REMEMBRANCE ━━ 𝒂𝒗𝒂𝒕𝒂𝒓

𝒊𝒙. when hell freezes over

      Barely any time to process what she said, Juniper glanced up at the sound of cracking. Juniper wailed as a tree was coming down on them. Not knowing what else to do, she dropped herself onto Jake as a shield. Her eyes were shut tight, waiting for the tree to come crashing down on the two. However, she didn't realise Jake had opened his eyes and felt his arms wrapped around her form.

      As they spun out of the way, Juniper exhaled sharply, her eyes blurry with tears when she opened them again to reveal Jake hovering over her. They locked eyes, and Jake sighed in relief for a split second, asking, "are you okay? Juniper, are you hurt?" The girl couldn't speak. Like all the words and air was knocked out of her lungs. Instead, she shakily shook her head to the man.

      With the reassurance that Juniper was okay, Jake quickly stood up and ordered Juniper to get out of the way as he stepped towards the machinery, wavering his hands as he jumped in the air to catch their attention, "hey!" He shouted as Juniper watched in the distance, refusing to leave him behind, "stop! Stop! Go back, stop!"

      As it continued to advance towards Jake, Juniper yelled in warning, with fear seeping in her tone, "Jake! They're not going to stop, please!" Juniper went to repeat what she said when she noticed Jake still standing there, but before she could, the bulldozers abruptly stopped. Juniper's eyes enlarged, taking in the sight of the big machinery powering down.

      Jake looked back to Juniper and kept an arm out in front of the 'dozer. When Juniper took a couple steps forward to reach the man's side, to their dismay, the machines growled back to life. The Sully man fell back as it progressed forward, shouting at it for it to stop. Juniper quickly pocketed her arms under Jake's, lifting him to his feet. Jake placed a hand on her lower back, guiding her through the forest, "go, go!"

      Juniper leapt over the branches on the floor, occasionally gazing behind her to see if Jake was still following. But when Juniper didn't see Jake behind her, she became frantic. Tears burnt her eyes, her nose stinging from the sensation of the waterworks. She rubbed the pads of her fingers together in a way to get her to calm down. Juniper cried, "Jake! Jake, where are you?"

      Juniper felt relief flood through her system when she heard Jake return her calls, "Juniper!" The Vespera girl wasted no time to locate the voice, coming to Jake's side. The man held his hand out for Juniper to take, which she did not hesitate at and kept a tight grip on as they managed deeper into the forest.

      They stayed there for a while, hiding away from the sky people. Observing the damage that was made, Juniper's lips quivered as she brought her hands to her face and sobbed. Jake stood behind the girl, his hand propped against her shoulder as he rubbed in solace. The Sully man was beginning to understand how much the forest meant to the Na'vi, so seeing the damage they inflicted made his blood boil.

      He continued to hold Juniper, whispering soothing phrases to the girl as she turned around and buried her head in the man's chest. Jake took a step back from the unexpected action to catch himself and pressed his hand against her head, feeling Juniper's braids between his fingers. He cooed to the girl until she calmed down enough to travel back to hometree.

      Juniper stood off to the side of the people of Omaticaya, holding her arm by her side. Grace stood close to the girl and shrugged an arm around her shoulder. Jake had wandered off to retrieve Neytiri after Juniper reassured the man that she would be okay alone for the time being.