Dance in the Dark

Dance in the Dark

Flora_Winters

Disclaimer: I do not own James Cameron’s Avatar. It all belongs to him. I’m not making any money off writing this story either.

Summary: Can a true love survive destiny? Grace has a nephew and he’s sort of crazy. Don’t worry. He has good reasons. Language, MM, OC, Violence


Chapter Three


Kerry flipped his little book shut with a sharp snap and sat it aside for another day without rain. He glanced over at the locked door and reached a hand under his pillow, pulling out a thin picture frame. It was a color image of him and Tom. It was the only one he had.

He was seated in front and Tom was behind, resting his cleft chin on top of his once dark head, grinning broadly. Trudy had been the one to take the photo out in the gardens. The pink and blue orchids had been in full bloom.

Gently, he touched the thin glass and carefully slid it back under his pillow. It was now one of his most sacred treasures. Unlike the soulless avatar body in that lab, this picture had forever captured a spark of that bright soul that would never fade.

His missed Tom’s goofy smile and his tender caresses in the soft darkness. He missed the tickling whispers, the candy sweet kisses, and the feel of Tom inside him, loving him, dancing with him across splayed sheets and fallen petals. Oh, those too short of nights had been filled with laughter and crazy promises; the kinds of promises that could never be kept. Not now. Not ever.

There had always been a strange look in Tom’s eyes, now that he began to remember. It would be a distant, faraway look, like he was seeing something playing out that nobody else could witness to. He would sit and watch Tom get lost in that handsome head of his, not moving, just watching.

He sat up on his bed and hugged his knees to his chest. He began to remember the day before he had found Tom dead in a pool of his own blood as if it had only suddenly been the night before.

Tom had come stumbling into his old room after a grueling workout session and collapsed onto his bed with a thud and groan. He had been wet with sweat and dead tired.


“You smell terrible,” he told him.

“Thanks,” Tom scoffed. “I feel worse.”

“Go get clean,” he said, rising to his feet, pulling on the taller man’s sweaty, muscular arm.

“No,” Tom whined, playfully struggling with him. “I just ran ten miles. My feet hurt.”

He laughed. “If you go wash, I’ll massage your achy feet.”


Kerry chuckled at the memory. Tom had been up and out the door in a swift whoosh. The man had loved his foot massages.

It had been during that foot massage that Tom had fallen off to sleep. He had continued to massage his large feet for a few more minutes, before crawling and curling up beside him. Watching Tom sleep before nodding off himself had been one of his rituals. But, there had been something different about the way he had done it that time. He had looked and watched Tom sleep for what felt like forever. It was like he had been frozen in time, looking at him for what had felt like would be his very last time to get to do so. He actually remembered how stupid he had felt for feeling such an illogical fear. If he had only known what he now knew. Tom might not be just a photograph now.

He had been just about to put his head down, when Tom had jerked awake with a loud shout. The man’s breathing had been ragged, like he’d been running for his life.


“What is it?” He asked him.


Tom had then looked him right in the eyes and smiled the sweetest smile he had ever seen on his handsome face. The man had looked at perfect peace with the alien world.

Kerry reflected how the bigger man suddenly kissed him, kissed him with all that he had. Tom had gotten up and locked the door with a click, removing his clothes. The lights had been turned off and the two of them had danced in the dark all night long in each others arms.


“I’ll never leave you.”


Kerry immediately jumped off his bed with a muffled yelp, nearly falling on his face. He stumbled backwards, hitting a shelf with his ass, searching his little room with wild eyes. He was all alone in his tiny room.

Those words had been spoken aloud, right into his left ear. He had even felt the warm breath on his skin.

Tom had said those exact words to him only hours before being discovered full of bullets. There had been such calm and purpose on his face, too. He had taken it as Tom’s determination to be the best member on his aunt’s Avatar team.

“You lied,” he hissed to his empty room. “You did leave me.”

He bit his bottom lip, feeling his eyes begin to sting. His heart was still hammering away in his smooth throat, as he fought to calm his breaths.

He was all alone in his small room, but there was an alien scent in the air. It smelled really sweet and pure. He instantly knew it couldn’t have come from any of his flowers, because he knew the perfume they gave off.

“Tom?”

There was only a fading, sweet scented silence.

He didn’t believe in ghosts. If he did, he’d have to believe in gods and that fucked up shit wasn’t happening.

Tom was dead. He wasn’t a ghost. He was never going to see him again. His memories was feeding his imagination, and like the little monster it was, it had attacked him right where it hurt the most.

He slowly put a hand to his left ear. That warm, tickling breath had felt so damn real. But, it had only been the memory of Tom doing that back during his golden hours on this new world.

He shook his head and wiped at his eyes. None of this made any sense to him. If Tom had known something terrible, why had he looked so peaceful? Why had he been so calm? He had acted as if there had been nothing at all wrong in the world.

A dreadful cold suddenly washed over him like an icy splash of water. It chilled him down to his very bones.

Had Tom somehow known he’d be killed in cold blood? Had he known he didn’t have long left, so that was why he’d put on such a brave face? Was that why Tom had made love to him like that? Was it because he knew he would never get to do it again?

“Why?” He asked the violent silence in which surrounded him on four sides. “Why did you make me a promise you knew you’d never be able to keep?”

There could be no other reason. The RDA had wanted Tom out of their way. He had become some kind of threat to their operation on this world.

Had Tom told anyone else what he’d known? If he had told anybody, it would have to be Dr. Grace Augustine. She loves Pandora and its people as much as he had.

He’d known Tom had his secrets. Tom had established that in the very beginning of their relationship. He’d been fine with that, too. When secrets were slowly revealed and the listener kept them silent, it had built trust between them.

If there was such a terrible secret, he wanted to be pissed with Tom for not telling him, but he grievously understood why Tom hadn’t shared. By not telling him, Tom had protected, shielded him from mortal harm.

After all, now he was just some silly blond, who just so happens to be dumber than dirt. All that deep sleeping around had really fucked his mind. At least, that was the cruel rumor going about with the Jar Heads.

He nearly jumped out of his flesh when the alarm clock beside his head buzzed loudly in his ear. He cursed, slapping it several times before finally turning the damn thing off. It was now sundown and his aunt was more than likely back from her long hike in the woods.

He put on his shoes and left his room, locking the door behind him. He was also going to have a little chat with his auntie dearest. If she knew anything about why Tom had been murdered, he was going to find some way to make her spill it.

Back in his dark room, amidst the green under the warm violet glow, a bubble soft chuckle made a blossom bloom a sunny orange.

~*~

A yellow glow was the first thing that caught Kerry’s blue eyes when upon entering his aunt’s silent lab. He looked this way and that, before carefully picking up the large, glass cylinder container. It had to stand about two feet high.

The yellow glow instantly faded when he picked it up, holding it to the light. Inside was a strange looking, needle thin spine. The sharp tip was secreting a clear fluid. It looked like some sort of dart that could be shot into flesh.

He put the container back down on the table and in the bit of present darkness, the clear fluid began to glow a venomous yellow once more. It made him begin to wonder if it was as deadly as it looked.

The label across the top of the jar read Bansheba Terrestre or “Banshee of Paradise.” What he knew of ancient folklore, a banshee could scream death. Would this strange needle thin spine perhaps do the same?

“One little prick from that and you would be on the ground, moaning out of your mind,” his aunt’s voice came from behind him, making him turn. “If you get hit with a higher dosage, let’s just say, you’ll be playing the part of Sleeping Beauty for a really long time.”

Kerry nodded, picking up a metal canister. There was something moving around inside of it.

“And what is in here?”

“An arachnoid,” she answered him. “That one is about ten centimeters long. There is enough air in there for it to survive just long enough to be put in a more suitable holding tank.”

“Are they dangerous?” He asked her, being more careful with the metal canister. He didn’t want to accidentally injure the little critter.

His aunt nodded. “They can be. They are more deadly to elder Na’Vi and the children. The poison they create is used in ceremonies.”

That perked his attention right then and there. “What do you mean?”

“A young warrior will pick out his or her arachnoid and make it sting them. The psychoactive venom will cause them to go on a ‘Dream Hunt’ as they call it. It helps them to discover what their totem animal is.”

He cocked a brow. “It sounds a lot more complicated than that.”

“It is,” she assured him. “There are chants, lots of dancing, and some potions to be ingested as well. Lots of animals out there have become immune to their poison. That is why they’re so timid and choose to scuttle quickly away.”

“What about humans?” He asked her. “Is the poison deadly to us?”

She took the canister from him. “Would you like to find out?”

He took a step back. “Norm said you had something you wanted to tell me.”

Kerry watched his aunt carefully place the metal canister back down on the table, among all the other specimens she had brought back from the jungle. He wanted to look at them all. A few more of them were glowing with bioluminescence.

“I do,” she spoke, walking by him. “It has to do with Tom’s brother.”

A door opened from behind and Norm came walking in. Kerry looked at him and his aunt turned, doing the same. The poor guy scratched the back of his head, grinned, and quickly walked over to the other side of the room to clean something.

“What about Jake?” He asked.

“I have been notified that he will be arriving here at the end of the month,” she said, turning back towards him. “And I didn’t want you to be shocked should you see him.”

Kerry felt as though a rock had struck him right between the eyes.

Tom’s brother was going to be here?

“He will be using Tom’s avatar,” she went on. “According to the idiot upstairs, he is a perfect match.”

“A perfect match?” He echoed her.

“Yes,” she said. “Tom and Jake are identical twins.”

He slowly turned away from her, resting his hands on the specimen table in order to keep from falling. He had known Tom had a brother, but he never knew it was a mirror image. He had never asked about Jake, because Tom didn’t like to talk about someone he didn’t get to see or talk to. It had been a painful subject for Tom. The only thing Tom had told him was that leaving Jake had been the hardest thing he had ever done, but what family he had needed the money badly.

Gentle hands gripped his slender shoulders and squeezed. “You didn’t know?”

He didn’t answer her. His voice had wondered off somewhere and gotten lost in some dark closet. He swallowed and took a deep breath.

There was going to be a mirror image of Tom walking around this place? He was going to get to see an almost exact image of Tom, but never be allowed to rush across the room and hug him.

“No,” he whispered, coughing to clear his dry throat. “He never told me that. No wonder it was so hard for Tom to leave him behind.”

“Jake was in the marines and suffered a severe spinal injury back on our home world,” Norm said, walking up. “He has been in a wheelchair ever since.”

Kerry looked up at him, shaken. “Did Tom tell you that?”

Norm shook his head. “It is in his file.” He looked as if he wanted to say something more, but never opened his mouth.

“He is not qualified for this job,” his aunt went on, shaking her head, removing her hands from his shoulders. “The last thing I need is another idiot out there with a gun. Tom…he knew what he was doing. He was trained and good at what he did.” She looked over at him. “He would have made an excellent Avatar.”

Hearing his aunt speak those kind words warmed him a little, only a little. She hadn’t disproved of their relationship. She had been silent about it, only making light jokes here and there.

“Can I ask you a question, Aunt Grace?” He asked, turning back to the metal canister on the table.

“If I have the answer,” she said. “I shall tell you.”

He was slightly trembling.

“I believe that Tom discovered something better left in the darkness,” he whispered, picking up the metal canister. “I think that was why he was shot to death and left in that room for me to trip over. I believe my finding him like that was a warning to you.”

He felt the crazy beginning to break the surface.

“Kerry,” Norm gasped.

He spun around, holding the arachnoid by its dangerous tail. “Tell me what you know or I’ll let it sting me.”

It was dark purple with black markings.

“Don’t be an idiot!” His aunt snapped. “That’s a male. I just told you how dangerous they can be. It can kill you!”

He didn’t give a damn. Tom’s brother was going to be here. He was going to hear the rumors. He was going to hear all the cruel rumors about his twin and him. Those terrible Jar Heads would make what they had shared sound so nasty and ugly. It would ruin Jake’s image of his brother.

He knew he wouldn’t be able to stand the look that all too familiar face would give him. It would break him, shatter him. He couldn’t bear to see a man with Tom’s face, looking at him with disgust, blaming him for his brother’s death.

“Put it down,” Norm calmly advised. “And quickly run to me.”

“Tell me!” Kerry yelled, shattering the glass cylinder, picking up the needle like spine, holding it to his arm. “I know he told you, Aunt! They murdered him and let me find him! It was a warning to you!”

“Please,” Norm calmly spoke, stepping slowly towards him. “That is one of the deadliest toxins on Pandora. If you so much as scratch yourself, you could die.”

“Stay back!” Kerry screamed, holding the secreting spine closer to his exposed flesh. “I want to know why Tom was murdered! I want to know why the person I loved the most was taken away from me!”

He could see the cold blood all over his hands, under his nails. He still remembered slipping and falling in his mother’s brains.

“You’re suffocating the arachnoid,” his aunt quickly spoke again, trying to play on his conscience to calm him down. “It can’t breathe our air, just like we can’t breathe its.”

Kerry quickly looked down at the squirming bug in his hand. It was making such a terrible noise. Was that its death cries? How come he had not heard them before? It was so scared. The poor little thing was crying in pain.

Tears came to his eyes. He had never killed anything before. The poor things sounded so scared. His aunt had said it was a timid creature and he was picking on it, just like a bully.

He dropped the secreting spine and suddenly hissed, dropping the screeching arachnoid. It fell at his feet and squirmed, trying to scuttle away, but couldn’t.

Kerry looked at his hand, seeing twin sting marks. They were the size of large pin pricks and was quickly turning red.

“Fuck!” Norm yelled, rushing forward, stomping the arachnoid under his boot as Grace quickly caught her falling nephew.

“Kerry!” She shouted, gently shaking him. “Kerry!”

Kerry could hear a strange and loud buzzing in his ears and his aunt’s voice sounded just like an ancient recording of the Chipmunks he had once listened to. She sounded really funny and it caused him to laugh. The look on her face didn’t match her silly voice at all.

He squinted. The room around him was so terribly bright. He tried to move his hands to shield his eyes, but discovered that he couldn’t. His arms and legs felt like limp noodles.

All of a sudden, it was as if the roof above his head had been blown clean off and the night sky was exploding with an array of vibrant colors. It reminded him of pictures he had once seen in books of the Aurora Borealis. The sky over Pandora was like one gigantic painting come to life.

The shimmering red dot on Polyphemus was spinning around and around, like a dancing cyclone, sucking him up, up, up, and up some more. Wild sounds of wings filled his ears and a brilliant flash of violet lightning sent him flying, spiraling, and laughing among the cerulean clouds, where voices seemed to sing like falling rain.

Suddenly, he was the rain. He was falling down, down, down as the storm boomed above him. The wild howled all around him.

The green earth came at him fast and he threw out both hands with a loud shout. His voice echoed into the fading thunder.

To Be Continued…

Author Note: Please review and tell me what you think. I’m getting a lot of my information from James Cameron’s Avatar: An Activist Survival Guide. The book was written by Maria Wilhelm and Dirk Mathison. It is filled with all kinds of useful information that is helping me with this fiction. This book is where I got my info on the arachnoid and the banshee of paradise. It is a really fun read, too. I found it enlightening about ways we should come to revere and help preserve our own world as best we can. But, come 2012, Mother Nature will take back her crown (inserts wild and crazy laughter here). Well, that is if the Old Ones (extended relations) don’t come back and tear up jack before then.

IA IA CTHULHU FHTAGN!!!!!

(Inserts even crazier laughter here)