Gamma
[Pandora – Northern Mountains]
He woke up coughing and spluttering as his breathing heaved and wheezed. He wasn’t sure how or why, but he was laying on what he saw as soft white fluff.
“Snow,” he wheezed as he turned on his side.
He could see a man sitting calmly as he stared into the distance. His tunic clothes had been ripped and torn. Yet he seemed at peace as his gaze was firmly fixed on the vast ocean.
“You… you’re the one that saved me,” Spider murmured as he looked around. They were standing on a mountain. “Where are we?” he continued.
“In the north… away from society. There are not many that would venture here,” the stranger responded.
“The north?” Spider murmured. He had heard stories from the other children of Na’vi, that the north was a dangerous place. That the cold was tremoring, and that only the hardest and bravest could survive. Yet, as he stared down at his hands, he realised that he was not cold.
“It’s my magic… the seidr. It’s keeping you warm,” the stranger soothed.
“Who are you?” Spider asked as he slowly crept towards him. “You’re a demon? No, you have a mask. You’re different to the people I saw on the RDA.”
“My name is Loki… and I am a God,” he murmured as he stood up and turned to face the boy.
Spider found himself gulping. It wasn’t that Loki was tall or unnerving, but something about those piercing green eyes made him quiver. “Right,” Spider noted as heaved through his Exopack.
“You tried to kill yourself,” Loki murmured darkly as he turned to face the vast ocean.
“And you saved me,” mulled Spider as he began kicking the soft tepid snow that would creep between his toes.
“You sound sad that I saved you,” Loki replied.
“And you sound angry that I tried killing myself,” Spider venomously hissed.
To get him to trust you… you must open yourself, Eywa mused.
“Sit,” Loki responded gnarly as he sat down.
Spider didn’t know why. He had no reason to trust this man, yet there was something odd about him and he found himself following Loki’s command as he too sat down. “How are you breathing like that?”
“I am God,” Loki hummed as he stared at the boy.
“Right,” Spider answered uncomfortably.
“I will tell you a story,” Loki murmured as he looked to the skies.
“A story?” Spider responded with a short laugh.
“There was a war between two warrior races. Asgard, and Jotunheim. A war… like no other. A war that would set precedence for other neighbouring realms. In the end, Asgard won… that’s what the world… the universe knows. Yet, on the last day of battle something else happened. The King of Asgard came across a Jotun baby. He took the baby and raised him as his own,” Loki murmured.
“He raised the enemy’s kid,” Spider answered in shock.
“Not just any child… but the son of Jotun’s King,” Loki murmured. “The boy did not know… he was raised as if he was Asgardian… all should have been well, but it wasn’t. The boy was treated differently… because the boy was different. It was not till many years down the line when he found out that he was a Jotun… the very monster that Asgard despised for the heartache they had caused.”
Spider’s eyes widened as the resemblance became clearer. He was the enemy’s son.
“An opportunity came by… you see. The boy killed the King of Jotunheim… he killed him, so that he would be seen as a true son of Asgard… so that he would finally be seen by the people that raised him,” Loki ushered calmly.
Instinctively, Spider found himself gulping.
“Yet it wasn’t enough… and so, the boy committed suicide… well, attempted to anyway,” Loki mulled grimly.
The silence was heart breaking. Yet, as Spider’s stares lingered on Loki, he realised that there was something more. Something between the lines of what was said. And suddenly, it dawned on him. “You were that boy.”
“Yes,” Loki murmured.
-
[Awa’atlu – Jake Sully’s mauri pod]
The darkness was harmonical when Jake thought about it. It was unlike Earth, it was more secure, safe, and livelier.
The death of Miles Quaritch was met with a resounding applause. Yet, upon hearing that it was a human that had done the deed that no Na’vi could, it had quickly quietened, and that greatly unnerved him.
He might not have been human now, but he was.
There were days when he would miss being a human, and today was no different.
The stars in the sky shimmered and pulsed. Yet, Jake couldn’t shake the strain that coursed through his body.
He was truly happy to hear that Neteyam had comeback, but then he had grown more curious when Neteyam, Tuk, Lo’ak and Tsireya had made mention that it was a man who had brought him back. A man who had used techniques of the old.
He didn’t know what that meant, but he had a tingling sensation that if it was anything Earth related… that it was old customs or traditions. Things that were forgotten, lost to time itself.
Then there was the fact that it was the same man that had saved Spider. That greatly disturbed him because it raised questions that he could not answer and Jake Sully hated not knowing answers.
[Flashback Begins]
A sense of dread and panic swayed across Jake’s heart as he began running towards the edge of the water.
Though he could hear Neytiri’s screams to stop, the only thing racing through his mind is that Spider is trying to kill himself.
And then suddenly, everything changed as he reached the end of the ship.
One moment Spider had fallen, and the next he was in the air being carried by a man who was somehow flying.
A man that was angry.
A man with piercing green eyes that found his own eyes.
Immediately, the waves grew harsher. Lightning that he had never seen before began crackling across theocean breeze. And in that same moment, a serenade wave of green blinded his eyes.
When the vibrant, raging colours had dispersed, Jake Sully realised that the stranger and Spider were gone.
[Flashback Ends]
“Ma Jake,” Neytiri murmured as she walked out of their mauri pod. “You are not sleeping?”
He didn’t know why, but he couldn’t stop the vile bitter taste that crept and etched into his voice. “Why did you do it?” he asked without turning.
“Ma Jake?” Neytiri asked.
“Spider… why did you do it?” Jake asked.
“I…” Neytiri started, but abruptly found herself not being able to go any further. “You know why,” she answered. Her voice was mulled and low with a hint of sadness.
“You made a boy… kill a man,” Jake murmured as he turned around to face her. “You gave him no choice,” he murmured darkly as he stepped towards her. “You made him Neytiri… you gave him no choice… and of all the things that would sweep into his mind… he chose to kill him. A boy,” he toned aggressively against the gushing sounds of the gentle breeze that was being brushed by the ocean.
“I know,” she answered after a moment’s silence. “I know,” she repeated as memories of Kiri’s distaste flourished into her mind. “I did not think –”
“You did not see,” Jake said. “You did not see, because you chose not to see.”
“And you did not see me,” Neytiri shouted in return. “You did not see-”
“The boy wasn’t even alive then,” seethed Jake. “What can I see when he was not even alive. If he was the one… then yes, but he wasn’t… he wasn’t them. He was ours,” he continued. “He is ours,” he continued silently as he turned away as he let his gaze fall to the softy beach that he came to call home.
“Ma Jake,” Neytiri started.
“Go inside Neytiri,” Jake murmured. “I just need… time,” he continued.
“The children miss you,” Neytiri replied softly as tears welled in her eyelids.
He couldn’t help but croak what he considered as an awkward laughter. “They don’t miss me,” he murmured. “They miss Spider. They were there to rescue him… where we were not. I failed Neteyam, Lo’ak, Kiri and Tuk. All of them, one way or another were connected to Spider and I failed to see it. One way or another, I broke them and by Eywa’s gift, by the skins of Eywa, Neteyam was returned to us… which I am grateful for, but yeah, they don’t miss me.”
“I’m… I,” Neytiri started as she trembled towards Jake. The warrior façade wavered and shimmered away as Neytiri found herself sitting next to Jake. In that moment, she was a mother and wife.
As she followed Jake’s gaze, she couldn’t help but feel at edge. In all her wildest imaginations, she never thought that Spider would have killed him, that he would absolutely hate spending time with his own people. The more she thought about it she couldn’t help but question her ability as a mother.
And then there was his outburst on the sea dragon.
You did nothing while they tortured me.
The possibility that he would be mistreated, or disregarded had never occurred to her.
In that moment, she felt worthless.
“Oh Eywa,” she murmured as she rested her head against Jake’s shoulder.
-
[Awa’atlu – Tonowari’s mauri pod]
“You don’t understand father,” Tsireya murmured. “He was different to the demons. He was no demon. He knew of our ways,” she continued eloquently as she described how the man known as Loki came to save Neteyam. “He said… that Eywa had not claimed him yet. He spoke our language… and in one sentence made a likening that he knew Eywa.”
Tonowari sighed before he looked to the ceiling of his mauri pod.
“You know something, husband,” Ronal murmured as she placed her hand on his arm.
“Yes,” Tonowari answered with a short sigh. “Passed from Olo’eyktan to Olo’eyktan… there’s a story. A story that was told and taught by our most ancient ancestors that has been passed through generations,” he continued as he turned to face his family. “A boy… travelled from another universe.”
“Another universe?” Aonung asked rashly as he ignored Tsireya’s subtle stares. “Like, the sky people’s home?”
“Yes,” Tonowari answered. “Yet not the sky people… they hail from another planet… a planet far far away. The stories say that they were of a superior race. We as natives are prone to adoption… we teach, nurture, and adapt. Yet this boy was different. The stories say that this boy was taught by Eywa herself.”
“Eywa accepted a child that is not of Pandora?” Tsireya asked as she leaned forward. “Is that even possible?”
“With Eywa, anything is possible,” Ronal answered with a short, but grim nod. “To our displeasures, to our joys… it does not matter. For Eywa sees all and hears all,” she continued.
“Times are changing,” Tonowari answered as he stood up. “It is getting late, and you should both be asleep,” he murmured as he walked outside his mauri pod.
Moments turned into minutes, and before he knew it, every torch from every mauri pod had been vanquished.
“The children are settled and asleep,” Ronal murmured as she approached Tonowari.
“That is good,” he answered.
“You’re hiding something,” Ronal murmured as she stood side by side Tonowari.
“I am,” he answered with a short smile.
“Will you tell me?” Ronal asked.
“When the time is right,” he answered as he brought himself forward to kiss Ronal before turning to the skies.
Eywa… please guide me, Tonowari murmured.
-
[Pandora – Northern Mountains]
The fire was warm, and he was somewhat content as he watched over the boy that was sleeping soundly against the woven bed made of bark, leaves and seidr.
He didn’t know how he felt, knowing that there was someone out there with his story. Yet, he couldn’t help but feel a little lightened that his story had been told.
This is only the beginning, murmured Eywa.
“Are we safe here?” Loki asked in a hushed whisper as he felt the snow around him.
I bestowed this mountain to you over a thousand years ago… shrouded in mist, surrounded by frozen lakes, snow and ice. Treacherous and perilous to those who do not seek, to those who do not believe, and to those who do not seek righteousness, Eywa mused. A thousand years have gone by, and many who have ventured have died, and those that have survived are cowards that did not venture past the shores.
“How did I not see the sign?” murmured Loki as he realised how the perched mountain reminded him of Jotunheim.
You were young, innocent and sweet, murmured Eywa. Never forget that… against nature and nurture -
“I was naive,” Loki murmured. “That sweet boy is no more, Eywa.”
He is still there, murmured Eywa.
“You sound so sure… Even Fa- You sound more sure than Odin and Frigga,” Loki soothed as he caught his subtle slip up.
Because I know you Loki… the Dark Prince of t-nine, Eywa murmured. I saw it then when I claimed you as mine… and I still see it.
“Right,” Loki murmured as his eyelids began to flutter.
You might not have faith in yourself, but I do… and for now, that is enough, Eywa mused.