Author's Note: Hey guys, I've joined the ranks of filthy self-insertors because why the fuck not. I remember being disappointed by how the show handled Rhaava and Vaatu, yet another mishandling of the whole Chaos Order dichotomy. There are other things I was ticked off at, but that's a different story. I wanted to make a story that handled Rhaava and Vaatu with a lot more nuance. Hopefully, I will succeed. Without further ado, let's get started.

Book One: Air
Chapter Zero: A Choice

I lay in the oasis, pittering my feet to keep my face above the water. I don't know how long I've been like this, but I feel an inhuman calm within myself, that everything would be peachy keen. The soft humming carried by the wind had a nostalgic tune to it, reminding me that all things are connected.

Now, I know myself well enough that this was not normal: that I was not this understanding, that I should be angry this very moment. I felt a bit of how dare they take me from my home and a dash of why me, but to be honest, I only felt the wind dancing at my fingertips. The wind was always with me, guiding me towards the calm I've always wanted, even before wherever this is. Before it felt like a silly superstition that I had made for myself, pretending to guide and be guided by the wind. But here? Here it felt tangible. That I wasn't insane.

"I see you are enjoying yourself." A voice oscillating between male and female giggles.

"Where am I?" I crane my neck behind me to see where the voice is coming from. No such luck.

"Take a guess."

"Well, I've seen enough mystical stuff to say that this isn't Santa Monica." I shrug.

"Come on, guess." This time it's a small child's voice, petulantly begging.

"The Afterlife. Which means I'm dead." I smile sadly, no regrets. It's what I wanted anyway. I was useless back there anyway.

"You're not dead dumb dumb. But this is the spirit realm. I brought you here." A sage old man's baritone voice tickles my eardrums. I chuckle at the dissonance of that image.

"Why?" I sit on the water's bank.

"Wan made a mistake. One he made at my insistence. One I would hope you would fix."

"Rhaava?" I look up. "Aren't you supposed to be with the Avatar?"

"No. I am the embodiment of Chaos."

"Vaatu? Aren't you supposed to be a Satan analog?" I laugh nervously before scooting away as fast as I could.

"Oh come child, the events you witnessed in that show were a farce. Some true, some outright fabrications. That is one of the simplest ones."

"So what do you want me to become? Some shitty Dark Avatar? Opposed to Korra as a shitty reactionary?" I cross my arms. It's rather unnerving that I can't see him. Her. It. Fuck it, whatever.

"No, nothing that gauche. I want you to open the world to the spirit realm." He sounds vaguely offended.

"But aren't you some Satan analog? Like, this rings of 'Deal with Devil' so forgive me if I'm extremely hesitant." I scoff.

"I chose you because you're the only one with the affinity to the spirits and willing to listen to an 'enemy,' as it were. One thing you must understand is that Order is capable of great atrocities just as I am capable of great acts of compassion. The one you know as MLK and this world's Kuvira, Kuvira is Order and MLK is chaos. The former was trying to unify through authority and the latter spoke for change for the better. My other half and I are not nearly as black and white as your show claimed we are."

"But Kuvira still destroyed and cast things into chaos by waging war. MLK appealed to the declaration of independence and fighting for the rights they already had, that sounds like order to me." I wave off his words.

"And like yin and yang, nothing exists in the pure state." He counters.

"I... "

Holy, am I actually considering what he's saying?

"Why do you need the portals open?" I'm actually considering it, may the spirits have mercy on my soul.

"Freedom." He intones.

"To do what?" My voice's cracking, this is making me nervous.

"To live, to love, to have a family, to choose our destinies. I don't care if you free me from the tree, I still haven't atoned for my sins. But my brethren, they've lost sight of how much the humans rely on them and how much they rely on the humans."

"You don't want to be free?" I scoff. The scenes of him taunting Wan flick through my mind.

"Not yet. By convincing Wan to free me from Rhaava, it showed me how rash that decision was. Without chaos to balance order, for example, the Fire Nation under Sozin was born. Without order to balance chaos, your world's Middle East is in perpetual turmoil. But by the time I realized this error, Rhaava preferred a separate existence without me." The now female holds back a breaking voice.

"You want me to end the Avatar cycle and return Rhaava to you, don't you?" I stare at my hands.

"While I would prefer that outcome, it's not ideal. The Avatar has become the symbol of order and balance in that world. While I wouldn't mind the chaotic aftermath, it would weaken Rhaava too much. By the time she would recover, the potential for a human genocide is too high." A hollow male laugh. "And I only prefer it for a chance at a reunion."

In that moment Vaatu materialized in front of me. Not as the form I recognized from the show, but something subtly unsettling. A small boy one moment, an old woman the next. But the facial features were always slightly off. Like a beginner artist's approximation of what a face looks like made realistic by a master's ability of shading and value.

"Wow… You're not at all what I was expecting..." There's a painful pressure on my mind, that witnessing him even as this is not something I should do, lest I lose all sanity.

"So will you help me? Balance must be regained."

"...It wasn't me who you wanted to fuse with, was it? It was Korra." My mouth smiles but my eyes frown. "So you and Rhaava can be together again…"

"Yes. Balance-"

"Must be paramount." I finish for her.

"What is your decision?" She morphs into an old version of Aang.

"What happens when that happens?" An Avatar with both Order and Chaos inside of them? It sounds good on paper, but what of practice?

"I am not wholly omniscient. That outcome is clouded to me. All outcomes that affect my fate at clouded to me."

"How fucking useless. Precognition except entirely garbage." I laugh at that. "I'll do it, but I have a condition." I look sadly at my hands.

"Oh?" He chuckles. His form changes into young Toph

"Give me airbending. I feel the freest with the wind beneath my fingertips and behind my back." I plead with her.

"All power comes at a cost." She frowns at me. "You would have to give me something I want." She morphs into an elderly Sokka.

"I don't have anything but knowledge. What would you even want that I have?" I swallow the spit building in my mouth.

"Your knowledge of how the story unfolds. I would have to take that from you." He scratches his goatee.

Oh. "Can I ask why that specifically?"

"You have half-knowledge. Some of the events play out how you remember them, but others are wholly wrong. It will be more harmful than beneficial for you to keep your knowledge."

"But it still fulfills the power with cost…"

"Yes."

"Remind me to never play chess with you."

"Very well." A full baritone belly laugh.

"Will I remember this? Will I remember you?" I ask, a vulnerability washing over me.

"...No. I'm sorry child, but that counts as future knowledge." He places a hand on my head and ruffles my hair. "But you will remember your desire to connect the spirits to the world, and that's more than enough for me."

"...I'm ready." I close my eyes, willing away tears. Why do I feel like this? I barely know this creature. He could still be a Satan analog and I've been deceived.

But something deep within me tells me that's not the case. The hurt in his voice was real. She regrets her separation immensely.

"Take care child." And with that, everything darkened as sleep began to overtake me. I hit the water with a hard ker-thunk.