Takes place after episode 4. Korra runs away to the probending arena after her encounter with Amon, to train and to try to forget everything that happened. In the morning, a certain firebender happens to stumble upon her. ;)
Disclaimer: I don't own anything~!
He finds her, like she knew he would.
It's dark and unfamiliar and everything smells of rust and blood. She doesn't feel anything at all. The sharp sounds of metal on metal ring in her head, the clinking of equipment disrupting her peace and she wants to cry out, let me rest! At least for now, I'll be up later, just not now.
Then she hears him call her name, calling her out from the silent place where she's been hiding. Don't make me leave, she wants to cry, everything will hurt again.
But his voice is relentless, urging her to wake up. She feels herself slipping, and she knows she's starting to wake. She feels his hands on her bare shoulders, his fingers sliding up to cup her face and it's so strange, how she can feel this and yet nothing at all.
But you can't have both numbness and feeling, and as the pain seeps back in she starts to wake, a gasp escaping her lips. Her eyes flutter open to bright lights and a swirling room. It's loud and glaring and painful. I want to go back, she thinks. Back to the place without the murmurs or the touches or the pain. It's so much easier to be real there.
When she opens her eyes, it takes a while to focus on the face peering down at her. Mako's amber eyes are wide, his distinctive eyebrows creased together. If she wasn't so out of it she would think he looks afraid. She stares at his moving lips until she realises he's saying her name.
"Hey Mako." Her voice is hoarse and weak. She covers her eyes with her arm because it's still too bright.
"Korra, what are you doing in the gym? And what happened to you?" He takes her arm in his hand, forcing her to look at him. "You look like crap."
"Thanks," she says sarcastically, and for some reason his comment rubs her the wrong way. "Where's Asami?" She doesn't mean to sound bitter but she is.
"Asami? I don't know." Mako looks puzzled. "Are you sure you're feeling okay, Korra?"
She's being childish, and she knows it. Sighing, she pushes herself to an upright position. "I meant to say Bolin, sorry. Mixed them up." What a terrible lie, Korra.
"Oh. He went to get Tenzin." Mako takes off his probending jacket and drapes it around her, seeing as how she's only wearing her bindings and shorts. She likes this side of him, the concerned, gentle Mako, who doesn't yell at her during trainings or lecture her about discipline and teamwork and life or something like that. Speaking of discipline...
"Tenzin's going to kill me," she groans, collapsing against the wall behind her. She waits for him to say something, but he doesn't, and after a while she starts to squirm under his piercing stare.
"Are you going to tell me what happened?"
Tell him what happened? She doesn't even want to think about it herself. The chi-blockers with their glowing red eyes in the dark. A whole circle of them, there to watch her fall. The ropes that held her at the mercy of her worst enemy. The mask, those eyes… Amon's breath on her face as he gripped her chin in his hand.
How can she even put into words, the helplessness she felt at the hands of Amon? The shame, for not being able to protect herself? The heart-stopping fear she feels, when she so much as thinks about fighting Amon again. Korra buries her head into her arms, not wanting to answer Mako, not wanting him to see her so weak.
If this was Bolin, he might have persuaded her to speak to him, maybe offer a comforting hug followed by a cheesy joke in an attempt to cheer her up. But this was Mako, and as he stands up and walks out of the room, she knows she shouldn't expect much from him.
What she doesn't expect though, is for him to return, carrying two bowls of delicious-smelling noodles. Taking a seat across from her, he places one bowl in front of her and thrusts a pair of chopsticks into her stunned hands.
"What?" He says, his chopsticks halfway to his mouth. "Breakfast."
She stares at him for a moment before a smile appears on her lips. She takes a tentative mouthful of her food, which turns out to be really delicious. So this is how Mako shows others he cares.
"Korra?" She looks up to see that he has stopped eating. "You know that you're one of us, right?" His eyes dart back and forth, as if too shy to meet her gaze.
"Err… yeah?" Korra isn't sure how to respond.
"Well, you're a fire ferret now. You know? So…" Mako pushes his noodles round the bowl. "What I'm trying to say is that you don't have to face everything by yourself. You've got us. You're not alone in this." He catches her eyes at this moment, and she knows that he means it.
"So tell me, or don't tell me…" Mako shrugs. "Doesn't matter. We're here for you. Okay, Korra?"
She nods numbly, but she can feel the tears pooling in her eyes. Mako's sure smile turns to panic, and for some reason this makes her cry even more. Out of fear, or frustration, or relief – she doesn't know. Mako reaches hesitantly towards her now, unsure of what to do, and she's impatient, afraid, and tired of waiting for him to make the first move.
She pushes herself forward, holding him tightly to her as she sobs tears into his shirt. She's tipped over the bowls and there are noodles everywhere but she doesn't care. His initial shock and awkward petting of her arms soon turn into a full-blown hug as he wraps his arms around her.
She doesn't know what this means to him. She doesn't even understand how she feels herself. Maybe she just needs someone right now. Maybe she is in love with him, as terrifying as that prospect sounds.
There's still the situation with Amon and the equalists. There's airbending training, and her duty as the Avatar. There's also Asami.
But who cares about all of that now. All she knows is that Mako is here, holding her tightly to him and she feels safe, finally.