Chapter 31: I Believe Him

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Asami

“You’re still a man. You’re still my brother; you’re Eska and Desna’s father. Are you willing to throw away your humanity to become a monster?” Tonraq tries to reason with Unalaq. His arguments seem to have no effect on the man.

Was he ever really Eska and Desna’s father? I wonder. I had heard Desna’s stories about him. He didn’t sound like any father I would want, especially not now.

I can’t help but look at Desna now. His eyes are following his father as he leaves us here. I wonder what Desna’s feeling. I wish he would just talk to me again. I wish things were different.

“Eska, Desna, listen to me,” Korra begs. “You’ve got to help us stop Unalaq. I know he’s your father, but Vaatu’s made him completely crazy.”

“We will never turn on our father,” Eska says, speaking for the both of them. But you don’t really feel that way, do you Desna? I try to get him to hear my thought, to see it in my eyes.

“Please,” Korra continues. I can hardly take it. “If you let me out now, I can still stop him before he destroys everything. Once he fuses with Vaatu, no one will be safe. Desna, he won’t be your father anymore.”

Desna looks at Korra. There’s a moment of hesitation in him, a slight flicker in his gray eyes. Come on, Desna. Make the right choice.

Something else flickers in Desna. He stomps forward without even glancing at me. “You don’t know what you’re talking about! If our father says what he’s doing is right, I believe him.”

I nearly choke as the words come out of his mouth. No. He can’t believe that. I had heard him say a hundred times he didn’t. I blink back the tears as Desna returns to his sister’s side. I hope he isn’t looking at me now. I tried to catch my breath, when an explosion sounded outside. Bumi suddenly slides into the room, knocking down Eska and Desna.

“All right guys, rescue time!” he says with a smile. I try to return it, but my mouth won’t budge. Eska and Desna soon return to their feet, but Naga swoops in and knocks them both out again. I feel a pang of guilt as a smile actually comes to my face this time. He’s a traitor, I remind myself silently.

Bumi unties us all and we hurry into the spirit woods.

“You run into the portal. I’ll hold off anyone who comes after you,” Tonraq tells Korra.

“No,” she says harshly. “You’re too hurt. Asami, can you take Oogi and my dad back to my mom?” she asks me. I give her a small nod as I hope back on the bison. Although I was looking for a battle, I guess I’ll be stuck behind.

Desna

Eska and I follow the others to the spirit portal. We arrive just as Father is thrown out of the spirit world.

He hardly acknowledges. “You two get the boys. I’m going back in,” he tells us. We both nod. By the boys I can only assume he means Mako and Bolin. But where’s Asami?

Eska and I approach the brothers in silence. Bolin is the only one speaking. Eska agrees to take him. I believe she still had a bit of anger left towards him. “Hello, my feeble turtle duck,” Eska greets him with a smile. To her amusement, he jumps and yells. She quickly pushes him out of his hiding spot. I do the same with Mako.

I can’t help but smile a bit as I knock them to the ground. “That’s for kissing Asami,” I mutter.

Father runs past us as soon as the coast is clear. “Don’t let them escape this time.” The disappointment is clear in his voice.

“What should we do with them?” I ask Eska.

She shrugs. “Let’s drag them into the woods.” Once again, she takes Bolin’s limp body while I drag Mako by the shoulders. We only brought them a few feet before they seemed to have regained consciousness. Mako spins on the ground and sends a spark of flames in my face. I duck backwards as he attacks Eska too. She quickly drops Bolin and the brothers make a run for it, leaving us behind.

I only half consider not following them, but Eska is already on their trail and I still wanted to get my revenge on Mako. We quickly pass through the spirit portal, where the brothers went.

The sprit world seemed bleaker than it had been the last time we were here. The time I nearly died. It seemed that Vaatu had managed to escape, no doubt with the help of Father. Korra appeared to be injured, or perhaps she had given up already. It was hard to tell.

The brothers were running full speed towrd their fallen friend, but Eska quickly managed to freeze them both in a block of ice as Korra tries to get up. We each go to Mako and Bolin’s side, making sure they could not escape.

Father seemed to be doing business of his own. I just barely caught a final glimpse of Vaatu before it went into Father. Suddenly his eyes were glowing red. He didn’t even seem to move, but he went from one portal to the other in an instant. I gasped as wave of dark energy seemed to take over Father, but he didn’t seem to care.

Suddenly there was a loud cry. Then Father was glowing a redish black color.

I couldn’t see much after that. A light blinded me, and no doubt Eska, Mako, and Bolin.

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