Chapter One

Bolin peered down the ladder that led to the attic apartment he shared with his brother. He saw a young girl in airbender robes clutching a letter, with red-rimmed eyes.

"Jinora? What's wrong?" He slid down the ladder to stand on the landing beside her.

"Korra…Korra wanted me to give this to you," she shoved the folded letter at him.

"What is this? Did something happen to her?"

She looked at him incredulously as Mako poked his head down the ladder as well. "What's going on?" He asked.

"Haven't you heard?" Jinora's voice wavered. "Korra challenged Amon to a duel."

The brothers exchanged a look. They were both thinking how like Korra that was, but also how stupid. She was bound to run out of luck sometime when it came to dealing with the equalists.

It seemed like that time had come.

"She told him to meet her out on Avatar Aang Memorial Island. Alone, and she refused to let anyone come with her." She took a deep breath. "He ambushed her there. "

"What?" Bolin gasped.

"Is she okay?"

Jinora shook her head. "He took her bending away."

A stunned silence fell over the three benders, each trying to imagine what it would be like to live without their own bending, trying to imagine the pain Korra must be in.

Jinora was the first to break the silence. "She wanted me to give this to you," she held out the letter again. "I don't know what it says, but it probably has to do with her not being able to fight with the fire ferrets anymore."

"Like we care about that right now!" Bolin exclaimed. "We have to go see her!"

The young airbender shook her head. "She's not letting anyone near her right now. She's shut herself up in her room, and I heard my father talking about going with her to the South Pole."

"She can't leave!" Mako protested. "What about us? What about her life here?"

"What about you? You didn't even know she was going to fight Amon, did you?" Jinora suddenly turned on them, eyes narrowed. "She's been really quiet ever since she went with you to that rally, and you never even came by to see how she was doing."

"That's not fair," Bolin interjected. "I came to thank –"

"You might have," Jinora cut him off, "but your brother didn't, and he's the one she most wanted to see."

Mako stared at her, stunned. "What?"

"I know she cares a lot about both of you, and when you didn't come back to see her, you hurt her," she accused. "She feels like you were just using her as the avatar to get your brother back."

"I would never-"

"And now that she can't bend, she doesn't think you'll want anything to do with her. Especially since you have your new girlfriend."

"My new… just what is Korra telling you?"

"Korra is like a sister to me," she said fiercely. "And what she doesn't tell me, she tells Naga. And Korra's voice carries."

Mako felt like he'd been sucker-punched in the gut. He had no idea what to say.

*Bolin couldn't take it anymore. He ripped the letter open, scanning her hurried handwriting.

"She is leaving," he confirmed with disbelief in his voice and eyes. "As soon as she can, she says. She also says thanks for the opportunity to fight in a real match, and she's sorry she won't be able to compete in the tournament with us. She hopes we find a good replacement since… since she's useless to us now." Bolin looked up at his brother. "Mako, we have to do something."

"What can we do? If Amon took her bending away…"

"Korra is not just her bending," Bolin said. "Come on, we have to go talk to her."

"I told you, she isn't talking to anyone. Besides, there's not another ferry tonight, and I can't fly you both over on my glider."

"Could you fly one of us?" Mako asked, his gaze intense.

Jinora matched his gaze. "Maybe. But I'm not going to help you if you're just going to hurt her more."

"I never meant to hurt her in the first place. The least I can do now is try to make it better, and I have to do something before she's gone for good!"

Jinora stared him down, then nodded. "Alright, I'll try."

Mako followed her to the docks, his thoughts racing. How could he have been so stupid? He knew that Korra was more than just the avatar, a means to an end. She'd been the one to insist on helping him! He wanted to do it on his own, the way he always had, but with Bolin's life on the line, he wasn't going to take any chances.

And he was glad he accepted her help, too. He couldn't have gotten Bolin out of there safely on his own, and if Bolin had lost his bending…

Instead, Korra lost hers.

He couldn't imagine what she must be going through. All her life, she'd known she was the avatar, and she'd trained since she was very young. She'd been sure to point that out in the few practice sessions they'd had together. And now, all of that, all of those years of training and discipline, just… gone.

And he didn't even know she was putting herself in that kind of danger. He'd known she'd joined Tarrlok's task force, but that was after chi-blockers in training. She'd faced them before and been alright, so while he was worried, he knew she could handle it.

But Amon. Amon was a different story entirely.

'How could she have been so stupid', he thought to himself. 'And why weren't Bolin and I there to stop her?' Even though they hadn't known her long, they were supposed to be a team now. What had gone so terribly wrong?

He almost stumbled as it hit him. Asami. Asami had come into his life and completely distracted him with her beauty and charm. And getting her father to sponsor the fire ferrets in the tournament didn't hurt either. That was just another thing to think about, being able to compete. It was his dream, and a way out of the day-to-day living he eked out with his brother.

And now, that was gone, too. No, he admonished himself, 'You can't think about that right now. How dare you? Korra is the most important thing right now.'

After a somewhat terrifying flight on Jinora's glider over the bay, they landed on the island and Mako sprinted toward the main compound before realizing he didn't even know where Korra's room was. He stopped short and turned to Jinora, who was following at his heels.

"Come on, I'll show you," she said, knowing exactly what stopped him.

He let her lead the way until they came to a stop at a door. "This is her room," she whispered, "But I don't know if she'll let you in. And, I don't know what Daddy will do if he sees you here, so be careful."

Mako nodded, gulping just a little at the thought of Tenzin. The man was intimidating enough on a normal day.

He knocked at the door, but there was no response. He knocked louder, more insistant. Still nothing.

He frowned, and impulsively he tried the doorknob. The door swung open easily.

Korra was lying on her side on her bed, facing the wall. She knew it was him, though. She always knew when he was around.

"No locks on Air Temple Island," she said flatly.

"Korra," Mako started, his voice full of an emotion he couldn't name.

She didn't turn to face him. "I wrote you guys a letter so you wouldn't have to come all the way out here. Didn't Jinora deliver it?"

"She did," he confirmed.

"Then what are you doing here?"

"Korra," he tried again. "I'm sorry."

"I don't want your pity."

"No, it's not pity. Korra, I'm trying to apologize! I shouldn't have let you –"

"Let me?" She sat up and spun around to glare at him. "You never 'let' me do anything. You have no say over what I do or don't do."

He stalked further into her room, stopped at her bedside. "That's not what I meant and you know it!"

"I don't know anything about what you mean or don't mean. I don't know anything about you!"

That stung. Mako knew he was guarded, but he thought she at least knew his character.

"Korra, please. Korra, just listen…"

"Stop saying my name like you care about me!" She exploded. "Get out of here! I can't bend anymore, so what use am I to you! I can't bend…" She broke down, not crying because she refused to do so in front of Mako and she was already cried out, but her frame just collapsed in on itself. She sat on her bed like the husk of the girl she once was.

Mako couldn't bear it. He sat beside her and gathered her up in his arms, like he used to for Bolin when the boy fell and scraped a knee when they were young.

"Korra," he said again, purposely using her name. "I am so sorry I ever made you think that way. And I'm sorry I haven't been around lately. I just got... distracted. I was a horrible teammate and a worse friend."

"When did we become friends?" She sniffed, the question touched with a hint of bitterness.

"You helped me rescue my brother, and then rescued me. Of course you're my friend. I'm just really bad at showing it."

"That's the understatement of the year."

He smiled a little, glad she still had her humor.

"But it still doesn't change the fact that I'm useless now."

The smile slid off his face. He pulled back and placed one hand under her chin, forcing her to look up at him. "You are not useless," he said firmly, holding her pale blue eyes with his fierce amber ones. "You were never useless and you never could be."

"I'm not the avatar anymore."

"That not only doesn't matter, it's simply not true."

She gave him a look of disbelief, but didn't pull away from his touch.

"You're Korra. You're a bit crazy, but you're a fast learner, and you're strong, both physically and morally. If anyone can get through this in one piece, it's you."

"You really think that?"

"Of course. You're more than just the avatar. That's just a part of you. You're also human. And I think a lot of people have been forgetting that lately."

She looked at him in silence, contemplating his words. Then she asked in a small voice, "What do I do now?"

Mako thought carefully before answering. "I don't really know," he confessed. "But you can't give us. We don't know how Amon's doing this. If we can figure that out, maybe there's a way to get your bending back. And even if there's not, you don't want to just give up and let him win, do you?"

She frowned and glared at him. "No."

"Then you have to stay in Republic City. You have to stay and fight," he insisted. "Show him and everyone else how strong I know you really are."

"What if I don't know how?" Her voice shook and Mako knew how much the question must cost her.

"No on knows how, why should you be expected to know any different?" He replied. "We'll ask Tenzin, he'll be able to get us started. And we'll figure the rest out as we go along."

She threw her arms back around him and crushed herself against his chest. He returned the warm embrace, hesitantly, but fully.

"You're still a jerk, you know," she said from her place tucked under his chin.

"Believe me, I know."

A/N So here is my attempt at a multi-chapter fic. It's still only going to be a few chapters, but still. I hope you like it. Please review!