Story Title: Redemption Made Easy (Or Not)
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: none

Summary: Jet, being not dead, has trouble coping with the sudden reappearance of Li at the WAT. He doesn't know what's worse – how much he still wants Li or how much more the GAang likes Li than Jet himself.

Notes: Thanks to M for the beta. Originally written for the jetko_exchange on LJ.

The Duke's raucous laughter rang down the stone corridor of the Western Air Temple, followed by the halting wood on wood sound of Teo's overstressed brakes and a loud clatter as the pair of boys slammed into the far wall.

Jet tensed as he listened, shoulder blades lifting away from the wall he leaned against. That Teo kid was trouble. Smart, he had to admit, but trouble. They'd barely been free one day – Jet wasn't even remotely ready to say safe – and already he was trying to get The Duke killed.

"Again! And faster this time!" The Duke shouted.

Jet forced himself to settle back against the wall, feigning nonchalance. He slitted his eyes and tilted his head back, as if trying to doze off, ears sharp just in case.

Haru turned from where he had been examining the Air Nomad murals. He planted a fist on his hip and glanced down the hall to where Teo careened past, The Duke riding exultantly on his shoulders.

"Don't you think we should stop that?"

"They're kids," Jet said lazily. He plucked the stem of long grass from his mouth, pursing it as he gave Haru a long look. "They deserve some fun after what they've been through."

"I guess we all do," Haru said. He rubbed his hand over that stupid mustache. Jet tilted his head back again, ready to ignore him, when Haru directed a mild, contemplative look toward Jet himself. That did not bode well. "So, I was talking to Katara last night."

Jet felt his spine stiffen. He crossed his arms over his chest, grass stem crushed in one hand.

"You did, huh?" he asked, voice as smooth as he could make it.

He didn't like to think what they would have been talking about. After Lake Laogai, he'd been well aware that he wasn't welcome anywhere near Katara or the Avatar. And he knew he deserved that, after what he'd done by himself and after what he'd been programmed to do. It wasn't that goodbye that had been so bitter. No, it had been leaving behind Smellerbee and Longshot in Ba Sing Se that stung. The cold disappointment in Longshot's eyes that made Smellerbee's anger all that much more searing. But he couldn't be there – not in that place, that toxic fucking city. So he returned to his forest and if that had been the end of it, if he hadn't let Pipsqueak find him and talk him into that suicide mission of an invasion, he wouldn't be here.

He wouldn't be wondering if the first thing that came up when Katara talked about him was trying to drown a village or ditching his friends back in Ba Sing Se only days before it fell. Haru seemed like a good guy, and those were the exact kind of folks who tended to judge people like Jet harshly.

"She said they had a visitor come by yesterday," Haru said. Jet stared at him. That was not good. "Looks like Aang might have found a firebending teacher."

"What you mean," Jet gritted out, "is that the Fire Nation found us? Already?"

And no one bothered to tell him.

Jet cast a look down the hall. The Duke was kneeling down next to Teo's chair, making some adjustments while Teo advised him. They had to get out of here. If the Fire Nation was coming, then they weren't safe. He'd just find a way back home, grab The Duke and head for the forest.

Haru chuckled lightly, hands raised amicably when Jet glared at him.

"What?"

"You sounded like Katara," Haru said. "Just not as angry."

At least someone had their wits about them. Jet shook his head. He didn't see anything funny about this. He was already stalking down the corridor, ready to haul The Duke out of here, when an explosion rocked the temple. Jet wheeled his arms, struggling to keep his balance. He looked back at where Haru stood, firmly rooted in place.

"The Fire Nation," Jet spat.

Apparently Haru wasn't enough of a nice guy to dispute the conclusion. Together, they ran down the hall to Teo and The Duke. On this side, the hall opened up into a larger, vaulted room with hinged shutters clearly designed to twirl in the wind.

A second explosion echoed through the ravine followed swiftly by a huge, thunderous crash. Jet pushed The Duke behind him and stepped up to the shutters, watching in shock as a great cloud of dust cleared from the overhang nearby to reveal the jagged stump of where a pagoda once hung. It had fallen off the cliff side entirely.

"We should go help!" Teo said.

Jet planted a foot directly on his wheel, braking it as effectively as anything. Simultaneously, he grabbed The Duke by his collar.

"Why don't we see what we're fighting first?" Jet asked casually.

"Jet's right," Haru said, although he did look disapprovingly down at Jet's foot. "If whatever it is can mess up the temple that bad, we need to know what we're dealing with."

A cute way of saying that the Avatar would handle it and they'd just get in the way, Jet thought resentfully.

They waited, watching for the enemy airships that didn't come and for the force of firebenders that just didn't seem to be in the temple. Jet could see the bright flecks of blue that represented Katara and Sokka on one of the other pagodas – this one more rumble strewn than any of the other ruined. The bright yellow and saffron of Aang was there too, even the green of the earthbender girl Teo and Haru had pretended to go look for to explore these halls. There was someone else too, in black. Jet strained his eyes trying to figure out if it was the firebender Haru had mentioned before, but he didn't wear the distinctive armor or the blazing red of a uniform. Whatever else he was, the group did not treat him as an enemy. The group came together and then dispersed with none of the deliberateness or speed of a fight.

The battle, it seemed, was already over.

It was worse than Jet thought.

He stood apart from the group, seething as he watched the Avatar and his friends tuck into lunch. Katara was nowhere to be found and, thankfully, neither was the firebender.

The Fire Prince.

How the fuck that had happened, Jet had no idea. He'd heard stories about the royal family all his life, how they personally involved themselves in planning military movements down to the last massacre. He'd seen what their princess did on the Day of Black Sun and he'd heard more than plenty about their prince. The guy who had betrayed Ba Sing Se and doomed Longshot and Smellerbee even more than Jet himself had.

All Jet's rage on the topic had come to nothing. Or not nothing, because Sokka had looked at him with more pity and disgust than ever before while Aang tried to placate him and Toph just snickered. Jet had cast about, trying to catch Haru's eye, trying to will Teo to have an opinion, but it probably wouldn't have mattered even if they took his side. The decision was clearly made and they more than obviously didn't care what Jet thought of it.

With no allies, Jet jammed his chopsticks straight down into his bowl of undercooked, crunchy rice and stalked off to brood.

Sokka was just serving himself seconds of his own bad cooking when Katara came out from the interior of the temple. Jet's eyes scanned over her, taking in the aggravation in her step and her irritated, downcast gaze. She walked over to the fountain in short, quick steps, too upset even to bend. Instead she splashed water directly onto her face, huffing out angrily as she combed her fingers through her wet hair, pushing it from where it hung in her eyes.

Her brother was a lost cause, but Jet knew that he still had a shot convincing her.

Jet waited, watching as Katara breathed in and out, trying to manage her anger. It was only a partial fix, obvious from how she turned to glare at Aang and how he quickly buried his face in his bowl, trying to avoid her ire. She marched over to the cook pot and seemed just about ready to lay into Sokka for messing up lunch when the real source of her anger arrived.

Li.

Jet watched in shock as the firebender carefully made his way to the cook pot, his shoulders hunched under Katara's glare. He stood a respectful distance – more than respectful, almost timid – from Sokka, peeking out from under shaggy hair as he took his lunch.

Jet's feet took him forward before he was even thinking about it. Maybe it just looked like Li. Pale skin and dark hair were common features. What mattered were his eyes, his scar.

Jet was halfway there, walking in a jerky stupor when the firebender straightened, a glower coming over his face as turned, hand going instinctively for the swords on his back.

The firebender's eyes were the sharp golden color that still haunted Jet, his face marred by the vivid, ugly scar of a long healed burn. It was him.

"What do you want?" Li snapped. And then he faltered, hand dropping off his sword hilt as his own eyes widened in recognition. His voice was a thin, surprised rasp, "Jet?"

"Wait. You two know each other?" asked Aang. He looked between them, smile wide on his face, boyish enthusiasm entirely out of place. Jet felt disoriented looking at him, his stomach dropping down and then coming back up as he tried to process what was happening.

Li was here. Li was the Avatar's new firebending teacher. Li was the Fire Prince.

That didn't make any sense.

"We met on the ferry to Ba Sing Se," Jet said harshly. His shuang gou were in his hands and he didn't question how they had gotten there. He stepped forward, poking the curved side of the hook into Li's chest. "Although I get the feeling he wasn't exactly honest back then."

Li pushed the blade off his chest with one finger, expression flat and hostile.

"No, I wasn't. But then, you already knew that."

Jet snapped his blade back up, all but ready to demand a rematch. Li was the reason he'd been through hell.

"So lemme guess," Katara threw in, voice casually biting. The tone was startling come from her, and that was even given that Jet knew he brought out the worst in her. Second worst, compared to Li, apparently. She continued, waving a hand between the two of them, "He betrayed you and you'll never forgive him."

Li blinked rapidly. He relaxed, shoulders dropping and hands falling to the side as he looked questioningly at her.

"How'd you guess?" he asked.

Katara rolled her eyes.

"Between the two of you? It's inevitable."

"The question is more who betrayed who," Sokka added.

Jet felt his anger rear up inside him. He turned, waving his shuang gou in Sokka's face.

"He did! Li's the reason the Dai Li arrested me! He's the reason they brainwashed me! They never would have taken me under Lake Laogai if not for him."

Li moved in front of Jet, coming in between him and Sokka. His feet were placed apart, ready for a fight, hand held before him in a firebending pose Jet had seen so many times before. Li glared at him, while Sokka looked torn between bemusement at the turn of events and actual appreciation that Li would defend him. Jet didn't know which was worse.

"First of all, that's not my name. It's Zuko," Li said.

"I know that," Jet all but snarled, and it was weird to think that he did, to connect the name of the banished prince with Li, who he couldn't stand and he couldn't get out of his head even now.

"And secondly, you attacked us. Unprovoked! All because Uncle Iroh was firebending his tea!"

A murmur passed through the group. Sokka and Aang shared a look – one that amounted to "sounds plausible" – while Toph crossed her arms. Katara's stony expression didn't flicker. She apparently had no patience or sympathy for either of them. At the same time, from the corner Jet least expected it, there was support. Haru's amused indifference had suddenly turned serious.

"General Iroh?" he asked.

It was Toph who answered, throwing a disdainful but inaccurate look in Haru general direction.

"Who else? How many Dragons of the West do you think there are?"

"Toph," Li – Zuko – the Prince – said warningly. He had an edgy, cautious look on his face, anticipating the coming fight.

"What?" she asked. "It's who he is!"

"It's what makes him a war criminal," Haru said tightly.

The Prince looked angry at the accusation, but didn't attack. He darted a look back toward Aang, toward Sokka, desperate to explain. And Jet saw, dishearteningly, that he didn't have to. The boys rose, standing beside the Prince in an uneasy, but still obvious show of support. In turn, Haru strode to Jet's side. Teo and The Duke looked between the assembled sides in confusion.

It was Katara who stopped them from making the choice.

"Enough!" she called out. Her waterskin was uncorked, eyes sparking furiously as she came between the two groups. She poked her finger into Jet's chest, leaning up threatening as she told him, "The decision's already made. I don't like it either, but you are not going to change it."

"We'll see about that," Jet said. "I know you think I'm right."

Katara's eyes narrowed, but she didn't deny it. Give me time, he thought. He knew she'd come to his side.

She shook him off, turning toward the Prince.

"And you," she said, voice low and deadly. "You already know what I think. I think it's best if you get out of here." She waited a moment, very grudgingly adding, "For the moment."

Or forever, if Jet had anything to say about it.

The Prince retreated to let them argue, Jet's eyes following him as he went. He stifled the urge to charge after him, fight him, shake him to find out who the hell he really was.

Jaw clenched, he tuned out most of the argument around him, listening in just enough to know this wasn't his moment. If he forced the issue now, he'd be out on his ass, either up in the forest on the cliff or down the ravine. He didn't like his chances. He fucking hated waiting, but for the moment, it was the long game. He could see the doubt in Haru's eyes, the lingering anger in Katara's. No way would a firebender's presence soothe that away.

Jet left the others to argue some time after the Moon Spirit was brought up, figuring if he got out quickly he'd avoid more talk of Ba Sing Se. He wouldn't have to think about the seething, yawning gap where his memories were supposed to be, or the cold pull of guilt when he considered what he'd left behind.

After a few false starts, he found the corridor where Sokka had been handing out rooms the night before. Somehow it hadn't stuck for most of them; instead of sleeping in their rooms with four relatively sturdy walls around them, the Avatar and his friends had gravitated toward the fountain, camping there oblivious to the sheer cliffs and deadly drops. Jet wasn't afraid of heights by any means, but there was something to be said about the comfort of solid rock. He'd stayed in his room with The Duke and he knew both Teo and Haru had done the same.

He stopped cold in the hall way, looking toward his room, hands balled at his side. They were all down this hall. And which room, he wondered, belonged to the Prince?

Jet hushed his steps, walking toe-heel, as carefully as he would to hunt in his forest. He crept silently down the hallway, peering into the unoccupied rooms one by one. Maybe he'd get his chance to settle this.

"Looking for something?" Sokka asked. His hand fell heavily on Jet's shoulder, startling him. Jet gritted his teeth and cursed before seamlessly turning an innocent, offended expression Sokka's direction. It was clear Sokka didn't buy it for a second. He jerked his head toward a hallway leading deeper into the temple. "Come on. You're with me."

Sokka was already half way down the hall when Jet's sluggish feet decided to follow. He was sure he wasn't going to like this. In the time since Jet had arrived back with the group, he and Sokka hadn't exactly made friends with each other.

After silently following Sokka down three twists and branches in the air temple corridors, matching his every casual, indifferent stride with him own, it finally occurred to Jet that Sokka had no idea where the hell he was going. He'd had no more chance to explore than Jet – less, actually, with the battle yesterday.

Jet reached out, skimming the wall with his fingertips. It was dry, untouched by mold, but more than a little dusty. He rubbed the dirt between his fingers, casting a look in Sokka's direction, watching him walk with narrowed eyes. Light still reached here through numerous clever little windows in the side of the cliff and up above. The Air Nomads had preferred not to rely on torchlight. Jet could appreciate that.

"So, Sokka, something on your mind?" Jet asked as they took another turn deeper into the temple.

"Not much."

Right. Because it was just his way to be taciturn and apathetic. That was the Sokka Jet remembered.

"Anything you want to say to me? Or are we just taking a long walk for no reason?"

Sokka sighed, coming to a stop. He turned to face Jet, stepping into a shaft of light filtering in from above. It illuminated his whole face, serious eyes and hard set jaw.

"A lot, actually. You might have noticed I don't like you much."

"I did notice," Jet replied. He tilted his head to the side, shrugging off the words. Lots of people didn't like him. So what?

"And I don't like Zuko," Sokka continued. "But I like Aang and I'd kinda like to defeat the Fire Lord. So here's my thing. Don't fuck that up for us."

Jet didn't reply. He had every intention of fucking that up. Frankly, in his opinion, there were a lot of better uses for the Avatar than a one on one fight against the Fire Lord – and who in their right mind even thought that would end the war? All the troops would just shut up and go home because the Avatar said so? Hadn't worked so far. Aang could be in the Earth Kingdom, fighting the war that needed to be fought, instead of wasting his time learning firebending.

Sokka stepped forward suddenly, hand on his sword and anger bringing high color into his cheek. Maybe it was a long walk after all.

"I'm serious, Jet. Zuko may be our only shot to stop his dad before the comet comes and if you jeopardize that in any way, I don't care what you've been through or why you think you are doing it. I will put you down."

Jet ignored the nonsense about a comet, glaring back fiercely.

"You don't know Li," he said. "He'll betray you. What good can the Avatar do if he's dead?"

Sokka just shook his head.

"And you don't know Zuko."

He dropped his hand from his sword, already walking away.

Jet stood there fuming for a moment before calling out, "Where are you going?"

"Hunting." Sokka threw a look over his shoulder. He raised his eyebrows at Jet. "Unless you took a lot of rice with you for the invasion, we kinda need to find some food. I hope the Air Nomads knew their way around pickling, or we're in a lot of trouble."

They worked in methodical silence, although there were a few moments where Sokka seemed to forget himself, humming a bored, out of tune little work song and stopping now and again to curiously examine the paintings on the walls instead of searching the bins and jars for food. And then, shaking himself, he'd straighten and send Jet a quick, surreptitious look, as if expecting Jet to leap out and stab him. It was exactly those looks that made Jet want to stab him.

As it turned out, the Air Nomads did know their way around pickling and canning and, most importantly, dry storage. Jet and Sokka found enough provisions to last their little group for months, if they didn't mind going meatless, anyway.

For tonight, though, the meat was courtesy of the Prince and greeted with gracious smiles from all around the campfire. Even Katara was polite enough to offer her thanks before serving herself one of the meager portions of duck available. The Prince had planned ahead, but not much, only bringing enough for himself and the uncle he thought he'd be bringing with him.

He'd brought a steamed, glazed ginger cake as well and apparently knew just enough about diplomacy to offer it when Iroh's name came up again. Slightly staled from its time away from the palace kitchens, the cake was nonetheless devoured with the speed only teenagers could produce. Their mouths were too busy being stuck shut to complain start up that argument again, although it was clear that Haru struggled for a moment, trying to fight the thick syrup shutting him up.

Jet picked at his food, eventually giving it away to The Duke. He'd lay snares tomorrow, maybe even join Sokka on a real hunt. Or maybe not, since he wasn't sure he'd be able restrain the temptation to strangle Sokka and leave him in the woods. Jet rolled his eyes to himself. Then they'd really be mad him.

Swallowing and chewing eventually turned to awkward silence. With The Duke falling asleep against Jet's arm, it was the perfect time to get out of there. He stood, hauling The Duke up to his feet and then when he still slouched against Jet, he grabbed him and threw him over a shoulder. Two fingers held to his eyebrow, he saluted and made an exit.

The Duke collapsed on the narrow pallet set underneath the window in his room. Jet pried his helmet off, setting in next to the bed. He had a brief, weird impulse to tell The Duke to go wash his face and he frowned to himself as he forcibly let it pass. He wasn't The Duke's mom. They'd never done that back in the forest. They were free there, doing whatever they pleased, living without rules. Jet saw no reason to change.

Instead he reached out, ruffling The Duke's hair.

"Long day, huh?" he asked with a slight smile.

"The longest. Good, though," The Duke mumbled. He blinked sleepily up at Jet. "Hey, Jet. What are we doing tomorrow?"

"Whatever you want."

The Duke nodded, already dropping off. Jet glanced toward his bed, set up near the door, and then slid his eyes over, looking down the long hall. He'd lied, of course. The Duke could do whatever he wanted, but Jet had plans and they involved a certain firebender.