"You have a strong heart. No fear... But stupid! Ignorant like a child!"
Rune spent hours scrambling through the forest, searching for Jake, hoping that the idiot hadn't already gotten himself killed within the first week of being on Pandora.
She kept a steady pace, jogging over the lush understory and through the thickly grouped foliage of alien plants. It was already dusk, the light that reflected onto Pandora fading rapidly, turning the sky apricot and lilac, highlighting the presence of the Alpha Centauri twins.
She knew that Grace and the rest of the expedition would have turned home by now, the radio silence that started half an hour ago being proof that they hadn't found the man either.
They were getting deeper into the evening and deeper into losing any hope of finding Jake.
The nights on Pandora could be as beautiful as they could be deadly, whether it be glorious bioluminescence or an unknown predator stalking you through the grove, waiting to cause your untimely demise.
Taking a stroll through the night time was like playing Russian Roulette. A horrible idea.
Rune turned back to the task at hand, boosting over a fallen tree, her feet feeling the soaked bark and steadily glowing moss that covered it.
Her clothes were also mud stained after she'd taken a fall earlier on in her search, coating her shorts and the front of her overshirt in a layer of green-brown gunk, now plastered with leaves.
She hoped Jake was better for wear than she was though, and safe too.
And then, she spotted something on the ground in front of her, almost impossible to notice in the evening darkness that enveloped the jungle.
Two small things.
Next to a tree, there was curls of wood tangled in the grass, the tree bearing the mark of a broken of branch.
And beside the curls, a deep muddy boot print. Shoe size? Jakes.
Rune pressed a button on the radio band on her neck, calling Grace on the radio.
"Trudy, Grace. This is Rune. Over."
Crackling emerged from the radio after she released the button, filling her ears for a while, causing her to wonder if they didn't get her call.
But then, the crackling was interrupted by Trudy's voice, "Go ahead. Over."
"I've found signs of Jake, boot prints and what seems to be an attempt at making a weapon or something. Can you put Grace on? Over."
Rune's tail swept patiently, waiting for her mentor to respond.
"It's Grace. Over."
"Jake's close, I think. I'm going after him, the signs are fresh. Over."
"Rune, listen to me. You're not to go after Sully, it is far too late into the night and Hell's Gate has not permitted us to have a night expedition. I'm already stretching my neck out here to get you back to base before Quaritch can notice and write you up. You are to go to the location coordinates that I am about to issue you and wait to be picked up. Do you hear me?"
"Grace, I'm too deep into the jungle. It'll take too long to find the place, let me go after Jake, we'll wait the night out and then I'll ping you our Co-ords in the morning."
"God damnit Rune!" The woman heard her boss spit through the communications device, "I know you can read coordinates, just do what I say!"
"No can do. It's my responsibility to ensure that Jake is safe, I am his superior and I promised to keep an eye on him. So let me do my job Grace, and just trust me this time."
Grace let out a long line of muttered threats and swears to herself, only half of which Rune could hear through the line, but she got the idea. The auburnette was far from impressed with her co-worker currently, one whom she would consider suspending if it weren't for the fact that her Avatar body was located in one of the most dangerous places in the known universe.
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Heart & Soul - An Avatar Fanfiction
Fanfiction"My soul and heart lay with the Na'vi, lay with you." Rune Chapman is a spirited woman in her late 20's, capable of many things. She's co-ordinated, respected, kind, and ready to teach and learn. And she's trying to survive. She's a former captain o...
