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Bending Hearts	By : Tenpenni Category: Avatar - The Last Airbender > Legend of Korra, The Views: 5985 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I own no part of the Avatar Universe and make no money from this. Yuna is my solo creation, please don't rip her. Any resemblance to any other story, fiction or otherwise, is purely coincidental.

Chapter List
- 1-Problems
- 2-Yuna
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- 2
Chapter One

Problems
11 YEARS BEFORE THE START OF LOK

The need to eat had begun to gnaw away at her sanity. Thirst had dried her tongue to the consistency of sandpaper. She knew not when she would be freed but she did know of one source of moisture she had at her disposal. It would hurt for only a moment, but she could do anything at this point. Thin fingers pushed away the over sized sleeve to offer her arm to her waiting teeth. The initial pain paled in comparison to the twisting in her gut and allowed her to spill enough blood to wet her tongue and throat. The salt and iron burned her cracked lips as the crimson liquid coated her mouth. The sudden return of searing pain released her forearm from the damaging bite but she held back her tears. Even if her life's blood was a sorry substitute for water, she couldn't waste what she had taken in on tears. At the very least her mouth no longer felt like the grit of sand. This was a small victory in the face of the darkness that surrounded her, but she would take it. If she could somehow breath fresh air into her prison she wouldn't hesitate to sacrifice a lung if it meant she could inhale air not laced with the rancid scent of her own urine. The three small holes drilled into the back of tiny metal box that was her prison, were meant to provide her with just enough air to survive.
How much longer would this punishment last? The ache in her young joints told her to switch to a more comfortable position, but the volt provided no such luxuries. During the first days of her imprisonment she had hammered her fist against the door, all the while begging forgiveness and screaming apologies. At that time, anxiety had fueled her small fist the recklessly bang against the cold door but then in a moment of clarity she stopped when no one answered after three days. However, once she fell silent, her young mind to began to work against her. Every rumored torture and death she had over heard from other Triads plagued her thoughts, and the ones she had lived through haunted her dreams. Endless darkness brought forth fears of childish imagination and very real memories.

"I'm sorry," she whimpered as pulled her legs closer to her and tried to chase away the hunger and fears that threatened to drown her in despair.
------------------------------------------------Downtown Republic City: Police Headquarters-------------------------------------------------------
Crime was part of any infrastructure and Republic City was of no exception. However, there was a new breed of criminal appearing in the City's lower wards and they were crowding nearly every holding cell of the outpost offices. It began about two months ago when there was a sudden spike of public drunkenness arrest. While said crime could be given ten days jail time, even rookie cops knew it was a waste of tax payer money to book the offender, send them to trial, and then force them to serve their time. Instead the drunk was put in a cell to sober up during the night, given a written citation plus a fine, then sent home with his family or friend who had been called to come get him. The unlucky husband sometimes was there for a day or two while his wife purposely took her time to bringing the fine money, but other than that no one stayed behind bars for extended periods of time for public intoxication.
However, the new cases were exhibiting behavior not typical to average alcoholics. While most drunkers were peaceful, maybe a little rowdy and at worst just an angry drunk, those being arrested now were being caught committing acts of armed burglary and other violent crimes. Upon being thrown into a cell to sober up, they then showed signs of sever alcoholism as the poison left their systems. Often the arresting officer would have to call a doctor or healer to watch over the detainee for fear they might do harm to themselves as they thrashed about in the cell. The severity of their withdrawal was such that of a heavy drinker who had to have been hitting the bottle for decades, yet those being arrested were young men, a few women, all falling between the ages of 17 and 30. There were a few older and younger but not many, and yet they all exhibited the same sever signs of a detoxifying heavy drinker. It made no sense and then to add to the problem, murders amongst the various gangs was steadily rising as well. The violence was at an unprecedented level yet there seemed to be no real cause!
Then one month ago the death rate amonst the City's homeless and vagabonds, who frequented the Lower East End, more than trippled! The calls seemed to come in every other day of bodies being found in alleys, under bridges, and in abandoned buildings. The worst call came from a young boy who arrived home to find his mother dead in the kitchen. The Under Taker's Office, two blocks down from the Police Headquarters, began 24 hour coverage to handle the sudden spike of dead bodies. They even were forced to hire more waterbenders to help keep the bodies frozen when the storager coolers were at maximum capacity, and that seemed to be every day.
While Lin was able to leave the insanity of the lower East End to its Detectives, she was forced to personally take control of the investigation when a man from the upper middle class district of Crystal Rivers, died while in a holding cell in the East End. This glaring mistake garnered instant attention from every newspaper in the city. The headlines painted a picture of police cruelty which caused the entire department to come under scrutiny by the Council. They were demanding answers while simultaneously asking questions and barely giving her time to answer. Thankfully Tenzin was able to get them off her back so she could get to work and bring to justice those truly responsible for the man's death. Her investigation revealed that the man who had died was named Chin Wu. He was a family man with a wife and two sons. He worked as watchmaker in his family owned clock shop. Two weeks before his death, his wife reported him missing after he stormed out of their home during the night and did not return the next day. Upon further questioning, the wife disclosed that her husband had been having unusual, almost paranoid behavior for months. The night he disappear they argued about her missing wedding rings, resulting in her accusing him of pawning them along with other valuables that had recently vanished from the home. Caught in his lies he then ran away.
Looking at the photos and files scattered across her solid rosewood desk, Lin pinched the bridge of her nose in frustration. She had not slept properly in days as every hour she spent sleeping, was an hour of missed opportunity to return law and order to her city. Something big was happening in Republic City. It was big enough to incite gang murders. Big enough to make crime rates skyrocket. Big enough to make a man pawn his wife's wedding ring and abandon his family! It was as if she were standing in front of a raging fire but was unable to see, feel, or smell it. She picked up Chin's picture then looked at the one taken when he died in his cell. He had complained of cold and shortness of breath before violently vomiting and falling unconscious. The officer on duty called for a doctor immediately but by the time she arrived, Chin had already died.
'No alcohol causes a death like that,' she thought as she looked over at the photos of other citizens that had mysteriously died. She then turned around in her chair and looked at the map of Republic City. Her attention was particularly drawn to the East End where many of the deaths had occurred. The only problem was that the deaths were scattred all over the Lower End. There were no patterns to triangulate and no direct connections to the locations of the gang murders.

"Damn it. What the hell is going on!" she growled at the map.
At that moment there came a soft knock on her office door.

Lin: "Enter," she said her voice a bit on edge as she turned to face whomever was brave enough to bother her this early in the morning. Usually she had no problem with unscheduled early morning meetings, but the past few months had her patients wearing thin. She could not deal with another aid of the Council coming to pester her with mundane questions that servered no purpose other than to play politics in the newspapers and radio talk shows.
As the door opened, Lin let her usual scowl form into a soft smile: "Good morning Commander." The elderly gentleman entering the office gave her a warm smile and nod as he gripped his ebony walking stick and crossed the room. In his youth he had called himself the Dark One, now he simply went by Moo-Chee when out of uniform. Decades ago he had been one of the first students to learn metalbending from Toph at the Bei Fong Metalbending Academy and as such he had served as Head Instructor at the Metalbending Police Academy after the founding of Republic City and the United Republic of Nations. At Toph's request, he became the Commander of Republic City's Stealth and Information Gathering Unit as he was the only one she trusted to head-up the the secret organization that was tasked with protecting the City from both internal and external threats.
Moo-Chee: "You're here early today, Chief."

Lin smirked: "As are you."

The old man chuckled a bit as he took a seat in the rosewood arm chair opposite her desk: "I had hoped to leave these documents on your desk as a surprise." The heavy ebony sleeve of his changshan fell back to reveal a thick folder as he placed it on the desk.

Lin: "I hate surprises," came her retort as she took the file with much suspicion. At first she only skimmed through the papers so as to be able to have the Commander fill in any questions she had, however after the quick thumb through panic stretched her jade orbs wide as she quickly began to re-read the file word for word. When she finished again her body became ridged from the unsettling reality that had just hit her. "You have to be joking." She met Moo-Chee's steel grey eyes for but a moment before he shook his head and gave a heavy sigh.

Moo-Chee : " I wish I were. Republic City has a Poppy epidemic."
Lin: "How bad is it?"

Moo-Chee : "On a scale of 1 to 10, I'd say about a 7. Most cases are concentrated in the Lower East End, but my men have found more users appearing in the middle class districts. Mr. Chin Wu's story spread through the community like wildfire causing whispers and rumors amongst the socialites. My under cover units were able to learn that there are other missing men, women, and teenagers from around the area that were exhibiting his same behavior."

Lin: "What about a source! Who's bringing the Poppy into the city and how are they getting it in?!"

Moo-Chee: "This is pure speculation, but its likely the Big Three are behind this. Hence the sudden spike in gang related murders. No doubt they are waring amongst themselves in an effort to increase their individual profits by trying to eliminate one another."
Lin shook her head in disbelief: "We need to shut them down. Any informants?"

Moo-Chee: "Not a one. Even my deep cover units can't find a snitch or even get into the gangs. The Triple Threats, Yellow Dragons, and Blue Fang Tiger-Bears have all closed ranks. They're at war with one another and so they trust no one."

Lin: "What about the users? You have the names and addresses of each one that was arrested."

Moo-Chee: "The high they're getting is too good. They won't talk. They won't risk not being able to find a replacement dealer if they help us lock one up."

Lin rubbed her temples an attempt to stop forming migraine: "I'll assign more patrol units to the East End and a few of my own under cover officers. If we keep watching the entire area, eventually we'll catch them making a transaction. That's how we'll find a new informant and work our way up to the Importers."

Moo-Chee: "Unfortunately that's all we can do."
The two sat in a heavy silence which Lin was grateful for. It had never once crossed her mind that Republic City would one day be flooded with Poppy. The poison had been banded even before the Hundred Year War began and all its flowers burned by the Fire Nation. Even master herbalist knew little to nothing about the plant. The only reason Poppy was still known in current times was due to short mentions in history books and encyclopedias. What fool had figured out how to create the deadly powder? Better yet, where the hell had they found even a single Poppy plower!?

With a sigh she looked up and for the first time realized that the Commander still had an envelope in his hand.

Lin: "Is that more classified intel?" she asked as she motioned to his lap.

Moo-Chee: "Yes, but of a different sort," he answered as he gave her the letter with her name on the front. She gave him a question look as she took black envelope. "It's my letter of resignation."

Lin: "WHAT!" she snapped jumping from her chair and slamming her palms on her desk. "At a time like this you choose to quit!"

The old Commander gave a deep tired sigh: "Not quit, retire. Lin, I'm an old man. I've served under you and your mother for nearly six decades. Times are changing. Republic City is changing and S.I.G.U. needs to keep up. I can't do that and I won't continue to fool myself or you into think I can."

Lin glared: "You could have given me some warning! I don't have any one to replace you!"

Moo-Chee nodded regret darkening his eyes: "And that is where I admit fault. Until you find my successor, I believe Captain Ryota will be a good stand in."

Lin: "Fine," she spat as she fell back into her chair. If the mess on her desk was any indication of the chaos surrounding her then she knew she was about to spend many more nights at the office. She was by no means a rookie or new to her helm as Chief of Police, but it was only 7:30 in the morning and the day was already taking a major shit on her all before she even had her morning coffee! Drugs running rampant, dead bodies in the streets and holding cells, gang wars carving up the East End, and a retiring S.I.G.U. Commander!

Lin: "Fuck me."

-This is my first posted story in years! Please R&R and tell me your honest thoughts! I'm looking to get dark in this fic so if you have any suggestions I'm definitely open to ideas! Thanks for checking out my story. Chapter 2 will be up in about 2 days.
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Bending Hearts