The light that sputtered in between dark, solid clouds in the sky tinted with purple and blue seemed as dank and heavy as the pain in Jake Sully's heart as he wheeled himself away from the machine where his human body had spent the last twelve hours. Although in his human body, he still felt the pulse of his Avatar, the irresistible pull back to the iridescent world of Pandora. He wanted to go back to his village, where Neytiri was sleeping peacefully in anticipation of his Omaticaya "bar mitzvah" of some sort. Before landing on the military base 2 months ago, he had had no reason to live, no one to live for. The look in Neytiri's eyes as they navigated through the Na'vi world together was all that he had to go on. As time passed, he found himself struggling to pull away from the Omaticaya, finding it hard to justify staying in the lab with Grace and Norm when everything he had come to love was still here. Norm approached Jake, not noticing that he was off in his own little world. "Jake? About time to do a video log, you think? Grace is getting a little nervous, you aren't documenting any of your progress." He said hesitantly, placing a hand on Jake's shoulder. "Grace is a scientist. She documents everything." Norm's voice was tinged with frustration. "That's what we're here to do, Jake! To document, and learn, and progress. And that's why we sent you in. You spend all your time in there, don't eat, don't sleep. No video logs. Not even a diary. What the hell is going on in there you don't want us to know about?" Grace walked into the lab at that moment, recalibrating a few machines as she walked up behind the men. She slowed to a crawl and stopped, leaning against a machine and smoking her cigarette while she listened to them converse. "Norm, I'm fine. I hate video logs, I feel weird talking to no one into a stupid little camera. That's all. Pandora is fascinating. I love it, I love the people, it's crazy. I'm in love, that's all." Jake smirked, knowing at least his last sentence had been the truth. Norm looked at him uneasily. "We're just worried about you, Jake. Grace-" "Grace what?" She moved from her stance at the machine and positioned herself between the two men. "I was mentioning to Grace that you were concerned. I just thought maybe I could-" Grace ashed her cigarette, took a drag, and tilted her head, looking at Norm with an oddly introspective look on her face. "Norm, I need a moment with Jake. Alone, if you would do me the honor." Her sarcasm was palpable, and Jake winced at Norm's hurt expression. He grabbed the Na'vi book off the shelf behind Jake and shuffled away to re-read the chapters with Trudy. Things were going well for them.
Grace sighed and took a seat next to Jake. "You haven't eaten in days. Slept properly. Showered. Not even moved from that damned machine." Jake scowled. "Don't nag me about the video logs. I will lose my shit." Grace chuckled at the expression, a rare beautiful smile gracing her lips. "I'm not on your ass for this, even though the RDA is on MY ass about you. Leave 'em, don't bother, I don't give a damn. But you need to keep yourself here, and alive, and with us. Go to the village and cure cancer, move a mountain, but don't forget that you are human. First." Jake shook his head and moved a hand to his lap. "It's not enough. It will never be enough. I have to keep moving, become one of them-" Grace stood up sharply, twisting around to face him with fury in her eyes. "NO! YOU'RE NOT ENOUGH, JAKE. You will never be enough." Norm dropped the book in front of him, as Trudy stared at Grace with wide eyes. Jake was not surprised at her outburst. "I always knew I hit a nerve, Doc. Tell me, what did you screw up? Why did they banish you? Why are you so determined for me to keep my distance? Who hurt you?" Grace's hands shook. She dropped her cigarette, unaware of the fact that it still burned at her feet. Norm quickly extinguished it and helped a pale Doctor Augustine to her seat. Her hand flew to her mouth, covering it in horror at the memories of her broken life.
Grace had been in the village for almost a year. During that time she had taught the native Na'vi, until she received permission to commission a school. Every day, the teenage children of the warriors took off from the fighting, training, and learning of traditional Omaticaya to learn English and basic Earthly skills. Grace was sitting at her desk, lost in thought developing the next lesson. Suddenly, a teenage Neytiri stumbled into the room, her superior balance and determination cowed by fear. "Grace! The Sky People, they have landed their ship and are massacring the school!" Grace shot up from her seat, pulling the remaining students who were approaching her for protection to the corner of the room. Some began to draw bows, but Grace stopped them. She spoke in a calm, collected voice as she prepared to quite possibly visit her own destruction. "Stay here. I can handle the Sky People, by myself. Don't come after me, and if they advance, draw your bows." Neytiri corralled the weaker, more fearful children behind herself and the other warriors. "Yes, Doctor Grace."
Grace stormed out of the school, slamming the door back as far as it will go before sprinting at breakneck speed to the bodies of her fallen disciples. She mourned a moment for them, but focused on taking out Quaritch. Her avatar bounded to the ship, tore the door apart in haste to get to Quaritch. She pushed past the soldiers that tried to hold her back, and found herself in front of Quaritch, where she trapped him underneath her strong Avatar arms and moved her face to inches from his. "What the FUCK do you think you're doing? I get that you want whatever you're here for, I do, but you PROMISED me NO murders. Those were children, innocent children, you ignorant prick!" She screamed at him, ripping him out of his seat. "Do you see that? Those are dead bodies, of innocent Omaticaya that haven't done a single thing to you. Do you have some kind of death wish? You just started a revolutionary war!" Quaritch stared her down, not at all showing fear but inside afraid of her Avatar strength. "I didn't promise a damn thing." He muttered. Soldiers took advantage of her distraction to pull Parker from her and begin to restrain Grace. "You murderer!" she screeched at him. Her avatar was removed, and Grace woke as her human self, gasping for air and lighting a cigarette. She took off towards Parker Selfridge, the only one who had any hope of stopping the genocide.
Grace snapped out of the memory, as she concluded the story. Jake looked angry, but it was about to be misplaced. "Are you kidding me! Parker destroys a whole school, and you still got yourself involved with him?" Grace looked shocked. "He didn't destroy the school, were you even listening? It was Quaritch. And what do you mean, got myself involved with him?" Her cover was barely veiled skin deep. "Come on Grace, you know someone ordered this to happen. And don't play dumb, we all know you and Parker have been sleeping around since you began your 'research' and that's the only reason I'm still in the village on a daily basis." Grace had no idea how to respond. "How much money is it costing Earth to sustain the machine I'm spending all of my time in? Millions, millions they wouldn't have if it wasn't for you fucking Parker into thinking he has to support your project." The words stung Grace's heart, even as she knew they were true. She had to retaliate, it hurt too much to hear the truth. "You aren't exactly an angel either Jake, you have a few secrets of your own. Before you fell in love with the subject you were sent to get them to trust you, so you could force them out of their home and give us what they have. You were in it with Quaritch as much as I am with Parker, and don't deny it." Jake was dumbfounded at her outburst, asking, "How do you know-" Grace looked at him bitterly and threw up her hands. "How do you think I know? He pulled the same shit on me as soon as I stepped off the ship. He explained it all to me. He just realized it was a waste of his time and mine." Grace lit up a second cigarette and threw her hand out, gesturing towards him with a thin trail of smoke wafting in his direction. "This isn't helping. Destroying your last link to us, the only ones who aren't hell bent on destroying the girl you love and her whole village of innocent people."
She lowered her voice. "I know you need to be there. I understand the physical attraction to the terrain, the mental attraction to the one place you fit in more than anything. I remember when I first came out here, when I first integrated myself into the clan. There was nothing I wouldn't do to spend just one more hour, and I didn't have someone like me to stop me. I could stay forever and a day if I wanted, and I developed them too much. Now look what happened. You have to be careful, it isn't just your happiness at stake here. There are Pandorian lives depending on you, Jake." Grace seemed to recover some of her strength. She stood up and swiveled without a sign of shake or a tilt, and stalked off. "I'm going to visit Parker. I'll see you all in the morning, 0600 sharp. Get some sleep, Marine. " Jake shook his head and looked down.
