With a soft groan, my eyes peeled open, and I stared at the ceiling; slowly, I sat upright, waves of pain sweeping throughout my body, but it was nothing I couldn't handle. As the covers dropped, I glanced down at my body, which was covered in bandages. Rubbing my head, I thought back to the battle, softly sighing in relief, and remembered that they had managed to succeed. 'Haa, good, Father Glowworm has been defeated.'
Scratching my chin, I exit the bed and put some clothes on before leaving my room, moving cautiously so I don't accidentally affect my wounds. Walking down the hallway, I left Jathr, stepping out onto the branch while looking down, observing the base of Jathr, where the remnants of my battle was nowhere to be seen.
'Kyoshi must've fixed it.' Sitting down, I shifted my gaze beyond the valley, out into the destroyed, desolated realm, though it had changed. It wasn't nearly as desolate as before; I could see signs of life beginning to sprout between the dry, cracked ground, while the grass seemed to slowly expand outwards with the valley as its center. As I looked around, I noticed it was the case for every direction; life was returning to this previous, desolate realm, albeit slowly.
It felt good to see the changes our actions had brought to this realm, but I couldn't bring myself to feel happy; this was merely the prelude to what would inevitably come next, and I didn't even want to think about it. While silently staring out into the world, I heard a lively voice approaching. "Aang! You're awake!" Tilting my head, I glanced at Korra, who had exited Jathr; her steps were light as she practically skipped towards me before sitting down and tightly hugging me.
Similar to me, Korra was also covered in bandages; it seemed her battle was just as tough as my own. "You should've waited for me; you could've reopened a wound if you weren't careful." As she released the hug, Korra narrowed her eyes, staring at me with slight annoyance while poking my cheek, causing me to faintly smile while knocking away her hand.
"I wasn't that hurt." "How do you know? You've been unconscious for like half a day." "It wasn't that painful." "That's not a good way to determine how injured you are." "It's not a bad way either." Korra silently stared at me before throwing her hands up and shaking her head, giving up on arguing with me. "Alright, whatever, just don't blame me if you pull a muscle." "Muscles heal the fastest, so I wouldn't mind… Alright, I'm sorry."
Apologizing, Korra snorts and averts her gaze before leaning against my shoulder. "So, what was your battle like? We could feel the effects all the way from the mountain; you must've done something incredible." Seeing the eagerness hidden within her eyes, I faintly smiled and suddenly stood up with a grunt, before leaning down and picking her up, taking her aback.
"Eh, Aang, be careful, you might hurt yourself." "I'm fine." I was lying there, carrying her, while walking actually hurt quite a bit, but my pride as a man prevented me from showing weakness. "Okay, okay, whatever, be hardheaded, but why are you carrying me?" "I'm a bit excited." She just looked at me with a raised eyebrow before smirking, a faint blush creeping onto her cheeks as she leaned further into my embrace.
"Not going to wait until you're fully healed?" "Can't possibly wait that long." "Hehe, just don't go overboard, I don't want you to hurt yourself." Closing the door to my room, I dropped her onto the bed while mounting her. "I'll be fine."
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"I told you to be careful, Aang." Lying partially atop me, Korra looked up at me in amusement, causing me to force a smile through the pain. "I-It was worth it." During our lovemaking, I ended up aggravating one of my wounds, cutting our fun short, but like I told her, it was totally worth it; as a matter of fact, I still wanted to continue.
"What was the mountain like? Father Glowworm, what did he look like?" Wrapping an arm around Korra, I pulled her closer to me while she drew circles on my chest before smirking at my question. Enthusiastically, she began to retell the events of the battle, going so far as to recreate some of them, which was an eye-candy given that she was naked.
"... After Kyoshi captured the spider-scorpion's legs, I cut off the tail and Roku dealt the finishing blow… When we finally got into the mountain, we had to face off against human spirits! We were not expecting that… I fought an old, kind man who liked to drink tea; I honestly didn't want to fight him, but the corruption was too deep in him."
As Korra continued to describe the events, I nodded, following along to her every word, surprised at what she, Kyoshi, and Roku experienced. Eventually, after spending several more minutes explaining what else she saw, fought, and experienced, she got to the point when they confronted Father Glowworm.
"... After busting down the final obstruction, we confronted Father Glowworm, and he was disgusting. The top half of him was like a centipede, but without any legs; he then had a large, green eyeball at the front. His bottom half was a sludge of corruption that oozed into the atmosphere; he was able to create tentacles from the corruption. All in all, I've never seen a more hideous spirit…"
With a disgusted expression, which I chuckled at, Korra then continued to the battle, explaining it in detail, telling me exactly how it played out, what attacks they successfully landed, the injuries they sustained, and how they were nearly corrupted.
Even though Korra was merely retelling the events, I couldn't help getting stressed out; I'd end up sighing in relief whenever she states how she narrowly avoided being hit.
"... Finally, after baiting him into a trap, we went on the offensive, pouring everything we had until his spirit finally dissipated. Haa, I feel exhausted just thinking about it." Wryly smiling, Korra plops onto her butt beside me. "Tell me about it. I was feeling stressed for you." Chuckling, Korra mounts me and directs my erection into her hole; however, she doesn't move. She lies atop my chest, seemingly just satisfied with our connection.
"What cruelty." "Hehe, you're exaggerating. What about you? How was protecting Jathr? Must've been pretty difficult." "I wish it were just 'difficult'." Forcing a smile, I wrapped my arms around her waist and began recounting the battle.
Starting from the incoming monster horde, to creating a massive tornado that engulfed Jathr and the entire valley, along with several smaller ones, and then facing countless powerful spirits, including Koh, General Old Iron, Wan Shi Tong, and the Mother of Faces, which shocked her. I continued on, detailing some of the fights and how no matter how many I defeated, more would always come.
Since none of us had seen Mother of Faces, I explained her abilities to Korra, causing me to hiss in pleasure as she subconsciously clenched my manhood out of my fear.
"... After that, the corruption vanished from the sky and spirit horde; when I saw that, I knew you guys had won, and I fell unconscious afterward." "That was so dangerous." "We both experienced danger." "Haa, I guess."
Descending into silence, I gently stroked Korra's head while she softly hummed; however, after a few minutes, she pushed herself up, sitting upright while slowly rocking her hips. "Since you hurt yourself, let me do the moving." "By all means, please do." Offering Korra a smile, I placed my hands behind my back, watching Korra.
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Hours passed by as we ended our lovemaking and just lay together, enjoying our presence. However, that would be interrupted as Korra left, visiting Kyoshi and Roku, tending to their wounds before returning and doing the same for me.
This continued for another two days, during which time we stayed locked by each other's side, neither side willing to separate, not when we both knew what was coming; we sought to make the best of our limited time.
Days continued to pass, eventually reaching a week, during which we engaged in all sorts of activities, doing whatever we could to distract our minds and maintain the illusion that everything was fine. Though, of course, our fear inevitably came true; the day when we'd finally return home, to our worlds, never to see each other again arrived.
When that day arrived, I silently stared at the ceiling, half-wanting to forcefully take Korra and disappear somewhere deep into this realm, to hide and prevent our separation. The only thing that stopped me was the knowledge that it wasn't what Korra wanted; I loved her. I loved her too deeply to go against her desire.
So, despite knowing we'd never see each other again, I, reluctantly, didn't act upon my desire, as that wasn't what Korra wanted. And I'd be lying to say it still didn't hurt.
'They say it's better to love and lose than to never love at all… I don't know.' The years we'd spent together were without a doubt the happiest years of my life, and I'd always treasure those memories, but this pain was unbearable.