A/N: First of all, thank you so so much for sticking with me this long! This is my first completed multi-chaptered story and I am very excited to be able to share it with all of you. I'm so glad you're still here.
Anyway, I've kept you long enough. On with the show!
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"Looks like we found our secret airfield."
Thank Oma and Shu, because Bolin was getting sick of riding on Naga. Korra must have buns of steel.
"Bo, when we get down there, I need you to tear up the runways," Iroh ordered.
"Ay-ay, Captain!"
"General."
"Whatever." Bolin turned to the polar bear dog. "Naga, stay here until we get back." She whimpered, taking a small step forward. "No, Naga. Stay." Naga almost looked like she was pouting when she finally laid down.
"Let's go."
-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-
Dark and Light stood to either side of her as Korra watched Amon rise dramatically from the manmade fog. Asshole.
He began his spiel, his oh-so tragic backstory about the evil firebender who ruined his life, and Korra smirked, waiting for him to dig his grave just so.
"–began my quest to equalize the world."
This works.
"Thanks a lie, Amon!" Korra whipped off her mask. "Or should I call you 'Noatok'?" You're not the only one who can be dramatic.
Amon and the Lieutenant spoke briefly, too quiet for her to hear, before Amon turned to the crowd.
"Everyone calm down," he said. "We have nothing to fear from the Avatar. Let us hear what she has to say."
Korra had not heard such distain for her title since she'd first met Mako in Ba Sing Se and it was no great stretch to think the nonbenders in the audience felt the same, but this was her best shot, her only shot. They had to listen to her.
"Amon has been lying to you!" she told them. "The spirits didn't give him any special powers! He takes people's bending with bloodbending! He's a waterbender!" The audience gasped, looking fearfully at the people around them, and Korra could have cheered. How can you rule with no subjects?
"How disappointing, Avatar," Amon said. "Making up stories of me as a pathetic last resort. I expected more from you."
Korra pressed on.
"A firebender didn't kill his family! His father was Yakone and his brother is Councilman Tarrlok!" The whispers spread, shaky and uncertain, and Korra waited for the inevitable fall.
Amon laughed.
"Amusing," he said, "but I will show you the truth."
For the first time, he lowered his hood and untied his mask, revealing a giant, hideous scar.
"This is what a firebender did to me!" Amon shouted, pointing to his face as if anyone could miss his disfiguration.
"What?"
The whispers turned to shouts, and Korra lost them.
"Amon is lying!" she yelled desperately. "He's a waterbender!"
But it was useless; no one would believe her now.
"You said what you needed to," Dark said. "We have to go."
Korra turned to the exit, getting into stance. Dark and Light flanked her as chi blockers circled.
"I would stay if I were you, Avatar." Korra turned back to Amon, the two Elite closing the gap at her back. "There is still the main event."
From another platform in the stage, the prisoners rose; Tenzin, Jinorra, Ikki, Meelo, and King Lin.
-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-
Consciousness came slowly, as it always did in times of peril. Asami sat up, flipping her hair out of her face as someone approached the cell.
'Why would there be fence posts with no fence', what was I thinking? I should've paid more attention! Asami was the mechanics prodigy, she should have figured it out sooner. Damn it!
"Asami."
Just ignore him, just ignore him, just ignore him.
"I know that I have hurt you, and I am sorry."
Ignore him, ignore him, ignore him.
"I should have tried harder to get you to understand. I should have spoken to you about this years ago instead of just springing it on you."
Ignore, ignore, ignore.
"But I hope one day, you will understand, and we can be a family again."
"Are you insane?" Asami said, finally turning to face her father. "How can we be a family after all you've done?" She vaguely registered Iroh and Bolin coming to, Iroh chained to the floor and Bolin suspended from ropes. "You're funding a war!"
"I am avenging your mother!"
"You are killing people!"
"The airplanes are ready for take off."
It was odd, hearing such a calm, cold voice after their shouting. It was odder seeing the cruelly satisfied look on her father's face.
"Good. Destroy the fleet."
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Hiroshi walked away before Bolin had the time to reorient himself, but it didn't matter. He didn't have Mom's commanding presence. He couldn't turn hearts like Mako could. Bolin threw rocks and made bad jokes. That was his thing.
"Bolin, can you metalbend from there?"
"Not a child's chance at Koh's."
"Iroh! What if you burn the ropes off Bolin?"
"At this angle I'd just as much burn him."
"Ok, let's keep that as Plan B."
It was awful, being surrounded by metal and unable to use any of it. Metal was his thing. He was the grandson of the mother of metalbending! Son of the Iron Sword! How did King Bumi bend with his face and why did I never study it?
Iroh and Asami talked below him, trading strategy and ideas. Bolin was seconds away from calling Plan B. The door burst open.
"Naga!" Bolin had no idea how the polar bear dog got past the not-fence and he didn't care. She swiped at his ropes and he bent at the chains and they were off. "Thanks for not listening to me."
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"I'm going after those planes!" Iroh called as he raced to the nearest one, firebending his way on board.
"Naga!" Bolin yelped when the polar bear dog threw him into the saddle.
Asami smiled as they raced away, only then noticing the mecha-tanks lined along a building. She climbed inside and fiddled with the controls.
Well, what'd'ya know? Just like a Future Industries forklift. Thanks, dad.
She made her way back into the hanger.
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"Tonight, I rid the world of airbending, and I rid the Earth Kingdom of its tyrannical bending monarch!"
Mom.
Mako had snuck in, had managed to snag a spot as security off the side of the stage, had a perfect view of the prisoners, of Lin Beifong, beaten and bloody and bound in platinum. Judging from zir injuries, ze'd put up a good fight. Ze hung off the floor, zir armor gone and zir feet wrapped in leather. Zir head was down and Mako worried that ze had a head injury.
Mako paid no attention to Korra or Amon, only the person who'd saved him from fucking up any worse than he already had. The person who'd taken in Bolin and himself and given them a home. The person who'd worn a crown ze'd never wanted because he'd begged to leave Republic City.
And Amon had hurt zir.
Something in him burned.
"–reminded of the power I possess."
"GIVE ME YOUR MONEY!"
Amon approached the prisoners–
he approached his victims–
his hand raised–
his hand lit–
NO! Mako had no weapons. He had no plan or ideas or back up outside of Korra and the Elite up on their platform. He threw out his hand on instinct, wanting desperately for a blade to fly, and gasped as lightning shot from his fingertips.
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Korra didn't know where the lightning came from and she didn't care, only that it was the perfect distraction to get to the stage. She and Light ran along the wall as Dark took out the chi blockers who had flanked them.
Light kept the Equalists at bay as Korra burned through the chains binding Tenzin.
"Where's Pema and the baby?"
"In prison."
"You know which?"
"Yes."
The chains fell and Tenzin joined Light as Korra moved on to Jinorra. Korra had just reached Ikki when she noticed Mako picking at King Lin's locks.
"Mako?"
"Talk later, escape now."
Korra got Ikki out and had started on Meelo when Lin was freed, collapsing forward into Mako's waiting arms.
"Mako?" ze said weakly, zir words slurring slightly. "What're you doing here?"
"Later." He swept zir up and looked around for an escape route.
Tenzin sent Amon flying off the stage as the last chains fell.
"Follow me."
They escaped out a side door, Mako carrying zir majesty, and Korra turned to Tenzin.
"Get them out of here. We'll distract Amon."
"Light, go with them. Take Mom," Mako said, pushing the protesting earthbender into Tenzin's arms.
"Don't you fucking dare go on without me!" ze ordered as Tenzin adjusted his grip, ignoring Lin's protests. "Light, go with Mako!"
"You are in no fit state to be giving orders! Light, stay with the kids!" Light nodded, stepping closer to the airbenders, ignoring Lin's mutinous cries.
Tenzin turned to his children.
"Let's get Pema and Rohan."
"Prison break!"
And they were gone. And Amon was back.
-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-
Mako ran, ignoring the sound of Korra firebending behind him. He slipped into a nearby room. Statistically, Amon was more likely to skip the first few doors before checking rooms, and it might have worked if Korra had known not to let the door swing behind her.
Mako crouched behind some boards, trying to calm his breathing.
Now is not the time to freak out, he told himself firmly. You can have all the fucking flashbacks later, just stay calm for now.
The room was quiet, the only sound that of Amon's footsteps. He paused. Does he see me? Mako fought the urge to turn around. Please no please no pleasenoplease
The footsteps began again, and then Korra was screaming.
Mako couldn't do this. He couldn't do this. He wasn't brave like Mom or strong like Bolin or resourceful like Asami. He couldn't level a mountain range or break a mecha-tank or build a weapon out of spare parts and dirt. All he had was words and knives and both had been taken from him.
"No!"
Do something do something do something, Mako urged himself, but he couldn't will his body to cooperate. Do something anything just move.
Then there was a sound, a horribly familiar sound, like a gas leak in an empty room, and a body fell.
"I told you I would destroy you."
He was too late.
-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-
Bolin wasn't able to stop the first wave of airplanes, but he could stop the second wave. Iroh had the first one covered anyway, what with his free-falling, bomb-punching ways. And he called Uncle Bumi a wild man. No self-awareness, that guy.
Bolin was on the last runway when some people in mecha-tanks decided to try their luck. Bolin got into stance, wondering if these three had heard about what he'd done to the tanks at the police station, when they shot grippers at him. He didn't even have the time to pull up a wall before Naga swooped in, grabbed all the cables, and tossed the mecha-tankes with a quick flick of her head.
Wow. That polar bear dog is much stronger than I thought.
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Try and fly now, assholes, Asami thought, destroying yet another airplane. They were such a great invention, too. Faster than airships, fewer controls, less maintenance. She bet she could commercialize them if she could get it away from the association with war.
"Asami."
Shit.
"What do you think you are doing?" Hiroshi asked from within his own mecha-tank. "You are aiding the very people who took your mother away!"
"Those people got arrested years ago!" Asami yelled back. "They were thrown in jail and killed by Triple Threats! This isn't about mom. This is about spite. You're too full of hatred." Asami turned the tank around.
"You ungrateful child!" Hiroshi charged. Asami shot grappling hooks at him, but he was more familiar with the controls and dodged. Suddenly, Asami was in the air, crashing down by an unbroken plane. The windshield of the mecha-tank was smashed and her father's furious face glared down at her. "I now see that there is no chance to save you!"
Asami froze. He's going to kill me, she suddenly realized. He helped a terrorist group kill hundreds of benders and now he's going to kill me for my morals.
He raised the mecha-tank's arm – You're the one who taught me these morals – and a boulder threw him off of her.
"Hiroshi Sato, you are a horrible father!" she heard Bolin yell, throwing boulder after boulder at the older man.
Fuck you!
Asami took the distraction and raised up, flipping Hiroshi's mecha-tank over hers, ripping its arm off in the process.
You told me not to compromise on my beliefs! She charged at the fallen machine.
You told me no one is inherently better than another! She ripped open the control panels.
And you don't give a FUCK ABOUT MOM! Asami raised the the tank's arm, glaring down at the man who'd raised her, and she couldn't do it. Not when he was so helpless, so pathetic. So scared. She wasn't like him.
His helpless look vanished and he shot his remaining grappling hook at her, using the distraction to jump out of his ruined machine and run away.
She may not be so willing to harm like Hiroshi was, but she wouldn't let him get away.
You really are a horrible father. He seized and screamed and fell silent.
Bolin didn't comment on her tears.
-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-
"Finally, you are powerless."
Mako searched for a weapon, for an exit, for the fluke that had sent lightning from his hand, and found nothing.
Ok, so if I find a way to knock those boards over to distract him–
Amon would still catch Mako going to Korra.
If I just sneak out to get reinforcements–
Spirits only knew what Amon would do to Korra while he was gone.
What if–
"Amon!" Mako knew that voice. "Everything the Avatar said is true, isn't it?"
Qing?
"I saw you bloodbend her."
Qing had been there since the first meeting with Amon. Since the ambush that still gave him nightmares. Since the beginning of his chi blocking lessons. Since Mako finally left for good.
Mako finally turned to the scene behind him as Qing ripped off his mask and stomped on it.
"You traitor!" Qi had always been so very loyal. "I dedicated my life to you!" So brave and capable and strong. "How could you do this?" Like Mom. Like Bolin. Like Mako had always wanted to be.
Qing grabbed his kali sticks and charged at Amon. He barely took two steps before he was in the air, the sickening sound of bloodbending echoing through the room.
"You have served me well, Lieutenant." And he flew into a stack of lumber.
Qi! Mako didn't even get the time to react before he was pulled from his hiding spot
"Do not think I forgot about you, Sozu," Amon said, slowly dragging Mako closer to him. "I know where that lightning came from. It appears you need a touch up."
Contrary to all logic, being previously exposed to bloodbending did not make his experience easier. If anything, Mako was in more pain at eighteen than he ever was at fourteen or sixteen, but then Amon could have been doing that on purpose.
Mako didn't try to fight against it, knowing it just made things worse, he only glared at the bloodbender, wishing he had to courage to call him a monster or spit at his face or tell him you're welcome for the tragic backstory he'd stolen. Alas, all Mako could do was glare.
"You could have been great."
"I bet you tell that to all the boys."
Mako wished he could claim credit for that line, alas, it was Dark. Amon looked away for one second and a rock crashed into his face.
"Let's go!" Dark helped Mako stand before scooping up Korra and running for the doorway where Mom stood.
"Lord Mako, you take her. I'll hold him off as best I can." Mako took Korra and ran after Mom as Dark went back into the room with Amon. "What's the plan?" Mako asked zir.
"Don't die."
"Can you make a wall?"
"I barely had the energy to toss that rock."
"Mako…." Korra's voice was weak, her eyes barely open. "My bending…."
"It'll be ok," Mako told her, his words more pleading than reassuring. "We just have to–"
Dark screamed, his voice their only warning as Amon reached out and pulled. Korra went flying from his arms and Mako and Mom were thrown against the ceiling and floor and wall to wall. Mako groaned weakly as Amon approached them.
"I am impressed," he complimented. "No one has ever gotten the better of me like that." Mom's limb seized as ze was forced to zir knees, fighting all the way.
"Fuck you and your daddy issues!" ze screamed, spitting at Amon as he stepped up behind zir, but he only waterbent it away.
"It is almost a shame to remove the abilities of one so talented."
No! No no no no no NO! Mako fought against Amon's bloodbending grip. Not Mom!
"Almost."
"Leave zir alone!" Mako yelled desperately. "Please! I'll do anything!"
"It is too late to make deals, Lord Mako," Amon taunted. "Though it is satisfying to hear you beg." Amon brought his hand down, and Korra stood up.
"No!" And Amon was blown away.
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Korra didn't know how it happened. All she could remember was how angry she'd been – angry at her circumstances, angry at Amon, angry at herself. She was the Avatar. What was she without her bending? What right did Amon have to take it away? What right did Korra have to have dragged the royal family into this mess? And now Amon was going to take zir majesty's bending? The bending Bolin had recited legends of?
She'd forced her way to her feet, too weak for Amon to bother bloodbending, and did as she always had; she punched. And out came wind.
Lin and Mako toppled over each other before the king grabbed hold of zir son and dug zir fingers into the floor. Amon was pushed back, but managed to stay on his feet.
"Impossible."
Korra leaned against the wall and looked down at her hands.
I… I can airbend.
"I can airbend!" Korra stood tall and began throwing punches, pushing Amon further and further down the hall. Fuck everyone, I can AIRBEND! She walked forward with each punch she threw, freezing only once Amon hit the wall and re-established his bloodbending grip.
Korra's body turned against her once more, her pulse slowing, her limbs spasming, her muscles freezing.
No! she thought. Not this time! I'm the Avatar, damn it! Aang could fight this and so. can. I!
"No you don't!" Korra sent one last kick and Amon broke through the window, falling into the waters outside. Korra walked up to see, Mako and the king leaning heavily on each other as they followed her.
She couldn't see Amon, but she could hear the bystanders screaming.
"She killed our leader!"
"Evil Avatar!"
"Benders are out of control!"
Mako's good at damage control, right? Korra thought inanely. And then Amon appeared.
He shot into the sky on a whirling tower of water, his mask off and his scar washed away. Korra didn't need to listen to the people below to know they finally believed her, and she didn't need to look at Amon to know he knew he was screwed. But she did. And she smirked. And he disappeared into the ocean. She knew they would need to hunt him down later, but wow did that feel good.
"Good job, kid."
"You couldn't have fought off his bloodbending sooner?"
That felt better.
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"At least you unlocked your airbending."
"…I guess I deserve that."
"Well, that's the last shot I'm gonna take," Bolin declared. "Apology accepted." He knew it wasn't much under the circumstances, but he hoped their renewed friendship and the overexuberant hug might bring Korra some comfort.
"Yay, Uncle Bumi's here!" one of the airbending children – Ikki probably – cheered.
"Whaaaa-hooo!" Bumi howled from his warship as it sailed past, clapping loudly and striking a pose.
"Great," Tenzin sighed. "Now I have to entertain my brother."
"I got you covered," Mom said. "Unagi, how do I look?" Ze patted zir hair and turned to Asami.
"Hot."
"Great." Ze made zir way to the docks.
"Get it, Lin!"
"Wait, Lin, no!"
Bolin looked around – Mako's disgusted expression, Asami's encouraging whistling (and face-splitting smile that Mom was calling her Unagi again), Tenzin's frantic horror – and grinned. Mom always was the best at distractions.
Korra looked down sadly.
Well, some things couldn't be helped.
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Katara couldn't fix her. Katara couldn't fix her. What hope was there? What was she supposed to do now?
Korra walked in to the waiting room at exactly the wrong time. Katara had only just shared the news and everyone's expressions were filled with pity.
"It's going to be ok, Korra," Tenzin lied, but Korra wouldn't let him get away with it.
"No. It's not."
She grabbed her coat and left.
"Korra wait." Korra stopped, but only because Naga was right there and it would be easier to escape on her.
"Go away, Bolin." She took a step toward Naga. Toward her friend. Her best friend. Her only friend who didn't have any opinion on whether she could bend or not. Naga was all she had left. That used to be enough.
"I just wanted to tell you that I'm here for you," Bolin said, touching Korra's arm gently. "We all are."
Korra flinched away.
"Go away, Bolin!" she ordered, finally turning to face him. "Back to Ba Sing Se! Get on with your life." She hung her head. "I'm not the Avatar anymore. You don't need to do me any favors."
"First of all, my family has given exactly zero fucks about you being the Avatar, and second, Mom and Mako won't admit it, but our family is very clingy and you're stuck with us whether you want to be or not so it's best to just accept it now and come inside for a group hug. Come on." He tried to usher her back into the healing house, but Korra pushed him away.
"I can't–" She climbed on Naga and took off. She needed to be alone.
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She wound up at the cliffs. A terrible decision, given her circumstances. Given those awful awful thoughts that crept through her head.
(What use are you now? You can't be the Avatar like this. The whole point of the Avatar is to bend every element. All you have is air. All you'll ever have is air. You might as well start the cycle over again, maybe the next one won't be as much of a fuck up.)
But she only collapsed, burying her head in her knees and sobbing like she never had before.
What happened now? She had to be the worst Avatar ever to mess something up as simple as keeping her bending. As fundamental. As crucial. How was she supposed to maintain balance now when she was irrevocably tilted to the Air Nation? How was anyone meant to take her seriously when she couldn't even access the Avatar State?
She felt a presence come up to her. She spotted airbender robes through the space under her arm.
"Go away, Tenzin."
"But you called me here."
Korra froze. She looked up.
"Aang?"
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Ok, so maybe she wanted to be alone, but screw her if she thought she was getting what she wanted just because her life sucked at the moment. There was no fucking way Lin was gonna leave some angst-filled teenager to dwell on how depressed she was. Kyoshi only knew what stupid shit Korra would pull while she was at her lowest, but Lin certainly knew how badly teenagers could blow shit out of proportion.
It was not the end of the world. It only hurt like it was.
"We're going on a search party," ze ordered. "Airhead, take the skies. Nonbenders with benders, shoot up if you see her. Aunt Katara, stay here."
"That won't be necessary," Bolin said. "I'm feeling a lot of activity down near the cliffs. I'm going out on a limb and saying Korra's done something."
"Everyone, onto a sky bison!" ze called. "Move it, move it, move it!"
"You're staying here, Lin," Katara said firmly. "You're still healing."
Do not say "fuck that", do not say "fuck that", do not say "fuck that".
"I'm fine."
"You're staying."
"I'll keep you company," Mako offered. "Bolin?"
"Gotcha covered!" Bolin smiled cheerfully and turned to the rest of the group. "Move your asses, people! We have got a fucking Avatar to deal with and I am not holding anybody's hand! You miss that bison, you stay the fuck here. Move it, move it, move it!"
Everyone piled on quickly and flew away.
Traitors.
-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-
"So what's up, kid?"
"What'd'you–"
"My powers have only grown sharper in the last two years, don't hogbullshit me."
Mako was silent, aware of how horrible his story was. But did Mom not deserve to hear it? Had ze not shown time and again that ze would put zir sons first?
"Come on, Mako. Let it out." Ze looked so earnest. Mako played with his hands. After all of this, he really had no right to his secrets anymore.
"…I did something bad, and I don't know if I can fix it."
"What'd you do?" ze asked, zir tone free of judgement.
"It started when I was ten…."
-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-
Home, sweet home. Well, except for the looting.
(Thankfully, Chief had most of the family vaults hidden in the secret bunker, so their most important possessions were safe; Uncle Sokka's boomerang, Chief's meteor bracelets, Aunt Mai's necklace/poison container, two years worth of school work from the boys, that picture Kya had taken that one time she'd been in town of them passed out piled on the couch.)
(Lin told Kya ze'd destroyed it. Ze wasn't sure she believed zir.)
Mako and Bolin were upstairs sleeping. Korra and the airbenders were back on the island. Bumi was also asleep upstairs but ze would be kicking him out in an hour or so. Lin would be going up to rest soon zirself and ze didn't like sharing a bed. He really should go see his family, anyway.
And I should talk to mine.
Mako. What was ze meant to do about Mako? Well, first of all, he was grounded for the next two years; no sports, no new weapon techniques, no delegating any paperwork, and anything else ze could think of to tack on. Second of all, he was going to see a healer about fixing up his chi pathways. That damn mecha-tank could've killed him if the Avatar hadn't gotten to him so quickly, not with his body holding that electricity in. He still could've died – slower and with no cure – if he hadn't gotten it out when he did. He didn't have to bend – Lin didn't care, he could go his whole life not shooting fire (please, let him go at least six months not shooting fire, Lin had enough shit to deal with) – but he was fixing that shit. Lin was not going out from a heart attack worrying about that kid. Third of all….
Third of all, ze needed to admit ze already knew.
(What, did he really expect that the top detective of the Republic City Police Department was just going to take in two kids without researching them first? Ze ran them through every check ze had access to and several ze had to call favors for. Ze had known since the beginning that Mako was attached to the Equalists, even way back then when the police thought the terrorists were just a non-bending triad.)
Lin had known. Lin took them in.
Lin never asked.
Mako had wanted out. He had wanted to bury his past and move on and live a better life for his brother. Lin had respected that, had respected his decision, and had buried everything, too. Well, not buried, per se. Ze didn't hide or destroy any of the evidence. Ze simply… kept others from looking too closely into it. Ze was nothing like Chief.
(Ze was totally like Chief.)
(Ze was worse than Chief.)
(Ze became a fucking king to keep zir kids out of reach of persecution.)
(Ze was a hypocrite and Chief could never know.)
Where would they go from there? Keep it to themselves? Tell Bolin? Tell Wu?
Ok, not Wu. Wu was too young, too sheltered, and too prone to gossip.
(He never was able to learn the concept of keeping secrets, though ze had hope he would learn before he took the throne. This was another reason Lin refused to die from a heart attack any time soon.)
"Mom?" said a voice from the doorway. Lin looked up, setting down the family photo ze only vaguely remembered grabbing.
"Get back to sleep, Shirshu. We're out of here bright and early tomorrow."
"Do you hate me?" Mako wouldn't look at zir, only the carpet patterns over the marble floors. Lin didn't know what to do. Zir and Mako had never really been any good at the whole heart-to-heart thing. Spirits knew they tried – and it usually turned out fine if they were talking to other people – but when it was between the two of them, it always managed to fall flat, always turned into a report, an order, a joke.
"Because I'm making us leave early?" Like that.
"No, because…." But sometimes they made it work.
Lin patted the seat next to zir.
"Sit down, kid," ze said. "Let me tell you a story." Mako smiled, small and unsure, and curled up on the couch. Lin threw an arm around his shoulders and began;
"Once upon a time, many years ago, there lived a mother in constant fear for zir sons…."
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A/N: I struggled so hard with the ending. Still not completely satisfied with it. Might go back and edit some if I come up with a better idea.
I genuinely tried to keep Korra more central to the story, but lbr here, Mako kind of stole the show. Oops.
Yes, there is a bit of friends-with-benifits Linumi in this chapter. Sorry. They are my weakness. I headcanon that Lin is 3/3 with the Kataang kids, Kya and Bumi are filthy filthy flirts, and Lin doesn't put any emotional attachment to sex.
Originally I was gonna have that Lin took the crown because Mako was like "is it true princes can't get arrested" and Lin would go "what did you do" and Mako would say "I found the guy who killed my parents and he's kinda dead" and Lin would be like "you found him that way?" and then Lin would impede the police investigation until they left for Ba Sing Se, but I decided not to do another round of flashbacks at the end and took it out.
So instead, Lin ran checks on the kids to see if any triads would show up to get them for leaving or something and realized Mako was the Little Demon responsible for many many disappearances, drew all the attention away from any evidence, and lived in constant fear that someone else would put it together and he would wind up in prison, thus leading to zir taking the Earth Kingdom throne to keep him from ever facing persecution. Mako thinks ze took the throne because he begged to leave Republic City, but he's wrong.
Here's how the mecha-tank fucked up Mako: Mako, having been bloodbent to suppress his bending and then having been bloodbent again to remove poison, had very messed up chi pathways.
To borrow ATLA Guru Pathik's chakra imagery, imagine the chi as pools of water in a creek. The water is meant to flow all the way through. Amon went through and shrunk each pathway so the person couldn't access enough chi to bend. He did this very carefully and methodically so the chi could still flow all the way through in one complete line.
The second bloodbender, not having studied chi as extensively as Amon had, didn't know to keep the pathways open or even that they were there, focusing only on getting the poison out. They inadvertently damaged the existing flow by opening some pathways more and closing others completely, so that some pools stayed connected to each other and some were totally cut off, so there was no complete flow for the chi to make its way all the way through. Because of this, the electricity Mako got shot with got caught in the damaged pathways and had no way to leave, staying in the body and growing.
Korra unknowingly kept it under control with her constant healing sessions, but she didn't know what the problem was and couldn't get rid of the electricity. Then Mako, under extreme emotional duress from flashbacks of his parents being killed triggered by watching his mother being threatened, accidentally got the electricity out when his desperation pushed it through his chi pathways to save Lin. So he expelled the trapped energy, but his chi pathways are still majorly fucked up and Lin's going to make him see healers and spiritual leaders to get them back in working order because that shit cannot be healthy.
Anyway, WELCOME TO THE END! Thanks so much for reading all this way! Please comment/review/kudos/whatever site you're reading this on and let me know what you think!