So, been a good long while since I posted on here, even know the fics been done with for months, among other things. XD
Trigger warning ahead of time due to references to and a scene of graphic violence, including a scene of torture, disturbing content including a terrorist attack/executions and a miscarriage. So just a heads up, you have been warned.
This Tenzin was kind enough to let the crew stay for dinner. After the trip to the "noodle" bar in the animal universe where Bolin was the only one who willingly ate what they served, they sure were in need of some good, preferably human, food.
Despite the initial shock, Pema and his children welcomed them to dinner with them. It was also a delight to find that even in this universe, Pema's cooking was downright divine.
As they were finishing up their food, Pema stood taking their plates.
"I'll help you," Asami said, taking hers and the rest of their crew's with her to the kitchen.
"Thank you," Pema said. "I'm not used to feeding so many people at once," she chuckled. "Though it does sometimes feel like Meelo eats for a whole army."
Asami smiled. Even in this universe the young boy was... still Meelo.
"You can leave them there on the side," she said, nodding towards the plates in the engineer's hands. She paused for a moment before turning the water on. "Just... when they join the fight... look after them, ok? They're just kids."
Asami looked into her eyes, her heart dropping as she saw the tears welling up inside them. She nodded. "We will, Pema. If they're like the ones I know from my universe, which I'm sure of, they'll be fine"
Pema forced a smile, knowing she meant it. "Thank you."
The engineer put the plates down and nodded, heading out and giving her space. As she stepped out into the corridor, she spotted someone turn the corner and head back into the meditation room. She didn't feel like joining the rest of the group yet anyway, so she followed them.
Cracking the door open, she peeked inside. She froze as she saw Hiroshi standing by the window, gazing outside at the island's scenery. It would have looked beautiful if he didn't know his future daughter-in-law was dead.
Hearing the door's hinges squeak open, he turned his head, and it was too late for her to turn back now. He saw her, and smiled.
"Hello," he said. It was strange seeing his daughter so differently, and from another universe no less. "Come in."
She felt her heart pounding in her chest, but his invite eased her nerves a little. She walked up to him, almost cautiously. It took everything she had not to let her emotions run wild - there had been so many nights where she had dreamed of seeing her father again. Maybe part of her never got over his death, refusing to believe her whole family was... gone.
"Hi," she said back.
Hiroshi wasn't naïve. He noticed her nerves from the get-go, trying to understand them. What had happened in her universe that was so different for her to feel nervous around her father?
"I never thought this could be real," he said. "That not only there were multiple universes, but that we could travel between them as well."
"It shocked me at first too."
Luckily, he had an idea to get her to feel more at ease. "What device are you using to do it? Do you know how it works?"
Asami smiled, feeling a tinge of sadness in her chest. "The other Asami figured it out better. It's something to do with the oscillations of matter. Changing the frequency takes us to another dimension, somehow."
"Interesting. I wonder if we could build one ourselves in this universe."
"It requires some sort of special crystal. An Uchū crystal." Talking to her dad about how things worked opened a whole floodgate of memories. Her father, even in this universe, was still the intelligent man that taught her everything she knew.
He looked into her eyes. As much as she tried to hide it, he saw the tears she was holding back. "What happened, Asami?"
She gulped, her throat aching with the sadness welling up inside her. "You died in my universe." Her voice shook as she said it. "In the fight against Kuvira's colossus, saving me in the process."
Hiroshi let out a sigh. He remembered the fight for Republic City in his own universe. He had only narrowly escaped himself, but his brave actions that day pardoned him of the crimes he committed while being an Equalist. He hated the court's wording, having said "brave actions". There was nothing brave about it - it had been his duty to his daughter after having hurt her and her friends.
Realizing that, one question plagued his mind about her universe. "Did he ever get to tell you how sorry he was?"
A tear rolled down Asami's cheek as she nodded. "He did." She wiped it off with her sleeve. "It's just... I wish he was here with me still. I want to tell him so many things. So much happened and he... he'll never get to see it."
Seeing his daughter so upset, despite being a different version of her, plucked at Hiroshi's heart too. Even after everything that happened, he couldn't imagine not being there for his Asami, through anything, good or bad. He took his alternate daughter's hand. "What did you want to tell him? Tell me."
She looked up at him. His eyes and round glasses were the same as she remembered. For a single moment, she felt like it really was him. "I went to the spirit world, like I'd always wanted."
He smiled. He remembered his own Asami's holiday with Korra, but he acted like he'd never heard it before. "Really? How was it?"
"It was nice. I went with Korra. She showed me around and-" she chuckled a little. "A huge spirit threw us off his back after we thought he was a rock."
He laughed with her.
"Also..." she continued, her sadness slowly diminishing. "Me and Korra are engaged. We have been for a little while."
He brought her hand up so he could see her ring. It was so similar to his own daughter's but he was happy for her now. "That's lovely. When is the wedding?"
"In a few weeks. I'll be Mrs. Sato then, and Korra will be 'Avatar Korra Sato'."
His daughter never got the chance to get married to the woman she loved, but hearing this from Asami filled his heart with joy again. "I'm so happy for you," he said. "And I'm so proud of you."
Hearing him say that, she couldn't hold her feelings back anymore. She sobbed fully, and Hiroshi himself was tearing up. He pulled her into a hug, patting her back, letting her cry into his shoulder.
The amount of times she had dreamed of getting to hug her dad again kept her awake some nights, but this time it felt real. For a few moments, her own father was back with her and she got to feel his warmth again.
They hung around the table for a little longer, all around just having a rest more than anything. Chatter was hard to come by when there were people grieving the loss of a loved one, but the atmosphere was easing up more and more. Hiroshi had slipped away when his Asami went back to airbending training. She said doing something would take her mind off things and that was that.
"We should probably get going soon," Sami said, wary of the fact that they couldn't let Dark Korra get ahead of them.
The crew was in agreement, but as Pema came back, Asami didn't. Korra frowned. She couldn't have gotten lost - the island was the same as in their universe. Maybe something happened?
Just as she thought that she saw the engineer walk back in the room. She was relieved, until she realized she looked like she had been crying.
"Brilliant, we're all here," Sami said. "Is everyone ready to go?"
Asami nodded along with the crew and they said their thanks and goodbyes to Tenzin's family before heading outside.
As they walked Korra whispered to her fiance. "Is everything ok?"
"Yeah," she muttered back. "I got to talk to Hiroshi for a bit."
She figured something like that must have happened. She had been there during Asami's own nightmares late at night since then and held her when she couldn't sleep because of what still plagued her about his death.
"I feel so much better now," she continued.
Korra was relieved to hear that and took her hand in hers.
Sami got the crystal ready, looking out at the crew, now including the One-Armed Kya and Chief Hattori Beifong, congregating around her in the courtyard. She was ready to tell them all to link arms, when her head suddenly throbbed, and she felt awfully light headed.
Khu-Shui looked out at the small blue spirit approaching them. She recognized her - it was one of Tenzin's children, Jinora. She weaved through the crew and walked up to the spirit.
"I've never met a shadow spirit before," the child said.
Khu-Shui was taken aback for a while. "And I never met someone so young who could talk to spirits like this."
Jinora smiled, seemingly taking it as a compliment. "I sensed your unease before. I could hear what you were saying about losing another Avatar."
The spirit didn't know what to say. She almost felt embarrassed that a child would hear an eternal feeling so bad for something.
"This wasn't the first time you lost a Korra, was it?"
She shook her head.
"You're not like Sha-Garou. You care for people."
If this airbender would have asked Khu-Shui this before everything happened, she would have laughed and sniggered 'no'. Now, she wasn't sure what to say, but the answer was becoming increasingly obvious. "I don't know how you humans handle all these emotions all the time."
Jinora tilted her head, an understanding smile spreading on her lips. "We don't. We cry and break down all the time." She turned her head to Asami. The crew was confused as to what was going on with Sami, but the engineer's eyes were still shiny with the remnants of the tears she cried. "Sometimes we go through the most terrible things, and we lose it in the most explosive ways." She turned back to the spirit. "But we come out stronger every time."
Khu-Shui sighed. She couldn't believe she was listening to a child lecturing her about the way things were, but she had to admit she was telling the truth.
"Empathy is a strength, not a weakness," Jinora continued. "It's something you have that Sha-Garou doesn't and you shouldn't try to fight it. In the end, you'll come out on top because of it."
The spirit nodded. "Thank you little one." she said. She felt like she understood herself a bit better now, and the things she felt. She could possibly channel the sadness and sorrow she experienced into a type of power that her shadow counterpart never had.
Jinora bowed her head. "Have a safe journey," she said, before disappearing.
Khu-Shui took a moment, before letting Sami have her consciousness back.
The engineer blinked twice. She was looking down at the ground but there was nothing there.
"You ok?" Korra asked.
The whole crew was looking at her concerned.
"Yeah," she said. She frowned. "Not sure what happened there." She did know what happened, who spoke to the shadow spirit in her, what they said, what she got out of it. But she was back now. "Everyone still ready?"
They nodded.
"Link arms then," she said, before powering the crystal back up.
In another dimension was another Republic City, but it's look was different. It wasn't the booming city landscape that was with Satomobiles, steel buildings or even paved streets.
People rode around in ostrich horse drawn carriages, the buildings were made of wood, brick or a combination of the two and the roads were laid in cobblestone.
The chimneys bellowed out smoke into the sky as people walked around in different attires, from the proper suits and fancy large dresses the rich wore to the more practical and less expensive attire the poor wore.
And on the shingled roof of one high building, the bright purple energy light shone out in the night sky.
But it wasn't the group of travelers looking to stop the shadowbending Avatar that landed on the roofs, but the very person they were after, who looked shook her head upon landing.
"Stupid crystal took too long…" Dark Korra said to herself before noticing the odd kind of roofing she was kneeling on, noticing how it was made of smaller pieces of unfamiliar material.
Then she looked from the roof of the environment around her, this didn't look like the Republic City she knew. Or any others that she's seen.
From those made of a shiny chrome metal, organic plant based to even one made of clay, Dark Korra had taken sight of all sorts of different Republic Cities, but this was new.
She took notice of what these buildings looked like, how these civilians looked and acted, the lamps on the streets looking to start being lit by candlelight in glass cases. Then Dark Korra noticed a large factory nearby which looked to have large metal gears on it's side moving in sync.
"This is so… beautiful…" The shadowbender said, amazed to see how simple, yet unique the city was.
"Eh, it's alright…" Sha-Garou's snarked, not being as amazed as his host. "On your right."
The fallen Avatar moved her neck and head to look at what the spirit was telling her and saw something that at least resembled something from her home.
It was Kyoshi Bridge, possibly, but it didn't have the high large high metal beams connecting curved beams and cables in the middle, instead having big towers holding them up.
And in between them were parts of the bridge, two of them that looked to be lowering down to connect, again done through those gears.
Dark Korra then also took notice of the large stone statue of a familiar figure.
It was Avatar Aang, or at least it was him in what looked like a coat, shirt, pants and shoes, while wearing a brimmed cap, holding up his staff, his arrow tattoo still noticeable.
"Okay, so this is certainly Republic City…" Dark Korra noted before having that feeling once more, looking behind her in the direction of a large row of buildings, looking to be from the rich side of town, where the spirit portal was, especially a big mansion.
"If I had to guess…" Sha-Garou's voice rang out in Dark Korra's head, as said evil Avatar nodded, smirking.
"She's that way."
In the area where the Dark Avatar ventured, inside the mansion, her other self of this dimension stood in a hallway lit by candles as she looked inside a room.
This Korra saw the woman she loved doing something they never expected they'd be able to do, smiling at the sight.
"So, are things all better now?" This Korra asked, seeing her wife turn around to look at her, standing there in her beautiful dress adorned in different shades of reds and black, seeing her light green eyes shine in the candlelight behind her curled up hair.
"Yep, just a bad nightmare." The Asami Sato of this universe said as she closed the door, giving a smile as she approached Korra, holding onto her hand as the Water Tribe woman stood in her clothes that fit more with a paperboy on the streets, with her jacket and cap being obvious tell alls. Though Asami herself thought the Avatar made the outfit look good on her.
Both women kissed each other before holding each other's hands as Korra smiled. "Don't worry, it'll pass, I've had my fair share of 'em when I was younger."
"Didn't one of your nightmares include me on a date with Mako instead of you?" Asami said with a bit of a humoring smile, fully aware of what a tease she was being, not that her wife was surprised.
"Yes, but that was back when I was jealous of you. Now, I can't picture my life without you…" She noted, smiling at the girl who was raised in an upper class upstyle compared to her own low class one. "You and-"
But before Korra finished what she was going to say, Asami noticed the candlelight behind the Avatar being blown out along with another one.
"Damn wind…" Korra noted as she turned around to look into the darkness as Asami had to bring something up.
"Korra, there's no windows nearby, let alone any open ones."
Just as the Avatar of the universe remembered that, both women saw a shape form up from the shadows made from the lack of light.
"What the?" Korra began only to see the shape slowly come up closer to them as it spoke in a very familiar voice with two glowing red eyes.
"So, this universe is VERY new to me, never seen any like this."
Both wives looked at each other, realizing it spoke with Korra's voice before Asami turned to look at the shape. "This universe?"
"Correct, where each has their own little quirk…" Dark Korra's voice rang out before shadow tentacles smashed against the wall, causing some hung pictures to fall onto the ground and break loudly as the form of shadows began to sink into the sources, allowing herself to be shown.
"I-Is that me?" The other Korra said in a surprised, but still focused tone as she got in a fighter's pose as her evil self nodded.
"Correct me."
"Asami, GO-"
"OH, please don't go Asami, I love that dress of yours…" Dark Korra interrupted, holding up her hand as the shadow claw formed over it as she gave that evil smile, her eyes glowing even more redder at a thought. "Goes with-"
"Mommy?"
A fourth voice was heard, getting the three's attention as the door Asami just closed was open once more, the three seeing a small tanned skin girl with raven haired poking her head out, slowly coming out in her pajamas as her wide jade colored eyes looked at the sight.
Dark Korra looked at the child, her demeanor no longer one of sadistic playfulness, but of legitimate surprise, her eyes turning back to their natural cyan as she saw this Asami quickly grab the girl tightly and picked her up.
"M-Mo-Mommy?" The shadowbender repeated what the girl said.
"Asami, get Yasuko away from here!" The other Korra ordered her wife to do as the little girl looked at Dark Korra's face, noticing how frozen in petified shock she looked.
"Is that your sister, Mama?" The girl named Yasuko asked her water tribe mother. "She looks so sad, why are you crying?" She innocently asked the unknown intruder.
Hearing that, Dark Korra realized the child was right, she was crying, touching the tears that she didn't even know was forming with her fingers before lifting her head back at the three, shaking her head.
"I-I'm… I'm sorry." With that, Dark Korra suddenly sank into her shadow, vanishing from the three's sight.
"WOAH!" Yasuko said in amazement, looking at Korra. "Can you do that, mama?"
"I… I'm not sure sweetie." Korra answered before the three noticed another purple light from a nearby room and some grunts. "Oh, WHAT NOW!" She said as she rushed into the room, only to be surprised at what she saw as were her wife and daughter.
It was a large group of people in a pile, now groaning in pain in the middle of their family room as they tried to get off each other.
But what caught the eyes of the couple and their daughter was that they looked like people they knew, with one who looked like a differently dressed Korra and two other Asami's
And it didn't take long for the crew to notice who was looking up at them, Thuy giving a pained wave.
"Ah, 'ello! We're new here…"
On the roof of the large mansion, Dark Korra suddenly burst out of the shadow cast by a chimney, breathing hard as her eyes were still widened at what she just witnessed.
"What happened there? Why didn't you take that Korra's energy?!" Sha-Garou asked, rather annoyed at this turn of events.
But all the shadowbender could do was keep breathing loudly, not enough to alert anyone, but enough for Sha-Garou to notice as more tears fell from her eyeducts.
"She was right there for the taking, it's not like her wife could do anything to stop you! Same with the-" The spirit kept going until it stopped, realizing that his host was remembering something, sensing what it was.
At that moment, Sha-Garou realized why Dark Korra did what she did, giving a sigh. "Right… I get it… It's okay, sparing one Avatar wouldn't hurt our goal in the long run…"
Then both the shadowbender and the spirit noticed a familiar purple light shining.
"Shit, they're here." She whispered as the spirit quickly thought to itself.
"It's fine, just go to the next dimension, I think they're gonna be here for a while..." Was all Sha-Garou said before Dark Korra nodded, clenching her hand with the crystal before vanishing from the universe in the purple light, the only evidence of her being up there were the tears that landed on the shingles.
"My, that's quite the story…" This universe's version of Asami said as she and her Korra had just listened to what the regular Korra, Sami and others explained to them about the different universes, Sha-Garou, Khu-Shi and shadowbending.
"It does sound like what happened with Hattori Hanzo months ago, only it was another doppelganger of myself." The cap wearing Korra said, not knowing about it, yet getting their guests attention.
"Wait, she was here? Where she'd go?!" Sami asked, eyes widened at the possibility of missing her to this world's Avatar who shook her head.
"I don't know, one moment she was ready to harm us, then the next thing we knew, she vanished into the shadows, saying she was sorry."
Lin looked at Sami as she sat next to both Kya and One-Armed Kya while they entertained Yasuko with their waterbending. "Do you sense her around?"
The shadowbender shook her head, not getting anything, confused as to why the woman she lost to Sha-Garou would leave this Korra be until something, or rather someone caught her attention.
"Well, that's good news then. That means we have a better chance of fighting back." Mako noted, looking outside at the different Republic City, the sight of which was a big surprise to the ten as they realized where they were.
Korra looked at her other self, giving a bit of a smile. "We've been going through different universes, getting as much help as we could to fight against Dark Us and Sha-Garou. We've managed to save one Avatar and she's willing to fight. Will you help us?"
"Well…" The other Korra began, feeling a bit uneasy, she not only had a wife, but also a daughter to care for, it was crazy to think not only was there other universes, but also other forms of herself, those she knew, those she cared for. She even felt a bead of sweat going down her forehead…
Until she felt the hand of her wife on her own, looking at the Asami she married, giving a silent nod which she gave a smile, giving one back and looking at Korra.
"Yes, we can inform the others, may take some convincing, especially with Inspector Beifong, but we'll fight alongside you. For our daughter."
That put a smile on the Avatar's lips before something dropped onto her mind as did Asami. "Wait, daughter?"
"OH, right, yes." The fancily dressed Asami said, going over to where Yasuko was patting at One-Arm Kya's water hand and took the child in her arms, who then looked at the other universe versions of her mothers. "Me and Korra, we decided to adopt and raise this little ragamuffin as our own when she was only a newborn, I'm her mommy and Korra is her mama."
Both Korra and Asami were amazed to see the child of three years, who was just as curious before poking at Korra's nose, laughing at the sight of her reacting. "Hi!"
"Hi…" Korra said, smiling as she took the girl's small hand in her own, shaking it. "What's your name?"
"Yasuko."
That made Asami pleasantly surprised, looking at the girl's adoptive parents, giving a small smile. "Yasuko, you named her after…?"
"Asami's mother, yes." The Korra of this universe nodded, kissing her daughter's forehead. "It was actually my idea to name her after-"
"Hey, Sami, you okay?" Hattori asked, noticing the shadowbender had been in complete silence, having been staring at the little girl the entire time, everyone's attention turning to her as she just now noticed before standing up, realizing how wet her eyes were getting.
"I-I-I need to b-be alone..."
With that, Sami rushed out of the room and over into the nearby bathroom, closing the door behind her hard and locking it's locks before sliding down against it, holding her head before breaking out in tears, kicking at the ground with her foot as the shadows around her vibrated with each kick, her cries growing louder.
"Now she's sad too...?" Yasuko asked, hearing the second lady who looked like her mother crying before looking at her two mothers. "Is she as sad as the other lady?"
Both Korra and Asami looked where Sami ran off as the others did too, wondering what that was about, that is until a look of realization came from the least likely person.
"Oh MY RAAVA…" Bolin began as he looked all around, realizing the clues were right there, especially with what Husky Korra tried to tell them.
"... I know what Guan did to Sami."
Sami had been sitting on the bathroom floor for five minutes straight, still crying as she let go of her head, her hands lowering down to her waist until a knock was made on the door.
"Leave me alone!" The shadowbender cried out, not wanting to be bothered.
"Sami… please come out." She heard Korra's voice say on the other side, not sure if it was the Prime or the one who was a mother in this universe talking, she didn't care at this point.
Sami didn't hear a response, but she didn't hear the footsteps leaving either. "Please, just-"
"We know what Guan did to you." She heard Asami's voice cut through the air like a knife through hot butter. "We know why your Korra gave into Sha-Garou…"
The shadowbender's eyes tried to close as tightly as they could at the memory, trying to block it, but now, it was practically beating on the other side of the door.
Watching all of this before hearing the door begin to unlock, Hattori looked over at the other Korra and Asami who had been standing there with the ones he knew. "Hey, ah, maybe you two should put the kid to rest, past her bedtime."
The couple, realizing that the man with the mismatched eyes was suggesting that Yasuko shouldn't be around for this, nodded.
"Come on sweetie, let's get back to bed…" The Korra of this universe agreed as she and her wife took the child into her room, just in time for Sami to finally come out of the bathroom, her eyeliner completely ruined due to her constant crying, trying to wipe it off.
"Alright… here's what happened…" She said, finally ready to talk as she walked into the hall and back into the family room, sitting on a big chair.
The shadowbender taking a deep breath, sensing that Khu-Shui was asking if she was ready to tell them, and she was.
"A month had passed since Korra forced Sha-Garou into her, locking him away for good, so we thought." She began, remembering how even with the shadow spirit in her, it never seemed to be able to take control.
"He tried giving her different offers to let her use his power, but Korra didn't budge, she was internally always fighting against him, not giving him the time of day." Sami explained, looking at the others.
"Yet she was the same Korra I knew and loved, my lover, my wife. And as it turns out…" She noted before remembering the idea Korra gave her. "She wanted to be the mother of our own child."
The crew expected to be surprised to know that Korra wanted to be a mother, but seeing the version of her from this universe being such a good mama to Yasuko, they already knew it was the case.
"Naturally, I was surprised to hear that, but turns out I wanted to be one too." Sami admitted. "We considered the idea of adoption, but… well, the both of us decided to go down a different idea." She then looked up at both Mako and Thuy, pointing at them.
"We both asked Mako, with the permission of Thuy of course, if he'd help us with conceiving a child."
"WHAT?!" Both Mako and Thuy said at the same time when hearing this, which Sami had to give a small chuckle at.
"Admittingly, that was the same exact reaction you both gave in my universe. But after enough talking, you and Mako were okay with it as we trusted you."
Seeing the couple give a collective sigh, Sami continued. "So with that set, along with deciding that I'd be the one to carry the child, Mako…" She tried to think of how to say this next part. "... well, made his donation as scientists put to use this brand new procedure referred to as "Artificial Insemination" on me, long story on how that works." The shadowbender explained before forming with her bending an odd shape in her hand.
A closer look at it showed everyone it was a shadow in the shape of a woman with a bump on her belly. "And then, a couple weeks later, I was pregnant." Sami said, putting on a smile as she remembered when both Korra and her got the news. "Me and Korra were gonna be parents…"
Then the woman felt the sadness come back once more as the shape of the woman sank back into the shadows.. "But then, five months later… Guan broke free of his prison…"
Sami turned her head, closing her eyes tightly. "He and some followers of his commited an act of terrorism in Zaofu, which just so happened to be when me and Korra were in the area to visit Suyin and her family."
"THE EARTH EMPIRE WILL RISE ONCE MORE OR WE'LL DIE TRYING!" The former commander yelled out as a large building in the middle of the city went up in flames, a few of his followers executing various civilians, no longer operating under how they used to work.
"GUAN! STOP THIS NOW!" Korra yelled out, having seen all the bodies around her, Suyin and Kuvira, trying once more to stop the madman.
"Don't get any closer Avatar Korra, any of you…" The man sneered before snapping his fingers, to which one of his men came out into the street, dragging a metal cuffed Asami with him, her baby bump noticeable. "Wouldn't want anything to happen to your wife, would you?"
"No…" The Avatar said in a small voice as her wife was taken by Guan, who metalbended a sharp piece of metal from nearby and held it to her throat.
"Back down Avatar and surrender, if you do, I assure you I'll let her go unharmed!"
"Guan, this is insane, even for you!" Kuvira yelled out, realizing how far gone her former confidant had gone.
"One man's insanity is another's sanity." The Earth Empire zealot noted, not listening before looking back at Korra. "So…"
"Alright! ALRIGHT!" The Avatar yelled out, hands up, trying not to bring any harm to her wife. "I'll… I'll… I'm sorry Asami…"
"It's okay Korra…" The pregnant woman grunted, understanding why her wife was giving up.
"KORRA!" Suyin yelled out to which the Avatar looked at her.
"We have no choice!" She yelled back, ignoring Sha-Garou's own voice telling her to use shadowbending to save her. "None!"
"Good to see you acting sensibly, Avatar Korra…" Guan said, beginning to lower the sharp metal from Asami's neck. "Very well, like I promised, you can-"
But interrupting what the madman was saying was another explosion that rang out closer to them from another building.
And it just so happened that Guan and Asami were the closest to it, Guan instinctively rushing away from the blast…
… in the process, he pushed Asami out of his way, leaving her to fall stomach first into a large piece of debris.
Everyone looked horrified at Sami, whose tears came back as she felt her stomach, remembering how painful the fall was.
"I… Ah…" Korra tried to let out as Sami just looked at her and Asami, along with the two from this universe who had just walked in at this moment, shaking her head at them with the saddest, most broken look on her face.
"ASAMI!" Korra cried out, sprinting as fast as she humanly could to her wife, who was crying out in pain, getting rid of the metal cuffs as she saw Asami hold her stomach, not even taking notice of Suyin and Kuvira capturing the escaping Guan and his soldiers.
Nor even listening to them calling out to her, all Korra was focused on was Asami and the unborn child.
"Asami, it's okay, it's okay sweetie, everything will be fine..." She tried to assure her wife before looking around, fear in her eyes. "WILL SOMEBODY PLEASE HELP MY WIFE!?"
The next thing Korra knew, she was sitting outside Asami's room in the hospital, awaiting any form of news, just sitting there, not paying attention to anything but her wife, watching the doctors of Zaofu around her talk to Suyin about what happened.
Kuvira sat at Korra's side, holding her hand, trying to get her through this, but she couldn't know the feeling the Avatar was feeling at the moment, no one could.
Then the both of them saw Suyin nod at something the doctor told her, it didn't look like much, but that was only because Suyin was trying her hardest not to break in tears as she exited the room and finally spoke to them.
"Asami will be alright, she just needs some rest."
"And the baby?" Kuvira asked, knowing how serious the fall was…
… only for Suyin to finally tear up, silently shaking her head as she walked away.
Kuvira watched her adoptive mother in disbelief, then at Asami who just laid in bed, looking to be awake, but not reacting, as if the news just turned her to an unmoving, unblinking stone.
"Kuvira…." Korra's voice said in a broken tone, getting the attention of her ally as the words crept out of her mouth. "... can you please leave me alone for a few minutes?"
The metalbender knew exactly what was up from both the tone of voice and how shaking Korra's eyes were, nodding before choosing to follow Suyin, leaving Korra alone in the hallway.
Once she was indeed alone, the Avatar dropped from her seat to her knees, her hands trembling like never before as tears began to fall from her eyes, thoughts of her and Asami talking over what plans they had for the baby's room, having found out it was going to be a girl.
She then remembered Asami trying to think of names for the child before one came to Korra's mind, one that she knew her wife would love, considering the significance of it.
Yasuko.
That was the breaking point as with that single thought of the child that would never be, Korra grasped her hair, closed her eyes as tightly as she could and let out a loud scream in anguish, the loudest she ever yelled in her life.
"NNNNNNOOOOOOOO!"
Unknowing, or rather unintended, was that due to her earthbending abilities as the Avatar, she had caused almost every single piece of glass, due to being made of sand in some way, in the ENTIRE HOSPITAL to break.
All except the windows and anything made of glass in Asami's room.
"So Bolin was right, Guan caused you to suffer a miscarriage?" Opal asked as she held Bolin's hand, still in disbelief at what happened in the universe as Sami nodded.
"Yes, all because he was a coward who thought he could escape with the help of an unintended explosion."
"Did he know what he did?" Hattori asked, the idea of what he did sickening him.
"Not at first, but even worse…" Sami began before remembering what the Suyin and Kuvira she knew told her. "When he did find out… he didn't care. The bastard didn't even care, just said "Doesn't matter, simple causality of war, alive or not."
She felt the rage she unleashed on Dark Korra back in the animal universe slowly begin rising up again at repeating his vile words, but kept it in.
"That's when Sha-Garou knew he had an opening…"
Since that moment a week before, all Korra could do was sit next to a sleeping Asami, having not left her side for a week since then except to use the bathroom or to wash herself. She barely ate, drank or slept, just stared at her beautiful wife…
Knowing that they lost the chance to be parents…
"I'm so sorry…"
Korra heard the shadow spirit's voice ring out in her head. Ever since what happened, it kept out of her business, leaving her be.
She didn't respond to it, not due to her blocking him out, but only because she was too focused on her wife to respond..
"I know you more than likely don't want me talking at the moment, I get it, but… I truly am sorry for you and your wife's loss…"
The Avatar just noticed the sense of… regret in its voice?
"I know I kept begging you to put me to use, but… even I didn't see the events that transpired happening…"
Korra wanted to tell the spirit to fuck off, but… it was rather comforting to hear it give some form of kindness for the first time since she forced herself to be it's host.
"You and I both know what he's done… what's he's done in the past, Guan… His soul was tainted without a shadow of a doubt, please excuse the poor pun, but… you already know what he did to your friends, to your wife a year ago. But what Guan just did to Asami, what he just did to you, killing your unborn child, not even looking back without one single shred of regret."
Korra then saw the environment around her and Asami be engulfed in shadows, looking all over before she saw those six red eyes…
… yet they weren't filled with evil or sadistic intent…
… they looked sad for her.
"This will be the last time I'll give you an offer…"
Korra watched those six eyes move around in the shadows, moving towards Asami's sleeping body, looking down at her.
"Use my power, become a shadowbender…"
Then the six red eyes looked at Korra, swirling around her.
"With that, you can take revenge, get back at Guan for every single horrible thing he's done, to the Earth Kingdom, to Gaoling, to Zaofu, to Mako, Bolin, Wu…. to Asami… to Yasuko."
Korra then slowly lifted her head, thinking it all over in her mind.
"BUT… if you choose not to accept my offer, okay, I get it. Let Guan finally stay locked up for good, alive, that's fine with me. You can energybend me out of your body and I'll go my own way, leaving you, Asami and your friends alone, maybe go back into the spirit world…"
Then Korra saw the spirit's eyes look right into her's.
"I can't force you to make this choice, it's all yours to make… I'll give you some time to think it over."
With a blink of her eyes, Korra saw she was back in the hospital, still in Asami's room, seeing her wife resting as some builders tried to put in new glass windows in the hallway to replace the ones she broke.
She remembered verbatim the spirit's offer. While most times, it was pleading and begging Korra to use its power, possibly giving into what Sha-Garou wanted, this time…
It was like the damn spirit wanted to do something good for once in it's eternal life.
But that would mean…
The vision of her killing Guan with her bare hands replayed in her mind as she closed her eyes, remembering what she told Asami, that she wanted to personally kill him for what he had done to her, the brothers, Wu and those people of Gaoling with that damn brainwashing.
Korra remembered Asami telling her that she was better than that, that it's okay for good people to have bad feelings, it doesn't mean they're bad people.
She remembered those words calming her, but then…
The images of Guan pushing Asami away, her pregnant stomach inching ever so closer to that piece of metal debris, then getting the news of their loss, of Suyin and Kuvira informing her that he hadn't looked to give any regrets about his actions…
The idea of this… bastard not caring that he stole an innocent life, unborn or not…
It enraged Korra, the images kept being mixed with her vision of killing Guan, her memories of her and Asami planning things out for their baby girl…
It all kept repeating in her mind rapidly, like a projector showing off a mover in her mind that wouldn't shut off as a high pitch sound rang out loudly…
Before changing into that of the cry of a newborn baby.
Her eyes jutted open as she began breathing hard…
It was then the Avatar made up her mind.
Standing up from her seat, she slowly approached her sleeping wife, knowing the choice she was about to make, gliding her hand through Asami's raven colored hair.
"Please forgive me for what I'm about to do." Korra said to her wife before kissing her on the lips. "I love you…"
With that, Korra began walking out of the room, stopping as she opened the door into the hallway as she turned back to look at her wife.
"I accept."
With that, she turned away, closing the door behind her as she left.
Korra sat there stone silent as Sami had stopped telling the story, seeing the look on the Avatar's face as did Asami, who held her around the waist.
"So that's what happened…" Was all Korra could muster saying before breaking out in tears herself, crying at the story. Even if it wasn't her and Asami who lost the child, she still felt her other self's pain, becoming so vulnerable. Enough to finally give into revenge, to fall under Sha-Garou's influence.
She now knew why Hattori Hanzo gave in, why Lin Hanzo gave in. She knew One-Arm Kya was a separate case, but she still lost a daughter, so she knew her pain too…
It was so easy to give into revenge, rage, the want to see those who took away everything of yours or your loved ones pay with their lives.
She got it…
Now she was afraid even more that it was possible for her to give in.
"And Guan?" One Armed Kya asked, having a feeling along with everyone else how this turned out, but they needed to hear it from Sami.
The shadowbender sighed. "I was still in the hospital when it happened, got second hand knowledge from the only witnesses still alive on the scene. It wasn't until Khu-Shui showed me when I became a shadowbender did I see it all for myself.…"
"You're a sick man Guan…" Kuvira said as she walked around the man cuffed to his seat with platinum in the interrogation room in the jail in Zaofu, a man who hadn't even emoted the entire time. "First you led an attack on Zaofu with all your zealots, holding onto an idea that clearly failed…"
Then the former leader of the Earth Empire looked into his eyes. "Then you decide to have your men to actually execute innocent civilians? Heck, you had buildings blown up, all in some sick attempt to take over!"
Then Kuvira shook her head, unable to look at the man for what she had next to say. "And yet, that's still not as sickening as you having the Avatar's pregnant wife kidnapped just to have her surrender to you-"
"Whom I had intended to let go without any harm if she agreed-" Guan finally said, looking up with a simple glare at Kuvira who shot a more furious looking one back at him.
"BEFORE YOU THREW HER ONTO RUBBLE, STOMACH FIRST, JUST TO AVOID AN EXPLOSION YOUR BOYS ACCIDENTLY CAUSED…"
She then looked at the two way mirror, knowing Suyin and two armed guards were watching the scene just in case Guan tried anything, none of whom knew who was making her way there. "By the way, the child she was carrying died in the womb. Mrs. Sato was five months pregnant when you caused her to have a miscarriage."
"Doesn't matter." Kuvira heard Guan mutter, suddenly turning around to see him give that cold look on his face. "Simple causality of war, alive or not."
That infuriated Kuvira, who felt herself about to strike the former commander down.
"ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?!" She yelled out at hearing such a disgusting remark.
Just then, a loud slam was heard from the room next door as it got both bender's attention.
Suyin and the guards saw walking over the broken metal door knocked off its hinges was Avatar Korra, a look of pure fury and rage seen in her cyan eyes alone.
"Let me in, Su!"
"Korra, Kuvira is currently-"
"I SAID LET ME IN!"
"I'm sorry Avatar Korra, you can't-" One guard tried talking to her, only for the Avatar to open her hand out towards the metal door behind him and the other guard leading into the interrogation room and moving her arm, forcing the door to slam into their backs, knocking them down out of the way as Suyin watched in shock.
"Korra, please, calm down!"
Suddenly Korra waved her hand towards her, resulting in water being bended out from a waterskin to around the metalbender's hands before they froze against the wall, leaving the leader of the Metal Clan trapped there to witness what was next.
The Avatar was breathing hard, turning her neck without moving the rest of her body to look right at the man who took her and Asami's child away.
"Ah, Avatar Korra, pleasure to see you." Guan said, rather amused to see her burst in.
"Guan, shut up…" Kuvira muttered, trying to get him to quit provoking Korra as she entered the room.
"Kuvira, leave, NOW." Korra demanded of her ally who shook her head, knowing very well what she had planned.
"I know what you're thinking Korra, but this is not the answer." Kuvira said, holding her hands up, ready to try holding her back if she had to as Korra had to close her eyes and chuckle at the irony on display.
"Oh, funny, I distinctly remember you being told the same thing by Su a year ago."
"Listen to me, killing Guan won't bring back your-"
Without warning, out from Korra's own shadow, a hand made of it thrust towards and grasped tightly around Kuvira's throat as Guan jumped in his seat in shock, the Avatar's hand out towards her before pulling the metalbender towards her, turning her head in the direction of a surprised Kuvira's face, opening her eyes to show they were no longer the Cyan blue, but glowing blood red as she snarled at her now mortified ally.
"Stay. The FUCK. OUT OF THIS!"
With that, Korra waved the Shadow Hand towards the two way mirror, releasing the grip on Kuvira, who was flung through the glass, shattering it as she landed hard onto the floor as Suyin watched in horror at what Korra had done.
With that, Korra stomped on the floor, forcing a shadow shield to cover up the open doorway while also holding her hand towards the ice around Suyin's hands, turning it back into water, freeing her as she and a struggling Kuvira watched the water turn back into ice, blocking a way in through the two way mirror frame...
... while also giving both metalbender's a clear view of what Korra had planned as she slowly approached the now frightened Guan, who wasn't able to move away or use his metalbending due to what kind of metal the cuffs were made of.
"Do you know what I'm feeling, Guan?" The now Shadowbending Avatar asked, tears coming down her eyes, down her cheeks.
He shook his head "Wha-UURRRAAAAAGGGGHHHHH!
He barely got a word out before suddenly screaming in pain as Korra quickly formed up a shadow claw over her hand to stab into his collarbone, not going in too deep to cause major damage, but enough to make it really hurt as she tugged on it. "AAAHHH! AAHH!"
"KORRA! NO!" Suyin yelled out from the other side, but the Avatar wasn't listening, she was focused on one thing.
"I asked you if you know the feeling, the kind that I'm still experiencing because of you…" She asked in a hushed voice, enjoying the sounds of pain coming from the zealot's mouth before taking the shadow claw out and sliding a single clawed finger against his forehead, causing more sounds of pain to erupt from him from the cutting motion.
"NNAAHHH!"
"STOP!" Kuvira cried out as she and Suyin tried to break through, with the shadow shield countering every attempt they made as Korra began to repeatingly slash the man's chest with the claw, staining his green uniform red as his screams echoed out for what seemed like minutes.
"W-what kind o-o-of FEELING!?" Guan finally whined out as the pain burned throughout his body as he shook in pain, a puddle of blood forming under his chair, along with a trail of urine down his leg.
Korra had to give a wicked smile at hearing him ask this before getting rid of the shadow claw and lightly moving her hands over his chest, so as to not touch the bloody wounds as she looked into his black eyes with her glowing red ones.
"To know what it's like to have your heart ripped out of you."
Before Guan could process what she just said, Korra suddenly forced her fingers into the wounds on the man's chest, making him scream loudly as she dug them in more, getting a good grip in before pulling the chest apart by the ribcage, blood squirting up onto her grinning face as he cried out.
"FFAAHHH! AAGGGHHH! AAAAHHHHH!"
Even worse for the man was that, even with his chest the way it was, Guan was still alive, enough to see that his still beating heart was exposed as he looked down in shock, watching it accelerate rapidly.
Suyin and Kuvira kept trying to break through, knowing that even at this point, it was pointless to stop Korra, they still had to try.
"This is what it feels like."
Those were the final words Guan heard this new shadowbender Korra say to him before she thrusted her bare hand into where his heart laid pumping, gripping it with all her might as she slowly pulled it out, letting him give one final loud scream of bloody pain as his body shook in place.
"EEEEEGGGAAAAAHHHHHHH!"
Finally, Korra managed to rip out the vital organ completely, the former commander of the Earth Empire finally dead by her hands.
Both Suyin and Kuvira watched the display of violence finally finish, having witnessed the one and only Avatar not just murder the man who injured her wife and killed her unborn child, but tortured him before allowing him to die painfully, both seeing her glowing red eyes were the same color as the blood on her face.
Then the ice turned back into water and the shadow shield vanished with both metalbenders watching Korra silently walk out of the room, throwing the heart on the ground, forever a changed woman as her eyes turned back to normal
One who was being given some new inspiration from the shadow spirit in her.
"... dear Raava..." Was all Kya could say after hearing all of that, that was all any of the crew could think having heard what Dark Korra did to Guan, trying to process it.
"Jings, I sensed the guy was a real piece of cunt from what you all said about him. " Thuy began, trying to process this, shaking her head. "But… WOW."
"From what my Su told me after the Gaoling fiasco." Hattori too began, looking at a mortified One-Arm Kya and having to give his friend a hug, feeling the same as her. "Can say he's certainly in the 'Top 3 Worst Pieces of Shit I've Never Met', but that's just overkill."
"So that was the start of Dark Korra?" Asami asked her other self, who nodded, finally finished with the story.
"Yep, from there on, you already know what she did afterwards." The shadowbender said, shaking her head as she knew Sha-Garou showed all of them, aside from Hattori and One-Arm Kya, the sad fates of their counterparts before seeing Korra still crying at this. "Korra…"
"I'm still listening, don't worry." The Avatar responded with, she couldn't come up with words at how far gone this other form of her just went, how far she could possibly fall herself.
"Hey, HEY!" Sami said, getting off the chair she was on and walking over to her, taking her by the wrists, looking into her eyes. "Listen here, just because one bad thing happened to my Korra, making her into what she is now, DOESN'T MEAN it has to happen to you!"
She felt something… seeming to rise up in her, something the shadowbender wasn't quite sure what it was, but she could hear Khu-Shui approving of it. "Even though, technically speaking, yes, you two are the same person, YOU'RE NOT HER, KORRA."
Korra then saw a familiar shine in Sami's eyes, it was like she was talking to her Asami.
"She's the one who decided to put that shadow spirit asshole in herself, you never had to deal with that! Guan escaped in our universe, forcing things to happen as they did. Far as I know, he hasn't escaped yet in your universe, so chances are things won't happen there! YOU ARE YOU, YOU ARE NOT HER KORRA. YOU'RE NOT THE SHADOWBENDING AVATAR, NOT DARK KORRA, YOU ARE AVATAR KORRA! THE PRIME!"
"The… prime?" Korra repeated, having been meaning to ask about being called that when she first met Dark Korra.
"Like I said, when you were energybending Sha-Garou out of Hattori, that was the major starting point of all of this, when our universes split apart." Sami explained. "In my universe, he lived. But in yours, you and your friends destroyed him. Compared to all the other universes where the same event played out, yours was the only one that split into another. Because of this, your universe, heck, YOU are now the prime in all of this. And you'll lead all those who lost friends, family and loved ones, against him and Dark Korra."
Sami gave a thought to herself, remembering what the Korra and Asami of this universe, along with what their daughter said earlier, looking back at the Korra she's ready to fight by.
"From what the versions of us here said, Dark Korra could have just attacked them without any issues, but she didn't, SHE FLED." She explained, thinking that learning about Yasuko was what caused her to do so. "So possibly the old Korra of mine still remains deep in her, maybe not. But what I do know is, she and Sha-Garou need to be stopped and I can't do it without you. Asami can't do it without you."
The shadowbender had Korra look at all of their allies in the room willing to stand by her side. "Mako, Bolin, Lin, Kya, Thuy, One Arm Kya, Hattori, ALL THE OTHERS WHO AGREED TO FIGHT… we can't do it without you." She finished, her eyes beaming with the first sign of real hope since that day in Zaofu.
It was quite the speech, something that Korra did not see coming, but she looked at all her allies, her friends, all those who stuck by her since the beginning, then she saw Asami look at her, a sure look on her face as she nodded.
"Spirits…" Korra began saying, sounding a bit unsure…
… until she put on that goofy smile of hers. "Even in other universes, you know how to perk me up Asami." She said to her Asami before turning to Sami, who knew she got through to her.
"We're going to need more help, but we're doing this, we will stop Dark Us and finally end Sha-Garou once and for all."