Quick question, I know it's been a while, but do some people still read this?
Kneeling before the Princess within one of the many gardens located upon the palace grounds, Jet waits in patient silence for his sovereign to speak, for when he had arrived, Azula had been standing underneath the shade of a tree, her hands clasped behind her back and her eyes locked intently on the pond before her, she had appeared to be deep in thought and he hadn't wished to disturb her, for not only would it be rude, but she was the Princess and was allowed to do as she wished.
"Do you know why I've summoned you, Lion-Heart?"
Jet keeps his head bowed, "I assume it has to do with your plan regarding the Avatar."
The Princess lets out a low hum, "Correct, I've got within my possession a prisoner worth their interest, and knowing the traitor they have amongst their group, he will divulge the information he has about the Boiling Rock Prison if it means it's useful." Jet doesn't know that she is looking down at him with a stern, contemplative look, "You are to leave for the prison immediately, you know what you have to do when you meet up with the Avatar's friends."
"I understand, Princess."
Silence.
"Stand." Azula demands and Jet does as asked. "Look at me."
Once again, he does as he's told and their eyes meet, her eyes flicker back and forth between his own pair like she's looking for something within his eyes, but Jet finds he could care less what she sees or what she's looking for within his eyes because he's currently hit with the knowledge that the Princess is beautiful, devastatingly so – his thoughts are interrupted when she reaches up and cups his cheek with her hand, he tenses upon contact as he's not used to such tenderness from anyone, she's still looking into his eyes as she steps closer, pulling a desire out of Jet that urges him to lean forward and press a kiss upon her plush, painted lips, and it looks like she would very much like to do the same since her eyes flick from his eyes to his own lips, but she pulls away, as she does, she digs one of her nails into his skin and scratches his cheek. The tanned male can feel the skin stinging and knows there are small beads of blood popping up from the thin cut, he can feel it, light as it may be.
"We can't have you looking like you weren't harmed." she stares him down, "You're dismissed."
Jet bows, doesn't bother to comment on what had just transpired, "Yes, Princess."
And Azula watches him go with an unwavering expression, her eyes boring holes into the broad back of Lion-Heart.
oOo
The arrangements are made and he is set to arrive on time with the other prisoners at the foot of Boiling Rock, there he would be treated like the rest of the prisoners, as it stands, he's being outfitted with normal prison garbs and the heavy-duty manacles seeing as how he's been labeled as a high-risk prisoner. The men he's traveling with don't treat him as a prisoner as they're privy to the Princess' plans, no until they touch land: Boiling Rock.
Suited up in his shiny new accessories, two men grab his arms and hustle him out of the war-ship and he's handed off to a group of men he assumes are the prison's guards who then proceed to force him to walk up a trail leading to the top, his arms are cuffed behind his back with biting metal, the insides of the cuffs have dull studs that would only break skin and cause harm should he struggle too much, his ankles are chained and weighed down with heavy metal, and to top it off, he's been given a thick cloth gag to keep him from speaking. Reaching the platform, he's pushed into a gondola where he sees a handful of men already cuffed and dressed in the same inmate clothing he is, he watches several of the men stare at him like they're sizing him up, he pulls his lips back as best as he can around the cloth gag and snarls, the sound emanating from deep within his throat, his eyes narrowed in a silent challenge. A guard shoves him further into the transport, making him stumble a little over the chains around his ankles. Another guard takes up his right, the two tense and ready for any and all possible act of escape, or struggle, from him.
As they're crossing the boiling water below, Jet can feel a pair of eyes on him, he scans the people in the room and sees a pair of blue eyes, looking at the owner of said eyes, he sees that it's a Water Tribesman who looks vaguely familiar to him, he sees the man give him a slight nod, like they were old pals – Jet narrows his eyes, he assumes this man knows him, or knows of him.
The gondola finally stops at the prison, he's the first escorted off, the guards keeping a tight hold on his arms that would surely bruise later on, and attempting to maneuver him towards the exit, of course, he struggles against them and puts up a fight, but their grips tighten, he growls behind the gag and attempts to elbow the guard to his right, it doesn't work, but he's not going to make this easy on any of them. The Warden sees him, eyes narrowing whilst his guards tense, balking at the sight of him dressed in chains and metal:
"As much as I would like to make it clear whose boss," the Warden says, "We can't risk you attempting to fight back or stir up trouble. Guards, take him away, and make sure to outfit him with something a little more – cozy."
"Yes, Sir!" the guards are quick to say as they drag him away from the rest of the prisoners.
The teenager hears one of the guards back on the platform snap at one of the other prisoners, completely unaware of the pair of eyes that had been on him the second he had stepped out of the metal contraption they call a gondola – they lead him through the halls, he can hear dozens of voices as he's getting sorted, here he finds that getting outfitted with something cozy mean having a metal collar with dull studs much like the ones from his previous manacles with an "o" ring in the front that has a heavy metal chain hooked to it and leading down his front, it splits two ways, both chains leading to a new pair of manacles similar to the previous pair, but heavier, he's still got the same pair of cuffs and chains linking his ankles to one another. It does make it a bit hard to go through sets, but he understands that his lack of mobility is required, he blames this entirely on the Fire Nation's gross exaggerations of him.
The door to his cell rattles, the guards having brought him here and threw him in, he immediately stands from where he had been sitting on the hard cot, the metal door opens and reveals a rather small guard standing in the entryway. Despite the guard's height, Jet tenses, especially when the guardsman enters the cell and shuts the door behind him, but then, the guard does the strangest thing and lifts his visor to show his face, a face Jet immediately recognizes.
"Sokka?"
The guy in question grins, "Hey man, long time no see ~ ."
Jet blinks, he honestly hadn't expected to be approached so soon, let alone by Sokka, "What – what are you doing here?"
"Well, we're here to free some friends of ours."
Jet arches a brow, "We're?"
Sokka grins like he's gotten Jet the best present ever, "Yup ~ Zuko is the one who told me of this place, he's here and it's a good thing we stayed longer or we wouldn't have found you. You should have seen him, he was so happy to see you." Jet opens his mouth, but Sokka holds a hand up, "Now, now, I know what you're going to say." Sokka attempts to mimic him in a sleazy tone that sounds nothing like him, "Zuko shouldn't be here, it's dangerous, he could get caught and taken back to his sister, or worse, killed, or even take me to him, I need to see him, it's been so long and I just want to hold him in my arms." Jet frowns, he wasn't going to say any of that, but Sokka just grins at his expression like he thinks it's exactly what Jet was going to say. "But Zuko is fine, I mean, they did find out that he was Prince Zuko, but they just threw him in one of the cells, I don't think they're planning to do anything with him, and I can't smuggle either one of you to the other's cell, it would be suspicious, so you'll just have to wait for your reunion."
Prince Zuko?
The niggling at the back of his mind when he'd first heard the name Zuko becomes stronger, it rings and echoes within is head, white noise in the form of fuzzy voices scream in his ears, flashes of faint images burn his eyes, and it becomes too much for him.
"Out." Jet hisses, Sokka gawks at him, "I said get out!"
Sokka splutters, then gets himself under wraps, he frowns at Jet, "Jeez, I forgot how much of a jerk you are."
And with that, Sokka leaves, but Jet doesn't care for the parting jab sent his way or the other's disappearance, his entire being is overwhelmed with invisible phantoms, he sits heavily on the edge of the cot and curls in on himself, his elbows resting heavily on his knees, and his fingers buried within his hair, he hears voices, not quite sure if it's real, or just his imagination. Grabbing fistfuls of his hair, he shuts his eyes and grits his teeth, he attempts to will the pain away, his skull feeling like it were splitting in half as obscure voices, memories, and touches fill his head to the brim.
"The way you looked at the Prince – like he were the sun itself, dazzling and powerful, how you worshipped him with each and every action you took, the tenderness in which you treated him – as only lovers would."
"The kiss you two shared the day of the invasion, for all to see."
"What have they done to you, Lion-Heart?"
oOo
Jet isn't released from his cell, the guards claiming that he's too much of a danger and needs time to acclimate, which is bullshit and he's fine with that, he just doesn't like how easy it is for Sokka to enter his little piece of hell with that name just at the tip of his tongue, but he does have a mission that requires he play nice with the Avatar's friends, so he pushes his discomfort aside and listens to Sokka as he tells him of the plan both he and his father had come up with. When Jet asks about where they're heading to after they escape, Sokka doesn't say a thing, just looks at him and tells him that he can't say just in case someone is listening, which Jet accepts. After Sokka leaves, he thinks more on Zuko's name and the feelings that come with it, almost curious as to why the headaches always came when his name was mentioned or even thought of, the pain varying on the amount of times the name was spoken, or how deeply he thought of the owner of the name: Prince Zuko, of the Fire Nation, was he born out of a secret affair Fire Lord Ozai had?
Jet hisses when a sharp pain shoots through his skull, so he lets the thought drop – he's napping when he hears the familiar rattling of his cell door, but when he wakes and looks towards the exit, he sees that no one is there and dozens of other prisoners are rushing past his door. Realizing that this was the beginning of Sokka's plan in motion, he gets up and leaves his cell, the heavy chains and manacles making it hard to move any faster without stabbing himself. Stepping out onto the courtyard, he looks around at the faces he sees as he walks, he finds the others in the center of the yard, or rather Sokka as he doesn't recognize the other two:
"Jet, there you are!" Sokka says, he immediately hands him a single key, "This is to your fancy jewelry!"
Jet narrows his eyes, snatching the key from Sokka, "Fuck off, Sokka."
As Jet is removing the manacles and heavy chains from his person, he hears Sokka mention that Zuko is missing to the other two, his body acts on the sudden impulse to hunt down this Zuko without thought, and it's as he's turning on his heel, ready to do just that, when someone stops him and pulls him back. It's Sokka.
"I know you want to find him, but we can't separate now, we have to stay together."
Jet frowns, but he allows it, confused by his own desire to look for Zuko and completely overlooking the third man that approaches the group. When the riot starts, the group moves towards a prison wall and out of the fighting, Jet is a bit startled when someone rushes past him and stands in front of Sokka, the two talking like they know each other, apparently, there's a snag in their plan – then the newcomer's eyes fall on Jet, and Jet feels the world fall out from underneath him, there's a pang in his heart, and he feels a series of emotions he can't sort out amongst the chaos, or ever.
The person whispers with reverence, "Jet."
Jet feels his heart beat faster, now realizing just who this person is, but as he goes to reply with something, Sokka interrupts and they have no time to talk afterwards. Not until they're in the clear. Not until they're in Princess Azula's stolen war-ship. Not until they're on their way towards the Avatar's hideout.
"Jet," Zuko breathes, the two a good distance from the rest onboard, "Hi."
Jet studies Zuko a moment, his heart beating in his throat, "Hey."
The firebender looks awkward for a moment before he reaches out with a hand, Jet immediately tenses at the movement, but doesn't move to pull away like he's done to the others who'd attempted to touch him, he still flinches though when he feels the warmth of Zuko's palm on his face. Judging by the hurt look in the other's eyes, he had noticed Jet's reactions to being touched, unaware that Jet is currently fighting with himself to stay still and not panic as he reaches up with his own hand, wrapping his fingers around Zuko's wrist, holding said wrist like he were afraid that just the smallest amount of pressure would break bones, he presses his face into Zuko's palm in a jerky manner, hoping it doesn't look as weird as he feels it is – unbeknownst to him, the others, minus the prisoner they'd picked up, are smiling at them. The move must have been okay as Zuko offers a small smile that warms Jet's insides, he feels a thumb caressing his cheekbone, the soft touch making it harder to breath, those warm, kind eyes breaking his ribs.
The taller man doesn't know how long they stand there, facing one another and simply studying each other's features, but he finds that he doesn't mind in the slightest, at least, until he's hit with a startling realization: those eyes remind him so much of Princess Azula's which he'd gotten a good look at those few days ago as they stood underneath the shade of a tree, in fact, there were several similarities between this boy and the Princess, so much so that they could be related, and this brought him back to his previous thought of this guy being the product of a secret affair between Fire Lord Ozai and some unknown woman.
Prince Zuko.
Your Prince.
Beloved.
Fiancé.
Jet startles at the last thought, he legitimately jumps away from the firebender and shoves the bile back down when he sees the alarmed look on the other's face, especially when he sees the concern etched clearly onto his handsome features. As he takes a step to help Jet, Jet holds out a shaking hand to stop him in his tracks, his other hand clutching at his head, he knows he's breathing hard.
"No – I, I'm fine – just," he shuts his eyes tight and wills the pain away, "Memories."
He doesn't see the look of devastation on Zuko's face, "Oh."
After that, Zuko keeps his distance, and a minuscule part of Jet wants nothing more than for him to return to his side, it's foreign and he doesn't understand this longing for the warmth and softness the other exuded, Zuko was nothing like Azula – when they land and they're greeted by the others, Jet flinches away from their touch as well, he's not used to gentle, but his eyes still follow Zuko as he disappears inside the temple. There were questions he had, and he knew that asking them would certainly bring suspicion upon him; this meant that he would have to gather answers in a round-about way. They show him to his room, which is also within the temple, and he settles down for the night, too tired and much too confused with all that has been thrown at him.
I'm sorry it takes a while for me to update, I feel like I'm stumbling through the chapter, but here it is ~ !