Dangerous 2: Change

Chapter 14

Hope you all had a nice Thanksgiving! Now to figure out what's wrong with Korra's wolf...

...

~Korra~

-What, what is it?- I asked, taken back by their expressions of surprise.

Jinora stepped forward and placed a hand on my side, trailing it across in a strange pattern. "Your fur... It's turning black."

-Wait, what?- I said. I looked down at my paws and, sure enough, the fur there had gone from snowy white to midnight black. I lifted my front paws and turned them over, inspecting them both. The black fur only went as far as my forearm, where the white continued.

"Look!" Ikki said and pointed at my head.

I ran to the pond and looked at my reflection in the water soon enough to see a black diamond appeared in the center of my forehead and a black stripe going down my spine. I yelped and jumped back, turning human immediately. I stared at the water as if it had betrayed me in some way.

"Korra?" Pema said gently.

I looked at her, all of them, and rested on Jinora. "What's happening to me?" I asked, my voice hoarse.

"You're being corrupted." Jinora said, and her expression was apologetic. "Raava can't hold off the darkness forever. We need to get you to the portals now so you can close them. Maybe then we can reverse it. But if you keep getting angry..." She trailed off and dropped her eyes.

"Then I'll never be myself again..." I finished for her in a whisper. "Even if we do reverse it, it'll be too late."

"It's too deeply settled within you, there's not even a promise of full recovery." Jinora said.

I could completely forget who I am... Who my friends and family are... Who Asami is... The truth of it stung worse than the electricity that damaged my arm six months ago. I could end up hurting them...or worse... I dragged my gaze from Jinora to my stomach, pressing my hand there, recalling the cold feeling of the spirit passing through me and shuddering. From there, I traced the scars caused by Asami's father down my arm. I'd been through worse. Compared to what happened to me before, the fact that I almost died, this was just a minor obstacle.

Raava, please. Just hold out a little longer. I pleaded to the light spirit. I'm going to fix this.

I got to my feet, my hands in fists and my expression shifting from frightened to determined. I looked at them all, one by one. "I need to do this. I need to get what darkness out of me that I can before I damage myself and Raava any further. And before the world is plunged into darkness for ten thousand years."

"Korra," Tenzin said, walking up to me. "I want to tell you that I'm proud of you. Your spiritual training has come a long way."

My tense body slackened a bit. "Unalaq may be a horrible person, but his spirit powers are no joke."

"He taught you how to transform dark spirits and I can't even get you to the Spirit World." Tenzin said, ashamed.

"Everything he taught me was to help himself." I told him. "Everything you taught me was to help myself, and I am so, so sorry for turning my back on you as my mentor. I need you more than ever."