( she's crying. he pretends not to notice, at least for now, because it's really the only thing he can give her. but his hand, the one allura healed, is just idly stroking her hair. there are gulfs, rifts between them now where there used to be nothing but skin and soul and he misses that. he does. but he can live with this. korra needs him. he will always come for her.

a normal person he might actually think was just hallucinating. but korra's not and never has been normal. maybe it was the avatar spirit. maybe it was anything. he can't say definitively one way or another. he does, finally, pull himself away from her, taking her cheeks in his palms, thumbing at the streaks of her tears. he's soft, as he leans in to kiss her forehead. )

Sometimes... I think about how it used to be, you know? It was so easy when the only thing we had to worry about was winning our next pro-bending match. What happened to those kids, huh?

( she doesn't need to keep talking about it, but he knows why she chose to. and as much as he's sorry for causing her the pain of dredging it up, he hopes it does help, in some small way. for her to know she isn't alone. )