Solek stood by the equipment crates, his back a wall of dark, scarred muscle. He was sharpening a bone knife, the rhythmic shink-shink of the stone the only answer.

"The harvester is a priority," he said, his voice like grinding stones. "You are the most capable tracker we have for the Clouded Forest. Go."

"I am Sarentu!" you screamed, the frustration finally snapping. You marched up to him, grabbing his shoulder to force him to look at you. You bared your teeth at him, a sharp, jagged snarl of pure fury. "You promised me, Solek! You knelt in the dust and swore you would help me find my heart! But I have crawled through the mud of every tribe in this frontier alone! I have faced the metal demons while you hid in the shadows!"

Solek spun around, his own teeth baring in a defensive, primal snarl as he loomed over you. The raw power of a Shadow-Warden radiated off him, cold and terrifying.

"And you are still alive, are you not?" he roared back, his tail stood tall and stiff as his his finger pointed at you. “You have learned to hunt. You have learned to kill. That is the only song that matters in a world that wants us dead! I will not apologize for making sure you can survive!"

"Is that all I am to you? A weapon?" You stepped into his space, your teeth still flashed in anger as you yelled up at him. "You treat me like a liability you're trying to get rid of! Every time you send me out there, I think, ‘Today is the day Solek finally gets his wish. Today I die so he doesn't have to be reminded of the clan he failed!’"

The knife in Solek's hand dropped into the mud with a wet thud. His expression didn't just break; it disintegrated. The mask of the stoic warrior fell away, revealing a hollowed-out grief that made your breath catch.

"Is that what you think?" he bellowed, his hands flying out to grip your shoulders. His grip was frantic, desperate. "You think I want you dead? You think I send you away because I hate you?" his voice was cracking, his head tilting and his ears pinning back with a face of devastation and pain.

"What else am I supposed to think?" you sobbed, your snarl breaking into a pained grimace as the tears finally came. "You won't even say my name! You won't look at me!"

"Because looking at you is like walking into the fire!" Solek screamed, his ears flattening further as he leaned down until your noses nearly touched. "I promised to walk the path with you, yes. But every time I stand near you, I hear the screams of our people again. I see the face of everyone the RDA turned to ash. And then I look at you... and I realize that if they take you too, there will be nothing left of these frontiers but a grave."

He shook you once, gently but desperately. "I sent you away because I am a coward! I thought if I made you a warrior who didn't need me, I could protect my heart from the loss. I thought if I stayed a shadow, the pain wouldn't find me."

His voice dropped to a ragged, broken whisper. "I followed you," he admitted, his forehead dropping to rest against yours. You could feel the heat radiating off his skin, the smell of rain and old leather clinging to him. "At the Aranahe... I was in the canopy. I watched you weave your first beads. At the Zeswa... I was there, keeping the predators at bay while you slept. I have never let you be alone, even when I made you believe you were a ghost. I have been with you every step."

You froze, the anger leaving you in a sudden, dizzying rush, replaced by a staggering sense of being seen. "You... you were there? The whole time?"

"Always," he rasped, his touch finally softening as his thumb traced the line of your jaw, catching a tear. "I watched you learn the songs alone and it broke me into a thousand pieces. I hate that I love you this much. I hate that you are the only thing that makes me want to live for a tomorrow that might never come. I gave you a shadow when you needed a someone by your side..."

When awareness creeps back into his aching body, it’s painstakingly slow. His shaking on his hands and knees, coughing violently as smoke and dust clogged his lungs. TAP groans around him, metal screaming, alarms blaring, sparks flickering around him.

“Please.” He gasps into his comms, clawing towards the small beam of light filtering through the rubble. “Please- Answer me!”

Palms scrape against the metal floors, blood sticking to the floor. “Hello?” he calls your name nothing yet there’s but static responding. “Please- Can you hear me?”

His fists slam into the ground, still clambering to the light as he pleaded into the comms. But there was nothing.

Only silence.

Silence never lasts long.

So’lek stands inside another control room. Surrounded by useless human machinery, bleak gray desks bolted to the floor, a multitude of panels cluttered with unfamiliar switches and glowing buttons. Fans chur overhead, blades spinning too fast, rattling and cutting through the thick air. Warning alarms scream through the small screens adorning the walls, red symbols flashing.

Nothing about it matters. He followed another useless lead, ending up empty handed, not even a hint about where the RDA  had abducted you.

So’lek’s attention is dragged to the largest screen on the far wall. Dark, glossy and reflective enough he can see himself in it. His bloody, battered body shaking, ears pinned tight to his head, chest heaving.

Then it glitches.

Black and white lines flash onto the screen. Static cutting through the speakers. He barely had enough time to register it all before a loud scream echoes through the room.

It’s deafening and guttural. As if it had been ripped raw from a throat that has already screamed too much.

So’lek flinches, his tail snapped rigidly behind him. His breath stutters in his chest.

The image stabilizes.

You are on your knees. Hands bound behind you so tightly your shoulders are wrenched back painfully, muscles trembling with strain. Your head hangs forward, your chin close to your chest, eyes wet and unfocused.

Your body swaying, slipping in and out of consciousness. Bright purple marks stain your skin. Bruises in the shape of fingers marked onto your body. Thin straight lines brand your arms and legs. Glistening under the harsh white light. Cuts and scratches measured and chosen.

So’lek felt his heart stop beating, his stomach drop.

A shadow moves behind you.

Wukula’s broad form fills the screen. His movement is slow and controlled, almost relaxed. Blood darkens his teeth as he smiles, eyes slight with cruelty and vengeance.

“Wave, Sarentu.” He taunts, prodding at your weak body. “He is watching.”

“She tried so hard.” He says gently, eyes locking onto the camera, the fondness in his tone making So’lek’s stomach curdle. “Did you know that?”

“She tries not to make noise.” He continues. “Thinks if she stays quiet, this will end faster.”

Wukula’s hand comes down to grip onto your jaw. You whimper weakly as he forces your face towards the camera. “But I like it when she screams.”

So’lek’s blood runs cold, letting out a pained hiss.

His eyes meet yours. He can see the terror in your eyes, blood and ash smeared over your face, lashes clumped together from your tears.

“Look at her” Wukula croons. “You picked a pretty little thing.”

His head dips down into the curve of your neck, inhaling slowly. A satisfied growl escaping his mouth. “She looks even prettier when she cries.”

A loud sob tears from within you as Wukula twists your head back, his grip threateningly tight on your kuru.

“I told her you would watch,” he murmurs his voice a low growl. “That you would hear every pathetic sound she made.”

You struggle against his grip. The movement is futile.

Wukula retaliates instantly, yanking back your kuru hard enough to force another scream from your throat.

“She would make a good offering to Varang.” He jeers, eyes flicking to the camera. An evil smile stretches across his scarred face. “But this.”

A possessive hand settles over your waist, one finger tracing the fibers of your loincloth.

“This is much more enjoyable.”

A gut-wrenching scream echoes through the control room.

The scream goes black.

The silence is worse.

So’lek is left staring at his own reflection. Shaking violently, eyes blown wide, your broken image burned into his mind. A blood thirsty haze falls over him, the gold in his eyes dims, swallowed by something darker, hungrier.

He will not fail you again.

So’lek doesn’t think. He cannot think.

The moment the static in the speaker comes to a complete silence his body surges forward as if it had a mind of its own. Every muscle screams, every footstep pounding against the metal floor. He doesn’t dare to slow down.

He jumps over the platforms of the base. Sharp metal edges scrape against his arms. But the pain is irrelevant. Nothing matters but you.

He roars into the metal surroundings, his voice raw and shaking. Tail whipping behind him as he pivots through the winding hallway.

So’lek had lost any care for stealth. Any human that dared to get in his way now would meet their fate quickly.

He bursts through a maintenance vent, the setting sun casting a dim haze over the horizon. His voice calls out for Iley, soaring into the air quickly. “Quick Iley!” He yells out to him, a shaky hand steading itself on his neck.

The pull within his chest is unrelenting, every gust of wind a hammering reminder of how far he was from you.

Wukula has you. Wukula dared to touch you.

The realization dawned on him. If he was just a heartbeat too slow. He could lose you.

The wind was harsh, Iley pushing through the wind with loud screeches. The air brushes against his skin, the cool air doing nothing to simmer the burning fury within him.

Finally, the faint outline of Hometree looms in the horizon.

Scorched, blackened and stubbornly alive.

A single thought consumed him.

You.

With a guttural roar, So’lek leaps off Iley landing on a smoldering branch of Hometree. He rushes inside vaulting and sprinting through the onslaught of soldiers that stood in his way.

Every instinct screamed for you. He didn’t waste time fighting his way to you. He simply ran.

Every bit of his strength would be reserved for the death of Wukula.

When So’lek reached the top of home tree it was nothing like he had recognized it. Steel had replaced bark. Scorched embers scattered across the floor. Human instruments jut from the burning trunk like parasites. Cables and wire burrows into the sacred wood. What was once vibrant, breathing with life had been stripped bare and weaponized.

A landing pad.

The wind howled through the dying branches, shrill and mournful. As if the tree itself was grieving.

So’lek stepped forward slowly, bow already draw tight.

Then his eyes found you.

Suspended against a vertical steel pole at the back of the landing pad.

Your wrists are bound high above your head, shoulders stretched taut, forcing you upright. Your toes barely brush the cool metal beneath you. Your head hangs forward lolling weakly to one side, hair undone, veiling half of your face.

Your breathing is shallow. Uneven.

But present.

A tiny part of him is relieved. That at least he hasn’t lost you yet.

You’re alive.

Then the wind shifts. Clouds swallow what little sunlight remains, plunging the clearing into looming darkness.

So’lek sees the shadow first.

Then Wukula steps forward, merging from the darkness. His smile catching the last thread of light, sharp and sickly pleased. His blade is already tight against your throat.

 “Ah.” He says conversationally. “You made it.”

So’lek moves before his thoughts can catch up. His arrow aimed between Wukula’s eyes.

“Take your hands off-!” His voice booms, echoing against the steel structures.

Wukula lets out a laugh. It’s deep. Genuine. Amused.

“Are your arrows faster than my blade…Dog tag warrior?” His words sharp, almost mocking.

The knife presses just enough to break skin. A thin line of red wells at your throat.

Your breath catches. Your body tenses, weak and trembling.

So’lek is frozen.

 He knows if even a finger tightened too much on the string-. He didn’t want to imagine what would happen.

“You hesitate.” Wukula observes with satisfaction. “Good. That means you understand.”

Wukula’s hand slides up your form, fingers lingering too long. As if he relished in touching what wasn’t his. Then his hand forcefully grips the base of your kuru tilting your head further up, a yelp of pain ripping out of your throat.

Your head tilts back under his control, exposing your throat to the darkening sky. Your eyes stare upwards, unfocused searching for something beyond the cloudy sky.

You don’t fight. You can’t.

All you could do was stare at the dark sky above you and silently pray to the Great Mother. Desperately plead that your life is not taken from hands covered in ash.

Yet there was a small part of you that wondered if returning to the Her would finally mean peace.

“Dog tag warrior.” Wukula spoke with venom, spitting the words onto the ground. “I didn’t realize you were so gullible.”

So’lek stuttered for a moment. His brows furrowing, the tension on his bow releasing.

Panic set in as he looked beside him.

A mechanical whine. A metallic snap.

Four darts explode outward from the shadows, fired from the arm of a concealed AMP suit.

They strike in each of So’lek’s limbs with brutal precision.

Cords wrap around So’lek’s limbs, coiling tight before he can pivot away.

Then the voltage hits, his body locking.

A strangled scream tears from his throat as the electricity surges through his body. Muscles seize violently, his bow dropping out of his grip. Body crashing to the floor as his knees buckle.

So’lek groans as he tries to move, every twitch sends volts of ache through him. Even his hands are not strong enough to stop him from falling, his face smashing against the metal. He felt his face ache, blood beginning to drip from his nose.

You scream his name.

But Wukula silences you instantly, his blade biting deeper into your skin.

“Be- Be still!” So’lek cries out to you, his face morphing in agony as he looks up to you.

“Careful.” Wukula murmurs near your ear, biting the tip of your earlobe. “You’ll distract him.”

So’lek’s teeth grit, his jaw trembles. He tries to move, rip the cables free but more volts shock through him, forcing him flat against the floor. Helpless and pinned.

Forced to watch.

Wukula cuts the ropes that kept you bound to the pole, pushing you forward on your knees. Instinctively, your hands flew out to try and catch yourself, but Wukula already had them in his grasp. Your shoulders pulling tight as you fell, the familiar ropes wrapping around your wrists once again.

Wukula stood in front of you, watching you bound and kneeling in front of him with a sick grin. His loincloth so close it brushes across your face. “She looks pretty when she kneels doesn’t she So’lek?” He grips your kuru yanking you closer to him.

So’lek let out a hiss, fighting through the electricity, fingers digging uselessly against the metal. “Don’t touch her!”

Wukula scoffs. “I already am.” He sneers, pulling you closer to his pelvis, forcing you to submit to his will. His hands trace the outlines of your jaw, forcing your gaze away from So’lek.

“Our fight is not with her!” So’lek yells, desperately trying break free. Yet every movement forced him into submission.

“You have scarred me.” Wukula points his knife towards So’lek, then flicks it back to you. “So, I will scar her.”

Wukula crouches beside you, his grip on your kuru still tight enough it restricts movement. His voice lowers into something intimate and cruel. “Stay very still,” he whispers. “He needs to see this clearly.”

He stands up again, his full form dwarfing you as knelt below him. He tugs on the end of your kuru, making you stumble over your knees.

Wukula doesn’t rush. Every move he makes is calculated and thought out. As if he had planned this moment many moons ago.

He keeps his grip tangled in your kuru, twisting once around his wrist like a leash.

You let out the softest whimper, lips trembling.

So’lek sees it, his heart fracturing.

“Don’t you see?” He calls lazily, as if he is annoyed that his devilish plan is being interrupted. “She reacts to me. She responds to me. She belongs to me. Even her body understands that her life is in my hands.”

“Release her!” So’lek roars, dragging his forearm across the steel beneath him. His skin tearing against the sharp cables.

The electricity surges again, slamming him flat against the floor. His muscles convulse violently; breath knocked from his lungs.

“You are exhausting.” Wukula sighs, turning his attention away from So’lek. “This is who you begged to come save you?” He tilts his head, mock sympathy softening his tone. “Or did you pray to the Great Mother?”

You shake your head, fighting tears from spilling. Wukula just laughs. “She will not come.”

He raises his voice so So’lek could hear every word.

“She did not come when we burnt this tree.”

“She did not come when we bombed your rookery.”

“And she will not come for you.”

So’lek thrashes against the metal. Another surge of electricity forcing its way into his veins. His scream rips through the landing pad, animalistic and raw.

You watch how Wukula’s mouth twitches into a smile.

Then he slides his kuru forward.

Slowly.

Deliberately.

Then he pauses. “Have you mated before your weak goddess yet?” He sneers eyes flicking between the struggling couple.

You shake your head, a sinking feeling of doom bubbling in your stomach.

“No? Well…this shall be fun.”

Then glowing tendrils swallow yours.

“No!” So’lek chokes out, a terror unlike anything he had felt before flooding his system.

Wukula groans loudly, a hearty laugh ripping from his chest.

Your breath stutters, pupils dilate as the sensation drowns you. It wasn’t warmth or love. But a cold dark intrusion that felt foreign within you. Your muscles seize, you shake as you try to break free. But Wukula looms over you, his eyes glowing in satisfaction.

He could feel every bit of fight within you leaving, desperately clawing onto your mind as he forcefully weaved through it.

He inhales sharply, tilting his head down towards. “Such a pretty paskalin.”

“Stop!” So’lek screams, his voice cracking, something primitive tearing from his chest.

Wukula lets out a loud hiss, his fangs reflecting against the floodlights. As Wukula grew angrier, you felt his pain through the bond.

You collapsed in agony; your nerves were no longer yours. Nor was your mind or your body. It was all in his control. You let out a scream loud enough that your throat almost gave out, tears streaming down your face.

Wukula crouched down now, seeing your weak body slowly begin to fade in and out of consciousness. A sick grin growing across his face. “I thought she could handle a little more than that.” He laughed, picking you up and ripping your kuru from his.

So’lek deep inside prayed you would react, even if it was a scream of agony. It meant you were alive. But your body never reacts. All he heard was the thump of contact you made with the metal floor.

Your chest sinks, but it doesn’t rise.

And something primal wakes within him.

The world around him goes silent.

The electricity still courses through him but he no longer feels it. The pain fractures away revealing something larger.

His fingers wrap around the first dark embedded in his thigh. With a groan he rips it out. Flesh tears around the wound, blood spraying across the steel, yet he doesn’t flinch.

The AMP suit hesitates, So’lek catches it within a second.

He surges forward on instinct alone. He grabs the live wire still sparking against his ribs and tears it out. Then he yanks it towards him, the solider tugged to the ground, the AMP suit backfiring, sparks explode from the energy packs on its back. Metal shrieking at the suit bursts into a mountain of flames.

Wukula turns too late.

So’lek was already moving. Not with grace or precision.

With wrath.

So’lek tackles Wukula before he is fully alert. Both slamming across the metal pad. Wukula’s knife slides away into the shadows

Wukula snarls, fangs bared. “You will give me what I am owed!”

So’lek answers with his fists.

Bones crack, Wukula’s head snapping sideways.

Wukula’s hands fly to So’lek’s throat, forcing him to the ground as he recovers. Scampering away to grab his blade. The time gives So’lek to find his footing, snarling as he sees Wukula return with his weapon.

Wukula swipes his blade near So’leks face, but he ducks with haste, swifty turning to jut the Mangkwan powerfully in the back.

Wukula coughs before he pivots, his blade cutting through the Dog tag warriors back. He cries out, knees crashing to the floor, pain spreading through his body. Sticky red liquid beginning to drip down his blue skin.

Wukula sees the moment to strike, lifting his blade high in the air. Its rigid edges gleam against the burning flames around him. Then his blade lowers, aiming towards So’lek’s shoulder, but his arm is caught before any wound is made.

So’lek lets out a loud snarl, twisting his entire form as he bends the raiders arm. Forcing him to let go of his sacred blade.

So’lek’s balls his fist, meeting Wukula’s face with the utmost force. Sending him crashing to the floor below him, his knife clattering beside him. But So’lek doesn’t take a moment of rest. He can’t rest.

Not while he knows you lay limp and unconscious just behind him. Because he wasn’t fast enough to retrieve you from Wukula’s sick games.

So’lek’s hand wraps around the Warband’s neck, tight enough that he felt a heartbeat pump beneath his fingers. Another grabs the rigid blade that laid next to him.

His hands rise, chest heaving. So’lek looks into the eyes of the man that had brutally tortured you.

But he doesn’t see Wukula.

He sees you.

He sees your fear, your terror, your silent pleas and weak cries.

Then the blade pierced his flesh, plunging into Wukula’s chest. Stealing away his last breath.

So’lek watches as his pupils widen, his body falling limp below him. Life drain out of his chest, seeping onto So’lek’s hands.

A roar rips out of him. It echoes across the landing pad, bouncing off the metal contraptions. The roar tears out of him until there is nothing left but a lingering burn in his throat

Then there is silence.

No more shouting. No more metal shrieking. No more Wukula.

His hands begin to shake, he glances down and all he can see are his fingers buried in Wukula’s chest. Blood coats his hands, warm and slick, dripping down his wrists and along his forearms.

He releases the blade, and Wukula’s body slumps fully beneath him.

He should feel relief. He should feel victory.

But he can’t.

Not when you are still unmoving. Stuck in the position Wukula had thrown you into, wrists still bound together.

His head snaps toward you and for a moment he is worried he cannot stand. Knees buckling below him. The adrenaline that had carried his movements had disappeared. Leaving behind something hollow and sick.

He moves anyway, feet stumbling with every step.

Each movement he makes feels wrong, feels…heavy. As if the air around him had thickened.

As he moves closer to you, his heart begins to pound.

Your chest is too still, your skin is too pale, your body is too weak.

He drops to his knees beside you, the impact so hard bruises appear in an instant.

A wail racks out of his chest, unable to be restrained. Chest heaving with sorrowful cries as he gathers your limp body into his arms.

Your head lolls back against his forearm, hair falling away from your face.

He is quick to rip the ropes from your wrists, fingers tracing the bright purple marks that have been indented into your skin.

He brings you closer to his chest, hands shaking as he cradles you.

Your lips are parted, but there was no breath.

“No, no, no-” His voice fractures completely, his grip on you becoming tighter. He presses his ear to your chest.

Silence.

His body begins to tremble violently.

“I was here,” he coughs out, choking on his own tears. “I came. I came for you.” He presses his forehead to yours, his tears dropping onto your cheek. “I would never leave you. I was always going to come for you.”

He shuts his eyes tight, another sob taking control of his body. Lips tremble as his cries wobble. “You cannot leave me,” he whimpers.

It wasn’t a command or an order.

But a plea.

His fingers fumble brushing against your kuru, he brushed it gently, another sob crashing over him as his mind flashed back to what had been done to you. “You were so strong my love.”

His shoulders shake, eyes flicking back up to your shut ones.

Then he breaks.

He folds over you, curling his body around yours, trying to shield you from something that had already happened. “I’m so sorry.” He whispers into your hair, his blood soaked hands staining your cheeks. “I should have been faster- I shouldn’t have hesitated. I’m so sorry-.”

His voice collapses into another wail, his body rocking side to side. One hand rested against your head cradling you into his body, the other wrapped around your waist.

Your hands lay limp against the floor, unmoving and lifeless.

Hometree was silent, the only sound was So’lek’s cries. Defeated and broken.

Then a small sound breaks it.

So small So’lek is sure he imagined it. That his mind was trying convince himself that this was all fake.

A hitch of breath, a gasp of air.

Your chest jerks sharply beneath his grip. So’lek freezes, he couldn’t look down. What if he had imagined it all. What if he looks down and still sees you there lifeless in his grip.

But what if when he looks down, you are really there.

He pulls back just enough to look at you. He feels your fingers twitch weakly against his chest.

Another breath, ragged and sharp drags into your lungs.

“Please…” he whispers again.

Your lashes flutter. Your brows furrow faintly. “So’lek...?” You whisper faintly, your voice barely there.

He nods, a broken sound escaping his throat, one that is half laugh half sob.

He cups your face instantly. His hands careful gripping onto your cheeks. “I am here,” he breathes, forehead pressing against yours. “I am here.”

Relief hits him like another surge of electricity, but this time it does not ache. It overwhelms. He gathers you tighter in his embrace, his body still shaking. “I thought I lost you…”

“You came.” You cried a weak hand shakily gripping onto his.

“Of course I did.” He says quickly. “I will always come for you.”

The night is cool inside So’lek’s home. Bioluminescent vines light up the rocky walls, the soft rush of the waterfall trickles into a soothing harmony.

You lie curled against his chest, the hammock enclosing around the both of you.

He had barely slept since that night. Every time your breathing shifts his body would jolt awake, every time you move, his arm would tighten around you. Every moment his eyes fluttered open he looked down making sure you were still safe in his arms again.

Tonight was like any other night. So’lek barely asleep, his body on edge unable to let him succumb to rest.

Your fingers twitched against his chest. Then your breathing changed, becoming shallow and quick. Too quick.

“No-” you whisper, barely audible. Your lips beginning to tremble, eyes still screwed shut.

But So’lek’s snap wide open.

Stay still a voice echoes in your mind. Your body jerks violently, hands shoving against So’lek’s chest. “Get away!” you gasp, eyes still shut.

So’lek’s grip on you immediately retracts. Sitting up, letting the weight of his body no longer rest against you. “I am not touching you.” He whispers firmly, raising his hands in the air. “You are safe, you are home.” He whispers, his voice low and steady.

Your eyes fly open. And for a split second you don’t recognize him. You suddenly scramble backwards out of the hammock, feet finding the rocky floor below you.

Your breathing is erratic, hands clutching around your kuru, protecting it from a threat that is no longer there.

So’lek’s heart sinks when he sees you, his chest tightening. “Mawey…you are safe.”

“He is inside-” you sob out, choking on your words. “I- I can feel him.”

“He is dead. He is not here.” He says voice firm but soft. “He will never hurt you again.”

Your head shakes violently, hands wrapping around your body. “But I felt- I felt him.”

So’lek stays sitting on the hammock, his eyes gentle and calm.

“Look at me.”

You hesitate, taking in a short breath in. Then your eyes lift.

His gaze is steady and present. “Tell me what you see.”

You blink, a tear dropping onto your cheek. “You.”

He smiles. “Only me?”

Your breath trembles as you nod. “Only you.”

“Breathe slowly yawne.” He takes in a large breath, holding it for a moment before releasing the air.

You watch his chest rise and fall, beginning to mimic him.

So’lek shuffles his legs on the floor, bringing the hammock closer to you. He is slow, giving you space if you need to recoil.

When you don’t move away, he opens a hand to you. “Come my love.” It wasn’t an order, but an invitation.

You slowly move towards him, pulling your hand away from the grip you had on your body to rest in his palm. His touch was soft and warm.

Your shoulders drop, tension seeping out of your system. So’lek drags you closer now, enough that you can rest in his lap. Legs resting on one side of him, your head resting against his shoulder.

For a while nothing was said between you. Both sitting in gentle silence as his fingers caressed the small of your back, slowly bringing you back into the present.

“I hate that he touched me first,” you whisper. Your confession is raw, taking a weight off your chest.

So’lek’s jaw tightens, fighting the fire of rage that still burned within him. But his voice remained soft. “He did not take what is ours.”

“I do not want…” you swallow a whimper. “I do not want him to be my only experience. I want...what it was supposed to be.” Your eyes flick to your kuru, and then to his.

His hand stills. “I will give you what ever you ask for.” He says gently. “But I do not want you to think that you owe me anything.”

“I know.” You say softly. “But I want you.”

Silence fills the space as So’lek’s hands move to grab his kuru. He doesn’t rush it towards you, he lets you take control.

You reach for his kuru with shaking hands, slowly connecting it to yours.

For a moment, fear builds inside of you. Worried that you may once again feel the agony that was forced upon you. But when the tendrils met, your breath caught in your throat.

Because this time there was no intrusion, no pain or force. It was a warm fuzzy feeling that consumed you. Slow and gentle.

You feel So’lek, his thoughts, his feelings and he still does not flood your sensations. You feel him waiting for you, letting you set the pace.

Through the bond you hear him. Softer than ever before, calm and peace flow through your body.

There are moments where So’lek feels your growing fear, can sense your growing anxieties. But he answers it with calm…and your doubt flickers.

“I am here.” He whispers. Your bond did not make you his nor did it make him yours.

You became one.

Your forehead presses against his, tears sliding down your cheeks, but your lips curve into a faint smile. “This feels different.”

“It is different.” He answers.

But of course, it’s different. Because this was chosen.

So’lek pulls you in closer, fingers intertwining with yours. He watches your eyes flick up to him. You study him in the dim light.

“You almost lost me.” You whisper. You feel his sorrow, his fear through the bond.

His jaw tightens, a hand cupping your cheek. “I would have torn the world apart to find you again.”

notes: okay yayyyy, thankyou for reading it all i really hope you all liked it. please tell me what you thought, how you felt I wanna hear and read it ALLL ily guys sm i hope this was good and not totally cringey

okay byeee (reblogs and comments are always appreciated and i will give u a big fat kiss.)

tags: @tootstoots @hiyik @heichou-im-scared-please-hold-me @alexismakto @aonungsbestie @nakedinthetrees @meilaniserena444 @fvckcare @kael-crybaby @xaree-ko @just-another-idk @supercheesygarlicbread @cocomollo @chaotickittenanchor @v3lv3tf0x @pinkphantomz @yolo95otaku @7wanne @tyraemagna @gabzqx @tada-dw @cantaloupesoda @xxkandiesxx @e553nc3 @depressedandhornyfl @gensheredity @harper-sims @leonykennedy @taronyuhunter @agelsully @eywasprobl3mchild @nialuarchives @saltedcoffeescotch @freckledcoconut @menari-avatarlover @n-ae-vis @sereinitysmind @visdumplings @nervoussongcherryblossom @evie-25 @unadulterateddinosaurstrawberry @atinytree @velvetglosss

Your avatar was your own home within the Resistance. You didn’t stay in the RDA long, you couldn’t bear it. Everything felt so gut wrenchingly wrong, nothing sat well inside you, not the commands, or the goals and especially not the RDA food.

Now it had been a year with the Resistance. A year of living in rebellion. Alongside the Na’vi and Resistance members who valiantly risked their lives to destroy the RDA.

Now every time you got into your link bed, it didn’t feel like a simple task, a job to be carried out for the RDA but a way to return to what you believe was home. No matter how deluded you knew you sounded. This large blue body was meant to be yours. You sacrificed for it, you risked your life for it and you’d do anything, be anything if it meant you could leave your human body behind.

You met So’lek without ceremony. Barely a greeting.

He held no acknowledgement for you beyond the simple nod when he walked past you. Neither of you had held a conversation until a couple of months ago.

You were sitting in a small clearing outside of the cave. Resting on your hands breathing in the air. It was a feeling you could never get tired of. The fresh crisp air instantly invigorating your senses. It made you feel as if you were floating. The sounds of the trees in the wind. Their leaves crashing together creating a peaceful rhythm that nothing on your earth could replicate.

“You.” He said lowly, his presence commanding. “What are you doing?”

You looked up startled. “Huh?”

So’lek’s glare tightened. He stayed eerily still in his stance. “What are you doing?” He repeated.

“Um.” You faltered; the words jumbled in your mouth. “Sitting?”

So’lek was taller than most Na’vi. Certainly, towering over you. His body adorned with scars, telling the story of one who had survived against many odds. “You are sitting prey.”

You instantly became more alert as the words left his mouth. Sitting more rigidly, eyes darting around you. “Oh. Sorry I thought staying close to Resistance would mean less…animals.” You realized how stupid you sounded as soon as the words rolled off your tongue.

So’lek evidently thought so too as he let out a loud scoff. “Only small ones. Ones you cannot fight off.” You nodded, letting out a small sigh. Your naïve bubble popped with the sharp pin of reality.

“Should I go back inside?” Starting to get up So’lek put his hand out to halt you.

“Stay. I will sit with you.”

With some miracle, the meeting didn’t just become a moment. It became a routine.

He’d meet you in the clearing when your schedule allows it. Sometimes he’d already be there waiting for you.

Words came easily with time. Never about the past, just the quiet things that felt safe the share.  

Within those months, neither of you acknowledged the shift but it became second nature. His presence was no longer intimidating but grounding. Pulling you closer to Pandora.

Pulling you closer to him.

The night was warmer than usual. The humidity grossly sticking to your blue skin.

Yet that wasn’t what had you so flushed.

So’lek was sitting closer to you than he ever before. You weren’t quite touching, not yet. He was just close enough that every time he shifted his skin would graze yours for just a second. A second long enough to send the heat right up to your face.

You watched him silently, the way he rested on his hands. His eyes facing up towards the night sky. The stars shining onto his face. He was so…beautiful. Every part of him had been crafted with precision, and the scars that had formed on him told a silent story of his path.

He glanced at you, eyes shifting. “Do you ever stop staring?”

You jolted in embarrassment, face grimacing. “Sorry.” You responded tight-lipped, ashamed you had been caught so blatantly.

So’lek let out a breathy chuckle, turning his head towards you now. His arm shifting, close enough now that it rested behind your back, your side pressed to his.

Your ears flicked back in surprise. The contact sending a small, electric shivers down your spine.

His gaze was locked onto you, watching you intensely. He waited to see if you would retreat, run away from his touch.

But you didn’t.

“You are stiff.” His words were smooth, his head tilted down, lips brushing against the tops of your flushed ears.

You let out an exhale, your eyes fluttering shut.

Slowly, gently, his hand lifted from behind you, settling on your waist. His fingers rough and calloused, tickling your soft skin. “So’lek…” You murmured, mouth slightly agape.

He inhaled quickly hearing the way his name mewled off your tongue. His hand flexing, grasping onto your waist tighter, pulling you close enough that your chest was flush against him. “You make this so difficult.” His voice was rough, as if the words were strained in his throat.

His tail flicked erratically behind him. Fighting the control slowly fleeting within him.

“What do I make difficult?” Your voice was trembling, eyes gazing into the ones he had screwed shut. “Tell me.” Your hands travelled up his vest, resting on the collar. “Please.”

He let out a small growl, chest heaving, his hands tight, forehead falling onto yours, fighting the last bit of self-restraint he had left. “You don’t understand what you do to me.”

“Then make me understand.”

That was all it took. The push for him to unravel in front of you. Both hands were on your waist, drawing you onto his lap. Even in this large avatar body you were still dwarfed by him. His body wide enough that when he sat you down on top of him, your hips stretched to wrap around him.

His breath was ragged. Head tilted down. He couldn’t help but admire the view that was straddled over him. “You will never understand” His words paused as his hands travelled further down, following the curvature of your frame. Letting a strangled growl out of his throat. “This feeling.”

His head slowly dipped down into the curve of your collarbone. He was controlled, his body stiff.

“Show me then.” Your breath was ragged, almost a pant as his lips tickled your skin. “If you can’t tell me, show me.”

So’lek’s lips crashed onto your neck, tongue gliding the stripes of your skin. He couldn’t contain himself any longer. This restless, gnawing urge that grew from the pits of his stomach ever since he first sat with you.

He hated himself for it. Letting himself get so carried away, especially to the likes of a tawtute [sky person]. But Eywa you were so irresistible, so smooth and soft. Skin untouched by the hands of fate. No, it was only his hands that have touched this body.

 His hands that moved from your back to your front, gliding up your stomach into the curves of your chest. His hands that grazed the sensitive spots of flesh. His hands that made you react so loudly.

You groaned in his ear. The sound sending tingles up his spine. Arms wrapping loosely around his neck. “So’lek- Please.”

His head lifted from your neck, lips parted and eyes clouded with lust. “Mm?” His voice rumbled in his throat gazing at the sight before him. “Please what?”

You panted pulling him closer to you, but your efforts were useless. He was strong, unmoving. His broad torso pushing against the tug of your slender arms. “Use your words.”

You let out a shudder, a soft mewl escaping your mouth. “You’re teasing me.”

So’lek smirked as your lips transformed into a pout. “Mhm…” His finger runs up from your sternum to your chin, tilting your head up, making your lips so easily accessible.

“Kiss me.” You pleaded, chest heaving.

So’lek didn’t waste time. The world around you coming to a halt as your lips met, leaving only the warmth between them. There was no calm or tenderness. It was raw and dominant. His hands pulling you in tightly, unable to escape the grip of his kiss.

Not that you intended to.

His lips latched onto your bottom one. Sucking it tightly enough for it to sting. But It stung so good. You let out a whimper as he released your swollen lips. But it just spurred him on.

He came back down onto your lips, crashing them together. If you thought he was noisy before he was blaring now. With every movement and meld he growled into your mouth, his fangs grazing your lips just enough for it to be present.

You were both intertwined, moving together as one. The sounds from your lips kept him raging on. Hands roaming each other’s skin, testing the boundaries that you both ignored tonight.  

So’lek was convinced nothing could break him out of the cage of your kiss. Your lips melded together like puzzle pieces. Latched together and locked with a key.

That was until your hands grasped onto the key.

His kuru.

It was a mindless action, just lustful hands roaming. But it became something catastrophic.

Every muscle in So’lek’s body went rigid. His breath hitching sharply as if you had struck him right in the heart. His lips broke away from yours, hands falling off your body as if they burnt.

How could he let it get this far. Setting his body upon this false skin. Letting his urges control him.

He looked down at you perched on his lap. His face grim and disgusted, eyebrows furrowing into a scowl.

You freeze, unable to react at the scene playing in front of you. Hands falling from the grasp of his kuru, falling limp at your sides.

“No.” He shook his head, voice hoarse.

Your mouth opened to respond to him, but he interrupted you before you could say something.

His hands, burning and shaking lifted you off his lap. Discarding you like trash next to him. He couldn’t look at you; his head wasn’t even turned your way.

You couldn’t help the emotions bubble in your chest, tears brimming your eyes. What had you done? Why within moments had you become a figure so horrid and unpleasant that you couldn’t even be gazed upon.

“So’lek, what happened?”

He swiftly stood up, his expression firm and disgusted. “This is wrong.” The venomous words burned his throat, an accusatory finger pointed directly at you, shaking with regret. “I should not have touched you. I should not have played into your fantasies.”

Your chest ached. A scoff escaping your throat. “My fantasies?”

“Yes.” He snapped. His voice was sharp as he spun to look at you. And just for a moment as he saw you sitting on the floor disheveled with tears threatening to spill, his gaze softened but he turned away. “Your demon fantasies. You wear a false skin and convince yourself you belong here. I should not have let you indulge into your human delirium.”

You turned away now, a whimper leaving your throat. This one wasn’t soft, the rhythmic mewls he made you let out moments before. No. This one was shrouded in darkness, raw and gut-wrenching.

“So this was a mistake?”

There was a long break between you. The world was no longer silent anymore. It was deafening.

“Yes.”

The lie that rolled off his tongue sat heavy between you.

Before you could respond he was gone. Disappearing into the forest. Leaving only the marks of his touch burning on your skin.

Hopelessly in denial you went to the clearing the next night. And the night after that.

You waited for him. Wishing that he would come and sit with you like he had before. But you knew he wasn’t going to do that.

Maybe he was right. Human delirium.

You rarely saw him in Resistance, and if you did, he would be gone within seconds. Putting all his efforts into pretending you didn’t exist. There were no more quiet conversations or lingering glances.

It was as if the months you both had spent building just a fragment of something real had never existed.

But your body remembered. Your skin ached in his absence.

And every night, as you left your link, and caught your reflection, you understood what he saw.

The air was different within the Resistance now. Everyone had noticed how off the two of you were. But no one dared to comment on it. Not when So’lek was acting so unlike himself.

Yes, he was a man committed to his mission but was rarely at Resistance anymore. Spending less time working with the other instead riding solo, searching through his rosters to hunt down any unlucky name that appeared on his list.

It had been almost a month since that night. And you were growing sick of the avoidance. You were rotting from the inside out. Unable to look at yourself.

How long had you convinced yourself you could become one of them? How delusional and crazy did you look to him?

Every time you catch your reflection you stop and stare. You didn’t recognize your human self any longer, but your avatar no longer felt safe. Every waking moment in that body you felt as if your skin crawled with the ghosts of his touch. The reminiscence of his touches still grazing along your skin and scarring your heart.

And yet, you still didn’t realize what you had done wrong. Each night you were kept awake, replaying the scene in your head. What did you do to make him lash out so instantaneously?

It was a question you had grown tired of being unanswered.

“Teylan!” You called out to him as he sat in a cushioned seat of Resistance beside the other humans lockers.

Teylan was someone you always found peace with. He was a talkative boy yet, he always knew when to listen. You found it an admirable strength of his.

“Oh! Hi! Is something the matter?” He looked up from the touch pad in his hands, resting it in his lap.

“Do you know where So’lek left to today? I need to speak to him.” You spoke as if you had run a marathon, yet it was only the nerves stealing your breath away.

“Hmmm…he said something about the Bloom of echoes, but I am not too sure.” You smiled

“Thankyou Teylan!” You ran off already trying to find Anqa to convince you to give you a lift to the upper plains.

The sight was nothing you would have ever expected. A purple hue caressing the area, glowing tendrils cascading from the large bloom on the rocky ceiling. Bioluminescent foliage that changes colour with each light-footed step.

The wind whistled through out the rocky formation, the breeze thick with the song of history. With every step your heart thumped in your chest, nerves wracking within your bones frightened of what may come.

Your eyes lit up as you saw him. He was knelt on the glowing grass, head bowed down, one hand bracing himself on the earth, the other holding onto the tendril his kuru was connected to. His shoulders were hunched, his posture stripped of the rigidity you often saw him with.

You froze in your place as his head tilted up, gripping tighter onto the tendril above him. You crouched down behind him, hiding within the cover of a large bush far from where he was kneeling.

You knew you should’ve turned back. Not invaded the privacy of his prayers. But you couldn’t get your body to move.

“Forgive me.” His spoke in a low murmur. “For I fear I have chosen the wrong path.” The words left his lips with pain, as if they were opening a scabbed wound.

“I carry the guilt of surviving. I carry that with me every day. And I wonder why I was the one to survive.” His head bowed down. “My clan, my family. Their blood has soaked the soil…and for a careless moment I fear I may have forgotten who spilled it.”

The tendrils pulsed brighter, the glowing green grass below him moving with his words.

“I have opened my heart to someone who I swore never to love. And in doing so, I have forgotten the journey that I have been set on.”

Your heart lurched in your chest, gripping tightly onto the bush in front of you.

“She wears our skin. You know of the creatures their kind has created. The one of Toruk Makto.” His breath shuddered. “She wears it so much I forget what she is inside. The tawtute inside of her. The same tawtute that has slain my clan. The same tawtute that has left me here alone.”

You shakily look down at your hands and though there is no blood you cannot help but feel dirty.

“And still, I yearn for her.”

A long silence followed, So’lek’s body trembling slightly.

“I laid my hands upon her false skin and felt nothing but peace.” His voice wavered. “Peace…that I do not deserve. Not when it comes to the people that took everything from me. Not when I carry the lives of the fallen on my shoulders.”

Your eyes were blown, hands shaking as you came to a devastating realization. He was ashamed. It boiled within him from the inside out. Your body- No. This avatar revolted him. It wasn’t yours; you have fooled yourself into thinking you belonged in this skin.

So’lek was never going to be yours. That was just a fantasy.

You turned away quietly stepping out of the bush. You had to leave; you had to run. You couldn’t stand to be there anymore. You didn’t deserve to be in this sacred place not while your presence would utterly disgust the man who has occupied your thoughts for months.

As soon as you escape between a crack in the rocks you run. You run until your feet can take it no longer. Muscles burned within your skin, your chest heaved as a loud sob erupted from your body. Collapsing you to the ground.

This planet was meant to be your escape. You thought that your sacrifices, the lost time could warrant you deserving of a fresh chance. And yet you had found yourself in another prison.

Solek was still in the same position, now his breath was shallower, his head hung low as he gripped onto the grass trying to cement himself from losing himself.

“I cannot solely blame her for the sins of her kind.” He continued. “But I cannot live with myself knowing I have betrayed my people. That I have betrayed them by wanting her with every fiber of my being.”

He bowed down completely now, his forehead resting against the soft grass. “I can bear the ache of her hating me, I can bear the hurt of her distance.” The tendrils started to dim.

“Please. I know of your powers Eywa and the path you have chosen for me. Please guide me.” His words break in a sob “Take this feeling from me. Take it away, because I am not strong enough to carry both my grief and the weight of her heart.”

Only silence answered him, the grasses glow fading beneath him. The winds no longer sing in harmony. Only an offkey tune.

He ripped his kuru off the tendril, slamming his hand on the ground.

So’lek was a powerful man and bowing here in front of the evidence of a failed prayer. He felt completely powerless.

So’lek immediately noticed your distance. Yes, he had been deliberately and painfully avoiding you but you entire demeanor had diminished. You didn’t linger with Priya or Anqa anymore. You rarely spoke to any of the Sarentu. And if he happened to catch a glimpse of you on a rare occasion, it broke his heart even more.

He expected you to hate him. Shit. He wanted you to hate him, he wanted you to be furious. To give him the punishment he deserved for being so careless. But you showed no signs of anger.

Your eyes were devoid of happiness. Your mind absent. You moved like a ghost.

He knew he was being a hypocrite. That he was allowed to avoid you, but you weren’t allowed to avoid him. But nothing he had felt these past months had made any sense at all.

He started to get extremely worried when he overheard Alma’s conversations. She talked about the instability of your link bed, urging you to stop using it for just a moment. That your human body was becoming weak and sick. Her words struck him one day, urging him to do something.

“If you stay in a link too long, your human body will not recover from this. You are one link away from never waking up. In either body.”

The world shrinked around him.

So’lek had lost too many already.

He could survive losing your love, he believed he had made peace with that. But your presence? Your existence? That was something he could not endure.

Luckily you were extremely easy to find. You never covered your tracks in the forest, and you could only travel on foot. It made So’lek worry even more. You shouldn’t be alone in this forest, not if he wasn’t there to protect you.

It was how he fell in love with you in the first place. Sitting by you, keeping alert making sure you didn’t get yourself naively killed.

He spotted you sitting on the edge of the riverbed, dipping your toes into the clear water. You were sitting just as he had found you for the first time. Resting on your hands as your face was tilted up to the beaming sun, breathing in the crisp air.

“It is dangerous out here.” So’lek said softly, his voice a low hum, waking you from your trance.

“I know.” You paused, not bothering to turn around. You knew exactly who had come to find you. “I’m fine here.”

“You are not.” His steps were careful, worried he may scare you off. The lack of reply grew into an eerie silence, stretching between you. “Talk to me.” He murmured. It wasn’t a command…but a plea.

You let out a hollow laugh, rolling your eyes. “That’s rich.”

So’lek’s frame stiffened. He should have expected the hostility and yet it still made an ache grow within him. “What is wrong?”

You turned around frantically, your eyes glassy and wide. Bewildered by the audacity of his question.

“What’s wrong? Are you serious?” Your words echoed against the forest shaking your head in disbelief. “You pushed me off like I was something filthy. You won’t look at me. You act as if I have branded your skin with my touch, and then you pray-- because you must be cleansed of me.”

Your voice cracked, the tears slipping from your eyes. You turned quickly to make sure he didn’t see you break in front of him.

“Are you ashamed of me?”

The words hit him like a blade driven straight into his heart.

“What?” It was so quiet, his voice barely carried.

Ashamed.

No. He was never ashamed of you. It was never you.

“You are” you continued, tears staining your cheeks. “Of this disgusting skin I wear and call my own. Of what I am underneath it. I disgust you so much you haven’t looked at me in weeks.”

“No,” the words tumbled out of his mouth immediately “That is not-”

“Then what is it So’lek?” You turned to face him now, despite the growing tremor in your legs. “Stop lying to yourself.”

“I am ashamed.” His words were slow, carefully treading on a tightrope. “But not of you.”

You shook your head in disbelief. “Then of what?”

“Myself.”

You face morphed into confusion,

“I have a mission. A mission of vengeance.” He continued. “I cannot forget what was taken from me. Who took it from me.” Your expression faltered. “And yet when I am with you…that vengeance goes away.”

He takes a deep breath, desperately trying to ground himself. “And it frightens me” he admitted “Because it feels I am betraying the fallen.”

Your breath hitched head hanging low. “So…I remind you of the people that killed your family?”

“No.” he snapped, sharper than he intended to. Immediately softening as he witnessed the shock in your face. “You remind me that I’m still here…”

A long silence followed. So’lek looking at you, waiting, begging for you to say something.

“Which is it then? Am I your peace or shame?” You waited for him to answer, his eyes dropping down to the ground as you watched him go to say something but the words never came.

 “God.” You breathed “I knew it.”

You stepped away from him, your body swaying uncomfortable. Your balance almost toppling.

So’lek reached for you, Alma’s words ringing in his head. But you swatted his hand away, pushing past him. The rejection stung more than the slap, watching you walk away realizing how horribly he fucked up.

“I never meant to hurt you.” The words came out like glass, sharp and painful. Halting you in your track. “I was-” The words bubbled in his throat hand reaching out to you. “I was afraid.”

You swayed more in your spot. Feet tumbling in front of you. The leaves crunching loudly below your feet. The colour started to drain from your face. “So’lek-” the words slurred in your mouth.

You felt your body start to go numb, your legs wobbling as they grew weak below you. Panic started to set in as a daunting feel grew.

“What? What is it?” So’lek’s arms brace you, hands tight around your shoulders.

“Something is wrong.” You murmured as you faded in and out of your consciousness, the numbness spreading throughout your body eyelids fighting to stay open.

“It’s okay.” His words were calm, but inside he was panicking. Ears stuck to his head, his hands shaking as they grasped you. His arms surging to catch you as your knees buckled, your consciousness leaving the avatar body. “Hey- no. Wake up…wake up!” He bent down hands trembling as he carried you in his arms calling for his ikran.

He needed to get back to you. Back to the other you.

So’lek held your body in his arms pushing through resistance to the human quarters. The airlock couldn’t have taken any longer. His foot twitched, thumping on the cool metal floors.

The doors hissed open and So’lek rushed out, only to be brought to a halt immediately.

The air felt wrong, stale and stuffy. It burned with every ragged inhale. The commotion grew around the link beds. All the tiny humans frantically ran around, the space blaring with alarms.

Even with all the commotion the world felt empty. He drew closer to the bed, glassy eyes and furrowed brows decorated his face. He had felt this helplessness before, 16 years ago. And as it came back up it reopened all his wounds, letting him bleed from the inside out.

So’lek saw Ri’nela and Teylan rush over to grab you off him. He didn’t want to let go, he was afraid, afraid of what may happen if he can’t protect you in his arms. But it was Ri’nela’s words that broke him out of his daze.

“She is not here So’lek…she is there.”

There.

So’lek’s body felt cold as he saw you. Your human body that laid impossibly small and still on the bed. So fragile and breakable.

Humans surrounded you, their voices frantic, yet sharp with urgency. Wires and tubes snaked in and out of your body. The blaring machines blinked and hummed, the fluorescent lights above reflecting off your skin, so devoid of any vibrance. So different to the glowing blue form he knew.

This was you. At your weakest point. So’lek couldn’t help but blame himself, that he had driven you to neglect your own self to such an extent.

You had no tail, no sharp fangs or beautiful large eyes. You were just skin and bones, purple bruises blotching beneath the surface of your thin skin.

His chest seized painfully, inching closer to try and get a closer look at the woman in front of him.

Someone spoke to him, the words drowned out by the deafening silence in his mind.

“Her body couldn’t handle the brain overload of the link. She’s gotten an intracranial hemorrhage. We need to stabilize her, reduce the swelling in her brain-”

“We cannot perform brain surgery here!” Another human interrupted

The words dissolved into noise; there was too many English words for So’lek to understand them all. He saw the helpless looks on the humans faces that surrounded you.

“This is her?” So’lek asked his voice breaking through the thunderous conversations like a bolt of lightning.

Alma looked towards So’lek, her ears flat and brows furrowed. “She is weak. She isn’t stabilizing…”

So’lek shook his head crouching next to your bed, his hand coming to cradle your face. Your head fitting into the palm of his hand. Your chest rose and fell shallowly. Each breath looked as if it were painful.

“Why are your sky medicines not working? You must do something” He paused taking a trembling breath. “You have to do something!”

“We do not have the means to. She requires surgery…her brain is bleeding So’lek. There isn’t much we can do.”

“So, you are giving up?!” So’lek snapped his hands trembling and quaking as they grazed over your weak form. “There must be something! Let there be something.”

So’lek bowed down his massive head dropping delicately onto your forehead “Do not leave me…please…I can’t- I can’t lose you too.” So’lek could feel his throat begin to close, air getting tight as he tried to calm down his breaths.

“There is something,” Ri’nela stood nervously behind him. “But it is dangerous.”

So’lek looked up to her immediately.

 “We can ask Eywa to transfer her consciousness…But if it fails-”

“She will die.” So’lek was somber, looking down at your frail form, your breaths so shallow it barely looked like you were breathing at all.

 “If we do nothing” So’lek said hoarsely “She dies anyway.”

The Bloom of Echoes shined at night. The rocks inside lighting up with bioluminescence, the grass beating with the breaths of the words. So’lek held your human body in his arms, it was so small, so weak. He was frightened if he moved himself to fast that he would crush you.

“So’lek…put her down.” Ri’nela ushered to a spot in front of her. Right in the middle of the bloom. Where the wind whistled the loudest, the bioluminescent thumbed surrounded her.

Her kuru was connected to the roots in the soil, breathing in and out, feeling the powers of the earth below her.

So’lek was gentle with both of your bodies, laying them gently onto soil. His hands came to rest on your unconscious face, hand so big, it cradled your head. “Be strong little one.” He murmured connecting his kuru to the soil below.

Ri’nela moved to connect your avatars kuru to the soil. Humming a loud prayer as the winds shifted. The tendrils of the bloom, starting to flicker, growing brighter and brighter.

The world from below started to grow onto your human form, covering you in thin white thread-like roots that found home on your skin. Ri’nela’s hands laid out over the body her hands sweeping towards the avatar.

So’lek’s head dipped down resting on the avatar’s body.

Your body.

It no longer mattered to him what form held your soul, only that you did.

He listened closely to your chest, praying to Eywa that she sensed his desperation, that his prayer before was found in a shroud of darkness and grief.

The tendrils shun a light, brighter than ever seen before. Illuminating the area as if the sunlight had directly beamed over your bodies.

Your human body let out a long exhale, weak and painful. So’lek’s eyes darted towards you. “What is happening?”

Ri’nela shook her head, her body convulsing was the lights of the tendrils started to flash erratically. So’lek bowed his head over the Avatar body, gripping onto your sides harshly “Come back to me.” He growled, panic ripping through him.

Then.

Your finger twitched.

A sharp inhale tore through your blue chest. So’lek’s head flew up violently, praying that he did not make up what he thought he heard.

Your eyes flew open.

“So’lek!” you gasped loudly.

He was cradling you instantly, large hands coming to support you. Running over your body grounding you back to the soil. You relaxed with his touches. They were warm, solid, real.

“I am here.” He hushed shaking hands coming to cradle your cheek. “You are here”

Your vision started to focus. You looked up at So’lek and down at your hands.

Your blue hands.

Your blue body.

You sucked in a sharp breath, tears rushing to your eyes as reality hit you all at once. You had woken up in this body many times before. But this felt different. There was no tug of another body waiting for you.

No.

This was you.

“I was so afraid.” You whisper out, the words are crushing as you look up at So’lek.

“I know” he whispers back, crouching next to you, his hands never leaving your body. “I was afraid too.” His eyes burned fighting back the emotions threatening to spill from his eyes.

You went to talk but the silence spoke enough. It was warm and comforting, wrapping around you both. Your body moved quickly, pulling his large one into a tight embrace. And for once he didn’t have to fight the voices inside of him.

Because with you all he felt was peace.

So’lek’s hands enveloped your body pulling it tightly into his embrace. Your breaths synced together as you finally accepted each other with no woes and sadness.

“I see you.” His voice was quiet, forehead resting against yours. “I see you now…I pray you forgive me for being so blind.”

You shook your head, nuzzling against him. “I see you.” The weight of the words lifted off your chests. Allowing in only the joy of being loved.

This time when his head dipped down to kiss you it was not ravenous. It was calm, lips moving as if it they were always meant to be there. There was no fever in his movements, no they were careful and precise.

Because when his lips melted into yours, he wasn’t desperately searching for an answer.

He was certain he had found it.

a/n: AHH okay i really hope this was good <33 i cant remember the last time i wrote something over 2k words LMAO but im definitely proud of this.

please leave an ask, comment, reblog i love to talk to u guys and i appreciate all of the love sm. okey byeebyee

The cars lining the streets, the speck-like figures hurrying between buildings on lunch hour. Today, however, that familiar comfort was about to vanish.

It started subtly, a faint smell that tickled your nose, easily dismissed as someone’s burnt lunch down the hall. Then came the hushed whispers, the uneasy glances exchanged across cubicles. The murmurs grew louder, laced with a creeping panic, as the smell intensified, sharp and metallic. A distant, muffled alarm began its insistent, then frantic, wail.

You stood from your chair, your heart giving an involuntary lurch. The office, devolved into chaos. People were pushing, shouting, their faces etched with fear. The fire alarm now shrieked, seeming to vibrate through the very bones of the building. Smoke, thick and black, began to seep from under the doors of the stairwell, snaking its way into the offices.

“Evacuate! Everyone, evacuate!” The voice of your supervisor, usually so calm and measured, cracked with urgency.

Your own training kicked in, a reflex honed through mandatory fire drills that had always felt like a tedious inconvenience. Now, they were a lifeline. You moved with a newfound purpose, your mind clearing of the initial shock, focusing on the immediate task: getting everyone out.

“Stay calm! Go to the nearest escape!” you yelled, voice surprisingly steady amidst the rising panic. You grabbed a colleague, Sarah, who was frozen by her desk, her eyes wide with terror. “Come on, we need to move. Now.”

You guided the group towards the emergency exits, herding them like a shepherd to the flock. The air grew hotter, heavier, each breath tasting of ash.

You pushed open the heavy metal door to the stairwell. People were already descending, a frantic river of bodies. You coughed, your eyes watering, and urging the group away.

“Keep moving! Don’t stop! Single file!” You were at the back, ensuring no one fell behind. The heat seemed to only intensify with each floor you descended, the air thick and suffocating. You heard screams, the clatter of falling objects, the guttural roars of the fire. 

You helped a frail elderly man down a few flights, his breathing ragged. You shielded a child from the stampede, whispering reassurances you weren’t entirely sure you believed yourself. Each floor felt like an eternity, a desperate struggle against the relentless inferno.

Then, a new terror. Flames, vivid and terrifying, orange and yellow, erupted from the floor below, spreading hungrily at the walls. The stairwell, once a path to safety, was becoming a trap.

“We have to go back up!” someone shouted, their voice hoarse with desperation.

You reacted instinctively, your mind racing. Going down was impossible. The fire was blocking the only escape. You grabbed the arm of your colleague, Mark, who was beside you. “Mark, the roof! We have to get to the roof!”

The idea was desperate, terrifying, but it was the only option. You turned your group around, facing the choking smoke and the growing heat. It was a gamble.

You reached the ninety-ninth floor again, the same floor you had left mere minutes ago, but now it was a scene of utter devastation. The windows, moments ago offering a serene view, were now fractured and black with soot.

“Everyone stay here! I’ll try and get the door open!” you yelled, as you fumbled with the heavy latch, your fingers burning. It groaned in protest, then gave way. A blast of hot, smoky air hit you, but beneath it, a sliver of cool, fresh sky.

“Go! Go now!” you urged, pushing through the opening. You stayed until the last person was out, ensuring everyone had made it.

But as your final coworker stumbled onto the roof, a section of the floor beneath you gave way with a sickening groan. You yelped, feet disappearing into the gape. 

You instinctively grabbed for something, anything, and managed to hook your finger tips onto the edge of the remaining cracking concrete.

You dangled precariously, the wind whipping around your face, the roar of the fire a terrifying groan below. 

The faces of the people you had just helped save stared down at you, their expressions a mixture of relief and horror. You were trapped, the gap too wide to jump, the flames too close for comfort.

Tears welled hot in your eyes, stinging and blurring . Your hand was slipping, the grip weakening. And then, a single thought pierced through the panic: Clark.

You pulled out your phone, your hands covered in ash, clumsy and shaking. You thumbed at the screen, your heart pounding a desperate rhythm against your ribs. It rang twice, then three times.

“Hello?” His voice, usually so warm and reassuring, sounded distant, distorted by the screaming wind and the crackling flames.

“Clark!” The word was a strangled sob, tears streaming down your face, blurring the city lights into a watery smear. “Clark, it’s… it’s me. I’m… I’m on the roof. The building… there’s…it’s on fire.”

You choked back another sob, the words tumbling out in a rush of fear and desperation. “It’s… it’s on the top floor. I got everyone out, I think… but I’m stuck. I can’t get back. The floor… it broke.”

You squeezed your eyes shut, the sheer terror of your situation overwhelming you. The smoke was starting to drift upwards, a dark shroud threatening to engulf you.

There was a brief silence on the other end, a pause that felt like an eternity. Then, Clark’s voice, calm and clear despite the chaos you knew he must be sensing, cut through.

“Okay,” he said, his tone so serious. “Listen to me. Listen very carefully.”

You could hear the subtle shift in his demeanor. He wasn't panicking. He wasn't asking questions. He was… directing.

“I need you to do something for me,” he continued. “Something you’re going to have to trust me on.”

Trust him? Your mind reeled. Trust him to do what? The wind howled, whipping your hair around your face, and the heat from below intensified. You could feel your grip weakening further.

“What is it?” you managed to choke out, your voice barely a whisper against the wind.

Then came the words that made your blood run cold, that made your already frantic heart leap into your throat.

“Jump.”

You gasped, a strangled exhalation of disbelief and terror. “What?” Your grip tightened instinctively, your knuckles white. “N-No, Clark! I can’t! I can’t!”

The sheer impossibility of it, made you want to scream. Jump? From the ninety-ninth floor? 

“You have to,” he said, his voice certainty in the raging storm. “You have to trust me. I’m right here.”

Trust him. The words echoed in your mind, battling with the primal instinct for survival that screamed at you to hold on. You knew Clark. You knew his strength, his steadfastness, the way he always seemed to know what to do. But this… this was beyond anything you could comprehend.

Your fingers were numb, your arms screaming in protest. Below you, the flames danced, waiting to swallow you whole.

“Honey, do you trust me—?

“YES!”

The sound burst from you, a desperate affirmation that felt like sacrifice. The word was barely out of your mouth when his voice, calm and resolute, hit your ears.

“Good,” Clark said. “Now, on three. One…”

Your heart hammered against your ribs, a frantic drumbeat. You squeezed your eyes shut again, bracing yourself for the inevitable. The fear was, clawing at your throat.

“Two…”

Your entire body tensed, anticipation and terror coiling within you.

“THREE!”

You screamed, a sound that was ripped from the deepest part of your being, a shriek of terror and abandonment. 

You let go.

For a terrifying instant, there was only the dizzying rush of air, the wind tearing at your clothes, the world spinning in a chaotic blur. The ground was a distant, hazy feeling. The building, the fire, the people – they were all receding.

And then, something firm, impossibly strong, wrapped around you. Shielding you from the wind, that halted your plummet. You felt yourself being held, securely, impossibly.

You gasped, and dared to open your eyes. 

You were floating, suspended in mid-air, held tightly in the arms of Superman. He was looking at you, his face a mask of concern and relief, his eyes blazing with an intensity you had never witnessed. 

You were safe.

He gently lowered you to the ground, your legs trembling uncontrollably as they touched solid street. The survivors rushed towards you, their faces etched with awe and gratitude. You could barely process their words, your gaze fixed on Clark.

As you clung to him, still shaking, you noticed it. A soft, icy mist was emanating from him, swirling around the burning building and you.

With a final, powerful surge, the ice enveloped the burning floors, smothering the fire. The smoke, thick and black moments ago, began to dissipate, replaced by the cool, crisp air. The inferno was vanquished, not by water or foam, but by something far more extraordinary.

Clark turned back to you, his blue eyes filled with a tenderness that soothed your frayed burning nerves. He pulled you closer, holding you tight, your face buried in his chest, the scent of his familiar cologne—being at home just moments ago— a grounding anchor.

You continued to cry, the sobs wracking your body, the trauma of the experience finally catching up to you. He didn’t try to stop you; he just held you, murmuring soft, reassuring words against your hair.

“It’s okay,” he whispered, his voice a rumbling comfort against your ear. “You’re safe now. You’re safe.”

He kept his arm around you, leading you away from the crowd and first responders now appearing, away from the lingering smell of smoke. As you walked, his words, soft and full of pride—

“You were so brave,” he cooed, voice filled with an emotion you rarely heard. “So incredibly brave. My amazing, brave girl.”

In his arms, as the city above slowly began to return to its normal hum, you finally felt the tears begin to dry, replaced by a profound sense of relief and a dawning understanding of the man you loved so much it burned.

You peered up your head cheeks tear stained and eyes puffy. Your voice a croak. “Clark I’m so sorry, how i left you this morning i didn't mean...I'm sor—

“Shh, it’s okay. We can talk about it another time. Let’s get you home sweetheart.”

-end ?

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