Common Bonds

by Serialized

'We're not really all that different. The people I fought and I.' A poem from Korra's POV, her reflections and feelings on things that have happened during her time as the Avatar.

Disclaimer: I do not own The Legend of Korra or its characters. All I own is my brain and its ideas.

Author's Note: Thought I might try something different, while y'all are waiting for more chapters to be uploaded for my other story. Enjoy.

This is a poem from Korra's point of view. Reflecting on the different villains she's faced up to, as well as her feelings about things in between, somewhat. I hope you enjoy, and don't be too harsh, this is my first time writing something from Korra's point of view, much less about the show. ^-^''

—

Common Bonds

All spirits avoid me.

All ruin is mine.

All judge my journey,

My 'existence', a crime.

All judge harshly.

Without taking the time,

To truly get to know me;

They shoot me down in my prime.

Amon and his followers,

Led for Equality.

An ideal that sounds good to the public;

A noble vision almost like a dream.

But, behind the scenes;

There was hypocrisy;

Falsity in the lies he fed -

We exposed for all to see.

Madness grew,

Hands were tied;

Amon forced me to kneel.

I bowed to him,

All of forcibly,

A one-touch bending steal.

It wasn't coming back,

Amon escaped.

Things were some part deranged.

I was visited by my previous life,

Who gave my bending back,

At my lowest point, I could change.

I could change what happened to Republic City,

And give benders back their talent;

Compared to my fear about Amon,

I had never felt more gallant.

Rally to riots to nothing at all,

Peace to chaos to reposition,

"Republic Animos-City", needed its Avatar.

Nowhere else I'd rather be.

Amon was wrong;

Trying to balance something

Imbalanced originally.

He should know it was unequal to start;

Equivalence is Inequality.

All spirits avoid me.

All ruin is mine.

All judge my journey,

My 'existence', a crime.

All judge harshly.

Without taking the time,

To truly get to know me;

They shoot me down in my prime.

The snowy tundra of the South Pole,

A festival of lights.

Spirits are becoming restless,

Lots of spiritual fights.

Warmth in the cold,

A general serenity.

Time becomes more special

When spent with family.

Fights with the spirits,

Attacks on home;

Needing a mentor role.

Unulaq saves us,

I want him as a teacher;

Our family was never whole.

And so,

With a clear decision from me

He becomes my guide;

To spirit bend evil souls;

Portal needs to be opened,

Harmonic Convergence,

Way over at the North Pole.

Misguided and used,

Betrayed and abused,

He led me down the wrong path.

But, what I did,

Forced with no choice;

There was no going back.

Chaos became a maelstrom,

Evil grew over like one big scar;

Vaatu and Unulaq fused and became

The first Dark Avatar.

I never intended it to go this far.

Light was beaten out of me,

And died upon his hand.

I felt a part of myself be lost;

The next part was unplanned.

I was alive.

I was fine.

But, yes a part of me was lost.

Rava had died,

I was spared,

But at a serious cost.

I thought that I could handle him,

Thought Rava and I were in sync,

He was just too powerful, I lost it and;

I lost all of my links.

I didn't think.

I am who I was born to be;

I was born to be the Avatar.

I was born to bring balance to the world,

Not to in help tearing it apart.

I am the Worst Avatar Ever.

I think I've set the bar.

"Separate the words Avatar and Korra

and become who you really are".

Let go of everything else but yourself,

Find your inner strength.

And with that I did, came out to fight,

Grew to an unusual length.

We clashed and fought,

Destruction we brought.

To the citizens of Republic City.

But out of the darkness,

There was a light;

It was Rava I could see.

Rava, came back to me.

With her help, I defeated evil;

Returned to normal size again.

10,000 years of light and goodness;

The universe had its plan.

Harmonic Convergence was ending;

Just one more job to do.

But, what if I didn't, and left it open;

To allow the spirits through?

The portal was left open;

No longer a spiritual 'door'.

We returned, happy to have won;

Though, my previous lives couldn't be restored.

Unulaq had managed to do something;

Destroy what guidance I had;

And now I would be facing the world alone,

So lonely, and desperate and mad.

All spirits avoid me,

All ruin is mine.

All judge my journey,

My 'existence', a crime.

All judge harshly,

Without taking the time,

To truly get to know me,

Shoot me down in my prime.

Though perhaps disappointed yet,

I still trudge on;

To be the best I can be,

Without causing more harm.

Fresh air do we breathe,

As airbenders emerge,

And though I have doubts;

I never felt more encouraged.

We set out on a quest,

To seek them out,

To unite this old nation.

"Aang would be proud".

It was rough, and long, and arduous,

But we got them on our side.

To start air-bending training,

Born anew pride.

I'm moved too soon,

Because of Lin's protective mood,

She suggests I stay away

In the city of Zao Fu.

Quietly, I comply;

It's back to hiding away.

Till the time is right again,

I wait on day to day.

Escaped convict,

Searches seeking us,

The world needs its Avatar,

Lin will not budge.

I'm not allowed to leave,

But then I can't stay here;

What am I supposed to do else

but confront Zaheer?

He tells me of their plans in riddles,

He speaks of prophecy;

He speaks that the world will change indeed;

And it will end up killing me.

The world has no use for its Avatar,

It needs Anarchy.

Chaos is a new world order,

And freedom is the thing to beat.

He blackmails us to surrender,

I give myself over to his team.

But that was the wrong move to make,

I've given him his chaotic regime.

He takes me to someplace secluded,

While I wonder if the air-benders are okay;

He administers the poison to my body,

And it slowly eats me away.

I thrash and shake,

And try to break free

Of the chains around my body,

The chains that bound me.

And I can't metal bend out of them,

Because they're platinum.

I feel myself losing,

I feel it killing me,

I feel Rava coming to my defense,

But please just leave me be!

I won't give in,

I won't give up,

It will not end right here.

But soon, I can't put up a fight,

And I give in,

To the poison

And Zaheer.

I submit to Rava,

And they try to act.

They all try to end me.

But they don't prevail,

I break out,

The power is too much, I see.

Zaheer flies away,

I propel myself out.

We clash in the air,

Over the sea.

He's good,

Our battle's disjointed,

No doubt,

I throw attacks unsuccessfully.

We continue this fight,

On the ground.

Where he tries to suffocate me.

But then a vortex comes,

He tries to fly out,

He tried to run away and flee.

I grabbed his leg and threw him down,

Lin and Su caught our guy.

But I was still very hurt, and damaged;

I felt I could still die.

The poison moved throughout my body,

As my father held me close,

And all gather around me,

To see what happens,

It seems as though time slows.

I'm happy to see my father okay,

I smile and reach to touch his face.

But that motion is cut short

And all because of the poison's pace.

And so the wind blows by,

The world is saved,

It ruffles my torn clothes.

My father holds me gently,

My arm drops limp,

And my eyes slowly close.

Everyone fears that I'm dead,

But I still have a heartbeat.

Su metal-bends the poison out,

And I come back to everyone

To weakly greet.

I'm recuperating,

But,

I cannot walk.

Asami does everything for me.

I feel so empty, alone, and helpless,

Today's the day of Jinora's ceremony.

She's a master air-bender for creating that wind,

And for guiding me once before;

I attend her ceremony, and find it hard;

To even make it through the door.

But I smile at an honorable mention,

And that the world will be safe while I'm gone.

Now the true fight, I guess for me at least,

Is to come back well and strong.

All spirits avoid me,

All ruin is mine.

All judge my journey,

My 'existence', a crime.

All judge harshly,

Without taking the time,

To truly get to know me,

Shoot me down in my prime.

Team Avatar disbanded,

I've been away for years.

Recuperating, yes, they believed that,

I ran away, post-seeing them fears.

I got the ability to walk back,

And my ability to fight as well.

I went to try my luck at the Earthbending stadium,

And every single time I fell.

I got bruised, and hurt,

And all banged up;

But, that didn't matter to me.

All that mattered was getting stronger,

Getting back to being,

The Avatar I knew I could be.

I have these terrors, these fears inside,

That project forward sometimes.

They're all of me, in the Avatar state;

And they want me to slowly die.

They're seeking to kill me,

Or destroy my mind,

And I feel like I'm losing it already.

So I take the time,

To run away again,

And try to find for myself,

Something steady.

Instead I find, I'm not alone;

There's someone in these wilds with me.

I'm asked if I'm feeling better,

By this woman of mystery.

I ask what happened, but she deflects it back;

Saying she doesn't know what happened to me.

She sounds old and like she knows these parts;

Was she someone I had to meet?

I was told to trust in my Avatar senses,

Surprised she knew that, in the least.

Who was I talking with?

I ask myself, conjuring a light;

How is it she knows?

She tells me she was good friends

With Avatar Aang,

And it's nice to see me again, 'Twinkle Toes'.

Toph and I meet for the first time,

And she and I talk for a while.

But eventually, I get to the topic of battle;

And it fades away, my smile.

I discuss with her the complications I'm having,

I'm just not quite back yet.

She tells me it must be hard carrying around the poison,

And once more with surprise I'm met.

"Poison? I thought Su got it all out."

"No they never picked up metal-bending like me."

"Well then do you think you could get it out?"

"Who do you think you're talking to, sweetie?"

So the deal was made, and I laid back,

As Toph began to bend it around my blood.

I cringed, and winced, and turned over in terror;

I think it was just a bit too much.

She lost patience and told me to get it out myself;

I told her that I didn't know how.

But she helped me through it;

It came out, and I felt better;

Without a doubt.

I asked if I could have a hug,

And she said yes, just this one time only.

I hugged her and made my way on back

To Republic City,

My home and other family.

We reconnected, Asami and I,

And Mako was there too.

He'd become a bodyguard,

For the prince to be made king;

The rather flamboyant Prince Wu.

We talked and had a good time,

But then, came the bad news.

I learned of a Kuvira problem;

And all that she was planning to do.

Uniting all the Earth Kingdoms sounds nice;

But not in the way she was doing so.

She was forcing cities to pledge allegiance to her;

Or else face the wrath of her huge metal-bending army;

Always on the go.

Maybe she can be reasoned with, I thought.

All tried to warn me against that.

So I tried and I failed; And we began a fight;

My objective to not be crushed flat.

She wanted to Zao Fu,

I was their only hope.

If I won they would be free;

But I wasn't quite there yet,

She was too good,

And I lost the bet, for everyone;

I'm sorry.

She continued to expand, and conquer, and win.

She continued to dominate and unite.

As if she couldn't get anymore bright ideas;

She saw Republic City,

And set that in sight.

She was going too far with this,

She needed to be stopped;

But I could not do so alone.

We're past the reasoning,

Onto battle;

With her metal-army and

Those mecha drones.

We had the team ready,

We came up with a plan.

We were all set for action.

But, what all took us by surprise

Was not her army's strength,

But rather that spirit cannon.

It could wipe out entirely Republic City,

It could wipe out all of us, too.

We needed to avoid her mech,

At all costs;

Or else we'd definitely be screwed.

We had a plan,

And the troops to enact it.

Here goes nothing, it seems.

We needed to get inside the suit,

And taken it down the from inside;

A way to lose some of its steam.

Hiroshi and Asami worked together,

To create a hole for us to enter.

They were successful, and we got in;

Sadly, it meant goodbye for him forever.

His sacrifice was not made in vain;

We got inside the suit.

We made a lot progress,

It seemed we were winning;

But there was still more to do.

We all split up to different parts;

While I ran straight for Kuvira.

This would be the final fight;

The ending was drawing near.

We fought, and yes, she was just as good;

But, this time I was ready.

It was a tough fight,

And she gave her all,

But I remained steady.

The power core exploded,

We fell out,

And onto the grounds of Republic City.

She fired the cannon,

Surrounded by vines,

Which exploded

Quite brightly,

And clearly.

It caused a major explosion;

And tore open a new portal.

We both were blasted to the spirit world;

Neither one of us, right now, more mortal.

She fell, and dropped,

And nearly died,

But I caught her in my arms,

And saved her life.

She pushed me away, concerned;

Confused, 'please just leave me be'.

'Why have you saved my life,

After all I've done to you?'

'I see a lot of myself in you',

'So I understand what it's like'

'To have a goal in mind,

But to not go about it right.'

'You brought about your downfall,

With your own wrong might.

And now you must surrender,

And finally give up this fight'.

She surrenders, and all is good.

Everything's as it should be.

Everyone's safe, well, except the Republic;

But, hey, congrats to Varrick and Zhu Li.

There's a wedding that takes place,

And after that one big party.

But I'm caught outside, sitting and pondering life;

When joined by a certain friendly beauty.

"Why aren't you inside, you should be dancing".

"No I think I'm done with that."

"Well if you have a few moments, I'd like to apologiz-.."

"Korra, I'm just glad you're back."

"Everything's fine between us really?"

"They could never not be."

"Im glad to hear you say that."

"Oh why's that?"

"Because I know just what we need."

"A vacation in the Spirit World, just the two of us."

"Actually, that does sound rather lovely."

"And we could get away from it all for a while."

"Sounds like a plan to me."

So we stood, the portal right there;

Glowing in all its golden light.

We stood facing one another, hand in hand;

And for once, my feelings,

I didn't fight.

Our adventures in Republic City ended,

And we turned the Spirit World, now.

To embark on another adventure;

Except, no one but us, was allowed.

All spirits avoid me.

All ruin is mine.

All judge my journey,

My 'existence', a crime.

All judge harshly,

Without taking the time,

To truly get to know me;

Shoot me down in my prime.

But I've conquered all my struggles,

And I've turned out alright.

And though similarly with every villain, I signify change;

I also signify the light.

We're not really all that different;

The people I fought and I.

They wanted change, but out of balance they were;

I needed to be the balance, that in them, died.

So..

Reflecting upon my job as the Avatar;

I'm not the greatest, wisest, or most of the time right;

But something I am, is fearless, brave, and open;

Loving, and kind, and never alone anymore; and no one

Can take away

That might.