Chapter Text
The air was still filled with blood and smoke as he stayed there, with his son in his arms, Spider holding tightly of his middle and Neteyam…his oldest, his pride and joy, taken in a blink of an eye and Jake didn’t know what to feel anymore. He was beyond torn. They were all crying when the inevitable happened. The sky was pierced like a thunder by strong, colorful wings, followed by a war cry and the last resort of a man gone to madness.
He was so out of it that he barely realized that Lo’ak was shouting his name, or that Spider keep yelling back and forth, trying to get him to move from that spot. All that commotions, yet his eyes couldn’t leave the lifeless body of Neteyam. He prayed to Eywa, he prayed to God that his son will just open his eyes and plaster on one of his usual bright smiles. But his son remained still as a stone. Without realizing it, tears took over his face in endless streams, blurring his vision. He wanted to bend down, reach out his hands to his son, hold him in his arms for the last time, but he knew that if he were to move from that place, nothing would make him let go.
The lightning wings continued to break the air and come closer and closer. Jake felt Spider clinging to his body even more, holding him with all his strength, only one name coming out of his lips. Quaritch. It was only at that moment that Jake woke up and regained contact with reality. He took a quick look at his family. Neytiri rushed over Neteyam's body, protecting him, Tuk hid behind her, Tsireya and Kiri looked at the sky with a fear unseen in his daughter's eyes. Lo'ak was also frozen, holding Jake's left arm with all his might. When Jake finally raised his head to the sky, he truly believed he had died and gone to hell.
Quaritch was barreling toward them from his bloodthirsty ikran. Jake was trying to put all the pieces together but he couldn't figure out how he got away with it. He had watched him lose consciousness, he had made sure that Quaritch stopped breathing when he had let him go in the dark and cold abyss of the bottom of the ocean. However, Quaritch was there, in the sky, like a plague that they would not escape no matter what they did. Spider surprised everyone. He had worked up the courage to break away from Jake, stepping to the edge of the cliff, waving his hands madly at the demon that was falling like a comet towards them. Desperation, that's what Jake heard when Spider shouted at the top of his lungs.
"Don't do this, dad! Go away! Go away! Leave them alone!" For a single split second, in the warm blue of the sky, the wings went out of sync and flew a bit to the left into the air. Jake saw the moment, he clung to it.
However, Spider's words remained unheard, and a fear unfelt in years had taken control over Jake, the blood freezing in his veins. He had to protect his family, even if he would give his last breath for it. In fractions of a second, he had thought of almost all the scenarios in which the fight between the two of them would take place, but nothing prepared him when he felt the ikran's sharp claws piercing the flesh of his shoulders, trying to lift him off the ground. A ferocious cry was torn from within him, fingers digging into the ikran's legs. He tried to scratch, even bite the creature, but it was in vain. Lo'ak was the only one who reacted in time, grabbing his father's legs, holding him to the ground, but the boy was already exhausted, and in a moment of inattention, the Ikran snatched Jake. He fought with everything he had, hit, scratched, but the ikran seemed unaffected, it seemed to be made of stone. He could feel its claws digging into his shoulder blades, claws tearing flash and scrapping bone. He couldn't even turn his head, look at his family for the last time, as he knew it would be the last time. He was trapped like a mouse, small and insignificant. Above him, he could hear Quaritch breathing heavily and laughing. A cold shivers ran down Jake's spine.
In front of them, an island had appeared, big enough for the ikran to hide among the vegetation and be unnoticed. The landing was as hard as the takeoff. Before he knew it, the ikran let go of Jake. He hit his head on some rocks, his body rubbing against the burning and sharp sand. He was exhausted, the wounds on the ship continued to bleed, his head felt swollen as if it could explode at any moment. He closed his eyes for a few seconds, and when he opened them Quaritch was there, almost drooling. He looked much worse than Jake, full of cuts, with the bruised eye swollen, but he had a glint in his eyes, one that promised death. He bend down and grabbed Jake by the scruff of his neck, lifting him to his knees. Quaritch's fingernails were drawing blood as Jake hissed in pain. The other hand had grabbed his hair, pulling hard, keeping his head and gaze directed at the monster in front of him.
"If you're gonna do it, do it quickly, you son of a bitch!" Jake spat out the words, his gaze darting at Quaritch.
The demon didn't move and didn't seem impressed. He was grinning like a madman, and Jake had thought that maybe all the salt water had really driven Quaritch crazy. The fingers stuck in the back of his neck slowly went down to his collarbone. They lingered there for a second before coiling around his neck. Quaritch pressed down laughing. Tight, tighter and tighter, but Jake didn't have the strength to fight back.
"I decide when it ends, boy! You're mine at last." His words tore something in Jake and he felt the vomit rise up. No, he couldn't go on like this, he couldn't prolong this. The real Quaritch would have cut his throat at that moment, without thought, without plans, without delays. This version, on the other hand, wanted revenge, and Jake wanted the earth to open up and swallow them both.
"There's only one thing keeping me from leaving you here in agony and returning directly to them, from crushing your remaining family under my hands, just as you and that animal of a wife did."
He let go of Jake, the air rushing into his lungs, choking him. He fell at Quaritch's feet, the sand around them covered in blood, fear and unspoken words.
"I can go back anytime though, if you don't cooperate, Corporal!"
That never ending threat, just like on the ship, just like every time. It was either him or his family. Jake stood silent, looking somewhere over Quaritch's shoulder, his gaze almost lost. He felt the need to cry, but he didn't know exactly what he wished those tears to be for. He had tears for Neytiri and all the suffering he had brought into her life, he had tears for his children whom he had disappointed, he had tears for Pandora and all the souls for whom he had not fought enough.
"Are you gonna behave for them, Jake?" Another laugh, another fucking laugh from Quaritch and then Jake knew he had lost all hope in winning the fight. Quaritch read everything on his face. He bent down and cuffed Jake's hands behind his back. Without realizing, his's tail smacked Quaritch across the face hard enough to make the old bastard hiss. He grabbed his tail and pulled at it mercilessly, Jake falling face down in the sand, pain encompassing his whole body.
"Answer me, Sully!"
He tugged at the sensitive tail again and Jake cried out in pain. Quaritch dug his fingers into the wounds the ikran left, putting pressure on his shoulder blades, almost riding him between his heavy legs.
“Fucking-… fine, I will!”
“You’ll what? I need to hear it.” Another painful tag.
“I’ll behave. I’ll do what you fucking say!”
Quaritch removed the last pair of handcuffs and tied his tail to the leg, above his knee. But the bastard didn't get up, he stayed heavy as a statue on top of him, the weight crushing his back bone.
"Next time you hit me with that thing, I'm gonna cut it. Understood?"
Jake nodded slightly. He felt dizzy from all the blood lost and all the anxiety caused by the situation. Quaritch leaned over him more, and Jake heard the sound of a blade cutting through the sand. In a second Quaritch brutally lifted his head, fingers buried deep into his locks, the blade of the knife placed lightly at the base of his neck, and Jake held his breath. Maybe the demon changed his mind, maybe everything was a game to give him hope that he could try to escape, to prolong the inevitable. Jake swallowed hard, a silent prayer sent to Eywa as he closed his eyes.
Quaritch's lips, cold and bloody, touched the edge of his ear, his hot breath giving Jake goosebumps.
"You know what I love most about this abomination of a body? Ever since I was reborn, I can smell fear."
Jake trembled but did not dare to answer him, nor did he moved from that position. The blade slowly went up to his jaw, the fingers in his hair relaxed a little and he could have sworn he felt Quaritch rubbing against his body, but he blamed it on the adrenaline and the demon's words. It's a game, it's just a game. He wants to see you lose again and again. He tried to tell himself between sobs. He hadn't realized that he was sobbing and that made him panic. The blade in Quaritch's hand continued rising on his face, on his lips, stopping there for a few seconds, on his nose, clinging to one of the cuts, passing the corner of his watery eyes, until it stopped at his scalp.
The edge of the blade broke the deafening silence and Jake felt his head lighten, the tension gradually disappearing from his scalp. Long pieces of his hair were now scattered around him, mixed with sand and blood. Whole years and memories destroyed in a second by Quaritch and his merciless hands. He was going to destroy him and he was going to start with his appearance, with what Neytiri had seen that day, with what the people had seen in him. Toruk Makto hadn't disappeared fifteen years ago, he was going to disappear now, at the hands of his enemy, and all Jake could do was stand still and endure. He would endure anything for them, to hold Neytiri one more time, to see Tuk grinning from ear to ear, to see Lo'ak become a true warrior, to better protect Spider, to protect the memory of Neteyam.
When Quaritch finished, he turned Jake back to face him, admiring his work. The demon managed to cut him in several places, but what would a few extra cuts mean. Methodically, almost afraid that something would attack him, Quaritch ran the blade over all of his ornaments, cutting them off one by one and throwing them far into the sea. The last throw was his songcord, and Jake's heart tore into a thousand pieces, but he knew there was no way he was going to make Quaritch change his mind. Jake groaned as Quaritch's right hand found its way to his face again, in the cut on his cheek, turning his head to the side, as he thought deeply. He let go of his face and grabbed his kuru instead, and Jake lashed out in fear.
"Don't touch that!" He wriggled tight, trying his hardest to get out from under the demon's weight, but all he did was sink deeper into the sand and give Quaritch a better angle over his pelvis.
Quaritch watched him intently, a grin tugging at the corner of his mouth. He wrapped the kuru around his arm, pulling at it. Jake winced in pain, stopping with his lips on the blade, cutting himself. A metal kiss. Quaritch released the pressure on the blade, and Jake opened his mouth, the blade resting firmly on his tongue.
"I'm only going to say this once, Sully, so listen carefully. We will fly off this island before the wild one comes looking for you. One word without my consent, and I cut your tongue! You move a step without my knowledge, and I cut your ponytail! Do what I say, when I say it! I feel you're up to something, I'm gonna cut you open like a fish and go after the children!"
No confirmation was needed. The message was loud and clear. Quaritch finally removed the blade, tucking it into a trouser pocket. He picked Jake up, more like dragging him around, and headed towards the ikran. As strong and intimidating as Quaritch wanted to make himself seem, the strain of their fight and the wounds were telling in the way he breathed and dragged his feet. They were walking towards the ikran with small steps, and Jake's head buzzed with uncertainty and thoughts. He could have attacked him if he was quick enough, hit the demon so hard as to knock him down, kicking and kicking until he made him lose consciousness. He had seconds to decide between his life or a last attempt to get rid of the demon once and for all. One step over another, and he shifted his weight more onto his right leg, preparing to strike.
Out of nowhere, almost like a bad joke, an atokirina appeared in front of them, carried by the sea breeze to that cursed place. Jake gaped at the seed flying over their heads in disbelief. "Eywa doesn't take anyone's side Jake", Neytiri had told him a long time ago, and yet, Eywa had shown up. It felt terrible, like a cross turned upside down, like a prayer said from the end to the beginning. Quaritch noticed it too, but he continued on his way, dragging Jake harder after him. They both barely climbed on the ikran, the creature showing its discomfort with the weight of two Na'vi. Before taking off, Jake took one last look at the sky, and the atokirina was gone, as if it'd never been there. The sky was clouding slightly, a storm was approaching.
No one followed them, no Na'vi, no ilu, no tulkun, except the sea and its waves, and when the rain rushed over them and their wounds, they were already too far for anyone to save him. Jake turned his face to the sky, crying silently.