AN: The song I was listening to when I typed/wrote this was 'The Kill' by 30 Seconds to Mars.

Chapter 2
No, You're Wrong. I've Never Been One.

She felt the evening, dying breeze wind through her hair. She could feel the bark at her back, even underneath the leather armor and clothes she had. She looked out at the fading sun drawing the last of its light with it like a dying breath, slow and thorough. The sun was visible through the slits in the tree, a mixture of yellow and orange, the sky around stripped with pink and purple. It looked calm and serene even though it was slowly falling; dying in a way, but it knew that it wouldn't stay under for very long, it would shine once again.

She took a deep shaking breath, trying to calm herself, trying to get some control over her emotions and herself. Nothing seemed to be working, unfortunately. Ever since her 'mask' had been shattered quite thoroughly and she let her emotions and herself flow freely in what must have been years-excruciating years- they didn't seem to want to leave. She couldn't force her mask over herself anymore. She knew what it felt like when she had the mask on, like she was slowly suffocating herself and she didn't want to go back to that, to lie anymore. The mask was important, it held everything she felt in, and it worked for those three and half-years that she was alone, even with the Freedom Fighters she seemed alone. It worked to hold everything in because it she couldn't harm people with the truth about her…She couldn't let people harm her. Now it seemed like just another mistake added to a list of them. A part of her died with it, with every mistake she ever made. She had lost a part of herself, but, she thought as she touched the chain around her neck, the only thing she allowed herself to bring out of her past with her, it wasn't the first time.

She bit her lip, trying not to shatter any self-control she had at the moment and thought about what was important right now. She couldn't do this when she was thinking about her past; it would just lead to a disaster.

She closed her eyes, still clutching the necklace loosely hanging around her throat, and took a long deep breath. This is what is important now. Don't think about anything else. She repeated those words several times in her head, trying to convince herself of it. She tried again to relax the part of her mind that was looking into her past of regrets; she didn't need this right now. She didn't need more guilt to eat herself up, she had enough already.

She pushed back every thought that wasn't relevant to what she had planned to do, but couldn't do in this state. She clutched the jewel at the end of the long chain tighter and took more deep breaths. She wasn't so certain she could do this anymore. It was already hard to confront someone you put all your trust into and now she had to do it with her mask shattered and her taunting past. It wasn't going to be easy. Hell, nothing ever was in her life. This was just one more thing to add, now.

She took one last thorough breath before slipping her necklace back underneath her shirt, the chain only visible. She gathered all the self-control she could get, turned around and pushed the worn tent flap open.

Jet sat on the edge of his stuffed mattress that lay on old crates. He rested his elbows on his thighs, one hand in his hair and the other resting on the other thigh. His hair was a mess and he had dark circles under his eyes. She would've guessed he hadn't slept since the Freedom Fighters attempted to 'save' an Earth Kingdom, a week before.

The first few days after she and Sokka had actually saved the Earth Kingdom town she couldn't bring herself to be near Jet or any of the Freedom Fighters. She got a sickening feeling in her stomach whenever she did. It was too hard to be near people you put your trust in for so long and have it thrown back in your face. She should've expected this to happen. She should've known that trusting people, especially people who you only know lies about you, was a mistake. Trust is weakness.

After she past those first few days she talked with Smellerbee and Longshot. They both agreed on one thing: This time Jet had gone too far. Jet was a great leader or once she had thought so and she knew that he hated the Fire Nation and loved to see them burn with the same misery and hurt as he had endured. She knew that, but she was never there because of Jet's ideas and perspective; she was there because for once she wouldn't be alone.

But to risk the lives of innocent people was something she couldn't simply stand by and watch or help to accomplish. No, she wasn't like that.

She took a deep breath and waited. Jet looked like that 'incident' affected him as it did everyone else but in a different way. She couldn't tell which way that was. Was he feeling guilty? What about angry? Maybe he was feeling hate or confusion at his own actions? All she knew was that at least it was affecting him. At least he had some humane normalcy in him. Maybe that was enough to try to persuade him.

She took another deep breath and wondered if Jet even knew she was in here.

"Jet, I think we should talk." She said simply.

He didn't acknowledge her presence by turning his head and looking in her eyes. He did move, but it was so subtle and small that anyone who had just met Jet or only had known him for a short period of time wouldn't notice. She had known him for a little less than a year and a half though and it was enough to catch the small gesture: a twitch of his hand. He only did that when he was excited or to replace a wince so that it didn't show on his face.

She doubted he was excited.

"Jet?" She knew he was listening, but she wanted to acknowledgement from him. She wanted him to talk.

"Are you going to call me a monster, as well?" He said with a bitter tone.

"What?"

"I'm not a monster the Fire Nation is." He spat with disgust.

"Jet what are you talking about?"

In one swift movement he stood up and stared at her with blazing eyes. It was slightly intimidating and scary sight.

"Do you think I'm a monster?" He said as he walked toward her, their eyes still locked.

"Jet, what are you talking about?" She didn't even know where this had come from. She was confused and scared simultaneously, but she couldn't bring herself to leave. She needed to talk to him, to confront him, and maybe persuade him. But she wasn't so sure about her plan now.

"Do you?" He said once he was standing in front of her.

"Jet, I...I...Wha…Wher..."

There are things you expect in life. Some are more obvious than others. But she definitely didn't expect Jet to kiss her.

When she had first met Jet she had developed a crush on him. Over the course of a few months she realized that it had just been a crush and that Jet was absolutely better to think of a friend, an ally, and nothing else. It wasn't the fact that she knew that Jet got whoever he wanted and then left them when he was done. No, it was simply that she didn't have any feelings toward him anymore. She had laughed a couple of times when she remembered that she had actually had a crush on him at one time.

Kissing Jet wasn't very pleasant….at all. His lips were chapped and the kiss was even rougher. It just didn't feel right. He had one hand pressing against her back, crushing their bodies together.

For a moment she was frozen, overwhelmed with shock and then she realized that Jet was kissing her and that set her off.

She pushed Jet away with her hands on his chest.

"Jet!"

He made a disgruntled sound and tried to kiss her again. She really didn't want Jet to kiss her again.

She pressed her hands harder to his chest, trying to keep some reasonable distant between them.

"Jet! No!" She yelled and she saw that Jet wasn't resisting anymore.

He stared at her eyes as if trying to see past them. Maybe he was looking for answers to some of the questions he had.

"Jet, you aren't a monster. You just…you've been through a lot and I get it. I do, but killing innocent people isn't the way to go." She said softly.

Jet eyes seemed to snap back out of staring into her soul. He closed them tightly for a second before he opened them, revealing a burning gaze.

"Have you forgotten what the Fire Nation did to your parents?" He asked with anger.

Yes, because it was a lie.

"No, I haven't, but you have to understand that risking th-"

"No! The Fire Nation is scum and they deserve to die and burn in hell. I'll be glad to help them on the way and if that means that they take a few innocent people with them than so be it!" He yelled.

Her eyes pricked with tears and all the softness she held a few seconds ago boiled into anger.

"You don't mean that."

"I do."

She pressed her lips in a thin line, her gaze as cold as ice.

"You're a Freedom Fighter and we fight the Fi-"

"Don't call me that." She said as cold as her gaze.

He stared at her with wide, disbelieving eyes.

"What?"

"Don't you dare call me a Freedom Fighter."

He stood frozen with disbelief, his eyes flicking through her's, as if trying to see if she was joking. I mean she had to be….right?

"You are one." He said hoping that she wouldn't catch the way his voice wavered at the end.

"No, you're wrong. I've never been one. I don't believe in taking innocent people's life just because there in the same place as a person from Fire Nation. I don't believe in killing the Fire Nation or taking their things just to satisfy my hate for them. Some of them and it might be hard to hear, but some people from the Fire Nation aren't evil, like that old man who got his things stolen from you. You know what? I helped Sokka evacuate the village and that man whose things you took, vouched for us when the rest of the town didn't believe us. "She said seething anger.

Jet's face looked disbelieving and contorted. He stood frozen with wide eyes. He knew she was telling the truth by the look in her eyes, but it was still hard to take in.

She gave him a bitter smile before walking toward the tent flap that acted as a door.

She paused at the 'door', her hand of the material ready to push it aside, but she felt as if there was one more thing to say to him.

"Maybe you should try to see how this affects other people and not just yourself for once." She said before pushing the cloth aside and leaving the tent.

OoooO

The bag slung on her shoulder was light, only holding what was necessary to get by. The soft leather strap rubbed against the leather of her armor. It shifted and rubbed, but if she felt it she ignored it. She instead focused her thoughts on what she was doing, the current situation.

She twirled the dagger in her hand, the hilt made of some simple black soild material. It looked ordinary and it was. It was just another dagger that could belong to everyone, except it wasn't. There, on the center of the hilt, was a small 'x' with what appeared to be a flames coming from it. Every dagger she ever had or got, meaning stole; she would carve that symbol, the symbol she made up, into the hilt. It was something that she just did. She didn't know why she did it, but she did.

She bit her lip as she looked over the tent that used to belong to her. It wasn't a home, this wasn't her home and it never had been. She only had one home and she hadn't been there in about three in a half years. At that thought a sense of longing wretched at her heart, one that always seemed to be there.

She pushed it back and scanned her eyes over the bed that was just another bed. It never really belonged to her; it never really had a sense of home.

She gnawed on her bottom lip and she twirled the dagger further in her hands. It seemed to be a nervous habit of her's.

She pressed her lips together and slid her dagger in her boot. She righted herself and gave one last look over the tent, taking in the place and filing away in her mind.

Memories can be either a blessing or a curse. For this particular situation, joining and then leaving the Freedom Fighters, it could be either one, depending on which way you looked at it.

She learned that it was better to be alone so that you didn't have to lie to their face. It was easier and somehow more difficult at the same time.

She jerked the leather strap of the bag on her shoulder show it wouldn't slip off and then turned away.

The sun had barely dawned none of the Freedom Fighters would be awake. It would be too hard to say goodbye to them.

She walked on the wooden walkways, creaking with each step she took. She passed tent after tent, some housing Freedom Fighters and other's spare in case of a newcomer.

She stopped in front of one particular one. It was Smellerbee's and Longshot's tent. She looked at it for a long moment with sad eyes. Pulling a dagger out of her pocket, she thought that she would miss them the most. She twirled the dagger in her hand for a moment before pinning a loose piece of material to the thick, tall, pine truck beside it with the blade.

She dropped her hand and gave a sad smile before jumping out of the hideout and onto the forest grass.

If they were as close to her as she thought, they would know what it meant.

This was a very fast update! I wanted to get this chapter out, though. If you are wondering what the dagger in the tree truck was about it's her way of saying 'Goodbye'. I usually listen to a song when I write, but I pick one that I think with set the right 'mood' for that particular chapter before I begin to write it. So I'll make sure to post it at the top, like I did here, if you want to listen to it. Anyway, I hope you are enjoying this story so far! I love my reviewers, they are amazing:D I love you if you read this story and don't review as well :D Sorry about any spelling, grammar, etc. mistakes! Review if you like and tell me what you like about this story :D