Battle Scars
Old, old, headcanon by one of the admins, but it’s being let out specially for @makorraforevafangirl. We wish we were aware of your predicament earlier and that we were able to churn this out for Valentine’s Day at least but we didn’t. Hopefully you still enjoy this.
EDIT: This takes place after the events of Book 1. They’re on a boat back to the city after spending two or three weeks in the South Pole. ^^;
Rated T for mild fladoodling.
It was quiet for a while with Mako’s gaze sweeping over Korra’s injuries and Korra waiting patiently, then he asked, his voice almost inaudible, “What exactly did he do to you?”
He didn’t know what had gotten into him. He barely remembered how he got in this position, with her beneath him, in a room below deck, or how no one was around to hear them. All he knew was her at that moment-- her eyes, her skin, her lips… Spirits, why was he breathing so hard already?
“Mako…” Her husky voice showered him in sweet bliss and he couldn’t help but shiver at its warmth, as if sitting by a fire during a snowstorm. He could feel her tense up as he ran a hand up her leg, feeling even more heat radiate against his hand. In a slight daze, he felt a sudden sense of haste and only did rather than determine what was next; he pulled back briefly to shrug his already unbuttoned jacket and tossed it onto the ground. The grin was too strong to hold back as her hands forced themselves under his beaten tank top, running up his chest and dragging down with short nails. Laughing, he lifted his tank over his head and watched as she reached up to kiss the expanse of his chest.
“C’mere,” he mumbled, bringing her head up to face him. She gladly attacked his lips before he could make a move, hands tangled in his hair. Her tongue swiped his swollen bottom lip and bit down on it. He let out a low groan and held her close, his cheeks heating up as her legs wrapped around his hips. He pressed himself into her and reveled in the beautiful sounds she made. “Kor…”
She pulled away to rest her forehead against his and panted hard. Her mind buzzed as he lessened the space between them, a burning sensation in her stomach and an unbearable need to set it free. “A-ah… Mmm…” Not quite able to take it anymore, she flipped the both of them in one swift motion so she was now on top, taking free reign for herself to pin his arms above his head with both hands and bent down to suck on his collarbone, making sure to leave her mark on him.
“K-K…!” His breath hitched in his throat at the switch, lifting himself up to regain his position.
“Get back down,” she demanded in a cold yet playful manner.
What was left of the breath he had in his throat was forced out in a strangled groan as his back made a rough impact with his mattress, but he couldn’t care less about that, what with soft lips pressed against his neck and hands now running up and down his sides. It was almost impossible to see ahead of him as the knot of her pelt created unbearable friction against his crotch. He bit his lip and held her closer, a sudden emotion of possession overcoming him when she made eye contact with him, an icy, animalistic glare in her eye underneath her furrowed brows.
He struggled to call her name, but she had his voice in her hands the minute her lips brushed over his ear to whisper assurance as she lead him into the room…
“It’s my turn now,” she told him with a giggle in her voice. Her tongue drew a slow line up to the soft space underneath his chin, her heavy breath causing him to shiver even more. He unconsciously gripped the end of her shirt and rode it up to her broad shoulders…
… What was that?
Mako frowned at the roughness of her back, nor did he like the way she winced at the touch. He stopped all movement at once, causing her to pull away to stare at him with an impatient pout, but her look of frustration faded into one matching his, full of worry. “Mako, what’s wrong?” She let him sit up and she sat back on her heels as he moved a careful hand back behind her.
Bruises… Bruises and scars…
“Korra, can I…?” He tugged at her shirt and she obliged, uncertain of what he was getting at. Once the shirt was off, he examined her body. Yes, there were many bruises and scars, larger and deeper than he hoped. He grazed a gentle hand over her shoulders, where a long scar that he would’ve only saw part of with her shirt on stretched from her shoulder blade to her throat. More scars, most of a similar caliber, littered her torso and a gash was stitched up on her side. A puffy looking wound sat atop her hipbone, one of the smallest injuries she had, but it caused her to tense up before he lay a finger on it. It was quiet for a while with Mako’s gaze sweeping over Korra’s injuries and Korra waiting patiently, then he asked, his voice almost inaudible, “What exactly did he do to you?”
“‘He?’”
“Tarrlok.”
A brief pause. “... I told you,” she replied. “He bloodbent me.”
“Yes, but what else?” he asked in the same calm tone.
Korra’s frown deepened. “Nothing important, Mako. It’s fine.”
“Korra, it’s not fine. Anything that went on in that cabin is important--” He stopped and took a deep breath. “... If this is too painful, I understand.”
She gave him a wary, confused look. “It’s not painful,” she murmured.
He sputtered, but then understood why she was so hesitant. “I…” He stretched out a sigh and set a hand on her knee. “Kor, it’s fine. You can still tell me,” he assured her. “I’ll be okay.”
Korra stared at him longer, but decided to tell him. “He put me in a cell… like a metal box…”
Mako’s eyes blazed. “A metal…”
Korra caught the change in expression and continued, “He… Well, he didn’t always leave me there…” She shrugged, watching how his hands pulled away from her body as if she were made of thin ice. “He… hovered a lot, making sure I wouldn’t break free… So whenever he thought I was being too ‘restless’, he would swing open the door and use bloodbending on me before I could make a move.” She stopped when he tensed up, but continued carefully. “Sometimes he’d slam me into the walls of the box or the room, then there were times he just kept me suspended into the air… Mako?”
Mako wasn’t looking at her at this point; he could only see darkness creeping in the corners of his eyes.
Korra’s brows furrowed again and she shook her head. “Never mind,” she tried to dismiss, though she knew there was no resolving it; she should’ve stopped sooner.
“That bastard…” The word was forced out like poison on his lips. “He…”
She was quick to rest her hand over his, which still rested upon her leg, tense and shaky. “Mako, there was nothing you could do,” she tried to console him. “No one knew I was going to City Hall that night. It was stupid of me to--”
“It wasn’t you!” Mako whipped around to face her, not willing to hear her blame herself for what happened. How could she? “Korra, I could’ve been there! I should have! If I caught onto this sooner, I could’ve stopped you!”
“I don’t think there was any stopping me--”
“I could’ve at least gone with you, Korra! That was the least I could…” He paused, breathing heavily and not really knowing why. He got to his feet and began pacing.
Korra rubbed her temple as she watched him; she hated when he did that. “You do remember you were in prison, right? You’d been arrested.”
“I don’t care!”
“Mako, you’re being ridiculous!”
“I don’t care!” His hands go from clenching to pulling his hair to slamming into the wall. He only froze for a moment, his fists still against the wall and his back to her, but then he began to shake.
“Mako.” Korra stood up and rushed over, resting a hand on his bare shoulder. She waited for a response, but only heard more heavy breathing from him. Eyes downcast, she squeezed his shoulder gently. “Mako, listen. There was nothing you could do. There was no predicting you and the others would get arrested to begin with, much less me confronting him in the first place. I was trying to free you guys.”
“You didn’t need to.” It was a cold statement, regretful even.
“I wasn’t going to let him get away with that,” she retorted. “I had no choice… It was better me than any of you.”
Silence. Loud silence. Then… sniffling.
“All those scars…” His voice was wobbling now, unsteady and filled with tears. “He hurt you…”
Korra blinked a few times, not expecting this reaction at all. She had seen him emotional before, but he never cried, never in front of her. She remained quiet, unsure of how to handle this situation.
“I’ll kill him… He gave you those scars… He hurt you…”
Her shoulders slumped at his words. “No need,” she told him. “Lin’s probably gotten to him by now.” She hoped her words got to him, but before she could give herself a mental pat on the back, a quiet sob filled the room, alarming Korra. She instinctively wrapped her arms around his torso from behind and rested her head on his back. “Mako…”
“I searched forever for you,” he whispered. “I know it wasn’t terribly long, but… it felt like years since I had seen you… I almost didn’t know what to do when Lin had told me you were missing… Didn’t know where to start… I was scared out of my mind… I don’t know how or when I realized what to do first. I just did it. All I was sure of was that I was gonna keep at it until I found you…”
“I know…” Korra let her gaze focus on an empty space in the room as she listened. he wasn’t going to let him stifle it; he needed to talk.
“I didn’t know how long it’d take for that to happen, but I was willing to search for as long as I needed to…The whole time we searched for you, all I could think of was… Like, I didn’t even know if you were…”
“Stop, stop.” She tightened her hold on him until she heard a soft choke and then silence fading into more sobbing. “I’m okay now… I’m okay…” When she didn’t get a response, she wordlessly led him over to the bed again and sat him down. Once he sat, he leaned against her, face buried in her hair. He murmured continuously into her hair, but she could make out phrases like “I’m sorry” and “I almost lost you”. Her heart aching, she leaned into him as well, head on his chest and holding him close.
“Korra, I’m sorry... about tonight…”
She shook her head dismissively. “There’s nothing to apologize for,” she whispered. “Don’t worry…”
He nodded into her hair, his crying fading just a little into broken breathing.
She let a small fraction of a smile spread across her lips and closed her eyes, letting him compose himself until the two of them settled into slumber.
