AN: It has been a while and I'm sorry. As many of you know from the post I made on this story I had a severe brain injury a few years back. I am fully healed though and have every intention to complete this story for any of you who wish to continue reading it even though it has been so long. Right now I am going through each chapter and revising them slightly.

P.S All Na'vi language is in italics…

Finally Home

Chapter Four

I had my face pressed up against the glass window by me in the helicopter, as I stared out in awe at the beautiful landscape that we passed. It was completely different from Earth.

I heard Trudy chuckle in the seat in front of me.

"You should see your face Ana."

She chuckled again as I stuck my tongue out at her childishly, before looking back out the window.

I spoke barely above a whisper. "Pandora is breathtaking." Glancing around the helicopter, I saw Grace smile, before continuing her discussion with Norm. It took us five more minutes to find the perfect clearing to land. As soon as the helicopter touched the ground, I jumped out and giggled as I looked around. Jake and a man I didn't know came out next with guns in their hands, ready to shoot as soon as needed. When everyone was ready, Norm, Jake, Grace, and I set out into the forest, while Trudy and the other man stayed behind with the helicopter.

We walked in a file, with Jake in front, me behind him, and Norm and Grace trailing behind us. I stopped a couple times to get a closer look at some of the strange insects and exotic plants I saw along the path we walked. Then I remembered something that Quaritch told us when we had first arrived on Pandora.

"Hey, Grace?"

"Yeah, kid." She picked up her pace a bit so we were walking side by side.

"Aren't there any natives here? I remembered that Scarface had talked about them when we had first arrived here, but I haven't seen any of them."

Grace laughed at the name I had given Quaritch, before looking around as she spoke. "I'm sure they are watching us right now, even though we can't see them. They are very good at concealing themselves. They hide in the mud, in the trees, bushes, even the sky."

I looked around, trying to find some sign of a native. I couldn't find anything. Grace finally found a tree root she finally approved of, so we stopped there. Norm and Grace started talking about the roots. It was fascinating hearing about the roots especially since I was aware of some of what she was saying since Megan had loved to study her material with me. I had picked up quite a bit from doing that with her.

However, when I saw Jake turn a corner a little ahead, I followed him out of curiosity. When I found him, he was staring at a group of huge green plants that just looked like a huge leaf wrapped like a cone poking out of the ground.

I looked at Jake. "Do you know what that is?"

He shook his head. "Naw, I'm not sure. I've never seen anything like it."

I don't remember seeing these plants in Megan's books. Puzzled, I walked up to one and touched it. I gasped and quickly jumped back in fright, as the strange plant closed in on itself and quickly ducked under the ground. It left a bare spot of dirt of where it had once been. I looked at Jake who stood beside me. We stared at each other for a second before grinning at each other. We walked up to the few remaining of the strange plants and touched them one at a time. We both laughed quietly, as they did the exact same thing the first one had done.

But after we did only a few, all of the remaining of the strange plants, suddenly disappeared underground. As the last few disappeared, Jake and I gasped as a huge animal stood before us roaring loudly.

Jake quickly moved closer beside me and pointed his gun at the huge beast. I knew what this creature was. It was a Hammerhead Titanothere, which looked like a cross between a rhinoceros and a hammer head shark. I stepped behind Jake, wide-eyed, when I saw a huge group of the same creature that stood before us, except it was a little smaller. It must be one of the babies.

I glanced behind me, when I heard a rustle of plants. Norm and Grace stood hunched over behind a tree about fifteen feet away from us. My eyes flew back towards the Titanothere, when it started to dig at the ground with its hoofs. Jake was about to shoot as it roared and continued to paw at the ground. I grabbed his arm closest to me which jerked him a bit

"No Jake! Don't shoot! The armor is too thick for a bullet to pierce! Trust me!"

Jake huffed in frustration as he lowered his gun a little and spoke loudly in agitation.

"What do I do then?"

"We just have to hold our ground! He's showing a territorial threat display! If we run, he'll charge." I frantically glanced behind me, seeing Norm and Grace hiding behind the tree. Norm looked absolutely terrified as did Grace but she also had a confusion in her eyes. I turned back looking at the Titanathore.

Jake mumbled under his breath. "Fucking fantastic."

Jake shook his head a little before staring at the beast in determination. I spoke quietly to him.

"Follow my lead Jake." He nodded his head.

"Okay."

As the beast started to charge at us, I ran forward and Jake followed after me, yelling at the top of our lungs as it roared back. It stopped about twelve feet away from us. We stopped as well, shaking a little, but standing tall and firm.

A couple seconds passed, then it made a strange sound before turning around and running back to its herd. I let out the breath I was holding in relief, surprised it had backed down so easily. I laughed nervously, as Jake haughtily spoke at the beast's retreating form as a way to release the tension that had thickened in the air around us.

"Oh, yeah! Who's bad? That's right! Yeah, that's what I'm talking about, bitch!"

We both froze as we heard a snarling sound behind us. Slowly, we turned our heads and stared wide-eyed at another huge beast. It was a thanator. And it was hungry.

I whispered. "Oh, shit…"

My stomach churned nastily, as the thanator roared loudly, and jumped over our heads, running full speed towards the group of titanotheres. The heard quickly formed a defense. With their babies behind them protected, they walked towards the hungry thanator threateningly. It seemed to give up, then it turned its head and its beady eyes locked onto us. I could just think of what it was thinking right now. Lunch.

Jake spoke quickly and anxiously to Grace as he raised his gun at the thanator. "What about this one? Shoot? Don't shoot? Run?"

As the thanator began to stalk us slowly, growling under its breath, Grace yelled in an alarmed voice.

"Run! Definitely run!"

Before she had even finished speaking, Jake grabbed my hand tightly, and we ran. Adrenaline pumped through me as my fear spiked sky high. When I glanced back, and saw the thanator quickly eating up the ground between us, my stomach knotted tightly. Oh God.

I whimpered and pushed myself to keep up with Jake. We jumped over logs and dashed around trees, desperate to evade the thanator, but it kept up with us. I screamed when Jake's hand was violently ripped out of my grasp. I turned around and screamed Jake's name in desperation.

The thanator had Jake by his pack that was securely strapped on him. It was shaking him roughly around in mid air so fast, that it could snap Jake's neck.

I yelled to Jake, hoping he could hear me over the thanator's roars.

"Jake! Your pack! Unstrap your pack!"

As the thanator continued to toss Jake back and forth, he fumbled for the button to unstrap his pack. My heart stopped as he pushed the button and feel hard to the ground with a loud grunt. He rolled a bit, before stumbling to his feet and ran towards me. The thanator stopped shaking the pack when it saw that Jake was no longer strapped to it and dropped it on the ground.

Jake grabbed my hand and we ran again. My muscled ached and screamed for relief, but I ignored it. I could hear the thanator gaining on us and felt its harsh breath against the back of my neck as we entered a small clearing.

I gasped when I saw the cliff ahead of us. Were we going to jump? Jake seeing it too, tightened his hold on my hand and continued to run straight towards the cliff. My heat leaped as we jumped off the cliff. When I heard the sound of crashing waves, I held my breath and straightened out my body while keeping a tight grip on Jake's hand.

The hard slap of the water on my body shot the breath out of my body and ripped Jake's hand out of mine, as we plummeted beneath the surface of the water. Firey pain shot through my arm. Struggling not to lose conscious, I swam up. As I breached the surface, I gasped for air. The cold, sharp sting in my throat as I gasped for breath was a welcomed feeling as my body greedily took in air. My wet hair whipped harshly against my face, as I searched frantically for any sign of Jake. Where was he? He went under the same time I did! My stomach dropped as dread filled me. Did he drown?

Suddenly, Jake came to the surface gasping loudly. Relief shot through me, as I urged my muscles and my aching arm to move as I swam over to him. My throat was raw and scratchy as I yelled.

"Jake!"

Hearing my voice, he turned around and swam quickly to me the rest of the way. When his arms wrapped around me, I began to sob, unable to contain my bottled up emotions. Jake held us both above water and whispered comforting words in my ear.

As my sobs quieted and turned into silent tears, we swam towards shore. Relief flooded through my weak body, as I felt the cool mud beneath me. We laid there on the bank and watched the sun dip beneath the earth, unable to stop it. It was dark.

In the light of the full moon, Jake searched my pack for anything useful. We had to carefully remove the pack since the pain in my arm was still intense. I watched, cradling my arm, as Jake searched my pack.

Surprisingly, the inside of my backpack was dry. Exhausted, I sat down on the cold, hard ground and watched Jake pull stuff out of the pack. He found an extra set of clothes, a canteen of fresh water, a small box of matches, and one pack of dried food.

My mouth watered and my stomach churned at the sight of the pack of dried food. Jake tore open the pack with his sharp teeth, and poured the contents on the top of the extra shirt he had found. It was mostly dried fruits and nuts, but I did find three strips of dried jerky.

We split the food between us equally and started eating. We ate slowly though, savoring the food even though it was bland. I stood when I finished and looked at Jake, who had also finished.

"What are we going to do Jake?"

He was quiet for a second, as he thought, before speaking.

"Well, it's obviously dark, and we are going to need some kind of light. We also need something to defend ourselves, so I guess we can look for two long stick poles and a sharp rock to sharpen the ends of the poles. We could use those as weapons. "

I nodded my head in agreement.

"Okay. While I look for two poles and a sharp rock, you can try to make some kind of light."

While he thought for a bit, I looked around for two straight poles, while making sure that Jake was in my eye sight at all times.

It took me a while, but I finally found two poles and a sharp rock. While I sharpened the sticks, Jake wrapped the spare shirt around a thick stick he had found. We worked in silence, and I smiled proudly when I sharpened the last pole to a point. But then we started to hear chittering and growls. I stood up, holding the now two sharp poles in my hand. I spoke shakily as the noises got louder. And closer.

"Jake… Where's our light…"

He grunted as he hoisted himself up a tree a little to dip his hand made torch in thick goo. I moved closer to him as the sounds got louder and louder. The disturbing noise sounded distinctly like that of a hyena.

"Jake…"

"I got it!" He jumped down from where he was on the tree, and pulled out the match box he had stuffed into his back pocket. He got out one of the matched and lit it against the match box. He gently touched the small flame against the goo. It lit up quickly as the flames hungrily licked up the strange goo.

I threw Jake one of the sharpened poles and looked around as he held out the torch in front of us. My stomach turned over when I saw the creatures that was making the strange noises. I knew what it was, but I couldn't recall the name Megan had said. But that was the least of my worries, as a huge group of the animals ran circles around us.

I backed up until I felt Jake's back pressed against mine. I held out my weapon in front me warningly when one of them stepped to close. They were taunting us. Dancing around in circling, darting towards and away from us.

Angrily, I yelled at them.

"Come on! I don't have all night!"

Then suddenly one launched itself at me. I stepped away from Jake and pierced my weapon through its body in mid air. It yelped in pain as I let it drop to the ground. I cut another one across its belly, but one managed to get me. I yelped in pain, when I felt long claws scratch at my back. Angrily, I shook it off my back and stabbed it in the chest.

I heard Jake yell. I turned around and watched as one launched itself at Jake. His pole fell from his hand as he tried to hold it off.

I yelled in fright.

"Jake!"

Distracted, I never saw the animal coming. Before I even had a chance to run towards Jake, one came out of nowhere and managed to get the pole out of my hand. Defenseless, another one launched at me. It knocked the breath out of me, as its body pushed into mine. The sudden attack made me fall onto my back painfully and I shouted from the pain from my arm flaring up. I felt something scraping my back as I tried to hold back the animal.

I whimpered, helpless.

Suddenly, a native jumped out of the trees and shot the creature I was trying to hold off with an arrow. It fell off me, with a loud yelp. In pain, I watched as the native ran towards Jake and threw the animal off him. She quickly turned, and whacked one that had launched itself at her. I watched amazed at how she so easily beat them away.

She bent down into a squat and hissed threateningly at the few remaining. They ran away yelping. Standing up, the native woman walked over towards the torch that lay abandoned on the ground. She picked it up and threw it into a small pond that was a bit away.

She came back mumbling under her breath. I concentrated, trying to work out her Na'vi. All I could understand was idiots and fire. Slowly I stood up and walked over to Jake and helped him up. After making sure he was okay, I looked around when I didn't see the native where she was last. I spotted her bent over one of the creatures that was whimpering in excruciating pain with an arrow buried in its side. Speaking in Na'vi, she pulled a knife out of a holder on her side, and pierced it into the creature. I winced at this. She spoke the same Na'vi phrase over and over.

Jake and I slowly walked over to where she was. Jake walked closer to her and began to speak.

"Look, I know you probably don't understand this, but thank you."

She ignored him and continued to speak in Na'vi.

Jake tried again to get her attention.

"Thank you."

Still ignoring him, she finished speaking and pulled out the arrow that was lodged in the dead creature's side.

Jake continued to speak.

"That was pretty impressive."

She picked up her bow of the ground and looked up at him, still not speaking.

Jake laughed nervously.

"We would have been screwed if you hadn't come along. It was-"

She abruptly stood up and began to walk away from us quickly. I spoke up and followed her with Jake right beside me.

"Hey, wait a second. Where are you going?"

Jake quickly jogged up to her retreating form and got a hold of her arm.

"Look, wait up; I just wanted to say thanks for killing those things."

I took in a sharp breath, when she suddenly turned around and whipped her bow around, hitting Jake against his cheek. He fell to the ground with a loud grunt of pain. I quickly walked up to them, but stopped, when she began to speak.

"Don't thank. " She glared at him, pointing the tip of her bow at him. "You don't thank for this. This is sad. Very sad only."

I was going to let him deal with this.

He sat up and held his hands up in surrender.

"Okay. Okay. I'm sorry. Whatever I did, I am sorry."

Agitated, she paced a little in front of Jake.

"All this is your fault." She looked up at me and gave me a small glare. "Yours too. They did not need to die."

Jake spoke up, trying to defend us. Mistake.

"Our fault? They attacked us. How are we the bad guys?"

Angrily, she poked him the point of her bow, speaking with clenched teeth.

"Your fault!"

Jake raised up his hands again. He spoke to her in a gentle voice.

"Shh. Easy. Easy."

Angry, she spoke again.

"You're like a baby. Making noise, don't know what to do."

Jake slowly got up and stood in front of me.

"Fine. Fine. If you love your little forest friends, why not let them just kill us? What's the thinking?"

She spoke in a calmer, quieter voice.

"Why save you?"

Jake nodded.

Yeah. Why save us?"

She was quiet for a second before speaking rather reluctantly.

"You both have a strong heart. No fear."

I smiled a little at this. She gave me a weak smile back, before looking at Jake sharply.

"But stupid! Ignorant like a child."

I grinned. She suddenly turned again and began to walk away. Jake and I kept up with her fast pace.

I spoke to her retreating back.

Well, if we are like children, then maybe you should teach us."

She spoke back.

"Sky people cannot learn. You do not See."

"Well, then teach us how to See."

She started jogging, whiling talking back.

"No one can teach you how to See."

Quickly, we picked up our pace and followed her.

Jake spoke this time, trying to reason with her.

"Look, come on, can't we talk?"

She stopped and stared at us pointedly.

"You're like a baby." She sighed and spoke quickly in Na'vi. I didn't catch what she said.

I stepped forward a little, speaking in a quiet, defeated voice.

"Please. We need your help."

Her jaw twitched.

"You should not be here."

"Okay, then take us with you."

"No," she grounded out. "Go back!"

Suddenly, she looked up and let out a light gasp.

Jake and I both looked up and gasped. All above us we these small bright floating entities. They kind of reminded me of jelly fish, except these were pure white and floated around in the air. I let in a sharp breath, when a lot of them descended down towards Jake and me.

Jake swatted at one of them as it got too close to him.

The Na'vi woman angrily spoke as she grabbed his arm.

"No!"

Jake lowered his arms, and we stood still as both of us were crowded around the floating forms. The Na'vi woman stepped back and stared at us with wonder. I shivered at the sensation of them grazing my exposed skin. I whispered in amazement.

"What are they?"

She quietly in a soft voice.

"Seeds of the Sacred Tree. Very pure spirits."

I giggled a bit when one of them grazed a sensitive spot on my neck. Suddenly, they floated off us and floated away.

I turned towards the Na'vi woman, a slight frown on my face.

"What was all that about?"

She whispered in Na'vi to herself before replying.

"Come."

She walked towards me and gently pulled on my arm towards her. I jogged to keep up with her, her hand still held onto my arm. Jake jogged behind us.

I spoke to her.

"Where are we going?"

She ignored me, and continued to pull me behind her. We jumped over a small stream and fallen logs. We came up to an enormous fallen tree. We jumped on top of the trunk and continued at a jog. Jake spoke up behind us, as he followed us onto the log.

"What's your name?"

I turned my head a bit to look at Jake. Suddenly, a thick rope came out nowhere and wrapped tightly around Jake's ankles. I yelled, pulling my arm away from the Na'vi woman as Jake fell off the side of the tree and onto the hard ground. I jumped off the log and knelt down beside Jake, trying to untie the rope that had wrapped itself around his ankles.

After I finally loosened it, I heard hooves thundering. I turned around and watched as male Navis came out ridding on direhorses. I quickly pulled Jake up by his arm and we turned around to run the opposite direction, when more Na'vi males jumped out with their bows and arrows pointed straight at us. They surrounded us in a tight circle.

I tensed as one of the males on the direhorses pulled back their arrow and pointed it straight at me. The Na'vi woman jumped down from the tree and stood beside Jake and me. She loudly spoke to them in Na'vi, and this time I understood what she was saying.

"Calm people, calm."

I shuddered as one of the Na'vi males jumped off his direhorse and walked arrogantly towards us. I couldn't help but notice how strong and powerful he looked.

The Na'vi woman glared at the man and spoke to him in Na'vi.

"What are you doing, Tsu'tey?"

A chill went down my spine as he spoke huskily.

"These demons are forbidden here."

I felt his eyes on me, as the Na'vi woman spoke back to him.

"There has been a sign. This is a matter for the Tsahik." What sign? What was she talking about? Did I misinterpret her?

His heated eyes bored into me before he looked back at the Na'vi woman. He glanced back at me, then looked at Jake with heated glare. Why was he glaring at Jake? As he turned back towards his direhorse, he spoke quickly.

"Bring them."

Jake and I were surrounded by the group of male Na'vis, as we continued on. I couldn't help but to look at Na'vi man from before. Tsu'tey. That is what the Na'vi woman had called him. I shook my head. Why was I thinking about him?

I looked away from him and looked around us. I gasped in awe when I saw the big tree we were approaching. I have never seen such a tremendously tall tree like this before. I glared at the Na'vi that shoved me to keep jogging, when I had slowed down to look at the tree. We came upon a huge entrance at the base of the tree.

My eyes widened when I saw all the Na'vi. There were so many of them. When they had spotted us, they began to whoop and stare at us. I glared at the few who had stuck there hand out and touched me. I snarled at one that touched a little too close for comfort.

We finally stopped at a small group of males. One of them was heavily decorated. He must be a leader or something.

The Na'vi woman walked forward and spoke to the man that was covered in the decorations.

"Father…" He was her father?

She bowed her head a bit before continuing.

"…I see you."

Her father stepped away from the group and looked at Jake and me. I gave him a weak smile and he returned it with one of his own.

He spoke loudly, for all to hear.

"Why do you bring these creatures here?"

The Na'vi woman spoke back.

"I was going to kill them, but there was a sign from Eywa." There she goes on again about a sign. And who is Eywa?

He spoke sharply in a reprimanding way.

"I have said no dreamwalker will come here."

A sharp female voice spoke up. I looked up and watched a Na'vi woman descend down from the upper level of the tree.

"Step back! I will look at these aliens."

The young Na'vi woman from before spoke to us in English.

"This is mother. She is Tsahik. The one who interprets the will of Eywa."

The older Na'vi woman walked behind Jake and I. She inspected our tails and our hair, before standing in front of us. She spoke in a thick English accent.

"What are you called?"

Jake spoke first. "Jake Sully."

She looked at me.

"And you are?"

I hesitated for a second.

"Anabelle Sully." I knew I lied by using Jake's last name, but oh well.

I flinched a little when she pulled out a sharp knife from a pouch and poked me, drawing blood. I stared, shocked, as she licked my blood off the blade of her knife. Her pupils enlarged, before returning back to normal. She seemed to shake herself from a thought before quickly questioning us.

"Why did you come to us?"

I spoke softly. "We came to learn."

She put her knife back in her pouch before speaking.

"We have tried to teach other Sky People. It is hard to fill a cup which is already full."

I gave her a weak smile. "Well, our cups are empty, trust me."

She looked at Jake with a pointed stare.

"What are you?"

"I was a Marine. A warrior of the Jarhead clan."

"Lies!"

I shivered when I heard the husky voice speak up in Na'vi. I searched for him. He was standing to our right among a group of males.

"A warrior! I could kill him easily!" I paled at that and stepped closer into Jake's side. Tsu'tey glared at Jake as he placed his hand on my lower back. What was that guy's problem?

The Na'vi that was heavily decorated spoke sharply to Tsu'tey.

"No! This is the first warrior dreamwalker we have encountered. We need to learn more about him and his woman."

His woman?

Tsahik looked at her daughter and spoke.

"My daughter, Neytiri, you will teach Jake Sully our way… To speak and walk as we do."

Neytiri exclaims in annoyance. "Why me? That's not fair…"

The Tsahik looked around, before her eyes rested on Tsu'tey.

"Tsu'tey will teach Annabelle Sully our ways."

Tsu'tey said nothing, but gave her a stiff nod, as he turned his head towards me and glared.

The Tsahik spoke to all.

"It is decided. My daughter and Tsu'tey will teach you two our ways. Learn well Jake and Anabelle Sully. Then we will see if your insanity can be cured."

Jake and I reluctantly nodded our acceptance. What had we gotten ourselves into?

AN: I wasn't too happy with this chapter. I found it surprisingly difficult to write. Anywho, please review and tell me what you think.

~slytherinangel01