AN: Set after book 3 episode 8, meant to be a 2-part one-shot. I hope you enjoy. :)

The first thing Bolin notices when he comes to is the smell of burnt rubber and something else metallic and coppery underneath it. This isn't the first time he's smelled burnt rubber, he has spent some time around Asami and her cars, but it's the other smell that worries him. Something's wrong and he knows he needs to wake up, do something, but he can't seem to get his brain to work right just yet, let alone his eyes and limbs.

On second thought, maybe getting his brain to work again isn't such a good idea, because now that he's surfacing back into the real world, he can feel every ache and pain in his body, especially in his head. It feels like some earthbender's been wailing on it with a boulder and he's pretty sure the wetness he feels on the side of his face isn't water. He takes a moment to try and collect himself and push his muddled thoughts into action. He hurts, that's for sure, but other than his head, nothing feels like it's life-threatening.

Wait a second. Life threatening?

Bolin's eyes fly open as his memories come flooding back in a rush.

They'd been getting close to Aiwei when his trail had suddenly veered sharply toward a path up a hill too narrow for the jeep to follow. Mako, Bolin, and Asami had taken the jeep, intending to circle around and meet up with Korra and Naga, who would take the path ahead of them. If they moved fast enough, they thought, hopefully they could trap the traitor between them.

Asami had been driving, and if it'd been anyone else, Bolin would've feared for his life as they went careening off-road, barely avoiding trees. As it was, he clung tightly to the side of the jeep and kept his focus straight ahead. But then there'd been the explosion from their right. And the boulders. And no matter how fast Bolin tried to bend them out of their path, or how fast Asami yanked the steering wheel to try and avoid them, or how fast Mako tried to break them apart, they weren't fast enough.

They were hit hard and Bolin felt himself launched out the vehicle, panic nearly making him forget to do what earth bending he could to soften the blow of his landing. He hit the ground once, twice, then he was rolling and he couldn't seem to gain enough control of his limbs to stop it, so he went with it as best he could. Then he'd felt a spike of sharp pain as something struck his head and knew no more.

Until now. And he needs to get up and find out if Asami and his brother are okay, because they'd both still been in the vehicle when he'd been thrown off and neither of them had earthbending to soften their landings. So Bolin curls on his side and starts to get up, even though his head and everything is throbbing and he feels like he's going to throw up. When he makes it to his feet, he stumbles and nearly falls back down, but he manages to catch himself at the last minute and tries to look around without jarring his head too much.

He spots the wreck almost immediately. There's smoke curling up from the jeep leaning over on its right side against one of the large boulders and Bolin can only see the undercarriage from where he's standing. He doesn't know if Mako and Asami are still in there, but it's a place to start, so he makes his way unsteadily toward the now-useless heap of metal and parts.

It feels like it takes hours, days, even weeks to finally make his way over and around the jeep. When he finally reaches the other side, he sees Asami kneeling by the now-sideways passenger seat.

He could cry with the relief when he sees her because she looks battered and there's an angry gash on her right arm, but she's alive and that'd been more than he'd hoped for only seconds before. She's talking to what must be Mako in the passenger seat in soothing tones, "...okay, Mako. You're going to be okay. I need to find Bolin. He's going to help me get you out, okay? Just hang in there." And that's Bolin's first clue that something is really, really wrong.

"Asami," he breaths as Asami turns to go, and she starts in surprise.

"Bolin?" Asami seems like she almost doesn't believe what she's seeing and freezes. But then her expression melts and she's pulling him into a tight hug. "Oh thank goodness! I thought you might be...When I saw you..." She chokes on the words, but Bolin squeezes her back in understanding, feeling his own throat tighten.

The moment doesn't last long though, because Asami collects herself quickly and pulls back. "Bolin...your brother...he's...it's...it's not pretty. Just...don't freak out, okay? We need to remain calm."

Bolin hears what she's saying and he understands she's right, but remaining calm has never really been his strong suit, and he can already feel his stomach plummet and his heart start to pound in his ears. He manages to nod at Asami though and they make their way over beside the passenger seat.

He sees Mako sitting there, his seatbelt still on, and if it wasn't for the bloodless pallor of his face and the pain lining his features, Bolin would've thought he was just sitting there. Waiting for him, maybe. Mako's glassy eyes light up when they see Bolin and he'd smiles weakly. "Hey, bro."

"Hey, Mako," Bolin says as calmly as he can though his voice still wavers slightly, anxiety twisting in his gut.

Bolin makes a few hesitant steps closer and peers over the passenger door into the car. Bile rises in his throat at the sight that greets him and Bolin has to look away before he remembers Asami's words. We need to remain calm.

He forces himself to turn back and look at the reality of the situation in front of him, working overtime to keep his normally expressive features blank. The glass of the windshield had shattered in the wreck. Somehow, the metal frame for it had gotten twisted and bent out of shape. Gotten so twisted and bent that one end of it had been ripped from the car and whipped back straight through the passenger seat. Straight through where his brother was sitting. And its shredded, bloody end was now sticking through the back of the seat right through his brother's stomach.

Bolin fights down another wave of nausea. He can do this. He has to do this.

He needs to stay calm and think of something. Anything. It's hard, though, because there's blood. So much blood. And Mako is going to die if Bolin doesn't think of something and save him.

"Hey," Mako's voice is small and pained like his smile, "Thought of a good one."

Bolin has no idea what his brother is talking about and stares down at him bewildered. Apparently, Mako doesn't need any encouragement because he says, "I've heard of butterflies in the stomach but this..." And Mako pauses and his face grows even more pained for a moment, then continues, "But this takes the cake." He chuckles at his own joke before grimacing and falling silent.

Bolin doesn't laugh.

He's heard of people that get disjointed from reality like this when they're really sick or hurt really bad, and a wave of cold terror runs through him. No way is Mako dying.

"Bolin," Asami's voice at his side startles Bolin from his whirlwind thoughts. "You need to metalbend."

And if Bolin thought he was terrified before, it's nothing compared to the dread he feels now. "What?"

"The jeep's a lost cause, I checked. And we can't get him to a healer stuck like this. You need to separate the end from the section inside Mako so we can transport him somewhere safe and get it out of him."

"I-I can't!" He says, panicking now because he sees the truth in what she's saying, and he doesn't have what it takes to do it, "I've never been able to metalbend! I'm still learning!"

Asami doesn't back down, "Then think of this as a pop quiz you can't fail."

"But..."

"If you don't," Asami interrupts, "Mako is going to die."

And that's what it boils down to, doesn't it? Bolin will either succeed or fail and his older brother's life rests in his incapable hands. Mako's taken care of him since they were little and Mako was too young to be taking care of anybody. He's gotten Bolin out of more scrapes than he can remember over the years. This is his chance to return the favor. His brother needs him the most right now, and yet Bolin's not sure he can do this.

But he has to try or Mako is going to die.

Bolin squares his shoulders and clasps the metal in front of Mako with both hands. Bolin can feel his brother's blood on the metal, making it slippery in his grasp. He grips it tighter, careful not to move it, and closes his eyes. He wills the rest of the world around him out of existence and concentrates on the warm metal in his hands. He does his best to breathe evenly and fully, something he picked up from watching his brother practice firebending. He puts every fiber of himself into the seemingly impossible task in front of him.

He stays like this for several long moments, sweat forming between his shoulder blades and on his forehead.

Several more precious moments pass and Bolin's gritting his teeth now because it's not working. And he can't do this. His brother is going to die and it's going to be all because Bolin can't freaking metalbend to save his life...or his brother's. He can feel desperate tears stinging his eyes and he swallows hard. He can't fall apart now. "I'm so sorry, Mako." He says.

He stops short and opens his eyes when he feels a hand that's slick with blood clasp his forearm weakly. "'S'Okay..." Mako slurs, concern visible beneath the pain on his face. "S'Okay..."

And now Bolin is ashamed on top of everything else. Here Mako is, bleeding out in front of him, and he's trying to comfort Bolin. How pathetic is that?

Mako opens his mouth again to try and speak but Bolin hushes him. "Don't try to talk. You'll need your strength." For the trip to the healer, Bolin adds mentally. Because even now he can feel his resolve solidifying in his gut. He doesn't care if it's impossible, he's going to metalbend and he's going to save his brother. He glances at Asami beside him who nods like she can see the change on his face.

He closes his eyes again and it's just him and the twisted metal in his hands. Concentrate, he reminds himself. Try to focus on the fine pieces of earth within the metal. Su's words echo back at him. So he does. He feels its rough, tortured shape in his hands and searches, feeling like he's stretching his awareness tauter than he ever has before.

He concentrates like this until suddenly, it's more than just feeling the metal in his hands, it's like he can see their shape through his touch. A surge of elation runs through him and Bolin could sing. He's doing it! He's never gone this far before.

Now that he's really seeing it, he redoubles his search efforts. Probing the scrap of metal for the fine pieces of earth that make it part of a whole. There's one! Just beneath his thumb. And here! And over there! And as if by magic he's finding and seeing all the little bits of earth that make up the metal in his hands and he's wondering how he could never see it before.

Slowly, tentatively, he grips the metal harder, willing it to bend beneath his fingers. And to his surprise, it does, pliant as butter-but a lot harder to move. Bolin starts to twist the metal apart in his hands but stops short when Mako lets out a cry of pain. He'd been trying to move just the small section he was holding, but he must've accidentally moved the rest of its length anyway.

Mako's eyes have lost that glassy, dazed look and are wild with pain now, darting around frantically until they find Bolin's. "Hurts" he wheezes. And it's a testament to how messed up he is that he even tells Bolin.

"I know," Bolin says in the same soothing tone he remembers Mako using on him when they were younger. "It's going to be okay, though." And Mako must be really out of it by now because he just relaxes slightly and nods, his eyelids fluttering closed as if they'd been waiting for that simple reassurance before doing so.

Hands shaking a little now, Bolin grips the metal once again and squeezes while he bends, twisting as gently as he can manage. Mako twitches and lets out a few pained gasps, but he doesn't cry out this time, and Bolin counts that as a victory. With one last pull, Bolin has the section of metal connected to his brother separated from the end still connected to the jeep.

Bolin doesn't have time to celebrate the breakthrough he's made just then, because now he has to somehow get Mako out of the seat with the other end of the metal sticking through the back of the chair. His brother's back is pinned to the seat so there's no room in between to break it off that way. He's going to have to carefully pull his brother and the metal forward enough to unpin him from the seat, then pull him out of the car.

It seems like Asami must've come to the same conclusion he has, because she's suddenly behind the passenger seat, pulling out a knife he didn't realize she had and starts to carefully cut a wider hole around the metal sticking through it so they won't have to jerk it and his brother to get it free. She's efficient and steady with her hands and it only takes a few moto cut a good enough hole for their purposes.

Bolin glances at the strap of the seat-belt helping the metal hold his brother upright. He turns to Asami, "I'm going to unbuckle him now. Do you think you can hold onto him so he doesn't fall?"

Asami nods and wraps her arms around the front of Mako's chest from behind the passenger seat. "Okay, you should be okay to unbuckle him now."

Bolin nods back and reaches over his brother, careful not to jostle the metal, and unlatches the seatbelt. Thanks to Asami's tight hold, his brother doesn't shift and Bolin breaths a short sigh of relief. Now all he's got to do is pull his brother off and out of the seat. This would be a piece of cake compared to the metalbending he assures himself. He then places one hand on his brother's chest and squeezes one between his back and the seat. "I'm going to lean him forward now." Bolin tells Asami.

He grits his teeth and begins to gently push his brother forward, eliciting a choked sob from him. "I'm sorry," Bolin murmurs guiltily, but he doesn't stop, because the longer he prolongs this, the worse it's going to be for Mako. As quickly as he can while still being careful, Bolin leans his brother forward until the length of metal clears the hole Asami'd cut and he pulls his brother out of the jeep.

He lands in an ungraceful heap on the ground, bearing the full brunt of the fall and is painfully reminded of his own injuries.

Bolin doesn't waste any time dwelling on the fact because now that his brother is free, they need to find a healer. He gingerly lays Mako down on his side next to him and motions for Asami to come closer.

"What are you planning to do?" Asami asks.

"I'm going to earthbend our way back to Zaofu." Bolin tells her. It's the closest place he knows of, and he doesn't want to waste precious time getting lost.

Asami looks like she might protest for a moment but then relents. "Well, what are you waiting for?" She asks, giving Bolin her best reassuring smile.

And Bolin is hit with a surge of gratitude for Asami because without her, he's not sure what he would've done today. He can't find the words to express it right now, so he just nods and squares his stance. After his struggle with metalbending, it feels easy to raise a small patch of earth just big enough for the three of them and sets of at a breakneck pace toward Mako's only hope.