Ruination: Part Two

"Korra," her voice crawls over me. "Let's try something different."

I manage to turn and fix her with a dry stare. "Haven't we tried enough, Asami? Can't you just leave me alone and let me die?"

A cautious grin plays across her lips. She quickly straightens her face and says, "No, Korra. It's important that you work through this trauma, and I'm going to help you."

I heave a brusque breath. "What if I'm not ready to work through it?"

"Well," she starts, suppressing a sigh. "It's been almost a year. I think you've had enough sulking, wouldn't you say?"

"No."

"Korra, just..." She kneels down to meet my eyes and take my hand. "Please, just try? For me?"

I rip my eyes away and stare at the floor. All sorts of emotions play through me, most of them anger and self-loathing. I long for the ability to simply cease, to fall off the face of the Earth and never look back. My days are miserable. I have nothing—no power, no strength, no will. There's nothing left to keep me here.

And yet...

When I glance up at Asami and gaze into her peridot eyes, there's a tiny flicker in the darkness of my mind, and it's as if there's something nudging me away from insanity. The emotion in her eyes is enough to anchor me for a moment.

I give a breath of surrender. "Fine, Asami, for you. What is it?"

"This." She brandishes a hand mirror.

I carefully avoid the reflection's eyes, groaning. "No, don't."

"Korra, look." Asami forces the mirror into my view. "Look. What do you see?"

"I see me. What the hell do you think I see?"

"Yes, you," she says, "but what about you? What kind of you do you see?"

I glare at the reflection. "I see the one who shouldn't exist."

Asami purses her lips. "Korra!"

"Well, it's true!" I glower at her and shove the mirror away. "You asked me what I saw and I told you. I saw the same person I see every day—a beaten-up, crumpled corpse of someone who only existed a long time ago." I sink back into the chair and drop my face into my hand.

"You know what I see?" her question floats over me. She hovers around me with the mirror. "I see someone who is strong. I see someone who is powerful, confident, intelligent. I see..." She trails off, searching for the next words until her eyes meet mine. "I see someone I care about...very much." Asami waves the mirror towards me, imploring me to take it and find something new in its reflection.

"Okay." I hold it out and study it. I fix my eyes on the reflection, resisting the urge to immediately sink into a negative mood. The best I can do is begin with general observations. "I see a woman with dark skin, dark brown hair, blue eyes." I swallow hard, trying not to automatically depress myself. "I see a woman who was a—is a great fighter."

"Good," murmurs Asami. "What else?"

"I see..." I pause, staring into the mirror and trying to find something else. "I see..." Suddenly, my reflection blurs, and I feel a snap of vertigo as a flashback comes forward. "The airbenders. I see the chains, the wounds—I couldn't protect them." My breathing hardens and my heart begins to race. "Zaheer, his face—" I stiffen, trying to force myself to calm down and work through the visions. "Zaheer..." I blow out a deep breath as I mentally pack away his image. I erase him from my mind and look again in the glass. While the mirror remains blank, images rush to the fore of my vision. I try to resist them, try to send them back to oblivion. I close my eyes, hoping a hard blink would clear my mind.

"Zaheer!" I yelp as his face assails my vision. My eyes fly open in hopes of returning to my tranquil room. The face of Zaheer is gone, replaced by that of a beast with glowing eyes. She scowls at me as venom drips from her chains.

"What is it, Korra?" murmurs a voice somewhere in my consciousness. I open my mouth to answer when the girl with the glowing eyes menacingly reaches out to me. She whips her arm about, and her chains lunge forward to wrap around my neck. They bind me tightly as a cool, thick liquid runs onto my skin. No...no! The liquid burns into me, sets my bones on fire, and awakens an uncontrollable power seated deep within me. Against my will, ten thousand generations crash into my spirit. The girl with the glowing eyes tugs on the chains, which drop off me with a searing pain. There is a moment's pause as we study each other. Suddenly, as the heat of power becomes unbearable, she rushes me. The force wrenches an unholy bellow from my throat. My body seizes violently, lurching me out of the wheelchair. I collapse onto the floor in a battered heap, and my world blackens.

"Korra."

The sound of her heartbeat, but little else, seeps into my consciousness. I become aware of the arms tightly holding me and rocking me. The delicate scent of her perfume. The soft raven hair spilling over both of us. The nonsensical whispers in my ear. If I had any sense of sanity in this moment, I would surely speak and assure my presence. But all I can do is lay here, swept up in Asami's arms, until my mind finds its way home.

"It's okay, Korra."

"I'm right here."

"Everything's all right."