moonchild ☽ legend of korra

book 1 - chapter 27

"Now comes the hard part." Iroh informs, stretching out a map upon the table with his good arm. "We need to ground those aircraft, otherwise Bumi's fleet will never be able to retake the city."

"Still can't believe he's our backup." I mutter under my breath.

Mako steps up, next to Iroh. "They flew in from this direction." He states, pointing to the lower-left corner of the map. "The airfield must be somewhere over this mountain range."

"Everyone get ready." The general warns. "We leave at dawn."

As everyone begins to go their separate ways, Korra and I stop in front of Asami. She looks deep in thought, sort of like in a trance.

"Hey." I say, putting my arm on her shoulder in order to get her attention. "Everything okay?"

She nods, furrowing her eyebrows. "It's time to take down my father."

I look at her worriedly but follow her out of the small tent where our gathering was taking place. As we exit, Korra suddenly stops. "Wait." She commands. "I'm sorry, but I'm not going with you tomorrow."

"What are you talking about, Kor?" I query, looking at her with a concerned look.

"I'm sick and tired of hiding from Amon." My best friend asserts. "It's time I face him."

Iroh steps towards her, shaking his head. "That's not a good plan. We need to stick together."

"I'm not waiting for him to hunt me down!" Korra exclaims, getting upset. "My gut is telling me it's time to end this. On my terms."

"Korra, this is not a mission you should be handling alone." Iroh presses.

"She won't be." Mako interrupts. "I'm going with you."

The firebender begins to leisurely walk towards Korra and I feel a part inside of me break. The idea of losing both of them to Amon is too much to handle, it would be too unbearable. I look at every single one of Mako's steps and feel my heartbeat echo them, as if I were going with him. Something about me hates the idea of letting them go, of them getting hurt in any way.

"You don't have to do that." My best friend insists.

"Yes, I do."

Iroh puts his hand up to his chin. "Mm. My grandfather would respect the Avatar's instinct. So will I."

"Would you all stop it?!" I snap. "Why do you insist on acting like a bunch of martyrs? Do you have any idea how selfish you're being? What about the people that care about you?"

"Luna, I—"

"No." I cut her off. "Just because you're the Avatar it doesn't mean that I'm just going to let you go to Amon all by yourselves."

"What are you saying?" Mako queries.

"I'm saying that I'm going with you." I inform.

Korra shakes her head. "Luna, no. It's too risky."

"What's risky is losing the Avatar at times like this." I retort. "If Amon got to you, we'd be in deep trouble. So shut up and let me go with you."

Mako and Korra stare at me in silence, concern all over their faces. I turn on my heel and proceed to walk away, settled on my decision.

☾ ☾ ☾

"Why aren't you asleep?"

I look up from my mom's diary to meet Iroh's worried gaze, a crease present in between his eyebrows. "Why aren't you?"

"I never sleep well before a mission." He informs, taking a seat next to me. "Luna?"