Fragile | Tsu'tey

prologue

Rachel Sully steadied herself on her long, light brown cane as she took another small step forward. The line moved at a snail's pace and she was getting impatient, not that it was going any faster than she could walk.

Her best friend, Norm Spellman, stood next to her, shifting his bag from shoulder to shoulder. "I can't believe this is it. We're finally leaving Earth." He whispered, gazing in awe at the Venture Star. A wide grin split her face as Rachel nodded.

"I'll finally be able to run," She added, wondering about all the things she could do once in her Avatar form. She took a long, deep breath as the line inched forward again, leading them closer and closer to the ship. 

Some of the fighters behind them gave them scorning looks, so they switched to Na'vi. "I swear these people are animals," Rachel grumbled, annoyed. Norm made a small noise of agreement, rolling his eyes.

"What's the first thing you think we'll do when we're in our Avatars?" He asked, cheerful again. "I think we'll go on missions. To the Na'vi home tree, to the Hallelujah Mountains..." 

"Well, obviously," Rachel said, chewing the inside of her cheek. "That's kind of what we're going for." He laughed, and she giggled along with them.

They fell into a comfortable silence as they watched the line get shorter and shorter. Rachel peeked over her shoulder at the back of the line, where Jake was, sitting in front of some clearly annoyed Marines.

She blinked back tears, determined not to cry. Tom was gone, and now Jake was taking his place. How was that fair? Sure Jake was also her brother and the both of them were identical twins but... This was Tom's thing, not Jake's.

Sighing and shaking her head, she turned back to the front of the line, surprised to see they were almost at the front. Well, that went quicker than I expected.

Almost there.

Almost there.

The line almost seemed to be moving slower now, each person taking five minutes. Rachel sighed, tapping her left foot impatiently.

"Patience," Norm smiled, "We'll be there soon." Rachel nodded, trying to keep her body still. Soon Rachel was able to step up onto the walkway, her knees protesting at the slight uphill.

Once she stepped onto the flat part, Rachel was immediately guided to sit in the only chair. They fed her some crackers, and she munched on them vigorously as they prepared the shot.

Once she finished, the examiner took the plate away and prepped her arm, wiping it down. Once the examiner finished, they took the needle and pressed it into her arm, not bothering to be careful.

The examiner nodded and too more came in to help Rachel get up. They tried to get her to walk, but with her slow movements, they couldn't manage it. They carried her down the long hall and to a locker opposite an empty cryotube.

They helped her put her cane and bag full of clothes in and grabbed the mask sitting inside, waiting for all the scientists and fighters. She tried to raise her arm to apply it to her face but found that she couldn't. She was so... sleepy. Everything was very tiring.

The examiners rolled their eyes and pushed the mask to her face, turning the knob and making sure it was on. They carried her over to the cryotube and placed her inside, the cold substance washing over her completely.

Rachel closed her eyes and didn't open them again.