First of all, this one is a little dark. Please be warned. It is nothing like anything else I've written so far, and it is as far from HEA as I've ever strayed. Also, there are some slightly adult themes, and this verges on dub-con, so be warned. I'd like to add that nothing that happens in this is okay in real life, then again if you can shoot flames from your hands in real life I really am not going to try to tell you what to do.

Enjoy ;)

Korra saw red, and then orange, and then yellow, all flowing from her hands. In front of her Tarrlok was cowering, and she was so close, she was finally going to best him.

Nobody, least of all Korra understood why his words made her so angry. Why all of his actions made her blood boil. Other people may occasionaly annoy her, but everything Tarrlok did wrong made her furious.

Without thinking, without even pausing to consider what she was doing, Korra lifted her arm to strike. That arm never came down. She felt the foreign invasion immediately. It pulled her arm down. Her blood was boiling, fighting against her. The more she strained, the harder it pulled within her. The feeling was so foreign, so dirty, and at once she knew where it was coming from.

Her eyes flew to him. She expected to see panic. She expected to see worry. She expected to see anger. Instead, she saw the tears. His hands were moving furiously. He brought her arms down to her sides and locked them there, planting her feet firmly on the ground. No matter how she struggled, but she couldn't struggle for long. Still, he was crying, begging her with his eyes.

"Korra" she didn't want to hear him say her name. She wanted to break free. She wanted to attack him. She wanted to know why he was crying.

"Korra, I" then he was sobbing. He was sobbing, and she was so, so angry.

"I am so sorry" he said. She wanted to yell at him that he should be sorry. That he'd be really sorry when she found a way to break free from his hold.

"I should take you. I should take you and run far, far away. They'll never find us." He was circling her, and for the first time Korra wondered if he'd gone mad. She realized that if he had, she'd driven him to it. The thought burned more than she'd expected. She recoiled from it, but there was nowhere to run.

"We could go live in another kingdom, isolated. You'd have to be mine, my wife. We could leave Republic City forever." For the first time Korra was well and truly afraid. More so than she'd been when she'd left her house for training, more even than her tussle with Amon. He had all of the power, and she'd made him insane. She felt ill.

"Mmm" Maybe he could feel her trying to speak, because he shook his head sadly at her.

"Do you hate me Korra? Of course you hate me, I'm deplorable." She wondered if he was lost in the fantasy.

"Sometimes I wish you were a normal girl. I'm ashamed to admit I had plans for you. I can tell you now that, well, I'm still not sure." She would have been insulted, but he wasn't yelling and he wasn't condescending. He was still quietly sobbing, and she could hear his regret. Instantly she was hit with a strong wave of self-loathing. She was always being warned to be careful.

"I had a plan. I was going to offer you my hand at the perfect moment, like this." He held a hand out, and she felt Tarrlok moving her hand into compliance. Before she knew it they were locked in for a slow dance. His body was much too close to hers, but she wasn't upset. Of course, that thought disturbed her almost as much as the situation. She felt him beginning to twirl her around to imaginary music.

"This was the part where you'd start to realize that I'm not just a councilman, not just a monster." It hurt her to hear him in so much pain. It hurt her to be moved against her will. Everything about the situation seemed designed to bring about wave after wave of pain.

"And then, when the moment was right." She closed her eyes the second his lips hit hers, entirely of her own volition. She snuggled up close with him, and she didn't know whether or not it was because he was controlling her body any more. She threw her arms around him, grasping at his broad shoulders and defined back. This was passion, she realized. This was the same feeling Tarrlok always gave her but in applied in an entirely new way. She realized too late that he wasn't in control of her. He seemed to realize it too, stepping back from her swiftly.

"You, you" She didn't understand. He seemed angry.

"The moment we're doomed is when, you" then he was really sobbing, and she was once again bound.

"I'm so, so, sorry." He whispered, broken. Then, as Korra fought against him, fought to reach for him, her world went black. As she fell, the last conscious part of her brain knew it'd be the last time she saw him for a long time.

When Korra came to, she saw Tenzin and his children first. Then Bolin sitting awkwardly next to a tear-stricken Asami. Finally, lastly, she recognized someone speaking in her ear. There was Mako, finishing what she was sure had been a rousing speech. She was entirely not in the mood.

"We should have known. He was always stalking around like the tiger horse of the jungle."Mako was all fire, and in that moment he was entirely foreign to her. She backed away from him, from all of them, and wrapped her arms around herself.

"No." She shook her head, and felt the tears coming. She never cried, and she wouldn't then. It was more than a matter of principal, she knew they'd never understand. He could never come back to Republic City, and if she wanted to ever see him again it could only be in secret. She'd have to hunt him down, but then, she was already very good at that.

"He's not the predator."