When Toph finally slowed the mound of earth beneath their feet to a stop, Forgetful Valley was long behind them, nothing more than a cluster of trees far in the distance. Dark clouds churned in the sky above the valley, interspersed with hot streaks of lightning. A stark contrast to the clear blue skies surrounding it. This was no natural storm. Sen had caused this with his emergence from his physical, human shell. Now that he had regained his full power and entered the material world with his true form, there was nothing left to contain him.
"Set them over there," Zuko said, giving an urgent look to Mai, Ty Lee, Sokka, and Suki, all of whom had been rendered unconscious from the previous fight. He pointed to a clear spot on the ground nearby. "And find something to bind them with."
"Got you covered," Toph said, with a quick shift of her feet. Earthen bindings lifted upward to hold the four in place and slide them together where Zuko was pointing.
Katara gave a worried look to the unconscious four, focusing in particular on her brother. "Is that really necessary?"
Zuko nodded, as he set Azula down gently on the ground. He removed his outer cloak and folded it beneath her head as a pillow. "As far as we know, they're still under Sen's control, so yes. We don't want them attacking us again when they wake up."
"But we can fix them, can't we?" Katara asked. "Like we fixed the others?"
Everyone's attention shifted towards Kuvira, causing her to flinch. She held Korra's unconscious body tightly in her arms, pressing a tender hand to the back of her head. With an unknowing sigh, she lowered her gaze to her wife's face. "I'm not sure. Korra was the one who could remove that influence from them, but now…" Strength flooded out of her body moments later, dropping her to the ground. She held Korra tighter, as a steady mist of tears began to well in her eyes. "Is she even still in there?"
"I don't know," Zuko muttered. "We saw Sen take Raava's essence from her, but as for Korra's own essence we may have to wait and see."
"But if Raava's gone... she's not the Avatar anymore, is she?" Katara let the question hang in silence for a long, desperate moment. When she spoke again, her tone crawled out with stunned, defeated realization. "There is no more Avatar."
Another silence, as they stood there and allowed the gravity of what had happened sink in. Toph broke the silence with a sharp huff. "So what the heck are we supposed to do now?"
Zuko could only shake his head. "I have no idea."
Darkness clawed around Korra's entire being. Cold, thick, suffocating. She struggled to break free of it, to swim away from the drowning ocean that consumed her. Futile. Hopeless. With every effort she put forth, the darkness only dragged her deeper. The clutches of that void squeezed tight around her, refused to let her go. She was falling, falling, falling into the black, into the deep, and nothing could free her.
Out of the darkness, a distant warmth latched on to her. It was a familiar warmth, a presence she knew and loved. An outstretched hand that, even though she couldn't see it, filled her with renewed strength, a will to rise and fight. With as mighty an effort as she could put forth, she flew out of the dark. Within her mind, she soared into the clouds, to the sun, where the light was. Physically, she bolted upright from the ground and snapped her eyes open, heaving in deep, unsteady breaths. Cold sweat poured across her face, while her heart pounded a thousand times a second inside her chest, panicked and on edge.
Her heart calmed when the light that had freed her from the dark pulled her close into a tight, unyielding embrace. "Korra! Thank goodness you're okay. I thought Sen got you too."
The moment she heard Kuvira's voice, Korra relaxed, and her breathing steadied. Still, confusion remained. The fear, the uncertainty—it was strong. "Kuvira? What… what happened? The last thing I remember—" Her recently calmed heart leaped into her throat as the memory slammed through her mind. "Raava! I don't feel Raava!"
Kuvira fell quiet after Korra's revelation. With a bow of her head, she closed her eyes and eased a long, heavy breath. "Sen, he… he ripped Raava out of your body and absorbed her essence. She's gone."
Korra balked, almost falling away from Kuvira's grasp as she tried to get back to her feet. "No! No that can't be right. That can't…"
When she found the strength to stand, she took a few shaky steps to catch her balance, and shifted into an earthbending stance. She pushed her arms forward, poured her chi into the earth, envisioned lifting a boulder... Nothing happened. A panicked flutter pounded into her chest as she entered a firebending pose. No result. The panicked flutter crashed into a nauseous churn, as she whirled into an airbending stance. Same as before, nothing happened. Desperate for any kind of positive result, she whirled an arm forward and concentrated on the water in the flask at her hip. Mercifully, a coiling stream of water obeyed her will and flowed outward under her control. In spite of this success, her expression sank with the horrifying revelation.
"I can only bend water," she uttered, in a shrill, hoarse whisper. "I… I'm not the Avatar anymore."
"Korra, it's okay," Kuvira said, coming to her wife's side. "We'll figure something out. We can still—"
"We can what?" Korra tore away and took a few aimless steps across the grass. She wrapped her arms around herself and sank to her knees, staring at the dirt. "Kuvira, that was it! The Mother of Faces, Raava—they were the only two with the power to stop Sen, and now they're gone! The Avatar is gone!"
Kuvira remained undeterred. She made her way back to Korra's side and knelt down to join her on the ground. When they were side-by-side, she held a hand to her wife's shoulder and gave a comforting squeeze. "But you're still here. You. Korra."
Korra swallowed, but didn't say anything. Slowly, she turned her head so she could look her wife in the eyes. Kuvira's gaze stared back with unflinching resolve. Firm, yet tender. Loving.
"You've done so many amazing things for this world," Kuvira insisted, "and not because you could bend all the elements. Because of who you are as a person. Because of what you mean to the world and what the world means to you. Raava doesn't make you who you are."
With a defeated sigh, Korra looked away. In spite of Kuvira's insistence, she couldn't shake off the overwhelming sense of failure. It wrapped over and engulfed her like an unrelenting smog, choking her with its acrid burn. "But she did give me the only power that could stop the dark spirit trying to destroy humanity. Without her, without the Mother of Faces… Even if we do figure out another way to stop him before he destroys the world, all of his victims so far—our friends, our family—they'll all die. We don't have that kind of time. One way or another, we've already lost."
"Korra, look at me. Right now." When Korra's head didn't budge, Kuvira moved around in front of her and stared straight into her eyes. "Look at me. You don't get to give up, do you hear me? That's not who you are. That's not who I married. You don't give up. That's what you taught me. No matter how bleak things look, never stop trying to make things better. Never stop trying to help those who need it, and never stop doing what's right, for the world and its people. Whatever it takes, however we have to do it, even if we die trying, we won't stop fighting Sen. We stick together. All of us. You got that?"
Korra heaved out a deep breath and closed her eyes. Leave it to Kuvira to cut right through to the heart of the matter. There was no ignoring her wife's insistence now, and while she wouldn't have expected those words of encouragement to affect her, they were something she'd needed to hear. They instilled her heart with renewed strength, and a sense of drive. Finally, she smiled and wrapped her arms tight around Kuvira. "Yeah… yeah, I got it. Thank you."
Later that night, Katara approached the small campfire flickering in the darkness, carrying a bundle of sticks and logs in her grasp. Suki, Sokka, Ty Lee, and Mai all remained unconscious, lying motionless at one side of the fire in their earthen bindings. Zuko sat at his wife's side, holding her hand. Toph, meanwhile, had raised a small notch of earth to lean against with her hands folded behind her head, while Korra and Kuvira sat close together on the other side of the fire, both staring into the dimming embers.
"I brought more firewood," Katara said, dropping the wood into a neat pile.
Zuko lifted his attention and offered an appreciative nod. "Thanks, Katara."
"We shouldn't be sitting here." Korra spoke up, punctuating her point with a deep exhale. "The more time we waste…"
"I know, but we need to recover," Kuvira said, tightening her arms around her wife. That simple act gave the former Avatar reassurance, and allowed her to relax. "And we have to figure out what to do next."
Korra slowly nodded. "Right…"
Katara watched the former Avatar briefly, before glancing over at the four bound and unconscious individuals near the fire. A distant pang of grief sank into her heart. "Are you sure you can't help them?"
Korra followed her gaze and breathed a heavy sigh. "It was Raava's energy I used to break Sen's connections with those he'd brought back before. Without her…" She shook her head, and tore her gaze away. "I'm sorry. I'm not the Avatar anymore."
"It's alright, really. We'll figure something out." Katara shifted her attention with a curious gaze around the camp. While she hadn't noticed at first, she now realized they were missing a person. "Where's Azula?"
"She woke up a short while ago," Zuko said. "I tried talking to her, but she stormed off. Wouldn't say anything."
"I don't blame her." Katara fell silent momentarily, thinking back to what they had learned in Forgetful Valley, and how that would affect Azula. "Regardless of whether or not we get along, no one deserves to go through what she's going through right now. Losing Anraq and Kanna… It's horrible."
"We haven't lost them yet. Not completely." In spite of Zuko's insistence, there was a distinct desperation in his tone, as though he didn't believe his own words. "We can still save them. We just have to figure out how."
"Well, someone should go round her up soon," Toph muttered, repositioning herself on her earthen slab for better comfort. "Can't leave her out there all by herself now that Sen's back at full power, especially when he's specifically hunting her or whatever."
Zuko nodded, and started to get up. "I'll go."
"No, I will," Katara insisted.
"Uh…" Zuko blinked at her, and turned a glance towards the others. Toph didn't react to his look, while Korra and Kuvira merely shrugged at him. "Are you sure?"
Katara slowly nodded. Spirits knew this was probably a terrible idea, but she and Azula had to bury the boomerang at some point. Now was as good a time as any to try. "Yeah, I want to. It'll be fine, really. You all just rest."
"Well, okay then," Zuko said, pointing off through the trees around them. "She went that way."
Azula tossed another fireball into the sky with a wild shout. Coils of blue flames ignited the darkness, fueled by every horrible emotion that had boiled inside her since the events at Forgetful Valley. The rage, the hate, the grief, the despair. When the flames flickered into dimming embers, she threw her fingers forward and sizzled the air with a blinding flash of lightning. Another furious shriek howled out her throat. Tears had long since streaked down her face and dried into a salty, sticky mess, but she did nothing to wipe them away. She let them stain her cheeks, let her makeup run. She didn't care.
How had this happened? Annie and Kanna didn't deserve this. They were both innocent. They were pure. Everything she wasn't. If anyone deserved to have their spirit ripped from their body and destroyed, it was her. She was the one who should have been taken. Instead, she'd lost the most important people in her life. Was this the world's way of punishing her? Even now, after so long, she continued to suffer for the things she'd done. Had she not repented? Had she not done enough to change? Had she not tried to be a better person?
"You will give them back to me, Sen!" She pointed her fingers to the sky again, and another searing bolt of lightning blinded the night air with glowing blue light. "Or I swear I will destroy you for what you've done! Everything you've done! Do you hear me!"
"Azula?"
She faltered at the sound of her own name. When she turned, she noticed the last person she wanted to see standing behind her: Katara, her old nemesis. She looked away and raised a hand to wipe her eyes clean. Couldn't have the peasant girl of all people seeing her cry. "What do you want?"
"Just coming to find you," Katara said, in a soft tone. She took a step closer, keeping her body language reserved and withdrawn, as if doing her utmost to not make Azula uncomfortable. "You've been gone a while. Everyone's getting worried."
"So what?" Azula sucked in a deep breath as she finished wiping the tears and smudged makeup away from her face. Only then did she turn again to look at the woman. "Let them worry. What do they care? What do you care?"
"We do care, and we want to help if we can," Katara insisted. "You shouldn't have to be alone right now. If you come back with me, we can—"
"I'm not going anywhere. Not with you." Azula took a step away and folded her arms tight across her chest. A small flicker of blue flames wisped from her lips as she breathed. "I don't want to talk to anyone, I don't want to share my feelings, and I don't need help. I just want to be alone."
"Azula…"
"Save it, Katara. I don't want to hear anything from you."
"I just thought—"
"Oh, you thought?" Azula snapped a sharp glare at the other woman, with a glint of fire in her eyes. "What exactly did you think about me? Tell me, what goes through the perfect little Water Peasant's mind when she thinks of the fallen Fire Princess, hmm? I'm so curious."
Katara softened her expression and eased a gentle sigh. "Look, Azula, I know we don't get along, but I know you're in a lot of pain right now. I understand that pain, and it's okay to feel it. It's okay to be angry. But you shouldn't try to close yourself off from people, especially the ones who care about you."
"You understand?" Azula's face contorted with an almost disgusted disbelief. "How could you possibly understand what I've gone through? What I'm going through now? You don't understand anything!"
"Have you forgotten about Aang?" Katara asked, lowering her own brow into a stern gaze. "I may look younger now, but I've still lived a long life. I lost him. I lost him a long time ago, and it took me years to get over that. Don't you tell me that I don't understand pain, or loss. I've been there before. I've felt it."
Azula scoffed. "Oh that's rich. Tell me, Katara, how did your precious husband die, hmm?"
"That's hardly the—"
"I asked a question!"
Katara frowned, hissing out a sharp breath through her nose. "He died peacefully, in his sleep."
"Peacefully. In his sleep." Azula huffed a mocking, unsurprised laugh. "That's what I thought. Sure, you lost him, but it wasn't a surprise, was it? You were expecting it. You knew it was coming. You were prepared for it. Was his spirit ripped away from him by a monster? Was he left an empty shell? Were any of your children given the same fate? No. So don't you stand there and pretend like you know how I feel! Because you don't! The things I've been through, the things I've lost, what I've suffered... You have no idea."
Azula's breathing surged rapid and heavy, seething with deep, underlying anger that threatened to make her burst. Remarkably, she was restraining herself. The old her would have snapped a long time ago and probably thrown fire at Katara. Instead, she kept to words, if still heated and furious words. Who did this woman think she was? How could Katara possibly believe she knew what Azula had gone through? Ever since the Hundred Year War, Katara's life had been perfect and happy, while Azula's own had been nothing but horror.
The absolute gall of this insufferable peasant.
Katara watched her a long time, with a deep, stern glare. While she had started off gentle and understanding, she soon matched the Fire Princess' aggressiveness with her own strength, unwilling and unable to be bullied or talked down to. "You're right. I don't know exactly what you're going through. And maybe my own loss isn't exactly the same as yours. But I've still been there. I still know that pain. I know that void in your chest. The one that feels empty, like nothing can fill it? I've felt that, too. And don't you dare tell me that I don't understand suffering. I've suffered in ways no one should ever have to, because of horrible people. Because of people like—" Her words faltered, catching herself before she could finish the sentence, but the point had already been made.
"Go on, say it," Azula dared. She knew exactly what the Water Peasant had meant. "Because of people like me."
"No, that's not what I—"
"I know I've done terrible things, alright?" Azula inhaled a deep, stuttering breath. She forced her jaw shut, struggling to keep the breath from cracking into something somber and weak. "I know I'm not a 'good' person, and I know I probably deserve everything I get. But they didn't. Annie, Kanna? They shouldn't have had to suffer because of the things I did. I'm the one who should be suffering. I have suffered, and now I…"
Further words escaped her, as she choked on a tightening knot in her throat. Damn the tears. Why couldn't they just stop? Hadn't she shed enough already? She immediately turned away so Katara couldn't see. She'd be damned if she showed weakness in front of that peasant.
In spite of Azula's efforts to hide her tears, they didn't go unnoticed. Katara's expression shifted yet again, losing its edge. Rather than continuing to push harder and challenge Azula, she returned to her motherly, caring demeanor, one of understanding and empathy. "Azula, I'm sorry. I know we're not friends, and I know we don't think much of each other. We may never. But I will admit that you've changed since I last knew you. You've changed a lot, and for the better. You have a lot of people who care about you. Friends, family… Let those people help you through this. Please. For your own sake. What you're going through, no one should have to deal with alone."
Azula forced back the lump in her throat, until she could finally swallow it and free herself of its choking numbness. She managed a partial glance back towards Katara, just able to see the woman at the corner of her vision. "Hmph. You're just so compassionate, aren't you? It really is annoying." She looked away again, but her hostility vanished. Spirits, she didn't have the energy for it anymore. Instead, her tone became distant, forlorn. "I don't know what to do right now. I just… I just feel…"
A sudden bubbling lifted in the pit of her stomach, and she knew what was coming. Even before the full effect hit, she was already cursing and leaning forward. Not now. Why did it have to happen now? With a vile retching, she coughed and spit out a mouthful of vomit. It didn't last long, but the entire process bent her down to her hands and knees. When it finally ceased, she groaned out with a weak shudder and spit the lingering vestiges of stomach acid out of her lips. "Damn it…"
Katara hurried to her side, placing a hand on her shoulder. "Are you alright?"
"I'm fine!" Azula flinched at the touch, and tore herself away. She immediately slowed her actions, as another nauseous bubble sank in her gut. "I'm just… I've been a little unwell this past week."
"You have? I didn't notice."
"Well, it's not like I went around telling people about it," Azula quipped. "Besides, it only happens in the morning anyway. Usually. So no, you wouldn't have noticed."
"Wait…" Katara narrowed her eyes and raised one of her hands. The water in the flask at her hip drained out a moment later and surrounded her palm. "Come here."
"What on earth are you doing?" Azula tried to crawl away, but her legs quivered like jelly. She could only kneel there as the peasant pressed the glowing water to her abdomen. "Get that away from me."
"Oh would you sit still for a second?" Katara held her still with one arm, and kept the water pressed tight to Azula's upper groin. "Relax, I'm just… oh."
"What?" Azula blinked, scrunching her eyebrows together. She didn't like the sound of that 'oh', and she liked even less the look of surprise that had just exploded across the Water Peasant's face. "What is it?"
"Azula, you…" Katara took her hand away and looked Azula square in the eyes. "You're pregnant."
