Title: Scars
Rating: PG
Summary: Jake revisits the abandon base ten years after the Sky People have left.
Author's Notes: This is just a little scene that wouldn't leave me alone. I know it's kind of corny. I may continue it, or not. This also has not been beta'd, so forgive any mistakes or point/typos. Comments = love.
Disclaimer: These are not my characters; I just play with them. No copyright infringement intended.
Scars
Jake Sully felt the change in earth beneath his bare feet. The soft soil and tree roots changed into warm concrete. The buildings were crumpling; still deserted after what Jake calculated to be ten Earth years. Ten years since the Sky People were banished yet the forest had just barely began to claim it back. It was not likely to be overgrown in his lifetime even though he was likely to live to well over two hundred years now. Vines twisted over the guard walls. Young trees grew through cracked landing pads.
He crossed the empty area between the forest and the watchtower. Living in forest for so many years now, this exposure unnerved Jake. Or maybe it was just the memories. His fingers tightened around the strap of his bow. His eyes shifted left, right, above. He paused again once he reached the hanger. A row of choppers still stood, waiting. He ascended the rusty stairs to the abandon command center.
Jake entered just a few steps. The years had taken their toll on the structure. Rain, animals, vegetation had slowly began to over take it. The screens had been dark for such a long time. The air still smelled different. It wasn't as heavy as in the forest. He was cramped in this room with its human-sized ceilings. He hunched to keep his head from hitting the support beams.
He bent down and pressed a few blank buttons on one of a faded keyboard. Nothing happened. He didn't expect anything. He nudged the chair in front of the workstation. It creaked as it spun. For a moment, he remembered the room when it was busy. It had once been filled with people, noise. They had been there to do a job. And it had gone so wrong. It had become twisted like the vines.
Jake suddenly felt confined, trapped. He pushed his way back outside. He paused with a hand on the railing. He caught his reflection in a pane of cracked glass. Golden eyes, blue skin, he did not miss his old body though this face could still catch him off guard. He was happy, maybe happier than he had ever been. But he had still spent more of his life inside a human body than a Na'vi, even if that human body had been broken.
Jake ably jumped over the railing and jogged back into the forest. He scaled a tree so he could see the tower from a distance. For all the pain, this place it had cause he was oddly grateful. Coming here had brought him to the Omaticaya and to Neytiri. This transformation saved his life. There was a call from below. He echoed back.
Neytiri emerged. She found Jake in the tree, and in two swift, powerful motions lighted on the branch next to him. She wrapped her arms around his waist and Jake pulled her closer.
"Why do you keep coming back here?" Neytiri asked.
She spoke to him in English. He spoke Na'vi fluently at long last, but when they were alone they always spoke in English. There was something private about it. Besides, he loved her accent.
The question hung in air. He didn't have answer. His silence said more than any words. His fears that the human would return was always just below the surface. It was a guilt he carried with him. He did his best to help the clan. Hometree was gone. Jake had done everything in his power to make the relocation easier. No one really blamed him, not anymore. He had proved himself as Toruk Macto. Still, the guilt pulled at him.
"You can forget that life," Neytiri said, her cheek pressed against his back. "Let it go."
He turned so they faced each other, her cheek rested on his chest, and his arms surrounded her shoulders. His back was to the deserted station.
"I try," he said. There was another long pause. Neytiri didn't rush him.
"They'll be back on Earth by now," he said at last.
"Do you wish to return?" she asked, softly.
"Nope, no way, never," he said quickly. "My home is with the Omaticaya. I never want to change that. I'm worried they'll come back. They did such damage; left such wounds."
"Wounds heal," she reminded him. "The time of great sorrow is over."
"It doesn't feel over. Everyone remember the battle; most people lost loved ones. Your father is gone," he said.
Neytiri pulled away so she could look him in the eye. She untangled her arms from Jake's embrace. She turned her hand palm up and ran her fingers long a silver scar on her forearm. It was as long as her thumb and faded with age. It blended with bands on her arm.
"I fell when I was very young. I was too far out on an old branch and it collapsed. I fell and the wood cut me here," she gestured again. "This would is very old, but it is still here. There is still a scar, but it is healed."
He took her arm and kissed the mark. She smiled.
"The buildings will never disappear. Hometree will never stand again," she said. "There are scars over healed wounds."
"I love you." It was all he was able to respond.
"I love you," she answered, slipping back into Na'vi.
"I would be lost without you," he said.
"You still are, most of the time," playfully answered Neytiri.
"Hey," he said in mock horror.
Jake pulled away. He crossed his arm. Neytiri tried moving closer. He stepped away. She scoffed. He looked up at the sky, avoiding eye contact, "I don't need this abuse."
She tapped him on nose in a teasing motion, "Skxawng."
"You have not call them that in a long time," he said, his arms still crossed.
"Well, you forget the lessons I taught you. Eywa protects balance. After a tree falls, new ones grow; there is always new growth. Our child, a new life, will be born into a world where the Sky People are just memories."
"It is a hard lesson to remember—wait!" his eyes grew large as realized what she had said. "Child? Our child?"
Neytiri took his hands, which had fallen to his side. She placed them on her stomach, "Yes, I am with child."
Jake let out a whoop. He grabbed Neytiri around the waist and lifted her up. He spun her around and around. She laughed; letting out the joy she had clearly been holding back. He finally set her down. He dropped to his knees in front of her. He kissed her belly, again and again. He finally rose and pulled Neytiri into a passionate kiss.
"A new life," he repeated.
"You are happy?" asked Neytiri.
"I have never been happier in my entire life," he said, then let out another whoop.
She could not stop smiling. Jake marveled. He was going to be a father. He was going to have a kid. Once again, this moon had given him more than he could have ever hoped. He had a healthy body. He had a beautiful wife he loved in his very bones. And, now he would have a son or daughter.
Back on Earth, before shipping out for the last time, he had given up on ever having kids. He assumed he would make a lousy father. He had been just a broken, angry grunt. He had found more than a family on Pandora; he had found peace.