REMEMBRANCE ━━ 𝒂𝒗𝒂𝒕𝒂𝒓

𝒙𝒗. all energy is borrowed

fifteen. all energy is borrowed

THE ROOM WAS SILENT, WITH THE ONLY THING AUDIBLE BEING THE SOUND OF BEEPING. Mateo was asleep, uncomfortably flinching in his sleep from the position he was in. The Vespera man was spread across the hospital chair, a hand gripping his little girl's as she lays on her bed. Mateo's eyes contorted open, taking in his surroundings carefully.

Softly, Mateo pulled his hand out of Juniper's grip as the beeping of the heart monitor she was connected to increased. Mateo's brows knitted together, cupping the little girl's face in his hands, and urgently called out for the doctors of the hospital. Mateo's gaze remained to switch between his daughter and the machine, gently calling out Juniper's name with a hint of desperation in his voice.

He shook his daughter's body in hopes to wake her up but came to no avail. Quickly, the room filled with doctors and nurses, checking over the girl's vitals and trying to push the man aside so they could take a better look at Juniper. Yet, Mateo wouldn't budge. He begged Juniper to wake up. A defibrillator was rushed into the room, being prepared to use on the little girl as Mateo's ears tuned out the sound of her heart flatlining.

The electricity of the defibrillator met with Juniper's chest. Mateo watched with tears streaming down his cheek, feeling like his body was shutting down on him as Juniper's body jerked with each shock to the chest. Yet, the monitor didn't change. The doctors and nurses passed a solemn gaze over to the man, pulling the life support off. Mateo was pissed at the action, glancing at the people in the room, "what—what are you doing?" He yelled, taking everyone back by surprise, "help her! Isn't that your job? Help my little girl, now!"

Leisurely, no one replied to the man, watching him sulk in defeat and meet with Juniper's side. He began to cry once more, grasping Juniper's hand tightly. Her skin was unusually cold. The doctors and nurses left the room, allowing the grieving father to be alone with his daughter. Mateo shook his head stubbornly, allowing denial to eat at his heart, "come on, sweetheart. Come back to me. I promise I'll look harder to find a way to help you. P–please."

His voice broke off, drifting as he knew this was it. That his little girl's heart would not beat anymore. But Mateo Vespera made a promise to his daughter—a promise that he was going to uphold. A solution to the sickness that rotted a young, innocent life away. He was going to bring his little girl back. And as he stared at Juniper's lifeless body, he couldn't have given less of a shit about the consequences that followed.

The sky people were gone. Off of Pandora and back to the planet they killed. A few stayed behind, only the trusted that helped with the war against the sky people. A lot had changed—Jake was a permanent Na'vi, going through the eye of Eywa and returning. The Sully man thought of how proud Juniper would be, at least he hoped. Doubt and guilt clouded his emotions, not knowing what to do without the girl that used her final words to call him dad.

Neytiri was troubled by the death of Juniper. A dear friend who she stood by when she was first brought into the Omaticaya clan. Neytiri always thought she would watch the young girl turn into one of the best warriors that the tribe would ever see for her age. But the world didn't work as they wanted it to. Instead, she had to witness the bright light of Juniper's eyes fade away—feel her grip loosen on her hand.

But she saw the toll it took on Jake.

She saw how tired he became, his eyes empty from the numbness he constantly felt. Neytiri reassured the man every day that it wasn't his fault or the fact that Juniper would never blame him. Juniper made the decision, and as much as it hurt to accept, it was done. They knew that the Vespera girl would do it again if she could. Not once, but a thousand times over.

Watching as her body was wrapped in vines, flowers hanging along her body, they placed the woodsprites where her body laid for Eywa to collect. The spirits danced along her body, and Jake hated how peaceful the girl looked. He despised it. The Sully man would remember back to the night before everything went wrong when Juniper confessed she didn't want to live with the memories that his twin brother caused.

And Jake would hate the man who he once considered his brother to the day he died. But Jake began to hate himself the same way he hated Tom. It was your fault, and she is gone because of you, his mind tormented. Like, Eywa herself was telling the Sully man that the blame was all on him. Even with Neytiri's constant reassurance, it wasn't enough. And Jake knew that he would always feel guilty for the Vespera girl.

A girl that was his daughter—blood or not. At night, he'd have nightmares so real that it felt like he was back to cupping Juniper's face as she struggled to get her words out. Struggling to fight the darkness that succumbed her vision, sending her to a forever sleep. Neytiri would wake up to the Sully man tossing and turning in his sleep, much like Juniper did, and hushed the man as he cried for his girl. His baby girl.

Neytiri advised the man to go to the tree of souls. Jake frowned at the suggestion but went regardless ( mainly because Neytiri dragged him, forcefully connecting his queue to the tree ). His eyes flashed white, opening them to a scenery that was all too familiar to him. He was back to the day when Juniper and Jake became friends.

When Neytiri walked up to him where he was supposed to be training to ride a delihorse, before the woman Na'vi could gesture to Jake to walk up to Juniper, he was five steps ahead of her. Jake stared at the girl, tears burning his vision, which the teenage girl hadn't taken notice of just yet. Juniper spoke the same words she said that moment. However, Jake could barely listen to what she said but stared at the girl with admiration and a hidden tint of guilt.

Finally, Juniper picked her head up from her anxious body language and frowned at the waterworks coating his eyes. She breathlessly chuckled, gulping nervously, "what's wrong? Why are you crying?"

Jake leaned forward, placing a hand on her shoulder causing a frown to plaster Juniper's face. She switched her gaze between Jake's grip and his expressions, "I'm just happy to see you," Juniper blinked in confusion. For all Juniper knew, this wasn't the same man that she had told Grace about—the one that she didn't trust, but instead, he was a man that held the same gaze Mateo would look at her with.

Juniper snickered, lightly stepping out of the man's grip, "I guess I am too," She sighed heavily, a phantom of a smirk contorting on her face, "but don't push it, Sully."