Seeing Beyond the Surface/ Makorra

Injured Pride

His voice became more stern, no longer his words would deceive him, the more memories came flooding back, the more aggravated he became.

"Why are you here?!" his voice laced with fiery intensity. Words that escaped from his lips, he demanded an answer he thought was owed.

As he awaited for a response, his amber eyes bore into this person, who once was an achieved athlete widely known was now old and worn out.

"You've messed with the wrong people Mako."

Mako's confusion deepened as the other person's words struck him like a bolt of lightning. "What...how?"

"The word is everywhere Mako," his tone carrying a sense of accusation and warning. "The blue spirit saves the daughter of an air nation representative."

"...What have you done now."

His eyes widened. "I thought it through! I can deal with the triple treat."

"Not them. You made other people very mad." he said. "You knew the Equalist was behind this and still you ruined things for everyone close to you" Not about angering the Triple Threat Triad but also another still unknown power that was slowly making itself known. The realization struck him like a blow to the chest, leaving him momentarily breathless.

The realization that he had unwittingly entangled himself in a web of consequences tightened its grip on his heart. Mako's gaze fixated on the former friend, "I didn't have a choice!" he yelled, his voice slightly cracking. "I couldn't... I couldn't abandon her."

"So everyone around you should pay the price for your selfish decision." He spat. "Should've let them take that privilege brat-"

Consciousness gave way to an overwhelming wave of anger, he lunged forward wildly and swung at him. his expression hardened when he blocked it. "Still punch like a girl I see." Mako responded with various blows, one of them was countered, Mako now being pinned against the door in a familiar submission hold. but it didn't take long for Mako to escape it. "Took you long enough to escape that move. " he mocked him.

As the fight continued, the room transformed into a battleground of heated exchanges. Both with cuts and bruises on their face and bodies, Mako's desperation to defend his actions and his refusal to back down clashed with the stranger's provocation and desire to overpower him, while having a smile on his face. "You will always be the same skinny broken kid that arrived at my doorstep."

He spit blood at the floor, he took deep breaths, weirdly enough the old man's words played back in his head like an echo in an empty cave.

"You're at your best when put in a corner with nowhere to go."

He immediately grabs his tea pot, throws the water inside at him followed by a precise burst of fire, instantly turning the water to steam clouding his vision. He took advantage of this by going behind him, wrapping both arms around his waist. With a burst of strength, he hoisted the person into the air, their combined weight crashing through a nearby wooden coffee table. The sound of splintering wood filled the room as both combatants tumbled to the ground.

For a brief moment, catching their breath, the room fell into a momentary silence, broken only by a low chuckle that emanated from the old man. The enigmatic sound reverberated, leaving an air of uncertainty lingering in the air.

Suddenly, the door breaks open, a familiar voice calling out the firebender name. Bolin turns on the lights to see his old brother and the person he thought he would never see again. "Toza?" He said shocked. Asami and Korra would follow behind, adding to the confusion to what was presented.