(IMPORTANT NOTE 2019: I've been wanting to re-edit this fic, however I think I will be doing so as an original story, without ties to "The Dictator." It would be a mesh of both "Book 5: Redemption" and "He's A Man, Not Amon," simultaneously redeeming both Kuvira and Noatak (and Lee). (Note that a few chapters of "Kuvira Fluff" would be affected too.) I aspire to do this to no longer feel like I'm leeching off of riot3672's work, to make things more efficient all around, and to leave this as a showing of just how far I feel my writing has come. My life has gotten increasingly busy over the past few years, so I have no set dates as to when I'd do this. I'm also beginning work on my own original novel which is a dumb idea since I still have such a big fanfiction backlog. Regardless, these are my plans that I think readers might be interested to hear. Cheers and blessings.)


How did I get here? Well, I'm not really sure myself. All I know is:

Being the Avatar will always have surprises for me...

"I hereby sentence Noatak, leader of the Equalist Revolution, to be executed for his crimes."

As Judge Qarnau slammed his gavel against the podium, Noatak could only bow his head, shackled and submissive. The jury started mumbling assenting whispers.

Everyone will always say I'm audacious...whatever that means again...

"NO!" Korra yelled, jumping out of her seat, preparing herself to ignore all the concerned protests she knew she'd get. "You WON'T execute him! You CAN'T!"

Everyone turned to look at Korra in surprise, including Noatak. Qarnau looked at her as well, but only laughed in amusement, saying, "Then what shall we do, Avatar Korra? Just let him go free?"

"K-Korra?" Kuvira asked worriedly. "W-What are you...?"

And lastly: if I want to keep balance in the world, if I want to maintain peace, I'll have to do the right thing, no matter what.

I just...never actually thought it'd come to this...

Korra stood up straight. She clenched her fists, unwavering as she said:

"You'll execute me instead."


NOTES: So this might be confusing, but while this does take place after Book 5: Redemption (by me), I'm not really considering this to be a direct continuity of it or anything like that. This is more of a "what-if" spin-off thingy to that if anything. Quite a bit happened in Book 5 though (like revealing Noatak and the Equalist lieutenant to be alive after three seasons), so I'm gonna try to explain or allude important points along the way, the things that matter. I'd really recommend reading Book 5 before trying to plunge into this, just so that you understand a few points better, a few characters more, everything it encompasses. Plow on through if you'd like, though! Also the cover pic isn't mine by the way. It's just awesome and captures Noatak's essence very well for what I hope to show with this fic.

This was just a little idea at first, but I've finally decided that it really could be a whole story, and wowzers is it gonna be a morally-questioning doozy at that. I don't think the world would really want to accept that the head of the Equalist Revolution would help stop the New Red Lotus (again, Book 5) out of the kindness and selflessness of his heart if they found out, something I completely didn't consider before in hindsight. ALSO IN HINDSIGHT I realized that the probability of Noatak being executed in the United Republic is a big whopping zero, since it was founded by Avatar Aang, the freakin' Last Airbender of the Southern Air Temple, and Zuko. I'm not sure if any nation in the Avatar world is big on that. That kinda takes the wind out of my entire fic (LOL) but, y'know, fanfic, AU, "what-if." Again it's not meant to be a direct continuation of anything anyway it's more of a character/morality study the threat of death just makes for compelling story-telling.