Note: A bit late this week, but we're almost there. The Third Game is upon us. Enjoy if you can.

"Come on, Korra. Wake up."

When Korra opened her eyes, the first thing she saw was Lin standing over her, breathing a sigh of relief. It was the most rest she had gotten in days, yet she felt terribly ill and frail. She was back in that damn hospital, with its horrid, pristine white walls and annoyingly-symmetrical tiled ceiling. She tried to sit up, but Lin placed her hand on her shoulder, and pressed her into the mattress.

"Easy there, kid. No need to rush it."

Korra moved to shove Lin away, when she noticed that her hands had been wrapped tightly in bandages. Her mind was blank; all she could remember was the worst pain she had been in her entire life.

"What happened to me?"

"You were an idiot, that's what happened," Lin said, frustrated. "When we finally found you, you were passed out in a pool of blood. You're lucky that boy was there to call us. He probably saved your life."

"The boy?" Korra asked worriedly. "Is he alright?"

"He's recuperating," Lin said carefully. "His parents are understandably upset. But at least he's alive. At this point, it's better than most."

Korra clenched her hand into a fist. Though her fingers dug sharply into her wound, she barely felt them.

"Is it bad that I can't feel anything?"

"It could have been worse. Much worse," Lin stated. "The healers did what they could. The burn wasn't too bad. It'll leave a nasty scar, but you can cover it up pretty easily. But the other one… they said something about 'massive structural damage'. Aside from the fact that the most of the tendons and muscles have been severely torn up, you managed to puncture your ulnar artery. Being numb in a few fingers for the rest of your life is the best-case scenario. Frankly, it's a miracle that you didn't lose a hand."

Korra groaned, rolling her head in the soft pillow. "I didn't think it would be that bad."

"Well, that's what happens when you stick a power drill in your hand," Lin said forcefully. "Seriously, what the fuck were you thinking? You could have died."

"What I'm going through is nothing compared to what he's doing to her," Korra stated coldly.

"That doesn't mean you should start torturing yourself," Lin said defensively.

"It's almost over. There's only one game left."

"Korra, you can't go through with this," Lin begged. "First, you nearly get assaulted by every creep in Republic City, and then you start cutting into yourself like piece of meat. These games are destroying you. You have to stop this."

"I'll stop once Asami is safe."

"Asami wouldn't want you to do this to yourself."

"Asami was always too nice for her own good," Korra added, darkly.

"This is absurd," said Lin. "Honestly, what makes you think that Masaki is even going to uphold his end of the deal?"

"Because I don't really have a choice, do I?" Korra said with sudden viciousness. "Maybe he is going to kill her. Maybe this is all a giant waste of time. But all I know for certain is that he is going to kill her if I don't do something."

"Then do something useful, and tell us what's going on," Lin said. "Stop trying to do this all yourself, and let us help you." The irony of her request was not lost on either of them, but Lin was brutally sincere. She seemed genuinely hurt as she pleaded her case to the Avatar, not to the point of tears, but enough that, for the first time, she appeared truly vulnerable. How much did it hurt her, knowing what the people who could only be considered her family were going through?

But then, as if on cue, the phone rang, and her mind went elsewhere. Korra could not even react before Lin stormed angrily over to the wall, and yanked the phone off its receiver.

"This is Chief Lin Beifong," she stated with authority. "What do you want?"

Korra couldn't hear the voice on the end of the line, but judging how Lin shuddered and gritted her teeth at its sound, she had a very good idea who was calling.

"No, you can't speak with her," Lin instructed. "If you have something to say, then you're going to have to tell me."

"Lin, please," Korra begged. "Just give me the phone."

"Not happening," Lin responded with a growl. "Listen, Masaki Sugiyama. This game of yours ends right now. You are going to stop what you're doing, release the two hostages, and turn yourself in. Do I make myself perfectly clear?"

Korra strained her ears, but it was in vain. All she could do was watch as Lin's face morphed before her eyes, changing from rage, to defiance, to resentment, and then finally, to bitter acceptance. She held out the phone, and sighed, her head bowed in shame.

"Take the damn phone."

Korra forced herself onto her feet, and slogged over to the phone. Her broken hand moved automatically, going through the motions to which she had become so accustomed.

"What do you need me to do?" Korra asked, her voice lacking any emotion.

"Wow, that was quick," Masaki noted. "No protests? No begging? I'm impressed. I didn't think you would become so... willing, to put it lightly. All it took was a power drill to keep you in line."

"Just tell me where the last game is."

"Patience, Korra. Just think: In less than twenty-four hours, this will all be over. No more Hanzi Killer. No more deaths, and no more suffering. Can you feel it, the grand sense of finality to it all? I can. It's weird. I've been doing this for so long that I don't know what I'd do without it. What am I going to do after this is all finished? What will you do? Aw well. Such is life, I suppose. Are you ready to end this?"

Korra answered without hesitation. "Yes."

"Then all you have to do is go back to the warehouse where the first game took place at exactly four o'clock in the afternoon. One game to go, and believe me… this one's to die for."

Korra snapped to attention. What did he want with her? He hung up the phone before she had the chance to ask. Yet, something felt off. Deep in her stomach, something horrible began to churn, and she felt a cold shadow wash over her, as if she had been touched by an otherworldly presence. A voice called to her in the back of her mind, a dark, violated piece of herself that she did not know existed. Its slithering tongue spoke directly to her, teasing her.

"You know exactly what he wants," it taunted her. "You don't want to accept it, but you know it's right, don't you, Korra?"

"Korra? Hey, Korra!" Lin called worriedly. Korra snapped to attention, having stood motionless for seconds with the phone clutched tightly in her sensationless fingers. "What did he tell you?"

Korra opened her mouth to speak, but she could not believe the words that were forming inside of it.

"I… I think…" Korra said shakily, horror in every word, "I think that he's going to make me kill myself."

"What?" Lin said in disbelief.

"That's the third game," Korra said, growing more confident in her assertion. "The last two games were about sacrifice, what I would give up to save Asami. First, I had to give up my pride, and then my body. Every game escalates, until finally, I have to give up my life in exchange for hers. That's how he gets his revenge against me. He knows that he could never kill me on his own—he's nowhere near strong enough to do that—so he's making me do it myself."

"That can't be right." Lin shook her head, staunch in her refusal. "You must have misunderstood him. He could never trust you to do that. It'd be too much of a gamble."

"Maybe it wouldn't be."

Mako stood in the doorway, arms stuck in their casts, his sullen face transfixed on Korra's bandages. Lin groaned.

"Jeez, Mako. I forgot you were waiting outside. Sorry about that."

"Don't mention it," Mako said solemnly. "Besides, I think we have more important things to be worried about."

"What did you mean by that?" asked Korra. "Do you really think he's ask that of me?"

"Well, its's not impossible," Mako claimed. "Chief, I'm not sure if you remember this, but we've seen something this before in the investigation. Right after Kuzo's death, his son walked into the middle of the street, and killed himself, holding a threatening letter in his hand. I always knew something was wrong with that, but if Korra is correct, and that is Masaki's goal, then it all makes sense. That man didn't want to die. I saw it with my own two eyes. He marched to his death become someone forced him to. He was a trial for this moment. Masaki was testing to find out whether someone would be willing to kill themselves for somebody they loved, and it looks like he got the answer he was hoping for."

"Dammit," Lin cursed, pacing around the room, trying to think of some way out of the twisted nightmare in which she found herself trapped. "You're saying that there is a possibility that's what he's after?"

Mako nodded. Lin resisted the urge to punch straight through the wall. Korra sat down on the bed, utterly defeated. The truth was starting to fully set in. It did not matter if she humiliated herself in public, or permanently scarred her hands. The truth was that she was living off borrowed time. Chances were that she would never get the wedding of her dreams. She would never get to have children. It was likely that she was never going to see Asami again. And as that truth plunged into her chest like a steel dagger, the last of her emotions drained out of her, seeping like blood from an open wound.

"Okay, Korra," Lin said, trying to regain her composure, "we need to think very carefully about what we are going to do."

"Think carefully?" Korra asked, stunned. "What are you talking about? Of course, I'm going through with it."

"No, you are not," Lin ordered sternly, slamming her foot down. "You are going to stay right here in this hospital bed and wait until we figure out how to solve this."

"There isn't any time," Korra said, her voice raw from lack of rest. "He is going to kill her if I don't do what he says."

"You don't know that," Lin repeated passionately. "For all you know, he's going to kill her regardless of what you do. The last thing we need is for both of you to end up dead for nothing."

"So what am I supposed to do? Do nothing and let her die?"

"I'm saying you should think about this. If you go through with this, the only thing we know for certain is that you die. That is something that I am not going to let happen under any circumstances. If the option is between saving one of you—"

Lin stopped herself, but she had already said too much. Korra stared at her, wide-eyed, visibly shaking with anger and disbelief.

"You…" Korra muttered, petrified. "You're actually talking about sacrificing Asami to save me, aren't you?"

"That's not what I meant."

"That's precisely what you meant," Korra declared. "You think that her life isn't as valuable as mine."

"I'm being practical," Lin stated, seething with contempt for herself. "We are seriously talking about the possibility of having to choose which one of you to save. That is something far beyond anything else we've ever had to deal with. When you're in my line of work, you can't your emotions get in the way of logic. So, we should think clearly. We cannot trust that boy to keep up his end of the deal. He is unpredictable, and worse than that, he is cruel. I don't see anything that makes me think he can be trusted. There is a very good chance that the moment you die, he will kill Asami regardless, and go into hiding. You may not like it, but that's the reality of the situation. Therefore, based on that reality, I cannot approve of you doing anything without being able to guarantee Asami's safety. I'm sorry, but that's the way it is."

Korra groaned, and turned towards Mako, who had tried his best to remain silent.

"What about you?" she asked intensely. "Do you think Asami deserves to die?"

Mako sighed. "Korra, you know how much I care about Asami. We all do. But… being blackmailed into suicide? I don't think you should go through with this."

"Are you insane?" Korra shouted. "This is Asami we're talking about! She's our friend, and we need to help her!"

"You're my friend, too!" Mako shouted back. "I don't want anyone to die! But if you die, then you're giving Masaki exactly what he wants."

"I don't care about what he wants!" Korra proclaimed, rising to her feet. "Asami is in danger because of me. She got her fucking finger cut off because of me. I refuse to let her suffer anymore because of something that I did. She is my fucking everything. And if I have the chance to save her life, I'm going to do it, no matter what the cost may be. If you have a problem with that—both of you—then you can just wait around like a bunch of cowards, knowing that the death of an innocent human being lies squarely on you."

"Korra, you aren't thinking straight," Lin said desperately.

Korra turned towards her, narrowing her bloodshot eyes. "I'm thinking perfectly fine. Now, get out of my room. I need some time alone."

"Korra—"

"Get out!" Korra demanded.

Mako and Lin paused for a moment and exchanged nervous glances, but eventually, they did leave as requested. Korra shut the door forcefully behind them, and then crawled into her bed. The shadow of death still held her, forming a thick coating over her skin. She was to tired that she could not sleep. She had never felt so crushingly alone before. She had no idea what she was going to do. Part of wanted to cry; another wanted to scream. However, another voice spoke to her, calm and collected, speaking buried from within her head.

"Korra, you can't do this."

Korra sprang back to life. The voice that spoke was not her own. Instead, it was an entity entirely separate from her, a being that spoke with the authority and wisdom from living for millennia. It was a voice that she had not heard from in years, which only spoke whenever a matter serious enough to threaten its existence arose. As it echoed endlessly in her head, Korra gripped the sheets on the bed, waiting anxiously for what it had to say next.

"What are you doing here, Raava?" Korra asked.

"I am a part of you," replied the powerful spirit. "I hear everything you hear. I feel everything you feel. I do not like what I find."

"I don't need your opinion," Korra retorted. "This is my decision to make."

"No, it is not. As long as we share a connection, no decision is ever yours to make alone. It is imperative that you listen to what I am about to tell you, and listen well: You cannot—no matter what occurs—sacrifice yourself for that woman."

"Asami is not just a woman," Korra said spitefully. "You feel what I feel, right? Then you know how much I care about her."

"I know that you think you love her. I also understand that human emotions are fragile and complicated. You cannot afford to think about matters such as life and death with such subjectivity."

"You sound like Lin."

"You would be wise to listen to your elder. She can see the bigger picture."

"And what is the bigger picture?" asked Korra, taking offense. "The way I see it, I have a duty to save as many people as possible. That's what being the Avatar means. If someone is in trouble, it's my responsibility to rescue them, regardless of the consequences."

"Unless saving one life puts others at risk," Raava corrected. "If you die, then the Avatar cycle will start anew. The world will be left without protection until the new Avatar can master the four elements, which could take decades. Without the Avatar, everyone, including Asami, will be in grave danger."

"There isn't any danger. We have more people protecting us than we've ever had in the past. Plus, we're in times of peace."

"Peace never lasts. The one simple truth that I have learned over ten thousand years is that darkness will always find a way to fight back against the light. The last several global conflicts occurred over the course of a few years. Kuvira rose to power within months. The Red Lotus created mass anarchy in a few weeks. It only took a single night for Fire Lord Sozin to drive the airbenders to near-extinction. We cannot risk leaving the world defenseless until a new Avatar is ready. You have a duty to protect creatures. You must not throw that away for one measly human."

"Don't talk about her like that!" Korra sneered. "She is Asami Sato. I love her. I don't care about the rest of the world. Nothing else matters if I can't have her."

"You may not like what I have to say, but deep down, you know I am correct. Saving Asami is too much of a risk. The best thing to do is—"

"Don't say it," Korra begged, distraught. "Please, just don't say it. I can't… I can't do this… without her."

"Yes, you can," Raava assured her. "I know how hard this must be for you, but you have to believe me when I tell you that everything will be okay. Her death will not be the end of the world."

"My life is nothing without her…"

"Then, you will create a new life," Raava said with surprising tenderness. "You forget that I have been studying human behavior all my life. They are fascinated with the fabricated concept of 'true love'. They believe that when a loved one dies, it is somehow the end of everything they know. Yet, as proven time and time again, they are capable of much more. I have witnessed it countless times, many in past Avatars. Yes, you will struggle with her passing. You will mourn her. You will grieve. But, with the passage of time, you will recover. It may take months, or even years, but eventually, you will accept what has happened, and you will move on. You will find somebody new, somebody who will make you feel as special as she did, perhaps even more so. You will love that person with everything you have, and Asami will fade from your mind, until she is nothing more than a fragment of an older, forgotten, less-perfect life. Nothing more. It will be difficult for you, yes, but I know that, ultimately, you will move on."

"I don't want to move on," Korra said weakly, unable to find the strength to fight back. "I want her."

"We don't always get what we want," Raava said knowingly. "Korra, despite what I said earlier, your fate is in your hands. In the end, I cannot stop you from going through with this. But I beg you to reconsider what I feel would be a terrible mistake. Asami would understand that the world needs you more than she does. Please, don't do something you're going to regret."

Korra thought about her answer very carefully. "Raava," she said slowly, "I want you to know… I appreciate everything you've done for me."

"That almost sounds like a goodbye," Raava added somberly.

Korra threw her head into her pillow, and stared emptily at the familiar tiled ceiling.

"It is."

Korra walked out of the hospital with ease. The nurses did not dare try to stop her. Lin had left to attend to police matters. Mako had been relegated to his room. She considered stopping in to say her farewell, but thought better of it. If he knew what she was up to, he might have tried to stop her. Looking at him would have been too painful, anyway. She pushed open the main entrance, and began to walk, slow and steady, to the pier.

The hike took over an hour, but she mentally adjusted for the time beforehand. Still, she was not in any rush. She thought of many things was she walked casually to the final game, her bandaged hands stuffed gently in her pockets. She thought of the small birthday party her mother threw for her when she was eight, the taste of moist cake smacking against her lips, the mystery behind each unopened present, the buried loneliness of knowing that all the other guests were White Lotus operatives. She thought of the first time she rode Naga in the snow, the icy chill of the wind on her back, the hardened leather gripped tightly in her fingers, the soft fur underneath her as she raced across he frozen tundra. She thought of losing her innocence to Asami beneath the rush of a waterfall, the warm touch of smooth flesh against smooth flesh, the delighted moans echoing in the darkness, the nervous laughs and intense pleasure following every loving act of ecstasy.

Korra thought of the legacy she left behind. She thought of the re-opening of the Spirit Portals, a dawning of a new age where spirits and humans could travel across worlds as they pleased. She thought of restoring balance to the Earth Kingdom, of defeating the Red Lotus, of vanquishing Amon, of all her triumphs and victories. She thought of her parent's smiling faces, the warmth of her bed, the company of her friends, the joy of laughter, the agony of defeat, the harshness of life, and how she would never get to experience any of them ever again.

Korra never panicked. She was not afraid. In fact, she barely felt a thing as she approached the warehouse. She felt as if she was watching herself move forward from afar, out of her own control. She was alone with nothing but the dying autumn sun, and her own, distant thoughts. As the day turned to evening, she walked up the side door of the warehouse, and read the new message scribbled on its frame.

Will You Sacrifice Yourself?

She gently pushed open the door, and stepped inside. The warehouse was pitch black, and she could not see more than two feet in front of her face. To her side, a phone rang in the darkness. Using her memory, she located it, and answered.

"Are you ready for this, Korra?" Masaki asked eagerly.

Korra closed her eyes, and nodded with acceptance. "I'm ready, Masaki. I'm ready to die."

"I hoped you would feel that way, Korra," he said happily. But then, he paused, and let loose a wild grin. "The thing is, I've been thinking a lot over the past few days, and I realized… that wouldn't be very exciting now, would it?"

Suddenly, lights flooded the room from above, temporarily blinding her. When Korra opened her eyes, she stared in shock at the center of the room. A massive glass tank stood before her, three meters tall, with two large, grey pipes connected to it from either side, wrapping around the walls of the warehouse and tunneling through the walls into the waterway. Lee Satori, the twelve-year-old son of a former Equalist, sat in the middle of the tank, a heavy chain wrapped around his ankle. Water rapidly flooded from the pipes and into the tank, quickly rising around him. As Korra watched on in terror, Masaki laughed gleefully.

"This is the final game, Korra. Your final test to save the woman you love. All you have to do to win," he proclaimed, "is watch the boy drown."