Korra woke up in a daze under a pile of rubble. Her ears where ringing and she could hear faint sounds of brick and glass falling to the floor. It sunk in where she was and what had just happened. Kuvira had used her spirit weapon to blow up the factor they were hiding in.
She tried to get up but her legs were pinned down by a fallen metal beam and heavy brick. Quickly she used her earth bending to remove the rocks from on top of her. Crawling out of the small space where her body was thrown, she scanned the wreckage. There was smoke and fire everywhere.
Coughing and holding her side, she looked down at herself to see blood soaking into her usual bright blue water tribe furs.
"I have to find a way out of here." She thought.
Finally it hit her. Her friends were probably pinned under the rubble just like she had been moments ago. Or worse. Franticly she searched the destroyed building for any sign of life.
"Asami! Bolin! Anybody!" Korra screamed, chocking on the thick smoke she inhaled with every breath.
The building was still coming down around her, she needed to find everyone and fast before it completely collapsed. To her left she hears more than sees someone moving. Running towards the pile of rocks she swiftly bends it out of the way to find Bumi and Opal.
"Are you guys okay?" Korra asks.
"We're fine." Opal says, getting up slowly.
She and Bumi used their air bending to cushion the falling rocks so they wouldn't be crushed to death but they couldn't bend properly to get themselves completely from underneath it.
"Where's everyone else? Where's Bolin?" Opal fires off.
"I don't know yet. We have to keep searching. You and Bumi split up we need to find them fast, this whole place is about to come down." Korra says and quickly goes off to find the others.
Running in separate directions they each start to search for others. Bumi finds the other airbenders already out of the rubble thanks to Tenzin, Mako and Jinora, while Opal finds Bolin and her family.
"Asami! Asami where are you!" Korra screams.
Frantically she picks up half of the roof that had collapsed in on the factory after the explosion, and throws it into the river. This sudden upheaval makes the rest of the building unstable and it begins to shift drastically.
"The building is coming down we have to get out of here!" Mako yells, helping Varrick and Zhu li stand up.
"No, not without Asami!" Korra roars.
"Korra if we stay here any longer we'll all in up under brick and mortar again." Suyin says slowly, her wounds clearly causing her trouble.
"I'm not leaving here without her! Tenzin, Opal you guys guide the airbenders out of here. Bolin, Wei and Wing you can create a path so you and the wounded can walk out of here. I'm going to keep looking for Asami." Korra demanded.
"No, I'm staying to help." Mako said.
"No, you are not. There are too many wounded who can barely move you need to help carry them out. I'll be fine. All of you go, you're wasting time." Korra yelled before running off to continue her search for Asami.
She had been searching for Asami for about 3 minutes before she heard the beams starting to give way. She had to find her now or she might never see her again. Fighting through the pain in her still bleeding leg and whipping away her tears, Korra tripped and fell to the ground.
Pushing herself up she saw a pale arm sticking out from beneath what used to be the metal door to the room. Rushing over as quickly as she could, she throw the door off of Asami.
"Asami! Asami wake up!" Korra called out to her, but the non-bender didn't move.
"No, no no. Asami please wake up. Please" Korra cried, pulling Asami gently into her lap.
Asami lay lifeless on the avatar's legs. Her head was bleeding from a gash she received from the broken glass that was thrown about the room for the blast. Korra carefully picked Asami up in her held her close.
"Please be okay!" she said softly and began running towards to gaping hole in the building where Kuvira's weapon ripped through. The building finally began to give way, make the mounds of rubble slide towards Korra and Asami. Korra picked up her pace jumping over metal beams and piles of rock. When she reached the edge of the building she jumped out into the air heading for the ocean beneath them.
She gripped Asami tightly hoping she wasn't causing more damage and braced for impact. She couldn't properly bend the water while still holding a lifeless Asami in her arms, so she turned in midair having her body take the brunt of the force from hitting the water. Quickly she bent the water around her and Asami allowing them to breathe while she swam to safety, avoiding the falling bricks crashing into the water above them.
Once on shore, she gently laid Asami down to look her over. Asami still wasn't moving. Korra bent the water from the ocean and tied to heal Asami. Sea water was not a first choice when it came to healing but it was all she had at her disposal and she wasn't going to sit around and do nothing.
"Asami, you have to get up. Please, you can't leave me." Korra cried.
This wasn't how it was supposed to end. Korra had finally told herself that she would tell Asami how she felt. She was ready to admit her feelings of love to her best friend. They were supposed to go out on their first date. They were supposed to share their first kiss, fall in love, and spend their lives together, but instead Korra's healing her with subpar water hoping to keep Asami alive.
"Korra!" Bolin yelled rushing down from the street to her side.
"She won't wake up!" Korra said hysterically.
"Oh, no." Suyin chimed in.
Bolin and the others had all been searching for Korra since the building came down. Kai had seen Korra from above and directed everyone towards her.
"I can barely feel her energy moving. And this water isn't helping. I need spirit water!" Korra screamed.
"Korra we have to get out of here Kuvira is coming this way with her mecha suit." Mako said.
"We'll take her back to Air Temple Island. Kya should be able to heal her there." Opal said moving in to take Asami out of the avatar's hands.
"Don't touch her!" Korra screeched.
Korra didn't see the shocked reactions from her friends. The only face she was transfixed on was Asami's. She looked beautiful, even in her broken state. Korra couldn't imagine life without her. What if she handed Asami over to them and she didn't make it. Korra would be devastated.
"Korra, I know how much you care about Asami," Suyin said slowly, "but if you want her to get better you need to let us take her to the island."
"Please Korra, you know we will do everything in our power to protect her." Tenzin added.
"Protect her! You all were going to leave her in there!" Korra shouted.
"You told us to leave Korra! Don't act like we don't care about Asami." Mako said angrily.
Korra angrily faced Mako and threw a fireball at him making him fall in the sand.
"You have no right to say you care about Asami!" Korra seethed.
"Stop this!" Jinora intervened.
"Korra, let me take Asami back to the island. It's not safe for her out here. We are in the middle of a war zone." Jinora pleaded.
Korra looked away from Jinora's eyes and down to the closed ones in her lap. Slowly, Korra leaned down to kiss Asami on her cheek.
"Jinora will keep you safe until I return, so please get better for me. I love you." Korra whispered in Asami's ear hoping they somehow got through to her.
Korra got up and allowed Jinora and Kai to take Asami. She watched as they fly off towards Air Temple Island with her in their arms. Seeing Asami's lifeless body being carried away caused Korra to swell with emotion. Her eyes began to glow bright white and her hair floated upwards towards the sky. The land beneath their feet started to shake and burn. Everyone still surrounding Korra backed up towards the street where they'd come from.
Korra started moving her arms in different form of bending she'd never used before, entranced by the avatar state. Levitating off the shore, she quickly picked up sand, rocks and any earth she could reach around her, melting them all into one.
"Is- is she?"
"Lava bending!" Bolin said in awe.
Korra moved the molten rock smoothly as if she'd done it for years and began molding it around her.
"What is she doing?" Wei asked.
"It looks like she's making a lava suit or something." Mako chimed in.
"No, she's making a dragon!" Bumi yelled.
"How is that even possible?" Mako asked slack jawed.
"My father once did something similar, when fighting in the Northern water tribe. He created what many people said looked like a giant penguin monster that destroyed the fire nation's army." Tenzin added.
The avatar state had taken hold and the only words Korra spoke before taking off towards Kuvira's death machine were-
"I will end her."
Korra flew off in her lava made dragon swiftly finding Kuvira and her army.
"What the hell is that?" One of the soldiers' asked as the 50 foot dragon came into sight.
Before anyone could respond Korra blew her fire breath down on the soldiers effectively whipping out the fleet. Kuvira, hearing the screams of her men, began turning the mecha suit around but was tossed to the ground by the brute force of Korra's dragon colliding into her.
Kuvira gets the wind knocked out of her as she and the suit crash to the ground. There are small fires and exposed sparking wires all throughout the command center. The men who can still move are hurriedly tried to put out the fires but Korra is blasting the machine with fire and lava.
Kuvira stands up breathing heavily. The heat in the 20 ton suit has begun to rise from the intense fire from Korra's attack. Kuvira metal bends towards the controls and locks herself in place. She throws a punch at the lava dragon which sends Korra spiraling to the ground.
No longer under a constant attack Kuvira tried to get the suit to stand up but it won't move.
"What is the meaning of this!" Kuvira shouts to know one in particular.
"The Avatar melted the right leg off of the suit and the left one took server damage from the fall." Kuvira's aid informs her.
"Ugh. I will not lose to this woman!" Kuvira screams.
Although the mecha suit may not be able to walk anymore, it still has the spirit canon. Kuvira turns over and begins to fire up the canon, aiming it at the flying dragon coming towards them but Korra dives right before the weapon is fired. Kuvira has no time to recharge the weapon before the dragon is ripping the canon right off the mecha suit.
Korra throws the canon into the air and sends her strongest fire breath towards it, causing it to explode over the city.
"No." Kuvira says almost silently, as she watches the canon begin to fall from the sky in tiny pieces.
She thinks it's over. The avatar has destroyed her suit and decimated her army. Her plans to retake Republic City and complete her Earth Empire have been defeated, but the avatar hasn't stopped yet.
Korra uses the dragon to rip open the suit and drops inside. Korra stands before, Kuvira no longer encased in lava but still glowing in the avatar state and rips Kuvira out of the metal holds she used to lock herself into the controls.
"You will pay for what you have done." Korra says in a booming distorted voice.
The usual stoic expression Kuvira wears has morphed into one of pure terror. Korra throws Kuvira out of the suit and sends her crashing to the ground outside. Kuvira slides twenty feet before crashing into a wall of a building.
Korra airbends out of the suit and flies over to Kuvira, who is desperately trying to sit it.
"You're reign of terror is over. You will never hurt anyone again." Korra says, her normal voice coming back.
Korra raises her arm, her hand now circled by intense flames. The last thing Kuvira sees are the bright blue flames.