Light from the moon shone through the bedroom window enough to illuminate the young avatar as she curled up in her bed. Soft tears ran down her cheek as she tried to recover from the panic attack brought on by her nightmares.
They've got everything under control. They can restore balance without you. Your era is over, Korra. The world doesn't need you anymore.
Her mind ran a million miles a minute as she buried her head farther into the pillow.
The only thing worse than be unable to do anything was the realization that nobody needs you anymore.
I wonder if anyone even cares anymore. She pondered. I'm gone, their lives will continue on as always... none of them need me... they don't need me anymore.
Korra curled up even tighter as she fought the lump in her throat. Her tears burned as they rolled faster down her face. She'd never felt so worthless before in her life.
There was a soft knock. Korra pulled the covers over her head hoping to avoid any confrontation. Much to her chagrin the door opened carefully anyway and she cringed as the footsteps neared her bed.
"Please leave me alone, mom, I'm fine." Senna usually knew when Korra was having nightmares and often came in to her room to try and comfort her.
"I'm not your mother," the elderly voice replied.
Korra sighed. "Please leave me alone, Katara, I'm fine," she repeated.
"Who's Katara? Is that you beautiful friend I first met?"
Korra pulled the covers away from her face. She almost jumped at what she saw.
"Grandma Yin?" she asked in shock as she sat up. "What... what are you doing here?"
Yin reached out and touched Korra's shoulder in concern. "I couldn't sleep tonight so I thought I'd take a walk and just as I passed your room I heard crying and gasping."
Korra looked down in embarrassment. "Yeah... I've been dealing with all that happened with Zaheer and all."
"I know," Yin smiled. "Mako told me all about it."
Korra pulled her legs closer to her chest and looked away.
"You know, Korra, Mako does talk a lot about you. One of the things he told me was that you're very strong."
Korra sighed. "Yeah I think those days are over."
"Are they? Who told you they're over?"
"Well... Didn't... Didn't you hear what happened to me?" Korra raised her voice in frustration. "I almost died and I was poisoned and look," she said as she mustered all the strength she had to kick her leg out from under the covers and kick the wheelchair next to her bed, "and now I'm confined to one of these. This is never what I wanted when I said I wanted to be the avatar. What part of this are you not understanding?"
Yin sat perfectly still. "The part where you told yourself you'd never recover."
Korra froze.
"Mako told me you were very strong," Yin repeated. "But it wasn't always a strength of the physical kind. It was a resilience. The ability to move on and continue even when it was hard."
Korra went limp. "You don't understand, Grandma Yin. I've been doing that and doing that and doing that forever and now… I'm just done. I'm broken. I'm just so… tired."
"Well Mako…"
"I don't care what Mako said!" Korra yelled and she threw the last of her covers off her. "What does he know about this kind of… stuff…" her voice trailed off.
Yin closed her eyes. There was just enough light for Korra to see a lone tear trail down the side of her face.
"I'm… I'm so sorry," Korra whispered. The weight of the silence in the room crushed Korra.
After what felt like an eternity, Yin took a deep breath. "Sometimes we recognize things in others that we ourselves have. Maybe Mako pointing out that you're strong is not a sign of his lack of sympathy for your situation but rather his greatest display of empathy for what you're going through."
Korra felt ashamed.
"Tragedy is not the end. There is more. But you have to be willing to look for it first," Yin reached over to grab Korra's hand, "and you have to be willing to listen to people who have walked a similar path."
"I just feel alone sometimes…" Korra said quietly.
"You are never alone, Korra. Never believe that. Your problems thrive in isolation. They want to distance you from everyone who cares so the infection can spread. But when you go out and let others into your life who truly care about you, you fight back. And through fighting back… you can begin the healing process."
"And Korra," Yin said softly, "my grandson is dying to help you heal." She laughed quietly, "The poor boy just can't form a sentence to save his life."
A weak smile came across Korra's face. Memories of all the times Mako reassured her washed over her. What she wouldn't give for him to be there with her right now.
"Why don't you take the first step and ask him for some help," Yin said with a nudge. "I'm sure Mako will love to hear your voice again. Of course that means he'll just have more stories to tell."
Korra's smile grew a little stronger. "I think I will, Grandma Yin. Thank you," she said gratefully. With that she gathered the covers and began to reposition herself back into her bed.
"Mako thinks you're very strong," Yin repeated quietly one last time as she left the room.
Korra felt her face flush a little as she turned on her side and pulled the covers over her.
That was the first night since the incident that Korra finally slept soundly.