Losing Everything
They had worked all night and into the morning. First, carrying Jet's body out of the Dai Li's base, and then burying it. Since neither was a bender, the job was difficult and exhausting. They worked in silence; tears still fell from Smellerbee's eyes, but they fell silently.
It was midmorning when they stood together staring at the finished grave. Slowly, Smellerbee sank to her knees, eyes open but unseeing, tears coursing like rivers down her cheeks. "He's really gone," she said, her voice hoarse and defeated.
Longshot knelt beside her and she turned her face to him with a look so lost and scared she seemed the child she'd been when they first met. United in their sorrow and confusion over losing everything they'd ever known, they had clung to each other for comfort when the nightmares got too bad. Today felt like a nightmare and she found herself clinging to him again. The arms around her were stronger and the chest she sobbed against broader than they had been in childhood, but he was still the same Longshot she depended on, the only person she really trusted. Sometimes in their early days together, she had told him of her dreams; sometimes talking helped her relax again. He had never said anything about his dreams, but she had always understood. Today, she didn't feel like talking either.
He pressed a kiss into the top of her head and his tears wet her hair.
ooo
Longshot awoke thirsty and hungry. He didn't know what time it was, but it was dark. Smellerbee was asleep, snuggled against his chest. She whimpered and curled in on herself as he eased himself away and stood. Pressing a gentle kiss on her forehead, he pulled the blanket up over her shoulder and tucked it under her chin. His mother used to tuck him into bed this way, long ago in that other life. He had felt safe and secure and loved in his warm little bed in his cosy little house with his mother's gentle kisses and his father's cheerful smile, until the Fire Nation had burned it all to cinders.
It hadn't been hard to follow Jet. His fervour in the fight against the Fire Nation was right and good when the Fire Nation had killed everyone you ever loved. But in the end, it was the Earth Kingdom who killed him. Their thanks for the years he'd put into protecting those the Earth Kingdom soldiers considered acceptable casualties and the scars he'd earned fighting the battles they considered inconsequential.
Longshot hadn't always agreed with him, especially as they got older and Jet became more obsessive, but Longshot resolved to remember Jet as the hero he'd been when they met, the hero he'd been when he died—fighting for freedom and justice, protecting those weaker than himself, inspiring courage in those who followed him.
A/N: This doesn't really feel finished to me, but I'm not sure where to go from here. I don't want to follow this (which I personally believe is some of my best writing) with pointless filler. I guess I'll update if inspiration strikes. Which I hope it does. There are actually a couple of ideas kicking around in my head that I would like to include, but I can't seem to get them out in an acceptable form at present.