Oh How the Mighty Die (A LOK Fanfic) [Avatar: TLAB-LoK Watty Awards 2017]

3. Tenzin

(A/N: Phew! Finally have it ready to type out! ;) So, I know I made an authors note about it last chapter, but again I am sorry how long it is taking me to update this story. The way it works is I have to think for a little bit on how I'm going to set up each chapter. Then, it takes me about 2 days to write the story in my journal. I have about 3ish hours of HW each night, so I don't have a bunch of time. Finally I type it and publish it. Just wanted to clear that up. :D Ok, now that is out of the way, enjoy the chapter!
Disclaimer: I do not own LOK or ATLA. All the characters go to their rightful owners. )

Tenzin was meditating, trying not to think about Korra.

This was very hard, because now as he's trying to clear his mind all he can hear is her droning on and on about how she hated meditating.

She got better as she got older, though. Tenzin would daresay she enjoyed it, but the stubborn woman would've never admitted it in 100 years.

Oh no.

Now he was thinking of her.

Tenzin tried to shut off his mind, but it was like he opened a door of memories he couldn't close. Korra came tumbling out.

He thought of when he first met her, a passionate, stubborn for your old. He didn't know what he had been imagining when the White Lotus informed him they had found the new Avatar. He took off so fast he hadn't had time to ponder about her qualities.

The airbender supposed he had imagined his father.

Oh, was Korra the opposite.

Where Aang was calm and peaceful, Korra was spunky and passionate. Where Aang was thought things through, Korra dove in headfirst.

Aang was the gentle breeze, and Korra was the fierce waves.

These were all the reasons he had cared for his pupil so much.

He had watched her grow from a rebellious child, to and even more rebellious adult, and then to a selfless adult, then finally into a powerful, wise, full fledged Avatar.

He had seen her at her best, and at her worst.

The master had seen hope rise and fall in her eyes so many times. Fall when she got her bending taken away, rise when she unlocked her past lives. Fall when she had Raava ripped from her, rise when she opened the spirit portal. He had seen the hope fall so low when she got poisoned, he was afraid he would never see it again.

But she got it back.

She always did.

Tenzin felt something painful rise in his chest. He had not felt this much left over remorse since his mother passed away. It rose like a hot spike through his lungs and his chest, then turn into a hard lump getting stuck in his throat.

'Korra is gone, Korra is gone, Korra is gone', his mind chanted against his will.

Korra is gone.

Just like his father.

Korra is gone.

Korra is gone.

Korra.

Is.

Dead.

"I'm the Avatar and you gotta deal with it!"

"I'm dead. I'm never coming back, and you gotta deal with it."

Tenzin gasped, overwhelmed by pain, trying to regain his rhythmic breathing.

No. No. No. NO. This had been the whole point meditating. To clear his mind.

But he couldn't! Not with her dead!

He missed her. He knew everybody missed her, but he missed her so much.
She was like a third daughter to him. She taught him as much as he taught her.

Tenzin wanted her back. He wanted her to be alive. He to be alive. He-

Suddenly, a feeling of calm washed over him. He stopped fidgeting. The tattooed man felt his breathing pace return. It was almost as if something was forcing him back in position. No, forcing wasn't the right word. There was something gently coaxing him to relax. To open his mind. And he felt it.

He felt his mind open to so many new things. Tenzin grasped new life forms, new concepts, new worlds.

He held two dimensions in his mind.

A strange feeling over took him. Tenzin was aware of his soul drifting from his body. The old mans eyes fluttered open.

What he saw he had seen so many times before, but at the same time it was all new. The colors were brighter, the world sharper.

He was in the Spirit World.

But this time he has got there on his own, without having to enter through a portal.

He had done it!

Wait, no. Someone had helped him. That someone was the something he had felt guide him after his breakdown.

Tenzin felt a very spiritually strong presence behind him. He turned around, and what he saw filled him with joy.

In front of his eyes, her form glowing blue, was Korra.

Korra was gone.

But Korra was here.