Fear.
It swept through Korra like a current, shrouding her in darkness, blinding her. She reached up, trying to do something, anything, to find a way to move her limbs, but she couldn't. Her body was frozen; the Equalists had done their job well. She lowered her head in defeat. It was useless.
The two chi-blockers advanced, swinging their bindings like deadly whips as they approached. They made no sounds, said no condescending words or mocking gestures, but Korra knew what they were thinking, and the realization made her shiver.
She was about to die.
She did her best to scramble away from them, but her limbs refused to act. All at once they were upon her. She looked up, able to catch a fleeting glance at her reflection through the eyepiece of the warrior's mask. What she saw was sheer terror written on her face.
The man in front of her raised his arm, preparing to strike. And then…
Korra lurched forward, a scream ripping its way through her. It was… just a dream? No, it was all too real. She remembered the moments like they were yesterday.
The Equalists racing in front of them, Bolin in tow.
One throwing his ropes at Naga's legs, sending her flying.
The fight with the chi-blocker, with his well-placed strikes that left her literally powerless.
Korra shivered, imagining what could have very easily happened had Naga not found her way free and interfered.
The creak of a wooden door filled her ears and she jumped. It opened, and a small, flickering light illuminated the room, and the face of the person entering it.
"What's goin' on in here?" Mako asked groggily, rubbing sleep from his eyes with his one free hand. "There are people tryin' to sleep, you know."
Mako.
He'd been there too, fighting alongside her. And he was overpowered nearly before she was. If these warriors could beat Mako, then she never stood a chance. She may be the Avatar, but she was still a kid, and not nearly strong enough to take down an entire anti-bending army by herself.
She couldn't even handle one.
Mako found his way to her bedside, observing her under the candlelight.
"Want to explain why you're making so much noise and waking up all of Republic City?"
Korra said nothing, an action that actually worried Mako more than if she had spoken. She simply sat upright in her bed, her blankets a tangled mess around her lower half, her arms wrapped tightly around her torso like a cocoon, her eyes wide and unblinking.
And suddenly she was reaching forward, her arms lacing around his waist and pulling her closer to him, burying her face in his chest.
Mako froze, staring down at Korra with an expression of shock. Just what was her problem? Not that he had any reason to complain; being in such close proximity to her sent a hint of redness traveling up his neck and face, his heart raced, and he suddenly found it very difficult to think properly.
"I-I don't really have any idea what's going on here," he mumbled almost incoherently, "but I think you need to-"
And then he felt it.
Tears, hot and wet, being absorbed into the fabric of his t-shirt, soaking his chest. Korra's shoulders, shaking uncontrollably as she tried unsuccessfully to control her breath. A sob, quiet at first, escaped her lips, only to grow louder and more desperate with each passing second. She was breaking, tearing to pieces right before his eyes.
She felt him shift under her, finding room for himself to sit on the bed beside her. An arm slowly found its way to wrap awkwardly around her waist, while another buried itself in her hair. She clung to him tighter, gripping his shirt with her fingers.
"Mako," she stuttered out. "I was… I-I was so… I was terrified. I'd never seen anything… anything like this before. I thought I was… I thought you were…"
Her words were lost to her cries as Mako gently stroked her hair, though his mind was slightly elsewhere. She had been worried about him? And had she really been this scared during that whole ordeal that night? Mako knew she was good and masking how she really felt, but now he was concerned at what else she may have been hiding from him.
He felt himself leaning forward, taking her face in his hands and lifting it from his chest, looking into her eyes. They were still full of tears and terribly bloodshot, and he felt his heart almost break at the sight of it.
"Listen to me, Korra." His voice was a whisper so low she almost had to strain to hear it. "I know you were scared, but we made it out alive. I'm fine. You're fine. We're alive. So please, just… don't cry, okay?"
Korra simply stared at him, dumbfounded. She couldn't believe that Mako, of all people, was the one helping her, reassuring her. It went against all the elements of their relationship. They were fire and water, yin and yang, the total and complete opposite of each other. They were supposed to fight and argue at each other.
But as Mako quietly stroked her cheeks with his thumbs, she realize that none of that really mattered at this point.
"Hey, Mako…" she mumbled. "This is probably gonna sound weird, but… Would you stay here with me? Just until I fall asleep again?"
Mako's face lit with a ghost of a smile, and he wrapped his arms around her. What a silly thing to ask. Why wouldn't he?
"Don't worry," she heard him say, and she felt the soft pressure of his lips against her forehead. "I'm here."