Korra just sat there, her eyes closed as the wind rushed through her hair, all her life she was told the fate of the world rests on her shoulders. She had always tuned out when people were giving her that talk, it started to get boring after the two hundredth time, but now she wished she was back home. She couldn't sleep, ever since she escaped from Tarlock she had those same nightmares of running, continuously running and falling, hitting the ground so hard that all air escaped from her lungs and she woke up gasping. She had dreams when Amon would over power her and kill her friends and make her watch as he would torture them, the screams ran through her head, in her sleep, while she was awake. She imagined poor Bolin screaming for his brother, while Amon stood over the top of his limp body. No, she couldn't let that happen, even if it meant risking her own life to save them, she would not let her friends die, not for her.
She sat there pondering her decisions about life, wondering what to do next. Only if she hadn't been interrupted by footsteps growing louder as they progressed towards her
"Korra, its freezing! We need to go-"he stopped, looking at her face, her body shivering as tears streamed down her face, she had her legs tucked up to her chest and was holding them in place, he moved more slowly towards her un-sure of what to say to the young Avatar
"Are, are you alright Korra?" He asked his gold eyes suddenly taking a good look at Korra, she was beautiful, the moon struck her features magically. Her blue eyes were sparkling in the moon light; he thought if he looked into them he would get lost in them.
"No stop it" he thought to himself silently, remembering he had a girlfriend waiting inside for him, but the more he looked at Korra the guilt of how he rejected her shot through his body, he remembered the pain in her eyes when he told her that he and Asami were together. She never hated Asami for being with Mako, but she would be lying if she said she wasn't jealous
"I'm fine…" she sniffed, she felt more tears well up in her eyes again, she suddenly burst out crying un-able to control herself, why did she feel like this, she hated feeling so worthless and powerless
"Korra? What's wrong?" he asked as he ran to her side putting an arm around her
"It's stupid don't worry about it." She said tears still streaming
Mako noticed she was shaking un-controllably underneath his arm, he removed his arm and grabbed his scarf, placing it around her neck delicately. She looked at him surprised at the gesture, she knew how much that scarf meant to him, she didn't argue though
"Korra if it's making you feel like this, then it's not stupid" he said comfortingly
Korra looked into Mako's eyes, she loved his eyes, they were gold and every time she looked into them she felt safe, but when she went to sleep she was in a world of night mares, her worst fears coming to her and unleashing themselves, she had bags under her eyes, and obvious lines of fatigue. Mako was worried, he knew she was pretty banged up after the accident but he didn't realise just how bad
"Every time I shut my eyes, he pops into my head, and every time he is doing something horrible to the people I love most. I can't sleep, every night he is there and I can't escape him no matter how hard I try…" More tears slipped down her cheeks, Mako felt so helpless sitting next to the avatar, she was so strong and brave, how could this man have done this to her?
"Korra, he won't hurt you, or any of us" Mako said
"What if I can't beat him Mako?" she said in a tiny voice
"You will"
"But what if I can't! Mako in every dream I loose, he wins! I stand their helpless while he hurts you and I can't do anything about it! I have been screaming this whole time but no one seems to hear me Mako…" her eyes were sad, pleading, helpless.
"Korra, you are strong, and I don't just mean you're a good bender, you are an amazing person and you have been through so much I don't know how you keep your strength" he wiped a tear away from her eye and moved closer towards her
"You are stronger than him Korra, and you're not alone Bolin, Asami and I'm here Korra, I will always be here for you Korra" He looked at her and moved closer to her, not caring that he had a girlfriend, he just wanted to be there for her, how could anyone possibly imagine what she was going through
"If you want I can stay with you tonight, I'll watch over you while you sleep…" He said, Korra smiled at him, god she was beautiful, her face, her body, her hair. She went to stand up and before she could say anything Mako swept her up in his arms and carried her to her bedroom. She was embarrassed that he had to do that for her, she felt childish for crying over nightmares but she was petrified to go to sleep and have her dreams stained in red.
Mako gently placed her into her bed and pulled up a chair next to her, he stroked her and put one hand on her cheek
"I will be right here when you wake up" he smiled at her, he was so good looking, she thought to herself, honestly she thought he was hotter than his natural element itself. She smiled back and drifted off to sleep.
Korra found herself once again pulled back into a nightmare, she was in a large room, it looked the seminar area where Amon did his speeches, on the stage sat Mako, he was bleeding heavily from his abdomen, his eyes were fearing with pain as he looked at Korra
"Why did you let this happen to me Korra?" He asked as Amon kicked him from where he was bleeding, Korra franticly ran towards the stage and kicked a large wave of fire at Amon, he dodged it easily and kicked Mako again
"Ahhhh!" he yelled as he kicked him again
"No Amon! Stop!" Korra screamed but no one heard her, she tried to scream but no noise came out and as she finally made it towards the stage Amon laughed,
"And now that avatar falls." He said as he grabbed her by her neck, she winced as he held her there, she was unable to move.
He then placed his thumb on her forehead and she fell towards the stage, she felt so disconnected from the elements, she felt no water beneath her feet, she felt no heat or warmth come from the crackling of an inferno, she felt no solid ground beneath her feet. Her world was slipping from her grasp. Mako! She thought to herself, she then scrambled to him feeling herself crawl like a bug, that's what she felt like. How could she let this happen to him?
"Mako, good god Mako wake up please!" She cried, but there was no life, no warmth in the gold eyes she loved so much, they were absent she clung to his lifeless body and wept into his scarf. Korra felt empty what would Bolin say? Asami, Mako's girlfriend, what would Korra tell her, Korra was screaming, yelling at the world, begging it to kill her for what had just happened to the man she loved, that's when the curtain behind her lifted. She saw more bodies and Amon walking behind them
"You see Avatar Korra, everyone you love is dead, I win…I always win and you have lost. Now you have no bending and no family" he chuckled, Korra despised him so much
"I will kill you" her voice lifeless
she looked over to the bodies once more, her vision was slightly blurred from losing her bending but when it finally cleared she gasped in shock. Everyone she loved was dead. Bolin laid lifeless his green eyes almost staring at Korra with guilt, he was asking the same question as Mako, and then she saw Asami, beautiful Asami with her hair all over her face and make-up smudged all over her face she was stained scarlet red. As she went down the line of her loved ones she saw Tenzin and his family, even little Meelo was lying on the floor lifeless next to his heavily pregnant mother, how could he? Then she saw Lin Bei Fong, the daughter of the greatest Earth Bender in the world taken down by this monster, her parents lying there as well just as lifeless as the person before them, everyone she cared for. Dead.
Amon laughed once more at Korra as she tried to stand up and throw a ball of fire at him, but nothing came out. Her bending was gone, the avatar stripped of her bending, what was she now?
"So you see Avatar, I win and I always will, so now what will you do? You have no bending, you have nothing." He chuckled and walked away, Korra lying in a room of the people she loved, she cried, she wanted to die, just so she could be with them. Korra looked around for an exit and instead found a knife on the ground, she looked down at it, she knew why it was there. With shaky hands Korra picked up the knife and thrust it into her chest stabbing it into her heart, pain shot through her but every pang of guilt she felt fluttered away as the darkness engulfed her and she was gone.
"Korra! Wake-up!" Mako was yelling at her surprised no one else had herd him scream, she was thrashing around violently screaming in her sleep. He was over the top of her, fear was written all over her even as she slept. She suddenly sprang up and gasped breathing heavily through her mouth, sweat pouring of her forehead, the first thing she saw was Mako, she threw her arms around her and he didn't hesitate to hug her back. She clutched him, feeling his warmth, inhaling his scent, he was alive. She threw herself on him so hard he fell off the bed and onto the floor
"Korra! Your safe now, your safe I will never let him hurt you ever!" he said, not a loud voice but the tone carried all the faith she needed, she clutched him, then realising about everyone else she loved.
"Where is everyone else? Are they safe?" She asked, he eyes spilling tears
"They're fine Korra, we are all fine" he said as he stroked her face, all she did was cling to him again, when she finally noticed that she was still wearing his scarf and was getting her tears all over it she unravelled it from her neck and handed it back to him, he looked shocked that she was giving this back to her at a time like this but she needed to keep her mind occupied and not think about the dream she had just had, she was terrified and the look on her face said it all, Mako didn't need her to tell him about it, he didn't even need her to talk about it. She simply looked at him her eyes wide and said
"I can't ever lose you Mako…" her voice was so innocent and sweet
"You won't" as she stood up Mako dragged her back down, with her arm and she fell on the top on him her legs over his torso, she reached up to grab the blanket and pulled it down along with two pillows. Mako smiled at her and wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her closer to him, he clung to her tightly realising he could never lose her either, watching her like that was hard enough for him, but actually losing her? That made his stomach churn, he didn't ever want that.
He laid her down and clung to her while she slept, her doing the same to him before she shut her eyes, she kissed him lightly and on the lips and whispered thank-you. It wasn't much but it was the best she could do. He turned to her and looked into her eyes deeply and whispered
"Korra, if you have another dream, I will be here, right next to you…" He whispered
"I don't think I will have another bad one tonight" she whispered back
"Why is that?"
"Because right now, my reality is better than the best dream I could ever have" She whispered into his ear, he kissed her once more and realised that through every bad dream he wanted to be there by her side for it, he wanted to hug her and console her and just plain be there for her. When Korra had fallen asleep in Mako's arms he wrapped himself around her protecting her from any other dreams that would wake up the beautiful girl he loved so dearly in his arms.
