Chapter Eleven: Beginnings and Endings


"Aunt Kya, you are a horrible person!" Opal exclaims for the fourth time.

Kya again cannot hold back her smirk. "You all love me so much. Even Lin was so worried. Did Lin cry? Did she?"

Lin grunts in response, still taking notes on the blood packet labels. Kya stands in the doorway, amused by their horror at her 'disappearance'. She is a grown woman and slipping out of sight for a few days should not be that alarming.

Breaking the thick tension in the air, Bolin asks, "You said you had important stuff you found out?"

Kya holds up one finger, her cobalt eyes light up, and then she rummages through her purse and withdraws the tightly wadded up papers torn from the Amaransu Interrogations. She unfolds them, smooths them out and then holds them loosely at her side.

She clears her throat and all eyes are on her.

"The day Opal proposed her idea about the blood, I realized something," Kya says. "Something about a certain criminal activity of the Agni Kai Triad. They used to run the Black Market for medical treatments and supplies that people couldn't' get elsewhere. I knew it was ridiculous, but then I decided to go investigate. I found Amaransu's interrogation, and found the names of everybody who interrogated her, right?"

"Why her interrogation? Why not Kun Song's?" Lin inquires sharply and Kya laughs. Lin clenches her jaw and holds her tongue.

"I have that one in my purse too. No, Amaransu's seemed like it was overlooked even though it applies to the case. Okay, her interrogators. Pay attention." Kya clears her throat. "Of course there was this soul-sucking viper-bat, then my mom and your mom. But there was somebody else who interviewed Amaransu but not Kun Song or anybody else. Izumi's mom. So I called her, since nobody else is cooperating, and she was surprisingly forthcoming with the information," Kya explains and Azula blanches.

Lin thought so but didn't want to say anything. The Case of the Murders of 118 AG has felt more and more off the further Lin delves into the details.

"Do you have anything to share?" Kya asks Azula with a sparkle in her eyes. She receives a glare in return but it doesn't faze her. "I think you should tell them before I do."

"What is this, the Wei Haizu Trials?" Azula sighs haughtily. "Fine… What if I were to tell you that the Murders of 118 AG caused mass hysteria and had to be dealt with more quickly than the police could keep up?"

"That would be true," Lin says coldly, crossing her arms. This will be good.

"Right. Now, the original Chief Beifong and I were in the situation of knowing exactly who did it but having zero evidence that would hold up in court. It was him and we knew it was him, but, unfortunately, Kun Song was a trained hit man and didn't slip up in his work ‒"

"Or didn't do it," Opal suggests, but the golden glare silences her.

"The murders were getting bad and we just couldn't nail him with anything. So, we…" Azula hesitates. "Nudged fate a little bit in our favor."

Kya can't help but interject, "By which she means planting evidence in his apartment and coercing a confession out of him."

"Yes, and I supposed I talked him into suicide too," Azula snarls, nearly falling from the pedestal of stilettos and shattering all of her bones.

Kya cocks an eyebrow. "Actually, yeah, I think that's what Amaransu said in this interview."

Azula scoffs. "It doesn't matter how we got him. He was guilty. I did not talk him into killing himself; he knew he did it, he knew we knew he did it, and there was no other way to stop that sicko from killing half of Republic City."

"So, Kya, you're saying that the jilted vengeance path is starting to become even more evident?" Lin asks in a low, dangerous tone. Her eyes smolder as she realizes how serious this situation is… and how lethal keeping that secret was.

"That's exactly what I'm saying. Or that the killer is still alive and well, and has some other reason to be starting up again." Kya dramatically pauses and Azula rolls her eyes so forcefully that they hurt. "Like maybe having a granddaughter with the same disease that Opal suggests started the first killings."

"You can't be implying Yumi. That's melodramatic and ridiculous. She's just a witness and you're overreaching," Lin states firmly, but Bolin points at the blood packets.

"Yeah… I'm pretty sure the killer didn't care so much about murdering Asami or doing stuff like that before we took a witness. To be honest," Bolin says nervously, "I don't think Yumi is that threatening of a witness. She didn't see anything except her parents getting hurt, and is a baby who hasn't told us a thing."

Lin cannot believe she did not take Yumi into more consideration than an orphan who needed protectors. It makes her skin prickle in the cold air of the warehouse. This is bad. This is very bad.

"You have a point," Lin says. "Yumi obviously has more to do with this than any of us thought about. We need to get Korra, Asami and Yumi out of Ba Sing Se and somewhere safer."

"The South Pole?" Kya suggests and Lin slowly nods. It is the safest place Lin can think of off of the top of her head.

"Opal, go call Katara. Kya, help us finish investigating this place."

Lin snaps her fingers and her companions hesitantly get back to work.

[X]

Meanwhile in Ba Sing Se, Mako stares at a painting but does not see it; he is too trapped in his racing thoughts.

"This is a terrible idea. Can I repeat that?" Mako says under his breath and Zirah just shrugs.

"I'm not a fan of my first museum heist either," she says as she sidles through the massive party crowd with Mako and Prince Wu accompanying her. Wu is doing a much better job at averting suspicion… by being Prince Wu; he is shaking hands, smiling at people, shamelessly hitting on women. "But we're saving lives."

Wu snorts derisively. "Yeah, yeah, that's why the museum curator said even I, the prince, can't borrow the painting to stop a serial killer. I mean, what is that? Why didn't she want to save lives, huh?"

Zirah shrugs again. "It seems like you have a poor track record with royal privileges. I thought I would be able to sway them…" She frowns for a flicker of a second before focusing on the door that Mako pointed out.

Prince Wu prattles further, "Well, there are kind of only three of these left in the world, and they're all different so ‒"

"Wu, what?" Zirah hisses, stomping on Mako's foot as she comes to an abrupt stop. "They're all different?"

"Yeah, that's what the placard said, and the brochure, and also the lovely woman who told us we couldn't borrow it for that reason," Wu says as Zirah and Mako were aware of this.

"That does explain why collectors are obsessed with getting them all," Mako says, grimacing. "I really wish we had known that ahead of time. Do you still have the paper of the other one?"

"Yeah, but we couldn't find any differences. That's why we're doing this," Zirah snaps.

"So… I mean, on one hand, this is mainly recreated with advanced stick figures… on the other, maybe this just might be a sketch of the one in this museum." Mako stops and crosses his arms.

"Well, I guess we have to smuggle this priceless work of art to the Fire Nation then. Buckle up, boys."

Zirah's smirk scares both Mako and Prince Wu.

Late that night, Mako, Zirah and Prince Wu inform the palace staff that they will be leaving for the Fire Nation and won't return for an indefinite period of time. Then, all three filled with jitters, they make their way to the courtyard of the museum, towards where Mako pointed out a security weakness earlier today.

Mako asks, "So what exactly is your plan?" as he gazes at the museum illuminated only by the moonlight.

Zirah looks up at him and rubs her lips together. "We're going to break in and get the painting. Then we're going to somehow get it to the outskirts of the city, where an escort will be waiting for us. Then we're going to get to the Fire Nation and find the other painting."

Prince Wu puts two thumbs up and begins to saunter towards their entrance point but Mako is frozen in place. Zirah waits for him impatiently as morality wars within him.

"This is going to save a lot of lives," Zirah says softly and Mako takes two deep breaths. He knows she is right, and so he strides towards Wu and the museum before them.

Mako sincerely hopes that this doesn't go horribly wrong.

But knowing his luck, it absolutely will.

[X]

After the end of their relationship, Korra and Asami go back to its beginning.

As they examine Iroh's notes, the former couple wanders through the Spirit World. It reminds Asami of a life she remembers as vaguely as a memory from a dream, but she misses that life. Little does she know, Korra misses it just as much.

The sky is beautiful today, the foliage a swath of vibrant colors. They spent two weeks here once upon a time, and it felt like an eternity then. Being… together was the most perfect feeling that Korra had ever experienced.

She wants to chase it. The oddly colored clouds remind her of the lightheaded rush she feels when she is close to Asami. But that feeling is not worth pursuing; it ends only in pain.

"Do you ever think about what would've happened if you didn't turn up the way you did?" Asami asks casually as she meanders through the weirdly puffy trees with Korra and Yumi.

Korra scratches her head. "Turn up how exactly?"

Asami smiles. "In Republic City. That was… ouch, that was a long time ago. When did I get this old?"

"Oh, well, I like to think that if Amon and his supporters started running everything, I would've become a badass secret Avatar vigilante," Korra explains and Asami wonders if that is off of the top of her head or if she had thought about it at some point beforehand. "You know? Put on a mask and bring justice in secret. Like those comic books they sell about me but better."

Asami laughs, but Korra is dead serious. "And how exactly would you hide?"

"Oh, I wouldn't totally hide. I'd leave cryptic messages about the Avatar while purging Amon and the Triads out of the city with my badassery. I would be the best vigilante, Asami, you don't even know." Korra grins and Asami slowly shakes her head with a small, warm smile.

"That sounds cool," Asami admits.

"And I would rescue you from the bad guys and…" Korra trails off when she sees that Asami no longer seems to think that Korra's idea is genius and funny.

"I don't know why you think I need to be rescued," Asami says, coming to a stop. They were so close. The trio is on the edge of the forest that Iroh suggested searching first for information on the original victim of the Murders of 118 AG, but now they are going to stop and argue. "I've never needed to be saved. You've needed rescuing more than me before."

Korra sucks in her cheeks. She doesn't have a really good defense for that.

"I was just going along with the comic book…" Korra rubs her neck and blushes bright red.

Asami shrugs and wishes she had never brought it up. It is one of the things that made she and Korra's relationship crumble, and now she deeply regrets reminding herself of it.

"I'm sorry. We promised our relationship wouldn't get in the way of this case. Let's get going," Asami says hastily before taking off towards the woods again, Yumi swinging in her arms.

Korra gazes at her for a moment before sighing as she watches Asami walk away again.

That afternoon, they come up short in the forest. Maybe it is because of their feelings, or maybe it is just because they don't have much to go on while hunting for extremely specific information. Korra just starts shouting, "Avatar Kyoshi!" for a while, but ends up grumbling to herself in the end. Kyoshi better be really busy right now or Korra might lose it.

After Korra finishes screaming, they wind up in front of something beautiful. They passed crystals adorning trees with literal emerald leaves, birds of strange colors and the gorgeous color-changing sky, but it does not compare to the bright blue pool in front of them.

"This looks fun," Asami says, trying to fight her smile and failing.

"Yeah. Uh, nobody would mind if we took a little break, right?" Korra grins.

And so, Korra, Asami and Yumi go cliff diving instead of working. It is a dumb move, but Korra has become exhausted after the long day of attempting to use Iroh's map and her Avatar senses. They found themselves by a crystalline pool tinted pink and red by the gorgeous sunset, and there are jutting cliffs above it that make perfect diving boards.

Yumi, of course, doesn't get to jump higher than a small bluff. Asami catches her as she leaps into the water and Korra halts her waterbending bomb when she sees it. She exhales the cold water that shot into her nostrils and swims up to the surface. Korra wishes she made more of a dent, or at least attracted Asami's attention, but her eyes fixate on Asami and Yumi and she cannot stop thinking about how she used to imagine her kids with Asami.

Back when she was with Korra, Asami didn't think about them; she said she didn't like the idea after what happened to her mom. But, Korra realizes as she treads water and watches Asami play with Yumi, Yumi's mom was stolen too. They have a lot in common, those two, and Korra feels a tugging sensation in her stomach when she wonders if she and Asami have become more than guardians of a witness.

Korra swiftly swims to meet them both. "You guys are having fun without me!"

"Yes we are," Asami says with a teasing smile. She helps Yumi towards the shallow water and then leans back. "I've always liked seeing you swim," Asami says to Korra without thinking.

She feels stupid.

"I've always liked seeing you in a swimsuit. Or, your underwear today, I guess," Korra whispers in her ear and Asami laughs. It makes her sink into the water and she has to grab Korra to hoist herself up before she drowns.

Korra blushes at the feeling of Asami's hands on her slick skin. But they are interrupted by Yumi making a loud sound.

At first, Korra's mind snaps to her vows to protect Yumi from harm, but then she sees that it is just a colorful flock of dragonfly bunnies. They have gathered around Yumi and she is laughing so gleefully as she plays with them.

"I don't think I was ever that innocent," Korra says.

"You were too busy being the Avatar. I don't think I was either." Asami swims to shore and dedicates her time to coaxing the bunnies towards her.

One finally balances on her shoulder, and Korra stares at her… family. Asami laughing with Yumi, surrounded by spirits and dripping with water. They are… happy, and beautiful, and Korra struggles to understand the strong sensation she can feel pulsating inside of her.

Avatar Korra feels at home for the first time in a long time.

[X]

Meanwhile in Republic City, Lin has never been so relieved to see her office.

She walks inside and allows the warm air to wash over her before settling at her pristine desk and straightening up the files strewn across it from earlier. The warehouse seems like a memory from a dream, even if it ended fifteen minutes ago.

The officers assigned to examine the crime scene and the blood packets are at work, and she wishes that she could be at ease. At least she has her tea. It's cold, but she drinks it anyway.

A loud knock on her door interrupts her fleeting moment of peace. She groans but declares, "It's open."

Kya walks inside and Lin glares unintentionally.

"Why are you so mad?" Kya asks and her tone is serious for the first time on this extremely serious day. "I'm sorry I was late."

"You could have told us you were hiding. It would have taken two minutes," Lin says coolly and Kya exhales. She can deal with this problem another time.

"I have good news and bad news. Which one do you want first?" Kya inquires and Lin shrugs. "Okay, good news first. My mom can protect Yumi, Korra and Asami and she said she has some talented healers on staff who can figure out if Yumi is sick. Bad news is that Korra, Asami and Yumi have vanished."

Lin sets down her tea with a loud thud. "What do you mean vanished?" she demands through clenched teeth.

"Disappeared. You know? Evaporated. Went missing. I'm not a thesaurus." Kya wishes she could pretend this is as lighthearted as she is trying to make it, but it doesn't work out. She has not been so worried in a very long time. She has not felt so worried since she had someone once, but knew that she would inevitably vanish from Kya's life.

Lin loosens her muscles and tries to focus her head. "Spirit World, maybe?"

"Sounds better than dead bodies in an alleyway," Kya blurts out before deeply regretting it. No one here could bear that happening.

"Mako and Zirah. They have to be able to check in on them," Lin states, leaning forward.

Kya makes a small groaning sound. "They left the palace earlier tonight and said they were going to the Fire Nation and wouldn't be back."

Lin sighs loudly and leans back with her hands clasped on her lap. "I have no idea what to do with this case."

"You sound kind of… quitty," Kya dares to remark.

"I am kind of quitty. I don't know if I can do this." Lin shrugs her shoulders, shakes her head and admits defeat with her honor intact.

"That's ridiculous!" Kya snaps as her eyes burn with passion. Lin doesn't quit. "I just found us the best clues ever, and we need to make sure Korra and Asami are safe!"

"I don't know what to do with those clues, and I imagine the Avatar will turn up somewhere." Lin turns up a palm and wishes that this were easier for her to do. She has been contemplating it for two weeks now and it should not be so hard.

"You can't actually…" Kya murmurs.

"You and Opal and the rest of you hangers-on can keep working the case. I have a few officers assigned to the crime scenes and you can have full access."

"Lin… you sound like…"

"I know. Because this case has been unsolvable for over fifty years and it's giving me ulcers. I have other work that needs attention." Lin swallows and stares at her desk for a moment. "Have a day, Kya."

Kya wants to tease her about have a day, but she is struck speechless.

"You really mean that, don't you?" Kya whispers.

"Have a day," Lin firmly repeats.

Kya's expression sours. "You too," she says in a tone colder than the South Pole, and she slams the door of Lin's office behind her as she leaves.

Lin leans back and closes her eyes.


A/N: So, shameless promotion due to Mockingjay Part II: This was my first Korrasami story, but I've been uploading another one since October. It's a Hunger Games AU, and so, if you like that kind of thing, it's in the crossover section with A:tLA. Aside from that, thank you so much for reading, and I hope you're enjoying the show so far.