Ami rubbed her eyes and forced herself to stay awake. Her entire body hurt and her hands wouldn't stop shaking. Mako's periodic side glances was starting to unnerve her. She knew Mako was worried but she was too exhausted to lie. So she chose to ignore that.
"Look, I can see land. Usagi's airship is starting to descend." Minako pointed to the horizon, her brows tied tightly together.
Just then the radio crackled and a voice commanded. "Confirmation code."
"Confirmation code?" Minako mouthed the words, disbelief in her eyes. She glanced down at all the passed out crews. "Any chance we can wake one up? Like right now?"
Rei was already rummaging through the crews log, getting more and more flustered as she came up empty.
"Final warning. Confirmation code." The radio voice sounded alarmed.
"Should we bluff?" Mako scratched her head. She turned towards Ami. The blue hair girl merely shrugged, her eyes vacant.
"Well, get ready to abandon ship. They will most likely shoot us down." Rei looked down lamently at the crew.
"Or that..." Minako's voice was tense as she stared at whatever was incoming. Ami squinted her eyes, trying to assess the threat.
"Are those giant bees?" A hint of fear was detected in Mako's voice.
"Lancers. They are called lancers." Ami spoke monotonously. She turned the ship sharply to the right, just as one of the lancers shot out a razor sharp sting. "Hold on". Ami yelled as she started to fly it in a zigzag fashion.
The senshi tumbled around as Ami flew the airship in a way it was not meant to be flown. The wings groaned as the aircraft was taken to its limit. Minako waved her free hand and bend the metal from the stairs, patching up a hole before one of the wings could come lose.
"Amiiiii..." Mako yelled alarmly as she realized her friend was on a collision course with a much bigger lancer. It hovered in the air, waiting as the airship approached.
The queen lancer raised its tail sting and shoot. Ami pushed the stick and the airship took a nose dive, as the razor sting flew past.
Before the group can take a breath of relief though, a sickening thud was heard from the side. Then the other side was hit.
"Dammit. We are hooked." Rei looked towards Ami. "What do we do?" She glanced at the roof as more sting hooks penetrated the metal.
Ami tried to maneuver the ship but it was useless. She had lost control of the aircraft. They were all now at the mercy of these grimm.
"Looks like they are bringing us in anyway." Mako pointed out the window. "Not killing us right away is going to be their last mistake!" The air bender cracked her knuckles.
The captured ship flew slowly behind the other ship, as they approached a weird looking runway that lead into a cave. The ship with Usagi on it thudded on the ground first. Ami and the others watched from above, as the blonde was dragged out.
"Usagi.." Rei pressed her forehead against the window. She clenched her fists in anger and flame burst from them.
Ami let go of the controller and sighed deeply. She turned towards her friends, her face still expressionless. "It was nice meeting all of you."
"NO!" Minako swung her metal whips, as she stood in her fighting stance. "This will not be the end."
A tiny smile finally cracked on Ami's face. "Never said it was..but just in case."
Mako put one arm around the water bender's shoulder. "Let's go kick some butts!"
The giant metal door swung open, and Usagi was hit with a blast of freezing arctic air. She shivered as she exited the airship, flanked by two skilled fighters. North Pole was enveloped in a brutal blizzard, harsh wind whistled and whipped through the land. Usagi brought her frozen fists close to her mouth.
"We are here with you." Raava whispered inside of Usagi. Korra made her presence known as well, Usagi smiled as she walked forward. The ominous entrance to the cave loomed, but at least, the avatar knew she was never alone.
The scent of blood hit Usagi's nose first. Her eyes darted around and looked at the red hue decorating both sides of the cave. From afar, grimm shrieked and echoed in the empty space. Her nervousness returned.
Soon, they came upon a giant door. A floating grimm levitated in front of the trio, its mechanical eye whirled and then the door opened. Usagi gulped and wrung her sweaty palms together. The guards roughly shoved her in.
"Well, well, well..." Cinder appeared and clapped her hands slowly. "Welcome, Usagi. How do you like our home?"
Besides Cinder, Emerald and Mercury were there as well. Usagi clenched her fists in anger as she stared into Mercury's cold black eyes. She stood a bit taller and looked back at Cinder. "Why are you doing this? All of this?"
Cinder narrowed her eyes and strolled up to Usagi. "Retribution!" She waved her hand and the grimm with the mechanical eye flew to her. Its eye turned into a screen, broadcasting live scenes from Republic City. Usagi widened her eyes as she watched the city being under siege, once again...Her vision blurred as her tears welled.
"This is nothing, compared to the atrocity non-benders have committed over the years, your highness..." Cinder hissed and gritted her teeth.
Usagi shook her head slowly. "I know how much you've all suffered. I know what we did to you guys...but the hating has to stop somewhere." The avatar turned to look at Cinder. "Please stop all of this. Call off your army. Call off the grimm. We can all start anew, instead of being stuck in this cycle of hate!"
Cinder chuckled. "Don't worry, avatar. You won't be alive long enough to witness the genocide of the century!" She closed in until her hand was wrapped loosely around Usagi's throat. "After we are done with you, and the rest of your guardians, well..."
The avatar's eyes softened. "If killing me can satisfy your hunger for revenge, then do it. Leave my friends out of it. They didn't asked to be handed with these powers...Their lives were uprooted and ruined. I am the reason for that." Usagi clasped both hands over Cinder's wrist. "The world can be better, if we all work together. I..." She looked towards the minions in the back of the room. "I am sorry, for whatever was done to you guys. Just..stop this."
The older woman snarled. "What was your plan in defeating us, anyway? The previous avatar would have come in smashing! Your plan, so far...is just talking." Cinder released her grasp and tossed Usagi to the ground. She wiped her hand on her dress in disgust.
The guards were signaled, and they picked up the avatar from the floor. Usagi was roughly shoved into a chair in the centre of the room. "Cinder, I refuse to believe you are a monster. You are angry, I get that. Why cant we learn from the past, and be better than them?" Tears rolled down Usagi's cheeks, her heart ached as she stared at the gang.
Suddenly, the cave shook. Debris fell from the ceiling and Cinder looked up in anger. "Looks like your cavalry is stronger than we thought..."
In that moment, Usagi swore she could feel her friends. Fighting hard through an army of benders and grimm, just to get to her. Then, clear as day, a voice echoed in her head. It was Mako. Her voice croaked and she uttered an apology. "I am sorry, Usagi." The young avatar gasped as an unease feeling washed over her. She needed to get to her friends. Whatever the evil had planned, it's better if they were all together...
"Please Raava...Please Korra...help me..." Silently, she prayed.
Warmth was what she felt first, then Korra's strong hand clasped over her own. Usagi opened her glowing eyes and in that moment, everything was clear...
Her body moved like it wasn't her own, yet she was in full control. Usagi pushed her palms out and jet stream air out of them. The force pushed the minions and Cinder crashing to the wall. Her once-roommate looked up in shock, then she snarled again.
The young avatar avoided the fire balls with ease, as she pushed air through her feet and took off spinning. Cinder increased in her intensity, her arms blurred as she spun out more fireballs than ever...
Usagi felt the air beneath her feet and her power grew as her confidence grew. Her arms danced as she gathered the air into a funnel, before propelling herself up...The avatar bent away a section of the ceiling and she flew...
The first thing she saw was a sea of fire, amidst the white and cold of the arctic. Rei was whipping out two fire streams and slaying through a dense group of Grimm. Ami and Minako were fighting some benders off to the side.
Usagi scanned the battlefield for her last guardian.
Up ahead, a weird ice sculpture stood in the middle. As Usagi flew closer, a whimper escaped her lips. "No..."
She scrambled ahead and bent away the ice surrounding her fallen friend. "Mako..." She shook her friend, desperate as she called out. "No, please...Mako..."
Mako's eyelids fluttered and her eyes opened. She smiled weakly and raised a hand to touch Usagi's tear-soaked cheek. "Save the world, Usagi..." Then the air bender's hand dropped to the side as she closed her eyes.
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" The desperate cry echoed through the land, before being swallowed by the howling wind. The young avatar laid down her soldier's limp body and stood up. Usagi felt the energy flowing from Mako to hers and Raava stirred within her. She opened her glowing eyes and took off on a spinning column of air.
Usagi flew back toward her friends and joined in the fight. She fought hard, feeling Mako's strength within her. The ocean of grief roared and the avatar unleashed her power.
In a wash of blinding fire, the grimm dissipated. The remaining two benders ran.
Gently, the avatar landed, before her knees buckled and she sank to the ground. Ami, Minako and Rei huddled around and pulled her in to a hug. Together, in that brief moment of peace, they sobbed.
"I am so sorry..." The avatar clenched her friends' hands. "Mako...Mako is dead."
Ami suddenly broke from the group and stood up. Through the haze of the blizzard, she detected something...
She knelt back down and placed her arm around Usagi. "Go! Minako and Rei, get the avatar out of here. Someone, something...it's coming. I have a feeling that the bad guys shouldn't get their hands on Usagi."
"No!" Usagi clasped her hand around Ami's arm. "We stick together, remember?"
"We need to retreat. If they kill you, Usagi, it's game over for the whole world." Ami smiled sadly. "Don't worry, I'll slow them down. Go!"
The two guardians dragged Usagi away. They all knew what's at risk.
Ami turned and faced the blinding haze of snow. A shadow was walking towards her...
"Ami...where are you? Ami...I can't see..."
Ami clutched her hand near her heart. That voice...
"Ami...help me.." The shadow collapsed to the ground.
Tentatively, Ami took one step closer. Her heart pounded and Ami squinted her eyes. Lying on the ground was Mako. Battered and bruised, but alive!
Yet, Ami's footsteps stopped. This was impossible. A icicle blade appeared in her hand. "Who are you?"
The shadow twisted and propped herself up. Her head snapped up with a sickening crack, Mako's face took on a sinister smile. "Are you so cruel that you won't help your friend up?" The shadow took another step, her body twitched with each rigid step.
"How dare you take on the shape of my friend?" Ami let her icicle flew, but it flew through the shadow harmlessly.
"Ouch!" "Mako" crackled and stepped closer to Ami. "Hey, didn't you have a crush on me? Or I had a crush on you? The way we protected each other in the forest..."
Ami widened her eyes. The forest...that weird fight...Suddenly, everything made sense. She smirked and half heartedly throw another spear through "Mako"'s body. "Well, she's not you."
Then, Ami closed her eyes. The illusionist must be near. Ami's not going to fall for her trick again. There...the pulsing of blood in someone. The water bender opened her eyes and spun her arms around, as snow and fleet danced around her in a globe.
The shadow disappeared. A girl with green hair burst through a wall of ice, her blades raised.
Ami sent forth a column of ice and knocked the girl off its trajectory. She fell with a thud.
The waterbender walked towards the illusionist, as another icicle appeared in her hand. "Stand down, or else!"
The girl looked up and smirked. "You killed Neo. You will pay for that." She pushed herself up and landed a kick on Ami's abdomen.
Amidst the chaos of fighting, Ami never saw it coming. The girl was a worthy opponent, and Ami was trying hard to take her down without killing her. She already broke her promise to Usagi once, she's not going to do it again...
With a final blow to the enemy's head, Ami finally subdued the illusionist. She'll be out of the game for a while. By the time Ami sensed Cinder behind her, it was too late.
"Bye, roast pig." Those were the last words Ami heard, as fire and explosion engulfed her.
"I'm sorry, Usagi."
The avatar whirled her head around as she watched a giant explosion carving out a huge crater. From a far, a tiny figure with blue hair lied in the middle.
"Noooooooo!" Usagi started to run back, but was stopped by her remaining two guardians.
"She's gone." Minako whispered. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "We need to keep moving. Let's circle back to the landing strip and see if we could steal a ship."
"Minako, Rei, are we just going to leave Ami and Mako here? Maybe there's a way to save them." Usagi placed her hand over her heart. "Raava, is there a way? Please...is there a way to save my friends? Answer me!"
"Let's go." Rei tugged at Usagi's arm. "Are you going to cry each time someone dies?"
Usagi's knees buckled and she sank to the ground. Her head shook in disbelief. "They can't be gone, just like that. No..."
Neither Usagi or Rei noticed the change in wind, or the creeping dark energy approaching. Minako was the first to notice the snow glowing, underneath Usagi. She didn't think, she just dove and pushed the avatar out of the spot.
"Look out!"
Minako's voice echoed through the blizzard land, Usagi turned around just in time to see a column of energy shooting upwards and engulfing Minako in seconds.
The guardian didn't scream. Thick dark branches shot out and wrapped themselves tightly around the metal bender. The blonde struggled, but she kept her eye on the man doing this.
"My name is Hazel. No one needs to die today. Stop fighting and just come with us. Maybe there's a way to keep the avatar alive as well."
"Liar!" The metal bender narrowed her eyes, her muscles tense readying for an attack.
Rei held her fire but she took a step closer to the man.
The man continue to speak in a strangely gentle manner. "All we ever wanted was peace, equality. That's not too much to ask, is it? War is necessary, if we want to change the world."
He flicked his wrist and loosen the energy vines a bit.
"You really believe this!" Rei widened her eyes. "Well, hate to break it to you but you are on the wrong side of history."
"Help us!" Usagi spoke up and rose from the ground. "If you ever wanted was peace and equality, help me defeat Cinder and we can restart the world. The avatar is here. I am here."
Hazel turned and shook his head sadly. "Cinder is not the one you should worry about!"
"Then who? What do they really want?" Usagi was closer to the enemy more than ever, inching forward, trusting this strange man.
Hazel's eyes turned cold suddenly. He clenched his fist and dark energy shot through Minako's body again. "Enough! I know what you are doing, trying to confuse me. This has to end. Enough suffering for people like us."
A blast of fire came from Rei, but the man deflected it easily. He flicked his wrists again and the vines pulled Minako underground. A scream echoed out from the hole, shots of dark energy shooting out as well. He turned to look at the remaining two.
Suddenly, a chain shot out and pulled Hazel into the same hole. "If I am going down, you are going down with me!" Then, a huge explosion rocked the ground, along with Minako's last battle cry.
"Noooooooooooooooooooooooooo!" Usagi screamed again, running towards the newly formed ice sculpture. Rei hung her head, strangely silent. "Help me, Rei. Help me get her out..."
"She's gone." Rei muttered.
"What?"
"She's gone, okay?" Rei shouted, fury shooting out of her eyes. "I felt her energy leaving her body and entering yours, okay? Let's go, so I can get you somewhere safe."
Usagi shook her head but was roughly tugged and dragged by the fire guardian.
It was then when they heard a sinister cackle, along with grimm howling. From afar, Mercury stood arrogantly, flanked by two grimm.
The fire in Rei's palm burned a little bit harder as the guardian ready to fight. "Okay, avatar, think you can help me take down those grimm? That guy is mine!"
Usagi closed her eyes and reopened them aglow. "I got your back."
In unison, the avatar and the guardian spun their bodies and from their hands, jet out two fire bombs. One grimm was hit while the other dodged and charged ahead.
Mercury stood with his arms in the back and observed the fight.
Rei grit her teeth but the grimm needed her full attention. Usagi was fighting well, better than she had expected. Yet, that's an Ursa if Rei remembered correctly. It cowered over the tiny Odango girl, swinging its giant claws.
"Usagi, we need to join forces." Rei extended her hand.
The moment the hands joined, Rei felt the rush of energy flowing through her. Mako, Ami, Minako...she could feel the brilliance of each. Anger coursed through her veins and Rei opened her red eyes.
She raised two fingers toward the sky, before swinging forward in a gunslinger motion. Blue electricity shot forth and hit Ursa's center mass. It thrashed around as it fell to the ground, then disintegrated into a pile of black dust.
Suddenly, tentacles protrude from the ground and wrapped themselves around Rei and Usagi's legs. The tentacle grimm slowly raised from the permafrost, hosting its hostage high in the air.
Rei's heart skipped a beat. That dream she had, a girl being ripped in half by some kind of tentacle flashed before her eyes. It was Usagi in her dream all along. No, she had the power to stop this.
"Usagi, be strong." Rei swung forward two crescent fire blades and chopped off the tentacles holding Usagi. The avatar fell and thudded on the snow. "Now run!"
The tentacle grimm twisted her tentacles in anger and turned its attention to the guardian.
Usagi looked up in shock. Her head slowly shaking in disbelief.
Rei sneered as she placed her hands on the tentacles around her torso. "You are mine!" Fire erupted from Rei's hands and flames enveloped the grimm in seconds. The creature screeched as it burnt. As the creature exploded, the ground spouted into a giant sculpture of icicle crystals.
The fire guardian laid motionless in the middle.
Nearby, Mercury laughed. He walked closer to Rei's body and raised a hand to brush away the hair that's obscuring Rei's face.
The man turned and sneered at the avatar. "So, avatar...just you now!"
Suddenly, a hand clasped over Mercury's wrist.
"What?!"
"I'm not done yet." Rei opened her eyes and stared at the man.
Mercury widened his eyes in fear. It was too late. A column of fire shot through Rei's hand and engulfed him.
"Be strong, Usagi." Rei whispered her final words before exhaling her last breath.