She awakens with a start as her hair is plastered to her face.
She had another dream, a nightmare, of Amon.
"It was just a dream." She murmurs to herself in reassurance but it does nothing to calm her nerves.
Realizing she can't get back to sleep, she stands up from the bed and slips her shoes on.
Walking alone in the halls of the air temple in the dark doesn't usually faze her but something about her dream just makes her cautious and paranoid.
She manages to reach her training pavilion.
She starts to maneuver around the pavilion, using light movements, practicing her airbending.
This was the thing she usually did after a nightmare or a dream. But tonight, it just didn't work.
She falls to the ground as tears well up in her eyes. Everything. Everyone expected everything from her. She just couldn't bear it. The weight of the world. It started to become so heavy. Everything was just so scary, frightening. What if she couldn't bring balance? What if the weight was just too heavy that she would just get crushed?
She wipes her tears and decides to retire to her room.
She realized, Tenzin was the only one who actually saw her break down. Break down and cry like a fragile child. But Tenzin couldn't help her now. He was busy, too busy with the whole war with the equalists. She really was on her own this time.
She bumps into a hard surface. Looking up, she meets green eyes that stare at her in worry.
"Korra?" Bolin asks, his voice laced with worry for the avatar.
"B-Bolin. Hey." She manages to choke out.
He puts his hand on her shoulder. "Are you all right?"
"I'm fi-" She stops herself. "No, I'm not fine."
Just like that, her dam breaks and all self restraint snaps. She falls to her knees and tears flow freely down her cheeks. "I'm not fine!"
Bolin's eyes widen, he's never seen her in such a state. He sits next to her and hugs her tightly as she sobs.
"E-everything is just so… Everyone expects so much of me!" She sobs even harder, burying her face in his shirt. "I feel so… The burden, it's just too much! I-I… What if I can't do this? What if I can't bring balance to the world!"
"Shush, it's all going to work out in the end. You will bring balance. I know it." He pats her back soothingly as he murmurs in her ear.
"B-but… How can I? I just can't take it anymore!" She clutches his shirt, the desperation in her voice louder. "I can't take it. I-I feel so helpless! I couldn't do anything to save Tahno, to save myself when Amon ambushed me! I can't…" her next words are lost in a mix of sobs.
"Korra, you're going to be alright. You're the greatest girl I've ever met. You can do it." He rubs her back. Her sobs turn into whimpers and she just holds onto him, grateful that someone was there for her, even if she couldn't return anything back to the person.
In his room, Mako buries his head in his hands, realizing from what he's heard outside his door, all he's done to Korra. He was a jerk. A big guilty jerk.
How could he do this to her? Accuse her of being jealous when the most she's got on her mind is the good of the people? How could he just leave her alone like that?
"After everything she's been through… she's going to need you." She's been through much too, but Asami is his girlfriend, he tries to convince himself.
But Korra is his friend. Yeah, and some friend he was to her. Even threatening to destroy their friendship. But even after all that, she still offered her support to them, gave them a new home and everything yet she had nothing, no one.
Yes, she had a family, a house, food to eat. But she didn't have the support it takes to be the avatar.
Avatar Aang had Katara, Toph, Sokka and even Firelord Zuko, they all understood the great burden. Korra, he was ashamed of himself, he wasn't there for her, but, he had to be there for Asami too, didn't he?
He clenches his fists. He has to be there for Asami, she's his girlfriend but he has to be there for Korra too.
He unclenches his fists. Bolin, his brother, had always been there for her, from the start. He knew how to make her laugh, to make her smile. Bolin, he thought, he could be there for her, and he could just watch and support her from the sidelines, and maybe, when Asami had gotten herself together, he could be there for her too.