Title: Disillusionment
Author: blue-eyes2014
Characters/Pairings: Katara, Jet, Jet/Katara
Rating: PG
Summary: "She wants to save him, she decides, to fix him, give him reason to smile his beautiful smile..."
A/N: This was written at about 4:30 AM in the morning. Blame irrational-hours inspiration. (Feedback is greatly appreciated.)
With Jet, the world becomes fuzzy, the lights brighter and the shadows a darker contrast. The rope pulling them upwards twists slowly, and the arm securely around her waist makes the skin unusually warm through the cloth, though, surprisingly, not unpleasantly so. She feels dizzy, and just as she's debating whether that's normal or not, the ride ends, and Jet's moved away from her, causing her body temperature to return to normal.
He is so beautiful, so tragic: A strong youth, outnumbered in an impossible battle against the tyrannical Firebenders, yet also tender, speaking of lost loved ones and lending a sympathetic ear to her loss. She wants to save him, she decides, to fix him, give him reason to smile his beautiful smile...but most of all, to give him a reason to look her way, to want her by his side. She is fully aware that she is not the type that draws stares, and standing next to Jet does nothing to improve this view.
His words are like silk: finely woven and smooth, with an appealing sheen. The way he speaks shrouds her judgment, her caution, and appeals to her in a way she's never experienced before. Adding his consistently close proximity, her mind clogs up and she can't think straight and his words become all the more reasonable. Again, she wonders if this is normal, but this time silences herself.
Then she sees the dam.
The explosives.
Aang's quietly shocked realization.
No.
He's talking again, turning on the charm, his words as silky as ever. But this time she doesn't listen, cannot, will not. She watches the facade come crashing down like the wall of water on the unsuspecting town, and the world goes with it. Jet is not the hero he first appeared to be, and doesn't look a thing like one pinned as he is to the tree and glowering. The betrayal stings deep, deeper than she'd expected, and all she can think is that neither Aang nor Sokka would ever have misused her trust like this.
She wants to be as far away from him as possible, and even as that last enchanted fragment of herself cries out, she's ready to hop on Appa and leave Jet, and a piece of her innocence, far, far behind.