take a tiny step into another world

[anatural]

WHO: Korra & Hei
WHAT: Months after leaving Republic City, Hei tracks down Korra.

[A lot can happen in ten months, Korra had thought as Hei left. And she had been right. Just a few weeks after he left, she'd gotten word that her father had been injured in an uprising in the South Pole. That her uncle's troops weren't there to protect the South Pole, but were there to control their sister tribe. She'd kicked herself for not realizing it sooner — hadn't Jinora warned her?

So against Tenzin's wishes, she had gone home to help her tribe. He'd told her that it was important for the Avatar to be impartial, that she was a representative of the world and not just her tribe. Bullshit. Home is home is home, and her home had needed her.

It had been a brutal slap in the face. Her attempts to resolve the situation peacefully had ended in failure. The Northern Water Tribe soldiers didn't acknowledge her as having any authority. Some people didn't even believe she was still the Avatar. The southern soldiers she fought alongside didn't say anything to her face, but she heard the whispers and knew that they thought she was holding them back, because she went out of her way not to kill any of the northern soldiers, because her uncle is the leader of the Northern Water Tribe.

She'd tried to prove her loyalty by kidnapping her uncle, and that plan had backfired. That's how she ended up his prisoner, brought up to the North Pole to open the northern spirit portal.

And that's how she ended up trapped in the spirit world.]

Comments

[anatural]

I think... I think I would stay the same. But you wouldn't be able to see or hear me. At least, that's what happened to Aang when he was a spirit in the physical world.

[She trembles, clinging to him. She thinks she'll be the same, but she doesn't know that for sure. Maybe she'll disintegrate. Maybe she'll disappear forever.]

[scintillula]

[ Great. An unknown variable, which means the risk might not be worth it. She curls against him, sharp little knees digging into his flanks and chubby arms tight around his neck, and her heart seems to be buzzing for both of them. For a moment Hei can't find his voice; he just squeezes her hard, his nose in her hair. Her fear seems to soak through his skin. ]

Then we'll hold that back as Plan B. [ Or X, depending on how everything goes. He rocks her slightly, her head tucked under his chin -- an older sibling with a squalling toddler, all over again. His voice wants to take flight into an upper octave, but he keeps it at a steady, rough grind. ] We need to find somewhere safe. [ A beat, his gaze skating across the periphery, the air almost vibrating with a sinister potential. ] Safe-ish. That way you won't get lost -- and I'll know where to find you again once I've gotten your real body back.

[anatural]

[She wants to tell him Don’t go. Don’t leave me alone again. But she knows he's right. Nothing will change if he just stays here with her, but going with him is too much of a risk.]

By the portal. There are a lot of spirits there, but they'll be distracted.

[scintillula]

All right.

[ Resignation drops the pitch of his voice. It's hardly the best-case scenario. But so far it has been a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day, and this little addition is not disappointing his expectations. He readjusts his grip around her, moving through the alien tree-fronds and lapsing into a protracted silence. There is only the sound of his boots crunching the dense carpet of weeds, the sly, creeping-cautious noises all around -- like a thousand small animals skittering over a bed of corpses -- and his own measured breathing. All the trees look the same. The land seems to describe an endlessly-repeating loop, like a mobius strip. To anyone not familiar with freakish terrain, it would be impossible to tell if they are breaking new ground or retracing old paths. ]

[ But for Hei, that childhood training never fades. They're heading toward -- someplace, and it's not the endless forest. It isn't long before he's at a flat, rock-strawn plate of land underneath a purple-blue sky. In the distance, a starkly red tree, the hue of scabs and dried bile, rises like a tongue into the atmosphere. A steady wind blows coldly in their faces, carrying with it the scent of ... nothing. The air is completely sterile, scentless. ]

[ Frowning, Hei licks his dry lips. ]

Are you sure you'll be okay here?

[ His tone makes it clear he's dubious at best. ]

[anatural]

[She wiggles out of his grip, and when her feet hit the ground, she's herself again. Grown up.]

No. But it's the best chance we have.

[And they have a plan. Something like a plan. Enough like a plan that she feels better, more in control. Whatever comes next, she can handle it.]

[scintillula]

[ She leaps down, and like a whirligig toy making its reascent she's perked into a good mood -- and an adult again. He can practically see the confidence return in how she straightens her body, and he feels a great wash of relief that he isn't going to have to haul around helpless baggage. They can't afford that right now. Trapped in this teenage form, he's at least a handspan shorter than her. His physique has the characteristics of a puppy dog -- big bones, huge paws -- that indicate he has another growth spurt in him. It's unnerving, but doesn't stop him from looking her straight in the eye. ]

I'll be back as soon as I can.

[ A beat, as he glances to where the forest resumes to the west. Dark shapes move within the tall trees, watching, waiting. He hesitates, then unclips one of what appears to be a belt of phosphorous grenades across his waist. Non-lethal, but a lot of noise, a lot of smoke. He palms it into Korra's hand. ] A precaution. [ The violent vibes in the spirit world seem to be echoes of their minds more than anything. He hopes she realizes this. Hopes she'll know enough to keep a cool head, to be the eye in a chaotic storm. ]

[anatural]

[For her part, Korra is a little unnerved by the difference between them. She's used to being a baby around him, but she's never seen him younger than her. More unnerving still is the "precaution" he hands her.]

What is it?

[scintillula]

Insurance. Throw it at anything that gets close.

[ He presses the grenade into her palm, closing her fingers around the clip. It looks strange and bulky in her grip -- unnatural. But they aren't up against a Saturday Morning Villain Of The Week here. No Biff! Bam! Ka-Pow! No narrow escapes from the giant saw and no recycling the bad guys for next week's show. You get a chance, you hurt your enemy -- and you do it fast and without mercy. ]

Press down the handle. Pull the pin. Toss. And give yourself time to get away. It may not kill them, but they won't be in good shape when the light hits them either.

[ It should feel incongruous. A boy instructing a grown woman on combat. But the pressure of living in a warzone compresses everything in your psyche until the softness is crushed to powder. There's nothing boyish or remotely innocent in the hard sheen of Hei's eyes. ]

[anatural]

[I don’t want it. Not that she has a problem with the weapon, or with the idea of doing harm in self-defense. She doesn't want it because right now, Hei reminds her of the man who broke into her apartment and threatened her friends to keep her quiet. It's a stark reminder that that darkness may not be visible but it's never gone.]

You better hurry. [She just has to focus on getting her body back.]

[scintillula]

[ No, it's never gone. Maybe the war's to blame for that. Maybe it's some dormant aspect in Hei's own nature, one that repulses him as profoundly as he needs it to survive. He can't deny the sense of rightness he feels when in the killing fields. When he stands in that maelstrom, in the thick of it, he finds jazz. But when static, he has no bearings. It's as if destruction, death -- all of it is true North. Without it, his needle spins wild. ]

[ He doesn't think about it. Just regards Korra a moment more. She has so many tells that if this were a poker game, her eyes would be mirrors reflecting the cards. He doesn't smile; doesn't try to touch her. Just nods -- terse, operational -- and slips past her, out the incandescent shimmer of the portal, in a single eyeblink. ]

[anatural]

[When he gets back, he'll find her gone.]

[mortemscintilla]

[ Hei's already out of the habit of expecting things to go as planned. ]

[ Which is why he's startled with his own frustration, once he returns to find Korra gone. It's taken him more trouble than necessary to locate her body -- tucked away in a storage area, inside a refrigerated drawer reminiscent of those in morgues. Her skin has a cold, anemic tinge, but he can feel a pulse firing under it -- weak but persistent. Instinctively, he knows that he needs to reunite the essence, as it were, with the vessel. Otherwise the link between both will be irreparably severed. ]

[ With the body slung in a bag across his shoulder, he scans the periphery of the Spirit World. His hands shake slightly from a fleeting, unwanted dread and he sticks one in his pocket as if searching for spare change. The evidence of anxiety angers him, and Korra's grounding presence is not within range of his scattershot senses. ]

[ Did something attack her? He shakes off the idea, which is no more than paranoia in disguise. He wants Korra to be safe, not lying half-devoured in a ditch somewhere. And to circumvent that, he needs to find her. Because nothing else is acceptable. ]

[anatural]

[Somewhere, very far away — or maybe not so far away at all, it is the spirit world, after all — there's a tree. And a voice comes out of that tree.]

LET. ME. OUT. UNALAQ. YOU CAN'T KEEP ME IN HERE.

[mortemscintilla]

[ The voice hits him like a metal ball on a string, colliding with his eardrums as if flung from a great height. The sound of something trapped and terribly, infinitely grumpy, ricocheting off the silence, carrying across the cold, lonely expanse. Hei whirls, gaze narrowing on the grotesque bulk of the tree. It's like being caught in a periscope; one moment it's at a distance, a stark jagged shape silhouetted at the misty blue horizon. The next he's right up close to it, the atmosphere around the tree murky as well as impossibly brilliant. ]

[ Squinting, fighting disorientation, Hei pitches his voice loud enough to carry: ]

...Hello?

[anatural]

Hei? [Korra sags with relief — then she starts beating on the tree even harder.] Hei, get me out of here!

[mortemscintilla]

[ Un-fucking-believable. The surrealism of the whole tableau hits Hei like a neat hole punched through the center of his brain. This makes no sense, but logic isn't the same as truth, and that truth here is what the Spirit World sees fit to make of it. At truth so unthinkable, flying in the face of all logical thought, that most people would refuse to believe -- at least their rational minds would. It's only deep down, in those places where dark speculation takes root, that an ember of belief is quietly smoldering. ]

[ Everything in him surges toward Korra's frantic voice. It would be nothing to place his palm on the tree's scratchy bark. To let rip an electric volt and incinerate the whole structure sky-high. But a deep-seated caution holds him back. What if this isn't Korra, but another illusion? What if there's something trapped inside the tree, yes -- but so horrifying it defies all reasonable description? ]

[ Licking his dry lips, he says, ]

How did you get in there?

[anatural]

Unalaq put me in here. Hei, you have to get me out!

[mortemscintilla]

Unalaq?

[ Hei darts a reflexive glance around, as if he expects the man to be nearby. But let's be honest. If he were, he'd have attacked Hei before he could approach. (Unless ... this is a set-up. Unless there is something sinister in the tree, and trapping Korra in there is a convenient excuse to release it by proxy.) The thoughts gnaw at Hei like teeth in his brain, a terrible bright-red bloom, a dizzying pressure of suction. Shaking it off, Hei comes to a decision. He needs quick-cut instincts right now; a private triage room in his head. No place here for an overthinker. Overthinking matters may just be a harmless quirk in a civilian. Here, swift action is needed, or else the situation will start coming apart at the seams. ]

[ He backs a few steps, and places Korra's wrapped body on the floor. Gaze skimming the tree, down and up, before he settles a palm at the edge. ]

Hold on.

[ The smartest option is to disintegrate a small portion of the surface. To see if Korra can crawl out. He's not about to risk anything beyond that. His eyes glow a familiar red; something sparks from his fingers: less a flare, really, than jags of blue electricity crackling outward, scorching the tree from outside in. ]

[anatural]

[Somehow, when he hurts the tree, it hurts Korra too. Blinding pain, enough to make her throat raw from screaming. But then there's air and she's tumbling out, clutching her stomach and dry heaving.]

[mortemscintilla]

[ She screams, and for a sick moment what is visible becomes a whitish-grey mist to Hei, around which other colors edge and expand crazily. Then something splits open in the pitted surface of the tree, and Korra spills out, tense and irradiant with pain. Seeing her, Hei's senses are filled with red, a scent and taste like blood, its drumming and surge. He lurches to his knees, one disjointed movement, and gathers her up. Stroking both his hands along the sides of her face, cradling its shape, palms easing through matted streaks of hair to feel the pulse at her throat. Searching, in the numb eye of horror, for signs of arrhythmia, for muscle contractions and burns. Smoke spindles in the air; the dissipating sparkage leaves an ionic tang. ]

Hey. [ His voice is tight, edging on raw, in the burgeoning silence. ] Hey.

[anatural]

[She clings to him. She can barely feel his warmth — one of the disconcerting elements of being in a spirit body that she hadn't noticed in the general madness of their earlier meeting. But what she can feel is comforting.]

I'm fine. [She coughs again.] I'm...fine.

[mortemscintilla]

[ The sound of her voice draws Hei's fractured attention together. With care, he circles an arm around her, nestling her closer. He hopes that his face doesn't show his horror. He is a Contractor. He has a decade of practice in schooling his face to stone. But with Korra in his eyes, he cannot make the raw surface of his face harden; he feels dizzily like he must be showing everything. There are fish-hooks of dread embedded in his chest. Too close. Way too close. In the back of his mind, cool-eyed logic is speaking to him, trying to draw him back from Korra's ragged breathing, the stretched rack of her skin, her pulse and her hurting. ]

[ Get her back into her real body. Before something else goes wrong. ]

[ Instincts war with rationality, but he pulls it together. Tipping Korra upright, cradled against him with one arm, he reaches for the wrapped bundle of her body with the other. Unfolding a sheave of cloth, his fingers close around the cool, slightly damp jut of her wrist. It feels bizarre, holding a singed yet incorporeal Korra in one arm, and a fragile bodily shell in the other. ]

[ Shaking it off, he says, ]

Look what I have.

[anatural]

My body.

[It's weird.... more than weird, it's terrifying, seeing her body like this. It's like being dead. But you’re not dead.

Get up. You need to stop Unalaq.

She shakes off the fear, the impulse to stay wrapped up in his arms, and pushes away.]

I don't really know how to do this... [But... She puts a hand on her body's forehead, and in a bright flash of light, they're reunited.]

[mortemscintilla]

[ I don't really know how to do this. He's heard that from her before. But she has gut-instincts for this sort of thing. Because the fact of the matter is, Korra embodies every quality braided with spiritualism; she doesn't need to spew a load of pacifist crap about it. She just does it. It's why she manages ninety percent of her Avatar status so effortlessly -- and the other ten percent she kills herself to achieve. ]

[ He watches her reach for the body. The air flashes, his nerves shriek, and he can almost smell it, the union of soul and flesh, forced together like a hot brand driven against the skin. For a moment he can't see; red and green marching dots blind him. Blinking slowly, he realizes the Korra-shape he was cradling is gone. All that remains is his fingers curled around the body's wrist. The flesh under his examining palm is cool and pliant, but beneath it, he's aware of a flowing warmth, a heavy drag of pulse -- like some complex engineering marvel restarting itself. ]

[ Excitement makes Hei's neck and shoulders tense, though he does an admirable job of remaining otherwise motionless. ]

Korra?

[anatural]

Yeah. [She sits up with a groan. Nobody ever warned her how alien her own body would feel after too much time in the spirit world. Geez. She moves slowly, giving her muscles time to acclimate. Not that they have much.]

I need to get moving.