27

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'family' reunion

"Na'vi inbound!" An Avatar, who was standing on the deck, yelled when he noticed a swarm of Na'vi appearing behind the three large rocks. All guards quickly took their assigned position while they rose their weapons.

"Colonel?" Lyle asked unsurely as he looked to his boss, who was deep in thoughts while he stared at the place Leyra was moments ago. Quaritch raised his head in confusion while letting a "What?" slip out. Lyle pointed to the incoming threat and Quaritch's persona quickly was replaced by the bad enemy again when he saw them approaching.

"Dad!" Tuk happily yelled when she spotted Jake in the distance but her brother was still looking to the door that Leyra was forced to go and then his gaze shifted to Quaritch, the man that was trying to kill his family. Lo'ak couldn't believe that this man was supposed to be Leyra's father.

"Weapons up! Spread out!" Lyle ordered when he got the nod from the captain and everybody aimed their guns at the Na'vi who remained in the water. They all stopped on Jakes orders, when he saw the sky people raising the guns through his gun visor.

Quaritch walked behind Lo'ak and removed the communication device from the boy roughly. He placed the earpiece in his ear and held the speaker to his mouth, looking at Jake Sully from the distance.

Jake looked through the eyeglass of his gun and saw two of his children and Tsireya on the ship, tied to the rail and beside them stood Quaritch. His heart rate picked up when he glanced at the chief. "They got our kids." He moved his gun to look again "Your daughter."

At this information Tonowari let out an upset but at the same time angry sound, following a sound from Ronal and her strangled breath.

"Tuk, Lo'ak." Jake continued and his voice quietened as he closed his eyes frustrated for a second. His breath got stuck in his throat when he heard the voice of his enemy.

"Jake, tell your friends to stand down. If you want your kids back, you come out alone." Quaritch spoke through the comm and then pulled out his gun, raising it up so Jake could see it perfectly before he pressed the gun to the back of Lo'ak's head.

Lo'ak pressed his lips together to not show any emotion and just stared forward to the large group of warriors in the ocean. Tsireya's ears went flat against her head and she feared for his life and the young Tuk looked to her father with a frown and then back to her brother.

Jake removed the gun from his face and sighed. He couldn't look at this scene without breaking down any minute. His ears flatten against his head when he heard his enemy's voice again.

"I took you under my wing, Jake, and you betrayed me." Quaritch spoke again and pressed the gun harder to Lo'ak's head and the young one closed his eyes while his heart started beating faster. "You killed your own. Good men and women. I will not hesitate to execute your kid."

Jake stared at the ship and cleared his throat before he responded "Just wait one." Then he turned to Tonowari and saw all the warriors who were ready to fight. "Hold here."

"They are killers of tulkun." Tonowari reminded him why the Metkayina clan wanted to fight. He raised his spear and pointed to the ship. " They must die. Here, today."

"It's me they want. That's what all this has been about, right?" He said strongly while shaking his head. "The hunting of Tulkuns, the taking of our kids." He felt extremely guilty for bringing everyone in danger again. He should have learned from the first time.

Tonowari remained silent while he looked to the ship and saw the silhouette from his daughter. He needed to save his daughter from them but he knew that what Jake said was the truth.

"You brought this upon us!" Ronal exclaimed angrily as she stared at Jake. "You!" She hissed.

Jake nodded "Then, it is me who has to do it."

Tonowari signaled to the warriors again to stay were they are and gave Jake a nod of approval.

"Offers fixing to expire. Whats it gonna be?" Quaritch asked with a slight tone of boredom in his voice though the comm as he pressed the gun harder against Lo'ak's skull again, who let out a hiss.

"Check your fire. I'm coming out." Jake replied and placed the gun behind him starting to move forward on his skimwing.

Neytiri who was observing everything from the sky on her ikran was confused at Jakes moving away from the group. "Ma Jake, what is happening?" She asked through the comms and got worried when he didn't replied.

"Ma Jake?" She asked again but Jake remained silent as Quaritch would hear their conversation. She sighed frustrated but remained in the sky to be hidden.

"Captain, easy shot." Lyle, who has aimed his gun directly at Jake, said beside Quaritch.

Quaritch lowered Lyle's gun and shook his head. "You hit him now, they attack." He explained and looked back at Jake. "Wait till he's on board and keep him there." He ordered.

"I have to take care of something." Quaritch said and distanced himself from Lyle and the tied up Na'vi. "If they attack for whatever reason, shoot them all." He ordered and disappeared in the inside of the ship.

Lo'ak knew where he went as he stared at the door again. Somehow he needed to save his mate, but this is impossible when his father was in danger too. He looked at all the guards on the ship who had their guns ready to shoot if something happens. The whole situation was tense as they waited for Jake to come on the ship.

Leyra's face was stained with tears when she looked up after she heard the door open and close again. She felt the presence of a certain Avatar and the tears formed in her eyes again when she looked at him.

She sat in the corner of the room on her knees and held a defensive position as she watched every move of his. She didn't knew the man in front of her. He only looked like someone from her imagination that she used to know for a very short period of time.

"I thought I would never see you again." Quaritch whispered as he stared at her and he could see Leyra's mother in the girl in front of her. He kneeled in front of her and the usually cruel man felt the emotions overwhelm him. He stretched his hands forward to her and hoped she wouldn't flinch, but she did.

"Your fault. You left." Leyra couldn't form whole sentences as she replied in the foreign language, English, quietly and glanced at his hands uncertain.

Quaritch closed his eyes briefly while exhaling slowly. "That wasn't planned. Something happened." He answered and dropped his hands in defeat.

"Something that was more important than your own daughter?" Leyra fired back and felt her anger rising the more she looked at him.

"I had to complete a mission." He explained and thought back what has happened eighteen years ago.

"Which was fighting the forest people?" She asked angrily. "Waging war against them?" She gave him a look full of disappointment.

"I had to, because Jake Sully betrayed me." He answered firmly. "And our people."

"But then you betrayed me. My people. The Na'vi." She whispered and the tears rolled down her cheeks again. Tears formed in Quaritch's eyes.

"I regret leaving you so much." He stated and quickly wiped the tear away that slipped out of his eye and looked at her with much sadness. Leyra could see that he was honest with her.

"Why didn't you come back after the war?" She questioned.

"I couldn't."

"Why?"

"Because I got killed in the war." He admitted and saw the horrible event playing in his head. The arrows hitting his human body and the life leaving his body.

Leyra's eyes widened and she moved forward to hug him. She felt safe in his embrace when her father wrapped his arms around her body. She sobbed into his chest when she realized she finally met her father after believing that he just left her without a reason.

"But how are you here when you... died?" She asked confused while looking up at him.

"They suddenly disconnected my mind from my former avatar body and I fought as a human, died as  human. Now the memories of this dead me are in this brain." He pointed to his head. "That's some scientific shit I don't even understand." He chuckled a little.

Leyra nodded slightly but not fully understanding. She was just glad her father was back. "May I ask who killed your human form?" She asked carefully.

"Sully's wife, Neytiri." He truthfully answered and couldn't get the image of her arrows out of his mind. Leyra gasped slightly and stared at him. She couldn't believe that Neytiri could've done that, but Neytiri was a strong and brave warrior and she did everything to protect her clan eighteen years ago.

Now Leyra saw the woman with different eyes. Neytiri was the reason she grew up without a father. She took him from her.

"You need to know something else." Quaritch mentioned and was uncertain if he should tell her or not, but he would rater tell her then her finding out from other people. "You have a brother Miles."

"A brother?" She was shocked and her eyes sere wide in surprise.

"He is human though." He clarified.

"That's crazy." She whispered. "This whole conversation is crazy. How do I know that I'm not going insane?" She stared passed him at the wall and bit her fingernails anxiously.

"Believe me, that feels surreal for me too. Seeing you again after I've only seen you as a baby. It's real and I'm not going to leave you again, Leyra." He honestly said and looked at her while grabbing her shoulders gently so she would look at him again.

They hugged each other again but were forced to stop when they felt the ship moving weirdly and then they were pressed at the wall. They looked at each other in alarm and Quaritch quickly walked to the door.

"You stay here!"

After a minute passed a young human boy was basically thrown into the room were Leyra was now sitting on the table. She only heard a voice saying 'stay there' to the boy and then the door was shut again.

She watched as he hit the door over and over again and shouted to let him out while he tried to open the door, almost breaking the handle.

"If you keep trying you will break your little bones." Leyra commented and had an amused smile on her lips. The boy jumped when he heard her voice and quickly turned around facing her.

"What the fuck are you doing in here?" He asked almost shouting as he clenched his hands into fists and took a defensive position, glaring at her.

"What are these blue stripes are supposed to be? You trying to be a Na'vi?" Leyra ignored his question and laughed at his looks while standing up. With her height and her sharp teeth showing, the boy was intimidated by her as he unconsciously pressed himself against the door.

"Oh, you scared of me?" Leyra chuckled and when she hissed playfully at him he let out a short scream which made her laugh even more. The boy understood by her very different looks that she wasn't an avatar or like the girl he had seen on the deck. She was something else.

"What are you?" He slowly asked while holding eye contact with Leyra so he would see if she would try attacking him.

"I assume you don't know who I am. He hasn't told you." She sighed. "Hate to break it to you, but we have the same father."

"What?" He yelled in surprise. How would that make even sense, he asked himself and stared at her.

"You are Miles?" Leyra asked a little unsure, because maybe it wasn't him.

"Nobody calls me that. I'm Spider." He answered and was disappointed that his father had kept another secret from him. At this name realization hit Leyra.

"You're a Spider that the Sully's were talking about all the time."

"Not a Spider, just Spider." He clarified confused but noticed she wasn't really listening to his words so he just shut his mouth.

The ship made an unusual move again and they both fell to the ground.

"We have to get out of here!" Spider suggested and grabbed the door handle again trying to open it.

"Move human." Leyra spoke and walked to the door. Spider stepped aside offended and watched her open the door with a foot kick. The doors really weren't made to endure the strength of a Na'vi.

Leyra walked out of the door and noticed a human guard outside the room she came out of. No avatar was nearby so she assumed they were needed outside the ship. The guard noticed the noise and at aimed his gun at her but Leyra only smirked and quickly grabbed his mask, throwing it away.

The guard let the gun fall as he couldn't breathe the air on Pandora and was suffocating, within seconds he was dead. Leyra grabbed the gun, even though she didn't knew how to use it and slowly moved forward, holding the gun in front of her.

"So... how do we get out of here?" Spider asked standing in the door while he looked at Leyra unsure.

"Oh, no. You and your human ass are on your own." Leyra responded and left Spider alone after she turned the corner.

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Leyra & Quaritch[art by me]