Korra died
Bolin's breath was caught in his throat. His vision became blurry as his eyes filled with tears and somewhere between the sobs racking his body and the broken cries escaping his throat, he heard somebody whispering a panicked and repeated "No, no, no...". He didn't realize it was him until he was sinking to the ground with Korra's limp body in his grasp.She remained in his arms, but he was on his knees now, rocking her gently. Should he move her? Should he pick her up and take her to safety? What if he hurt her? His mind was racing in a million different directions and he hardly noticed that the attacking equalist party had already retreated at their defeat of the Avatar. He had joined them. He lead them to her. He caused this. 'B-But...they swore not to hurt her.' He wasn't there when the decision was made to kill Korra in the Avatar state to break the cycle. He wasn't there when the equalists suited up with extra gear not for a capture-and-return mission, but for an assassination mission. But he was there when they managed to mangle her and push her in to the Avatar state. He was there, watching, while she broke everybody and everything in her range. And he was there, grasping on to her body with her eyes radiating a brilliant light, asking her, begging her, "No, please, Korra...that's enough...please come back."
"Bo..." When a soft, broken voice interrupted his sobs, Bolin looked around the room before coming to the harsh realization that Korra was the one speaking. This powerful, boisterous girl he had grown so fond of was reduced to blood and tears and tired whispers in his arms. He didn't want to see Korra like this. He never wanted to think of her as weak. But here she was - some fragile, broken body that was barely holding on, shaking and wheezing with every breath and exhaling with a bloody cough.Bolin turned frantic, and Pabu jumped off of his shoulders to take a seat by Korra, licking the tears rolling from her eyes as Bolin's eyes darted all around the room, his brain in panic mode as he looked for solutions. He felt Korra's hand on his as she gently shook her head at him. Of course, even while she was the one dying, she would be the one to comfort Bolin. While it calmed him, his mind still searched and search for things he could do. He looked at his fire ferret, desperately nuzzling Korra's face and licking away her tears. "I-I don't think you can fix this one, buddy." Bolin choked out, biting the inside of his cheek to keep from screaming out in all the helplessness and fear and anger and sadness he felt. More tears rolled down his cheeks, dripping down his neck."Y-you--" Korra began before cutting herself off with a bloody cough, her body shaking and her breathing shallow. "You can't either, Bo..." Despite what she was conveying with her words, Korra managed a weak smile. From that, just that, Bolin knew. Korra knew. She wouldn't make it out of this one.
Bolin found himself crying again, harder than before, with his face buried into Korra's shoulder. "I'm so sorry...so sorry...I'm...sorry..." He repeated, holding her body tight to his, mindlessly hoping that he could transfer his life to her body. Between his hiccups and screaming sobs muffled by the young Avatar's shoulders, he muttered a meaningless stream-of-consciousness that Korra seemed to understand perfectly. "Equalists...protect you...sorry...promised...my fault...my fault..."
As his tears soaked her shoulder and shirt, he could hear trying to manage a laugh that ended up sounding something like a strangled gasp, filled with an awful liquid sound. Bolin was thankful when she took the time to turn her head and spit out the blood collecting in her mouth and throat. "It...it's okay, Bo. They - they d-didn't get me...another...gonna be...another Avatar..." The equalist may have succeeded in taking the Avatar down...but she wouldn't be dying in the Avatar state. She would be reincarnated again - somewhere among the throng of earthbenders. Bolin wasn't comforted much by the thought. He didn't want an earthbending Avatar. It wasn't the Avatar he cared about right now. It was Korra, dying in his arms, gasping for breath, wincing in pain at the slightest of movements...
Her voice lowered and Bolin could feel her pulse fading against his cheek, pressed affectionately up next to her neck as his tears continued to roll across her skin. Her head rolled back and her eyes closed, a numbing sensation crawling across her body. A small trail of blood leaked from the side of her mouth, and she managed to strangle out a few more words from her cold lips. "I forgive you." Barely audible, but Bolin heard it. He heard and he screamed, the life from his beautiful friend in his arms - drained. He screamed into her shoulder and hot tears poured out and wave after wave of pain hit him, shooting out from his chest and reaching every single nerve ending in his body. The ache ran into his bones and he felt like nothing in his body could function anymore.
And that was all it was. No soft, romantic confessions. No sweet goodbyes. Nothing of the sort. It was a mess of bloody wheezing and hysterical crying, loud sobs and screaming, and rough coughs.
Bolin wasn't sure how long he stayed there, grasping onto his lifeless friend desperately, crying and screaming and cursing...but he saw when he finally opened his eyes without more tears pouring out - he saw. His equalist uniform - damn that disgusting uniform - was covered with Korra's blood. Stained all through his chest, blood soaking in on his legs as well from him cradling her.
It was marred physically in the same way that Bolin felt emotionally damaged. And though Korra had forgiven him, he would never bring himself to forgive the equalists and all their twisted plans of action. Seeing himself even wearing the same uniform as the people who cut down Korra made him sick to his stomach. He promised himself that no one else who wore that dirty, disgusting, filthy uniform would get away from this. If they had anything to do with Korra's death, he would find them, and he would right his wrong.
"I...I'll fix this, Korra...I'll fix this."((...Aw...I gave myself the feels...))