#i'll publish it if the vine doesn't choke me before then

[glassy-eyed-poet]

There is a vine growing inside of me. Not the kind that butterflies flutter around and life flourishes by, but the type of vine that is made of poison, wrapping around my organs and squeezing until they burst. I can't breathe anymore, as it's moved from my gut to my lungs, tightening with every word that comes out of your mouth. It is reaching up my throat, strangling me so that I cannot cry out for help, silencing me from within. I've tried countless times to hack it down, to make myself regurgitate it so it spills out of my mouth, but my efforts are in vain. It always grows back. I can't run from it, can't fight it, can't hide from it. All I can do is watch it grow, feeling more and more condemned to the inevitable, where I lay, throttled by the vine inside of me.

[the-ikran-man]

Peace of Mind

Posting our most recent piece of fan fiction since it's short.

Summary:

Quaritch and Sully bury a part of their past.

Teen And Up Audiences

Archive Warning:

Categories:

Gen

M/M

Fandom:

Avatar (Cameron Movies)

Relationships:

Miles Quaritch/Jake Sully

Eywa & Recombinant Miles Quaritch

Characters:

Recombinant Miles Quaritch

Jake Sully

Eywa | The Great Mother [Mentioned]

Additional Tags:

Burial

Former Lives

Late Night Conversations

Moving On

Published: 2023-05-22 Words: 820

It started as a quiet affair.

Traveling to the shack.

The night is buzzing softly with its life, the plants glowing in an array of colors around the clearing edges.

The AMP sticking out like a sore thumb, cold and robotically lifeless.

Upon a closer look there's the faint presence of vines growing into the cockpit.

"She sure tried, didn't she?" Miles comments.

"You coming back and disturbing it probably didn't help," Jake replies, gesturing to the neck of the corpse, where its skull had been removed.

"Your kids tell you about that?"

"Yeah."

"Think us moving it is gonna make it any better?"

"If Eywa decides she wants him, then she'll take him, we're just making it a little easier," Jake says before he reaches into the AMP, carefully removing some of the bones, the hands and arms, along with some scraps of clothes, "I'll find him a good spot, so come on."

Miles grabs some bones as well, the ribcage and spine.

He trails after Jake as he wanders into the forest, searching for a spot.

"You don't think he could tell us if he has a preference?"

"How dare you try to make such a serious moment, laughable, Miles fucking Quaritch," Jake scolds, though Miles can hear the humor in his voice.

"Sorry, sorry."

"I can't believe you."

Miles can't help the grin that comes to his face, as he chuckles softly.

The pair keep waking for a while, till they find a spot that's not absolutely choked with flora.

Jake crouches, carefully clearing some that were still in the way before he starts digging, Miles coming down to help him.

"I'll go get the rest of the bones," he says once they've got a reasonably sized grave.

"Alright," Jake says, starting to set the bones they had down into the hole, placing them carefully so they would look like the skeleton was laying on its side once it was complete, the scraps of clothes being draped over them.

Or about as complete as it could be while missing a skull.

Miles comes back with more of the bones, needing to take a third trip back for the last bits.

Jake continues to relay the bones down.

"Hey, I found this," Miles says as he comes back again.

Jake hears the jiggle of dog tags before he even turns his head to look.

"He'll probably want to be buried with those, unless we want to give them to Spider someday."

"They're not his," Miles says, Jake reaching to take them so he could have a look.

"I know Lyle or somebody took his, pocketed them so..."

"These are mine," Jake mutters.

"How'd he get them?"

"You should know."

"Tell me anyways."

"Gave them to him at some point, don't know why. It's really a stupid gesture, giving another person your dog tags in a supposedly hostile environment."

"But you trusted him."

"Guess I did. I didn't know he held onto them. He said I betrayed him, why keep something from me if he felt that way?"

"Maybe he was stupid too," Miles says, placing the last bones in their spots.

Jake laughs, "Yeah, maybe he was."

He gets to his feet, "We need one more thing, then we can cover him up. I'll be right back, hopefully I can find one."

If Eywa lets him, he'd find one, he's sure.

---

He doesn't find one. Or well he does, but he can't catch them, the atokirina, woodsprites floating just out of his reach. Guess even Eywa had her limits.

Jake understands.

He goes back to Miles empty handed, and kneels back down next to him to start scooping dirt back into the hole.

Miles brushes dirt off his hands when they finish, "Think we should mark it?"

"No, better for it to just disappear eventually."

"You sure?"

"Yeah, there's no reason to cling to it. Beside if I really feel like reminiscing, I have these," Jake raises the dog tags.

"You gonna wear them? Isn't there some law about not doing that?"

Jake unclasps the tags, "It's about using metals from the ground, but I feel this is different enough." He struggles a little clasping it back around his neck, and Miles moves to help him.

"I'm sure someone will tell me to take it off at some point, which in that case, I have you," he adds, patting Miles on the shoulder before he gets up.

"That's true, I certainly beat the original."

"Don't think too highly of yourself, your ego's big enough."

Miles laughs, "Says Toruk Makto. You got a ego boost large enough from that to rival mine."

"I don't know what you're talking about, I'm very humble about that," Jake says, with a scoff as he starts to walk off.

Miles follows him, fall into step beside him easily, their hands brushing.

Jake hooks pinkies with Miles.

They walk together, quietly, back towards home.