I'm the Ember Island Eel Hound's manager and this is my submission for round 5

Manager: Your pairing makes up after a huge fight. Prompts: (emotion) fear (1 point), (genre) Adventure (2 points), (location) Serpent's Pass (3 points).

Word count:1663

Round element: Lava

Yes, you read well, Mako/Senna

Fear raced through Mako's mind along with a thousand other things as the lava from the volcano kept coming out; how did things get so messed up in the first place? This was supposed to be a nice trip for him to relax and enjoy himself and now he's here: stuck with the last person he should be having a crush on, trying to save Korra and Tonraq.

It all came back to him quite simple: after Korra came back with Asami from the Spirit World and announced their relationship, Mako just sank into work. The world didn't have much left for him with Bolin gone with Opal to Zaofu and his two ex-girlfriends dating each other, creating an incredibly awkward atmosphere every single time he met one of them either for work-related issues or when going out (that generally ended up with him leaving so they could have 'space' to themselves - deep inside, he wondered if he was that bad of date that his ex-girlfriends had gotten together).

In work, things were messy: the city's reconstruction had been going great but it implied a lot of meetings between world leaders, and since Wu stepped down from the throne, the new elected president of the United Confederacy of Earth Republics attended them.

He was a strong, determined man that came from nobility. He got elected because after Kuvira he was the biggest symbol of peace the Earth Kingdom had seen in a while.

He brought his own security detachment and nobody was allowed to interfere with them, so Mako was sent to protect someone else: the wife of Chieftain of the Southern Water Tribe.

Of all the people he could be looking after, it had to be the doppelganger of Korra, her mom, who he had to be with at least twelve hours a day. Not that she was annoying; in fact Mako had her in his good graces since his visit to the South Pole when the whole Unalaq thing happened, but Senna reminded him so much of Korra it hurt.

After two years of meetings, the city was finally getting back up on its feet and Tonraq decided he was taking a vacation. He invited Mako to tag along with them since Mako had never taken a day off while the couple was in the city, and Tonraq heard from Lin that he was actually showing up at the police station on his off days when they weren't.

Mako just hated doing nothing. Bolin told him to take a vacation and introduced him to several girls, but it all ended really messily as the girls pressed on and on about his dating history and him never answering, making it seem he was still not over his ex.

While on the job, Mako took it as seriously as he did with Wu, even though Senna had asked him to take it down a notch. They had grown to be really good friends and Mako was worried he was developing a crush on the mom of his former girlfriend, who was married (apparently happily) to the Chieftain of the Southern Water Tribe.

He could swear that sometimes Senna gave signals of having feelings for him, but he attributed that to being tired or to the fact that they were together almost twelve hours a day, and that was that.

As he battled through the smoke, trying to find the Avatar and the Chieftain, the latter's voice echoed in his head like a mocking gesture from fate.

"It will be fun," Tonraq said. "Come and enjoy yourself a while." He had talked him into coming for a fun vacation at Serpent's Pass, but just as they arrived and were starting to sight-see, a nearby volcano decided it was a nice good idea to just erupt, no tremors or any other signs that a catastrophe was about to happen.

Of course Tonraq had to go and help the people that lived nearby, but why did Senna have to look so damn gorgeous that day and why did she have to be so clingy? After Tonraq left, Senna grabbed his arm like it was a lifeline and wouldn't let go. Mako understood, but his need to go out there and help was bigger.

Things seemed a little brighter when Korra came in flying from Republic City with some airbenders to help get people across Serpent's Pass, but after a while an airbender came back with bad news: Tonraq had gone missing. When Korra had been told she went to look for him and hadn't been seen ever since.

"Oh,no." Senna was about to crumble; Tonraq and Korra missing and the volcano becoming more and more dangerous by the minute.
"Don't worry, I'll find them and get them back," Mako said with a confident tone. He would give it all to find Korra.
"No! You stay here with me! I'm not letting you go!" Senna yelled at him, her eyes wild with grief.
"I need to go find them. I need to do this, Senna. Korra is my friend. I'm not leaving her over there." Mako walked away.
"You go out there and you can kiss your job goodbye, Mako!" Senna yelled behind him, furious.
Mako turned around and threw his badge at her. "Hope Lin can find someone quickly enough. She'll need everyone she can get".

Mako then went to the other side, where the volcano was spewing lava non-stop, and went to look for them.

And that's how he got stuck in the mess he was in right now: he could barely breathe, the volcano roared and thundered as the ash cloud blacked out the sun. If there was a place where people went after they died to be punished for wrongdoing, he pictured it like this.

He cursed as time went by and he couldn't find any of them until he made out what looked like Korra amid the dust, with what had to be Tonraq at her side. The silhouette called out to him.

"Mako?"

"Korra, come on! I'll help you! This place is going to be covered with lava any time! We need to get out of here," Mako said as he approached the Avatar to help her carry her father.

"Dad got caught under rubble, I've been able to airbend the air so it isn't so ash-laden, but still it's hard to breath and I've lost my bearings," Korra explained as Mako looked around for a way out of that inferno.

"I could try calling an air bison but…" Mako was cut mid-sentence as the volcano roared and spewed gigantic boulders, raining down the hillside and barraging the village at the base of the volcano.

"Whatever you're going to do, do it now!" Korra yelled. Mako lightningbent what had to be the strongest lighting he had ever summoned. The lightning crackled from his fingers tips, roaring and almost white. There was a pretty good chance of them getting picked up soon.

The next thing he knew, there was a tremor and everything went black.

When Mako came to, he thought for a moment he was dead but then he felt somebody holding his hand really tight.

"Korra?" Mako opened his eyes but was blinded by the light. When his eyes adjusted, he made out the blurry figure of Senna.

"No, her mom." Senna said, visibly on the verge of tears. "I don't know if I should thank you for getting my husband and daughter out or punch you for scaring me like that. Korra told me if it hadn't been for you, she would've gotten lost and most likely died in that place." Senna stopped for a moment as she brushed away tears.

"Glad I was of service. What happened? All I remember is a tremor before passing out." Mako tried to sit up in his cot but Senna pushed him back down. The warmth of her touch made him realize he had no shirt on.

"The ground broke under your feet and you hit your head and fell in, breaking a few ribs before Korra was able to earthbend you back up. The air benders got you three out soon after," Senna explained with the tone of a concerned mother.

"Well, after getting my arm burned in the colossus, I should know about close calls," Mako said, not believing he could've died. With Korra around he didn't have to worry about that, he knew Korra would try to get him out no matter what.

"I'm sorry about what happened before you left. The whole getting you fired part," Senna said. "I just didn't want to lose you when my husband and my daughter had gone missing and I said some silly stuff."

"No problem, I would've done the same thing if my loved ones had gone missing in all that chaos," Mako said, trying to put himself in her shoes.

"Yeah, there is something I've been wanting to tell you," Senna added. "During the time you've been my bodyguard I've felt something, I don't really know what it is but it's there and it made me quiver in fear when you left to find Korra. I think there is only one way to put it."

And with that Senna leaned down and kissed him, Mako accepting her tongue into his mouth. As it became more and more passionate, Mako stopped repressing his feelings for the mother of the Avatar.

Only the lack of breath separated them, and then Mako realized what he had done.

"We kissed! We kissed and you're married and…" Senna placed two fingertips on his lips. "I know, but I don't know about you but this felt so good I really doubt we could go back to just being friends."

Mako knew he felt the exact same way. "So, what happens next?"

"We enjoy ourselves for the time being and we'll take it from there," Senna said with a warm smile that made Mako feel reassured.