~~~Superstes~~~UNDERGOING MAJOR EDITING

Awa'atlu gathering P 2.

"Go, Tuk!" Jake praised. The little girl swayed her hips and let her arms wave in the air as she twirled, repeatedly glancing at Neytiri to make sure she was doing it right. She giggled and hollered, happiness oozing out of her. She hadn't had fun like this since they moved from the forest, and Jake could tell she was enjoying this immensely. 

Neytiri cheered her on, filling the night with her husky, airy laughter. "You are doing wonderful, Tuk!" 

 Even Ronal was watching, a smile painting her face. "Your daughter is an exceptional dancer, Jake Sully." 

Jake nodded. "She is." 

Ronal looked at Neytiri, "Just like her mother." 

Neytiri smiled, revealing all her teeth. 

"Jake! Dad, Mom, Jake!"  The high-pitched, ear-piercing scream of Tsireya barreling out of the woods startled him, and each of the names she called turned around, ears perked up in alarm. 

"Daughter, what is wrong?" Tonowari exclaimed, pulling her into his muscular arms. Aonung was shortly behind, panting with the effort of running here. "Dad, something shot the others!" he shouted, pointing to the trees. "They collapsed and didn't get up, I don't know what's happening, but Neteyam told me to run!" 

Jake's heart dropped to the ground. He didn't think he heard him correctly, "Shot? Like, a bullet?" Panic swelled inside of him. Jake stepped forward and waved his tail around anxiously, and Aonung backed up a bit. 

"No, I didn't see any blood, but they were hit with something--I don't know!"

Jake raced to the crime scene, entering the grove of trees with little caution, only one thing on his mind. Keep the kids safe, a father protects, the kids. He paced around the wood's clearing where the sand had been kicked up and scattered, "Lo'ak, Neteyam!" he called, cupping his hands around his mouth to amplify his voice. "Fey'atsi!"

Neytiri joined her husband in searching the mangrove, her panicked breathing audible. "Jake, where are they?!" she stresses, "What has happened?"

Jake whipped around as he heard shouting in the distance. It was not any voices he regularly heard. Terror struck through his bones as gunshots rung in the air, overlapping the yelling and screaming of commands. Neytiri had frozen in her tracks, while Tonowari and Ronal had stopped searching to hear the commotion. He hadn't even noticed they were with them.

"Go away! Let us go, you demon!" 

That scream rang in Jake's ears, flowing down to every fiber of his being and filling it with an indescribable horror. Neteyam. 

The demanding plea was followed by a string of Na'vi curses, only to fall back into a terrified cry. "Dad!"

Jake ran in the direction of the howls. The trail led to Jake bursting out of the mangrove onto another sandy bank where small tide pools were, trees surrounding the clearing. Someone was standing in the clearing in front of a whirring helicopter, hovering over the bank. A ghost of someone he had thought was gone for good, the person who'd loomed over his family for fifteen years and raided his homeland. 

"We meet again, Sully." Growled the southern accent of colonel Miles Quaritch. "What a surprise." The man smiled smugly. 

Jake's heart is pounding out of his chest. He'd killed him, he was dead, his body had floated down into the depths of the ocean. "Where are my kids?" Jake demanded, taking a step forward. "What have you done?"

He pointed to the floating helicopter. "Up in the copter, sleepin' soundly." he adjusted the belt of his pants. "Well, except for one. Somehow, one of the half-breeds fought off the dart's effects and managed to stay awake. So, we shot him again."