Korra POV
As we're all eating a man walks up to me along with a group of his buddies.
Man: "Hey baby, why don't you ditch that piece of trash next to you and come play with a real man?"
Korra: "Um, excuse me, who are you?"
Man: "The names Bernard. Why don't you come on back to my place? My parents have a large house not too far from here, we can go there and have a little fun, if you know what I mean." I hear a plate break, and look over and see M/N's fork lodged between the two halves of the plate. Then I see his eyes beneath his hat, they had a F/C ish tint to them... Oh, this isn't going to end well.
Bernard: "Uh oh, did I make the peasant mad? Huh little guy?" I feel the room heat up.
Korra: "M/N... Calm down."
Bernard: "Yea, listen to the girl asshole. Trust me, you don't want to mess with me. I'll kick your ugly ass into next week." He says, then flips M/N's cap off, revealing his F/C pupils shining beneath. "Oh wow, you're more f*cked up than I thought. Are you saying you like this?" He says looking at me.
Korra: "I don't know who the hell you think you're talking to but you might have mistaken me for someone who's willing to deal with your bullshit."
Bernard: "Wow, forget coming back to my place, you're a bitch." Then I feel a wave of heat rush by. I look back and see M/N, his head still tilted down, but his eyes were locked on to Bernard.
You: "What did you call her...?"
Bernard: "I called you a peasant, this one a bitch." He says pointing at me. "And that one a whore." He says pointing to Asami. Then M/N disappears, oh crap.
Korra: "I suggest you leave. Otherwise you may not be able to move again for a while." He just laughs.
Bernard: "No offense babe, but I don't think that mess could do any kind of damage to me."
You: "Oh really? Care to test that?" M/N says, now standing right behind him, his eyes still glowing.
Bernard: "What the hell?! How'd you get behind me!?"
You: "I don't know, but I suggest you listen to her and leave."
Bernard: "Well, you see, I just can't do th-" He stops as M/N begins extending his claws.
You: "Now, wouldn't it be a shame if I, my clumsy peasant self, tripped on something and accidentally stabbed you?"
Bernard: "If you're planning on killing me you'll never get away with it!" M/N just smiles.
You: "Oh, you'd be surprised at what I can get away with." Bernard looks over to his gang of friends, who all seem just as scared as he is.
Bernard: "Yea, well, this place is lame anyways." He says walking away.
You: "Hey."
Bernard: "What?"
You: "Pull up your pants." As if on cue his pants fall to the floor, his belt landing in two pieces.
Bolin: "Bad. Ass." I hear Bolin say. M/N walks back over and puts his cap on again, then goes back to eating as Bernard runs out of the restaurant holding up his pants.
Mako: "I gotta admit dude, well played." M/N smiles and goes back to eating, back to his normal self. We talked all about what each of us had been up to recently, but a lot of them for M/N were about his fight against Valek, especially from Bolin. Yet, he never seemed to accept the credit of it. He would always push it off. It was like he didn't want to get attention from it. We continue to eat and eventually decide it's time we all got some rest. The manager even gave us our meal for free, which was good because I think M/N ate about 1000 dollars' worth of food. When we get back home I decide to ask him about why he never took credit for beating Valek.
Korra: "Hey M/N?"
You: "What's up?"
Korra: "Why did you never take credit for beating Valek? They were all asking you about it, but you dodged every question, why?"
You: "Because, I don't like getting acknowledged for killing. Just like how I was for fighting in those underground arenas. I don't like to be known for violence. Being known for strength is one thing, but being known for violence and killing is another."
Korra: "People don't think of you like that." He looks over to me with that "really" look on his face.
You: "You and I both know how people think of me. Some killer turned good, but is still a vicious killer at heart."
Korra: "M/N, you can't let them bother you, just show them who you truly are." He sighs and sits down on the bed, looking at the floor.
You: "That's just it Korra, that is who I really am. I kill people Korra, I hurt people, and people hurt me, in more ways than one... Korra, I'm fucked up. Imagine having a body made of metal, having foot long claws that grow from your hand, having your family taken from you, being poisoned and tortured constantly for 5 years... Or having a code put in your head so that if someone says them you become their slave... What the hell am I Korra?" I walk over and sit down next to him.
Korra: "What's this about M/N? I haven't seen you like this in a long time." He looks up to me, I see tears in his eyes.
You: "Why'd they do it...? Why did they kill them...?" He says, I knew where this was going, I hold out my arms and he buries his head into me. "They took them from me... I was a kid, who does that to a kid?!" He says into my shirt. "Who whips a 9-year-old boy? Who would kill his parents right in front of him?"
Korra: "SShhhh... SShhhh... It's ok M/N, calm down."
You: "How is it ok? They killed everybody I knew! I had nobody... As an eleven-year-old kid I was on my own and being hunted... Korra, they messed me up..."
Korra: "No, don't think like that... You're not the monster you think you are M/N... Nobody sees you like that."
You: "1,568." What?
Korra: "What's that?"
You: "The number of people I've killed." Oh. Wow. "See? Now you know what I am. A killer, that's all I've ever done... And I'm afraid... That's all I'll ever do..." Then he starts crying again. "What was I supposed to do? I never wanted this! I didn't know what else to do!... I was 9 years old when I killed first... 9 years... No 9-year-old should ever even have to think about that, much less have to do it..."
Korra: "M/N... Why didn't you come to me sooner?"
You: "Because, you shouldn't have to deal with my problems. You shouldn't have to deal with how messed up of a person I am. Why do you put up with a broken piece of shit like me? They wanted to break me Korra... They succeeded."
Korra: "You know, when I was little, my grandmother would always tell me something after I would fail a test or do bad at a part of my training... Strength isn't about how much you can handle before you break. It's about how much you can endure after your broken..." He just laughs.
You: "Well considering I lived through almost 5 years of being alone, hunted, and tortured... I'd say I've endured plenty."
Korra: "You're right, you have, but that's all behind you now."
You: "You're wrong... it's not all behind me... Korra, I've been scarred, physically and mentally. I can never be the same person I could have been... I've seen things Korra, horrible things, brutal things..."
Korra: "I know, Gaea showed me M/N."
You: "No, not what I've been through, what I've seen... she never showed you the things I've seen..."
Korra: "M/N, you just have-"
You: "I saw a mother give birth only to have the child's throat slit in front of her." What?!
Korra: "W-wha? Y-you saw...? You saw what?"
You: "I'm not repeating myself... And that... That's just the beginning of it... When I would break out, I'd always save as many people as I could, until one time I pressed my luck a little too hard... I was saving a father and his son, but I didn't get out in time... It's why my knee is so messed up..."
Korra: "What did they do M/N?" Although I have a feeling I don't want to know.
You: "Gaea... she didn't show you this one... Korra, they carved my kneecap out." I feel my dinner swirl in my stomach.
Korra: "T-they did what?"
You: "They said I wouldn't be able to escape now, and took a curved blade, then cut out my kneecap... No anesthetic, no pain reliever... They cut it out, then threw me into a cell, to either bleed out or die of infection... It was about a month before I got injected with metal... It was one of the first times I healed myself, but it didn't heal fully, and when I got injected, it became permanent... That's why when you found me I was limping, and why I have that scar on my knee..."
Korra: "I-I never knew..."
You: "Yea, I never wanted you to know..."
Korra: "What? Why?"
You: "Because... you're a good person Korra. You don't like to hurt people, you're competitive, but you don't aim to hurt others... But me, it's just different, I know you have nightmares, just like I do."
Korra: "Yes, people have hurt me, but that's no reason to quit."
You: "My nightmares aren't like yours."
Korra: "Why?"
You: "I hurt people."
Korra: "But they were bad people. You can't blame yourself for killing someone who kills."
You: "It's all the same... It's something that once you do it, you have to live with it for the rest of your life... I'm sure some of them had wives or husbands and children... Who will never get to see them again... There's no living with the killing Korra. It's a brand, a brand that sticks, and once you do it... There's no going back."
Korra: "M/N? What would you do if someone hurt us?"
You: "Hurt who?"
Korra: "Any of us. Sue, Mako, Jinora, Bolin, Asami, Ikki, Opal, Meelo, Lin, Tenzin, Pema, Kya, Katara, my parents, or myself... What would you do if someone hurt one of us?"
You: "Depends, how hurt?"
Korra: "If they killed us."
You: "I'd kill them and everything they loved or that they were connected too. I'd erase any memory the world had of them." Yep, that sounded about right. "Why do you ask?"
Korra: "Because, it shows that you're not a monster."
You: "How does me saying I'm going to kill them and ruin everything connected to them make sound like anything but a monster?"
Korra: "It shows me... It shows that you are no monster... You're a protector, who will do anything to protect his loved ones... No matter what the cost."
You: "I wish I could believe that... But I just can't... I'm nothing but a broken man whose been through hell and knows nothing but violence." No M/N... There's so much more to you... I've seen it... You think you're some monster because you've hurt people... But, the people you've hurt have given you no choice... You've never started the violence, you just simply ended it. You save innocent people's lives, a monster wouldn't save the innocent, it would kill them. And I've never seen you kill an innocent person. I have seen how powerful you can be, but being strong, or being violent. That doesn't make you a monster, it's what you do with that strength and power... And you use it to protect those who can't protect themselves. You use it for good, just like a hero would, and you never take credit, just like a hero. M/N, whether you like it or not, you're a hero now. And the world's going to acknowledge that.