Hello all! Here's another! Enjoy!

Chapter Rating: T
Chapter Warning: I don't really think there's anything, it's just a safe rating.
World: AU where Jet survives and joins Team Avatar
Word Count: 472

Six: Condemn

"Jet?"

The freedom fighter was laying on his back in the grass just a few feet away from where Zuko was seated on a large rock, sitting with that annoyingly impeccable posture of his. At the sound of his name, Jet turned his face toward the firebender with a grunt of acknowledgement.

"Have you ever been...condemned?"

Jet's brow furrowed at this as he rolled slightly to his side, propping himself on an elbow so he could twist to look at Zuko. The banished prince wasn't looking at Jet, though; instead, he was staring down at his hands, which rested in his lap.

"What do you mean?" Jet asked carefully, speaking around the piece of wheat in his mouth.

Zuko shrugged slightly. "I don't really know, I guess. I mean...by someone you loved...or cared about...have you ever been looked at by someone who completely disapproved of you and your beliefs, no matter how hard you tried?" His voice was somewhat shaky and Jet caught on to what he was talking about rather quickly and with relative ease.

Jet thought for a moment, trying to decide on a suitable response. "Of course," was what he eventually said, which made Zuko's head snap to look at him, to which he only kind of shrugged in response. "I mean, I think that's just a part of life. I mean, I'm assuming you're talking about your dad here and personally, I never had that problem with Dad and Pop but I can't tell you how many people I've met who completely disregarded me just because they thought I was some dumb kid. But none of that really mattered and that's not really what you're talking about," Jet said, beginning to ramble now that he was getting into the swing of the conversation. That's how he always was though. "But I'll tell you this: I had plenty of those kids look up to me in that forest, but there were plenty who didn't. And I'll have you know, I cared about each and every one of them, but that day… That day I let them all down. Man, I thought it'd crush me to see the disappointment in all of their faces," Jet said, shaking his head. His voice was light like he was joking but the memory was strong enough to bring those feelings of failure back. "Their hero...turned out to be a monster. Can really fuck a kid up, you know?"

They sat in a long silence after that. Zuko seemed to be chewing on Jet's words and Jet was content to let him do so. They were for him, after all.

Finally, Zuko stood silently and moved to lay beside Jet in the grass, folding his hands over his stomach.

And in the end, it was enough that at least they didn't condemn each other.