Anything I'd said before about having written one of the longest chapters of my career? Yeah this takes the cake. I am having some of the worst ADD of my life when it comes to my writing... a little here, a little there...Its all over the place...Also, I'm hoping to post the whole story first, then I will probably end up going back adding more detail then re-posting. I don't normally do that, but with this there was so much detail that I did not know where to go with it just yet. Think of this as a rough draft. I added on of my own OC's in, she is based off of my best friend Danni, almost to a T. I didn't know if Jake was supposed to have a background, or if the future was just that important that the past was just brushed off, but there are a lot of references to a past that you may not really actually know. I made it up. Also, I will clarify about my OC's name. It is pronounced ME-LAH. I know it looks like it would be My-lah, but its not. Just to clarify something. I read way too much fanfiction, because I recently re-read on of my all time favorite stories, Eywa's Daughter, and that is what sparked my interest in writing a Pandora fic for myself. The name of the story is Pandora's Life, in Na'vi. Okie, enough ranting here haha.
DISCLAIMER: I do not own any of the original characters for this story. Milah, Jake's background, and Kari are the only things I own. THANK YOU!
"Jake Sully, and Milah Andrew?" A deep voice called for behind us. I turned to my left, avoiding the shot glass on the bar top, using my good eye to see who was speaking.
"Yeah? Who wants to know?" I asked, adding a little bite to my remark.
"Shush Mi," Jake looks at me with a scowl, "yeah that's us." The men, as I noticed a moment after, were wearing black suits and had wore glasses over their eyes.
"It's about your siblings." I glanced at Jake and shrugged, standing to meet the men. I was small for my ripe age of 23, but that doesn't mean I couldn't kick your ass. I was a trained marine, and I still would be if not for a piece of shrapnel that lodged itself in my eye. Jake was in a similar situation, except he was paralyzed from the waist down. We followed the men out to their car, I got in first and grabbed the wheel chair from Jake so he could get in completely. I was the only person allowed to help Jake because he and I were friends since childhood. Our twins, coincidentally both of us were the younger twin of the pair, worked together as scientists on this project for a planet out in space called Pandora. Conditions on Earth were poor, and so research teams were sent out to find a planet that would be suitable for us, or even resources from this planet that could help. Kari was one of the brilliant head researchers, along with Tommy.
"Where are we going." I demanded, taking the question out of the statement. I wanted to know and I wasn't going to be ignored.
"The morgue." Was all I got in response. The hours that followed all became a blur. I remember walking in, seeing my sisters bruised and bloodied body, and seeing Jakes brothers body as well, and then everything faded from memory. The only words I'd picked up from the conversation that apparently I'd had, were, rape, shot, stabbed, killed, money, potential information. She was murdered in cold blood. Both of them were. I ended up leaving Jake there apparently, he could fend for himself, and ended up back at the bar that we'd started at, plastered and ultimately even more miserable than I had been. The next day they showed up. The other researchers. They told me they needed someone with Kari's blood, and I was the only person who could take her place. She was supposed to lead a peace operation, show the Navi people that we were only there for resources not to take over. Kari had studied their language, not me. Kari knew about the plant life, not me. I was the jarhead who was being thrown into her place.
"Your comrade Jake Sully will be taking his brother's place. You will not be alone." They reassured me. Or, at least they tried to. Not too long after I was shipped off into space in a coffin-like locker, stuck in cryo-sleep for 6 years. My pod slid open, and I looked to my right and left. Two people, Jake and some other man, were sliding out of their pods as well. I made a disgusted face as I realized I desperately needed a breath mint. That feeling you get when you first wake up in the morning, and you can taste that nasty taste, and your breath smells like shit? It's even worse after six years. My hair grew as well. It was just below my chin, which was regulation, before leaving, and now it was down to my ass. 6 years it had been growing and it needed to be brushed. Rather than fuss with it too much, I French braided it down my back and went into my station locker. There I found most of Kari's things, or at least things she would have had. I sighed and changed from the gown they had me sleep in. One of the ships guys called out the obvious.
"You've been in cryo for 5 years, nine months, and 22 days. You will be hungry. You will be weak. And if you feel nauseous please tell one of us." I sighed and floated back from the door of my locker, slamming it shut as best as I could in zero-g. I finally got a view of the hell I'd be living in, and couldn't help but notice it looked like Earth, only living. It was at this time that I remembered what those morons from the research team said to me. Step into her shoes, fresh start.
"Fresh start my ass." I muttered as I sat down in my bench. My pack on my lap, my mask on, and my belt strapped down, I was prepared for landing. Jake was strapped to the wall next to me, otherwise he was in the same position.
"Packs on, let's go, packs on! Remember, you lose that mask you lose consciousness in 40 seconds, and dead in four minutes. Let's have no body be dead today, looks very bad on my report." The man in charge shouted, double checking that everyone was in position. Soon the huge ship landed, and further instructions were given. I held back with Jake, making sure that everything was in order, without touching him. He didn't like people fussing over him, I could understand why, I hate it too. So I'm blind in one eye, whoopdy fuckin' do.
"Go, go, go, get out of here." Was called from the air lock door. I jogged towards the door, making sure that Jake was keeping a good pace behind me, and we made it outside to the new world. A line of men was standing to the side of the path we were running, checking out the newbies.
"Hello ladies! Check out all this fresh meat!" All the guys here are guns for hire.
"Hey check this out. Meals on wheels."
"Aw man, that is just all sorts of wrong." Then he saw me.
"You honey are wrong in all the right ways. How about you swing by my bunk at say…0700 hours?" One of the muscle-heads called to me. I grit my teeth and tried to keep running, hoping to make it inside to where the briefing was. I had no such luck as the guys stepped in front of me.
"Alright asshole, you want to dance? Let's fucking dance." I growled, jumping up at him for a knee to the stomach, simultaneously grabbing his neck to bring his head down. Thinking before I hit, I stopped my knee just before it smacked his mask. There was an audible sigh of relief from the man, and I dropped my hold on him. As I walked away I leapt up and threw a kick at the back of his head. He dropped to the ground fast.
"Anyone else want to dance?" I asked, a mad grin on my face. It had been a while since I'd seen action and I forgot how exhilarating it was. As we were stopped a huge machine went rolling past, the wheels dotted with arrows the size of my leg. Finally we made it inside, not missing anything.
"You're not in Kansas anymore. You're on Pandora, ladies and gentlemen. Respect that fact, every second of everyday. If there is a hell, you might want to go there for some R&R, after a tour on Pandora. Out there beyond that fence, every living thing that crawls, flies, or squats in the mud wants to kill you and eat your eyes for jujubes. We have an indigenous population of humanoids called the Na'vi. They're fond of arrows dipped in a neurotoxin that will stop your heart in one minute. They have bones that are made of naturally occurring carbon fiber. They are very hard to kill. As head of security, it is my job to keep you alive. I will not succeed. Not with all of you. If you wish to survive, you need to cultivate a strong mental attitude. You've got to obey the rules. Pandora rules." It was around this time that I started to ignore Scar face. I never really caught his name so that's what I've taken to calling him in my head. Scar face. He had a lot to say, and it was nothing like those old military debriefings to put one's mind at rest. I'm sure that's what Jake was thinking too. There was one last instruction, but that didn't apply to Jake and I, so we left after being dismissed and began wandering the halls looking for our station, which was the research lab.
"Jake! Milah! Hey that's you two right?" A tall gangly man called from behind us in the hallway.
"It's, MEE-Lah, not MY-Lah." I corrected him monotonously, most people got that wrong, it's not a normal name.
"Sorry, I will remember that. But it is you guys? The younger twins to Kari Andrew and Tom Sully? Wow…You look just like them." He paused then seemed to cringe.
"Sorry, I'm Norm Spellman. I went through Avatar Training with them." Jake and I shook hands with him, Norm looking at my eye and asking if I was completely blind on my right or if I could see shapes and movements. I didn't normally get the in depth question. I normally only got "are you really blind?" I actually had some vision, only enough to detect movements.
"So… The bio-lab. We're gonna spend a lot of time up here." Norm then went and introduced himself to everyone he passed, announcing that he was an Avatar driver as well. He also pointed out the link room, where we would be linked to our Avatars. I didn't see what the big deal was about these "Avatars". I mean, hell I knew it could help Earth, but why did we have to transfer into a different body, when we could just go in without weapons of any kind, and show that we were a peaceful people? It was complete bullshit, but what would they know? I followed Jake as he wheeled off, ignoring Norm completely. There were three large tanks in the middle of the room, surrounded by people. They had a faint blue glow to them. From what I knew, remote controlled, our minds their body, we would be there as protection, rather than as field scientists, because we had no knowledge whatsoever.
"Hey welcome. Welcome to Pandora. Good to have you. I'm Max" One of the men shook our hands and introduced himself.
"Damn, they got big." Jake said with a surprised gust of air.
"Yeah. They fully matured on the flight out." Norm agreed, looking into his tank. I looked between the two of them, and realized they looked just like their owners. Jakes was muscular, with hard features and chiseled looks. Norms was thin and tall like he was, with a plain face. Both had long black hair that was tied back into a braid that went down to their waists. I glanced around and saw mine. She was taller than I thought she would be. Her blue skin accented beautifully with lighter blue stripes, almost like tiger fur. There were silver dots that were all over her body, in a swirling pattern like a design. Her arms were crossed over her chest, and her legs bunched up under her. Her hair hung very long, past her waist, and there was a braid that ran even longer. I only heard parts of what the men in the room were saying, I was too mesmerized by her.
"You can take them out tomorrow." The same man that had welcomed us smiled. We were soon ushered out of the scientists way and into our own area of the lab, where we were instructed to take video logs of what happens. I started by complaining about the ride, then the debriefing, talking about how the link works, and how I would feel what she feels, and see what she sees. Excitement bubbled up inside me when I realized I would have full use of both of my eyes again. Jake was still talking to his camera, having a hard time finding things to say. I had finished long ago, sitting in my rolling chair backwards watching him struggle. I felt the nerves in my right eye begin to spasm and the pain erupted again. I placed my forehead down onto the back of my chair and hissed loudly. I hadn't intended to draw the attention of the people around me, but that's what happened as a few of the scientists nearby came jogging over with flashlights and small metal probes.
"How much light are you able to see from this eye? Please close your other one and tell me." One man said, while a woman had two probes holding my eye lids open, keeping me from blinking.
"Virtually none. I can tell you're putting a fucking flashlight in my face, but otherwise it looks like an extremely faint white mist on a completely black background. Happy? Now could you please let go of my eye before I punch one of you?" I growled pulling away from both of them. They grumbled unhappily, and walked away. I sighed and put my head in my hands. The pain wasn't actually physical. It was psychosomatic, and it was apparently caused by my PTSD. I didn't have PTSD. I was in the hospital when my injury happened, and it had nothing to do with actual battle. Jake put his hand on my back and stroked it awkwardly. I knew he was there for me, he was my brother that I never had. I was there for him too. Hell if I hadn't been around he'd have lost his head. He couldn't manage to remember to pay rent, let alone take care of himself.
"I'm fine. It's all in my head remember?" I smiled at him and he smiled back with a laugh playing at his lips. We were then led into the link room. There was a woman with red hair just climbing out of a machine.
"Who's got my god damn cigarette? Guys! What's wrong with this picture?" She asked, obviously in a bad mood. I stood behind Jake, who was next to Norm.
"Grace Augustine is a legend. She's the head of the Avatar Program. She wrote the book. I mean literally wrote the book on Pandora." Norm rambled, seemingly entranced with this woman.
"Well that's cause she likes plants better than people. Here she is, Cinderella back from the ball. Grace, I'd like you to meet Norm Spellman, Jake Sully, and Mi-oh pardon-Milah Andrew." He introduced, correcting himself on my name. I watched as Grace turned around and stared at us, taking a drag on her cigarette.
"Norm, I hear good things about you. How's your Na'vi?" She asked him removing her glasses. (A/N: Its really hard to get a feel for what they are saying in that language, and please forgive me if I fuck everything up. When it comes to them talking in the language, I will italicize it so there is a difference…but otherwise please be ready for some serious fuck ups. PLEASE FORGIVE ME IF I MESS UP!) Both people started to converse in this foreign language, and I could understand none of it. I could tell Jake was having a difficult time as well.
"Grace. This is Jake Sully and Milah Andrew." Max introduced. Jake put his hand out to shake hers but she only glared at him.
"Yeah, yeah. I know who you two are. And I don't need either of you. I need your siblings. You know, the Ph. D's who trained for three years for this mission?" She said looking between us without a shred of care.
"Their dead. I know it's a big inconvenience for everyone." Jake snapped back, trying to control his attitude.
"How much Lab training have you had?" She asked us.
"I dissected a frog once." Jake responded, straight faced.
"I dissected a cadaver in college. I was going to be a doctor before my sister over shadowed me and went on with her Ph. D. Turned out the marines had more use for a medic than anyone else did when I had a sister who was a fucking genius." I growled. I loved my sister, don't get me wrong. I just held some animosity for the day she came forward and told my parents that. That was the day they cast me and my education aside in order to help her further hers. They took everything that they had left from my college fund and put it into hers. I was devastated and angry. I ran away. Abandoned college and my family and joined the marines. Who would have thought that the time that I served there, I would be helping in saving Jakes life? I knew enough about surgery to become the head surgeon in the army hospital. I'd seen it all, the top halves of bodies, the lower halves of bodies. Amputations, open heart. Everything. Then Jake was rushed in. I stood to the side for the first half of it, astonished to see him there, unable to use his legs. I ended up slapping my cheeks and waking myself up before it was over and helped with the hardest part, removing the bullet that had nearly killed him. When he woke up, it should have been a joyous reunion between us, but it wasn't. An rpg exploded outside the window of the hospital, right by us. I used my body to shield his, but not before receiving shrapnel in my eye. I was lucky it didn't bury itself and further, or I'd be dead. We were both transferred to another hospital, and from then on I'd been unable to perform, because of my lack of eyesight.
"You see, you see? I mean they are just pissing on us without even the courtesy of calling it rain. I'm going to Selfridge." She turned and stalked away.
"This is complete bullshit. I'm gonna kick his corporate butt. He has no business sticking his nose in my department." And she was gone.
"Here tomorrow, 0800, try to use big words." Was all the instructions Max gave us. I'd been led to my bunk not much later. That night I didn't dream of anything. Just blackness. Come that morning, I was up bright and early, showered, hair brushed and braided once again, and prepared for my first day.
"So, how much link time have you logged?" Grace asked Norm, who was dressed in simple greenish grey clothing.
"About 520 hours." He responded.
"That's good." She nodded showing him to the first link pod. She showed Jake to his then me to mine.
"How much have you logged?" She asked us.
"Zip." Jake said.
"I didn't know we needed to." I muttered.
"We read a manual." He continued poking the green gelatinous mass that was part of the pod. Norm hopped in his, I got into mine, thanking the women who helped me in and placed the wires down.
"Don't. I got this." Jake said, when Grace tried to help him bring his legs into the bed. She sighed throwing her hands up.
"So I guess you just figured I'd come out here, to the most hostile environment known to man, with no training of any kind, and see how it went? What's going through your heads?" She asked us both.
"Maybe I was sick of doctors telling me what I couldn't do." Jake said simply looking at her.
"I have nothing better to do with my life. No one will take a half-blind marine medic who dropped out of college." I responded with a shrug. Grace looked at me with slight pity.
"I have some use for you. Alright, head down, relax and let your mind go blank. Shouldn't be hard for either of you." She smiled and closed the lid to Jakes pod, then mine closed soon after. There was a faint glow in the pod, and I could hear clicks beeps and voices from outside. My eyes suddenly closed without my telling them to, and I felt a sharp jolt from my body. I felt like air, no heavy weight holding me down. I was moving at a fast speed. Soon I was opening my eyes again, this time, I was using both of them. Faint voices started to fade in, and I could see people hovering over me, calling my name. I groaned lightly, my voice sounding the same as it did before. Flashlights were put into my eyes and I saw the light with my right one as well as my left. I grinned widely when I realized I could see other things with it as well, the light beyond the people, the people themselves, and what they looked like and what they were wearing. They were checking my reflexes and vitals. They snapped in my ears and finally asked how I was doing.
"I feel great. Better than great this is awesome!" I smiled even wider and sat up quickly, feeling the tugging of the medical leads attached to me. They were talking to me again but I chose to ignore them. My hair was under my butt when I sat up so I stood to allow it to fall free, just around the bottom of my blue ass. I was in complete control of my body, no matter what they believed. I could feel, see, and hear everything. Jake was doing the same, except he was using his legs again. Both of us looked at each other, grins donning our faces. We pulled the leads off of our bodies, which were barely covered by the gowns we were in, and went to the door, throwing it open and leaving. Norm was somewhere behind us, telling us we weren't allowed to leave yet. I closed my left eye to allow myself to become acclimated to the light, and then looked around me. Other Avatars were running an obstacle course, or playing basketball. I smiled and took off running towards the obstacle course, leaping over tall wooden logs and climbing the walls. My muscles felt great, not worn out or weak like I thought they would be. For Jake it was another story. He was still getting used to having the use of his legs again, and his progress across the training field was slower. He soon regained his confidence and was running alongside me.
"Damn Milah! You look hot!" Jake called grinning. I punched his shoulder and pushed myself to run faster than before. The wind fluttering through my long hair felt great. It was amazing. And nearly impossible to put into words. Norm struggled to catch up to us, calling our names as we kept running. Jake ran in front of me and came to a sudden stop, kicking dirt up in front of him as he did. I ran into him, almost plowing him over, but not completely. He steadied me before focusing on someone who was jogging out of a large building not far from us.
"Grace?" He called, a smile playing on his face. I rolled my eyes and laughed. Of course it was Grace, it was her voice as well as her face.
"Well who'd you expect, numb nuts?" She asked sarcastically. I let a giggle out before looking at Jake. He gave me an accusing look and I shrugged.
"Think fast." She said, tossing a fruit at both of us. We both caught it and looked at her.
"Motor control looks good." Grace smiled. I took a bite out of my alien fruit. It was sweet and juicy, tasting like a combination of a ripe blueberry and a pomegranate. It was an amazing taste that I never had before. Jake did the same making a content noise. Grace then took us into the building, which turned out to be almost like a cabin, it had bunks, a kitchen, a changing area and a ton of clothing. I went to the bunk that she had given me and saw that clothes had been set out in advance for me. I put them on and marveled at how well I fit in them. That night I lay down in my bunk, having braided all of my hair together into one big braid in order to be able to sleep better, and I pulled it in front of me, watching the tiny tendrils move as if they were swaying. It was freaky. Closing my eyes I heard Grace call lights out. I glanced at Jake one more time, then closed my eyes completely. Another jolt ran through my body, and I was looking back at the inside of the pod. My eye sight was poor once again and I let a frustrated sigh out. I opened my pod and sat up, checking my motor movements and everything else before I found out at some odd time that I couldn't use my left hand or something like that. Jake was hauling himself out of the pod and placing his legs on the foot holds and I walked over.
"Kinda wish that hadn't ended." I muttered to him.
"Yeah, but if we stay in those bodies too long you would lose the ability to use your own body. Remember what the manual said." He pat my arm. As we were leaving one of the women who work with the fighter planes pulled Jake aside and started talking to him. I just went to dinner. Sitting with Norm, I realized that he was a gamer back home. He played all the older games, like Mario, and Zelda. As much as I hated to admit it, I was a gamer back home too. I liked the games that had you think and solve the problems. I was a big strategist, and I could beat anyone at chess. Norm challenged me to a match, saying he kept a pocket chess board on him at any time. I called game on and we had a match. He was a tough opponent, even I would admit, but he still lost to me in the end.
"How are you such a good player? You're movements are crude and you sometimes had to ask what each of the pieces could do, but you still beat me? How in the world?" He asked astonished. I shrugged.
"I'd planned out about 20 different ways to win before we started, but I couldn't remember what the pieces were able to do. It happens every time I play." I glanced around and Grace was watching me closely, she seemed to be analyzing me. Norm walked me back to my room, being a nice guy and all, and as we walked we talked about our pasts, and where we came from. He was from the city of Chicago, and studied at a college called North Western. I went to NYU. While Kari and Tommy were at Stanford. I was one of the biggest class clowns in high school, being the younger sister to a genius I had to make my presence known. I had all the intricate pranks that no one ever caught me for. We ended up talking late into the night, when Jake finally showed up again. He looked extremely happy.
"What's up?" I asked him when Norm had said goodnight.
"I was asked to be a gunman on one of the fighter planes. And the Colonel wants me to scout out the people, see if I can get their trust and all that. He told me if I did good he would help me get my legs back!" He said. It hit Jake the hardest when we found out we could no longer serve. He was a paraplegic now and he hated knowing that there was nothing he could do.
"Are you sure that's a good idea? We don't even know what these people are like." I commented, walking into the small bathroom I had attached to my room. He sat to one side, making sure he was giving me my privacy.
"Are you going soft on me? We are here as the protection of the scientists. Not so we can join the people." He scoffed at me.
"Going soft on you? Since when have you been so hard headed that you can't even give these people a chance? If this is how you are acting now just wait until they put a gun in your hand." I muttered. I disliked using guns. My preference was a dagger or something sharp like that. When I was in training I used a compound bow, one with all of the wheels and attachments so it would fly like a bullet but was a lot less noise than one. It had half the range of a sniper rifle, but that was shooting it straight. I wasn't in much combat anyway, so if I was shooting it, it was for practice purposes only. After changing I showed him outside the room and went to sleep. Tomorrow we were going out into the forest to collect samples from the trees, and while I wasn't going to be participating in the sample collection I was going to be outside in the world once again. Next morning I was ready for my link. My Avatar was dressed for a hike, and they promised to have a bow ready for me.
"Just let Norm do the talking." Grace told Jake. She'd already talked to me, saying I was to make sure nothing went wrong and that I was the medic of the group. I was happy to be able to get back into the swing of medicine in the field, while it was sad when something went wrong, it was exhilarating as well. My link pod was closing, and soon my eyes were opening in my Avatar. The ability to see was just as amazing as it had been before. We were ushered into a plane, the same one as the girl who pulled Jake aside yesterday, her name was Trudy. The water, the plants, everything was even more amazing than the most beautiful sight on Earth was. Jake was where he said he was, at a door gun. I sat next to Norm, he was teaching me some of their language. It was difficult to learn at first but after a while I could repeat the words back to him. The men in the plane were listening to us with skeptical looks. I watched as Grace nodded approvingly to my learning. I was apparently learning the formal version but still I was learning. By the time we landed I had a formal introduction in the bag, and I could tell them I did not know much of their language. I followed jakes example as he left the plane and began scouting the area. It was heavily forested, just like Venezuela was, yet everything here was twice as big. Grace called to cut the engine and she and Norm stepped off.
"Stay with the ship! One idiot with a gun is enough." She called to the guy who jumped off. She either ignored his comment of didn't hear it because she continued into the bush. The sounds of the forest were like none I'd ever heard. Animals I'd never seen before were scurrying between trees. I had my bow in hand but did not have the arrows nocked, hoping I wouldn't need to use any. Grace had to calm Jake down because he nearly shot a monkey with four arms when it stopped to grab fruit. It stared at me carefully, seemingly analyzing my every move. Norm was staring at it with great interest. He acted as though he'd never seen one before, although I knew he had. It nodded to me and left without another sound. Grace looked at me in surprise. I couldn't help but wonder what it meant either.
"So…how will they know we're here?" Norm asked, looking nervously into the tree's above us. The trek had taken us away from the ship, but I still knew where it was, almost as if I could feel its location.
"I'm sure they're watching us right now." Grace shrugged, not turning to look at him. Finally we reached a place where we were going to take samples. Jake wandered off, and after receiving permission, I followed him to make sure he didn't do anything stupid. We came into a field with big spiraling plants, and when Jake went reaching for one, it shrunk into the ground. He laughed and kept moving them until a chain reaction occurred and the rest of them shrunk, revealing an elephant like creature.
"Jake! Don't move. Don't do anything, just stand your ground." I warned him. I didn't know why but I knew that this animal wasn't going to attack unless it was threatened, and although Jake was there, he had frightened it, not threatened it.
"How do you know that?" He asked. I shrugged. It felt right. Jakes only move was to point his gun towards the animal. That was the wrong move. The threat changed to a territorial challenge. Grace and Norm came running over, after hearing the loud trumpeting cries of the creature and the large bone structure on its head impacting with trees and plants around it.
"Don't shoot! Don't shoot, you'll piss him off." Grace called through the communicators we had. Jake didn't need my help in figuring out he was already mad.
"It's already pissed off!" He spoke back anyway, with a nervous laugh.
"Jake, that armor's too thick. Trust me." She talked him down. Jake pulled back the gun reluctantly, and started to stare down the 6-legged elephant thing. I glanced at it, he looked at me and with a slight shake of its head turned back to Jake.
"It's a territorial threat display, do not run, or he'll charge." Grace stated.
"So what do I do, dance with it?" Jake asked, looking even more panicky than before.
"How do we keep him from charging us?" I asked, hopeful that she had a more logical answer than a staring contest.
"Just…hold your ground." Grace replied simply, which caused me to want to face palm, but the movement might have startled the animal even more, so I refrained. Norm peered around the tree he was hiding behind, obviously trying to get a better view of the creature, while at the same time, avoiding its view so he didn't become a threat as well. The large animal, which I have yet to know the name of but I will call him Big Nose, stomped its feet more and brushed dirt and plants behind it in large powerful sweeps. In a sudden burst, it came charging at us. I took a step back, unsure of what I should do but I nocked an arrow, intending to put it in its eye. Jake took the initiative and charged back at the creature shouting as he did, raising his gun high. The flaps on the animals big head rose up one more time before flattening down as it stopped and actually stepped back. Jake laughed nervously again. I was hard pressed not to run back to the plane and tell her to high tail it out of there, but I couldn't, and I wasn't going to be a pussy about this mission, it should be simple.
"Yeah, come on! What you got?!" He yelled at it, seemingly talking it back, until I felt the presence of another creature creeping up on us. It was hungry.
"Jake…" I called, but he was too busy focusing on his success. Men…I thought. A large black shape went blazing over us and landed in front. It hissed at the elephant things then turned its back on them.
"What about this one? Run, don't run?" He asked, gun raised once again in front of him.
"RUN! DEFINITELY RUN!" Grace yelled. Jake grabbed my wrist and dragged me through the forest after him, jumping roots and fallen branches as we went. The black creature hissed and growled charging at us without hesitation. It crushed everything in its path, jumping over trees that were slanted and using them to propel itself forward even farther. Jake tripped and used his hands to run just to keep from being over taken, and we reached a tree that's roots were growing above ground, giving a small sheltered area. I dove in first, using the arrow I'd already nocked and fired it at the creature. It dug into its hid right behind the shoulder blade, which is where I intended it to go, but the hide on the animal was obviously thick if the arrow didn't slow it down at all. Jake opened fire but that did nothing as well. Just as it tore through the roots, we were off again, running as hard as we could. Jake was slightly slower, and his pack was grabbed in the creatures giant maw. It shook him hard until he unbuckled himself and darted after me once more. The gun had been long gone by then and the closest thing we had to weapons that might work were the daggers we had at our waists, but those were too much of a risk to use. We came to the edge of a cliff overlooking a waterfall, and there was no hesitation from either of us. We both leapt off of that cliff with as hard of a push as we could manage. I slung the bowstring around my shoulders as we fell, making sure we had some sort of weapon. The plunge took us straight to the pool below which swept us both under and away, down a raging river. Jake grabbed a branch hanging over the water and grabbed my hand hauling me out after him. Our clothes sopping wet, we found a place to lay low after trekking through the woods for hours. I kept an arrow nocked, never knowing what might come out to play in the shadows, and Jake began sharpening a stick to use as a spear, having lost his gun. We looked around nervously, every noise making us jump even more than the last one had. Light was starting to fade, and we were walking once again, afraid of what might happen if we kept in one place. Our communicators were shit now that we'd gotten them wet, so we ditched those immediately, and I had been wearing two layers, one had come off and the other I tore in half when Jake wasn't paying attention and put back on. The less wet clothing I had, the better I could move. As we walked Jake took the front and I took the back, making sure that I could try and sense what was around us. That being said, I could sense everything around us, the trees, the animals, the smaller plants, and the woman who was in the tree above us. I wasn't concerned about her because I didn't feel any animosity. All I felt were her eyes, watching, calculating calmly. There was a spike of killing intent, or that's what I thought to call it, but it faded almost as fast as it came. I looked around in the trees, hoping to see if I could actually find the woman I'd felt, but there was no sign of her, and nor did she make noise. Night fell fast and we could hear the sounds of cackling around us, it was as if a bunch of children were chasing after us, laughing at every stumble, and watching from the shadows. I could sense that they were only really looking to play (A/N: I changed that slightly, making the viperwolves not nearly as evil as they were in the movie), but when Jake stumbled into the nest of a mother and her pups, they went on the defense over their litter, and attacked. Jake did what he could with his spear, killing when he could. I only un-nocked the arrows, and used the bow itself, not wanting to kill the mother of the poor things.
"Jake! Let them live! They are a family and they don't deserve to die! We came onto their land, we intruded in their home, and we threatened their babies! Please! Stop killing them!" I yelled, wanting him to stop. Everything around me seemed to slow down as every creature in the area stopped as well. Jake looked at me, then looked around him as if realizing what he'd been doing for the first time. There were three bodies on the ground, none of them were the mother. I let a sigh leave my lips. Ever since we'd lost our families, I'd wanted to help everyone else preserve what they didn't realize is so easy to lose. Death is not something that can be overcome. There is no cheating death. There was a growl from behind me, and I realized slightly too late that in my moment of lost concentration, I'd failed to notice that not all of the smaller, yet still deadly looking, animals had stopped when I shouted. Jake threw himself in the way of the creature, shielding me from its probably painful bites. Out of the blue an arrow that I had not strung, struck the animal and killed it swiftly. Out dropped a Na'vi woman. The one that had followed us. She used her bow to bat away at some of the creatures and when the whole ordeal was done, many of them ran away, rather than be killed. She looked around sadly. It had pained her to see them die. There was a painful whine from one of the dog-like creatures. It was still alive. I went darting over to it, and began looking over it for its wounds. It was hesitant to allow me to touch it first, but when I spoke to it with soft and gentle words, and a sweet tone, it quietly put its head down again and allowed me to get to work. I used what I could to sew the wound shut, making sure it was tight enough to hold yet loose enough to not over stretch the skin. I then put a bandage on it and made sure that it was secure.
"There you are little one. Heal fast and be free." I smiled gently. The Na'vi woman just watched in interest as I placed my supplies back onto my belt where I'd taken them from.
"You help. Though you do not see you help?" The woman asked, with seemingly broken English.
"My old job was to help. I worked with medicine." I explained, smiling sadly. The woman nodded. Then Jake did the stupid thing.
"Hey, I just wanted to say thank you. You really saved us back there." He said walking over to her. She had bent over one of the animals and was speaking what sounded like a prayer. Jake squat down next to her and thanked her one more time before she rounded on him, slapping him across the face with her bow.
"Don't thank. You don't thank for this. This is sad. Very sad only." She glared at him. I shook my head and put my hands on my neck. I wanted to avoid using my arrows as much as I wanted to preserve their family. Jake always charged in full speed ahead without much regard as to where he was going.
"Alright, I'm sorry. For whatever I did I am sorry." He apologized, picking himself up from the fluorescent forest floor. That was a detail I'd missed before. The forest glowed with brilliant fluorescents. The woman looked back at him.
"All this is your fault. They did not need to die. If not for your friend, more death would follow." She gestured at me. I shrank away from the sudden attention, even if it were two people, I didn't like to be stared at.
"What, my fault? They attacked me, how is this my fault?" Jake snapped back, but she continued.
"Your fault!" Pointing her bow at him again. He threw his hands up.
"Your fault." She said again. Jake slapped her bow tip away from his face.
"You're like a baby. Making noise, don't know what to do." She accused him. He stood up.
"Fine, if you love your little forest friends. Why not let them kill our asses? Huh? What's the thinking?" He asked her, dragging me into their argument all over again.
"Why save you?" She asked him, he nodded. She seemed to debate over the answer for a moment.
"You have a strong heart. No fear…but stupid! Ignorant like a child!" She stated, then turned and darted away. Jake smiled looking at me. I sighed and followed her, knowing that's what he wanted me to do.
"If we are like children, then teach us. We want to learn to see." I said, remembering her seeing statement. Norm's words came back into my mind at that time.
Flashback
"If you should meet one of the Na'vi when Grace or I aren't there, use this phrase. 'I am Milah, this is Jake, we do not wish any harm, we wish to learn, please instruct us.'" I glanced at him after he explained to me what that meant.
"What if we fucked up and something had already happened?" I asked.
"Well, then you would say 'We did not wish any harm.' Rather than saying we don't want to, saying that we didn't want to." I nodded.
"What if I need to tell them that I don't actually know their language?" Norm laughed.
"You have all the right questions. Then you should say 'I am unable to speak your language, I am only capable of a small amount. Do you speak English?' It's fairly simple once you understand." After that we spent hours just working on the words, until I could speak them easily.
Flashback End
This was as good a time as any to try out my new words so I cleared my throat, cutting through Jake's small argument with her.
"I am Milah. This is Jake. We did not wish any harm. We wish to learn please instruct us. I am unable to speak your language, I am only capable of a small amount." I didn't need to ask if she spoke any English, it was obvious that she did, but I felt that if I appealed to her using her own language she may open up more.
"No one can teach you to see." She shook her head, not turning to look at us, but continuing onto a branch that had nothing around it. One large branch over a completely open area.
"Did you learn English from Dr. Augustine's school?" Jake asked as we neared the other side. Just as he stopped he nearly fell off the side of the branch. I helped keep him balanced while she helped as well.
"Like a baby." She then muttered something in her language, and shook her head.
"We need your help." Jake said, looking straight at her.
"You should not be here. Nor should you." She put her hand up.
"Ok, please take us with you." I begged.
"No. Go back." She snapped turning her back on us. We both pursued her anyway, and she told us to go back once more, before glancing above us. We both looked up, and small floating seed-like creatures came down around us. They landed on us and first Jake started brushing them off, but I left them on, they made me feel complete, like I'd been missing something.
"What are they?" I asked, realizing they were trying to heal us.
"Seeds from the sacred tree. Very pure spirits." She smiled gently. A moment later, as if a breeze blew them away, they were gone.
"What was that about?" Jake asked. She muttered something again then told us to follow. We ran after her unsure of what was going to happen. I relied on my senses if I couldn't see her, while Jake fumbled around as if a baby in the dark, just as she'd said. At one point Jake got caught up in making some of the plants glow and she had to stop.
"Come." She snapped to get his attention, then began to move again.
"What's your name?" Jake asked. Just after two objects came flying out of seemingly nowhere, but I knew who threw them. A group of men, presumably hunters, were up ahead riding what looked like horses. One of the objects, being rocks tied to the ends of ropes, tied themselves around my ankles and brought me down, rolling off of the logs we'd been running on, and down to the ground with a hard thump to my head as it hit a rock. The world swam around me, colors blended and lights faded in and out as if I was watching everything in slow motion. Jake managed to free himself, and was about to fight when other hunters appeared. I would have stood to help but my head was still swimming, and I couldn't move if I wanted to. Just as I thought we were out of the embers they threw us in the fire. My eyes slowly closed, as my consciousness faded.
ANDDD FINITO! I finished at 1:50 in the morning oh man I'm getting rusty. If I get reviews I like to respond to them by sending a note via PM to the reviewer, and answering their reviews at the ends of the chapters! So please! If you like to get responses I make a point to! REVIEW! Nothing negative, please and thank you! And now, on to sleep!