Avatar: The Lost Path

Prologue Part 2: Spitting Image

Once Lin found Naoki and Toph, she brought them back to Mako, Bolin, Opal, Noren, and Ikem. They would daily make trips to Republic City, occasionally with more people who lived with them at Air Temple Island, and the adults would split up to work and run errands and the kids would split up and explore the city that they knew like it was second nature.

Lin took one look at Naoki and Toph's terrified and stunned faces, and knew that she had to tell everyone in a controlled manner. Still confused herself she brought them back to everyone. As they looked the two kids, it was evident that something had happened. Their clothes were dirty and wrinkled, and then wrists and arms had evident bruising that could be seen due to their short sleeve shirts. Their usual talkative and energetic selves were silent, looking at the ground with sullen looks on their faces, unable to meet the eyes of their loved ones looking at them.

Opal kneeled down to Toph and worriedly asked her daughter what had happened, resulting in no response. The rest of the guys just stood there, looking at the girls, Lin, and each other. The girls remained silent, so Lin knew it was up to her to be able to keep this controlled.

"The girls were attacked." Lin said, awaiting the inevitable outburst of emotion and confusion to come from the group. "The girls will explain what happened, but back home in front of everyone else." she continued.

This sparked even more confusion amongst the group, but they knew that such an intervention from Lin could only mean something serious. They then went back to Air Temple Island, and the whole way back they remained in silence, the threat and confusion still looking in the minds of everyone.

Once they got the Air Temple Island, Lin sent the group to the main meditation room, and she left to round up everyone else. A few minutes later, the Air family (Tenzin, Pema, Jinora, Kai, Ikki, Meelo, Rohan) came and joined the group, with Ikki's girlfriend Sana and Meelo's girlfriend Aiyo watching Opal and Bolin's 6-month old twins Jin and Jain. It was then that Lin pulled Naoki and Toph to the side.

"Look, I know it's scary, and I know that everything that's happened tonight is confusing, but you need to tell everyone absolutely everything." Lin said to the girls.

They both looked at each other before the were silently ushered by Lin to the front of the room. They still had the same silence and long faces facing the ground, and could feel the eagerness in the room, and could feel Lin's stern look at them to get talking.

"We were just about to start returning to everyone, when we got attacked" Naoki said as she still faced the ground. "They seemed to be Agni Kais, probably targeting us because of who our family is. It was just us two, and they were overpowering us and"

"And then a guy pulled out a knife out and held it to my throat." Toph interrupted, as she looked up, and added "that's when Naoki went into the Avatar state, and bent all four of the elements and scared them off"

This, understandably, resulted in a large amount of shock and confusion amongst everyone.

Two people who were specifically shocked were  the brothers Noren and Ikem. Noren was a 10 year old earthbender and Ikem was a 9 year old water bender. Their parents were the water healer Kia and the police officer Shan. Shan was best friends with Mako and Bolin before their parents died. When Mako and Bolin's parents died, they separated, but reconnected when they met while working in the Republic City Police Force. When Shan and Kia died in an unfortunate incident a year before this, Ikem and Noren came to live with Mako and Bolin and their families on Air Temple Island. During that year, and even before, the brothers were best friends with Naoki and Toph. They were a close knit group, but often times the would break up, with Ikem being with Toph and Noren being with Naoki. They, especially Noren, almost felt betrayed. Confused. How they were able to spend so much time with her and yet she hid such a vital part of her life from them. But that's when Noren saw a tear fall from Naoki's eye, something only he notices since she was facing the ground. Although he felt confused, he tried to understand it from her perspective. He knew she didn't cry often, and he realized that it must have been something that gravely bothered her. Something she couldn't tell anyone. And it must have hurt her to keep and deal with all by herself.

Another person who was especially shocked was Mako. After their vacation in the Spirit World, Korra returned without Asami, because Asami was trapped by some spirit and could not be freed no matter how much anyone tried. When Korra returned, both her and Mako were greatly pained, and it was this pain that brought them together to try them again. They ended up getting married and Korra became pregnant about 5 years after the Spirit World incident. Mako and Korra were immensely happy to be having a baby, one they realized was a girl. It was Korea's idea to name the daughter Naoki after Mako's deceased mother of the same name. She heard stories about the first Naoki, and about how much of the kind hearted soul she was, and knew in her heart that her daughter would be the same, Mako agreeing with it. They were incredibly happy together and awaited their amazing future with their daughter, but that changed when Korra gave birth to her daughter, who during complications during birth was stillborn. A few minutes later, however, Korra started crashing and ended up dying, after which her daughter miraculously came back to life. Korra's death was unbelievably painful for everyone, especially Mako who was in the room with her. When their daughter was stillborn, they cried together, and once Korra started to deteriorate she said a final few words to Mako.

"I'm sorry. I love you."

And she passed away.

This death was a big shock to the whole world, and it caused Mako himself to go into shock, and he started to bury himself more into his work. He had a daughter, but it was far too painful for him to be a proper father to her. He became absent in her life, being at home and "around" but never really being the father that Naoki needed. Naoki needed Mako, and Mako needed Naoki. Bolin and Opal were living on Air Temple Island, and made Mako move there with him so that he wouldn't be lonely and so that they could take care of his daughter, because they knew the pain he was in. Mako rose through the ranks, and became Chief of the Republic City Police. Naoki would spend her time with Noren, Toph, and Ikem, and was often looked after by Opal, Bolin (when he wasn't working as Lieutenant of the Police), the Air family (what they called Tenzin's family), and Lin.

Lin especially took a liking to the girl, as she greatly liked her mother. Lin could also feel for Naoki and Mako, because when she was in her early 20s, she was pregnant with Tenzin's child but ended up having a miscarriage. The trauma for this event caused her to bury herself in her work, which led to her falling out with Tenzin. Although Lin wasn't the most motherly person, Naoki was like the child she lost, and Lin was like the mother Naoki lost. Neither replaced those who were gone, but they were instead like help to each other, connected by a special bond that no one could quite understand.

As Naoki grew older, there were more similarities between her and Korra that became easier to see. She had the same ocean blue eyes that her mother had, her same dark brown hair that she kept long and down. The same beautiful deep brown water tribe complexion. Not just by looks, but also by portions of her personality. Naoki had the same headstrong approach to things, yet still had an unbelievable amount of self duty and the need to care for others. She was the spitting image of Korra, but being the Avatar? She was more like her mother than anyone could imagine.