Takes place after the events of the finale. Follow so you don't miss an update!

Baatar watched in silence from the window of the Future Industries office as the power core of the colossus exploded. The stillness that followed for the next several minutes was almost unbearable, and he paced the length of the window in pursuit of a vantage point that would give him a glimpse of the proceedings. The cannon had landed in a tangle of spirit vines at the heart of the tour route, and he craned his neck to keep it in his line of sight as the sky darkened. If Kuvira had survived the destruction of the mecha-suit, he suspected she would try one final offensive play. As dusk settled over Republic City, visibility slowly became nonexistent, and Baatar turned away from the window.

A sudden blast in the distance sent him running back to the window, and he saw the beam from the cannon wildly firing without pause. An unbidden sense of relief rose in his chest, quickly dissipating when vines in the area began to light up, forming a crisscrossing network of glowing purple that only amplified the blast. The explosion that followed forced him to shield his eyes and turn away from the window as the glass cracked from the force and purple smoke billowed over the city. The radius of the blast made the explosion of Varrick's train car seem insignificant in comparison.

When his ears finally had stopped ringing, he returned to the window. A column of gold light extended from the heart of the explosion, and the area had been leveled, with vines thickly coating the crater and the dismembered colossus. He could see the mecha-suits searching the area and vague shadows indicative of other survivors, but the light from the column was weak and the distance too great for him to make out who they were. He stood for what felt like hours, finally sitting with his back to the window and his legs extended in front of him on the floor.

He didn't remember dozing off, but the sound of the office door banging open startled him awake. "Aunt Lin?" he frowned, slowly coming to stand. "Where's Mom?"

"She's on her way up," Lin said shortly, taking a pair of handcuffs from her accompanying cop. "Hands out. This shouldn't come as a shock, but you're under arrest."

He obliged, extending his wrists to feel the prompt snap of cool platinum against them. "What happened after she... fired the cannon?"

"I'm not entirely sure," Lin said grimly, "but somehow Korra redirected the blast and tore a new portal into the spirit world. I'm not the best person to ask about this stuff, if I'm perfectly honest."

"I see," he said slowly. "And is she... that is, is Kuvira-"

"She's alive," Lin said gently, surprising him. "Alive and in custody. And you will be too, but I figured Su wouldn't like it if I carted you off before she got to say goodbye."

Baatar turned back to the window, taking in the sight of the spirit portal against the night sky, spirits circling around it like strange luminescent apparitions. "Thank you." His voice sounded foreign to his ears, and for a moment he was unsure if he was thanking her for her foresight in waiting for his mother, or for telling him that Kuvira had survived. She was probably in a wooden cell, he realized. He could almost hear her complaints of feeling like a nonbender, and could almost see her regretful smile upon remembering that he lacked any bending ability. His jaw clenched, and for the thousandth time that day he pushed the thought of her from his mind.

"This isn't for you, this is for her," his aunt said, jolting him back to reality and crossing her arms. "You've been a pretty lousy nephew, if you ask me."

"I take it you both took out the arm?" he asked, ignoring her comment. "I modeled the gears similarly to domes in Zaofu, so it must have been familiar."

"Yes," she answered, "but there wasn't any ceremony to it.. We got in, we messed everything up, and we got out alive. Still a damn good success, if you ask me."

"Lin?"

They both turned as Suyin hurried into the room. "Glad to see you made it out in one piece, Mother," Baatar said, inclining his head. "How are Opal and the twins?"

"They're fine," Su replied. "We're all going to be staying at Tenzin's, on Air Temple Island, since most of downtown was wiped out from the blast-" She paused, slowly registering that Baatar's hands were cuffed. "What's going on?"

"Your son is under arrest for crimes against the United Republic," Lin said, arching a brow. "I just thought I'd give you a chance to say goodbye before I take him into custody."

"My son also happens to be your nephew," Su said angrily. "How can you send him to jail? Our family was finally reunited, Lin! And now you want to take him away again?"

"I was not taken away," Baatar snapped. "I left of my own volition, and if this is how you're going to be, I think I'd rather be in jail than with you and Father."

"Quiet," Lin said sharply. "Su, Baatar Junior is Kuvira's second in command. He had as much to do with the planning of the attack and is responsible for that giant contraption that almost wiped us out. I wouldn't be doing my job if I didn't lock him up like I would any other war criminal."

"He isn't any other war criminal! He's my son, and he's your blood," Su protested. "I won't let him rot in a prison, not after he helped us take down Kuvira's war machine-"

"Mother, please," Baatar said, gesturing with both hands. "You're being ridiculous. I built the colossus-"

"-and you told Korra how to shut it down!" She turned to Lin, her expression at once livid and pleading. "Doesn't that count for anything?"

"Kuvira had to be stopped," Baatar said coldly. "When she fired..." He paused, his expression souring as if the very words galled him, "I didn't think it would come to that. The weapon was leverage. Nothing was supposed to go nearly as far as it did."

"Sweetie, you had nothing to do with it," Su said, seizing his hands in her own. "Tell your Aunt Lin that you had nothing to do with it."

Baatar frowned, gently withdrawing his hands from hers. "I'm not going to lie to the chief of police." Su looked as though she had been slapped. "I don't want to say too much before my trial, but I certainly will not pretend that I was unaware of what the suit could be used for. If you think I'm coming home with you rather than sticking to our-" He paused, his voice bitter- "my ideals, you're sadly mistaken, Mother."

Su stared, looking first at him, then at Lin, and back to his face again, tears in her eyes. "So you want to be incarcerated? You could come home and be with your siblings again, and see your father... Junior, our family can finally be whole again. Why don't you want that?"

"You're letting your personal feelings get in the way of reason," Baatar said, looking away. He could see out the window in the corner of his eyes. "I'm no different than the other former Kuvira supporters. If she's under arrest, then I ought to be too."

Su stared at him. "Have you already forgotten what she did to you? How can you still stand by her?"

"This isn't about Kuvira!" His voice echoed for a moment in the silent office. "Will you for once recognize that I am my own person? I'm capable of my own ideas and convictions- they're half the reason the empire was reunited. Why can't you understand that I'm taking accountability for my own part in this? Why is it always about Kuvira?" He paused, his enraged breathing the only disturbance in the silent room. "Maybe I feel as though I ought to pay for my role in the destruction of the city, it isn't a novel concept. Aunt Lin, whenever you're ready."

"Don't sound so eager," Lin said. "I appreciate the honesty, but Air Temple Island is a much better place to stay than prison. Take Baatar Junior to the west wing of the jail," she added, snapping her fingers at her accompanying cop.

"Goodbye, Mother," he said stiffly, shrugging his arms apart. Su threw hers around him, hugging him tightly. He could feel her tears against his cheek, and guilt pricked at him. "Don't take it so hard, I won't say no to visitors. Tell Opal and the twins that I'm sorry and I miss them." He frowned. "And tell Huan that I know he converted my old room into an art studio, and that I'm not happy about it."

"We'll all come visit," Su said, pulling back and wiping her eyes. "You can tell them yourself. I love you, Baatar."

"I love you too," he said. He couldn't bring himself to meet her eyes. "Goodbye," he added to Lin. "Although I suppose I'll be seeing you relatively often."

"Are you a glutton for punishment?" Lin said. "Enjoy your first night in the slammer, kid. I'll check in on you tomorrow to see how you're liking it." She nodded to the cop, who escorted Baatar from the room. She and Su stood in silence, watching his exit until the door shut. "Are you out of your mind?" she exploded. "You preach about fairness and justice and making that dictator answer for everything she's done, and you want him to get off scot free? You know, I thought you had changed in these past few years, but I can see now that I was wrong. You haven't changed a bit."

"And I thought you had finally learned to be less hard-hearted," Su said, her voice as loud. "He's my son! You expect me to stand by quietly while you take him away just hours after we finally got him back?"

"Yes, I do," Lin said. "Do you even hear yourself? He's a war criminal that was essentially the right hand man to a military dictator. He might not be my son-"

"Yes, and you don't understand because you haven't been a mom!" Su shouted. "You never will understand what it's like to see your children suffer, because you don't have any of your own! He's my firstborn, Lin. My first child-"

"-and you're doing a lousy job!" Lin paused; Su looked stricken. "You never had to deal with the consequences of your actions growing up. You earned a police record at age sixteen."

"We moved past that nonsense three years ago."

"I'm not talking about us anymore," Lin snapped, "I'm talking about you and how you raised your kids. You earned yourself a police report, and you didn't have to live with it because Mom had to think of damage to her career. You were sent to live with Grandpa and Grandma, and you ran away rather than learn how to behave. You joined a shady circus and a pirate ship and never got entangled with the law, and then you lived happily ever after in Zaofu. But in all that time, you never learned what it felt like to suffer the consequences of your own screw-ups." Her hand went to the scar on her cheek as she spoke. "And it looks like you never taught your kids that either. Frankly, I'm proud of my nephew for behaving like a man with a sense of right and wrong for once in his life. He must get what little he has of it from his father, because I don't see how it can have come from you."

Su crossed her arms over her chest, turning away. "You don't understand. You aren't a mother. I know my son, and I know that all of this is Kuvira's doing, not his-"

"Maybe the reason he left with her is because you don't know him as well as you think you do!" Lin winced when Su recoiled as if Lin had physically assaulted her. "I'm sorry, Su.. that was uncalled for."

"Yes, it was."

"But I think Baatar Junior made it pretty clear that he knew what he was doing," she continued gently, patting her sister's shoulder. "Maybe acting out is hereditary, but either way you can't protect your children when they do something of this magnitude. He needs to pay for what he did, just like Kuvira will be made to answer for her crimes."

Su was silent for several minutes, at last heaving a long sigh. "How long before I can look into posting bail?"

"As soon as I get through the paperwork of his case," Lin said grudgingly. "He's not nearly as dangerous as Kuvira, so we can probably get him out pretty soon if our conditions are met."

"Thank you," Su said, throwing her arms around Lin. "And how long before he can come home to Zaofu with the rest of us?"

"However long it takes for the trial to get underway," Lin said, her voice firm. "And I can't guarantee he'll get off without a sentence... international affairs like this are bound to get messy and the hearing will take at least a year to set up. He won't be going back to Zaofu anytime soon."

"We'll see about that," Su said quietly. "But we'll discuss all of it later. Is Tenzin ready to head home for the night?"

"He's getting Pema from the station, but he gave me the keys." Lin walked to the door. "Let's get some rest."

o0o

Kuvira ran her bare hand along the heavy wooden grid that made up the door of her cell, frowning at the grime that came away on her fingers. Without her armor, she felt naked; the heavy fabric of her uniform felt insufficient, especially with the new singes and tears from her fight and subsequent rescue courtesy of the avatar. They had taken her gloves, since they had slim metal buckles on the cuffs. Her boots had been replaced with canvas flats, and even her barrette had been taken, her hair now held back with a ribbon. The rationale made perfect sense when she looked at it objectively. She was arguably the most dangerous earthbender in the world, and anything less would have been deemed sloppy security on the part of the Republic. It was unnecessary, however; she had no reason to escape, even if she had a means of doing so. When she had turned herself in, there were no ulterior motives at play, and it was frankly insulting that Raiko and Lin even remotely suspected her of subterfuge. It wasn't unjustified, she reflected, looking at her left hand and quickly burrowing it in the folds of her uniform. It wouldn't be the first time she had gone back on a promise.

They had taken the engagement ring, too.

Not a scrap of metal was left on her person. For the first time since Baatar's proposal, Kuvira found herself displeased with his choice of a metal band with gold plating to house the diamond. She had laughed in delight on her engagement day after he informed her that she didn't need to get it professionally sized, and she could simply bend it on her own. Now, she wished he had gotten a platinum ring as he had originally intended. Perhaps if it had been platinum, she would have been allowed to wear it in prison.

In a sick sort of way it made sense, she thought bitterly. She no longer had a reason to wear it.

The sound of footsteps passing her cell made her bolt upright, and she pressed her face to one of the openings in the wooden grid even as she internally chided herself for hoping. A new cop was escorting someone to a cell in the west wing, from the looks of things. She was on the wrong side to see the officer's patch designating his military rank, but the flash of reflected light from the glasses he wore made her chest hurt. "It probably isn't him," she told herself in a whisper. The prisoner seemed to turn in the direction of her voice for half a second, but she couldn't be sure if she had imagined it or not. Still, she watched until they were out of sight. For what felt like the thousandth time since the avatar and her team had breached the platinum shell of the colossus, she wondered if Baatar had survived the blast too. If he had died, it meant she had fired for nothing. And if he had lived, then she had her answer as to how they had known how to attack the giant mecha-suit. Neither outcome made her feel any better. Choosing between his death and his eternal hatred was ludicrously far from a proper choice.

The guard's footsteps sounded along the empty hallway, and in spite of herself Kuvira called out. "Excuse me?"

The man paused at her cell, regarding her from a safe distance away from the thick wooden grid. "What is it? I'm not authorized to answer much."

"Who- which one of my officers was that?" she asked, trying to keep her voice steady.

"You mean they didn't tell you?" The cop seemed genuinely surprised, and Kuvira heard a soft gasp escape her against her will.

"Tell me what?"

"Baatar Junior is in custody," the cop said. "I figured Lin would have told you that she was arresting him next when she locked you up."

"No," Kuvira said slowly, sinking back to her place against the wall. "No, she didn't say anything. Thank you," she added as the cop continued on through the dimly lit hallway, his job complete for the night.

He's alive. Kuvira could think of nothing else as she lay on the cot, her mind completely devoid of any other coherent thought. He was alive, and Suyin had said nothing about it. He was alive and apparently unharmed, or at least far from seriously injured. She had been awake for nearly two consecutive days, with her mobilization of the army and the colossus for the invasion, but despite her fatigue her mind had not allowed her to sleep. Now, blank of the whirl of disjointed thoughts and bewildered reassessments of her mistakes in the attack on the city, she was able to close her tired eyes. He's alive. She could think of nothing else, and the thought brought with it an odd comfort that let her at last slowly drift asleep.

A/N: NEW STORY, GUYS. Bryke gave us a beautiful finale but it was missing something very important- a Baatar/Kuvira reunion! I'm writing one because dammit, I think we all need some closure. Stay tuned!

I always include easter eggs for my readers, and if you felt that Kuvira's POV echoed Baatar's, it was def totes deliberate. I also worked in quotes… so cookies to the lovelies that catch them ;) I'm really excited to write this story, and I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoy writing it!