Glimmering ribbons of moonlight flickered into the metal prison, rousing it's occupant from her fitful sleep. Nightmares of screaming masses, fire, and the awful sound of that cannon plagued her nightly since her sentencing. Her dreams of a united and safe Earth Empire, now nothing but haunting specters of her own ambition. Bitter regret lumped in her throat as tears found themselves staining her stony visage.
"Where did I go wrong? All I wanted was for my people to never fall into anarchy, for no family to be torn apart by war," she cried, unaware of the presence behind the bars.
"You lost your way when you closed your heart to the love and help of others," said the figure.
"LIAR! I was beloved by my people! By my soldiers! … By … Bataar."
"Who's the liar here, Kuvira? The people feared you. The soldiers respected your power. Only Bataar truly loved you, and what did you do?"
Kuvira stared into the darkness, tears blurring her vision of the figure beyond her gaze. "I … I fired at him …" she whispered, "I fired at him knowing he wouldn't survive."
"And he followed you to the very end. Defied his family, turned his back on Zaofu, all for love. And now his heart is not only broken, betrayed by his love, but he's on trial for war crimes for his hand in the construction of the spirit weapon. He could be serving a life sentence, and that's on you."
Kuvira's sorrow turned to anger. How dare she throw this on her. Hadn't she suffered enough? Picking herself off the platinum prison floor, Kuvira's steely gaze stared at the shadowed figure. " His decisions were his own!" she fired back coolly, " And had we won Republic City we'd be married now, and the Earth Empire whole. Everyone would be protected and provided for. What did the Earth Queen ever do for us? I stepped in when the Earth Kingdom was burning up from the inside, by the fires of anarchy. Tell me, was I wrong to care for my nation?"
"You keep hiding behind that veil of nobility and selflessness," the figure retorted. Slowly stepping into the moonlight, she added, "But we both know that when we finally had power, we loved it, and didn't want to let it go." Kuvira gasped. The dark visage of the figure was her very own, still in military regalia, head cocked and eyes cold as iron. "We decided that our rule of law would govern the future of the Earth Kingdom" the shadow continued, "and no one was going to get in our way. Not even our own emotions."
"What … what are you," Kuvira stuttered.
The shadow ignored the question, continuing on with it's judgement, "Kuvira, did you not sense it when we first left Zaofu? The rage in our heart? It wasn't like Ozai's rage in the Hundred Years War. It was cold and tempered. So precise and exacting that it even fooled those closest to us to thinking it was passion. But we wanted revenge, we wanted to show all nations that the Earth Kingdom was not to be forgotten, would not be pushed around, and could not be taken advantage of. Wouldn't our parents be proud to see us now? I bet they are happy they gave us up."
"SHUT UP! SHUT UP! You're not real! You're just in my head," screamed Kuvira.
"Just because I'm in your head, doesn't mean that I'm any less real, Kuvira," the shade said with a smirk, " Look at the bright side, at least we're home." With that, the shade disappeared into the darkness, as Kuvira wept bitter tears at her cell window, overlooking Zaofu.