Her question catches you off guard as she muses with slight bitterness in her voice. Her eyes shimmer with a sudden distance, and for a moment, she looks very vulnerable- as vulnerable as the moment she ran away on Naga after you confessed your love to her; broken and afraid. You think her face should never hold that kind of sadness; you don't want her to ever feel that way again, that sense of helplessness that leaves one so empty.

She doesn't deserve any of those feelings. Yet, here she is, asking something that only fate knows the answer to, and you can't help but wish you could give her more.

You wish you knew a way to console that ever relentless nagging she is plagued with when she tells you, time and time again, how expendable and replaceable she feels inside.

You want to embrace her with a thousand loving and comforting words and tell her you are there for her; be her protector in the way no one ever had the change to be for you.

The question carries a possibility that you never want to consider- ever. Yet you know there will come a time when it-like the seasons and the Cycle-will have to play its course.

Just not yet. You don't want to think about what she was talking about just yet.

"What do you think I'll look like next?" she whispers to you on the attic's couch that by now has already memorized the outline of her body pressed against its cushions during endless nights. Her silhouette is outlined by the shimmer of candlelight, making her face seem to glow, "What will my name will be...? What if...what if no one remembers who I am now?"

You trace your fingers along her shoulder blades, already knowing all her nooks and crannies, where she likes your thumbs to rub to put her to sleep.

"What's the point in me,"she says quietly, her voice catching, and it sounds like the first signs of crying, "what's the point if there is just going to be a thousand more mes to come? I'm totally replaceable. The world doesn't care about "Korra" unless I have the title of "Avatar" in front of it. I'm just-just a stepping stone in a pattern. I only know about six of the Avatars before me. No one's going to remember me three Avatars down the line..."

You feel your heart break, her pained face making you feel helpless as you watch her try to express her pain.

"I'll always remember you, because your'e my Forever Girl. You're Korra to me, and no one can take that away. Besides Bolin, you make my life worth it. I used to think that the world was such an ugly, horrible place." you tell her with a lump in your throat, "I used to think that it was incapable of love, and Bolin was the only person and love I ever deserved. I used to think there was no hope for me. But then, something amazing happened."

She places her head in the crook of your shoulder, and her breath tickling your skin makes you tingle with heat and adrenaline, "What happened?" she breaths like lilas floating in the air.

You take a moment to look straight into her blue orbs, there gaze souly focused on you, "You came into my life. You showed me how to love again, and that the world has some good in it. You showed me the beautiful part of it that I was deprived of for so long. You gave me hope."

Her eye shimmer with passion as she runs her fingers through your hair. You see tears in her eyes, and immediately you try to brush them away. But you feel they are the good kind of tears. Lately, you've realized there is also such thing as happy tears. And right now, you can cry a river of them just by looking at her.

"I just don't want to be forgotten." she cries, "I'm nothing if I'm not the Avatar. Amon almost took everything that I am away- he did take it all away, nearly forever."

"I'm so sorry I wasn't strong enough," you choke out. This guilt has always been too shameful for you to tell her untill now, "It was my fault. If only I could have-"

"Shut up," she growls, and you start with surprise, "Don't you dare blame yourself for this or I'll send you to Ba Sing Se, got it?"

And you do, because you know she will if she wants, but that doesn't mean the guilt doesn't linger. You can never save the people you love.

"I don't doubt it," You chuckle, but it lacks humor.

Her hand squeezes yours, and you grip back with everything you are, "Promise me something." Her eyes flicker over you.

"Anything," is your replay.

"Promise to forgive me, when I change my appearance and I can't remember who you are. When I'm not really me me. Promise to try to remember me as I am now and forgive me when you see me and I no longer call you "City Boy". Can you do that for me?"

"I promise, sweetie. But there is nothing to forgive." Your lips kiss her temple again and again, trying to chase away the pain. "You will always be my love, in this life and forever."

She leans into you with a moan, allowing your mouth to breathe warm promises onto her neck. "One more thing. You and Bolin- well, mostly, Bolin- has to teach the next Avatar Earthbending, okay? I've already told him this and he grately accepted, but I just want you to know. You two need to be friends and teachers of the next Avatar, okay? That is what I want. You need to be a part of their life."

Your noses touch and foreheads meet like one being. You can hear your heartbeats matching. "I promise. We promise. We would do anything for you. But you're only seventeen-you won't have to think about that for a long, long time. I'm going to make sure of it. And no "what if's. For as long as I live, you have everything I am."

"And you have every part of me," she confesses, licking her lips, meeting your mouth again and again with passion. "Pity the fools who dares to rile with destiny."

"Yes, pity them," you say,"They'll have to go against Mr. Sexy Brows."

"What fools they are..."

And the blankets fling up and around you both, creating a cocoon. She places her head on a your chest, right above your heart, and closes her eyes, listening with awe.

"I feel like I've waited so long to meet you. And now that I have you...please don't ever leave me, Mako."

"Untill the end of time," you promise, and you know you are living your destiny. "If there is anything I know, love is the one thing that will never die."

"Forever."

"Forever."