I am...the master of the four elements, they said.
I am... the keeper of balance, they said.
I am...the symbol of hope, they said.
I am...a prisoner, I said.
And you are all...liars, I said.
.
.
On the night of the full moon, at the front gate of South Pole compound, lay about twenty to thirty White Lotus guards, most of them unconscious, some badly injured, none able to stand up.
At the middle of the sparring ring stood an eleven year old girl, her hand dripping with blood that wasn't her own. In front of her kneeling a leader of this White Lotus compound.
"Out of my way," said the girl. She has a full-size back pack on her back, indicating that she was about to go on a long trip.
"Please, Avatar Korra..." the leader pant, barely having enough strength to look up from the floor. "You're making a terrible mistake..."
"I did, I have waited TOO LONG to do this." Korra spit her words coldly, filling them with more hate and anger than an eleven year old girl should.
"We're not your enemy, we are only trying to help..."
"By locking me in this damn prison for the rest of my life? Until you see fit to use me for your own benefit?" Korra replied and start to walk around the leader to get to the gate.
The White Lotus leader reached out and grabbed her ankle. "We..only did...what's best for you..."
The girl move her fingers slowly and the leader word got cut short, his body tensed up like his muscles were twisting painfully inside his skin.
"You should have listened to Katara..." Korra gestured her hand down, the leader slammed his body on the floor violently, until he passed out. "...when she said she didn't want to teach me bloodbending."
Korra turn her attention back to the gate, only to see the figure that made her curse under her breath. "Speak of the devil…"
Katara stood there, perfectly calm. An elder of the Southern Water Tribe and the best healer in the four nations, but her expression told a different story, the old woman's face was a mix of sadness, depression, and guilt.
"Step aside," Korra snarled like a polar bear wolf, her hand igniting in flame that made the blood stain evaporate.
"There is no need to fight me, Korra" Katara said, remaining calm even when the Avatar walked straight to her.
"I will kill...every, last, person in this tribe if that's what it takes to be free!"
"I'm not going to stop you."
That took Korra aback a little, she carefully looked at the Hundred Year War heroine, she was not in her fighting stance or bending, Korra could punch her fire-fist in Katara's heart right now, and she doubts that even her legendary waterbending skills could save her in time.
"I'm leaving," the girl stated while she walked past the old women.
"I have prepared you a small sailboat, you could use it to get out of the South Pole..."
"I don't need it."
"...No, you don't." The harsh word of a younger did not offend Katara, if anything, it just make her feel more guilty, defeated, and shameful. She can't even bring herself to turn her head when the Avatar walks past her.
"Korra..." the old woman heard the footstep stop, but knew it wouldn't be for long, so she quickly continued. "I have done you wrong,...we have all done you wrong here, and I know I'm in no position to ask you for anything, but..."
The footsteps still silent, the girl still listening.
"May I ask you...not to use bloodbending unless it's absolutely necessary?" Katara pause a little "For the good of the world?"
"Did the world give a damn when I was locked up alone in this hell hole? Force to train day and night to become your personal weapon? Robbed of any childhood? Never having any friends, or freedom, or a life outside of this cold prison!?"
Katara close her eye, those words cut in to her heart like a sharp razor.
"I make no promises."
And that was the last word she ever heard from the Avatar in many years to come, Katara took a deep breath to steady her mind and let the girl's words sink in, by the time she turned to look at the vast land of snow, Korra was nowhere to be found.
Katara walked into the compound and started healing the White Lotus guards, her mouth mumbling in this tragic night.
"Oh Aang,...what have we done?..."
In the morning, Tonraq's search party found what was left of the burned sailboat on the beach, no sign of the Avatar, and with a painful heart, Tonraq realized he may never see his daughter again, for the rest of his, or even her life.
.
.
6 years later...
In the middle of a jungle somewhere deep in Earth Kingdom, a group of four bandits were chilling around inside a hidden cave above a cliff.
On the side of the cave sat two children, a boy and a girl, gagged and tied up. They looked frightened, but not enough to cry...yet.
"Someone's approaching." A male bandit who observed the area with binoculars said. "A woman, Wearing a red dress. That's our ransom carrier alright." The other three smiled.
"You stay with the kids." A large muscular man who seems to be the leader ordered one of the female bandits in their group. "In case we get ambushed, kill the boy first, and use the girl as a hostage. We'll double her ransom later."
"Oh, then I wish that gal pulls something funny," the other female smile, ignore the teary eyes on the boy's face.
After three of the bandits leave the cave, a figure snuck up behind the watcher and silently took her down with bear hands, and the woman didn't even have time to blink, let alone scream or make any sound.
The women in red dress stood nervously as she looked around with a bag of money in her hand. She has black hair and a mole under her right eye...
After the bandit scouted the area to make sure there is no one else around, the three of them came out of the bush and approached the women who look frightened by their appearance.
"Wh...Where are my brother and sister?..." She ask, her voice sounding like it used to be deep and confident, but was now shaking with fear.
"Do you have our money?" the leader of the bandits demanded.
A little hesitant, the women handed him the bag she carried.
The leader opened it, at first he was pleased with a sight of gold pieces..., but frowned when he noticed something else in the bag.
"What is this?"
He picked up what look like a long metal strip, there are about eight to ten strips mixed in among the gold pieces. The women opened her mouth to answer, but a loud noise from the cave drew everyone attention.
A ball of fire shot up in the sky, not an attack, but a signal, 'The hostages are safe, go for it!'.
"Your cuff. You bandit scum." A frightened damsel suddenly spoke with a cold piercing voice, she took her fighting stance and moved her hand swiftly, five metal strip flying out of the bag and bound the leader bandit on the mouth, wrists, and ankles, rendering him helpless in the blink of an eye.
"It's an ambush!" the male yelled.
"No shit, Captain Obvious! She's a metalbender!" the female replied with more useful information, both of them took an earthbending stance, but had to roll away when they noticed a huge ball of fire shooting toward them from the cave, this time it was definitely an attack.
The woman in the red dress used this opportunity to bend five more metal strips from the bag to the male bandit and wrapped him smoothly like a professional cashier wrapped a gift box. He landed face down, not far from his leader.
The last female bandit still hadn't recovered from the ground, not even when the firebender who attacked them jumped off the cave, using stream of fire under her feet as a jets to land in front of her. She look up to see a mocha skinned teenage girl, clearly a Water Tribe look, but both of her hands ignited in flames with an intimidating smile on her face.
"You wanted us pull something funny? Here we are!" the Water Tribe girl announced, reminding the bandit of what she said earlier. She lift her right fist up, ready to slam it down on her face.
"I..I surrender! I SURRENDER!" the bandit plead, the firebender frown with her fist still hang in the air.
"Too soon lady, let me have some fun first. Tell me, which side of your face is your least favorite?" without waiting for an answers, the flaming fist punch down at the bandit's left side face, which similar to the right side, was now covered in a complete horrified expression.
"Korra! Stop!" A metal strip flew off from under the red sleeve to the wrist of the girl, holding back her fist just an inch before it collide with its target's face. The women quickly sent another five metal strips to capture the female bandit.
"What? I'm just gonna leave a few scars on her. You know, teach her a lesson, make her see the error of her ways." Korra whined as she took the strip off her hand, but made no attempt to attack the bandit again.
"I don't approve of unnecessary violence, our job is done, let the authorities punish them." the women dragged the female to her two companions. Korra watched three of them squirm helplessly on the ground.
"Are the children safe?"
"Yeah, yeah. They're in the cave with another bandit. Don't worry, I tied her up nicely, and I bet she is still knocked out as we speak."
"Good, you take them back to their family, I'll take these four to the police station in the nearby town."
Korra frowned at the idea."How about we switch places, you take the kids, I'll take the bandits..."
"I'm not leaving them to be your punching bag, Korra."
"For a mercenary, you're no fun, Kuvira."
The woman smile at the comment. She wrapped her arm around Korra's shoulder while they walked up to the cave to retrieve the children and the other bandit.
"Cheer up, sister. You know I'm good at negotiations, I'm sure I could talk a bit of extra bounty out of these thugs."
Now her big sister spoke Korra's langue, that made the runaway Avatar smile greedily, but in a cute way.
.
.
Korra lost count of how many times she watched the scene of a family reunion. Years of being a freelance mercenary, she and her partner/sister, Kuvira, took on a job of a kidnapping case almost every month, to the point of Korra having an imaginary checklist in her mind while she watched the scene: tears, check, hug, check, 'Oh! I thought I'd never see you again!', check.
With that said, it doesn't reduce a warm feeling in her heart every time she watches a parent hugging their children, knowing she's the one who made this reunion happen. Korra loves money, yes, but taking a little bit of pride in her work doesn't hurt either.
"Thank you so much for bring our children home safely." The father of the family bowing to her, while the mother look like she not gonna stop hugging her kids anytime soon.
"All in the day work, Mister." Korra bowed back, she knows how to be polite with her client.
Speaking of business...
"Oh,and here is your payment." The father held up a smaller bag than the one Kuvira used as a decoy, Korra opened the bag and smile at the amount of silver pieces inside, but then the corner of her eye picked up something outside the window. She slowly turned her head toward that direction, knowing full well what she was going to find.
On the street of this small town, appeared the figure in an airbender cloak, bald head, and his trademark blue arrow tattoo on his head. The figure locked eyes with Korra, almost thirty second that neither of them had blink, until a person walk pass, blocking him from Korra's view for brief second, and when the person out of the frame, he too was gone.
"Umm..., Is everything alright, Miss?" the father asked, as he had follow Korra's eyesight for half a minute, but saw no one in particular on the street, not even one person glancing at his house.
"Yes,...I'm just...thinking of something." Korra mumbled, stuffing the money bag in her shirt and saying her farewell to the family. She didn't forget to pat the kids on their head, and told them not to go off with strangers next time.
As soon as Korra walked out the door, she was greeted with same figure that mysteriously vanished a moment ago. She was taken aback a little, but not too surprised with his appearance.
"I'm busy." Korra snarled, she kept her voice down, knowing that while she saw this person standing in the street, no one beside her could see him.
"Stop bothering me, foul being. Go haunt your wife, I'm sure she'll be glad to see you again." the man showed no emotion to her words, and Korra was not sure if that was because he is a monk, or because he is a ghost.
The sound of a horn made Korra turn her head, she saw Kuvira driving her jeep down the street, and when Korra turn back around, the man already gone.
"Got the payment?" Kuvira asked as she parkedto pick up Korra before continuing to drive out of town.
"Here." Korra tossed the bag at Kuvira, the older girl caught it with one hand with the other still on the steering wheel, she used her metalbending to feel to silver pieces inside, before tossing it back to Korra.
"I have good news, turns out the bandit leader actually had a warrant in Ba Sing Se too, the bounty was three times what I was expected!"
"...Umm hmm..." Korra replies casually while staring out the side window. Kuvira raised one of her eyebrows. Usually Korra would be overly excited when they made some extra cash, and she would start babbling about how to spend it(all in less than a day, or a meal if Kuvira didn't stop her).
"Korra, is everything alright?"
She stayed silent, but somehow that gave her an answer.
"...Aang, isn't it?"
"...Yeah..." Korra leaned back in her seat, looking up in the sky that began to turn orange in the evening. "It's getting more and more frequent, Kuvira. He didn't say anything, but damn if looks could kill…Just looking into his eyes almost makes me go crazy!" She slammed her fist at the jeep's console and accidentally left a fist-shaped dent on it.
"Sorry..." Korra retracted her hand, Kuvira just shook her head with a soft smile and used her metalbending to fix the console back to its former shape.
"Maybe I better get drunk before I go to sleep tonight, the cactus juice always keeps him out of my head..."
"And it gives you a massive hung-over headache in the morning." Kuvira chuckled a bit, before suddenly shifting to her serious mode, but still in a light tone of voice. "Korra, you can't run away from this. You're the Avatar..."
"Already did it once at the compound."
"And now it's finally catching up to you." Kuvira slowed down the jeep so she could turn to talk to Korra with less risk of running off the road. "We can't run from our past forever, or even if you can, is that the life you want to live? Running from what's haunting you, only to wait for it to catch up, so you have to start running again?"
"The word 'haunting' is surprisingly accurate in my case." Korra said jokingly, but Kuvira knew from her tone that the younger girl does take this conversation seriously. "So,should I go back to the compound? To be the other's puppet again? Scarifying my freedom for my sanity?"
"Absolutely not that, Korra. I know how much you hate that place, that's why we only take jobs at the Northern Water Tribe, remember?" Kuvira grab Korra's shoulder softly, she wanted to ensure the younger girl that she has her support on this. "I'm just saying that, maybe you have to confront your past life directly, actually talk to him if you can. I don't know much about the spiritual stuff though..."
"I do." Korra sighed. "I just don't want to. It's what the White Lotus taught me back at the compound, the way to meditate so that I can connect with my past lives, but you know me, aside from bending three elements, I don't want to do anything relating to me being the Avatar."
"Bending more than one element is kind of an Avatar trademark though."
"Yeah, but to hell if I'm gonna let my years of abusive training go to waste." Korra shooting fire out of her hand to emphasize her point. "I bet the reason I can't airbend is because of him."
"Who? Aang?"
"Who else? He's mad that I not respect his dying wish to let the White Lotus imprison me..."
"I'm sure they use the word 'taking care' on paper."
"Whatever! So he's blocking me from bending his natural element. Screw him! Three elements is more than enough to make a living as a mercenary. Take that, Mister Last Airbender!"
"I doubt that to be the case, but it does sound reasonable." Kuvira chuckled. "Still, I really think you should talk to him, just to clear the air(no pun intended), see what he exactly wants. Better than to keep guessing and seeing those hallucinations ."
"...I...suppose..." Korra sighed again, before looking up at top of the mountain not far from their destination town. "We might have go somewhere...spiritual though, I think the old ruin on that mountain will do."
"As you wish." Kuvira shifted the gear stick to ride off-road, and go straight to the mountain side.
.
.
She began meditating when the sunset, now the moon is up and shining, and she is still meditating.
"Hmm, maybe this is actually harder than I remember..." Korra mumbled to herself, sitting in the lotus position at the ruin's courtyard, Kuvira is waiting with their jeep outside. The girl closed her eyes again, trying to clear her mind but her mouth still whispered. "Come on baldy, you stalk me all day long, but now you refuse my invitation?"
She felt a sudden shift in the air, like the world around her slowed down, all surrounding sounds silent, and when she opened her eyes, he's finally here.
Sitting across from here in a similar position, his eyes still the same but it look more...alive, if that's possible.
"Korra." His voice echo through the night, a perk for being a ghost, she guess.
"Twinkle toes." Korra notice a slight frown on Aang's face, she smiled. "Yeah, your wife told me you hate that nickname." She shifted herself in to a more comfortable position, stretching her legs out in an inappropriate manner when talking to an elderly person. "So, spit it out, what do you want?"
"You know why I am trying to reach you."
"Me and sis actually have few theories running around." Korra roll her eye. "Can you be more specific which one is correct?"
"You have abandoned your duty as the Avatar, Korra." Aang spoke in a calm, monotone voice, the most boring version of speaking. "You repeated the same mistake I made when I was a boy."
"I actually prefer to think I succeeded where you failed, because as you can see, I didn't freeze myself in the middle of the ocean," Korra snickered, "...but for the sake of seriousness, what duty are you talking about? The world is fine, Aang. I'll even admit that it is thanks to you. The four nations live together in harmony now, no war, no tyrannical overlord, even if the Earth Queen is kind of a bitch..."
"The duty of the Avatar is to bring balance to the world, Korra, and you cannot do that without mastering all four elements."
"Wait? You mean you aren't the reason I can't airbend?"
"No, Korra." The girl wasn't sure if she actually detected some irritation in his voice. "The other elements came to you easily, but the element of air is out of your reach, as you lack an understanding of its nature both physically, and spiritually. To unlock it, you'll need a guide, you'll need...a teacher."
"But...the only airbender in the world is..." Korra paused as she realized something, she smiled sarcastically at Aang. "Since when does being dead make you a smartass, Aang?"
"I meant what I said Korra."
"I'm not going to Republic City, and I'm not going to your son! I know he would turn me in to the White Lotus the moment he got his hands on me!"
"This isn't about the order..."
"It was your will that get me lock up in that compound! It was your idea that robbed me of my freedom! It was your doing that make the damn White Lotus have an authority over my life! So it is all about them, Aang! Don't you DARE deny it!" Korra burst out at her past reincarnation, her angry expression could make even the most fearsome warrior feel uneasy.
After a long silent, Aang close his eye and finally replied.
"You're right... It is my fault."
For the first time, Korra actually see a change of emotion on the airbender's face, he look softer, saddened, even...similar to his wife six years ago...guilty. "I let the fear of what happened to me when I was a boy cloud my judgment, I wanted to make sure that the next Avatar would be safe and secure, I didn't realize that I'd robbed you of your childhood, the fate that I myself tried to escape when I was a boy."
Korra felt the fire of rage in her heart calm down a little, she shifted back to a lotus position, rubbing her hand while avoiding eye contact.
"Look, all the past drama aside, this is unnecessary, Aang. As I said, the world is fine, it's peaceful now, it's doesn't need its Avatar. If anything, what I did is kinda similar to the Avatar's job, didn't it? I traveled around the world(minus the south pole), helping people in need."
"You charge people for your service."
"Hey, the girl's gotta eat too! How else I'm I suppose to make a living, and it's always a fair price, I never overcharge my clients. Hell! More than once, I even helped them for free if they couldn't afford to pay! Although... I do admit that I tend to avoid those cases."
Aang let out a long sigh, and Korra can only think it's kinda funny that the ghost still has to breathe.
"You were wrong about the world, Korra. There is great evil that will rise in the near future." Aang switched back into his calm emotionless expression. "And it will begin...in Republic City."
Korra frowned, under the normal circumstance she'd call bullshit on this one, but after a few minutes of talking, she had feeling that she could take her past live more seriously than she thought. "You didn't just...make that up, right? To trick me to go to that city."
"I'm not a liar, Korra. And if it'll suit your...lifestyle, I'm willing to make a deal."
The corner of Korra's mouth curved up into an amusing smirk. "Now we talking."
"Go to Republic City, learn the airbending by any method you see fit, and if you can find the way to do so without directly confront my son, Tenzin, so be it." Korra liked where this was going. "Deal with the crisis that will emerge in the city, do this, and I will bother you no more, for the rest of your life."
"Any chance you could specifically tell me what is this 'crisis' you're talking about? A vague description job is... a bad sign for business."
"You'll see when the time comes."
That's not the answer she wanted, or needed, but that one she did expect to get.
"I never hated you, Aang, and I never liked you either, but you're willing to compromise, and a compromise,I can respect. You backed down your terms, so I can do the same." Korra sighed and finally nodded. "Deal."
.
.
"I may need a few days to think about this. I'll contact you later, Su."
[Of course, Kuvira, take your time. Goodbye.]
"Goodbye. Say hi to Opal for me." Kuvira smiled as she put the communicator back to the jeep's console, at the exact same time that Korra walked out from the ruin. She saw that Kuvira had made a small campfire not far from the jeep.
"How's the meditating?"
"Surprisingly...kinda helpful. I actually got to talk face-to-face with Aang."
"Really? What did he say?"
The two mercenaries sat at the campfire. Kuvira handed Korra a stick with a marshmallow that she was grilling around the flames.
"He wants me to learn airbending to become a fully-realized Avatar, the master of four elements and all that, I guess he worries about his legacy going to waste or something."
"But… you already tried to airbend for the last six years, it has never worked."
"He said..." Korra chewed down the marshmallow before continuing. "...I need a teacher."
"But the only airbender is..." Kuvira's eye widen when she realized it. "You're going to Republic City?"
"I have no other options here. Aang promised he'd stop haunting me if I can airbend, so I promised him I will. He even said that I don't have to confront his son if I can find the way around it, that means I still can keep my secret, nobody has to know the Avatar is in the neighborhood." Korra picked up another stick of marshmallow. "So, will you come with me?"
"Umm, I don't know Korra..." Kuvira switched her gaze to the campfire, she still doesn't eat the marshmallow in her hand. "I...don't really… like that city."
"What? Why? Are you afraid we'll be out of work? I'm pretty sure the city isn't a paradise as the propaganda said, we could make a little money while we stay there. Every place can use a mercenary's touch!" Korra announced, proud of her career.
"It's not that, it's…, okay, this might sound a little...nationalistic, but I always thought it's unfair that Aang and Fire Lord Zuko took the Earth Kingdom's land and changed it to a neutral area."
"Umm hmm, that's nationalism alright." Korra nodded, and scooped down another marshmallow
"Look, I like the idea of a united community, okay? It's just that... it feels like someone broke into my house, took over my living room, and said 'this place belongs to everyone now'.It doesn't feel right."
"When you put it that way..." The Avatar rolled her eyes smiling, but the cheer faded away a bit when she asked: "So, are you gonna go solo while I'm gone? I'm not sure how long it will take for me to airbend, if this the case, maybe you should consider find a new partner..."
"Actually, I just got a call from Zaofu, Suyin said she might have a position of a city's guard captain waiting for me if I done with this...long...life discovering field trip."
"It's only took you SIX years to discover yourself, huh?" Korra tease.
"I probably would have gone back to Zaofu after the first two years if I haven't met you. I don't even think I would have become a mercenary in the first place."
"You're welcome." Both of them chuckled. "Does this mean you're gonna accept her offer then?"
"Without you, fighting bandits and bounty hunting wouldn't be as much fun as it used to be." Kuvira smiled gently at Korra, and the girl took that as a compliment. "I do owe Su a lot, she is like a mother to me, might as well take this chance to return the favor."
"So, the duo finally have to go their separate ways. Thanks a lot, Aang!" Korra yelled at the sky pretended to sound angry. Kuvira laughed at her for that.
"We should have a farewell banquet, too bad we only got marshmallows..." Korra grimaced.
"Not quite." The older girl smiled, walked to the jeep, pulled out a bottle of cactus juice and two glasses from her baggage and walk back to the campfire. "I got this after turn in those bandit, figure we might want to celebrate later."
"You... are the BEST sister a girl could ever have!" Korra cheered as Kuvira poured her a glass, they toasted and downed the first hallucinating liquid down their throat, and the entire night after that is kinda blurry in their minds.
.
.
"You know what you should do!?" Korra say in her half dizzy sound, but with a huge smile on her face. Kuvira seem to be more in control of herself, but still giggle none stop since her second glass. "You should... build an army! An army of Earth Kingdom... no! AN EARTH EMPIRE!...yeah, that sounds a lot cooler..., and you could use them to take back Republic City!"
"The other nations won't allow that, Korra. They'll be jealous of me." the metalbender kept giggling "The United Forces will stand against me, it'll be a bloody battle, and you know me, I hate a bloody battle, especially if I could avoid it."
"Then...how about this? You saving money to build...A METAL GIANT, thirty stories high, with a canon that shoots fire and lightning equipped on its arm, and no one will dare stand in your way! They'll cower like chicken and give the city to you, simple as that!"
"Thirty stories high? You know how much metal it'll take to build something that big?"
"Tear it out from the Zaofu's domes then!" Korra yell "I hate those domes! I remember the last time I visited the Metal Clan with you. The domes look nice during the day but it blocks my view of the stars at night. Use them to build your giant...and replace them with glass, or something transparent."
This time, Kuvira burst out laughing so hard she fell off the trunk that she use as a chair, unlike Korra who was already on the floor after the third glass.
"Funny, Korra... really...really funny." Kuvira panted. "Oh...it's gonna feel so lonely when you gone, sister..."
"I promise you, the first gust of air shoots out of my palm, and I'll take a nearest airship straight to Zaofu." Korra pointing up toward the sky "And who know, if being a guard captain doesn't work out for you, we could come back to this business. Traveling the world, fighting criminals, helping people, making a profit while doing so."
The Avatar gulped down the last of her cactus juice, she raised her glass to the full moon, contrasting how different she had felt, this night six years ago. "Just the two of us against the world."
"I hear you, sister." Kuvira sipped her last glass and poured the rest on the ground, as if to invite the earth to drink with them. "Together, we're unstoppable."
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