Tahnorra - Envy

When Amon had taken that one precious thing, he had taken everything Tahno had. He was suddenly cold as he sat alone against the wall of an empty gym. This whole place was just a memory. There was no purpose to this place anymore.

"Hey," he heard suddenly, and turned to see the uhvatar leaning against the door frame with her arms crossed. He looked at her once, gave a bit of a sneer, and turned away to stare at the darkened wall. It had little effect on her, and she spoke again. "I said 'hey.'"

"Did you get him for me?" Tahno asked, icy blue eyes locking on her. She only stared back at him. "Well, did you get him for me?"

They both knew who he was talking about, and by the look on her face Tahno could tell she wasn't prepared to answer. She looked down, and he let out a breath of laughter. What was taking her so long? She was the avatar, wasn't she? Wouldn't bringing down a nonbender be an easy task?

"So why are you here?" he snapped, glaring at her. "Why did you come to see me in this horrible place, when you should be out there? What about your promise?"

"Look, we're trying," she retorted, injustice in her voice. "Why are you being like this? I thought we were going to be friends!"

"Friends?" he said, standing up suddenly. They glared at each other, holding equally strong gazes. "You want to talk about friends? I don't have any friends!"

"What are you talking about?" asked Korra. "What about the Wolfbats? And…and your fans?"

"There are no Wolfbats!" Tahno hissed. His voice cracked a bit. "There's no fans, there's no Tahno! All of that was taken away with my bending!"

Korra hesitated, her face blank as she absorbed his words, and then she clutched her elbow to her side awkwardly, looking down. "They liked you for your bending."

"They abandoned me." Tahno turned his back to her. "And you're no better. Hold to your promise."

"I am holding to my promise."

"You're here. That means you're not working hard enough."

"And what are you doing about it?" Korra snapped, regaining her confidence. "Sitting here lamenting the memories?"

"Yeah," replied Tahno. "That's exactly what I'm doing. Why should you care?"

"Because you promised me something, too. And you haven't fulfilled your promise, either." Tahno stopped. He looked at her, narrowing his eyes. What was she talking about? She stepped into the gym closer to him and crossed her arms. A part of him hated the smug look on her face, and another remembered seeing it in the mirror once upon a time. "You haven't given me those private lessons, yet."

Tahno let out a huff of laughter.

"You're kidding me." She held his gaze without irony. "Are you just here to mock me?"
Korra's gaze hardened. "What?"

"I know what this is," he said, crowding into her space and pressing a finger against her collarbone to push her back. "You just finished airbending training, didn't you? Yeah," he said to himself. "That must be it. You mastered yet another element, and now you're here to gloat."

"Gloat?"

"You're so proud of being the avatar," Tahno spat, stepping forward again into her space. He towered over her. "I bet you feel that much mightier in the presence of someone who had that power stripped of them. You just came here to remind me that you have the power of four elements, and I had my one taken away. Private lessons! How am I supposed to teach you waterbending now?"

"I never needed extra waterbending training," Korra said, giving an angry pout. She pointed a finger back at him and mimicked his movements, stepping into his space and poking him back with enough force to leave a sting. "Don't imply that."

"There's the pride." Tahno leaned down so there were only inches between the blue of their eyes. "You love proving me right, don't you, uhvatar?"

"Hmmp," Korra said, crossing her arms. "So teach me something else."

"I'll teach you about the back of my head," he said. "You can study it closely while I walk away."

Tahno pivoted on his heels, turning around and starting away. Suddenly he felt a grip on his wrist and a tug on his arm, and he fell back towards her. Her free hand caught the side of his face almost painfully, but by the time he felt the sting their lips had fallen together, and the avatar's eyes were closed on contact. Tahno's pupils shrank in size as he stared, frozen at her as she held him there, and then a strange feeling swept over him.

He'd always thought he was jealous of her. She, who was just like him but four times better. He saw how people adored her for her avatar status. Strangers. They were her fans, though he was sure she'd never thought that way of them. It was the same for Tahno. Just like Korra, his bending had defined him, and in that similarity, he'd thought he was jealous of her for being everything he was times four.

But when he felt her lips, smelled her skin, tasted her mouth, he felt something different. The last he saw of her was her eyebrows raised and her eyes held closed as his followed suit. His heart raced in his chest, and it all hit him at once.

He hadn't envied her. He hadn't been jealous. He didn't want her abilities or her avatar status. When he finally realized just how similar they really were, he didn't think of her as the avatar anymore. Certainly she only saw him as Tahno, the jerk who'd though his bending had defined him. She saw beyond the elements, beyond the advantages and disadvantages, and he realized he did, too. He saw the way the world looked at the two of them – the avatar and the fallen probender – and realized they were still not so different. No, Tahno hadn't envied her, and he hadn't hated her for being better than him. He'd admired her loneliness, connected to her obliviousness to it, and he wanted this moment. The only thing he'd ever felt for Korra was this fluttering belonging.

And suddenly he didn't care if she ever found the madman who had taken his old life from him. He was happy those abilities were gone. Because he had to fall in order for her to rescue him.