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The first thing Asami felt when she came to was that her entire body ached. Muscles groaned as she slowly shifted, her eyes blinking open. Everywhere hurt. She wasn’t sure how long she’d been out, but as she became more conscious, a rush of memories came flooding back to her…
Charred, melted walls.
Smoldering buildings.
Bodies strewn about, blood staining the snow.
A painful scream.
White light.
A gale-force wind originating from one out of control Avatar.
An explosion and then… nothing.
Pushing herself up with great effort, Asami caught sight of Mako struggling to his feet. She glanced around in search of Bolin but he wasn’t anywhere to be seen. There was too much debris to tell what had become of him, though hopefully he was okay. She would have to worry about him later. Another, more important matter required her urgent attention. Over the years, Korra had entered the Avatar State only a handful of times while in Asami’s presence, and out of all those times Asami had never seen Korra so out of control. Flashes of their first fight with Zaheer immediately came to mind and seeing this wild power swirling around Korra as she battled him head-on. It was raw energy, unrefined strength, and the engineer could only look on in terror.
“Are you okay Asami?” came Mako’s voice suddenly, tearing Asami away from the Avatar to glance up at the Firebender. He offered her a hand, though even if her hair whipped around her with wild abandon from the strong wind, she could see he looked rather worse for wear too. Taking his hand, Asami got to her feet, staggering forward a couple steps before regaining her balance. The pain in her abdomen became more apparent now and she wrapped her arms around herself to stave off some of the discomfort. She felt a hand on her shoulder and instinctively Asami moved to lean on Mako for support, draping her arm over his shoulders while his hand grasped hers to help her, his other arm around her back.
The two of them could only look on, watching Korra hovering over the ragged snow, oblivious to all around her. Her connection to the elements was amplified with her in the Avatar State. Never having been there when Korra became a fully realized Avatar, bearing witness to the wind and chunks of rock encircling her, rotating around the Water Tribe woman made her look very surreal.
“Korra…”
The name bubbled out of her throat like a startled gasp. Whatever had caused this powerful reaction, Asami could only imagine what kind of pain she must have been experiencing. Her heart ached terribly, filling her chest with pain. Korra was hurting, and all she could do was watch helplessly as she suffered alone.
“We should get out of the way…” Mako’s voice once again filtered through the chaos, and though the wind threatened to carry the words away with it, Asami found herself hearing him with no trouble at all.
Her vision blurred as her eyes filled with tears, the hot, salty liquid rolling down her cheeks only to be carried off by the gust of wind. She had to reach out to her – to draw her out of the wildness of the pain in her heart. Asami couldn’t bear to see Korra this way, but she had to be strong now. Now, more than ever, Korra needed her.
“I have to help her…” Without thinking, Asami took a daring step forward, letting her arm slide off of Mako’s shoulders and out of his grasp. She took another heavy step, her eyes never once tearing away from Korra. This time anything Mako said to her was lost, her body instinctively shrugging off his hand when he tried to pull her back, warning her with great urgency that it wasn’t safe and that Korra was out of control.
Asami just didn’t care. If she could only get to Korra, she could bring her out of it and then she could deal with comforting her once she pulled her out of the Avatar State.
One more step, her hand extending forward as she made her approach, daring to breach the orbiting rocks and step further into the eye of the storm. “Korra,” she attempted to say, but her voice wasn’t strong enough, so Asami tried again with more force. “Korra! Korra it’s me! Listen to my voice Korra!”
Her steps became more emboldened, becoming more resolved to reach Korra. She fought against the wind, pushing against the force as it threatened to keep her from the Avatar. Her steps slowed, but that never deterred her. Korra needed to be saved from herself, and Asami wanted to be there to help guide her through the aftermath.
“Korra! Korra it’s okay!” She had to shout now as she reached out for Korra’s hand “You need to stop! We’re all okay! We’re okay! You need to come back! Come back Korra!”
Asami didn’t stop moving forward, daring the flying debris to strike her aching body. She braced herself for the pain as a small boulder came hurtling towards her shoulder, her eyes clenching tightly shut in preparation.
Her hand made contact with Korra’s, and then, as if it had a mind of its own, the rock was redirected, flying past her, almost around her. Asami gripped Korra’s hand, opening her eyes once more to see the woman turn her head towards her. She was met with a pair of bright white eyes and cheeks stained with tears. Her heart clenched in pain at the sight, nearly shattering at the intense vulnerability in those pure white eyes.
“Come back to me Korra! Please!” Asami pleaded, a little more gently now, holding the Avatar’s hand in a firm grip. It was all she could do to keep from breaking apart.
Whether it was her words or her voice, the glow in Korra’s eyes faded, revealing the woman’s sparkling blue irises. There was nothing but great sadness there, and as Korra regained awareness, her face slowly contorted in pain, and tears flowed anew. The wind died down and the rocks fell to the earth, no longer held up by the power of the Avatar. Snow crunched beneath boots as Korra’s feet planted firmly on the ground once more.
“…Asami?” came a strained and broken voice. Realization began to dawn on Korra, and soon Asami was holding Korra fiercely as the Avatar completely and utterly broke down, wracked with great loss.
Behind Korra lay the broken and crumpled foundation of the South, annihilated by the forces of the Red Lotus. Zaheer’s words from their previous encounter had not been a threat: they were a promise. A promise he would fulfill if Korra had decided to refuse to give up the location of the new Airbenders.
Korra had refused, and paid for it in the ultimate way.