star_kingdom_logs | Destiny Islands log

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❧ [avatar: tla] zuko

Destiny Islands log

WHO: Jet (

restorehonour )
LOCATION: The beaches of Destiny Island
TIME: Late afternoon
WHAT: A surprise meeting and even more surprising Heartless assault
RATING: PG-13

Destiny Islands.

The sunny seaside resort of 'fun in the sun'- or so Jet had heard- took a whole new ominous appearance under the darkness of the rapidly growing invasion. Although the clouds showed little chance of storming, there was definitely something in the air that negated the cheery atmosphere of the usually docile beach. Then again, the mindset of losing allies often had ways of making even the brightest of days appear gloomy.

Jet hadn't wanted to believe the outburst he saw from Lee on the network. It was very convincing performance, he'd give him that, but it wouldn't be the first time he saw something that wasn't there. Aang wasn't weak. Sure, Jet may have doubted the kid at first, but before he left Ba Sing Se, the bald pacifist had been someone the freedom fighter had learned to respect.

Jet sank to his knees to poke through the disheveled remains of the now abandoned camp he had sought. Nothing but a half buried hammock and a few stray palm fronds.

The Avatar really was gone. First the kid came back one hundred years too late.
Now he had the audacity to not exist at all.

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Zuko had been tracking Heartless when he spotted a distant figure -- not a Heartless, unusually, which was odd considering most but a sparse few had barricaded themselves indoors to stay safe. He followed them, and was taken to the last place he wanted to be right now. The place he, Aang, Sokka and Katara had all spent so much time at together. The place that was yet another painful reminder all of them had vanished into the darkness.

And kneeling there poking through the place was Jet, as ever sticking his nose where it didn't belong.

"What are you doing here?" Zuko emerged from the treeline. He didn't draw his swords, but he had a feeling he'd have to soon enough if Jet attacked him, so he kept a wary distance. "If you're looking for Aang and the others, they're gone."

At once Jet was at his feet, a bundle of defensive rage. He should have known Lee would know this place too- that was, if the whole part about the Avatar trusting him was even true. The part he could now never confirm because the Avatar went and got himself sucked into the darkness.

Think I don't know that?!

"No thanks to you."

"Believe me, if I could find a way to rescue them from the darkness, I'd do it."

He stepped closer, but still careful to keep his distance. If Jet suddenly had powers now, he wouldn't risk getting too close. Jet's anger was obvious, and he didn't want to provoke it.

"Listen, I'm only here to fight the Heartless. If you're smart, you'll move on instead of wasting your energy on me."

"You'd like that wouldn't you?"

Jet sneered, looking the other over. It wasn't as if Zuko was brash enough to invade his space on normal occasions, but the distance the firebender gave him certainly was strengthening the Earth rebel's ego.
He was being seen as a threat. Good.

"I never said I was after you, I'm looking for clues. Never believe anything until you see it- but while we're on the subject, it is awfully convenient they would disappear right after you tell me to see them, funny how that works, Lee."

The smile dropped. You getting his drift, Fire Nation? However...
Jet spat out the blade of grass from his mouth.

"Tch... I'll admit it does look like the darkness got them."

"Yeah, I conveniently started this whole Heartless invasion just so they couldn't talk to you," Zuko responded tersely, his hands tightening into fists. "All according to plan."

At least Jet would admit that much would be impossible. He hoped. But something else bothered Zuko...

"Where have you been all this time? You acted like you didn't know about the war being over. Anyone who knows about the end of the war wouldn't question that me and Aang are friends."

There were ways to take advantage of a situation without planning the whole thing. A guy just had to be in the right place at the right time- Jet had several answers to this degree in reserve, but he held back from saying them. Those tightened fists were enough for now. He regret spitting out his chewing stalk, Lee's pestering questions were making him bite his lip.

“Where have I been?”

I don't know what you're talking about!
Ugh, there was no way to sound smart about what he didn't know. If he wanted answers he had to risk some of the truth.

“I never left Ba Sing Se. The last memories I have are fighting you and.. then some couple weeks after.”

Two weeks. Two weeks Smellerbee had said he'd been gone. Jet chanced a few troubled blinks. Something about the firebender's appearance had been bugging him.

“...your hair was shorter then. I haven't seen anyone since.”

Zuko scrubbed at his hair self-consciously. After everything that happened, the thing Jet noticed was the length of his hair? Sheesh. "I've been here around five months. Before that, the war ended on the day of Sozin's Comet, in the middle of summer. You're telling me you don't remember any of it?"

He crossed his arms, frowning. "Katara was the same when she came here. Some of her memories were missing -- she'd forgotten the war was over. And my sister--" Zuko halts. There's not really a way to say 'wasn't insane'. "--She was... different to how she should have been. People here think the darkness can mess with time as well as worlds."

Hey, knock it all you want, longer hair wasn't something the Spirits or bending manipulated, it meant time had passed- REAL time. Jet's eyes flickered back and forth, mentally searching through the chasms of erased minutes the Dai Li left fragmented around his mind.

"I may have forgot a lot of things, but the war being over wasn't one of them."

Sister. Different. Time being messed with. War being over. Hnngh.
Subconsciously, Jet lifted a hand to his forehead.

"That makes sense. I was with Aang before I got here, that wasn't even a week ago- but he said he hadn't seen me in months."

There was something... off in the way Jet was acting. His body language. Zuko frowned. "Yeah. Aang and Sokka were from the same time as me and remembered everything I did. They could've told you everything." He knew that now, though, no matter how much he explained himself to Jet, he'd never believe a word of it. There was no one here from their world to back him up except Mai, and she was just as Fire Nation as he was.

"What happened to you after the Dai Li captured you?"

"I don't have to answer that." Jet snapped, taking a subtle step back toward the partly shaded tree cover.

Have to was how he phrased it, but did that mean he didn't want to? If this was a game right now he had every upper hand imaginable. With the war over, there was no need to keep quiet on details.

A shadow zips overhead with the passing of the breeze. A trick of the light perhaps? Jet didn't seem to pay it much mind

"Nothing good if you really want to know. Turns out Ba Sing Se was even more messed up than I thought.”

Instinct made Zuko glance up, but whatever had passed overhead had already gone. It made him uneasy, but he cast it out of his mind as Jet spoke again.

"I have a pretty good idea of just how messed up it is," he replied. Considering the huge presence of the Dai Li, and how Azula was able to seize control of them from the inside so effortlessly... Then there was the underground base of Lake Laogai where Appa was being kept... Zuko was sure he'd only skated the surface of what had to be a huge conspiracy. "Things are different now the war's over. The Earth King has control of the city, not the Dai Li."

"Good. Hopefully his regime doesn't include snatching strangers off the street to use as mind slaves- Or playing with someone's memories until they forget why they even came there!"

There was some satisfaction to be had in the news of the Dai Li- more specifically, Long Feng getting what was his. Far as Jet knew, the Dai Li hadn't usurped the city's authority yet. Regardless of the length of their mutiny, as long as it was good and over with, he could learn to be content.

A few more of the same eerie shadows darted overhead; much faster this time, a different speed than the winds. In fact that wasn't the only area with unusual activity... something seemed a little too dark about the shadows growing behind the behind freedom fighter.

"Becau--"

With one strike, Jet goes flying and the heartless horde emerge from the shadows. Looks like you've got company.

"Jet--!" Zuko shouted when he saw the Heartless, but too late -- Jet had already been knocked flying. Zuko drew his swords and charged into the fray with a furious battle cry. Just the sight of the Heartless was enough to make him see red, now, and he hacked and slashed and battled against the horde without restraint.

“Fine.. 'M fine.”

Jet groaned from the heap of palm trees that had toppled over from his impact. He sat up with a wince, licking a patch of red off his tooth. His swords acted as a crutch to pull him back on his feet, digging the hilts deep into the sand.

“Where do these things come from?!”

The invasion had been reaching everywhere, it was no surprise they were at this world; but for the shadows to just emerge from the stone wall behind him?! Crazy. For a minute, he just watched Lee go to town, hacking and slashing with a fervor Jet had only once tasted before in battle. Technically he could just leave, he had no reason to help the firebender out and- okay fine, it was really hard to sneak past these creeps among other things.

“You're not going to take them all down with moves like that!”

Jet slid in close to the Fire Nation citizen's frenzied swings and slipped a hook beneath an especially large heartless' foot; aiming to trip the creature on top of the smaller monsters accumulating by it's feet. The bigger they were, the harder they fell.

Zuko froze and looked over his shoulder as Jet approached, trying to figure out if Jet was targeting him or the Heartless. Jet's movements soon answered his question. He leaped aside as the larger Heartless fell, crushing the smaller Shadows beneath it. Then he ran the larger Heartless through as it struggled to get back to its feet, and it disappeared in a cloud of black smoke.

Once again, Zuko and Jet weren't a bad team. Too bad Jet hated his guts.

Zuko turned on the next group of Heartless; monkey-like creatures that jumped down from the trees and onto the two teenagers. Zuko cut through the first two before they could even hit the ground, but one landed on his back, claws scrabbling for purchase. Zuko slammed the flat of his blade into the Heartless, sending it reeling to the floor. He had to stay focused -- he knew he was getting sloppy and careless in his anger.

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Destiny Islands log

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(have a few more minutes before my net is out! XD)

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