Reborn - Pandora's Box (Book 2)

-.-Alone in the Woods -.-

The evening breeze whistled against her cheeks and through her hair as she zigzagged her way through the trees and away from the camp - away, but not too far away.  Hello, Great Mother...

Her head spun with all she had just revealed to her son, and on top of that, all that they were separated from, all that they had left behind. 

She wondered about everyone, namely Gracie of course, but everyone: Jake, Neytiri, Neteyam, Kiri, Lo'ak, Tuk, Mo'at, Norm, Max, and, now that Spider had brought him up, Tu. Time was ticking by - what had become of them all?

And now all that talk of Spider's father had brought up her own memories.

Miles...

Stupid memories that loved to resurface at the most inconvenient of times, like right now, and even more so now with him being 'alive' again. Kind of.

There had been plenty of good memories, before everything had gone right to shit so fast it had seemed all a blur. But there were signs, signs she hadn't picked up on until it was much, much too late. 

A rustling behind her caught her attention right away - her Na'vi training had taught her to always keep all her senses sharp. Something - rather, someone - had joined her out here. 

What was the saying? Speaking of? Speak of the devil and he shall appear? 

"Can't a lady get any peace and quiet around here?" She didn't turn and look at him when she spoke. She actively tried to avoid looking at him at all times, but still sometimes caught herself tuned out and staring. She wondered how many times he had caught this too, and how many times Spider had as well. 

"I saw you leaving the camp."

"I'm not running away."

"I know. You'd never leave the boy." He stepped closer.  "I came to check to see how you were doing. You had an eventful afternoon."

"That's one way to put it." I had a near-death experience afternoon. "I'm fine."

"It's okay if you're not-"

"I said I'm fine," she snapped.  She wasn't, not really. She was still very shaken up. But he didn't need to know that. "What do you want?" 

"I told you, I-"

"No, not just here, not just now.  He was using me, and so are you."

"You got yourself into this situation."

"Like hell was I going to let you take my son."

"It's nice how much you two have bonded."

"I wasn't going to abandon him." Like you. She didn't say it, but it was clearly implied. 

"I understand that you hold a lot of anger towards my namesake. I'm not that man-"

"So you keep saying."

"-So you don't need to act that way towards me."

"Because you're only my captor, terrorizing my home? The fact that you're in a new body, it changes nothing."

"It changes everything." A long silence, then he spoke again.  "Who's Tu'sam?"

"You were listening in? You bastard." She bit back mor angry words, not having the energy to engage. "Tu'Same. My mate." Technically potential mate, but again, he didn't need to  know that. None of  this was owed to him. 

He said nothing, and then, suddenly, "Do you love him?"

Anger flared up inside her at his words. "Why do you care? That's rich of you to be speaking of love. He laughed at me! I opened up my heart to him, in front of everyone, and he laughed in my face! Turned it all into a big joke! And then he threw me in prison with the others, and then murdered my mentor! How do you think I felt? You have his memories, I know you have that one, don't deny it." Tears burned her eyes like they did whenever she relived those hurtful memories, and she tried, as she always did, not to fall victim to them again. 

"I don't agree with the way he handled things then-"

She scoffed.  "Oh good for you."

"In fact, I think he was a damn fool not to tell you how he felt, because he did love you Nix."

"Bullshit."

"No, not bullshit.  I have his memories, and can feel his emotions-"

"That's very concerning."

"And what he felt for you-"

"Stop! I don't care! I don't want to know! They - Grace, Norm, Max, Jake, Trudy - they gave me a purpose and a place to belong. You - he - pushed me away. That's all he ever did, from the moment I arrived here."

"You betrayed me."

Now she whirled around sharply to face him.  "I beg your fucking pardon?"

"You betrayed him."

She gawked at him for a long silent moment before exploding. "I betrayed him? I  betrayed him?! I betrayed myself, my feelings, I should have kept them to myself. It's my biggest regret."

"Those science shits sucked you into their tree-loving cult, made you leave your people behind-" Their voices were rising above the night.

"They did no such thing! I did that for myself!" They were now standing very close, she craning her neck upwards to yell up at him. 

"Mom?" Both stopped abruptly and turned to see Spider standing a little ways back.  "Are you okay? I came to check on you - you were gone a while."

She stepped back, away from Q, and folded her arms around herself like a tight self-hug.

"Yeah, thanks Spi. Always looking out for me. I just needed a moment to myself."

"We'll leave you then." He gave a pointed look to his 'father'.

Quaritch stalked away, throwing an order over his shoulder at them. "Get some rest - we start early tomorrow. He have to re-climb that goddamn mountain." 

Yeah, that was going to be fun. 

With one final protective glance at her, Spider followed the Colonel back to camp.

And suddenly she was alone once more. As she had intended, as she had wanted.  

Her moment having been interrupted - rather rudely, she might add - Nix wanted - and needed - to take some time to herself. She heaved a heavy sigh, flopping down to sit cross-legged on the ground and harshly wiping away at any remains of the traitorous tears from her eyes. 

Then she reached around and pressed the button on her mask, released it, and took in a full, deep breath of fresh Pandora air. 

(Did I mention I'm considering a Paz and Miles story? We'll see! ;)

Thank you so much for your patience (as always!) Also as always, thank you so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed this chapter! :))