Chapter Text
Jake rolled his shoulders and sighed as he stared out into the reef as the rest of the family prepared for bed behind him.
"Ma Jake, are you alright?" Neytiri asked, coming up to stand next to him.
"It's nothing, I've just been thinking a bit. About everything really..." Neytiri nods, turning herself to look out at the ocean. Putting her head on his shoulder. It had been only a week since they lost Neteyam and the family had spent most of the time simply... sitting with the loss, yet it still felt like it was the day it happened. Deep in his chest, Jake blamed himself for it all. Neteyam died because of Quaritch and the only reason Quaritch was there was because he wanted to kill Jake. Now he had to add his own child to the list of deaths he keeps close to his heart. Tommy, Grace, Tsu'tey, Trudy and now Neteyam.
Glancing at Neytiri, the starkness of the white mourning paint she wore making her look pale, the paint they all still wore and would continue to for a bit longer. He couldn't help but feel worse. He loved her so much, but he brought so much pain to her life. Because of him, she lost her home, her father, her ikran, her home again and now her child. He would fix it all in a heartbeat if he could.
"You know I love you right? I love you and I See you." He said turning to look at her head on.
She looks at him with a small smile, "and I See you. Though there was a time where I thought it impossible." She lightly joked.
He snorts, "I don't know how you ever put up with me."
"I won't lie; it was tough sometimes. But I'll never regret meeting you." She said quietly, moving to kiss his cheek before turning to head back inside." Lets get some rest ma Jake."
He watched her go then looked one last time at the ocean. "I regret a few things though," he whispered to himself before following her.
He failed to see the single slightly mangled woodsprite floating along the waters surface.
~~~
As Jake slowly woke up, the first thing he registered was the pounding in his head and the dryness of his mouth. Which was probably one of the worst ways to wake up. But what made it suspicious was that it had been years since he did anything that would've put him in such a state.
Then came the realization of silence; no wind, no water, no little animal and bug noises, and no soft breathing from next to or around him.
Blinking his eyes open, Jake was met with almost total darkness beside tiny little blue artificial lights that lit up just enough for him to realize he was staring at hard metal less than a foot above his head.
It was then that Jake recognized a very unwanted feeling. Or rather a lack of feeling.
He couldn't feel his legs. He couldn't feel ANYTHING below his waist. No, not anything, but that uncomfortable familiar numbness that in the wrong weather brings a bone deep ache in his lower spine.
No, no, no, no, no. His eyes widened and he went to jerked, but all Jake managed to do was slam his head into the metal ceiling. Reaching up with a little room he had, he could feel its coolness press into his fingertips, then moved his hands to the sides, feeling along that walls he figured out he was in a container just big enough for him it fit comfortably.
Then there was the whining of moving metal, and a sudden flood of light as the door above him opened and he was released. The weightlessness of a lack of gravity becoming more dominant without the cryo-pod to contain movement. A human man in scrubs was floating a bit in front of him and spoke.
"Morning sunshine, we're there." He said as Jake moved past him, staring in shocked confusion at all the very human people. Before looking down at his very caucasian hands.
Heart in his throat, his hands shot up to his head to feel his short, nearly buzzcut hair. Jake turned and quickly as he could, floated over to one of the already open lockers, practically shoving the other person away to look into the mirror they had.
He was human. Why was he human
"Whatyearisit?" He asked grabbing the man he had pushed aside.
"Huh?" The man said, "slow down, I got no idea what you just said buddy."
Jake shook his head in frustration before repeating himself, this time slower. "What year is it?"
"2154, the 5-year trip out is over. Congrats, we made it." The man answered. It confirmed his fear, and Jake was already moving again, his attention now on the large windows that looked into space and out over the moon he called home for 16 years.
Expect it hasn't been his home for 16 years, not in 2154 at a time before he ever set foot on the moon.
He had gone back in time.
But how!? Was the first thought that shot through him, followed by various others, where was Neytiri? What did this mean? How long would it last? Was he dreaming? And finally, one last panicked thought finished it off. What was he going to do now?
"Sully! Your chair is already on the shuttle, sixth seat on the right." The crew chief called. "Let's go!"
He nodded, collected his things, things he hadn't seen or needed in years, and almost mindlessly followed everyone else. His shock was wearing off by the time the shuttle landed in Hell's Gate, and he was rolling down the ramp. As much as he wanted to look out towards the forest, his eyes immediately found Fike and Wainfleet. Even in his human body he felt the need to hiss as anger bubbled up. These men were part responsible for making them leave the forest, for killing his son. Taking a deep breath, he turned his face away and ignored their jeering. Instead, he focused on the arrows sticking out of the tire of a big machine as it went by, he couldn't help but smirk at the sight. He was pretty sure he even recognized some of the specific fletching designs.
Wheeling inside, he went straight for the debrief room with everyone else and then there he was. The man who destroyed Hometree, killed Grace and then came back from the dead to terrorize his family in a new body. Quaritch was someone, where if he never saw him again, it would be too soon. Jake clenched his fists and took another deep breath to calm himself.
He ignored Quaritch's speech, choosing instead to focus on more important things. He needed to form a plan; first: get his avatar, his body, back. Then get to the forest to reach Neytiri and the clan... who won't remember him. Okay change the plan to allow Neytiri to find him like the first time, where she will hopefully NOT send an arrow through his throat. It would just be his luck to go back in time only to die by his wife's hand.
He can do this, he did it once with no knowledge, he can do it again with 16 years' experience and if he does it right maybe things can turn out better. But he'll have to be careful, going to hard against the RDA might trigger them to jump start destroying Hometree. So, he would take it slow and feel it out as things went. But one thing he knew was that he wasn't about to just hand over information without a care. He'll cross that bridge when he gets to it, for now he'll just take it one step at a time and figure out the more immediate problems.
When the debrief was over he turned and began to head for the lab when a voice called out to him and a familiar face appeared walking beside him.
"Hey! Jake. You're Jake right, Tom's brother?" Norm asked. Norm, who was so much younger and so naive about what they were doing on the moon. Jake felt some tension leave his body once Norm settled in to keep pace with him.
"Ya that's me." He replied.
Norm smiled, "I figured, you look just like him. I'm Norm Spellman, I went through avatar training with him."
Jake nodded, "Ya, he mentioned you a couple of times." That was a lie, he and Tommy barely exchanged a few words over the years after Jake got out of the hospital for his injury. But he needed a cover for why he knew things about Norm in case he slipped up and said something he shouldn't have.
"Oh, he did? Cool, he was a great guy- funny. It was a big shock to all of us. And duh- obviously you look like him. I mean, if you weren't genetically identical, you wouldn't be taking over his avatar."
"That's why I'm here." Woah, daja vu.
Norm nodded, "So you want to go check them out? After we'll be introduced to Dr. Augustine."
Dr. Augustine... he was going to see Grace again.