The Forgotten Child

Onesmartcookie78

Summary: "You're," she pauses, "you're orphans? I didn't know you were—"

"You didn't know we—what, did you think we just like hanging around in alleys?"

Or: Lin and Tenzin have a child, but Tenzin doesn't know it.

Disclaimer: I don't own Legend of Korra or Avatar: The Last Airbender, but I do own any of the characters you don't recognize

A/N: This fic was inspired by "Sparks to Fire" by bipolar . poet08, as well as by my most recent watch-through of season 1 of LoK following its drop on Netflix. I hope you enjoy this fic. Thanks so much to everyone who has reviewed!

SARRI

She's frozen. She's not entirely sure what she just did, but she knows that it was bending—airbending—and she knows it wasn't good. Part of her thinks she should be happy, glad to know that she isn't a non-bender, that she has some sort of innate power running though her. But instead all she feels is dread and Spirits, that's not something she wants to touch right now, because this all must mean that—well, her father must be—

There's only one airbender in the world anymore: Tenzin, Avatar Aang's son.

Does that mean—could she be—?

"Didja just airbend?" comes Rei's voice from her right, and she snaps from her thoughts. "Holy shit."

Panic consumes her. Because if Tenzin is her father and she's an airbender, then she'll be stuck on Airbender Island, never to see Lin ever again. The only reason she's with Lin now is because Lin believes she's a non-bender, but the second that Lin finds out she's an airbender…well, then she'll be shipped away for training. And she doesn't want that, because she doesn't know Tenzin, doesn't want to be forced to become a representative to a long-dead culture that she hadn't even known she'd been connected to until now. And Lin needs her; or, at least, that's what she'd like to tell herself. Lin needs someone to make dinner and take care of the dishes. Someone to listen to her rant about the criminals she'd just caught and her on-going cases.

No, Lin can't find out. And that means…

"Rei, you can't tell anyone!" Sarri says in a near whisper.

Rei snorts. "It's not like I have anyone to tell," they say. "Now are ya gonna get out of there, or…?"

With a jolt, Sarri realizes that she is, in fact, free. She pushes herself to the lip of the cage and takes care not to step on the—gulp—body which lies below. Her fingers itch to check the man's pulse, but she can't quite bear the thought that she might have actually killed him. Better to not know.

Spirits, she feels sick. The world spins dangerously as she finally rises to her feet. She sways on the spot, fighting the panic that swells inside of her as her breaths become irregular once more.

"Kid."

She closes her eyes to block out the image of the man lying on the cold hard floor, but fear claws at her, begging to drag her down, and she—

"Shit. Kid!"

She can't do this; she can't live like this. Because now she knows just how much harm bending can cause. She knows what it feels like to cause pain, and probably death. She wants nothing to do with these powers, wishes them gone, wishes she'd never unlocked her bending, that it had stayed dormant, hidden inside her where it couldn't hurt anyone.

She can't breathe, can't inhale and exhale properly; instead, she takes sharp gasping breaths in too quick of succession to really draw any air into her lungs. Spirits, she feels faint, she feels—

"Kid. Listen to me." Rei's voice cuts through her breathing, smooth and low and with just enough force behind it that her brain registers authority and accordingly decides to pay attention, no matter how much her body screams at her to ignore the voice, to run away. "Deep breath in," Rei instructs, inhaling heavily to make their point. She shakily follows along, breath hitching a few times no matter how hard she tries to control it, threatening to revert back to a wild, erratic pace. "And out," Rei orders after a few seconds, and Sarri struggles not to exhale too quickly, pacing herself and counting in her head until she receives the next instruction. They repeat the exercise until Rei can't excuse her anymore, until Rei tells Sarri that they don't have time because another rotation of guards might come looking for the first.

Then, then, she hastily pulls herself together. By no stretch of the imagination is she alright; no, she may never be alright again, not after this experience, but she's functional, and that's all she needs to be for now.

Her shaking fingers fiddle with the lock on Rei's cage to no avail.

"It's no good," Rei informs her through a sigh. "And it doesn't seem like they had keys, since they had to firebend your door open. I'm not getting out."

And that just won't do. "No, you have to—" she starts, but Rei cuts her off.

"Get out of here. If we're lucky, ya might even be able to alert the police in time for the rest of us to be saved."

"Rei," her voice trembles with emotion, "I can't, I—"

But Rei won't hear it. "Go," they say, voice strong and commanding.

And she does.