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Korra moved silently between the slender poplar trees. Mist shrouded most of the ancient forest, and thick moss muffled her footsteps. The spirit world was vastly different from the bustle of Republic City, or even the icy South Pole.

"Korra?" The voice was eerily familiar, and the Avatar wheeled around, searching for the source. He stood a few yards behind her, half-cloaked in the swirling mist.

"Tahno!" She shouted, launching herself forward. Korra threw her arms around him, her fingers gripping the fabric of his jacket. Tears came, unbidden, to her eyes.

"Oh spirits," she mumbled. "You're dead, you're really dead. Why did you do it, Tahno?"

He pressed his cheek against her hair, his hands skating across her back.

"I couldn't do it anymore, Korra. Without my bending, I was nothing."

Anger swelled in her chest, and she grabbed the front of his jacket, shaking him.

"You idiot! You were so much more than your bending! It was a part of you, but only a part. You threw so much away, Tahno. You left me alone, you didn't even leave a damn note!"
She was sobbing by then, choking on tears, her eyes burning with anger and pain. Tahno stared at her for a moment, his grey eyes impossibly sad.

"I'm sorry," he whispered. "I'm so sorry, Korra. I never meant to hurt you."

She snarled.

"You did. I trusted you…I-I loved you!"

She froze, realizing what she'd just blurted. Her eyes widened. Tahno didn't pull away as she expected him to. Instead, he leaned closer.

"I loved you too, Korra." His thumb brushed the curve of her cheek. "But nothing could have made me want to keep living. Not even you."

She leaned against him and sighed, their bodies pressed tightly together.

"I know, Tahno. I just wished you could have held on a little longer." Her eyes, cerulean, sparkling with tears, met his. "I never got a chance to say goodbye."

Tahno sighed. He opened his mouth as if to speak, then apparently changed his mind and leaned in to kiss her. Korra jerked back at first, then leaned into his kiss. Her arms snaked around his neck, and she couldn't help but think that they fit together like two pieces of the same puzzle. Her hands tangled in his hair, drawing him closer. He groaned against her mouth, and she found herself enjoying the idea that she could have elicited such noises from him.

Eventually they parted, both panting a little. Korra felt sated, as though Tahno were no longer a figment of her grief. But the spirit world was growing colder, and chills rained down Korra's arms. She rubbed the gooseflesh that had spread across her skin as the landscape turned bluer, more harsh. Korra was a visitor here, not entirely unwelcome, but she did not belong amongst the dead.

"I have to go," she murmured. Her fingers laced with his, briefly, and his skin was so cold. He gathered her in his arms, brushing their lips together for a moment. And then he was fading, everything was fading, and Korra was gone.

She jerked out of her reverie, returning abruptly from the spirit world. She was sitting by the sea, watching the cold waves crash against the snowy rocks. She wondered if Tahno had gotten his bending back in the spirit world.

I'll ask him next time, she thought, and despite the cold, Korra felt very warm.