In the aftermath of the destruction of Republic City, Korra and Tenzin awake to a Ba Sing Se a hundred years in the past. Only, Ba Sing Se is hours away from Princess Azula's imminent takeover. Korra - and Aang - must make their choices in the face of harrowing odds.
"You're not me," Korra's lip curls. There’s something in Kuvira. An animal born out of a starving child. Korra could never make herself ruthless; not even when she wants to.
"No," Kuvira says, smiling, "but I am what you could have been."
Korra, Kuvira, and their legacy of hope and destruction.
chapter 13: love
For someone good at considering all the different variables in a situation, she’s been terrible at giving up the fight. Maybe she still is. But then, there’s no satisfaction in playing a game with weighted dice. You walk out of the room before you lose any more money. That’s what Hatake meant. That’s what Hashirama has never—and never will—understand.
And that’s a wrap!
"I see bits and pieces of you in Tenzin and myself in my daughter," Zuko says to Aang. "If I live to see the next Avatar I will see you reflected in them. The people who came before us probably thought about this. So will the ones who come after us."
"The fire-snake eats its tail," Aang says with a smile.
"Is it that way for you? You feel disadvantaged because of your womanhood?" Tobirama says. He has this disconcerting way of treating people's lives like data points for him to process. He continues before Madara can respond: "I'm curious though—would you have chosen to be a man, if you could do it over?"
It's not... that. Madara's not a man, that's not the choice she would've picked. There's always been something wrong with her, including her lack of femininity. Would she have been at peace with her womanhood if she lived in a world where her gender didn't bring its burdens on her? That's like trying to imagine a new colour: so far detached from reality that there's no point of reference.
ebghb ch7 is up! Merry Christmas from disaster bisexual Madara
chapter 6: Anger
"Madara!" Hashirama shouts. "I can heal him fully if—"
She throws a kunai at him. She does not look back.
See, Uchiha Madara knows she’s an aberration. No one looks out for angry girls with something wrong with them. The only perspective she can trust is her Sharingan. She is going to have the world—even if she has to burn everything down. Even if she has to burn herself down.
chapter 5: Grief
Madara puts the scroll away, breath strangled. They burned the man but she's holding his bleeding heart.
See, Uchiha Madara knows she’s an aberration. No one looks out for angry girls with something wrong with them. The only perspective she can trust is her Sharingan. She is going to have the world—even if she has to burn everything down. Even if she has to burn herself down.
chapter 4: Heart
"So you must find pieces of your heart to keep. It's the little things that help you survive," Ameyuri says, tone gentle. As gentle as her crone's voice can be.
See, Uchiha Madara knows she’s an aberration. No one looks out for angry girls with something wrong with them. The only perspective she can trust is her Sharingan. She is going to have the world—even if she has to burn everything down. Even if she has to burn herself down.
chapter 3: Disorder
Her father rises, breathing hard. Madara pulls herself off of the ground.
"There--" he sounds winded, "--is absolutely no honour in playing dirty."
Playing dirty or not, he's still the one tired after tussling with a seventeen-year-old girl in the dirt.
"There's no honour in losing either," Madara says coldly.
See, Uchiha Madara knows she’s an aberration. No one looks out for angry girls with something wrong with them. The only perspective she can trust is her Sharingan. She is going to have the world—even if she has to burn everything down. Even if she has to burn herself down.
Chapter 2: Hunger
Madara turns her face away. There's a list of things she's supposed to be. Quiet, compliant, Uchiha. Talking to some boy down the Naka makes her feel less like a series of long expectations and more like a person. Furiko makes her feel that way too, but it's not the same. They both just pretend those boundaries don't exist.
"It's just a boy, Dara." Izuna sounds tired and like he's trying to be gentle. "You'll forget him."
See, Uchiha Madara knows she’s an aberration. No one looks out for angry girls with something wrong with them. The only perspective she can trust is her Sharingan. She is going to have the world—even if she has to burn everything down. Even if she has to burn herself down.
Chapter 1: Attachment
Hashirama sighs dramatically and flops down. "Guess I'll just die from my injuries. You're such a great friend, Madara."
She lies down next to Hashirama. She's too tired to feel anything other than exhaustion. It's cold, but not unpleasantly so. The compound will be warmer.
"Hashirama?" Madara says. Hashirama makes a sound of acknowledgement, half-asleep.
"Teach me how to heal—and fight too," Madara says quickly. Hashirama makes another sound, then rolls over. There's something in Madara that needs to be bigger, be better. Something full of fire that warms her. And if her clan won't help her learn to fight and hold her own, she'll do it herself and with a boy whose name she doesn't know.
See, Uchiha Madara knows she’s an aberration. No one looks out for angry girls with something wrong with them. The only perspective she can trust is her Sharingan. She is going to have the world—even if she has to burn everything down. Even if she has to burn herself down.
“I’m not here to play your games,” Zuko says. He sounds tired.
Then why else is he here? “Oh come on Zuzu. For old time’s sake?”
Zuko looks back at Azula. She purses her lips and taps along her cheek. The tapping on the leaves is more insistent now too.
“Father,” he says, voice catching the tail end of an exhale. The child-king sits in his father’s shoes and thinks he can exhale his history out. He huffs and he puffs.
”Almost,” Azula clicks her tongue and leans back. There goes the boy, doing things halfway.
There is something in the darkness with Azula. It is a monster. It is mother.
