18. Chapter 18

**FIREFLY**

_**000**_

**Only a few more chapters left. Who wants an Epilogue and what kind?**

**Also, please expect multiple updates today/tomorrow. I have sat down and decided to write until this is finished. Two or three chapters. Keep posted and check my facebook. Each new chapter will be linked on there.**

It felt like he was reliving a nightmare. He felt sick and light headed and too hot, all at the same time, as he sat, huddled in Zuleika's arms with an unfinished hammock-cloth wrapped around his body. He knew his body was in shock and that even though he felt too hot, that was only because his skin felt like ice and yet was still sweating profusely.

The only reason he was even present for the War meeting was because he refused to stay put in the upper canopy and let his family fight them alone, he refused to send them to their deaths and not do everything within his power to protect them. Zuleika was cradling him almost as though he were a child, normally he would have been offended but given how badly he was trembling, he couldn't seem to find it within his pride to feel anything but affection for the woman. And fear that she would join the warriors and lose her life.

"The see through armour of their transport, it's too thick to pierce with _just_ bows and arrows," Harry advised as they discussed attack plans and options. "Shooting down from an Ikran though, that should be enough to break through the glass. If we use Mother's Bone for the Pa'li mounts then they should also be able to pierce that armour."

Eytukan nodded, "Tsu'tey, you are our best flier. You will lead the warriors in the air. N'deh, I leave the Pa'li to you," he decided, nodding to his most trusted and senior Warrior. The hunter bowing his head in acknowledgement, he looked uncomfortable and unhappy. They all did, but his was a more personal reason as Harry saw Grace's lithe Na'vi form trying to slip through the crowds.

Eytukan stepped forward to his people, "Tsu'tey will lead the War Party from the air!" he decreed. His successor had grown into a fine man and a great leader, over the years he had seen the fire in his eyes burn hot, wild and dangerous even to the boy himself. But then Harry came into their lives and that fire cooled. No, not cooled... settled. Becoming low, white hot embers that forged the best blades of war. Embers that if provoked correctly could burst into violent wild-fire that consumed everything and everyone. The kind that had to consume itself before dying out.

He watched as Tsu'tey called to his warriors, lifting his bow high over his head. For a moment, Eytukan felt guilt over his arrangement of Neytiri to Tsu'tey. Over the years, he and Mo'at had observed the warrior's attempts to gain favour with their daughter but... they had hoped such problems would be resolved upon their Mating beneath Eywa's eyes and love. But watching Tsu'tey and Harry get closer, neither of them realising or even noticing, Eytukan felt heartache as it became all too obvious that had Tsu'tey not been promised to Neytiri... Eywa would have smiled with joy on the two men.

And then there was Teacher Grace, desperately trying to calm the situation, the fear in her eyes impossible to ignore. Fear for them. Not of them. Eyes that feared, lingering on N'deh, who would not look at her. And again, guilt stabbed at him. Because he had forbidden the Dream Walkers from Hometree, the evening before N'deh intended to request her favour. Forbidden them from mating. And N'deh's heart broke all over again. He would not even look at Teacher Grace for fear of betraying Eytukan's trust, the trust of his people. If it had not been for Harry, there was no doubt in Eytukan's mind that N'deh would have already returned to Eywa, unable to stomach the heartache.

"_You do not speak here!_" Tsu'tey barked, scowling at Teacher Grace. Despite Jakesully, he was fond of the Dream Walker teacher, somewhat. But Harry's words about her people rang in his ears. If he drove the woman off, she could not tell them of their plans. She would be able to speak truth when her people came to her and demanded to know why she had not told them. She would be safe. As safe as he could make her. "We will strike them in the heart!" he roared, garnering cheering cries of approval throughout the tree.

"_Tsu'tey! Don't do this!_" a foreign voice broke in, calling from the otherside of the crowd as they approached. Harry felt his heart drop to the bottom of his feet as he struggled to stand, Zuleika's hands swatting him and making sure he couldn't get to his feet.

Neytiri. Neytiri and Jake.

"_No... please, no,_" Harry breathed as his eyes tracked down to their joined hands as Tsu'tey swung his bow off, thrusting it at N'deh as he made his way over to the pair.

"_You!_" Tsu'tey snarled, hackles rising as he stalked toward the Dream Walker, fury radiating from every inch of him.

"_Listen, Brother-_ " Jake never got any further as Tsu'tey snarled and shoved him backwards, as far away from Neytiri as he could manage without killing him. And he was tempted to. Harry could read it in every line of the Warrior's back, he wanted to kill Jake.

"No! Tsu'tey! Don't!" Neytiri cried, catching at his arm and chest, her small bird-like hands halting his anger, reigning it in. However briefly. Tsu'tey would never raise a hand against her. He couldn't. Not when he loved her so much.

"_You mated with this woman?_" the Warrior demanded, his voice rasping as he swayed in place, unable to cease moving entirely with his agitation.

Harry closed his eyes in pain, shrinking back against Zuleika.

"_Oh, shit!_" Grace swore.

There was a moment of silence as the words sank in, Mo'at tipping forward like a storm moving across the horizon. "_Is... this _true?_" she growled, glaring into her daughter's golden eyes.

Neytiri hunched over slightly, defensively, even as her head jutted forward and up, "_We are mated before Eywa. It is done,_" the girl declared firmly. Sounding every bit the rebellious teenager who was determined to believe their decision was correct and everyone who said anything otherwise was wrong.

You could have heard Tsu'tey's heart breaking as he slowly turned away, unable to do anything when confronted with the girl's eyes, unwilling to lash out at her in anger.

How could she...?

How _could_ she do this now? To them? To _him!_

Harry sucked in a trembling breath. How could she... After all those years... Knowing that she was going to destroy their best friend? How could she...

How _dare _HE_?

Anger seared at Harry's insides. How _dare_ Jake Sully do this to her! He knew better! He fucking knew better!

He gritted his teeth.

"_Brother, do not attack the Sky People. Many Omaticaya will die if you do!_" Jake spoke desperately, and Harry could see Tsu'tey's anger changing, moving targets. They couldn't afford blood right now!

"_How could you?_" the Wizard broke in softly, causing everyone to still once again.

Jake blinked, staring down at the tiny figure swaddled up in the Blacksmith's arms as he struggled to his feet. He looked terrible, his skin was chalk white and clammy, his markings standing out like bruises as his eyes, red rimmed and fever bright stared directly into his own.

"_How could you do that to her... knowing what you do,_" he stated, mouth twisted as if in pain.

"_Hari, please, what..._" Neytiri trailed off when the human snapped a hand up, palm facing her. She pressed her lips into a line and stepped back. But all the while his eyes hadn't left Jake even as he staggered forward, Tsu'tey raising an arm to stop him before he went any closer to the pair – still unable to face Jake or Neytiri but unwilling to allow Harry anywhere near the Dream Walker.

"_How could you mate to a sixteen year old girl,_" Jake's head snapped around to Neytiri, his eyes widening in shock. She was only sixteen? "_knowing what the humans are going to do? Knowing... that you've ruined her for life._" Guilt burned, almost physically painful, in Jake's gut, even as confusion whirled in his head. He hadn't ruined her for life... had he? "_To mate with a Na'vi, is to open your mind and your soul to them, Jake. She will never mate with anyone, except for you. She will never start a family, except with you. She will never be _happy_, except with you. _

"_You have ruined her, Jake Sully. You have killed her._"

Jake visibly paled as this information sank in and he looked between Neytiri, who was watching him with wide, innocent golden eyes, and Harry, who was staring at him with what felt like lasers for eyes. Intense and burning.

"_I... I..._" he stumbled over his words, unable to speak, unable to form a thought. He hadn't been thinking, hadn't realised how important it was to the Na'vi. He just... he went with what felt right. But he was beginning to realise that the ideals of right and wrong he was raised with were different to the ones here. Earth was rather sexually liberated, where as here... yes they may run naked the majority of the time but...

Harry shook his head, fingers knotting in Tsu'tey's chest piece, "_Save it,_" he told him quietly, "_What's done is done. The only way to make amends now is to take responsibility. You are Omaticaya now, whether I like it or not. And I most certainly do not, Jake Sully, have no doubt of that. I know your military and their way of thinking too well to trust you._" Jake winced, recalling how Quaritch reacted when he told the old War Horse about Harry living with the Na'vi. "_Tell us what is coming, Jake. Why are there bulldozers moving through the forest? Why did they tear up the Tree of Voices? And tell us... why are you here?_"

Jake swallowed, wetting his lips as he looked between all the hostile faces around him, Neytiri's being the only exception as she gazed at him with such trust and naivety, he felt like scum just looking

at her. How could he have... How could he have missed the signs? She looked like an eighteen year old, she acted like it too sometimes but at others... there were times when she seemed younger and it was those times that Jake just... thought she loved her world. The beauty of it. He should have realised. Just because there were no mobile phones, clubs, alcohol or parties, didn't mean that sixteen year old's here would act the same as the ones back home.

"Grace!" Neytiri gasped as the teacher's eyes rolled back into her head and her whole body went limp, tumbling to the ground like a marionette with all of it's strings cut.

Jake swallowed, his fear rising, "_Oh, no,_" he whispered. "_Okay... Look... I was sent here to –_ " His eyes rolled back and he fell forward, limp.

Tsu'tey turned, eyes narrowing, but he didn't move as it became all too obvious that the only thing stopping Harry from falling back down as his rather shaky grip on Tsu'tey himself.

"Ma Jake!" Neytiri gasped, rushing over to her mate.

Harry sighed, quietly, leaning against the Warrior. "So, he really was sent here. I had hoped, for her sake..." he trailed off feeling Tsu'tey tense, still refusing to look at the woman he loved and the man she chose over him. Harry nudged him with his head, "Come, there is much planning left to do," he reminded the Warrior.

Tsu'tey drew a tremulous breath, held it, and then breathed out. He nodded and the two of them returned to Eytukan's side, leaving Neytiri to care for her mate alone.

She made her bed. Now she had to lie in it.

_**000**_

"The only thing that can break through that wall is a herd of Angtsik, and I don't know if they've reinforced the wall since then," Harry explained pointing to the crude map of the Sky People's home structure made out of leaves and twigs on the ground. "They tend to reinforce walls they want to last against dangerous things with the bone of their Mother. Here, here, here and along this wall at lengths of five Ikran wing spans are gun platforms. They're like the black staffs they use but larger, more powerful. These _can_ punch through Angtsik armour. It's to protect them from attacks from the air, but only up to a certain angle. They can't point straight up."

This was what Jake overheard as he and Neytiri sprinted for her parents. A lot of it didn't make sense, but what he did, painted a chilling picture of how open Hell's Gate was to an attack if someone knew her defences well enough. And Harry... Harry knew war, he knew war the way that Jake knew war. Black Ops, Guerilla tactics, Wolf Operations. Get in, cause damage, get out. Often times, leaving no survivors.

"Mother! Father!" Neytiri called as they ran into the base.

"Ma Eytukan, I have something to say!" Jake told them. Both of their body languages were tense, frightened, serious. This was no longer about their Mating. This was something else, something even more serious.

All the Warriors climbed to their feet, even Harry – whose legs were still shaky but otherwise fine.

"Listen," Grace pleaded, having shown up with them while everyone's attention was fixed upon the young couple. She was resigned though, fearful, and full of dread.

Eytukan frowned, "Speak, Jakesully," he told his daughter's Mate. For all of his impudence in claiming his daughter, he was still one of the People, still one of _his_ people. And now, the Olo'ekan guessed, his son. For better or worse.

"A great evil is upon us," Jake explained breathlessly, his words tumbling out in a panic. "The Sky People are coming..." He swallowed, searching for the words, "To destroy Hometree! _Look, tell them they're gunna be here soon!_" Jake pleaded, turning to Neytiri who echoed his words. "_You have to leave, or you're all gunna die!_"

Mo'at stepped forward, she looked ill, "_Are you certain of this?_" she begged.

Jake looked between them, his eyes landing on Harry and locking, "_Look, they sent me here to learn your ways. So one day I could bring you this message and you would believe it._"

Mo'at's ears flicked back as she turned to look at Eytukan, the truth of the matter registering into her, the knowledge of what had happened in these last three months. Neytiri blinked, seizing her mate's arm in confusion.

"_What are you saying, Jake? That you knew this would happen?_" she asked tentatively, her eyes pleading with him to say no, to tell her that he didn't know.

Harry gritted his teeth, turning away from the scene, he couldn't... he... She had brought it on herself but she was still... still his little sister. His fingers found Tsu'tey's and gripped them tightly as he leaned his forehead against the Warrior's bicep. He didn't want to see her face, he didn't want to hear her voice breaking and cracking with grief and betrayal.

"_Yes,_" Jake admitted, sounding as if the word had to be ripped out of his throat with barbed wire. "_Look, at first, it was just orders,_" he continued, talking fast, trying to take the pain off, trying to explain, trying to reason. Trying not to hurt her. But it wasn't going to work. Harry shook his head slightly, feeling Tsu'tey's grip on his fingers tighten briefly as he shuddered with a mixture of anger, pity and sadness. "_A-and then, everything changed. Okay? I fell in love. I fell in love with th-the forest and the Omaticaya people. With you_," he continued, stumbling every now and again with how quickly he tried to speak, tried to reassure her.

Neytiri's face twisted, her eyes were burning even as something hot and thick rose up in the back of her throat, making it difficult to breathe. Even his hands burned on her skin. She felt cold. As if everything were far away and her eyes and nose were hot and stuffy. She couldn't...

"_I trusted you,_" she whimpered, fighting his hands, trying to push them away but he wouldn't, he couldn't. If he let go now, he would lose her, he didn't care that she was only sixteen, he'd done her wrong, he'd put her in pain, he'd fallen in love with her without knowing how old she was, without knowing their ways. He didn't care! He loved her. The mere idea of her being here, when the RDA arrived with the gunships, it turned his blood to ice.

"_With you! With you!_" he kept repeating, reaching to her.

She shook her head, batting his hands away, pulling her arms out of his reach, "_I trusted you. I trusted you!_" she cried, her voice breaking, pain and tears she would never let fall thickening in her voice. And Harry trembled, hearing her in pain.

"_Then trust me now, please,_" Jake begged softly, still reaching to her, pain and heartache etched onto his face as anger swallowed Neytiri's features and she screamed at him.

"YOU WILL NEVER BECOME PART OF THE NA'VI!" the girl screamed sobbing as she screamed in his face. She shoved him backwards, "_YOU WILL NEVER BE ONE OF THE PEOPLE!_"

"_I shouldn't have – " "We tried to stop them!_" Both Jake and Grace spoke at the same time, but Neytiri wasn't having any of it. Screaming at both of them.

"NEVER ONE OF THE PEOPLE, NEVER!"

"_Neytiri, please!_" Jake begged stepping forward.

"Daughter," Mo'at whispered, her heart twisting at the pain in her voice, at the mere concept of her so newly mated and discovering him to have betrayed her, ruined her, just as Hari had said.

"No!" Neytiri grunted through gritted teeth, skipping backwards, touching her mother for reassurance before turning and retreating.

Eytukan took a breath, casting a look at Tsu'tey, "Bind them," he growled, fighting against his own anger, anger at himself, anger over their betrayal, anger at his daughter, at Jakesully, at the Sky People.

The Warrior nodded in acceptance and marched forward, the two Dream Walkers not even fighting back as the Warriors took them. They just continued speaking, begging them to leave, telling them it wasn't safe. No, it wasn't safe, Tsu'tey knew that, Eytukan knew that, Mo'at knew that. But where could they go? This was their home. It had been since before the time of the first songs.

"Ninat!" Tsu'tey called, catching the young woman's attention, she blinked up at him with wide green-gold eyes. There was no pity, understanding, sadness and acceptance, but no pity. He had always liked that about her. "Take Hari and leave this place. If the worst should happen, to be here would destroy him," he reminded her and despite the dubious look on her face, she nodded.

"He will not leave you quietly," she pointed out.

"Carry him if you must. I do not want him here when the Sky People attack," he growled, mind casting back to days long gone by, dark days, when the Magi's heart was broken and his mind drowned in darkness.

Ninat nodded and left. Presumably to go and take Hari somewhere safe.

"Ikran riders, to me!" Tsu'tey hollared over the heads of his Brothers and Sisters, pausing only briefly to glance at Jake and Grace as they were strung up within plain view. The Sky People would see them and know of their refusal to leave.

"Hari!, this way!" Ninat called, racing over to her Mate's chosen child. Zuleika had never put it into words, but for Ninat, the way her mate treated the Magi was like a mother to a son, or an aunt. It was hard to tell at times. He was struggling to carry the vast number of arrows and run towards the warriors on his still weak legs. Seeing the arrows, tipped with Mother's Bone, gave her pause. He had been expecting this. She slowed to a jog, "You knew this would happen," she decided, eyeing the arrows.

"I knew Jake would betray us. I just didn't know how, or whether or not he would do so willingly or consciously," he admitted.

Ninat nodded and collared one of the older children, in training to become a Warrior, "Take these to the Olo'ekan outside," she ordered, taking the arrows from Hari and giving them to the child who took off with a serious nod.

"Ninat!" Harry snapped, frowning.

"Come. I have to get you out of here,"

she stated firmly, stepping forward and sweeping him up under one arm. He was exceptionally light and thankfully only up to her chin in height – and she was considered short. The Magi however slithered out of her grasp.

"Ninat, I am _not_ leaving," he snapped, frowning at her. "How can you even think to ask me to leave? To abandon the People when they need me the most?" he asked, hurt and confused and angry. "None of you have had to face the Sky People's weapons proper. I can help," he declared.

Ninat shook her head, "We aren't foolish, Hari. We know this fight is lost," she told him gently, kneeling slightly to cup his face. "But we shall fight anyway. But should the worst happen, we do not want you to suffer. We do not want you to witness it. We do not want you to break, Little Brother," she told him before wrapping her arms around him and lifting. "And I will not allow you to come to harm," she vowed, her voice dark and promising.

She would give her life before she allowed a Sky Person to harm him. He was their treasure.

"Ninat! Let me go! Please!" he begged, writhing in her grasp as she ran for one of the few Pa'li mounts that had not been taken by a warrior, or spooked by the rising tension in Hometree.

"Never, Hari. Never," she stated, risking one free hand in order to commit Tsaheylu and aid in mounting.

"Ninat! Tsu-Tsu'tey and Mo'at and Neytiri and Eytukan are still back there! Zuleika is still back there! I can't – "

"You can and you _will!_" she snarled, tightening her grip around him as she hugged him low down onto the Pa'li. "Trust them to return to you, Hari! Trust them!" she ordered, spurring her mount to run faster as the sound of the Sky People's curious flying creatures filled the air.

Harry screamed as fire lit up under Hometree, "_NO! NO, GODDAMN IT!_" he screamed, clawing at Ninat's back, watching everything from over her shoulder. Watching as the men and women he had come to love fled from the scene of hell behind them, children staggering and falling, staggering back to their feet and tottering on. He was crying, he could feel it, but he realise why, unable to tear his eyes away. "Ninat! Let me go! Let. Me. GO!" he roared, eyes widening as he saw a second set of missiles unleashed.

He reached for his magic and screamed, feeling Eywa burning and splitting him from the inside. Her power was huge, massive, thick and potent and he could feel it destroying him from the inside as he reached for her power. He needed to shield Hometreee, he needed to protect them!

He needed to protect them!

The explosions hit, throwing them off the Pa'li.

_**000**_

**End of chapter eighteen.**

**Two small notes: One, Harry doesn't have an adverse reaction to Hometree being destroyed. It is a tree, yes a big one, but it isn't connected to Eywa in the same way that the Na'vi or the Tree of Voices was.**

**Two, Neytiri's age. In the original scripts, she was sixteen. In the film, she is supposedly eighteen. However, I call bullshit on the latter. If she were eighteen, she would have already been forced into mating with Tsu'tey – such is the way of tribal communities. They live short lives and die young, usually by age thirty. The Na'vi live considerably longer, yes, but it doesn't change the fact that as a tribal community if a male can choose a woman when they become a Warrior and are reborn as a member of the people, Neytiri would have been a great deal younger than eighteen. **