Chapter Text
Jet watched Sokka with an intense concentration. The Water Tribe teen had to fight to keep from fidgeting under the scrutiny. He was not successful. For all that the wheat-chewing boy unnerved him, Sokka couldn’t deny that Jet was impressive, both in combat and at somehow managing to keep dozens of kids alive in treehouses right under the Fire Nation’s nose. Sokka had enough trouble keeping 2 kids alive on the back of a flying bison, and the Fire Nation hadn’t even known that they existed until General Mutton Chops had caught sight of them a few ports back.
Besides, you didn’t necessarily have to trust someone, or like them, to want them to like you. He wasn’t sure why he didn’t trust Jet, but his instincts had been screaming ‘bad news’ ever since they met the dude, and his instincts were never wrong. No matter what Katara said.
Well, as long as you didn’t count the whole ‘two fishooks’ incident.
Or the ‘thought Aang was Fire Nation’ thing.
Or the 'Leopard-Seal boomerang' fiasco.
Or- that wasn’t the point. His instincts were never wrong about important things, and they didn’t trust Jet. He wasn’t sure why. Jet seemed to just be some cool, suave, in charge guy with a healthy hate for the bad guys. Regardless, the teen remained wary. He listened to his instincts even when no one else would.
Eventually, Jet nodded to himself. “Look, Sokka, I think we got off on the wrong foot. I think that maybe… we’re too similar. That’s why we didn’t exactly get along at first. I get you, and you get me. We’ve both been hurt by the Fire Nation, we both know that we have to always be prepared. We know that its safest if you assume everything is a trap until proven otherwise. I think you get that a lot better than a lot of the kids I bring in, definitely more than Katara and Aang.”
Sokka wanted to groan. How dare Jet not be the worst when his instincts were like this, Jet was the worst. Still, maybe he wasn’t wrong. Paranoia was a thing. Maybe, just this once he could… ease up on his instincts a bit. After all, Jet had trusted him enough to invite him on this patrol, he could try and meet the wheat-chewer half way.
The Water Tribe teen made himself relax against the tree they were hiding in, sending a smile at Jet that he hoped didn't look as forced as it felt. “Yeah, maybe you’re right. To be honest, I’d almost rather those two didn’t have to think like that, as long as they listened when I did. But, you know.”
Jet nodded emphatically. “I do know. You want to protect them, keep them away from the evils of war. I, we”- he gestured at his freedom fighters. “Do that for the rest of the kids. Try to keep them from… the worst. You get it, sometimes you have to do hard things to win this battle, but we need to do what we can to get ahead against an enemy like… that.” He shoved a hand at the general direction of the Fire-Nation-Invaded town with a scowl. “But sometimes you keep those hard things a secret, to protect them.”
Sokka squirmed, growing uncomfortable with the hard look in the older teen’s eyes, at the look that was mirrored in the eyes of all of the Freedom Fighters who had come on this patrol. He didn’t… he didn’t hide things from Katara, not even when they were hard. They were a team, had been since he’d had to lead hunting parties with all of the able bodied women in a devastated village, and the two of them had butchered their first seal pup together.
He could kinda get it. They had tried to hide what the Fire Nation Soldiers had done from Aang, but he hadn’t really done anything that he tried to hide from Katara. They relied on each other too much for that. Even before the Kyoshi warriors, before he thought that women could be fighters, he'd known that his sister was tough. She was kind, and could be emotional, but he’d seen her make more than enough hard choices after their father had left. He didn’t really… hide much from her. Then again, Jet was caring for much younger people, he guessed it made sense.
Shut up, instincts. Nobody asked you.
“Yeah, uh, I-I guess.” He stammered uncertainly. Smellerbee looked at him sharply, but whatever she’d caught in his voice, Jet missed. The tan teen nodded sharply and stood.
“Alright. I think I trust you Sokka. I have something you need to see. Pipsqueak, The Duke, continue the watch. Smellerbee, with me.”
“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” Smellerbee asked, eyes darting back and forth between the two teen boys.
Jet frowned at her but nodded, determined. “I’m sure. We haven’t really been… getting anywhere with this recently, but if Sokka can convince the others, the benders to help…”
The younger child’s eyes widened as she caught on to the older teen’s plan, and a small smile flit across her lips. “That’s a good point! Ok, if you’re sure. I trust you.”
Jet nodded solemnly, understanding that there were few heavier phrases. Sokka fidgeted awkwardly, no longer sure that he wanted to know what they were talking about.
Who was he kidding? He was dying to know, but that didn’t stop him from knowing that what ever it was, it was something Very Bad. Still, he didn’t argue as Jet abruptly turned, taking them back through the forest. Sokka shrugged and followed. He couldn’t not go now.
Jet took him through a whirling path, through the woods and to one of the cavernous areas that seemed to be literally littering the earth kingdom. Like seriously, Sokka had never been in the Earth Kingdom and needed a cave and not been able to find one. What was with all these caves? Did earthbenders make them for fun?
Jet walked past dozens of identical caves, weaving through the canyon with ease before slipping into the entrance of one. Immediately, the thin kid with the bow and wide-brimmed hat stepped from the darkness. The kid eyed the group in confusion, though he said nothing.
“Longshot.” Jet said in greeting and Longshot nodded in reply. “I thought our new friends might be able to help solve some of the… performance issues we’d been having.”
The younger teen looked as dubious as Smellerbee had, but silently stepped back and allowed them entrance to the cave. Sokka’s curiosity and unease had both been growing steadily at the same rate throughout the trip, and he really wished this super sketchy display would help one or the other win, but nope. It was still a 1,000,000: 1,000,000.
Jet took Sokka deeper into the cave, Smellerbee electing to stick behind with Longshot. Sokka shivered as they went deeper into the earth, the temperature dropping drastically once they were out of range of the sun’s rays. The cavern was full of curving twists and turns, and it wasn’t long before the only light in source in the cave was the torch held in Jet’s hand. Sokka briefly considered that Jet had brought him there to kill him, before quickly discarding the thought. Why have Longshot guard a potential murder site? Unless… it was an active murder site and Sokka was just being added to his weird criminal ledger.
Sokka knew this was a bad idea.
The teen blinked when Jet stopped, coming face to face with metal door inlaid into the stone of the cavern. It looked like it had been there for a while, chisel marks and scratches betrayed where it had been fitted into the cave wall but they were old, some of the patches covered by forming stalagmites and stalactites. There were scrapes on the stone floor of the cave in a quarter circle right outside the door, showing evidence that the door was opened frequently. It was a straight metal sheet, with a square barred window about six inches long and three tall at about eye height.
“What is this?” He asked, voice uncharacteristically quiet in the eerie, still atmosphere of the cavern. Sokka had never been so certain that he was about to be murdered.
Jet simply handed him the torch, speaking equally quietly. “See for yourself.”
Yup. Mur. Dered. He’d had a good life.
Sokka gulped and accepted the fire, moving forward uncertainly. He peered through the window and found that on the other side of the door the cave expanded greatly, opening into a round basin several times larger than the cavern they’d walked through. The walls, though rough rock, were exact, forming a perfect circle roughly 45 yards wide with no entrance or exit other than the one they’d come through. It was exceedingly obvious that the place was carved by earthbenders rather than being a natural cave.
It was also obvious that the cave had seen a good number of battles. The walls were full of thin white scratches and scrapes, crumbling rock from bludgeoning weapons, dark spots of burgundy red where blood soaked into the rock, and, most telling, round patches of ash and soot on the walls and ceiling. It was a clear sign of fire bending.
All of this Sokka noticed and categorized in the back of his mind as he stared at the main feature of the room, a figure sitting in the very center with their back to the window. Even from this far away, Sokka could see a long chain stretching from the wall and pooling on the ground beside the figure, disappearing from view around where their hidden wrists or ankles might be.
“Who is that?” Sokka asked, speaking louder than before in his surprise.
The figure whirled then and Sokka locked gazes with a teenage boy only year or two older than him. The stranger’s cheeks were gaunt, his skin deathly pale except for a smattering of bruises and a dark red scar that took up half of his face. The boy looked at him in shock for a moment, then his expression morphed into a poisonous glare as Jet stepped up to join Sokka at the window.
“Firebender.” Jet replied with acid in his tone. Then, with less acid and more smirk he added. “Our training dummy.”
Sokka knew he should have trusted his instincts.
(Image credit to the AMAZING CountessRose!! Watch the magic of the art happen as you listen to a podfic of this chapter Here or check out additional awesome art on her Twitter @CountessMRose)