I own nothing!
It all happened so fast. Though they tried to revive her, the Avatar was entrenched so deep within herself that it was quickly abandoned as futile, and, grim, her defenders prepared for a fight. The others weren't supposed to be able to breach this place, this stronghold, but no matter. The fight was here, and with it a need for protection.
They had to know their chances were slim, but they had no choice but to fight. Fight in the type of battle where no one wins, but everyone loses.
Their strongest, forced to his knees was the image the Avatar woke up to. His limp body, slumping over and stripped of his bending, was the last image she remembered.
Bolin
"Stop!"
A gust of air surrounded me like a cocoon, lifting and hurling me back a good 50 yards before I crashed in a heap on the ground. I was back up in a millisecond, the ground pushing me to my feet, accelerating me toward…
I yelled as I was suddenly swept a hundred feet up into the air, flailing around in fear and frustration until I was deposited in a heap at the feet of Airbending Master Tenzin. I leapt to my feet once again, but found my limbs bound by bands of incredibly dense air. Shouting in frustration, I thrashed about until the older man suddenly was in front of me.
"Calm yourself! You must control yourself if we are to help Korra!"
"I'm trying to rescue my brother!" I roared back, keeping the horror barely in check. Mako, limp and helpless, collapsing at Amon's feet. Stripped of his bending, unconscious, he had no way to defend himself. No way to fight. I suddenly realized I was sobbing. "Let. Me. Go!"
Tenzin knelt by my immobilized form, one hand on the back of my head. Though he was surely aware of the chaos around us, he managed to keep his voice steady. "I can help your brother, Bolin, but you must remain in control. We must find a way to contact Korra though, before she kills everyone!"
I yelled and thrashed and cried for a minute more before I had calmed down sufficiently for Tenzin to release me, and together we gazed down at the horrific scene in front of us. Korra, lost in whatever power state she was in, striking down anyone that opposed her, Equalists and benders alike. Amon's forces dragging together some kind of apparatus. Aiming it directly at Korra…
"We must find a way to awaken her before she's blocked from the Avatar state forever!"
Tenzin and I desperately threw out any method we could conceive of that would awaken Korra to us, but it was hopeless, our efforts lost on the sheer amount of force driving the gale that surrounded her. She took no more notice of us than I would of a beetle flailing its antenna by my boot.
"Mako!" My cry jumped from my lips of its own accord, lost to the howling winds almost immediately. Mako! He was alive! Though it surely seemed like he had only delayed his death by several minute and it was clear he was in a great deal of pain, I couldn't help the feeling of elation that rushed through me as he stirred, rising shakily to his feet. Elation turned to alarm and confusion though, as instead of trying to make his way away from the storm, he instead headed straight into it. "Mako?"
My second plea was accompanied by a movement forward, stopped by Tenzin's vise like grip. His eyes were fixed on my brother's tortuous progress. "He's our only hope."
Mako
He was so tired.
It seemed to originate from his very bones, the ache, and the more he tried to move the further he seemed to be from his goal. He couldn't make himself stop however, and so kept on his torturous journey forward. One step, dragging feet, bring the other one up to it. It became a mantra of sorts, driving him forward with a single minded determination that he had never felt before. Ice whipped past him, cutting his cheek, and small rocks peppered his face and arms. Torrents of flame crashed down, but he was strangely immune. He may not be able to control it anymore, but his element would not hurt him.
A gust of wind knocked him down, but he kept moving forward, crawling if he had to. Nothing mattered anymore but achieving his goal, the entire outside world fading from awareness.
Slow, excruciating pain. Centuries seemed to pass by him, he grew ancient. Moving forward. Pushing back. Crawling.
Finally he could go no more and collapsed on the ground, trembling from cold, pain, and fear. The howling tempest around him rendered him mute, but soundless or not, she would hear him. He let out the deepest sigh of his life, rolling over to face the sky, the spinning, pulsating, beautiful sky. As he watched it seemed to expand, growing in strength and in indescribable anger.
"No…don't."
His plea unheard, the storm grew to indefinable proportions, the grief, anger, and power in every gust of wind, every shard of ice, every particle of earth. It tore at him, but he could only strain to see nothing.
"Korra."
A figure loomed from the chaos, as bright as the storm was dark, attention fixed squarely on his broken form, so tiny, so insignificant in wake of the raw strength it was surrounded by. He did not fear it, instead reaching out a shaking hand.
"Don't."
Bolin
Frustration once again boiled over as I was forced to sit back and watch my brother's sufferings, unable to assist him. The closer he got to Korra the slower he seemed to move until it seemed like he was standing still. He was suddenly knocked to the ground and I automatically made to move toward him, stopped by the bands of dense air Tenzin had once again placed around me. Tears of helpless rage filled my eyes and I gritted my teeth, Mako reduced to crawling.
A lifetime later he reached the eye of the storm, collapsing and seemingly motionless until with a great heave he flipped over. Even from here I could see his chest heaving, struggling to suck in enough air to breathe. Korra seemed to take no notice, the storm growing and growing, enough that Tenzin and I had to take shelter behind a natural earthen eave. The noise was unbearable, the storm barreling toward us like a train about to strike…
Silence.
Korra
Korra floated down, all anger, all force seeming to leave her at once, leaving behind an empty, broken shell. She collapsed on the ground, all strength drained from her limbs, until she caught sight of the prone form several yards away
"Mako!" She rolled to her feet immediately, running and skidding to a stop by the fallen firebender. Panic coursed through her veins as she held his battered form. "No no no no Mako, Mako, wake up! Mako!"
He didn't respond, his abused face lolling to the side as she clutched him desperately in her arms. Still, she had to do something and she drew all the moisture out of the air, forming a healing solution on her hand. She didn't know what to treat though! His shredded skin was seeping blood, the ice slivers having cut like glass, a burn resulting from the high velocity winds. The numerous bruises testified to the huge amounts of stone and earth that had been sent flying through the air. She healed everything she could see, but he remained unresponsive.
"Mako!" Her shriek turned into a wail of grief as she repeatedly doused him in the healing solution, to no avail. Korra squeezed his hand in her own, but there was no response. Finally she gave up, sobbing onto his chest. Mako's face was peaceful, holding no grudges, his entire body relaxed. It looked almost as though he was simply asleep, Korra having healed all his outwardly visible wounds.
"Mako," she repeated, her voice now sliding into a whimper. Her fingers danced across his hands and arms, hands and arms that had been both capable at holding their own in a fight or enfolding her into a comforting embrace. Chest and shoulders, which she had slept against, been carried on. Eyebrows, so expressive, and nose, so like his brothers. Warm brown that had always reassured her and soft lips she could remember the taste of…
He let out a soft groan as her fingers tightened on his hand, and she gasped for a third time, scrambling to cradle his face. "Mako!"
He moaned once more, stirring in her arms, blinking. His eyes found her face, and he gave the slightest of smiles. "…knew you wouldn't." he breathed, unconsciousness once again claiming him.
Korra leaned down, pressing her lips against his forehead as Tenzin and Bolin thundered toward the pair.
Her voice was quiet. "Thank you."