Lin raised a stone wall in front of the doorway and thrust it forward down the corridor. The approaching guards scattered momentarily, before reforming their advancement towards the bedroom. "Kuvira, I'm going to need help over here!"

"I'm on it!" Kuvira joined Lin in front of the open door and thrust her arms forward. A pair of metal strips leaped out from her armguards and latched around two of the approaching guards. With a simple spin of her arms, she flipped both guards into the wall.

"Kya, you keep healing the girl!" Lin called. "We'll buy you some time!"

As the guards drew closer, Lin and Kuvira raced out to meet them in the hallway. Had to keep the fighting away from Kya and Shayu. Had to keep the guards occupied. A barrage of earth erupted down the corridor. Lin and Kuvira both ducked and lunged away, countering with swift strikes of their own. While these guards had the numbers advantage, against two of the best metalbenders in the world, they were outclassed.

Kuvira spun around several incoming rocks, spiraling as an airbender would. Her movements caught her attackers off guard. No doubt they had expected the stiff, blunt approach of an earthbender. She could thank her training with Korra for that. Continuing her spiraling motions, she flicked her wrists to the side, catching a pair of guards with metal strips across both their eyes. A few more waves of her hands yanked them off their feet, slamming them both headfirst into each other. They were unconscious before they hit the ground.

Lin led her assault with a harsh stomp against the floor. Stone pillars burst upward, launching several guards off their feet. While they were still airborne, she lashed out her cables and whipped two of the men straight back to the floor. Retracting the cables, she raced towards another pair of guards. Stone projectiles stormed towards her, but she cut through them with fierce slashes of her wrist blades. She fired out another cable and swung one of the men off his feet. In the same motion, she kicked out a stone chunk from the floor towards the other. Both guards crumpled on the opposite side of the corridor.

Two minutes later, they stood amongst an unconscious group of guards, breathing heavy from exertion. Lin gave one quick look around and nodded, urging them back towards the bedchamber. Kuvira followed. They found Kya right where they left her, pressing a bubble of glowing water to Shayu's wounds.

"Okay, I'm not sure how long that'll give us, but we got them," Kuvira said,

"I don't know how much longer we can stay here," Lin added. "Those guards must have alerted more before coming here. Pretty soon the entire city will be on us."

"But we have to heal her!" Kuvira shot a frantic look towards Shayu. The poor girl had gone still and quiet, sharp breaths wheezing out her throat. "I'm not going to let an innocent girl die because I was too stupid to confirm the target!"

"Well we can't just take her with us!" Lin paused, mulling over her own retort with brief consideration. She looked to Kya. "Could we? Can she be moved?"

Kya shook her head. "Not without causing her a lot of pain. I suppose if one of you carried her, I could continue healing on the way out, but we'd have to go slow."

Lin looked back and forth between them, settling her gaze on Shayu. Shivers had begun to tremble through the girl's body, as though she suffered from a biting cold. Lin's gaze shifted, pulsing with a brief gleam of guilt. "Fine, do it. We need to move now."

"I'll carry her," Kuvira said, moving into position next to Shayu. In one swift motion, she lifted the girl into her arms. Shayu screamed, her horrific screech echoing like a spirit's wail down the stone corridor. Kya rose with them, keeping her hands pressed against the wounds.

"Alright, let's move." Lin waved them along and started towards the open doorway. "We need to get out of here before—" The stone floor in front of her ruptured, as a second squad of guards burst into the bedroom through the tile. Six, ten—a dozen, at least. "Shit..."

"Stop right there!" one of the guards ordered. He pointed at them with a long, sharpened blade attached to his arm. Judging by his elaborate uniform, he was probably the palace guard captain. "Step away from the Dragon Empress' sister and surrender. You're all under arrest."

Lin's gaze flicked around the room. Too many to fight through. No other way. With a clench of her fist, she extended one of her wrist blades and swung her arm. Quick, precise. The blade's sharpened edge paused a hair's breadth from Shayu's throat. "All of you stay back!"

Kya shot a wide-eyed glare towards her. "Lin, what are you doing?"

"Getting us out of here," she stated.

The guard captain raised his hands, cautioning her not to take her actions any further. "Just take it easy. Don't do anything stupid..."

Lin sharpened her gaze. Good, they were concerned. Exactly as she wanted. "If you haven't noticed, Shayu here is in critical condition. Right now, the only thing keeping her alive is our healer. So, I'm going to give you a choice. You can let us walk out of this city unopposed, and Kya will continue healing her. Shayu will be our prisoner, but she'll be alive." Lin pressed the blade closer, touching cold steel against bare flesh. "Or you can try to arrest us, in which case I kill her right here. I'm not an expert on your empress, but I can't imagine she'd be thrilled with the lot of you if you let her sister die. What do you think she'd do to you?"

The guards took a step backwards and looked at each other with worried glances. Lin could practically see their thoughts racing to think of the best solution. Which punishment would be less severe? Allowing Yula's sister to get kidnapped, or allowing her to die? Was Lin bluffing? Could they afford to take that chance? She could see the answer in their eyes. This was one bluff they couldn't afford to call.

The guard captain grumbled, and stepped aside. "Let them pass."

The other guards followed suit, moving off to the side to allow a clear path out the doorway. Kuvira moved slowly towards the opening so Kya could keep pace and continue to heal. Lin retained her wrist blade close against Shayu's throat. The guards glared at them the entire way. Didn't matter. They do could nothing but watch.

As soon as they made it to the corridor and put enough distance between themselves and the guards, Lin retracted the blade and turned to Kuvira. "Alright, let's get out of—hnngh!"

Lin stumbled to the floor, clutching at the side of her ribs. A long metal blade pierced through the side of her armor. The same blade the guard captain had been wearing on his arm. The captain stood in the open doorway, his arm pointed forward. They hadn't seen it. Hadn't even expected it. Bending the blade like a projectile, at the exact moment Lin had pulled away from Shayu. Perfect timing. Perfect, horrific timing.

Lin crumpled, unmoving. Fire raced through her limbs, burning with a pain unlike any she'd ever felt. Deep, fierce, unrelenting. Spirits, how hadn't she noticed it coming? Why didn't she sense it? Had she really been that distracted? Or just slow, in her old age? She let her head fall back, as dark blots began to soak in front of her vision. Strange. For all the fire burning through her, why did she feel so cold?


"Lin!" Kya shrieked, her voice shrill and cracked. She turned to run to her girlfriend's side, only to pause before breaking away from Shayu. She looked back and forth, paralyzed in uncertainty over what to do. The guards didn't wait for her to decide. The moment Lin hit the floor, they charged down the corridor.

Kuvira set Shayu down on the floor and leaped forward. "Kya, keep healing!"

Kuvira punched the ground, releasing as much of her chi as possible into a single strike. The floor exploded forward like a rippling tidal wave. Guards stumbled and tripped from their feet, dragged to the back of the bedchamber by swirling, undulating stone. Moments later, the doorway collapsed along with the entire wall, burying the guards inside. Kuvira didn't waste the opening. Raising an earthen dome above their heads, she opened the ground beneath their feet, lowered them into the floor, and tunneled out of the palace as fast as her bending could guide them.


Kuvira tunneled all the way out of Omashu, through the very mountain into the bottom of the gorge. She didn't stop until they'd reached a safe distance away from the city, where she was confident that they wouldn't be pursued. Only then did she reemerge out of the ground and part the dome that surrounded them. Lin lay motionless on the ground, clutching at her perforated armor. She curled inward, shuddering with a deep hiss of pain filtering through her lips.

Kya immediately began to pull away from Shayu, water still bubbled over her hands. "Lin, hang on! I can heal you."

"No!" Lin spat out the words with an agonizing cough, spraying a mist of crimson into the air. "Nnngh... Don't worry about me. Just... keep healing the girl. I'll be fine."

"But Lin—"

"Kya, just do it!"

"Healing her will take time!" Kya insisted. Urgent panic flashed across her face, warped with creeping fear. Tears brimmed at the edge of her eyes, threatening to spill free. "You might not have that long!"

"Really, this... isn't that bad," Lin muttered, with a wave of her hand. "Just patch her up enough to keep her alive... then you can worry about me."

Kya heaved in a shuddering breath, reluctantly turning back to Shayu. "Kuvira, help her."

"I'm on it." Kuvira knelt beside the police chief and examined the injury. The blade had punctured at an upward angle, piercing through the side of her ribs. Lin's armor had definitely softened the blow, allowing only several inches of steel to penetrate. Otherwise, the blade may have skewered clean through her body and out the other side. "Alright, I'm going to get your armor off so I can see what we're dealing with here."

Kuvira raised her hands and spread her fingers, causing the hole in Lin's armor to widen around the blade. With another twist of her hands, she snapped the front of the chestplate away from the backplate, and lifted it up over the blade to expose Lin's tank-top beneath. The white cloth had turned almost entirely crimson, soaked with a growing pool of blood that oozed around the edges of the blade.

"Okay, I don't think it hit any vital organs," Kuvira said, giving the wound a closer look, "but there's a lot of blood. We'll have to leave this in for now."

"Fine by me. I'm not... going anywhere," Lin muttered, coughing out another groan. "Ugh... You know, this really... really hurts."

"Stupid, stupid..." Kya said, with a shake of her head. She maintained her focus on Shayu, but she couldn't hide the surging worry sparking in her eyes. "We should have just surrendered. Then this wouldn't have happened!"

"You're right... it wouldn't have." Lin grumbled quietly, as her voice began to fade. "We'd be in an even... worse position. They'd have handed us over to Yula, and then... what do you think would have happened?"

"We could have figured something out! We could have escaped, or... or something!"

"No use arguing about it now. What's done is..." Lin heaved out another pained breath and went quiet. Her eyes closed, head slumping limply to the side.

Kya snapped a horrified stare at her girlfriend, bolting straight up on her knees. "Lin!"

Kuvira leaned forward and gave a gentle pat to the police chief's cheek. "Lin, hey, keep your eyes open. Eyes on me, okay?" No response. She snapped her fingers in front of Lin's face. "Right here, come on!"

"Relax, kid..." Lin uttered, with a weak wave of her hand. Her voice cracked outward, little more than a hoarse whisper. "I'm not dead yet."

"Don't you even joke about that!" Kya huffed out a quivering breath and settled back down on her knees, continuing to heal Shayu.

"How long until Shayu is stable?" Kuvira asked.

"I'm not sure," Kya said, with an uncertain shrug. "A few minutes maybe? I'll at least have the exterior wounds closed, which should keep her alive for a while, but there will still be a lot of internal damage to fix."

Kuvira nodded, and looked back to Lin, whose breathing had grown raspy and short. Lin needed treatment, and she needed it soon. "Did you bring any spirit water?"

Kya's shoulders sank, along with any lingering vestiges of strength. "I had a single vial... I'm already using it."

"What?" Kuvira whirled around to stare at the water in Kya's hands. "Then why is it taking so long? I thought spirit water was supposed to work fast."

Kya squinted her eyes shut and shook her head. "It depends on the injury. For things like blunt damage, or lightning, or something where there's nothing to piece back together, it's simple. Your blade pierced all the way through this girl's body. There's a lot of tissue, and bone, and muscle to stitch back in place, bleeding to stop... It's much more difficult. Spirit water makes healing easier, and it can do a lot that normal water can't, but it's not magic."

Kuvira swallowed, shifting a slow glance back towards Lin. "And... how well would regular water be able to heal something like that?"

Kya didn't answer. She managed only to hang her head, eyes squinting even tighter in attempt to hold back her tears. No use. Tears leaked out behind her closed eyes, falling free down her cheeks. Hopeless to stop them.

"Don't you... worry about me," Lin said, with a wheezing breath. "It's only a flesh wound. I'll be... I'll be fine."

Kya healed Shayu for another few minutes, until the exterior wound closed and most of the major damage had been repaired. The girl would still need more treatment later, but for now she would be stable. As soon as she was done with Shayu, Kya hurried to Lin's side. She scattered the spent spirit water away from her hands, and replaced it with her normal bending water.

"Okay, I'm ready," she urged. "Take it out."

Kuvira held her hands above the blade and guided her arms back through the air. The sharpened metal loosened with a subtle quiver. One more shift of her wrists, and Kuvira expelled the blade out the rest of the way in a single instant. Kya moved in immediately, placing her glowing water against the wound. Several spurts of crimson leaked through her fingers, but soon the bleeding ceased.

"Ironic... isn't it? Me... taken out by a piece of metal. Heh..." Lin set her head back on the ground, hissing out a deep, pain-filled sigh. "Maybe my mom was right, after all. Maybe I never... really picked up metalbending all that well."

"Don't you talk like that," Kya said, turning a glare towards the woman. "You're a great metalbender, one of the best. You're not dying here, you hear me? Not as long as I can help it."

Lin cracked a smile, shifting her eyes enough to get a good look at her girlfriend. "Hey, Kya... I ever tell you just how... how beautiful you are?"

Kya swallowed a growing knot in her throat. Tears flowed harder now, blurring her vision behind a wet, murky cloud. "Lin, try not to talk. Please. Just conserve your strength."

"You are beautiful..." Lin's smile widened, but the tone in her voice was distant, almost delirious. "So damn beautiful. How was I ever so lucky... to be loved... by you?"

"Lin..." Kya tried to say something more, but her words caught dead in her throat, blocked by a fit of choked sobbing. This wasn't happening. This couldn't be happening. Not again.

Lin raised a hand and gently stroked her fingers along her girlfriend's cheek. "Kya, I love... love you. I always..." Her eyes closed, as her hand fell limp to the ground at her side. A fading breath of air eased out her lips, and then she was silent.

The scream that erupted from Kya's throat was unlike anything a human should be able to produce. Completely unwitting, a sheer, instinctive reflex of raw emotion poured into a single, horrified shriek of sorrow, pain, and misery. Her tears surged, chest heaving with quivering, sobbing hiccups. She never stopped healing. She couldn't stop. She couldn't give up!

"No! Don't! Lin, just—" A trembling cough burst from her throat, cutting off her words. She slouched forward over Lin, pressing her hands closer against the wound, pouring more chi into the water. "Open your eyes, Lin! Open them!"

Memories flashed through her mind. Horrible, painful memories she had worked so hard to bury. Kya blinked away her tears, only to find that Lin had vanished, replaced by another woman. A Water Tribe woman, hauntingly familiar with long braided hair, and rich blue eyes. Yuka. No, no, not again... not like this. She tried to shake away the memory, but to no avail. It burned stronger, cut deeper.

Yuka gazed up at her with pained regret flickering in her eyes, her expression blank except for the slightest curl of a smile. Every breath she took came in with a sickening wheeze. Three hours. Kya had spent three hours searching for her. Three hours Yuka had been alone, buried beneath that avalanche. Three hours for her injuries to worsen. Bruising, broken legs, a collapsed lung, numerous lacerations. So much damage.

"I'm... sorry, Kya," Yuka uttered, her voice weak and fading. "You were right. I should have... stayed home. The storm was too much. I was stupid... so stupid."

"No, no you're not stupid, sweetie," Kya said, sniffling back her tears. She pressed her healing water close to her wife's chest, attempting to console her with a reassuring smile. She managed only a shaking, grieving sob. "You're not stupid. Just try not to speak, okay? I have to concentrate."

"Kya..." Yuka's smile widened, even as her voice grew softer and more distant. "You were the best thing to ever... happen to me. I love... I love..."

Yula's words faded, and so did her breath. Her chest ceased moving, and her body became still, motionless. Her eyes... They didn't close. They remained open, staring blankly up at nothing, their dead gaze piercing a hole straight through Kya's heart. A horrified squeal of sorrow erupted from Kya's throat. The water slipped from her hands, falling away to the snowy ground beneath her. Spirits, no... She'd failed. She couldn't save her. All she could do now was take Yuka's lifeless body in her arms, hold her close, and cry.

The memory at last faded. Yuka vanished, and Lin returned. Too late. The damage had been done. Kya wept harder, her face a mess of tears and saliva. Through all of that, she never once removed the water from Lin's wound. She never once stopped healing. "You're going to be okay! Do you hear me? I'm not losing you, Lin! Not you too! Not again!"

Minutes later, and nothing changed. Kya fought through her sobs, kept healing. The external wound eventually closed. Flesh knitted back together and the bleeding stopped, but still Lin remained still. Kya hiccuped. No matter how much physical damage she repaired, she couldn't bring someone back from the dead.

"Kya..." Kuvira stood over the broken woman, holding a tender hand to her shoulder.

"No!" she shrieked, lurching away from the touch. "I'm not done! I can still heal her! I can still save her!"

Even as she continued healing, Kya knew she was wrong. The gravity of that fact sank in moments later, as she finally allowed the water to fall away from her hands. She slumped back on her knees, sobbing hiccups pulsing in her chest. Her breathing surged, broken and uneven.

"I'm sorry..." Kya uttered, as she fell atop her girlfriend's lifeless body. She buried her face against Lin's shoulder and hugged her tightly, lovingly. Again. It had happened again. First Yuka, now Lin. She was a failure—a failure as a healer, and a failure as a lover. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry..."

Kuvira watched in silent mourning, before wandering away from the scene with her hands held atop her head, fingers clutching tightly in her hair. She found her way next to Shayu and sat down, face buried in her palms.

Kya lost herself so deep in her grief, she almost didn't feel the touch come to the top of her head. Or the fingers stroke through her hair. Or hear the voice. That sweet, familiar, wonderful voice.

"Hey... why'd you stop?"

"Lin?" Kya looked upward, her entire body trembling as she noticed Lin staring back at her, both eyes once again open.

The injured police chief returned as strong a smile as she could muster. "I mean, I know you stopped the bleeding, but... it still really hurts."

Kya's breath broke with uncontrolled coughs and hiccups. She managed a smile of her own, wiping the tears from her eyes as she fought to calm her lingering sobs. "You... you're alive? I thought... I really thought..."

"I told you I'd be fine, didn't I?" Lin coughed, and let her head fall flat against the ground. "Just... finish patching me up already."

"Yeah... yeah, of course." Kya quivered out a soft laugh, and she returned the water to her hands to continue healing. "Of course."

Lin muttered a quiet groan, as she tilted her head to look up again. "Hey, Kya?"

Kya snapped her focus towards her girlfriend's eyes, a flicker of renewed panic surging through her. "What is it?"

"Marry me?"

Kya blinked, and the panic dissipated. "What?"

"I know I don't have a ring, or... or a necklace right now, but..." Lin shifted herself up onto her elbows, stifling a deep grunt of pain. She stared deep into Kya's eyes. "Will you marry me?"

"Yes..." Kya coughed out another laugh, grinning widely. "Of course I will, you crazy old woman."

Lin smiled, leaning closer to give her now-fiancée a tender kiss. "I love you, Kya."

Kya held the kiss as long as her breath allowed. All the pain, all the grief, and sorrow, and misery that had nearly destroyed her only minutes ago, all of it now gone. The only thing left was relief, and pure, overwhelming joy. "I love you, too."