#mako lok

She sighed as she continued to shuffle through her students’ papers. “Cute.” her boyfriend said looking down at the work in front of her, it was a drawing one of her students had made of the Avatar. “Yeah, they were supposed to draw their hero. Here, this one is you.” She chuckled, handing him the paper as he stared at it in disbelief. He chuckled, “She got my scarf, very good attention to detail…” Mako said the drawing was obviously done by a 6-year-old but it was still pretty good. (Name) volunteered at a school from time to time. “You finished packing yet?” He asked, noticing her two suitcases by the door and one still half full.

“Almost done, I just need to grab some other things but I'll be done by the time my father arrives.” She said she was going back to the fire nation for 3 months for her sister's wedding. She was sad to leave Mako for so long but she was also very excited for the wedding. A few hours had passed and her father had arrived to take her home. “Just be careful…” She whispered as she hugged Mako tightly. They said their goodbyes and they didn't see each other again until after Kuvira's attack.

Now here she was in his kitchen. He opened the door to find that she had stress cleaned… again. He sighed, sure he didn’t mind having a clean apartment, but seeing her like this hurt a lot more. She had moved into his apartment after the attack because her apartment building was destroyed in the chaos. “Hey, beautiful…” He said soothingly as she continued to thoroughly and aggressively wash the dishes. “Hello.” She muttered holding a plate up before continuing to scrub it. “Panda…” He called her affectedly, it was a nickname she had gained as a child which her older sister had been overly happy to tell Mako. Her stoic face cracked into a smile at the name then quickly faded, “You almost died… and I wasn’t here…” She mumbled before he could ask her what was wrong. She dried her hands off then hugged him, “I didn’t want you here…It was better that you were safe in the fire nation with your family.” He replied, returning her hug tightly. “I love you so much…” He whispered, he had made up his mind, this was the woman he would marry someday. Better yet, today. “So, I was thinking… you have that pretty white dress and I have my work uniform…” Mako said relenting her from their hug, she nodded trying to figure out where he was going with this. “You moved in here a month ago, you made Bolin’s old room your own and you added your own spin to the apartment… You made my house feel like home again is what I'm saying…” Mako said, romantic speeches were not his thing. He held her hands as she waited for the rest of his speech, “I would like it if you don’t move back out after your apartment is fixed.” He said, she didn’t like where this speech was going, she would have never moved in with him if not for the attack.

“Mako… you know I don’t—” She started but he shook his head. “I know. That’s why I think we should get married. Today, if you're up for it.” He whispered as she stood in shock. “Seriously?” She asked, she loved him and she wanted to say yes but she couldn’t help but have her doubts. “Seriously.” Mako confirmed.

Now they sat in a young judge's office, “You owe me.” Mako said as the judge sighed. “That’s one way to greet an old friend…” The man replied, sounding fatigued and offended. (Name) chuckling at their interaction, the man got up to grab the paper work from outside of his office and told them that he would be back soon. They had gone when the office was getting ready to close. “You really think we should do this, because we cried about you almost dying?” She asked. “I think we should do this because you are a smart and caring person. What happened today only pushed me to ask you— And you cried.” Mako said, (Name) laughed at his response. The man walked back into the room, and the young couple’s conversation ended. “So, let’s get you two married.” The man said, flipping through some paper work. The time flew by, the couple now stood hand and hand, “I do.” (Name) whispered. “I now pronounce Mr. and Mrs. Mako is a jerk. Now get out.” The man said, as the young couple kissed, “I said out. Not kiss. Go.” He shooed them. She held Mako's hand as they walked home, she wondered if she would regret marrying him which was her first sign that she didn’t leave unnoticed. (Name)’s doubts were soon silent as the days went on and he was proving more and more that they had actually made a good decision.

Those days turned into months and the city was being rebuilt nicely with new inventions all over. Their marriage was okay but they argued more and more, soon her doubts were resurfacing. When she found out the news that they were expecting, they had gotten into a bad fight the day before and were currently not on speaking terms. “You're being childish—” Mako complained as she slammed the door in his face, she sat down on their bed, what were they even fighting over? She couldn’t remember, but he hurt her and she hurt him. The phone rang, she picked it up unaware that Mako had done the same in the front room. It was her doctor’s office calling to remind her of the appointment for her regarding her pregnancy, there was a thud in the other room. She chose to ignore the sound and hung up the phone before rolling over in bed, then there were more thuds as if something kept falling. (Name) heard the thud get closer and closer until there was rapid knocking on the door, she put a pillow over her head and tried to fall asleep. She huffed not being able to get and sleep with the knocking so she got up to open the door. “What is so important?!” She yelled while opening the door, she froze seeing the look on her husband’s face before he fell again, “MAKO!” she shouted.

Mako woke up to the scent of flowers which he quickly concluded that it was his wife, he turned his head to see (Name) sitting beside him on the floor. He didn’t know how long he had been out for but that didn't matter because she was crying. “I'm sorry about not telling you sooner and I'm sorry about our fight… I was in the wrong and I acted childish after. I should have talked it out.” She whispered softly as he sat up and rubbed his head. “I'm sorry you felt the need to fight about it. Again…” He said referring to how he had separated (Name) from all the rest of his friends and family. (Name) didn't take too kindly to the fact he still hadn't told them about her after being married for almost 3 months. She hugged him tightly, as he remembered what had happened for him to hit his head. “Im gonna be a dad…” He whispered, she chuckled as she let him go. “Yeah…you are…” She whispered, rubbing his face gently, he put his hands over hers. He held her close as he realized the amount of people he still had to introduce her too.

The next day, she was making breakfast, and Mako walked up behind her to hug her. It was a normal morning, they talked and laughed. They went off to work, and he continued his day like normal. He was in Lin’s office discussing his most recent cases when someone walked in to tell Mako that a hospital was on the phone. “So…when were you going to tell us about your wife?” Lin asked Mako as they sat in the waiting room of the hospital. He sat nervously waiting, he didn’t know what could have happened or why it happened. “Kid. She’ll be okay.” Lin said, he nodded as his leg shook up and down anxiously. It felt like years before they were allowed to go and see (Name). “Non-gestational ovarian choriocarcinoma…” She whispered, staring at a wall. “What– What is that?” Mako asked as tears slowly slid down her face. “Cancer.” She whispered, he was sitting on the side of her bed. She had passed out during work, so she was brought to the hospital and after further testing they found out she was not pregnant. “The surgery is in a few days then I start chemo…” (Name) mumbled as she started to sob. He tried to reach out for her, but he couldn't seem to move. Lin waited outside, trying to ignore the sobs that ceased after a while.

“Hey, kid…” Lin mumbled as Mako closed the door behind him. “She's…uh… sleeping.” Mako muttered, he was out of it, Lin noted. “Kid, maybe take the day off…” Lin suggested, he shook his head no. “Her treatment is probably going to be expensive…” He whispered, he got through the day but it passed by in a blink. “Hey…” He mumbled, walking into her hospital room and closing the door. She made eye contact with him, before she sat up a bit. “Hi…” (Name) mumbled, as he walked over and hugged her. “We are gonna get through this.” He whispered for them both. “Yeah..” She whispered back, holding him tighter.

Her surgery went smoothly as well as her first round of chemo, “You look amazing” Mako said as she looked at her shaved head. “It'll grow back… what do you think?” He said gently, she had been crying when she realized she would need to shave her head. “I think I have a really nice head shape, huh.” She mumbled, causing them both to laugh. “It looks great, thank you.” She said getting up to hug him despite the hair all over her. Mako hugged her tightly, he didn’t want the moment to end, but it did. The next few months went by smoothly. She was getting more tired as the days went on but they said that was normal due to the chemo.

“Mako, my chest hurts…” she whispered, rubbing her chest, Mako sat on the bed beside her. It was 10 o'clock at night, Mako had just worked a late shift and had gotten back home to find his wife struggling to breathe. She coughed, hard. And she continued all the way until they got to the hospital. She struggled to breathe and the coughing was not helping, Mako didn’t know what to do or how to help her, so he held her hand until they were separated so she could be treated.

She huffed.

(Name) watched Mako slowly fade away as she was pushed away in a wheelchair.

She huffed.

(Name) watched while the nurses rushed around her.

She huffed.

(Name) watched as the doctor and nurses whispered about her condition.

She huffed. She huffed. She huffed.

She stopped huffing.

“What…” Mako whispered, his voice cracked. “Hey bro… you okay?” Bolin asked, putting his hand on his brother's shoulder. “Yeah- uh… no…” Mako admitted, rubbing the back of his neck. “It's just that… it's been almost a year since (Name) died… and I just‐” Mako said his brother nodded sitting down on the coach near his brother. Bolin handed Mako the picture of (Name) that he had picked up, “I wish I met her.” Bolin said as Mako stared at her picture and agreed with his brother. “How did she…?” Bolin asked because he had only attended the funeral and was too scared to ask then. “Cancer. It was aggressive and spread to her lungs… we didn’t know that the chemo had stopped working… She kept saying that she was tired and that it was hard to breathe. But they said that can be normal for the type of cancer she had and it would go away when she had finished chemo.” Mako said hold back whatever tears he had left in him. “She was so happy when she thought she was pregnant, she nicknamed the baby lightning bug because she thought they would have been a fire bender.” Mako said the tears were finally winning and sliding down his face.