The Nightmare

"Make sense of our past, Aang, you will bring peace and restore balance."- Avatar Roku

Korra sighed, her irritation growing. True, patience had never been her strong suit, but how long had she been up here anyways? When she had first settled on the roof, she couldn't get a hold on her nerves. Every sound, no matter how loud or soft, had made her jump high enough to be mistaken for an airbending master. She couldn't help but question her decision to come here. Should she have challenged Amon? She herself had witnessed his abilities and she hadn't even been able to produce a single puff of air yet. Unconsciously her fists clenched tight. She squashed the seeds of doubt before they could take root in her mind. Yes, she had seen what he could do and, yes, she wasn't yet a master airbender. But she was still the avatar, she had always faced her problems head on, and she certainly had never backed down from a challenge! She would face Amon and she would come out on top, just as she always had. As for the airbending… that was a problem that could wait for another day. For now, she had three elements on her side and that was two more than she needed to take down one man.

Still, she was beginning to grow fidgety. It wasn't as if she had much to occupy herself with up here. Another sigh, which might have been mixed with a groan of boredom, escaped. Idly scratching her head and holding in a yawn, she considered practicing her bending forms. Strangely though, the idea didn't strike her as appealing as it usually would have. If this guy did show up, she would need all her energy and focus. Perhaps she should meditate? Tenzin said that would help her clear her head and that certainly couldn't hurt. Letting out a deep breath, she sank into the lotus position, and closed her eyes.

After a few moments, she sighed once more in frustration. This wasn't working. Wasn't her mind supposed to, what was it, wander freely? There was nothing calming about this! In fact, she was beginning to grow anxious. Her mind was racing, all she could think about Amon. Her heart started beating fast as she recalled his voice over the radio. Her breath came in pants as she pictured him up on that platform. The triad member was forced into submission before him. Amon's thumb was pressed to his forehead. The man collapsed into a heap and the crowd roared in satisfaction. She had to stop him! She had to save Bolin! She had-

She was cut off mid-thought. What was that? But no, she hadn't heard anything. The only sound was coming from her chest, the steady beat cutting into the void. Thump Thump. Thump Thump. Just a moment ago she had fought to control her breathing, but now she felt as if she were drowning in the silence. She felt a tingling on the back of her neck. She knew this stillness. She knew that sensation. She wasn't alone, someone was watching her. Her palms began to sweat and her muscles tensed in anticipation. Just as she was about to spring, she heard it. A voice, soft at first and completely incomprehensible, as though she were hearing it from a distance. She willed herself to calm down, for her heart and breathing to slow while she strained to listen. And then she heard it again, clearer now, ever so faintly.

"When you speak with him," it said (it sounded so familiar), "You must be very careful to show no emotion at all, not the slightest expression or he will steal your face."

The hairs on her neck stood on end, she knew these words. Whomever had spoken was now directly in from of her. She berated herself for being so afraid and counted to three in her head, bracing herself; her eyes flew open only to see a mask. A scream tore from her mouth before she could stop it and she swore she saw a glint of metal winking at her from the corner of her eye. She backed away from the Blue Spirit, immediately freezing as something that was definitely not rock brushed against her back. Whatever It was (somehow she knew not only what but who It was, she just didn't want to think about it) It was crawling at a painfully slow pace and It's legs were making a sickening click click against the floor. This Blue Spirit leaned toward her and breathed in her ear, "No emotion or he will steal your face."

Then, he grabbed her wrist and pulled her into the opposite direction. It suddenly registered with her that her surroundings were now pitch black. Why was it suddenly so dark? Normally the lights from the city outshined the stars themselves. And where were they even running? They were on the roof for La's sake! She did not voice these thoughts though, as her breath was coming too hard and fast. Not to mention they were running from that thing and she could hear it scurrying after them. She couldn't contain the shiver that wracked her body, distantly she could hear the slow, almost lazy click click of It's legs.

She let out a rather embarrassing squeak when he stopped abruptly, causing her to run into his back. She scowled in confusion, why were they stopping? They had to get away! Surely he realized this, being the one to pull her along in the first place? He turned and roughly shoved her to ground and she stared up in his direction in even greater confusion. This wasn't making any sense, they were allies...right? His mask seemed to glow in the dark as he lifted a gloved finger to the permanent growl. She nodded and then considered that perhaps he couldn't see her response. It hardly mattered though, because he leaned toward her again, whispering the same words in her ear.
"No emotion or he will steal your face." He placed his hands on her shoulders and pushed her slightly, much more gently this time and she inched back until she hit a wall. With a quick squeeze to her shoulders, he stood and all too quickly, he was gone. Belatedly, it occurred to her that the voice didn't belong to the Blue Spirit, but decided that that didn't matter. She had to get away. She looked around but her eyes weren't adjusting to the darkness around her. Though it felt as if her hand brushed against a rock and she thought she heard faint dripping echoing in the distance. Was she in a cave? But how was that even possible? She shook her head. Priorities. She could figure all this out after she got away from that thing. So, she began to run further into the cave. Strangely, even though she was running faster than remembers ever running in her life, she didn't seem to be going anywhere. Tears of frustration threatened to spill. She pushed herself harder. In the distance she heard something. Her breathe was now coming out in harsh gasps. Why wasn't she getting anywhere? The sound was getting closer, they were voices. She could hear them clearly now, but tried to block them out.

"-deals with insight and is blocked by illusion-"

She stumbled. A small shriek of panic escaped her as she forced herself to keep going.

"-names are Tui and La. Push…and pull…and that has been the nature of their relationship for all of time-"

She couldn't tell if it was sweat or tears running down her cheek. Perhaps it was both.

"-I would have done whatever it took-"

Her legs gave out and she collapsed to the ground.

"-the greatest illusion of this world is separation-"

When had the voices gotten so loud?

"-if I had been more decisive and acted sooner-"

"-you think you need their help? Actually its quite the other way around-"

"-things you think are separate and different are actually one and the same-"

"-selfless duty calls for you to sacrifice-"

"-have always circled each other in eternal dance. They balance each other…push and pull-"

"We are all connected-"

"-life and death…good and evil…yin…and yang-"

"-everything is connected."

Korra's hands were clamped tightly over her ears. It was a useless attempt; nothing could drown out the voices. Or was it one voice? Was it her own? She could no longer tell as the words all blended together and became incomprehensible.

Quite suddenly, the ground beneath her disappeared. Her stomach dropped as she fell. The voice (or was it just one? It was still unclear) began to fade. Finally, there was silence. But this wasn't a peaceful silence. It was suffocating her. No, it wasn't the silence; she was drowning. When had she become surrounded by water? There was a faint glow as she began bending her element around her into a sphere. A sense of calm descended on her. What had she been running from again? The voices. Which voices? They had wanted to make her go… they didn't understand. She needed to think. She froze the sphere around her.

It was cold in here, she began to shiver violently. Something touched her back, but it wasn't ice. She drew in a sharp breathe, it had found her. She could hear the clicking of a thousand legs around her. Her spine was crawling, she could practically feel It's triumphant smirk. She wasn't sure when she had closed her eyes, but she scrunched them tightly as she could. She was afraid to open them, knowing what she would see. A painted smile.

"My old friend, the Avatar, it's been a long time," It crawled even closer, til It brushed her shoulder and it was all she could do not to whimper, "You've come to me…with a new face."

She felt him coil tight around her and she gasped in terror, her heart threatening to jump straight from her chest. Oh spirits, he was going to steal her face!

And then it was quiet. Korra opened her eyes only to shut them again. She brought a hand up to rub the sleep from them. She blinked a few times, the city lights stinging her sleep swollen eyes. Her heart, which had beat hard upon waking, quickly slowed as the dream faded from her memory. She stood and stretched with a great yawn. She frowned, knowing that she had had another nightmare, but shrugged it off. She had been under a lot of stress lately, and dwelling on her dreams wasn't going to do her any good. She heard the clock above her, signaling that she had been asleep for quite a while.

"Huh, guess he's a no show," she mumbled with a slight smirk. Despite her relief, she couldn't help but feel a bit disappointed. She found that she didn't like being stood up. All the same, she was tired and eager to get back to Air Temple Island where she could crawl into her soft bed. She couldn't shake the slight feeling of unease though. As she dropped down to the platform and shuffled to the water's edge, a warning echoed in the back of her mind.

"You must be very careful to show no emotion, not the slightest expression or he will steal your face."

Author's note: So, yeah. That just happened. I'm not quite sure where this came from but here you have it. There are a lot of things about LoK that bother me, too many to list here anyways. But the thing that really bothered me throughout each season (or at least the thing that applies here) was the lack of references to AtLA. Now I don't mean the easter eggs thrown here and there, #mycabbagecorp, I mean the references we had gotten in AtLA to Roku, Kyoshi, and Kuruk. Things that had happened in the past that caused a direct result to or paralleled things that happen in the present. This is something that is essential to not only who, but what that avatar is. And with season one, I completely understand why we see a lack of that, though strangely enough we see more of it in season one than we do in any other season (that's a discussion for another day though). I always felt that Aang and the other past Avatars would have made a stronger attempt to connect with Korra and guide her. Though Korra being Korra would fail to recognize her past lives trying to communicate with her even if they were airbending her in the face. So that's basically what this is. R&R, flames will be used for s'mores and all that. Thanks for reading!

-Little Miss Lananas