Update!

Fixating on the reflection in the water, Jet doesn't really think of much in that moment, content to sit and stare at the person glowering back at him, he'd come across this little pond some time ago and he wasn't looking to abandon it just yet. It was quite there, it gave him the feeling of being the only person left in the world, and that left him feeling – serene.

"There you are."

Jet doesn't bother to look, knowing full well that the resident firebender was already approaching, while he had hidden himself away in this little slice of solitude, he didn't mind sharing it with Zuko – he can see the firebender settle on the grass beside him from within his periphery.

"I was wondering where you went off to."

Jet feels the smile spread across his lips, "Miss me?"

Only when he feels Zuko lean into him, can feel his warmth start to seep through his clothes, does Jet turn to watch his companion settle comfortably against him.

"If I said I did?"

Jet buries his nose in Zuko's hair, closing his eyes as he murmurs, "I'd say: you're so adorable."

Zuko hums, resting his head on Jet's shoulder, "And I would say: only you would think that."

Cupping the fairer male's jaw, he presses their foreheads together, "You're also beautiful."

The firebender purrs, "I wouldn't be talking."

Smiling, Jet presses their lips together, his chest swelling with emotions too strong to contain – he could stay like this forever, sitting snuggled up beside this boy dearest to him.

"I found them!"

A voice shouts from behind them, Zuko tenses at the same time as Jet, the couple turning to look at the one who'd shouted, Toph, the girl's head is turned in their general direction, and not a minute later, the others arrive, but with their arrival the feeling of being the only two on the planet disappears.

"Zuko!" Sokka calls, "We need your help!"

Aang sounds sheepish, "I tried doing those moves you showed me and I – well, I keep setting things on fire! I don't meant to, but I don't know what I'm doing wrong?!"

Zuko sighs; he turns to Jet and presses a kiss to his cheek, "I got to go."

Jet smiles, feeling warmed by that single kiss alone, "I'll be here until I start to miss you."

This gets a beautiful smile from the firebender, Jet watches him stand and leave with the group of kids converging around him as they usher him away from the scene, and to whatever mess the Avatar had made. Staring after the group a moment or two, he turns back to the pond and gets the sudden and deep feeling of loneliness, the silence no longer comforting. As he starts to think of leaving to find the group, some nearby bushes rustle. Ridiculously enough, his first thought is of the animal he'd killed earlier that morning, even if he's nowhere near the vicinity he'd dumped the body – his thoughts are derailed soon when this, well, it kind of looked like a bear?

But not?

It was small, glacier blue, beady eyes, weird antennae on top of its head, little, tiny, fluffy wings on its back that surely couldn't lift the creature any higher than an inch above the ground, kind of translucent, and, well, glowing?

Jet can just feel his eyebrows raise to his hairline, "A – spirit?"

The spirit just cocks its head to the side, reminiscent of a polar-bear-dog pup, and keeps on staring at him like it were curious about his presence, like he was the unusual one here. Never before had he seen a spirit, but then again that must be one of the perks of traveling with the Avatar, seeing a stray spirit every now and then – suddenly he feels as if something is being pulled out of his own body, as if he's being pulled out of his own body, startled, rightfully so, he stumbles away from the spirit, immediately drawing his hidden knife as he does so. It won't do much in the grand scheme of things, especially against a spirit, but it was more on instinct and reflex than an actual attempt at using the weapon. Now staring at the thing with a sinking feeling of dread, he turns, ready to run from the scene, but within the split-second he blinks, the spirit is in front of him and now – bigger? And meaner looking?

It stands on its rear legs and uses its powerful front paws to push him to the ground, he hits the ground hard, his shoulder definitely going to be bruised, the spirit keeps him pinned with its weight and Jet doesn't know enough about spirits to question this, he attempts to get out from underneath the thing when it lowers its face towards his, and the way its neck moved was so unnatural, Jet did not like it one bit, the spirit presses their foreheads together, eyes locked – he's transported to a black void, with him standing in the center of a spotlight, a familiar sight that he's only ever seen in his nightmares, backing up with his eyes flitting every which way, he turns, ready to run, only to stop when he's in a different place altogether.

A familiar place.

Kuo, one of his many teachers is supervising him, the child him, during one of his training sessions, his child-self concentrated whole-heartedly on the task at hand, but what catches Jet's attention is a familiar figure standing in the background, only when he concentrates on the form does he realize that it's Zuko, but younger and scar-free, he's standing at Lady Ursa's side, Azula's mother.

Before he can contemplate the scene any further, the world spins and he's elsewhere:

The dining room within the palace, back in the Fire Nation, he's standing tall, a little older than the last vision, alongside Kuo, he gets the sense that he was sneaking around when Kuo had found him, inside the royal family eats, but Lady Ursa is not present, Jet is witness to seeing Fire Lord Ozai, Princess Azula, and – Zuko, a little older as well, sitting at the table, he's confused, the Fire Lord and the Princess know Zuko?

Their voices are muffled despite him standing right there, until they aren't:

"She was born lucky, you were lucky to be born."

The look on Zuko's face, devastated, crushed, the smirk the Princess sends his way, and the sudden anger that courses through his body is hot, blinding, the intense urge to tear the Fire Lord down is unbearable – his younger self looks furious, and is ready to charge in, but Kuo's hand grabbing his shoulder is what stops him from doing anything.

The scene shifts.

Younger Jet, slightly older than the last, is cleaning his weapons whilst Zuko, slightly older than the last, lies in the grass – they're talking, but their words aren't quite coherent, but something catches younger Jet's attention soon enough, and he's immediately filled with an intense sense of rage that could only be classified as hate, when he sees what it is that has his younger self feeling such a strong emotion, he sees the Princess of all people.

For what he feels like isn't the first time, he contemplates assassination, but keeps it to himself as he knows Prince Zuko wouldn't like where his thoughts stray, especially when it involved his family.

And this doesn't make sense, the Princess is – the Princess, he's loyal to the royal family, why would he consider such a thing? Are these visions even real? Or are they dreams?

The world blinks out and he's watching himself, perhaps a few years younger, going through several sets with his shuang-gou on the deck of a ship, obviously Fire Nation, small in comparison to the ones he's seen in the docks. The ship is docked, at what seems like nothing but a vast winter wasteland, snow and ice as far as the eye can see. His younger self isn't left alone for long as he sees someone storming up the bridge, upon closer inspection, he realizes that it's Zuko, and he now has that scar, both he and his younger self watch the firebender storm by, not deigning to say a thing to him, another form catches his attention, both he and his younger self turn to look at an old man, unfamiliar and somber, the old man shakes his head when young Jet looks at him.

Jet feels a great concern for young Zuko.

"Looking for the Avatar."

"Doomed to fail."

"Never going home."

"Banished Prince."

Jet doesn't bat a lash when the scene changes once again.

This Jet is the same age as him, wearing different clothes and a topknot of all things, he's sitting in a metal contraption, accompanied by Mai and Ty-Lee, Ty-Lee is looking nervously between he and Mai, Mai is glowering at him while he himself smiles crookedly. The impression he gets from this scene is annoyance, anger, and jealousy. Soon, the Princess enters the room, and those emotions shift, but not for the better, they turn bitter, hateful, trapped.

The vision swaps with another:

The background is dark, but he can see himself crouched on the ground, fingers gripping at his own hair, and he's muttering to himself, his voice verging on that of panic, he's still wearing that armor he'd seen in the last vision, so he can only assume he's somewhere during that vision's timeline.

"You're okay. You're okay. It's okay. It's okay." his vision-self mutters almost manically, breathless, "It's okay. Everything is okay."

The feelings impressed upon him aren't ones he wants to feel, to think on, and luckily he doesn't have to when the scene changes, this time they're in a city, an Earth Kingdom one by the looks of it, he sees himself looking at jewelry pieces, he's dressed differently this time, and now he's got bandages on his right arm and chest – he'd never had those before? Are those covering the scars he's got now?

"We could do it." his vision-self thinks, the words etching themselves into his mind, "We could run away together, just the two of us out in the world."

He gets the sensation that he's talking about Zuko.

Blinking, he finds himself on another ship, this time Katara is sitting in front of him, she's attempting to heal his arm – the scar looks somewhat fresh, so it must have happened sometime before the last scene.

This Jet is miserable, angry, hurt, and sorely missing Zuko.

Jet sees the way Katara looks at him, filled with concern and something else.

Another change.

They're sitting on a beach, staring at the starry skies, their words are muffled.

Change.

There's a battle going on, he's keeping tabs on Zuko as best as he can while they fight through Fire Nation soldiers alongside – alongside the invasion forces. Almost immediately, his mind brings up the memory of the Water Tribe man he'd executed, asking him what they had done to him.

Change.

A bright light sweeps across his vision, he feels his mind tearing in two, he hears voices, he can't see anybody, he doesn't know where he is, he knows someone is there though. Why can't he see them? Who is there? Is Zuko okay?

Something snaps in place.

He feels like he's drowning.

He can't breathe.

Why can't he breathe?!

Gasping, he throws the spirit off – he remembers everything, he remembers the invasion, being captured, growing up with Zuko, Prince Zuko, Princess Azula's big brother, Spirits, he despise her, her and her father, he'd nearly killed her before. Gripping at his head, he attempts to rid himself of the headache coming on: violent and painful.

So many feelings, negative, elated, confused – he didn't like it.

Things were so much easier under that brainwashing.

But he wouldn't give it up if it meant forgetting Zuko, again.

Azula always lies.

Spirits, he was here to kill Aang.

Realizing that he's breathing hard, he immediately runs from the spirit, runs away from himself – the first person he runs in to is Zuko, thank Sp – thank Gods:

"Zuko," he breathes, wrapping his arms around his firebender, his Prince.

Zuko chuckles and presses into Jet, "Miss me ~ ?"

"I did." he buries his face in the crook of Zuko's neck, "So much."

The Fire Prince lets out a cooing sort of noise that he would deny should Jet comment on it, fingers tangling in Jet's hair, both men content to stay entwined like that, as he's holding on to Zuko like his life depends on it, it dawns on him:

"We were going to get married." he says, breathless and amazed.

"We were." Zuko hums.

"I'm your fiancé."

"You are."

"You're my fiancé."

"I am."

"I love you so, so much, Fire-Bird."

"I love you so much too, Jet."

Jet turns Zuko to face him and smashes their lips together in a deep kiss, one that involves way too much spit and too much tongue, he's pressing into Zuko with enough force that the firebender's back is beginning to bend backwards, but he's not the least deterred, his hands cupping Jet's face and pressing their lips together with just as much force, Jet's arms wrapped around him, pulling him as physically close as they can get – he manages to drag out a moan from his fiancé before they're interrupted.

"Gross!" Sokka shouts, "Really?!"

Jet lessens the pressure, flipping Sokka off.

"Look!" Aang shouts suddenly.

The two pull away to see what it is the monk is pointing at, but when everyone turns to see what it is that has the airbender so excited, they see nothing, or rather, the others don't, but Jet can see what the Avatar is pointing at as clear as day. It's that spirit from earlier. Tensing, he pretends he can't see the thing, even as Aang runs up to it and kneels before it.

"Aang?" Katara calls worriedly.

Gods, she had a crush on him.

Toph frowns, "I don't feel anything."

"It's a spirit!" the monk exclaims, he turns to look at the spirit, "What are you doing here, Little Guy?"

Feeling the urge to run once more, Jet turns to Zuko, "Come with me."

Sokka gags, and that is the last time Jet sees the spirit, until dinner, they're all sitting around the campfire and trading tales, the assassin blinks once and suddenly that thing is right in his face, and staring at him curiously, he swears up a colorful storm, flinging his bowl outward as he scuttles away from the spirit. At the same time, from across the fire pit, Aang points at the spirit, shouting:

"There it is again!"

Now this time, he can't pretend he doesn't see it, not after his reaction, and not when the thing walks towards him with its nose directed towards the air, as if it were sniffing him out – he's almost ashamed to admit that fear gets the better of him, that staring down his past and his burdens is what prompts his mind into overdrive, flicking his wrist upward, he sends his knife flying through the air, it goes through the spirit and is blocked by a slab of earth made by Toph, he wants to run the fuck away.

"Jet! Jet! It's okay!" Aang shouts, jumping over the slab of earth, "The spirit is friendly!"

But Jet isn't listening, "Keep it away from me."

Zuko is at his side soon enough, "Come on; let's go back to the tent."

The spooked male allows his fiancé to lead him away from the scene, the spirit, from what he was brainwashed to believe and what he lived through.

LATE UPDATE!