Old Fanart Of My Favourite Boy (I Would Die For Him Istg)

Another fanart for @mochalottie 's fanfic Our Hearts Beat in the Womb this time of chapter 5! (I didn't check whether or not I missed something from the original scene so if there is anything... let's say, I took creative liberties ;p)

so I got into grad school today with my shitty 2.8 gpa and the moral of the story is reblog those good luck posts for the love of god

Spider is 10000% for killing RDA. he doesn't even think about it. he went straight for maximum damage without a second thought. twice.

@cyren-myadd to answer your questions about this au.

Quaritch wouldn't know if the kid is his. Back in the day, he nearly beat the shit out of Phillip Shaw for messing around with one of his female soldiers. So when he sees this kid with blonde hair, exactly the same shade as Phillip's pansy ass, he jumps to the wrong conclusion, assuming Phillip is the father of this little twerp. He also mistakenly assumes that Miles Socorro must have died on Pandora, because in his mind, there's no way a human child could survive on this planet.

I don’t see the RDA being too interested in who Julian belongs to, either. They're only focused on getting information about Jake Sully’s location. I can still see Quaritch taking Julian out of there like he did in the movie, but it's a manipulative move, not paternal in any way. And even if he does find out Spider is his son, he’d keep that information to himself. That’s a lot to process. However, he does plan on telling him once the heat dies down and Jake is strung up by his feet. Quaritch needs Julian focused, and he doesn't have time for emotional conversations when he's supposed to be tracking down Jake. He DOES start being a little nicer to Julian, but is still being manipulative to keep Julian reliant on him.

As for Norm, he would fight tooth and nail to find his pseudo-nephew. He’d even go so far as to join the battle in search of Spider, which leads to a confrontation with Quaritch, who’s holding Kiri hostage on the Sea Dragon. Before Quaritch can utter a single word about Spider’s parentage, Norm body-slams him from behind. When I say he’s willing to sacrifice himself and fight to keep that secret hidden, I mean it.

Kiri is freed during the scuffle and scurries away. Then it’s an all-out brawl with Norm clawing at Quaritch like a madman, because he’ll be damned if this piece of shit spills the beans and ruins Julian's life. Norm is injured, but he wounds Quaritch badly, nearly tearing his throat open and even trying to rip out his tongue to silence him.

(Quaritch still manages to escape, but whether or not he succumbed to the injuries Norm gave to him is unknown.)

Norm’s uncharacteristic brutality raises suspicion in Julian, who has never seen his guardian act like this. Maybe even Jake starts questioning Norm’s extreme dedication to finding Julian and fighting Quaritch like a goddamned Thanator. Norm stays tight-lipped, but I have this idea where Mo’at eventually spills the truth. She’s not stupid; she’s known for a while that Norm was hiding something, and she bullied Norm into letting her accompany him to the Metkayina's territory so that she could talk to the boy herself and do some extreme mediating. She's allowed this to go on long enough. No more.

She would have a long, serious talk with Jake and Neytiri, urging them to see Julian beyond his bloodline. I’m not sure how that will play out, but questions are answered, and Norm’s relationship with Spider is put to the test…this isn't going to end smoothly, and tensions are high, especially with Neteyam seriously injured.

But I swear this has a happy ending!

After the truth comes out, there’s tension and frayed trust. Julian pulls away from Norm, confused and upset, not just about the lie, but about having the story of his BIRTH constructed and shabbily patched together like an infected wound, and making him believe for YEARS that he was someone else's son!! This isn't just something that can be washed away with a kiss and a hug.

Julian's life was built on a lie, and even though Norm did this for his protection, it still hurts and makes him feel like an impostor.

Jake and Neytiri are stunned too, especially Neytiri, who struggles with the idea of this child, a friend and brother to her children, being connected to the man who caused her family so much pain. Jake feels betrayed, and he and Norm have a huge argument. Norm feels guilty, but is largely unrepentant and says some hurtful things when their argument gets vicious. "So what if I lied! You lied, too, Jake! You lied, and hundreds died! I wasn't going to let Julian hold your bag AND Quaritch's! Everything I did, I did for Julian!" THAT almost has the two go to blows, and Tonowari is forced to step in.

But it doesn’t stay that way.

Norm doesn’t give up. Even with his injuries, he shows up for Julian, again and again, not asking for forgiveness but simply proving, with quiet consistency, that he loves Julian. Neytiri remains distant for a time, but Mo'at and maybe even Kiri bridge that gap. Once again, Neytiri's trauma is real, and some time away from Julian AND Norm is needed for her mental health. It's going to take a year or two (maybe three) until Julian and Norm and the Sullys can look at each other without flinching. Kiri is the only one not majorly affected because she's attached to Julian and sees him as her full-blooded brother. It's the same for Lo'ak and Neteyam, but this information puts them in a really weird headspace.

ADDING MORE TO THIS

Norm even gives Spider parents who aren't really his parents. He successfully crafts a plausible origin story for Julian by pinning his lineage on a dead man with the right looks and no one to contradict it.

The two even have the same shade of blonde hair!

There had always been whispers and rumors passed around in the mess halls that one of the scientists had gotten a pretty techie pregnant, a fun little tryst gone wrong. The rumor had never been confirmed. No proof, no details, just the kind of idle gossip people clung to when the days stretched for too long and boredom struck.

That scientist was said to be Phillip Shaw. Norm remembered him. Popular, golden-haired, silver-tongued, a total manwhore who slept around a lot, brilliant in the lab, but reckless on the field, and drove Grace crazy with his inability to take the dangers seriously because he thought he was God's gift to Pandora. He’d gotten mauled by a thanator while collecting spore samples. Phillip's body was never recovered, just his shredded pack splattered with blood and a few scraps of torn equipment.

Perfect.

All evidence of Paz Socorro is scrubbed. In her place: a woman who'd been a low-level techie, a casualty of the war. The perfect dead mother for a story about a little orphaned child. Tragic. Sad. Simple.

Julian Shaw. Son of Phillip Shaw and Amelia Perkins. Both dead. Orphaned. Adopted by his “uncle” Norm out of loyalty to an old colleague and acquaintance.

It was neat. Tragic. Believable. And no one would question it.

Norm leaned back, hands trembling slightly. Not from fear — from the weight of what he’d just done.

He was erasing the truth.

No, no, no...he was protecting a child from it.

“You're not the son of a demon. You're not a mistake,” he whispered, glancing toward the sleeping bundle across the room. “You're Julian Shaw now. That’s who you are.”

And that was who he would be… until the moons fell, or Eywa herself decided otherwise.

My thoughts were inspired by @detective-twinkachu's au where Norm and Max hide Spider's lineage.

I love the idea of an AU where Norm finds baby Spider and immediately realizes this child will never know peace if anyone learns who his real father is. So, like Eddard Stark, he makes a painful decision: He erases every trace of Quaritch’s connection to the boy and keeps it secret. He gives the child a new name (seriously, Miles? Way to make it obvious, Paz), forges documents, and creates a solid cover story in case anyone asks questions. He can’t bring himself to tell anyone, not even his closest friends, the truth. Quaritch has made too many enemies and caused too much destruction for anyone to overlook the boy’s lineage. There's already been enough tragedy. And this child, little Julian, is the first human ever born on Pandora.

Norm even steals the only photo of Paz and hides it away where no one will ever find it. He hates lying. Hates secrets. But Hell’s Gate is built on them, and children should never have to suffer for their parents’ mistakes. So he decides: he’ll raise Julian as his nephew. He’ll raise him to be kind, brave, and good. Maybe, just maybe, when Julian turns nineteen, he’ll sit him down and explain everything. Or maybe he won’t. Maybe Julian should never know. Norm will carry this secret to his grave… unless Eywa herself decides to produce a blowhorn and inform the entire planet. No. He'll hold this secret.

On the desk beside Julian's forged documents was a faded photo of Paz Socorro. Pregnant. Glowing. Laughing. Holding her growing belly as she smiled for the camera. Norm’s throat closed up. Guilt and anger were warring in his chest like a storm. What would Trudy say about all this?

“I’m sorry, Socorro,” he whispered. “You were… a good mother. You didn’t deserve to fall in love with a monster, you didn't deserve to die for his craziness, you didn't deserve any of this. But your baby boy? He deserves better. He deserves everything. I'm sorry...I'm so sorry."

He picked up the photo, stared at it, then opened up his desk drawer and hid it beneath layers of unimportant documents. Hidden in plain sight until he could find a tiny box and bury the picture so deep that maybe Eywa herself will forget about it. This was for the best.

Then, he burned everything else.

Spider, struggling with his spirituality and faith in Eywa as a human boy born on Pandora, a planet he cannot neurally connect to:

Varang:

What if Spider was Spider-Man?

Just got done watching Spider-verse and now I can't help but think about Spider as the Pandoran version of Spider-Man.

-) While practicing his archery a mile away from Hell's Gate, Spider is bitten by a strange arachnid creature unlike anything catalogued on Pandora: Eight eyes, a small bioluminescent body, and too many limbs that skitter up his arm too fast for him to bat away with his bow.

-) The pain on his upper arm is searing, cold venom is flooding his system, and his body is shaking. Spider knows he should tell Jake and get himself checked out, but Jake is spending time with his family, and Spider doesn't want to bother him. Instead, Spider stumbles back to Hell's Gate alone, locks his bedroom door, and sleeps for days, plagued by fevered dreams of glowing silk threads covering his entire body in a cocoon and the feeling of being watched by all eight eyes.

-) Eywa does not speak, but he feels her. The bite was no freak accident. It was an acknowledgement. A transformation.

-) The mutation amplifies his strength, speed, and reflexes to rival young Na’vi. He can leap through the trees with uncanny grace, run silently across branches, and wrestle his siblings with ease.

-) Spider hits a sudden, aggressive growth spurt. His bones stretch, he shoots up like a weed, and his posture shifts. He grows into a broad-shouldered, coiled force of nature in just a few days. Norm jokingly asks, "Did Jake feed you a special protein powder?" But Spider just shrugs, quietly avoiding the question with lowered eyes.

-) Against RDA soldiers, Spider is terrifying. He moves faster than their sensors can track, weaving traps of glowing silk webbing that strangle, immobilize, or slice. He’s even developed kill zones in different parts of the vast forest, leading enemies there like a spider luring prey into its web.

-) Spider's methods of killing are precise. He drops from a tree in total silence, snaps necks with his super strength, and webs the body into the trees as a warning. In moments of desperation, he uses a special venom-infused bite passed down from the spider that changed him. It paralyzes instantly and causes intense hallucinations. Some unfortunate survivors go mad from the encounter.

-) Spider takes no pleasure in killing, nor does he look forward to it, but when he kills, it is swift, silent, and deliberate. Spider kills because he knows that every RDA life he spares will cost dozens of innocent Na’vi or creatures. To show mercy is to be complicit because these people will never stop.

-) Even Lo’ak gives Spider a curious once-over and mutters, "You been lifting boulders or something, bro?"

-) Spider wants so badly to tell everyone about his abilities, but he fears that Neytiri will misunderstand and see him as a threat. No one trusts him as far as they can throw him, and as far as Spider is concerned, he's on his own.

-) When Spider connects his webbing to a living thing: beast, plant, even another person, he feels a tug in his chest, a strange warmth in his mind. It’s not language, but sensation. A feeling. Spider’s webbing can read an enemy's next move, like a spider sensing a fly tremble in its web. He wraps it around their weapons, and in that fleeting connection, he feels intention. He dodges before they shoot. He moves before they do.

-) Spider can breathe the air, but keeps his mask on to avoid suspicion.

-) His "spidey suit" is made from his webbing, and he even wears a handmade mask to hide his identity. At first, the mask was entirely blank until Spider decided to draw eight eyes on it, giving him a more intimidating look.

-) The cat is out of the bag when Spider uses his webbing to "heal" Netyam's injury, but that's a story for another day,

Okay, but here's a dark au where Spider drags Quaritch from the water and promptly kills him, and now no one knows what to do with this human child soaked in the blood of his own father. Blood is thicker than water, right? Why would a son kill his own father? Pandora's greatest enemy is dead. The scourge of the Na'vi is gone.

So, what is this feeling of discontent?

-) The moment Spider pulled Quaritch from the water, he made a choice.

-) The once-mighty colonel was barely clinging to life, his body battered, his strength drained. Weak. Helpless. A man who had terrorized Pandora, who had burned forests and spilled the blood of Eywa's children, now lay before him, gasping, vulnerable.

-) The knife in Spider’s hand felt light. The motion effortless.

-) One swift drag across the throat was all it took. Just like Neytiri would have done to him. 'Do you see me now?' Spider thinks. 'See me. See me. SEE! LOOK AT WHAT YOU HAVE MADE OF ME!'

-) Quaritch barely made a sound, just a wet, choked gasp as his lifeblood spilled into the water, dark ribbons mixing with the lapping waves. His body seized, his fingers twitching—but Spider only crouched there, watching, waiting. He waited for the flood of emotion. For the relief. The triumph. The guilt. But there was nothing. Just… numbness.

-) The monster was dead. The one responsible for so much suffering, for so much destruction, for everything—gone. And yet, Spider felt nothing. His father’s glassy eyes stared up at him, lifeless. Eywa’s grace had abandoned him long ago. And with any luck, Quaritch’s soul would never find peace. Never find acceptance. Spider exhaled slowly, running his tongue over dry lips, blinking at the bloodied body at his feet. His hands weren’t even shaking.

-) It was done. His brother avenged. The souls of Neytiri's family are avenged. His debt to the Sullys was paid in full. Everything is calm.

-) A soft rustling pulled his gaze upward. His father's Banshee crouched a few feet away, its golden eyes locked onto Spider with an eerie intensity. Spider tensed, half-expecting it to lunge, to attack, to avenge its fallen rider. But it didn’t. It simply watched. And then, without a sound, it lowered its head. Acceptance. Recognition.

-) As if possessed by something beyond himself, Spider stepped forward, his hand outstretched. His fingertips brushed against the creature’s snout, and for the first time that horrible day, he allowed himself a small, hollow smile. Perhaps it was a good thing that Quaritch never truly bonded to this one.

-) The rest of the Na'vi find him hours later, and Tonowari approaches first, his large shadow stretching over the scene, but he hesitates. The Metkayina chief has seen many battles, many bodies. And yet, this is different. This is a child, soaked in the blood of his own father. Why would a son do this? Spider meets his gaze, his expression empty. He waits for judgment. Condemnation. Something.

-) But when Tonowari speaks, it is not with anger. "The demon is dead." A statement. A fact. The warriors behind him exchange uneasy glances, but none argue. Some murmur in agreement; others simply watch. None move to comfort the boy who did the deed. Perhaps they do not know how.

-) The Sully are more horrified than relieved. Even Neytiri, who should feel the greatest relief of all, does not celebrate. Her bow hand clenches, fingers twitching as though her body is caught between two instincts. To praise him… or to fear him. She does not understand. She had thought she knew hatred. She had felt it burn through her when she held the blade to Spider’s throat on the Sea Dragon, her grief drowning out reason.

-) Jake had told her stories—of how humans could be cruel to their own offspring, how some children were beaten, abandoned, even killed by those who were meant to love them. How those same children woke up one day and decided to kill their parents. She had never believed it. Not until now. She watched Spider wipe the blood from his blade with mechanical precision, his movements too calm, too practiced. There is no triumph in his face, no relief, no sorrow.

Just a hollow emptiness.

-) Something dark and quiet has settled in the boy’s chest, a coldness that should not exist in one so young. The boy named Spider died on the Sea Dragon. Drowned beneath the weight of Neytiri’s hate, choked on the understanding that he would never belong. And what remains in his place is something else. Something Tonowari's people and the Sullys do not understand. Something they accept but fear all the same.

-) Jake takes a step forward, but Spider lifts a bloodied hand, stopping him before he can speak. "Don’t." His voice is hoarse, flat. "Your son has been avenged. The debt is paid. I am done. We are done." Jake stares, tears in his eyes, something unspoken hanging between them. "Kid, I never wanted this--" Spider turns his back, mounting the ikran with the ease of someone who had done it a thousand times before. And then he was gone. The wind howled as the graceful creature lifted itself into the sky, carrying Spider higher, farther, into the unknown. Jake’s voice rose behind him, calling his name. Kiri's voice is the loudest, crying and screaming for him, but he hardens his heart. They call his name. Spider does not return. Spider does not look back.

Worst pain