Amon hit her before she even had a chance to process his words of warning. Everything went black. Memories that weren't hers flashed across her mind. But she recognized all the faces from pictures Master Katara had shown her. Sokka, Toph, and Aang. Where were these coming from?
And then she was awake. Everything was hazy and dark. She was on the floor. Her head hurt and her body felt heavy.
"Korra!" She heard a familiar voice shout her name. All of the sudden, someone had her shoulders and was helping her sit up. "Are you alright? I knew this was a bad idea. He could have seriously hurt you… Are you alright?" Mako. It was Mako who had found her.
"Y-yeah. I'm fine," she answered, her voice wavering.
"What happened?" Mako let one hand fall but the other kept a firm grip on her shoulder still. "Did Amon hurt you at all? Did he take away your bending?"
Korra looked at her hand as she lit a fire and then snuffed it out. "No. I-I'm fine," she said quietly, still not looking up.
"You're lying," Mako said in a firm voice. Korra finally looked up into his eyes. There was no anger, only concern. He looked at her with his usual blank face, waiting for her response.
She realized right then she couldn't hold it back. The pain. The fear. It was consuming her. She lunged forward and hugged Mako, crying into his chest. "I was so terrified! I felt so helpless. I've never felt like this before and… I don't know what to do." She sobbed as tears stained the front of Mako's coat.
Mako jumped when she grabbed him and began to cry. At first he didn't know what to do. She had never been this weak or venerable before. She had never hugged him before either. Both came as a shock. But it made sense. She had been face to face with Amon and almost lost her bending permanently. He didn't even know if he could keep his composure after something like that. Hesitating, he wrapped his arms around her and gave her a small pat on the back.
"It's okay. It's going to be okay," he whispered into her hair. He cared for Korra, he really did. Seeing her crying like this… He hugged her a little tighter. "Don't worry."
Korra started to calm down. She sniffled as her crying stopped. With that she inhaled the scent of what smelled like firewood and the gym. She froze and realized who exactly she was hugging so tightly. She looked up to meet the firebender's eyes again and stuttered "I-I'm sorry. I shouldn't have-"
"No, it's alright. I understand." Mako's voice was firm but blushed when he realized how close they were. They were almost nose to nose and he could feel her breath on his face. She smelled like sea salt and fire lilies and he couldn't help but admire her eyes. They sparkled like sea glass, even in the dark room.
Slowly, without even thinking, he closed the space between them. The kiss was soft and light. He pulled away after only a few seconds. Korra's eyes were wide and her cheeks were flushed. Resting his forehead on hers and looking into her eyes, he whispered again, "Don't worry."