"It's going to be alright, Korra."
"No, it's not."
—
It was a lie.
That became more evident as Korra stood at the cliff's end, distant eyes staring off towards the sea. The sound of the crashing waves below were harmonious to the thoughts colliding in her head. Amon was gone - that much was certain. But what exactly did that mean when everything else had left with him?
Her bending was gone.
The 'victory' to the end of a war seemed like such a small accomplishment when compared to the vast landscape known as the South Pole, especially when she stood alone, surrounded by the silence of the resolve - left with nothing but thoughts and the traumatizing truth that continued to press further atop her shoulders. It was heavy, steadily increasing weight; weight that swayed her, beckoning to the drop below. Her boots remained hanging off the icy ledge, eyes only now starting to lower towards the bottom where it met with the chilling tides.
The tides went about all on their own. The water did not move fluid under her control. It moved free and reckless, like she had not been hovering above. Water. That was Korra's element: who she was first and foremost, where she came from; the element of her family, her people. Now, where that hereditary element used to be, was gone without a trace.
'— . .'
She closed her eyes and took a breath. This place—it was hardly the South Pole she remembered. A place that would never quite be what it once was - like her. A place where she left, to begin her journey as the Avatar. And now, a place where it would come to an end.
It hurt.
As an unsettling breeze blew by and nipped her face, she unveiled a hollow gaze, eyes beginning to sting from the cold. A cloak of a growing lifelessness chilled over her body like frost, bruised arms hanging numb at Korra's sides, un-moving and heavy. It seeped deep into her bones, dripping slowly, diminishing whatever strength she'd acquired from years of training- years of preparing. Preparation for a moment she miraculously made it out alive from, and yet-
It was a grievance- this feeling- this acceptance of a tragedy she wasn't sure her mind could comprehend. A continuous death- a loss of a part of her that only reminded her that this was only the beginning.
The eery draft creeping under her skin tingled to her fingertips, dampening calloused fingers that could once otherwise ignite flames, shift earth, calm waves—
But, for the first time in Korra's entire life, she couldn't.
It was scary.
The world that depended on her to uphold it's balance fell silent, and spoke nothing to her, despite her inward pleas to reverse the damage that still inflicted.
Indifference.
Permanence.
A lifetime of scrolls, of ancient texts, of first-hand stories— Nothing came. Where was the spiritual answer for a problem that an Avatar could not solve?
'— . .'
Another breath.
Air. Air came freely from the extension of her body. It surrounded and replenished condensed breaths, served as proof that even throughout this horrible, painful nightmare, she was still alive—still here to witness and feel it. Bending air: what should have been a big achievement, now, meant nothing. What was one element, if not all? What was an Avatar with just one? The element of freedom, but—freedom was never supposed to be hers to hold. The world was always supposed to be her obligation.
Korra closed her eyes and waited. Waited for the lull of the darkness behind her lids to bring her into a meditation. Waited and listened:
One question repeated in her mind; only one answer came back.
Giving a small incline of her head, she revealed calm eyes towards the water and followed after the tear that dripped from her cheek.
How strange, she thought as the ledge fell away from her, as her weight plummeted towards the sea - how for the first time in her entire life, she felt like she was finally doing the right thing, as if she had finally taken on the responsibility of her role and sacrificed the life she held onto with both hands - for the greater good. As if this was her final contribution to the world.
As if it would have inevitably come to this.
'I was supposed to be your legacy…'
Eyes rolling up towards the sky, she might've smiled if she could have known what it might feel like to soar among it. But…
I'm sorry, she thinks, when Aang appears to her from the Spirit world.
'Korra'
'Korra'
'Korra'
He calls out to her, reaches for her, despite being too late.
She swears she hears him say, you are my legacy, and then the waves put an end to her fall.
A pair of eyes glow beneath the surface and Aang is the one that embraces her. There is a whirlpool surrounding them both that replays so familiar in his past life. The water slows, freezing solid. There is an iceberg drifting quietly towards the ocean floor, a lifeline of Avatar's beginning the wait of Korra's return -
and history repeats itself.