This is kind of a filler chapter but I hope you enjoy it anyway, oh and if you want to see Jet's outfit I posted a drawing of it on my tumblr AvengersLoki-Zuko, just use the search and type in Jetko, it's pretty easy to find :D ~ I do not own Avatar the Last Airbender

Jet: 9 + Zuko: 8

Kuo, a Fire Nation assassin for the royal family, circled and studied his latest student with a critical eye; his student was a young Earth Kingdom boy, definitely different than his usual students, whom everyone referred to as Lion-Heart. Wild eyes and a wilder heart, the boy was certainly a quick learner in the arts of killing and survival. The boy was certainly impressive, but he had no self-restraint. None knew the boy's real name, except for Prince Zuko, when one asked the wild boy for his real name, he would snap out a barbed retort and watch the asker with shifty eyes – the sound of pattering footsteps reached Kuo's trained ears, snapping from his musings, he spots the young Prince. The only one to get much out of the vindictive child.

"Lion-Heart!" the young Prince shouts, said boy spins on his heel, "We're going to the markets ~ come on!"

The bright grin that lights up Lion-Heart's face momentarily dazzles Kuo, that is, until another voice speaks, "Now, now Love," it's Lady Ursa, "We mustn't interrupt their lessons. It's very rude."

Kuo smiles as the Prince pouts, "It is quite alright Lady Ursa, if the Prince so wishes, I can let Lion-Heart go early."

The Prince practically beams as he turns to his mother, "Can he ~ ?"

Ursa smiles, placing a hand upon her son's shoulder, "If that's what you want, Love."

The young Prince turns to Kuo with a bright smile, 'Yes ~ !"

"As you wish, young Prince." Kuo bows deeply, before he can tell Lion-Heart he is free to leave, the boy zips over to the Prince and the two are running off with grins on their faces, Kuo moves to stand next to Lady Ursa, "I have to admit," Kuo begins, "I was rather surprised to see Lion-Heart smile a real smile. The ones he usually gives out are ones of mockery and malice."

"I was surprised as well, but it is nice to know he smiles at all." they're watching the boys, Lion-Heart is gestures animatedly while the Prince hides his giggles behind a hand, "I think it's nice that both boys are friends despite their differences, and I must admit, it is cute watching them follow each other around."

Jet: 10 + Zuko: 9

"Why do you chew on that stupid wheat?"

"It's not stupid." Jet huffs, "Besides, it calms me down."

Both boys are sitting underneath their favorite tree when Azula and her friends approach:

"We're bored." Azula states, "Entertain us."

"I'm pretty sure we've been through this before," Jet hisses, his eyes flick to Mai and Ty-Lee, "Don't you guys have your own place?"

"Yeah, but Azula doesn't want to go because - ,"

"It reeks of poverty." Azula interrupts fiercely.

Jet arches a brow, "Seriously?"

"Does it look like I'm joking?"

Getting to his feet, he manages to slip past the bickering children and stands next to both Ty-Lee and Mai, "Why did you guys really come here?"

"Because Azula likes Lion-Heart ~ ." Ty-Lee chirps.

Neither Azula nor Jet hear.

Mai sighs, "We weren't supposed to tell you."

"Oh yeah!" Ty-Lee covers her mouth, "Oops ~ my bad!"

Zuko makes a face, "Azula likes Lion-Heart? When did that happen?"

"Well since you know she likes him, I guess it's okay if I tell you ~ it happened after he hurt her, she was angry and complaining that Lion-Heart wasn't scared of her, that he was rude and stuff but then she said he was really brave and she respected him for it ~ she had this really cute blush when she said it too ~ ," Ty-Lee gushes, wrapping her arms around Zuko's, "So now every time she sees him she gets so embarrassed afterwards and says stuff like he should respect her because she's a princess but she blushes when she says it, oh, and she doesn't want to come to our houses because she won't see Lion-Heart if she does."

Zuko's mildly surprised neither Jet or Azula didn't hear Ty-Lee, "Right – does she know Lion-Heart doesn't like her like that, or at all?"

"How do you know he doesn't?" Ty-Lee huffs,

"Because he would tell me if he did," Zuko feels an odd sense of uncertainty after he says this; he shakes his head and removes his arm from her hold, "I don't even want to think about this. Its – it's just wrong. Lion-Heart!" the brunette looks at him, "Let's go – I'm kinda hungry."

"Alright." Jet shoves past Azula and follows Zuko.

In the halls of the palace, Zuko finds himself fidgeting as Jet rants about Azula, feeling a spike of jealousy, he blurts out, "Do you like Azula?"

"Zuko, did you not hear what I was saying?" Jet frowns, "I can't stand her; she's mean!"

"I mean - ," Zuko pauses, "If you did, would you tell me?"

"Yeah I would, hell, you'd be the first person I'd tell if I thought I did," Jet states, "I tell you everything, why?"

"I don't know, it's just, I was wondering since you guys always fight. Adults say kids are mean to each other if they like each other."

"Well, whoever says that's stupid, besides," he throws an arm around Zuko's shoulders, "You're the only person I need in my life right now."

Jet: 11 + Zuko: 10

Jet's walking with Zuko and Ursa when they pass the garden the boys usually play when Azula comes up to the railing and looks up at her mother with bright yellow eyes, wide and innocent, Jet's instantly suspicious:

"Mom, can Zuko and Lion-Heart come play with us ~ ?"

"No!" both boys reply instantaneously.

But of course, Ursa manages to coax both boys into being kind and playing with the girls, so here he was, watching with a bored expression as Azula goes about explaining what they were going to do as she places an apple atop Mai's head. She soon sets the apple on fire. The sight of fire snaps Jet back to the present as Zuko runs towards the girl, full speed, and practically tackles her into the fountain. Both Azula and Ty-Lee start laughing; Jet is not amused. Especially when Ty-Lee claims both Zuko and Mai look cute together. Humiliated. Zuko quickly storms off, wet and angry, he yells about girls being as he passes his mother and disappears into the palace, Jet's still frowning when he turns to the girls:

"That wasn't funny." he says before he takes off to track his friend down.

The girls watch him leave, until Ty-Lee turns to Azula, "Hey, maybe we could get Lion-Heart and Zuko to go on a double date with you and Mai, Azula ~ ."

Azula hisses, "Be quiet."

Jet: 12 + Zuko: 11

"She's gone." Zuko says one night as Jet steps into his room after not seeing each other all day.

"Who, Azula?" Jet snorts, he falls onto Zuko's bed, "Good riddance I say, I never liked her anyway."

"No," Zuko sounds stressed, "Not her, my – my mom."

Jet hears the near whine in the younger boy's tone, he sits up to look at his friend better, "What?"

"I – first Lu-Ten dies, then my grandfather, and – and my father is Fire Lord now," Zuko's shoulders shake, "A-and she's gone."

"Wait," Jet frowns as everything soaks in, the prominent being Ozai is now Fire Lord, "Is that why everyone was gone today?" Zuko nods weakly and Jet feels hate begin to weigh his chest down until a strained hiccup escapes the young Prince, "Hey, no," the tanned boy opens his arms, "Come here."

The older boy is mildly surprised when Zuko crawls out from under the covers and allows Jet to hold him, the shock vanishes as he feels Zuko's body quake followed by tears soaking his shirt. Sighing quietly, Jet buries his nose in Zuko's usually neat hair, he rubs the Prince's arm soothingly, the action causes the firebender to bury his face in Jet's shirt and cry louder – Jet feels his heart break.

"Hey, come on Fire-Bird. Things aren't all that bad; I'm still here and, what about Iroh, he's still around – somewhere."

When Zuko speaks, it's muffled, "He's coming back but, with my father as Fire Lord, he can have you killed – I don't want that."

Pursing his lips, Jet lies down, pulling Zuko with him so the Prince is lying with an ear pressed against his chest, "If it makes you feel better, I'll try and behave, I'll stay out of his way okay?"

"Okay." comes the quiet reply,

"Do you want me to stay with you tonight?"

"Yeah."

"Alright," Jet holds Zuko closer, "I won't go anywhere."

Jet: 13 + Zuko: 12

Dragging the unconscious man towards the council room, Jet falters momentarily upon seeing Azula, Iroh, and Zuko kneeling before the dais, regaining his composure, he continues on as the man stirs. Dropping the man before the three, Jet tries to ignore the inquisitive look in Zuko's eyes:

"Found this guy trying to get into the palace," Jet begins, "He had a map of the palace, an X marking the room of each of the royal family."

"And what was the man planning to accomplish with this map?"

"He was planning to assassinate each and every one of the family members; I confiscated the map, five vials of poison, and a dagger." Jet states, the man begins rousing, "What shall we do with him Fire Lord Ozai?"

"Take him to the holding cells, we'll interrogate him later."

"Of course." Jet bows and is about to knock the man out again when Ozai speaks again,

"Wait," Ozai keeps his brother and son in his peripheral, "Kill him instead." he judges Lion-Heart's expression, both Iroh and Zuko are startled, "Now."

Fire Lord Ozai watches the Earth Kingdom boy blink momentarily before a malicious grin snakes across his lips, he produces a Fire Nation dagger from his belt, he twirls it almost playfully. The man is now groggy as his eyes scan the room before landing on the weapon. Iroh rises to his feet and Ozai already knows what the man is going to say:

"Brother, surely - ,"

He's cut off as Lion-Heart plunges the dagger through the back of the man's neck. Iroh looks shocked, Zuko wears a horrified expression, Azula seems impressed, and Ozai hums approvingly as the boy wipes the dagger clean.

"I'm impressed," Ozai begins, "Guards, get rid of the body. Everyone is dismissed."

Exiting the council room, Jet is blindsided by an angry Zuko, "What was that!?"

"I just followed Fire Lord Ozai's orders."

"But – Uncle could have thought of a better use for the man!"

Jet opens his mouth to reply when Azula cuts in, neither boy having noticed her, "He did what was necessary, Zuzu."

Zuko looks between the both of them before storming off, shouting over his shoulder, "You're both insane!"

Azula turns to Jet, a smirk in place, "I'm impressed Lion-Heart, not many would do something like that."

His only response is to walk away, calmly heading in the direction Zuko had disappeared – when he finds the Prince, he's in his room lying on his back:

"Fire-Bird?" Jet closes the door, "You okay?"

"Go away."

"Look, I did what I had to," Jet begins, "If I didn't, your dad would have had my head." Zuko remains silent, eyes closed, "I – I've been good."

Zuko sits up with a sigh, "I guess, I just – I don't know."

"Are you mad?" Jet ventures,

"No, I'm just exhausted." Zuko situates himself so he's lying on the bed; he pats the spot next to him, "Lay with me, I don't feel like going out."

"Okay." Jet moves, he lies beside the Prince, they're face to face, Jet fights the heat rising to his cheeks.

"Just – if you're going to do something like that again," Zuko grabs Jet's hand, looking at it as if expecting to see blood, "Could you give me a warning first?"

"I – yeah," Jet finds himself liking the contrast between their skin tones; he thinks he might be in love, "I can do that."

Jet: 14 + Zuko: 13

Everything crawls to a stop, his eyes widen in horror as the fire makes contact with Zuko's face, his mind racing through different emotions and what-ifs, the prominent being horror which quickly turns into rage as he turns his attention on to the man who'd produced the fire, he moved to attack, to do something, revenge, when a hand grabs his shoulder, forcing him to stop. Looking back, he sees the sorrow filled eyes of Iroh who shakes his head. Gritting his teeth, Jet turns to see Zuko's crumpled form, all alone, the smell of burned flesh making him sick and sending his mind through a loop as old memories flash through his mind's eye – when everyone clears out, both Iroh and Jet hurry to Zuko's side.

Jet watches Iroh gently scoop Zuko up, "Is he going to be okay?"

"It's – it is nothing life threatening." Iroh assures, "But – we will not know how well he will be able to see, or if he will be able to see through his left eye at all."

Later that night, Iroh and Jet stand before Ozai, Iroh managing to wrangle up a crew for the Prince and Jet seeking permission to go with the now banished Prince:

"Why do you want to go?" Ozai eyes him critically, "You have been a valuable asset to our detail."

"By all means Fire Lord Ozai, nothing happens here." Jet begins, "You and your daughter are safe behind these walls, but Prince Zuko will be traveling the world, a world where anything can happen. Bandits. Pirates. Assassins."

"It is excitement you seek then?"

"Yes, and it is also my job to protect the royal family. Prince Zuko will need the extra protection."

Ozai studies him before turning away, "No."

Jet feels his impassive mask fall, "But sir - ,"

"I said no. Now go, you are not needed here."

Swallowing the lump in his throat, Jet turns on his heel and storms out of the private room – in the young Prince's room, Jet struggles with the feeling in his chest; he can't place it, can't describe it, but in simple terms it feels like the world is empty. Jet spots Zuko's pale hand, without thinking, he reaches out and covers the younger boy's hand with his own, he rests his chin on the bed, simply staring up at the comatose boy. Gingerly opening the door, Iroh is rather surprised to see the Earth Kingdom boy's fingers entwined with his nephew's, he feels a smile tug the corner of his lips, approaching the two, he lays a hand on Lion-heart's shoulder, the young boy startles but his hand never leaves Zuko's.

"I have talked with my brother," Iroh begins, he watches Lion-heart lay his head back down, "And he is allowing you to accompany us."

The boy lifts his head, eyes wide, "Really?"

"Yes, if there is anything you want to bring, you must do so now."

"I - ," Lion-Heart looks to Zuko, "I don't need anything, I'm fine with what I'm wearing and all I got is my weapons."

"Very well." Iroh watches the boy, "Perhaps you should rest."

"I don't want, or need, it."

Iroh turns on his heel and makes for the door, "Love is truly a wonderful thing."

"What?" Jet turns, but Iroh is already out the door.

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