✨•~~~~~~~~•✨
MAKOs POV

After Bolin and I went to look for Kai, we did find him, but we had to chase him down. We chased him all the way to the train station, but tricked us into going inside the train that left for the lower ring. We arrived at the lower king, to find out that we couldn't go back to the upper ring without passports. We tried to give them our identification but realized our wallets were gone and were probably stolen by no one other than Kai. Since we were stuck in the lower ring, we had to spend the night in the alley. The next day, we went around to search for food to eat. After a small misunderstanding, we actually found our whole family, including our grandma. I was so happy to find the family that dad had been talking to me about before. Bolin and I had a small private talk with grandma about our parents. Grandma missed them a lot, so I gave her my red scarf. She was really happy when I gave it to her. We had a large dinner prepared for us, and we were told that the Earth Queen was secretly hiding the air benders somewhere so they can be used as her army. We needed to get to the upper ring to tell Korra and the others immediately. Tu, their cousin, offered to help them the next morning by trying to find them some passports. Right now, It was a bit late at night, right after the dinner. Everyone had gone to bed but I couldn't sleep. I was in the living room, looking out the window, overlooking the small town of the lower ring.

"You couldn't sleep, Mako?" a voice behind me asked, I turned around and saw grandma.

"No, I just need to get back to the upper ring quick," I smiled, grandma nodded slowly as she took a seat next to me.

"So, who's the girl?" Grandma asked, I raised my eyebrow in confusion.

"The girl that's on your mind, dear child, and the one Bolin keeps talking to me about," Grandma chuckled and smiled at me, "It's obvious that you want to go back to see her, so tell me about her,"

I sighed and looked out the window, seeing the starry night above, while saying, "She's a princess, a firebender too, a really skilled one. She's been my side since the very start. I would do anything just to see her happy,"

I smiled as I talked about Lei to my grandma, I continued, "She wouldn't like someone like me. She's a princess, and I'm just a regular person,"

"Mako, you have to know that love has no bounds. She may be a princess, but if you love her then that shouldn't stop the both of you," Grandma said softly. She took my hand and looked at me.

"Promise me, that you follow what your heart tells you, even if you're scared, listen to your heart," Grandma continued softly, as she squeezed my hand. I smiled and nodded.

She got up from her seat, and started heading to her room, while saying, "Go get some sleep, you need energy if you wanna see her tomorrow,"

I smiled widely before going back to my own bed to get a good night's rest before heading back to the upper ring.

✨ •~~~~~~~• ✨
LEIs POV

It was the next day, Korra went to the Earth Queen last night and told us about how she shouted at her. She was really angry, and when Korra was angry there was really no stopping her. So, I suggested for her to blow off some steam by throwing a few punches and kicks. We were at the garden right next to the small villa, Asami was holding punching pads, while Korra was throwing punches and kicks with all the anger in her system. I stood behind Korra, crossing my arms watching her constantly punch over and over.

"I'm starting to not like this idea of yours, Lei," Asami said, as she dodged one of Korra's punches, I chuckled lightly.

"Let Korra blow off some steam for a while," I smiled, as she dodged another punch.

Korra huffed and started kicking the pads on Asami's arms, "I know that Earth Queen is lying to me! With that stupid little queenie snark of hers! I can't believe I helped her! I should've known she was using me,"

Korra jumped high and spun herself quicker with her airbending, then kicked the pad on Asami harder. Asami stumbled back and put her hands up defensively.

"Woah! Hey! I think I could use a break," Asami said quickly, she started taking off the punching pads, "You letting off steam is starting to hurt a lot,"

"Sorry," Korra said softly to Asami.

Pabu suddenly came up to us and was staring at something behind us. I turned around and saw Mako and Bolin running up to us. I raised my eyebrows as I saw them.

"Mako! Bolin! Where the hell have you guys been?" I asked concerningly, making Korra and Asami turn to us.

Bolin started breathing out heavily and started, "We chased Kai...turned and slipped away...lower ring....slept in trash pile...met our family....grandma tears....mako scarf...earth queen lying,"

Bolin fell to the ground since he was tired from the run from wherever he came from. I looked at Bolin in confusion wondering what he was saying. The three of us turned to Mako, who watched the whole thing and looked like he wasn't out of breath at all.

"Can you interpret that?" Asami asked, as she placed a hand on her hip.

"The earth queen has been secretly taking airbenders and forcing them to be her army," Mako explained shortly. huh, I'm not surprised.

Korra clenched her fists, and groaned, "She was lying! I knew it! I swear, the next time I see her-,"

"It's the queen," Asami whispered, as she looked at a small green carriage coming our way. I groaned, I was hoping to avoid her while we were here at Ba Sing Se.

"Quick! Pabu! Shirt!" Bolin said to Pabu, remembering that the queen can't see the animal.

The carriage stopped, the Earth queen stepped out along with Gam right at her side. She started walking towards us and looked at me.

"Haven't seen you in a while, fire princess," The earth queen said, acknowledging my presence.

"To be honest, I was hoping not to see you at all," I muttered, the earth queen turned to Korra.

"Gam tell her the good news," The earth queen ordered.

"We've received reports from Yang province. There have been reports of airbenders there," Gam said, I raised my eyebrow already knowing that was a lie.

"Wonderful isn't it? It's the very thing you've been looking for," The earth queen sneered.

"Thank you, that is just, the most wonderful news," Korra said sarcastically.

"So, I'd assume that you and your friends here will be leaving immediately--ACHOO!" The earth queen sneezed loudly, a few times. The queen turned to Gam, and held his collar.

"IS THERE AN ANIMAL IN MY PRESENCE?" The earth queen questioned Gam, who was sweating from nervousness. I looked at Bolin who looked worried about Pabu.

"No! Your majesty, I would never allow an animal in the palace," Gam reasoned, The queen sneezed again.

"If I find one within fifty feet of me, it will be your head!" The earth queen shouted at Gam, she turned to us and said, "Anyways, if you need any assistance packing, let Gam know. He'll see to it that you are on your way this evening,"

"Uh, this evening? I'm not sure about leaving so soon," Korra started, pretty sure not thinking her plan through.

"Because our airship is having engine trouble," Asami finished, "It'll take me until tomorrow to finish the repairs,"

The earth queen looked at us for a moment before turning on her heel, and walking away from us along with Gam. I looked at everyone else.

"Thanks for buying us some time," Korra said softly to Asami.

"Now, we have to make sure we use it wisely," I said, Korra nodded.

We headed to the small villa and gathered everyone else into the main room. The ladies and I told our side of the story while the boys told theirs. I was standing next to Mako, who was seated next to me.

"I can't believe the earth queen is conscripting airbenders," Tenzin said in disbelief.

"Those people should not be forced into an army," Korra said angrily.

"Well, technically the earth queen has a right to conscript her citizens," Bumi said, we all looked at him pointedly. "What? It's true,"

"Guys, what if Kai was spotted airbending? He might've been taken too," Jinora said worriedly.

"Probably not, he's surprisingly difficult to catch, like a, like a little greased hogmonkey," Bolin said.

"But what if he was?" Jinora added, she was really worried for Kai. Korra stood up and kneeled in front of Jinora.

"Don't worry, Jinora. We'll find him, we just need to figure out where to look," Korra said softly.

"I bet through under Lake Laogai," Mako said, I raised my eyebrows looking at him, wondering how he just said that there was a place under that lake. "What? I read some of Jinora's books. The old dai lee agents used to have a fortress underneath the lake,"

"Mako's right, that's almost the perfect spot to hide airbenders," Jinora said, "And, I know how to check it out without being caught,"

"How would you do that?" I asked curiously, wondering how a little girl would get past Dai Lee agents.

"I can project my spirit into it," Jinora replied.

"You mean that out-of body thing you did to help giant spirited Korra?" Bumo questioned.

"You can still do that?" Tenzin asked in disbelief.

"It's not as powerful as the one during harmonic convergence, but if I can get close enough, I think I could do it," Jinora said, Korra smiled and placed her hand on her small shoulder.

"Let's go get Kai out, let's get all the airbenders out," Korra said.

✨ •~~~~~~~• ✨

Tenzin, Korra, and Jinora headed to Lake Laogai while the rest of us waited here for them to come back. I was in my room, laying down on the bed, just getting a little bit of rest. I grew bored and decided to go to main room. I found Mako lounging on the chairs.

"You know, you look different without your red scarf," I commented, as I took a seat next to him, he smiled lightly.

"Do I look worse than I already do?" Mako chuckled, I shook my head.

"You look great, Mako, it's a good change to be honest," I smiled as I slumped back on my chair, "How was meeting your grandma and your family?"

"I didn't realize that our family was really big. I've always wanted a big family like that, and now I have two," Mako said softly.

"I was worried when you guys didn't come back, I should've went out to look for you," I said, feeling bad.

"It's alright, Bolin and I managed to survive in the streets before, we can do it again for to two days," Mako chuckled.

"Why do you seem so happy?" I chuckled, liking this exciting side of Mako. He smiled at me.

"I won't tell you just yet," Mako said, I raised my eyebrow.

"What? Why not now?" I asked curiously.

"I'll tell you, just not today," Mako smiled widely,

"You're weird. You're smiling a lot now. Just tell me, ferret," I said, wondering why he's so happy lately.

"Be patient, princess," Mako said, I smacked him lightly on the shoulder.

Suddenly, the door burst opened revealing Tenzin, Korra, and Jinora. I stood up open seeing them, because they were supposed to have some intel about the airbenders. Everyone gathered in the main room once more. Korra told us that they had found nothing at Lake Laogai, but they were able to find Kai since Jinora was able to connect with him spiritually and found out where he was, the Earth Queen's temple.

"I can't believe Miss Queenie Smugface had them right under our noses the whole time!" Korra shouted angrily.

"We have to get it to that compound tonight and get those airbenders out," Tenzin said, he crossed his arms seriously.

"Okay, we go in under the cover of darkness, two small teams inside teams, and third on the outside. All we'll need is twelve tons of blasting jelly, a medium sized bulldozer, and does anyone have a badgermole that knows morse code?" Bumi said, with his usual contribution of the day. Tenzin deeply sighed at his brother.

Suddenly, there was a knock on the front door.

Asami groaned, "Ugh, great, not the queen again,"

"Everyone act normal," Korra advised, as she and Tenzin approached the door.

Tenzin was positioned at the door, with Korra and Asami behind him. I stood with my arms crossed waiting to get another bickering session by the queen. Tenzin opened the door, and we found, unexpectedly, Lin Beifong standing at the door.

"Lin? What are you doing here?" Tenzin asked curiously, as she stepped inside.

"We need to get Korra out of here immediately," Lin said sternly, I raised my eyebrow in confusion, "Her life's in danger,"

"What? What's going on?" Korra said, as she approached Tenzin and Lin.

"I just got word from Lord Zuko and Tonraq," Lin said not looking at Korra, my interest was peaked when I heard the mention of Lord Zuko.

"Why is my dad with Lord Zuko?" Korra asked curiously.

"Zaheer and the others have escaped," Lin said, as she looked directly at Tenzin, who had a shocked and worried impression.

"How is that possible?" Tenzin asked.

"Because Zaheer is an airbender now," Lin answered, Tenzin widened his eyes.

"No, that can't be," Tenzin said, worry laced in his voice.

"Alright, hold on, will you quit ignoring me and tell me what's going on? Who's Zaheer? Why is my life in danger?" Korra asked, clearly upset that she was being discarded from the conversation.

Tenzin and Lin exchanged looks, before Tenzin started, "Shortly after we found out you were the Avatar, Zaheer and three others attempted to kidnap you. Luckily, your father, Lord Zuko, Chief Sokka, and I were there to stop them. We apprehended the criminals and locked them away in prisons designed to impair their abilities,"

"So, that's why you and my dad sheltered me away," Korra rasped.

"It was for your own safety," Tenzin said.

Mako stepped up and asked, "Why were they trying to kidnap Korra?"

"I spent thirteen years interrogating them, they never broke. To this day, no one knows what their motive was. Now, we need to get you back to Republic City where I can protect you," Lin said sternly, before looking at me, "And Lei, Lord Zuko informed me that you need to leave for the fire nation immediately, where he can watch over you as well,"

"What?!" Korra and I shouted.

"I'm not going back, I'm staying here whether he likes it or not. I am not running from this," I retorted.

"I'm not running either," Korra said.

"Girls, you don't understand. These criminals are like nothing you've ever faced before," Lin said, I deeply sighed and turned around ignoring what she was saying. I felt a hand on my shoulder, and noticed it was Mako's hand.

"Look, Lei and I are not children anymore. You don't need to protect me. I came here for one thing, to find airbenders and I'm not leaving without them," Korra said sternly.

"Fine, let's get them and get out of here, where are they?" Lin asked, giving up from the verbal fight.

"In a military compound and we're busting them out," Korra said, with determination.

✨•~~~~~~~~•✨
AUTHORs POV

It was a cold night in the Earth Kingdom Upper ring, which was also the night that Team Avatar would be breaking the airbenders out. Two guards were doing their usual post and patrol around the Earth Queen's temple, when they turned a corner and came across Jinora, who was staring innocently at them.

"Hi," Jinora said and waved at the two guards.

"Hey! What are you doing here?" one of the guards asked sternly.

"Ah, it's just that little airbending girl that came with the Avatar. You shouldn't be walking around here all alone," the other guard said. Jinora smiled widely.

"But I'm not alone," Jinora said, as she pointed behind the guards.

They turned around were met by a kick right in their faces, courtesy of Lei's foot. The rest of team Avatar was behind Lei. They tied the two guards with ropes and hid them in a corner. They entered the temple and cautiously made their way to the stairs leading down, hiding from two guards that passed by. Once they were gone, Tenzin looked at the group hiding behind him.

"Bumi and Korra, you two come with me to help me find the airbenders. You four find Kai," Tezin whispered quietly to the group, "We'll meet you on the surface shortly, radio us if anything goes wrong,"

The team split up into two groups and went their separate ways. Lei, Mako, Bolin, and Jinora started searching for Kai on the same floor, while Korra and the others proceeded down the stairs. After a few minutes of searching, Korra opened a door and found people sleeping in a large room. Tenzin and Korra walked in, waking some of the people up.

"What's going on? Who are you?" a man asked, Korra stepped forward.

"I'm the Avatar and I'm getting you all out of here," Korra said quietly, murmurs and questions started to break out from the airbenders.

"Everyone, please. You must stay calm if we want this to work," Tenzin said slowly.

"Will what work? We're sneaking out?" the man asked, with hope filled in his voice.

"Yes but we must leave now," Korra answered.

"We're going to get you away from the Earth queen and out of the city," Tenzin added, as he went out of the room, everyone slowly following him out. Everyone started getting out one by one, however one stopped in front of Tenzin and Korra.

"Wait, there is an airbender that isn't here, his name is Kai, we need to get him," the man said.

"We're already taking care of it," Tenzin said.

"Top side, this is papa bear, the breezies are out of the hold, cue the balloons," Bumi said, through the radio.

"What? Are you in trouble?" Lin asked, through the radio.

"What? NO, we got the airbenders who are headed out, bring the airships," Bumi said, he frowned and said, "No one likes code names anymore,"

"Copy that, Asami and I are on our way," Lin said, as she and Asami started bringing the airships towards the temple along with Oogi.

Meanwhile, Lei and her group had found the cell where they were keeping Kai in. Bolin and Mako pushed the door opened with all their strength. Inside, Kai was sitting on a small wooden ledge of the cramped cell.

"Come on, we're getting you out," Mako said, Jinora suddenly pushed past Mako and Bolin.

"Kai!" she exclaimed, as she engulfed Kai in a warm hug and gave him a peck on the cheek, leaving him blushing red.

"Cute," Lei chuckled, at the small couple.

"AWW! Tenzin is not gonna be happy about this," Bolin said excitedly, to his brother.

"Then don't tell him," Mako said.

"How can I not? This is too juicy!" Bolin said, but muttered after, "Far more juicy than you and L--,"

Bolin was cut off by Mako hitting him in the shoulder, leaving Lei completely confused. Kai approached the boys and gave them a soft gaze. Both boys gave him a hardened looks.

"Thank you for coming to get me and I'm really sorry for stealing your wallets and running away," Kai said, as he looked down feeling guilty.

Bolin sighed and hugged Kai, "Oh, we can't stay mad at you,"

"Yes we can, I had a lot of money in that wallet," Mako complained, Lei rolled her eyes at him.

"You're such a drama queen," Lei chuckled at Mako, who had an annoyed expression.

"Guys, come on," Jinora said, as she pust past them and into the hall.

Jinora ran ahead of the group, next to Kai, while they ran behind her. They turned a corner only to be stopped by three Dai Lee agents. Lei glared at them and got the dao swords from her back.

"Deserting her majesty's army is high treason, punishable by death!" one of the dai lee agents said.

The three dai lee agents threw three hand-shaped rocks at them. Lei ran forward and slashed them with her swords. Luckily, those rocks weren't that hard. Mako past Lei, and sent a blazing arc with a swift kick towards the agents as a distraction, while Bolin sent a boulder that came from the wall next to him, but the agents were able to dodge all attacks. Bolin was quick enough to send one of the dai lee agents to a wall, knocking him out. Another one started running at them, Lei and Mako exchanged glances for a moment, having the same idea in their head. Mako sent a fire comet at him while Lei sent a shot of lightning to the comet, making it explode which knocked the dai lee agent out. There was one left, but he dodged the attacks that came from the older benders. Suddenly, he sent an earth-shaped hand past Mako, Bolin, and Lei, grabbing Jinora, who screamed as she had been taken. Kai, enraged, glared at the dai lee agent. He started running towards Jinora, so the dai lee agent threw a boulder at him but Kai was able to dodge it by sliding under it. While on the floor, he sent a large gust of air beneath the agent's feet, lifting him into the air for a while, and sent a air punch, knocking him backwards.

Kai smirked as he approached the unconscious agent, "I guess I am as good as I thought,"

Together, they made it out of the temple, but they we were greeted by dozens of Dai Lee agents. They started running as fast as they could down the stairs of the temple.

Bolin shouted, as he saw Korra mounted on Oogie, "WE NEED HELP!!"

Suddenly, earth spikes were being thrown at them from the rooftops of the temple, slowly coming close to the sole heels of their feet as they ran. When Korra heard Bolin's shout, she steered Oogie down. Bolin suddenly had an idea in his head.

"Everybody! Hang on!" Bolin shouted, as he created a large pillar beneath their feet launching them into the air. Just in time, Oogie had swooped in and made them land on his back. Lei was about to fall off Oogie, but Mako luckily was able to help her up before grabbing Bolin who was on the other side.

The group sighed heavily as they made it through all of that. Along with Oogie, and the two airships, they made their way out of Ba Sing Se to get the airbenders away from there as far as possible. Once we were far enough, we were able to stop at a small ruins by early morning. The airbenders went outside and kneeled on the ground. In front of them was Tenzin and Korra.

"I know that none of you chose to become airbenders, but now you do have a choice. We can relocate you somewhere safe or you can come with me to the Northern Air Temple to live in peace and train as Air Nomads. You are no longer anyone's property, the path you decide is up to you," Tenzin said, as he looked at the airbenders in front him.

A man stood up from kneeling, "I wanna go with you,"

And one by one, everyone decided to follow Tenzin to the Air Temple, who shed a single tear for he was able to do the one thing his father had always wanted. Once all the airbenders were on one of the airships, Tenzin and Korra had met outside once more before departure.

"Goodluck at the Northern Air temple, I'll send more airbenders your way. It seems that wherever I go I make new enemies," Korra sighed.

"You also made new friends, Korra. Remember that," Tenzin said, Korra nodded.

"There was actually something else I wanted to talk to you about," Tenzin said, Korra raised her eyebrow.

"What is it?" Korra asked.

"Lord Zuko is concerned about Lei's safety. If she won't return to the Fire Nation, then I trust all of you to protect her. She has a very crucial role for the future of the Fire Nation," Tenzin explained, Korra nodded.

"I'm pretty sure Lei can protect herself, but I'll still watch over her like she's done for me all this time," Korra smiled.

Tenzin hugged Korra tightly, "Goodbye, Korra, and goodluck,"

"Goodluck to you too," Korra replied.

The pair parted ways entering separate airships. Tenzin took Asami's airship that boarded all the airbenders while Korra took Lin's airship since she had to make sure Korra was protected. The two airships rose from the ground, one taking off for the south while the other takes off for the north, both entering another new adventure ahead of them.

✨•~~~~~~~~•✨
AUTHORs NOTE:
This chapter was edited but nothing from the storyline has been changed.

Would you believe me if I said that this chapter is 4200+ words?! Wow, this is so far the longest chapter I've ever written. Glad to know that all of you are enjoying the longer chapters ☺️

PUBLISHED: October 4, 2019