1Korra was absolutely pumped for her second pro-bending match as the water bender of the Fire Ferrets. To add to her excitement, it just so happened that this match was the championship. The winner of this final round would win fame, glory, and a 5,000 gold coin cash prize.
Just minutes before the match, the team was in their usual personas. Korra was confident, borderline cocky, strutting around the lockers like she owned the place. Bolin was standing to the side, chatting nonchalantly with yet another fan girl. And Mako was being... Mako, which meant he was standing off to the side, eyes focused intently on the arena. On the outside, he stood proud and still, but on the inside he was a mess of thoughts. Luckily, his thoughts were overall optimistic. There is no way we can lose, he thought. Especially if Korra pulls through like she did last time.
Of course, Mako was no prophet. That became clear when he hit the water face first, the final team member to hit the water. The realization that he had lost hurt more than the freezing cold water piercing his body. When he popped up for air, he made no attempt to leave the water. He was too stunned. They just had lost the championship. They made it this far… to fail.
He looked at his younger brother Bolin, who had been knocked over the edge a few moments before him, and saw the deadness in his bright green eyes. Despite what he was feeling, he flashed his dear brother a reassuring smile. Everything will be okay. The smile had no effect.
He looked to his newest recruit, Korra. She obviously looked crushed, but her blue eyes were still sparkling and alive. The weight of a loss didn't carry as heavy with her as it did for the brothers. Korra made no hesitation to use her waterbending to lift herself out of the water and onto the platform. When she realized the brothers were still in the water, she used her bending to left them out, too.
"I know we lost, guys," she said encouragingly, "but there is always next season." She removed her helmet from her head and re-did her ponytail. She gave them a cheerful smile. "Let's go change."
The brothers nodded glumly. Korra furrowed her brow, clearly frustrated with the negative emotions, and quickly changed into her customary water tribe get-up. The boys were slower to change, but they still got the job done.
Korra decided that the team should start training immediately for the next season of pro-bending. Even thought she was not the captain, she ordered Mako and Bolin to report to training area as soon as they changed.
The second they stepped into the room, Korra could tell they still felt depressed even though they hid it well. "Come on, guys, it's painful to see you guys like this. We can try again next season, and we'll be better than ever." She placed her hand over her heart. "I swear I'll practice hard. I'll be the best replacement ever."
"You're not a replacement," said Bolin reassuringly. Even though his heart was badly broken, he still made it a point to build others up. "You're a permanent part of the team."
"Yes, so you'll be treated like a team member," said Mako, pushing his emotions into the deepest folds of his mind. "You'll be expected to show up for every single practice session, which will be held every day now. Also, Korra, since you are new to this, we'll have to teach you everything about pro-bending. Memorize the entire rule book!"
Korra blinked. "That's... a lot. Um, no offense, guys, but you two are taking this a little too hard. I mean, you just lost one match."
At the word lost, Mako clenched his fists. "Just lost a match? Just lost?" he questioned calmly. You could easily tell that he was angry and was fighting to restrain it.
Korra took a step back. "Yes. You need to calm down," she said defiantly.
The firebender took a deep breath. "You don't understand how much this means to us," he explained calmly.
The avatar placed her hands on her hips. "I understand just fine! I'm hurt too, guys, but I'm willing to look past that."
"Korra," pleaded Bolin. "Just listen to him. Please."
"Ugh," huffed the water tribe girl. "You always take his side."
Mako took another deep breath, which seemed to be a little exaggerated. He was known to be very patient and calm with everyone, but the loss of the championship and Korra's rebellious attitude was stretching him to the limit. He narrowed his eyes angrily and unleashed his passive-aggressive side. "The truth is, Korra, that these pro-bending matches will never mean as much to you as they do to Bolin and I."
Korra eye's enlarged angrily for a response, but she was cut off by Bolin before she could speak. "Guys, just stop. This won't solve anything."
The fierce female ignored everything the earthbender just said. "How dare you! You can't say how I feel! You don't know a damn thing!" Korra snapped.
"Watch the language!" exclaimed Bolin. He glanced at his brother, hoping Mako would use a greater sense of reason and end the argument. Thankfully, Mako still seemed calm, though his eyebrows were bent in frustration and a dull fire burned in his eyes.
"I don't know anything? You don't know. You don't know what Bolin and I have been through. We lost more than a match!"
Bolin smacked his hand to his face. Of all the things Mako could have said, he said that. "Makoooo," he whined, drawing out the last syllable in a disproving tone.
Somehow, Mako actually said the right thing, because Korra completely changed demeanor. Instead of tense and angry, she became relaxed and curious. Mako fixed his eyes on his brother. "Bolin. Go upstairs," he said. His tone was gentle yet commanding... typical Mako. Bolin nodded; he didn't want to disrespect his brother. He had complete faith in his brother and knew he could handle the situation. He just hoped Mako could handle it alone. The last thing he wanted was for Mako to unleash the avatar's fury. Bolin bid them both farewell and retreated up the stairs.
Mako lifted up his jacket to reveal a shirt that had obviously seen better days. "You see how tattered this shirt is?" He moved his hand lower and pointed to his knees. "And my pants; they're very worn." Korra leaned in and noticed that his shirt was frayed at the edges, and there were many singed holes, a sign of flames. She looked at his pants, and noticed they, too, were tattered. On the knees, there were areas that Korra could easily tell had been patched up many times over.
"Okay, so you need new clothes," said Korra, not understanding.
"I can't get new clothes, and neither can Bolin. We have no money."
The avatar's eyebrows arched. "You're poor? But you live at the top of this arena! I thought you were rich!"
"False assumption," stated Mako. "The top of this arena is not a penthouse. It's an attic. And is also the only place we have that we can call home."
"Where did you live before?"
The young firebender averted his gaze from her. "The streets."
Korra instantly thought back to the previous day, when she caught some fish in the park and a strange man asked her for one. He proudly told her he lived in a bush, and that it was the best bush in the park. She tried to picture Mako and Bolin living in the same bush, but it did not compute in her mind. These proud and strong brothers did not fit her image of homeless.
Mako's gaze pierced hers again, pleading to tell his story. Korra accepted his unspoken request. "Tell me about it," she said softly.
"I was orphaned when I was eight years old. Bolin was six. We had no one to turn to. We had no living family members we knew about, and the orphanage had been burned down years prior. The only option for us was to live on the streets."
"I'm sorry," said Korra. Mako pressed his lips tightly together. She was showing him sympathy. He hated sympathy. Over the course of his life many people had shown it to him, yet only a few actually helped him. Sympathy didn't help people survive nor make them feel better. It just made them feel objectified; like they were a worthless, lost cause.
"Even though crime was rampant and the scoundrels on the streets had no problem attacking helpless young boys, we got by. I was able to defend us using basic firebending and Bolin was just honing his earthbending skills." Mako lifted up his hands. Korra looked at them and noticed how elongated and soft his hands looked. They were feminine hands; the hands of a mother, a care-giver. "Many people think firebending is cruel and dangerous, but to Bolin and me, it's life-saving."
Korra lifted her hands up as well, another pair of hands capable of manipulating flame. Unlike Mako, her hands were large and rough. They were the hands of a fighter, a rebel. She placed them at her sides. "How did... how did you make it here?"
"One day, we were in a nasty street fight. These large men demanded we give them our money. Of course, we had no money, but they didn't believe us so they attacked. One of them was very muscular and I knew his punches would cause serious damage. Bolin took the defensive and created rock walls to shield us while I shot streams of fire to scare them away. It didn't work..."
"Mako!" shouted Bolin. "They're not going away, and my earthbending isn't strong enough to hold them back for long." Of course his bending couldn't hold them back. Bolin was only eleven years old. Eleven year olds can only do so much.
"Don't worry about it, just try your hardest to keep the walls up," encouraged Mako. His eyebrows were bent in concentration and sweat dripped from his face as he shot blasts of fire at the attackers. By the sound of things, his blasts of fire weren't doing any good. It was a shame, too; he had just graduated from shooting simple fireballs.
"You stupid earthbender!" shouted one of the men. "Don't you know firebenders are bad? Don't you know how much they oppressed your people in the past? And now you fight alongside one?"
"I'm as much of a firebender as he is!" shouted Bolin boldly. His anger rising at the prejudice, Mako let out a cry of anger as his fire blast increased in energy tenfold. The shot was impressive, but the attackers saw it coming and leaned against the edges of the alleyway they were fighting in.
"Your flames don't scare me, little boy."
Suddenly, Bolin's walls sunk back into the ground without warning The younger brother gave a shriek of surprise and stomped the ground with his foot to raise them again, but he felt something when he did so. He glanced up and noticed one of the attackers, with bright green eyes just like his, was stomping the ground in a similar manner. "Mako, he's an earthbender too!" Bolin cried.
"Shut up, you little brat!" screamed the other man. He quickly moved his hands and sent a whip of water towards Bolin. The water smacked him across his face and chest with terrible force, sending the little boy flying backwards."We keep our bending a secret, unlike you show-offs. It's dangerous to be a bender nowadays, you stupid street urchins."
Without thinking, Mako shot two fire blasts at the men and turned around. "Bolin!" he yelled. "Bolin, are you alright?" Mako felt the panic in his chest rising to new heights. He would never forgive himself if his little brother, the one person he swore to protect, was badly injured.
Bolin was lying face down on the ground but was in the process of pulling himself up. When he noticed Mako coming towards him, he turned away from him and covered the right side of his face. "I'm fine, go get rid of them," he said. He was trying hard to be strong, but the pain as evident in his voice. It made him proud how strong his little brother was, but Mako could see right through the lie. Bolin didn't cover his face fast enough; Mako could see the cut on his face beginning to ooze blood.
Mako clenched his fists and swung it back at the two men. A huge blast of fire escalated from the swing. The blast was so powerful it made the noise of an explosion and sent the men flying back out of the alleyway, all the way across the street, and well into the next alleyway. "Got rid of them," said Mako as he rushed to help Bolin. The water whip had struck Bolin on his right cheek and followed through across his chest. Fortunately his shirt prevented a lot of injury on his chest; all Bolin had was red welts that would soon develop into bruises. On his cheek, however, the red welts were accompanied by a nasty cu that was bleeding badly. Mako, being a good big brother, took the corner of his shirt and wiped the blood away. "I'm so sorry, Bolin," he apologized.
"It's not your fault," he replied immediately. "You weren't the one attacking me. You were the one helping me."
"Yeah, but-" Mako was cut off by the sound of a man yelling. Mako stood and turned around, blocking his brother from any further threat. A middle-aged man was running towards them with a worried look on his face.
"Where did that explosion come from?" he asked, perplexed.
Mako frowned. "I'm sorry, sir. That was me. I had to use firebending to protect my brother." Mako hung his head, ashamed and afraid. He let his emotions take over and he failed to use restraint. Using your bending to harm another was against the law and could land him in jail. He couldn't go to jail, not when he had Bolin to look after.
"That was you?" The man scratched at his beard. "How old are you, boy?"
"I just turned thirteen," he admitted.
"And you can bend like that! Wow. You have some talent, kid. Is your brother as skilled of a bender as you?"
"No way! Mako is way better than me. Plus, I bend earth, not fire," piped Bolin from on the ground.
The man's dark eyes seemed to sparkled. "Oh, that's good. That's great," he mumbled to himself. He smiled widely at the two benders. "Say, boys, where are your parents?"
"We don't have any," said Mako blankly.
"Where do you live?"
"Here," said Mako.
"We don't have a home," added Bolin
The man clasped his hands together. "Then come live with me!"
Mako folded his arms. "The man who saved us was Toza. He offered Bolin and me a place to live in the arena. Of course, we had to clean the whole place every day and train with him every day to earn our living, but it was worth it. When we got older, Toza told us that our bending talents could take us far in the sport of pro-bending. He said the fact that we were brothers who could bend different elements would drive the crowd wild. He told us we could earn a lot of money that way."
The bender glanced up the stairs to where his brother had left. "Bolin and I began to seriously train for pro-bending. We saw in pro-bending the means to save ourselves from a life of poverty. When I met Hasook, a waterbender in a similar predicament, I knew our future looked bright. What I didn't predict, however, was that Hasook could not take direction from me, the leader, and would abandon us at the semi-finals."
Korra sat on the ground. "I had no idea, Mako... I am so, so sorry."
"Don't apologize," he said roughly as he leaned against the wall. "Just accept it."
The avatar stared at him fiercely. "I promise you, Mako, that I will fight as hard as ever in these pro-bending matches. I won't do it for myself, for the fame and glory. Next time I fight, I'll do it for you and Bolin so that you can have better lives, the lives that you deserve. When you win, I want you and Bolin to keep all of the winnings.
Mako glanced up at her and saw how real the determination in her eyes was. Korra wasn't showing him sympathy anymore; she was showing compassion. She was showing that she actually cared about these two brothers, her teammates, boys she had only known for a week. For a second, he caught a glimpse of the real Korra; behind her tough-girl attitude was a caring heart, burning bright like a fire that could not be extinguished.
"Korra, you don't have to do this. I know you don't have much yourself."
"Shut up, Mako. You're right, I don't have to this. But I am doing it. It's my duty as your teammate... and your friend." The avatar smiled at Mako.
"Yeah.. we are friends," he agreed. "Thank you, Korra."
The girl stood up and stretched her limbs. "Well, I had better get back to Air Temple Island because I have to get up bright and early for airbending training. I can't ignore my avatar duties. But I'll see you tomorrow for pro-bending training, I assure you that." The girl quickly rushed at Mako with a huge hug (a display of affection he wasn't used to) before bidding him farewell and running out. After everything today, she still had so much energy.
Long after she was gone, Mako found himself standing there staring at the door where he saw last saw his retreating friend. A little over ten years ago, the night he was orphaned, he made a vow to himself: Bolin was the only person he had left, and he'd protect him no matter what. That vow had sat in his heart and mind, untouched and unwavering all of this time. But now, it was back again, and this time it was expanding to include another person.
And that person was the crazy water tribe girl, the avatar, his friend, Korra.
