Lightning Part 1

To Korra the weeks dragged on before she recovered. It took almost a whole month for her wounds to completely heal. Luckily she had no scars on her back or anywhere else, except for her leg, where Amon had introduced the metal claw and on her side, where the three pink lines from the same claw had formed. Korra was happy to be able to bend. She resumed her airbending training immediately. She was better at it than before, and she could to a certain extent, airbend with some force. She was happy and excited to learn how to produce lightning, even though she still hadn't begun her lessons. Mako always stayed close to her making sure she didn't hurt herself. Although she could move around, her ribs still ached at times in the night. He followed her everywhere and although he thought it would annoy Korra, she was happy to have him with her.

After a long day of training, they were lying down in the hammock in the quad. It was Korra's and Mako's favorite place. Naga was always besides them, watching their every move and wagging her tail at the happy couple. He would hold her in his arms as she would slowly get rocked to sleep. He had learned to carry a blanket with him after the first night they spent out there, to cover her up, though she didn't really need one. Korra was barely falling to sleep when Zuko approached them.

"Is she asleep?" he asked. In response, Korra lifted her head from Mako's chest.

"I came to inform you that if you would like, we can begin the lessons for generating and redirecting lightning" he said with a small smile.

Korra's eyes beamed. She had waiting so long for that moment. Mako stiffened at the news. "Yes! Thank you!" she told him with a huge smile.

"I must warn you" he cautioned. "Learning how to generate or redirect lightning will not be easy at all. It will require a lot of time and effort and most importantly, a peace of mind".

Korra gave him a sharp determined nod. "I understand" she said.

"Good, then I will see you tomorrow at the training quad after your airbending training" said the old man as he walked away.

Korra had a grin on her face as she placed her head back on Mako's chest. Mako sighed. She looked at him and saw the look he was giving her. It was one full of concern.

"Mako" she began. "Aren't you happy?"

"Korra, it's not that I'm not happy you are learning a new skill it's just that, lightning is very dangerous, and I don't want you to get hurt" he said.

"I know. But I will have Fire Lord Zuko and you by my side. Nothing is going to happen to me" she said as she got closer to his face. He smiled as she kissed him in the lips. She smiled back at him. He began to laugh.

"What's so funny?" she asked with a frown.

"I'm just thinking how a couple of months back I couldn't stand having you two feet from me and now, look at us" he said looking at how Korra was close to him. She blushed.

"I love it when you blush" he whispered to her. Korra felt her cheeks get hotter. He gave her another kiss in the lips before rocking the hammock. She placed her head on his chest once again. Mako hummed the same song he did every night and soon Korra was still, breathing evenly. He then covered her with the blanket and kissed her lightly on the head before going to sleep himself. Naga, who was still next to them, licked Korra and she momentarily opened her eyes to smile at her and closed them once again.

"Come' on Mako" Korra said as she hurried down to quad. Mako sulked behind her.

"I'm going" he said taking his time. He was trying to avoid this at all costs. He figured it would be a while before he would join Korra in practice. She first had to gain control over her emotional turmoil.

Finally they reached the beach where Zuko was practicing some firebending. He stopped as soon as he saw the couple head towards him. "Well then, are you ready, Avatar Korra?" he asked.

"I was born ready" she said with a smile. Mako couldn't help smiling. Zuko smiled as well.

"Very well. Generating lightning involves circular motion with the arms" he said as he moved around showing Korra. She studied the movements, before mimicking them herself. "Mentally, it requires a complete absence of emotion and peace of mind. There is energy within us called Yin and Yang" he said pointing down at the figures in the quad. "They are interpreted as the positive and negative electric charges. When these two collide together, they create lightning. We, as benders, are only guiding this energy, not controlling it" he finished as he shot lightning into the sky.

Korra looked at the powerful bolt of lightning. "Do you want to try?" he asked. She nodded and began to move as Zuko had been moving. She held her hand out, intending to shoot out lightning. Instead there was an explosion and she was covered in a cloud of black smoke.

"Korra!" Mako yelled heading towards her. Korra had been knocked back. He went to see if she was ok. "Are you alright?" he asked checking to see if she had hurt herself.

"Yeah" she said getting up. She didn't understand what had happened. But she wanted to try again. She kept trying but experienced the same results until sundown, when Zuko called it a day.

"Ugh! What is wrong with me?" Korra yelled as she and Mako made their way to the house.

"You'll get the hang of it" he said grabbing her hand. Korra sighed and then smiled at him.

"I'm going to shower" she said. "I'll be out in a bit" he nodded and went inside.

The next few days Korra continued to practice how to generate lightning. She kept getting the same results. It frustrated her not knowing what was doing wrong. Zuko said she had the technique, but wouldn't tell her why she wasn't able to generate anything. She would keep on practicing even after Zuko would say that their practice time was over. She wasn't able to sleep at night. Finally three weeks into the practice, she snapped.

"WHY CAN'T I DO THIS!" she yelled at Zuko. The scream took him by surprise. She had never raised her voice at him.

"You have to be patient" he calmly responded.

"I'VE BEEN PATIENT!" she hollered again.

"Korra, relax" Mako said. Korra hadn't been sleeping well for days. She had dark patches under her eyes and was breathing heavily. She was exhausted.

"Stay out of it" she snapped. Mako backed off. She did the movements again and tried one more time to create lightning but was knocked back once again. She yelled as she shut her eyes. When she opened them, they were glowing. A storm begun and it started to rain.

"Get out of here!" Mako yelled at the old firebender. He held his ground.

"No" he responded. "Korra needs to release everything".

She advanced towards him and the storm seemed to advance with her. She threw fire punches at him and he blocked every single one. They engaged in a battle. Mako tried to intervene but Zuko told him to get Katara and Tenzin. Her attacks grew more aggressive but sloppy, however, he kept up with her. He saw Katara and Tenzin head towards them. Tenzin was about to airbend at her when Zuko told him not to. Korra's raged increased as she threw large flames at him.

Seeing that it wasn't working, she turned her attention towards the ocean and bended a 20 feet high wave. Katara stepped up and tried to push it back, but it was no use, Korra was too strong, and her rage just fueled her power.

"I can't hold it back" Katara said. "We have to get to higher ground" she pulled a wave and made an ice platform that lifted her, Mako and Tenzin to a higher level. Zuko told her to not raise him up until the wave was closer. Once it was only a few feet from him, she raised him up in a similar platform. The wave hit and it knocked the Avatar back.

"Korra!" Mako yelled again. He was going to go get her.

"Mako, wait!" Katara yelled. Mako shook his head. "She's still in the Avatar State, she can hurt you".

"She needs me" he said. Just then he saw Korra farther from the island still in the avatar stage, making a water tornado. He knew exactly where it was headed, to them. "I'm going to go get her".

Katara nodded and she bended an ice board for him and he hoped on. She helped him make his way towards the scary Avatar.

"Korra!" he yelled as he got near. It was raining really hard now and there was lightning. She turned and looked at him, anger in her face. She tried to knock him over with a wave but Katara, together with Senna and Tonraq who had joined the people on the island helped maneuver Mako out of it.

"Listen to me! You need to calm down!" he yelled at her. For a moment her face relaxed, it was as if she recognized and the next she sent the tornado towards the island. "Korra! You are going to hurt someone!" he said. "Your mother and father are there!"

When Korra heard that, something inside her told her she needed to stop. She yelled as she grabbed her head once again. It felt the same way it did when she battled the Triple Threat Triads. The ice platform she was standing on slowly began to melt and the tornado began to lose strength. Finally it turned into a wave before it hit the island and Korra was left on a piece on ice.

Mako got off his platform and swam towards her as she began to drown. He grabbed her and pulled her up to the platform, while Senna and Tonraq once again pulled it towards the island. Once they were there, he placed Korra in his arms and headed towards the house.

Her eye lids fluttered open as she tried to comprehend what was going on around her. She heard people talking. People saying her name, but she couldn't understand what else they were saying. They all looked so blurry. Her head felt as it would explode. She tried putting her hand on it but it wouldn't obey. It would only go half way before it will fall. Korra saw her mother as she placed something on her head. She also saw her lips move but didn't hear anything. She turned her head looking for someone. He came into view.

"Mako" she tried to say, but couldn't. She couldn't make a sound.

"I'm right here" he said holding her hand, guessing that she wanted him there.

"Mako" she finally said.

"Just hang on" he said. She tried telling him how sorry she was, but the darkness took over.

Korra moved around and slowly opened her eyes. She turned her head but it was followed by a killer headache. She tried to put her hand on her head again, but was too weak to lift it up. She didn't remember what happened. It all seemed so blurry. She remembered people around her talking but she didn't know what they said. "Mako" she said, hoping he was there.

"I'm right here" he said, squeezing her hand. She looked at him; he seemed as tired as she felt.

"What happened?" she whispered.

"You don't remember?" he asked. Korra shook her head.

"I remember practicing and then…" she trailed off. Her head began to hurt again and she yelled as the memories followed into her mind. Her hands flung onto her head. Not being able to create lightning. Snapping at Mako. Yelling at Zuko. Creating a 20 foot wave. A storm. Being in the Avatar State.

"Shh. Relax Korra" Mako said trying to take her hands away from her head. "Asami! Get Master Katara or Korra's mom now!"

Korra continued to keep her hands on her head. Then she started to feel power. No, she thought. No, no, no. She was entering the Avatar State again.

"Dammit" she heard Mako said. She stood up still with her hands against her head, shaking it, trying to gain control and exit the Avatar State.

"Shh" he said again going near her. He pulled her into a hug and rubbed her back. "It's ok. I'm right here" he whispered. Korra slowly calmed down again and her body went limp.

"Korra?" he said shaking her. "KORRA!"

"What's wrong with her?" Senna asked.

"She's trying to control her emotions" Katara replied. "Once she has control, she will awaken. This is her body showing the struggle she is going through inside".

"So, she will be ok?" Mako asked. Katara nodded.

"She needs to release all the emotions inside her. Keeping them bottled up isn't going to help her" Zuko said.

"You should know, since you're the one who got her in this state!" Katara yelled at him. "I told you that you shouldn't try to teach her that. She wasn't emotionally ready for it. But you just had to put the idea in her head! Korra can't be forced to do anything. She needs to learn on her own".

"I was trying to help her!" the old man yelled back.

Katara was about to say something when Mako stood from Korra's side and yelled "Enough!"They both looked at him. "Arguing isn't helping Korra get any better. If you guys are going to stand around and bicker at each other then please leave the room. I don't want her to get even worse hearing you two".

Senna nodded. "I mean no disrespect but you two should leave. My daughter can get more stressed hearing the argument". The old pair nodded and left.

"I'm going to go too. She needs her space" she said looking at Korra. She headed over and gave her a light kiss on the forehead before leaving.

Mako saw the uneven breaths Korra was taking. Her eyes tightened and she would shake with the fever she had. Zuko had explained to him that she was going through a similar thing he had gone through after he released Appa when he and Aang were still enemies. He hated the old Fire Lord, or whatever he was for putting Korra through all that pain.

It was about two in the morning when Korra finally opened her eyes. The fever had broken about an hour back. Her body felt sore and it took a lot of effort for her to move. This time, she knew exactly what had happened. She had lost control again while in the Avatar State and endangered the lives all the people she loved. Korra didn't know why she kept losing control. But she did know one thing: she wasn't going to go into the Avatar State ever again. She looked for Mako and their eyes met.

"How you feeling?" he said relieved that she had awaken.

"Tired" she replied.

"How are you feeling?" he asked again. Korra knew what she meant and turned away. "Korra" he began.

"I don't want to talk about it Mako" she said, still not looking at him.

"Korra, you know you can talk to me" he continued.

"Just leave me alone" she said letting go of his hand. Mako looked at her for a while and left.

Korra didn't know what was wrong with her. She figured that unlocking the chakras had been enough to master the Avatar State, but she had been wrong. She didn't know what else to do. She felt something inside her trying to burst.

"No" she said out loud. She wasn't going to cry. She had cried enough when she was healing, and it wasn't going to happen again. She took off her covers and saw that she was in blue shorts again. She tried to stand up, but couldn't. Asami walked in.

"What do you want?" Korra said bluntly.

"Nice to see you too" Asami retorted. Korra ignored her and tried to stand up again. "Hey take it easy" she said putting her hand on Korra's shoulder. She shrugged it off.

"I want to be alone Asami. I don't want you, I don't want Mako or anyone else with me" Korra said with hard eyes.

Asami nodded. "If you need me or anyone else, just give us a call" she said. Korra turned away. It took her a while but she finally stood up and wobbled her way towards the door. She stooped there for a moment, trying to get the room to stop spinning. Once it did she continued outside. It was raining hard, but she didn't care. She made her way to the quad where the Yin and Yang were. She sat in the middle, pulling her legs closer to her and placing her head on top of them. She didn't know how long she had been, but figure it was long, when Mako ran towards her.

"Korra! What are you doing here?" he asked kneeling down besides her. She didn't even look at him. "Korra" he said again. She lifted her head to look at him, threw her arms around him and began to cry. He held her in his arms, rubbing her back, as she let everything out.

"I'm so scared" she said sobbing. "I killed Amon…Lieutenant tortured me, and he's still out there…the Triple Threat Triad wants me dead or unable to intervene with their plans…I'm-I'm just so overwhelmed!" she said as she continued to cry.

"Korra, I told you already, you didn't kill Amon and don't worry about Lieutenant or the Triple Threat's, we will be with you always" he said, trying to soothe her.

"You don't know what he did to me" she sobbed. "He hurt me so much. I didn't think I was going to make it. He broke me and he knows it"

Mako hugged her tighter. Lieutenant was going to pay, he didn't know when or how, but he was going to pay. How dare he hurt the girl he loved. He hated seeing Korra in pain, but he knew she had to let it all out. Everything she felt. He knew how she stressed about everything she had been through. But he knew that she would be ok now. The storm vanished and only the stars remained. Korra continued to hug him, but she wasn't sobbing as much anymore.

Soon he didn't hear a sound and noticed that she had cried herself to sleep. He kissed her lightly on the forehead before heading towards the house with her on his arms. Senna was waiting for him at the door.

"Is she ok?" she asked.

Mako nodded. "She let everything out" he said. Senna called Asami over and told Mako to leave for a bit while they helped Korra change her clothes. Once they were done they came out and let him in. Korra was on the bed, sitting up. He went to her and lay down besides her. She put her head against his chest and they stood in silence.

"Are you cold?" he asked as he saw her shutter. She shook her head, but he grabbed a blanket and wrapped it around her. She snuggled closer.

"I love you" he whispered, rubbing her back.

"I love you too" she said. "Thank you for…being here…with me".

"Korra, for as long as you want me, I will always be by your side" he said.

"I don't deserve you" she said.

"What? Why would you say that?" he asked sitting her up.

"I take it all out on you. And yet, you are the one who is always by my side. The one who doesn't sleep when I'm sick, the one who shows me you care every single day" she told him.

"Korra. It's me who doesn't deserve you. You are the Avatar. You are such a strong young woman that is passionate about everything she does. You could have chosen someone else, to spend the rest of your life with but you chose me" he said. Korra was about to say something but he kissed her in the lips and she kissed him back.

"Go to sleep" he said. She snuggled close to him and slept.

The next afternoon Korra went to go look for the old Fire Lord. She found him, playfully bickering with Katara. She stopped. "What is it?" Mako murmured. Korra looked away. He grabbed her chin and turned it towards him. "What's wrong?"

"I-I just don't know if he even wants to see me after what I did" she whispered softly.

"He will" he said pulling her into a hug. She hugged him back. "Come' on" he said. Korra groaned but began to walk towards the old pair.

"Hello Korra" they both said.

"I-Uh-Hi" she managed to say. "Um Fire Lord-I mean Zuko-I wanted to say sorry for snapping at you and…" she stopped before continuing. "Killing you", she said under her breath.

Zuko stood up with a serious face. "No need to apologize Korra. It is I who owes you an apology. I shouldn't have forced you to let your emotions out. It is something you should have done on your own. But, old habits die hard" he said looking at Katara. She smiled and rolled her eyes.

"Thank you" she said.

"If you want, we can continue with your training" Zuko said sitting down. Katara elbowed him and Mako growled.

"Uh, I think I'm good for now. But I do want to learn how to redirect lightning. I'm just-I'm just not emotionally ready for creating it" she said leaning on Mako. He smiled.

"If you can please excuse us" Mako said. "Korra and I want to go, somewhere"

Zuko and Katara looked at each other and smiled. "Of course" she said, while Zuko nodded in approval. Mako grabbed Korra's hand and walked away, heading towards the beach.

"Where are we going?" Korra asked with curiosity.

"Well, I know how much you love to swim so I figured, we could go for a dip or something" he said. Korra's eyes beamed and she smiled. Once they were on the beach she ran for the water. Mako followed her in.

They swam around for a while. Korra would splash Mako. He wasn't a big water fan, but he would do anything for the girl he loved. She swam towards him and dragged him down to the bottom while kissing him. He swam up to catch his breath. She was next to him in seconds laughing.

He scowled at her at first but couldn't help laughing with her. "Talk about taking my breath away" he teased. Korra laughed harder. He swam towards her and held her. "My turn" he murmured as he got close to her lips. He put his hands on her waist.

Korra for some reason started to feel nervous. She had had him that close to her before, but her stomach felt like it had butterflies in it and her heart raced faster as he held her. She felt herself blush. He smiled and kissed her.

"Whoa" she said feeling lightheaded.

He chuckled. "Not bad huh?" he said with a smile.

"Not bad at all" she breathed. He laughed as he began to swim towards the island again. She grinned and followed.