“Aoeng tse’a ‘okvur”—Watching the Movies - Den_of_Axolotl - Avatar: The Way of Water (2024)

Chapter 1

Chapter Text

All around him, people and military-grade vehicles and transports were floating upwards at miraculous speeds. Just behind him, the base’s entire complex was being ripped off the very foundations of the rocky Pandoran earth.

The groan of aggravated metal and the vibrating sound coming from the strange portal-looking thing was almost loud enough to drown out the screaming of the humans stuck in the air. Jake looked around for anything to grab onto or pull himself back down, but it was no use; he was already hundreds of feet up in the air. The fall would kill him.

Such memories still haunted her, even years later when the wounds were old scars in her mind. Her mother said to embrace them, as the memories of her dear older sister were precious in every form. Eywa loved all her children and had a plan for each and every one of them. The Great Mother was wise and knowledgeable, and her keeping of balance had never done the Navi wrong.

For the most part, Neytiri agreed, but there were times where she doubted the Great Mother. How could her sister’s death be a part of the balance?

“ Oel ngati kameie, Tsu’tey,” Neytiri nodded, returning his gesture.

“Your mother sent me to retrieve you. Something has appeared over Hometree,” Tsu’tey explained.

“Sky People?”

It took little time to return home, and once they arrived, Neytiri quickly understood. A large, impossibly large, thing swirled in the sky like a hurricane. It grumbled lowly, sending chills down her spine.

“What is that?” She asked herself.

Mo’at, Tsahík and her mother, came forward in hurried steps. “My daughter, come! Everyone is already inside!”

“Mother, what is going on? Is it the Sky People?”

“ Mawey , Na’vi! Mawey!” Etukan bellowed over the sea of frightened people. “We must not be afraid!”

“Father!” Neytiri called.

“Neytiri, my daughter,” her father tilted his head and gave his greeting. “ Oel ngati kameie . I am happy to see you are safe.”

“Do you know what is behind this?”

“I do not.”

Tsu’tey joined Neytiri and addressed the Olo’eykten. “Could it be a sign from Ewya?”

Across the expanse of nearly twenty years passed, Jake Sully and his family stood in front of the Metkayina chief and his clan. So far, Jake’s attempts at seeking Uturu had been swatted away by the fierce Tsahík, Ronal. Even her husband, Tonowari, had been able to convince her, forced to back off by the sharp looks his mate sent his way when he tried to intervene.

As Jake tried to negotiate with the Tsahík, Ronal, another portal appeared out of nowhere and sucked up every person on the beach.

“Mama!” Screamed Tuk. She clutched on tightly to her mothers arm as they were carried upwards.

“Ma’Jake! What is happening?” Neytiri screamed as she and her family ascended.

A giant theater filled to the brim with seating awaited the captured Avatar crew. Both people from the two timelines awoke in predetermined seating: the Navi settled on plush, comfortable cushions, and the humans on old, retro movie theater seats with shiny black leather.

The past characters groggily woke up in their seats, disoriented and confused, as did the future. It was the two Jake Sullys who woke first. F!Jake Sully caught sight of his past self and almost gasped. He could believe what he was seeing.

“Hey! Buddy! Do you have any idea what just happened?” he asked.

The Navi man stared at him, his bright yellow eyes glinting in the artificial theater lights.

“Do you speak English?” P!Jake tried.

Again, he got no answer.

All around them, everyone started to wake up. The human,

“Hostiles!”

“Nulkrr!”

“Get down!”

“Oeru sí!”

Then, from everywhere at once, a soothing voice made itself present.
“Be calm, my friends. All is well. No harm will come to anyone here,” it said. “Please, be seated and look towards the screen.”

“Who are you to tell any of us what to do?” P!Quaritch hollered.

RecQuaritch spoke up. “This some kind of Pandoran spirity nonsense? Or are we just high as kites?”

P!Quaritch snapped his head in the direction of his own voice coming from the avatar’s mouth. “What in the fresh hell! What are you supposed to be?”

“Well, ain’t that a bitch?” RecQuaritch murmured. It wasn’t every day you saw your past human-self right across from you.

“Please, look towards the screen. All will be explained.”

With that, an invisible force sent everyone back to their seats. The theater was now separated into two groups, a wide aisle keeping the timelines apart. The future Sully Family, along with Tonowari and Ronal’s family, sat in the front row on the right. The rest of the Metkayina sat behind them and separated by a glass wall from the future Avatar Science Department. F!Max and F!Norm sat with their team on the other side of the glass, anxiously watching the Metkayina as they threw curious looks towards them.

On the left, the past RDA sat in the back while the past Omatikaya sat in front of them—also separated by glass. Among the front row sat P!Jake, P!Neytiri and her immediate family, Tsu’tey, P!Grace, P!Max, P!Norm, and P!Trudy. In true theater fashion, P!Jake’s seat was an empty space on a wall with the best view of the screen. He even got a nice, rich blue seat cushion for his troubles.

The screen was pitch black save for the following text: Welcome

It faded through different sentences of greeting before getting to the point.

You all are here to watch the following stories of the man known as Jake Sully, or, Toruk Makto.

“Are we going to see Dad during the war?” Tuk whispered excitedly.

“That would be so cool!” Lo’ak said, grinning.

Lo’ak snorted. “C’mon, bro. You and I know that’s a stupid bet. Of course she did.”

“Don’t fret, Ma’Jake,” she said, her gorgeous voice washing over him.

“But what if our kids hate me after this? I never wanted them to know just how deep I was in the Sky People’s plot. It’s bad enough that my actions cost you and the Omatikaya your home, but now they’ll see it for themselves!”

“No, they will watch how their father bravely stood up against his own kind to amend his mistakes. They will see how he united the clans against the common enemy to save our home, and they’ll know that their father was Toruk Makto , a worthy leader to the Omatkaya people.”

F!Jake blinked back grateful tears as his wonderful mate held his face in her hands. He leaned into her touch, absorbing her love like a man dying of thirst.

“You’re right.”

While she continued to ease her mate, the older Sully Siblings discussed secretly.

“I don’t understand. Who exactly brought us here?” Kiri couldn’t help but ask. “What reason could possibly allow such a disturbance in the balance?”

Neteyam shrugged. “Maybe the Great Mother decided to intervene before something terrible happened?”

The screen lit up once more. Audio from hidden speakers introduced lively drum music and low, droning humming as the story came to life
Please, sit back, and enjoy the show. And remember this: absolutely NO aggressive behavior allowed. This is a safe zone. Enjoy.

With that, the story began.

Chapter 2: Welcome to Pandora

Chapter Text

Through the mist, the sight of Pandora’s forest comes into view as if gliding past overhead.

VOICE (V.O.)

When I was lying there in the VA hospital, with a big hole blown through the middle of my life, I started having these dreams of flying. Sooner or later though, you always have to wake up...

Heads turned in both Jakes’ directions. The sound of his voice on the screen caught them off guard.

F!Jake briefly remembered the feeling of hopelessness he had felt during his stay in the hospital; how the flighty doctors had zipped by him without so much as a comforting word or blind encouragement. They’d simply told him his condition and left him to deal.

On the left side of the room, P!Jake looked down at his legs and frowned. He remembered the same thing. He could almost feel the phantom aches like they were the first time. He’d tried to get up and walk out of the bed only to fall flat on his face.

Now in one of Earth’s cities, it’s nighttime. Cars pass by as traffic increases. P!Jake Sully can be seen sitting in his beat up carbon-fiber wheelchair on the sidewalk. He looks scruffy and weary, living up to his scarred veteran status. Maglev trains whoosh by overhead on elevated tracks against a sky of garish advertising.

JAKE (V.O.)

They can fix a spinal, if you've got the money. But not on vet benefits, not in this economy.

The traffic light changes and Jake pushes forward with the crowd, pumping the wheels of his chair. Most of the people wear filter masks to protect them from the toxic air. Everyone looks sad and soulless.

The Omaticaya and Metkayina peoples gasped in pure horror. There was no plant life or natural land to be seen; just metal and gaudy light. It was nothing like the forest of sea.

“Devil’s monstrosity…” P!Tsu’tey growled under his breath. He couldn’t begin to imagine his beautiful forest in such a state. His people were lively and adventurous—nothing like these sad excuses for beings

P!Neytiri stared at the depressive scene with something like pity. Yes, she hated the Sky People and what they’d done, but if this is what they left behind, it was no wonder they were monsters.

“Bro…” Lo’ak trailed off.

“Yea, man,” Spider whispered.

“It’s horrible,” Kiri whispered to herself. How had her father and birth mother come from such a sad place? No wonder Jake had left it all behind. That wasn’t living. By Eywa, Kiri would rather die than allow Pandora to become like Earth.

Now in Jake’s tiny apartment, he’s seen sitting on a pitiful looking cot, staring at the wall-screen. A perky newscaster’s voice is heard over the image of little tiger cubs.

“The Bengal tiger, extinct for over a century, is making a comeback. These cloned tiger cubs at the Beijing Zoo are…”

Jake laboriously pulls his pants off–rocking to one side, pushing the fabric down past his hip, then rocking to the other, and so on. His legs are white and atrophied. Utterly useless. But his arms are tattooed and powerfully muscled. A "Born Loser" tattoo prominent on his shoulder.

JAKE (V.O.)

I became a Marine for the hardship. To be hammered on the anvil of life. I told myself I could pass any test a man can pass.

Jake is now at a crappy looking bar. By a pool table, he balances on the back wheels of his chair with a shot of tequila on his forehead. Onlookers and some other disabled vets watch him in amusem*nt, clapping and cheering him on. Jake grabs the glass, slams down the shot, and they cheer for him–thoroughly entertained.

On the wall is a massive screen playing a fútból game, with many bar patrons cheering for their respective players. Jakes watches the game, his expression stony.

JAKE (V.O.)

Let's get it straight up front. I don't want your pity. I know the world's a cold-ass bitch.

At the bar, a man is fighting with a blonde woman. He hits her and she’s knocked to the side, holding her cheek as she cowers. The man then sits her down onto a stool and continues to berate her. No one else but Jake watches, afraid or uninterested in getting involved.

“Why didn’t’t she fight back?” Tuk asked her father.

F!Jake patted her back. “It was easier to turn a blind eye so you wouldn’t get yourself hurt too.”

Tuk frowned. “Did you do that too?”

“No way. Your dad doesn’t rock like that.”

JAKE (V.O.)

You want a fair deal, you're on the wrong planet. The strong prey on the weak. It's just the way things are. And nobody does a damn thing.

Jake wheels forward and stops, unnoticed, next to the bullying man. He leans down and grabs one leg of the man's barstool and yanks. The chair flips and sends the man sprawling onto the ground. Jake hurls himself out of his wheelchair and starts to wail on the sack of sh*t right on the floor.

The poor woman tries to intervene, pulling at Jake, but he won’t let go. A bouncer shows up and starts to tug on him as well.

Lo’ak was the loudest. “Get him, dad! f*ck him up!”

“Watch your language,” F!Jake warned, though ha,f-heartedly.

P!Quaritch and the human Recons smirked. They could easily recall their own small scuffles back on Earth. Dingy bars tended to have the same situations and consequences. Of course, they typically started fights to the hell of it.

P!Jake grinned despite himself. He got into an enough trouble to know that most of his actions got him into deep sh*t, but he hardly cared enough. It was either join the crowd and have a boring day, or poke himself into others’ business and see where it took him.

JAKE (V.O.)

All I ever wanted in my sorry-ass life was a single thing worth fighting for.

The bouncer finally managed to get Jake off the guy and takes him to the alley behind the bar. He hurls Jake out the door, sending him sprawling on the pavement. A moment later, his chair crashes down on him, banging across the alley, landing in the trash.

Jake struggles to rise on one elbow. He's bleeding and bruised, but still crazed and ready to fight. “I hope you realize you've just lost a customer!” he shouts, then collapses onto his back, panting. “Candy ass bitch.” he murmurs to himself.

He stares upwards at the levels of the city. Magtrains roar overhead. It starts to rain. He just lies there, blinking–then shouts jauntily to no one in particular.

“If it ain't rainin' we ain't trainin'!” he shouts as he lies spread-eagled amongst the trash, getting drenched by rain.

Two pairs of shiny fancy shoes stop a few feet away from his head. Jake looks up to see two agents examining him with his photo on a holographic screen in hand.

“Are you Jake Sully?” one agent asks.

“Step off. You're ruinin' my good mood,” Jake retorts.

“It's about your brother,” the other agent says.

Ah, so it was that day. Both Jakes grimaced. This was the day everything turned around.

P!Neytiri could feel something foreboding Jin her gut. Something told her that what was coming up wouldn’t be good. She looked down at the disabled human next to her and saw his stony expression. She recognized it instantly.

At the crematorium, Jake is led to a large rectangular cardboard box. An attendant pulls open the top to reveal the corpse of a man–Jake’s identical twin brother, Tommy. He looks like a clean-shaven version of Jake.

JAKE (V.O.)

The strong prey on the weak. A guy with a knife took all Tommy would ever be, for the paper in his wallet.

Jake stares down at the body of his deceased brother, his face blank as if lost in thought. It’s as if he can’t believe what he’s seeing.

“Jesus, Tommy,” he says.

She was right. P!Neytiri allowed herself to pity the small Sky Person. She knew exactly how he felt. She had experienced it firsthand herself. It seemed they had something in common.

Neteyam looked over at his brother. He didn’t want to imagine what it would be like if Lo’ak or any of his siblings lost him so suddenly. They had been fortunate not to know someone personally who had died, like a family member or friend, but the loss of a fellow tribesman was close. Still, with having both parents who lost and older sibling, Neteyam wondered if it was some sort of curse.

Little did he know, his siblings were on the same track, though Lo’ak pushed the thought away. It’s was nonsense. Mete yam was too cautious, too good—he’d live forever if their dad ordered him to. He wouldn’t dare disobey such a command. He was Neteyam, the perfect son, a mighty warrior.

JAKE (V.O.)

The Suits' concern was touching.

One of the agents speaks up. “Your brother represented a significant investment. We'd like to talk to you about taking over his contract.

The attendant closes the box and seals it with a tape dispenser, like it's a package for shipping. The cardboard coffin is then rolled into the furnace.

JAKE (V.O.)

The egghead and the jarhead. Tommy was the scientist, not me. He was the one who wanted to get shot light years out into space to find the answers. Me–I was just another dumb grunt gettin' sent someplace I was gonna regret.

The furnace is lit and quickly begins to eat away at the box, engulfing Tommy’s body in flames. Jake watches on, detached as his last remaining family burns before his very eyes. He closes them

Suddenly, Jake opens his eyes again in a new setting. He takes a sharp breath as he is released from a metal cryo-vault. People in medical scrubs float by in zero gravity to check on the hundreds of other cryogenically frozen passengers aboard now being released from sleep.

A med-tech shines a flashlight in Jake's eyes, checking his pupil dilation.

Groggily, in a hoarse whisper, Jake asks him, “Are we there?”

“We're there, Sunshine,” the med-tech responds.

Another med-techs voice cuts across the whirring of machinery and the sleepy groans of cryo-passengers. “People, you have been in cryo for five years, nine months and twenty two days. You will be hungry, you will be weak. If you feel nausea, please use the sacks provided for your convenience. The staff thanks you in advance.”

Jakes exits his capsule and glides towards the lockers across the aisle. His legs float weightlessly with him, not impeding him at all.

Outside, in a vastness of space, the half a mile long interstellar spacecraft glides towards a gas-giant planet. Polyphemus. Dozens of moons form rings around it, casting shadows over the vast surface.

Visibly, the largest moon can be seen. It is Pandora. It’s similar, Earth-like, land masses and ocean are bright and clear in its clean atmosphere.

The natives of Pandora were in awe. Most had never seen their planet in such a way before. The small few who had gone to Grace’s school and gotten to see pictures thought nothing compared to seeing Pandora like this. It was beautiful.

Kiri smiled as the sight of her home filling the big screen. All the green and blue of the land and sea was breathtaking.

Just like her daughter, Grace admired the vast world she loved so much. So many biomes, people, cultures, plants—so much more alive than Earth.

P!Max placed his hand on her shoulder. “I know. Maybe things will change?”

She shook her head. “I doubt it.”

The ship Jake is on breaks off from the main vessel, entering Pandora’s orbit and descending to the ground. The rainforest can be seen, lush and tropical. Massive cliffs and towering mesas are covered in plantlife. Great scarves of cloud swirl around the mesa tops. It's a primeval landscape, vast and forbidding. There are waterfalls, rivers, and distant flocks of winged creatures.

Suddenly the virgin rainforest gives way to an open-pit mining site–like a chunk of the earth had been bitten out. Down among the terraces are excavators and trucks the size of three story buildings. Beyond the mine is the human colony–Hell’s Gate.

Hell’s Gate is a cluster of squat concrete and steel structures surrounded by chain-link fencing 10 meters high, topped with razor wire. At the corners are towers with automated sentry guns swiveling on servo mounts.

As Jake’s ship begins to land, the crew chief makes his announcements.

“Exopacks on!” he orders.

Passengers don their exo-pack breathing gear swiftly–everybody except Jake, who's turning his this way and that trying to figure out the straps.

“Remember people, you lose your mask, you're unconscious in 20 seconds and you're dead in four minutes. Let's nobody be dead today, it looks bad on my report,” the crew chief says. He stops by Jake long enough to bark, “Exo-pack on, let’s go!”

“Still think it’s unfair that you can breath oxygen longer than I can in your air,” Spider grumbled.

“Sucks to suck, bro,” Lo’ak teased, ruffling Spider’s dreads.

“Hey!” He swatted at the offending hands.

“Aww, Monkey Boy, don’t be sad,” Kiri laughed, messing his hair up as well.

Neteyam and Tuk joined in, antagonizing their human friend.

F!Jake chuckled as he watched his kids’ shenanigans, but F!Neytiri eyed Spider with a cold sneer. She still didn’t like how close he was with her children. Just because he spoke their language and played with them, that didn’t mean he was Navi. He would be better off with the rest of the humans.

While the shuttle lands, everybody is queued up in the aisles with duffles ready, their expectant faces covered by breathing masks. When the ramp finally opens, the crew chief waves them outside.

“Go directly into the base! Do not stop! Go straight inside!”

They jog across the exposed apron toward a walkway covered in chainlink which leads to the complex. Inside the chain-link tunnel are a couple of Sec-ops troopers: Corporal Lyle Wainfleet and Private Fike.

Wainfleet grins. “Look at all that new meat.”

Jake rolls down the ramp with the rest of the group, catching their attention.

“Check it out, man. Meals on wheels,” Fike chuckles.

“That is just wrong.”

A huge tractor, taller than a house, roars past on muddy wheels. He notices something sticking in the tires–arrows. The neolithic weapons are jarring amid all the advanced technology.

Wainfleet and Fike give Jake and his chair the hairy eyeball as he approaches.

“What're you two limpdicks starin' at?” Jakes glares as he rolls past.

Suddenly, something swoops down behind him and smashes itselfs against the chain-link right next to his head. The small but vicious aerial predator, a stingbat, gnashes its fangs against the steel. It stabs at him through the chain link with a tail ending in a glistening stiletto.

Wainfleet casually blasts it with his pistol. The stingbat drops off the fence, tail still lashing.

The Omaticaya snarled in outrage. The stingbat hadn’t done anything wrong! If anything, it was doing a favor of purging one more Sky Demon from their lands.

P!Jake rubbed his chest where the sting at had almost got him mere minutes ago. He’d never admit it, but that scared the sh*t out of him. Not even a day in and he’d almost gotten his ass handed to him by something the size of his wheelchair.

Wainfleet, unperturbed, comments, “Seen a lotta guys leave this place in a wheelchair. Never seen anybody show up in one.”

Inside Hell’s gate, Miles Quaritch saunters up the walkway of the cafeteria, every bit the grizzly soldier he is. His hair is clipped short–the scalp etched by long parallel scaring where some Pandoran denizen's claws raked across it. He is covered in scars.

“You are not in Kansas any more…” he addresses his gathering of hundreds of new soldiers and scientists. “You are on Pandora, ladies and gentlemen. Respect that fact every second of every day.”

F!Neytiri gnashed her fangs with a hiss as the voice and body of her enemy came onto the screen. She’d never forgive him for what he’d done to her home, to her family, to her life. The audacity had had to return in avatar form only added to her rage. So help her, she’d kill him a second time, and hundreds after if it meant that he’d be gone for good. She’d do anything to keep her family and clan safe from his clutches.

It jarred RecQuaritch to see his human form. While he’d started to get used to his Navi body, he missed his old body, or rather, being the real Miles Quaritch. He didn’t know what he was to be sure. He was referred to by his old status, but that wasn’t really him, was it? He was a clone at best—but was that it? Was that all he was? It didn’t do him any good to dwell on it.

Jake rolls in as Quaritch begins his monologue.

Quaritch raises his hand and points out the window toward the dark tree line. “Out beyond that fence every living thing that crawls, flies or squats in the mud wants to kill you and eat your eyes for jujubees. We have an indigenous population of humanoids here called the Navi. They're fond of arrows dipped in a neurotoxin which can stop your heart in one minute.”

The gathering listens attentively, not daring to miss a single word.

“As head of security, it's my job to keep you alive. I will not succeed–” Quaritch pauses for effect, letting it sink in. “--not with all of you. If you wish to survive, you need a strong mental attitude, you need to follow procedure…”

JAKE (V.O.)

Nothing like an old-school safety brief to put your mind at ease.

In the corridor, dozens of people are roaming in both directions, looking for rooms, lugging duffels and cases. Norm, a young and eager xenoanthropology, approaches Jake, staggering under an overpacked duffel.

“Hey, you're Jake right? Tom's brother? You look just like him,” he says. “Sorry, I'm Norm Spellman, I went through avatar training with him.”

Norm offers Jake his hand, which he shook out of politeness.

Norm continues on. “He was a great guy–funny. It was a big shock to all of us.”

“Yeah,” Jake nods, not really into the conversation. As he wheels on, Norm walks with him.

“And duh! -- obviously you look like him. I mean, if you weren't genetically identical, you wouldn't be taking over his avatar.”

“That's why I'm here.”

“So–you want to go check it out?”

Norm takes Jake to the Bio-Lab–a large lab complex with many adjoining rooms.

“Home sweet home,” P!Max said jokingly to Grace, who smiled.

JAKE (V.O.)

Me and Norm were out here to drive these remotely controlled bodies called avatars. They're grown from human DNA mixed with DNA from the natives here.

A scientist, Dr. Max Cullimore, is supervising the uncrating of two shipping containers. The nearer has the sides removed, revealing a ceiling-height acrylic tank. Norm stops to stare, and Jake rolls past him as if drawn by some unseen force, towards the amino tank. There, floating languidly inside, is his avatar; attached to a synthetic umbilical cord to maintain blood flow. It is big, blue, and appears asleep.

Jake whistles. “Damn. They got big.”

“Yeah, they mature on the trip out.” Norm turns his attention over to Max. “So the proprioceptive sims worked pretty well.

Max smiles. “Yeah, they've got great muscle tone. Give us a few hours, you guys can take them for a spin.”

The avatar’s face turns and is now more visible. The similarities to Jake and Tommy’s facial features are uncanny.

“It looks like him.” Jake says.

“No, it looks like you. This is your avatar now, Jake.

“Yo, guys, I just thought of something!” Spider said.

“What?” asked Lo’ak.

“Wouldn’t you guys technically be Jake’s nieces and nephews?”

“Bro, WHAT?”

“Think about it! That was your Uncle Tommy’s avatar, right? It was grown from his DNA first, right? But then your dad took it over. So, you all’d technically be Jake’s nieces and nephews since his avatar isn’t his first!”

Lo’ak stared at his friend in disgust. “Dude, what the hell?”

Spider raised his hands in surrender. “I’m just saying!”

Kiri thought for a moment. “…no, because Norm said Dad and Uncle Tommy share similar DNA, so the avatar body isn’t tied directly to their specific genetic makeup. Plus, half of the DNA is Navi.”

“That doesn’t make any sense!” Slider exclaimed.

F!Jake listened to their argument and cringed. “Neytiri?”

“Yes, Ma’Jake?”

“Our kids aren’t my nieces and nephews, right?”

“What?”

“Never mind.”

JAKE (V.O.)

The idea is -- every driver is matched to his own avatar–

Jake faces his videolog camera, documenting his first day.

Jake (V.O.)

–so their nervous systems are in tune. Or something. Which is why they offered me this gig, because I can link with Tommy's avatar, which was insanely expensive.

He gets distracted and looks off camera at Norm, who is working nearby with Max. “Is this right? I just say whatever in these videologs?”

“Yeah. You just need to get in the habit of documenting everything–what you see, what you feel–it's all part of the science. Good science starts with good observation.”

“Right.” Jake turns back to the camera. “So, whatever. Here I am. Doing science. Never been in a lab before.”

“Log off. It's time to meet your boss for the next five years,” Max says, gaining their attention.

He leads Jake and Norm through the short corridor to the link room where a dozen psionic link units are contained. They look like coffins crossed with MRI scanners.

Norm takes little time to start gushing. “Grace Augustine is a legend. She's the head of the Avatar Program, and she wrote the book–I mean literally wrote the book–on Pandoran botany.

“That's because she likes plants better than people,” Max says.

And there she is, Dr. Grace Augustine. She sits up from her link and cracks her neck after a long session.

“Mom,” Kiri gasped lightly. She was just as beautiful as a human as she looked as a Navi.

“Who's got my goddamn cigarette?!” she yells.

A techie scurries to bring it to her, already lit. Grace stands, scowling, as Jake, Norm and Max approach.

Max begins the introductions. “And here she is, Cinderella back from the ball. Grace, I'd like you to meet Norm Spellman and Ja-”

Grace cuts him off. “Norm. I hear good things about you. How's your Na'vi?”

“ Lu txo fya’u ni’aw, Eywa sa’nok srak srungit– (May the All Mother smile upon our first meeting.)”

Grace nods approvingly, taking a drag on her cigarette. “ Ke zene kawtu. Txo ila mi nume siyu –(Not bad. You sound a little formal.)”

“ Oe soli ni’aw teng– (There is still much to learn.)”

Jake waits while they ignore him, chattering in fluent Na'vi.

Max tries to call back their attention. “Uh, Grace, this is Jake S-”

“Yeah, yeah, I know who you are, and I don't need you. I need your brother. You know–the PhD who trained three years for this mission.”

“He's dead. I know it's a big inconvenience to everyone,” Jake bites back.

“How much lab training have you had? Ever run a gas chromatograph?

“No, but I dissected a frog once.”

Grace turns back to Max incredulously. “You see? You see? They're pissing on us without even the courtesy of calling it rain. I'm going to Selfridge.”

“Your mom is kinda…” Spider began.

“Scary?” Tuk suggested.

“Mean?” Lo’ak added.

“I’d call her fierce,” Neteyam said for Kiri’s benefit.

She rolled her eyes at her siblings. “No one’s a saint.”

“Grace, that's not a good idea,” Max warns.

But she's already out the door and clomping down the corridor.

Max turns to Jake with a pained look. “Here, tomorrow, 0800. Try to use big words.

Grace enters what looks like a control tower–with large bay windows and holographic screens–where Parker Selfridge is busy playing a small game of indoor golf with a cup.

She approaches the administrator with restrained fury. “Parker, I used to think it was benign neglect, but now I see you're intentionally screwing us.”

“Grace. You know I enjoy our little talks,” he says, not paying a lick of attention to her.

“I need a research assistant, not some jarhead dropout.”

Selfridge looks down and hits the ball. Frustrated, she kicks the practice cup aside, and the ball rolls past.

Selfridge looks at her with a sigh. “Actually, we got lucky with him.”

Grace scoffs. “Lucky? How is this in any way lucky?”

“Well–lucky your guy had a twin brother, and lucky the brother wasn't an oral hygienist or something. A Marine we can use. I'm assigning him to your team as security escort.”

“The last thing I need is another trigger happy asshole out there!”

“Look, you're supposed to be winning the hearts and minds of the natives. Isn't that the whole point of your little puppet show? If you look like them, if you talk like them, they'll trust you? But after -- how many years? Relations with the indigenous are only getting worse.

“That tends to happen when you use machine guns on them.”

That was something both Grace and P!Neytiri could agree on. Guns had no place in Omaticaya territory.”

Selfridge takes her to his desk where he takes a lump of rock, unobtainium, off a floating display. He puts it in front of her face for emphasis.

“This is why we're here. Unobtanium. Because this little gray rock sells for twenty million a kilo. No other reason. This is what pays for the party. And it's what pays for your science. Comprendo?” He places it back in the magnetic field. “Those savages are threatening our whole operation. We're on the brink of war and you're supposed to be finding a diplomatic solution. So use what you've got and get me some results.”

As much as Grace and the science team didn’t want to admit it, they knew it was true. Their lab equipment wasn’t cheap. It cost a pretty penny to make an avatar, much less more than a dozen. However, they never enjoyed the after affects of their excursions when Selfridge promoted them to go further and further into the Omaticaya’s land. He called for diplomacy but sent them twice the armed soldiers than actually scientists.

So much to Grace’s ire, she complies. The next day, Grace, Max, Norm, and Jake enter the link lab. Through a window, Jake sees both his and Norm’s avatars resting on gurneys in a sterile chamber, where science med-techs attend to them.

Norm slips into his link, expertly donning biometric sensors.

“How much link time have you logged?” Grace asks him.

“Five hundred and twenty hours.”

She then looks pointedly at Jake.

He shrugs at her. “Like an hour.”

“Tell me you're joking.”

P!Grace scoffed. “Unbelievable.”

“Sorry to disappoint, doc,” P!Jake shrugged.

“Just what was going through your head when you were asked to replace your brother. Did you think it would be a nice little adventure? You didn’t think your inexperience would matter so long as you got a gun?” Grace pushed.

“Maybe I‘m just tired of everyone telling me what I can or can’t do,” Jake said.

“Tsu’tey peered down at the human. “You cannot possibly believe that you will succeed. Our world is deadly. Overconfident demon like you perish every day.”

“You promise?” Jake snarked.

Tsu’tey shook his head. They were all the same.

Grace opens the hood of Jake's link unit. Jake starts hauling himself across from his wheelchair. She reaches to help him but-

“Don't!” he stops her. “I got this.”

So she steps back, hands raised. He drags himself into the link without help, albet clumsily.

“So you just figured you'd come out here to the most hostile environment known to man, with no training of any kind, and see how it went? What was going through your head?”

“Maybe I was just tired of doctors telling me what I couldn't do,” he says defiantly.

“Deja vu,” Neteyam whispered to Kiri.

“No kidding.”

Grace watches him laboriously pull his inert legs into the link chair by hand. Jake settles into the warm fluid gel packs lining the unit. It seems to enfold him.

She adjusts his biometric sensors, then lowers the upper clamshell. “Relax and let your mind go blank. That shouldn't be hard for you,” she snarks.

“Kiss the darkest part of my lily white-“

The hood shuts, muffling the rest.

P!Jake smirked. He was going to save that one for later.

“Do you think all Sky People talk so vulgar?” Roxto whispered to Aonung.

“I wouldn’t doubt it. Their home is so dirty, it must infect them from birth.”

All around the lab, scans appear on screens. On a large monitor, Jake’s brain shows up, regions of activity flow with complex shifting colors. Max types away on his own screen.

“Initiate link,” he calls. He touches a few more controls. “That's a gorgeous brain. Nice activity.”

“You hear that, doc? It’s gorgeous.” P!Jake smirked.

“Not another word from you, marine,” P!Grace grumbled.

Grace rolls her eyes. “Go figure. Alright, I'm going in.”

Max watches a display showing the avatar's nervous system aligning with Jake's–two ghostly networks of light merging. “That's it. Find your way home.”

Inside the link, Jake’s eyes flutter around under his eyelids, initiating REM sleep as his mind begins to connect with his avatar. Suddenly, radiant streamers coalesce into a pulsing tunnel of light, guiding him through until he exits. The first thing he sees are two blurry faces wearing masks and looking down at him.

Jake is now within his avatar. He blinks, his new feline yellow eyes adjusting to the light. He slowly sits up on the gurney and looks down at his avatar body, touching his chest with one hand.

“Damn,” P!Jake said. His eyes wandered over to the Navi across the aisle, and it suddenly clicked. “You!”

F!Jake’s ears flattened at the noise and turned his head toward his last self.

“You! You’re!” P!Jake spluttered. “You’re me!”

“Obviously,” he said.

P!Jake looked at the company around his future self as billions of questions flooded his mind. He went with the first one that came to mind. “Who are those people?”

The room went silent. Even the screen paused—not that anyone noticed. They were too busy watching the new drama.

“What?” P!Jake looked between the familiar Navi woman and the four juveniles sitting around his future self. The dots began to connect when he looked over to his left and saw P!Neytiri, who finally noticed her own future self sitting with the avatar man.

“What is the meaning of this?” Etukan bellowed. It seemed he too had caught on. He looked to his daughter. “Neytiri, what do you make of this?”

“I…I do not…” she barley managed to get a word out.

With no response, the Olo’eyktan turned to P!Jake. “Human!”

“Don’t look at me!”

Mo’at tried to calm her mate, but he continued on. He stood up from his seat and marched over to the future version of his daughter. “You were to be mated with Tsu’tey! What is this?”

F!Neytiri held her chin up high, despite the urge to weep at seeing her father again. “I am mated to Ma’Jake. We have four beautiful children and I won’t have you disgracing them for their parentage, father.”

Her father’s face reached a dangerous shade of indigo. “Of all the insane things I have witnessed in my lifetime, never would I have imagined that you would go behind your people’s back to mate with ademon!”

“Ma’Jake is not a demon. He wasToruk Makto, leader and warrior to the Omaticaya.”

Father and future daughter argued on, and no one could cut in. F!Jake tried to get his wife to back down or at least breathe, but she hissed at him. Mo’at had followed her mate to the Sully family’s seats and Waite for Etukan to calm down long enough to listen.

“Sully!”P!Quaritch barked.

“Sir!” P!Jake answer with a salute.

“You some kind of traitor?” He growled.

“No, sir!”

“Then what in the love of god is this mess!?”

The voice from before interrupted further arguments by making its presence know once more.“There will be no more interruptions. The sooner we can get through this story, the sooner you all may get to rest and interact with one another.”

P!Quaritch sneered at the screen. “I don’t take orders from disembodied puss*es who are too scared to show their face.”

“I had hoped to avoid this until later scenes, but if I must, I will. Do not force me to retaliate further.”

Left with little choice but to obey, everyone buried their complaints and returned their attention to the screen.

Over the coms, he can hear Max’s voice. “Take it slow, Jake. We need to check your motor control. Try touching your fingertips together.”

But he doesn’t listen. He is too enamored with his new body. He slides off the gurney, and his blue feet touch the cold concrete floor. With an expression of child-like wonder, he takes his first wobbly step. The med-techs scramble around him, barely up to his waist in height.

“Jake, we need you to calm down-” a med-tech begins, but Jake sees something like a blue tentacle curl across his arm.

He jerks around to find a tail. As he turns to see it, the tail sweeps instruments off a medical table, resulting in a loud CRASH!

“Easy, Jake, I need you to sit down!” the other med-tech tries to grab his arm.

Jake takes a step, then another. The wires to the bio-monitors pull taut, and he yanks them off his chest.

“Sedate him!” yells a med-tech.

Max is still trying to warn Jake. “Jake! Wait, we have to run some tests!”

“Impatient much?”P!Norm asked not-unkindly.

“You have no idea.”

Once again, Jake doesn’t listen and pushes past the protesting med techs toward the door. The second he exits, he sees the Avatar Compound. Blinking back the sunlight, he sees a couple of avatars playing one-on-one in front of a (non-regulation height) basketball net. Others go about their daily activities.

Full of pent-up energy and newly discovered excitement, Jake flexes his legs and jumps. He lands a little unsteadily but his expression is joyful. He takes a few steps and breaks into a run. Behind him, people are calling to him, but he doesn't hear them. He’s too busy running for the first time in years.

He finds himself in the compound garden, and stops amid neatly tended rows of alien plants. He looks down, wiggling his toes in the warm soil, then inhales deeply, reveling in the alien smells–earth, plants, the nearby forest. He looks at his bare footprint in the soil of an alien world.

F!Jake smiled at the memory of his first sensations of Pandora nature; how strong his body had felt and how nice the soil felt against feet that could feel again.

F!Neytiri bumped her arm against his. “You really were like a child.”

He smiled softly and put his forehead against her shoulder. “You love it, admit it.”

“Never, skxawng.”

“Hey Marine!”

Jake turns at the familiar voice to see Grace’s avatar. She is tall, athletic, and wearing modern clothing adjusted to fit her alien physique.

“Grace?”

Spider’s eyes widened. “Wow, you really do look just like her!”

Kiri nodded with pride. “I know.”

She smiles at him, much kinder than before. “Well who'd you expect, numb-nuts? Think fast!” She throws him a piece of Pandoran fruit, which he catches. “Motor control is looking good,” she notes approvingly.

As he bites into the fruit, the juice runs down his chin sweetly. Jake delights himself in the new flavor, his yellow eyes ablaze with joy. As he eats, Norm comes bursting through the vegetation.

“Hey, check it out!” he says enthusiastically. He then pulls a classic body-builder pose. “I am a living god!”

Both Norms blushed as their seat mates teased them.

“A living god you say?” F!Max grinned.

“Shut up, man.”

By dusk, Jake had gotten to experience and explore with his new avatar body, and now it was time to rest. In the avatar’s tropical-style hut, Jake sits on a wooden bed among the rest of the avatar's bedding down for the night. In one hand, Jake holds the end of his long braided queue of hair. The ends of the hair writhe slowly with their own life, like tendrils of a sea creature.

“Be careful with that, you’ll go blind.” Grace says as she moves past him.

“That's kinda freaky.”

Grace switches off the overhead lights before resting her body on her own cot. “Lights out amigos. See ya' at dinner.”

Hoots and screeches from the nightlife around soon lull Jake into slumber, where he is returned to his human body in the link lab. Jake blinks, disoriented, as Max opens the upper clamshell of his link unit.

“Welcome back,” he says brightly.

In the next chair Grace sits up, yawning and cracking her neck as the scared tech runs to her with a lit cigarette.

She looks down at herself and sighs. “Damn. Same old sack a' bones.”

Jake looks back down at his legs and decides to get himself out. He struggles with the dead weight of his legs but manages to haul himself out of the unit.

“Do we allow this?” Etukan asked Mo’at. “This is an affront to our ways. Who knows what kind of distruction will follow if we allow this Sky Person into our lives. This “Jake Sully” could very well destroy us.”

Mo’at thought for a moment. “…perhaps there is more to this demon than meets the eye? He could have seen unknowingly sent by Eywa to aid us? You and I both saw with our own eyes our daughter’s future. I do not believe for a moment she would choose to mate with someone who wouldn’t have the people’s best interest in mind.”

“But how do we make sure?”

“We can’t. We must trust in the Great Mother and her plans. You know as well as I do, Eywas ways are a part of the great balance. It isn’t our place to interfere.”

Etukan sighed in defeat. “You are right, as always.”

The voice returned as the conversations settled down at last.“This is only the beginning. From here on out, I’d like you all to refrain from further disruption. And with that, let’s continue.”

Chapter 3: Say Hello to the People

Chapter Text

In the commissary, Jake and the avatar drivers sit eating their breakfast, the base’s miners sitting all around them. Unlike the others, Jake sits in his own little world alone, isolated from the conversations around him.

Kiri couldn’t help but frown. Was her dad always so lonely? He used to tell her and her siblings about the military values on Earth that never translated onto Pandora; how brothers-in-arms watched each other's backs and kept one another company. But this wasn’t anything like that. She felt a pang of sympathy for the version of her father she had never seen.

She got up from her seat and sat by her father’s legs, leaning against his shins. F!Jake smiled and ran a hand through her hair, grateful for the company.

Trudy Chacon enters, dressed in her flight suit with a casual pep in her step. She’s a former marine at first glance, that much is obvious.

“Sully--Colonel wants to see you in the Armor Bay.”

While puzzled, Jake follows her. Behind, Grace scowls at his retreating form with suspicion.

Trudy leads him to the armor bay where passing tilt-rotors are being repaired. There are heavily armed scorpions and SA-2 Samson work-horses outfitted with door guns and rocket pods.

Jake is clearly impressed. “You guys’re packing some heavy gear!”

“Yeah, ‘cause we’re not the only thing flyin’ around out there. Or the biggest. I’m gonna need you on a door gun. I’m a man short.”

“Yeah, no problem.”

They exchange a quick fist bump before Trudy directs him away. “See ya on the flight-line, zero nine.” She points off ways. “He’s down there.”

F!Neytiri growled lowly in her throat. The mere sight of the demon human sent deadly chills down her spine. Never before had she experienced such hate, even when she lost Sylwanin. The feelings that came with Quaritch was enough to burn down the whole RDA base.

F!Jake took her hands and squeezed. “We’re ok.”

She nodded slightly, if only to appease him. “We are.”

Down a ways away, past a row of ampsuits on service racks, techs clamber over the suits and load ordinance with cranes and lifts. At the end of the row, Quaritch is bench-pressing massive plates in a makeshift gym.

“This low gravity makes you soft. You get soft, Pandora will sh*t you out dead with zero warning,” Quaritch says as he racks his bar and sits up. He is sweaty but clearly not winded. He looks at Jake. “I pulled your record, Corporal. Venezuela--that was some mean bush. Nothing like this here, thought. You got heart kid, coming out here.”

“I figured it was just another hellhole,” Jake shrugs.

Quaritch chuckles appreciatively and claps him on the shoulder. The chief mechanic’s voice calls out over the clamor of machinery by the nearest ampsuit.

“That servo’s in, Colonel, if you want to try it!”

Jake follows Quaritch as he meanders over to the ‘suit. As he gets in, Jake takes the elevated platform to keep the conversation.

Both Jakes can’t help but feel a little insulted. It was a clear power display--Quaritch forcing him to follow while he easily maneuvered his way around his. It wasn’t always easy work to roll onto different terrains, no matter how flat and smooth it was. Nevermind the fact that he kept Jake looking up at him whil ehe looked down. What a dick.

“I was in First Recon a few years ahead of you. More than a few. Two tours in Nigeria, not a scratch. I come out here and--” he points to his scarred face. “They could fix this if I rotated back. But you know what? I kinda like it. Reminds me every day what’s out there. Besides, I can’t leave. This is my war here.”

“There was no war to be fought until you Sky demons came along; destroying everything in your path and killing innocent Navi,” Tsu’tey said tersly.

“Such is the price for humanity’s progress, apparently,” P!Jake mumbled grimly to himself.

P!Neytiri’s ears swiveled towards him, but she didn’t react. She knew Sky people valued odd things like special rock. It was a foreign concept to her people. They used everything that was provided to them upfront--they didn’t try to pry into the Great Mother’s land for things they had no use for. What purpose did things like metal, or roads, or human education serve in their daily life?

From what she’d seen in her 18 cycles of life, humans were greedy and destructive. They had no purpose but to destory everything they touched.

He climbs into the suit’s co*ckpit and hits a few switches. The gas-turbine spools up with a high-pitched whine. The armor groans as it starts up.

“The avatar program is a joke--buncha limpdick science majors. But we have a unique opportunity here, you and I. A recon-Marine in an avatar body could get me the intel I need, on the ground, right in the hostels’ camp.”

Grace’s eyes widened and she whipped her head towards P!Jake. “You son of a bitch!”

P!Jake raised his hands in surrender. “Don’t look at me! I haven’t even agreed to any of this yet!”

“But you would have!”

“You don’t know that!”

“Like hell I don’t! I’m not going to let you destroy what little peace I have left with the Omaticaya just because you jarheads feel like poking your guns into innocent people’s business!”

“Please do not force me to restrain you, Dr. Augustine. Remember, no violence is tolorated here.” The voice said.

Grace scowled at the ceiling. “f*ck off! This guy is practically pissing on my life’s work!”

“Please sit down, Dr. Augustine.”

With a huff and a heated glare in P!Jake’s direction, Grace flopped back down onto her seat. Max patted her back sympathetically.

Meanwhile, Quaritch regarded P!Jake with scrutiny. The damning evidence to the right told it all. Sully betrayed the human race for…what exactly? Legs? No, that couldn’t just be it. He had made a family with that Navi woman. Was that it? Love? Lust? What in the Sam Hell had the marine been thinking?

The very idea of defecting for some alien fling almost made him laugh. Miles Quaritch was a soldier, through and through. Sure, he’d had a careless fling before (maybe more than strictly appropriate), but his nation came first--his people came first.

The suit is now roaring, trembling with power as air boils above the exhaust vents. Quaritch reaches his hand to operate the controls and nods at the mechanic.

“I need you to learn about these savages, gain their trust. Find out how I can force their cooperation, or hit ‘em hard if they don’t. Maybe you can keep some of my boys from going home like you. Or bagged-and-tagged.”

Jake nods. “That sounds real good, Colonel. So, am I still with Augustine?”

“On paper. You walk like one of her science pukes, you quack like one, but you report to me. Can you do that for me, son?”

“Hell yea, sir.”

Tsu’tey was up before anyone could stop him, and he had a large hand planted over P!Jake’s significantly smaller chest in seconds. The human struggled to breath as the Navi man hissed in his face.

“Vrrtep! You demon! You will not succeed. I will make sure of it!”

“Woah!” P!Norm shouted. He rose to defend his (friend’s brother? Coworker?).

Even Grace, as mad as she was, was alarmed by Tsu’tey’s sudden act of aggression and attempted to calm the warrior down. “Tsu’tey! Maway! This hasn’t happened yet! Release him!”

A few RDA members stood to defend their human comrad, but the voice returned. “Release.”

The warrior suddenly found himself flung to the ground and dragged back to his seat by an invisible force. He flailed and snarled, but the force didn’t stop until it had successfully pinned him down. Only his head was free to move.

“Tsu’tey, be calm,” P!Neytiri said. SHe didn’t want the man to get in trouble with the unknown being any more than he was. “Relax, ruxte.”

He clamed eventually, but the way he sneered at P!Jake promised him a world of pain should he open his mouth again. P!Jake took the hint and keep quiet.

The ampsuit is ready and alive. Quaritch steps forwards and pivots smoothly. He balances the two ton machine on one foot while sweeping the arms in strong, graceful arcs--a Wu-Shoo Kata.

“Look, son--I take care of my own. Get me what I need, I’ll see you get your legs back when you rotate home. Your real legs.” With that, he slams the suit’s canopy sh*t and walks away, the huge metal feet clanking against the floor.

The next day, Grace meets Jake in the bio lab, gulping down coffee. She hands a clipboard to Max and starts to prepare the link.

“Start calibrating. We’re on the flight line in ten minutes.” Max walks away as Norm and Jake enter the lab, and she guides them to the connecting corridor. She turns to Jake. “So, what did Atilla want?”

“Just marines comparin’ tattoos.”

Lo’ak was suddenly hit with a thought. “Hey, dad?”

“Yeah?”

“Can I get a tattoo?” he asked hopefully.

F!Jake snorted. “Absolutely not.”

She clearly doesn’t buy it. “Yeah, well, listen to me, Marine. You’re driving an avatar now. That means you’re in my world, got it?” she gives him a hard look, her eyes intense with seriousness.

“Got it.”

They enter the link room and start setting up their links, Grace typing away on a monitor.

“That son of a bitch has screwed up this program enough. All this exists so we can go out there and build a bridge of trust to these people, who could teach us so much. But thanks to Quaritch and his thugs the Na'vi won't even talk to us anymore,” she steams as she works.

“Then how’s this supposed to work?” Jake asks.

“We have a new face.” She gestures to Norm. “You’re fluent. You’ve studied the culture. You’re non-threatening. The ones we know best--the Omaticaya clan--may give you a chance. Maybe you can get them back to the table before things go tit*-up for good.”

“You know our rules, Graceaugustine,” Mo’at said sternly. “No dreamwalkers.”

“Please,” Grace begged. “I’d do anything to make things right again. I truly care for your people.”

“Care alone does not erase what the Sky people have done to us, as you very well know.”

Grace flinched. “I know.”

“You would benefit from ceasing this foolish endeavor. We have no need of you and your dreamwalkers,” Eytukan said.

Grace remained silent and returned her gaze to the screen.

Norm looks uncomfortable. “This is failing as a pep talk.”

Jake hauls himself up onto his link, settling into the cushy interior. “So how do we contact them?”

“We don’t. They contact us. If they see us taking our sample, treating the forest with respect–” she aims a look at him. “not trampling everything in sight, they may reach out to us.”

“Or they may skin us and make a drum?” Jake suggests dully.

“That’s so gross!Why would we make a drum out of human skin?” Tuk asked her father.

F!Jake’s face pinched as he tried to think of a response. “Erm, it’s kinda a running…I won’t say joke, exactly. Let’s just say there have been a time or two on Earth where something…cruel has occurred to make art.”

“Ew. Why?”

“Couldn’t tell you.”

“Just keep your mouth shut and let Norm do the talking.” With that, she closes his link with a slam.

Soon enough, Trudy has them flying over a carpet of rainforest, past sheer cliffs and cloud-wreathed mesas. Her Samson tilt-rotor chases its shadow across the treetops. Though big as a Blackhawk, it is tiny in the vast primeval landscape. Wainfleet acts as doorman, scanning the area for aerial predators. Meanwhile, the other avatars sit and watch the landscape pass by, the wind ruffling their clothes.

Trudy banks to follow a shallow river, pointing out the native fauna. “Sturmbeest herd, one o’clock.” She points down.

Norm grins excitedly as a herd of strumbeests--massive six-legged creatures reminiscent of buffalo--gather across the river for a drink.

Grace smiles down at the herd. “Looks like a bull, six cows and some juveniles.”

“The bull has red on the dorsal armor?” Norm points out.

“How’d you manage to memorize that stuff?” Trudy asked. She’d somehow managed to sneak her way to sit by P!Norm, who only realized she had moved after she spoke.

“Oh! Um, y’know, I studied a long time!” He said, a flustered tinge slowly coloring over his cheeks. “It’s all very fascinating. I could show you some notes I took with me from Earth?”

Trudy grinned. “You want me to be your little study buddy?”

Impossibly, P!Norm’s face got redder.

Snickering, P!Jake called over his shoulder. “Get a room!”

“Shut it, Sully!” “Shut up!”

At the same time, hundreds of purple winged creatures (tetrapterons)take flight from a lake nearby, startled by the Samson. They skim over the water above their own reflections.

Soon, Trudy flies them over a large waterfall and banks hard, rolling them in on the gorge below. Wainfleet and Jake are thrilled, whooping and hollering while Norm looks ready to puke.

“Whoo!” Jake cries.

“Yo, Chacon! Get some!” Wainfleet cheers.

Trudy lands them in a nice meadow among towering trees. The fern-like “grass” is beaten down in waves by the rotor-wash as the Samson puts its feet to the ground. Instantly, Jake and Wainfleet leap out of their stations and onto the ground, rifles in hand and already scanning the perimeter. As they do so, Grace signals for Trudy to cut the engine so as not to alarm the wildlife.

As the group advances forward, Grace motions at Wainfleet. “Stay with the ship. One idiot with a gun is enough.”

The trooper rolls his eyes but complies. “Whatever you say, Doc.”

The three avatars take off, leaving their ride and Wainfleet in the meadow. Jake takes point as they enter the jungle, the tip of his rifle at the ready.

“Y’all have fun out there!” Wainfleet laughs.

The rainforest is huge, completely engulfing the sky in cyan gloom as the team of three move into the vegetation. The shadows are alive with the chittering sounds of unseen alien wildlife. Jake moves through the foliage on high alert, his steps noisy and heavy. Overhead, a prolemuris leaps from tree limb to limb, flashing through the sunlight streaming from gaps in the tree canopies.

The plants react and move like animals, swaying in the light breeze with reaching tendrils. Jake is clutching his rifle in his hands in a death grip as if they were all going to jump him at once.

“Relax, Marine. You’re making me nervous.” Grace snarks as she pushes ahead of him. She moves nimbly on the path, unconcerned.

Eventually, they reach an old, rundown hut-like building. It’s made of timbers cut from the local trees with a thatch roof, and it is covered with vines as the jungle reclaims it. It is decrepit and creepy.

Everyone who had either been there that day or heard the story froze. The Omaticaya held hands with those closest to them in prayer, remembering the lost souls who had been slain that day. Even some of the RDA members who’d been there that day winced. The one’s responsible didn’t speak up--rightly so. Everyone was silence in respect for the departed.

“How will they know we’re here?” Norm asks Grace nervously.

“I’m sure they’re watching us right now.”

Norm gulps. Jake looks behind him as they approach the school, feeling unseen eyes. They enter the small building, stepping over molding children’s books and dried leaves. The floorboards creak under their weight.Grace and Norm start collecting instruments from storage cases on an old wooden table. Jake continues to observe the area, exploring the small room.

“The kids were so bright,” Grace reminisces. “so eager to learn. They picked up English faster than I could teach it to them.” She points out something in the case to Norm. “Bring the soil probe--right there, yellow case.”

Rustling in the rafters alert Jake to a stingbat, who eyes him wearily. They stare at each other as Grace picks up a molding copy of “The Lorax” off the floor. She smiles at it, a soft but sad smile.

“The stingbats knock them off. I guess I always hope somebody will come back and read them.”

“Why don’t they come back?”

“The Navi learned as much about us as they needed to know,” she says grimly.

Jake looks over at a chalkboard and runs his hands over it, noting the many bullet holes littered across the slate. “What happened here?” he asks.

Grace gives him a sharp look. “Are you going to help with this gear? We’ve got a lot to do.” She turns away, and Jake watches her jam the equipment into her pack

It took everything in P!Neytiri not to cry. She could hardly pass the building on patrol without feeling the overwhelming sadness bubble up in her chest. She looked over at Tsu’tey, not much calmer, and took in his stoick demeanor. She knew him better by now. Inside, he was feeling everything at once: rage, grief, numbness, everything. She wished there was more she could do to ease his pain.

“Pefya lu txo, Tsu'tey? (Are you alright, Tsu’tey?)” she asked.

“Sran. (Yes)”

“Kehe, oe ke 'upxare. (I do not believe you)”

He gave her a withering look, forcing her to back off. She’d try again later.

They leave the school and delve deeper into the rainforest. Grace and norm are busy collecting samples and testing the local flora. Jake stays close by as a sc out while they work. Grace brushes away some soil to reveal a tangle of root tendrils.

“See, right here where the roots of the two trees interact?” She asks Norm.

She takes a tiny sample using a needle-like probe while Norm uses a digital device to scan the roots.

“Woah! It’s that fast?” Norm asks in excitement.

“Yeah!”

Jake is quickly getting bored and decides to venture out a few meters while the scientist chatter on about their plants. He comes to a glade filled with shoulder-high spiral plants--helicoradians. He brushes one with his hand, and it sucks down into a tube in the ground. SHTOONK! Now curious and a little amused, Jake starts to poke at another, and it retreats back into the ground.

“You are like a child,” Both past and future Neytiri said to their verson of Jake--though F!Neytiri was much more fond about it.

“It’s a part of the charm,” P!Jake said with a grin.

He keeps patting the plants and watching them pop into the ground. SHTOONK! SHTOONK! SHTOONK! The colony is pulled down in no time, but it suddenly reveals a hammerhead titanothere grazing.

P!Norm’s eyes widened and he turned to F!Jake. “How the hell are you still alive?”

He shrugged. “Eywa only knows. I’ve been wondering for years now.”

“That things, like, ten times your size, and I’m talking about you avatar!”

F!Norm piped up with an exhausted sigh. “We’ve stopped telling him to be careful. Flirting with death is his hobby.”

“I don’t flirt with death!”

F!Norm raised a brow.

“...screw you, man.”

The Sully kids chuckled behind his back--even Neytiri rolled her eyes with a smile. They knew all too well about Jake’s misadventures.

The animal looks at Jake in surprise, mirroring Jake’s own expression. It snorts and lowers its skull in a threatening position, clearly telling the avatar what it thought of his little plant tricks.

Grace moves in, hearing the beast’s commotion, and presses the comms on her neck. “Don’t shoot! You’ll piss it off!”

“It’s already pissed off!” Jake argues, pointing his rifle at the titanothere.

Jake, that armor’s too thick. Trust me!”

As he starts to back away, the hammerhead bellows again and paws at the earth, disturbing the grass and dirt.

Grace holds out a placating hand to Jake. “It’s a territorial threat display. Do not run or he’ll charge.”

“What do I do, dance with it?”

“Just hold your ground!”

The hammerhead is pissed, and it slams it head sideways against the tree, splintering the bark and uprooting small saplings. It bellows, lowers its head, and charges. Jake, against better judgment, screams at the top of his lungs and spreads his arms wide, going to meet the beast head on in retaliation.

The beast is surprised and, shockingly, backs off. The Marine is equally shocked his half-brained idea worked, and he starts to taunt it as it cowers. He is unaware that a thanator heard the whole altercation and had started to stalk the group. It is like a six-legged panthor thrusted straight out of hell, armored from head, to jaw, to talons.

“How?!” P!Norm exclaimed. “How?!”

Grace paled. “You go out into the frest for one hour and you face a thanator? God, Marine.”

Even P!Neytiri felt a hint of worry for the man. He was a fresh dreamwalker steeping into the unknown. Just because the avatar body wasn’t really his real one, that didn’t mean death by palulukan wouldn’t be extremely painful. Their claws alone would be excruciating.

“Oh yeah! Who’s bad? That’s right! That’s what I’m talking about, bitch!” Jake boasts as the new predator slowly begins to stalk up behind the group of avatars.

The hammerhead wheels around, trumpeting in fear, and crashes away through the undergrowth.

“That’s right motherfu-”

“Jesus. Maybe less bragging and more paying attention?” Trudy said tensly.

The demon panthor snarls, finally gaining Jake’s attention. It launches over his head, shaking the ground with its landing. It emits an ear splitting roar, enraged. When it turns to Jake, it bares its fangs with a lethal hiss.

Jake backs up, his confidence dead in the water. “What about this one? Run, don’t run? What?” he asks Grace.

“Run, definitely run!”

So he does. Jake bolts into the trees, the wicked thanator leaping after him, clawing at the trees obstructing him from his prey. It forces its way through the trunks as Jake scrambles desperately over tangles of roots. Claw nip at his back while exploding bark rips through the air. He fires his gun at the raging beast rapidly through a hole in the ground as the thanator swipes at him between the tree trunks. It wails in pain and rips the weapon away with its powerful jaws.

“Watch out, Dad!” Tuk yelled at the screen.

“Don’t worry, babygirl. I’m still here,” F!Jake soothed his youngest’s hair and kissed her forehead.

Lo’ak leaned over to his brother and whispered, “Bro, I don’t know why, but I’m getting deva vu.”

“How come?”

“No idea.”

Left with no other choice, Jake tries to make an escape, but the beast grabs hold of his pack and snatches him into the air, shaking him like a dog’s squeaky toy. In the movement of quick-thinking, Jake unclips the straps and drops to the ground, providing him a moment to sprint away. The thanator quickly realizes and begins the chase again.

Up ahead, Jake sees his salvation. He runs in a burst of speed and launches himself into the river. At the last second, the thanator’s jaws just barely miss his shirt and snap shut. Jake meets the water with a SPLASH! Undeterred, the predator follows prey by jumping across the rocks, snapping at Jake’s head like a bear hunting for salmon. The only solution left came in the form of a waterfall sweeping Jake deeper into its depths. He falls over the side while the thanator just misses his head.

When Jake finally manages to come up for air, gasping as he did so, he swiftly gets carried along by the current. He manages to grab onto a fallen tree limb and pulls himself up; laying on the downed trunk in exhaustion. Above him, on the cliff, the thanator roars in displeasure at his prey escaping--it carries across the forest.

Alone and unarmed in the wild, Jake is forced to protect himself with what little he had. He is wet, bruised, and frantic as he takes a sapling and sharpens the end with a small hunter’s knife. He then carries on into the jungle, spear aloft and gripping it to death. Unknown to him, a pair of beautiful golden eyes peer at him through the canopy leaves.

“The mighty Neytiri,” F!Jake teased his wife.

“Our first meeting,” she said coyly. “Didn’t I try to kill you?”

“Of course not. It was love at first sight.” He said, bumping their foreheads together.

Neytiri couches on a branch like a panther waiting to strike, watching Jake as he walks aimlessly into her people’s territory. Her lith blue body is nearly covered by her surroundings as he peers down at the oblivious trespassing avatar. In one fluid motion, she stands and readies her bow and arrow, drawing it straight at Jake--silent as a mouse. Her muscles tense as she readies her shot; it would hit him dead on.

But something drifts down and lands on the tip of her arrow. She falters, staring at it. The woodsprite, an atokirina, stays for only a moment before flitting off again into the gloom of the forest. Neytiri disappears, leaving Jake alone once again.

“What was that all about?” Trudy asked. “Why didn’t you kill him?”

“Hey!” P!Jake exclaimed in offense.

“Sorry, dude, but, c’mon!”

“Atokirina,” P!Neytiri said, clearly confused. “A pure spirit--a sign of Eywa.”

Tsu’tey scoffed. “Eywa, protecting a demon. Your people have truely poisoned her if she’d protect such a creature.”

“Hold you tongue. The Great Mother does not make such mistakes,” Mo’at snipped. “To question her will is a disrespect to the balance.”

With pinned back ears and hunched shoulders, Tsu’tey remained quiet. But he still aimed a harsh glare at P!Jake.

Overhead, having been searching for hours till sunrise, Grace and Norm peer down into the forest searching for a sign of Jake. Trudy banks low but there is little else they can do left.

“I’m going to have to call it, guys. We’renot allowed to run night ops. Colonel’s orders. Sorry, Doc. he’d just going to have to make it till morning.”

“He’s not going to make it till morning,” Grace says tightly, but she concedes. They begin flying back to base, leaving the Marine to survive on his own.

Back with Jake, he’s being hunted by a pack of viperwolves; swarming him from all sides in the shadows. Thinking quickly, he takes his shirt and wraps it over the unsharpened side of his spear. He finds some tree sap and soaks his shirt in it generously, then he lights it on fire with emergency waterproof matches. His torch creeps across the shadows and lights his trail with dull clarity--only providing him so much light. Behind him, several reflective eyes watch him with hungry anticipation.

Laughter like that of a hyena taunts him from all angles, teasing and driving him crazy as they circle him like vultures from both ground and in the trees. Jake runs, hopping across a horizontal trunk over a steep stream; but the viperwolves had him completely surrounded. They have him trapped in a small clearing of saplings and grass with enough natural greenery to keep them hidden from sight.

The viperwolves’ manic barking keeps Jake’s head on a swivel. One brave creature makes an attempt to bite at Jake’s legs, but he bats it away with the torch-end of his spear. Others follow suit, but he jams the spear in their directions. As more slowly surrounds him, Jake realizes just how screwed he is.

In a rush of adrenaline, he shouts, “I don’t have all goddamn night! Come on! Come on!” He keeps swinging his torch and spear, keeping the little devils at bay. His fear is replaced by pure survival instinct.

P!Neytiri co*cked her head. “Why would you antagonize them? Do you have a death wish?”

“Stress is a killer,” P!Jake said.

The viperwolves get the idea and begin their attack. It's a blur of snarling fangs and pointed claws. They bite and hiss at him, aiming to get a bite in. He swings his weapon, hitting true, but one swing has too much added momentum and both the spear and viperwolve got skidding. Left in semi-darkness, Jake unsheathes his knife.

A viperwolf lunges at him and manages to get his arm. With a shout of pain, he slashes his knife forward and hits the beast in the shoulder. It lets go and hides back in the pack. It's utterly hopeless, but he makes a break for it in a small gap in the formation; however, he only manages to make it a few paces before a vicious viperwolf manages to snag his ankle with its fore-paw. Hey stumble and fall, sprawled on the ground.

Just as three more lunged for the kill, an arrow pierces the one on Jake’s chest. It hits the ground, lifeless and slumped over Jake’s confused figure. When he pushes it off him, he sees Neytiri emerge from the darkness. She draws an arrow and, in one fluid motion, manages to fire at another charging beast. It yowls in pain before falling dead.

“Aaaaaaand, enter, Mom,” Lo’ak gestured lazily to the screen to his sibling’s amusem*nt.

“Tally number one of all the times she’s save me,” F!Jake said.

"And still counting,” Kiri grinned.

“I’m wounded,” he said, flopping back into his mat.

“Dramatic much?”

Neytiri leaps over Jake and cracks her bow down on multiple viperwolves at a time. Another tries to get to her, but she rolls with its weight and drives her knife into its heart. Jake is busy fighting off his own small horde. A wounded viperwolf attacks but he kicks it away. It comes back for his throat and he has to hold it back by the chest in order not to get his face bitten off. But then Neytiri cracks her bow over its skull and sends it flying away.

She lets loose a battle cry as the pack finally decides that their prey aren’t worth the struggle. They retreat back into the forest with chips and howls. She turns to see Jake, who’s managed to pin down the remaining viperwolf and choke it to death. When he leaseases it, he’s panting and covered in sweat. They exchange a look--Neytiri’s one of cold indifference. Her tail lashes and she winces at the harsh light from his fallen torch. She grabs it and throws it into the stream.

“Wait, don’t-!” Jake tries to stop her.

But he is surprised to see that he can still see. The bioluminescence of the forest comes to life as soon as the torch is extinguished. Spots and patterns, ghosts and galaxies of blue-green light cover the expanse of trees and ferns alike. Jake scrambles, partly from the sheer awe of the new sight and because of exhaustion. Meanwhile, Neytiri kneels beside a dying viperwolf. It whines and cries in pain, pitiful and begging for mercy.

“Oeru txoa livu, ma oeyä tsmukan. Oeru txoa livu. (Forgive me, my brother. Forgive me)” She murmurs over the dying body. She takes her knife and pushes it into one of the breathing holes in the viperwolf’s chest. It quickly succumbs to the blow, at peace.

She wipes the knife off and looks at the creature sadly one last time before moving on. She crosses another wolf and takes the arrow back.

Jake watches her work, taking in her features as if in a trance. “Look, um, I know you probably don’t understand this, but thank you. I owe you.”

Neytiri ignores him, continuing her prayers. “Oeru txoa livu, ma oeyä tsmukan. Hu nawma sa'nok tivul ngeyä tirea. Oeru txoa livu. (Forgive me, my brother. My your spirit run with the Great Mother. Forgive me).”

Jake chuckles to himself. “I would have been screwed if you hadn’t come along-” But she leaves before he can keep talking. “Hey, wait! Where are you going?” He crashes through some plants, catching up to her. “Slow down a second, will ya? I just want to thank you for killing those-”

He makes the mistake of touching her shoulder. She whips around and smacks him across the cheek with her bow. He lands flat on his ass on the ground.

P!Neytiri smirked to herself. Served the dreamwalker right.

“Sì kxame. (Well done)” Tsu’tey said.

“Irayo. (Thank you)”

“Ow! Damn!” he says, holding his cheek.

Now she speaks in English, though broken. “Don’t thank. You do not thank for this. This is very sad. Very sad, only,” she hisses at him.

“Ok, I’m sorry. Whatever I did, I’m sorry.”

She gestures to the viperwolf bodies around them. “All this is your fault! They did not need to die.”

Jake gawks at her. “They attacked me. How’m I the bad guy here-”

She silences him with the tip of her bow at his throat. “Your fault! You are like a baby, making noise, don’t know what to do. You should not come here, all of you! You only come and make problems--only!”

Jake slowly gets up, palms facing her. “Ok, fine. If you love your little forest friends, why not just let them kill my ass? What’s the thinking?”

She contemplates, looking him in the eye with her golden irises searing into his soul. “Why save you?”

“Yeah, why save me?”

She’s silent for a moment, until, “You have a strong heart. No fear.” Then she leans in. “But stupid! Ignorant like a child. Go back.”

She turns on her heel and leaves Jake behind, but he isn’t leaving it alone. He follows her through the brush like a lost puppy. His stumbling and clumsy climbing is nothing compared to her nimble stalking across the root systems. Her totting is elegant as she crosses over the elevated walkways.

Even though he is far above the forest floor, Jake tries to catch up to her. “If I’m so ignorant, maybe you should teach me?”

“Sky people cannot learn. You do not See.”

She leaps to another elevated root and Jake follows. He somehow manages to do it and he sees how far up he is. “Whoaa.”

The glowing phantasmagorical forest is brighter and brighter as they go deeper. The bioluminescence is stunning.

"I don’t think I’ll ever get over Pandoran noght-life,” Max said.

“It never ceases to amaze me,” Grace agreed.

“Why is there so much bioluminecene on Pandora?” P!Norm asked.

Grace turned ot him in excitement, her love of scient kicking in. “Constant light on the surface plus the evolution of the planet made the plants grow accustomed to consistent light. It’s all very fascinating.”

“Gives me a f*cking headache,” Quaritch grumbled.

It takes a moment for him to catch up with Neytiri. “Then teach me to ‘See’.”

She stops, almost causing him to run into her. “No one can teach you to ‘See’.”

They keep walking over elevated roots, passing by the enormous trees and horizontal trunks. Underneath them is a huge gorge. A waterfall shimmers silver in the Polyphemus-light. Vines hang down a hundred feet into the gorge, and among them swoop stingbats and various other night flyers.

“Hey, slow down! Look, I think we just got off on the wrong foot and-” he looks down and is reminded of the height. “-you just have to get to know me. I’m Jake, Jake Sull-” A vine catches his spear and causes him to lose balance. “Whoa, sh*t-!”

Neytiri catches him with one hand before he falls off the root. They watch the spear cartwheel through the air until it splashes in the river below. Neytiri growls and pulls him upright.

“You are like a baby. Faysawtute, (This f*cking guy…)” She says.

Tuk giggled. “Oooohhhhh, Mom said a bad word.”

“And you’d know best to not repeat it,” F!Neytiri said pointedly.

“What would happen if I told her that she’s already said worse?” Lo’ak whispered to Kiri.

“Then Tuk will snitch and tell Mom that you taught her.”

“...Damn.”

“Look, I need your help,” Jake says, seriously this time.

“You should not be here.”

“So take me with you.”

“No, you go back.”

They are interrupted by the descending of atokirina from the treetops. They float in mass down to the two Navi. Neytiri watches them in awe as they go to Jake, pulsing and dancing in the nonexistent breeze around his head and shoulders.

“What…” Jake says, looking around. He smacks one away before it lands on him.

“Kehe! (No!)” Neytiri says, holding his arm back.

Another flies towards Jake, and he smacks that one too.

She is almost panicked as she holds his arms down. “Ftang nga! Atokirina! Atokirian! Kehe, ruxte! (Stop that! Atokirina! Atokirian! Stop, please!)”

Jake finally takes the hint and stills as the many woodsprites land all over him. “What are they?” He asks her.

Neytiri smiles slightly, still surprised and looking a little weary. “Atokirina. Seeds of the Great Tree; very pure spirits.”

After some time, where Jake plays with the small seeds with the tips of his fingers, they leave him, floating off into the distance and scattering. He looks back at Neytiri as if wondering what to do. “What was that all about?”

His companion seems shaken, and she takes his arm urgently. “Come!” she demands, and she begins to pull him along with her.

The Omaticaya stared at the disabled man below them. Most wrinkled their noses in disgust while others peered at him curiously. How had such a beastly creature earn Eywa’s blessing? Mo’at eyed him as well. The Great Mother’s insistence in the dreamwalker’s involvement in the balance was unusual--she’d never seen anything like it.

“Sraneängay ulte häsaw telvawkup? (There is no way out of this?)” Eytukan asked his mate, slightly put out. He couldn’t deny it anymore, but that didn’t mean he had to like it.

“Ke'ut kelku. (It seems not)” she said, patting his arm.

She takes him along, the plantlife getting more and more interesting as they pass. Jake is amazed and feeling a little giddy. He pats the leaves as he goes, watching them respond with his touch by glowing. They cross a bed of purple moss and rings of green light that ripples like water on a pond.

Jake follows Neytiri, running along a raised root-trunk. “What's your name?” he goes to ask.

A whooshing bola flies at him and wraps around his ankles before Neytiri can respond. It sends Jake crashing down into the foliage below. Jake gets tangled into the vines as he stands up, but it's too late to do anything. From the trees emerge a party of Navi hunters atop their direhorses--Pali--the mighty six-legged animals’ hooves pounding against the soft soil.

The riders aim their bows and arrows at Jake in warning as they approach, and Jake can only put his hands up in surrender. As the riders advance, Neytiri drops down between the avatar and her people.

“Maway, Na’viya! Maway! (Be calm, my people, be calm!)” She turns to the leader of the hunters with fury. “Ma Tsu'tey! Kempe si nga? (What are you doing, Tsu’tey?)”

“So that’s Uncle Tsu’tey?” Tuk asked, a bit loud.

“What is an “uncle”?” Mo’at asked the girl kindly.

“An uncle is a human term dad taught us. Usually, it is a name for a parent’s brother. Other times, it can be someone who is close with your parent and is familiar to the family,” Neteyam spoke up for his little sister, who had shrunken back at the sudden attention.

Tsu’tey blinked. “Why am I… an “uncle”?”

Before any of them could answer, the voice interrupted. “No spoilers, please. Let’s continue.”

Tsu-tey, a handsome Navi male, rides up beside her and looks down with a disapproving frown. “Fayvrrtep fìtsenge lu kxanì! (These demons are forbidden here!)”

“Aungia lolu! Tsahikur txele lu! (There has been a sign! This is a matter of the Tsahik!)”

That seems to convince them, frustrated as their leader is. Tsu’tey and the riders form a circle around their captive to keep him surrounded. “Makto ko! (Let’s ride)” Tsu’tey calls.

The Navi take Jake back to their hometree, the trek there full of tense glaring and snarls whenever Jake moves too much. One navi had a hand on his queue so he couldn’t run. They reach the Navi home and are greeted by the breathtaking sight of the great tree of the Omaticaya--the largest Sequoia ever seen.

Tsu’tey enters first with his pali, warning the many faces seen inside with an ululating shout. Up ahead, the whole community awaits; mothers with their babies, old people, young hunters and warriors, etc. Their eyes follow Jake as he is forcefully marched to the center. They range from curious to outright hostile. The small children hiding behind their parents’ legs have their large yellow eyes trained on him the whole time.

Jake is amazed at the sight of so many Navi around him and the size of their home. When he looks up, he sees the vast cylindrical gallery. Back on the floor, the central space is dominated by the skull of some enormous creature, mounted with much embellishment on a totem.

It takes P!Quaritch no time at all to start mapping out the area in his mind. He takes in the tree, how many inhabitants fit in the space, etc. All he needed was for the “camera” to keep panning over the inner structure.

Similarly, RecQuaritch takes in how many faces were there; faces he shared semblance to. It was odd; a strange festering something was brewing in his gut. He couldn’t put his figer on it. It was probably just nerves from being surrounded by the enemy.

The Omaticayan Olo’ektan, Eytukan, waits for them by the totem, eying Jake with anger and distaste. He looks to his daughter for an explanation.

“Ma sempul, oel ngati kameie,(Father, I see you)” Neytiri greets her father.

“Fìswiräti, ngal pelun molunge fìtseng? (This creature, why did you bring him here?)” Eytukan asks sternly.

“Oel pot tspìmìyang, tsakrr za'u aungia ta Eywa. (I was going to kill him, but there was a sign from Eywa.)”

“Poltxe oe, san zene kea uniltìranyu, ke ziva'u fìtseng. Fahew akewong. (I have said: ‘No dreamwalker will come here’. His alien smell fills my nose)”

F!Jake leaned over to his wife. “Did it actually smell, or was me just insulting me?”

“You did smell a bit ripe, Ma Jake.”

“sh*t.”

Tsu’tey chuckles at that from his place in front of the totem platform while Neytiri stands her ground, continuing to answer in a respectful but not submissive tone.

Jake is starting to get antsy. “What's going on?” He asks.

“My father is deciding whether to kill you,” she answered nonchalantly.

Jake’s eyes widen and, if he could, he pales. “Your father?” He then does something stupid. “Uh, good to meet you sir,” he says with an outstretched hand meant to shake.

The Navi warriors holler and warn him, forcefully keeping him back from their leader. Everyone is either yelling or snarling at him, which is overwhelming. Solace comes in the form of a commanding female voice that echoes through the chamber.

“Aynga neto rivikx! Fìketuwongti oel stìyeftxaw. (Step back! I will look at this alien)” The Tsahik, Mo’at says. There is an expectant hush as Mo'at descends the helical core of Hometree.

Neytiri leans into Jake’s space to whisper, “That is Mother. She is Tsahik--the one who interprets the will of Eywa.”

“Who’s Eywa?”

The Omaticaya and Metkayina weren’t surprised. How could a human know of Eywa. They’d shown nothing but ignorance since coming to their planet. Meanwhile, P!Norm turned to Jake.

“How did you manage to get this far without any research?” he asked incredulously. “I mean, a simple pamphlet would have told you the basics.”

“I was shipped out only a couple of days after going to Tommy’s cremation. Not a lot of time to settle affairs, pack some sh*t, and study an entire mission to heart,” P!Jake said, his voice a little tight.

P!Norm flushed. “Oh,” he said softly. “Sorry.”

“‘t’s fine.”

Neytiri doesn’t answer and kneels before her mother like an acolyte as Mo'at passes. The villagers stare silently as the Matriarch circles slowly around Jake, examining his tail and the end of his queue.

Mo’at’s accent is thick when she asks, “What are you called?”

“Jake Sully.”

She produces a long thorn from her elaborate ornamental chestpiece and places it between her fingertips. With a flourish, she strikes his chest. Jake flinches. Mo’at tastes the red blood, keeping Jake solidly in her sights as she does.

“Why did you come to us?”

“I came to learn.”

Mo’at’s eyes have yet to leave his; she bears her soul to see into his to determine his intentions. “We have tried to teach other Sky People. It is hard to fill a cup which is already full.”

Jake laughs at himself slightly. “My cup is empty, trust me. Just ask Doctor Augustine. I'm no scientist.”

“What are you?”

“I was a, uh, warrior… of the. The Jarhead clan.” He tries to sound sure of his words, but really, he sounds foolish.

Fellow marines and other RDA battle ops chuckled. Even some of the scientists, against their will, had to admit: as stupdi as it was, that was pretty funny. Grace shook her head.

“My god…”

“Tsamsiyu pak? Pot tsun oe tspivang nìftue! (A warrior? I could kill him easily!)” Tsu’tey taunts as he laughs, his hunters chuckling along with him.

Eytukan stops him. “Kehe. Fìpo lu 'awvea, uniltìranyu-tsamsiyu, a tsole'a awngal. Pori awngaru lu tìkin, a nume nì'ul. (No. This is the first warrior dreamwalker we have seen. We need to learn more about him.)”

“What's going on? What are they saying?”

“Maite, awngeyä fya'ori zene nga sänume sivi poru...(My daughter, you will teach him our way…)” Mo’at begins.

Neytiri blinks and goes to argue. “Sa’nok-”

“...fte tsivun pivlltxe sì tivìran na ayoeng. (...to speak and walk as we do.)”

Neytiri groans. “Oeru pelun? Ke lu muiä! (Why me? That's not fair!)”

“Fkol pole'un fì'ut. (It is decided.)”

“Wiya! (Dammit!)”

Lo’ak snickered and ducked his head before his mother could pinch his ear. She managed to flick the back of his head instead, smiling brightly all the while. F!Neytiri could remember the sheer audacity of it all. She’d been so sour about her mother’s decision all night. It had definitely affected her training methods on Jake. She’d hoped she’d be such a strict teacher that he’d quit.

That obviously didn’t work, and she was glad.

Mo’at turns back to Jake. “My daughter will teach you our ways. Learn well, Jakesully. We will see if your insanity can be cured.” She turns to Neytiri, her expression stern. “He is your responsibility.”

Neytiri nods, accepting, but she's not a happy camper. She grabs Jake's arm and pulls him roughly away.

“So it's all good, right? You and me-”

“Do not speak.”

After having Jake change his attire to a simple but ratty loincloth, his wounds are wrapped in plant-fiber bandages. Neytiri leads him up to the second level of hometree where the entire clan is squatting in a huge circle. They stop eating their dinner to look at him as he enters.

Jake chuckles nervously. “Don’t get up.”

They keep staring at him.

Trudy coughed. “Awkward.”

Neytiri crosses the circle to the cook pit and returns with several large leaves heaped with food. She kneels next to Jake, placing the food in front of him almost defiantly.

In an attempt to cure the silence, Jake says, “You never told me your name.”

“Neytiri te Tskaha Mo'at'ite,” she responds curtly.

“Okay, again, a whole lot slower.”

“Neytiri.”

“Neytili?”

She gives him a look and exaggerates her pronunciation. “Nay-TEE-ree.”

Jake knows she's baiting him, and he smiles in response. “Nay-TEE-ree. That's nice. Nay-TEE-ree.”

Across the circle, Tsu'tey, Mo'at and Eytukan sit together, glancing up occasionally from their food to the stranger.

“Fayhetuwong fmi Na'vina livam. Slä ke tsun. (These aliens try to look like people. But they can't)”

“Oeru po snumìna latsam. Peyä menarisì nìhawng lu hì'i (He seems dim to me. And his eyes are too small)”

“Dude, grandmother’s always been savage, huh?” Lo’ak whispered to Neteyam.

His older brother grinned. “Be lucky you didn’t inherit the same with you looking like Dad and all.”

Lo’ak’s face scrunched. “No I don’t.”

Neteyam raised a hairless brow. “Right, of course not.” he was shoved in retaliation.

Neytiri motions for Jake to take portions from the serving leaves onto his own leaf.

“Your mom likes me. I can tell,” Jake jokes while taking his fill. He munches on a white shrimp-like thing. “These rock. What are they?”

Neytiri barely glances his way before saying, “Teylu. You call beetle larvae.” she says this with a small grin, unnoticeable but there.

Jake blanches and she heaps some more onto his leaf. It’s a challenge, but Jake meets her eyes, takes a handful, and starts munching enthusiastically. “That's some damn fine teylu. Like grandma's teylu.”

After the meal, the Omaticaya families settle in for the night in their woven hammocks the size of human trampolines. The hunters sleep along spokes joining the inner trunk to the tree’s outer shell. Jake lies awake in a hammock listening to the people around him rustle in the darkness. He looks over to see Neytiri, who looks back for a moment, before she closes her eyes and promptly falls asleep. Jake watches the glowing bugs fluttering inside a night-light, a pulse of life energy. He closes his eyes and --

He wakes up in the link room with Grace, Norm, and Max hovering over him, gently slapping his face and shining a small flashlight into his eyes to test dilation.

“Come on back, kid, that's it,” Grace encourages him gently.

“Wha --? Oh.” He looks around, blinking. Reality crashes into him and he smiles dopily.

“Damn, you were dug in like a tick.” She helps him sit up. “Is the avatar safe?”

“Yeah, Doc; and you are not going to believe where I am!”

The screen suddenly paused and the voice piped up. “We are going to keep going for a few more scenes before a lunch break. You’ll be able to take in the information and rest your eyes.”

Chapter 4: Learn Our Ways

Chapter Text

The next morning, Grace and the other avatars sit around with Jake in the commissary. Grace is busy regalling the group of Jake’s escapade the day before. The other avatar drivers lean forward, hanging onto every word.

“--so the last thing I see is the marine’s blue ass being chased by this hungry thanator into the trees.”

“It’s not something you can teach,” Jake shrugged.

Grace snorts. "You got that right."

Some of the scientists laugh and clap Jake on the back good-naturedly.

“That’s awesome, Jake!” Max says.

Norm chomps on his bacon, fuming. He narrows his eyes at Jake.

Grace turns to Jake and grins. “For reasons I cannot fathom, the Omaticaya have chosen you. God help us all.”

Over in the OPS Center, Jake had both Selfridge and Quaritch’s attention as he regales his story. Both men are amused by the tale.

Most of the scientists send Jake some nasty glares. Even though they knew this was only a movie (or whatever the voice chose to call this), they couldn't help but feel betrayed either way.

P!Jake swallows nervously and ducks his head down.

Across the aisle, F!Jake rubs his forehead in mental agony. There were so many things he wished he could take back.

Quaritch chuckles. “Jarhead clan? And that worked?”

“Yeah. They want to study me. See if I can learn to be one of them.”

“Taking initiative. I wish I had ten more like you.”

Selfridge speaks up next, business as usual. "Look, Sully--find out what these blue monkeys want." He walks away to look at the 3D graphic display of Hometree. "We try to give them medicine and education. Roads! But no, they like mud. I wouldn't care except their damn village is sitting right over the richest deposit of unobtainium for a hundred clicks in any direction. Which sucks for them because they need to relocate."

"Does Augustine know about this?"

"Yeah, she does, and she's on the next ship back if she tries to co*ck-block me on it," Selfridge says seriously.

"So...who gets them to move?"

"Guess," Quaritch says.

"What if they won't go?"

"Oh, I'm betting they will."

"Look," Selfridge goes. "Killing the indigenous looks bad, but there's one thing shareholders hate more than bad press--and that's a bad quarterly statement. Find me a carrot to get them to move, or it's going to have to be all stick."

Both Omaticaya and Metkayina stare at the screen in horror. ost human words and expressions were foreign to them, but they understood the gist. The humans wanted them gone. Etukan frowned at the screen. he didn't know what to do. Eywa spared the human for a reason, but he was far too capable of creating their destruction. He knew better than to question the Great Mother, but still; how could She expect him to sit there and watch as this demon tried to destroy his people?

Tsu'tey hissed in agitation. It would be so much easier to just kill the dreamwalker next to him, but so much as a twitch in the human's direction made his body freeze against his will.

Jake is shaken, but he puts on a brave face.

"You got three months," Quaritch adds. "That's when the dozers get there.

"Got it."

In the BIO Lab, Jake wheels to his link as Grace quizzes him on the important figures in the Omaticaya clan. She holds pictures in front of him on her tablet, one at a time like a flashcard drill.

"Tsu'tey." Jake answers to the picture.

"Good." Grace slides to the next one.

"Mo'at. Dragon Lady."

"Next."

"Etoocan."

"Etukan," Grace corrects. "He's the clan leader," she slides back to the picture of Mo'at. "but she's the spiritual leader. Like a shaman."

"Shaah-mahn?" Mo'at asked.

"Like the earth equivalent to Tsahik," grace elaborated.

"I see."

They finally make it to the link room and settle in. Jake goes for his link while carrying conversation.

"So who's Eywa?"

"Who's Eywa?" Norm asks incredulously. He snorts. "Only their deity. The Great Mother. The goddess made up of all living things. You'd know that if you had any training whatsoever."

Jake holds up the tablet. "Who's got a date with the chief's daughter?"

P!Neytiri looked down at the human with an unimpressed look. "A date?"

P!Jake avoided her eyes and coughed. "My bad."

Norm's face goes red and he advances. "Hey-"

"Knock it off," Grace intervenes. "Jesus, it's like a kindergarten around here."

Jake sets himself into the link, letting his body be enveloped by the cushiony embrace of the inner foam.

"Neytiri was my best student. she and her sister, Sylwanin. Just amazing girls."

"I didn't meet the sister."

Grace's face crumbles slightly, and her voice goes soft. "No, she's dead." she shakes it off and returns to upright-bitch mode. "Okay, let's go. Village life starts early."

At Hometree, Jake is now being taught to ride pa'li. Neytiri leads one to him atop her own direhorse. On her other side, a mare canters along towards Jake, who looks at the approaching animal nervously.

Neytiri guides them all to the river nearby. Jake holds on to the surcingle of the mare while Neytiri holds her hand to its chest to steady it. She grins slightly as Jake clumsily mounts the pa'li.

Those who remembered how difficult it was for them to ride a pa'li for the first time stifled their giggles. For many young warriors or casual riders, it was either the ikran or the pa'li. One animal tended to be easier than the other. Unless you were Tsu'tey.

"Make the bond," Neytiri instructs. She gestures her hand to his queue.

Jake nods and brings the end of his queue to the queue of the pa'li. When they connect, both avatar and animal shiver at the bond. The pa'li's eyes go wide and it honks nervously.

"This is shahaylu. The bond." Neytiri places her hand on the side of the pa'li's chest. "Feel her heartbeat, her breath. Feel her strong legs."

Jake nods and breathes with the animal, trying his best to stay calm for both of their sakes. From a ways away, Tsu'tey and his new warriors, Saeyla and Ka'ani, watch atop their pa'li. Tu'tey watches the lesson with disdain.

"You may tell her what to do," she touches her head. "inside. For now, say where to go."

Jake, nervous, cracks out a feeble, "Forward!"

The direhorse launches herself forward, bucking her rider off in the process. Jake flies into the air and lands in the mud with a SPLAT! He sits up painfully, wincing and rubbing his newfound sore spots.

In a moment of weakness, Tsu'tey allowed himself to laugh. "Is there a way to see that again?"

"Yeah, yeah, laugh it up," P!Jake grumbled.

P!Neytiri giggled. "I too would like to see that again. Such flawless skill in you,mighty warrior."

Another wave of laughter hit Tsu'tey, and he had to clutch his stomach.

Neytiri is unsympathetic. "Again."

"So mean to me," F!Jake sniffled.

F!Neytiri shoved him. "Sensitive."

"Sensitive!?" he bellowed with a hand to his heart. "My love! I am offended."

"Good."

So he does. Jake goes again and again and again until his blue skin is barely recognizable under layers of mud and dirt. All those who watch are amused by his failure, Tsu'tey especially. He approaches the miserable avatar on his pa'li.

"You should go away," he offers forcefully.

Jake looks up and dons a mischievous grin. "Nah, you'd miss me too much." Then he points an accusing finger at the Navi man. "I knew you could speak English!"

Tsu'tey scowls and turns to Neytiri. "Fìketuwongìl ke nayume ke'ut. Nì'ul kame tskxe. Poru tìng nari. (This alien will learn nothing. A rock sees more. Look at him.)"

"You must be great fun at parties." P!Jake rolled his eyes.

Before Tsu'tey could respond, P!Neytiri cut in. "He isn't."

"Neytiri!"

"You're face is always grumpy. even when you drink."

P!Jake smirked. "I bet I could out-drink you."

"Impossible," Tsu'tey sniffed.

"I was undefeated at the local bar. Sent five guys home stumbling and pissing themselves with enough liquor to spare."

Grace pipped up. "I don't think that's somethnig you should brag about."

"Why not?" Quaritch scoffed. "Any worth while Marine should be able to drink their weight."

"Morons, all you military types."

Neytiri says nothing and pats his direhorse's hind to signal him away. He obliges, and he and his warriors ride off into the bush. Neytiri watches them disappear until she can no longer hear them. She turns to Jake and pints at the pa'li.

"Again."

Jake groans.

After a toiling day with Neytiri, Jake returns from the link and reports back to Selfridge and Quaritch. He sits before the 3D map and gestures to the magnificent tree, mapping out the inner structure

"You've got the outer columns, then a secondary ring here, and an inner ring. Then a core structure, it's like a spiral--that's how they move up and down."

Quaritch nods. "I'm going to need accurate scans of all these columns."

"Roger that."

By the stairwell, Max watches the meeting with a frown. He can't hear what they are saying, but he gets the gist. He leaves before he can be noticed, but he is quick to tell Grace.

The next day, Jake wheels into the lab to see everyone packing things up. Grace and Norm are the busiest.

“Where we goin’?” Jake asks.

Both scientists turn around to face him. Norm is sour while Grace is cold.

“I’m not about to let Quaritch and Selfridge micro-manage this thing. We’re going up into the mountains.” She continues to pack up her things. “There’s a mobile link up at Site 26 that we can work out of.”

“The Hallelujah Mountains!” Norm gasps excitedly.

Grace smiles at him. “That’s right.”

“Yessss!” Norm looks to Jake, who’s completely lost at their nerd-talk. “The legendary Hallelujah Mountains of Pandora. Hear of ‘em?”

As much as he didn't want to say it, P!Norm knew none of this had happened yet. "Sorry."

"For what?" P!Jake asked.

"For being so salty."

"It's fine, man. I get it."

Across the mountains and over vast canopies, Trudy flies the crew to their new site. The Samson thunders over the trees as it climbs over the mist of the mountains. Norms sits up front close to the sealed co*ckpit. On the other side, Jake and Grace are behind in the jump-seats. Norm and Grace’s avatars ride in the open back compartment.

“It only takes tiny inputs. Here. put your hand on the cyclic.” Trudy points to the stick between her knees. Norm reaches over to take it, hesitantly. His hand is placed over hers. “Feel how small the moves are? You barely have to think it, and the aircraft reacts.”

It is clear that Norm is more affected by the inputs of the hot fighter pilot sitting beside him.

Those who noticed gave the scientist cat-calls and wolf-whistles.

"Awooga!"

"Get some, Spellman!"

"That the best you can do, Trudy?"

P!Norm put his red face into his hands and groaned. "Kill meeee"

Outside, the Samson is dwarfed by the arches of rock that form the mountains. Grace is studying them on her tablet.

“See these magnetic formations. We’re getting close.’

“Yeah, we are, look at my instruments,” Trudy says as her instruments go bananas.

“Yup, we’re in the flux vortex.”

Up ahead, the mist reveals the Hallelujah Mountains, a marvel and testament to Pandora’s natural beauty.

“Oh. My. God.” Norm breathes in awe.

Jake leans forward between the seat backs for a good look out the front canopy. The islands of rock are hovering a half-mile above the ground. They are overgrown with rainforest, and scraggly beards of vines hand down beneath them. Waterfalls stream down the sides and dissolve into spray at the bottom.

Trudy turns around to grin at Jake. “You should see your face right now.”

The Samson is tiny compared to the floating islands of rock. An archipelago mounts the clouds, they cast great shadows over the forest slopes below. Eventually, they make it to their destination. It is a remote research station hidden in the forest. It consists of two shacks and a few stray instruments perched on a promontory near the Hallelujah Mountains. The shacks are airlift modules the size of buses.

The Samson lands, beating the grass with its rotor-wash. The humans hop out wearing their masks, and they quickly begin their setup. Inside, grace starts up the power, inspects the beds, and powers on the link units. While she works, Jake takes a look around. He stops to look at a fridge covered in pictures, which are taped up with care. When he peers closely at them, he sees Grace posing for the camera with a group of kids.

One of the girls, Jake recognizes. It is a younger Neytiri. Next to her, Jake sees an older girl who looks like her. Sylwanin.

Tsu'tey and both Neytiris allow small smiles to grace their lips. The sight of Sylwanin's bright smile was like a soothing balm to their pain.

Mo'at blinked back the mist in her eyes at the sight of her eldest. "Ma Sylwanin.Oe lom ngenga. (I miss you.)"

Grace breaks him out of his trance. “Jake, take number two, it’s the least glitchy. Norm, I need you to operate Jake’s link.”

Norm grumbles. “Nothing but the best, huh?”

Jake’s eyes narrow. “You got a problem?”

Norm turns to Grace in anger. “I trained three years for this mission. I speak the language fluently.” He points at Jake. “He falls off the frickin’ turnip truck and all of a sudden he’s cultural ambassador?!”

“It’s not our choice, Norm.”

Norm glared scathingly at the disabled man, who eyes him right back. “Yeah, well I didn’t come out here to wash the dishes while you’re on some interspecies booty call.” He stalks off further into the module, leaving his audience to sigh.

Grace turns to Jake and shrugs in a “what can you do?” way. “He can’t go far. Now, let’s get you in there.”

For the next lesson, Neytiri takes Jake to the banshee eyrie. They are 80 meters to the ground and still climbing–the villagers are ant-like from up there. Jake tries to keep up with the Navi woman as best he can, but her strides are longer, powerful. She leaps from tree limb to tree limb like a lemur; she is graceful and precise.

Finally, and the largest branch, she halts. Neytiri makes a series of clicks and shrill calls into the air, confusing her student. After a moment, from the shadowy leaves of Hometree, a banshee emerges with a cry. It is much larger than the forest banshees--it is taller than a Navi with a 10-meter wingspan. It lands on the branch in front of her.

“Holy sh*t!” Jake yelps.

“Do not look her in the eye.”

Neytiri grabs a scrap of raw meat to offer her companion. It snatches it from her hand gratefully, and gulps it down in seconds. It trills and shrieks at Neytiri’s touch.

F!Neytiri sighed at the sight of her first, beloved ikran. Seze had been such a joy in her life, no matter how small of a period it had been. The feeling of her powerful wings carrying them across breezes and strong winds would not be forgotten.

“Calm, calm, Seze,” Neytiri coos. She turns back to Jake. “Ikran is not horse. Once shahaylu is made, ikran will fly with only one hunter in the whole life.” she climbs smoothly onto Seze’s back. “To become taronyu, a hunter, you must choose your own ikran. And he must choose you.”

“When?” Jake asks with interest, plus a bit of excitement.

“When you are ready.”

"What does it mean to be ready?" P!Jake asked.

"When you are one with the ways of the Omaticaya and with Eywa's heart. Once you make your first kill, you will be ready," P!Neytiri explained.

"But technically, haven't I already made a kill? With those viperwolfs?"

She sneers. "That was not a clean kill. Not worthy of iknimaya."

Neytiri takes to the sky in a flash. She lets out a whooping cry as she and her ikran soar through the leaves and branches. Seze banks into the canopy and power climbs up and up. Jake has to duck as the two soar over his head.

Now, Jake looks into his camera. He is tired and doesn’t want to do this nonsense.

“Do I have to do this?” he asks Grace, scowling. “Can’t I do this later?”

“No, now. While it’s fresh.”

Jake (V.O.)

The days are starting to blur together. The language is a bitch, but I figure it’s like field-stripping a weapon. Repetition, repetition.

(Montage Time!!)

Neytiri tries to teach Jake to speak Na’vi, but he…he isn’t doing too hot. They kneel together inside Hometree as Neytiri touches her lips with her fingertips.

“Seyri,” Jake says.

Neytiri nods and points to her nose, then ears, then eyes.

“Ontu, mukyun, nahri.”

“Nari,” she corrects.

“Nali?”

Neytiri is getting frustrated. “Narri!”

“Nahrrii.”

That earns him a swift swipe to the head.

Jake (V.O.)

Neytiri thinks I’m an idiot. She calls me Skxawng--it means moron.

"Little did I know, that name stuck," F!Jake chuckled.

"Thanks for passing it on, Dad," grumbled Lo'ak.

Neteyman flicked one of his brother's hair beads teasingly. "Aw, don't pout,Skxawng."

"Cut it out!"

With Norm, Jake has to practice his Na’vi.

Norm quizzes him with quick words. “Thank you?”

“Ireiyo?” Jake guesses.

Jake (V.O.)

Norm’s attitude has improved lately.

“Irrreiyo. Irrreiyo. You’ve gotta roll the ‘r’s. R-r-r-oll it.”

Norm make’s Jake repeat the word, much to the marine’s irritation.

Jake (V.O.)

It’s good he’s back on board, but he thinks I’m a skxawng too.”

F!Norm nodded. "True."

"Thanks, buddy."

Neytiri takes Jake tracking with her, teaching him the proper way of the Navi and the Omaticaya. Jake learns to leap and bound, run over rocks, and jump onto thick roots and rough bark.

Jake (V.O.)

My feet are getting tougher. I can run farther every day. I have to trust my body to know what to do. With Neytiri it’s learn fast or die.

"No better way," P!Neytiri agreed.

"I could probably think of some better ways, but ok," P!Jake said.

Neytiri leads him along a massive root, 30 meters above the ground. Jake sprints after her--following her lead across roots and branches with the agility of a spider monkey. With a leap, Neytiri flings herself onto a giant leaf and falls, snagging each following leaf to slow her plummet. Jake, ever the good student, does the same. He tumbles after her, crashing into each leaf with less than desired grace. He practically face-plants in front of her feet, but he gets up cooly. Neytiri is surprised he survived.

Not too long after, Grace and Norm get to meet everyone at Hometree. Many Omaticaya children race to meet their former teacher, launching themselves into her arms for a hug or to cling to her legs.

Grace gasped and turned to P!Jake. Her eyes got misty, and tears threatened to leak out. "Oh my god, you didn't!"

P!Jake shrugged uncomfortably. "I guess I was pretty convincing?"

"You! I! Huh!" She stumbled through a variety of "thank you!"s and "I can't believe it!"s.

"Congratulations, Sully. You broke Augustine," Quaritch congratulated.

Jake (V.O.)

I managed to convince Mo’at to allow Grace and Norm back into the clan.

Another day of tracking. Both avatar and Navi observe the ground for tracks. Neytiri sniffs the air and points at the strumbeest mud tracks to Jake. They follow their new path past the bush to see a herd of armored strumbeests walking through the shallow lake.

Jake (V.O.)

I’m learning to read the trails, the tracks at the water-hole, the tiniest scents and sounds. I just hope this treehugger sh*t isn’t on the final.

Grace looks at him behind the camera. “This isn’t just about eye-hand coordination out there. You need to listen to what she says. Try to see the forest through their eyes.”

Excuse me--this is my video-log here.

Grace got through her brain-block enough to snort. "Sass mouth."

"You know it."

One of the necessary lessons--learning how to shoot a bow--Neytiri gently corrects Jake’s posture. She guides his arms higher, pushes his stomach in, lifts his elbow, etc. Their eyes meet for a brief second, but there’s a spark there. They look away.

For a change, Neytiri takes Jake on a nightly excursion. All around them are glowing ferns. Neytiri signals him to move slowly as they approach a creature on one of the plants. It’s an ugly, stick-like lizard perched on a frond. When Jake gets up close, a long spine whips in a circle, unfurling a bioluminescent membrane--a disk a meter across, opening like a Chinese fan. It flies off like a frisbee.

Jake and Neytiri startle a few more lizards, watching with glee as they fly off into the sky in a tizzy. They play like children for a while, playing with the lizards and frolicking around.

Jake wakes up in the link and pinches the ridge of his nose, frustrated.

Jake (V.O.)

Everything is backwards now. Like out there is the true world, and in here is the dream.

Quaritch's eyes narrowed. "Watch yourself, Sully. Remember, this is a mission--not a fun, 'let's go off into the wild' holiday. You are human, first and foremost. You are a soldier."

"I know. I know," P!Jake said.

"Getting attached doesn't lead to anything good. Keep that in the front of your mind at all times, you hear?"

"Crystal, Colonel."

"Maybe you should let your people decide what they want," P!Neytiri suggested cooly.

"Stay out of human business, Pocahontas," Quaritch growled.

"It is my business when you want to destroy my home!"

"Move, and you wouldn't have to worry about it, sunshine."

"Never. You cannot push us out ofour home!"

For the first time, Selfridge adds his two cents. "Look, we'd stay out of your way if you weren't constantly standing on the biggest mother-load of all time. You have what we need, simple as that. All you have to do is find a new tree." He guestured to the screen and the many trees. "I can't imagine that it'd be that hard."

P!Neytiri hissed. "You demons worship metal and death like it's the only thing keeping you all alive! You do not See! You do not live!"

"Now, listen here, missy," Selfridge starts.

"How many times do I have to say this!?"The voice groaned, suddenly very informal."I'm trying to be all respectful and professional, but y'all are acting like the babies! Shush!"

Finally, he is ready. Neytiri takes the dreamwalker to hunt a hexapede--a six-legged deer-like creature. Jake, now an almost expert, knocks an arrow into his bow and takes aim. The arrow flies--hitting its mark with precision. The hexapede falls, twitching. Jake hurried to its side to deliver a clean death, murmuring his prayers.

“Oel ngati kameie, ma tsmukan, ulte ngaru seiyi irayo. Ngari hu Eywa salew tirea, tokx 'ì'awn slu Na'viyä hapxì. (I See you, Brother, and thank you. Your spirit goes with Eywa, your body stays behind to become part of the People.)” Jake prays as he plunges his knife into one of the hexepede’s breathing holes.

Neytiri watches in approval. “A clean kill. You are ready.”

Chapter 5: We are One

Chapter Text

It is time for Jake’s iknimaya–the final test to becoming a hunter. Tsu’tey begrudgingly takes Jake along with his own warriors, Saelya and Ka’ani, who have also earned their rights of passage.

The experienced warrior is joined by Neytiri, who had come to oversee Jake’s right. The group must reach the Hallelujah Mountains to the rookery, where a batch of ikran awaits them.

"What's going on?" P!Jake asked.

"Iknimaya," P!Neytiri said. "It is the official right of passage for all young hunters."

"Neat."

The journey is quite treacherous to the untrained warrior. The floating boulders are weaved with twisting vine-trunks and other freak natural occurrences--it is like a fantastical climb up a beanstalk. The floating mountains grind against each other with the breeze, drifting without purpose in the air.

Jake looks up at the clouds as the other young hunters-to-be prepare their gear under Tsu-tey’s supervision.

“We doin’ this?” Jake asks himself, hyping himself up for the climb.

"Not so neat."

"Too much for you, skxawng?" Tsu'tey snarked.

P!Jake glared. "I can dish out anything you got for me."

Tsu'tey puffed up his chest, challenging him. P!Jake, even in his wheelchair, set his shoulders back and sneered at the other man as hard as he could.

"You areboth skxawngs," P!Neytiri commented. "Stop your showing off."

They returned to the screen, hiding their tiny pouts. They still maintained an evil eye on the other.

Tsu-tey and the others launch themselves up the stalk and Jake follows. They climb the insane 200 meters up, clambering over unobtainium boulders. When Jake looks down, he sees the massive trunk of the mountain’s tree poking through the rock. It took some time for everyone to reach the top. Spray from a nearby waterfall hits them in gusts of mist. One by one, they climb up the next set of dangling vines that will lead them to the rookery.

It takes some effort on everyone’s part to reach the top, but it is worth it to see the natural dome of cliffs. Ikrans roost in natural caves on the sides, hissing at the Navi as they come into view. Neytiri is with Seze, her ikran, and watches the warriors prepare.

Jake is still a bit winded from the climb and Tsu’tey notices. The male gets a mean, sneaky idea. As Jake catches his breath, Tsu'tey announces, “Jakesully will go first.” He smirks at the dreamwalker, challenging him to disagree.

"Can't stop picking on me, can you?"

"No."

Neytiri sees this and encourages Jake, leading him to the ledge. “Now you choose your ikran. This, you must feel inside. If he also chooses you, move quick, like I showed you. You will have only one chance.”

“How will I know if he chooses me?” Jakes asks.

“He will try to kill you.”

Jake deadpans. “Outstanding.”

P!Wainfleet chuckled. "Nice knowing ya, Sully!"

"Gonna miss you!" Trudy added.

"It's been an honor, boys," P!Jake nodded solemnly.

"Dramatic," P!Neytiri teased, gently flicking the side of his head. She didn't see how the human zeroed in on her hand, nor how pink his ears became in seconds.

Outside of Tsu'tey sight, Neytiri squeezes Jake’s shoulder, comforting him and his building anxiety. She breaks away before he can linger on it. Now, he is on his own.

Tsu'tey pursed his lips and tried to keep a lid on the turbulent emotions running rampant in his troubled soul. How did he feel? Anger at the annoying Sky Person involving himself in Tsu'tey's clan? Betrayal at Neytiri's incessant involvement with the human? Fear for his clan because of the intruder's intentions? A strange sense of reseignment? All of the above.

He had slowly come to accept that Neytiri and he would not have the same relationship as he and Sylwanin had once had. They would not love each other as fiercely as he and his love did. Tsu'tey risked a look over at the future Sully family. No matter how hard he tried, he wouldn't be able to live the life Eywa destined for him--all because of that meddling Sky Person.

But then again, he never really wanted Neytiri. Not in that way. She was like a close friend or sister. The idea of mating with her, while entirely doable, was not his first intention. But, he'd long ago accepted the fact that he had no choice in the matter; they would mate, have children, inherit their roles, and live out the rest of their lives together. No longer, apparently.

Regardless of his feelings, Tsu'tey kept up the tight grimace on his face and pushed through with this ridiculous story.

Slowly, Jake walks through the small path between roosting ikran. Most hiss as he gets close, shambling along or ignoring him altogether. There is one, however, who pays attention. A young male hisses threateningly at Jake, baring his fangs. This one--he was the one.

Jake advances with his bolo as the ikran spreads its enormous wings in a challenging display.

“Let’s dance,” Jake hisses. The ikran hisses in return.

And then it begins. The two lunge at each other, and Jake manages to evade the sharp teeth coming his way. He feints to the side and swings his bolo, which wraps around the snout of the beast. With its jaw shut, the ikran gets frustrated; it screams and slashes at Jake, but the man is already leaping for its neck. Jake wrangles it lower and swings his leg around to mount the beast.

The ikran writhes, doing all it can to fling Jake off of him. Neytiri watches with anticipation and flight fear while Tsu’tey laughs mockingly.

“Come on, mighty warrior!” he calls. The other students cheer for Jake, encouraging him on.

"Go, Dad!" Tuk cheered.

"Get 'em!" Lo'ak said, pumping his fist into the air.

“Make the bond!” Neytiri shouts.

Jake grabs the end of his queue and one of the ikran’s antennae, locking the beast’s under his arm and connecting them. Their minds fuse, and then the ikran stills, ceasing its struggle. The two lie there, panting from exertion.

Jake, tired but accomplished, laughs. “That’s right, you’re mine.”

P!Neytiri blushed, hoping no one noticed how she had immediately sat up straighter and sucked in a breath against her will. Did it suddenly get incredibly hot?

F!Neytiri happened to be looking in her counterpart's direction, and she smirked. It seemed her husband's charm transcended time itself.

Neytiri runs over, holding back her excitement. “First flight seals the bond. You cannot wait.”

Jake sits atop the beast and grabs its main. “What?”

“Think: fly!”

“Fly?--WOAH!”

It took incredible restraint for Lo'ak not to burst out into laughter. His dad caught him either way and narrowed his eyes.

"Somethin' funny?"

"Pft, n-no."

"Sure?"

"Mmn-hmm."

"I've got my eye on you, boy." F!Jake said, barely containing his grin.

The ikran launches off from the clip and descends, Jake with it as they fall. The ikran wails as it waits for commands. They spiral out of control down, down, down.

“Shut up!” Jake shouts.

The ikran listens.

“Level out. Fly straight!” Jake demands. Again, the ikran listens.

"Look at that, didn't die!" P!Jake cawed with pride.

"Very good, skxawng," P!Neytiri said, patting his head condescendingly.

He huffed and swatted her hand away with a grin. "If it could reach up there, I'd tug yer ears."

"Is that so?" She said.

P!Neytiri then proceeded to tug both of his round human ears. P!Jake yelped and covered them as she laughed; a beautiful, tinkling laugh--like bells. He forgot to be mad for a quick second as he was too busy staring at her.

Mo'at watched them interact. She couldn't understand why, of all humans, Eywa had chosen to save this boy...but maybe she wasn't meant to know just yet.

They level out and begin a shaky first flight. The ikran does its best to follow instructions, only wobbling mid-air a few times as the new pair figures out their bond. Soon enough, Neytiri locates them and deacons: follow me! She leads them into an arcing dive around the flank of the mountains. The scenery is breathtaking. They pass waterfalls and hanging vines, enjoying the cool forest air together.

She takes them through a sharp bank, putting them in the pure white clouds and skimming the cliffs. Throughout it all, Jake is starting to get the hang of flying. He is in control and he loves it! Elated, he lets out a whoop of joy.

Later, once they manage to land once more, Neytiri teaches him a few basic flight principles to help. She uses her hands to illustrate, waving them around.

Jake (V.O.)

I may not be much of a horse guy, but I was born to do this.

Another day, Jake and Neytiri go for a fly together, alone. They weave through the trees with ease--Jake is a fast learner. Neytiri takes him through a strange geological formation by the mountains. Arches of magnetic rock form rainbows of stone above the deep caldera. In the center of the caldera is a single willow tree, gnarled and ancient. It is the Tree of Souls.

"Bingo," P!Quaritch muttered. Now all he had to do was figure out a solid route to that damn tree. Maybe this story-time nonsense was actually going to help?

As they fly over the forest ridge, a large shadow looms over them. When they look up, Neytiri only has seconds to warn Jake to move before a great creature descends upon them. It is the Toruk--the fiercest of predators on Pandora. It is colored yellow and black with aggressive orange all over the rest of its body. It’s both gorgeous and terrifying.

"Holy sh*t!" Both Norms exclaim.

"Dude! What!?" F!Norm shook his oldest friend's shoulder with worry.

F!Jake let him, shrugging with the motion. "I didn't tell you?"

"NO!"

"My bad."

Jake rolls and dives towards the forest as the Toruk follows, crashing into the foliage after him. At the last second, Jake yanks into the air in a sharp bank, right through a gap between two branches. The Toruk is forced to brake with a WHOOSH of its great wings. Soon, is gone, off in search of a new destination.

Jake is shaken and Neytiri lands nearby to check on him--she too is shocked. When they catch each other’s gobsmacked faces, they can’t help but crack up.

"Children, the both of you," Eytukan shook his head.

P!Jake and Neyiri ducked their heads so the Olo'eyktan wouldn't see their stifled laughter. Tsu'tey didn't say it out loud, but he agreed.Skxawngs.

Later that night, Neytiri takes him back to Hometree to see the giant toruk skull on the totem. Jake stares up at it, marveling.

“My grandfather’s grandfather was Toruk Makto--rider of Last Shadow. Toruk chose him. It has only happened five times since the time of the First Songs,” Neytiri explained.

“That’s a long time,” Jake said appreciatively.

Neytiri takes his hand. “Toruk Makto was mighty. He brought the clans together in a time of great sorrow. All Na’vi people know this story.”

It is finally time for Jake’s first real hunt with the clan. The hunters swarm a herd of sturmbeests as they run through the forest, kicking up dust as they go. The hunters are on the backs of their ikran for both safety and height advantage. Jake rolls in like a fighter jet, his ikran screaming. He draws his arrow and fires, hitting a sturmbeest’s plexus between armored shoulders.

The beast falls, skidding in a cloud of dust.

"Jake, mighty hunter," Grace teased.

P!Jake puffed out his chest and posed. "That's me. Mighty hunter." He flexed one of his biceps for good measure.

"Arrogant peaco*ck more like," Trudy smirked.

"Hey!"

“Hell yeah!” Jake whoops.

“Hell yah!” Neytiri mimics, raising her bow for him.

Even Tsu’tey, grudgingly as is, gives Jake a nod of approval.

That night, the whole Omaticaya clan is enjoying festivities. People dance and feast on giant sturmbeest ribs as a crackling bonfire flickers behind them. A bowl of kava-like intoxicant is passed around. Neytiri is among one of the dancers, dressed as the banshee spirit. Jake watches her dance from the side while also regaling the story of the hunt with the other hunters and warriors present. They ooh and aww at the tale, urging him to continue.

It is then that Tsu-tey appears with his usual scowl. Jake tenses, but the other man merely offers him a cup of kava. Slowly, Jake takes it, not knowing if it was meant to be an olive branch or another challenge.

"Psst! What's his record for secret poisoning?" P!Jake whispered to P!Neytiri.

"Unknown," she whispered back, toying with him.

"I can hear you two," Tsu'tey whispered, his voice deep and deadly.

"No, you can't!" P!Jake said, hurryingly looking back at the screen.

Jake takes a long sip, maintaining eye contact with Tsu’tey as he does so. The warriors begin to chant, “Jake! Jake! Jake! Jake!”

Norm makes a grab for some as well, but Grace stops him with a laugh. “What that stuff? It’ll knock you into next week.” She then takes a sip.

After drinking his fill, Jake offers the cup to Tsu’tey, who takes it like the warrior he is. The two lock eyes as they continue their little drinking game.

After some time, they are officially drunk--thankfully not hammered (yet).

“I thought…enough drink, you would not be so ugly!” Tsu’tey said, his eyes bleary and dilated. For once, he grins at Jake.

"I ain't ugly, bud. Where I'm from, people say I'm quite the looker," P!Jake said.

Tsu'tey regarded him closely. "I'm sure."

"Watch the sass."

"No."

"I'm sure you are seen as quite handsome, Jake," P!Neytiri consoled the pouting human.

"Aww, thanks darlin'."

She tilted her head at the odd word. "Darlin'?"

"Never mind!"

Jake chuckles. “Sorry.”

Tsu’tey takes a moment, contemplating his next words. “Your warriors. They hide inside machines…fight from far away.” He looks at Jake meaningfully. “I did not think a Sky Person could be brave.”

Well, P!Jake was kind of touched. Sure, he'd spent a good few years in combat with comrades in arms, living together, fighting together, dying together. But P!Jake genuinely couldn't recall the last time he'd been told that he was brave. Jarheaded, sure. Foolish, absolutely. But brave? Not going to lie, it was a nice change.

"Thanks," he said quietly.

Tsu'tey's ears twitched. That was the only hint that he'd heard.

Jake looks touched. Before he can reply, Neytiri comes running up to them, smiling. She begins to pull Jake up eagerly. “You must dance!” she begged.

“No, no,” Jake shakes his head.

She gives him a sly grin. “It is the way.”

Left with no other choice, Jake lets himself be pulled up and dragged out into the dance. Tsu’tey watches them go, his anger returning. The hunters whoop and cheer as Jake joins the circle of dancers. Not willing to go through this alone, Jake grabs Grace as they pass.

“Wait, no! I’m not a dancer, I’m a scientist! Woah!” she practically cackles, not really putting up a fight.

"C'mon, Grace. Live a little!" Max said.

Grace snorted. "Trust me, you don't want to see me dance."

Jake and Neytiri join the dance, flowing among the other dancers. They can’t keep their eyes off each other. A couple of young women a ways away notice and giggle to each other, talking and gossiping about them like school girls. Mo’at and Etukan notice and follow their line of sight. They are clearly displeased.

“Sìn ayoeng fìrina' apxa slivu. Peyä fyao Tsu'tey Hulu! (We cannot let this seed grow. Her path is with Tsu’tey!)” Mo’at says to her mate severely.

Some jackass in the crowd decided that it was the perfect time to make a joke. "~It's mista steal yo guurl~" they sang quietly.

That was enough to get the whole RDA to crack up. Even P!Quaritch and Selfridge couldn't help but crack a small smile. For a moment, they forgot that this wasn't just a movie.

It is some time after the festivities that Jake really starts to think about his place on Pandora.

Jake (V.O.)

It’s hard to put in words the deep connection the People have to the forest. They see a network of energy that flows through all living things. They know that all energy is only borrowed, and one day, you have to give it back.

In another moment alone with Neytiri, Jake is captivated by her as he watches her drink from a pitcher plant, slipping the nectar in a sensuous way.

"Awooga~" the same voice said.

"Shut it!" P!Jake shouted. He could feel his ears burning.

P!Neytiri regarded the human man for a second. She could see his screen counterpart's feelings. She could admit, she could see the attraction his dreamwalker held. But how could they possibly make sense? She was promised to Tsu'tey. She was to be Tsahik. She had a duty to her tribe and to her family.

Then again...she looked over the aisle at her future family. They were cuddled up together, happy, and healthy. F!Jake had an arm around F!Neytiri's waist with their youngest daughter in his lap. Their sons sat at their feet, the boy with his hair bound was leaning against his brother comfortably. The daughter (Kiri?) leaned into F!Neytiri with a half-asleep expression. They looked so peaceful.

Maybe...maybe her future wasn't set in stone after all?

On another day, the Navi surrounded the dead body of an old Omaticaya woman. It’s her funeral. Flowers, totems, jewelry, beads, etc surrounded her curled-up body. Mo’at stands over the burial plot with Neytiri beside her, acting as an acolyte. Neytiri places an atokirina seed on the body before the people begin to bury it.

Jake (V.O.)

Hard to believe it’s only been three months. I can barely remember my old life. I’m not sure who I am anymore.

P!Quaritch narrowed his eyes. "Shoulda called it." He said to himself.

Selfridge just shook his head. Another million dollars down the drain.

Back with Jake at Hell’s Gates, he sits in the cafeteria--contemplating. Just then, Quaritch enters, pulling up a chair and settling down across from Jake. He takes in Jake’s pale, sunken face and scraggly beard.

“You’re not gettin’ lost in the woods, are you, son?” he asks.

Jake doesn’t meet his eyes.

“Your last report was two weeks ago. I’m starting to doubt your resolve. From what I see, it’s time to terminate this mission.”

Jake’s eyes flare with alarm, caught off guard. “No! I can do this!”

"These ain't your people, Corporal," P!Quaritch reminded. "You are not obligated to play caveman with them."

"Perhaps you should let your people choose how to live," Mo'at suggested cooly. "Life has many paths, but rare few permit the living to choose it themselves without the Great Mother's guidance."

"Mind yer own business, Mama Odie," Quaritch snapped back.

"Watch your tone, Miles," Grace warned. "She is Tsahik."

"And I'm the princess of fairyland. Doesn't mean sh*t."

Arguments began to arise, but the voice reappeared, more disgruntled."Pleeeease, for the love of Eywa, or God, or someone; be quiet!"

“Look, you’ve given me plenty of usable intel. Like this “Tree of Souls” place. I’ve got them by the balls with that when it turns into a sh*t-fight. Which it will.” He says this with an uncomfortable certainty.

It is clear that Jake is uneasy, filling up with regret--he did this.

“So you’ll get your leg back, like I promised. It’s time to come in.” He places his large hand on Jake’s shoulder.

“I’ve gotta finish this thing. There’s one more test--the dream hunt. It’s the final stage of becoming a man. Then I’m one of them. They’ll trust what I say…and I can negotiate the terms of their relocation.”

“Then you need to get it done, Corporal.”

It is time for Jake to be initiated into the clan for real. As he chugs down a cup of coffee, Grace intercepts him, a cigarette in her mouth. She looks furious.

“Jake, I can’t allow this. You’re not strong enough.”

“It’s the last door--I’m going through it. You can help me or get out of the way.” Jake pushes past her to his link

Grace grabs his chair and stops him. “Will you listen to me?! Sometimes the Na’vi themselves die in these vision quests. The venom takes you to the edge of death. And the psychoactive alkaloid in the worm--we have no idea what that’ll do in the avatar brain!”

As much as the scientists wished they could find out all of the chemical reactions to an avatar's brain, they had gotten sucked into the movie. They forgot they were essentially watching the future; they worried for Jake's well-being. Grace watched the screen intently, a small part of her begging for the screen-Jake to listen to her for once in his life.

Jake manages to break free from her grip and wheels to the link. Norm is busy activating the link while also nervously watching them fight.

“Calibrating. Thirty seconds,” he warns.

Grace puts her hands on Jake’s shoulders. “No matter what you prove out there, you are still in here. Right here.”

“I have to go all the way--become one of them-”

“Goddamn it, Jake! You can never be one of them!” Grace shouts, making Norm jump. “Our life out there takes millions of dollars of machinery to sustain. You visit, and then you leave!”

Jake half-listens, lugging himself into the link as Grace continues.

Her voice softens. “You can’t be with her.”

And wasn't that a kick in the balls? F!Jake pressed his head against his wife's and sighed. He had been so stupid then, yet so hopeful. Sure, everything had worked out in the end, but he couldn't forget how desperate he was to make it all work--to stay with Neytiri.

F!Neytiri rubbed her husband's head with a free hand, soothing whatever worries he had brewing in his head.

Jake stops, struck by the truth. He looks lost. “...You know why I’m here? Because Quaritch sent me.”

Norm gapes but Grace is calm.

“That’s right,” Jake continues. “To embed with the Omaticaya. To find how to screw them out of their home. By deceit or by force, he didn’t care. And if it turns out to be force, then how best to do it.”

“And what about now, Jake?” Grace asks.

“...I’m not that guy anymore.”

Grace nods. She’s seen his journey herself. “I know.”

Jake continues on, his tangent becoming frantic and self-destructive. He is genuinely upset and out of his comfort zone. He’s sharing more than he’s ever admitted to before--feelings, fears, worries, lies he’s told.

“But if I tell Quaritch the truth, he yanks me out--I never see her again. And if I tell her the truth, the clan throws me out--and that’s if they don’t cut out my heart and show it to me!”

"If it helps, we don't have such a practice," P!Neytiri said to her human seatmate.

"Reassuring." It wasn't.

“They won’t understand what you’ve done,” Norm realizes.

“They don’t even have a word for “lie”. They had to learn it from us,” Jake says solemnly. He is on the brink of tears. His pale face is flushed and he looks ready to keel over from stress.

Grace brings a soothing hand to the back of his neck. “I know. I taught it to them.”

“Grace,” Jake pleads. “I gotta go. They’re waiting.”

“Link is ready,” Norm says by the keyboard.

“Jake. You can’t carry this burden much longer.” Grace warns as Jake starts shutting the lid.

He smiles up at her weakly. “It’s okay. Mo’at says an alien mind probably can’t survive the Dream Hunt anyway.”

"You Sky People have... an odd sense of humor," Tsu'tey clicked his tongue.

He was still a little upset by the happenings on the screen, but he figured it wouldn't be the end of the world to offer the human a piece of sympathy. This Jakesully looked a little down, staring at the screen in contemplation.

"Dry humor is a pillar to comedy. You get used to it," P!Jake shrugged.

At Hometree, the sky is dark and stormy, casting a gloom among Hometree’s inner branches. Neytiri and Jake are in a secluded place. Neytiri is currently painting swirling designs over his body with white paint.

“When your spirit animal comes, you will know,” she says as she pants a line down Jake’s lips. They stare into each other’s eyes, too emotional to look away.

The jokster in the RDA group was barely containing themself from making some kind of joke. Their seatmate was giving them a hard look, daring them to interrupt the moment with the risk of a swat to the face. They stayed silent.

For now.

The elders, hunters, and Mo’at meet Jake in Hometree’s lowest level--below in the very roots. Jake is corralled into the circle and bathes in purifying smoke by Mo’at. As Mo’at chants, Jake bathes himself in the smoke with his hands, his heart pounding in his chest.

Soon, Mo’at grabs a piece of wood riddled with holes. She catches the end of a glowing purple worm, drawing it from the wood.

“Ma txantslusama ngawng, a swoka utralti yom. Fìtaronyur apxan teswotivìng äiet angay. Teswotivìng äiet angay. Teswotivìng äiet angay. Mì ayewll, poru teswotìng äiet angay. (O wise worm, who eats the Sacred Tree. Grant this worthy warrior true vision. Grant true vision. Grant true vision. In the plants, grant true vision to him.)” Mo’at chants.

"So, you basically hallucinate for a few minutes, and you're an adult?" Trudy asked.

"That is the basic version," Grace said. "It's more complicated than that. It's a long standing tradition. The worm had intense alkaloids in the worm have been used for a long time for both initiations and Tsahik rituals."

Mo'at nodded in confirmation. "The worm is mainly used in the Dream Hunt as the visions only last for a short time."

She places the worm on Jake’s tongue. He closes his mouth, eating it with concealed distaste. Eytukan arrives next, holding in his hands a writhing arachnoid--the Pandoran equivalent to a scorpion. He places it on the back of Jake’s neck and presses. The insect drives its stinger into Jake’s skin, making Jake grimace in pain.

"Ouch," P!jake added dully."

Everyone steps back as Jake begins to hallucinate. Everyone’s faces distort, transforming into threatening figures. When they disappear, receding into the earth, Jake is left surrounded by rings of glowing trees. He looks at his hands and watches as they transform into tendrils. His legs become roots that spread across the ground, a thousand glowing dendrites that connect to the roots of the trees.

In reality, Jake is puking up the bug as he screams in pain. The venom causes his muscles to twitch violently. Neytiri watches on with concern, but she cannot interfere.

"Oh, that ain't pretty," Trudy winced.

"I don't envy you, Jake," P!Norm said, looking green around the gills.

"Good thing I'm a tough cookie," P!Jake joked.

In Jake’s vision, he is in the floating mountains on a cliff. The shadow of the toruk descends on him. He screams out in terror--that scream translates to his real body. Jake is actually writhing on the ground from pain.

Back with the hallucination, Jake gazes out at a burning landscape. Pandora is burning before his very eyes. Trees are burning and turning to ash in the twilight--fires reach as high as the stars. A terrible shadow looms over the ashy ground, and Jake realizes that it’s him. The toruk’s mighty shadow is now his own, and he flies off the burning land with its eyes, taking in the destruction all around with the clarity that it is all his fault. He lets out a mighty shriek that echoes across the planet! and--

Both Eytukan and Mo'at eyes widened, though the latter could only feel resignment. Her mate felt a barrage of emotions. Grief, fear, resentment, etc. He knew better than to ignore visions, but that didn't mean he had to like it.

Mo'at took his hand. "We can only prepare, yawne."

"I know," he sighed. "The destruction will be devastating."

"We will see."

With a gasp, Jake shudders and returns to his real body. He weakly rolls onto his elbow and looks around the room.

“It is finished,” Mo’at declares.

Neytiri smiles in relief, and the elders look at Jake expectantly. Eytukan approaches him and asks. “Did your spirit animal come to you?”

Jake looks from Mo’at to Eytukan. He doesn’t have the words for what he just saw and he doesn’t think he wants the words to come. How can he tell them what he saw? Mo’at gets up close and places her hands on his head, searching his mind.

“Something has come,” she says to Jake, who gulps. She turns back to the elders. “It will take time for the meaning to be clear.”

Eytukan motions for Jake to get to his feet. He leads the new clan member to the first level where the whole clan plus Grace, in her avatar, are waiting. She looks proud, relieved, amazed. The other clan patiently awaits their leader’s words.

Eytukan puts both hands on Jake’s chest and bears his soul into his gaze, staring into Jake’s eyes. “Ngenga 'itan Omatikayaä luyu set. Na'viyä luyu hapxì. (You are now a son of the Omaticaya. You are part of The People.)”

The rest of the clan come to put their hands on Jake’s shoulders, his back, his chest--hands upon hands until he is connected to everyone.

The image made both Jakes smile. For F!Jake, he remembered the feeling of connection with warmth and love. He loved the People, he loved his family, and he loved being Omaticaya. He only wihsed he could have kept it all in the end.

For P!Jake, it was like a sign that life could be better. When he left Earth, he knew any chance at being happy from that point and beyond would be a long shot. But there he was, in a new body that could run, earnign his place with a community. It made him feel...something.

Once everything dies down, Neytiri finally gets to take Jake somewhere for just the two of them. They laugh as they traverse the now familiar rainforest paths. They simply enjoy each other’s presence, leaping and bounding after each other like a play-chase.

Eventually, they reach a rather magnificent glowing willow tree--the Tree of Voices. The tendrils glow a faint pinkish-purple in the glowing night. Moss under their feet glow with their steps. It is a truly beautiful place.

Neytiri steps in front of Jake and runs her hands over a handful of tendrils. “This is a place for prayers to be heard. And sometimes answered.”

Jake follows her lead, taking a tendril and connecting his queue to it. His eyes widen as he hears the sound of The People. Long-gone voices of men, women, and children chatter and laugh in whispering tones. Jake has never felt so connected to something in all his life--so connected to something much bigger than him.

Neytiri gets close, her eyes intense as she looks at him. But then she pulls back. “You are Omaticaya now,” she says. “You may make your own bow from the wood of Hometree…and you may choose a woman.”

"Huh?!" P!Jake exclaimed.

"It is tradition for young adults for mate so they can begin starting their family. It is Eywa who chooses when you have children, but it is best to be mated soon, or when the time feels most right," Mo'at said.

"...Oh."

Jake blinks and smiles slightly.

Neytiri goes on, avoiding his gaze. “We have many fine women.” She plays with the atokirina that had drifted their way earlier. “Ninat is the best singer.”

Ninar brightened in the crowd of Omaticaya. "Thank you, Neytiri."

“I don’t want Ninat.” He starts to walk closer.

“Beyral is a good hunter.”

“Yeah, she is.”

That makes Neytiri turn around. Her face looks resigned, but Jake quickly makes it disappear with his next words.

“I have already chosen. But this woman must also choose me.”

Neytiri smiles. “She already has.”

The RDA guy was practically shaking, holding back a raging river of jokes that threatened to burst from hi slips like offensive slurs. They were barely keeping it together. Their seatmate saw this, but they could do nothing but wait for the inevitable.

Jake and Neytiri close the gap between them, exchanging a slow, sweet kiss. Between kisses, they rub their foreheads together, brushing the other cheek. They take the time to explore each other, running hands down back and shoulders. They take their queues and let the tendrils connect. Jake closes his eyes as he begins to feel Neytiri in his mind--it is the ultimate intimacy.

"WOAH! WOAH! HEY!" F!Jake hollered, moving to cover as many of his children's eyes as possible.

That didn't stop Lo'ak from overreacting for the hell of it.

"MY EYES!"

Tuk decided to play along, rubbing her face aggressively against her father's hand. "IT BURNS!"

For sh*ts and giggles, the rest of the Sullys followed suit.

"I"M BLIND!" Spider cried.

"THE HORROR!" Kiri exclaimed.

Neteyam just stared the at the ceiling in shock (half-way true. He did not want to see the night of his conception.)

They lay on their knees on the moss and continue their exploration. Hands are grabbing and groping everywhere.

And there is was. The RDA guy lost it.

"BOW-CHIKA-BOW BOW!" they hollered at the top of their lungs.

The results was an eruption of laughter and groans. P!Jake and Neytiri covered their reddening faces, trying to hid from the catcalls and whooping cheers.

"Atta boy, Sully," Trudy cheered. "You just achieved what nearly all of humanity has dreamt to do since the ancient times."

"What is that?" Tsu'tey asked against his better judgement.

Trudy smirked. "Boinked with an alien."

"Trudy!" P!Jake almost squeaked. His face wasred. He looked like a fresh cherry picked off the tree.

Neytiri (V.O.)

I am with you now, Jake. We are mated for life.

Jake wakes up in his link after a beautiful night of passion. The link is dark compared to the Tree of Voices’ comforting glow. He lies there for a while, letting his earlier bliss replay in his mind.

It took forever for the cheering and groans to die down and even longer for P!Jake and Neytiri to stop blushing. Neytiri's parents purposefully kept their eyes on the floor the whole time. They had no desire to see their remaining, beloved child mate in front of their eyes.

Chapter 6: SO SORRY THIS IS JUST AN UPDATE

Chapter Text

Sorry y’all, this isn’t a chapter. I just wanted to make a note to assure you guys that I’m not dead and this story SHALL BE COMPLETED along with the sequel and any other that may follow

(provided that James Cameron pumps out Avatar 3, 4, and 5 in my lifetime)

Ive been busy prepping for my SATs and prom this upcoming week, but rest assured, I plan on starting chapter 6 tomorrow and finishing it either the day after or the day after after.

So, have a great day/night and I’ll see y’all in the next chapter! Can’t wait!!

Chapter 7: How Could You?

Chapter Text

Dawn breaks: streams of sunlight filter through the tendrils of the Tree of Voices. Neytiri and Jake sleep peacefully on the mossy ground below the tree, blissfully slumbering unaware of the imminent danger awaiting them.

The roar of engines breaks the silence, followed by splintering and cracking of trees. Neytiri is awoken abruptly, and she sees the incoming destruction with a look of horror. The blade of the bulldozer becomes a dark wall behind the sheltering ring of willows. Frantic, she tries to shake Jake awake, shouting at him to wake up.

“Jake! Ma Jake! Wake up!” she begs.

Eyes widen all over the theater. The Omaticaya all cry out in alarm, not able to understandwhy. How could this happen? Why? P!Neytiri covered her mouth with her hand and forced back a gasp. Even P!Jake, who in real-time has no connection to the plantlife on Pandora, is having trouble watching the scene.

Back at the shack, Grace is forcing Jake to eat before he goes into link. He is trying to hurry, but she takes his wheelchair and forces him to sit down.

“Hey, no. Here, eat this,” she places the food in front of him on a table. “I’d hate to have to force-feed a cripple.”

Begrudgingly, Jake listens, but he does so with a smile.

Meanwhile, Neytiri is dragging her new mate along the ground, desperately trying to avoid the blades. Willows are falling, the ground is shaking, and the bulldozer is getting closer. Neytiri struggles, crying out in fear--Jake is too heavy!

Mo'at clutched her husband's arm in fear. She could not lose another daughter! It would destroy their family. Eytukan held her tight, but he couldn't look away. He needed to see his last child survive this tragedy. He lost his eldest not long ago--he would not be able to handle it a second time.

Jake, in the shack, finally finishes the meal and wheels over to the link. Grace smiles as he goes, then playfully pugs her nose.

“When was the last time you took a shower? Jesus, Marine!”

After he makes the link, Jake wakes up to Neytiri hovering over his body, screaming for him. His vision is blurry and his hearing rings, but he shakes his head. He finally takes notice of the dozer and he jumps into action. He pushes past his dread and alarm to stand in front of the machine, waving his arms at the camera in desperation.

“Hey! Heeey! Stop!”

P!Quaritch sneered and eyed P!Jake with distaste. It seemed the Marine was compromised after all.

What a shame...

In the OPS Center, the team and Selfridge are surveying the dozer from a long distance. The machine is driven by cameras, like a remote drone. As the one man works his tech, he notices Jake and stops.

The operator yells to his boss, “Hey, I’ve got one of the natives doing the chicken dance! He’s blocking my blade!”

Selfridge comes over to look. He sees Jake in his ceremonial loincloths and body paint--the avatar is unrecognizable. “Roll on, he’ll move,” Selfridge says. “These people have to learn that we don’t stop.”

The dozer does not stop. Jake is forced back, stumbling as the massive hunk of metal presses onward. Jake has to think quickly! He ducks under the blade and runs along the side of the dozer, grabbing a heavy rock on the way. He leaps onto the machine and begins hacking away at the camera mast. SMASH! CRACK! SMASH! The rock crushes the lenses, spurring Jake to destroy them all. His work is furious as he pounds the cameras to junk.

"The damage will come out of your pay, Sully," Selfridge says, more out of habit than a threat.

P!Jake rolls his eyes. "Oh, shame."

The operator back in OPS groans, unable to stop the rogue avatar. “No! No, dude! Ugh!” He flops his hand down in defeat. “I’m blind.”

For a moment, it looks like Jake is victorious. The dozer stops. But then, more come out from the foliage followed by powersuits and troopers who shoot anything that moves. A few spot Jake on top of the dozer and begin firing, forcing Jake to duck and avoid. Terrified animals scurry past in fear, trying to avoid the giant blades. Jake manages to reach Neytiri in time to grab her and pull them both behind a still-standing tree.

Neytiri watches as the sacred site is decimated by the dozers. The Tree of Voices is completely bulled over into the ground, dead. She weeps in horror and shock, clutching Jake’s arm to her as her legs shake underneath her.

Maybe it was inappropriate, but P!Jake felt something compelling him. He placed his hand on P!Neytiri's arm, and when she looked down, he gave her the most sincere look he could muster. The point seemed to come across and she took his hand in her own.

"I'm so sorry," he said honestly.

"...It has not happened."

"Huh?"

"These events have not taken place. You hold no blame here." P!Neytiri said, surprised by how much she meant it.

In the back of her mind, she wondered why she felt no anger at this man, regardless of time. But she felt no rage--just a strange awareness.

Quaritch enters the OPS Center and watches the screen. When he sees the destructive Na’vi, he pauses the footage.

“There, right there,” he points.

There is Jake, his face up close and recognizable once again. Quaritch sneers, glaring at the snarling avatar.

“Son of a bitch!” His jaw clenches in cold fury. He yells into the com on his watch, “Get me a pilot!”

At Kelutral (Hometree), the war party is prepared; covering warpaint and donning their weapons. Cries and yips fill the air as the tension rises. Tsu’tey is at the head, encouraging his warriors with his bow raises. Eytukan stands above on a root with a grim expression, his eyes shadowed with grief.

“Tsampongut Tsu'teyìl iveyk! (Tsu'tey will lead the war party!)” He bellows.

"You can't!" Grace exclaims. "Hell's Gates has too much firepower at its disposal! They'll use any excuse to destroy you all!"

"The Sky People will be delivered justice should they continue their rampage in our territory," Mo'at said. "To let such an offense pass would be unthinkable."

"Mo'at, please. This isn't a battle you can win on your own!"

"You forget yourself,karyu," Tsu'tey growls. "You may be in the good graces of the tsahik, but you are no warrior."

"She may not be," Jake intercepts. "But I am. Believe me, what's about to happen up there, it won't be pretty. Huma wars have always been a mess." He gestured up at the screen. "From my experience, the Sky People won't give you so much as a breath to prepare. They'll slaughter you!"

"Watch your words, Sully," Quaritch warned darkly. "Your tone would suggest that you aren't on the right side. Humanity."

That shut P!Jake up.

Grace flutters around in her avatar, worried and frightened by the vicious energy. “Ftang! Rutxe! Fìkem nì'ul kawng sìyi nì'aw. (Stop! Please! This will only make it worse.)” Grace begs.

“You do not speak here!” Tsu’tey snaps at her.

At that moment, Jake and Neytiri enter, and Tsu’tey only sees red.

Jake approaches the warrior with his hands raised. “Listen, there’s something I have to tell you. It’s gonna be hard. I just need you to–”

“You!” Tsu’tey snarled, pushing Jake back. He looks between the dreamwalker and Neytiri and realizes. He bears his eyes deep into Jake’s soul. “You mated with this woman?!”

Grace’s face drops. “Oh sh*t.”

Neytiri is unfazed (outwardly). She takes Jake’s hand and stands tall even as her mother comes forth, a look of confusion and concealed disappointment.

“Is this true?” Mo’at asks tightly.

“We are mated before Eywa. It is done.” Neytiri responds, resolute.

Tsu’tey turns to her in anguish, betrayal written all over his face. He shakes his head in disbelief as if it was all a horrible dream.

Jake tries to get his point across at the wrong moment, going towards Tsu’tey. “Brother, please-”

“You are not my brother!” Tsu’tey hisses.

The RDA guy murmured to themself, "It's onnn!"

Their seatmate smacked them in the head, exasperated. "Dude, shut it."

In that second, Tsu’tey lunges at Jake with his knife. Jake only has a moment to block the hit with his own knife as Tsu’tey’s full weight is unleashed on him. They tumble to the ground, spinning each other around the gain the advantage. Jake gets the opening to crack his elbow into Tsu’tey’s face. Tsu’tey snarls as his nose begins to bleed from the hit.

“I am Omaticaya!” Jake shouts. “I have a right to speak!”

Far away, Trudy is forced to fly Quaritch to the remote link shack in the mountains. Quaritch rides left seat as Trudy steers them through the mountains and the flux vortex. She glances at him in the corner of her eye and then toggles the aircom.

“Loveshack, this is Samson 1-6 inbound, hot to you POS. I have Colonel Quaritch with me and-”

Quaritch flips the switch off, cutting the communication. “Did I tell you to announce us?”

“Sorry, Colonel, it’s procedure.”

Quaritch glared but chose not to speak. He'd keep an eye on that pilot.

When they reach the shack, Norm can’t do anything to stop the Colonel as he marches into the unit. He sees the release button and strides forward, ignoring Norm’s warnings.

“Hey, hang on! You can’t interrupt a link in progress! It’s dangerous! Wait!”

Quaritch shoves him aside and slams the button. In Kelutral, Grace’s avatar falls limp, her eyes rolling back into her head. Neytiri catches her just in time before she hits the ground. Jake sees this and panics, eyeing Tsu’tey, who is still circling him like a predator.

This may be his last chance! “Look, the reason I’m here. It's like stones in my heart…” he trails off to look at his beloved Neytiri. “The truth is-” his avatar falls, and he’s gone.

F!Jake frowned. The same outcome would likely have occurred, just earlier, but his leave had made things much harder than they had needed to be.

Jake reawakens in the link. He sees Quaritch’s furious face above him. “Are you out of your goddamned mind!?”

“You crossed a line,” Quaritch simply says before clocking Jake in the face, rendering him unconscious once again. He orders his men to bind everyone in the shack.

"dickhe*d!" Lo'ak shouted from his seat.

"Lo'ak!" F!Jake hissed. "Hush!"

Tsu’tey takes Jake’s absence as a chance to bound forward, and he grabs Jake’s tswin, holding the avatar’s head up for all to see. “Tse'a srak? Fìpo lu vrrtep a mì sokx atsleng! Zenke rivey! (Do you see? This is a demon in a false body! It should not live!)

He takes his knife and presses it to the avatar’s neck, but he is stopped by Neytiri when she launches herself at him, flipping his body off of her lover’s vacant body. She crouches like a lioness over Jake, ears pinned back and teeth bared--snarling with her knife up in defense

It is then that Tsu’tey knows he cannot win. Silently, though panting, he walks away, calling for his hunters.

In the OPS Center, the footage of Jake’s avatar destroying the dozer’s cameras is shown to the captives. Jake’s face is bruised and bloody, but he is otherwise alright. Grace and Norm hover close, guarding their friends as best they can.

Quaritch looks down at Jake with disdain. “You let me down, son. You got a little local tail and completely forgot what team you play for.”

Jake doesn’t respond--just meets him with a defiant stare.

Tuk nuzzled her face into her father's side, leaning against him. She didn't understand why this was such a big deal. Her dad had done what was best for the clan--why was that wrong? Why was it any of the Sky People's business if he wished to live on Eywa'eveng and be one of the People?

F!Jake held his little girl close. He regretted nothing. He'd betray Quaritch a thousand times over if it meant that he could hold every single one of his children in his arms like this.

Grace approaches Selfridge. “Parker, listen. There may still be time to salvage the situation-”

“Shut your pie hole!” Quaritch growls.

“Or what, Ranger Rick? You gonna shoot me?” Grace challenges.

“That can be arranged.”

Oh, the irony. It wasn't lost on F!Jake or Kiri. The girl in question looked at her mother and sent a prayer. Perhaps, if Eywa let it be, the Great Mother would let her live after these stories were completed. If the whole purpose for these stories was to learn, there was a chance she could live. Kiri sent the Great Mother her prayers, hoping her voice would reach.

Grace turns to Selfridge and glares. “You need to muzzle your dog.”

“Look, can we just take this down a couple notches, please?” Selfridge sighs.

Jake wheels closer to the group, stern and cold. “You say you want to keep your people alive. Start by listening to her,” he gestures to Grace.

“This is bad, Parker. Those trees were sacred to the Omaticaya in a way you can’t imagine!” Grace says.

“Oh-you know! You can’t throw a stick in the air without it hitting some sacred bush or fern!”

“I’m not talking about pagan voodoo here--I’m talking about something real and measurable in the biology of the forest.”

“Which is what exactly?” Selfridge says annoyed.

Grace’s face gains that spark she has for the science of Pandora. She doesn’t falter as she begins her emotional debriefing.

“Look, I don’t have all the answers yet, I’m just now starting to even frame the questions. What we think we know is that there’s some kind of… electrochemical communication between the roots of the trees.” Grace takes a breath, overwhelmed. “Like the synapses between neurons. Each tree has ten to the fourth connections to the trees around it, and there are ten to the twelfth trees on Pandora.”

Selfridge deadpans. “That’s a lot, I’m guessing?”

“That’s more connections than the human brain! You get it? It’s a network--a global network. And the Na'vi can access it--they upload and download data… memories--at sites like the one you just destroyed!”

“What the hell have you people been smoking out there? They're just goddamn trees!”

“You need to wake up, Parker-”

“No, YOU need to wake up-”

“The wealth of this world isn’t in the ground, it’s all around us. The Na’vi know that, and they are fighting to defend it. If you want to share this world with them, you need to understand them.”

“Oh?” Says Quaritch. “I think we understand them just fine--thanks to Jake, here.”

Both Jake's winced, the older feeling the pain reawaking in his chest like a parasite. His wife caressed his jaw lovingly, pushing her intentions through affection. The blame had long been extinguished in her heart.

Jake winces, and Grace and Norm watch Quaritch pull up a new clip--it’s a late-night clip of Jake’s. His video log shows him haggard and borderline deranged as he rambles to the camera.

“They’re not going to give up their homeland. They’re not gonna make a deal. For what? Lite beer and a shopping mall? There’s nothing we have that they want/ We’re the aliens to them.”

Jake watches as his words condemn the people he has grown to love.

“They’re never going to leave Hometree.”

Quaritch freezes the recording and smirks. “Since a deal can’t be made, it gets real simple.” He turns to Jake and pats his shoulder patronizingly. “Thanks, corporal. I’m getting all emotional. I might give you a big wet kiss.”

Grace panics. “Parker, we have to talk, like rational people!”
“Well, I’d cherish that, but unfortunately, you’re out of here on the next shuttle. All of you. I’m shutting down the Avatar Program, effective now.”

Quaritch leans over to murmer to Selfridge, mostly just to scare the avatar team. “I can do it with minimal casualties to the indigenous. We’ll clear them out with gas first. It’ll be humane. More or less.”

In the Science Lab, Max and the other scientists glumly pack up their things, putting folders in boxes and microscopes into cases. The watchful eye of armed SEC-OPS troopers keeps watch over them in case they get any funny ideas. Jake looks bleak, defeated--Norm and Grace are tense as they mutter to each other.

“They bulldozed a sacred site on purpose to trigger a response. They’re fabricating this war to get what they want!”
“I can’t believe that!” Norm shakes his head.

“Yup, that’s how it’s done. When people are sitting on sh*t you want, you make them your enemy. Then you’re justified in taking it.”

Trudy comes rushing in, dressing in her flight suit and carrying her helmet under her arm. “SEC-OPS is rolling the gunships! They’re gonna hit Hometree!”

“When?” Jake pushes, a fire in his eyes for the first time in hours.
“Now. We’re spooling up now. I gotta go.”

Jake, now fueled with determination and a mission he needs to fulfill, pumps his wheelchair forward, out the door, and to the OPS Center. Selfridge is busy surveying the airfield, where crews swarm over the gunships, loading ordinance. He turns just as Jake and Grace charge towards him.

“Parker, wait! There are people you’re about to-”

“No. They are flea-bitten savages who live in a tree! Look around--I don’t know about you but I see a lot of trees. They can move!” He stresses coldly.

“For God’s sake, there are children in there! Babies!” she cries.

“Look, Selfridge. You don't want this kind of blood on your hands. Let me try to talk them out. They trust me!” Jake tries.

Surprisingly, Selfridge considers. It is allowed.

Jake wheels to a link and hauls himself into it, preparing himself for the hell he is about to face. Just before he closes the hatch, Selfridge grabs it.

“You’ve got one hour. Unless you want your girlfriend in there when the ax comes down, you get them to evacuate. One hour.”

"Bastard," Lo'ak mumbled.

F!Jake didn't have it in him to argue.

In seconds, Jake is back in his avatar body. When his eyes open, he is instantly aware that everyone in the clan is watching him. They are all circled around Eytukan on the root, waiting for his explanation. With a deep breath, Jake gets up and readies for the inevitable sh*t-show about to commence.

“Ma Eytukan, lu oeru aylì'u frapor. (Eytukan, I have something to say, to everyone.)” Jake starts.

“Ting mikyin! (Listen!)” Grace begs.

“Pivlltx, ma Jakesully. (Speak, Jakesully.)” Eytukan allows.

“Eo ayoeng lu txana tìkawng. Sawtute zera'u...fte fol Kelutralti, skiva'a! Skiva'a! (A great evil is upon us. The Sky People are coming… to destroy Hometree. Destroy!)” Jake makes big motions with his hands to explain the gravity of the situation.

The Navi exclaim in horror, unable to imagine what is truly coming for them and their home.

“Are you certain of this?” Mo’at asks seriously.

“...” Jake lowers his gaze to his feet. “They sent me here to learn your ways. So one day I could bring this message, and you would believe it.”

Neytiri’s eyes widen and she breaks away from his side. “What are you saying, Jake? You knew this would happen?”

Jake can barely meet her eyes, but he tries anyway. “At first, it was just orders. Then, everything changed!” He took her hands, anguish in his eyes. “I fell in love with-with the forest-with the Omaticaya-the People--With you! And by then, how could I tell you?”

Neytiri can hardly breathe, shaking with the enormity of it all. Her voice cracks with rage and pain. “I trusted you!”

Jake tries to hold her, but she swipes him away.

“I trusted you!” She cries. “ka*wkrr! Ke slayu nga Na'viyä hapxì! (You will never be one of the people!)”

Eytukan watches with firm eyes, but they are inlaid with sadness for his daughter. “Mefoti yìm. (Bind them.)”

"Why did they not listen?" Kiri asked. "You told them the truth and warned them."

"The Omaticaya have great warriors, and their entire history came from that tree. I would never have succeeded, no matter what," F!Jake said heavily.

"Still, it's not right."

"Not really, huh?"

Jake doesn’t fight it even as he and Grace are pushed to the ground and bound with ropes. They are dragged outside in front of Hometree and tied to a post made of bones

Up above, Quaritch and his gunship entourage appear out of the air. Quaritch looks down at the scene and smirks with amusem*nt.

“Well, I’d say diplomacy has failed.”

Outside, Tsu’tey and another hunter hold their knives to Jake and Grace's throats in warning, glaring defiantly at the ship. Meanwhile, Jake pleads with anyone to listen to him!

“You have to get out of Hometree! Run to the forest! Please, I’m begging you!”

Eytukan scowls at Jake. “Ikranti makto! 'eko ta'em! (Take the Ikran! Attack from above!)”

Tsu’tey grabs a few hunters and runs to the roots of Hometree.

In the co*ckpit, Quaritch watches the spectacle, amused by the paltry efforts of the natives.“Alright, let’s get this done. Give me forty millimeter gas rounds, right in the front door.”

“Roger. CS forties. Going hot.”

“Fire.”

On the giant ship, the Dragon, the wings unleash the 40mm rocket launchers, letting rain a barrage of gas. Inside Hometree, those still inside gag and cough as the gas infiltrates every inch of the ground. The confused villagers jump to their feet and run, taking their babies and children and spare belongings.

The tear gas spreads to every corner of the area. Eytukan’s eyes widen.“Kranti makto! 'eko ta'em! (Escape into the forest!)” he cries urgently.

Eytukan gripped the cloth of his seat cushion. The sight in front of him was unfathomable. The whole of the Omaticaya's history burned like paper before him outside of his time. Who could have predicted such a fate for Kelutral? He was supposed to be their unshaken leader--meant to protect his people from harm. He had been bested by demons in their metal shells. The shame.

Villagers pour out of Hometree--everyone is yelling. The Dragon ship doesn’t spare them a moment before letting loose a second barrage, this time incendiary rounds. The missiles hit the commons area, and flames roar through the base of Hometree. The inside is a smoky hell--flames soar to great heights like a chimney. Straggling villagers scramble, lugging the wounded with them as they try to avoid the fire.

Up in the branches, Tsu’tey and the other ikran makto hurry to mount their ikran and escape the burning inferno below. They barely manage to avoid the inferno.

Mo'at ran her hands through the fabric of her top, a worrying habit she had never quite stopped. The image of her people running from danger would be burned into her mind for the rest of her days. Eywa help them should this future come to fruition. Perhaps that is why they were here? This Jakesully was meant to be their folly, but if this was a chance to repent and to mend, then this could be the human's chance to be their salvation.

Outside, Jake and Grace are struggling in their bindings. Jake is wide-eyed in both terror and shock, unable to believe what is happening to the Omaticaya. He catches Neytiri before she runs, begging her.

“Neytiri! Please!”

But the woman doesn’t see him--her eyes are glazed over by an emotion he can’t place. She turns and runs into the forest after her People. Hopelessness washes over Jake and he whimpers in defeat.

P!Jake blinked. Huh...offed by the dragon lady. What a way to go.

Out of the smoke, Mo’at appears with a knife. Jake panics as she brings up the weapon to his face. She slashes downward and he jumps, but the ropes binding him simply fall. When he meets her gaze, he sees her distraught expression. Her eyes are filled with tears…and faith?

“If you are one of us… help us!” she begs.

Jake nods and takes the knife, cutting Grace free and urging her and Mo’at to assist those who need help.

“We’ve gotta move! He’s gonna blow the columns!"

Mo’at and Grace search through the fire, guiding the Omaticaya through the billowing fire before Quaritch can bury them all. Jake goes in his own direction, searching deeper into the forest for anyone who can’t escape on their own.

In the air, Trudy watches the mass slaughter with pain. She looks to her plane’s controls and makes a risky decision. She grabs the steering and falls back towards Hell’s Gate.

“Screw it.”

On the gunship door, Lyle Wainfleet looks at the co*ckpit in confusion. “What?”

"You're in deep sh*t, Chacon," P!Quaritch said.

"Fine by me. I didn't sign up for this crap, Colonel," Trudy snarked.

"You have a duty to the RDA and to your fellow soldiers! Are you willing to choose these savages over your own kind?"

"Maybe I am."

Tensions in the room buzzed. The faint tingle of the voice's power shimmered between the two military persons, ready to pull them apart should they choose to attack.

The dragon’s final attack is prepped, and Quaritch is ready to give the command. Without so much as a glance at his pilot, he says. “Bring. It. Down.”

And he did. Missiles stream down from The Dragon and the many other Samsons. The base of Hometree vanishes in the chain of high-explosive blasts. The pillars fragment into matchsticks. The Omaticaya watch in horror as their great Kelutral groans, slowly yet swiftly tilting over until it is careening down to the ground, where it lands on the forest floor with a BOOOOM! The momentum creates tremors that shake the inhabitants of the forest. A cloud of dust rises into the air around the fallen Hometree, blinding all on the ground.

Quaritch observes the destruction with cruel satisfaction. He pats his pilot’s back and smirks. “Nice work people. Alright, let’s light it up.”

Incendiaries hurtled from the gunships and set the tree ablaze, creating a wall of fire. The Omaticaya hid behind the remaining trees, watching their home be destroyed by the Sky People. Grace holds her children close by, protecting them from the inferno as they cry.

Once the fire settles down, Jake goes off in search of Neytiri. Meanwhile, the woman is searching for survivors within the wreckage. She catches sight of blue skin lying in a field of dust and ash. When she gets close, a sob rips through her throat when she realizes who it is.

Eytukan lies there, a shard of wood driven through his abdomen like a spear. He sees her and relaxes some, assured now that his last look on Eywa’eveng would be his precious child.

"Me Sempul!" P!Neytiri exclaimed.

"Do not fear, Ma'ite," Eytukan soothed, though he was unnerved by the sight of his death. "I still walk among you."

Mo'at fought back the misty in her eyes to lean her head on Eytukan's shoulder. He was still with her.

“Ma 'ite, tskoti munge. Omatikayaru tìhawnu sivi. Omatikayaru tìhawnu sivi. (Daughter, take my bow. Protect the people.)” he gasps weakly, the life fading from him with every syllable.

“Ma Sempul!” Neytiri sobs, holding him close to her as he dies. She weeps, screaming into the ashen air with momentous grief.

Jake walks up beside her to offer comfort. “I’m sor-”

Neytiri pushes him away and keens like an injured animal. “Get away from here! Go away! Never come back!” She screams again, clutching her stomach.

Jake listens, stumbling back to let her grieve. Not unlike many times before, he looks lost. He looks around at the now-dead area where Hometree stood tall and alive just hours ago. He clambers around through the haze of dust, eyes vacant.

Jake (V.O.)

I was a warrior who dreamed he could bring peace. Sooner or later though, you always have to wake up.

In the Link Room, Jake is taken out of link, causing his avatar to drop to the forest floor back in the forest. Jake looks out of it while a soldier lifts him out of the link and hoists him onto his chair. In the OPS Center, Norm and Max, along with the other scientists, stare at the monitors in horror at the broadcasted destruction. Even Selfridge looks shocked at the sheer anguish of the land.

Somewhere in the smoke hell, Grace’s avatar slumps over, and the distraught children clamber over her, desperately trying to wake her up. The Omaticaya gather the avatar in a makeshift travois and drag her along with them.

Now that fanfare was over and Quaritch had made good on his deal and Selfridge had fulfilled his threats, the avatar team was locked away. Grace, Norm, and Jake were held in a small cell within Hell’s Gates, awaiting who knows what? They sit in silence, the events of the day replaying in their minds--a poison to their mental states.

“They never wanted us to succeed,” Grace mutters to herself. She has a tightness to her voice that was unlike her.

Grace sighed and pinched her nose. She hated the truth in such a way, but there was no way to avoid it. God, how does one apologise for their involvement in the leveling of another's home?

The trooper watching them rolls his eyes, but he sits up once he hears someone coming. Trudy comes in wheeling a food cart for the inmates. She smiles pleasantly at the trooper and gestures to the cart.

“Personally, I think steak’s too good for these traitors,” she comments.

“They get steak?” the trooper scoffs. “That’s bullsh*t. Let me see that-” He bends down to see, but there is a gun placed to his head. He freezes and lowers himself down onto the floor.

“Yeah, you know what that is,” Trudy sneers. “Down.”

"Atta girl, Trudy!" P!Norm cheers.

F!Norm smiled, drinking in the sight of his old flame. He had missed her brilliant, mischievous smile.

She uses the trooper's own zip ties to bind his arms behind his back while Max enters the hold to unlock the cell. Just then, another guard walks by and catches them. Before he can react, Trudy takes him down with a sharp blow to the windpipe and a knee to the ribs. As she works her sh*t, the first trooper tries to get up, but Norm clocks him upside the head with a coffee pot.

“That was oddly satisfying,” he says dumbly.

Trudy chuckles and gives him a peck on the cheek. “Good job.”

Jake wheels out and snatches the gun from the knocked-out trooper. He regards it for a moment before he quirks his lips. “So, what do you guys say? Time for a revolution?”

Grace smirks, “I’m free.”

The team of four runs through the halls to the hangar where Trudy’s Samson waits. Max stays behind with the other scientists and avatar drivers, readying for their own surprises. Once they reach the Samson, Norm helps Trudy start up her baby while Jake and Grace get themselves loaded up.

The notification for an unauthorized aircraft departure alerts Quaritch in the OPS Center, and when he looks out the window, he sees Jake’s glaring face looking back at him. The man growls and slams his hand down on the alarm button on a console. He takes a pistol from his side and heads to the door, undogging it and stepping outside. The people inside scramble around for emergency masks, yelling at him to stop.

Trudy’s Samson takes off into the air while Quaritch fires round after round at them from the banister. The bullets ricochet off the metal armor of the craft, but Trudy pulls through and gets them over the tree line.

Selfridge had the audacity to wince. Sure, he was all for removing unwanted variables in the RDA's plan, but willingly shooting at runaways seemed...extreme. When he looked over at his leading coworker, he saw no remorse in the grizzly man's face.

Jake pumps his hand in the air, adrenaline rushing through his veins. “Yeah, baby!”

Grace groans as she holds her abdomen. “Oh crap.”

Jake looks over, his smile dropping as he sees the blood begin to seep through Grace’s shirt.

“This is going to ruin my whole day,” she remarks dryly.

“Hang on Grace!”

"Oh, no," P!Jake said.

"Ain't that a bullet in the belly?" Grace lamented.

"Don't say that."

"Too funny?"

The team, with an injured Grace, gets to work. They take their shack out of the original spot and move it deeper into the mountains. The flux vortex hides them expertly. While they work, Jake takes care of Grace; digging through bags, opening medical equipment, and administering medicine.

Trudy looks out at the dark night and nods. “Well, at least they won’t be able to track us up here. Not this deep in the vortex.”

“It’s stronger at the Tree of Souls, right?” Jake asks.

“Yeah?”

“Good, cause that’s where we’re goin’”

“Copy.”

Jake returns back to Grace’s side and gives her a shot of morphine.

“Ouch,” Grace says dully, too in pain to snark further.

“Yeah, yeah, you big baby,” Jake says, smiling comfortingly. “Don’t worry, I’m gonna get you some help, Grace.”

The dying woman shakes her head. “Forget it. It doesn’t matter.”

“Don’t say that.” Jake takes his mother figure’s shoulders. “The People can help you. I know it.”

F!Jake looked to his eldest daughter. As happy as he was to have her in his life--for her to be his child--he'd never wish to trade a life for a life. Grace hadn't deserved her fate. There was so much she hadn't gotten to see. He'd never forgive himself. He should have been quicker, and smarter. A better man.

Norm calls Jake over. They look at the screen in the scientist’s hands: it’s the Tree of Souls.

“Jake,” Norm starts, unsure how to put it. “Tsu’tey is Olo’eyktan now. He’s not going to let you get near that place.”

“I’ve gotta try, Norm.”

Resolute and unable to be deterred, Jake gets into the link. He’s about to do something beyond stupid--practically suicidal.The avatar wakes up in the forest, covered in ash and dust. The remains of Hometree are no more than charred bark.

Jake (V.O.)

Outcast. Betrayer. Aline. To ever face them again, I was gonna have to change the rules. Sometimes your whole life boils down to one insane move.”

Something about the tone of his voice struck a warning bell in Grace's head. "What are you planning, Marine?" she asked, sharp accusation in her voice.

P!Jake shrugged. "How should I know?"

Jake’s ikran screeches, and lands before his rider as if he was relieved to see Jake alive. Jake smiles weakly and strokes the ikran’s head.

“I’ve gotta do something, and you’re not gonna like it.”

So, Jake and his ikran ride through the Hallelujah Mountains in search of their target. This was going to be much more complicated than a simple hunt. They weren’t dealing with a sturmbeest or a hexapede. They needed to be smart--not to mention quick.

Up ahead, the great Toruk was gliding between the rocks of the floating mountains, unaware that, for likely the first time ever, he was being hunted. Predator becomes Prey.

Tsu'tey was the one to figure it out first. "No..."

P!Jake got the idea, and a giddy, manic grin stretched across his face. "YES."

Jake (V.O.)

The way I had it figured, Toruk is the baddest cat in the sky. Nothing attacks him. So why would he ever look up?

Upon the mighty beast’s back, Jake’s shadow looms over. Then, Jake jumps and descends.

Chapter 8: Gathering the Clans

Chapter Text

At the Tree of Souls, the Omaticaya surround the area in a tangle of connected hands and prayers. They sing songs of loss and a yearning for deliverance. Neytiri, Mo’at, Ninat, and Tsu’tey are the closest to the tree, and their voices are the most powerful.

Suddenly, a shadow crosses over their faces, and when they look up, HE is here. The great shadow of the Toruk crosses over them like an omen of death, yet he does not attack. The beast lets out a mighty shriek, beating its huge wings in its descent. The sun lits it back with an ethereal glow, giving it the look of a god sent by heaven.

The Toruk merely lands in a clearing where startled clansmen had scrambled away. When the great head lowers, they see Jake riding high on its shoulders, connected to its queue. When the toruk folds its wings, the Navi can’t help but awe over its sheer size.

"Oh...my...God," Grace says faintly.

"Badass," P!Jake grins. His face hurts at how hard his facial muscles are straining. Tough sh*t--he deserves to feel proud of this.

At first, Tsu’tey only feels fear. In his mind, this is Jake’s reckoning.

Imaginary!Jake had descended in a flurry of wings made of blazing fire. There was a predatory gleam in his eye as he sneered down at the tribe.

“The clan is mine!” Imag.Jake declared.

The toruk swings a single claw down upon Tsu’tey, blood flying into the air.

“Neytiri is mine!”

In a terrifying display of power, Imag.Jake took the Olo’eyktan’s now severed head and held it aloft. “Your life is mine!”

P!Jake glanced over nervously. "Hey, uh, you know I'd never-"

"Silence." Tsu'tey leveled him with a hard look that clearly said,"One more word and it'll beyourlife that's mine".

"Got it."

“Toruk Makto,” Neytiri breathily exclaimed, breaking Tsu’tey out of his stupor.

In real-time, Jake was slowly advancing, holding his mate’s eyes with nothing but pure emotion: pain, desperation, love, hope! The Omaticaya look to him with pure hope, brushing their hands along his legs and arms as he passed by. The mutterings of “Toruk Makto!” follow him. Jake does not pay them any mind, keeping his gaze on Neytiri.

When they meet, it is as if the world fades away. Neytiri’s big, golden eyes bear into his soul, and they See.

F!Neytiri smiled to herself, remembering the barrage of emotions that had overcome her that day. Her Jake, atop the toruk as a beacon--all of their prayers come to fruition. The pride she'd felt couldn't be measured. The way he had looked at her had nearly sent her to her knees--she could See him for what he was then. He was a man who felt with all his heart. He was devoted to her.He was her mate, her pillar, her partner. They were a family.

F!Jake rested his head on hers and kissed her temple.

“I see you,” she says faintly.

“I see you.” Jake’s voice is hoarse with emotion.

His lover’s eyes brim with tears, but she remains strong and steady. “I was afraid, Jake--for my people.” She takes a breath and lets it out, a sense of relief flooding through her. “I’m not anymore.”

They take each other’s hands and let the touch of their love refuel them; not exactly burning away the grief they were now burdened with, but it soothes them for now. Jake breaks away to approach the leader and matriarch. The wise Mo’at looks at him with awe while Tsu’tey regards him with slight fear and apprehension.

“ Ma Tsu'tey te Rongloa, Ateyo'itan. Eo ngenga kllkxem ohe, alaksì Omatikayaru, kìte'e sivi. (Tsu’tey te Rongloa Ateyo’itan. I stand before you, ready to serve the People.)” When he gets close, he implores the Olko’eyktan personally. “You are Olo’eyktan, and you are the best warrior. I can’t do this without you.”

The warrior searches for a trace of falsehood, for more lies, but there are none. Finally, he allows, “I will fly with you.”

Jake is filled with relief, but he must act fast. He turns to Mo’at, ready to plead for all he is worth. “Grace is dying.”

Mo’at face falls, obviously saddened and shocked by the news.

“I beg the help of the Great Mother,” Jake pleads.

“Bring her, Jakesully,” she immediately responds.

Grace smiled, thankful that her oldest friend saw fit to let her live even after she had nearly cost the woman her life--after already costing her her home. She'd never forgiven herself after the school shooting--for failing Sylwanin--but she'd be better should these stories let them try again.

"Irayo, Ma Mo'at. (Thank you, Mo'at.)" Grace said.

Mo'at inclined her head. "Kezemplltxe, Ma'eylan (Of course, my friend.)

Not too long after, Jake carried Grace’s human body in his giant blue arms. She is no longer attired in Sky People clothes, but rather woven vines and fibers serving as a top and loincloth. Jake takes them up the Tree’s dias to the glowing roots.

Unable to help himself, Jake bids her to open her eyes. “Look where we are, Grace.”

Her glossy eyes flutter open and she sees the Mother Tree--the glowing purple and pink tendrils dance above her head like silk scarves, swinging in a mystical harmony unknown to the Sky People before now.

“I need to take some samples,” she smiles wanly.

Max leaned over to whisper to Grace, "Think we can convince them to let us take a few tests after this?"

She snorted. "No, but it's good enough for me to see the Tree of Souls like this. I'll take what I can get."

Mo’at directs them to the roots where Jake lays Grace’s body next to her avatar on the moss. As he steps back, Mo’at takes his arm.

“The Great Mother may choose to save all that she is…” She traces her other hand over the avatar’s shoulder. “...in this body.”

“Is that possible?” Jake asks, understanding the gravity of her words.

“She must pass through the eye of Eywa, and return. But Jakesully, she is very weak,” she warns.

Jake nods and returns to Grace’s side. “Hang on, they’re gonna fix you up.” He pats her hand to reassure her further.

Weakly, she grasps his hand. Hse is barely conscious, but she must make it known. “I always held back, but you gave them your heart. I’m proud of you, Jake.” Then, with one last ounce of strength, she tells him, “Help them. You do whatever it takes. You hear me?”

The emotions nearly break him, but Jake forces his body to resist shaking. “I will.”

P!Jake and Grace exchange a look. Though they hadn't bonded like their screen counterparts, they could feel a pull--like a tether between their souls. They had an understanding in this theater. Even if they hadn't experienced these events yet (and hopefully never would), it was clear. They had a duty to these People. P!Jake had seen combat, and Grace had witnessed injustice. Together, they could help the Omaticaya right, this time.

It is time for the ritual. Mo’at stands at the front of the tree’s dias, adorned in ceremonial garb. She enters a trance, her daughter and the other acolytes below her dancing hypnotically. The whole of the Omaticaya sway and sing in their position on the ground. They chant as one, the rhythm of their souls beating with the Great Mother.

Tendrils from the ground reach up to tangle themselves in Grace’s Avatar’s queue at the same time that they dig into her human body’s nape. More, fine-hairlike tendrils spread over both vessels as Mo’at’s chanting increases. When her eyes roll back into her head, that is when grace gasps, as if she had just seen something beyond comprehension--yet beautiful.

Her glazed eyes look over at Jake, and she smiles serenely. “I’m with her, Jake… she’s real!” Her amazed whisper dies on her lips as her eyes close again, forever.

“Grace!”

The theater was silent. Those with more sympathy mourned the death of Screen-Grace out of respect. Quaritch went to talk, but he found that his voice was stuck in his throat. He slumped back in his seat--he didn't care enough to argue about that.

Those closest to Grace put a comforting hand on her back or arms, letting her process the scene. Strangely, she was at peace about it. Really,she hadn't died. She was still here after all. This was the future. Still, it was nice to be cared for.

It’s too late. Grace is gone. The roots connecting the two bodies fall away as if burned, retreating into the mossy ground once again. The avatar sleeps on, but it is no longer a functioning body. It is simply an abandoned vessel now.

Selfridge sighed. "Well, that's a million bucks down the drain."

F!Jake's head snapped back to the startled CEO. "f*ckin' excuse me?!"

"Sully-," Grace warned.

"How about you stick your half-assed priorities down your corporate throat andshut the hell up!" he raged. Neytiri tried to calm him, but he had risen from his cushion and was prepared to advance.

"Watch your mouth, Sully," Selfridge reprimanded, though he could feel his knees shaking. He wouldn't admit it out loud, but the enraged, savage look in F!Jake's eye was petrifying. "Just because you think it was a good idea to gallivant off into the woods for some alien cooch, doesn't mean I'll sit down and let it happen now. That avatar of yours is worth more than your life--!"

He let out a rather unmanly squeak of terror when F!Jake lept up from his spot and bounded over like a vengeful palulukan.

"Get 'em, Dad!" Lo'ak cheered.

It only took seconds for F!Jake to make it across the aisle and take Selfridge by the collar of his shirt and hold him up like a naughty puppy. His eyes burned with hatred, and his grip on his former boss' expensive shirt would leave wrinkles. Frankly, Selfridge had more pressing things to worry about than a rumpled shirt--like an angry Navi man with more than enough strength to break his spine over his knee.

"Listen here, you shack of greedy sh*t," F!Jake growled, his hold tightening. The shirt bunched up painfully at Selfridges neck and left him gasping. "If I ever hear so much as a whisper from you, I'll f*ckin'kill you."

Selfridge wriggled around in the air, looking around for help from his surrounding seatmates. No one was willing to look him in the eye.

You hear me, Boss?" F!Jake whispered menacingly in the cowering man's ear.

The man nodded frantically. He was promptly dropped to the floor and left to shiver. F!Jake didn't look back as he settled back in with his family. If he and Lo'ak subtly fist-bumped, F!Neytiri didn't comment.

Quaritch looked down at his coworker, unimpressed. "Way to be assertive, Parker."

"Shut it, Miles." Selfridge glared up at the ceiling. "And where were you, huh? Weird Spirity Voice!"

"Forgive me, I was unaware there was a fight."

"Bullsh*t!"

"I did not detect any violence, so there was no reason to intervene."

Selfridge grumbled. He wasn't going to win this one.

With a heavy heart, Neytiri removes her teacher’s oxygen mask. She stares, unable to process the death of his friend. He had been so close! And yet…

He got to his feet and addressed Tsu’tey, his warrior mental state taking over to ease his troubled mind. Tsu’tey also looks far away, but when Jake is right in front of him, he too reverts to a strong persona.

“With your permission, I will speak now. You would honor me by translating.”

Tsu’tey nods and allows Jake space on the root dias next to him. Neytiri gets up off her crouch next to Grace’s corpse and stands with the two. Together, they are the picture of strength. The Big Three. Mighty Warriors. Ikran Makto. They are Omaticaya.

Passion fills Jake’s voice as he speaks. “The Sky People have sent us a message…”

“Fpole' sawtutel 'upxaret…”

“...that they can take whatever they want…”

“...ayoeri tsat new…”

“...and no one can stop them.”

“...tsun mivunge.”

Jake’s face hardens, reaching his People. “Well, we will send them a message.”

“Slä awngal 'upxaret fpìye' for.”

“You ride out as fast as the wind can carry you!”

“Kämakto nìwin, ayngati spivule hufwel!”

“You tell the other clans to come!”

“Ayolo'ru alahe peng ziva'u!”

Tell them Toruk Makto calls to them!”

“Peng syeraw toruk makto!”

The Omaticaya are filled with his voice of hope, intended triumph! They were going to go to battle for their home! They’d die for their Great Mother! The Toruk Makto had come to them with the promise of victory, and they would not fail!

“You fly now, with me!”

“Tswayon set oehu!”

“My brothers, my sisters!”

“Ma smukan, ma smuke!”

“And we will show the Sky People…”

“Sawtute wìyintxu ayoeng…”

“...that they cannot take whatever they want!”

“…ke tsun fo fìkem sivi!”

“And that this... this is our land!”

“Fìtsenge... lu awngeyä!”

P!Neytiri peered down at the human next to her. "You have a strong way of words. Fitting for a leader. Eywa chose well."

Tsu'tey, as much as he didn't want to, nodded in agreement.

P!Jake flushed and scratched his leg absently. "Oh, uh, thanks. Experience, I guess?"

She smiled. "Indeed."

Tsu’tey finished with a war cry, which everyone reciprocates. The passionate fire of war spurs every warrior to mount their ikran, who are waiting on the valley’s edge, and they take off. Jake takes Neytiri with him to the Toruk and mounts them both on the beast’s back.

With that, they rise into the night sky, a mission on their minds and a duty in their souls.

Jake (V.O.)

We rode out to the four winds. To the horse clans of the plain, to the ikran people of the mountains. When Toruk Makto called them, they came.

There is a brief montage of Jake and Neytiri riding out to various clans, surrounded by foreign clansmen as they listen to Jake speak--Neytiri translating. Every single one they went to responded with a battle cry, agreeing to aid them in their fight. The odds are now in the Navi’s favor.

In the valley of the Tree of Souls, hordes of pa’li makto and ikran makto await the battle ahead. Jake is now adorned in traditional battle gear, his hair shaved and braided with leaves, beads, and feathers. He watches them commune as one unit.

On the other side of the territory, Quaritch prepares his own soldiers. It is raining outside, and the atmosphere is dark. Next to the Colonel is a 3D graphics projector displaying a classic pre-mission briefing.

“People, you are fighting for survival. There’s an aboriginal horde out there massing for an attack.” He points at the images. “These orbital images show the hostels’ numbers have gone from a couple hundred to over two thousand in one day, and more are pouring in. By next week, it could be over twenty thousand! Then they’ll be overrunning our perimeter here. We can’t wait. Our only security lies here in preemptive attack. We will fight terror with terror.”

All along the room, gloomy faces look back. Dread pools in everyone’s gut. They knew this was going to be a bloodbath--just whose blood was to be determined.

The real people of the RDA looked to the people next to them, contemplating. Sure, they were sent out here to earn a heafty paycheck, and yeah, most of them were from militant backgrounds...but did they want to fight over some mineral? The idea of going up against thousands of pissed-off Navi didn't sound like an appealing idea. Plus, with a toruk on the natives' side, they would lose significant air control. A good deal of soldiers were masters of the Samsons, so that was already a damning reminder.

“This mountain stronghold is supposedly protected by their deity. When we destroy it, we will blast a crater in their racial memory so deep they won’t come within a thousand klicks of this place.”

The Hell’s Gates’ troops ready their weapons, don their ampsuits, and load their guns. It is war in its purest, human form. Max watches from a ways away, alerting Jake at the tree.

“It’s crazy here, Jake! It’s full mobilization! They’re rigging the shuttles as bombers. They’ve made up these big pallets of mine explosives. It’s for some kind of shock and awe campaign!” his voice says from the call.

“f*ckin’ daisycutters…” Trudy says, a little put out by the news.

“Can you talk to Selfridge? Maybe we can cut some kinda deal before this thing goes all the way?”

“No! Quaritch has taken over! He’s rolling and there’s no stopping him.”

“...when?”

“Oh-six hundred-tomorrow.”

Jake takes that in. “Thanks, Max.”

That night, Jake goes to the Tree of Souls. He feels lost, disconnected from his own mind. He doesn’t know what to do, even when an answer is already being put into place in front of him.

He connects his queue to a tendril of the tree, feeling Eywa’s presence.

"The Great Mother does not interfere like this, Jakesully," Tsu'tey said. "She only protects the balance."

P!Jake shrugged helplessly. "Worth a shot, right?"

“I’ve never done this before,” he admits, a bit shyly. He feels a little stupid. “And I’m probably just talking to a tree right now…But if you’re thee, I need to give you a heads up.” When he looks up at the tree, his face crumbles a bit. “If Grace is there with you, look into her memories. The world we come from--there’s no green there…they killed their mother, and they’re gonna do the same thing here.”

Many humans in the room could picture their homes back on Earth: all the concrete, metal, and fiberglass. No trees, just plastic office plants. Most could admit, the idea of spreading their influence on such a lush planet and destroying the local vegitation to such a degree was... well, it wasn't ideal.

As he talks, atokirina drift down and settle around him, as if they were wordlessly trying to console him.

“More Sky People are going to come. They’re gonna come like a rain that never ends--until they’ve covered the world--unless we stop them!”

Neytiri comes up behind him and stands there, listening.

“Look, you chose me for somethin’, and I’ll stand and fight…But I could use a little help here.”

His wife sets her hand on his back, alerting him of her presence. When he looks up at her, he does not smile. All he can do is relax at her touch.

“It was worth a try,” he admits tiredly.
“The Great Mother does not take sides, Ma Jake. She only maintains the balance.” Her voice holds no scorn or pity, just wisdom. They stay there, leaning their heads together. They wanted to enjoy the moment--man and wife. Two lovers under the watchful eye of the Great Mother.

The vocie returned, pausing the screen."I apologise for not asking at an earlier time, but does anyone need an early break?"

A cacophony of "NO!"s made the point.

"Well, alrighty then! On with the show!"

Chapter 9: Battle For Pandora

Chapter Text

It is time for the final battle. Lyle Wainfleet heads the ground team in their Ampsuits, armed to the T with guns. Their displays indicate various thermal signatures within range--the Na’vi.

“Contact. Two hundred meters,” Wainfleet says into his coms.

In the air, Quaritch is in the Dragon airship, overseeing the coming battle with steely hardness in his eyes. The fleet of Samsons follows obediently like ducklings to their mother. The Hallelujah mountains loom around them as if preparing to cage them in the vortex field. Valkyries fly at a lower level, just above the trees.

A distance away, Jake and his toruk fly straight for their enemies. Neytiri and Tsu’tey lead the charge right behind the Toruk Makto, covered in war paint and with feathers braided in their hair.

"Damn," Trudy whistled. "Lookin' good, Sully."

The human ground team waits with bated breath. A chilling sound echoes through the forest--the ululating war cries of hundreds of pa’li makto advancing echo through the forest. The ground shakes with every hoofbeat on the ground.

From the foliage, they emerge in fiery vengeance. The Na’vi warriors charge at full gallop, and Norm rides with a hunter carrying an assault rifle.

Both sides raise their weapons; the Na’vi with their bows and arrows, and the humans with their GAU-90s.

Some humans in the crowd felt a little bad for the Na'vi. Sure, they had grown in numbers, but the humans still had superior firepower. It wasn't a fair fight.

The very beginning of the battle is bloody. Bullets ripe through the pa’li and Na’vi alike. Dozens of warriors on the frontlines are downed in seconds from rapid fire. Ranks are decimated and the wounded are left sprawling.

Norm is blasted off his companion’s pa’li just moments ago and is left to cover his guys’ flanks from behind a tree.

Thankfully, those not riding below are running in the trees, jumping from limb to limb. Na’vi warriors on foot unleash their arrows on the unsuspecting humans in their suits. Many are felled at that moment, killed by the arrows as long as their own bodies.

On the downside, the Na’vi in the trees have given away their position, and the humans can see them clearly now. Another wave of bullets is let loose into the forest.

Norm sprints to and from trees for cover, pressing his neck coms as he avoids another bullet to the brain. “Jake!” he cries into the unit. “Jake! We’re falling back!”

Surviving warriors flee into the trees, trying to escape the horrific onslaught.

The Omaticaya winced as the faces of their People were wiped out by the bullets on-screen. It was hard to watch their loved ones perish before their very eyes in battle--no matter how glorious the cause.

Tsu'tey clutched fist shook as he tried to keep his composure. While he would always fight for his home, it was still difficult to watch.

Meanwhile, Quaritch watches from the Dragon at the figures below. He signals to his team. “Blue team, switch forties. Fire at will.”

Gunships fire streamers of 40mm rockets ahead of them. The jungle explodes with heat bursts. Shock waves spread across the the land with concussive power.

Screams erupted from the Na'vi, but they were too enamored by the story to speak out.

The ground team advances as per Quaritch’s orders. With every step, a stray Na’vi is shot on sight. At the same time, the team unleashes their flamethrowers on the greenery, burning away every trace of the battle with a single brush.

Just as the aerial team starts to celebrate with each other on the coms, they are alerted to a new problem. In the distance, they see the opposing aerial entourage led by Jake Sully. They advance so quickly that the humans barely have time to get ready when the first wave of ikran descends on them like birds of prey.

Scores of ikran bash into airships with the speed and accuracy of earth falcons. The toruk’s mighty shadow crosses over an airship, its signature crimson ‘X’ seen for only a moment before it sends a Samson tumbling out of the air.

The fight is on! This is the epic fight for their very existence!

The Ikran and Toruk Makto continue the assault, taking down airships with arrows to the co*ckpit, or in Jake’s case, just slashing the hunks of metal out of the sky like pesky flies. At the same time, aerial fighters not yet taken out are letting barrage after barrage of gunfire out onto the Na’vi. They take out a rider or ikran every so often, not quick enough to dodge the toruk’s talons at the same time simultaneously.

"Toruk Makto! Toruk Makto! Toruk Makto!" screamed the children in the theater. The Na'vi kids bounced in their seats at the sight of the fabled warrior. Their parents had to hold onto their tiny arms to keep them seated.

P!Jake had to fight to keep the smug grin off his face. He usually detested praise or worship, but he could get used to this. Besides, it was kinda sweet.

Grace noticed and leaned over to nudge him. "Don't let it get to your head, Marine. Your head doesn't need to get any bigger."

"Shaddup."

Jake and the toruk fight like a single unit--a terrifying pair. They send ships careening into cliffs or make them smash into other ships. Great explosions are left in their wake as the human team is equally decimated as the Na’vi ground team.

Tsu’tey is a force to be reckoned with. He is the Omaticaya’s leader. He is Olo’eyktan. He is protecting his clan, and it can be seen in his ruthless attack on various Samsons and Scorpion aircraft. He hits his targets with precise accuracy--every arrow is a guaranteed ticket to death.

Neytiri is a monster all on her own. Her aerial prowess cannot be measured. She bobs and weaves through the air on Seze like a Valkyrie on the warpath, but none of these Sky People will be going to Valhalla on her watch.

F!Jake smiled and poked his wife. "Mighty warrior."

The woman rolled her eyes, a trait she had picked up from her husband. Nevertheless, she grinned as well. She was a mighty warrior.

A near shot by a Scorpion craft almost catches Neytiri, but she banks hard and misses the deadly bullet. The pilot follows her movements with reckless abandon, shooting at the warrior in frantic action. He’s right on her ass! Neytiri ducks and rolls, zig-zagging through dangling vines and rocks, but the gunner is still on her six!

Just as it seems that she is cornered and is out of luck, Jake comes barreling in, swooping onto the ship and tearing it from the sky.

In another sector of the battle, a Samson preps for another shot when Trudy arrives, donned in blue warpaint and with a fierce look in her eye. She aims for the door gunner and the pilot and growls, “You’re not the only one with a gun, bitch.”

"Badass..." P!Norm murmured before he realized what he'd just said out loud. He looked over at Trudy, who puffed out her chest proudly.

"Damn right, Nerd!" She boasted. "Best flier in on Pandora."

P!Neytiri coughed and looked away. Trudy smirked and bowed her head. "My apologies.Second best flier on Pandora, Your Highness."

Her words made the Na'vi woman preen, her feathered top puffing out like a peaco*ck.

Neytiri’s luck is dwindling. Yet another Scorpion is on her tail, showering Seze’s flank in bullets. No matter how hard she swerves through the mountains, the pilot is relentless. Bark and leaves explode all around her as aircraft and ground fighters scramble in their respective fights. Suddenly, Seze is downed by a shot in the canopy below. The two fall into the trees, making a harsh stop on the forest floor.

Stunned, Neytiri blearily stands and checks on her beloved ikran. They are still connected, and Seze’s pain flashes through their bond until she stills. The ikran’s exhales, and Neytiri can only watch helplessly as her mount fades before her very eyes.

Above, Quaritch and his pilots lock onto the Tree of Souls. The scanners buzz and flash, confirming their target. Quaritch’s grim face quirks slightly at the sight of his prize.

“There it is,” he says. He taps into the coms on his headset. “Valkyrie One, this is Dragon. Target is in sight.”

In the cargo bay on Valkyrie One, the troopers ready the deadly explosives. “Target in sight.”

Jake and Tsu’tey circle the main crafts. Catching sight of the loaded cargo, Jake calls Tsu’tey through the coms. “We have to stop the shuttles, no matter what it takes!”

Tsu’tey nods and yips to the other warriors, who fall in line with him as he dives. Jake rolls after them, but then, a gunship drops in behind him. He is forced to scatter to evade the bullets.

Meanwhile, Tsu’tey is raked by bursts from the dorsal gunners. His mount crumples, plummeting with a dying scream--but that doesn’t stop him. He hurls himself at the ship’s platform, taking out troops with swings of his bow and throwing them over the side of the craft. But just as he manages to dispose of most of the troops, a surprise attack meets him from behind an explosives crate. The soldier shoots Tsu’tey dead, and the warrior is sent spiraling downward into the trees.

Tsu'tey gaped but said nothing. He didn't want to believe it. He couldn't have died! He was the next Olo'eyktan! He was a warrior! A strong hunter! He still had so much he wanted to accomplish!

P!Neytiri held his hand and squeezed, silently comforting her spiraling friend. He didn't need words, he needed something to ground him, and she was only too willing to provide whatever he needed.

Down on the forest floor, the ground team advances on the surviving Na’vi. Norm is still alive and sending wild shots into the brush. Unfortunately, he is nowhere as skilled as the soldiers attacking him. A lucky bullet pierces the avatar’s shoulder and sends him tumbling back. The pain knocks the vessel unconscious and forces Norm’s awareness back into the shack. Norm’s human body is unharmed physically, but the phantom pain has him gasping for air. Left with no other choice, he grabs a gun, fumbling a bit, and leaves the shack with nothing but an AR, a mask, and his skinny frame.

Tsu’tey lays in the dirt in agony. The fall hadn’t killed him, but he was gravely wounded. More than a couple of ribs were broken. From the trees, an ampsuit approaches--Lyle Wainfleet. He grins down at the fallen warrior and leans down. He grabs Tsu’tey’s queue and lifts him up, and Tsu’tey cannot do anything else but struggle weakly.

Wainfleet takes out the giant knife attached to the suit and presses it close to the base. “I hear this is worse than death for you, chief.”

Without care or mercy, Wainfleet does the most inhuman thing he could do to a Na’vi. With neither consideration nor precision, he cuts off Tsu’tey’s queue, and when the Olo’eyktan drops to the ground, the soldier holds the amputated limb up like a trophy.

Tsu’tey screams out in agony as his nervous system erupts into excruciating pain! He’s overloaded with agonized sensations that won’t end! His only connection to a world consciousness has been taken from him.

All Na'vi in the crowd got up to their feet, screaming and shouting bloody murder. Tsu'tey stared at the screen in shock, his yellow eyes blown wide and his mouth agape.

Eytukan shot up to his feet and turned to look at the humans behind the glass. There, he could see P!Wainfleet cowering in his seat at the venomous glares sent his way by aliens and humans alike.

"This is a great offense," the Olo'eyktan's voice boomed over the noise. "Your warrior committed a great offense, not only to us, but the Great Mother!"

P!QUaritch snorted, and the sound made its way to Eytukan's ears. He narrowed his eyes on the Colonel, recognizing him as the Sky People's leader.

The human man shook his head and gestured lamely at the screen. "None of that happened yet. It's the future ain't it?"

"Regardless," Eytukan said tightly. "you will keep your own warrior in check. This will not be taken lightly."

"This is war, Chief," P!Quaritch said. "Bad things happen. Casualties are a part of battle. Besides," he glared. "I think you should mind your own business. What my troops do is part of my jurisdiction, and any misdeeds will be punished accordingly without interference. You'd do well to remember this."

His words sent another wave of arguments across the room, but the voice interjected once again. "We are almost to the end, so please! Refrain from any more fighting!"

Back with Neytiri, she is bloody and bruised. She sits on the mossy ground, shocked and heartbroken. Her beautiful Seze is dead. When she finally manages to get to her feet, she staggers. Burning wreckage surrounds her at every turn.

An ampsuit’s footsteps alert her to a new enemy, so she crouches down behind a tree and waits with an arrow drawn.

Just as the soldier approaches, a palulukan tears through the foliage and pounces onto the suit, tearing into the glass with its powerful claws. The troop screams out in pain before dying a violent death. The palulukan hisses and turns its head to face Neytiri. The weary warrior and the fierce predator have a momentary standoff…then the palulukan bows !?

Intrigued, Mo'at sits up and studies the screen. How peculiar...

All around, the ground soldiers closing in on the area are suddenly ambushed by Pandoran wildlife--viperwolves, hammerheads, stingbats, etc. In the sky, wild banshees attack the smaller airships with wild abandon. It seems the entire planet has decided to fight back against the virus plaguing them.

Ampsuits are crushed under the weight of giant animals, and ground troopers are scratched, clawed, bit, and torn apart by the smaller creatures. Even with all the rapid-fire going off, there are more human deaths than Pandoran.

Neytiri smiles, elated. She presses the coms on her neck. “Jake,” she breaths in awe. “Eywa has heard you.” She holds her bow up to the air, a surge of renewed hope lighting her soul. “Eywa’s heard you!”

Cheers fill the theater as the Na'vi are refilled with hope. Maybe the tide had been turned in their favor after all.

The humans grumbled. Of course, the animals were going to help. Classic Disney creature shenanigans.

Jake looks around in astoundment as the wild fights back against their Earthlong invaders. Nearby, a pilot gunner is taken out by a wild banshee, who dives straight for the co*ckpit and absolutely rams its head into the windshield. The pilot is killed instantly, and the ship goes crashing down.

In the forest, the ampsuit-clad humans are scrambling, begging for the mission to end.

“Shaddup, you crybabies!” Wainfleet yells, but no one is listening to him.

He realizes that his squad-mate is gone. When he turned around, the ampsuit his partner had been in was ripped apart, and blood coated the broken glass like watercolor. He tenses in fear, but a threatening growl almost makes him piss himself. A sudden weight slams into him and pins him down to the ground.

It’s Neytiri. She’s now on the back of a palulukan. The pair’s eyes are hardened by bloodlust, and Wainfleet is their new target.

The human cowers in fear, and he reaches for his weapon. But the palulukan is much faster than him. It swipes its front paw and the gun is sent flying. It takes only moments for the monster animal to slash through the suit’s glass and take the terrified Corporal’s head in its maw. Wainfleet meets his well-deserved end.

Both Wainfleets in the room wince and grumbled, but the Recon!Wainfleet rubs his neck absentmindedly. He can almost feel the sharpness of the beast's claws in his jugular again. Creepy!

Meanwhile, P!Neytiri smirks, proud of her vengeance on Tsu'tey's behalf. She wouldn't lord it over him, but perhaps she'll keep it in the back of her mind for future arguements. Just in case.

Back at Hell’s Gate, Max and the other scientists run through the halls on their own little rebellious mission. Max calls for Jake on his own coms unit. “Rogue One, Rogue One! This is Max! Tell AJke we are in motion.” he motions for the scientists to get moving. “Get in there! Barricade the door!”

They burst into the link room and get to work--hopping into link and waking up in their avatars. The vessels immediately escape their containment and start arming themselves. They’ve got a boss to dethrone!

"HAHA! YEAH! Viva la revolution, bitches!" Trudy hollers.

Jake rolls with the punches and continues his mission, dodging and weaving around ships and turbines. His main target is the indomitable Dragon--the mother ship in this whole sh*tshow. While the craft is already being besieged by banshees, the cargo is still trying to pump out the explosives. Na’vi hunters are being gunned down whenever they get too close, so it’s up to Jake to take it out. But first, he needs to take out the remaining Samsons and guard ships surrounding it.

He preps two grenades and has the toruk plummets down towards the biggest guardianship in record speeds towards the turbines. At the very last second, Jake jumps off and rolls onto the cargo bay. The soldiers don’t have a chance as Jake’s AR spits bullets at them in quick precision. With that done, he climbs up to the main turbines and yanks the grenade pins out with his teeth. He leaps back onto his mount just as the grenades explode behind him.

In the co*ckpit, the pilots are panicking. “Mains to a hundred percent! Get me airspeed!”

Quaritch is losing his mind now. All his troops are dying and his ship is being targeted by “savages”. He can only watch as his defenses are taken down by the upstart avatar he’d taken under his wing.

In Sec-OPs, Selfridge and his team are being overrun by dissenting scientists and avatar drivers. The doors are pitifully barricaded and close to collapsing. The sound units broadcasting the fight fill the air with screams and explosions.

“What the hell is going on out there?” Selfridge screams.

The mother ship is in reach now. Jake lands on the last ship, the Dragon, and prepares his grenades. He sprints across the metal structure to reach the turbines, but the ship is ready for him. It tilts out of nowhere, lurching sideways. The rotors protest with a shrill screech.

Jake is flung off his feet, but he persists, digging his nails into the smallest crevices of the metal. One lucky grenade out of the two manages to lodge against a cowling and--K-BLAM! The explosion creates a two-meter hole in the hill. Pandora air swirls inside like a hurricane, and the pilots and Quaritch scramble for their masks.

“Breach! Put you mask on!” Quaritch commands. Once his mask is secure, he leaps out of his seat, heading aft as Jake manages to find his way to the weapons pod. His feet dangle over open space as Quaritch bursts out from a rescue hatch and starts firing at the warrior with a massive pistol.

The bullets graze past Jake’s head, and he is left with no other choice but to let go of the craft. He plummets down into the bush, grabbing onto canopy leaves like Neytiri had taught him to lessen the impact. It’s a green blur until he drops onto the mossy soil in a crouch--ultimately unharmed.

"Catlike reflexes," Jake whispers, putting a hand up to mimic claws. He earned a groan and half-assed chuckle from Grace and P!Norm respectively.

A win is a win.

Seeing all that happened, Trudy makes a final effort to stop her former boss from destroying the Tree of Souls. She banks hard, making a straight trajectory toward the dragon. She is all business now, and this gambit is crazy…but it’s her only shot.

She turns on her coms just as Norm gets a glimpse of her Samson from the ground. “Sorry Jake… Norm, I love you.”

Norm’s eyes widen as her kamikaze run gets closer and closer to the massive warship. “NO!” he screams desperately.

It’s too late to stop now. Trudy and her Samson dive, raking through the treetops, and then, at the last instant, she yanks back on the stick. They erupt in a cloud of smoke and flames as the shrapnel shears off the top of the Dragon’s co*ckpit. The impact barely misses Quaritch, who had flung himself into the aisle to avoid the damage.

The Dragon falls, crashing through the treetops and landing with a BOOM on the ground. The impact shakes the ground, sending tremors that could be felt at OPs.

P!Norm blinks at the screen then turns to the woman he'd grown to admire in the last few hours. She'd gone still, stiff as a board. Her face was blank but her eyes told it all. Wordlessly, he put a hand on her shoulder, and she just nodded.

F!Norm sighed and slouched back in his seat. It was difficult to see the woman he loved, both on-screen and in real life. He recalled the many nights they'd spent together before the battle. They would stay up late while Grace and Jake were sleeping to whisper under the covers like teenagers--talking about their lives, interests, hobbies, etc. They'd gotten to know each other intimately, and losing her that day felt like a sucker punch to the gut.

F!Max leaned into his friend's side and rubbed his back, soothing circles into his shoulder blades. "You doing ok?"

"...yeah, I'll be fine."

"Dragon is down. It's off the board," an OPs worker says, looking at the main monitor in horror.

"What do you mean, off the board?!" Selfridge shrieks.

Suddenly, the roar of an engine disrupts their work and forces the room to look up at the outward windows. There's Max, sitting on the cab of an enormous Slash-Cutter. The scientist flips the corporate asshole the bird and pushes a lever forward.

"Oh sh*t!"

Everyone makes a dive as the spinning teeth of the machine cut through the window in a blast--glass and deadly air invading the air in a blizzard of hazardous debris.

When the Slash-Cutter pulls back, the avatar drivers flood in, carrying weapons and yelling. They make quick work of rounding up the workers. The battle is over before it begins--OPs is secure.

While they may not like the idea of being unemployed,that RDA guy couldn't help but utter a small, "Womp Womp" under their breath.

They didn't dodge to pinch to the tit from their seatmate in time. Their skin was going to be hella bruised later.

A miraculous, if now terrifying sight emerges from the foliage. Quaritch is still alive and is now trudging through the forest in an ampsuit. There is murder in his eyes--he's too far gone to quit now. He comes across the shack soon, and his eye burns with a yearning for vengeance. But before he can get close, a six-legged beast knocks him over. Quaritch pivots and blasts his gun, which Neytiri barely avoids in time. The palulukan screeches and raises its claws in preparation to attack again.

The two grapple with each other, and Quaritch scarcely manages to keep the animal from breaking the glass and scratching his face off. He fires his suit's cannon rapidly, and the bullets hit the palulukan's thick skin with a tearing force. The beast howls but is unrelenting. Neytiri guides it to smash the offending weapon on a rock, and the cannon crumbles to pieces--destroyed.

But it isn't enough to stop the seasoned Colonel. He throws the palulukan off and grabs it by the neck. He takes out a humungous knife and stabs it viciously. Neytiri can feel the pain through their temporary bond. she too screams in agony as hot pain surges through both hunters. Once Quaritch is satisfied with his butchery, he throws the animal into a tree ahead, effectively pinning Neytiri down with the felled creature.

Neytiri squirms, trying to get her legs out from under the palulukan's hulking dead body. She is as good as trapped. As scared as she is, she hisses at Quaritch, venom in her eyes. She won't be quelled so easily.

Before he could start overthinking it, F!Neytiri put her head on F!Jake's head and rubbed her forehead against his collarbone, reassuring him that she was still here and that she was safe.

Her mate tended to overthink things when his mind sent him back into unpleasant memories. He had a habit of staring off into space with a blank look, and it was always a sign that he was about to work himself into what the scientists called an "anxiety attack". She'd witnessed a fair share of them in their early years of being together when the Sky People had been sent back into the heavens towards their star. Her Jake would be fine one moment then space out until his breath got shallow and his hands started to twitch.

The best she could do was reassure him that they were safe. Together, they would be alright.

F!Jake looked down and smiled. He kissed F!Neytiri's head tenderly and nuzzled their faces together. "Thanks."

"No need to thank me, Ma Jake."

Before Quaritch can take further action, Jake jumps down from his hiding spot and stands between his former superior and his wife. He snarled, baring his teeth.

"Give it up, Quaritch!" he snarls. "It's all over."

Quaritch has the ampsuit grip the knife tighter. "Nothin's over while I'm breathin'!"

"I kinda hoped you'd say that."

"So, this is it?" Lo'ak whispered to Spider. "The big fight?"

"Looks like it, bro," his friend nodded, his voice layered with nervous energy.

"You going to be ok?" Neteyam asked.

"Yeah, bro, sure."

Neither Na'vi brother believed it, but they let it go. No need to start something here.

The fight was back on. Quaritch and Jake meet with a clash. Jake had dislodged the giant cannon from the ground and used it to block Quaritch's hit--sparks flew from the metal and knocked Jake's arms, but he didn't feel them. There was a much stronger heat in his soul.

Jake is quicker than the suit by fair, and before Quaritch can block, Jake slams the end of the weapon into the canopy. The glass cracked, spiderwebs blocking the Colonel's vision as he swung the knife wildly in the air. Jake and Quaritch exchange blows, the clanging of metal engulfing the scene.

It didn't last, and Quaritch took the opportunity when Jake started to get tired to swing again. The cannon was knocked out of Jake's hands and lodged into the dirt. Quaritch grabs the warrior by the arm and flings him away. Jake rolls away before a giant metal foot can crush him into a blue pancake.

He tried to make a grab for the cannon again, but a roundhouse kick forced him to duck. He leaps into the air to make another go at the glass--knocking solid punches into to shield until the spiderweb crack has spread to the very edge of the suit. Quaritch desperately tries to fling Jake off, and he has to abandon his weapon to do so. He throws it to the side, and the knife smashes into the side of the shack.

The sound alerts the two soldiers. It gives Quaritch a nasty, evil idea. He yanks a yellow handle from inside the co*ckpit, forcing the broken shield off the suit. He dons his breathing mask and takes a human-sized knife from his belt.

Glowering, he asks, "How does it feel to betray your own race?"

Jake doesn't answer, he just hisses.

How indeed. P!Quaritch looked down at the current Sully before him, bearing his eyes into the Marine's skull. He may not be an expert about future, spirity sh*t, or prophetic nonsense like those science pukes, but he did know one thing: if this Sully tried anything like what he was seeing on the screen, the Colonel was going to kill him with his bare hands. P!Quaritch was not about to let one defector risk the safety of his men.

P!Jake felt the murderous energy behind him, but he refused to turn around. He didn't have a death wish at the moment thank you very much.

Unexpectedly (for Jake), Quaritch turns around and starts heading straight for the shack. Panic surges into Jake's mind and he rushes after the Colonel. He bashes into the ampsuit's side as hard as he can, sending both to the side. But it's too late. Quaritch had landed a powerful hit to the shack's window and blasted a hole right through. The air rushes inside and begins to seep into Jake's link. His human body flinches as the poisonous air infiltrates his space.

Jake's avatar stumbles, but he's still kicking. He takes Quaritch's shoulder and yanks him forward, smashing his face into the edge of the co*ckpit. Quaritch yeps but pushes him away.

The shack is full of Pandoran air now. Inside the link, Jake tries with all his might to hold his breath, but it isn't enough. His avatar struggles to remain conscious as their connection falters with every breath of air. The shack's alarms don't help--only distract him.

With that distraction, Quaritch gets a hold of his queue and lifts him up off the ground just as Wainfleet had done to Tsu'tey. He held his knife up to the avatar's throat, coldly regarding the traitor.

Jake strains to stay awake. His eyes are glazed but still defiant. Even with a knife to his throat, he won't yield.

For reasons he could not explain, fear once again gripped Tsu'tey's heart. He'd just moments ago witnessed his demise, but to see it happen again to such an important figure, regardless that it was a dreamwalker... he couldn't bear to see it again. He'd grown somewhat tolerant of the Sky Person in the last few hours. It would be terrible to witness another heinous act committed against someone who seemed loyal to the Na'vi.

Against his body's wishes, Tsu'tey reached his arm out behind P!Neytiri to rest it on P!Jake's wheelchair. The human saw but didn't comment on it, and P!Neytiri only let out an annoyed huff for having an arm sneaking behind her back.

WHOOSH!

Quaritch stares dumbly at his chest where an arrow now resides. Neytiri, finally unpinned from the tree, stands far away with her bow. Her fury can be felt even from the distance. She'd already lost her home, her father, and her ikran. She wasn't about to let the Demon take her mate from her.

The Colonel stumbles, dropping Jake's queue. Neytiri isn't satisfied. She knocks another arrow and releases it. Now there are two arrows in Quaritch's chest. He gasps as the poison-tipped arrow works its way through his system. He touches the feathered tip, ironic clarity registering in his mind. After a quick, disbelieving chuckle, Quaritch falls over dead, the ampsuit going limp along with him.

The whole RDA went silent, and the bravest looked to P!Quaritch to gauge his reaction. They instantly regretted it because the man's face was ablaze with fury.

Across the aisle, Recon!Quaritch frowns. He'd already found out how he'd died, but it was unnerving to see it in such a way...he didn't know how to process it.

Jake's last sight is of his wife before he too goes limp. His human body gasps inside the link, and he tugs himself out, gasping. His eyes bulge out of his head as he desperately grabs at the air for a mask. He drops to the floor and reaches up to the emergency mask box by the link, but without enough oxygen in his lungs, he passes out just before he can get his fingers on the mask's strap.

Neytiri rushes over to her mate's side, holding the avatar and begging for him to wake up. Then, she remembers her real body. She springs up, sprinting to the shack and vaulting through the broken window. She lands on the glass debris like a cat, ignoring the shards likely digging into her feet.

She sees her beloved lying prone on the floor and panics. She holds him in her arms and looks around for anything that could save him. She notices the dangling straps of the emergency mask and snatches it out of the box. The mask is shoved onto the human's face and oxygen slowly filters onto Jake's face.

Weakly, he looks up at her face and smiles. "I see you."

Neytiri smiles back with misty tears forming in her eyes. "I see you." She takes his hand and holds it to her cheek.

F!Jake smiled to himself. When he'd seen his wife leaning over him like that in the last rays of day, he'd thought he'd died and been greeted by an angel--a blue one, but still.

Well, she was still an angel to him, just a really, really, really, dangerous one.

Later, once the tribes begin searching the battlefield for survivors and wounded, the warriors come across Tsu'tey. He lays still, partially propped up on a rock. When he sees Jake and Neytiri approach, he relaxes slightly.

"Oh, Tsu'tey..." P!Neytiri said quietly. She leaned back into his arm, which was still holding on to P!Jake's chair, and rested her body against the limb

"I will have died a warrior's death," the man said, but he sounded detached from himself.

P!Jake frowned. "Kinda morbid, buddy."

" Oel ngati kameie, Jakesully , (I see you, Jakesully)" he says with a gurgling voice. He is weak and bleeding. He will not survive.

I see you, Tsu'tey te Rongola Ateyo'itan," Jake nods, wincing at Tsu'tey's injuries.

"Are the people safe?"

"They're safe."

Tsu'tey nods and blinks up at the sun. His breaths are labored and broken. He clutches his severed and bloody queue. Neytiri and Jake gasp, as do everyone else around them.

"I can never ride again, or bond with my woman, or hear the voice of Eywa. I can not lead the People. You will lead them, Jakesully," he says decisively.

The Toruk Makto's eyes widen in shock. "No! I'm not officer material."

"It is decided," Tsu'tey says. "Now do the duty of Olo'eyktan. Set my spirit free." His shaking hand reaches up to take Jake's knife from its chest holster. The action alone takes the strength out of him.

"I'm not killing you," Jake begs.

"I am already dead."

"No!"

"It is the way...and it is good. I will be remembered-" he winces as a flash of pain racks his body. "I fought with Toruk Makto . We were brothers."

There were tears in many people's eyes. Even though they knew it was just a story (future or otherwise), it was still very sad. Even the coldest RDA members expressed their sympathy with shaking heads or vague salutes.

Neytiri's eyes are full of tears, and they flow down her cheeks like waterfalls. She can't bear to see Tsu'tey like this.

Tsutey looks up at Jake, a desperate plea in his eyes. "He was my last shadow."

Jake slowly nods and takes the knife, positioning it to a fatal area on the old Olo'eyktan's body. When he thusts the blade in, Tsu'tey whimpers before going still.

With a heavy heart and a trembling tone, Jake recites. " Oeru txoa livu, ma oeya tsmukan. Ka set ne sa'nok tiera. Ngari hu Eywa salew tirea, tokx 'i'awn slu Na'viya hapxi. (Forgive me, my brother. Go now to the Mother Spirit. Your spirit goes with Eywa, your body stays behind, to become part of the People.)

It is a time of great sorrow, but the Sky People still remained. The Omaticaya, along with their allies of the other tribes and the rebel humans, have successfully gathered all the humans and were begging to send them back to Earth.

Na'vi ride on pa'li while others sit atop roosting banshees--each keeping a close eye on the retreating Sky People.

Jake (V.O.)

With the battle over, the Sky People were forced to leave the planet. A few chose to stay. Fewer were chosen.

Max, Norm and a few of the avatars hold guns as the personnel of Hell's Gate shuffle up the cargo ramp of the remaining shuttle. The evicted humans are sullen and angry, like POWs.

The RDA went back to scowling. Those who had come for the money fumed as their big ticket to better finance was ripped away from them. It was a big deal to get shipped off to Pandora! The skills and education it took to get so much as considered was a feat in itself! Some of them would have literally killed to get here! (And some probably did)

Selfridge passes by, and when he looks up at Jake, he stops. Stupidly, he approaches. Everyone surrounding Jake tense and bears their weapons. Neytiri hisses and holds out her knife, but Jake stops her.

" Kehe. Mawey (Stop. Be calm)" He orders.

Selfridge glares up at him tiredly. "You know this isn't the end. We'll be back."

Jake just snarls. "Move."

Everyone from the future sighed. As much as they wished the opposite, the Sky People had returned, and now they were dealing with the consequences. The Sullys had been forced from their home, and the Metkayina had to stay alert for news about demon activity.

Jake (V.O.)

The forest will heal, and so will the hearts of the People. New life keeps the energy flowing, like the breath of the world.

With the last of the Sky People gone, it's just the remaining rebels and Jake left. Jake is ready to move on into his new life, but first, he has one last thing to do.

He faces the video camera with a tired but satisfied smile. "This is my last video log." He rubs the back of his head and sighs. "The science guys will keep the lights on here, but I won't miss this place."

He takes one last look around before shaking his head. He's ready. "I better wrap this up. It's my birthday tonight, and I don't want to miss it."

"Birthday?" P!Jake asked, then he froze. He looked over at F!Jake and his jaw dropped. "No way!"

F!Jake shrugged. "You can’t live in the shack forever."

In the luminescent light of the Tree of Souls, the Omaticaya gather together once more to participate in the ritual. They sing, chant, and sway to the rhythm of the Great Mother's soul. Vines and tendrils all around pulse with Eywa's heartbeat as Mo'at sings to her over Jake's human and avatar bodies.

When the lights fade and the chanting stops, Neytiri takes off the mask of Jake's human body. She kisses his brow and moves over to check on the avatar, his newly permanent vessel.

He doesn't awaken at first, but then, just as her hands come to cradle his face...

Jake's golden eyes open, and his real life finally begins anew.

The screen goes dark and the theater's lights brighten all around. It's finally time to take a break.

Chapter 10: Break Time!

Chapter Text

Once the screen had gone dark and the theater had returned to full brightness, the following pandemonium nearly unsettled the dust in the highest rafters. RDA workers began screaming at each other or the Na’vi. The Omaticaya muttered amongst themselves while shooting the Sky People (the ones who weren’t in the first two rows) nasty looks. The Metkayina, who had stayed silent for most of the film, watched the chaos with interest.

P!Quaritch was the loudest voice out of all. He’d jumped up from his seat in a flurry of swearwords and vague threats. He was currently on a warpath towards P!Jake--the man in question quickly found himself hidden behind two hulking blue figures.

P!Neytiri and Tsu’tey glared down at the small military man with contempt.

“Move!” P!Quaritch grunted.

“You will step back,” P!Neytiri said. “You are unwelcome among us.”

“Return to your place,” Tsu’tey nodded.

The fuming human tried to bypass them, but their much larger limbs prevented him from gaining so much as an inch forward.

"You move your fat blue asses out of my way!" P!Quaritch hollered, gaining everyone's attention.

Selfridge, for whatever reason, took that as a chance to intervene. "Miles, maybe we can-"

"How 'bout you shut yer trap, Parker?" he threatened.

"You don't get to talk to me that way!" Selfridge exclaimed (squeaked).

They continued to bicker while P!Jake tried to peek out between P!Neytiri's thighs.

"Uh, guys?" he tried, maneuvering his chair to look up (way up! His neck was craned all the way up!).

"Remain where you are, Jakesully," Tsu'tey ordered.

"I'm not fragile, y'know," he said. "I've been in my fair share of scraps before."

"There is no need for you to fight," P!Neytiri said. "We shall keep your leader back from our spot."

Trudy popped over with P!Norm, who followed close behind her like a duckling. The woman led him along by the hand, giving him no choice. She plopped them down on the much larger and now unoccupied seats left by P!Jake's new bodyguards.

"How's it goin'?" she asked.

P!Jake shrugged. "Oh, you know. Just watching my future. Casual Tuesday."

"Real," she snorted. "What's up with the bodyguards?"

"No idea."

The lights flickered ever so slightly, and the voice made its appearance."Now that the first story has concluded, it's time for you all to stretch your legs and eat something before you continue. You'll be given two hours to chat, eat, relieve yourself, and take a nap if you wish."

The walls began to warp, the stones and paper breaking apart to reveal doors and archways leading to different rooms. There were doors labeled 'Bathrooms', 'Bedrooms', and the occasional 'Hidey-Hole'. The archway led to a MAGNIFICENTLY large kitchen/eating area. The ground was like that of the Kelutral area--mossy ground and tree roots spiraling around like benches. In contrast, there were wooden cabinets and flat countertops carved out of the roots for humans. It was the perfect blend of human and Na'vi.

Once people figured out where they needed to be or where they wanted to go, the theater dispersed. Na'vi parents took their children to the 'Bedroom's to let their children rest in peace, and others congregated in the kitchen area. P!Jake loitered behind as the aisles filled with people filing out. It was easier to maneuver around when there were fewer feet to avoid rolling over.

Before he could head anywhere, a Na'vi child from the other side came running over, followed by her siblings. It occurred to him that she was supposed to be his future daughter! He'd taken peeks of those kids through the story (movie?). She was a great deal taller than him even if he'd been standing. She was very cute: short braided hair capped in beads, big yellow eyes, a round face, and tiny pointed ears. Her smile was sharp but excited, and P!Jake couldn't help but smile back.

"Hi!" She greeted him enthusiastically. "I'm Tuk!"

"Nice to meet you," he nodded, looking behind her shoulder. "Who are they?"

The "little" girl pointed to each of her siblings and the human child who had followed--wait, human child?! What?!

"This is my big brother, Neteyam!" she said as she pointed to the oldest.

He had long braided hair, like P!Neytiri. He wore a leather cumme*rbund around his thin waist and a beaded choker around his neck. He was every bit the image of his mother. The boy smiled and waved.

"This is Kiri, my sister!" Tuk grabbed the girl's hand. "Kiri" rolled her eyes at the child's energy, but she clearly wasn't annoyed, really.

This kid looked familiar, in a way that stumped P!Jake. Her face was youthful and bright, but it held the wisdom of someone much older. The shape of her eyes and the curves on her face were eerily familiar. Her wild hair was a funny factor--it stuck up in every direction and puffed out like an angry kitten.

"And this is Lo'ak, my other older brother," Tuk gestured to the boy.

P!Jake was taken aback at seeing the alien version of his youth. He could see the sharpness of his cheekbones and the subtle furrow in his brows on this kid's face as if it were his own, just ten years ago.

"Hey," the boy said, a bit tensely. His shoulders were hunched as if he was expecting an attack.

P!Jake held out his hand to put the kid at ease, hoping that the awkwardness he felt couldn't be felt through the handshake. "Nice to meet ya, kids. You're a lot taller than I thought."

That made Lo'ak smile a bit and relax, and he held his hand out. P!Jake looked down and noted the five-fingered hand compared to Neteyam's four fingers. He was definitelyhis kid. That reminder sent an odd surge of warmth through his gut. These werehis kids. He'd have kids in the future! His crippled ass wasn't totally hopeless after all!

P!Neytiri came over with Tsu'tey, having successfully kept P!Quaritch from coming over. She looked over the children, assessing them, but not unkindly. She was more curious as she took in Lo'ak's sharp features and Neteyam's large eyes. She looked down at Tuk and smiled, the kid's cuteness too much to ignore.

"Hello, what is your name?" she asked sweetly.

"I'm Tuk!" she girl said. "And that's Neteyam, Kiri, and Lo'ak!" She made an 'oh!' face and moved over to the human kid. "And this is Spider."

Both Tsu'tey and P!Neytiri made confused sounds. "Spider?" Tsu'tey mimicked.

"He's-" The human cut her off with a hand over her mouth.

"I live with the scientists in the future," he interjected quickly. "They helped raise me in the lab after... well, uh..."

"I get it," P!Jake said. "You were born after the battle?"

"Before. Mom died during the fight when I was only a few months old, so the scientists took me in."

"You were too young for cryo."

"Yeah."

P!Jake clapped him on the back. "Well, nice to meet ya anyways."

F!Jake and F!Neytiri watched their kids interact with the past, keeping a close eye. F!Neytiri watched Spider the longest, narrowing her eyes when he spoke to P!Neytiri. She tried not to glare, but it was difficult not to when the son of the enemy was so close to the version of herself who hadn't lost everything yet. She also wanted to wrench him away from her and shake P!Neytir until she understood the danger that kid represented.

A hand on her shoulder disrupted her train of thought. "It's not his fault," P!Jake reminded her.

"I know that!" she snapped.

"You haven't stopped watching him."

"Can you blame me?"

"No, but he's still a kid. Try to take it easy on him."

F!Neytiri let out a huff of breath. "He could have betrayed us by now, Ma Jake. For all we know, our home could have been taken from us by the time he left."

"He wouldn't," F!Jake insisted. "He's a good kid. He wouldn't sell us out."

"He isn't one of the People," she challenged.

"...no, but he loves them just as much."

"I'm not talking about this any longer," she said, walking towards the group. F!Jake sighed but walked after her, hoping he wouldn't have to do any damage control.

Paz had sat back in the crowd quietly during the movie-thing. She came to Pandora as a hired security, a pilot. Her contract had her listed as SecOPs,security. So, why in the Sam Hell did she just witness a whole ass war?! She knew she'd been in the battle--that was a given. There was no way Quaritch would have pulled her away. And that meant... Miles Jr. had been left behind.

The thought sent spikes of fear and pain through her heart. The idea of leaving her baby behind for a battle she would likely perish in was like shoving pins into her spine. She didn't want to think about what the scientists would do to her baby boy. Would they send him to her family back on earth, regardless of the cryo rules? Would they raise him to hate her and his father? Would his guardians even love him? Would they tell him how special he was? How much she loved him?

While she ruined herself over her thoughts, she looked over at the small group of Na'vi gathering down on the lowest seats. Curious, she crept down to get a closer look, unused to seeing Pandoran natives personally. When she was a respectable distance away, she noticed pale skin amongst blue.

A small human teen, probably no older than fifteen, stood among his alien teen friends and talking with the present versions of Sully and his new alien girlfriend (and that chief guy, whatever his name was). The kid was decked out in blue painted stripes and a loincloth, and his hair was wild and styled in dreads. He certainly stuck out like a sore thumb.

Their eyes met suddenly, and the boy went still. She stood up slowly so as not to alarm anyone. Who knew what a startled Na'vi would do to her? P!Jake noticed her when he saw that Spider's attention had switched to something else. He waved her over, inviting her into the conversation.

"Hey, you part of SecOps?" he asked.

"The flight suit didn't give it away?" she joked, feeling more comfortable with a fellow soldier.

"Smartass. So, how you feeling about all this?" he motioned to the whole theater.

"It's so surreal. If you'd told me yesterday that I'd be watching the future with a bunch of aliens, I'da sent you to the Medbay with suspicion of insanity."

P!Jake chuckled. "Fair. Same here, honestly."

The two ribbed and teased each other for a little while longer while the Na'vi either watched in interest or spoke amongst each other. Meanwhile, Spider couldn't tear his eyes away from Paz. It was like looking at a dream. His whole life, he'd wanted to meet her--to hug her, ask her why she did it withQuaritch of all people. He wanted to know just how much she'd loved him and why she left him for the war.

"Hey, bro. Are you ok?" Lo'ak nudged him when he didn't respond. "Bro?"

"Huh? Oh, uh, sure. I'm ok." Spider still didn't look away. It was like he was being pulled towards his mom's direction but his feet were rooted to the spot.

"Sure... well, me and the others are going to go eat. Do you wanna come?"

"I'll meet you there."

"...ok."

When the Na'vi kids left, F!Jake and F!Neytiri met them halfway. They spoke for only a moment before retreating to the kitchen area. Tsu'tey and P!Neytiri left soon after once P!Jake assured them that he'd be right behind them. It seemed that their babysitting wasn't going to end anytime soon.

Just as Paz and Spider started walking, a small light appeared in their hands and left behind a small piece of paper. They looked at each other, confused, but they looked at the notes.

|---|

"If you both would like to hang out for a bit, go to 'Bedroom' NO.3 on the left. You'll have a quiet space to talk, Mother-to-Son.

~Enjoy"

|---|

The two looked at each other in shock. For a while, no one moved. It wasn't until Paz moved forward that Spider's body reacted. He flung his arms around his mother's neck and held on tight. He had to make sure that he wasn't dreaming--that this wasn't all some kind of vision blessed by Eywa to make him feel better about his capture by his father's clone.

Paz's arms were secured over his back just as fast, holding him to her body like a lifeline. "Miles, my baby. Oh, you're so big!" she said. She ran a hand through his dread and frowned. "When was the last time you brushed your hair?"

Spider laughed, shaking his head at such a silly question. "When I was, like, four?" he guessed.

"That explains a lot."

He snorted but made no effort to disagree. "...I missed you. I've kept your photo above my bed for years."

"Just yesterday, I was tucking you in, now look at you." Paz chuckled. "Covered in paint and almost as tall as me."

"Nash and Mary didn't like to talk about you too much. They said they were all I needed now."

"Who?"

"The McCoskers. They were my foster family in the labs," he said bitterly. "They weren't family."

Paz noticed his discomfort and took his face in her hands. "Let's go talk more about this in that room. I want to know all about you."

Spider's eyes widened. He had to fight back the happy tears threatening to spill from their place. "Really?

"Really," she smiled. "Tell me everything."

The Metayinka had moved themselves to the kitchen area first thing once the drama had settled. The Olo'eyktan, Tonowari, had corralled them all in the back so as not to disturb anyone, but that didn't stop the children from interacting with the Omatiacya, playing with their kids and asking the elders dozens of questions. The humans stayed away from the aliens, much to the Na'vi's relief. They had just watched their people engage in deadly combat with the Sky People just moments ago--tension was still running rather high.

Ronal was busy conversing with the elders, and Tonowari was talking to the Omaticaya's leader, Etukan. That left Aonung, Tsireya, and Roxto free to explore the strange habitat.

They first explored the bathrooms, looking at the differences between the normal holes in the soil and the strange, smooth baskets that were bolted to the tiled floor. Roxto had spent some time pushing down the thing's knob and watching the metal basket's water swirl down into the unknown.

After that, they toured the bedrooms. There were the usual hammocks and sleeping mats, and then there were the humans' odd mats. They too raised off the ground with tons of unnecessary padding. They were also covered with blankets. Didn't the humans overheat? Why would they sleep with so many layers?

The three of them got bored once all the places were explored. They chose to meet up with their friends back in the kitchen area and goof off. They climbed over what they discovered were "cabinets" and "countertops" (a scientist had caught them and quickly explained that they wouldn't be able to hold the Na'vi children's weight). When they were chased off from that area, they ran around the room to burn off some energy. Without the sea to swim in or any tasks to do, time slowed down into an unbearable lull.

Aonung watched as his friends tried to mimic one of the moves he'd seen in the story. He curled his fists and kicked his leg out, but he lost his balance and stumbled. Another boy tried to beat the boy, rooting himself down and kicking lower. All he managed to do was move forward. Tsireya tried to keep their egos intact by smiling and encouraging them.

Roxto had no such reservations and openly laughed at their attempts. He was a real Skxawng like that.

After another failed attempt, Aonung decided to give it a try. He bent his knees, squared his shoulders, and kicked his leg out (he didn't like the feel of his leg joints popping). As expected, he lost his balance and fumbled to get his foot back on the ground before he fell like a fool. Someone snorted behind him, and Aonung felt his ears flush. The heat on his ears urged him to turn around to retort at whoever had the gall to mock him.

When he did turn around, however, he came face to face with the most beautiful boy he'd ever seen. His dark indigo skin was decorated with beaded accessories and a cumme*rbund, and his long, braided hair hung down his back like the waterfalls on his island's forest. His yellow eyes were scrunched up in amusem*nt while Aonung gawked at him like a yelping ilu.

"Sorry," the gorgeous boy said with a smirk, "but your form is terrible."

The heat in Aonung's ears increased, the flesh in his inner ears turning bright pink. "W-Well, it's not like we were being serious. Sky People things are freaky."

The boy nodded but he didn't look like he believed it. "I am Neteyam te Suli Tsyeyk'itan. Oel ngati kameie," he motioned his hands down. The beads in his hair clicked together with the slightest movement of his head.

"Oel ngati kameie," Aonung repeated. "I am Aonung, son of Tonowari. He is the Olo'eyktan of my people."

"I know, we saw each other briefly when my family landed on your shores."

"We did?"

Aonung tried to recall the event. He remembered going to the beach when the sound of the lookout's conch alerted the village of newcomers. He'd pushed through the crowd to see who had arrived, and he had just caught sight of the forest people before being pulled up into the sky. Ah, then that meant it was Neteyam's family who'd come to Awa'atlu.

"Anyway, my siblings and I were wondering if we could join you and your friends?" Neteyam asked. "Our own group was pulled away by their families and Tuk is getting restless."

"Of course!" Aonung agreed hastily but calmed down. He had to play it cool. "My sister has an interest in the forest clans. Perhaps one of you would tell her some stories?"

Neteyam's gorgeous face brightened, a warm smile settling in place of casual politeness. Aonung had to stop himself from smiling back in response. His gut swarmed like the tiny fish below his family's marui. It was like eating embers from a firepit--his whole body was alight with flames.

"Great! My sister Tuk would love that!" then he smirked. "Fair warning, sheloves to talk."

"So does Tsireya."

"I'll go get them." With that, Neteyam went to retrieve the other Sully children.

Aonung watched him leave in a trance, eyeing the way his hair swayed with his steps. It was hypnotizing. An arm hitting his back startled him from his thoughts. Roxto grinned up at him with a sly expression.

"I saw that," he said.

"Saw what?" Aonung huffed.

"You like him, I can tell." He tapped his head. "I see these things."

"You see nothing, Roxto."

Neteyam returned with three siblings in tow. Roxto ceased his amusem*nt when the eldest daughter came into view. Her bored expression melted into interest when she saw the sea people before her. Her little sister came bounding up to Aonung and his friends with the energy of a baby ilu--the big eyes full of joy were the same too.

"You're Sea Na'vi!" she said, her tiny voice louder than its pitch. "I'm Forest Na'vi! That's so cool isn't it?"

Tsireya was called over by the sudden loudness, and she beamed at the buzzing child. She always had a soft spot for little ones.

"Who is this?" she cooed.

Kiri came over and flicked her sister's hair, earning a scowl in return. "Oel ngati kameie.This is Tuk, and I am Kiri. Those twoskxawngsare my brothers, Neteyam and Lo'ak."

"I am Roxto!" the nosey boy said, shoving himself forward. "It's very nice to meet you."

He received many odd looks from those around him for his brazenness, but he either didn't see them or he didn't care. Apparently, he was too taken in by the forest girl to pay any mind.

"So...you said your sister wanted stories?" Kiri asked Aonung.

Tsireya's smile got even bigger. "You'll share about the forest?"

"Yes!" Tuk took the sea girl's arm and pulled her down to one of the free spots on the ground.

Neteyam motioned to the two girls to his brother. "Why don't you join them? You know how Tuk likes to exaggerate."

Lo'ak looked over at Tsireya and nodded quickly. He almost tripped over his own feet in an attempt to sit down next to her. Aonung made a note to watch out for that boy. Not justanyone could hang out with his sister, and it was his job to look out for her safety.

"So, Roxto," Kiri drawled. "How about you tell me some stories too?"

"Absolutely!"

When they passed by, Aonung whispered in his friend's ear, "You like her. I see these things."

His teasing was rewarded with a flushed scowl. "Fnu, ma Aonung!"

The rest of Aonung's friends left to go sit down for stories or return to walking aimlessly around the kitchen area. That left Aonung alone with Neteyam, which nearly sent the turquoise-colored boy into cardiac arrest. He'd planned on sitting by while the indigo boy talked to his group. Were they supposed to talk now? Was it alright to hang out? He didn't want to drive the pretty boy away.

"Are you alright?" Neteyam asked, concerned. He tapped Aonung's shoulder when he didn't respond right away.

"Mmhm! Yes, I'm fine, just a bit absent-minded," he bluffed.

"I get that. Lo'ak does that all the time." He rolled his eyes. "It's so annoying."

Aonung laughed but internally cringed at being compared to Neteyam's brother. Being compared to a sibling was never a good sign.

"So, forest boy," he redirected. "You want to hear some stories too?"

The dazzling smile sent his way nearly stole all the air from Aonung's lungs.

"I'd like that."

P!Quaritch liked to think that he was a respectable man. He prided himself on resistance, patience, and the unmatchable power he held command over. He did his damn best to keep his people alive on Pandora. Nature was a cruel mother after all.

So why now did he find it so hard to keep a cool head? All these halfwit executives were hovering around him like flies, tittering around as they whispered to each other about the newfound"Sully Problem". He and the main heads of Hell's Gates had set up shop at a vacant table in the back of the kitchen area, hidden behind a mass tangle of vines. They sat on the Earth like kids on a playground, except for Selfridge, who stayed standing. He either didn't want to get dirty or he wanted to display whatever meager power he had over them.

"We can't let this happen," Selfridge stressed. "The RDA's whole mission here is dependent on our mission to the Hometree, and these savages are going to mess it all up! What are our superiors on Earth going to say if we get bullied out of our Unobtainium site? They'll have our heads!"

"I say we find somewhere else," one of the women from the bridge suggested. P!Quaritch had seen her before, making big shots during the mining operations. "We don't have the manpower available to take out heavy threats like what we just saw. The RDA can't afford to lose so many workers right now."

"Bullsh*t!" Another guy commented. "You just don't want to get involved with those blue monkeys."

"Na'vi,"she corrected him. "And what I mean is--we can't afford losses right now. Our current production at Hell's Gate is pumping out less and less unobtainium by the week. If we don't secure a new site within the year, we aren't just losing money. We'll be losing power."

"So then let's bulldoze the whole path!"

"Were you not watching?! If we do that, it'll result in war!"

"Then let's call up RDA Command and request more security!"

"What makes you think they'll accept that request? No one who signs up for the SecOPs contract is required to go into active combat. If we force people to fight in a war they didn't sign up for, who do you think suffers more?"

They continued to bicker like this for a while. P!Quaritch listened with half an ear as he tried to keep himself from exploding. Why was it so hard to come to a conclusion? They both had some good points, but he preferred that guy's idea more. It was always easier to blow sh*t up when things went south.

"Ok, ok, so we're stuck? Is that it?" Selfridge interjected.

"Essentially," the woman nodded.

"Christ...we don't have time for this." The boss man rubbed his head and sighed. "Does anyone else have any ideas?"

"I reckon I've got somethin'," said a blood-chilling voice behind them.

They all whipped around to see Recon!Quaritch leaning against the mass of roots, peering down at them as if they were children playing pretend. P!Quaritch raised a brow at the towering mass of muscle and blue alien genes.

"What are you supposed to be, Big Blue?" he asked, condescension lacing his tone.

"Just your friendly Avatar clone, here to shed some light on your dark situation," he replied.

"Clone?" Someone asked. "So, the Recon testing was cleared."

"Yes ma'am, and I've got some info that might help."

"Then talk!" Selfridge urged. "Whatever edge we can get on these tree-hugging morons, the better!"

Grace had decided to stay behind when everyone had left for the kitchen area. P!Max had tried to convince her to come with him and the other scientists, but she declined. She needed some time to think. She watched herself die after all.

So, she took refuge in one of the unoccupied bedrooms for the time being. She'd laid on the amazingly comfortable bed for about an hour, just breathing in slowly and going over her mental notes to stay centered. It helps a bit.

Knock! Knock!

"Piss off. I'm not in the mood," she called out. Man, she needed a cig.

Knock! Knock!

The door slowly opened even after Grace told them to go away. A Na'vi girl stuck her head in tentatively, looking at Grace as if she were an apparition. Seeing the kid eased Grace slightly. She'd rather talk to her than anyone else.

"Sorry, guess you caught me at a bad time," she apologized.

"That's fine, I just wanted to meet you," the girl said, twisting her fingers around the songcord tied to her loincloth. A nervous habit?

"Oh, are you one of my student's siblings? I'd thought I already knew all the kids in the clan."

"...no, I'm... I was born after the battle. Max used to talk about you a lot," the girl avoided her eyes and looked at the ground instead.

Grace decided to slide off the bed and approach the teenager. Perhaps she'd be less nervous if she acted more engaged.

"You're Sully's kid, aren't you? I noticed you sitting there during the story," Grace mentioned.

"Yeah, I'm Kiri. Mom and Dad adopted me after I was born."

"Neytiri always wanted a big family. She and her sister, Sylwanin, liked to talk about it during my lessons." Reminiscing brought back good and painful memories, but sharing them with this kid felt oddly calming. "It could hardly get through a topic before they started to chatter behind my back."

Kiri giggled. "That sounds like Mom alright."

Grace couldn't put her finger on it. She could have sworn that she'd met this kid before. Her mannerisms and attitude felt so familiar! But after racking her brain for a memory--a single snippet of semblance--Grace was drawing blanks.

"Do I know your birth parents?"

Kiri looked away, worrying her lip with her teeth. "Not technically."

"What do you mean?"

Before Kiri could answer, the voice's message broadcasted all over the theater, taking everyone's attention from their activities.

"Please return to the theater! It is time for the second story!"