The dethroned avatar sat collapsed onto her knees when she had finished. It wasn't a proper burial, but it was all she had the time to afford. She patted the soil down one last time as the heavens opened, soaking her through, soothing her burning skin. Flynn could still feel the searing flames against herself, as she tossed arms with Cathy. Her mind was broken, her spirit was severed and her body was giving in. Her eyesight became hazy, and it was only when she was betrayed by tears for the first time in years that her emotions were let loose. Knelt next to Maria's grave was the end of her.
"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry Maria. I never should have sent them after you. This is all my fault. Please just come back to me, I can't do this alone. I know you were never on my side, but you were all I had in this world. Without you I have nothing. I'm better off dead, I-" her sobs suppressed her words; she fell forward and writhed, her forehead rubbing into the dirt as emotion overpowered her. "I didn't mean to do any of this, I didn't think about it, if you had just told me how bad everything I had done was then I would have stopped, why didn't you try? I need you here, please!"
The rain continued, her uniform and her hair were both now pouring heavier than the rain. Etches of skin erupted from the dirt as the downpour washed it from the grieving woman. "I'm sorry... I'm sorry... I'm sorry... I'm such a monster. I've killed so many in the name of justice and law. And now my punishment for my crimes... I've lost you, the only thing I had left in this world. You were the only one who ever made me feel human, and now I'm nothing. I'm not a bender, I'm not a general, I'm not even human. I'm barely alive! I can't feel anything!" She collapsed forward completely, her legs straightening out and her arms unable to support her either.
"I... I... I've betrayed the world... I've killed the people I was supposed to protect... I've destroyed the name avatar, and I've been totally manipulated by the real evil in this world. Instead of bringing balance to the world, I've only tipped it even more into the favour of the Equalists. I have wasted my gift, I have taken what I should have given, and I have killed those who I should have defended. The world needed me and... and... and..." Flynn could barely speak any more, as she lay next to the grave of the only thing that mattered, she gave in. She closed her eyes, her breathing became coarse and heavy. "I'm almost done. I'm sorry for the burden I have left you, Avatar... Please succeed... where I fail..."
Master Kaatje, Master Ray and Lea all stood in the door of the infirmary. Shortly after being told by Kaatje there was no hope, that she was gone, Will had left. He had said nothing, just left the bay and the whole compound. Nobody gave chase, he would be alone for as long as he needed to be. Lea was the first to break the silence.
"Well this is a mess, huh." he uttered, the others simply looking down at the ground. The casualties were much fewer than expected, in fact short of Maria and Cathy, everyone was present and accounted for. With Cathy, however, they had lost their only link to the Fire Lord of the Eastern kingdoms. Their last chance of help from the east diminished they had to regroup, and they knew this. The next few months – no, years – would be hard. There would be a crack down, they would look harder. The fight had only just begun.
Will dragged his feet through the rain, he was winded but still able to move. He clutched his waist as he moved, having pulled out the statue shard he was bleeding moderately, but he knew what he was doing. He was going to find her, and he was going to make sure she never hurt anybody again. He walked for several hours before coming across the meadow by the graveyard. Maria had mentioned she liked to come here.
It would be her final resting place.
Water continuously splashed over Flynn, and she became irritated in her state. "Why aren't you done punishing me? Why can't you just let me die? I'm lying here broken and the only thing I want is to die! Please, just let me die! Let me die! Just let me die..."
Through her burned ear, she made out footsteps. She tried to turn her head but no longer possessed the strength – or the drive – to do so. It was over in her head. Perhaps this person would be her release. "Please... Please, I have failed... Please help me die..."
A sorrowful voice spoke back. "I'm sorry, but I can't do that." Gathering her strength one last time to push herself up and look at the one looming over her, she was met with the gaze of a young woman garbed in the clothes of the water tribe. Her hair brown and her eyes a piercing blue, she could barely hold her eyes.
"Who... are you?"
"I'm Avatar Korra. And everything that you've been through is my fault."
Flynn managed to pull herself to her knees and turn around to face the apparition of the girl. "How can this be your fault?"
"It began with the Equalist uprising seventeen years after my birth. Amon became empowered, and eventually gained enough followers to take Republic City. He attacked air temple island, and tracked Avatar Aang's descendants to their kidnapping at the Air Temple. Lin Beifong lost her bending trying to save them and keeping me save He baited me, he threatened to remove their bending – the last airbenders – and I bit. My friend Mako and I fought the equalists, leading to a showdown with Amon. During the fight, he took my bending away and nearly took Mako's... somehow, I unlocked the power to airbend and managed to get the slip on him. Aang's descendants, my friends and I fled to the Southern Water Tribe. After Katara was unable to restore my abilities, I lost all hope... I threw myself into the ocean... and, that's where my story ended.
"Not long after that, the unification war of the water tribes created a rift between ours and the spirit world. Amon was able to take advantage and entered the rift, making a pact with a dark spirit which offered him eternal life in exchange for his soul should he be killed. And then we come to you...
"When you were young, Amon found you and severed your connection to the spirit world before you could even know who you were. He replaced the light spirit within you with the dark spirit, and imprisoned the light spirit. You were cut off from us, and the dark spirit's power grew with your rage... But all is not lost, you have been reconnected, by severing your connection to the spirit world the dark spirit's grip has weakened. Your mission is not over Flynn. Use this power. Enter the spirit world at the Northern Water Gate. Free the light spirit, and allow our legacy to continue. Return balance to the world... and do what I could not. Defeat Amon."
The General laughed to herself. "Do I ever get a choice?" She grimaced as she stood to face the spirit. "Do I ever get to die? How can I do all of this? I have no power. How can I defeat him?"
Korra closed her eyes briefly. As they reopened, a blue hue emanated from them. She placed her hand over Flynn's forehead. A blue energy enveloped them both, a rush of energy filling Flynn's body from the spectre of her predecessor. "Before you were the avatar, you were born an air-bender." The blue light extended high, piercing the sky like a beacon. "I cannot return the others, but I can give you back your connection to the air. You can do this Flynn, you must." As her power returned, Korra evaporated before her. She coalesced a ball of wind in her hands and expanded it slowly, shaking the grass with the breeze.
"Good. You have your power back." She turned her head slowly and was met with the gaze of the brunette Earth bender. "Enjoy it's embrace while you can. I'm about to take it from you for good.
Will cast the first blow, ignoring his injuries. He lifted the earth and kicked it at his opponent. Seconds before it hit the woman, she wrapped herself in a veil of dense, lightning fast air. The saturated earth broke into pieces as it hit the curtain, spinning around Flynn briefly before scattering to the wind. "I don't want to fight you again." She said calmly. Her tone, however, had lost it's arrogance. His onslaught continued, he fired projectile after projectile at her. Both benders' power was significantly weakened, they were exhausted. Flynn grunted as she dropped her veil and attempted to speak, but her attempt was met with a slap in the face from a clod of mud. She refused to give up. "Stop it! I won't fight!"
"I'm done listening to you!" he cried as he lifted the earth beneath her. The mud lifted like tendrils, wrapping around her arms and feet, pulling her to her knees and sinking her into the ground. She made no attempt to resist.
But the Avatar did.