Tahni raised small waves behind him, making good time as he speeded towards what obviously was the capital. He never would have found the way in the pouring rain if it wasn't for the dozens of seafaring vessels heading towards the capital.
The capital was just as Poe Rha said it would be. It was both beautiful and sad at the same time. He could see the lights shining bright at the top of the extinct volcano, but all light was extinct and void of life at the front gate and wall. He waterbended small waves beside him, guiding his boat through the magnificent dark gate. Once he got through the gate, he was stunned by the sheer amount of people. Hundreds, if not thousands, were departing from the docking vessels. They ran in the six-inch-high water covering the plaza, and hurried towards the secondary gate, which guarded the district between the plaza and the inclines up to the peak of the volcano, and in it, the Royal Caldera District.
Poe Rha said that he heard accounts over the radio that most of population of the entire Fire Nation was being harbored in the Royal Caldera District. He said they were huddled in there, in street, alleyways, and buildings, all awaiting the receding of the ocean. Once Tahni got into that crowd he'd never be found again.
When Tahni's boat hit the edge of the Royal Plaza's floor, he jumped from the small craft and began to walk through the water towards the secondary gate, unaware that he was being watched.
Korra had spotted the Dark Avatar easily once he had landed at the Royal Plaza, due to him being the only one walking, and not sprinting for their lives.
He wore different clothing than when she had previously seen him, and his topknot was severed.
Almost instantly, Korra's mind drifted to thoughts of when she had cut her topknot off seventeen years prior. It had been when she had abandoned her life as the Avatar, after being poisoned by the Red Lotus. The Red Lotus that the Dark Avatar was obviously a part of. Why else would he have bloodbended those people and escaped? He participated in the slaughter of a village, he lied to them about it, and bloodbended.
Part of Korra knew that she was only telling herself these things, so she wouldn't feel guilty about what she was about to do.
She followed the Dark Avatar while remaining in a crowd of refugees. The Dark Avatar didn't seem rushed, or scared. He seemed like he was about to do something he had dreamed of. Korra could only imagine what he, a killer, would do when he was surrounded by a majority of the Fire Nation's people.
Korra quickly glanced at the Fire Nation airship hovering above the plaza. Mako, Bolin and Tenzin were on that airship, and ready to provide assistance the second the Dark Avatar got away from the crowd. They barely had enough time to contact what was operational of the Fire Nation military before they got here.
It helped that Tenzin and most of the airbenders were here as well. The airbenders had been assisting with the overcrowding situation for almost a year now. Almost everyone they knew in the Air Nation was here helping, even Opal and Bolin's five year old son Sanbu was here. Despite the amount of airbenders here, Tenzin's children weren't among them, as they were assisting in Republic City.
It eased Korra a little, knowing that her former mentor and current friend was up there, ready to assist. She looked back at the Dark Avatar, and continued to tail him.
Tahni walked through the gate alongside a crowd, ignorant of the airship above him. The city that lay before him was all but abandoned. The water wasn't as deep here, as there were a few stairs at the secondary gate. The crowd was starting to dissipate, forming lines heading directly for the path to the Royal Caldera District.
Tahni found himself all alone in the heavy rain. He had unknowingly slowed his pace to take in the sights. It was now the sounds that concerned him. The footsteps in the water slowed behind him. Tahni focused on the noise of those footsteps, and quickened his pace.
The footsteps came faster, matching Tahni's.
Tahni slowed down once again.
The footsteps did as well.
Tahni kept walking, his mind paralyzed with fear. Was he being followed? Was it simply people walking behind him, trying to avoid bumping into him? After several moments, Tahni couldn't take it anymore, and slowed his pace until he was at a complete stop. Slowly, he turned around to find the Avatar staring at him.
The Avatar's face hosted a look determination and a sliver of anger.
Tahni grimaced.
"Give yourself up, Dark Avatar," the Avatar demanded with a cold, demanding voice.
Dark Avatar? Tahni thought.
She didn't see him as a person, and she wasn't going to treat him as such. Tahni wasn't going to go back to living in a prison for choices that weren't his own.
When Tahni didn't reply, the Avatar took a fighting stance. Tahni slowly took one of his own.
The Avatar attacked first, sending a violent blast of fire directly at Tahni, who was able raise a wall of ice from the toe-deep water around them. He performed a backflip, working with the water in his own body, and bended the ice to reliquify. The restored water flung at the Avatar, who bended the water to part away from her at the sides. Tahni took off running to his left, and raced down the flooded street. He felt something grab at his right foot, and the next thing he knew, he was on the ground. He looked at his foot, to see that the Avatar had frozen the water around it. He reliquified it, and threw it in the form of an ice spear at the Avatar, who was gaining on him. Tahni then continued to flee down the street.
A spotlight from the airship above him started to follow him. Tahni heard sharp snaps in the air alongside his right. He looked over his right shoulder to see a bearded airbender flying alongside him with his wingsuit. Tahni bared his teeth as the airbender banked left and tried to cut Tahni off. Tahni reached into the water in his body, and lifted himself over the airbender. He had to tuck and roll when he landed, but he was quickly able to resume sprinting. Tahni could see the stone street cracking in front of him. Tahni was barely able to react in time when a wall of earth rose in front of him. Tahni once again bloodbended himself and gave himself enough inertia to jump onto the wall of a building on his left. He then sprang from that wall up higher onto the wall of the building across the street, and he did so back and forth until he was on a flat stone roof. He continued running despite the exhaustion he was feeling. The flapping of fabric betrayed the position of the airbender to Tahni, as the airbender flew higher to give a continued chase.
Tahni spun around, bending the rain falling around him into small shards, which he threw at the airbender's wings. The wings were pocketed full of holes, and the airbender fell onto the same roof as Tahni. The airbender spun, airbending a gushing wind at Tahni, who was thrown onto his back.
The airbender continued sending the blast of air, pinning Tahni on his back. Tahni could barely lift his head up far enough to see the Avatar rising up on a jet of fire. The Avatar landed, and started to walk up to the airbender.
Tahni clenched his teeth as hard as he could. He begged for help from the only person he could imagine helping him.
Vaatu. Please...
Korra walked up beside Tenzin, and stared at the Dark Avatar. He was helpless. Korra could see the desperation on his face, his eyes didn't convey anger, but horror. Then his eyes conveyed something else altogether. She could see his eyes snap from horror to determination. The bottoms of his boots moved to where they were flat on the roof, his knees moving accordingly.
Tenzin intensified his sustained blast of air, but to no avail.
The Dark Avatar's eyes started to glow a dim crimson. His body slowly rose into the standing position, despite the horrifically strong wind being sent his way. The Dark Avatar's hair only made Korra and Tenzin more shocked. It was being blown back, to the point where it was almost straight, despite the Dark Avatar simply standing there. All at once, Korra understood how he was doing this.
"He's bloodbending himself!" Korra shouted to Tenzin over the loud sound of the airbended wind.
Korra started to send a blast of air herself, sending the concrete railing behind the Dark Avatar off into the darkness as if it were paper.
The Dark Avatar's right hand began to rise, ever slowly.
Korra tried to intensify the wind, but his hand kept rising to the point where its palm faced them. Suddenly, the air around them began to freeze. Frost began to form on their bodies. He was freezing the water in the air around them. Before Korra knew it, she and Tenzin couldn't move, as they were frozen in ice, and at the Dark Avatar's mercy.
The Dark Avatar walked over to them and looked Korra straight in the eye.
"Leave. Me. Alone," he spoke, his voice demanding, but also frightened.
The Dark Avatar looked up at the spotlight glaring down at him from the airship.
He raised his palm to it, and the air around it froze as well, trapping it in an irregular shape of ice. He looked back at Korra one last time, then turned his back to her and walked off the side of the building, bloodbending his body to slow his decent to a soft drop.
Korra could feel herself growing angry. She wasn't going to let him get away. The water around her slowly began to melt, while her fury did anything but. Once she was free, she raced after the Dark Avatar.
"Korra! Wait!" Tenzin called out, but to no avail.
Korra had already leaped off the side of the building to give further chase to the Dark Avatar.
She firebended jets of fire from her hand to slow her descent. Korra could see the Dark Avatar running as fast as he could away from her. She ran as fast as she could in his direction, slowly gaining on him. Korra chased him for minutes, until the Dark Avatar made a wrong turn and found himself in a dead-end alley. He looked at the concrete wall, and turned around to find Korra looking at him.
Despair was evident in his eyes, but Korra didn't care in the slightest. She violently waterbended the Dark Avatar to the wall, then onto the ground.
"Please, no," he begged as she froze the water around his hands and feet, trapping him on his knees.
Korra knew what she had to do. She had to sever his connection to water, then kill him.
She walked up to his trapped form, and placed her hands on his heart and forehead. She searched for the gateway in his body, where his chi was flooded with the spirit of the element. Once she found it, she started to bend the gateway smaller and smaller. Just as it was about to close she heard a voice. It was his.
"No."
She felt her influence shatter, and his take over. She poured as much energy as she could into the struggle, but he was able to hold it in a standstill. Their spirits were in perfect balance.
The ice around the Dark Avatar's hands and feet began to melt, and he began to rise once more unto his feet.
The Dark Avatar waterbended her into the wall behind him, and pinned her there with ice. He reached into her gateways and momentarily plugged them, blocking the flow of her chi for a few minutes. He did all this without looking at her.
"You coward!" Korra declared, yelling at the top of her lungs.
"I'm the coward?" he asked. "You've hunted me down, Avatar, and for what? A choice I didn't make! Do you honestly believe that I wanted to be born as the Dark Avatar? Do you think I wear that title with pride or something? All it has brought me my entire life is misery and death. It brought death to my parents. It brought me to having my entire life so far being raised as a tool for the Red Lotus. And yet, with having nothing left to be afraid of losing, I'm the coward. Avatar, you're the coward, because you're too afraid to consider that I'm not your enemy; that you were wrong."
After a moment, Korra asked, "are you going to kill me, Tahni?"
Tahni turned around and looked at her.
"No," he replied. "I'm leaving you with a choice I never had. Let me live, or watch yourself die at your own hands."
And with that, Tahni left her.
Tahni walked back to the Royal Plaza gate. His muscles were grateful for him not running, but also infuriated that he was still moving at all. He just wanted this day to be over. When Tahni got to the gate, alarms started to sound, sirens began to blare and shouting began to arise.
"Crap," Tahni said to himself as he raced down the steps to the Royal Plaza.
They weren't going to let him go just like that. What had he expected? That they were just going to drop it after what just went down in those streets? No, they were coming for him.
When Tahni set his first step on the Royal Plaza floor, he looked ahead of him at the harbor and realized he had misunderstood.
The Red Lotus were here.