A/N: Look at this! The last chapter of the first season. It's been a fun ride, and I want to thank everyone who has stuck with me these nine chapters. You are all fantastic.
Warning: Violence, angst. Plot. Stuff. Blah.
With love,
Korrupted.
SHOUT OUTS:
LordTicky- Happy Belated birthday! I thank you for your die-hard support, and great reviews. I kinda look for them when I post a new chapter.
Taboo Existnece: I am so glad you are enjoying this! I hope you enjoy this chapter as much as the last!
To all my followers, readers, and Guest reviewers: Thank you. All of you. It's people like you that keep me writing.
Disclaimer: I do NOT own LoK. Trust me, you wouldn't want me to. This fic is a gift for the amazing and talented Oyo. Hunt her down on tumblr, and deviant art. You won't regret it.
Korra grit her teeth as she moved in on the Equalist stronghold, hating Amon and Tarrlok more and more. How could they do this to the city? To each other? How could their father do this to them? They were products of their father's design. It was cruel, but they were wrong. They had to be stopped; Amon had to be stopped.
Mako's hand on her shoulder calmed her slightly, looking back at her friend with an uncertain smile. They had to prove Amon false. Noatok had to be exposed as the bloodbender he really was, and that all he had was a hoax, otherwise he would simply be rallied upon more by non-benders. She wouldn't let Lin's sacrifice be in vain.
"See?! THIS is what firebenders did to my face!" Amon roared, his eyes nearly alight with triumphant madness.
Korra couldn't believe her eyes; his face was deformed, just as he had claimed. Noatok couldn't have faked it, could he? What if he had been scarred when removing someone's bending? There was just no way that this could be possible. Yet there was no denying his face, nor that the crowd was supporting him even more that she had been proven wrong.
With a growl, Korra turned to leave, tugging Mako along with her.
"Leaving so soon, Avatar?" Noatok mocked openly. "I would think you'd want to watch me finally rid the world of the last airbenders."
"No..." She breathed as Tenzin, Meelo, Jinora, and Ikki were elevated on a platform up to the stage. Lin had let them escape! "Amon, STOP!" She shouted.
"Time for the world to witness the era of equality." He goaded as the mask once again covered his disfigured face.
As Amon turned towards the four bound benders, Korra and Mako leapt into action, chi blockers trying to halt them. Mako was unafraid to launch fire at the agile fighters, Korra hurling them this way and that with water as Asami seemed to dive from nowhere into the fray.
"Hey! Dick-face!" A voice called from the crowd towards the stage.
The moment Amon turned, he was met with a barrage of earth from Bolin, Lin being propelled towards the man who had blinded and removed her bending by a wave of earth. She charged up her walking cane, the end crackling with electricity as she swung at him, missing and striking a chi blocker instead.
Asami was only vaguely aware of the chaos around her as she released the airbenders, Katara now helping her lead them to Pema.
"Mother?! You shouldn't be here, it's dangerous." She heard Tenzin protest.
However, the older woman smiled at him kindly, a hint of darkness in her eyes. "Tenzin, I fought in wars. I have done far more in five years of my youth while at 'dangerous places', than you have done in your entire life." The darkness seemed to ebb, a haunted sadness replacing it. "I have done terrible things, seen terrible things, and stopped terrible things. I am where I need to be."
"Mother, I-" He began.
"Take the little ones to your wife. Amon must not get to them. We must hurry." She urged her son.
Tenzin nodded sternly, obeying her a bit grudgingly. He wanted to fight, but his family came first. They had to escape above all else, otherwise his father's legacy would be forever destroyed, along with the very balance of the world itself.
"I trusted you." Noatok heard his lieutenant coldly growl to him, watching him crouch.
He could kill the fool now, then remove the boy's bending as he had done to the Avatar. No one would ever know the truth, the truth his own brother had exposed. He could make everyone equal at long last, and then no one would be better than their brother. No one would be special if everyone was ordinary.
The fight was laughable at best, bloodbending making his advantage only greater as he flung the limp body into a pile of boxes. One task down. Only the boy left.
Mako watched Amon advance on him, feeling pure terror in his heart. Korra was weak and struggling to get to her feet again, he had to protect her; he still loved her deeply. However, the moment he readied himself, he found his muscles seizing, his limbs refusing to move as he wanted, even his breathing difficult to manage as Amon barred down on him. He had to do something! This couldn't end this way.
He grit his teeth, focusing on his chi, watching his right fingers as the man dragged his body closer with his own blood. "C'mon... C'mon..." He ground out, watching the tiniest of sparks flicker to life.
That would have to do.
Steeling himself, Mako used all of his strength to channel lightning directly into Amon, watching as the body flew across the room as he dropped. He scrambled to his feet, panting as he hoisted Korra upright, bracing her body against his as he ran them out of the room. They needed to get out, exposing Amon could wait. They had to recover, regroup, and they had to live to do that.
But Mako felt his body twist as the familiar claws of bloodbending reached into him, hurling him down to the opposite end of the hall. How could anyone stand this pain?!
"Almost a pity," He heard Amon croon. "Taking away the bending of one so talented. It's been a long time since anyone actually hurt me."
Korra felt the bile creeping up her throat as she watched the scene unraveling before her eyes, forcing herself to her feet. Mako was going to lose his bending because she had failed him. Just like she had lost her bending. Just like Lin had lost her bending, lost her sight. Because she was always just a little too weak, always just a little too unprepared.
Always just a little too late.
"NO!" She screeched, throwing a wild, useless punch of desperate frustration at Amon. If only she could save him, if only she could bend.
However, she felt a rush of energy flow through her arm, a wave of air bursting forth and striking Amon, knocking him away from Mako.
Korra blinked in disbelief, her face showing every inch of shock that her heart felt. "I can airbend?" She questioned no one in stunned awe, then regained her resolve. "I can airbend!"
Amon's tone mirrored her shock. "Impossible!"
Korra didn't give herself time for doubt, instead launching gust after gust into her foe's body, knocking him closer and closer to the window. She would stop him. She would end this. She would win. Because she was the Avatar, and that's just what he would have to deal with.
She readied her stance and threw her arm forward, only to have it bent backwards, Korra crying out in pain as she fell to her knees.
"Now, to truly rid the world of the Avatar."
"I don't think you will."
Amon turned his masked face towards the voice, seeing none other than Katara watching him, Korra's jaw dropped in confusion.
"Well, the wife of Avatar Aang. It will be an honor to remove your bending."
Yet Katara simply chuckled at him. "You mistake age for inability, Noatok." She smirked. "But I have lived far longer than you, and learned far more than you have dared. Your tricks won't work on me."
Amon laughed darkly, his motions both keeping Korra restrained, and jerking Katara to her knees. "You think I am a weakling, don't you?" But when the elder bender fluidly returned to her feet, he took a step back. "How...?"
The darkness once again clouded Katara's blue eyes, her smile edged with a touch of instability. "You poor child." She mocked. "I was my own teacher for waterbending, but did you truly think no one else knew bloodbending? I learned it from the woman who crafted it."
He shook his head. "My family has generations of powerful psychic bloodbenders!"
"Your father was gifted at bending, but a liar. He was the first to master psychic bloodbending. But not to bloodbend during the day."
Fluidly, Katara guided her hands, Amon finding himself rigid and in pain as his arms twisted behind him, struggling against her grip on his body. This was impossible! How could she bend his blood in daylight?! How did she learn?!
With a furious growl, he broke from her control, Korra nearly passing out as his control over her failed. It was almost terrifying to watch the two waterbenders fight each other, one with fluid grace, and the other with cold rigidity. Korra felt the sweat on her skin be whisked away by Katara as she sent it slashing at Amon, the attack repelled as he tried again to bloodbend her, only to fail.
Katara could barely hold back the darkness that edged into her mind as she dipped into bloodbending again and again. It brewed, it raged, it clawed at her to let it have more, to drag her farther away from reason and self-control. She couldn't let it win. Not again. Not after so many years of burying it from sight.
"If I cannot defeat you," Korra felt her entire body stiffen horribly, jerking as she tried to fight his grip on her. "Then I will just have to satisfy myself with defeating the Avatar."
In that moment, all reason and sense that Katara clung to vanish, her eyes colder than ice as she clenched her fist and jerked it down.
Amon lost his grip over Korra as his throat seized, his hands holding and grasping at it as he struggled to breathe. There was pure terror in his eyes through the mask as his restricted airway closed more, finding himself lifted off the floor. He had never been on this side of bloodbending; terrified for his life, and staring at the one person who held it in their hand.
"You will not hurt the Avatar. You won't... You won't touch Aang. I won't let you." Katara snarled out, looking far more sinister than Korra had ever seen her before.
For Katara, there was no hall, no Korra. Only herself, Amon, and her husband. She would not let Aang suffer. She would do anything she had to, even resort to using methods she had sworn never to use, methods they had forced her to refine in that hellish place.
"Hey. Sugar Queen. That's enough." A familiar voice told her from her left.
Time seemed to melt away, and Katara stood but twenty six again, Toph in her prime standing a good distance away. The blind bender had a distant, sad expression on her face, taking a step closer.
"Katara, this isn't right. Don't be like him."
Katara felt her body shaking in hate. "I won't let him hurt Aang." She insisted.
Amon was gagging. He would die for his threats.
"Tara, you're better than this. It's the bloodbending. Don't do this. Not again."
"I'll kill him."
"Don't, please."
"Toph, he'll kill my husband. I can't let him do that."
Korra watched with wide eyes as Katara spoke to no one, jaw slack as her gaze flicked between her former mentor and her bitter enemy. As much wrong as he had done, Amon didn't deserve this. Not from Katara.
"K-katara?" She squeaked out in a trembling voice. Korra had never seen the older bender so unhinged, so distant from reality.
"Katara." Toph stated firmly as Amon choked. "Please, let him go."
"Toph..." Her resolve was wavering, tears running down her cheeks. "He'll hurt Aang..."
"You're scaring Korra."
The cold waters of reality washed over Katara, the dark glint in them gone as she looked at the frightened young girl. She had been that young, once. Young, and full of fear. Full of unrelenting terror for months on end. Waiting for the nightmare that trapped her to end.
How could she be the reason her old pupil felt fear?
With a deft yet graceful motion of her arm, she threw Amon out of the window, trying to pull herself back together.
Korra raced over to the broken window to peer down into the waters, listening to the accusations of the non-benders being shouted from below.
"The Avatar killed Amon!"
"Up there! There she is!"
With a blast of water and air, Noatok burst above the surface on a pillar of water, gasping to catch his breath again.
Korra didn't have to hear the people to know they were turning on him at the discovery of his lie. With a satisfied smirk, she watched him flee, then turned back to look at Katara kneeling over the passed out form of Mako.
Katara eased his muscles, slowly using her healing to help him stir; Amon had done quite some damage to the boy. Her mind was hers again, the darkness and ruthless hunger locked away once more, standing to look at Korra. She could see the hesitation, the worry. The glint of fear.
"Katara? Are you alright?"
"Yes, I am. Thank you. Help Mako up, dear."
Korra scurried closer to help, still feeling hollow from the loss of the majority of her bending. "What... What was that?"
She watched the sadness edge into the elder woman's eyes, a distant and haunted pain written on her face. "Something best left forgotten, Korra. Something... That I hope you never feel yourself."
Lin sat on the chair quietly, the chill of the air all around her as they all waited patiently for Korra and Katara to return. She missed seeing more than bending, and she was praying to the spirits that her godmother could restore her sight. If anyone could fix it, it would be Katara.
The door opened, Lin stood swiftly, her cane tapping the floor as she turned to the general direction of her once student, Asami hovering close by. "Did... Did it work?" She breathed. The strain of being cut off from the three other elements had been terrible for the young woman.
With a loud sob, Lin heard Korra turn and run, reaching out after her. No, it clearly hadn't worked, but that was secondary to just how worried she was about the young Avatar. She knew she couldn't follow her; without her sight, she would end up getting lost.
"I'll go after her." Mako stated.
"No." Asami interrupted. "I'll go. I just want to make sure she's safe."
Lin placed a hand on her shoulder carefully. "Please, be careful. She's really shaken up about her bending." Unseeing eyes met green. "Don't push her."
Korra stood on the snow, panting heavily after she bent all four elements. It was the most liberating feeling ever. She heard footsteps approaching, turning to see Asami nervously pad closer.
"You... You can bend..." Asami breathed.
Korra grinned and raced over to her. "Aang... He fixed it for me."
Jade hues were wide with shock, then they turned to the snow below their feet. "Korra... I can never apologize enough for what I did, or said. It was... I was wrong, and cruel."
Korra felt her heart leap, her eyes a bit wider.
"Could we... Would we be able to... Try again?"
Korra edged in slowly, standing on her tiptoes to kiss her once fling. The kiss was still electric, still enthralling. And yet, something was missing. Something made it not quite as fulfilling. She pulled back with a sad smile. "I don't know if we can."
Asami set her jaw firmly. "Then, I will try to prove myself to you. I... I want you, Korra."
"Well, you are welcome to try, Asami." Her mind was filled with the feeling of someone tracing her face, the scent of spicy metal and sweat. "But first, there's something I need to do."
Lin felt her chi pathways open once more, opening her mind to the 'sight' of the expanse around her. She had never felt so whole again in her life, never so refreshed as now. With the greatest of ease, Lin Bei Fong used her earthbending to levitate six large boulders.
She opened her eyes slowly, the darkness not so dark seeming anymore. It was a bit bittersweet that she was blind, but as long as she could bend, she could get through it. Lin smiled at Korra as the boulders lowered once more, reaching out her hands to cup the Avatar's cheeks tenderly. One hand began its familiar track along her features, her thumb tracing Korra's lips to see a smile, a grin lighting up her own face before she embraced the young bender.
"Thank you." Lin whispered to her, feeling arms wrapping around her own body.
"No, thank you, Lin. For everything."
When they pulled back, Lin cuffed Korra playfully to hide the tears in her eyes. "Well someone had to make sure your ass was in gear, Idiot-bender."
"Yeah, well why don't you all stay here a while. Mom and Dad would love to meet you all."
With a laugh, everyone happily agreed. Perhaps the Avatar was just what the world needed after all.
A/N 2: Coming soon, is chapter ten, and the start of season two. This section will NOT follow Canon generally, but the most basic plot will be the same. Yes, I will be going through all four seasons. You may all rejoice. Much love, rainbows, and stuff.
Korrupted.