Oh God – this would have been up sooner but I accidently deleted it instead of something else and GAH-H-H! I COULD JUST KICK MYSELF! I do not own Avatar the Last Airbender.

Tugging with a little more force than was necessary on the gag, a slow impish grin creeps across Jet's lips once he hears the annoyed growl rumbling within the waterbender's throat. Stepping back, something moving from tree to tree in his peripheral captures his attention. Cocking his head to the right as to get a better look, he hears a slew of muffled nothing coming from the bound girl, turning his gaze back to Katara, he presses a finger to his lips and gives a mischievous wink – Katara makes an affronted noise. Turning from the restrained waterbender, Jet watches Aang land with all the light-footed grace of an airbender. Although a slight draft does ruffle Jet's clothing. Taking a step forward to greet the younger boy, Jet trains his expression into that of relief:

"Aang!" he starts, voice relieved, "Thank the Spirits you're here!"

"Jet!? What's - ?" Aang pauses, eyes trained on Jet's clothing, Jet notices the unease, "Where did you get those?"

"That doesn't matter!" Jet snaps frantically, he turns to Katara, "You gotta help me free Katara!"

"Oh, right! Of course!" Aang rushes past Jet, unknowing of the malicious grin pointed at his back, "How did this happen?"

"I don't know." Jet begins, producing a dagger from his left cloth bracer, "I came back not too long ago and found her like this, and I didn't want to hurt her by accident, so I waited for you or Sokka to come back. Except, Sokka hasn't come back and I don't know where he is."

"Sokka said he was going to look for you," Aang's fingers start working on the knot to the gag, "He was going to apologize to you for earlier."

Jet hums, "Oh really?"

"Yeah - ," Aang finally removes the gag, a small part of him wondering why Jet couldn't untie something so simple, "There ~ got it!"

"Aang!" Katara shouts, eyes wide and trained on something behind him, "Look out!"

"Huh?" Aang turns in time to see something speeding through the air, yelping, he jumps out of the projectile's way.

THUNK!

A terrified, high-pitched squeak escapes Katara as the blade sinks into the bark beside her neck, the blade having missed by a small fraction. Jet produces another dagger hidden in his right bracer; he twirls the pointed tip on the calloused pad of his index finger before throwing it into the air and catching it by the handle. Aang hurries to remove the weapon from Katara's personal space until he hears the blade slicing through the air once more, stepping in front of his tied friend this time; he creates a dome of air that sends the knife flying harmlessly to the ground.

"Come now, Katara ~ !" Jet calls out playfully, "You ruined the surprise ~ !"

Aang stares at Jet, eyes wide with confusion and a small pang of hurt, "What – Jet?! Why are you doing this?!"

The Earth Kingdom teen produces his hooked swords, Aang realizes just who Jet really is, but Katara voices the answer for him, "Aang! Jet is Lion-Heart! He's working with Prince Zuko! They're - !"

Multiple balls of fire shoot at the airbender's feet, Aang jumps back and manages to create another dome of air just as more torrents of fire are shot. Once the fire dissipates, he spots several dozen masked soldiers all ready in standard firebending stances. The child-monk is allowed a split-second view of Jet and Prince Zuko, he watches the Prince's mouth move as he talks with the other teen, he observes Jet's dark amusement morph into something else, something a bit more tame, as he turns to the sovereign and replies to whatever the Prince had said – streams of fire start again and his view is blocked. The two are friends, that much is obvious seeing as how they interacted with one another, and that's when it dawns on him: to divert Jet's attention, he has to get to Zuko and somehow manage to get the Prince to back off.

The fires die down again and his view on the two teenage boys returns.

But to get to Prince Zuko, he'd have to bypass a bunch of fire wielding soldiers and Jet successfully, and even if he somehow manages to do that, he'll have to get Zuko to cooperate.

"Aang!?" Katara begins, voice pitching higher in worry, "What are - !?"

Shutting his eyes and inhaling a shaky breath, he holds the air in his lungs for a moment and exhales steadily, reopening his eyes, he bursts the air dome which sends waves of powerful winds sweeping over the forest floors and zipping through the trees. The air knocks the men off their feet, sending some flying or skidding across the ground, but Jet only falls to his knees and manages to stay in place with the help of his dual swords pinned in to the earth, his cloak whipping in the gales – Zuko, the stubborn boy he is, fights against the wind with nothing to help, Aang sends another powerful gust at the Prince who lets out a yelp as he loses his footing and slams into a tree. There's a millisecond where Jet's attention is diverted which gives the monk hope that this will work without anyone getting hurt, more so than they probably were after those gusts of wind bowling them over.

Grabbing Jet's dagger from the ground as quickly as he can with the limited time he has before the soldiers gather themselves, he runs, jumping into the air as Jet rises to his feet and tossing, yet another, dagger at him. Aang barely manages to brush past it with only a nick to his bicep, it stings and the skin pulls, but he manages to make it to Zuko who swipes at him with a flaming fist, the airbender dodges and sweeps up before the taller boy and places the weapon to his neck – this isn't something Aang does, and it's shown in the way his hands tremble, he feels shame and despair at his own actions and hopes he will never have to do it ever again, but it gives him the desired effect for Zuko looks at him mildly surprised, the fight leaving him in seconds despite the tension in his body, not only that, but Jet halts as well.

Zuko snarls, fire escaping his mouth as he glares down at the boy, "What do you think you're doing?"

Aang gulps and whispers to the Prince, "I'm sorry, Zuko, but please don't make any sudden movements."

Behind him, he can hear a vicious snarl escape Jet, a sound that Aang was sure that no human could ever make, but as he looks over his shoulder he realizes that Jet isn't human at all. As of now he was a vengeful spirit and Aang feels a mild fear strike his heart at the look in his former traveling companion's gaze – it's wild and malicious, promising a slow and painful death if Aang were to somehow mess this up just for the sheer audacity of holding a weapon to the Prince, or if he were to somehow injure Zuko instead.

"Let him go." Jet snarls, "I'm only warning you once!"

"You want your friend!" Aang begins, voice nearly quivering, "I want mine! Let Katara go and tell me where Sokka is!"

The monk notices the soldiers begin to back off, their eyes trained solely on Jet – that can't be a good sign as far as things go, but he hears Jet growl something vicious that sounds a lot like an explicative before moving to free Katara. Once the chains fall to the base of the tree and Katara's feet, Jet grabs the girl roughly by the upper arm and yanks her forward, the forceful pull nearly making her trip over herself, and Jet either doesn't notice or just doesn't care as he continues onward as if nothing had happened. The tawny Earth Kingdom male glares hatefully at Aang, the sight of it hits Aang rather painfully, it reminds him that he's using a friend, a loved one, against him. This isn't what the monks taught him.

Aang continues, "Where's Sokka?!"

"I wouldn't know." Jet scowls, "But last I saw him, he was just west of here." he jerks his thumb in the direction, "Just head that way and you should find him eventually."

Aang nods before turning to Zuko, "Give me your word that you, or Jet, won't attack us as soon as we let you both go."

"Until next time." spits Zuko, "But you have my word and my honor as a Prince."

"Thank you." Aang turns to Jet, "We'll trade on 3, and no funny business!"

Jet snarls, "Just hurry up!"

"1-2-and 3!"

Aang releases the Prince and does his best not to flinch when Zuko sends him a look over his shoulder, but moves on nonetheless, Jet shoves Katara once again, the girl stumbling ungracefully until she rights herself and begins straightening her clothes and sending Jet one of the nastiest glares she could muster. Both the waterbender and firebender pass one another, staring each other down as they pass to return to their rightful group. Once Zuko is safely back at Jet's side and Katara at Aang's own, the two turn their attention to their friends – Jet studying Zuko:

"You okay?"

"I'm fine." Zuko sighs irritably, "Let's go."

"What?" Jet blinks, "But the Avatar – he - !"

"Lion-Heart!"

Jet reels at the harsh tone of voice but nods – Aang watching the Prince lead the group of firebenders away, watching when Jet sends him and Katara a vicious look that makes him visibly cringe. They watch until the group disappears into the distance, once they're gone, Aang falls to his knees and tries to control his shaking and uncooperative body, Katara kneels beside him, a hand on his back:

"Aang?"

"I – I can't believe I held a knife to someone's neck."

"Aang," Katara gingerly moves her hand to his shoulder, "It wasn't your fault, Jet - ," she pauses then quickly amends her mistake, "Lion-Heart forced your hand, you did what you had to."

"Th-That doesn't excuse it, but I – I guess you're right." Aang allows his waterbending friend to help him to his feet, "I'm never touching a weapon ever again."

"You won't have to, but at least now we know how to strong arm Lion-Heart."

"No." Aang shakes his head, "I – we shouldn't."

"Why?" Katara frowns lightly, "J – Lion-Heart wasn't afraid to do the same thing."

"Yeah, but – I don't know, it's like, when Jet looked at me – I saw, I don't know what I saw, but it was terrible and should never see the light of day."

"Maybe it's an Avatar thing."

Aang makes a frustrated noise, "Never mind. Let's just – not try and use Zuko against him ever again. There's a darkness in Jet that shouldn't be bothered."

"Okay, come on." Katara helps him to his feet, "Let's go find Sokka."

They find Sokka, but not in the best of conditions.

oOo

Finally able to listen to the music the men played, Jet was happily aware of the fact that Zuko hadn't left his side since they'd gotten back from their expedition, granted, their failed expedition, but the young firebender didn't seem too hung up on that fact, instead, having his attention diverted to the covering of the fairly small love-bite located underneath his jaw. The Prince had been absolutely horrified when he'd been questions about its existence, enough so that he'd practically sped towards the showering area and stared in red-faced embarrassment at the dark purple-reddish colored mark. Of course, Jet didn't make it any better by laughing at the poor firebender which earned him a rather painful punch to the shoulder.

"I'm getting tired." Zuko grouses irritably.

Jet knows what Zuko wants, but he wants to hear Zuko say it aloud, "Then go to bed."

Silence.

"I – come with me."

"Why?"

"Because."

"Prince Zuko, I hope you'll forgive me when I say that I want to stay here and - ,"

"I WANT YOU TO SLEEP WITH ME!"

Everything and everyone falls silent. The instruments squeak and stutter, the men gawk and spit their drinks in each other's faces in shock, even Iroh is surprised enough to let his teacup drop from his hold. Zuko, having realized that he hadn't used his inside voice, blushes furiously and the men begin whooping and giving congratulations to the two youngest members of the crew.

As the Prince exits, he shouts, "I DIDN'T MEAN IT LIKE THAT!"

Snickering, Jet rises from his seat, "Calm down you old pervs, I just gotta go tuck the Prince in bed."

Iroh lets out a boisterous laugh at this which spreads and pushes Zuko's words to the back of everyone's mind – slipping out of the mess hall; Jet makes his way for his friend's room. Knocking once, then twice, then three times, he opens the door and saunters into the room, shutting said metal door in the process. Spotting the embarrassed, fire-wielding Prince sitting upon his cot, Jet moves to sit beside him:

"You're not dressed for bed." states Jet, "So I'm guessing you wanna talk for a bit?"

"I – you told them your name."

"Of course." Jet begins removing his cowl, "It was either that or come up with some fake name I probably wouldn't answer to right away. I may be good at what I do, but I'm still human."

"And that Water Tribe girl." Zuko frowns harder, "Did you – like her?"

"Katara?" Jet slips out of his shirt, "Yeah, like I said, she's pretty. Big blue eyes, soft, feisty - ,"

Zuko clenches his teeth, willing the sudden flare of heat coursing through his veins away, "If she's so pretty, why didn't you stay with her?"

Jet peers at Zuko in surprise, the Prince was certainly cross, "I don't - ," he then grins, "You're jealous ~ !"

"Wha – no! I – why would I be jealous!?"

Grinning, Jet throws his arms around his friend's neck and uses his weight to pin the flustered firebender to the bed, Zuko snaps and shouts at him in an attempt to get Jet to free him, he even struggles to get out from under Jet before finally giving up. Jet manages to kick off his boots and snuggles up against his friend's chest, Zuko lets out an annoyed sigh, but hesitantly rests his hands upon Jet's back.

It was going to be longer but God damn it!