AN: BEFORE YOU ALL KILL ME: Yes, Asami is pregnant. Yes, Omega's Gambit will have a sequel that takes place during the events of Book 4. Give me a few weeks to wrap up some other projects, and I'll get started on it. ^_^

Also, I titled this story "Omega's Gambit" because Asami took a big risk. She confessed her love and committed herself to Korra despite knowing that it might require enormous sacrifice, and despite the fact that Korra couldn't promise anything back. She did it because of what she hoped to gain in the end. Taking a large risk in hopes of a bigger reward is the definition of the word 'Gambit'.

Epilogue:

Whipping coils of wind lash her cheeks, her eyes, her nose. She struggles to move, to surge forward, but her muscles won't respond. She's frozen. Limp. Helpless. She can't even lift her head on her own. It's trapped in a soundless, silent, screaming place, and the only thing she can see is Zaheer's blank face.

Her burning lungs seize up, trying and failing to gasp in air. 'Breathe. I can't breathe—' But all the breath in her lungs rushes out, leaving her so empty it hurts. She can't cry, can't make a sound.

Somewhere deep beneath layers of anger and fear, some calm part of her realizes she is going to die. The power and connection of the Avatar State is flickering out, threatening to vanish and leave her body a hollow shell. She's going to die, the Avatar Cycle will end, and Asami will be left alone, just as she feared.

'Asami!'

Somehow, the swimming vision of Asami floating before her is a thousand times more frightening and painful than her visions of Amon, Unalaq, and Vaatu combined. The woman she loves, and the woman she's failed.

'Asami. I'm so sorry. I'm so...'

"There you go. All fixed up for a formal Avatar appearance."

Korra blinked the blurriness from her eyes, trying to get a handle on the suddenly shifting room without being obvious. As flashbacks went, this one hadn't been particularly bad. She was almost growing used to jolting in and out of her own nightmares, her own body. If it's even my own body anymore. At least I didn't fall out of the stupid chair this time.

A soft palm rested on her shoulder, but she didn't even react to the familiar, comforting weight of Asami's touch. Her eyes remained downcast, and she couldn't find the will to say anything.

"Here, Korra. Take a look?"

She flicked her gaze up just enough to see the mirror Asami's other hand was holding in front of her, but she barely glanced at her own reflection. The face in the mirror wasn't hers. It belonged to someone else. Someone who should have died on that mountaintop. Someone who had died on that mountaintop, even though her body hadn't gotten the message.

"It's great," she mumbled when she realized Asami was still expecting an answer. "Thanks."

Asami set the mirror aside, stepping out from behind her chair and kneeling on the floor in front of her. Korra couldn't avoid looking at her, and even though she felt empty inside, the brush of Asami's fingertips against her arm made her heart clench. Her face... staring at me when I was about to die... when I should have died...

"You know, nobody expects you to bounce back right away. It's only been two weeks. You need time to heal."

The warmth of Asami's hand wrapped around her lifeless fingers, but Korra couldn't find the strength to pull away. She remained silent, allowing the contact. You shouldn't be touching me. You shouldn't still care about me after everything that's happened. After I used you, left you, and almost died. You shouldn't—

"I want you to know that I'm here for you if you ever want to talk or anything. But let's just try to enjoy this today. For Jinora."

The strength pouring through Asami's grip and into her was enough, barely, to help her force back the awful thoughts. "You're right." She took a deep breath, straightening her shoulders with what felt like the very last of her energy. "Okay, let's go."

Anywhere, anything has to be better than here.

. . .

She runs, pushing past the airbenders in her way, skidding over the dirt as she sprints toward the dark figure falling from the sky. She can't make out many details, but she fixes on its shape: a hurtling body with a length of chain lashing out from its arm. A flash of glowing white light confirms who the body belongs to, but she already knows. She would have known no matter what.

"Korra!"

Her scream is soundless. Useless. Korra continues falling, pulling Zaheer behind her, and there's nothing she can do. Nothing, nothing, nothing...

The collision with the ground sends up a small cloud of dust, but not enough to blur the impact. Korra's body bounces, then crumples, and her stomach gives a sickening lurch. There is no movement. Korra makes no attempt to get up. She remains utterly still, and so does Asami, too overwhelmed to even continue running.

'Oh Spirits. She's dead. My mate-' The mark on her shoulder throbs with hurt. The sharp pain in her chest is worse. It's a literal break, a crack she can feel all the way to her very foundation.

She finally wills her legs to work, but when she tries to run, a hand on her shoulder holds her back. Mako is there, preventing her from moving. She whips around to snarl at him, but he only nods his head gently in the direction of Korra's body. Tonraq is there. Tonraq, Korra's father, the only other person Asami might hesitantly admit has more of a claim to this moment than she does.

In the end, no matter how much her heart aches, she can't steal this from him. She imagines shoving Tonraq away and taking her alpha into her arms, but she remembers that she chose not to bite Korra back. This is the reason why. This exact situation. She has never regretted her choice more. If these are Korra's last moments, the thought of losing them to someone else, anyone else, is unbearable...

Asami slid the hairpin from between her lips, watching it sink into the glossy strands of Korra's hair. The bun she had made was perfect. There wasn't a single hair out of place. It was a little thing, doing Korra's hair, but it was still enough to make her smile. "There you go. All fixed up for a formal Avatar appearance."

Korra remained silent. She continued gazing off into space, and Asami's smile almost wavered. It's been like this for the past two weeks. She just doesn't respond. Not to me, not to anyone. She reached out for Korra's shoulder, but pulled back at the last moment. Instead, she cupped her palm over her abdomen and closed her eyes, drawing in a slow breath. Soon. We'll tell her soon. When she doesn't look like she's on the verge of crying every minute of every day.

When the silence continued stretching out, Asami gathered her courage and tried again. She managed to pick up the mirror sitting on the table beside her with one hand and squeezed Korra's shoulder with the other. She tried to keep her touch soft, but Korra flinched anyway. The strength she was used to feeling in her alpha's broad shoulders had disappeared, and all that remained was a slumped sort of defeat.

"Here, Korra. Take a look?"

The seconds that ticked between her question and Korra's answer seemed to last an eternity. She waited, barely breathing, unsure whether she had pushed too far. Sometimes it hurt to look at Korra's face, to see the grief lines etched there. Perhaps Korra wasn't ready to deal with that yet. Maybe Korra hated seeing herself dressed up and smoothed out like she hadn't almost died. Like they both hadn't almost lost everything.

Finally, after what felt like forever, Korra spoke. Her voice was cracked, faltering, but understandable. "It's great. Thanks."

Asami set the mirror aside. I guess right now, that's the best answer I can hope for. She stepped out from behind the wheelchair and knelt on the floor, looking up into Korra's eyes. They weren't even focused on her. Korra was somewhere else, somewhere she couldn't quite reach. "You know, nobody expects you to bounce back right away. It's only been two weeks. You need time to heal."

When Korra's weary gaze flicked down to meet hers, Asami laced their fingers together. "I want you to know that I'm here for you," she said, letting their joined hands rest on top of Korra's thigh. "If you ever want to talk, or... anything. But let's just try to enjoy this today. For Jinora."

She felt guilty for putting yet another obligation on her already-exhausted lover, but she didn't have much of a choice. Soon, everyone else would arrive, and they were all expecting the Avatar. The strong alpha. The hero. Not Korra as she was now, a silent, broken girl in a wheelchair. Despite the assurances she had given, Asami knew the public would quickly sour of Korra's condition if they didn't see what they anticipated: a resilient Avatar who was already recovering from her ordeal. Korra's friends would understand. The world might not.

Just when she was about to give in and go tell Tenzin that Korra wasn't well enough to leave the room, Korra gave a small dip of her head. "You're right." She straightened her shoulders one more time, and Asami had to blink away the sting in her eyes. "Okay, let's go."

AN: If you liked what you read, especially if you're a new reader of mine thanks to this story, please consider checking out my published works! They're available for purchase on Amazon through my amazing publisher, Desert Palm Press.

raedmagdon dot tumblr dot com/Amazon

That link redirect will show you my books available for purchase. If you like magic!cock, you'll want to go for And Once More Saw The Stars or Dark Horizons. :D If you like twisted lesbian fairytales with lots of drama, consider my Amendyr series (starting with The Second Sister).