Table Of Contents

Chapters 1-12 — Oneshots that I've decided to keep even though I don't like them, but I have re-written this very first chapter you are on so you can perhaps get a taste of my writing style. (These are not connected with the rest of the chapters.)

Chapters 13-23 — Part 1 of the storyline I've currently planned. You don't need to read these to understand the events that will take place in Part 2 since they're only about adventures in the Spirit World and such, however they are all packed with foreshadowing. It's not my best writing, neither are the oneshots, because they are the result of me dumping my feels in writing and posting them. The 2nd part should be much better since it has structure and planning and I know a lot more—it's close to six months now since I posted Chapter 13, "A New Beginning" (as of June 2015).

Chapter 24 — Intermission. A fun little piece of "fluff" in lieu of a real update. Takes place nine months after the last chapter.

Chapter 25-? — Part 2. Look forward to this soon...

An enormous rock hurdled towards the Avatar. Or no, rather, she was hurdling towards it and at an alarming rate. Without warning she crashed into the ground hard, shaking the entire platform, making every single bone in her body feel as if they were being crushed beneath her own weight. Her eyes were closed, trying to feel something else besides the poison flowing through her veins. As she lay there she felt the otherworldly powers start to leave her and an overpowering fatigue began to settle over her body. She hardly noticed the cool hands of wind, the element most elusive to her, start to pick up her torso and hold her in place. An anomaly rose before her shining eyes, performing waving arm movements imitating the flow of oxygen as it left her lungs, leaving her breathless.

"Korra!"

The girl shot up with a pained gasp, her pupils blown wide, mind frightened and alert. She took in so much air that her heart started pumping faster out of adrenaline spiked fear and the sudden increase of oxygen intake. With a chest that was heaving, her eyes flittered over to the person who called out her name. Asami was sitting on her haunches next to her bed, both hands gripping tightly onto Korra's taut, muscled forearm.

"Y—you alright?" came the wary question.

"...yeah," the injured woman spoke, not nodding, but switching her gaze to focus sharply on that shadowy niche next to a plant. Cold sweat ran down her forehead, mixing with other fluid that was already there from before and Korra briefly wonders where it came from.

"No you're clearly not," Asami jerked back Korra's attention.

"What are you talking about?" she scowled slightly.

Asami responded with a sad frown and moved to place herself on the edge of the mattress. "Korra..." she began, resisting the urge to cup the Avatar's angry face. "This is the third time tonight."

Her tired blue eyes widened. "What?"

"You're really worrying me...all of us. "

The two women sat barely apart on the mattress. Darkness consumed every corner of the room except for one spot of light shone upon by the moon. A lone illuminated chair was where Korra guessed Asami had been sitting and keeping watch over her, waiting patiently for the next nightmare to harrow the broken girl's already fragile psyche.

"I'm sorry, don't worry though. I'm fine."

"Like I said, you're not," Asami said unwavering.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Korra retorted.

"You're obviously not fine or alright, you're anything but! Tell me what's wrong so I can help you!" the engineer raised her voice, almost a pleading tone, then sighed and shook her head. "I'm sorry, it was a stupid question to ask. I just wanted you to feel..." she never finished that sentence, instead looking sideways.

It made Korra feel guilty that Asami was so troubled and stressed over her, so she decided not to share the details of the dreams that plagued her. "I can't talk about it."

"You can't or you won't?" Asami's sharp reply took her back.

"I—I don't know."

"What do you mean you don't know?" Asami pressed on.

"Just. Stop. Okay?" Korra pleaded.

"No, you're having nightmares," the young CEO was growing impatient. "I know exactly what you're going through. I couldn't sleep uninterrupted after I found out about my father's secret. I'm not letting you do this alone when I know I can help."

"Believe me Asami when I say there's nothing you can do right now," the Avatar said coldly. "Just let me go back to sleep."

Asami just sat there. Without responding she took off, leaving Korra to her desired loneliness. She started to berate herself, how does she keep messing things up? First her legs go, now she's pushing away all her friends. She won't cry over it however, she has to stay strong.

Starting to doze off she hears a noise at the window. It's a low scratching sound. Suddenly there's movement. The mass at the foot of her bed collapses with a whine to reveal four menacing silhouettes peering through the freshly made circular incision at the glass. Summoning her fiercest element, the Avatar springs into action only to run into sharp resistance. A dart pierces her pants and burrows deep into her thigh, spreading a sensation of numbness through her being. After falling back on Naga, Korra's hoisted up by a muscular man covered in tattoos.

"The new age is upon us, the Avatar is in our hands."

For the fourth time, a familiar sound of breathless gasping echoed into Asami's room. Here the bed is made and untouched, she hasn't slept in it for two weeks. Even though she couldn't stand looking at Korra after the Avatar's statement, she couldn't leave either and go too far. By the time the other teen had walked in, Korra hadn't regained her composure. Scrambling to wipe the sweat off her brow and untangle her hair, she sat up straight and watched Asami approach.

"Don't." She held her hand out.

"Don't what?" Asami asked, puzzled.

"Don't ask if I'm fine."

"Because you're not," the heiress replied.

Korra huffed. "I don't want you worrying about me."

"Well maybe you should be worrying a little more about yourself."

The Avatar was still struggling to settle her shaking self. Breath only becoming more ragged as she fought. Then Asami took hold of the younger woman's hands to steady them while crouching in front of her.

"We are all worried about you, but you don't seem to notice that. You only care about everybody else, not once do you take time for yourself."

Korra's nerves only got worse as the heiress continued.

"You are the most selfless person I've ever met. Remember when you told us you thought my dad was an equalist? I didn't hate you then, never did, I was just disappointed. Then when I saw the truth, I don't think I ever thanked you for that."

The girl from the Southern Water Tribe had vivid recollections of the fear of losing her friends. Not so much of losing Asami though, back then when they hardly knew each other, but still there was always that guilt. Now times are different and those feelings are back full force for ruining the girl's life.

"You shouldn't...thank me...for that." Korra struggled.

"I should, and all of us actually owe you thanks now that I think about it."

"For what? I haven't...done anything...for you. All I've done is...make things w-worse."

"No you haven't," Asami felt her fingers clench around warm ones. Coffee against milk. "All you've done is loved us, and we're very grateful for that."

Korra looked deep into the luscious green eyes of the non-bender. Only a year older, she seemed as wise as all of Korra's past-lives.

"Bolin and Opal haven't left each other's sides since we came back. Mako has spent more time with us and his new-found family. Lin and Su are planning something big in Zaofu. Tenzin is overjoyed at all the new airbenders pouring in from all over the world. People can sleep easier at night, knowing you're back in Republic City and with the threat of the Red Lotus dying down. I can sleep easier knowing you're alive. We haven't given up on you. Don't give up on yourself."

The sentence had barely left Asami's mouth before the nervous trembling had become too much for the young Avatar, turning into full-blown hysteria. Her hand was brought up to muffle the soft whimpers escaping her mouth as Asami moved to stroke the crying girl's back comfortingly.

"It's okay Korra. Don't worry about anything," Asami soothed. "You have yet to cry when everybody else has, even though you have the most reason to."