Chapter 1

Light flooded into the room. He had a choice between allowing the light to burn through his hungover eyelids, or he could get up. Detective Aang Windchester of the RCPD (Republic City Police Department) decided the latter. Though the detective couldn't remember much from the night before, besides getting drunk, he was surprised to find himself on the couch of his apartment, hungover. The last few years were pretty bad for him, and the day previous pushed him over the edge. For the past years he had been struggling keeping sober, but was overall successful. Just 22 hours and 12 minutes at 8:34am, he gave up all hope on sobriety. Yesterday he had been handed, from the chief of police, the case for his very own mentor. The only man he knew as a parental figure his entire life, had been murdered. Where did this leave Mr. Windchester? The only answer is not a good one.

Hopeless.

Broken, to bits and pieces. Raised as a man with high morals, and a sense of justice. He was broken down. Gyasto had taught him to be a forgiving man. Was this a test? For him to discover his own father's killer, only to have to come face to face with the monster that ended his life? To resist the urge of revenge, that's pushing him to kill? That was it. That pushed him over the edge. Bourbon straight from the bottle was the only thing keeping him on the earth now. It was either face the pain and loss, kill yourself, or go numb. The detective didn't even want the presence of the loss near him, and ending himself would put everyone else in a world of hurt. He'd just be another face in the paper. If Aang was going to die, it was going to be by the thing that put him on the planet.

Man.

Taking in a sharp inhale, he decided it best to get up and face the morning sun that threatened. Slowly he sat up taking in the surroundings of his small apartment. It was simple. A simple square shaped room, with two doors on the right wall, one leading to a small bedroom, the other leading to a bathroom. When you walked into the small residency, you could see a kitchen to your left, and a living room in front of it, with an island dividing the two rooms. The furniture was all mismatched, with a brown fabric couch and red plaid recliner, placed at an angle. Both facing a small round, wooden coffee table covered with bottles of bourbon, and packs of cigarettes. On the left wall was a large window that had light brown curtains, and cheap plastic blinds. The walls of the apartment were covered in red wood panels. He looked around slowly, intaking the scent of dust from the old furniture. Turning his head down he looked at the floor, then himself. He still wore his white button up shirt, and suspenders that connected to a pair of dark brown pants. The detective was missing one, black dress up shoe, which he quickly spotted under the table. His grey socks hugged his feet, leaving them a little sore. Looking around, he spotted a brown coat on the kitchen island. Standing up slowly, as to make sure he doesn't become dizzy, he walked over to the bathroom. Inhaling sharply, he searched for the light switch on the wall, quickly finding it. The blinding white light burned his hungover, swollen eyes. Adjusting his eyes to the light he walked over and looked at himself in the mirror. Two dark grey, very swollen from the night of crying and drinking previously, looked back. Running a single hand threw his messy black hair, he turned around turning on the shower, which he very much needed at the time. A shower. The burning sensation on his back of hot water, that was the only pain he would like to feel right now.

Liking pain? Who would do that? Aang thought to himself, A dumbass. He chuckled dryly at the stupid thought.

Quickly getting undressed, and throwing his clothes off to the side, he got into the shower. Aang just sat there letting the water pour down him, enjoying the searing pain on his back. The only other sound in his little apartment was water running. Eventually he decided to separate from his pain, and start washing himself. He used a washcloth and went over his entire body, moving onto his hair. He simply decided on just shampoo, like he did everyday. Aang stepped out of the shower and walked over to his bedroom, acknowledging the time after ignoring it all morning.

5:37am.

Slowly he got dressed. Putting on a grey undershirt, layering a white buttoned shirt, that loosely fit, on top. Digging through the small closet, Aang came across a pair of light brown pants, deciding to wear them. After digging a little longer, he found a red and blue tie, and yellow sweater. He put them on, tucking the tie neatly behind his sweater. Walking out of his room in socks, he prepared a pot of coffee in the kitchen. Blinking hard a few times, the detective walked over to the large window in his apartment. Staring immensely at the glaring sun light, he opened the blinds, only to be blinded. He raised his arm to shield his stinging eyes from the bright lights. Inhaling sharply, he snapped his head around as soon as he heard the coffee pot finish brewing. He made his way over to the pot of freshly brewed coffee. The detective reached for a mug from the small cabinets that hung above the kitchen. The mug was placed on the counter, he reached and grabbed the fresh pot, and poured himself a cup. He winced at the smell of coffee so close to his face. Placing the cup down, he walked to the living room, picking up his black shoes, and sat down with a sigh. The detective pulled his shoes on, and stood up, walking back to the kitchen.

Shit. He thought, looking at the time. 6:46am.

He only had a few more minutes to get to work. He finished off the coffee, and grabbed his brown leather satchel, from beside the door. As he walked out of the door, he rummaged through his bag for the keys to his car, successfully finding them, just a few feet away from the car. He unlocked his Cadillac series 61, which he was given as a gift from Gyasto last year. Aang turned car around, backing away from his apartment building, and out of the lot. It was a slow quiet drive to work. He didn't bother turning on the radio, Aang just looked straight ahead the whole drive. Silently cursing himself for being so stupid, thinking he could take so long to get ready. Aang took his job very seriously, even if he was late just by a few minutes he hated himself for it. Once he finally arrived at the police station, just 7 minutes late, he immediately grabbed his time card and checked in, rushing to his desk next to the window that was facing the road. His department was fairly small. The building consisted of a rectangular room, at the front. There were a total of 8 desks, 4 on the right side, 4 on the left leaving room in the middle for people to walk through. Behind all the desks was a window that looked into a room with a desk and chair, the reception. Next to that was a hallway that led to two doors. One being the Chief's office, the other being a break room for the police officers and detectives that were on break, or about to go off duty for the rest of the day or night. Just as he was about to sit at his respective desk, the Chief walked out of his office into the room full of desks, his eyes lingering on a certain detective.

"Aang," The Chief said, in a low, stern yet sympathetic voice, "can I speak to you in my office?"

"Yes, sir." Aang replied with the same stern tone, putting his bag down.

He followed the Chief back to an office that read 'Chief Hakoda' in black letters on a bronze plate. Twisting the door knob they walked into his small office, that had nothing more than a desk with a chair seated at it, a filing cabinet and bookshelf. As soon as they walked into the office, Aang noticed two people already in there. A boy and girl, around his age, maybe older, with deep blue eyes, and naturally bronzed skin, with naturally dark hair. He acknowledged the resemblance between each other, and the chief.

His children? Aang thought. He furrowed his eyebrows at their presence. For the first time since yesterday, he was confused. Why am I in this office with the chief and his kids? The question laid open and was readable in his face.

Chief Hakoda interrupted his thoughts "Well now that we are all here let me introduce you to each other," Aang just stared in between the floor and wall, "Aang, my children, Katara and Sokka," He introduced "Sokka and Katara, Detective Aang." The detective gave a weak smile and wave.

"Nice to meet you, Detective Aang." Sokka started holding out his hand to shake. Sokka was around the height as Aang, and had long hair that was shaved at the sides, and pushed up a bit with gel. Aang made sure to shake his hand firmly, and he shook firmly back.

"You too." Aang replied, making a second of eye contact, before releasing his hand, returning his gaze to its original position. He couldn't help but feel everyone's gaze on him. Katara next held out her hand for the shaking.

She gave a slight smile, "Well it's nice to meet you too." She couldn't help but linger on his eyes. They were beautiful, it was a shame to see them full of pain. He took up her hand with a more gentle touch, and shook it, again making a second of eye contact, giving her a weak smile as well.

"You too." He replied in a smaller tone, dropping her hand he turned his gaze to the Chief, "So what did you need me for?"

"Well, I want you to work with my children on your case. I know you don't need help, but seeing as this is a special situation, you need others to help make sure you don't make a rational decision." At this Aang's eyes widened, just barely.

"Why didn't you just assign the case to someone else?" Aang asked, already knowing the answer.

"Aang, the case is in your area of the city, and you're the only person here qualified enough to solve it." Hakoda answered, putting a hand on his shoulder. At this Aang just stared a bit more, clenching his jaw. He understood why, and maybe he'd enjoy working with other people. If he was being honest with himself he was a little excited.

"Okay, that- that's actually fairly valid." He said, stunning the two siblings, who expected a full out tantrum. He leaned back slightly, raising an eyebrow as if he was briefing over his options.

"Alrighty, I'll let you kids get to work." Hakoda said, giving a hopeful smile. With that said and done the trio walked out of the office and over to Aang's desk.