Jet was confused.
The last thing he remembered was being under Lake Laogai, telling Aang and Katara to leave.
Katara…
He wished he could've made it up to her somehow. Showed her how sorry he was about his past. He hoped she and Aang found Appa.
But first, he had to figure out where he was, which was definitely not under Lake Laogai or in Ba Sing Se. Instead, he was in an eerily quiet and vacant swamp. Jet didn't like quiet. He only liked it when he was sneaking into a Firenation camp, or spying on someone, but that was mostly because he needed quiet. But now, the swamp was quiet and seemed lifeless, and Jet wanted to see or hear something, anything, to prove otherwise.
Suddenly, he could make out a figure up ahead. A human shaped figure. But as he got closer, Jet began to doubt it was human, because he swore it was glowing. People didn't glow. Well, Aang did, but he was the Avatar, so he didn't count.
Just as Jet was getting close enough to see a bit of detail in the figure, it vanished. He growled in frustration, then nearly jumped out of his skin when he heard a voice behind him say, "Welcome to the spirit swamp," Jet turned around as quickly as he could, and saw a tall, glowing elderly man behind him. He had a long, white beard and was dressed in pale colored robes.
"Spirit swamp?! What are you talking about, I'm not- " Jet started to say, but then remembered the intense pain of his ribs shattering, and Katara being unable to heal him, and Smellerbee crying. Smellerbee never cried. Ever.
"You are, as are all beings in this realm," The man – a spirit, he know knew – said.
"But, I can't be! I have to help in the fight against the firenation! I can't die until this war ends!" Jet yelled in disbelief.
"I'm sorry, but I can not change your death. Once a spirit enters the spirit world, it may not leave."
"But what about afterlife?" Jet asked desperately, "What about reincarnation and ghosts?"
"After life is only given to those who lived a pure, sinless life. Only the Avatar may be reincarnated, and ghosts are not human spirits. They are merely bodiless spirits that are not permitted in this realm, and haunt other realms because of it," The spirit explained, "Besides, even if you could return to the physical world, I'm not the one who sends you there."
"Then bring me to who does!" Jet demanded, "I want to see if we can come up with some sort of compromise."
"All right, but let me assure you, she will not give you a simple task," The spirit said, and then began drifting away.
'Task?' Jet thought, following the spirit, 'What kind of task?'
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The pair walked in silence until they reached a cave. They entered the cave (which was surprisingly bright), and saw a woman sitting in a tall, throne like chair. She wore red robes, and had long, silky black hair. Everything about her seemed to screamed firenation, except her eyes, which were cold, ice blue and seemed to immediately begin analyzing Jet's every move.
"Spirit of Judgment," the male spirit began, "I come to you with a soul who wishes for you to allow him to return to the realm of the living."
The judgment spirit eyed Jet for a moment before inquiring, "What makes you believe you're worthy of a second chance?"
"I'm a friend of the Avatar, and would like to return to the physical world so I can help him defeat the firenation and restore peace to the world."
Again, the spirit observed him for some time before saying, "I'm not sure you deserve to return."
"What?! Why?" Jet demanded angrily.
"You are to biased and hateful toward the firenation. You would only hinder the Avatar."
"Because I wouldn't hold back against a firebender?!"
"No, because your hate causes you to make poor decisions," She explained calmly, unbothered by Jet's angry tone.
"How do you know what kind of decisions I'll make?" Jet asked, growing more annoyed and frustrated.
"Because I know what kind of decisions you've made in the past."
"I can change!" He promised.
"But you won't. When you went to Ba Sing Se, you said the same thing, then made the decision to attack a boy not so different from you, simply because he's a firebender. Are you aware that the Avatar is also a firebender, and will need a teacher?" Judgment asked curiously.
"Aang's not from the firenation! He's an airbender!" Jet exclaimed.
"But he is also a waterbender, an earthbender, and a firebender. And because of his duty as the Avatar, he will need to find another firebender to teach him. Are you sure you can handle being around two firebenders for so long?" The spirit asked, raising one eyebrow slightly and observing the boy's reaction.
"Look, if Aang can find a firebender with an ounce of good, I won't hurt him!" Jet swore, becoming annoyed by the spirits constant questioning. Who was she to judge him?
"Hmmm…" The spirit hummed, weighing Jet's words carefully. She needed to give him a task to prove his worthiness and teach him a lesson. Getting an idea, the spirit grinned and declared, "Alright. You may return to the land of the living. But first, you must complete a task."
"I'll do anything you say! Just bring me back to life and I'll do it!" Jet promised eagerly.
"Oh-no! You won't be brought back to life until after you complete your task. AS for your task, you must help people. Firebenders, to be exact," The spirit explained, grinning at Jet's expression of disbelief. Before he could utter a single sound in protest, she sent him off to his first task, making him disappear in a flash of light.
Author's Notes: I've had this idea for a quite a while now, and I decided to finally post it up. Not sure how long it'll be, but if you guys have any suggestions for how Jet should help some firebenders, tell me in a review. I'd also like advice on the title, rating, genre, etc., if that's not too much trouble.
Disclaimer: If I owned Avatar, Jet wouldn't be dead. The show would also suck.