A/N: Kuvira doesn't come back with Korra. She is lost in the Spirit World. An unexpected person guides her out…but into a different time period. She is sent two years before Sozin's comet, at a time when the Air nomads were still alive. How will she change the past in order to prevent a war from raging for a hundred years? Will she become a dictator or will she find a different way to fight against the rising threat of the Fire Nation supremacists? Will she meet with a kid Aang and make him the Avatar earlier or will she try to protect him from the shadows?

Enjoy this story and please review if you liked it, don't hesitate to give ideas so that I don't run out midway through. I'm not the planner kind, I write what I'm inspired to write. I loved LOK season 3 and I want Kuvira to have an awesome character arc too, just like Zaheer was an awesome antagonist (with no actual reason to kidnap and kill the Avatar, just something to make him look bad when his goal has nothing to do with the Avatar and was actually a great cause to fight for with devoted friends by his side and a love interest that we learned too little about).

Now, raise the curtain, because the play is gonna start!

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Chapter 1

"Avatar, where are you?"

No answer.

"Korra!"

Nothing.

"Please! Someone! I'm stuck in here! Please help me find an exit!"

After ten minutes without an answer, Kuvira started to walk away. She looked for an exit, but nothing like that seemed to present itself to her. She soon felt hungry and thirsty. She tried to drink the water from a river, but it was not hydrating. She tried to eat plants, but they didn't fill her stomach.

"Am I going to die like that, alone without any food or drink? Is this my punishment for exploiting the spirit vines? For making a weapon out of the purity of the spirits?"

"You could die, indeed," confirmed someone in her back.

She turned around abruptly and looked at the person who had talked to her.

"Zaheer? What are you doing here?"

"I was meditating when I felt a disturbance in the Spirit World. When I saw you like that, I thought I could land a hand, if you're ready to repent from your mistakes."

"What do you mean by 'repent from my mistakes'?"

"You have seriously angered the spirits. You have destroyed their connection to the Physical World by attacking and perverting the spirit vines."

"I know that already, so what is the deal you have mentioned?"

"I can lead you back into the Physical World. But in exchange, you will have to make up for your mistakes. You will have to work for the freedom of the people and to help the spirits."

"What do I have to do?"

"Wrong question."

"How will I do it?"

"Find your own way. Protect the people without submitting them to your will. Find balance inside you, find balance with the world around you. And protect the spirits from the devastation some humans do not hesitate to cause for their own benefit. In short terms, protect the world from someone like yourself."

"Okay, I understand. I must become a protector of the weak without oppressing them, is that right?"

"Precisely. Do you swear to me that you will do everything you can to reach this goal without sacrificing your life in vain?"

"So I do not have the right to sacrifice myself to save other lives?"

"You have to find a way to live through your battles. Do not sacrifice your pawns, do not sacrifice yourself. Find the solution in which you and your proteges will all survive, in which no innocent dies for your goals. Do not play a board game where you can exchange pieces. Live a human life in which every life is valuable. Of course, if you were to kill stupid leaders with tyrannical tendencies on the way, I would not blame you, because freeing and protecting the people sometimes requires to get rid of those who oppress it…"

"Alright. You want me to play a role similar to that of the Avatar, if I understand well."

"Not exactly, but it is not that different either. Make the world a better place for everyone, not for a select number of egocentric individuals."

"I got it. Now would you please lead me to the exit so that I can start my redemption journey? I did not find anything to drink or eat in here and my body cannot continue much longer without satisfying its' basic needs."

"Of course. Follow me. I will lead the way."

Kuvira followed Zaheer, her nemesis and the only person who can save her at this very moment. He led her to a pond which didn't reflect what was over it, but seemed to show what was on the other side of the surface, like a veil between two worlds.

"Now, let yourself fall into the pond and you will be transported to the other side, into the Physical World. Be careful, the gravity will be reversed."

"Thank you for helping me, even though I do not understand why you would help your nemesis."

"Oh, but you will find the answer soon enough. Good luck!"

"See you when I'm dead, then."

"Not too soon, I hope."

She dove into the pond.

"Why didn't you tell her she would be sent into the past?" said a tall and thin woman with braided long hair and shaved sides.

"It would not be as fun to watch if she knew everything from the beginning, would it, P'li?"

"Ha, of course you had to play with her a little! Well, now that we're alone, maybe we can enjoy this moment a little more, don't you think so?""

"How could I refuse such a tempting offer? I do not have any attachment left in the Physical World, but that does not mean I do not have any attachment in the Spirit World."

P'li embraced Zaheer and kissed him, which he returned gladly. A tear of joy and sadness rolled down his cheek.

X

A/N: the first chapter is a short one, a prologue for the story. I wanted to leave you with the emotion of Zaheer and P'li's reunion, because I felt like it was a good emotional moment, at least for me, who watched season 3 of LOK for the first time four days ago. Also, it gives the Red Lotus Leader more reason to spend most of his time in the Spirit World…