"I don't like your plan," Korra said, her arms locked around Asami's waist.

Muscles shifted against Korra's chest and a sigh punctured the silence around them. Mako and Bolin, along with the others, had tactfully given the two some space on the main deck of Varrick's battleship.

Asami's right hand pressed harder against the base of Korra's skull. Her nails lightly scratched through the small hairs there. "A minute ago, you said it was a good plan." The teasing tone was stilted.

"It's the least suicidal one we could come up with, so…" There was no guarantee any of them would walk away from their invasion plan but Asami's idea to strike from above was their best shot at gaining the upper hand. If they weren't in peril, Korra would've even ventured to call the plan ingenious.

Asami's breath tickled against her ear. The sensation sent Korra's heart into a frenzy. Every little thing Asami did seemed to do that, though. Korra exhaled sharply and took in a lungful of chilly air. The thundering of her pulse in her ears almost drowned out what Asami was saying. "…you read the incoming report yourself. Your father and his fighters have Unalaq's forces scrambling back to the south pole. All we have to do is get, you, Tenzin, Bumi, and Kya into the Spirit Portal before midnight. Then, Mako, Bolin, and I will rendezvous with your dad's men and we'll guard the portal until you can seal it."

She made it sound so easy, like they were planning something as simple as a surprise party. Korra's bones felt heavy and every breath she took was laced with an intangible, yet pervasive heaviness, like she was inhaling water instead of air. She worried it was because her mind kept flashing to everything that could go wrong, that she was only seeing the darkness when she should be more optimistic.

I have Raava, the spirit of light, inside me, Korra reminded herself. As she did so, her limbs tingled; perhaps Raava's silent show of support. She could do this. She would do this. Gradually, she loosened her hold on Asami and edged away enough that they could look at each other.

Asami was so beautiful, even with the wind tangling her hair and the cold burning her cheeks and the stress lining her face. Korra leaned in and pressed her forehead against Asami's, smiling grimly as the green eyes before her widened in surprise. Their noses bumped together. Behind them came the whine of a metal door creaking open, followed by footsteps clomping across the deck. It was time.

Red lips parted to speak but Korra beat Asami to the punch. "I'm not going to say goodbye to you." The words blistered on her chapped lips. "We're going to win. I'm going to stop Unalaq and Vaatu and then I'm going to find you and kiss you so hard." Despite her courage, Korra blushed.

Asami's eyes softened and her lips twitched upward. "Even if we're in front of your parents?"

Right. If—no, when everything turned out okay, Korra would have to tell her parents about her soulmate. Her mother would be thrilled. Her father would ask when the wedding was. As mortifying as it would be, Korra looked forward to it, held on to the image of her standing in front of her parents, hand in hand with Asami. She had to make that dream a reality. Which meant she had to let Asami go. For now.

"Yeah, even then." Korra swore she saw Asami's cheeks darken a shade, making it harder to look away. Korra sighed and looked at their boots on the blue decking. "Be careful."

"You too, please." And then Asami's face crumbled, her eyes shined, her gloved hands pressed against Korra's cheeks, and her lips moved hard against Korra's.

Asami's mouth was frantic, desperate, and though Korra said she wouldn't say goodbye, it felt like Asami was. So Korra responded with softness and slowed down the kiss. When they parted seconds or minutes later—Korra could never tell, but it was never long enough—she was dizzy but resolute.

"All I have to do is close the portal and wait for Harmonic Convergence to pass, remember? I'll be okay in the Spirit World for a little while." Don't worry about me, worry about yourself. The last thing Korra wanted was to distract Asami right before she flew off in Varrick's plane and into enemy territory.

"Okay." The brittle smile that greeted her twisted Korra's insides around and she was wondering if it was her pain or Asami's she felt. "Korra, I…" Asami looked away and bit her lip, suddenly looking ashamed.

"What is it?" What did Asami want to say that made her hesitate so much? She pulled Asami closer until they could share air again but a cough startled them.

"Korra, Asami," Tenzin spluttered a few feet behind them, his face scarlet. "Tonraq's sent another message. His men are at the portal and keeping the Northerners fully distracted. Now's the time to make our move."

Both young women sighed, gave each other lingering looks, and parted. "This isn't goodbye, remember?" Korra said as Asami clambered up the side of Varrick's plane.

Once situated in the cockpit, Asami nodded, but wasn't smiling. "I'll see you in a few hours then." Her bottom lip quivered. "I'll be waiting for that kiss."

Korra blushed as Kya and Bumi snorted beside Tenzin. Mako and Bolin climbed up onto the wings of the plane and strapped in. Bolin's pallor was sickly, but he shot a grin at Korra as he clung to the metal supports around him. On the opposite side, his brother met Korra's gaze. He looked calm, determined.

"We'll look out for each other," Mako said. His eyes flickered to Asami and Korra understood the second unspoken meaning: we'll keep her safe.

Hopefully Korra's nod and expression conveyed her thanks.

Then, the engine fired up. The propeller picked up in rotation and the whole plane began to tremble as Asami guided it down the deck of the ship. Somehow, Varrick was able to put in an airstrip since the last time they'd been aboard, so it was easy for Asami and her friends to takeoff.

Korra airbent up into Oogi's saddle, where Tenzin, his siblings, and a swaddled, still unconscious Jinora sat. They'd drop Jinora off with Katara, then catch up with Asami and Tonraq. Hopefully there would be opening cleared by the time Oogi got them there.

Everything was going better than expected. When the southern troops first came into sight, Asami was relieved to find them holding their own…even if it was only because they were in her stolen mecha tanks. The rebels hadn't breached the wood and ice perimeter around the portal though, so Asami guided the plane down lower and circled above the central snow fortress. This would be their first target.

"I'm going in!"

Mako gave a thumbs up while Bolin started to unzip his pack where the clay-swaddled bombs were. Asami made the aggressive descent, heart hammering in her chest. She couldn't believe she was fighting in a war.

The first pass set her nerves ablaze. The plane was barely more than a couple feet off the ground. She could see the silhouettes of soldiers inside the bunker. She was relieved to see them retreating as Bolin quickly lined the outside walls with blinking explosives—they might be the enemy, but Asami didn't want anyone to get killed if they could avoid it.

Mako torched the ground on the other side, keeping any reinforcements away. Orange light from the fire glimmered on Asami's aviator goggles. She pulled up and began a rapid ascent so none of the ground troops trickling out of the slew of pitched tents could water whip them or freeze parts of the plane. Her whole body felt the force of the upward drive; she pressed back hard into the cockpit seat.

As soon as they were high enough, Bolin pulled out the detonator. Plumes of smoke and flame blossomed like flowers below them. The brothers cheered and Asami caught Bolin pumping his fist out of the corner of her eye. A smile tugged on her lips. First run: success.

Minutes later, she and her friends completed a second good run, scattering Unalaq's men and the dark spirits that seemed to be getting along with them. Even Tonraq's men started to make progress. A huge portion of the spiked perimeter wall had collapsed, allowing Southern rebels to swarm inside.

Korra and the others should have no problem flying into the portal. Which reminded her. Asami looked around in search of the air bison and made out a white mass diving and dodging around the blue-white column of the portal. Dark spirits pursued relentlessly. As she squinted, Asami thought she could make out spirits actually clinging to the animal's tail and legs, hindering.

Asami's heart stuttered. That's not good, she thought, worrying her lip between her teeth. She hadn't felt anything from Korra, so she knew her soulmate was okay, but it looked like it could go very, very wrong any second now.

Asami cast a glance to the smoking yard beneath her. The Northerners appeared to be in enough disarray. She could fly towards the portal now and she, Mako, and Bolin could draw the attention of the spirits, prevent them from hurting anyone, and give Korra the opening she needed—

Bolin screamed a slew of words but Asami only caught one: "Eska!"

The next instant, the metal frame of the plane shuddered and shrieked as the tail was blown off. Asami quickly grasped the twitching controls. Black, choking smoke rolled out behind her and the toxic scent burned her nose. Both Mako and Bolin were screaming her name, calling for her to do something.

Asami searched the area around them. Not too far ahead, outside Unalaq's encampment walls, was a bare expanse of white stretching on for miles. Asami did her best to steer the careening aircraft there. If they were going to crash, Asami wasn't going to end up right in the enemy's hands if she could help it.

You can do this. Stay calm, she said to herself as she gripped the controls harder. Easier said than done when she could barely hear her own thoughts over the screech of Varrick's plane. The wings started to wobble and Asami's seat vibrated. The plane dropped several feet all at once, lurching her stomach and other vital organs. Metal panels and bolts flew off behind her. Asami's eyes darted around, looking for a place to crash land because she couldn't steer for much longer.

There. No rocks in sight. A good, clear spot to bail out. She and the boys would survive if they could jump away from the plane, she was sure.

"Brace yourselves!" Asami pulled hard on the steering yoke, trying to angle the nose of the plane up, but without the tail for balance, it was like wrestling a greased hog-monkey for control. The wheels skimmed the snowy earth. "Jump!"

Clicks and clinks of harnesses being undone on either side of her flooded Asami with relief. Bolin and Mako shouted something to her, unintelligible over the stressed engine, before springing from the plane's wings. They were two dark smudges against the field of white. Asami waited a few seconds for clearance, undid the safety belt, and threw herself out and to the side.

She twisted through the air, breath ripped from her lungs, mouth open in a silent scream, not sure which way was up as all the colors around her swirled—black sky, white snow, green southern lights. Black, white, green, black white greenblackwhite—

The snow hurtled up to catch her. Instinctively, Asami's arms shot out to catch herself. Elsewhere, she heard what was left of Varrick's plane crash and explode. Even though it was nowhere near her, the heat of the wreckage still reached her in a warm wave just as her palms slammed into the rigid, cold ground.

Tendrils of pain blasted up her arms, jangled her elbows, cracked across her shoulders, and rattled her teeth. The rest of her body screamed as she smashed into the arctic landscape. A rock or maybe a chunk of ice bashed against her brow, causing bright spots to dance in her vision, even though she closed her eyes. Her head seared and Asami knew she had to get to her feet, move, check on her friends, but everything hurt, especially her head, her head, her head…

Asami didn't know when she slipped into unconsciousness, only that when she opened her eyes again, there was a pair of boots inches from her nose and they didn't belong to Mako or Bolin. A voice belonging to whoever stood in front of her muttered, "Take her," then disappeared, crunching away across the snow. "But be careful. Don't harm her further."

The pain swimming through her body, coupled with the brutal, numbing cold wrapped around her, made it hard to focus or stay alert. She slipped into unconsciousness again when hard hands gripped her arms.