Note: Remember, this is post-Avatar. If you haven't seen the film, I suggest you do so before reading this, for occasionally, a reference to the film will most likely be there. Read at your own risk!

PART I: VICIOUS PURITY

Chapter II: Injuries and Bloodlust

Ay'cura's eyes shot open. It hurt to breathe, it hurt to even move her eyes. She blinked with a flicker of pain, then looked around, sucking in where she was at.

She was at her clan's – the Lukani's - Hometree, lying on a wooden bed in the medical area. Healers were around her, checking on her. Ay'cura noticed that her waist was wrapped in gauze-like plants as a cast.

"She's awake," said one healer, who Ay'cura familiarized as En'eka. He approached her, along with two other healers. "Are you alright, Ay'cura? It's a miracles you survived."

Ay'cura, ignoring him, winced as she tried to get up. En'eka lightly shoved her back down. "Don't move much," he said soothingly. "You'll damage yourself even more."

"Did anybody else survive?" she asked weakly, fearfully, although she already knew what the answer would be. En'eka shook his head solemnly.

"No, Ay'cura. The hunting leader almost survived, we found him alive, but he died from the wounds."

Ay'cura's eyes filled with tears again. She lay back, cupping her face with her four-fingered hands. It was impossible not to cry; it was her fault, she thought solemnly.

"All my f-fault..." she muttered with a heaved sob. "All m-mine..."

"No, no no!" said En'eka grabbing her shoulder softly. "No, it was not your fault! The creature was just doing what all predators do, Ay'cura! It hunted to survive! It is the way Eywa wanted it to be! Sometimes death is unavoidable, even if it seems unreasonable or sudden."

"It is!" she said harshly. "It is my fault! St-stop trying to deny me!"

"Ay'cura, enough!" That wasn't En'eka's voice. That voice was much rougher. She looked up, and saw Nuncka, her stern father, approach her, his eyes filled with a mixture of anger and remorse.

"Enough," he repeated with a softer tone, now at Ay'cura's side. "Stop faulting yourself. Your mother wouldn't want - "

"Don't start with mother!" cried Ay'cura with an angry expression, now attempting to stand again. This time she managed, the only obstacle the healers and her father trying to push her back onto the bed. "Don't touch me, any of you! You're hurting me worse! I can manage alone, thank you!"

Anger subdued her as she removed herself from the grip of the healers and her father. She fled from the room, now with a thought in mind, a thought that most Na'vi would never even think of:

Ay'cura wanted revenge against the palulukan, the sole one who murdered her friends.

The sole one who murdered her love...

* * *

Jason was astounded as they reached the edge of a huge Pandoran jungle, just about a half mile from the Hallelujah Mountains. He was smiling intently. Lea appeared at his side.

"It's beautiful!" she whispered, eying the numerous flora.

"That's your catchphrase?" said Judas chuckling. Dunne smiled as well. Judas proceeded on, now just a fraction of a centimeter away from the jungle. He was now stroking the fern of a warbonnet as if it were some kind of Terran pet. He scoffed with astonishment. "This is magnificent. Wonderful. Gentlemen and lady, we are finally able to research Pandora without the crude limitations that RDA set up. This place is ours for the taking!"

"Don't get scientifically cocky, Judas," said Dunne. "'Member, there's more than one smart species here."

"I know, but as in research," said Judas, standing up. He eyed a very colorful looking plant that almost looked like a crest with a long, proboscis-like antennae poking out. He touched it; then it moved! Judas jumped backwards as he realized that what he touched wasn't what he studied. A hexapede leapt out of the forest, running away with a slight hop to its steps like a deer.

Judas said, "What the hell was that?"

Jason looked at it serenly. "A hexapede. The deer of Pandora. It's a priem target for Pandoran predators, however, though its speed is the only thing keeping its species' alive. They travel in herds."

Dunne stepped in for a question. "Then why was it alone?"

Jason shrugged. "Probably strayed from the herd."

"Or maybe a predator," said Lea. She pointed at the forest.

Coming from the forest, large and feline, was a thanator, apex predator of Pandora. It swiftly moved past the group, in which they leapt out of the creature's way as it chased the hexapede. The group hid in the jungle growth, near the edge behind a clump of warbonnets. They peered at the great hunter was it grabbed the hexapede violently and began to shake it apart like a dog. Whitish blood splattered everywhere as the thanator began to swallow its meal.

"Oh, my God," moaned Lea. "Shit..."

"A thanator," muttered Jason. "Apex predator. Very dangerous."

"How come it didn't see us?" asked Judas.

"It wasn't after us, asshole!" said Dunne. "It was after the mikipede."

"Hexapede," Jason corrected him. Then his heart jumped, his eyes staring at the thanator, which was staring right back!

The thanator, its maw dripping with the blood of the hexapede, was looking right at them, bloodlust enveloping its four eyes, its lips curling like backwards like blooming, bloodsoaked flowers.