Hello again! This would be One Shot number 3 from my writing. I hope it's interesting to at least someone. Have fun!
Once again...There is character death in here, total utter character dying.
I own nothing here. Unless you would count this as having a plot, which I don't think it does.
"BOLIN!" The firebender's voice cracked as he ran up to the motionless body on the ground. "Bolin!? Bolin! Bo, stay with me!" Mako almost jumped to the ground to hold his brother.
The earthbender coughed and opened his eyes to see his brother sitting over him. Mako's eyes were about to spill over in tears at the sight of his bro lying on the ground, a pool of blood enlarging at his side.
"Hey…Mako...I-I did it."
Mako looked to his right to see several Equalists' bodies strewn across the street. Then he looked back to Bolin, a rather large knife was sticking out of his chest.
"I won't let anyone get inside this building, I'll be fine! You go on with Korra!"
If only Mako knew how false those words would be.
"I-I did…it. I didn't let any…Equalist past…I didn't let any get to you and Korra." Bolin coughed up blood onto Mako's jacket, but he didn't care. He could buy 10 more jackets just like this one.
"Bolin, don't speak! Save your strength." Mako yelled. He was trying to stop himself from crying, he had to stay strong for his bro, like he always had.
Bolin shakily raised his arm and wiped at his brother's eyes. "You can cry Mako…just this once…"
Mako carefully grabbed his brother's hand and held it tightly. "No, no! I don't have to cry! I'm not going to cry because you're going to be fine! Korra! We need a healer! Anyone!?"
The same eerie silence of the Republic City streets was all that gave Mako a response. The firebender growled in frustration and stared back at his brother. Bolin was smiling with his eyes half-open.
"Bolin? Why are you smiling?" As much as he tried to resist, Mako's voice cracked at the end of his speech.
Bolin let out a strained, almost painful sounding laugh. "D-do you remember when Mom and Dad bought you a firebending scroll for… your 7th birthday?"
Mako hadn't thought about that in a long time. He remembered yelling in glee as his mom showed him the scroll of basic firebending stances. Their mother and him practiced for the rest of the day. The scroll is bundled up in Mako's personal chest back at his room in Air Temple Island.
"Yes Bo, I remember that." Mako forced a small smile onto his terrified face.
"I recall that you j-just found out that you were a f-firebender a couple of weeks earlier." Bolin let out another pained chuckle and tapped his brother's shoulder with his free hand. "You burnt one of my toys. You…never apologized for that."
Mako hid his face from Bolin and let a couple of tears fall before looking at his brother again. "I'm sorry Bo! I'm sorry for everything! I'm sorry I couldn't provide better for us! I'm sorry I took Korra from you!" Mako squeezed his brother's hand even tighter. "I only ever think of myself. I'm sorry Bo! I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry…" Mako trailed off, muttering 'I'm sorry' quietly to himself as the urge to collapse became almost too great to handle. Bolin coughed again and turned his brother's chin back to him.
"Mako…I was just joking…d-do you really think that you didn't provide enough for me?"
"Yes! I could have worked extra to get us more money! I could have given you my food instead of eating some myself! I could have done so much more, but I didn't!"
Bolin's eyes started to close, but Mako shook him lightly to keep him in the physical world.
"Mako…don't ever think that you didn't p-provide enough for me. I wouldn't be here…if you hadn't done what you did for me on the streets." Bolin pointed down at his chest where the knife was still jutting out. "Now, if you could just pull this out…then you might be able to provide for me some more?"
Mako glanced down at the knife, it was long enough to be classified as a sword. He slowly gripped its handle, earning a hiss from his brother. He quickly recoiled away from it.
"Mako…you h-have to pull it out. Ignore me and do it."
Mako let another tear escape his grasp and slide down his face. "I could never ignore you Bolin." He looked away from his brother and gripped the handle. The firebender took a deep breath and pulled it out with a quick tug. Bolin yelled but quickly forced a smiled again.
"Thanks…bro…"
Mako returned his teary eyes back to his brother's face. He was now considerably paler than when he found him a couple of minutes ago. Then again, the pool of blood at his side had nearly doubled in size. Another chuckle came from the earthbender.
"Do you remember when Toza first allowed us to stay in the…arena?"
Mako recalled that memory like it was yesterday. He didn't trust the old man at first, they didn't receive much kindness from anyone. A person doing good deeds was a rarity in their days as street rats.
"Yes Bo, that's one of my favorite memories."
Bolin gave Mako's hand a squeeze and glanced up at the stars. "Mako…t-the stars? The stars are out?"
Mako looked up at the night sky. It was true, the stars were out. Most of the time you couldn't see them because of the bright lights of the city blocking out their natural beauty, they weren't seen on many days of the year at all. Mostly on power outages are the lights of the sky finally allowed to show themselves.
"Yes Bolin, the stars are out. Yue must be brightening them today."
Bolin looked puzzled at Mako's statement. "But Yue's the moon spirit?" He said in a much weaker voice than Mako would have preferred.
"I know Bo, I'm just checking to see if you are still thinking correctly."
Bolin let out a dry laugh and began coughing again. Mako drew his brother close and rocked him slowly. He hadn't done that in years, it was an involuntary habit he developed whenever Bolin got sick during their homeless days. It always seemed to calm his sick-fits. This time though it didn't work.
"Ma-ko. I don't think I'm going home with you today."
The firebender let out a single sob and held him tighter. "No Bo, you're going to be fine. ANYONE!? We have a man down over here! We need a healer!"
"Mako, d-don't keep lying to yourself… You know it just as well as I do."
That broke his resolve. Mako let his pent-up emotions break out of his usual mental-walls. He turned his gaze down to the stone ground and began crying uncontrollably. Bolin's eyes were now barely opened. The only thing he could see was his brother in front of him. The rest was black.
"Mako…I want you to promise me you'll go on in life and do great things."
Mako returned his blurry gaze to his barely conscious brother and nodded. "Anything Bolin, I'll do anything."
Bolin formed a small smile and gave his brother's hand a tiny squeeze. From his face, it looked like it took a lot of effort just to squeeze Mako's hand. "I-I want you to live a…happy life for me. Go live a happy life with Korra…for me…I want you to beat Amon for me…I want you to live your life in a happy way, d-don't let my absence get in the way of that…"
Mako nodded, shooting a couple of tears from his face in the process. "I don't know how that's possible Bo. You're all I had for most of my life. I could never liv-"
"Shhh." Bolin interrupted. "Just, promise it."
Mako shook his head, but complied anyway. "I-I promise Bo."
Suddenly Bolin did the exact thing Mako never thought he would do at a time like this, he sang.
"I-It's a long…long way to Ba Sing Se."
Mako gasped after Bolin painfully to finish the first stanza. He hadn't heard that song since they were children, how Bolin remembered it now of all times was beyond his understanding.
"But the girls in the city…t-they look so pretty."
Bolin had always wanted to go to Ba Sing Se. Mako remembered his brother telling him during the first few weeks living at the Arena that is was his dream to visit the Capital of the Earth Kingdom. But Mako immediately shot that idea down; they had to focus on making a living before thinking about any long-term plans… The earthbender's grip on Mako's hand loosened greatly and he allowed his head to fall to the ground.
"And they kiss so sweet…that you've really got to m-meet…"
Bolin's eyes completely closed and he let out a faint breath. Mako gave a loud sob that came directly from his heart as he saw the life drain completely from his brother. He poured all of his resolve back into one more sentence before breaking down on top of the cold body that meant the world to him.
"The girls from Ba Sing Se…"
And so under the unusually starry night sky of Republic City, a lone firebender mourns the loss of his only brother. He mutters lyrics to a song he hasn't heard since his parents were alive. But he knows that his brother is finally reunited with their family in the Spirit World, and that it was only a matter of time before he joined them there too. He was going to kill Amon, or he will die trying...
Now wasn't that interesting? I had to decide whether to choose Mako or Korra to find dying Bolin. In the end, the Avatar lost and Mako was chosen. A good brotherly moment is what we all need, right? Yes! "It's a long way to Ba Sing Se" is an actually song from the Avatar Universe. If you want to hear for yourself what it sounded like then search up "It's a long way to Ba Sing Se" on Youtube. There are a million different "Leaves from the Vine" songs in Fanfiction, so I decided to do something different. I hope this was at least interesting to read. Bolin should be fine in the next story, I can assure you. Thanks for reading!