What is To Become After Tonight?
She lay still for a second on the hard wood floor before turning on her side, face twitching while getting air into her lungs. Something else was rushing into her along with Muzan’s blood. What…what is this? It’s rushing into me along with Muzan’s blood. An image of a woman was at the forefront of her brain. She had purple eyes, long dark brown hair pulled into a low bun with a pin and red lips. She wore a dark purple kimono with pale purple branches and bright flowers along with a cream obi, it complimented her pale skin. This woman had no pupils just hazy purple eyes. This…this is Tamayo the fugitive. Then this scene passed onto something she’d never seen before but felt familiar as it played out in front of her.
It was Aang. He…he was in front of Tamayo. It looked like they were allies of some sort but why was he helping her? This wasn’t a part of Muzan’s memories…this is the memories of my past lives. She couldn’t hear what they were talking about and when she tried to decipher it, the memory was gone. What the hell is this supposed to mean Aang?! The anger and confusion were soon replaced with a searing hot sensation on her back. It didn’t hurt but she could feel it creating a pattern on her back. It was this intricate pattern that traced her back and once the sensation left, she knew what it was. It was Raava, the Avatar Spirit, marked onto her back.
Why was this happening now? Was Korra supposed to figure something out with this information she was given? She knew the first memory was Muzan’s and it possibly meant that Susamaru died and for her to find Tamayo. Seeing Aang with Tamayo though was confusing, she wasn’t entirely sure what it meant. For the marking, it could possibly mean two things. The first being a step closer to achieving the Avatar state and the second being finally giving in to transforming. Raava could possibly fuse with Muzan’s blood once she transformed and the results would be terrifying but as she turned to lay on her back, it was something she was leaning towards.
She laid for a couple minutes until finally getting up to get into a position to meditate. She would try to coax out that memory again until Tenzin got up so she could bombard him with the news of what happened earlier tonight.
Once again, meditation brought nothing to Korra. She got up and changed into a fresh pair of clothes, her usual water tribe fit with her arm band and sleeves that covered her forearms. She redid her hair and then walked out her room to find Tenzin. Luckily, she found him in the common area and greeted him good morning. The surprise on his face was not shocking to Korra because she realized how it looked. She never came out of her room till it was time to train or she at least never came out of her room this early.
Tenzin greeting her back, Korra then let an onslaught of words leave of her rapidly. Explaining how she had joined a probending team and that her new teammates were coming in 2 hours to train. She saw his face getting slightly red due to anger but then she used her trump card. She explained in a match how she moved, as Meelo states it, as the leaf and that she had mastered it. The redness slowly dissipated, and he heaved a sigh. Not knowing how he would react, she braced herself for the worst, but the worst surprisingly never came. She was enveloped with a hug from her master. “I won’t get in your way Korra. If the way of modern bending can help, then who am I to stop you.” She smiled at his words and then he spoke again. “Wait, have you been sneaking off late at night?!” He questioned a bit sternly like a parent. “Oh well you see” Korra started sheepishly, “I just wanted to watch the first time alright but then I got roped into it the second time!” Tenzin just looked at her and shook his head saying something under his breath that sounded a lot like ‘youngins.’
She grinned at Tenzin and they both proceeded to head outside. The sun was rising and she quickly parted ways looking for shade as fast as possible. It didn’t take her long enough to reach the area she mentioned to the boys last night. She could see the sunrise from where she sat. It was odd at first because Korra couldn’t remember the last time she saw the sunrise outside, but she took the little amount of comfort it brought her. She whistled for Naga and she came bounding over to her sitting herself comfortably against Korra’s side. In front of Korra was a big space of shade for her and then it broke up where the sun hit the ground, the place she couldn’t be. Yet.
Since the sun rose, the boys should be here shortly. Her mind was still raging inside trying to decipher that memory of Aang. Maybe she could prod in her brain for a bit, hoping to coax the memory out again. She looked at her hands and extended her claws. The color of her sharp claws was like a gradient of blue, the tip of the nail being the darkest part. She brought her left pointer finger to the side of her head and stuck it right through her skull and into her brain moving it around.
Korra stayed like that for a while, sitting down and just prodding through her brain with her finger. She was so focused that she didn’t her the nervous calls of her name.
Bolin and Mako arrived promptly at 7am and with the help of councilmen Tenzin, they were able to find the spot Korra mentioned. However, they weren’t expecting the site in front of them. She looked so focused, so they tried to call out her name multiple times.
“K-Korra?”
“Hey, Korra?”
After a few more tries, they saw the huge animal that looked like a mix of a polar bear and a dog nudge Korra in the side with its snout bring the said girl back to attention. Korra looked at Naga and followed her companions’ line of site with her finger still in her head. It was Mako and Bolin, she figured they must’ve been calling her name. She gave them a lopsided smiled and noticed Bolin smiled back with a huge grin and Mako’s eyes were a bit wide. Oh, right finger in head. She swiftly took her finger out her head and stood up while bending water with her other hand to clean the bloodied finger up.
Hands on her hips, staring at the boys in with determination to whip them into better shape than they were, “Ready to get into shape?” It’s not like she needed the practice, she did more than fine in the ring, but the boys could use some more work.
Bolin dropped his work out bag next to the building where Korra was sitting by when they arrived and Mako followed. Once that was settled, the boys stood in the sunlight right where the shade ended as Korra asked them to.
“Since I’ll be the one whipping you both into shape, show me your techniques and Bolin,” She stared at him prompting his attention, “make sure you clean up the ground once you’re done and Mako stay limber and calm with every attack.” The boys nodded in agreement and did what was asked of them.
They did this for 30 minutes and Korra took note of each attack that came at her. Bolin had power in each attack and it never faltered. He was also aware of his brother near him since they would both move around and they both took into account each other’s moves. Mako was staying limber and calm with his attacks. Korra could tell he wanted to get better and was impressed he actually took her advice twice. He was a good firebender but he had weak points. She would have to teach him how to compensate for the areas he left open incase their opponents caught on. Nonetheless, the brothers were doing well.
The next half hour consisted of sparring and then Korra teaching the brothers some traditional bending technique’s they could incorporate into their modern bending style and they did the same with her. It was quite the nice trade. Trying them out felt natural and made a lot of sense. She would definitely incorporate these moves in their next match. Speaking of their next match, once they took their first break, “When’s that match for the semi-final?”
Bolin took a quick swig of his water, “It’s in 3 weeks!” He said boisterously and then he turned a bit sheepish. Korra tilted her head at the sudden change. “Except our sponsor said we need to come up with 30,000 yuan to enter the tournament.”
“You don’t suppose you have that kind of money on you, do you?” Mako asked.
Korra shook her head, “I don’t really have a need for money.”
She heard Mako uttered under his breath “figured” and that made a vein pop out the side of her forehead. Now what’s that supposed to mean?! I was stuck in a compound half my life for crying out loud and it's not like demons need money. She clenched her teeth down to the point she almost broke a molar.
“Maybe I can ask Asami, I’m seeing her after this to me-“ Mako was suddenly cut off by Bolin, “Ooooh going on a date big bro?”
A date, with Asami, this beautiful nice girl and Mako, a broodish guy who was mean half the time and nice when he wanted to. Currently was not seeing the appeal that Asami saw apparently but it’s not like the girl would be interested in Korra. As nice as she is, she probably doesn’t see me or is interested in m- wait Korra what? Interested? Korra knew she liked both guys and girls but she never had a crush before, it’s not like she had time for that really. And Daki was a much different case. Do I have a crush on Asami? Is that what the weird feeling in my stomach was when I saw them together last night? Korra concluded that that might be why but for now she’d push that to the back of her mind because who would ever want a demon like her. Maybe the least she could be was a friend. Yeah…
She was brought out of her thoughts when she heard Bolin yell Kya. “Hey Kya!!” Bolin was grinning wide and Mako let out a hello to the woman walking towards them.
Kya was none other than shocked to see Korra outside especially at this hour. She greeted the boys and went into the shade to give Korra a hug while ruffling her hair. “Hey kiddo, you’re never outside at this time, what’s up?” Korra noticed the boy’s curious faces from the corner of her eye. Scratching the back of her neck, “Ah I kind of got myself into a probending team.”
Kya smiled at that, then turned to Mako, “Did you apologize to her?” Korra went wide eyed at the sudden question thrown at the boy. He sheepishly said yes and Korra put together why he apologized to her. Kya had asked him to and for that Korra was grateful, but that apology really meant nothing to her since he couldn’t meet her eyes, but she wasn’t going to tell her that.
Kya nodded, “Well I’ll let you three get back to your practice!” She started to walk away and then turning back, “Stay out of the sun Korra!” Then Kya left and Korra assumed she went to go bug Tenzin.
The boys looked at her with an unspoken question from Kya’s last statement. She sighed, “I’m not allowed in the sun,” and before they could speak, “Now let’s make this last hour count boys!”
The rest of practice went surprisingly well, and the boys were able to keep up.
“We’ll see you tomorrow Korra!!” Bolin gave her a hug before they left back to the city and Mako gave her a wave goodbye. She watched them leave from the safety of the shade right next to Naga. She wanted to go back to her room, but she had been enjoying the sight in front of her. Warm, bright and alive. “Is this what you see everyday girl?” She rubbed Naga’s head lovingly. “I wish I could be out here with you.” Staring at the edge of the shade where the shade stopped, and the sun began. If Muzan believed she was the one to defeat the sun, then she would do it. But if she died doing so then she would die and wouldn’t have to carry the confusion of the destiny’s laid in front of her and give way for probably a better Avatar than herself. She let out a deep sigh and laid on Naga till the night came, knowing she was in the safety of the shade.
Training went better than ever. She was picking up things fast and applied some modern bending techniques and noticed the kids try them out as well. Tenzin had quirked a brow at that but she could see a small smile come from the man. She had attended dinner with the family in the dining room and just watched how they interacted with each other. This family dynamic made her feel human sometimes but sometimes she didn’t feel a part of it and more like an outsider. Pema, who was pregnant with their 4th child, was so kind to her and treated her like her own. She was practically like the 5th child but having to bring up the no food for her at dinner thing wasn’t as awkward as she thought it would be. Pema had just smiled at her and said “okay” and didn’t question it. It was nice to Korra that Tenzin and Pema pretty much understood her but they only understood what was on the surface but that was enough for Korra.
Dinner soon ended and she helped put the kids to bed. Afterwards she headed to her room debating if she should roam the city tonight. It was looking more satisfying than just laying around in her room or roaming around the island. Maybe she would run into Mako and Asami on their date. No that would be weird and I’m sure that would just make the pit in my stomach even worse, but there’s someone else I’d like to meet up with.
The city as always, was big and lively. It never failed to make Korra amazed. She sat perched at the edge of a tall building that surveyed restaurants and shops just watching all the people below her go about their night. She was in a mood to not be bored and hopefully a certain upper moon, who at the same time saw her as a friend and rival, would come. Akaza you must be somewhere near hmm?
As if she summoned the demon with blue line markings all over his body, she felt his presence right next to him. She turned her head to the short pink haired demon who was wearing his usual outfit that consisted of a sleeveless square patterned dark purple-pink haori cut off at the waist, baggy white pants rolled below the knees and tied with a blue rope belt at the waist and going barefoot with large round pearls around his ankles. Ah maybe I should’ve gone barefoot too.
“Akaza!” She smiled at the demon and noticed some blood smears on his hands. “Who’d you kill this time?” She knew that Akaza never killed or ate women, he mostly went after weak, cowardly people. Akaza crossed his arms and looked at Korra with his yellow eyes that had Upper Moon 3 etched into his eyes, “Just some cowardly gang members but what is Upper moon 1 doing out here hmm?” He sneered at her. Korra looking back down at the traffic of people on the street noticing that some were getting into shops or running as a car was making its way to a certain shop that was across a restaurant. Korra pointed at the stopped car and looked to Akaza with eagerness in her eyes, “About to kick some ass, you in Akaza? The men in that car seem to be as you said earlier, ‘gang members.’” Akaza shifted his gaze to where Korra was pointing at. The men who came out the vehicle seemed to be talking to a couple who owned that shop but a bit roughly. This piqued his interest. Korra and Akaza watched for a moment and then suddenly dropped down making quite the entrance around them.
Akaza causing the ground to grumble and Korra swiftly landing right next to him. The guy really loved making an entrance. They had disrupted the man in the middle saying “Give us the money or else-“ They had seen the firebender on the left destroy one of the objects the owner tried to reason with, with a kick of fire while they dropped down. There were other shop owners watching, waiting to see the scene unfold in front of them and people in the restaurant across from them watching from their seats.
“Or else what, hoodlum?” Both Akaza and Korra said simultaneously with wicked grins.
The 3 men turned to face them and surprisingly weren’t afraid, they started laughing at her and Akaza. “You two seem new here so let me explain to you two that this is triple threat triad territory.” Said the man in the middle who seemed to be their leader. Korra looked to Akaza, “Oi,” placing her arm on her shoulder, “cowards like these huh?” Akaza nodded and got into position of his blood demon art, one leg in the front and the other in the back spread apart while his left arm was in a fist pulled back and his right arm out with his palm facing outward.
“Who do you two think you are?!”
Korra brought her fists together, cracking them, “Why don’t you come and find out.”
The presumed leader reached into his coat and quickly shot a stream of water at Korra and she redirected it right at his face while freezing his head. She then sent a powerful kick to his head which threw the man to the direction of their car hitting headfirst on it causing the ice to break. He seemed to be unconscious after that. Hmph, cowards and they’re weak.
Not paying attention to her backgrounds, she missed the new two people walking onto this street and coming across this scene.
She turned her attention from the leader to the firebender and earthbender who was struggling against Akaza’s powerful moves.
Destructive Death: Disorder Type
Akaza punched in front of him at the two cowards that created a powerful shock wave knocking the firebender to the ground and the earthbender through the shop. He smirked at the results of his attack and so did Korra. Suddenly the firebender shot a punch of fire at Korra and she redirected it right back at him. Akaza dragged the earthbender from out the shop and slammed him into the ground knocking him out completely. “This is what happens to cowards’ little man.”
Surprisingly the firebender had gotten back up but before he attacked again, Korra bent the earth beneath him, shooting him up into the air which caused the scrawny man to hit hanging objects on the way back down from his fall knocking him out.
The people watching murmuring to themselves.
“Did she just fire bend and earth bend?”
“Is she-?“
And to the two new people who had walked right onto that street, was Mako and Asami. Mako extremely bewildered at the fact that Korra had just bent all the elements while Asami took in what Korra just did. Asami recognized the three men as the triple threats from the papers so she could assume Korra was rescuing the shop owners but then she saw another man near Korra with blue lines on his face that curved through each of his eyes to below them and over to his temples and ears. There were more that covered his body and she saw a menacing but excited look in his eyes. This is another demon with Korra, they must know each other then, Asami thought. She was holding Mako’s hand and could feel the palm of his hand start to sweat lightly. She of course was also in shock at this new information but how come Korra didn’t tell them? Perhaps she hadn’t told anybody.
Korra heard a grunt from where the car was and saw the leader trying to hop in. This caused Korra to yell in fury and excitement. “OH NO YOU DON’T COWARD!” She gritted her teeth, vision focused on him and nothing else. She clawed at her left bicep drawing blood and flinging it toward the man and car. Then closing her fist.
Blood Demon Art: Blood Burst
The blood burst into a blue flame burning the car and the man’s clothes, causing him to scream in fear and pain. Her and Akaza didn’t care about the people around them. Korra didn’t care at this very moment, she was having the time of her life fighting along with Akaza. Is this how the others feel when going against humans? It’s like I’m made for this. She felt a pulsing in her back and faltered on her walk to the leader. Akaza noticed and left the earth bender and fire bender on the ground and made his way toward the leader. He was more interested in him than the other two. “Snap out of it Korra.” He said as he passed by her. Korra shook her head and focused on the sight in front of her. That’s when she saw Asami and Mako. Her heart dropped to her stomach, eyes going wide wondering when they got here and if they saw everything. Just a moment ago she didn’t care about anybody seeing but seeing them, she didn’t want them to know that she was the Avatar and have them throw even more expectations onto her. The repercussions she didn’t care about just a moment ago, she started to care a bit now. She lowered her gaze and approached Akaza who was about to rip the arms off the man.
Once next to him she ripped Akaza's arm off and gave him a stern stare, her eyes showing her rank etched into them now instead of her cat slit pupils. With gritted teeth, “Bring him along, we’re not going to do this in front of a crowd.” At that she started to retreat into an empty alley quickly, making eye contact with Mako and Asami giving them a guilty look. She doesn’t know why she felt guilty. Maybe it was because she could’ve ruined the opportunity of getting close to Asami or even becoming friends with all of them. Maybe I could try if they’ll let me, it’s not like I asked for this life but if this is the way I have to live…then it’s not my fault.
Akaza grabbed the man and shot himself into the alley with speed catching up with Korra. “What happened back there?!” He questioned while him and Korra rushed away to somewhere empty. “I saw some people I recognized.” And Akaza didn’t question her after that. They soon made it to an area that was empty and Akaza dropped the man down. “I know you don’t eat humans-“ Korra cut him off, “I’ll drink his blood and then I’ll let you do whatever you want with him.” Akaza surprised at the words coming out of Korra’s mouth, a bit proud at this progress. He ripped off the man’s arms and handed one to Korra. She took it with both hands lifting it above her head positioning where Akaza had cut it off from. She wrung the arm squeezing the blood out and into her mouth. Fresh blood tasted much different than the preserved unconscious bodies Daki had but nonetheless the taste made her feel good. She wrung every last drop of blood from the arm and then tossed it to Akaza. “Let me know when you have news on the flower or if you want to have a battle.” Akaza stopped his eating, “Oh are you going to finally let me challenge you to a blood battle?” Korra laughed, she knew he saw her as a rival and was really stubborn and upset that he was rank 3, “No Akaza, you have to earn that.” She laughed at the disgruntled look on his face.
She left Akaza to his feast and made her way back to the island, slightly dreading tomorrow. Mako would probably be disgusted at her and angry, Bolin out of the loop if Mako didn’t tell his brother what happened and Asami…she didn’t want to think about how she would react once she saw her or if she even saw her. Would Korra even have a chance to explain herself? To humans? How could they even understand the predicament that she’s even in if she hasn’t even told anyone, not even her parents. It’s not like she did anything bad tonight. She just beat up some triad members for threatening a shop owner, that had to be a good thing, right? What her and Akaza did after probably wasn’t but that’s what being a demon is like.
Finally, in her room, she stripped her clothes off leaving her only in her chest binding and some shorts. She looked through the window to see the moon, big and bright, the light falling into her room. The moon brought her a sense of peace but soon after she felt silent tears come down her face. Her fists clenched and a painful battle of emotion started running through her head. Even if she was leaning towards this destiny of staying true to Muzan and living life as a demon till she somehow died, a part inside her just wanted to live a normal life or as normal a life can get with being the Avatar, but she wasn’t normal. She wasn’t judged by her fellow demons, even though they fought with each other, they all knew they were the same, but humans judged her and put these expectations on her and ostracized her. She didn’t have the best experience and thus was her reasoning for leaning towards Muzan even more until these 3 people came into her life. Guilt consuming her, the emotion making her knees buckle and falling onto her knees. This tiny light inside her was telling her that these people would understand but on the other hand her conscious told her they would leave her. Wait, Raava? Is she trying to speak to me? Is that what that tiny voice is? She had never felt this light before until now, was this because of the marking?
She let out a shaky breath, tears still streaming down her face.
What would it matter if they understood me? What if it was only the surface and not what was in the inside? I’m afraid that you might be wrong Raava and that Muzan is right. I’ve been following Muzan this whole time and now I’m taking ahold of the reigns of my life that seem best to me and this path is more open to me. It’s more freeing Raava and I’m so sorry if I fail you as an Avatar.