"Amon!" He tried to ignore Emi's call and just get the pain over with, but some human, lovesick, and scared part of him stopped walking. "I know you're hurt. I know you think this is the end, but please…spirits, I can't do this. I can't—Amon, I'm sorry I didn't chase after you. I'm sorry I couldn't convince you not to visit Koh. I don't know what he did to you, but if you're in this much pain—physically and mentally—it couldn't have been good."

"He brought me back to the moment after your father burned me."

Emi finally connected the screams of Amon to her father, and her eyes filled with tears. "My father was a monster, Amon, I know. And I know how alone you must feel right now, but you're not alone. There's more for you in this world."

"He called me power hungry. He said I was just like everyone else. He said he'd give me a clean slate, but what's a monster's face as such? I'm not going to walk through life in shame. Let's just pretend we never met and that I really did die at the Equalist rally. I'd rather die as a legend than as a man."

"You already died a legend! Don't you see? The Amon, leader of the Equalists, is dead. He's been dead ever since your mask broke. Now you're Amon, the Fire Nation kid who survived something horrible but came out stronger. That little boy who got burned has wanted to live ever since the attack, but you're too strung up in your dreams of grandeur that you won't give that little boy the chance he deserves. So yes, your face is going to attract pity and maybe even fear, but it's a symbol that you aren't going to let someone's bullying keep you from living your life."

"That little boy has nothing left for him. What's living when it's hardly more than surviving? Everything I had to live for is gone."

Amon took another few steps forward, his toes hanging off the cliff.

"Not everything. You haven't lost me."

Shame swirled in with the physical pain. "You should hate me for what I did to you."

"But I don't. Amon, you aren't alone. You aren't alone because…because I love you."

Amon inched his heels back. "You won't love me when you see what I've become. I'm pathetic, a repulsive cripple. Go on with your life. You deserve far better than me."

Emi moved a few tentative steps forward. "I don't care who you were, whether you're a bender or a non-bender, or what your face looks like. I love you, and if you have an inkling of care for me or yourself, you'll turn around and let yourself experience a real life."

After what felt like an eternity, Amon turned around and unfastened the straps on his mask. When he pulled it off, Emi could finally see what her father had done:

From the left side of his forehead to the left side of his nose down to his chin was screaming red flesh, the cheek that had once only been a deep red was a sinewy mess, and she swore that the hole went all the way through to the inside of his mouth. The skin on the perimeter of the burn looked almost bubbling, and extended into the right side of his face. Parts of his nose revealed the cartilage. His left eye was in a permanent squint, and his ear was still just a mound of broken cartilage. His left eye didn't grow eyelashes, nor have an eyebrow above it. There was a single tear stream falling from his right eye.

"This is what you're getting," Amon mumbled.

She pulled him into a gentle embrace. "It's perfect."

One of the sisters spread some kind of gel onto Amon's burn that lessened the pain, and put a bandage over it.

"Thank you, Sister Iio," he said as they left the sister who had cared for the bison.

"I wish you well. You've taught me a valuable lesson."

Amon nodded. "The spirits aren't done with us."

Emi pulled Amon away. "Come on, you could probably use some food and water."

Amon was led back to the house, where Emi left for fifteen minutes and returned with a plate of food—dumplings and a slice of fruit pie. His mouth watered.

"You've reduced me to an animal," Amon said as he cut off a piece of dumpling and stuck it in his mouth, pushing it off to the right side.

Every movement of his jaw sent a jolt of pain to the left side of his face, making the process too laborious to be a pleasure. He swallowed with a grimace.

"You okay?" Emi asked.

"I'm fine."

She smirked. "Then take another bite."

Whatever controlled his pride was still in running the show, so he cut off another piece of dumpling and stuck it in his mouth. The pain was about the same as before, except in a moment of fading focus, he let the half-chewed food to roll to the left side of his face. The pain ripped through, and he almost panicked. But, clarity hit with speed, and he leaned down and spit the food back onto his plate.

"You, my friend, are the embodiment of attractiveness right now."

Amon raised an eyebrow. "Low blow."

"I meant you spitting your food out." She glanced at his plate. "Maybe you should be on a liquid diet."

"No! No, no liquid diet…"

She glanced at him. "Can't you get an infection if you get anything stuck in the hole in your face?" He nodded. "Do you think you could swallow that without touching your cheek?"

He glanced down at his plate. "Yeah."

"Try it."

He succeeded in swallowing a spoonful of pre-chewed food. "Just for the record, I'd rather starve than have you pre-chew my food for me."

She nudged him. "Come on, who's gonna know besides you and me?"

"This wasn't the intimacy I had in mind."

She smiled and spooned another mouthful of what Amon had left on his plate. "You really don't have anything to lose."

"At least let me feed myself."

She handed him the spoon. "Well, if you don't want pre-chewed food, I think you'll just have to be on a liquid-like consistency diet until we can fix the hole in your face. Plastic surgery should be available near the Fire Nation capital."

He swallowed. "I can't afford that."

"But I can. Come on, we're in this together, right?" She looked away, as if to seem flippant. "Assuming you forgave me for existing."

"Emi, I—" He coughed, and swore his skin was breaking from the force. "I love you too."

She smiled. "Well, now that we have that painful exchange out of the way…"

She leaned in to kiss him.

"Not on my face."

Emi thought about rolling her eyes, but simply kissed his neck. "Well, I don't need to touch your face to fool around, if you want."

Amon sighed. "Tonight's not the night."

"Guess we have a while more if I'm sticking around to pay for your surgery."

He took her hand. "Emi, please, I can't ask something that huge of you."

"Do you plan to drop me as soon as we leave the temple?"

"No. You—I thought we were gonna travel together now."

"Even if I have to go back to the village to say goodbye to my sister and nephews?"

Amon nodded. "I'll go with you. We're…kind of together now."

She smiled, and moved a hair out of his eye. "Looks like I bagged the leader of the Equalists."

Amon smiled through the pain. "I think he walked in willingly." He paused. "You don't mind that all my chakras are probably permanently blocked, right?"

"I don't know what chakras are," she said as she wrapped her arms around him.

She gave him a peck, and it left him biting back a whimper. "I was planning on punching you in the face if you tried to ask for me back, so we're even now."

He gave her a look. "You were gonna punch me in the face?"

"Or balls. Whichever inspired me most at the time."

Amon shook his head. "You're no weakling."

After Amon giving his greatest gratitude to everyone in the Eastern Air Temple and saying goodbye to Woogi, Emi and Amon began their quiet journey back to the Fire Nation.

"Hey Amon?" Emi asked on the morning they would arrive in their old village.

"Yeah?"

"Do you ever worry that…Avatar Korra will realize that you're still alive?"

Flashes of Koh's face as his mask went through his head. "I can guarantee it."

It was strange how time worked; Amon felt like they never left the little town when they first walked back in. Everything felt like it'd been stopped: merchants and customers chattered at vegetable stands, the small houses stood humble among the rich green fields and fire lily patches. Amon counted himself lucky, guessing it was the last few days of bloom for the flowers.

Right before opening her front door, Emi's eyes widened.

"What?" Amon demanded.

"I didn't get Tahno's autograph for the boys!"

Classic Emi. "Give them my autograph."

As soon as Emi opened the door, the twins ran into her arms, gushing her name. Emi's sister stood in the corner, watching the scene with her arms crossed across her chest and a smile on her face.

"Are you and Takeo dating now?" Twin One/Two asked.

"Actually Ran, Takeo isn't his real name." Emi nodded toward Amon. "His name's Amon."

The boys' eyes widened in awe. "You're Amon?"

For some reason, Amon figured this was the time to take off his bandage. "Yeah."

They flocked to him, poking and prodding at his burned face. "Did you really live in an airship?"

"Did you get bloodbended and live?"

"Did you get shot by lightening and live?"

"Did you meet Avatar Korra?"

"Did you sleep with Avatar Korra?"

"What happened to the Equalists?"

"Do you have an Equalist glove for us?"

"Or a tank?"

"Can I stick my whole finger in your face?"

"Is your face real?"

Overwhelmed, Amon let his instincts kick in and chi blocked both boys until they were giggling heaps on the floor.

"Ran, we just got chi blocked by Amon!"

Ran smiled. "I know!"

Emi's sister stepped forward, shaking her head. "I never thought—you—you're a disgrace to non-benders, what you did to them—how did you—?"

Emi and Amon exchanged a glance, and Amon decided to get some air, slipping the bandage back on. Emi had a hooded robe for cover against any grudge-holding Triad members, and he had the ugly white piece of cloth that could desperately use a washing.

Lingering memories that needed a solid background moved him back to that small house that he couldn't enter weeks before. Finally, with shaking hands, he twisted the doorknob and entered the home.

It had been sacked time and time again: furniture was dusty or broken, and nothing that had even the slightest shine was around the rubble. What had once been floors that his mother took pride in cleaning were covered in dirt encrusted shoe marks. The windows were covered by boards, leaving the light minimal. Even so, he kept walking until he reached the bedroom he and his parents had shared—one double bed for them that stood on a rickety frame and a mat that was stuffed with picken feathers for his bed. The mat was ripped and frayed, but still on the floor. He let himself collapse onto it, the mat only able to hold half his body.

He sighed and sifted through the feathers. He may have a new life, but that didn't keep his old one from existing. Maybe this new life was a continuation of the one where he was a farm boy. After all, the farm boy life had only served as a story in the life of the leader of the Equalists.

Amon was surprised when his hand touched something of a different texture than the feathers. He pulled it out, and a lump rose in his throat.

It was a photo of his mother, his father, and him. He was squirming and laughing as the photo was taken, his parents looking at him with smiles on their faces. After taking a long look at it, he stuck it in his pocket and got to his feet. There was still one more place he'd like to go to before he and Emi left.

"I still love you guys, wherever you are," Amon muttered as he shut the door behind him.

His next stop was the old inn, knowing the innkeeper was out shopping after having passed him through town. As a child, he'd always taken Woogu and explored the old inn, him being one of the many kids who believed that the spirit of an old Water Tribe woman named Hama still haunted the place and would kill anyone Fire Nation who stayed there. At his age, Amon no longer believed in the part about Hama bothering people in the present day, but believed wholeheartedly in her being a bloodbender—the first bloodbender—in life. Thinking about Yakone, anger welled in his chest as he thought about the monstrosity Hama had created.

When he opened the inn door, he met gaze with a couple local kids, staring at him with wide eyes. "You're not gonna tell Mr. Yuang, are you?" one of the boys asked.

Amon shook his head. "You guys shouldn't be hanging around here. It's too scary for kids."

"Is there really a ghost here?"

Amon nodded. "And trust me, you never want to feel what her power is like. Bloodbending is just about the worst feeling on earth. Only monsters use it, and she's one of them." He knew the boys were staring at his bandage, so he pulled it off. "It hurts even more than what the monsters around here can do."

The boys scurried out, leaving Amon to return to his old instincts and find the attic room he'd discovered as a child. Once inside the room, he sat down and stared at the old box that Hama had left in the room. It was empty, just as he knew from his childhood. "You were an awful person, Hama. I hope you know you did nothing to stop the war. All you've caused is a new era of pain none of us should ever have to experience."

"Talking to walls?" Emi asked as she joined Amon on the floor.

"You know, I've met one real bloodbender: Tarrlok. He and talked when I captured him—he didn't want to talk, of course. He was still in shock that I'd resisted the bloodbending more than losing his own bending. Anyway, I got him to work with me on a backstory for me in exchange for his freedom. He told me how being the son of Yakone, a famous gangster, was not a pleasant one. He'd been drilled since the age of seven, yelled at, forced into the cold, and carved to perfection. He told me how his father used to make him bloodbend wolves, and how much he hated it. Seeing him like that, hearing that story…I never really let it sink it how sad it was." He turned to Emi. "And more recently, I realized that I know two people with that backstory."

Emi looked away. "Dad didn't make me firebend wolves."

"But he did try to mold you into something you didn't want to be. Tarrlok told me, the last time I saw him, that I'd saved him somehow. Said he didn't even realize that he'd been made into a tool of revenge." Amon paused. "I hope he figured it all out. Do you ever feel like that? A tool of use to your father, instead of his daughter?"

She crossed her arms. "I used to, back in the few years between when I ran away from him and when he died. But, now, with you, having not used my bending in a while, I feel like I have more control over my destiny. To be honest, I never thought I'd leave this town. You gave me hope." She took his hand in hers. "Did I give you your honor? Cause then I think we covered all major life emotions."

He chuckled. "I don't think I can ever gain that back."

"Hey, give it some time. You ready to leave?"

Amon nodded. "Let's leave this town of memories behind."

As they walked back to the sea, Amon handed her a fire lily. Emi smiled.

A/N: I thought the beginning of this chapter was a little cheesy, but I guess it wasn't as bad as me awkwardly killing off Amon when me being pissed about canon!Amon's death was the reason I even wrote this. XD Anyway, there's one little epilogue left, and then this fic is done! Thanks to all my readers, reviewers, and everyone who gave this fic a favorite or alert. The response I've gotten for this, especially considering it was my first fic, was so wonderful for me, so thank you all and I hope you've enjoyed this story and will stick around for the epilogue.