Reborn - Pandora's Box (Book 2) AU

-Ikranä Maktoyu Pt. 2-

After about ten minutes, Wainfleet took charge. "Okay, let's move." He began ushering the deflated squad members away. "Let's go, we're outta here," he ordered the two humans of the group. 

"Yeah, just give us a second." Nix was watching Spider, who was hovering, still by the cliff's edge. 

Was he disappointed? Was she disappointed?

Spider looked rather deflated, and she realized then how much this impacted their situation: Quaritch had been who was keeping them safe, alive, he'd made that much clear. With him gone, what would become of them?

"You okay?" she asked him gently. 

"Yeah." At last he turned away from the edge, defeated.

"Yeah! That's right!"

They jumped and spun around at the shout, followed closely by a squawk. There was Quaritch, riding on the back of the Ikran, queue attached, bond made.  

"Yeah Colonel! Get some!" The squad erupted into cheers.

Q guided his Ikran around to fly in a circle above them. "Who's next?"

Spider was smiling, laughing in disbelief. 

Nix couldn't believe it: the fact that he was alive, and that he was riding an Ikran, who he had successfully bonded with. Something settled in her chest, but if it was relief or dismay or a mix of something, she couldn't tell.  

She heaved a sigh. "This is going to be a very long day..."

-.-.-.-.-.-

The rest of the squad was, one by one, now attempting their own tsaheylus, which was both frightening and hilarious to watch. Spider was watching everything transpire with wonder. 

Nix approached where Quaritch was off to the side with his new companion. It seemed that 'Cupcake' was her name for now.  "I've watched many tsaheylus over the years now, but nothing quite like yours." 

"You thought I was a gonner?"

"I did."

"For a moment there, so did I."

She reached out to the creature.  "She's beautiful. You poor thing, getting punched in the face like that." She rubbed her had across the beast's multicoloured snout, receiving a low growl in response.

Then she heard a roar, one above the others, and one she recognized. Looking up, a blue and orange Ikran soared, floating down to meet them.  Augustine.

Her Ikran landed beside them, before her. "Hello my friend. Oel ngati kameie."  She made the proper gesture to display what she meant. He roared as if to say the same in return. "Ugh, what did you eat? Your breath is rank!" She chuckled and stroked his snout. He gave a roar as if to say "hey!"

He nudged her face with his snout. "I know, I must smell funny." But still he recognized her, even if she was out of the body he knew.

Quaritch was watching them reunite. "This is my Ikran, Augustine," she introduced. 

"Like the Doc?"

"Yes."

"And your daughter."

"Yes."

Augustine nudged her again. "I'm sorry, boy, but I can't ride." He gave a wail and sniffed her braid, realizing there was no queue. "Yeah, I know, it sucks."

"Why are you still human?" Quaritch asked.

"That's a big question."

"I just mean you had your own Avatar and you were so excited about it. Why aren't you using it now?"

"I still do sometimes. I haven't gone through a full consciousness transfer to move permanently from one body to the other  like Jake did - yet."

"Will you?"

"I don't know. With the kids being human, I like them having a human adult they can be close to. I don't know, maybe to make them feel welcome.  If it weren't for Jake, humans wouldn't be welcome here at all, not even the loyal ones. Plus, being human reminds me where I came from, how we got here." She really didn't feel like having these deep conversations now, and especially not with him. And so  she changed the subject. "It's getting late - and it doesn't seem like this is going to be wrapping up anytime soon."

"Yeah," he agreed. "We should set up camp - away from the nest."

She gave a snort of laughter at this. "Good choice." 

Cheering brought their attention away from each other and back to the rest of the squad. By the looks of it, Mansk, she believed (she'd never been fond of Miles's squad, especially when they relentlessly picked on the science people, her friends) had successfully bonded his with own Ikran, and now Spider was sitting behind the soldier riding along with him, laughing and cheering. 

Instant motherly panic surged through her at the sight.  DANGER! DANGER! like an alarm sounding. She knew well that raising two human kids in the Pandoran jungle provided a whole range of dangers, beginning first and foremost with the air you breathe.

"Spider! Hey, what are you doing, put him down! SPIDER!" She took off running, charging across the rocks towards them. 

In her panic, she didn't watch where she was going, her gaze trained on the sky, on her son. When she tripped, she was launched forward. 

The next thing she knew she was sailing off the cliffside, plunging headfirst downward, with nothing to do but fall. 

(Whew, and we're back! Sorry for the delay, I've been so swamped with work (luckily I love what I do!) Unfortunately, that has left very little time for writing. 

Thank you for your patience! As always, thank you so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed! :))