The party made it to the ground in silence, their steps slowing to a stop as they reached the common area. It hadn't even been an hour since they'd been there that morning, but it might as well have been days.

They stood in a tight circle, not saying a word. Their eyes flitting back and forth between each other, until the rigid line of Tsu'tey's shoulders seemed to snap and he was suddenly reaching out, grabbing Jake's wrist in a crushing grip, and pulling him away.

Jake heard, in the back of his mind, Neytiri and Trudy calling after them, but he couldn't focus in on their voices as he stared at Tsu'tey as he was dragged into the underbrush.

They crashed through the foliage bordering the clearing, paying no mind to direction or path as Jake allowed himself to be led further and further into the forest.

It wasn't until Tsu'tey's pace began to slow that Jake's brain started to catch up with him.

"Hey," Jake tried, but Tsu'tey was not stopping, though there was now some slack in his arm, where it had been taunt between them as Jake struggled to keep up, "hey, where are we going?"

As his words hit Tsu'tey's ears, they seemed to snap him out of whatever trance had overtaken him, his fingers twitching against Jake's wrist as he finally came to a stop.

They stood a moment, catching their breath, before Jake tried again, "what's going on?"

Instead of answering, Tsu'tey turned to face him, his eyes hidden in shadows as he squared himself in front of Jake, his grip tightening around Jake's wrist.

Jake was about to try and get some answer out of the other man for a third time, when Tsu'tey all but flung himself against Jake, though, with only a few steps between them, it was more like he simply allowed himself to fall into him.

Jake felt strong arms wrapping around his shoulders, Tsu'tey having had finally released his wrist, and a face being buried against his neck.

Jake faltered for a moment before he reached out to circle his arms around Tsu'tey's midsection—tentative for only a second before tightening his arms around him and pulling him flush against his chest.

He didn't say anything for a while, something was telling him, though he still wasn't exactly sure what had prompted Tsu'tey to drag him out into the forest so suddenly, that his arms around him and his silence were the only thing holding Tsu'tey together.

"I am..." Tsu'tey said after a long while, his voice muffled against Jake's neck, "I am afraid."

"You can't be any more afraid than I am," Jake gave a low chuckle, disrupting the shorter braids falling around Tsu'tey's ear.

"What you agreed to..." Tsu'tey's voice was brittle, "I have never heard of such a thing... to give up your human form..."

"I know," Jake whispered, his throat suddenly feeling too tight, "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have agreed without us discussing it, but... Trudy was right, you know she was. The machinery won't last forever..."

"But you could die," Tsu'tey snapped back, his body rigid beneath Jake's hands.

"I could die a hundred different ways every day-"

"This is different," Tsu'tey's voice was harsh as he pulled back from Jake, just enough to where they could look each other in the eyes, and Jake could see the turmoil contained within them, "this would be something you willingly do, not an accident, not something necessary-"

"But it is necessary," Jake cut him off, "if we want to be together, after all this is over, if we live through it, this is the only way. Don't you want that?" Jake knew he wasn't being fair, but he needed Tsu'tey to understand, "don't you want to fall asleep beside me and know I'm going to be there the whole night through? No more switching between places, it would just be me, here, with you forever."

"Of course I want that," Tsu'tey bit back, Jake had struck a nerve, but still he did not pull away, "but I do not want to lose you because of a choice we made, because of something we could have prevented."

"Tsu'tey," Jake spoke softly between them, taking in the other man's mouth, set in a hard line, his eyes wild with desperation, "I will die out here, maybe not soon, maybe not for years, but it will happen. The generator will give out or life support will shut down or the pod will malfunction, and that'll be it for me being here in this body. And when the masks wear out, there will be nothing we can do, I will suffocate, and I will die and... I don't want to live like that, just waiting until it all gives out."

Tsu'tey tore his eyes away, his jaw set, he knew Jake was right, but he didn't want to let go of the part of himself that told him he was a little right as well.

"Can we not wait until the mobile unit fails? Wait until it is completely necessary?"

Jake considered this for a moment, opened his mouth to agree, to compromise, to make Tsu'tey happy, but then he thought about the battle that was to come, about his body lying in the pod, vulnerable and undefended.

It was a weak spot, something Quaritch would know about and would be able to exploit if he were to find their location.

He shook his head and wished he didn't have to see the hurt burst along Tsu'tey's features, "if they figure out where the mobile unit is, they could attack during the fight, they could kill me there and we'd have no way of stopping them."

"Fine," Tsu'tey snapped, pulling his arms away from Jake's shoulders, stepping back, breaking their contact, "I cannot stop you from doing this."

Tsu'tey turned and began to walk away from the other man, but Jake reached out and grasped Tsu'tey's wrist, refusing to let him leave to wallow in his anger, "I'm doing this for us," Jake begged him to understand, "it makes sense, you're just being stubborn."

"You are asking me to watch you do something that you may not come back from, you will not even listen to what I am saying," Tsu'tey's back was still to him, his face turned away, hidden so Jake could not read his expression.

"I am listening, but I'm also asking you to listen to reason and to trust me," Jake tugged on Tsu'tey's wrists, imploring him to turn around and look at him, but received no response, "you know I wouldn't do this unless I thought it was the only way."

Tsu'tey scoffed at that, and Jake felt it like a physical blow, "how do I know you are not agreeing to this as a means of getting rid of your human form? Perhaps your hatred for your own body has clouded your judgement."

"That has nothing to do with it," Jake ground out, his teeth on edge, temper flaring at the accusation, "and you fucking know that."

"Do I?"

"Stop being such an asshole," Jake snapped, tired of the back and forth, "I would give up this body in a second if I needed to, I would stay in that stupid, crippled human body you love so much forever if that's what I needed to do, if doing that would make you happy."

Tsu'tey shook his head, though Jake still couldn't see his face, his shoulders tense and drawn up nearly to his jaw, "that is not what I meant."

"I want to do this so I can be here with you, all the way here with you, can't you see that?" The fight was leaving Jake's voice, he just felt tired, "I know you're scared, I'm scared too, but this is something I can do to protect us."

Tsu'tey was quiet for a while, perfectly still beneath Jake's hand, and for a moment, Jake steeled himself for whatever new argument the other man had been mulling over.

"You are not wrong in that... I will miss your human form," Tsu'tey said, so quietly Jake almost thought he'd imagined it, but then he continued, his voice growing marginally stronger, "I have many memories of you in that body, it is how I have known you most of our lives."

Jake let out the breath he hadn't realized he was holding, a small, sad smile tugging at his lips, "I know, but... we'll make so many more memories with this body, and they'll be even better because... we'll be together."

Jake watched as Tsu'tey's shoulders sagged, the defiance that had held them taunt draining out of him as he turned to face Jake once more, his eyes only slightly guarded, "I understand why this must be done... but you must also understand why I am not happy that this is how we must do it."

"Of course, but... I'm gonna have to tell Mo'at you don't trust her," Jake shot him a tentative, teasing grin.

"You would not dare," Tsu'tey shot back, fixing him with a glare.

All the residual tension dissipated from Jake's chest as he threw his head back and laughed, his grip shifting from Tsu'tey's wrist down to lace their fingers together.

Once his laughter calmed, Jake squeezed Tsu'tey's hand and felt relieved when the gesture was returned, "are we okay?" Jake asked, his voice quiet.

Tsu'tey looked at him with soft eyes before replying, "yes, my Jake, we will always be okay."

Jake could only nod at that before tugging gently at the other man as he began walking them back towards Hometree, certain that Neytiri and Trudy would be at least a little concerned as to where they'd run off to.

-x-

The next morning came faster than Jake would have liked, dread over the day's meeting with the Olangi looming over him like a thick cloud. Still, he tried to draw some comfort in the few seconds he was permitted to lay peacefully beside Tsu'tey before they had to set out on the day long trek out to the plains of Pandora.

Jake hadn't said much to Tsu'tey after their argument the day before, understanding that the man needed time to process Jake's decision. This, however, apparently was not a courtesy that others felt the need to extend as the topic of Jake and Trudy's upcoming rituals was the first and only topic Mo'at seemed interested in discussing the moment the riding party set out.

"I believe we should preform both ceremonies as soon as possible," Mo'at said with a wave of her hand from her place in front of the trio, as casually as if she were discussing dinner plans, oblivious to the flinches her words elicited in both Tsu'tey and Neytiri.

"Yes, ma'am," Jake nodded, taking up the rear of the pack, wishing he could shut down the conversation without being rude. It wasn't that he didn't appreciate her input or her concern, on the contrary, under any other circumstances he would have been positively delighted that Mo'at was taking him and Trudy into such consideration, but it was obvious that both Tsu'tey and Neytiri were not yet comfortable with the idea of their partners' undergoing a possibly dangerous procedure, and it was their wellbeing that Jake felt himself most concerned with in that moment.

"We will require your human body in order to complete the connection," Mo'at continued, "I am certain Tsu'tey will be more than capable of retrieving you. Once the transfer has been made, we may lay your human form to rest in our burial ground, amongst our warriors."

"Mother!" Neytiri snapped, though Jake only half heard her as Mo'at's words sunk in, his pa'li's steps faltering as his mind stuttered. He recovered enough to see that Tsu'tey's mount had stopped entirely, though only for a moment before continuing on, but it was enough for Jake to know how much the words had affected the other man, "Stop speaking at once, can you not see that you are upsetting them?"

Neytiri gestured with wild, pointed limbs to himself and Tsu'tey. He wasn't sure how the other man looked as Mo'at gave them a cursory glance over her shoulder, but with the persistent, sickly feeling he'd been struck with, he was sure his own face had drained of all color.

He heard Mo'at give a sharp exhale as she turned forward again, "you must release your emotional hold on this human body, it is not Jake-Sully. Jake-Sully is not a body, he is a soul occupying whatever body Eywa places that soul into."

"Yes, but even still," the edge had not left Neytiri's voice as she continued, paying no mind to how disrespectful she may have been acting, "at least stop acting as though this is a normal thing you are planning on doing. Nothing like this has ever been done, especially not by you, you are acting off of faith alone and asking us to trust you-"

"I am our tribe's Tsahìk, daughter," Mo'at said, her voice sharping into the same edge as Neytiri's, "as you will be some day. Everything I do is an act of faith. It was an act of faith for us to allow Jake-Sully to earn his place as an Omaticaya warrior, it was an act of faith to permit the other Dreamwalkers back into our territory, it was an act of faith to accept your bond with Trudy-Chacon. You did not question those actions, because they benefited you, but now that something is not entirely in your favor, now you are unsure if you can trust my judgement.

"You do not understand because you are still a child and you are still ruled by passion and fear, but one day, hopefully before I am gone, you will learn to trust in Eywa and act in faith as well, regardless of who benefits from it."

Jake felt conflicting emotions pulling in his chest, he felt no enjoyment at his friend being chastised, especially when she had been defending himself and Tsu'tey, but he also knew that what Mo'at had said was what they needed to hear.

"I know that you two are frightened of losing your bondmates," Mo'at said, her voice softening a bit, the edge gone from her words, "but what these rituals will entail, the risk involved is combatted by their own power. Eywa will only act as a guide in the process, it will be their strength that brings them out on the other side. You must have faith in your mate's virtues, trust that they are strong enough, that they will fight to live and to come back to you, so you may live your lives together as Eywa had intended."

They fell into silence at that, Neytiri, and Tsu'tey by extension, apparently sufficiently mollified and scolded. Meanwhile, as they travelled deeper and deeper into the jungle, Jake wondered if he would ever get used to the burden of responsibility Mo'at seemed to delight in placing on his shoulders.