#scarrlok

It was starting to get late and Korra had excused herself to go to bed. Bolin walked down to Tarrlok’s room with him and wished him a good night rest. When Tarrlok was finally inside his shared room with the Lieutenant, he decided  to lay down for a bit. His roommate wasn’t even there yet and he didn’t feel much like going to sleep while he still had to get in the room. The man was seriously starting to feel his lack of sleep, but he knew that the night terrors would just keep him awake again. He lay tiredly on his bed and closed his eyes, hoping for some rest. 

A loud bang made Tarrlok shoot upright in his bed again. He wildly looked around to see what could have caused the noise and litterally jumped when the window shattered in a thousand pieces and a big wave engulfed him. Before he could properly react, the water already dragged him outside to let him fall hard on the ground. 

On his knees he coughed and gasped for air, his gaze focussing on the force that had dragged him out. The water circled and levitated in the air around a hooded, masked man. 

"Noatak?" Tarrlok questioned as he stumbled onto his feet.

A sharp and painful sensation ran through him, lifting him off his feeting and into the air. "Noatak!" he struggled against the bloodbending, but was only greeted with more of it. He screamed in pain as his limbs twisted in unnatural ways, not enough to break, but more than enough to hurt.  "Tarrlok!" a hollow voice in the distance called out to him, but Tarllok couldn't see the source. 

"You tried to kill me!" the voice behind the mask shouted out, "Your brother, who tried to create a better world! We could have ruled it together!" 

Another rush of pain ran through his body, "It was to protect them!" he growled through his gritted teeth. One of his fingers cracked and snapped, causing the younger brother to howl in pain.  "Tarrlok!" another voice called out to him, this time a woman's voice.  Water was splashed on his face and-

Tarrlok scared awake and crashed to the ground. "Tarrlok, what were you doing?!" Tenzin yelled angrily.  Tarrlok coughed violently, letting his eyes adjust to the room. Around him were terified faces, all looking at him. The nearest one was Korra, who quickly kneeled down next to him to help him up. "You were bloodbending yourself." the worry in her voice overwhelming. Tarrlok leaned on her as his body was heavy and in pain. He tried to take in what she said and slowly came to the realization that she was right. "Are you okay?" Bolin asked worriedly. 

"I-...." Tarrlok didn't know how to respond. So that dream... He lifted his nonscarred hand and flexed his fingers, only to regret it when his pinky appeared to be broken. He hissed and cursed under his breath, making the others flinch. 

"I... Need some air."weak on his knees, the water bender stumbled towards the exit and ran out.

[I'm sorry for this incredibly dull update. But at least it's an update?]

The next evening Lin was preparing a metal box for Tarrlok to be shipped in. She and Tenzin had voted that moving him in the open air was too risky and Tarrlok had quietly agreed with their decision. He was still exhausted and had barely enough sleep due to night terrors continuously waking him up, that confronting the public would definitely be a bad idea.

“Ready?” she asked when the man stood in the middle of the metal plates.

“Just get it over with.”

“Alright.”

With  sharp movements of her hands, the plates closed in on Tarrlok and clashed together to form a box. “I’ll let you know when we’re there.” She informed him. “I still do not understand why you’re helping me.” The man brought forth his troubled thoughts. “As former chief of police, you should be the one trying to put me in jail. So why don’t you?”

“Heh.” He could hear her voice softly through the steel wall, “Honestly, I do not have an answer for that myself. Perhaps I want to believe you changed for the better.” Tarrlok rolled his eyes, “Or perhaps you want to see my struggle before I’m locked behind bars.”

“Don’t be ridiculous.”Her immediate reply was. “Only you could think of such a torturous thing to do. I’ll be taking my job as chief of police back next week, you know. I could arrest you, but I simply don’t. I don’t have any particular reason behind it.”

Tarrlok sat down in the small metal box. “Let’s just go.”