After closing the portal in the North Pole, Korra and Akashi left the spirit world, finding themselves once again in the human world.
Korra slid on the ice, using her waterbending to travel smoothly on the icy surface of the South Pole.
On the other hand, Akashi flew.
He was moving so slowly that it felt less like flying to him.
Korra stole glances at him every now and then.
"Since when did you learn how to fly?" Korra asked. "Forget about it. Why didn't you show it until now?"
"Nobody asked," replied Akashi.
"You traveled with us to the spirit world sitting on a spinning ball. I know you wanted to hide it," Korra said.
She may not have gotten smarter, but she seemed to pick up on his tells, knowing him better.
Akashi nodded. "Didn't want your uncle to find out. I wanted to catch him off guard."
Korra sighed.
"Why? Was there anything you thought of?" Akashi asked.
Truth be told, he had hidden it from Korra for some reason.
Remember when he had freed the bloodbenders. Flying allowed him to move between long distances without being noticed. He had also taken Amon and vanished from the prison.
If these abilities of his were known back then, he would have been the number one suspect in the bloodbender operation.
"I thought you might have a girl in another nation, and you would be traveling to see her," Korra said. "Or that you are flying to see the chief."
"Good idea… don't tell her, or else, she would always nag me about why I didn't fly a whole nation to see her," Akashi said.
Korra zipped her mouth. She chuckled.
And just like that, they found themselves in front of the Southern Tribe location.
Needless to say, there were people outside, seeming to be attracted by the darkness that had temporarily covered the world.
As soon as they arrived, Akashi landed on his feet and walked. Korra followed him.
Soon, they were surrounded.
It seemed that they had just heard about what happened with Unalaq, and him becoming the dark Avatar. As for who told them, it was obviously the son and daughter of Unalaq, who were now the chiefs of the tribe. Though, they would need to get back to the North Pole to settle who would be the ruler.
"We should have never trusted the Northerns."
"They were planning to destroy the world. Avatar, you should deal with them once and for all."
Some people started to complain to Korra, releasing their deep hatred toward her. Korra gave Akashi a helpless look. He just shrugged, as if telling her to deal with her Avatar's matters.
"Guys," Korra cleared her throat, "The dark Avatar has been dealt with. As for the northern tribe members, they are just loyal soldiers who didn't know about the world-ending plan. The best course of action now would be for them to get back to the North Pole. I hope I don't hear any objections."
Korra looked to the side and raised her voice. Her gaze was directed to the soldiers standing on the corner, who seemed to be the higher-ups of the Northern Tribe's fleet.
"We do agree," one of them said, "It was the decision of the young chiefs. We will be leaving. But we won't drop the matter."
"What matter?" Korra asked.
He pointed at Akashi.
"That man!" he said, "He put half of our forces in bed, and forced them to dangerous injuries. Even with three months in bed, they would still be unable to fight."
Korra frowned, "Just get back to the North and you will find healers. You treated the people of the south tribe badly, and they won't help you obviously."
"Tsk… let's go," the soldier turned and left.
A tall green-eyed girl approached Akashi, shivering.
Asami said, impressively, "So, it was true what they said. You beat up their army on your own."
Being glazed, Akashi scratched his head.
"Not that big a deal. Just some applications of airbending with some science," he said.
She examined him.
"What?" Akashi asked.
"You feel different. Your neck is thicker, so are your arms. You don't look fatter though," she said, "never noticed you were this jacked."
For reference, after Akashi had taken the dark beam, not only was he damaged, but so were his clothes.
He laughed. "Best thing I heard today."
For someone who had been in the gym ever since he had seen his pathetic strength stats, a compliment from a gym bro was a big deal, and from a girl was bigger. His ego was scratched, and he was tempted to put more points on strength stats. Well, after earning thirty levels, 60 Attribute points, Akashi didn't feel as careful in spending points as he used to be. Well, he reached a high level. Both in stats, and in system. And leveling anything from now on through training or sheer effort would be just a hopeless dream. It was hard mode after all.
By now, Akashi had gained more wisdom points, and following that were some wisdom perks. One of them allowed him to understand things better.
And it was obvious that this girl was thirsting over him.
Well, not like he didn't feel that there was a spark in the past.
But now, she didn't even bother hiding it, even touching his body while looking at it.
"Glad to hear that." She replied, cheeks turning red.
"Asami," Akashi, keeping his mind in the present, "You may piss off Korra and would have to face her Avatar's rage."
He told her for her own good.
"Why?" Asami asked, "She doesn't get angry when the chief touches you."
"Wait, what?" Akashi tried to confirm what he heard.
"I know that she shares you with that woman." Asami said, "the whole police force knows that. Ba Sing Se knows that. I know that. So, do you think I'm ugly or something?"
For another reference, Akashi had a tent in this southern tribe, and it didn't make an orthogonal angle with the ground.
"Or, are you scared?" Asami gave him a teasing look.
Akashi laughed, "Are you not?"
"I may not." She replied, her face getting closer to his.
Damn it.
"But I'm not going to leave her," Akashi said.
For some reason, the heat froze him more than the cold.
Korra, who was talking to the people, noticed Akashi.
She stormed, gliding on ice.
"What are you doing?" Korra stepped in between Akashi and Asami and asked, glaring at Asami.
"Just confessing," Asami frowned, "I like him, I want him."
"Why don't you find yourself someone else!" Korra replied, throwing her hands up.
Asami, hands on her hips, didn't back off. "I don't know. Do I have to remind you that you approached my ex while he was in a relationship with me?"
Korra paused for a second, guilt appearing on her face for a second.
"That's different!" she gaslighted.
"How!?" asked Asami.
"We're deep into each other!" Korra yelled.
"So deep you handle an old woman in your relationship!"
"She's not going to live long." Explained Korra. "And I can't believe you brought something that I trusted you with to the topic."
"Oh, well, he doesn't seem to mind." Asami pointed to Akashi.
Akashi, who suddenly got caught in the middle of the fire range, looked for the nearest police car to cover under. But there were none in this place.
Even against Vatuu, he hadn't felt as anxious as he was now.
True, he didn't mind.
Korra held Akashi's arm, glared at Asami, and shouted. "If you want to be his second bitch, so be it. But he's only mine, got it. We love each other."
Akashi, who was feeling like flying somewhere else, narrowed his eyebrow and looked at Korra's head.
'Even after my wisdom stats have increased, there are things beyond my understanding… I mean, Tenzin was willing to throw me his two girls. And Korra is treating Asami like my second bitch.'
Asami smirked, "you're afraid he'll leave you, are you not?"
"He's not." Korra said and turned to Akashi.
Akashi cleared his throat and nodded.
"Ahem… I'd never leave you Korra. We're going to get married soon anyway."
True.
He had enough love for Korra that he had ruined his perfect plan against Vatuu, just so Unalaq wouldn't land a single hit on her.
And to be fair, there was something attractive in her naivety, cheerful view of life, and all. There was something that suppressed the grumpy him when he was with her. There had been a time when he was willing to kick Noatak's butt for calling her naive.
"Okay…" Asami approached Akashi and tried to touch his arm.
Korra glared at her and pulled Akashi behind her. "Not today!"
Asami's eyes opened wide, and looked at Akashi. The latter just shrugged.
"See you later," she said.
After a simple nod, Akashi found himself being dragged by Korra and getting thrown inside her house.
"Stay here. I'll deal with the follow-ups, and we'll have a talk." She said.
"Alright." Akashi nodded, looking around at Korra's room, sitting on her bed.
As she left, Akashi, to distract himself, picked up on the thin sound waves in the air.
His ears perked, catching something interesting.