(Before we begin, I'd like to apologize to those select few who actually like Jet... Okay. On with the show.)
Water, Earth, Fire, Air
When I couldn't decide what to do regarding an assignment for my art club as the deadline quickly approached, I drowned into the Avatar: The Last Airbender world... literally! According to the Spirits, there is only one way for me to return to my own world: Through making A Thousand And One Drawings. Though that seems easy to do with what the Spirits have given me, there is a catch. I have to do it before the end of the storyline.
But do I even want to leave this dreamlike world?
Book 1: Water
Chapter 10: Jet
It was the middle of the night. Everyone was fast asleep... well, almost everyone. Lily was awake. She couldn't sleep at all... so she got up and walked over to Sokka's sleeping bag. She picked up Sokka's satchel, which was right next to his sleeping figure, and took out the waterbending scroll.
'I have to learn somehow,' she thought. 'This is COMPLETELY justified.'
But when Lily arrived at the nearest creek, what should she see but Emilia drawing. She turned to go back to camp and pretend nothing happened, but Emilia stopped her.
"What are you doing?"
"Uh..."
"It's a little late for waterbending practice, don't you think?"
Lily's eyes widened.
"How did you know?"
Emilia set down her canvas and faced her Water Tribe friend with a smile.
"I knew you'd want to since you never got a chance to see the scroll earlier."
"Y-you were asleep! How'd you know?!"
"It was kind of obvious because you weren't waterbending at all when we escaped from Zuko and the pirates the other day."
"O-oh..."
"But why are you so set on mastering the advanced stuff when you can't do the basics?"
Lily's eyes darkened with a strange emotion that no one would be able to place. When Lily lifted up her head again, she seemed enraged.
"I'M A WATERBENDER TOO! I AM JUST AS GOOD AS EVERYONE ELSE! BETTER EVEN!!!"
"Lily..." Emilia watched with empathy as Lily instantly went from a state of fury to at the brink of tears.
"But my bending is broken... I can't do anything... they told me I was blessed... that the Ocean Spirit had gifted me with great power... SO WHY CAN I NOT WATERBEND RIGHT?!" Lily then broke down sobbing. Emilia got up and hugged her friend, doing her best to comfort her. Emilia didn't mean to trigger this set of emotion, but she knew Lily had to say it.
"It's gonna be okay, Lily... it's all going to be okay..."
The next morning, not too long after they woke up, Aang realized Momo was missing. The five then found him in a Fire Nation trap. Emilia and Aang climbed the trees to help set free the other trapped animals, hogmonkeys, when Sokka got impatient and threw his boomerang, shortening the process.
"These are Fire Nation traps. You can tell from the metalwork. We better pack up camp and get moving."
But as they were putting their packs on Appa, Sokka interrupted again.
"Uh uh. No flying this time."
"What? Why wouldn't we fly?" As Sokka explained why, Emilia recognized this dialogue. They were entering one of her least favorite episodes in the series...
'I hope this ends quickly...' she thought. 'I really don't want to run into HIM... maybe I can get us to avoid the whole fiasco altogether...'
"Sokka's just jealous 'cuz he doesn't have an arrow," Aang said. Emilia giggled.
"I would like an arrow, but I'm not an airbender."
Aang smiled at Emilia's comment.
As Sokka was trying to get people to go along with his instinct (to which Lily agreed), Katara and him got into a bit of a discussion about who was the leader of the team. Sokka and Lily both thought Sokka should be the leader, but Katara was saying it should be Aang. Emilia did her best to stay out of the discussion, instead deciding to draw the scene.
"Who knows? Walking might be fun," Aang added once the decision was made.
"Trust me, Aang," Emilia warned. "It's not."
Later, when Aang made the remark that walking stinks, Katara was trying to make a point to Sokka that his instincts were ridiculous and nonsensical. Emilia offered to carry Aang's stuff for him, but he didn't hear her.
"Look, guys, I'm tired too. But the important thing is that we're safe from the-" The group then walked right into a Fire Nation camp.
"Fire Nation!" Lily yelled, drowning out the rest of what Sokka was saying.
"Run!" The group threw down their bags and ran. Sokka's shirt caught fire and Lily tried to put it out, but she failed to waterbend and Katara did it first.
"If you let us pass, we promise not to hurt you," Sokka declared.
"What are you doing?" Katara questioned.
"Bluffing..."
"You? Promise not to hurt us?" The soldier suddenly fell from being shot down with an arrow, as they soon realized when Katara spotted people in the trees. Emilia huddled close to the flames, hoping not to be seen. She failed.
Lily grabbed Emilia's hand and pulled her away from the flames... and then Emilia made eye contact with a certain someone as he pulled down two soldiers with his hook swords.
"Down you go."
As the people in the trees fought the soldiers, Emilia looked at Katara, who had a blush on her cheeks.
'You have GOT to be kidding me... why is this still canon?'
Emilia looked over to where Sokka was upon hearing his loud battle cry. Lily was there too, but then HE came around and took out the guy Sokka was about to hit.
"Hey! He was mine!"
"Gotta be quicker next time."
Lily glared at the stranger whereas Katara smiled, as Emilia noticed.
'Thank goodness I don't have two lovestruck girls to ruin the life of.'
However, Emilia noticed how sad Lily looked after she turned back to watching Aang and Katara fight with their bending.
The stranger then made an overly-exaggerated struggle (in Emilia's opinion) to not get stabbed and took out another one of Sokka's foes.
"Man!"
And then Emilia turned back to see Katara talk to him for the first time.
"Hi..." she said.
"Hey." Emilia wanted to wipe that smirk off his face so bad, but she knew she was sort of powerless in this situation.
"Army?! There were only, like, twenty guys!"
Emilia noticed Lily actually go to count the fallen soldiers, and as she did that, the stranger introduced himself as Jet... and he introduced his team, the Freedom Fighters.
"Pipsqueak. That's a funny name." The tall guy out of the duo that Aang approached then looked down at Aang.
"You think my name is funny?"
"...It's hilarious!" They then laughed and then Lily pulled Sokka (who was busy glaring at the Freedom Fighters) and Emilia aside.
"There actually only were twenty. You were right, Sokka."
"Yeah. I make a great leader, don't I?"
Lily nodded and Emilia cracked a small smile.
"Hey Jet! These barrels are filled with blasting jelly."
"That's a great score."
"And these boxes are filled with jelly CANDY!"
"Also good. Let's not get those mixed up."
"We'll take this stuff back to the hideout."
Aang then snapped to attention.
"You guys have a hideout?!"
"You wanna see it?" Jet asked.
"Yes, we wanna see it!" Katara exclaimed.
"No..." Emilia mumbled under her breath. Lily looked at her friend confused, wondering what Emilia was thinking.
"Do you think we should see it?" Lily asked.
"I honestly don't want to, but Katara won't take our opinions for answers."
The group then walked into the forest, Emilia and Lily doing most of the carrying for Team Avatar's stuff.
"We're here," Jet informed them.
"You might wanna put your stuff on your bison," Smellerbee told them. Right after they did so, Sokka went flying up into the air.
"Sokka!" Lily cried out. Emilia watched as Lily marched right up to Jet, seeming a little angry. "What did you do to him?!"
"Relax. Sokka's fine." He then grabbed another rope and held it out to Lily. "Wanna join him?"
"Well..." Lily hesitated. "Just to make sure he's okay." She took it and looked back at Jet, a deathly glare on her face. "But this doesn't mean I like you or anything you do." She then went flying up into the trees.
"Aang?"
"I'll get up on my own."
Emilia watched Aang as he started his climb, looking back at the scene right after... only ending up seeing Jet staring at her. Emilia quickly turned to face Longshot, who was to her right.
"Could I get one of those rope things?"
Longshot nodded and handed her one, and Emilia grabbed it and went flying up as well.
'Please let this be over soon...'
The moment Longshot arrived on the platform, Emilia turned to him again.
"Could you show me where we'll be putting our stuff?"
Longshot nodded and guided Emilia to the hut the team would be staying in. Lily came by later to drop off the sleeping bags and stuff.
"The Duke said dinner will be ready soon. You coming?" she asked Emilia.
"You go on ahead. I'll see if I'm hungry later."
"If you say so..."
Emilia picked up her canvas and brush after setting up and walked out of the hut. She perched herself on a branch and began drawing the sky... almost as if trying to count the stars.
"...I can't do this," she said, giving up on her drawing. "It's inspiration-less..."
Emilia then closed her eyes and began asking herself questions, hoping for some kind of answer.
'How are Zuko and Iroh? Are Ava and Zhao still on their missions with their crews? Why does Ava want to capture me? When will this be over? Is Yue okay? Why did Lily have that boat? Is Andrew okay back home even though both his friends are gone? How's Zoe doing back at Kyoshi Island? Did Zuko find my necklace again after Lily lost it? Why can't Lily waterbend? And WHY DO SO MANY PEOPLE THINK I'M THE DIVINER OR A WITCH OR SOME OTHER CREEPY THING?!?! ...Do I even want to go home to my world...? Will everything I know from there be waiting for my return...? ...Why am I even here?'
Emilia heard noise from down below and saw Sokka and Lily heading back to their hut.
"I really don't think you should go through with Jet's mission for you, Sokka. Didn't your instincts-"
"I'll be fine, Lily. It's just a scouting mission. Nothing more."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes. And if it's not, my instinct will tell me and I'll be on my way... why are you so against it?"
"I just feel like Jet is sort of trying to hypnotize us or something... when Aang and Katara talked about their bending abilities, they didn't even seem to care about my being there... and also being a bender..."
"Well you sort of aren't. You can bend, but you can't at the same time."
"So? That doesn't mean I'm not a bender too!" Sokka was shocked by Lily suddenly raising her voice. "But what would you know? You're just a wannabe warrior because your father left you... you had responsibility, but you never had to try to live up to everyone's expectations of you." Emilia, even though she was high up on her branch, could tell Sokka was getting irritated. "My family told the whole tribe about how the Ocean Spirit blessed me, and EVERYONE expected me to be a master from a very young age. Even now, I can only heal... but only because I pour water on the wound before trying to heal... it's not true healing, according to my teacher... it's not bending, she said..."
"Oh boo hoo," Sokka said sarcastically. "YOU'RE BROKEN! YOUR BENDING IS BROKEN! I'M NOT A BENDER, BUT I'M JUST FINE! I MAY NOT HAVE TO LIVE UP TO EXPECTATIONS, BUT AT LEAST I'M NOT A DISAPPOINTMENT LIKE YOU!!!" Lily was taken aback by Sokka's words. Even Emilia could see the hurt and tears growing in her eyes. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean it. I just-"
"It's okay... I get it..." Lily lowered her head, trying to hide her pain from Sokka. "You know what? Go on that mission... I don't care anymore..." Lily then turned around and ran away.
"Lily, wait. Lily!"
Emilia watched as Sokka left to go look for their friend... and hopefully apologize... and then she just continued thinking to herself for a while, until...
"Emilia, right?" Emilia looked up and saw Jet.
"What's it to you?" Jet ignored her question.
"Didn't see you at dinner tonight."
"Wasn't hungry..."
"...I noticed you carry around a canvas and brush all the time. I saw some of your art at your hut. You're really talented."
"You went through my stuff?!" Emilia was slightly alarmed. Jet just went to a whole new level on her dislike tier list.
"Yes... and no. Katara showed me."
'He's playing with Katara's feelings...' Emilia thought to herself.
"Why are you here, Jet?" Emilia was exasperated. This conversation was taking too long.
"I was wondering if you and I could hang out sometime."
"You mean, like, do an activity?" Emilia rolled her eyes slightly at the thought of doing something with Jet. She disliked him too much to even consider it.
"Yes. How about tomorrow? I feel like I know everyone else really well and-"
"No. Sorry to disappoint..." There was a hint of sarcasm in Emilia's voice. "But I have my own plans for tomorrow."
'I'm going to stop you before you take things too far in your scheme, Jet...'
"Okay. Suit yourself." Jet then left, taking all the tension with him. Emilia sighed happily not too long after.
"I thought he'd never leave."
In the morning, when Emilia woke up, she realized that she had fallen asleep on the branch... and Sokka had already left with Jet and the others.
'I have to act fast,' Emilia thought, coming down from the branch and sneaking around camp. 'I need to find that knife he'll frame the old man with... it's the only way to protect everyone and leave this chapter early.'
She snuck into Jet's hut and began searching through his stuff.
'It would've been helpful if the show revealed where he stashed away the knife... I hope Jet left it here...'
She then found the knife and picked it up.
'Just to make sure it's the right one...' Emilia unscrewed the top and found the final of poison. She nodded and screwed it back, a sigh of relief gracing her worn-out state. She searched long and hard for that knife, and you could tell. Her hair was a bit of a mess and she scratched herself up. But she felt fine now that she had the weapon Jet would use to lie to her friends in her possession.
"What are you doing here?" Emilia froze.
Jet was back.
"I know what you're up to, Jet," Emilia said, turning to face him.
"Give me the knife, Emilia." Jet held out his hand, as of expecting her to just listen to him.
"No! You're going to use it to lie to my friends when Katara comes in here for answers after Sokka tells her what you did to that old man!" Jet was shocked by her words.
"How would you know what we did out there? You were here the whole time!"
"I have my ways, Jet. Now, I suggest you stop messing with my friends... and Katara's feelings."
"Okay. I'll play your game. Let's say I knew what you were talking about..." Emilia could tell through the expression in his eyes that he did know what she was talking about and was trying to lie to her that he didn't and wasn't doing what she claimed. "What if I didn't want to stop messing with your friends?" He took a step towards Emilia, who stepped back, wanting to keep a safe distance from him.
"Then your plan to wipe out the Fire Nation soldiers and the people in that nearby Earth Kingdom town will fail." Jet was surprised she knew this, but knew not to drop the act yet.
"And how would you know all of these things?" Jet took another step forward, and Emilia stepped back once more.
"Like I said Jet," Emilia said, keeping her voice constant, even though he was making her nervous. "I have my ways."
"You're the Diviner, aren't you?" he asked. He stepped forward and Emilia stepped back, but this time she hit a table. She had no where to go anymore.
"No... but even if I was, what would that be to you?" A cold smirk grew on Jet's face.
"I knew it." He took the lead stem out of his mouth and looked at Emilia a little... differently. "I really thought we could be friends. Maybe something even more... but apparently not."
Emilia trembled slightly. She didn't like this side of Jet... it actually scared her. He came closer to her and put his hands on the table, one at each side of her. Whatever was going to happen, she couldn't escape from it.
"Emilia..." His face was only inches away from hers... she could feel his breath as he spoke, and it sent shivers through her spine.
Jet then pressed his lips against Emilia's and kissed her. Emilia was shocked... a very fearful kind of shock. As far as she knew, Jet didn't even kiss Katara in the show. So if he was kissing HER, it had to mean something painfully evil. He ended the kiss and looked her in the eyes, a cold smirk growing on his face again.
Emilia's entire being felt weak. Whether that be from standing still for too long or that she was shutting down from all that craziness that just happened, it didn't matter. Jet knew about how she felt... and that was evident.
"How about we do our little activity now?" he asked, his voice a form of sickly sweet. "I'll just have to take care of a little something first, so I suggest you sleep while you wait..."
And then Emilia lost consciousness. Jet hid her and acted like nothing new happened since Sokka saw him last... and when the others came for answers, he lied to them using the knife Emilia tried to take.
Lily sided with Sokka on the whole matter (despite their disagreement last night), but Katara and Aang prevented the group from leaving with their desire to help Jet.
When Emilia came to, she was tied to the table. She was too weak to move. She saw Jet at the other side of the table, a painfully pleasant smile on his face. On the table was a plate of food and a cup of water.
"Eat," he told her, strangely calm. "You missed dinner last night, so I thought I'd treat you."
"Lies... It's all just a lie..."
"Eat, Emilia. You'll feel better."
"I'm tied to the table."
"Eat with your other hand."
Emilia rolled her eyes and reluctantly ate. As she ate the food Jet provided for her, she noticed her hand was shaking slightly.
"What did you to to me?"
"I injected you with a bit of poison. It won't kill you. It'll just keep you from running away."
"If you thought I'd run away, why'd you tie me to the table?"
"So that you'd stay in your seat, Emilia dearest..."
"Drop the act, Jet. You just want to see me in pain..."
"No. I just want to make sure your last meal is a good one." Emilia's eyes widened.
"Last meal?" Her words slurred slightly as she said this. "You said the poison wouldn't kill me.
"Yes. But I have a worse fate in mind than poison for you... Diviner."
The next day, when Aang, Katara, and Jet arrived at the location with the underground water in the vents, Aang realized something.
"Wait... if we're waterbending, why isn't Lily doing this too?"
"Lily's a waterbender too?
"She's not much of a bender at all," Katara explained. "She has the gift, but is unable to use it."
"I see... Anyway, I want you to use your waterbending to help the water escape these vents and into the stream."
"I've never used bending on water I can't see. I don't know..."
Jet came over to Katara and put his hands on her shoulders.
"Katara, you can do this."
Katara blushed and felt at ease once more.
"What about me?" Aang asked. Jet chuckled.
"I know the AVATAR can do this."
After the duo got started, Jet left to "check on things at the reservoir".
The two finished rather quickly and decided it was a good idea to go and see Jet at the reservoir...
But meanwhile, Sokka and Lily, who were being "taken for a walk" by Smellerbee and Pipsqueak, were looking for a way to escape. Sokka was doing all the talking. He nudged Lily and glance over to their left, and that's when Lily noticed what he saw... the Fire Nation traps from the other day.
Sokka also moved his wrists slightly, and Lily noticed how loose the knots were. She didn't try to untie herself earlier for some reason, but she now understood how easily they could get away and save everyone.
"If that's how Jet leads... then he's got a lot to learn!" Sokka cued their run and, just as planned, Smellerbee and Pipsqueak got caught in the traps. After telling them to practice their knotwork, he turned to Lily.
"Come on. We've got a village to save." Lily nodded.
"Yeah." As they ran, Lily decided to ask the key question. "So where does your instinct say we should go?"
"We're going to the village. We have to warn the villagers in time. I wasn't able to stop Jet from robbing the old man head-on, so maybe I can stop Jet from wiping out the people in the town by letting him think he won."
"Good idea."
Meanwhile, when Aang and Katara arrived at the reservoir, they saw barrels of blasting jelly at the dam.
"Why would they need blasting jelly?" Katara asked.
Aang's eyes widened.
"Because Jet's gonna blow up the dam."
"What? That would destroy the town! Jet wouldn't do that!"
Aang then noticed another thing.
"Katara, look! It's Emilia... is she okay? She doesn't look okay." Katara then saw Emilia as well. Emilia looked very fatigued and was wearing a white dress for some reason.
"Aang, she's TIED to the dam. WHY would she be okay?!"
"Wait... they're going to kill her when they blow up the dam! I have to help her and stop them!" Aang then opened his glider.
"Jet wouldn't do that..."
But Jet would, as he revealed when he intercepted Aang's takeoff and wrecked the airbender's glider. He then had this crazy urge to fight Aang and wouldn't let Aang get his glider back. After a little while, Katara intervened and froze Jet to a tree. She should've froze his mouth, because he gave the cue to blow the dam through whistling. Katara and Aang could only hope Sokka and Lily would save the day... but then they watched in horror as Longshot fired his arrow.
"No..." Katara said, obviously heartbroken.
The dam exploded.
"They didn't make it in time," Aang did glumly.
"All those people... and Emilia..."
Aang turned to Jet, furious.
"Do you realize what you've done?!" If Aang got any angrier, he would probably be in the Avatar State. "YOU'VE DESTROYED A TOWN, WIPED OUT INNOCENT PEOPLE, AND MURDERED MY FRIEND!!!"
"You're a monster!" Katara added angrily.
"This was a victory, Katara. Remember that. The Fire Nation is gone and this valley will be safe."
"It will be safe..." Katara, Aang, and Jet turned to see Sokka on Appa. "Without you."
"Sokka!" Katara exclaimed.
"I warned the villagers of your plan," he told Jet. "Lily and I got everyone out just in time. Lily is currently making sure they stay safe." As Sokka continued to explain, we see Lily hand a doll she picked up out of the water to a little girl.
"Mrs. Pretty!" Lily smiled, happy to see the child cheerful even though her home was flooded.
Lily then noticed a body in the water and let out a gasp.
"Emilia!" Lily dove in the water and swam after her friend. The current was too strong and Lily went right past her. "No!"
Sokka then arrived with Appa and pulled Lily out of the water.
"You okay?" he asked her. She shook her head.
"I saw Emilia." The whole group was shocked. "She was in the water."
"Where?" Aang asked. Lily looked over the edge and pointed at a blur of white.
"There!"
Aang nodded and dove in, using waterbending to spiral through the water and quickly catch up to his fallen friend. He put his arm around her waist and pulled them both to the surface. As Sokka piloted, Katara and Lily pulled the two back onto the saddle. Aang caught his breath for a few seconds before looking to Emilia again. Lily was trying to figure out if their friend was alive.
"Is she...?"
"I'm not sure. There's a lot of water in her lungs, but it seems that she was in some sort of explosion as well." Lily didn't know Emilia was tied to the dam when it blew up, but she did notice that the white dress Emilia was wearing now had holes and burn marks, with the holes mainly at the side of her waist, the sleeves, and the hem of the dress.
"Emilia saved me once. Back on Kiyoshi Island. I wish I knew how she did it..."
"Aang..." Lily began. "I think maybe... you could use your bending... you could bend the water out of her."
"You're right, Lily. I can!" Aang then realized something. "But I don't know anything about how to do it from inside a PERSON..."
Lily's eyes widened and a smile grew on her face.
"I guess this is where my healing training comes in. Sokka, could you lay down next to Emilia so I can have an example as I guide Aang?"
Sokka knew that she couldn't really bend water, even when healing, so he decided to do it, just to help Aang save Emilia's life. As Lily guided Aang and instructed him about going through the motions, the group realized that, though Lily was unable to actually bend or fight, she had plenty of skill in it. It really made Katara excited to learn waterbending at the North Pole.
They were all overjoyed when they heard Emilia's coughs and gasps for air.
"You're alive!" they all said excitedly. Emilia then had her bones basically crushed in a group hug.
"Space please..." she requested, still recollecting herself.
"What did he do to you?" Katara asked.
"Why'd they tie you to the dam?" Aang questioned.
"How much do you remember?" Sokka said sensibly.
"How many fingers am I holding up?" Lily was so relieved to know Emilia was okay that she was giving an eye test for no apparent reason.
"Uh... I remember a lot, actually... is it over?" The other four nodded. "Okay... You're holding up three fingers... They tied me to the dam because Jet had this crazy idea that I was some witch called the Diviner..." Lily groaned in annoyance upon hearing that more people wanted to kill her best friend because of some nonsensical suspicion. "Jet poisoned me, knocked me out, lied about the old man having a knife while I was knocked out, sort of forced me to eat a strange-seeming dinner last night in his hut while telling me he'd end me the following day, then tying me to the dam to kill me — and for some strange reason I was wearing a white dress; did I black out or something? I don't remember half of the night — and then the dam blew up and now I'm here." Emilia finished her summary, feeling like she satisfied them with answers... and intentionally leaving out certain parts she'd rather not discuss.
"Jet POISONED you?!" Katara freaked out.
"He tried to KILL YOU because he thought you were some DIVINER PERSON?!" Aang was really confused at the measures Jet took.
"How did you know about what happened when you were UNCONSCIOUS?!" Sokka inquired.
"WHY DOES EVERYONE ASSUME YOU'RE THE DIVINER WHEN CLEARLY YOU'RE NOT?!?!" Lily yelled, frustrated for her friend.
Emilia only giggled at all questions they had. She realized that if she continued to answer them, she'd never hear the end of it.
"So uh... guess we're going back to our North Pole journey?" They all nod. "Okay. Let's go!"
~~~~~~~~~~
Sorry this is so long...
But anyway...
Lily!!!
Yay!
That's all I have to say.
Here's the chapter art:
This is actually the first time I've done well when it comes to drawing Jet...
Emilia is just a tad bit shorter than him?
Or maybe it's just because of the table.
But who cares?
I did well with my shading.
The natural shading is in fact a part of the final masterpiece.
That's it.
Hope you enjoyed this!
Bye!