Cognitive Dissonance
By Luna Maria Boulevardes

Chapter One

"The Fireferrets are officially the most badass pro-benders in Republic City!" Bolin shouted, pumping his arms into the air. I rolled my eyes as Hasook laughed, following my teammates into the bar. They were cheering and high-fiving each other, earning looks of amusement from the other patrons of Narook's. Bolin winked at a couple of girls while Hasook grabbed a shot right off the bar, throwing it back. The bartender laughed, caught up in the good spirits.

"Free drinks all night for our boys!" he cried, grabbing Bolin and Hasook's arms and holding them up. "Mako too! Hell, free drinks for life for anyone who gets Mako drunk enough to stop scowling!" he added. The crowd tittered and in a corner the band began tuning up, clearly ecstatic at having such an audience.

"Hear that, Mako! Hey, let's make a deal – you stop scowling for me and then we can essentially both get free drinks for the rest of our lives!" Bolin suggested, bouncing up and down excitedly. I put a hand on his shoulder, forcing him to hold still.

"Bo, we can't," I said slowly shaking my head. "We have to keep our heads, now more so than ever."

"I guess," he muttered unhappily. "I just – I don't know." He glanced longingly back at Hasook, who was already chatting up some short brunette waitress. Guilt crashed over me as I tried to decide between being mad at my brother for not realizing how much work I put into keeping us afloat, and feeling guilty that despite all my work I still couldn't give him everything he wanted.

"Hey, we can stay a little while. We just can't go crazy," I relented. His face lit up brighter than any fire I could create.

"Yes! Hear, that Pabu?" He turned around to tell Hasook the good news, either ignoring or failing to notice his condescending smirk. I pinched the bridge of my nose, closing my eyes. We really needed a new waterbender.

"Dude, your brother is making his All-Fun-is-Evil look," Hasook informed Bolin. He reluctantly disentangled himself from the waitresses, allowing one of them to lead us to a table. She giggled the entire time and kept looking over her shoulder to squeal at her friends. Great. Hopefully she wouldn't prove too much of a distraction. I had learned early on in the season that while I could exercise some modicum of control over my brother's dating, the same could not be done with Hasook.

"I don't think fun is evil," I said, smiling tightly at the Giggly Waitress as she handed out our menus. "I just think that we can't get distracted. Sure, we beat the Wolfbats tonight, but we're still a long way from winning the tournament. We're not even officially in the tournament yet," I pointed out. "We still have to raise the money. And then we have to worry about extra training, not to mention I don't know how well our uniforms are holding up." I would have to take a look tomorrow. Maybe I was lucky I could talk to Toza about what tournament-standard was. Even if we couldn't get any for ourselves, it would be good to know what we were going to be up against.

"Bro, lighten up," Bolin ordered, kicking my shin. "We'll hold a bake sale or something. Pema and Tenzin will probably help us," he added, sharing a nod with Hasook. I rubbed my shin angrily.

"This is not the time to be inflicting potential injuries – "

"Mako, you're fine." Hasook growled. Then he broke into a charming smile for his waitress as she returned to take our orders. Oh, spirits, this was going to be a long night. Bolin put his hand on my shoulder as Hasook began ordering drinks I didn't recognize the names of.

"Come on, nothing bad will come of just one night of fun," my brother begged, clasping his hands together and looking up at me with his best I'll-Never-Ask-for-Anything-Again-if-You-Let-Me-Do-This look. Bullshit, of course. My resolve was absolutely not wavering in response. Not even a little bit.

I ran my fingers through my hair, sighing. Bolin cringed. "Mako-sighs are never a good sign," he informed Pabu gravely. "But you and I both know that even Mako can be wrong sometimes." He shot me a triumphant look.

"Are you ever going to forgive me for that?" I asked. When Bolin first brought Pabu home, I tried to slit his throat so I could make dinner from him. My brother was absolutely horrified for reasons that I still didn't quite understand. What had he thought we were going to do with it? Keeping it alive seemed like such a waste of meat.

"No, I will not forgive you," he replied easily. "If not for Pabu, we never would have met Lin, and she never would have asked Tenzin and Pema to take us in," he said smugly.

"We met Lin because she was arresting us. For illegally keeping a pet in our apartment," I pointed out. Someone placed bowls of noodles in front of us. Hasook made an excuse about going to the bathroom but I could tell from the look on Giggly Waitress's face that he was not exactly telling us the truth.

"Yeah, yeah," Bolin said dismissively, digging into his noodle. He slurped loudly, spraying sauce all over his face. I had to fight the urge to wipe his face for him. Even after living with Tenzin and Pema for five years, I still couldn't shake the feeling that it was all temporary and we would be back on the streets tomorrow.

"I just don't want anything to endanger what we have. We've worked so hard to get here, Bo, I don't want to lose it over something stupid like getting distracted." I took a bite of the noodles, gagging quietly and pushed them away. I'd have to eat slowly if I hoped to choke it all down.

"I know, but all I'm saying is you could try to have a little fun tonight. You're out with friends! There are drunk women everywhere you look! And we might even have enough status now for one of them to pay attention to us!" Bolin exclaimed. "Even you get to have a break once in a while, you know." He poked my chest with his chopsticks and grinned, flashing me the same smile that made half the waitresses swoon. I wavered, pushing my noodles around my bowl. Could one night really do that much damage? It wasn't like we hadn't earned it – I had the scars to prove so.

Mako, this is a bad idea, warned a voice in the back of my head as Hasook returned with Giggly Waitress and New-Acquired Girl. Giggly Waitresses had a tray of multi-colored drinks in her hand and wore a slightly predatory look, one that insisted Hasook would be going home with her tonight.

"You guys saying or going?" Hasook asked as he returned to the table. Giggly Waitress began putting drinks in front of us, green eyes curious. I looked down at the translucent green liquid, and across the table to my brother's hopeful face.

Mako, you'll regret this, the voice continued, louder now. I hesitantly picked the drink up.

"Nah, we're in," I replied. I threw back the shot, Hasook's clapping and Bolin's cheers ringing in my ears.

I stumbled off the dance floor, finally losing the nice but clingy fangirl I'd been dancing with. Catching the edge of the bar, I forced myself to hold still in an attempt to make the room stop spinning and dropping out from under my feet. The lights of noise of the bar roared in my ears, almost louder than the arena. The bartender handed me two glasses, looking sympathetic.

"The sugar in the mango juice is good for you, and so's the water," he said. "Just drink them, kid, you'll thank me tomorrow." He gave me a sad sort of smile before moving away to attend to the other customers. I picked up the mango juice and chugged it down, grimacing at the awful nausea that bloomed in my stomach. Definitely time to go home now.

"Hasook, have you seen my brother?" I called, catching him just as he was leaving. Giggly Waitress was on his arm, grinning like she'd just won something. Hasook gave me a look, throwing a glance at her.

"I'm sure you can find him on your own, Mako," he said with forced evenness. Before I could respond he was out the door, flipping his hair like he was Tahno. Well then. Definitely needed a new waterbender now; fucking Hasook.

"Bolin?" I called, surveying the dance floor. I couldn't see him there, and he didn't seem to be at the bar either. Sighing, I began to walk (well, stumble might have been the more appropriate term, but that's beside the point) to the bathrooms. Bolin's tolerance really wasn't that good yet, but he had a bad habit of trying match Hasook drink-for-drink. Opening the bathroom door, I was instantly hit with the smell of vomit and sound of retching. Fuck. I knew that retching; Bolin was sick again.

"Bo?" I asked softly, knowing on one of the stall doors. He groaned then unlocked the door, looking up at me miserably.

"Why do you always hafta be right?" he slurred before puking again. I put one hand on his upper back, rubbing circles like I had since we were little kids. He always relaxed when I did that; I had never told him it was because Mom used to do that for us.

"Don't worry about it," I murmured. "Just get it all out and then we'll go home. I bet Pema or the Air Acolytes have something to make you feel better," I said. He nodded and coughed, but nothing came up. Either he was feeling better, or he had finally exhausted the available food supply.

"D'ya have any water?" he asked. I shook my head and helped him up, guiding my brother to the sinks. He made a face when he caught a glance of himself in the mirror, muttering something about "not even the great Bolin looks pretty while puking".

"Just wash your mouth out while I try to clean up a bit," I instructed. He turned on the water and obediently cupped his hands to his lips. I took a deep breath and returned to the stall, flushing down the sick and trying my best to clean up with a few scraps of toilet paper. Just as I finished a couple burst through the doors, making out viciously. I narrowly avoided a collision and grabbed my brother's arm, dragging him back into the bar.

"Are we gonna dance more?" Bolin asked. I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. Right. That would go well, as long as the girl liked Eau de Vomit.

"No, we're going home." I nodded at the bouncer on the way out, falling into the cool autumn night.

"I'm never drinking again. Ever," my brother declared, clutching his stomach. I gingerly placed a hand on his upper back, resuming the circles from earlier.

"You're going to be fine," I murmured as we stumbled into the cool autumn night. He made some kind of noise of protest and tried to sit down. I barely caught him. "Stop. We have to get back to the island." My reflexes weren't holding up as well as they normally did. It was probably the alcohol; damn, now we really needed to get back because clearly I was not sober enough to be responsible.

"`M sorry, Ma," he whined, lumbering down the road. "I told you to trust me and then I mess up like this!" He sniffed loudly, a warning sign that he was on the verge of crying. I squeezed him in a half-hug, earning a loud grunt for all my efforts. Ah, family – that's gratitude for you.

"You're fine, don't worry, I still love you," I assured him. "Don't start crying right now, though, okay?" I squeezed his shoulders, looking him in the eye. Bolin nodded wearily and opened his mouth to say something.

He was cut off as bright lights flooded us from all sides, killing our vision. I shoved my brother to the ground and moved into a fighting stance, keeping myself as low as possible. Usually if you could get low enough you could get under the lights and get a little visibility back. If I was lucky, whoever was there would be close enough that I could knock his feet out from under him. Bolin whimpered behind me and I elbowed him in the stomach to make him shut up. This attack didn't seem random; it was way too organized.

I suspected it was the Triads, or more specifically some group of their lackeys. The Triads were in with the Wolfbats and our victory screwed had mostly likely screwed up some plan of theirs. The Triads had hated us for years now, mostly because Bolin and I had been defiant enough to refuse their offers of "help" when we were still on the street. These days, our connections with the police and council afforded enough protection. Or they had up until now, anyway. It was a pretty good scheme; no one was in a position to defend himself at three in the morning when he was drunk off his ass.

"We don't want a fight," I said, squeezing my legs to keep my unsteady balance. The lights weren't doing much to help my balance problems and nausea. Forget being outnumbered; I couldn't win this thing because they had me out-sobered. I took a deep breath, hoping that if I couldn't talk them down, at least they wouldn't go too hard on us.

I told you this was a bad idea, the voice chided. I bit the inside of my cheek hard, inhaling slowly. This was really not the time.

"He's drunk. Are you getting this?" a voice laughed. Male, probably older, and to my right. I shot a stream of flames in his direction, smirking when the lights dimmed and someone howled in pain. Grabbing a handful of rocks, I threw them out and watched as the lights shattered. Satomobile lights, I registered distantly.

"Kato – or anyone, get him!"

I turned around to see two masked people closing in on me, both wielding glowing sticks and electrical gloves. Equalists, I thought, punching out a couple of fire fists. What did they want with us? I ducked the Equalists' attacks and grabbed Bolin, throwing him over my shoulder. We had to get away. There had been rumors recently that the Equalist leader could take your bending away forever, and I had no desire to find out for myself if the rumors were true. Pema and Tenzin or not, Bolin and I really did need that tournament money, and we couldn't compete in pro-bending if we weren't benders. I sped up into a sprint, shooting back flames to slow the following Equalists.

"Bo, earthbend the road up," I ordered. Two of the Equlaits were following on foot while the other two had taken the Satomobiles and were quickly gaining on us. He made a reluctant sound, trying to pull away. "Now, Bolin!" I yelled. He waved his hands, successfully curving the road so driving off it would be a suicide mission. My breaths came a little easier.

"This is just some kind of nightmare," he groaned, into my back. "This isn't happening." I tugged my scarf tighter around my neck, trying to remember the quickest way to the ferry. If Hasook had been there, we could have just used as ice bridge – no, couldn't think about that now. Had to get away – I could think all I wanted to later, after Bolin and I got to safety.

"Get the short one first! Use him! Kato, Sordin, do you hear a word I'm saying?" shouted one of the driving Equalists. He was the only one wielding sticks instead of gloves, and sounded like he was the one in charged. Bolin made an attempt at earthbending while I tried to hit them with another round of fire, but we weren't fast enough this time. One of the chi-blockers had manged to get in front of me, and before I could even register what was happening he began to attack.

"Get him, Kato, I've got the other!"

I felt someone pull Bolin off my back and when I turned around to go after him Kato hit me. He jabbed a series of points in my arms and spine so my knees gave out and I collapsed on the ground.

"Thanks, Sordin," Kato said. Sordin nodded and threw Bolin on the ground. He hit me with a blast of electricity as the other two Equalists finally caught up with him and Kato.

"Good work," the in-charge one said. "Tisa, will you secure our prisoner?" he asked the person with his.

"Got it, Lieutenant." Interesting. This one was a woman. Tisa secured ropes around my hands and feet, pulling them tight so I couldn't punch or kick out.

"Please just leave my brother alone," I begged weakly, staring up at them. Sordin stumbled back, clearly caught off-guard.

"You have to get his mouth too, I heard he can breathe fire!" Kato warned, holding up his glove in preparation. Tisa shoved a gag past my teeth and pulled rope around my head to secure it. It tasted like an old t-shirt and I choked quietly. I couldn't see any of their faces, but I imagined they all looked rather smug under their masks.

"Now what?" Tisa asked, placing her hands on her hips. She looked at her two comrades, expecting an answer but receiving silence.

"We have the firebender. Amon will be very pleased," Lieutenant said. He leered over me, looking me over like I was cow he was considering for purchase. He ran a finger down the side of my face like I wasn't human and he expected to touch something other than skin. I desperately wished I could bite him.

"What about the other boy?" the woman asked, kicking Bolin's side. I struggled against my bonds and they ignored me. "Do we just leave him here?" She seemed conflicted by the idea, as though unable to decide whether it would be more repulsive to leave him to survive or to endure taking him with them. I bit the inside of my cheek hard so I wouldn't cry out. Don't agitate them, Mako, don't let them know he's important, they'll use him to hurt you, I reminded myself. The scene swam before me and I remembered the alcohol still burning in my system.

"Amon didn't say anything about him. Just let him go," the Lieutenant instructed. "He'll get his due soon enough. This is the one Amon requested." He pulled my hair, laughing when I squirmed in response.

"I think we should drop him off at City Hall. A little present," Kato suggested gleefully. I held my breath. If they did that, Tenzin would find him and he would be okay. I felt tears prick the back of my eyes and blinked rapidly to keep them there.

"Sure, why not?" Lieutenant said. Kato threw my brother over his shoulder while Sordin did the same with me. They purposefully manhandled us, laughing if we groaned or cried out. Bolin's whimpers agonized me, but at the same time they were a relief. I was afraid he had passed out and would choke on his vomit they way I'd seen men do when we were younger. If he was awake, he was alive, and there was all the better chance Tenzin would find him in time to save him.

The Equalists climbed into the Satomobile, putting me at the bottom of the backseat so I was under their shoes. Kato passed Bolin off to another team that was passing through, giving them strict instructions about tying him up and leaving him for the council. They nodded and took off, truck leaving dust and exhaust in its wake.

"What does Amon even want with the firebender?" Kato asked, hopping in the front seat next to Lieutenant.

"It's a present, apparently." The Lieutenant said it like it gave his physical pain to do so. "Don't know what for," he sulked. I could hear the jealousy coloring his voice and closed my eyes, trying to commit the fact to memory. I would need every advantage if I wanted to escape. Up front, Kato clapped Lieutenant's shoulder.

"Who among is rational when it comes to these things?" he laughed. Tisa kicked the back of his chair, cackling when her heel caught and gave me a bloody nose.

"Rational about what? What's going on?" she asked. Her voice had a certain whine to it and I decided she had to be much younger than I'd originally thought. She must be the newest member; I could hear her insecurity, her concern that everyone was leaving her out. Vulnerability two. Next to her, Sordin made a sound of disbelief.

"Tisa, how do you not know?" he questioned, sounding genuinely surprised. She sputtered angrily, hands curling into fists at her sides.

"Well, Sordin, if someone would just tell me – "

"The boy is a gift for Amon's lover," the Lietenant sighed, as if growing bored with this conversation.

Wait. Lover?

"Who's his lover?" Tisa asked. Kato laughed meanly.

"The girl Korra. Do you even try to pay attention?" he sneered. Sordin smacked his shoulder.

"She's new, give her a break," he said. Tisa squirmed uncomfortably.

"I thought Amon raised Korra," she said in a small voice. "Is there more than one woman named Korra? Because that can't be right." She said it more like she wanted to believe it than that she really did.

"He did raise her," Sordin sighed. "But they've been lovers for, what, three years now? Almost four?" he speculated.

"Three. She was fourteen then, she's seventeen now," Kato informed them. Tisa made a gagging noise.

"You're telling me that at the age of thirty-seven he decided to deflower the fourteen year-old girl he'd raised?" she balked. "That's – that's kind of sick. Fourteen is so young. And after raising her? I don't know," she continued uncertainly.

"Don't bother yourself worrying about it," Kato said dismissively. "Who the hell knows what goes on there? Yeah, it's weird," he added, cutting Tisa off when she tried to interject, "but the Cause is too important to worry about it. So he likes young girls. I've never seen him even flirt with anyone other than Korra. Actually, I've seen him flirt with her even. I only knew because everybody knows." He shrugged his broad shoulders.

"Here's right, Tisa," Lieutenant barked. "Just listen to Amon and keep your mouth shut if you want the Revolution to succeed. I don't know why he's sleeping with young teenage girls, and I don't know why he wants to give her a firebender as a present, but I'm sure he has good reasons," he argued weakly. I shuddered beneath their feet.

I'd never thought Amon was the nicest guy, but this took things to an entirely new level. Fourteen years old. I knew what fourteen year-old girls were like; they made up a frighteningly large part of our fanbase. Amon was way too old for such a young girl, not to mention the whole incest angle. Who was this girl, anyway? Why did she agree to be his – lover, was that what they had called her?

I tried to imagine thirteen year-old Ikki marrying General Iroh and shuddered. And he's only twenty-three, I thought. It was like if Jinora married Tarrlok. She was sixteen and he had to be what, forty? I couldn't imagine what was going on with this Korra girl. It sounded like some kind of nightmare.

I closed my eyes wearily, wondering if I should try to sleep or if I'd be better off keeping my guard up. Probably better to save my energy, I decided. I was still a little drunk, and I didn't know what they meant when they said I was a present for Korra, but I suspected it couldn't be anything in my interest. If she was as young as they said she was, I might stand a chance of fighting her off and escaping – if I was focusing.

"One of you consult the map and make sure we're going the right way," Lieutenant barked as I drifted off to sleep. "I'm not taking the blame for you fools if we're late."

In my dreams that night, I didn't see Bolin or our parents. I didn't see Pema or Tenzin, or any of the airbabies. Instead I dreamed of Avatar Aang, bright light glowing from his fingertips when he touched some person's forehead. I dreamed of snow and a woman screaming, her voice echoing everywhere but she herself was nowhere in sight. Finally I dreamed of a girl with big blue eyes who had dark hair and skin, and wore a blue necklace around her throat. She took the carved circle off its blue ribbon and restrung it on a silver chain, letting it fall down deep between her breasts. She pulled on a sweater to hide it then slipped platinum band with a white stone onto the fourth finger of her left hand.

"My sweet girl," a man hissed, coming up from behind her and putting his hands on her shoulders. He bit her neck, making her flinch but not run. Her gaze remained focused on the ring, watching as the diamond flashed and shone in the light. Her right hand clutched her necklace through the fabric of her shirt, and when she looked up my whole body went cold. Her lover was pulling her hair from her ponytails, but her expression spoke only of great sadness. Like she was lost and haunted at the same time, her left hand left twitching in the air as she reached for something she knew she needed but could not see and did not know how to find.