Petals in the Window

Part 32 ~ Before the Championships

Once Again.. Warning: there are heavy things discussed in this chapter.

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Book 1 Part 32

Before the Championships

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It was peaceful, the trees in a circle around us. It felt like a protective barrier. I never wanted to leave. Poppy was sitting next to me asleep. Korra was laying on her stomach on the other side of me, her face in the book from my childhood. Every few pages she would point at one of the detailed drawings in the book.

It was a nice afternoon, we were happily relaxing in the grotto. It was the early afternoon and the sun was bright and the sky was happily shining.

Everything seemed fine.

Everything seemed perfect.

Korra had started to sit up and leaned towards me. I thought she was going to say something about the book. Instead she gave me her dorky smirk and pulled me down to the ground. There was so much laughter. She had wrapped her arms around me and had started squishing me as she turned to lay on her back, pulling me with her.

She held me tightly as she looked up at me, my hair fell down in our faces. Her smile made me smile more than I think I have ever smiled before.

She let go of me with one arm, still holding me with the other. She reached up and pushed my hair behind my ear and I used my own to hold the sides of her face, brushing my fingertips across her skin. Our laughing died down to a soft and sweet silence. She leaned up and kissed me, pulling me close. We stayed connected, as if the world had just frozen.

She flipped us over, lips still connected as we held each other close. She hovered over me as my back laid in the grass. We reluctantly pulled away, only for air. We were both breathless as we laughed. Her smile was soft yet beautiful. She pressed a kiss to the top of my head before sitting up, pulling me with her.

Her soft and happy face contorted. She gasped out in pain, choking as she fell to the side. I let out an ear shattering scream. I fell to her side, calling our for her, telling her she was going to be okay. A laugh came from above us. I kept ahold of Korra's face as I looked up in fear

His face hovered over us. A sadistic smirk that haunted me. The familiar face of the man who destroyed everything. His hand gripping a short sword.

A short sword now stained with Korra's blood.

She struggled to breath and I kept screaming. She looked up at me as she started to fade. Her bright blue eyes..

Became lifeless.

My screams combined with sobs as I held her.

She was gone, like everyone else. She was gone.

I screamed but couldn't hear it, the only indication that I had actually screamed was the way my throat hurt. All I could hear was the laughter. The sick sadistic laughter of the man that did this. A sharp unbearable pain shot through my abdomen. I looked down, frozen in pain, the short sword had cut through me. I started choking, an almost acidic feeling in my throat as I choked on my own blood.

I fell over, unable to move, my arms still around Korra as I landed in the grass.

It felt hot, a searing heat that filled the air. The trees that once held a protection and serenity were set aflame. Everything that was once happy and calm was melting away in an ashy disaster. I couldn't breathe.