I'M BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACK!

Hi, hello and good day to everyone!

I am still alive and here with a new small chapter.

I know it's a short chapter but still. I found time where I could and here it is.

I'm NOT giving up on my stories, I got them (kinda) planned out so I just need to write them.

For those who are following both stories, yes I will be writing the other as well.

Life keeps me busy so there'll be very inconsistent updates but I will continue.

Hope you're all having a great time and I hope you're looking forward to the next one.

See you!

Chapter 05 - The end of the beginning

Grace's eyes snapped open. The tranquilizer might have worked on the avatar but it only meant that she woke up in her own body back at Hell's Gate and her blood was boiling.

Pushing open the lid she tore off the chest monitor when she got up nearly breaking it, her mind had a single goal. She needed answers and she needed them now and only one person had those; Apone. She didn't even acknowledge the other people in the link room who tried to stop her and who were trying to figure out what was happening and it wasn't until Sally stepped out in front of her, grabbed her by the shoulders, and shouted at her that she stopped.

"Grace! What's going on?!" Sally looked directly into Grace's eyes, ensuring she had her full attention.

It seemed to work as Grace's eyes focused on Sally's, but the fire within them nearly made Sally let go and step back.

"They shot them." Grace said quietly through clenched teeth.

"What?" Sally asked confused.

"They shot them!" Grace shouted, "They shot them right outside the school! And then when I asked where…" Her eyes became unfocused but only a second before she grabbed Sally by her lab coat.

"Harry! You still got him monitored right? Where is he?"

One of the younger link assistants, Max Patel if she remembered correctly, spoke up.

"Uhm, the monitor we had on him went flat."

Grace slowly turned her head to look at Max who quickly held up a tablet showing Harry's information which had one striking detail: the heart rate monitor was flatlining.

The silence in the room was suddenly deafening.

A normal person might have broken down, might have cried, maybe even screamed but Grace was not a normal person. Her eyes scanned the tablet and saw one detail that stood out to her, the small part that said 'connection lost' and she held on to that information fiercely.

Once more her eyes sharpened into a laser focus and she pushed past Sally rushing out the door and down the hall, leaving the stunned scientists and technicians behind.

Entering the hangar she found her target.

"Apone!" Even in the noise of the hangar, she shouted loud enough to not only getting Apone's but everyone's attention. Even a couple of people stood attention on reflex by the tone of her voice.

Apone turned away from the AMP suits and faced her with a complicated look as if he already knew something.

"Apone! What the hell is going on? What just happened?" Grace shouted as she stomped towards him.

Apone let out a tired and sad sigh.

"Miss Augustine…" He began, even with her vague question he knew what she asked about.

"Facts! Now!"

He looked at her, really looked and rubbed the bridge of his nose before standing a bit straighter.

"There was an insurgent attack on one of our bulldozers. I sent a team to intercept who followed the insurgents to your school where, according to their report, the Navi had taken Mr. Black hostage. When the insurgents realized that there was no way out they killed Mr. Black, which led to my team opening fire, taking out the insurgents." Apones voice was even and collected even though his eyes had softened. "I'm sorry for your loss." He said finally in a kind tone. Apone was ready for her to cry or shout in his face. He couldn't help but be surprised when Grace's eyes hardened and her face turned stoic.

"That's not possible." Her voice was firm. Apone scanned her face. She didn't seem like one who was in denial but instead one who spoke with certainty.

Apone was about to speak when she turned on her heels and walked away. He shook his head and chalked it up to shock. Everyone knew how close Harry Black and Grace Augustine had been, there even was a gambling pool about when they would get married. Yes, he thought to himself, people react differently to shock.

When Grace returned to the link room all eyes were on her.

"Grace?" Sally asked.

"Put me back in." Grace said and walked over to her link unit.

"We can't…" Sally started but she was cut off.

"Put me back in now!"

"Your avatar is still down and in route to Hells Gate." One of the assistants said who quickly hid behind a tablet to avoid Grace's hateful stare.

Grace scanned the room with such intensity that everyone took a step back.

"Also," Sally said, making Grace focus on her again, "In your emotional state it might not be a good idea. We have no idea how your heightened state could affect the sync process:"

Sally gently put a hand on Grace's shoulder and led her over to a table.

"There's nothing we can do right now, so why don't you tell us everything from the beginning, it might help." Sally told her while guiding her to a chair.

Grace sat down stiffly. Grace wasn't dumb, far from it and as she realized that there was nothing she could do at the moment she took a deep breath, willed herself to calm and then she started talking.

Everyone listened in silence and as she talked a chill went through the room. Everyone got the feeling that things had reached a point of no return and that this was only the beginning of something much bigger.

They had no idea how right they were.

.

.

.

The home tree was loud. Shouts and cries from all the Na'vi standing around the fallen that had been brought back.

Tsu'tey was standing next to his fallen brothers and sisters, but his eyes were once more locked on Sylwanin's unmoving body.

He and his hunters had been the ones to go to the school when the children came running and what they found shocked them.

It wasn't the school ridden with holes from the Sky People's weapons that made them stop in their tracks but the Na'vi that lay lifeless on the ground.

The hunters stood still, no one dared to move until their leader would give a command but Tsu-tey stood frozen at the sight of Sylwanins lifeless body. He felt like his heart was about to stop and explode at the same time, his mind like a storm. Step by step he moved closer, his hunters following him in silence. His eyes watered as he looked down at his future mate, her feet the sound of which he knew too well, her strong legs that carried her faster than him since they were small, her back sprayed with holes, a telltale sign of what happened, her face that used to smile when she saw him, her arm and hands… His blood turned cold and suddenly all his emotions and thoughts narrowed in on her hand. It wasn't that she was holding her kuru but that her tswin was intertwined with the demon's as if they were mated. His muscles tensed and he could feel his blood boil. Even now that she was gone forever it still had her.

Tsu'tey stomped down on the demon's kuru and pulled Sylwanin's tswin free. He didn't notice how the so-called demon's tswin reached out for Sylwanin's before falling to the ground.

Tsu'tey lifted her off the ground, and called to the others to gather the fallen and head back.

When they returned the shock didn't last long. Tsu'tey walked in silence letting the sight speak for itself before laying Sylwanin's body down at the foot of a crying Mo'at holding a confused Neytiri and a stone-faced Eytukan.

The people slowly quieted down waiting for their Olo'eyktan to speak but what came from their leader was more of a growl that grew in sound and intensity.

"Tsam…" Was vibrating from his chest as he looked down at his daughter's body.

"Tsam." He growled behind clenched teeth.

"Tsam." He said in anger as he looked out over his people.

"Tsam!" He shouted in fury.

"Tsam!" Tsu'tey echoed.

"Tsam!" The people joining in.

"Tsam!" It rang through their home.

War.

.

.

.

Wake up child. Wake up. I see you.

Something called out to him.

Harry opened his eyes but quickly had to close them again.

He grabbed his head, it felt like it was splitting open, his mind assaulted by memories not his own, as if Snape used legilimens on him. It was all fragmented, like a mirror falling from a great height crashing onto concrete in slow motion, millions of reflections shown in a second, impossible to make sense of.

He curled up, burying his head in his hands as he gritted his teeth and tried to use what he learned centuries ago about mind magic. He tried his best to clear his mind and gain control but just then one memory sprang to the forefront of his mind, making him gasp in shock.

Through eyes not his own he saw himself get shot and was assaulted with a feeling of deep emotional pain like his heart was being torn from his chest. The owner of the eyes was filled with fury and attacked the soldiers that had shot him and once more he felt the feeling of being gunned down.

Then as the body fell onto the grass he saw himself lying unmoving when a voice, both quiet and impossibly loud at the same time echoed in his mind.

"Forgive me Ha'ri, please forgive me."

A hand reached out holding the end of the Na'vi hair appendage and connecting it with his own.

Sylwanin, he thought. He opened his eyes and looked up into the starlit sky above when he realized what had happened.

In a way, she had gotten her wish he guessed. Their kulu had intertwined and became spiritually mated in the eyes of Eywa, if only shortly before she died.

He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and let it out slowly.

Wait… Shouldn't he have died as well?

He opened his eyes but didn't take time to appreciate the neon glow surrounding him as he looked down himself finding bullet-shaped scars, not holes, riddling his chest.

As he traced the scars his hand finally caught his attention.

He was missing a finger. He reached up with his other hand to trace the missing finger and saw that he was missing one on that hand as well. It wasn't like they had been torn off, more like it was as it should be. He wanted to check his feet as well, his analytical mind wondering if he had somehow become more Navi-like.

Before he managed to take his shoes off yipping filled his surroundings which could only mean one thing; viperwolves.

When he tried to get up quickly, his whole body hurt but the sound was getting closer and he had no time. Looking around he finally paid attention to his surroundings and found that he was alone. Knowing that he didn't have much time he fought through the pain and went into the jungle where he climbed a tree as fast as he could.

Catching his breath he decided that he was high enough up to be safe. He looked down and saw that he had just made it as viperwolves scoured the forest floor where he had just been, heading into the clearing.

Not many seconds went by before it sounded like they were fighting over something.

Leaning back against the tree he took a couple of steadying breaths.

He needed to think.

Looking at both his hands again he reached down and started to undo his boots, slowly untying the laces felt weird with the missing digits but it wasn't long before he pulled off the first one and let out a breath he didn't know he held.

Missing a toe.

A quick inspection of the other foot gave the same result.

He leaned back again and reached out into the air studying his hands, the neon canopy shining high above, their colors brighter than before. Had his eyes changed as well? How much of his physiology had become more Na'vi-like?

What he wouldn't do to get back to the lab.

The lab… Hell's Gate… Harry realized that he probably couldn't go there.

When the Omatikaya learned about what happened it would be the end of the cordial relationship between the Na'vi and the RDA. It would be bloodshed. And now that he looked more Na'vi-like and probably declared dead he couldn't return, they might shoot him on sight from impersonating an Avatar.

He couldn't return to Hell's Gate and he couldn't go to the Omatikaya either. He didn't know how he would be welcome, but he couldn't look Mo'at or Eytukan in the eyes after failing to protect their daughter.

Then what choices did he have…

He felt a gentle pull northward deeper into the dense jungle in the direction of the floating mountains.

Looking in that direction the pull felt stronger.

"I guess I got no time to lose." Harry muttered to himself, slowly getting up, and stretching his limbs before slowly moving along the numerous branches as quietly as he could.

Moving through the trees high above ground Harry didn't notice his limps stretching slightly, his muscles changing and his step becoming quieter. Wiping his brow he didn't realize his eyebrows falling out.

In the deep Pandoran jungle, what once was Harry slowly disappeared while Tanhitu moved faster and faster through the neon night.