It turns out that Blue-Mask had his base-camp actually kinda really close to where home is. And the place isn’t abandoned- the central meeting-house is closed down, but the same two personal dwellings they’d cleared together are still in working order.
Smellerbee and Longshot’s place has been lived in, recently. His- is just the way he left it, sealed and caulked for winter.
He waits for them up top.
Smellerbee’s eyes go wide when her head pops up over the edge of the platform; she drops the brace of winter turkeyducks she’s carrying and leaps for him, while Longshot retrieves her catch before it can fall to earth.
“Jet!”
“Hey, guys-oof-!”
He catches their embraces, holds them tight, and they’re all three laughing and crying all at once. They hug him, touch his face, touch his stomach, like they can’t believe he’s alive and whole. The relief, the love is real and so bright and warm after all this time.
Once the first glow dies down, though, so is the anger.
“Where’ve you guys been?” he asks, Longshot breaking off to start hanging up the catch while Smellerbee puts on water.
“We’ve been trying to figure out how to get to you- you were in the middle of town, and our faces were on the wanted posters. Jet- did you make it out- yourself?” she hesitates.
“You, ah, wouldn’t happen to know a guy- blue mask, never speaks?”
The water splashes.
“He found you!”
“Yeah- yeah, he found me,” Jet says, glancing between the two of them. “You guys gonna come with me so we can thank him properly?” He acts like he doesn’t see the flash of guilt, the surprise, the fear. They were in on it- they knew.
They follow him down anyway, and come upon the tent just as Lee is stumbling out, smoldering rope bits falling away from his wrists and feet.
Jet smiles, advances, and slams the other guy down into the snow so hard that he thinks if he were still wearing the mask it would fly off. Carrying Thumper may make him clumsy, but sometimes the extra weight has advantages.
“So- you were gonna ‘make it up to me if you could,’ huh?” he snarls, only partially holding back a coughing fit, and this can’t be Lee, Lee wouldn’t stare up at him so stupid, Lee would have wrestled him off and glowered and bit.
Lee wouldn’t have let him get his hands around his neck.
“What were you gonna do, huh? Drag me back to the Fire Nation, keep me ‘til I popped, then execute me? Like those bastards back in town were planning?!”
Smellerbee’s trying to drag him back, holding on to his shoulders and sinking her grip into the layers of cloth and tearing. Jet throws her off, gets up off of Lee who’s gasping for breath, the marks of his fingers growing livid in his pretty neck.
“And you two! You knew this guy was coming for me! You let him get to me!”
“We were trying to save you! Jet, they knew our faces! We couldn’t get near you, we had to get help!” she shouts up from the snow. Now it’s Longshot holding him back from Smellerbee, arms grappling up from under his.
“So you let the Firelord come get me, the guy who got me brainwashed, who wants my kid?”
“-said I wouldn’t take her,” and Lee, Zuko’s getting up from the snow, rubbing his throat with a wince. “I won’t. I left a pardon, back at the prison. You’re s’posed to- ow,” he pauses, and he dares to look up at him with something like humor, self-deprecating as it might be, glimmering in his eyes. “You really-“
His head snaps back when Jet clocks him, and Longshot holds on tight to keep him from managing that again.
“You son of a bitch! How dare you show your face around here! You lying bastard, you fuck up everything and then waltz back here when it’s convenient?”
Late!late!Bonus!fic- After The War 7/?
Smellerbee and Longshot’s place has been lived in, recently. His- is just the way he left it, sealed and caulked for winter.
He waits for them up top.
Smellerbee’s eyes go wide when her head pops up over the edge of the platform; she drops the brace of winter turkeyducks she’s carrying and leaps for him, while Longshot retrieves her catch before it can fall to earth.
“Jet!”
“Hey, guys-oof-!”
He catches their embraces, holds them tight, and they’re all three laughing and crying all at once. They hug him, touch his face, touch his stomach, like they can’t believe he’s alive and whole. The relief, the love is real and so bright and warm after all this time.
Once the first glow dies down, though, so is the anger.
“Where’ve you guys been?” he asks, Longshot breaking off to start hanging up the catch while Smellerbee puts on water.
“We’ve been trying to figure out how to get to you- you were in the middle of town, and our faces were on the wanted posters. Jet- did you make it out- yourself?” she hesitates.
“You, ah, wouldn’t happen to know a guy- blue mask, never speaks?”
The water splashes.
“He found you!”
“Yeah- yeah, he found me,” Jet says, glancing between the two of them. “You guys gonna come with me so we can thank him properly?” He acts like he doesn’t see the flash of guilt, the surprise, the fear. They were in on it- they knew.
They follow him down anyway, and come upon the tent just as Lee is stumbling out, smoldering rope bits falling away from his wrists and feet.
Jet smiles, advances, and slams the other guy down into the snow so hard that he thinks if he were still wearing the mask it would fly off. Carrying Thumper may make him clumsy, but sometimes the extra weight has advantages.
“So- you were gonna ‘make it up to me if you could,’ huh?” he snarls, only partially holding back a coughing fit, and this can’t be Lee, Lee wouldn’t stare up at him so stupid, Lee would have wrestled him off and glowered and bit.
Lee wouldn’t have let him get his hands around his neck.
“What were you gonna do, huh? Drag me back to the Fire Nation, keep me ‘til I popped, then execute me? Like those bastards back in town were planning?!”
Smellerbee’s trying to drag him back, holding on to his shoulders and sinking her grip into the layers of cloth and tearing. Jet throws her off, gets up off of Lee who’s gasping for breath, the marks of his fingers growing livid in his pretty neck.
“And you two! You knew this guy was coming for me! You let him get to me!”
“We were trying to save you! Jet, they knew our faces! We couldn’t get near you, we had to get help!” she shouts up from the snow. Now it’s Longshot holding him back from Smellerbee, arms grappling up from under his.
“So you let the Firelord come get me, the guy who got me brainwashed, who wants my kid?”
“-said I wouldn’t take her,” and Lee, Zuko’s getting up from the snow, rubbing his throat with a wince. “I won’t. I left a pardon, back at the prison. You’re s’posed to- ow,” he pauses, and he dares to look up at him with something like humor, self-deprecating as it might be, glimmering in his eyes. “You really-“
His head snaps back when Jet clocks him, and Longshot holds on tight to keep him from managing that again.
“You son of a bitch! How dare you show your face around here! You lying bastard, you fuck up everything and then waltz back here when it’s convenient?”