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Hope and Memory by HighTime

The Awakening  next


_-_-_-_



Jet



_-_-_-_



A week after Princess Azula's coup, a week after the Avatar and his friends had fled to the Eastern Air Temple after the battle that had nearly killed both Aang and the Princess, Jet and his new Freedom Fighters broke into the Lake Laogai facility.



Jet's initial plan had been to recruit in the city, but it had proved almost completely fruitless. They'd managed to find four people willing to fight Azula. Four. To be specific, in addition to Smellerbee, Longshot, and the newly returned Pipsqueak and the Duke, they now had a clerk, a university student, a zoo worker, and a novice earthbender. Li, who Jet had hoped would finally join up after the coup, was nowhere to be found. Li's uncle, old Mushi was missing, too. Recruiting in the city was definitely not working, and Jet had decided he needed a new source.



Who, he had asked himself, would be willing to fight Princess Azula and the Dai Li? Who had nothing left to lose? The answer had come to him in a flash: The brainwashed prisoners. People whose memories had been falsified, if they could be convinced of the truth, couldn't be sure that they had homes to go back to. And they would be very, very angry. He had ordered the raid the next day. There was no point in waiting, since they had no way to gather intelligence. So here he was, hiding in Po-Sun's, the earthbender's, somewhat unstable, very crowded bubble of open space, listening through his dagger – silently thanking that doofus Sokka for the trick – as the Dai Li guards passed by, bringing the prisoners their food.



The air was getting thick by the time he whispered, “They're gone,” and Po-Sun opened up the wall again.



Jet didn't need to give any further orders. The gang knew what to do: Find the prisoners who seemed most coherent, get them out of their cells, and make a run for it. Leave anyone who was too far gone to be of use. Jet might not have been as ruthless as he once was, but this was still war.



The Freedom Fighters ran from cell to cell, knocking on each door and judging the response. Jet did the same.



The results were good, but not as good as Jet had hoped they would be. Jet had found only four people who were anything less than catatonic by the time he had estimated they'd have to leave to avoid the guards. Growling to himself, he knocked on one last cell, opening the little window in the door. He nearly froze in shock.



“Li?”



The scarred boy didn't respond. He was sitting at the back of the cell, staring blankly off to the left.



“Jet, we need to go,” said Smellerbee, coming up behind him.



“Just a minute,” said Jet grimly. “I found Li.”



“What?”



Jet popped the cell door's lock open with the spiked hilt of one of his swords and opened it.



“Li, get up,” he said. The prisoner, dressed like all the others in an undyed, sleeveless cotton tunic and pants, turned his head and looked up at Jet dimly, without comprehension.



“Damnit,” Jet muttered. He darted inside the cell and grabbed Li by the wrist, pulling him to his feet.



Li stood up without any real pulling, and passively allowed Jet to lead him down the corridor to the cave Po-Sun had formed. When the guards had passed again and they made for the surface. Jet had to keep pulling on Li to get him to walk. Yun, the former clerk, was looking askance at Jet. The guerrilla sent a glare his way that got him facing forward again.



“I'll explain once we're safe,” Jet said to the team.


_-_-_-_



“So who is he?” asked the Duke once they were safely in forest surrounding Lake Laogai, as they began their steady march back to the base camp they'd set up.



Jet, who was still leading Li by his wrist, glanced at the blank-faced teenager before answering. “His name is Li. I met him on the ferry across Full Moon Bay, and he helped me steal the captain's food for the refugees. I asked him to join up after that, but he said no. Kept saying no right up until the day he disappeared.”



“I thought we were only supposed to take people who could fight!” grumbled Yun.



“Fight? Fight who?” wailed one of the former prisoners. “I'm just a seamstress!”



“We'll explain when we get back to camp,” said Jet. “Let's just say that things aren't as peaceful as you've been led to believe. As for Li,” he continued, turning to Yun, “if we can get him to wake up, he'll be more than useful.”



Yun looked at Li, who was walking docilely behind Jet, starting straight ahead. “Sure he will.”



_-_-_-_



They reached their camp just as the sun was setting. Already, Jet felt he was being vindicated in his choice to free Li, who had gradually begun showing interest in his surroundings as they walked. By the time they were done setting up camp, he had started responding to simple commands like, “Get out of the way.” After Yun got the fire going, Li even moved independently to sit next to it. The flames seemed to fascinate him.



“Everyone gather 'round,” said Jet. The gang members and the former prisoners walked and shambled over to the tree stump Jet was standing on.



He had to make this good.



“Do any of you,” he asked, “know where you were before we came for you?”



There was a general negative murmuring.



“Do any of you,” he asked, “know who took you there, who imprisoned you?”



Again, a negative murmur, this time with a different tone as the prisoners began examining the gaps in their memories.



“It was the Dai Li,” Jet said bluntly.



“That's impossible!” shouted a woman. The seamstress who had spoken up earlier, Jet believed. He noted that she seemed to be recovering faster than the others, even if she was displaying it in an incredibly aggravating way. “The Dai Li are a cultural bureau!”



“That's what they want you to think,” said Jet. “That's what they've fooled the city into thinking for years. They've controlled the Earth Kings for ages, and now,” he paused for effect, and also for breath, “and now, they've allied themselves with the Princess of the Fire Nation in an outright coup!”



Disbelief followed this statement, but Jet knew he had the initiative now, and a degree of control over their emotions. The rest – convincing them to join – was just a matter of showmanship.



_-_-_-_



After the rest of his speech, Jet left the former prisoners to talk among themselves and his Freedom Fighters to bed down for the night – it had been a long day for them, and for Jet. He, however, wanted to check on Li. He sat down next to the other teenager, who was still staring at the camp fire.



“Hey there,” said Jet, not really expecting a reply.



Li's eyes flicked over to him, then back to the flames. “Fire,” he said, very deliberately. “It's... it's fire.”



Jet's eyes widened, but he managed to keep his cool otherwise. “Yeah,” he said. “That's right. A campfire.”



Li turned to face Jet fully. Though his face was still blank, his eyes looked deeply lost. “Who am I?” he asked.



Jet took a deep breath. “You're Li,” he said.



_-_-_-_



Li



_-_-_-_



Li. He was Li. The boy – Li – nodded, feeling relief. It had been a very strange feeling, not having a name.



“Thank you,” he said to the young man sitting in front of him.



Today had been a strange day. Before today, things had been different. There hadn't really been days. There had been long times in the dark, and sometimes there had been hands pushing food into his mouth, or forcing him to drink, or cleaning him and dressing him in new clothes. Other times there had been a light going round and round and round, and words that were very important. Today had been different. Today there had been hands with food, but then there had been hands with a face, the face he was looking at now.



Then there had been the sun, and he had felt awake for the first time he could remember.



“I'm Li,” he said, trying out the words. They didn't feel wrong, or right, but they were his words. It was his name.



“You know me?” he asked the other boy.



“Yeah,” he said. “I'm Jet, by the way. I'm a Freedom Fighter.”



“Who do you fight?”



“Mostly the Fire Nation,” said Jet, “and recently the Dai Li. The Fire Nation has been trying to conquer us for a hundred years.”



“That's a long time,” said Li. This was his first day. He couldn't even imagine a year, though he seemed to have some concept of what one was. Li shuddered slightly. His own mind was more like the place he had been before than where he was now: dark and empty. Words came to him when he needed them, but before then he was unaware of them.


“A very long time,” said Jet.'



“The Dai Li are...” Li struggled in the dark “...the protectors of our cultural heritage.” He smiled, pleased with himself. Those words were right.



“No,” said Jet.



“But – “



“No, Li. That's what they want you to think,” said Jet. Li was confused. Those words were right. “The Dai Li allied themselves with the Fire Princess, and they're the ones who did this to you.”



“Did what to me?” asked Li. The only thing that had happened to him had been Jet's doing.



“Took your memory,” said Jet.



Li's face screwed up in a puzzled expression. “You mean... you mean... I was somewhere before this?”



Jet looked taken aback. “Of course you were. People don't just – where did you think you came from?



“I didn't,” realized Li. “I didn't think.” He shuddered. “At all.”



Jet put a comforting hand on his shoulder. “That's what the they wanted, Li. The Dai Li did that to you.”



Li could barely hear him over the buzz of rage in his ears. “I couldn't think. It was dark and cold and I couldn't think!” Li wasn't yelling. His voice was quieter, if anything, but the pure anger in it was palpable. His head jerked up and he looked at Jet with panic in his eyes. “You knew me. You said you knew me. Where was I... before?”



“I honestly don't know much about you,” said Jet. “You came here as a refugee with your uncle. I'm not sure where he is now. The two of you worked in a tea shop. The two of us met on the ferry here. We, uh, liberated some food for the refugees. I asked you to join the Freedom Fighters then, and several times afterwards, but you always said no. I could never figure out why, after what the Fire Nation did to you.”



Li blinked a couple times. “What did they do to me?”



Jet bit his lip. “Yeah, I guess you don't know. Feel the skin around your left eye.”



Li lifted his hand, looking questioningly at Jet. Jet pressed the hand gently to the other boy's scarred face.



Li let out a shuddery breath as he traced the contours of the leathery patch of skin. “They did this to me?” he asked.



Jet nodded.



Li dropped his hand, eyes hardening. “They hurt me and they took my memory and they put me in the dark, and I couldn't think or feel or anything. I want to help you fight them.”



Jet grinned widely. “Welcome to the Freedom Fighters, Li.”


_-_-_-_



Katara


_-_-_-_

A week after they'd fled the Dai Li on Appa's back, Katara was comfortable enough with Aang's health to leave his cabin for more than a few minutes. Leaving Chatok, her father's medic, to watch him, she managed to find her way up to the main deck despite not really having had a chance to learn the layout of the captured Fire Nation ship.



The fresh, cold air was like balm on her skin, and on her mind. She took a deep breath and leaned against the railing to look up at the moon. Eventually she closed her eyes, relaxing into the rhythm of the ocean.



She wasn't sure how long she stood like that before a very distinctive smell broke her trance: onions and banana juice. She sighed.



“Hello, Guru Pahtik.”



“Hello, Katara,” the guru answered in his unique accent. “I see you have decided to emerge.”



“Yeah,” she said vaguely, staring up at the moon once again. “Aang's doing a lot better.”



“Physically,” said Pahtik.



“What do you mean?” asked Katara.



“Spiritually,” said the guru, “he is in transition. He achieved the avatar state when he fought the Fire Princess, yes?”



Katara nodded. “It was... incredible. The way he redirected Azula's lightning back at her... Long Feng and the Dai Li still got him from behind, though.”



The guru smiled faintly. “He is beginning to achieve control over the avatar state. He has let go of his most precious attachments, divorced himself from the world, thinking that he can never go back.”



“That sounds awful,” said Katara.



“It is,” said Pahtik, “But it is part of what he must go through. Now, though, in order to become a fully realized avatar, he must find his way back.”



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