Avatar: The Age of Vaatu
A/N: This is slightly AU considering the truth behind what happened to Vaatu is unclear. We're told that he can't be destroyed, but we also don't hear anything about him after Season 2. So this is my interpretation of what could have possibly happened, and what I think could be done since the Red Lotus plotline was left with loose ends as well.
Summary: The Red Lotus have built an army, one they feel could conquer anything. They no longer need the Avatar. Not when they have their own.
Prologue
Pink and blue spirits spun around the air, circling the young firebender as she walked by her fathers side. She was unsure of what hey came here for, but took in all she could. It was beautiful here, more so than she could have even imagined it being. The grass was softer, the air crisper, and the colors brighter. She couldn't imagine why anyone would want to block this off, why they felt it was better to keep it hidden; sure she'd been taught it was a mistake, but that didn't stop the questions. All of her teachings had told her the true order of the world, how Wan had been mistaken in closing this world off, and how Avatar Korra even understood the mistake. And Amaya could see exactly why that was.
Her sight shifted, seeing shadows in the distance as her father continued to lead the way to - well wherever they were going. She felt hope for a moment, swearing that the head was shamed almost too familiarly; the way her mother wore her hair. Held back in a ponytail, but swooping over her shoulder. Amaya cleared the bangs from her face for a moment, taking a few steps towards the shadow before it cleared before her very eyes.
"Amaya," Raidon called, eyeing her curiously as he turned from where he stood. "What are you looking at?" His voice was strong, reminding Amaya of the night she'd lost her mother. How his orders were so clear and precise and yet somehow they still lost her. The raid hadn't made sense to her back then, she was only ten, and the Red Lotus had made everything so clear to her. How others couldn't understand it all seemed to pass over her entirely. Why would they want to destroy them? Why couldn't they see that what the Red Lotus wanted was for the better? And why, out of all the people they could have murdered, did it have to be her mother?
"I thought I saw someone," She answered quietly, training her eyes to where they'd caught the figure before. Nothing stood there, just a small clearing between low hanging branches and wild bushes. Two spirits circled her once more, seeming to speak their own urgent language she couldn't understand. It made her smile, feeling so at peace in a place forced to have been hidden away. "I think my eyes were just playing trick on me." Her smile grew innocent, earning a skeptical look from her father.
They continued on, trudging through the brush and passing by all sorts of creatures; and after pushing through what seemed to be the last of the thick forest, Amaya saw a great clearing that almost looked sinister, her brown eyes scanned the land, seeing the other two spirit portals and the Tree of Time. The prison. The one that held Vaatu for centuries before his release and untimely defeat. Her teachings had told her much about this fight, though she wondered how anyone had gotten the stories.
To her understanding, it was only Avatar Korra, Unalaq, and Vaatu that were there. However, she never questioned it, only listened as the stories were told of how the Avatar denied the true order of the world. How she fought and defeated Vaatu, killing her own uncle in the process of it all. It horrified her how someone could betray family the way she had. How someone could not see what the Red Lotus had shown her. Amaya was enlightened, she saw truths no one else seemed to understand; and she felt lucky for being capable of doing so.
"Hurry," Raidon called, looking over his shoulder at his young daughter, who seemed less and less afraid the longer she walked along the dirt. Though his gaze was piercing, worried that she may not be fit for his plans. At times, Raidon saw his daughter as too free spirited, she asked too many questions, and then she'd grow to be logical. It was his hope that by volunteering her for this, she'd grow to understand better.
They moved to the tree, rounding it to find the opening; it's twisting barked set Amaya on edge, but what lay inside made her heart stop altogether. A fragile spirit lay on the bottom of the opening, frail and weak as it turned to face Raidon and the firebender's daughter. Vaatu moved, and Amaya noticed that he was no taller than her calf. "Who disturbs me?" The dark spirit asked, his voice alarming and more powerful than Raidon's own.
"Members of the Red Lotus," Raidon bowed, his respect for the spirit awe-inspiring, and his daughter followed suit soon after. Eyes still trying to look to the spirit as she bowed before it. Her curiosity getting the better of her again. "We've come in the hopes of freeing you once more. The way Raava was freed when she was weak." Amaya's father continued, standing from his bent position.
The dark spirit seemed to grow great energy from his words, flitting up and near the two's heads as he took in their presence. Fear caused the young firebender to tremble under Vaatu's sight, but the devotion she found in her father's eyes gave her the strength to stand tall, confident that whatever was to happen next was for the best. It had to be, she'd blindly trust her father through anything. He'd never led her to harm in any sense. He was the sole reason she survived through her mother's death.
No other words were spoken, though Amaya wondered if the two were sharing some sort of conversation she couldn't hear, as her father grew a knowing look, and guided both the spirit and his daughter to the far portal. They didn't exit, but instead Raidon placed a hand on his daughter's shoulder, stopping her from walking any further, and Vaatu swam through the air almost menacingly, before passing through Amaya's chest, leaving a cold chill through her body. She felt her skin hum, tingle and then the same chill once more, this time with the feeling of great power. Her fists clenched, mouth hanging open with loud pants as Vaatu appeared before her hovering before her very eyes. Her father's face was blurry behind him, but he stood just as confident as he had been seconds before. And after a few short seconds, the dark spirit passed through the girl again, staying within her core as her father led a feeble arm towards the light of the spirit portal.
It felt almost like heat at first, and then that overwhelming sense of power overcame the girl, her eyes beginning to glow with a bright purple glimmer. And soon that feeling of power vanished, replaced with great pain and a firey heat. Her head hung back, mouth open as shouts of pain echoed out into the barren field around them. She could feel precisely where Vaatu lay within her. His presence white hot, burning her from the inside out until she finally fell back to the ground. Her unconscious body lay still for a few moments, Raidon looking over the still frame with worry, but with great hope as well. His daughter would be the first to bring the Red Lotus' ideals to fruition. And just as that pride bubbled inside of him, his daughter's eyes opened wide with the same glow as before.
She stood, Vaatu having taken over her body and using each and every one of the elements to begin to destroy the world around him. He burned trees, attacked now angry spirits, and used Amaya's body to take down anything that came too close. The chaos began with such ease, Amaya's arms guiding great waves to over take the forests, her feet finding the exact balance and grounding to cause earthquakes along the land. And with her new airbending, Amaya created tornadoes to bring down all else that still lay in Vaatu's wake, the wind helping her to soar into the sky as her body worked unknowingly to the young bender's mind. She'd been overpowered by Vaatu, consciousness lost and soon his power became too great for even himself.
Amaya's eyes dimmed, and shut as she fell back to the ground, her father catching her limp body from the air. He looked down at her slumbering face, smiling with pride at what was to come of this new world. The true order would return. "Sleep well, you'll be ready soon enough." He whispered to her, carrying the girl back through the now ruined forest, trees aflame and snapped as the ground made for a small obstacle course.
The spirits that once followed Amaya with worried words now tried to attack her body, blocked only by Raidon's kicks of fire. He took them back through the portal they came, smiling the entire way.