"All secrets are deep. All secrets become dark. That's in the nature of secrets." - Writer: Cory Doctorow.

Korra's POV

I wiped the tears away from my eyes as my mom held me. She knew. She finally knew the hell I had gone through. I had spared the details, knowing it would have completely broken her if she heard about it all. Mom kissed my temple and I looked up to see her give me a sad smile before kissing my forehead. My hold on her tightened and I knew she blamed herself. But it wasn't her fault. She was trying to be strong for me but I knew that all she wanted to do was collapse and sob as she held me, like she had moments ago.

I felt Asami put her hand on mine but I pulled it away. I was angry. I was angry at her for telling my mom what I had been trying to protect her from all this time. I was even angry at myself. If I had fought harder…if I would have told someone…if I had left sooner… And then I felt guilt, sadness for my mom. Because now I knew she wouldn't be at peace when I was at work, when I went out. She would worry, wondering if something happened to me when I took a little too long to get home. She was heartbroken and I was the cause of it.

"Are you hungry, baby?" my mom asked.

I looked up at her and nodded a little. I wasn't hungry at all. I was tried, frustrated…and the headache I had was not making my life any easier at the moment. I sat up as she stood, leaning against the headboard, keeping the jacket wrapped around me. Mom closed the door behind her and I didn't say anything as I looked at the jacket, noticing it was too big to be mine. I looked at where the name was engraved: M. Hotchner.

"He gave it to me to cover you when you fell asleep in the car," Asami commented quietly. I didn't say anything. If I said something it was not going to be pretty. "Korra, talk to me, please."

Still, I remained quiet.

"Korra…"

"Are you happy now!" I finally asked, not trying to hide the anger in my voice.

"Korra, she needed to know the situation."

"You couldn't have just let her remain in the dark for a little longer!" I asked and I was aware that my voice was rising. "Now she's terrified for me! Now she's gonna spend every waking moment till he's gone, wondering if I'm even-"

"Then at least I won't be the only one anymore!" my best friend snapped.

I blinked, looking at her to see the hurt, the pain in her eyes. I hadn't been the only that had suffered. She had too. She just made me the priority.

"...Asami..."

"At least now, I won't be the only person who's going out of their mind, trying to keep myself sane, worrying about you and of the things he's done to you," Asami began, her eyes watering. "You think it's easy, knowing that he did this to you, and that I couldn't do anything to stop it? Do you think it was easy, knowing that if I hadn't left that room and left you unattended that he wouldn't have almost gotten you again!" She paused, her eyes tightly closing as tears finally escaped. "Just knowing that he had his hands on you, and that I let that happen... It sickens me."

"It wasn't your fault," I told her, placing a hand over hers, the anger having drained from my body. I hadn't ever stopped to ask how Asami handled all this. She'd only ever protected me, been my confidant, my best friend. And I'd never stopped to see that she what this did to her, what knowing did to her.

"I should have been there."

"You can't always be babysitting me," I said as scooted closer to her, trying to get her to at least smile.

She laughed a little at that, and I smiled in return. She shook her head before wrapping an arm around my shoulder. "I can try."

We didn't say anything after that and soon enough my mom was back, letting me know she had made breakfast. I took off the jacket, placing my own shirt over my head before going to the kitchen. We ate in silence, having little conversations here and there. Soon after, Asami said she needed to go in, having only asked for half a day off.

I went back to my mom's room after, lying down on the bed once again. She joined me shortly after, running her hand through my hair, trying to coax me to sleep. I was feeling extremely exhausted and not long after I felt my eyes start to close. Today I would rest, I'd stay home but tomorrow…I was going to put an end to everything tomorrow. Unalaq was going to pay for the pain he caused my mom, the pain he'd caused my family. That was a promise.

Lin's POV

The kid didn't come in the next day, and that wasn't unexpected. She was recovering from a induced psychotic break. I couldn't even begin to imagine the kind of mental strain that would cause. Shortly after, she was admitted for nearly shooting Sato and Hotchner. Somehow, they had gotten the gun away from her, and she had been restrained. After the kid's uncle had stopped by, however; Mako had urged me to talk the doctor into letting her be released.

Of course, he wasn't the only one who noticed things.

After Unalaq had left, our team leader had seethed, glaring at the man's back. Something had happened. I'd hardly ever seen the team leader this pissed. Asami came in later that day after having spent the night at Korra's apartment. I'd asked about her, and she'd assured me that, aside from the headache, Korra would be fine. That had pacified me.

I was surprised to see the kid at the office the day after though, talking to Mako in hushed tones. Whatever they were talking about didn't look like good news. He looked upset...dare I say, even sad. I had brushed off this before heading into the conference room.

"You're in early," I said to Rossi as I took a seat.

"I'm always here early. But today is an exception."

Moments later, the remaining members of the team walked in and took a seat, except for Korra. Odd. Hotch was usually the one that talked about the cases. Korra handed us each a folder and I opened it to find pictures of a young woman's body, each depicting different scars, bruises, and bite marks around their neck and shoulders.

"What is this?"

The kid gripped her own folder till her knuckles turned white, taking a deep breath to calm herself. I noticed the heiress tapped the shorter woman's free hand, an attempt to calm her, to let her know she was there. "That's me."

I froze, and I felt sick. No... This... I looked back down at the photos. No.

"My uncle, Unalaq Morgan, he did that to me when I was a child," she continued. "He'd beat me, cut me...and," she paused, gathering what she could of her will. "And sexually molested me."

"Korra's scars are consistant with the MO of the killer," Mako added. "These girls he tortured and then murdered were only surrogates for the object of his...affections." The last word came out twisted and gnarled, showing his disgust for the whole thing.

"They were surrogates," I managed, my eyes finally looking back up at the girl standing before us.

Zuko pointed out, "There were no bite marks on our victims."

"They were carved to make them look like all the other lacerations," the youngest member of this team offered. "He hasn't left any forensic evidence, everything as of now is circumstantial. The only ties they have are that they were all from the Youth Center and the similar markings."

"Korra brought up this case because she can get some of the kids to come forward," Hotch revealed. "But we need physical evidence."

"Or a confession."

"You're not going anywhere near him," the Sato techie stated firmly. "Not after what just happened."

"I will if it comes down to that."

"Asami's right," I stated. "Just give us some time and see what we come up with. If it's enough, you won't have to get a confession."

She nodded her head and sat down. I took a deep breath trying not to look as guilty as I felt. I'd had a part in this. I had practically handed her over to him. This would explain everything. Her hatred…I didn't deserve her forgiveness.

Korra's POV

I watched as Alice ran around the gym, running laps before grabbing a ball and making lay-ups, corner shots and free throws. I could still remember that from when I had been her age, when that had been me. I would come in here, run around a few times before working on my game. Sometimes Asami would come with me and watch as I played. I was actually pretty good at it, but I wasn't able to play on a team. The physical exam would have revealed what I hid and my uncle always made sure that wouldn't happen.

After a moment she noticed me and grabbed the ball before running over. I smiled and greeted her before taking the ball and telling her to play defense. She did and she was a good defender and an even better shot. After our short scrimmage game we sat on the bleachers trying to catch our breath.

"Someone killed Lilly," she said quietly after a moment.

"I know," I answered. There was a moment of silence and I took in a deep breath, bracing myself. "Alice, we need to talk about Unalaq."

She frowned, looking up at me. "What about him?"

"You're his star player, aren't you?" She shifted and I knew this conversation was going to get very uncomfortable. "The center of attention."

"I'm captain of the girls' basketball team."

"You know, I used to be that kid," I began. "The one that he paid attention to."

"You're his niece."

I nodded. I hated that fact. I looked over at Alice, seeing how tightly she was gripping the ball. She knew what I wasn't saying but she was scared and I didn't blame her. Unalaq preyed on those who were scared, who had something to lose.

"Does he ever take you to the back room?" I asked.

Alice tensed at the question before nodding once. "Sometimes." She said it like it was nothing but I could hear the tremble in her voice. "You know about the back room?" the girl finally asked.

"Yeah," I answered, clasping my hands together. "Alice, I told you, I used to be you."

"What do you mean?"

I closed my eyes tightly, trying to block the memories, of all those times he'd take me back there. Sometimes he couldn't wait till I got home and he'd take me to that room, close the door and tell me to strip. I'd try to fight him, try to get out and into the main quad where I knew he wouldn't get me and sometimes I was able to get away. But it would be worse when we'd go home. Much worse.

"The first time his hand brushed yours, you thought it was an accident," I began. "But then it kept happening, he'd ask you to stay late, start telling you to come earlier." I paused. "Then he'd take you out to the swimming pool, tell you to get in without your suit." I looked up at Alice. "He did things to you, Alice. He did them to me too. And you can't let him keep doing those things."

"I have to."

"No you don't," I countered.

"My dad walked out on us," Alice began. "My sister was paralyzed from the waist down when she got hit by a car. She's eight years old. I'm all my mom has left. I need to get us out of here." She stopped, looking at the ball in her hands as if weighing its price. "Unalaq is going to make sure I get into college, that I make something of myself."

"Alice, you are something," I said. "You're something right here, right now, without Unalaq." I gestured around the gym. "Where's Unalaq right now? You're in here, doing sprints, free throws. This is all you, this has nothing to do with him."

"You never told anyone," she said.

I lowered my gaze, nodding my head. "No, I didn't," I admitted. "Not till now."

She bit her lip, wiping away a tear. "Lilly said I should call you."

"He did it to her too, didn't he?"

Alice nodded. "She wouldn't do what he told her and he'd get angry and hit her," she whispered. "She said to tell you but…I thought you wouldn't believe us."

I placed a hand on her shoulder. "I told you, I'm always here for you," I said. "But it needs to stop."

"He'll kill me."

I shook my head. "He won't touch you. I promise."

Alice looked at me, her young eyes boring into mine, and I could see a spark of something, hope perhaps.

"Okay."

Asami's POV

I was on my laptop trying to cross reference everything we had on the case with anything that would link Unalaq to them, but I was coming up empty. Mako walked into the conference room with the S.W.A.T leader and I frowned, closing my laptop. Hotch pulled up the blueprints and my eyes narrowed as they both started to strategize on where they would be situated to ensure Unalaq wouldn't get away. I held my tongue while the man was there but as soon as he left, I got up and glared at Mako.

"What the hell is it you plan to do?" I asked, my voice a growl.

"Korra wants us to have a backup plan in case Alice's testimony isn't enough," he answered. "He isn't going to do anything to her; I ensured that by calling in S.W.A.T."

"The girl's accusations will be enough."

"Wouldn't count on it," Kyoshi, the District Attorney, interrupted. "I can already hear his defense attorney bringing up the fact that Agent Morgan spends a lot of time with those girls."

"So what?" I asked. Where was she going with this?

"They can claim she 'induced false memories' on them. You know, told 'lies' until they believed them to be true."

"Are you being serious?"

"We need physical evidence," Mako commented.

Kyoshi scoffed. "What you need is a confession," she said. "We aren't talking about your average Joe, but a leader of a Nation. You don't play this right and he walks, we won't be able to charge him again."

"Whose side are you on?" I asked incredulously.

"I don't have sides," the woman answered. "But in this case, I believe Agent Morgan is telling the truth. Now let's prove it."

I looked over at Mako, not hiding the look of utter shock. Was she freaking serious?

"I'm sorry, Asami," Hotch said.

Korra walked in moments later and told us she'd gotten Alice to come through and she was going to talk to the other girls as well. I told her what the D.A. had said and I saw a flicker of fear in her eyes before she agreed to meet the monster. Mako assured her she wouldn't be alone and I contained myself from strangling him before he left.

"You don't have to do this," I repeated.

"He can't kill any one else, 'Sami," she replied. "I can't let another girl die because of me."

"We can find another way."

"There isn't one."

I sighed and watched as she took out her phone and texted the animal. We didn't say anything for a long time, just went over the cases. The killings had started after she left and every time she came back but they were all…too perfect. There had to be one he messed up on. There had to. I muttered this and my friend stood from her seat going over to a box and pulling another case out, going over it before showing it to me.

"We've been going about this all wrong," she said. "The first one wasn't when I left, it was when we were kids."

"What do you mean?"

"The girl I found…she was the first one."

My eyes widened. "What?"

She handed me the file, pointing at the bite mark on the girl's shoulder. She had the cuts, the bite marks, she was right. This girl was the first one! This was the breakthrough we had been waiting for! Her phone beeped and she looked down at her phone before nodding at me. I sighed, nodding my head at her before she stood and went over to Hotch.

I pulled out my own phone and made a phone call. "Yagoda?" I said when she answered. "I'm going to pick up Korra's mom in a bit. Please have her ready."

Korra's POV

I couldn't help but feel nervous as I waited by the pool that lead to the back room of the Youth Center. This place had too many memories. Too many bad memories. He'd done so many things to me here. Had touched me… I shook my head as I took deep breaths, trying to regulate my breathing. Mako had talked to me before I came here, asking if I was sure I wanted to do this and I said I was and I could handle it. I wanted all of this to end, once and for all. He had given me my gun back and assured me I wouldn't be alone. As soon as he was inside, they'd move in.

I was wearing a black jacket that concealed the wire. I was going to have to get him to talk, to say what he had done and I knew he would. He loved to boast about taking advantage of those he considered weaker. Especially if he knew it got under my skin. The door opened to reveal the devil himself who wore a devilish smirk as he walked over to me.

"Unalaq."

"Well, well, look whose here," he began. His tone implied he was ready to play. "The special one." He leaned in close and I moved back. "Didn't think you'd want to see me after what almost happened last time. Did you finally realize that you missed me?"

"You keep telling Mako that you see me with the girls at the Youth Center."

"Is that supposed to be a secret?"

"No," I replied, my gaze going to the backroom. It was like a natural reflex when he was around, how I used to carefully plan my escape. "That isn't."

He grinned. "Oh? I see you've been recalling our time together."

I could feel my heart pounding in my ears, my breathing quickening. I was going to get graphic and I felt uncomfortable having other people listen on what this animal had done to me. They knew some of the bigger details. Most of the smaller ones I had kept to myself.

"All these years, I kept my mouth shut," I began. "I let you go on being known as a hero, not the animal you really are. Unalaq Morgan, Chief of the Northern Tribe, leader of the Youth Center, and protector of the little orphan girl."

"I'm not following, sweetheart."

"Spirits, I was so afraid of you," I continued. "Afraid of the police. Afraid to lose my mom. But that's how you work, isn't it? You make sure there's a hell a lot to lose, don't you?"

"If you miss those times so much," Unalaq said, his hand going down my back before I slapped it away. "All you had to do is ask, and I could take you into the backroom right now, or back home where there's a bed."

"I don't miss anything that you did to me. Now statute of limitations protects you, and that's my fault."

He let out a long sigh, pretending to be disappointed. "Such a pity, isn't it?"

"You've been setting me up since I got here," I told him. "You found out that Lily told Alice to call me and tell me about what you've been doing to those girls. So you killed her." He laughed, shaking his head. "You killed them because you knew I'd come after you and I'd do anything to get you to stop. Because you knew I wouldn't tell anyone what kind of hell I went through with you."

My uncle raised a brow. "Hell?" Unalaq asked coming closer. "That's not how I remember it. You used to say my name, scream it even, over and over and over."

He was too close to me. "I should have told someone."

"But you didn't," he answered. "You know why that is? Because you enjoyed it. It wasn't molestation, it was pure pleasure. And you loved every minute of it."

"What you don't know is that Alice is going to come forward and you know what's next?" I continued, forcing myself to continue. "First there's just one kid, and then another and another because they're not scared of you anymore. And Alice is going to be the first to tell them what kind of a sick man you are."

Unalaq scoffed, shaking his head. "All I have to do is tell the authorities that it's a lie. I'm a leader of a nation, I won't go down so easily."

"One by one they are going to pile up until there's so many that you can't say they're lying."

He leaned in close and I was walked straight back into the wall. He leaned against the wall with one arm, his face inches from mine as his hand went to my waist. I tried pushing it away but he pinned my arm against the wall. Too close. I felt my lungs start to tighten, I felt suffocated.

"Do you have any idea how many girls I've helped be something in this city?" my uncle asked. "Just look at yourself, my sweet Korra. A federal agent. You'd be a nobody if it wasn't for me."

"Well it wasn't for free was it?"

"You were nothing."

"I was someone!"I finally snapped pushing him away. "I pulled myself up all the way to the F.B.I!"

"Are you saying I had nothing to do with who you are? You ungrateful-"

"No, Unalaq," I answered, my voice cracking, because this part was true and I hated him all the more for it. "I'm saying you had everything to do with who I am." I paused, my hands turning to fists as I held back the tears. "Because of you I'm someone who will spend the rest of her life making sure animals like you get put away in cages for the rest of their miserable lives."

"You don't have anything on me sweetheart," Unalaq replied with a smirk. "No evidence, nothing. I made sure of that."

"You didn't have to," Asami said, coming inside, aiming a gun at the man who had single-handedly ruined my life. His eyes widened in surprise as he realized he was surrounded. My mom came into view and I felt a knot form in my throat. I hadn't wanted her to hear all of that. "A confession is enough."

"Chief Unalaq, you are under arrest for lewd and lascivious acts with children and for the murder of all those others in Republic City," Mako decreed as he briskly turned him around, placing the cuff on him.

"You're not going to get rid of me this easily, sweetheart," Unalaq told me with a calm smile. "I'm always going to be the monster that haunts you at night. When you're with a man all you'll ever see is me. You'll never get rid of me."

"Shut up," Mako growled as he took him away.

My personal boogieman stopped in front of my mother, his eyes amused. "I have plenty of memories to tide me over until I get out." His grin was malicious. "I suppose I have you to thank for that, my dear Senna."

My mother's jaw clenched and she made to lunge at him, her hand outstretched but Asami was all ready there, holding her back. "You bastard!" she cried as Mako practically dragged my uncle away. I'd never seen that kind of rage on my mother's face, that kind of hatred. Heck, I wasn't even sure I'd ever heard her curse. I was at her side in the next moment, hugging her to me in an attempt to calm both her and myself down. I felt Asami's hand on my shoulder and the adrenaline seemed to evaporate from my body.

It was over.

Helen Keller once said "Although the world is full of suffering, it is full also of the overcoming of it."