+Fever+

Previously

Looking down at the girl below, I collapsed into a sitting position as I just stared at her. Jake looked at me questioningly, already hearing the conversation. He was confused. How could he not be?

"What does that mean Grace?" Looking up at him as everything came tumbling down upon my shoulders, and this new predicament began to weigh on nerves, I knew I couldn't tell him. However he deserved to know. This was his sister.

"It means, that Mia has fused with her avatar and right now it's not letting go. She's not dead, just…stuck."

Present

Jake's P.O.V

"Stuck? How can she be stuck," I almost yelled angrily at Grace as she sighed heavily and answered, "This body is in shock, and when she linked again…well this mind is holding onto her for dear life. It doesn't want to let go even when Norm disconnected her. Either she will never return to her human body, and eventually it will die from lack of food, and water unless we put her on machines, or whenever this body comes out of shock she'll travel back to her own once she clears her mind. For this to happen we have to keep her within her link bed and try to keep this body safe and alive, but Jake right now the possibilities are slim. Her avatar just doesn't have a part of her; it has all of her right now. There is no…well soul in her human form at the moment."

I felt the world around me simply fall into a million pieces. The ringing in my ears from her words stung my heart. I could lose my sister. The sister that I had taken so long to gain trust back from. The only family I had left at all. Without her I was alone, and that put a fear so great into my mind that it shook me to my core. Looking up at Grace I asked, "What can we do?"

"For right now we can heal her wound and hope it's not what's doing this. We can also try to lesson her fever either by sweating out whatever foreign bacteria her body came into contact with, but we'll have to be careful because of the fever though. If it spikes to a certain degree it could fry her brain and then she'll truly be lost," Grace explained as I took everything in.

"So basically what we need are blankets, fire, or anything warm," I asked as she nodded. Continuing I replied, "We'll also need something to cool her down if her fever sparks." With that Grace nodded as well and then added, "The medical supplies I'll need are back in the shack. I'll call Norm on the radio and see if either he or Trudy can bring them, but right now with this storm I rather not have anyone out in it."

"I'll go," came a voice from behind me. Grace looked up in surprise, and as I turned I couldn't help the feral growl that escaped my lips, "You've already done enough."

"It is my fault MiaSully is injured. I should be the one to go out into the storm and get what you need," Tsu'tey voiced solemnly as his eyes traveled over to my sister with sadness. Before I could protest Grace spoke up, "Only if Eytukan allows it. If so I will let my people know that you are coming and they will gather what we'll need, and we might need Mo'at's assistance along with Neytiri's. Mia is stuck within her own mind, and she's not responding. We might need spiritual help, not just medical." With this Tsu'tey nodded and answered, "I will ask." With that he left bringing me relief that he was gone, but Neytiri soon entered.

"Jake, how is she," Neytiri asked carefully as her native accent coated it thicker than normal. I had noticed lately that whenever she became nervous or frightened that that happened, and right now I could see she worried for Mia. I understood why though. Since Mia had been here Neytiri had taken to her in an odd way. At first she seemed to draw away from her until a few weeks ago when she out of the blue just began talking to her. Within a short matter of time it seemed almost as if they had been sisters all along. I knew Mia would want her here.

"Not good," I answered massaging my temple as I went from my crouching position to full out Indian style as I crossed my legs over one another.

Neytiri walked over to Mia and when she saw the blood I noticed her grimace. Crouching down beside Grace she looked over Mia as she checked for anymore wounds, then she spoke in Na'vi, "We have healing medicinals that could help with her wounds, and make them heal faster. If you'll allow me to go get them, I'll be glad to apply them to her wounds." Grace nodded with an appreciative smile, and with that Neytiri left.

"I'm going to go speak with Mo'at. Will you be fine here alone with her Jake?"

How could she ask a question like that? This is my sister, not an animal, not someone I didn't know. I'd be perfectly fine with her. However instead of speaking out angrily I just nodded my head as she left.

As Mo'at disappeared through the beads that separated the small room from the rest of tree, I looked down at Mia and grimaced. She looked horrible. Normally the Na'vi had these sort of freckles that glowed in the moonlight, but here they were dim, and almost nonexistent, and every so often they would fade out for just a moment before returning. Something told me that wasn't good.

The beads clacked together as Neytiri reentered with two bowels full of a thick yellow liquid. Taking a seat beside Mia she looked up and me and asked, "Are you doing alright?" A little surprised I carefully nodded, before the truthful words tumbled out, "No, no she's in bad condition right now, and Grace said there's a possibility we could lose her." Neytiri looked down at the woman she thought of like a little sister. Her eyes watered slightly before she blinked them away and mumbled, "The wounds are not bad enough. Grace is wrong. She's strong and she will make it." I know she was saying it more to herself than me, but all the same I smiled at her as I placed a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"Here, apply this to places she was hurt. It will help stop the bleeding and heal her wounds. It should also help numb her pain," Neytiri spoke handing me one of the bowels. Looking down at the golden liquid I inhaled it carefully and found it spelled like vapor rub, but with a hint of honey-like smell to it. I could have sworn I had smelled this before here around Home-Tree somewhere.

Following Neytiri's orders I applied the liquid to her wounds, and it was almost like magic because the moment the liquid touched the places she was bleeding, the blood immediately stopped pouring from the wound. It didn't heal the cuts and scratches, but it did stop them from bleeding. Looking up at Neytiri in amazement she smiled at me as she mumbled, "See everything will be fine."

"Is there anything to help here with fevers," I questioned as she nodded and answered, "Yes, but I have yet to learn how to make it. Mother should be able to though." Neytiri lifted her hand to Mia's forehead and frowned. Then she turned to me and asked, "Was she as hot as this, when he brought her back?" Leaning forward, Neytiri moved her hand away as I placed mine upon Mia's forehead. Shaking my head as fear returned I answered, "No, she was cooler, now she feels like someone lit a fire on her."

"We must cool her down," Neytiri mumbled frantically as she left the room, only to return with two bowels of water and some washcloths. Handing a bowel and a washcloth to me she went to dip hers into the bowel. Carefully she placed the rags onto Mia. Following her example I found that within no time my sister almost looked like a mummy.

Neytiri felt her forehead again and sighed as she whispered, "She's cooled down some, but I don't know for how long. We need to keep this up…."

"Until we can sweat this out of her," finished Grace as she walked in with Mo'at.

As the elder's eyes roamed over Mia I could see a great sadness in them. Mo'at sat down and looked at Mia's wounds before whispering something similar to what Neytiri had said earlier, "These wounds are not that great, something else must be doing this to her."

"That's what I was thinking. I need to stitch the wound on her temple. It's going to leave a nasty scar, but if we don't it's going to cause her even more pain, and when it does heal she'll have a gap," Grace said as Mo'at nodded and pulled a bag over to her. Fishing something out she handed it over to Grace asking, "Will this do?" Looking at it, Grace nodded and answered, "Yeah all I need is a needle and something I can thread it with. Do you have anything that can numb the pain?" Neytiri nodded as she spoke, "Yes, Jake and I already put it on her wounds."

"Good," and with that Grace went to work as she stitched up Mia's wound. New blood poured from the stitches, but Neytiri wiped it away and added more of the gooey golden liquid to the new spots. When Grace was done she turned to me, "I won't be able to do anything more until Tsu'tey and his warriors return with Norm and the medical supplies his bringing. You'll have to watch over her tonight and make sure her fever doesn't spike to high. Remember if it does…"

"It could fry her…I know Grace," I told her as I rubbed my hand down Mia's hair trying to push away the frizz. Mia hated when she had frizz, and she hated when people saw her have it.

"Jake, are you going to be alright," Grace asked looking at me with concern. "I will be, just make sure we get those medical supplies." Grace looked at me with sympathy as she stood and went over to Mo'at, who now stood at the beads. They whispered to one another in hushed tones, but I didn't miss the one thing Mo'at whispered to her, "It's not good when the glowing begins to fade. It's usually a sign that the person before you is fading." I felt a comforting hand being placed upon my shoulder and when I turned I found Neytiri taken a seat next to me. I forced a smile at her as she whispered, "I will stay with you, and her." Thanking her I turned back to look at Mia, as I lost myself in my thoughts.

Tsu'tey's P.O.V

We were to meet with Grace's people out in a clearing about six miles away from Home-Tree. When we arrived on direhorse we found one of the sky-people's machines sitting in the middle of the field with a dreamwalker standing beside it with two bags. As he approached us he spoke our native greeting and then went straight to the questions as I dropped from my direhorse and made my way over to him.

"How is Mia? Has she woken? Has she spoken to anyone yet?"

Even though I despised these dreamwalkers with a passion, and even though he was supposed to be someone I hated I replied, "No, but the others are looking after her so do not worry." His worry lines lowered slightly as he nodded. However, I could still see the worry deep in his eyes. Nothing would lesson his concern, other than seeing or hearing her for himself. I knew how he felt, because that's how I did.

"Come, I'm sure Grace told you on her machine you would be coming with us," I told him directly getting to the point as I motioned to one of the female warriors to allow him to jump on. With a nod she came forward, flinching slightly when lightening lit the sky, and the thunder shook the ground.

"Yes, and I have in these bags what she needs. We'll have to be careful, because some of the stuff is fragile, and if it breaks, she might break me," he tried to joke lightly, but it didn't faze me at all as I nodded and took the bags from him and placed them on my shoulders. He seemed a little hesitant at first, but all the same gave in as he walked over to Waranyu one of many of our best female hunters. She did her best to help him up and once he managed to get situated he looked over at the machine in the field and nodded at the sky person inside. Turning I watched as the female nodded back at him and started up the machine. Within no time she was flying low in the air as she headed back to where they had come from.

With that we turned our direhorses around and headed back in the direction we had come trying the whole time not to be frightened by the storm raging on around us.

When we reached Home-Tree I watched amused as the dreamwalker gawked at the sight before him. It was the same reaction Mia had first had when we had brought her and her brother here only a few weeks ago.

Jumping off the direhorses, and letting them roam free, we escorted the man through Home-Tree and to the room Mia was in. The whole way people watched with interest as he looked around, and spoke to us in our language almost as fluently as Mia had. He had this sort of prideful air to him that almost sickened me. He was not one of us, and he never would be. His attempt to try to fit in was making him stand out like a sore thumb. He might as well just stop while he still had his head.

Opening the beaded curtains to Mia's room I found Neytiri sitting beside JakeSully, holding his hand in comfort. They sat before Mia, who was covered in wet wash cloths. The wound she had received to the head was stitched up, and covered in one of our healing agents, as well as other scraps and cuts she had received. The thing that shocked me the most was the glow she normal had in the moonlight, was fading in and out as her chest rose and fell with each breath.

Mo'at was calling to Eywa spiritually to help Mia, while Professor Augustine stood to the side watching. So when the dreamwalker walked in with me he immediately shot toward Augustine all the while taking the bags from my hand. They spoke quickly and roughly in their native language, as they sat the bags down and began going through them.

Augustine seemed pleased with what the dreamwalker had brought her and told him she would be fine from here. With that the male made his way over to Mia and placed his hand on her as sadness swept over him. JakeSully looked up whispered a strained hello to his friend before looking back at Mia.

"Has there been any change," the dreamwalker asked.

"No Norm, just the fever spiked there for a moment before we brought it down with these," JakeSully pointed to the wet rags. Norm nodded and asked, "I tried to talk her out of it. I really did Jake, but she was so worried about him and about her body that she wouldn't listen. I couldn't stop her, but I tried." Curious I stepped a little closer to listen, but Mia's brother held up a hand silencing him, and ending the conversation with a, "It's not your fault. She wouldn't have listened to anyone. When she has her mind set there's no changing it."

"Tsu'tey," turning to the person who spoke my name I found Grace standing before me, "Yes?"

"Why did you take Mia out into the storms to train when Eytukan clearly gave an order for you to not leave Home-Tree?"Noticing the angry claws of a mother viperwolf in her words I backed up a little, but all the same answered, "I know I should have stopped her, but she wanted to go. She came to me tonight complaining she could not sleep, and that she was afraid to wake her brother, or Neytiri to ask for company. She seemed anxious, and her eyes seemed crazed almost as if she were searching for something to occupy her mind. When she asked to go I told her no, but she didn't listen. She took off before I could get to her. We made it pretty far out into the jungle before I finally got to her. When I convinced her to come back we made our way back, but our originally path had been swept away by the river. She noticed this flimsy log and decided it was the best route. I didn't complain, because at that moment it was the only option we had. However when we crossed she lost her footing, and I lost my grip on her. She hit her head pretty hard against a rock while the river carried her downstream. A few seconds later I dove in after her and brought her to shore. I revived her, but she didn't respond after that. I should have found a safer option. I should have never let her take off into the storm like that."

My anger was getting the better of me instead of any other emotion. I was angry at myself, because I know I could have down something, but I didn't. I should have known something was wrong with her.

"I knew I forgot something when she fell asleep. I should have given her the medication. This would have never happened," Professor Augustine growled in English.

"How would it have helped," I asked switching to English as well.

"She's been having nightmares for a long time and I when I realized this I put her on some medication to help her with it. Basically to make her sleep more peacefully, but if she doesn't take the medication it will return, which it did when I forgot to give it to her last night. People can get into a nervous state after nightmares like the ones she has, and when they do they try to find something to occupy them; something to take their minds off of what their dreams are trying to tell them. They can even get so frantic that they'll do the craziest things. In this case, run out into a bad storm and get yourself injured. It takes something strong to knock some sense into them. Anyhow finding something to do helps them avoid falling asleep again and having to deal with what their conscience is trying to tell them," Dr. Augustine explained as I tried hard to keep up with her English. I understood most of it, even if it came in a rush, but after that I decided to switch back to my own native tongue to avoid confusion.

"So that's what happened to MiaSully. She had a panic," I asked her in Na'vi. She nodded and answered back, "She's been having them for a while, so it's not your fault." Mo'at must have heard our conversation because she walked over and replied, "I might be able to help with that, but we'll need to raise her fever. If it's her conscience we are facing, then that is what's keeping her trapped inside her mind. Eywa is wanting her to face her fears. We've used this on the warriors as the final stage into becoming one. It seems Eywa decided to speed things up."

"So you think if we help to heat the fever that it'll increase her nightmares to where she'll face them, and maybe accept them," Augustine asked with interest. Mo'at nodded and replied, "Yes, but we'll need to be careful. As you said a fever that is too high could hurt her."

"Okay, I'm fine with trying that. You should run it by Jake though. He has a right to know what we're about to do. When the fever increases delirium could set in, which could bring more than what we're asking for, and it might upset him if he doesn't understand the effects of it," Grace warned Mo'at as she listened with open ears. Turning to JakeSully he looked up and nodded as he replied, "If it helps her wake up I'm good with the plan."

"Are you sure Jake? It's going to be very painful for her. We're going to get responses from her for sure if we do this, and they won't be pleasant," Augustine warned her brother with caring eyes, but JakeSully just nodded and whispered, "I'll do anything at this point to make sure I don't lose my sister, Grace." With a nod Grace turned to Mo'at as they began to discuss what they were going to do.

Turning to the other three in the room I walked forward and took a seat next to the dreamwalker named Norm. JakeSully looked up and his eyes narrowed on me. I wanted to punch that look off his face so bad like you had no idea. However I gritted my teeth and bared it as I asked as nicely as I could, "I would like to stay here with my student if it's okay with her brother." JakeSully was about to say something, which I had a feeling wasn't nice until Neytiri squeezed his hand. He looked into her eyes and seemed to understand the look on her face. Turning back to me he whispered in defeat and frustration, "Fine."

A while later, once Mo'at and Grace had started the process of increasing her fever, we all watched as her quiet demeanor suddenly changed as she finally began to elicit responses to her new situation. At first it was just groans of discomfort. The first one seemed to shock everyone as they immediately rushed to her side from opposite sides of the room. When they realized she wasn't awake though they seemed to calm themselves quickly.

Then after a half an hour she began to wiggle as she fought against the blankets Grace had placed on her. Her face scrunched together and her moans of displeasure continued on for an hour.

After an hour was when it got the worst. Instead of moans and groans they turned into shouts, and soon words; words that seemed to shake her brother to the core. Some words turned into names, not all familiar. Many were cries for her brother Tommy, and then a man named Sage. I think she had once mentioned him. I believe it had been her mate that had passed away years ago.

However what finally got to her brother was when her eyes finally did open. When they were glassy looking, glazed over, and crazed. She was still in her mind, but she was awake. The visions she saw, made her talk, and ask weird things, and when JakeSully spoke to her, it about set him running.

"Mia, Mia baby, you're safe now. We've got you, and you're okay…"

"Tommy, please don't leave me ever again. I've been so alone, and I've needed you brother," she cried as tears fell from the corners of her eyes. The normally strong man that sat before me, now had tears in his own eyes.

"Jake, she's just…" but before Grace could finish Neytiri cut in, "I think you need some air Jake." Grace nodded and seconded, "I think that would be best." With that Neytiri stood and walked him out of the room. Norm too stood and turned to Grace, "I think maybe I should go see if he's okay." Grace nodded and then he was gone without another word.

"Mia, this is Grace…"

"Mom…"

"Yeah it's me…are you…"

"Mom can you tell Tommy to come back, and tell dad he still owes me that forty dollars from the bet on that football game," Mia spoke through her delirium. Grace sighed and instead of trying to continue with what she was going to say she answered back, "Don't worry I will. But they won't listen to me."

"They've always been like that," Mia chuckled closing her eyes, and before we could try asking her anything else she was back to sleep.

"What was that all about," I asked looking over to Grace and then at Mo'at.

"She's relieving things. She's not seeing what we see. She's seeing people from her past. She thought Jake was her other twin Tommy, and she thought I was her real mother. This is only one stage of many. It will get worse than this. Much worse," Grace choked as she too finally had to step out leaving me and Mo'at only.

"They are not strong enough to deal," I mumbled as my frustration rose, however Mo'at stopped me before I could go further by holding up her hand, "They are hurting. When we hurt for another, and when we are not in control of it, sometimes there is nothing else for us to do other than walk away and let them be. Sometimes that can prove how strong a warrior is, just by him having the strength to walk away and let something run its course."

With that Mo'at stood and walked towards the beaded curtain. Turning back she replied, "I'm going to go help their friend find a place to rest, and try to get them to rest. Will you watch over her for awhile?" With a brief reassuring nod she left me alone with Mia.

As I sat with her I let my hand take hold of hers now that there were no prying eyes to judge me for my concern. However the moment my hand wrapped around hers, eyes shot open and stared directly at me.

"Mia, it's Tsu'tey," I said in English hoping for a response as I leaned down closer to her. However, when I was close enough to her face she lifted her head, and without warning placed her soft lips upon mine. I was shocked to the point where I couldn't move, however after a couple of moments I pulled away and looked at her stunned.

"What…"

"Sage," she breathed as her lips formed a smile. I lost my breath and it felt like someone had just pulled my heart in two. I don't know why it upset me, but it did. Leaning down I whispered, "No it's me Tsu'tey, not Sage, Tsu'tey. Please Mia snap out of this." Then her body suddenly began to convulse. Shouting for the others I held her down as she fought to get away from me. I heard footfall as someone came running into the room. Looking up I found JakeSully, and Mo'at. With their help I was able to restrain her. She continued to fight until finally through her struggles she exhausted herself and fell into a deep sleep.

Breathing roughly I looked over at JakeSully who had fire in his eyes as he looked between me and her. "What happened," he seethed as Mo'at placed a hand on his shoulder in warning.

"I…she just… she went crazy," I answered him as I pulled back away from her. He continued to look at me with anger, but eventually it slipped away into acceptance.

"If it happens again come find me. I'm going to try and go get some rest. I'll come take over in a little while," JakeSully said stumbling over the words quite horribly, but I still managed to interpret his meaning. Nodding at him he stood and left the room one more. I turned to Mo'at who had something in her hands.

"Professor Augustine asked for us to stab her with this and press this down. She said it will put some kind of calming medicine into her system to keep her asleep for the night," Mo'at said handing it to me. Then she left the room, leaving me alone with the odd object in my hand. Sighing I turned to look at Mia who stirred slightly. Then gaining enough courage I turned to her and followed the directions Mo'at had given me. As I the needle entered her skin she whimpered, but eventually calmed. Pressing the top down; the medicine left the tube and into her body to mix with her blood. As I went to pull out the needle she stirred from her dreams.

"Tsu'tey… Tsu'tey," she whispered in a moan shocking me. Dropping the syringe I leaned forward, but not too close this time. However she remained asleep, and from the way she moved I could tell she was dreaming. Looking down at her queue an idea suddenly came to mind. A thought that I knew I should banish quickly, but it was too tempting, too much of a siren to not to. Pulling my braid forward and pulling it up to the front of my face I looked at my queue. I knew of one way to feel what she was feeling, and to see what she was seeing. Though it was really only used between mates, I knew what connecting the queues could do. It could connect two minds to form into one for just a while.

Taking Mia's braid in my hand carefully I looked at her queue and mine. My mind kept telling me to stop, and to back away before something bad happened, before I crossed a line I knew I should not cross. However my heart told me otherwise. Making up my mind I pulled them closer to one another. When they were within reach of one another they connected into braids and pulled themselves closer together. Immediately I was thrown into Mia's own mind as I shut my eyes and let myself cave into what she was seeing and feeling.

Oooh another cliffy, hehehe. I bet you all hate me right about now LOL. Well I'll try to get another one as soon as I can. It might take a while but I will get one to you soon.

I'd like to give a special thanks to all my reviewers so far- microcheese… Annabelle… Raine44354… darkangel1994… StephiHope.

And anyone that didn't review, but did read the story anyways. You guys are what keep me going. As long as you review I'll have the inspiration to keep writing.