~~~Superstes~~~UNDERGOING MAJOR EDITING

Like father, like son.

                                                                                          

When Neytiri gave birth to Neteyam, their first child, Jake had arrogantly assumed raising him would be a breeze. Of course he was expecting sleepless nights and some obstacles along the way, but Neteyam did turn out to be a breeze overall. Even as a baby he never cried as much as Kiri, who was always displeased about something. Neteyam had always been quiet, although rambunctious with his brother, but he was a very calm presence, easy to deal with.

 Then Lo'ak came. He was the opposite of a breeze, and more like a tropical hurricane that left a mess everywhere he went. As a baby, he was loud and happy, but as he grew older, his energy and hothead personality just bloomed into something bigger. When he was mad, he used to throw things at Jake—which was quite funny, to be honest. But his recklessness was always apparent. 

Tuk was the sweetest one. She was a tender-hearted free-spirited child, loved adventure, but mostly complied to her parent's rules. Mo'at would often tell Jake how she was a copy of how Neytiri was as a child. 

Whatever happened to being able to control his kids, Jake had no idea. It seemed each of them except for his daughters had gone off the rails with disobeying and troublemaking. Sneaking away, and gettin kidnapped, which wasn't their fault, but it still haunted him with guilt. His son's overall attitudes lately—and to Jake's shock, more Neteyam than Lo'ak now. The younger one seemed to had gotten some sense knocked into him in the past few months—but the older one, something was going on with him. 

It wasn't even the parent-child respect Jake was worried about anymore. It was their ultimate safety. He had repeated in his mind, a father protects, it's what gives him meaning. He knew he was capable of protecting. Although he had started to question if he was worthy of the title father anymore. Clearly, he couldn't keep them out of danger without setting extremely strict rules, which only led them to rebelling and more perilous events. He couldn't keep Quaritch away from his kids, either, and that was the worst thing. 

Jake had to destroy him. Any time, any place. 

He was sitting down beside Neytiri late at night, discussing the matter. Her voice was thick and wet with sadness, stress, and pressure. "I do not know what to do, Jake." She confessed, as she weaved a netted cover for Kiri. "If I cannot keep my children safe, what am I good for?"

Jake placed his hand on her knee, hoping to give her some sort of reassurance. "Neteyam and Feya are safe. Max called and told me they'd arrived at High Camp early this morning. That's a good thing—you can't blame yourself." He kept his voice low so his other children outside didn't hear the conversation, avoiding causing more worry. The day had been an uproar of chaos, with the sudden disappearance of Neteyam and Fey'atsi. But thankfully, Jake had been relieved of his terror when Max let him know they were safe. 

"Then who is to blame? What if they had gotten stolen again, or shot down by the sky-people's metal guns?" Neytiri let out a sharp breath, turning her head. The agitation inside her was growing by the second. "A mother does not stand aside while her children are at risk, Jake. We cannot continue to hide away while that demon is out there."

Jake looked at her, his eyebrows furrowed. "What are you wanting to do?"

She set down her work-in-progress top and met her husband's eyes, a fierce determination illuminating her features. "We must go back, Jake. To the forest. We must kill Quaritch and keep our children safe, and that is how I will do it."