This took forever and I'm so, so sorry for that! I do not own Avatar the Last Airbender!

Heart breaking in the face of being left behind; Zuko feels tears prick the corners of his eyes and so many mangled and torn emotions crying for attention, their voices making his head swim and his mind slow – he doesn't know half of these newfound feelings, but there is one that he familiarizes himself with. Hate. Allowing himself to drown in the cold rage, his fists catch fire and he steps forward, fully intending to shoot the trio down. A blast of fire erupts before him, the dirt and smoke forcing him to shield his eyes. Waving the debris from his vision, he feels a desperate sort of mania begin to spread throughout his body once he sees the water funnel is gone, along with its passengers. His Uncle surrenders. Heart turning to stone, Zuko levels a glare at his traitorous Uncle before turning away, not the least bit affected by the man's disappointed look – both Jet and his Uncle betrayed him!

He promised he wouldn't leave.

He said he loved him.

"Aren't you cold?"

"I've got a lot on my mind." Zuko murmurs – after the fall of Ba-Sing-Se, Mai had come to him and he'd let her, "It's been so long, over three years since I was home. I wonder what's changed – how I've changed."

A yawn interrupts him from his self monologue, reminding him who he was with – that the person he was currently standing alongside with underneath the full moon was someone with soft curves and a softer body.

"I just asked if you were cold." with Jet, he would muse aloud and the older boy would listen, either offering comfort or just outright teasing him, "I didn't ask for your whole life story." Mai is not Jet and Jet is not Mai. He'd have to adapt to her entire being, "Stop worrying."

Allowing the girl to coax him into a chaste kiss, he feels nothing behind it, he probably should as Mai is a pretty girl and actually likes him for who he is rather than what he is not, like Jin who'd fallen for a down-on-his-luck refugee by the name of Li, he probably should wrap his arms around her and pull her closer as if he were trying to fuse their bodies together, deepen the kiss, do something besides standing there doing nothing – then again, he should have done a lot of things in his life that he didn't do. Why start now?

She pulls away, eyes locking with his, "Goodnight."

The Fire Prince doesn't bother with watching her leave or offering her a goodnight as well, even if he'd wanted to, she turned away before he could get a word in edgewise. Looking to the moon hovering within the midnight sky, he feels a deep discontent begin to weigh heavily upon his shoulders – waking the next morning; Zuko finds that he's uncharacteristically cold, so in an attempt to gain some heat and ward of the chilly air, he burrows underneath the blankets and rolls over hoping to siphon some heat from – his eyes snap open to stare at the empty spot beside him. There is no warm body to be found. Balling his hand into a fist, he shuts his eyes and mentally punishes himself for expecting Lion-heart to be there, sleeping beside him in some ridiculous position that looks like it would hurt when he awoke. The cold seeps into his skin and settles deep within his bones.

He did right by his Nation!

Throwing the sheets off, he practically runs out of bed and sets about his morning routine. Meeting his Sister and her friends within the kitchen/dining area of the ship, he locks eyes with Mai for a handful of seconds in which the usually stoic girl offers just the barest of smiles, she really is pretty, beautiful even, but as the word crosses his thoughts, his traitorous mind brings up various memories of him and Jet, the prominent being him wrapped up in Jet's arms with the taller boy telling him how beautiful he is, how so in love he is – it shouldn't hurt, especially since Jet had betrayed him.

"It isn't your fault, Brother."

Zuko reels, eyes instantly meeting Azula's, "Huh?"

"It isn't your fault," she repeats, "Uncle and Lion-heart betrayed you."

That's what Zuko has been trying to convince himself of, he knows what they did, that if Uncle hadn't been so adamant about Jet leaving with the Avatar and his little friend, that the older boy would be here with him, and if Jet loved him so much, he wouldn't have left – Zuko mentally cringes. That didn't sound right, even to him.

"Lion-heart was a little scary," Ty-Lee starts, her eyes wide and hands clasped together in a frightened manner. This catches Zuko off-guard. "I mean, he's handsome but he was a little – his aura was just so dark."

"He was annoying." Mai frowns, she sighs, "How did you manage living with that?"

"I – don't understand." Zuko frowns, he's only known Jet for his ridiculous antics and charming personality, "J – Lion-heart isn't that bad, I mean, at first yeah he was always trying to start a fight – but,"

"Oh, he didn't tell you?" Azula hums, a sharp edge to her tone, Zuko shakes his head slowly, he and Jet hadn't really talked about anything else beyond each other, "I suppose he wouldn't, his savage behavior isn't exactly something to be proud of. Let's see, where should I start?" she appears to mull the question over, "For starters, he would constantly belittle my authority in and out of public, he was crude, and he would constantly pick on Mai, he said some very mean things to her."

"I - ," Ty-Lee hesitates, pursing her lips and twiddling her fingers before looking at him from underneath her lashes, "He knew she liked you," Zuko blinked, wide-eyed, "I think he was afraid of losing your friendship."

Azula lets out a rather derisive snort and the two begin a debate for the reasonings behind Lion-heart's behavior, with Mai's own personal input here and there, as rare as it was – the Fire Prince fights back the sigh threatening to escape past his lips. He'd made the biggest mistake of his life. And it really was too late to fix it.

oOo

Knock. Knock. Knock. Knock.

"Jet?"

It's Katara. Ever since he'd joined them, the waterbender has been doing her best to ensure that Jet feels welcomed, that he eats and sleeps at regular intervals, that he'll hopefully regain at least some feeling back within everything below his elbow during their healing sessions – and really, all those healing sessions have ever done was smooth the scars over, make them look as though he's had them for years rather than a month or two. Just another thing the Fire Nation has taken from him. But he is Fire Nation in a way. Yeah, he was born on Earth Kingdom soil to a dirt poor family, but the Royal Family took him in and raised them as a Fire Nation Citizen, albeit in assassination. He claimed to hate the Fire Nation, yet he hadn't realized that he was Fire Nation.

His soul on fire, raging with hate only possessed by a firebender, his heart captured by the crown Prince, his body and skill set used by the Royal Family, his life lain on the line for Prince Iroh and Prince Zuko - Jet's mind has never been particularly kind, but for the first time in his life, he absolutely hated himself:

"Jet?"

"Come in."

The metal hatch swings open, the hinges creaking and squeaking, and Jet hates himself all the more for thinking of the pathetic little ship the Prince had been given, for thinking of it as his first real home – his attention is dragged from his self-loathing to the dangling water-skin held before his eyes, looking up to the owner, he sees Katara offering just the barest of smiles. She knows this is all for naught, but that doesn't stop her from hoping.

"I was thinking we could do a quick healing session before we all went out to eat."

"Katara," Jet frowns but relinquishes by removing his top and allowing the girl to shed his bandages, "I know you want to help and want me to feel again, but I'm pretty sure me driving a dagger through my hand without so much as flinching means - ,"

"No. Please – just, let me try." the girl removes a flowing strip of water from the pouch, Jet remains silent, "So, have you felt anything?" Katara asks in hopes of drawing something out of Jet, "And please don't tell me you did the whole dagger thing again, it was scary the first time, I don't think I can handle a second."

Jet sighs, "No. I can move my hand and roll my wrist, normally, but I can't feel anything. And no, I didn't do the whole dagger thing again."

"Okay." Katara concentrates on the water beneath her hands, she can sense everything in its rightful place but it appears, dead, she purses her lips and draws her water back. Jet really won't be feeling with his right hand again. The thought scares and disturbs her. She manipulates the water towards Jet's chest, instantly noticing the way the boy flinches as soon as the cool water touches his skin, she feels her heart lighten. "How about your chest?"

"Yeah - ," Jet nods, discomfort creasing his brows, "A little too much."

"That's good ~ !" Katara beams, this time, she senses everything to be very much alive, she smiles brighter and pulls her water from his skin before setting it back within the sack, "It's healing better than your arm – you really don't know how long it was before your wounds were seen by a healer?"

"No," Jet shakes his head, with Katara's help he begins wrapping his agitated burns, "I was out cold according to Z - ," Jet pauses, "According to Prince Zuko, he and General Iroh couldn't find any healers nearby, but when they did, the worst was over."

Katara watches the teen pulls his shirt on, she fiddles with the bandages to be wrapped around Jet's forearm and hand – everyone's noticed the way Jet falters or gets this glazed off look whenever someone so much as mentions the Prince or asks about his past. And for whatever reason, Katara feels that it's her fault Zuko didn't join. All in all, she hates how bitter the Fire Prince has reduced this beautiful boy, made of one disaster to another, to.

"Well," Katara starts as she begins wrapping the gauze around Jet's forearm, "We're all going into town to get something to eat, if you want to come, but I was kind of hoping that you'd talk to Aang."

"Talk to him about what?"

"He thinks he failed the world because everyone thinks he's dead."

"Okay-y-y?" Jet frowns, watching Katara's lithe fingers fix the wraps, "What makes you think I understand what he's going through?"

"Because you feel like you've failed Zuko."

Jet's eyes darken, he turns his glare away from Katara, "I didn't do anything."

"I know you hate to talk about him, but could you?"

Jet grits his teeth, concentrates on the fact that he should feel Katara's fingers on his arm but can't, on the fact that he couldn't control himself and is now living with the consequences. He still doesn't see how whatever he's going through and what Aang is dealing with is the same thing, but maybe it's just Katara hoping for something that Jet hasn't thought of or dared to hope for. "I don't know."

And just like that, Katara knows that's all she'll be getting from Jet, especially now that he refuses to so much as look in her direction. Sighing quietly, she continues working on Jet's bandages until none of his scarred tissue is visible underneath the off-white wrappings.

"Do you still want to join us for dinner?"

"Yeah," Jet shrugs, doesn't even look at her, "Sure."

Some Maiko and light barely perceptible Jetara in this chapter.