the legend of khione || korra

limitless

KORRA

It was easy to be brave when she wasn't facing the man who had destroyed her life. Zaheer had plagued her for so long now, the helplessness she felt three years ago when he'd started pulling the air from her lungs slipping back as she watched him meditate, floating as high as his chains would allow.

"I figured you'd show up sooner or later," Zaheer said calmly.

Korra narrowed her eyes at him, her expression carefully neutral. She would not let him see her fear.

"So, you must really be in trouble if you came all the way down here to see me," Zaheer continued amiably, as if they were acquaintances catching up after years of not seeing each other.

"I came here to look you in the eye, and tell you that you have no power over me. I will no longer be scared of you," Korra said forcefully, as if she could force the words to be true.

Zaheer opened his eyes, and in a split second, his calm expression morphed into something other, and he lunged towards her.

Korra gasped in fear and stepped backwards, her heart thundering in her chest. Adrenaline spiked through her, and everything suddenly felt so much more vivid. For all her bravado, Korra felt like that old, frightened girl when she faced Zaheer. He sunk to the floor, and his chains sagged.

"Guess it didn't work." Zaheer's words came out with a jagged laugh as he looked up at her. "You still seem scared."

Korra turned around. She should've known this was a bad idea.

"I know why you're here," Zaheer said, infuriatingly calm.

"You don't know anything about me!" Korra yelled, her shoulders bunching up.

"You can't go into the Spirit world."

Korra turned around, fear and confusion rising in her chest. How could he possibly know?

"I spend most of my time in the Spirit world, and it is well known that the Avatar's spirit hasn't been there for a few years."

"You can meditate into the Spirit world from here?" Korra couldn't help the bitterness that leaked into her voice. "Doesn't feel very spiritually charged."

"This is your problem. Republic City is flowing with spiritual energy and you can't even tap into it," Zaheer said.

"No, my problem is you," Korra said angrily, pointing a finger at him accusingly. "You poisoned me, you ruined me." 

The words spilled out uncontrollably, the more she spoke, the angrier she got. "People used to think I was unstoppable, but now they don't think I'm capable of anything."

Zaheer simply looked at her with infuriating apathy.

"Blaming me is a crutch to make you feel better. It is not helping you recover," Zaheer said simply, turning away.

"I thought seeing you face to face would put an end to all this. Maybe it's time to realise I'll never be the same." Korra's voice broke slightly as she looked down, helplessness welling up inside her.

"Neither of us are the same as before. I learned to fly but I'm bound in chains. You have all the power in the world, and the freedom to use it, but you chose to hold yourself down."

"I'm not holding myself down, but my powers have limits," Korra argued back.

"You're wrong. That poison should've killed you, but you were able to fight it off." Korra didn't think she imagined the grudging respect in his eyes.

"You think your power has limits. I say it's limitless."

Korra wanted to laugh. "Whatever. Before, you were always talking about chaos and freedom, then you took out the Earth queen and created the worst dictator the Earth Kingdom has ever seen. Thanks for that!" Korra threw up her arms in frustration.