Pillow Talk:

Chapter 8: Longshot and Smellerbee

It had been so long since they had been camping that it just didn't seem natural to be out in the wilderness again. The pair of freedom fighters had fallen into the trap of expecting and even appreciating the creature comforts of having a warm bed and roof over their heads. After all, that was the reason why they moved to Ba Sing Se, so they could have a fresh start, a new chance at an old dream to just leave the past behind and move on with their lives. They may not have lived like royalty, but they at least felt normal, and for a while it felt…nice.

But that all changed when Jet just couldn't move past his obsession, seemed convinced that the refugee, Lee, and his uncle were firebenders. Despite his commitment to having a new life, a fresh start; his hatred overpowered his reason and it cost him his life. That's what led the last two freedom fighters to their present location, huddled in the dark with only a fire and a vague sense of each other for company. It seemed so strange to think how they were all together not long ago, laughing and causing real mischief for the Fire Nation while staying three steps ahead of them. But in the end, it wasn't the Fire Nation that finally brought down the relentlessly fearless Jet, not some villainous bending master of an enemy nation, but an earthbender, a man who, under normal circumstances would have been seen as an ally. It seemed universally unjust that Jet died without ever fulfilling his need to avenge his family, never took his final revenge against the Fire Nation…because the Earth Kingdom murdered him. There was no justice in the world.

It was that line of thought that caused the sniffling of unshed tears to alert her companion of her emotional distress. In silently fluent movements, the archer had crossed the campsite, crouching beside the suffering young woman and placing a comforting hand upon her shoulder.

"I'm sorry Longshot," Smellerbee said simply as she stared into the expressive eyes of her partner, nodding her head in answer to his unspoken question. "Yeah, I'm fine. It's just…I don't know why he did it. Why couldn't Jet leave it alone? Why'd he have to get himself killed obsessing over the Fire Nation."

Again, looking to the eyes of her friend, a saddened frown creased her features. "Yeah, I understand that, but didn't he know he was our family too? Didn't he stop to think that we needed him to be with us?"

Silence stretched between the two of them as Smellerbee shook her head in response to Longshot's poignant stare. "No, it's not the same." She said, her voice breaking with tension as she verbalized her denial. "Jet let his obsession destroy him. He was so filled with hate it had nowhere to go but to eat him from the inside out. It's different for us."

"How?" Longshot said, no longer willing to speak his mind through his ever-expressive eyes, and yet his soft voice seemed to echo especially loud through the quiet campsite. "How is it different for us?" With a wave of his hand Longshot signaled the weapons lined and prepared for the assault they planned to execute.

"Because we're not planning on destroying the Fire Nation, that's how," Smellerbee shot back in simple rebuttal, her anger rising in frustration as her partner questioned the very morals that raged within her since suggesting what would amount to little more than a suicide mission into Ba Sing Se's prison. It wasn't about revenge. It was about justice. Jet deserved that much. He deserved more than knowing that the man who took his life didn't simply rot away in a prison, but suffered the same fate.

It had taken some time to learn of Long Feng's whereabouts. Once the city had fallen to the Fire Nation, his own Dai Li agents locked Long Feng away in prison. It seemed almost fitting that the man, cunning and ambitious though he may be, was stripped of all power and forced to serve the remainder of his life in prison, betrayed as he was by his own operatives. Most would think his fate fitting, swallowed as he was by his own greed and powerless to stop it from happening. But Smellerbee was not among those supporters of his imprisonment. Long Feng still breathed, and that was unacceptable. "That man took Jet from us Longshot! He doesn't deserve to live!

"Yeah, yeah, I know already okay?" Smellerbee replied again to Longshot's unspoken declaration, but she shook her head in refusal. "Jet lost control, I remember okay, I was there! Attacking the Fire Nation village, obsessing over that kid with the scar and his uncle. Jet got obsessed with anyone and everyone associated with the Fire Nation and didn't care who he hurt. We're just going to kill one man, the man who killed Jet."

"Jet only started his revenge seeking one man too," Longshot replied evenly, his voice never revealing his emotional turmoil. "And look how that turned out."

"Are you saying we shouldn't even try? Are you saying we shouldn't avenge Jet?"

"No," Longshot said again, his head shaking slowly for effect. "I'm asking you, where does it end Smellerbee? Would you really stop at Long Feng? What about the Dai Li, they kidnapped and brainwashed Jet. What about the Earth King, he was foolish enough not to even know what was happening in his own city. Or how about the citizens who supported the Dai Li."

"Stop trying to confuse me!"

"I'm not, I'm only seeking clarification," Longshot continued once more. "Because whether these people were aware of it or not, they were all conspirators in what led up to Jet's death. Do you want them to pay for this crime as well?"

"YES, alright, are you happy now! I want them all to pay for what happened to Jet! I want them to know what it felt like to stand there and watch him die gasping for his last breath, choking to death on his own blood and being able to do a thing about it! I want them ALL to know what that feels like, because maybe then they'd know how horrible this war really is and they wouldn't hide behind their wall and let this happen. Okay? You happy now? Is that what you wanted to hear?"

Longshot stared fixedly at the young woman, the tears now streaking a course down her cheek as she no long fought to suppress the pain and grief that came with losing her friend and the dissolving of the freedom fighters, leaving the two of them without a family. Longshot said nothing for the time being, and regretted that his next words would strike as true as his arrow, regretted to the core of his being what he was about to do. "Jet would be proud."

Though the words could be taken as an affirmation that the young woman was living up to Jet's example, the realization that she had transferred her grief and anger onto the Earth Kingdom much the same way Jet did with the Fire Nation was not lost on Smellerbee. With the great shaking of her small frame, the young woman fell to her knees, suppressed grief and hurt pouring from her eyes in a great torrent of agony that hollowed out her heart, dumping all her emotions into the uncaring night air until she was left drained and empty.

Longshot, uncertain whether she would accept his comfort, merely knelt beside her and placed a soothing hand on her shoulder, hoping his comfort would ease her troubled spirit. It didn't.

-End

A/N: Well, this was written in response to almostinsane's request for a Longshot/Smellerbee story, so FYI, I do take recommendations and appreciate all suggestions/story themes, uh…except for Zutara. Honestly, I'm sorry but that relationship really makes no sense, it just doesn't work.

Anyway, I left this story totally ambiguous as to the ending of what happened. Like the series, we're never told Longshot and Smellerbee's fate so we don't know. I also apologize for making Longshot talk so much, but there's only so many ways to explain his wordless replies through his eyes.

As always, if your kind enough to read, please be kind enough to review with comments, recommendations or both. Danke