Hello and welcome back to another chapter. I hope you enjoy it!
I don't own the Parahumans series or Avatar The Last Airbender/ Legend of Korra. Please support all official releases.
Taylor's POV
I opened my eyes to see that I was in the middle of a forest of some kind with the sun shining down on me. Where was I? Was this a dream?
"In a sense, it is." The voice of a woman said from behind me.
Turning around, I saw that it was an older darker skinned woman with icy blue eyes and short gray hair that fell to just above her shoulders.
She was currently sitting on the ground setting up a tea set of some sorts, not paying me no mind.
"Sense of what?" I couldn't help but ask. Did she read my mind?
"That this a dream. And yes, I can read your mind. Tea?"
I was too stunned to speak for a moment and I could only nod my head yes as an answer.
"Wonderful. I hope you don't mind jasmine, since it's the only thing I got. I prefer to drink coffee myself." She said as she poured two cups of the tea.
A thought occurred to me. "Wait, if this is a dream, then how do you only have jasmine tea and not something else?"
She just waved off my question with a wave of her hand. "Don't think about it too much. Nothing here really makes sense. The others will tell you the same." She said as she picked up both cups.
I was curious as to what she was doing but I soon got my answer when both cups started to steam. How did she do that?
"I'll tell you, don't worry. After all, you can do the same thing. Please, have a seat, we have much to go over Taylor."
That we did.
Sitting down, I didn't take the cup of tea the old woman had offered me, instead I waited patiently for her to explain what is going on.
She frowned and for the first time she met my eyes with annoyed ones of her own.
"I'm not that old, you know. I'm only 104." She said with an annoyed huff and took a drink of the tea.
That's actually impressive, because I thought she was in her late sixties to early seventies and not past the century mark.
"Sorry, but the wrinkles and grey hair betray your age, though I didn't expect you to be that old. What is your skink care routine?" I quipped and tried not to think that that would be a question Emma would have asked.
She chuckled this time and responded, "A mix of a good diet, healthy lifestyle, and bending. The first and third more than the second, especially with our profession."
"Our?" I couldn't help but ask. What did she mean by that?
She looked like she was going to respond but stopped and stared off into deep space.
"Oh, that's new. Shouldn't be too surprised with how much wired shit has happened in so little time." She muttered to herself.
"Not to sound rude, but what exactly are you talking about?"
She only grinned, "Well, sense you were complaining about my age-"
"I wasn't, I was just pointing out the fact that you were old." I interpreted her. Why was I being so sassy with her? I'm never this sassy.
"You were, but as I was saying, something interesting just happened. Prepare to be amazed." I was about to ask what she meant by that, but before I could, there was a sudden flash.
Blinking the stars out of my eyes, I stared at the... young woman, not that much older than me. Her hair was still short, though it was now a dark brown, pretty similar to mine. Along with her new youth, her physique seemed to have made a return as well, looking well toned though not loosing her femininity. Along with that, her chest seemed much... perkier.
She continued to smirk as she spoke, "What, like what you see? I can see those rose tinted cheeks of yours. Not that I blame you, as I look damn good." She said as she looked over her body.
I couldn't help but turn my head at being caught staring, which greatly confused me. Since when did I start liking women?
"Since you became the Avatar." The woman said as she took a sip of the tea.
I frowned, "You reading my mind is starting to get annoying, you know. Also, what does me being the Avatar have to do with me suddenly liking women? Better yet, what the hell is a Avatar?" I said with a tinge of annoyance. I just want my questions answered.
"Calm down, I'll answer your questions. As I said we have much to discuss." She said as she took another sip of tea before looking back at me.
"To answer your questions in order, get over it; both Rava and the first Avatar, Wan, liked women, and by consequence you like them now as well; you also probably liked them a little bit already, so that helps it; that's what I'm about to tell you." She said this all with a straight face until she finished speaking, in which she just smiled at my confused expression.
"I'm sure you have a million more questions, but right now we are running out of time, so I'll quickly explain to you what's going on."
I wanted to protest that, but I held my tounge and gestured for her to continue.
"First things first, my name is Korra, and it's a pleasure to meet you Taylor. I'm honestly quite relieved to even see you, as it means my plan worked.
She must have noticed my questioning look as she continued, "To explain why I'm glad to see you, I should add some background context..." With that, she went on a rant about the Avatar, the cycle of them, who Rava is (and boy, was that a doozy to listen too), about a split between her and an evil version of her, Avatar Wan, the story on how he and Rava took down the evil version and locked him away, and about something called Harmonic Convergence.
It was at that point that her voice gained a dark tone to it. She explained about all the screw ups she made and was in part responsible for the release of him, and the subsequent erasure of all the previous Avatar's due to her getting her ass kicked by an evil version of the Avatar.
"I eventually defeated him, but the damage was done." Korra said as she stared down at the tea cup, looking and feeling every bit of her actual age.
"It wasn't till a few years after that I eventually got started on my plan to try and restore all the damage that happened then." Again, she was staring off into deep space, probably reliving all those memories.
She shook her head, "But that would take literal days to explain what I actually tried to restore Rava, so instead I'll just tell you that I eventually did find a way to heal all the damage that had been done.
Everything was going fine until there was an absolute gargantuan release of both regular energy, and spiritual energy that in the end seemed to kill me.
It worked though. Because one moment I was all alone here inside Rava, and the next I was surrounded by our previous lives." At that, I actually saw tears streaming down her face, though they were overshadowed by one of the happiest smiles I ever saw.
It lessened after a minute though as she continued, "Everything looked fine until Rava said we, more like she, merged with something else."
I was waiting for a further explanation, but none came. With a gesture of my hand, I said, "Well, what was it?"
"No idea. All we know is that it has made everything more wonky in here and gave us more sentience and more abilities, such as being able to alter our age." She said as she gestured to herself.
"Changes are still ongoing, so it's up to you to explore all the avenues that have been opened up. We know for a fact that you are now much more spiritually inclined, and by that, your bending has become significantly stronger, probably why you can use blue flames."
"Let me guess, you have no idea what bending is, do you?" I just shook my head no, but Korra only smiled.
"That's fine. This world seems to be significantly different from my own anyway, so I'm not surprised. Regardless, we still have some time on our hands, so I'll explain to you a bit about what bending is."
Taylor's POV
I woke up with a groan and my arms and legs felt like jelly, like they hadn't moved in a week.
I look around the room and all I see is a blur, but it looks like a hospital room. Since when was I in the hospital? The last thing I remember was having that very wired, yet very vivid, dream and-
"Wasn't a dream. I'm still here." I was cut off from my thoughts from a voice inside my head. Wait, wouldn't that be just me thinking?
I heard the voice sigh, "Technically yes, but this is different. Surely you haven't forgotten what we just discussed?"
It was at that moment that the fog really started to clear from my mind as my eyes shot open and my breath hitched. Looking to my left, I saw my glasses on the nightstand beside me as I picked them up and quickly put them on.
I rose myself from the bed and lifted my hand to about chest height and began focusing on my breathing.
In and out. In and out.
I repeated to myself like a mantra as I focused on sending my newly realized energy into the palm of my hand. It took a moment, but finally, a blue flame appeared in my hand.
I quickly lost it though due to my awe, so I had to do it again. And I did, and a little faster as well, I noticed.
In and out. In and out.
With every breath the fire would gain and lose intensity. It truly does look alive like Korra said.
I was broken from my focus by the sound of someone gasping from the door and my head snapped in the direction. There, in the doorway, was a nurse who looked surprised to see me awake as much as she was to see the azure flames in my hand.
Like that, the fire in my hand was snuffed out as I tried, and failed, to stammer out something to explain what she saw.
"Miss Hebert, please, calm down. You've been out for a week. You shouldn't be moving around too much." She told me in a calm voice as she pressed something on the outside of the room.
'Wait, a week!? It felt like only a few hours in the mindscape'
"Ah, then that's something else to note that has changed."
Korra, what the hell! Why was I out for so long!
"No idea, but it seems that time goes by way faster than normal in here than usual. Something to keep note of."
You think?
The nurse said something but I missed it. Shaking my head slightly I looked back at her.
"I'm sorry, could you repeat that please?"
"I asked if you are ok. No dizziness or anything?"
I just shook my head, "No I feel fine, just thirsty is all. Say, can you do me a favor and, um, not inform people I have powers?" That was my main concern right now. If people knew that I had powers, then they could come after my Dad and use him as leverage against-
"I'm afraid that's already too late." My heart sank to the bottom of my stomach.
The voice was male, and out from the corner came a doctor with a clipboard and pen in hand.
I could only numbly mumble, "What do you mean it's already too late?"
My head was in a whirl as my mind was coming up with worse case scenarios. The ABB kidnapping my Dad, E88 killing him outright for me not sharing their Nazi views, the Merchants forcefully drugging him, and kinds of fucked up scenarios. How would I stop them? What could I do-
"Taylor, calm down and take a breath. It's going to be alright. Just keep your head on straight and you'll be fine. You got literally thousands of people behind your back." Korra said in a soothing voice. When she put it like that, it really didn't seem that bad.
The doctor spoke up after he saw me calm down a bit, "You triggered at school. At the same time, Glory Girl was chasing a criminal that had barged into it.
The whole entire thing was captured on video, including you creating a gust of wind and snorting out blown flames from your nostrils. I'm sorry to say, but the videos went viral and now all the world knows who you are, and they saw the state you were in when you triggered." He finished up, sympathy clear in his voice.
I didn't really register it though. I just put my hands on my head and slumped back against the bed. There goes any chance of sorta containing the damage.
"I'm sorry, but I got to run some tests on you. Nothing serious, just mainly checking your vitals, so I'll be out of your hair soon. Your Dad has also been contacted and is on his way here. Oh, and one last thing, I would call those two numbers on that sheet of paper whenever you get the chance." At that last bit, he pointed to the stand right beside me again.
I picked them up and looked at them, "Whose are these?" I asked.
"Both Panacea and Glory Girl's."
He must have seen both my eyes nearly pop out of my head as both he and the nurse let out a chuckle.
He became quiet after a little bit as he sat down on one of those dolly chairs that every doctors office seemed to have.
"Alright, let's get these done with and see if we can get you back home."
With a sigh, I set down the paper and got to work.
Well, that's that. I hoped you enjoyed it!
I think I should clarify some things as well. First, I have no clue what a shard is, or what it really does. I know they exist, and if I'm not mistaken, they are kinda like the power of a person, though I could be dead wrong. Anyone who can explain what they are, whether it's spoilers or not, (though I prefer not, obviously) then please tell me so I don't screw up the narrative too badly.
Another thing to note is that the mechanics of bending will be slightly changed. How much you may ask? I have no idea, though they shouldn't be drastically altered, so if something looks off then that's probably why.
Again, let me know what you thought of the chapter, whether positive or negative. Call me brilliant, call me the stupidest person alive, I don't care, just let me know what's on your mind and what you think of the story. I've said before, and I'll say it again, half the fun of writing is getting feedback from you guys. So, if you got a suggestion, then please, by all means, shoot me something, I would love to hear it.
I'm sure I'm forgetting to say something, but as the saying goes, if it was important, then I wouldn't forget it.
So, until next time, and have an absolutely wonderful day!