"How could that happen?" Asami asked with a grim look of concern.

Korra had a thought, "Just before that thing took hold of me during my vision, it said not even Vaatu could stop it. Why would it say that? Wouldn't Vaatu want this thing to win?"

Xin smiled, an odd jester for the dire situation. "I was just about to explain that. I'm sure you know Vaatu is still present inside you? Inside Raava, right?"

Korra nodded, remembering back four years, "One cannot exists without the other. Light cannot destroy the darkness and vice-versa."

"Exactly. Now, from your few interactions with Vaatu, did he ever say destroy?"

Korra and the others who had the unfortunate pleasure of encountering the dark spirit thought back.

"Of coarse he did, he wanted to bring about an age of darkness." Tenzin answered, "He wasn't too fond of humans. Why does that matter?"

"Because I think that thing came from Vaatu."

"What makes you say that?" Jinora seeming to be the more curious than the others.

"That, unfortunately, is something that I cannot answer. Ming isn't sure either but she thinks Vaatu may have the answers, and that little bit of information was the conformation I was looking for."

After giving this information a moment to sink in, Korra was ready for the truth. "How did you know all this would happen? How were you able to save me when no one else could?"

Xin's face was wiped of all emotion as she stood, turning her back to the group. She slowly removed her uniform jacket first, then her underwrapings while she spoke. "Ever since I can remember, I've had dreams. Some are painfully vivid while others are nothing more than an abstract vision of something I couldn't understand. Superstition was alot more prevalent a thousand years ago then it is today. At first it was small things like the weather and how many people would stop by my father's shop on a given day. But then it moved on to predicting the deaths of loved ones and people in the village." By the time she finished, her back was exposed, revealing a painful secret. Xin's was covered in long deep scars, some so large they stretched from her neck to the small of her back. Most stood with pail faces, while Opal and Jinora gasped briefly. Mako and Asami noticed that Rya had averted her eyes, pain across her face.

"Why would they do such a thing?" Korra asked, not sure if she really wanted the answer.

"Like I said," she spoke while reversing the process, "superstition. It's been nearly a millennium and I still don't understand. I've given up." Xin took her seat again before continuing her tale. "Eventually I stopped telling them, hoping the floggings would too." Her voice never wavered, she spoke with a serenity that could've only been gained through a lifetime of pain. Or in Xin's case, several lifetimes. "But of coarse it didn't. I begged them each and every time, but it never seemed to reach them. They were to consumed with fear over something they couldn't understand. Their daughter could see the future. One night, I simply couldn't take it anymore, that's when I discovered I could bloodbend. I wandered the earth for the next twenty two years, using my new skills as a hired killer. I hated it, but it was the only thing I seemed good at." That was the first time in her speech she had shown any kind of emotion, regret.

Lin looked ready to pounce, but Mako was quick to stifle her anger with a simple gesture. She'd always been quick to anger but her surrogate son is actually able to calm her like few can.

Xin took notice before continuing, "Having foresight and not understanding the flow of time is like getting thrown into the ocean without knowing how to swim. But eventually, I learned to tread water. If I focused on someone, I could see where they would be, what they would eat or even how and when they would die. But no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't decipher several visions that had pestered me since I was young. It was driving me mad. Until one night, in a shady earth kingdom town outside the swamp, I was visited by a great tiger spirit. It was nearly a thousand years ago, but I can remember it like it were yesterday. She said she could help me to understand this power and that I was given this, gift, for a reason." Xin laughed inwardly, "I had more than a few drinks that night so of coarse, I didn't take her seriously. I woke the next morning in the swamp, the tiger just a few feet away. Again she made the offer, only this time leading me to a great pool underneath the Banyan Grove tree." She lit her eyes with that brilliant shade of teal for an instant. "And Ming'Yung has been apart of me ever since."

"What led you to me?" Korra asked, her voice thick with intrigue.

"Three visions in particular have plagued me since I was very young, all of them far to vague and unclear for me to have any real grasp on what they were, at the time." Xin looked to Korra before sending her a warm smile. "The first was a spunky little water tribe girl that could bend all four elements. Who would eventually grow into a beautiful young Avatar that lived in a city with towers made of steel."

Asami chuckled, loosening up from her earlier emotional distress. "Spunky? Yep, that's you alright." she playfully gestured to her girlfriend.

"That was confirmed when the white Lotus centuries told me they had found the new Avatar. I believe spunky was their exact description. Sure that sounds obvious now, but imagine being a seven year old girl living nearly a thousand years ago. I had only just learned what the Avatar was and I had no idea of the order of the cycle. And the idea of cities made from towers of steel?"

"Yeah, I can see how that could drive you crazy." Opal added.

"The second was a bit more, unclear then the other two but with Ming helping me to focus, I now understand them. I saw three giants, one was a glowing blue version of the girl from the previous vision, Korra. She battled a great titan made of darkness in a barren wasteland, decorated by a brilliant arc of energy over a large dead tree."

Korra was enthused by the woman's speech, "That was my battle with Unalaq and Vaatu during Harmonic convergence! That's amazing!" Her excitement quickly turned to confusion. "But wait, you said there was three giants?"

"Yes. I even doubted the vision...until a year ago. The third one was a colossus made of steel, that could fire destructive beams of energy to level an entire city."

The room was entranced.

"No way." The words barely managed to creep from Bolin's mouth.

"This giant was also defeated by the blue one, only this time, the titan collapsed into a massive pillar of yellow light in the center of the great city. The brown skinned girl emerging from the light with a young light skinned woman that I now know is Kuvira."

Korra was taken back by the accuracy of her foresight, given she first saw them ten centuries ago. "What's the third?"

Xin paused, opting not to explain in great detail. "I saw, what you saw, Korra. Your eyes were blackened and you were wailing as you laid waste to the city. Eventually ,you succeed in wiping out both this world, and the spirit."

Korra knew all to well this horrid prediction of the future. "But you've changed that right?"

"I believe so, yes. That brief moment I left the cabin to get some air, I was meditating in the gardens. The vision has changed."

Everyone was shocked, they stood eagerly awaiting to hear the news.

"This time I saw two glowing figures, one yellow and the other black, glowing with green flames. The two fought each other vigorously in the ruins of Republic city. Only a hand full of resistants remained, most of you in this room. The much darker figure managed to force its way into the spirit portal. A moment later, it was turned a vile shade of purple then consumed by the being. The resulting shock wave leveled what was left of the city and the survivors."

"That doesn't sound much better! Where was I!?" Korra asked, her expression full of doubt.

"Relax, there were two visions. Its never happened before, but I focused for a bit longer and a different outcome was revealed to me. The same battle unfolded, only this time after it entered the portal and consumed it, a sphere emerged. A glowing globe of energy the size of this island, swallowed up the darkness and destroyed it before shrinking into a human sized figure. You Korra. Only instead of your signature glowing eyes and the symbol of Raava dawned across your chest, the glow was much dimmer. The outline of your eyes were clearly visible. One was blue, the other red."

Nobody knew exactly how to respond or what to make of this odd description. Deciding to wait for the explanation.

"This was the vision I was expecting to see, not the first. This means the future is still up in the air."

Korra couldn't wait any longer, she needed to ask. "Why did you kill Zaheer and the other red lotus members?"

Xin smiled, happy to answer. "This is where things get a little personal. A few months after Ming fused with me and helped me to understand my power, I met a man named Nuan' Kun. He was a grand lotus, and a very good man." She started showing the pain of loss before forcing it back. "It wasn't until he died of old age that I truly came to understand the price of my union with MIng. I'm grateful to her, I truly am, but after witnessing yourself outlive everyone you ever loved can truly ware on your soul." She took a moment looking to Rya, holding back tears of both happiness and fear. "The thought of out living my daughter isn't something I like to think about."

"Mom." Rya spoke softly, evoking more emotions from the woman.

Xin drew a deep breath before smearing the tears from her eyes. "Anyway, Nuan brought me into the organization. The members gave me new purpose and meaning. They helped me to understand what I was meant to do. Stop the final vision. In my time Wan Shi Tong's library was open to anyone who could find it, and we did. I spent nearly a hundred years of my life, combing through ancient tomes and scrolls, looking for anything that could shed light on my vision. Eventually I found a book explaining Harmonic Convergence and the Arch spirits of Raava and Vaatu." She reached to the desk behind her, plucking the book from earlier and placing it on her lap. "The more I focused on you Korra, the more clearly I saw the future. Eventually I saw Mako, Asami and Bolin." She paused again, glancing at the CEO. "The first time I looked into the future and saw you Miss Sato, you were planning to use your relationship with Mako to get close to the Avatar and bring her to Amon. You were and equalist, but that was nearly twenty years ago. If there's one thing I've learned about my power, it's to never act before giving things time to play out. That obviously didn't happen. Miss Sato, I apologize for my rudeness earlier. I didn't mean anything by it."

"It's fine," she was quick to accept the plea. "I had thought about it, but then I thought of my mother and what she would think of me."

Xin nodded, "Originally, Mako and Korra never broke up after harmonic convergence and were engaged by the time Zaheer broke free."

The couple looked to Mako, forcing a rare blush from the officer, "Really?" Korra asked with a sly grin.

"Hey, I had thought about it." he replied.

"Zaheer was also successful in that scenario." Xin bluntly added, forcing the joy into despair. "He killed Korra in the Avatar state, and that thing immediately took hold. I peered into the future dozens of times before realizing it was set in stone. So I decided to take action."

"What do you mean take action!?" Korra's voice wavered, those terrible memories washing away any positive emotion that lingered. "He still poisoned me! He nearly suffocated me and didn't give it a second thought!" Even after four years, she could never forget the horror of that day.

"I know he told you they would have trained you if they succeeded in abducting you, but that was a lie. He would have poisoned and killed a little girl just to get what he wanted. Luckily, Unalaq wasn't willing to let them kill his niece, even though he was willing once you'd become an adult. I know he helped you reconnect with Raava, but he only did so in the hopes that you'd lower your guard. He had no knowledge of what was about to transpire, he only thought of attempting his plan again. But make no mistake Korra, he would have eagerly jumped on board with the chaos that thing would have unleashed. Even though, in the end, it would have killed him along with all other life and spirits. Of coarse, I'm not one to talk. I've done just as many sinful things."

Korra defended her from her own self doubt. "You changed. At least you understand what you were doing was wrong. Your not evil Xin, anyone here can see that."

She was taken back by the Avatar's compliments. Korra had come a long way from her days at the southern water tribe. "Thank you Korra, but its hard for me to forget the things I've done, even after a millennium."

Xin tossed the book onto the bed, between Korra and her girl friend. Asami picked it up, thumbing threw the pages while Jinora moved in for a closer look.

"I had an informant in the Red Lotus, the man holding the bowl of poison. He deluded it just enough for you to fight it off."

Korra's eyes widened, "H-how did you get someone in the Red lotus?"

"It wasn't that hard. I had been given a rank in the white Lotus that is unknown to all but it's most senior members of my time, and it died with them. I was known as the Black Lotus, named after the rarest and most elusive of the flowers. I was meant to watch things from afar and act when necessary. I knew Xia' Bao and believe it or not, he too was a good man with good intentions, however Zaheer had an interesting way of interpreting his message."

Tenzin joined the conversation, "Why not stop it all together? Why wait to kill Zaheer?"

"Please don't take offense to this Korra, but your journey was not yet complete. You were beginning to truly understand your role in the world, not as the Avatar but as Korra. Unfortunately, suffering and pain are the best teachers for this lesson. That's something I've learned from experience."

Korra stopped herself from an out burst, letting what Xin said sink into her thick skull. It was horrible, but she was right.

"If you hadn't went through that, you would have killed Kuvira, and the final vision would have been set in stone. There would be no third spirit portal and you and Asami wouldn't have fallen as hard for each other, no love for the creature to sink its roots into. However, the hate you would have used to kill The Great Uniter would be more than enough fertilizer to fuel that beast. It would have taken you without a fight and there's nothing I could have done. The serum I gave you would have been useless. There was more than just poison pushed into your veins Korra. I had something else added, aside from having it deluded. A rare toxin that's harmless by itself, but when mixed with the glowing purple serum, it acts as a powerful sedative for spirits. Even Arch spirits."

The group froze while this news sunk in, Xin had been planning this for nearly a decade. Leaving only a few key elements to chance and applying a gentle push when necessary.

"I wouldn't have let you go through such a hell unless it was absolutely necessary. You needed to be the person you are now so that you can help me, help you stop this terrifying future from unfolding."

Korra inched towards the edge of the bed, kicking her feet off the side. "Alright, what's the plan?" she asked with a smile. Everyone, even the rather irritable Chief of police seemed to rally behind her.

Xin smiled, "Ming also grants me a rather, unique ability. I can delve into a persons mind, that's how I was able to reach you when no one else could. Asami, Mako, Bolin and myself will be going into your mind and forcing that thing into submission."

"Uh, that sounds all fun and all, but we couldn't stop that thing when it had Korra's body, what makes you think we can stop it inside Korra's head!?" Bolin asked, worrying enough for the entire room.

"We'll be inside's Korra's mind, she knows herself better than anyone. She'll be at her strongest there."

"Why us?" Mako asked, having some clue as for the reason.

"Because, the three of you have been with her through thick and thin." She motioned to Mako and Bolin, then to Asami. "You two are like brothers to Korra, and Asami your her anchor and a powerful source of strength for her."

"Why not me? I think I would be a big help, plus I've known Korra just as long." Jinora asked with enthusiasm.

"No." Xin was quick to retort. "Your spiritual energy is far to strong. There's a good chance that monster would try to jump ship and take your body first chance it got."

Sometimes the blunt truth is the best answer.

"First, we enter the Avatar's mind and force that thing into submission. After that's done, Korra, Ming and I will search for Raava. Once we've found Raava, she'll lead us to Vaatu. Somehow that thing came from him, if we find Vaatu and he may be willing to help us. That poison I gave you might only last a few days, then that thing will be back in force. We have until then to get it done."