Ivory Hill had spent the majority of her adult life running. Throughout her twenties and the first part of her thirties it was from bombs and bullets. Now, at thirty six years old Ivory was running from something that she could never truly escape fr...
Grace dropped the hairbrush onto the floor and sighed, putting a hand on Ivory's shoulders so she turned around to face her.
"What?" Ivory asked, her heart sinking at the sight of Grace's defeated expression.
"The Na'vi are as safe as they can be, Quaritch is dead. The RDA lost, they're leaving Pandora for good. But-" Grace paused, taking a deep breath. "We're leaving Pandora too."
"What?"
"Humans destroyed Hometree. The Na'vi have suffered so much at the hands of humans, they don't want us here any more. They don't trust us."
"But we helped them, we fought against the RDA. We helped them plan-"
"I know," Grace's eyes were bright with unshed tears. "But the only way to stop a massacre like this from happening again is to remove the cause completely. Wether we like it or not humans have been the cause of all of their pain. We need to respect the Na'vi's wishes and leave."
Ivory bit her lip. "What happened to Quaritch?"
"Neytiri and some poisoned arrows." Grace said matter of factly.
"I don't know where I'll go on earth. I sold my flat when I knew I was going to move here."
"Where we'll go." Grace corrected. "I have an apartment in New York still, it's basically empty but it'll work. And pets are allowed there. It's going to be fucking awful but at least you can keep Tigger with you."
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The door to Ivory's room screeched in protest as Jake shoved it open, wheeling himself into the room.
The woman looked up from the T-shirt she was folding. "What's up?"
"Nothing." Jake wheeled himself over to the bed and picked up a pair of combat trousers from the small pile, folding them haphazardly and dumping them in the top of Ivory's rucksack.
"Why are you being helpful?" Ivory asked suspiciously.
"V..." Jake looked uncomfortable.
"What did you do? If you've started another fire I swear to god-"
"I'm staying here." Jake interrupted.
Ivory froze, barely noticing as the photo frame slid out of her hands and clattered to the floor. "You're what?" She asked quietly.
"I can't leave Neytiri. The Omaticaya accepted me as one of them, I don't count as a human to them. They're letting me stay."
"But what about your link? What about food? What if you get hurt?"
"Max coded the link tech so that I can work it by myself, there's the supply shuttles for food, shit as rehydrated burritos taste an' I won't get hurt, not in my human body anyway. If my avatar gets hurt the Na'vi can help."
"Why do you always have an answer for every goddamn question I ask?"
Jake shrugged his shoulders, an oddly misty look in his blue eyes. "Guess I'm just too smart for you."
Ivory was silent. She knew if she opened her mouth to say anything she'd end up begging Jake to come back to earth, to leave Pandora behind forever. She couldn't do that to him, she couldn't even begin to imagine the agony of having to leave Grace behind on a completely different planet. Ivory let out a shaky breath. "I'll miss you." She said eventually.
Jake reached out.
Ivory blinked but passed him another one of her tank tops from the steadily depleting pile. "You don't have to keep folding, you've already told me what you needed to."
"No, stupid." Jake tossed the top onto the bed. "I was going for a hug."
"Oh." Ivory bent down slightly and let Jake pull her into a bone crushing hug. "I'll miss you."
"I'll miss you too."
"We can still text and call though, right?"
"Sure we can, I've got to keep pissing you and Grace off somehow."
"Aren't you going to be lonely here?"
Jake shook his head. "I'll have Neytiri and the rest of the Omaticaya with me."
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Ivory's dark eyes flickered over the Pandoran landscape for the final time as she walked slowly forward, pausing every few seconds as the enormous queue that led to the hulking grey shuttle stopped and started. She trailed along behind Parker as slowly as she possibly could as if that would prevent her from having to go through another painfully long stint in cryostasis.
Grace wrapped a protective arm around her girlfriend's waist, giving the lush tree line that was just visible over the enormous concrete walls that surrounded the landing zone of Hell's Gate a longing look.
"I don't want to go through this again." Ivory muttered, shifting Tigger further up her shoulder.
"I know doll, I know." Grace rubbed a comforting hand over the small of Ivory's back.
"One last look?" Ivory asked as Parker was shunted onto the ship, handcuffs rattling as one of the Na'vi prodded him in the right direction.
"One last look."
Grace and Ivory turned quickly, struggling to drink in the enormous landscape in their final minute on Pandora.
"Onto ship. Now." The Na'vi standing by the door of the shuttle ordered, repositioning the gun that he held in his large blue hands.
Together Ivory and Grace trailed up the large ramp, their shoes catching and scraping noisily against the metal.
"At least they didn't cuff us." Ivory muttered.
A scientist appeared out of the gloom at the top of the ramp. "This way." He said shortly.
The two women followed him in into the cryo room in silence.
"It'll be okay, I promise." Grace said quietly.
Ivory raised her eyebrows, handing Tigger over to the scientist with a huff.
"In there." The scientist ordered.
"You could at least have some manners Masters." Grace spat.
"I don't think you're in the position to have that attitude Augustine." Masters smirked as he helped Ivory into her pod, strapping her in tightly.
Ivory shot Grace a helpless look.
"This might hurt." Masters warned as he slid an IV into the back of Ivory's hand.
"I love you." Was the last thing Ivory heard as her pod slid closed and the drug overtook her body.
