Note: After a three-month hiatus, we have returned! We would like to say thank you to everyone who has followed the story over the year, and for all of the support you given us. We've been busy over the summer, but we want to make sure we get to upload as often as possible over the next few weeks. We hope you've enjoyed the story so far, because now things are really going to start kicking off. As always, enjoy and see you at the next update.

It took a mere twelve hours for everyone in Republic City to start panicking. The same news story had been broadcasted on practically every channel, echoing endlessly in a sea of static and noise.

"The Hanzi Killer has struck again."

"More bodies have turned up in this shocking case of a killer on the loose."

"A young boy is still missing following his abrupt disappearance late last night from his home."

"Numerous acts have terror have been brought to light under one name—"

"This 'Hanzi Killer' has no clear motivation…"

"How can we feel safe knowing we can be abducted from our homes without warning—"

"—and the police have yet to issue a statement regarding the investigation of the Killer—"

"This is supposed to be a peaceful time—"

"—the ever-growing violence—"

"I just want my son back."

"No suspects."

"No major leads."

"No explanation."

"—only questions—"

"What?"

"Why?"

"Who."

"Is."

"He?"

Korra switched the radio off with a grunt. It was driving her mad. She couldn't go a single moment without hearing someone talk about the Hanzi Killer. It wasn't that there was no reason to talk about it; it was good to keep people informed of the dangers that surrounded them. Yet, she could not understand why so much attention had been drawn to this one psychopath. Republic City had always been known for a significant criminal element. Why did one get preference over the others? Why was one killer's name repeatedly mentioned on every news broadcast, paper and pamphlet?

Well, she reasoned, it was more ghastly than the crimes people were accustomed to. A person breaks into an innocent man's home, tortures and kills him, and then writes deranged phrases on the wall in his own blood. The same thing happens to two more people without any warning, and then, the same killer kidnaps two more. And, worse of all, no one seemed to know why. For all anyone knew, these acts were random. The horrific truth was that nobody—regardless of class, nationality, gender, orientation, or anything else—was truly safe as long as the Killer was still out there.

"Hey, Korra," Bolin suddenly spoke up, "you feelin' alright? Because you've kinda just been standing there for the pat minute in dead silence."

Korra snapped to attention. She was invited over to Bolin and Opal's apartment for "sorry-that-your-fiancé-is-leaving-you-to-go-on-a-trip-with-a-horrible-business-sleaze-but-it-is-important-to-know-that-you-still-have-friends-in-us" noodles. Ironically, Opal was not actually there due to a sudden family emergency, so it was really more like "we-are-both-lonely-because-the-people-we-care-for-most-have-abandoned-us-in-our-time-of-need" noodles. Still, the company was nice, even if the circumstances surrounding it were not.

"Sorry," Korra quickly said, rushing back to her bowl. "I'm just sick of hearing this Hanzi Killer nonsense. I'm mopey enough as it is. I don't need to hear about a guy butchering other human beings."

"It's probably not the best thing to listen to while eating dinner," Bolin said, loudly slurping more noodles into his mouth. "You know, I did stumble across a celebrity talk show earlier. They were talking about you."

"About the engagement?" Korra asked in disbelief. "Why are they talking about me? I thought they usually only care about mover stars or pro-benders.

"What are you talking about? You were named their Bombshell Babe of the Year."

"Bombshell Bab—what!?" Korra did a double-take. "That's a thing? Isn't that horribly shallow?"

"Of course it is, but it's fun," Bolin said innocently. Korra stared at him with a mix of incredulity and amazement. She had no idea she had been awarded anything from people she never met and never cared about. On one hand, it was hard to believe that people cared about things as petty as her looks (but not her marriage; that was deserving of all of the attention). On the other hand, she was receiving a compliment in some form, even if it was an ugly one. Regardless, it certainly helped distract her from the other, terrible things some sociopath was doing to people in her city.

"So… did I get a trophy or something?" Korra asked curiously.

"I don't think so. They just had a panel of guys and girls talking about how you were hotter than the sun. Their words, not mine. I don't even remember; it was a few months ago."

"Boy, Asami's going to love to hear about this," Korra muttered with a giggle. After another bite of her meal, she snapped to attention. "Oh, what did they say about the engagement?"

"Well, the captain of the Eel Hounds said that you have no right marrying anyone when you have a commitment to the entire world. The mover star Fer Yun said that Asami looks like a man, and you're clearly conflicted over your sexuality. Another mover star said you're actually faking an engagement to get attention…"

"Okay, I think I get the point," Korra said angrily.

"Yeah… celebrities are really mean when it comes to love," Bolin said passively. He paused for a long moment. "Hey, you wanna talk about murder?"

"Please."

"Well, I was talking to Mako the other day. He said that Lin is making a statement to the press tomorrow about all of the evidence they uncovered about the Hanzi Killer."

"I know. She wants me there," Korra moaned. "Apparently, people will feel safer if they see that the Avatar is actively involved in this case. I don't really get how it matters though, considering that Lin won't even let me help out in the investigation anyway."

"After everything you've done for her, she's still holding you back? Why?"

"I don't know," Korra grunted, "probably because she's a stubborn bitch."

"Hey, that's my future aunt-in-law you're talking about," Bolin said defensively.

"You know what I mean," said Korra, frustratingly taking another bite of her food. "The thing is, I was trying to help solve this thing since the beginning, but she shut me out. She said that Mako would be able to take care of it. No offense to Mako, but he's not taking care of anything."

"Hey, if you really want to help solve this, then why don't you just do some vigilante work and bring this creep to justice all by yourself?"

"Trust me, I want to. But it's hard to track down a killer when the police are the ones who hold all of the information about him. And since they aren't sharing, I'm left on the sidelines."

"You didn't need the cops when you took down Amon," Bolin stated.

"Yeah, but at least there was a face there for me to hit," Korra said glumly. "What should I do? Run around the city and interrogate everyone I come across?"

"Eh, good point," Bolin mumbled. However, he soon smiled, and nudged her arm. "Don't get too caught up in it. Let Mako and Lin sort this out. They haven't ever let us down before. You should just think about your wedding, and more specifically, you should think about wedding food."

Korra laughed. "I think the other preparations—you know, like location, fauna, the date—take top priority over cuisine."

Bolin stared quizzically at her. "But… there will be food, right?"

"Oh yeah," Korra nodded, "lots of food. In fact, we'll have two separate wedding cakes. One will be a standard cake, and the other will be made specifically for you. It'll have your name engraved on it and everything, and if anyone takes even a nibble of it, we'll toss them in the ocean."

"Does that mean you'll get married on a beach?" Bolin asked expectantly.

Korra shrugged. It was funny, now that she thought about it. During the very, very brief time she and Asami talked about their impeding marriage, they could not think of any ideal location on where the ceremony would be held. Yet, she realized that practically every time in the past few years she had envisioned their wedding, it was always by a lake or an ocean. She didn't know why, but it was a comforting image. Maybe it was because she was from the Water Tribe, or because she considered the first true moment of their relationship was by a river in the Spirit World. Hell, the first time they were ever intimate with each other was also by the water, so it seemed perfectly natural to her that they should be wed there. She would have to talk to Asami about it sometime later that night. Hopefully, Asami wasn't much of a Republic City traditionalist, because the only water close by was Yue Bay, and quite frankly, Korra had been around it long enough to know that, up close, it sucked.

"You're smirking," Bolin said with a smug grin. "Are you thinking about something adorable?"

"Yes, I am," Korra said shamelessly. "Is there a problem with that?"

"No…"

"Good," Korra sighed. "If there was, I'd have to hit you."

"Please don't hit me. I'm still sore from when you punched me in the stomach during that engagement party."

"Sorry," said Korra. Suddenly, she had a worrisome thought. Bolin immediately took notice.

"What's wrong?"

"I just realized," said Korra, gesturing to him, "We announced our wedding right after yours. It was supposed to be your big moment, and we totally overshadowed you. I wasn't even thinking about that!"

Korra threw herself back on the couch as a wave of guilt washed over her. She had been so focused on her own marriage that she completely ignored her friend's. When a moment that big came around in someone's life, it was important to cherish it, not push it aside to attract more attention to her. Even as Bolin tried to assure her that nothing was wrong, she felt the remorse getting stronger within her.

"Korra, no-one is saying that you can't get engaged the same time Opal and I do," Bolin said kindly.

"But I didn't have to announce it to the world!" Korra groaned. "And look, you even bought dinner for me. I should be the one buying you dinner. I feel like a jerk!"

Bolin, without a second thought, reached over and pulled Korra into his lap. He knew that he could not reach her, for she had reached an overly-emotional state. The problem with Korra was that she still never quite learned to forgive herself for doing something wrong, no matter how small the action was. It was classic Avatar guilt; holding every personal failure close to her heart.

"Don't worry about it," Bolin said comfortingly. "It's not that big of a deal. I mean, we're not even really—"

Bolin froze, realizing he had said too much. He looked away and mumbled something, hoping to draw away Korra's attention. Unfortunately, years of training and meditation had heightened her senses to the point where she could immediately identify deceit. Also, Bolin was a horrible liar, so it wasn't all that difficult to tell that he was hiding something.

"You're not really what?" she asked, staring suspiciously at him. He squirmed.

"I didn't say anything."

"Yes, you did. Don't pull anything on me. I'm lying on top of you; I can practically hear your heartbeat from here. So, what are you not?"

Bolin pulled on the collar of his shirt uncomfortably. Korra glared knowingly at him. Her blue eyes pierced straight through him. Before he knew what he was doing, and against his better judgment, he nervously mumbled, "We're not, uh… really engaged."

Korra's eyes widened in shock. "You and Opal aren't engaged?"

"No," Bolin stated. "We're married."

Korra's eyes widened further. "You two are married? How long have you been married?"

"How long have you and Asami been dating?"

Korra could not contain her emotions. She flung herself off the couch, grabbed Bolin by the shoulders, and shoved him further into the cushions. She snarled at him, giving him the most serious stare down she could muster. The liar was sweating and breathing heavily; he knew he just admitted to a great deception, and now he would be punished for it.

"You and Opal have been married for four years and you never told us!?" Korra screamed. "What the hell, bro!?"

"I didn't mean to lie!" Bolin pleaded.

"Details! Now," Korra demanded. "I want to know everything, or else I swear I will rip your arms off and feed them to you."

Since Bolin did not like the idea of eating his own arms, he talked rather openly about his secretive marriage. Four years ago, Korra and Asami decided to take a vacation in the Spirit World following Kuvira's defeat. As Korra was busy at the time, she had been entirely unaware that, simultaneously, Bolin and Opal took a private vacation of their own to the Fire Nation. While it was not particularly as exotic r grand as the Spirit World, the pair managed to enjoy themselves in a small city near the coast. They spent only a week there, but it full of passion and spontaneity. It was the latter that led Bolin to suddenly asking Opal's hand in marriage, and it was the latter once again that led them to rent out a space for an evening, find a naval captain, and get married later that same night. When they returned, they were had been so ashamed that they married without any of their friends or family present that they decided to keep the information a secret until they could figure out a way to politely break the news. Time continued to pass, Korra announced that she was dating Asami, Mako announced he was dating a variety of other women, and the pair simply buried the truth away, having felt that they lost the opportunity to say what had actually occurred during their brief vacation. This went on until only recently when they decided to fake another marriage, which led to a party, which led to Korra and Asami getting engaged, which led to Korra feeling guilty, which led to Bolin spilling the beans on his own marriage, which led to this precise moment when Bolin admitted everything to her as she threatened to rip his arms off.

Korra listened carefully until Bolin had finished, and then released him. He took the opportunity to move several inches away from her, lest she try to attack again.

"So, are you still mad?" he asked worriedly. Korra sighed.

"Kind of. I get the need to keep secrets, and I get the problem with spontaneous bursts of passion. Trust me; I've dealt with plenty of those before. But keeping your entire marriage a secret for four years is pretty damn shifty."

"We meant to tell you," Bolin said earnestly. "Things just got a bit out of hand. Promise me you won't tell anyone, especially the Bei Fongs. They will actually rip my head off."

Korra groaned. "Fine, I'll keep it a secret, but only because I owe you for that turtle incident during the trip to Ba Sing Se."

Bolin breathed a sigh of relief, and immediately ran to Korra, placing her in a bone-crushing hug. "Thank you! Thank you! I promise never to keep anything from you again."

Korra nodded, and returned the hug. However, her attention was drawn to the window. The sun was setting before her very eyes. She had a grueling day ahead of her. Looking out at the world, she felt something stir within her, something she couldn't quite place. She realized something: for all of the superficial problems that she faced with friends, for all the dreams of romance and love, her focus could never stay. There was a world she needed to protect, a world she needed to keep safe. Even now, when the happiest days were ahead of her, there was a serial killer kidnapping, torturing and murdering innocent people. She had to put an end to it, even if it meant pushing aside everything else. She only felt this sensation for a brief moment, but it haunted her long after she had said her goodbyes and went back to her home.

It was only hours later, when she was lying comfortably in her bed, when she finally understood what she had felt. There, staring out at the world, she felt horribly, truly alone.