She remembered the light. The blinding light. The flash spewing malevolently from the weapon's barrel that was engulfing everything around its perimeter with the single intention of obliteration. The light that had turned against its owner and now attempted to erase her existence. The void that laid on the other side of the light would at least ease the pain of her failure. It would allow her to surrender her burden, to rest, to forget. But eternal darkness never came for her. Instead it was the bright colors, a column of pure light rising to the skies enveloping her like a caress. She could sense the power in it, it seeped through her pores like nothing she had experienced before. This was her opponent's doing she realized. It was her real power, a power even superior to the one she attempted to harness. Facing her inside the pillar, streams of soft yellow and green intertwining at even intervals, the Avatar floated in gentle levitation. Deliverance had not come in the guise of death but with the many colored splendors of the Spirit World.
She also recalled the blue. Blue was the gaze observing her intently, a myriad of emotions made transparent in its depths. Was it pity? Contempt? Anger? It was none of those, realized a perplexed Kuvira. Those she recognized and understood deeply from personal experience, but the young woman was looking at her with profound empathy. Since when empathy had become an alien sentiment to her that it made it hard to recognize it in someone else's eyes now? Perhaps since the moment she felt that pieces of her soul began inexorably detaching the more broken and empty she became.
"I see a lot of myself in you," Korra had said. Her voice was firm yet gentle, her expression serene. Kuvira looked on astounded. Was this the same person she fought ferociously moments before? She expected severity, sternness, disdain, yet this unexpected reaction caught her completely unaware and left her utterly defenseless. Vulnerable.
"I had to do something!" she could still hear herself scream, fist balled up, nails digging in the palm of her free hand drawing blood. The short haired woman sat down while observing her attentively. Something deep, bitter erupted inside her chest. When she realized what was happening she fought desperately to withhold it but it was already too late. The dam broke and choked sobs escaped her throat like a torrent. Salty tears made their way out and she couldn't recall when it had been the last time she had allowed them to fall. The sobbing spasms collided with her battered and broken ribs, spreading white hot agony through her injured side but she was unable to stop crying until her drained body was finally able to subside the tremors. She sensed a warm presence surrounding her and when she opened her eyes she was met with ethereal faces floating around her staring at her with what could be read as curiosity. She remained still and noticed how on her opposite side Korra spoke to similar creatures amiably. Few things had unsettled the metalbender in her stern life. She mentally checked spirits as one of those things as she followed their flying patterns, alerted to any threatening gesture. However, they seemed more amused than irritated or intimidated by her presence and after apparently having their fill in their dissection of her, they left in a flurry of colors and bizarre shapes.
The Avatar had approached while she saw the last of the spirits leave amidst the wild and dreamlike vegetation. "It is time." The former Great Uniter accepted the hand that aided her to get back on her feet.
"Let's go, Kuvira. You have a war to end."
Notes:
And so we begin our journey towards acceptance and redemption with Kuvira. This series' content is mostly Teen but it will contain some mature situations of sexual content so each chapter will have its warning to identify it. Hope you stick around in this tale of regrets and repentance but also of hope.