*** First things first, I'm posting the last two chapters at the same time cuz, with the way this chapter ends, I thought you'd all appreciate having the next one right away. And I'm putting all the notes on this chapter so there's no interrupt and you can go right on to reading the next one :). So this is it! I just wanted to say thank you all for reading and leaving all the wonderful feedback. You guys are so amazing, I love you all.
Lastly, my beta reader was always SO prompt about reading the chapters I sent her because she never wanted you to wait longer than you had to. She was honestly as devoted to this story as I was, so please go to her tumblr inbox (bashinglei is her url) and give her some love. If you don't know what to say, just type a simple 'thanks', she'll know what it's for :).
Okay, it's been fun! Thanks again for reading 3
….
Go back to the Southern Water Tribe and find Shaozu. That was Tenzin's plan, and for a few moments after the suggestion, Korra simply stared at him. It made sense that Shaozu and the Blue Lotus might be the only ones who knew how to undo what they'd done, but would they? They'd done this for a reason. Done it because they believed wholeheartedly in the fact that the Avatar was out of balance, and Korra doubted that they'd reverse it willingly. So her only option was to make them see that they were wrong. To show them that being fused with both Raava and Vaatu wasn't giving her the balance they'd wanted it to, and that they had to fix it. It was her only option because there was no time for anything else.
"Okay," Korra agreed, rising from her seat. "Let's do it. We'll go to the airport and catch the first plane out."
"I'm flying this time," Asami said immediately. "We're not waiting for the next flight. We'll take the Future Industries jet."
Korra nodded at that, looking again at Tenzin. "Are you going to come?" Having a spiritual advisor along couldn't be a bad idea.
"I would like to accompany the Avatar," Tenzin said. "Yes."
"Chief?" Korra asked.
"The city needs me here," Lin answered. She held out her hand, giving Korra a parting shake. "Good luck, kid."
Korra gave a grateful half smile, and they all turned to leave the station; she, Asami, Mako, Bolin, Opal, and Tenzin. Though Asami still didn't say much on the way out, she'd at least cooled off enough that she hopped into Naga's saddle behind Korra, her hands resting formally loose on Korra's hips the entire ride. At the airport, they all boarded the Future Industries jet, and Korra stayed in the cabin with the others while Asami paced forward to the cockpit. She told herself it was so she wouldn't be a distraction, but the truth was that she didn't really know what to say. Nor did she know if Asami even wanted her to say anything yet.
So she plopped down in a big leather seat at the back of the plane, apart from her friends and Tenzin, but with Naga curled up on the floor beside her. As the jet took off down the runway, all she could think about was the fact that she was skeptical. If the Blue Lotus was even still around the spirit portal, she didn't think they'd want to help her. Who's to say she'd even make it the few hour flight without another episode, without losing it and killing them all because she was exhausted.
Her eyes were lidded with the primal desire for sleep, and her body craved to lie down. To drift off into blissful darkness and forget about the splitting headache that wouldn't leave her, or the tightness in her chest, or the cold sinking feeling in her gut that she wasn't going to make it through this alive. The only thing that kept her awake as they flew through the clouds were the people around her. Falling asleep meant giving Vaatu an easy opening for control, and that was dangerous for everyone she loved.
A while after they took off, someone finally came over. It was Tenzin, and he dropped down in the seat next to her, asking, "How are you holding up?"
"Just," Korra said, drawing in a deep breath to sigh, "barely." She shook her head with defeat. "If this doesn't work, or if we can't find the Blue Lotus… I don't know." She sat there for a moment in grave thoughtfulness, Tenzin staying silent at her side. "I used to read stories about the old Avatars. You know some of them weren't excited when they found out?"
"Were you?" Tenzin asked.
"I haven't had a chance to be much of anything," Korra shrugged, and it was true for so much more than just her time as Avatar. "I don't know if I'll ever get to." She sighed once more, too tired to keep her emotions in check and filtered. "If I don't make it, I'll be the worst Avatar ever. I screwed everything up, sent the world into chaos, probably ruined my relationship with Asami, and if I don't let Vaatu take over and destroy the world, then I'll die before I ever get to do anything good for it."
"People are confused right now, Korra," Tenzin said gently, "but very soon they'll realize that you've given them a gift, and they'll be grateful."
"Yeah," Korra mumbled sarcastically, "we'll see if I'm around to bask in it."
"You will be," Tenzin replied. "We're all here to make sure of that."
At that, Korra glanced around at her friends, suddenly overwhelmed with the fact that they had come. That they were there to make sure she survived, regardless of how unstable and dangerous she'd been. She glanced toward the closed cockpit door. Even Asami was here, flying them to the Southern Water Tribe and prepared to search for and face people she'd already fought, people who'd already hurt her.
"When we get you fixed," Tenzin said, breaking into her focus, "Would you like to train with me?" Korra looked over at him curiously. "The airbending is new to me too, so we might have to master it together, but if you'd like spiritual training as well…"
Tenzin looked so hopeful, and he was nice and, if she managed to survive after all of this, spiritual training sounded like an absolute necessity. "Yeah." She nodded as happily as her mood and energy level would allow. "I'd like that." He smiled at her, but she couldn't put much effort into returning it as her eyes wandered back to the door of the cockpit. This might be her only chance. "If you'll excuse me," she said to Tenzin, "I need to…"
When he nodded her on, she stood and trudged across the length of the jet to that door, giving it a soft knock. There was a muffled 'it's open' from the other side, and that she knew Asami could see her through the large looking hole in the middle and was still letting her come in, well, it was encouraging. So she slid it open, closing it behind her and then slumping down in the copilot seat.
"Hey," Korra greeted timidly. She risked a glance over, but it wasn't returned, and that was slightly less encouraging.
"I called your dad," Asami said quietly. "He said he'll have snowmobiles ready for everyone. He wants to come too, if you'll let him."
"Thanks," Korra murmured, but the first thought she had wasn't about gratitude or that her father wanted to come. She was suddenly afraid that Asami didn't intend to go with them. That she was too upset, and would only get them as far as Harbor City and that was it, because she hadn't said 'us.' She'd said 'everyone' as if she wasn't a part of it. Korra wanted to ask, but she was too afraid that the answer would be no, and she didn't know if she could handle that disappointment right now. So she didn't ask, but she'd come in here for a reason, and she sat there for an awkward minute, working up the courage to say, "I'm sorry, Asami."
"You didn't do anything to me," Asami said automatically, but it was almost mechanical. Closed off. Guarded.
"I let you down," Korra said, sinking further in her seat. Asami was thumbing the buttons on the steering wheel, but Korra could see the flashing panel that said autopilot was engaged, and the fact that Asami was uncomfortable enough to need a distraction was gut wrenching. "You were right. What I did to Viper was wrong, and I should've found another way to get what we needed."
Asami cast a downward glance in Korra's direction, as though she wanted to look up, but her gaze never made it past the floor. "Why'd you do it?"
"Because I'm tired." Korra let out a heavy breath, stealing a glimpse across at Asami and then immediately looking away because she didn't have a good excuse, not when she tried to justify it out loud. "Because it was easier than fighting."
There was a long pause, and when Asami finally spoke it was almost too quiet to pick up. "I don't want to hear that."
Korra shook her head, saying weakly, "I don't know what else to tell you, Asami." And that Asami sniffled tearfully cut straight through the painful tension in Korra's chest, but she was too exhausted to do more. Too exhausted to try and explain herself, or explain how hard and agonizing fighting this was, or to try and come up with a reason why doing what she'd done had been her only option. She was too exhausted to keep watching herself hurt Asami over and over again. "Maybe I'm not…" The thought caused her eyes to fill with tears, and she swallowed hard to keep speaking. "Maybe I'm not as strong as you want me to be. Not as good." Her head dropped forward remorsefully, and she struggled to blink away the tears. "Maybe if I was someone stronger, someone better…" She couldn't stop them completely, and reached up to wipe the back of her hand across her cheek. "Maybe you should find someone better."
There was no sound other than the steady hum of the jet around them. It got so still, so silent that Korra worried if Asami was even still breathing. Her eyes dodged sideways, only to find that Asami was staring at the wheel in her hands, unblinking, unmoving. Korra didn't know what else to say. She'd given Asami an out, given her a reason not to stick around if Korra had already hurt her too bad. Maybe now she just needed some time to think about it. Maybe it didn't even matter, and Korra wouldn't make it out of this and Asami would have to find someone anyway. As hard as it was, Korra stood, edged around the seat and reached the cockpit door.
"Is that what you want?" Asami asked before she could open it.
She turned just enough to see Asami, who'd swiveled around in the seat to look at her. "No," Korra admitted, taking in a deep breath to try and keep her emotions in check. "I want you."
For one long minute, Asami just stared at her, tears brimming in her bright green eyes. Eventually, she looked away. Stared across the cockpit, and Korra didn't know what else to do. Didn't know what Asami was thinking, or if she was going to get a response. So she turned and reached once more for the handle of the door.
"Korra, please," Asami said hastily. She was already out of her seat as Korra turned again, and arms wrapped tight around Korra's middle and Asami buried her face in her neck. "Please don't stop fighting," Asami begged, releasing a flood of tears against her skin. "For me. If you can't find any other reason, if you're too tired and you can't do it for yourself, do it for me." Korra's eyes flooded with fresh moisture as she wrapped her own arms around Asami's shoulders, feeling them shake with a sob. "I am begging you not to give up," Asami cried. "Please, Korra."
She was too tired and weak even to support Asami like this, so she leaned back against the door, letting Asami lean against her. With the vice-like grip Asami had on her waist, she could barely breathe, but breathing wasn't important. Nothing was more important right now than this. Than Asami breaking down, than her needing Korra and giving Korra something to hold on to, and Korra let her own head sink forward into Asami's shoulder.
"You're everything to me," Asami whimpered into her neck. "Everything." She sniffled, and somehow her hold got tighter. "I've been trying to stay strong for you. I've been trying so hard, but I'm terrified. I can't lose you."
More than anything, Korra wanted to murmur reassurances. Wanted to hold Asami close and tell her over and over again that everything would be okay, and that she'd make it out of this, but she couldn't promise that, and they both knew it. All she could do was slide a hand up, set it comfortingly against the back of Asami's head and let her cry. Let Asami stop being the strong one for a minute, because as exhausted as Korra was, she could do this. For Asami, she could.
Minutes passed by, the shaking of Asami's shoulders steadying, the drip of tears slowing against Korra's neck. Korra felt Asami take in one long, deep breath, and then she lifted her head, straightened enough to look at Korra without having to release her hold. Her cheeks were soaked, her eyes red, and Korra lifted a hand to cup her face, caressing her cheek with a gentle thumb.
"I'm not just afraid of you dying, Korra," Asami said quietly, finally meeting her gaze. "I'm afraid of the Blue Lotus being right." When she admitted it, her eyes filled with new tears, but she sniffled hard to keep them at bay. "I watched you give in to it with Viper, and it looked as easy for you as going into the Avatar state, and I'm scared that all of this pain is going to pass, and you'll settle into this like the Blue Lotus wants. But that darkness isn't you." The corners of her mouth twitched with a desolate frown, and when a tear slid down her cheek, Korra whisked it away. "I can't go through it again," she whispered, her voice soggy. "I can't watch another person that I love be consumed by something corrupt."
And suddenly, it all made sense, and Korra felt the pang of it in her chest. "Asami," she breathed sadly, "I'm so sorry." She leaned her forehead against Asami's, unable to keep a guilty tear from sliding down her cheek. "If I'd known it would hurt you like this, because of this… Why didn't you tell me?"
Asami's head gave the smallest shake against hers. "This isn't about me," she murmured. "You're struggling. You're dying, and I just… I thought I could be strong until it was over." Asami took in a deep, quivering breath. "I thought I could take it, but at the prison, you did it willingly, and you almost couldn't recover. I got confused, and scared, and angry, and I didn't know how to feel or react." She sniffled again, picking her head up to look Korra in the eyes. "I'm sorry if I made you feel like I was mad at you. The truth is that I don't know what I'll do if you don't survive this, and that terrifies me."
"There's so little I can promise," Korra said honestly, adjusting her hand to smooth the backs of her fingers across Asami's cheek. "But I promise you that the Blue Lotus was wrong. This doesn't feel natural. It will never feel natural, or right, and I won't give in to it again." She wrapped her arms around Asami's shoulders, pulling her into another tight hug. "You said you'd fight for me. I promise I'll keep fighting too. For you."
"Thank you," Asami said, pressing an affectionate kiss to the side of her neck. They stood like that for over a minute, reeling in their emotions and relishing the feel of each other before Asami prompted, "Korra, one more thing…" And Korra hummed that she was listening. "…Don't ever suggest that I break up with you again."
Korra released an embarrassed chuckle into Asami's shoulder. "I won't."
Asami pulled back from the hug, giving Korra a lingering kiss before scanning her face with residual concern. "You look so tired," she mused unhappily, and Korra nodded that she was. "It's been almost three days since you've had a full night of sleep."
"I can't risk it," Korra said, and though Asami's lips pursed at that, she didn't protest. "Besides," Korra added in an attempt at lightheartedness, "it's not like you've gotten much more."
"I'm not fighting Vaatu for control," Asami pointed out.
Instead of addressing that, Korra nodded distractedly toward the control panels of the jet. "Why don't you teach me how flying this thing works?"
Asami seemed to know that she wasn't going to convince Korra to get even an hour of sleep, so she led them back to the seats to begin explaining all of the buttons and dials. Korra was way too exhausted to remember most of it, or even to comprehend a good amount, but it helped just to hear Asami's voice. Just to know that Asami's wasn't upset with her, and that Asami was talking as much as she could and prompting for the occasional response to try and keep Korra awake. It worked, too, and Korra managed to last the entire flight without drifting off once.
It was long dark by the time they landed in Harbor City, and Korra wasn't the only one who was tired; as they all got off the jet, nobody said much of anything. Or maybe it wasn't exhaustion, but rather that nobody was sure what would happen, or if Korra would make it. The mood was somber, and even when they met Tonraq outside the airport where he was waiting with the snowmobiles, he didn't do much more than hug Korra in greeting.
Korra and Asami got into Naga's saddle, and with the others each on a vehicle, they started their journey out of the city. It didn't matter that once they left Harbor City it was extremely dark on the icy tundra, the only source of light being the moon and the distant ribbon of lights in the sky. They weren't worried about not knowing which direction to go, because the open spirit portal was like a beacon in the night.
Through the nervousness and the struggle to stay awake, the ride seemed to drag on forever, but eventually, they reached the woods. And then the portal. There was no one around but them when they arrived, but Korra was fairly certain that the Blue Lotus was somewhere nearby. How else would they have been so ready when she opened the portal in the first place? They had to have a camp somewhere close. They had to be here.
Instead of going out to search the woods, Korra dismounted with her friends, Tenzin, and her father, yelling into the night, "Shaozu!" It echoed off the icy ground and frozen trees, and they all stayed silent for a moment. "Shaozu, it's Korra!" She even cupped her hands around her mouth, hoping it would help her voice carry. "I know you can hear me! Get out here!" Another long span of silence, during which Asami pulled on her electric glove, and the others stood tense. "Blue Lotus! It's the Avatar! Shaozu!?"
They waited, scanning what dense portion of the forest was illuminated by the light of the portal. There was nothing out there, no movement for a long minute. Then Naga growled a low rumble in her chest, and at least thirty people in blue emerged from every direction, surrounding them with their backs to the portal.
"Avatar Korra," said a familiar voice from nearby. She whipped around to face Shaozu, and when he saw her for the first time, took in how visibly unwell she was, his expression went stony. "Why have you come?"
"Fusing me with Vaatu was a mistake," Korra told him, a pleading edge to her voice that she hadn't intended. But she had to make him understand. "I'm not balanced, I'm unstable."
Shaozu hummed, striding a couple paces closer while he thought about it. "You've been fighting him?" he asked, but it was more accusation than question. "Resisting the push and pull of opposite elements."
"I can't keep going back and forth," Korra said. "That's not balance."
"It is balance," Shaozu argued calmly. "You are the place where shore meets sea. The tide retreats, but it always returns."
"I don't have time for metaphors," Korra growled impatiently.
"You may not like Vaatu," he said plainly. "But his moments of influence are as important to the world as his moments of retreat." He trudged a straight line back and forth in front of Korra, wearing a rut into the snow. "Bad things happen, Korra, but without them the very world would be out of balance, tilt on its axis, perhaps stop spinning altogether. We survive because of a cycle."
Korra didn't know if Shaozu was being literal, if he really believed the world wouldn't be able to function without corruption, but whether he was being literal or figurative, she didn't care. Either way, he was wrong. An extremist as unbalanced as he'd made Korra.
"Well, it's killing me," Korra said forcefully. "And that's not a metaphor. Undo it."
"Killing you?" Shaozu repeated, stopping his tracks through the snow and looking genuinely surprised and concerned. That much was confusing.
"Nosebleeds," Korra explained, "headaches, pain like you can't imagine. Vaatu doesn't care about balance. He wants control. He wants Raava gone, and he won't stop until I give her up."
For an uncomfortable while, Shaozu simply stared at her, and then he scanned each of her companions. His shoulders slumped, and he let out a heavy sigh. "That is disappointing," he admitted, and Korra's brow rose with shock. With hope. Did he believe her? Was he going to fix it? "You'd been so full of promise," he said. "But we'll have to start over."
Wait… "Start over?" Korra asked, feeling her heart sink. Instinct told her that she knew exactly what Shaozu meant, and so she subtly reached out with the hand at her side, using her waterbending to prepare a defense.
"Yes," Shaozu answered, resuming his stride. "We'll try again with the next Avatar. Perhaps attempt fusion while they're younger, and less resistant to influence." He met Korra's gaze, his eyes harder and sterner than she'd seen them yet. "We'll first release you of the responsibility."
When he gave the signal with a flick of his hand, Korra was ready. She threw up a thick ice wall to block the first attack from one of the surrounding benders, and chaos erupted as her friends and the Blue Lotus sprang into action. They wanted to kill Korra, and being so severely outnumbered put them on the immediate defense. They circled up, deflecting everything that was thrown at them from the ring of Blue Lotus surrounding them. Korra used every element she could, but there was so much going on that it was hard to tell which elements were coming from where. Every time Mako blocked with a burst of fire, the blast was blinding in the night. Whenever Bolin broke a hurled chunk of earth, the dust hovered in the frozen air. Each of her and Opal and Tenzin's gusts stirred the fresh snow, whipping it from the ground to create thick flurries as obscuring as Bolin's dust.
And the Blue Lotus was closing in on them. Tightening the circle and getting closer so that eventually they wouldn't be able to maintain their round defense. One of the Blue Lotus's nonbenders got impatient. He dashed forward, making a play for Korra, but Asami leapt from the circle headfirst. She rolled into the snow to meet his attack, springing up from the ground and leading with her glove, so that it caught him in the abdomen and made him collapse on the spot. A firebender immediately tried to hit her while she was vulnerable, but Korra deflected it with a wave of water and a fierce glare.
This wouldn't work much longer. Once the Blue Lotus members got close enough, they wouldn't be able to deflect attacks in time. What they needed to do was get out of this formation, stop being surrounded and find a way to get an upper hand. The spirit portal was close. If they went through it then they could place themselves in front of it, and the Blue Lotus wouldn't be able to trap them in.
"Get in the portal!" Korra shouted, and all at once, every one of them turned.
They sprinted into it as every member of the Blue Lotus lunged after them, swiveling around to face it in a straight line, so they were no longer surrounded and could see each member that came through. The first Blue Lotus member that entered got simultaneously pelted by an element from each of them, hit so hard that she was hurled through the portal and back into the physical world. They took the opportunity to retreat a few more paces from the portal, putting a safer distance between it and them as a flood of Blue Lotus streamed through.
There was no lull in the attack, the very moment the Blue Lotus got in, they continued the assault. Only, this time they were entirely focused on Korra. Every bender threw their element right at her, creating an onslaught of fire, earth, water, and air, multiple at a time and so unrelentingly that it left her in a worse position than she'd been in in the physical world. Her companions did everything they could to shield her, even Asami and Naga dashed forward to meet the advance of a handful of nonbenders, but every few seconds one of them would get sent a surprise attack to throw them off.
It kept them on their toes. Kept them from being entirely focused on Korra, and Korra was focused on Asami. She and Naga were battling nonbenders in the midst of the ruckus, but just as they dispatched three of the six, four more left the frontlines of the Blue Lotus. Korra was worried, and it was hard to see through the commotion of attacks, and a moment later one of the elements broke through their defense. The block of ice hit her in the chest, sending her careening backward out of the line.
"Korra!" Opal yelled worriedly.
It knocked the breath out of her, but she managed to shout, "Keep fighting!" She stayed where she'd stopped rolling on the ground, recovering air and trying her best to recover the strength to even stand.
"Korra," Mako called behind him, "We can't last like this."
She glanced up just in time to see Bolin deflect an attack that had been aimed at Asami, only to get skimmed in the arm by a shard of ice in his moment of distraction. She had to get back in there, and she pushed onto her knees to begin to rise.
"He's right," Tonraq agreed loudly. "We-"
He stopped short as Tenzin announced, "They're advancing!"
Korra forced herself to her feet, running back to her place in the center of the line. The Blue Lotus was advancing, and fast. The small army of them sprinted forward, still hurling element after element, and there was no time to prepare or to retreat or to come up with another plan. Especially not with Asami and Naga at the heart of it all, still fighting any conscious nonbender. Korra dashed forward so Asami wouldn't be alone when the Blue Lotus reached her position, hearing a shout from behind her and certain that the others would follow. They met the Blue Lotus head on, and that's when true chaos erupted.
Their positions were broken, and they paired off because they couldn't stick together in the sea of Blue Lotus – Asami and Korra and Naga, Bolin and Opal and Mako, Tenzin and Tonraq. It was still an entirely defensive skirmish, dodging and deflecting, attacking when they could. But there was no way to avoid getting hit because there was too much to try avoiding. Korra punched through a chunk of earth, only to get clipped in the hip by a blast of air dirtied with fragments of ice. While she stumbled backward off balance, she managed to throw her arms up, shielding her face just in time to avoid being seared by a ball of fire.
Asami wasn't any better off. She ducked a wave of water by rolling sideways, but the moment she reached her feet, an earthbender shifted the ground beneath her forward. The propulsion sent her crashing to her back, and she managed to kick her legs over her head and spring up just before the earth was bent around her. A nonbender was already there, and she didn't get a second to recover before needing to deflect a punch, and she countered by pivoting around the man, slamming her electrified palm into his back. He collapsed, but just as he fell, Asami was hit in the shoulder blades by an air assault that sent her staggering forward.
Even Naga was too occupied to help them defend each other. The polar bear dog rose to her hind legs, swatting at a firebender with a heavy front paw. The man went flying, but before she could get all four paws on the ground again, an earthbender lifted a pillar that caught her on the underside of the jaw. She toppled to her back, rolling onto her feet only to get blasted in the ribs with such a powerful whirlwind that it knocked her to her side again, sending her skidding a few meters.
There were just too many. They managed to knock a Blue Lotus member unconscious every once in a while, but it hardly made a difference. Every one of them was taking hits left and right, and it wouldn't be long before recovering from it got too difficult. Korra was already beyond exhausted. She was slow to deflect, and every blow she took made her even slower. They'd kill her, and if her friends kept fighting then they might die too, and she couldn't let it carry on like this. She needed to do more.
It was a risk, but it was the only option. Korra locked in on the surge of power boiling beneath the surface of her skin, and her eyes illuminated white as she went into the Avatar state. She immediately surrounded herself with a protective sphere of swirling air, allowing it to lift her up and above the battle as it shielded her from attacks. From this vantage point, she searched the clash for one person in particular, gleaming eyes finally locating Shaozu amongst the expanse of blue.
Revolving her hands in a tight circle, she created a tornado of air that picked Shaozu from the crowd. It whirled him off the ground, and with that mighty gust she hurled him away from the skirmish and the portal, toward that hollow tree at the center of the grove where all of this started. Korra flew over the heads of everyone fighting, taking herself away from the battle and toward where Shaozu had landed apart from it. He was reaching his feet when she got there, and she let the sphere of air die to land in front of him.
"Call them off," she demanded, her voice bigger and mightier than it ever had been, filled with the ethereal power of Raava.
Shaozu gathered two long tendrils of water, whipping them at her and wrapping both around her torso, pinning her arms at her sides so she couldn't use them. She instantly stomped on the ground, raising a heavy rock in front of her and then jumping, twisting in mid air to kick the earth at him. He had to release her to avoid being pummeled. He let her go and flipped backward, and as the mass flew over him, he froze his water, gesturing his hands toward her while he landed on his feet. It sent a flurry of ice daggers zooming toward her, and she parried a few steps back as she skillfully cut her arms through the air, knocking every fragment off course so they pierced into the ground around her.
That's when she felt it, the familiar pain and pull of Vaatu. It split through her skull so suddenly she cried out, clutching at her head as she felt her eyes start to flicker. Not now. Please not now. There wasn't time, and she didn't have the strength to fight, but she'd promised. She'd given Asami her word that she wouldn't give up, and she wasn't going to break that promise. So she battled, gritting her teeth to try and stay in the Avatar state even if it hurt so bad that she was starting to feel lightheaded. But this was Shaozu's chance.
Unwilling to miss it, he created another tendril, freezing the end to whip it at her. The frozen bludgeon slammed into her shoulder, sending her crashing to the ground so hard that she rolled. The added agony and the distraction of it caused her eyes to linger at red, but as she struggled to her knees, she forced herself to block out the world, to focus on maintaining control. Her eyes flashed again, white, and red, and white. She pushed to her feet, barely managing to lift a wall of rock to block the next hit from that flinging boulder of ice, but no sooner had she blocked than Shaozu sent a blast of water into her abdomen.
"It's a shame you resist, Korra," Shaozu said as she tumbled backward head over heels. "You are strong."
Korra came to stop on her back, and lifted her shoulders off the ground, grimacing through the raging battle for control as her eyes favored red. A rope of water wrapped around her ankle and yanked sharply upward, tossing her into the air only for her to plummet back down. She landed heavy on her stomach, pushing onto her elbows and wheezing through the pain as Shaozu advanced.
"It's the Avatar's duty to sacrifice themselves for the greater good," Shaozu said. "You know this." He gripped her with the solid tendrils of water, wrapped them around her body and lifted her into the air, squeezing so tightly that she couldn't inhale. "It's time for you to make that sacrifice."
The agony was beyond excruciating, and she couldn't breathe and if Shaozu didn't kill her in the next couple moments then she'd lose consciousness anyway. This was it, and tears filled her eyes because she couldn't fight anymore. Not for her. Not for Asami. Not for anyone or anything as long as she was fighting Vaatu. It wasn't a matter of surrendering. She simply didn't have the strength to remain a contender. She lost the raging battle, her eyes stopped flickering and glowed that brilliant red, and the pain was gone.
In Vaatu's Avatar state, leaving the conflict behind, Korra regained power and focus. She purposefully froze the tendrils around her, and with all the Avatar strength in her body, she thrust her arms outward, shattering the ice that trapped her. The moment she was free, she created a whirlwind of air to keep her hovering, and she spun with it, twirling the broken ice around her so it would pick up speed. And then she let it fly. Used the spinning gust of air around her to bullet the pieces at Shaozu.
He tried to dodge and deflect, but they were moving too fast and there were too many. The first piece he got clipped by ruined his defense, it threw him off balance and every piece after it hit him. The blows knocked him backward, first sending him skidding a few feet back, and then beating him off his feet. When he landed on his back, Korra smashed a foot against the earth, lifting it under him to shoot him into the air. She collected water, wrapping it around his ankle as he'd done to her, but she aided gravity and pulled him back down. He hit the ground so hard she felt it vibrate beneath her feet, but she wouldn't give him much time to recover. She aimed to kill.
"You're interfering," her voice told him, but it wasn't entirely her. It was tainted. It was Vaatu. "You set me free, and I'm right where I want to be."
As Shaozu sat up, visibly shaken and weak, she punched a blast of fire at him. And another. And another. Advancing with them as she beat him back to the ground and stood at his feet.
"And now I'm going to end you," she rumbled, raising a massive boulder of earth and lifting it above her head. "So you can't ever force me out of the Avatar."
Just as she was about to smash him with it, something hard collided into her torso, ripping her off her feet. As she hit the ground a few yards away with a weight on top of her, and the boulder she'd been holding smashed down where she'd been standing, she realized it was Asami. Asami had fought through the skirmish and tackled her. Asami had stopped her from finishing this. And Vaatu was furious.
Korra hollered angrily, throwing Asami off of her with the sheer force of her palms to Asami's shoulders, and she sprang to her feet as Asami landed with a pained grunt. She filled her palms with fire, Vaatu fully prepared to end Asami so she wouldn't get in the way again, but whatever awareness was left in Korra panicked. She wouldn't kill Asami, ever, and she'd resist it even if it ended her own life.
Korra fought the blaze in her hands, fought Vaatu with everything she had left. The fire died, and with the immediately harrowing pain that coursed through her entire body, she buckled forward, letting out a tortured shout. As she collapsed to her knees, she saw Asami run back to Shaozu, intent on knocking him out before he could recover and come after Korra again. But Korra reached her knees, and she dry heaved so powerfully that it knocked her forward onto her hands. She wretched, fresh tears filling her eyes because it was happening again and she couldn't stop it. Raava would leave her and there wouldn't be a balance of anything. It would just be her and Vaatu.
Another convulsing gag traveled through her, but when that wisp of spirit slithered from her mouth, it wasn't white. It was black. She was doing it. She was beating Vaatu. And she surrendered to the next heave willingly, more and more of it slipping from her throat until it was gone completely. Until Vaatu was no longer something consuming her, but a real, solid, massive dark spirit, floating in the air before her. She gasped deeply to fill her lungs, but she was too tired and weak to react fast enough and go back into the Avatar state. Vaatu turned, shooting through the air with purpose, almost like he was aiming for…
"Asami!" Korra screamed in warning, but it was too late.
Asami had just finished knocking Shaozu out with her glove, and she turned right in time for Vaatu to collide with her chest. Her green eyes went wide as he crashed into her, but there was nothing she could do to fight. Vaatu disappeared inside of her. She staggered back a couple steps from the force, and her shoulders slumped forward with defeat for only a moment before she straightened up. Her eyes illuminated red, bright red lips pulling into an evil grin.
"Get out of her!" Korra hollered frantically, ignoring her own pain and weakness to rise to her feet. "Leave her alone!"
Asami started forward, chest heaving with a deep, booming laugh. Vaatu didn't say anything until Asami had reached Korra, and then she grabbed the collar of Korra's jacket in her fist, holding her in place while smashing the metal knuckles of the other gloved fist into her cheek. Asami let go, allowing Korra to fall from the blow.
"Oh," Vaatu chuckled. "Asami didn't like that."
"Asami," Korra pleaded, flinching as Asami reached down and grabbed her, hauling her back to feet. "You have to fight it."
"She can't fight it," Vaatu snarled. Asami's knee came up, crashing into Korra's stomach, and when she buckled over to wheeze for breath, she was hit across the back. "She's only human," Vaatu taunted as Korra hit the ground on her stomach. "And she won't last nearly as long as you did." A boot connected with Korra's ribs, and she thought she felt one of them crack as she was kicked so hard it flipped her onto her back. "She's fading already."
"Let her go," Korra whimpered. Instead, Asami raised a foot, aiming to bring it crashing down on Korra's chest. Korra rolled away, darting to her feet and preparing to dodge whatever she had to. She wouldn't fight Asami. Wouldn't hurt her.
"I'll let her go," Vaatu agreed, advancing and throwing a handful of jabs that Korra blocked with her forearms. "If you let me back in. Alone." But Korra was still weak, and tired, and deflecting and dodging hits already had her panting for air. Asami lifted a knee, kicking straight out and catching Korra in the stomach. Korra toppled backward, earthbending as she rolled and using it to push herself up, throwing her off the ground so she landed clumsily on her feet. "I can't fuse permanently until the next harmonic convergence," Vaatu said, advancing again with aggressive maneuvers so different from Asami's usually defensive technique. "But you were born for this. You're the only one who can survive it." Korra took a knee to the thigh, and her leg gave out through the temporary crippling of the struck muscle. "It has to be you."
"I'll never give you what you want!" Korra yelled up at Asami, chest heaving with labored breaths as she felt a spike of anger in her chest. Vaatu was holding Asami hostage, using Asami to get to her because he knew Korra would never hurt her. And he was right, but though she wanted more than anything to make sure Asami was safe, she couldn't let Vaatu back in. It wasn't an option. "Leave her alone!" The defiance was met with another crunching fist to the face.
"She's dying, Korra," Vaatu said mockingly. Korra glared up from the ground, but Vaatu was right. Asami's eyes flickered once, but it wasn't a battle for power. Asami would never be able to fight Vaatu. Her eyes went from glowing red to their normal green, showing Korra a brief glimpse of the deadened dimness in them before going red again. "After this kills her, maybe I'll go to your dad. Maybe I'll kill all your friends." As Korra's eyebrows furrowed with building frustration, Asami stretched her neck, letting out a possessed groan. "It might already be too late for her to recover from this."
Korra looked from Asami to the dying skirmish with the Blue Lotus. Her companions were alive. They were beaten, bruised, and broken, but they were alive, and they were winning and the battle was nearly over. But Vaatu would kill all of them, and as Korra returned her focus to Asami, watched Asami's eyes flicker from that bright red to a dull green, she didn't feel tired anymore. She didn't feel any of the lingering weakness, or hurt, or helplessness. She didn't feel anything but the peaking rage and the livid bile in her throat.
"You're wasting the precious time Asami has left," Vaatu sneered. "Give in to me!"
She wouldn't let him do this. She was done. "Vaatu," Korra muttered through clenched teeth, steadily rising to her feet until she was standing there, staring into those waiting red eyes. And through that burning fury in her chest, she roared, "GET OUT!"
Her desperation and anger fueled all the power and energy she had left. The surge of the Avatar state burst through her, filled her lungs and her head and her blood. The glowing white illuminated her eyes, and something stiff and painful shot through her core, arching her back as that pain tore through her throat. Something solid and white reached out of her mouth, extending from her in the rough shape of a hand. That wisp curved down, the end of it splaying flat over Asami's face, gripping, causing her to go rigid and arch just like Korra was.
Then the wisp started drawing back, pulling a similar black shadow from Asami's mouth. It pulled slowly, easing that darkness free until it'd pulled the entirety of Vaatu away, freeing Asami from his possession. The very moment Vaatu was out, Asami collapsed limply, but Korra couldn't stop. She smoothed her hands around in the air, working a massive sphere of wind around Vaatu while he was still dazed. Once he was secure in it, she drew back and punched, bending a slew of rock from the earth and wrapping it around the layer of air. She immediately reached out with both hands, collecting the scattered water and then waving them forward, belting the solid stream of it in another layer around Vaatu. She followed through that wave of her hands, whirling them back and over her head, and as she brought them down again in front of her, she threw a powerful blast of fire forward, circling it around the other bands.
Vaatu was trapped. Stuck in the tight sphere she'd created, and Korra held her hands out, directing the spinning vault of elements toward the tree she knew he'd escaped from. With her hold on him, she paced forward, concentrating hard on not faltering as she reached the tree at the center of the grove. And she placed Vaatu back in the hollow of it, the powerful energy sealing him in with a blinding flash of purple light.
The light faded at the same time as the surge of the Avatar state did, and Korra was too tired to celebrate what she'd done, or that Vaatu was finally imprisoned. She slumped with exhaustion for only a brief second before her heart sank. Before whatever relief she felt in her gut iced over with desolate fear. She whirled around, eyes immediately landing on Asami's unmoving form.
She sprinted forward, sliding to her knees at Asami's side. "Asami?" she prompted desperately, eyes filling with tears as she pulled Asami's upper body into her lap. She leaned down, placing her ear beside Asami's nose and then immediately pressing two fingers to her pulse. "No, no, no." Her breathing was too soft, hardly a tickle against Korra's ear, and her heartbeat too slow, a bare and weak and inconsistent thump. She was slack and unresponsive and Korra's heart shattered into a million pieces. "Come on, Asami," she begged, hugging Asami to her. "Naga!" She had to get Asami to the hospital. She had to do something because this couldn't be how it ended. She couldn't take this. She couldn't. "Please, Asami, don't do this." A stream of tears spilled down her cheeks. "It's your turn to fight. Please."
Korra broke down, sobbing into Asami's neck as her friends finally ran over, stopping in front of her. She couldn't feel any physical pain. Not the cuts and bruises in her face. Not the aching of her limbs or the sharpness of her broken rib. All she could feel was the piercing of her heart because she was losing Asami. Because Asami wouldn't wake up, and she hadn't done enough to stop it and she hadn't beat Vaatu fast enough and she didn't know what to do because she couldn't see anything through the blur of tears, and her heart was broken. "I'm sorry," she cried. Asami didn't deserve this. Asami had fought for her, tirelessly, selflessly. This couldn't happen. "I'm so sorry. Please, Asami. You're so strong. Please, don't give up." This couldn't be it.
