Blinded - Jetliene

He had his back turned to her, to the world. Deciding for himself that this was the best decision and the only one. Jet gripped the handles of his swords as he stared down upon the future war ground. His revenge, their revenge, would finally be carried out. They could finally sleep in peace knowing that the people responsible for the destruction of their families would suffer the consequences. Jet's eyes narrowed as he thought back to home he use to love, his parents and it being burnt to the ground in front of his eyes. The whole reason he started the Freedom Fighters was to repay   them for what they had done to all their families. She had to understand, they tore families apart, their families, her family.  The rays of the now setting autumn sun cascaded  down on the Hideout and weaved their way through the endless tops of trees.  Setting what seemed like a fire in his heart. He stood on the branch, just out from the platform where his hut sat.

This was a fight waiting to happen. Jets thought echoed through his mind as he stole a glance at the Earth Kingdom teenager sitting on the railing behind him. She was staring at the platform below her, running her hands through her brunette hair. Jet's eyes softened, no longer holding the tense fierce reflection they had earlier.  He knew this was getting to her by the way her fist clenched. When he had told her the decision, she was unexpectedly surprised. She had looked at him as if……….if she thought he had gone mad. Maybe…….just maybe I have. He turned his back to her once again, taking in a deep breath.

"This is crazy." Her usually firm tone had taken on a soft one, and it somehow caught him off guard. He looked back just to catch her cold stare. His heart dropped, out of all the time they had fought she had never given him a stare that hurt. She shook her head and noticeably forced out a laugh.  "Jet the war is over, its stupid to start another one. This is a completely pointless battle."

He didn't turn away, just harshly stated "It's in no way pointless." Before narrowing his eyebrows to stare at her. She sighed and closed her eyes, then looked over her knee that she had bent up beside her.

"This revenge of yours," she said while placing a hand over her knee, "has been turned in to somethin' that I saw in my father."  She hesitantly put a scared hand over her permanent symbol. Wanting so bad to burn it off of her skin, she unintentionally gripped it along with the scar her father left on her.  "Your completely blinded."

Something snapped in him, for some reason his fuse had been lit. "You don't understand, Jasliene." he roughly said staring at her. She looked back at him, "How the hell is that possible?" she said returning his gaze and getting slightly agitated,

"If anyone knows how you feel and understands you the most don't you think that would be me?" She had both hands on her knee, holding back her fists calling out to hit him square in the face to knock some sense into him, "Or that waterbender?"

Jet's eyes widened, a long silence stood before he quietly answered, "What about her?" while staring at his feet, avoiding the Princesses' hurt eyes.

"It's not that hard to tell you had," she suddenly corrected herself, closing her eyes as if to shut the pain out, "Have. Feelings for her." For some reason, it hurt to admit it out loud. During her time as a Freedom Fighter she had developed certain feelings for him, feelings that friends shouldn't feel toward one another. Jasliene's heart sunk, This hurt……..this unbearable feeling resting on me……..its happening all over again.   Jet slowly turned around from the cool branch of the oak tree he was standing on and jumped down onto the platform with a thud, and slowly started to walk over toward her, automatically putting his swords back in their cases on his back. She kept her position, one leg bent up next to her side, hands placed on top of her knee and her head resting on them, hiding her mouth. The other leg dangling just above the ground.  Jet gradually leaned against the railing next to her. She lowered her gaze, refusing to look at him.

That felt like a slap to the face. He thought leaning down trying to catch her eyes, but she quickly looked out over the horizon. The orange, red, and yellow colors of the sunset bounced off her, making her seem to glow. He squinted his eyes a little and looked closely at her, she had tears in her eyes.   Damn……. He cursed at himself. Why? Why was it, that every time she felt like this his heart took a hit? Why was she so intriguing to him? Why did he feel an overwhelming feeling to protect her? Why?

He slowly took her chin in his hand, placing his thumb just below her lip and his other fingers curled under her jaw line. He turned her face toward his, forcing her green eyes to meet his brown ones.  He opened his mouth to speak but he couldn't find any words and decided to close his mouth  before he humiliated himself, which he seemed to do a lot. Around her.  He released her chin and moved his eyes to the ground.

"I have to do this…" he silently whispered, almost like he didn't want her to hear it. Her eyebrows lowered, in frustration. She shook her head, mainly in disappointment.

"You don't have to do anything! This is your own chose! Innocent people are going to die because of  your obsession over the Fire Nation!" She said as he turned his back on her once again.

"I have to do this!!" Jet yelled at her, she exploded inside, she suddenly stood up and whirled him around grabbing his shoulders. Trying her best to get her point across his thick skull.

"Your obsessed!! Stop it! I can't stand it anymore!" she yelled back at him, staring sternly in his eyes. Jet didn't back down, he gave her the same stare. Their personalities clashed like fire and ice. The exact same attitude in two different people. It could be called a collision of the worlds, Jets diligence pressed forward.

"It's not an obsession!! It's a vow!!" he yelled louder than before, Jasliene gritted her teeth at his stubbornness, she was losing her patience but tried one last and final time to talk the fearless teenager out of what he was about to do.

"I vowed to never trust anybody, and then you came along. I don't know why but you had something, I couldn't explain. You have the same heart as me. I want revenge too, you know exactly how bad I want it. But Jet you've taken this to far." she locked gazes with him. Rage and concern were both showing in her emerald green eyes. Why cant he understand, I've been through what he's been through. Jet please, I understand. She thought to herself fighting the tears that were daring to come to her eyes.

"No, I'm taking this just to the right level. You don't know me, or what I think. How could you? You were pampered all your life, you had it good."  he said as he stared in her eyes. She looked at him for a moment with anger then her eyes suddenly filled with tears, but she refused to let them out.  Rage took her over, she knew she would lose control of her body if she stayed there much longer.

"Fine!," she yelled pushing him away. "If you want to do this so damn badly, I don't care!! Do it! You never take anyone else's  advice or suggestions why should I expect you to take mine!" She jumped down from the platform onto a branch, then jumped to grab another one before swinging and landing on another one until she was out of sight. Jet stood in silence, watching as she disappeared into the depths of the forest.

"I always do this, I hurt her way to much." He backed up until his back hit the side of his hut, and slowly slid down, fisted his hands in his brown hair, and tightly shut his eyes. "You idiot…….." he mumbled to himself.

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She kept going from tree branch to tree branch until she herd the rippling of the crystal clear water that ran over the one hundred foot water fall. When she finally caught sight of it she dropped down from the suddenly stopping tree branches, and walked toward the small lake that sat at the end of it. She stood at the waters edge, feeling the mist that cascaded off of the waterfall.  She stared down, in a trance remembering the time she shared there with Jet, Smellerbee and Longshot.

"Come'on Jasliene! The water don't bite!!"  Jet yelled as he, Smellerbee, and Longshot had already dived in the unusually deep lake  She shook her head in response, she didn't hate the water and she could swim pretty well. It was the thought of everyone seeing her scars that scared her the most. So she sat in the trees above the lake, watching them enjoy the swimming.

"What's so scary about it Jazz? Can you not swim or something?"  Jet said as he popped up out off the a water . She smiled at his thoughtfulness.

"Or something!" she yelled back so he could hear her. He pushed his wet hair back and looked up at her with a smug look. She shook her head once again, telling him no to whatever the heck he had planned.

He said……..something that Jasliene couldn't make out and walked out of the small lagoon. Not grabbing a towel or his clothes and disappeared into the forest. She raised an eyebrow and looked back to the two left in the lake.

"Where's he goin?" she yelled down at them. They looked at each other with a devilish grin and shrugged their shoulders in sync. That had a plan, and by the look of it a sneaky one. She rolled her eyes and sat back against the main trunk of the tree placing her hands behind her head and closing her eyes hoping to drift of to sleep.

"Ok, What's the deal?." She jumped at the sound of  his voice, and looked over to see a soaking wet, half naked Freedom Fighter. She didn't answer, just stared. When the bright summer sun hit the droplets of water it made it seem as if he glowed, but that was only one reason she was staring, she never knew he had abs but now there was no doubt. Jet smirked, and waved his hand in front of her face.

"Jasliene if you don't close your mouth flies are goin to get in." he said laughing, she instantly snapped out of it blushing wildly. She looked away quickly,

"I wasn't staring." she said still avoiding eye contact, her denying what just happened made him smile even wider. He poked her side, "Yes you were Jazzy." He kept poking her side repeating that same line. Her face burned red as she swatted his hand away from her.

"No! I wasn't!" she finally looked at him, he saw her crimson cheeks and pinched them. "This is a cute look for you." He teased, getting her more flustered as she instantly jerked away.

"I'm being serious, why don't you want to swim?" he said putting a hand on her shoulder. She looked over at him, losing the burning blush that was on her cheeks. She put her hand over her upper stomach.

"Skdgnclkjra….." she mumbled. Jet raised an eyebrow in confusion. "Huh?" he said leaning in closer so he could hear her. He blushed when he realized his arm was around her shoulder and his face was inches away from hers.

"……Scars……" She whispered, this time he clearly understood.

"That's nothing to be ashamed of, we all have scars."

"It's more like a very big scar……………that covers my………um………chest and almost every where under my shirt."  she said shyly, Jet smiled and pulled her in to his chest, wrapping his arms around her as he said,

"Were not going to judge you Jazz."  She blinked a few times, trying to comprehend what was happening. She automatically wrapped her arms back around him.

"Thank you Jet…" she whispered into his bare chest. She slowly lent back, smiled and stood up, walking to the edge of the thick branch. She caught the back of her black boot with the other and slipped it off, and did the same with the other. Jet placed both hands behind him on the trunk and watched her curiously. She undid the slash around her waist and let it drop to her feet. Jet's eyes widened, he looked away quickly with a faint hint of blush on his cheeks. He hesitantly looked back at her through the corner of his eyes. She had an under skirt-swim thing on, and was now taking her shirt off. His blush deepened as she looked back before slipping the navy blue cloth over her head.

He instantly saw the scar she was talking about, even though she had gauges wrapped around her chest, it showed clearly. And he knew it wasn't a scar made from any weapon or blade. It was from fire.

"You coming?" She said looking over her shoulder readying to jump the over 70 foot drop below. Jet stood up and hurried toward her.

"Wait you cant dive from there! Are you crazy?!" He was too late, she had dived off, leaving Jet staring in awe.

"You noticed?" She yelled before hitting the water with a splash.  

She smiled at the memory, and shoved her hands in her pockets while walking along the waters edge toward the waterfall. She kicked a pebble at her feet as she walked along, she walked a few more steps before finding the same pebble and kicking it in the lake with a plunk .

"Why do you have to be a big arrogant jerk sometimes?" she said out loud before looking up into the millions of gallons of water that poured over the slick rocks. Instantly a image of the so called big-arrogant-jerk flashed in her head.  "Jerk…" she mumbled again. She looked at her boots, then slipped them off as well as the rest of her clothes and lowered her self in the water.

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"Jet?" a voice came from beside him, he slowly looked up catching the eyes of Smellerbee. He let out a sigh and lowered his head back in his hands. He didn't answer, he didn't feel the need to. She knew, they all knew that he only acted like this when he had done something to hurt Jasliene.

"What did you do this time?" she said placing a glove covered hand on her hip. He shook his head, making his brown hair ruffle. She instantly rolled her eyes and sat beside him.

"You know how she cares about you, you just need to talk to her Jet." she jumped when he punched the wood floor, his fist shook as he held it to the spot where it collided with the floor. He raised his head, he had his teeth clenched and tear marks ran down his cheeks.

"But I keep doing it!! I keep hurting her, and she just makes it……augh!! Complicated!" he shouted keeping his eyes off Smellerbee's, as he pushed his head back against the hut wall and stared up into the ocean of green leaves. She shook her head, stood up, and started to walk away before looking over her shoulder and saying,

"No matter what you do, she'll always forgive you," she started walking toward the bridge, "so go and apologize, make-up, hug, kiss whatever does it for ya." she waved her hand as her voice drifted off but Jet herd every word clearly.

I hate it when she makes sense…. He thought staring as she walked away, lost his self  in his thoughts. He scratched his head as he stood up and headed to the edge of the platform.

"Guess it's the best thing to do….if I don't want her to hate me." he stated before jumping down on tree branch after tree branch.

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She stood under a less powerful part of the waterfall, letting the water wash away her worries. Well, for a moment, then they all flooded back in. She pushed her hair back, revealing a scar above her right eyebrow, she shut her eyes.

"Why do I love you?……." She asked silently in the consciousness of her mind. She stepped back, standing and staring at the waterfall from the cave behind it. The water cascaded a sheet over the entrance, but let the lake be in full view. She touched her back to the cool stone of the cave as water came to her waist.

"I knew I would find you here." a voice said standing outside the sheet of water that blocked the opening to the cave. Jasliene jumped and suddenly stepped forward.

"Jet?"

He stepped through the water fully clothed, his hair fell over his eyes, he pushed it back out of his face as he stepped forward a little.  An awkward silence lingered in the air, Jasliene pushed a piece of drying hair behind her ear as she stared down at the water, Jet looked around the cave as if trying to find something to start a conversation.

"Jet-"

"Jasliene-" The two Freedom Fighters said in sync, they both stopped at looked at each other, waiting to see what each other was going to say.

"Look I-"

"I'm sorry." Jasliene said just above a whisper, Jet looked at her stunned.

"I should be the one who's sorry, I said those things……and I…….I hate fighting with you, Jasliene. Because I know I'm always going to end up hurting you and that's the last thing I want. I never want to hurt you, I  just want to….protect you," He said hesitantly rubbing the back of his neck. "And yea I know, you don't need my protection. You can fend for yourself, but theres some things that you just cant take on Jazz, and those are the things that I want to protect you from."

"Jet….."

"I know, I know. Leave you alone." He said turning to leave, Jasliene reach forward and grabbed his wrist before pulling him back in toward the cave. Jet instantly looked back at her with wide eyes. His heart stared thumping out of control, so loudly that he was surprised that she didn't hear it.  

"You think you know me so well," she said still holding his wrist, looking down as her hair fell over her emerald eyes. Jet stepped forward, the sound of water moving was all that was herd as well as the waterfall. Her grip on his wrist tightened.

"You don't even know when I want you to stay." She looked up at him and gave a small smile, then released his arm but before she could get her arm back to her side he stepped forward once again, wrapping his arms around her. She buried her face in his drenched shirt and gripped his shoulders. He pulled her in as close as he could and rested his head on hers.

"Then tell me when you want me to stay, and quit being so hard headed." he said putting his hand on the back of her head. Jasliene laughed slightly and quietly said,

"Your one to talk."

"Jasliene I-"

"What is this? Make out falls?" Jet and Jasliene instantly separated and looked for the body the interrupting voice came from. They turned to see a around four figures standing outside the waterfall. Jet motioned for Jasliene to follow him, when they came out of the cave, Smellerbee, Longshot, Honey, and The Duke stood in swimming clothes staring at the pair intensely.

"What are you guys doin' here?" Jet said rolling his eyes. Then sudden laughter made its way to his ears.

"What?" he said, annoyed.

"You have all your clothes on!" Smellerbee said putting a hand on Longshot's shoulder to support herself.

"Screw off."  he said blushing and evilly staring at them. Jasliene smirked and looked over to him. Deciding maybe it was a good time to torture him.

"Don't be so harsh…." she said taking his hand in hers. His blush deepened, as he moved his fingers to lace them with hers causing her to a light shade of crimson.

"Oh so you two are dating now, eh?" Honey said smiling ear to ear and some how wiggling her eyebrows.

"NO!" The two (who where still holding hands) yelled in sync. They looked at each with wide eyes and red faces.

"Then why are you two still holding hands?" The Duke stated, scratching his head. Jasliene did the exact opposite of what Jet thought she would do, tightened her grip. Then basically drowned him by diving while dragging him along. He popped out of the water gasping for air and coughing.

"The Hell Jazz?!" he said lifting her up with their still holding hands. She looked at him and purposely  batted her eyelashes, "You'll get over it."

He blushed and mumbled something beneath his breath, Jasliene kissed his cheek and released his hand before diving back down to the depths of the deep lake. He stood stone still, frozen, he could feel the heat in his face as he stood speechless. Then he felt a hand on his shoulder, Longshot.

Smellerbee walked up and put her hands on her hips, "Not dating huh?" she said descending down into the water in front of Jet where the Earth Kingdom girl disappeared. Jet shook his head just as Jasliene reach the top of the water.

"You'll pay for that one Princess!!" he yelled, slipping his soaked clothes off .

"IF you can catch me, Pretty boy!" She yelled back laughing, sitting on the opposite bank. Jet smiled before diving back into the water, set on catching Jasliene.

Get ready, cause you'll pay for that one, Delilah.