IKIGAI / Jake Sully

46

Hey siri; play "Fallin' All in You" - Shawn Mendes

I looked out at hallelujah point, seeing the morning sky. The purple hue and the clouds mixing together.

The breeze that flew through really made me feel like this was what the people refer to a paradise in the afterlife.

Jake shoves both his hands into his earth pants and lays his chin on top of my head.

I remember Jake picking hallelujah point to be our union ceremony. Those memories where he was gone helping Norm was actually spent preparing this place....for us.

There are memories of him by himself here, just looking out at the stars when he couldn't go home to face me. Where he would caress my engagement ring and talk to me through it.

"Do you still feel strange being here?" I ask him

"Sometimes" Jake admits "if the accident never happened,"

He walks forward past me and holds his hand out to me. Moving to the center of the cliff.

"You'd be right here" he says standing me away from the sun.

"So I'm blocking the light for you" I laugh

"No, you brat" he shoots back "We were going to get married when it was cloudy. Because aura lights will be visible.......and I want to me looking at you when it happened"

My heart begins to patter for a moment.

"I would've stood infront of all of Omatikaya and vowed myself to you." He continues. Jake's voice was soft and gentle.

I giggle for a moment looking out at everything. The broken chairs, wilted flowers and overgrown trees. It was nothing like how Jake's memories were.

"You had vows?" I laugh

"Course, I do" he shrugs "You should know you went through my mind"

"I only see and feel things. I don't retain things you didn't say out loud" I tell him

"I would have said: I vowed to love you in this life and the next, in every universe, in every form." He says turning to fully face me. "I would've vowed that even through the hard times that my feelings would never waiver. That my duty as your husband was unconditional and not limited to just this moment."

Jake smiles at me and touches my cheek. His thumb runs over the skin and I lean into his touch more.

"That I walked all these years never knowing what it felt like to be awake until I met you." He adds on and I become speechless. "I vow to you Levi'tra that even if I'm not perfect and I may fuck up that I will always continue to try and be better for you. To be the shoulder you cry on, to be the man to protect you, to be the friend you never had, to be the best husband I can be"

His head drops on mine for a moment.

"Being Olo'eyktan is one thing....but to serve you....for the rest of my life is a whole different type of honor that I am grateful to be able to have"

And I press my lips up to him, wrapping my arms around his neck as he his arms go around my waist pulling me closer. Our lips maneuver over one another, dancing for a few moments before I break away.

"Let's just do it." I say looking into his golden eyes "Right here. Right now."

"Right now?" He chuckles "you wanna get married in this shit hole right now?"

"You liked this shit hole" I threw back "you came here all the time after the accident"

"Well I put in so much time into building this place so thought i might as well use it every now and then" he jokes.