Hey guys! So, this is a one-shot I wrote on Makorra and their baby girl. Er, I don't know so much about the title to this, but anyways, I really hope you like it! :)
Please comment/review and let me know what you think of it, all reviews are greatly appreciated! I hope you enjoy and thanks for reading! ^_^
I OWN NOTHING; I DO NOT OWN THE LEGEND OF KORRA.
"Almost Gone"
. . .
A yawn escapes Korra's lips as she lies down on the couch of her and Mako's apartment, closing her eyes for a second and laying her head down on a soft pillow.
It's been a long day for the young Avatar; between taking care of Avatar stuff and taking care of her seven year old daughter, Saria, while Mako's working, she's tired. While both she and Mako are at work, Saria stays over at Air Temple Island, and after running around playing with the Airbending children, Saria's in her bed, passed out.
After reading a bedtime story and tucking in her daughter, Korra finally finds the time to plop herself on the couch and catch up on some desperately needed sleep. It's a little bit passed ten o'clock and Mako is still out working; Lin Beifong keeping him working double hours this week since he didn't go to work at all last week because he was sick.
Korra sighs as she lazily pulls the royal blue blanket on top of her and up to her chin, cuddle in the warm, thick blanket. It's the winter time and it's night; making it absolutely freezing outside and it's chilly inside.
Not even five minutes later, after Korra lies down on the couch, ready to fall asleep, does Saria come walking in, rubbing her tired eyes as a small yawn leaves her lips. "Mommy?"
The Waterbender's eyes snap open at her daughter's quiet voice and she slowly sits up on the couch, rubbing her own eyes. "Yes, sweetheart? What are you doing up? Shouldn't you be sleeping?"
The young child's bright, golden eyes lower and her head tilts forward so she's staring at the ground, letting her wavy black hair fall in front of her face. "I want daddy…" Her voice is barely above a whisper as she sniffs, tears beginning to form in her eyes. "I want my daddy…"
Korra frowns and stands up, walking over to her daughter and kneeling down before her so she's eye-level with her. "Sweetie, daddy's working. You'll see him tomorrow morning, okay? I promise as soon as you wake up, he'll be the first person you see and he can even cook you breakfast and-"
"No!" Saria shouts, her eyes darting up to meet her mother's eyes. As she stands there in her red pajamas with little Fire Ferrets on them, she squeezes her stuff Fire Ferret; the one Mako gave to her when she was only a baby; when she was first born. Ever since Saria laid eyes on Pabu when Bolin was over for a visit, she suddenly had an obsession with the creature. "I want daddy now." Tears are burning in her eyes, "I don't get to see him anymore… I want to see him. I miss my daddy…"
If that didn't break Korra's heart just now, she doesn't know what would. She immediately wraps her arms around the seven year old and pulls her into a tight hug. Korra strokes her daughter's hair and kisses the top of her head, "Daddy misses you too… I promise, you'll see him real soon."
Saria just shakes her head as tears slowly roll down her cheeks. Korra remembers that's exactly how she felt when she was first taken away from her parents, from her home to start her Avatar training.
When they pull away, Korra gives her daughter a small smile, "How about I call and see if he can head home now to see you before you head off to bed? How does that sound?"
Saria nods her head quickly and watches her mother start to head to the phone. However, before she can call, there is a soft knock on the door. Korra's head whips around and her eyebrows knit together. "Maybe your daddy forgot his key?" Who else would it be this late at night?
The Avatar walks towards the door, grips the handle, and opens the door, blinking a few times in confusion when she sees an officer standing there in front of you. "Uh… Mako's not here, if that's who you're looking for." She didn't know what else to say. "Can I help you with something?"
The officer takes a deep breath, glancing behind Korra to make eye contact with Saria before looking back at the waiting Avatar. "Avatar Korra, there was an… incident."
Korra can feel her stomach begin to twist at the officer's words, but she just cocks her head to the side slightly and narrows her eyes at him, "What kind of incident?" She already has a feeling what he is going to say, but she asks anyways, wanting to be sure before jumping to different conclusions.
The officer stares at Korra for a few seconds, leaving pure silence, before he swallows hard and answers with an apologetic tone, "I'm sorry…" He sighs, "It involves your husband, Mako."
. . .
Mako makes a sharp turn on his motorcycle as he speeds down an empty street with only one, small truck driving in front of him. He narrows his amber eyes at the truck and lifts one hand off the motorcycle, sending a fist of flames at the truck.
The back of the truck opens and one man comes into view, moving his hands in circular moments before bending the puddles on the street, turning them into ice.
Mako's eyes widen and as his motorcycle drives over the ice, he begins to lose control of his bike. He lifts his hand up to firebend at the ice, making it melt, and then he easily regains control. He continues to chase down the speeding truck, letting the cold wind slap across his face as he does so.
The Firebender grips his motorcycle tightly as he speeds up even faster than he is already going, making him come really close to the truck the criminals are in. Mako stands up slowly and carefully, punching fire after fire at the truck before sitting back down and taking hold of his bike again.
The truck he is chasing after loses control for a second, skidding along the road, but that doesn't stop them, barely slows them down. Mako frowns and watches as another man comes into view, smirking at him before lifting up his arms and making the road begin to shake.
Mako gasps as the man earthbends the road, making it uneven to drive on and making pieces of the road come flying at him. With quick reflexives, Mako manages to doge the man's attacks and make it so he's driving only inches behind the truck.
One man opens a pouch that is strapped to his hip and bends a stream of water out of it. He bends the water, turning it into ice shards, and then throwing them at Mako, making them slice against his uniform and slice parts of his skin.
An ice shard comes close to hitting Mako's head, but he ducks at the last second, mentally cursing at himself for forgetting his helmet. He groans as they turn around street corner –where there is construction being done-; he needs to catch these criminals; the sooner he does that, the sooner he gets to go home to his family.
Mako watches the truck curve to the left and the Earthbender on the truck quickly bends the road behind him, making a large wall so Mako can't get passed. However, the Firebender just smirks as he speeds up his motorcycle until he can't go any faster and he rides right up on a small ramp in the middle of the road, making his bike go flying in the air.
He has to bite back a scream as his motorcycle roughly lands perfectly right behind the truck once again. As he lifts up his hand, he clenches his fist tightly together and unleashes a powerful blast of red flames.
The fire hits the wheels of the truck, making it lose control and start swerving. Mako grins crookedly at this and goes to punch another wave of fire, but before he can, the man on the truck bends water out of his other pouch and bends the water so it's covering the road, turning it into ice.
If Mako was prepared for this, like the last time the criminal tried doing this, he could have used his firebending to melt the ice quickly and only swerve a bit. However, he thought once the truck began to swerve and lose control completely, the criminals would be trying to either stop the truck, regain control, or jump out of the moving vehicle.
The ground beneath the ice is bumpy from the Earthbender and the construction that's on this block, the motorcycle starts spinning him in circles while steam starts to come out of its engine.
Mako tries to stop his bike, but it continues to spin. Up ahead on the road, he can see the truck the criminals were in finally crash into a store building. Mako tries to firebend at the road to melt the ice, but before he can, he hears a loud honk…
Everything happens so fast…
Mako isn't even sure what happened. One minute he is swerving and spinning around on his bike while on the ice and the next, he hears the loud honking sound coming from a large truck.
His eyes widen and before he can fully progress what happens next, the truck hits the motorcycle, making it go flying up in the air and making Mako go falling off his bike.
The motorcycle lands near the criminal's truck while Mako comes crashing to the ground and skids until his back hits roughly against a nearby building. Blood comes pouring out of the large wound on his forehead and his eyes are already closed; he's unconscious.
The man who owns the truck that hit Mako slams on his brakes and comes rushing out of his truck, rushing right up to Mako's body that lies against the building. The man drops to his knees and sees Mako unconscious. The man slowly moves his hands onto Mako's neck, checking for a pulse.
A gasp leaves the man's lips as his eyes widen and he quickly starts screaming out into the night, "Help! Please, somebody help! Come quick! Please, he's not breathing! Help!"
. . .
Korra comes rushing into Republic City's hospital with Saria in her arms. She quickly rushes up to a nearby healer, "Excuse me, I'm sorry, but I need to know if my husband was brought in. T-They said he was… please, can you help me?"
The healer gently places her hand on Korra's upper arm and offers her a sad smile, "What's your husband's name?"
"Mako. I'm his wife, Korra. Please tell me he's alright. He was brought in, right?" She's nervous. The officer at her door practically told her nothing except that there was an incident and Mako got severely hurt. The officer just told her that they brought him to the hospital a few moments after the accident.
The officer was going to tell her more, but Korra quickly took Saria in her arms and rushed out the door, jumping onto Naga, and coming straight to the hospital.
"Yes, he was brought in not too long ago. He was taken into one of the emergency rooms we have. Trust me, ma'am, we have only the best of the best healers working on him right now." The healer says with a sigh, "I do not know how long he'll be in there. You're more than welcomed to take a seat in the waiting room. I will come get you when he is out and there is news."
Korra manages a nod before slowly dragging herself to the waiting room, taking a seat on one of the chairs and placing Saria on the one beside her. She grabs her daughter's hand and with her free hand, she tries wiping away the hot tears that are streaming down her cheeks. Her heart is racing and her body is shaking; she's beyond scared at this point.
What would she do without Mako? She'd be alone and a single mother… she'd have to look at her daughter every day and tell her how she will never see her daddy again. She would have to wake up and go to sleep every night on a large bed, alone. She would not only lose her husband, her soul mate, but her best friend. She would never get to see his amber eyes staring at her with such love in them. She would never get to see him smile crookedly at her. She would never get to spar by the beach with him. She would have to help her daughter master firebending alone and he would miss it. She would never get to say 'I love you' to him. She would only have memories of him instead of actually being with him.
Korra closes her eyes for a moment, squeezing them shut and letting tears leak out of the corners of her eyes. She bites down on her lip hard, trying to stay silent, and not let out a loud, painful sob.
"Mommy? Why are you crying?" Saria's innocent, quite voice breaks the silence between them. "Did something happen to daddy?"
The Avatar wipes her eyes with the back of her free hand and manages a small smile as she stares down at the curious seven year old. "Um…" What does she say to her? How does she explain to her daughter what happened to Mako? How does she explain to her daughter she may never see her daddy again… "Mommy's not crying. She's…" Korra sighs, "Okay, mommy is crying, but she's just worried. Your daddy, well, he was in a small accident and the healers are taking care of him."
"Is daddy not gonna make it?" Saria asks as her golden eyes widen in fear. "What's gonna happen to daddy?"
"Oh, daddy's going to be just fine, sweetheart. You know how strong your daddy is. He just needs the healers to, um, check him out to make sure he'll be fine to come home." Korra strokes her daughter's hair and sighs. Her daughter only nods and the two of them then sit there in silence, waiting to hear news on Mako.
. . .
"Excuse, ma'am?" The healer from before says as she shakes Korra's shoulder slightly. "Ma'am?"
Korra's eyes snap open and it takes her a second to realize she must have fallen asleep. She quickly looks beside her and she sees Saria coloring on a piece of paper. Sighing, Korra looks back at the healer and raises an eyebrow, "Yes?"
"The healers just finished with Mako." The healer says and by the fear and concern on Korra's face, the healer continues, "They managed to save him, but he has quite a few injuries. Bruises, which will take a few days to heal, scratches, some scars, and a few broken bones that the healers couldn't fully fix right away. It'll take a few days to heal up completely. He lost a lot of blood and if he had crashed any harder to the ground, we would have lost him. He surely is lucky. You can go see him now, but he's unconscious at the moment."
It takes Korra a few moments to let what the healer said process in her mind. She takes a deep breath and manages to nod her head slowly, silently thanking the healer. "Can you, um, show me to his room?" Her voice is shaky and although the healer assured her Mako should make a full recovery and be okay, she's still worried for her husband.
Any harder and Mako would be dead…
The healer walks Korra and Saria to Mako's room and then leaves them alone. The two of them enter the room quietly and Saria doesn't waste a second before running straight to the bed.
"Daddy!" Saria cries as she runs to the bed and climbs onto it, sitting right beside his shoulders. "Daddy?"
"Daddy's sleeping, honey." Korra says, her voice slightly cracking. She takes a deep breath and walks over to stand next to the bed. "He needs to rest so he can get better."
"Mommy?" Saria says in a scared voice as her eyes stay glued to her father's face. "Why is daddy's face purple and black? It's all… bloody too."
Korra takes a deep breath and looks down at her husband's face. It's covered in bruises and a disgusting looking wound is resting on his forehead. His face, neck, and arms from what Korra can see, that isn't covered with the blanket, has dried blood and deep scratches on him. Swallowing hard, Korra says in a quiet voice, "Don't be scared, honey, the accident he was in just left him… a bit bruised up, but they'll fade in a few days."
"Hey, why don't you finish whatever you were drawing when I was asleep before, huh?" Korra says with a small smile. Saria nods her head; she hops off the bed and walks across the room to sit on a chair and finishing coloring.
Once Korra makes sure Saria can't hear her, she sits down on the bed, and takes Mako's bruised hand in hers. She can feel the tears once again forming in her eyes as she stares down at his pale, sweaty face. "Oh my Spirits… what happened to you?" She closes her eyes and chokes back a sob, "Oh my Spirits… I am so, so sorry, Mako. I should have… I don't know. I don't know. I should have been there to help you. I'm the Avatar; I should be the only chasing down criminals and making sure the citizens of Republic City are safe. I know you're an officer now and all, but an officer shouldn't get this badly hurt. Especially not you. I know I sound selfish, but sometimes I wish you didn't have this job. It's dangerous, but I know you enjoy it and it gives good pay. Spirits, this is what you must feel like when you're worrying about me and if I'm okay when I'm out doing 'Avatar stuff'."
"Mako, you have to be okay. I mean, we've survived worse. We survived Amon and Unalaq and Vaatu. We survived our crazy, hotheaded fights, and you somehow survived my father when we told him I was pregnant. Mako, I need you. Saria needs you. I can't imagine my life without you in it. What about Bolin? He needs his brother and his and Asami's son is going to need his uncle. I need my husband; I need my best friend." Korra keeps her eyes closed as she whispers.
"Spirits… y-you're a… acting l-like I'm d-dead." Mako chokes out, his eyes still closed.
Korra's ocean blue eyes snap open and they stare down at Mako's face. She feels his hand squeeze around hers and a wide smile forms on her face. "Oh my Spirits, you're okay!" Korra keeps her fingers laced with his with one hand and she moves her other hand to rest gently on his cheek. "Mako? Mako, can you hear me?"
It takes a few seconds, but eventually Mako's eyes slowly open and his amber eyes shine as they look up and meets Korra's waiting eyes. He manages a crooked smile as he whispers, "Hi."
Korra laughs and can feel a tear slide down her cheek, "Hi."
"Daddy!" Saria yells when she notices her father's open eyes. She quickly leaps out of the chair she was sitting on and rushes over to the bed, jumping onto it, and sitting beside him. "You're awake!"
Mako chuckles and ignores the massive amount of pain when Saria wraps her arms tightly around his neck and squeeze him into a tight hug. Korra notices him wince at the sudden tight impact and she smiles, pulling Saria gently off him. "Honey, don't forget, you have to be gentle with daddy right now. He's still sore."
Saria frowns and nods her head slowly before turning back to face him, smiling brightly, "I missed you, daddy!"
Mako smiles and his heart almost breaks when he sees the pain in his daughter's eyes; she was worried about him. She could have lost her father. "I'm here now, sweetie. I'm okay and daddy's never going to leave you again, how does that sound?"
"Great!" Saria laughs and then wraps her arms around his neck again, only this time she wraps them lightly around his neck so she doesn't hurt him.
Korra's fingers lazily stroke Mako's short, black hair as she watches Mako laugh with their daughter. She can see the tired look in Saria's eyes, considering it's probably one or two in the morning. After yawning quietly to herself, she looks down at Saria with a small smile on her lips, "Hey, why don't you try to get some sleep? Want me to take you to Uncle Bolin's or-"
"No!" Saria quickly says, the same look of fear forming in her amber eyes, "I want to stay here with daddy. I don't wanna lose him again…"
Korra and Mako exchange a glance before Mako turns his daughter's attention back to him, "Saria, I'm sure you don't want to sleep in the hospital tonight. Why not go to Uncle Bo-"
"No, I wanna stay here! With you and mommy!" Saria pouts as tears start to form in her eyes. She looks down at her hands and sniffs, "I don't wanna leave you… you might get hurt again and- and then I won't get to see you again…"
Korra bites her lip and then suddenly turns on her heels and walks out of the room. Mako raises an eyebrow, not sure what his wife is up to until she reenters the room a few moments later, wheeling another hospital bed into the room with a wide smirk on her face. "Look what I found!"
Mako chuckles, "Where'd you find that?"
"Eh, in some room, but nobody was it in… I hope." Korra laughs and wheels the bed right beside Mako's bed. She then turns to smile down at her seven year old, "Okay, honey, you wanna sleep here tonight?"
When Saria nods her head quickly, Korra smiles and lifts her up in her arms, gently placing her down on the bed beside Mako's. "Alright, goodnight, honey." Korra kisses the top of her head and pulls the blanket up to her daughter's chin.
"Wait!" Saria quickly yells as she sits up on the bed, pointing towards the chair across the room. "I drew you and daddy something."
"Oh? Did you now?" Korra asks with a raised eyebrow as she walks over to where Saria left her picture on the chair. She picks it up without looking at it and then walks back over to Mako and Saria.
The young Firebender grins, "Yup! Look at it!"
Korra places the picture down on the bed so she and Mako can both look at it and they both gasp when they examine the picture their daughter drew. It has a large house in the background with the sun large and shining in the corner of the paper. Three figures are standing in front of the house: Mako, wearing a cast, and Korra, who is standing next to him, holding Saria in her arms; Naga lying down in front of them on the floor.
"Oh, it looks so beautiful!" Korra smiles, "It's perfect!"
"You did an excellent job on this, sweetheart, we love it." Mako grins at his daughter, who is smiling the same crooked smile he usually wears on his face. Daddy's Little Girl for sure.
"C'mon, now let's get you to bed. Once we get home, we'll definitely hang this up, how does that sound?" Korra asks as she places the white sheets back over Saria and tucks her back in, "Goodnight, love you."
"Love you, goodnight, Saria." Mako says as he smiles at his daughter, as she gets comfortable before settling down.
"G'night mommy… g'night daddy! Love you!" Saria says with a beaming smile and then closes her eyes, drifting off to sleep.
Once Korra and Mako are sure she's fast asleep, Korra lets out a sigh and sits down on Mako's bed beside him. She looks him in the eyes before shaking her head, "You have no idea how worried I was when the officer came to my house and told me what happened. Spirits, he didn't even tell me what happened! All I knew was you were in a bad accident and then I stormed out of the apartment!"
Mako sighs and looks down at his hands, leaning his head back against the pillows, "I'm sorry. I know you must have been worried… Saria too."
"She didn't think she'd see her daddy again." Korra sighs as she runs a hand through her messy, chocolate brown locks, "We're both so glad you're okay. Bolin and Asami's been worrying about you too."
"The Triple Threat Triad was creating trouble downtown and they robbed a store and sent two buildings on fire; I had to try to catch them!" He tries to explain, but Korra shakes her head, "And you just had to do it alone? You weren't even hearing a helmet, the healers said! Mako, do you realize how dangerous that was? You were almost gone. The healers didn't know if they could save you! If I would have lost you… I- I-"
Mako doesn't let Korra continue as he quickly pulls her in his arms and despite the pain he's in, holds her tightly against him. He kisses the top of her head, whispering to her in her ear, "I'm not going anywhere. You're stuck with me, got that?" When they pull away, he grins at her, "I love you. I love you and Saria and there's no way I'm leaving either of you."
Korra cups his bruised cheek in her hand and smiles down at him; her ocean blue eyes sparkling as she locks eyes with him, "Good, because I don't plan on losing you anytime soon, City-Boy, is that understood?"
"Is that an order?" He jokes with a wink, which causes Korra to nod her head and laugh, "That's an Avatar order!"
The Waterbender bends her head down to plant a soft kiss on his lips; sharing a passionate kiss with him. When they break apart, Korra lies down on the bed beside him, cuddling up beside him. She places her hand on his stomach and rests her head on his shoulder. She buries her face against his chest and sighs happily, "I love you, Mako. Always have and always will."
He kisses the top of her head, "I love you too, Korra. Now, let's try to get some sleep. I'm dying to get out of this hospital. They're either releasing me tomorrow morning or you and Saria are breaking me out."
Korra laughs and rolls her eyes, "We'll see about that. Goodnight." She lifts her head up to kiss his cheek before leaning back against him and eventually drifting off to a peaceful sleep against her husband.
Mako takes a deep breath and stares at his sleeping daughter before turning his gaze back down to watch Korra sleep nicely against him, breathing in and out slowly and a small smile on her face. He grins and kisses the top of her head before closing his own eyes, trying to get some sleep before his attempt to either be released tomorrow or break out with his wife and seven-year-old daughter's help.
He smiles to himself at the thought and then eventually falls into a peaceful night's sleep with his entire world in this one room: his loving wife and his little girl, and that's all he needs to make it through whatever obstacles come his way.