Katil was sick again the next morning, maybe more so than the last, but at least this time she was able to get away from the group. Breathing hard, she wiped her mouth and her eyes, pulling the bush she had retched behind back into it's place, and held her stomach lightly.
"Katil?" Toph called.
"Coming!" She replied, tucking a stack of Apa posters under her arm, grabbing her bucket of glue, and jogging back up the alleyway.
"This is the most energetic I've seen you in a while!" Toph exclaimed, her swimming grey eyes thrilled but suggestive.
"I guess I woke up on the right side of the bed this morning," Katil chuckled awkwardly, dipping her paintbrush into the glue and planting an Apa poster firmly on the stone wall.
"Right," Toph muttered, crossing her arms. Katil decided to try and pay her no mind. "C'mon, Katil," Toph prodded, trowing an elbow at her arm, "Some thing's up-I can tell," she reminded her, tapping her heel on the ground.
Katil frowned. Toph was right, of course-something was up-something potentially heart-stopping-ly thrilling, or something heart-stopping-ly crushing. So far, Katil had no evidence that would lean her towards either conclusion, and that only made the anxiety worse.
"Promise you won't tell?" Katil asked. Toph nodded. A little sadly, Katil dipped her brush back into the glue and stuck a few more posters to the same wall. "You remember how...after we destroyed the drill...I went into the city to get some food and a new dress?"
"Yeah...?"
"Well, I didn't have enough money for the dress AND the food, so I stole all of that leopard pork."
"THAT'S what's gettin' you?"
"No! No..." Katil waved off the notion like an annoying toad fly, "After I stole the meat, this guy approached me...his name was Jet. He was tall, and dark, and strong and-"
Toph plopped onto the dirt, cross-legged, with a condescending plop, "Eugh, here we go-"
"It wasn't like that." Katil grumbled, rolling a poster up tighter and tighter in her clammy hands.
"Well? Keep going," Toph insisted after an uncomfortable minute or so.
Katil sighed, walking a few paces and putting up her fortieth poster of the day, "He asked me to join his group and told me to meet him by a cobbler shop that night-I did." She added for good measure, "He wanted me to help him prove that two people he had been following were fire benders,"
"Were they?" Toph asked excitedly.
"...I don't know," Katil quickly spat out. Toph's face screwed up into a suspicious look, but she let it drop.
"So then what?"
"The plan didn't work. He was so disappointed and angry-I wanted to cheer him up-but my plan...I screwed up." She told her, sliding down the wall and hugging her knees to her chest.
"...what happened to him?" Toph asked almost gingerly. The change in character threw Katil for a slight loop.
"...he was arrested-or at least I thought he was. I went to check the prison yesterday for him but he wasn't there. But-get this-it wasn't the Earth King's guard that arrested him-it was the Dai Li! And after what you guys said about the Dai Li at the party-I think-"
"You think that if we find Apa, we'll find Jet." Toph surmised. Katil nodded. Toph jumped up on to her feet and, kicking her heel against the ground, popped Katil's butt right into the air. "You could be right." Toph admitted with another friendly punch to the arm. With a smile on their faces they started walking again, stopping intermittently to put up a few more posters. However, Toph's smile fell after just a few paces when something dawned on her, "Katil?" she asked.
"Yeah?"
"If it really was your fault that he got arrested...what's gonna happen when we find him? What are you gonna say?"
Katil stopped just before putting the poster on the wall, the beige glue drying up quicker than her optimism, "...I...I don't know,"
Katil and Toph's heads whipped to the right as they both suddenly heard yelling and the roaring of crashing water. "That can't be good." Toph muttered before they both took off at a sprint down the cobbled street and around the corner. Water was slowly oozing out of a thin alleyway papered with Apa signs, and Katara, chest heaving, her blue eyes burning, was standing at the mouth of it all. Katil and Toph stopped behind Katara just as Sokka and Aang arrived,
"Katara what's-" Sokka stopped as soon as he saw what-or rather, who-was frozen to the stone wall at the back of the alley.
"Jet's back," she growled. Toph and Katil wer frozen in their spots as the other three argued.
"Is that...your Jet?" Toph asked. Katil remained still, watching at Jet was unfrozen, was prodded and interrogated, was accused and cursed, and never once acknowledged her presence.
"...different guy," Katil whispered under her breath.
"I swear, I've changed!" Jet pleaded. His thick brown hair had been washed, his tan skin scrubbed clean-he looked the same, if not better, than he had when they arrested him. "I let my anger get out of control, but I don't even have the gang now! I've put all that behind me!" He insisted, brandishing the crumpled Apa poster in his fist.
"You're lying!" Katara spat, her brother the only thing holding her back from outright attacking the guy. Suddenly Katil registered the fact that Katara was...REALLY angry! Did they know Jet?
"He's not lying," Toph told her, her tiny fingers pressed to the wall that Katara had backed a slightly trembling Jet against.
Aang slowly walked towards Katara and put a gentle hand on her arm, "Katara, we don't have any leads." He explained softly, "If Jet says he can take us to Appa, we have to check it out."
She readied a response, but quickly came to agree with the Avatar, "Alright," she grumbled, "but we're not letting you out of our sight!" She threatened.
A smile erupted on Jet's face, "Thank you, Katara!" he exclaimed, but she gave him the cold shoulder and stalked off, Aang close behind. Jet hurried to the front of the group, "I heard about some kind of big animal being housed pretty close by-this way!" Excitedly he led the group west towards the wall, Katara and Aang right behind him, and Sokka, Toph and Katil picking up the slow moving rear. By now, Sokka had realized something was up, but it was almost impossible not to with the crushing look of disappointment hanging on Katil's usually bright features.
"Something wrong?" Sokka asked.
"...who is that guy?" Katil replied, her eyes glued to the back of Jet's head.
Sokka sighed, putting his hands into his pockets, "His name is Jet. We met him a few months back on our way to the North Pole."
"What's up between him and Katara?" Toph interjected. Katil's body twinged a little at the phrasing.
"...long story short," Sokka muttered, "Jet tried to wipe out an entire village just to kill a few Fire Nation soldiers-and he tricked Katara and Aang into helping him do it."
"...oh," Both women whispered heavily. They walked together, step for step, for a few more minutes. "...I think I'm going to go talk to him," Katil decided suddenly.
"Huh-?" But before Sokka could really question her, she was jogging to catch up with him. "Does...does she know him?" Sokka asked.
"Yeah," Toph answered as quietly as she could, "and we might have a problem,"
"What?" Sokka asked, startled.
"Sh!" Toph cautioned, grabbing him by the front of his shirt and dragging his face down to her level, "I don't know for sure and I don't even know if they're a threat-"
"You're talking about fire benders, aren't you?!" Sokka insisted, poking a long tan finger into Toph's flat chest. She swatted his hand away.
"YES! Spirits, be a little louder, please," She tossed him aside like a rag doll.
With a tiny scowl Sokka readjusted his shirt. "How do you know?" he started up again, this time lowering his voice.
"Katil said something about it-I think she knows who they are, too."
"So why don't we just ask her?"
"You think if they were a threat, she would tell us?"
"...you're asking me which side I think she's on." Sokka realized.
Slowly, Toph nodded. Sokka took a minute to think, but, impatiently, Toph insisted, "SO?"
"Hey, don't rush me, this is important!" Sokka whined. Toph tossed a pebble at his temple. "Ow..." he muttered, rubbing his head with the heel of his hand. Sighing, he hunched his shoulders, "You know, to be honest, I don't know which side she's on. I mean, even if she's not lying about all the stuff that happened to her as a kid, she could be just like Jet: a crazy, murdering psycho path who has no concern for any one's safety or well-being but their own. Or, she could be like Aang, who lost his whole race and still couldn't kill a horse fly if you asked him to." Toph agreed. "I guess we'll have to just wait and see?" He offered dumbly. Toph just punched him in the arm.
After another few paces she asked, "But...but what if there are dangerous people in the city-and what if she knows they're here, but is still hiding them? If we wait..."
"Yeah," Sokka agreed. He bit his lip and kicked his toe in the dirt. "...I'll talk to Aang." He muttered.
Solemnly, Toph nodded. "...I hope it's not true," she whispered.
"Me too," Sokka took her tiny hand and squeezed it lightly. She ripped it away and stuffed her hands into her armpits, pretending to retch. Sokka just laughed. She turned her head away from him defiantly with a tiny smile and and even fainter blush.
Meanwhile, Katil easily caught up to Jet and fell in with his steps with a nervous ease.
"Hey," Jet greeted casually, "you new to the group?"
Katil gaped for a second, "Uh...uh, yeah! Yeah, I'm new. My name's Katil,"
"Nice kodachi," Jet pointed out with a signature grin. He pulled one from it's sheath-
"Oh!" Katil tried to take it back but he was too quick. He gave the sword a thorough once over and then looked back at Katil suspiciously,
"Those are Fire Nation style engravings." he noted expertly, "Where did you get those?"
"...I stole them from a Fire Nation soldier." She quickly lied.
Jet gave her a bright grin of approval, and she blushed, smiling back.
"So..." she started.
"So?"
"Do I...look familiar to you?" She asked, putting her face right up to his. He semed a little taken aback.
"No...sorry," he answered, backing away from her a little uncomfortable, "should I?"
Katil jumped back, waving her hands, "No, no, no, no, no, no...just me being silly-as usual-that's me-the silly one!" She babbled.
Jet laughed, turning back to the road. Katil did the same, though her face quickly fell. "So, where are you from?" Jet asked. Katil looked at him and grinned.
They walked together at the head of the group, talking about practically nothing, until they came across a dusty, ramshackle barn.
"Here!" Jet called, waving everyone inside. The barn was spacious with a tall ceiling and a floor spanning what must have been two thousand square feet, but even though it was terribly drafty the air was thick with dust and dirt. Most of all though, the barn was horribly empty. "This is the place I heard about,"
"There's nothing here." Aang murmured, his shoulders falling.
"Wait-he WAS here!" Toph exclaimed, brandishing a thick wad of Appa's fur. Aang ran over and swiped it out of her hand. He grabbed the fur and held it to his chest,
"We missed him..." he whispered sadly.
"They took that big thing yesterday." Six heads whipped around to see a short, hunched old man come from a small door in the back of the barn. He bent over even further and started sweeping up the remainder of Appa's fur with a whistle, "Shipped him out to some island. About time, I've been cleaning up fur, and various, uh...leavings all day." He grumbled.
"What island? Where's Appa?" Aang demanded. The old man tossed his hands the air.
"Foreman said something about selling the thing to some rich type on Whale Tail Island. Probably for a zoo or sumthin',"
Aang spun around excitedly, "Then we've got to get to Whale Tail Island! ...where is that?"
Sokka pulled out his map, "Far," he said apologetically. Still, Aang kept up hope and soon every one was ready to go ship off for Whale Tail Island. But something was nagging at Katil-
"I'll come with you!" Jet offered.
No, she KNEW something was- "Really, REALLY wrong!" She suddenly yelled. Everyone stopped in their conversational tracks and stared at her. "Okay," she started, taking a deep breath, "this is going to sound weird, but I know this guy."
Jet furrowed his bushy brown brows, "Um, I don't think you do-"
"We've. Met." She asserted, shutting him up. "How in four days do you forget someone you kissed?" She demanded in an angry whisper, throwing a finger into his armoured chest.
"WHAT? I don't even remember your NAME!" He snapped back.
Katil's whisper turned into a shout. "I got you arrested!"
"That's ridiculous!"
"Then how do you explain how you DISAPPEARED?"
"Maybe you just didn't see me living PEACEFULLY IN THE CITY because WE HAVE NEVER MET!"
"Then how do I know about Smellerbee and Longshot? How I know that they're in the city!"
"I thought you said that you didn't have the 'gang' with you!" Katara accused.
"I don't!" Jet argued.
"You do!" Katil shouted right into his face.
"Who ARE you-?!"
Suddenly the two, red faced and steaming, were blown apart from each other by a blast of wind. Katil barely kept her footing and saw a fed up Aang standing spread armed between them.
"...they're both telling the truth." Toph murmured. "It doesn't make sense-it feels like they're both telling the truth!"
"That's impossible," Katara spat.
"No, it's not!" Sokka exclaimed as the two combatants slowly dusted themselves off. "Toph can't tell who's lying because they both THINK they're telling the truth."
And then it dawned on her, "...you've been brainwashed." Katil whispered, her stormy eyes drained of all frustration and anger and subsequently replaced with concern.
"No-that's crazy!" Jet slowly backed away from the group, his eyes full of fear. The group slowly closed in around him, "STAY AWAY FROM ME!" He yelled as Toph easily cuffed his hands and feet in stone and Sokka knocked him out with a decisive blow to the head with his club. Katil watched the exchange with silent diligence.
"The Dai Li arrested him a few days ago," she explained as Sokka hoisted Jet's limp body onto his shoulder. "If we can knock his senses back into him, he might actually be able to lead us to Appa,"
"But how do we do that?" Aang asked.
"You said Smellerbee and Longshot are in the city?" Sokka asked. Katil nodded. "I bet if we can find them, they can un-wash his brain."
"Yeah! They were his closest friends," Aang agreed.
"But how are we gonna find them?" Toph asked. "This city is huge!"
Suddenly, Katil had an idea. "I know where they live. C'mon!"
They followed her out of the barn and down the street, down a long, long flight of stairs (if any one asked, their unconscious friend was very sick, of course) and into the rough streets of the Lower Ring. It was crowded today, and they had to link arms a few times to stay together. As the sun was setting behind the outer wall, they reached the little alley where Katil had met Jet for the first time nearly a week ago.
Sokka paused, "So...he lives in an alley,"
Katil just rolled her eyes and pushed on, leading them through the tight, dusty path. The left wall of the alley made up the backside of an apartment building, and about fifty feet down the path they found a metal fire escape, ladder extended. They shimmied up the ladder and onto the first landing. One by one Katil hammered on the doors asking for one "Smellerbee" or "Longshot", but even after making it to the third floor they had had no luck.
"So..."
"Shut up, Sokka," Katil muttered.
"Just saying,"
"Aang?" Everyone looked up. Out of a small window on the fourth floor poked a rather large bowl cut and some terrifying war paint.
"Smellerbee!" He called back, jumping up onto their landing with ease. His smile fell quickly, and hers followed, her large, dewy eyes filling with concern.
"What's going on?" She asked, skipping right over the pleasantries.
"We found Jet-he's been brainwashed." Aang said solemnly as the rest of the group climbed up the the fourth landing. Smellerbee's eyes widened when she saw the unconscious Jet hung limply over Sokka's shoulder.
"We were hoping you could snap him out of it," said Sokka, readjusting his cargo.
"Get him inside," she ordered quietly, hurrying them all through the window. The apartment, much like Zuko and Iroh's, was cramped, musty, and rickety. There were three bed rolls strewn out on the floor along with a few open food containers, scraps, and tools. A tall, stringy boy with an oblong head that Katil assumed to be Longshot was sitting in the center of it all, diligently sharpening the points of a tightly wrapped bunch of shoddy arrows. He said nothing as they entered and set Jet in one of the dwelling's wooden chairs. "We need to figure out a way to trigger his memory," Katil reiterated gravely. Jet sat quietly, his eyes trained to the floor.
"Katara could kiss him," Sokka snickered. Katil's head whipped around.
"Maybe YOU could kiss him?" She shot back.
"Just an idea!" He said, throwing up his hands in a passive gesture.
"A bad one." Katil and Aang glanced at each other awkwardly.
"I've got it," Smellerbee said suddenly, "Jet, think about your past-remember what the Fire Nation did to your family!"
Jet bit his lip, but he closed his eyes and furrowed his brow. Katil took a sympathetic step back, holding her hands to her chest. Suddenly, Jet started shaking and sweating, his head swayed from side to side gaining speed until he was violently writhing-then, he screamed, "NO!" His eyes shot open and his chest heaved up and down as he fell over his knees, fist tangled in his hair. "I-I can't...it's too painful,"
"Jet..." Katil whispered quietly.
"Here, maybe this will help," Katara suggested, walking behind him and drawing a healthy globe of water from her pouch. She separated the water and pressed the two equal, now glowing halves to his temples. A heavy anticipation swept over the room as Jet's eyes fluttered closed for a moment.
"I...I remember...!" He said quietly, suddenly looking up at Katil. Her face burst into a grin. "I was taken by the Dai Li to a secret base underneath Lake Laogai-Appa is there."
"Well what are we waiting for?!" Aang nearly shouted, opening his glider with a determined snap.
"Nightfall," Jet interrupted him, "There are two shifts of agents-one during the day and one at night-patroling the base. We'll make our move during the switch."
After a moment's hesitation, Aang nodded.
"I'll put on some tea," Smellerbee said quietly, staring out at the near setting sun before making her way towards the kitchen. The other members of the group as followed her lead, busying themselves with one task or another, but Jet had his face buried in his hands, and Katil was just watching him. Slowly and nervously she walked over, and when she was about two steps away his eyes came up to meet hers. She looked down at her feet.
"Let's go for a walk," Jet suggested solemnly, standing up and heading towards the door. Katil watched, motionless, as Longshot, having been posted at the door frame for some time now, put a hand on Jet's shoulder. "We'll meet you at the wall in half an hour." Longshot nodded. Jet opened the door for Katil, who dutifully stepped out, and followed her into the hall, closing the door quickly behind him.
Jet grabbed Katil and pushed her up against the opposite wall, giving her a rough and passionate kiss that she responded to almost immediately, wrapping her arms around his neck and forcing her tongue into his hot mouth. "I wasmm-so worried-I'm-mmaahso sorry, Jet-mmmfff!"
He kissed her deeper and moved across her face and down her neck, biting and kissing with low, animal like groans. Katil could feel her chest clinch around her speeding heart and only grow tighter as their lips parted and they held each other in a tight embrace. Foreheads pressed together, they slowly opened their eyes, and Katil felt only the slightest twinge of guilt.
"I..." Jet began, chest heaving, "I forgot you-"
"You forgot everything."
"Yes, but-"
"They brainwashed you-there was nothing you could do." Katil assured him, holding his cheek with her scarred palm. He kissed her again, but softly, this time, holding her tightly and tasting her breath. When he pulled away, he stared at her for nearly a minute, stroking her dark hair.
"I told you I would beat him-"
"Jet-"
"I told you I would beat him, and I acted like an idiot. I forgot to fight-I thought I could just...trash talk him into doing what I wanted..."
Katil settled her face into his chest, closing her eyes.
"...I'll find him-"
"No you won't." Katil's wet glare bore through his determination.
"Katil..."
"You'll help us find Appa, and that's it. You'll stay here and we'll convince the Earth King and we'll beat the Fire Lord and then we'll all go home wherever that is but you're not going after Zuko again!"
Jet's face twitched, "Zuko...? As in...?" Katil looked away quickly. "As in Prince Zuko? Why were you with Prince Zuko?!" Katil grimaced. "Katil..." he turned her face towards his, "...I've known you for three days, and...I think I might be in love with you,"
"Don't say that-"
"But it's true. Do you feel the same way?!" He asked desperately, holding her face in his hands.
"Jet, no...I won't...I can't get hurt again...I can't..."
"Do you?!"
She stared straight into his dark brown eyes, and suddenly she saw Zuko, declaring his love, making love to her, burning her...her heart ached, tears ran down her face, and she remembered just how time had stopped when Jet kissed her that night, how she could barely stay standing her knees knocked so hard, how she was still shaking, even now, from the warm shock of his lips...
"I...I think I might be, too," she answered quietly. He pressed his lips to hers, squeezing her tight.
"What aren't you telling me?" He asked her gently.
"Jet..." she took a deep breath, "I'm a firebender."
He frowned slightly.
"I'm a firebender and I ran away from the Fire Nation and spent years killing Fire Nation soldiers and joined up with the disgraced Fire Nation Prince to find the Avatar and teach him how to firebend and somehow during all of that I found you and-"
"I see,"
"Jet, please-"
"Hey, you guys ready to...oh-am I interrupting something?"
Jet let go of Katil, "No."
"Well, you guys ready to go?" Sokka asked.
"Yeah," Jet replied coldly.
"Okay...then I'll go get everyone else...?" Sokka replied carefully, giving Katil a concerned look and then slipping back into the apartment, closing the door quietly behind him.
The two were silent...painfully so...
"...the Avatar knows what you are?" Jet suddenly asked, leaning against the wall, arms folded.
"Yes!" Katil answered quickly. Jet smiled.
"Well, if the Avatar trusts you, then I guess I do, too,"
Katil's face broke into a huge smile and she ran right into his arms, "Oh thank you...thank you..."
"Just promise me this," Jet said suddenly.
"Anything!"
"Never bend again,"
Katil looked up-
"LET'S GO!" Aang yelled, bursting through the door of the apartment on his air scooter, company in tow. Jet grinned, taking Katil by the hand and dragging her after them. They ran all the way to the outer wall, through which Toph bore a small tunnel. They crawled through quickly and, under Jet's direction, made their way to Lake Laogai.
The sun was setting when they reached the beach.
"So where's the secret headquarters?" Sokka asked.
"Under the water, I think," Jet answered.
Toph, a few yards down the bank, called, "There's a tunnel right there by the shore!" With a quick form an earthen walkway rose out of the water-at its end: a round, covered tunnel. Toph kicked away the rock blocking the entrance.
"This is it..." Katil whispered under her breath as one by one they all filed in.
"It's all starting to come back to me!" Jet exclaimed, leading them through the dark, empty tunnels. He was right-there was little to no security in the headquarters. Still, Katil had an uneasy feeling in the pit of her stomach. "I think there might be a cell big enough to hold Appa just up ahead...I think it's through here!" Jet threw open a metal door-
"Now that's different." Sokka muttered.
Flanked by at least twenty men, a thin, pallid man with beady golden eyes stood before them in a stone room, arms folded behind his back. His black hair was styled in a tight queue, and he wore high class, ceremonial Earth Kingdom clothes. His thin lips turned up into a sick smirk. "You have made yourselves enemies of the state."
Katil froze.
"Arrest them." The Dai Li agents struck forward-Katil drew her kodachi, sliced through two gloves, before she was vaulted into the air. She rolled, kicked off of the ceiling and shot back down into the fray, breaking a glove just before striking Sokka, breaking another coming at her back-
"Long Feng is escaping!" Aang yelled, giving chase to the leader. Jet took off behind him. Katil switched feet and ran. She was nearly through the other door when a stone glove caught her collar and yanked her backwards off of her feet. She reached back, crushing the glove, but it was too late. Just as she was clambering back onto her feet, a Dai Li agent sealed the entrance to the next room.
"JET! AANG!" She screamed, throwing her self at the door. Just then two gloves sealed her to the wall by her arms and were crushed in an instant by Toph.
"DON'T WORRY ABOUT THEM!" She yelled, slamming two Dai Li agents into the walls with pillars of earth, "THEY CAN HANDLE THEMSELVES!"
Katil nodded, and charged the nearest agent, slide tackling him and breaking his neck with her elbow before he could lift a glove. Within what felt like minutes they took out the remaining agents, most laying unconscious, a few laying dead.
Toph punched where the door used to be and the wall crumbled-
"JET! NO!" Katil screamed, shoving her way into the room and falling by Jet's motionless side. His eyes were open, he was breathing, but his head...his head was bleeding...
Katara walked over and drew some water. She held it over his chest, "This isn't good..." she muttered gravely.
"You guys go and find Appa. We'll take care of Jet." Smellerbee assured, she and Longshot stepping to his side.
Katara stood up. "We're not going to leave you."
"There's no time." Longshot interjected, "Just go. We'll take care of him."
Katara didn't move.
"He's our leader." He stated firmly. Katara looked down at Jet one more time, who smiled meekly at her,
"Don't worry, Katara. I'll be fine." He assured her. She nodded sadly as Sokka put his arm around her.
"Katil?" Sokka asked. Katil hadn't moved, but she was shaking. Tears were running down her face, but she wasn't crying. "Katil, are you coming?"
"J-Jet..."
"Go." Longshot repeated. Sokka nodded, and they were gone.
"I l-love you, J-Jet...I l-love y-you..."
This day always comes.
A/N: Thank you all so much for reading all of the way through to the end. If you liked it, be sure to read the sequel, The Woman in the Brig!