AUTHOR'S NOTES: The "(1)" in this chapter's title doesn't mean this is a multipart chapter, but rather, that this is a recurring theme throughout this story. As such, this is the first of what will undoubtedly be multiple "Korra Alone" chapters. These will most likely be chapters where Korra hits rock bottom much like this one, but there's a lot more to it than that as well.
Happy Reading!
BOOK TWO: CHANGE
CHAPTER SIXTY-EIGHT: KORRA ALONE (1)
There was no way for Asami or anyone apart from Tarrlok to know Korra's current mental state and condition, but true to Asami's fears, Korra's condition had deteriorated rapidly to the point where it essentially fell apart entirely.
She had spent literally over two hours screaming and throwing herself, her fists, her feet, her chains, and the elements at this metal box that Tarrlok had trapped her in, but it was clearly a product of the finest craftsmanship considering that other than scorch marks and the occasional nick or ding, she hadn't even really scratched it, let alone given it any significant damage. More than likely this had been a long-lasting project designed specifically to hold the Avatar.
Korra's behaviour bordered on insanity as she continued to bang against the walls and mutter nonsense under her breath about the Avatar State. These words became more and more fervent as if she was trying to talk herself into it.
Almost as if this was her cue, Korra's reflex triggered, and it sent her into the Avatar State. Mustering every ounce of physical strength she could harness, she attempted to push the metal apart, but the 8-inch thick walls of the cage did not relent. Korra screamed and was in this state for over an hour before she expended her energy and reduced herself to tears of despair as the reality of her situation sunk in. Not even the Avatar State could save her now. Was it an hour? Was it two? Even with the Avatar State, she felt like something was holding her back, but what it was, she could not single out.
"Why am I so weak…" she fell to her knees and seethed, "why am I so helpless… so worthless! SOMEBODY!" Her anger melted away into a violent swing of panick and desperation. "SOMEBODY HELP ME! PLEASE!"
She banged on the door and the walls until her ankles and wrists were sore and her hands and knuckles were bleeding. "Please…" She fell to her knees and curled into a ball as she wept.
Like she often did when she was alone, Korra turned very introspective as she looked inside herself and saw just what a horrible mess she was. She had been in a fairly delicate situation before the Hiroshi incident, and nearly three years of intense concentration and focus had been what had helped alleviate her trauma and her emotional turmoil—or so she had thought. Hiroshi had proven that while Korra was strong-willed, she was not stable by any means. Tarrlok had proven that Nakkoa's nightmare had never truly left her either, with horrible flashbacks of the psychotic firebender torturing Korra plaguing her memories. It was almost as if the scars on her right forearm and the left side of her neck flared up in pain as well—perhaps that was her broken mind playing tricks on her.
"Why…" She moaned before screaming again. "WHY!? Why am I so broken and deranged!? I solved these problems. I accepted that they happened, and I got over it… except I didn't and now I'm worse off than where I started!"
Korra belted out a frenzied, bloodcurdling scream that lasted a full 3½ minutes (bending was definitely involved) as she beat her knuckles raw against the metal cage and even tried slamming her head against it a few times. None of these efforts had any effect on her prison, and Korra beat herself against the metal until she lost consciousness entirely.
She found herself face to face with another one of her past lives. She recognized this one as Zulera, known affectionately as "The Fatherless Avatar".
"What do you want?" She glared daggers at the wild looking Water Tribe woman from thousands of years before her time. "Here to gloat your success in striking contrast to the unbelievably fucked up mess that is my life?!"
"I'm here because you called me," Zulera explained, "whether you intended to or not. The Avatar in Chains… it was such a striking parallel to Zoroka during her life. It's no wonder the Interregnums take such an interest in you."
"Zoroka?" Korra collected herself somewhat, "what's she got to do with any of this? In case you didn't realize it, I'm in a fucking CAGE and I'm pretty much losing my shit right now. This had better be important!"
"See for yourself…" Zulera disappeared, and the scene around Korra changed once again.
A wild woman resembling Korra was being held on trial, being charged for dangerous counts of manipulation as well as impersonating the Avatar. She was young, but Korra recognized that stern face and those cold, featureless eyes. This was the same woman that Korra had seen around the Western Air Temple. There was no way she could still be alive though—either she was immortalized, or was just always a spirit in human form.
"Zoroka Chandaki may only be 21 years old, but she has managed to go toe-to-toe with the Avatar in a brazen display of all four elements." A prosecutor spoke, "And alongside that, she has demonstrated the ability to imitate the Avatar's ability to bend all four elements."
"And none of you believed me when I said it was the spirits!" Zoroka raised her chained hands into the air, "They gifted me with that power. I am no Avatar. I have no past lives. I have no Avatar State. I cannot bend the mythical energies of people and the world. But just as the Lion-Turtles of old bestowed bending abilities upon men and women in the past, so too were these disciplines bestowed upon me."
"That does not explain your ability to bend the blood of the people around you!" the prosecution attorney retaliated. "Or more so, how you were able to use this barbaric and illegal ability without the power of the full moon."
"Metalbenders…" Zoroka scowled, "Lavabenders… lightning benders… combustion benders, bloodbenders... ancient arts; lost arts… forbidden arts. Are you so arrogant that you suggest that we as humanity know everything about these mysterious bending disciplines? Or is there something about them here or there that may not meet… your eye?"
Zoroka cocked her head, stunning many people in the room. She forced the policeman behind her to unlock her shackles using this trick, and it was clear what she was doing—Zoroka was a bloodbender. The other abilities she had in life however, were a mystery. Where and how she had obtained the ability to manipulate the other elements only left Korra with more questions than she did before this vision. Zoroka tore off and left the city—which appeared to be Caldera City in the Fire Nation by the looks at it. The scene faded away before transitioning to the spirit world, where a grey spirit merged with Zoroka. This was what gave her skin the greyish tint, her eyes that colourless "Avatar State" look, as well as what made her ears longer and more pointed. If it gave her any other abilities, Korra did not know, but when the scene transitioned to Zoroka going toe to toe with Avatar Zulera, in a tense, fast-paced battle between the Avatar and an impersonator who was able to also manipulate the four elements. What really gave Zoroka a cutting edge over the Avatar however, was that bloodbending ability of hers, with which she managed to subdue even Zulera until the Avatar State kicked in.
It was no mystery at that point who the real Avatar was, but in an era where the Avatar did not wield energybending prowess the way Avatar Aang did, there was ultimately little Zulera could do other than force Zoroka to flee—and flee she did.
"So what was that all about?" Korra asked, still a bit jumpy from her whole breakdown earlier.
"For one," Zulera explained, "Zoroka was a living woman at one point before she eventually left her own body and became a spirit herself. Secondly, this 'bloodbending with the mind' trick of hers is a trick that reared its head in Republic City almost 30 years ago."
"How do you know what's happening now?" Korra tilted her head.
"Just as you can see into the past," Zulera explained, "we can see into the present through your eyes. We may not know all the solutions, but after seeing what Avatar Aang saw, I could not help but draw parallels between the crime lord Yakone and the bloodbending menace that was Zoroka from my day—7500 years ago."
"So what happened in Republic City 30 years ago?" Korra asked.
"For that, you'll need to contact Avatar Aang," Zulera explained, "although the fact that I drew parallels between the man Yakone and the woman in my day who could bloodbend using little more than head or eye movements… is a pretty significant clue..."
Almost as if he was waiting for his turn, Aang appeared shortly after Zulera dissipated.
"For someone who struggled so prominently with spirituality," he commented, "you seem to have connected remarkably well over the last few years. It has been a while, Korra."
"I guess my uncle Unalaq's lessons paid off, despite all the crazy shit happening to me," Korra shook her head, "but I think you know why I called you. I'm… kind of in a bind in the worst kind of way and I'm terrified right now."
"I am aware," Aang nodded, "despite your struggles, you remain to maintain spiritual connections with your past lives."
"I think they're just as determined to stay connected to me as I am to them," Korra gave a hollow laugh, "Although honestly, I'm not sure that's a good thing."
"Perhaps some," Aang mused, "Despite their honeyed words, the Interregnum Avatars will continue to use you, Korra. Many of your other past lives, including myself, hope for better fortune to befall you. Now—you called me here with a purpose, did you not?"
"It's about what Avatar Zulera said," Korra pointed out, "7500 years ago there was a psycho waterbender maniac that could bloodbend with just her face—and without a full moon." She didn't think it was important to mention that she had run into a spirit that was very likely this woman in some form, because she wanted to know what an ancient bloodbender had in common with a criminal from Republic City 30 years ago.
"Ah yes." Aang frowned, "Yakone. He was a powerful bloodbending crime lord that, in my weakness, I spared. Essentially, he had the same kind of abilities as this woman from millennia ago—and perhaps if I had known what he would become and what he would do, perhaps I should have acted differently."
Aang gave a detailed account of the story first by introducing it and then transitioning to a full-on vision of the past, which showed how he, Councilman Sokka, and Police Chief Toph were among over a dozen people Yakone simultaneously incapacitated before fleeing. Even Aang was subdued as well, and he only managed to free himself with a burst from the Avatar State, which he then used alongside energybending to strip Yakone of his bending for good. Naturally, Korra found this very distressing as she reflected on her own experience.
"I've been stopped in the Avatar State before," Korra thought back to how she had frozen after a sudden flashback of Nakkoa had shown up right in front of her. The Equalists at Aang Memorial Island had managed to subdue her as well. Despite these remarks, Aang remained calm.
"And I was slain by Azula," he reminded her, "and was only brought back by Katara's spirit water. The Avatar State is not invincible, Korra. It can be weakened if there is conflict within you, which may have been why you were subdued. You are at your strongest, but also your most vulnerable. There is a reason the Avatar is urged to use it with caution and care."
"Yeah, uh… about that…" Korra scratched the back of her head. She knew full well that she abused the Avatar State on a regular basis. While sometimes it was an unwilling reflex or reaction, there were many times where it was very willing. In a way, it was kind of like a drug. Korra knew that she should not abuse it the way she did, but at the same time, she got a sick sense of enjoyment from it, and always wanted to do it again soon after doing it once. "So, uhh… what happens if it's kind of an unwanted reflex?"
"Then it is an unwanted reflex," Aang suggested, "mine was to airbend my way out of a problem. I am not saying it is right or it is wrong. I am a mentor for you, Korra; not a guardian or supervisor. The Avatar State is yours to do what you will with it."
"So if I blatantly abuse it like I have been…" Korra had many weaknesses, but owning up to her misdeeds was generally not one of them.
"Then that is an issue you will need to solve." Aang pointed out. "Just because I do not chastise you for your problems does not mean that I do not see issue with them."
"Well that's a big help," Korra rolled her eyes. "'Solve your problems, Korra; but you're on your own'. Brilliant, really."
"A bloodbending lunatic who could control others without a full moon?" Aang remarked, his tone remaining remarkably patient with the bellicose teen, "a conniving man who sought to control the city under his thumb? A man who used bloodbending to strike down any in his way, including the Avatar? Does none of this sound familiar in your day, Korra?"
"Tarrlok!" it clicked almost immediately. "That's what all of this warning was about? But what does Zoroka have to do with any of it?"
"Tarrlok and Yakone are not the only individuals gifted with such a rare ability through history," Aang explained, "Zoroka's story was more a proof that I am not the only one of your past lives that has had to deal with such people—although even I have nothing on what kind of spirit granted her the mastery over the four elements or why."
"No wonder spirits are so weird." Korra shook her head. "But no—Tarrlok. Any clue how to beat this guy, Aang?"
"You'll surely berate me for my advice," Aang quipped, "but sometimes, fleeing is a perfectly valid option. He wants you in his sight—where he can control you. Consider that, Korra."
"I'm not surprised…" Korra raised her eyebrow, " but I'm not disappointed, actually."
Now if only she knew where she was and where Tarrlok was. She had figured he was a 3rd-rate fraud this whole time, and now she knew for sure. The problem was like her assertion about Hiroshi. She had no solid proof, other than that she personally witnessed him being a bloodbender. It would be her word against his though, and Korra was honestly not sure who the public would believe—most likely Tarrlok considering the reputation he had clearly worked so hard to build over all these years. That did not bode well for her, but she knew full well that Tarrlok would have to lie. Korra knew what bloodbending felt like, and as she came back to her physical senses, she realized that her arms, hands, calves, face, and feet were flecked with blood, which also stained her clothes and the chains around her limbs. Tarrlok would have to answer for those too, since he had unlawfully arrested Korra.
Okay, so maybe it might have been lawful considering the damage she had done to the police, but she had been resisting an unlawful arrest, and of that much she was obstinately certain.
She was disrupted from this thought process a moment later however as she heard footsteps approaching. She steeled herself, but prepared to flee if that box was so much as opened in any way, shape or form.