"Now listen you bending scum, you are a very important person in the avatar's life, she even has strong feelings for you, so you're going to do what I say. When she wakes up, I'm going to take your bending away, and make sure she sees it. That will bring her off the edge and push her into the avatar state. Once she is in that state, she will be most vulnerable, and that is when I will kill her, thus ending the avatar forever. Now you are the trigger to this plan but I can trigger this in a multitude of ways, which is why if you fight back, I'll kill you. If you rebel against me, I'll kill you. If you tell her this plan, I'll kill you. If you do anything other then what I said in the beginning, I'll kill you." The man with a mask, Amon, commanded as he held Mako by his face as his legs still were still on the floor. Amon pushed him back down to the ground and turned away.
Mako stood there, filled with fear, and tried to examine his surroundings. He was in a dark, wide open room. No lights or anything, just a room. He noticed Korra was beside him, still unconscious. He moved closer to her and stroked her hair. He moved his head down closer to hers and whispered into her ear.
"Korra, you have to listen to me. Stay asleep, save yourself for as long as you can. Don't worry about me, I'll be fine. You are more important, if I die, that's it, but if you die, the entire Avatar dies. Think about the bigger picture; don't try to save me, save yourself, save the Avatar. Go into the spirit world and find a way to get yourself out of this. I-I love you Korra, and I wish I wasn't as much of an idiot as I am to realize that. I wish I had told you sooner, but I didn't know the words, and then Asami got involved and things just got… complicated. I know that you are afraid to lose me, but you'll be fine without me, I know it. You are strong and independent, you don't need me. You will move on in life and find someone better for you, someone who isn't a jerk and blames you for doing the right thing. I love you Korra, and I always have." He said to her unconscious body. He curled up next to her and breather her essence in. he believed that these would be the last moments they would spend together, because he wouldn't give up without a fight.
Mako was gone. Korra awoke, slowly, from her sleep. It took her a minute to notice her surroundings. The floor was cold and the place was dark. She remembered being with Mako before her sleep, but she wondered where he was. She looked around the room as she gained consciousness. Suddenly a light in the middle of the room light up. Amon stood there and called for Korra's attention; she turned. Then, all of a sudden, two equalists pushed a tied up man with a rope in this mouth into the light next to Amon. He fell to the ground. It took her a second to realize but that man was Mako. Amon has Mako.
"Amon, let him go! This isn't his battle!" She yelled out to him as she stood up.
"Oh but it is." He replied. "He is a bender, fire I presume. This cause of mine is to get rid of all benders, and create an equal society against the tyranny of the bending aristocrats. This includes him, young avatar. I'm going to take his bending away now."
"You touch him, I'll kill you!" she yelled as she moved closer to him.
Amon proceeded to move his hand to Mako's forehead. Mako's eyes fell in grief; he knew what would happen next. The closer and closer his hand got, Korra got angrier. Amon's finger touched his head. Korra grew in rage. Right before Mako's bending could be taken away, Amon's hand flew out of his control and left Mako's head. Both men looked to Korra in shock. Her arm was stuck out at them, with her handing bending the water right inside of Amon, the water in his blood.
"Oh, Amon you have a lot to learn. You should know not to mess with a waterbender on a full moon. Mater Katara might not like this skill but she still taught it to me just in case I needed it. Yes, she taught me how to bend the blood inside your veins." She grinned.
She moved closer to him. Mako laid there watching as he tried to spit out the rope in his mouth. As Korra got closer, he finally was able to speak.
"Korra, no, don't attack! This is all a trap to get you into the avatar state and kill the avatar cycle! Run! Run, Korra, run! I'll be fine, go!" He yelled to her.
Briefly, she stood there in shock, but before she could react, Amon acted.
"Well I guess the cats out of the bag, and since threatening to take his bending away wont trigger you, maybe this will!" He turned to Mako and quickly pulled out a dagger. He stabbed Mako in his lower stomach. Mako screamed in pain.
"Nooo!" Korra yelled in agony. Her mind started to cloud up. Warm tears ran down her face. She saw Mako lying on the ground crying in pain, bleeding out. She saw Amon, 'that bastard Amon,' he did this to Mako and he was going to pay. Her chest started to hurt, all of her emotions starting raging in her mind. The world around her started to fog up with a bright light white light. She lost consciousness.
Mako laid there, slowly losing energy, as he watched her. She started to cry, but then all of a sudden her eyes shot open with a bright white light. She started to rise into the air, and started airbending. 'How could she be airbending?' He thought. She took the earth from the ground and bent that around her. Then she bent both fire and water and positioned them around her, also. She was bending all four elements at once. Troops of equalists started to walk closer to her, along with Amon. They started to shot electricity at her from below, but she blocked their attacks. He looked at her, and back at Amon. Amon was content. This must have been the avatar state he was talking about.
Weaker than ever, he tried to yell out to her "No." he said weakly, it sounded like a whisper. Suddenly he got strength, maybe adrenaline, or maybe persistence, possibly both. He stood up holding his wound with his left hand as he bent what fire he could at the equalists. This bought Korra some time. Some equalists turned around to fight him, and this break in their lines hurt their chances of success. Mako gave all he could and used up all the energy he had left. He shot down a few equalists, about ten, before he collapsed onto the floor.
Korra saw his weakened body on the floor; this only made her more aggressive.
"How dare you hurt the ones close to the avatar! You shall pay for this."Korra said with the voice off all avatars combined.
She created a massive tidal wave out of thin air and bent it at the equalists to her right, they were wiped out. From high above she breathed fire out of her mouth at the equalists to her right. The fire had such power, such immensity, that the equalists that weren't charred fled. All that was left was a few equalists and Amon. She shook the earth below them, creating rifts in the floor. The equalists fled but Amon tried to hold his ground.
"Amon, you will pay for the hurt and suffering you have caused to this city!" Korra said with the past avatars' voices.
She raised her hands and moved them into a twisting motion, and then a tornado appeared in the room. She moved it towards Amon. He tried to run, but the tornado was faster. It sucked Amon into its winds. He was flung out and he hit into a wall, knocking him out. She turned around in the air to finish him, but two equalists that had fled took him to safety. Even though it was over, Korra continued to cause havoc. The foundation of the building was shaking.
Mako called out to her from below. "Korra, come down. It's over; he's gone. You can stop this now. I'm fine, you're fine. We are safe."
She acknowledged him and slowly descended down to the ground next to Mako. She fell unconscious. Mako stroked her face, wiped her tears and moved the hair away from her face with his clean hand and slowly moved his head down to her face to kiss her. She slowly woke up, unaware of what happened. She asked Mako what had just happened.
"Amon took us captive and he tried to kill me. Then all of a sudden, your eyes light up, I think you triggered the avatar state, and you were bending all four elements, even air. You took out about a hundred or so equalists and you almost took out Amon, you knocked him out, but he fled before you could."
"Oh." She said weakly. She looked at Mako and looked at his lower abdomen. She saw a huge gash with blood everywhere. "Oh my, Mako, you're hurt!" she said concerning.
He looked down at the wound. "Oh yeah," he laughed. "Maybe I could use some of your special waterbending healing powers?"
"Oh yeah." She said in a hurry. She ripped off his shirt and bent water into a sphere and moved it to Mako's stomach. The water glowed a bright blue as it moved across the wound. The pain Mako was feeing receded. "You're going to have a scar there; I stopped the bleeding and patched up most of the wound. It should be good enough for us to get home, and then I can really heal you." She slowly stood up and held out a hand for Mako. She helped him get up and then turned around. Mako still stood there. "Come on let's get you home."
"Korra, wait." She turned around. "There is something I have to tell you." He paused. "Before, you told me that you never wanted to lose me, well I have to tell you that you don't have to worry. You will never lose me. I will always be there for you, and I'm sorry for ending our friendship as fast as I did and over a girl. I regretted every word of what I had said because about five seconds after I said it, I realized I didn't want to be without you. I will never leave you ever again. I don't know how to exactly say this, Korra, but I-"
She looked at him as he fumbled on his words. She felt something inside. She laughed "I love you too, Mako." She cut him off.
"I-I-I… you do?" He asked. She nodded. "I love you Korra, and don't forget that." He pulled her into a kiss. They both kissed each other. Her hands were around his neck while his arms were around her waist. After the kiss, they looked at each other smiling.
Korra smirked. "It took you long enough to finally enjoy my kisses." She joked.
They walked out of the building and into the city scene. The sun was just rising over the horizon. Mako and Korra, both wounded, walked hand and hand, for support and affection, back to Air Temple Island.