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CHAPTER IX - SOME FRIENDSHIPS ARE SO STRONG, THEY CAN EVEN TRANSCEND LIFETIMES
There was one place where Sung could go where he didn't feel trapped, all he had to do to get there was close his eyes and breathe.
He could talk to the friendly spirits and he could challenge the stronger spirits to test his bending.
He wandered around the jungle, in search of spirits strong enough to face him.
"Korra!? Korra!?" Sung heard two voices call out. "Korra, where are you!?" The voices came closer and closer until they flew out of the trees and saw him. "Korra? Wait no," said Jinora. "It's just a kid."
"Wait, Jinora… Korra's energy… It's coming from him!" Rohan pointed at him.
Sung's heart raced at the sight of the strangers setting their sights on him. These were the people his mother had warned him about, these were the bad people who wanted to take him away.
He turned around and dashed and the two followed him.
"Wait! We're not gonna hurt you!"
He didn't believe them, why would he believe anything that came out of a stranger's mouth?
"Hey!" shouted Jinora as she flew in chase. "Are you the Avatar?"
"Get away from me!" Sung turned around and sent a blast of fire at Jinora that knocked her out of the air.
Rohan saw her hit the ground and retaliated immediately with a powerful gust of wind.
"No!" yelled Jinora, already recovered. "Rohan, stop!"
But the wind was already travelling through the air. Rohan's enraged face had turned into one of regret. "I-I…"
Sung was blown into the trunk of a tree and landed in front of it. Jinora raced up to him to see if was okay, Rohan raced up to him to apologize.
"I'm sorry, kid, I-" Rohan was blasted away with yet another blast of airbending.
Airbending?
"Get away from him!" yelled the airbender. "Who are you… people…" His words faded as his mind did.
Jinora recognized him immediately. "ZAHEER!"
"J-Ji-"
She charged at him with everything she had – the might of her nation. Zaheer knew he had to defend himself or he was done for. He pushed his arms out to blow wind to counteract her movement and ran into the jungle as fast as he could.
"YOU KILLED HER!"
"No, Jinora, let me explain!" He pleaded as he ran and the wildlife around him uprooted in the storm.
"YOU KILLED HER AND NOW YOU WANT TO KILL HIM!"
"I was trying to protect him!" His words didn't reach her. Zaheer froze. Jinora held him like a puppet. "Jinora, wait, please…"
She forced the air around him to bring him to his knees. "This is how you liked to do it, right?" She stretched her arm out and created a spherical void around Zaheer's head and pulled the air out of his lungs to it.
This was justice. It was poetic.
Zaheer could feel the life draining out of him. He thought he might've deserved it - however much he had changed in the last nine years, it wouldn't excuse his past actions.
So he stopped struggling and accepted his punishment in the end.
DECADES AGO
"Jen! You're drinking again!?" Zaheer snatched the half empty bottle out of her hands.
"Give it back!"
The struggle caused spillage.
"Jen, stop! It's bad for the baby! Stop!"
"What do you care!?" She took back the bottle and took a swig. "You're never home anyway!"
Zaheer had had enough. Jen knew about P'li, Zaheer knew about Jen's countless other men, what was holding them together?
"Jen, I can't do this anymore."
He closed the door and left.
"GOOD!" She screamed as she threw the bottle, smashing it against the wall. "YOU TAKE YOUR RED LOTUS AND STICK IT UP YOUR ASS!"
TWENTY-ONE YEARS AGO - 171 AG
Chief Beifong got caught in the blast and landed at the edge of the cliff.
P'li had her right where she wanted her. She charged her attack, but in a stroke of genius, Su Beifong emerged behind her and metalbended her own armour around P'li's head just as she attacked.
"P'LI!" Zaheer shouted.
TEN YEARS AGO - 182 AG
"Now! Take him!"
Father Glowworm jetted to him.
"Kaili, what are you doing!?"
"I'm sorry, Dad! This is the only way."
PRESENT - 192 AG
"Jinora,"
As she took the life out of Zaheer, she felt a hand on her shoulder.
"This isn't the way of the Air Nation."
The person walked in front of her. Jinora didn't recognize him immediately but quickly remembered him as the person that the Firelord was named after.
"Iroh?"
Rohan stumbled behind Iroh, having recovered from Zaheer's attack and caught up. He held Sung in his arms.
"He killed her! He killed Korra!" said Jinora.
Iroh shook his head. "No matter what he has done in the past, he is a different person now, he has changed, Jinora – and so have you. Revenge won't bring you happiness, it will only make you feel more empty."
Jinora let him breathe.
. . .
"I didn't have anything to do with Ranlok's plans, it was most likely my daughter. She was one of the ones who broke me out, along with Ranlok."
"Your daughter?" Jinora asked.
They never knew Zaheer fathered a child.
"Yes, my daughter, Kaili, had recently found out about our blood relation at that time and decided to help Ranlok."
"Kaili? Wait, Detective Kaili? She wasn't kidnapped, she was helping the Red Lotus!"
"We suspect it's more than just helping, we think she's leading them now."
"But…"
"After the summit attack, she took me to see a spirit that could track the new Avatar and sacrificed me to the spirit in order to find-" Zaheer pointed to Sung, who had just woken up. "Him. I believe she still has him."
Everyone looked to Sung. "My mommy… isn't my real- real mommy…?"
Rohan took a knee to look at Sung. "Avatar Sung, where are you right now?"
Sung looked at his feet. "I-I don't know… Mommy doesn't let me go outside… And what's an Avatar?"
All of the adults had their own answer, which might've overwhelmed the boy slightly.
"I can bend all three elements, but, you guys- you guys use something else…"
They shared an inquisitive look with each other.
"This is airbending," Rohan demonstrated. "It's another element, there are actually four elements, Sung, I think your mom has been lying to you. You can airbend too, you just need someone to teach you."
Sung looked at his hands. "I can air- airbend?" He was attracted to new things.
"Sung!" called a voice. "Get over here, now!"
Sung did so, and stood beside his mother.
"Kaili!"
"Dad? Chairwoman Jinora?"
"Sung," Kaili put her hand on his back. "These are the bad people who want to take you away!"
"Don't listen to her! She's lying!"
The sky changed to a darker tone, a storm began brewing.
"Sung, wait-"
The group lost control of their bodies, they were being bloodbended.
"H-how…?"
As their bodies twisted, Kaili's face twisted. "Kill them!"
Sung thought for a moment and reconsidered.
"No," he said, as they regained control over their bodies. "They're not bad… You are!"
Sung used his waterbending to restrict Kaili with vines. The sky cleared.
"No, Sung, listen-"
"You took me away! You're not- not my real mommy!"
Kaili sat there, helpless as the others walked close.
"It's okay," Jinora hugged Sung. "It's okay."
Jinora might've cried as much as Sung.
"I chased revenge for ten years." She held the boy tightly. "I thought Mom was being selfish, but… I was the one who manipulated my nation… I used my own family… for ten years…" She put some distance between her and the boy, holding onto his shoulders. "Mom was right all along… I was-"
"It wasn't just you," Rohan caught her attention. "It was all of us. We all wanted revenge. We all let it blind and change us."
Zaheer approached his daughter.
"Kaili, it's over… Tell us where you're keeping the Avatar."
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