Prompt #29 - Seeing Red from 100makorrathemes on tumblr.
Word Count: 425
A/N: Angst, because I don't think I've done that yet for this challenge. Any critiques?
He'd thought she was fine before he saw all the blood.
"Oh spirits, oh-" Mako choked on his words as his breath caught. His limbs felt frozen in place where he stood, and he could suddenly hear with clarity every beat of his heart in his ears, pounding against his brain and ticking the seconds by as the world slowed around him and faded to black, Korra at the center of the pool of red.
There was so much blood.
If she hadn't abruptly shuddered, he didn't know how much longer he would have stood there, just staring. But the slight motion spurred him into action, stumbling foot over foot until he collapsed by her side, pants immediately soaking in the red, hands fluttering over her body as they looked for somewhere to rest. There were so many cuts, he couldn't tell where to start.
"Ko- Korra, can you- spirits, Bolin!" he yelled in a hoarse voice over his shoulder, yanking his scarf off and pressing it down on her stomach, where most of the blood was flowing freely.
Her eyes were glazed over and staring up at the ceiling, and he tried to get her attention.
"Korra! Stay with me, look at me. Can you - what happened, how-"
Mako could barely get the words out. His mouth was drier than he could ever remember it being, and it felt like there was a band around his chest, squeezing the air out of him and crushing his ribs. He shook her by the shoulders roughly when her eyes began to flutter shut, panic seizing him.
"Stay with me Korra!"
He kept shaking until she came to again, grimacing slightly and moaning as she shifted in his arms, but her eyes still wouldn't open and that couldn't be a good sign (could it?), and it was all he could do not to sob because he kept pressing but the blood wasn't stopping and his scarf was a shade of red it had never been before.
And suddenly footsteps were pounding up behind him, alerting him to the others finally arriving, and his surroundings became a flurry of activity as Tenzin cupped her cheek in his hand and Lin began pulling Korra's shirt off and Bolin and Asami knelt next to him, each grabbing tight to an arm as he was pushed out of the way to make room for the healers that surrounded her, glowing water held at the ready and glaring in contrast to the red that looked as though it would never stop flowing.