Sorry I took so long, but I was kinda hiding from my stories – I do not own Avatar the Last Airbender.

There are so many voices, literally, there are a lot of people on this ship he has little to no idea about, but apparently, they all know of him and his deeds. Either through Fire Nation reports or the Avatar and his merry band of benders, and Sokka. Neither resource leaves much room for debate on his sudden good side. Hakoda, the man who appears to be in charge of this massive caste of misfits, hates him because it appears the Water Tribe siblings ragged on him and their past encounters – he isn't sure if he should be annoyed or not.

Some of the people will offer awkward smiles while others go out of their way to hate him, he doesn't care either way, he wants nothing more than to disappear off the face of the earth. He wants to be alone. And oh how he hates just how much his relationship with Zuko screwed him over, more so than the Prince as Zuko had no problem leaving him behind, and looking to shoot them down. Yeah, he saw that. Guess he was nothing more than a stepping stone for the firebending Prince. Love is horrible. He knows this, but Katara hasn't gotten the memo as she's still fluttering about him, hoping to catch his eye – he would have thought she would be a little more cautious considering the last time he pretended to have an inkling of an interest in her, he'd stabbed her and the other two in the back, but apparently, him choosing the Avatar over Zuko erases all past deeds in her eyes. Or maybe he's reading too much into it and she simply feels sorry for him. Gods, he doesn't know anymore and that frustrates him.

Hate. Hate. Hate.

Aren't they supposed to be going out to eat?

Some of the others have already disembarked on their little journey to find food while others mill about the deck, if no one came to get him, he was going on his own, he didn't need anyone to hold his hand – especially since he wouldn't be able to feel it if they did. He snickers at his own joke. Just as he's this close to leaving the ship, he spots the odd monstrosity that is red on blue – he really doesn't think blue goes with red, but what does he know about colors and fashion, he spent most of his years wearing monochrome.

Katara approaches him with Hakoda, Sokka, and Toph in tow; she smiles at him, warm and soft, "Ready to go?"

"Yeah," Jet nods, he can feel Sokka's suspicious gaze on him, can practically see the tension in Hakoda's stance.

Now, he's glad no one on the hellhole of a ship fears him, but their suspicious stares and glaring is more annoying.

"Great, let's - ,"

"Jet?" everyone turns to see Aang looking meek, he's using his staff for support, "Can I – talk to you?"

"How about later?" Sokka says, the when everyone's here goes unsaid.

"It's important."

"Well then," Katara says, of course she's going to jump on the chance, "If it's important, go ahead."

"Katara." Sokka hisses, but he goes ignored.

"We'll bring both of you something back."

"Thank you." Aang says, tired smile in place, Jet only nods.

oOo

In the end, it hadn't been Jet or Katara that had planned this little chat with Aang, rather, it was the monk himself that had come to the older boy just as he was about to leave the ship for the town, much to Jet's chagrin as his stomach continuously rumbled, but the fact that the airbender had looked so – unlike himself with the long face and dim lit eyes, that the assassin had half-heartedly relinquished his visit to the nearest food stall and followed the kid to his room. This brings Jet here, currently sitting upon the floor of Aang's room with his back pressed against the metal wall closest to the door in case things get awkward:

"What's this about?" Jet finally asks after Aang's fifth attempt at a casual conversation.

Now Aang may not be acting like himself, what with the forlorn expression tugging at the edge of the kid's features and the self-hate hidden within his eyes, but Jet wasn't here to babysit, and he sure as hell wasn't going to sugarcoat anything just because the kid feels bad. Besides, Jet was pretty hungry.

"Right, well – when you were traveling with Zuko," Aang begins, rubbing the back of his neck while Jet fights the urge to clam up. The bastard obviously felt he was nothing significant if he hadn't so much as lifted a finger. "And he was looking for his honor, or something like that, I – did he ever find it?"

"What?" Jet snorts, cruel amusement lacing his tone and a jeering smirk spreading across his lips, "You looking for your honor now?" he sees the kid blush bright red. Of course. The seventeen year old rolls his eyes. "Spirits. Look, truth be told, Prince Zuko never lost his honor in the first place, he just – thought he did."

"But - !"

"Don't interrupt." The non-bender hisses, Aang flinches but remains silent, "The Prince stood for what he thought was right, by trying to save a couple lives, but the warmongers who raised me didn't agree, no, they didn't care if they were sacrificing a bunch of fresh-faced kids, they wanted to win this war." Voice heavily laden with pessimism, "Now, the man who burned half his face off, declared him a disgrace, and kicked him out of his home when he was just thirteen fucking years old, should have been the one to lose whatever honor he had left, but the fact that the Fire Nation is so ass-backwards and stuck in their ways means the guy's still living the high-life."

Aang stares wide-eyed at the tidbit of information revealed to him, "So – I don't, what about you?"

"Fuck if I know," he wants to silence the voices within his head, "I never really cared about honor."

"No, I mean – you're always, how do you feel about Zuko? Don't you feel like you failed him?"

"I don't know – look, the whole world may think you're dead and you feel like you've let everyone down, but the fact that you're here and alive means you're doing alright. You haven't let anyone down, not your friends at least. So when you show the world that you're alive, people will realize that you're still in this for the long haul. Besides, everyone's allowed a little time off every now and then."

Silence.

Until Aang suddenly launches himself at Jet, wrapping his arms around the older boy's neck, causing Jet to tense incredibly, his hands immediately reaching for his daggers – which weren't there. It's when he feels somethingbegin to soak his shirt does he realize that Aang isn't attacking him, or trying to, but is hugging him instead. In a teary, emotional manner.

"Thank you, Jet."

"Let go - ," Jet murmurs. When he hears Aang sniffle, he begins to feel extremely uncomfortable. "I'm not Katara."

This gets the airbender to release his hold on Jet and recoil, face red and laughing awkwardly, but smiling once again, looking more like himself than he'd been a handful of minutes ago – and it's not like Aang's little crush on Katara wasn't all that well hidden, if it was meant to be. Maybe Katara didn't know. Surely she wouldn't be batting her eyelashes at him if she knew – she didn't seem like the type of girl.

"Thanks again, Jet." Aang says, bringing Jet from his random thought bubble, "I'm really glad I could talk to you."

"Right," Jet gets to his feet, stretching his arms and legs, "You can thank me by letting me have your food."

Aang laughs, "Sure thing ~ !"

oOo

This is wrong – or so others will think if they see him, he's not entirely sure he can tell the difference between right and wrong anymore, not when his chest aches so much nowadays or an unseen force weighing his shoulders down. Let's not forget the niggling at the back of his mind that tells him, day in and day out that he's made the biggest mistake of his life back in Ba-Sing-Se. City of Mistakes. But that's beside the point seeing as no self respecting Prince would mope about within the room of an Earth Kingdom orphan turned assassin, an Earth Kingdom assassin who'd obviously betrayed him and the Nation that had taught him practically everything he knows – but he's tired of trying to convince himself that Jet was the one who betrayed the other, he's still a little sore about his Uncle, but he understands that he's the one in the wrong this time. Especially since everything within Caldera reminds him of those he's lost, funnily enough, those he lost are the ones who cared for him, and home had become the place within the arms of a boy who was like his very own personal sun.

Warm on some days, brutal on others.

Shutting his burning eyes, he breathes in the smell of clean linen one last time and pushes himself up, exiting the room in favor of relocating to his Father's office where he kept documents on everything within the Fire Nation. He just wants to go home. They're eating, minus Aang who'd stayed outside, when a man haggard looking man comes up to their table, he's sweating and his eyes are shifty, it would be disgusting if Jet didn't know the man was this way because he was scared of him – actually, no, it was still pretty off-putting. Before any one of them can speak, the nervous man thrusts a rolled up paper at him and proceeds to fidget nervously in place.

All of this is weird. People know who he is, but none have made a move to actually arrest him, not even some guards he and the others have spotted within the marketplace. If he remembered correctly, he was a wanted criminal, traitor, whatever the Fire Lord deemed him – shouldn't people be jumping at the opportunity to turn in a serial killer to make themselves feel safer?

"Who's this from?" he finally asks.

The man jumps but stutters out an answer anyway, "A friend of yours."

Jet frowns, he has virtually no one beyond Zuko, and Iroh he supposes, "What did they look like?"

"I – I don't know, they – they were wearing one of those h – hooded robes." Jet frowns, the man hurries to tack on another piece, "But they were male! I can assure you that! Their voice was very rough!"

"I didn't know you had any friends." Sokka teases.

"I didn't either." Jet's frown deepens as he begins to unroll the parchment.

"Do you think it's - ," Katara falters, "Him?"

Jet,

I know what I did back in Ba-Sing-Se was wrong and (words scribbled out (more words scribbled out)) I miss you okay, I just (words scribbled out), I want to be with you again (words scribbled out) but I understand if you don't want to see me, or – yeah. I don't know, respond, or don't if you don't want to. I just wanted to let you know that I still love you.

Zuko.

Zuko.

"Well," Sokka blurts fairly loud, "What does it say?"

Jet glares at the brash Water Tribesman but turns his attention to the now-apparent messenger, the poor man visibly tensing in an alarming fashion, Jet concentrates on the man's every muscle movement. The note was so cringe worthy that no one other than Zuko would write something so lame, so there was no doubt that it was Zuko, but the man could have read it and Jet knows that no one within the Fire Nation could be trusted. Not even Zuko himself.

"Did you read this?"

"N – no, Lion-heart – Sir!"

"If I found out that you read this I will - ,"

"Calm down," Toph interrupts, "The guy's telling the truth. Also, you're scaring him."

"I know that." Jet hisses.

Katara finally asks, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," Jet starts to make his way for the door, "My friend wants to meet up."

"What?!" both Water Tribe siblings exclaim.

"I don't think that's - ,"

"That's crazy!"

"I'm going to meet him." Jet says with finality, there are more protests flung his way, but Jet gestures for the messenger to follow, "Come with me, I've got something for you to deliver."

"Y – Yes sir!"

Both Katara and Sokka watch the flap close behind Jet and the messenger before Sokka finally speaks:

"Did Jet just abandon us?"

"He wants to see his friend again," Toph belches, "What did you expect?"

Katara waves her hand in front of her face, her other hand covering her nose, "For him to stay?"

"Well," Sokka pipes up once more, "It was bound to happen sooner or later."

"And who knows," Toph starts again, "Maybe Twinkle-toes will have firebending teacher."

I'd like to thank the guest by the name of Good Songs who recommended the song: Sunrise by Our Last Night. The song really got me into the headspace I need to finish this.