Note: Hi, guys, sorry for the pretty long hiatus. I needed to take a break from this writing stuff, as it kinda infuriated me in many many ways. "But now I'm tanned, I'm rested and I'm ready to give this old town a wedgie again!". Also, I know I have posted the trailer for Book 2 of the Master of Puppets series, but this is NOT Book 2, as you saw the title. With the Korrasami comic ( or Book 5, if you want ) release date fast approaching ( June 2017. I know, it's in June; but trust me, June will blast at your face quicker than the Flash before you know it xD ), I just had an idea. "What if Saudorn was an actual LOK character, being Asian and having Asian name? Would he be her ally or enemy? What would his ideology be aside Amon's, Unalaq's, Zaheer's and Kuvira's?". So, here it is, my take on "Book 5". Enjoy :D . This fic is rated M because of violent and sexual contents. I do not own the Legend of Korra. Credits go to the owners and creators of that amazing show. Please review and comment.
Prologue
Intro 1
"Earth, Fire, Air, Water. Only the Avatar can master all four elements and bring balance to the world" - Tenzin
Intro 2
"Welcome back to Republic City, where benders and nonbenders live happily together in particular, and humans and spirits with each other in general, all thank to the very spirit portal at the center of the city, which was opened by none other than our famous but esteemed Avatar Korra! After the conflict between this splendid metropolis, alongside the Avatar, and Kuvira, peace has returned here to let harmony thrive, even better than before! Following this, Republic City received a glorious, yet heartfelt event - the Wedding of the genius Sir Varrick and Lady Zhu Li Moon. Congratulations! But that's not all, for the news of Avatar Korra traveling in the Spirit World together with the late captain of industry's daughter ( Goodness rests his soul! ), Asami Sato, has managed to create a cultural and historical impact, breaking and warming the hearts of their admirers at the same time, even though they have gone only for two days. And that's all, folks. Now you take care!" - Shiro Shinobi
...
Inside the Republic City Prison, noon.
Garkan heard Meifeng's voice from his right, no doubt standing in front of his cell's door, her hands holding a tray which had his lunch on it, his eyes closed, him sitting cross-legged on his bed, leaning against the wall with his hands behind his head, relaxed.
"Can I trust you not to do anything that would cause trouble for the both of us?".
He sighed in annoyance, again, still keeping his eye closed. "Haven't you got tired of saying that line over and over and over again? If I were you, I'd think I was losing my mind".
Now, he heard the clicking sounds of the key being put into the lock, and the lock mechanism being loosened, causing the door to be unlocked. Then, he heard the sounds of the female prison guard's footsteps, entering his cell, gentle and slow, yet calm and confident. Even though he didn't like the guards much, he respected a few of them, who were very devoted to their profession, and took it very seriously, Han Meifeng among those. She had just become a prison guard for just a few months ( three months before Kuvira's invasion of the city, that is ). She joined because she wanted to have firsthand experience dealing with criminals before joining the Republic City Police Force. Her reason was: She needed to differentiate the kind of criminals who are ones and who aren't, in order to help drawing a clearer line between justice and injustice, all after the false arrest of Lau Gan-Lan - the owner of the Cabbage Corp - her father. That sounded quite cliché, he had to admit, but he didn't care about her reason, he focused on the way she acted and talked: Kindly, collectedly, decisively and straight to the point. After all, she was the one who'd helped a great deal in the evacuation of all the prisoners in this place.
As soon as Meifeng put the tray on his table, according to the dull and short sound of tray meeting wooden surface, he listened to her reply.
"I have to- I mean, we all have to, since you tried to escape amidst the evacuation. Boy, were you quiet and slippery; if Suzuki didn't come shouting after you, we'd never know you were gone until it was too late".
Garkan sighed once more. Damnable idiot. I wonder who taught him to haul ass with his mouth. "You can't blame me for doing so when opportunity presents itself, can you? There are still scums out there", he responded calmly.
Next, he heard the scraping noise of the chair being dragged towards his bed, mixed with the female prison guard's footsteps'. After about four seconds, she spoke:
"You know, although I just get to know you for quite a while now, I think I can never shake the feeling that you sound just like-".
"Amon?". He cut her off a little too quickly.
"Yeah". She halted for a while. "You sound just like him. The only difference is the fact that you resorted to murder".
He immediately gave out a small chuckle, chillingly void of humor. "Amon and I were nothing alike, lady. He was a fool to presume that bending is the root of all evil; he didn't look far enough to see the bigger picture, to understand the mind, and heart, of Man. Bender or no bender, evil roots in every single one of us; but I chose to utilize that evil in me to break others", he started another philosophical lecture.
After that, he halted for effect, and continued:"Now tell me something, Mei". Mei. Only he was allowed to call her that. And it's not a surprise, either, as he was the one whose presence and reputation stopped other inmates from harassing Meifeng the first month she worked here ( not that she was a defenseless young woman, but Meifeng appreciated Garkan being her guardian spirit ). "Have you ever seen all of the crimes of Man in your lifetime? Maybe you have, maybe you haven't; yet my eyes showed me the ugliest truth when I was too young to grasp the concept of Good and Evil. I saw death and defilement in front of me. And the culprit, and the culprit, didn't know how to bend. Needless to say, growing up, I slowly realized that I've witnessed it all, the darkness of Mankind".
Slightly hunching forwards in the fairly dark cell, he kept on speaking, his voice a bit lower than before, seeming like a cat-owl hissing, his eyes open now, lightly studying the young woman's face opposite him, in the shadow:"Nonbenders committing crimes as hideous as benders, the old as greedy as the young, women as despicable as men. Cowardice and betrayal. Lies and deceit. Hypocrisy and pretension. Amon said bending is the cause of every war in every era, but he saw only one half of the truth. Because, isn't there a war inside of us as well? A war between Good and Evil? Lord Zuko used to try to capture the Avatar so as to regain his honor, but then he became one of the Avatar's close friends later on. Also, Lady Ty Lee, a friend of Princess Azula of the Fire Nation, a nonbender, used to accompany the former in her quest for capturing or killing the Avatar; but then, she joined the Kyoshi Warriors in the end. Amon was invalid.
Which begs the question: So maybe I'm like Unalaq? Oh no, I am not. Becoming a giant spirit demon just so one can reshape the world is NOT my strong suit, plain and simple. How about Zaheer or Kuvira, then? Zaheer did commit murder, even though it was just one person; and Kuvira built an empire of dictatorship. Hah, an empire! And she dared say she "learned that the idea of a royal family passing a title from one generation to the next was archaic". Whether she betrayed her husband or not, if she died, someone would have to replace her, right? Someone with the same ideology as hers. It's not really that different from "passing a title" now, is it? And the answer to Zaheer is: No. Freedom through chaos is as bullshit an excuse as prosperity through world fire. I didn't seek for freedom, I simply selected the only option available: Being the necessary evil".
"And to think you were once an Equalist, that's scary", Meifeng observed.
The 25-year-old convict snorted. "I find the idea of confronting another Ozai much more terrifying. Trust me, sweetheart, from amid the cesspool of scums, something will rise, something terrible and inhuman, completely devoid of passion and love, having been accumulating so much evil and despicability in the middle of madness, as the Avatar is either busy fighting hypocritical ignoramuses with super skills, or is all over her girlfriend. That's a nightmare which you're preventing me from destroying it".
Upon hearing that, it was the female prison guard's turn to sigh. She replied while standing up from the chair:"I'm sorry, Garkan, you were convicted for a crime you'd committed way before you joined the Equalists. Damnation, even longer than my career now. Therefore, I can't do anything about that. But if it makes you feel better, I'll be with you tonight".
Following this, she put the chair back to its previous position and composedly walked out of the cell. Instantly, Garkan leaned back against the wall; this time, he folded his arms across his chest softly. Once she locked the door one more time, as she'd always done every time she visited her inmate friend, she reminded him:
"Your lunch is getting cold. You should eat now. I've managed to buy you seafood, so you'd better not waste it".
A small smile gradually spread across his lips. Oh, Meifeng. However, it soon disappeared in view of the fact that he wanted to tell her one more thing.
"Before you go, love, you need to remember: When the time comes, you should think back to us; it will save your life".
In response to that, his female friend just kept silent, leaving and striding away. And at this moment, solitude came back to him in his separate, preferably unlit prison cell. He was too dangerous to be with other inmates, the kind he called 'scums'. He hadn't even felt guilty after breaking the neck of a convicted nonbending rapist/killer sitting near him, in the cafeteria, as soon as he heard the bastard talking lewdly about his victims, fantasizing about disgusting fetishes involving the violated young girls. He still didn't now. That had happened when he was only 17 ( 166 AG ), and Avatar Korra was just a 13-year-old teenager living a sheltered life in the White Lotus compound down at the South Pole. He didn't really care about the young Avatar at all, but if Old Koha needed him to do some errand when he was free, especially one into the Spirit World, she'd better stay out of his way.