Regrets (Complete)

Chapter One

20 Years Later

Lin walked into an already busy and buzzing police headquarters. She hadn't slept well the night before and work was always a welcome distraction when she didn't feel well. Some of her officers were taking statements from citizens at their desks and as she walked towards her office she heard a very loud shouting match going on in one of the holding cells. She shook her head with a smile as she opened the office door.

It felt like she had just sat down to do the morning paperwork when there was a sharp knock on her door.

"Come in."

"Hey Chief, sorry to bother you. I just have a case I wanted to run by you."

Lin looked up at the young detective before motioning for him to have a seat. He quickly sat, opening the file with his notes messily scribbled all over and started immediately babbling about the details.

"I just interviewed a young woman who claims that she was kidnapped as a baby. Apparently her mother made a deathbed confession and the poor girl was completely blindsided. She wanted to know if we could her find her biological parents. She asked for you personally."

They both shared a quiet chuckle at the last bit. It was very common for people to request that Lin personally handle their cases. And she did, but only very selectively. She felt for the girl but with the only witness deceased and no other information to go on this was very likely a wild goose chase. She let out a long sigh.

"There's not much we can really do. But do a little research for her and see if you can find any other information. Just don't spend too much time on it and don't get her hopes up that we'll find anything."

He furiously wrote down her every word before clumsily getting up.

"Will, do. Thank you, Chief!"

He didn't leave, looking at her expectantly. It took her a second to figure out what he was waiting for, quickly shaking her head and waving a hand to him.

"Dismissed, detective...?"

"Chen, Chief."

"Right, of course. You're dismissed Detective Chen."

She watched him nearly run into another officer as he bolted from her office, smirking to herself before returning to the never-ending pile of paperwork in front of her.

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"Sir, I've got an interesting report."

"I could use some good news, Lao. What is it?"

The firebender smiled, sitting down in a chair opposite his boss. He handed over what looked like a Republic City police file. Kurai flipped through it, not sure what he was supposed to be looking at. A young woman suspected she was taken from her birth parents and wanted help finding them.

"What am I looking at?"

"Notice the date."

He flipped back to the front page, the girl's birth date sparking the depths of his memory. He frowned as the pieces began to click. She had told him the baby had died. She had lied to him. He crinkled the page in his hand, he should have questioned her more thoroughly. But it had become this big thing. The whole city seemed to mourn with the police chief and the son of the Avatar...

"Sir?"

Kurai stood, struggling to keep his own temper in check. All these years lost. They had suffered such a set back after failing to kidnap the first grandchild of Avatar Aang. Around the same time, the new Avatar was discovered and they had made a hasty and sloppy next move not long after. Their leadership had been decimated, imprisoned on opposite ends of the world.