Chapter 20
We rose from the rubble of the City Hall. The rushing and chopping of the air sphere filled my ears.
Being in the Avatar State was completely something else. My body felt heavy yet light of spirit, my mind crowded yet clear, my blood blazing and freezing with power. I had all the power in the world at my fingertips. It was terrifying and exhilarating.
If this was the Avatar State for only half of Raava's light spirit, what would it be like to be a full Avatar? This amount of power was completely manageable. Would being in the full Avatar State be as well?
"You can use airbending?" Yena boomed, her voice echoing with the deep tones of Vaatu.
"Of course," I answered.
I lifted my hands and pushed them out, my energy reaching for the water. I had expected some water to obey my will, but in the Avatar State, everything was amplified. Yue Bay surged onto the streets, water rushing through the alleyways and streets to gather underneath me. I raised my hands quickly. The rushing water shot up into the air, as fast as an arrow. It engulfed Yena's air sphere. Swirling my hands, ice quickly crept around the sphere, freezing her in. But as soon as the ice completely encased Yena, the frozen sphere glowed with a red heat. Rays of red light pierced through the ice like knives. The frozen air sphere shook, blinding me with its hellish brightness. Fragments of melting ice exploded, sharp glistening fragments flaming as they shot in all directions. I felt some shred my jacket, even through the protection of the whirring air sphere.
I bit my lip when I felt a surge of warmth at my side; the hot flash of pain, the ache, the pulsing. I was cut.
I put my hand to my side and brought it to my glowing eyes. My fingertips were rouged with blood. Not a lot, but soon enough it would get bad.
I sent a mixed assault of razor-sharp icicles and heavy clods of pavement Yena's way, while I managed to heal myself. I had just finished when lightning hit me in the chest, piercing through the shield of my air sphere. The impact sent me plummeting towards the city. With the electricity running through my body, I just managed to airbend myself to catch the steeple of one of the main business buildings.
Yena came at me like some avenging dark goddess, eyes glowing their orange-red, face in a passive angry expression. I could see why people thought the Avatar State was terrifying to behold. It was those empty glowing eyes and the unreadable face.
Tendrils of lightning swirled around her as she charged at me. I felt the ozone in the air, my hair rising in response. A hot chill of fear ran along my spine. I took a deep breath.
When she was just about to strike, I launched myself from the steeple. I fell into a backflip, my back arching, my legs curling under me.
My heart rose into my throat as I began to free fall, the hands of air not able to catch me. The beating of my heart and the flapping of my clothes was an uproar in my ears. I could feel the shadow of Yena's presence, her spirit called to mine. I managed to flip onto my back, the air pushing me. I threw my arms down, feeling the water's energy roil and churn. I threw my arms up at her, sending a torrent of water at her. I sent volleys of icicles, sharp as arrowheads at her, some of them even hitting her. Her fire battled against my water and ice, white dust forming between us as we plummeted.
I straightened, whirling my hands as fast as I could. A spout shot up, catching me in its wet embrace. It gently carried me to the flooded streets. As soon as I touched the surface, Yena sent another volley of fireballs. I managed to glide across the surface enough to dodge. A burst of smoke and water exploded where I once was.
I felt the lagging of my energy as I fell out of the Avatar State. I knew I wasn't the only one. Yena's were no longer glowing either.
I rushed across the surface of the water, foam frothing around me like furled wings. I weaved between buildings, pulling corners as quickly and tightly as I could to try to throw her off.
Clenching a fist, I brought it to the sky, raising a spire of earth behind me. I heard the explosion of breath as Yena collided with my spire. When I glanced over my shoulder, I caught a quick glimpse of black clothed legs and arms sticking out. I grinned a little.
"Enough!"
When I turned, I got a facefull of rock and fire, sending me flying into the air. I didn't really realize how far I sailed until I collided with the rocks of Air Temple Island. I groaned, rolling over onto my side in my little crater. My wound in my side reopened, blood flowing more freely than before. Guess I didn't do a good healing job.
Yena landed easily on the gray stone, a victorious smile on her face as she approached the crater. Behind her, Republic City smouldered with new and old smoke. Tall skyscrapers had chunks missing out of them. I could practically hear the city crumbling to dust.
Dark red tendrils surrounded Yena like an aura, tentacles twisting and waving. Vaatu.
One of the tendrils reached for me with a swipe. Stinging cold burned on my chest. And when I looked down, I was surprised to see blood blooming into my clothes. The jacket and tank top were shredded from the razor sharp darkness.
Laughing, she whipped me again and again, with those dark red darkness tentacles, until I was just a puddle of agony and blood. I could barely move. I was so cold. I couldn't feel anything. My body was just a prone, heavy, empty form. My throat was raw and bloody from screaming.
"Raava," I whispered, coughing. Liquid metal ran from my nose, dripping onto my tongue. I spat and choked, trying to rid the taste of my blood from my mouth.
Just once more, I begged. Let me go into the Avatar State.
If you go into the Avatar State the second time, and not reunite my spirit, you will not be able to again, she told me.
"Enough fun," Yena said; sliding down into the crater with a great amount of elegance I could never manage. The red darkness surrounding her like an aura, reached its tendrils towards me. My body instinctively flinched, my leaking wounds burning cold in response as they drew closer. Instead of cutting and slicing me, they slowly wrapped around me, lifting me off the ground. Yena's red lips pursed as she studied me.
"My, my Tiana, you don't look so good. Of course, you'll look worse after this," she said, falsely pouting her lips.
I stared down into her silver eyes, glowing even brighter than moonlight. We had the same oval face, the same nose, same shaped eyes. How could I kill my other half? She was the only person that made me feel whole. How could I do that? Saying that she would kill me with a snap of her fingers is not enough justification. Not even the fate of the world could be enough.
But there was none. I had to. I had no choice.
The darkness tightened around me, enough for the breath to flee out of my lungs. I gasped for air, as it wound further up, wrapping intimately around my neck.
"I will finally have what's mine," Yena purred.
One of the tendrils snaked towards my mouth, an unseeing worm with only one purpose, to remove Raava from me.
Avatar Korra had survived Raava being taken from her. But that had been during Harmonic Convergence, at the determination of the fate of the world. It was only on that day that an Avatar could survive being separated from the Avatar Spirit. Raava had told me so.
I was going to die.
I could feel the darkness pressing against my mouth, numbing first my lips, then cheeks, spreading to my nose.
I flexed my hand, stretching out the kinks. Blood continued to drip into the earth, mine and hers.
There was water in blood.
My blood surged from the earth and covered my hand like a glove. It froze into a faceted ruby hand.
Just as the darkness managed to pry my mouth open, I swung hard. My blood glove clipped Yena hard in the jaw, just enough to stun her for a bit. The tendrils released me. I landed in a hard stance, twisting my feet and hands. I executed an upwards punch, the energy of the earth a steady presence.
A pillar of earth shot up, shoving Yena into the air. I knew how hard the hit was. It was the same intensity as when she hit me, sending me to Air Temple Island. Her dark, limp body shot across Yue Bay like a missile. Taking a deep breath, I shot into the air with air currents lifting me. My hands went out, reaching for the humming presence of metal in the smouldering city. Metal cables that lined the city shot out and wrapped around Yena's body, catching her as she collided with a skyscraper.
She screamed as the metal cables kept her still, still too weak to metalbend from my blow. Lightning discharged from her, shooting along the cables and shocking her in return. Her eyes glowed with the orange-red of the Dark Avatar State. Her lips were curled in a snarl, spittle forming at the corners of her mouth.
A scream tore its way from my chest, as I rushed towards her. I slammed into her, concrete from the skyscraper exploding outwards, making hard splashes in the flooded streets. The Avatar State came all at once, my hands and feet crushing through solid stone as I hovered in front of Yena. One hand found her forehead while the other on her breastbone.
Then everything went white.
Yena's energy pulsed under my fingers, pounding harder and harder until it released its grasp on her, the other half of Raava being pulled into me. All that remained was the freezing cold of Vaatu and the dwindling silver flame of her spirit.
Yena was limp against the metal cables, as I removed Vaatu from her. The pure hatred and rage radiating from the coiled Vaatu was shocking. He was only small for now. I was able to cup him in my palm. A miniature air sphere whirled around the reaching tendrils of Vaatu, along with rings of earth, fire and water. It would trap him for now.
The metal cables slowly lowered Yena onto view deck of the skyscraper. I didn't take notice of her pallour or of her breathing.
Power pulsed steadily in my chest. I had thought the Avatar State was the most powerful thing in the world, when I was still only half an Avatar.
That paled in comparison now that I was fully spirited.
I looked at my hands, seeing white energy seething out of me. I pulled into myself, my limps curling in. I released all the energy at once, a ring of white power shooting out from me. The air hummed in response, spirit lights dancing merrily. For once, they were a new colour. White and silver. They stood out stark against the still burning sunset.
I gently let my arms flow out, up and down like the movement of the tide. The water that flooded the city rushed back towards Yue Bay. The rocks that had been torn from the pavement were put back where they belonged. The fires that still blazed quieted into smoke.
I opened my palms, raising them chest level. I imagined my energy pooling in my palms. Firebending was so different from the other types. It was the only one that you had depend on your own energy to produce it. With the others, the elements had their own energies.
First there was a blue spark in both hands. My mouth twisted as it touched my tender skin. Then it flamed. They weren't normal red flames though. They were blue.
There was only one person ever to have blue fire, and that was Azula, the mad Fire Princess during the Hundred Year War. She had the mixed lineage of Avatar Roku and the Royal Family of the Fire Nation. So did Fire Lord Zuko, but he did not have blue fire like she did.
I extinguished the ghostly flames by curling my hands into my fists.
I drifted over to Yena, who was still motionless on the view deck. I picked her up gently, the still spinning air prison of Vaatu clasped in her limp hands. My air sphere took me down, down to the remains of City Hall. Already, the police were there, along with healers. They all stopped when I descended in.
The air sphere dissipated as my feet lightly touched the floor. Everyone around me had terrified expressions as they looked at my empty face and glowing eyes.
I closed them, letting Raaava's healed spirit rest. The surge of power that came with the Avatar State faded.
I looked up, not bothering to wipe away the tears that now ran down my face.
"The Dark Avatar is dead. The city is now safe," I said, my voice dull and empty.
After resting Yena's body gently down, my legs collapsed underneath me, taking me down with her. The last thing I saw was Yena's partially open eye, no longer burning with that lively silver flame.
Hopefully you guys have been liking Avatar: Legend of the Twins! There is still more coming up, to conclude on Tiana's story. Thank you all for the reviews and hope you all continue to read, enjoy and comment on this ff!