Calm Before The Storm, Jake Sully

062, Murder.

♯┆calm before the storm .ᐟ
━━━━━━━━━━

     Her heart hurt as she felt Spider resting his forehead against her back. "Land anywhere," Jake told Denahi. Her mind told Riti to land on the rocks sitting next to a beautiful lake below. The sun had began to rise above Pandora's darkness. But, the expression on Jake's face proved that Denahi couldn't spend a minute to look.

Her head tilted, "What is it, Ma'Jake?" He didn't know how to tell her what went through his mind. How he hated when Spider slept against her back because he knew murdering him was the option he would have to choose in this time. "Come with me," Jake's palm landed on her lower back, leading her from Spider and Riti to be more private. He had to do this.

"I was wrong. We can't protect him..." Denahi interrupted him immediately, "Yes we can. I have. We have." Spider was just young. He was a teenager. A boy.

"Quaritch has this woman. He can find us wherever we go... They will get him. They will study him. And when humans can breathe our air, then they will spread across this world. And they will destroy the forests, the oceans, everything... Just like on Earth. Then the Na'vi people will be gone. The Tulkun will be gone. I can't let that happen," Jake explained, Denahi kept looking at Spider.

He was too young for this. He was too innocent for all of it. Spider hadn't asked to be able to breathe Pandora air.

No. Denahi wouldn't accept it. "He is a child," Denahi whispered back to Jake. Spider hadn't asked for this life. He had received it as a beautiful gift from Eywa.

"It has to be done..." There a man stood that Denahi couldn't recognise. A man that threatened to murder a child. Someone Denahi never thought Jake would turn into. Her head shook at him, snatching her wrists free from his palms.

"I will not have a part in this," Denahi mentioned as she looked out at Spider. His hand stroked Riti's snout, multiple chuckles escaping his mouth. He had never harmed Pandora, or the wildlife.

He accepted it, lived within it. It was his home. He had become their son. "You will do it. But, I will never forget," Denahi's low voice meant that she was furious.

He then took the knife secured on her.

Jake looked at her with his ears flat and eyebrows furrowed in the middle. "Spider!" Denahi shouted him over. His face was excited. Too happy. Denahi breathed a harsh breath before bringing him into her.

Spider was curious at the sudden affection but hugged Denahi back. "Spider. Come with me," Jake mentioned to him.

Denahi watched as the two entered the forest standing behind them. Her eyes whelmed with tears before she kneeled to the lake standing before her. Riti clicked as she realised the sadness within Denahi.

Her palms picked up the water as she began to wash away the red and black paint.

Red paint. The liquid flowed between her fingertips and into the water beneath. Familiar scenes flashed through her mind. A scene that will never be forgotten.

"Do not cry..." Those words echoed within Denahi's mind before she searched the area with a harsh gasp. She heard him.

Neteyam. She then continued to wash the paint from her flesh, becoming more concerned. Denahi was harsh as she scratched the paint away... the blood. Her mind couldn't tell the difference.

"Dad, I—" Denahi didn't spend another second washing the paint from her before standing and running into the forest. "Jake! Ma'Jake!" She called out to them. Hoping the receive an answer. "Spider!" She became more desperate. And when Denahi found them, she felt utter relief.

Jake held him against his chest. Spider was alive. He couldn't do it.

Denahi kneeled down next to them before holding Spider's cheeks in her palms, "I see you. You are one of us. You have always been one of us, Spider..." Spider's tears fell down his cheeks before Denahi wiped them.

He shouldn't have to fear. He shouldn't have to cry. "We are a family," She told him.

Spider heard the words he had always wanted to be said. To be accepted to someone. To have a family that wanted him, for others to see him for him.

"Whatever happens, it won't be this way," Jake mentioned as he held Spider.

Denahi nodded her head before encasing herself around the two of them. "There will be another way," Denahi replied.