Author's Note: Hello, my loves! So, I wasn't sure how I was going to feel about this chapter, but I ended up enjoying it. I am really digging home completely unreliable Jake is in this story. Baby boy really isn't having a good time. He needs a good rest. Desperately so. He needs all the loving and snuggles in the world. I feel so bad for him. But hopefully things will start looking up for him soon enough. Thank you all so much for your kind words and support, they really help me push onward. I hope that you continue to enjoy!

Jake feels a strike of terror run through him. Like a lightning bolt running up and down his spine, and then there is a numbness that settles over him. A different type of terror than the one he's used to. A sting of disappointment lingers however faintly in the numbness. He tries to calm down his pounding heart, shut down any emotions that might be trying to build up in his chest, bubbling up in his throat.

Tsu'tey carefully steps closer, eyes scanning Jake's face over and over again. Peaking over his shoulder to Tommy for a brief moment to confirm how similar they are. But his eyes intensely stare at Jake, taking in every inch of his face. Even though his face is identical to Tommy's, who is right next to him, Tsu'tey is staring at him as if he's never seen him before - which is kind of true seeing as Jake was hiding his face, but it looks the same as Tommy's. It's not unique.

"...Jake..?" Tsu'tey says softly, golden eyes wide.

Jake sighs, rubbing at his face. He drops his gaze to the dirt and grass, wishing for his hat. Digging the toe of his boot into the soft soil, he just sort of shrugs, not sure what to say.

Tsu'tey reaches out, his long hands framing Jake's face, forcing him, albeit gently, to look at him. Tsu'tey steps incredibly close. So close that Jake has to crane his neck up to stare back at the taller Na'vi. With his hat always covering his face, Jake never really got to have a good look at the Na'vi before him. Full lips, slim face, large eyes. Three short braids of varying length dangling in front of his charmingly handsome face. The unique pattern across his forehead, different from all of the avatars that Jake has seen thus far. Beautiful and articulate, like the song-language that he speaks.

The longer they stare at each other, the more uncomfortable Jake becomes, but Tsu'tey looks... almost mesmerized by him.

"Jake..?" Tommy says slowly, stepping around him carefully, looking ready to jump in between them if something was going to happen. Not that Jake would ever think to let Tommy take any hit intended for him. "Do you...do you know Tsu'tey?"

"Yeah, we met," Jake says, wondering what had Tsu'tey so enraptured by his face. He carefully reaches up to grab the hands on his face and slowly pull them off. "You can let go of me now, Tsu'tey."

Tsu'tey's tail swings behind him when Jake speaks, his eyes glued to Jake's face, and when he says Tsu'tey's name, his entire face lights up, as if Jake has never said it before. He has, he knows that he has, but maybe it's different being able to see his face. Although he honestly can't imagine why. Unlike everyone else in the world, there is an exact replica of someone with his face standing a foot away.

Tsu'tey's lips part right as Grace asks, sharply, "Anyone want to tell me what in the world is going on here?"

Jake blinks, forgetting that she was there. He looks over Tsu'tey's shoulder to see the little girl run over to Grace, grabbing onto her hand, tugging on it when the scientist looks down at her and saying something in her language. Grace kneels down to listen to her talk while the spitfire girl launches herself at the lead male Na'vi, snarling and hissing something foul, pushing him away and placing herself between Jake and Tommy and the three male Na'vi.

The eldest of the three girls looks at what Jake is still assuming is her younger sister, creases forming between her eyes before she walks over to Tommy, placing a gentle hand on his shoulder saying something in her language before slowly, carefully, asking in a soft, sweet voice, "Are you okay, Tom? Do this hurts?" She reaches out and touches his chest lightly with the tips of her fingers.

Tommy smiles, taking her hand and giving it a squeeze. "Does this hurt, Sylwanin?" He says, letting out a little laugh. The girl, Sylwanin, smiles at that.

"Does this hurt, Tom?" She repeats.

Tommy shakes his head. "No, Sylwanin. I'm okay. Thank you for asking."

She smiles a bit more before turning to look at Jake, her golden eyes wide and focused as she steps closer to him, taking the hand that isn't being held by Tommy to reach out and cup the side of Jake's face. Jake flinches, stepping back and releasing his hold on Tsu'tey's hands and lowering his eyes to the ground once more, somehow unable to meet Sylwanin's gentle gaze.

He sees her frown in the corner of his vision. He sees her turn to look over at Tsu'tey, only to see that Tsu'tey hasn't pulled his eyes from Jake's face. Jake's ears press back as he sends a look to Tsu'tey, also frowning. Tsu'tey's ears perk a bit as Jake raises his face a bit so that the look sticks. He looks happy, maybe even hopeful despite the look from the avatar teen. His golden eyes still taking in as much detail as he can from Jake's face.

The little girl talking to Grace keeps rattling off something quickly, pointing at the ringleader of the male Na'vi that came here, Grace nodding along carefully. The female spitfire is laying into the ringleader, who appears to be both shrinking away from her and trying to stand tall against her. Sylwanin has switched back into her language, asking something softly to Tommy, all while glancing between the twins, eyes still wide in wonderment.

And then there's Tsu'tey, still staring at him. Jake, honestly, feels like he's going to be sick. All their voices filling his ears, Tsu'tey's eyes not leaving his face, his right knuckles and elbow hurt, and suddenly it feels like it's a million degrees out. And that pa'li from earlier, will not be ignored any longer. Jake feels a wetness on his hand, and it takes patting his side to realize that the pa'li has been chewing on his shirt for the last few minutes, drenching the bottom of it by his right hip in its saliva.

Jake sighs, turning his gaze back to Tsu'tey, gently pushing the pa'li's face away from him. It chuffs, as if annoyed by his audacity, but Jake is just as annoyed. He's going to be feeling this wetness at his side for at least an hour. And he's going to smell like pa'li breath.

Jake's shoulders slump and Tsu'tey's ears twitch as he catches something that Sylwanin said to Tommy, and he glances over at them, ears twitching more as a frown pulls at his full lips. Jake watches as Tsu'tey becomes more enthralled in their conversation. Both in awe and curiosity.

Tommy displays incredible ability in Tsu'tey's song-like language. He stumbles through some words, which only serves to make Sylwanin smile sweetly and help him, or the other sister to hiss a correction to which he smiled sheepishly in return. The younger sister snarls something at the three hunters before turning to Tommy to listen to him as he struggles to say something, gesturing between himself and Jake, saying only one word in English, "twins".

No one corrects him. Not like when he pronounces the words wrong and Sylwanin and the spitfire trade off saying it the correct way. It's almost as if there was no word for twins. Which, Jake has no idea if that's true or not. They probably are just too caught up in the fight or something... right? Then again, they are correcting his wording, but he is speaking their language. That was the only word he used in English, despite struggling through their language.

Jake is honestly impressed by how amazing his brother is. Although he shouldn't be. Jake has always known that Tommy was the best. Alway knew that Tommy could do anything he set his mind to. Anything.

He seems to be explaining why they look the same. Maybe there isn't a lot of twins in the Omatikaya. Or maybe because the avatars are created, they don't know how closely resembling to the real thing that they are. But Jake has no idea. He doesn't understand anything of what they are saying. Had he not heard "twins" clear as day, he wouldn't even have an inkling as to what they are talking about.

Either way, amidst at least two different conversations in a language that Jake doesn't know, he gently pushes the face of the pa'li away as he makes his way over to his discarded hat in the dirt. Jake pulls it low on his forehead to cover his eyes. He looks over at Tsu'tey, who is frowning at him once more. He says something in his song language, obviously unhappy.

Jake sends him a glance before turning his attention toward the three hunters, making sure they were more interested in the conversations around them than getting revenge on him and Tommy. Jake has no idea what prompted their leader to strike out against Tommy, although he suspects it has something to do with the little girl, but he honestly doesn't care for the why. So long as the situation is no longer a threatening one for Tommy. Jake doesn't mind all that much. Hopefully with Grace here, calmer minds will prevail. Not that Jake did much to help in that situation.

Sylwanin says something, to which the younger sister - Jake for the life of him can't remember what Tommy said that her name was - was agreeing with, reaching out to take his younger brother's hand. Jake, hesitantly, felt his hackles rise in worry. When she didn't strike him or hurt him, Jake forced himself to relax as much as he can, while still keeping an eye on her. Whatever Sylwanin said seem to catch Grace's attention. She places a gentle hand on the girl's shoulder before standing up, saying something to the two girls. The hunters jump in and start talking, and Jake can't tell if they are arguing or what.

Jake sighs, watching as the pa'li makes its way over to him, gently nibbling on his shoulder making his skin twitch at the sensations zipping up and down his side, drooling all over the fabric. Jake, gently and tentatively, pets the pa'li's strong, muscled neck, feeling the skin twitch beneath his tingling fingers. It lets out a sound, more akin to what Jake would consider coming from a dinosaur, rather than a horse, but he doesn't comment, seeing as no one seemed to be alarmed by the noise.

Then Tsu'tey is talking too. No English. Nothing that Jake can understand, although thankfully Tommy seems to be struggling to follow along. Well, not thankfully. But at least Jake isn't the only one who is lost here.

Jake slowly walks over to a bench set up outside, just a few yards away. He sits down, leaning forward with his elbows on his knees, just watching as the people in front of him devolve into either a heated conversation, or an argument. Jake has no idea which one it is. He spends a few minutes listening to all of them talk to and over one another. Tommy is looking progressively more lost as they are speaking too fast or over one another and he's not versed enough in the language to follow along. At some point, he just keeps glancing at Grace, hoping that she's following along enough for the both of them.

Grace, thankfully, doesn't appear to be having any sort of issue keeping up.

Jake turns his attention away from whatever is happening in front of him, to press his face into the pa'li's cheek, hiding the tiny smile spreading across his lips, seeing as it decided to follow him over to the bench. This has to be the same pa'li from that first day he met Tsu'tey. He just... knows it. He pulls back as it manages to almost knock his hat off his head. He reaches up to adjust it, shaking his head a bit before moving to stand.

If the fighting is over, then he's going to head back to his duties. It seems to him that Grace has this handled, and no one will notice him slipping away. Or so he thought, he only made it a few feet before a hand wraps around his wrist, holding him in place. Jake tenses up, glancing over his shoulder carefully before letting out a little breath at the sight of Tsu'tey. He's leaning down to be able to look under the bill of Jake's hat, trying to make eye contact.

He says something in his language that Jake doesn't understand, so he just looks away. "I should get back to work."

"Hold on, Jake," Grace says, turning toward them. "We might have to go."

Go where?

Jake looks over at Tommy, who is scratching the back of his head. Carefully, Tommy asks, "Is this a bad thing? I mean... did we do something wrong?"

"No bad," Sylwanin says in English. "Just see to need."

Jake squints but Tommy corrects her slowly, "Need to see, Sylwanin." He reaches up to wipe some dirt from his shirt. "Should we... I don't know... make a plan to go... like tomorrow or something?"

Sylwanin shakes her head. "No tomorrow. Tsahik must see today."

"What...what's going on...?" Jake asks slowly. Were they going somewhere? What's a Tsahik? What are they seeing? What's going on?

No one seems to hear him, which makes sense seeing as Jake said it really quietly, and everyone else seems to be too wrapped up in whatever it is that they're talking about. Jake looks down at his wrist, seeing how easily Tsu'tey's hand was able to wrap around it. The grip is gentle, tightening only when he tried to pull away, but Tsu'tey's attention is already turning away from him again, snapping something at the younger of the two girls.

She frowns at him, eyes dropping to their hands before she looks back at him, rolling her eyes. And in crystal clear English, she says to him, "Stupid."

Grace rubs at her forehead before turning around and heading into the school to speak to one of the teachers, holding the hand of the little girl, leading her inside as well. Jake lets out a little sigh, looking down at the hand holding his wrist, wondering if Tsu'tey would be annoyed with him if he forced him to let go. Just by his hand wrapped around Jake's wrist is enough to send tingles up and down his arms, making his skin pimple both there and along his waist and ribs. It, thankfully, doesn't hurt, but it does make him uncomfortable.

Not just the tingling sensation either, but this sinking feeling in his gut. He quickly pushes it down, burying the feeling as best he can. Not in the mood, or emotionally able to handle what that feeling could mean. Thankfully no one expects him to face it. No one has to know, so no one has to wonder about it. He can still acutely feel the sting of the last time he felt that feeling building in his gut.

Grace comes back out a few moments later, saying something that Jake doesn't understand before everyone starts moving toward the pa'li. Tommy hesitates, sending a look over at Jake, saying, "We got this." Before turning and following after the younger sister and Sylwanin.

As if that meant anything at all to Jake. We got this? Got what?

Tsu'tey turns to Jake, saying something before gently leading him to the pa'li that has soaked through Jake's shirt with its saliva. He happened to notice that it was closer to them again, grazing carefully while watching them. Its ears perk at the sight of the two coming closer, straightening up. Confused, Jake quietly tries to ask Tsu'tey what's going on, but as soon as he opens his mouth, the hunters all start talking at once, climbing onto their pa'li, gesturing before turning and heading into the forest.

Jake looks around, catching Tommy hopping up onto one of the pa'li behind the younger sister, while Grace joins Sylwanin. The other girl comes out of the school house, saying something in the lilt of a question to which the girl in front of Tommy calls out something to her. The girl at the door nods and disappears back inside.

It takes Jake a second to register the sharp tingling sensation going through his legs, hips and waist at the feeling of Tsu'tey practically throwing him up onto the back of the pa'li. Jake pulls his knees together as tightly as he can while straddling the back of the pa'li, feeling the sensation linger in places he doesn't want them to. And once more, he's brought back in time to a place he doesn't want to be.

In a flash, Jake is back in his bedroom, on Earth. And there's Connor, panting in his ear, rutting hard against him. The jeans of their pants separating them. He can feel the boy above him, pressing his thighs open as he kisses Jake's throat and behind his ear. The rutting awakening a heartbeat between his legs. His eyes roll into his head, his chin falls back and his lips part as a shaky breath escapes him -

It takes a few deep, gasping breaths and forces himself to push past the feeling to realize that Tsu'tey has placed himself up onto the back of the pa'li in front of Jake. He watches as Tsu'tey reaches back to grab the long braid falling down the center of his spine and bringing it around to the front. He holds it up and the hair parts to reveal long, skinny tendrils. Jake watches as the tendrils from Tsu'tey's braid intertwine with tendrils from one of the long whip things off of the pa'li's head.

The pa'li stomps its foot before Tsu'tey reaches back, grabbing onto Jake's hands and wrapping them around his waist, placing one hand on where Jake's hands are connected while the other reaches over and grabs at a handle connecting the two whips together. He says something over his shoulder to Jake before the pa'li launches forward. Jake grits his teeth as he presses tightly to Tsu'tey's back, feeling the prickling sensation going up and down his limbs and torso. He presses his face into Tsu'tey's spine, between his shoulder blades, trying to get his body used to this sensation but he can feel it doing something to him.

It's equal parts a good sensation and a bad one. It feels almost pleasurable, but also feels like too much. Like his brain is short circuiting. And not in a pleasurable way. Like a strange mixture of pleasure - in part - of the body, and pain of the body, and also of the mind.

Too much, it's too much.

He feels a pit forming in his stomach. His throat is getting tighter.

Too much. Way too much.

His limbs tingle too much. His skin crawling as the pleasure fades to discomfort.

It's too much.

His ears sharpen, he can hear talking around them. But he doesn't understand. He can't understand them. They aren't speaking English. Why won't they speak English?

It doesn't feel good. It's too much.

Where are they going? What's happening?

He can't do this. He can't do this. He can't do this!

He presses his face hard into Tsu'tey's back, trying to use the heat of his body to somehow anchor himself, despite how much it hurts. Pain... he can't handle pain. But it's not just pain. The sensation doesn't just hurt. It's like his brain is filling with too much information. Too much is flowing through him. It's not the pain. He can handle the pain. It's everything else he can't handle.

It's too much. It's way too much! He can't do this!

Tsu'tey pulls away, feet landing in the dirt as he turns to Jake, holding out a hand to help him down, saying something. Jake's body trembles as he reaches up to pull his hat back down over his forehead. His shoulders curl inward as he tries to control the pounding of his heart and the sensation washing over his body. He practically falls to the ground, Tsu'tey catching him is the only thing that stopped him from crumbling into the dirt.

Jake drops his chin to his chest. He wraps his arms around himself, as if his arms could hold his body together. They start walking but he doesn't know where, too busy staring down at his feet, trying desperately to push past the cotton and fireworks going off in his brain. This fucked up avatar feels like it's falling apart. While he may have been getting used to the sensations in small doses, he's not accustomed to this body being so sensitive to literally everything. He hates this.

He hates this. He hates this. Hehatesthis.

"Jake?"

Jake looks up just enough to see Tommy walking next to him, face twisted in worry from beneath the bill of his hat. Jake can't speak, his throat feels like it's sealed closed. His chest hurts. His body isn't easing up. Like it's too stimulated.

"Are you okay?" Tommy asks, his voice distorted in Jake's head, as if he's at the end of a tunnel.

Too much. This is way too much! He can't do this!

Jake wraps his arms around himself more. He can't even open his mouth. He doesn't even know how he's moving right now. He can't do this. He can't do any of this. It's too much.

He feels the terror - the too much, whatever that is - making it harder to move. Harder to breathe. He can't do this. He wants to go back. He doesn't want to be in his avatar anymore. He just wants to lay down, curl up into a ball, and sleep forever. He needs to sleep. He needs to get away. He needs to not be here anymore. He just wants to curl up into a little ball and sleep forever. Why can't he? Why won't they let him go? What did he do? What aren't they letting him know? Why won't they tell him why he can't just go back and sleep? He just..! He needs..!

He feels past the numbness just enough to know that people are staring at him. Surrounding him. And he is. Aside from Grace and Tommy, Jake is surrounded by the people of this world. The Na'vi. Omatikaya. He's in some sort of strange structure that he can barely see beneath his hat, but he doesn't remember walking in here. He has no idea how so many people managed to surround him without him realizing that they are there.

He doesn't know how this happened. He doesn't even know what happened. Where are they? What's going on? They are talking, he can just barely hear them over his pounding heart, but they aren't saying anything that he can understand. They aren't speaking English. He doesn't understand what's going on. Why won't anyone just tell him what was happening?

He can't do this. He can't do this!

He sees a Na'vi woman, standing next to an ornately decorated Na'vi man. Both intricate and vibrant, even in a crowd of elegant and vibrant people. They are talking to Grace, who's talking back. Tommy is saying stuff, waving his hand from his forehead, like Tsu'tey has greeted Jake with every time they've seen each other. Tsu'tey steps closer to Jake, placing a hand on Jake's back that sends more of those sensations up and down his spine, making him grit his teeth more, wondering vaguely if his teeth are going to crack from this pressure.

All the surrounding Omatikaya and the man and woman both look between Jake and Tommy. Someone steps forward and knocks Jake's hat off of his head. He flinches at the action, muscles aching from how tightly he's tensing them. Tommy, seeing the action, snaps, "Hey!" But it's muffled, like he's hearing it as though he was deep under the water. All the while Tsu'tey hisses at whoever it was.

Now everyone is staring at them, seeing them. Jake can't do this. He can't deal with this. He can't have them staring at him. He can't do this. He needs to get out of here. He needs to get out of here. He needs to. He wants the numbness that comes with the terror. He'll beg for it, if he has to. He wants the terror. He wants to feel pain. Enough pain and he'll be able to go to the place that doesn't hurt. He could go there until whatever it was that is happening right now is over. He needs this. He needs to get away. He can't do this. He can't do this. He can't do this!

Now, Tsu'tey is staring at him, face twisted in confusion. He tilts his head to the side, nostrils flaring a bit as if trying to drink in the air around him.

But Jake can't... he can't... He needs to get out of here. He wants to go back. He wants to go to the forest, go on patrol. He wants to go and work out back at the complex. He wants to be anywhere that isn't right here.

Tsu'tey is saying something to him, but he can't hear it, his brain is only partly recognizing that he's there, touching his back and shoulder, trying to say something but at this point Jake can't even tell if he's speaking English or not. Jake doesn't know. He doesn't know anything. He just doesn't want to be here. He wants to be gone. He wants to have never existed in the first place. He hates it here. He hates himself. He hates this stupid avatar body. He hates that it doesn't fucking work at all.

He hates... everything!

But nothing more than himself. Then his weakness. He has no idea what he did wrong. Was it the fight? Was it because he intervened and attacked one of the Omatikaya? Is everyone in trouble because of him? Did he ruin everything that Grace has done? That she has been trying to build up until this point? Did Jake really just destroy all of that? With one simple fight?

They were all right. Every single one of them. Jake has always been the problem. He always was the problem. Always will be the problem. He really does ruin everything that he touches.

"Jake?" Tsu'tey asks, his voice finally piercing through the haze in his brain just enough for Jake to finally look at the taller teen. He can feel the trembling across his body, the pain and tension there. He feels completely drained. He feels the built-up fatigue from both his body and mind weighing him down like a ton of bricks. He can't do this. He can't be here.

A single tear slides down Jake's cheek. Tsu'tey's eyes follow it down to his chin, ears pressing back against his skull. He blinks a few times perplexed as if he's not sure what he's seeing, glancing at Jake's eyes, expression morphing into a mixture of confusion and worry.

Jake is exhausted. He feels too much. He can't stay here. He needs to leave.

"Why this?" Tsu'tey asks in broken English, reaching up to lightly wipe the tear track away, honestly confused.

The sensation is too much, even with how light of a touch it is. Jake jerks away, taking enough of a step back so that he can put some space between himself and the teen that has been wasting his time trying to get something from Jake these last few weeks. Jake feels his tail wrapped around his thigh in a death grip that he hadn't noticed until he tried to move. He glances down enough to see it coiled down the length of his leg. And with his arms wrapped around himself and his shoulders pulled in tight, Jake's about as small as he can make himself without curling up into the fetal position.

Tsu'tey has a flicker of hurt pass over his features at Jake pulling away, but his throat bobs with swallow as he takes in Jake's posture, ears twitching even while pressed back.

Jake wanted to ask. He wanted to open his mouth and put into words everything that was bothering him. He'll apologize. He's never strayed from it before. He will say and do whatever he has to do in order to make this all better. He didn't mean to mess everything up. He didn't mean to ruin all of Grace's hard work. He didn't even think when he attacked those hunters. He just wanted to keep Tommy safe. It's all that he ever wanted.

Suddenly, his head is spinning, and Jake's ears focus in on loud gasps around him. He raises his eyes, slightly, to see balls of white light lowering down from the ceiling above. As they drift closer, Jake sees the little tentacle thing from outside his window. One has never gotten this close to him while he was in avatar form, and if they have, Jake never noticed. One is about eye level with him, hovering as it dances back and forth gently.

Jake raises his head a fraction more, still mostly wrapped around himself to see that he's surrounded. All the dozen or more little bulbus creatures ascending around him, resting, weightlessly on his shoulders and arms, he can barely feel a tickle on top of his pressed back ears.

He hears Tommy, vaguely, whisper his name, and he can see wonder and curiosity on his and Grace's faces, between the spitfire and Sylwanin, both of which have wide eyes and mouths hanging open. The clan around them seem to be either leaning away in shock or leaning forward in awe. The ornately dressed female moves closer, slowly, her own golden eyes wide, studying the bulbus creatures.

Too much. This is too much. He can't do this! He can't have everyone staring at him. Judging him. Hating him. He just wants to fall into the earth and vanish forever. He doesn't want to be here. He doesn't want to do this!

His eyes catch the dancing bulbus creature, as it shimmies closer, drawing him in. More and more and more. Jake feels... comfort. He feels an escape. Like a light beckoning him from the darkness. Giving him an escape.

Jake has a place that he goes when he's in pain. A place in his mind that the pain can't reach him. But the terror has always anchored him in his body. It always held him in place, even as the numbing sensation washed over him. He's never experienced these feelings to these magnitudes before in his avatar body. Maybe that's why it's too much. Maybe that's why he feels like he's falling apart. His avatar isn't used to these things. Doesn't know how to handle them. That's why it feels like he's breaking down. Why he's falling apart.

But the bulbus thing offers safety. It draws him in and wraps him in warmth. It glows, brighter and brighter as the galaxy within it twinkles and swirls. Jake doesn't fight it. He doesn't let it slowly draw him in. He jumps, headfirst. He needs to get away, he can't stay here. He can't do this.

And a light wrap around his mind, filling him with warmth and - thank God! - numbness. The intense sensation of his body washing away as his eyes roll up into his head, and he falls into the twinkling starlight.