Title: Ultimate Power
Characters/Pairings: Various Avatars
Rating: T (Mentions of death)
Genre: Spiritual/Supernatural
Summary: It is ultimate power, designed as one last defense for the Avatar. It's become something different for every Avatar. Can they handle it? Series of 200-word drabbles.
Disclaimer: I do not own the characters or the universe, nor do I receive money from this work of fanfiction.
A/N: I've never realized what a challenge it is to constrict yourself to 200 words. But I did it. Whew. Still, gotta admit, I'm a little worried about the strength of some of these. Any suggestions?
Preface: Survival
In the beginning, a spirit, in love with humanity but upset with the world's plight, became mortal and used its influence to keep balance and peace.
This manifestation, the First Avatar, is a forgotten myth, long lost to the sands of time. Once the First served his, or her, purpose, and died serenely, the spirit was released back to its native domain.
Sometime later, perhaps decades or centuries later, that same spirit came back, once again distraught by the state of humanity. The Second Avatar, shrouded by the legends of only the most spiritual.
Soon, the spirit realized that the nations would only fall into calamity once again when the avatar died. So it gave up its freedom. It gave up some of its power to become a mortal entity that possessed unrivaled power and would be reincarnated, still keeping a close tie to its home. This mortal entity would be charged to keep humanity safe from itself.
But to keep the mortal entity itself secure, the spirit devised one last weapon that is triggered automatically when it is in danger.
Now, the spirit is known only as the Avatar Spirit; and its defense mechanism is called the Avatar State.
Yangchen: Control
The world is going crazy.
There is so much violence and anger and hate. She has no idea where to start.
The first time, she had faced down a dictator bent on ruling all four nations. She had originally gone to talk to him, peacefully, but was attacked instead. Buried under ground, with walls closing in and hope leaving her, she had nowhere to run. So she didn't. That dictator didn't survive the encounter.
Yangchen had thrown up, wracked with guilt and disgust. She swore to herself to never ever use the Avatar State again.
Then came the Water Chief who had decided on getting revenge on that dictator and his allies. No, no, never again. Just this once, but not ever again.
…As well as the Earth King who insisted on pursuing a trade war with the Fire Nation. Well, the world won't mourn him.
And each time has to face these people, she loses a little more faith in humanity and becomes more afraid of what she's capable of.
Nonetheless, she refuses to let them tear apart the world. She's not going to let war become happiness. No. Not ever.
There will be peace. No matter the cost.
Kuruk: Sport
The Avatar State is too cool for words.
Yes, yes, it's very dangerous, blah blah blah, it should only be used for emergencies, yadda yadda yadda, and it's not a toy.
But come on, he can crush mountains with his bare hands. The guys (and the girls) are impressed by that. In fact, Kuruk loves showing it off. He can't help it. He enjoys basking in their questions, their gasps, their eagerness.
Not to mention, he feels good when he feels the power taking over him. When he feels his limbs react as if he had done the move a thousand times in a thousand ways. He doubts he'll ever need the Avatar State for serious matters, anyway. The world seems to take care of itself, so he is completely free to do whatever. And he isn't one to let an incredible asset like the Avatar State go to waste, of course.
It's not as if he will hurt anyone. He is always careful and controlled. Kuruk almost destroyed a city only once, and the horrified look on the city officials' faces were worth it.
Besides, what else is the Avatar State for, other than to be completely awesome with?
Kyoshi: Protection
She doesn't care about herself. If she died, she'd simply be reincarnated, and all will be well. If she could not rely on her own skills and strengths as a fully realized avatar, then she deserved to die. Dying in battle was the best way, anyway. She would rest easy knowing she didn't succumb to cowardice.
Kyoshi doesn't care about the Earth Kingdom. It would settle its own problems, eventually. As long as whoever's ruling isn't a tyrant, everything is alright. The Earth Kingdom could benefit from a little togetherness. Not to mention, she was the Avatar for the world, not one nation. She was just there to keep the balance between them all.
She doesn't care about the world. It is a little alarming for an avatar to be utterly dispassionate about the world, but she does still attend all the necessary meetings. And she is very instrumental in making sure things run smoothly, that wars aren't on the horizon, like her predecessor had told her to.
But no: there are only a few things she really cares about.
She only cares about her home, her family.
And when she saw Chin the Conqueror threaten that, she lost it.
Roku: Goal
What is the point of the Avatar State?
The sages tell him he has to master it, but why? The world was in peace, no conflict anywhere. (And what problem couldn't be handled by a little bending?)
Honestly, Roku would love nothing more than to serve the world and be the best avatar he could possibly be. However, the sages make the Avatar State seem like one last benchmark to test his success rather than an important part of being the almighty spirit of the world. Spending months in seclusion for something he'd probably never use anyway seems a little pointless.
To him, it sounds like a lot of emphasis on principle rather than actual usefulness. He is sick of it. Sick of the daylong meditations, of the fasting, of not being able to really help the world in the way it really needs. It's tradition rather than practicality.
Just in case, a quiet piece of him always tells him. But his mind would always loudly argue back just in case what?
All this hard work for the power to do enormous bending feats for only half a second?
It is too hard, Roku concluded. And probably not worth it.
Aang: Fear
When the glowing white light takes over, his inhibitions fade away.
It feels like a warm blanket on a cold night. He swears he even hears old Air Nomad lullabies sometimes. Whenever he feels alone or afraid or beaten or tired, they are always there to comfort him. They make him feel safer than he's ever felt. And he wants to trust them. He wants to let himself fall into the abyss.
And it feels like he should. His past lives urge him to.
But every time he wakes up, it's like watching a nightmare. And every time he opens his eyes, he's even more scared of what he may find: another dead body. At the hands of the Avatar. And he's terrified. He hates not being aware of his vast power's use.
Still, when the anger and frustration boils over, the Avatar State eases his spirit.
Yet, when he looks at citizens in the Fire Nation, he can see fear in their eyes. They've been told of what the Avatar has done, could do and would do to their people.
And Aang can't help but to cry every time he realizes he has seen yet another family he's destroyed.
Korra: Crutch
"You need to learn control," they tell her. "You're too dangerous to everyone around you."
And she refuses to listen. It gives her the power she desperately craves. The edge she desperately needs. The fulfillment, the accomplishment, she desperately wants.
It makes her feel not like an utter failure.
They have weapons. They have tools that can disable a master bender completely. Ways to defeat even a fully realized avatar. But nothing for the Avatar State. No, as long as she has the Avatar State, they ought to just give up now.
With the Avatar State, she finally feels like she could make a difference in the world. With it, she feels like she could take on the whole world and come out on top.
She never understands why Avatar Aang had such a hard time with it. Why he's always warning her and telling her she somehow needs to master it. What's there to master? It's unbelievable strength during times of darkness. It's incredible. Unbelievable. Awesome.
Sometimes the bad people die. Sometimes the good people get hurt. It's just a minor consequence, a small trade-off. What would people rather, Korra thinks, a nation enslaved or a few people dead?