It's always dark. Always, always, always. He thinks there might be a gleam of light somewhere, because he sometimes catches glimpses. Lantern light -fire- gleaming off rocks, an orange-red glow that causes his heart to rise to his throat, makes him choke and the rope bites into his wrist, makes him claw and claw and claw and he can never get loose.
He hears the Earth Kingdom rise and fall, listens to the screams and the shouts of joy. Years pass, Earth King's are assassinated, dragged away in the night kicking and screaming. They die of old age, happy and quiet in their beds. They are betrayed by their friends and family, some are killed in wars.
The Earth changes, slow and trembling, plates rolling and rock tumbling as the years pass.
The allegiance of the Dai Li rises and falls like fire, like waves, like wind. Their loyalties change and sway no matter the century, and Jet listens.
A little girl is crowned Queen, no brothers to take the throne instead. She is fifteen, blind, has never been taught by badger moles. Her Earth bending is fierce, it trembles and quakes unchecked and the city cowers as the Earth shifts. She should be trained. The Dai Li should aid her, teach her that the Great Toph Bei Fong was blind, and she was one of the best Earthbenders the world has ever seen. Should tell this girl, this princess, this girl Queen that nothing is really set in stone.
Instead, her people rise up against her and he remembers what it is like to die the way she had.
It is quiet. It is always dark. Jet listens. Time passes and Jet is always trapped.
He passes the time with half-dreams of the sun, of trees and laughter and times where he thought "I'll never grow up," with a grin on his face and a sword in hand.
He never did.
Jet regrets.
Time passes and the Earth Kingdom is the first to invade this time around. The Avatar- the Avatar, where is the Avatar? they whisper. The Fire Nation trembles because with enough earth, you can put out a fire.
The crystals never dull.
He misses his Lost Boys.
It is always quiet.
Until it isn't.
The Earth King rediscovers a use for the Crystal catacombs, and Jet watches as they turn it into a prison. Bars of stone and steel. The prisoners are marched in.
Jet misses the quiet. Longs for the dark.
Meat rots.
A boy. Two boys, two prisoners of war. Water and fire, blue and gold.
Jet wonders.
One cell. Lips and skin and whimpers. Dampness clings to skin, a shallow puddle forms in the small of a pretty curved spine. The Water Boy cannot bend.
Familiar.
A name. Two names. A false name and a true name. He never learnt the real one.
Sokka.
Lee.
Fire.
The Fire Boy can bend. The guards can't know. Jet is quiet.
Until he isn't.
Hundreds of years and he still can't leave. But he can help them leave.
The guards are easy to deceive, too lazy, too busy inflicting pain. The keys are easy to slip.
The lock clicks, the door shudders open. He thinks that they might be able to see him, at least a little.
His form is hazy. The Water Boy whispers, Jet, Jet, let go.
Sokka. Always so noble.
The world trembles, the alarms go off. The boys start to flee. Fire flares, and Jet watches it. Pretty, like a bird. Free and beautiful. He wonders how he could have ever hated it. The Fire Boy looks at him, and there is regret there, something something something-
Jet is fading.
My name, the Fire Boy -Lee- whispers, is Zuko.
Two names, neither false.
Jet, let go, Sokka whispers.
The guards are coming, but they won't leave until he does.
Jet smiles.
Let's go-