DISLCLAIMER: I am not Nick or Bryke; therefore, I don't own Korra.

I….I can't believe it. I actually wrote a Linorra story. WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME? DDDD: I'M SORRY MAKO.

It actually started out as a fluffy family-ish piece but then got sort of…..yeah. I was going to add it to Strength, Love and Legacy but then decided to put it by itself.

Korra wasn't sure how long she sat there, knees pressed to her chest as tears dripped onto the snow. Her body had finally ceased its tremors, and although her breathing was still ragged she no longer sobbed. A soft crunch of feet against the snow alerted her to someone's presence (and she didn't think about how before, she would have felt them coming—she didn't—), and Korra turned, intent on snapping and sending whoever it was scurrying. But the harsh words died on her lips as Lin Beifong's sad jade eyes met the deep azure ones of the ex-Avatar. Korra choked back a sob and looked away. The one person she didn't want to see her blubbering just had to come.

Crunch. Lin sat down next to Korra and looked out across the sea, fingers absently tracing patterns in the fluffy white flakes. "I know how you feel," she said quietly. "I imagine it's worse for you, being the Avatar and all, but believe me. Hurts like hell, and there's this gaping hole that just feels so damn empty that it makes you want to curl up and howl like a wolfbat. A part of you is gone, and you can't bring it back." Lin's free hand curled into a fist, so tightly that Korra could see the older woman's knuckles go bone-white. "And you ask yourself how you can live through another day."

Lin had gotten it exactly right. Korra shuddered and turned to Lin, catching the former metalbender around the shoulders and burying her head into the cold armor suit. Her pride was overridden by the crushing, paralyzing grief that threatened to engulf her, and Lin was the only person who understood. She curled her fingers around the metal-wire pack on Lin's back, holding the older woman closer as shuddering sobs ripped through her frame.

At first Lin seemed like she was going to shove the ex-Avatar away. But very, very slowly, her arms wrapped around Korra, first loosely and then tighter as the Water Tribe girl continued to cry. Lin rubbed the heel of one hand up and down Korra's muscled spine, remembering how Toph used to do that for her eons ago when she'd still been a little girl. "I know," she murmured, using her free fingers to gently comb through the hair at the nape of Korra's neck. "I know."

"I can't," Korra whimpered, her entire body shaking. "I can't do this." She pulled away from Lin, scrambling to her feet. Alarmed, the ex-metalbender stood up. Korra's chest was heaving and there was a wild, almost hysterical look in her deep blue eyes. "I'm sorry."

"Korra!" Lin watched in horror as the younger woman took off at a dead run, heading straight for the brink of the ice cliff. Not even thinking, Lin tried to snap a cable from her back and catch Korra, but of course it didn't work. Sheer panic flooded her veins as she too bolted, every nerve in her body screaming to get to the edge before Korra did. "KORRA!"

Inches from the precipice, Lin slammed into Korra, sending both females tumbling. Part out of instinct and partly from a desire to make sure Korra didn't get away, Lin grabbed the Water Tribe girl and hugged her against her chest as they crashed onto the ice. After getting her breath, Lin sat up, pushed Korra away and slapped her across the face. "What the HELL were you thinking?" she snarled, so relieved that she could barely speak. "Do you have any fucking idea what everyone back there would feel if you just offed yourself? What about your Probending team; Tenzin, Pema, Katara—your parents? How selfish are you?"

Korra didn't get up, curled on her side with her arms around her knees. "They don't need a failure," she whispered, voice broken. "Besides, I'd be reborn someplace in the Earth Kingdom. The Avatar Cycle would go on…and the next Avatar would be better than me."

"You can't just give up on yourself." Lin moved closer and ran her fingers through Korra's thick locks. "And you are NOT a failure. Amon is a Bloodbender, Korra—Yakone's son. In some ways he's more powerful than Ozai ever was. Not even my mother could resist Yakone."

"Aang did," Korra cried, a single tear slipping from her eye. "I saw him. He's the one who took Yakone's bending."

"He was a fully grown adult. You're a teenaged girl, Korra." Lin sighs. "Look. I thought about it too, all right? I thought about ending it. But if I did that, Amon would win. I'm sure as hell not a quitter." She took her hand from Korra's hair and set it on the younger woman's cheek. "And neither are you."

Korra closes her eyes for a moment before silently pushing herself into a sitting position. "Without my bending, what am I?"

"You're Korra, the stubborn little brat who almost ruined my city on her first damn day." Lin cuffs Korra on the head, surprised at the strength of her affection for the ex-Avatar. Korra lets out a laugh that could well be a sob and throws her arms around Lin, face pressed into her armored shoulder. Lin just holds her, silently wondering when this actually became somewhat enjoyable.

After a few minutes, Korra turns her head so that her ice-blue eyes are locked on Lin's pale green ones. She smiles softly, and Lin feels something lurch in her chest. "Thank you, Chief," she murmurs.

"Enough with the Chief crap. I'm not the chief anymore, Korra. Lin. It's just Lin."

"Okay then…..Lin," Korra says slowly, tasting the name for the first time. "Thanks, Lin."

"Yeah, no problem." Feeling suddenly awkward the ex-Metalbender stands up. "I guess you probably need some time to process all this, but don't you dare jump or I'll find your reincarnation and kick the crap out of him so hard that Kyoshi's gonna feel it. Got that?" she growls.

Korra lets out a watery giggle, and it's the most beautiful sound Lin has ever heard. "Okay, I promise. I can't do that to my previous lives, now can I?" She turns back to the water, and Lin tries not to collapse in relief as she prepares to head back to the house.

"You're getting soft, Linny," Toph's voice smirks in her head. She groans.

"Oh, shut up, Mom."