Author's note: Ahh! It slipped out before I could stop it! I didn't mean for it to go from really angsty to super fluffy, but sometimes you just gotta role with it. And yes, I shamelessly ship Makorra.
Disclaimer: Don't own this LOK stuff.
Fire.
It was all he could see.
Its unforgiving flames streaked across his parents bodies and lit up the night sky. The moon had looked dull that night, a smoky shadow in a blanket of stars, but its crescent shape now burned an angry red.
His mother's scream shattered the eerie silence, and all he could see was fire.
Their bodies collapsed to the ground with a disturbing thud. They sounded hollow. Dead.
Dead eyes.
Dead bodies.
Dead.
His mom's scream rang in his ears when he jolted awake.
He gasped for air. The covers around him suddenly felt much too hot, and he kicked them off. Cold air hit him in a wave, and he exhaled in relief. He wiped off his forehead that was covered in a thin layer of sweat. So was the rest of his body.
Fire. He could still see it, dancing at the edge of his nightmares.
Dead eyes.
He was about to get up and get a glass of water to calm down his erratically beating heart when calloused but delicate fingers curled around his neck, smoothing out his tense muscles, brushing the line of his jaw.
It was the first time that he realized her chest pressing against his bare back. She was warm, but it wasn't overwhelming. It was comforting. She was comforting.
She massaged his earlobe between her fingers, and he melted into her touch.
"It was about the night my parents died." His voice was low, a little raspy from sleep.
"Hmm?" He felt her hum vibrate between his shoulder blades, the curve of her lips against his skin.
"My nightmare," he said, clearing his throat. "It was about the night I saw my parents get killed."
For a few moments, there was silence.
She lifted her head to rest her chin on his shoulder.
"I'm sorry you still have to see that." Her voice was clear in his ear, her breath tickling his neck. He shrugged off a shiver.
"It never really went away," he said.
He listened to the tick of the clock on the light blue wall. Ten past two.
"Aren't memories funny like that?" she said, securing her arms tightly around his torso, her left hand coming up to rest on his chest, right over his heart. "Some of them you wish you could remember, and others you just want to forget."
"Or wish they never happened."
She was quiet for a moment before repeating, "Or you wish they never happened."
She sounded a little distant, and it made him wonder if she was thinking about a memory of her own, one that she wished could be erased from history.
They lay there for a little bit, him wrapped up in her, listening to each other's breathing. He played with her fingers, traced her scars, kissed them. He liked moments like these, when it was just actions, no words. But they never lasted for very long, because Korra had never been one to stay silent for an extended period of time.
"Hey, Mako?"
He smirked at her predictability. Or maybe he just knew her.
"Yeah?"
"I'm always here for you. You know that, right?"
"Yeah, I do," he said, smiling. "And Korra?"
"Yeah?"
He turned his body so he was facing her, looked into her endless blue eyes.
"I love you."
A grin spread across her features, the one that only he could elicit. The one he loved.
"I knew you were gonna say that. I don't know how, I just did." Her hands cupped his face, and she tilted his head down. His lips met hers, and a shock of electrcity shot down his spine. She kissed him slow and deep, because they didn't need to rush. They had lots of time.
She whispered it back to him, and he wondered again how she could make him feel so alive when a second ago the world had gone numb.
And he knew that this was a memory he wanted to last forever.
Review if you're a shameless shipper like me :) or just review. Either works for me. ;)