Ma Miles - Ch. 21
12.6k words
Chapter warning:
Animal death (hunting), Ritual drugs (glow worm and "scorpion" poison), PTSD hallucination - drowning, child death, death, gunshot wounds, blood
For those of you who doesn't already know, I've been dealing with the loss of a much loved pet. The hiatus that happened wasn't planned, but the emptiness left behind after his passing hit me much harder than I thought it would. I haven't been able to write much at all and so time passed me by. I'm still finding it very difficult, so updates might be every other week instead. At least until I can gather the creativity to write for longer periods of time.
On a better note though, we've officially reached, and passed, 100.000 words on this story! 🎉 I'm so incredibly grateful to all of you for reading the story and for cheering me on while I write it. Your support has been way and beyond magnificent! Thank you so much ❤️❤️
(If you want to be tagged with the updated chapters, please leave your @ myusername in the comments!)
Previous chapter | Masterpost | Chapter 22 - Coming soon
“It’s time, Quaritch,” Jake chuckles as he stands before the bed, Tonowari crowding closely behind him.
Groaning, Miles rolls over to his back, taking your sleepy form with him, his hand spreading across your bare back as you rub your face into his chest sleepily. Behind you, Spider snores loudly, his short limbs spread eagle, his lips parted as he breathes. Shifting his eyes back to the mop of your hair beneath his chin, a content hum rumbles through his chest and then your beautiful eyes flutter open once more to stare up at him. The small smile that crosses your lips has his heart stopping in his chest, taking his breath away - until Sully snorts indignantly above him. Tearing his eyes from yours, Miles scowls up at Sully, a growl ready to leave his lips.
“It is time, my friend,” Tonowari ushers again, poking Sully in the side before getting up from his bent position.
“For what?” Miles growls, noticing how your lips pull into another smile against the skin on his chest, no doubt enjoying the rumbling his raspy voice is making beneath your ear.
“Can’t say,” Sully grins widely down at him, that mischievous smirk sliding onto his infuriating face once more, “Get moving, Colonel,”
“Ronal and Mo’at will be waiting for you at ranteng utralti when the sun is full, Y/n,” Tonowari addresses you, smiling gently when you rub your face against Miles’ chest as you mumble something affirmative.
Rolling to your back, you release his arm from beneath your head and just like that, your sleepy morning cuddle is over. Sighing, Miles sits up in the bed and rubs the sleep from his eyes before yawning. The faces looking expectantly down at him reminded him more of labrador puppies than actual clan leaders, but tough tits, this was just his luck now, he guessed. Getting to his feet, he slowly bent down and draped the blanket over your sleep-warm body, covering you from the other men’s eyes - not that they probably bothered to check you out, but it still made him feel better. Stroking a finger over your cheek, Miles smiles down at you, feeling his heart jump in his chest when you turn your face into his finger and smile.
“Let’s have lunch here today,” He hums, watching as your eyes slowly close and open again. You were always so malleable in the mornings. No scowls, no hisses, no distrust as you clung to him like a lifeline.
“Yeah, that’s not gonna happen, Quaritch,” Sully offers, that annoying mischievousness still stuck to his voice.
“Supper?” He asks, raising his eyebrow only to watch as Sully and Tonowari both shake their heads - negative.
“Ronal and Mo’at will keep her company until we return,” Sully smirks and then he moves towards the entrance of your home, just trusting that Mile’s would follow, “Don’t worry, Colonel, we’ll bring you back to her in one piece,”
Growling, Miles shakes his head, sparing the two of you one last look before following the pain in his ass and his equally annoying friend outside. Closing the flap to the hootch tightly behind him, Miles hums as he breathes in the crisp morning air. The sun has barely risen on the horizon, the village still bathed in the bioluminescent hues of Pandora as he walks through it, following the idiots until they reach the beach. There are a couple of dozen warriors waiting for them, their little canoes bobbing in the water, ready to leave when they arrive. Huffing with annoyance, Miles follows Sully when he nods his head toward the furthest canoe. The prospect of getting into the water yet again, in a boat-like transportation with Sully, didn’t sit well with him. The last time he’d been on a boat, well…
“C’mon Colonel, promise I won’t drown you this time,” Sully grins with a huffed chuckle, his eyes all but glittering with humor as he reads Miles’ hesitation like an open book.
“Hilarious,” Miles drawls, scowling over at Sully before taking a deep breath.
Trust - he reminded himself. He needed to trust Sully again if he was to do this. It was the only way to be with them, to be…free of the RDA once and for all. Walking up to the canoe, he pushes it into the water before jumping in with Sully. The shit-eating smirk that he sends him has Miles huffing while shaking his head. Now, Miles had always adapted pretty quickly to any situation he was thrown into. It was what had made him such a great Marine and an even better chief of security for the RDA, but this shit? This shit was uncomfortable as hell. Just the sound of the water brushing past the canoe had goosebumps erupting all over his ridiculously exposed skin.
“You’re doing alright, Quaritch,” Sully offers him after a while, a genuineness in his voice that he hadn’t heard before. “If I’m honest, I’ve been struggling with water too since… well,”
Miles just hums, sucking his bottom lip between his teeth. He’s not about to have a therapy session with Sully, but the admission somehow made him feel a little bit better. After he was healed, he had a helluva time trying to conquer his newfound fear of water, which was absolutely ridiculous. He was a goddamn decorated Marine for fuck’s sake. A Marine didn’t fear water. Yet, when the sea crashed against the roots below their hootch, he had felt his breaths becoming shorter as his palms grew clammy - his heart racing ridiculously fast in his chest. He had refused to call it a panic attack as that would indicate that he suffered from PTSD - and that he most definitely did not.
Not that there was anything wrong with having PTSD, Miles knew a lot of strong men and women who bravely fought through it, but that didn’t mean it was something he struggled with. Too lost in his own thoughts, however, Miles didn’t register when the canoe approached the shore, the sudden stop rudely tearing him out of his thoughts. Clearing his eyes, he notices that they’re in a completely new part of the island groups. Following his old Corporal out of the canoe, he pulls it with him up on the beach like the others have done. Sully joins Tonowari at the front and just like that, something Miles barely recognizes molds his face into a mask of leadership. It was an expression he had only seen twice in his life, once in the video of his own death and the other when they fought on the Sea Dragon. It wasn’t hard to imagine Sully as a clan leader when he looked like this, although the admission didn’t sit well with him. If he were to do this, however, he would just have to swallow his own opinion of the man.
“Alright, gather around,” Sully raises his voice and waits for everyone to join the circle around them.
“We will have a special Iknimaya today,” Tonowari informs when the last soldier joins them, crossing his arms over his chest before looking at each one of them.
“We are in a situation where Iknimaya will be performed in a mix of two clans, the Matkayina and Omatikaya,” Sully picks up, the tone of his voice gnawing on Miles’ patience.
“Today, the Great Mother will test Miles Quaritch, will judge his heart to see if he is worthy of being one of the people,” The big chief looks at him the same way he had when he had first awoken in Y/n’s hootch, but behind his eyes, mirth danced clear for anyone to see.
“C’mon Colonel,” Sully grinned, waving him forward to step into the circle.
Taking a deep breath, Miles shook his head before clenching his jaw, squaring his shoulders as he stepped forward. He had to trust the process, had to trust that Sully would not do him any harm. Yet, trusting him was difficult in a situation where he was surrounded by Na’vi. Sully had lived with them for fifteen years. Had been their leader, had married a Na’vi, and had kids with her. He was as much a Na’vi as any of the others surrounding him.
“Hope you’ve trained with a bow and arrow, Quaritc,” Sully snickers as he steps forward, that annoying grin spreading across his equally stupid face.
“Today, we hunt,” Tonowari’s voice booms to rising cheers around them. “Omatikaya style,”
“What’s going on, Corporal?” Miles grunts, unable to keep the annoyance from his voice.
“You’re gonna be a man, Colonel,” Sully grins up at him, the sides of his eyes crinkling with amusement, “Congratulations,”
“Ngaah,” Miles grunts before placing his hands on his hips, “And how do I do that?”
“Well, your situation is a bit… different than normal. Usually, you would have been a teenager and completed your Iknimaya in the way of your clan, but you know, that’s not where we are today,” Sully explains and it rings a bell in Miles’ mind.
“Y/n made the unit go through Ikni-maya before she would allow us to get the ikrans,” He offers, noting how Sully’s grin widens.
“I know, she told me,” He chuckles before nodding his head toward the forest. “We already know that you can fly and have bonded with your ikran. Although your Iknimaya was never official, we’ve decided to have you hunt for us to complete it. You will have to perform clean kills. Should be easy enough for a seasoned Marine like yourself, right, Colonel?”
It’s a jab at his pride, Miles knows it is - still, he’s helpless to keep the growl from entering his throat. Bending his ears down, his tail whips annoyed behind him. It only results in Sully’s grin spreading wider though. A warrior steps up to Tonowari with two small bowls in his hands.
“You will receive the markings of a Metkayina warrior,” Tonowari steps forward, handing one of the bowls to Sully as he approaches.
“You will bear the mark of the Omatikaya,” Sully offers, that same leader-like mask hiding his amusement from the others.
Dipping two of his fingers into the black goo in the bowl, Tonowari presses the two digits to his forehead, spreading his fingers in a small circle that doesn’t meet in the middle. Next, Sully steps up to do the same thing, his thumb dipping into a yellow paste, this one thicker than the black, before he presses his thumb between Miles’ eyebrows, drawing a straight line up over his eyes, ending it in his hairline. Dipping his thumb into the paste again, he repeats the motion on the other side before pressing his thumb to Miles’ forehead, inside the black circle Tonowari had drawn previously.
“Call your ikran, Quaritch,” Jake hums before yipping for his own, the call shrill in Miles’ eyes.
Putting two fingers to his lips, Miles whistles loudly, uncertain if Cupcake would be able to hear him from this far away. It should not surprise him when no more than ten minutes go by before banshees could be spotted in the distance, quickly approaching them. When Cupcake lands on the beach though, Miles isn’t at all surprised to see Hawnu with her. Reaching his hand toward Cupcake, he greets her with a good forehead rub before turning to Hawnu, hand outstretched to do the same.
“I wouldn’t do that, Quari-” Sully hastily adds before his words die in his mouth when Miles rubs Hawnu’s head the same way he had done to Cupcake.
“I wouldn’t worry too much, Corporal. Hawnu and I go way back, don’t we boy?” Miles chuckles as Hawnu pushes harder against his hand.
“Well, Eywa certainly go a sense of humor,” Sully sighs, pinching the bridge of his nose before staring at Miles again, “The only other person who’s allowed to touch him is Spider,”
“Well, like his father, the kid does have a way with wild animals,” Miles grins back before he steps away from the banshees.
“Touché,” The Corporal deadpans, rolling his eyes. “Bob and I will take the lead. We’re hu-”
“Bob?” Miles can’t help but interrupt Sully.
“What? Like you named your ikran any better?” He shoots back, lighting fast, eyes lighting with amusement when Miles just growls. “What’s her name, Quaritch?”
“None of your goddamn business, Corporal,” He bites, making the connection with Cupcake for the first time since escaping the Sea Dragon.
It punches the air from his lungs as Cupcake screeches. Immediately, his mind is bombarded with worry and pain, the feeling of hopelessness and fear, of heartache and relief. Gasping for air, Miles’ eyes only clear when Hawnu pushes his forehead into his back, all but pushing him forward against Cupcake, the two of them creating a protective circle around him. Distantly, he can hear Sully shouting for him to just breathe, to try and ground himself, but the input from Cupcake is too much. He had made her feel this way.
Desperately, he tries to push apologies through their bond, tries to calm her down enough to take a breath, to fill his burning lungs with much-needed air, but it’s no use. Cupcake screeches again and again, her wings flapping wildly before him until he closes his eyes, fear gripping his heart. The thought of you, however, calms him. Your eyes, your smile, your warmth, your love, it gives him the strength he needs to step forward, embracing Cupcake’s neck as he orders her to calm down. It doesn’t take long before she’s breathing heavily against his chest, the air hot and moist where it hits his skin.
“It’s alright, Cupcake,” Miles hums, stroking her neck, “You’re safe. We’re safe,”
Minutes go by like that, Miles trying his damndest to calm her down, to calm Hawnu down behind him. To his utter relief, Hawnu steps away from their protective circle and then Cupcake lifts her head, shaking it as she spreads her wings wide, ready to glide through the air.
“You haven’t made tsaheylu with her since the ship, have you?” Sully asks calmly, wary of Hawnu’s sharp eyes on him.
“No,” The word comes out raspy, dismissive.
“Alright,” And with that, Sully connects to his own banshee, stepping up to sit astride him.
“You ready, girl?” Miles whispers, receiving a chirp in return.
Mounting Cupcake, Miles grabs onto her as she flaps her wings hard, lifting them both into the air. Immediately, calm settles over the bond between them, Cupcake’s relief at being airborne with him once more. Sully takes them away from the beach, away from the island, and prying eyes, steering them out over the wide ocean. For well over half an hour, they do nothing but fly and Miles realizes then that this is for him, for them. Looking over at Sully, he’s not really surprised to see his Corporal already watching him. Nodding his head that they’re ready, Sully nods back, reading Miles loud and clear as he changes course back to the island they had left.
“We’re hunting sturmbeests,” Sully shouts over the wind as he flies his banshee closer to Miles. “Follow my lead and make two clean kills,”
Nodding his head in understanding, Miles follows Sully’s lead as he takes them over the jungle. Below, beneath the canopies of trees, something huge moved on the ground, making everything around it shake with force. It isn’t until the first clearing appears that Miles gets to see what a sturmbeest is, the bison-like animals smashing everything in their way as they run along the river. Diving down, Sully readies his bow before letting go of an arrow, the force behind it cutting through the air like a knife in hot butter before it hits its target, piercing the soft operculum, making the huge animal drop within seconds.
Miles could do that. Sure he could. Swallowing loudly, Miles felt his mouth go dry as he readied his own bow and arrow. The small amounts of practice Y/n had made them go through probably didn’t make up for the skills he would need to take down one such animal, much less two, but hell, he had to at least try. Picking an animal in the pack, Miles silently asks Cupcake to dive down after it. The next few minutes go by too fast, his first arrow hitting the animal’s soft operculum immediately. Then, unbeknownst to himself, Cupcake makes a summersault and dives anew for an animal Miles apparently must have looked at which made Cupcake decide that this was the next target. Miles is clumsy to get the next arrow out of the quiver, cocking it with shaky fingers as Cupcake approaches too quickly. Still, when Miles lets go of the arrow, it hits home and the animal crashes down to the ground beneath it.
Surprised, Miles lets out a victorious whoop, gripping his bow as he grins widely. Sully is looking at him with surprise of his own, no doubt disbelieving of what he had just witnessed. Unable to help his chest from puffing out, Miles laughs as they dive for a landing, the pack of sturmbeests now long gone, leaving the fallen animals behind. Jumping from Cupcake’s back the moment she lands, Miles jogs over to the first animal, removing the arrow and making sure that the animal was dead before saying his thanks, just the way you had taught him. Repeating the same motion with the second animal, he washes the arrows in the stream before placing them back into the quiver.
“She taught you well,” Sully hums as he steps up behind Miles, kneeling down to wash his own arrow.
“She taught us all well,” Miles agrees, smiling fondly over how patient you had been with them all. “I thought these animals were bound to the mainland?”
“Normally, they are,” Jake hums as he gets up on his feet, “The pack migrated over to this island a few weeks ago. Made for easy access,”
“So what now?” Placing his hands on his hips, Miles waits for instructions.
“Now we wait until the others get our position. It’s on the river, so it should be easy enough to transport the parts with canoes until we reach the open sea,” Grinning at him, Sully shakes his head as he steps over to a big stone, climbing up to sit down on it.
“Spit it out, Corporal,” Miles growls, reading Sully like a book.
“You did well,” He starts, but it’s not really what he wants to say, so Miles just waits, and sure enough, eventually Sully sighs before he continues. “You’re not how I remembered you to be, and yet, you’re somehow exactly the same,”
“Should I have been anyone else?” Miles snorts, unable to poke the sleeping bear.
“You know what I mean, asshole,” Sully chuckles and it’s not the response Miles was expecting.
“Well, getting murdered by your wife, being brought back as a blue friggin tree hugger, discovering the son you left an orphan was raised by your enemy, kidnap said son, having his mother hunt your blue ass down, drowning by said enemies hands only for your son to save you and leave your sorry ass, and then for his mother to save you from certain death certainly changes a man. You should try it sometime,” Miles deadpans, noticing how Sully winces at more than one recap.
“So she hunted your ass down?” He eventually asks, that same glint of humor entering his eyes, and try as he may, Miles couldn’t help his huffed chuckle.
“Showed up outside the gates of Bridgehead like she was some kind of John Rambo incarnate, demanding to see me,” Miles grins at the memory. ”Tried to choke me to death. Damn near succeeded had it not been for Corporal Wainfleet,”
Sully whistles his aspects before chuckling to himself. The grin that spreads across his lips is one Miles had always found charming, something that probably made him accept the younger man into his weird little family.
“Her wrists were bound,” He adds and just like that, Sully loses his composure and bursts out laughing.
“She was bound?” The laughter rings through the open riverside, bouncing off of the trees as Sully laughs and try as he might, Miles couldn’t help his own huffed chuckle as he shook his head.
“Yup,” Miles pops the P, “She jumped me after I threatened Spider. She wrapped her legs around my waist, pinning my arms as she wrapped her hands around my neck. Tried to dislodge her, but I went down like a redwood. Wainfleet entered shortly after,”
“You threatened Spider?” Sully sobers, his eyebrows raised comically high.
“Yeah, it wasn’t a direct threat, more of an implication that he might get hurt. Either way, I did the mistake of referring to myself as his father… Let's just say that hell hath no fury like that woman,”
“You should have seen her when we got back to camp without Spider,” Sully snorts, his ears flattening against his skull. “Scared me half to death, even made Neytiri take a step back,”
“Damn,” Miles whistles imagining just how furious you must have been.
The silence stretches between them as they think about what they had just learned. Intellectually, Y/n’s anger was understandable. Hell, Quaritch had seen time and again when he was younger. War brought out the strongest in mothers, especially when protecting their children. Your reaction to Miles threatening Spider should have been expected, especially with the knowledge that you had left your clan to search for him, walking up to enemy lines to surrender just so that you could be reunited with your son. You must have been a helluva warrior in the tree-hugger clan. Distantly, he wondered if you would have fought in the battle that ultimately punched his ticket and if you might have crossed paths.
“Who is she?” He hears himself ask, watching as Sully’s eyebrows furrow in confusion.
“That’s just it, Quaritch. She isn’t anyone important in the clan,” Sully speaks slowly, choosing his words right, “She wasn’t a warrior, not a hunter, gatherer, or artisan. She helped Norm out with the orphans, that’s where she found Spider,”
“Spider was in the clan?” He could no more help himself from asking as he could help himself from turning his head to fully face Sully.
“He was too young to be put into cryo and when we sent the humans back to earth, he was left alone when the other kids were adopted by the other scientists. Spider just kinda… He didn’t fit in anywhere, but when Y/n came, she would make sure he was properly cared for, that he was active and was fed right.” Sully’s ears droop as he talks, his tail thrashing anxiously behind him.
“It didn’t take long before they were inseparable. Y/n bent backward to give him what he needed and as he grew, Spider and Lo’ak, my second-born son, became best friends. She’s just kind of been there, in the background, ever since. Helping the clan where she’s needed. We never even knew she could be that angry before I had to tell her that you had kidnapped Spider and that we had allowed it to happen,”
“If she’s not a warrior or a hunter, how come she has a banshee?” Miles chose to ignore the other information, choosing his battles.
“Spider…” Sully hums, but doesn’t elaborate.
“Spider?”
“Yeah. They must have been around five and seven or something. Lo’ak had decided it was a good idea to sneak off after the teens that were ready for their Iknimaya, to have a look at the ikrans. Some of the people had noticed them following the party out and one of them had mentioned it to Y/n. When I arrived, I only had enough time to locate them before an ikran spotted the kids.” Sully picks at the knife in his hand, the blade dangerously close to slicing his skin open.
“Lo’ak?” It isn’t lost on Miles how Sully said that this was Lo’ak’s idea and not theirs or even just Spider’s. He specifically said Lo’ak.
“To follow Tarsem and the teens, they would have had to take a pa’li - a horse-like animal, and seeing as Spider is unable to make tsaheylu… Well, it wasn't difficult to put two and two together,” His old Corporal almost looks embarrassed as he continues, “Which is probably how they ended up at the old shack to be kidnapped by you too. Lo’ak called it in,”
“A lawbreaker, just like his daddy then,” Huffing a chuckle, Miles shakes his head, watching as Sully does the same before sobering up again.
“Ikrans will kill children, will kill adult Na’vi if the chance presents itself. It’s just the way of their nature. Y/n tried to talk to the boys, to help them get to safety, but they were just kids - they were too afraid. When the ikran lounged at them, Spider pushed Lo’ak away, shoving him out of harm's way. Luckily, the ikran had miscalculated and missed as its maw clapped shut.”
“How does that explain why Y/n got an ikran?” Miles can’t help his impatience, feeling his skin growing tight as he long to see that Spider is alright.
“Spider went tumbling over the mountain edge with the force of the ikran’s maw and well, Y/n jumped off of the mountain after him. Tarsem jumped on his own ikran and dived after them while I ordered the teens to watch Lo’ak before doing the same. No matter how fast we dived, we couldn’t see them. They were gone, disappearing into thin air. I figured I would have Tarsem send a search party to the bottom of the mountain t help me locate their bodies. A big shadow suddenly flew over us and we had to hide, thinking it was a great Toruk. When we got back up, Y/n was standing there with Spider in her arms, and behind them, Hawnu screeched furiously at us.” His old Corporal looks troubled as he recalls the memory, his brows furrowed as his tail whips anxiously behind him.
“Hawnu saw something in Y/n when she jumped off of the mountain after Spider, something no other Na’vi had shown him before her. He decided that she was worthy of his loyalty, so he picked her as his rider, diving after them. The great Toruk that we thought we saw - that was him gliding over us. For some reason, he willingly gave himself to her, creating a bond, unlike anything that has been recorded to date. Hawnu is the biggest of his kind, a rarity in both size and color. Many Na’vi has tried to bond with him throughout the years, but he has not allowed anyone to do so before Y/n.”
“Hngh… And what does Hawnu mean?” Miles hums in acknowledgment before asking, already thinking that he knows the meaning.
“It means protector,” Sully offers, a thoughtful smile on his face.
Huffing an affirmative, Miles lets it sink in. You had named your banshee protector after he saved your lives and what had he done but steal your lives, taking you away from your home just to hunt Sully? Silence stretches between them again until Tonowari arrives with the rest of his war party, the canoes slowly navigating up the river stream. They teach him how to wield his knife through the animals' thick armor, teaching him how to part and how to save the skin. Nothing goes to waste, he notes as they divide the parts, getting them ready for transportation. The amount of meat would feed the entire village well and the realization made something burst inside of his chest. Pride for providing was not something he would have ever thought he would feel, but there he was, the corners of his mouth lifting as he washed the blood from his arms and chest in the river. He couldn’t wait to get home and tell you all about it.
Freezing for a moment, he let the thought sink in. Home. To you. Shaking his head, he didn’t want to admit to himself that he was becoming soft, but there was little need to admit anything when the truth stared him straight in the face.
“Ready to go back home, Colonel?” Jake huffs behind him, sheathing his knife.
Nodding, Miles steps into the canoe as Jake pushes it all the way into the river. The current takes them to the open sea in record time without them having to do much more than navigate. However, when they hit open water, Sully slows them down to a stop beside Tonowari’s canoe.
“We will take a tsurak back. It will be your challenge for the Metkayina to ride it smoothly,” Tonowari offers, immediately sending chills down Miles’ back.
Sure, he had been training with Sully, but that had been inside the relatively safe enclosure of the seawall. This, however, was not. This was open water. This was the bane of his existence when this new life of his brought him awfully sour lemons, making it impossible to tame it into lemonade. He’d never particularly liked the water, as strange as that was for a Marine, but he’d never had a problem with it like this before.
Grunting something affirmative, Miles bites the inside of his cheek as he watches one of the warriors arrive with three skimwings. He was so not looking forward to this shit, but if it was the only way to be accepted into this clan, then so be it. He would have to do it for Spider - for you. They had given him everything when he had deserved nothing, his discomfort with water would have to take the backseat for the time being. Taking a deep breath, Miles lowers himself into the water, making the first move. Connecting his queue with the skimwing never gets old, the sheer wildness of the animal coursing through his brain at lightning speed as he tries to mount the beast.
It’s easier than he had thought it would be, the animal’s presence in his mind somehow calming him down when all he wants to do is sever the connection and get back into the stupid canoe. But as with most things these days, Miles doesn’t get what he wants. Instead, Sully and Tonowari lead the way while he tries to keep his balance on the skimwing, trying his best not to panic whenever it would dive underwater. The sheer and utter relief he feels when the seawall pops up in the distance is painfully like the dream he used to have when he was young and less blue. The closer they get to the village, the more the sappy feeling of joy overtakes him. The village meant home and home meant you.
“You have learned well, my friend,” Tonowari comes up beside him, his ears pointing forward as he smiles, nodding slightly at him.
“Of course, I taught him,” Sully huffs from the other side of Miles, making him snap his head back to growl at his Corporal.
“You are pathetic, Sully,” Miles hisses, his voice so painfully bothered by the other man.
“Ouch, Colonel,” Sully snorts as he feigns hurt. “You know you’ve enjoyed it,”
Grumping to himself, Miles ushers his skimwing to swim faster. When he’s close enough to the shore, he gently breaks their connection, but not before giving thanks to the animal. It’s like muscle memory, something he just does without having to think about it, but when he realizes it, it stops him dead on his way back to dry land. This tree-hugger shit was getting to him without him even noticing it. Immediately, it makes his mood darken as anger floods his mind. Even if becoming one of the people was the end goal here, he didn’t want to lose himself in the process. He didn’t believe in this mumbo-jumbo stuff anyway, so why did he… -
“Go find Y/n, she will prepare you for the rest,” Sully offers, clapping his hand on Miles’ shoulder as he walks up to the beach with Tonowari.
Y/n. Now that was an anchor he could focus on. Moving one leg in front of the other, he eventually finds himself in front of your hootch, only to find it empty. Raising his head in the air, he lets his eyes glide over the village and nearby hootches, but you are nowhere in sight. Sighing deeply, he walks across the bridges until suddenly, he catches the sound of Spider’s laughter. Following the sound, he’s met with the sight of his son’s grinning face as he looks up at you. There’s a basket by your feet, carefully put to the ground as you jump back and forth after Spider, catching him in your arms and blowing raspberries on his exposed skin. Spider tries to do the same, climbing you like a tree whenever he succeeds. It’s obvious that this is a game you're used to playing with each other, the ease with which you dance around each other, one that only comes with repetition.
Stepping forward, it doesn’t take long before you notice his presence, your ears twitching in his direction, your tail wagging lazily back and forth. You’re happy to see him, he realizes, and then you turn your head, directing the most beautiful smile Miles has ever seen at him. Spider, on your shoulders, grins widely too as he waves him over to them. Huffing a breathy chuckle, Miles is helpless but to move his legs in their direction. Hell, even Quaritch would have been helpless in this situation.
“How’d it go?” Spider asks breathlessly, crossing his arms to rest his chin over his mother’s head, the ears now twitching on each side of his.
“Got two animals and rode a skimwing back,” Miles offers, only for your smile to grow even bigger as you look up at him.
“Awesome!” Spider hoots, his own grin growing bigger as he stares at Miles.
“The warriors are coming back with canoes,” He doesn’t know why he continues to talk, he’s already replied to Spider’s question, but there’s something in him that wants the conversation to continue, if only for a little while more.
“The hunters,” You offer him, your smile gentle as you shift your weight on your feet, making Spider grab onto your forehead to keep balanced. “They are hunters, but some of them are also warriors,”
“Hunters,” Miles repeats, nodding his head.
“Now, so are you,” Your smile is warm and gentle as you lay your hand between his pecs.
“You did good,” Spider adds, his small hand patting Miles’ head, making his ears rotate toward him, open and… happy?
“You look good like this,” You hum, smiling up at him before you move your hand to his right ear, “With your ears relaxed,”
Closing his eyes, Miles takes comfort in the way your fingers gently trace the rounded tip of his ears, your fingertips soft and warm. Sighing, he turns his head into your hand, relieved to feel it open to welcome his head. You take a step closer to him, the heat of your body bathing him in even more comfort. Reluctantly, Miles reaches forward with his hands, gently placing them on your hips as if to test if he’s allowed to or not. But when you don’t move, when you instead caress his cheek with your thumb, he opens his eyes to find yours already searching for his.
“Uh, guys…You’re gonna be late to your own party,” Spider interrupts, making Miles lift his head to look at his son incredulously. The grin Spider offers him could only be described as shit-eating, the knowing look on his son’s face sending sudden heat to his cheeks that weren’t there before.
“Our son is right,” You whisper while continuing to caress his cheek with your thumb. It makes a full-body shiver run through him while his ears twitch as his tail whips a couple of times behind him.
“Awkward…” Spider sing-songs as he steps down from his mother’s shoulders.
“We should go,” You chuckle as you take his hand, making his breath freeze in his lungs, “We have a lot of preparations to finish up before it’s dark,”
“Can I go with Lo’ak?” Spider asks as falls into steps beside you, but Mies barely even hears him. His ears are ringing as his legs move on their own accord while you hold his hand, initiating contact for the first time.
“If that is what you want, Spider,” Your voice is gentle and warm as you speak, the sound itself caressing Miles' ears, “I will be close to your father if you need me,”
“Awesome, thanks Mom,” Spider whoops, but Miles isn’t really sure what is going on anymore. The only thing he is sure of is how warm and small your hand is in his.
Before he knows it, you’re all back in your hootch, the warm rays from the setting sun painting the inside in a golden glowing hue. Spider puts the basket down and starts collecting stuff before you hand him a small satchel that looks as if it’s specifically made to fit his small stature. And why wouldn’t it? Hell, you were a woman to be reckoned with, that was for sure. Everything else Spider wore was made to fit him and it is as if Miles is just realizing what you’re doing for your son. These items were all handmade, were all crafted for Spider. When you had time to make them, he had no idea. Your days were filled with lessons from that old bat with the soul-searching eyes, and when you weren't there, you’d be with him, teaching him the Na’vi way.
“Good luck,” Spider’s small arms wrap around his waist as well as he’s able to before quickly letting go again, and then, his son is out of their hootch like a bat outta hell. What this was about, Miles had no idea.
“Come,” Your hand find his again, gently pulling him with you, “Sit down,”
And so he does, eyes wide open as he stares at you, watching as you kneel before him. The basket sits beside you and inside it, there looks to be a bowl of white goo, some cloth, and a bowl of some kind of watery clear liquid - which, in retrospect as he watches you dip the cloth in it, was just water. Gently, you wipe his face down with the cool cloth, continuing down his shoulders, his arms, and then further. Briefly, embarrassment enters his mind as he’s reminded that you’ve seen it all before. That you’ve seen…worse. It’s a time he would rather forget about, a time when he was more vulnerable than ever before, and yet, you had treated him with dignity, with a respect he hadn’t deserved. Not from you. Not after what he’d done to you.
“Thank you,” He croaks, his voice breaking at the unfamiliar words. “Thank you for being Spider’s mother,”
It stops you dead in your tracks, your eyes widening as you look up at him in confusion. And why wouldn’t you? A woman needed kindness to be able to trust, needed reassurance. He knew for a fact that he had not given you either one of those things. Yet… the way you looked up at him spoke of a different story, one he had yet to understand. So he just watches as you nod your head, a soft smile crossing your lips before you dip two fingers into the bowl of white goo.
“This is ceremonial paint,” You explain to him as you raise your hand to his forehead, running your fingers across his skin in a pattern only you can see, “You will go through Uniltaron today - the dream hunt. It is the Na’vi way, a rite of passage,”
“It will not be easy,” You continue, lowering your hand to rest over the bowl.
“I’m used to difficult tasks,” Miles hums back, daring to poke his finger against your knee.
“This is different. You will swallow an eltungawng - a glowing worm. Then, you will bear a sting from a kali'weya. I do not know the sky people word for it. It will give you a vision in which you will follow,” Dipping your fingers into the paint again, you explain to him how this dream hunt works.
“So it’s like a drug then? I’ll hallucinate something?” Miles offers as you start painting circles on his chest.
“I do not know what hallucination is,” And of course, you wouldn’t know what it was. There hadn’t been a setting on Pandora in which you would need to use the word.
“Hallucination is like a dream, it isn’t real - just something you think you’re seeing,” Miles offers in return only for your hand to freeze on his skin.
“A dream is a vision, it is real,” You challenge him and for once, Miles doesn’t actually want to take the bait. Instead, he nods his head seriously. “It is the Great Mother’s way of speaking to us, to let us know that we are not alone - that she is out there, that we are not forsaken,”
“Alright,” Miles hums gently, before painfully continuing, “I will have a… a vision,”
“You will have a vision and it will guide your way. It is important that you follow it. If you do not, then you will forever be lost within the grasp of Eywa,” The way you whisper the last part makes him pause, understanding what you mean.
“How often do people… not make it?” He’s unable to help himself and by the way you sigh, you had known this too.
“It happens sometimes,” You whisper before continuing to paint him.
“I will make it back to you and Spider,” Miles whispers as he reaches for your chin, gently lifting it so that your eyes meet once more, “I promise,”
It might have been a stupid thing to promise, but he had to come back to you. He would fight the deity herself if he had to, but he would return to you and when he did, he would do his best to become what you needed. Hell, he would live this tree-hugger life if it meant he could be with you and Spider. He would even tolerate the Sullys for you.
“Do not make promises you cannot keep,” You whisper back, your eyes glittering with emotions. “You are strong. You will do well if you follow the vision,”
By the time you have finished, he looks like a Christmas tree. There are stripes and swirls all over his body, but you’re not done yet. Dipping your fingers into the paint again, you motion for him to lower his head, and when Miles does, you put your fingers above his lips, slowly pulling them down, painting the last mark over his lips, his chin, his throat - until they stop between his clavicles where it meets the other stripes. Stepping back, you observe your work, clearly pleased with yourself.
“So… how do I look?” Miles hums, opening his arms to show off.
“Ready,” You smile back at him before reaching out for his hand.
Taking a deep breath, Miles takes your hand, following closely behind you as you lead the way through the village. Distantly, he notices that there are no people around, the village is all but deserted. Walking past the communal area, you take him further into the island until you reach a huge cave. There’s music and song coming out of it, low lights flickering against the moist cave walls, and when they arrive at the center, the entire village is there - waiting for him. It dawned on him then that this was a big thing for the Na’vi, a lot bigger than he had first thought. Distantly, he remembers Sully talking about this moment of becoming a man in the eyes of the clan when they had still been human. The final rite of passage, of sorts.
“Oel ngati kameie, Olo’eyktan. Oel ngati kameie, Olo’eyktan,” You greet both Tonowari and Sully with the customary gesture and their titles before turning to the old bat and Mrs. Tonowari, “Oel ngati kameie, ma Tsahìk. Oel ngati kameie, Tsahìk,”
“Oel ngati kameie, Olo’eyktan.” Miles parrots less elegantly than you did, and when he comes to Sully, he’s unable to help himself. “Oel ngati kameie, Sully,”
His disrespect of Sully does not fall on empty ears, though to his surprise, Sully himself snorts and grins before gesturing back to him. There’s a glint in his eyes that Miles can’t quite place, but when you huff irritably, he realizes that he’s used his one leeway for error on a jab against Sully. So instead, he takes a deep breath and turns to the old bat and Mrs. Tonowari.
“Oel ngati kameie, Tsahìk.” He notices how the old bat smiles at him, so unlike her batshit crazy daughter, before she gestures back.
“Oel ngati kameie, Tsahìk,” Tonowari’s wife is her usual serious self, stiff as ever he saw, but she is polite enough, gesturing back to him as if he was just any old normal Na’vi instead of… well, he wasn’t that guy anymore.
Well, not after this anyway. Had he been, he would have used this to his advantage, to help the RDA get the upper hand on the native population. That would only bring doom and suffering - his specialty it would seem. With this new chance, however, he found that he didn’t want that fate for the Na’vi. His son was here, had been welcomed by the people, despite what Miles had done to them in the past, or even in recent times.
“Miles Quaritch of the sky people, you have proven yourself worthy to go through uniltaron, to put your life in the hands of Eywa for the chance to become an adult - to become one of the people,” The old Tsahìk speaks, her voice ringing through the cave with a steady wave.
“Despite your past, you have proven yourself worthy of becoming Metkayina,” Mrs. Tonowari continues, not missing a beat. “You will walk through the Great Mother’s trial and if you emerge, you will be welcomed as one of us,”
“Miles Quaritch,” The old Tsahìk calls to him, “Are you ready?”
“I am,” Miles hums, his confidence unwavering.
He would complete this rite of passage and then, he would finally get a break from all of this mumbo-jumbo tree-hugger shit. So when Mrs. Tonowari gestures for him to sit in the middle of a series of painted circles, Miles does as told, waiting patiently until you walk toward him, a small bowl in hand. The glowing worm inside of it wiggles around the wooden surface. The prospect of having to eat it doesn’t exactly please him, but then again, he’d have to eat worse things to survive than a glowing worm. Gently, almost too gently, he takes the bowl from your offered hands, letting his fingers grace yours before retreating the bowl. Looking up into your eyes, he bends his head back and tips the bowl, swallowing the worm while holding eye contact. Sully snorts as he steps forward, holding a scorpion-looking creature in his hand. Miles guessed this was the sting part of the rite.
“This is gonna sting like a bitch, Quaritch,” Sully whispers as he rounds Miles, a gesture that has you hissing angrily on his behalf.
Reaching out to grab your hand, Miles squeezes it to reassure you that there’s nothing Sully can do to him, but as he does, Sully lets the scorpion sting once, twice - two more before you hiss at him again. Only then does Sully round his body to stand beside you, a shit-eating grin on his face that lets everyone know just how much he’s enjoying this. Grouching, Miles clenches his jaw at the blooming stings before letting go of your hand. He needs to find his center if he’s to do this with any kind of honor left. Winking at you, Miles closes his eyes as he crosses his too-long legs, resting the back of his hands on each knee while he works on his breathing.
The blooming sting on his back is only spreading, the nausea that follows taking him by surprise. He hasn't felt this way since… He can’t actually remember, but when his chest starts to hurt, in two distinct places, he guesses this new body of his doesn’t actually need the memory to remember. There’s a thumping sound behind him that’s a bit too loud. It makes his ears twitch with every sound, making it difficult to concentrate on his breathing. It doesn’t help when the blooming sting spreads to his front or when different sounds and voices blend into the mix.
They sound so far away, yet, they’re right there. There’s a constant stream of noise bombarding his senses, but amongst them, one he now knows all too well stands out. There’s a steady dripping of water to his left, dripping louder with each heartbeat that pounds in his chest. Miles knows that if he chases that rabbit, he will be lost forever. He needs to hear your voice, to hear Spider’s. Hell, he’d even settle for Sully if only he could recognize something, if only he could find familiar ground to stand on, to hold on until this thing ended. He knows that he can do this, but the pain, the isolation is slowly leading him away from where he needs to go. In a desperate attempt to hold on, he calls out your name, the sound burning up his throat as it emerges. It feels as if he’s swallowed acid, as if he’s breathing fire, but when his voice eventually does leave, it echoes with a sound he’s never heard before - hoarse and almost scared.
He doesn’t register when he’s fallen from his sitting position, but suddenly he’s on his back. There’s water dripping on his face, on his chest, but it might as well have been liquid nitrogen. It feels as if it pierces his skin and then it’s pouring over his body, the water rapidly submerging him until he’s struggling to keep his head over the surface. There’s something holding him down, but when he tries to free himself, the restraints only refasten over and over again. Miles is getting lightheaded from holding his breath, the panic almost consuming him until he’s once more reminded about your words.
This is Eywa’s way of communicating with the Na’vi. Through visions. He must find his path and he must follow it or forever be lost. Quaritch would not be lost. Hell, he had trudged through hostile territory more times than commonly sane, had found himself lost more times than he cared to remember. He had survived Pandora for decades without getting lost. Quaritch would find the path he was meant to follow, no matter what. So with his new resolve, Quaritch takes a deep breath, filling his burning lungs with much-needed air. The fact that it’s air and not water that fills his lungs, has him chuckling gleefully. Oh, Eywa be warned, he would come for her, and when he does, she would learn the hard way that you cannot part Colonel Miles S. Quaritch from what he desires.
Getting on all four, Quaritch growls menacingly. His entire body is on fire and when he opens his eyes, there’s nothing but psychedelic colors swiveling around him, figures he recognizes as Na’vi, stand around him, staring - talking to him - but he can’t understand what they’re saying. Their voices sound garbled and far away. Logically he knows that Miles had agreed to this, to become one of the people, but come hell and high waters, Quaritch would rather die again than join this bunch of thee-hugging smurfs. Forcing one of his legs under him, Quaritch demands his body to listen to him, to stand tall among the natives.
“Woman,” Quaritch growls, waiting for the mama dragon to step forward with her dragonling.
He is not disappointed when moments later, the shape of the woman that has occupied their mind for the past eternity steps forward, their cub behind her. She’s talking to him, her voice soothing the intense fire that’s burning from within him, but Quaritch can’t understand what she’s saying. Everything is wrong and the only thing that can make it right again seems to be the mama in front of him. On unsteady legs, Quaritch steps forward, grabbing harshly onto the woman’s wrist, pulling her even harsher against his chest. The moment her scent fills his nostrils, it soothes whatever was happening to him.
Wrapping his arms around her, he buries his face in the crook of her neck, breathing her in as if she was air to a drowning man. With each breath, the rage inside of him seems to lessen, calming down enough to dampen the control he had over his body. With an ungraceful huff, he can feel his legs giving out, so instead, he hurries to sit down, taking the mama dragon with him. There’s something insanely pleasing when she wraps her arms around him and settles in. The cub steps forward and without thinking, Quaritch grabs his wrist and pulls him in to sit on their laps. This wasn’t his plan, this wasn’t what he had set out to do, but maybe Miles had gotten something right after all. As the poison in his system takes hold over his body once more, Quaritch is helpless but to hold onto his family as -
Family. Quaritch had never had one of those. Sure, he’d had the units through the years, but nothing like this. These two were his people. His alone. The mama had shown them kindness when in all honesty, they had deserved none. Quaritch takes. It’s what he’s always done and when Miles was awoken, that’s what he had done too. Only to have his entire life turn upside down. At first, Quaritch hadn’t understood at all. No tail was more important than the mission and yet…
There’s a pleased feeling bubbling from within him and it annoys Quaritch to no end that this other him, the lesser him, had found this when he could not. Fifty-one years alive and the only thing he took from that was abandonment issues. Yet, this blue monkey hasn’t been alive for more than a year, and he’s already found a woman and Quaritch’s son. It wasn’t fair, but then again, nothing in life ever was.
Taking a deep breath, Quaritch tries his best to get himself under control again. The mama had said to follow the vision, but there was no damn vision. Not that he could see anyway. Growling, Quaritch’s patience wears thin when suddenly a voice breaks through the fog. It’s not one he recognizes, not female, not from a child. It’s only when the mama’s voice joins in that he recognizes it as his own. He’s singing, but Quaritch knows damn well that it isn’t his doing. He doesn’t know any Na’vi songs, but Miles does. He knows the one the mama sings to his son. Miles mumbles the song, clinging to it as if his life depends on it, clinging to the mama. Quaritch can hear his voice call her name and as pathetic as it is, it actually calms him down when she responds, her smaller frame settling firmly within his lap, leaning on him.
So distraught is he, that he almost misses the panther in the corner of the room. Its colors are wrong, but Quaritch knows that nasty bitch better than he knows the Na’vi. Hell, he had barely survived his first meeting with one. She prowls on the outside of the circle, but Quaritch isn’t taking his eyes off of it. He has a family to protect now and somehow, that gives him the strength he needs to stand tall and face the animal. But the animal doesn’t attack, doesn’t flash her razor-sharp teeth against him, or pounce with her dagger-sharp nails swinging at his head. Instead, she turns to leave, walking out of the cave.
“It is important that you follow it…” The mama dragon’s voice calls in his mind as if she was saying the words right then, but she’s still singing with Miles, so Quaritch has to see this shit through.
Walking after the panther, Quaritch emerges from the cave they had first entered only to be met with the quiet of dawn. It had been midday when they had entered and he knew for a fact that they had been no more than a few hours at the cave. This wasn’t right, but he figured that if this was a vision, then nothing would be as he remembered it. And sure enough, when the panther stops just before the sea, Quaritch knows that this is the hallucination that the mama was talking about. The village is quiet as the sun rises in the distance, not even the fishermen had awoken to start their day yet.
There’s a sound in the distance, one that is uncannily familiar to his ears. The rhythmic swishing of air from the rotor blades of a Samson, followed by the heavy hum of Valkyries. In the distance, against the sun, he can just barely make out the black shapes. Deep within his chest, a sense of relief at seeing the RDA settles, but soon enough, it shits to dread as a missile is fired, heading straight for the village before hitting hootch. The surrounding area is up in flames before he’s even able to take another breath. Once the first missile has been fired, there’s a never-ending series that follows its lead as the RDA approaches.
The flames surround what remains of the village by then, the screams of people, of children, filling the air with pain and sorrow. The panther nudges Quaritch’s side before walking off and reluctantly, Quaritch follows. Before he knows it, he’s in Bridgehead, staring down at the remains of Sully and what looks to be his youngest daughter. Behind him, Mrs. Sully wails and screams in her chains, thrashing wildly to go to her husband and child. The new recom soldiers only force her down to her knees as the lead recom turns around to face him.
“Colonel,” Ardmore’s voice greets him, and for just a second, Quaritch’s breath hitches. “Good work. For a moment there, we almost thought you pulled a Sully on us, but your word is as solid as unobtanium,”
“Of course, General,” He recognizes his voice responding, but he’s certain that he hasn’t opened his mouth.
“Too bad about your woman and kid, she would have made a valuable asset,” Ardmore continues, but Quaritch doesn’t follow the conversation.
The panther moves again and when he follows, he’s taken back to the burning village. He’s standing before a Na’vi woman on the ground, her features twisted in blurriness as she gurgles blood, her lungs collapsing as she drowns on dry land. She’s clutching onto an impossibly small boy laying on top of her. It’s obvious by the way he’s trying to cover her that the child tries to protect her, the weeping bullet wounds on his back tell Quaritch all he had to know. Tears roll down the woman’s face, mixing with the splattered blood from her coughing, but it’s not before her eyes meet his that the blurriness dissipates and the tears that had obstructed his vision falls down his own cheeks.
With a heavy thud, he falls to his knees beside the mama dragon and their cub, hands hovering shakily over Spider’s body before he manages to touch his son’s skin. It’s slick with blood and cooling, his ribcage unmoving as he has long since stopped breathing. The mama is clutching onto him when Quaritch tries to move him from her body, only resulting in the blood still left in her body, to seep furiously from her own bullet wounds. They’re littered from her thigh, up her curved abdomen, and across her stomach and chest as if the assailant had been trying to make a dirtbike map on her body.
“Y/n…” Quaritch whispers, but the mama’s name breaks in his throat.
She’s trying to tell him something, but he can’t understand anything she says, the words dying long before they even enter her bloody throat. Her eyes desperately search for his, her hand reaching out for him, but all Quaritch can do is hover his own hands above her body as tears fall from his eyes. Too late, he meets her eyes. The mama’s breath hitches and before Quaritch knows it, she too is forever gone, leaving him behind to wallow in the agony of having lost the only people who ever mattered to him.
People. Huffing a humorless chuckle, Quaritch looks up into the skies. Damn Miles and his fucking nerve to fall in love with this woman, dragging him into this shit too, giving him a taste of the only thing he had secretly allowed himself to dream of. And now, they were gone forever, taken from him by his past. As much as Quaritch hated to admit it, Miles had been right. They were only pawns in a game of chess that the RDA played and once they had outlived their usefulness, once Sully was dealt with, they would be deactivated too. Reaching out for her hand, Quaritch is surprised to find something clutched within it. Opening it, his breath stops as a pair of bloody silver, human-sized dog tags lay in the palm of her hand. Taking the dog tags out of her hand, Quaritch lifts them to read their designation, his heart stopping in his chest when his own human face stares back at him. Closing his eyes, Quaritch locks his jaw as tears sting his eyes, making the world blurry once more.
Getting to his knees, Quaritch binds the dog tags into his loincloth before heading into the sea, leaving his family and the panther behind. If this was Eywa’s vision of the future, then he would throw hands at her and anyone else that would stand in his way. Stepping into the sea, he lets the water submerge him. Quaritch just continues to walk until eventually, he finds himself outside of Bridgehead City, the panther once more by his side. He would avenge his family if it was the last thing he did. Damn Ardmore. Damn Bridgehead. He would burn them to the ground if they stood in his way. As the gates of Bridgehead open, much like they had for the mama dragon, Quaritch walks into the lion's den once more.
Blinking, Miles eventually regains control of his body once more. He’s sitting in the same circle he remembers sitting down in, but in his lap, you and Spider sit, his own arms clutching onto them. Spider’s big brown eyes are staring up at him, a small smile slowly spreading on his lips as he gets up from his mother’s lap. Turning his head, Miles is met with the blindingly beautiful smile that was directed at him.
“You have passed the Great Mother’s trial,” You whisper, your voice a bit raspier than before.
“So what now?” Miles hums, unable to help himself from clutching your hip.
“Now, you are welcomed by the people,” Sully offers from the side where he stands with the old bat and his wife.
“Stand, my friend,” Tonowari starts as he steps forward, a big grin on his face.
Sully and Tonowari reach forward, putting their hands on his shoulders when Miles eventually gets up to his feet. Reluctantly Mrs. Sully lay her hand on his chest, over where her arrows had stricken him, killing him as a human, as she accepted him as one of the people. Surprise is written all over your face as you lay your hand above hers, whispering a quiet “Thank you,” before the rest of the people follow. In the end, Miles’ upper body is covered with the hands of the people, the ones unable to touch him, touching the person in front of them until they were all connected until they all touched him.
“You are now Omatikaya,” Sully announces, a smile of his own offered to him.
“You are now Metkayina, my friend,” Tonowari follows shortly after, his own grin firmly placed on his face. “Now, we feast to celebrate,”
As the hands on his body quickly leave, your hand still remains over his heart, unable to break the contact. You’re looking up at him with worry in your eyes, a question so clearly dancing behind them. But this was a joyous occasion, and before he gets to voice his own question, you are both pulled ahead, leaving the cave behind. What follows is just a series of celebrations Miles has never seen the likes of before.
There’s dance and music, lights and laughter, and amazing food. The hunt from earlier that day has been prepared, seasoned, and made into different dishes that make Miles’ mouth explode with each bite. Spider is staring at him with this weird smile on his lips, the boy just staring as his mother fusses over him to eat enough food. In the end, Spider runs off with his friends and you are nowhere to be seen. Miles doesn’t quite know how he ended up sitting around a bonfire with Sully and Tonowari, but the conversation is light and for once, Miles doesn’t mind the company.
“You know,” Sully stars, obviously already intoxicated, “Your first hunt went better than mine ever did,”
“Neytiri used to smack me, calling me a child and a skxawng almost daily until one day, I suddenly got it right,” The grin on Sully’s face is nauseating, but Miles guess there was something admirable to still be that deeply in love with your wife after fifteen years.
“Y/n did the same to us,” Miles starts, surprising not only himself with opening up, “She had so much patience with our bullshit. Hell, she managed to take a unit of salty, hardened Marines and break our set ways to become tree-huggers,”
There’s more than one head turning when Miles outright laughs at the fond memory. Sully looks as if he’s allowed something sour while Tonowari reminds him of a perplexed puppy. The big guy somehow always manages to turn a situation into something positive, so Miles guesses the puppy comparison isn’t that far off.
“You really like her, don’t you?” Jake eventually recovers enough to ask after Miles continued to share stories about you teaching the nit the Na’vi way.
“Let’s just say that I would go to war for her and leave it at that,” Miles grins, the reference going straight over Tonowari’s head, but it makes Jake huff a chuckle and shake his head.
Tonowari, of course, finds his own meaning in Miles’ words though.
“I hear you. Ronal has that same effect on me,” He says, grinning widely, so obviously still madly in love with his wife, “She snaps her fingers or bats her lashes at me and I’m helpless to deny her anything,”
That makes both Jake and Miles laugh, grinning widely as they look at each other. In reality, there was no stronger force in any universe but two people in love, Miles knew that. But to share his vulnerability like this, with these two men, one of which was his greatest enemy - was difficult. He had never been the kind to share himself, always holding his cards close to his chest. Quarich had done so his entire life, but the more Mile learned, the more tired he got about the prospect of guarding himself from others.
“I feel you, buddy,” Jake echoes, as they both turn to Miles with open shit-eating grins on their faces.
“Oh, hell no. I ain’t that pussy whipped,” Miles balks, but Jake and Tonowari just look at each other with knowing expressions before bursting out with laughter. “Well, I’ll be damned,”
Miles eventually sighs with the realization that he totally is and it makes the other men laugh even harder, Tonowari wheezing as he supports himself on Jake’s shoulder, his former Corporal wiping tears from his eyes. Their laughter eventually fades out though, leaving loose smiles on their faces and a good, safe space behind the bonfire. Some of the other men stood up to leave when their mates approached, bidding them goodnight and congratulating Miles on his success. Miles, however, was still stuck thinking about you and the realization that he totally was whipped.
“I don’t know how to be what they need,” Quaritch eventually hums, a rare moment of trust and vulnerability shining through.
“We’re jarheads, Quaritch, used to taking orders. Just follow hers and you’ll be fine,” Jake starts, slapping a hand on the back of Miles’ shoulder carefully as if to test to see if it would be tolerated or not.
“Breaking the code… it’s not easy, but heck, I somehow made it.” Huffind an affirmative, Miles just nods, deep in thought.
“If you want her, you need to prove to her every day of your life that you’re worthy enough to call yourself her mate,” Tonowari offers, leaning forward to pin him with a firm stare, “And should she bless you by having more children, you lay on the very ground she walks on to protect her tired feet.”
“I ain’t much of a family man, chief,” Quaritch straightens, facing Tonowari head-on.
“These things have a way of figuring themselves out, Quaritch. Hell, look at Spider. Even after all the shit you’ve done, he saved your sorry ass, so you must’ve done something right while you had him,” Groaning, Miles rolls his eyes. He would never back down from facing what he had done to these people, figuring the least he could do was stand through it.
“You are a strong and capable male. There are others among the people who would be interested in becoming your mate,” Tonowari offers, a knowing look in his eyes as he lays the truth bare.
“You have become Metkayina now, you stand free to choose a mate among the people,” The bare thought of choosing anyone other than you physically pained him though, something the others immediately noticed when his ears snapped back against his skull.
“Tell her how you feel, my friend. You might just be surprised,” Tonowari offers gently, watching as Miles’ eyes close while he rubs his hands over his face.
“She already knows,” Miles offers back, a sad smile on his face. “Has known for quite some time already,”
“You so sure about that, Colonel?” Jake offers and it’s the way he says it that makes hope latch onto something deep inside of him.
Nodding to Sully, Miles empties his cup, falling back into silence as the others continue to talk. As the night progresses, he finds himself searching for you among the people, his eyes sorting through each and every member of the clan until finally - finally - they land on your form. You’re sitting with Mrs. Sully, the two of them huddled close as you talk. As if on instinct, your head snaps up to meet his eyes and a small smile crosses your lips. Mrs. Sully bumps your shoulder, whispering something and then she leaves. Getting up on his feet, Miles is annoyed to feel the wobbliness in them as he approaches.
“Have you had anything to heat?” It’s a stupid question, he knows it is, but the way it makes your eyes light up, he can’t help his heart from beating a little faster in his chest.
“I have, thank you,” You smile up at him until he eventually sits down beside you.
“Where’s Spider?” Miles finds himself asking and it’s somehow awkward.
“He’s off with Lo’ak and some other boys, doing teenage stuff,” You huff with a roll of your eyes. It makes Miles huff a chuckle of his own.
“Is he safe with them?”
“He is,” You hum, turning your head to stare at him.
It makes him uncharacteristically nervous, his ears bending flat against his skull while his tail thrashes wildly behind him. Closing his eyes, Miles wills his embarrassment to pass, but when he opens his eyes again, he has no such luck. You are unyielding when it comes to his bullshit and for once, he’s actually comforted by that fact.
“You should tell him how you feel,” You offer kindly before getting up. “It has been a long day, I will bid my goodnight before returning to our kelku. You did well today and I’m very happy for you,”
Miles understands the words you’re saying, but there’s something off about it. Something off about the sound of your voice, something that makes the hairs on the back of his neck stand on alert. You sound almost detached as if you’re distancing yourself from him. The bare thought of it almost has him spiraling before he gets up to follow you around, bidding his own goodnight and thanks. When they eventually get back to the hootch, Miles doesn’t know what to do or say. He watches as you undress, watches as you curl into the bed, and yawn before closing your eyes. You look… sad? No matter what it is, it’s unacceptable. Undressing, Miles crawls into bed behind you, lifting the blankets until he’s slotted tightly against your body. Instinctively, you curl up against him, sighing deeply when his hand snakes around your waste to hold you tight.
“I’m proud of you,” You whisper when his head eventually rests against your shoulder, “But that paint is going to get everywhere by morning,”
“I will clean it,” Miles hums, feeling the huff you let out in response as you hold his hand close to your chest.
He’s barely awake by the time Spider gets back, his small, colder body wiggling over you as he finds his space in the bed. Miles is unable to hold back the smile on his face when Spider’s head rests in the palm of his hand, completely occupying the arm under his mother’s head. Rubbing his thumb against Spider’s forehead, Miles’ heart stops in his chest when Spider sleepily mumbles a “G’nite dad,”. In the morning, he would have to confront Y/n about what was going on and then, he needs to ask the old bat about the visions he saw and what truth they held. Maybe Sully could tell him about his own experience and how that unfolded.
“Sleep,” You mumble before clutching his hand tighter, curling more firmly against him while taking Spider with you, your son already long gone into la-la land.
“Alright,” Miles whispers back, intertwining their fingers against your chest.
He would have to get ahead of this if he wanted to have a fighting chance. The more he learned, the more he knew, the better he could prepare to keep his family safe. Tomorrow would bring about a change, unlike the days until then. As a member of the tribe, Miles now stood free to do whatever he wanted to do, no longer bound to repent. Though that wouldn’t stop him from doing what he could to make you happy. He had gone into this one hundred percent, knowing that if he did, he would have to do it on your terms by becoming a true Na’vi. And now that he was one of the people, your futures had once more opened for change. Only time would tell now…
Chapter 20 | Masterpost | Chapter 22 - Coming soon