So… I finally got caught up on Legend of Korra. I am so sad that it's over; it was the best show I've watched this year.

Book Three is still my favorite; I still can't get over the Red Lotus. (They need their own spinoff, damn it!)

This is my first LoK fic, so hopefully, it's not too bad. It's shorter than my usual work, since it's a drabble I wrote quickly, but I thought it would be better this way. (I also haven't really read many fanfics of P'Li, so I hope my interpretation of her isn't too far-off.)

This is set during P'Li's final moments.

Of course, there will be P'heer, as well as implied Mingzan.

*Legend of Korra does not belong to me*

Ephemerality

"Third-Eyed Freak!" The elder Beifong woman spat as she dodged, her eyes cold.

Oh, how P'Li hated that phrase. It reminded her of days long past, but not forgotten. Days where a tyrant ruled over her. Days where she was ostracized and belittled for merely being herself. For a time, she was also favored, but that wasn't much better. Even at a young age, she was taller than most, so she stuck out like a sore thumb. When signs that she was a combustionbender—a rarity—emerged, everything went downhill. Because of her gift, she was forced to become a puppet, her strings being pulled by a ruthless warlord. And when she didn't dance? Well, there was hell to pay. After awhile, she bent to his will, allowing (albeit unwillingly) herself to be groomed into the perfect assassin. It almost worked, too. Until she met…

Zaheer. At the thought of his name, P'Li grit her teeth and focused, now more determined than ever to blow the Beifong sisters off the mountain. After their chance meeting all those years ago, Zaheer was outraged by the way she was treated. He had no bending abilities back then, but he was still able to help her escape. Ever since then, P'Li had been in love with him. You showed me what true freedom was. She scanned her battlefield, focusing her chi. But now is not the time to be distracted. Narrowing her eyes, she shot another blast, the brightness of it lighting up the sky, effectively deterring the guards backing up the sisters. She knew that this fight would be coming to an end soon; Lin Beifong was at her limit, and she suspected that Suyin would be reaching that point.

P'Li never smiled much anymore—she was forced to kick that habit years ago—but she could feel her heart beat faster as she forced the earthbending duo closer to the edge. This was it; the Red Lotus was going to win. Zaheer's final words to her before they split up echoed through her mind, giving her strength. We will win. I will see him again. Suddenly feeling more alive than ever, she channeled another blast through her forehead, effectively causing Lin to stumble, almost off the edge of the mountain. This time, she struggled to get up.

It's over, Beifong. With one more attack, the scar-faced woman would be dead. She would pay for every utterance of 'Third-Eyed Freak'. But as her attack left her forehead, she caught a glimpse of something metal hurtling towards her. As it encased her head, it dawned on P'Li that she was going to die. As the world exploded around her, all she thought of was how she was glad she told Zaheer she loved him, and hoped Ming-Hua and Ghazan would do the same before it was too late.

"P'Li!" If the combustionbender was still alive, she would have heard the anguished cry echoing across the mountaintops, a mournful sound traveling through all currents of air in the vicinity. But she wasn't. She would never know.

I am so sorry, LoK fandom. This is my first time writing a fic for this series, as well as using this writing style, so I hope this wasn't too horrible.

Since I do love P'Li and the rest of the Red Lotus so much, I might write a longer oneshot about them in the future. (This was just sort of a test for me to get used to writing these characters.)