A/N: Just to clarify on the setting: This takes place during Episode 10, with everything up to the wire being sent to the United Forces having happened. Beyond that point, everything is AU. Enjoy : )
Korra led their charge as the aircraft roared overhead, chasing after the group of Equalists who they had just witnessed forcing their way into the warehouse. Mako was at her shoulder as the voice of a police officer boomed out a warning, his words swiftly drowned out by the scream of diving plane's engine.
"Get down!"
She lost her feet as Mako roughly pulled her to the ground. The telling whine of a falling bomb graced their ears and pulled eyes wide with fear as the group pressed themselves tight against the walls at their backs. In the next moment, a row of buildings two streets away were engulfed in a ball of roaring flame. Korra threw her arms across her face as a wave of heat rolled over them, chased swiftly by thick, acrid smoke as the explosion tore through the buildings and shattered their walls, kicking debris high into the air and flinging remnants every which way. Her heart pounded in her ears, drowning out the sound of shrill voices calling after her as she gathered her feet. The heat of the flames billowing on the other side of the wide thoroughfare washed over her and seemed to impassion her anger. She was single-minded, no other thought in her mind but to make the Equalists pay. They had gone too far.
Mako and a female police officer were the first to follow in the Avatar's wake as she surged towards the great doors of the warehouse, hot on their heels Bolin, Asami and nearly a dozen members of the police force, the polished grey of their metallic uniforms streaked with dirt. Team Avatar themselves were dressed in similar fashion, Chief Saikhan forbidding them from entering the fray without the proper protection. As the group turned towards the warehouse, pushing through the tall doors that stood propped ajar in the forced entry of the Equalists, a second group led by Lin and Tenzin swept by headed for buildings further up along the street. Heads were ducked low as another plane screamed overhead.
"Korra, wait!"
But there was no time. She gave the thick, heavy door her shoulder until it budged far enough for her to slip through into the warehouse. The moment her eyes graced what was taking place within it, her mouth twisted into a fearsome snarl. Chaos ensued between the wide aisles stacked with bulky wooden boxes, armed and armoured Equalists plunging into the panicking throng of workers and through means she didn't understand identifying benders swiftly and efficiently. Men and women were shoved roughly aside as the Equalists pushed through them; she heard the inhuman shriek of terror from a man as an intimidating pair advanced on him, the bulkier of the Equalists gripping his hair and throwing him to the ground. That was all that she would merely stand by and bear witness to. Korra announced her presence with a shout of fury.
The first Equalist she descended upon found the sense to defend himself a little too late as she sent her naked fist lancing past his half-raised guard, her strike cracking against his jaw and sending him stumbling to the ground. She stamped her foot to that ground as he lay sprawled, manipulating the concrete into incarcerating bonds that wrapped tightly around his chest and limbs.
She was barely aware of her friends and the members of the police task force at her back as together they turned towards the Equalist fighters emerging from the throng of civilians. She glimpsed others hauling away the men and women identified as benders, though to where and for what purpose she could not guess. All that was important was to stop them.
Korra blazed a trail towards her next opponent, though in her mind she did not grace them with such an honour; they were merely an obstacle in her path, one that would fall in the face of the Avatar's righteous fury. Liquid fire surged through her veins and power crackled at the tips of her fingers as a bulb of flame came to being within her palm. She closed her fist around it and felt the tongues of fire lapping across her skin as her sheer will fashioned the flames into a weapon. The Equalist – a woman she discerned from the grunt of effort they made – threw herself aside as Korra thrust her fist forwards and fire surged through the air in a sweeping curve.
Dwelling at the edges of her vision, she glimpsed Bolin and his brother protect each other's back as a trio of Equalists descended on them, their stances low and centred as together they built a wall of earth and flame about themselves. Asami, armed with the electric gloves of her father's creation and her extensive ability in martial arts, proved to be more than a match for an Equalist who boldly took her on, almost casually slipping away from the practised thrust of a baton and catching the Equalist's wrist. She pivoted swiftly, her hips flush against the fighter's before she quickly shifted her stance and lifted him into the air and over her shoulder. The flash of lightning illuminated the warehouse for the briefest moment as the incapacitated Equalist flailed wildly beneath the electrical assault of her gloves.
In comparison, Korra did not possess the nimble feet of the heiress or the almost surgical precision of her striking. Instead, she was a whirlwind of raw power, always on the offence as she forced her opponents to bow before her superior strength. Her strikes were heavy, pounding down the walls of their defence and smashing away their stamina whilst she barely worked up a sweat. The Equalist who had foolishly matched up against her had to suffer this and more, for Korra was fuelled by an anger unlike any other she had ever experienced. The masked woman buckled beneath her assault, barely managing to turn away from the roaring inferno that Korra wielded with her fists. Their bout ended with Korra batting aside the Equalist's last ditch attempt to block her chi, pointed fingers seeking the jointed plates of her armour. Korra moved in as the woman stumbled, driving the sole of her boot into her stomach and sending her careening into the side of a tall container.
"They're getting away!" one of the metalbenders yelled, gesturing wildly in the direction of a group of Equalists herding benders down a flight of stairs at the far end of the warehouse. Civilians, whimpering and shouting in panic, clung to each other between the gaps of the large containers stacked along the aisles. The shriek of the Equalist planes was more than enough to incite terror within them as all sense of order deteriorated and men and women streamed for whichever exit they could lay their eyes upon, crushing into other in their desperation.
Korra pumped her legs as she made to chase down the escaping Equalists, intercepted almost immediately by another along the way. He fell to a flame fuelled strike as he failed to consider his blind spots. Mako emerged from the shadows of a container, sweat dripping down his cheeks and matting dark hair to his brow.
"We have to stop them", she told him as they began to run together. "I don't know where they're taking them, but it can't be good".
Even as he nodded his agreement, the whistle of a metalbender's cables graced their ears and they glanced up to see a pair of officers swing by overhead, completely bypassing the panicked throng of civilians that Korra and Mako would need to press their way through. Equalists emerged from the flood of human bodies, squeezing effortlessly between them like shadows through bars of iron. Mako was caught off-guard, taking the powerful strike of a thick baton straight to the chest that perhaps would have floored him were it not for the armour they had been impressed upon to don.
"Mako!" Korra shouted out as a pair of Equalists quickly advanced on him. But she could not reach out to aid him, not when a trio of chi-blockers snaked around her, swiftly limiting her options and forcing her to focus on them. In her early days as a citizen of Republic City, this would have been a problem, but Korra had encountered chi-blockers far too often by now. Her style may have been heavy-handed and blunt, but her experiences in past fights with the chi-blockers as well as the controlled precision required of the Pro-Bending arena had helped her evolve that style. She knew how to fight them now.
The vivid orange of Mako's fire illuminated the periphery of her vision when the blazing light of her own flames did not encompass her gaze. She clung tightly to her desire to win, a desire strong and pure and carved into her being from the moment she was born, a desire that rose up from within and gathered her wholly unto itself, crafting her thoughts and guiding her movements.
The first chi-blocker led with a strike aimed for her armpit, the armour of the police task force sacrificing complete protection for the necessity of mobility. Korra locked her elbow against her side, fending off the attack as she gave a little to the chi-blocker's momentum. The man's balance was upset by the merest fraction as he did not meet the resistance he expected and in that moment, she retaliated. With Korra, retaliation was a wholehearted affair; she turned her body into her strike, smashing her elbow into the side of the Equalist's face. He crumpled, falling limply to the ground, but Korra no longer spared him attention. Turning to the remaining chi-blockers, she swept fire between herself and them, forcing them to give ground.
They split apart and approached her from either side, but Korra refused to give them even an inch. Stomping her foot to the ground, she cast a lance of flame in the direction of the woman circling around to her left as a spike of concrete thrust into the feet the man at her right. He evaded the attack at the last moment, but as he stepped away Korra continued to hound him, cycling her arms rhythmically through the air as she both manipulated the earth and whipped fire towards the second Equalist. The woman was nimble, however, seeking and eventually finding an opening in Korra's blistering offence. Korra barely defending against a strike aimed at the exposed flesh of her neck, trying to catch the woman's wrist as she retracted her arm. The woman was quick, her arm darting back and then forwards once more as her partner skirted around a thick bludgeon of concrete and dashed towards her.
Lightning flared at her shoulder as she drove her heel to the ground and concrete smashed into the knee of the woman. The male Equalist spluttered incoherently as electricity flooded through his body, his twitching digits a mere moment away from striking Korra. She trapped the fallen, screaming woman in concrete bonds before turning to find Asami at her side, coolly appraising the Equalist in her grip as crackling light reflected upon her gaze. She gave Korra a brief smile as she finally allowed the man to fall into an unceremonious heap. Just behind them, Bolin helped pull his brother to his feet, the Equalists he had been struggling against wrapped in concrete as smoke curled into the air from their singed uniforms.
Relief surged through Korra as she turned, remembering Mako's plight, but then just as quickly her eyes grew and she remembered the Equalists bundling benders down into the depths of the warehouse. She saw no sign of them as she turned back around to face the far end of the corridor, instead seeing the two metalbenders who had swung over to their position fighting a losing battle with several Equalists. As she ran towards them, she heard a shout, though she did not know how she managed to catch it within the din of chaos that had thoroughly encompassed the warehouse.
"Hurry up! Forget them; the planes are coming!"
Korra stopped dead in her tracks, the scene of only a few short minutes ago flashing before her gaze. She felt the phantom heat of an explosion washing over her cheeks and almost wretched upon the vivid memory of the taste of black smoke rolling across the streets. Civilians had crowded around the building's exits, pushing against each other in an effort to escape the fighting and the Equalists. The displays of bending that she and their group had displayed had only served to incite further fear within them as the searching hands of the Equalists delved amongst the throng and pulled shouting men and screaming women from its depths. But all seemed to fall still as a piercing shriek pierced the din and quickly swallowed the noises of chaos whole. Time cowered before the distinct whine of a diving plane.
Korra watched as her friends charged passed her, far too caught up in the moment to realise that she had stopped moving. She watched the metalbenders call forth their cables, manipulating the metal cores within and latching them to the beams that crisscrossed the ceiling, swinging over to aid their fellow officers. She watched the crowd of terrified innocents push and shove and scratch and pull at one another. She lifted her hands and bended more swiftly and powerfully than she had ever done in her life, just before the first bomb struck.
The civilians, her friends and the officers that she could reach in time vanished into a cocoon of concrete as the street erupted. The shrill whine of a plane passing overhead preceded by a fraction a second the all-encompassing roar of the explosion that tore through the north wall of the warehouse. Korra was lifted off her feet and thrown high, tumbling through the air before she smashed into the ground, crying out as her shoulder struck the concrete. Even still, she had the presence of mind to shield herself as the roof of the building gave an ominous groan and the supporting metal beams a screech that sent a cold itch rippling across her skin.
Another explosion ripped into the warehouse and behind her tightly pressed together eyelids, Korra did not witness the floor beneath her fracture. The fearsome bellow of a blossoming fireball pierced the chinks in her earthen armour as she held her arms tightly over her head. And then she heard the roof fall.
She didn't know where she was. No matter whether she turned her eyes to the right or the left, there existed nothing, not even darkness. She didn't understand how that could be. In the absence of light, surely there was darkness, but here that was not so. She could not explain it; regardless of how hard she strained them, how tightly she narrowed them, her eyes simply slid aside as she tried to pierce the nothingness around her. She turned, looking over her shoulder to see what dwelt behind her, but here also the nothingness lay. It encompassed her, this absence of all things, and she in her lonesome was the only tangible thing within it.
She looked down at herself and found that she was clothed in her traditional Water Tribe garments, a thick fur pelt tied about waist and sturdy boots upon her feet. Her arms were bare, the patterned white-blue armband that was kept around her right bicep and the two short navy-blue sleeves she wore around her forearms strangely absent. She gazed at her limbs, bewildered by this fact for a long moment. In the end, she decided that it was not worth her worrying about, at least not while she did not understand or know the place in which she presently existed. She lifted her eyes once again and gave a start.
Where once nothing had existed now there lay before her a path, narrow and straight. It began at the peak of her toes, the dirt a faded hue of brown and without a single stone. She followed it with her eyes and was again startled as she discovered the sudden appearance of trees. They were devoid of leaves, each branch stripped clean and drooping towards the ground, thin and crooked. They stood alongside the edge of the narrow path, their broken crowns overhanging the faded earth and casting their pale shadows upon it. As she looked, she found that all colour seemed to fade along the length of the path whose end she could not see. She lifted her gaze and wondered what could have happened here to have robbed these trees of their crowns and vivid palettes. She slowly became aware that the air was chill and pulled her arms around her body.
Something drew her eyes down once more. It was not a voice or a sight she glimpsed in her periphery; she could only attribute it to a feeling, a call made without a voice that drew her attention. She found then, as she looked again upon the straight and narrow path, that it no longer belonged to only her. Another existed there. Instinctively, she drew back when she saw it. The air was chill, creeping along her skin. The shadow stood opposite her beneath the drooping limbs of the fading trees, a form that she immediately knew was not human and yet at the same time could not help but think of it as such. It cloaked itself in a penumbral darkness, one that seemed to fold in upon itself, layers upon layers of ethereal shadow that seemed to ripple like water stirred by a soft wind.
"Hello?"
She thought she had spoken, but truly her lips did not move. The form of the shadow was tall and hooded, but she could see nothing that resembled a face. It did not make an effort to respond to her; she searched for the outline of a mouth but found there to be none. In the wake of words that she had not spoken, the shadow dwelt with her in silence, seemingly unaffected by the chill that she tried to stave off by rubbing her arms. She paused in this when the shadow moved. Having attributed to it the form of a human in an attempt to understand some facet of its existence, she registered the shadow lifting its arm. Its penumbral cloak rippled as it raised its limb, falling back slightly. Unmistakeably, she saw skeletal fingers protruding from beneath the darkness of its sleeve. She stared, words utterly beyond her. And then she stepped away.
Korra gave a low groan, slowly and painfully coming to. She was immediately aware of the weight pressing her into the floor, and when her body instinctively stirred as she regained consciousness she gave a soft whimper. Her tongue was slick with blood, the bitter tang clinging to the quivering muscle as she swallowed slowly and with difficultly. The dust in the air forced her to cough and when she did, her form racked as she tried to expel the foreign matter from her throat, she grew to be aware of her predicament. She gave first the softest whimper of realisation, and then one of pain as her body awoke and began to flood her senses. She was pinned to the ground not only the weight of the rubble pressing down on top of her.
She dared to tilt her head a fraction, fingers buried beneath rubble twitching weakly as she tried to pull herself up. Fragments of stone crept beneath her nails as her fingertips scraped along the ground. It was the only sound that Korra registered as she slowly raised her head, her upper body trembling as it met the rubble pinning her down. It was difficult but she managed to turn her face enough to allow her eyes to see – to see…
Korra's eyes slowly grew wide and her lips fell apart as she stared at it. She made a sound that she had never heard before in her life, a soft keening that grew to a discordantly high-pitched whine as her eyes began to bulge. Her voice trembled as her volume steadily rose, her chest heaving as her breaths grew quick, short and fitful. She pulled at her trapped hand as she stared, wide-eyed and transfixed, utterly convinced that the shrill keening she was hearing did not belong to her.
"Korra? Korra!"
A male voice, young and desperate, cried out to her. She didn't recognise it, barely heard it – her senses were in complete disarray.
"Korra!"
A new voice. Male, but older than the first, this one resonated with subtle tones of wisdom and the raised pitch of worry. She heard her name shouted over and again, new voices joining the anxious chorus. They cried out, filling the shattered warehouse with their voices as she lay trapped beneath the ruins of its roof, her eyes fixated on the bloodied spike of metal jutting into the air as it impaled her through the side of her lower abdomen. She heard broken stones scraping harshly against each other as Earthbenders began to shift the rubble, each pronounced swell of her chest sending agony coursing through her form like liquid fire. They finally found her when she screamed.
Feet scrambled over the mountainous rubble in panicked haste to reach Korra. Her scream, sudden and piercing, filled the vast, dust-choked space of the warehouse more completely than the variety of containers that now lay askew across the fractured, cluttered floor. Rubble was tossed aside as her long, shrill note rang out, sending a chill creeping down the spine of all in its proximity. Tenzin and Mako were the first to lay eyes upon her, crouching down low to either side of her stricken form. The latter was covered in dust and fragments of concrete, as was his brother who along with two metalbenders helped to shift the rubble from Korra. All stared at her with eyes widened with shock. She had no eyes for them, barely registering the weight of the rubble being lifted away as she stared at the metal spike. It was a while before she realised someone was trying to talk to her.
"Korra. Korra, you have to listen to me".
It was Tenzin, his grey-blue eyes latched onto hers unblinkingly as he grasped her shoulder. Her gaze flitted to him, back to the bloodied spike, then back to him. His lips were moving, but she couldn't understand what he was trying to tell her. She felt warmth at her right hand and turned to look at it, finding it to be held in the tight, reassuring grip of another. She looked up and found Mako, seeing his lips move as his face grew tight with anxiety. She heard him.
"Korra, we have to move you", he said.
"Move me?" she repeated, staring at him.
"We need to get you to an infirmary. You're injured, Korra".
"You're going to move me?"
"Yes", he answered patiently, holding her eyes even as they flitted to and fro. "We have to".
She stared at the metal protruding from her flesh, the torn cloth of her vest stained scarlet. Pain seared through her as her chest heaved.
"No", she whispered. "No, you can't. It hurts".
"Korra, we have to", he said even as he stepped aside to allow one of the officers to move to her side. He knelt beside her legs, wringing his hands.
"On the count of three", she heard Tenzin say in a clear voice, though when she turned back to him she saw him hold up two fingers and give a small nod of his shaven head. She didn't understand. She turned to the man on the opposite side of her; his face was grave.
"Tenzin, please. You can't", she begged, reaching out and trying to grasp his arm.
"One".
"No. No. It hurts. Please don't move me".
"Two".
"Please don't – !"
The scream Korra gave when they suddenly lifted her was ragged and deafening. Agonising fire flashed through her body, refusing to bend to her will and scorching every inch of her being. Her grip on reality began to slip as the world grew dark to her senses, the pounding of blood in her ears deafening her to the anxious shouts of Tenzin demanding a stretcher and the hurried, fumbled words of reassurance from Mako. Her head felt absurdly light as her throat grew dry and her tongue thick behind her lips. She slipped once more into unconsciousness.
She could feel the grittiness of the dirt beneath the soles of her feet, feel it slipping into the spaces between her toes. She looked down to find that she no longer wore her boots; her feet were bare, her toes pressing into the faded soil of the narrow path. It was a moment before she realised she had also been freed of her baggy, dark blue pants and the fur belt tied around her waist, left only to stand in the black shorts she would wear underneath. Her sleeveless blue vest was also nowhere to be seen; long strips of cloth were looped time and again around her chest, binding her breasts and extending down to just above her midriff. It did not shame or surprise to find herself thus exposed.
When she looked up from appraising herself, she saw the shadow standing opposite her once more. It moved as it had done so before, the fluid darkness of its cloak rippling as it raised a skeletal limb out to her. She did not retreat from it this time, but merely stood to watch it. The shadow did not speak, and yet still she could not decipher whether the area she would attribute to being its face was actually that. The thin, pale white fingers were spaced equally, the skeletal hand turned upwards, offering itself to her. She understood and shook her head.
"No", she said, though her lips did not move. "I can't".
"Why not?"
Something emerged from behind the shadow, a person. A woman. Her skin was dark and her form shrouded by a simple white shift that reached just above her knees. Her hair, black and shimmering, fell free, spilling down beyond her shoulders. Her eyes were sapphires, shining blue orbs that met her gaze as her lips curved into a small, comforting smile. It took Korra a moment to realise that she was looking at herself, to recognise the voice that the woman had spoken with was her own. Her body was lithe, lacking the more angular lines of Korra's strong, athletic build in favour of soft, feminine curves, and as she stepped around the silent shadow, she walked with a poise and grace that was alien to Korra's own stride.
"Who are you?" she asked.
The woman did not answer. She stood at the side of the shadow and gently leaned against its ethereal form, her eyes turned down to its still outstretched hand. Korra watched as the woman slowly looped an arm around its waist, with an endearing gaze allowing the fingers of her right hand to glide along the silky darkness of the shadow's cloak, eventually meeting and then lacing her fingers between its own.
"Why won't you come with us?" the woman asked her.
"I don't want to", Korra answered.
The woman lifted her eyes and graced her with a look of curiosity. "Are you sure?"
"I don't want to", Korra affirmed, though she found that she could not turn or move away.
The woman lowered her eyes to the fingers she interlaced with the shadow's. "You have worked ceaselessly since the moment of your birth; it is time for you to rest now".
"But I'm not tired".
"You are", said the woman, and to hear the words spoken in her own voice made Korra wonder whether her own lips had issued them. "There is a place that has been made ready for you. A place where you can rest".
"I don't want to".
The woman slowly lifted herself up from against the shadow, turning gracefully on her heel and for a moment disappearing behind its form.
"You have sacrificed so much to live a life that is beyond you. You have given up so much to become something that is beyond your reach", the woman said softly, reappearing at the shadow's left side. "Why do you strive for something that you are not meant to reach, Korra?"
"I am the Avatar", she replied. She was passionate when she spoke these words, her heart fierce, but when they emerged and hung upon the air they lacked the fire within which she had forged them. She spoke monotonously from lips that did not stir.
"But what have you achieved?" the woman asked her solemnly. "Your journey as the Avatar is marred with failures, isn't it? You lack its patience, its moral judgement, its strength; how can you call yourself the Avatar when you have not yet mastered the four elements. The Air flees from your hand and you cannot catch it".
"I will master it", Korra said. "I will. I am the Avatar".
"But being the Avatar is not merely about power itself, is it? It is about responsibility, about protecting the weak and maintaining the Balance". The woman leaned once more against the shadow, her cheek upon its shoulder as her eyes grew sad. "You have been unable to fulfil those responsibilities, haven't you? You stand at the centre of turmoil and yet still men and women have suffered at the hand of the oppressor. They cry out to you and you have not helped them".
"I…I've tried my best", Korra said. "Always. But I can't do everything, I'm only – "
"The Avatar", the woman finished for her. "And as such, it is expected of you to do what others cannot. There are no excuses for you, Korra. You are not expected to try, only to do".
The woman once more looped her arms about the shadow's waist, her eyes falling shut. "But you can't do what everyone expects of you. You cannot protect the weak; you run and hide from those who oppress them.
"I don't hide from them – from him", Korra said. "I don't run; I fight them".
"And you have lost", the woman said quietly. "Time and again, and the people have suffered because of it". She turned to Korra with eyes shimmering with a soft, sad light. "The Avatar should not fail, should it?"
Korra opened her mouth to speak, and then slowly closed it. She felt tired, drained of her energy and sapped of her will. She looked once more to the skeletal hand of the shadow, still stretched out towards her.
"Won't you come with us?" the woman asked gently. "There is no judgement here, no prejudice. We will not look upon your failures harshly. We will expect nothing of you; you cannot disappoint us".
"I can't", Korra said, lifting a hand and gesturing blindly behind her. "I have to go back".
"Why, Korra? You have worked long enough for the needs of others. All you will find there is the judgement of the people you have failed, the disappointment of those who look to you as the Avatar and see that you cannot attain mastery of the elements. Your friends and family will whisper of you in secret as you spend day after day attempting to reach heights that you are not meant for, and all that you will be left with is bitterness. Your life will never be your own. There will always be someone to please, someone to save, someone from whom to hide when you cannot meet their expectations, someone from whom to run when you cannot fight".
The woman stood, looking at her with gentleness and kindness in her eyes. "Aren't you tired of such a life, Korra?"
She was.
"Come with us".
She couldn't.
"There is nothing more for you there. Come".
She couldn't…
Korra thrashed wildly upon the stretcher as the Waterbenders attempted to tend to her wound. The jolting of the ambulance as it careened down the streets with its siren whooping did little to help them keep her still as she writhed as though possessed beneath the grip of a man whose brow had gained a sheen of sweat. The muscles of her neck and arms were corded as she fought against his strength, begging them to stop as the other two healers, a pair of women, tried to both hold the bowl of specially treated water steady as well as the restorative bubble of water at her stomach. The hem of her vest had been rolled up to the bottom of her ribcage, allowing them access to the wound itself.
Tenzin sat crammed into the corner of the carriage, insisting on accompanying the Avatar on the way to the infirmary. Her friends had seemed all but prepared to cling to the sides of the boxy vehicle had he not sternly dissuaded them. He clutched her hand in his – or rather her grip was a vice that only seemed to tighten with each second that passed, trying to soothe her with his words as agony caught her up in its own cruel grasp.
"Hold her still", the older of the two women snapped as Korra arched her back, trying to twist her shoulders out from beneath the man's hands. He was young, Tenzin saw, caught halfway between the awe of being in such proximity to the Avatar and the fear of what she had become in her agony. Her eyes had grown wide the moment the women brought the bubble of water to her flesh, an elongated hiss escaping her lips as the healing process was initiated. The man had merely stared in utter shock as Korra violently sought to reject the efforts of her healers; it took the older woman shouting in his ear for him to regain his senses and help Tenzin hold her steady.
"Is there nothing you can give her for the pain?" Tenzin demanded of any of them as he saw Korra's eyes roll upwards and her teeth clench tightly.
"There should be", the older woman said, glaring pointedly at her fellow healer as she spared a moment to sweep a stray, greying lock of hair behind her ear. The younger woman looked rightfully abashed, her gaze failing to hold her mentor's for longer than a moment before she lowered her eyes back to Korra's wound. "I said hold her still!" the woman then shouted.
"I'm trying!"
For a brief, delusional moment, Tenzin admired Korra's strength. She was broader in the shoulders than a typical girl of her age, the muscles of her arms toned and faintly defined; she was giving the Waterbender the struggle of his life as he fought to keep her down. Her eyes found focus then and snapped towards him, alerted to his presence by his voice.
"Tenzin? Please make them stop".
"Korra, you need this. They need to heal you!"
"It hurts. Tenzin, it hurts".
"Korra, I – "
"Ungh!"
"We'll have sedatives when we reach the infirmary, Councilman", the older woman assured him as she steadied herself against the wall of the van, "but we need to treat this as best as we can now".
The brow of her mentee furrowed in concern as she manipulated her portion of the restorative bubble, the fingers of her left hand embedded in its watery depths. "It's worse than we thought", she told her fellow healer. "Her condition is deteriorating. The threat of infection – "
There came a cry of surprise as the vehicle swerved suddenly, inadvertently aiding Korra's efforts and almost knocking the bowl of water from the younger healer's hands, earning the woman an earful from her mentor. Tenzin could only look on and grasp Korra's hand as tightly as she held on to his. She turned to him again and in the storm of her agony found a moment of clarity. Her eyes were desperate, hopeless.
"Hold on", he bid her. "Hold on, Korra".
He prayed that he was seeing things when she seemed to give an almost imperceptible shake of her head.
"I'm tired".
She stood opposite the shadow and the woman that was herself, utterly naked and yet no longer aware of the chill that sharpened the air. She could feel her hair against the nape of her neck as it flowed unbound past her shoulders. The path and the thin, pallid trees had faded to grey, the landscape painted a monotonous hue upon which the dark brown skin of the woman and her white shift stood out almost brazenly. She stood behind the shadow, her arms looped around its neck and her cheek resting lightly against its own. The shadow stood silent and motionless; its hand was no longer outstretched. Had Korra tried its patience for too long? She was afraid to know why such a thought concerned her.
"We know", the woman said softly, "that is why we have prepared a place for you, Korra. A special place, meant only for you".
"It hurts. I can't…"
"Then come, take your rest. You have more than earned it".
"I don't want to…I can't…"
"We are fair, Korra", the woman told her as she lifted a hand to caress the faceless shadow. We care not for your creed, your colour, your wealth or power. We care not for your mistakes, your failures, your lies or sins. We love you as no other can, unconditionally. And all we want for you is to grant you the sweetness of a long deserved rest. A peaceful sleep, never to be disturbed".
The woman's hand glided beneath the shadow's hood, tracing a sweeping line from its cheek to its jaw. There it paused, and the woman turned to grace the shadow with her eyes. Korra could see the purity of emotion upon her gaze as she leaned forward and touched her lips to the shadow. Their kiss, an event Korra could not even begin to comprehend, lasted for a time that seemed to stretch on indefinitely. She bore silent witness to it, feeling not revulsion but revelation, hearing a voice soft and familiar calling her name as peaceful quiet stole over her tumultuous thoughts. She watched herself part delicately from the shadow, stroking a thumb along its indistinct features. She watched herself move around to its side, her fingers trailing a wandering line along the rippling shadows of its arm before curling gently into its skeletal grasp. And then she listened to herself as she spoke, meeting the kind and honest gaze that shone in her bright blue eyes.
"We are patient; we waited for you, and now this is your time", Korra said. "Where we will go, you will have no need for material things. You will not bring with you a single doubt or worry. You will no longer need to agonise yourself over responsibilities or expectations, nor fret yourself with the opinions of others. There will be no pain, no suffering. Where we will go, you will be perfect. And you can rest, at long last".
Korra smiled, her eyes filled with warmth as she held out her hand. "Come with us".
It was a long, long moment before she moved. Her eyes fell to the hand of warm flesh held out to her. She was tired. And it hurt. Korra moved, taking her first step forwards.
"Stop".
A hand closed around her wrist with a vice-like grip, impeding her attempts to proceed. The voice was strong, powerful, thrumming her body and lighting a flame at her core. Liquid fire spread through her limbs and she shuddered as its warmth filled her to the brim. It spilled over the edges of her reservoir and now she felt it burning against her back, her skin prickling beneath its purity. The hand pulled and she turned, spinning on her heel. Her eyes grew and her mouth fell open, for before her where once only nothingness had existed there stood a phoenix.
An orange sky burned at its back, vibrant and bursting with energy as the great, majestic bird hung before her, slowly pushing its scarlet-gold wings through the air. Tongues of flame fell upon her flesh with each graceful beat, each infusing a sense of warmth within her that burrowed deep into her core and clung to the sputtering bulb of fire hidden there, strengthening and brightening its dulled light. The voice spoke once more and she heard a chorus of male and female voices harmonised together. She could not decipher one from another, but as it spoke she felt soothed and uplifted.
"You cannot give up now; it is not your time".
"But…" she started, and when she turned to look over her shoulder, she saw that the woman and the shadow still stood together upon the grey path, a hand and sincere smile still offered to her.
"You are not your own, Korra".
She turned back to the phoenix, confusion written plainly upon her features. "What do you mean?"
"Your friends, your family; the hundreds and thousands of people that entrust themselves into your hands – to all these does your life belong. They trust you, they depend on you. Where they fail, they know that you will succeed. Where they are weak, they know that you are strong".
"Then what am I?" she asked. "Am I only a servant to everyone's whims? Don't I get to make my own choices? To live for myself?"
"You are the Avatar, and you are Korra", the great bird answered. "You are one because you are the other. You are the pillar of certainty in a world filled with doubt and deception. In your heart you carry the flames that will reignite a world that has grown cold with indifference. It is your choices alone that truly define who and what you are. What is it that you want, Korra?"
The question gave her pause. "I want", she began, trailing off as she turned to look back at the cold, grey path. She swallowed when she realised how close she had stood, how close she had been to accepting a reality she would never have returned from.
It would have been a place where no one could reach her, a place where she would know nothing save the bliss of a rest from which she would never wake. She was tired and she hurt, but she owed it more to all the people in her life than to run to that place. It was not her time. She was born to fight, to persevere, to excel, to win. Her failures only made her work harder, and her mistakes only made her stronger, sharpening her will and determination. She didn't lose; Korra didn't know what the word meant. To give up here would mean to betray the essence of her nature; to give up now would be to deny who she was. To make that choice would be to lose everything.
She turned back to the phoenix, meeting the blazing white of its eyes. "I want to be the Avatar", she said. "I want to be the best that I can be".
"Then you must make a choice", the phoenix told her. "There is a path for you to take, and you must decide which you will walk".
So she chose.
Korra slowly opened her eyes. Warm rays of sunlight filtered through a single window to her right into the small, oddly fragrant room that she found herself in. She was lying down, warm, comfortable cotton sheets covering her body. She felt the soft plush of a pillow behind her head as her hair spilled unbound around her face. Her throat was dry and she grimaced as she swallowed with difficulty. Turning her head to the right, she saw a clear jug of water sitting atop a small table at her bedside. It was only when she saw it, watching the golden daylight sparkle within its depths that she realised how thirsty she was. Her arms were tucked against her sides and when she made to ease her right hand out to reach the jug both pain and fatigue drew the softest hiss from her lips.
Too weak and tired to move physically, Korra instead looked to the jug, reaching deep within herself for her bending. But if attempting to move made her body ache with pain, then attempting to bend the water from the jug served to stir nausea and light-headedness within her. The jug rattled on the rim of its base for a moment, water sloshing down the side as she groaned audibly.
"Korra?"
She turned to her left, noticing for the first time that she had not been alone in the room. Tenzin was sitting at her bedside, the chair beneath him squeaking as he shifted his posture and appeared to blink sleep from his eyes. Sitting up, he looked down at her with relief clearing shining in his eyes and she could see his mouth curving beneath his beard.
"Korra, you're awake!" he said, turning towards the bed and leaning forwards. "How do you feel?"
Korra blinked and swallowed slowly, almost coughing as she felt the gravel lining her throat. She tried to speak, but her voice was little more than a rasping whisper.
"What is it?" Tenzin asked gently as he watched her try to lift an arm. "Would you like some water?" he said when she finally managed to point towards the jug. He stood and walked around the bed when she gave a small nod, pouring the clear, refreshing liquid into a small cup sitting beside the jug. He returned to his seat and leaned forwards, holding the cup in his left hand as he slid his right behind her neck and helped her raise her head. Guiding her patiently through small, tentative sips until she had had her fill, Tenzin set the cup down with only a few dregs of water left in it, lowering Korra's head once more to the pillow.
"Tenzin", she whispered, looking across at him. "How long…?"
"You've been out for three days", he told her gently. "Do you remember what happened?"
She nodded slowly, closing her eyes against the brief ache of the pain. "The building…fell on me. What happened...to everyone? The people?"
"You saved them", Tenzin told her, resting his hand atop hers at her side. "You protected them when the warehouse was hit, Korra. There are a few injuries, but no one in that building died".
She felt relieved and smiled weakly. Tenzin's hand was a warm, comforting and strengthening presence, allowing her to push out her next words. "The Equalists…"
"We stopped their attack", Tenzin told her. "The United Forces sent a fleet in a response to our call for aid, and with their help we were able to destroy the Equalists' air squadron".
"Amon?"
Tenzin shook his head. "He evaded capture. The Equalists have commandeered several airships and fled once our advantage was clear. We are currently trying to track down their location".
"I saw them...taking benders", she remembered after a moment.
Tenzin nodded this time, his expression grave. "We managed to catch several groups of Equalists attempting to lead benders away from the city, but there are still a lot of people unaccounted for". He smiled reassuringly at her. "Don't worry yourself over it, Korra. With the help of the United Forces, it will only be a matter of time before we find them".
There was much that he left unsaid, and he could see by the sadness in her eyes that she knew what it was he kept between the lines. Benders were missing and Amon was still at large. Korra looked away for a long moment, closing her eyes.
"Why…why did the Equalists attack…their own city?"
"It appears that they have been identifying areas which are heavily populated with benders or benders' interests within the city. The Pro-Bending Arena, for example. They attacked there first. Industrial sectors were a prime target for them too. We've lost several airship production factories and –"
Tenzin fell silent as he saw Korra give a small shake of her head, her eyes sorrowful. "I don't understand", she said quietly.
"It's all right", he said after a moment. "All you need to worry about right now is yourself. Your wound was more severe than we initially assumed. We thought…we were worried that we would lose you, Korra".
She looked away, turning her head towards the window. He could see that she wanted to speak, but she swallowed her words several times.
"Tenzin", she said eventually, her voice little more than a whisper. She didn't speak for a long moment afterwards, but Tenzin waited patiently. She started to turn towards him, but paused with her gaze pointed up towards the ceiling. There were tears welling up at the corners of her eyes.
"I wanted…" she began, but she was too ashamed and afraid to say it in truth. "I was tired. It hurt. I wanted to…sleep", she told him.
Tenzin took a long moment to understand what she was trying to tell him. As he did, he turned her hand over and slipped his fingers between hers, grasping her firmly.
"Korra, we ask so much of you", he said. "Sometimes, I think we ask for too much. We look to you for the answers and solutions to our greatest questions and problems. We want you to understand life when you are only just beginning to experience it. I can't pretend to know exactly how you feel, but I watched my father as he lived as the Avatar. It was never an easy road; he was pulled across the world by the responsibilities he carried, and there were times where I, my siblings and our mother did not see him for months.
"My father was heralded for his work and the good he did; for many he was the shining example of an Avatar, but only we, his family, knew the truth of him. There were times when he wanted to give up his responsibilities, times when he would refuse to see a missive and be forced to part from us. There were moments when he returned home and for a time was not the same man who we called father and husband; he had seen things that shook him to his core. He had to do things that haunted his thoughts afterwards. But in all this, my mother had only one thing to say to him. Remember this, Korra", he said, gesturing and directing her attention to the far side of the room. "Even when you cannot believe in yourself, we believe in you".
Korra gazed at the multitude of vibrant colours arranged neatly along the wall. Flowers of every hue and kind occupied the space, numerous 'get well' cards and gestures sitting among them. Tears began to track down the side of her face, dripping into her hair as she saw a red scarf wound carefully around the plastic wrappings of a bunch of pink tulips. She turned to Tenzin when his grip tightened in hers.
"You are strong, Korra. Determined. When your mind is set to something, you latch on and refuse to let go until it has well and truly become yours. I have never known someone with such drive and passion", he told her.
"I don't believe in coincidences; you were not born to inherit the title of Avatar by chance. But I also don't believe that one's destiny is a fixed and rigid thing; we are merely given the necessary tools and asked to craft our own path, to forge our own lives. And so I will ask of you only one thing: Make for yourself a life of which you can be proud, Korra".
She nodded, mutely. It was all that she could do. Tenzin squeezed her hand as he smiled warmly at her.
"Besides, Rohan would never let us hear a peaceful day if he did not get the opportunity to meet the Avatar".
She stared at him, nonplussed. "Rohan?" she whispered.
"My son", Tenzin replied, eyes twinkling.
"Your son…?" she repeated slowly. And then she understood. "Pema".
Tenzin appeared to have much difficulty in stopping a ridiculous grin from rising to his lips, nodding to Korra's words.
"Can I see him?" she asked as Tenzin released her hand and stood to his feet.
"You need your rest, Korra", he said, though she thought she saw a playful glint to his eye. "Perhaps another time…?"
"Let me see him", she demanded, and though her voice was small, it possessed the familiar tones that suggested she was not to be refused.
Tenzin chuckled. "Alright".
When he left, her eyes turned back to the arrangement of flowers at the end of room. She couldn't believe that the people of the city had made such a gesture towards her. It had seemed to her that at the best of times they were looking for any opportunity to question and doubt her decisions and actions. Perhaps she had been too quick to judge them; perhaps it was time she got to know her people beyond the countless reporters who would hound her footsteps and the figures of authority within the city who in several cases had proved to be incompetent or corrupt.
The true heart of the city had cried out to her in desperate hope as she dwelt on the precipice of choice. They had willed her to return to them when she thought that she had lost all reason to. The vivid red of the scarf she turned her eyes to then somehow managed to stand out and be distinct from the vibrant collage of which it was a part. It too was a token of a desperate hope, but it was also more than that. It was her anchor to reality, a beacon to guide her home when she had lost her way. It was a promise that spoke profoundly to her without using a single word. She looked up again when the door was pushed open.
They filed into the room, all of them. Jinora, Ikki, Meelo – the later uncharacteristically quiet even though his wide eyes brightened at the sight of her awake; Pema sitting in a roller with her newborn swaddled and lying peaceably in the cradle of her arms, pushed along by her beaming husband, and then her friends, her team. Bolin, ever Bolin, cracked a smile and gave her a thumbs-up; Asami, holding herself with grace and giving a small but sincere smile as Mako stepped forwards to the side of the bed and lay his hand against her upturned palm, showing her a naked, honey coloured gaze. Korra felt warmth spread through her at what she saw there. He stepped aside a moment later to allow Pema and Tenzin through. Korra could only smile, looking at the contentment and love upon the faces of the pair as they gazed down at their son.
"Can I hold him?" she whispered.
"Of course", Pema told her.
Tenzin lifted the child and Korra, though it cost her great effort, lifted her arms. She did not have the strength to hold him by herself, and so Tenzin cradled Rohan at her chest as she curved an arm around his swaddled form. He stirred as her fingers ghosted along his soft cheek.
"Hey, little guy", she said as his curious grey eyes cracked open and turned to find her. "I'm Korra", she told him. "The Avatar".
A/N: Well, this turned out to be about three times longer than I originally planned. A fascinating challenge for me to write, and hopefully an interesting, evocative read for you guys. Sound off and let me know what you think if you have the time ^^