The sounds of footsteps approaching alerted the sole occupant of the vast dungeon. Kuvira had just shifted from a kneeling position to a lotus position, making a conscious effort to meditate and to provide some relief to her chaffed knees against the hard ground and the throbbing cramps on her legs. The weight of the platinum shackles around her wrists and the clanking sound of the chains at every movement didn't aid well in this effort. At least while she was here securely tied down to the floor she didn't have to deal with the animosity of the other prisoners. Whenever she was transported from the small provisional cell she spent her nights at to the dungeon, gruff, accusing voices would greet her from other cells:
"Murderer!"
"Tyrant!"
"Traitor!"
That last one hurt the most. She wasn't expecting many of the Republic City prisoners to be sympathizers to the cause but apparently, even with the fallout of the disastrous attempt to annex Republic City to her Earth Empire, there had been many who truly counted on her to lead a prison break and to reorganize the remaining loyalist forces from exile. Several long months later after surrendering to the Avatar and Republic City's authorities, a total tally of zero escape attempts had proved them wrong and now she had to deal with their daily disappointment.
The sound of the heavy door opening caught Kuvira's attention. Her body shuddered out of its own accord as four guards surrounded her. She dreaded this part of the day. In order to ensure her submission while being moved back to the cell, the warden had authorized a rather nasty variant of chi blocks strong enough to leave her defenseless but that still allowed her to move on her own. It was just enough to bridge the gap between both locations to finally collapse inside the cell under the after effects of the procedure. She was quite aware how and why she had earned this treatment. Beating the Avatar once. Standing her ground countless times against the likes of Chief Lin Beifong and Suyin Beifong had just served to enhance her notoriety. If that wasn't enough, there was the fact that she restored a whole nation once plunged into chaos back to order within three years, and then harnessed said nation's resources towards building an almost unstoppable army. With such a curriculum vitae under her belt, ill repute was indeed ensured for a lifetime. Apparently, Tenzin had been opposed to the blocks having heard rumors about how it was applied as punishment rather than to ensure cooperation from its receiver. President Raiko had adamantly insisted, pointing out the massive damage just one person with the right weapon had inflicted to his city.
Today she felt drained to the core. For the last few feet, the guards had to drag her through the corridor until they disposed of her with an unceremonious push followed by the loud thud of the door closing behind her. It wasn't the cold hard floor that bothered her or the musty air. It was the chills. The tremors. The vertigo. The pain stabbing her temples. The nausea rising bitterly from her stomach to her throat that resulted from the "treatment." In this state, Kuvira wouldn't dare delude herself to stopping the tears that slipped bitterly down her cheeks. She wondered if the Avatar saving her had really been a mercy because there was nothing merciful about losing control of one's body on a daily basis. Another bane added to her extremely dangerous prisoner status was the time it was taking to build a permanent cell, designed just for her. It should be almost completed by now. At least that's what she hoped for because it would mean avoiding a daily torment. While wrecked with exhaustion, she wondered for how long she would be able to endure it.
The memories of what had transpired in the last hours of the Earth Empire's offensive against Republic City replayed through her mind's eye one more time. It had become part of her new routine and when she came back from unconsciousness, it was her queue to realize it was night time. The metalbender rose up from the floor sensing her body recovered into a somewhat operational status again. Physical pain now gave way to mental torment. During the day, she spent every drop of energy and forced every fiber of her body into maintaining this unbreakable façade of the menacing leader of the Earth Empire. Every insult, every discomfort and pain they put her through during the day she would endure with the same cold, imperturbable expression in her green eyes, and she was quite aware of its impact on her captors. They had deprived her of everything but she would not surrender easily the little control she still had. If she could exasperate her captors with her indifference, she would continue to do so even if she later paid the consequences of her defiance.
The price was usually paid in sleeplessness. Or nightmares. Most times both. On her conscious moments it was the emptiness that menaced to swallow her whole. Emptiness had been a long-time companion, she realized upon her incarceration, for longer that she could recall. Probably her conscience refused to acknowledge it as a sign of weakness and instead, it found things to fill the void to distract from validating its existence but it had really never gone away. It just grew deeper. Hungrier. Darker.
And then there was the numbness. Weeks after her surrender, as the preliminary hearings against her in Republic City went underway, Kuvira felt as if she was coming out of a trance-like existence. It had been hinted from the instant she stepped out of the Spirit Portal and slowly it was as if a heavy curtain was being slowly drawn back, revealing things under a new, harsher light. Her single minded purpose had blinded her to many things she was just becoming aware of now.
The dream-like state she had been plunged into felt invigorating, exhilarating, fulfilling. It made every muscle in her body thrive with steeled purpose and focus. It pushed her to her limits and beyond. The certainty of absolute control had been intoxicating. The allure of absolute power at her hands, irresistible. Every cell of her body was commanded into one single purpose. But now the purpose was erased into oblivion. Her dreams, her lofty ideals, all perished with her defeat and now Kuvira doubted she would be able to feel anything again. That's when bruised palms and broken fingers and toes and occasionally a bloody temple began to appear. The numbness drove her to abuse her limbs against the walls in an attempt to force herself to feel, even if the only thing she would feel was pain.
After one of these violent rampages had rendered the deposed tyrant exhausted to the point of unconsciousness, she had been surprised to find the Avatar treating her damaged hands in place of the prison medics. Apparently, her solitary rampages had been noticed and perhaps fearing there would be no more Great Uniter to judge should they continue unchecked, the prison staff alerted their superiors and somehow the Avatar herself decided to intervene for reasons unknown to Kuvira and only known to Korra.
Kuvira shifted her glance from the extremity Korra was healing to her former opponent's face. It was still hard to reconcile the memory of the woman she'd defeated while barely breaking a sweat and the one sitting down beside her with glowing blue hands treating her battered body. This version possessed an air of boundless confidence and wisdom the other lacked and now she was glancing back at her with a knowing expression.
"If you keep this up you will end up damaging your bones and tendons to the point no spirit water will be able to mend them," Korra offered with genuine concern.
"Wouldn't that be the best interest for all of you? I wouldn't be a threat anymore," Kuvira retorted curtly.
"I don't think you are one now," Korra murmured as she concentrated the water on a particular spot. "Listen," she added more clearly now. "I know what you're doing and why. Spoiler alert: it doesn't work."
The Avatar casually admitting weakness to her caught her attention. "You've done this…So what works then?"
"You have to face yourself and deal with what's driving you to do this," she pointed at the wall, smudges of dried blood staining its surface. Her sapphire eyes revealed for a brief instant a sliver of pain. It seemed that Kuvira's present despair evoked memories of the Avatar's own past torments.
"Easier said than done." Kuvira attempted to grin but instead winced at the pain of bones on the mend.
Korra finished her treatment and stared at the fallen tyrant with an inscrutable expression. "I know, but it can be done… if you really want it."
That was the challenge that remained after Korra was long gone. Did she really want to face the demons head on was she contenting herself with half an existence of pain and numbness until every shred of her sanity was eventually torn into oblivion? Kuvira faced the wall again, healed fists at the ready, feet firmly planted to the ground. She could hear the voices murmuring inside her head. Felt the shadows creeping over her skin with long, cold tendrils that brought goosebumps over her arms. The suffocating oppression over her chest. She threw a punch but stopped mere centimeters from the wall. She drew in a cleansing breath and laid down in her hard bed closing her eyes, her body curling up under the thin blanket.
"I can do this." The phrase reverberated inside her mind and sleep soon overcame her.
