25. Almost Paradise
A/N: I don't know if anyone hasn't seen the finale at this point, but this chapter contains major spoilers SOO...
Consider yourself warned.
-x-
For a prolonged moment before Noatok ran away, Tarrlok was almost in paradise.
Almost.
There was a strange sense of bliss hidden deep within Noatok's bloodbending. It was as if controlling your own body was a burden, as if suddenly, you were free from an unbearable load.
His father's voice rang out harshly against his strangled cries. "Good, good." it was good that he was being controlled. It was good that all he could do was scream.
Suddenly, it all came crashing down. Panting, Tarrlok's body struggled under the weight that had been dropped on his shoulders again. The comfortable weight of control.
For a moment, it was almost paradise.
Almost.
That was when the only world he ever knew shattered into a million little pieces, like a glass dropped from high atop a tower.
'We searched for days, but we never found a sign of Noatok. We thought he had perished in that storm.'
And in a way, the little boy named Noatok... Did.
-x-
He walked up from the basement, annoyed at what Avatar Korra had said.
He didn't expect to come face-to-face with Amon.
He knew what would come next. All the benders in Republic City knew what would come next.
But somewhere, deep within the fear and emptiness that filled the void his bending had left, there was a strange sense of bliss.
And for a second time, Councilman Tarrlok was almost in paradise.
Almost.
-x-
At the end, when it says Noatok did, it means that the real Noatok did, in fact, die. Just to clarify.
I'M NOT DEAD! I don't even have an excuse for not updating, other than the fact that I'm so obsessed with my other story right now... I'm terrible. :'(