Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender, Legend of Korra, or Bleach. This is a fanfic made only for fun, not profit.
Chapter 1
"Zaheer, you look most unwell. The whole feral beard look does not work for you." The unfamiliar voice shook Zaheer from his meditation, and he slowly opened his eyes to greet the spirit world before him. Standing in the meadow with him was a handsome brown haired man wearing strange garb. The black hakama and gi reminded Zaheer of something someone might see on Kiyoshi Island. The sandals too were familiar enough. That white coat though, Zaheer had never seen it's like.
"You're Unalaq's contact?" Zaheer didn't let any of the elation show on his weathered face. Yes, his physical body still languished in his cell, separated from his fellow Red Lotus, separated from her, but he still had the chance to gain some satisfaction. If he couldn't make Unalaq pay for his betrayal, then this man would do.
"I suppose I would be quite a disappointment if I wasn't," the brown haired man said. "You went to quite a bit of trouble to find me."
"It was no trouble," Zaheer replied.
"How very polite. You honor me with your perseverance. From what I hear you've asked every spirit you've come across for years to find me. I hope you find those were years well spent.
"When you're in chains you have nothing but time. You didn't need to come armed. I only wish to talk."
The brown haired man lifted the sheathed sword he carried in his left hand. "This? Kyoka Suigetsu never leaves my side. You understand of course? Besides, we both know you came here to kill me."
Zaheer took a deep breath, letting it out in a slow, long puff of air. "Then I suppose there is no more need for words." Then he was moving, leaping from his seated position. It was a smooth attack, one designed to kill with minimum use of movement and force. Death would come to this man swift and painless.
The brown haired man was just as quick. Somehow he sidestepped the killing blow and caught Zaheer's hand at the wrist.
Zaheer moved into the natural counter attack that would take his opponent to the ground, but found himself thrown over onto his back.
This stranger, whoever he was, was skilled. Not being a bender, Zaheer had to make up the difference by learning a myriad of martial arts. He'd even practiced chi blocking so that he might even the odds with a bender. So dangerous did the White Lotus consider Zaheer that his prison was every bit as secure as the ones build for his bender comrades. To be taken so handily was staggering to him. Perhaps prison had worn away his skills more than he thought.
Zaheer flipped back to his feet and launched a quick series of blows. Every single one failed to land. Sensing that he needed to turn the tide if he hoped to survive, Zaheer feinted once to the left, then again he feinted, this time to the left, in order fool his opponent into believing that by seeing through the first feint he'd proved cleverer. Zaheer finished by reversing that movement into a leaping kick. This time he struck the home, the brown haired man's face showing surprise at the reversal of fortune. Then Zaheer's opponent was on the ground. The fight needed to be ended now.
Hands grabbed Zaheer from behind and slammed him to the ground. "Shatter Kyoka Suigetsu," said the brown haired man from behind even though is body still lay before Zaheer. Then the fallen form disappeared, breaking apart like a mirror, and a sword pressed to Zaheer's throat."
"You did well." The brown haired man stood over him.
"I do not fear death."
"Who would if they had nothing to lose?" The man laughed. "I do not plan on killing you, Zaheer."
"You and Unalaq as good as killed all of us."
The brown haired man shook his head. "Unalaq and I parted ways some time ago. I played no part in your current troubles."
"Why should I believe you? I have trusted one serpent and it turned on me. Why should I trust another of his ilk?"
"A question you should ask of every new face you come across. Expect treachery at every turn and at best you will be pleasantly surprised."
"I find the differences between you and Unalaq growing fewer and fewer."
"What have you to lose?"
"What have I to gain?"
The question earned a laugh. "Well spoken. Perhaps we should start by introducing ourselves and go from there."
The sword left Zaheer's throat.
"I believe you already know who I am."
"Humor me."
"I'm Zaheer of the Red Lotus," he said as he got back to his feet.
"Sousuke Aizen." A smile followed the pronouncement.
"I've never heard a name like that. Which nation do you hail from?"
"An odd question from a man who desires to free the world from something as trite as petty government."
"A dream I will see fulfilled, but I won't pretend they don't exist now. Where are you from?"
"Nowhere you've ever been. Let's just say I dwell in the spirit world."
"Impossible. I have traversed its breadth. The human and spirit worlds have been separate for hundreds of years." Then a thought occurred to Zaheer. "Are there people who have been stranded on the other side? Those who have lived with the spirits all of this time?"
"Not exactly, though you could think of me that way. There were indeed people left behind when the world's split, but I believe my people have seen to their destruction. I am closer to your ideal though than you yet known. Our goals of seeing the worlds rejoined are the same."
"So you say. Yet I see no reason to trust anything you say."
"Have you ever seen a power like the one I demonstrated with Kyoka Suigetsu?"
Zaheer shook his head.
"Take that as the first piece of evidence. I come from a place with different rules and different powers. There are parts of the spirit world that no human or spirit can travel without already knowing where to go. That is where my people lived. Tell me, have you not wondered what happens to human souls in the natural cycle. There is life, death and rebirth, but there is more, so much more. There is a place that all human spirits go in the interim, a place they forget when they're reborn in your world after they die yet again."
"Are you such a spirit?"
"You could say that. You've been there before I would imagine, sometime in your cycle. Your essence was special even then. I remember it. It tasted of rebellion."
"Freedom cannot be purged from those who desire it with all their being." Zaheer paused, then asked. "What was I in a previous life?"
Aizen shrugged. "I shouldn't tell you. It is against the rules."
"Rules you are no doubt breaking by even telling me of this place that has been hidden from humans for so long."
Aizen's smile became a rather wicked looking smirk. "Well said. Your time in our world was pathetically short, but you did have memories of your time in the human world. Apparently you'd be killed in a great purge of your people by the Fire Nation."
"The destruction of the Air Nation. I was an air nomad?"
"In one life, yes."
Zaheer stood quiet for a moment, contemplating the significance of this.
"You are listening to me now, aren't you?"
"I am beginning to. It does not mean I am swayed."
"I'm happy to continue until you are. I have nothing but time. As it so happens, you also have copious amounts of the same."
"Why do you seek my help? That would be a good place to begin."
"Because both you and Unalaq had something resembling the right idea. Did you know that there is only one soul that has never partaken of the natural cycle in its entirety? One soul that has always reincarnated directly back into the material world without ever having gone through my world. One soul that prevents the world I desire from coming into being."
"The Avatar."
"Yes. The Avatar. Because of the Avatar's nature as the bridge between worlds, it cannot fully crossover after death. Only when the cycle is ended can a better world be created."
That statement resonated with Zaheer. It made sense in the grand scheme of things as he saw it. Of course the Avatar was unnatural. The world it had created was broken. This merely confirmed it. "Go on. I am listening."
Xxxxxxxx
Meditate. Meditate. Meditate. Come on, damn it. I'm supposed to be feeling peace and calm. The desire to punch something increased with every attempt to find inner peace. Picture something calming, like Tenzin said. You know, like punching his smug face. I mean what am I, some sort of prisoner? I haven't left Air Island since I got here. Yep, the desire to do violence was growing.
Korra gave a howl of displeasure and opened her eyes. It was dark outside her window with barely enough light from the moon filtering into the sparse room provided for her by Tenzin and Pema. The day ended the same as it started, with frustration and no results. What she and Tenzin were doing wasn't working. She was supposed to be growing more spiritual instead of more irritable. The soreness left over from that wind-wheel-shutter-spinning-thing didn't help matters. What had Tenzin called it? Didn't matter.
Tenzin told her to meditate by the ocean so that the sea air could calm her.
Didn't work.
Tenzin told her to skip a few meals so as to perhaps find spiritual enlightenment in deprivation.
Well, it helped her find hunger easy enough.
Tenzin told her to find the spots that felt the most spiritually charged to sit at. The island was a temple after all and while not a spiritual hot zone like the ancient air temples it should be easier here than elsewhere in the city.
How was she even supposed to know what spots felt the most spiritually charged?
Tenzin offered dozens of suggestions. He recited many legends of famous air benders and gurus, including a terribly long one about some guy who never ate. Seriously, an entire story of someone not doing anything. Why wasn't that adapted into a radio serial? Oh yeah, cause no one would watch it.
None of it did anything.
"If I could just talk to you, Aang. I'd settle from hearing from any of you, even Kyoshi." From the way the White Lotus spoke of Kyoshi it was clear that they didn't quite approve of her. "Maybe even especially Kyoshi." She sounded like someone Korra might get on well with.
She was never going to learn to air bend at this rate.
Korra sighed. There wasn't much else left to try. Had the other Avatars had to deal with this sort of thing? Tenzin said every one of them found at least one element the most difficult to master: the one most opposite their personality.
"Guess I've got nothing better to do but keep trying." She closed her eyes again. One last time tonight and then she was done. Better to pick a specific goal this time than try and find something as ephemeral as inner peace. She'd try once more to contact her past lives.
"Aang," she whispered. In her mind she tried runt through the meditation exercises taught to her at the Southern Water Tribe compound she grew up in. Every single thing they told her to picture she did.
"Roku." She tried to capture the feeling that came with bending, but only in her mind. Maybe that was the key to spirituality.
"Kyoshi." She tried to tap into the emotions she felt with herself that might resonate with her past lives. Living in seclusion didn't leave her with a wide range of experiences to draw on.
"Kuruk. Yangchen." She tried to picture each of the Avatar's images in her mind based on the murals she'd seen.
"Damn it, anyone." She tried to imagine what it would feel like to be spiritually open to the world, to become a beacon for spiritual energy. How could she imagine something she'd never experienced? Still, she tried.
"Please," she ground her teeth, her chest aching like a sore muscle. She felt exhausted. This whole spiritually reaching out thing was a bust.
She was about to give up when she felt a sudden stab of icy pain. The cold began to spread through her chest. Goose pimples rose on her skin like the temperature dropped. Something was very wrong.
"Something's coming." At least, that's what she thought the feeling meant, and she thought she knew the direction.
Korra was out of her room in a moment and racing towards the feeling. "Tenzin," she called out. Maybe this was a false alarm. She could apologize if it was. Then again, it might not be. "Tenzin!"
"What's wrong, Avatar Korra?" One of the White Lotus guards said as Korra passed by.
She stopped. "Where's Tenzin?"
"An emergency budget meeting was called tonight. Additional funding for the Republic City Police. As a council member he was required to attend."
That was just what she needed, something bad to happen when Tenzin wasn't here but his kids were.
"Where are Pema and the other air benders?"
"They should be in their rooms."
"Find them and make sure they stay safe." Thankfully, whatever Korra was sensing wasn't coming from the direction of where Tenzin's family slept. It was still too close for comfort.
"What about you?" The White Lotus guard called, but Korra was already gone, racing for the feeling's source. It was coming from the docks, whatever it was.
It was as she was rounding the corner and bringing docks into her field of view that she heard the screaming. What met her eyes caused her to halt for just a moment. That it was a spirit she had no doubt, but she'd never seen anything like it before. It was at least 16 feet tall. It had a vaguely humanoid figure, but was hunched over like a gorilla bear. Its limbs were also too long compared to is short legs. Then there was its face. She couldn't tell if it wore a white mask or if the mask was the head. The teeth that thing had were huge and effective. Korra got a good view of that as it tore into the flesh of the man it held in one of his hands. The teeth totally bisected the guy.
Chen, Korra reminded herself. She'd known that guard personally. His name had been Chen. There was another corpse nearby that was too mangled to recognize.
"Spirit, why are you angry with us?" The question was what she'd been instructed to ask if she ever encountered an angry spirit.
The thing's blood drenched mouth bent into a grin. "Benders. Their spiritual energy tastes so good."
"You eat benders?"
It laughed. "Yes." It drew out the sound into a hiss. "But these aren't the ones that called out to me. There's a greater spiritual force here. Is it you?"
"Called out?" Could she have been responsible for this? Two men were dead.
The great thing sniffed the air. "You smell delicious. I think I'll eat you either way."
"You're going to pay for what you've done." The anger felt good. It washed away guilt.
The spirit dropped the half of the body it hadn't consumed and began to lumber toward Korra.
In a flurry of motions, Korra unleashed a volley of fireballs at it.
The thing raised and hand and though they seared its flesh the creature remained undaunted. It kept coming. As it drew close it reached forward with a hand.
Korra leapt up into the air and used her fire bending to shoot flames from her feet. She rocketed into the air and over the creature's head to come down on the other side. She then struck the ground with a foot and sent a chunk of cobblestone flying at the monster's face as it turned. The rock struck the mask and it cracked, causing the monster to lurch back in pain. "That's right," Korra shouted. "Come get it." She sent two more rocky payloads its way, both of which bounced off its shoulder.
"Damn you," It roared, launching itself forward with surprising speed.
Korra barely backed away in time, again using the fire to allow her to fly back through the air. Her response was to call a powerful jet of water from the nearby to sea to blast the spirit in the face.
The pressure slowed the spirit, but it kept coming. It opened its mouth wide as it approached.
Then there was a blur of movement overhead. Someone wearing black robes trimmed with white came down on the creature's head, slicing it open with a weapon that resembled the katanas of the Kyoshi Warriors. The sword cut through the monster's skull. No blood spewed forth though. Instead with a scream of anguish, the monster disappeared, fading into nothingness as little pieces broke away and disappeared.
The person who slew it landed in front of the fading beast. It was a small person with black hair. A woman, Korra realized. The girl's visible arms were thin, slight looking, and pale. The robes were both somewhat familiar and foreign at the same time. She wore thick socks and sandals. When the girl turned round Korra couldn't make out the color of her eyes; they were either blue or purple, she couldn't tell, but they were framed by several stray locks of hair. The look this girl gave Korra was bored and passing, like Korra was a peace of stone. The bodies too didn't draw her attention.
"Hey, who are you?" Korra called.
The girl acted as though she didn't hear her.
"Hello, can you hear me?"
Still no response. Now the girl had turned her back on her.
"Hey," Korra said as she rushed forward. She grabbed the newcomers shoulder and turned her around. "I'm talking to you."
"You can see me?" The black haired girl looked startled.
That response brought Korra up short too. "See you? Of course I can."
"How?" The girl asked.
"You're right there."
"Who are you?" The girl leaned forward, a look of curiosity now apparent.
"I'm Avatar Korra." She almost stuttered over her full name. Then she glanced at the two bodies near her and her resolve hardened. She had to get the bottom of this. Tenzin's kids were her, and two people had already been killed. She couldn't let surprise make her weak. No one else could be allowed to die. "Now tell me, who are you and what was that thing?"
"You were fighting it, weren't you?" The girl mumbled to herself. Then she shook her head. "Are you truly the Avatar? Are you the bridge?"
"I am, and I'm going to open up an Avatar sized load of ass kicking you don't tell me who you are."
"Forgive me, Avatar. I know our agreement is to stay out of human's way and human matters. I intended to see this done before anyone got hurt or knew about the hollow's presence."
"The hollow? That thing?"
"Yes. Do you not know of them? But how? You're the Avatar."
Normally Korra enjoyed people's reaction to her being the Avatar, but this type of surprised condescension was nowhere near pleasant. "I've been getting that a lot lately. Who are you. I won't ask again." To emphasize her point, Korra allowed fire to trail around one hand and water another.
"Two elements. You are the Avatar. Forgive me. My name is Rukia Kuchiki, 7th seat of the 13th Division of the Gotei 13."