The Truth Is... (Korra/OC and a Korrasami Fan Fic)

Chapter 8

“Hey. Don’t look so upset. We found the airbenders.” The person beside me says.

I look up and sure enough, it’s Rolon sitting beside me. He smiles at me and I notice that he looks perfectly fine. A little bit dirty, but I’m used to that by now. Everyone else seems to have conveniently disappeared so I take the opportunity to kiss Rolon. He wraps his arms around me and we sit like that for a while. Eventually I pull away and just rest my head on his shoulder. We stay there for a long time, just holding each other.

~*~

Sometimes I wish that Korra would just agree to stay in one place. Now we’re off on a search for airbenders in Zaofu. I guess that I shouldn’t be surprised. There are plenty of nonbenders in the city, but I sort of hoped they all would have stayed that way. Zaofu isn’t my favorite place to be and it never really has been. I’ve only been there once and that was enough. I had a disagreement with the matriarch and I left the next day. It was a fairly…. Aggressive argument.

The airship lands in Zaofu and I decide to stay on the airship. Korra looks at me, but she doesn’t question my motives. It’s really better that day. My reasons would take a while to explain and I’m not at all excited for that conversation. Lin stayed on the ship too and I completely understand why. I asked her why she never spoke to my mother before and she actually told me the story. Only after I asked her about one hundred times though.

“You know that she’ll find out we’re here right?” I sigh.

“I know. Might as well stay put until she does though.” Lin growls.

“Yeah.”

“You never told me why you left.”

“It’s a long story. A very long story.”

“We have some time. There’s nothing else to do but wait.”

“I know, but it’s not a story I’m fond of and it’s not a very good one either.”

“I told you my reason for not wanting to be here.”

“I know and you have a valid reason. My reason for leaving wasn’t quite so reasonable.”

“What happened, Rolon?”

“They’re coming.”

I turn stand up and walk to stand beside Lin. We both turn our backs towards the door and brace ourselves against the control panel. This is going to painful for both of us and frankly I’m dreading it. I’ve been dreading it for a while now. I’m not sure how anyone will react. What will my mother say? My siblings? My former best friend? I don’t know how they’ll feel about this situation and it terrifies me. It’s been so long.

“Rolon?”

I shut my eyes and clench my jaw. I’ve been dreading this moment for years and it’s finally come. I was hoping that I could avoid it for a few more years, but I guess that that isn’t going to happen. After all, I always seem to get caught when I don’t want to be. I have a bad habit of getting in to trouble and I always get caught eventually. It was only a matter of time before I got caught for running away.

“Mother.”

I carefully turn around and look at my mother. It’s been a long time, but I remember that look like it was yesterday. She’s looking at me the same way she did when I left and there’s something about that that bothers me. It makes me feel like I’m seven and getting ready to run away again. I don’t like it. But there’s more to worry about than how I feel. There are a few things that I want to know; a few bonds that I want to mend.

“It’s been awhile.” I whisper.

“Fifteen years.”

I lean back against the control panel and stare at my feet. I’m not really sure how I expected this to go but it certainly wasn’t like this. Somehow my mother still has the ability to make me feel like a child, even when she isn’t angry with me. It’s actually worse that she isn’t screaming at me. That I could deal with. But she just looks so disappointed that it makes me want to run in the opposite direction. I want her to just scold me and be done with it.

“What’s going on here?” Korra asks.

“It would take too long to explain everything. Let’s just go meet this new airbender.” I say quietly.

Everyone turns to leave and Lin and I follow them. We walk out of the airship and through the palace, my old home. Mother leads us out through the garden and we walk past Huan examining a sculpture. I’d have to agree with Bolin, it does look like a banana. Then we see Wing and Wei playing a game that they invented. I wonder if they remember me. They were only a year old when I left. Finally we come to a spot where a girl is standing. She waves at us and I have to stop. It’s been so long, does she still remember me?

“Opal?”

It’s like she looks through everyone as soon I speak. Her eyes meet mine and I’m reminded of how similar they are to mine. People would mistake us for twins all of the time because we looked and acted the same way. I wonder how much that’s changed. I’m no longer the goofy big brother that would carry her on my shoulders and pretend to be a speeding airship. Now I’m just the boy that left home. I wonder how she feels about everything.

Opal doesn’t say anything. She just runs through everyone else and hugs me. I wrap my arms around her and rest my cheek on her head. It’s been so long, but it doesn’t seem like she’s mad at me. In fact it seems like she’s missed me more than anything. We stand there for what seems like forever. It’s almost like we’re trying to make up for the last fifteen years by standing here. I still can’t believe that it’s been that long. It doesn’t seem like it.

“I’ve missed you.” Opal whispers.

“I’ve missed you too.”

I hold her for a few more minutes before we finally break apart. Everyone is staring at us and it’s hard to say what hurts more, the obviously pissed off face that Korra has, or the painfully hurt face that Lin has. I have a lot of explaining to do and I know that. It’s been fifteen years and I’ve never told Lin why I left, or that I’ve missed my family this much and I’ve never told Korra anything about my family in the time that I’ve known her. This is going to be a long trip. It hasn’t been an hour and I’ve already hurt Lin and pissed off Korra. This is going to be great.