We're finally here, chapter 100.

Responses to Reviews:

Sharpe: Depending on exactly how long after Korra it takes place, I'd be surprised if anyone except Tenzin's children, and maybe Bolin, Mako and Asami if Korra died relatively young, are still alive.

RonaldM40196867: I'd say it works better animated.

TORONTOSUN: Well, they are all her friends.

Zigzagdoublezee: Thank you! And Yue Bay is also named after her so it seemed fitting.

As Always, Please Review!

Bolin

The force of the shaking threw Bolin to the ground, and he struggled to get up for several seconds. Finally, the ride seemed to stabilise, the ship stopped shaking, and everything went quiet.

At least, as quiet as possible with an engine preparing to explode a few feet away.

He rushed over to the two firebenders, who had also collapsed. Hotaru looked up at him.

"Did we do it?" She asked. Then she went to stand up, supported her weight on her arm for a moment, and fell backwards clutching her hand with a yelp of pain.

"What happened? Are you alright?" Bolin asked worriedly.

"I don't know," Hotaru replied miserably once she had regained her composure. Bolin's eyes travelled down to where Mako still lay, having made no effort to get up. He looked in bad shape. His face was pale, his eyes were lidded. He was sweating, and his right arm lay unmoving on the floor.

"Mako!" Bolin threw himself down next to him. "Come on, we've got to get out of here!"

A few feet away the engine had begun to shake. The purple lightning lanced out of it, scorching the walls and dancing through the room as it screeched in what sounded like pain.

Behind him Hotaru stood up with difficulty and moved back over to the control panel.

"We really should be going!" She warned. "I don't think that reading is supposed to be in the red part!"

Bolin did not need to see the readings to know the engine wasn't supposed to be doing that.

"Come on brother, I've got you," Bolin tried to hoist Mako to his feet, ignoring his brother's protests. "We'll get you out of here."

"...hurts," was all Mako said as Bolin led him out of the door of the engine room, Hotaru trailing behind them still holding her hand and wincing.

"You'll be fine," Bolin told him again. "You're too awesome not to be."

"I don't... don't feel awesome."

"Give it time," Bolin replied. "I love you. I haven't told you that enough."

"...love you too." Mako gave a small grin.

By now, they had reentered some of the busier parts of the ship, and Bolin would ordinarily have worried about being accosted and having to fight their way out with neither of his Firebender companions being in much of a state to help him.

He didn't need to do anything though. The crew of the Colossus seemed to have lost any kind of cohesion or will to fight, and were more worried about trying to get to safety. Several were carrying boxes full of personal belongings, and some of the braver ones dashed past them towards the engines which were about to explode, in an effort to maybe prevent the inevitable.

"Go!" Hotaru called behind him. "Run! Get out of here!"

"What do you think we're doing?" Someone called back.

It was then that Bolin noticed the faint purple glow cast across the faces of the Imperial crewmen as they dashed for their lives. It was growing brighter every second.

"Run!" He warned. Nobody needed telling twice. Doing his best to protect his brother's arm, he took the stairs as fast as he could and then emerged onto the deck, the fresh air hitting him as a wave. He could hear a faint hissing sound as well as the noise of far away flying machines and panicked shouts around him as others spilled onto the deck. Looking up, the skyscrapers of Republic City towered above them. Metalbenders began trying to find any pieces of iron, steel, or rock they could get their hands on to create paths down from the deck to the ground below. Bolin rushed towards the nearest one, but just before he arrived there was a noise from above him and a sky-bison landed there with a thud. A familiar face waved at him.

"Grab on!" Opal called. "Quickly!"

Bolin helped Mako and Hotaru up into the saddle.

"What about Korra?" Opal asked.

"She's busy!" Bolin replied, gesturing to the bridge as he leapt on.

"Should we wait for her?" Hotaru asked.

"We'll be blown up if we do!" Opal told her. "Wait, what happened to your hand?"

"Long story." Hotaru grimaced.

"Tell me on the way then. Yip yip!"

And with a flick of her reins, the four of them lifted off into the air, rushing to get as far away from the doomed ship as possible.

Korra

The duel between the Avatar and the Great Uniter was interrupted when the Colossus rammed into the shore, throwing them both of their feet. Korra slammed into the glass of the viewing screen with a grunt, while Korra crashed painfully into one of the few control panels still intact. After a few seconds, the shaking stopped.

Korra groaned as she got to her feet, rubbing some of the more sore areas of her arm.

"Ow," she stated. "What happened?"

Kuvira came to look out of the window, too confused to remember they were supposed to be fighting at the moment.

"We ran aground!" She spat furiously. "For spirit's sake!"

"Now do you see?" Korra rounded on her. "Your ship is grounded and useless. It's over."

She felt pressure beginning to build in her head, faint at first and easy to ignore.

"It's never over," Kuvira replied stubbornly. "Not while I still live."

"Don't be an idiot, Kuvira!" Korra yelled at her. "There are more important things than glory!"

"Like what?"

"Like love, and peace."

Kuvira just stared for a moment, then laughed at her.

"Oh wow," she managed. "Talk about mindless optimism. The world is not like that! Not unless somebody makes sure the world is like that."

"And that person is you."

"In this instance, yes," Kuvira replied without hesitation. "What else would you have? The Avatar? Convenient for you."

"I'm not doing this for power," Korra shook her head. "I'm doing this because someone needs to put out the world's fires."

Kuvira turned and walked away from her.

"If you weren't so stubborn, perhaps we might have been friends," she said.

Korra sighed. The pressure in her head was now approaching the point of pain. Was this woman really trying to manipulate her emotions after everything?

"I doubt i-"

But she didn't finish the sentence before Kuvira turned and flung another control panel at her. Korra barely dodged.

"I meant that," the Great Uniter told her as Korra retaliated with a fireblast. "But unfortunately, you're in my way." The two continued to fight, Korra increasingly growing frustrated with the other woman's total stubbornness.

"You really can't see it, can you?" Korra exploded after a couple of minutes of silent battle.

"Of course I can see it. Victory." Kuvira fired a metal strip towards Korra, who halted it in mid-air. "The Peace of the Great Uniter."

A stab of pain went through Korra, and she groaned and clutched her head. Not now! Korra didn't need- hang on.

With a start, Korra realised what the pain meant. Her friends must have been successful, which meant the ship didn't have long left. Mustering the last of her strength, she charged. Kuvira fired a metal strip at her and then the remains of a control panel; she rolled under one and swung the other around and fired it straight back at Kuvira. The Great Uniter ducked, and the panel crashed into the window that Korra had slammed into when the ship had run aground, crashing through it and plummeting to the deck below. There was a noise behind them.

"Kuvira!" Baatar's voice called. "We have to go, the ship's going to-"

Korra reached Kuvira and tackled her, using a combination of air and metalbending to propel them both forwards, out of the broken window as fast as she possibly could. Kuvira reached out an arm to try to stop her, but a moment later they were sailing through empty air, the Colossus receding behind them.

There was a deafening buzzing noise, Korra felt Kuvira thrash against her, reach back in vain for Baatar, heard her scream his name, and then the earth shook and a terrifying rumble as the Battleship Colossus, Kuvira's great hope for unifying and protecting the Earth Kingdom, exploded in a flash of purple light. Finally, the pressure in Korra's head grew too much and her vision faded as the two of them were thrown through the air. The last thing the Avatar saw before she lost consciousness was purple.