Title: In the Wind
Prompt: Desperation
Pairings: Heavily implied Makorra, very faint Masami
Disclaimer: I don't own this franchise, nor am I affiliated with Nick or LoK's creators.
She was gone. No matter how many times he rolled the thought over in his mind, Mako couldn't force it to settle. Korra was missing. Abducted. Everything seemed surreal as his mind spun at the implications—at the possibilities.
Chief Bei Fong was muttering something about "lovers" and Asami was somewhere behind him, but all Mako could think was that somewhere Korra was afraid and alone. It made an instinct that his brain usually reserved for Bolin flare with vengeance and desperation.
Because she was too brave to sit pretty while Amon monologued to her. She was all rough edges and grit and determination. He could almost see the fire rippling from her fingers, see Amon bending her back until it strained and pressing that damned hand to her brow.
Her blue, blue eyes would go wide and glaze over in terror and pain and she'd probably shout in that distinct, throaty voice of hers, but it wouldn't be commanding like it was supposed to be. That monster would steal her bending and—his thoughts began to run together in a cruel loop.
He was running.
Mako realized this in a sort of peripheral sense, the same way he knew the rest of their group was behind him and that he really shouldn't be charging around in an Equalist base. But his cool-under-pressure attitude was in the wind.
So it isn't until, hours later, when he hears Naga's howl that he begins to feel anything less than panic. Hanging over the side of the skybison's saddle, he catches sight of her. She's ragged and he can't tell at this distance rather or not she's breathing.
They land, he knows logically, but he doesn't remember any of it. There's just the impression that are too many people surrounding her, asking too many questions. Before he's even formed the thought, he's barking at them to stand back. That dark corner of his mind that lends him lightning and makes protecting Bolin an absolute priority is talking, now.
Clearly he isn't thinking straight, because as he gathers Korra to himself, he belatedly realizes that he pushed aside Chief Bei Fong to get to her. But that thought is fleeting too. All that he can see is her face, scraped and pale under her complexion.
Settling her against the softest corner of the saddle that he can find, Mako finally draws a whole breath. She's smiling at him, or trying to, and he realizes the hand brushing her hair back is his and that he's saying and doing things that Bolin is absolutely going to tease him for later. But it doesn't matter. All he can focus on are her eyes and the hair fallen around them.
She's safe. Korra is safe and Mako can breathe again.