bay doors at the airship's rear. He pointed his rock fists at it, and inhaled through his nose. The metal elements in his glove buzzed and tingled for a second before wrenching him towards the metal framework surrounding the bay door.

He grunted as his injured shoulder slammed into the metal first, gritting his teeth and ignoring the protesting muscles as he snaked a foot onto the edge of the loading bay ramp, making sure he had a sure footing before releasing the metal framing and stepping out onto the ramp.

"Agent. I recognized your handiwork concerning my men."

Ling's eyes adjusted to the dimly lit confines of the loading bay, picking out the tall gaunt figure of Director Kao just up ahead, standing at the top of the ramp with hands clasped behind his back. "They've got a long walk ahead of them, but they'll be fine. More then I can say for you if you don't tell me where my uncle is."

"You of all people should know that making demands in a position like yours is ill-advised. I know who you are, Prince Ling, and you will not stop the Dai Li from serving their king."

A smirked appeared on Ling as he chuckled. "Oh I know what your definition of serving is, Kao. You have my father wrapped around your finger and the kingdom is suffering because of it."

"So instead of staying to help him you ran away from Ba Sing Se?"

"Funny joke, Director." Ling said, his eyes narrowing. "You and your men didn't come to the Southern Air Temple just to capture little old me. You were there for something else. Something I needed."

"And it is something you won't ever have need of." Kao stated, a thin sliver of deep green crystal sliding out from his sleeve. "You're exhausted , so this will be simple and quick."

Ling kept the smirk on as he looked for a way out of the airship. He could come back for uncle. That was a promise. He expelled a short breath as he bowed to the director. "Until next time, Kao." without warning he pitched backwards into the whipping winds of the black sky, falling out of sight of the director.

Kao growled. His crystal blade slid back into its sheath and he worked his sleeve back down with a thoughtful look. "No matter."

That was a close one. Even for him. Tarrin coughed once as his eyes fluttered open, staring up at the dark rain-streaked sky as he began breathing heavily, realizing his hand was holding onto something pressed over where waves of pain continued to flow from. He grunted as he managed a gargantuan effort to sit up, looking down and seeing a thick bundle of black fabric against his chest. A gasp escaped him as he felt the blood seeping out.

Swaying dangerously he struggled to keep his eyes open as he looked around, hand clutching onto the blood-soaked fabric. He saw Tai nearby, lying on his side, unmoving, looking so small without father's longcoat covering him-

Tarrin stared down at the black coat he had pressed against his stomach. He looked back up at his little brother. "Hold on..." he whispered, reaching his other hand and grabbing the nearest gap in the weathered stones he could find and dragging himself forward. He grunted with the effort, already finding that whatever strength he had left him within seconds.

Still he soldiered on, keeping a hand clamped on his stomach as he pulled himself forward, doing his best to just keep his eyes on Tai. The sound of rushing wind made him look up, to see a vaguely human blur shoot out of the spire and into the dark sky.

Breathing heavily he kept dragging himself along the stones, feeling every scrape they gave him as a fiery yet numb sensation. Finally he reached Tai. He swallowed and shook his head as he caught the massive bruising obscuring his little brother's face, primarily covering his cheeks and forehead. Part of Tai's shirt had been lifted up, revealing his side and part of his stomach and the line of bruising and scratches dominating the pale skin. Tarrin frowned at the sound of quiet wheezing coming from his brother, before spotting the massive blue and black welt running across part of his upper chest to his side. A broken rib. Not good.

He got to his knees, finding it hard to concentrate as his head swam.

Even worse was the edge of a massive puncture wound almost hidden by his shirt. Gritting his teeth as he let go of the longcoat keeping his own wound covered, he grabbed his brother's shirt and rolled it upwards to uncover a bloody red tear, wide but shallow as blood seeped from it. Immediately Tarrin's hands went to his own pockets, rummaging through all of them in search for bandages or some kind of gauze he could use to stop the bleeding and dress the wound.

He soon found one such bandage. But only a single roll.

The swimming in his vision worsened, and his mouth tasted dry while he unrolled the bandage, stretching it out above Tai before pressing it down just past the wound. He grunted as he snaked a arm underneath his brother and lifted him up, holding onto his shoulder and keeping him still as he wound the banadage around with one hand, making sure not to slip.

He looked down when he realized the roll had run out, and tossed the useless plastic tube away. He clamped a hand to his stomach again, ignoring the pins and needles sensation he could now feel across his body as he stared down at his rough handiwork.

"Good..." Tarrin whispered, realizing he was getting drowsy. He nodded and leaned backwards, closing his eyes just for a bit.

"There! Right there! Land!"

The Sky Bison grunted as Talisa guided it to a stop on the edge of a wide open space, the soil completely liquefied into a muddy brown mess and pooled between the stones dotting the ground.

Korra grasped the side of the saddle, swinging herself over and blasting a wild burst of air behind herself to clear the Bison's flank, her boots landing with a squelch, immediately she flailed her arms for balance as she nearly slipped in the mud, but righted herself as she ran towards the two bodies lying on the ground up ahead, completely soaked to the bone as the rain mercilessly pounded the two of them.

She dropped to her knees when she got close enough, getting several scratches on her palms as the stones bit at them. He was lying on his side in front of her, bruises covering his face and his chest barely moving at all. Breathing frantically she picked at the cap on her hip flask, grunting impatiently when it wouldn't come off. Finally it did, the string snapping off with the force and the whalebone tooth bouncing away in the mud. She quickly drew out a ribbon of water, thinning it into a narrow razor-sharp jet and slicing through the bloodied and torn grey shirt, she brushed the folds out of the way, briefly feeling how cold and clammy his skin had become.

Distraught, she pushed her worst fears back and focused on assessing the damaging, trying to detach herself to avoid breaking down right there and then. Behind her Talisa came to a stop. "No..." the woman said in a whisper, bringing a chill down the Avatar's spine and threatening to shut her down.

"A-Avatar..." Korra looked up at the hoarse sound of the voice coming from somewhere to her side. She glanced over, eyes wide and shoulders heaving to see his older brother looking at her, a hand on his stomach and a strained look on his features as he swallowed. "I- I managed to stop his bleeding. Used up my-" he stopped, a groan escaping him. "-used up my last bandage though."

"Tarrin!" Talisa ran to her older son, dropping to her knees in front of him and already coming to a conclusion about his wounds that she did not want. She wrapped her arms around him and held him close, tears starting to stream down her cheeks as memories of her mistakes came back. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, I'm so-"

"Mother. Its okay." Tarrin murmured. "I'll be fine. I'll be with father soon."

"Stop it-"

"I will be." Talisa's eyes were wide as she fell silent, unable to even start thinking like that. But looking at her older son, taking in the large scar on his face... she couldn't do anything herself. She resigned herself to giving a short nod.

"Korra." he whispered.

Reluctantly Korra left Tai's side, thoughts occupied with medical techniques as she came over to Tarrin. She stared down at the equalist, remembering the rainy rooftop they first met, remembering the bite of his sword in his shoulder, and... remembering how much he had changed. "Yes?"

"Take care of him. That's all..." Tarrin closed his eyes, and Talisa began to cry, the airbender's shoulders heaving violently as Korra closed her eyes and turned away from the horrible sight to look at Tai.

She noticed a pair of burning yellow eyes hovering by themselves over Tai, staring straight at her before disappearing in the rain.

Air Temple Island.

Rain patted down on the steps, each drop illuminated by the rising sun as everyone rushed as fast as they could, Mako and Bolin leading the way while Tenzin and his family followed up behind, all of them supporting their still-recovering father as best they could. Sensha and the twins followed up behind them, while Lin and Bumi shadowed Tenzin keeping a close eye on him.

Bolin pointed up above them as he and Mako came to a stop on the edge of the island's chief landing point for the Sky Bisons, watching as a grey shaggy haired Bison descended through the clouds and rain and came straight for them. The earthbender grinned ear-to-ear as he spotted the familiar blue-wearing avatar sitting in the saddle.

"Korra's back!" Ikki shouted, tugging on Tenzin's pants and pointing for him to see as well. Tenzin smiled at her, noticing that the grey shaggy-haired bison she was riding definitely was not from the herd living on Air Temple Island. His eyes widened in shock as the bison landed with a grunt at the sight of a woman with long brown hair looking straight at him, her eyes almost pleading.

"Talisa?" Pema whispered, clutching Rohan more tightly as Jinora glanced up at her with a curious look.

Bolin and Mako stopped and watched as Korra clambered down the bison's side, hugging herself with a unreadable expression. She made her way towards the two of them, looking at her boots the entire time.

Mako thought about reaching a hand forward to comfort her, to do something, when Bolin moved and wrapped her in a hug. "Bolin." she whispered, burying her nose into his shoulder, her own heaving as tears streamed down her cheeks.

Epilogue.

His heart raced and frantic breaths escaped him as he blindly wheeled around a corner and continued down the next dark tunnel, his boots echoing on its wet curved walls as they pounded down on the brick walkway hugging one side, with the water channel occupying the other. They were close, they had always been close since he had managed to escape their warren.

A annoying thought tugged at him, telling him to go back and find Yureg but self-preservation had already decided for him. He would never come back if he did, and for what? Just because he had been semi-helpful during his time with the Monsoons, he would never go back there just to grab him, Yureg would understand-

A ice missile whipped past his ear, hitting a pipe up ahead and shattering into many fragments. "Found the shark-rat!" Tonrik's throaty tones echoed around him, spurring Tahno to run even faster as more and more ice missiles whipped by either side of him. He grunted as one caught him in the shoulder, spinning him about just as he neared the tunnel's exit, he stumbled, splashing around in the water and grimacing as it got into his mouth. He spat it out and continued running, clutching his shoulder as he glanced behind him and caught Tonrik's wild eyes looking straight at him.

The thought of being in those dark rooms drove him forwards, making him pump his arms as much as he could and not look back. Tahno's breath came fast and his limbs grew heavy after long, and it was only then that he realized it was only his footsteps echoing in the tunnel.

He skidded to a stop before the exit of the tunnel, feeding into a gigantic dark space up ahead, lit by rays of light spilling down from the city above. A drainage silo. Breathing heavily he walked out into it, carefully navigating a thin walkway with flimsy handrails on either side.

Once in the middle he stopped when he heard a noise up ahead. Footsteps.

His blood chilled as they came his way, and he prepared himself to face a onslaught of water projectiles and whips, and the ever-present laugh of Tonrik and Pendra-

Instead a iron pressure clamped over his muscles, every one of them, and his eyes widened at the sight of a bone white mask appearing in the dim half-light at the other end of the silo.

"Amon."

土

And on that doozy of a note, Shattered Earth ends. But the story still goes on. This is just the halfway point.

Here is the next and third to last in the series, Raging Flame.

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