七

[anatural]

[action]

[After a week gone, Korra finally has her head screwed on straight -- sort of. She still doesn't feel ready to face her friends, their worries and their questions, but she knows she can't put it off any more.

She sneaks into the apartment, hoping that nobody's there.]

[voice]
H-hey Chekov. Sorry I've missed our sessions. Can we meet up later this afternoon?

[Korra tries to turn off the device, but accidentally flicks the video on. For a few seconds you can see her -- her eyes are dark and sunken, and there's a gray cast to her skin, a subtle loss of color that anyone who's known the City dead would recognize.

She quickly closes the device.]

Comments

Private/Unhackable

[mortemscintilla]

[ Hei reads people the way cops read crime scenes; evidence and aftereffects. He recognizes Korra's symptoms. City Dead, huh? It confirms his theory that it killing her last weekend would've been useless. He could have erased her memory. But he had a... what he could only describe to himself as a lapse of judgment. And now he has an Avatar aware of his identity. Perfect. ]

[ He doesn't like being exposed. So he's angling for a more face-to-face approach. ]

Korra.

[Gone is all trace of the man he pretends to be -- sweet-faced and dopey. His pokerface is absolute, not a twitch. ]

Private/Unhackable

[anatural]

[Korra feels a spike of terror when she sees Hei's face -- or knows that she should. Her heart can't race anymore. There's no twinge in her chest. Everything's wrong.

She has all the appearance of calm when she responds.]

What do you want?

Private/Unhackable

[mortemscintilla]

[ He's trained to see past appearances. She's so young. Has too much surface. But she gets credit for trying. ]

To talk. [ Cliched, but effective. ] Not on the device. In person. [ His years of professional training object. We do not talk. We eliminate. But that isn't an option in the City. Better to arrange a meeting, in a neutral zone, than risk spilled details on the Network. He knows how easy these devices are to hack. ]

Private/Unhackable

[anatural]

About what?

[What does she have to be scared of? She's already dead. She can't exactly get more dead, can she? But she's wary anyway. She's already lost so much.]

Private/Unhackable

[mortemscintilla]

I don't have to spell it out.

[ She's seen enough. She has to be dealt with -- via threats or negotiation -- before she tells anyone else. True, she can't get any more dead. But he knows ways -- so many ways -- to keep someone alive. Suffering, starving, swimming on the edge of consciousness, until they capitulate to his demands. ]

[ He'd rather not resort to that. ]

Private/Unhackable

[anatural]

[No, you don't.]

Look, I don't want anything to do with you. Just stay away from me and my friends, all right?

Private/Unhackable

[mortemscintilla]

That depends.

[ On how good you are at keeping secrets. Pick up the subtext, Korra. ]

[action]

[firesneeze]

[ There are not enough words in a dictionary to describe what Mako had gone through after witnessing firsthand the way Korra's head had come away from her neck so fluidly. The horrible wet choking sounds that had come from her, the blood pouring down her body like someone had taken a bucket of red paint and dumped it on her a-la Carrie style--Spirits. It was one thing to mad during the argument they'd had but for Korra to literally lose her head?

A week's gone by now and his nights have been filled with nothing but tossing and turning, sleepless. When he has been able to fall asleep in his own bed--nightmares, nothing but nightmares. Which is probably what's led Mako to leaving his bed in favor of keeping close to Asami.

There's no sneaking around today for Korra unfortunately. Mako's up and about, albeit sluggishly, moving down the hall from his bedroom to take his dirty dishes back into the kitchen when... ]

[action]

[anatural]

[She almost expects her heart to start beating again when she sees him, like her feelings would be enough to bring her back to life. But that stupid organ remains stubbornly still, and she doesn't know what to feel.]

H-hey. Mako.

[Awkward. That is one thing she definitely feels.]

[action]

[firesneeze]

[ That voice. He's gotta be hearing things. No it's just a figment of his imagination, of what he wants so bad right now but can't have because she's dead. ]

Hey, Korra. [ Maybe it's better to talk to the apparition than it is to ignore it. His answer to her is casual, tired. Mako doesn't seem to realize that she's really standing there, in the flesh. So he carries on past her, disappears into the kitchen.

Stops. Tenses. The hair on the back of his neck feels like it's standing on end! There's a sense of anxiety squeezing his throat and gutting out the pit of his stomach. The dishes drop from his hand and smash at his feet once they touch the ground.

Mako slowly twists to look back at the kitchen doorway, and then spins around completely. His legs feel shaky as he stands to peek out at where he had thought he'd seen her familiar figure.

THERE SHE IS. AHH! ]

...K-Korra?

[ Does he look like he's seen a ghost? Probably because he has... ]

[action]

[anatural]

[She hates that look on his face. If she had a heart, it would be breaking right now.]

It's really me.

[She reaches out to touch him, trying to offer some comfort, but she stops her hand halfway, hesitating. Her cold skin might just make things worse.]

[action]

[firesneeze]

[ His eyes focus on the extending hand. It's hard to swallow past the lump lodged in his throat. ]

But you... I saw...

[ Mako slides out from around the frame of the door bit by bit, hesitantly taking a few steps towards her. ]

...how?

action]

[anatural]

[That hand goes back to wrap around her waist, trying to bring warmth into her lifeless limbs.]

I don't know. It's some kind of City...thing. You die, but you don't really die.

[video // filtered // unhackable]

[candothat]

Korra! Where have you been? What happened? I have been calling your device, and-- [WAIT NO DON'T TELL HIM, HE CAN GUESS.] ...Something killed you? When did that happen?

[video // filtered // unhackable]

[anatural]

[She winces, and kind of wishes she hadn't sent a message to him. His frenetic energy slams against her like a rock hitting stone.]

It's a long story. Okay, not really. I don't... I don't really know what happened.


I'm sorry.

[video // filtered // unhackable]

[candothat]

[At least it's worried frenetic energy.]

Why are you sorry? I assume you did not die intentionally.

[Now, what can he trade to the deities to get Korra's life back...]

[video // filtered // unhackable]

[anatural]

What? Of course not!

[Who would even? And don't even think about it, Chekov. She's got enough on her conscience without you adding not it.]

I should have told you sooner. I know I worried a lot of people.

[video // filtered // unhackable]

[candothat]

Dying is hard--or so I have heard. I think you can be forgiven.

[video // filtered // unhackable]

[anatural]

Dying's easy. It's everything else that's hard.

[action]

[riches]

[ There's not much that Asami's been able to do to comfort either herself or Mako in the wake of Korra's death. Wrapping around one another at night and trying not to think of the horrific way she had passed on was about the best that could be managed, daily habits of wondering where she was turning sour and silent as the mood in the house plummeted in her wake.

So when she turns a corner in the house and Korra is right there, she stumbles back a step into the wall with eyes wide and lips parted on a silent yell. Of alarm, fright, relief? She can't immediately process which. ]

[action]

[anatural]

[This is exactly the kind of thing Korra's been dreading. She's never wanted to see that expression on her friend's face. She's never wanted to be the cause of it.]

Asami! Chill out! It's okay!

[action]

[riches]

Korra?

[ Wide-eyed, she hesitantly moves forward to run her hands up her friend's arms, wincing at the chill over them. Their grey pallor doesn't do her friend any favours either, unhealthy against the offset of an ordinarily warm skin-tone. ]

Spirits. [ It's mere moments before Asami wraps her up in a tight hug. ] You're frozen to the bone! Is it really you?

[ The strain in her voice is evident, as are the hitched breaths that verge on tears. ]

It is, right? Oh, Korra.

[action]

[anatural]

[Asami is almost painfully warm; it's like holding a sun in her arms. Korra tightens her grip.]

It's me.

[And then, because she has to.]

I'm sorry.

[action]

[riches]

Oh.

[ It comes out as a sigh, buffeted free when Korra hugs back. Nuzzling cool hair, she smooths up and down a back. ]

We thought we'd lost you. [ Shaking her head, the squeeze she gives is worrisome. ] You look ill, what's wrong with your skin? And you're so cold ...

[action]

[anatural]

[Spirits, she doesn't know. Why does Korra always have to explain these things? The young woman tightens her grip, using the hug as an excuse not to look at her friend.]

It's...kinda hard to explain.

[I'm dead. There's really no way to say that and have it make sense.]