I groan and pull the blanket up over my head as Grace try's to wake me up "come on sleepy head, first day of training starts soon" she says, she had gotten nicer over the time I'd lived here now, much more like a friend than before, I sigh softly and rub my eyes tiredly, sitting up "already? Can't I sleep in for once?" I huff tiredly, she chuckles softly "sadly not here, if you needed more sleep you shouldn't have come to Pandora" I flop back down on the bed but smile a little "then I suppose its worth it to not get a lot of sleep" she smiles and nods before heading to her table with her equipment.
I get up and grab a small bite of food before joining Jake in our link pods, waking up soon in my little hammock, I sigh happily and get up, stretching out a little and rewrapping my queue before I go to grab my bow from its hiding place, knowing Tsu'tey would make me get it anyway, then I head toward the river area where Jake was being trained, my shoulders tense a little as I come into view of Tsu'tey, already there and waiting as his other students did their training, I smile a little and make my way over "good morning teacher" I say softly, he smirks a little "how many arrows have you made?" I pause at that "only two" I reply, he nods and grabs a few more, tossing them to me, I barely catch them and he starts to teach me how to shoot the bow properly, fixing my stance and my aim drastically gets better, managing to hit near the middle of the target for the first time, I smile widely but he says nothing and continues to teach, going to his students and helping them every now and then before returning to me.
After nearly five hours of straight training with the bow and hand to hand combat he leads me over to his DireHorse, my heart sinks when I see it "karyu...I don't know about this" I murmur nervously, gently laying my hand on its side "my queue isn't whole...any bond I make wont be whole, I wont be able to communicate with any creature correctly" I say softly, heart sinking more at the final true realization at just what my injury would mean.
Tsu'tey looks to me as he pets the creatures neck softly "we do not know what will happen, so we must try at least, and every hunter must have a mount" he says seriously, I frown worriedly and gently strokes its back softly, he moves to stand to its side, I carefully jump up onto its back before he holds up one of its antenna, the queue peaking out, I hesitate nervously and look to Tsu'tey before I gently pick up my braid, gently taking its antenna, I take a deep breath before gently joining them, my heart starts racing and I gasp, bright light flooding my eyes and the DireHorse below me bellows and takes off running in a panic and I fly off, landing in the mud and sliding a ways as Tsu'tey goes to calm his creature, I stand shakily, trying to wipe off all of them mud, my heart still racing and a painful headache forming.
I nervously move toward Tsu'tey "that didn't feel good..." I murmur softly, he manages to calm the creature and nods "it doesn't seem to be good, I think we will be done training for today" he says simply and I nod softly, going to grab my bow and return to Home Tree, feeling embarrassed and humiliated, that bond felt so strange, like I was in two body's at once, but that only lasted a few seconds before the blinding light hit my eyes and the pain shot through me, The DireHorse must have felt the pain as well because it bolted so quickly.
As I get back to my hammock I lay my bow next to it before leaving Home Tree, afraid Tsu'tey would return and mock me with the other warriors as he had done with Jake, I find my way to the tree I had trained at by myself before, I take a deep breathe as I look up the branches and trunk before I start to climb, determined to make it higher than I had before, determined to prove to myself I wasn't useless because of my injury, and without thinking I manage to make it to the top of the tree, panting and my eyes wide as I look out over the forest, keeping a tight grip on the branch I look toward Home Tree and my spirits lift a little, seeing banshee riders swooping around the top of the tree, and the people at the base doing their every day chores, I relax a little and sit down on the branch to watch for a while, trying to not pay attention to just how high up I am.
Days pass and I continue my training with Tsu'tey but I stay quiet unless spoken to by him, he seemed more reserved now as well but I try to ignore it, and soon it is time for Jake to join the clan as one of them, Jake had convinced the elders to let Grace back into the clan to visit and so her and I are standing a bit away from the clan as Jake emerges from the lower levels, covered in ceremonial paint markings, I smile softly as the clan lay hands on him, connecting him to every member as Eytukan announces he has become one of the people, me and Grace cheer and soon the rest of the clan is cheering and whooping in celebration, but not long after everyone disperses and I follow Tsu'tey as me and his other students had more training to be done, I grab my bow and we return to the training grounds.
The rest of my day is spent training then I return to Home Tree to help prepare dinner, and after everyone had eaten I head to bed exhausted, returning to my link and grabbing a small bite of food before going to my small bunk in the research station, falling asleep almost instantly.
All I could see was fire and ash, devastation and destruction, I run through clouds of suffocating smoke, yelling for someone butI can't tell who, my eyes watering from the painful ash, my heart stops as I'm soon face to face with the sideof Home Tree, only its been destroyed,torn to pieces and fallen to the ground, tears stream down my face in horror, looking around I soon see bodies, Na'vi bodies strewn around, all dead and battered, falling to my knees I start to sob, devastated and broken seeing so much death...I gasp, sitting up in my small bed, shaking and in a cold sweat, looking around I see I'm the only one awake, I quietly get up and change, trying to shake off that awful dream, I grab a small bite to eat, not really noticing how thin I had become in this body, then I climb into my link so I could start training early today, waking up soon in my hammock I quietly grab my bow and head to the training ground, needing to clear my head, but not long after Tsu'tey and the other students arrive and they all start mounting their DireHorses, I quietly keep shooting, not wanting to feel left out until Tsu'tey approaches, I lower my bow and nod to him "morning teacher" I greet softly, he nods back "it is time for you to start hunting with us, but as you cannot ride by yourself you will ride with me" he says seriously, I frown nervously "will that be ok? I don't want to impose or make anyone uncomfortable" I say quickly, he shakes his head "you must learn somehow so this will be the only way" he says, I nod and follow him, once he's on his horse I jump up on behind him, being careful of his tail before we head off into the forest, instinctively I wrap my arm around his middle shakily so I wouldn't fall off, and thankfully he doesn't seem to mind.
We head off to hunt and patrol the surrounding woodlands but after not very long we start to hear loud engines roaring, my heart sinks and we get to the edge of a huge clearing, full of bulldozers and soldiers, some in the large mech suits, I cover my mouth in horror seeing the huge line of destruction and the DireHorses snort and stomp impatiently, the warriors around us all look absolutely horrified and angry, Tsu'tey growls and glares down the soldiers before we make our way back to Home Tree as fast as we can, I quickly wipe at the tears now falling down my face, horrified and angry at how Selfridge could do such a horrible thing.
When we get back I jump off the creature and follow as the other hunters rush into the clan and Tsu'tey goes to tell Eytukan what has happened, I have to lean against part of the trunk to stay standing, tears still pouring from my eyes, Zey'wa asks me what's wrong worriedly and I tell her what's happened, only for her to nearly start crying as well, not long after the warriors have gathered all together, grabbing their weapons and putting on their war paint, as Tsu'tey passes I gently touch his arm shakily "teacher please don't fight them, they are too dangerous" I plead but he just pulls away from my touch and glares downs at me with so much hatred and anger I flinch back a little, then he continues on to start rilling up the crowd, whooping and raising his bow above his head, the other warriors soon follow his lead, soon Grace comes into sight and rushes over to me quickly and I explain what's happened, how the bulldozers destroyed a sacred grove of trees and how close they now are to Home Tree.
Not long after Eytukan announces that Tsu'tey would lead the war party, he steps forward and raises his weapons again, sending a war cry out that the others join in on, Grace steps forward a bit and I move with her, my heart racing as she declares how dangerous this was, pleading to not attack as it would only make things worse, but Tsu'tey points at her glaring dangerously "you do not speak here!" I flinch back at the absolute hate in his voice before we notice Jake and Neytiri returning, holding hands and they move closer to Eytukan, my heart sinks as Tsu'tey moves toward him and suddenly shoves Jake back hard enough to make him fall to the ground "you mated with this woman?!" He sneers angrily, Grace pales "oh shit" she gasps, my eyes widen as I listen, looking to Jake in shock as he stands, Mo'at steps forward angrily "is this true?" Neytiri grabs Jakes hand and raises her head high "we are mated before Eywa, it is done" Jake raises his hands to try and calm Tsu'tey "brother please-" but in rage Tsu'tey draws his knife "you are not my brother!" He roars and lunges at Jake, Jake manages to dodge and pulls his knife but throws it to the ground "and I am not your enemy!" He yells "the enemy is out there!" He yells, pointing outside "and they are very powerful!" Jake lowers his voice a little now "I can talk to them" but before he can finish speaking Tsu'tey yells "No more talk!" And lunges again, managing to slice Jake in the the arm this time and they continue to fight.
I grip Graces arm in fear as Jake knocks Tsu'tey to the ground before he stands up straight and looks around at everyone "I am Omaticaya! I am one of you, and I have the right to speak" he says seriously before speaking in Na'vi "I have something to say...to all of you..." my heart sinks, knowing just what he's going to say, he looks to Neytiri sadly "the words are like stones in my heart" he murmurs, Neytiri looking worried and confused.
I gasp as Grace suddenly goes limp beside me, her eyes rolling into the back of her head, I barely manage to catch her but Neytiri helps me to lay her down before I look to Jake terrified, realizing something was very very wrong, his eyes widen and that's all I see before I too go limp, falling to the ground and waking back up in the link pod, I gasp and sit up, my eyes widening seeing the soldiers everywhere "Grace?! Norm?!" I yell in terror as they roughly drag me out of my link, I struggle and try to fight them off but that quickly just makes them angrier and one hits me in the stomach hard to make me stop, I gasp and choke on my breath as I see Quaritch pull Jake out of his link "you crossed the line" he snaps before punching him hard, knocking him out.
It's not long before we are loaded up into the Samson and flown back to Hells Gate, we're basically dragged up to the main deck of the base, where Quaritch shows us what Jake did to one of the Dozers, my heart sinks as Quaritch pauses the video "you let me down son" he says, me, Grace and norm are standing a few feet back, surrounded by guards so we couldn't leave, I clench my fists shakily as I glare at Quaritch, he continues to reprimand Jake and I'm just about to say something when Grace stands up straight and looks to Selfridge "Parker, there is time to salvage this situation, Parker" but she's interrupted by Quaritch getting in her face "shut your pie hole!" He snaps, I step up next to her, instincts telling me if he tried to lay a finger on her I'd attack him, but she puts her arm up infront of me, she looks to him with absolute anger flaring in her eyes "or what, Ranger Rick? You gonna shoot me?" He almost smirks "I could do that" I clench my fists tighter and glare at him "you touch her and you wont live long" I snap angrily, Grace gently pushes me back a little as he laughs, she points to Quaritch and glares at Selfridge again "you need to muzzle your dog" Selfridge steps forward to stop the oncoming fight, arms crossed "Yeah, can we just take this down a couple of notches please?" Jake rolls forward a little "you want to keep your people alive? You start by listening to her" he says, nodding to Grace, keeping eye contact with Quaritch who's smile had disappeared now.
Grace explains how precious those trees had been, and just how close of a connection the people have to this land, only for Selfridge to start babbling on about how very thing was sacred here, I step up next to Jake now "what would you do if an entirely unknown alien race came to earth and decided it wanted the plumbing pipes under every city in the world? And the aliens didn't care if they killed a ton of people and destroyed families and homes to get at them? What would you do?" I snap at Selfridge angrily, he just glares at me "that's different" he says dismissively before Grace speaks up "We aren't talking about some kind of pagen voodoo here. I'm talking about something real, something measurable in the biology of the forest." She explains, Selfridge smirks and reply's "which is what, exactly?" She sighs softly "what we think we know is that there is some kind of electrochemical communication between the roots of the trees, like the synapses between neurons. And each tree has a ten-to-the-fourth connections to the trees around it. And there are ten-to-the-twelfth trees on Pandora" she explains, I smile softly, maybe she was getting to him as he hadn't interrupted her at all "which is a lot, I'm guessing" she steps forward a little, nodding, the anger seemingly gone from her eyes "its more connections than the human brain. Get it? It's a network. It's a global network and the Na'vi can access it. They can upload and download data, Memories, at sights like the one you just destroyed" the anger was back, my heart sinks as he answers, laughing "what the hell have you people been smoking out there?" I glare more angrily at him as he and Grace continue to argue before Quaritch brings up mine and Jakes video logs, my heart stops seeing the video show Jake saying they wouldn't leave Home Tree, I lean back against one of the desks shakily, crossing my arms and looking down ashamed.
"So since a deal can't be made, I guess things get real simple. Jake, Rose, thanks. I'm getting all emotional. I might just give you a big wet kiss" I glare up at Quaritch as he said that, I wanted to hit him so badly, but we're soon taken back to Graces old lab in the building, guards at the doors to stop us from leaving again, I'm ignoring them as they talk, just pacing back and forth until Trudy runs in "Quaritch is rolling the gunships" my heart sinks and I come over quickly to listen "he's going to hit Home Tree" we get up and rush to the bridge quickly, shoving past the guards as they yell that we couldn't be in here, I shove one off me and follow Grace to Selfridge, Grace shoves one off her as well "Parker. Wait. Stop. These are people you're about to..." one of the guards grabs her and she shoves him off again "I said back off!" She snaps, Selfridge glares at her "No. No. No! They're flee-bitten savages that live in a tree! All right? Look around! I don't know about you, but I see a lot of trees! They can move!" He snaps, I growl and glare at him, going to move closer but Jake grabs my arm to stop me "can you guys just please..." Selfridge motions for his guards to go, Grace faces him again "there are families in there. There are children. Babies. Are you gonna kill children?" She pleads with him, Jake shakes his head "You don't want that kind of blood on your hands. Believe me. Just let me try to talk them out. They trust me" Selfridge looks torn for a moment before finally agreeing, I join Grace and Jake as we sprint down to the link room, going as fast as we can as we had very little time, I jump in mine and close the lid, closing my eyes and very quickly waking up, gasping and jumping to my feet, Neytiri and a few others, including Zey'wa were around our bodies worried about us, Grace and Jake soon wake up and we rush down to the common area where everyone was gathered, Neytiri gathers her fathers attention then Jake speaks in Na'vi "Eytukan, I have something to say" Grace and I step up next to him, she quickly bids them to listen, I glance to Tsu'tey sadly, knowing this would forever change things for us, knowing the clan would hate us.
Eytukan bids Jake to speak and he takes a deep breath "A great evil is upon us...the sky people are coming...to destroy HomeTree" Jake looks to Neytiri pleadingly as he couldn't remember the words fast enough "Look, tell them they're gonna be here soon." She quickly translates for him, Jake looks to the leaders again "you have to leave, or you're gonna die" Mo'at steps forward a little "are you certain of this?" I nod quickly, stepping back a little with Grace as Jake continues "Look, they sent me here to learn your ways, so one day I could bring this message and that you would believe it" Neytiri looks to Jake, hurt and scared, she grips his shoulder and arm shakily "what are you saying Jake? You knew this would happen?" He gulps and nods "Yes. Look, at first it was just orders" he explains desperately as she steps back, he grips her arms gently not wanting her to leave his side "and then everything changed. Okay? I fell in love. I fell in love with the forest and with the Omaticaya people. And with you" he says quickly, but she looks on the verge of tears, I grip Graces arm shakily, my heart racing, Neytiri's ears fall and she try's to shove him off "I trusted you..." she nearly sobs as he desperately try's to keep her close, she slams her arms down to get out of his touch "I trusted you!" She yells heartbroken, Jake steps forward "trust me now, please" he pleads but she yells angrily in his face in Na'vi, tears filling her eyes, she shoves him backwards and screams "You will never be one of The People!" I flinch back nervously and Grace grips my arm worriedly "we tried to stop them!" She says quickly, Jake try's to move closer to Neytiri again "Neytiri, please! Please" he pleads but she holds her hand up to stop him as she yells at him more, she moves away and motions for her mother to take care of us as she goes behind her, out of the corner of my eye I see Tsu'tey smirk, as if he knew he had been right about us, my heart sinks at that and I meet him eyes, mine wide and afraid but his holds no friendliness anymore, only anger. Eytukan looks to Tsu'tey and instructs him and his warriors to bind us, my heart drops and I look to Tsu'tey again but he ignores my eyes, moving over quickly and restraining us, I struggle against their might as Grace pleads with Eytukan "you have to go! They're coming!" But she is Ignored as the clan lets out war cry's, as we are being dragged out and tied to a rack made of bones and branches I look to Tsu'tey shakily "Tsu'tey, please, we did everything we could to stop them" I plead, he looks me in my eyes and spits "Ketuwong" before we all look up as we can hear Quaritches gunships, my eyes widen "run! Please!" I plead desperately, Grace and Jake yelling with me, trying to get them to safety but none of them listen to us.
Only seconds after the gunships come over a hill and into sight, like a swarm of large dangerous flies, we keep yelling for them to run but soon Tsu'tey yells in Na'vi to have no fear, the gunships fly to hover over the river, closer to the ground and just infront of the tribe, my eyes widen when I see Eytukan tell Tsu'tey to take his warriors and attack from above on their Ikrans "please! Run!" I plead but my voice gets drowned out by the ships engines, the ships soon start firing huge canisters of gas into the base of the tree, meaning to drive out the Na'vi, and soon the warriors start to shoot up at the ships, but their arrows just seem to bounce off the thick metal hide, only leaving scratches, then suddenly the ships shoot another round of shots, only this time they explode into huge fireballs lighting the entire base of the tree on fire, I mentally pray to Eywa to protect the warriors inside going to get their Ikrans from the top of the tree, Eytukan starts yelling to get everyone to the forest and the clan move quickly, going to help those injured by the gas and flames, I struggle as we are left alone, Jake yells "we gotta move! He's gonna blow the columns!" only making me struggle more.
My heart sinks as I see Mo'at walking up to us, tears streaming down her face from the gas, holding a knife, she gets to Jake and grabs him, pointing her knife at his throat, me and Grace plead with her to not hurt him but instead she says "If you are one of us,help us" then she cuts our bonds quickly, we quickly start to help people away from the flames, I keep Mo'at infront of me so as to make sure she would be alright, as we run the gunships let off their second to final shots, aiming and taking out the columns with a huge explosion, sending everyone flying away from it, Jake shoves grace behind a fallen tree and helps Mo'at behind it as well as a second explosion goes off, more rockets hitting the base of the tree, I get slammed into the fallen tree, knocking the wind out of me but Jake manages to pull me over it and we duck, keeping our heads down and I keep my arm over Mo'at protectively, knowing she's more important to the clan that I was and I couldn't let her get injured.
After a few moments the explosions stop but the fire continues to rage up inside the tree, many of the clan stop to look back at their burning home, I look up and gasp as hoards of leaves are falling from the top of the tree and not long after the tree starts to fall toward us, I stand and push Mo'at infront of Jake as he yells to run, I look back and see many more of the clan too injured to move far, I glance to Grace, meeting her eyes before I start running back, she try's to go after me but Jake stops her and they continue to run away, I carefully help a few to stand and yell for others to follow me as we run away from the tree as well, a small group with me now as we run toward the river and away from the falling tree.
As the tree begins to hit the ground the entire planet seems to shake, sending everyone flying in all directions, but as the ground settles we all sit and stare in horror and despair at the now lifeless home the clan had lived in for centuries, everyone around me begins crying and screaming in pain and horror, I start to cry as well, shaking and trying to stay as calm as I could as I shakily help sit an injured Na'vi down on a log, I look back at the fallen tree, the first place I had felt truly at home, I start back toward the tree, determined to search for survivors but the closer I get the worse the smoke is, but I persist, running to the tree, only for my dream to begin to play out, the ash and smoke everywhere, making the air hot and suffocating, tears start to form from the painful ash and just as in my dream I come face to face with the destroyed side of Home Tree, as I move closer I can see bodies strewn the ground, battered and bruised, all dead from the smoke or the debris of the explosions, I start to sob, sinking to my knees and laying my hands against Home Tree, closing my eyes and lowering my head in shame "Eywa, please protect the clan, send them someone who can help save them" I plead out loud shakily before suddenly falling limp and unconscious, only to wake up back in my link pod, tears flowing down my face as I'm hauled out of the link, fighting against the men and screaming profanities at them, I manage to get out of their grasp and I run at Selfridge, punching him hard across the face, hearing a satisfying crack "your a monster Selfridge! Every single one of those people who have died! All of their blood is on your hands!" I scream at him as he stumbles back, holding his now bleeding nose as his men tackle me again. Grace, Norm and Jake are all hauled off to be put into a cell but I'm brought to the bridge, Selfridge has me handcuffed to one of the desks and gets his nose checked as they make plans to move the dozers in, I have to just sit there for about an hour, trying to figure out a way to get out.
I smirk as Quaritch comes over to me "come to surrender? I accept" I sneer at him, he glares down at me and draws his gun, holding it to my head, I don't flinch, keeping eye contact with him "you can't kill me, you and I both know that" I smirk, only making him angrier "your only here because we need leverage in case those savages return and try to attack our dozers, we know your close with the future leader" he smirks but hesitates as I laugh loudly "close?! Not now dip shit! You and your men made sure they hate us now, you have no leverage against them!" I smirk and he growls angrily but gets interrupted by one of the base operators "colonel? Sir? I got a situation here" she says quickly and he huffs, putting his gun away and walking over to her "It's Samson 1-6. Unauthorized engine start" he gets even more pissed and I smile seeing who was taking the Samson, he barges over toward the door to outside, grabbing a large gun off one of the officers and yelling "masks on!" Before he kicks open the door, the officers around me all start frantically grabbing masks and I take my chance, yanking my hand out of the handcuff, ripping up the skin but I make it and run out the door farther into the base, locking the door behind me so anyone trying to follow would need to grab a keycard, I sprint downstairs and run head on into Max, his eyes widen "your still here? Shit, ok follow me" he says quickly and I nod, he gets me to a side door out of the complex, giving me a mask and tank of air as well as a gun "be careful" he says quickly and I nod "thanks max, be careful, men are coming" I says quickly before running out of the doors and to the edge of the forest, panting and looking up as I see the Samson take off away from the base, I cheer happily before turning to see the guards rushing out after me, I take a deep breath before running into the forest as fast as I can, knowing it will take me most likely all night to get to Home Tree, I flinch hearing gunfire behind me but I just keep running, not noticing yet that I now had a good sized gunshot wound to my upper thigh, but it soon makes itself known as the pain gets bad, I have to slow down and lean against a tree shakily "Eywa, please protect me" I pray aloud before continuing on, hearing the men still behind me searching for me.
After nearly an hour of painful running and hobbling I start to get dizzy and feel really sick so I sit down with my back to a tree shakily, blood now soaked my leg and pants, I curse and grab a small thin vine and shakily tie it just above the wound, hissing in pain before I struggle to stand, hearing the men again behind me I whimper and learn against the tree, knowing I couldn't move much anymore, I pull up the gun and start to shoot toward the men, praying it would get them to leave, after I stop my ears are ringing painfully but I don't hear anymore talking at the moment, I sigh shakily until the ground starts to shake under me harshly, I press myself against the tree to try and stay hidden, afraid what ever it was would attack...
Holy crap! That was a really long chapter! What did you guys think of it? We're drawing closer to the end! And I think its going to be really exciting! Also I'm sorry for the cliff hanger! But I have been writing all day and have a head ache coming on so time to get some rest and maybe go work on laundry XD
Thank you so much to everyone who has followed and just been reading!
The next chapter will hopefully be done in the next few days!
Love you all!
~Rose~
