Chapter 1: RETURN TO SENDER

Hi, Jake, it's me, Ellie. Are you even getting these e-mails? I guess the system's down or something, huh?

So I graduated today…yes, college. Yeah, I started a little early…finished a little early…man, I really wish you were there for this. It was totally surreal.

I hope you're okay. Are you getting along up there alright? Haven't gotten into any fights? Though you could still probably kick ass even in a wheelchair…

Things are the same down here. Boring. I know you'd probably tell me to have fun on my graduation day, but that's pretty tough when my favorite guy isn't around.

I really miss you, bro. I hope you're coming home soon.

LOTS of love,

Your sister Ellie

Ella Sully's eyes trailed along the words she'd written nearly five years ago. As she clicked back to the other e-mails over the years, she noticed how they would progressively have less and less feeling in them. Because with each e-mail, came no response, and Ella began to lose hope that her brother was reading the words. Words that reminded him, over and over again, that he had family back home, and she loved him dearly.

It started off as daily e-mails. Eli, her godfather, had told her that Jake would sort of be her open diary after he got out of cryo-sleep. After five years, nine months and twenty-two days, she sent all of the e-mails to Jake, eagerly awaiting a response. None came. Ella then began composing e-mails weekly. Then monthly. Then she only sent e-mails when something big happened. When she got a boyfriend (that was a sketchy one, knowing how he would freak out). When she graduated, high school and college. It was then when she realized that Jake wasn't going to answer. She stopped sending pointless e-mails to nobody. Jake didn't know that she was pregnant at sixteen. That Roy left her, because she wanted to wait until Jake returned before they married. That she lost her baby. That she went back to Roy, begging him to take her back. That they married, and divorced, again.

Ella looked at her bedroom wall. There were awards, plaques, her Astro-Physics degree, her sociology degree, and many other pointless frames. Her success couldn't fill the gap in her life.

Next to her bed, the wall was full of photographs from her childhood. Nearly all of the pictures were of her and her beloved brothers. They were both ten years older than her and not nearly identical. Tommy was tall and extremely intelligent, and Jake, while not unintelligent, was short and stocky. They were different. While Tommy was winning academic achievement awards, Jake was cutting class and getting into fights. Tommy went into science, Jake joined the army. After their parents died, Ella lived with Tommy while Jake was on tours. When he lost his walking ability, Jake moved back into a small apartment near Tommy and Ella.

Tommy was killed when Ella was ten. She thought that she would just move in with Jake, and they could take care of each other. But Jake knew that he had no money, no way to cake care of Ella.

So he decided to leave.

Not lave her, necessarily. He knew that the AVTR program would pay- he'd have enough money to get Ella back to school, get them a better home, and get his legs back- but he'd have to pay the price of leaving all he had behind. Ella knew this. It killed her, but they both knew what was right.

"I'll come back, Ellie," he'd said. "I'll be back before you know it."

She was ten when he told her that. Ten years old, full of sorrow and mourning for Tommy, and hope and pride for Jake. Now she was twenty-three, divorced, and alone. And he still wasn't back.

Ella sighed, and grabbed her purse. Coffee was what she needed at a time like this.

Twenty minutes later, Ella was sitting in her favorite corner of her favorite coffee shop. Her star charts were in front of her as her eyes slid over them, studying the different diagrams and taking in the footnotes. She was so absorbed in her work that she didn't notice that a shadow had fallen over her until said shadow cleared its throat.

Ella glanced up. The shadow was a young man barely older than twenty-five. Several other suited men were behind him. A wave of nausea hit Ella. It couldn't be one of her confrontations coming back to her, was it?

"Dr. Ella Sully?" Ella took in the man's face. His hard hair was slicked back away from his forehead; his stance was casual, hands in his pockets. Many people would call his look "Devilishly Handsome," but Ella couldn't help but feel a bad vibe coming from this man. His pale face seemed vacant of any threat, but the friendliness seemed posed. His lips seemed to be twisted into a leer rather than a smile, and his grey eyes seemed cold and dark.

"Before I answer that, who are you?" Ella asked, keeping her guard up. The man cocked a dark eyebrow; Ella felt the sense of foreboding become greater.

"May I sit?" Ella nodded. As he sat, she studied him again. He was wearing a collared shirt, khaki pants and nice shoes. Ella felt strangely informal- he was meeting her, a famous astrophysicist in ripped jeans, a white tank top, a leather jacket and black boots. She knew her hair was messed up. She saw his grey eyes slide over the holes in her pant knees and her Aviators which were sitting on top of her research book. His eyes slid up her body and finally to her face. "My name is Nicholas Porter. My uncle worked with your brother, Thomas."

A wave of pain his Ella as her late brother's name was mentioned. She swallowed and took another sip of coffee, trying to hold back the flood of tears which were sure to come. After contemplating her answer, she could only say "Oh."

"They never did get to meet, due to his sudden death." Nicholas continued. His hard grey eyes were still focused on Ella, who began sipping her coffee with more and more haste as her discomfort grew. "However, your other brother was hired to take his place on the Avatar mission on Pandora-"

Ella then cut him off. "Look, I know my own life story. What do you want?" Ella knew that Jake wouldn't sit down and take this man's crap- how could he sit there, which an annoying smirk on his face, and replay the hardest moments in her life for her. "Tommy's been dead for twelve years. Jake's been gone since right after that. Do you have any idea how it felt to lose both of my brothers at the same time? It was hell, man, I'll tell you that. Now, you're going to tell me what the hell you want, or leave me alone, got it?"

All during her diatribe, Nicholas sat calmly. The smile was now gone. He glanced over his shoulder, sighing, and then he set down his mug and leaned forward. "Okay, you want answers? Here it is. The crew from Pandora returned six months ago. The scientists, the militia, everyone. Don't you think Jake might have attempted to contact you if he'd come back?"

Ella suddenly returned to the night that Jake called her from the town morgue, telling her that Tommy was dead. It was the same night that he'd decided to go to Pandora and leave her with her godfather. She chocked out the three words she didn't want confirmed; "So he's dead?"

Nicholas looked down, taking a deep breath, then looked her in the eye for the first time. "No." he said. "But…he's not in a very good position."

"What do you mean?" Nicholas bit his lip, and looked straight back at her.

"He's been kidnapped by the natives on Pandora."