The New Face in Republic City
"We'll take ten papayas please," Korra said as the saleswoman prepared a sack of papayas and Korra reached for her sack of coins.
Korra may have been spending a bit much but she didn't care. She grabbed the bag of papayas and continued her walk. She grabbed one of the fruits from the pouch and tossed it to Naga who caught it with her mouth with ease. She then grabbed a papaya from the sack for herself and took a bite as she watched for the cue to cross the street.
When the cue finally came she and Naga crossed the street and Korra was confused that there seemed to be more police around the city than usual, however she was also a little too bummed out. She passed it off as, "just a tough outlaw and the police are being extra-protective today."
Then an unexpected happening happened when Korra got across the street. "STOP! THEIF!"
Korra jumped a little when she heard that, she and Naga froze in place but everything seemed normal. Until someone crashed into Korra so hard that her fruit scattered everywhere, this caused Korra to groan.
"I'm sorry about that miss, I was only trying to escape the police," said the voice of a male.
Korra was dazed, but she picked herself up and looked where Naga was staring. And Naga was staring at a boy with brown hair standing up as if he got struck by lightning and he wore a red worn out robe. He smiled at Korra but all Korra could do was pout.
When he offered Korra a hand she refused. She picked herself up in a huff and said, "don't apologize, I hope those policemen catch you." She pointed a finger of shame at him.
Wan still smiled, even though the world was against him currently. "You're pretty cold."
"Halt!" Cried a voice.
"See you later," said the happy boy as he ran across the street disregarding the crossing cars. The people driving quickly slammed their breaks when they saw the boy run across the street like that.
Korra was dumbstruck, she didn't realize she could use her water bottle and capture the young thief with water bending but she was too annoyed to think straight. The policemen noticed where the boy ran and hastily followed, except two who decided to stop and question an ambushed Korra.
"Are you allies with that boy?" Asked the policeman.
Mentally Korra shook her head in disgust. "No way, in fact I was going to help you guys capture him."
The other policeman laughed, "You sound like you have the makings of a woman who dedicates her life for the law. Tell you what, you capture him for us and we can give you a handsome reward."
While Korra would've probably agreed right on the dot, she hesitated a bit. She quickly remembered how he greeted her with that handsome smile. "Deal." She said in agreement.
After the encounter Korra realized she could continue playing hooky, but instead she rode Naga around the city to find the boy with the worn out clothes and brown hair, to capture him. Or so she told herself. But she realized she and Naga have been circling around the city for a long time now, so Korra sighed and stopped Naga at a water fountain so Naga could rest.
Korra stroked Naga's head as she drank water. "Master Kyoshi is going to kill me Naga."
Naga looked up to Korra's sad face, and Korra hugged Naga's head. "I didn't mean for us to be gone for so long it's just...I don't know what's wrong with me."
After Korra finished venting and Naga finished drinking water Korra continued to ride her polar bear dog and hopefully she would conclude her ditch day before her master would get upset. But then some activity distracted her.
"The marketplace sure looks lively today." Korra said with a smile.
"Maybe that guy is here."
Korra dismounted Naga and just decided to walk her way around the crowded marketplace. She smiled at all the merchants egging her on about buying items. Little did she know that the runaway thief was sitting on top of a tarp high above everyone else in the marketplace eating a melon, he spotted her. He used a rag to cover up his hair and jumped off the tarp and into the marketplace, he was going to talk to her again.
But as he tried to walk through the crowd of people, he felt a hand grab hold of his red robe. The boy screamed and was forced face to face with a cute faced girl with a brown braid.
"T-Ty Lee!" He cried in shock.
Ty Lee's smile became wider. "Hellllo, Wan." She said in a flirty tone.
Wan's eyes were full of displeasure, but Ty Lee didn't care. He tried to resist and run away but Ty Lee was a skilled athlete compared to him.
"Can't a girl be alone with her ex-boyfriend?" Ty Lee asked.
Wan had mixed feelings about this, he really didn't know what to say.
"Not when that ex-boyfriend was planning on talking to another girl," Wan uttered.
Ty Lee's expression quickly changed to a disappointed and displeased expression. And for some reason she let go of Wan's robe. "Someone else?"
Wan quickly walked away, "Yeah, that's the plan."
Ty Lee speed walked to follow him. "Y'know, I can always paralyze you and drag you home."
Wan kept walking. "Why?" He said in a slightly annoyed tone.
Ty Lee gasped and stopped walking, and Wan did the same wanting an answer.
"Because I'm worried about you, and the other thieves are worried about you too," Ty Lee said with a frown.
Wan turned around and saw the genuine concern in his ex-girlfriend's face, it was rare. Ty Lee was usually happily-go-lucky and optimistic. He placed his hand on her cheek gently to console her but as he did that he quickly saw policemen in metal armor at a distance in the corner of his eye.
Wan quickly lifted his hand off of Ty Lee's face. "Policemen! Run!" He yelled at Ty Lee as he quickly turned and ran.
Ty Lee looked behind her and used her athletic skills to somersault over the tarps and on to the buildings. Some people stopped in awe.
Wan ran through the people of the marketplace vigorously and soon found himself back in front of a street of roaming cars. But this time he didn't want to recklessly run through the streets to avoid the police. Instead he ran west and tried to find a safer more subtle way to escape. Sadly he didn't get too far because he quickly felt himself being grabbed from the back of his robe. The creature who did growl.
Wan turned his head and realized that the creature who grabbed him was the polar bear dog that belonged to Korra. He tried to free himself but Naga's teeth were strong and surprisingly didn't ruin his robe.
"Great job Naga!" Korra cried as she ran over.
Now she was finally face-to-face with the famous thief of Republic City. She walked closer and overanalyzed his amber eyes which confused him.
"So, you finally caught me, congratulations miss," said Wan.
"It's Korra," said Korra.
Wan smiled, "My name is Wan."
The moment was ruined by groups of policemen behind Korra, Wan, and Naga.
"Haha! I knew you had it in ya!" Cried the policeman.
Korra paused, she now remembered that agreement she made with the police. Wan had a shocked expression on his face when he found out that Korra was in cahoots with the police. But instead of turning Wan in she turned away and climbed on top of Naga. "Come on girl."
Naga ran with Wan still attached to her teeth. Wan was terrified, his feet were both floating and running against his will.
"Hey! Can I at least ride with you?!" Wan yelled.
Korra glared, "Do you want to escape the police?!"
That was quite the escape, Korra knew if she kept running, even on polar bear dog she and Wan would eventually get caught, but thinking quickly she commanded Naga to dive into the water so they could hide under a dock. But Wan wasn't big on swimming, in fact he didn't know how to swim at all. But when the coast was finally clear, Korra, Wan, and Naga ran for the nearest empty alley way, and it was easy since the dock was practically empty aside for a fisherman or two.
It smelled bad, and it was dirty, but Korra and Naga could finally sit and relax as Wan wringed out his red robe. Korra just laid her back against her sleeping polar bear dog and watched Wan, not knowing what to say. Wan eventually took notice at Korra's blue eyes staring at him, and then they both felt awkward.
Wan stopped wringing out his robe and sat back. "Thank you for saving me by the way, but why did you? I thought you wanted the police to catch me." He said with a frown.
Korra looked away, she was nervous. And the truth was, she didn't know why she saved him. Her feelings were out of control.
"...I don't know," she said.
Wan thought about how he first met her and tried to get an idea. "Well, I did bump into and caused you to lose some of your fruit."
Korra quickly remembered the reason she bought those papayas. She sighed, "I only bought those to eat away the pain of a breakup I had recently."
Wan flinched slightly, "A breakup?"
"Yeah," Korra frowned.
Korra stared at Wan for a moment, he really did look somewhat similar to Mako, it almost made her blush.
"In fact, you sort of look like him," Korra quickly buried her face against Naga's white fur but it didn't really help in hiding her smiling face.
Wan blinked, "I broke up with my girlfriend recently too."
Korra shot her face back towards Wan, "Really?" She nearly yelled asking that.
Wan chuckled a bit, "Yeah. I even left the group of thieves I used to be a part of, we were kind of a family."
"You don't have a family?" Korra asked.
"Not a real one," Wan said in a sad tone.
Wan hanged his head low and dug his index finger in the dirt below him. "But the reason I left my 'family' was," he stopped.
Korra crawled a bit closer to him to see if anything was wrong with him.
"I can see spirits!" He said in a pained tone. "And because of that I have been hurting the people I care about, it's been scaring me."
Korra was in disbelief. "But, I've been studying spirits under my master. She told me that spirits can't be seen by the naked eye, or humans."
Wan covered his face with his hand. "They tell me, that I'll be the one to bring balance to the world, but what if I don't want to?"
"What if I don't want to help a bunch of selfish humans?" Wan said in a serious tone.
Korra placed her hand over her heart.
"Why would I help the people who caused my family pain and suffering? Besides, I'm just a fire bender, nothing more and nothing less."
Wan lit a flame with his right hand and shaped it with his other hand. It lit the dark alley way, and warmed Korra physically and emotionally.
"The spirits would be doing me a huge favor by taking me away from this world."
The slight gust of wind blew Wan's flame out. Korra reached for her water bottle and water bended a strand of water. This sudden reaction confused Wan.
She stood up with the strand and stopped in front of Wan. "Here, let me help you. I'm not the best healer around but..."
Wan closed his eyes.
Korra placed the strand of water in his hands and tried her best to use calm energy to make the water glow but it only glowed slightly. Still, Wan felt the coolness of the water in his palms and it calmed his nerves. Korra bended another strand of water from her water bottle and wrapped it around the back of his head to try to easy his mind. She still couldn't heal him, the water glowed slightly and fell with a splash.
Korra felt a slight pang of failure not being able to help Wan. But Wan looked up at her and smiled. "Thank you."
Korra wasn't willing to give up yet though, "Maybe, we can come talk to my master together."
Korra quickly remembered that now may not be the best time. She grabbed her arm with her other hand and felt embarrassed. "Well, now may not be the best time. When I get back she'll probably toss bladed fans out me for playing hooky all day."
Wan chuckled, "Some other time then?"
Korra felt a quick sense of delight. "Well, yeah! I'll work extra hard so I can score some free time. And hope to find your face in Republic City again...I mean-"
Wan laughed harder.
It was strange, even though they both wanted to be alone, being together caused their protective barriers to break. Although Wan's laughing caused Korra to give Wan a very hard playful punch on the shoulder.
"Ow! Korra!" He said while calming his laughter.
