Katara was dying.

Korra's hands glowed, and the blue-lit water ran over Katara's stomach, up to her chest. Korra's eyes were closed as she tried to sense the damage, the very spot where Katara needed to be healed, but she couldn't see it. She couldn't see it because it was everywhere. It had come in and taken over Katara's body, taken over her limbs and lungs and life.

Katara had healed her so many times. All the cuts and scrapes and bruises and broken bones that she'd suffered during all her years of training… Katara had taken them away. So why couldn't Korra do this one thing for her?

She adjusted her position and moved her healing back down. Korra was biting her lip. She did this was she was scared, and she was terrified.

Terrified.

Korra felt a familiar presence. Her eyes flicked up, her hands still occupied, and she saw Mako leaning against the room's entrance, arms crossed, frown set. Before Korra could turn back, she felt a worn, shaking hand on her forearm.

"Stop," Katara said, voice hushed and pained. "It's time."

"But—"

"We've already said our goodbyes, Korra."

Korra shoulders fell, and her body tried to cave in on itself. They had. They'd already said goodbye. She was just being stubborn, and she knew it, too. Katara moved her hand down Korra's arm and grabbed her hand. Her grip was weak.

"Thank you for being here," she murmured. "I'm so glad I was able to have my family here for my passing."

Korra felt her throat constrict, and she gave Katara's hand a squeeze. None of Katara's children were able to make it in time. Korra and Mako had been in the southern region of the Earth Kingdom, so it was luck, really, luck that she could say goodbye to her other mother, the woman who'd guided her and picked her up so many times, for so many years.

She'd learned from the best.

She couldn't… no…

"Please, let me try again," Korra begged, already bending up some of the water from the bucket that sat at her feet. "I can save you! I can… I can!" Her voice cracked.

"No, Korra. It's time for me to cross over. I've been waiting a long time."

The water splashed back into the bucket.

Katara was so calm, despite the trembling hands and labored breaths. Despite the death creeping in and taking over, she was calm. She coughed then, coughed blood, and Korra took a rag and wordlessly wiped it from her chin.

Her own hands were shaking.

"I need to cross over. He's… waiting for me. He's been waiting… for me." Every time she spoke, her face constricted in pain. Her breaths between words were heavy and shallow all at once.

Korra blinked the blurriness from her sight, and she felt the tears run down her face. She pushed back a bit of hair from Katara's face and squeezed her hand once more.

She owed her so much.

"Thank you, Master Katara."

"No… thank… tha…"

Korra swore she could see Katara's breath leave, swore she could feel her soul flutter out of her body as she died. She knew that her own breath had left her body, that her own soul ached. But at the same time it didn't. There was a warmth, like a candle in a dark room, in the deepest corners of her spirit. There was joy inside her, hidden inside her.

Katara was gone.

Korra closed her eyes, and Katara's limp hand, her still warm hand, dropped from her hold. She breathed in, breathed out, and crumpled to the floor. The chair she'd been sitting on fell back behind her with a clatter. Her hands, her healer's hands, rested uselessly in her lap.

It was her first time… her first time losing someone that she loved. And it felt so foreign to her. Korra had always been able to stop anything she wanted to. Ruthless gang members, corrupted politicians… she'd run in fists flying and fire blazing, and she'd stop them. But no matter how hard she tried… she couldn't stop this. The realization hit Korra and constricted around her heart. It was the only thing she couldn't stop. She couldn't stop death; she couldn't stop time.

She just couldn't. Not for Katara, not for anyone.

"Korra…" Mako said from behind her. He'd been there the whole time, watching and waiting the whole time.

He knelt down at her side, arms wide. Her eyes were sad as she looked up at him, and she was flinging herself onto him then, because she couldn't do this alone. The crying began then, ripping out of her throat with a scream. It was like everything was changing, her world was collapsing and rebuilding itself all at once.

His arms were strong, like always, strong and warm and wonderful as he held her, pulling her into him. She sat in his lap, shaking with the sobs that racked her body, with the tears streaming down her cheeks, dripping down into her mouth, soaking his shirt, and he held her so hard. So hard.

"I'm here, Korra, I'm here. I'll always be here."

But he wouldn't, would he?

He wouldn't always be there.

Her fingers grabbed the back of his shirt, clinging to him, wanting him and needing him forever. But one day, he'd leave her. One day, she'd be left alone, alone like Katara, and one day Korra would be the one waiting, wishing for her own crossover into the spirit world.

It wasn't fair, she thought, that someone could find their soulmate and have them ripped away like that, like Aang had been ripped away from Katara. She'd seen her eyes whenever Katara had been reminded of her love, of her one and only. Korra had seen the wanting, the longing, the missing, the pain.

And it wasn't fair.

Mako would be taken from her one day, and Korra wouldn't be able to stop it.

"Mako," Korra mumbled against his shoulder. He stroked her hair. "I don't want to be left alone."

"I'm here," he repeated.

"…Which of us will die first?" she asked. There was a pause in his movements, brief and hesitant, and his hand rested on the back of her neck before starting up its soothing motion again.

"I don't know."

"It's scary, isn't it? Not knowing?"

She felt him nodding.

"I do know one thing, though," he said.

"What?"

"We can't change fate. We can't."

"I know… I know."

Mako put his hands on the sides of Korra's face then, wiping her cheeks with his thumbs. His eyes were full, full of sadness and tears. For Katara, for Korra, his soulmate.

"I love you so much."

The joy throbbed in her chest once more, trying to break through the pain and sadness and the fear, because they were finally together again. Finally together.

After so many years apart.

Korra took a deep breath, and stared into Mako's eyes. He was her soulmate. She knew. And the day would come when they had to part, when Korra would be left waiting. And it wasn't fair, it wasn't… but at least… at least she knew who'd be waiting for her on the other side.

"I love you, too."