An Ice Cold Heart

Part IV

Desna and Eska didn't have to verbalize their thoughts to know that they shared a mutual concern for a certain attitude that was beginning to dominate their father's personality. It was plainly communicated in the looks they shared each time he said something that further pointed to his escalating obsession with capturing Korra and opening portals. They didn't doubt that what he was trying to accomplish was important, but it was the change in his countenance that troubled them. Their father had always been nothing if not consistent, and yet lately he had been making statements that completely contradicted things he had said not even that long ago.

However, it was not their place to question him, and Eska was finding Unalaq's preoccupations of less and less importance to her. She was also still dealing with the unsettling feeling that had been left inside her after she and Desna had witnessed their cousin being attacked by a dark spirit, from which Korra had most certainly perished. All of that aside, Eska was unsurprised that she wasn't having too much trouble holding her own through the chaos that had been taking place the last couple of weeks. She always somehow managed to pull through relatively unscathed through even the darkest of times, and had been able to for as long as she could remember.

But then something changed.

Lightning exploded from the Northern Portal as the twins attempted to break it open with their father. It shot out all around them and struck Desna, throwing him backwards several yards until he landed hard on the ground with a pained groan.

"Desna!" Eska cried, transferring her full attention to her wounded sibling.

"Leave him. Keep bending!" Unalaq commanded as he began piercing the portal with yet another stream of water.

Without a moment's hesitation, Eska disobeyed her father for the first time in her memory and went at once to Desna's side. She turned him up to examine him and saw right away that something was horribly wrong. She called out to her father, trying to make him see that they needed to leave, that Desna needed healing, but he would not leave the portal, arguing that it was more important.

Eska looked back at Densa's face, contorted with agony, and she knew what she must do even if she couldn't comprehend her father's reasoning. As Desna faded in her arms, so did everything that was solid in her life, bringing to the forefront the frail reality that was anything else. The only thing growing in strength now was her determination to keep him alive, and she clung to it with every ounce of her will as they stumbled over the rocky terrain and then finally passed back through the Southern Portal.

After making it to the other side, Eska felt Desna begin to collapse even with the aid of her support, his weakness overcoming him. She had to let him settle on the ground for a moment, needing to catch her breath, and was panicked to see him looking ten times worse, like whatever spiritual energy that had hit him was draining his life force from the inside out.

Desperation was ripping at her now. 'You will never have to be alone.' The promise he had once made sounded in her head with indignation, as though she was subconsciously accusing him of threatening to break his word. Desna's eyes cracked open for a second and found her gaze, as if to reply, 'sorry'. But she knew she was the one who should apologize, for not being able to heal him.

She formed a sled of ice underneath his body and began maneuvering him as quickly as possible with her bending in the direction of help. She felt so pathetic for at one time worrying that Desna might find someone before she did and leave her all alone, when now it was such a viable possibility that death could be the means in which they would be separated instead of marriage.

Desna was the one who kept her going, the only one who truly cared for her. Her anchor, her other half. Bolin be damned. Unalaq be damned. As long as she had her twin, she could endure anything. Without him, she would surely collapse in on herself and diminish into inconsequence.

Author's Note: Thanks for reading! I haven't decided yet if I will add more or not. It'll probably depend on how things turn out in the following episodes. And thanks to my bestie Aggressively Hospitable for beta reading.

*Post Season 2 Finale EDIT - This story is now an AU since *SPOILER ALERT* it was revealed in the Book 2 finale that Desna and Eska's mother is in fact still alive.