Chapter 56- And so the Dragons Danced

What? What the fuck did he just call me? No, he had to be fucking tweaking.

“I assure you, I am not ‘fucking tweaking’” The first Avatar said with a sly smile on his face.

“Then you have to be permanently insane because I’m no Avatar.” I said with a scowl. What was this waste of my time? I needed to get back to my body, to arrest that cupbearer and reap vengeance on those who would shake my hand with their right whilst daggers lay behind their backs in their left.

“To begin with, what do you think the Avatar is?” He started, and I gave him a purposeful blank look. I wasn’t going to let my knowledge of canon slip here.

“We are you just as you are us, Natsu. We know your every memory and thought— even your memories from your first life are ours as well. And I do have to say that Kyoshi here has not been too pleased to find what people in your world were doing with her likeness,” He said, and I had to fight down the flush that rose to my cheeks. I knew exactly what he was talking about— but I was just a teenager at the time. It was far from my proudest moment, but definitely not what I was worried about here.

“What is there to worry about? We’re all dead. There’s nothing we could do with the information you have given, and truth be told. It’s not like it was of much use in the first place. You took us out of the canon as you would call it a long time ago”

“Can you stop reading my mind and responding to shit before I can even say it?” I said instead.

“Sure. If that is what you prefer. So I sense you have questions. I’ll let you ask them so I can answer.”

“You never explained how this could be possible” because I was starting to believe their bullshit. How else could they so easily get into my mind? I knew from what writings my ancestor had preserved from his time with Szeto, the Avatar cycle was not just power being reborn. It was. A person being born in different eras over and over again. It wasn’t like One for All, to risk using an anime reference.

“Well, you know the Avatar was created when Raava and I fused the very first time. When I died, she went to the next person, taking me along. That was the beginning of the cycle, and it created a line that went unbroken down from Fire to Air to Water to Earth Nationals for millennia. Until you.”

“Until me?”

“You killed the Avatar in the Avatar State”

“Yes. And that was supposed to end the cycle”

“But why would you have been so sure? It’s never happened before, has it? We were literally in uncharted waters” Wan said, smile still solid on his face.

“Oh stop beating around it. Tell the foul boy the truth” An old man in red robes walked out of the line in my direction. Roku.

“When you stabbed me in the back like the coward you are. Raava had a choice. She could either have stayed with us, died with us, and then given me the power to smite you and take you with us, or leave us for you. She chose the latter. She betrayed us, and your presence here is the fruit of that, you foul boy,” He said, stepping into my face.

“I’ve got no idea the shade, colour, or shape of your problem, old man. But step off. Before I make you” I said, stepping closer to him and making it clear that I would not be intimidated. Especially not by the piece of shit that lost to a volcano of all things and left the world in the mess I’d found it in.

He scoffed, stepping even closer, and I matched it until our foreheads were practically touching. Avatar Roku must have been a tall man in his generation. It showed in the way his back stooped forward, but all that height meant nothing. He might have towered over me, but I was his better in all the ways that counted. I’d fought the war his inaction had started. I’d won that war as well.

“In my day, I would have laid you flat on your arse” He said. Now, it was my turn to scoff.

“I killed him”, I said, pointing to Aang.

“He was ten times the Avatar you’d ever been, and I’ve grown stronger since then” I tightened my fist. I had no doubts regarding what had happened with Aang. I’d taken advantage of his distraction to stab him in the back— and I’d had help throughout. Alone, I would have lost. Not now, though. I would give it a 50-50 chance if we fought now.

“Why you—“ the pissed off Avatar began, only to be physically pulled away by the first of the line, Wan.

“No fighting, guys. We agreed” He said.

“I don’t see why Roku is so annoyed. If he wanted the boy dead, he should have done a better job of killing him when he possessed Aang here” Kyoshi said, herself stepping out of the circle of Avatars. Roku had been the one to take over Aang’s body? How interesting. Especially since he’d relied on water and air more than I would have expected a fire nation avatar to have.

“Enough Kyoshi. Not the time” Another Avatar said, this time it was the woman with air bending tattoos across her body. Yangchen.

“So ignoring the old man, what you guys are trying to tell me is that when I killed Aang, the Avatar spirit left him and entered my body instead?” I asked.

“Exactly. That was easier to explain than I expected.” Wan breathed a sigh of relief. I scoffed. He hadn’t explained much of anything.

“So why did you call me here?”

“Well, we’ve been trying to reach you, but you’ve been closed off from us. Your poisoning made your body weak enough that we could finally pull your spirit from it.”

“And that tells me exactly nothing about why you called me here”

“We called you here to speak to you, to see if you can be reasoned with, to plan” Yangchen was the one that spoke now. Thank the heavens. I was beginning to get the vibe that Wan would reply to a question with everything except the answer to the question. The way he smiled when he did it made me doubt that it was unconscious as well.

“I won’t be giving up what I’ve taken” I said. If they thought they’d defeat the Fire Nation by coopting me to their archaic view of the world, then they had another thing coming.

“I told them that already. I know what you are, Natsu” Kyoshi stepped closer to me now, towering over me as well. If Aang and Wan weren’t here, I might have begun to feel a bit self-conscious about myself. Was there something about height being one of the powers of the Avatar Spirit?

“And what is that?” I challenged, unwilling to back down, but very willing to admit that she was ‘hot af’. The makeup covered most of her face and obscured a good portion of the finer details of her features, but it did little to hide the charm that she possessed. It was not the soft, feminine beauty that Zhufu wore so easily. Nay, it was colder, rougher, and somehow not the lesser for either of those things. Maybe I had a fetish for mommy dommy women, but I could not deny that part of me was stirred by the close quarters.

“That you are like me. You might have been born a noble or whatever, but you’re as greedy a shit as any street urchin I’ve ever known. You’d never let go of something after taking it— even if it mattered so little that you wouldn’t notice its absence.” She said, and I hated that she was right. Not because I thought there was anything wrong with the way I lived, but because I just didn’t like the idea of being read so easily.

I scoffed, and turned my head to the side.

“What we decided to ask you for doesn’t require you giving up anything you’ve taken, don’t worry” Wan said, stepping in. I tilted my head in his direction in lieu of asking the question I had. Maybe this would get a straight answer out of him.

“You’ve brought the four nations together under your umbrella, but we need you to make sure that they remain four.”

“What do I gain from that?” I asked instantly.

“Why do you think there are four nations?”

“Okay, I’ve had enough of the lessons in disguise. If you want to say something, Wan, say it” I pushed. He sighed, before beginning.

“We call them four nations, but there are more than four— there were four air temples, and two different water tribes. In truth, it was never about the geography of the thing. It was more about the conceptual nature of the Nations. The Nations exist because people believe they do, and the belief in the balance between those nations helps to maintain the boundary.”

“What?”

“The boundary that separates your world from the spirit world, dummy” Kuruk stepped in now, smile on his face. He was clearly one of those who didn’t have much of a problem with me.

“So you’re saying that if I bring the nations together in my empire, then the spirit world boundary would fall?” I asked.

“Yes. Exactly” Aang was the one who replied, nodding his head while he wore the gravest expression I’dd ever seen on his face. I shrugged.

“Then, we’ll win” I said, feeling a smile break out.

What happens to a soldier when there are no more wars to fight? He withers and he dies. But these people, they’d brought me a war worth fighting because I would never allow some dead people dictate how I ruled the world I had conquered.

“You can’t be serious” Aang said, Wan swelled up, Kuruk looked furious, but Kyoshi? She smiled. She could see the same thing I could.

“Trust me, Aang, I’m serious as all hell. If the barrier drops, and the spirits come, then I will accept them into my empire where they bend the knee. Those who do not will be destroyed wholesale. I will burn them to ashes, and then burn those ashes until naught remains. I will salt their earth, kill their young, annihilate their great and bring them low. If they threaten my empire, I will not hesitate to bring an end to spirits as a species. “

“You are mad” Roku flinched backwards.

“I disagree. I’m the sanest man in the whole world” I said.

“Well, the good news is that none of this will matter until it’s at least been a few decades.” Wan said with a sigh as he took a deep breath and stepped in Roku’s direction, placing a hand on the other firebender’s shoulder.

“So was that the only thing you wanted to tell me?” I asked.

“Not just that. Also, to deliver a warning. You have changed the world— not just with your actions by winning the war. You have shown the world that killing the Avatar in the Avatar State does not end the cycle like expected, but instead vests in you the power of the Avatar. There’s no chance that this doesn’t cause an arm’s race that outlasts you by some margin” Kyoshi said. I shrugged. What did I care for what happened after I died? If anyone felt stupid enough to come after me, then I would welcome their entertainment.

“This was all no use. The boy is crazy” Szeto said.

“Hold up, old man. Would have expected you of all people to be on my side” I said.

“With how much chaos you have brought to the Nation I valued above all others? If I were still alive, I’d have killed you myself”He said, even as the other Avatars gave him dirty looks at his words. That was when I decided I liked Szeto more than the others. Why? Because he was honest. They all valued their homes more than anything else— Kyoshi had created Kyoshi Island rather than actually trying to stop Chin the conqueror who died because of his pride, Roku had failed to put Sozin down even when he knew the fucker would never stop, Yangchen had spent a good portion of her life in the air temples living as a nomad— but they all pretended to be custodians of some higher calling. Only Szeto was honest.

“You know what? Fair. I don’t think you can take me, but the animosity does make sense“ I said with a light smile.

“Is there anything we can do to convince you to see things differently?” Wan asked with a sigh that was more tired than anything else.

“Nope” I said instantly. I could dress it up however I wanted, but the truth was I didn’t like these people, so why should I give two shits about problems that were theirs.

“Then keep our world safe, Avatar Natsu. We will bide our time and wait. Even you will fall one day, and when you do, we will be on hand to guide the next Avatar to fix everything you break in your madness. We have survived many a terrible Avatar” Wan said, patient tone disappearing for the rage he had been trying to bury. Good. There it is. A son of Agni through and through. I moved to say something, but I felt my body beginning to lose substance. What the hell was going on? I thought as my soul was dragged from the spirit world.

XXXXXX-

“Natsu? Natsu? Can you hear me?” I heard Toji’s voice coming from above my head.

My eyes snapped open, and I could feel the heat that my internal flames had reached. So that was how I’d gotten rid of the poison.

“How long?” I asked.

“Three days” He said instantly, stepping to the side to allow me to swing my legs to the side. I noticed Zhufu slumped against the chair, asleep.

“Didn’t wake her?” I asked.

“She still thinks you’re asleep, and I wanted to talk to you before she could” He said, and that was strange. I tilted my head at him.

“Her father was one of the conspirators. He was the one who facilitated the meetings with your prospective assassins.”

“Interesting”

“What would you have me do to them?” And with those words, I could tell Toji was just as wrathful as I was. And with what I knew about him, I knew there was one one fate waiting of them— regardless of what I ordered. The only difference would be that my orders would lead to a quick one.

“I want them all dead. Damn the consequences.”

“Your wish is my command, First Dragon” He said with a bow. First dragon? That sounded good.

XXXXXX- 85 YEARS ABE (After the Birth of the Empire)- KORRA

She dodged to the side of the blast of flames, running along the arena’s walls as she felt herself move like the element she controlled. More flames shot in her direction. She pushed off against the wall into a backflip that sent her right above the fire. She felt for the water in the air that surrounded her, coalesced it into a ball, and sent the mass at her opponent. Mako of the Fire Islands skirted to the side and retaliated with even more fire.

She felt a smile build on her face as she rolled to avoid the fire. She’d done it. She could feel the pond, now close enough to control most of it. The water rose to her control, and she wrapped it around her arms in a set of watery limbs that acted as extensions of her own. Mako could see the writing on the wall, and he sent even more fire in her direction.

She misted the fire, sending her water to match it before she spread the mist around the arena with a breath. In this, she could feel him as he tried to move for cover. Mako of the Fire Islands was one of the smarter fighters in this thing. Sure, he had less raw power than Bolin who had been one of the prodigies of the Toph School of Earthbending and its Variants, but he’d still beaten his brother by outwitting him. He probably intended to do the same with Korra, but she was no idiot. She’d studied waterbending all her life, and this was her moment. Damn what Dad said. She moved, controlling a massive wave from the pond to rise to slam into him, but she instantly noticed him making some strange movements.

She never truly figured out what he was doing, until she saw the flash of lightning hit the mist and felt her limbs lock into place. She fell to the floor. Lightning bending? Who the fuck was this dude? The God-King’s Long lost Son? The mist cleared as he did something with his fire, but that was the least of her her problems. She couldn’t move. She couldn’t bend.

He walked over to her, looking smug.

“Is that truly the best you’ve got?” She heard the voice whisper in her ear. What? Who was that? Her gaze swam to Mako, but he was still walking to her, clearly struggling to move very fluidly. The lightning had probably affected him as well.

“Does your bending come from your muscles, Korra? Are you not strong enough to bend without your strength?” What the hell was the voice talking about? She’d gone mad. Even the voice she hallucinated was mad.

“Bend the water, girl” It seemed to become more urgent then as Mako finally stood before her. Fire roared into being. He aimed down to strike at her, and the water rose to her control, slamming into him and tossing hum into the distance.

“Good. Finally something worth something from you” The voice sounded so smug.

It disappeared then, and now she could har the roar of the crowd. It was over.

“The inaugural edition of the Emperor’s Combat Tournament is over. The Champion? Korra Skullcrusher” The announcer screamed her victory to the heavens, and this time she didn’t even flush at the silly last name she’d chosen when she was Seven.

A/N: Last chapter? Kind of. There’s obvi an Epilogue coming.