~.* Bonded for Life *.~

.* 15 *.

My throat was suffocating, my mouth feeling like I was sucking in nothing. I had shoved myself up, gripping my throat as I tried to keep a hold of my breath and reach for an oxygen mask. In my peripheral was Jake outside, fighting off the mechanical suit that Quaritch was still inside, I had no idea how he was still in the link, I felt a moment of dizziness and got sucked out.

I reached for the mask, watching outside as I placed it on my face with a wave of panic. The links in front of mine and Jake's were completely smashed, metal lands leaving prints on the lids. I finally sucked in the oxygen, making my lungs feel full and relieved from the suffocation.

"Argh!" I looked outside, Jake was being held by his queue, screaming at Quaritch in agony as he was moments away from slitting his throat. I was about to leave the link shack, somehow attempting to fight with a small human body, but  suddenly I was able to hear the calls of Neytiri from nearby.

She had camped over my body, and had her bow held out with perfect aim for Quaritch. Her arrow flew, the green and yellow feathers flashing past my eyes and directly into the colonels chest. I watched as Jake was dropped to the ground, and I rushed to the link shack that he was choking in.

"Jake, wait!" I watched his body jerk forward, his body begging for air as I reached for another mask. His eyes were already panicked and dull, and I pushed the mask onto him as I held him close, his body leaning back into my hold from atop the link pod.

His eyes widened from the release of oxygen, his chest rose up and down, his body trying to calm down. I had started to cry, the final release of relief washing over me as he held onto his mask, and his body slowed down.

"Jake..." I placed a hand on his chest, feeling his heart beat calm down. His face had turned into a smile, despite all the pain he was just in. "You really scare me, you know that, right?" I was chuckling, tears still falling from my face, landing on the glass of my mask, I hugged him tight, having to calm my heart from the stress I had felt.

"Jake! Y/n!" I heard Neytiri's calls from outside the shack, but soon enough, I turned to see her hop through the window onto the shattered glass. "...Y/n, is that you?" I looked at Neytiri with a smile, her face showing to be shocked at my human form.

Neytiri had likely seen a picture of me as a human, but only as a child, never as an adult, I kept a hand on Jakes as Neytiri came closer to me, on her knees to fit inside the small shack.

"Hey, Neytiri, now you can see what we both look like."

"Y/n, you grew to be a beautiful woman." She smiles, and looks to Jake was a friendly smile that is eagerly returned. "Jake, what do we do about your bodies?" It was a valid question, but it seemed to be a strange sentence when said aloud.

"We need to keep them safe, contact Norm, so we can still use them." His face was serious, he had started to make way to his wheelchair, my hand helping the chair stay in place. "No matter how many times I come back, I still don't get used to coming back to this life." Jake had pulled his legs in, hand resting on his shoulder as he always liked to do this task with no help.

"Jake, you can't use your legs as human?" Neytiri asked, my head jerking up when I had realised we never mentioned our personal lives in regards to our bodies. I looked at Jake, who had began to roll in front of me, towards the very large friend that towered over our real bodies.

"In an Earth war, I lost feeling and movement in my legs, that was one thing I loved about being na'vi, it gave me back the life I thought I had lost from the war." I gave him a smile, his eyes staring at his legs. "But anyway, we need to contact Norm, and get the bodies to some where safe."