She woke up in her linking unit with a loud gasp, her entire body shaking in fear and pain. Her na'vi body fell unconcious and kicked her back to her human body. Awa ignored the questioning glances of the technicians and Grace who was studying a green piece of leaf that she had brought back with her from her last trip.
"I- uh, I need to leave" Awa spoke out as she rushed through the motions to get out of the linking unit, panic was coarsing through her veins as she thought of her body that she had been so careless with. She should have swallowed her pride and just walked away but that wasn't she, no she knew deep inside that she couldn't have walked away.
Awa broke free of the restrictions and rushed out of the linking room, ignoring the calls from Grace and the shouts from people she pushed past. She didn't have much time, Eywa knew what they were doing to her body. She needed to make sure it was safe and away from Tsu'tey or others that would harm it. She had just gotten her true body, she wouldn't let anyone hurt it.
The woman ran through multiple hallways with the same metallic floor, walls and ceilings with heavy pants coming from her open mouth. Her face was painted red with exhaustion, her limbs growing weaker with each step and her eyes wide in obvious fear. No one dared to stop her as she sprinted past them, not even those she pushed through in her rush. These were the same people who looked the other way when she was being assaulted, this was those who were supposed to be her friends, her kin, they were the ones that were supposed to protect her.
In her rush she almost forgot to grab one of the masks used to breathe the toxic air of Pandora but just as she was about to rush out the door a dark-haired woman threw it at her with a knowing smirk. "You still need to make it there alive"
She nodded with a grateful look on her face, grabbed the mask before thanking the woman she had never seen before. This was the sort of person she wanted the rest of the population of Hell's Gate to be like. This woman before her wouldn't just walk past if she saw someone doing what Quaritch did to her. Awa put the mask on, rushing to fasten the secured parts to make sure none of the air penetrated her mask, and then ran out the door to the training yard. The route felt familiar but it was the first time she went out there in human form, the parts which seemed almost too small when in Na'vi form looked huge now as a mere human, the fence taller than she could almost see when she craned her neck up as far as she could and the obstacle course, which she thought was big before, now seemed impossibly oversized. She couldn't take that route, she had to find a different one.
Awa saw some guards rounding the corner with rifles loaded and held firmly in their hands, ready to shoot whatever they felt like. She held her breath and pressed herself closer to the wall, hoping that they wouldn't see her and walk by just like it always happened in the movies. Just like in the movies, she reassured herself and took a step to the left, following the protecting wall behind her. If she could get to the obstacle course then she should be able to escape, maybe she could fit through the small holes and then rush into the dangerous forest. If she didn't get killed doing this Grace would, or one of the Na'vi. They didn't know her human form and would without a doubt attack her at first sight and her human form couldn't fight them.
The guards walked past her, talking to each other about some new woman they saw the other day. Disgusting pigs, Awa swore to herself with her face pulled down into a frown full of disgust. She couldn't believe it was people like that that were the 'protectors' of this place. She shook her head and ran as quickly and as silent as she could across the small courtyard and to where she could escape. She was so close now!
With an audible sigh she slid under one of the obstacles, one of those you were supposed to push yourself under without touching the wire on top. It was easy for her since the obstacle was designed for a being so much larger than her, she doubted she could touch the wire even if she tried. Awa came out on the other side, panting softly with a large smile as she looked at the forest she was about to rush into. It looked like home, she thought to herself, the trees called to her and begged her to come home.
The woman scouted the area for any area in the fence that had either a weak spot or a gap big enough that she could squeeze past. She didn't have to look long until she saw one just a few meters to her left, a hole just big enough for her to go under the fence if she did it the right way. She walked up to it, tied her short dark hair in a low ponytail, without making sure it looked good. Looks weren't important now, she just couldn't get her hair stuck because that would both hurt and hinder her from coming out on the other side.
She got down on all fours and then down on her stomach so she could crawl through the small hole in the ground. Dirt painted her cream colored clothes in varying shades of brown and green. The mud she shoved away from her in strong swipes stuck to her sensitive palms and got under her fragile nails. She was heavily panting now, it was more work than she thought, the hole wasn't all the way up so she had to dig herself. Good thing she had her mask on or she would have gotten all that dirt that was now stuck in her hair and clothes in her eyes and mouth.
"Finally" She spoke, her voice slightly distorted through the thick mask that was covered in a thick white mist from her exhales. She had broken through the last layer off grass and dirt with two desperate tugs and loud cursing.
Awa climbed out of the deep hole and got on her feet, her legs shaking slightly as she finally stood on them for the first time in over half an hour of crawling and digging. She brushed off her clothes but the dirt stubbornly stuck to her clothes, almost mocking her as her attempt at cleaning herself off only served to make the already big stains bigger.
With a deep inhale she raised her eyes to look into the forest she was standing in front of, the trees loomed over her but in a comforting way, the gentle noises inside of her calling out to her. She had never seen a place as colorful as Pandora before coming to the planet, Earth was grey, dirty and dying. She took a few tentative steps into the forest before she with a mighty, and dumb, war cry she charged into the forest.
...
It took her hours of running through the forest in all kinds of directions before she stumbled upon the familiar path that Atxa had taken when he brought her to his hometree. She gleefully smiled, relieved that she wasn't completely lost. Imagine that, dreamwalker lost in Pandoran forest after getting her avatar knocked out. She chuckled slightly at her own thought before pushing her legs up to a decent run, she didn't fancy running around in the forest any longer, no matter how much she loved the forest.
If she thought everything in the forest she had stumbled through so far was huge then you can imagine her surprise when she finally saw the hometree. The tree was bigger than all of the trees she had seen so far, she couldn't see the end of it no matter how far up she looked, even from the distance she was at she almost couldn't see anything but the tree. She could see the many ikrans flying around the tree both with and without their rider but that was all she could see in terms of movement. She suspected the Na'vi already knew of her presence since she dug her way out of Hell's Gate. It surprised her that she had been allowed to get this close to the hometree without being attacked or killed by one of the natives.
"Why are you here, human" A rough voice demanded in Na'vi, a familiar voice. The sound was melodious and soothing to her ears. She could feel his imposing presence behind her, his warmth travelling through her clothes and to her insides.
"I needed to make sure my body was safe" She responded, her voice slightly cracked from the lack of use and long travel Awa had gone through to get here. "Why did you let me come here?"
The Na'vi behind me stepped even closer and she could now see his shadow towering over her. His earthly smell flew through her mask and it took everything in her to not make it obvious that she was sniffing his scent. He smelled like the earth after a storm or rain, a smell that had always comforted her, he smelled like that brand of candy that was her favorite and he smelled like Pandora. " Your body is fine, you shouldn't have come"
"If you didn't want me to come then why didn't you stop me" Awa turned around to face him, her hair had broken the hair tie a long time ago so her hair was blowing in every kind of direction with the gentle breeze.
"Dreamwalkers aren't allowed here, go back" He suddenly barked, bending down over the woman slightly to intimidate her with his much taller stature. His familiar facial features twisting into a bitter snarl as he glared down at her.
"No" She answered simply, her voice coming out strong and without doubt. She wouldn't be bullied by him just because he was bigger, stronger and dangerous. She would never gain any sort of respect for him if she just let him walk over her.
"No?" He echoed with a twisted grin on his face, the situation familiar to what had just happened a few hours ago. "No is what got you into this trouble"
"And it's what's going to take me out of it" She retorted and reached a hand out to push him away from her, his being so close to her was distracting her and making her mind go fuzzy. He was more than twice the height as her so she had to reach quite high to push him away so she didn't touch any sensitive areas.
He flinched away from her touch and hissed, crouching slightly and she stepped back in fright. In the moment of almost neutrality she had forgotten about his violent nature or the aggression he carried and liked to shove down her throat. Tsu'tey wasn't someone to mess with and he had almost killed her that same day.
"Don't touch me with your filthy hands, bug" He spat the last word as if it disgusted him and then strode over to where Awa was standing, rising to his full height and flexing his muscles to look bigger. "Leave before I make you"
"No" She repeated and a slightly giggle burst through her lips at the irritated look on his face. It was as if he was so sick and tired of her never complying with his orders. He was in for a big surprise then, she grinned to herself, she wouldn't be one of those people that just bent over to the will of others. No, among the Na'vi she was strong, both in mind and body. Back in Hell's Gate she was vulnerable and weak but with her people she felt indestructible.
"Your people shouldn't even be here, I'd kill you here and now if it wasn't for Atxa" He stood in front of her, so close that his lower stomach almost touched her face and she suddenly felt very awkward. She hoped he was aware of what he was almost pressing right in her face. He was so close that she couldn't look up at him without bumping into something she really didn't want to. "You disgust me" He continued and spat on the ground with a disgusted look on his face.
She didn't want to admit it but his words hurt more than she wanted to show. She had never like rejection and now here she was facing rejection again, from the very people she wanted to live with. He didn't even know her and he acted like this.
"You don't know me" She gritted out through her teeth and a burning glare on her face.
"I don't have to, you're all the same" He spat at her feet this time, and then shoved her hard before jumping up into the tree they were standing under. His graceful figure disappearing from view before she could even register that he left her.
Awa whimpered slightly when she tried to stand up, the shove had pushed her to the ground hard and fast. She hit her tailbone on a rock hiding under some purple grass and even breathing sent pulsing pain through her whole body. A few tears welled up in her eyes and before she knew it she was sobbing again, sobbing because of the pain, sobbing because of Tsu'tey, sobbing because of Quaritch and sobbing because she almost felt like all hope was lost, like she had come all this way for nothing. Tsu'tey hurt her more than she would like to admit, his words dug deeper than any other words and his rejection stung like a thousand bees. She sobbed even harder when she thought back to all of their interactions, she didn't know someone could be so disgusted of her, that someone could hate her so much without reason.
Maybe he was right, maybe she was just like her people, maybe she wasn't worthy of living with the Na'vi. Maybe he was right, maybe she was disgusting and her presence on this planet and all the others only digust the others. Maybe his hate for her wasn't without cause, maybe she was a hateable person.