I See You

Neytiri was helplessly stuck behind the Thanator as she watched her Jake being picked off of the ground. The man that Jake had called Quaritch had her mate by the hair in that machine suit that the humans wore to kill so many of her kind. She could see the large blade in the suit's hand that she undoubtedly knew would be used on her weakened mate, and the thought of him dying before her eyes made her fight all the more to free herself from her current prison.

Growling with frustration, Neytiri kicked even harder against her fallen brother and managed to free her other leg from behind the Thanator. With lightning speed, she jumped over the Thanator and reached for her bow. Every second counted if she was going to save her love. Releasing the first arrow, she watched as it flew true, past her mate and through the glass of the metal suit, directly into Quaritch's chest.

Immediately, the man, Quaritch, released his grip on Jake. Neytiri released another arrow into his chest to ensure his demise as she ran quickly to Jake's side, snarling at the man who dared to try and take her mate away from her. She watched with indifference as the man Quaritch glared at her as he clutched at his chest before releasing his last breath and falling dead within the suit that encased him.

With no further thought of him, Neytiri immediately turned her attention to her mate who was still laying on the ground, seemingly lifeless. Taking him into her arms, she forced his face forward and saw that his eyes were closed.

"Jake!" she cried out to him, but then the realization hit that he was not there.

Looking over her shoulder, she saw the large metal trailers that the man Quaritch had been so determined to destroy and her Jake had tried to protect. She realized that he was in there, and she knew that he needed her.

Running towards it, Neytiri looked through one of the windows, and immediately she saw a human that her heart told her was her mate. Leaping through a shattered window, she ignored the other-worldly objects around her with her attention focused on one thing: her Jake.

She picked him off of the ground, taking him into her arms. She couldn't help but notice how small he was compared to the being she had held only moments before. This was the creature that had come from his dying world to hers and stolen her heart. This was the true Jake in his true form, and he was dying. Even though her people's instincts upon seeing him would be to turn away, Neytiri knew that this was the being that she loved even if he wasn't in the form that she had fallen in love with. This was the soul behind the creature who had led her people to fight for what was right and convinced Eywa to aid in their struggle. It was this being in her arms behind it all, not the one outside.

"Jake! My Jake!" she cried out, gently shaking him to wake him.

A second realization hit when she saw that he was not breathing. Remembering how all of the humans before had worn strange masks over their mouths to breathe because of how the air was toxic for them, she quickly looked for one and caught sight of such a mask hanging from the wall on her right. He had needed this.

Taking the mask clumsily into her generally graceful hands, Neytiri placed it against his face, willing him to be able to breathe. For a long excruciating moment, she waited for any kind of response, but there was none. He was still limp in her arms, and her heart was already beginning to shrivel at the thought that she had lost him.

Suddenly, she felt movement from him, and suddenly, the human came to life, gasping for air. He coughed as he reached up with his hands and fastened the mask on tighter and also ensuring that it was working. He was then taking large breaths that his body had desperately needed while Neytiri watched with relief and delight.

After he had managed to control his breaths, the human Jake looked up into the one who was holding him. His human eyes took her in, and she could read from his face that he was somewhat awed at her image above him. A small part of her felt a foreign feeling of inadequacy filling her as the thoughts of how small he was entered her mind, but that vanished immediately when she felt him reach up and place his human hand against her cheek. No, she thought, this is Jake. He is still the one that I love.

"I see you," he whispered softly as his eyes stared into hers.

The tears that had been threatening to fall at the thought of losing him, suddenly fell, though now, they were merely tears of joy and relief.

"I see you," she whispered back.

And she did see him. Now, there really was nothing that she truly didn't see about him. She saw him in his true from, and she knew what he was in his Dreamwalker form. She truly could see inside his soul in this form still, and she could see that he loved her just as much as she loved him. There was nothing that could ever separate them again because she could truly see her Jake in any other form he could or would take. He was her heart and her soul, just as she was his, and nothing could ever change that. She, more than ever, could say those three words and truly mean it.

I See You.