Serendipity

Hey guys, so, like I promised, I'm giving this story another shot. After this chapter, I'll decide from here if it should be continued. But here it is! Hope you like it :)

Please keep in mind that these are snippets of Korra and Mako's time together. It won't be too detailed, but should give a general feel of their relationship.

Mako is two years older than Korra in my story. And the first age italics is Mako and the latter is Korra's.

Chapter One

Eternity: infinite or unending time; timelessness

"What we do for ourselves dies with us. What we do for others and the world, remains and is immortal" ~Albert Pike

Eight and Six

Being with Korra was difficult for Mako. She was all over the place all the time. Sometimes Mako wondered if things would be easier if he just put a leash around her neck.

But dealing with her high energy wasn't the difficult part.

It was her tendency to be overly affectionate. Korra was like a newly hatched duckling that imprinted on Mako, following him around everywhere he went. His peers teased him often because of her, but during the night, when the two were all alone in the dark, she would kiss his cheek and whisper how thankful she was for him. And that would make everything okay again.

~:*:~

Ten and Eight

Mako arrived at the abandoned warehouse only to be told that Korra had gone out to look for him. Officers had held him up before he made a clean last minute getaway with the help of his partner.

At the news, Mako shoved Shady Shin into the nearest wall, his fist ready to beat the boy he had trusted to watch over Korra. The boys around them watched with widened eyes. They weren't supposed to hit other boys in the group.

"Why did you let her go?" Mako shouted, fighting to keep his temper leveled.

"I didn't," was the waterbender's trembling reply. "She said she needed to find you."

Worry filled Mako's expression as he dropped Shady Shin by the collar and ran out of the warehouse in search of the little girl who had come to mean the world to him. He had never run faster than that day, pushing everyone who got in his way, wiping drops of both rain and tears from his eyes.

When he'd found her sitting by the dock, pure elation washed over his features. He couldn't remember the last time he was this happy.

His heart was hammering wildly in his chest as he surged forward to wrap Korra in his arms once again. He was crying into her neck when she'd told him how breathless he was. And he was smiling against her warm skin, hugging her tighter, when he'd realized that he couldn't breathe without her.

~:*:~

Twelve and Ten

A few days before Korra's tenth birthday, Mako had taken her to a petting zoo after she'd constantly pestered him about seeing a Tiger Seal. While she was hopping all over the place with pure excitement, he was pinching the bridge of his nose, repeatedly reminding himself that it was her birthday in a few days and that he needed to be nice . . . no matter how smelly the animals were.

He almost burned the place down when a boarcupine waddled in front of him and left a huge present by his feet. His patience dwindled, hating being surrounded by little kids who were laughing happily with their parents.

Before he knew it, Korra was nowhere in sight and he had that feeling in his chest again.

"Mako!" he heard her yell. The firebender swiveled around and he ran to her voice, praying to the Spirits that nothing bad had happened to her.

When he found her, she was kneeling on the ground with a small, white puppy in her hands. "It's a polar bear dog!" she stated cheerfully. "They have these in the South Pole, Mako!"

But he was so angry with her then that he grabbed her by the wrist and dragged her out of the petting zoo, yelling at her the entire way back home. When they got to the warehouse, he'd noticed the dried tears on her cheeks, but he didn't say anything—didn't apologize.

On the day of Korra's birthday, Mako found her on the floor of their room, staring out the window. He could see her reflection on the glass and knew immediately that she had been crying again. It saddened him to see her cry. He didn't think it was a good look for her.

"Korra," he said from the doorway.

She wiped her eyes with her sleeves before turning to face him. "I wiped the floors like you asked me to, Mako. I did everything you asked . . . so please stop being angry. I said I was sorry," she whimpered, running into his arms.

"Wait here," he ordered, peeling her small body off of his own.

Thinking that her apology had not been accepted and that he was still angry, Korra burst into tears as she sank to the floor. Seconds later, the door opened again, and a small puppy ran into the room. It barked at Korra briefly before it resorted to chewing on her boots. In no time, giggles filled the room, and Mako, who was watching quietly from the doorway, believed that no other sound could compare to it.

~:*:~

Fourteen and Twelve

Now just because Mako had practically raised Korra, it didn't mean that he loved her. He'd only known love so briefly that he was sure there was no way he could possibly love Korra.

Later that week, some cops had beaten him so badly that his face was barely recognizable. He avoided everyone for days, covering his face with all sorts of things, from his scarf to paper bags. This of course, annoyed Korra since she'd constantly told him that she wouldn't care what he looked like. She was so infuriated, that one day, she ripped the brown paper bag from his head and forced him to look at her.

She gasped and covered her mouth with both hands, and Mako looked away, ashamed of his appearance. She had then closed the door to their room and got Mako to sit on their bed with her. Pulling water from the basin underneath them, she then brought it to his face and watched as the water glowed brightly, healing his cuts and bruises.

"I'm only doing this because you won't even look at me anymore," she told him softly. "But I could care less what you look like, Mako."

He grabbed her hand when she got to the scar right above his eye. "Leave it," he said briskly, trusting in her confession.

Korra smiled, "Here, let me do it on the other one so it doesn't look too weird. It might sting a little," she warned. She waited for his nod of approval before quickly slicing his face right above his other eye with the precision of her waterbending. She cleaned the blood with water before closing up the wound, leaving a scar on his right eyebrow that matched the one on his left.

And Mako had been left dumbstruck when she had kissed the scar before quietly continuing to heal the rest of his body.

He didn't remember what love felt like, but he was sure that whatever he felt for Korra was pretty close.

~:*:~

Sixteen and Fourteen

It happened on a Tuesday evening when Mako was out late on a supply run, leaving Korra alone in their room. He had told her that he would be out past her curfew and that she shouldn't wait out for him. Of course, Korra did wait for him, but soon exhaustion got the better of her and she was falling asleep.

Kai, a waterbender who was four years older than Korra, snuck into the unlocked room and closed the door behind him. He took in the sight of the young brunette sleeping on the bed, before running his fingers down her arm, dragging it past her torso all the way to her bare thighs. She moaned Mako's name in her sleep, thinking that he'd come to say goodnight, but when her eyes fluttered open and she didn't see Mako's golden eyes staring back at her, she screamed.

The male waterbender covered her mouth as he climbed on top of her, his jean clad knees roughly pushing her legs apart. Korra screamed into his hand, tears streaming down her cheeks, but he ignored them and continued his assault on her body, not caring enough to think of the consequences.

And when the door flew open and an angry firebender stood on the other side, Kai soon regretted his futile impulse.

Blasts of fire were thrown in his direction and he countered them all with water that he pulled from a basin. Due to having two years of training over Mako, Kai's moves were faster and his bending more powerful. He got a few good hits at Mako before other boys overheard their fight and prevented him from doing any more harm to the fallen bender.

Mako yelled at everyone to get out of the room, his shoulders quivering as he pushed himself off the ground, stumbling over to the bed and pulling Korra into a hug. He let her cry into his chest until she ran out of tears, hiccupping softly as they sat in silence.

~:*:~

Eighteen and Sixteen

On Mako's eighteenth birthday, he was brought down by a little metal bullet. It pierced straight through his chest and his vision was dimming. He wondered if Bolin saw the same things he did right before he died. He was ready to leave the world and join his brother when a voice called to him in his darkness.

"Mako," he could hear someone crying, "don't do this to me. You can't leave me yet. You promised me! You promised me dammit! Don't give up. Please."

With his remaining energy, he forced his eyes to open and he blinked up at the woman who held his head on her lap. He had made a promise to her a few years ago, when she was still a little girl, telling her that he'd always be there to protect her—that even though he no longer had a brother to live for, he would live for her.

"You said you would stay with me—"

"For an eternity," he breathed, finishing her sentence and giving her one last smile before slipping into long awaited darkness . . .

So I ended it here because I thought it was a perfect place to stop.

If I were to discontinue this story, it could just end here with Mako dying. But if the story were continued, the next chapter would resume from where it left off and Korra's identity as the Avatar would be revealed when she bends with a different element, or something like that, and then the action starts blah blah blah lol.

So what do you guys think?

Should I continue or just leave it off with Mako dying in Korra's arms?