The Girl From Last Night

Old Friend

'The hard part is behind you' my ass.

Well, in thr beginning it seemed about right, physical therapy wasn't that bad. It was still painful, but at least it was paying off. At least she regained control of all her toes. She could even move her feet a little, it took a lot of effort, but it was possible.

And then, she started walking.

Well, not really. She mostly used her arms to hold her up, and  she barely moved her legs because she truly couldn't. She was excited at first, but it truly was a nightmare. It took out all of her energy, every last bit. It left her upper limbs sore, and she wasn't making any progress. Every time she thought 'this time I'm gonna make it' something happened. She'd slip, her knees would give up, her arms would give up, she'd land incorrectly on her feet, or...

Flashbacks.

It started with sounds of gunshots. She just fell on the ground and protected her head, crying and screaming that the northern troops were back, and it took almost an thirty minutes for Kya to snap her back to reality. Suddenly every little noise that was a little too loud sent her back to the warzone, every ambulance siren, every thunder, every kitchen vessel falling on the ground. She had nightmares, but those could be avoided if she just never went to sleep. But the flashes happened when she was awake, there was no escaping her living nightmare.

Then she was starting to see herself in bloody uniform. Sometimes she would just stand there, sometimes she would block Korra's way and make her turn away, and sometimes...

It mostly happened in dreams, but sometimes her old self would chase her, shoot her, kill her. Korra tried looking and find her own blue eyes, to ask for some compassion. But there was nothing but darkness in inside her, inside both of them.

Kya tried being supportive and funny, but Korra felt like she didn't have a sense of humor anymore, or a sense of happiness, or any positive feeling at all. She felt like a shell, without a use, without hope, without a future. She was just... empty.

Today was, Korra only made it half way through the course when she saw something that made her collapse to the ground. At first, she was certain that it was just another hallucination. But when Kya helped her up, abd she was still there, Korra had come to the even more terrifying realization that this was real.

Suro had come to see her. Fuck.

At this point,  it's been months since they had last spoke, and Korra could never bring herself to reach out. Seeing anyone from that time in her life was rough, but she managed. Suro on the other hand... she could never bring herself to meet her again. During the war, Suro was the rock she could lean on, she kept Korra going. She felt that Suro and her were closer then friends, closer then sisters. But now... she loved Suro with all her heart, and she missed her dearly, but she couldn't look her in the eyes without being reminded of everything. Everything that had happened, and the consequences of it all.

"Ex-girlfriend?" Kya whispered after getting Korra back up on her wheel chair.

"Best friend." Korra mumbled in response.

"You don't seem happy to see her," Kya raised an eyebrow at her.

"She saved my life," Korra said bitterly, "and I don't think I'll ever be able to forgive her for this."

"Well," Kya said as the two watched Suro walk in, "I'm happy she did. I'll give you two space."

Annoyingly, she really did leave, greeting Suro as she did and shaking her hand. Fucking great, that's exactly what she wanted, the chance to fuck up everything even more without supervision.