This fic is also on my tumblr blog where my username is Kuno-chan and my blog name is Dragoness Ramblings.

Disclaimer: Legend of Korra belongs to Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko

This too shall pass.

The Dark

The days went on lazily and summer came early. With spring still not really over, but the weather deciding it was, Jinora was more than happy to start wearing her less wintery skirts and leggings and back to her regular cotton skirts. And so was Kai.

"Mmm." She felt his hands before she heard him and nearly jumped. "I missed those thighs of yours."

She giggled, biting her lip. "They never went anywhere, you goof."

He grabbed her hand as they walked down the hall, dodging this person and that in the lunch time crowd. "I know, but my life's just a lot brighter with them undressed," he grinned at her, green eyes alight. "And you undressed in general."

Jinora rolled her eyes, but she squeezed his hand. Raava, it was so good to see him grinning like he used to again. The fear seemed to have left him ever since she and his mother had begun to get along. In retrospect, that seemed to be the only thing he'd asked of her.

Not to mention that they were so close to graduating. All this time, too, her father had been helping Kai with his future college endeavors and, now, he had some financial aid set up, he'd been admitted to Republic City University alongside her and just…

His life seemed to be going so right.

It made her eyes sting and her heart swell.

His grin faltered when he glanced at her. He stopped in a corner and pulled her closer to him, almost frowning. "What's wrong?"

She shook her head, chuckling as a single tear leaked. "Nothing, it's nothing. I just…" She grinned a little. "All I wanted was for you to be this happy. That's all."

For a moment, he just stared at her. Then, a touched smile curved his lips and he leaned in to kiss the tip of her nose. "Thank you."

No other words really needed to be said and she turned her head up for the kiss on her lips.

This was all she wanted. All she needed.

-:-:-:-

"Kai seems a lot happier now. I just… want it to last forever."

Jinora looked at Hebimi, feeling the sun on her skin as the two sat down in the park.

"He's always been very emotional," said Hebimi. "Even as a child. He would cry at the smallest things when he was tired. But happiness also came easy to him. He would always look up and watch for airplanes. When he saw them, he would show me and it would make his day. Just that he caught them."

"Oh," Jinora laughed. "That's so cute."

Hebimi smiled. She didn't do that very often, but when she did, Kai was somewhere in there. There were so many things that were the same and so many that were different. Kai's mother, Jinora had noticed, was aloof. Distant by nature, it seemed, but never too far away. On the other hand, Kai was personable by nature, yet, he was also known to keep his distance from people he didn't know. It was a strange, uncanny comparison between mother and son.

"Say? Do you have any baby pictures of him?" asked Jinora, admittedly, with a little mischief in mind.

"Of course," said Hebimi, pulling out her phone. "I have the physical copies in my purse, but I also have them on my phone. Here."

She showed Jinora the photos on her phone and, there he was, a chubby, green eyed baby boy looking right at the camera like it was the most wondrous thing in the world. Or maybe it'd been whoever was behind it taking the picture. His mom, probably. Or maybe… his dad? Kai had never spoken of a father. Never known one. Never even met him apparently.

"I took that," said Hebimi, as if reading Jinora's mind. "He was only a year old."

"He's absolutely adorable." Jinora giggled, gingerly taking the phone from Hebimi. "Are there anymore?"

"Swipe left."

She did and the next photo was of a Kai looking a little bit older. He was standing on his own this time, laughing at something as the picture was being taken. Jinora almost burst from how positively precious it was. There were a few more photos, all of which Hebimi obligingly sent to Jinora's phone.

After one last look at the pictures, she put her phone down in her lap and sighed. How, she still wondered… it was a thought she had put aside because, at the end of the day, Kai figured that he would get the answer later. Or maybe that they would never have to talk about it and it would just stay in the past.

Still, she didn't think that it was healthy that it hadn't been a answered let alone resolved.

"Why?" she finally asked.

Again, as if Hebimi knew what Jinora was talking about, she just stared ahead and said nothing for minutes. Nothing and that almost said everything. She knew it had been wrong to leave Kai. Not to mention the way she left him. Even though Kai was very willing and ready for her back into his life, it was still hard to believe that she was just waltzing her way back in.

"Why?" she asked again.

Hebimi still stared ahead. "You want answers for questions you don't understand."

"But I want to understand," Jinora said not unkindly. "For Kai. For both of you. For me, even. I just… I can't understand why you would leave him. The way you did too. Just… how could you leave him?"

That question burned a little bit. She could never understand how any parent could leave their child. Just up and leave for no reasons given. Perhaps there were some understandable reasons, but here she had none. Maybe she might have, but Hebimi hadn't left Kai in a comfortable place where someone would certainly find him.

She left him in a park where anybody could have picked him up. Hurt him even.

She had just vanished from his life like that.

"You're not going to answer?" asked Jinora again when she was met with silence.

With a deep sigh, Hebimi stood up. "We should head back. Your parents will be wondering what's taking so long and Kai is waiting for me so we can have lunch."

No answer. Not a word of one, but Jinora didn't press it. She didn't know if Hebimi's silence on the matter was a good or a bad thing, in all honesty.

-:-:-:-

Jinora had a funny feeling that night at dinner and it'd been tingling in her belly all evening. Kai was telling his mother and her parents a story from work when the doorbell rang. At that, the feeling intensified and she immediately felt a little squeamish.

"I'll get it," said Jinora, getting up from the table.

When she opened the door, her brows furrowed. "Mako?"

What was he doing here?

Mako stood at the door, straight faced in an almost pained manner. In his hand, was a manila file folder. She opened her mouth to say something, but he beat her to it. "You know what this is about, Jinora," he said quietly.

What what was abou-

No.

Oh, Raava no.

She shook her head and tried to close the door behind her so that she could maybe get a word with him alone, but he put a hand on her shoulder and looked her in the eyes, amber filled with all kinds of emotion. "Jinora, he needs to know. I hate to be the one to do it, but he needs to know."

"Know what though?" she asked, her voice cracking. "Is it really that bad?"

Kai was so happy finally. She couldn't just-

But Mako wouldn't be here, wouldn't dare be the bearer of some bad news concerning Kai's mother unless it was important. Unless he had to.

"Do you… do you have to do it now?" she asked, her voice cracking. "Tonight? Can't you maybe talk to her about it later privately?"

"I would if I didn't think it would do more harm than good," he said. "She'll use the chance to get to Kai first, she'll lie about it. She would find a way out of it. She has to be confronted. Publicly."

Jinora shook her head. "I hate this." She wanted to cry. "I hate this so much. Just when I thought…"

"Trust me, I hate it too," he said softly, heartbreak seeping through his voice. "I don't want to do this. But I'll be damned if I let him be used either."

A shared heartbreak, then.

But they would be there to catch him. In a way, she supposed that she'd been expecting this. It was almost… too good to be true. That Hebimi was just in his life all of a sudden with no catch or string attached. Why would she have come back after so long? There had to have been a reason. Now, that reason was spelled out in Mako's folder like it was nothing, but here it was ruining everything.

She swallowed hard, taking a deep breath before moving aside and letting Mako in the house just as her father called to see who it was. Letting Mako go ahead, she didn't answer and instead let him show his face as they entered the dining room. Her father wiped his mouth with a napkin, his brow raised.

"Mako?" Kai grinned, but it faltered when he saw the look on Mako's face. Then he looked at Jinora and it was completely gone. "What's… wrong? What's the matter? You look like you've seen a ghost."

Jinora could see Hebimi watching Mako very carefully. Spirits, this woman. All the things she did to Kai. Emotionally, mentally and who even knew physically if she'd ever abused him when he was younger. At this point, Jinora wasn't sure she could handle much more. She didn't know whether to be full of anger or drowning in sadness.

But Mako didn't look at Kai. He held the file in his hand, staring right at Hebimi with a hardened expression.

"Are you going to tell him?" he asked her. "Or am I? Your choice."

Kai whipped his head to look at her. Hebimi was just as stony as she said, "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Why you're really here," said Mako. "Tell him why you really came back all of a sudden. After fourteen years, you come back for the son you abandoned in a park. Tell him why you came back or I will."

Kai shook his head and looked at Mako. "Hey…" His voice was weak and Jinora's heart cracked right in two. "Mako, what's this about?"

When Hebimi didn't say anything, Mako sighed and opened the file. He looked at Kai. "I want you to know that I'd never do anything to hurt you. Not on purpose, anyway. Everything I do, I do because you're my boy and I love you. You know that, right? Do you trust me?"

Jinora could see Kai's throat bob as he swallowed. He nodded. "Yeah."

Mako sighed deeply, pulling various articles, newspaper clippings and what looked like several kinds of files out of the folder. "Your paternal grandmother's name is Yang Ting Fong and she was on her deathbed a few weeks ago. They laid her to rest recently. In between that time was the time where your mother-" He nodded at Hebimi. "Came back into your life."

"I'm sorry, did you say my paternal grandmother?"

Mako nodded. Jinora loosed a breath. Paternal.

"As in my father's mother?" he asked.

Hebimi stood up now, apparently resigned to facing the truth. But if she was going to do it then she was seemingly going to do it facing it head on. Jinora's parents sent her siblings out of the dining room and upstairs, her mother staring rather hard at Hebimi. She, too, had to have suspected.

"Yes, your father," he said almost sadly. He put more sheets of paper on the table, newspaper clippings and profiles about the rich Fong family that lived in Republic City's high life. She'd heard of them. Kai and her had even joked once a long time ago that… maybe they were related. "I won't beat around the bush. Kai, she… doesn't have your best interest at heart, exactly. Your mother's here because your grandmother was filthy rich and she was hoping that you would get some of her inheritance. The timing is too good and there are too many coincidences for there not to be a connection. She's been living city to city for years, using people for their money. Why do I say use? Because she seemed to always eventually end up in a new city once her bank account was full. I've met her type. I've made a career out of her type."

Spirits, save her.

Jinora wanted to go walk over to Kai and steady him because that was a lot of information at once. Not only was his mother a true con artist, but apparently Mako also now knew all about his father and their side of the family.

Mako glared at Hebimi. "Deny it," he told her. "I dare you. I've got ten pages worth of testimony from barely half of the people you've taken advantage of in here if you decide to."

Hebimi only raised her chin at him, but Kai looked at her, his face unreadable and his mouth tight. "Is it true?"

She walked around the table, swiftly moving as she left the room. Kai was on her in an instant, following her into the living room. He grabbed her arm before she could cross the room. He asked her again, "Is. It. True?"

Jinora came in and rushed to him, putting a hand on his arm. He released Hebimi, but Mako stood between her and the front door. Silence followed, the tension in the room sliceable at this point. Hebimi didn't look at any of them. Either out of shame or a lack of feeling as if she owed anybody anything.

"You don't understand," she finally said.

The look on Kai's face was one of nothing. Nothing and heartbreak and a shattering that Jinora swore she could hear from where she was standing. He had been so happy-

"What don't I understand?" he snapped. "Is that why you came back? Because you thought I was going to get money? From a woman who's never even met me?"

Her lip curled and she bared her teeth at him. "I would have left you most of it-"

"You would have left me most of it? You were going to come in, take your money and just leave! Bullshit! You probably would have taken it all and just left me with-" He snarled right back. "With ten goddamned yuans! Tell the truth! I-I knew it! I knew you were going to- and so did everybody else did, but-" He shouted at her now. "Tell the truth! Tell the truth for once in your goddamned, miserable life!"

Hebimi raised her brows at him nice and high. "The truth?" she snapped, whipping around to face him. "You want to know the truth? The truth is that your father has known about you your entire life. Always. Always."

Kai looked breathless, his eyes narrowed. "...what…?"

"That's right. Your father works in that tall, tall tower in the main square of the city and has for decades. Raava, you can see the damned thing for miles," she growled. "And I used to live there. It used to all be mine because it was his. Then, you came along and-"

"And what?" He bellowed. Jinora could see her father step forward out of the corner of her eye. "And what? Say it! Say it! What? Do I have any siblings you'd also like to tell me about too?"

"No, of course not!" she said viciously. "I would never make that mistake again."

Kai took a step back, panting and stared at her as if she'd just-

Jinora's mother stepped forward, pushing past Kai and pointed right at the door, coming face to face with Hebimi. "Get out. Get out of my house. Get out, get out, get out."

Her mother and Hebimi stared each other down for a moment before Kai said, quietly yet no less fiercely. "What's his name?"

Hebimi dared not take her eyes of Jinora's mother. "Sokhan Fong. He owned that large estate I would take you to and we would just sit at the gates for hours until security came to chase us away. Before you were born, I was always on his arm and he spoiled me for it. After you-"

"After me, you lost it all, didn't you?" he asked her, this time, not quite so unkindly.

Hebimi didn't say anything for a moment. She sighed through her nose. "The second he knew I was pregnant with you, he kicked me to the curb. Got himself a new arm candy and almost five years later, they got married."

"...you know? If you had talked to me, came and sincerely just spoke to me about this, told me it all from the beginning…" He swallowed hard. "Maybe we could have gone into it together, I don't know. But I was ready. So ready. Too ready for you to- and now-"

"He, his family, was my ticket out. Both of ours. I would have shared it with you," she walked around Jinora's mother and took a step toward him. " I would have told you when it happened. Maybe even just let you have it and-"

"And used me? For something I'm pretty positive I won't be receiving? You were ready to see if you can use me and then ditch me again. You're so used to it by now-"

"He was my trump card!"

"AND I'M YOUR SON!"

Kai took a step toward her and Jinora caught his arm. But Hebimi didn't move even though they were barely a foot away from each other now, Kai towering over her. Hebimi's face was tight, full of something crossed between rage and a plea. "Yes," she said tersely. "You are my son. I know that you are my son."

Kai snarled, his lip curled. "I don't think you ever did... you know, I wanted to get to know you. Now, I remember why I don't already in the first place."

Silence fell and the only thing that could be heard was the panting in Kai's voice from all of his shouting, Jinora's own heartbeat thudding so loud that it had to be banging against her ribs. Finally, it was her father who seperated them all, stepping between her mother, Kai and Hebimi. He frowned at Hebimi. "I think it's time for you to leave."

Jinora followed as her father led Hebimi to the door. His voice even and firm, he told her, "And this time. Don't come back."

Hebimi almost looked downcast as the door was shut on her with a resounding clack. And she was gone. Again. Again she just disappeared from Kai's life in the worst way possible and-

She turned back to the living room, but Kai was already gone. Upstairs and down the hall she went as she searched for him until she reached his room. He was sitting on the edge of the bed, his back to her. Quietly and carefully, she came around. "Kai?"

But his shoulders were shaking and he was bent over. She stood in front of him, taking his face into her hands as gently as she could. "I don't need her," he sniffed, tears streaming down his face. "I don't- I never have-"

Her heart might as well have dropped onto the floor and broke into a million pieces. Her eyes stung.

"I- I don't-" His eyes crinkled miserably and he put his forehead against her belly, his voice a half-choked sob. "...why doesn't she want me?"

Jinora held him and just stood there, shaking her head and her own tears falling now. "I don't know, love. I'm so sorry." She ran her fingers through his hair. "I don't know."

I waited two years to get to this chapter.

Two. Whole. Years.

First of all, I'm sorry that it's kind of short. These last few chapters have been a tad on the short side since, now, I'm getting to all those finale points. We're hitting all the scenes I needed to hit before I can officially fini this thing properly.

I'll be honest, it's been so long that I feel like the scene didn't exactly play out as I thought it would, but all the points I wanted to hit were hit. The dialogue I wanted to get to. And I know a lot of you called it and would say it was obvious, but here's the thing: Hebimi was supposed to be a lot colder than that. So, my original plan did change. At the end of the day, bits of Hebimi's actual care for Kai comes out in the minced words she can't really form. Is it exactly the ideal motherly affection? No, not by a longshot, but it's there somewhere and that wasn't originally intended.

A son who feels abandoned in every way by a mother who doesn't know what it means to fend for anyone but herself.

But that gets to wait for the next chapter. Which, there are only 1-2 chapters left and then this fic is done! My labor of love, this fic is and I'm so glad so many of you have been along for the ride for so long. It means something that I can't even describe in words. This fic gave me confidence I didn't have as a writer and so, here's a thank you for reading it!

As always, guys, I love it when you leave those reviews! Every word means a lot and I truly enjoy reading them! They really keep me motivated to write! Thank you for reading! Tune in for next chapter!